Just met with Lord Hien. Spoilers!

[Phelios]

Sooo... this man intend to repay the Mol for their kindess by dragging their people into a bloody and in a likelyhood unwinnable war?

With friends like these....

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Not necessarily the Mol - remember, being Khagan gives him a degree of influence over a whole host of Xaela tribes, many of which are significantly more hardened than the Mol.

[Anonymoose]

I joked about that a lot in 4.0, that it seemed like a convenient excuse to learn about the Xaela and massage the Au Ra deeper into the world lore by ... having a guy stake his entire country's future on usurping another culture for personal gain. At least the Xaela seem pretty down with it; the gods let this happen, and fighting is fighting. All glory to the victors of the Naadam. Etc.

When Grynewaht came bumbling in looking for us I was sure he'd conveniently cause a scene that really impressed on the Xaela that they're a threat and worth fighting, but it didn't really play out that way, at least not very strongly.

[SicariusSeven]

I joked about that a lot in 4.0, that it seemed like a convenient excuse to learn about the Xaela and massage the Au Ra deeper into the world lore by ... having a guy stake his entire country's future on usurping another culture for personal gain. At least the Xaela seem pretty down with it; the gods let this happen, and fighting is fighting. All glory to the victors of the Naadam. Etc.

When Grynewaht came bumbling in looking for us I was sure he'd conveniently cause a scene that really impressed on the Xaela that they're a threat and worth fighting, but it didn't really play out that way, at least not very strongly.

Well they know the Garleans are a problem and did help retake Doma Castle. However at this point, until the Garleans attack them, they might not be doing anymore to necessarily help. Still I did love their lore and was happy to see them. Wished they did more with the Raen, I mean not all of them come from that underwater town after all.

[Theodric]

It's a plot point that I hope is addressed in the future. Garlemald left the Xaela alone, yet Hien basically strong armed them into fighting a war that did not really concern them. Worse yet, Grynewaht's presence only served to make Garlemald look incompetent and the Xaela were easily triumphing over magitek despite never having encountered it before in the past. It was a bit tedious, in my opinion. I did enjoy learning more about the Xaela, though - they're a very interesting race. The thing is, a war with Garlemald isn't 'unwinnable' - they're just not a threat anymore. Even I'm getting bored of them and I'm a huge fan of the more interesting, moderate aspects of Garlemald. As it stands, they just seem to show up, act crazy and then throw fodder at the Warrior of Light only to get killed very easily with minimal meaningful losses on the protagonists side.

To be fair to Hien, though, what he did is really no different to how Lyse and Alisae strong armed the Confederacy into joining the fight against Zenos' forces. They originally said 'no', though Lyse and Alisae pushed on regardless. It would be interesting, if the story bothered to explore the reality of war in such a way as to make both sides sympathetic. Though apparently 'Stormblood' only refers to the masses of Garlean troops being put to the sword. An unfortunate consequence of confining moderate Garleans to side quests and making those who show up in the MSQ's various shades of unhinged. Alas.

I suppose there is some slim hope that things might improve, yet as it stands I can't claim to be too impressed with how Garlemald has been handled thus far. Hien's and Lyse's actions were an excellent opportunity to show how it isn't only Garlemald that drag others into their conflicts, though that particular story beat was never addressed.

[ObsidianFire]

I often wonder how the whole thing in the Steppes would have gone down if oh... Alphinaud had been there. The guy really likes peaceful ways of rallying people and peaceful the Xaela are not. Even tribes like the Mol fully acknowledge that they are the children of the Dawn Mother and that if their gods want them to go to war (which they say their gods do in this case) then they don't have a problem doing that. Like, they all but say that being Xaela means being made for battle.

Incidentally, does anyone know how long Hien was with the Mol? The way he and the Mol talk about each-other makes it seem like it's been awhile. I think Hien orchestrating the thing with Naadam is different from what Alisae did with the Confederacy due to how long he has spent with them. Even before meeting us, he knew that Naadam was close to taking place and that the gods had already told the Mol they would be participating in it. Joining in with them was not a spur of the moment decision. Given the way most of the Mol sidequests go, they seem to think their gods do not mind the Mol stacking the odds in their favor by getting more powerful people to help them with stuff.

[AphraelAmarantha]

Not necessarily the Mol - remember, being Khagan gives him a degree of influence over a whole host of Xaela tribes, many of which are significantly more hardened than the Mol.

Uhm... I thought the WoL was the Khagan? Him knowing us and us wanting to help him out (plus the WoL winning the Nadaam) is what gives him influence or so I thought. Maybe I'm wrong?

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Uhm... I thought the WoL was the Khagan? Him knowing us and us wanting to help him out (plus the WoL winning the Nadaam) is what gives him influence or so I thought. Maybe I'm wrong?

That's how it shakes out, but only because we were the one who fought; had Hien succeeded without us, he would have been the Khagan.

[KageTokage]

I'm wondering if they plan on having us revisit the steppe during the 4.3 MSQ for one reason or another.

It seems almost completely detached from the current conflict, with Hien just making a passing mention of how the yol the Xaela possess are their only effective means of dealing with Garlean aircraft.

There's those Buduga guys making mischief in the enclave, but it could just be an evolving gag as patches progress like the hanging guy in Idyllshire.

[Rosenoire]

That's how it shakes out, but only because we were the one who fought; had Hien succeeded without us, he would have been the Khagan.

But he didn't. Since the WoL is the one who actually claimed the ovoo, we're the khagan. My Xaela WoL is more than a little concerned about the fact that the Xaela may have come to the Empire's awareness, and that Hien doesn't seem to remember that.