(01-12-2017, 12:15 AM)Kilieit Wrote: In the present day, I believe you're correct and that Doma's supposed to have been razed to the ground - most importantly that temple at the centre of the nation is gone, I think? You're right, the NPCs are very adamant that Doma's flat-out gone and there's nothing to go back to, and it's unlikely the lore book would contradict that unless those NPCs were somehow mistaken.
See, now that's the weird thing. Now that I go back to it, one of the excerpts in the Encylopedia link you shared explicitly says "razed to the ground." But then another one only mentions mass executions. But then that begs the question, what would have been the point of restoring order via mass executions if there was no country left to rule over? If the entire country was reduced to rubble, would there even be that many people left to execute? Considering it's just that one niggling detail that's out of step, I'm inclined to think the country is in fact razed to the ground, but I don't see why the Garleans would bother with executions if they're just going to raze the country and probably wholesale slaughter its inhabitants, anyway.
I can also think of a few ways Kazukata could respect the Xaela regardless of cultural differences, not least of which the fact that he just finished fighting in one war and with Stormblood around the corner will probably be fighting in another one soon...regardless of the color of his scales, he's kind of acting more like a stereotypical Xaela than a Raen.