Yssen Wrote:Cid was the son of a Legatus
Grand Minister of Industry, I think. Cid was actually named a Minister simply because his father was of such influence in the Imperial court. Of course, he eventually came around to realizing the terrifying neglect for human life that existed within the empire after the Boja Citadel incident, which involved the Meteor project accidently killing an unknown (but presumably massive) amount of innocent lives. Not to nit-pick, I just love the Garlemald lore, so I'll jump on the train!
Everything Yssen said about the brainwashing is absolutely right. Garlemald has always needed to apply it's wit and cunning to win it's battles. It was actually an incredibly small and impoverished nation, known as the Garlemad Republic. It wasn't until Solus zos Galvus enlisted in the military and rose to the rank of Legatus that things began to change. He ushered in the era of Magitek (after what I think we can safely assume was the reverse-engineering of Allagan tech, but who knows) and eventually found himself at the seat of the newly form Garlean Empire as it's emperor. The fact that a lone person was able to single handedly cause an industrial revolution and abolish the republic is an impressive feat in it's own right, but sort of serves as an allegory for the empire itself. Lots of deceiving.
Getting off tangent, though.
Another extreme aspect of the Garlean Millitary is that they are literally forced to at least kill something, be it humanoid or animal, every single day as to make it a habit and something they can do without question or hesitance. They are literally conditioned into killing machines and nothing more. Because of that, I'd like to think any rank and file members of the armed forces would literally be broken individuals should they leave. There's obviously room for interpenetration, but I like to think most, if not all of them would not be able to function in Eorzean society. There would probably be so many underlying mental conditions that it would take years and years of therapy to shake off even the tiniest bit. That's something to think about.
Secondly, magic and the empire. Yssen is absolutely right in the seventh legion being primarily made up of recruits from territories on the outer edge of Garlemald, as well as brainwashed Ala Mhgians. This is simply because full blooded Garleans are almost completely inept at magic. For whatever reason, Garleans cannot use magic well, if at all. We saw some magic users, namely healers, while the empire was assaulting Eorzea. These members could not have hailed from Garlemald in most cases as they simply cannot use magic. It's also mentioned that the empire is still incredibly small, despite it's vast territory. It simply doesn't have enough people in it's armed forces to cover and defend all of it's territory. They're stretched very thin, even more so because of the fact that they're locked in a massive war with a yet-to-be named far eastern kingdom, who isn't yielding any ground. Apparently the majority of Garlemald's forces are actually focused on that eastern front. The western front, being Eorzea, is not as significant for whatever reason.
Which brings us to the western front, being Ala Mhigo and Gyr Abania. I'd say it's a touchy subject, but obviously it's one of those things where if you want to make it work, you probably can. I'll just give the lore aspects. Ala Mhigo wasn't conquered traditionally. There was no protracted siege, nor a massive conflict. Ala Mhigo was actually conquered with minimal bloodshed. This is mainly because Ala Mhigo was already in political turmoil due to it's king having gone absolutely mad. He nearly succeeded in completely wiping the order of the Fists of Rhalgr (Ala Mhigo's largest religion and an organization with significant power in the city-state) off the face of Eorzea in a brutal slaughter, and began to execute any nobility or person he saw as a threat to his power. King Theodoric eventually commited suicide in lieu of being murdered by his citizens. The nation was a impoverished shell of it's former self, and there was a great deal of civil unrest. Van Baelsar was able to play on those feelings and promise the Ala Mhigans refuge under Imperial rule. Most accepted that without question, and the city was conquered in a matter of a day or two if memory serves me correctly. In all honesty, I'd like to think that life under Imperial rule was actually better than it was under King Theodoric.
Obviously some opposed, and they were either put down by Garlemald or managed to escape in some way, shape, or form. There are plenty of Ala Mhigan refugees about, and while I'm sure escape from the city would be difficult, the resistance probably has some means of sneaking people out.
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