The Nostalgic Halcyon of Azure Mines is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Le Petit Prince with a fair hand, and notable for its parental licensing program, daily referendums, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 8.287 billion Azurians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Amaranth. The average income tax rate is 99.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Azure Mines economy, worth a remarkable 1,829 trillion Courjitziens a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an amazing 220,712 Courjitziens, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Travelers are subject to extensive searches if beet stains are visible on their clothing, even the nation's brussel sprouts are delicious and nutritious, a blood-red mark on the doorframe means a building must be passed over for destruction, and dinosaur cloners are fitted with Ankylosaurus monitors. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Azure Mines's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Waldeinsamkeit.

Azure Mines is ranked 78,032^nd in the world and 115^th in Forest for Most Politically Free, scoring 72 on the Diebold Election Inking Scale.