I tend to stick with humans for my nation ideas, and my world is dominated by humans. I think that humans tend to form nations more easily than other races; they have a long enough lifespan to build things but not enough to remember what they used to be, and they have an ability to view humanity as split between 'my friends' and 'those other guys' and to sustain the spirit of feuds while forgetting the details. Longer-lived races like elves and dwarves, and shorter-lived races like orcs would lack that special balance.
One thing that intrigues me is population movement. Since you have an empire that collapsed some time ago, perhaps having a nation of warrior nomadic tribes (Goths, Huns, etc) who either precipitated in the collapse but have settled down, or moved into the territory of the empire afterwards, and have now become farmers friendly to their new neighbors? That enables them to be culturally and linguistically different from their immediate neighbors, certainly with romantic attachments to historical figures others would see as brutes and conquerors, yet not causing war and bloodshed (which they would likely lose, if all of their neighbors ganged up on them) now. A kingdom whose head is descended from the warrior king who decided that it was time to settle down would be ruled by the royal family that decided that changing their ways and settling down was the best option, giving it a great deal of legitimacy. And if things went horribly wrong, they might be able to pack up and learn how to be nomads again.
Another linguistic isolate possibility is mountain people who've been there forever and sullenly hate anyone who tries to rule them. Dark, secret magics can be attributed to them, worked in a tongue nobody can speak (most of them speak some Common). Think Basques.
Nations whose ruling class is imported but are being assimilated: I'm thinking of the Kingdom of Sicily, back when the Norman French (ex-Vikings) sailed over there and took over, or the Mongols conquered the Chinese and were assimilated by them. The rulers are gradually speaking yet another language as they get raised by local nannies, and they have several bardic traditions with their individual myths, gods and songs being blended together.
Imperial collapse can leave strong feelings behind -- Yugoslavia, where a relatively homogeneous ethnic and linguistic area was left with three religions (Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim) by different waves of settlement, cultural influence and conflict, is the most strife-riven area that comes to mind. Monotheism in general exacerbates such problems, but even in a polytheistic region tolerance can be scanty; the outside influences to disrupt a western European tradition can be imported religion or language.
Jungle countries, where the merchant-kingdom only controls the coast and some of the length of a major river, and natives fill the interior. Trade goes on and provides the food and the riches for the kingdom, in exchange, but the merchants and rulers don't have a very clear idea of where the trade goods come from or what might interrupt that trade flow. And then there are pirates...
Greek city-states are neat ideas but don't adapt well to modern warfare; they can't raise a large enough army on their own and they can't afford enough mercenaries. City-states could exist in mountain valleys (think Switzerland), and you could have a collection of pseudo-democracies or petty noble states, each fiercely guarding its independence and envying its neighbors, but outside armies get repelled by militias at the mountain passes. Perhaps some of the city-states would be dwarven, and the humans could be intermediaries selling the dwarven goods as well as farming for the food both races needed.
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One thing that intrigues me is population movement. Since you have an empire that collapsed some time ago, perhaps having a nation of warrior nomadic tribes (Goths, Huns, etc) who either precipitated in the collapse but have settled down, or moved into the territory of the empire afterwards, and have now become farmers friendly to their new neighbors? That enables them to be culturally and linguistically different from their immediate neighbors, certainly with romantic attachments to historical figures others would see as brutes and conquerors, yet not causing war and bloodshed (which they would likely lose, if all of their neighbors ganged up on them) now. A kingdom whose head is descended from the warrior king who decided that it was time to settle down would be ruled by the royal family that decided that changing their ways and settling down was the best option, giving it a great deal of legitimacy. And if things went horribly wrong, they might be able to pack up and learn how to be nomads again.
Another linguistic isolate possibility is mountain people who've been there forever and sullenly hate anyone who tries to rule them. Dark, secret magics can be attributed to them, worked in a tongue nobody can speak (most of them speak some Common). Think Basques.
Nations whose ruling class is imported but are being assimilated: I'm thinking of the Kingdom of Sicily, back when the Norman French (ex-Vikings) sailed over there and took over, or the Mongols conquered the Chinese and were assimilated by them. The rulers are gradually speaking yet another language as they get raised by local nannies, and they have several bardic traditions with their individual myths, gods and songs being blended together.
Imperial collapse can leave strong feelings behind -- Yugoslavia, where a relatively homogeneous ethnic and linguistic area was left with three religions (Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim) by different waves of settlement, cultural influence and conflict, is the most strife-riven area that comes to mind. Monotheism in general exacerbates such problems, but even in a polytheistic region tolerance can be scanty; the outside influences to disrupt a western European tradition can be imported religion or language.
Jungle countries, where the merchant-kingdom only controls the coast and some of the length of a major river, and natives fill the interior. Trade goes on and provides the food and the riches for the kingdom, in exchange, but the merchants and rulers don't have a very clear idea of where the trade goods come from or what might interrupt that trade flow. And then there are pirates...
Greek city-states are neat ideas but don't adapt well to modern warfare; they can't raise a large enough army on their own and they can't afford enough mercenaries. City-states could exist in mountain valleys (think Switzerland), and you could have a collection of pseudo-democracies or petty noble states, each fiercely guarding its independence and envying its neighbors, but outside armies get repelled by militias at the mountain passes. Perhaps some of the city-states would be dwarven, and the humans could be intermediaries selling the dwarven goods as well as farming for the food both races needed.