#Amphoreus seems so interesting

[blazingblorbos]

So the Golden Epic Trailer came out.... didn't it?

hmm I have many thoughts. many thoughts. And not all of them are Honkai (Impact 3rd) related, even...

I'll start off with something I've noticed about Star Rail itself (for a long while now). Because it k e e p s being brought back up in my mind every single time they release one of these trailers: The Star Rail team is absolutely INCREDIBLE at, what I'm going to call, "Discontinuous Storytelling".

Hoyoverse as an entire company and artistic team has an unrelentingly powerful streak when it comes to their over-arching storyline trailers.. Genshin's Teyvat Storyline Preview trailer; Zenless's Lore teaser; Genshin's Overture Teaser; Winter Night's Lazzo; the Stonehearts' Myriad Celestia Trailer (even in spite of the fact that these last 2 may have served as a distraction from colorism-related outrages during their respective releases...); ANY!! FUCKING MYRIAD CELESTIA TRAILER, FOR THAT MATTER (FABLES ABOUT THE STARS PART 1 SPECIFICALLY, I AM STILL NOT OVER THAT).... And of course the one that has had perhaps the most profound impact on me to date: The Elysian Realm Concept trailer

And I've noticed for a while now that the stories told in a lot of the Star Rail trailers have felt,, very disjointed from the game's actual story. With any of their other games, even Zenless! now included, their trailers have had direct, VISIBLE connections to the events that played out in the game's actual storyline around the time of the trailer's release. It was a real, well-thought-out, well-crafted, teaser for what was to come [very soon!] for the playerbase in-game. And it's possible that.. maybe the pay-off period is just 10x longer in Star Rail than it has been in any of their other games...

but things like the Ever-Flame mansion and Duke Inferno's family was something that was teased in a Trailer, during a PIVOTAL hype season! and yet-!! was NEVER paid off!!! DUKE INFERNO WAS INTRODUCED TO LITERALLY JUST BE KILLED OFF LMAO (don't get me wrong, he had some pretty banger lines during 2.1 but. dude dropped mayyybe 9 banger lines out of.. what 27? during a flashback and dipped). Constance was the ONLY one of the children to have even a sliver of importance in Penacony's story, and the sliver is near microscopic at best.

THAT^ was perhaps the strongest offender of this "Discontinuous Storytelling" that Star Rail likes to do. But even before that: there have been so many.. things. just! A bunch of random things!! in Star Rail. Select tidbits of information, a mere taste of a specific corner of Worldbuilding lore, that's been dropped on players through a variety of ways that have just,, not been followed through yet! They love expanding on their world through things like Myriad Celestia trailers. And it's fascinating!! But for all intents and purposes, those random lore tidbits do not really make an appearance in game... and it just leaves me wondering, well.. What was this for?

A screenshot of a conversation between me and my friend that I think helps to contextualize What Exactly I'm Talking About:

anyways. I just hope this Golden Epic narrative is not that.

______________________________________________

Onto the Honkai Impact 3rd brain...

I'd be lying if I said 'I wasn't concerned'. I am. For a couple reasons. One reason being.. yeah.. the much, MUCH wider audience that's about to be introduced to a very Honkai Impact 3rd [from now on, to be referred to as simply "Honkai", as I've always done]—inspired set of characters. I'm not tooooo concerned about that; it mainly exists as a "Oh boy here we go again" kind of thought sitting at the back of my mind, and I plan to promptly go about my own business and continue to avoid the circles of illiterate video game players that exist in every fandom .

But the other reason I'm concerned... is because I'm worried over just how much these new Star rail characters are going to parallel the Flame-Chasers and their story. Honkai means a lot to a lot of people, and it will always mean something different depending on who you ask. The Elysian Realm is no exception.

To me, Half the beauty of Elysia and the Realm comes in how their story ended. Emphasis on ended... The reason I love her so much is because she's gone. The reason she had such a lasting impact, is because she's not here anymore. When I played through Elysium Everlasting, I recorded my playthrough. The thing about that though... is that I have still never watched that recording back. For a long, LONG time, I didn't explicitly revisit,, any part of the later half of EE, because (I locked in so hard and) wanted what I took away from that moment to be whatever I remembered of the experience naturally.

The Flame-Chasers' WHOLE THING, was: Here is a recorded history of what we did. YOU are the sole witness to our story. Witness it, remember it, and carry it with you into the future; we are past our time.

The entire fleeting nature of the Realm is something I hold so dear to myself. Their message of us continuing where they left off is the shit that got me crying, bro. Elysia ended the Realm with her and the Flame-Chasers' own 26 hands... because they exist in the past; their only job was to inspire the future, not live in it.

Having Star Rail characters that parallel them is fine, and I'm sure it'll be great! (As long as they don't do what they tried to do with the Seven Shus. Oh yeah. I saw that one. I felt it, I'm not blind. I knew it was there, but I chose to ignore it because 1) it didn't land and 2) paying attention to any traces of it that did manage to land would have ruined what the Shus ALREADY had going for them. Which- for like half of Part 2 wasn't much -- it got better later). It's more than "fine" actually, they can do whatever the hell they want with them! "Honkai" is in the title for a damn reason. I just hope it's in good faith.

Anyways.. I'm interested to see what they do with them.

[goldweaverr]

WELL FINE THEN SINCE THE MYDEI X READER TAG IS GONNA STAY THIS DRY, IM GONNA CONTRIBUTE TO IT MYSELF !!!!!! (No spoilers mentioned!! But MDNI there's nsfw)

I've seen possessive Mydei x reader, aggressive Mydei x reader, cocky Mydei x reader, etc, and while all of those are absolutely yummy and very much welcomed, consider the following flavor I'm offering; absolutely desperate Mydei.

Look. Based on everything we've seen of him so far, he definitely has not had opportunities for dating or romance or sex. He doesn't seem like the type to deem these things as silly, stupid, or hindrances that will block his path, but he likely believes they simply have no place in his life. His journey and destiny aren't ones that give him much room to go out, meet people, befriend them, grow to like them, court them, date them, sleep with them, marry them, and so on. That sounds like an entirely foreign concept to him. The furthest his social circle extends to is fellow Chrysos Heirs that the prophecy has placed alongside him as comrades, and the most miraculous extention it ever received was when the two outsiders came into Amphoreus. He certainly would never pursue a fellow Chrysos Heir romantically, as that's entirely unprofessional and could lead to jeopardizing their team dynamic which there is absolutely no room for! So he has resigned to the fact that he will simply be alone for the whole of his immortal life. And that's fine. Okay, maybe not ENTIRELY fine. He does feel like he'd fine the idea appealing, even if only for a flicker of a moment. But those thoughts are anchors that will weight him down. He's got way more important matters at hand. Okhema's safety, the prophecy, the people of his kingdom, Nikador, the outsiders who arrived from beyond the sky, hell even his fellow Chrysos Heirs such as Phainon or the Tribios. So those desires are ones that will be buried alongside many other hopes and wishes he had, but are no longer necessary. He will survive without love, he will be just fine without the touch of another, he will emerge victorious without the need of a congratulatory kiss, he doesn't need these things. They're privileges, not rights.

That is, until, he does meet someone. You.

Perhaps you're a fellow Chrysos Heir. Perhaps you're also one of the outsiders from beyond the sky. Perhaps you're a regular citizen in Okhema. Anything is possible. The occupation or role doesn't matter, what matters is that he finally meets someone who makes it feel like these things ARE necessary and he cannot possibly deny himself of them any longer.

He tries. He tries very hard. Tries avoiding you, tries scaring you off, tries not showing you much interest, tries to let you know without needing to use any words that he's no good for you. You don't know what you'd be getting into with him. But yet you persist. You're just too annoying. Sometimes you flirt, sometimes you tease, sometimes you worry, sometimes it's pure kindness. Whatever your intentions are for the day, they stress him.

Watching him train in the arena when it's entirely empty and then all he hears after destroying every training equipment around him is you clapping, the sound echoing across the empty seats where spectators would usually sit and down to his ears, that are beginning to turn suspiciously red. Coming down to praise him in person, telling him how absolutely attractive it was to watch the great Mydeimos unleash all that pent up rage. And he doesn't know what to do with the moment between the two of you. Running your index finger down his exposed, sweaty chest. Your nail scratching so, so slightly yet so deliciously over his searing hot skin making his breathing pick up the pace under your excruciatingly slow drag, until you reach his pants. You don't break eye contact with him, playful gaze challenging him with mirth. His expression can't be described in the same way. In fact it can hardly be described at all. A strange mixture of want, desire, anger, embarrassment, shyness, happiness, yearning. Whatever emotions you can imagine, you could probably locate somewhere on his face. But one thing remains. It's red. And he stands more stiff than any statue you've seen around the city. You remove your finger just as he was debating making a move forward and walk away, leaving him with way too many thoughts in his head that are making him angry. The anger he can't take out on training dummies. And that makes him even angrier. What a cycle.

He can't get you off of his mind.

Every meeting, you're throwing him glances to catch him staring. He's embarrassed, you smirk. Every time you run into him, there's some teasing remark already on your tongue, a gun ready to fire. He never has a response. Which sucks, because he should be used to this stuff with how much Phainon runs his mouth. But with you, it's different. With Phainon, they tease each other out of the love two friends share. With you, the feeling is entirely different. He can't treat you the same way he treats his friend, because he's not viewing you the same way he views his friend. And that's a scary thought. You've cemented yourself an entirely different category in his heart. Oh, how he hates it. But oh, how he wishes to explore more.

He doesn't think you make him weak. If anything, you make him stronger. It takes strength to face your feelings, it takes strength to tackle desires you've kept buried. Ones you claimed were unnecessary and unneeded. It takes strength to admit that he now has something else he wishes to protect. And he feels like if after a hard battle, he could unwind by laying his head against your chest and falling asleep to the feeling of your fingers in his hair, he'll face his next opponent with so much more power than what his lonely heart usually carries. And he'll face his enemies with a desire to return unscathed, not to battle to the death he will never reach anyway. That takes strength. Strength if he claimed he didn't have in him, he'd be announcing himself weak. He's fought his entire life, matters of the heart isn't where he will surrender. Hell, the last straw may have been watching his terrifying and courageous and powerful lion companion curl into you and purr up a storm. That was just purely offensive. There goes what was left of the Kremnos honor.

But since he will inevitably claim his throne, his people will expect someone else to rule alongside him, wouldn't they? Would they not expect heirs? He cares too much about the honor of his family name to let it die with him. (Even though it literally can't)

So when your teasing gets the better of him again, and it ends with you against the wall, you expected anything out of him. Anger, rage, annoyance, utter domination, demands only a crown prince has the rights to give, anything. But not desperation. Not inexperience. Not a look in his eyes that's full of _*yearning*_ . He wants you so bad it makes him look stupid. People call Phainon a golden retriever boy too much, this one might take the crown actually (Haha)

He stares at your eyes, with a glimmer in his. He stares at your lips, yearning to feel them. It's his first kiss. He knows he'll be clumsy. He knows he'll be inexperienced. He knows it might be embarrassing. But he wants it more than anything right now. His chest heaving slightly, picking up gradually. His hot breath on your face, from his nose and his parted lips. His gaze more intense than the lance of fury's flames. A bead of sweat down his forehead. You lean in closer, encouraging him. Your jaw is grabbed suddenly with cold and sharp armor as lips immediately crash onto yours. A mess of teeth and aggressive kissing and spit and a tongue that doesn't know what it's supposed to be doing and lip bites that may not have been well calculated in terms of pain. This first kiss was a mess, but how passionate it was. How much desire was poured into it. He's not entirely clueless. He's read books, stories. He's heard stories. He knows how it's supposed to go. Not how good it was supposed to feel. You don't want to part away, even as you try to slowly guide him into a less frantic rhythm. Gently leading the way, enough to not scare him off by taking the lead above him. You let him be in control. You know he feels far too vulnerable in the current moment. His body may be reacting off of desire, but his heart is weak and afraid. This moment, despite it's violence, is fragile.

Kissing, and kissing, and so much kissing later, kissing that eventually finds it's rhythm. Kissing that eventually flows like a river. Kissing that ignites a flame of ... Happiness in his heart where fear was beginning to eat away at it. His hand no longer on your jaw, now buried in your hair, holding the back of your head to keep your lips on his. The other arm wrapped around your waist holding your body flush against him. Your arms wrapped around his torso, happy to let his strength carry you as you feel more and more limp. He never knew kissing could be so fun. So romantic. So nice . He could get used to this.

A hand trails lower. His, or yours? It doesn't matter. Clothes are off rather quickly. He's desperate. So desperate.

He prepares you thoroughly. His fingers stretching you to the point of overstimulation. It was not his intention, they've simply been inside you so long that they've gotten to that point. He swears he's only getting you ready properly so you don't get hurt taking his size. He doesn't even say it in any cocky tone, his intention isn't to brag, he's just being honest. He's big, you're not. You'll get hurt. He doesn't want to hurt you. Ever. He loves you. He probably isn't even fully aware how much he's pushing you to the edge, but he does see you grow more and more desperate. Your nails digging into his biceps, and it excites him even more. Burying your head into the space between his neck and shoulders, whining out his name weakly, begging to put it in you already, and it drives him crazy. He's heard his name said in so many different ways. A roar that announces the start of a battle. A cry for help. The pride of his people. The teasing of his friend. The disdain of those who loathe him. The begging for mercy. The casual conversation starter. The acknowledgement of authority. So many different sounds they no longer mean anything to him. But this? This is new. And he likes it. He likes it so much. No tone spoken of his name causes him reaction anymore, but this one lit him on fire. He wants to hear more of it. He wants to hear it all night long.

He doesn't wear much to begin with. But he never feels exposed or vulnerable. His armor is a separator between himself and danger. Shedding off that armor with another person to allow himself into such a weak position felt terrifying, but currently, sinking deep into your warmth, it's never felt safer. A cry of his name spilling from your lips like a prayer, he doesn't even recall people calling Kephale's name with this much worship. And he melts. Figures he could do this forever. How did he ever go on without this?

His rhythm is sloppy, he's not even entirely sure how to set one. He's operating off of something primal right now, all he can do is fuck in and out of the heat that's swallowing him whole. He couldn't stop if he tried, body moving on its own. He stares in awe at where you two connect, watching the repetitive motion with no sign of getting used to it anytime soon. He doesn't even realize — or maybe doesn't even care — about the noises coming out of him. Why should he bother holding back his pleasure? He's never felt anything like this, and it's so thrilling, so exciting, so full of pleasure, that he doesn't care about his image or his behavior at the moment. He gasps, and pants, and breathes heavily, and grunts, and groans, completely overtaken with lust. And that's the dance you two shared throughout the duration of the entire night. Although the sun never stops shining in Okhema.

Mydei is a fast learner, and eventually establishes a rhythm for how he does things. From kissing romantically, to fucking into you relentlessly. But it certainly doesn't come easy, not without many, many more demonstrations first <3

[mymarifae]

i was talking about this on twt not too long ago but the hsr fandom has had phainon for not even a full week and already we have managed to dumb him down to a cutesy excitable friendly baby puppy.

now i don't disagree with the dogboy label. however! he is not merely a puppy. he is a deeply neurotic herding dog. give him a "job" to do and keep his mind busy and he's fine. perfectly friendly and playful to a point, maybe a little standoffish or particular about certain things, but like he's fine. just don't let him see the yawning abyss of boredom and discontent writhing inside himself or he'll start getting anxious and once he's anxious he's going to start making up things he NEEDS to do based off an imaginary set of Phainon Rules that no one likes or agrees with. these new "jobs" he has given himself will range from mildly inconvenient to actually genuinely destructive. and also he will periodically attempt to gnaw off one of his own legs out of stress

like. *scratching head loudly* are we looking at the same guy...? phainon is not a bouncy, excitable, happy-go-lucky character. he's amicable and likes to keep the peace, he's generally polite, he seems to genuinely enjoy meeting new people, he likes to play around and joke, but like. he's a deeply troubled, restless man deflecting concern and his own indecision and anxieties with a smile. and personally i felt like his mind was somewhere else in over half the interactions we had with him

because like, he's an inner brooder. whatever disaster befell his home haunts him, weighs him down with every step he tries to take. the chrysos heirs haven't actually won all his loyalty and devotion; that still belongs to his home. so he's got a war of priorities going on in his head at all times. he understands he has a duty and obligation to go save the world or whatever, but... he doesn't... want to? he never asked to be a hero, and he deeply resents the world for forcing him onto this path. he is so, so dissatisfied and so, so close to up and running and vanishing from everyone's radar. this is why nikador felt the need to give him a personalized trial, and this is why i think he's going to fail and the coreflame will go unclaimed (unless mydei stops moping around all the time)

and this is REALLY interesting because aglaea repeatedly describes him as a perfect hero. she's insanely smart and sees through everyone's bullshit. so. she KNOWS he's discontented and restless and anxious and unsure, and for some reason - some piece of information about the many prophecies floating about amphoreus rn - that is what makes him The Perfect Hero. from her perspective anyway. the world apparently needs a hero that doesn't know if he wants to bother saving it. why?

we could be having some fascinating discussions and theories about the implications here and what phainon's role in the prophecy will actually end up being but i. i see we would rather puppy-ify the guy. and not examine him any further than that. ok, that's fine i guess

[ka2ki2]

Chrysos Heirs

people who play both hi3 and hsr are WINNING rn

anyway. i've determined likely flamechaser parallels for a majority of the chrysos heirs. most of them do not actually look like their flamechaser counterparts, which makes me think they're not direct expies but merely parallels.

I also sprinkled some minor analysis of what little lore we have on these guys. Amphoreus is massively inspired by greek mythology.

watch this before reading!

Aglaea = Eden (both associated with gold)

Eden owned the Elysian Realm previously, but at that time it was called the Golden Courtyard

Eden is also called the Bearer of the Gold Signet

Aglaea is called the Goldweaver

You're not going to believe this-- Aglaea is named after the Charis called Aglaea.

The mythological Aglaea basically runs errands for Aphrodite, which would explain why HSR Aglaea bears the Coreflame of Romance.

HSR Aglaea is from the city of Okhema. In greek thought (plato I think?), Okhema is an intermediary between the body and the soul. I did as much research as I could and the best I could figure out is "it carries the soul through rebirth". SORRY IF THAT'S WRONG-

HSR Aglaea has the "divine authority of mnestia". After lots of research, I think mnestia can be loosely translated to Remembrance, so perhaps that's the Amphorean way of saying she's a pathstrider of Remembrance?

Aglaea's drip marketing references the myth of Prometheus, where Prometheus stole fire from the gods and returned/gave it to humanity.

Tribbie = Vill-V (multiple 'selves') [edit: i now think it's mobius]

Tribbie is called the "three-faced messenger"

We see Tribbie adopt multiple personas in the video. She can even take multiple forms at once

Vill-V has partitioned her personality into 8 different segments

EDIT, it's probably mobius. mobius has the signet of infinity; tribbie's divine authority is the gate of infinity

tribbie is from Janusopolis and her divine authority is also called Janus, which is absolutely perfect for someone connected to messengers/passage. Janus is the roman god of beginnings, endings, transitions, doorways, etc.

Anaxa = Su (both associated with knowledge/enlightenment)

Anaxa is said to have "enough knowledge to refute faith, and to stir up a torrent capable of slaying gods."

Su is called the Enlightened of Bodhi, Enlightened One, and other similar titles.

These two have lots of physical similarity

Anaxa's namesake has some interesting connections with Nous actually

Hyacine = Griseo (both Asleep)

In the video, when Hyacine is on-screen it says "let the sky become the slumbering cot from which she wakes".

Due to the 8th Honkai Eruption, Griseo fell into a deep sleep.

Could be named after Hyacinthus

Mydei = Kalpas (fire in battle)

In the video, Mydei is seen in a post-battle poise surrounded by fire.

Kalpas is constantly surrounded by fire during battle.

Both characters constantly seek out fighting/strife.

Mydei is likely related to the greek god Deimos

He is from the city Castrum Kremnos. Castrum = a fortified military base; Kremnos = a steep place or precipice. so picture a fort on a cliff ig

His divine authority is "Lance of Fury, Nikador". My thought is Nikador is related to Nike, goddess of victory?

One of the unnamed people has a mask too though, but these guys are too similar in aesthetic and personality

Cipher = Pardofelis (...come on.)

Cat girls.

Same eye and hair color

Castorice = Aponia? (butterfly theming)

Castorice is pictured with butterflies both in the video and in the twitter art. These butterflies look highly similar to the butterfly motif in Aponia's design

Aponia is very strongly associated with butterflies. Her dress is patterned like one and she has butterfly wings in her ult

Both seem to have devastating levels of power

IDK about the greek origins for this one. Castor? Kratos (who is actually a child of the Styx)?

Phainon = Kevin (deliverance)

Yeah they're both related to deliverance. They literally outright said deliverance in the video, and Kevin bears the Deliverance Signet.

Also they look EXACTLY THE SAME

Also both seem to be the 'leader'

In mythology, Phainon is the star of Cronus/Saturn (cuz they thought saturn was a star)

Cyrene = Elysia (...COME ON.)

They look identical and have almost the exact same personality

i have yet to figure out the two unnamed ones, Hysilens, and Cerydra. nor can i find their name origins... the closest i found, after ages of digging, is this for Hysilens

the remaining flame-chasers are Kosma, Sakura, Fu Hua, and Mobius. only one of the unknown people seems to be male ("unknown 2"), so that one's probably Kosma.

And yeah that's the culmination of me losing my mind for the past 6 hours. lucky you, you didn't have to watch me try and fail to decipher what the 12 titans might be connected to. (greek titans, 12 olympians, and HSR aeons all didn't line up easily waaaaaa)

here's the failed attempt to figure out the aeons if anyone else gets ideas from this

OK thanks for reading. normally I post my loredumps in discord servers with my friends. this is my first time posting it anywhere abfiushdliueh

EDIT: after recent drip marketing, it's clear that tribbie is actually connected to mobius. as mobius has the signet of infinity, and tribbie's divine authority is called "janus, gate of infinity".

I also added a small amount of info to both tribbie and mydei about their greek/roman inspos

[saunne]

AMPHOREUS LORE - AGLAEA ANALYSIS

So, I think everyone saw it, but we were graced today with the drip marketing for Aglaea, a 5-Star Lightning unit on the brand new Remembrance Path. Hence the reason why I’m back from the dead, in order to dissect and analyze everything I can about this sliver of lore we were given.

1. Who is Aglaea in Greek Mythology ?

Aglaea (Ἀγλαΐα) can be translated to “splendor”, “radiance”. It is the name of the youngest of the Charites or Graces, minor goddesses said to be patronesses of amusement and festivities, presiding over things such as grace, beauty, adornment, mirth, banquet, rest, happiness, relaxation etc. Although there are many names associated with the Charites, it is customary to recognize three main ones : Aglaea (Splendor, Beauty and Adornment), Euphrosyne (Cheer, Mirth, Merriment and Joy) and Thalia (Abundance, Festivities and Banquets). 

The Charites also served as attendants for Hera and Aphrodite, Homer specifically associating them to the retinue of Aphrodite. There are also mentions of their involvement with the Underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries (secret rites for Persephone and Demeter), although exact sources on this specific part are lacking. I’m still keeping it however, for some specific reasons.

They were said to be the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, one of the elder Okeanides. However, according to the Orphic Hymns, their mother would rather be Eunomia, the goddess of good order and lawful conduct. Their godly father being Zeus, it could explain why Hoyoverse chose to make Aglaea a Lightning unit.

Another interesting fact is that Aglaea is sometimes equated with Charis and according to Hesiod’s Theogony, this would make her Hephaestus’ wife, following his divorce with Aphrodite. This is interesting for one specific reason : the automatons surrounding her in her drip marketing. Hephaestus was the Olympian god of fire, smiths, craftsmen and metalworking and some of his greatest achievements were the Automatones, animated metal statues of animal, men and monsters. Among these Automatons, we find the Kourai Khryseai (Golden Maidens) : woman-shaped, gold automatons serving as attendants for his palace.

2. What can we guess from her titles ?

In the drip marketing post, we were offered a gaggle of titles : Dressmaster of Okhema, Chrysos Heir, Weaver of Gold, Goldweaver, bearer of the Coreflame of Romance… Although they may seem a little obscure, they actually refer to quite a number of things.

Chrysos (χρῡσός) means “gold”, or in a more poetic sense, “something dear and precious”. However, it’s more the “gold” aspect which will interest us, notably because of Aglaea’s character design which is covered in it. Gold was primarily associated with deities, symbolizing power, authority, wealth and eternal life (think about the golden apples of the Hesperides).

This brings us to the title “Goldweaver”, which is also fascinating. In Greek Mythology, one of the well-known weaving myth is about the Moirai, the three sisters personifying destiny and weaving the fate of every being in existence. Being the weaver, Aglaea would be equated to Clotho, the Moirai responsible for spinning the thread, responsible for choosing when a person was born as well as when deities or mortals were to be saved or put to death, being able to resurrect people of her choosing (for example Pelops, Tantalus’ son).

However, another weaving myth is preponderant in Greek mythology : Arachne and Athena weaving contest, a long known cautionary tale about the consequences of hubris in the face of the divine. Athena and Hephaestus were considered as the great patrons both of the useful and elegant arts, as Athena was also the goddess of crafts such as pottery and weaving. Aglaea’s title as “Dressmaker” could be a reference to this, and more particularly to the Arrephoros, girl acolytes in the cult of Athena Polias, responsible for supervising the weaving of the peplos used during the Panathenaea. Or it could also be a reference to the Charites’ role as Aphrodite’s attendants, as Homer mentioned they were the one to weave and dye her peplos.

Finally, Coreflame of Romance would have been the most obscure title, if not for all the previous explanations about the Charites’ association with Aphrodite. According to the Dionysiaca, there was once a time when Aphrodite attempted to weave better than Athena out of jealousy, aided in her endeavor by the Charites, Aglaea being the one passing her the yarn. 

3. What about Okhema and Amphoreus ?

Okhema is here referenced to be a city, but we already met that word, in a slightly different form : “Regret of Infinite Ochema”, the Trace material given by Phantylia. An Okhema (ὄχημα) is a carrier/vehicle for the soul in Neoplatonism. It is particularly important in Plato’s Myth of Er, where the main character recount his journey in the afterlife, including an account of reincarnation and the celestial spheres of the astral plane. A city named Okhema could imply either the “vehicle” aspect of the okhema, maybe being a moving city…. or since an okhema could be thought as a recipient for a soul, that the city itself could play a role in anchoring the souls of its inhabitants or allowing their travels/transport from one point/place/state to another.

We’ve got another thing about Okhema, the part “holy city kissed by dawn”. Many places could be considered “holy” in greek mythology. One of them is Elefsina, known as Eleusis and holy site of the Eleusinian Mysteries mentioned earlier alongside Delphi, where is kept the omphalos (the chinese name for Amphoreus is the word omphalos). However, the “kissed by dawn” was more interesting, as Greek mythology have a personification of the dawn in the goddess Eos, often equated with Hemera.  Eos’ myths are heavily connected to Aphrodite, in addition to her being the mother of the Anemoi, the greek gods of the winds and in the post, Aglaea said “the wind brought me news of you”.

About Amphoreus… we know next to nothing about it, except its moniker “The Eternal Land” and that it is “hidden away from outside observation, its presence only revealed by the light from the mirror of the Garden of Recollection” according to Black Swan. It was also mentioned that it was  “fettered by three Paths” and given the involvement of the Garden, it seems safe to bet on Remembrance being one of them. I think Amphoreus could honestly be a place filled to the brim with memoria, if not entirely dreamscape-like, similarly to Penacony’s Dreamscape.

Amphoreus reference the amphora, a container used for the storage and transportation of various goods such as wine and oil, in addition to being a common support for vase painting. One interesting thing is that painted amphoras were often used for funerary purposes, as graves markers or recipients for funeral offerings or human remains. Which is even more interesting considering that the post mentioned “the dying land of Amphoreus”, which leads me to think that one of the three Paths fettering Amphoreus might be Finality. 

As for why it’s dying, the answer is quite explicit when you know your mythology : “they will smite down the gods, return the divine fire”. This is Prometheus myth, and if we have Prometheus myth, we have Pandora’s Box in tow. And  tell me, what is a pithos if not a massive amphora ? In Prometheus’ myth, the gods didn’t take back the gift of fire, but what if they did in Amphoreus ? In addition to letting their Pandora release the curses of death, sickness and all other various evils to plague humankind ?

The idea of Remembrance and Finality being two of the three Paths in Amphoreus is even more endorsed by the mention of granting rebirth.  We know that Fuli’s realm “Eden of Blessed Insight” also known as the Pure Land of Recollection, serves to store memories that “shall serve to reshape the entirety of the world after its annihilation”. It’s basically backup data in case of inevitable doom, in order to recreate the universe as it once was. Aglaea having a “Mnestia” as Divine Authority is also adding to it, as Mnestia more than probably comes from “mnestic”, meaning “pertaining to memory”.

That’s one of the reason why I kept the information about the Charites being linked to the Underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries, between the funerary amphoras, the okhema and Myth of Er and now that, it seems important enough to keep track of any references to death and rebirth. The aforementioned “Chrysalis” is also counting in said references, as it’s a common symbol for death and rebirth by metamorphosis/transformation.

I have another theory to talk about, but this is already long enough  I fear.

[tree-obsession]

hopes/theories/predictions for each of the chrysos heirs' + cyrene's personalities

not at all accurate, and i haven't seen any story leaks yet(although i saw the coreflame ones, so beware)! this was written a few days before 3.0 came out and is just for fun! only the chrysos heirs i know the names and faces of... sorry hysilens fans, i have no idea for her :(. cyrene is included because a) i love her and elysia and b) she's gonna be relevant, even if idk if she'll be a chrysos heir

a few coreflame spoiler under the cut, but no other story leaks! a bunch of people have already predicted the coreflames anyway lol

aglaea- im very excited for her story-wise, a couple people have already said she probably has some hidden side to her, and she may even become an antagonist of sorts in the second part! i personally love that she's the oldest(maybe? or just most experienced) heir and the one to unite them all. she's our first playable so she'll def be super important. i really wanna know what her golden apple thingy is all about too... but aside from that she's ETHEREAL. i need to know everything about her she's so gorgeous. she can commit a little murder as a treat i think she would deserve it. idk why i just get that feeling. she's so calm and elegant and stoic like i think she should go just a little apeshit for the hell of it.

tribbie- im really curious- did she split into three or are they born triplets who all carry the coreflame? how does all that work? why does she have two city affiliations in her drip? im not the most interested in her, per se, but she's got a lot of questions too. i hope she's playable as three characters because i wanna see those animations!!

anaxa- honestly i have the most questions + speculations about him. like what happened to his dull eye(s)? why does he have an eyepatch? why's he called "the Foolish"? how are he and hyacine related? why are his eyes the same colors as March's(and from a planet where she'll be very story relevant? i'm very biased at him cause su's my favorite male character in hi3 and anaxagoras was one of my fav greek philosophers. i already said this in a different post but su's variants are all batshit insane so he's gonna be. interesting! also the timeloop theory and him maybe being aware of it?? that got me really interested. but his name is the bit really bothering me- why name his after the guy who a) invented the concept of nous, an aeon we know is involved in amphoreus b) didn't believe gods were responsible for bits of the world like everyone else did(which is gonna come up in amphoreus just you wait) and c) was right about basically everything several hundred years before anyone had the tech to back it up?? like that's still insane to me. also how are we getting his coreflame if cerces is dead like come on what's going on there?? i wanna shake him around in a box im excited for him!

hyacine- lots of theories saying she might also be from the grove of epiphany, and she and anaxa were sitting in the same tree in golden epic trailer! i think her design's super cute, and she'll be important if her titan is actually aquila like people have theorized. she'll probs be a healer? i wonder what the inspiration behind her name is too... she doesn't seem to have flower motifs, even, but if she's from the grove that makes a bit more sense. i'd initially thought she was from aidonia, a city in the mountains(near the sky) plus the place aquila might be from(judging from ancient hymns, but that could be my misinterpretation). im so pulling for her. i also really hope she and anaxa have a big brother-little sister relationship like ppl on twitter have said, bc they looked so happy together in that one frame of nameless faces and im weak for found family.

mydei- uhhh a lot of people have said gap moe?? idk if that's a theory or leaks- personally i think it would be super funny. im a little worried about him, cause the words in his drip marketing were... super ominous, like why does he have to die a thousand deaths? he's a prince, which makes me wonder how nobility works in amphoreus + when castrum kremnos was destroyed, but that's a different conversation. i like the little braids in his design- good nod to greek culture! he's also got a throne in the nameless faces trailer which is kinda interesting and probably foreshadowing

cipher - par! do! fe! lis! i LOVE trickery characters so i'll probs pull her unless i have zero funds. her model looks so different from the initial art but i do still love the vibes so i'm not that put off. she already has her coreflame! but that one scene in nameless faces where she's surrounded by flames... no death flags im begging. elysian realm was bad enough for sure. let them be happy!! i have high hopes for her personality- i hope they don't lean too much into the "catty"(hah) bit and focus on her backstory, whatever that may be!

castorice- afgausdfyg her ANIMATION?! must pull! she's so gorgeous and she has a butterfly motif and she's related to DEATH in a GREEK MYTHOLOGY WORLD and she has a MASSIVE SCYTHE im going absolutely insane. also dull eyes syndrome for the win! she's gonna make me cry. side note her dragon's super cool looking too. i hope she becomes a major companion for tb (it seems so from the remembrance tb keeping up with star rail!). she's. im gonna enjoy her part of the quest so much oh god. im shaking in excitement. also while i dont like the same dress on every single hsr girl hers actually looks pretty good. if they put butterflies and dragons into all her animations i might actually pull eidolons, which so far i've only done for ruan mei. that's the power of a death goddess tho!! im so excited for her.

phainon- kevin... smiling... looking like a puppy... oh god my h e a r t. if he's like a happy lil puppy like he was before the Traumas + dr mei's death in hi3 i'll throw myself through a wall. hoyo please let him be happy this one time let all the flamechasers have a happy end im begging. they deserve it. im begging for all the people who theorize he will have to hold the world on his shoulders to be wrong about just this one thing because my heart WILL give out just a bit.

cyrene- ELYSIA ELYSIA!!! oh god she's so tiny!! she's got the same lil giggle and attitude about happy stories im gonna ghksufgukygfk jhf. but anyway. we know nothing about her yet, but i like the theories that she's somehow on the "outside" of amphoreus looking in + the ones saying mem is her fursona. she's adorable and i really, really hope she's playable. so much. you know her animations would go so hard you know it hoyo loves elysia too much for anything else.

one last thing i just wanted to say that i already said on twt: i think in the golden epic trailer, the first one, the order in which the chrysos heirs were introduced is the order aglaea recruited them in! i have no real evidence, other than that it would kinda make sense and having tribbie second makes sense because... messenger who can recruit heirs! but idk, just a random thought.

aaand that's all! again, these are all speculations + hopes nothing i say here will necessarily be canon :)

[consumeroflemoans]

AIGHT YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS

Overanalyzing the new Honkai Star Rail trailer in reference to Greek Mythology because I am mentally ill.

The world begins with Chaos. Gods cast down the 'core flames' in which titans are born. Three carve the heavens and earth, three weave fate, three molded life, and three 'guide calamity's gate'.

In Greek mythology, there were twelve children of Uranus and Gaia that were the Titans. Assuming the unspecified 'Gods' are those two, we can pretty cleanly sort the titans.

Hyperion, Tethys, and Oceanus are the most likely ones to carve heaven and earth being the sun and water-related titans.

Phoebe, Mnemosyne, and Theia are most likely the weavers of fate, being focused on prophecy and intellect, memory, and sight and prophecy respectfully. Curiously enough, Mnemosyne can parallel the Remembrance fairly well

Rhea, Iapetus, and most likely Coeus are the ones that molded life. They focus on fertility/motherhood, mortality, and intellect. (Not much is known about Coeus so take that with a pinch of salt)

This leaves Crius, Cronus, and Themis to 'guide calamity's gate'. Crius is the titan of constellations and many of his descendants specialize in magic. Given Hoyo's track record with things in space and constellations relating to gods/powerful beings, I think this works. Then there's time and justice for the other two. Time is fairly straight forwards, especially considering the Finality's aeon is one that travels through time. My thought process on Justice focuses on the theory that if you do something wrong, it will lead you to calamity.

This all being said, I'm not sure if the actual identities of the Titans will be important for Amphoreus, but it would be interesting if the characters parallel these Titans or their ideals.

--

"These titans' blaze enlightened civilizations" possibly references the myth of Prometheus (despite this being out of chronological order).

The trailer references the Golden Age, which in Greek Mythology was a time when there was an abundance in everything and all living things lived in harmony. This was when Cronus ruled the world and the well-known Olympian Gods did not exist.

From beyond the sky came a heretical black tide...driving the Titans to madness and the mortals to mutual war.

Considering the chronology of Greek myths, this is most likely referencing the Titanomachy, the war of the Olympian gods versus the Titans. This destroyed the Golden Age and brought about the Silver Age, a time where mortals were immature and continuously sinned. This is likely the 'age of darkness' referenced by the trailer. (It could also be that the Silver and Bronze ages are combined for simplicity's sake. The Bronze Age brought about a warlike and rageful race of humans)

Within Greek Mythology, the Olympian gods are often painted to be on the 'good side' of the war. This telling of the myth makes them out to be the bad guys who brought about an age of ruin.

"Flow, golden blood flow. Converge into a boiling river that flows to the heroic heirs of this world."

Alright, and now we are officially into the Age of Heroes. These humans were actually respected by the olympian gods and this brought about demi-gods. These demigods are likely a thing on Amphoreus considering the 'golden blood flowing into heroic heirs'.

Aglaea the Goldweaver: You must gently caress the holy city's silken web and harken to the sounds and voices of destiny.

Aglaea is one of the three Charities along with Euphrosyne (happiness) and Thalia (abundance). Considering Aglaea is already tied to the Remembrance, this is throwing so many conspiracy theories through my head about how she could be related to the Abundance or the Elation. She is known for being Aphrodite's attendant and messenger, which could also tie her to the Beauty, something I theorized would be present in Amphoreus.

The narrator within the trailer seems to be placing her into a position of power, or at least giving her a task that relates to fate.

There shall be the three faced messenger traversing through myriad doors bearing tidings to you from hundreds of worlds.

Tribbie is interesting to me because she seems to combine two different gods. Janus is the god of doorways, journies, and duality. He's most known for having two faces. This 'third face' could be referencing the addition of being a messenger, but I'm not entirely sure.

Anaxagoras the Foolish has enough knowledge to refute faith and to stir up a torrent capable of slaying gods.

Anaxagoras aka Anaxa according to the video description is so fascinating to me. The original philosopher Anaxagoras is the one that first PROPOSED THE CONCEPT OF NOUS. This is pretty much confirming that the Erudition is going to be playing a big part on Amphoreus. Also I am fascinated that he is called 'the Foolish' within this trailer. Could this also be referencing a connection to Aha or perhaps this means he is the one stirring up the conflict within Amphoreus in the first place. Either way, he is no doubt going to be a big player.

Go seek the priest who severs dawn from dusk and let the sky become the slumbering cot from which she wakes.

Hyacine is most likely a refence to Hyacinth, a prince loved by Apollo. I don't have many theories about her other than her obvious connection to the sun and perhaps dreams as well.

Make him roar, Mydeimos the Undying. Pierce the enemy's king with Kremnos' blood.

Mydeimous aka Mydei according to the description is most likely a reference to Deimos. He was a child of Ares and Aphrodite and the god of dread and terror. He has a brother Phobos who is the personification of fear and panic, and I'm curious to see if he's mentioned at all.

The name Kremnos is curious to me. It's the greek word for ravine or deep hole. This could relate to the underworld or perhaps Tartarus? It could also be a reference to Cronus/Kronos who was cut into pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Either way he's fighting something with what is most likely a god's blood.

Set her in motion, Cifera the Fleet-Footed. Command the frozen time to once again flow.

Cifera aka Cipher is a massive mystery to me. She's likely related to Cronus considering her ability to 'command time', but her name isn't related to any gods or heroes. Cipher could relate her to riddles or puzzles. My best guess is she might be related to the Sphinx in some way considering her cat themes

And that servant of the Hand of Shadow, the daughter of River Styx. If you grant her the right to embrace, then even frozen death will sleep peacefully at her fingertips.

Castorice is another mystery to me. She's related to the underworld considering the mention of shadows and the River Styx. It could be she's a combination of several of Nyx's (Night's) children. Many dieties of destruction, death, pain, and sleep have been created by Nyx, which relates to the narration of Castorice.

The actual children of Styx are Nike (Victory), Zelus (Glory), Kratos (Strength) and Bia (Violence), none of which seem to fit Castorice well.

You will hear the sound of the ocean's abyss reverberating through the storm. You will see outlanders from faraway realms visiting under the veil of gloom.

Considering the similarities in outlines, these characters are most likely the very last or very first shadow figure. If we go by the order of names in the description, this is likely Cerydra or Hysilens. I can't find much information on either name. The closest thing to Cerydra is the Ceryneian hind, a sacred deer to Artemis. Hysilens seems to relate quite a bit to the word silence and possibly the goddess Hesychia.

Until the journey's end when the Titans of old have all fallen and the nameless new king ascends the throne alongside countless heroes to embark on the grand mission of deliverance.

Annnd finally we're onto Phainon. He's definitely a reference to Phaenon, who was created by Prometheus and is known to be very beautiful. Once he was discovered by Zeus, he was made immortal and placed among 'wandering stars' aka planets. The planet he's most associated with is Saturn, aka Cronus.

There are two more characters that are shadow figures and also have their names blanked out in the description.

The children of mankind known as the Chrysos Heirs.

Chrysos means gold, a reference to the golden blood from earlier.

There's quite a few references to core flames and the flame chase. This is likely a source of godly power, as flames initially belonged solely to the gods. I don't have a lot of theorization on this, but it's something to keep in mind.

Most 'Heroes Journeys' in the universe are just dice tosses THEY threw on a whim.

This quote from Herta is so curious to me because it implies an aeon influencing fate directly. Technically any aeon has the power, but not many do things on a whim. Could this be Aha? Someone like Mythus that influences reality? Or maybe it's referencing multiple aeons.

And last but not least, the mysterious girl named Cyrene at the end. She's pretty obviously a version of Elysia from Honkai Impact 3rd but I don't know her story, so I am not the best person to theorize on who she'll be in Star Rail

[sephirthoughts]

so we need to talk about this...thing

not caelus, i mean this…whatever this thing is.

apparently it's associated with the trailblazer's new ability. whatever it is, it's godawful, and i am very unhappy to see it in star rail. it looks like it was made by an AI specifically to be the most lazy, cloying, repulsive, corpo-cutesy object in existence. it's assembly line design trash and worse, it seems to be the irrelevance bell tolling for star rail. it happened a lot faster than it did for genshin, too.

this sucks especially bad considering all the really GOOD character designs and interesting story stuff and environments we've seen that will be coming with the amphoreus update. but it looks like if we want to enjoy any of that, we're going to be stuck with this obnoxious sentient carbuncle stuck to us.

i was SO RELIEVED to be rid of paimon and this is how you do me hoyoverse? also who is the target audience here? do you seriously think all your players are six-year-old girls?

what it looks like to me is the first warning signs that star rail is following genshin down the garbage chute into incomprehensible design trash. don't believe me? this is the kind of garbage genshin has been subjecting players to for the past 18 months.

most people are probably not bothered by this stuff and will just tolerate or ignore it, which is fine. i am simply venting some frustration i have and have heard often from other players. if you actually like this kind of rancid aesthetic, there is no help for you, comrade, and i am not talking to you in this post (also what are you doing on tumblr you have to be at least 13 to have an account).

but for myself and most other players i know, the downhill slide into this cloying, overwrought, over-designed garbage is literally the reason most of us stopped playing genshin and moved to star rail. that and a lot of fontaine was intensely boring, and natlan is a complete top-to-bottom shitpile.

this is coming from a place of caring deeply for genshin and being burned pretty badly, and starting to see the same thing happen to star rail. it's just...extremely disappointing. especially when there was SO MUCH i loved about both games, and SO MUCH that was good and truly fun and wonderful to experience.

i know it's too late to turn the design ship back since this is the way it's headed now, and no amount of bitching by the players who care will help, so i'll just say i will always appreciate and miss the sense of wonder and joy these games brought me, for the time that they did.

also seriously screw you hoyoverse THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS

[pugwitharug]

HSR 3.0 quest spoilers below

Anyone else find it weird that Oronyx started calling out for 'Mother' when the Trailblazer took a photo with March 7th's camera? Like why is that special? It's a pretty regular camera afaik and not tied to the Rememberance like March herself is, so why was that the trigger?

Also I understand why the camera was used to help tip Talanton's scales, the physical proof of the outside worlds that the people of Amphoreus dream of is worth more than Amphoreus' fate. Is that why the camera is apparently so tied to the Titans?

I would be surprised if they leaned in the direction of "March is the mother of the Titans" cuz it doesn't make much sense but with what we have so far, it does seem to point to that

This is more of me just getting my thoughts out and not a tangible theory but yeah. I just find it interesting

[immobiliter]

i'm finally done and *puppet herta voice* MADAM HERTA !!! MADAM HERTA !!!

more coherent thoughts about her later once i start putting her on the blog but she is EVERYTHING i wanted her to be, my god was it a long wait to see her but it was totally worth it. everything about that brief interlude ( even if it felt kinda randomly inserted into the narrative ) was amazing ( the scene with welt and sunday i am HOWLING ) and i am so THRILLED by how they seem to be setting up her role in the amphoreus storyline. the fact that it seeeems like she'll be ( begrudgingly ) teaming up with the express and helping them all get to the bottom of what the fuck is up with amphoreus has me so hyped. i'm also convinced that there was more to that memosnatcher's presence than we or herta thought and i just !!! aaaaaaaaa i'm so excited

speaking of amphoreus, i looove the lore and the story so far! as i've already said, i won't be adding any amphoreus characters for now as i want to see how the story develops, but i'm faaaairly certain that as new characters are introduced and we meet more of the chrysos heirs, my curiosity will be piqued in that regard too

i'm also THRILLED we're finally getting some march 7th lore, i know she's not for everyone but she is one of my favourites and i'm excited to learn more about what the fuck is up with her too

also random thoughts but mem's voice and the voice of the girl at the end with phainon ( cyrene?? ) is the same right?? and i feel like someone more well versed in the lore than me could draw some interesting parallels between amphoreus and teyvat, because that black tide sounds ( and looks ) awfully familiar...

[dewkissedtighnari]

hsr 3.0 discussion below the cut

Okay so this isn’t even really a theory, just me trying to connect dots that probably don’t connect.

So. The memosnatcher was trying to get into contact with nous. is it a coincidence that this is happening while we’re running around on amphoreus? Maybe. but it feels like there might be more to it.

when nikador’s virtues were split off and sealed, he managed to salvage his reason. it seems his reason alone was able to resist the corruption long enough to get help in freeing himself. this suggests the concept of reason might be pretty important.

i can’t remember when it was mentioned exactly, so i’ll need to go track it down, but it’s been implied that the reason titan died long ago (the beauty titan was particularly saddened by it, i think?). if reason is important to resisting corrosion, that bodes poorly for everyone’s survival if the reason titan is gone.

if only there was another god of reason people could turn to, one perhaps even more powerful than cerces…

erudition and reason aren’t that far off from each other. and furthermore, its already been stated that erudition is one of the three paths that amphoreus “hangs in the balance” of.

it’s interesting that this memosnatcher was sent to try to get into contact with nous right around the same time fuli’s gaze finally fell upon amphoreus through the trailblazer. i’m not quite sure yet why fuli’s faction would want to bring nous into things, but i think its not impossible.

i also think it’s possible that this isn’t the first attempt to reach nous on the behalf of amphoreus.

i know a lot of people were bummed out that ratio on amphoreus was a bug. but whether or not he shows up physically, i think he’s involved.

becauseeee he’s designed like a character from amphoreus, he certainly has Opinions about Reason and Wisdom, and he’s purportedly been trying desperately to catch the eye of nous. what if he doesn’t want nous’s gaze to be a part of the society, but rather for the sake of his home world?

whether or not ratio is involved, i think that nous themself will be very important to solving the crisis in amphoreus, if anyone can manage to get in contact.

[revserrayyu]

3.0 Amphoreus thoughts [part 2]

**Spoiler warning** for everything from walking around the city up until right before that odd dream we have with the Stellaron Hunters. At this point I’ve already completed this patch’s full story so be cautious if I decide to allude to anything that happens later than intended if you haven’t finished everything yet.

Panic plant must be protected.

Sweet child I’m not from any city, I woke up on the floor in a space station. But so this means the heirs all know about other worlds existing and it’s not only Aglaea, right? Or maybe just the demigods know. And for some reason I get the feeling the priest they’re talking about could also mean March. I truly don’t know. At this point I’ll believe anything could be hinting at March’s past. Also, that bit about Aglaea’s threads.. yeah, that woman definitely has a huge control over everything here and I dunno if I should be impressed or worried.

Dan Heng trying so hard not to stand out by using simple words only to look like a complete fool in front of the locals. Truly a sight to behold and I’m taking great joy from it.

I don’t know why it happened, considering I haven’t played any of the older Zelda games, but when Cloud-Piercer was fixed and returned to Dan Heng, for some reason all I heard in my head was that little jingle that plays whenever you get an item from chests.

As much as I would’ve loved having the Trailblazing trio together for this adventure, just getting to watch us being a complete nuisance to Dan Heng is so much fun. He has the patience of a saint for dealing with our shenanigans.

This is gonna be funny to no one except for me but it was so late at night when I reached this part of the story that I thought we had said “babe, you’re talking to a butterfly” and I was caught so off guard that I almost choked on my mnms. I was like hello?? Calling 1-800-Ship, we’re calling Dan Heng “babe” now?? But nope. I was just delusional and super tired.. though I have no doubt the Trailblazer would call anyone such an endearing term. Catch me calling him that now too.

So they got the world wound web AND they got fanart. Amphoreus truly is something else. And good god, news travels around fast here.

Thank you game for giving us such an impressive and important close up. I’ll treasure it.

This is the butterfly I’m going to need after all these missions are finished. I managed not to get too lost with all the lore in this patch, but who knows how fried my brain will be by the time we reach 3.7.

I adore this lad and his surprising mind reading abilities. But by all means, come join me instead then if it’ll make you feel better.

Yet another magical pool of water in our hotel room, only this time it functions like the pensieve in Dumbledore’s office.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here and her expression seems totally fine, but for some reason I just had a gut feeling that something was about go wrong..

And it seems I had every right to be worried because the golden goddess decides to tie us up and start interrogating us about the promise we unintentionally broke.

And if that wasn’t scary enough, we got death reincarnate standing a few paces behind us, ready to move at Aglaea’s orders. I guess that is another thing that I found interesting after walking alongside Castorice a while ago; that the closer you would get to her, the more your vision would get hazy and your body slowed down.

Thank aeons we didn’t get red texted during all this questioning otherwise I would’ve really panicked. It was already bad enough that I apparently answered incorrectly twice.

Dan Heng.. listen to me babe, I make horrible decisions. You should really think about this entire thing a bit more carefully and have better judgement.

It’s bittersweet seeing how much of a chatterbox he is while the voice actor strike is ongoing, but I still enjoy all the dialogue we have with him. Also cute we’re still thinking of March in her absence. We’re really out here trying to enjoy the trip for the three of us.

Okay so I’ve seen a handful of people throw hate at Aglaea for the interrogation and execution threat to us, but she clearly states it was to test us. I honestly don’t find it as severe as some people are taking it. She’s out here trying to save her people from the end of the world when these two strangers show up out of nowhere and become a bit of a distraction. We don’t know her, she doesn’t know us. It’s only fair for both sides to be cautious of one another. Dan Heng pulled us aside several times to discuss important matters before finalizing any decisions made with the people of Amphoreus whereas Aglaea made us promise to keep the worlds beyond the sky a secret from her people. We’re all acting in our best interest to continue our journey and survive the chaos. Of course Aglaea would take some action when the promise was broken and rumors started spreading. Sure, the whole scenario was an unfortunate accident, and yeah maybe threatening us with death was a bit much on her part, but she’s definitely not as bad as people are making her out to be. Then again, I’m also someone who enjoys characters such as Jade and Ruan Mei so.. I dunno, it just takes a lot for me to truly dislike a character.

She may not be as kind as Jing Yuan or Asta when we arrived on the Loufu or woke up on the Space Station, nor as welcoming as Himeko when we joined the Astral Express, but Aglaea certainly didn’t want us arrested and disposed of shortly after meeting us like Cocolia did (surprise, I love our former supreme guardian too). She can definitely pull a Sunday where it’s all nice and cozy between us now and later on we hear threatening boss music, but for now I don’t think she’s someone to worry about. She’s willing to help us just as much as we are to her. There’s also so much we don’t know about her yet, so I couldn’t possibly begin to dislike her when there’s still so much story left to experience.

Mydei pursuing that throne so badly that it showed up in Nameless Faces and his ult.

What will it take for this man to show us just a little bit of affection.. ah, I know he cares though. He wouldn’t have saved us so many times if he didn’t.

Ohhh my heart, we’re both so dedicated to taking all these pictures for March.. I hope she likes them when everything is picture perfect again.

The friendly rivalry between Phainon and Mydei is something I’m enjoying very much, especially during that little contest they had to defeat the most enemies.

So that first fight against Nikador went all fine and well, but of course the mighty Mydei volunteers to stay behind and keep it occupied while we escape and gather more intel. A bit of a shame because I was hoping to see more of his moveset.

Oh yeah, all these map puzzles with us rewinding time, switching between past and future and that movable hand.. can’t say I’m a big fan of them. Sometimes it feels like I’m playing a shrine puzzle in Tears of the Kingdom and it’s great, but other times I feel like I’m getting so confused and lost. I may be a bit dumb.

Can you hear my crying yet because oh my god this is so adorable! Of course March is more important to us than the world! She deserves all the happiness! I won’t say much about it now but yes the very end of this patch worries me.

I don’t remember much while we were paired up with Castorice, aside from that one moment where the Trailblazer unapologetically snapped a photo of Oronyx mid-conversation, but this whole “mother” business is quite odd for a titan. It only started murmuring this after we brought out March’s camera which only leads me to believe there has to be some sort of connection between her and the titans somehow. Of course I can be completely wrong too, it’s a mystery what’s going on with March right now.

Half way done.. we’re only half way, huzzah~

[just-xylia]

Ok, so the thing is I very much feel like Castorice could very easily be paired with every member of Starchfly. So time to go through each person one by one and explain how. Of course, spoilers for 3.0 main story quest so please don’t read ahead if you haven’t finished yet.

So Stelle seems like the easiest option here. The hug from the music video just feels like a good starting point cause like what the heck is up with that and when are we going to get into that in the story? Also like, Castorice the adorable girl who always acts all formal with everyone using proper titles and all who always follows Aglea’s orders actually went behind her back to try and get Phainon to save us. Also you know the genuine giggles we get out of her when feeding the cute Dino’s? Goodness so so good. I’m sure there’s more but I feel like StelleXCastorice is the one I need to spend the least amount of time proving. (And no, none of this applies to Caelus as well, Caelus doesn’t exist)

March is an interesting one and honestly is based more in theory than anything, (but it’s theory with evidence so bear with me) One point that I don’t need to go theory brain for is their shared love of cameras and photography? Like goodness I can imagine the two of them having a super long discussion about cameras in general and photography and yeah. It’d be cute. Also like, if you find and talk to Castorice after the main story quest, she says that she can’t remember anything from before a certain point when she entered the city she came from I guess? I don't remember the names of places but the point is, there is a chunk of her life she doesn’t remember, something that is very similar to Stelle and March’s situations. 

Now to take a deep dive into some theories about where the plot of AMphoreus is going to better understand potential for MarchXCastorice, we have to take a look at what the heck is up with March and what exactly her deal with Amphoreus is. I honestly feel like it’s pretty obvious that March is the Mother that Oronyx mentioned. (Given how the titan reacted to Stelle taking a picture with March’s Camera.) So, then who is Mem? Well, we see with Nikador that it is possible for at least a Titan to split their soul, I think that’s what either happened to March or what March did to herself. And Mem is one of the missing parts of March’s soul. Or maybe the only missing part of March’s soul. Regardless, Looking at how Oronyx reacted to the Chrysos heir's prophecy and how they reacted to Stelle having met their ‘Mother’ I genuinely think that the mother, who is most likely March, must have set up some plan that goes against the prophecy that Aglaea seems determined to follow. Basically, I do not think that the Titan’s will be the end game and I think the only character currently truly beginning to question if the way Aglaea is pushing is the only way is Castorice. Castorice seems to truly be the only one who is showing true pity for these titans, by saying sweet dreams to Oronyx and giving Nikador a peaceful send off. Heck, she even starts to question it out loud before cutting herself off. Genuinely I feel like March’s condition is going to worsen for some amount of time until we reach a critical point in the story where Dan Heng and Stelle finally get back in contact with the express and find out what is going on with March. Then we’ll have to reunite Mem with March, get a potential 5 star March form, and she’ll lead to the true end game where we dismantle this prophecy and make a better world for the titans and Humans. And the first native of Amphoreus to be on board with that plan? Most likely Castorice, as she already has a soft spot for these titans. Yet another thing to make Castorice loyal to March and Stelle. Of course I’m sure Phainon would join to cause he’s the main support this time around for some reason, but he’s boring and we aren’t talking about him so ignore him, he doesn’t get a role in Morning Glories. Basically, I don’t know if Aglaea or the Council of Elders or hell, maybe even Phainon will be the end game final Amphoreus fight, but Castorice will be team March and Stelle if I’m right about this. 

Now FireflyXCatorice was honestly a bit trickier to find a connection for, well, until Castorice started talking about how over all she valued Life over death. An approach that Firefly seems pretty close to. Hell, if anyone in the universe has a viewpoint similar to Firefly’s, it’s Castorice. Castorice says that even if death can’t be avoided, at least she hopes there is beauty to it. That sounds pretty similar to what Firely says about Fireflies. Honestly both of them seem to value life above death, but don’t fear death, at least that's how I see them. So I can at least see a deep connection form from that alone. Also I can’t help but wonder if Firefly would be spared from Castorice’s death touch if she was in SAM. Basically, can Firefly touch Castorice in SAM and live? These are the questions we need to ask. Also, both Castorice and Firefly react to Stelle buying out an entire store in front of them (Sure in Firefly’s case we are spending her money), but they both do tend to have relatively negative reactions to you over spending which is a pretty cute similarity.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at so far. Maybe as Amphoreus continues we’ll get more tea. I’m willing to hear out any other thoughts on this as well. :)

[crguang]

kafka in the amphoreus trailer (ignore that there was only a couple shots of her) 😭 miss her bad. but she said smth so it counts. my devastation during the first preview when I realized she wouldn’t be in the story was immeasurable, like a gasped so hard when she showed up, and then I got so disappointed. also black swan, she’s so gorgeous omg. dont rlly know why the stellaron hunters showed up at the end but maybe we’ll get to know more abt the TB’s past with them I just want to see Kafka 

I still haven’t played the Sunday quest or the rappa quest, but I have a recurring Greek mythology obsession so

Unless I have to play the Sunday quest, dgaf abt him. 

-🌠

oh you were just like me, i thought she wouldnt be in the story and already planned to take ages playing it but when she was announced to have some lines i speedran through it in a day😭😭 its long as hell though. and i didnt do fugue or rappa’s quests either, i early accessed the new trailblaze mission cause i dont have time to waste with trivialities like. thank god it starts with swan like in the trailer, wish she was there more though i missed her voice 😞 (forgot how sloooooooowly she talks omg)

you need to play…. the stellaron hunters part fed me somewhat. love my family, it was very sweet.

this quest is literally for the ppl who were obsessed with greek mythology as teens and you will love aglaea i think… shes interesting and not as she seems, curious to know what you think of her eventually

[fwuffcat]

HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!!

TODAY I AM TALKING ABOUT AMPHOREUS 🥰 (as if I don’t talk about it every day) ON THIS WEBSITE BECAUSE VEE IS PROBABLY SICK OF IT BY NOW LOL

spoilers incoming?

AINT NO WAY AGLAEA IS CANONICALLY BLIND I AM CRYING NO WONDER SHE ALWAYS HAS THE GARMENTKEEPER NEXT TO HER??? MUST PULL

i need more phainon art thats all

bro was serious when she said mydeimos the undying bc apparently he genuinely can’t die

CASTORICE HAS THE DEATH TOUCH THING CANON BRO IM DONE

Apparently we’ll get more stellaron hunter stuff in 3.0 but idk

Elio when

Guys I think March 7th lore is impending apparently we’ll get a dark march which reminds me of this comic type thing sm1 drew where she was Fuli and everyone died or smth and Dan Heng was sad again :( don’t remember who drew it though

Guys tbh I actually would be interested in more Herta lore

Apparently Elio will have some kinda mechanic which allows him to switch between two paths? Speculation says it’s harmony and smth else but idk

There’s a bunch of red blocks n shit in the amphoreus map kinda like the unknown gods thing in genshin

guys idk is phainon cute or hot

chat are the chrysos heirs emanators or not opinions appreciated

was just thinking bc aglaea is supposed to gather the heroes so do ya’ll think they all know each other before the main story like they know everyone

I think its cute how phainon and mydei always seem to be together

IRL my speech would just be me saying this twice in a less organised manner so thanks for listening (or not lol i just needed a place to put this)

[moociaoafterdark]

I KNOW that I mostly talk about Warhammer here, but I just NEED to vent about HSR right now, or else I'll explode, because, unfortunately, I'm still somewhat interested in the game

Okay... Amphoreus...

... HSR design team... What in the actual fuck?

Because, what is this?! It's clear that Amphoreus is supposed to be based on Ancient Greece (perhaps with a mix of Ancient Rome because of course). The name of the planet, the names of some characters, the actual teaser trailer. That's all and good...

... So why the fuck the character designs don't reflect that?

All I see are generic fantasy outfits (not even sci-fi, FANTASY! Those designs would be more at home in Genshin, not HSR). The guys are wearing generic suits and pieces of cloth, the girls are wearing generic bikini and dresses.

Where are the gorgeous robes? Where are the tunics? Armor? Ancient Greece is covered A LOT, it has so many interesting takes on it, surely they could've gotten inspiration from some pieces of media?

And I know, I know. HSR is a gooner bait game, I'm here for cute boys and girls here too, so, obviously, if we do a ""historically accurate"" designs, they wouldn't appeal to the core demographic of the game.

Except this argument falls apart considering that there ARE gacha games that did Ancient Greece/Ancient Rome theme, made it fanservicable and MADE IT WORK

First example is IDV, a game I have played way before HSR even came out. The theme for the release skin of the character Luchino/Professor was a Greek bathhouse (that slowly mutates you into either a fish or a reptile because cursed fossils):

Again, we are not talking about the historical accuracy, merely if the theme is obvious here or not. And, in IDV's case, it clearly is, even if you isolate the characters from the background!Luchino (middle front) is the obvious example. A piece of white cloth with gold embroidery wrapped around his hips with a cloak drapped over his shoulders, supposedly making it seem like Luchino is wearing a very slutty himation, without him actually wearing it (which is understandable, it would be such a pain in the ass to actually make a new set of animations for Luchino, had he been wearing a himation). Along with his clothes, there is also his golden laurel on his head as well as golden bands.

The other two designs: Philippe and Christina (left) and Margaretha (right) are less obvious, but they still try to follow the theme, with Margaretha wearing a light pink bathrobe and Christina also wearing laurel.

It's not perfect, but at the very least, you CAN tell that the theme was Greek bathhouse from a glance.

The second example, is a game I admit I wasn't even interested in, named Reverse:1999. Despite my disinterest, I have to note that the game's design team are cooking 24/7, the designs are immaculate!

They did a way better job than even IDV. Instead of saying anything, it's best for me to just show you the characters:

MILES better than whatever the hell HSR tried to give us. Again, not the accurate representation of Ancient Greece and what people actually wore there, but, just like with IDV you CAN TELL THE BLOODY THEME FROM FIRST GLANCE.

Now, that's just the gacha games where the characters gotta look either hot or cute in order for them to sell well. For that the designers, while trying to follow the theme, did deviate, trying to give their own spin to the costumes and accessories.

*Sigh* If only there was game, based entirely on Ancient Greece or Greek Mythology, that followed the theme perfectly, while also having extremely attractive characters...

If only... Okay, I can't keep up the act anymore. If you know anything about Hades 1 and 2, you don't need any other words to get my point. If you don't know anything about these games, just look up the pictures of the characters from them. The design team UNDERSTOOD the assignment.

Conclusion...? Uhh... I guess what I'm trying to say is that Hoyo are getting very lazy. Like EXTREMELY lazy, even by their own standards. After Fontaine the character designs have been VERY bland. There's, of course, Natlan and everything that came with it. I expected the HSR team to not repeat Genshin team's mistakes, but, I was wrong for thinking that. It seems this is more of a company wide phenomenon, instead of something happening only with one of their projects. And... It sucks. I have favorite characters in HSR (or the ones I'm really interested in) and one of them is literally based on a Greek God (Zephyrus). I guess I have to count my lucky days and cling to the fan concept I made of that character, before the devs inevitably crush all my hopes. Maybe I'll recycle said fan concept into an actual OC as a way to cope... Oh well. It's hard to let go, but, I'll manage. It's one thing loosing an interest in something all on your own, actually being extremely disappointed is on another level.

Have a good day everyone :')