The Nostalgic Halcyon of Azure Mines is a mammoth, cultured nation, ruled by Le Petit Prince with a fair hand, and renowned for its anti-smoking policies, ban on automobiles, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 8.047 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 99.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Azure Mines economy, worth a remarkable 1,749 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, Book Publishing, and Basket Weaving. Average income is an amazing 217,379 Courjitziens, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The numbers on the latest spending report are reaching stellar levels, vital intelligence-gathering activities are put on hold as agents return home for seduction training and advanced poker instruction, the nation is committed to nuclear rearmament, and phone taps are frequently carried out by the police. 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 5,829^th in the world and 45^th in Forest for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 525.55 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.