Athaulf

The Visigoths took up residence in the countryside, and they began to seize control of Roman settlements in the area, like the city of Toulouse.

It's unclear what Athaulf's ultimate goal was.

It's possible that, like many barbarian kings at the time, he was merely trying to gain control of a new homeland for his people.

The 5th century historian Aresius, or Orosius, I might be butchering that.

Anyways, this guy describes Athaulf as wanting to form a new Gothic empire.

And this same historian also suggests that Athaulf decided to work within the Roman state because it was more feasible to set himself up set his people up within Roman territory, then expanding beyond Roman territory and trying to form a new empire there.

While we can't know what Athelf's intentions were for sure, he did work to promote good relations with the Roman emperor Honorius, and he eventually married the emperor's sister.

And this gave the Visigoths a little bit of breathing room as they were settling down in southern Gaul.