South East Asia

Immerse yourself in the land shrouded in gold as Malacca, the heirs to the long since forgotten Srivijayan Empire, and establish hegemony over the Straits named aptly after your capital!
Perhaps Sunni Srivijaya is not up your alley? The Hindu Palembang may choose to follow in Srivijayan footsteps, or embrace the pirate past and wreak terror across the southern seas.
Maybe you wish to play a nation that's a little bit different from the usual assortment? Try Brunei, and forge an empire on the island of Borneo, and become the new Center of Islam in Nusantara.
Want to return glory and prosperity to the Archipelago? Try Majapahit, whose mission tree is going to put on a road to reforging its empire! Beware though, for first and foremost you need to weather a difficult disaster.

But the major countries are not all there is to the region.
Forge maritime empires, spanning islands upon islands as a Sulawesi State or Tidore/Ternate!
Spread Islam across the archipelago as Pasai/Aceh, sunni states on the tip of Sumatra!
Defend against Malacca and Siam and become the new hegemons of Malay Peninsula as Pahang or other states in the vicinity.
Become the first empire borne in Borneo as Kutai or any other bornean state!
Show others that the Maharlika is ascendant as one of the Filipino states.
Project the wealth of your island as one of the Sumatran states!
And finally, forge an empire rival to the Majapahit as a Javanese country!