The People's Republic of The Passerine Islands is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, irreverence towards religion, and hatred of cheese. The compassionate, democratic population of 761 million Birdies are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, liberal, outspoken morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Avem. The average income tax rate is 90.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Passerine economy, worth 63.4 trillion bird seeds a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is 83,282 bird seeds, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Passerine Standard Vodka is the only drink that bars stock, the recital of citations that follows any political speech can be longer than the speech itself, religious turf wars have caused frustrated police to pray for divine intervention, and the Federal Council of The Passerine Islands has been announced as the new Head of State. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Passerine Islands's national animal is the potoo, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

The Passerine Islands is ranked 14,412^th in the world and 260^th in The Communist Bloc for Longest Average Lifespans, with 90.83 years.