Quote Originally Posted by Catapult View Post
Ohoho! Ok, the assumption is that Sigurdh & co. are planning to use unconventional methods against the Garleans (or whatever else is considered a threat). They are described as staying in ruins to the north, which are probably the Gelmorran ruins. What we know about Gelmorra is that their civilisation pre-dates Gridania and probably also their pact with the elementals. If they were planning on using Gelmorran methods, that might be awkward for Gridanians to accept.

Or, they could be intending to incite the rage of the elementals against the garleans. There was a conjurer at Nophica's altar who told us that many rites are designed to calm the elementals, but there were supposedly once rites designed to enrage them - whatever could those be useful for?

Miounne: The conjurers teach us that elementals of the Twelveswood are not instruments of war, and no attempt shall be made to use them as such against the Empire.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Sigurdh and Oona may not be wildlings, but they may be risking becoming ones in attempts to turn Garleans into wildlings. Dangerous stuff and definitely NOT socially acceptable.
The thing is, from all the information stated in the game I never actually thought that would indeed be the case - the fact that the Gridanians regard wildlings as monsters, the very idea of actually creating them would seem perverse to them. Sigurdh and Oona seemed to be leading some kind of secret resistance movement against the Garleans (it was even stated that they fought against the Garlean invasion of Ala Mihgo, and that all that bloodshed was the cause of their 'change' into wildlings) - it's probable that because they were acting outside Gridania's government, they were therefore regarded as heretics and exiles as their very existence in the forest was without the elementals' consent (it's why they all abandoned Khrimm to his fate when he torched the Hedgetree).

They could have even been throwing in their lot with the 'other' Ala Mihgan Resistance shown later in the Path of the Twelve storyline (who were stated as having agents based in the three citystates), assisting them with information and provisions.

In any event, their motives weren't really obvious - all Oona mentioned was that 'their mission was far too important' to return, and even though Yda and Papalymo reveal to E-Sumi-Yan that "Gridania intends to wage war against the Empire", the CNJ Guildmaster just kinds of shrugs and just says that he'll answer their questions after the festival.

And besides, even if the plan was to lure the Garleans into a arboreal trap, as the Path of the Twelve quests showed, the Empire had little trouble storming though the East Shroud to Moonspore Grove and slaughtering the slyphs, with not a peep from the elementals. It just seems to me that the forest isn't as nearly a powerful force as the Gridanians believed it to be.