What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Lauront]

I like this idea, especially because of the message it brings. Because at that point a lot of Garleans would be struggling to come to terms with their identity. Up until now, it was okay to treat anything below a military rank (ie, anyone titled fae and lower) like hot garbage, ESPECIALLY if they were aan. It was okay to look at foreigners and treat them like the actual spawns of satan. That it was okay to feel pride in being the cool Ceruleum-based race that withstood adversity and prejudice and stuck it to the others. Only for everything to come crashing down on their golden heads when they realized "...are we the baddies?"

By having the provinces weigh in a bit more and see what they could take away from Garlean rule, it also could have them extend a balm to the Garlean people themselves. Show them "Yeah, you were duped and you weren't thinking outside your prejudice. If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to work with you". Which carries the usual tone FF14 has of forgiveness and coming together.

However I do want to point out that it's also a delicate subject, given also more recent developments in the western world. It IS realistic for provinces to only see Garlemald as evil incarnate and not want to associate or take anything away from their rule. In fact, keep in mind Bajsaljen himself was met with rather strong opposition to his idea and he had to know how to turn them around. You can't just erase decades of mistreatment and pretend you can now sing kumbaya together without having any form of justice done or being repaid. Sure, this is a fantasy world, but it's one that's somewhat grounded at times, and it's played and enjoyed by real people who probably don't want to forgive Garlemald at every turn.

TBF, if they were to follow the expansion model he is suggesting, I think they have every opportunity to explore the darker side of it with Ala Mhigo, Doma and Dalmasca (were it to be included.) When it comes to helping the Garleans recover from their situation, I'd like to see the provinces more sympathetic to their rule also called upon as while you rightly point out that the story shouldn't erase the misdeeds performed in the empire's name, neither would it be realistic to pretend every single province was abused by it, and there were hints at some provinces either seeing no change or improvement throughout the expansions, so I'd like to retain this with an ultimate end point of the empire reforming to become more like Archades, and yes you could weave in the sort of theme you mention - you could even have division in these provinces, as even if Garlemald treated some better than others, that does not mean they'd be bereft of those eager to use a chaotic situation to (re)gain power.

If I had to alter one further aspect of Anhaato's "rework" of the story, it could be to have the empire serve as Venat's tool rather than an Ascian one, as there's aspects of the Purebloods that they could amalgamate with her own ideology - maybe have them be her attempt at completely depriving a race of magical power, only for it not to work out quite as she expected and then leaving them to wither on the vine, possibly even with the Ascians taking over that attempt later on. I don't think rewriting their state purely to act as an instrument of chaos did them any favours, and having the Ascians swoop in to exploit their unexpected ascent rather than engineer the entire thing would've worked better for me.

[jameseoakes]

If I had to alter one further aspect of Anhaato's "rework" of the story, it could be to have the empire serve as Venat's tool rather than an Ascian one, as there's aspects of the Purebloods that they could amalgamate with her own ideology - maybe have them be her attempt at completely depriving a race of magical power, only for it not to work out quite as she expected and then leaving them to wither on the vine, possibly even with the Ascians taking over that attempt later on. I don't think rewriting their state purely to act as a tool of instrument did them any favours, and having the Ascians swoop in to exploit their unexpected ascent rather than engineer the entire thing would've worked better for me.

I do find it odd how the Garlean Empire seems to be a much better fit for Venats Ideology than anyone else in the game as they seem to exemplify her suffering makes you stronger and that strength lets you make your own future.