Is anyone else dying to get to Garlemald?

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

My dream is that Gaius van Baelsar is still alive out there, and he becomes our ally along with Nero to destroy Varis and liberate Garlemald from tyranny, and they join us as part of the Eorzean alliance to make a final stand against the Ascians and Zodiark.

Probably just a dream though ...

[KageTokage]

I think I'm more interested in getting to explore the territories on the outskirts of Othard and in southern Ilsabard that were conquered by the Garleans.

We know that there are places that are indifferent about being under Garlean rule or actually enjoy it, so I'd like to see one of them.

It's also strongly implied they've been extremely hard on some of the Au Ra tribes who dwell outside of the steppe in regions they control, so getting to experience their plight would also be interesting.

[ZhaneX]

Calling it now, 5.0 will have us turn our focus to pushing back the Garlean Empire, in hopes of having them recede back to their old borders...

Only to get our butts kicked causing us to turn our focus to Mercydia for the foreseeable future.

[Enkidoh]

My dream is that Gaius van Baelsar is still alive out there, and he becomes our ally along with Nero to destroy Varis and liberate Garlemald from tyranny, and they join us as part of the Eorzean alliance to make a final stand against the Ascians and Zodiark.

Probably just a dream though ...

Sady it is just a dream, Yoshi confirmed ages ago that Gaius is dead and gone alas and won't be coming back. Hence the new Legatee being introduced (Regula, Zenos).

As for wanting to go to Garlemald, I just want to be clear that I do not wish Garlemald itself to be destroyed, I just want it's despotic regime to fall and replaced with the democratic republic that was hinted as originally existing (before Solus emulating Caesar was granted dictator powers and abolished the Senate). So yes, I want to go to Garlemald and give Varis and his magitek-powered thugs (and his erstwhile Ascian allies) a well deserved kick in the rear.

Personally though, I wouldn't be surprised if Garlemald turns out to resemble a more steampunk version of Archades from FFXII... which wasn't that bad a place to visit (well, the upper city anyway, Old Archades was a decrepit slum), although given the Stormblood opening movie depicted Garlemald on the map as an dark, evil, phallic tower rising up above the clouds surrounded by violent storms and ominous thunder and lightning, it's clear SE are trying to eliminate any thoughts of sympathy for Garlemald (Zenos's depiction in SB all but showed that is the case).

Garlemald has always been depicted and stated by SE as nothing but an antagonistic, tyrannical regime and any hypothetical journey there will most likely involve violence of some sort, especially now that two conquered and former subject states have thrown off their imperial yokes and successfully rebelled. Now, Garlemald is on the back foot, and starting to take these savages, these rebel scum seriously. I don't see any alliance with Garlemald as likely I'm afraid (sorry Thedoric).

[IlSire]

I'm pretty sure we will get there eventually, clouded map can't stay clouded forever.
I expect Garlemand to be a harsh but majestic land, with a clear technology jump compared to the rest of the continent: trains and vehicles of every sort would probably be extremely common in Garlean cities.
Hopefully we also get a playable Gunblade job, maybe a magitek based tank of some sort?

However I'd love to see our already "discovered" lands first before moving into the continent though: Sharlayan, Thavnair and Hingashi.
I can imagine all these places to be filled with interesting lore, places, creatures and jobs!
Sharlayan could be the home of magic, knowledge and I could see Blue Mages (FFV design) coming from there, if anyone in Hydaelyn would research into applying magic to copy creatures abilities it would probably be the Sharlayans (maybe the Raimdelle Codex could also have something to do with it?).
Thavnair could be the land of alchemy with a strong near eastern/arabian nights theme, I could see Mystic Knights, Dancers and Chemists coming from there.
Hingashi would be heavily japanese inspired, we can see a glimpse of it in Kugane with the four Gods (Tiger/Phoenix/Turtle/Dragon) to be relevant in it somehow. I can see Geomancers and Oracles coming from here.
I expect Thavnair among these to be somewhat relevant soon since it has an embassy in Kugane, we may probably have to interect with them at some point in 4.X.

After Garlemand I could see us going to Meracydia or the New World (where Mamool Ja come from), thinking on it the world of FFXIV seem pretty big, even if we just visited new lands in Stormblood I can't wait to see even more!

[KageTokage]

We might get a glimpse of Sharlayan in the 4.0 cycle, because they mentioned we'd be investigating the seemingly nuked Isle of Val eventually (I'm leaning towards it having been drawn into the void and us having to explore it in a now warped and twisted state as a future dungeon, personally).

[Alleo]

If they have the same design for all of their buildings in Garlemald as they have in Kugane and the outposts..well no not really. Its not very pleasing to the eye and seeing how the lake looks where they put in their waste..well I am not even sure if the environment is that great too. The Allagans feel the same too..simply no nice looking buildings.

There really has to happen alot for me to want to work with such a dictatorship. SB did not really change my mind about them and showed me even more bad sides of them.

In the end I really hope that the next expansions are more about other countries..

[micropanther7]

I mean the Garlean empire is one of the main antagonistic threat organizations in the world and we know they home base is Garlemald which is in the northern part of Ilsabard. I really would like to see know more and see more of there how their society works. I wish I know we were going there in the 4.x series but surely by 5.0 we'll infiltrate it no?

Swear you read my mind :O Was only thinking this yesterday, and also having a playable Garlean race, what playing the enemy would be like. Or, as you said, player character infiltrating Garlemald.

[Kyran-Varlsen]

I recently conjectured certain scenarios as for why the WoL might go into the Garlean Empire. The Eorzean Alliance was barely strong enough, with the help of the Ala Mhigan Resistance, to beat the 12th Legion and that victory was largely thanks to Zenos largely ignoring them and baiting them to the capital where he planned to destroy them in a manner easily preventable by the WoL (I had to try three times but still...). If Zenos had just gotten off his throne and marched in full force against the Alliance at Baelsar's Wall this conflict would have ended quickly and decisively for the Empire. So I don't see anyone in Eorzea eager to march into longheld Imperial lands. Even the Bull of Ala Mhigo would balk, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn are busy enough keeping a lid on things.

The idea of being invited by a rebel Garlean Faction who contest the throne with Varis zos Galvus is oa logical story vehicle to ferry the WoL into Garlean lands. But who issues the invitation?

1) It could be a family member of the House of Gauis van Baelsar in a callback to our old nemesis, like a daughter. This is unlikely as it would tread into Lucia goe Junius territory since we already had a Garlean relation call-back with her. A son is equally unlikely as most people would expect the priority of a son to avenge his father, not work alongside WoL - who is believed the be the one who killed van Baelsar.

2) It could be a family member of Varis zos Galvus. Perhaps he has a daughter who is not happy with her father because he is working with evil forces in the form of Elidibus and conducted experiments on her brother that turned him into a monster. So basically Queen Anora from Dragon Age Origins for those who get the reference.

3) Oh hell let us just deal with the devil himself: Varis zos Galvus realizes he made a mistake working with Elidibus. Or better yet the arrangement between the two goes to hell and the Empire faces possible annihilation unless the situation is contained. So he turns to his enemies, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and the WoL and asks for their help.
- This would not be a complete about face. The man is still a bastard who spat on his grandfather's grave and turned his son into a monster. But he is pragmatic to a fault, and he likely knows that the Scions have already succeeded in killing other Ascians.
- This would not be a complete about face to the Scions either. They are still technically sorta supposed to be neutral and impartial in their dealings with other factions. Opposing the Empire was required when they brought harm to Eorzea. So accepting to work with the leader of a nation to thwart the machinations of a hated enemy (the Ascians) should be as plausible with the Garleans as with any other country or people. In theory.

What I like about #3 is that, with an Emperor's pardon, we could freely roam the cities and lands of Isalbard without having to worry about taking over districts as part of a war effort or going incognito. We could freely dabble in Garlean politics as we did in Ishgard whilst as an honored guest of the Emperor. Scary as the prospect might seem, the perks could be grand for a WoL.

[YianKutku]

I was wondering where the rest of your post went in the Gaius thread, Kyran. Good to know it still exists, and you just moved it to another thread.

3) Oh hell let us just deal with the devil himself: Varis zos Galvus realizes he made a mistake working with Elidibus. Or better yet the arrangement between the two goes to hell and the Empire faces possible annihilation unless the situation is contained. So he turns to his enemies, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and the WoL and asks for their help.

I'm not too sure about this. We already did something quite similar with Thordan, although Thordan was planning to betray the Ascians almost from the start.

And Thordan did succeed in betraying the Ascians. He destroyed Lahabrea, who certainly did not expect it. That we end up stomping Thordan and his knights anyway is another matter entirely, which does not negate his success.

It's possible that Varis, being Garlean, cannot manipulate aether, and as such cannot create a big Sword of Light to dispatch Ascians like what we or Thordan did. And anyone who can manipulate aether would probably come from a conquered territory, and may not be loyal enough to kill Ascians on Varis's orders.

Which may be one reason for all the experiments.