Rewritten MSQ - Garlemald and EW

[MikkoAkure]

I also like the Svetlana idea, as I've found it kind of baffling at how the women of the Galvus family have been... nonexistent in the story.

Women in Garlean culture can't rise above a certain rank (wir) and aren't allowed to inherit the throne.

I don't know where the OP got the idea of "grand duchess" but that title doesn't exist in Garlemald and their idea of Svetlana would not be able to happen. I think I remember an interview where one of the lore guys said it was another reason why Garlemald was a bad country.


Some of the writing was alright but the bits with Svetlana and Venat were kinda cringe ngl.

[Raoabolic]

Women in Garlean culture can't rise above a certain rank (wir) and aren't allowed to inherit the throne.

I don't know where the OP got the idea of "grand duchess" but that title doesn't exist in Garlemald and their idea of Svetlana would not be able to happen. I think I remember an interview where one of the lore guys said it was another reason why Garlemald was a bad country.


Some of the writing was alright but the bits with Svetlana and Venat were kinda cringe ngl.

Thing is, was it a pre zenos or post zenos lore guy? This is an important question.

[MikkoAkure]

Thing is, was it a pre zenos or post zenos lore guy? This is an important question.

Don't even know what this question means.

The lore people have been the same since mid-1.0 and are still on the production team.

It'd be pretty bizarre for Garlemald to be declared a 'bad country' for having few women in positions of power if the various matriarchal societies in game are not also declared as such.

It's not that they don't have many women in positions of highest political power, it's that they can't.

There have been male leaders of the Eorzean city-states before, they're not "matriarchal societies". That implies that only women can be in positions of power and that's not true. The only matriarchal societies I can think of are the Sahagin and the Ixal. What are you thinking of?

[Theodric]

It's not that they don't have many women in positions of highest political power, it's that they can't.

There have been male leaders of the Eorzean city-states before, they're not "matriarchal societies". That implies that only women can be in positions of power and that's not true. The only matriarchal societies I can think of are the Sahagin and the Ixal. What are you thinking of?

The Hrothgar are a prominent example when it comes to one of their clans. There's an all female tribe of Xaela as well, though equally there's an all male tribe to balance it out. Then there's the setup of Viera society where the men are made to fend for themselves in the wilds and only return when it's time to breed.

None of this bothers me. It makes for interesting flavour! Though if the writers are indeed attempting to portray Garlemald doing something similar as uniquely bad or worse then I would question how much attention they pay to their own world building.

Not that Endwalker itself was not already making me do as much, of course...

Either way, if it's not too much trouble a link to the source interview would be deeply appreciated!

[MikkoAkure]

The Hrothgar are a prominent example when it comes to one of their clans. There's an all female tribe of Xaela as well, though equally there's an all male tribe to balance it out. Then there's the setup of Viera society where the men are made to fend for themselves in the wilds and only return when it's time to breed.

None of this bothers me. It makes for interesting flavour! Though if the writers are indeed attempting to portray Garlemald doing something similar as uniquely bad or worse then I would question how much attention they pay to their own world building.

Not that Endwalker itself was not already making me do as much, of course...

Either way, if it's not too much trouble a link to the source interview would be deeply appreciated!

Ah, my bias against Hrothgar and Viera seems to have blocked that part of my brain. To be fair to the Hrothgar, only one of their clans revered the queen and that government was said to have been super corrupt and bad for the majority. Viera are just copy-pasted in from another FF universe and were just created as an excuse to have a single gender race of hot bunny girls.

I had tried to find that interview before I posted, but it was likely almost a decade ago and the closest I can find on a quick google search at work takes me to interviews where Koji says he's going to talk about it later. I don't know if anyone knows of a repository of Koji interviews?


Speaking of copy-paste from other FF Universes, Landis would have been a better use of another country in Ilsabard other than Rozzaria. We already have the names of several cities in Landis, which already makes it bigger than most countries in the game by virtue of having more than 1 city. We also have characters who were from there and with how much it was talked about in Bozja, it seemed to have been the preeminent power in Ilsabard before the Garleans took it over. One of it's cities, according to Bwagi's field notes, seemed to be happy or at least normal and at peace under Garlean rule. The problem with it in regards to the OP's story though is that it was a republic.

[Skyborne]

Women in Garlean culture can't rise above a certain rank (wir) and aren't allowed to inherit the throne.

I don't know where the OP got the idea of "grand duchess" but that title doesn't exist in Garlemald and their idea of Svetlana would not be able to happen. I think I remember an interview where one of the lore guys said it was another reason why Garlemald was a bad country.


Some of the writing was alright but the bits with Svetlana and Venat were kinda cringe ngl.

Yep indeed, it's more that they just have... zero presence in the game and none are named at all is my beef (aside from Zenos' mother dying shortly after his birth iirc). I'm willing to handwave the "can't inherit the throne" part on account of Garlemald crumbling apart -- anyone who is backed with power (like having a one-man army demigod WoL in the pocket) could march in and stabilize things at this point. Her name and title could also stand to be changed to be more in line with the Roman naming scheme in the game.