Ala Mhigo Reconstruction

[Lauront]

Plenty needs to be done! When a country occupies another, they make changes against that countries wishes. Instead it would be a reverse construction where one repairs the lives of the people living in the already existing structures.

There’s also an issue of Garlean nobles who live in the city. How did they go on? Do we keep them as hostages, let the willing stay? Or do we send them back? There’s plenty left to cover.

It was never really stated that there were any, to my recollection. If there were, they were likely to be military commanders and may as well be assumed dead at this point. Bear in mind, the province is a backwater as far as the Empire is concerned.

And it's not like any other nation is beating the Empire on their own. Heck, before Gaius took advantage of the rebellion against the Mad King ala mhigo was holding off the Empire just fine.

Was it? My understanding of the whole situation is that Gaius wanted to minimise casualties in the process of taking it over, not that he had any concerns that it'd put up too great a fight. After conquering the entirety of Ilsebard, the idea that Ala Mhigo would fend off the Empire is rather fanciful, to put it mildly. And "unity" would still leave the nation under the rule of its mad king.

Doma does indeed seem to have been pretty bad in some respects. Both it and Ala Mhigo were unruly provinces.

Aye, basically they couldn't beat the empire, were too cowardly to try and turned on an easy target to vent their anger... their own people, which is rather disgusting. Not to mention they stoned their own to death for siding with the Empire, but when you come to rally them to war, they'd rather stay submissive to the Empire.

And, lest we forget, they sought to inflict a pretty similar fate on Gridania, as the Empire had inflicted upon them - but ultimately they were unable to do so as they were repelled by the other city states. Yes, yes, it was a while ago (80 years), but their warlike nature means they're not particularly different to the Garleans who came to rule them. So I don't understand why they think they're owed some great sympathy, particularly as the other city-states bent over backwards to accommodate them, often to their own detriment, or why I'm supposed to see the Garleans as uniquely mendacious.

That said, none of the city-states strikes me as particularly able to do much against the Empire (or even the Primals/Eikons) without the WoL (their deus ex machina) or, to a lesser extent, the Scions. The only city-state the Empire actively avoids is Sharlayan, and that is because it has formidable magic prowess and defences. I think recent spoilers in the story might also explain imperial reticence to move to that area, given that it's where the Scions originate in essence, and certain somebodies might already have their fingers in that pie. However, we'll see where its story goes.

The way it strikes me right now, is that it's a bunch of pretty zones whose denizens I'm not overly fond of. The music's good, though, especially in the Lochs.

[Edax]

That said, none of the city-states strikes me as particularly able to do much against the Empire (or even the Primals/Eikons) without the WoL (their deus ex machina) or, to a lesser extent, the Scions. The only city-state the Empire actively avoids is Sharlayan, and that is because it has formidable magic prowess and defences. I think recent spoilers in the story might also explain imperial reticence to move to that area, given that it's where the Scions originate in essence, and certain somebodies might already have their fingers in that pie. However, we'll see where its story goes.

I actually think Ishgard stands the best chance against the Empire. While exhausted from a thousand year long war, those have perfectly honed military traditions and the alliance with very powerful dragons like Hraesvelgr. We've seen what kind of damage Midgardsormr can do to the Empire in the intro movie. Ishgard itself is covered with anti-air guns so I'd imagine the Empire would struggle to attack Ishgard directly, so the question being how good they'd be spearheading an attack into the Empire.

[TheMightyMollusk]

I actually think Ishgard stands the best chance against the Empire. While exhausted from a thousand year long war, those have perfectly honed military traditions and the alliance with very powerful dragons like Hraesvelgr. We've seen what kind of damage Midgardsormr can do to the Empire in the intro movie. Ishgard itself is covered with anti-air guns so I'd imagine the Empire would struggle to attack Ishgard directly, so the question being how good they'd be spearheading an attack into the Empire.

Midgardsormr was uniquely powerful (and huge) at the time, and is much diminished now, with his original body dead at the Keeper of the Lake. And the other dragons, especially Hraesvelgr himself, want little or nothing to do with the mortal races. They can't really be counted on as allies against the Empire. Note that not a single one showed up to help liberate Ala Mhigo or Doma.