Flaw in Ascian activities

[Zohar_Lahar]

The Bringers of Chaos commonly teach the art of summoning primals to various groups to incite disorder. These primals are stated (though not particularly shown) to be a long-term danger to Hydaelyn due to their consumption of aether.

But what safeguards do the blacke-robe ascians have to be sure the primals won't also be a long-term threat to Zodiark? Lahabrea was even destroyed by one. Tiamat implied there are many primals sealed away by the Allagan civilization "at great cost to Hydaelyn", what would stop these beings from devouring Zodiark as they do Hydaelyn?

[Anonymoose]

With Zodiark trapped in a rift in the moon outside of the sea, it doesn't seem like things are going to get any worse for Him for now, at least. When Operation Ardor is complete, I've been assuming that they just don't plan on urging things to summon anymore (assuming there would be any mortals left to do so in the first place).

[EdwinLi]

I don't think they have a plan as it seems they expect the world to become a Void or they're just too zealous with their beliefs that they do not see the consequence of their own actions to their own God.

[Cilia]

A few points:

1. It's implied Zodiark's resurrection will extinguish most, if not all, mortal life as we know it. Without mortals, primals will cease to exist as they will no longer have worshipers.
2. Ifrit mentions communing with the Ascians when first encountered, so it seems the Ascians are able to influence primal behavior to an extent. Should they somehow survive Zodiark's rise, the likelihood of them being deterimental to His existence seems pretty slim.
3. King Thordan is a unique case because, unlike most primals, he was a mortal channeling a primal and thus outside Ascian control. The only reason King Thordan turned against the Ascians was because Archbishop Thordan VII was channeling him and fully aware of the Ascians goals, and disagreed with them. Even then, whether or not he'd be able to stand up to a real god is suspect.

[Sagittarian]

I thought the Warrior Of Darkness storyline kind of confirmed that the Ascians don't want the primals staying around - they just want them summoned to consume aether and then dispatched.

Also, as Cilia said, I don't think the Ardor is expected to leave much left afterwards.

[LineageRazor]

I thought the Warrior Of Darkness storyline kind of confirmed that the Ascians don't want the primals staying around - they just want them summoned to consume aether and then dispatched.

Not just the WoD storyline - many of the early Primal battles featured a cutscene afterward where the Ascians basically patted themselves on the back because the Warrior of Light has finished off another Primal, all according to plan. The Ascians LIKE the fact that the WoL is a Primal-killing machine. It's pretty clear that both summoning AND killing Primals contributes to the Ascians' long-term goals.

[Ageofwar]

3. King Thordan is a unique case because, unlike most primals, he was a mortal channeling a primal and thus outside Ascian control. The only reason King Thordan turned against the Ascians was because Archbishop Thordan VII was channeling him and fully aware of the Ascians goals, and disagreed with them. Even then, whether or not he'd be able to stand up to a real god is suspect.

isn't Shiva also an exception to the rule since Ysayle seems to have control over Shiva's actions like the Archbishop?

[TinyRedLeaf]

^ I think the major innovation in summoning throughout Heavensward is the channelling of primal powers without outright surrendering one's will. Summoners have their "trances", while Ysayle and Thordan literally "wore" primal essences like suits of power amour. That said, it's implied that Nabriales somehow manipulated Ysayle into summoning Shiva unto herself. Thordan, too, was likely manipulated by Lahabrea, though, in his hubris, the Archbishop likely did not care or mind.

The Ascians essentially want to sow chaos and fear, to bring about the Ardor and force a Rejoining. Like others in this thread, I don't think a fully rejoined world would have any mortals left in it. If one were to take Ramuh at his word, it would appear that mortal life appeared after the Sundering, when Light and Dark were split in two.

Conversely, if all becomes one — a singularity as it were — nothing else would remain except perfect stillness. And if there are no mortals left, there wouldn't be any primals either, as worship is what makes them "real" and possible in the first place.

[Belhi]

I think its worth adding that Lahabrea was seriously weakened when Thordan swallowed him plus since he couldn't escape it would suggest our blessing was messing with him too. It is quite possible that a full strength Ascian might be a far harder foe for a primal to handle.

Summoning primals weakens Hydealyn which undermines their main threat. They almost succeeded in that. She is on the ropes when we come on the scene and honestly we spent most of HW having to operate independent of her. There is a good chance that if we fell during that time she wouldn't have the strength to bless another WoL let alone even commune with one. If they can shelf her influence without actually sending the world spiralling into a void state then they would have almost free reign to do as they please.

We have to remember that this is a struggle that has been playing out since prehistory and only now are we getting glimpses of what the struggle we are fighting is actually about.

[Zohar_Lahar]

What about the Voidsent? They are very much like primals, some based on past summons, and come from the Flood of Darkness. What would stop them from devouring ascians or Zodiark's life force?