#Yanwang Dijun >>>>>>> Rex Lapis

[crystalflygeo]

I wanna try to do a thing, if you have Exuvia/Chonkli/Dragonli plushie reblog with a pic pls!! I wanna see all the cute fluffy plushie lizards!!! <3

This is Dijun <3

[lunasilveria]

Reminiscence of the bygone days

[cerucerus]

"He had been tortured, beaten bloody and senseless, humiliated beyond recognition, but was he not still Yanwang-dijun?

"No. As a matter of fact, he was not."

Inspired by As an Echo Returns by @stardust-falling

Clean ver.

[ceruleanvermillion]

Circumstances of Guizhong's Death

90% sure something's up with Guizhong's death because weapon lore is basically from the devs and is therefore reliable and yet it contradicts Cloud Retainer's account and cutscene and why in the world would Cloud Retainer of all people lie??? But her retelling doesn't really line up and Zhongli WON'T SAY ANYTHING. Mihoyo is definitely doing this with intention, because they have an eye for details. Also the yakshas appearing in the cutscene makes the timeline... Super weird???

anyway here's a list

Cloud Retainer said this: "Guizhong was overpowered by the enemy, and fell in battle. When Streetward Rambler and I arrived at the scene at long last, all that remained among the ruins... was her lifeless body."

This has several implications: CR and Ping found her when she was already dead. Her body was what was left. There were surrounded by ruins. She also fell in battle. (we don't actually who found her *first*, since the cutscene depicted everyone being there. However the phrase used was "all that remained...lifeless body" implying CR and Ping found her like that.)

SPEAKING OF THE CUTSCENE. We see her being basically petrified/turned into a statue. Again, everyone was there, even the Yakshas, and Zhongli. There was this magic shape thing above her in the cutscene, we dont know what it is. But when it played, there was this glitch effect and we see this:

again, we don't know what it is or why the devs chose to add that funky glitch effect.

WHY THIS IS WEIRD AND IMPORTANT? This is a quote from what Memory of Dust weapon lore says: "He also remembers those words she spoke at the end — again, amid the Glaze Lilies."

This alone partly contradicts CR. Glaze Lilies. Not ruins. Okay, but there could've been some ruins from battle. So this is not complete evidence. However, something else caught my eye.

this being: Zhongli was with Guizhong in her final moments.

Another very important quote: "Her final smile was a lonely one, even as her form dissolved into the finest dust. "It seems that our journey together has come to an end. As for that stone dumbbell, forget about it, would you?""

And also this: ""If you can unlock it—" Many years passed, and he was never able to unlock that dumbbell, nor would he ever learn what might have followed that sentence."

Again, according to this, Zhongli was with Guizhong in her final moments. He heard her last words. He was there/already there before she died, she was not dead yet when he was with her.

(what might've implied in this description: That Zhongli and Guizhong were alone and no one else was there, because no other persons were mentioned. Again, this is while likely is also tentative, because there was no explicit mention. This way Zhongli might've found her first.)

What matters was that there was no way they found her at the state of *already dead*. Because according to MoD, "Her Form Dissolved into the finest dust." She's turning to dust even before dying. There shouldn't have been a body to find if she literally dissolved into dust. This is Direct Contradiction from CR's account and the cutscene, which depicted her body as stone/petrified. In Memory of Dust weapon lore, Guizhong's last words were cut-off, meaning even Zhongli didn't hear everything she was going to say. This was the moment of her death- the moment she likely had completely dissolved into dust was when she was still talking to Zhongli.

Let's review

According to CR: She fell in battle, they found her body, already dead, among the ruins.

According to MoD: When she died, Zhongli was with her. He heard her last words. She dissolved into dust.

Contradictions:

In MoD lore, her form dissolved into dust but cutscene + CR said they found her body and that she was turned to stone.

They found her body among ruins/scene of battle according to CR but in MoD she died among the Glaze Lilies.

Yaksha timeline weird

Arguable/tentative/still really vague stuff: According to CR she fell in battle because she was "overpowered by the enemy"- how did that happen if Zhongli was there according to MoD? He's still alive, after all. Also ngl they had a moment™️when she died because he had heard her last words- shouldn't he be fighting lmao??? Also shouldn't the glaze lilies be destroyed by battle?

TLDR There was no way CR and Ping would've found her body if we're going purely by what was explicitly mentioned in MoD. Vice Versa, there was no way MoD scenario would have worked out the way it allegedly did if we're going by CR's account.

also what in the world was that thing that was supposedly contained in the cutscene? The one in the third picture above.

Theories.

Obviously, this means that we should not take these accounts at face value. Either *something else happened that we still don't know* OR *Only one of these accounts was right*. So there's like a bunch of theories abt this. Anyway these are just some of them.

Maybe one could argue that Zhongli petrified her body after she died and dissolved, and that both accounts are technically right. But again, such a thing was *never* mentioned by either sources. is it even possible to do such a thing? Also why in the world would he feel the need to construct a whole fake scenario instead of just telling CR and Ping? Did something happen that made him think he has to?

Irminsul mind-wipe. This one is vague but Sumeru made it a possible option. However, why? why should they erase her? What did she do, what happened? They did put a glitch effect- so was that a creative choice or where they alluding to it? Also, again, what was that thing they were containing in the cutscene? also what's inside memory of dust and why did she ask zhongli to forget it?

In MoD we see Guizhong say two contradicting things. She told Zhongli to forget about MoD. but later it seemed like she was about to tell him the opposite. We don't know what she said because she unfortunately was dead.

Some people theorized that Zhongli might've killed Guizhong himself, because of the lines in Jade cutter weapon lore. Again, why? they were close up to her death, as mentioned by MoD. If that happened, why?

So, thoughts?

[dkniade]

Would you exclaim (euphemistically or non-euphemistically) using the name of the Archons…?

Actually, how would euphemisms of the Archons work (think gosh or golly for God)…?

Canonical Chinese terms for Morax in Liyue include: 岩王帝君 (Yán Wáng Dìjūn)，帝君 (Dìjūn)，岩王爷 (Yán wángyé), 他老人家 (tā lǎorénjiā, Chinese honourific meaning that old man).

By the way, 岩王爷 and 他老人家 are used by Yun Jin in her “About the Vision” voiceline in relation to her Geo Vision. (In the English localization she calls him Lord of Geo and the old man, respectively.)

Let it be known that in Mandarin, 岩王爷 (despite using 岩 which is stone, localized as Geo for the element) is a homonym of 阎王爷 (Yán wángyé), who’s the King of Hell in ancient Chinese religions. Other terms for this deity in real life include 阎罗王 (Yánluó wáng), 阎罗 (Yánluó), and 阎罗大王 (Yáluó Dàwáng) in Mandarin, and यम (Yama-raja) in Sanskrit (in Hinduism).

(From Baidu Baike page “阎罗王 (中国古代神话中的十殿阎王之一 )” and the Wikipedia page on “Yama (Hinduism)”)

Rex Lapis’ page on the Genshin Impact wiki also states

“His Chinese title, 岩王帝君 Yánwáng Dìjūn, "Imperial Sovereign Yánwáng; Stonelord Sovereign; Rex Lapis" includes the honorific title 帝君 dìjūn, "sovereign," typically added to the names of Daoist deities.”

(The page also has some great discussions on the etymologies of Morax’s titles in the comments.)

Technically speaking, 岩王帝君 in pinyin would be written as Yán Wáng Dìjūn because 岩 means rock or stone, and 王 means lord or king, and thus 岩王 (meaning rock king, stone lord, Lord of Geo if you will) is not one word and would not be transcribed as Yánwáng. (So if anyone could edit pinyin transcriptions of the tile on the wiki that’d be great.)

For 阎王爷, 阎 is also part of the name and 王爷 is the honorific..

…Hm.

(Spoilers for Neuvillette’s profile line after completing Masquerade of the Guilty.)

.

Neuvillette in the English localization of his “About the Geo Archon” profile line calls the Geo Archon Deus Auri (Latin: God of Gold) who has the Authority of Geo. In the original Chinese text, the first is 贵金之神 (Guìjīn zhī Shén, God of Gold), and the second is 岩之大权 (Yán zhī Dàquán). Hmm… 贵金 possibly comes from 贵金属 (Guìjīnshǔ) which is precious metal, referring to such as gold, silver, and platinum… Well, it’s likely a cultural difference between Liyue and Fontaine that resulted in such titles.

Looking at the (English localization of the) diegesis, with the Iudex of Fontaine calling the Geo Archon Deus Auri, it makes less sense that in the English localization, Liyue people would use the Latin term Rex Lapis for him when in contrast the Inazuma people refer to Ei and the Shogun puppet as Raiden Shogun.

I think… It’d make sense for Fontainians or Mondstadters to call him Rex Lapis.

[qserasera]

The long song is silent The long sword invincible A long desire without life

[Fanvid] - A Wish to Look Back

Or: an animatic for Rex Lapis during the Archon Wars

[dragon-ascent]

Imagine shooting your shot at dragon-form Rex Lapis.

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔

Rex Lapis is enjoying a tranquil afternoon in his lofty dragon form, out in the fields of Tianqiu Valley. His nation is currently at peace, so he can afford himself a day of relaxation out in the open. His fluffy tail goes swish-swish as his ever-twinkling eyes languidly take in the serenity that sweeps over Liyue's emerald fields.

He senses someone approaching, and casually rears his head to find you heading towards him. Ah, sweet-looking mortal. Rex Lapis purrs softly as a gesture of welcome. He is at rest, but should you have anything troubling you, he would be more than willing to assist. Or perhaps you would like to relax with him as well? He imagines you napping against his smooth scales and delights at the thought.

"Lord Morax Rex Lapis Yanwang Dijun Prime of Adepti, I have something to tell you!" you burst out awkwardly once you've reached him, hands on your hips.

He lets out a quiet, amused huff at the usage of the titles. He utters kindly, "I am all ears, little one."

You're wearing a cheeky but hopeful grin. "I can take you!"

Rex Lapis blinks slowly. Then, he tilts his head, intrigued. “Take me where? We shall head out at once.”

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔

Bonus:

"Why not, my lord? Why couldn't you be my dragon husband?"

"My dear, my copulatory appendage is the size of your entire body."

"...Yes, and?"

[yinyuedijun]

potentially obvious to anyone who knows me but the 'dijun' in my url is the same dijun as the one in "yanwang dijun" aka zhongli's chinese title for rex lapis. yes I do indeed have delusions about the xianzhou characters in a genshin au 😞

[creatorsarah]

hehehhehe

deus auri vago mundo golden god god of gold morax god of contracts rex lapis geo archon prime of adepti yanwang dijun

Zhongli My beloved

😍

don't mind the camera quality

[cerucerus]

They r his children and he loves them so much ok

[ceruleanvermillion]

This is a really interesting take! I do agree that what furina did was extremely selfless, and that her actions have truly rocked the status quo. However, I would argue that Zhongli's aim was to completely remove any semblance of divine rule from Liyue. This is getting a bit into theory territory- but I do feel like despite what the others (ningguang, CR, etc) Zhongli fully intended to have no more geo archon successors there. There is no liyuen neuvillette to be a "deity", there is no actual "deity" except for him, and he will no longer "act" as a "deity". I think that his conscious choice to "give away" the gnosis instead of keeping it to himself I believe that he fully intends for no more successors- the gnosis will be with the tsaritsa instead of anyone in Liyue. Honestly, in a meta sense, liyue getting a new archon would also defeat the entire purpose of the aq which Im sure mihoyo would not want.

When he gave his gnosis up, it was for a contract in which we still don't know what he will have in return. Not to mention, we still have his NDA, as well as the fact that we have yet no idea of his origins. We have to take into consideration that not only did Liyue and Fontaine have different conditions, and that there is still so much we don't know about zhongli. Honestly, I feel like the reason why he did not do what focalors did was that first of all, Liyue had no curse of any kind, unlike the fontainian prophecy. He did not have to die- and focalors' death was truly a last resort. I think she'd have wanted to live as a whole, if she could. Secondly, I do think that because he is not of the same creature/origin/species as focalors, I'm not certain he can do what she did exactly. Also, again, theres his NDA and contracts, which is still a mystery. what's interesting about the position of archon is that as of 4.2, it actually seems more detrimental to him than anything- so not destroying it is an even bigger question. was it even possible for him to fool celestia? All things considered, I don't blame him for not wanting to die. Not to mention, someone of Zhongli's caliber dying would have horrible repercussion to the surroundings.

I don't believe that it's really fair to both focalors and zhongli to say that focalor's sacrifice is the ultimate standard of archon selflessness- in the end of the day, the archons seem to be in a really bad position. As of 4.2, we can say that they are basically servants of both heaven and of humanity- none of them seem to have the agency, consent, or power of choice that they appear to have. Yes, she gave up her archonhood and the part of herself to save her people, but ultimately, despite her sheer selflessness- I do think that the circumstance wasn't fair to her, and that despite it being the only option, in a better world, she shouldn't have to die.

And as for Zhongli, I feel like we should not overlook the thousands of years' worth of sacrifice he had done for the sake of his people, and his putting duty over everything else. He has done so much, and he has witnessed unimaginable things, has seen enough civilizations rise and fall to create the calculations and plans he deemed necessary for Liyue. It's true that he is not the most in touch with humanity, but that does not mean that he hasn't put in any attempt, nor does that disqualify his selflessness. In fact, I do deem it pretty responsible that he decided to test his people (which had been a completely controlled environment where he would step in if Liyue was incapable and easily defeat his opponent) instead of just. well, dying, and leaving them with nothing. He did not "leave them with problems"- which is one point you made that I completely disagree with. If he did, it would be another egeria. The problems were already there whether it was focalors or morax. It is their difference in goals that makes the situation- focalors wants to save her people from the prophecy, and ultimately give back power to the dragon sovereign as the rightful ruler. Zhongli wants there to be no more divine authority in liyue- which, i personally theorize, is why his "test" was to see if his people can hold their own against the divine, sovereign or deity or otherwise, and he wants the adepti and mortals to be whole as the people of liyue.

The dragon sovereigns are an interesting part of the equation. In fontaine, Neuvillette is there, he wishes to judge the usurpers, and focalors gives back the power that he so rightfully deserves while also saving the people via, well, dying. In Liyue... there isn't really a confirmed geo sovereign. There are theories of it being azhdaha, which of course, makes zhongli's and azhdaha's genuine friendship really interesting in light of this new lore- especially in the end of his second story quest, where they had the conversation. The dragon authorities, too, were interesting matters, because zhongli existed before the archon war, and thus there was a point in his life where he was not an archon, and might have even been around before the seven seats were even a thing. Furina, too, was an oceanid turned human of sorts before she was an archon- so then that brings up the question- were the seven fated to become archons and bound to the authorities from the very beginning? Or, if they weren't always archons, was there a time where they werent bound to an authority- which meant that it's possible to destroy the divine seat without an archon dying? after all, makoto's death didn't destroy the divine seat. Especially since it seemed to be arunning theme that archons mostly didn't have a choice when it comes to taking the position, the archon war was an elimination of sorts and they had to be one to save their people and not die and the successors were often placed with no other option.

Zhongli is no longer the archon of liyue, but that doesn't mean he's completely absent. He is still, as per his conversation with Azhdaha, a deity of his people. We see that he is still present a looking out for them, and he did not abandon his people at all. he is still a deity, and therefore it could be said that he still has "duties". On the other hand, furina is completely free, with no more strings. Though, of course, all the other archons still acknowledge her as one even if she's mortal all along because the duties she undertook was what made her worthy of the title.

Ultimately, the post above was a really interesting and well written take on things, and though i agree on some and disagree on other parts, I feel like we can both conclude that there are still a good amount of lore we don't know yet- but that's what makes theorizing fun, right?

There's something to the fact that Focalors and Zhongli gave up their role as archons in wildly different ways.

Zhongli fakes his own death, meaning he chooses to give up his authority, not necessarily his power. Once he's given up his authority and role as archon (and traded the gnosis), Zhongli no longer helps his people. The Adepti and the Qixing defeat Osial and his wife entirely without his help. Arguably, that's fair. If he's no longer acting as the archon of Liyue, it is no longer his responsibility to defend Liyue, any more than it's any citizen's responsibility. But again, Zhongli has given up his position and his gnoses, but not his power as an archon. For all his talk about letting the people of Liyue govern themselves, Zhongli does nothing to prevent another geo archon from taking his place or to shield his people from Celestia.

Focalors, on the other hand, completely surrenders her power and divinity. She makes the decision to sacrifice her own wishes, life, and power for the good of Fontaine. When Focalors gives up her power, she well and truly gives it up. She doesn't cling to it and fade into the background, leaving any future problems for the citizens to deal with- she ensures that the people of Fontaine have a guardian who loves them with the necessary power to protect them. It comes at a tremendous cost to both parts of herself, Furina and Focalors, but she doesn't hesitate. And even though we know Furina is exhausted, lonely, terrified, and would step down in a second if it was possible, the thought never crosses her mind. If her suffering was weighted against all of Fontaine's there's no question which way the scales would tip. Focalors gives up her archonhood as an act of sacrifice, a completely selfless decision to protect Fontaine and return the hydro archon's power to its rightful owner. When Zhongli gives up his archonhood, the geo archon's throne is still fully intact. Zhongli's choice is partially to let the people of Liyue rule themselves, sure, but it's also because he's tired of doing it himself. So when Zhongli gives up his archonhood, he takes his power and leaves his people to deal with the fallout.

Focalors sacrifices herself for a "sin" her predecessor committed, while Zhongli lets his people deal with the consequences of his rise to power. I think it's a really interesting comparison between justice and law/contracts and the different ways they would tackle the same problem. To me, the quest really cemented the issue I had with Zhongli's character and the way he's discussed. Basically, if he was acting selflessly, with the people of Liyue's best interests in mind, he would have carried out his "death" more like Focalors', with a proper successor ready and waiting (or at least the government informed), all of his remaining duties handled, no giant vortex monsters waiting to jump out at his people. Focalors made sure her people were protected and the head of government was (to the best of her ability) informed, and she was under way more pressure than Zhongli. There isn't a particular point to this, I just think it's really interesting how differently Focalors and Zhongli handled giving up their positions.

[ceruleanvermillion]

Guizhong and Zhongli are complimentary- Zhongli is warm tone black-yellow and Guizhong is cool tone white-blue and if you invert their colour palettes they literally become each other's colours. Guizhong has relations to sciency stuff like engineering and her favourite flower is the glaze lilies which bloom at night and also when she sings and it's also all blues and silvers. and her outfit has stars on them. Zhongli wears warm tone browns and golds and he's a history guy and likes to debate and he's related to suns and stars and has appreciation for antiques and arts. Guizhong is the science to Zhongli's Social Sciences. She is the silvery moon and the night, with moon and night related elements and colour palettes and the fact that the moon is often related to music and she sings and everything, while Zhongli is the stars and day, the sun and the light, where he has so many sun/celestial body associations, Star falls, lights dim, he's depicted as a sun in some cutscenes and is associated with light and gold. The pattern in her sleeves are starry, they depict the distant infinite sky, always looking far ahead, and Zhongli is all brown and black and gold like geo and precious metals, grounded to the earth. But it could be the opposite too, she is a geode, the precious beauty hidden inside, and he has the scales of a dragon, protective layers. She is outgoing, curious and always exploring, and he is quiet, he is the listener. Often, she is said to be the brains and he the brawns, but they are so much more complex than that- she is also unhinged and always pushing the limits, whereas he is calm, logical, straightforward. She has this endless wonder, while he has this maturity from experience, but she is also perceptive, while he is stubborn. He is dependable and she is reliable. He is observant and principled and she is compassionate. Together they are formidable. She is open, and he is mysterious, secretive. They built a nation together, will and hearts and trust, for the the people. In this essay I will-

[dkniade]

English localization of Zhongli’s and Nahida’s Archon titles, Genshin Impact Character Title Localization in General, and Zhongli’s title of Yanwang Dijun

I was reading the wiki page for the current Archons (and their names & titles) and the more I think about their titles the more I feel the English localization of Zhongli’s title is strange.

Here (just the ones from the five released regions):

.

Venti/Barbatos, Lord Barbatos, God of Freedom, Anemo Archon, of Mondstadt

Zhongli/Morax, Rex Lapis, God of Contracts, Geo Archon, of Liyue

Raiden Ei/Beelzebul, Raiden Shogun, God of Eternity, Electro Archon, of Inazuma

Nahida/Buer, Lesser Lord Kusanali, God of Wisdom, Dendro Archon, of Sumeru

Furina/Focalors, Lady Furina, God of Justice, Hydro Archon, of Fontaine

.

….face in hands. Why is Zhongli’s Archon title 岩王帝君 (Yanwang Dijun / Yan3wang3 Di4jun1) officially localized in Latin (with the meaning of King of Stone). Of course I’m used to seeing it because he’s consistently referred to as Rex Lapis in English, but if you really think about it:

“Hello, I’m a god in what’s basically a Chinese xianxia setting. I’m the god of stone and contracts, and I know a lot about the traditions of my nation, which is based on Chinese culture. For some time, I was seen as the leader or even emperor of my nation. I’m worshipped with a Latin title by my own people”

…

(I’ll explain the Chinese title’s meaning further below.)

-

Some time ago, I watched the first few minutes of the Sumeru Archon Quest in Japanese. Paimon mentions the Dendro Archon by title: クラクサナリデビ.

In romaji, this is Kura Kusanari Debi. (According to her wiki page, literally speaking, this title means Little Kusanali Devi.)

I can’t confirm its accuracy, but the etymology section of her page says this:

.

The name Kusanali likely refers to the Kusanāḷi-Jātaka, one of the poems within the Jātaka, a series of 547 Buddhist poems detailing the previous births of Buddha. The Kusanāḷi-Jātaka specifically details the encounter with a tree sprite.

"Kusanāḷi" itself is derived from the Pali words kusa ("kusa-grass," a sacred plant used in Hindu ceremonies) and nāḷi ("a hollow stalk or tube").

.

and

.

In Korean, the name is 쿠사나리 데비 Kusanari Debi. The word 데비 Debi derived from the Sanskrit or Pali word devī ("goddess" or "queen").

In Japanese, the name is クラクサナリデビ Kura Kusanari Debi, where デビ Debi may be of the same derivation as above, and クラ Kura may be derived from the Pali word khudda ("small", "inferior" or "low"). Kura may also be derived from the Persian word خدا Khuda ("Lord" or "God").

.

Genshin Impact doesn’t have Sanskrit as an available subtitle language but I wonder what would her title be in Sanskrit…? And if any of the official subtitle languages are similar to a theoretical Sanskrit title…

-

Oh, also, a note on character titles in Genshin Impact:

Since the original language is in Chinese, it seems most of the time a (non-Liyue) character’s Chinese title will not be a phonetic transcription. Instead, the Chinese title will be based on meaning, and the English localization will likely take that meaning and either localize it into English, or into the language “native” to the in-game region (and real-life culture).

For example, a Fontainian title, a Mondstadtian title, and a Liyue title would all have Chinese meaning in the Chinese version, but they’ll probably be localized into either English for all three, or French, German, and Chinese pinyin respectively (….or Latin. It’s not very consistent in Liyue) in the English version.

Here:

.

Lyney’s Chinese title (from his key visual) 惑光幻戏 (Magic of Puzzling Lights) is localized as “Spectacle of Phantasmagoria” in the English version, but theoretically they could also localize it into French as “Spectacle de fantasmagorie” (as it is in the official French version)

Albedo’s Chinese title 白垩之子 (Son of Chalk) is localized as the German “Kreideprinz” (Chalk Prince) but theoretically they could also could localize it into English as “Chalk Prince”

.

(What’s a good example for a Liyue character that doesn’t need extensive explanation on Daoism… Ah whatever. I’ll explain Zhongli’s own Archon title.)

.

Zhongli’s title as an Archon is 岩王帝君 (Yanwang Dijun, roughly meaning God of King of Stone). The first two hanzi characters mean stone and king (hence the English localization of Rex Lapis, Latin for King of Stone). But that lacks the nuance and cultural significance in the Chinese title.

.

帝君 (dijun) is (I believe…) a Daoist title of reverence added to a god’s name. So putting it together, 岩王帝君 can either be localized into pinyin as Yanwang Dijun (in a similar way that MDZS’s 夷陵老祖 Yiling Laozu is known as the Yiling Patriarch)… Or Lord Stone King if you really want but that has different religious connotations…

帝君 is similar to 真君 (zhenjun, another Daoist title for gods) which is often used for the Liyue 仙 (xian, localized as Adepti) characters. (In English, an adept, plural form adepts, refers to someone who’s very skilled at something. It seems in the game 仙 includes both Adepti with animal forms and Adepti with human forms, and 仙人 xianren specifically refers to Adepti who appear human, like Xiao.)

[gierosajie]

So far every archon we have has another name they get called locally instead of their demon names as a sign of respect (Yanwang Dijun/Rex Lapis, Raiden Shogun, Lesser Lord Kusanali, the Tsaritsa) except for Venti, who is only ever called by his demon name (Lord Barbatos)

I wonder if it has anything to do with how Mondstadt is more loose and casual with how it treats its archon (more like a friend because of how the wind is everywhere in general rather than treating him as a ruler or anything of the sort that requires a more distant respect)

Like, I'm not sure about the other nations, but in Liyue it's more or less frowned upon to call the Geo Archon Morax iirc. Meanwhile Mondstadt just straight up calls their archon Barbatos

It also makes me wonder if Mondstadt had followed Enkanomiya's practice of not calling Istaroth by her true name or if they just went and called her Istaroth straight up. Even gods don't refer to her by name, so that kind of stuff is probably A Big Deal

[ceruleanvermillion]

That's the thing, right? What was he supposed to do, literally die??? In fact, it was very smart of him to actually be the backup plan- this at least guarantees safety of so many, as opposed to not testing them. Zhongli is old, and very wise. he knows things we do not. What right do we have to tell him how to deal with the nation he built himself? he knows liyue better than we do. he also knows teyvat better that literally most people in teyvat. A Lot of the things in the world of teyvat are simply bigger than we think. We do not know the full story. we don't know what he knows- and some things are simply much, much bigger than what we could imagine. Zhongli saw a nation without an archon literally crumble. Why wouldn't he test his nation to be able to withstand that? for all we know, that might literally just be one of multiple reasons. He's not an idiot, yknow.

this'll probably make some zhongli haters mad, but but it's true and i'll say it anyways: to assume there can be absolutely no risk in a necessary test of divine conflict (osial for example, beisht if you really wanna stretch with some hater-ade) is straight up childish.

a good chunk of his criticizers are people who are high off the elitist shounen protag juice, and they're incapable of comprehending that zhongli was never inherently obligated to give us...anything, lol. think about the plot with more than 4 brain cells and you'll see he had the right to not immediately give us the truth all things considered.

hot take: there was no other possible way to test liyue and their resilience against accurate divine conflict without risk. also, blaming zhongli for beisht is like blaming venti for all of dvalin's suffering lol and you can fight me on that

zhongli is less blockheaded than many realize, and it shows.

[dragon-ascent]

forgive me but i dont play genshim impact but i do know zhongli, this is stupid but is rex lapis, morax and zhongli the same person?

No worries - and yes, they refer to the same person! Morax is his Goetic name; he's an archon, and all archons and some other gods have their original names taken from ars goetia. His people generally refer to him more reverently as Rex Lapis, ie King of Rock.

Zhongli is what he is currently known as, as he's taken the form of a mortal salaryman to live in leisure. Most people in-game aren't aware that he's Morax/Rex Lapis.

He also has some other titles that I may use on my blog such as Deus Auri, Yanwang Dijun, prime of the Adepti, Groundbreaker, Geo Lord etc!