One thing I would like to know is how old are teh Ascians? From where are their origins? Prior to the fall of Allag or tied to it? Were they the Allag equivalent of the Warrior of light that where corrupted by the backlash from the Crystal Tower when it went super Nova? Were they tied into trying to stop Xande or are they, in some way, the cause of it?

How far back does the Ascians manipulation extend? How long have they maneuvering events to reach a point where they can openly appear in furtherance of their grand scheme?

Also the Echo, hearing languages in English, seeing things in the past. Echo is a TARDIS buff! :P