Their relative isolation allowed them to develop independently, even if they never lost contact with or officially declare independence from the empire. Unlike most Romulan dependencies, they were allowed to operate their own warships, in their distinctive maroon livery.

Garidians were generally seen as conservative even by Romulan standards. Following an often stern interpretation of Mnhei'sahe, Garid would be a fulcrum of opposition to the increasingly authoritarian third republic as well as an base as the frontier collapsed in the 2350s.