Gerun Oracles

[Cilia]

Elidibus and Lahabrea have both made claims that Hydaelyn is the root of an imbalance, with Lahabrea going to far as to claim that it threatens to undo the natural order of the corporeal and aetheric worlds. They have both said that they plan to resurrect the One True God, Zodiark, because only He can ensure her complete annihilation. They have both said that the Rejoining will set things right and restore the original state of things (the way they always should have been). Elidibus only talks about balance around Hydaelyn's children, but you can't just dismiss it outright in its entirety because Lahabrea said basically the same thing right before trying to kill us (why lie then?).

Except every hint points to the Rejoining being a compression of all worlds into a state of Genesis - a state of Creation that Zodiark could guide.

Now, Lahabrea freely admitted all of this in the presence of Igeyorhm, so if Elidibus' plan is different from the mainstream, he kept it from Lahabrea. He doesn't seem to have anything different in mind, though, since he too freely admitted that Hydaelyn would be lost and everything would be reverted to some form that they've been trying for seven Calamities to restore. Why, then, when everything else they say matches, does Lahabrea speak of eternal Darkness while Elidibus speak of Balance?

Trying to unravel it all into a coherent "this is what's going on" is making me go cross-eyed at this juncture. What I'm missing could be anything. It's all true but not in our best interest, or there are different goals that overlap in certain places or not others, or someone's lying about something... What's the key? Maybe I'll be able to nail this final bit when we learn why Calamities happen later in the 3.X series.

To be fair, Lahabrea didn't really seem like he was going for the deathblow in that first fight. He did state his intent to kill, but he was hardly trying compared to his performance in the Aetherochemical Research Facility. Granted this can be chalked up to arrogance on his part and Hydaelyn Herself actively assisting us in that fight, but even so.

More to the point, the thing with Lahabrea (etc.) wanting more darkness and Elidibus trying to maintain the balance is a matter of perspective, I think. Lahabrea (etc.) wants to bring forth more darkness and chaos proactively - he's very aggressive with his strategies, trying to get as many Primals summoned and stir up as much shit as he possibly can. He was behind the Calamity in some way (apparently?), got the primals summoned, led the Rogue XIVth to refurbish the Ultima Weapon, helped them start a war with Eorzea, etc. They all seem to be actively trying to bring more chaos into the system.

Elidibus, on the other hand, is reactive and defensive. He prefers to negotiate and has only acted violently in defense (once, against Minfilia). That said, his comments on "balance" are likely something more like "The balance is shifting towards light, which is bad for our plans." He'd be perfectly fine with it tipping toward darkness, so it's not that he wants to maintain balance for the sake of having balance - the order we're bringing is just reducing the chaos, which is detrimental to the Ascians' plan(s). I'd say the Warriors of Darkness are here to screw everything we've worked so hard to accomplish up, but with only that brief scene with Darklander, I'm still not sure where their true intentions lie - much like Elidibus.

[CyrilLucifer]

To be fair, Lahabrea didn't really seem like he was going for the deathblow in that first fight. He did state his intent to kill, but he was hardly trying compared to his performance in the Aetherochemical Research Facility. Granted this can be chalked up to arrogance on his part and Hydaelyn Herself actively assisting us in that fight, but even so.

He was playing with us, definitely lacking the intent to kill.

Nabriales says when he fights you: I will not toy with you, as does Lahabrea.

[Cilia]

He was playing with us, definitely lacking the intent to kill.

Nabriales says when he fights you: I will not toy with you, as does Lahabrea.

Oh I know, every engagement (which isn't too common these days)...

I shall not toy with you as does Lahabrea! Witness the terrible might of a true servant of Zodiark!

... just pointing out that Lahabrea telling us the truth because he was totally going to kill us, and thus could afford to, doesn't really float since he wasn't trying (very hard) to kill us.

[CyrilLucifer]

Unrelated, but in regards to Lahabrea and Elidibus -
I apologize for bringing this back up, but since the comparison between them being "true believers" was mentioned a bit earlier in this thread, look at Nabri's statement there, because he directly mentions Lahabrea, but the important part is the latter statement:

Witness the might of a true servant of Zodiark!

Bolded for emphasis.
While this may just be Nabriales being Nabriales, and he seemed to hold distaste the other Ascians equally, but he's either implying he doesn't believe that Lahabrea is a true servant of Zodiark - which doesn't seem to be the case, since he's working with him despite hating him - or that he doesn't believe Elidibus is. The latter seems to be believed by many of "the others," since, I quote, they "doubt his intentions." Keep in mind that Nabriales also mentions Elidibus a few times, as well.

However, Elidibus feels that Lahabrea isn't the true believer, which really puts an interesting spin on things, in my humble opinion, and is why I'm really hoping for an inter-faction debacle at some point.

Actually, I hadn't gotten a Chrysalis battle in my Trials for over two months and I was starting to miss the guy, so I went and solo'd him on WHM. It took about 25 minutes, but it's really fun, I'd recommend it.

Edit: Ah darn, ninja'd about the True servant part by a few minutes while I was typing the post up.