Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
It is my hope we can appeal to the sundered Ascians' humanity and resolve things peacefully, though I'm not counting on it. Yes, I'm aware there are sundered Ascians out there other than Fandaniel, but we don't know where they are or what their agenda is. Are they more amenable than he or the unsundered? Maybe. Possibly. Who knows. But I do not gamble with maybes. Until such a time as we do know what their agendas are it's best to err on the side of caution and assume they have some calamitous plan in the works. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Plus if you really think about how the sundered Ascians came to be... an entirely stable mentality isn't to be expected.
Agreed in most accounts. We can expect calamitous destruction from the sundered Ascians (there is Fandaniel after all) or hope for them being amenable to reason. At least a couple of them.

Then again, in defense to Emet, he was willing to jump off the Rejoining train if the WoL/D could contain the Light aka we are Rejoined enough to forge a new path. We know how that ends up, though. Speaking of him, aye, it is true we defeated the Unsundered (one eaten by King Thordan, two out of the picture in their own way and most likely untempered by death) so we crushed under heel those who refused to see reason (whatever "reason" means, as it is a relative concept), and this calls to my mind Emet's little lesson on conquests. Paraphrased: "Conquest is the easy part. The real challenge comes next: quenching the flames of animosity and mantaining a semblance of peace. This requires the conquerer to treat the conquered with dignity and the conquered to let bygones be bygones." He, of course, was speaking then of our handling of the Eulmorans, but this lesson can be applied to the Ascians as well. And Emet notes it was us who achieved this difficult feat... so there is that. Here is to hoping, I would say. :)

I know literally nothing of Watchmen so I cannot give my opinion about the reference. In any case, and this is currently a "what if" scenario, if some sundered Ascians decide to support our cause, what would that entail in the eyes of some people / nations / you name it? In Eorzea and Othard, the WoL/D's opinion is deeply valued so I assume they would come around, especially if there are other pressing matters. But again my eyes turn to Sharlayan and their zealous ways. And we do not have voice there, except if the Scions intercede in our favor, and even then we know that Sharlayans have no qualms silencing their own who spread certain knowledge, see Leveva. Even if there are no Ascians involved, the truths we uncovered in the First might be enough for the Forum to try to coerce us into silence. And there we would have another brewing conflict. Yay. :'D