[spoiler] empire might vs eorzea might

[Belhi]

Which is exactly why I think it makes for interesting speculation.

That is very hard to tell, particularly since your talking about a war that occurred 100 years prior. We only know so much about the parties involved. I also suspect that Ala Mhigo wouldn't have ended up conquering all of Eorzea. Annexing Gridania would have probably been as much as they could have managed while still protecting their northern border. After all they would have still had to hold Gridania in the wake of that which might have gotten difficult if the Elementals had become troublesome. Taking Ishgard, and Limsa would have been a much harder task as Ala Mhigo wasn't a great naval power and they would have needed to defeat Limsa at see to get their armies across the strait and Ishgard was already highly fortified and questionably worth the trouble. Ul'dah would have been quite the prize but would have time to build up substancial mercenary forces as well as potentially make deals with Ala Mhigo's enemies in Ilsebard. Added to that, Ul'dah fights very dirty. The last war they had they turned their enemy army into Zombies.

If Ala Mhigo had had the military strength to pull it off, its hard to say. Again, it would come down to who was in charge. Conquest is rather a jerk move regardless, even though in Ala Mhigo's case there was economic drivers forcing their hand. Manfrid seemed to be more interested in securing viable lands to keep Ala Mhigo from going into decline than building an empire. Also Culturally the difference probably wasn't as severely different. Certainly not the same but the social and religious structures were definitely more in line with their Eorzean neighbours.

[VargasVermillion]

My current theory on the provinces that are treated well is related mostly to what they can actually provide. Doma was primarily a tourist destination before the first rebellion and Ala mhigo has even less to offer save for labor and soldiers, and that's pretty much what they got out of it.

[Cilia]

My current theory on the provinces that are treated well is related mostly to what they can actually provide. Doma was primarily a tourist destination before the first rebellion and Ala mhigo has even less to offer save for labor and soldiers, and that's pretty much what they got out of it.

Which then raises the question of why they were conquered in the first place. If Doma and Ala Mhigo weren't able to provide much for the Empire, why conquer them at all (beyond Ala Mhigo's strategic value as a gateway to the rest of Eorzea)?

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Which then raises the question of why they were conquered in the first place. If Doma and Ala Mhigo weren't able to provide much for the Empire, why conquer them at all (beyond Ala Mhigo's strategic value as a gateway to the rest of Eorzea)?

I'd probably say that Ala Mhigo's primary value was absolutely as a regional foothold, and even if the surrounding region held zero value for the Empire, I wouldn't expect them to back down from an occupied territory unless absolutely necessary. Sure, it's not actively providing the Empire with much, but they've got it already and it's not costing much to hold it and now they can say their empire spans the Three Great Continents! Besides, ceding held lands looks weak. And, as ObsidianFire points out, they were using it as a center for manufacturing plants too.

As for Doma, we can probably assume that it serves the same purpose for East Othard; even if there's no direct use for the lands beyond conscription and resources for manufacturing, some kind of permanent base of operations in the region means they get to consider it a part of the Empire, and Doma really seems to be the only major city. I don't have my book here to give direct citations, but I believe Doma was the longest holdout against Imperial conquest of the continent as well, no? Occupying it directly (or bringing its leader into line, as they did before the uprising) probably sent a pretty strong message to the normal folk.

[VargasVermillion]

Which then raises the question of why they were conquered in the first place. If Doma and Ala Mhigo weren't able to provide much for the Empire, why conquer them at all (beyond Ala Mhigo's strategic value as a gateway to the rest of Eorzea)?

Garlemald wants to have all the continents under it's wing and I assume if they succeeded they would look for more continents to absorb. It's been confirmed they have no interest in islands which is why hingashi is relatively safe and even trades with them. It wouldn't surprise me if the magitek they got was inspired by garlean designs since garlemald deals technology to island nations to help fund their conquest.

[uvuvwevwevweonyetenyevweugwemu]

Conquerer like Garleans rather assimilate their political view, put economic pressure so they can recruit and maintain the area. Conquest wouldn't be the reason for Ala Mhigo.

Culturally the difference probably wasn't as severely different. Certainly not the same but the social and religious structures were definitely more in line with their Eorzean neighbours

They certainly view things differently, last CRP job quest highlights this:

Every time we try to reach out to them, how are we repaid? With hostility. Take the tea party Captain Gairhard arranged for us for example. We attended hoping to turn over a new leaf.

They, however, clearly came for different reasons entirely because the moment we sat down, they served us Ala Mhigan tea!

Every day we Ala Mhigans bleed and fight and die to protect this country, and yet the Gridanians still regard us with the same suspicion and resentment that they do beastmen.

[Belhi]

Conquerer like Garleans rather assimilate their political view, put economic pressure so they can recruit and maintain the area. Conquest wouldn't be the reason for Ala Mhigo.


They certainly view things differently, last CRP job quest highlights this:

I am not saying they don't have differences, only that the differences aren't as extreme. The social and religious structures of Garlean society are way more different and extreme than Ala Mhigo and Gridania. I might also point out that that quest ended with both parties coming to realise they actually had quite a lot in common.