Definitely peoples rather than nations. They can play the rulers of nations later on, but unless it's a dictatorship, they'll still have councils/advisors/etc. to run through ;)

A part of it will definitely be trying to make sense of the Old World! Depending on the submissions I get, it'll be anywhere between a heavy focus or a light glance.

And I've definitely got history there, it's just that when the empire fell... well,  it fell [b]hard[/b], and very little is left to actually study. Think along the lines of the real life dark ages; we know shit happened, we just don't know what shit. 

Play wise, I want it to be heavily intrigue and interpersonal relationships based. The CS will have a 'Goals' section, for players to write compelling goals for their characters to carry out.

[@Aristo]