#◟༺✦༻◞ analysis within the ley lines ichor ┊study.┊

[reginrokkr]

◜In the perpetual meantime of sheltered eternity, most are content to live and not to dream. But in the hidden corners where the gods' gaze does not fall, there are those who dream of dreaming.◞

𝐗𝐗. It's hard to believe that even these words would have an actual meaning one day, and it seems to slowly come in full circle with a very special weapon lore. This is just one example of other crumbs spread through the story that bring more context while leaving unanswered questions behind all the same.

“O Leader of Khaenri’ah’s noble families, the crimson shadow of the moon has long fallen into the abyssal sky, your bloodline too has gone blind in one eye after all.” [...] This was during the faraway times when the shine of the pitch-black sun did not yet cover the whole underground, and the ancient honorable clan ruled the vast kingdom.

The thought that the bloodline of the king of this time is notorious for being blind in one eye during the era of the Crimson Moon Dynasty —gentle reminder that this was when birds had yet to be classified between wild and otherwise as per human standards and, as the first dynasty of Khaenri'ah, this is set around the Apocalypse— and that the last king of Khaenri'ah during the Eclipse Dynasty is depicted to have one eye also is really interesting. It comes to speak how long-lasting this clan was.

The priests, stubborn and old-fashioned, convinced the decrepit muddle-headed king to believe that the Crimson Moon’s corpse up in the sky was the master of all, dictating and governing everything; Because the color and lustre of the moonlight was flowing through the veins of the ordinary mortal, the source of the darkness that was hidden at the abyssal bottom too must be the Crimson Moon.

For being a kingdom whose foundation is their lack of belief in gods —and profanity, as such—, it's curious to see how these people place their faith in other asters, entities or abstract concepts such as the Crimson Moon in this case, but the Abyss later on as well. The notion that the lustre of the moonlight is known for flowing through these people's veins brings me back to the Pale Princess and Six Pygmies tale that talks about the Kingdom of the Moonlight Forest, described to be born with fair skin, light-colored hair and bright blue eyes. If we're to think about Gold who lived during this era and the possibility that Albedo was created in her image, this description from the book may have some credence in the real lore. Moreover, there is another character connected to Khaenri'ah that hits the mark with these descriptive traits, that is Dain.

It is also curious that the darkness that is hidden at the very bottom part of the Abyss is believed to stem from the Crimson Moon, which isn't entirely far-fetched. This moon is highly likely one of the moon sisters that passed away in the disaster that befell then (although it's inconclusive if it's the same moon corpse that shines in Teyvat or is a different one) and, as per Skirk's words, those who die leave curses behind. These words stand true if we take examples such as Orobashi or what Hu Tao described that happened prior to the establishment of the funeral parlor.

As such, it was only proper for the King of Mankind to name himself after the Crimson Moon. Just as the light and flame of the two realms, ruling over impermanent fate.

The concept of two realms is highly intriguing, as well as the two of them harboring a light and flame. These realms are probably different from the realms mentioned in the event that happened in Enkanomiya, which mentioned the Light Realm (or realm of the elements / Vishap Realm), Human Realm and Void Realm. The measure of these two realms seems to be different in order to differentiate them. Nevertheless, it is interesting to bring up the mention of a beast realm as per Narzissenkreuz / René's claim that someone opened it.

Thus, the humans who sought transcendence built countless magnanimous towers, and prayed upon the long dead Crimson Moon to bring them salvation.

The transcendence term isn't new, specially when thinking back what the Crystal said during the Caribert AQ— words claiming about becoming a transcendent one. And perhaps not unrelated to this, within the neo-human project of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo there was a manner of transcendence achieved by Jakob and René, as their bodies had a composition that is similar to that of Khvarena but opposing at the same time and different to Carter, a normal mortal. Moreover, considering that the form Jakob took is that of an Iniquitous Baptist and another NPC from the questline of Khvarena of Good and Evil took pride in becoming an Abyss Herald, alongside the fanaticism that was present in Khaenri'ah for the Abyss, it isn't unreasonable to think that for these people, transcendence is being one of these creatures (mages, heralds, baptists). Whether this is the transcendence they sought or something different is inconclusive, albeit not incompatible.

Another point of interest is the premise of praying for salvation from an unknown variable: it could be that these people live in a more hospitable place one day, devoid of the dangers that spill from the Abyss and the overall poor state of the land that is incompatible with life; it could be from the very gods who the founders of Khaenri'ah ran away from; the concept of fate; who knows if a combination of all of them or an entirely different aspect yet to be introduced.

[This lasted] Until the astronomers, who were shunned as heretics, glimpsed the source of the fate of everything in the world in the reflection of the false sky, [This lasted] Until suspicion and anger grew like an inextinguishable wildfire, and ravaged the dreamless land, ultimately reaching the moon-colored high palace…

The false sky. Another concept introduced very early on in the story during the Unreconciled Stars event that chronologically-wise, it's been known about for even longer. And yet, this very knowledge seems to be one of the reasons why these astronomers were shunned as well as one of the reasons why something occurred in Khaenri'ah. Perhaps related to this newly-learned knowledge that people couldn't accept, that shook the foundations of everything they believed in. Whatever happened at this moment of time, it caused the nigh-extinction of this race of people.

In honor to the prelude of this post, the confirmed notion that Khaenri'ah is a dreamless land and that its people dream of dreaming perhaps because they can't to begin with. It's interesting when putting them in juxtaposition with those who live in Teyvat, maybe because they live "easier" lives if compared to Khaenri'ah, as they're submitted to the gods and their help which, unfortunately, comes at a steep price.

By the time the pitch-black sun shone upon all, the name of the Crimson Moon faded just like its color, and its tainted remains were only left with the title of Balemoon. No matter if they were the “impure” who suffered the curse, or if they were the “spotless” yet untouched by fate, no one still claimed themself to be a follower of the moon’s corpse.

Another mystery is explained, even if partially, when the notion that the opposite of impure who can't suffer from the same curse (of the wilderness), allegedly the pure-blood Khaenri'ahns are untouched by fate. Considering all the layers of relevance fate has in Teyvat, going as far as being connected to the Heavenly Principles and the constellations (except for Neuvi at the very least), this is groundbreaking to even think about. At the same time, I can't help but wonder what exactly makes the pure-blood Khaenri'ahn pure-blood besides not being tainted by fate or by the curse.

Only very few managed to evade the clan-extinguishing disaster, and hid themselves in the shadows where the Black Sun could not reach, waiting for the Crimson Moon to offer recompense in the name of revenge. But in the end, that so-called recompense had not yet arrived when the Black Sun too fell due to the same foolishness and arrogance. When the destruction came again, the only one left laughing was the moonlight that fell upon the sun’s shadow of which only ashes remained.

It's interesting the thought that besides the astronomers branded as heretics for acquiring the knowledge of the sky being false, there are others of this race of people —the few who survived— that wanted nothing to do with the Eclipse / Black Sun dynasty and that whatever happened, they want to seek revenge on them. This is further demonstrated with the personification of, supposedly, the Crimson Moon laughing at the Eclipse Dynasty fall when the Cataclysm happened.

“Fate, o Fate, terrifying and pale-white fate, why would you go so far as to submit to the savage and wilful usurping monarch,” “If the corpse of the Balemoon has already anchored death upon you, then what meaning is there in seeking revenge for old blood feuds,” “If the fate she has woven mocks us so, then there is no harm for us to loudly mock fate too,” “Until the fragmented shadows of the Cinder Sun incinerate the old world, until the Crimson Moon witnesses the pure, spotless break of dawn.”

Lastly, it intrigues me the prospect that something abstract as fate isn't one and the same, but it differs depending on who weaves it or on the entity it submits to. From Dain's perspective, it's particularly sad the thought that he was searching for his destiny alongside the abyss twin when they found each other in Sumeru. The reason being not because he had one and lost it alongside the kingdom's fall, but more because... as a pure-blood Khaenri'ahn, he never had a fate to begin with. Which in a way can be positive considering all the problems fate gives in this world and at the hands it is enacted, and inspiring coming from him to be master of his own fate as he wishes on everyone else and that he's actively working on.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐗: Visions and Gnoses.

Neuvillette as a character gave groundbreaking information about topics that were shrouded in mystery (and still are at the present), which answered some existing questions about vital matters to Teyvat like Visions.

To continue to subdue and control the resentments and loathing of the world, the usurper and one who came after created the Gnoses together. So it came to be that an order was made to be upheld, and thus did humans come to only possess the seven remembrances, and all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other. From that day on, whenever a person's wishes reached the heavens, the seven overseers of the material realm were duty-bound to grant them a gift. Though they might know nothing of who or what wish had stepped into the threshold of the sacred, the Seven Archons still had to impart a shattered shard of their mastery to that person. And when one so gifted completed their duty... the gift the gods would receive in return would be more abundant still.

From this excerpt we get various points of interest worth mentioning, such as:

✦ Gnoses were created in order to continue the subjugation and control over the resentments and loathing of the world. ✧ Humans are restricted to seven elements. ✦ The creation of the Gnoses was the beginning of the Visions, thus the allogenes' existence. ✧ It's limited to the material realm. ✦ Visions are fragments of an Archon / Sovereign's authority over an element, but they also receive something in exchange.

Gnoses were created in order to continue the subjugation and control over the resentments and loathing of the world.

Previous to the Apocalypse / second war between Phanes and Nibelung and the dragons, Phanes has a record of suppress at least two preexistent original orders in Teyvat: the original vital force of the planet and the original order of the world. This could cause the world of Teyvat to create something (an energy, a substance, etc.) in order to fight back this suppression at the hand of Phanes and the gods he appointed for this matter, it could refer to the resentments and loathing of the dragons and vishaps as the original dwellers of Teyvat or both.

By the time Nibelung came with Forbidden Knowledge to Teyvat to try to defeat Phanes and the associated gods to him, other invaders also came that caused destruction, spred plagues, warred against the Seelies but also brought illusions that could break through the shackles of the land as per Nabu Malikata's statement to King Deshret. And out of fear of the rising tide of delusions and breakthroughs, he sent the sapphire nails to mend the land.

As a result of the Apocalypse / second war, Phanes was severely wounded in the great war of vengeance and had him functions ruined, and could no longer use his absolute authority to suppress the original order of this world, leading into the creation of Gnoses so everything he was suppressing and controlling continue to be suppressed and controlled by other means that don't involve him, as he no longer can. This was made possible with the corpse of the Third Descender as per Skirk's claims, which in turn also left an unknown curse behind.

Humans are restricted to seven elements and it's limited to the material realm.

Which makes their potential be limited at the same time. There aren't only seven elements, just as it's known that what we currently perceive is just a watered down version of the primordial elements or a broken down form of them, meant to be simpler than what it would be otherwise.

Another reason why humanity potential is limited is because this binds allogenes to the material realm. In Gnosticism, the material realm is considered evil and impure, which makes bodies a prison to souls and don't allow them to transcend into the spiritual realm, freed from the Demiurge and closer to attain gnosis, ergo knowledge and a fragment of the true God. Those who have a higher amount of itself are closest to it.

Despite their own madness, the Narzissenkreuz Ordo believes that receiving a Vision equaled to running into a path of destruction. Furthermore:

However, the ancients' study and differentiation of the spirit reached heights that we ourselves found challenging to attain... While, for the most part, it was divided into memory, wishes, soul and persona, a spirit's qualities still carried complex distinctions... Among these, the state that came closest to the perfect freedom that divinities possessed was named "True Will"... The detachment of human will with such meticulous research was a jumping-off point... Perhaps it was through this power that the ancients achieved transcendence from the physical realm. Despite this remarkable achievement, they were unable to escaped their fate, which appeared preordained...

This could be applied to gods even, as it's said that a tainted will of a god isn't allowed to pass into the Realm of Light and are bound to last in the material realm instead. An example of this is Egeria.

Visions are fragments of an Archon / Sovereign's authority over an element, but they also receive something in exchange.

When an allogene fulfills their duty, the Archon in question will receive more than they have lost in giving a fragment of their authority over their element to an allogene via a Vision. Furthermore, it can be deducted that if Gnoses were created to uphold the subjugation and control over the resentments and loathing of the world, so might be the case of the Visions by extension. In a way, this makes itself manifest at the knowledge that allogenes have a higher resistance to Withering Zones than normal humans would. However, this rises some questions about how good or ill are the intentions behind this. For one because it's up to debate if allogenes are a different level of puppets to the higher gods of Celestia just like the Archons themselves are. On the other hand, the implications that those who "were not chosen by the gods" are dregs as per their perception, potentially because in achieving other kinds of powers unrestricted by the seven elements alone are something more like thorns on their side (for instance, the power of the Abyss can subjugate the elements, meanwhile the celestial energy / Khvarena assimilates them and strengthens them).

[reginrokkr]

𝐗𝐗𝐈. Last night I had an eureka moment when thinking about the possibility that those who abandon their gods are immediately cursed to turn into hilichurls at some point. This led me to think back of Khaenri'ah and that either some or all of them were branded as the greatest sinners and then I remembered that in actuality, Sumeru did introduce us to six cardinal sins —mentioned in one of Cyno's stories— that to be fair, might apply to more than just what was happening in the nation of wisdom at that time. A bit of research in combination with an excellent wording from a subreddit makes for a far more comprehensive list of sins:

✦ Sin of creation —to tamper with human evolution—: Evolution and creation in the face of the gods.

✧ Sin of immortality —to tamper with life and death—: Tampering with life and death in the face of the gods.

✦ Sin of arcane —to delve beyond the universe—: Discovery of fate / destiny and arcane knowledge in the face of the gods.

✧ Sin of genesis —to investigate the origin of words—: Exposing divine lies and beliefs in the face of the gods.

✦ Sin of omission —to revere gods without acts of devotion—: Failure to perform a divine request in the face of the gods.

✧ Sin of reason —to attempt the forbidden and fear none / to divulge secrets without a hint of fear—: Divulging divine secrets without fear in the face of the gods.

To tackle what first brought me to think about the six cardinal sins when wondering what sin the people who are prone to turn into hilichurls at some point, I believe that the most suitable one for their particular case would be the sin of omission. While I can't tell for sure about all the people who travelled from the seven nations to Khaenri'ah, when thinking about Sal Vidagnyr, these people's sin was to question the gods when they said that they would benefit from a good life and they wanted to know what would happen after the years they said that this would extend. In answer, the gods fell in silence and stopped guiding humans (it's also possible that it coincided with what happened around the Apocalypse era) and these people pursued the heavens to see for themselves if the concept of divinity was real to begin with, only for the civilization to end in disaster as a result. By taking this example into account, the loss of faith in gods altogether and their pursuit of a land devoid of their gaze could suffice for these people as well as their descendants to be branded with the curse of wilderness.

If we're to bring all of these to Khaenri'ah and what limited knowledge we have of that kingdom, just by reading these sins alone is enough to come to the sound conclusion that, if they didn't commit all of them, they did most of them:

The sin of creation is self-explanatory by thinking about Gold alone with her creations of monsters. So it is the sin of immortality with the pursuit of transcendence, but also if we think that at least Gold lived for several millennia since the Crimson Moon dynasty. As for the sin of arcane, it was mentioned in a certain weapon description that astronomers branded as heretics discovered the truth of the false sky and the source of fate with it. The sin of genesis is what makes me doubt the most if taken in the literal sense of looking into the origin of words, but exposing lies told by gods themselves is something we saw the Abyss Order pursuing, specifically if we think back about Enjou and his desire to achieve Before Sun and Moon, as they believe that the world didn't start with gods. Lastly, the sin of reason checks too just by considering that Khaenri'ah was actively pursuing Forbidden Knowledge and in some descriptions of Abyss Order monsters, they seem to have an obsession with divulging certain truths very well concealed.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐈𝐗: Timeline of befallen events in Sumeru —Schwanenritter and Knight Marshal Anfortas—.

It is known through non-collectable documents left in the interior of Ruin Golems scattered across various areas of Sumeru that in this country existed a group of Khaenri'ahn knights by the name of Schwanenritter led by Knight Marshal Anfortas who fought during the Cataclysm against the tide of the abyssal monsters to protect Sumeru using these Mechanical Wardens. However, this protection didn't come without its own struggles within the Schwanenritter such as the contraction of an unknown illness of one of its members (possibly Eleazar, the Curse of Immortality or both at the same time), the disappearance of Ynghildr amidst the combat and return to her post in the Ruin Golem as a transcendent one in the form of an abyssal Black Serpent Knight and Hadura's "betrayal" and death at the hand of Knight Marshal Anfortas.

Nevertheless, new information sheds light onto two matters: 1) the Schwanenritter were in Sumeru for more than just to fight abyssal monsters [Dev] and 2) they have fought another wave of Dev before the coming of the Cataclysm called Onslaught of Dark Beasts.

In Girdle of the Sands, there exists a Forge of the Abandoned Foundry that was used to manufacture Azosite energy blocks and Mechanical Wardens, and to also use as a battleground to test their efficacy before using them in the wilderness of Sumeru. However, while there is knowledge that Khaenri'ah used the abyssal energy to operate them, this forge in specific was using the power of elements crystallized in Azosite. The change from using pure elements to the Void thereafter suggests that Khaenri'ah didn't use always the latter and that its usage is a relatively recent thing in the story of Khaenri'ah [there is an event that took place in Tsurumi Island in which an "Anomalous" Model Ruin Grader kept sustaining itself with nearby Ley Lines. Furthermore, it is not so strange that the Khaenri'ahns would resort to change one energy for another, as it is known that they were looking after a perpetual energy which they achieved in the Abyss (if we're to recall the Caribert AQ, this would also give them a higher sense of power over the Abyss, as they believed that if they managed to control the Abyss, the gods would be no threat to them).

...Based on our projections, the Azosite concentration will exceed 60% after this round of smelting... ...Though it still fares poorly when compared with that newly-discovered so-called "perpetual" energy source, after these energy alloys form a matrix, they should suffice to break through the technical bottleneck in energy efficiency requirements imposed by the large-scale "Mechanical Wardens"... ...Not relying on some dogma from beyond the heavens, but only upon the wondrous achievements brought about by human intelligence. If we continue to explore this path, perhaps we shall one day be able to create a true perpetual machine...

                                                                   —Ancient Engineering Notes.

Something important to note is that Nasejuna —a man in the know of these things partly because of a man who became a transcendent one in the past, Klingsor— also mentions that Khaenri'ahns were able to use the power of impurity to master monsters, said monsters being none others than rifthounds created by Gold, alluded to having been created as if by mistake like one who makes absentminded sketches to be thrown away. Given the presence of rifthounds in this facility it's presumed that they might've been used in the proving grounds:

...We were attacked... The sudden rampage of the defense mechanisms from the previous set of ruins had already caused massive losses to our investigative team... Abyssal monsters that never should have been here appeared for some unknown reason... So many members of the team have vanished while trying to evacuate... Ever since the monsters appeared, we have lost track of Klingsor's whereabouts. [...]

                                        —Akademiya Investigation Team's Logs (IV).

Now, where does the discrepancy of whether the Schwanenritter fall in all of this? This falls in one place, arguably two:

The first one is that it is said that the Order of Skeptics have as per ancestors Khaenri'ahn knights that fought in Sumeru, said to be in the Cataclysm. But we know as per the Caribert AQ that children between pure Khaenri'ahn and any other of different nations are to become Hilichurls, yet this is not the case. This may be due to the fact that the progeny came before these Khaenri'ahn were cursed.

As for the second one, it's the fact that Knight Marshal Anfortas proclaimed that he will become a temporary Regent:

...In view of King Irmin's present indisposed state and the current unknown threats facing the Kingdom... ...Knight Marshal Anfortas has proclaimed that he will temporarily take up the post of Regent and lead the Regnum Concilium Ultimum until the Kingdom returns to a state of normalcy... All citizens... wait... will...

                                                                   —Barely-Legible Bulletin.

The discrepancy that occurs here is that there was once when the Schwanenritter fought Dev in Sumeru and they succeeded in defeating them to the last one as Knight Marshal Anfortas himself proclaims in an encrypted message that can only be accessed to its content by interacting with multiple Ruin Guards scattered in Sumeru. In view that timeline-wise this happened even before an Alberich member stepped in to become the Regent and it seems that King Irmin was still alive at the time, this paints the story as happening before the Cataclysm. But what happened in order for the Onslaught of Dark Beasts to take place in Sumeru? It seems like what the Khaenri'ahns were doing in this forge wasn't without its problems and detractors as a few documents suggest:

...Eminent Marshal... Of course, I am keenly aware that the four pillars of our kingdom have achieved the prosperity they have today precisely thanks to us spying upon secrets from beyond the skies, and thus have our mechanisms been able to throw off the shackles imposed by this world's laws... But that technology... It cannot be said to be perfect... The gods are untrustworthy and the demons, ineffable. If there is one thing that can pry open the corners of this hollow world, then it can only be human will... To this end, if you can petition the King to allow some machinery manufactured according to the old standards to be preserved under your ministry's purview, perhaps it may light a spark under the latent wills of countless future generations to devote themselves to exploring technology...

                                                                   —Someone's Abandoned Letter.

…It's beyond doubt that the elders of the Order of Skeptics are hiding something… Only while accompanying the investigation team from the rainforest was I finally able to resolve the doubts I have held for many years… the realm does not just belong to those of the blood of Khaenri'ah, but it is the homeland of all human beings… Holding fast to this maxim, my ancestor Hadura couldn't bear to see our people meet such a tragic end, and yet their dedication was rewarded with an unjust punishment, their reputation impugned and legacy stigmatized. I now understand the meaning of all this…

                                                                   —Records of Unknown Attribution (I).

...As the workshops and related areas are unsuited for large-scale combat operations as carried out by the Mechanical Wardens, I order you to activate the self-defense systems and then quickly evacuate the survivors to the surface before continuing to resist.. Schwanenritter Garrison Commander Hadura…

                                                                   —Soiled Orders.

These documents let on to the fact that 1) the Schwanenritter presence in Sumeru had an ulterior motive besides the aforementioned which is that of spying and in turn benefitting Khaenri'ah with what they learned and 2) Hadura couldn't agree with what was being done and against Knight Marshal Anfortas' will, they ordered the evacuation of the knights and to close the Mechanical Wardens (one of which broke as a result of this) and Anfortas, who didn't seem someone who cared about the negatives of what they were doing even at the cost of his knights' safety claimed this to be a "betrayal" and killed Hadura, losing his left eye in the strife.

What can be deduced by all this compiled information and deeds that the Schwanenritter committed in Sumeru is that there was an initial wave of Dev (Onslaught of Dark Beasts) that must've been inconsequential enough to not draw too much attention and that these knights took care of to completion (more like they were cleaning their own mess) and later on the Cataclysm happened, where the Schwanenritter also partook in to defeat these abyssal monsters and are treated as heroes whose history was erased for reasons unknown (although it calls for speculation that there was a valid reason behind this that I might address in another post if I remember). While in a way they were stationed in Sumeru for nefarious reasons to benefit Khaenri'ah, there were some of them with a noble heart that took the short end of the stick for going against what was being done or merely were collateral damage to what has befallen.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈: Tri-dimensional outcome of the sinners: immortality, wilderness and corruption.

Khaenri'ah was home to two distinct kind of people who dwelled it: those who are considered pure-blood Khaenri'ahn and those who abandoned their gods and were welcomed as citizens of Khaenri'ah. The trait known thus far about what differs from one another remains on two factors: the outline of a four-pointed star for those who are of pure Khaenri'ahn blood, whereas for others the pupil may change as a result of mixed progeny coming from a pure blood Khaenri'ahn and an outsider; as for the second factor, it is the premise that those who come from any of the seven nations of Teyvat are considered to have the bloodline of other demon gods (HYV is at it again omitting relevant information via localization even though it's stated in Chinese, good job on that one).

The particularity that those of mixed blood are said to contain bloodline of other demon gods sheds more light on the era that the original Khaenri'ahn people come from. The major insistence in regards of the gods seems to be in the Seven and their demonic names with this little detail missed in translation, which could put them somewhere during the Archon War era (which they already were a thing during this time, at least +3,700 years ago without counting the extra 500 years since the kingdom was destroyed). However, we know of gods of this era that had demon names also, such as Guizhong or Orobashi.

This would make us go all the way back to the Era of the Saints in which we know about the divine and heavenly intervention with humans in giving them guidance and causing them to thrive. Were this the case, I find there would be a discrepancy which is the fact that Istaroth, God of Time and presumably one of the Primordial One's Shining Shades, also has a demonic name (in this case being Astaroth). There is knowledge that Khaenri'ah was aware about the Era of the Sovereign Dragons, but it is said that at the time the world's conditions weren't favorable for human life, not to mention that human creation began at the hand of Phanes after he defeated these seven dragons and recreated the world with the help of the Shining Shades.

There is another lead that makes me believe that the people we know of as original Khaenri'ahns stem from this era in particular is one of Clothar's quotes: "The gods of this world have never stood with humanity... Not even for a moment!". At first glance this wouldn't say anything as we conceive Khaenri'ah as part of the world Teyvat. But there are two things to note here: 1) Khaenri'ah is not considered as part of this world (probably because of its underground location and likely because the Abyss may be in between, this will be a topic of a different debate on another post) and 2) Epoch Winter, one of Pierro's final quotes: "But, Rosalyne, I promise you... Your final resting place will be the entirety of the 'Old World'." Genshin's way of referring to different worlds thus far implies two things: 1) a different location that doesn't correspond to the surface of the continent of Teyvat and 2) a different era. That we know of so far, Teyvat has gone through three eras: Era of the Dragon Sovereigns and Vishaps, Era of the Saints and Era of the Seven. Whether Pierro here means the Era of the Saints or the former is up to debate, although what concerns humans it's more likely to be the Era of the Saints as that marked the beginning of human life in Teyvat.

On to the main point of this headcanon / meta's title, the outcomes of Khaenri'ahn people are initially two, one for each kind of curse, albeit it is not entirely that way. While we're stemming from the curse of immortality —which causes their souls to erode and their bodies to decay until they are virtually nonexistent— and the curse of wilderness —which transforms mixed people into hilichurls—, there is another component that affects the way these outcomes end for these people: the poison of the Abyss. For those who suffer from the curse of immortality as pure blood Khaenri'ahns, we saw in Requiem of the Echoing Depths a presumably pure blood, Halfdan, who turned into a different creature. We know of another example in Sumeru of a Black Serpent Knight lady who went to fend off the monsters of the Abyss and was believed to be disappeared, but she returned to the Ruin Golem as a different creature also. For the curse of wilderness, we have hilichurls and whether they also have the possibility to become into an abyssal creature or not is still a mystery (highly to be that way too). However, we also know that there are Abyss Mages and other creatures like Heralds and Lectors (I'll talk about these latter two in another post) that may be potential former Khaenri'ahns too, as they are actively working on the kingdom's "revival" and they can order hilichurls or manipulate them —this could be exclusively due to the shared language, manipulation of abyssal poison or both—.

To conclude this, there seems to be ways to relief the curse's effects while not entirely removing them without experiencing something akin to burning an important section of one's body and going through the miracle of surviving to that pain. But there is also the prospect that it is possible to be freed from the curse of immortality (at least, as we don't know officially about the curse of wilderness in regards of the hilichurls but Caribert is there, probably for another time in the future as he's described as the Loom of Fate and this operation is still undergoing). Not only that, but in ridding oneself of the curse of immortality it seems that it is the same case for the descendants of said person (we know that Clothar didn't enjoy the life arranged to him by his family and that Caribert is his illegitimate son, but for Kaeya to even be a thing to this day there are two options: 1) either Caribert continued somehow the Alberich bloodline or 2) Clothar had (an)other kid(s) considered "legitimate" and somewhere down the line after a few generations Kaeya was born).

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈: Opposing sentient forces of death and life —Abyss and Irminsul—. The Sinner, Caribert and the Loom of Fate at fate's end.

The recent Caribert AQ offered us a new —albeit expected if joining the scattered pieces of old and new lore alike— view about what the Abyss exactly is, represents and the way it affects other beings in more detail now that we were introduced for the first time to a sentient entity of the Abyss, albeit lacking a physical form. Before anything, let's have a brief reminder of what its energy supposed from the very beginning up to this point:

1) it can warp the perception of those affected by it (see Dvalin as an example)— this point will be touched briefly. 2) it can drive escapee gods from the rule of the Seven to madness in the Dark Sea. 3) it consumes everything that contains the seven elements. 4) it’s the potential reason of why some humans become Abyss Mages / Lectors / Heralds / Husks / Black Serpent Knights. 5) it makes people ill to the point of reaching death if left unchecked and in a similar vein to the escapee gods, it can drive them to madness. 6) it’s the source of energy that Khaenri’ah has been using to power the ruin machines up.

Sumeru's additions under the name of Marana confirm some of these and dive deeper in details about these, as per the Aranara's wisdom:

1) Marana urges everything towards death. The realization that all things meet their end makes the Marana fester further to the point that it becomes part of the memories. Said memories go as far as to engrave themselves in the Ley Lines, and into Irminsul by extension.

2) The essence of memories is one of the things that can defeat Marana, but at the same time Marana not only can make others forget. It enters the consciousness and dreams too. Furthermore, this contributes to the Black Serpent Knights and Husks’ loss of intelligence and memories as an independent element to the curse.

3) Ruin Machines are powered by Marana and it’s said that Abyss Wolves and Marana are one and the same. They are not natural. They do not belong to the cycle of heaven or earth.

And lastly but not least, the origin of this poisonous energy as told by Nabu Malikata (Goddess of Flowers, initially a dweller of the kingdom of the sky before the Second Who Came arrived):

But, in time, invaders descended from beyond the firmament, bringing with them destruction, overturning rivers, spreading plagues… And though the invaders brought war to my former kin, they also brought about illusions that could break through shackles to the land. But the master of the heavens, consumed by fear for the rising tide of delusion and breakthroughs, sent down the divine nails to mend the land, laying waste to the mortal realm… We then suffered the torment of exile. Stripped was our connection to heaven, to our powers of enlightenment…

All of this information is a lead towards how destructive what we know as Abyss can be and how nothing good can ever come from it, however, this AQ showed us a side never seen before that could come across even as miraculous, which is in being able to change fate of two individuals thus far: Caribert first and then Clothar. However, can we truly talk about a miracle when it seems that this change of fate doesn't come without a price? Is it truly the "Abyss" able of change fate, or is it the sentience of a still mysterious identity merged with the Abyss that is able to change the course of someone's fate?

In this description of the Caribert AQ, there is a count of 4 groups of people / individuals that it's referring to: Those who would oppose fate (Khaenri'ahns), the one who understands fate (the Sinner) [in Chinese, 'the one who understands fate' appears in an earlier appearance translated in English as 'a self-proclaimed prophet' also— as for what he says, it's the official announcement of Dainsleif which suggests that Dain not only may have suspicions of whose identity this is, but that he must've heard the Sinner's voice too], the one who weaves fate (Caribert) and lastly, the one who witnesses fate (Traveler). Looking in retrospective, it makes sense that Clothar refers to his son as the "Loom of Fate" if he's the one who was made to weave fate. As the title suggests, loom of fate is a tool to weave threads of fate and this is a topic that has been addressed before in the Travail trailer:

Your journey has reached its end, but one final doorway remains. Step forth, if you have understood the meaning of your journey. Defeat me, command me to step aside, show me that you are worthier than I to rescue her. Then, the threads of all fate shall be yours to re-weave.

Interestingly, the talk about this door is also teased in one of the Abyss Lector: Violet Lightning's defeat quotes: The door... is... opened unto you...

As the sentience of the Abyss is stated to have an understanding of fate and even be capable of changing it via means yet to be disclosed, there is one more individual that is said to have knowledge of fate itself: Dain.

Judging by the way Clothar didn't wish his son to live a miserable life were he regain his mind again, it's crystal clear that his wish to make him have clarity of mind came with the price of making out of him the Loom of Fate, alongside the loss of sanity that Caribert himself began to experience as his change of voice suggests— which eventually would lead to this complete madness in 100 years. Though his wish had a side effect, this seemed to be a desirable one (be it due to his madness or because it is genuine it's up to debate) as it's the potential reason why it led to his desirable death also and the continuation of his legacy up to this day with Kaeya.

But the truth is that this isn't the first time that the Sinner's voice makes itself manifest, be it in a chronological way or not. A similar pattern if not the same can be noticed in the Black Sword description:

And like other hilichurls and Clothar bowed to the Sinner, so, the Bloodstained Knight who descended to Khaenri'ah to kill the monsters that spawned from there pledged his loyalty to who seems to be the Sinner as well as per the Bloodstained Chivalry set:

In a similar manner as Clothar's wish in regards of Caribert and how he would even give his life for his son to regain clarity of mind if he was allowed, the Bloodstained Knight had his wish potentially at the price of his willing loyalty to the Abyss upon finding out about the truth of the curse of wilderness in Khaenri'ah.

To jump to the next point about the Abyss, looking into what happened to Dvalin and other details like Childe or even other fallen gods inside or outside the Seven's domain, it was safe to assume that the Abyss heightened one's negative traits or emotions by magnifying them in such way that it's hard to escape from the Abyss' grasp. This quest shed more light in the alluring way that the Abyss has to attract creatures in, to make them feel better or even give them a sense of release somehow. Looking into this, Enjou's quote about how the Abyss is "intoxicating" makes all the more sense, as feeling better in a moment that one isn't at their best could be perfectly a feeling that one would want to seek and repeat. It's all the more interesting to see how easily someone can fall into the abyssal corruption like this and how it would take a very strong will to not give in to those urges (Dain, I'm looking at you, sir).

To conclude the matter of the Abyss, I wanted to point out the dichotomy of death vs life that is evident through the Abyss' existence but also Irminsul's and how one parallels the other in the sense that both have a sentience and a voice. In the Abyss' case through the undisclosed individual (I'll touch this later briefly) that claims to be a Sinner, and Irminsul. But not through Rhukkadevata or Nahida as per their connections to the tree nor the fact that Rhukkadevata was Irminsul's avatar, but as Irminsul with its own voice and sentience as per the Frostbearer:

And just like the Abyss has its form of "blessing", so does Irminsul in giving life not only to the whole world by spreading what it needs to be sustained, but also to select individuals as per the Doors of Resurrection mechanic:

In regards of the Sinner, there is not much more to say that I already didn't besides a small hypothesis of his identity as King Irmin based on the similarities between that warmth the Sinner seemed to exude while he had that feeling that something is wrong with him as King Irmin seemed to have according to the statuettes. Moreover, according to one of the writings that Kaeya had saved in secret of his father, Khaenri'ah wasn't in the best shape at least during King Irmin's final moments on the throne:

Remember always that it was the Alberich clan, who did not have royal blood, who stepped in as regents when the strength of the one-eyed king Irmin failed. Though we could not restore Khaenri'ah to life, we of the Alberich Clan should lead lives as those who blaze life fire, rather than those who wallow in the embers.

The last thing I want to mention is how interesting it is the prospect that strong abyssal creatures like the Abyss Herald: Frost Fall, Fortune Lector already existed before the foundation of the Abyss Order. Which suggests that there were more creatures as part of the Abyss (not the Abyss Order yet, although we do see the Hydro Herald Dain defeated, Enjou and other Lectors as part of the Abyss Order) and that they were at the Sinner's command. Perhaps they were humans before during King Irmin's reign and he had a small group of people that later on would follow after his steps.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐕: New light onto sapphire nails.

Ever since I managed to read the artifact set that talks specially about the Goddess of Flowers, there was something that made me confused at first that with time has been clarifying for me and that ultimately became clear after revisiting a certain description of a weapon. The topic in question is the premise that the celestial nails we've seen in Dragonspine and the Chasm thus far were, actually, thrown by Phanes.

And apparently there is a legit reason for these nails to be there (or at least the Chasm's, I'll elaborate later why I say this one and not Dragonspine's) despite the chaos they must've caused at the time and the destruction they must've brought to humans too. Said reason are better described as:

It was a faraway time of calm and peace. Divine envoys spoke openly with the people then, bringing them the word from the heavens… But, in time, invaders descended from beyond the firmament, bringing with them destruction, overturning rivers, spreading plagues… And though the invaders brought war to my former kin, they also brought about illusions that could break through shackles to the land. But the master of the heavens, consumed by fear for the rising tide of delusion and breakthroughs, sent down the divine nails to mend the land, laying waste to the mortal realm… We then suffered the torment of exile. Stripped was our connection to heaven, to our powers of enlightenment…

                                                                           —Amethyst Crown: Flower of Paradise Lost.

In the original world, the barriers were torn down, and the dark poison had penetrated the earth. To heal that fragile, sad, and imperfect world, the spikes descended and pierced through the earth's crust.

                                                                                                        —Staff of the Scarlet Sands.

To make a brief recapitulation: 7 Dragonlords existed in the vishap world before Phanes was born, he defeated these sovereign dragon kings and remade the world as well as he created humans. To some point, The Second Who Came arrived to Teyvat and this one seemed to have been victor against the ensuing war. Presumably, it's because of the Second Who Came that this poison permeated Teyvat to begin with, poison also known as forbidden knowledge but also as abyssal energy or Marana.

So apparently, dropping sapphire nails to Teyvat was part of a remedy to heal the world from this poison.

There is a but to this, however, and it's the fact that in Dragonspine specifically it is known that the nail of retribution descended because the people of the old Sal Vindagnyr started to doubt the authorities of the heavens who stopped answering to them as they used to do before (I've mentioned this before, but I think it matches with the Era of the Saints when gods and celestial envoys walked the world alongside humans and then this sudden change happened due to the Second Who Came), they allegedly found a way to reach Celestia and in doing so, the nail was dropped and this caused great destruction to the civilization. Unless this story is incomplete and there is something we lack, this conflicts with the original use of the sapphire nail which was intended to heal the earth from this poison.

As it may do partly with the Chasm's nail. While in this place the scenario of healing the earth from the poison is more likely if we look at those underworld-like souls that sought to bring harm, there is also something fishy about the nail here which we've encountered in the Interlude Chapter of 2.6 where we learn about what happened to Bosacius among other interesting facts. And it's the prospect that it is still unknown what caused the group to be stranded there without a feeling of time passing. Moreover, the story surrounding the nail as the Star Wisher in which the miners wanted to blow it up because it made them have illusions which were highly dangerous because of the abyssal exposure that existed there. There is one more detail about this which is that the Abyss Order used this nail to propagate the miasma of the abyss and if we're to think about this nail's true purpose, it's highly interesting that they knew that they could reverse completely the purpose of the sapphire nail.

For the illusions part which we also saw in the Interlude Chapter of 2.6, I'm tempted to think that by itself it isn't a bad thing. However, what may make it a bad thing is the collision of two kinds of power that existed in the Chasm as Dain worded it, which happened to be the energy that came from the sapphire nail + the abyssal energy.

To conclude this, I think that there are still remnants of what the "old Celestia" dwelled by Seelies, the Saints and other gods and heavenly envoys in the present day. These remnants (the sapphire nails for one) were intended to be beneficial for the world in truth, but there are high chances that Celestia as we know it are using them for more nefarious purposes. Mainly as we know, to hide all knowledge that existed in the past before their arrival as presumable the Second Who Came. Looking at Rhukkadevata now and this serious need to erase all trace of what existed before their arrival is also a means to get rid of heavenly beings potentially capable of using this energy for good purposes on their own accord without being controlled by Celestia, which all things considered might be feasible all things considered. This may or may not extend to Visions also, but that will remain as a topic of conversation for another day.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐕𝐈: Colors of the rainbow —elements—. White light, Ether and Void.

Today while I was speed-running Lisa's event to get her outfit, I was reminded of an old thought of mine that I never elaborated upon. We know that the Elemental Sight can perceive the world in a different way so long as what it's being seen is touched by the elements, but thus far we only know of 7 of them which coincide with the current Heptatheon of Archons. However, there have been bits and pieces that let on the premise that there are more than 7 existing elements, and I'll start first with a namecard's description which I think it's pretty neat for this:

It's curious to see something that was released so early on in the story already alluded to this, but in truth we see this happening in more places. Do you know the portal to the Spiral Abyss? The portals of some events that lead to domains like Lisa's? The portals of the Theatrical Mechanicus? All of them share something in common: they can be perceived via the Elemental Sight, but while they're blue in color, they don't match with any of the 7 elements.

Before I continue with what I want to say, I want to direct your attention briefly at something that Tsumi, the Dragon / Vishap-person of the event the Three Realm Gateway that took place in Enkanomiya said:

It's known that before Phanes' arrival, there used to be 7 Sovereign Dragons one of each element, although Vishaps are described as creatures that break down raw, primitive elemental energy into milder elemental energy. This can call for some consideration that the elements we're used to are more than what they know of, or even that in breaking down this raw primitive elemental energy, new variations of elements could occur.

Now I want to mention two words that are used in the Bathysmal Vishap Experimental Records: Ether and Void.

Four of the elements here are the four primal elements that the universe is made from in Greek philosophy (which is the language after which Enkanomiya takes from as the original language, arguably used in other civilizations that existed at the same time as Enkanomiya in the big continent that used to be on the surface before the Second Who Came's arrival), but there is a fifth element which is (A)Ether, Void being most likely a new addition into the Genshin universe which refers directly to the Abyss.

At this point of the story we don't know yet what element is exactly this Ether (as in having a thorough confirmation), but we've seen Void or the Abyssal element being used in this same event and also by the Abyss Sibling and other places too.

For this I'm going to say I rely on hypothesis theory (as I don't have the means to check this myself because those missions were done a long time ago), but it's said directly by the Aranara that Marana and the "vanguards of the Abyss" which at the time were the Abyssal Wolves, Gold's creations, are one and the same. We know that Marana —and by extension, the Withering— is showed in red, as Marana's avatar mixes purple and red colors, which always made me wonder: what if the purple of the Abyss we currently know of, in truth, it's a mix of a red and blue energy? We know that the Abyss by itself looks like a galaxy area and in the Spiral Abyss there are traces of blue energy in the sky. If this same blue energy was what existed before the Second Who Arrived's arrival and this red energy belongs to them (as it was stated that it was them who brought all this chaos), then the namecard description about there being more colors than 7 as there could be more elements than 7 seems to stand true.

In regards of Ether as an element, my lead is to think that perhaps the blue that doesn't seem to equate to Hydro which we can observe in several portals I mentioned earlier could be an element directly related to Irminsul. By definition in the Greek philosophy, celestial spheres (made of aether) hold stars and planets. Stars are a common thematic that stems from the core of Irminsul, be it the very core itself or the space that it's in. Maybe other elements could be attributes to the sets of blues we see that are similar and follow a same pattern, maybe it's one. As a curiosity, Aether is also attributed as that which fills the void and it's thanks to it that light propagates and white light is made of 7 colors: the same colors that represent the elements we know of. Sounds familiar? It's through Ley Lines that all the elements are distributed to every corner of the world in order to sustain it. This is a hypothesis, of course, but there are various leads that make me consider that this unknown Ether element is the one that represents Irminsul.

Before wrapping this up, I want to make a special mention to a curiosity that happens in We Will Be Reunited, when Traveler wants to find the eye of the first Field Tiller at the top of Old Mondstadt's tower to no avail, to which Dain says "This requires another method. Using Elemental Sight on a Field Tiller is of no use because it is not powered by the elements" while at the same time, it's thanks to the "element" Dain uses that he's able to use something akin to psychokinesis to take it out of the Field Tiller. Just some food for thought.

Lastly, under cut I'll add some screens of my own gameplay for reference:

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐈𝐕: Contextualization of the forbidden knowledge’s sin.

In the recent Sumeru story updates, we’ve been exposed to this so-called sin for being in the possession of forbidden knowledge and what it causes to Teyvat. However, Sumeru isn’t the one place that introduced us to this concept and I find easy to forget lore content from past story updates for multiple reasons (all of them which are completely understandable, it happens to me too). So in this post, I’m going to start from the top as to what is this forbidden knowledge exactly, a contextualization of the moments when this topic is addressed and lastly, a critical reflection as to why it’s considered forbidden. Warning to those who don’t pursue leak contents that this post will contain some, albeit at the very end and under the spoiler mark!

We all know that forbidden knowledge is an abstract term that can encompass a lot if we have a look at what is commonly known and what is not so that even divine entities such as the Archons are hesitant to talk about or outright reject wanting to talk about this, which makes it all mysterious and hard to understand.

So what is this forbidden knowledge?

For this, let’s rewind to the first time this was mentioned and what happened. Enkanomiya used to be a large mass of land said to unify various civilizations rather than putting them apart as it happens in the present until The Second Who Came and Phanes with his Shining Shades clashed and, as a result, Enkanomiya fell into the abyss. Its people wanted to return to the surface, but for reasons they couldn’t understand nor know the path was closed to them and they had to coexist with Vishaps (which previously were kicked by Phanes upon his arrival to the world in order for him to reshape it and make it hospitable for his following creation: humans) in the dark. Thanks to Istaroth’s intervention in her guidance to show Aberaku the way to bring light, Helios was created. After that, someone traveled far and wide until coming across Orobashi, who was asked to be their deity and which he accepted. However, he would commit a sin not by being in touch with these people alone, but for reading about what the world used to be like before the Archon War (from which he escaped) waged.

Furthermore, the Enkanomiya people had a chance to return on the surface as they wished on one condition: to bury the knowledge they have from the times before Helios was created and only then Orobashi would be commanded by the heavens to bring them up to the surface. Which they did. The new people who would form the new Watatsumi Island wouldn’t know about those times, but Orobashi did and that would make him a loose end to be dealt with. Which he, too, was dealt with by being commanded to return to the Archon War and ultimately, be slain by Raiden Ei. 

In this case specifically, «forbidden knowledge» refers to the contents narrated in the book Before Sun and Moon which mainly talks about Phanes’ arrival to this world, the dethronement of the 7 Dragon Kings and the expulsion of the Vishaps, the recreation of the world, the creation of humans and his and his Shining Shades’ (also known as the Saints) deeds up to The Second Who Came’s arrival with what little followed after.

Now, let’s jump straight to Sumeru. Albeit it seems like the «forbidden knowledge» of this nation is for different reasons and thus it could be something different altogether, there are reasons to believe that it is intrinsically tied. I’ll return to this later to explain why. 

At plain sight, what we know is that Al-Ahmar (the Scarlet King) descended from the sky with some knowledge and thanks to it, he was able to build all the infrastructures we see: from pyramids to a whole package of an underground civilization with its own technology. So nothing too bad here except for maybe this correlation with Khaenri’ah and its machinery who was nuked, maybe this civilization had something fishy about it and little more. What one of the 3.1 cinematic cutscenes added into the mix is that in bringing this knowledge, he was also the reason why Eleazar was born and why it brought so much desolation to people both in the past and in the present despite his sacrifice and Rhukkadevata’s help to kind of calm this angry malady. One would think that this would be it, but it is not if we consider the fact that the Scarlet King comes from an era that preludes the three moons’ fall:

Later, time sundered the contract between day and night, destroying the ancient oath. The gentle moonlight sank into the quicksand. The sun shrouded all things in its fearsome gaze.

                                                                                       —Gilded Dreams: Honeyed Final Feast.

And last but not least, we have a new pal of Khaenri’ahn creation whose description sounds oddly reminiscent of a specific era and, once again, it encompasses directly the meaning of «forbidden knowledge»:

This dragon-shaped combat machine is a being that inspires fear, much like the lord who once ruled these vast lands. It is said that the now-destroyed realm once sought forbidden knowledge and attempted to create perpetual-motion machines that could match or even surpass primordial lifeforms. This mysterious, tireless mechanical monstrosity seems to be proof that they did indeed reach heights that mortals should never have attained.

                                                                                                                       —Aeonblight Drake.

As for what these primordial lifeforms are exactly, we have another pal of the same family of automatons as the Aeonblight Drake that has the answer for us:

It mimics the appearance of the beings known as Vishaps, with some functional enhancements. Such machines have an even greater ability to “absorb”— or perhaps the right word is “counteract”— elemental powers than the vishaps.

                                                                                                                                  —Ruin Drake.

Although there is still more content that can fit in this criteria of forbidden knowledge (this based on Celestia’s deeds in destroying past civilizations that don’t limit to Khaenri’ah alone, but civilizations of even further back in time such as the underground palace of the Chasm or Tsurumi Island to name a couple of examples), I’ll be wrapping this up here to some thoughts on where this «forbidden knowledge» is headed at, which so far seems to be addressed at anything that happened before the Second Who Came’s arrival. This includes may or may not include the existence alone of beings that were in Teyvat before them, including those that were born at a later time but still hold some semblance of knowledge belonging to that era. Or as Pierro calls it, should we name it Old World.

Now, under cut a small thing related to leak contents:

The heavenly principles have been silent for many years, but the Gnoses are symbols of their control over Teyvat and all the laws... Will the destruction of a Gnosis attract the attention of the heavenly principles?

                                                                                                                                         —Nahida.

You are me in the new samsara. It's a kind of knowledge that doesn't belong to this world, and a form of “truth” that can't be understood.

                                                                                                                             —Rhukkadevata.

Makes one wonder if one of the potential reasons why Rhukkadevata had to die and she must be forgotten because her existence alone implies that she herself is a «forbidden knowledge», but also because she has knowledge that “doesn’t belong to this world” aka the world that is being currently ruled by Celestia. As for Nahida’s quote, I’ll make a small new post with a discovery of mine in regards of the “laws”.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐈𝐈: Long forgotten language of the heaven —Angelii—

Starting the game from scratch in the NA server reminded me that in one of the temples of the Four Winds in which we go with Kaeya, there’s an Abyss Mage that speaks Enochian, also described as the language of the angels / celestial language. What’s more interesting is that there is this description of the mages in general:

They say abyss mages utter a long-forgotten language from which they draw magical power.

Alongside the language used in Enkanomiya which is presumably the common tongue of the Old World (within the Era of the Saints), also forgotten, this would make two old languages not known by regular people these days. It’s also interesting that the fact that abyss mages need to resort to using Enochian / Angelii is their means to tap into elemental power —perhaps denied to them as in their human days they weren’t allogenes—, and it’s even more interesting to think about the notion that angels or other celestial beings of back from the Era of the Saints could have access to elemental energy.

It’s implied that Dain is knowledgeable of this language as seen in We Will Be Reunited, as there is a moment when he deciphers what a message says and that’s when he discovers what the Abyss Order plans to do in regards of a mechanized god as well as the Loom of Fate operation. As one last curiosity, what the abyss mage says is: Gohus, chiso vonph which roughly means I say, they are / shall be wrath.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐕𝐈: Elements and darkness attached to the divine.

The following ramblings are a sequence of observations all in seeking what the hecky could Dain be using for real and its relation to other elements that will most likely lead to nowhere as there is not enough information, but I think that it’s worth mentioning these discoveries and ponder the possible implications of them. Given his knowledge about every character he talks about, his title as Bough Keeper and his quote referencing tree elements during the We will be reunited quest, I’ve always had in consideration that the blue element he seems to use is related to Irminsul. If anything, because there’s the additional prospect that what he uses doesn’t align with any of the seven elements that we’ve been introduced so far. So before anything, I’m going to start off with the name card description of the Achievement: Colors of the rainbow.

Light can refract into countless colors, but people stop at seven because they’re lazy to count. Perhaps the elements are like that, too.

What this might suggest is that just as there are more colors than seven, elements could be more than seven which is something that is true. Besides anemo, geo, cryo, pyro, dendro, hydro and electro we can at least mention two more of them that are actually referenced as nothing more than names in the Hydrological Studies in the Byakuyakoku: void and ether. One third element at most for now that could be light.

By Enkanomiya standards, the void is considered the same as the Abyss. A toxic and destructive substance that brings harm to all elemental being and humans themselves. By name alone, the void should reference emptiness, nothingness and even nonexistence where there is no order whatsoever and that depending on the connotation that it’s given to it, it can be a positive, neutral or negative thing. Now, if we add to the equation Hu Tao’s words when she explained that death brings something akin to pollution that must be dealt with so that it doesn’t affect the living and the fact that even if the mortal body of a god perishes, their consciousness / will / soul lives on and erodes as time passes, then that’s when we’re adding something outright noxious.

Furthermore, if the description of the Night Mother and the Land of Night (which may seem to allude to the Abyss) are telling at all to add to the harmful aspect of the Abyss, in the first volume of the Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies, it’s said that: the Night Mother was the source of all sins, and the Land of Night was the embodiment of all her evilness.

On to the more graphic aspects of it, it’s shown in a purple color as primarily shown in the Enkanomiya event Three Realms Gateway Offering and in the Chasm alongside its overall harmful effects x. However, what caught my attention for my own personal research for Dain is that when Lumine makes use of the void as a means to attack him and protect the Abyss Herald he seized beforehand, there is a trail of pitch black flames as seen: x and x.

Moving on to ether now, there is little to no information about this element whatsoever beyond the name alone. But we can make some deduction work if we’re to compare whatever Dain is using with is, as what he uses suggests that he isn’t using any of the other seven (eight) elements mentioned beforehand. If we’re to take this by external references, aether is a missing traditional Greek element that hasn’t been used in Genshin as of yet (while the other four have been used: air, water, fire and earth), an energy that fills emptiness that described as something “subtler than light”. In many cases it is also described as a pure essence and as the quintessence in alchemical terms used for medicinal alchemy. In others, it is considered to something akin to a breath of life, spirit or soul.

Speaking in practical ways of what this element does judging by Dain’s deeds so far, it is an element marginalized from the seven initial ones that: 1) can seek anything that hasn’t any of these elements attached to it (such as the eye of the first Field Tiller); 2) can be used as a telekinetic ability to retrieve the eye (a material object from within a material body without damaging the latter whatsoever); 3) can be used once again as a telekinetic medium in order to  impede the movement of a material body (the Abyss Herald) while being held aloft and apply pressure to the point of causing struggle on the other; 4) can be used to boost one’s self speed and 5) make a barrier of void fade completely. Once again, what caught my attention is that in some instances, these flames are also showcased as seen: x and x.

In conjunction to this and in view that aether as a classical element can be used for medicinal purposes, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched to tie this to Irminsul. However, something worth nothing that also caught my attention is that if we’re to look at any petrified tree of the domains, there is no iota of dark flames when players are receiving its blessing as seen: x.

Which led me to the following question: Why something that seems to be pure and devoid of darkness has a degree of darkness in it when used by a person? Well, the truth is that these two elements aren’t the only instances where we come to witness such darkness in them. The Archons themselves are very good examples of figures that represent holiness (either for being gods alone or for being related to Celestia) and at least 2 of them (Venti and Zhongli) are pure elemental beings. Despite seeing these conditions fulfilled, there are instances in which even their usage of their respective elements bring about darkness to some degree. As seen here (x) for Venti, here (x) for Zhongli and here (x and x) for Raiden Shogun. Other more obvious instances of darkness within elemental usage can be observed in Childe when he’s using his Delusion and his Foul Legacy (as long as he’s using electro, which comes from his Delusion), la Signora (in her Witch of Flames mode, another purely elemental being) and Xiao (due to his karmic debt if I’m not mistaken, another source of darkness).

What this darkness could possibly imply, I’m not that sure given that there are differing instances where it’s shown that varies from Archons to outright Delusion usage (that is known to use remnants of dead gods as per the manga information). What all of these have in common, however, is that they’re used via a material body no matter if divine or not. And if any of you remember this previous post that partly talks about the premise that all material body is subject to decay according to Gnostic beliefs that are used in Genshin. The reason behind the darkness in all these subjects may have something to do with Gnosticism, it could be mixed with a different kind of mythology / belief or something different altogether. To be fair, my own pursuit led me nowhere, but I thought that it’d be interesting to share these interesting tidbits that I hope to learn more about in the future.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐕: Lore elements that mirror Gnostic components.

So earlier I started to make more research into the elements to establish similarities and differences between already existing aspects and more or less determine once again what Dain could be using. It started off by comparing what he uses versus what Lumine uses in the We will be reunited final cutscenes and these black flames caught my attention. I won’t get in too much detail on this one yet as it’s not the point of this post, but eventually it led me to compare what they use with the Archons and I remembered that in some instances there are like black embers surrounded with an aura whose color is corresponding with the element they use and… discussing this with a friend, it brought me back to the prospect that Genshin has many similarities to the Gnosticism.

Starting from the very beginning, Gnosticism holds the belief that all physical matter is subject to decay, rotting and death while there is the possibility of ascension from the material realm via the salvation by attaining a spiritual enlightenment or gnosis which is said to come directly from the supreme divinity.

Now, who could this supreme divinity be? By Genshin standards from what we could see so far, he would align with Phanes. From this supreme divinity come into being numerous emanations of it, being one of the kind Aeons that stand in a hierarchy from higher (thus closer to the One and with more gnosis) to lower (closer to the material world with its negative connotations mentioned earlier). And from the lowest Aeon of all the Demiurge comes into existence.

The reason why I want to mention the Demiurge is because it aligns perfectly with the symbol that Celestia represents. Firstly, the Demiurge presents a group of “co-actors” —in truth they’re servants of the Demiurge— named Archons who are to preside over the material realm as the ones we know from Genshin do (although in this case, rather than standing in a similar wavelength as Celestia, they stand below by being subjected to the Heavenly Principles) and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it (as a reminder from earlier, the ascent is via the attainment of gnosis or knowledge and irregardless of whether the Archons themselves cockblock the humans’ way to acquire knowledge, Celestia surely does have a hand in shutting down nations that have a certain knowledge— the most prominent thing being their obnoxious attempts at cleaning everything that existed before the coming of the second order of Celestia as a means to not let humans know that they are intruders. A clear example of this is the entire civilization that Enkanomiya constituted when it was a huge mass of unified land before its fall, again byproduct of Celestia’s arrival and its clash with Phanes and his four Shining Shades).

As a small nudge that it may or may not be reflected that way in Genshin, there exist four Luminaries which are angels and emanations of the supreme divinity, take that as you will—

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐈𝐕: Enkanomiya myth and civilization: the Primordial One, the Second Who Came, the Sunchildren and Orobashi.

This is a theory that I’ve been considering the more lore I was able to stumble onto with the passing of the several missions in Enkanomiya meant to be puzzled together and shed light towards a direction: Celestia’s (or the Second Who Came) deeds since their arrival to their plans to conceal the truth of the story before their coming in order to allow the people of Enkanomiya return to the surface. For this, I’ll start a little further back in time from before Celestia did not conquer the world yet.

Initially, the world was inhabited by vishaps with Seven Sovereigns which were ruling dragons in seven different nations until the first throne came to the world. It was created from scratch after the war was over and the vishaps fled elsewhere.

Phanes is known in the Orphic cosmogony as a deity of light and goodness, whose name means “to bring light” or “to shine”. Besides the world and the separation between the universe and the microcosm of this world, he was also the creator of the human civilization (also known as the Enkanomiyan civilization) which was the creation he cherished the most. The human civilization was a single one and mankind made a covenant with him.

By the looks of it, the Primordial One and his four shining shades (also known as the five saints according to Aberaku) were kind and attentive of the humans until the second throne came and a new war started. In the process, the land of Enkanomiya fell to the chasm where it is located and its people had to live without light and defending themselves however they could from the bathysmal vishaps, who have been lurking in the depths for longer than they came. These people struggled to live the way they did and the prayers they once had for Phanes became lamentations which neither him or the remaining three shining shades ever answered. The ancestors of Enkanomiya believed that it was the Primordial One who defeated the Second Who Came but there is a glaring difference in the way of acting that suggests otherwise:

Keeping into account Celestia’s modus operandi of concealing the truth and even decimating entire civilizations if they get too close to it or they’re remotely close to knowing a truth that is not in Celestia’s interest for people to know, it makes sense to close the path back to the surface considering that the people of Enkanomiya wanted to return to the surface. Only when they would strive to conceal the truth generation after generation until it became taboo to learn about it and the following people wouldn’t know anymore about their origins or Phanes is when they’d be able to return to the surface.

Years later, Aberaku was able to organize the construction of Helios after receiving the wisdom of the great god Tokoyo Ookami (or Istaroth, the God of Time), a device that could recreate the sun’s warmth and light underground. With it came the first Sunchild, believed to be the incarnation of the Primordial One given that the ancestors of Enkanomiya thought that Phanes defeated the Second Who Came. However, once again the methodology used via these children which never reached the age of maturity adds to Celestia’s plans to rush people into concealing the truth so they are returned to the surface faster if they didn’t want to live under the reign of children and the disastrous management of those who were pulling at the strings.

By choosing Helios as these people’s object of worship instead of Aberaku as its creator, who was a man who received the wisdom of a god and was wise himself, it was in the best interest of Celestia to not only diminish his importance but silence him completely when he wanted to oppose the rule of the first Sunchild. Eventually this led to imprisoning him for wanting to usurp the throne of the first king.

But he was not the only one, as there was another important historical figure to these times that was imprisoned for “committing grave crimes” and that is Spartacus, the leader of the resistance against the Sunchild government that was slowly dissolved when he was imprisoned. As for the reason why a big group that contained even medics and strategists would break apart, Adonis (one of Spartacus’ students) suspects that the government had something to do with it.

Now, onto Orobashi and the way Watatsumi was formed, it is said that during the Archon War, Orobashi fled to the Dark Sea and committed a sin in the process. This sin was none other than learning about the truth before the coming of Celestia into the picture and thus he was sentenced to death, but not before moving the existing civilization of Enkanomiya back at the time to a newly formed Watatsumi Island as per Celestia’s comnand:

All in all, Enkanomiya was branded as a land of sinners that committed transgressions which Orobashi would have to bear and bring with him to his death against the Raiden Shogun in a fight that he knew that he could not stand any chance, but so it was already ordered by Celestia.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈: Four-pointed stars, heralds of the heroes’ coming.

It’s interesting to see the symbol of a four-pointed stars take prominent aspects in Genshin, albeit the reasoning of why this symbol in particular still remains a mystery. The object that we see this reflected on the most is on the primogems which could have a nice connection that I’ll mention later, but also a particular pupil shape that so far we’re told that originates from Khaenri’ah.

A more specific name this star has is Star of Bethlehem that has religious connotations. The most known is the fact that this particular star guided the Wise Men / Magi to Jesus by the moment of his birth. However, it has another symbolism that is not limited to Jesus that I find interesting for Genshin. According to the ancient Greeks and Romans, this astronomical phenomenon heralded actual events on earth, such as the birth of important rulers and heroes / Messiahs.

If we think back at the wish system which partly is done with primogems (in case it’s done with wishes directly, primogems are a currency that can lead to them so it’s safe to say that in about 75% of the cases they’re relevant) and in view of this belief of the classical ancients, we could draw a feasible parallel that primogems, as the Star of Bethlehem, herald the coming of heroes which would be the characters themselves.

As a small curiosity, there is the existing shadow of doubt that the Star of Bethlehem isn’t an astronomical phenomenon but an angel instead. Some angels are said to be associated with planets, but so are our Gnostic Archons with stars, as they’re said to originate from the eight astronomical sphere of the fixed stars.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐈𝐗: Mysteries of the bed of the Chasm —Celestia’s nail—.

Perilous Trail —Interlude Chapter: Act II— introduced us to one of the most strangest phenomena in Genshin, arguably the most with the existence of the bed of the Chasm that can be accessed after the near clash between Yelan and Itto. What makes this phenomenon so characteristic that makes it worth mentioning? It’s a place that once you enter there is no escape (unless you can count with the Fantastic Compass and a human and a celestial being —adepti in this case— can make it work). It suspends anyone that is there in time where all notion of the same is lost and with it, so do one’s body needs such as food or sleep. As it happens, the physical body doesn’t matter as much here as it does one’s soul which is the one getting the grunt of the strange effects of this place.

In essence, the bed of the Chasm is a chaotic place where common logic cannot be applies, where time and space are bent, and probably the most dangerous phenomenon that occurs here is that mind reading is at a higher being’s disposition to toy with those who enter such place. Based on their feelings and memories, this chaotic space reacts accordingly. The space resembles what they remember, what one fears the most makes its presence evident as well as what one seeks the most, only to disappear at once. It’s the perfect torture for one’s mind in addition to the crude reality that there is no escape. Whatever force or entity is at fault here, its actions are deliberate.

One could argue that perhaps Ley Lines are at fault, as it was shown that the impression Bosacius left during his fight against the abyssal creatures that spawned as a result of Khaenri’ah’s Cataclysm was reproduced and that might be actually plausible. However, at a closer consideration there is something that doesn’t add up because Ley Lines reproduce events that happened in that same place where said memories are being reproduced. They don’t change the space nor create illusions, they may show the memories of the souls they carry.

So back to 500 years ago, what was sealed exactly in this place that required the sacrifice of so many soldiers as well as the ultimate sacrifice of one of Yelan’s ancestors alongside Bosacius? They were fighting against the consequences of the Cataclysm, their intentions were to get rid of these beasts so that they wouldn’t reach Liyue Harbor. For that to happen, they lured them to the bed of the Chasm where they realized that they can’t stand whatever energy the Nail emanates. If they wanted to terminate them, they would have to keep them and fight them for as long as they could there, thus sealing any form of escape these creatures could have to achieve that. Presumably, the exact same seal that was damaged and thus made the characters of this Archon Quest fall in the bed of the Chasm.

Something worth mentioning is that outside the space where the Nail is located, there was a peculiar gate sealing said space, which might be presumably the underground palace referred in the last letter and where the monsters seem to grow weaker if they entered the “palace”. And coincidentally, what caused the closing of the Chasm two years ago is the fact that some miners dug their way to this Crystal. While it would stand to reason that the heavenly energy that this Crystal exudes and thus it weakens these creatures, it has an important role in the Chasm overall. Not only because in the first place abyssal creatures shouldn’t exist given that they’ve been defeated 500 years ago, but because it has an additional effect in a larger area than just this underground palace area that comprises the Nail’s location.

As for why I say that this could be potentially connected to the reason why upon reaching the Chasm there were abyssal monsters left and right, it’s because it was being suppressed by the Abyss Order. If their reasoning to do this is as a means to guard themselves with these monsters while they were doing their own that has been seen in Requiem of the Echoing Depths or something beyond that, it remains to be seen.

What I’d like to bring a special focus on is a quest that was released in the 2.6 patch about Qi Ding, a miner who was freaking out looking for an expensive doll he bought for his little daughter. In said mission, not only we find said doll but we find the alleged daughter of this miner that is rather suspicious for various reasons. For one, she seems to be something in the variant of a ghost until we learn that actually, Qi Ding’s daughter is a grown up woman that is working for the Ministry of Civil Affairs. And the most turbulent is the incident of when a few rifthounds were “playing” with her and she claims to a concerned Paimon something along the lines that “there is nothing to worry, those rifthounds wouldn’t catch her”.

A ghost and what could suggest to be a force immune to that of the rifthounds, a sheet of paper that talks about blowing up a rock and Qi Ding’s later testimony saying that some Wish Granter was the cause of the sealing of the Chasm due to the insanity it caused to the miners that unearthed it… Sounds familiar? While in the end there might be no telling of what exactly is the source of the time and space bending, the mind reading and the projection of illusions, all of it seems to lead to one culprit: Celestia’s Nail.

→ Bonus: Something else worth mentioning in a similar vein of having these hallucinations is the quest Valor’s Afterglow: Return by Sundown, when we find Zhiqiong. The fact that she was found in a mud of this abyssal ooze suggests that this could add to the hallucinations as well, which is a possibility as the Nail’s energy and the Abyss’ are two confronting powers that leave a grave effect behind. In this one in particular of Zhiqiong’s presumable hallucination, it might be the ooze or a mix of both in conjunction with the Crystal that could’ve been acting in response to whatever she wanted to know or what thinking profusely about. As a result, this left a rather jarring moment.

[reginrokkr]

→ Study 𝐕𝐈𝐈: Seelie and their court shape.

Another study post, this time shorter and related to the latest shenanigans of this blog (lol). But I’ve always found curious that the base of the seelie’s courts have a couple of angel wings besides more ornament thingies and that for the rest of the court, we can distinguish a couple of angel wings too folded towards the front as if those were the limbs and they’re outstretched to offer something:

Which reminds me that in the distant past, seelie used to have anthropomorphic and beautiful physical forms that contained great wisdom and used to guide the “human savages”. This makes me wonder if said human savages could be from the initial moments of Phanes’ creation of mankind —still in need of guidance in a foreign world that they don’t know anything about nor about its workings— which would also happen to align with the premise that in the past, there used to be angels that offered wisdom to humans as seen in a Dragonspine mural:

The descriptions related to this occurrence are: audi tace sei voltis vos discite (listen and be quiet if you wish to learn) and fidelis angeli iuvant (angels help the faithful). Moreover, the last part of the song of the seelie that’s known states that “they played their final tune in the hall of angels”. If any of this has a genuine connection, it’s interesting the thought that the seelie were angels in the past that guided mankind and that even now that they have no memories left they still keep doing so in one way or another.

Sources of interest: records of jueyun vol. iv || a draunkard’s tale vol. iii