#as well as the release of enkanomiya

[blueskittlesart]

i kinda really wanna see a big ol vent/rant from you about genshin now lol. I would read an essay

I'm not sure you understand the insanity you just unlocked in me but ok

genshin impact is probably the clearest modern example i can think of of capitalism absolutely eviscerating a creative project. For context, I started playing genshin in 2021, just after the 1.4 update. it was venti's first rerun/the first windblume festival if that means something to you. and I really genuinely thought that it might have had something special. It was a gacha that didn't FEEL like a gacha, which was a huge feat to me.

it began with a very simple story pitch--you, the protagonist, are one of a set of twin siblings traveling through space. you come upon a seemingly unassuming world and your attempts to continue your journey are suddenly stopped by a mysterious, all-powerful figure. you are separated from your sibling and wake up alone on the shores of this planet you were attempting to leave together. throughout that opening cutscene and scattered through the world and your character's dialog there are implications that all is not as it seems, that your character is something unique to this world and that they possess powers and abilities that you've yet to unlock. You are told that you must travel the seven nations of this world in order to find your sibling, which is great--a simple, zelda-like objective which drives the player to explore the secondary narratives of the world. none of this is bad on the surface. in fact i'd argue it's pretty good. there's a ton that can be done with these story bones. even at launch the map and combat system were full of potential as well.

Note: for ease of reading, i'm going to label the different storylines of the game now. A-plot refers to the central objective of the entire game; the find-your-sibling plot and everything that encompasses, including the abyss order/dain, the heavenly principles, the fake sky, etc. B-plot refers to the secondary objective present in each new nation, usually meeting the archon and/or solving a problem for the archon. (A and B-plots will occasionally intersect.) C-plot refers to any story, location, or background information which remains in permanent gameplay but which isn't directly related to the A or B-plots, such as dragonspine, the chasm, enkanomiya, etc. D-plot refers to any story, location, or background information which is confined to limited-time events and does NOT remain in permanent gameplay, regardless of its connection or lack thereof to the A and B-plots, such as the golden apple archipelago, the infamous albedo/dragonspine event, the infamous kaeya/diluc event, etc. Lore as i will refer to it in this post refers to any information which is present in permanent gameplay but which is not directly told to the player within the A or B-plot story quests and objectives, including books, weapon, artifact, and item descriptions, world quest dialog and puzzles, etc.

So now we're in mid-2021, there are two nations' worth of B-plot story quests released in full, and we've run into our first problem, which is that the game isn't finished yet. I don't have any actual information about how the game was/is written, but based on what i've observed over the past few years, my best guess is that the A-plot has been fully written since the beginning, at least in some form. there were very early-game events and information pertaining to the A-plot that would take years to see any actual payoff in the main story quests (kaeya's origin story, the 1.3 scaramouche fake-sky drop, the flowers in lumine's hair, etc.) but those kinds of A-plot story easter eggs very quickly dropped off when the game absolutely EXPLODED during the pandemic.

this sudden burst in popularity was the true beginning of the end for genshin, i think, because suddenly they had a HUGE fanbase that desperately wanted more content faster than they could pump out new A-plot or even B-plot story quests. one of the most pervasive complaints about the game when I began playing in 2021 was that there was nothing to do between story quests. update 1.4 (which was the update I started playing at) was important in that it was the first time since genshin's release over a year before that players recieved any new A-plot, in the form of the archon quest We Will Be Reunited, also known as the quest with the most fucking misleading name of all time. you'll never guess what doesn't fucking happen during this quest. anyways. we were a year into gameplay, two nations out of seven released and a third on the not-so-distant horizon, and it seemed obvious that players were owed some sort of A-plot payoff. and that's very much what WWBR was advertised as, from the quest's name to the banners full of art of the twins staring wistfully at each other. The thing is, what i'm describing as A-plot payoff was actually. not really A-plot payoff at all. WWBR was the reveal that the protagonist's sibling was working with the abyss order, and that the abyss order was connected somehow to Khaenri'ah, which at this point casual players would only have known about from THAT QUEST and MAYBE kaeya's character descriptions if they were diligent enough to get him to friendship level 10 (which, btw there is no indication that you should do to get important context about the story of the game, because kaeya is a 4-star starter character and the only character in the entire game that actually has genuinely important story hidden in his character descriptions.) So what I'm calling A-plot payoff felt at the time a lot less like A-plot payoff than it did like an abyss sibling cameo in an attempt to satiate everyone who was begging for more story. We actually gained almost net 0 information. this is very quickly going to become a pattern.

As I've already alluded to, the motives behind this writing decision are transparently obvious. Genshin is a free gacha game which relies on a consistently active and engaged userbase to make its money. With fans getting restless about the lack of engaging story at the time and a new, very ambitious B-plot quest gearing up for release that would require major support from that fan base in order to remain profitable, the writers were backed into a corner. they HAD to throw the fans some sort of bone in order to keep them engaged with the A-plot, since it was originally pitched as the driving force for the story as a whole, but they were also clearly not at a stage of the writing process where it was prudent to give the player any REAL information about the A-plot. This is how we ended up with a 10-second abyss sibling cameo and an offhanded mention of Khaenri'ah, a nation whose plot-relevance was at that point still basically unknown.

The real problem is, WWBR worked. at least, it worked as intended at the time. It satiated story-focused fans in the interlude between B-plot nations, as hyv was gearing up to release inazuma, which required a lot of time in preparation. WWBR was followed almost immediately by the C-plot golden apple archipelago in 1.6, widely regarded as one of the better events of version 1. GAA was memorable especially because it was the first event that involved an entirely new, limited-time-only map, meaning the event had much more longevity than the standard events players were used to. This is, imo, most likely the update combination that led to the standard formula which hyv uses for its quests and events nowadays. the back-to-back release of WWBR and GAA satisfied both fans who wanted A-plot story AND silenced criticisms about the game lacking endgame playability, which at the time must have seemed like a goldmine to writers desperate for a solution to their content-to-fanbase ratio problem.

From here, genshin started following a standard method of release for their next three nations--inazuma, sumeru, and fontaine. the formula generally went as follows: one major version update (usually version x.0) containing a major map update which included all B-plot relevant locations in the new nation, and the first chapter of the B-plot story quest relevant to that nation. this would then be followed by 2-3 version updates which would each contain the next chapter in the nation's B-plot story quest, sequentially. After the nation's B-plot quest ended, during the downtime in which the next nation's story and map would be finalized, subsequent updates would be largely C-plot, and would contain minor expansions of the map to increase endgame playability via exploration and world quests. This is how we ended up with updates like the chasm, the several extra islands in inazuma, and the quite frankly ridiculously large sumeru map, as well as the offloaded maps like enkanomiya and the sea of bygone eras. with the possible exception of the chasm, none of these areas are A OR B-plot relevant. hyv has realized that artificially inflating the map makes their game technically more engaging during the downtime between nations. However, this comes at a price. While the scenery and set design of the game remains consistently beautiful, the actual, mechanical gameplay that populates that scenery very quickly became mind-numbingly boring if not borderline unplayable. While the 1.0 questlines were not perfect, there was at least an emphasis on the player actually DOING things. 1.0 B-plot quests would have you going to mini-dungeon temples and completing challenges which would acclimate you to the combat system while also serving narrative purpose. There were quests that required you to navigate open-world dungeons. Because your characters were lower-level, combat challenges that arose during these quests were CHALLENGES, rather than two-second buttonmashing segments. By the time we get to sumeru, though, both B-plot AND C-plot quests have become little more than moving your character from location to location and tapping through (usually unvoiced) dialog. there's no GAMEPLAY in the quests anymore, because gameplay isn't what makes money. What DOES make money is giving players 300 hidden chests to find in an open-world map segment, each of which gives them 1/80th of a gacha pull. And so the story suffers and the map gets bigger.

Along with the map expansions, downtime between nations usually also nets us one A-plot quest, usually involving the character dainslief, who was the driver of the initial WWBR quest. This is the second half of hyv's magical formula for keeping fans happy between major releases. the A-plot quests will, as a general rule, give players either very little new information or no new information at all, but will dress up the delivery in such a way that it ALMOST feels as though the protagonist has moved forward somehow. the most recent example of this writing style, the 4.7 quest bedtime story, amounts to about an hour and a half of gameplay and, while it DOES contain a segment in which the protagonist finally actually has a conversation with their sibling, that conversation literally begins with the line "I have so many questions, but for some reason I don't want to ask them right now," ensuring that the sibling will not actually be required to give away any plot-relevant information whatsoever, and the quest ends with the protagonist FORGETTING THAT THE CONVERSATION EVER HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

As I think I mentioned before, the cardinal problem of genshin impact's writing is that fans want answers faster than the writers are prepared to give them. I don't doubt that there's a game bible or relevant equivalent somewhere within hyv which contains the explanations we are currently lacking in regards to the A-plot. the game is consistent enough in its storytelling for me to believe that this isn't all just being made up as we go along. But I'm also certain that a lot of the late-game A and B-plot that is planned (especially if the Khaenri'ah is truly planned to be the 8th nation of the game) hinges on the player knowing very little about the A-plot. this would be fine if genshin was a standard single-release video game that players could work through at their own pace, but it isn't. it's unfinished, and each nation in the game releases months to years after the last, leaving the writers to scramble to fill in the gameplay gaps and players struggling to remember plot-relevant information when it's brought up literal years after they last heard it mentioned. Not only does the time between updates leave players frustrated about the lack of A-plot, it makes the A-plot harder to understand when it is brought up, because the writers are required to throw in so much dense C and D-plot just to keep engagement high enough to make the game profitable in its downtime. we joke about the insane convolution of genshin's lore, but that is first and foremost a byproduct of its financial model. the game requires engaement to be profitable, and adding lore for players to look into drives up engagement. The fact that having so much story with so little plot relevance muddies the waters and makes the A and B-plot stories considerably harder to understand doesn't matter as long as money is being made.

I want to take a quick detour here to talk about the release of sumeru specifically, because this is when I really began to clock the fact that genshin was declining. on paper, racial sensitivity issues aside (Not that they're not important, but i'm doing this deep dive from a storytelling and game design point of view, nothing else. that's a whole can of worms i don't have time to get into here) sumeru was a really promising addition to the game. The new B-plot quest which was set to drop in 3.0 was highly anticipated for several reasons. Two fan-favorite characters (kaeya and scaramouche) were expected to play major roles, because of earlier C and B-plot quests, and much of the nation's scenery that was teased in trailers and promotional content appeared to tie into the A-plot. the most exciting draw about sumeru and version 3.0, though, was the major update to the combat system.

Arguably genshin impact's most interesting feature upon release was its combat system. The map was basically a botw clone at that point, and the story quests, while decently engaging, were rough around the edges to say the least. What genshin DID have going for it was a unique real-time combat system that rewarded strategy and quick thinking.

Genshin's combat system is elemental, and on release there were 6 elemental affiliations: anemo (wind), cryo (ice), pyro (fire), hydro (water), geo (rock), and electro (electricity.) in a sort of pokemon-like system, certain elements were weak to other ones, but more importantly, certain combinations of elements could drastically boost combat stats. Players got to construct four-slot teams of characters, each with an elemental affiliation and certain "skills" which would match their element, and you were encouraged to use the interactions of these elements to build teams. very quickly, a huge community formed dedicated to optimizing teams and tiering characters. People would even make a game out of building teams specifically to do high-level damage with "bad" characters or characters who weren't designed to be damage drivers (my 100k jean burst was an incredible moment fr.) this was, of course, also a picture-perfect driver for the gacha aspect of the game, which was how players obtained new characters.

Pre-3.0, combat was... well i won't say it was balanced, but there was no elemental reaction that had any MAJOR advantage over the others. when you actually ran the numbers, i believe vaporize was the best reaction in terms of damage output, with the best team being raiden national with kazuha for EM buffs. but a well-built freeze or melt team could do similar numbers, or even better numbers depending on your artifact rolls. (ayaka permafreeze you will always be my #1.) Despite a steady stream of new characters with each update, characters from the earliest version of the game like xingqiu and xiangling were still topping the charts in terms of usefulness and versatility in teambuilding. However, as early as 1.0, players had been teased that a major update to the combat system was planned. There was a seventh element, dendro (plants) which pre-3.0 only existed as an elemental affiliation for menial enemies. there were no playable dendro characters, and the only elemental reaction that existed relating to it was very low-level and not particularly useful in combat.

Originally, dendro was projected to be added to the combat system somewhere in version 2, but its release was delayed substantially, meaning it came out along with its affiliated nation, sumeru. And as soon as it came out, it basically broke the combat system. I assume that the scaling they ended up going with may have been out of fear that players would be hesitant to integrate a new element into their pre-established team builds, and thus they may have been worried about sales on their dendro character banners, and i assume that the fact that 3 elements are required to get the highest-level reaction was an attempt to make the meta more balanced in the face of that scaling, but, well... it didn't work. At this point, the genshin impact combat meta is basically "if you're not using hyperbloom what the fuck are you doing." there's basically no reaction in the game that comes close to it in terms of both damage and ease of use. you are not going to beat a hyperbloom team with anything other than a better-built hyperbloom team. combat is now very heavily skewed in the direction of dendro, meaning that if you DON'T want to use a dendro team, you're going to be doing significantly lower numbers. And since enemies are added with each update, post-3.0 combat becomes difficult and annoying if you don't have a hyperbloom team on-hand.

The major gripe i have with dendro isn't even the scaling, though. I mentioned offhand earlier that the 1.0 B-plot questline had a section which taught you the basics of the combat system via mini-dungeons. These mini-dungeons, of course, taught you the version of the system that existed pre-3.0, so there's no tutorial for dendro reactions. Rather than integrating the tutorial into the story and world like they did in their early quests, upon playing 3.0 for the first time players were given a popup that explained, very wordily, how dendro reactions worked. there was no opportunity to test these reactions in an environment without consequences--if you wanted to try them you'd have to remember the relevant information, build yourself a team, find an enemy to try them on, and just hope you got it right. This lack of integration is something i began to notice more and more with genshin as it progressed, especially in sumeru. where in mondstadt and liyue open-world puzzles would be explained to you by an npc or via environmental context clues, in sumeru you'd be stopped while exploring every two seconds by a popup explaining some puzzle or another which, of course, you wouldn't read, because you didn't want to do the puzzle right that minute anyway, and then by the time you DID want to do that puzzle you'd have no in-game way of figuring out how to do it. The puzzle popups may seem like a small thing, but it's one of the clearest examples in the game to me of the fact that the player experience is so clearly not being prioritized here. the game doesn't even TRY to be immersive anymore. they have no qualms about pulling you out of the story to read a paragraph about how the puzzle works. they don't care how your character, in-universe, is supposed to have acquired that information. they don't care why your character, in-universe, is doing the puzzle in the first place. because they know the reason YOU are doing the puzzle, which is to unlock a hidden chest that gives you 1/80th of a gacha pull.

That was not "a quick detour" was it lmfao. ok anyways. back to the story. Now i want to talk about D-plot, meaning limited event stories, and lore as i defined it earlier, meaning contextual details not present in quests or playable story. This is where i think genshin's story becomes completely inaccessible.

Already, we've covered the fact that in order to consume the very basic story, players have to be willing to wait years between A and B-plot quest releases, punctuated by irrelevant map expansions and interlude quests. I mentioned before that genshin's incompleteness is one of the major problems of its story. the fact that players have to wait years, remembering plot-relevant information that they have no way of knowing will even BE plot-relevant, for the payoff of these narratives is frustrating at best and actively malicious at worst. But in theory, there should be an obvious way to circumvent this. One could just wait until the game IS completely finished to play the whole thing. Sort of like buying a game in early access but waiting until it's actually finished to play it all the way through. that's theoretically possible. but, as i have been hammering home this whole time, genshin is a free game, and therefore genshin relies entirely on a consistently engaging fanbase in order to remain profitable. if genshin does not have a base of players who are willing to log in every day, or at the very least once every update, the game's financial model collapses on itself. therefore, genshin puts on limited-time events. this is a standard in gacha games, as a way to keep the fans consistently engaging. What is not standard, however, is the way that genshin uses these events as vessels for its story. about 19 out of 20 limited events in genshin impact will be useless menial bullshit with no effect on the story or really even the player aside from maybe making you fucking angry. 1 out of those 20, though, will be innocuously named, with nothing in the banner or event description to indicate that it's special in any way, but it will contain serious A or B-plot relevant information that exists nowhere else in the game. My personal favorite example is the infamous 1.3 scaramouche appearance, in which he showed up, told the protagonist that the sky was fake, and then immediately fucked off again. Scaramouche did not show up again until at least 2.0, and the fake sky wasn't so much as MENTIONED again until 3.2, almost TWO YEARS LATER. but there are others, such as the (almost equally infamous) albedo doppelganger event in which a major character's loyalties are called into question, or the event where major biographical information is revealed about kaeya, the only playable character with major known connections to the A-plot and Khaenri'ah. With all of these events, once the event period ends, the information contained within them vanishes from the game completely. there's no way to replay old events that you've missed, even sans rewards, so if you miss a plot-relevant event the ONLY way to catch up on that story is through word of mouth. again, this is a transparent way to keep genshin's userbase engaged during downtime between B-plot quests; if you don't log in and play every event, how will you know if you've missed something important? You might not be able to fully understand the future story if you miss out on the D-plot now!

The D-plot problem is something that I think could, in theory, be circumvented by dedicated record-keeping. if the wiki had anything resembling an easily accessible event database that marked story-relevant events and contained summaries or gameplay videos, at the very least you wouldn't have to fear being completely lost on the off chance that a random throwaway line in an event from fucking 1.3 becomes plot-relevant. but hyv obviously doesn't want that, because it undermines their financial model, and the sheer number of events and the amount of rerunning of irrelevant events they do makes the task of recording and categorizing them all daunting if not impossible.

Then, of course, there's lore. this is arguably what genshin is infamous for in certain circles of the internet. You know that unraveled video where bdg reads every book in skyrim? if you tried to do that with genshin the video would probably be about 10 hours long. and it's not just books; genshin hides (potentially) plot-relevant information in weapon and artifact descriptions, in random hidden world quests, in character bios... the list goes on. and 9 times out of 10, the information is essentially written in code. Plot-relevant characters will have multiple names, or the relevant information will refer to them as vaguely as possible, presumably to further the "mystery" and encourage theorizing among fans. but the sheer amount of information like this that exists within the game makes it all but impossible to determine what is plot-relevant and what isn't. For a topical example, the most recent A-plot quest bedtime story mentions the name Rhinedottir in connection with events in Khaenri'ah, suddenly making that name A-plot relevant. Rhinedottir is an alternate name for the character Gold, whose existence you would only have known of before this point if you'd unlocked and read the character Albedo's character bios. (Albedo is a limited-run character who hasn't been available since november 2022, btw.) the only other information about Rhinedottir permanently available in the game comes from the description of the weapon Festering Desire, which was only obtainable from a limited event back in 2020, anyway. So basically, if you wanted ANY context for that remark, you'd have to have been playing the game since AT LEAST 2022, AND you'd have to have taken the time to go over your weapon and character descriptions with a fine-toothed comb. keep in mind that as of right now (june 2024) there are 85 playable characters in this game, each with 10 unique unlockable character bio sections, and over 150 weapons, each with their own unique descriptions, not to mention over 50 artifact sets, each with 5 unique artifacts, which all have their own unique descriptions as well. there are also 51 different collections of books which contain written lore as well. the idea that any player could keep up with all this, or that anyone could even sift through it all to pick out the important things that they NEED to keep up with, is insane, especially when the game makes a point of withholding crucial plot information from its players within the A and B-plot quests. this amount of written lore only exists, again, to drive up engagement in the hopes of subsequently driving up profit. Even if the average player isn't reading and absorbing all this information, the fact that it's there coupled with the fact that the writers consistently refuse to reveal anything beyond surface-level A-plot information means that there's basically ENDLESS theory fodder. and THAT means that people will be posting their theories and talking with each other and getting into arguments. it means "genshin impact" trends on twitter. it means engagement, and engagement means money.

basically what it comes back to is that everything is so transparently money over player experience with this game. I think what we're witnessing with genshin is what i would call an end-stage gacha game--a gacha game that's gone on a little too long and gotten a little too popular, and so the veil has started to slip a little more than usual. Gachas work primarily because they operate by toeing the line between what is fun to play and what is a predatory mechanic. As long as the actual gameplay remains engaging and rewarding, players can ignore the unsavory business practices underneath. At this point, genshin has swerved too hard into the money-hungriness and is still hoping that they can use their old tried-and-true engagement farming methods to remain popular regardless. currently, it seems like those methods are still working, unfortunately. Like I said in the post that prompted this, i really can't wait for the hyv writer NDAs to expire 10 or so years down the line, because I can only imagine what an insane shitshow writing for this game must be. I want to see the tell-all articles. I want carnage.

That being said, I played genshin impact religiously from 2020 to 2023. I loved the game. Despite myself, I am still really, REALLY interested in the A-plot. I want to know what's going on with the protagonist and their sibling; where they came from, what happened to them, what the heavenly principles are, what role celestia plays in all of this. I want to know Kaeya's full backstory, what role Khaenri'ah plays in the overarching story, and what happened to it in the past. but I don't really have any faith that I ever will, because I know that as long as keeping their fans in the dark and stringing them along remains profitable, that's what hyv will continue to do.

Do I think genshin impact is unsalvagable? in its current state, yes. If I was given the ability to turn back time and convince a bunch of executives of the profitability of this venture, I would change almost nothing about the story of genshin and completely rework the mechanics of its release. I would make it a series of single-release self-contained games rather than a constantly-updating gacha. Each game would be one B-plot quest, or one nation, eight games in all, preferably released once every year. Removing the gacha mechanic, players would be given access to a certain pool of characters to build teams at the start of each game, and then periodically unlock new characters as the story progressed. for example, if you were playing the inazuma game, you'd start out with only your protag, and after progressing to a certain point in the story you'd get a pool of inazuma 4-stars to teambuild with freely. Then, as the story progressed and you met plot-relevant inazuman 5-stars you'd add them to your pool. I'd change basically nothing about the combat system except for a properly integrated introduction of dendro when it makes its appearance in sumeru. Once you completed the story in that nation, you could move onto the next game in the series if it was out, or if it wasn't, you could continue to explore the open world while waiting for the next release. Would this be as profitable as the gacha model? probably not, but what it WOULD do is allow for much more consistent pacing and writing, with the added bonus of not making your userbase feel like you'd shoot them in the head for their pocket change.

[starboyshoyo]

RAAAH 6TH TIME TRYING TO SEND THIS 😡😡😡 i hope this works

so i wanted to metaphorically cash in this request you said i could make, and i thought i’d do that as a reward for me getting into color guard!!

can i request the twst boys (surprise me on the characters) with a s/o who dresses in the dark academia aesthetic, listens to classical music all the time, and reads classic literature a lot? (totally not how i wanna be LMAO) thank you so much <33

https://www.tumblr.com/starboyshoyo/712163095699750912/permission-to-just-reblog-all-your-works-cause

A/N: @lacuna-at-dawn hello!! I have finished my AP exams and now have time to write. I didn’t get the other five rqs so it’s good you sent it in again hhhh. Dark Academia is my best friend’s favorite aesthetic so I know a little about it! If I get some things wrong lmk! I listened to the Enkanomiya soundtrack from Genshin Impact while writing this. 

Pairings: Malleus Draconia x reader, Cater Diamond x reader

Fandom: Twisted Wonderland

Genre: general, romance

Malleus and Cater with a Dark Academia-esque s/o!

Malleus Draconia

Oh, dear Child of Man. You were made for him, weren’t you? 

While Malleus knows better than to judge on appearances, he just knows you would fit right into the beautiful, thorny landscape of his home in Briar Valley. You may not be feared by others like he is, but he can’t help but think you might understand what a life in the shadows means. It’s not all dreariness- it can be beautiful too. 

Your fashion sense is apparent to him on days when you’re not confined to your school uniform. It’s not all-black like his; instead, you opt for a mix of muted colors like wine reds, browns, and forest greens. It’s like you’re a lighter version of him- you are the shade to his shadows, the slumber to his death. 

When he accompanies you around the school, he’ll always be one step behind you. It makes him feel as if he is your protector- though it is a bit funny to see Sebek and Silver trail behind Malleus, who trails behind you. Occasionally, Rook will join in (read: stalk them) as well, and then other students will wonder if someone had started a conga line in the hallways. 

Malleus’s view of time is a little bit skewed in comparison to humans, so when he sees you reading classical literature, he might question if it’s a new release because he swears he met the author of the book just last week- nevermind, it was last century. Well, either way, he’ll go out of his way to finally get around to reading it, just so he can discuss it with you. Sebek is a big help in this regard as well- he’ll be more than happy to tutor Malleus in English so he can have more in-depth conversations about literature. 

Classical literature also gives Malleus another way to spend time with you alone. During quiet hours in the NRC library, he’ll pull up two seats by the fireplace and invite you to sit with him, curling his arms around you protectively. You’ll take turns reading out loud to each other- and when you get tired, he’ll continue in that deep, relaxing voice of his until you drift off to sleep. Then, he’ll carry you back to his room in the Diasomnia Dorm, watching over you and keeping you safe until you wake again. 

Besides library dates, Malleus’ most memorable time with you came when he asked you to show him your favorite songs. The music is somewhat melancholy and romantic, and he’ll close his eyes for a moment as he picks apart the notes. It’ll remind him of the slower songs played in the Briar Valley castle at mealtimes- only this time, he isn’t alone.

When he realizes this, he’ll stand up, striding over to you, and hold his hand out while looking at you with the love of the world in his eyes. 

Child of Man, may I have this dance? 

Cater Diamond

Cater is an expert on all things aesthetic. He’s a Magicam influencer, after all, and he needs to keep up on the times! You’ll immediately become a star, with Cater setting up a couples’ page where the two of you post various Dark Academia songs, art, photos, and other media. 

Cater is used to dressing in whatever is trendy, but the more time he spends with you the more he’ll be converted to your fashion tastes. You’d better be ready to see Cay-Cay in turtlenecks, slacks, sweaters and the occasional pleated skirt! He’s not afraid to try everything at least once to find what he likes. 

The two of you will have many dates where you’ll go to swap meets to find academia-esque clothing. He’s open to letting you dig around in his closet to find pieces you like as well. Cater will want you to pose in the mirror with your outfits, so he can snap a photo and post it to your page. The rest of Heartslabyul might be a little surprised with Cater’s change in looks, but they’ll definitely support him when they see how happy you make him. 

TBH, Cater isn’t really into reading much. Books are so old school to him! The fact that they have no screen bores him. The middle-ground you find is digital books. When you introduce him to it, he might be doubtful at first. But he’ll quickly find himself absorbed in the stories as old as time and soon enough, he’ll fall headfirst into the classical literature rabbit hole. Don’t expect him to go to the library though! Just looking at the outdated computers makes him want to retch. 

On the flip side, your boyfriend has always enjoyed classical music very much. Sure, he likes pop and country and rock too, but there’s something super calming and refined to the classics. He enjoys sharing earbuds with you while you walk down the hallways, listening to a mixed playlist of your favorites. 

Over time, Cater will find that he enjoys the calming darkness of your aesthetic over the cutesy, bright one that used to cover his Magicam page. It makes him feel a little more seen- like he can be vulnerable under it all and not have to keep up with appearances as much. 

[hellobitchlet]

Honestly, I feel like Fontaine has been really bad. Even by Genshin's nonexistent standards.

Outside of Furina's backstory, the writing is a step down from Sumeru instead of a step up, with 90% of the first 4 acts being filler and the handling of the terrible government being even worse than previous nations (bc the horrifying justice system would look bad on Furina, Focalors, Neuvillette, Clorinde, Chevreuse, Sigewinne, and Wriothesly if we admitted that it was bad). It's so bad that it falls apart if you know anything about human rights, slavery in prisons, capitalism, police corruption, or even the basic rules of detective fiction, when it comes to the first 2 acts.

And on top of that, everything about the oceanids were completely retconned and ignored...even though some of that retconned lore was given to us an update before Fontaine was released. Instead, oceanid lore was completely changed, used to make Neuvillette look cool, and then forgotten about after the main act except for like...1 world questline. That has nothing to do with playable characters. Even though it's super important to the story. Aka the npc problem also continues.

The underwater areas are cool, but the whole nation is about as empty and boring as the desert. There are a few highlights, but that's it. And not only is it significantly smaller than Sumeru for no reason, but it was shafted just to make ANOTHER addition to Liyue's map, which is bigger than Dragonspine, Chasm's Maw, and Stormterrors Lair combined. And it also doesn't utilize most of the giant space it has. We got our first separate, underground map since Inazuma, but it's even smaller than Enkanomiya, there's nothing interesting that I've found so far, and the map is hard to look at because of the way they make maps now.

Speaking of, they seriously thought that adding mini underground maps to the normal map was enough compensation for them making hard to navigate caves to let them get away with continuing to do that?? Why not just stop making them?? Is this not one of the reasons why your normal map looks so boring??

While Cyno suddenly got a 2nd story quest (which should've been his only one with how useless the 1st one was, but whatever), for the first time since the beta(?), the archon character didn't get 2 story quests. They could've chosen to give neither Furina or Neuvi a 2nd quest, give one of then a 2nd quest, or give both of them a 2nd quest. They went with the laziest option.

Instead, our 2nd weekly boss was Arlecchino in her own quest. This was honestly the first time I felt disappointed with a weekly boss. It had nothing that special about it gameplay-wise, and Arlecchino's boss form looks weird. It's just the barebones first part and the cool boss form last part. No big, unique mechanics that change how you fight it, no in between stage, no switching back and forth between the stages. Nothing.

Just like Inazuma, Fontaine wasn't allowed it's own Traveler quest. Instead, Bedtime Story was a continuation of Caribert that could've been released during Sumeru, as well as a lore dump and empty reassurance that the next Traveler quest will finally, actually start an actual Abyss Order + Dain plot. Not right now though. And the ending is literally a MLB identity reveal fakeout episode.

To make the obvious laziness even worse, this is the first time since interludes were introduced that we haven't gotten a yearly Interlude. That's ONE single act quest! There's no reason why you couldn't have made one! Fontaine has NO other storylines for the playable characters besides the main quest, despite all the npc storylines!

Additionally, while this is the first time we've gotten 5 skins per year instead of 4, it's also the first time we've been given a skin without it being used in an event. Which is...weird. And that's without mentioning how bad Ganyu, Shenhe, and Nilou's skins are imo.

I swear, the only good thing that has happened is that Mondstadt has been further solidified as The Witch Nation. And again, the underwater stuff is cool.

[justlookatthosesausages]

Genuinely curious about Hoyo's strategy on the Genshin anime release. My theory had always been that they release it right after Snezhnaya, either after the archon quest or at version 6.8. I easily imagine them giving us something to eat before the "surprise, the next patch is Khaenri'ah, Enkanomiya-style", as well as bring it new players who will discover or hear more about Genshin through the anime. Before the game actually ends.

Because there are lots of people online stating that Hoyo will likely release the anime once Genshin is completely over, and I'm like???? Dude this is a gacha game. And Hoyo, especially with Genshin, is clenching to its games for money. Why would they miss such an opportunity to make money by growing their playerbase? Why would they wait for their game to end to release the anime??? To build hype in new players, only for them to learn that the game will not be updated anymore?

What do you guys think?

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

What is Paimon? | Continuation

A continuation of my Paimon post which I turned into a Paimon video that was a bit more fleshed out.

Post:

[HERE]

Video:

So, as a continuation of this entire idea, I wanted to address Paimon's design.

New lore bits have made this theory all the more possible, as well as added details that could make her character make more sense.

After some digging, I managed to finally find where the Traveler fished Paimon out of the sea. It's Guyun Stone Forest, amidst that quadruple Ruin Guard death trap. Anyway, the only difference is the stone the Traveler was sitting on is gone if you go there now.

I had a feeling this was around the location because if it indeed was, that would make the surrounding landscape an interesting choice. And there is no way for me to believe MHY wouldn't do things deliberately considering all the sprinkles of lore they put in from the game's release(Thunderbird lore being in 1.0, anyone?).

This happens to be amidst some interesting ruins...

Allow me to remind everyone of the Ancient Ruins that seem to exist in every nation so far. The same found in Dragonspine, which means they're older than Khaenri'ah, but younger than the Ancient One-World Civilization Enkanomiya was a part of. We can find these ruins everywhere and I even went to the trouble of locating each individual example I could find personally, in a playlist on YouTube.

These locations include the Golden Apple Archepelago(the Harr Islands - that used to be part of Mondstadt before Venti chopped the mountain up and sent the remains flying into the ocean), beneath Tsurumi Island in Inazuma which was hit with a Divine Nail and has an Irminsul Branch growing nearby, Dragonspine(Sal Vindagnyr prior to Durin's 'death'), which was hit with a Divine Nail and has an Irminsul Branch growing nearby, all over Liyue, and even Sumeru where only one location with these ruins are considered Khaenri'ahn by Sumeru scholars, but none of the others are...

Now, being in Guyun Stone Forest, right beside the remains of this ancient civilization's remains, is a fascinating place for Paimon to be discovered. If the shade of the stone wasn't obvious enough, nor the shape of the pillars, I went to great lengths to prove that each video in that playlist contained parts of the same ruins in different nations, by having their one defining design there.

A triquetra.

On each archway is a triquetra. A 'triangular figure composed of three interlaced arcs, or (equivalently) three overlapping vesicae piscis lens shapes.'

A triquetra is often considered to represent Life, Death, and Rebirth in various cultures. OR the Mind, Body, and Spirit OR Earth, Sea, and Sky OR Past, Present, and Future etc... A lot of these beliefs overlap in many religions all around the world. But it's just so interesting that the mark on Paimon's stomach is the same kind of mark on all these ruins around the world.

However, an upside triquetra is supposed to be taken in the exact opposite of the original order. It can mean Rebellion against Traditional Beliefs to Christians. Transformation & Change to certain 'Pagan' beliefs. In Alchemy is represents the Union of Opposites. It could also be a Balance between the Physical and Spiritual.

The triquetra is found on things like: Mora, Domain Entrances, Welkin Moon, Genesis Crystals, Shop Bundles, the Locked Spiral Abyss Entrance, and the World Quest symbol.

This special triquetra on the remains of these ruins, is upside down like Paimon's. However, other places that contain this same architecture of the ancient civilization, are boss arenas. Many Hypostases and other World Bosses share the same surrounding pillars and artwork. Except they seem to have a Solomon's Knot at the center of each trial ground. And that shape is not only present at the top of domain entrances but is also found on some of those ancient civilization's archways. Specially, those found on Tsurumi Island and Dragonspine, which are places we know had people who lived there before the Divine Nails fell and destroyed the Ley Lines and the environment.

MHY loves their 3s, huh? And their 4s.

As of 4.2's lore, we have learned that the Narzissenkreuz Ordo hypothesized that the world lives through samsara cycles. This mirrors something Nahida said back in 3.0's Archon Quest Act 2. She suggested that the whole world could be a lie and that everything is just one massive Sabzeruz Festival we're all repeating without knowing(this happened when asking if the Traveler is sure Tomorrow will come, or if Today will be followed by Yesterday).

It has been suggested that there have been 3 samsaras. Hyperborea, Natlantean, and Rumeria. And that the player is experiencing the 4th Samsara of the World, Khraun-Arya. The player, the Traveler, is the 4th Descender, and it has been confirmed that the 3rd Descender is dead, and their remains have been separated into the Gnoses.

Hyperborea is described in the Weapon: Ballad of the Fjords

Natlantean might be described in the Weapon: Talking Stick

Reading these notes didn't feel like mere assumptions to me, because I remember a certain artifact set that's been in the game forever. One that only has Circlets and can never go above 4*.

Yes! The Prayers Set!

Prayers to Springtime: Tiara of Frost

They say that, The line of chief priests have always seen this same sight as their days draw to an end: A mountain of crowns in a secret place, beneath a withered tree— —each one hiding a lifetime of secrets kept. Each retiring chief priest offers up their crown of flawless white branches to this world. Every mighty and ancient city, and every austere place of sacrifice must one day return to profundity in the earth. All prosperity must someday end. But this does not mean that nothing is eternal. At the end of a cycle, the earth shall be renewed. Thus eternity is cyclical. The search for truth is a product of prosperity, and not the seed that plants it. They say that, Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelations from Celestia directly. The envoys of the gods walked among benighted humanity then. In those days, life was weak, and the earth was blanketed in unending ice.

Prayers for Illumination: Tiara of Flame

They say that, Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelations from the heavens directly. The envoys of the gods walked among benighted humanity then. The eternal ice had just begun to thaw, and the first fires were still new. It was a time of great prosperity, when all was left in the hands of such heavenly revelations. The envoys of heaven said that the world would soon enter a new and brighter age. This was predestined, that future immutable. But would a day come when such wonderful times might come to an end? To this question the envoys gave no answer. so, the people chose from among them a chief priest, And adorning his head with a crown of white branches, they sent him out into the deep places of the world, To antediluvian ruins and long-buried altars of sacrifice, to seek answers and enlightenment…

Prayers for Destiny: Tiara of Torrents

They say that, Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelations from the heavens directly. Then, the envoys of the gods would walk among benighted humanity, and the ancient flames were extinguished amidst the first falling rains. It was a prosperous time, a period of bountiful harvest. Then the earth was blessed and ruled by heaven, and the elemental flows were smooth and well-ordered. A hundred years of bounty were written in the stars, and none could change this divine law. But what of the time after, a hundred, a thousand years from now? Would they have famine where they had plenty, poverty where once were riches? Would their altars and palaces become one with the soil, with only that silver-white tree for company? The heavenly envoys, who ever spoke what they knew, were silent. So to understand this doom, The chief priest, head crowned with white branches, would delve into the deep places of the world…

Prayers for Wisdom: Tiara of Thunder

They say that, Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelations from the heavens directly. Then, the envoys of the gods would walk among benighted humanity, and the waters ran dry as thunder first pierced the skies. People enjoyed untold wisdom, and that wisdom was their boon. Their prosperity brought pride and ambition, and the mind to question. So they questioned the heavens' authority, and schemed to enter the garden of gods. And though they had promised to the people divine love, prosperity and wisdom, the envoys of heaven were angry. For to question eternity was forbidden, For earth to challenge sky, inexpiable. So the chief priest who wore the white-branched crown went forth to appease the divine envoys, And into the deep places he went, seeking the hidden wisdom of the silver tree in the ancient capitol…

It should be noted that these Circlets are only dropped by their respective elemental Hypostases and Regisvines, Abyss Bosses, Khaenri'ahn-made Bosses, Elemental Manifestations, and Vishap Bosses.

The Circlets are also made from the branches of Irminsul.

In order, these describe the 4 Samsara Cycles of the world. Khaenri'ah being the present one, full of humans who rose up against the gods and dared to think of themselves as better for managing just fine without the help of any gods.

3s and 4s play a big role in Genshin.

Domains bearing both triquetras as well as Solomon's Knots is insane to think about. Solomon's Knot can mean Immortality, Lovers, Faith, Beauty, and Eternity depending on the culture you choose to draw inspiration from.

Emphasis on the No. 4 is made in other places too.

On Tsurumi Island, the Traveler meets a ghost NPC named Ruu, who was a sacrifice in a ritual to try and appease what his village believed to be a bird god. In truth, the Thunderbird in question didn't care about the humans or their feelings, and only acted out when Ruu, the little boy she befriended, was sacrificed in her name because the chief and elders assumed her speaking to him meant she wanted him as an offering. The Thunderbird destroys the island and curses them to relive their day of destruction for all time until Ruu is able to fulfil a promise to sing to her.

Ruu enlists the Traveler's help, unaware of the truth behind why everything keeps going wrong no matter how many times he's sacrificed.

It takes the Traveler 4 tries to get it right. 3 attempts fail to help Ruu with his quest, and the 4th was finally the success. Ruu even said he believes in The Rule of Four. "...you need to do things thrice in order to get a result. For example, they say that 'good omens must occur three times for good fortune to truly descend'… Same for bad omens. They also say that 'you must forge past obstacles three times to succeed on the fourth'."

So, if this is the 4th Samsara, and the Traveler is the 4th Descender who supposedly has a Will to Change the World, then is it possible that Paimon could be a Tulpa fashioned from the knowledge left behind by the former Samsara?

That perhaps, Paimon is a remnant of a failed attempt at breaking the Samsara and was sent to the Traveler when they got desperate for help, to start them on the path to uncovering the 'truth of this world' and help them find the right answers and make the right decisions. That could be why she appeared out of nowhere in Guyun Ston Forest, right beside the remains of a civilization she shares symbolism with.

Anyway, this is still just a theory. I could be blowing smoke out of my ass, but it was fun to make this.

[yokelish]

Reading up on Genhsin burn out is the most profound parasocial relationship I am having right now.

Like yes king, Chasm was peak event and lore, lately, when it comes to regions. Enkanomiya is close second.

Yes, point 3 had the most confusing character and kit releases.

Yes, Nahida is the only one (outside of Dain) who have us anything valuable on our sibling, which only took 3 years.

The desert was torturous. The goddamn festival period in Genshin is... Well, I don't know what it is. I get it summer events. But oh my god you don't have to be like this: 30 hours of dialogue, 2-3 hours of mini games, 6 hours of exploration.

The fucking aranaras search was the single stupidest thing Genshin came up with.

The fact that the entire Abyss since point 3 solely fucking relied on your Aggravate/Spread the reaction and occasional Bloom. You don't have that many constant-electro-apllication characters available, Gesnhin.

The rewards feel diminishing. You are AR60? Fucking die then. That's it. That's the end. You are the greatest adventurer of them all, fuck off now.

Gesnhin needs a fucking universal Stella fortuna for their 4 stars. It's fucking infuriating how we get these new characters who, let's be honest, most fiction best with higher Cs. But if you don't get those C's on a banner, get FUCKED. Gesnhin shop steal fucking features only Mondstadt-Liyue support characters after 3 years. Why can't you fucking add more? They are not cheap anyway.

[genshinmp3]

Fleeting Colors in Flight from Footprints of the Traveler Yu-Peng Chen, Dimeng Yuan, Yijun Jiang, Xin Zhao, HOYO-MiX

[latimeria-fell-from-heaven]

so i came across some fanart of the abyss herald and electro abyss lector but in human/ half-human half lector/herald form and ajksxhscauh help pls, it's making me thirst over them even more even tho i beat the crap outta the abyss heralds and lectors in enkanomiya any chance i get lmao,,,

like could you just imagine either an abyss herald or abyss lector catching feelings for reader, similar to my enjou fics, where you're their precious little wife, and they don't exactly take too kindly to any of their fellow exegetes eyeing you down for too long. you're just so so pretty and small when compared to them, and you take them so well; their own little piece of paradise♡

nsfw below!

like the abyss herald would def fuck you stupid all the time, keeping you stuffed full with his dripping cum and huge cock, pounding in your tight cunt from behind. and he leaves little room for resistance, gripping your elbows tightly while you moan and sob from overstimulation. and he knows you love it; you love having your pretty little cunt abused and fucked like this, so it's not like he'll be stopping anytime soon. unless you say otherwise, and he'll put a hold on your session and let you rest in his arms while he internally panics bc he doesn't know how to process these soft feelings you make him feel.

he always makes you look him in the eyes when you're about to cum, ocean blue eyes lighting up at the way you fall apart from pleasure. seeing his precious little wife clinging onto him and desperately grinding back against his huge monster cock just has him so hard it hurts. he always cums inside, keeping you all plugged up with his fat cock, and will scoop back any creamy rivulets that escape your pretty cunny. and he can't help but admire the way your neck and body are covered with his bruises and hickies and how pretty you look like this.

and dear lord if you tug on his long and darkened blue locks, he just goes absolutely feral. he ends up folding your body in half and fucks you into whatever surface he was already pounding you into. he doesn't stop roughly kissing you, breath ragged and harsh as he pushes you through orgasm to orgasm, using your warbled moans as fuel. and he just cums so much, your womb is stuffed with load after loads of his cum to the point where you can't even fit anymore inside.

--

on the contrary, the abyss lector looks like he'd either be a tease, or the type to withhold his pleasure just to watch you crumble and gush around him. even when he's sheathed his monster cock inside your creamy cunt, he's so deliberately slow with his thrusts, just barely rubbing up against your g-spot and barely grazing your puckered cervix. and he just loves the way you sob and beg for him to speed up, only to reel back when he pounds into your heavenly pussy like it was made for him.

it's a habit of his to finger you open, even if he's throbbing so much and so badly wants to slide himself into your drooling pussy. but that can waitーhe'll scissor open your plush walls while sending electric shocks into you. he knows you love it, since you keep on drooling all over yourself and squirting all over his calloused fingers. but no matter how much you beg, he'll keep fucking you with his fingers, purple sparks flying and mixing with your gushing release.

just like the abyss herald, he loves cumming inside, breeding you, and stuffing your pussy full of his thick cum. but can you blame him? you just feel so good around him, wet walls squeezing down tightly around him and lewdly gobbling up his monster cock, squeezing and milking him with all they have to offer. so when he knots you, he makes sure to angle himself just right to have his cum pour into your womb. and you react so perfectly, eagerly grinding back against him and kissing him with all you have to offer.

either way, you're his precious little wife, and he'll give you everything he has to offer. even if it means fucking you dumb and breeding your little pussy till your belly swells up. he can't have his adorable wife unsatisfied now, can he?

[cosmosmarius]

tot boys + rosa as genshin impact players

artem wing

zhongli/yanfei main because of course. how could he not be a zhongli/yanfei main

has insane luck in every single aspect of the game

no literally

he's only lost one 50/50 ever since he started playing (and he's gotten a lot of 5* since then)

plus his artifacts?? how tf does one get such good substats??? this is proof genshin impact has favourites

because of this luck he's never spent anything on the game (yet)

is playing for the storyline

lore enthuasiast

luke pearce

kazuha or bennett main

he loves bennett with all his heart

does his hangout event again every so often because BENNETT <33

really wants gorou in his party but somehow he always gets literally any 4* other than gorou (i'm definitely not projecting here :D)

light spender (he really wanted kazuha and he's bad at saving, okay?)

the twins make him cry WHY DON'T THEY JUST REUNITE ALREADY??

loves genshin because of how beautiful he thinks it all is

literally obsessed with genshin and stayed awake all night to explore the chasm when it released

marius von hagen

childe main because they're both easygoing, tall, rich men /hj

doesn't do his commissions because who needs comms when you're a millionaire?

whale.

w h a l e .

would gladly whale to c6 every single character in the game if rosa didn't stop him (everyone say thank you rosa)

diluc disliker 😞

kaeya liker, he also thinks scaramouche's pretty cool because in his opinion he's the taller version of him rip scara

plays genshin from time to time, not really obsessed with it unlike a certain ginger but just plays it casually

vyn richter

(future) baizhu main this is gonna look so bad if baizhu never becomes playable ahaha.,

he likes baizhu's personality and thinks changsheng's nice

also has insane gacha luck

and also is very deep into genshin's lore

comes up with amazing, well-researched theories that make so much sense

he doesn't spend, instead he just saves and only pulls for characters he really likes, aka baizhu and yelan

man has great self-control (unlike me </3)

enkanomiya is his favourite area currently because of the L O R E

either plays genshin for hours or forgets about it for weeks, there is no in-between

rosa

mains traveler (lumine because she's pretty <3)

basically a lumine kinnie because of...obvious reasons :D

in love with dainsleif and kaeya also because of...obvious reasons :D (cough the eyes cough)

good saver, never had to spend because she also has great self-control

has decent artifact luck

paimon is her best friend and she loves her

“dainsleif playable when”

will never forget to do her comms, she's staying loyal for dain

casual player

[bewby]

MY CHASM PROGRESS IS 57%😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭.......

HOW FUCKING BIG IS SUMERU BRO.

[genshin-impact-updates]

The Inazuma Diaries: Enkanomiya Vol. 1 — New Mechanisms

In Version 2.4, Enkanomiya on Watatsumi Island, Inazuma will become available. This mysterious area under Sangonomiya must have piqued the curiosity of Travelers who've visited Watatsumi Island. Let's check out the various new gameplay mechanics Enkanomiya has to offer~

P.S. This diary contains information on how to solve the puzzles for some mechanisms. For Travelers who don't like spoilers, do consider skipping this diary~

Enkanomiya Unlock Criteria:

• Adventure Rank 30 or above

• Complete the Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act III - Omnipresence Over Mortals"

• Complete the World Quests "The Still Water's Flow" and "The Moon-Bathed Deep"

Mechanisms

Enkanomiya is cut off from the sun's light. As such, there is no distinction between day and night here. Instead, they had the distinction between Whitenight and Evernight. Many mechanisms in Enkanomiya need to be activated by switching between Whitenight and Evernight.

Of Sun and Moon

Shield-Lights of Tokoyo present during Whitenight are dispelled during Evernight and vice versa.

There are certain distortions in the air visible in Enkanomiya, which are known as Sunfire Phantasms. Switching between day and night can cause these illusions to disperse or show themselves.

Daises of Day and Night

Mechanisms known as Daises of Day and Night appear different in the Whitenight and Evernight states.

Daises of Day and Daises of Night will be filled up during their respective "day" and "night" times. Get close to them to operate them. However, their states will reset when you switch between Evernight and Whitenight.

Triangular Mechanisms

You will come across these triangular mechanisms in Enkanomiya. Within a certain distance, attacks can be used to activate them. These mechanisms will reset after a while. If you find that a mechanism is currently damaged, try switching to Evernight — they will fix themselves right up.

Places of Essence Worship

Key Sigils

When exploring Enkanomiya, Travelers may obtain the items known as Key Sigils. The images known as Key Sigils originate from Enkanomiya, and there are a total of five of them. Just as one key fits one lock, each one of them can release the seal with a matching image. Collect them and use them well!

[More information will be added in a reblog due to the image limit.]

[hellonoblesky]

TURTLETHEORIES FOR GENSHIN THAT HYV OWES ME MONEY FOR (and that I will add on to as I re-remember my own theories)

Theories from pre-Inazuma:

Khaenri’ah sharing architectural similarities to the ruins of Vindagnyer and other dead godless nations because it was founded by survivors of the Archon’s various genocides (based on Dragonspine Lore originally, further evidence gained with the release of Enkanomiya and the Chasm)

Kaeya being of a family of high standing, but not of the Eclipse Dynasty (proven in Hidden Strife)

Dottore setting Sumeru ablaze (originally an adaptive daydreaming scenario I just wanted to be true, served on a silver platter with the Harbinger trailer)

Diluc being well aware of Ley Line properties (Hidden Strife, again)

Adalinde being entirely aware of the more shady businesses of Diluc and passing messages on for him (Hidden Strife)

Post-Inazuma:

Orobaxi being a god that served the people specifically, catered to their well-being, did what they bade him do and cared for them as his own (theory formed pre-enkanomiya)

Ei destroying the other gods of her nation in an attempt to fortify her ideal of eternity (pre-Enkanomiya and Tsurumi, post-Serai/Watatsumi)

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

I know we have a reverse au/reader is from the abyss au but in light of recent certain content (possible spoilers btw!)

What if reader was from Enkanomiya, had the blood of the watatsumi retainers, so they probably have those vishap forms (and a cool looking set of eyes) so they appear in liyue with a mask like Tsumi from the event! By this time, childe would have been turned into mothman and Zhongli is keeping an eye on him.

He is probably very curious about the not-so-human reader like??? You smell like a lizard but ur clearly a human... and the mask! Are u like him perhaps?

So he just... stays by your side, going all over you like some sort of cute dog curious about ur scent. He finds comfort in it after being with you for so long! Zhongli leaves him to you (and simultaneously leaving you to him, just in case)

And then in a hurt/comfort kind of deal, when mothman is revealed to be the one who nearly drowned liyue, everyone hated him obviously. So your only option was to go back to Enkanomiya and maybe spend your days there terrorizing the local hilichurl or two or maybe fighting some abyss herald or lector. Childe would find comfort in there, being near the abyss and constantly fighting!

Ofc since the reader is also a vassal/retainer of watatsumi, they welcome them with open arms so if it gets too lonely, reader and childe can have a date in Watatsumi :)

If you have any brainrots to add please I beg add them I love Enkanomiya and the continuous lore we are getting from it so adding my favorite mothman and Enkanomiya is a big glee from me!

HOLY HOLY SHIT YOU. YOU COME CLOSER. *SHAKES YOU* THIS IS AMAZING YES ENKANOMIYA MY BELOVED

(event spoilers abound lads!!!)

alright alright consider this- you're a descendant of the Vassals of Watatsumi and therefore have more experience and intuition when it comes to divine creatures like Vishaps or Archons or Abyssal monsters, yeah? what if you go to Liyue because you noticed the Abyssal darkness that Enjou (ENJOU MY BELOVED) released as part of the Abyss and Vishaps' deal beginning to affect the environment (maybe you're less affected at first because you're only partially non-human), and you want to seek help from an Archon who isn't the Raiden Shogun because she's not going to help anyways, and the next nearest nation is Liyue.

of course you're crushed to find that Rex Lapis is apparently dead, as he was basically the best choice to perhaps help you with this situation, and spend a few days wandering the city both to grieve and observe human life. eventually you run into Zhongli, who immediately sees that you're non-human and consoles you over Rex Lapis' "death" (Zhongli you FUCK) and you two quickly become friends. he keeps teaching you about life outside Enkanomiya and one day takes you back to his house, where you meet Childe.

and Childe is IMMENSELY curious about you, from your mask to your clothes to your odd scent to the mysterious Enkanomiya you mention in conversation, and he sticks around you and both of you become very, very close, which is exactly what Zhongli had in mind.

even though you're decently happy in Liyue, you DO want to go back to Enkanomiya and begin preparing for the trip back. Childe is crestfallen and whimpers and nudges your hands the entire time that you're planning a route- he desperately wants to stay with you, he likes you very much!!! Zhongli eventually asks you to take Childe with you, as he can't stay in the Harbor due to the Osial incident, and you agree as Childe chirps happily and snuggles against your neck.

when you get back to Enkanomiya, though, the entire land is shrouded in darkness from the Towers of the Void. Childe loves it, the Abyssal magic resonating with him and the thrill of battle returning, but he notices you're not faring well. in fact because you're a Vassal descendant the Abyssal darkness affects you as well, and you're gradually getting sicker as it poisons you. eventually it cumulates in you collapsing one day and not getting up when Childe nudges you, like a dead sort of sleep.

and so Childe's left alone again, with your ill, fretfully sleeping self.

[anilyan]

Finding Oneself

(I made the skins above. Skins collection on [insta] and [twitter])

I started posting a trans-inclusive fic with genderbent Aether (I'm non-binary), about finding himself and meaning in the journey. I finished a long fic before so dw

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36923233/chapters/92117977

Summary

When exploring Enkanomiya, Aether recklessly tried to stop a group of Fatui, and was the victim of a concoction that changed his body into female. His first instinct is to hide it until the effect wears off. But as time goes by and he can’t exactly isolate and stop living, he is forced to let the world know and accept his new body. And what started as an unhappy twist of luck soon is revealed to be what he needed to reconnect with his loved ones, with the meaning of his journey… and with himself.

Notes

I am non-binary and my Aether for this fic also is on the spectrum, and he felt like that even before the transformation. So this fic is not your typical cis-swap (though I’m not trying to judge that kind of fic), but rather an exploration of gender on several levels. Also, I often draw skins, and I’ve been drawing some genderbendings, so you can check what Aether would look like here at the beginning of the chapter.

Besides that, Aether also feels more comfortable with ideas of relationship anarchy – people who know me from the fic To be Known made clear they enjoyed how I portrayed that, and honestly, I’m just as thirsty for queerplatonic polyamorous relationships and relationships that defy labels as they were. However, while my other fic was wholesome but dark, this ones more palatable to a wider audience. I am also operating under the idea that in the Teyvat for this fic, there are no specific sexuality labels but rather an idea that everyone is bi for default, but some people have stronger preferences, and others don’t even like any gender.

As for ages, Aether is an adult. That’s how I interpret the lore as well. But since no relationship will be explicit, feel free to headcanon him as you wish and have any ships you want, you can even ramble to me about them in the comments and I might throw you some crumbs in future chapter :p

I started writing this before 2.5 released, canon-compliant with everything until the exploration of Enkanomiya, including past limited-time events. The only things that haven’t happened yet are the rebuilding of the Jade Chamber and the second Lantern Rite. And like in canon, Aether is getting impatient and losing sight of what matters, which is important for this story.

[cqtlatte]

How are you feeling after chasm quest? I really have to say, I liked dain before but its your fanart that really made me fall in love with him. The mood is just so evocative it makes me want to write a story like that

Gosh, I'm really flattered to hear that, thank you so much 😭😭

Obviously (but just in case) this contains spoilers from the quest and some extras from the Chasm exploration itself!!

For me, the Chasm quest was amazing tbh, although I felt like I had to strain my eyes and keep my computer brightness super high to navigate all the areas we had to explore before reaching the main archon quest, it was well worth the trouble LMAO. Wasn't it incredible how seamless the progression of the story felt, from something as simple as stumbling into Dain after sending Zhiqiong to rest, to each layer's music blends into its respective combat ost?

Hoyoverse possesses this art of answering most of my questions, and leaving me with 10 more, though. I used to be on my toes, a bit paranoid that Dain sided with the Abyss Order all along, but as it turns out, that was debunked since he doesn't understand how to navigate the Abyss's portals! It was a relief to know he wasn't beat up by our abyss sibling and got the field tiller's eye stolen from him as soon as he got it lol.

We still haven't discovered why Dain and our abyss sibling were travelling together as we slept, with 'fate' being a recurring theme. How does one 'find their fate'? Isn't that supposed to happen as you live?

"The keeper is fading away" line was cleared up, when Dain mentioned that all of the Khaenri'ahns were faced with erosion from their curse, but what is THIS

what is 'It?!?' does this have to do with why Kaeya and Dainsleif hadn't been turned into monsters like the rest of Khaenri'ah? Am I reading too much into this?

I mentioned this on twitter back when the trailer released, but I'm also intrigued by how the Black Serpent Knights and hilichurls were affected by the amplification device, but those loyal to Abyss Order itself seemed to be fine. Dainsleif said everyone in Khaenri'ah were affected by the curse in some way, but does the Abyss Order's contradicting will keep them from feeling the effects of those devices? And on an unrelated note, those in the abyss order are different types of intellectual beings. Who ranks higher than our abyss sibling who is a prince(ss)? Is there a queen or king above them?

It's interesting how Enkanomiya and the underground city have similar architecture as well, particularly the statues of the robed people carrying bowls (in front of the Dainichi Mikoshi and in the fountain room). It would've been nice to get some literature similar to the Byakuyakoku collection in there, but I suppose it'd be too easy, since the Chasm is so close to the surface of Teyvat and susceptible to prying eyes, unlike Enkanomiya.

And lastly, is Zhiqiong okay?

"If the interaction of these forces alone could twist stone and metal thus, if that ordinary heroine was truly able to witness the end of the pitch-dark path, how would she have faced the discovery she would make?" - Frostglaze crystal dialogue

A lot of people are mentioning that the path she took to get deeper in the chasm hinted we'd probably see her again in another patch, but I wonder if this was like a Vanessa ascending to Celestia situation.

As a small bonus, (completely off on another tangent I know), I'm curious about the 'Deathly statuette'. It immediately made me think of the bp icon, and the mural we see in artifact/talent domains, and has an interesting item description as well. Why is it red, rather than the dark blue/purplish colors of the abyss I wonder~ cough cough gnostic chorus and the Sustainer?? ...ahem. Time will reveal everything I suppose.

Thanks for reading if you made it to the end LOL.. it turned out to be a lot of speculation and questions, and I could go on because I also wonder about the Black Serpent Knights' dialogue scattered throughout the Chasm, but I think I'd get too spammy at that point!! Hopefully Dain will have a nice vacation, narrating more collected miscellany as he recovers 😔

[genshinconfessions]

I read the dragonspine not having it's own compass, it's probably because it's not really a part of mondstadt, it was it's own nation that was destroyed and mondstadt would probably have it's own special location, probably the dandelion sea or Mare jivari

spoiler alert: uhhh a lot of lore lol mainly leaks and stories revealed in enkanomiya

mare jivari was mentioned to be a blazing sea of fire so a lot of ppl have speculated that it's going to be the harder part of natlan!!

and the thing about mondstadt is that it's so... suspiciously innocuous?? it's hard to get into detail right now but i've been watching chinese lore theorists and a bunch of them agree that genshin's probably going to be a cyclic story aka it ends where it starts because there's just SO much about mondstadt that's still a mystery (cough thousand winds temple, nameless island, etc that all point to istaroth being involved...).

as for the dandelion sea, i honestly believe you're right! i found this reddit post of leaks (most of which are actually true or make sense or have been speculated by chinese genshin geographers! here's a speculative map that someone drew that pretty much matches up with the geographer person i watched, and here's another theorized map that seems to match well) and it seems like if they're right, dandelion sea will be released once we come back to mondstadt.

and apparently, that's also when varka will be released, so if i'm connecting the dots correctly, varka's little expedition would have been to the dandelion sea! and why would he take the majority of mondstadt's army if it was just an easy expedition, am i right?? so it's gotta be a hard area... maybe LOL. i'm just speculating.

anyway you're also right about dragonspine. i know all this, but i'm just a little pissed that it's so close to mondstadt and yet has nothing to do with it hence can't use compass :((( i'm still stuck at 93% exploration for this stupid mountain and there's no way to know what i'm missing😞

sorry if this got sort of out of hand?? i really like lore (even though i'm too lazy to keep up with most of it)

katheryne from liyue