Ascian

The Ascians, also referred to as Paragons and Bringers of Chaos, are a mysterious cult of supernatural beings in Final Fantasy XIV who taught the beast races of Eorzea how to summon Primals from the aether.

Legends say that Ascians arrive in times of need to lead those in darkness to the light of the Primals, but in fact they have secretive agendas of their own revolving around their deity Zodiark. There are two kinds of Ascians seen so far: the human-like overlords and more bestial creatures encountered in the original game's Path of the Twelve storyline. It is implied, however, that these forms are "crude approximations" by those who perceive them and their true forms are unknown.

Profile
Each Ascian overlord, with the exception of Elidibus, is dressed in the same uniform: A single black leather hooded coat with purple markings. They also bear silvery adornments such as pauldrons, all of them done in a spiky, symmetrical style. When they ready for combat, a red glyph appears over their face. The overlords have the ability to use dark crystals to convert a person into a host body, using it to suit their ends. They also wear masks to further hide their identities, the lesser Ascians wearing a grey mask while overlords bear a red stylized mask. One notable exception is Travanchet, who appears simply as an Elezen pirate, distinguished only by the lack of a shadow.

The bestial Ascians have a very different appearance; they are similar to contemporary representations of grim reapers, with skeletal bodies and long habits with hoods that completely cover their heads and faces. Their legs are not visible, and they have skeletal bird-like wings sprouting from their back.

Final Fantasy XIV
The first hint of the Ascian's presence appears to be during the Limsa Lominsa storyline. The Adventurer encounters two mysterious figures called Emerick and Travanchet, who are linked to recent attacks on shipping by the Sahagin beast tribe. Travanchet, who wields mighty powers and, for some reason, does not cast a shadow, later steals a stone "key" from the Miqo'te sage Y'shtola before knocking the Adventurer unconscious and vanishing.

The Ascians are properly encountered during the Path of the Twelve storyline. The Adventurer is tasked by Minfilia with visiting a Amalj'aa excavation site in Gridania to negotiate with two of the beast tribes: the Amalj'aa and the Ixali; the two tribes are on the verge of summoning their respective Primals, which would cause untold destruction. Just as the Adventurer stops the tribes from going through with the ritual, a bestial Ascian appears and frightens the tribes away.

The Sylphs, who are in the process of opening crystal trade with the two tribes again, later mention the Ascians by their alternative name "Paragon", saying that they were the ones who taught the tribes to summon their Primals. Although not seen in the rest of the original game, in flashbacks during A Realm Reborn, the Ascian leader Lahabrea is shown to have been watching the unleashing of Bahamut.

A Realm Reborn


In the aftermath of the Seventh Umbral Era, the Ascians start to emerge from hiding, influencing local criminal groups across Eorzea, the beast tribes and even the Garlean invasion force lead by Gaius Van Baelsar. Their leader is a masked Mage named Lahabrea, first encountered in a vision received by the Adventurer from Hydaelyn's crystal: Lahabrea appears from a black void and attacks him/her just as the vision ends.

As the Adventurer goes on the first missions in either Limsa Lominsa, Gridania or Ul'dah, a black-masked Ascian overlord appears, manipulating events behind the scenes. When the Adventurer resolves the threat, the Adventurer is confronted by an unknown Ascian in a black mask, who covers the village in darkness and summons a Gargoyle from the Void to fight the Adventurer. The Adventurer defeats both the Gargoyle and the masked Ascian. After his defeat, the Ascian vanished to be replaced by a dark Crystal, which shatters as the Adventurer approaches.

Throughout the Main Scenario, the influence of Ascians are uncovered, all with recurring sightings of "masked mages" throughout Eorzea. In addition to influencing beast tribes, it is revealed they had a hand in other events, such as spurring youths of Little Ala Mihgo in a scheme to summon Rhalgr and were reported behind the strange events at Haukke Manor. This extended to some other quest lines; in the Summoner storyline it is revealed the dark summoner Tristan made a deal with an Ascian to obtain knowledge of primals.

Eventually revealed to have possessed the body of Thancred, the Ascian leader Lahabrea reveals his organization's true intentions to revive the dark deity Zodiark by using Gaius and the Ultima Weapon under his control. Though the Ultima Weapon is destroyed and he is purged from Thancred's body by the Adventurer, Lahabrea regains physical form as he meets up with more primary members of the Ascians—three of them identified as Pashtarot, Igeyorhm, and Nabriales—to make preparations for Zodiark's resurrection.

Chronicles of a New Era
The Ascians begin to more active in their goal to revive their deity while their emissary Elidibus appears to meet with Minfilia, having a discussion with her before knocking the woman out in self defense when she refused to let him leave. Elidibus later explains himself to the Adventurer while formally introducing himself before leaving with the promise of meeting again. Two unnamed Ascians, who have noted that Hydaelyn has grew weaker despite the people of Eorzea having survived the "Rejoining" seven times by now, have been teaching the Beast Tribes to summon more powerful versions of their Primals. The two then observe the Adventurer fighting the Primals as the warrior of light's victory only served to further the Ascians' own plans. Elsewhere, Lahabrea and Elidibus appear at the side of Thordan VII, implying that the Ascians have been influencing the Archbishop of Ishgard.

To combat the Ascians, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn began to study a counter measure to use against them. Moenbryda, having traveled to Eorzea from Sharlayan to help with Lady Iceheart, made a hypothesis that aether can be used destroy an Ascian's soul if enough is gathered into a "blade of light". Nabriales, having questioned Elidibus's actions and not wanting to wait for another "Rejoining" to naturally occur, decides to take advantage of the Adventurer losing Hydaelyn's blessing in the aftermath of encountering Midgardsormr to attack the Scions' now defenseless headquarters to obtain Louisoix Leveilleur's staff for his agenda. But it ended with his death when Moenbryda sacrifices her life so that her theory will work, and Nabriales is thus the first Ascian to be slain.

Heavensward
The Ascians make an appearance in Ishgard.

Members

 * Elidibus (Emissary)
 * Lahabrea
 * Pashtarot
 * Igeyorhm
 * Altima
 * Emmerololth
 * Nabriales
 * Travanchet (Pseudonym)

Likely Members

 * Loghrif
 * Mitron
 * Emet-Selch
 * Fandaniel
 * Halmarut
 * Deudalaphon

Musical Themes
Nearly all appearances of an Ascian in both Version 1.0 and A Realm Reborn is accompanied by "Without Shadow."

Etymology
This reflects their distinguishing trait and their musical theme.

Trivia

 * The Ascians overlords are named after the Scions of Light mentioned in Final Fantasy XII. This fits in with their Ophiuchus-themed deity and emissary, the former named after the Esper and the latter after the legendary wizard, in the Ivalice games.
 * The glyphs over Ascians' faces in A Realm Reborn further connect to the Espers from said game. Lahabrea occasionally is seen with a symbol similar to the bottom of Mateus's glyph in Final Fantasy XII and the anonymous Ascian fought early in the story has a glyph resembling Belias's glyph from Final Fantasy XII.
 * The mask worn by Lahabrea and Elidibus resembles the kind of masks used in the Noh theater tradition in Japan, albeit only partially covering the face.
 * The bestial Ascians resemble the recurring Lich, specifically the design seen in Final Fantasy Tactics.