Quote Originally Posted by Carolingian View Post
Some people here keep saying that they're just code and only exist because Sphene can't let go. But the fact that said code can go against Sphene to the degree of destroying her and all Endless shows that they aren't just code only there for Sphene's entertainment. It shows that they've got their own desires, thoughts, and dreams. It shows that they're self-aware. It shows that they're sentient.
If they were people who were disembodied while they were still alive I would feel different about this whole thing but the most important part of this situation to me is that they all had lives before they were Endless and then died.

It’s not as though a whole civilization was uploaded to the cloud, only people who have died become Endless. Alexandria still exists and is populated by living, thriving people. These Endless are literal ghosts since the setting already established that ghosts are incorporeal aether from dead people. The bhoot encyclopedia entry even shows that this situation of memory aether continuing after death can happen outside the Everkeep but no one lifts a finger to prevent adventurers from killing ghosts.

The whole situation is unnatural and frankly a little disturbing and goes against the laws of nature that everyone else up to and including the Ancients have followed. The fact that they required living aether and Turali people were killed for their souls in order to power the dead and Sphene planned to do that worldwide and then move onto the next reflection when she was done here was the final straw.

It doesn’t matter if they’re sentient or have free will to me, their existence goes against the laws of nature and prevents the natural course of reincarnation. If left to spread, it will create dead worlds. The Ultima Thule beings at least seemingly have an expiration date since they require actual food to sustain themselves instead of fake popcorn and ice cream. Even the Ancients eventually would decide their time was over and give their aether back to the star, which the Endless do not do.