Where do the Ascian black masks come from?

[Cleretic]

That reminded me that it was strongly suggested a black masked Ascian was responsible for the mess at Shisui of the Violet Tides.

Perhaps their general role was "stir up chaos with no real goal in particular" to distract any potential warriors of light from the designs of the Paragons, as Haukke Manor was a similarly small scale case of evil-doing.

Yeah, absolutely. The biggest 'black-masked Ascian' was probably Travanchet, whose 'chaos for no reason in particular' wound up causing Alexander.

Granted I feel like if anyone's due fro a retcon-promotion, it's Travanchet, but interviews have said he's just one of the cultist crowd.

[AnEmissary]

(The following is speculation combined with a pinch of headcanon for flavor. If you're interested in sticking to strict interpretations of strictly official material, skip this post.)

There's some speculation going around that the individuals who make up the black-masks are those who'd been sworn to Lahabrea's Seat in Pandaemonium, pre-Sundering, and some aspect of that loyalty carried over--it's worth noting that all of the black-masks we see, their masks are carved in the image of his mask specifically, even those called upon by Elidibus in 2.1.

As for the meaning of the black mask...I can't help but think of how the only black-masked Ancient we know of is Azem (as cited in a pre-5.3 discussion with Yoshi-P, I think it was a Live Letter where the 5.3 trailer was shown and he was pointing out Azem in the Echo memory image of the Convocation). Azem's duty was to travel the world and report to the Convocation--a duty which seems to have been inherited by these lesser Ascians. Could the mask color have been assumed by them alongside said duties?

[Jandor]

Presumably the Convocation had staff that helped them run their departments, black masks might be recruited from the sundered admin staff.

[YianKutku]

Presumably the Convocation had staff that helped them run their departments, black masks might be recruited from the sundered admin staff.

That's why I mentioned Pandemonium in my first post, though: if it was a case of Convocation members having their staff or subordinates wear black masks, the most likely person to wear one would be Erichthonios, since he's explicitly a member of Lahabrea's staff, under Lahabrea in the org chart. And yet he wears a white mask, or at least has one hanging on his robe, with no indication that there was ever a black mask in his wardrobe.

And the other member of Pandemonium (and thus part of the Words Of Lahabrea), Hesperos, wears a white mask in flashback. I'm willing to place less importance on Hesperos, given he wears no mask at all when we confront him, and by that time he has clearly gone off the deep end. But that does not explain Erichthonios.

[Jandor]

That's why I mentioned Pandemonium in my first post, though: if it was a case of Convocation members having their staff or subordinates wear black masks, the most likely person to wear one would be Erichthonios, since he's explicitly a member of Lahabrea's staff, under Lahabrea in the org chart. And yet he wears a white mask, or at least has one hanging on his robe, with no indication that there was ever a black mask in his wardrobe.

And the other member of Pandemonium (and thus part of the Words Of Lahabrea), Hesperos, wears a white mask in flashback. I'm willing to place less importance on Hesperos, given he wears no mask at all when we confront him, and by that time he has clearly gone off the deep end. But that does not explain Erichthonios.

Maybe the convocation members didn't have the time, resources or inclination to make crystals to restore their subordinates memories?
Lacking the memories of who exactly they once were, they don't count as properly restored to their original jobs, and as such don't get the same colour masks as before either.

[Cleretic]

Maybe the convocation members didn't have the time, resources or inclination to make crystals to restore their subordinates memories?
Lacking the memories of who exactly they once were, they don't count as properly restored to their original jobs, and as such don't get the same colour masks as before either.

Also, the crystals contain the Convocation's memories (specifically the Unsundered's memories) of the individual, basically just to ring the bell in their mind.

It wouldn't even be possible to create crystals to elevate ALL their subordinates. Think about your own job; sure, you might be able to manage that sort of thing with some coworkers, but eventually you're gonna get to someone where all you've got is 'likes cars, I think', and that's probably not enough. Especially considering that we're dealing with Emet and Lahabrea as two thirds of this, and neither of them seem especially sociable. We haven't really met pre-Sundering Lahabrea yet (if we ever will), but I generally get the feeling that he doesn't actually care that much about Hesperos.