There are several imperial powers in the game region, none of whom can remotely be described as being at the height of their power. Starting from the north:

• Yamato Shogunate: a coastal nation stretching for about a thousand miles along the southern shore of the Ebon Gulf to the Northwall Mountains. in this pseudo-Japanese country, toxic Bushido, power hungry nobles, and statistically significant number of demon-possessed ex-warlocks all make for a recipie of frustration for the current Shogun.
• Elven Principalities: the oldest of the empires, it's history goes all the way back into the Divine Age. Currently ruled by High King Regis II, who generally leaves the Great Houses to their own devices while he forges his own path to immortality. The Great Houses are perpetually one assassination away from a twelve-way genocidal blood feud, amuse themselves with a level of political and social intrigue that can only be mastered with hundreds of years of practice, and can best be described as excessively Elven.
• Asterian Empire: the most typical high fantasy pseudo-medieval empire. Mostly run (into the ground) by humans, Asteria suffers from spectacular levels of corruption. An expensive place to visit, and a lucrative land to make friends in.
• Uruk Mandarinate: The Uruks set up an empire along classical Chinese lines in the rift region where the north and south continents are separating long ago, achieved functional perfection, and haven't changed since. Tradition rules to the point of ridiculousness here, and of late, problematic districts are simply abandoned.
• Hazad Caliphate: Wedged between the coast and the Burninglass Desert, this collection of Arabian Nights-styled city-states is less unified than advertised, or as the Caliph would like. The Caliphate is also the site of the main declared war in the region: the Sultan of Arasha, northernmost of the Cities, and gateway to the Mandarinate, has decided that he could make better use of the tariffs and taxes he normally sends to the Caliph, and seceded. Officially, the Mandarinate is neutral in the conflict, as is the Wizards Octagram Council, but it is clear both groups can smell profit in the winds of war.
• Empire of the Fang: off the bottom edge of the map. Typical reptile dominated empire. Lizardmen, Kobolds, dark skinned humans, and a state religion of ancestor worship that straddles the line between Aztec and Lovecraft. Probably the most stable of the empires, and they have dinosaurs!
• Middle Empire: way over on that sub-continent off the east coast. Centuries ago, Mandarinate traders visited them, but no one has heard from them in Quite Some Time. Pseudo-Egyptian in culture and isolationist.