Age of Sigmar from a Peasant's Perspective

 

The Age of Sigmar is a vast and epic place, but I find the constant epic-ness exhausting. I also want to know what it’s like to actually live in such a world as this. After some reading, watching and listening, here are some of the major themes I’ve observed

• Technology Level: Although the original Warhammer was essentially set in the Middle Ages, Age of Sigmar is more like the Renaissance, after an apocalypse.
• Massive Space: The “world” is made of 8 separate realms, best thought of as themed planets. These planets are practically endless; I imagine an Earth-like planet with the radius the size of the sun. This means that local travel is impractical, and it’s easier to travel via portals.
• Portals: The 8 planets are connected via thousands of portals. These portals make travel fast, easy and safe, and effectively “shrink” the size of planets. They vary in physical size and destination. Some have been sealed. Some have been hijacked by chaos.
• Massive cities: The constant danger of demons and other forces of chaos means there are few small towns; people stay behind the walls of colossal cities. These cities were built by Sigmar’s forces and are always protected. Smaller settlements do exist, but the level of danger requires paying for costly private armies.
• Private Armies: The only official standing army are the Stormcast Eternals, who are practically mythical or even angelic. While there are nations, they utilize private military contractors, called Freeguilds, for protection. It’s a great way for a fighter to make money, but it’s incredibly dangerous work.
• Every Planet is Different: Each planet has a theme, and so the flora, fauna and general ecology is vastly different. Different types of people live on different planets, but these aren’t aliens. These are elves, dwarves and men, plus a lot of really strange, exotic fantasy races that I won’t list here.
  
  

The average person…

• Has probably never seen a Stormcast Eternal. If they have, it was a big deal.
• Has suffered massively at the hands of demons, beast men and forces of chaos; entire generations were wiped out during a magical cataclysm a few hundred years ago.
• Lives with a diverse set of other races and cultures, in probably-too-close proximity.
• Travels via portal once every few years, or less. For traders, it’s more frequent.
• Understands there are other worlds, but probably hasn’t been to very many (other than the stop-overs while traveling).
• Experiences a low level of danger and probably feels safe within the walls of the city.
• Has definitely never laid eyes on Sigmar himself.
• Has never even considered the Eternal War, and doesn’t think much about history earlier than their own life.
• Certain soldiers have fought in the occasional skirmish, but battles against vast armies is as intense as it is infrequent.

My questions: 

• Are there local governments? I’ve not heard of a mayor or governor in any of these cities. Surely Sigmar is too busy for this kind of day-to-day grind
• Are there political divisions? It seems that everyone is living together in relative harmony, even Elves and Dwarves (excuse me, aelves and duardin). The Old World had so many delightful political divisions that basically every square inch of land had at least two claims on it. In AOS, I get the impression nobody cares.