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

[Kozh]

Once ceruleum was "discovered" by Solus, they had the means to do more than eke out a miserable existence for themselves in an inhospitable place without going to war. You're comparing apples to butterscotch pie.

Even if Garlemald went into industrial route by selling ceruleum and magitek advancement, they would still lives in inhospitable place. The other nations won't magically gave them a piece of land for them to live in.

And I won't be 100% sure eorzea won't go into conqueror mode, considering Ala mhigo did try that just few years ago. Eorzea was locked into defensive mode only because their war with Garlemald.

[CrownySuccubus]

Even if Garlemald went into industrial route by selling ceruleum and magitek advancement, they would still lives in inhospitable place. The other nations won't magically gave them a piece of land for them to live in.

I don't think that was the point being made. The point is that, whatever justifiable reasons the founding Garleans had for their Empire, those reasons were gone the moment Garlemald started invading other continents and immediately destroying the culture and way of life of the people there. History is FULL of tyrannical, genocidal empires who started what they were doing because other nations backed them into a corner. WW2 Germany, Gulf Era Iraq, Imperial Japan, and others to name a few.

[tokinokanatae]

Even if Garlemald went into industrial route by selling ceruleum and magitek advancement, they would still lives in inhospitable place. The other nations won't magically gave them a piece of land for them to live in.

The ceruleum itself improves their quality of life. A place becomes infinitely more hospitable when you have better technology to deal with it. We have people living in this world with a similar level of technology that Garlemald has (or had) in similar areas and no one has to "give them land" so that they're able to live. Garlemald already existed, ceruleum was just a way to thrive.