The Borderlands of Ictus is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Prime Minister ZG Edmondson with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, national health service, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 21.812 billion Ictusians enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Stratton City. The average income tax rate is 97.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Ictusian economy, worth a remarkable 3,146 trillion Fiats a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 144,264 Fiats, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A politician who is photographed pulling a funny face while eating can say goodbye to their credibility, the nation's taxpayers pay for foreign governments' extravagances, commuters are denied boarding for attempting to bring packed lunches onto trains, and administrative districts are increasingly defined by their taste in housing architecture. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ictus's national animal is the Human, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ictus is ranked 288,311^th in the world and 11,226^th in Balder for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 3,606.62 Standard Monetary Units.