Awfully weak story... or is it? [WARNING:SPOILERS]

[Kallera]

Yet you're the one who believes in a dictator: the admiral.

I'm just pointing out that Gaius uses the same justification as Admiral: establishing order.

Merlwyb isn't threatening the homes, culture and livelihoods of the players. If you're looking for pure utopias of immaculate ideals, you're not going to find one on Hydaelyn, and most utopias don't stand under scrutiny anyway.

So, yes, there are poor people, there are criminals, there are bastards and thieves. That's no excuse to destroy everything we hold dear, and that's what the empire represents to Eorzea: an outsider forcing the destruction of peoples' lives into a culture of conformity.

To use an American perspective, imagine a person running for the presidency, promising to eliminate unemployment, hunger, fix the roads and make it a stronger country, but to do all that, he must do away with the constitution and bill of rights.I'm not saying its impossible, but the circumstances would have to be nigh post-apocalyptic, and even then hope of restoration may still see him lose.

Hope is a plague to a man like Gaius, he is a min-maxer at heart who doesn't see people, he sees tools, and calls them defective or not. I couldn't respect a god with such an outlook, what chance does Gaius have?