The Borderlands of Utel is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by Leus Altus Utelia with an even hand, and renowned for its daily referendums, anti-smoking policies, and compulsory military service. The compassionate population of 10.74 billion Utellans enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Uthenvhenal. The average income tax rate is 92.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Utelian economy, worth a remarkable 1,187 trillion lozzes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is an impressive 110,535 lozzes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Minority children spend hours bussing to schools miles away from home, bad punctuation has come to a full stop, fair-weather fans talk during plays while die-hard theatre enthusiasts stay at home, and space research funding has hit a recent high while several military bases are being closed down. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Utel's national animal is the sochil, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Utel is ranked 14,165^th in the world and 31^st in The Order of the Grey Wardens for Most Cultured, scoring 99 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.