Does Garlemald have enough for full out war?

[lycropath]

Whats so important about Ala Mhigo that the Empire wants it.

Ala Mhigo is the only land route to the Eorzean Subcontinent, so even if its not a resource rich area, its still a very important strategic stronghold.

On the subject of the Air Force of Garlemald vs Eorzea, prior to the fall of Ala Mhigo, they had the Griffin Cavalry which was probably the biggest asset they had against them. True they aren't giant metal monstrosities but they are potentially very powerful magical beasts.

[Dualblade]

Ala Mhigo is the only land route to the Eorzean Subcontinent, so even if its not a resource rich area, its still a very important strategic stronghold.

On the subject of the Air Force of Garlemald vs Eorzea, prior to the fall of Ala Mhigo, they had the Griffin Cavalry which was probably the biggest asset they had against them. True they aren't giant metal monstrosities but they are potentially very powerful magical beasts.

Ala Mhigo was also the strongest single nation-state in Eorzea. The Alliance overall was/is stronger but they were pretty fractured till recently on what to do for the most part. Taking out Ala Mhigo ensured that the strongest nation was out of the way, and without Midgarsomr's sudden intervention things would probably look very different in Eorzea by the current time period.

The VIIth, the XIVth, the VIth, and the XIVth

I believe you are counting the XIVth a couple times to many in place of the XIIth there.

But the one he kills is probably a traitor (seeing how he reacted) and not a pureblood Garlean. The ones that Zenos killed are pureblood Garlean (since they do react bad to Fordola) so he is killing their own "race". I mean if that is an acceptable way to handle loss then I would not want to be in that army.

Varis himself rose to Emperor via killing his uncle if I remember right. While it probably wasn't as overt as Zenos killing his own officers it also points to this not exactly being uncommon. Also a case of bad parenting.

[Cilia]

I believe you are counting the XIVth a couple times to many in place of the XIIth there.

Fixed, being up for 20 hours is a little discombobulating. Just a little. (And I'll still probably be up a while longer, lol.)

Varis himself rose to Emperor via killing his uncle if I remember right. While it probably wasn't as overt as Zenos killing his own officers it also points to this not exactly being uncommon. Also a case of bad parenting.

He became Emperor by defeating his uncle in a civil war; whether or not said uncle was killed is unknown but very likely. With my recent time away letting me look at the issue in a new light, this civil war just entrenches my belief that Varis is not going to turn the new leaf Garlean fans want him to; Varis was willing to start up a civil war so he could be Emperor and continue his grandfather's aggressive campaigns and fight against his own countrymen who were backing up his uncle who wanted to end the aggressive expansion. In other words, he was willing to kill kith and kin so he could lead more of his countrymen to their deaths... fighting wars that are ultimately counterproductive, as Hien pointed out.

[RobinMalvin]

Ala Mhigo was also the strongest single nation-state in Eorzea. The Alliance overall was/is stronger but they were pretty fractured till recently on what to do for the most part. Taking out Ala Mhigo ensured that the strongest nation was out of the way, and without Midgarsomr's sudden intervention things would probably look very different in Eorzea by the current time period.

Ala Mhigo wasn't at its best when Gaius came over and took control; the city-state was pretty much fractured since the civil war that overthrew Theodoric. That, and the other city-states didn't as much as wink when Ala Mhigo was conquered, since Ala Mhigo had made less than stellar reputation with the rest of Eorzea, especially Gridania. Garlemald took it as golden opportunity to secure a very strategic spot to open their path to invasion of Eorzea.

Some NPC veterans of Ala Mhigo like to boast that Ala Mhigo was the only obstacle that prevented Garlemald from attempting full Eorzea invasion. The fact of this statement is likely up for debate, since as mentioned, Garlemald only took Ala Mhigo because of internal strife. Personally, if Ala Mhigo was at full power, they might be able to hold Garlemald at bay for a time but would eventually fall, but not without cost for Garlemald and any attempt to proceed to the rest of Eorzea would have to be delayed, unless the XIVth got backup from any other Legion.