The Craggy Hills of Belmoren is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Wesley Torensson with an even hand, and remarkable for its daily referendums, irreverence towards religion, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 11.833 billion Belmorenites are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ardmore. The average income tax rate is 88.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Belmorenian economy, worth 972 trillion kroner a year, is extremely specialized and mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 82,173 kroner, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

History textbook pages are used as impromptu tissues by distraught students, foreign powers often deal with problems that Belmoren can't handle, ancient antique swords have had their blades replaced with latex boffer LARP replicas, and convicted murderers are free to walk the streets provided they attend rehabilitation classes. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Belmoren's national animal is the Potoo, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Belmoren is ranked 53,062^nd in the world and 593^rd in Europe for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 140.56 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.