Gerun Oracles

[Nalien]

If Zodiark is the way for echo users to be granted their deserved death, then maybe his return might be a good thing. IF a balance can be achieved so that everything isn't swallowed into nothingness due to Zodiark's awakening.

I was thinking more along the lines of Zodiark being an "old" God. Going off the Gerun Oracles, we have a history and pre-history, with Hydaelyn wanting to protect Her children ("for fear of the Moon"). I would suspect that is why Hydaelyn changed things, Her children (mortals) could not exist in the old way, so to hell with it. She set up barriers and started warping the world to suit mortals. Zodiark likely dislikes that, as do perhaps some of our other God-like beings (Ramuhs musings), and wants to return things to how they were. That wouldn't be good for mortals, but mortals who became immortal? No reason to suspect they'd have any problems, so they throw their lot in with Zodiark, who'd burn out Hydaelyn, giving the Ascians a world they're actually a part of again. They don't want to die now that they're immortal, they just want a world in which they aren't rejected from, and the pre-history world fits the bill.

You know... If I place Ascians as mortals turned immortal, I interpret "His doom" somewhat differently... Where did the Heart of Sabik originate from? What would someone with the Echo, someone who was perhaps meant to deal with that threat see, if they got up close and personal with it? A calamitous pre-world where mortals couldn't exist, that gradually becomes more and more appealing as Hydaelyn changes and adapts to resist Zodiark (and potentially all immortals) on a fundamental level? I'm sure the idea of a world without mortals would suck, at first, after all some of your best friends are mortals. After every mortal you ever knew has passed on, I'm sure you'd eventually stop caring about their plight though. From the point of view of the Ascians, so what if all mortal life on Hydaelyn would be extinguished if they succeed? Nanamo isn't going to live forever anyway. We only care because we still live in the moment, we're mortal, or at least we think we are...

I actually would find it very interesting if we met a willing Ascian host at some point. We fight trying to save them, only to learn they don't want to be saved.

In a similar vein, it would be quite nice to meet some "immortals" who aren't forgetting who they once were and clinging to their immortality, one who wants to be mortal. Given we've killed a few high profile Ascians at this point, it would be kind of interesting if an entire faction developed that essentially just goes; "This is insane, I don't care about immortality if it means I have to act like that, please just kill us, I miss my pet goldfish from the 2AE..."