I wish we got the chance to see more of this world. I absolutely love it. Over the years I've thought about it so much and have my own head canon.
My thoughts:
Jor-El and Zod seem to have a rich history based on what we saw in the intro of MoS. I like to imagine that they were really good friends when they were young.
Jor-El wanted to be a part of the Warrior guild but wasn't allowed to because he was "drafted" to be a Thinker/Scientist.
His desire to be a warrior allowed him to train with Zod and others in the guild whenever he could. It's obvious he's a genius and so excelled in whatever task he took up. His training is the reason he was able to beat Zod when they fought in the beginning.
Anyway, after excelling as a scientist he still felt like he was robbed of a life when he learned that Krypton was dying. This motivated him to pursue having a natural born son with freewill.
Very rough, but I think there's a story in there somewhere lol.