Idea for a New Expansion: Gaius van Baelsar lives... and he needs your help

[Theodric]

Well, as far as my opinion on the matter goes?

Gaius and Regula both had redeeming qualities and each earned quite the fan following. I frequently see people voicing their support for Garlemald in various chat channels on Balmung as well as other forms of FFXIV related media. Just the other day, for instance, this happened without warning:

For context, people were honouring Regula and Gaius. The crowd got even bigger as the evening advanced.

Now, where am I going with this? There's definitely a decent chunk of players who desire a 'Gaius' or a 'Regula' that they can rally behind. Personally it is my hope that Varis serves such a role, though I wouldn't rule out Gaius making a return provided he didn't become another defector who turns against his people and homeland. Someone who wishes to save and preserve their power but is prepared to make compromises would be ideal. Since at the end of the day Eorzea arguably does not deserve to exist if the cost is Garlemald being wiped off of the map entirely. Thus, at some point, peace between both is ideal.

I'm also a firm advocate of death being final but at the same time the developers have made it clear that death in this setting isn't necessarily final and that they're more than willing to expand on a character's role if there's a lot of people desiring such a thing. It happened with Edda, after all.

Though ultimately we don't need Regula or Gaius to come back from the dead. We just need someone similar to them to show up serve as a bridge between Eorzea and Garlemald. Something akin to Larsa from FFXII would be pretty neat...and part of me is hoping we'll meet someone like that as of 4.1 as FFXII - The Zodiac Age will be fresh in a lot of people's minds by that point.