[@Crusader Lord] Okey doke, sorry for the delay. So: 1: So Isila is a very [i]very[/i] old civilization, and as such they have a lot of ancient traditions. Magic is a part of everyday life, and is practically a religion to most people. This reverence for magic is important, because it's also tied very closely to the government. The God-King is said to have ruled for thousands of years, and while this isn't explicitly true, it also isn't entirely untrue. More or less, every God-King from the very first one to the present has ruled until they grew too old, and then passed their memory (literally, its sort of a mind-meld type of situation) to an heir that they have chosen and groomed. So essentially, the current God-King had his own personality fused with the consciousnesses of hundreds of previous God-Kings, making him effectively one of the oldest beings in existence, and cements him as an absolute ruler and religious figurehead in Isila. That being the case, however, even he can't be everywhere at once, especially since Isila is massive. So the more effectively rule, he has ministers (which he also chooses) handle basic governance throughout the provinces. 2: We're talking about hundreds of concubines. Just so many. Your character could totally be a children of one of his concubines! Even though there are hundreds of them, they're looked at by the public with a great deal of reverence (think ancient Mesopotamia). Typically, this extends to their children as well. Sometimes the God-King picks one of his children to be his heir, though not every time.