Quote Originally Posted by redheadturk View Post
I again point out that it was traumatized people she was dealing with when she put that question to them. Traumatized people are not going to be sensible or logical until they have had time to regather their wits about them. Besides, yes, it would have been worth the sacrifice of non sentient] life in order to return those sacrificed so the people could have their loved ones back again. Which I am fairly sure is what they initially had in mind before going through twelve thousand years of utter emotional and mental torment.

Were the ancients perfect? Of course not. But there had not been a war, nor want or hunger, for centuries. Which civilization among the sundered can say that?
Traumatized or not if the Ancients committed to the course they were on then even those that would be born after would be unable to escape the fate they created for them. They gave a will to the star itself, a will capable of eliminating not just mortal threats but the very concept of fear and suffering (as far they knew). They would, in fact, be committing themselves to the same path that those who summoned Ra-La did. Venat herself was the most upset to learn that a world that eliminated suffering begged for death.

And once again, to replace the souls in Zodiark requires you to sacrifice beings with souls. They fully intended to sacrifice living beings with thoughts, feelings and desires all their own, and condemn them to eternity as Zodiark. If you want to argue this is defensible then do so, but don’t pretend the choice was anything else but what it was.