Alliance of the Nine Kingdoms Remnants

When Aincrad was still part of the overworld, the human race was divided into tribes, each living in their own separate settlement. However, they were under constant threat from the other races, and eventually banded together under the banner of the Alliance of the Nine Kingdoms. There, they researched magic in order to replicate the spells of the elves and dwarves, and their culture flourished.

But the Alliance of the Nine Kingdoms was destroyed after the Great Separation, and now only ruins remain. A millennium later, human settlements take the form of city-states, each with its own political system.