What do you think of Ala Mhigo?

[PArcher]

My character was born in Ala Mhigo, a few years before the massacre at the monk temple. She and her father fled the city a few days after the massacre, as her mother was a monk (she was at the temple that day and is presumed dead) and her father thought that the people were going to murder them by association (they lived in a part of the city that was very loyal, at the time, to the King). They intended to flee to Limsa, but he was killed by Garleans near the Gridanian boarder and she made it alone. He views on her people were...overly negative as a result, and stayed that way until she had to visit Little Ala Mhigo. That's not to say they improved much,; she resented her people as they were now, trying to fight the Garleans instead of improving their lives. She respected Wilred for his attempts at bettering himself, and believed Ilberd could show their people they could be better than the sorry lot they'd become...but with his betrayal in the name of Ala Mhigo, her opinions returned to the hatred she grew up with.

She knows that, eventually, she will have to journey to the city, to fight the Garleans. And that is all she intends; she has no love for her people, believing that they best course may be to burn the place to the ground and start over.

/rp


Anyway, I'm interested to see what actually has become of the place. While I know there will be pockets of resistance either way, how the Garleans have treated the people will shape their reactions. If they're treated fairly well, they will resist us, insisting the Garleans are better. If they're not, the resistance will be greater, and a full-blown revolt will likely take place.

[Alisa180]

Unfortunetly, I suspect the liberation of Ala Mihgo won't be as 'morally grey' as some are hoping.

Here are the facts: Garlemald is opposed to the primals and trying to find a permamnent solution to them. They classify anything capable of summoning a primal as 'beastmen.' In HW, we found out their 'solution' to the primal problem was *genocide* of whoever they classified as beastmen.

And now thanks to the one-two puch of Ysalye/Shiva, and Thordan/the Knights of the Round, Garlemald now knows ordinary Eorzeans can summon primals. Take a guess as to what they are going to do with that information.

Argh, and now thinking about it, I'm suddenly worried about the Eorzeans currently living under Garlean control...I think things are going to get very ugly for them soon.

[Dererk]

Yeah. I really, really hope that the situation is morally complex. The Garleans are very cool and interesting and deserve more than to be viewed as being little more than a generic evil empire. Ala Mhigo fell due to its pride and a lot of horrific atrocities have been committed in the name of trying to reclaim it. Everything points at that continuing to happen - especially given what happened in Ul'dah with Ilberd. I say this in pretty much any thread that touches upon Garleans but I want to be able to ally with someone like Gabranth or Drace from FFXII. A Garlean that - whilst loyal to their people and homeland - stands up for injustice and works to eliminate some of the rot within their own society whilst also opposing those who slaughter innocent Garleans/civilians.

They sent spy's into Ala Mahigo to stir up the problems it was having. Problems that could have been resolved possible. And no I highly doubt we will see such a person in the empire the only good Garlain is a turn coat.

[Theodric]

They sent spy's into Ala Mahigo to stir up the problems it was having. Problems that could have been resolved possible. And no I highly doubt we will see such a person in the empire the only good Garlain is a turn coat.

A lot of people said the same thing about Ishgard and that if we ever went there we'd go to destroy the place. Nothing implies that Garlemald is without redeeming qualities - and the story/world building has remained morally grey throughout. We don't know what's ahead of us for certain but given that there's a guy on the lore team who created the likes of Vagrant Story, FFXII and FF Tactics (all games known for morally complex characters/plot points) I think it's fair to expect the Garleans to be more than just a generic evil empire.

A lot of people like the Garleans and find them much more interesting than most of the Scions. It'd be a major disappointment if the story shifts into generic good versus generic bad.

[Brannigan]

I hope the Ala Mhigans summon Rhalgr (or a primal incarnation). I was so hyped up to kill see Halone this expansion and it never happened. I pretty much anticipate us going there because we find out a couple of friendly characters that we've been looking for are aiding the resistance. The resistance is gonna need either Rhalgr or like Omega or something. We'll have to go beat them and the Garleans up basically.

[CyrilLucifer]

The resistance is gonna need either Rhalgr or like Omega or something. We'll have to go beat them and the Garleans up basically.

Let's be honest here: why do we need them to summon a God when you're basically a walking nuclear weapon already? Even Elidibus says you're "encroaching on the realm of the Gods."

Unless we lose our Blessing again for some reason, or we get neutered, story-wise, they can just point and shoot us and the problem will be solved. No need to let them summon.

[Kaiser-Ace]

I went into Ishguard assuming, even since 1.22 when I join FF14, that The Archbishop was evil ala FF10/13 and with the intention of proving it, wreaking the status quo, and waking these morons up to the "Real World" once and for all.

Surprise surprise, that's exactly what happened. And I'll continue to enjoy it as I proceed to completely destroy Thorden's hypocritical Orthodoxy and reveal Thorden the 1st for the scum bag traitor he was.

As for Ala Mihgo, the fault on it's conquest lies with the Ala Mihgans them selves and their "King of Ruin" that left them wide open to invasion. So it will not surprise me at all if we get to Ala Mihgo and everyone there is perfectly happy with the Garlen Occupancy and doing better than when they were assimilated. Thus dousing the hopes and dreams of people like Ilberd (Who I still intend to hunt down and kill) as their hopes for a "Free" Ala Mihgo turn out to be their own twisted desires projected on people who neither miss nor want the old ways.

Then, Cue Head Cannon, we find Gaius van Belsair there alive and well ruling as ala mihgo's new reagent and completely disillusioned with the empire to the point that he and the XIVth Imperial Legion join with us and his Ala Mihgan Subjects to push the Empire out of Eorzea once and for all.

[Theodric]

I think the story risks becoming very stale if we end up with a situation where the Warrior of Light appears, shakes up the foundations of yet another nation and gets even more powerful. I want to see Ala Mhigo and Ishgard be even worse off as a consequence of intervention. Realistically speaking that's what happens when a nation's structure suddenly changes. For all the talk about bringing forth 'change' in the real world and eliminating 'corruption' quite a lot of people would suffer terribly if their government suffered a complete collapse. It's no different in a fantasy setting.

As for Gaius? We didn't see a body, true, but...as much as I liked him I wouldn't want to see yet another character brought back from the dead. Besides - if he was written to defect and abandon his homeland and people then he'd be defanged and lose a lot of his appeal.

[Kaiser-Ace]

As for Gaius? We didn't see a body, true, but...as much as I liked him I wouldn't want to see yet another character brought back from the dead. Besides - if he was written to defect and abandon his homeland and people then he'd be defanged and lose a lot of his appeal.

I'm not so sure. 1st off, Nanamo doesn't count as "Back From the Dead". The NPCs were calling BS on that even in the post 2.55 dialog. If he survived that'd be the first actual "Back from the Dead" character as we actually DID assume we killed him. As for the proposed betrayal I suggested, I was thinking more of a scenario like Agent Smith from The Matrix where his betrayal was as a grab for his own power not because he was a good guy. After all, the revolution is the reason him and his forces were left high and dry. And with the new Emperor supporting the idea of using Azys Lla's Warring Triad, not unlike Nael using Dalamild, Gaius would be more likely to turn on them and seek to rule Garlemauld himself since he's by and far the ONLY Legatus that actually believes in Merit over Blood Status (Which is why the Garlean "Meritocracy" is a total scam).

I mainly want to see our (In my view) Greatest anti-thesis to be a recurring antagonist instead of a one off villain like Teledji and Nebralius. Gaius could have easily been our ally instead of the scions under different circumstances.

Also, for those that didn't know, I liked Gaius as much as Fenral liked G'raha Tia. Everyone has an NPC that sticks with them. lol

[WellFooled]

Ala Mhigo itself doesn't yet interest me as much as the idea of going to a Garlean Empire controlled territory. I think my dream scenario would be an expansion based on a war with the Empire, with Ala Mhigo as the front lines, but I fear that instead the Empire will, for whatever reasons, pull out of Ala Mhigo before our arrival.