The cutscene technology on display during the MSQ was great! Really enjoyed the technical level of delivery. Unfortunately, I think the writing has been XIV's weakest point through the 6.x series, 7.0 and 7.x series — and that was the case here, too. A bit predictable, a bit mishmashed as it didn't know what to do with most of the Scions. But I think this is something that can be improved in 8.0 with the right lead writer.

In particular, I am intrigued by that final cutscene, which really got me thinking:

Calyx specifically says:
"A rash decision... One perhaps influenced by the others and their developments."

"Be sure our Winterer peers are apprised of the details."

To me, both of these suggest that he's part of a larger group, the "Winterers." Out of curiosity, I looked up the dictionary definition of it to see if there were any double meanings that I wasn't aware of.

Per Merriam-Webster:
winterer
noun
win·​ter·​er ˈwin-tər-ər
: one that winters
specifically : a winter resident or visitor
Typically, this is used in the context of migratory patterns. Someone/something that spends the winter in a particular area.

My current theory is the "Winterers" are an organization of individuals forced to "winter" in the Source for various reasons, who ultimately want to go home. Some might be from reflections that have been rejoined and somehow managed to escape the fate of their worlds. In the case of the Ninth, the rest of the reflection may now be uninhabitable, overwhelmed by lightning aether.

I think this theory could make for an interesting motivation for the Ascian in particular. We know that the Unsundered are gone — and sundered Amon/Fandaniel was from the Source. But what about a sundered Ascian that originally hailed from a rejoined reflection before being restored to office? What if they retained their memories (as Fandaniel did of being Amon) and want, more than anything, for their world to be restored... but instead of the World Unsundered, they long for one of the rejoined reflections?

If that is the goal of the Winterers, Calyx's research on soul and memory transfer could be very relevant to an effort to partition Source souls — isolating the rejoined portion of soul and manipulating memory (locking or unlocking) to restore those that have been rejoined.

Obviously this is just a theory. But it feels like this could make for an interesting parallel and foil to the original Ascians' goals, and neatly bring us into a second saga focusing on the reflections.