Surprised I missed this thread. Everything and anything Garlemald/Magitek related is sooo my forte. Everyone else has nailed your questions more or less, but I figure I'd tack on to elaborate on some things.
Ceruleum is basically a heavily refined and purified form of liquid "aether" as it were. It's an incredibly potent energy source, and also extremely volatile. It is, obviously, the main fuel source for all Magitek technology. It can be drained from crystals (which leaves an un-aspected husk of a crystal in it's place), and can also be mined from the earth itself. As was mentioned, the only known deposit of Ceruleum is in northern Thanalan, and has been monopolized by the Sultunate. The Garlond Ironworks likely has a large part in this operation as well.
This deposit is due in part to the close proximity of Silvertear lake, which is sort of the aetherical center of Eorzea. All aether flows to that one point, and the northern mountains of Thanalan happen to sit directly over one of the streams that connects to Silvertear.
Now, before I get off on a Magitek tangent, the empire currently only holds Gyr Abania and Ala Mhigo under their control as far as Eorzean territory is concerned. They do, however, have many Castrums situated throughout Eorzea as of ARR. They have a large base in Mor Dhona, two in Thanalan, an absolutely massive Castrum set up in Gridania, and one in La Noscea that we've seen so far. Suffice it to say, they've spread out quite a bit.
Xelphatol actually isn't entirely uninhabited. This region is home to the Ixali, and they likely have the majority of it under their control. The Xelphatol Mountains are primarily barren and full of windy, jagged ravines. It's a fairly unfriendly place, and it's unlikely that the empire would bother much with it at this point in time. Outside of that, Garlemald holds almost all (if not the entirety) of the continent of Ilsabard, as well as a majority of the continent of Othard (which lies on Ilsabard's eastern border).
Ceruleum is basically a heavily refined and purified form of liquid "aether" as it were. It's an incredibly potent energy source, and also extremely volatile. It is, obviously, the main fuel source for all Magitek technology. It can be drained from crystals (which leaves an un-aspected husk of a crystal in it's place), and can also be mined from the earth itself. As was mentioned, the only known deposit of Ceruleum is in northern Thanalan, and has been monopolized by the Sultunate. The Garlond Ironworks likely has a large part in this operation as well.
This deposit is due in part to the close proximity of Silvertear lake, which is sort of the aetherical center of Eorzea. All aether flows to that one point, and the northern mountains of Thanalan happen to sit directly over one of the streams that connects to Silvertear.
Now, before I get off on a Magitek tangent, the empire currently only holds Gyr Abania and Ala Mhigo under their control as far as Eorzean territory is concerned. They do, however, have many Castrums situated throughout Eorzea as of ARR. They have a large base in Mor Dhona, two in Thanalan, an absolutely massive Castrum set up in Gridania, and one in La Noscea that we've seen so far. Suffice it to say, they've spread out quite a bit.
Xelphatol actually isn't entirely uninhabited. This region is home to the Ixali, and they likely have the majority of it under their control. The Xelphatol Mountains are primarily barren and full of windy, jagged ravines. It's a fairly unfriendly place, and it's unlikely that the empire would bother much with it at this point in time. Outside of that, Garlemald holds almost all (if not the entirety) of the continent of Ilsabard, as well as a majority of the continent of Othard (which lies on Ilsabard's eastern border).
![[Image: 7Ho5y7x.png]](http://i.imgur.com/7Ho5y7x.png)
