ishgard

[Viridiana]

That's a case of baby and the bath water. Same could probably be said for Ishgard. Ul'dah has corruption in its rulers but the majority of Ul'dah is alright. For all their distain for refugees, they are the city state that has taken the vast bulk of them in. Ul'dah's Immortal Flames protect the refugees from threats like the Amaljaa in areas like Little Ala Mhigo.

Would that the corruption were limited to the rulers. Sure, they're the source of it, but their foot soldiers are just as corrupt and not rulers. Ungust was willing to sell people to the Amalj'aa for profit, and he had a man in the Brass Blades in on it. Neither of them are rulers. None of the Crystal Braves who were traitors were rulers that I'm aware of. Heck, Ilberd was the primary traitor and he was a mere refugee. I doubt Nanamo's handmaiden was a ruler. The Brass Blades who were backing Lolorito aren't rulers.

Ul'dah has so many people jockeying for the top spot without regard to even basic morality that I don't understand why anyone continues to support them, unless it's to keep the corruption confined to one place so everyone knows where the dagger will come from. . .

[Nialle]

Ul'dah has so many people jockeying for the top spot without regard to even basic morality that I don't understand why anyone continues to support them, unless it's to keep the corruption confined to one place so everyone knows where the dagger will come from. . .

If you start out in Ul'dah, the Brass Blades basically plant illegal drugs in your wagon as an excuse to try and arrest you, and only an Amal'jaa attack interrupts that little blackmail scheme. It's a safe bet, I think, to assume a large portion of the Blades (who are basically the police) are corrupt right through. Which makes Raubahn's choice to hand over state security to them so he could send more troops to Ishgard a supremely dumb decision. But in his defense, maybe nobody realized things had really gotten so bad. Between that, the Imperial spies in high places, and the typical monetarist plots going on, I'd say as a country Ul'dah is pretty doomed as a reputable country unless something drastic happens (which probably will).