| “ | Glory unto Garlemald! | „ |
| ~ Common Garlean slogan. |
The Garlean Empire, also known as Garlemald, are the main antagonists throughout most of Final Fantasy XIV's storyline. They are a powerful nation situated in the north of the continent Ilsabard. Their research in magitek technology has made them far more technologically advanced than any other nation in Hydaelyn, and they have made it their mission to subjugate all the nations who oppose them under their rule and to wipe out or enslave all races they deem inferior.
History[]
Foundation[]
Long ago before the rise of the empire, during the 6th Asteral Era, a race of humans migrated to the continent of Ilsabard after the fall of their island city of Goug, these people would later be known as the modern day garlean race. The garleans where distinguished by their small third eye emended onto their foreheads from birth and their inability to use magic. Because of this inability to harness magic, the garleans found themselves ostracized by the stronger races of Ilsebard, driving them away from their homes and forcing them into colder northern regions of the continent, which would kick-start their deep hatred of all non-garlean races in the years to come.
For the next sixty years the garleans lived in small isolated tribes in the frozen northern wastes, and would have stayed that way forever if wasn't for the intervention of the man named Solus zos Galvus, an imperial legatus and brilliant scientist. Solus discovered ceruleum, a powerful energy source which he used to create the first magitek technology and quickly uniting all the garlean tribes under his rule in a sweeping technological revolution. From here, the once small and isolationist garlean tribes merged together into a powerful city-state with Solus zos Galvus acting as it's emperor and quickly conquered the entire continent of Ilsabard into their rule in one-fell-swoop and thus came to be known as the Garlean Empire.
War against the Nations[]
Not satisfied with having the entire continent of Ilsabard under their control, the newly formed Garlean Empire sought to expand their influence and military dominance as far as they could reach. They first set their sights on the continent of Aldenard. The Empire invaded Aldenard with sheer strength and numbers, bringing technology that no other nation has ever seen until now. Under the leadership of imperial legatus Gaius van Baelsar, the Garlean Empire effortlessly crushed the nation of Ala Mhigo and made it into one of their provinces. The Garleans then set their sights on Yanxian, conquering the kingdom Doma just as easily as they did with Ala Mhigo. These attacks sent shockwaves to the rest of the nations of Aldenard who decided to set aside their differences and form a coalition called the Eorzean Alliance to prevent further garlean expansion.
Gaius, keen on continuing where he left off, amasses a massive flying fortress called the Agrius, and makes his way towards the southern regions of Aldenard, hoping to topple the nations of Eorzea with ease like what he did with Alamigo. Unfortunately, Gaius' dreams of conquest where soon thwarted with the sudden ambush of the Dravanian Hoard and their leader Midgardsormr the Father of Dragons. He and his dragons laid waste to Gaius's forces in the Battle of Silvertear Skies, with Midgardsormr himself destroying the Agrius at the cost of his own life, where it soon landed in lake Silvertear and stayed that way to this day. With the reemergence of the primals on Eorzea, The Garlean Empire's conquest of Aldenard was put on hold for the time being.
Before the Calamity[]
In the meantime, the Garlean Empire started researching on Allagan technology, hoping to find their lost relics to gain a bigger foothold over their enemies. One such garlean being the sadistic Neal van Darnus, Lagatus of the VIIth Imperial Legion. Thru his research Neal discovered that the lesser moon of Dalamund was actually an artificial orbital satellite created by the Allagan Empire housing an extremely powerful weapon inside. Neal hoped to harness this weapon for the Empires cause, but at some point was tempered by Bahamut the primal trapped within Dalamund itself, driving him insane in the process. The now brainwashed Neal van Darnus plotted to send Dalamund on a crash course to Eorzea and release Bahamut to cleanse the world of it's sins. Neal's twisted plans however was intercepted by the Warrior of Light who seemingly killed Neal in battle, but their efforts proved in vain, as Dalamund still crashed into the planet and out came the primal Bahamut ready to wreak his calamitous vengeance upon the world.
Bahamut rampages thru out Eorzea, destroying everything in his path in Battle of Carteneau, forcing the garleans to retreat and halt their advances on Eorzea once more, and thus began the 7th Calamity and the start of the start of the Seventh Umbral Era.
A Realm Reborn[]
Five years have past since calamity, and the nations of the world have made a slow but eventual recovery. With Neal's plan to use Dalamund proving to be a catastrophic failure, Gaius van Baelsar made it his resolve to succeed where Neal had failed. He began conducting his own research on Allagan technology. Thru exploring the remains of the Carteneau Flats, Gaius with the aid of the ascian Lahabrea discovers another powerful relic left behind by the Allagans. The Ultima Weapon, a gargantuan super tank created to combat primals and absorb their power.
The discovery of the Ultima Weapon proved monumental in turning the tide of war into Garlemald's favor, with every primal it defeats and absorbs making it stronger and stronger. Gaius offered the nations of Eorzea an ultimatum, surrender now or face the full might of the empire.
Not wanting to be subjugated, the Warrior of Light and the nations of Eorzea launched a series of skirmishes on garlean bases of strategic importance. First the coalition starting with Ul'dah intercepts and takes down Gaius' top general Rhitahtyn sas Arvina, then Limsa Lominsa laid siege on Castrum Occidens and Castrum Marinum crippling the Empire's supply lines, while Gridania takes down an army outpost in the north to prevent reinforcements. Culminating in the Warrior of Light and their allies infiltrating the Praetorium in Thanalan and confronting Gaius van Baelsar and his fully-powered Ultima Weapon. After a long and fierce battle the Warrior of Light was able to defeat Lahabrea and destroy the Ultima Weapon, Gaius seemingly dies in battle after the destruction of the Praetorium.
A New Emperor[]
With Gaius van Baelsar presumed dead and the Ultima Weapon destroyed, the fear of Garlean invasion over Eorzea has largely been eliminated. At this time, Emperor Solus zos Galvus died of mysterious circumstances without announcing an heir. This brought Garlemald into a War of Succession. The resistance of Doma took this as an opportunity to liberate their kingdom from garlean oppression. Unfortunately for the domans, the War of Succession ended far more quickly than expected, with Varis zos Galvus being crowned the new Emperor of Garlemald.
Varis dispatches his son, the Crowned Prince Zenos yae Galvus to Doma. With his sheer strength and prowess on the battlefield, Zenos effortlessly crushed the doman rebellion, forcing the survivors to seek refuge in Ul'dah. Zenos then appoints his personal spy Yotsuyu goe Brutus as the Imperial Viceroy of Doma, while he himself becomes Imperial Viceroy of Alamigo in Gaius' absence.
The garleans continued their research on allagan technology, which led to the discovery of the fabled Azys Lla, a giant allagan research facility high above the clouds. But they had no way of accessing it, due to a powerful forcefield blocking entry. Believing that the beast race called the Vanu-Vanu had the key to Azys Lla, Varis zos Galvus personally invaded the peacful Ok'Zundu tribe in the hopes exterminating them and taking the key for himself. thankfully, Varis' attempts at genocide where quickly stopped by the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud Leveilleur. Varis and his forces soon backed off from the conflict, after realizing it was Archbishop Thordan VII that possession of the key.
With Thordan VII now in Azys Lla and the keys now inaccessible, the Garlean armies had no other choice but wait and bide their time until the Warrior of Light's allies find a way to break thru the forcefield. Once the Warrior of Light's allies where able to create an airship that can puncture thru the forcefield and shatter it to pieces, the garleans saw the opportunity and quickly sprang into action. Under the leadership of Regula van Hydrus, Varis' right-hand enforcer and Lagatus of the VIth Imperial Legion, the garlean armies followed the Warrior of Light in their massive flying juggernaut the Gration before ambushing them once inside Azys Lla. The Gration fired waves opon waves of cannon fire, hoping to strike down the warrior of light once and for all. Only for Ysayle Dangoulain to transform into the primal Shiva and incapacitate the Gration by freezing it's cerulium tanks, sacrificing herself in the process.
Nevertheless, Regula and his troops stationed themselves on the Gamma Quadrant of Azys Lla, and began their expedition in search of powerful Allagan tech. Thru their searching the VIth Imperial Legion discovered the Warring Triad, a trio of extremely powerful primals that where imprison by the allagans and used as living batteries long ago. Regula hoped to harness this technology for the empire's needs, but after the Warrior of Lights fights the Warring Triads, he concludes that the technology used to control the primals were too dangerous and faulty and so he willingly sacrifices himself to keep the primals contained once more.
A Storm of Blood[]
Thou the Garlean Empire still had plans to conquer Eorzea, their relations with the Eorzean Alliance remained neutral for some time. That is until the arrival of the mysterious man known as The Gryphon, a radical alamhigan revolutionary who wanted nothing more but to free Ala Mhigo and destroy the Empire no matter the cost. The Gryphon quickly gained a massive cult following of predominantly alamhigan refugees and initiated a plot that would manipulate the Eorzean Alliance and the Garlean Empire into all out war. First his followers laid siege on Baelsar's Wall disguised as grand company soldiers to trick the Empire into thinking the Eorzean Alliance was declaring war, then he quickly leaves his followers to die at the hands of imperial reinforcements, and then using the power of Nidhogg's eye and his dying followers' collective desire for vengeance, the Gryphon commits suicide to summon the primal Shinryu believing his death will bring salvation to his kingdom and destroy the empire once and for all. Luckily, the Warrior of Light and their allies where able to activate the allagan weapon known as OMEGA to defeat Shinryu before it could cause any destruction, but the damage has already been done, the Eorzean Alliance was forced into an all-out-war with the Garlean Empire.
With war reignited on both sides, the Eorzean Alliance had no other choice but to Liberate Ala Mhigo from imperial control. The Eorzean Alliance led by general Raubahn Aldynn, set up their base of operations in Rhalgr's Reach, the home of the alamhigan resistance, and staged a series of raids and skirmishes over garlean encampments, catching the attention of the Imperial Viceroy of Ala Mhigo, Zenos Yea Galvus. Thou Zenos was aloof and cared little for the empire he commands over, he still was a cunning strategist with a bloodlust for war and misery. Under the suggestion Fordola rem Lupis, Zenos launched a surprise attack on Rhalgr's Reach causing chaos and destruction in his wake. Zenos then fights the Warrior of Light one-on-one and nearly kills him single handedly only to spare them out of boredom and the sight of Eorzean reinforcements.
Suffering a major loss, the Eorzean Alliance concluded that even with their combined strength they can not go against the sheer force of the empire head-on, and so must come up with a different strategy to gain the upper-hand. The Warrior of Light's allies came up with the idea of liberating Doma as well as Ala Mhigo, forcing the Empire to fight on two fronts at the same time. The plan ends up successful, as the Eorzean alliance was able divert the Empire's attention away from Ala Mhigo unprepared, while the Alamhigan resistance where able recover their strength and numbers. After forging alliances with the beast tribe known as the Kojin, the surviving members of the Doman Resistance, and the warrior nomads of the Azim Steppe, The Eorzean Alliance launched a successful siege on Doma Castle where imperial viceroy Yotsuyu goe Brutus resided. The battle was long and fierce with many casualties on both sides, but eventually the Alliance was able to defeat Yotsuyu and take back Doma Castle, liberating Doma once and for all.
With Doma now liberated, the Warrior of Light and their allies returned to Rhalgr's Reach with a much larger army. With their army doubled and their resolve strengthened, The Eorzean Allaince starts going on the offensive, taking garlean territories one by one in their warpath to freeing Ala Mhigo. First the Alliance captures Castrum Velodyna and makes their way into The Peaks. As this is happening, Zenos Yae Galvus watches from afar with glee, uninterested at the thought of his enemies coming closer and closer, but exited to know how strong the Warrior of Light has become. The Eorzean Alliance then lays a seige on the Garlean controlled watch tower, the Imperial Legion situated in Castrum Albania planned to send reinforcements to defend the tower, but under the command of Fordola rem Lupis they use Castrum Albania's giant naval cannon fire at the watch tower, destroying the tower and killing many soldiers in process both Eorzean and Garlean alike.
Despite the heavy losses on both sides, the Eorzean Alliance's resolve to free Ala Mhigo only further increased. The Garleans planned on using the naval cannon again against the Alliance once it regained full-power, only to be ambushed by the sudden intervention of Estinian Wyrmblood (the renowned dragoon of Ishgard), whom effortlessly destroys naval cannon. The destruction of the naval cannon gave the Alliance the opportunity to take Castrum Albania from imperial control.
With all the Garlean bases of Gyr Abania taken care off, the Alliance now sets foot in Ala Mhigo, ready to liberate it and it's people once and for all. Rauban lays down the plan to capture the city and take down Zenos, first the Warrior the Light and their allies sneak into the city to free the civilians but not before finally defeating Fordola and taking her into custody. Then the Eorzean Alliance lays siege on the city itself, with the aid of the now liberated Doma, the alliance was able to break thru the outer wall and take the fighting to the insides of the city itself. The Warrior of Light fights waves upon waves of imperial soldiers until they eventually confront Zenos yae Galvus in the throne room of the Royal Menagerie. It is revealed that after Shinryu's defeat at the hands of OMEGA Zenos finds and imprisons the primal in the Royal Menagerie. Not only that, but thru his experimentations he has also acquired a new power called the "Resonant". With his new found powers, Zenos merges himself with the primal and engages the Warrior of Light in an epic final battle. The battle was intense and hard-fought but eventually Warrior of Light was able to strike down the primal infused Zenos. Defeated and returned to human form, Zenos takes a blade to his neck and commits suicide, satisfied that he has finally found an equal that can best him in battle. With Zenos dead, the imperial forces either surrendered or retreated all together. And so after decades of imperial occupation, the Kingdom of Ala Mhigo was finally free from it's tyrannical grasp.
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 Villains
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