With Garlemald and the Garleans being heavily inspired by the Roman Empire and Russian cultural elements...there was never any shortage of inspiration that the writers could have tapped into had they so desired. They added plenty of nuance over the years, too, though it was always in side quests and never in the MSQ's up until Endwalker so many cool Garlean characters such as Regula van Hydrus are as forgotten by many players as they are by the development team. Or worse yet, never seen at all since they're locked behind optional content.