State of the Ascians after 4.5

[Iscah]

An additional thought on Solus possessing the clones... does this mean Ascians need a physical host at all times? And if that host dies, they then need to either body-hop or use their dark crystal to return to the space between the worlds?

[YianKutku]

An additional thought on Solus possessing the clones... does this mean Ascians need a physical host at all times? And if that host dies, they then need to either body-hop or use their dark crystal to return to the space between the worlds?

I don't know if they need a host to survive as such (in the way we need oxygen), but I suspect (without proof) that they can probably survive easily without a host by hanging out in the space between worlds, and they "need" a host mainly because otherwise they can't actually influence or act on anything, due to having no tangible hands.

Having said that, I need to recheck the 2.x cutscenes where the nature of Elidibus is discussed, because I'm not sure how his "I'm not actually here and the Echo-less will not even notice me" thing works. I can't remember if that means Ascians (and other people with expert command over the Echo) can "shape" their formless aetherial self into a humanoid appearance in order to talk to mortals, as opposed to doing it to the host they are currently inhabiting.