3 Pillars of Great Worldbuilding! 

G Thank you friend.

Not all heros wear capes.

Same

That's fun!

I’m doing something similar now. I have my different races/factions/kingdoms, where they reside and how that influences their behavior and culture, and how those differences effect their relationships to others nearby who reside in a very different environment. It’s harder for me to visualize and start a map than it is for me to write up stories of people and the world they know. For example I have a nomadic desert people made of orcs who have a positive relationship with the neighboring tradesman of halflings and gnomes. The orcs trade muscle and raw materials from the desert and it’s monsters to the halflings and gnomes for crops, protection, and crafted/refined goods. The orcs know life is easier working with their neighbors, even though they could physically take them over. Meanwhile, the gnomes and halflings know they can’t win in a physical fight but can offer their bountiful harvests and skilled tradesmen. It instantly breeds life into the world more than, “mountains here… plains here… oh volcanoes are cool…”

It's actually next on my reading list. I'm currently working on Grand Strategy by John Collins

Well Yves Lacoste's book was a nightmare to read. It's only in French and I had to use Kindle translate speech to text to read it to me in English. Roger Baker was my instructor, and the VP of Applied Geopolitics at Stratfor Private Intelligence, so it's stuff I learned directly from him.

Disunited Nations by Peter Zeihan

My spelling is terrible. Thank you for calling attention to it. It's been corrected! :D

That is some world altering events if I ever saw any.

I actually have a reading list I'll post in a community post

There are imo only a few choices. 1: outright evil 2: composed of non-humans, who think/act very differently than we do, 3: ruled by divine authority. The state is God, because it actually is one.

Tribal societies often employ a primitive form of communism.

Actually modern scientific communism was derived from medieval utopian socialism. So, you just have to pick up any social utopian idea (like ideas of Leonardo da Vinci and others), spice it up with magic, because it is used for well-being of all members of the society, removed the exploitation of the people's labour. And there it is, it works.

Well, it depends on how far you want to take it and what flavor of communism/socialism you're shooting for and what kind of vibe you want to have. 1) Tribal where nobody can own land/water etc. Everyone learns a trade (hunter, weaver, cook, etc), takes cares of that and in return gets food/goods he needs to function. 2) City driven mostly by the guilds where every member gets to have a vote and the profits are used to take care of the members and their families. 3) High fantasy place where most people study magic & other arts, magical spells and contraptions take care of all the mundane tasks. Just a few ideas.. they're not very detailed but maybe they're of some use =)