In answer to your second question, yes. Included in the curriculum in addition to reading will be the fundamentals of wisardry because in my MCs’s opinions, the best way to permanently destroy the hold of the Hegemony’s religion is to visibly show it for a lie by showing how anyone with sufficient education and intelligence can learn wisardry. The state would maintain control of the supply of aetherial blood or whatever replaces that if our MCs are able to utilize Xaos instead.
The main thing my MCs rebellions would be willing and able to offer is an end to the Hegemony’s attempts to invade Halassur and the permanent removal of the Hegemony from Halassur’s borders. If Halassur expects land (particularly Nyral), then my MCs would refuse or make vague and meaningless promises. From what I recall of the text, the border wars typically happened when the Hegemony tried to expand into Halassur. In any case, I specified “temporarily” as if overthrowing the Hegemony leads to a second war right afterwards to prevent or reverse foreign encroachment then so be it, but overthrowing the Hegemony comes first and would be a lot easier with the aid of another great power. My MCs intend to make every effort to actually win, not just to survive by hiding in the middle of nowhere.