The Borderlands of Glaciertop is a colossal, socially progressive nation, ruled by The Lord-Baron with a fair hand, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space, vat-grown people, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless, devout population of 4.48 billion Glaciertopians are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business, outspoken government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Industry, Education, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Glaciertop. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Glaciertopian economy, worth a remarkable 1,186 trillion Yeti Toenails a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Retail, and Soda Sales. Average income is an amazing 264,826 Yeti Toenails, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.5 times as much as the poorest.

Politicians look weirdly alike, if foreigners can hit a spittoon from five paces they get a free holiday to Glaciertop, the government's only official statement on the burning down of New Glaciertop was that 'they shouldn't have been so careless', and prime commercial land is being swamped with archaeological teams. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Glaciertop's national animal is the Yeti, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Yetism.

Glaciertop is ranked 11,813^th in the world and 1^st in Santas Workshop for Highest Poor Incomes, with 117,261.47 Standard Monetary Units.