Time is Running Out for the Ascian's Plan?

[ClaireFaye]

Lately I've been hearing a lot of talk that the Ascians seem to be trying to push their plan for the remaining Calamities to happen as soon as possible and I remember reading from quite a few people that Lahabrea stated that they had to move their plan forward. They say that, for some reason, the Ascians feel like time is running out for them to get the remaining calamities. Where does that say and why would be the reason the Ascians feel that they're 'running out of time'? Is it because there are so few of them left?

Any thoughts?

[Anonymoose]

From one point of view, they've really just been trying to get the Eighth to happen as their plans collapse over and over and over again and they have to course-correct. Louisoix contained a lot of the Source-side damage of the 7th so the 8th was good to go right away, if they could pull it off. The urgency is only increased by the loss of Lahabrea and now Emet-Selch. Elidibus is allegedly the only Original left.

So it's either that or they read Dengeki and know the Shadowbringers / Ascians / Will of Light and Darkness story arc is heading towards conclusion.

[RyuDragnier]

They're having to hurry up because a 3rd wheel is currently in play. Said 3rd Wheel seems to be working against Elidibus (who seems to be aware of this), so he's surrounded on two fronts. If he can't get things moving now, there's a chance he'll never be able to again.

[KageTokage]

I still remember Lahabrea's little line back in the Praetorium about how the world's laws would become twisted beyond repair unless Hydaelyn was removed and Zodiark revived.

I initially dismissed it as the ramblings of a madman but after everything we learned in ShB, I'm wondering if maybe the world really is somehow headed towards destruction again and that stopping the Ascians wouldn't actually do anything to prevent it.

[Vyrerus]

I still don't know where it is at that the Ascians are like, "We need to hurry hurry hurry, y'all!" Can someone point to the point in the story where it happens?

I'm still also inclined to take anything they say with a grain of salt, because like, Lahabrea was all, "We will need the primals in order to get the calamity going." But like, nah, not really. They resort to a chemical weapon to kick off the 8th, which did happen in one of the timelines. No primal involved at all. Ascian words are as air.

[MrThinker]

I still don't know where it is at that the Ascians are like, "We need to hurry hurry hurry, y'all!" Can someone point to the point in the story where it happens?

I'm still also inclined to take anything they say with a grain of salt, because like, Lahabrea was all, "We will need the primals in order to get the calamity going." But like, nah, not really. They resort to a chemical weapon to kick off the 8th, which did happen in one of the timelines. No primal involved at all. Ascian words are as air.

I always took that to mean "we need primals to sow chaos to make people panic and eventually make stupid decisions that causes our carefully prepared house of cards to come crashing down on their heads". And while it might not be the sole contributing factor, it was prominent in at least 2 Calamities. Studying the Primals captured by Allag allowed them to develop the technology needed to create Dalamud as a prison for the dreadwyrm, which invariably led to the 4th Calamity. And the defeat of primals prior to the 7th Umbral Calamity caused their aether to be absorbed by Dalamud and served to speed up its' descent towards Eorzea (or at least that was I thought it was, someone please correct me).

[Recon1o6]

I have a sneaking suspicion that its not so much time is running out but whatever the sound was, may be stirring without zodiark's influence to keep it in check

The other thing that's been bugging me: why haven't we seen any evidence of the ascians trying to fix the void? If they want Zodiark to get to his full strentgh they need to rejoin the worlds...but the void is stated to be completely useless to their plans, much like how emet selch said there was to be a similar event on the source to break the barrier for the 8th or it would be useless

The void was their first attempt at rejoining, so they have had ample time to undo it

[Iscah]

I still don't know where it is at that the Ascians are like, "We need to hurry hurry hurry, y'all!" Can someone point to the point in the story where it happens?

I also don't think we've been told this - unless someone has direct quotes, I'm inclined to chalk it up to the same ongoing misunderstanding that some people think the Eighth Calamity is enough to release Zodiark when that was merely fan speculation on the meaning of a pre-Shadowbringers promotional interview that said we needed to prevent the "eighth and last" Umbral Calamity. (More likely interpretation now: it would be considered the last in the other timeline we prevented - either because the timeline allegedly ceased to be, or because it stuffed the world up that badly that there won't be anything left to bring about a ninth.)

There was urgency to their plan to rejoin the First, at least at the point when Elidibus started manipulating Ardbert's group, because that came so very close to a flood state and they couldn't let that happen. But beyond that... well, unless it was all bravado, Emet-Selch specifically tells us that even our interference in the First is only a minor setback to their plans. They have the patience to wait for millennia for their plans to reach fruition, even if they'd much rather we stop making a mess of them now.

I'm still also inclined to take anything they say with a grain of salt, because like, Lahabrea was all, "We will need the primals in order to get the calamity going." But like, nah, not really. They resort to a chemical weapon to kick off the 8th, which did happen in one of the timelines. No primal involved at all. Ascian words are as air.

The two methods aren't as different as you're simplifying them to be.

The Ascians' ultimate aim is destabilising the world's aether to the point that it triggers a calamity. Primals - and stoking people's fears to encourage them to summon primals - are means rather than an end goal.

Meanwhile, Black Rose is very much an aetherial weapon, not just a chemical one. It's not a poison - it kills by halting a person's life energies so they stop breathing. It shifts energies towards umbral/Light, making it a match for the First's Light-soaked state. That what made it seem ideal for Emet-Selch's plan - although in the end it sounds like it may have worked too well.

[Gemina]

The one reason I can think of for the sense of urgency is that Ascians can't just make calamities happen, but rather coerce and take advantage of a natural course of events to engineer their manifestation. What this means is that if conditions are prime for a calamity to take place, as is the case with the ShB initial story line; they need to act pronto. It would seem that this particular window of opportunity is closing fast, if not already shut and Elidibus is just living a pipe dream trying to re-initiate the flood.

I'm still also inclined to take anything they say with a grain of salt, because like, Lahabrea was all, "We will need the primals in order to get the calamity going." But like, nah, not really. They resort to a chemical weapon to kick off the 8th, which did happen in one of the timelines. No primal involved at all. Ascian words are as air.

Early dialogue from a developing story. Though still relevant. If primals are allowed to run rampant, they will continue to drain the aether from the planet, which would set the conditions required for a calamity. While this would technically still work, primals are put away just as quickly as they are summoned, so it would only make sense for the Ascians to abandon this plan at this point considering that they are fodder to the WoL, and now there are more warriors with the echo capable of dispatching them as well.

Ascian words are as air because we make it that way. It's not like they don't try to fulfill their promises, we just keeping throwing a monkey wrench in their plans.

[Astrid_Stormborn]

I think the only time I remember them saying specifically that they needed to move the timetable up was after Nabriales was killed, they noted that they would speed up their plans in Ishgard.