#Unsunderered

[autumnslance]

The Unsundered and Tempering

There's apparently some kinda post going around ruffling jimmies about the Ascians versus the Ancients, with extreme assumptions about a society we see precious little of ourselves in game and mostly get informed of by people still grieving it millennia later.

Most of them antagonists, that like many other antagonists and allies, folks seem to want to take at face value for a lot of what they say, while often ignoring what they do and how, while speaking.

This is something I have noticed among fandom and roleplayers for decades, so it's nothing new, but there's a lot of times the text of any situation is making it clear that even if a character isn't outright lying--even thinks they are being "honest"--that is not necessarily the case.

It also comes back to making sure one is using all the available information--goodness knows I've made a fool of myself before by missing scenes or text that did explain someone's position on lore and characters!

Regardless of how one feels about certain plot points, storylines, or characters, they all inform each other in canon. Different characters say different things at different times in different company. A scene from two expansions ago may inform a new patch cutscene. Actions may contradict words. It all works together.

For an example, since it's come up elsewhere, I've had doubts about how Tempered the Unsundered were from the moment Emet-Selch claimed it, due to one of the last scenes in ARR, cutscene #5 in "Before the Dawn" where we see Lahabrea and Elidibus speak just before Urianger arrives in response to the Emissary's request for a meeting:

Lahabrea: The earth is fertile, and the seeds well sown. By my will, they shall reap salvation unlike any the world has known. Elidibus: By His will. Lahabrea: …By His will.

The Ascians in ARR and HW spend a lot of time telling the WoL about their One True God. Here though, in a moment of privacy before the Archon's arrival, Elidibus has to remind Lahabrea to check his ego as his actions are for Zodiark, not himself.

This is an early indication, alongside Nabriales's actions in the previous patch quests, that not everyone's on the same page in regards to the Ascian agenda. Nor is Zodiark's hold on each red mask absolute--even the ones initially at His summoning.

EDIT: Not to mention Fandaniel's actions in their entirety in Shadowbringers and Endwalker; killing one's god to usher in the end of the world is not the act of a tempered man!

Further doubt is placed on Emet-Selch's claim by Tiamat. We get more of her situation in the Shadowbringers patches, in the "Righteous Indignation" cutscene:

Tiamat: Recall, mortals, that it was I who did first summon my beloved, praying with all my being to bring him forth. You who contend with eikons cannot well be ignorant of the consequence. Alphinaud: …You too were exposed to his influence. That you are yet in possession of your own will is testament to the indomitable strength of your soul. Alphinaud: But were you to meet with Bahamut again, you fear you might succumb. Tiamat: Indeed. Ask the dragonslayer, and he will tell thee the power we of the first brood wield. Were I to lose myself to the eikon's influence, all would pay the price. Tiamat: But it is of little matter. For even had I the strength to resist, I yet lack the strength to break my shackles. This prison shall be my tomb. Alisaie: On the matter of Bahamut's influence, at least, I believe we can be of some assistance. Alisaie: If you're afraid of being enthralled, don't be─we have a cure. And while we've never tried it on one such as you, its basic principles are universal. Tiamat: Speakest thou in earnest? Alphinaud: There is no future for those bound to the past. Alphinaud: That you committed a terrible sin, I do not dispute. But if you feel remorse, you may yet make amends. We offer you that chance. Take it, or you will forever remain a prisoner, not of these cruel shackles, but of your own guilt. Tiamat: A chance to make amends… To lay Bahamut's memory to rest… Tiamat: When our own star faced annihilation, Hydaelyn granted us sanctuary. And now your foes would bring about Her destruction. This I cannot allow. For the debt I owe to Hydaelyn, and to all who have suffered for my sins…I shall fight with you, children of man.

Tiamat is a victim of the purposefully corrupted summoning magic the Ascians distributed. Yet she is not entirely enthralled by the Bahamut she summoned; she fears she would be if she were exposed further to a primal. Tiamat, as a Great Wyrm of the First Brood, is more akin in her aetheric composition to the Unsundered than most others on Hydaelyn. She knows she is influenced by the primal she summoned, and part of her remaining bound is to protect herself and the world from that consequence.

And then she chooses the cure and to move forward with her life, when given the option. As do other enthralled figures among the tribes when granted the option.

While there wasn't yet a cure when still fighting the Unsundered, entreaties to end their crusade and move forward fell on deaf ears--but I doubt very much it was due to Zodiark's influence entirely, and more their own stubborness after having clung to this course for ages.

The first cutscene of "Unto the Heavens" in Endwalker presents finally the intersection of original creation magic and modern summoning, as preparations are made to board the Ragnarok:

Livingway: You've done a fine job of readying the Ragnarok, but for it to take flight, we'll of course need the power of the Mothercrystal. Livingway: Given its immense size, however, transporting it would be an absolute logistical nightmare. Not to mention we'd need to shatter it into tiny shards for feeding to the engines. Livingway: But a brilliant idea came to me: we convert the crystal's energy into forms that can transport themselves! Urianger: Thou wouldst employ summoning…or should I say its precursor─creation magicks. Thancred: Care to explain for our benefit? Urianger: As you may have witnessed at Bestways Burrow, the Loporrits are capable of creation magicks, which they use to shape the moon's environment. Urianger: Yet simple though they make it seem, 'tis a highly advanced and exacting art. To perform it correctly requireth that the wielder holdeth the object in his mind's eye in clearest detail. Alphinaud: Hence the ancients' meticulous management of concepts. Urianger: Drawing upon this art, the Ascians conceived of summoning as we know it. Urianger: A derivative that replaceth the complexity of concepts with the simplicity of zealotry to make manifest a creation. Y'shtola: I see… By combining the Loporrits' magicks and the tribes' faith, we convert the Mothercrystal into primals of purer form and greater obedience. Y'shtola: Summoning as it was intended, one might say. Livingway: Indeed, indeed! Livingway: While Hydaelyn gave us the ability to use creation magicks, She forbade us from using it to make anything possessed of a soul─or similar. Livingway: She didn't say anything about fulfilling the desires of others, though. So! Borrowing our friends' faith, we'll create deities using the Mothercrystal's power, and send them to the Ragnarok! Alisaie: Am I the only one here concerned about the risk of being turned into a tempered minion? Livingway: Oh, right, I was getting to that… From what I've read in Sharlayan tomes, it appears the Ascians incorporated an additional nasty element into their summoning method: the fervent desire to assimilate others into one's belief. Livingway: Beings thus created are instilled with the selfsame desire, and use their powers to enthrall people─starting with the summoner. Livingway: In contrast, our creation magicks─the original and the best, accept no substitutes─don't incorporate any of that rubbish, so there's no risk of tempering. I mean, if the being was on the scale of Zodiark, you might feel a little “tug”…but I think we'll be safe enough.

From what we get here, summoning is quite obviously an offshoot of the original creation energies of the Ancients, but twisted by the thinness of the sundered mortals' aether and using faith and collected aether as a substitute. The tempering part was a later, intentional addition, possibly after the Unsundered had opportunity to examine the effect of Zodiark's summoning on themselves and extrapolating that.

Now, is some of this likely retconning to explain discrepancies in how characters acted and how tempering has been used? Probably! There was supposedly a rewrite of the main Ascian/Hydaelyn/Zodiark storyline, inherited from 1.0, which Stormblood allowed the time and consideration going forward on how they wanted to resolve this long arc. There's a lot in ARR and HW that has been recontextualized to fit, though some things still stand out a bit oddly; they did as good a job as they could, especially given the many years and writers involved.

But from the more recent writings, the intention is not to excuse the Unsundereds' actions with "they were tempered." And the final proof comes from Emet-Selch in Ultima Thule in cutscene #4 of "You Are Not Alone", having been through the preliminary wash cycle of the Lifestream long enough to have had various enchantments removed from him, while yet retaining his self before that too is washed out before reincarnation:

Alisaie: You're leaving!? Emet-Selch: Of course. The encore is finished, and I will not suffer myself to live again by Hydaelyn's magick. Emet-Selch: But more than that, the future you seek is not the past we loved. That is why we fought. And why I lost. Emet-Selch: But though you defeated me, my ideals are inviolate. Invincible. Emet-Selch: Spare me your pity. I have no use for it. If you would do something for me─save our star. Emet-Selch: See this tale to a triumphant conclusion, and with elation in your hearts, bid the final curtain fall. Emet-Selch: Only then may it rise again and a new tale begin─with new parts for all to play.

Through Shadowbringers, Emet-Selch claimed to want to cooperate with the Scions, while only giving bits and pieces of carefully considered information, and moving the goal posts whenever they did prove to him they were able to pass his tests and meet his expectations. It is not until this moment where, his duty to fight finished and the fate of his beloved world in any form at stake, that he is truly honest about what he did and why.

(I may also have an analysis WIP about comparing him and The Sandman's Morpheus and that stubborn refusal to change his mind and ideals, but it's slow going)

So while we mostly do have to go by what characters say, directly to WoL or to other characters in other scenes, each conversation cannot be taken in a vacuum; it is taken into account with their other conversations, with their actions, with other characters' input. And sometimes, the writers change direction, and new information will overwrite the old, even as it builds off of it.

The game is not consistent about Tempering and Summoning, though the double acts of Shadowbringers and Endwalker's story tries to clean that up. I just seriously doubt, from all the evidence, that the Unsundered were as entirely under Zodiark's thumb as say, one of Ifrit's over-hammered thralls and therefore not responsible for their choice and actions, the plans they made and came up with and clung to in stubborn guilt and grief and rage for so long they couldn't do anything else, even when presented proof of other options and chances to change or move forward.

Because another thing ShB and EW have shown us in both MSQ and in the Pandaemonium storyline, is who these men were, to become the Ascians we know, and how their own beliefs shaped them individually when faced with such loss--and how in each case, those past, pre-Zodiark selves would look at the eldritch beings they became by the Seventh era, and be horrified. Not because of any god's influence, but what they were capable of on their own.

...Well OK, Lahabrea already had a pretty good idea of what kind of monster he was capable of becoming. He also chose the worst way to handle it, and never seemed to learn from that. Elidibus and Emet-Selch though, while adamant in their beliefs, were also warped by what they chose to do and be, to where Elidibus even refused to remember his past to avoid the pain, tunneling into his duty with no wavering. Only Emet-Selch chose to remember, wallowing in it, acknowledging the monstrosity of his actions...and choosing to commit them anyway.

EDIT ADDITION: Relevant lore info directly from Banri Oda on Tempering and many other things.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Tempering #Ascians #Unsunderered #Emet-Selch #Lahabrea #Elidibus #Tiamat #Livingway #Banri Oda #lore #character analysis #A Realm Reborn #Shadowbringers #Endwalker

[eileenleahy]

the solidarity between lone female riders on public transit is unsunderable

[aetherstorms]

Answers

When Sycrus Tower sank beneath the ground, Amon knew the Allagan Empire had fallen at last, and with it, his will to resist the Ascian’s promises. He had felt the faintest trace of magick as the Tower had sank, and he knew his clone had done something, but since new memories did not flood his mind he knew whatever it was hadn’t killed the clone. That fragment of his apparently sundered soul was never to be returned to him.

But though he resigned himself to never knowing what had happened within, he still saw it from without, floating high above the ground with the Ascian who had come with honeyed promises. Statements that he was one of them, that his ‘rightful seat’ was that of Fandaniel. The faintest wisps from his persistent dreams told him to listen, which was one of the reasons he had left this fateful day to his clone.

“Come.” Amon turned his head when the Ascian Emet-Selch spoke. “This is only the beginning. The destruction will continue for some time, and there is no need to subject yourself to it further. There is much we must discuss.”

Throat tight, Amon could only nod. All of his hard work for naught. His Emperor lost, the Empire he had worked so hard to save, gone. What was left for him now but to follow?

It was only later that he understood his folly. He had been born a slave and clawed his way to freedom over the body of his own master. Had become not only a highly respected technologist, but considered perhaps the most brilliant mind of the modern age. He had been infamous, and yet now….now he was reduced to nearly nothing once more. He had been promised equality among this ‘Convocation’, only to discover that as a sundered soul he was considered less than the three whose souls had never been torn apart. They were equals only in theory rather than fact. 

To add insult to injury, he was encouraged to give up his true Elezen body or reshape it into a Hyur. Even his name was taken from him, forever more to be referred to as ‘Fandaniel’. Indeed, there seemed few benefits to this new life. Oh, there were some to be sure; learning how to pluck his soul from one body to occupy another was a handy trick, as was their utilization of the void to travel from place to place, or hiding in plain sight by using no vessel at all, only able to be perceived by those with the ‘Echo’. But he didn’t feel these benefits really outweighed the downsides of his lessened existence.

There were however also the answers to the questions which had plagued him all his life. Who was Hermes? What was Elpis? When he had grasped the crystal that held fragments of memories, it had triggered the return of the rest and he had finally been able to fill in the blanks, learn the full truth. XHermes–his prior self, or first self he supposed–had tried to erase the memories that had plagued him night after night. He had tried to erase the memory of what he had created, what he had, in his cowardice, done. Meteion. The Final Days. The Song of Oblivion. Zodiark. 

With these truths came the sobering realization that his yearning for the stars beyond, his desire to explore the heavens, was a futile desire. Even if the stars that twinkled yet remained, the worlds that had orbited them held no life and no answers. But then had there ever been? Meteion’s report had indicated otherwise….

But that no longer mattered. If all beyond was dead, then….

Oh Emperor Xande. What you failed to do in your bargain with the void, I will see fulfilled with the song of the Meteia!

But he needed to be patient and play along with the Ascians plan until the right time. Besides, creating the perfect plan to destroy Zodiark and open up the world to the Meteia would take much time and thought. There could be no room for error and he would need contingencies. But it was alright, he was immortal now. He had all the time he needed, and then finally every lifetime of pain and regret would be ended for good. 

Crawling on my belly like a snake, dancing to the tune of these ‘unsundered’. My soul may be less, but not my mind. They don’t know the cause was the coward Hermes, but when the Final Days come again it will be the name ‘Fandaniel’ that they curse!

Five thousand years he waited, schemed, and planned. Slowly did he put his plan into motion, siphoning aether to gather in strategic locations, the devices he made for the task much smaller than what had been needed to rise Azys Lla into the sky since he did not need anything to fly. The unsundered didn’t notice, fixated on Hydaelyn’s latest champion as they were. With every death of his ‘comrades’ he quietly celebrated, though he had to admit he may have been a bit overly excited when he realized that Elidibus had followed Lahabrea and Emet-Selch to the Lifestream.

But really, could he be blamed for his enthusiasm? It couldn’t possibly be more perfect! He had a Garlean fool who thought himself clever, though ‘lord’ Zenos certainly wasn’t the first to think so and wasn’t likely to be last before the Final Days engulfed the star. Indeed, the champion of Hydaelyn seemed to think much of themselves, even when standing before him in one of his own towers. 

“I have it on good authority you’ve poked your nose into an Allagan ruin or two, yes? Then I expect you’ve heard of me. The old me. Amon, at your service.”

While he lamented at being thwarted, things in truth continued more or less to plan. He let them think they were winning and positioned them exactly where he wanted them. He fell back onto almost every contingency, and in the end was perfectly positioned to take the prize.

“Do you remember when I told you that I wanted to die and take everyone with me? I meant it.”

He fell with a smile, his magnum opus finally coming to completion. Fusing with Zodiark, the last nail in the coffin was hammered in with his final breath.

The man I was would weep for what I have become. The all-consuming contempt. But I’ve the wisdom of ten millennia to justify my answer to the question. No value in their existence–not a whit. For all that I looked, none that did I see. 

A final chance then, for Hydaelyn and Her faithful. In cataclysm prove me wrong, I sneer. All shall return to nothingness. As was your will, Emperor Xande. I, the star, and every living being…consigned to your oblivion.

He thought this truly would be the end, and it was not until Hydaelyn’s beloved champion faced him in the Aetherial Sea was he given any reason to doubt his course. To think after five thousand years plus five thousand more of other lifetimes haunting him, that it would come to the final chapter…and he would find himself questioning.

“After all these years….is this the answer I was hoping for?”

But still, what difference did it make? Whatever his doubts might be, the Final Days were still here. Oblivion loomed, and with it the cessation of all pain and suffering. He allowed the pitiful worm Asahi to drag him deeper with this knowledge dogging his heels. It would all be over soon. 

Except he waited and waited, and it didn’t end. Curiosity drove him to float back up, to leave those souls content to fade, including the irritating worm whose body had once served as host, to find out what was going on.

He found….hope. He found….life! Against all odds, against despair personified, the hero had prevailed. He stared through the veil of death in awe and wonder. How? How had they done this? How when the Meteia had ended all other worlds, had they managed to prevail?!

A song of joy and life and hope rang through the universe now, carried by one small voice, but one that believed. What miracle had brought this about? What had turned this Meteion against the others? Why did she live? Why had she been spared?

He watched for quite some time afterward, and he found himself smiling slightly in spite of himself. So the test Hermes had placed before mankind had finally been answered. Life prevailed, even though it didn’t deserve to. Well, maybe this was its second chance then. Maybe….maybe it would all be worthwhile.

Next time, we will find the answer together.

Yes, that’s what the champion had told him. He found himself reaching up toward the light, found his mask, his very form, fading away as he gave in. 

Very well. I’ll hold you to that…hero….

#Fandaniel #Amon ffxiv #fanfic #drabble