Lore Masters! Is There A Possible Garlean Special Forces Op?

I love Garlean lore. I love 14 lore, but I really like digging into Garlean Lore to the point I even have Roleplayed them at times and I deeply wish Yoshi P would make them a playable race. I love their culture, their society, their armor. Just everything. T they are an amazing race of people and my love probably stems from 1.0 when we first got introduced to the Garleans by means of their Juggernauts walking through the Shroud and my thoughts then were: "How are we suppose to defeat this?"

But onto the true heart of the subject. I know that Garleans are broken up into Legions and Nero was part of some special spy group that's name is escaping me as I write this (bad brain), but is it possible that there is a Garlean Special Forces group that doesn't so much operate under a Legion presay, but as their own force? Like they still fall in line when a Legatus calls their need, but for the most part they operate without a Legatus? Is this something that is a thing? Or could be a thing?

Livia was one of this special force i think

The force that Nero mentioned were the Frumentarii. Frumentarium is essentially a spy network - the intelligence services and secret service. (The word comes from collecting wheat, the ostensible role of the officers who were in charge of such services in the Roman Empire).

As for your main question, there are a few ways to take it. Little has been confirmed in-game, but just looking at Rome itself has yet to steer me wrong on an inference. But even then, going around the Legion without stepping from Imperial forces into local forces is tricky, if I recall right.

In each legion, the 1st Cohort is generally larger and made up of the best they have to offer. Rather than "special forces", it's more or less just "the elite". Cavalry also played a large role in operating behind enemy lines, but back then that was more or less harassing villages, interrupting supply chains, etc.

Outside of a legion you can expect units of personal bodyguards (the Praetorian Guard) to be elite in their own right.

But if you want something akin to like, today's literal Special Forces, you have to make some assumptions. There were units in the Roman army that gained this kind of consideration in retrospect, such as the Germanic Batavi, a unit that was able to cross rivers - in armor, with weapons - without breaking formation. Garlemald has conquered so much land and absorbed so many conscripts that I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few units outside of the standard Legion that fulfilled "special forces" type work ... but we're wanting for specifics.

There's also a weird title called the Optio. Usually, each century's second-in-command is the Optio, but you can give someone this title ad hoc and throw them into a specialized role. They usually show up en masse in FFXIV for some reason, implying that perhaps they're "special forces" picked for talents in a specific area. Examples include: The swordsmen guarding Rhitahtyn, or the lockdown of Castrum Centri, or the unit that hunts down Drest, Aulus rem Vulso's retinue in the east Shroud. (But maybe they just rounded up all the century second-in-commands and sent them off as a group, right?)

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

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Originally Posted by Koti

I know that Garleans are broken up into Legions and Nero was part of some special spy group that's name is escaping me as I write this (bad brain), but is it possible that there is a Garlean Special Forces group that doesn't so much operate under a Legion presay, but as their own force?

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Professor Moose covered things in far greater detail in his post than I can so I won't steal his thunder, but adding to his info about the Frumentari, you actually have to fight them during the 2.0 storyline at the Church of Saint Adama Landama in Eastern Thanalan when the player is hiding out there after Livia's raid on the Waking Sands.

Gameplay wise they're dressed like regular Garlean troops though and don't have any particularly special abilities, at least, none that I can remember. Their whole point seems to be military intelligence for the Garleans, which explains why they were found lurking at the church, trying to trace the player's whereabouts (and would also confirm Nero's comments about "Frumentari sees all").

As for other 'special forces' units, it seem they like to also maintain an extensive network of freelance spies and moles in enemy nations, including the citystates, where some end up in particularly powerful positions in their target nations: (

traitorious Immortal Flames Marshal Eline Roaille is an example, also known by her codename of 'the Ivy', as is Lucia sas Junius, Livia's sister, who was dispatched by Garlemald to infiltrate Ishgard's government and feed info on the Temple Knights back to the Empire... only for her to become turncoat and legitimately join Ishgard's military as Aymeric's second in command.

In 1.0 Minfilia's father Waruburton was also a Garlean double agent secretly allied with the Ala Mhigan Resistance. And they are just some examples, there are doubtless countless more moles within the Alliance secretly ferreting information to the Empire, but what Garlean unit or agency they would be a part of is unknown.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Professor Moose will definitely cover things in far greater detail in his post than I can so I won't steal his thunder, but the special unit that Nero quoted you're referring to was the Frumentari - you actually have to fight them during the 2.0 storyline at the Church of Saint Adama Landama in Eastern Thanalan when the player is hiding out there after Livia's raid on the Waking Sands.

Gameplay wise they're dressed like regular Garlean troops though and don't have any particularly special abilities, at least, none that I can remember. Their whole point seems to be military intelligence for the Garleans, which explains why they were found lurking at the church, trying to trace the player's whereabouts (and would also confirm Nero's comments about "Frumentari sees all").

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For the player or for Cid ?

Probably both - although technically the player was more desirable to the Garleans, given their possession of the Echo and the immunity to Primal tempering it grants (which is why Livia raided the Waking Sands). Finding info about Cid would have been secondary to Gaius, it's Echo users he was trying to locate.

There's also the Imperial Shadows, trained in Doman ninjutsu by Gekkai. Granted we've seen little of them outside the NIN 50 quest, but they are around.

The Garleans have both intelligence operatives and black operatives.

I want to say thank you to all the responses! It was a great help and I really appreciate it!

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Originally Posted by Koti

I love Garlean lore. I love 14 lore, but I really like digging into Garlean Lore to the point I even have Roleplayed them at times and I deeply wish Yoshi P would make them a playable race.?

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It should be noted that the reason you will never see them playable - at least not the silver-haired "pureblood" Garleans like Cid, Livia, and the emperor - is that they are congenitally incapable of using magic. Cid and Livia never cast a spell, and it is the reason that the empire relies so much on technology. That would shut out every Disciple of Magic class, not to mention aether-using abilities of non-mage classes.

Every magic-using Garlean is some dark-haired conscript of a conquered nation, using a Midlander hyur who probably wanted nothing more than to serve their term of forced service in peace until the Warrior of Light breaks into their castrum to kill them for crafting mats...