How many legions are left and what is the status of them?

[YianKutku]

Garlemald officially became an empire after it conquered every nation on Ilsabard, which I believe inclides Landis. As for which rules were in place during the republic? We can only guess, I'm interested in learning more about republican Garlemald and how it differed from it's current form.

Definitely, yeah. I keep wondering how far the parallels to the Romans go, since we know Garlemald was deliberately modelled after at least some parts of it.

For example, the shift from the Late Roman Republic into the Roman Empire was not really that major, since the Roman Republic had been conquering and enslaving territories as a matter of course, and instituted the post of Dictator (which Garlemald theoretically still has, in the rank of "iyl") which was effectively imperial anyway. So it's conceivable that the Garlean Republic immediately before Solus was not that different from the Garlean Empire.

However, I also get the impression Garlemald isn't that analogous to Rome, in that I don't think we've heard about the equivalent of how Rome kept sending generals out to conquer territory, and then the generals went back home to try to conquer Rome itself, and this kept happening over and over again. I don't think that happened to the Republic of Garlemald, since it would presumably be a major enough event to warrant mention.

[Kesey]

However, I also get the impression Garlemald isn't that analogous to Rome, in that I don't think we've heard about the equivalent of how Rome kept sending generals out to conquer territory, and then the generals went back home to try to conquer Rome itself, and this kept happening over and over again. I don't think that happened to the Republic of Garlemald, since it would presumably be a major enough event to warrant mention.

Or it happens so often it isn't worth reporting, or is just a small footnote in the historical record. Also, haven't the Garleans fought two civil wars off screen in the current timeline of the game?

[YianKutku]

Or it happens so often it isn't worth reporting, or is just a small footnote in the historical record. Also, haven't the Garleans fought two civil wars off screen in the current timeline of the game?

True. On the one hand, we did hear of those civil wars around the time they happened (in 2.x and 5.x).

On the other hand, we heard of them mostly by what the consequences of the civil wars were for Eorzea, which I think might not apply to the civil wars of Rome, which were basically the generals wanting to be in charge and the Senators eventually (after varying amounts of bloodshed) going "yeah, okay", and then it was business as usual. So I can imagine the news of the Garlean Republic being mostly "they had a civil war and a new Dictator, so update your diplomatic correspondences" and little else.