Garlean Playable Race (?)

[Theodric]

Dude, a story where the main character works against their own people but where no one on either side ever acknowledges or comments on it would be poorly written rubbish, it would also be exactly what the MSQ would be if you could start it as a Garlean.

It'd be poorly written rubbish in your opinion. Yet that is an opinion that is not universal across the board.

I happen to think that 5.3 could be described that way in regards to G'raha and the laughable amount of plot armour used to keep him around. Though it is what it is. Others, however, are fine with it.

I'm also of the firm belief that not every little interaction or circumstance even needs to be explained in the first place. Especially when creating a new character involves picking a race, a guardian deity, a gender, a starting class, a starting city state and then being thrown into the game world with little to no fanfare.

With how much Hydaelyn proclaims to love all of her children, who knows? Maybe she opted to activate the Echo in a handful of Pureblood Garleans. Especially if she identified them as having the potential that see shes as beneficial to the Source and herself.

As mentioned prior, a clear distinction is made between Pureblood Garleans aligned with Imperial Garlemald and those who are not. We consistently see other races fighting alongside Pureblood Garleans in the Empire. Elezen, quite commonly - and very zealously, too.

A lot of plot elements are hand waved in this game in order to make things work. I don't see how it'd be any different in the case of a Pureblood Garlean. Some of the same people speaking out against their inclusion, after all, already spoke out against the inclusion of male Viera and a darker/voidsent themed job before either were confirmed - and yet we ended up getting both.

I'd rather not see the game stagnate and be held hostage to needless restrictions to maintain a biased sense of 'lore purity' that is more to do with personal tastes than any real limitations.

The Source and First are wonderfully nuanced locations and I think there's a lot of potential in the option to play through the MSQ's as a Pureblood Garlean. I think it'd fit very well with a lot of the story elements in play, such as learning to 'move on' and finding ways to break the cycle of conflict and petty grudges.

There's nothing stopping a Pureblood Garlean from deciding to work against Imperial Garlemald. We see it happening many times already for various reasons.