Hypertuned/Resonant

[Singularity]

I think Zenos is a resonant from the first moment you see him.

"But when I read van Baelsar's reports, I immediately saw the boundless potential of the Echo. I saw how it could be instrumental in binding an eikon to one's will. Hence my research and the Resonant - and oh so much more!"
- Zenos

It's made clear through dialogue that Aulus started out as a geneticist - his original proposal was to "modify the Garlean genome" to correct what he sees as the one flaw in the otherwise-superior-in-every-way Garlean race - their inability to wield aether. He was unable to find anyone in Garlemald willing to support his work, until he met Zenos.

Now, why Zenos chose to support Aulus is not 100% clear - either he had read the reports already by the time they met and presumably saw an avenue to achieving his goal of conferring the Echo upon one who was not born with it, or he supported Aulus simply as a path to greater strength and then read the reports later and changed the focus of the research.

Either way, under Zenos, it's clear that specifically the Echo rather than merely the ability to wield aether became the goal of the research. At some point after beginning work, Aulus invents the soul transfusion concept and abandons genetic modification as a path to achieving this goal. His early work lives on however (and possibly continues to progress under a different research team), and while he was not able to genetically confer magical ability, some of his modifications were found to be useful in... other ways, the hypertuned being the result. The magitek implantation may be a later development of the hypertuned or it may be another of Aulus' abandoned research paths. Certainly it's conceivable that magitek implantation would be a potential path to explore with regards to making a Garlean able to wield magic.

Rewatching the cutscene where Fordola wakes up after receiving the resonance treatment, it's clear that Aulus' laboratory is not substantially integrated into the surrounding structure, and it's also not something Gaius would have allowed when he was viceroy (i.e. up 'til the end of 2.0), so it definitely looks like it was constructed in or moved to Ala Mhigo recently.
On the other hand, there are dozens of bodies of presumably failed test subjects placed around the floor, so it seems equally unlikely that all of these are a result of attempted transfusions using the recently-captured Krile.

I would conclude that the laboratory was set up shortly after Zenos became viceroy and has been operating for some time, Krile merely being its newest Echo source. Echo users are not all that rare, and certainly some would have been born in the annexed territories of Ilsabard or Othard, being far more accessible. It's also well noted that the Echo manifests in multiple ways and conceivable both that Aulus would want to collect as complete a set as possible and that Krile's form was not one they had already.

As for Zenos himself, if the lab has been around for some time (and the research itself even longer), then I'd doubt he only becomes a Resonant after capturing Krile. His strength doesn't really appear to change throughout the course of Stormblood (yours simply grows to match his) whereas we would expect a significant jump in power if he suddenly gained Echo-like abilities. The specific way in which he is described as having (effortlessly) slaughtered anyone who tried to fight him during the Doman campaign is also reminiscent of an Echo user.

[Anonymoose]

[snip]

I can see the possibility that Zenos had these powers longer than it seemed like, as well; that the narrative was just holding back the surprise by beating around the bush. There are just a few things I can't make work with it (yet) and thus prioritized (Occam-wise) the interpretation that it was more recent for the time being. In order from least problematic to most:

First; I don't recall any precedent for Echo-blessed originating outside of Eorzea in this Calamity cycle (YET). What little lore we have about Echo-ex-Eorzea suggests that its appearance is relatively localized to the area being used to create the Calamity; the Zodiac Braves consolidated within Thavnairian legend, for example (assuming this wasn't itself a Thavnairian account of an Eorzean event, which is too big a leap to take unbidden).

The Echo sounded right around the Battle of Silvertear Skies, where there were many witnesses to a starshower over Eorzea; this same starshower is seen in a vision when someone new is awoken. The farthest away we can make a case for so far is Sharlayan, where the Echo was identified in Krile in 1567 (5 years after Silvertear Skies and the exodus from Eorzea). Even then, she was in an orphanage off the mainland at the time and we have no idea where she came from. Counterpoint, we have Ascians working in the Far East; She should choose Far Easterners to combat their influence.

Second; Lahabrea seems to have been the one that clued Gaius van Baelsar into how the Warrior of Light consistently fared so well against primals, seeing as it was Gaius who dispatched Livia to capture the Warrior of Light for study and Lahabrea who teleported her into the Waking Sands to complete her mission (where she failed, but took Miniflia, a different Walker, as a consolation prize). If so, that provides us a clear time-table for when Gaius's reports would include the information that sparked Zenos's interest.

Except Gaius was rogue; would he have been sending reports home or just keeping his own records? Given the timeline as we know it (war of succession, Doman rebellion, consolidation of Varis's power all completely finished before 2.1 was over), it's possible that the Emperor died earlier and Gaius just didn't know; that his notes were found by Zenos after arriving in Ala Mhigo to take over (making you wonder just how long Elidibus and Varis had been speaking, but that's a whole other can of worms).

This would not give Zenos very long to comprehend all the facts on the ground, realize the Echo's potential (which is interestingly in line with his father's way of thinking since 3.0; primal enslavement rather than primal annihilation), tap Aulus for advancement, get functioning prototypes up and running in Gyr Abania, and capture his first Walker all before 3.57.

Third, and most problematic, if Zenos was already Resonant, I don't understand the rush to kidnap Krile Baldesion. The best I can tell so far, the capture of Shinryu sped up his time-table. After Yugiri's botched assassination, Zenos is informed that Shinryu has been found - helpless, shacked by Omega. He immediately deprioritizes Doma (claiming that is "obligations" have been fulfilled), leaves Yotsuyu to fend for herself, and heads off to claim the primal prize. While the Warrior of Light wins command of the Xaela and lays siege to Doma, Zenos specifically and deliberately orchestrates the abduction of Krile, yet he doesn't offer Fordola transcendence until after the Scions return from Doma and press past Castellum Velodyna. What then was the rush, if not that he wanted to be able to control Shinryu for himself as soon as possible, but couldn't do so without a Walker to receive a transfusion from?