I actually would agree with the idea of Cid having hired instructors from the armies around the world, after the Gabaldian - Estharian sorceress war which is when Garden was formed there would be lots of soldiers out of work and trying to find a way of making a living. If I were setting up a mercenary organisation of highly trained specialists who have the hidden agenda of preventing another sorceress war before it can begin by means of a surgical strike. I certainly would hire instructors also note the faculty are not part of SeeD it is possible that older members of the faculty who certainly would have known about the development of Garden and it's foundations would have come from the original ex-military instructors.

As for Squall buying his gun-blade in Dollet? Serapy, there is no explanation or mention of Squall having brought his blade there in game, I'm prone to some assumptions in my own posts but lets face it considering weapon upgrades for Squall's gunblade can be brought in every weapon shop I would say it is equally possible his blade was brought from Balamb, Esthar, Gabaldia, or any other location in the game world. More likely considering his specialisation and the unique design of his and Seifer's base weapons I would wager their weapons were custom built by an artificer hired by Garden. Gun-blades might be specialist weapons for use but Just because they are losing popularity against swords and guns (which if I recall correctly was actually written in game) and other simpler to use weapons does not mean they are not for sale or used exclusively by Seifer and Squall in fact I would wager theres lots of former soldiers and such who still use the weapon for personal protection against monsters hence they're still on sale in shops.

Quote Originally Posted by Christmas View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Future Esthar View Post
Shumi´s are important on FFVIII because they evolve into different things including humans.
Cid ,Deling,Dobe,Caraway,Master Fisherman,Chocoboy,Man at Garden´s entrance,Orlan,Flower Lady on Winhill,Paint Kid on Dollet,His Grandpa,Zone,Watts,Martine and many others are Shumi´s.
You got anything to support this claim?
Yes please provide me evidence that Cid, Deling, Dobe, Caraway, Master Fisherman, Chocoboy, Man at Garden entrance, Orlan, Flower, Lady on Winhill, Paint kid on Dollet, His Grandpa, Zone, Watts, Martine and many other human characters in the game are actually Shumi's this will be most amazingly astounding screenshots are neccessary for this to be proven I think.


Quote Originally Posted by Rantzien View Post
Doesn't Artisan say, if you finish the whole Shumi sidequest, that he's going to attempt to evolve into a human, which has never been attempted before?
Yeah he does, however the only 2 known forms of Shumi evolution at present are: Moomba or Elder, those who fail to make it to Elder status end up as Moombas who unfortunately get abused by both the Estharian and Gabaldian governments.