Garlemald: The Nation, Empire & Worldwide Presence

[RolandDebreton]

After completing most of 2.2 I thought it may be time to specifically discuss Garlemald and its Imperialism as well as its current events.

[B]WITHOUT QUESTION THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILER MATERIAL - PROCEED WITH CAUTION.


For a primer on background and so as to not needlessly retrace our steps, consider:

The Gamerescape Article:

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Garlean_Empire

The Final Fantasy Wiki:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Garlean_Empire

At this juncture, the most astonishing revelation has been Yugiri's announcement that Garlemand is engaged in a "War of succession." What are the implications of this? Has the Black Wolf's business kept him so distracted that he and Heirsbane could not prevent an assassination or a powerful usurper? Has Galvus died?

[Raestloz]

The war of succession is probably the reason Gaius can hold control of so much resources and go against the Emperor himself.

The Emperor gave up on conquering Eorzea, yet Gaius marched on

[RickiFake02]

Pretty sure they implied that the Emperor finally died. He was pretty close to death anyway

[Empressia]

As with all empires that have fallen in the real world, its always the succession war that destroyed them. However, because Garlemald Empire seems to be inspired by the Holy Roman Empire, the ongoing succession war is determined by the power status of the crown authority ( how much power the Emperor have against his petty kings ). Note : Gaius and Nael's rank indicate that they both might be these petty kings as high generals would always be petty kings in invasive militaristic empire just like the Golden Horde. To add the discussion over the succession question is:
1. How many bastard child the Emperor have? Is the royal family didn't have a legitimate son to inherit the crown or maybe only legitimate daughter that may complicate the approval of noble eschelons?
2. Regarding crown authority, is the Emperor able to control his petty kings from conspiring, murdering, declare war on each other?

[Enkidoh]

From what has been stated officially, Solus has no successors (Gaius's gunblade the Heirsbane is stated as having 'put down nine aspirants to the crown', suggesting Solus, paranoid of his own position, had all his closest successors and claimants to the throne purged, which indeed is reflective of real-world history. This alone easily explains the War of Succession. And it should be noted, given Alphinaud's tone, although it's not stated outright, the comments made definitely suggest that Solus has indeed died - it makes even more sense when it also explains why the Eorzean citystates never knew of it.

With Gaius gone and the XIVth Legion in disarray, it's only natural communications out of Garlemald would have been difficult to gather, even more so with the nation tearing itself apart over succession (after all, it was stated that the citystates never even knew what was happening in Ala Mhigo for over ten years, until the Resistance started managing to smuggle people out of the city, so effective at suppressing information was the Empire).