I joked about that a lot in 4.0, that it seemed like a convenient excuse to learn about the Xaela and massage the Au Ra deeper into the world lore by ... having a guy stake his entire country's future on usurping another culture for personal gain. At least the Xaela seem pretty down with it; the gods let this happen, and fighting is fighting. All glory to the victors of the Naadam. Etc.

When Grynewaht came bumbling in looking for us I was sure he'd conveniently cause a scene that really impressed on the Xaela that they're a threat and worth fighting, but it didn't really play out that way, at least not very strongly.