Forty thousand years ago, when Man was little more than an ape in a valley, a God-King rose and proclaimed that Mankind's rightful place was as rulers over all of Arcadia. Since then the Kingdom of Man has conquered many lands and annihilated countless peoples - but over time lost almost as much as it gained in a waxing and waning over the millennia. As Man's power grew, so did the Corruption that threatens from within, and as the greatest of men have to fight Corruption the hardest, ten thousand years ago the King sat down on his throne and turned all of his attention inwards, to engage the Corruption in his heart in an eternal struggle. Since then the Church and the Administration has run the Kingdom of Man in the King's stead.
The center of the Kingdom is the capital, Paradise City. It is located in the valley of the Bendis River, straddling the river itself and sprawling up over the sides of the valley.
The bulk of Paradise City is made up of seven arcologies, stacks, which have grown together over the centuries. Each stack has its character, and atop the highest one lays the Royal Palace, the symbol for the King's reign over all of humanity and his lasting ambition to rule the world.
The palace is only a symbol, however. The Kingdom is run by the Administration and the Church, and the unmoving form of the King himself is kept secure within the depths of the city, only to be brought up for the King’s Festival every tenth year.
The Kingdom of Man consists of hundreds, if not thousands, of countries and city-states spread wide over the continent of Pangaia. Man’s conquest has spread outwards from the Bendis River to the extent where almost every part of the continent has been belonged to the Kingdom at some point in history.
However, the reality of Arcadia makes it very difficult to maintain stable communications over large distances. The turbulent skies with their electrical storms and magnetic fields have more or less prevented the invention of advanced aircraft while limiting wireless communication to very short ranges, so long-distance communication tend to rely on a network of wires and railways.
When the communication network is broken somewhere, whole regions can be cut off from the rest of the Kingdom, to be left to fend for themselves until the Administration can send help. But the vastness of the land is so huge, and the pressure on the Kingdom’s infrastructure and defense so large, that help might seemingly never come. And so, throughout history, such ”Disconnects” have always existed as black spots on the map. Some have simply disappeared into the wilderness of the planet or been run over by the Trogs, but some have managed to prosper and even grow, and sometimes it takes force to convince these Independencies that they should become subjects of the Administration again.
The Kingdom is a clearly patriarchal society. Even if there are nuances between different states within the empire, there is usually an overwhelming majority of men in most ruling circles, both in the political and the financial sphere. Because of the ever-present war for domination of the planet, the military has a central role in society, and there the male dominance is even greater than in politics or finance. There are some armies or regiments that have more women soldiers than others, but they still make an extreme exception.
The Church, however, is quite the opposite. The highest religious offices are only open to ”Brides of the King”, and many Orders Militant belonging to the church are all female.
In private life there is a widespread view that relations should be monogamous and that the husband has the responsibility to provide for the family while the wife cares for the household and the children. There is also a greater acceptance for violence from men and for passivity in women.
This order of things is in no way given by nature nor exactly the same in every human society, but it appears to have taken root quite thoroughly in most of the lands of Man. In many academic circles there exists an ideology of equality, but it is extremely different from country to country how well spread and well accepted this is.
According to the Holy Scripture the God-King of Mankind has decreed that Man and Woman shall be wed and have many children to populate the world. According to the Church there is no such thing as homosexuality, and the only accepted reason not to marry and have children is if you enter the Holy Orders and give your life fully to the service of the King.
In practice, the view on same-sex romance varies between social strata and between different parts of the Kingdom. Amongst the nobility it is a truism that marriage is more about politics and economy than love, and it is widely accepted to have lovers of either sex on the side of your spouse.
In the working class it is very different. Some Prole cultures are overtly homophobic while others regard homosexuality as so unthinkable that they see nothing sexual in even very intimate touching between friends of the same sex.