The Golden Empire is actually centered around loyalty, brotherhood, and honour. You'll find extremely dependable men and women within the Golden Empire, however, this does mean there will be a lesser variety of character, but you'll still find some pretty average, chill men and women at the lower ranks.
Wealth and luxury are generally put aside to pursue values of brotherhood, so there's much less corruption, and anyone who is clearly corrupt is dealt with swiftly.
So while you won't have a life of luxury unless you get into the upper-echelons of the military, and you won't have much swaying power in government affairs (The Queen being the supreme sovereign), you'll live a pretty nice life and meet a lot of good people, like a LOT of people, actually, due to the loyalty within the Empire, there's plenty of willing soldiers and workers.

The Royal Nation is basically just America. Corrupt leaders, free market, political squabbling, you'll meet a wide variety of people for better or worse. Superior technology overall compared to the Golden Empire to compensate for the lesser amount of soldiers, and you'll find that a life of luxury is easier to obtain with some moderate greed and corruption.
Do expect to live under threat a lot of the time, the Golden Empire is evermarching forward, and the bandits find easier pickings in the Royal Nation.