The Borderlands of Ars Witherward is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 22.084 billion Ars Witherwardians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Environment, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 51.7%.

The Ars Witherwardian economy, worth 904 trillion crown tulgeys a year, is quite specialized and led by the Trout Farming industry, with major contributions from Pizza Delivery, Uranium Mining, and Basket Weaving. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 40,943 crown tulgeys, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.0 times as much as the poorest.

Scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes, euthanasia is legal, the Glaucus Atlanticus is a protected species, and organ donation is compulsory. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ars Witherward's national animal is the Glaucus Atlanticus, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ars Witherward is ranked 132,480^th in the world and 8^th in Auxilium for Lowest Crime Rates, with 62.5 law-abiding acts per hour.