Zodiark's Codex entry what do we think about it?

[SannaR]

As I said in the 6.4 reaction thread Zodiark finally got an entry in our Unending Codex.

Like Hydaelyn, Zodiark is one of the eldest and most powerful of primals. To define what exactly He is, one must first define Light and Darkness-polar opposites whose components differ from the six main elements of which the star is composed.

The ancients classified Light as that which governs tranquility and stasis. It is a pure white energy bereft of color or movement, and in modern terminology, an element of this nature would be defined as "umbral". In contrast, Darkness was classified as that which spurs growth. It is an energy of deepest black-a cacophony of life's myriad colors- and contemporary scholar would define elements of this active nature as "astral". As such, Zodiark is Darkness and activity given form, while Hydaelyn, who would be His undoing, was conceived as the embodiment of peace and Light everlasting. In the world unsundered, these concepts lacked any associations with good and evil; Light and Darkness were simply fundamental energies that coexist in all things.

Approximately twelve thousand years ago, a vast quantity of Darkness was required to forestall the coming of the Final Days, that its dynamic nature might ensure that the celestial currents of Etheirys did not stagnate. So it was that the ancients devised a plan to create a god who would embody Darkness itself, and at the order of the Convocation of Fourteen, half of the star's surviving population gave their lives to bring Zodiark into being.

Serving as the primal's heart was the emissary Elidibus. Though countless ancients sacrificed their physical aether and tethered their very souls to Zodiark, Elidibus, having judged his duties unfinished, created a reflection of himself to keep vigil over his allies. Zodiark's untold power averted disaster for a time... yet those who survived and had come to worship Him sought to perpetuate the cycle of sacrifice. They vowed to reap the new life they had sown in His name to resurrect those who had rendered up their essence to fuel the primal's summoning.

Venat and her followers stood in opposition to Zodiark's faithful. Believing that a new generation should inherit Etheirys, they summoned Hydaelyn, a second primal born of collective sacrifice, with Venat to serve as Her heart. And so Hydaelyn brought Her tranquil Light to bear against Zodiark's relentless Darkness in a terrible battle. Hydaelyn narrowly emerged the victor, and with Her final strike sundered Zodiark and the star itself into fourteen shards. With Her enemy fragmented and too weak to resist, Hydaelyn created a moon for each shard-a series of goals in which the divided Zodiark would be sealed for all eternity.

Outraged by the sundering of their world and their God, the Ascians-those who had belonged to the Convocation of Fourteen- resolved to revive Zodiark and restore the broken world to the paradise it once was. For millennia they plotted against Hydaelyn and Her followers, orchestrating events to achieve their ultimate goal, until one of their own chose to forsake this solemn charge.

The Ascian Fandaniel, upon regaining his memories and understanding his true nature, rejected his role in his brethren's machinations. After learning of Elidibus's defeat on the First, he resolved instead to destroy Zodiark. Using Garlemald as his base of operations, the rogue Ascian orchestrated the summoning of the primal Anima, who would siphon aether from across the star and direct it into the Tower of Babil. Utilizing the tower as an aetheric cannon, Fandaniel crippled the mechanisms on the moon which kept Zodiark imprisoned, and subsequently traveled there to seize control of the elder primal by offering himself as His new heart.

Though the Ascian was laid low by the Warrior of Light, Fandaniel reveled in Zodiark's defeat. As his ultimate goal was the return of the Final Days. In a final act of defiance, Zodiark reached into His chest and shattered His own heart, cosigning the elder primal to a permanent death.

With His demise on the Source, it is presumed that the reflections of Zodiark in other shards were destroyed as well, and the once-fettered souls of the ancients are finally free to return to the Lifestream.

[Kranel_San]

Elidibus, having judged his duties unfinished, created a reflection of himself to keep vigil over his allies.[/I]

This is the same guy who calls himself an unsundered.

[SannaR]

This is the same guy who calls himself an unsundered.

I'm not sure what becoming a reflection means. Besides making a physical copy of himself as he still hopped out of the pilot seat and was physically near Emet when the sundering happened so that copy was able to hop through the don't get sundered hole.

[Denishia]

I'm not sure what becoming a reflection means. Besides making a physical copy of himself as he still hopped out of the pilot seat and was physically near Emet when the sundering happened so that copy was able to hop through the don't get sundered hole.

That was an interesting word choice, and I guess to signal that Elidibus wasn't just a tempered soul released from Zodiark but a primal created by a primal (which we know from Eureka is a thing that happens) imitating the person Themis, but with Themis's soul inside the primal Elidibus, much like Ysayle inside Shiva. It's just that not only did the Shiva -or Queen Gunnhildr as a better parallel- in this case look indistinguishable from Ysayle/Misija, at no point did the primal form dissipate to release the soul inside until that 6.3 post-fight cutscene.

At least that's how everything makes sense to me right now.

[Cleretic]

It sure does read like an accurate summary of every single thing we've heard about Zodiark and the surrounding events. What do you want me to think about it?

[SannaR]

It sure does read like an accurate summary of every single thing we've heard about Zodiark and the surrounding events. What do you want me to think about it?

As I said in the 6.4 thread the wording of the sacrifice is ambiguous. It's worded as an order and we even have Erichtonios also calling it an order. Where it was written in a way before that most took it as voluntary.

[Cleretic]

As I said in the 6.4 thread the wording of the sacrifice is ambiguous. It's worded as an order and we even have Erichtonios also calling it an order. Where it was written in a way before that most took it as voluntary.

I always sort of read it as basically 'voluntold'. Like yeah, technically you're doing this of your own volition, but there's a lot of social expectation that you're just gonna be the one that has to do this. I could see Erich especially considering it more forceful, especially since the expectaiton would've been greater for people in power, and that Lahabrea probably would've broken the news to him, and Lahabrea is not the type to provide a gentle way out.

If it was indeed a fully mandatory order, I would raise ENORMOUS eyebrows at the fact that the only member of the Convocation that sacrificed themselves was the one that literally had to; that sounds very Lord Farquad. "Some Half of you may will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." That definitely doesn't feel like the intended read, though, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to think of Emet as the sort of person who'd make those orders until he was ruling people he literally thought were subhuman.

[TowaIsBestGirl]

I always sort of read it as basically 'voluntold'. Like yeah, technically you're doing this of your own volition, but there's a lot of social expectation that you're just gonna be the one that has to do this.

Basically this. Was never an outright order per se, but there sure was a lot of peer pressure to offer yourself to the Zodiark machine. If even Hythlodaeus was persuaded.... Poor guy, he always gave me lacking self-esteem vibes personally. How low does one have to be relegated to to think outright offing oneself is the best they can contribute to the greater good?

[BaroLlyonesse]

Basically this. Was never an outright order per se, but there sure was a lot of peer pressure to offer yourself to the Zodiark machine. If even Hythlodaeus was persuaded.... Poor guy, he always gave me lacking self-esteem vibes personally. How low does one have to be relegated to to think outright offing oneself is the best they can contribute to the greater good?

I always though that the solution was proposed, and when decided, they asked for volunteers with a vague statement that if they didn't get enough, they would have to start making decisions. That would create a lot of peer pressure, yeah, especially since we know people were 'divided over the fate of the star', so I imagine there was a lot of 'I'm very important and you're not, you should do it' encouragement.

I don't think Hythlodaeus was lacking self-esteem. Look how he talks to Emet in Elpis. I think if the volunteer-to-commanded thing was true, Hyth would have been one of the first to raise his hand, to spare someone else. If you want a real heartbreak, if there were not enough volunteers first, it's possible that scene was Hyth telling Emet that he had taken Emet's position when Emet was randomly selected, and Emet is reacting to losing his best friend, realizing the sacrifice just made for him, and vowing to pay him back somehow before closing his fist in anger. Maybe even questioning if he himself would have made the same decision.

[SannaR]

I always sort of read it as basically 'voluntold'. Like yeah, technically you're doing this of your own volition, but there's a lot of social expectation that you're just gonna be the one that has to do this. I could see Erich especially considering it more forceful, especially since the expectaiton would've been greater for people in power, and that Lahabrea probably would've broken the news to him, and Lahabrea is not the type to provide a gentle way out.

If it was indeed a fully mandatory order, I would raise ENORMOUS eyebrows at the fact that the only member of the Convocation that sacrificed themselves was the one that literally had to; that sounds very Lord Farquad. "Some Half of you may will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." That definitely doesn't feel like the intended read, though, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to think of Emet as the sort of person who'd make those orders until he was ruling people he literally thought were subhuman.

Yeah, I could see it as having a lot of social pressure especially on those that had high profile jobs or were related to convocation members if they were still around. It just is interesting to me that they chose to use such wording this time around for some things unlike all previous mentioning. I do really hope that it wasn't an actual order or like a draft situation.