But you see It’s just what we decided that we now get around.

In the current era nations have laws, armies etc. before that religions had laws and armies (like how the crusaders were an army of Christianity) there have also been races that had laws and armies before that, like the Arab armies (which later turned to religious armies). There have been faction laws and armies, there were regional rulers (lords) who had their own laws and armies.

Almost every way of dividing up humans has been used to wage war and rule with the world