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

[Brinne]

I don't see this much wrong with the Steppes situation personally. Admittedly I haven't gone through SB in a long time, but it just seemed to me like all of them were cool with letting foreigners with an obvious agenda participate in their Stupid Game™, in which said foreigners won the Stupid Prize™, and then the whole three tribes (unless the Buduga also fought in the war? I can't remember) that Hien actually got to participate in his war fully consented to it. Basically all of it seems based on the Proud Warrior Race Guy trope, which... when applied to an obvious fictional version of Mongols is certainly something. But within the context of the story I'm not sure what is wrong. We played their game according to their rules, they lost, gg. I don't see it as very different from recruiting mercenaries – only they would have probably refused money, so we paid them in Blood and Honor and Warrior's Pride.

Much like the situation with Venat, the plot contorting itself to make it so Hien's actions are actually "okay" with everyone (including an incredibly conveniently-timed attack by the Imperials to turn the Steppe sentiment against them just in time for Hien to march them to his war) makes me feel more negatively toward it, not less. It's along the same lines of the writing having Emet "show his respect" toward Venat and her plan in Ultima Thule.

If Hien had, as a diplomat, approached the Steppe leadership openly and proposed they join forces for mutual benefit against the Empire, that would be one thing. But instead he resorted to what amounts to a sneaky power play to force the issue, and no amount of hand-waving about "well actually the fantasy Mongols are conveniently totally cool with it because they love violence anyway and hey there's the Empire on their doorstep after us to piss them off" is going to mitigate that, for me.

But that scenario would constitute a breach of trust. With the Naadam everyone agreed to the rules.

Yeah, Hien found a great loophole in their cultural ritual and he exploited the hell out of it. Look, he's not participating in the Naadam as an agent of Doma, he's fighting on behalf of the Mol, who after their victory have agreed to let him call all the shots because of their superstitions and because Cirina has a crush on him! What Is The Point With That Quite Lackluster Story In Stormblood