(07-07-2015, 10:52 AM)Sounsyy Wrote:(07-07-2015, 06:39 AM)Clover Wrote: Um, I'm really confused about this matter. What does being under Garlean control entail?
Other than being considered an Imperial Territory, it doesn't seem to necessarily entail much. What Garlemald does is conquer an area, form, if possible, a peaceful treaty with its conquered people, and like the Roman Empire, assimilates them into their society. Worship of pagan deities or "Eikons" is outlawed, but other than that, Garlemald doesn't seem to care or have the manpower to do much else. In one of the MSQ, I believe it was even expressed that in some cases Garlemald will leave conquered nation's governments intact and allow them to continue to run things. Hence why Doma's council existed up until the city-state got razed.
This also explains how, despite the Far East being under Imperial rule for the last 30-40 years, why Eorzean city-states like Ul'dah and Limsa still have open trade lines with these places and why Far Eastern merchants such as the Uma Bugyo and Yamimi Farwalker and a plethora of other examples were able to freely come and go to Eorzean soil. Things in Othard are likely "business as usual" except there's Garlean soldiers on every street corner instead of Doman city-guards or whatever. So long as no one outwardly resists, Garlemald won't put its foot down.
The issue of Gaius van Baelsar becoming the ruler of Ala Mhigo is likely only due to the fact that prior to Garlean occupation, Ala Mhigo had rioted against their king, forced him to kill himself, and then were a nation divided by the left-over pieces of the King of Ruin's... ruin. The Garlean rule was a stabilizing force for the city-state, even though, under Gaius and Nael van Darnus's rule the city-state became a hellhole to live in, being the frontlines in the Eorzea occupation.
The real life Roman Empire was not the modern notion of a tyrannical empire, and more like a corporation that was doing a lot of hostile takeovers.
They would swoop into a country, defeat the armies and humiliate/kill the king, then let the people go back to business as usual. Rome usually did not run the day to activities of a province, it wasn't really efficient for them to do so. Instead they generally left the organization of governments intact, just with a roman at its head, and some bureaucrats to help manage things.
Really the only big difference for a person living in an area that was dominated (Let's use Egypt as an example), was you had Roman rulers (who were generally better, and professionally trained) instead of your old ones.
In theory there was a lot of stuff your country could no longer do on its own, like have a large standing army, or do its own diplomacy. However to most of the people living there, that didn't matter much, since a random farmer wouldn't have much input in those matters anyway.
However in order to get at the real good stuff in the provinces, you had to fight in the Roman army for a number of years (20-25). This would generally net you (and your sons) full citizenship, voting rights, pension, and legal protection under the law. I imagine that's why we so so many foreigners in the Garlean army, they want in on all that magitech prosperity, and are likely being rewarded with eventual citizenship. If the warrior of light doesn't kill them first.
