And also, there are likely other nations that would try and pick up on some of the tricks they have...
Ymaryn Kingdom
"King": Brynn The Reformer
Having helped lead the nation out of armageddon alongside other greats like King Bedwyr and Dragon General Dafydd she is a very talanted administrator even among her own people. she may not be as storied as other great leaders, but her keen mind and desire to renovate and reform shall be key in the uncertain future the nation is facing.
Land: This Is Our Dirt!
Their land is a very verdant one, filled with the sacred forests that supply their vast foundries with charcoal while keeping the land healthy. Their farms are bountiful, comparing surprisingly well in spite of the lack of automation and magic, sustaining impressive cities, and a sizable amount of specialists and scholars, with massive libraries detailing all the records the were able to gather from their world. But, they are massively lacking in supernatural resources and knowledge, and have only recently started walking the path of gunpowder. And to make matters worse, as wardens of the land, the would sooner collapse before letting any idiots try and take their land, and will not accept options that they know will harm their land, which will likely force inventiveness to make up for it in the relatively short term.
Rule: Ymaryn Bureaucracy!
The ymaryn people are very, VERY hardworking, and are legendary for their bureaucracy. Between their terrifying levies that are more accurately hordes of professional soldiers, the very well oiled machine that is their famed ironworks, producing what their world saw as masterworks at industrial scales through sheer manpower. The Ymaryn are organized and led via a massive, elite bureaucracy that ensures everything moves as smoothly as possible
The Ymaryn
Ideology: Elected monarchy
Power Scale: Secondary Power/Great Power?
Leader: Brynn The Reformer
Population: approximately 60 Million People(not counting possible fluctuations caused from people appearing from multiple points in their history)
Positive Traits:
The Fire is of Warm: The Ymaryn has a long and storied history of sowing chaos among their enemies. Ranging from mundane methods such as inspiring revolutions intended or not all the way up to accidentally effectively smiting a rival's whole entirely military via maths and a meteor. All at the low cost of spreading chaos.( Bonus to causing incidents to weaken enemies. Actions may have unintended consequences and special ones unlocked.)
This is My Dirt!: Taking care of their land is practically a divine duty to them. The priests are a vital aspect of their whole farming and forestry system, serving as advisors and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the land. This duty extends to nearly the whole population to the point that there is no faster way to make them a mortal enemy than take even a small bit of land, for they WILL do everything in their power and then some to take it back.( The Ymaryn are fiercely protective of their land, seeking to protect it from both bad practices and foreign invaders)
The Grand Ironworks: Very few groups can claim to produce the amount of iron tools that the Ymaryn does, and even fewer can say they do it without factories. And yet, the Ymaryn ironworks built up over the years since the discovery of iron boasts production at a scale even industrial powers can't help but respect.(The Ymaryn have massive access to iron tools, at a level that logically would only otherwise been achievable through the power of industrial processes.)
Ymaryn Bureaucracy: If there is one thing that the Ymaryn is famed for, it's their Bureaucrats. Their administrators are among the best in the field, and are the backbone of how nearly every aspect of society works. They help the food go where it's needed, and the fertilizer to the crops. They help every soldier be armed from the vast armory of Ymaryn-made equipment and keep them fed and watered. They keep the census up to date, a positively herculean task for such a large nation. And they do all that with just paper, quill, and an army of fellow bureaucrats.(Ymaryn has unparalleled ability in organization which is needed given the sheer scale the nation operates at)
Negative Traits:
The Fire is of Warm: The Ymaryn has a long and storied history of sowing chaos among their enemies. Ranging from mundane methods such as inspiring revolutions intended or not all the way up to accidentally effectively smiting a rival's whole entirely military via maths and a meteor. All at the low cost of spreading chaos.( Bonus to cause incidents. May have a bonus to handle ripple effects, but the power is still an agent of chaos.)
This is My Dirt!: Taking care of their land is practically a divine duty to them. The priests are a vital aspect of their whole farming and forestry system, serving as advisors and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the land. This duty extends to nearly the whole population to the point that there is no faster way to make them a mortal enemy than take even a small bit of land, for they WILL do everything in their power and then some to take it back.(The Ymaryn will be slower to adopt new methods, as they will refuse methods that would hurt the land. As well as the fact they are duty bound to retake any land they lost, even if it means tearing themselves apart in the process.)
Vestiges of arrogance: Even after the very painful reality check that was the Mongols, and the fall of the revanchist party. There is still remnants that need shook off, combined with the fact reforms to shake off institutional rust and open social mobility are still ongoing, something which may still face pushback. (The nation is in the middle of a major reform process, and so still face some problems from their age of arrogance.)
Still Only Human: While one may be forgiven on focusing on the famed administration, and the grand forge works. They are still a nation of humans, without any advanced tech and/or magic to bridge the gap between human baseline and what is now possible. This is especially important among their soldiers, as even before counting raw power gap, they had a long history of being outmatched individually, with only the banners formed after their collapse managing to get to a similar level. Their Administrators, while they are unparalleled among most human factions, are mostly able to keep up with their overall workload by sheer numbers. The Smiths, while reliable producing high quality at absurd numbers, with their grand smiths making carbon nanotubes with great effort, they pale in comparison to any truly elite smith, being limited by physics, and their admittedly insanely optimized kilns( For all their numbers, they don't quite have the same quality others roughly in their power level have. )
