Garlean Playable Race (?)

[Iscah]

That's not really racism though but again more a biased attitude that outsiders are predisposed to failing to comply with Gridania's social customs and laws

Isn't that racism, though? Getting judged entirely on your race's reputation and not your own actions?

"Oh look, a Duskwight. Duskwights are untrustworthy troublemakers who break the forest law so I'm going to treat you with the scorn those actions deserve. No point denying it; I'm sure I just haven't seen you do it yet – and I've got my eye on you."

[Caurcas]

As a Duskwight enjoyer, Gridania can burn. Backwards city state for a bunch of smelling hippies. On topic, playable Garlean's would be rad, especially if their racial gear is their armors.

[SturmChurro]

If it wasn't for male viera, who knows what could have been possible! Perhaps even playable Garleans - I doubt they'd be limited either. Ah, what could have been.

[Vyrerus]

Trying to mount an argument based on the fact that we've yet to see one (aside from Lucia) do so in-game is not really going to make a difference here, because rarity alone of such individuals would be a sufficient reason for that and does not refute what the lore book is saying.

Someone didn't read the rest of my posts. Even if Lucia at one time cast the cure spell, it's since been changed. I went looking further after I woke up, and found that even Steps of Faith videos from 2015 had her standing off to the side. She still only used Aqua Vitae in the Grand Melee in older videos as well. So there actually wasn't an exception, ever. Although, feel free to show me a receipt (of course, the receipt is ultimately worthless, so you might not want to bother but I am curious).

The lore book refutes itself several times. As does the game. That's multiple refutations to a single sentence, that once again, is merely the author leaving themselves room to be wrong.

I'm sure that if demand got big enough, then money influx would come at the cost of story and lore. I'd rather it didn't though.

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Also people in the backread seem to be asserting that Cid just gets his Garlean lineage ignored every time he's helping out. That's far from true. We had to calm the Bozjan Resistance down, and were even worried about one of them killing him. Same deal with the Garlean engineer in the GNB questline. Same deal with Nero at the Lotus Stand.

Like it or not, much of the world is not a friendly place to/for Garleans. Being able to start as one makes almost no sense. The twins wouldn't warm up to a Garlean. Yda wouldn't warm up to a Garlean. The idea that a Garlean could remind the City-State leaders of the Warriors of Light from Carteneau is also incredibly laughable.

Now, know I like Garleans. Most of the Garlean cast contain most of my favorite NPCs. But getting to play as one just does not make for a cohesive narrative. The other new races don't present problems in this manner because them existing has no stakes or backstory in the narrative. Bunny Boys and Horny Toads and Manthers all can work because they ultimately don't matter to the narrative nearly as much as Garleans.

Also @Theodric. You need to replay FFVI. Celes's imperial background is grounds for suspicion, even from Locke. Right away by Cyan. Kefka plants the seed of doubt at the Magitek Research Facility, and it causes a temporary rift between Celes and the party. It's one of the more interesting bits in the game. She even goes back to working for the Empire after warping Kefka away, until after the events of Thamasa. She only fully proves her true allegiance when she stabs Kefka on the floating continent.

[Sathona]

Garlean playable race?
So Hyur and Elezen with a forehead eye?

[Laerune]

I rather they fix then current limited races and give the other races more customization.

[KizuyaKatogami]

The commander of the Serpents in 1.0 was a duskwight. Also, the world's leading biologist is a duskwight and lives in Gridania and comes in and out of the city just fine. There are a few other duskwight sprinkled through Gridania as well. None of that suggests insurmountable inequality.

Yeah thats fair. All my other points still stand though, and considering no one was able to refute them or address them i guess we’re all in agreement then that it wouldn’t be so farfetched in the end with all of the other things that have been mentioned Glad we could all come to agreement and here’s to hoping one day we get some form of a Garlean race whether it be as a clan or a full race!

[Theodric]

throw in a retcon where the blessing of light/echo grants people that are aetherically challenged (like that lalafell from the blm questline) the ability to use aether normally

That could potentially work. It wouldn't feel cheap to me, either, since the Echo is already something with near limitless potential.

As for the idea that Pureblood Garleans would be shunned and never welcomed during the MSQ's, I don't think that's the case. Certainly, the example of Alphinaud not supporting a Garlean playable character seems strange to me when he was prepared to travel to the heart of Garlemald itself to try and set up peace talks.

It's the equivalent of suggesting that nobody should be able to play an Imperial or High Elf in Skyrim because they're distrusted at the time of the game due to the civil war going on. But as we know from that game, not every High Elf is aligned with the Thalmor and not every Imperial is aligned with the Empire. To bring it back to FFXIV, that's the case with Pureblood Garleans as well. Not every Pureblood Garlean is aligned with Imperial Garlemald.

Personally I don't have a problem with their inclusion and actively support it. Others are free to disagree, of course, though I think it's pretty clear that neither side is going to change their mind - especially when many of the 'issues' and 'obstacles' are based around subjective plot elements.

[Jandor]

Like it or not, much of the world is not a friendly place to/for Garleans. Being able to start as one makes almost no sense. The twins wouldn't warm up to a Garlean. Yda wouldn't warm up to a Garlean. The idea that a Garlean could remind the City-State leaders of the Warriors of Light from Carteneau is also incredibly laughable.

Being able to play as one in general makes no sense.

Neither Gaius nor any of his subordinates bringing it up in Castrum Meridianum, the Emperor and Hydrus just ignoring it when you meet in the Sea of Clouds, no one raising an eyebrow as you enter the resistance camp (followed shortly by Zenos) in Gyr Abania, Hien returning to Doma to lead a rebellion at the urging of a Garlean, the resistance in Bozja freaking out about Cid but being chill with you.

They don't fit as playable characters in the base game nor any of the expansions.

[Kiurai]

Why is the main reason for the argument lore based and not model based? We've seen garlean NPCs in cinematics and in game they won't become a race most likely due to the lack visual difference to other races outside of the third eye. I'd like to see them but that's probably the biggest reason