A brief rundown of the visible nations:
The Empires:
The Maronian Empire and the Dzhugaran Empire are fragments of a pre-existing Empire known as the Wodan Empire. There are five fragmentary peices of the Empire. The peace between the new Empires is a tentative one at best, with much nationalistic hatred. There are frequent border raids between them, though war is undeclared as of yet. The only other new Empire named by me (I have trouble naming things) is the Wodan Empire, which is the fragment that retained the original name. I'll only be discussing the Maronian and Dzugharan Empires in this post, however.
Maronian Empire:
The Maronian Empire is the beacon of "Imperial Knowledge" in the east. They hold the only surviving Imperial Library of the original Empire, which the have renamed "Imperial Library of Maronia". It is located in the capital, Maron, and was protected from the Shattering by it's location in the east (most of the fighting in the Shattering occurred in the center of the continent). Therefore, the Maronian Empire has much of the original knowledge and technology of the original Wodan Empire. However, the Empire has recently been influenced by a religious cult, worshipping Ellongi, the Unknowable. Ellongi and his cult are old, dating back to before even the original Wodan Empire. Ellongi is known as the "Unknowable" because even his highest priests do not know his true motives. More then a few kings, emperors and other important figures have fallen to his machinations, though few even know he was involved, so slight are his nudges. The Emperor has not yet formally converted, because he needs to secure his hold over the Empire, but there is already talk among the peasantry of revolution and a return to the ancient Republic and the renewed worship of Talos the Architect, Temin the Author, and Kanor the Athlete (the Three Sons of Machea, a God of the Maronian people, before he was killed by an unkown God).
The Maronian people themselves are the majority here, however, as in the new Wodan Empire, they are headed by a Wodan Emperor. This causes some dissent amongst the citizens.
The Maronian people themselves look almost like humans, except for a few small differences. They have larger eyes, vestigial wings (after they lost flight their winds became ornamental, for sexual attraction purposes), shorter, stockier, and less body hair (most are bald, though a sizeable portion have hair on their heads and a very few have facial hair. Facial hair is much admired by the Maronian race, and anyone lucky enough to be born with it is usually considered beautiful/handsome (male and female). Their wings are private, except for certain times each lunar cycle, when they come out of a slit that forms over their shoulder blades. The first emergence of these wings indicates the onset of puberty in the Maronian people.
The wings, though not feathered, do vary in colour. None are simply skin coloured. Each person has a specific wing pattern with specific colours, and it seems to be random as to what each individual gets. Some have larger wings, some smaller, though larger wings are generally preferred.
During the week-long period (roughly) that these wings are visible, the Maroni individual has to wear specially made clothing (in the colder areas) or go topless (the norm when wings emerge). Eventually, after about one week, the wings recede back into the body and the slit closes. The opening of the slit is a painful event, and this pain is usually controlled by the use of certain plants (drugs).
The Maronian people have long envied the Northlands for their valuable mineral deposits, and the current Empire holds this view too. War with the Northlands may be a possibility in the near-future, although, if all three nations of the Northlands mobilize to meet the threat, victory may be a distant goal.
The State religion is the worship of Attanua, a Wodan God of Knowledge, but most of the actual citizenry worship the Three Sons.
Whew! More to come...
Can't wait to buy my copy of "The earthseed saga" 
