The time between Calamities

[Nalien]

Is the complete collapse of society required for a Rejoining, or is that just more of a nice-to-have for the Ascians? I was kind of under the impression that they simply required some significant advancement in order to even trigger anything, and that they'd simply wipe everything out in the same step in order to prevent anyone really getting wise to the whole scheme. It's not that past Calamities took 1,000s of years to occur, it's that civilization took that long to advance to the point where they could throw around thermonuclear-level magicks and such. All the Calamities wiped civilization clean, not because that was required, but because survivors might start piecing things together and that might thwart future plans... In fact that's exactly what has happened; Before Dalamud fell we were just starting to notice Ascians. We weren't wiped out, now we're very aware of them and the role they play in events, and are actively undermining their efforts constantly. They can keep attempting new Calamities now because Bahamut didn't really do any damage, no major players got taken out, everyone more-or-less has access to the same levels of advancement they had before. The conditions for another Calamity are still there, so another attempt can be made right away.

Basically, in order for them to trigger a Calamity, the board needs to have the right pieces. Usually a Calamity wipes the board clean, and they need to wait for it to repopulate. If it isn't wiped clean, then they can go for another Calamity right away, but the pieces start to get wise to events and can resist future attempts. Given they're immortal, waiting for society to build up again probably isn't too bad, certainly not compared to what they've had to deal with since 2.0 I imagine. How many potential Calamities have we stopped at this point? I count at least 3 just off the MSQ alone.