The Border Princes is Warhammer's analogue to the Balkans - but with really near zero relation to Earth's Balkans. Warhammer doesn't have a Byzantine Empire expy, so the Border Princes is basically just a borderland to separate 'civilization' from the Badlands. The Balkan analogy is really found in the Prince's beginning as crusader states, a kind-of Constantinople in Barak Varr, and just the concept of balkanization. Really, it's just an excuse to give a region for players to establish a little kingdom should they get to such a high level.
The Real World
During the Early Modern period, the Balkans were going through a really rough time. The Balkans were the seat of the Byzantine Empire for literal centuries, but with the sacking of Constantinople most of it fell under the suzerainty of the Ottomans. You just need to do a glance at history to see what a terrible time this was, especially with the oppression of Greeks and Jews. What wasn't controlled by the Turks was basically controlled by Venice. The only thing kind of going for the Balkans was Hungary, who was actually pretty powerful at the time (until they got eaten up by the HRE).
My Version
I'm going to make my Border Princes something less violent and oppressive, and it fills a niche that Warhammer lacks to an extent. Khazaria (working name) is going back to the earlier Balkan history of nomadic steppe cultures such as the Huns, Bulgars, Yakuts, Magyars, Cimmerans, and Scythians - a nation of horse lords lead by khans/khagans. I was mostly inspired by this by games like Mount & Blade, the Ninth Age's Makhar Steppe, and settings like Artesia. A similar region exists in Warhammer in the Eastern Steppe, but I'm going to strip out all the Hobgoblin Khanate stupidity and make it purely human.
Khazaria is made of steppe people, but it's NOT Mongolia. Mongolia is not really the focus of the setting, but you can assume it's 'over beyond the mountains'.
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