Are the actual Ascians all but defeated?

[CyrilLucifer]

Or maybe *darksteelfoil hat on* the other Ascians KNEW Nabri's plan was doomed to fail and only thought we'd kill his physical form and he'd get a scolding for acting too rashly. When we actually destroyed him, they were worried but thinking "at least he took care of our annoying little brother" and scrambled to their respective areas. Maybe different ascians are tasked with different areas of Hydaelin, and Nabriales just butted into Eorzea when we foiled Lahabrea, with Elidibus trying to "convert" us.

Oooor, most likely, the devs didn't want to use all the Ascians just yet, making it so we off one or two per x-pac...

I can almost guarantee the bolded is true, however, what we also know is that Nabriales was aiding in the mortal-Primal pet project on Eorzea for some time. And he hated it. So he might have come to Eorzea because he had to, not because he necessarily wanted to. Nabriales is the funniest. He's so spiteful to everyone in every conversation and he's so casual about his spite; I love it. During the scene with him and Elidibus in 2.1, I really got the feeling Elidibus was something of the local Ascian babysitter, slapping hands when necessary and putting the others to bed when they've been bad, while offering just enough freedom to stop the tantrums.

I'm also betting the latter is true, about SE "saving" the Ascians to use them over time. I'm saying this every other thread, but we still have Pashtarot MIA. He's coming in 3.X guys, I swear. Guys? . . .Guys? I have other theories about why they are "saving" the Ascians, but most of them depend on how SE decides to handle Elidibus. I don't really want to derail the thread again, but I'm confident Elidibus isn't the end-all big-bad.