Ryne might be able to come back to the Source after all.

[kujoestars]

That seemed more like a matter of phrasing. He said we and Ardbert are different people, but I think that's within the fact that we're fragments of the same soul, because he's contrasting it against his own circumstance. That is, [WoL fragment] + [Ardbert fragment] is a different type of soul merger to [G'raha fragment A] + [G'raha fragment B].

Of course, as he realises, that's not actually the maths because he's actually A + (B + [rejoined First fragment]) so there's still some additional soul in there; we just have no idea who that person was.

Obviously, he’s G’raha^2. XPPPP

I highly doubt there’s anyone else in G’raha besides an alt timeline of himself and his current self, which means he’s some kind of paradox rejoining on top of the rejoining he already had from surviving the 8th Umbral Calamity in his doomed timeline. But then that leaves the question of how his soul isn’t denser than ours (it’s about the same as ours according to Y’shtola) since that would mean his soul has mingled 9 times now. Maybe being from a doomed timeline affects things.

EDIT: I should clarify that I didn’t really bother factor in who the heck his counterpart from the First is, but they presumably died during the Rejoining and melded with him, which makes him just a more “complete” G’raha.

Still, I find it a bit odd that G’raha didn’t factor the fact Ardbert being our soul reflection since his dialogue basically went “I know my souls merged because I’m me and all, but you and Ardbert were separate persons. Maybe it’s because you guys had a wholehearted understanding to common cause?”

I still need to track down Urianger to find his dialogue on Azem (inb4 he was in Mor Dhona all along and I was just stupid to teleport straight out of Rising stones....) but I’m dead curious if anyone besides Seto and Hythlodaeus (and Emet and Elidibus) knows about our past life as Azem.

Boy, the only downside to being caught up is having to wonder if we’ll have more content expanding on Azem and the Ancients next patch, but I am so ready to suffer for the next few months or so.

Edit2: Okay, I think I catch what you mean now. G’raha is more questioning how the merger between us and Ardbert could happen in the absence of a Rejoining basically wiping him completely to make him just another part of us. Which makes more sense everyone knows about the sundered nature of souls.

[MrThinker]

I still need to track down Urianger to find his dialogue on Azem (inb4 he was in Mor Dhona all along and I was just stupid to teleport straight out of Rising stones....) but I’m dead curious if anyone besides Seto and Hythlodaeus (and Emet and Elidibus) knows about our past life as Azem.

If you are still unable to find Urianger; He, Thancred and Y'shtola are present in the Dawn's Respite that is now accessible from the main Rising Stones room.

[Iscah]

Still, I find it a bit odd that G’raha didn’t factor the fact Ardbert being our soul reflection since his dialogue basically went “I know my souls merged because I’m me and all, but you and Ardbert were separate persons. Maybe it’s because you guys had a wholehearted understanding to common cause?”

What I mean is - on the assumption that he's aware that we and Ardbert are the same soul, what he's saying is that we had different pieces of the soul (pieces 1-8 vs piece 9) where he just had a duplicate copy of the same pieces 1-8, which apparently stack without counting as extra pieces. But again, that was overlooking that the Exarch did have piece 9 from the rejoining he lived through.

This may be making more sense in my head. I need to draw diagrams sometime.

[Alleluia]

What I mean is - on the assumption that he's aware that we and Ardbert are the same soul, what he's saying is that we had different pieces of the soul (pieces 1-8 vs piece 9) where he just had a duplicate copy of the same pieces 1-8, which apparently stack without counting as extra pieces. But again, that was overlooking that the Exarch did have piece 9 from the rejoining he lived through.

This may be making more sense in my head. I need to draw diagrams sometime.

No, it makes sense.

G'raha was also likely just acknowledging that Ardbert, despite being of the same soul as us, was a separate person who had lived a separate life. Meanwhile Source G'raha was identical to Exarch G'raha up till the point they merged. Or up until the point when the 8th Umbral calamity was avoided, technically.

[YianKutku]

Yeah. One of the most confusing things about Ascians is that the writers did a poor job explaining what they are and what the word represents. "Ascian" describes an organization, not a race or a power set.

Yeah. If I recall, originally "Ascian" as a term was supposed to describe a characteristic, namely that of not having a shadow. (Like, that's literally what the word means, from Latin "ascius".) This is also the etymology in-universe, as mentioned in the first lorebook, and also why the latest dungeon has the "Shadowless" gear.

So the initial intent was to have certain NPCs (eg Travanchet) be noticed as Ascians because of their lack of shadow, but this quickly got thrown out because the game engine (definitely the one from 2.0 onwards, although I think 1.0 was already struggling with it) couldn't handle such complexity. So now Ascians, whether red masks or black masks or whatever, all have shadows. So we have no idea why they're called Ascians in-universe in the first place, since the devs have carefully not mentioned whether we're supposed to edit out the shadows for the sake of verisimilitude.

Now we don't know if any person from the time of Amaurot, whether Amaurotine or otherwise, is similarly shadowless, or if it's just the Convocation of Fourteen Minus One and their assistants.

[Kesey]

I always took the meaning of "shadowless" to be metaphorical.

The Ascians have shown time and again they are willing to manipulate things from behind the scenes and not be known as the true puppetmasters of Eoreza's fate.

So they are dark/evil represented by the "shadow" and "less" because they are never seen doing or causing the bad things.

[Rocl]

I always took the meaning of "shadowless" to be metaphorical.

While that may be the case now—it definitely wasn't always intended to be.
https://gamerescape.com/2018/12/01/f...with-koji-fox/

GE: All of the Ascian overlords received names from the Final Fantasy XII “Scions of Light.” However, there were only twelve Scions and we’ve got fourteen overlords. Have you come up with two new names?

Koji: I actually can’t say anything about Ascians either…other than they’re not supposed to have shadows! Ascians are not supposed to have shadows…and they…are not supposed to have shadows! That’s all I’m going to say… (brief silence) …That’s what Ascian means! They’re supposed to be shadowless! That’s why I choose that word twelve years ago!

GE: (laughing) Do you think they would ever go back and fix this in the old scenes if they found a way to make it work?

Koji: I don’t think so, not at this point. I think the development team wants to pretend it’s a made up word that has no meaning and they want me to forget it, but I always remind them that Ascians aren’t supposed to have shadows. What you see is not a shadow it’s… the shadow of their clothes! If you saw a naked Elidibus walking around, he would not have a shadow. There you go, official answer! So… Travanchet was naked? Those aren’t clothes, that’s body paint!

Also, I don’t know about the names.

That this interview was given mere hours before (or perhaps after?) Shadowbringers was revealed is particularly humorous, lol

[kujoestars]

If you are still unable to find Urianger; He, Thancred and Y'shtola are present in the Dawn's Respite that is now accessible from the main Rising Stones room.

Yeah, I finally noticed that door was still lit when I ran back to check. XD

What I mean is - on the assumption that he's aware that we and Ardbert are the same soul, what he's saying is that we had different pieces of the soul (pieces 1-8 vs piece 9) where he just had a duplicate copy of the same pieces 1-8, which apparently stack without counting as extra pieces. But again, that was overlooking that the Exarch did have piece 9 from the rejoining he lived through.

This may be making more sense in my head. I need to draw diagrams sometime.

Yeah, I eventually realized it and made some edits, but not sure if in time. :P

No, it makes sense.

G'raha was also likely just acknowledging that Ardbert, despite being of the same soul as us, was a separate person who had lived a separate life. Meanwhile Source G'raha was identical to Exarch G'raha up till the point they merged. Or up until the point when the 8th Umbral calamity was avoided, technically.

Yep, about what I think, but even still, it’s VERY weird wording on his part. What also throws me off is that this is more the psychological part of merging as opposed to purely souls, and without a more explicit mention, it came off like he didn’t know we were literally fragments of the same soul.