Ultima Weapon

[GrieverVIII]

Perhaps I should start a new thread for this, but well, it's somewhat withing topic. Concerning the Ascians, I am aware that in 1.0 they were these Skeletal, mysterious looking individuals. I also know they are related or perhaps are, these things called Paragons that showed the Beastman how to summon their Primals. My question is how much did the Ascians participate in the plot of 1.0? Were they the primary antagonist like in ARR? Did they have anything to do with Nael Var Darnus and his Meteor Project? Was there even any hint that they were influencing events? I really like the lore of this game but I find it a bit frustrating that I can't access some really important information due to not having played its initial version.