Garlean Playable Race (?)

[MikkoAkure]

We already know that not every Garlean is aligned with Garlemald and that has been the case from as early as ARR. In both the MSQ's and many side quests, the day is saved precisely due to the aid of a Pureblood Garlean.

I don't see how it'd be jarring for that to extend to the player character as well given that he - or she - can already be designed to be one of many different playable races or jobs.

The defector trope is also very common in JRPG's. The cast of FFVI didn't cast out Celes because she was formerly associated with the Empire in that game.

General Beatrix wasn't cast out for formerly being loyal to Queen Brahne in FFIX.

Larsa wasn't cast out for being aligned with the Empire in FFXII - because he was ultimately working to bring about peace.

Though in fairness, I can't expect people to have played every other Final Fantasy game in the series/be familiar with their story elements.

We may know there are good Garleans out there, but the NPCs we meet won't and it makes 0 sense in context. I don't think they would add any context either. I highly doubt they'd take the time and care to add any special dialogue in the MSQ based on your race choice that's different than what presently exists. It would be jarring to be playing a Garlean while every NPC ignores your existence and goes on at length about how they brutalized their nations and you meet people who only exist because of violent interactions between pureblood Garleans and the locals. Also jarring would be walking around in the daylight without getting arrested or any character treating you with suspicion at all or Garlean soldiers attacking you on sight despite your 3rd eye. Yes the other new races have had some lore bending or handwaving but nothing to this magnitude.

Also, none of the examples you listed have a permanent physical trait that differentiates them from baseline humans. Garleans are instantly recognizable.

In the end, the biggest difference between male viera and Garleans is that there was a lot of vocal want for viera and a thread that has nearly 2k likes. People aren't clamoring to play Garleans except for you and the 2-3 others posting over and over. I've yet to see a compelling argument for why playable Garleans deserve to exist. At least male viera are making up for the missing gender of an existing race.