The wrong controller was the first thing I blamed the issues on. The fans shipped separately from different sellers and the LLs definitely came with a lighting node core and the QLs definitely came with the older controller. The LLs had been installed for a week before the QLs ever arrived. I went through he process with Amazon to report the inaccurate product, contacted the seller who was unwilling to work with me, then Amazon gave me a partial refund for my troubles on that front.
I tried hooking some of the QLs to the core and left some on the old controller. Double checked all connections, and nothing seems loose. ICue recognizes the core, but neither instant lighting or anything else I try gives me lights at all. The three that are still connected to the old controller still have light, though. I'm also not getting any fan speed control from my bios with the QLs, though bios control is working fine for the LLs connected to cores on the other rig.
Also possibly useful to note, the LLs were doing the default rainbow just fine until we installed iCue, then 6 of the 9 went black as soon as iCue installed and launched. Same issue where iCue recognizes the cores, have them set up for the correct number of LL fans, but no control and one of the two cores is giving dark fans.