What happened to the Ascians???

[AlexiaKidd]

In 1.0 they looked really menacing and you never really knew what they were up to, in ARR they don't look anywhere near as cool. I was hoping all they way through the story that the Ascians we ran into were just brainwashed minions and the true 1.0 Ascians would arrive later on but it never happened. Is there a reason for this or did SE just get rid of the 1.0 versions for these clowns with silly masks?

If you don't know what 1.0 Ascians look like here is a pic:

[shinros]

Who is to say that is not their real form? Remember in the story they are possessing people. I also have a theory on how the acians were created.

[AlexiaKidd]

Who is to say that is not their real form? Remember in the story they are possessing people. I also have a theory on how the acians were created.

Which is why I wish they would show us a true Ascian if the 1.0 version is their true form. Even if they just showed a quick glimpse like you see in 1.0 just so you realise that they are not just these people in black that wear funny masks but actually this really menacing, floaty, skeleton thingy.

[Skies]

DID you finish the main quest? Just gotta ask that before I drop spoilers.

[AlexiaKidd]

DID you finish the main quest? Just gotta ask that before I drop spoilers.

Yes I finished the main quest today which is why I am here as I was hoping for a big reveal at the end that never came, instead we get a cutscene after credits which still shows them in human forms.

[Skies]

Yep.
Which means we still don't know what they look like.
And hey, i'd be surprised if they'd shown Lahabrea's true form there, because I certainly got a guess who's the new Lahabrea

[AlexiaKidd]

Gaius? But it would have been the perfect time to show a true form after he was released from Thancred, just to get that wow moment when you realise the Ascians are much more than what they have shown so far.

I hope to god they don't use Gaius as he deserves better than that.

[Dijana]

Considering they still seem to be a major threat, I imagine we will see a 'true form' (if they even have one) later on, when we fight them for real. Also, Im pretty sure they also possessed people in 1.0? I thought there was an elezen that got possessed, so they didnt just change it. Maybe that skeleton thing was a possessed being too.

[Anonymoose]

Considering they still seem to be a major threat, I imagine we will see a 'true form' (if they even have one) later on, when we fight them for real. Also, Im pretty sure they also possessed people in 1.0? I thought there was an elezen that got possessed, so they didnt just change it. Maybe that skeleton thing was a possessed being too.

I'm curious if Travanchet and the Reaper were the same Ascian - and doubly curious if this was Lahabrea's early work.

[RolandDebreton]

I'm going to necro bump this bad boy and make some speculation.

Spoilers (This is after Main Scenario 2.0 and After Good King Moggle Mog 2.1 - you have been warned!)

Main Scenario Spoilers -

Read at your own risk!

A new being appears in the Waking Sands, an ascian named Elidibus. He is robed in white and bears the title of Emissary. He differentiates himself from his black robed brethren by citing that he is not a warrior.

In the midst of his discussion with a member of the Waking Sands, Tataru rolls into the room and stands right next him. She goes on not even noticing hes there. Others are amazed that she cannot see him.

Elidibus notes this, and of the person who can see him he says, ""The gift (The Echo) grants you clarity; it grants you focus. With it, you may in time come to see us as we are, rather than this crude approximation." It appears that there is something of a true form for ascians and the humanoid form commonly seen in 2.0 is but a hint of their true nature.
It is implied by that statement that one may be able to will themselves by focus to see the real nature of a ascian, but that the Echo super-sizes that, and further dialogue indicates that one could potentially further that Echo-born vision with greater mastery.

Now to the corse-like apparition from 1.0 (visible in the Toll of the Warden mission [I kept a video of each of the main/city-state missions]). It terrified the beastmen as well as the civilized races of men who saw it. The people that saw it that day were tempered (Amulj'aa and Ixal) and non-tempered beastman (Sylph) as well as civilized races with (the hero's party) and presumably without the Echo (the crystal consortium merchant). The implication was that they all saw it in that horrid psudo-skeletal form. In point of fact, it looked right through the Sylvan glamour and saw your party.

My guess, since it later told Ifrit to not kill the Warrior of Light (1.0 mission) was that the ascian meant to be seen and meant to appear in this form. It wanted you to know it was acting, and to see this nature of it.

They can also take human form or possess humans as seen in Limsa 1.0 and Main Scenario 2.0

So far that's all I know about their forms, here are my present extrapolations based on what I know:

a.) Either it was an ascian revealing a form cruder than even those seen in 2.0 - we've better developed the Echo to see it as it really is. The better the global essence of Echo becomes, the better able they are to be seen less as horrors, or even indistinct humanoids but in their "true natures." Vision is based on our power to percieve

b.) They have been allowed to enter the world in a more significant way since the approach of Dalamud or the wake of the Calamity (I'm fuzzy on this one since Lahabrea and one of his underlings were hanging out at Cartenau pre-calamity in their whole-robed, skin-covered humanoid forms.) However, I have a theory based on why Bahamut's proximity would strengthen the ascians - but another time, another place. Vision is based on their ability to appear

c.) This was an underling or different/lesser kind of ascian (we've already had revealed that they have different roles/classes/castes named "warrior-types," emissaries, underlings). Different kind of the same creature

d.) This is something they are completely changing up and will retcon (I totally doubt this - they will explain why we see different forms)

I'm wobbling around on this one, but I'm leaning to c.