Gridania is... pretty much a PG-13 take on "Shadow Over Insmouth" by HP Lovecraft. Only it's with tree spirits instead of Great Deep Ones and people don't get born half-fish people on purpose, they get born that way by accident.

The key thing to realize about Gridania is that everyone in the Shroud basically gets no say in how they live there. The Padjal and Hearers are there to hear the Will of the Elementals and make sure people know what it is. They aren't there to tell the Elementals what the people in the Shroud want. Complicating this is that Elementals aren't human and have a very hard time telling individuals apart. So they tend towards "punish the group for the sins of the individual" logic. Which makes leaving people who don't obey the Elmentals out and about in the Shroud really dangerous. The only reason why Gridania exists is because the Elementals gave the people of Gelmora permission to build it in the first place.

For better or for worse though, the Elementals have been loosing power since the Calamity. They used to be able to keep the ruins of Amdapoor (both the city and keep) warded so people couldn't find them. Now that is no longer the case. So the Elementals probably aren't following up on people doing stuff they don't like how they used to before the Calamity. Which... actually could have some interesting implications going forwards for some parties.

What makes Gridania stand out from Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah is that... the problems it is facing are supernatural in nature. Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah's problems are entirely human in origin and therefor human when it comes to finding solutions. Gridania's problems ultimatly stem from them being in the same place as the Elementals are and can't really be fixed unless the Elementals change their minds about things for whatever reason.