Tales from the Dawn #4: "A Question of Death" (Jullus)

[Theodric]

I just want an interesting game world that isn't afraid to have a balanced approach to world building, grit and consequences. I don't want the game's storytelling to be at the mercy of real world events since there's always something dodgy or bleak going on somewhere on any given day.

I don't think the game has really even begun to scratch the surface of what could be done in regards to political intrigue and the lack of any major looming threats/rivals in the background combined with the player character being able to teleport to the edge of the universe at will has served to make the game world feel quite irrelevant and one note on many fronts.

[thegreatonemal]

Did we not read the same quest text? Because there were definitely several points where individuals in positions of power indicated a desire to deal rather..... harshly, we'll say, with the Garlean survivors.

There is one quest where a forced worker was rather shocked when we told him that we weren't here to kill all the Garleans. Seems you just didn't read the text at all. You might wanna go read it again.

[Denishia]

If we go for headcanons and wild predictions with no lore backing: a place/political situation that they haven’t written or shown yet is a former Garlean colony that wants to fully embrace the Garlean culture instead of what was before. Not just Bozja reforming their government with inspiration from the Garleans. Have a place full of provincials that are more ‘True Garlean’ than the Garleans themselves, an idealized mini-Garlemald city. And that the inhabitants do this as to distinguish themselves from their neighbor-nation that chooses the opposite route. If anything, it’d be a former colony completely distinct than all the other locations we have visited. And while not the real Garlemald, it would be a way for people to RP and gpose in a pre-destroyed Garlemald without using time travel.

[thegreatonemal]

If we go for headcanons and wild predictions with no lore backing: a place/political situation that they haven’t written or shown yet is a former Garlean colony that wants to fully embrace the Garlean culture instead of what was before. Not just Bozja reforming their government with inspiration from the Garleans. Have a place full of provincials that are more ‘True Garlean’ than the Garleans themselves, an idealized mini-Garlemald city. And that the inhabitants do this as to distinguish themselves from their neighbor-nation that chooses the opposite route. If anything, it’d be a former colony completely distinct than all the other locations we have visited. And while not the real Garlemald, it would be a way for people to RP and gpose in a pre-destroyed Garlemald without using time travel.

I wouldn't call Bozja taking Garlean ideals. Those are Gabranth's ideal, who revolted against the Garleans and him and his father were most likely planning that from the beginning.

[Lauront]

That quest and others all the way back in ARR also mention that Northern Thanalan is the richest deposit of ceruleum in the entire region and it’s much closer to the Eorzean Alliance (being that it’s in Eorzea) than Garlemald is.

The XIVth legion couldn’t transport ceruleum to Eorzea and had to source it themselves here. All the way back in 1.0, Ul’dah was mining and refining ceruleum there and the Garleans came in to take it, which is why Castrum Meridianum is located where it is.

Ultimately the biggest goal of the Ilsabard Contingent is the demilitarization of the ex-Garlean Empire, not necessarily a source of ceruleum at the northern tip of a completely separate continent half a world away.

Let's review the comment I was responding to:

Nobody but the Garlean's care about ceruleum

Then let's review the quest text:

Surely you have seen the power the Garleans wield. Their technology continues to advance, while we Eorzeans cling to our ancient ways. For now, we are able to keep the Empire at bay, but for how much longer?

I am not the only one who feels this way. There are those who seek to develop airships and engines of war to combat the imperial threat. It will not be long before the Grand Companies deploy magitek units of their own on the front lines.

Even so, the most advanced weaponry will be worth little more than scrap metal without a steady supply of ceruleum. As we speak, the Garleans and the Immortal Flames are fighting to claim the supply in northern Thanalan.

What I am trying to tell you is that people like Martyn waste their time on worthless relics of the past and fail to see the bigger picture. The future lies in ceruleum. If you ever decide you want to make a real difference in this world, I could use someone like you.

The quest is dealing with someone already involved with Amajina & Sons. Notably:

Don't let the magitek fool you─I've no connection to the Empire. Well, not a direct one, at least. My company carries out work at a ceruleum processing plant run by Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern. Perhaps some of it ends up in imperial hands, perhaps not.

Even so, he plans to tap into further ventures, as below, no less on an entirely separate continent:

Whastrach
Ha! I tricked you for a moment there, didn't I? I must admit, I had grown rather accustomed to playing the villain, but enough is enough.
The fact is, I lost our wager, so it's time I put an end to my plans for Lapis Canyon. I'm a businessman, not a monster, and I have you, Ceadda, and Martyn to thank for reminding me of that.

The New World is a vast, untamed land, and there are bound to be ways to acquire ceruleum without mining on sacred ground. Royse has even agreed to fund my next expedition.

I will be leaving by ship within the next few days. Ceadda, would you care to join me? With you as my guide, perhaps I can avoid repeating the mistakes I made with the Whalaqee.

Whatever the Ilsabard Contingent's plans are, two things are clear: 1) there is an appetite for ceruleum outside of Garlemald, which will only grow as knowledge of its uses expands, thus fuelling demand over and above existing, readily available reserves and 2) not everyone belongs to it or will be bound by its commitments. It really doesn't take much imagination to think of a scenario where a former hostile neighbour of it tries to seize a weakened Garlemald for its ceruleum reserves, to marshal the sort of military force it had (to say nothing of potential non-military applications), even if none of the nations participating in the Ilsabard Contingent would - at present. And that's the sole point being made.

[thegreatonemal]

Let's review the comment I was responding to:



Then let's review the quest text:



The quest is dealing with someone already involved with Amajina & Sons. Notably:



Even so, he plans to tap into further ventures, as below, no less on an entirely separate continent:



Whatever the Ilsabard Contingent's plans are, two things are clear: 1) there is an appetite for ceruleum outside of Garlemald, which will only grow as knowledge of its uses expands and 2) not everyone belongs to it or will be bound by its commitments.

Pretty sure he's talking about reserve in the New World. Why would this guy worry about reserves an continent away with an ocean between them. Getting way ahead of yourself and reaching really hard.

[Lauront]

Pretty sure he's talking about reserve in the New World. Why would this guy worry about reserves an continent away with an ocean between them. Getting way ahead of yourself and reaching really hard.

Of course he's talking about the New World. The point is he is flatly contradicting your comment that I quoted, i.e. that none but the Garleans have an interest in ceruleum. If anyone is reaching here, it is none other than you.

[thegreatonemal]

Of course he's talking about the New World. The point is he is flatly contradicting your comment that I quoted. If anyone is reaching here, it is none other than you.

Considering we were talking about the Garlean stores of the resource I'd thought it plain the context. I had forgotten how literal you try to be when you make massive leaps to argue. So I will specify. Nobody cares about taking the Garlean stores. How do we know this. 800 years of them being there and nobody being interested in it. With the advent of magitek? Still no interest to go invading to take it. Magitek is the Garlean answer to magic.

You're libel to pull something at this rate.

[Lauront]

Considering we were talking about the Garlean stores of the resource I'd thought it plain the context. I had forgotten how literal you try to be when you make massive leaps to argue. So I will specify. Nobody cares about taking the Garlean stores. How do we know this. 800 years of them being there and nobody being interested in it. With the advent of magitek? Still no interest to go invading to take it. Magitek is the Garlean answer to magic.

You're libel to pull something at this rate.

... you do realise that all that changed with the advent of magitek, right? Try reading the text I quoted. Feel free to die on the hill you're already languishing upon. I've little interested in expending further posts on correcting your persistent misapprehensions.

The Garleans trying to rebuild at Broken Glass have the cerulean to rebuild -and worry about the profits going to them and not Ul’dah. Which is the same issues brought up in the Stormblood patches when Nanamo conferred with Lolorito and Godbert, only swapping out Ala Mhigo and salt.

In case it's not clear what the context is for all this:

I feel like in order to be appealing targets for invasion, the Garleans need to not only be weak, but also have a resource that is worth going to war for.

Which was followed up by:

Ceruleum is currently employed by all major nations for everything from lighting to cooking, and the gradual adoption of magitek as a whole is very likely to expand that demand even further. Heck, Ishgard is about to start rocking magitek heaters. Cid's been working in Eorzea for a while, and now the Garleans themselves are pretty likely to share technology as a means of remaining useful.

To which mal responded with the quote I included in my post.

The point is Garlemald has a resource that could theoretically make it a target for future hostiles, thus meeting the criterion laid out in Kari's post.

But yes, what you mention could plausibly be taken as a concern for the Garleans too.

[Denishia]

The Garleans trying to rebuild at Broken Glass have the cerulean to rebuild -and worry about the profits going to them and not Ul’dah. Which is the same issues brought up in the Stormblood patches when Nanamo conferred with Lolorito and Godbert, only swapping out Ala Mhigo and salt.