Quote Originally Posted by Norondor View Post
I still think this fits! If we assume they're formed from the ideas and myths and sensations of the tribe summoning them, they probably ought to pick up on their summoners' memories to some extent, oughtn't they?

The primals cleave to the traditions and beliefs of the beast tribes -- Titan's bitter distrust, Garuda's lust for carnage, Ramuh's imposition of the forest's justice -- and if they're still stinging from your earlier triumph over their conquering god, that memory and desire for revenge might come across once they're summoned anew, I'd expect!
That may be true, but it still makes it an impossibility that they are created anew every time they are summoned. They have recollection of previous events, personal views on them, et all. Something the zealot summoners of the beast tribes likely would not be brazen enough to do. Though, I do think that you're on the right track.

No, I am beginning to think that aether is just life-stuff. Garuda existed in Ixal legend, as far as we are told, about 500 years prior to her first summoning. And it is widely known that the Ascians taught the beast tribes how to summon. I am beginning to believe that they 'taught' them how to 'summon' by giving them the knowledge of how to access large amounts of aether and romantically spicing up creation methods using aether. Aether that was released at Silvertear Falls by Garlemald. Whom they, in turn, were guided by the Ascians to do so.

So the Ixal create their goddess from the aether, who is made purely thereof, but is just a piece of life among the rest of the aether.

I think I just came to the detailed conclusion that Moose came to months ago. Oye.

Anyway, where does that leave Egis? I think memories, and the recent introduction of the beast tribe quests, can help us understand that.

In the summoner quest line, it is stated that that you needed to triumph over the primal in order to command some of its power. That, as was mentioned previously, implies that you need to have been exposed to them in person. Similar to not being able to teleport to some place you've never been to. You need knowledge of your goal in order to achieve it.

Now, most recently, in the beast tribe quests, the leader of the Amals that you are aiding (sorry, game is down again and I can't check specifics like names and spellings.../blush) states that he can detect Ifrit in your aura, so he has little doubt over your claim of defeating him. This means that contact with the primals does indeed leave some sort of marker on you, and it sounds like it's the stench of aspected aether.

So now I know what Garuda looks like, I know how she fights, I have experienced (rather painfully) the effects of wind-aspected aether. I've also got her stench on me. Now, doesn't that sound like a great start to making my own Garuda? Now to just head to a heavily wind-aspected environment, focus on my memories, and cheat.

Yes, cheat. Arcanists make magic happen by being smart, not by dipping into personal aether wells or the aether of the environment. Carbuncle happens because it would have happened anyway, I just figured out how to make it happen when I want it to.

So now I use the same techniques when creating my own Garuda. I take some already-existing aether, form it how I like, suppress it, and assign it to myself (via my Garuda-stink). Now, whenever I need it, I can summon my little Garuda whenever I want, as it already exists within the aether as a form of life that I shaped right from the aether. I just need to make it happen.

If I hadn't come across Garuda, had the Ascians not influenced the Ixal into creating her, had the Ixal theology of hundreds of years ago not thought her up, and if I used the same method I mentioned earlier, my wind Egi could look like anything. Typhoon, perhaps or Valefor. It just looks like Garuda because that's what I have come to believe is wind aether, so it heavily influences my memories.

Arcanists play with the aether to ridiculous levels, yet, they have absolutely no impact on the aether balance because they aren't changing the flow of aether. They're just taking what is already there and making what they want out of it. Arcanists are kind of like gods, to be poetic about it.