Thread: The Ascians in 2.1 (spoilers!)

Well, there is a spoiler if your SMN is indeed still only 45 -

the boss you have to fight during the level 50 SMN Job quest summons a palette-swap of Ifrit-Egi named Belias-Egi, so based on that we can assume it's likely SE have already reserved the Esper names from FFXII for use elsewhere as enemies the player has to fight for future SMN Job quests. Hence the Ascians bear the names of the Esper's 'light' opposites.

Balance between light and dark -would- be what would be necessary to stop the ekpyrosis/apocatastasis thing that Zody and Hydie have got goin' on, yeah. (I wonder how okay Hydaelyn would actually be with that. Does she really love us and want us to live, and be able to flourish as a civilisation in a perpetual Astral era that makes room for the Ascians to have what they want too, or does she need to be the dominant crystal and will act all cuddly and give us the Echo and, you know, basically Temper us, in order to get what she wants? Would Zodiark ever be able to accept that either?)

Originally Posted by Teakwood

or does she need to be the dominant crystal and will act all cuddly and give us the Echo and, you know, basically Temper us, in order to get what she wants? Would Zodiark ever be able to accept that either?)

I like that. All three primals kept saying that someone had already claimed you. It would be interesting if Hyd. was duping us for her own personal gain. I haven't got to this part of the story yet (is it CT?) so I can't comment on Elidibus, but I wonder if Lahabrea is an extremist faction in the Ascian group. While some want to restore the balance, he wants to tip it all the way to Zordak's?

Is the reason there is always an Astral and Umbral era due to an imbalance? Does the place the Ascians come from (the void?) also experience a cycle like that? It seems Umbral eras are much shorter than Astral ones in Eorzea... so does that mean the inverse is true for the Void (due to an imbalance to the "light side")?

Originally Posted by Magis

does that mean the inverse is true for the Void (due to an imbalance to the "light side")?

It's a thought I've had, as well, but I've no evidence either way. It could be a matter of perspective. We call it the Astral Era because it's when we prosper - but who's to say they're not prospering over there, too? Perhaps it's only the brief periods of imbalance that are chaotic for both sides. We're told that it's our side who keeps messing this up several times. Perhaps the Allag threw off the aetherial balance with Magitek - our boon is the Ascian side's bane. Then they come here and start an "Ardor," which to us is a Calamity, and balance is restored. Fifth Astral Era we get too uppity with magick - aetherial balance upset? Calamity in the Ascian world? They come here... you see where this is going.

The Divine Chronicles foretell seven calamities - one for each element and one seemingly for Oblivion (kind of like how the Seven Hells work).

Maybe after six cycles of this nonsense, Lahabrea's just had it...

I leave you with a quote from one Nael van Darnus:

The realm has seen six cycles of death and rebirth, yet man refuses to learn from his mistakes. Ever does he find a way to defile the sanctity of creation, and so the cycle must persist. But no more, for I shall halt the turning of this wheel of darkness! He has willed that it be so, and so must it be! Dalamud's coming shall cleanse the realm of its foul taint! Only the wicked would refuse His gift of purity!

There was a lot of truth in Bahamut's manipulation... perhaps part of convincing Darnus that he served divinity and would resurrect the Allag's greatness for the purpose of halting the wheel of darkness was convincing him that reducing the realm to ash would burn out the source of its periodic world-threatening imbalance... that using the Garleans to recreate Meteor was the way to do it... and, you know, that as long as he's casting Meteor anyway, he might as well cast it on that big red thing by the moon up there... yeah... that would do nicely...

Darnus thought that "taint" was about primals, but if primals are here by Ascian design against Hydaelyn, Bahamut let him believe a half-truth.

See, I disagree there - the fact that the Asicans bear names taken from 'light' entities in FFXII is nothing but text flavouring and is not meant to be an indication of how the storyline is meant to play out (after all, the Ascian god is Zodiark, a dark Esper) - besides, the FFXIV website clearly labels the Ascians as malevolent and sticks them in the villains list. They;ve shown time and again they're utterly evil and not to be trusted at all. The Ascian use of the FFXII Scions names are just that, nothing more.

Ferne's clearly having fun twisting FF references in this game and of course, we're all lapping it up with all this theorizing.

Yeah, Ferne is definitely listed in the credits as 'World Lore Creator', so he definitely has a part to play in non-player character naming. (After all, he managed to even sneak in a little in-joke of his forum persona as a Wanted target during levequests in Northern Thanalan ).