Indeed! It's a no thanks from me as well.
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Indeed! It's a no thanks from me as well.
As much as I love Cid, running a country is very different from running a countryand if you take Jessie's opinion to heart, he's not even that great at the first one. He's very smart in the field of technology, but we've not really seen him demonstrate a great grasp on political maneuvering, to say nothing of whether the Garlean people will accept him. Right now there's no perfect choice for who to take over running Garlemald once the conflict is over and the dust settles, but we do know that whoever is put in charge will be in charge of dismantling a large empire that has existed for about half a century (forcefully or no). I think the best fit for that would probably be Maxima, but we have no idea how popular he is within the country compared to someone like Gaius who is (or was) very popular, but was also a figure who helped expand the empire into Aldenard. Among other candidates I've seen mentioned: Nerva, I think should go without saying, is a bad choice since he's of the line that helped propagate Garlemald's imperialist expansion and would no doubt attempt to retake as much land as he could once they gather power and Noah is literally trying to make a new empire right now.
I mean there's no country in existence that ever been ideologically pure and free of corruption, but that's not stopped them from making the terms of surrender before. I doubt that any of the lands subjugated by the empire would care that the Eorzean alliance are free of flaws once they're liberated by whatever terms are put in place after Endwalker.
Did Maxima die off-screen and I forgot about it or are people ignoring the one actual Garlean who's open to reconciliation, we personally know, and already has political clout in the Garleans' eye? After all, even if Dany says the Populares are no more he's obviously missing HIM, and after all that Zenos and Dany have done butchering the people, I'm sure the remnants of Garlemald would be very open to work with the one person who's on their side (after all, Maxima didn't so much defect as had an attempt on his life and is basically a refugee, I don't think he's actually decried the nation, just the fact that the previous Emperor was an Ascian) already has diplomatic ties among the Eorzean and Othardian Alliances.
Maxima could have died off-screen, yes. If not, I expect him to return in 5.5 alongside Thancred. But honestly, considering how hard the writers have been pushing forward in getting us to 6.0, I wouldn't count on anyone opposed to Zenos making it out of the country alive unless they're a main character. And I fear the same is true for Nerva, unfortunately.
Let's hope that both survived, yeah?
Maxima is likely still around, since last we heard and saw of him he was hiding out in Eorzea. I do think he's likely to play a part in the story moving forward. He has a unique model, I believe...and despite being a fairly minor character at the time he was drawn in one of the previous patch art pieces. He strikes me as more of an advisor and diplomat rather than a leader figure, though.
It also remains to be seen how much damage Zenos and Fandaniel inflict upon Garlemald, exactly. It's possible that ever since Varis' demise, quite a few Garleans have been sneaking out of the capital due to the risk and unrest that came with a fresh war of succession. It's also very likely that there will be some manner of aetheryte and settlement in the zone itself, complete with NPC's to interact with.
To say nothing of the Garleans that are scattered and stationed elsewhere. I have my doubts that every single remaining Legion is going to side with Zenos, too. Gabranth already took his men in a different direction and even Valens looked down on Zenos as little more than a rabid beast.
We interacted with two honourable Legatus in the form of Regula and Gaius. We haven't met Gabranth directly, yet, though he also has his own code of honour. Still, that makes three.
Could we end up rallying behind and helping a Legatus that takes charge over evacuation efforts and seeks to aid in confronting Zenos? Possibly.
False equivalency, The Lords Aymeric, Artoriel, and Edmont discovered the truth behind a thousand year war of survival and immediately worked to let the truth be known. Though I would gladly swing the axe for the people if they so choose. I'm not exactly married to the idea of keeping titles of Nobility and the holier than thou mentality as I personally dislike it in real life.
Gaius on the other hand is a war criminal and known tyrant and slaver. The men of Ala Mhigo were put to hard labor and the women were made to do "far worse". Policies I'm sure that would have carried into the rest of Eorzea had he not been stopped at Silvertear. That's your preferred ruler? Gaius "adopt them to bop them" Van Baelsar? Who knowingly worked with an Ascian as a tool to his detriment. Fine, I will throw out another alternative, imprisonment and a trial. Nuremburg style. Again, I would volunteer to swing the axe. I only say this due to your comment about Rome being the framework of Garlemald. So corruption, heavy handed policies, and weak leaders. Yeah, that matches up. Why reward them?
Nerva? lol
Neither do the losers of a war they started.
I'll grant you that the Garleans were bullied early on. But until evidence is given otherwise? I'm going with the Ascians creating a slave race with a chip on it's shoulder to instigate a war and cause mayhem the world over to make the beast tribes summon primals to justify expansion to create more conflict to create havoc... etc. etc.
If we're talking "Where did the Garleans come from?", ever since the introduction of the Ancients/Amaurotine people, I've always been partial to the idea that they are the descendants of that race, and that their inability to manipulate aether was inflicted on them. By who, I don't know. Hydaelyn, perhaps. Or the Ascians, as a long running setup for what would eventually become the Garlean Empire.
I base this on absolutely nothing, of course, save for the fact that it's really hard to imagine Emet-Selch without a Garlean third eye.
The Garleans are likely an Allagan Redux. A puppet empire that's easier to manipulate, because they had their ability to manipulate aether engineered out of them. The Allagans on the other hand seemed to be comprised of most normal races or a race that could manipulate aether, as evidenced by Xande, SMN questline, and all of the stuff that says they could.
With what we know about them knowing the exact mechanics of tempering, and that they could have cured it... it's likely that the Ascians decided to go with a race that couldn't, even if they somehow came up with the formulae.
As for the third eye... perhaps that was a flair Emet-selch gave Garleans, because Ancients did have them. I mean, we haven't been shown any that don't wear masks hehe.
People can change. As has Gaius. We know little of Nerva in detail. All they require for a new ruler is some level of popularity with the fanbase and for an outlook amenable to cooperation, irrespective of what quaint revenge fantasies some might harbour.
By the by, they confirmed that in Livia's case the fixation originated entirely from her and that she was obsessed with him, while he tried to keep her at arm's length - they did so in Werlyt. As ever, that particular narrative was the product of the fanbase's own interpretation of things...