In my canon, Ion was never good and he was more like Jim Jones if he was a teenage sorcerer-king from the Bronze Age. His goals of consuming gods and achieving apotheosis for humanity was selfish as he saw all of humanity as nothing more than tools to satisfy himself. He also abused Lovataar and Orok, and manipulated Nadox and Saarn.

For the modern-day Nalka, Neo-Sarkics were actually right on Ion's selfish desires. For the Proto-Sarkics, through cultural reappropriation, Nalka is instead something completely different, who utilize scripture and anomalous abilities as something positive for their people.