National Leadership in Stormblood and Heavensward

[AphraelAmarantha]

I feel the WoL is a better leader of inspiration than Lyse will ever be. She even mentions her shortcomings compared to them. Even some people who followed the Griffin were more inspired by the WoL to take action, even if it was misguided.

[YianKutku]

I'd have more to say, if I can find the time. But I'll just add that, under the current Grand Company system, Gridania, Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa are, in theory at least, totalitarian states, with all the good and bad things that come with such political structures. Ishgard may now be a republic, but the aristocracy remains very much in political control. We don't have too many details about Sharlayan, and I'd like to imagine that it's most "democratic" of the city-states, but I have my doubts.

Ul'dah is straight-up monarchy in theory, but in practice an oligarchy by the richest citizens in the Syndicate. Raubahn may be the leader of the Immortal Flames, but he's probably far less influential than Lolorito.

Gridania is, as mentioned in previous threads and elsewhere, rule by genetic lottery, ie the Padjals. (Term shamelessly stolen from Anonymoose, thanks.) And above the Padjals are the Elementals, who don't really care about human concerns. Replace "Elementals" with "AI" and we've got a cyberpunk dystopia.

Limsa Lominsa is a weird case. Technically, assuming it follows RL pirate tradition, it's a weird form of democracy: the pirate crews elect (or un-elect) their captains through direct democracy. The captain then has a chance to become the Admiral through the Trident, which has nothing to do with popular representation and everything to do with maritime skill and ruthlessness.

However, Merlwyb has been Admiral since 6A 1563, and there have been no signs that a Trident is planned, despite it being exactly the time for one based on the lorebook (Trident every seven years, meaning one should have happened in 1570, and the current year is 1577).

Apparently back in 1.0 (again, information gratefully received from Anonymoose), there was talk of a Trident coming up... except the in-game year then was 1572. And there were Echo flashbacks to 1562, with the assassination of the then-Admiral, which would imply a Trident soon afterwards to elect a new one. As with many things from 1.0, all this never really panned out to anything.

Putting the timeline weirdness aside, it's heavily implied that upon Merlwyb's ascension to Admiral, Limsa has become less democratic and more autocratic.

Ishgard is this uncertain case where there's a House of Lords and a House of Commons, and we still have no idea how the actual balance of power tilts. We see lots of Aymeric (and Lucia) as the representative of their nation in Stormblood, but that's mostly because Aymeric is still technically the leader of Ishgard's armed forces, along with all his other titles, including "Azure Dragoon" (somehow).

Sharlayan is, based on the lorebook, a representative democracy. Citizens vote for the 99 members of the Forum, who then govern for an undefined amount of time; presumably there are regular elections, since we hear of political factions gaining and losing influence. Of course, the usual caveat about democracies applies: just because the people make the decisions doesn't mean the decisions are enlightened. After all, at least one member of the Forum is a proven murderer, who attempts to kill the WoL (and the Astrologian NPCs) in the 50-60 AST questline.

I feel the WoL is a better leader of inspiration than Lyse will ever be. She even mentions her shortcomings compared to them. Even some people who followed the Griffin were more inspired by the WoL to take action, even if it was misguided.

The WoL may be more inspirational (and better than just about everything than the NPCs), but we're also very difficult to pin down and made to stay in one place for an extended period of time.

Lyse at least has the advantage of being able to continue being an inspiration at the source, instead of being a distant adventurer having adventures elsewhere.