Xenoflare- you've been busy!
I'm in Adelaide, presently. I'm not sure about Canberra, as I haven't been there since I was very young (like, 4 years old)... so, a little hazy on that.
Contact with Rome? Whoa... that does boggle the mind a little!
Spice Wars....cooool. There's already an interest in trade within the campaign, so this an excellent suggestion.
On magic items- That's heaps great! It'll be nice to have a completely different idea behind magic. The spirits trying to become material again....loving this.
Looks like I should remove most of the item creation feats.
On Astur- Have babies for your god....
It sounds like our government's latest suggestion to "have another child for the nation"...
More seriously, though... it would be better for them to be more tolerant. Originally, I've had this group as a major trading power in the Delta. Perhaps they are trying to "correct" the Selanese in their impressions of Astur.
Not sure if I want to go into celestial bloodlines... although I already have spirit-touched. Hmmm.... they could have a Astur specific kind of spirit-touched to represent this. As to the nature of Astur itself...
This'll probably require a bit more thought, but I like where it's going so far.
We have a good State library here (I've already found some great sources) so if you'd like to share your references, that would be excellent.