#The primordial one

[welshoot]

Genshin Impact Timeline: Analysis and Theory (Part 1: Ancient History)

[Ancient History]  [Mythic Period] [Archon War-Mondstadt] [Archon War-Liyue & Inazuma] [Archon War-Sumeru & Fontaine]

So the timeline of Genshin Impact lore is questionable at best and straight-up confusing at worst. However, I’ve been working on a fic series thingie that may never see the light of day that required me to do some digging, so here I am. I put the rest under-the-cut because it gets rather lengthy. Also this is all largely theoretical and gained from the process of analysis. I used the game itself and the Genshin Impact wiki to help me along. I will possibly add to this as updates with new information or information that corrects past misunderstandings crop up. There are definite spoilers below for pretty much all of the Genshin Impact storyline  and this is a VERY long post so please beware!

The Seven Sovereigns

So, apparently at the start of everything in Teyvat, there were the Seven Sovereigns which apparently were the seven strongest elemental dragons for their respective element [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2]. As a heads up, we do not have names for the majority of these dragons. These Seven Sovereigns had a king (who was first introduced as a plot point in Nahida’s second story quest) known as King Nibelung. (It is worth noting here that the name “Nibelung” likely comes from Wagner’s opera Der Ring Des Nibelungen but is also a name that appears in Norse legends and Germanic myths). These dragons ruled Teyvat and had elemental ‘Authorities’ until they were defeated by an individual referred to as the ‘Usurper’. It is highly implied that this ‘first usurper’ is the Primordial One. Notably, the Primordial One is often implied to be the Heavenly Principles, though, so far as I know, this has not been confirmed, though it is not a bad theory. Supporting this theory is Neuvillette’s comment that the first usurper (i.e. the primordial one) was the one who bested the seven sovereigns, while Focalors said it was the Heavenly Principles that stole the Seven Soverign’s authority. However, for the sake of simplicity, I will continue referring to this character as ‘The Primordial One’ rather than ‘The Heavenly Principles.’

The Primordial One apparently appeared out of nowhere and is highly implied to be an outlander, and as Nahida suggests at the end of the Sumeru Archon quest, the First Descender and thereby from another world, similar to the Traveler. A scribe in Enkanomiya used the name ‘Phanes’ for them and described how “the eternal throne of the heaven’s” appeared at the same time as the Primordial One [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection]. No matter where they came from though, they did battle with the seven sovereigns for what is implied to have been a lengthy period before they at long last won and, upon doing so, took part of the seven authorities from themself and their ‘4 shining shades.’ (NOTE: The best I can figure is that these ‘shades’ were created by the Primordial One from the Primordial One and are thus aspects of the Primordial One, though it is mentioned in some sources, such as the Byakuyakoku Collection, that the Primordial One would work the shades, implying that perhaps these shades were more like children, or helpers to the Primordial One.) These shades are/were able to operate separately from one another, as evidenced by Istaroth, a shade who held dominion over time and wind, coming to assist Enkanomiya when none of the other’s could hear the cries of the people of Enkanmoiya [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2]. Additionally, these shades are implied to be of a ‘higher power’ than the Archons with Istaroth being labeled as a ‘higher power' than Raiden Makoto in Ei’s second story quest. Additionally, these shades may have even helped create at least some of the archons, as the thus far unnamed Shade of Life assisted in creating Egeria after the Sovereign Dragon of Water was defeated [Item: Fontaine Wind-Glider]. 

Seemingly, in the course of the forty year war between the Primordial One and the Sovereign Dragons, the Primordial one emerged victorious[Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2]. Most information states that, after the Seven Sovereigns were defeated, the Primordial One created heaven and earth in preparation for humanity [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2 ]. Humans apparently came onto the scene approximately 400 years after the first appearance of the Primordial one and made a covenant with them [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2 ]. The contents of this covenant are unfortunately unclear, though it is mentioned that the Primordial One had a plan for humans and that there was apparently one taboo: Succumbing to temptation. Interestingly, volume 2 of the Byakuyakoku Collection also mentions that the path to temptation is sealed. It is possible that ‘temptation’ refers to forbidden knowledge or something of that sort.

The Second One Who Came.

At some point in time, while Enkanomiya was still part of a single unified human nation that spanned the entire world and after the creation of humanity, but before the Archon war, ‘The Second One Who Came’ (also referred to as the ‘Second Throne in Heaven’) came from ‘beneath the firmament” [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2, Artifact: Flower of Paradise Lost- the Amethyst Crown]. It is worth noting here that the second one who came is referred to as ‘Invaders’ indicating a plural group rather than a singular person in the Amethyst Crown artifact from the Flower of Paradise Lost set. It is possible that, since Apep implies Nibelung was revived or returned after defeat, that the Second One Who Came and King Nibelung joined forces against the Primordial one and that this is when the divine nails were used for the first time, but that is merely conjecture. However, we do know that King Nibelung apparently gained access to Forbidden Knowledge and seemingly introduced Forbidden Knowledge to Teyvat in an attempt to beat the Primordial One and “gain the right to shape this new world” [Nahida’s second story quest, Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2]. While The Second One Who Came ended up fighting the Primordial One for unclear reasons, this war ended up ravaging the heavens and earth, with the Primordial One apparently ending up victorious. It was during this war that Enkanomiya sank beneath the waves [Book: Byakuyakoku Collection Volume 2]. After emerging victorious from this battle, the Primordial One used Divine Nails (like the ones in Dragonspine and the Chasm) to heal the land from the damage done by the Forbidden Knowledge. This could be when the divine nails were sent into Dragonspine into the ancient civilization of Sal Vindagnyr, the Chasm, Tsurumi Island, and the Eternal Oasis. However, if that is the case, then Khaenr’iah would have been appearing around this time since the ‘Scribe’s box’ item from the Dragonspine quest mentions ‘a new nation without gods’ and Khaenr’iah is the only nation without gods that is known to have existed [The Scribe’s Box: Dragonspine quests].  Interestingly, during this war, the Primordial One’s Authority that had been initially taken from the Seven Sovereigns ended up getting damaged, making it so that they could no longer suppress the original order of the world. In order to “continue to subdue and control the resentments and loathing of this world,” the Primordial One was forced to create the gnoses with the assistance of someone referred to as ‘the one who came after’ [Neuvillette’s Character Story: Vision]. It is worth noting here that it is unclear if ‘the one who came after’ is the second one who came or yet another descender, possibly the third one whose body has been suggested to have formed the gnoses [Fontaine Archon Quest]. Interestingly, the people of Enkanomiya did attempt to return to the surface, which is when they learned the Primordial One had been victorious. However, they also learned that the Primordial One had supposedly placed a ban that sealed Enkanomiya from the surface. An NPC in Enkanomiya called Eboshi asserts that the Primordial One/Heavenly Principles did not want anyone who knew the true history of the world to be on the surface, hence the ban. However, the ban is only referred to as a ‘heavenly order’ and the Second One Who Came was apparently connected to the heavens as well, meaning the order may have come from them rather than the Primordial One.

[bagel309]

Strawpage Doodle

I felt like I had to share this even if I never really played "among us," ( Always hated it's memes. )

Someone anonymously sent me a gimmick doodle through my Straw.page I made for Phanes.

Here's the strawpage link :3

( Sadly I haven't finished it after accidently deleting the first one 😪 )

[elysiaishere]

Let's Talk: Genshin Lore

In another post from 2023, I expressed skepticism over who truly emerged victorious in the conflict between the Primordial One and the Second Who Came.

Since then, I've re-evaluated the evidence currently available to us and decided that the Primordial One most likely prevailed in said conflict (although I haven't entirely ruled out the Second Who Came).

Nonetheless, for argument's sake, let's assume the Primordial One did win—and thus became the entity we now know as the Heavenly Principles.

What do you think happened to their Four Shades? Their fate, after all, is largely unknown.

Personally, I think we've met one already. Way back at the start of the game: the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

In all the unhinged ramblings I've had about Genshin, this is the one time I feel like I'm not totally out of pocket. After all, the Four Shades are described as the Primordial One's "emanations," and if the Primordial One has now become the Heavenly Principles, then it stands to reason that their emanations are now expected to uphold Teyvet's laws, and even enforce them when necessary (see: the Cataclysm).

With that said, I don't think the SoHP is Istaroth.

The most compelling piece of evidence I have of this is from the Scribe of Istaroth.

"We knew the only one who had not forsaken us as the "Ruler of Time." She was the moment. She was every moment. She was the measure of a thousand winds and the sun and the moon. She was every second of joy, every moment of rage, every instant of longing, every minute of obsession. She was every flash of delirium." — the Scribe of Istaroth

If Istaroth didn't abandon the Enkanomiyans after their island sank, and later, presumably aided in the planting of the Sacred Sakura Tree, I think it's unlikely she would willingly partake in the entire annihilation of a nation. Godless or not. If anything, all the information we do have of Istaroth implies she is a gentle being who cares for humanity.

So no, I really don't think the SoHP is Istaroth. Instead, I believe she might be one of the other Four Shades.

[alchemicalbalance]

**~ "Subject Two" ~**

- cunning, destructive, intelligent & evil by design - Highly Dangerous, use caution when encounting -

*doesn't have the diamond mark on his neck as he deemed it a imperfection to being the perfect being.*

"The Primordial One" created by Rhinedottir eons ago when they were trying to get the perfect being, he was deemed a failure and fed to Durin, another creation by Rhinedottir and was thought to perish.

However, as Durin perished on the grounds of the snowy mountain of Dragonspine, this being survived by crawling out of the dragons's stomach and quickly adapted to their newfound freedom.

Now embodied with Durin's residue, Subject Two now swears revenge on the successor to his Creator's project. Another one he plans to elimate is the Traveler( Aether or Lumine ) as they are the only ones aside from Albedo who knows the true secret, he shape-shifted into Albedo in order to fool them into a false trust before unleashing the Fellflower which he created using Durin's blood and a Whopperflower to wreck havoc.

However, once the plan failed, Subject Two went back into hiding, forever watching, waiting for the right time to strike...

Abilities: Manipulation, Shape-shifting, Cryokinesis, etc.

He might be called Subject Two but he was the first brought into being before Albedo by Rhinedottir and deemed the imperfect failure and met their supposed doom...

[mari-thesapphic-lady]

Eternity: RIO IS PREGNANT.

Rio: I'M NOT PREGNANT.

Infinity: Why the hell do you think Rio is pregnant?

Eternity: She's feeling basic human needs. I caught her eating this noon!

Infinity: WERE YOU EATING?

Rio: I can't sleep or eat anymore?!

Eternity: Yes, you can, but not because it's a necessity.

Infinity: Rio, my dear, you're Death, you don't need these things. Like, why would you sleep if you don't feel tired?

Rio: ...

Eternity: You don't feel tired... do you?

Rio: so-

Infinity: That's it, I'm going to kill that witch.

[ooeygooeyghoul]

Don't fuckin challenge me.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 277

Danny would be pouting, but this? This is actually kind of hilarious. He’d be laughing his ass off if he could, but allows himself to shriek excitedly around the binky in his mouth. Jordan on the other hand has no such thing stopping him, letting out his own toddler cackle as something bursts into flames. 

Their current caretaker- Clockwork’s nephew apparently, who is on babysitting duty for the next couple of decades- coos, and then they’re off again. Someone had apparently wanted their sort-of-Fraid-member to go to a meeting despite him informing them he’d be unavailable.

So of course he- and the three of them and Ms. Teekl the cat- just had to set the whole place on fire. You honestly can’t be that rude! It’s like, not exactly maternity leave, but something similar- don’t make fun of him he’s stuck with a toddler-brain right now! 

(All three of them would’ve had completely toddler minds if not for the fact that they were partially made from ectoplasm) 

Really, it was perfectly normal for them to set the building aflame and disappear into another dimension, even if maybe not for humans. Everyone knew you didn’t try to mess with a nesting Realms being! Especially if they weren’t fully Fraid yet. Honestly it’s all the idiots’ fault. 

[potatobugz]

dugon my friend my buddy my pal

[24bughours]

I need these last two episodes to hurt

AND THE WAY THAT HALF OF EPISODE 8 WAS JUST NICE PETRIGROF MOMENTS I WAS ABT TO CRY IM SO EXCITED FOR EPISODE 9

[saszor]

Hihi! I came from a couple of reblogs on both your tutorial on how to draw cleft lips and people with Down Syndrome, and both made me extremely happy, as someone who wants to focus their art on including as many disabilities and physical differences as possible. I was wondering if it would be alright to request a tutorial on how to draw the anatomy of people with Dwarfism? I have troubles nailing the proportions down, but i want to be able to draw them for fanarts for a fandom I'm in. Thank you for the great work, dude. Have a nice day/night and remember to eat a meal and drink some water!

Hi, I'm glad you enjoy them!

I could technically make one but there is literally no one "look" for people with dwarfism as there's hundreds of different kinds. The thing below focuses on facial features because that's more of my thing, but the same applies to body types - a person with achondroplasia and someone with Morquio syndrome will have different proportions despite technically having the same ("disproportionate") kind of dwarfism

You can check out Gary Parker's photography as it features a lot of people with dwarfism and is one of the better pose resources that I have found before. Especially the "Varieties of Dwarfism" gallery is really useful because it has exactly what I mentioned earlier; all these people have dwarfism and they look very different. So to actually nail proportions and features of disabled characters you need to know what kind of proportions you're looking for first (if a canon character has just Vague Dwarfism - research achondroplasia. it's the most common and has the most resources, reference poses, etc.), otherwise it's just gonna be difficult

[frogfacey]

I still think the most interesting thing about carmilla adaptations is the fact that laura spends the entire book moping over how alone she is and there are no girls her age for her to befriend and she's so isolated in her schloss with no one to talk to when not only are there servants literally keeping watch of her in her room every night but there is a village nearby enough for carmilla to get to with many girls her age to befriend. except they're poor. and if you want to keep the feelings of loneliness to the character you have to rip all of that out because the amount of people she ignores because they're not in her social class gets really obvious when you can literally see them. she becomes less sympathetic of a character when you realise her isolation is self imposed because her wealth stops her from seeing poor people as human enough to relate to.

[welshoot]

Genshin Impact Timeline: Analysis and Theory (Part 2: Mythic period)

[Ancient History]  [Mythic Period] [Archon War-Mondstadt] [Archon War-Liyue & Inazuma] [Archon War-Sumeru & Fontaine]

This is the second part of my theoretical timeline for Genshin Impact Lore. I put the rest under-the-cut because it gets rather lengthy. I didn’t exactly know where this section falls, so I just put it here on its own since the so-called ‘Ancient Calamity most certainly happened quite some time ago, it is worth mentioning that this may have all occurred before the Second One Who Came since the only dating used for this period is Rex Lapis/Morax. There are definite spoilers below for pretty much all of the Genshin Impact storyline  and this is a VERY long post so please beware!

The Moon Sisters (named Aria, Sonnet, and Canon, respectively) are odd entities that may or may not be mythical and are mentioned in several in-game book collections and alluded to in many other sources from Mondstadt, Liyue, and Sumeru, respectively [Book: Heart’s Desire: Sapphire Volume 3]. Assuming they are real though, as has been implied a few times, then they were once some of the oldest beings in Teyvat alongside the Seelie, with the Seelie supposedly having been an ancient race that may have been part of the single, unified nation that spanned all of Teyvat {Artifact: Flower of Paradise Lost - Amethyst Crown]. Interestingly, the Moon Sisters are stated as being specifically older than Morax, but their deaths seem to have coincided with when he was young, though it is worth noting here that it's implied that two died and the third locked herself up in her palace [Book: Moonlit Bamboo Forest Volume 3, Artifact: Vermillion Hereafter - Solar Relic, Weapon: Moonpiercer]. The Moon sisters are described as rulers of the night sky who rode through the heavens in a silver carriage, taking turns regarding which one of them was the actual ruler of the night sky. These sisters were apparently in love with the morning stars, and that love was equal to the love the sisters held for each other. At some point these sisters were witnesses to a marriage between a Seelie ancestor and an outlander (also described as a traveler from afar who could possibly be the Second One Who Came) that took place at the Lunar Palace [Book: Records of Jueyun Volume 4, Nahida 2nd Story Quest]. Thirty days after this, ‘The Ancient Calamity’ that overturned the heavens and earth happened. The lovers (Seelie and outlander) attempted to flee, but the calamity caught up to them. As punishment, the two were separated for eternity and their memories wiped. The Seelie, as a group, were heartbroken, withered away and shed pieces of themselves, creating the Seelie we see in game [Book: Records of Jueyun Volume 4]. The Aranara's claim that the Seelie were cursed at birth to lose their form should they ever fall in love with a human, might refer to this [World Quest: Aranayaka]. The Ancient Calamity also overturned the sisters' carriage and ransacked ‘the palace of the stars’ with the sisters turning on each other, and some sources state that it ended in all three, or just two, dying [Artifact: Vermillion Hereafter - Solar Relic Weapon: Moonpiercer]. Notably, the moon in Teyvat and the moon in the spiral abyss are said to be the corpses of two of the sisters [Book: Moonlit Bamboo Forest Volume 3]. Notably, the presence of just two moons for two bodies, does support the idea that one sister did survive. Around this same time the Solar chariot, which was piloted by the morning stars, fell into the plains west of Liyue and created the Chasm and the place that would become Dunyu Ruins [Artifact: Vermillion Hereafter - Solar Relic, Book: Records of Jueyun Volume 6 - Hidden Jade]. Supposedly, the wolves remember the tragedy of the moon sisters and now refer to the morning stars as ‘the grievous stars’ implying they had a hand in the Ancient Calamity [Book: Moonlit Bamboo Forest Volume 3]. It is possible that this Ancient Calamity could be the war that occurred between the Primordial One and the Second One Who Came, and the calamity itself has something to do with the Forbidden Knowledge that was introduced to the world by King Nibelung [Nahida 2nd Story Quest]. If that is the case, then the war may have broken out if the Primordial One was against the marriage between the Seelie ancestor and the Second One Who Came. Interestingly, Nabu Malikata, a supposed descendant of the Seelie, is suggested to have been the one who gave King Deshret access to Forbidden Knowledge and the idea that Seelie are banned from loving humans lest they lose their forms [Artifact: Flower of Paradise Lost - Secret Keeper’s Magic Bottle, Book: The Tale of Shiruyeh and Shirin].

[rabbitsonthemoon]

I don't think I've ever appreciated the trope of an incredibly dominant and powerful character who scares the shit everyone except they're an absolute subby mess for one specific person who Doesn't Get Why Everyone Else Thinks They're Scary™ until I watched That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime and met this absolute disgrace of a demon (affectionate).

Pat him on the head, Rimuru! Look at him! He wants head pats and to be told he's a good boy!

[chimeride]

[miasmadevil]

Cutie pie ♥️

[comradecowplant]

me when people try to explain a blorbo i just cannot be asked to care about: