The Dominion of Bardo is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by The Shepherd with an iron fist, and remarkable for its free-roaming dinosaurs, enslaved workforce, and compulsory vegetarianism. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 13.153 billion Bardoans 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 medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Industry, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sanctum. The average income tax rate is 95.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Bardoan economy, worth a remarkable 5,202 trillion utopis a year, is broadly diversified and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Information Technology, Retail, Uranium Mining, and Woodchip Exports. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an amazing 395,510 utopis, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,169,057 per year while the poor average 105,163, a ratio of 11.1 to 1.

Wind farms are erected on shuttered oil platforms, harassed women are constantly hassled by guys who are "just giving them compliments", RPG fans reminisce fondly about when people thought they were evil and dangerous rather than geeky and socially inept, and power stations shutting down at night has made bedtime reading tricky. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bardo's national animal is the crystal giant, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Second Dawn.

Bardo is ranked 63,375^th in the world and 3^rd in Alvarez for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 1,603.36 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.