#spoiler warning for the “chen/yu's blessings of sun/ken jade” quest series obviously

[contractbound]

more chen/yu vale thoughts, but specifically related to the main world quest series.

my thoughts unrelated to the questline can be found here

978 words

overall, i found the questline interesting, and a welcome addition to what we already knew. the echoes of an offering artifact set painted a compelling but incomplete picture. much of it was expanded on in the questline, along with other things being introduced, allowing for more clear understanding. unsurprisingly, i came out of the questline still harboring questions, but that can only be expected, so i'm not discontent. having this much to chew on is fine enough for me, for now.

one thing these quests established that felt like a breath of fresh air was how they blurred the line between "adep/tus" and "non-adep/tus". in particular, fu/jin's dialogue about how "no one is born an adep/tus, and no one stays an adep/tus forever" stood out to me. i imagine among mortals in-universe, the divide between adep/ti and non-adep/ti can seem clear-cut. some could consider it a divide between species, lifespans, ability, power, and knowledge — what is second nature to one party may be unfathomable to the other. so, i find moments like these interesting when gen/shin blurs the lines between us.

this is a little tangential, but specifically in the case of mortals, adep/ti have been adep/ti for their entire lifespan and more, so from their perspective, we may as well have been adep/ti forever. since the game follows the perspective of a new arrival to tey/vat as well, it's possible for players to develop a similar perspective. adep/ti were adep/ti long before the traveler had arrived, so we may give off the initial impression that we are eternal, and easily identified. there are a good few cases though, where gen/shin states the contrary.

in particular, hearing the perspectives of other adep/ti is invaluable to me, especially from someone like fu/jin. many of us tend to be proud, and at times imposing, but fu/jin isn't like that. she's modest, perhaps even to her detriment. she has the experience and the humbleness required to reflect on existence as an adep/tus in a more raw and honest way. if only she could have a little more confidence in herself and her abilities....

another individual that stood out to me particularly strongly was ling/yuan. it's nothing earth-shattering or profound; i just relate to her, to an extent. it hit close to home how she was more isolated, and couldn't understand the whims and tastes of mortals. there had been a few times where i too thought about what it might be like if everything "reset", so to speak, and humans no longer interfered with the environment. still, there was never any real desire or effort behind those thoughts; it was only idle musings. after all, the lives and desires of mortals were intertwined with mine for most of my life, whether or not i want to accept it.

still, i can also understand being stuck to one's ways. i can understand going about your life thinking certain behaviours are simply your nature, and you have no desire (or perhaps not even the ability) to go against it. it also resonated with me when she had to come to terms with the fact she'd gone against her "nature", and felt compelled to understand more. i hope to hear more of her perspective in the future.

a final thing that stood out to me particularly strongly was chen/yu vale's former god — fu/jin, ling/yuan, and herb/lord's former master. not much information was given, but it was enough to sound suspiciously familiar. how this "unnamed god" was described makes me wonder if she's the same god i served before mor/ax came along. i don't want to go into too much detail, but i'll write down the gist of my thoughts.

for one, fu/jin described this god as having "made many dreams come true". this is probably the single line that gives my suspicions the most substance. it sounds like something that would have been within my former lord's power and jurisdiction, considering they ate dreams in excess during the war. in tey/vat, "dream" is a word that holds a certain weight — i doubt such wording of fu/jin's dialogue was unintentional. there's also the matter of my personal connection to dreams within my canon, but i'll write about that another time.

another thing that sounded familiar to me was fu/jin describing the god as having "gone mad seeking the position of a god who may rule this world, or perhaps seeking survival". while as of now, i personally have no conclusive knowledge of the reasoning behind my former god's motives (and may never attain it), these sentiments fall in line with some possibilities i've thought of.

the morality of the ar/chon war isn't clear-cut. it's been established many times that bloodshed was the only option. whether i forgive or absolve my former god for what they've done is another story entirely, but we cannot assume certain gods are wholly good while others are wholly bad, especially not during a time like the ar/chon war. i had been considering for some time now if perhaps the prospect of power had driven them mad, or if they simply threw morality out the window just to survive. either way, it was affirming to see fu/jin describe my exact thoughts.

thinking back on their powers, and on their affinity for dreams, i've wondered for some time too whether or not their abilities had a more benevolent use. had their spent their whole reign mistreating their subjects, or was there a time where they treated humans' dreams kindly? could the ar/chon war have changed or corrupted them? if fu/jin and i truly do share the same former lord, i suppose my questions are answered. but until either the game's canon or my own memories confirm this, i can only continue to speculate.

regardless, i feel no sympathy for them. whether their temperament was innate or acquired, that doesn't change a thing.