#being a black genshin player is hard but i work harder

[ofonikabutobeetlesandmen]

Pre!4.0 Fontaine Thoughts & Musings

While I do plan on dropping my Fontaine theories pre!4.0 at some point, this is just more of my thoughts surrounding the nation as a whole based on the teasers and summaries of some leaked items. So this is most definitely your chance to back away now if you end up being one of the few people that read my ramblings and find them amusing in some way.

But yeah if you were here way back during 2.1, you’ll have seen this post of mine talking about how excited I was for Sumeru and Fontaine. I started playing the game in 1.1 and these were the nations I looked most forward to after seeing the Teyvat Travail trailer. My interest in these nations only grew further with the various NPCs we’ve run into talking about these countriesー and now both of my preferred nations are finally about to be on the ‘released nations’ list.

I’ve enjoyed Sumeru’s deserts and forests, the struggles of the desertfolk and the Eremites and seeing Cyno and Collei again, as well as some new friends made along the way. Now it’s time for Fontaine.

(Fingers crossed for some Afro-Fontainians since rock n roll was in real life was made by African Americans evolved through several genres of our music like Blues, Jazz, R&B and gospel among other genres but because this is Hoyoverse and we all saw how ‘well’ they did with Sumeru, I highly doubt there will be any despite France’s diversity. Welp, nothing the power of making OCs and edits can’t fix. Maybe I’ll use that time to finally relearn French like I’ve been planning, which I took for a year in high school because Creole runs in both sides of the family but then I forgot it all.)

Fontaine had me in a death clutch a while back during the Tatara Tales questline when Xavier had a small little monologue about his homeland in 2.0:

"For instance, I could tell you of the majestic waterfall that made a deep impression on my soul as I worked in my study in Petrichor. Or perhaps I could sing the praises of the countless gorgeous maidens in the Court of Fontaine, ethereal as the clouds themselves... Or the mesmerizing lake that held the reflections of the stars and the moon, such that walking along its banks was like treading amid the celestial skies..."

It sounded so beautiful that I wanted the remote from click to just fast forward to the point in time in which we’d finally be there. Every NPC from Fontaine until that point had talked about Fontaine being pretty, but none of them ever went into that much detail before.

I ate up the Dew of Repudiation Petrichor crumbs "Even if it were to flow into the surpassingly pure waters of Petrichor, this drop of water will likely resist assimilation as strongly as mercury."

Pocketed every trinket of info given by event NPCs about Fontaine’s energy crisis and how 

Noted the lore on the Lochfolk/Oceanids from Rhodeia to Endora to the Spring Fairy and the information about the Lord of Amrita.

And now we have Idyia in that lineup with the new summer event going on right now in 3.8! It has long-since been stated since 1.4 that the Lochfolk were followers of the previous Hydro Archon, now known as the Lord of Amrita aka Egeria (according to leaks). They were tasked with spreading out across Fontaine as her spies, but they note it wasn’t because she was plotting war or anything of the sort on the other nations, but she wanted to do so as a way to connect everyone similar to how water is connected (or like how the Lochfolk come together in water to quote Endora:

Want to grow quickly. Want to find Rhodeia. A child. New life, like Endora. A child's mission is to grow. To grow? I thought it was to see the world. Love. For Oceanids, this is to meld together as one. There will be no division then. That is why Oceanids need no learning or thoughts of their own. All that is needed is love. It seems that Oceanids cannot love others, for others will only drown in the embrace of pure waters. So they disguise themselves as the dreams of young children, and withdraw from the lives of all other people. Every day, a child takes a stumbling step forward. Every day, a stream flows into the sea. Love, that is our destiny. But I still have a whole world left to see.).

But once the Lord of Amrita died, most Lochfolk went on a self-imposed exile from Fontaine, not getting along with the current Hydro Archon, Focalors, the God of Justice.

In 3.8, we got some more information on that from Idyia:

According to her, the waters of Fontaine changed when Focalors came into power, the water now full of pain and hatred and for those who left fleeing seemed like the best choice “if we wanted to live.” But as shown in 1.4′s Wishful Drop event with Endora and Rhodeia’s line at the beginning of a fight (and with some leaks stating that wild Oceanids can be fought in Fontaine’s overworld), line at the beginning of a battle, there are some Lochfolk that still remain in Fontaine for some reason unexplained.

According to the descriptions of the Water-Splitting and Water-Spouting Phantasms, new enemies in Fontaine, with most of the Oceanids having left Fontaine, new strange elemental lifeforms have taken their place after the cataclysm.

According to the Water-Splitting Phantasm description, while the water have long since been diluted and cleansed, Fontaine’s waters will never naturally birth Oceanids again until there are containers of pure water somewhere.

And if you look at the description of the Water-Spouting Phantasm, it states that: It is said that in Egeria's era, the Oceanids often lived alongside humans, and lived in the springs of clear waters dotted across the lands, and through this, they connected the waters of the world. But most died with their god, and for the survivors, the world no longer has any god they recognize. That unrecognized god obviously being Focalors. 

I’ll expand on it in an actual theory post, but I do believe part of the Fontaine AQ will be restoring the waters of Fontaine to how they once were, allowing new Oceanids to be born from Fontaine’s water and bringing the Oceanids back to the regionー maybe even get them on better terms with Furina.

Speaking of Fontaine’s water, ever since 3.0, I am fascinated with it.

If you go to Port Ormos, specifically the port close with all the porters and the Eremite guards, you’ll run into an adventurer NPC named Vasco. If you talk to him, he goes on a bit of a tirade about sea monsters, but he starts off the dialogue with something very interesting. “Should I go to Fontaine and get a diving certificate?”

Even more interesting was the follow up: “To prevent myself from the cook's fate, I'm considering getting a diving certificate from Fontaine before adventuring again. But I heard the water in Fontaine is different from here, so it won't be a useful endeavor.”

Fontaine had me in a chokehold just by being the Hydro nation to start with, but the idea that Fontaine’s water is different from the rest of Teyvat’s? How is it different? What are the unique properties that separate from Fontainian water from regular Teyvat water? What do Fontainians living in/visiting other nations think of regular Teyvat water? What do people from other nations think of Fontanian water? I’ve got to know.

Part of “The Terrestial Sea, Origin of All Waters” description mentions that Fontaine where all waters of the world originate. It’s further elaborated on in the description of the set of drops from the Fontemer Abberant enemies (I will not be fighting the Puffbeast. Fuck everything else though lmao, those crabs and seahorses can catch these hands).

From left to right:

Transoceanic Pearl: A small crystal obtained from a defeated Fontemer Aberrant. Fontemer Aberrants arise from Fontaine's seas. They are believed to be a unique life form born from the mysterious energy in the water.

Transoceanic Chunk: A crystal obtained from a defeated Fontemer Aberrant. It gives off a somewhat mysterious energy. Although many legends speak of great life forms residing in remote seas beyond human reach, ordinary oceans can hardly compare to the vibrant seas of Fontaine.

Kaleidoscopic Crystal: A large crystal obtained from a defeated Fontemer Aberrant.It contains a mysterious energy. All rivers and seas originate in Fontaine, but the water loses all its unique properties once it flows outside Fontaine's borders.

Back to back, each description mentions that Fontaine’s water has a certain energy to it, that ordinary oceans cannot compare. But most interestingly enough, it reaffirms that all rivers and seas in the world of Teyvat originate in Fontaine but the moment it leaves Fontaine’s borders, it immediately loses all its unique properties.

I don’t doubt that the uniqueness of Fontaine’s water will be mentioned in Fontaine’s storyline. A good chunk in the AQ, considering Furina coming into power led to the Lochfolk leaving the country. But I also think a good chunk of it will come from WQ’s and likely from the Melusines, a race of seafolk unique to Fontaine that still live there. Which begs the question as to why they haven’t left Fontaine when nearly all of the Oceanids have.

According to one Melusine NPC from a leaked video that’s been removed, Melusines originate from a creature called the Elynas and if I remember correctly they come from its flesh or bones. And the Primuses came after the cataclysm and can be found near the Elynas, but I’m not sure if that’s the same for the Melusines since there isn’t more elaboration on it but I hope to find out more once Fontaine’s initial WQs start dropping.

And of course, I’m excited for the lore potential of the upcoming character.

Lyney, Lynette and Freminet all seem to have a connection to Arlecchino and the House of the Hearth and may even be working for her now as Fatui agents who possibly hope to one day live peaceful lives.

Neuvillette was once speculated to possibly be an Oceanid who remained in Fontaine, but it now looks like he is the Hydro Dragon. It sucks that it isn’t Kokomi but either way it doesn’t change the fact that the Hydro Dragon IS living among humans and even working closely with an Archon, when it has been shown through Apep that dragons from the time before the Seven hate Celestia, Archons and humans alike in this new era of Teyvat. So why live peacefully with them? I’m curious to know!

But by far, the character with some of the most interesting lore potential is of course going to be the Archon especially with what we know about her.

She’s a reason the Oceanids left Fontaine, according to Neuvillette she’s prone to hysterics and in a leaked clip of the AQ she even liquefies a man. Like, she is truly prepared to be the best worst Archon and I am here for it, she’s getting my guaranteed pull and maybe even her signature weapon if I can get it without pushing myself back too far on my Clorinde pulls.

And if we look at the Hydro gemstone for the Archon quote that gives more insight into their character, Furina’s says:

And according to Dainsleif in the Fontaine portion of the Teyvat trailer: “The God of Justice lives for the spectacle of the courtroom, seeking to judge all other gods. But even she knows not to make an enemy of the divine.”

If we look at some more leaks about her, we get some more interesting tidbits.

More specifically in this dialogue exchange with some NPCs:

In other words, it is looking like Furina is going to be a Chaotic Neutral character. She’s nonsensical, she’s a wild card, she welcomes being judged by even her own subjects she holds dominion over yet she considers herself pure and magnificent. If you’re able to win some sort of trial she places you in, she’ll be thrilled. Hell one might even get a medal. Sure that could all just be hyperbole from the locals, but even hyperbolic statements have some truth to it and with how long she has been in power, there have probably been instances such as the ones those NPCs described.

Yet even Furina fears Celestia because she knows the sort of damage they are capable of delivering if they ever deem her an enemy or a liability.

And with the concept that she may have two personalities, one can’t help wondering how that will come into play if it was kept as something final for Fontaine’s story and her design. I can’t help wondering about how she came into power as well. I don’t want it to be another ‘family’-based story.

Ei and Makoto were twins, Rukkhadevata and Nahida are avatars of Irminsul with Rukkha essentially being her mother plant so to speak.

I would like for Furina and Egeria to be unrelated. Maybe Furina was once a nymph that resided in Fontaine who later on ascended or I would find it cool if she ascended to Celestia as a regular mortal years ago and was given Fontaine to govern. And I would also like it if Fontaine didn’t have a new Archon for a while after Egeria’s death.

Both Ei and Nahida were able to immediately step in for their respective predecessors after they died. It would be interesting if for Fontaine, it took a while for someone else to step in which lead to a civil unrest. That could be used to even tie into Zhongli’s hesitance in retiring from being an Archon, siting Fontaine’s period of Archon-less complications as a reason to stay until he was otherwise reassured that Liyue would be fine without him.

There’s just a lot of potential with Furina and Fontaine’s story and I’m hoping they stick the landing considering how poorly Inazuma’s storyline was completed.

Anyway, this is getting long enough so I’ll stop now. This is mostly to just look back on my hype for Fontaine in the future when it’s been a while since its release and Natlan is on its way out of the basement.

[lovingherrscher]

Playing Honkai Impact with the BSD men (Dazai, Chuuya, Kunikida and Fyodor)

Note: Crack, OOC even maybe, random ideas at 2AM while I do the Honkai grinding. Might do a Genshin version later if I feel like it. Genre: Crack, fluff, if you squint hard enough there'll be 4th wall breaking and some spoilers for Storm Bringer.

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Dazai:

Is willing to play with you, and he is kinda bored so he needs something to kill time in the office when he's not sleeping or messing around with Kunikida.

SUPER, like, super lucky. First 10 dorm supply and he already got 3 S-Rank Valkyries????

Man makes you question your luck because just 10 roll in any banner and he WILL get all the rate-up character, weapon or even stigmata.

"F2P btw"

That certain player who skips the story just to play the game.

Said that he's gonna read it later but never will. Too lazy to do that, but does read the comic/manhua version when you brought that up.

But he does read Elysian Realm, including the main story.

Is a simp for Elysia and the other Seele aka Veliona.

Got them at SSS with full gear as well.

Man also got Stygian Nymph at SS2 like how-

Sometimes when he's too lazy or bored he'll throw the phone to you or Atsushi to help him with the daily tasks.

HATES, absolutely hates Otto with a fierce passion. Will switch to Chinese VA if he had to or simply unplug the headphones when he doesn't want to changes VA back and forth too much.

Man started you by almost jumped out of the bed when he first heard Otto's voice in Memorial Arena.

Was suprised af hearing Welt's voice too. Will use that as the reason to 'persuade' Kunikida into playing the game.

"Hey Atsushi-kun, help me a bit will you? Just skip the materials event and play enough to reach 600 BP points and you're good to go!"

With that said, he threw the phone to his subordinate and immediately went to lay down on the couch. Poor Atsushi knows nothing and was fumbling with it for a good while until you took Dazai's phone from his hands.

"It's alright, I will do it for him. You can get back to work, sorry for that, Atsushi."

Chuuya:

Is okay with it actually because he does want to relive some stress, and because you told him to cut out on the cigarettes so he needs something that can distract him.

Enjoys the story enough to play the game with you. That is, until he read Void Heavens & Diane's Sojourn.

Was crying at the part when Herrescher of Void told Fu Hua that Kiana's existence is built upon lies and that she only exists to serve as her vessel.

He cries for the whole night in your arms because that reminds him of what he's been through back then. He was lucky enough that he is, actually a real human being. Still, deep down sometimes he wishes he could be a normal person, for if weren't because of Arahabaki inside him, he wouldn't had to suffer like that.

Didn't touch the game for a whole week after he finished Thunders over Nagazora.

Cries even harder after the end of Theater of Domination and the birth of Herrescher of Flamescion.

Immediately whale for Kiana. He whaled so much in just ONE DAY that Hoyoverse had to contact him and ask is he sure that he wants to continue the transaction.

He had all Kiana's battlesuits at SSS and with proper stigmata sets + weapons for them.

Did whale for Himeko as well because why not? Aunt Himeko deserves it ❤

Those doesn't left even a dent in his black card. Will let you whale as well, as long as his princess is happy ❤

"You have quite the collection there, Chuuya. By this rate they're gonna give you a Kiana golden statue as a gift."

"They are?!"

Chuuya widened his eyes in suprise. He didn't expect to get anything back, he just wanted to see Kiana's growth, for he saw a glimpse of himself in the valkyrie. He admires those with a strong will like that, maybe it was a part of his younger self who admires the heroes in those stories which he convinces himself that he will never become someone like them.

"Well, they might be. I heard that a company use to sent a wedding ring as a token of appreciation for their most loyal customer." (*)

Kunikida:

Absolutely not. He "will not waste his time on such things."

Too busy to afford a hobby, no?

But when Dazai shows him Welt's voice?

He was so suprised his jaws could fall off right there on his desk.

Still not going to play because he insists you that his schedule is already packed. But he will listen to you when you ramble about the game though.

Might ask you to lend him your phone so he can read the story at one point.

He bursted out at the last bubble universe in In The Deep where Welt, Herrescher of Reason turns his back against humanity instead of fighting for them like he always did.

He was scared that he might become like that. Sasaki and the Azure King case still haunts him. He was afraid that one day he will be like him when he is fed up and let his ideals consumes him.

Please hug the man. He deserves a vacation and someone who'd be there for him.

Fyodor:

Honestly, he isn't too fond of the idea of playing games and such.

Will try because of curiosity when you show him Otto's voice.

Does read the story properly, and whilst he shows no interests in the valkyries, he find the Overseer amusing.

Is one hell of a lucky man as well.

When he saw Dazai in the Memorial Arena rankings, he'd starts a race to beat the other. He does owns enough valkyries and equipments, but if he felt it isn't enough he'll whale just to beat Dazai. Of course that's the same case for our beloved detective.

Isn't happy after he finishes Kolosten and Thus Spoke Apocalypse. He doesn't understand why does Otto have to go so far for Kallen.

Is amused again when he saw the fake Otto in A Post-Honkai Odyssey though.

Eventually will quit the game after Otto is gone because it no longer amuses him.

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(*) This actually happens iirc I've read an article about a game company in China sent their most loyal player a ring upon their wedding as a token of appreciation after all the money they spent for the game.