Garlean rule on Othard

[Atoli]

Yesterday I finally got around to starting the creation of my Au Ra's backstory, and that's when I noticed something.

Tbh, I have a hard time wrapping my head around how Garlemald's rule influences the Xaela tribes' lives. From what I found, Xaela live in nomadic tribes all over Othard, and all we know about those tribes are things that have barely anything to do with the Garleans. It wouldn't just prove hard to actually track them all down (for example, the Arulaq had no contact with ANYONE for 200 years, so when they were found again recently, Garlemald was a completely foreign thing to them?) and keep control over them, we literally lack any evidence that their lives are different from how they used to be before Garlemald invaded their continent:

"The Xaela are free spirits who roam the vast western steppe in close-knit tribes hunting, gathering, and warring as their ancestors have for countless generations."

Now ofc, that doesn't hold true for the Raen's settlements and on the example of Doma we directly hear about their struggles under Garlean rule, but I'm specifically interested in the nomadic Xaela. It just seems a lot harder to keep control over them than over city states with permanent settlements and a former ruling class in place that could be taken over, like it is the case for the Raen.

Yes, Garlemald has airships; but tracking down little groups of people moving about on a vast, monotone land they blend in with, seems like an awfully hard and pointless thing to do.


On the lodestone, we have this tidbit of info:

"One nation after the next fell before their relentless onslaught, first those of the northlands, followed by the sovereign states of the eastern continent, Othard. Employing suppression and conciliation in equal measure, Garlemald indoctrinated the peoples it conquered, thus integrating them into its ever-expanding territory. So it was that the Garlean Empire came into existence."

In 1.x, we saw that happen with children from Ala Mhigo. We also know Garlemald takes the able-bodied men and women of occupied regions to work for them in their military. But nothing about the Xaela's known lore so far hints on a lack of healthy young war-ready people Especially since some of those clans would literally vanish because they consist of nothing but such individuals..

I tried looking at the backstories of some known ingame Xaela (Sidurgu and Alaqa) and both actually experienced most cruelty at the hands of Eorzeans, namely Ishgardians, who thought them to be linked to dragons in some way and barely reveal anything about the reason their family left Othard to begin with.

Knowing that a lot of Xaela lore is based on Mongolian culture around the early Middle Ages I looked into that, but all I found was that normal people mostly cared about their livestock and not about foreign rulers trying to take over or expanding their borders (mainly because they didn't care about borders in the first place) and at most were forced to pay tributes in form of animals or children if they met with some official military - but again, 25 years under Garlean rule and there is no lack of fighters in the clans, and we never see any Au Ra in the Garleans' forces in Eorzea either (although tbh, that doesn't have to mean much since it could be too much of a hassle to bring them over to a different continent).

I'm aware my analysis might be completely wrong though
Sooo...do we have any idea if the Garlean rule affects a nomadic Xaela's life at all? If yes, how much?

[Frederick22]

I think the fate of the Au'ras is much more worse. Given that we dont know if Garleans consider them a beast tribe rathen than an "spoken race"

[myahele]

In regards to the Xaela, I think the most important thing to consider is the Garleans "conciliation" efforts

Since each Xaela tribe is different and lead by a Khan, I'd imagine some tribes will be more complacent with Garlean rule (offer tribute or just plain avoid them) or just leave the Azim Steppes. Since Xaela don't have a nation and are so spread out, I don't see Garleans making too much effort in subjugating them unless a tribe gets too close to Garlean territory.

However, assuming the Garleans are encroaching on the Azim Steppes and making castrums,railways, ports, etc. then I can see clashes with tribes is possible. Additionally, each tribe seem relatively small excluding the larger, war-mongering tribes.

[Belhi]

I suspect the Garleans haven't put a huge amount of effort into controlling much of the Xaela. Some tribes would almost certainly be influenced but I suspect since they generally all live in a great steppe. the Garleans would have limited interest. Rounding up all the tribes and pushing them into camps would likely not be worth the effort and likewise the tribes aren't likely to unite so aren't a huge threat. I suspect the Garleans would mostly ignore the Xaela unless the Xaela actually had something they wanted or roamed near areas that the Garleans had an interest in.

Frankly I suspect a great number of the tribes the Garleans would look down on as savages.

[jomoru]

Eorzea was the seat of the allagan Empire, and is filled with Beast tribes who summon dangerous primals. The Xaela live in a mix of Steppe and desert that seems to lack the resources needed to sustain magitech infrastructure. As long as the Xaela give a token tribute to the Empire doesn't care.

Or perhaps they are the barbarians at the gate. Perhaps the Empire pays tribute for them to stay in the steppes and all its going to take is one Ghengis or Atilla to become the scourge of Garlemand...

[Quor]

Eorzea was the seat of the allagan Empire, and is filled with Beast tribes who summon dangerous primals. The Xaela live in a mix of Steppe and desert that seems to lack the resources needed to sustain magitech infrastructure. As long as the Xaela give a token tribute to the Empire doesn't care.

Or perhaps they are the barbarians at the gate. Perhaps the Empire pays tribute for them to stay in the steppes and all its going to take is one Ghengis or Atilla to become the scourge of Garlemand...

Tfw you may be lucky enough to participate in the eventual sacking of Garlemald alongside ravening Xaela hordes.

Truly we live in glorious times.

[Enkidoh]

Eorzea was the seat of the allagan Empire, and is filled with Beast tribes who summon dangerous primals.

However Yugiri also stated way back in patch 2.2 that 'god-like beings' exist on Othard as well, and more than that, it was actually confirmed Primals are indeed found on Othard - in fact, the main FFXIV website clearly stated it was Othard where Solus and the newly born Garlean Empire first encountered a Primal, saw first hand how destructive and dangerous they were, and became hellbent on destroying Primals as a result:

Yugiri: "Beings held as gods also exist in what you call the Far East."
Yugiri: "Legends tell us that they walked among us in days of yore, but I confess that I never truly believed them. That I should live to behold one is... humbling and horrifying in equal measure."
Yugiri: "Now that I have come face to face with a Primal, I do begin to understand why the Garleans fear them so."

The eastern nations were the first to feel the newborn empire's mighty fist. It was during this campaign that the emperor witnessed firsthand the destruction wrought by the primals—an experience that led to an imperial mandate for their annihilation.

Exactly where this Primal came from, whether it was summoned by a beast tribe on Othard, by a xaela or from somewhere else... is hard to say (Yugiri certainly didn't even believe in their existence til she witnessed Leviathan's summoning in Eorzea), but what is clear is that Primals were first encountered on the xaela's home continent and it was there where that particular summoning resulted in the Garlean Empire's crusade against them, and not their attempt to subjugate Eorzea.