Politics and culture:
Half-orcs make up the ruling class of Eyros, and the most high born can trace their ancestry back through several generations of orcish forebears. It has a long tradition of senatorial governance, with occassional periods of despotic autocracy when a particular family or individual gains dominance. Eyros is a militant society: the half-orcs in power fear it is one in decline, for they are not the iron warriors their forefathers were. The armies of Eyros tend to favor cavalry and ranged combat due to the potential large battlefields, and need for distance from plainsfires.
Because only a TRUE first-generation half-orc may ascend the Thone, the Noble families are very strict about the purity of their House lineages. There are 6 of these families, known collectively as "The Pillars". Three are Human, and Three are Orcish. The greatest political wrangling consists of arranging marriages between Orc and Human children, striving for that one first-generation child that will next take the throne. Needless to say, those half-orc noble childern that don't make the throne find themselves very,very expendable.
Eyros has very "Roman-esque" feel, Style of dress, and architecture. People favor togas, buildings have Big Columns..Large, beautiful statues of the Gods/Kings.
As is to be expected from a culture dominated by Half-Orcs, fashion throughout the realm takes it's cue from the nobles. Royal clothes are dyed red with the blood of a ritually slaughtered sacred lizard. Only one of these beasts may be sacrificed in this manner each year, making red garments both highly desireable, as well as incredibly expensive.
Additionally the green tint of a half orcs skin is seen as a sign of virility and nobility. As such there is great demand for skin dyes and cosmetics to enhance the greenish tint of the skin. Surprisingly, many of the other races have also taken to using these green cosmetics. Since Copper is the necessary ingredient for these cosmetics, it is never used as currency, and it's value has been steadily increasing throughout the realm.
Lamb is the predominant food source. Most peasants are shepherd/farmers, who save the fattest and juiciest lamb of the year as an offering for the sacred lizards at the local temples.
Religion:
The dominant and oldest religion has grown up around the worship of the reptiles which are common in the area. Other religions include an elemental fire cult and a relatively new dualistic religion. Dragons, though they feature prominently in fairy tales and children's bedtime stories, are suspicously absent from modern history. Locals believe that the large reptiles that roam the nearby wilderness are somehow linked to these dragons, which in turn represented divine forces. This is why the dominant religion focuses on reptiles.
The common folk make frequent, largely ceremonial blood sacrifice to the soil; the blood of thousands waits beneath the ground for the call of sorcery and ritual.
Each family of the ruling class also has a family god, usually a legendary ancestor, that only they worship. This god is given small offerings, usually of food or incense, at the last meal of the day and are also honored at a yearly festival, during which the idols are clothed and bejewelled in a lavish style. Families compete to have the most beautifully, and expensively, dressed idol and show them off in grand parade. It is a great disgrace and bad luck for a family to lose the idol, to have their idol destroyed or to be unable to honor it with appropriate gifts.
Other races:
The Orc-Blooded royal and noble families keep a population of elven slaves, trained from birth to be completely loyal and to practice arcane magics. They are used to make up for the fact that the Orc-Blooded themselves don't make the best arcane casters. Free elves (and other non-orc races) refer to these slave/wizard elves as "Masks," in reference to the fact that there's always an Orc-Blood "behind" them.
Dwarves, an outlawed race, seem to be the dominate race in the Jagged Eye (see below).
Government hegemony is enforced by a cadre of gnomish necromancers known as Praes Thanatos. Insurgent groups such as the Jagged Eye, and sympathisers, are suppressed by summoning small armies of undead from the ambient corpses due to sacrifical rituals. As such, dwarves and gnomes tend not to get along, as many dwarves have friends or relatives who have been pacificed by Praes Thanatos.
Halflings have escaped the Dominion of Eyros by turning to the sea- they now have gargantuan floating colonies of latched-together ships, rafts, and boats that drift with the currents. Piracy has become the backbone of halfling society, without the plunder obtained from raids along the coastlines of Eyros the halflings in their cities of floating flotsam could not survive. The most notorious of the halfling pirate gangs is the Bloodsong Buccaneers, led by the pirate-bard Captain Darrenback.
Warlike goblinoid clans make frequent raids into Eryos' northern territory.
Climate and geography:
The climate is that of the chaparral (Mediterranean climate zones) and is characterised by
mild winters, and hot dry summers. Topography includes flat plains, rocky hills and mountain slopes scrubland predominates although larger woodland areas do exist. Fires occur frequently in the grasslands and scrub.
The planet of Eyros circles a blue sun in a slightly erratic and ellipical orbit both winters and summers vary greatly from year to year (some winters are mild while others nearly snuff the life from the land). The sun appears about 75% of the size of Sol and a year is significantly longer than an Earth year. (Mouseferatu's edit, to reconcile these two facts: While these long winters don't hit Eyros that hard, as per Tonguez's post, which came first, it does impact the climate of the world as a whole, often resulting in shortages and famine in Eyros because it has fewer trading partners.)
The kingdom’s capital is the great city of Eyrdeyn (often colloquially referred to as the First City), a sprawling metropolis built upon the slopes of Mt. Xark, upon which the largest of the Grand Monarch’s fortress-palaces stands. The capital is well over three thousand years old making it the oldest settlement in Eyros still in use. Due to its long history and the general instability of Mt. Xark the city of Eyrdeyn has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, each time the city is rebuilt on the ruins of the previous city. This has created a vast underground labyrinth of ruins beneath the city, layers upon layers of ancient ruins stacked on top of each other.
Mt Xarx is a volcano and the surrounding area famed for its hot springs and spas. A tourist trade is in place serving those who seek the restorative mineral waters. The highest pool on Mt Xarx is the Royal Pool and the exclusive property of the Palace. The inner chambers chambers are kept by the Priests of the Fire Cult, a royal mystery cult.
Plot points:
A secret society of psionicists, known as the Jagged Eye, seek to overthrow the government. The underground trade in narcotics, which are often purchased by dilettante nobles, is secretly funded by the Jagged Eye.
The laurel wreath, A kind of vegetable tiara, is woven from the leaves and young branches of the laurel, Laurus psionicus, this shrub or small tree common in forest communities throughout the region. It is known by Herbalists to have anti-psionic properties. Used as a Laurel Crown (favored by nobility) it protect the wearer from Mental Intrusion. Brewed just right by a skilled hand, it also becomes a toxic substance when it is ingested by anyone with Psionic abilities.
Felra Raj-Tinar (the dashed name indicates her connection to both her orc and human House lineages) is an intelligent and well-liked young half orc who is expected by many to take the throne when the aging ruler abdicates (half-orcs have such a low life-expectancy...) Little does anyone suspect that Felra is secretly involved in a forbidden love affair with the notorious pirate captain Darrenback!