The United Socialist States of Shining Macedonia is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, ubiquitous missile silos, and compulsory military service. The quiet, industrious population of 521 million Moonshiners are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Utrinska. The average income tax rate is 66.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Shining Macedonian economy, worth 45.9 trillion Bronze Stars 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 Tourism industry, with major contributions from Trout Farming, Information Technology, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is 88,164 Bronze Stars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.1 times as much as the poorest.

The government is ignoring the latest terrorist atrocities in Utrinska for fear of causing a fuss, it's not only teenagers who mess around with fake IDs, military officers are given medals for disobeying orders, and there's more than one way to skin a diplomat. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Shining Macedonia's national animal is the Phoenix, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Shining Macedonia is ranked 49,252^nd in the world and 16^th in The Bar on the corner of every region for Healthiest Citizens, with 5.66 bananas ingested per day.