The Masked Mage

[Anonymoose]

I'm curious to see if there's a hierarchy of some sort in play. We seem to have put own down, and something more powerful than he seemed to be granting his requests for the voidsent he summoned. Ascians were also referred to as shadoweaters or those who have eaten their own shadow on occasion. Perhaps some are human/recently-ex-human, while others are timeless, and others still have that demonic grim reaper visage. However, perhaps some are merely residing in vessels. I'm not sure if it was the beta programming or what, but we do think we saw a shadow under him...

Who knows where it's all heading. I'm really going to take my time with it, I think.

[NoloeTazier]

I'm curious to see if there's a hierarchy of some sort in play. We seem to have put own down, and something more powerful than he seemed to be granting his requests for the voidsent he summoned. Ascians were also referred to as shadoweaters or those who have eaten their own shadow on occasion. Perhaps some are human/recently-ex-human, while others are timeless, and others still have that demonic grim reaper visage. However, perhaps some are merely residing in vessels. I'm not sure if it was the beta programming or what, but we do think we saw a shadow under him...

Who knows where it's all heading. I'm really going to take my time with it, I think.

Maybe the 'stronger' versions can take a form that they want, after all they seem to be strong magically. If something like a Dormouse or Snurble can come from the Void, I would say very much so weaker than Ascians/Paragons...I don't see why beings of magic in "our" world couldn't open a portal to the Void and slip through. If not with their own magic, maybe Atomos' legend in Eorzea runs deeper than we currently know..maybe people were taken to the Void.

The Masked Mage (leader?) said he thought he would never see Bahamut again, so he was around during the time of the Allagan Empire and Bahamut before the sealing...maybe he was an Allagan, maybe he was an Ascian/Paragon during this time. If he was an Allagan, then their technology was very impressive..being able to seal Bahamut and open a way to the Void.

But one thing we do know is their ultimate goal has something to do with the Crystals and Hydaelyn. Something that was started the day the day the Garleans accidently released the Primals, which allowed them to teach the Beastmen to summon the Primals. Maybe that's why the Allagans sealed Bahamut and rest of the Primals.

[Diyne]

I'm curious if the masked mage has anything to do with Atomos--as well as the Ascians. Considering Atomos was drawing aetherical energy from the aetherytes at the end of 1.0, and summoning various voidsent into the area as well.

[Pwnagraphic]

****Spoilers***** Highlight the text below to read. :P

He mentions seeing Bahamut prior to the most recent summoning of Dalamud, does anyone know when that was? I believe the exact quote was, "To think I would live to see Bahamut again...."

The giant statue bye Highbridge also looks like the Mage(s)

[Catapult]

I'm curious if the masked mage has anything to do with Atomos--as well as the Ascians. Considering Atomos was drawing aetherical energy from the aetherytes at the end of 1.0, and summoning various voidsent into the area as well.

Keep playing. my friend. Keep playing.

And beware - here there be spoilers.

[Sabi]

Could it be that the Ascians have been around from the very first umbral era or even before that? The (red) masked mage says in one of the cutscenes: "It has begun. Soon the planet will regain its true form." That seems to be his point of view.

[Jinketsu]

I'm not sure if it was the beta programming or what, but we do think we saw a shadow under him...

Forgive my uneducated guess here, but are we sure "shadow" is literal? It would seem that from the depiction of Ascians in 1.x, they're complete demons that, while rarely seen, are apparently seen enough to strike more fear into people's hearts than Bahamut himself. These Ascians in ARR are more human-like in nature. Perhaps their 'non-shadow' description is more to say that they're not quite true Ascians? That they're having to overcome a trial or something in order to "evolve" into or something.

In any case, I just don't feel like "shadowless" should be considered literal, or have to do with their actual shadow on the ground. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. I don't have as much knowledge on the matter ^^

[NoloeTazier]

Forgive my uneducated guess here, but are we sure "shadow" is literal? It would seem that from the depiction of Ascians in 1.x, they're complete demons that, while rarely seen, are apparently seen enough to strike more fear into people's hearts than Bahamut himself. These Ascians in ARR are more human-like in nature. Perhaps their 'non-shadow' description is more to say that they're not quite true Ascians? That they're having to overcome a trial or something in order to "evolve" into or something.

In any case, I just don't feel like "shadowless" should be considered literal, or have to do with their actual shadow on the ground. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. I don't have as much knowledge on the matter ^^

Travanchest in 1.0 was an Elezen without a shadow. He was an Ascian or is at least associated with them and we were told my Ferne to watch out for "Shadowless" people in Cutscenes. Which prompted us Loremongers to go back and check, but as far as I know we never found any other Shadowless characters.

As I've stated in a few threads now, I feel Paragons and Ascians are the same thing but also different. Paragons are "human" (such as Travanchest being an Elezen) and the Ascians are the Grim Reaper-like monsters, who the Beastmen are afraid of -- after all the Paragons taught them to summon the Primals and they clearly weren't scared of them as compared to the Ascians. So in terms of hierarchy I think I'd say it goes Paragons on top with Ascians under them. Both of which are probably from the Void and working for the same goal. Though the Paragons gave the Beastmen the power to summon their Primal and destabilize the aether flow..but when the Ascian appears (Future's Prefect I think was the quest?) it doesn't really seem to have any ultimate goal, cept for maybe to scare the Beastmen there meeting for a common ground with the Path of the Twelve..scaring them into wanting to use their Primal's power maybe? Which resulted in hoarding the Crystals instead of trading them.

[Mtoto_Wamoto]

Decided to copy/paste this from another thread I replied in as well as additional bits that may help.

With the confirmation that the Ascians are indeed the Paragons, this opens up a long since questionable door that may be the sole connecting factor to basically figure out the motives, origins, and the nature of the Ascians, the Primals, and the fate of Eorzea.

Before I get into the meat of things, let me regale you lot with things we already know to be true of the Ascian, the Paragon, and the Primals.

The beastmen fear the Ascians. They fear them so much, they are willing to halt their quarrel with one another when one of them appears in the 1.0 Main Quest line and the Sylphs are asked to shroud the group in protective magic to hide them from the creature.

The Paragons are the ones who taught the beastmen how to summon the Primals. The current Primals didn't appear until recently, post Tragedy of Silver Tear Falls when the Agrius and Midgardsormr crashed into the lake in Mor Dhona, creating a huge imbalance of aether throughout the realm and freeing the lesser primals. In fact, the lesser Primals didn't assume corporal form until about 1564 when Ifrit and other Primals began to appear.

The Ascian we see in ARR remarks something to the extent of "To think that I would live to see Bahamut once again". We know Bahamut was sealed away sometime in the 4th Umbral Era, during the fall of the Great Allagan Empire. Dalamud is a construct of Allagan technology and magic. For the Ascian to have last seen Bahamut, he would need to be several thousand years old.

The 6th Umbral Era was brought about by the rise of immortal mages who made a pact with the demon lords of the seven hells for immortality in exchange for full dominion over the realm and sacrificing (I believe it was, I'll have to find the line of text) 2 million souls. The Archons, men and women who are believed to be reincarnates of the Twelve themselves, rose to fight against them. It can be speculated that these mages are the Ascians.

"Almxio: Paragons? The Paragons are not of the feathered ones, nor are they of the scaled ones, or even these ones. It was the Paragons who taught all tribal ones the means of summoning the primals from the aether."

"Zoxio: Legends say the Paragons arrive in times of strife to lead those ones in darkness to the light of the primal ones. These ones have heard rumors that the Paragons have already called upon the groves of the feathered ones and scaled ones."

"Almxio: The tribal ones will listen to the Paragons."

"Zoxio: If these ones can speak with the Paragons, perhaps a pact can be forged. Perhaps the Paragons will help convince the tribal ones of their folly."

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Foreve...ot_Details

We see the Ascians in two different forms in 1.0 and they are directly given two different titles - The Shadoweaters and the Ascian.

Ascian means someone or something that is without a shadow.

Paragon means someone or something that is a model of excellence, a perfect example of a particular quality.

Taking that further and to a literary stance, a shadow can only appear where there is light. To be shadowless means that there is an absence of light and that you stand in the dark. A dark place...hmm hmm. Light, dark...good, evil. Pretty classic Final Fantasy tropes if you ask me. Perhaps the Ascians present themselves to the beastmen tribes as Paragons because they believe they are the example that they should follow. The spoken races, of which we fall under, can be said to walk in the light. Hell, we are the Warriors of Light after all. Seems to me the Paragons/Ascians have simply been fueling the fires between the various groups of man and beast to set the stage for what they are planning.

This brings up the interesting point on Primals and exactly what they are. We know that Primals aren't destroyed when they are defeated. They simply return from whence they came. There are two sources that NPCs say they come from, and in some instances, they use these two places together - the Aether and the Void, or the aetherial void in some cases. Again, we stumble across a situation where words are used interchangeably like the Ascian/Paragon situation. We also know Primals require aether to sustain their form in our plain of existence and that the land itself is slowly being drained of aether.

Louisoix: Alas, they paid no heed to the consequences of its use. You see, in order to remain in our plane of existence, a primal must needs devour prodigious amounts of aether─the energy bound in crystals and at large throughout all creation.

Louisoix: Consequently, the land is slowly but surely being drained of its aether, and the day fast approaches when the fount will run dry. Should that happen, what then? Why, all life in Eorzea will end. Even as we speak, the land bleeds, with every passing moment another ilm closer to death. And die it surely will─unless we purge it of its blight. Aye, I speak of the primals.

Louisoix: It is to bring about their downfall that I have journeyed to Eorzea. Ifrit, fell primal of the Amalj'aa, shall be the first. I should welcome your help in this.

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/It_Kil...ot_Details

In ARR we discover a couple things in the opening story line. We find out that the planet's "spirit" itself is manifested in the form of the Mother Crystal and is the source of all aether on Hydaelyn and that we are Warriors of Light if not the second coming of the Warriors of Light. We discover, within the first five minutes of the game's opening, that the Ascians have quarrel with the Mother Crystal and seek to destroy it. We also discover that the Ascian duo is present during the battle of Carteneu and are quite pleased with the happenings, going so far to say that things are going according to plan. Their plan. Finally, we learn that the story line makes it seem that we are the chosen ones to stand against the Ascians as they send creatures to attack us because they feel we are meddling in their plans. Bloody hells, they treat us like the only threat to their plans.

My theory is that the Ascians were once Allagan mages who made a blood pact with the ruling creatures of the void in order to become immortal and gain power. In exchange for their power and immortality, the Ascians were bound to completing their blood pact by destroying the mother crystal, in effect creating a huge imbalance in the aether of Eorzea, possibly expanding the rift between the Void and our own realm and killing off several thousand, if not millions, of people in the process by returning the world to nothing (A common Final Fantasy bad guy theme). The Ascians were likely the ones to have summoned the Elder Primals in the first place which brought about the 4th Umbral Era and ended the 3rd Astral Era. In a last ditch effort to save the realm from destruction, heroes (possibly the Archons) sealed away Bahamut inside Dalamud and casted him into the heavens. They may have also imprisoned other Elder Primals as well (such as Odin).

Having failed that time, the Ascians may have tried another catastrophe in the 4th Astral Era to bring in the 5th Umbral Era. Not much is known here aside from the tidbit that darkness descended onto the hears of man, but I speculate the Ascians managed to bring about war between the various nations that rose up after the fall of the Allagan Empire (Nym, Gelmorra, etc.) The Twelve may have intervened and stopped them somehow (again, possibly Archons)

The 6th Umbral Era was known for the Great Deluge brought about by the Twelve to purge the lands because of the dark magic that was consuming the realm by a group of "dark mages". The Grand Companies rose and the Archons came back. They succeeded in driving back the Ascians and the 6th Astral Era came out, this was about 1572 years ago prior to the start of 1.0...

It was in the 6th Astral Era that the Ascians, now calling themselves the Paragons, went around and taught the beastmen tribes how to summon the Primals and use crystals to feed them energy. This created a huge schism in the balance of aether in the realm, which was likely the Ascians goal in the first place.

The 7th Umbral Era was brought about by the rise of the lesser primals (this is a term I use, not a term used ingame) and the fall of Dalamud along with the return of Bahamut. I suspect that Nael van Darnus (who was of Allagan descent) was corrupted by the Ascians to get the events which would bring back Bahamut. Because of the aetherial imbalance, the world was thrown into chaos. The archons (the Circle of Knowing) attempted to do what they could to save the realm while the powers of Twelve once again intervened before Bahamut could actually destroy the realm for good. To be honest, I think that the Twelve is simply a thing that the five races created to explain the divine powers of the Mother Crystal, so when Louisoix 'called upon the Twelve' he was simply using the power of the Mother Crystal...which if I recall, calling upon the Twelve uses a great amount of aether...and aether is the lifeblood of the mother crystal...
.
Anyways, now that the Mother Crystal is weaker and vulnerable, the Ascians might be approaching what is their endgame and plan to destroy the mother crystal once and for all to fufill their several millenniums old blood pact.

This is all speculation of course, but I think its pretty solid based off what we know...

[Mjollnir]

Geez, what's the point in me playing ARR now that I know all that??