#and mavuika’s flaming hair???

[kiwisandpearls]

ngl this is the first time in a long time that I’ve actually been excited for a new genshin nation update

[shirohimeko777]

Artist: phenylshark ( Twitter)

[aromanticasterisms]

cool as hell cutscene. once again

[beiibeiii]

😎requests a birthdaymavuika fic for my bdayyy !! anything you like have creative freedom pookie <33 angst to fluff would be nice though wink wink nudge

OMG HAPPY BIRTHDYA AJJSJSAJJAJS I LOVE MAVUIKA SO MUCH OMGGG I WILL DO SUPER SHORT BC WE DONT KNOW MUCH AB HER YET AYY!!!

TW - NATLAN ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS??

mavuika having to leave her family behind for her nation was hard, but leaving you was harder. your in her arms, shes hugging you tight. your arms cling onto her bodysuit desperately as small sobs are elicited from your throat. mavuika whispers soft sweet things into your ears. trying to reassure you and herself. she doesn't want to let you go ever.

she has to leave and come back 500 hundred years later. she is doing this all for you and her family. mavuika vows to save natlan for you, so you can have a beautiful and safe nation to live in. so you both no longer have to live in such a cursed, destroyed place.

she promises you she'll find you again. that when you will, natlan will be a absolutely stunning. all signs of the abyss would be vanquished. the grass would be luscious and green again. the air would be clean and purified from the abyss.

your tears soak into her chest. her hands in your head, playing with the soft strands of your hair. you beg her not to do this. to just stay. you dislike how she has to end her life before her time. who knows if you'll find eachother again. mavuika tries to keep that confident, reassuring smile on her face but she too knows she has to go soon. she had already placed her life with the sacred flame. she doesn't want to worry you. she doesn't want to share her burden and put it on your shoulders too. she mumbles softly into your ears.

"i love you so much. i promise, i'll find you again. i swear. no matter how long it takes."

[qshlyns]

mavuika redesign

this and chasca's redesign are one of the VERY DIFFERENT looks from the genshin original, but god am i proud of both of them. mavuika's design is so fanservice centered and completely went against anything that we knew about natlan prior to its release, which was both disappointing and insulting,,,,

information; mavuika, or mahuika, is a māori deity of fire who in some versions is the sibling of the goddess of death, hence why i made her so intimidating and terrifying [+ the fact that natlan is the nation of WAR]. mahuika is one of the more known deities, although the presentations of her were very few. fun fact; mahuika is the mother of māui, who gives fire to the humans from her nail! that's why you can see in my redesign that one of the nails is missing. i also really loved the idea of lava hair, where the insides is golden and most hot and shining.... the shading was really fun with it. i also attempted to make the face tattoo [tā moko, permanent marking, tattootists are seen as sacred] have lines similar to flames but also follow the structure of the face.

[gold-rhine]

Hello, you said you would change some things about mavuika in the archon quest. 👀 Would love to hear your thoughts on her. I liked her a lot and thought it was a great introduction to her character.

i generally liked her and as i said, im not commenting on bigger plot until i see what they're cooking, the problems i have is with presentation and dramatization

1.i think they should have made tournament a bigger deal. yeah, kachina can have central role, but we could have time to run around as traveler in between her segments and see other fighters, bc rn its like. oooooh nation wide sacred tournament!!! and then its kinda just kachina has 3 fights and thats it. fountain act 1 i think did better job at presenting opera and trials as gigantic centre of attention and being important for the entire country.

2.ode of resurrection failing to call kachina scene is good as plotpoint, but execution is very mid. idk if its my own audio, but it sounded to me that the ode as mixed very quietly contrasting to dialogue, as like background music. they should have BLASTED it, like they have insane piece of music, they should have utilized its power to the full. if you havent heard, please do. it gives me chills every time, except for how it was used in game. like. stadium is almost empty, you had like giant rows of seats with about 3 ppl on the row. hoyo fucking come on, crowd in some npcs. it should feel massive, not like 15 guys at a local village football match. and like. mavuika just walks off screen and then walks back like hey guys our resurrection failed. this moment has so much drama potential!

like. we're shown the CROWDED stadium. chorus rises. the sacred flame is growing bigger and bigger. chorus almost at its peak, blasting. mavuika is reaching to the flames, her own hair turning into fire. music at crescendo, flames are roaring sky high, and then WHOOSH purple abyss flash, flames flicker, almost going out completely, mavuika is thrown back, crowd is scared and flailing mb we have a momentary frame of seeing scared crying kachina in the night kingdom. much more obvious impact to emphasize what a big deal sacred flames are

3. mavuika giving up her power is another great plot beat that was executed super meh. like. nothing against iansan, but she's standing there looking at mavuika the whole time, like are you done with your traumatic event? was it very traumatic? mavuika is like haha im dying on the inside but its fine, lets go. no music, no fanfare, very little emotional gravity for how important this is.

instead it could be like. mavuika dismisses iansan, like, this is something i need to do alone. she's slowly walking up to the flames. ode of resurrection theme starts playing, but no chorus, its very somber version. natlan is about unity of ppl, no one fights alone, etc, but at this moment mavuika feels very lonely and deep down, scared. she doesnt know capitano doesnt fight weakened enemies, she's giving up what she thinks is her last line of defense, she believes in her ppl, but in this moment she feels powerless. her fair turns to fire, she reaches out, hesitant, music is a single wind flute playing natlan theme, and mavuika lets go of her power, fire draining from her hair slowly, she's visibly distraught, its a melancholic and quiet moment that lingers for some time. then she gathers her strength, puts on the brave face and goes to iansan to joke about taking photos, but she's allowed the moment of vulnerability, for the latter acts contrast to when natlan ppl will be coming together.

4.the moment when group is trapped in night kingdom and rescued is already good, but i think itd be insane if we had resurrection ode call back. like they just fell, the gap in the ceiling just closed, they are looking at each other in the dark, scared. natlan theme starts playing, very quietly at first, the chorus is barely audible, but as the cracks are showing on the cavern ceiling, it grows lowder and lowder, until the darkness shatters, we have that great shot of mavuika breaking the border between 2 worlds, and the chorus is finally able to reach the highest point, in contrast to how it had to break short of it the first time. and then the group is immediately AT THE STADIUM, crowded with all the people here singing. the mavuika shot already shows stadium behind her, lets just get there, have a wonderful call back to natlan people coming together and greeting them as heroes coming back, including kachina, who can finally be treated as a hero. like we can say its magic, time moves differently, whatever, its much more cinematic flow than the group wakes up at the random hill and has to waddle back to mavuika's room, and then like 20 minutes of info dump later we get stadium scene of praising kachina.

[t3hwish]

ngl, mavuika's flaming hair reminds me of yang xiao long from rwby

i doubt it's a reference but still

[liviavanrouge]

Embarrassing Story

Mavuika: Want to hear a story about Fatima in her toddler years?

Fatima: MOMMY!!

Paimon: Oh yes! We do!!

Mualani: So do I!

Kachina: Can we..really?

Kinich: *Stares, a curious glint appearing*

Mavuika: *Chuckles* When Fatima was younger she would wail and cry for me to give her a hug so she could take her daily nap time, at first I was unaware of that and thought it was her being fussy about not wanting to sleep

Mavuika: She kept snagging my hair, which I later found out that it was her trying to pull me close so she could hug me, but after I figured it out it became a habit of ours

Fatima: M-Mommy, you're embarrassing me..

Kachina: *Giggles* She sounded like a handful

Kinich: I wouldn't know and I can't say much about it....since Kucho was a more calm child only getting fussy when he's hungry

Kucho: *Throws Kinich a disbelieving look then quickly looks away*

Mavuika: Oh! There was also the time she came crying to me about her favorite rock going missing, the very same rock that I melted with my flames and gave her

Fatima: MOMMY!!!

Mavuika: I found the rock under her bed and she calmed right down the moment she saw it. She still has it to this day...what was it's name

Luna: *Coughs, leaning against Aether*

Aether: *Wraps an arm around Luna*

Mualani: *Laughs* She named the rock!

Mavuika: Mr Rocko! That's the name

Mualani: That's adorable!!

Fatima: *Rubs the back of her head* H-Hehe

Mavuika: *Looks at Fatima* She's quite well grown now, no new embarrassing stories for me to collect..it is a shame in a way..

Fatima: *Looks up at her* Mommy....

Mavuika: *Smiles* I'm glad you're letting your flames burn bright, Titi

Mualani: Titi!?

Mavuika: *Turns back to everyone* It's her nickname, wanna hear how I came up with it?

Paimon, Mualani and Kachina: YEAH!!

Fatima: MOMMY!!!!!!!!

@queen-of-twisted

[kindauglypikachuicon]

Final photo with the people we’ve met in Fontaine before heading off to Natlan!! (I wish Wriothesley and Neuvillette was here)

My thoughts on Natlan so far…

Kachina’s so cute I wanna pet her and squish her bunny ears!!

Cute scene of an npc playing music with animals gathered around them

I LOVE YOU ALMOND!!!! 💕💕💕🫶🫶🫶✨✨✨ If anyone hurts Almonds I will kill everyone and everything including myself

Road on top of this creature (forgot their name already :p)

I’m getting you Kinich and I might get obsessed with you soon……O_O (<-Staring really hard into Kinich’s beautiful eyes)

I’m definitely gonna get Mavuika too, she looks awesome with that flaming hair (I’m very curious about the lore of Natlan that will unravel soon hmm…)

Some cool and cute artworks of the Traveler in a new outfit for the first time ever (He looks very cute in a high pony tail too)

Sucked out the bad poison of the Abyss on a nice lady who we just met but Atea was already too damaged on the inside to recover anymore. Farewell and it was nice to meet you in this short time…

THEY’RE SO FUCKING CUUUUUTE!!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕 They might just be my favorite Saurians awwwww!!! The way that baby just cocked its head at the transformed Traveler was so ADORABLE!!! RAAAAAAHHHH!!

Tried to get this blobbly thing (I failed aw)

Got a Capybara at least!! YES

Tried to kidnap uh I mean get the goat (I succeeded!! ✨)

Got the white and brown Alpacas. I wish I could hug them to feel how soft they are!!

Got the cute green chicken bird (whose defense mechanism is to faceplant and stick their butt feathers upwards to pretend as a flower, it’s kinda neat to see!)

Couldn’t get the new bug and the cute flying squirrel creature sad 😔

Wow I want you……….I just hope I have enough primos left after Kinich, Mavuika and that pretty blond cat-eared girl (forgot her name)

Looking kawaii as fuck sleeping like this :3c

A portrait of Mavuika’s family before she became the Pyro Archon

Cool new area! Natlan makes me wanna explore and do chests more unlike Fontaine for some reason

[dutybcrne]

Mavuika’s hair glows and shimmers like a flame because it is in fact imbued with fire. It is cooler than genuine flames to a tolerable degree, but most definitely has a notable warmth compared to that of others. In battle and in times of great emotion, it burns white hot and can cause severe damage to anyone but her who is foolish enough to touch it.

[atomic-taco-muffin]

Kaeya x Jessica true pacifist au:

A few days later:

Jessica: you asked for a gifted pyro user and now your being a sexist fucking asshole after I said the others were busy?!

Sexist client: I want a man not a damned b-

Jessica: *engulfs her hair in flames* call me a damned bitch I fucking dare you...

Zhongli: oh my...

Zhongli: reminds me a lot of Mavuika (the pyro archon cause she can do the same thing)

[mayobedo]

Initial thoughts on the Natlan characters now that I've had the day to simmer on them

Disclaimer: I am white. I figured I should make that clear. I just want to get my thoughts out there.

In general, I think the more modern look is very unique and something we haven't seen in Genshin Impact before, but they do feel kind of safe. They're very vibrant too, which fits all the color we've seen from the Natlan previews. Unlike a lot of the Fontaine designs initially there's few I actively dislike, but perhaps they'll grow on me, like many characters have. They just sorely need some melanin given the cultures Natlan takes inspiration from.

Ranking each character we've seen individually based on my initial impressions, from best to worst, under the cut (pictures included).

1. Xilonen

Out of everyone in the teaser she immediately caught my eye. The jaguar (or possibly other big cat) theming (as well as being a proper catgirl) and image of her lounging in a tree, bathing in sunlight gives off a sense of power. Kind of like a real big cat! But you guys probably know I tend to like the tall women a lot.

2. Mavuika

I think a lot of people, myself included, expected the Pyro Archon to be a Himeko expy and/or light-skinned. And well, she seems to be both of those. The leaks of the Pyro Archon in a conquistador outfit did have me worried given real world history, but I'm very relieved to see that isn't the case.

Seeing her in a bodysuit when I first opened YouTube did have me puzzled at first, but seeing the full outfit really brings it together. Hoyo does put a lot of research into things, so I'm interested to see any analyses on her design, too!

And the sunglasses are peak. From what I've seen it's a controversial design element, but I think it really adds to her character. She really seems like a friendly archon all around. I wonder how "war" plays into all of this.

She's also the first archon without dark or white hair--it's just straight up red. Which makes me hope she'll change up the common tropes archons tend to have (please i don't want the two archons plotline for the 4th nation in a row). is really I really liked the flame hair concepts from her leaked designs, so it's nice to see we still got that in some form here.

3. Kinich

Kinich has a pretty cohesive design, and the color palette is pretty pleasing to look at, too. But I can definitely see the Xiao comparisons. I hope his personality makes him stand out from him.

The most perplexing thing about him though is how his design focuses a lot around pixels--Ajaw is a pixel dragon. The Sumeru Dendro characters do have their computer/tech themes (Alhaitham and Nahida especially, the latter of which is Irminsul's avatar), but this seems a little...much. Even when considering Natlan characters have more modern designs.

Taking the "Teyvat is a simulation" theory (and similar) in mind, I feel like Ajaw is going to play into that. Or they're just a pixel dragon because Hoyo thought it would be cool.

4. Mualani

Her design makes me think she was originally designed with a darker skin tone, but late in the development process someone told the designer to make her skin lighter, so we got the tan she has today.

Honestly her and Kinich are pretty close, probably interchangeable. But the main thing that bothers me are the orange highlights on her hair. They're a little off-putting.

But overall, I think her design is cute! As a character I get the impression she's going to be chill. Like "girl next door" vibes.

5. Iansan

I really don't have much to say given we've seen her before, and I didn't have much to say back then either. I do hope they give her a good amount of focus given she is a Teyvat Travail character, and I think they will, given it's a pattern they haven't broken. But Hoyo does like breaking patterns... I'd rather be optimistic, though.

Iansan is, however, the first character on this list we don't know the element for. I remember thinking initially she would be Geo, but now we know of two Geo characters, surely they won't have three Geos in the Pyro Nation, right?

I think she's most likely to be Pyro, but I've seen people throw around Electro too since I heard she's named after a lightning spirit. It would make sense--she has a lot of purple in her design. But I'd like to throw out my wild guess that she's Dendro. Why? Well, her eyes are the Dendro green, and if she isn't, then it's impossible for every element to be represented by a Teyvat Travail character. And I highly doubt Pulcinella is going to be Dendro.

6. Ororon

yeah that sure is a genshin character. cool cape though.

He's probably important given he's with Capitano of all people. Maybe he's a Fatuus, but I don't see any Fatui symbol on him. It would be nice to have more playable Fatui.

One thing I'm noticing just now is that he has heterochromia. Hoyo doesn't give out heterochromia willy-nilly. Definitely a mysterious character for sure.

As for element I'm pretty sure he's Anemo with how prominent teal is in his design. If that's true, he'll be our first tall Anemo man! Only took four years...

I am curious about his name, though. It every other language his name is Olorun. I wonder if the misspelling in English is intentional, or if it was just a localization error.

7. Kachina

She's cute...but that's really all she has going for her. I will say, though, the big fluffy ears are unique.

but basically melanin would've saved her

8. Citlali

The only reason she's at this spot is because of what we've seen of her personality so far. I can't think of a particularly hot-tempered female character in Genshin, and I think she might fulfill that niche.

But her design... I think the main thing that bogs it down is the dull pink color used for her hair. With the light skin tone she has it's kind of clashing. It's nice to see another character get colored eyelashes, at least.

I...really don't know how to put my dislike of her design in words. I don't think she's the worst design in Genshin, but she's far down there.

9. Chasca

I'll be honest she just feels like Natlan Clorinde. She stands out from her as a distinct character, but they still give off the same vibe.

I like her design better than Citlali, I will give her that. She just feels kind of boring compared to everyone else.

There are a few small details that are neat--the shoulder mole, textured eyebrows, elf ears... But yeah. She'd really have to impress me to make me want to pull her.

~

So yeah, those are my thoughts. I think this will be fun to look back on later down the line, when Natlan's story is done and we've gotten to know these characters better.

I am excited to see where the story goes, but honestly I'm more excited for the exploration than anything else. It looks super fun, and I can't wait to finally get my hands on the Saurians.