The Region of The Ringing Mountains is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by The Mountain Raider with an even hand, and renowned for its ubiquitous missile silos, daily referendums, and frequent executions. The hard-nosed population of 10.084 billion Ringing Mountainsians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, corrupt morass — juggles the competing demands of Environment, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Ringing Mountains. The average income tax rate is 93.9%.

The thriving Ringing Mountainsian economy, worth a remarkable 1,039 trillion gold pieces a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Retail, and Soda Sales. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 103,047 gold pieces, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.3 times as much as the poorest.

Public footpaths are being slowly eroded by the burgeoning number of ramblers, tourists from around the world come to visit the country's famous rainforests, the people consider response to rudeness to be an acceptable casus belli, and the dish 'poisson avec poison' is only available on the black market. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Ringing Mountains's national animal is the braxat, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Preservers.

The Ringing Mountains is ranked 285,950^th in the world and 3^rd in Athas for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -13.08 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.