AntiTower Speculation

[Theodric]

To be fair it's possible that Eorzea would be better off under Garlean rule. The only real reason Eorzea hasn't imploded yet seems to be due to the Warrior of Light who in turn is just a convenient plot device to defeat whatever new threat happens to emerge on any given day. Even then the aftermath of the WoL's intervention isn't particularly pleasant. Ul'dah didn't change for the better after Lolorito's little game. Ishgard was revealed to be built on numerous lies and countless innocent people were murdered through the ages in the name of war. The Beast Tribes were driven to act the way they do now not simply through Garlemald's attempts at purging them but Limsa's inability to keep to agreements made in regards to territory. Ala Mhigo would likely seek to invade Eorzea to this very day if not for Garlemald's occupation.

If we do get a faction within Garlemald that is less eager to conquer then I hope it puts its people and homeland first and foremost. I don't want another Cid or Lucia clone who throws away all ties to their people and homeland purely to give Eorzeans convenient access to what is meant to be a very exclusive and formidable tool; namely magitek. Though I imagine people are sick of me posting about this around these parts, eh?

[CyrilLucifer]

To be fair it's possible that Eorzea would be better off under Garlean rule.

I understand that you like the Garleans as much I love the Ascians, but no, no I don't think you can really argue that. Eorzea is a place of magic and spirituality; Garlemald is absolutely not. It's less an issue of believing in a religion and more of an issue of do you believe that each individual has a right to choose their spiritual lifestyle, so long as it is not hurting anyone? Garlemald would remove those options, which I am fervently against.

The Spoken races are not the only races that matter, unless you think it's fair and justified for Garlemald to commit genocide on the beast races that aren't tempered. Because they will, as their policy remains such; that was part of the point of SE reintroducing them with the Vanu.

[Kallera]

Eh...why do I feel like a war on Garlemeld is not going to end well for either Eorzea or the Garleans? I mean, it could be done in game, but ...this won't just be smacking around the scheduled soldiers. we're going to be committing a fair chunk of the nastiness of war...

[Fenral]

I always did think it strange that an empire that fell 5000 years ago is handled as a bigger threat than the one on our doorstep. If Regula van Hydrus is going to pull a Kefka, perhaps the solution to Garlemald's threat-level issues would be solved if he unmasked himself as an Allagan, and head of whatever internal faction gave the green light on van Darnus's Meteor project. Suddenly the deactivated Allagan tech we've been sighing with relief at comes alive, in fully capable hands, and the last Allagan descendants unite to usher in a new era of peace by ending the pointless conflicts that divide us, by force if necessary. The remaining loyal Garleans take a step back and realize "Oh, is that how we look to the rest of the world?" and we enemy mine our way through the gates of Garlemald.

[Cilia]

I always did think it strange that an empire that fell 5000 years ago is handled as a bigger threat than the one on our doorstep. If Regula van Hydrus is going to pull a Kefka, perhaps the solution to Garlemald's threat-level issues would be solved if he unmasked himself as an Allagan, and head of whatever internal faction gave the green light on van Darnus's Meteor project. Suddenly the deactivated Allagan tech we've been sighing with relief at comes alive, in fully capable hands, and the last Allagan descendants unite to usher in a new era of peace by ending the pointless conflicts that divide us, by force if necessary. The remaining loyal Garleans take a step back and realize "Oh, is that how we look to the rest of the world?" and we enemy mine our way through the gates of Garlemald.

I actually wouldn't be opposed to someone going Kefka, but would only really be OK with it if they used the Black Mages mix of Dancing Mad for the boss theme.
The way I see it, one of two things are going to end up happening with the Triad and Garlemald:

• Using information from Azys Lla, the Garleans replicate the magitek infusion from VI, albeit at the prototype stages Kefka used. van Hydrus is the first test subject, but like Kekfa it goes awry, and he goes completely butt-kupo insane and we have to put him down. Varis escapes with the tech, though... now the Garleans can use magic, and we have to deal with them.
• Same as above, except Varis uses himself as the test subject (cuz, as leader, he has to be the strongest!). Again, it doesn't work and he goes butt-kupo insane, and van Hydrus pulls a Leo, defecting along with the VIth to Eorzea but retaining his distinctly Garlean identity. We have to fight Varis as the final boss of 3.5.5, but he escapes to Garlemald, and again the stage is set because he has an army and is completely off his rocker with power.

As for why Allag is handled as a bigger threat? They aren't really, it's just that all the crap they left lying around is extremely dangerous and always getting into the wrong hands. Almost literally everything that goes majorly wrong is because "Allag something." Dalamud, Ultima Weapon, Syrcus Tower, Omega, Azys Lla... pretty much everything can be blamed on (the Ascians egging people on to discover) leftover Allagan crap. The only thing that can't be is the Void Ark.

[Kallera]

.
As for why Allag is handled as a bigger threat? They aren't really, it's just that all the crap they left lying around is extremely dangerous and always getting into the wrong hands. Almost literally everything that goes majorly wrong is because "Allag something." Dalamud, Ultima Weapon, Syrcus Tower, Omega, Azys Lla...

The problem with this(and its a fixable problem, really) is that it starts to make any non allagan threat seem minor, the allagan stuff is just wasted on Eorzea, when in any other situation it probably wouldn't be.

Omega kinda plays into this, assuming it doesn't saunter off to Garlemeld while no one is looking. Just what is Eorzea doing with all the allagan stuff that happens to be found on their territory? With the idea of faving such a powerful enemy in war possibly in the works, could we be tempted (or desperate enough) to go down the same road they did?

[Cilia]

Just what is Eorzea doing with all the allagan stuff that happens to be found on their territory? With the idea of faving such a powerful enemy in war possibly in the works, could we be tempted (or desperate enough) to go down the same road they did?

What are we doing with all the Allagan crap lying around? Nothing, probably, because we've learned from the Garleans' example that messing with Allagan crap is bad news bears. Every time they've come at us it's been with some Allagan tech, and every time it's backfired in their faces spectacularly.

Dalamud not only didn't end Eorzean resistance, it exploded and let out an Elder Primal that proceeded to devastate the land in short order.

Ultima Weapon did what it was supposed to, but also had a nuke capability van Baelsar was unaware of and didn't like. It also wasn't enough to intimidate or overcome Eorzean resistance (though we did need a direct intervention from Hydaelyn Herself to survive Ultima).

It's primed to blow up in their faces on Azys Lla too, with all the VI references suggesting someone's gonna go nuts and/or devastate the world.

The temptation is there for us to go down that path, but since modern Eorzean civilizations are rather spiritual, I don't see it happening any time soon. It's cited that part of Allag's cultural degeneration was due to the fact they believed themselves absolute masters of the world and disavowed the existence of deities, rather like Garlemald aspires to be, leading them to doing whatever they wanted without regard for morality. (I'd question how atheism makes people depraved monsters with an insatiable lust for conquest, but this is neither the time nor place, and the Allagans and Garleans sound more like anti-theists than atheists. Besides, Hydaelyn has proven herself capable of direct corporeal intervention, so at least she definitely exists. Jury's still out on the Twelve.)

[Theodric]

Eorzea does seem to be advancing on a technological level. My concern is that it seems to be happening a little too fast. Whenever we deal with Allagan or Garlean technology we seem to always be conveniently able to disable and deal with it effectively despite how complex it all is. It's at least partially justified when we have Cid along with us - putting aside my loathing for his treachery and seeming lack of empathy for his former people - but Eorzea has only just begun to embrace airships on a fairly wide level and even then they're not as advanced as Allagan or Garlean variants.

...but then we had a huge build up for The Gration and aside from a certain someone getting killed every single bullet either missed Cid's airship or left only a scratch. In my opinion it would have made more sense for Cid's ship to crash in Azyz Lla with the horrible thought of those on board being stranded; only for Midgardsomr to carry them all to safety once the events of 3.0 came to an end.

As for Omega? I'd like to see it addressed as a future plot point but I fear that ship has sailed. It was tied to the Ul'dah story arc but...that quite quickly came to an abrupt close. I could see Ilberd going after it somehow and perhaps committing another atrocity in the name of 'Ala Mhigo' but that would feel like a stretch and a kick in the teeth given that someone like Gaius struggled to control Ultima and Omega is apparently even more powerful.

[myahele]

With Sharlayan expatriates around, you can bet that most Allagan tech discoveries will be kept hidden and/or secret.

See: the Crystal Tower, BCoB, etc.

To be honest, I am getting rather tired of Sharalyans and (Garleans) saving Eorzea. I wan Eorzea to plan, discover and invent things by themselves without the aid of those handful of people

[CyrilLucifer]

To be honest, I am getting rather tired of Sharalyans and (Garleans) saving Eorzea. I wan Eorzea to plan, discover and invent things by themselves without the aid of those handful of people

Yeah, we had a discussion about this a few months ago. I'm getting really sick of Sharlayan ex machina, foreshadowed or not.

Which is why the AST quest was at least a bit of a breath of fresh air in how Sharlayan's leadership was painted. It really gives you the sense that we're being aided by those who might be considered "bad seeds" by the Sharlayan government, just like Cid from Garlemald.