The Borderlands of V217a is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by the Most Glorious Visionary with an even hand, and notable for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, humorless population of 23.442 billion V217ovians enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Dublin. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient V217an economy, worth a remarkable 4,158 trillion Quid a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 177,374 Quid, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Sharing vacation pictures requires written consent from the entire beach resort, both diets and economic output are growing leaner with recent restrictions to free trade, polygraphs are relegated to the dungeon exhibit in castle museums, and trains and passengers alike are often late. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. V217a's national animal is the Satsuma, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is a collection of silly beliefs.

V217a is ranked 9,131^st in the world and 454^th in Lazarus for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 9,990.2 on the Gilded Widget Scale.