Quote Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams View Post
Their ideology has made the world less interesting with each nation they ruin. What we need now are characters as far removed from the scions as possible.
I mean, that's your opinion. Even if I accept your premise that the scions are the ones responsible for political change, and not the self determination of the people in the nations involved, I still think a story about the transition from a monarchy or theorcacy to a republic is an interesting one.

I can think of countless fantasy stories about the rightful king assuming the throne, but not many where the monarchy is dissolved and a republic is formed.

My only issue is that aspect isn't explored in more detail, I just hope we can revisit Ishgard and Garlemald one day and really get into the worms of the political situation there. Since if you want a conflict of ideologies, I can't think of many settings better than the political parties and ideas that are born out of a nascent republic and political revolutions.