Quote Originally Posted by Samcaesar View Post
The point about Ul'dah still stands though, how oft are immigrants coming in wealthy? Like when the PC get off the caravan/ship in the beginning, they're broke and don't seem to be in possession of anything really, so what's the difference there outside of plot?

I'm a bit curious on how someone would live in Eorzea without being at least some how having allegiance to any the city states. Towns outside of the main cities seem to be rather small and more like trade hubs over actual towns in most cases, and they all still seem rather firm in their association to their various city states.
I think the main difference is that we're adventurers, not refugee settlers. You go straight to the adventurer's guild and you're not really looking for room and board at that point.
You may not have much, but the PC can earn their work doing things normal people can't.
I'm gonna guess Ul'dans are aware of the status of adventurers. They're not there to settle and they're not looking for hand-outs.
The Ul'dans are concerned refugees are a drain on their economy.

I think we have to resort to plot reasoning for the lesser jobs that you'd think the refugees would be fighting us for.
The merchants certainly don't seem to mine shelling out coin for you to give a message to someone 5 yalms away. But, yea that's just for gameplay purposes.

On the second point, I agree we don't see many (if any) places that don't associate with the city states. The U tribe at the Forgotten Springs is one that I can think of.
This is why it seems more likely to me that the PC might not be from Eorzea, or at least the parts we visit.