The House Hightower of The Hightower is a mammoth, safe nation, ruled by Lord Leyton Hightower with an even hand, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape and compulsory military service. The hard-working, democratic, devout population of 8.485 billion Hightowerians are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Defense, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Oldtown. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 13.2%.

The strong Hightowerian economy, worth 568 trillion gold hands a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Cheese Exports industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 66,986 gold hands, with the richest citizens earning 8.3 times as much as the poorest.

Lord Leyton Hightower has just been declared ruler of The Hightower in an international press conference, The Hightower has designated Oldtown as its capital city, the nation's most "productive" diamond mine hasn't been operational for seven months, and the media have begun calling the government treasury "Lord Leyton Hightower's stash". Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. The Hightower's national animal is the owl, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities, and its national religion is Faith of the Seven.

The Hightower is ranked 160,919^th in the world and 2^nd in The Hightower for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 766.23 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.