(09-01-2015, 12:12 PM)V Wrote:(09-01-2015, 11:46 AM)Oli! Wrote: The idea that "we don't know" comes from the fact that just as we have evidence that can make your point, we also have evidence that makes a counterpoint:Ishgard defended the Western Highlands with its knights. That is explicitly stated. Not knights and adventurers, not knights and mercenaries. Just knights. This includes the gatewardens.
-- Houses are the ones that stake territory outside of Ishgard.
-- They hire as they see fit, and also hire foreigners. A promise of citizenship for service is not mentioned.
To my knowledge, no outsider has ever become an Ishgardian knight without first becoming a subject of Ishgard.
Are you in the possession of any evidence that Ishgard has knighted individuals outside the nation without requiring that individual's loyalty be sworn to the nation beforehand?
To answer your other question: Ishgard closed its doors fifteen years before the Calamity when Nidhogg returned and razed the hamlet of Ferndale to the ground. That equates to roughly 20 years before ARR/HW.
We have nothing that states fact in either direction, hence this argument. We could in fact view the point you made in its opposite light, because of a lack of evidence. If Ishgard is reluctant to rely on outside help for anything, why allow someone to become a subject, and then a knight, in the first place? We wind up with a paradox; Ishgard is Xenophobic, so they won't simply grant citizenship for nothing. If they're self-reliant, would they accept someone's offer to do work for them? If not, then what?
Interestingly, our arguments intertwine here. Unless people can become citizens for nothing (which isn't very xenophobic), then Ishgard must accept help with certain things. Where would this lead us? If it leads us to Knights, it also leads us to hires.
If we were to pull the Main Story Quest into this (which is supposed to be a rare occurrence in the first place), it's worth noting that despite all the good you do for the nation, you're never given citizenship. Only a permit to be there.
As for the first bit, I haven't come across that specific wording; do you know where it was so I can look for it? That doesn't mean I don't trust it, I just want to see.
