One question--did Gog-Magog start out as two separate states that unified into one?
What's the deal with the Cannibal Kingdoms? I mean, sure, the name says a lot, but there has to be a lot of structure to keep a place like that in place? How do they handle missionaries from, say, Aethiopia? Are they more similar to Ts'alal or like some of the more isolated cannibal tribes? What's their technology like?
The ritual torture comment inclines me to believe they're just Tsalal
Gog and Magog are two kingdoms that united a long time ago: like Austria-Hungary.
The Cannibal Empires and Gog-Magog together sort of represent our modern bogies: Al Queda and Iran, Putin's Russia and ISIL, North Korea and the international gay conspiracy.
But the Cannibal Kingdoms are also Antipodeans: backwards and upside down from the European point of view, a place where black is white, up is down, and right is wrong. They're civilized enough, having had a level of development comparable to China in terms of technology when first contacted by Europeans, but also with human sacrifice, ritual torture, and cannibalism. Tsalal? It's a Mandevillian world rather than a Lovecraftian one. They're a fairly unified culture (the Maori are outliers) and not as nationally
thematic as Dvaldron's creations
.
They all find eating people acceptable, but vary in the application. In some places you can get human-based meals in specialty restaurants [1], while in others human flesh is only eaten as part of elaborate rituals surrounding human sacrifice, and in some places children loving eat certain parts of their deceased parents. [2] Torture is widely used, but then, like Catholics, they consider suffering sacred: their Gods are cruel, but they need to be - they shape humanity to their purpose, and their tools are sharp. Torture is both given and willingly received: being able to stand massive amounts of pain without flinching is an indicator of spiritual power, and until recently it was hard to get to an elevated position in the Empire's society without suffering massive amounts of pain.
They've been invaded multiple times by Europeans trying to "civilize" them, but with a fine appreciation of gunpowder weapons and vastly more experience with warfare (and appreciation for soldiers) than the Chinese, and a disease package at least as nasty as pre-modern Europe, they've held their own, although with the British, Italian, and Burgundian efforts in the 19th century it was a close thing. As a result they've ruthlessly pushed forward with modernization, and unified, however loosely, for the first time in millennia of history. From their point of view, they're not threatening the world, but making sure they can defend themselves from dangerously crazy foreigners.
The Aethiopians don't do missionaries.
They find Christianity and its tenets hilariously nuts, and after a brief period after the Deluge of Blood where no Europeans were allowed into the country, missionaries are generally tolerated as long as they don't badmouth the Gods in public: they tend to make very few converts.
The Cannibal Empires are fairly religiously tolerant, in fact, their own pantheon being vast and somewhat incoherent, with different Empires having distinctly different interpretations of the powers and natures and relationships of the various Gods without anyone being very exercised by it. (They're a bit disappointed in the Jews: they had heard of the Jewish conspiracy and wanted to get it on their side.
Current technology is on a par with the most advanced nations: an unholy blend of Deiselpunk and Alchemypunk, with a sprinkling of practically applied ritual magic.
No gugs or other Lovecraft inspired critters, but it's Australia as well as Antarctica, so of course it's full of all sorts of vicious and poisonous beasties, and definitely Drop Bears.
[1] As you could at certain restaurants in late Song China (sourced from peasants whose families really needed the money and who had either died in accidents or deliberately committed suicide).
[2] They're aware of the need for thorough cooking, and the Southern Continent has no prion-based diseases, of course.
Is Gog-Maggog actually evil, or is it more like, say, Manicheanism?
Strict monotheism with a God whose character is unmellowed Old Testament. They just want to spread their faith to everyone (everyone who isn't a tare to be thrown into the fire, of course. You can usually identify them by how opposed they are to conversion.) Admittedly, since the last Great War they've secularized a bit, but the notion that everyone else but them is either dammed unless they convert or simply inherently dammed remains a popular one. Evil? I dunno: no more so than your average believing Spaniard of the age of the wars of religion?
