My own hypothesis on the nature of Primals [SPOILERS]

[TinyRedLeaf]

Is your mind still intact? If so, what is it thinking?

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

It's entirely possible that when the Ascians taught summoning to the beast tribes, they showed them only how to call on the negative sides of the twelve in order to further their scheme. To go along with this theory, there would also be purely positive aspects of the them, as well as the god as a whole (which no one yet has been successful in summoning).

That's an interesting theory, especially given what little we do know about the Twelve. Whatever they are, their essences are apparently too enormous to be summoned by mere individuals.

That being the case, it's may well be as you suggest: The primals themselves may actually be smaller pieces of the Twelve, just like how the egi are also smaller pieces of the primals.

[treuhavik]

The primals themselves may actually be smaller pieces of the Twelve, just like how the egi are also smaller pieces of the primals.

Exactly. Think of the Twelve as clusters, Primals - crystals and Egis, shards. But for each cluster there is an astral and umbral crystal. We've just yet to see these astral crystals or full clusters in use. :P