Ooh, sorry for the double post but I remember the mentioning of Garlemald potentially being under the influence of another Primal, which, if he is vying to be "the one god" explains the fanatical call for eradication of beastmen and their primals. And I wanted to tie that in with the debate about Gaius turning into the Ultima looking monster we've seen concept art for.

The one problem I have with the potential for Gaius being ultima or turning into Ultima is that it would mean the Garlemald is practically overrun with primals and significant people that can commune with them in a special way. Nael van Darnus, the Emperor and Gaius van Baelsar. Unless Gaius is actually Ultima, AND controlling the Emperor in secret (given his distaste for Darnus there are arguments from either perspective on this.)

The similarity in Gaius' armor and "Ultima" more suggest to me that Ultima fits the roll of influencing the Emperor and the armor styles throughout the empire are just a reflection of that influence.