Additional Garlemald Lore

Lodestone: Garlean Empire Wrote:The Garlean Empire controls the majority of the Three Great Continents, the enormous landmass that encompasses Eorzea. Until some fifty years ago, Garlemald was a remote and sparsely populated nation which held little more than a fraction of the northern continent of Ilsabard. But with the arrival of a technological golden age and the concurrent emergence of a brilliant young legatus—now the reigning emperor—in the span of a single generation Garlemald established itself as one of the most formidable forces in all of Hydaelyn.

Garlemald is unsurpassed in the field of magitek, a technology which it exploits with devastating effectiveness in warfare. Unperturbed by their lesser numbers, the Garleans went forth upon gigantic flying warships, bearing powerful weaponry the likes of which the world had never seen. One nation after the next fell before their relentless onslaught, first those of the northlands, followed by the sovereign states of the eastern continent, Othard. Employing suppression and conciliation in equal measure, Garlemald indoctrinated the peoples it conquered, thus integrating them into its ever-expanding territory. So it was that the Garlean Empire came into existence.

In the year 1557 of the Sixth Astral Era, a mere thirty-six years from the Empire's founding, the Garleans brought their campaign of conquest to Eorzea, swiftly bringing the city-state of Ala Mhigo to its knees. Yet following the subjugation of Ala Mhigo, the Empire suddenly ceased its aggressive expansion.

For more than a decade, the continent of Aldenard knew relative peace. In the year 1572, however, the Garlean army once again began its inexorable advance. Using the calamitous arrival of the Seventh Umbral Era to sinister advantage, the Empire prepares to gather the lands of Eorzea into its steely embrace.

Waning of the Sixth Sun Wrote:Outside Aldenard, the flames of conquest were only beginning to rise. To the north, on the continent of Ilsabard, the Republic of Garlemald begins overwhelming nearby nations with their iron war machines, seizing their land and consuming their cultures. In the year 1552, the leader of the republic, Solus zos Galvus, declares Garlemald an empire and appoints himself emperor. The new imperial army, now swelling with the might of countless assimilated nations, methodically subjugates the eastern continent of Othard and the remaining lands of Ilsabard, welcoming those nations willing to bow to imperial rule, while erasing those which refuse the Garlean standard.

With two of the three great continents now under its control, the Garlean Empire sets its sights on Aldenard, and in the year 1557, sends the XIVth legion to conquer Ala Mhigo in the first step to bring Eorzea's people under imperial rule. The Garlean Empire renames the conquered city-state and the surrounding lands of Gyr Abania to the Ala Mhigan Territory.

Lodestone: Solus zos Galvus Wrote:Born of distinguished lineage in the Garlemald Republic, Solus zos Galvus began his military career at a young age. After a string of impressive victories on the field of battle, however, he soon attained the rank of Legatus, and proceeded to integrate machina technology into the army's regular rank and file. With single-minded determination, Galvus transformed his fledgling nation into a formidable military power.

His actions garnered the undivided support of the citizenry, and catapulted him into the position of Dictator, supreme commander of Garlemald. In the years that followed, Garlean forces conquered all the lands of the north and hammered them into a single entity. Galvus then instituted an imperial regime to govern their new territories, conferring upon himself the title of "Emperor."

The eastern nations were the first to feel the newborn empire's mighty fist. It was during this campaign that the emperor witnessed firsthand the destruction wrought by the primals—an experience that led to an imperial mandate for their annihilation.

Now an old man of more than eighty winters, Galvus yet rules as emperor, but court rumors speak of frail health and frequent illness.

Lodestone: Ala Mhigo Wrote:The highlands of Gyr Abania in the eastern reaches of Aldenard were once under the control of a martial nation known as Ala Mhigo. It was, perhaps, the historically conflicted nature of the territory that forged the country into a significant military power. Even as this aggressive nation sent its forces to conquer in the west, it repelled repeated attempts at invasion from the east. In the Year 1557 of the Sixth Astral Era, however, it finally fell to the incursions of the Garlean Empire. From that time onwards, the country became merely another imperial territory under the governance of its usurpers. Though the people of Ala Mhigo once revered Rhalgr, the Destroyer, as their patron deity, any such religious observance has since been forbidden by the controlling authorities.

*More about Ala Mhigo and its fall here.

Tyon Wrote:We had heard that Ala Mhigo's armies were more than enough to fight off the Garleans. Tidings of her demise were...disheartening, to say the least. And now there is word that Garlemald has made a stronghold of the ruins. It is from there that they launch their winged monstrosities, such as the one which destroyed our own airship. Their juggernauts have been spotted in the skies over every part of the realm, and their silver-clad soldiers are becoming a regular sight in the borderlands. Aye, it would seem the Garleans mean to unleash their full wrath on Eorzea.

Yugiri Wrote:For many years, my nation, Doma, suffered under the yoke of imperial rule, and my people yearned to be free. Thus, when a war of succession broke out in Garlemald, we sought to take advantage of the chaos and reclaim our liberty. Alas, our enemy proved less preoccupied than we had hoped, and our rebellion was put down in the most brutal fashion.

Lodestone: Gaius van Baelsar Wrote:Legatus of the XIVth Legion, the imperial force currently occupying Ala Mhigo, van Baelsar is possessed of a natural flair for wartime command equaled perhaps only by his sensibilities as a governing administrator. Among his numerous accomplishments is the conquest of five enemy cities, the political conversion of which he also oversaw. In subjugating Ala Mhigo, van Baelsar employed subterfuge to stoke the fires of civil unrest, a masterstroke which led to the nation’s capture without the need for a protracted siege. However, the unanticipated appearance of a primal shortly thereafter prompted the Empire to halt the legion’s advance. The legatus has since remained in Ala Mhigo, where he rules as an imperial viceroy.

Lodestone: Rhitahtyn sas Arvina Wrote:Though native to a territory subjugated by the Empire, Rhitahtyn nevertheless serves as praefectus castrorum of the XIVth Imperial Legion. The Roegadyn was awarded the rank by Gaius van Baelsar himself, the legatus more interested in recognizing the mercenary's exceptional martial prowess than the origin of his birth. Rhitahtyn wields a unique gunshield named Tartarus.

Lodestone: Nael van Darnus Wrote:Legatus of the VIIth Legion presently dispatched to the western front, van Darnus boasts distinguished parentage in his sire, a founding figure of the Garlean Empire. A ruthless man who has risen to infamy even among his own people, he draws no distinction betwixt friend and foe when met with dissent. Tales are oft told in hushed whispers of van Darnus’s swift rise to power upon the abrupt death by illness of his sire, whose body had no sooner grown cold than his closest aides were put to death. The White Raven seems a man well-suited to such dark rumors, for it is his pet project, "Meteor," that will herald Eorzea's inevitable plunge into the Seventh Umbral Era...

Gaius van Baelsar Wrote:Tell me, do you think it fate that brings you here? Some threads woven by your Weaver whore? Or was it no more than the meddling of Master Garlond? Hmph, it matters not. Go, take what you have scrounged like a rat and run to him. He is the only hope left you. Do not think this a mercy. Garlemald will annihilate the primals and claim dominion over all Eorzea. It is inevitable. As inevitable as your futile resistance. All you can hope to do is decide the manner of this realm's demise. This is the mercy I offer. A choice - an end by the red moon, or an end by Garlean might.

I will not deny that the primals have proven a great nuisance. They have delayed our advance. It was to break the stalemate between us that Nael van Darnus sought to bring down Dalamud. The impact of the red moon would destroy the primals in an instant. Little wonder that His Radiance embraced the scheme. But Dalamud is no mere rock, despite what van Darnus would have us believe. It is a great red sin, exiled to the skies by ancient Allag. There it has long festered, becoming something far more vile than we ever supposed. I see proof of this in van Darnus. His manner is…altered. He is anxious. Uneasy. He deceives His Radiance.

Of those in your realm, only the son of Midas nan Garlond sees the red moon for what it is. His Radiance will reach the same conclusion in time. Yet by then it will be too late. The shadow of Dalamud will already be dark upon these lands. Oppose van Darnus and Meteor, if you wish. It is the only hope you have of sparing Eorzea from complete obliteration.

Nael van Darnus Wrote:Allow me to return the favor. I am Nael Van Darnus. Legatus of the VIIth Imperial Legion. I come bearing the light of salvation to the people of Eorzea. It warms my hear to know that there are still those who would attempt to preserve life upon this forsaken continent. And by the blood of fallen eikons, no less. A noble struggle, I grant you, but one that is sadly beyond hope. Alone, you stand no chance of survival. None. If you are to prevail, you must needs accept the outstretched hand of salvation - the hand of the Garlean Empire.

I know full well your people see the Empire as little more than a covetous beast, hungry for territory. But naught could be further from the truth. The world is stricken by an evil blight, her peoples given to despair. Seeing this, the Empire was moved with pity. It reached out to the other nations, bringing them under its wing that they might know deliverance.

For ours is the radiance that shall banish the darkness that threatens to engulf the land. Embrace the light, son of the South, and your progeny shall live to see a brighter tomorrow. Yet know that the light is unbending, its judgment absolute. By its illumination, all is laid bare - the world revealed in truest form. The bold shall inherit the world, and the beautiful shall rule it! So has the light decreed, and so it must be! Only then shall the land be free of chaos!

Ne'er till land consumes sun can sea bear moons,
heavens spew crimson flame, hells seep black dooms.

I see these words are lost upon you. That the children of this land should have grown up ignorant of the sacred prophecies of yore… The slumbering emperors of old Allag are surely turning in their graves.

But I will not blame you for your forefathers' negligence. Permit me to explain it as I might to a child of Garlemald. Naught is eternal. Nay, not even the dance of the stars upon the celestial sea. The hour of reckoning is at hand. Soon the crimson star shall descend, and the land shall be purged of its taint. Oh, but what manner of foul shadow will the unredeemed souls of your countrymen cast by the light of judgment!? The mere imagining of it cuts me to the quick.

2014 Las Vegas Fan Fest Lore Panel Wrote:Q: Natural-born Garleans are unable to, or do not, use aether. Is this because they do not possess the knowledge to do so or is it because genetically they are unable to?

Fernehalwes: This is an easy question. They are genetically unable to. It's in their DNA, because they have all of this knowledge. They basically go and take over a bunch of countries, but they don't destroy the nations when they go and take them over. They kill the leaders and then let the nations remain as they are, because they realize that's a better way to have them remain loyal to the Garleans and not have an uprising. Because of that, the Garlean Empire has access to all of this information, but even with access to all of that knowledge on magic, they still can't use it because it's in their genetics. That's why they've built up all of that machina to fight the magic that's so powerful in Eorzea.

Brutish Resistance Member Wrote:The Empire is using Ala Mhigo as a breeding ground for new soldiers. Once children reach a certain age, they are taken from their parents and sent into the north for training...never to be seen or heard from again.

Imperial Centurion Wrote:Believe thyself. Believe thy strength.
Know thyself. Know thy weakness.
Thou art alone. One amongst many.
The land is alone. One star in the void.
See through the lies. See beyond the words of deceivers.
Follow the truth. Follow the whispers of verity.
Protect that which must be. Destroy that which must not.
For Calamity draws nigh. The End is upon thee!

Shuddering Child Wrote:Kill the tribes.
Kill their gods.
Kill the tribes.
Before the Land doth perish!

Nenekani Wrote:Might you already have an imperial linkpearl? No? Garlean airships have been showering the free cities with them. Perhaps you will find one in the gutter with the night-soil. Nenekani did. Or perhaps it is better that you did not have one at all...

??? Wrote:The message on the imperial linkpearl states we are not to be fooled by the appearance of the sylphs, for they, too, are beastmen like the Amalj'aa and Ixal. If that is so, then why does Lady Minfilia insist on aiding them? Perhaps it is time I left the Path...

Minfilia Wrote:Thank you one and all for coming. I have summoned you here today because I wish to speak of the linkpearls being distributed by the Empire. I understand the message they impart has a disquieting effect on those who hear it...especially those of us who walk the Path of the Twelve, and I hope what I have to say can help ease the hearts of some, if not all of you.

As you all know, and as some of you will personally recall, it was not five and ten summers ago that the Garlean Empire launched an offensive on the northern city-state of Ala Mhigo. You will have heard stories of how the men and women of their armies did their best to repel the enemy, only to find their iron blades and modest magicks no match for the Empire's machina. And you will have gleaned from such tales just how swiftly the entire region fell under Garlean control.

In those dark days, fear swept across the Realm, many believing that the Empire would surely continue its march south. But such fears proved unfounded. Against all expectation, their armies withdrew as fast as they had advanced... And, with the exception of the tragedy at Silvertear Falls, there has been nary a sound from Garlemald. Until now, that is.

Imperial airships and juggernauts have begun dropping linkpearls in all the major city-states on Aldenard and Vylbrand. These linkpearls state that the beast tribes of Eorzea are secretly plotting to call forth unholy eikons and lay waste to the Realm. The message goes on to say that if the city-states were to accept imperial rule, they would be granted the protection of the Empire—on the condition that the citizenry take up arms against the beast tribes.

However, there is one particular matter that deeply disturbs me, and makes me fear for the lives of my fellow walkers on the Path. It pertains to those of you who have been granted the gift of the Echo and can read the hearts of the Amalj'aa and Ixal... You see, in the eyes of the Empire, the ability to communicate with the beast tribes makes you one of them.

Additional Garlean lore you may find helpful can be found in the links below:
-The Rise and Fall of the White Raven
-The Invasion of Othard
-Garlean Political Structure
-Garlean Invasion and Castrums