The Commonwealth of Serrande is a colossal, genial nation, ruled by Emil Jøgselt-Nærreux with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, national health service, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The compassionate, democratic population of 3.462 billion Serrandeans 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 large, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Cosetlach. The average income tax rate is 82.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Serrandeasse economy, worth 494 trillion Scenors a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Retail, and Tourism. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 142,979 Scenors, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Excited shovel-bearing geeks wander the countryside, the saying "when pigs fly" has been changed to "when the lights work", teenagers performing appendectomies on their friends has become a popular schoolyard prank, and preschoolers outnumber veteran politicians in government. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Serrande's national animal is the Heux Bear, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Soælouism.

Serrande is ranked 25,573^rd in the world and 528^th in The North Pacific for Lowest Crime Rates, with 90.21 law-abiding acts per hour.