*Spoilers* Anyone feel joining Emet would have been better

[Absimiliard]

Of course that's not how it went down. The Ascians did try it the peaceful way in the distant past, but it always resulted in failure. The people of Etheirys and its shards proved themselves to be far too primitive and violent to even be remotely approachable for the longest time. Then, whenever a non-violent option was at least considered, they'd do something else to make it clear there was no hope of cooperation.

The Ascians were already sick of dealing with it long before the events of the game could come to pass. They've had many millennia to try different approaches, with the outcome inevitably being the same. Granted, the early story random black masked Ascians trying to murder you before you had even obtained Venat's ward thing is pretty dumb no matter how you look at it. It was entirely too hamfisted; very moustache twirling villain-esque. Considering that Lahabrea put them up to it, I suppose it's no surprise. Even the other Ascians considered him a nutter.