RTFM?

ok so having read the prologue and character parts of the manual i'm still somewhat confused


(SPOILER)i just assumed we would be fighting against duke larg and in the service of the other duke ( mainly because his name sounded more evil :p)
but then after rescuing the marquis and taking him back to eargose i see the party is conversing away with him

so could someone please, without spoiling any of the rest of the game explain to me what the story is so far?

just basic info bout the different factions within ivalice and about the orders of the northern and southern skys etcc

many thanks and sorry for the dumb question, i just got a bit confused lol

now, its been many many years since ive played, but heres what i can recall:

larg and goltana both have claims to the throne. i want to say that the hokuten (the group with which ramza is involved with at the very beginning) is the northern sky and fights for larg. i actually dont know that they gave a name to the southern sky for goltana. if they did, it escapes me.

with both of them laying some claim on the throne, they fight over who has the right to do so. lots and lots and lots of politics ensue. if you dont follow the dialogue religiously and merely skim through it, you will be bound to miss the political movements of everyone.

technically speaking, if you watch the opening movies, history has already happened. you are merely reliving a small scope of some of the backround stuff that avoided the history books that covered the "war of the lions." the "war," if my memory doesnt completely fail me, takes place from chapter 2 onwards, and chapter 1 merely sets the table.