When you think about it, some things are just there due to the original author running out of ideas.

When you think about it, Takumi Yanai probably made the Apocryph to not have to think about the lands outside the Empire, so he could have 1 big bad enemy from the gate, and not the messy politics early history was. Most fanfics I read don't bring the Apocryph up, so I suppose most writers either forgot about it, or just kinda agree that it's kinda dumb.