detailed Garlean Empire lore?

[Artorias D'Argent]

Like the title says, is there any detail about the Garlean Empire aside from what's on the site?  I'm basically looking to see what raced belong to them, are they even Hyur(human), what is the life like for an ordinary citizen, when do they get enlisted in the military and etc...  I know they're very technologically advanced, they've invaded twice and released Bahamut. 

 

The reason I'm asking is because I'm creating my Dragoon as an ex-Empire character who defected after seeing the carnage the release of Bahamut has wrought.  I don't want to write something that would clash with the lore for the Empire either so I'm trying to get as much info as I can.  Please and thank you.

[Ildur]

Artorias! How's that abyss walking hobby of yours?

 

Back on topic: There's this on the Final Fantasy WIKI. I -think-the Empire has pretty much all of the playable races in its ranks, except for lalafells, maybe, because they don't dwell on the north (and that's where the bulk of the Empire's forces are. There's a cutscene where I'm quite sure one of the engineers was a Roegadyn, and one of the Legate's on 1.0 was implied to be an elezen.

The Empire has also conquered Ala Mhigo, one of the city-states, and are conscripting/recruiting new soldiers from there. Seeing how all the known Eorzean city-states are basically cultural boiler plates, its safe to assume Ala Mhigo would have all races represented too and that the Empire is only racist against beastmen.

 

Also, the Empire has rigorous training and brainwashing for their low-key troops. So making him part of the military will make the whole defecting trickier to explain. Not impossible, mind. The wiki seems to imply this only happens in conquered nations, so if your character comes from the Empire's main continent, perhaps he was not subjected to those practices. Alternatively, you could make him a civilian that aided the military in some way.

 

On a side note: As far as I know, the Empire wasn't deliberately trying to release Bahamut. They were trying to nuke the Primals and, for whatever reason (probably tricks by someone, I guess), they thought that bringing down the lesser moon would do the trick. Of course, it kind of didn't.

 

Quick edit: Oh, and if you are wondering about their naming conventions, there's no thread for it like there is for the playable races. But, by seeing how the Legates and some other garlean NPCs are named, using germanic and roman names is probably a good idea.

[Artorias D'Argent]

Thanks for the quick reply, and yes the Abyss walking was awesome.

 

Anyway for the character history I'm having it that he was born and raised in the Empire with the belief that they were doing a good thing and that the beast races were a threat to the world and that they were nothing but uncivilized bloodthirsty barbarians.  Hence him turning the other way when it came to committing acts of genocide.  In time though he does get to see the other side of things and eventually turns against the empire when Bahamut is released and pretty much wipes out everyone.  At least that is the game plan for this character.  As for the names well, I'm pretty much going with the name Artorias Rivendare (I love this last name) but we shall see how it goes.

 

Thanks for the link too, I will be putting it to good use

[K'tahrl]

Pardon the intrusion but I think the falling of Dalamud(and subsequent release of Bahamut) was not in the Empire's actual wishes but Nael Van Darnus' plot.  There is if I recall a cutscene between Nael and another Legatos arguing about having anything to conquer after Dalamud would decimate everything and that that was not the Emperor's command.

[Artorias D'Argent]

I will keep that in mind, thanks for letting me know.  I am still researching all of this so any input from all of you lore junkies would be helpful before I make the first draft. I would like to be as accurate as possible in order to make this concept work. 

[K'tahrl]

Well if you want there is this http://www.twitch.tv/thaze_tv/b/338928300 which has every major cutscene that happened in 1.0, so it should have a bit of lore in a visual setting for you.

[Ildur]

I never played 1.0, so the details of its plot aren't something I am sure of. Some players did mention that Darnus' Legion (or at least the army that clashed against the Eorzean Alliance in Cartenau) was somehow being manipulated to disobey the Emperor. There's also a cutscene (the same cutscene I mentioned before, actually), where one of the NPCs implies that the Emperor had given the unconquered regions as "lost" and that the Legate's orders made no sense. This NPC was quickly killed by one of the Legate's best friends, naturally.

 

In any case, I'm sure someone with a bigger Knowledge: FFXIV1.0 Lore skill will come around at some point and clarify.

[Naunet]

  Quote

Pardon the intrusion but I think the falling of Dalamud(and subsequent release of Bahamut) was not in the Empire's actual wishes but Nael Van Darnus' plot.  There is if I recall a cutscene between Nael and another Legatos arguing about having anything to conquer after Dalamud would decimate everything and that that was not the Emperor's command.

 

I'm fairly certain Nael van Darnus was tempered by the primal - basically driven mad with a desire to free Bahamut. He then manipulated the Garlean military into doing just that, claiming that bringing down Dalamud would destroy Bahamut when truly it would free him.

[Artorias D'Argent]

Hmm I could probably find a way to work off that.  We shall see.

[Merri]

I'm just gonna copy-paste a reply to a PM I sent out earlier because there's no way I'm typing it all again. Also going to spoiler it because it's huuuuge.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

History lesson time. Strap in, it's going to be a long read. So, Garlemald is located on a continent northeast of Eorzea, named Ilsabard. They control a majority of two of the three great continents. Namely Ilsabard, and a large portion of Othard, which is located far to the east. Othard has their own primals, and was the first foriegn continent that Garlemald attempted to conquer (And was consequently the reason for the Imperial mandate on the execution of all primals without hesitation). As it stands, I believe there are still some kingdoms in Othard that have yet to fall to Imperial rule. It was mentioned pre-ARR that Garlemald could not afford to withdraw any troops from the Eastern Front, which seems to imply that Othard was holding it's own for the most part. That could've changed in the past five years. Right now, Garlemald controls the region of Gyr Abania and the former Eorzean city-state of Ala Mhigo. They also have numerous bases located across Eorzea at this point in time, and in the process of making yet another large push to conquer the country after five years of biding their time after the calamity.

 

Now, let's start from the beginning. Garlemald was once a very small and impoverished nation that held barely a fraction of the northern end of Ilsabard. They were originally a republic, and had a small military. Around the year 1515~1520, a young Legatus by the name of Solus Galvus basically revolutionized the entire nation overnight with the introduction of Magitek. It's heavily hinted that Magitek was reverse engineered from Allagan technology. The Allagan empire was an empire that existed some 4000 years in the past. They were even more technologically advanced than Garlemald. ...And Garlemald is pretty advanced. They are the ones who originally created Dalamud and imprisoned Bahamut before sending him off to orbit the planet. Take that as an example of their technological prowess. They imprisoned basically the most powerful entity able to manifest itself into Hydaelyn with their technology and magic.

 

Anyways, with the introduction of Magitek (Of which I also am a lore freak of. I can delve into Magitek, but that'd likely be an entirely different PM. My character is actually a Magitek Engineer, so it sort of has to be my forte.), the Garlemald Republic expanded it's borders immensely over the following years. The people of Garlemald unanimously elected Solus Galvus as their dictator, and he continued to expand their borders day by day. Then, in the year 1521, he instituted an Imperial Regime in order to better control their vast amount of new territory, and named himself first emperor of Garlemald. Thus the Garlean Empire was born.

 

With their overwhelmingly powerful military, Garlemald succeeded in conquering almost any nation that stood against it. Their airforce is the most powerful in the world, and there is currently no country that can match them in the skies. In the year 1557 the XIVth Imperial Legion, helmed by Legatus Gaius van Baelsar (Otherwise known as the Black Wolf), conquered the city-state of Ala Mhigo by employing masterful subterfuge on an already weakened nation. (Their king went mad, slaughtered almost the entirety of the Fists of Rhalgr (The order of Monks), and committed suicide after waging a civil war against his own people.) The city was in a huge amount of unrest, and the Imperials promised order and protection in exchange for Ala Mhigo to lay down their arms and submit to Imperial rule. Gaius was named Imperial Viceroy of the city, and it is currently the empire's largest foothold in Eorzea. They brainwash children born there and ship them off to Garlemald for training and induction into the Imperial military.

 

Fast forward to 1.0 of FFXIV. The year is 1572, and the VIIth Imperial Legion is sent to Eorzea in order to assist the XIVth in conquering the country. Led by the Legatus Nael van Darnus, the VIIth legion went about researching and preparing to unleash the Meteor Project upon Eorzea. The Meteor project was started ten years prior, and was based on the idea of harnessing Dalamud, which the empire knew to be a powerful Allagan "weapon". (Van Darnus, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was, as the Darnus family had been the keepers of Allagan lore since the empire's destruction some 4000 years ago) Garlemald intended to use it as an ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The project ended in failure those ten years ago, and said failure resulted in the destruction of an entire city. This was known as the Bozja Citadel incident, and it is what prompted Cid Garlond to flee Garlemald and form the Garlond Ironworks in Eorzea in order to fight back against the empire. Absolutely nothing was left of Bozja Citadel, not even a single corpse. Dalamud basically wiped it off the map.

 

Regardless, the empire once again began it's research into the Meteor Project in order to once and for all conquer Eorzea. Nael van Darnus garnered full support from the emperor, though Gaius van Baelsar warned against using Dalamud. That if it were used, there would be no country left to conquer, only ash and dust. Suffice it to say, Nael van Darnus pushed forward with his ambitions and was eventually driven completely mad by Dalamud's presence (Dalamud contained Bahamut, which I'm sure you are well aware. He turned Darnus into his harbinger, so by the end Nael van Darnus was working only for Bahamut, not the empire. He actually forsakes the empire during the course of the 1.0 storyline and goes off on his own. Says they're all fools, and that only Dalamud could bring true salvation to the world. He was a nutcase.)

 

Yada yada, Bahamut is freed, Seventh Umbral Era begins, shit gets fucked up. VIIth Imperial Legion is all but destroyed.

 

Five years pass, and it's now 1577. Present day for A Realm Reborn. The Garlean court is currently in turmoil, as Solus zos Galvus is frail in health and on the way out the door. As such, many royal houses are fighting for control of the empire, and Garlemald is just a mess. Back in Eorzea, Gaius van Baelsar is tasked with the conquering of Eorzea. All he has at his disposal is his legion, as the empire refuses to send any support at the moment.

 

That is the short version of past and recent events.

 

Now, the Garlean Empire's military is structured after the Roman Legion. Each of Garlemald's 14 (Technically 13 legions, since the VIIth was destroyed. It is unclear whether or not they have a replacement VIIth legion yet.) legions are led by a single Legatus. From what we've seen, under that Legatus serve two Tribuni. Gaius also has a member of the frumentarii under his command, so that's likely to be the case with all Legati. There's likely a few prefects underneath said Tribuni. I won't keep rambling off, but you can basically take a peek at the roman legion structure and apply it to Garlemald's military almost exactly. The Frumentarium also exists in the empire, and they are basically the eyes and ears of the emperor. His secret service, if you will. We don't know anything about them beyond that at this point in time.

 

The Garlean Military is something special. Almost all regular members of the military are brainwashed to mindlessly serve their empire without question. Garlean Soldiers are actually forced to kill something, anything, once a day. They do this in order to both build up a tolerance for slaughter, and to make it a second nature to their soldiers. They are bred to be killers. That being said, any ex-military Garlean is likely to suffer heavily from PTSD and other social anxieties. You can always just ignore them, but canonically there's likely to be many, many hurdles to overcome when mixing into Eorzean society. Most ex-soldiers would likely be horribly broken people, unable to trust anyone, prone to violence, etc. Rank and file are bred to be soldiers, and nothing else.

 

For example, there are a few characters out there currently that are ex-Garlean, and their characters are very unstable because of it. Some suffer heavily from a whole mess of social anxieties and disorders. I also play an ex-garlean, however my character was never in the military. I do have a character who was in the military, however he was an engineer.

 

As far as naming conventions are concerned, I currently have a post on the official lore forums with a reply from Fern saying he will be giving us the run-down on Garlean naming conventions in the future. However, for now all we know is that most Garlean names tend to have somewhat of a hint of latin to them.

 

[Artorias D'Argent]

WOW!!  Thank you so much for this info, it will help a LOT and I am pretty sure at which point my character defects to the enemy side.

[Kyatai]

Wow merri... Incredible post and a ton of great info! 

* insert Wayne & Garth's 'not worthy' here*

 

Seriously, thanks... Helps me a lot too in my research.

[Ildur]

Indeed, that was a nice lore dump. Now go ahead and do one about magitek. You know you want it!

[lady2beetle]

  Quote

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Anyways, with the introduction of Magitek (Of which I also am a lore freak of. I can delve into Magitek, but that'd likely be an entirely different PM. My character is actually a Magitek Engineer, so it sort of has to be my forte.), the Garlemald Republic expanded it's borders immensely over the following years.

 

 

Can I ask you for a Magitek history lesson when you have the time? *bats eyelashes*

[allgivenover]

I would also enjoy a lesson on Magitek.

[Merri]

Magitek, let's see..  ..I'll start small-ish.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Magitek is, in the realm of XIV, simply a type of machinery. While not confirmed, it's highly hinted at that Magitek was reverse-engineed from technology salvaged from the Allagan Empire, which existed some 4000 years ago. It was the same civilization that imprisoned Bahamut inside Dalamud - which was a giant machine. Let that be an example of the technological capabilities of the Allagan Empire. They imprisoned a god and shot it into space. It has been mentioned that the Allagan empire was far, far more advanced than the Garlean Empire in terms of technology.

 

That being said, tt's quite advanced, to a point where there are "digital" displays, though it still maintains that sort of sleek/grungy industrialized core. If that makes any sense. Magitek is basically an advanced form of technology that happens to make good use of Ceruleum, which is a condensed and purified form of aether. It's also incredibly volatile. It has been mentioned that a single explosion set off in the right place within the Ceruleum Fields could set off a chain reaction that would literally detonate the entire mountainside. Ceruleum can be mined from the earth, as well as extracted from crystals. The latter process is much less efficient, and will leave said crystal an aspect-less husk when all is said and done. The only Ceruleum deposit known in Eorzea at the moment is in nothern thanalan, and has been capitalized on by the Sultunate. It's likely the Garlond Ironworks has a hand in the operation, and takes some of said Ceruleum for their own cause.

 

Ceruleum is what makes Magitek so potent, to put it into perspective. You can't really have proper Magitek without Ceruleum from what we know thus far. Now, Magitek is primarily tailored to suit the military's need, but it is a staple of every day life in Garlemald. To what extent, we are unsure, but it's likely they have devices to suit a variety of needs. I'll stick to what we do know, however, which is their military might. Probably the most famous use of Magitek in the empire is their Airships. Completely unmatched. Garlean airships are top of the line, and incredibly powerful. Their capital ships could pretty much raze an entire city to the ground with the amount of firepower they possess. Allow me to put things into perspective on this. This is the amount of firepower a single canon has on a relatively average Imperial Warship.

Skip to about 2:00. Mind you, this is a fairly small airship compared to what they do have. If you watch the entirety of the video, you will also see another Magitek gadet in the form of Baelsar's wrist-mounted Magitek canon, which is also capable of firing flares (which he uses to signal the airship hiding by the Agrius (which was once the empire's flagship before it was destroyed)).

 

About 4:45 into this video below you can see the Agrius in action. Take a look at just how many canons are on that airship. Each of those canons possesses the same firepower (if not more firepower) than that in the previous video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvQngnzRSdQ

 

Suffice it to say, they've got some serious firepower. That's Magitek for you. Now, Magitek also has the capability to run machines autonomously. Vanguards are actually completely autonomous, and have a basic form of AI that is able to adapt to battle situations and act accordingly. They are also, however, able to be overridden and given commands as required.

 

Really, the realm of possibility with Magitek is fairly open. Given what we've seen it's already capable of, some things are definitely within the realm of possibility. For example, I took the liberty of designing the concept of a Magitek-based prosthesis for Endemerrin a few years back. It's evolved over the years as we obtained more lore on Magitek, but it's basically remained the same and relies on the core concepts of Magitek.

 

 

Suffice it to say, while this has never been canonically confirmed, it's one of those things where it's likely that it's plausible. So there's always room to have fun with things, so long as you stick to the staples of what Magitek is at it's core.

 

[Xha'li Moui]

I think I've been playing to much Kerbal Space Program, my first thought after reading about how Dalmund was launched into orbit was to wonder where they got the massive amount of Delta-V they'd need to do it. Other than that it is a great write up on magitek, hope you can expand on it more as more lore becomes available.

[Kyatai]

Lol, awesome to see magic mixed with lasers & bullets.

[Artorias D'Argent]

  Quote

Magitek, let's see..  ..I'll start small-ish.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Magitek is, in the realm of XIV, simply a type of machinery. While not confirmed, it's highly hinted at that Magitek was reverse-engineed from technology salvaged from the Allagan Empire, which existed some 4000 years ago. It was the same civilization that imprisoned Bahamut inside Dalamud - which was a giant machine. Let that be an example of the technological capabilities of the Allagan Empire. They imprisoned a god and shot it into space. It has been mentioned that the Allagan empire was far, far more advanced than the Garlean Empire in terms of technology.

 

That being said, tt's quite advanced, to a point where there are "digital" displays, though it still maintains that sort of sleek/grungy industrialized core. If that makes any sense. Magitek is basically an advanced form of technology that happens to make good use of Ceruleum, which is a condensed and purified form of aether. It's also incredibly volatile. It has been mentioned that a single explosion set off in the right place within the Ceruleum Fields could set off a chain reaction that would literally detonate the entire mountainside. Ceruleum can be mined from the earth, as well as extracted from crystals. The latter process is much less efficient, and will leave said crystal an aspect-less husk when all is said and done. The only Ceruleum deposit known in Eorzea at the moment is in nothern thanalan, and has been capitalized on by the Sultunate. It's likely the Garlond Ironworks has a hand in the operation, and takes some of said Ceruleum for their own cause.

 

Ceruleum is what makes Magitek so potent, to put it into perspective. You can't really have proper Magitek without Ceruleum from what we know thus far. Now, Magitek is primarily tailored to suit the military's need, but it is a staple of every day life in Garlemald. To what extent, we are unsure, but it's likely they have devices to suit a variety of needs. I'll stick to what we do know, however, which is their military might. Probably the most famous use of Magitek in the empire is their Airships. Completely unmatched. Garlean airships are top of the line, and incredibly powerful. Their capital ships could pretty much raze an entire city to the ground with the amount of firepower they possess. Allow me to put things into perspective on this. This is the amount of firepower a single canon has on a relatively average Imperial Warship.

Skip to about 2:00. Mind you, this is a fairly small airship compared to what they do have. If you watch the entirety of the video, you will also see another Magitek gadet in the form of Baelsar's wrist-mounted Magitek canon, which is also capable of firing flares (which he uses to signal the airship hiding by the Agrius (which was once the empire's flagship before it was destroyed)).

 

About 4:45 into this video below you can see the Agrius in action. Take a look at just how many canons are on that airship. Each of those canons possesses the same firepower (if not more firepower) than that in the previous video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvQngnzRSdQ

 

Suffice it to say, they've got some serious firepower. That's Magitek for you. Now, Magitek also has the capability to run machines autonomously. Vanguards are actually completely autonomous, and have a basic form of AI that is able to adapt to battle situations and act accordingly. They are also, however, able to be overridden and given commands as required.

 

Really, the realm of possibility with Magitek is fairly open. Given what we've seen it's already capable of, some things are definitely within the realm of possibility. For example, I took the liberty of designing the concept of a Magitek-based prosthesis for Endemerrin a few years back. It's evolved over the years as we obtained more lore on Magitek, but it's basically remained the same and relies on the core concepts of Magitek.

 

 

Suffice it to say, while this has never been canonically confirmed, it's one of those things where it's likely that it's plausible. So there's always room to have fun with things, so long as you stick to the staples of what Magitek is at it's core.

 

 

 

 

So basically it's the Empire's Manhattan Project

 

Going a bit off topic and based on the video below.  Is it safe to assume that both the VIIth and XIVth Legions were present during the release of Bahamut?

 

kP6JDF-9nbY

[Ildur]

I think it's more likekly that only one of the legions was present (the one that got erased from the map). The cinematic does show the leader of the other one, so he was present but watching from very, very far away. I guess he was curious and expecting everything to go kablooie.

[Artorias D'Argent]

Hmmm.....in that case I guess I'll have to make Artorias part of the VIIth Legion in his past. Ummm....so here is the question, did any of them survive for this to work?

[Clover]

Very interesting info, thank you for sharing!

For a while I've been wondering if it was possible to play a character from the Garlean Empire, and somehow I'd assumed it was not. This opens up a bunch of new possibilities.

[Merri]

  Quote

  Quote

Magitek, let's see..  ..I'll start small-ish.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Magitek is, in the realm of XIV, simply a type of machinery. While not confirmed, it's highly hinted at that Magitek was reverse-engineed from technology salvaged from the Allagan Empire, which existed some 4000 years ago. It was the same civilization that imprisoned Bahamut inside Dalamud - which was a giant machine. Let that be an example of the technological capabilities of the Allagan Empire. They imprisoned a god and shot it into space. It has been mentioned that the Allagan empire was far, far more advanced than the Garlean Empire in terms of technology.

 

That being said, tt's quite advanced, to a point where there are "digital" displays, though it still maintains that sort of sleek/grungy industrialized core. If that makes any sense. Magitek is basically an advanced form of technology that happens to make good use of Ceruleum, which is a condensed and purified form of aether. It's also incredibly volatile. It has been mentioned that a single explosion set off in the right place within the Ceruleum Fields could set off a chain reaction that would literally detonate the entire mountainside. Ceruleum can be mined from the earth, as well as extracted from crystals. The latter process is much less efficient, and will leave said crystal an aspect-less husk when all is said and done. The only Ceruleum deposit known in Eorzea at the moment is in nothern thanalan, and has been capitalized on by the Sultunate. It's likely the Garlond Ironworks has a hand in the operation, and takes some of said Ceruleum for their own cause.

 

Ceruleum is what makes Magitek so potent, to put it into perspective. You can't really have proper Magitek without Ceruleum from what we know thus far. Now, Magitek is primarily tailored to suit the military's need, but it is a staple of every day life in Garlemald. To what extent, we are unsure, but it's likely they have devices to suit a variety of needs. I'll stick to what we do know, however, which is their military might. Probably the most famous use of Magitek in the empire is their Airships. Completely unmatched. Garlean airships are top of the line, and incredibly powerful. Their capital ships could pretty much raze an entire city to the ground with the amount of firepower they possess. Allow me to put things into perspective on this. This is the amount of firepower a single canon has on a relatively average Imperial Warship.

Skip to about 2:00. Mind you, this is a fairly small airship compared to what they do have. If you watch the entirety of the video, you will also see another Magitek gadet in the form of Baelsar's wrist-mounted Magitek canon, which is also capable of firing flares (which he uses to signal the airship hiding by the Agrius (which was once the empire's flagship before it was destroyed)).

 

About 4:45 into this video below you can see the Agrius in action. Take a look at just how many canons are on that airship. Each of those canons possesses the same firepower (if not more firepower) than that in the previous video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvQngnzRSdQ

 

Suffice it to say, they've got some serious firepower. That's Magitek for you. Now, Magitek also has the capability to run machines autonomously. Vanguards are actually completely autonomous, and have a basic form of AI that is able to adapt to battle situations and act accordingly. They are also, however, able to be overridden and given commands as required.

 

Really, the realm of possibility with Magitek is fairly open. Given what we've seen it's already capable of, some things are definitely within the realm of possibility. For example, I took the liberty of designing the concept of a Magitek-based prosthesis for Endemerrin a few years back. It's evolved over the years as we obtained more lore on Magitek, but it's basically remained the same and relies on the core concepts of Magitek.

 

 

Suffice it to say, while this has never been canonically confirmed, it's one of those things where it's likely that it's plausible. So there's always room to have fun with things, so long as you stick to the staples of what Magitek is at it's core.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So basically it's the Empire's Manhattan Project

 

Going a bit off topic and based on the video below.  Is it safe to assume that both the VIIth and XIVth Legions were present during the release of Bahamut?

 

kP6JDF-9nbY

 

Nope! Canonically, only the VIIth Imperial Legion of Garlemald was present at the battle of Carteneau, and it's been mentioned off-hand that the legion was all but completely obliterated. Gaius may have been present in the air to observe the events from afar, but the XIVth Legion was not a part of the battle. There's actually some interesting lore behind their fall. Darnus abandoned the legion well before the battle of Carteneau, but his soldiers were so loyal and fervent of his command that they absolutely refused to believe he had been killed, and some went so far as to imposter him if I remember correctly. The Seventh Legion basically commanded itself on the battlefield.

 

But yes, lore-wise, no other legion was present on the battlefield, and it's likely a solid 90~99% of the legion was killed that day. There's nothing left of them, as they didn't really have anywhere to run. Some of the Grand Companies managed to survive as they had a route to retreat on, and managed to do so well before Bahamut completely tore up the area.

[Artorias D'Argent]

Well damn, that puts me in a pickle a bit.  99% casualty rate is pretty high and I have no idea what the Grand companies are even or if it would be even plausible that my character would have been part of them.  The only other option which I could fit in with what I have planned for this character would be that he survived because of divine intervention as I am planing to tie his major storyline on going on to become a Dragoon and having his destiny await him in Ishgard.  I am taking Halone as his patron deity as well since she is their patron goddess. Again though I am still researching so I don't know yet.  I have to find some way for him to survive that whole ordeal, it is a major turning point for him because witnessing the chaos created by Bahamut is what is supposed to turn him against the Empire and become a deserter.

[Ildur]

The Grand Companies are the factions of each Eorzean city state. There's one for Ul'dah, one for Limsa Lominsa and one for Gridania. They are the good guys and therefore not the Empire.

 

I suggest you scrap "divine intervention" as an actual fact (though your character can certainly think that is the case). It implies your character is kind of important to the god. The exception would be if he was a Warrior of Light, as it's officially canonical that they got transported forward in time before Bahamut could burn them to ashes. However, this means your character isn't part of the Empire.

 

Remember that Bahamut didn't just wreck the area of the battle: he broke a whole lot of places, as despicted in the End of an Era cinematic; and it's also a big plot point. In fact, the whole 'Bahamut wrecked stuff' is what the Calamity really was.

With this in mind, it'd be very reasonable to make your character desert after witnessing the moon break and the ensuing destruction while being stationed in another location. Maybe an outpost, or in one of the imperial airships.