The Pacific Alpine Commonwealth of Mount Seymour is a colossal, socially progressive nation, ruled by Prime Minister Nathaniel Gardiner with a fair hand, and notable for its national health service, keen interest in outer space, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 6.648 billion Seymourians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded, outspoken morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Fort-Frédéric-sur-le-Montagne. The average income tax rate is 98.4%.

The large but stagnant Seymourian economy, worth 166 trillion pounds a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is extremely specialized, is mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism. Average income is 25,019 pounds, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Light entertainment shows are light on actual entertainment, a surprising number of police officers have been arrested for Purple-Spotted Newt sacrifices, authorities are looking for a stool pigeon to rat out who is stealing food from pigeon toilets, and attendance of fathers at PTA meetings is at an all-time high. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Mount Seymour's national animal is the Purple-Spotted Newt, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Seymourian Humanistic Naturalism.

Mount Seymour is ranked 172,280^th in the world and 355^th in Forest for Most Efficient Economies, scoring 2.44 on the Krugman-Greenspan Business Outlook Index.