Ala Mhigo Occupation Timeline Question

[kazeai]

I am currently working on finalizing a character concept for an Ala Mhigan, but I am still working out a timeline of how fast the occupation took hold of Ala Mhigo and the construction of various Garlean structures.

 

I believe that Ala Mhigo was occupied 20 years ago, and assuming the entered through Ala Ghiri -as it was a port city to the east to begin with, so I would assume that would be an area susceptible to invasion-, then I'm guessing Specula Imperatoris and Porta Praetoria were some of the first Garlean structures.  Ala Ghanna is pretty heavily affected by the cut off from the capital and would forseeably fall into line, however I'm unsure as to how heavily involved Garlemald would be in that area considering Rhalgr's Reach was largely hidden away within distance of Ala Ghanna.  Considering that Castellum Velodyna is founded in the southern region of The Fringes before eventually establishing Castrum Oriens, I'm getting the feeling that if there was a place that would have been technically under occupation but would be a place where people fled at a later date than the initial invasion it would be Ala Ghanna.

So my proposition would be: Ala Ghiri > Specula Imperatoris/Porta Praetoria > Ala Mhigo > Castellum Velodyna > Gradual occupation of Ala Ghanna/Rhalgr's Reach remains hidden due to lack of interest in Ala Ghanna > Castellum Velodyna > Castrum Oriens

 

The reason I'm trying to construct a timeline is because I'd like to have my Ala Mhigan have lived briefly under the Garlean Empire but in an area that had yet to be fully occupied within the first few month/year.

 

There is probably some people who have already figured out the war strategy or that it is in game and I've been just too clueless to find it so any help would be fantastic!  And any general feedback on the idea would be lovely! Thank you for taking your time to read this!

 

Edit:  Upon posting this this seems much more lore question than character workshop, ahhh, I'm unsure how to delete this though oops.  I am so sorry.

Edited November 13, 2018 by kazeai
Played myself

[Sounsyy]

With the new lore book 2 becoming available this week, we might get more exact details on the particulars of how the invasion went down. In the meantime, we have a few dates and references to the invasion to get a very general timeline:

 

1552 - King Theodoric burns the Fist of Rhalgr's main temple and purges the nation of the monkhood. We don't know exactly when Gaius first set his sights on Ala Mhigo, but this is the earliest solid date for when Garlean spies stoked the fires of the king's paranoia and madness.

1554 - The XIVth Imperial Legion under Gaius van Baelsar station themselves to the north of Ala Mhigo and begin harrying the city-state's guard, exacerbating the King's paranoia. This is the first recorded date of open hostilities between Ala Mhigo and Garlemald. These skirmishes continue along Ala Mhigo's northern border until 1557.

1557 - The Revolutionaries overthrow King Theodoric. When word of the king's demise reaches the Garleans, the entire XIVth Imperial legion descends on Ala Mhigo from the north and conquers the city in a single, bloody sweep. 

1562 - Garlemald begins construction on Baelsar's Wall in East End. 

 

 

We don't know very many specifics in the 5 year gap between 1557 (20 years ago) when Ala Mhigo fell and 1562 (15 years ago) when the XIVth Legion finally pushed into Eorzea and faced defeat in the Battle of Silvertear Skies, retreated, and then began construction on the Wall to close off Ala Mhigo's borders. As this was when the Empire faced a stalemate with Eorzea's primals, this is likely around the time when projects like Black Rose and the formation of the Crania Lupi saw their inception. But we'll need the new lore book to shed more details on that, with a hopefully more detailed timeline. 

 

What I can say for certain is that Ala Mhigo was a swift, but brutal massacre. 

Encyclopedia Eorzea - Year 1557: "The people of Ala Mhigo revolt against the tyrannical King Theodoric. The kingsguard is complicit in the uprising, ignoring their liege’s orders and opening the gates of the palace to the revolutionaries. Seizing the opportunity amidst confusion and political upheaval, the XIVth Legion subjugates and annexes Ala Mhigo with little resistance."

Encyclopedia Eorzea: "Ala Mhigo should have been free. Yet, the hard-won victory of the peasantry was to be snatched away by the Garlean Army. The imperial troops had been stationed just to the north, awaiting the king’s demise, and came swarming down upon the city when his standard fell. Neither the Ala Mhigan army nor the lay fighters stood a chance against the flood of enemy soldiers. The proud nation thus became a Garlean territory, ruled by Gaius van Baelsar, the first viceroy of Ala Mhigo and legatus of the XIVth Legion."

Minfilia: "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."

Cid: "So you were there… You saw the atrocities? The devastation? Aye, I will not deny it. The magitek weapons we created laid waste to Ala Mhigo, and slaughtered its people."

 

The timeline also lists the annexation of the region as also happening within the year, and Minfilia states the entire region fell swiftly, which is pretty reasonable. With the ease that Ala Mhigo was taken, it would've not been difficult for Garlemald to quickly sweep the entire region and march soldiers on every hamlet and village. So the invasion probably looked more like:
Ala Mhigo > The Lochs secured > The Peaks annexed > The Fringes annexed > construction on several important facilities probably started more or less at the same time: Specula, castrum Abania, building castellum Velodyna on top of the Velodyna Bridge, etc. > then much later installations like Baelsar's Wall, castrum Corvi, castrum Oriens, etc would come about as need arose. 

 

 

One last, small note. Ala Ghiri was a major trade hub along the overland Highway to the Near East, but it is not a port city.  While still some distance from the Rothlyt Sound, the city of Ala Mhigo is actually closer to water than Ala Ghiri, which is why the Sothwatch tower is there on the southern mountain ridge of the Lochs. In any case, some of the sightseeing logs had some interesting tidbits on the invasion:

Sightseeing Vista #047 - Ala Ghiri: "Situated along the highroad connecting Ala Mhigo to the rest of Aldenard, Ala Ghiri once served as a trade hub and a vital waypoint for overland trade with the east. Under imperial rule, that trade came to focus upon catering to the needs of the occupation force."

Sightseeing Vista #021 - Porta Praetoria: "Formerly a checkpoint along the main highroad to Ala Mhigo, it was incorporated into the newly constructed Castrum Abania. Prior to the Garlean invasion, the area bustled with merchants bound for the Near East, but mercantile endeavors have since given way to military ones."

Sightseeing Vista #012 - Specula Imperatoris: "After claiming Gyr Abania for its own, the Empire erected this monstrous tower in order to maintain watch over the region. A communications spire was later added in preparation for the next phase of the Eorzean invasion, followed by an energy spire for activating the Ultima Weapon."

Sightseeing Vista #001 - Castellum Velodyna: "Built upon the bridge over the Velodyna River, this imperial fortification serves as a critical waypoint for supplies, connecting the many military installations to the east with Baelsar's Wall to the west. Rising sky-high from the center is a great tower that provides moorage for airships."

Sightseeing Vista #004 - Castrum Oriens: "This Garlean stronghold has its beginnings as the construction base for Baelsar's Wall. Following the Seventh Umbral Calamity, it was expanded to become a fully fledged castrum for the Black Wolf's renewed invasion efforts. Nowadays, it is held by the Order of the Twin Adder and jointly garrisoned by Alliance forces."

 

 

Hope this helps! ^^

These are old, pre-SB posts of mine, but they still have a good amount of information on what happened during the occupation of Ala Mhigo. Hopefully I'll get around to updating these with SB and EE2 info in the future.

-Ala Mhigan History

-People of Ala Mhigo

[Valence]

I always assumed that Ala Mhigo was located somewhere on the south-east of the Peaks, and so that they were probably exposed earlier to Garlemald. The lore stating that Garlemald stationed north of the capital before invading comforts me into the idea that Ala Mhigo and its citadel are probably actually located on the far east part of the region, just before the strait of land leading up to Ilsabard. 

 

I'm sure all those installations saw the day pretty fast once the invasion was on its way/finished. Especially Velodyna and Specula Imperatoris. Considering the awful terrain you have to cross into very narrow and sharp mountain paths to join the Lochs with the East Shroud, which only seems to leave a few hard roads slithering in the Peaks, it would only make sense to me that an army like Garlemald's war machina would need an extensive infrastructure to work its logistics properly. 

[kazeai]

@Sounsyy  Thank you so much for such well cited and articulated explainations!  They helped greatly, and I was dumb enough to forget all about Theordic.  I appreciate you taking time to compile all of this information for me and also referencing me back to information pre-SB.  In a way that helps kinda help form a bias of what was going on in terms of the limited narrative that was available in Eorzea in regards to Ala Mhigo.  One who was living for years outside would only be able to grasp so much of the conflict.  Once again, thank you!

 

@Valence  Those are all good points and thank you for the Northern Invasion tactic.  Your post was very helpful and the mentioning of the Lochs/East Shroud terrain helps put geography into perspective.  It was so kind of you to write a response; I'm really grateful!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

On 11/13/2018 at 10:00 AM, kazeai said:

Edit:  Upon posting this this seems much more lore question than character workshop, ahhh, I'm unsure how to delete this though oops.  I am so sorry.

 

If it's pertaining to your character, Character Workshop is the right place! (Even if there's a lot of lore posts and discussion. This also helps keeping  the lore discussion board separate from "how can I make this work for my character" topics.)