It's one of my more cherished pet-theories
that Seswatha looked into the Inverse Fire and saw what Damnation was
, and then realized that the Consult was more or less correct in their goal of wanting to stop it, at least in spirit, but he had a better way of going about it; the Dunyain. The Dunyain, however, by their nature, would "forget" about the past (and the Gnosis), so he had to create the Mandate so that the history would be remembered. Eventually the two would cross paths (see: Akka and Kellhus) and combine their purposes. Seswatha wants to end damnation, but he also wants to stop the Consult.