My attempt at the FULL lyrics for the Garlean (stolen) anthem.

[Anonymoose]

I'd need a Legacy player to verify but I don't think Castrum Occidens was around during 1.x.

A bit of a build-up: Between Ilsabard and Eorzea is a land bridge that makes invasion difficult. Air superiority is a massive advantage, but you can't hold anything without infantry. This is why Ala Mhigo as a foothold on Aldenard was so important in the first place. Knowing how costly fighting primals would be, and putting 2 and 2 together about the mythology of Mor Dhona, the Empire tried to secure the heart of the continent and failed so hard (shout-out to the Father of Dragons) that they just went back to Ala Mhigo and hid behind their wall, unwilling to see a repeat of the eastern theatre just yet.

While Gaius was able to maintain a tenuous hold on Mor Dhona with supply camps and infantry, no Garlean fortifications were established beyond Ala Mhigo until just before the Calamity. When the VIIth Legion was combined with the XIVth, airships observing blackout brought in a massive amount of supplies in a short period and Castrum Novum was raised in Mor Dhona, the only such fortress in the (free) realm.

Why is all of this important? The invasion of the VIIth (supplemented by the XIVth) spurred the re-establishment of the Grand Companies and Eorzean Alliance. Even if Garlemald has little interest in holding outlying islands, Limsa Lominsa was one-third of the Alliance. When Gaius resurrected Castrum Novum as Castrum Centri and established peripheral castra radiating out from it, Vylbrand couldn't be ignored.

After Eorzea had been completely subdued, Vylbrand probably would have suffered the same fate as Doma, being left on the fringes with a puppet government and little attention. Until such a time, however, the Maelstrom needed to be kept in check.

What about the song? If the whole point of Garlemald co-opting the anthem was to adjust and assimilate an existing culture, why would they bring that new song to other territories? I assume Garlemald has simply changed many anthems. What then of the "lakes of Aldenard"? A declaration of intent and reminder of the Empire's purpose, I suppose. If everything went according to plan, the anthem wouldn't have been not-entirely-accurate for very long.