[SPOILER] Garlemald and the Imperium of Man

[Tsara]

(The Imperium of Man refers to the Imperium of the Warhammer 40k franchise.)

Was running some dailies when I suddenly realised:

- both empires are heavily set against 'magic'.
- both are set out to destroy false gods and free mankind from religious beliefs.
- both have the goal to unite/annex mankind.
- both empires are thrown into civil war by the (heavily augmented) son of each emperor.
- both emperors are murdered by their (heavily augmented) son.
- both these sons are corrupted/used/manipulated by a "daemonic" power of an alternate dimension.
- both emperors' corpses are enshrined and used and worshipped to.
- and several other similarities.

Of course, whether either empire is good or evil is up to each individual's point of view.

I'm not blaming anyone of copying. I like those similarities.
Keep the grimdark coming to FF. xD

[SnowVix]

I'm gonna stop you on the "whether either empire is good or evil is up to each individual's point of view". Both empires engage in explicit genocide. Both are inherently evil empires as a result.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I'm gonna stop you on the "whether either empire is good or evil is up to each individual's point of view". Both empires engage in explicit genocide. Both are inherently evil empires as a result.

Don’t think it’s exactly that simple. If it was then most of the city states would be explicitly evil as a result.

[Theodric]

I'm gonna stop you on the "whether either empire is good or evil is up to each individual's point of view". Both empires engage in explicit genocide. Both are inherently evil empires as a result.

Perhaps you can take it from the development team itself, then:

"The current state of global affairs is incredibly complex and simple two-dimensional theories of good/bad from ancient times can no longer quantify this world we live in. As such, a large factor [that contributed to the selection of these themes] is that I thought I could cultivate new values and a new sense of realisation within myself by changing perspective and carefully considering the other party’s arguments in regard to a given event. Half of the time these things are born from one’s intuition and flashes of inspiration. I guessed as much but it really is hard to explain. (laughs)"

Source: https://www.impulsegamer.com/naoki-y...vs-lore-story/

There's also the likes of this:

“So when we look at the Garlean Empire in the history of Final Fantasy XIV, it has an established position and the player would have been facing people from the Garlean Empire,” he said.

“They may be commanders or generals or they might be fighting against soldiers from the Empire, in those cases, the player would be facing those people as the enemy and those people would have masks on, so we wouldn’t really see them as a person but we just perceive them as the enemy.

Source: https://www.nme.com/features/gaming-...oshida-3068707

You're free to come to whatever conclusions you so choose, though others are not wrong for recognising the depth and nuance present in complex circumstances.

[NegativeS]

Is the Imperium against magic? I thought the leader of their space-empire was a psychic ghost wrestling gods in hell? Who is also simultaneously the sole reason FTL travel is possible because his psychic ghost clout is so bright that it make it possible for ships to navigate while FTL jumping through hell?

...who also, according to Warhammer lore, used to be actual Jesus Christ?

[Tsara]

The Emperor is/was not Jesus-Christ. He's the collective fusion of all the ancient and now extinct shaman of earth.
Their last hope since the shaman lost the ability to rebirth due to the Warp's increased activity.

And yes, Psykers are heavily hunted and controlled in the Imperium. The common people shun them like they shun any other mutant.
If not controlled, every (latent) Psyker —knowingly or not— is a potential threat to mankind through the whispers or possessions from the denizens of the Immaterium.
They don't wear the Psykana Mercy Blade for fashion. It's to make sure there's always a weapon around to kill that Psyker in case he loses control.

Hunted, collared, cargoed up in the Black Ships, and ferried to Terra to undergo Training and eventually soul-binding.
The weakest, instead, get to help Big E power the Astronomican (he's a battery, not the actual light) by having him suck out their psychic power and life force through the Golden Throne. Most of them die from exhaustion within a few days.

[hobostew]

I'm gonna stop you on the "whether either empire is good or evil is up to each individual's point of view". Both empires engage in explicit genocide. Both are inherently evil empires as a result.

You'd be surprised by how for so many people genocide isn't an immediate qualifier for evil and that apparently includes Yoshi-p. Though to be fair I'm pretty sure the man is just playing both $ides given the current political climate. Shill to "Garlean" enthusiasts while simultaneously farting out rainbows. Both sides amirite fellas!

[TheMightyMollusk]

Someone once asked me who the good guys were in WH40K. I blanked for nearly a full minute because all of the factions are terrible. There's no "good" faction, there are just a couple that are less blatantly horrible.

Then they asked who was winning. That one was easy. The orks are winning. All they want is endless fighting and they're getting it.

[Lauront]

(The Imperium of Man refers to the Imperium of the Warhammer 40k franchise.)

Was running some dailies when I suddenly realised:

- both empires are heavily set against 'magic'.
- both are set out to destroy false gods and free mankind from religious beliefs.
- both have the goal to unite/annex mankind.
- both empires are thrown into civil war by the (heavily augmented) son of each emperor.
- both emperors are murdered by their (heavily augmented) son.
- both these sons are corrupted/used/manipulated by a "daemonic" power of an alternate dimension.
- both emperors' corpses are enshrined and used and worshipped to.
- and several other similarities.

Of course, whether either empire is good or evil is up to each individual's point of view.

I'm not blaming anyone of copying. I like those similarities.
Keep the grimdark coming to FF. xD

Agree mostly but Garleans aren't against magic; just incapable to wield it mostly and therefore were at a disadvantage in wars against races that could wield it (virtually any but them.) At the first available opportunity they devise methods to circumvent this limitation, be it pacts with Voidsent or via the Resonance much later (which began as research to undo this limitation), alongside recruitment/conscription of magic users. Thus does the average Pureblood fear/mistrust it, but the empire certainly isn't against it. It just lacked strength in it and compensated via magitek, ceruleum, enlisting magi and much later, the Resonance.

[Caurcas]

The Imperium of Man are the good guys from the perspective of mankind. Everything else is xeno scum or chaos filth that squandered their humanity.