It is a place of massive factories where items get produced in huge numbers by a population that is under the tight control of a secret police that CAN read minds.
Their armies are huge in numbers and quite well equiped with basic tools of warfare.
Every soldier will have a Admantine armor, Admantine sword, Admantine Shield , a complete kit and uniform.
What is more lacking are the special capabilities taken for granted by most other Myaasian armies, like magic communication,intelligence and control. Thus the northern armies can do massed blunt attacks, but are usually outmaneuvered by the much smaller, worse equiped, but much better informed, trained and motivated armies of the Central Kingdom.
The only battlefield magics employed are the so called black brothers, who seem to be able to channel unlife into the forms of undead(mostly zombies) and attack spells (ie negative energy spells).
For a soldier in the army, it is you get a bad basic training, good equipment, bad leadership and are sent to fight an enemy who seems to appear out of nowhere, do massive damage and dissapear again before you can revenge your dead comerades. Then you might see some of your previous comrades raised later to become zombies.
Army formation is 5 man in a squad, and 4 squads + 1 leutenant + 1 sergeant making platoon (22 man), 3 platoons + 1 captain and extra leutenants + extra sergeants making company (67 + extra leutenants and sergeants), normally about 75 total with a support squad. Platoons and companies might have some extra leutenants and sergeants if needed.
There are 4 companies, support and logictics elements and a HQ to a batallion, normally about 350 orcs. This is the lowest level with any sort of magic support normally, having normally 1-2 black brothers.
A brigade consists of 4 batallions and sone support elements for a total of about 1800 orcs.
Each squad is lead by sergeant and each platoon is lead by leutenant.
There is no faith as such in most people, though there are many people who follow Dural and Krao. The elite seems to mostly either not follow a god or follow Dural. The soldiers are usually nonreligious, but a large minority of officers follow Krao.
They have more than enough essence in north, but the problem they have is that to be able to fight others using essence their essence users would have to be powerfull enough to challenge the state, thus they have to turn to less powerfull methods ie. technology. They have many low power wizards working in the secret police and some even in the army, mostly in loyalty and intelligence fields. Though never enough.
The life of a normal person in the north is a combination of long dangerous backbreaking work hours in definitely unhealthy workplaces, too much alcohol, huge lines in shops to get anything. Any civilian supplies like food are definitely in short supply.
Then one day you might get a knock on the door, and the secret police will take you away, just because you angered someone and they turned you in. Then you are dragged to prison where you are eventually(days,week,months) examined by a thought reader and if you are found guilty of thought against the state, you are tortured and/or executed and/or sent to the worst mines to work.
The industries are mostly powerered by massive direct hydraulic power. Thus industries have to be located at the damms, usually just under them and when the damms burst, all too common with the bad design with many of the damms, the workers drown and some of the machinery is destoyed. Those are then quickly replaced, like the interchangeable parts they are. Also many of the gears and such used to transport the power are too low quality and often cannot take the strain, bursting and killing some people nearby.
Those working in mines do not usually see any other effects of technology except that they have steel tools and black powder to do mining. Most miners do not reach the age of 25 due to the many caveins and such.
There seems to be a total lack of any regard for life in the society.
The political outlook if the empire is that of world domination by power to spread their “view”. Rumors attribute the influence of unlife as the prime motivation to their expansionist outlook and policies.
(Basically the world background is a product of 1980's and the northern empire is the soviet union with a twist. )