Well, like other Ivalice games, as well as other Final Fantasy games, I believe you'll find that different dimensions of the story dominate in the beginning while the more fantastical elements come in later on as the big picture.

In FFTactics, you're introduced to a world of social stratification, secret plots by warring nobles, a grand political story as many claim. But eventually you come to a story of good and evil involving supernatural forces and magic.

Same thing in FFVII with Midgar, Shinra, etc., but in the end it's all about Meteor, Sephiroth, Weapon, the Planet itself, really.

FFXII was no different and I personally believed both elements, the political and the mystical, to be just as interesting. It makes me wish there was more to the game than just the bestiary/text supplement to explain everything.