Thanks to all for the info, especially with the transcriptions. I haven't really commented on them much, largely because I'm still digesting the information.
While I appreciate that the history is probably muddled in-universe for perfectly understandable reasons (viz time), it does make it a bit more difficult to work with out of game when we don't have concrete answers.
Putting all that aside for the moment (because thinking about it too hard makes me tempted to just give it up as a huge mess), what sort of population does each of the city-states have, and how many outlying settlements are significant enough to be potential origins? I ask because I'm thinking of having my character come from around Sharlayan, as opposed to the city itself. In-game the city-states are kind of deserted, which I assume to be a gameplay conceit. For example, the actual number of NPCs in the areas around Limsa Lominsa would not have been significant enough to constitute an incursion into Kobold territory, and yet here we are.
I'm not sure if Sharlayan even has outlying settlements in the first place, but every other city-state does (with the possible exception of Ishgard, since I haven't gotten into Heavensward content yet), of varying sizes, eg compare Summerford Farms and Moraby Drydocks.
While I appreciate that the history is probably muddled in-universe for perfectly understandable reasons (viz time), it does make it a bit more difficult to work with out of game when we don't have concrete answers.
Putting all that aside for the moment (because thinking about it too hard makes me tempted to just give it up as a huge mess), what sort of population does each of the city-states have, and how many outlying settlements are significant enough to be potential origins? I ask because I'm thinking of having my character come from around Sharlayan, as opposed to the city itself. In-game the city-states are kind of deserted, which I assume to be a gameplay conceit. For example, the actual number of NPCs in the areas around Limsa Lominsa would not have been significant enough to constitute an incursion into Kobold territory, and yet here we are.
I'm not sure if Sharlayan even has outlying settlements in the first place, but every other city-state does (with the possible exception of Ishgard, since I haven't gotten into Heavensward content yet), of varying sizes, eg compare Summerford Farms and Moraby Drydocks.