That's why I don't see rejoinings as genocide, because none of the shards cease to exist. They get added to the source where they belong. I also don't view adding Ardbert's soul to mine as erasing Ardbert or overwriting my WoL. I view it as gluing Azem back together. But this Azem will not be the Azem from ancient times. It will also not be the WoL or Ardbert. It will be Azem with the memories and personality traits and senses of self of both the WoL and Ardbert.

That being said, I do think there is one problem with the Ascians' plans and that's not the rejoinings themselves but rather that after rejoining all the shards that are still rejoinable planning to ask Zodiark to give back the souls inside of him by offering up the new souls that were these patchwork souls made up from 13 rejoinings. This to me is genocide.

However, I do view this plan (as well as the pretty violent rejoinings) as an effect of being tempered. What nobody here seems to acknowledge when talking about the ancients changing their cultural values and sacrificing to Zodiark and whatever the Ascians' did after the sundering is that Zodiark did temper everyone who was present when he was summoned. We do know this to be the case because if you speak to Emet-Selch in between quests in the ocular during Shadowbringers, he tells you "yes, Zodiark tempered us." The ancients including Emet-Selch, Lahabrea, and Elidibus and all of the souls roing the moon were not the same people they were during the Elpis time frame. They are all tempered and live to serve Zodiark. Just as I believe the blessing of light is my own tempering forcing me to carry out Hydaelyn's will.