Yes, before the pact of Gelmorra everything that was basically not ixali was immediately cleansed by the Elementals. However, when the Ixali snapped so bad when elezens and hyurs started to communicate with the Elementals, and got kicked out of the wood, the pact of Gelmorra basically allowed every human race to live there as long as they followed the Elemental's law.Â
And that's the thing. Poachers are humans. As far as the Elementals are concerned, they are the same thing than any other Gridanian. They live there with the permission of the Elementals. If they screw too much with the order of things, then it's the whole pact of Gelmorra that gets threatened. It brings up Greenwraths and all bad things that Gridanians will do almost anything to prevent. That's why Gridanians are so harsh and uncompromising when it comes to apply elemental law (and not just their local laws). They basically flip their shit at the idea that humans eventually break the pact and all hell gets loose and Elementals can't be appeased anymore.
So, before the Calamity, the Elementals were probably a lot quicker to anger and act yes, but at the same time, the Shroud was a lot less under pressure with all those new threats, as you say, like voidsents, poachers, and people breaking the law due to the weakened state of everyone in charge here. So, now that the Calamity has happened, Elementals are probably a lot less almighty there due to their weakened state, but proportionally there is also a whole lot more bad stuff happening with the potential to anger them.
The Coeurlclaw king does pretty despicable things yes. And every City state kills hundreds of beast tribe people every month or so, or are guilty of so much racism and xenophobia that it boggles the mind, and Maelstrom privateers pirate and assault garlean mercantile ships, and Thordan did a lot of bad things too to make his Kingdom safe for his people, and Gaius Van Baelsar was ready to make literal genocides to deal with order and the primal threat, etc.Â
Oh yes, the Coeurlclaw king does a lot of 'evil' things on our moral scale. He also holds a few values that are lot less black. Total freedom, hatred for the Elementals tyranny, protecting all the people that got wronged one way or the other by a society that despise them or decided to toss them aside, even if he does it with very twisted, wicked methods.
You can't just paint him all black like you would with an Ascian/Paragon, but you can surely say that the guy's colour is pretty tainted alright. But one of the central concepts of the FFXIV lore (or FF lore in general) is the opposition between mortals, the people living there, with all their flaws and strengths, and the dark, evil forces that actually play on hubris everytime to make civilizations fall, again and again. Xande was not necessarily evil in himself, Gaius or the Garleans certainly not either with their very strong ideals, or Thordan. They just were made so by Ascian influence.
And that's the thing. Poachers are humans. As far as the Elementals are concerned, they are the same thing than any other Gridanian. They live there with the permission of the Elementals. If they screw too much with the order of things, then it's the whole pact of Gelmorra that gets threatened. It brings up Greenwraths and all bad things that Gridanians will do almost anything to prevent. That's why Gridanians are so harsh and uncompromising when it comes to apply elemental law (and not just their local laws). They basically flip their shit at the idea that humans eventually break the pact and all hell gets loose and Elementals can't be appeased anymore.
So, before the Calamity, the Elementals were probably a lot quicker to anger and act yes, but at the same time, the Shroud was a lot less under pressure with all those new threats, as you say, like voidsents, poachers, and people breaking the law due to the weakened state of everyone in charge here. So, now that the Calamity has happened, Elementals are probably a lot less almighty there due to their weakened state, but proportionally there is also a whole lot more bad stuff happening with the potential to anger them.
The Coeurlclaw king does pretty despicable things yes. And every City state kills hundreds of beast tribe people every month or so, or are guilty of so much racism and xenophobia that it boggles the mind, and Maelstrom privateers pirate and assault garlean mercantile ships, and Thordan did a lot of bad things too to make his Kingdom safe for his people, and Gaius Van Baelsar was ready to make literal genocides to deal with order and the primal threat, etc.Â
Oh yes, the Coeurlclaw king does a lot of 'evil' things on our moral scale. He also holds a few values that are lot less black. Total freedom, hatred for the Elementals tyranny, protecting all the people that got wronged one way or the other by a society that despise them or decided to toss them aside, even if he does it with very twisted, wicked methods.
You can't just paint him all black like you would with an Ascian/Paragon, but you can surely say that the guy's colour is pretty tainted alright. But one of the central concepts of the FFXIV lore (or FF lore in general) is the opposition between mortals, the people living there, with all their flaws and strengths, and the dark, evil forces that actually play on hubris everytime to make civilizations fall, again and again. Xande was not necessarily evil in himself, Gaius or the Garleans certainly not either with their very strong ideals, or Thordan. They just were made so by Ascian influence.
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu