[Spoilers] The Patch 4.2 Discussion and Speculation Thread!

[YianKutku]

More to the point, I'm going to be extremely skeptical of any offers of alliance - if Varis were really interested in such an arrangement, he'd show up personally instead of sending a dignitary. I'm not against such a thing, but... we'd need to be treading on even ground with him, and not personally dealing with the protagonists strongly suggests he still considers them beneath him. You can't go into an even arrangement with someone who doesn't treat you like an equal.

To be fair, Asahi is a plenipotentiary ambassador, which means he is absolutely qualified to speak to us on Varis's behalf. As in, any decisions he makes regarding us can be officially assumed to be what Varis would have made if he was present.

(In practice, it obviously varies. But generally a plenipotentiary authority who abuses that authority for personal gain often loses said authority once the boss finds out.)

So if Asahi was indeed sent by Varis (as opposed to, say, the Garlean Senate), it is indeed a sign that Varis respects us enough to send someone of that level of authority.

This does raise the question of why Varis chose to personally give us an ultimatum about Beast Tribe genocide back in HW, but that was a deeply weird decision on his part, and I'd be interested to know more.

Also, check Asahi's apparent introduction in the trailer:

The positioning and posture of the two people behind him suggests that they are his subordinates. The one on the right is an Elezen, while the one on the left is a Pureblood Garlean.

So Asahi managed to prove himself enough to have plenipotentiary power, and also achieve the title of "sas". Which we've only seen one other non-pureblood character have prior, and we had all speculated that it was only Gaius's firm belief in meritocracy that Rhitatyn got that far.

TL;DR I don't think Varis sending Asahi is a sign of disrespect. He might be playing a very deep game that even Asahi doesn't know, but just because Varis doesn't come meet us himself doesn't mean the person he sends is just a lackey.

[Cilia]

TL;DR I don't think Varis sending Asahi is a sign of disrespect. He might be playing a very deep game that even Asahi doesn't know, but just because Varis doesn't come meet us himself doesn't mean the person he sends is just a lackey.

What I'm getting at is that by sending someone to act in his stead, Varis shows that peace (or an alliance with the Scions, at least) is not his top priority. I am willing to bet both it's something he's interested in and acknowledge that he trusts Asahi to act in his stead, but not personally showing up says, to me at least, that this alliance isn't that important to him.

So... wheel of salt.

[Belhi]

What I'm getting at is that by sending someone to act in his stead, Varis shows that peace (or an alliance with the Scions, at least) is not his top priority. I am willing to bet both it's something he's interested in and acknowledge that he trusts Asahi to act in his stead, but not personally showing up says, to me at least, that this alliance isn't that important to him.

So... wheel of salt.

He would have to come into enemy territory. That either means putting himself very much at the mercy of the Domans, which would be insane, or turning up with an army, which wouldn't be received well. Its worth noting Asahi is here to explore the possibility of an Allaince, not hammer out all the details. Its testing the waters. In formalising such an alliance, Varis should be turning up or at least someone very close to him in power (though we killed off his heir so I don't know who is next). I doubt such formalising would happen in Doma either. They would probably want neutral ground so at the very least Hingashi.

[YianKutku]

What I'm getting at is that by sending someone to act in his stead, Varis shows that peace (or an alliance with the Scions, at least) is not his top priority. I am willing to bet both it's something he's interested in and acknowledge that he trusts Asahi to act in his stead, but not personally showing up says, to me at least, that this alliance isn't that important to him.

So... wheel of salt.

An alliance with the Scions is presumably not Varis's top priority. Running his Empire should be.