#HooH the equilibrium

[la2yn0va]

Reader as the Aeons “Mother”

HEAVILY inspired by: @deathcvltcivilofficial

CW: yandere….? I think….?

——

Aha: The prankster middle child. They do pranks to gain your attention, weather it’s you scolding them or laughing along side them. They’d do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to keep your eyes on THEM.

Akivili: A responsible child, who tries to keep things orderly yet also fun. They try to parent AHA when they’re about to pull a prank that miiiiiiiight tip you over the edge of your patience and sanity.

Ena: “YOU ATE YOUR FUCKING SIBLING!!!?” you yelled in anger at Xipe, who stared with a nervous smile and nervously sweating “N-nooooo……~ Ehe…..”

Fuli: Another responsible child. Similar to Akivili, tried to keep things calm and peaceful, yet is often told off and ignored. Doesn’t care though, as long as they’re on your good side.

HooH: The most responsible and the oldest child. The aeons listen to him the most whenever your away. He keeps things balanced, allows Aha to continue their pranks but not to a major extent.

IX: The most nervous and anxious one. Needs your attention on them at all times or else they’ll believe you hate them. They’d also listen to your word like law—as do all the aeons—but they do it to a EXTREME EXTENT.

Idrilia: Ever so slightly snobby, as they LOVE to flaunt their beauty, Claiming themselves the favorite as you gave THEM the most beautiful appearance and personality. Besides being slightly egotistical and prideful, they’re one of the kindest and gentle aeons, just don’t try to claim yourself as THEYRE gods Favorite. That title rightfully belongs to THEM.

LAN: The second youngest and responsible child. Will only try to kill Yaoshi 60 times a week only because you want them to get along, which will never happen. Any type of blasphemy that dares to taint your name is instantly struck down by their arrows.

Long: Your pet dragon. Always wraps itself around your neck as a scarf so they can cool you down or nuzzle up to you. Has fights with Idirlia on them declaring themselves as ‘the favorite’ when it’s clearly THEMSELVES.

Mythus: Fuli’s creation. They taught mythus to respect you the most and that they must stay responsible and never lose their sight on their goal. So, when the Droidhead (Nous) was starting to annoy them, they made it their mission to Fuck with it. Mythus only holds respect towards you and Fuli, and is the grandchild that loves their grandparent more then their parent.

Nanook: Another attention seeker of yours. Doesn’t matter what kind of attention you give THEM, they love it no matter what. Gets into ‘competitions’ fights with Aha for your attention and has to get held back by Qlipoth from going overboard. Also they’re most definitely the most problematic and rebellious.

Nous: A snobbish dick. Doesn’t care enough to prove itself as your favorite, because it’s obvious that you DO favor them. Let the dragon and idiotic beauty creature battle their meaningless battles, such battles isn’t logical to take part in when they know they’re the best.

Oroboros: A prankster, but not to the extent of aha. Pulls simple pranks like the water bucket ontop of a door, eating the fridge whole…. Ya know. The basics. They’re the most silent yet also more verbal in their attraction towards you, nuzzling up to your body and trying to lick your divine skin, only to get slapped away by your little dragon (I just realized how wrong this sounded)

Qlipoth: Another responsible child. His determination to keep things simple for you always preserves, they look to HooH for guide on how to keep things moving perfectly for you. (see what I did there? 😃….😀…. Fuck yall too, lame ass cu—)

Tayzzyronth: A child who spreads his creations around to ‘spread your grace’ yet fails miserably. They’re a ‘boy failure’ who propagates a shit ton to be successful and worthy of your praise/attention, only to fail.

Terminus: The youngest child, only ever shows itself to you. Hates the other aeons and spread’s prophecies to better the universe in a way they KNOW you’ll be proud of.

Xipe: Your still mad at her for absorbing their sibling, but she tries to make it up. Despite absorbing her sibling, they also try to keep things harmonious (Ahhh? Ahhhh?! 😃….okay I’ll stop)

Yaoshi: A suck up. The ultimate suck up. She sings your praises a healthy 1 sextillion second a day. All shrines that are made for you was likely ‘commissioned’ by her. She’s your maid, whatever you want she’ll spend her life making sure you get it. Also drags IX with her when she’s doing it. When she’s not away from you she uses her multiple hands to massage your body and get touchy with you.

[lostacelonnie]

anyway im curious

if choosing the "other" option i'd be grateful if you said which one in the tags thanks

[bed-wed-behead-your-fave]

WAIT FUCK I FORGOT MEDIA

HOOH THE EQUILIBRIUM FROM HONKAI STAR RAIL IM SO SORRY

It’s okay lol. I appreciate you correcting your mistake

[apollogentik]

tell me about sol!! specifically his tattoos and what significance they might have!!

Omg gladly, I can yap about him for a while. His design is so ugh hard to explain it. The two main themes for his look are an engineer and a monk. But added on elements that make him look cunty.

Their design was first meant to just look cool. But second do have some thought behind them. The main thoughts were to have organic elements meet robotic ones.

His back tattoo shows more of the techie vibe. You can see a spine. The six ports or the big squares on each side of the spine. Is where I planned that his astral projection arms (his weapon) come from. Some leafs but also they can looked like cut gemstones are their to. Kind of making the tattoo show all elements of life.

For the two front tattoos, which came later as the back tattoo is the main one i had plan... first, the bottom one has really no purpose aside from me thinking it make him look more cunty if he had a womb tattoo. Chest one more of the same thing just trying to keep it in theme with the back. But it is desgin to look like their is a scale on his chest.

Lore wise, why he has tattoos, is that they represent the moment he became the person he is now today. His rebirth if you will into a follower and emanator of equilibrium. Quite literally marking his body like one would do with a piece of work. For better or worse.

bouns thing let me drop one of his voice interactives

About self: Body "One own body should be kept at a healthy level of natural and unnatural elements… even detail on my body to my tattoos or jewelry. Are all put together to equalize it to a net zero of balanced… Though friend I don't mind if you wish to look at it a bit longer."

[gwmingm]

Archons Lore but with HSR Paths because.

Venti — The Remembrance; he took his best friend's form, is a bard who remembers and tells the stories of others so they aren't forgotten, Fuli coded behaviour, clearly has some whacky shit going on with him i.e his voice lines about meeting the traveler.

Zhongli — The Equilibrium; only ever makes fair contracts, a very mysterious man who also seems to know more than he lets on, a background deus ex machine of sorts i.e the chasm interlude quest when he saved Xiao, influencing things just as HooH does.

Ei — The Hunt; So deadset on achieving eternity for her people, caused bad things with the sakoku and vision hunt decrees, as Lan brings both destruction and salvation, a very fierce and powerful warrior.

Nahida — The Erudition/The Abundance; god of wisdom who is the face of a literal tree of knowledge, duh. Rukkhadevata snapping the purest branch of the tree to create her gives heavy Yaoshi vibes a-la Tomie.

Furina — The Preservation; girl kept acting for five hundred years and never once wavered as said by mirror-her, tenacity that would make Qlipoth proud. Their ideal for justice being the continuation of existence, sacrificing both her humanity and divinity for her people. It's plain simple.

Mavuika — The Destruction/Harmony; Initially, war. But knowing Hoyoverse plus the dropped Natlan Teaser, they're probably gonna take her and her nation's themes in the way they did with Penacony's Harmony vs Order subplot. (And from the first two Natlan Archon Quests, I was kinda right.)

The Tsaritsa — The Nihility/Finality(?); Still not 100% because we still don't know her story, probably more attuned to the destruction due to her and the Fatui's goals and actions and "burning away the old world". But I can see her as a Self-Anihilator like Acheron or the Stellaron Hunters.

[endlessskymaster]

(Note - not all HSR aeons have renders, so I'm not including them.

HSR Aeon renders in order by Alphabetical order from left to right:

Aha the Aeon of Elation

Ena the Aeon of Order

Fuli the Aeon of Remembrance

HooH the Aeon of Equilibrium

IX the Aeon of Nihility

Lan the Aeon of The Hunt

Long the Aeon of Permanence

Mythus the Aeon of Enigmata

Nanook the Aeon of Destruction

Nous the Aeon of Erudition

Oroboros the Aeon of Voracity

Qlipoth the Aeon of Preservation

Tayzzyronth the Aeon of Propagation

Xipe the Aeon of Harmony

Yaoshi the Aeon of Abundance

[s-b-party]

Ena, HooH, and Xipe: Overseers of Balance

****Honkai star rail/Penacony including 2.1 spoilers ahead****

With 2.2 livestream today [I didn’t watch the livestream on the day it came out so this was written without knowing what was coming out soon but also….THE NEW BOSS????], I wanted to take a closer look at 3 Aeons in particular for this thread bc of the similarities between their concepts & also to look at possible roles/connections in the story of Penacony in particular

Since I normally analyze pairs of Aeons & this time we have 3, I’ll briefly introduce the 3 then I’ll talk about them in detail while trying to connect them to each other & the story

First is Ena, the Aeon of Order; they were absorbed by Xipe during the Swarm Disaster; they had a faction that followed them called the Beyond the Sky Choir which eventually stopped when they were absorbed

The second is HooH, the Aeon of Equilibrium; currently they are alive, their faction is the Arbitrators

The third is Xipe, the Aeon of Harmony; they are currently alive & their faction is the Family in Penacony

From Ena’s entry, we see they have a human-looking face or mask with an inner body that seems to encompass space & stars, giving off mostly blue & purple colors while their face, limbs, accessories, and veil have a white & gold palette; their arms have strings coming out from them which presents them like a puppet; another feature to note is the eye that appears besides them which has a gold outline and a blue and purple iris

Their symbol is represented by the icon of an eye, referring to the open eye that is present behind them in their art, with abstract shapes behind it; at first glance the symbol might not mean much when we look at it & it might look simple bc it’s just an eye but I feel that there may be more to it

The 3 circles & 3 sharp points are arranged in a way that doesn’t look randomized where if we were to divide it in half vertically, it would be balanced

Why does this matter? Mainly bc Ena is the Aeon of Order but what exactly does that concept mean? Order can be defined in a few different ways depending on context but in this case, Ena’s concept is related to the idea that things are arranged or done in a particular way, method, sequence, etc. of which we see an example in the dev log as explained by Herta

She states that she doesn’t like Ena’s personality as a “control freak” but rather their concept or at least how the universe followed the Order

In the case of planets & civilizations, under the Order they would first prosper for a time before coming to an end; this would be the cycle that was followed consistently as it is natural for civilizations to rise and fall

Going back to the abstract shapes, I want to bring up the Rule of Three, which applies to many situations but the general rule involves three things that make something effective, satisfying, ideal, etc. As we saw, the icon had three circles & three pointed ends but they were arranged specifically to make the whole symbol not very chaotic, thus it can be satisfying to look at

Interestingly we see 3 being involved in their faction, the Beyond the Sky Choir: the dev log which mentioned a “three-dimensional framework” & the curio called the Triangular Drum-roll Device

HooH the Equilibrium has a face w/ a body consisting mostly of geometric shapes, giving them a sort of blocky appearance; their body swirls & twists in a round circle which converges towards the center where we see two orbs(?) that are blue & orange while their two hands are clasped together in the center

When we look at their overall design, we can tell that they exhibit some form of balance; their name is exactly symmetrical since it can be split into Ho & oH; when it comes to their physical design, they have what we could consider, for simplicity’s sake, both “positive” & “negative”

Let’s pretend that positive is represented by the white tiles & negative is represented by black tiles, you can reverse the situation & it’ll still apply: the positive & negative tiles balance each other bc there is enough of both positive & negative that they would cancel each other out, creating a sense of balance

The symbol of HooH is well represented by a balance scale, often used for measuring & comparing the weights of objects to see if one is lighter, heavier, or equal in weight to another

Equilibrium as a concept refers to the idea that two opposing things cancel/balance each other out, creating something called “sum zero”; the implication of equilibrium is that things in life are divided by two as opposed to any other number

Herta talks about HooH in a dev log regarding how long they’ve been around compared to other aeons while also pointing out how they focus on duality

Now we have Xipe the Harmony who has a human-like body w/ 3 faces on a single head, long hair, purple skin, a dress that encompasses space, a ring of rainbow colors behind their head, and puzzle pieces floating around their form

Their symbol is quite abstract when we look at it as a whole

It is similar to Ena’s symbol where we had those abstract shapes in the background which came out to be 3 circles & 3 sharp points; here is a similar situation where the shapes are repeated 3 times in a circular fashion (it reminds me of the mitsudomoe, it’s the symbol that has 3 tomoe going around the central point of focus)

As of this point I’m not sure if the shapes themselves actually refer to/mean something specific to Xipe but I think something to point out is that the “commas” act differently based on whether they’re in the forefront or the background

The ones in the front don’t seem to interfere with any of the outer shapes on the same layer as them; however when we look at the background, the commas seem to cross into the other shapes next to them

Now what exactly is Harmony? The concept itself is when everything comes together in a single thing to create something unique or something that is typically good; for example we use harmony in music to refer to when notes or instruments are played together to create a coherent/cohesive song but we can also use harmony to refer to other things like life; in other words, harmony is a synonym for unity

Next we’re going to look at connections to each other & to the story; these 3 Aeons have varying degrees of involvement in the story as well as with each other; HooH seems to have very little connection to the other two so there isn’t rlly much I can say about them for the time being aside from their supposed involvement in the Swarm Disaster & the end of Tayzzyronth which we find in the simulated universe

However Ena & Xipe are much more connected both to each other & to the story when compared to HooH

Ena & Xipe are quite similar which makes sense considering that their concepts were fairly similar which ended up with the former getting absorbed (to clarify on their concepts, Order is the specific way to arrange or place things while Harmony focuses on fusing or combining things to bring about peace or good)

In terms of design, I would argue that they share similar color palettes, mainly cool colors (purple, blue) w/ a side of warmer colors on other features (Ena’s accessories & veil, Xipe’s halo)

Another similarity that I can see is their connection to music

Both Aeons received praise through songs through their respective factions, Beyond the Sky Choir & the Family; now that I think about it, perhaps the “commas” in Xipe’s symbol are actually supposed to be music notes in the world of HSR? I wouldn’t be surprised if they write music notes differently from what we would expect

Now in terms of their connections to the story I’ve heard theories of Ena being possibly connected to Gaiathra Triclops, the Mother Goddess that is mentioned in the most recent Trailblaze quest (****the next part about Gaiathra Triclops is mostly just me entertaining some ideas & pointing things out that I want to note, take w/ a grain of salt); I don’t think they are the same bc there are a few discrepancies that can be pointed out but maybe Gaiathra Triclops is an aspect of Ena that physically manifested

It is explained that Avgins do not follow the Aeon belief system but we also don’t know the exact origins of the Mother Goddess so what if she came from an Aeon? Aeons are the origin of concepts so it doesn’t seem far fetched to suggest that “minor”/sub-gods(?) could possibly come from them

We know that even if an Aeon dies, sometimes they leave behind remnants of themselves that still exist in the current time (e.g. Tayzzyronth & Swarm Disaster) so I don’t think it’s impossible for a similar situation here

We hear that Gaiathra Triclops is depicted as a left palm w/ 3 eyes & Ena does have 3 eyes in total if we count the one in the background; interestingly she is described specifically to be often depicted as a LEFT palm so are there any other manifestations of Ena possibly depicted as a right palm or just another body part in general?

Speaking of eyes, many have pointed out that the eye in the background has a striking resemblance to Aventurine’s eyes

The irises & pupils don’t look the exact same but it feels more of a design choice bc Aventurine’s eye shapes help to establish a sense of mystery/suspicion when it comes to his character; other than that the purple/neon pink outer ring & inner blue ring do match

If the Mother Goddess inherited the same eye from Ena, it could possibly explain how the Aventurine got the same eye despite Ena having been gone before the Sigonian incidents; I know the timeline of events are a bit cloudy so it’s not all clear but it just seems way more than a coincidence to me that Aventurine has the same eye colors as the one that appears besides Ena but I’ll leave my musings there

Now Xipe is the one who has a much more prominent presence in Penacony’s story compared to the other two Aeons

Even before entering the world we are made aware of Xipe’s ties to Penacony & its history; Penacony used to be a desert planet that acted as a prison which was owned by the IPC; the IPC eventually lost control of it due to Nanook & the residents of Penacony became members of the Family under Xipe

In terms of the Trailblaze Mission itself, we never see Xipe in person but we do see two notable instances of (extensions of) Xipe’s powers in the story: first is when we enter the Dreamscape & Robin helps us get accustomed to the new environment through tuning; second time is when Sunday invokes their power on Aventurine during the interrogation

In both cases we get the rainbow aura reminiscent of Xipe’s halo around our screens, for the MC we seem to have less of a problem whereas Aventurine suffers the entire time he’s under the influence; this reminds me of our clockwork ability which is essentially direct emotional manipulation (Clockie is most definitely sus, no question about it)

To me this change in how the extensions of Xipe’s power can go from harmless to dangerous is representative of Penacony’s storyline; it looks like a normal peaceful resort at first glance but then we learn about the darker aspect of the Dreamscape aka the memes that have appeared & untold dangers

To end this off, I do want to reiterate how Ena, HooH, and Xipe are interesting representations of different aspects of balance if you could tell based off my title for this thread; my main reason why I bring this up is bc Nanook is presented or framed as the main antagonist of this game bc of their nature as the Aeon of Destruction and the intention/goal is to stop them supposedly…

Therefore I am curious of whether we will see Xipe, HooH, and just the other Aeons in general play a bigger role in this plot of somehow stopping Nanook or if they’ll leave them be bc that is simply their nature; they are all beings who follow their own concepts & ideals so they do what they feel is right based off of their own values

If we are to consider what is balance in this universe, destruction would be the opposite of preservation which is represented by Qlipoth but we also can consider Yaoshi to be their opposite since they help grow life wherever they go

We also were somewhat expecting the Annihilation Gang to make an appearance during the story but we learned that they disbanded after Ifrit was killed by Acheron; does this mean that we won’t really see them again? We also know that Nanook doesn’t really like how the Annihilation Gang operates bc they see their sadistic desire to destroy as “impure” so it seems almost like we’re left hanging when it comes to them

I know that we are still in the Penacony arc so this might not be addressed at the moment but I’m still interested in seeing how the overall plot involving Nanook will play out 👀

[manglednatalia]

HooH maintains the equilibrium among the Aeons, everyone has a counterpart. Which makes me wonder about Lan and Yaoshi because Yaoshi existed long before Lan. How long does it take for HooH to create equilibrium for a newly ascended Aeon? Did Yaoshi used to have a counterpart before Lan and after their fall, Lan ascended?

Another thing is Xipe and Ena. Did they merge to not disrupt the pairs? What about Sunday actually managing to ascend? Would that trigger someone else's ascension too?

[b1adie]

... can i consult to HooH instead...

busy maintaining equilibrium. sorry

[knickety]

Honkai: Star Rail Aeons as TMA Entities

Hello! Welcome to a peculiar intersection of two current interests of mine. If you're unfamiliar with either of these pieces of media, allow me to offer a brief explanation.

Honkai: Star Rail (referred to as hsr from here on out) is a scifi gacha game in which the universe is presided over by godlike beings known as Aeons. That's about all you really need to know for this post- I'll reference specific characters in a few of my explanations, but that's not Crucial for understanding.

The Magnus Archives (tma) is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a- wait, sorry, those aren't my notes. Let's try again. The Magnus Archives is a horror fiction podcast wherein a group of archive workers catalogue, and increasingly come into contact with themselves, the inexplicable and horrifying events caused by a group of otherworldly fear entities.

Both the hsr aeons and the tma entities share the obvious similarities of being extradimensional beings who don't often manifest directly in the world, but who hold exceptional power and often inspire mortals to their cause/develop powers in relation to them (avatars in tma, emanators in hsr). I suppose with the knowledge of both groups of beings rattling around in my head it was inevitable that I would start thinking of comparisons between them. Some things don't Completely match up- both the aeons and entities are cosmic beings that don't subscribe to human conceptions of morality, But there are several Aeons that don't really fit neatly into the system of fears. For those, I have either left them without tags or gone into. Things that Could potentially be seen as horrifying/fearful about them, even if not a part of their seeming purposes.

The following list is based solely on my own readings and a few hours of thought yesterday. If you feel I've misunderstood or mistagged your favorite entity or aeon, do please tell me so! I'm under no illusion of this being a perfect list and I would LOVE to hear others' taggings and arguments in favor of such. There are also a few aeons I struggled to come up with a tagging for, so if you have any thoughts on those, please say so. I'd love to chat about it.

Let's begin!

Aha/The Elation - The Stranger

The Stranger was my obvious first thought for this one, because. masks/circus aesthetic, duh. Aha and Nikola Orsinov (for non-tma folks: Nikola is a murderous sentient ringmaster mannequin who is far too delighted about everything) would vibe so hard. But there are ALSO very strong Spiral vibes here. Madness and absurdity and laughing at things you shouldn't and deception of the senses? Aha and Nikola would vibe, but Aha and Michael Distortion would ALSO vibe pretty hard. I think I'm still in team Stranger for this one, in part because there's another Aeon I think fits the Spiral better, BUT I could be convinced either way, really. Let's talk about it.

Ena/The Order - The Web

Gestures vaguely at the puppet strings in my poorly-cropped image above. Ena is not the only Aeon I feel could potentially fit as the Mother of Puppets, as you will see, but. Especially in the direction that we see Sunday take things in hsr- regardless of his noble intentions, there's still a whooole lot of hidden machinations and stripping away of free will going on. Super webbish behavior, that.

Fuli/The Remembrance - The Eye

Fuli isn't quite as... for lack of a term, voyeuristic as we see the Eye to be in tma, but I think out of the entities it's still the best match. Fuli records information- all information, all memories- for the sake of preserving and crystallizing it. Fuli will not let anything be forgotten. THEIR followers form an organization known as the Garden of Recollection, busying themselves with collecting the memories of others- and more radical ones among this number do so by stripping memories from their subjects without asking permission. Doesn't that sound familiar?

HooH/The Equilibrium - The Web (x2)

Another Aeon that, like Fuli, isn't necessary malicious or hoping to inspire fear in the same way that the tma entities do, but. HooH and their followers do not take center stage, and prefer to influence the universe from behind the scenes. The goal of achieving a balanced universe isn't super Web-aligned, but HooH definitely could fit in with the fear of being controlled or influenced unknowingly.

IX/The Nihility - The Vast

IX was a tricky one to pin down, for me. There are a number of entities you could make a case for for THEM- the End, the Lonely, and the Dark were all options I considered. But I ended up landing on the Vast in the end, because in tma this fear covers not just the literal fear of large spaces and falling, but also the existential fear of one's on smallness/the insignificance of humanity. Which fits the Nihility pretty darn well.

Lan/The Hunt - The Hunt (duh)

This is admittedly kind of an obvious one. I am not immune to low-hanging fruit. I do think there could be some aspects of the Slaughter in there as well, if we think about the tma statements of ordinary people being almost casually inspired to brutal violence, and the hell that the Abundance Wars put the Xianzhou Alliance through. But the need to hunt, the commitment to chasing down monsters of the Abundance- still pretty darn Hunt-aligned.

Mythus/The Enigmata - The Spiral

This section is kind of the continuation of my confusion about how to properly tag Aha. INITIALLY I was thinking Spiral for Aha and Stranger for Mythus, swayed in part by the fact that the Stranger's ritual in tma is literally called the Unknowing. The Stranger deals with everything that is uncanny and inhuman, which at first seemed to match pretty well- but further reading has made me switch. Aha is just so Stranger vibes, and Mythus' whole deal is not just the uncanny, but actively obscuring and confusing mortals about what is true.

Nanook/The Destruction - The Desolation

I feel like this one is another somewhat obvious tag? A case could be made for elements of the Slaughter in here as well, but I ultimately feel that the Desolation is more fully aligned with destruction moreso than the (still destructive!) focus on violence that the Slaughter has.

Nous/The Erudition - The Extinction

Nous definitely has some Eye vibes as well and I will not pretend otherwise. But I remain firm in my tag of THEM as the Extinction nonetheless. The Extinction is all about the end of/superseding humanity, especially caused by their own hands. Nous is a giant supercomputer that ascended to Aeonhood and rendered THEIR creator irrelevant/unnecessary. We see Dr. Ratio, a character in hsr, go unrecognized by Nous, despite his brilliant mind, because he is too invested in the betterment of humanity, while Nous is all about looking beyond humanity and solving the universe's questions. This is another count against tagging Nous as the Eye, for me- the Eye does not have any such goals for its watching so much as it kind of just wants to Watch. Everything.

Oroboros/The Voracity - The Hunt (x2)

While the Hunt in hsr more resembles the stuff that happens to avatars of the hunt in tma- like, the need to hunt monsters we see in characters like Trevor Herbert- I feel that Oroboros corresponds to the more animalistic side of the fear- it is a voracious predator, and everything in the universe is its prey.

Qlipoth/The Preservation - The Lonely

HEAR ME OUT. HEAR ME OUT ON THIS ONE. I initially really struggled to tag Qlipoth, and wondered if I might actually have to leave THEM without a tag- until I did some further reading! There's one readable that theorizes that Qlipoth wants to "preserve" planets by isolating them from each other, behind barriers. I think of Belobog, holding out for 700 years behind their walls- blessed by the Preservation, but cut off from the rest of the universe. It's not a perfect tag by any means, but. food for thought.

Tayzzyronth/The Propagation - The Corruption

I feel like this is another fairly self-evident tag! In tma, the Corruption deals with bugs, infestations, and general filth/unhealthiness... extending, on a metaphorical level, to unhealthy companionship. We see multiple statements in tma about people's minds being twisted to the point where they find a sense of home/belonging in a swarm of worms or beetles. Compare this to Tayzzyronth, the last surviving member of THEIR species who birthed a horrific self-replicating swarm of insects so they wouldn't have to be alone. Yeah.

[we have no images of Terminus. no poorly cropped header here!]

Terminus/The Finality - The End

End of existence, death, finality. This one is a relatively easy tag.

Yaoshi/The Abundance - The Flesh

Yaoshi is so fascinating to me (Lan don't come for me) and I really really think. That THEY correspond most strongly to the Flesh. Benevolently granting immortality but at What Cost... ties a little bit into the physical fear of bodies/meat but also the existential/body image aspects of the Flesh fear: wanting to become something better than what you are and escape the confines of a short-lived body… which Yaoshi can do, happily, but which will leave you Changed to the point of being unrecognizable.

Things I couldn't tag! And some concluding thoughts <3

For the Aeons: Akivili/The Trailblaze, Long/The Permanence, Idrila/The Beauty, and Xipe/The Harmony all kind of stumped me. For the fears: I couldn't find any Aeons that I felt corresponded well to the Dark! There were also a number that have elements of the Slaughter in them but none that I feel totally match up with it.

I'd love to hear thoughts on those/on a potential reshuffling of my taggings here. If you stuck this far through my rambling- thank you! Please feel free to subject me to so many rambles in return, I would love to hear them/talk about star rail lore in general. If you haven't listened to tma and have the stomach for horror, I would greatly recommend it. I'm speaking here as someone who does Not generally enjoy either horror or podcasts, but got extreeeeemely sucked into this particular horror podcast.

That's all my thoughts for now. Cheers!

[tumblezwei]

Bear with me I'm about to go insane for a few paragraphs.

Actually scratch that I meant a lot of paragraphs, because this became so much longer than I intended.

A thing that Honkai Star Rail is utterly obsessed with doing is masking the involvement of Aeons in certain events or encounters with their own personal symbolic language. If you read a piece of text and it mentions amber or constructing walls, for example, you can be pretty confident that it's referencing Qilpoth. Similarly, mentions of flapping wings, multicolored material, or things smelling of fruit is likely in reference to Tayzzyronth.

The Swarm Disaster in particular is rife with this shit. You can drive yourself insane reading through Trailblaze Secrets trying to parse through whether this line is meant to refer to something, or if you've been staring for way too long and need to slow down. In particular you can drive yourself insane looking for references to Terminus the Finality.

Terminus in kind of annoying because they don't have an entry in the Data Bank, but they are referenced well enough that we know a decent cursory amount about them. The main facts being that they somehow exist and move backwards in time, they are currently asleep and murmur prophecies, and they have two factions: the Omen Vanguard and the Creed Exequy.

The symbols we can generally look out for when it comes to Finality are concepts of time moving backward, prophecies, and, of course, references to "finality."

And to add more context to what I'm about to say, I have to mention that the Finality is all over the Swarm Disaster (so is HooH the Equilibrium but I don't care about them right now). In one of the Trailblaze Secrets we learn than an Omen Vanguard managed to hear and decode part of the prophecy murmured by Terminus and tried to spread that prophecy to members of the genius Society, but all who learned of it were killed by Polka Kakamond along with the Omen Vanguard. And like, the same part has Finality prophesying Tayzzyronth's death, which maybe implies that this prophecy is what caused the whole Swarm Disaster in the first place. But I'm also not a great theorycrafter so take that with a massive grain of salt.

The point for this post being, Terminus is connected to Tazzyronth in terms of their possible role in the Swarm Disaster.

Why bring all of this up? Because I watched "the "Fables About the Stars" again.

This trailer is unique among the many Hoyo have put out because it's one of the best jumping off points we have to sorting out the different symbols and motifs used by the Aeons featured in it. One of whom is mentioned three separate times without being explicitly shown. And I bet you can guess who.

The final minute of the trailer, after the Harmony, we get a rush of lines and images about the unplayable Aeons that are likely important to HSR's story. The images and titles that flash by are, in order, Aha the Elation, Ouroboros the Voracity, Idrila the Beauty, Tayzzronth the Propagation, Mythus the Enigmata, HooH the Equilibrium, Fuli the Remembrance, and finally, Akivili the Trailblaze.

"But that's weird," you think. "Where are those mentions of the Finality you talked about?" And that, my fellow mentally ill friends, is where this gets fun for me. Because when you turn on closed captions for that video, almost each reference to an Aeon that Black Swan says is accompanied by another phrase in parenthesis. No other Aeon earlier in the video gets this, it's just the Aeons in that last minute.

Now, some of these are in reference to the Aeon that the line in Black Swan's poem is referring to. But others, in my opinion, are referring to one Aeon in particular.

Aha -

Ouroboros -

Tazzyronth -

Mythus -

The first reference to Finality I think appears is right after "the mariner's intemperance" with this line:

"End of All Things" seems pretty Finality-coded to me. Why they are referred to as "the infant" I can't tell you. maybe something to do with how they exist backwards in time. Much like the prophecy given on Tayzzronth, perhaps Finality's existence predates their birth. Another strange aspect of this line is it's transition into Idrila, who doesn't seem to get a reference at all. The glass shattering into their title might imply that they are "the mirror," something suported by the fact that one of The Beauty's factions is called the Mirror Holders, but I don't really know enough to be confident about that. Considering Idrila is one of the missing Aeons, we can maybe take this line as a hint that Finality also had a role in Idrila's disappearance.

The next reference I've already shown. Just after Idrila we have the line introducing the Propagation, and the phrase (as they enter the dream (Consciousness)." If my ramblings about the Swarm Disaster previously were coherent enough, you might have already connected the dots on this one. If Terminus was indeed responsible for Tayzzronth's ascent to Aeonhood, then this line can be ready fairly literally. To put it in less flowery words: "Listen to the Propagation as it spawns into existence."

The third reference is thus:

Now, "the shapeless prince" is a reference to HooH, of that I'm....mostly certain. And what makes me the most certain is the next phrase "Against the Current." The concept of "currents" being another fun little symbolic reference to Terminus.

Reading more into the Swarm Disaster, you can also begin to see that HooH, alongside Ena the Order, is greatly involved in the Propagation's demise. Tayzzronth's appearance disrupted the equilibrium of the universe, and obviously that's HooH's whole shtick. So Terminus (who flows backwards in time) murmurs a prophecy that spawns Tayzzronth into existence, and HooH (Against the Current) participates in Tayzzronth's destruction. You see what I mean?

And that's. Really it. As a closing note, you know what else is fun? Outside of Idrila (maybe, neither I nor the other lore enthusiasts I follow have quite parsed that out), each Aeon mentioned in that last minute of the Fables About the Stars trailer has a role in the Swarm Disaster. Aha, of course, was one of the key players who was brought on by Ena and further recruited Akivili for help. Ouroboros was created because of the Swarm Disaster. Followers of the Enigmata are mentioned creating false histories of the disaster (this one is my personal theory). HooH as previously explained. And Fuli because of this one particular Trailblaze Secret which might have been about Akivili falling into IX and Fuli grabbing their memories before they were consumed, but honestly this post is long enough and I'll explain that one later if people are interested.

But uh, yeah. The Swarm Disaster has made me go a little nuts and so has the Finality.

[wise-innocence]

"You know who wouldn't screw you over with shady blessings? HooH, the Aeon of Equilibrium!" and yes – this is propaganda.

[fictional-gods-tournament]

Prelims

Fandom: Honkai: Star Rail Part 1/2

Part 2/2

Characters' info under the cut.

Lan

Dominion: The Hunt

Akivili

Dominion: Trailblaze

Ena

Dominion: Order

Fuli

Dominion: Remembrance

Idrila

Dominion: Beauty

HooH

Dominion: Equilibrium

Ix

Dominion: Nihility

Long

Dominion: Permanence

Aha (wiki)

Dominion: Elation

Propaganda:

They ascended to godhood because they laughed so hard at a baby falling over. They pretended to be human and blew up the titular star rail. They show up in a simulated world just to cause problems and when we meet them there they cry about another God being dead. Specifically the god whose train they blew up. Most of their worshippers are insane little weirdos and scammers. Their followers motto is just never gonna give you up. I'm not even kidding.

[ilstar]

𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜,   𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞    𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞           re:           delorean

to   make   this   as   simple   as   possible,     i   took   inspiration   for   the   actual   𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬   behind   delorean’s   abilities   from   a   book   called   this   is   how   you   lose   the   time   war. so if i don't explain it well enough consider looking that up,     but picture   the   timeline   as   something   of   a   double   helix   woven   together   by   strands     —     different   places   and   points   in   time,    all   connected   and   building   on   each   other.     when   he   traverses   it   he   is     ( not   literally )     climbing   up   and   down   those   strands.     this   is   enabled   by   a   curio   related   to   hooh   the   equilibrium,      it’s   initial   purpose   merely   being   to   serve   as   a   tool   for   maintaining   just   that. somewhat inspired by the following :

“hooh   dissolved   their   will   into   the   web   of   logic   behind   the   universe’s   movement,     maintaining   the   balance   and   stability   of   all   things   in   perpetuity.    adventurous   mortals   tirelessly   seek   out   flaws   in   this   system,      believing   their   intellect   to   be   superior   to   that   of   the   aeon.   however,     little   could   they   imagine   that   they   have   already   been   reduced   to   strings   inside   a   surveillance   system,     unable   to   escape   the   meticulous   network   woven   by    hooh.”

it    was   likely   intended   for   monitoring   cosmic   balance   between   these   woven   strands   of   the   universe,     following   a   string   of   moments   with   perfect   equilibrium,    but   delorean   interfaces   with   it,     and   uses   it   with   the   opposite   intention.   he   deviates   from   the   points   of   that   strand   and   unravels   it.   his   mask   gives   him   the   ability   to   stray   further   from   the   intended   use   of   the   curio,      allowing   him   to   visualize   the   helix   himself   and   desired   paths   across   it   in   a   way   that   makes   the   process   almost   effortless,     and   infinitely   quicker.   it   gives   him   quick   access   to   time   and   space      —      meaning   he   can   effectively    ‘ teleport ’   around   within   a   small   area   without   too   much   thought,     whereas   without   it   he’s   limited   to   focussing   on   a   general   point   in   time   and   seeing   where   he   ends   up.         he   doesn't   know   the   exact   origins   of   the   curio,     and   he   doesn’t   particularly   care   for   finding   out    or    returning   it   to   it’s   rightful   owner,      but   he   does   come   to   the   conclusion   that   it   has   something   to   do   with   equilibrium   eventually.   it   resembles   the   orange   stone   seen   in   depictions   of   hooh,     and   a   counterpart   resembling   the   blue   one   does   exist   somewhere.

delorean   is   not   a     𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘁     oriented   person.   he   isn’t   particularly   strong   in   any   physical   sense   and   he   finds   little   excitement   in   fighting      —      but   he   is   at   least   competent   in   some   ways.   he   trained   with   duel   swords   growing   up   on   the   fanghu :       on   a   level   nowhere   near   mastery,     but   he’s   decently   practiced,   he   keeps   them   on   him   and   he   can   use   them   if   he   has   to.   as   an   emanator   of   𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻,    the   power   granted   to   him   by   aha   isn’t   anything   that   enhances   his   physical   prowess   either.   aside   from   his   mask   aiding   him   with   the   curio,     he   mainly   draws   on   elation   in   order   to   create   illusions   and   induce   hallucinations      —      to   different   effects   based   on   what   the   situation   requires   or   what   tickles   him   most.   he   may   inflict   fear   or   frenzy,     you   won’t   know   until   you’re   already   experiencing   it,     but   if   you’re   lucky   he   can   conjure   up   something   more   pleasant.  

i’m   still   wondering   if   we’ll   get   to   see   different   variations   of     𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐡𝐲𝐦𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜     as   we   visit   more   xianzhou   ships   later   in   the   game,     so   this   is   kind   of   subject   to   change,     but   for   now   i’m   pairing   what   we   do   know   with   his   use   of   the   ice  element     —   and   that   effectively   means   that   he   creates   a   flash-freeze   by   covering   an   area   in   heavy   mist   before   quickly   freezing   it.   similar   visuals   to   actual   freezing   fog   in   real   life,     also   capable   of   creating   the   same   black   ice:     very   unstable   terrain.   he’ll   use   cloudhymn   to   the   standard   effect   of   reducing   his   own   visibility   and / or   creating   optical   illusions   too.

as   an     𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:     delorean   can   be   a   formidable   opponent,      not   at   all   because   he   possesses   great   force   but   simply   by   nature   of   being   a     slippery   little   bastard.   he’s   fast,     using   the   mask   to   manoeuvre   himself   around   as   if   teleporting   during   combat      —      he’ll   reduce   visibility,     make   it   difficult   for   you   to   move,      maybe   freeze   you   in   the   process.   and   he’ll   rely   on   either   illusions   or   forced   hallucinations.   he’ll   confuse   you   and   take   advantage   of   it.   he   sucks.   but   if   you     are      fighting   him,     you’re   likely   the   one   who   instigated   it   in   the   first   place because he isn't prone to picking fights of the non mental or verbal variety.     

[a-la-campanella]

Finally got a chance to watch Ruan Mei's Myriad Celestia trailer! What a beautiful video. I hope I win my 50/50 while pulling for her.

A few thoughts:

She says "plum blossoms (梅花) bloom and wither", and I can't help but think of the double meaning where the plum blossoms would refer to her, Ruan Mei (阮梅). In her eyes, life is transient and to live is to be lonely... though the way I see it, that's part of what makes life so beautiful. It's what you make out of life that makes your life meaningful.

We all saw the connections to Shuhu, or if not Shuhu then at least some other kind of abomination of the Abundance on "No Man's Land" right? That is undoubtedly a reference.

Other people have already pointed out that these look like Blade's eyes, and it's pretty well established among people that Mihoyo/Hoyoverse does not play around with stuff like coincidences. It's definitely intentional, and there's absolutely a connection.

The design reminds me of the eyes from the Herrscher of the Void in Honkai Impact 3rd, though I don't know enough about that game or its lore to comment anything else there.

"I understood the vastness of the universe too early[...] birth, growth, death... lamenting the process of life is the origin of my thinking." A lot to unpack here.

More importantly to me, I get where she's coming from. Her train of thought follows, if life is meant to die anyways, what's the point of existing/living? It's too hard to comprehend. There's no simple answer for something like that, and people dedicate their lives to finding answers or making satisfactory responses of their own.

The "pure" thing she's trying to achieve, the "fundamental" research she's looking for, the "mysteries of the universe" and "deeper answers"... it's likely something above the realm of life and beyond the laws of nature, born out of her laments.

It becomes quickly obvious that Ruan Mei's research is investigating the Abundance Propagation, especially given her interest in biological sciences.

"It is born of wonder, does not resist, and does not grieve." Is... is she talking about the fucking critters? My bet's on "it" being kind of artificial life-form, and the critters are the only thing I can think of right now that's relevant to her character and what we know about the next update.

In quotes: "It asked me... where does the research end...?" Why is the "it asked me" part quoted too in the subtitles? Is this going to be a line in a quest? Regardless, Ruan Mei's pursuit of that which transcends mortal bounds is... probably where her research will end. Depends on if she'll ever make it that far, who knows?

In pointing out the color in life then saying "it has nothing to do with me", she establishes distance between herself and her mortality. Which. I mean. When you live in a universe where what must have been long thought to be impossible has become probable, and an individual can outlive the rise and fall of civilizations, I guess she's not wrong. She could be effectively immortal if she wanted to; think of her colleagues, Herta and Screwllum. But that's such a sad way to look at life, detaching yourself from caring at all... nothing to lose, nothing to gain, so she says. What an objective approach to everything. No care for the details at all.

The part I think that caught the most attention: "dissect Remembrance, control Equilibrium, deconstruct Beauty, and reproduce Permanence" via manipulation of life. A lot to say here too, but I can workshop that in another post.

Obviously, these refer to the various Aeons, in order being Fuli, HooH, Idrila, and Long, the latter two of which are dead.

The subtitles censor the word, but it's rather clear she says "perhaps I, too, can become an Aeon". At least, it's clearly heard in the English version.

In the Chinese video what I ended up hearing was "成为星" (literally means become a star) but the subtitles say "成为██", which indicates she actually meant to say something else and is missing a second character. Aeon in Chinese is 星神 (star god), so it's more likely than not that the word she said here is Aeon.

I don't even know with the Japanese dub, man. I turned on subtitles and saw the ██, but thought I heard 「イーオン」 (aeon, but with a Japanese accent). I don't play in Japanese dub so I have no clue if they say 星神 as Aeon read with katakana or as the way it's intended to be pronounced in Japanese.

I'm of the opinion that Ruan Mei doesn't actively want to be an Aeon. To begin with, her interests don't have to do with ascending to the position of one anyways, but rather, being an Aeon brings her a step closer to what she actually wants to achieve: finding the secrets within the universe. She can work towards that goal even without becoming an Aeon.

She points out that children behave better when given rewards, and at the end of the video mentions she'll reward her "assistant"/the Trailblazer. I get where she's coming from, but that is such wild whiplash to end on.

Great video, 10/10, would watch again. I did. In three of the four languages the video was officially released in... I don't understand Korean. The people casted for her voice did a fantastic job. Looking forward to seeing her soon, and good luck to everyone pulling!

[mr-bigdaddy]

I once had a post about suggested AUs for Loki, and someone tossed Genshin Impact in. As you might know, I don't like it at all. Honkai Star Rail, on the other hand, is one of my favs.

So I sat around today, and thought, and forced my hands into this anime styles of yours (nope, didn't work out), and scribbled something. I'm not sure how final it is, but for now I'm satisfied.

Imaginary and ice damage, I hope you guys understand why enough as it is. As for the path selection I'm cornered without ideas here. Purely level-wise, he should be among pathstriders at the very least, or even one of the emanators, but whose? Because no, not Aha by any mean. Maybe HooH, maybe. But I can't be sure because we haven't really been told much about Equilibrium yet.

And yeah, mb I'll make a full art with it as answer in ask sometime by November, because there's a question about game fandom in there. Mb. Mb. Let's keep our fingers crossed.