Disappointed in the turn the Garlean Empire has taken

[Bright-Flower]

you do realize all there magiteck does is use nature fire elements like lava, water

give me 1billion and i could a army of real magitek in 5 years lol its completely feasible stop kidding yourself all it is metal-wires-coding and weaponize for what ever you wish it to do hell even gundums can be built

Machines in general, sure we can make. Magitek machines, not really. And even the ones you could somewhat resemble, like say making a Reaper that walks on two legs, isn't going to be practical in the real world compared to actual vehicles. In the same way a sword made to resemble an oversdesigned fantasy rpg sword wouldn't function well in real life. There is still very much a fantasy element to this technology, hence why it's called MAGItech. I could understand if Garlemald was sending out realistic looking tanks etc, but the magitek vehicles we fight simply are not practical for actual battle i the real world and rely on it being fantasy technology that works more effectively than real world versions of it would. There's a reaosn we have tanks and not reapoers, helicoptors and not flight armors, aircraft carriers and not massive flying flagships.

Could you make a reaper with a million dollars? Probably. Could you make it fire energy blasts and make it an effective battlefield weapon to the point any sane army would have htem mass produced? I doubt it.

[Zohar_Lahar]

I guess I mean a Garlean character who hasn't rejected the Garlean "noble conquest" cause.

The problem was their "noble conquest" kept causing the very thing they were trying to prevent: eikon summoning. Even Gaius screwed this up. As such, Garlean Empire finally made sense to me with the Solus reveal; because now they aren't just horribly incompetent warmongers, but a vulnerable people who were manipulated by a demagogue with ulterior motives and hidden agenda.

[Daralii]

I'll have to dig around a bit... But I'm sure it's mentioned a few times in the banter between Cid and Nero.

I think it's when Cid is justifying his leaving of the Empire.

With the motto then being taken up by the Ironworks to prevent anyone in the employ from being lured into attempting anything Garlean-esk (This includes Nero after his services are purchased by the Ironworks for the hunt of Omega...)

From what I remember, that was limited to the idea that Cid was using that motto to justify shackling his own mind out of fear born from what the Lunar Transmitter was capable of.

[Cilia]

I'm fine with the direction the Empire is going. Having them go from pseudo-Nazis to straight Nazis is a pretty natural evolution and underscores that the Empire needs to be stopped, whether due to the designs of its Ascian architect or the end goal of its reigning Emperor. Nothing good will come of the Empire, and that's something the developers have been trying to impress on players since 2.0 (at least; from what I've read 1.x was even less positive in its portrayal of Imperial jingoism).

"Freedom through Technology" is the motto of the Garlond Ironworks, and was adopted by Cid upon leaving the Empire precisely because the Empire uses technology to oppress others. It's brought up by Nero during the Omega storyline because Cid is holding himself back out of shame and guilt over what happened with the Lunar Transmitter and Dalamud, and is intended to snap Cid out of his funk and get him doing what needs to be done. (Nero's got this very tsundere-bromance-rivalry thing going on with Cid... it's kind of funny, to be honest.)

Fordola never really cared for the Empire or its mission. To her, the military was a way to try and get some self-governance back into the hands of the Ala Mhigans as well as a means to exact revenge on some of the more unruly Ala Mhigans who stoned her father (a defector to the Empire) to death. Her dialogue after Castrum Abania should make it abundantly clear that Fordola has no love for the Empire.

Gaius believes in the Imperial mission of stopping eikon summons, but has long since realized that the methods set forth by the Imperial government simply don't work. That's why he went rogue with the Ultima Weapon, as he believed it to be a means of permanently dealing with eikons. He now knows he was simply duped into playing the Ascians' tune - and that they're working in the shadows behind the Empire. He intends to burn them out of the Empire and defy their aims - a true patriot.

The problem was their "noble conquest" kept causing the very thing they were trying to prevent: eikon summoning. Even Gaius screwed this up. As such, Garlean Empire finally made sense to me with the Solus reveal; because now they aren't just horribly incompetent warmongers, but a vulnerable people who were manipulated by a demagogue with ulterior motives and hidden agenda.

Exactly. Exactly.

The Garlean mission statement doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Even before the reveal of Ascians being behind the Empire, if you look at it critically it doesn't make sense. "Prevent eikon summons which are carried out due to our efforts to prevent eikon summons which are carried out due to our efforts... blah blah blah ad infinitum." Even the assertion that the Burn was a result of eikon summons doesn't make a lot of sense - the Empire never encountered one beforehand, and summons were a lot less common back then... so how would have Solus known the Burn was the result of summons and not something else?

[MorbolvampireQueen6]

If building iron giants was possible for a billion IRL, they'd be fighting ISIS right now.

your not taking human greed into account

its very possible just the money to put into it is 2 high of a cost for people.

maybe one day ill get 2billion i doubt it but maybe...

if i did id rule the world in 5 short years building the things and use weather as a weapon source for em

[Bright-Flower]

Iron giants just aren't practical. Being able to build one doesn't mean it would be a realistically effective weapon or that you could build one that does all the things magitek machines in game can do. You can build a bipedal walker, you're not going to make an energy cannon that's effective and efficient in a battlefield. If you did dump your resources into these things they would lose out to more practical and cheaper designs.

[MorbolvampireQueen6]

Iron giants just aren't practical. Being able to build one doesn't mean it would be a realistically effective weapon or that you could build one that does all the things magitek machines in game can do. You can build a bipedal walker, you're not going to make an energy cannon that's effective and efficient in a battlefield. If you did dump your resources into these things they would lose out to more practical and cheaper designs.

your under estimating Bio-technology to much that and your under estimate the methods of creating things.
you can create a cube you can hold in your hands that weighs 8x more than a car ... or you can create metals that bearly weigh anything.
it is possible and pratical is it expensive yes but that isn't the point

honestly with science we are gods and create anything. We can technically create life using cloning lol building tech like that is a simple matter one day we will create anti weapons that can disable all modern weapons.

Point isn't whats possible its whats harder to create since magiteis pretty simple it doesn't belong in fantasy.

hell with splicing one day we might be able to create most monsters but thats alot harder

[Anonymoose]

Gaius believes in the Imperial mission of stopping eikon summons, but has long since realized that the methods set forth by the Imperial government simply don't work. That's why he went rogue with the Ultima Weapon, as he believed it to be a means of permanently dealing with eikons.

If Varis ordered Gaius not to proceed with Ultima because he believed the move was "too hasty," does that not imply Varis was even more aware of the threat of primal summoning and felt Ultima alone was insufficient to contain it? The Emperor was on his deathbed and the court was ready to tear each other apart the instant he passed. In that fight, every outcome was bad for Gaius. Optimates win? Varis replaces him with Regula to spearhead the invasion and staffs the place with Garlean-supremacists who won't rule well. Populares win? Invasion is off; the Empire's mission foresaken. Either way, no redemption of his name, no annihilation of the eikons, no salvation for Eorzea.

The Garlean mission statement doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

To be fair, evidence of humans being this hypocritical - especially in a political context - exists as far back as history's ability to preserve evidence at all.

[Amekaze]

Sorry guys,abit off-topic but I got confused here for a moment reading all these comments.

So was Solus Ascian while he was alive or was he Garlean?

[Cilia]

Whether Solus was mortal while alive is kind of a moot point, given he states verbatim that he set the Empire up to serve as a tool for the Ascians to spread chaos...

... but given he says he timed his "death," I have a hard time believing he was a normal person at that point in time, at least.