#being the one narrating Dain's introduction

[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]

Anonymous asked: In the past few days I saw more people open to share their ship preferences for their muses, but most of the tiers (more like all of them) don't include Dainsleif yet. So question for the mun! what do you look for in order to ship? and if it's easy for you to respond, who would you ship Dainsleif with?

I hope you know what you're in for, nonnie— as this is going to be a ride that may contain some salt.

What I look for first and foremost when it comes to shipping is plausibility. Yes, I'm aware that some muns may go like "oh, I like this character so I'd like to ship them with my muse and see if that works" and that's perfectly fine. I am no different in having these thoughts myself, but 95% of the times I ignore them for other reasons that will be stated later. Dain himself is a complicated muse with unique circumstances and background. If the likelihood of him not interacting with a great part of the cast in ways that it becomes meaningful and under normal circumstances is high, you can imagine how it must be the case of shipping.

Which leads me to the next point: because of Dain's complications it is hard to build something with strong foundations that won't crumble at the earliest scenario of him not providing what's expected in a healthy relationship. He has many ghosts of his past and the present time, a mission that was given by someone else or self-imposed that goes above everything —even himself, as he clearly states that doesn't relish his solitude in Shenhe's miscellany or that he knows about the heartache of the Adepti in Xiao's miscellany, which clearly belies the fact that he's ignoring things he would've preferred for himself for the sake of a grander scheme than himself—, a great trauma of the past that intertwines with self-hatred and guilt. He won't accept easily that someone in the know of all these things would still choose him. There is the Abyss that can warp his senses even if he's done a great job for the past centuries in remaining sane. There is a curse that goes with a chronic physical pain and even more ghosts to add in his mind that exist or the abyssal factors of the curse will ingrain in his mind. And there is the possibility that the Sinner is part of said ghosts in his mind, given that he might be the one who narrates Dain's introduction based on Chinese word choices to say who the author is.

In order for a ship to work with him, the other part has to be aware of all these things and even so be willing to stay by his side —more metaphorically-speaking than personally, because they'll be in for long periods of absence from Dain's part alone and most certainly that other person will have their own responsibilities too—. I love to ship romantically as the next person as much as it looks like I'm adding layers and layers of difficulty to do that, but I don't want to step over key aspects of what makes Dain who he is just for the sake of shipping at risk of making it incredibly shallow and without substance. Because one of the things that I look for in a ship is also development: for every muse in particular and in a personal way and together as a pair.

This is why I'm terribly iffy about ships that not only erase Dain's autonomy, but also ignore completely his own principles for the sake of shipping such as Dainsleif / Kaeya when the latter goes the Abyss road and in all this design Dain is just someone who is there without any word in anything other than to serve. Yes, he was a knight that served royalty in Khaenri'ah. But he isn't some mindless puppet who would throw away everything he worked for or the honor of others who he believes is being walked over unfairly like, guess what, the Abyss Order does. And something in a similar vein happens with the ship of either Lumine or Aether as the Abyss counterpart of the Traveler and Dain in a romantic ship, only that I've seen worse here to the point where they would do with him as they please and treat him unkindly while ignoring completely that he's not only an intelligent individual with vast knowledge, but also strong whose power is indirectly praised by someone of the likes of Skirk.

The last thing I look for in a ship (but not any less important) is communication. Extensive communication with the mun. For one I like to build ships from the very beginning and see how they evolve over the course of time and events our muses are subjected. But I'm also aware that we're adults with responsibilities and priorities other than a hobby that might make this incompatible, and still the interest of creating a meaningful ship is there. Which is why, for me, communication is equally as important as the aforementioned points. If I can't talk with the mun, how am I going to know their feelings on what's happening as our muses progress? There is a void left in my chest at the thought that I can't gush about things that happen with my RP partner in question which I have encountered in the past when I was less experienced in RP and more driven to what the majority used to do— but it simply doesn't work with me. If we won't be able to do things from scratch in a linear way, I want to have the opportunity to talk to my partner and at least build it through extensive discussions. Later on we can always jump in various points of our muses' timeline to observe in IC ways how certain things go. But... communication is simply a must to me. And if I happen to not mesh well with the mun for whatever reason (but still not to the point where IC interactions becomes incompatible, as we can still do IC things without necessarily ever talk if that's how it works between us) or lack that chance to talk things through with them... as much as I hate to say it, I won't ship it no matter how compatible our muses are.

Lastly, and this will be complicated to say so I'll just stick to what I've found the most compatible with Dain to have solid examples. The most 1:1 character I've found that Dain can be compatible with in Genshin is Neuvillette, without a sliver of doubt. There are others that would work well and that I don't necessarily ship (although I wouldn't turn the other way if it were suggested to me) like Xiao. Another 1:1 character I've found compatible with Dain that hilariously is all the way in HSR is Blade.