[2][3] Most of the action in the series takes place on the main continent of Derlavai, located in the southern hemisphere of an unnamed planet.
There are only 12 independent countries: Algarve, Forthweg, Gyongyos, Jelgava, Sibiu, Kuusamo, Lagoas, Ortah, Unkerlant, Valmiera, Yanina, and Zuwayza.
Turtledove has, however, mixed up the attributes so that any given Derlavaian kingdom is not instantly recognizable as a cognate of the countries which took part in World War II.
On the other hand, Kuusamo - though playing the strategic role of the United States - has a Scandinavian culture, fitting with its Finnish language.
Similarly, while politically and strategically Algarve is a clear analogue of Nazi Germany - including its committing genocide against the Kaunians/Jews - its culture seems more Italian than German, fitting with its language.
In addition, large power points tend to be linked to greater numbers of ley lines, which are utilised for transportation between cities and towns.
Though popular "how-to" books for the general public do exist, the spells published in them are not always reliable, and can backfire in dangerous or embarrassing ways.
There are plants producing pottery, for example, in large amounts, but behemoths and dragons are bred on farms and clothing appears to be made by tailors instead of in factories.
In another place it is noted that printing is usually done by mechanical means, but the Valmieren resistance utilises magic for reproducing a propaganda sheet in order to avoid detection by the occupying authorities.
The result of this magical duplication is readable, but the ink smudges easily as it was produced without the aid of a power point or an experienced mage.
Even larger heavy sticks can be used as fixed installations on the ground, used for air and sea defense, and carried on ley-line warships for use against ships, dragons and leviathans.
Rest crates are often mentioned as an archetypal application of modern sorcery, based on a spell used by the ancient Kaunian Empire to paralyze enemy soldiers.
After counterspells were developed, it fell into disuse until modern systematic sorcery discovered that it operates by dramatically slowing the rate at which time affects objects under its influence.
A variant on this technique is also used by medical mages, who can slow down people suffering from serious injury in order to give them time to perform surgery, or to transport the victim to a place of treatment.
Given the appropriate spells and mages able to perform them, the grandparent is pushed forward in time and the grandchild backward, killing them in the process and deriving enormous magical energy.
Located in the center of the continent, Algarve's people are characterized as red-headed and green-eyed, given to flamboyancy in word and gesture, and its males exhibit manifest macho behavior.
To their enemies, Algarvians often seem arrogant and overbearing, and their conduct amply earns them the hatred of those who had the misfortune to live under their rule.
While capable of great cruelty, Algarvians can also be quite generous on occasion; they doff their hats (sometimes literally) to an enemy whose conduct earned their grudging respect; and the same cultural traits which make them seem insufferably arrogant in victory also enable them to face adversity - even the certainty of imminent death - with admirable courage and fortitude.
Kuusamo responded with a magic attack on the capital, killing the ekrekek and forcing the horrified and demoralised Gyongyosians into surrender.
[citation needed] Jelgava is portrayed as a smaller nation closely akin to Valmiera in language, ethnicity, and culture, and possesses colonies in Siaulia.
Rather than a new nation created by immigrants, the Kuusamans are proud of their heritage of having been in their land before the Kaunians and the Lagoans came; a chant to this effect is recited as a ceremony before classes and before spells.
Lagoans are, however, unique in the habit of tying their hair in ponytails - which Algarvians do not, and many of them have noticeable Kuusaman ancestry, including the viewpoint character Fernao.
Lagoas joined the war against Algarve when Sibiu was invaded and underwent several air attacks from Algarvian dragons based in Valmiera.
Allied with Algarve in the beginning of the war, its people are most noted for being incompetent militarily, though individual soldiers and dragon flyers sometimes show bravery.
They share with the Algarvians a love for ostentatious mustaches and macho behavior; arguing is semi-humorously considered the national sport.
When Algarve was driven back, Zuwayza was forced to sign a separate peace, allowing Unkerlant great advantages, but preserving its independence.
[citation needed] Once the southern part of Algarve, it was politically separated at the conclusion of the Six-Year war and given independence under Duke Alardo.
In the more westward parts of the continent, in contrast, Kaunians became an ethnic minority in countries formed by the invading "barbarians": maintaining a distinct and largely separate minority culture, keeping the ancient language in more or less its original form as their daily speech, clinging to the short tunics and trousers common in the days of Empire, and frowning at the idea of mixed marriages.
The wearing of trousers by the Kaunian women tends to be a distraction for other peoples, as the tight pants reveal more than the more modern knee-length tunics do.
Eventually, Algarve, facing a desperate stalemate against Unkerlant, begins slaughtering Kaunians en masse to fuel vast quantities of death-energy-powered sorcery in an attempt to break the impasse.