I feel like it'd be kind of fun to have a split of old-world nobility and more contemporary people of power, there could be tension there where neither generally see eye to eye but have to interact since they're all playing on the same field. Perhaps that could be the difference between nations where some have nobility still and others (probably like America since it was brought up) have different systems entirely.

Perhaps Saint Valerius has a pretty well-defined amount of classic nobility students, but has got attention from other people wealthy or powerful enough to send students recently, and have got a number of people who may be foreign to the overall culture but are still there for the education offered? It could be a small side plot if characters "from abroad" are made.

[quote=@Animal]
If guns are being considered, then it would pretty cool if they were magic based weapons, since we already have examples of magic influencing technology/services and all that. 
[/quote]

Magical firearms would probably be way easier to write duels with than actual ones if we're having any at all, though I'm not married to having them either way.