#wingweaver

[aaadriann]

Might as well use this account for something. Here's:

My Wingweavers headcanon list

because i love birds

Nothing fancy, some things might not make sense. I like birds a normal amount

If I get anything wrong about bird biology, I'm sorry. I usually study bird behaviour, not bodies.

They have very sharp and bulky teeth.

It is common in their culture to eat with their hands to feel more connected to their meal. At large feasts or gatherings, it's usually more common to eat with cutlery in case you need to interact or do something with your hands and don't have the time or abilities to clean your hands quick enough, but eating with your hands is still an option.

Back in Muldrasil (rip), those who dissented against Yaoshi were exiled down to live with the residents of the dirt. If they did not go willingly, their wings were cut.

VERY big on dance and song culture. Many had at least some kind of skills in performance and any special occasion called for a flight dance.

Bells and long ribbons commonly tied to wings, body, and tail as decoration for dancing.

Sleeping piles were surprisingly common, even among the hymn-singers and sky-defenders.

Little body hair. Instead, they had rings of down feathers on the neck, ankles, wrists, back, and sometimes on the chest. Presence and amount of these feathers HEAVILY depended on genetics. Most commonly feathered place is the back where the wings connect, there's typically enough to cover the seam between wings and skin entirely. In winter, extra feathers grow in and Wingweavers get very puffy. Once it gets warmer, these feathers fall out. Majority consider these falling feathers a nuisance, but some might gather their down feathers and stuff pillows with them.

The base of the wings, the skin near it, and the underside of the wings are erroneous zones.

Wingweavers mate for life, and are incredibly loyal to their mate. Doesn't mean they don't have splits sometimes. There's no separation between "dating" and "married" in their culture. If you're a pair, then you're a pair. If you split, then you're split.

They go through heat. (fuck you I make the rules here). More specifically, they get incredibly hormonal. It's a mixture of mammalian heat and the avian hormone season. During this time, they can get intense nesting instincts. This includes building a typical cup nest inside a private house nest, increased aggressiveness, and stocking up on food. These urges can be suppressed by some, but can cause great stress depending on the Wingweaver, so this is considered a valid reason to skip duties. Special fake eggs are sold to mimic the warmth of real eggs so that struggling Wingweavers can have something to direct their urges onto to get through this period. They are affected by light levels like birds, that's what triggers all this.

They are able to make a large variety of whistles, trills, squawks, etc. to communicate. They prefer speaking, but when sharing information quickly and over long distances, they use the bird noises. This can only share basic information, it's difficult to get into specifics. Basically like Toki Pona in terms of vagueness.

They lay eggs. Only one at a time though, sometimes two or three. Laying 2-3 eggs is slightly more common than having twins or triplets as a human. The eggs are about the size of a healthy human newborn's head.

Yes, the babies look like what you're imagining.

In general, egg laying and reproduction and stuff is a very awkward mix of human and bird. They can lay infertile eggs if the conditions are right, but medication can be provided and precautions can be taken to stop this. It's unnecessarily taxing on the body and makes them extra broody when they could be working.

On a similar note, they also poop like birds. There's no "pee or poo", it's "pee AND poo". Weight and flight reasons.

MATING RITUALS. God, they love their dances and songs.

Nests (as in, house nests) were only really used for sleep. As soon as the sun rises, majority of Wingweavers would be out and about. Wingweavers generally love the outdoors, but it was also because of the dust caused by their feathers. No one wants to sit in a dusty room, so they are indoors as little as possible.

Meteorhammers and Ropedarts were the most common Wingweaver-made weapons, though weapons stolen from other civilisations were usually preferred. Some did prefer to use the roped weapons, be that for traditions sake or a preference of technique. These were also used in dance.

Powerful voices, they can project very well.

Pirate themed, I like it so this is wishful thinking. As a result, a real-world accent a lot of them have is Bristolian (hahaha, projection,,,,,)

I'm saying that the Hurdy Gurdy comes from the Wingweavers. I make the rules.

They can't fly in place, they always have to be on the move in order to stay aloft. Weight doesn't let them hover.

They're dusty. As a result, they don't like being confined inside, since the dust accumulates and it's annoying.

On Muldrasil, their nests were just big enough for a pile of them to sleep, and were typically either dome nests or pendulum nests. If a cavity opened up inside Muldrasil, it would be converted into a communal rest space with lots of padding. From the last point, they don't spend much time in their nests aside from sleeping, so the nests aren't that big.

I don't think I've ever explicitly said they also have bird tails. This is me explicitly saying they also have bird tails.

They also don't have breasts. They don't produce milk for their young because they are born from eggs. Chest plumage can sometimes give the /appearance/ of breasts, but it never is actual breasts.

When threatened or aggravated, they hiss and puff up their wings.

Wing puffing is actually common in any intense emotion.

Please correct me if I got some bird stuff horribly wrong I LOVE LEARNING

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Wingweaver

"A six-winged fairy who prays for peace and hope."

[aduelbetweenkingdomsafreshstart]

ADBK: Wingweaver

Epithet: The Princess of Prayer

Voice Actor: Amy Birnbaum

Tribe: The Fairy Kingdom

Biography: This beautiful angel is the sister of Honest, and is a purveyor of peace and hope.

She gives mortals the strength to carry on despite the evil in the Duelscape, and has even helped guide warriors of all kinds into allying with the Fairy Kingdom and the Kindred in turn.

Wingweaver's main fighting force is Star Squad Psi, and her troops are more than prepared to weaponize this peace and hope like a great wave of healing fired from a mighty cannon. She also plays a mean game of pinochle, as Airknight Parshath and Archlord Zerato learned the hard way.

[past-venus]

Commissions aside, I CAN FINALLY TALK ABOUT MY HSR OCS >:] This is Saber. He's a wingweaver (denizen of abundance / enemy of the Xianzhou). He was a soldier before his home got destroyed, and he turned to mercenary work to survive. Yes, I'm skipping out on details but that's because I'm a coward and restraining myself so.

Funny bird man. He's so normal and mentally well :] all he wants to do is bake bread and not be perceived.

I listened to so much End-World Normopathy for this mf istg

[thewittyphantom]

I found a cute thread about favorite normal Yu-Gi-Oh monsters.

https://www.reddit.com/r/yugioh/comments/15caamm/which_are_your_favorite_normal_monsters_of_all/

[imbibitorz]

IN MODERATION.ᐟ.ᐟ

honestly, what the fuck guys﹒﹒﹒

TAGS: twitch!discord!au, coffeeshop!au in the background; social media-ish au?; streamer!march, chat mods!reader, caelus, dan heng; terrible coping mechanisms and overall issues; somewhat brainrotting language in some places; fluff, crack, slight angst, probably smut, caelus and dan heng are into each other too; stelle and firefly cameos, stelle and firefly are together; pining, miscommunication, friends to ‘coworkers’ to roommates to lovers, it’s chaotic as FUCK, NOT IN ORDER

SUMMARY:

with march suddenly going viral, she obviously needs people on her streams and in her community to keep it safe and calm. that’s how you, alongside your two friends, ended up as the trusted guardian of peace in march’s internet community. it seems like a heavy responsibility… but in reality, you three do all except that. busy in the chaos three roommates can create, you try, you really try to be there for march and be a good friend as well as her team’s member… but how can you focus when caelus shows up like a lost puppy, dan heng appears out of nowhere, both trying so hard to hold back their feelings?

AUTHOR'S NOTES: holy moly fam﹒﹒﹒so this will be CHAOTIC AS F U C K and then some but I couldn't bear the idea rotting my brain so I had to let it out here. and yes, this is self-indulgent, yes it is an au to my selfship and no, i don't care if you like it or not; I'm (trying) to write it for myself because as i stated above, i want to let this idea out. and idk exactly why im explaining all of this but eh﹒﹒﹒ enjoy tho? and reblog if you liked this chaos

││CHAPTERS:

𝟎﹒PROFILES .ᐟ.ᐟ

𝟏﹒[TBA]

[helpmeimblorboing]

Worldbuilding is such an adventure, because some days you’re just going on a metaphorical joyride, figuring out what powers the servants of the divine should have, and the incidents that are going to litter the backdrop of your story

And some days (cough, cough, today) you’re coming up with an intricate history for the religious cults of your story’s gods, including Bibles, “Footprints in the Sand”-esque poetry, and late 18th century theological schisms between factions

That’s not even scratching the surface on the absolute bullshit that is POLITICS, ESPECIALLY the Panopticon’s. You know, you’d think that the cult started by a Queen and dedicated to Control would be the one closest to the monarchy, wouldn’t you ?

But no !! It’s the Panopticon that’s acknowledged as practically an official branch of the Crown. Because as it turns out, monarchs value espionage over control

(FYI, there are three cults dedicated to Dysthymia, the God of the Mind in my story. There are more, but this story only involves those three

The first are the Wingweavers, who are led by the Priestess Emerit, and serve her aspect of Control. Created by Queen Elizabeth the First of the Tudor dynasty, who actually served as its first Emerit, the Wingweavers are a cult designed to hem in the public and drum up support for authority figures. Basically, they’re the Catholic-Church-equivalents

The second are the Church of the Everblind, who are led by the Amatios Ypiretis, and serve the Dysthymic aspect of Ignorance. Venerating ignorance, blindness, and simplicity, this cult was founded by an unknown group during the time of the Byzantine Empire, and really picked up steam after the First World War

The third are the Panopticon, who are led by the Dominus Oculus, and serve the aspect of Perception. Worshipping knowledge and the collection of data for its own sake, the Panopticon has existed since the times of the late Roman Empire, started by Emperor Octavian, though it wasn’t called the Panopticon then

Anyways, not much literature has been written on the cults, due to the critical failure of the book Blood-soaked Cross, by American author John Dennings, whose brother had been indoctrinated into the Wingweavers at the time. Scathing and critical, the book derides the Wingweavers as a heretical offshoot of Christianity, something that turned the Holy Trinity into a trifold pantheon of pagan gods

The Priestess Emerit, furious, immediately had him killed. No one really had the guts to comment on the cults after that

No one that is, until the philosopher John Frances took a crack at it in 1746, coming out with the polarising text known only as A Theory of the Divine, which posits that the cults of the Trifold Gods actually all worship Dysthymia, positioning her as a supreme ruler god, and the other two as subservient to her

Predictably, Frances was soon indoctrinated into the Panopticon, and soon rose through its ranks to become the Dominus Oculus, eventually authoring “The Seven Eyes”, an internal-use piece of religious propaganda used to proselytise the teachings of the Panopticon

Meanwhile, sometime in 1547, the Wingweavers had gotten their own holy text, called the Book of Light. Written by an unknown author, the Book quickly became the foundation of the Wingweaver’s newfound pivot into evangelism, with one of its excerpts being quoted at nearly every sermon held by the Priestess Emerit, “And Lo !! This the shepherd turned their gazes to the sky, for the star had burned its place in the dark, so bright and true that it seemed like dawn had broken. And the ten burning wings of the Administrator, she the Highest of the High, Lady Dysthymia, burned themselves forever into their vision, leaving behind a shadow of their shape, their mark forever silhouetted against the shepherd’s eyes”

Another text published by the Wingweavers is the famous poem “Eyes Over Yonder” by the Priestess Emerit in 1789, a woman named Mary Yoseph. It goes something like so “

And the blind woman asked the prophet,

What truth will reveal itself to one who cannae so much as see a lie ?

And the prophet answered,

O ye of little faith, such truth that need be seen is no truth, and such faith that need be tested is no faith

For fear not, O Child of the Light, for though thy eyes be dark, tis for greater still

To forbid the distractions of the world, to serve her great will

And though the Truth to you may be dark

The Eyes of the Lord see through you, for you, now and forever

For there is no sight sharper than the Sight of the Lady

And the Eyes Over Yonder”

This text is absurdly popular, fuelling a number of pamphlets, sermons, speeches and novellas put out by the leadership of the Wingweavers, meant to show that the true purpose of existence is to surrender your senses and lives to Dysthymia

The Church of the Everblind, however, took offence to the repeated mentions of “eyes” and “sight”, and soon, in response, they published their own poem, against the very doctrines of their church

They called it the Sight Unseen, written by the Amatios Ypiretis of the Church of the Everblind in the year 1795, Jacob Fellhaven, and it went as follows

“What use have the world of eyes, when sight be of human make ?

What use have faith of sight, when sight only faith break ?

The light that burns, misguides and lies

To what end shall the Lady be attributed to it in which faith dies

For endless pours the immortal drink from the pall of stormy skies

Writ in the dark smoke and the light’s legion lies

The light is a cruel thing and deceiving without end

But the dark is simple, true. The dark is your friend

The dark is your prophet, the dark is your sermon.

The Sight Unseen is your goal, and the Lady Dysthymia your patron.

For what use have we of eyes, of knowledge and words and tongue

When we are all from the Lady’s ten wings hung

For Children of the Dark are we and to Dark we must return

No matter how many times the Light stakes its turn”

It’s noted that in the prelude to the Sight Unseen, Fellhaven refers to the Wingweavers as the “twisted iron-fist pariahs who have decayed the word of our Lord to something unrecognisable”, adding that they should be “seen as the sinners they are, for the Devil hides amidst the flock of the Lady”

In response, Yoseph published a lengthy doctrine decrying the poem as “foolish, anti-intellectualist, reductive drivel designed to drive people away from the Light of our Lord”, referring to him as “the Golden Sheep of Baal” and “a blind old man preaching stupidity and occultism”

It’s noted that in present day, evangelicals of the Wingweavers often give out excerpts from the Book of Light on the street, on like tiny little slips of paper. In addition, some of the older Wingweaver-aligned families, like the Robinsons, who are actually descended from the 1963 Priestess Emerit, Josephine Robinson, carry their own copies of the Book of Light, leather-bound and embossed with the golden symbol of the Wingweavers, a ring with ten wings sprouting from it, five on each side, and an eye in the centre

There also exists an annotated, illustrated “children’s edition of the Book of Light”, with Eyes Over Yonder written on the inside of its back cover, along with a tiny little drawing of the unnamed prophet blessing a blind old woman. It’s quite cute, if mildly distressing”)

[that-spider-witch]

Since he has no memory of his parents whatsoever and has a lot of bird imagery associated with him...

Wingweaver!Yanqing AU in which his birth parents either abandoned him for whatever bullshit reason or were killed by the Xianzhou in battle. Everything is mostly the same except he is a literal bird boy and that there's a lot of potential for angst that I'm not gonna get into here... Precious sword birb. Baby birdie.

Is this anything

[glacialswordsman]

yknow what fuck it

gives my halovian yaya freaky-deaky eyes

[bywrios]

i think it’d be kinda funny if mydei met his match in terms of like. family angst except R is just Worse. R has so much loathing and strife in her it would make nikador blush. R is all “maybe existence was a mistake” and mydei is like “ok. how about we have some bread”

reviving this old ass blog to yap about mydeimos bcos he’s kind activating my braincells……….. mydei x astral express medic reader except R is a wingweaver from claretwheel temple and the daughter of two prominent wingweaver leaders. R has yaoshi’s blessing and like mydei doesn’t really stay dead but she resents the fact, and everything about her heritage which contrasts her with mydei who, despite definitely having aspects of his culture that he despises, still has other sides to it that he loves. anyway R gets nikador speared in the first siege of okhema and dies in front of mydei’s eyes, but comes right back to life and it Intruiges him. they’d have really long talks about legacy and heritage and sins of the father and what defines you as a person and if i was half a decent writer i would write it but alas. it will just stay in my mind prison 😔

[hawkinasock]

haiii pls spill abt ur chimera yq ideas... i have my own (https://www.tumblr.com/waterfrontcomplex/758520749229277184/dunmeshi-chapter-37ep-17-spoilers-look?source=share)

i also drew my own idea of him (swallow + abundant deer)

Yes ofc!! I'm so happy that someone else has had this idea too, it has so much potential. I want to see all the chimera Yanqings.

Mine looks like this. I actually didn't have a design drawn out for him initially, so I had to whip something up quickly. That's why it took me so long to answer </3

Originally, he had a more swallow-based design.

I still really like it, but I changed the lore a lot, so I made the new one, the current au, which goes something like this:

(CW for blatant body horror, descriptions of digestion, as well as brief details regarding real world animal death)

Here's my idea. Like most aeons, Lan The Hunt has emanators that carry out their will. One of these emanator's is currently unnamed and without a solid design yet. It has an animalistic appearance in my head. Imagine Feixiao's inner beast, or the Mourning Aix from WuWa. That'll give you the best reference.

It travels the cosmos, tracking down and eliminating the Abundance. it does this with the use of extremely powerful olfactory cells. Even with galaxies separating them, the emanator can detect abominations through smell alone, and when it finds one, it will consume it to ensure it cannot possibly regenerate.

Suffice to say, it's very good at its job, and Yanqing, unfortunately, is not an exception to their heightened senses. Surprisingly to no one, Abundance Yanqing coexists with this au, and he is immediately recognized as an abomination when the emanator is in proximity of the Luofu. Yanqing is unaware of his status as an spawn of Yaoshi, so when the devourer of monsters (working title) visits the Luofu, he never would have expected it to turn its eyes onto him.

To say the Luofu is thrown into chaos when one of Lan's emanator's eats a Liuetenant of The Hunt is an understatement. The emanator insists no mistake has been made and it is justified through Lan's divine will. It actually shifts the blame onto Jing Yuan for assigning an abomination as his Lieutenant in the first place, citing incompetence on his part. Kind of a shitty thing to do after eating the man's son but okay...

Not long after, the emanator starts to... change. It begins experiencing sudden and visible signs of mara: bouts of aggression, delirium, and eventually flora and fungus sprouting from its flesh. It's incorrectly concluded that Yanqing's death was a result of early unset mara in the emanator, and Jing Yuan decides the emanator has to be killed via decapitation, such is their duty as followers of The Hunt.

You can probably guess where this is going.

So, you know how bones are capable of fusing together or into other objects during the healing process? Like that deer that was shot by an arrow and the ribcage actually fused itself with the arrow? That's essentially how chimera Yanqing is born.

As an abomination, Yanqing is capable of postmortem regeneration, and as an abomination that is particularly favored by Yaoshi (in my delusional mind) his regeneration capabilities far exceed that of the average denizen, and one this emanator's digestive system was not capable of overriding.

Much like how that deer bone fused with the arrow, Yanqing's body begins the process of fusing back together after partial consumption, and during that process, he inadvertently fuses with the emanator's body, which triggered those mara symptoms. Additionally, because there had also been remains of other denizens in the emanator's stomach, they were unintentionally included in the revitalization process. This, in the end, gave the chimera's body the claws of a Borisin, the wings of a Wingweaver, and the head of a human (his body structure is also the same as the Houyhnhnm, but that's obviously a coincidence on my part lol).

The flowers and mushrooms don't really serve any other purpose besides looking pretty and emphasizing his connection to the abundance - his power is so palpable that life is literally sprouting through his skin. I just think it's kinda neat.

Anyways, in terms of psychological aftereffects, Yanqing himself is still there. However, his sense of self is muddied and most of his memories suppressed. Because he's at the head, he's in control of his own movements and actions. Usually, he's completely docile, but in the face of people currently trying to kill him, he becomes confused and scared, and fights back in self-defense. He's also experiencing prolonged dysmorphia from his new form, which causes him greater confusion and even pain.

For Jing Yuan? I think everyone would agree he wouldn't want to kill Yanqing. He believes there's still a way to reverse Yanqing's affliction, even if the Ten Lords insist otherwise.

Currently I don't have an detailed outline of what happens next. My current ideas are similar to yours actually, where the disciples take an interest in Yanqing for whatever reason, be it desperation to stop the Luofu from killing him and seeing him as blessed by Yaoshi, what have you. It could honestly go a similar route as Dvalin's manipulation by the hands of the Abyss. If I were to give this au a happy ending, I could incorporate the Viscorpus' ability to shapeshift and have Yanqing hone that ability, allowing him to regain his human form.

That's all I have for what was meant to be a short, detailed summary </3 All these asks always end with me yapping, forgive me. I've had this au cooking in my head for so long now, and I'm glad I have an excuse to spurge about it now.

(p.s. pls make more of your chimera au, I would eat it up)

[jymwahuwu]

tis i! wingweaver anon again back from the livestream with a vengeance XD.

https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Transcript_of_Ten-Lords_Commission_Interrogation_With_the_Wingweaver_Xili

but i found this transcript and i realized that some wingweavers have come under the watch of the luofu. imagine a wingweaver reader from xili's clan being left behind on this strange ship. maybe you'd known xili as well, something of a mother to you perhaps, or a rather stern aunt.

even so, you are a proud little thing with your own biases and you are not fond of the xianzhou at all. but you're not one who specializes in any combat or military genius ( perhaps you are a labourer or servant class? ) so you cannot stir up trouble or run your mouth. you can no longer fly either because of the strict watch placed upon you and your clansmen, and you must content yourself with working odd jobs for a living with people who dislike you in equal measure.

but then there is a strange white haired man who comes and meets you sometimes. he likes pulling on your wings and feeding into your curious mind with stories and yummy food. and you can't say you're not impressed by him, xianzhou native or not. maybe at some point you slowly shed away that anger because it's so exhausting.

jing yuan had grown to have his own guilty pleasures, with your company exclusive to him and no one else. you're bright eyes, a little snarky, a little witty and you're such an adorable little birdie to him. surely he's allowed to be selfish, yes? and seeing you soften up and let him hold you, press soft kisses down your neck, he has an air of smug satisfaction.

but now you're trying to be civil with other people? he can't help but feel that bite of possessiveness. perhaps you've been a bit too brave in that regard, a bad little bird who has wandered too close to the bars of her cage.

he coaxes you to his home, to the coziness of his room when he finds out you're slowly going into heat. there were clear orders given to you and your clan that you were not allowed to proliferate...but really now, that was with each other, yes? you should be fine with him? and your mind and instincts do see jing yuan as a good mate. he is strong and he's proven a good companion, so you're more than happy to present yourself to him.

jing yuan does not stop till every bit of you if full with his seed. you'll bear his children soon enough and he's giddy at the thought, keeping you locked up for him to fuss, spoil and fuck. you could try to run but you learn rather quick that he's terribly good at finding you.

soon enough you do slowly give up a little and have him touch you all over, on your belly and breasts, cooing. he's so soft and kind to you and he keeps this nest you've made nice and warm. maybe you did belong here in the end, just for him. so you stay, with his ribbon tied round your neck like a pretty collar.

Thank you wingweaver anon, I absolutely love this series!! This sounds so cute <3<3

tw: dub-con/non-con, forced breeding, bird's estrus, harassment

As you were working part-time and waving your wings, attracting curious attention from the people of Xianzhou, Jing Yuan was also attracted. He's always loved furry and adorable things - kittens, puppies, birds - and now, you, with wings and feathers falling to the ground? Real wings? His heart seemed to be tickled by your feathers. Maybe this is the cuteness attack. The general couldn't help but tug at your wings, which were softer than velvet.

You screamed softly, stepped back, and turned to look at him, your shy blood rushing to your ears and heating up. "Sir, please don't touch other people's wings at will!" Jing Yuan apologized casually, "I'm sorry, I'm just curious about your wings. Are you-" The words stopped. He realizes what planet you are from. You are an enemy being monitored by Xianzhou. A little bird in captivity. So he took time to come to your place of work almost every day. Stories, tips, sweet words. There's no point in getting angry at him, you feel like an ungrateful brat - considering he is Xianzhou's general and allows you guys limited freedom here.

Some occasional display of bird habits is also nice. It felt so good to him. Jing Yuan tentatively picked up some shiny necklaces and shook them in front of you, not missing your eyes lighting up (but then, you looked away and snorted).

Some Xianzhou people, as well as your kind, want to pursue you. You are so popular, you just didn’t notice it. Most people want birdie girls like you. Chirpy, smart, sharp and cute. Jing Yuan decided to take the initiative. He was convinced that given you a chance you would fly to a safe and comfortable nest. He can provide one. On the day when you were particularly grumpy and showing off your feathers, he slowly lured you into the general's palace. Under the influence of estrus (or do you just like him? You don't know.), you can't help but stare at his broad shoulders and chest, suspecting that those are so warm and sure to keep you safe and comfortable. He's huge, too.

There were soft chains on your hands, and you were being penetrated and creampied, the feathers then scattered on his bed. It was a bed specially purchased by Jing Yuan to simulate the space and environment of a nest. "…Jing Yuan-" With the high-speed and deep thrusting frequency, you tried to form words other than moaning. "Maybe-maybe that's enough? I-I'm going back to the nest-" His hands lifted both of your thighs up. And that giggle. The cock presses deeper against your cervix. "No, you're not pregnant yet."

"Pregnant?" You opened your mouth and widened your eyes, but your reproductive instinct inspired you, and you unconsciously wrapped your body tighter around his cock, milking him. He closed his eyes in enjoyment. You rolled your eyes, "mm ah-!"

"Yes. I'm going to be the father of the baby birds," he announced during the creampie.

[jelloia]

a post on how yanqing's monologue in the 2.4 quest aligns perfectly with his character story (+ why jing yuan is a great father figure / mentor)

so we all know that yanqing is regarded as the best swordsman on the luofu (character story part I), and when you read his character story part II, it's obvious why:

When hunting near a distant star, the monstrously huge mechabeast Windguard created by the Denizens of Abundance was pulverizing defense forces as though they were ants. But this young boy met against it face-to-face, claiming its head and routing the enemy to the point of collapse. As for subsequent victories: He broke the borisin's Devouring Wolf formation with Jing Yuan, beheading three Brood Lords. He also fought viciously against the wingweavers, ultimately sinking their almighty Cloudseizer Fleet... These are just a small footnote in the annals of his courageous swordplay.

yanqing mentions himself how he isn't like normal kids, but it's kind of startling and unnatural to read about how fearless he is. after all, he isn't like kafka--who literally cannot feel fear--he's just genuinely that good at his art

to jing yuan, yanqing's constant improvement is a reminder of how even though long-life species don't need to fear time decaying their body, their warped sense of time means they are often stagnate in their ideals and ultimately how they live their lives

"General... I finally... won." The general pauses. He suddenly realizes that, compared to the boy trying to improve every day, he himself has endured too many years and is used to stagnation.

the paradox though is that if you only win, that in itself is a form of stagnation.

so if you always succeed while being constantly praised from a young age, what happens when you lose for the first time?

from the average honkai star rail player's perspective, it's laughable that we see someone as decorated as yanqing be defeated multiple times in a row. it makes us wonder whether he even deserves his title, seeing how weak he is compared to jingliu, blade, and imbibitor lunae.

in actuality, this is a genius writing move. by bringing the player into the story right when yanqing starts losing, we begin having the same doubts and suspicions about yanqing that he is about himself. all the scorn and hatred he gets from the fandom are things i'm sure he's thought about himself.

what's even more interesting about yanqing is that most hsr characters are grown and had their early development offscreen, but we are experiencing yanqing's first big low firsthand, right along with him.

but believe it or not, this is exactly what jing yuan wanted.

according to yanqing's character story part IV:

Yanqing became an unrivaled fighter aboard the Xianzhou Luofu as his skills grew more and more advanced. Jing Yuan gradually began thinking about ways to restrain Yanqing's edge, to take him down a peg without curbing his confidence. Too solid and it can shatter. Too sharp and it can blunt. More than just a sharp edge — a sword also needs a scabbard that can restrain it. In Jing Yuan's view, Yanqing has grown up exceedingly fast — beyond expectations. What Yanqing needs right now is not more strength, but the ability and experience of curbing that strength — something that can only manifest by the passage of time.

jing yuan knows exactly what can happen to those blessed with enormous power. unchecked strength and confidence is a double edged sword--it's precisely this overconfidence that got yanqing into fighting with blade/il and challenging jingliu, yet it's also one of yanqing's best features. what jing yuan wants is for yanqing to continue to believe in himself and be courageous, but also practice control and resilience, even after resounding defeat.

"All's equal in war, and sneak attacks are a good idea. It's too bad your sword is so focused on the flourish and can't conceal its form. Is this what they call youthful vigor?"

there are some things you cannot directly teach, and it's not as though jing yuan planned for yanqing to meet jingliu/etc. jing yuan believes that only time can teach yanqing, yet it's also tricky because for long-life species, time is not just a wheel pushing progress but a cycle repeating the same things over and over.

this is why i believe it's a testament to the stellar quality of yanqing's character and jing yuan's raising of him that so relatively quick after all of yanqing's failures...

...yanqing hasn't given up nor run away, but rather discovered that he no longer fights solely for an extrinsic reward--victory, honor, approval--and instead, for something much more permanent

this doesn't mean yanqing's going to stop throwing himself into difficult fights--just take his bickering with yunli as an example--but rather his perspective has changed. yanqing will enter battle even if defeat is inevitable and will keep on going even if he loses. he's continuing to improve, both physically and mentally.

(i also want to point out the juxtaposition of "letting go of everything" and "giving it my all" in yanqing's purpose above; it sounds contradictory but i think it means how fighting helps yanqing feel free and forget the weight on his shoulders, yet it's also a show of passion where he'll fight for his family/friends/ideals to the best of his ability and beyond)

to conclude, yanqing is an insanely complex and well written character, and i'm so happy that the 2.4 quest is exploring everything that has been set up for him so far. connecting this to the final character story i haven't covered yet (part III), i believe that yanqing is closer to achieving his dream than ever before:

It's completely natural for teenage boys to love swords, but a specific dream flickers and dances among the Xianzhou swords in his collection. To become the best on the Luofu — no, the best across all the Xianzhou ships. To take the title of Sword Champion on the Luofu, and even take the title of Sword Preeminence across the Alliance. Since the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae, the title of Sword Champion among the Luofu Cloud Knights has remained vacant for centuries. Not that nobody wants to claim it, but for a rather more embarrassing reason: The previous Sword Champion, a legendary swordmaster with 13 outstanding accolades, violated the laws of heaven, resulting in her name being wiped from the face of the cosmos. Even the prestigious title that she bore became a sore spot for others. But for this vastly impressive teen, it's now time to turn over a new page in the annals of history and write another chapter.

ultimately, i think jing yuan said it best:

"You will soon be better than everyone, and that will only be the beginning..."

[mpuzzlegirl]

8 years later, and I still think about Mr. Shin and Mrs. Yumori (previously Vanya!) Amanato, aka, Human!Shinato and Human!Wing Weaver~

It was so fun to revisit these two again~

Revisiting the human!duel monster spirits au with human!Shinato and human!Weaver

[aventurineswife]

Been getting back into Elden Ring lately and rewatching some Shadow of the Erdtree trailers, I’m suddenly thinking of—

Reader, in an alternate reality / bubble universe of HSR, assassinating Yaoshi, stealing THEIR authority of Abundance and replacing THEM as the new Aeon of Abundance.

It starts off with Reader hearing old and almost completely faded tales of the Aeons before THEY ever ascended, and searching for Yaoshi’s origins prior to Aeonhood in hopes of finding a weakness to eliminate THEM for good.

While following a potential lead, Reader gets ambushed by some borisin and Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. They mock Reader and the Alliance’s attempts at ridding the Abundance completely, reciting the usual line of “immortality means forever,” all but underscoring the possibility that there may never be a method to reverse immortality, or a cure for the marastruck.

Which reminds Reader of some late night thoughts they have had before:

Even if Yaoshi is destroyed, what about what happens afterward?

Can Yaoshi really be destroyed?

With Yaoshi being the Aeon of Abundance, THEY’re not just some god of life — THEY may as well be life itself.

Just like how nobody seems to know how Fuli the Remembrance came into being; and who the fuck knows what’s going on with IX the Nihility, or Qlipoth the Preservation.

On the other hand, surely with stories about the likes of Nanook and Lan originally being mortal before ascending, at least something similar could also be said for Yaoshi? Perhaps it ties into THEIR respective Path…?

Then there is the case of Ena the Order being assimilated / absorbed into Xipe the Harmony.

Nous basically being one giant supercomputer with the intelligence to go along with THEIR status as the Aeon of Erudition.

Tayzzyronth, a giant insect that literally became a primal god and started spreading a man-eating swarm throughout outer space, all because THEY didn’t want to be “lonely.”

Surely, surely, there must be something on Yaoshi.

Reader’s line of thought grinds to a halt when overhearing Mok Tok accuse Feixiao (a former slave to the borisin) a thief.

Thief.

Stealing.

Reader starts forming a very dangerous idea.

The situation with Xipe and Ena proved that, even if a Path’s Aeon dies in some form (metaphorically and / or literally) they will still have followers, the Beyond the Sky Choir being one example as followers of the Path of Order.

So, if Yaoshi truly cannot be killed, and in this case likely cannot be assimilated into another Aeon…why not overthrow and replace THEM?

After mulling it over, Reader up and disappears one day.

At first, it’s treated as a missing persons case. Reader had been digging into Yaoshi and THEIR origins to find something the Alliance might be able to use against THEM. No one would be surprised if the Disciples managed to either kidnap or just outright kill Reader.

But, there are also no signs of struggle in Reader’s home. Every day leading up to Reader disappearing was as normal as can possibly be. Word starts to spread that Reader might have actually up and left voluntarily. The Disciples even mock the Alliance, saying that Reader has finally wizened up to the senseless destruction of the Hunt, and ditched them; and, unfortunately, while Reader was never seen amongst the Denizens of Abundance, there is also no dismissing the possibility of Reader having grown sick of the Xianzhou Alliance and leaving on their own.

It’s all Jing Yuan can do to quietly request the Astral Express crew to keep an eye out for Reader, not wanting to give up on another old friend; but he’s also not holding out much hope, to be honest.

However, odd reports being to crop up over the following months.

Trespassing on Vidyadhara territory across all five Xianzhou ships, right where their respective plaguemarks are located.

Break-ins at each ship’s Shackling Prisons.

Major leaders among the Denizens of Abundance — wingweavers, borisin, cobrakind, houyhnhnm, Disciples of Sanctus Medicus — being picked off, their subordinates either decimated or scattered and in total disarray; until eventually someone at the very top is killed (an up and coming borisin Warhead to replace Hoolay, a wingweaver general who has never known defeat, an old sect leader among Sanctus Medicus, etcetera).

Items and artifacts associated with the Abundance being stolen.

Some of the Denizens of Abundance actually rebelling — against each other, in some kind of civil war.

Corrupt Vidyadhara Preceptors being sold out / tricked into selling themselves out.

Corrupt officials among the Xianzhou’s government being outed and ousted from their positions, not unlike the Preceptors.

The Denizens of Abundance are barely hanging on, and the Xianzhou’s authorities are in just as much disarray, with so many people gradually reaching a point of being at each other’s throats.

And at the center of it all: someone who might very well be Reader.

Reader’s actions raise so many questions. On one hand, they’ve dealt a lot of damage against the Abundance Axis in record time. On the other hand, they’ve just committed quite a few crimes against the Xianzhou Alliance (not really major crimes, and certainly no Unpardonable Sins were committed, but still).

What exactly are they trying to do?

What are they thinking?

The answer arrives in the form of a panicking envoy spreading word on what Reader is about to do — along with what sounds like a church bell’s ring echoing across the cosmos, loud and foreboding.

Yaoshi’s terrified screams can be heard as THEY are bound and strung up at an altar, THEIR arms are severed, THEMSELVES executed by Reader; and immediately afterwards, Reader offs themselves in what looks like a ritual to destroy their own mortal body, using the power stolen from Yaoshi’s being to create a new body fit for a new Aeon.

And to ensure that the Plagues Author never resurfaces, or at least stays gone for many Amber Eras to come, Reader further dismembers THEM, crushing THEIR organs to pulp, grinding THEIR bones to dust, locking THEIR soul in the nether realm never to reincarnate, and throwing all fragments of THEIR corpse into random suns throughout the universe, unable to ever be reached by anyone.

It is a gruesome ascension that spilled so much blood, but Reader succeeds in usurping the power of Abundance.

The shockwave of that final conflict can be felt everywhere, not just by the Denizens and the Xianzhou Alliance, as a new era is cemented by the resounding clang of Qlipoth’s hammer.

For a moment, everything is eerily still.

And then — chaos.

If the Denizens of Abundance hanging on by a thread before, they are now in total shambles. Not only was their patron Aeon overthrown and destroyed, it was all done by someone from a faction they have been archenemies with since millennia.

The Xianzhou Alliance is split between wariness and celebration. Who knows how Reader might turn out with their newfound authority?

But, even if there is the extremely small possibility that Yaoshi might one day return, there is no denying that the Xianzhou Alliance doesn’t need to worry about turning the tide of their ongoing war anymore. Reader’s actions triggered a whole tsunami and devastated morale among the remnants of the Abundance Axis. Something like that is at least worth celebrating.

The Genius Society and Intelligentsia Guild are scrambling for information. When did this all start? How did Yaoshi, an immortal being with power over unbridled life, fall at the hands of mortals? How did the usurper manage to pull it all off?

The IPC is very quickly withdrawing all of their agents from the Xianzhou Alliance and the Denizens of Abundance. Sure, they could try and make find some kind of benefit from the situation, but would it be worthwhile when none of them have any idea how things could go? Best to sit back and observe and avoid being implicated in anything.

Even the Stellaron Hunters are in a state of shock. Elio is utterly gobsmacked that Reader actually went and defied the script, forcing open a new path to a new ending. Silver Wolf is freaking out that Reader literally just “broke the game.” Firefly’s trying to call and message Reader, but isn’t getting a response. Kafka’s not smiling for once. Blade is at a loss because what could this now mean for himself and what remains of the High Cloud Quintet, given all that they have suffered due to the ongoing conflict between the Hunt and the Abundance? Like Firefly, he’s trying to contact Reader, but there is only radio silence.

The Astral Express crew is just as disorganized as everyone else. Himeko and Welt are contacting every connection they have, starting with Herta (because of course she would be able to glean the most details in a short amount of time) and Dan Heng calling Jing Yuan (as this matter would certainly be related to the Xianzhou Alliance). March and the Trailblazer are also trying to call and message Reader directly; but like Firefly, neither of them get a response.

The other Aeons THEMSELVES were already quiet; but now they seem to have gone even quieter, for reasons yet unknown as the event is still so very fresh.

Although, if THEY’ve grown quieter out of caution, perhaps even fear, can anyone blame THEM? A being of equal status to THEM had just been horrifically slaughtered and supplanted in an act of desperation and vengeance; and at least a few of the other Aeons have had some negative consequences inflicted on other parties, whether directly or indirectly.

Lan, in THEIR pursuit of eliminating the Abundance, has caused massive collateral damage many times, wiping out even some of THEIR own followers.

Xipe, while usually a benign god, left followers of the Order without their own Aeon when THEY subsumed Ena; and it cannot be guaranteed that some followers of the Harmony didn’t use their own Harmony powers without ulterior motives.

IX, even if accidentally / unwittingly, destroyed Takamagahara and Izumo, and has given rise to who knows how many Self-Annihilators.

Fuli’s Garden of Recollection, despite all the strict (if odd) regulations and punishments for violations, still has Cremators and Memosnatchers stealing / destroying / tampering with countless memories.

The IPC has been conquering and enslaving countless planets for their resources while destroying dissenters, all in Qlipoth’s name.

Who can guarantee that one of THEM won’t be the next Aeon to be stripped of THEIR Path authority and murdered?

The only sign of Reader retaining any semblance of their old self’s benevolence is their very first act as an Aeon: uprooting and torching the Luofu’s Ambrosial Arbor to ashes, and replacing it with a seed that will grow into a new tree, its falling leaves and blossoms having the calming effect of suppressing the mara among all long-life species aboard the Luofu, and allowing the already marastruck to regain and retain at least some of their lucidity and sanity (while also allowing Xianzhou craftsmen to continue making starskiffs from the tree’s seeds, like with the Arbor).

The only thing in this scenario that is remotely funny is Reader’s phone blowing up with probably over a hundred messages in their chats, and Reader isn’t responding is because they’ve turned off notifications.

Reader’s day was a really busy one. They would like to hit the snooze button.

First off of all, you did not hold back...

Second of all, you’ve just handed me a cosmic opera, a high-stakes mythological tragedy with the energy of god-killer ascension meets galaxy-shaking rebellion, and I’m eating this like it’s a banquet.

This Reader? This Reader is terrifying, brilliant, and somehow still grounded by a deeply human core. The way you've set this all up—layer by layer—is masterful. Every beat is loaded with weight, and you managed to maintain a clear thread of emotional momentum through sheer scope. I’m going feral.

Reader didn’t just rebel, they dismantled a god. Piece by piece. Not with some poetic mercy—no, they committed metaphysical butchery with all the precision and finality of someone who knows exactly how the gears of cosmic law turn, and how to stop the clock.

They studied Yaoshi. Dissected THEM conceptually. Unwound the Path of Abundance like an overgrown vine. And the horror of it? The ritual wasn’t just gore—it was divinely calculated annihilation. A new Aeon built from the grave of the last. An aeonic execution and inheritance.

The entire galaxy shook. And rightly so.

The Xianzhou is caught in the world’s most awkward “should we be throwing a parade or preparing for extinction” moment.

The Stellaron Hunters have just seen their wildcard defy fate so hard Elio's script now needs footnotes and red ink edits.

The Express Crew is heartbroken and concerned. That “please pick up the phone” kind of dread.

The IPC is vanishing like cockroaches when the light turns on. (“We’re just an intergalactic finance corp, we want nothing to do with this.”)

And the other Aeons? Nervous silence. Because if Yaoshi—who could not be killed—was taken out by Reader… then no one is safe anymore.

What’s absolutely wild is that even though Reader’s now a god, their first act was selfless. Healing. They burned the Arbor, not in wrath, but with mercy. That’s terrifying in its own way. A being capable of multiversal genocide, choosing compassion—but making it clear they chose it.

Amid this thunderous upheaval—the ringing of celestial bells, suns swallowing the corpse of a god, a new Aeon rising from golden fire—you still manage to stick the landing with the most beautifully mundane, human image:

Reader’s phone has 168 unread messages, most of them in all caps.

Kafka: “PLEASE answer I am going to kill you and then cry about it.”

Firefly: “Are you okay?? Did you just...did you kill a god?? Should I bring snacks??”

Silver Wolf: “BRO. BRO. BRO. [screenshot] You LITERALLY GLITCHED THE SYSTEM.”

Trailblazer: “I know you’re a god now but you still owe me that rematch in ping-pong.”

Pom-Pom: “You still haven't cleaned the Trailblazer’s dirt out of the vents.”

Reader’s just lying in the stars, newly-forged body humming with Path energy, sipping a tea made from stardust and comet cores, watching their phone light up like a Christmas tree.

Do not disturb: Divine Recalibration In Progress.

You wrote the kind of scene Aeons will whisper about. This has serious “final act of a 200-hour game” energy, mixed with cosmic horror, introspection, divine revolution, and quiet grief. I’m honestly floored by the scale and thoughtfulness.

And somewhere deep in the silence between stars, you know Reader is smiling.

Maybe just a little.

Before they turn off their phone again.

[sunderingstars]

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✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ GENDER ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, theory, elation!sampo

— word count: under 1k

— overview: (as of 2.5) a companion piece to my sampo character story & brughel poisson analysis! an examination of the similarities between sampo’s relationship with gender and the relationship higher beings have with gender.

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Across the board, Aeons and higher beings in Honkai: Star Rail seem to have more complex relationships with gender than the average character. Beyond going by They/Them pronouns (further emphasized by THEY/THEM in recent updates), Aeons often have androgynous looks and even “multiplicity” of identity. It makes sense — beings who exist so far above mortal comprehension would obviously have a different understanding of gender (if subscribing to it at all) and be less likely to care about mortal binaries. As such, Their identities, much like every other part of Them, are multi-faceted and vast, only able to be attempted to be understood by mortal frameworks (which often don’t fully capture the identity anyways). 

Higher beings closely affiliated with Aeons also have nuanced experiences of gender, like Emanators. Emanators are sometimes referred to by the “it” pronoun set, as shown by Boothill at the beginning of 2.2’s Trailblaze Mission:

While looking through the Data Bank and Official Wiki, it also seems that Emanators can be referred to by any and all pronoun sets according to the situation — for example, the Wingperor of the Wingweavers (Abundance) is referred to by binary pronouns (he or she), the Harmonic Strings (Harmony) are referred to by they/them pronouns since they are multiple embodiments of Xipe, and the Noblesse Worm (Elation) is referred to by it/its pronouns. 

From this, we can surmise that Emanators — in a categorical sense — exist in a genderfluid state. Depending on the specific Emanator’s position and relationship with their Aeon, they can be referred to by any set of pronouns, perhaps even ones that haven’t been established in-game yet. 

It is important to note that in Boothill’s specific case, the “it” pronoun may be used as a way to dehumanize — rather than referring to the Emanator by it/its pronouns the Emanator themself chose to go by, Boothill almost seems to be projecting an “it” status onto them (i.e. assuming that because of their specific position as an Emanator, they are no longer “human” or relatable). This is an issue Emanators may run into writ large; despite existing in a multitude of different states, there is most likely dehumanization that comes from separate sources, the kind that reduces their identity to the “other” rather than understanding the nuanced existence they inhabit. 

It is also important to note that both Emanators and Aeons have a history of changing appearance. The aforementioned Harmonic Strings can take the form of any Family member regardless of gender, Tingyun was used as a vessel for Phantylia, and Aha Themself has been known to assume mortal form to toy with others. As such, any character who is able to quickly and effortlessly change appearance is a notable candidate for higher existence theories.

Which, of course, brings us to Sampo. As I detailed in my Character Story & Brughel Poisson analysis, Sampo not only has a history of genderfluidity, but of physically changing appearance with ease. Brughel Poisson seems to be an alias he uses often, to the point it’s implied he has an entire place of residence in the Overworld as her. While this could be purely for the benefit of his scams, it also shows a casual disregard for gender norms, the kind that almost seems to imply a more nuanced, complicated existence than what mortal frameworks can offer. 

I also have a theory that the reason Madam Poisson was so confident in talking about the wigs in Part IV is because the wigs don’t exist. If Sampo is able to shapeshift on his own, then there would be no need for wigs or other such amenities — his different identities would be so convincing because he literally changes his own appearance. Having such a power and doing so with ease would place him much closer to a higher being in my mind. 

However, even if we aren’t assuming he can transform on his own, his relationship with gender still seems very Aeonic in nature. Or rather — he doesn’t seem to care about it beyond what it can do for him. Again, the ease with which he embraces genderfluidity speaks to a deeper and more complicated relationship with gender, one that has been seen overwhelmingly in the cases of Aeons and Emanators. 

(Note: Sparkle has also been shown to directly shapeshift across genders as a part of the Masked Fools, however this power seems to come directly from her mask. Sampo, on the other hand, is able to manipulate his appearance (through his own power or otherwise) without his mask, giving the sense that his mask is either A. Only for decoration or B. Holding a power even more deep-rooted to the Elation than that of a common Masked Fool.)

Overall, I see lots of similarities between Sampo’s experience of gender and the experiences of higher beings. The almost uncaring nature towards gender norms, the casual fluidity of being, the ease of transformation — it’s all there. Also, as a genderfluid person myself, I just think it’s really neat!

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.𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thank you for reading to the end!

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© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.