Ascian Motivations [Spoilers]

[CaesarCV]

I don't have too much to add since Anonymoose did such a great job in his post, but I can give a few of my own thoughts on the matter. First off, the goal of the Black Robed Ascians seems to be bringing back Zodiark, mainly by causing chaos. They do want rejoinings, and would rather avoid floods. Igeyohrm, for example, is mentioned in the Encyclopedia Eorzea as being shamed and/or punished for letting her shard get flooded by darkness instead of being rejoined. Our white robed friend appears to work hard to prevent those things from happening, sending Unukalhai to prevent the Warring Triad from draining Eorzea being a perfect example. Each Ascian seems to have their own pet projects and preferences as well. Lahabrea (despite being titled 'The Warrior') tended to favor manipulating mortals, the Minor Ascian Order in the Summoner Questline sought to cause chaos through magic (specifically necromancy), Nabriales preferred direct force, while Solus created the Garlean Empire. This means they can sometimes work at seemingly cross purposes, and the ire which Solus had for Lahabrea indicates they don't always get along even if they're united in goal. This also makes them ideal MMO villains since they have general/vague enough goals to be involved in nearly any conflict. That being said, there is something else going on as well....

Elidibus (who's practically our 'main' Ascian at the moment) seems to have different goals, and especially different aims, from the other Ascians. The rest of them seem to regard him with some caution, even if they agree he is 'good at his job'. Solus's wary nature towards him is the clearest evidence of this, but there are even bigger ones. Elidibus is implied to have specifically taught the Scions how to kill Ascians after all, through teaching the Sahaguin priest how to use the Echo to use Ascian style immortality. The fact that Nabriales immediately moves into kill mode after realizing this shows how the others probably weren't in on that particular plan. He also claims that if the Scions master the echo enough, they will 'be on the same side' as him, whatever what means. My personal pet theory is that he actually wants Hydelyn and Zodiark to fuse again and create 'true balance', even if it would logically wipe out all mortal life since Hydelyn is the thing that creates/sustains it. Either way, he is a man of mystery, and his plans seem to ebb and shift around. Now he's in possession of an especially powerful body both physically and politically. Who knows what his plan is?

[Anonymoose]

Each Ascian seems to have their own pet projects and preferences as well.

That's probably a good way of putting it. Lahabrea is clearly considered an arrogant fool by his comrades for being far more interested in his pet projects than actually succeeding the goal the machinations existed to serve. Remember when he said "my will" and Elidibus had to remind him "Zodiark's will"? Who knows what he could have accomplished if he'd taken the Warrior of Light out early instead of using them as a shortcut to inspiring the beast tribes to use more crystals and deeper faith to summon more powerful primals. Who knows where Heavensward would have gone if he'd have even considered Thordan's duplicity beforehand.

Meanwhile Nabriales begrudgingly serves Project Shiva at Lahabrea's behest, chides you for undoing all his hard work in actually pulling off the main/primal merger, and abandons ship to cause his own Calamity at the first opportunity because he believes that he, not Lahabrea, should "sit at Zodiark's right hand".

Solus is an interesting oddity. Occam's Razor would suggest that he's just been listening to Ascians since he was a legionnaire and everything's been going great; he raised an empire, he transcended mortality, they're going to fix the world or whatever. "Obviously, just do whatever Elidibus advocates, it worked when I answered to Lahabrea, even in spite of his idiocy, so it'll work now."

(Of course, there's always the possibility that Emperor Solus zos Galvus is an entirely fabricated identity created by some hitherto unknown Ascian who just possessed a guy for a while, but that's a whole other layer of assumptions required to make it work, which opens the door to a whole other layer of questions in need of answers, so let's burn that bridge when we get to it.)

Elidibus (who's practically our 'main' Ascian at the moment) seems to have different goals, and especially different aims, from the other Ascians.

I'm going to die if he was an even bigger snake than I claimed and even the black-robed Ascians are just a faction of fanatics he built as pawns and is going to wipe them off the board the instant Zodiark is back. Once upon a time I dreamed of Elidibus being the true big bad of this game - that he'd somehow usurp the whole thing and Time Compression the cosmos into a new Genesis in his image (to save it from the war of the crystals, the unstable and fractured dimensions, the whimy and fragility or mortals; you know, villain with a good point but has to die anyway stuff).

Except that too is a whole other layer of assumptions. So far everything we know suggests Elidibus is completely loyal to Zodiark, which means (for now) it makes sense to assume Zodiark wants all of this. (Except for the part where it goes sideways in 4.5, which might explain the Mystery Voice...). And to be honest I see no reason why Zodiark would harbor any love for His agents, who've practically been Team Rocket for eons, once he no longer needs them as proxies.

Elidibus is implied to have specifically taught the Scions how to kill Ascians after all, through teaching the Sahaguin priest how to use the Echo to use Ascian style immortality.

Hmm...

My personal pet theory is that he actually wants Hydelyn and Zodiark to fuse again and create 'true balance', even if it would logically wipe out all mortal life since Hydelyn is the thing that creates/sustains it.

This theory could also be forked mid-way and assume that the merger itself is what allows Zodiark to destroy Hydaelyn safely, considering He was stronger than Her at the division. A unification could simply allow Him to smother Her will from within the sea.

[ObsidianFire]

Now he's in possession of an especially powerful body both physically and politically. Who knows what his plan is?

The last we saw of him in 4.4, he wanted to kill the WoL. And he wanted Varis' permission to do it. Elidibus has also been relatively hands-off in how he manipulates situations. Until now anyway. As you say, he's in a powerful body and and an instantly recognizable one at that. It seems like he's done working in the shadows and is now working in broad daylight.

I'll be very interested to learn why he changed up his MO so drastically.

[Anonymoose]

I'll be very interested to learn why he changed up his MO so drastically.

I've said this before so forgive me if I'm being a broken record, but perhaps 7~8 Calamities is enough to recreate "Zodiark's majority share" and they're so close to victory they don't need to be as patient/cautious. If they can secure this win, it doesn't matter who knows what caused it and who their enemies really were.