As to map claims, I wouldn't get your heart set on anything. For one thing, I'm going to be allocating superpowers first. For the second, I'm going to be putting a bunch of you together. 

Beyond that, I want to work up major religions and a history that includes at least one recent major war that helps explain the current uncomfortable situation -- so that would mean former superpowers relegated to a lesser status due to wear, tear and attrition. We'll see who shows up, but that old world history is going to have a key role in shaping the history of the setting.

I'll probably roll up a lesser power myself and see what I get. I've done a South African style state with rich mineral resources in an insurgency situation and I've done a Francoist Spain-style fascist-whatever state with an aging dictator and a creaky old military and very little prospect for economic development, and I've enjoyed it all. The whole point of the random rolls is to get creative. ;)