Kingdoms of the World

[Solomon's Lesser Key]

Kou

Ruler: Emperor Lu-Tsen Nuwa 
Goals: As one of the world's leading super-powers, they still actively search for ways to grow their borders. Thankfully, a lot of the continent that they're expanding on is free of the other super powers, so no major war has come as of yet. With this, they look for any excuse to get additional power, whether it's through making legions of mages support their army, or whether its through underhanded political stratagems.  
Culture: Kou, like most countries based upon a heritage hierarchy, is extremely elitist. Adoption is a common concept in Kou, as by adding more respectable members of society (i.e. generals and politicians), the family's honor as a whole is increased. They are also highly stooped in tradition, and are strong neophobic, hating anything that gets in the way of their ancient religions. This is why so many more of the ancient buildings from Kou's history is standing compared to, say, Reim. 
Religion: The Kou Empire, by and large, is a country made up of atheists. Indeed, even the national religion of Kou isn't one that actually believes in a god. They are the prominent followers of the "Chuang" religious system, which focuses around enlightenment and becoming unified with the rukh collective. 
Traits: Kou has a mix of Chinese and Japanese heritage, thus requiring the people who come from there to have names based off of the Asian naming system (last name, first name) and their fashion is similarly Chinese. 

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Reim

Ruler: Emperor Julius Vesanius
Goals: [/font]Culture: The Reim empire is rather diplomatic. Although there are noble families, such as the Tophysse family that currently runs Concilium, most cities and towns work off of a local council. This results in quite an egalitarian society with few exceptions. Because of that, the Imperial position is highly up for grabs after the death of the last Emperor. It almost always comes from the noble families, but it focuses more about the selection of the resident magi rather than blood ties.
Religion: Reim is extremely religious, second only to Sasan in its religious tendencies. However, unlike the extreme requirements of a believer in Sasan, Reim's belief system is that of the Devan religion, which focuses more around the concept of living in a way god would approve of rather than being completely servile to god.
Traits: The Reim empire is heavily based off of the Roman Empire, which involves clothes, armor, and even weapons.Events such as gladiator matches and chariot races are common place, and very little is actually frowned upon, including black rukh.

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Heliohapt

Ruler: King Chike Harakhty
Goals: Heliohapt is quite a hard country to understand the goals of. More than anything, they appear to want to be able to consolidate their power into one smooth government at the moment, as the last ten years have been extremely dangerous, with assassination after assassination of major figures, fueling the power struggle that has made the climate so dangerous. However, beyond that, they want to be able to protect their lands, hence the potential conflict against Reim for border disputes.
Culture: Heliohapt has a very strong class structure. It's not difficult to raise yourself through the ranks, all it takes is money and people being able to vouch for your decency. Yet, at the same time, the upper classes are a very dangerous breed. It's become almost a tradition to have a constant power struggle, which has resulted in entire families being killed during the past few years.
Religion: Heliohapt has a very personal religion, one that few people outside of the lands actually believe in. Understanding that the rukh is in everything, they see everything as being, in some way, sentient, and believe that there are gods who reign over certain things such as the sun, the harvest, the rivers, and et cetera.
Traits: Heliohapt is, mostly, focused around Ancient Egypt. Thus, that matches their clothing style. yet, even beyond that, they have an unhealthy obsession with gold, frequently wearing it as necklaces or as decorative head-pieces. Finally, snakes play an important part in their culture, as snakes are linked with their upper classes, and wearing a live snake around the neck is a sign of high status.

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Balbadd

Ruler: King Jaral Karalius
Goals: Balbadd, having suffering economically due to being one of the smallest kingdoms in the world, is focused around the concept of being able to secure their position in the world. Not through conquering other places, they are smart enough to know they're too small for something like that, but by controlling major markets like the iron market, due to their territories' natural reserves. 
Culture: Karalius' reign has focused a lot on the concept of money making the man; Family and heritage matter little, as long as you have a lot of money to your name. This has caused a large split among the population, resulting in a huge decrease in charity and causing the worse off members of society to wind up in the slums that cover a full third of the capital city. 
Religion: albadd, being a huge trade nation more than anything else, is an amalgamation of the main three religions, but there is no officially designated "true" religion.