Why did Solus (1st Garlean Emperor) have some of the royal family members killed?

I looked around and there doesn't (yet) seem to be much info.

All that I can gather is that Solus tasked Gaius to kill off members of the royal family: 9 aspirants to the crown, to be exact. Some of them might not have been members of the family, but someone with a strong claim.

The only thing I can think of is that they were planning on usurping (killing) him.

Would love more info on this subject for those who know more.

Also, it said that one of the reason why there was a War of Succession was due to Gaius no longer being around to potentially cut down would be aspirants. Despite being ignored by the Emperor, could Gaius have been the true heir to the throne ... or maybe was tasked as the Executor of his Will, assuming he held it?

I think the aspirant part is more important than the heirs part. The longer a sitting monarch lives, the shorter their child's rule will be before it passes to a grandchild. Someone who aspires to a little too much might get a little too impatient with an emperor who rules until almost ninety years of age. Judging by the fact that Solus' heir apparent died under mysterious circumstances, leading the heir apparent's brother and son to destabilize the Empire itself to assume control... I wouldn't rule it unlikely that Solus was faced with little choice in the matter of who to take out... or that, if there was a choice, it wasn't a very difficult one.

Specifics, though... I don't think we have specifics.

Gaius was a guy you could count on to do what's best for business; his loyalties to the crown wouldn't waver so long the crown was acting in its own best interest. Baelsar would be the perfect person to task with rooting out plans against the Emperor (hells, he was the first person to notice Darnus was hiding things from him). He'd also be a great person to act as executioner. Having a loyal general spill royal blood really shows who (at least that legion of) the military is loyal to.

Could Giaus have been an heir?

If this was 1562, maybe. After Silvertear was chalked up as his failure and the Emperor wouldn't even heed his warnings about Darnus or advice against calling down a moon, I doubt he had much standing. And it doesn't look like he earned much of it back if he had to go rogue to try to take Eorzea. However, if he had succeeded, I think he would have had a shot. To a degree, I think that was part of the point (that and his honor). Solus might see him as more worthy than his squabbling family, and if he'd have died by then, waltzing into a war of succession like, "By the way, while you were busy with this, I took the last of the three great continents, as the Emperor wished" would be a hell of a mic drop.

That is a part I still not understand quite well.
Why Solus would want to kill his own family members? sons, even grandsons?
I dont know how royalty worked on the garleans, but woulnt his own family had the most loyaly and respect towars the emperor?
Doesnt need to be a king to know that soneer or later you need to put a succesor, man doesnt live forever.

Just because they were his family doesn't mean they would be the most loyal, or have the most respect for him. One only needs to look at FFXII with the Archadian Empire to see how that worked out.

For those who have not played XII: Vayne was ordered by his father to kill two of his brothers (who if I remember right were conspiring to kill their father and take the crown). Vayne did so, and then during the course of the game he kills his own father and takes up control of the Empire.

I do think that some members of the family did try to kill him or each other. Killing each other makes sense.

Perhaps the "uprising" that killed Lucia and Livia's parents was actually an attempted coup by one of the family members and their followers?

Still, why would he not have left a Will of some sort to prevent something like this. Assuming what I read was true, then it seems as if Gaius as implemental in deciding who would be the new rule of Garlemald despite his outcast status, since the Succession War would not have occurred had he still been alive. Which was why I though he at least held the Emperor's Will or something

Simply put: power. It's a sad fact of history that monarchs usually desire power so much they will do anything to hold onto that power, even including putting their own family members to the sword in order to stave off any attempts at upsurping them. Even modern-day royal families like the British monarchy have a rather blood-soaked history with historically usurpers and pretenders to the throne all fighting each other for succession rights (or even outright abolishing whole houses and establishing new orders of power - usually republics or pseudo-empires/kingdoms). You only have to look back through classic literature to see that this is a very common narrative in fiction (hint: try Shakespeare and Richard the III).

Hence SE are simply drawing on this common trope for Garlemald and Solus's consolidation of power (and the resultant 'War of Succession' and Varis's bloody rise to the throne - it suits their "might begets right" nature to a tee.

I think it's a lot more complicated than simply being a case of Varis having a lust for power and influence. Especially when he describes it as 'his solemn charge as Emperor to bring the Eikons to heel'. He's very similar to Vayne Solidor from FFXII - both in terms of wanting to destroy the 'Gods' and for having the blood of members of his family on his hands.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Still, why would he not have left a Will of some sort to prevent something like this.

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Even a will won't stop someone who's conniving enough. Just because you say your oldest son gets the throne doesn't mean he can't die in an "accident" and leave me next in line.

Just look at the history of the English monarchy.

I feel like it deserves a little more highlighting that Solus zos Galvus did name a successor - his son. The crown prince just happened to die before his father perished but after he was bedridden and failing. He might not have been able to name another successor.

Considering the man converted a republic directly into an empire using an iron fist and a brutal military, and considering that a number among the royal family had distinguished themselves assisting him in his rule, things played out pretty much the only way they could have in that situation.

That said, even if he had named another successor at the last moment, where might is right, a paper written by a dead man tends to hold a not unsurprising amount of authority over those who were just one step below him. To butcher a sentiment from A Song of Ice and Fire, when power is a shadow on the wall, sometimes words are wind and paper is just paper.

https://bram101blog.files.wordpress....earingitup.gif

I was aware that his eldest son (Varis' Father?) was supposed to take his place as the next Emperor, but wasn't aware that Solus became bedridden soon after his son/heir died.

Though I was always thinking that despite being ill he did name an heir, but the Will was subsequently found and destroyed.

I've always wondered if more of the Garlean higher-ups were Tempered by Bahamut like Nael was. I know we haven't had any discussion about it, but who all knows that Bahamut was a Primal? I remember at the end of the 2.0 story, after beating the Praetorium, there's a random Immortal Flame (I think) that mentions a Primal awakening - which turned out to be Bahamut. Surely some of the Garleans put 2 and 2 together and figured out that the Bahamut that was released from Dalamud was a Primal right?

Maybe some of these other aspirants to the Imperial throne were Tempered as well?

I think this is unlikely. Nael didn't become Tempered until the restoration of the Lunar Transmitter, which was well into his Eorzean campaign. There's a chance those at Bozja Citadel were Tempered, but they all got Megaflare'd right quick so it's of little consequence.

Come to think of it, I'm surprised we haven't heard anything about current Garlean's opinions on Nael. There's a bit of a throwaway that indicates Nero was using Nael's old aetheric data but I'd be curious what Varis and Regula thought of Project Meteor. With Regula so close to unleashing the sins of Allag all over again as well, it seems like it'd be due.

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Originally Posted by CyrusArjuna

I've always wondered if more of the Garlean higher-ups were Tempered by Bahamut like Nael was. I know we haven't had any discussion about it, but who all knows that Bahamut was a Primal? I remember at the end of the 2.0 story, after beating the Praetorium, there's a random Immortal Flame (I think) that mentions a Primal awakening - which turned out to be Bahamut. Surely some of the Garleans put 2 and 2 together and figured out that the Bahamut that was released from Dalamud was a Primal right?

Maybe some of these other aspirants to the Imperial throne were Tempered as well?

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Mm, but then you run into the problem of Bahamut being dormant however many thousands of yalms under the surface of Eorzea after the Calamity, with no indication that Garlemald had any desire to follow up on the impact sites (they're completely uninvolved in the Coil story, Nael aside). Garlemald had put the Eorzean campaign on hiatus after the Calamity, and didn't seem to gain a renewed appetite for it until Varis rose to power, so nobody was really around to get Tempered by Bahamut.

The implication of the story seems to be that Varis was simply acting to secure his throne, and/or possibly as an early show of power. They had a claim to the throne, thus they were a danger to him, thus he had them killed.

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Originally Posted by CyrusArjuna

I've always wondered if more of the Garlean higher-ups were Tempered by Bahamut like Nael was. <...> Maybe some of these other aspirants to the Imperial throne were Tempered as well?

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Originally Posted by Rocl

Nael didn't become Tempered until the restoration of the Lunar Transmitter, which was well into his Eorzean campaign. There's a chance those at Bozja Citadel were Tempered, but they all got Megaflare'd right quick so it's of little consequence.

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I'd planned on just tossing Rocl a PM like, "AKSHELLY" but he thought it'd be better if I went on a digression ... sooo ... here I am.

When the second Garlean lunar transmitter in Castrum Novum is activated, and you later see Darnus become empowered (and more than a little theatrical) as the moon warbles and flashes a bit, he may be being tempered here, but it wouldn't be his first dose of Bahamut's influence. (Perhaps that's one reason he starts behaving more and more strangely as the project moves along.) The exact nature of who is tempered and when is left a little vague to allow for questions and drama, but when Darnus convinces the Emperor to reboot the Meteor project, he's already tempered.

The most obvious bit: Darnus uses magic when you first meet him at the Bowl of Embers. It's a little thing, but even his own men are like, "...!?". It's the first red flag that something is amiss. At the Howling Eye, he even brags that when the land is "bathed in crimson brilliance", all he has "labored long to accomplish" will have come to pass. Read: "I have long been a vessel for the will of 'Almighty Dalamud', and His will is that you shall burn."

The second lunar transmitter barely worked at first (when the moon turned red and Nael started channeling the power of the crystals towards Dalamud), and it was completed towards the end of the story. The only likely vector for his first tempering was, therefore, the first lunar transmitter. But when was it turned on in such a way that Bahamut's influence could first come through and claim Nael? When it was first excavated by House Darnus? Whilst it was being studied at Bozja Citadel? And was anyone there with him? Was anyone else claimed? Is that why Midas nan Garlond was so obsessed with the project? These specifics are left to the imagination.

Still, with House Darnus and the Meteor Project being so shrouded in secrecy, and with Nael killing his father and Bozja being annihilated by an accidental energy transfer (read: Megaflare), it's unlikely anyone else is wandering around Garlemald doing work in Bahamut's name. Not impossible, but pretty unlikely ... if for no other reason than that story arc was created to bridge 1.18 through the relaunch and into Coil; the realm is reborn, Coil is over.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'd planned on just tossing Rocl a PM like, "AKSHELLY" but he thought it'd be better if I went on a digression ... sooo ... here I am.

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It made more sense than me editing my post saying "nvm Moose proved me wrong again!" LORE IS MEANT TO BE SHARED!

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The most obvious bit: Darnus uses magic when you first meet him at the Bowl of Embers. It's a little thing, but even his own men are like, "...!?". It's the first red flag that something is amiss.

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I'm also incredibly amazed I didn't put 2 + 2 together before. It allows some interesting thought though... a Primal's Tempering can "cure" a genetic defect like a Garlean's inability to manipulate aether?

The point is it's unlikely Bahamut tempered more Garleans, I guess. (And Garlemald proper didn't investigate any Dalamud impact sites in Eorzea I guess, but don't forget the XIV Legion built Castrum Occidens on top of an impact site and began to explore it before we showed up for Coil.)

I was just throwing that idea at the wall to see what stuck. Didn't really think it was true, just one of those things that I was curious about.

Might have been (or still might be if it turns out to be true somehow) a decent way to make the Garleans slightly more sympathetic if we have to eventually ally with them to combat a greater threat in the future.