The Imperial Powers

Muscovite Sovereignty

The beast of the east, the Tzar sees his nation as the Third Roman Empire maintaining traditions of faith & society stretching from antiquity.  As such, he covets the Holy Roman Empire to validate his legacy,  as well as the Caucus Emirates for territory. In the Orient, the Sovereignty suffered a loss at the hands of the Pacific Empire. To massage its sore pride, the Sovereignty is consolidating control of Mongolia and making inroads into the Afghani Kush.
Targets of Opportunity: Regalia of the Russian Tzars, deliver a marriageable daughter (or son) from the Emirate of Azeria to another Imperial Power, Faberge Eggs and other death machines,

Holy Roman Empire

Also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the nation's geography corresponds to cultural strain felt within its borders.  Caught between the predatory Prussian eagle and the treacherous Muscovite bear, the Austro-Hungarian establishment is far more concerned with internal unrest than any colonial prizes that may tempt their neighbors.  Through the Evidenzbureau, their military intelligence directorate, the establishment has negotiated an official cover for the Condor as an Austro-Hungarian diplomatic courier, in return the Condor's crew leaves the Holy Roman Empire alone.
Targets of Opportunity: The Holy Crown of Hungary, break up the Triple Alliance through a complicated series of events, Vienna houses the Palladium

Prussian Allianz

Initially formed to wage a war with the Third French Republic, the Allianz won & eroded Britannian hegemony on the continent. Since then the treaties forming the detente have since been extended in perpetuity. Drunk with martial success, Kaiser Wilhelm plots a series of campaigns to build a power bloc to rival Britannia & the Muscovite Sovereignty. His designs include stretches of Central Africa, Tonga, & Samoa.  Armed annexation of neighbouring states like the Hagen Royal Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire is not beyond his ambition as well. 

Targets of Opportunity: Smuggle out the suppressed political writings of a demagogue and smuggle published copies back in, the Royal Casket was stolen under the Kaiser's orders, the incorruptible corpse of Meister Eckhart

The Third French Republic

Possessing extensive colonial holdings in North Africa since the First Republic, France harbors resentment towards the Prussian Allianz & actively antagonizes Prussian holdings in the Dark Continent.  The Foreign Legion has proven invaluable in this theater, working alongside rogue Britannian explorer Dr. Livingstone.  Aside from that, French attention has largely been focused on South East Asia and North Africa.  Compared to their rivals, the French have made strides to incorporate their nearer colonial holdings into the government proper.

Targets of Opportunity: Robur the Conqueror's Albatross is the only craft that rivals the Condor, the complete lineage of the Merovingians, the Cathars hid the Holy Grail

League of Italian Principalities
Of all the Imperial Powers, perhaps none are as devious and tricky as the Italian Princes.  Their home peninsula has long been the site of fratricidal bloodbaths and backbiting since other nations were tribes living in wallow huts. The League places the highest priority on reclaiming their ancestral stomping ground of the Mediterranean basin. Aims that put them in conflict with the Third Republic and Britannia.

Targets of Opportunity: Vatican City houses the secretive Catholic Archives, the 6 cursed candles made from the fat of Cagliostro's corpse,countless works of art

Britannia

Egypt, Jamaica, Canada, Australia, India, Kenya, Singapore and countless smaller territories compose an empire that swaddles the very Globe. Britannia constitutes the world's largest maritime empire, an accolade accompanied by the envious gaze of the rest of the world.  Whether the Italian Princes, Prussian Allianz, or the Spanish Confederacy, all wish to ascend the mountaintop.  Even Britannia's allies, the Third Republic and the Union, seek to gain every advantage possible from their greatest ally.  Britannia's greatest strength may yet be her downfall, stretched too thin with too many foes.
Targets of Opportunity: The Other Log of Phineas Fogg lies in the Tower of London, military plans to contruct technologically advanced submarines, return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to its rightful owner

Pacific Empire

On the opposite side of the world from Europe, Japan has rechristened itself.  Fresh off back to back victories against the tottering Sino Empire and the under supplied Muscovite Sovereignty's eastern most edge, the Pacific Empire is ready to further assert its claim to all lands touching the mother ocean. Japanese sorties have already been fought with the Third Republic's Indochinese forces and Britannia's Australian & Burmese holdings have shown signs of Japanese infiltration.  Though the Pacific Empire's hands seem clean, their activities have not escaped the Condor's notice.

Targets of Opportunity: Kusanagi and the other Imperial treasures are not that lost, discredit a militaristic politician, expose a spy

Spanish Confederacy

Reeling from the loss of their South American colonies, Spain & Portugal unified for stability. The new forged Confederacy seeks expansion of mercantile operations throughout the Pacific islands & Latin America. These ventures are finding an expanded military presence in Goa, the Confederacy 's sole Indian holding. A development that draws suprisingly little attention from Britannia proper.

Targets of Opportunity: La Noche Triste, a sunken treasure galleon was discovered, Spanish treasure hunters have ran off with a Lingam

North American Union
Distanced from the other Imperial powers by two oceans and reforged by a civil war, the North American Union casts its gaze outwards upon the largely untapped Pacific frontier as well as its southern neighbors. Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Yucatan are just a few of the assets recently seized from Spain within the Western Hemisphere.  To say nothing of the Philippines and Guam, domestically seen as the stepping stones to China and their potential trade partners, the Pacific Empire.  Cocksure and unwilling to back down from a fight, the North American Union may light the match that ignites the powder keg.
Targets of Opportunity: Hit the U.S. gold reserve at Fort Knox, seduce a politician's wife to push your agenda, distribute guns to disenfranchised minorities

Example Places of Origin for Characters: Afghani Kush, Korea, Australian Outback, Madagascar, Alaskan Frontier, French Indochina, the Caribbean Islands, Chilean Free State, Belgian Congo Protectorate, Samoa, the British Raj, Goa