Zroltol

Population.

Comprised mainly of the Dwarves, Blessed (Aasimars), Tainted (Tieflings), the Touched (Genasi), Dracons (Dragonborn) & Kobolds, Centaurs & Cervitaurs, Satyrs, Tabaxi, Giantkind (Giants, Ogres, & Firbolgs), Half-Orcs and Dragons. Humans being present on the periphery. There are also minorities such as of Canidae, Gnomes, Goblins, Goliaths, Grimalkin, Halflings, Lutrina, Minotaurs, Yuan-ti Purebloods, and Blood Elves.

Briefest History

Long ago, the lands of Zroltol were always known as the nexus in which the outer planes would do battle for strategic supremacy due to the region's uncanny property of it being easily accessible from outer planes. Through the many years of it being in the prime material, civilization, both mortal and non-mortal, progress to not only revolve around wars but also other things.

Culture.

Predominantly Dwarvish with importance in stone and metalwork. Throughout the ages, racial cultures become intertwined with each other. With its latest cultural assimilation is of the influence of the Oriental ways of Akatsushima & Jeles and the technological innovation of Nolis. The individual nationality is strong in each Zroltollian, with each city-state or territory having their own resource exclusive to them.

Rulers of different nations and city-states of the Zroltollian Conglomerate include Dragon Kaisers, the Dwarven King & Houses, the Giant Konungr, the Half-Orc Tribes' Council, the Empyrian Justicar, the Tiefling Overlords, the Tabaxi Raja Triumvirate, the Centaur Warchief, and the Human Royalties.

Intrinsically, the whole of Zroltol follows the Disciplines of the Elements. Religion is sort of a hobby here not that it makes a difference. The whole region does not care about what god you believe in but only on what you do (whether it is good or bad).

Of War and Magic.
The whole of Zroltol puts importance on martial prowess than a magical one. The philosophy on this is that if an archer fails to shoot the target, he can practice with time and perfect it without hindrances and affectations to the probability of him hitting the target. While with magic, the understandin of Zroltollian scholars, mages, and even philosophers is that magic is a phenomenon that can be hard to fully understood. A mage that has mastered a spell will always be magically exhausted by sometime (unless then understand the secret of the Nolissians then they will never know of cantrips). Also, magic has a lot of variables going into it. It can be unstable. It can be nulled. It can simply not work one day. If you perfect magic, then you might as well be a god.

Of Sex and Music.
Outside Zroltol, sex is taboo and music is a form of entertainment and art. In Zroltol, it is known that music is taboo due to the belief that an individual's emotion and bare soul is expressed in music whether it takes the form of singing or playing an instrument. With this in mind, singing or playing an instrument out in the public and not in private will surely get some looks from the public and some city-states may prosecute the violator. On the other side of the coin, sex is seen as an activity, a semi-sport, a basic need, a service and the culture has taken progression on sex positivity and its safety. Sex is accepted as a part of life, not a thing that puts malice on everyday life.

Of Crime and Punishment.
Crime is regulated by a policing entity called simply rangers that is tasked by the Conglomerate per city-state. The rangers serve as city-state and even nearby villages or towns are included under their watch. As for punishment, accused are sent to the city-state Conglomerate judgement houses and are judged by a jury. If the accused is guilty, there are a number of punishments that is picked by the jury based on the crime. Punishments include death, forced diver conscription, and imprisonment for a duration based on crime and race life expectancy. Usually, all guilty accused are given the judgement of death as the region believes in an eye for an eye philosophy. The Conglomerate can interfere to let the accused be imprisoned instead of being executed. Imprisonment will be in the respective city-states or when needed, be escalated to Taros, the only known maximum security prison under the Conglomerate. If the jury percieves the accused to be of a combatant and a threat, the judgement of forced diver conscription can be given to the accused. Those accused are to be sent to the nearest diver training institutions and are taught to be expendable divers.

Of Education.
By the mandate of the Conglomerate, all citizens under the Conglomerate has the right to primary education. As such, schools are present in the city-states. The Conglomerate believes that for general progress, education of the population is essential. It is also ruled by the Conglomerate that all those who excel at certain sciences and studies are to be given a higher form of education in the handful prestigious colleges and universities located in Kaldeerra, the Conglomerate's capital.

Of Religion.
The most common belief of the people of Zroltol is that mortalkind can still defy the will of the gods. A commoner may or may not believe in a god but he will for sure know what is his part in society whether it be a job or passion. As such priests and worship of the gods are accepted but religion is not that important for some people. The presence of portals to the outerplanes, the Blessed (Aasimars), and the Tainted (Tiefling) solidify the fact that there are deities present outside the plane. People are given the freedom of who they can worship and majority of the city-states approve the worship of even those who are deemed evil as long as no malice of any kind is done in the name of worship. Some people think that religion is not needed, just morality. What's more important is what they can do in the day. With this in mind, the Elemental Disciplines became the dominant way of life acting as a pseudo-religion in a way as there is no deity to worship, just a way of life to live by. Each person can believe in a discipline and follow its tenets and philosophies mingling with ones morality.

Technology and Magic.

Technological enhancements are not as good as Nolis's due to the Conglomerate's view of being anti-extreme capitalism. A communist approach has been engraved on the Conglomerate's decisions over the years. With this in mind, the technology of the Zroltollian Conglomerate is divided to the cities to form the whole that is the Conglomerate. For example, metal works are confined on the capital of Khaldeerra and are exported only when needed, requested, or bought by other city-states. Then the Conglomerate sends whatever they requested (this is provided that it is approved). Another example is that ship works are confined to the city-states that are near bodies of water.

Magic on Zroltol is understood as part of the world. A person with magic is rare but not surprising. Usually, if a mortal knows magic, they would have a better life than those without. A lot of Zroltollians have seen their fair share of magic. Examples of which are the mithals on some city-states and the the Dragon Kaisers of the Dragonbelt Nations and their magic. Magic is like a tree, it can be used as a resource said by one of the members of the High Council of the Conglomerate.

Much of the history of the region is found on the scriptures of the wars of old. That is why there are a few of the city-states that have working portals to the outerplanes and elemental planes. The Conglomerate has understood that this is a resource and is needed to be harvested and be used upon. With this in mind, Zroltol has a good amount of magic objects and items that are not found anywhere in the plane.

Of Transportation.
Transportation is mainly through horses, camels, and, if you have coin, elephants. Ships on Zroltol have two types, the traditional and the pulled. The traditional is made up of metal and are fuelled by rocks similar to coal in other parts of the world. The pulled ships are either made up of metal or wood and are usually propelled by a beast in front that pulls it. The beast can be whatever as long as it is controllable and tameable. A singular large beast or a swarm of beasts can be used as pullers of ships. The pulled ships are mainly seen used by pirates on this side of the world.

Of Warfare.
With war between city-state possible at any moment (as dictated by the Conglomerate), weapons are a staple for every city-state. Many city-states have specialized technological advancements of weapons of war but the staple for every army of city-states are the arms of its army. Martial weapons are a staple and creating them is a serious craft.

Threats.

Due to the Conglomerate's efforts, the threat of war is non-existent as of the moment. The only threats to watch out for are only three things according to the recent summit of the Conglomerate; first, the other alliances outside of Zroltol, these include Nolis and even the brewing Zresan Independence Movement; second, there are many portals to other planes found in Zroltol, those found in the city may be policed but those outside of city-state surveillance can cause extraplanar beings and creature incursions; third, criminal threats and societies, this is a given as this is present wherever civilization is. All this mixed with the presence of manifestations and divers make Zroltol an interesting place.
[Meta: The region has all of the three pillars of play in these forms. The social pillar is present in the form of political intrigue. The exploration and combat pillars are present in the form of portals to other planes as dungeons or even incursions of beings as combat encounters. Also, criminal threats is a given here.]