Lingering Questions

I thought I'd log some of the questions I still have about the story of the game at this point, after getting through a good portion of Confidential Files. I welcome comments if anyone can point me in the right direction of definitive answers -- I'll keep digging, too.

For the most part I'm not satisfied with hand-waving type answers that aren't really hinted at or confirmed in game or outside of the game in interviews or other materials. These are questions I'm still looking for concrete answers to - not theories.

1. Why doesn't Astos reset?
   The Strangers are pulled from the world before each reset and go back to Station 19. Everyone else in Cornelia resets -- including Sophia when she's left there in iteration 18. And Neon, who goes back to being a Cornelian citizen every time. The flashback of Astos teleporting Jack back to the Station indicates that Astos doesn't leave Cornelia, ever.
   The "easy" answer may be that it has something to do with Astos being a Lufenian creation, but it's not a very satisfying one.
   Sidenote - once Sophia is abandoned around cycle 15 (not 18 my bad), she reappears as Tiamat, and reforms as a human through the combination of her liberated body and her lingering memories. So her situation's a bit different.
   
   
2. How many other Strangers have there been, or are we to believe that Jack & co are the only ones ever? If these five (four, I suppose, since Neon isn't a Stranger) are the end-all be-all of the Stranger Project, I really just want a timeline of who was deployed and when. It doesn't look like Jack was always with Jed or Ash on every iteration, either.
   
   
3. If Neon really is Cornelian (confirmed in her profile in Confidential Files), why give her Stranger clothing that resembles Earth-like clothing like the others?
   I guess Neon's starting gear is the only gear that isn't specifically labelled as "Stranger," which clears this up a bit, but I can't help but think her clothing just doesn't look like the other Cornelians we see.
   Post Gilgamesh DLC update: We now have in-game confirmation (retconning?) that Neon was born of a Cornelian mother abducted from Cornelia, and experimented on in the womb to be turned into an artificial warrior of light. She was not just a random Cornelian.
   
   
4. Why did Sarah keep the dark crystal?
   Confidential Files specifically states that Neon is given her crystal by Astos again on every reset, meaning she doesn't keep it. So why does Sarah keep hers?
   The "easy" answer may be that Jack's dark crystal was special and so perhaps it has some kind of staying power? But nothing is described about Jack's crystal being different besides it especially enhancing his combat powers. 
   The final Fool's Missive analysis indicates that Astos has been giving Sarah her crystal on each reset (even if indirectly). So she didn't necessarily keep the same one that we see Jack give her in a previous cycle; Astos has been making sure she gets it each time.
   
   
5. Why does Jack ask Astos if he wants to go home / why doesn't Astos correct him?
   Lufenia isn't home to Astos and he does seem to be aware that he used to be a Cornelian elf who was turned into an organic reconnaissance unit by the Lufenians. If he's aware of this then isn't Cornelia home for him no matter how you slice it?
   I guess being with the Lufenians could be considered "home" for Astos, as he mentions that he was born in Cornelia and traveled the planes with the Lufenians before being reborn as a dark elf. So it's just a matter of him seeing that as more "home" than Cornelia.
   
   
6. Where are the other dark elves? No, really, where are they? Who did they support (Astos mentions other Stranger(?) have died for them)? And is Astos really a king here or is that just a fake role?
   There's so little worldbuilding for Cornelia itself that this is never really addressed outside of Astos mentioning his people offhand. One of the notes in Confidential File makes it sound like maybe Astos isn't actually a king but is just playing a part for the party that doesn't remember him, but it's not conclusive.
   
   
7. Why were there Lufenians left in Cornelia that Astos was able to turn into bats? Didn't they all haul ass out of there during the war with Cornelia? I also keep thinking I read somewhere that they were sent to investigate Astos, but I haven't been able to find that tidbit again if I'm not just inventing it (let me know if you can). 
   If they were sent to check on Astos, why did the Lufenians literally never get suspicious when, what, a dozen of their scouts never came back? Maybe this is more plot hole than unanswered question, but I'm not sure.
   
   
8. Confidential File actually creates a new question: Inoue states that Tiamat's role is to wipe out any Lufenians left in Cornelia. But... Tiamat didn't exist until iteration 18 around iteration 15, presumably well after Astos had already turned them all into bats. So, who's left in Cornelia? Are there more Lufenians than we know about?
   
   
9. Why did Astos get Neon involved and continue to involve her over and over? This one just doesn't really make sense to me, beyond the creators maybe just wanting to throw people off by having the wrong number of "warriors of light."
   I've come back to this one and suppose it really was because Neon was such a great potential source for darkness that Astos knew he could use to help realize Jack's plan and push Jack closer to becoming Chaos.
   
   
10. Did Astos die?
    Bonus question that I think I've puzzled out the answer to. Given that the creators have stated that Astos in FF1 is the result of his corruption/descent into darkness (based on his experiences from this game) and had once been handsome, I don't think Astos could have died. On the one hand, his final scene is pretty convincing, but his death isn't actually shown, and the Lufenian Logs later mention that Astos was a traitor and needed to be dealt with, implying he was still alive. But even if that log was perhaps written before the battle with Jack, it's requisite that Astos retain his memories and darkness from the SOP storyline to become the distorted creature he is in FF1. As a result, Astos couldn't possibly have died and been reset, or just been reset; it has to be the same Astos.
    Now whether the fiends managed to pull him back 1000 years or abandoned him in the other timeline, that I don't know.
    Post Gilgamesh DLC update: Well, obviously not :)

If you have any of your own questions, ask away in the comments. If I can't find an answer, I may add them to this list, too. I'm a big lore nerd who wants to turn over every single stone.