So this is a political map of the World of the Fields of Fire! I will give you a run down, on the way of the known world.
First off, this isn't the whole World. Just a map of the "known" world. So for example, the Frigid Beyond, (the place beyond the Wall of 1000 Guns) continues North god knows how far, but nobody's been up that far so nobody really knows exactly for sure what's up there. The top edge of the map doesn't actually represent the north pole like on a map of the Earth, it just represents how far north anybody has actually been far enough to have mapped out. The endless blue, is pretty much the edge of the world to the west and the south. There's nothing out there but just, blue. Since the invention of modern technology, human explorers have gone forth with boats, planes, and even airships, trying to find the edge. But most have either turned back for lack of food and fuel, or never returned at all. The eastern ocean is the border of the known world to the east, but that actually has been explored by the Atherians. The Dragon riders have supposedly gone out and mapped all the islands east of Atheria, but those maps are a closely guarded secret of the Council of the Soaring Flame.
Zytira
So as you can see Zytria, the homeland of our protagonists, is a pretty big deal in the world. It's about half of the size of the United States, and is the closest thing the world of The Fields of Fire has to a super power. It's been a kingdom for about three hundred years, the Continent that Zytria is located on, known as Artellia, was once under the control of the Elves. After the collapse of an ancient Elven empire roughly a thousand years ago, the land was then under the control of feuding kingdoms of humans, elves and dwarves, with the elves still being the dominant power in the land. The beginning of the end of Elvish rule came when a human mercenary named Arthyn Torus betrayed the Elvish King that had hired him, and conquered the city of Zytriad. By playing the elvish kingdoms off of each other Arthyn Torus managed to wage a campaign of conquest across the entire continent virtually unimpeded, and within the century Elvish rule in Artellia was at an end. The elves were either killed, fled, or were forced onto reservations by the human populations. These reservations are the Atlantean Refuge, The Elven Reserve, and Elvos. Elvos being the technical successor state of the once great elvish kingdom of the same name. The humans also subjugated the Dwarves and the Merfolk, relegating the Merfolk to the shores near the Atlantean refuge, and the Dwarves to the mountain home of Dwarvia. At that point they set their eyes across the seas and began taking colonies across the world.
Zytria is an Authoritarian Monarchy, where power is typically shared between the King / Queen and a council of the Counts, Dukes and Lords of the kingdom. But since Queen Mara Torus ascended to the throne, the council has seen its power wain substantially. Before the start of the dragon War with Atheria, Zytria had a powerful navy of fifty Massive Dreadnaught battleships more than one hundred Battle Cruisers, with a full compliment of submarines and lighter ships. Its naval might was only exceeded by its air power, no symbol more represents the might of Zytrian power quite like the Zytrian Airship. The largest ever built was the two thousand foot long Pride of Parthun, And the Atherian Military has about fifteen fully functional, "Sky Fortress" class Airships, each around 1200 feet long. The army consists of 3 Million trained and armed soldiers, not including the incredibly well armed civilian population. The Zytrian economy saw rapid industrialization under king Parthun Torus, but a significant portion of the population still work as tenant farmers for the various noble lords in Zytria.
"Do you know why the Zytrian army is the most powerful in the world? I can give you one word. Fear. The Zytrians took this land, and they've spent their whole existence as a nation terrified that someone else was going to come and take it back."
Atheria
Before the founding of this Kingdom, Atheria was merely known as the Dragon Isle. No settlement had ever taken place there due to a large population of incredibly hostile dragons, but during the times of the Elven Empire, the practice of Dragon Hunting was a common right of passage for up and coming Elvish Viceroys, and taking live dragons back for show was a popular attraction during the Empire's golden age.
When the city of Elvos fell to Zytrian forces, a small Armada of refugee ships led by an Elvish peasant named Alexios Damarac set sail for the Dragon Isles, in hopes they could wait there for a change in the winds before heading for the Elvish Kingdom of Atlantae. Upon arriving, a dragon attacked their ships. Alexios Damarac was killed by the Dragon and their fleet was crippled and unable to leave the shores of the island. In the weeks of fear that followed a boy of age 11, fascinated by the Dragons, found a dragon in the night and attempted to communicate with it. The effort became the first known instance of Dragon bonding. The boy led a peace between the elven refugees and the Dragons and two decades later the elves on the island founded the Realm of Atheria, which they determined would be governed jointly by a Grand Council of the Populus, a democratic institution with final authority on matters of taxes, regulation, and internal matters, and the Council of the Soaring flame, a council of Dragon Riders that would decide on matters of war and diplomacy. Atheria was declared then a nation not only for the elves, but for all those who fled human oppression, and rose up as a direct mirror to the growing influence of mankind in the world. Atheria shunned all modern technologies and trade, relying instead on magic for the conveniences of everyday life. The Atherians were largely peaceful, although virulently against Zytrian expansion. Not until the start of the Dragon War against Zytria, did the world truly realize the military might that the magical kingdom possessed.
"Dragons are magic, until you watch them burn a city. Then, they're just like any other weapon. Magnificent in the eyes of death, horror to the eyes of men."
Alzca
Alzca is a continent once ruled exclusively by the Orcs. Many centuries after the fall of the Elven Empire, elvish warriors seeking to carve out kingdoms of their own invaded Alzca and turned into colonial protectorates for the various Elvish kingdoms they represented. The fight for the land was fierce, and conflict between the Elves and Orcs was near constant, until roughly a century after the first colonists arrived in Alzca, a movement towards revolution sprang up among the elvish population living there. Tired from decades of rule by kings living thousands of miles away, the Elvish population of Alzca revolted against their colonial overlords. In a war that would last a decade, Elven colonists allied themselves to the orcs and ended the rule of the Elvish kingdoms in Alzca. From the ashes of colonial rule they founded a new government based on the principal of direct democracy. All matters are decided by the entire population every year at an event called "The Convening." And an intentional hybridization program by the early Alzcan government incentivized marriages between Orcs and Elves, forming a new race of half elf half orc hybrids known as the Alzcans.
Political divisions eventually split the original, "Free Alzcan Union" into three competing nations, who have been locked in conflict for decades. Zytria and Alzca have a significant rivalry because of two wars the Zytrians fought in Alzca, and also due to Zytrian racism towards the Alzcans, who they claim to be sub-living hybrid scum.
"Free people, are free to kill eachother. That's the lesson I learned from my time in the ARNA."
Lanthro
Is a forested land inhabited by telepathic hive-minded forest animals who kill all sentient creatures on sight. Efforts to colonize the land have been met with fierce resistance by the local animal population. From crows diving suicidally into the engines of planes, to squirrels destroying all electrical line on site, to deer trampling and impaling humans on mass, the animal population of Lanthro is strong, coordinated, and has managed to succecsfully defend against colonization for a millennia. Recently Zytria has managed to set up a few coastal colonies, but its not uncommon for these colonies to simply stop existing, wiped off the map by large scale animal attacks.
The Kingdom of Fairies
It was declared a holy place by the founder of the Elven empire about two thousand years ago. Since then it was considered very taboo to go into Fairy land. It wasn't until the rule of king Parthun that the Fairy Kingdom first faced human colonists. The Fairies are sworn against violence, so they are unable to fight back against the Zytrians. But by using magic, they've managed to make human expansion further into the Fairy Kingdom very difficult. Though it is commonly understood that the time of the fairies is nearing its end, and hundreds of thousands of fairies have emigrated to Atheria fleeing the violence, many of them very willing to join the fight against their human oppressors.
Vampiros, Noctor, Termina
These are the Vampire duchies. Frozen lands by vampires that have been alive longer than any history book could possibly describe. The vast majority of the population of these duchies are human slaves, who are ruled over with an iron fist by their Vampiric overlords. The vampires are famous for their brutality, and are locked in an unending war with the frozen horde.
The Eternal Hunt
Werewolves
The Tribal Region
The wall was originally built by the elves to keep out the fierce northern tribes of humans. But when the wall was built and the Elven Empire's northern border was secure, the immense financial and strategic undertaking of the wall's construction meant that the Elven Empire was near bankruptcy. Desperate to right the finances of his nation, the Elven Emperor at the time, invited across millions of humans to serve as slaves for his people. The offer to the humans was simple, serve as slaves and your children will be born free, south of the wall and safe in the summer lands. Many thousands upon thousands of humans took up the deal, and went south. But the deal was not what they expected. Despite a great deal of human integration into Elven society, the elves renegged on their agreement. They were freed yes, but made peasants and serfs. They were forced to work Elven land without pay, and many found that servitude in on an Elven estate and slavery are quite similar. The Human's status as second class citizens created resentment. Over the course of many hundreds of years the Humans who crossed the walls would forget the ways of the north, they didn't however forget the elven betrayal.
Not everyone crossed The Wall of 1000 Guns, however. Many humans, declined the offer of slavery to live in the summer lands. These men, the Tribesmen, saw the world spin past them. A thousand years of isolation have kept them in the stone age, while the world has been moved to great technilogical achievements. Flanked on all sides by werewolves, giants, Vampires and monsters, the Tribesmen of the Frigid Beyond have become incredibly resilient. Though they still harbor a burning hatred of their fellow humans who chose slavery over freedom, they too wish to see the summer lands, but on their own terms. They will come not as slaves, but as free men, seeking to build a free land.
"Oy, you say ya didn't build the wall? Ya sayin it was the elves dat did it? Let me tell ya somethin, sentryborn. The people guardin this wall are all da same no matter the race dey are. They're slaves, keepin free men from bein as free as they can be."
The Dragon War
1 Month after the coronation of Queen Mara Torus, the vultures were circling. The brother of the dead king Parthun Torus, was pushing his claim to the throne. Uncertainty ruled, as many called for the Queen's removal from her position as Queen Regnant.
Then, in a night as normal as any other, the entire council of Atherian Dragon riders attacked the city of Arland, and burned it to the ground. 250,000 people died in the attack, and in its aftermath a declaration of war was issued to the Royal palace in Zytriad. They demanded that the Zytrian monarchy be abolished, all land south of Zytriad harbor be returned to the rightful rule of the elves that once lived there, the Zytrian Army, Navy and Airforce be entirely disarmed, that all Zytrian colonies be abandoned, and that those guilty of crimes against the good of all people be brought to justice for their actions against the magical population of Zytria. The Queen obviously rejected these demands and rallied her people for war.
The Zytrian military commanders believed that the Atherians had over played their hand. They thought a decisive victory against the Atherians was the only plan of action, and immediately began preparations for an invasion. The Zytrian military had a large modernized fleet, of fifty dreadnought class battleships, one-hundred battle cruisers, and ten air craft carriers, the Atherian navy was made of wooden sail powered boats. The first naval battles, however, reflected the reality that Atherian magic made them a potent fighting force. Zytrian ships were sunk by the hundreds, as lightning bolts from Atherian Sorcerers electrocuted everyone on board the metallic boats, before they were brought into the see by fireballs that ripped their hulls apart. Firing on Atherian ships was a mostly futile effort, as sorcerers used their magical powers to shield their schooners from enemy attack.
As the naval war began to falter, the Atherians launched prepared invasion on Zytrian held islands in the eastern ocean. One by one these islands began to fall to the superior combat prowess of Atherian magical infantry. The only real success the Zytrians ever saw was using a technique called, "shock bombing." By refueling at sea, and in the air using air ships, Zytrian planes were able to fly in and out of Atherian air space quite quickly, and destroy targets without much resistance. It was this short term success in the air war that drove the Zytrian air corps to order a full scale bombing raid of the Atherian capital. A decision that would prove to be made in folly.