Lore Book Revelations

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

? I need to check again, but I distinctly remember "Doma and Dalmasca" being listed as Othardian nations, Dalmasca even being inferred as a neighbor to Doma. I would imagine Rabanastre is just the capital of Dalmasca, same as XII.

There are three dates in the timeline that heavily imply it:

1517: The Republic first employs airships in its military conquests, easily conquering the small nation of Dalmasca in a display of terrifying power. Over the coming years, the Garleans seize control over the majority of the northern territories.

1522: The northlands of Ilsabard are unified under Garlean rule.

1528: The imperial legions of Garlemald launch a military campaign on the Eastern continent.

Taken together, this implies that Garlemald didn't make a play for Othard until after all of Ilsabard's nations were conquered, and since Dalmasca was taken before that, it's not a stretch to assume it was among them. There's kind of room for ambiguity in there - after all, taking Dalmasca apparently required airships, and could have always been an early foray into Othard before committing to a full campaign - so I cheated and skipped ahead to the proper Garlemald section, and lo and behold:

As if to avenge every wrong ever done to them, the Garleans invaded the countries of northern Ilsabard and annexed their lands. [...] The same year [1517], the republic attacked Dalmasca, a small country nestled in the central mountains, and rained fire down upon it with their new airships.

Now, I initially assumed the same as you because of this Gamer Escape interview that explicitly states Rabanastre as being in Othard, and then says "There’s also a line in the Japanese version where they name-drop Dalmasss—<throat clearing>." The implication I took from it was that Dalmasca was also in Othard, but it seems that's not the case and Koji was conflating them on being FFXII references, rather than geographic neighbours.

I'm actually curious about something you said earlier in your last post, though:

Careful reading of certain bits of the Allagan lore, especially the bits concerning Meracydia, stop exactly short of confirming the Au Ra are related to dragons. Two rather prominent dragons, at that.

What bits do you mean? I know the Au Ra creation myth has the Dawn Father and Dusk Mother "return[ing] to the heavens" after settling the strife between the Raen and Xaela, but I can't find anything in the Allagan section on Meracydia that even kind of hints them to be offspring of dragons.