Garlemald and You! A special report for all loyal citizens and soldiers behind enemy lines.
Garlean Imperial News Briefing – Thirteenth of November, Seventeenth Year of the Tenth Umbral Age:
A special report for all loyal citizens and soldiers behind enemy lines.
Whether a life now lived far from home, or one recently seeing the folly of their ways, the empire values all. For the greater good of our star, we seek to bring peace across the lands. To elevate all. To bring together the greatest talents around in order to build the world our citizens deserve. From the shores of Doma to the lands of Eorzea, the empire seeks only to bring gifts to the worthy, and education to those who resist.
While our legions may crash against imposing walls and lap over the top in an unstoppable show of force, the empire need not always resort to such actions. War, by its very nature, destroys what we seek. To bring peace and elevation means little if the land is nothing but ashes and laments of the dying. What is needed, in some cases, is a method far more respectful to the land and its people. In these times we seek those willing to spread the value of our empire from within. To bring about a willing call for aid, so that when our legions arrive, the damage inflicted is light.
Some will call you traitors, kin-slayers, and backstabbers. We, though, we call you citizens. Citizens who are willing to sacrifice the immediate comforts and privileges of home for the good of those around you.
Helping the Empire Spread
So, what can you do for the empire? Stuck within the savage lands, what are your options? That depends on your personal goals.
Elevation through insurrection?
It is always better when new territory willingly joins. Insurrection, though, must be trodden carefully. One need only look at the disaster that is Gyr Abania–a city-state which prospered in the harsh realities of their surroundings, a once kingdom in the desert. While the savage state of Ul’dah sits awash in wealth, Ala Mhigo fell into fighting. Wars abroad and internally weakened it so much that our forces were barely troubled in their takeover. However, while the province was turned into an Imperial holding, it became quite apparent that what was there was…trouble.
The mistrust and infighting sapped the strength of the nation. Its blood stained the fields where families once farmed and lived their lives. A broken nation had been delivered to us by insurrection, a broken and nearly useless nation. Only by our occupation did they attempt to correct their acts, but the blood of the nation would be spilled for many years before we withdrew. Now that we are gone look at what remains. The same broken nation, the same empty soul, the same mistrust. They will require years, generations even, to rebuild what they themselves destroyed before our arrival and what they further burned getting their “freedom” back.
Gyr Abania is a sad blight for all to see and feel pity for.
Insurrection, we feel, is not the strategy you should employ. So what can you do?
From your various posts, you venture out into the lands around you. You meet, speak, and even share jokes with the savages around you. Some will never listen to anything about the empire; however, some will. As you venture out, find these people. Talk with these people. Make sure they feel no need to take up arms in an uprising. Reassure them. Help them understand the good that the empire provides. Uprising citizens will only burn their own cities. Citizens, who wish better lives, may simply open the gates.
A gradual, yet steady, encroachment of Imperial ideals and values can serve us a far better tool for uplifting minds than a battalion of troops.
Within Doma, this idea worked well in some areas. Exchanges of Doman and Imperial values did occur; it is with a pity that said values did not reach those who staged their final insurrection. So much blood was spilled. So many potential Imperial lives were lost for nothing. Those that accepted our value, however, remained citizens. Their voices still join others both at home and inside Doma. We continue to encourage them to simply go about their lives and speak normally. Our forces will stretch their hands out once again. Next time, should enough of you spread our values, Doma may not need the sword again. Doma may even find us more receptive to seeing them as another state to speak with instead of a savage land in need of elevation.
Do your duty, my friends.
Avoid direct conflict with local forces. Not all of our citizens are willing to stand in fire for the empire. That is understandable–many of you are former savages. You have pledged to us, but still, require more before you will fall on your sword.
To those willing to fight but lack support: what can you do?
Do whatever you can. From the savage lands of Eorzea to those buried deep within the far lands, you blend in, you listen, you hear, and you plan.
Create your “outpost”, secure a connection to the empire, and report whatever you can. Become active in our intelligence network, keep our vanguard and scout units informed well, and fight a battle without lifting a weapon.
Recruit more if needed, but never cross the line into insurrection. Whether through plots, rumors, or subterfuge, work to earn the trust of the loyal defenders and undermine the land. Introduce doubt to the masses, let the question the worthiness of independence versus the wealth of Imperial knowledge sweep the citizens. When enough intelligence is gathered, our forces can arrive at the borders. The local forces may rush to the defense, but compromised from within, their fortifications will falter and fail. Our airships will control the skies as our armies march past the ruins of their battle lines. Under the weight of the inevitable, many of the questioning citizens will surrender to their doubts.
That is when you may strike.
Complete and total disruption of what is left of the local defenses will collapse the opposing army. The “loyal” will flee from their homes as those left behind open the gates.
You remain yet another citizen “caught behind enemy lines”, your allies none the wiser. As our forces elevate the land, you remain in the shadows–the silent source of information helping to squash any attempt to return the land to its savagery.
Be it through slow spreading of our values, or active efforts short of full-blown civil war, these are the best goals for our fellow citizens beyond the empire.
But this is only the method for achieving success, what of your life in general? How should you live within the savage lands?
Your life as a “savage” Imperial
The military has offered several reports on the matter but we at G.I.N have used our own reporters to offer up templates for life.
Method 1: Imperial to savage (Deep Cover 3)
Our operative known as Deep Cover 3 chose to leave his home within Garlean territory to passively aid to the empire within the savage lands. Based within a savage city-state, he set himself up as a traveling scholar, of sorts. His Garlean knowledge is shared through the lens of books and self-made technology.
Refusing to venture too deeply into the savage culture surrounding him, he instead joined the local forces as an advisor. Our Deep Cover, in particular, aides in the inspection of cargo. A seemingly innocent duty which has allowed the establishment of his own network. Innocent amongst the pirate-filled city, he ships seemingly educational items in and out of the city, many to the benefit of the local guilds. His home and life do not showcase anything of the Empire.
He seeks not the destruction of his home of Limsa, nor the death of its people. He speaks of the empire only when safe, and even then, only lightly. His words plant the seed of doubt in chosen people, allies, and friends who may one day join him. From them, he gets the various information he sends back for both our reports and for the military. What he sends never compromises a military force, it merely confirms what is already known. While discovery is always a risk, he has his plans and the allies to enact it.
Infiltrate the local forces at a low level.
Build up your own way of gaining intelligence.
Send what home what you feel is safe.
Most importantly, keep yourself safe. Dead agents can send nothing.
Method 2: Savage to Imperial Agent (Deep Cover 1)
Our operative known as Deep Cover 1 chose to be active in her aid to the empire. With posts in both the savage city-state of Ul’dah and Kugane, she has set herself up as a traveling “Adventurer”. Active within a mercenary company, of sorts, her duties to various employers hends her across the savage lands of Eorzea. While her Garlean knowledge only comes out in her knowledge of technology, she knows only enough to get by. A citizen by birth, whose parents took her from the empire, her pledge to support has had her using what she learns from her jobs to send back whatever she feels the empire could use. From simple celebrations to rumored military moves, all are reported. While her savage upbringing helps to shield her from suspicion, she nonetheless has taken a savage husband to act as a shield. Her home and life show subtle hints of the Empire through clothes and decorations.
She too seeks not the destruction of home or the people. The empire is spoken of when possible. She engages, seeking to reach out to others about the state of the land and its problems with solutions that they can offer–and solutions the empire already has. With first-hand experience from the various lands, she masks her Garlean loyalties as the frustrations of a savage wondering whether life will ever return to normal this long after the calamity.
Do not breach your savage cover already established.
Learn to continue living your life normally while incorporating Garlean values.
Travel when possible to gather the intelligence and experiences needed to be an effective operative.
Send anything you feel can be useful home.
Method 3: Forward Operative
There are reporters and agents who’ve adopted a rather extreme form of life within the savage lands. For them, duty to the empire, whether from birth or by choice, involves far more activity than the previous methods.
These operatives chose to not live within the city-states. Their homes and posts are out within the farmlands and other areas less populated. While they are far from the comforts of the city-states, they are allowed to be more open with their Imperial leanings. While it is still advised to have some connection to the locals, to act as a cover, these operatives are much more forward with action. Intelligence sent home often has orders coming back–orders to be followed to help disrupt enemy military movements and local control.
A suggested cover is that of a bounty hunter and/or black market merchant. While it lowers the social standings amongst many savages, these jobs also carry a bit of fear around them. They allow for leeway in certain areas–an accused criminal captured for a bounty draws few concerns from citizens wanting safe homes. No one notices if the said criminal finds their way into Imperial hands for questioning. Nor would many want to get involved in a black market merchant’s cargo. Imperial matters are freely snuck into, and out of, the savage lands by these skilled operatives.
One of our better reporters, who is in this role, has even been able to take a savage wife and convince her to join him. While this seems like a less-than-ideal life within the shroud to us, it is a well “funded” life to them. There may be blood on their hands, but their actions have done much to help the empire and military agents.
Setup a post outside of population centers
Assume a role that will keep most eyes away.
Be open with your Garlean knowledge whenever it aids your duties.
Maintain a savage life near your post, Garlean efficiency when away.
Send anything and everything back home, follow every order sent to you.
Choice of Residence: Savage City
So, where to? Whether embarking for the empire itself or pledging from outside: Chances are your home will not serve well. That leaves only two choices, one of which is the city-state.
Arrival at a savage city-state would be an overwhelming experience for a citizen setting forth from the empire. The values and “culture” which dominate the surrounding territories are always strongest within the walls. It is sadly too easy for the unprepared to fall victim to what they find, many an operative having failed to report in soon after their arrivals. Some are recovered, some are lost.
You’ve now arrived at a savage city-state, what now? Well, according to our Deep Cover’s 1 and 3, lodging is the most important acquisition to make. One must determine the price of a room and how much their own wealth means there. When Deep Cover 3 arrived in the savage LeNoscea, items acquired from both home and in travel made him a small enough pool of wealth to acquire his post. Deep Cover 1 however, admits that her arrival in Thanalan was nearly a disaster. The wealth of city had price high and her own pool small. Such is why it took her years to even begin to think of her true home. #3 would recommend in such situations to look for alternative arrangements, #1 simply joined small adventurer parties and companies. Both though agree that one should only remain in the city for so long. If lodging can’t be secured for a length of time it is better to retreat into the outskirts, then to be lost in the city.
So let’s assume lodging has been secured to the point your “post” is now established. You’re now a functioning member of the city, a Garlean amongst the savages. Here is where life becomes tricky. Surrounded you are by all manners of information from a wide-range of sources. Who do you trust and report and who do you ignore? Deep Cover 3 favors information gathered from both local forces and those that seek to outwit them in any variety of illegal activities. Due to the shameless lives many savages’ live corruption is often amongst them. Even before the great calamity the less fortunate suffered under inadequacies of their savage rulers, lesser men and women who sought to appeal more to unseen “gods” then to the ensuring the wellbeing of the people. This allows many a “crack” for a smart operative to slip through. While it does mean rendering aide to the very savages we oppose the short-term discomfort can have long-term gains. Not to mention, service to a savage nation is always forgiven if the Empire’s needs come first.
Perhaps service to the savages is simply out-of-bounds? Deep Cover 1’s choice may be more in line then. Avoid interactions with the local forces and their principal foes and instead engage with the savages directly. Joining companies, adventurers, and/or explorers of sorts provides information on the state of the land itself. “Soldiers yap on and on about orders and enemies, drunks at the bar yap on about whatever they feel like. I like the drunks better, more information for less effort”. A clever strategy we are forced to admit. Within the savage cities are plenty of places were travelers and locals interact amongst drinks, food, and displays of savagery. The words spoken when the guards are lowered can be themselves keys to whole operations or the final pieces to puzzles found by other means. While this does mean entering such dens and pretending to enjoy oneself the empire will reward those that can brave the dangers.
A final idea we have comes from an unlikely source: our operative known as Deep Cover 2. Neither Garlean nor savage-pledged, Deep Cover 2 is under 1’s direct control. Operating on the line between order and chaos, this operative’s “contract” with our own has often provided indirect information of great use. Savage criminals who must watch their backs develop their own ways of keeping themselves safe, information of great importance. A citizen or operative within a city may very well assume a cover that involves no direct action but wears a ring. The other bearer of that ring is their “source”, the criminal they listen to and gather their own needs from. While Deep Cover 1 is more active in her own regards it is still an idea, especially for those who end up far closer to leaders then intended.
Choice of Residence: Savage Outskirts
You’ve read our reports before, or have even had the misfortune of meeting, from Deep Cover 1. You’ve come to the conclusion that the city-states themselves are no place for decent Garleans, that those there are always a tad “off”. You wouldn’t be mistaken. It takes a unique view to survive within the city-states as long as our operatives have, in effect one must “lose” part of themselves to blend in. While 1 has turned into a wine-addict and 3 apparently fiddles with magitek till the sun rises to counter the savage stupidity around them you may very well just not want to embark upon the path. You, brave citizen, have much to choose from then within the outskirts.
A title given to the areas outside the population centers, the “Savage Outskirts” offer their own uniqueness: One can retain their “dignity” at the expense of “harsher” life. Deep Cover 2 has spent an amount of time within the outskirts of Thanalan, hiding and camping within the arid and hot areas around the towns can city-state. Operatives within other lands easily do the same. Exploiting the weakness’s and corruption of local forces well known outlaws remain free to enter and leave towns at will, pursuit always lagging behind. You need not be a criminal to live in the outskirts, you simply need to understand.
Being an operative in the outskirts doesn’t favor joining the local military forces. Outposts are often busy with the various beast men the savages allow to infiltrate their lands, chances of injury and death high. While there is a chance of uncovering a jackpot of intelligence the dangers of death before delivery are high. There is also the chance of being stationed near the Garlean border itself, death by friendly-fire no way for a citizen to go. No, unless one is being given a rank high enough to avoid “grunt work”, avoid aiding their military.
It is also advised to avoid direct conflict with local forces. Bounty hunters are tolerated, black market merchants the same depending on what is being sold. Smugglers, sellswords, and other “mercenaries” can be dragged into direct conflicts that can disrupt an entire operatives cover. Within the outskirts the method of communicating with home needs to remain secret but does not always require paranoid levels of protection as within the cities. When one is a member of a “criminal” organization that comes into conflict with the law of the land their entire cover can be destroyed by someone simply trying to get to your leader. Yes, like military service, you might stumble across a wealth of intelligence. In truth you’re likely to stumble over your own death.
So advisements against joining either the savage military to spy from within or the criminals to spy from the outside. What then? Well, as hinted before, the ideal job for an Outskirts operative is something mobile and unassuming. Due to the presence of beast tribes and savage rogues the most ideal plan is to setup a base of operations one can lose and operate out from there. Become good at your job but not great, savages are always jealous of those that get “too good”. Keep their eyes always on someone else by doing “enough”. You may simply be the bounty hunter that takes the same kinds of jobs, travels the same towns, and brings back charges whenever possible. Some always get away but enough are caught to warrant people to take the small risk with you. The entire time you are “hunting” you are listening, noting, and questioning. After every set of jobs, you return to you base and send out what you have learned and receive your new instructions. Should your home be lost to beast tribes or other savages, you simply move on and set-up shop somewhere else.
Will it be glamourous? No, even the best job we’ve heard of (A black market merchant of rare goods) still has a tough life. The hunter’s live bounty to bounty, grateful on anything the empire can smuggle into for them. Merchant may find wealth but then are forced to spend large to protect both their cover and the items that provide that cover. The farmers, merchants, traders, and workers that fill the space between the two share the same problem: Wealth vs Security. An operative wealthy enough to be fully independent will often be less mobile and more dependent on security. The closer they get to fully independent is the more security they need to buy. Eventually they become fully independent but cannot change base easily, fully dependent on their security arrangements, and are at higher risks of exposure should someone successful raid their base.
So what if even the hint of being a criminal disturbs you? You wish to be mobile, enjoy the land, and wish to travel in hopes of spreading the empire’s values without conflict? Suspiciously, our Deep Cover 2 and 5 have the same advice. Both might as well be called “criminals” now but both state to become that which the empire has few needs of: An adventurer. It will require far greater planning on how and when to communicate with home. That planning trades off with a role free from military eyes, clashes with criminals and beast men only when there is a chance of success, and will often travel the length and breadth of the lands. Whether through aiding the locals, scouting for minerals and other resources, or moving from band to band, the choice of “adventuring” through the outskirts with only occasional trips into the city-states may very well be the role those daring to spy for the empire should take.
The empire’s mission remains firm, the commitment to free the world of dangers protected within the savage lands unyielding. Amongst the glory of our soldiers and resolve of our people are those that operate within the shadows, far beyond the Castrums at the border. Men and women, citizens and savage-borne alike, who strive to do their part to bring the empire’s goal to fulfillment. You who chose this lesser-known path are important.
Make the correct choices when you embark, establish yourself well, and become our eyes and ears.
Your one stop for news both at home and beyond.
This Garlemail special was done by the request of G.I.N
Garelmald’s most trusted news source.
