Unukalhai [SPOILER Discussion]

[Kallera]

I think the endgame for all this is for Eorzea to be tempted with the technology, instead of Garlemeld. From a meta standpoint, it would be the sort of thing that would allow roaming primals and fc summoning. If that sort of power in the hands of a few mucky muks at the top is bad, imagine what it could do in the adventuring community...

as for what would cause Eorzea to fall into temptation...if the conflict with Garlemeld explodes into open war, It would a conflict that would have more military involvement than the 1 legion that ran rampant in 2.0. Odds are magitek hasn't been standing still either, as the empire begins to develop magitek units with resistance to magic.

In other words, a fine time for an army to be looking for an edge to press their aetherial advantages.

[Alberel]

I think the endgame for all this is for Eorzea to be tempted with the technology, instead of Garlemeld. From a meta standpoint, it would be the sort of thing that would allow roaming primals and fc summoning. If that sort of power in the hands of a few mucky muks at the top is bad, imagine what it could do in the adventuring community...

as for what would cause Eorzea to fall into temptation...if the conflict with Garlemeld explodes into open war, It would a conflict that would have more military involvement than the 1 legion that ran rampant in 2.0. Odds are magitek hasn't been standing still either, as the empire begins to develop magitek units with resistance to magic.

In other words, a fine time for an army to be looking for an edge to press their aetherial advantages.

That would be the endgame for the Ascians at least. I think things will go that way but I'd hazard a guess that we'll end up unifying with Garlemald eventually and avoid the inevitable final calamity of an all out war with them. The biggest threat to the Ascians is unity. They thrive on sowing chaos and having people fight and summon primals against each other. If the WoL could unify everyone against them then the Ascians would be powerless. Ironically that is exactly what Garlemald has been seeking to do this entire time, just by more totalitarian means. It's for this reason that I expect we'll eventually find common ground.

[Theodric]

That would be the endgame for the Ascians at least. I think things will go that way but I'd hazard a guess that we'll end up unifying with Garlemald eventually and avoid the inevitable final calamity of an all out war with them. The biggest threat to the Ascians is unity. They thrive on sowing chaos and having people fight and summon primals against each other. If the WoL could unify everyone against them then the Ascians would be powerless. Ironically that is exactly what Garlemald has been seeking to do this entire time, just by more totalitarian means. It's for this reason that I expect we'll eventually find common ground.

Yes, hopefully. That would be much more interesting than Garlemald being made into a generic evil empire - and it'd fit with the common theme present in earlier Final Fantasy games - especially XII and IX - where the major antagonists end up redeemed or as allies at some point in the story.

[Laili]

I think 4.0 is going to delve pretty deeply into the structure of Garlean society; it's going to be our first major jaunt into Garlean territory, until this point pretty much every Garlean we've come across has been military personnel. One would imagine that to sustain an entire city-state however that the Garleans would need merchants, farmers, ect. to sustain themselves (espeically this far from the motherland).

That being said, I don't expect to see a ton of morally upright Garleans; I expect them as a whole to be incredibly pragmatic. And that's okay really, like it or not omelettes require broken eggs.

[EdwinLi]

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This partly why I think there is a Garlean Faction within the Garlean Government that support a more peaceful method.

So far we have only seeing the side of Garlean Empire that support the aggressive Conquer the world to unit the world and exterminate any that are deemed too dangerous to be allowed to live.

However, such ideals are bound to have a faction within their Society that actually question if their current method is the wrong way to handle things since it is a path the Allagan Empire took but it ultimately resulted in the Allagan Empire destroying the world due to their ignorance of the consequences.

As of now it is extremely rare for a actual born Garlean citizen to actually go out and see the effects of their Conquer the World Plan unless they are military or a Spy.

At best we can assume that a normal garlean citizen only see what the world out side of Garlemald through just properganda and news reports since so far the only Garleans actually experiencing life outside of Garlemald are military personal and Garlean Spies place to infiltrate the other society.

[myahele]

Not too sure how related it could be, but isn't the Serpent Bearer (Ophiuchus) based on the Asclepius myth? That myth says that he was a legendary healer that could even revive the dead to the point that even the gods killed him for that ability since it trespassed the realm of Hades. And was eventually elevated into a constellation (some say even a god)

I wonder if Elidibus (based on the Serpent Bearer) has similar ability? That he "revived" or brought forth the WoD from death/ aetherial sea. Being echo users their mind was intact, but lacked a body; much like the Sahagin priest and Asciens did; hence why "aether moves around them strangely"

[Tracewood]

Yes, hopefully. That would be much more interesting than Garlemald being made into a generic evil empire - and it'd fit with the common theme present in earlier Final Fantasy games - especially XII and IX - where the major antagonists end up redeemed or as allies at some point in the story.

That could very well be possible, and the refugees of Ala Mhigo could end up being the antagonists. The Ala Mhigans show plenty of hostility towards outsiders despite the irony of their situation, and that kind of stubborn pride when fueled by someone that would take advantage of that would not be a good thing. Not sure why but Illberd reminds me of Scar from Full Metal Alchemist, just powerful and charismatic enough to launch a full scale rebellion and we already saw how far he'd go to attain it. I'm sort of banking on an uneasy truce or even an alliance between the Eorzean alliance and the Garleans against an even bigger threat.