The Highlands of Montalban is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by First Minister Richard Whitehill with an even hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, barren, inhospitable landscape, and compulsory military service. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic, devout population of 5.738 billion Montalbanians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Merino. The average income tax rate is 21.6%.

The Montalbanian economy, worth 288 trillion euromarks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Retail, and Automobile Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 50,333 euromarks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.5 times as much as the poorest.

Stolen Reuben sandwiches are met with detailed and thorough police investigations, prisoners have been known to host cooking and home décor television shows, the nation has nearly as many history museums as Montalbanians, and a shocking number of estate planners are beneficiaries of their clients' wills. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Montalban's national animal is the stallion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is New Avalon Catholic Church.

Montalban is ranked 117,563^rd in the world and 2^nd in Alba for Most Primitive, scoring -32.56 on the Scary Big Number Scale.