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, which they consider as desire personified, 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 truth they have hidden agendas of their own revolving around their deity Zodiark. Ascians generally appear as masked men wearing black robes, or in some cases as a skeletal lich, but it is implied these forms are "crude approximations" by those who perceive them and their true forms are unknown. There are also Ascian Primes, fusion forms the Ascian Overlords use as a last resort in a fight.

Profile
Each Ascian overlord, with the exception of Elidibus, is dressed in the same uniform: A black leather hooded coat with purple markings. They bear silvery adornments, such as pauldrons, done in a spiky, symmetrical style. When they ready for combat, a red glyph appears over their face. The overlords can use dark crystals to convert a person into a host body, using it to suit their ends. They wear masks to further hide their identities, the lesser Ascians wearing a gray 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 skeletal Ascians have a different appearance, similar to contemporary representations of grim reapers, with skeletal bodies and long habits with hoods that cover their heads and faces. Their legs are not visible, and they have skeletal bird-like wings sprouting from their back. The Ascian Primes are similar to the bestial Ascians, but are larger with their faces being composed of two Ascian Overlords' masks combined.

When an Ascian dies, its soul ends up at the Aetherial Rift between Hydaelyn and the Void where they reconstitute and later acquire a new host body. While Ascian overlords can possess other living beings and return to the rift, there are implications lesser Ascians are more restricted, as they use the bodies of the deceased and cannot return to the rift if slain. While white auracite can temporarily seal Ascians, pure aether could effectively destroy them. The method usually involves trapping an Ascian in white auracite and then shattering it with a blast of pure aether, or the Ascian's displaced essence can be absorbed by a primal.

Before Final Fantasy XIV
Having existed for eons, the Ascians have long influenced the history of Hydaelyn by sowing disorder and teaching people the means to summon primals, embodiments of a desire. While legends say that Ascians arrive in times of need to lead those in darkness to the light of the primals, they actually master-mind a series of events that would result in a Rejoining, a cataclysm to further revive their deity Zodiark, known to historians as the Umbral Eras.

During the Third Astral Era, the Ascians had persuaded the grief-stricken Tiamat and the Meracydian dragons into reviving Bahamut as a primal. They then also provided the Allagan emperor Xande the means to capture and bind primals, including Bahamut. While Bahamut was sealed in Dalamud, the Warring Triad were imprisoned at Azys Lla to power their aetherochemical research.

Final Fantasy XIV
The adventurer encounters two mysterious figures called Emerick and Travanchet 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 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. 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 they were the ones who taught the tribes to summon their primals. The Ascian overlord Lahabrea is known to have been watching the unleashing of Bahamut during the Calamity.

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 appears, manipulating events behind the scenes. When the adventurer resolves the threat, he or she 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 who vanishes to be replaced by a dark crystal, which shatters as the adventurer approaches.

The influence of Ascians is gradually uncovered 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 the youth of Little Ala Mhigo in a scheme to summon Rhalgr, reports of being behind the strange events at Haukke Manor, and the dark summoner Tristan Nightflicker is revealed to have made a deal with an Ascian to obtain knowledge of primals.

Eventually revealed to have possessed the body of Thancred, the Ascian leader Lahabrea unveils 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.

Seventh Astral Era
The Ascians begin to be 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 her out in self defense when she refuses 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 grown 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 observe the adventurer fighting the primals as his or her victory only serves to further the Ascians' 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 study a counter measure to use against them. Moenbryda, having traveled to Eorzea from Sharlayan to help with Lady Iceheart, hypothesizes that aether can be used destroy an Ascian's soul if enough is gathered into a "blade of light." Nabriales, having questioned Elidibus' 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, attacking the Scions' now defenseless headquarters to obtain Louisoix Leveilleur's staff for his agenda. It ends with his death when Moenbryda sacrifices her life to prove her theory and Nabriales is thus the first Ascian to be slain.

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
The Ascians make an appearance in Ishgard, with Lahabrea and Igeyorhm offering aid to Thordan VII in his mad quest to end the Dragonsong War as part of their plan to start the Eighth Rejoining. The two Ascians confront the adventurer at the Aetherochemical Research Facility where they intend to kill him or her for interfering. During the battle, the two Ascians find themselves overwhelmed by the party and use the power of the Echo to combine into an Ascian Prime to gain the upper hand. The Ascian Prime is defeated, Lahabrea separating from Igeyorhm before she is destroyed by being sealed in white Auracite; this is shattered by aether from the left eye of Nidhogg. Thordan appears, revealing he knew of the Ascians' agenda, and ends their alliance when he becomes King Thordan and destroys Lahabrea's physical form, before absorbing the Ascian's aether-based essence. After King Thordan's defeat and Ishgard joining the Eorzean Alliance, Elidibus notes the imbalance caused by the adventurer will keep them from their goal and decides to sick the Warriors of Darkness on the Beastmen as a countermeasure. Though the plan did not go exactly to plan, Elidibus obtained the eyes of Nidhogg and bestows them to theAla Mhigan extremist known as Griffin.

A minion of Lahabrea, the Ascian of the Twelth Chalice, reanimates by the body of Tristan's brother and attacks many travelers in Thanalan. Once the undead summoner is slain, the Ascian reveals himself, frustrated at losing another pawn. He later attacks the adventurer, Y'mhitra, and Dancing Wolf, at the Carteneau Flats during an attempt to harness the Dreadwyrm's power to achieve a trance, but flees when the trance is achieved. Noting his sudden cowardice, Y'mhitra suspects lesser Ascians are unable to possess living beings and would perish if no available host is nearby. To test this, she tricks him and his associates into an ambush outside the Great Gubal Library in the Dravanian Hinterlands, knowing the place is too remote for them to find another host.

Members

 * Elidibus (Emissary)
 * Lahabrea
 * Pashtarot
 * Igeyorhm
 * Altima
 * Mitron
 * Emmerololth
 * Nabriales
 * Travanchet (Pseudonym)
 * Ascian of the Twelfth Pentacle
 * Ascian of the Twelfth Sword
 * Ascian of the Twelfth Staff
 * Ascian of the Twelfth Chalice

Likely members

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

Musical themes
Nearly all appearances of an Ascian in all versions are accompanied by "Without Shadow." Most boss fights against Ascian overlords use "Thunderer" as the battle theme, while "The Maker's Ruin" plays during the battle against Ascian Prime.

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 skeletal Ascians resemble the recurring Lich, specifically the design seen in Final Fantasy Tactics.
 * Should the player complete the Heavensward Main Scenario first and the Level 60 Summoner Quest second, the dialogue will change, showing that the Ascians of the Twelfth know of their master's fate before battling and after being defeated by the Warrior of Light.