Quote Originally Posted by EaraGrace View Post
So in your eyes the Ea made the right choice in self-terminating? Lets imagine the Ancients also discover the heat death of the universe, having already succeeded at "perfecting" Etheirys and completing their purpose. Would you say its only logical that they also self-terminate?
If the ancients live as long as the Ea will, with no other way to die except suicide, yes. it is a perfectly logical choice to make, being alive is a choice, not a virtue.

Really, what else are they supposed to do? The best option they have, by far, is death. Whether it happens now or eventually doesn't really matter when we have no idea how old they are already.

Quote Originally Posted by EaraGrace View Post
So the question stands is it preferable to be the Ea and feel that the only option is oblivion, or the Sundered and perhaps through ignorance (and perhaps through something else) live to flourish and have fulfilling lives?
I think you're missing my point here. The sundered are not on an alternate path, they are just much much less advanced than the Ea. The Ea did not fail somehow, they weren't conquered, they had a strong drive to fight for scientific progress and a better understanding of the universe, and their reward was a guarantee that their lives would eventually become nightmarish if they allowed themselves to live on.

The horror of their fate is that they did everything right. the only way to avoid a similar fate is to refuse fixing much about your life, and to not care about understanding the universe. Their dead end is a near inevitability.

It's not really comparable to death, they're already showing that many of them were willing to die. Even less comparable to death considering reincarnation is somewhat of a thing in this universe, we don't really have to fear what comes after. It's more similar to someone seeing everything they love die or be destroyed, and then being locked in a sensory isolation tank for the rest of their lives, with no hope to change this (though at least they'll die eventually).

The omega stuff allowing us to say that none of the three ancients were justified in their actions is the closest we're going to get to a realistic take on the topic.

I did have more typed up in reply for this, but I completely forgot to send it, so just gonna post this part.