On 2, the answer can be inferred at the end of the Healer role questline for the expansion.

At the end of the healer role questline, you destroy the blasphemy, yet Fordola sees his soul, the soul of his friend, smiling and walking off with the rest of his friends, something that makes no sense if there is truly nothing left of the individual. However, if Dynamis is cloaking the Aether to make it seem like it's all but gone (people can't sense dynamis after all), then it's being used to trick people into despair by the Endsinger.


That's an explanation I can think of anyway.