Nations of Azgaarnoth
The West
In the center and western portions of the Azgaarnothian map, the "Western" nations, Liria and her rebellious spawn (Travenia, Travesimia, and Bedia, among a few others), are nations exhausted by conflict from both inside and out.
Liria was once a proud empire stretching from the farthest western tip to the distant reaches of what is now Zhi. The Eldar essentially ruled Liria by proxy, through their Firstborn and human children in the courts of Liria, first in peace and then later doing battle against her ancient Hordish enemies. Aside from the never-ending battles of conquest and survival in eastern Azgaarnoth, all was well. In time, the Eldar were gone, and the status quo remained.
But the stress of governance and fighting an implacable foe led to drains on populace and resources for a far-off war that the governed barely understood and rarely supported. Resentment turned to anger and then to organized resistance. At first the rebellious cities were quietly brought back under Lirian rule, but over time the rebellions grew in both size and number. First one city successfully threw off Lirian rule, then another and another and another.
Such rebellious children found governance no easier, either. Each in turn faced their own internal rebellions as the locals found little to no relief from the far-off wars, this time over governance rather than Hordish armies. As city after city spun away and gathered with others to form new nations, Liria found itself needing to accede to the status quo in order to focus on its primary enemy... even as the Hordish threat itself was diminished by its own internal stirrings.
An uneasy peace has settled across the nations of the West, but ancient distrust and unforgotten history could easily flare into open war once again, particularly if looming threats fade and leave no easy enemy to unite against. To the southwest, on the continent of Chidia, three major powers engage in near-constant warfare with one another, battling by proxy there, lest the carnage of war strike too close to homes too recently ravaged and barely recovered.
The Northeast
To the northeast, where the land is still hot, but water is plentiful and grasslands stretch from horizon to horizon, the religious-dominant nations of Al'Uma, formed of tribes of horse-borne who ride over those wide grasslands, where they wrestle with each other over theology, ancient grievances, and sometimes just for fun. This distinctly Arab-influenced culture is split between two religious figures from their history, related by theology but distanced by doctrine, and the two battle each other incessantly only when they do not battle their more ancient enemies, the Hordes--even though those Hordes migrated south (and then south again) ages ago. The Al'Uma slowly teeter towards religious chaos as the unifying threat that held them together slowly seems to be less and less relevant.
The East
In the east and southeast, the Hordes themselves have fractured and split--twice. The "classic" orcs-and-goblin-hordes, the Hordes of Ulm, are in the far south, battling against a "dark" empire, Dradehalia, whose "darkness" stems from an iron and unbending will to survive against that Horde. Led by the distant descendant of the Horde Warlord Ulm, the Ulmhorde seeks nothing less than the complete destruction and subjugation of Dradehalia--followed by the rest of the world.
The second group of Hordes, the United Hordes of Tragekia, lie to the north of Ulm, and have begun to discover the power of civilization--and some of the restrictions and rules around it. Repeated incursions from the Ulmhorde push them back towards their barbarous roots even as growing trade with the West convinces the tribes of the benefits of civilization, with periodic spats of national disagreement between themselves, the Al'Umans, and the Lirians. The Tragekian Hordes rest on a knife's edge of either sliding back into barbarism or moving to join the rest of the world in civilized discourse.
The third of the Hordish collectives is even further north, and further along the path of societal growth. Made up of stragglers who chose not to flee south, this group was ruthlessly united by a far-thinking minotaur two milennia ago, and is by far the most racially-egalitarian, not only of the Hordish world, but all of Azgaarnoth. Yithia--the lands of the Principality of Yithi and the Theocracy of Zhi--is a land that truly cares more for what one does than how one was born. This is an Asian-inspired culture, complete with many of the traditionlly Asian approaches to the world, including a strong faith in acnestral spirits and mysticism, and Yithia sports a hot, wet, grassland-and-swamp climate to go with that Asian mindset.
The South
Here stands the lands of Dradehalia and the Ulmhorde, forbidding and foreboding. Dradehalia, where a dark, mysterious, and genuinely frightening figure has forged a brutal weapon out of the darkest of crises. Known only by the moniker of "Dread Emperor", he rules with an iron fist, but about himself, nothing is known--not even if his rule for the past centuries is by one person, or if each successor takes up the name and mantle to keep their enemies guessing.
History tells that the Dread Emperor came to power by being willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure his nation's survival against the howling Hordes of Ulm crashing down upon his people--but in the time since, a more disturbing question arises: Is the Dread Emperor willing to let go of whatever dark and foul magics and deeds he felt necessary to secure his peoples' freedom, or will he utilize them and enhance them, seduced by them to seek to conquer the known world, all in the name of that "security"?