Originally Posted by
Theodric
It's a matter of nuance, really. I think it does a bit of a disservice to the storytelling to dilute Garleans and Ascians to just being 'racists'. When it comes to Garleans, we're talking about a race who used to be peaceful farmers cruelly attacked by magic wielding neighbours and forced to carve out a living for themselves in a bleak frozen wasteland. If not for the presence of ceruleum, they would have died out completely. They didn't, though and survived against all odds - and when given the opportunity, decided to inflict a little payback on a world that had wronged them so cruelly.
Did they go too far in some ways? Perhaps. Though at the same time, it shouldn't come as much surprise for a race driven to near extinction through no fault of their own to desire revenge.
The Ascians, too, have their own valid reasons to view the Sundered as lesser lifeforms - because from their perspective, they're akin to a human looking down at an ant. Ants which exist at the expense of their own loved ones, no less.
Many elements of the story have been established as not being a matter of black or white morality and Yoshi-P has commented to that effect across a number of interviews. I can provide sources for such, if desired!
Plus it's all fictional. None of us are actually our characters much in the same way as how actors and actresses are not the characters that they play in movies. As a role-player myself, it's always a red flag when other role-players cannot separate fiction from reality.