The Frontier of Shadow Stone is a massive, genial nation, ruled by Kythorn with an iron fist, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space, zero percent divorce rate, and multi-spousal wedding ceremonies. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 1.625 billion Shadow Stoneans are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Invictus. The average income tax rate is 69.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Shadow Stonean economy, worth 202 trillion Ducts a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 124,593 Ducts, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Kythorn can cry on demand, stale 'yo mamma' insults have been replaced by 'your maternal DNA' insults, citizens re-mortgage their homes to buy lottery tickets, and Invictus's iconic yellow taxis are nowhere to be seen. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Shadow Stone's national animal is the Raven, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Verus.

Shadow Stone is ranked 107,530^th in the world and 121^st in Karma for Highest Foreign Aid Spending, scoring 185.1 on the Clooney Contribution Index.