Ryan Freaking Ward . <| sep |> If raiding was so easy to prevent it wouldn ' t have been so widespread for ages in our history alone . Limsa is pretty much the only nation with any kind of fortified docks and ports . You act like sieging limsa would be the same as ishgard , cutting off supplies , but in order to even think about cutting off Vylbrand you ' d need a substantial navy to ensure transport and protection , of which none of the other nations have . You ' d have to get through the limsan fleet just to step foot on Vylbrand to even think about cutting them off , and unless you blockade them , again with a fleet , they will still have complete access to gaining supplies by sea . And the Ishgardians are not capable of surviving now in their environment without outside supply . Their once known ample livestock dwindled up when the calamity hit and turned their lands into eternal winters . Dusk Vigil is a perfect example as those within starved to death and even turned to cannabalism due to the sudden snows . They had to result in increasing hunting and trapping for furs and food and if you cut that off they have nothing except trying to smuggle in supplies via airship which would be easy enough to stop or at least hinder to the point they couldn ' t reliably bring in enough supplies for everyone . How exactly do they have access to the mountains if there ' s generally only one entranceexit ? And on dragons , there ' s still plenty of dragons that harbor ill will towards ishgard . You don ' t just stop and do a 180 after 1000 years of war . You are giving people like aymeric too much credit , there ' s no way they ' d be able to sway the dragons to aide ishgard in some petty war between men . Not in any significant force . But convincing dragons with a grudge to harass smaller camps or villages to enact revenge on ishgard is far more likely .