#lore rants

[collectorcookie]

Aeri (@enchantedmirage) innocently sent me a funny nui video ft izumi and makoto. And I ended up writing a textwall ranting about izumi (Number 1 most misinterpreted knights member to me) and makoto (Number 1 most misinterpreted Trickstar member to me). And I thought, well, why not document this on my blog too.

Aeri if you're reading this i'm sorry

[shoggothkisses]

i wanna hear about the lore but the moon lore only

YEAHHHH ANON WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT THE MOONS!!!!

Okay so I'm going to keep this as tl;dr as possible because it would be VERY easy to go off on a tangent so I am sticking JUST to stuff where the moon or Moon Sisters are explicitly mentioned.

So according to Heart's Desire, vol. 3, there used to be three moons over Teyvat instead of one:

Aria - name is Italian for a single-performer vocal piece in an opera, but derives from the Latin for "air"

Sonnet - like the poem, but derives from an old proto-Romance word for "sound'

Canon - musical composition based around multi-voiced imitation; derives from Greek and Latin word for "law" or "rule."

(Make of these etymologies what you will.)

According to Moonlit Bamboo Forest(MBF), vol. 3 :

the Moon Sisters are older than Morax (more than 6,000 years old)

they're referred to as "daughters of prose and song"

they "ruled over the night sky," trading shifts in moving across the heavens in a silver carriage (think Helios in Greek myth with his chariot)

they were in love with "the stars of daybreak"/the "morning stars."

It should be noted that "morning star" is a term often associated with "dawn bringer," it may be associated with Phanes, the Primordial One (who is also known as Eosphorus/Phosphorus or Lucifer depending on which versions of Greek/Orphic/Latinized mythology you're looking at). Since MBF refers specifically to "the chambers of the morning stars," this may imply that the anthropomorphic "stars" are the Shades that Phanes made of itself.

Something caused the Moon Sisters to turn against one another, and the single remaining moon in Teyvat right now is the one remaining corpse out of three. (yikes.)

According to Records of Jueyun, vol. 4:

the three sisters were witness to a union between one of the Seelie and "a traveler from afar."

a great "calamity" fell 30 days later. (Whether the union is directly related to the calamity is EXTREMELY unclear, although some people [pooossibly myself included] theorize that the outlander who fell in love with the Seelie was the Second Who Came from beyond the firmament, who eventually challenged the Primordial One to the throne and lost. For more on this, see the Byakuyakoku Collection.)

For some miscellaneous flavor, here are some things associated with the moon/s that have caught my eye as I've played Genshin

Mondstadt literally translates to "Moon City" in German.

Liyue (璃月) makes use of the characters for "glass/colored glaze" and "moon."

Speaking of Liyue, the osmanthus flower is associated with the full moon and the Mid-Autumn festival. In Chinese legend, the first osmanthus plant is on the moon.

Glaze Lilies only grow at night.

There are WAY too many mentions of serpents consuming the moon and/or sun in various mythologies across the world. I'm probably going to have to make a mega-post about snakes and serpents in Genshin at some point.

Nahida calls herself "just the Moon" when we first meet her. In context, she means that she is only a reflection of Rukkhadevata's former glory, but I still find it relevant that she calls herself the moon when her appearance is so similar to what the Moon Sisters are supposed to look like.

The description for the Nilotpala Lotus refers to a moon goddess (singular) and the chariot. Nilotpalas only bloom at night. (It's interesting that the "fake" lotus, Kalpalata, is Nahida's ascension material and not the Nilotpala.)

The lore for the Xiphos' Moonlight sword suggests that the Moon Sisters were capable of "determining heroes' fates." This is most likely a reference to the three Fates of Greek mythology, who controlled the birth, life and death of all humans.

Aaand most recently, in Lyney's character teaser, we get to see him holding the full moon in his hands! In the Rider-Waite tarot, the Moon is a symbol for lies, deception and illusion. This doesn't just have to apply to Lyney - it's something I've been thinking about for as long as I've known about the Moon Sisters.

if you have any specific questions or want more clarification on any of this info, PLEASE ask!!!

[infacheezit]

Screw it, gonna start posting random lore about my world without much context outside of random stuff I add in advance.

As a quick little note, I want my world and story to be a video game, the story telling medium is just for me, books take too long to write, shows are just a hard NO, and movies are weird. When it comes to web comics or a graphic novel, those are somewhat on the table.

This post will be the basics, nothing but the fundamentals and what not.

So where to start? Main characters.

First is Jack, full name: Jack Notrad, nickname: Merchant. He’s a guy who wanted to be an adventurer and technically got that wish. Now he’s a part of a global conspiracy, working with a god of darkness, learning the dark past of the world and trying to stop a supposed “day of reality’s end”. Fun facts: he loves savory food, knows how to sew, has some sorta neurodivergent trait, and always keeps a half compass half stopwatch gizmo in his backpack’s front pocket.

Nightmare is next. The outcasted god of darkness and current benefactor/partner of Merchant. Nightmare is seen as a cruel god, one who rules the night and all that’s evil. Although some is true, not all of it is. He isn’t evil, he only governs the darkness, and he has literally no control over people and their evil habits. He has a lot to go over but for now, I’ll just say that he hopes to one day be able to see every person grow and change. Fun facts: he hates paperwork, likes reading random books made by mortals about the mind, believes that darkness is needed to see the light, and can sense the despair and problems of people within his “domain”.

Next up is the Necro-Bard. A cocky, undead bard who wields a guitar scythe that is a whole can of worms in of itself. The Necro-Bars is just the scythe, the corpse is just an empty husk. The scythtar is an ancient relic of a titan of death, made to be wielded by the strongest beings of the world, Bards. The fear instilled by the Necro-Bard’s ballads are enough to make Lucifer shiver in fear. “Fun” facts: the scythe oozes a tar like liquid from a skull at the end of the tuners, the corpse is constantly rotting and is at least one overexertion from breaking, the titan is still alive and can sense the scythtar’s melody being played, finally the scythtar can create crystals that can steal people’s souls when touched.

Those are like the three main characters, at least for what I dub as act 1. Merchant and Nightmare work together to take down the Necro-Bard’s take over, not much else to it. They do meet a lot more threats and allies along the way though, so there is that. That’s about it for now, might continue this some other time when I get the urge again.

[wasnt-always-there]

Lore explaination post (p1 - world building)

This is probably gonna be so long

So.

My OC's world is split into 4 dimensions 💥💥

1. Base reality, the one we know.

2. The Corridors. This is a "glass reality/dimension" as I call it.

3. The Fields. This is also a "glass reality/dimension"

4. The void, Limbo, nowhere, etc. This is a place you will escape from, but most likely not alive, and certainly not the same.

Here's the explainations of them all :DDD

1 - Base Reality

This is where people are, as well as animals, buildings - humanity, basically. This is where you and me are.

The story is set in a made-up Danish town I have yet to fully name, but it's basically a small, half-abandoned town with like one store that's almost bankrupt and a few mini-stores under the one apartment complex that exists there. The place is known to be "haunted".

2 - The Corridors

A glass reality, which basically means it's sort of like an overlay to the base reality. Where the sky is blue, it shines bright red. Where there is color there is dull teal. People from the base reality can be seen as transparent husks, deprived of personality and identification.

The inhabitents of the Corridors are called "Marrings". These are entities born from inherent negativity. They live in the corridors, they cause negativity in order to spread themselves, and contradict the Viewers (will say who they are in a bit). These entities have no real form, and exist merely in energy form. They know and communicate with each other through mutual understanding.

Marrings can transfer their consciousness into a human body if they want, although it is not common. Most often, they want to spread turmoil by manipulating base reality in extremely miniscule ways, and causing heavy butterfly effects.

If a Marring transfers their consciousness to a human body, their hands will appear bright red, though not to a normal human, only through the eyes of a Marring or Viewer.

Example of a Marring:

^This is my OC, November :DDD Their hands aren't red here because idk who's looking and also it ruins the aesthetic sometimes lmao^

3 - The Fields

A glass reality, which I'm kinda still figuring out how to visualize.

Every tree is a birch tree with golden leaves. The sky is clear, no matter the season, and is almost blindingly blue. The sun shines and looks somewhat like a giant iris. People from the base reality are seen pretty much how they would look in the base reality, but they're sort of glowy and blurred. Everything that is broken down and ruined in base reality, here, is just nature.

The inhabitents of the Fields are called "Viewers", which are entities born from inherent positivity. The Viewers strive to make the world positive, but also balanced, and natural. The flow of reality should not be hindered, which is why the Viewers despise the Marrings (although they'd never say that because unconditional love and all that) for using the butterfly effect to their advantage, hereby manipulating the natural flow.

Viewers CAN transport their consciousness into a human body, but no respected viewer would. That is prohibiting natural flow. Although, Viewers need to see the base reality, to make sure the Marrings aren't manipulating it too much, because then they will gladly stop that, no matter the cost of 'normality'. So instead, Viewers use any eye shape in base reality to inhabit and spy through. Statues, posters, birch trees, butterflies, moths, anything. When a human feels as though they're being watched, that's because they are.

When a Viewer DOES transfer into a human body, their eyes will be golden and their clothes white and gold. Their appearance will be neat and composed. They will keep their hands on their backs, as to not show association with the Marrings.

Example of a Viewer:

^My OC, Enzo‼️‼️‼️^

Finally, The Void/Nowhere:

In the rare scenario of a Viewer or Marring interfering so much with the base reality, as to create a pocket dimension using part of the real world, the void will eventually consume it. Whatever place that was taken from base reality will disappear from the presesnt, the past, and the future, creating a paradox that fixes itself by altering memories and reality itself. This obviously, heavily disrupts natural flow, which is why it practically never happens. And if it does, it's usually the doing of a Marring. There's only one account of this being the doing of the viewers. (*cough cough* Kaylus in a courtroom *cough cough*)

This pocket dimension and the void in general doesn't effect time in base reality.

When viewers/marrings stop spending their energy holding up the facade of the pocket dimension, the void will start to consume it and anything or anyone within it. However, if a Marring or Viewer reside while the facade drops, their body will be consumed, but their consciousness will be forever trapped in the void. If a human is there, their "consciousness" (Which is just a brain and cells, which it isn't just for Marrings/viewers, because their consciousness is purely in energy form) will either be "recyled" or consumed, too.

The atoms that the void consumes will be put back into the base reality to rebuild what they took. However, neither the void, the viewers or marrings know how to make it look right again. It will look jumbled and like a poor imitation of real objects and shapes. This will also implant into every human's brain, to not question it.

If a person is consumed by the void, their atoms will return to base reality, most often as building material (a wall, the floor, a growing tree, etc.), but there is a chance of the person returning as themself with their consciousness intact, but their mind jumbled, a messy memory, and something just slightly off about their appearance.

---

Some extra notes:

"Switch" -

A "switch" occours when a Marring or Viewer is found to not fit into the glass reality they were born into. It doesn't take any discussion, just a knowing that the Marring/Viewer is different in some way than the rest.

For example:

Angie was born a Viewer, from positivity, but witnessed enough general negativity after watching and spying on humanity for too long, that they became more pessimistic than optimistic. So although they still had good values at heart, Angie was a source of negativity, now, and couldn't continue to exist in the Fields. Angie was switched to the Corridors, where they certainly did not fit in any more, but that was the only "place" they could be, other than humanity. This also, in turn, led the to be more outwardly mean and cold.

^Angie‼️ my personal favorite character of mine theehee^

Field/corridor symbolism -

Viewers are represented using eyes, and Marrings are represented using hands.

This is something I decided using the trolley problem💥💥 like the two options being "Don't do anything" and being forced to watch 5 people die, because you don't wanna be a part of it, to put your name in the equation, essentially ridding yourself of the blame and wiping your hands clean - and the second option being "pull the lever", essentially putting the death of an entire person on your shoulder, but savning the majority. It's observation and action, eyes and hands.

Because the vast majority of people, despite what they may say, would turn a blind eye. It's too much to handle, and too big of a decision to make in a few seconds - to kill an innocent person. So, you pretend you never saw, and you can go back to your own life, where you can make good choices, and present yourself as someone who did not just neglect their ability to save 5 people from the horrific death they have endured. That's the essence of the Viewers. Toxic people pleasers, who will say what they need to, but also do what they need to.

Marrings are reckless, with their own lives as well as others'. The truth is, a Marring could not care less about their choice, because either way there would be suffering. 5 families suffering and burying a loved one, and one person traumatized from screams and dealing with survivor's guilt, or the other way around. However, what Marrings love is action, it's influence and it's annoying the hell out of viewers. So in the end, a Marring would kill someone, just to get their hands a bit more directly bloodied.

Possession (TW - brief su*c*de mention) -

A Marring or Viewer can "possess" an already existing person, but the body will then be shared between two consciousnesses. Normally, when a Marring or Viewer goes to the base reality in a body, they will create one from nothing. Possessing someone is a level of influence that is rarely even done by Marrings because of how severe it is. It has a possibility of the person afflicted knowing of these paranormal entities after literally sharing body with one, and Marrings and Viewers neither want people to know of their existence, because for Marrings is would diminish their negative impact, and for Viewers it would make people more aware of truth, which would also in turn create more negativity.

An example of possession in ABH is when Kaylus possesses Damien in order to talk to Angie and then kill off Damien, which is very much not successful.

Damien here, has already started to spiral since meeting Angie, because a lot of the facts that he used to ground himself with, to feel more real and present, is all turning out to be doubt-worthy. When Kaylus possesses Damien, he is unable to move for a long time, because the signals from brain to body are both contradicting and Kaylus is trying for a bit to get him run over by a car or something.

Then, Damien is taken to a mental hospital for a short bit, where Kaylus decides just to not engage through Damien, because it's only really here that they realize they could use Damien to talk to Angie like they want to so bad. Kaylus then starts using Damien's friendship with Angie against him, to make him think he's still in full control of himself, when he asks Damien's sister, Maja, to find Angie.

This whole thing, though, leads Damien to try to off himself, which is what Kaylus was intending, and even encouraged throughout his possession. Luckily, he gets to a hospital in time.

---

^Might add more notes or edit some things as time goes on, but we'll see!!^

If anyone reads this far THANK YOU SO MUCH lmao I love talking about this universe it's my favorite thing. i love anyone who made it to the end forever <3<3<3

Also if any of it didn't make sense, or something or if i should add more to it let me know please i love this universe so much its so awesome to me arghhh

[piowasthere]

WTF IS SUNS EYE COLOR

all of the pictures used r official btw

this is one of the most inconsistent designs i have ever seen, chirst- and we're talking about the same series in which Scraptrap exists.

[bolontiku]

Me attempting to write.

Getting in the groove...

The Brother crashing in at a critical moment to share lore about Cyberpunk vs Robocop. Then Alien vs Predator.

Me, cannot stop it as he never shares my interests (I know nothing of cyberpunk but Robocop is my fucking hero fuck you) and I love both Predator and Aliens.

Me trying to get back to writing after his rant and he goes back to his room to hibernate till work tomorrow. It's gone.... 🥺🥺 worth it

[cockroachparty]

currently playing infinity nikki for the first time (as well as my first time playing any gacha game) and i am. so perplexed by this girl.

she is nonconsensually ripped from her home and sucked into some other universe. the annoying rat is taken with her and they end up in some dark souls esque world. she now has the powers of levitation (?!) and shooting objects from her hand (?!) that can only harm bad guys and completely miss everything else in the environment. are these powers conscious of who it can hit or does nikki just have really good aim? after she meets some lady who has been chained to the ceiling for who knows how many years, a "heart" of some sort is forced into nikki's chest which gives her weird pains (no shit) from time to time when she witnesses emotional or "whimsical" displays.

anyway, im traversing this new land, in shock that this poor girl opened a simple wardrobe and is now in what appears to be some alternate universe where clothes have magic powers. if that were me, i'd be freaking out and wondering where the hell i am, what planet im on, and if im dreaming

nikki, though?

nikki is having the time of her life

i mean, shes casually introducing herself to dada and giovanni like shes just some girl from the next town over; no! youre not supposed to be here!! youre essentially an alien and youre fooling everybody!!

this girl is catwalking miraland like stuff like this happens to her ALL. THE. TIME.

which, if it does...

is nikki ok??? should she be put down???

[stardusthuntress]

OMG I LOVE STUFF THAT ADDS TO UNRAVELLING THE CHAIN CODES!!!

I also agree the chain codes include a birth year, which is why it’s so difficult for the rest of the clones to hide (take Cut and the Bad Batch for example), because their birth year has to change frequently to cover the accelerated aging (with the exception of Boba and Omega). And the empire won’t just let the clones be, as we know from Bad Batch, nor will they bother to take care of them once they’re “retired” as per Riyo and Rampart’s description and Kenobi showing us that heartbreaking 501st clone…

In the Mandalorian they also talk about how all Din gets when tasked with retrieving the little green bean we all know and love is that he states that the last 4 digits tell the age. Previously, he had not stated whether that was a year or an incremental count. Now we know! It’s a year!

That also implies that when Boba shows his chain code here, it implies that this is the human-readable format, but Din’s mention of “last 4 digits” in the first few episodes of the Mandalorian (might even be THE first one if I remember correctly) indicates that this is more of an ID code, like the letter-number code system on a drivers license. The other info is also tied to the id code, but it’s the code itself that stores the information in a known pattern!

ALSO, I wonder if the chain codes Din and Bo show in that one episode with Lizzo and Jack Black are also readable like this!!!!

Let’s talk about Boba’s chain code

(original image source from OrbitalSander2 on Reddit)

it’s a little chopped up, but there are a few interesting things we can take away from this!

Things that are now official Disney canon instead of Legends:

Jango Fett was from Concord Dawn

Jaste(r) Mereel exists

Jango Fett was a foundling

Things we can extrapolate from it:

Concord Dawn, like Mandalore, used Basic with Mandalorian script instead of Mando’a

Jaster mentored either Boba or Jango — that part is unclear, but considering Legends, it’s likely Jaster mentored Jango

There are gaps and the words fade out into the bottom, so this isn’t the entire message, and the full chain code contains more information.

Things we can guess at:

True Mandalorians may exist in Disney canon to some degree if both Jaster Mereel and Death Watch exist.

Chain codes include year of birth, but if the code here contains “the year took into,” it may be that foundlings have the year of their adoption put into their code rather than year of birth. Maybe both if they’re old enough to know when they were born when they’re adopted into the Mandalorians.

[collectorcookie]

Hhhnnghg thinking about anzu again

She started from absolutely nothing. Not the slightest clue about idols or celebs or the entertainment industry or anything. She wanted to grow stronger so that she could protect the people she loves and cares for. And she works soooooo hard for it. All in the background, all in the shadows, she puts in whatever effort she can so that everything runs smoothly and so that everyone can be happy.

And she succeeds! Time and time again, every live she plans and budgets for is very successful. The idols she nurtured all this time are getting happier. Most of the time she doesn't even understand why she gets praised so much (because low self-esteem) and still thinks it's not enough, it's never enough. But never did her doubts even stop her from showing up everytime for her idols.

And she ends up building a strong reputation as a very capable producer. This should be a good thing but it isn't. Now she has a name in the industry, she can no longer just work in the shadows like before. If she puts in too much effort, she (and the idols she's producing for) might get punished for favoritism. So now she has to distance herself from the beloved idols she spent all this time making memories with and getting closer to and it's just aakdhfhsjajdhfhej

Like i think this is most obvious in her switch of "please call me by my name" to "please never call me by my name". In yumenosaki, she was a transfer student at first and most people called her tenkousei-chan. After a while this starts offending her because c'mon, she's been here a while, she has been through a lot with many of these people together and it's kinda distancing of the others to still call her by tenkousei instead of anzu. But in ES? She literally has to beg them to stop calling her by her name and start calling her "Producer" instead. She has to build this artificial distance between her and all the idols she loves so that ES doesn't hurt them. So that she can protect them.

It's such a dilemma, honestly. You want to grow stronger to protect the people you're close to. Once you're strong, you can't be close to them anymore.

[shoggothkisses]

Lore Rant: Ars Goetia Review and Speculation, 4.0 Edition

Yes, I know - Genshin fans and loremongers have done this a hundred times. It's everywhere on the wiki; we've been digging up info on the "demonic names" of the Archons (and non-Archon gods!) for as long as Genshin has been out. But I want to make a post about it, damn it, and so I will. Hopefully it'll make a nice point of reference that's easier to examine as a whole document than hopping around from wiki page to wiki page.

I also want to include a little speculation and some miscellaneous info I gleaned from looking at a facsimile of the actual Ars Goetia (second edition, ed. Aleister Crowley, you prick) I happened to find at work. It's a small book but the sucker is dense. Even so, i came across a couple things I found interesting enough to share.

I. Goetic Demons Referenced in Genshin(as of 4.0)

Baal/Bael (Makoto & Ei) - King : "rules over the East," can provide the sorcerer invoking them with invisibility. (It should be noted that although the only "true" Baal in Genshin is Makoto, Ei is also referred to as Baal. Beelzebul [Ei's true demonic name] is not spoken of directly in the Ars Goetia, as the name is synonymous with Baal [Ba'al-zebul, NOT Beelzebub] - who, other than being mentioned briefly as a ruler over demons in the Bible, has basically nothing attributed to him.)

Amon/Amun (Deshret) - Marquis : depicted as a fire-breathing wolf with a serpent's tail; knows all things past and future. (this gets repeated a LOT, and with very specific figures.)

Barbatos (Venti) - Duke : associated with Sagittarius (the archer constellation) ; can talk to animals ; can talk to animals ; knows all things past and future. (Though it may be coincidental, an illustration in the copy of the Goetia I was reading from had Barbatos depicted as an elf-eared man surrounded by horns playing music.)

Paimon (...Paimon) - King : "very obedient unto Lucifer" ; supposed to have a "great roaring voice" that makes it impossible to understand him upon first summoning (lmao) ; not only knows of all things past and future but also knows about the World/Earth and how it "floats upon the Seas" ; associated with the West. (will discuss this later in the post.)

Buer (Nahida) - President : associated with Sagittarius (less meaningful than Barbatos, but maybe there's something there) ; teaches Philosophy and Logic ; knows the "virtues" of herbs and plants and can heal all diseases

Morax (Zhongli) - Earl AND President : depicted as a bull with a man's face (may be referenced in Venti's voice lines, as he calls him a "stubborn blockhead" in CN) ; knows Astronomy, "Liberal Sciences," and the virtues of all herbs and stones (referenced heavily in the Liyue Archon Quest)

Naberius - Marquis : depicted as a black bird or crane ; knowledgable in art and rhetoric. (We know basically nothing about Naberius, except that Gold and Albedo [in his character story] found an artifact called the Heart of Naberius in a dungeon, and that after finding it, Albedo was entrusted with "finding the truth of the world." We can't automatically conclude that Naberius was a dragon based solely on its depiction in the Goetia, as it seems HYV picked and chose which depictions they wanted to reference - but I don't think it would be a stretch if it was.)

Astaroth (Istaroth) - Duke : depicted as an angel riding a dragon, carrying a viper in one hand (sick.) ; knows all things past and future ; has knowledge of "why the Spirits fell."

Marchosias (Guoba!) - Marquis : has a similar description to Amun (wolf with serpent's tail) ; likewise breathes fire. (While Guoba isn't extremely important to the overall story in Teyvat, I find it's worth mentioning him because he was technically the first mention of a god losing its memories and shrinking into a smaller form after expending a great deal of elemental energy - which is exactly what happened to Nahida and, I strongly believe, other godscoughPaimoncough.)

Focalor (Furina) - Duke : depicted as a man with gryphon's wings (there are a LOT of gryphon statues in Fontaine!) ; capable of drowning men and overturning war ships ; controls the seas

Haagenti (Guizhong) - President : teaches men how to transmute all metals into gold (Because I can't leave well enough alone, I definitely think there's an implication here about Guizhong being the one who actually brought gold/Mora to Liyue. The Zhongli of the past was better known for his martial prowess than his intelligence - which I find hilarious considering the Zhongli we know now - and so I suspect his current role as God of Commerce came from things she taught him.)

Orobas (Orobashi) - Prince : can discover all things past and future (note: written in a more passive way than other "knowledge of all things" demons; as though he takes a passive role and gives the ability to the summoner, rather than just telling them) ; gives true answers about the creation of the world. (I like to take this description from the Goetia as a sign that everything Orobashi learned from Before Sun and Moon was true and accurate - why else would Celestia try so hard to silence him?)

Ose (Oz???) - President : can convince a target (specified by the summoner) that they're something they're not. (Oz often gets mentioned in this line-up because he's listed right before a demon named Amy (Fischl) - who doesn't really do anything special that other demons can't already do. I used to think this was coincidental but ultimately pointless speculation, since...well, Fischl's a human, right? But there has to be a reason why Oz exists, and an answer to where he came from. I'll be mentioning it in a future discussion. :9)

Andras (Andrius) - Marquis : depicted as riding a black wolf ; aggro as heck and will kill you if you're not paying attention to what you're doing. (Might be a reference to his role as a boss.)

Haures/Havres (Havria) - Duke : like Orobas, has knowledge of all things and will give answers about the creation of the world ; notably, will lie if not bound correctly. (Very little is written about Havres otherwise; the lying part of the description may be a reference to how Havria's story was altered in Liyue as time passed.)

Decarabia (n) - Duke : takes the form of a pentacle ; knows virtue of all stones and all birds. (I went through Decarabian's wiki page a couple times and I can't find a direct reference to birds anywhere. What I can offer in terms of speculation is that they may have used this as a reference to how he essentially made Old Mondstadt into a cage [with his people trapped as birds might be], or how Dvalin [who inhabits Decarabian's tower after his fall] has birdlike plumage. Avian symbols are all over in Genshin, but I don't know if they have much to do with Decarabia in general.)

II. Miscellaneous Notes & Speculations

According to the Goetia (and corroborated by me, just now, on the internet), the word "demon" is derived from Proto-European daimon which means something akin to "divider" (of fates/destinies). Plato (hi) later claimed that his term daemon as meaning something closer to "knowing." For ancient Greeks, daemons weren't actual beings so much as intermediary forces somewhere between mortal and divine - at least, not until the Hellenistic Age, when Greek culture got thrown in with Egyptian and Persian/West Asian influences and mixed like a bag of Shake 'Em Up Fries, and daemons became something more akin to djinn.

Eleazar (Hebrew priest) is mentioned in the Goetia as a 1st-century "contemporary" of King Solomon, who allegedly used a ring to expel a demon out of some guy's nose, in front of eyewitnesses. I found it extremely interesting that this is where Eleazar gets its namesake, since it has more in common with a demonic possession (something something evil illness) than said possession's exorcism. I had a pet theory a long time ago that Eleazar manifested the way it does (black scales) because it's slowly turning those experiencing it into dragons, like a form of devolution? While I never really got confirmation for this, we should consider that Forbidden Knowledge was brought and filtered into Teyvat by the Dragon Sovereigns, where it mixed with their anger and desire to be rid of the Primordial One's influence. Since humans are a product of said influence, the name Eleazar makes a little more sense: it's the will of the dragons attempting to "exorcise" the energies that they deemed evil.

Aleister Crowley's versions of Goetic rituals (unclear whether it's like this in other versions, as, again, it's really hard to parse which parts of the Key of Solomon are legit, and which he made up) assigns Osiris (or possibly Horus?) as the "creator god." The declaration that his creator god is an "invisible god who dwells in the void" suggests more of the former (Osiris being the god of the underworld), while Horus's association with the dawn/morning star is more reminiscent of Lucifer.

There are supposed to be four demon kings which govern the cardinal directions. Nobody seems to be able to agree who they are, but Paimon is mentioned pretty regularly as the king who governs the West. While this is pure speculation, I believe this may act to further associate Paimon with the Seelie, as the old Seelie Kingdom is supposed to be a barren wasteland, and the most barren wasteland we know of (the Mare Jivari) is supposed to be the furthest point opposite Mondstadt (i.e. to the West).

King Solomon was known for trapping the demons he summoned into a brass vessel. This is openly acknowledged in the Goetia as being similar to how the djinn of Arabian myth was captured in a bottle. Brass is regularly mentioned in Sumeru in reference to Jinn, Shiruyeh and Brass Mask Uprising.

The second half of the Goetia is written in Enochian with English translation, but is essentially the same as the rituals portion of the first half. Worth mentioning that the Abyss mages may or may not speak Enochian, although most translations of said Enochian come up as gibberish.

I ignored most of the spells/rituals in the book, but I did come across one that felt EXTREMELY relevant: the "Curse Of The Spirit's Chain Against Those Who Rebel." In the event that the demon a summoner is trying to work with isn't acting in accordance to their wishes, a parchment with the demon's name is shoved into a black box and bound with iron wire. This act "sends (the demon) to the Abyss to remain unto the day of Doom in chains." So kind of like this?

Food for thought.

As always, lmk if I missed anything, and drop an ask if you want to discuss topics or theories!

[collectorcookie]

I mean i know mika's anger at nazuna is kinda irrational but i can kinda see where he's coming from. Like, shu was able to let go of nazuna way quicker because nazuna was a pretty doll for him, not a human. But to mika, nazuna was an older brother. And as an orphan (and especially an older orphan who had to give up a lot of things to the younger kids at the orphanage) having an older brother figure to rely on is a huuuge deal. Shu was straight up unapproachable to mika so mika latches on to nazuna for dear life and nazuna being the angel he is lets mika call him "Nazuna-nii". Literally mika was like the first person nazuna "had custody" of, so when nazuna abandons valkyrie, he's not just abandoning valkyrie, he's abandoning mika as well, which is a huge hit to mika's already non-existent self-esteem. And then nazuna goes on to basically adopt three other kids? All of whom call nazuna "nii-chan"? That's just adding salt to the wound. Poor mika.

I know mika always, like, called nazuna a "traitor" and makes it a valkyrie thing but i feel like it's a way more personal thing, however he refuses to admit to that because either 1) it hurts too much and/or 2) mika has no sense of self outside valkyrie in the early stories and that's what he projects himself onto.

The thing about Nazuna is. He never catches a break. He was a church choir singer. He had a chuuni phase. The school Casanova thought he was a girl and hit on him. His height capped at 160 when he was 16. His voice changed when he was 16. He was emotionally and physically and lowkey sexually harassed by his boss (don't cancel the boss tho it's complicated). He coped with the above by going non-verbal. All this happened while he was the lead singer of his unit btw. The most important performance of his life was sabotaged and everyone found out he was lip syncing. He left his unit and the local theater kid immediately made him a single father of 3. Two of his kids have anxiety and the last one ADHD. He joined the Broadcast Club so The Sabotage would never happen again but the club has a whopping 2 other members, both of which have anxiety and are his juniors, so he might as well be sharing custody of them as well. He gets a lisp when he is angry which is bad because he is So Angry All The Time and it makes him look more like a kid. His new unit's debut show had an audience of two (2) people. They got flat broke from this. He spent his entire third year of high school jobbing. He was the second oldest student in school and his first year kids were all taller than him anyway. His ex-coworker directs all his misplaced anger towards him. He's in college. He got dragged out of his break and into the most important idol event of the year due to fan demand and is Completely out of practice. He moves into the company dorms because hey free housing and is assigned the dynamic of stopping Roommate A from convincing Roommate B to eat chalk. No matter what Nito does things just Keep Happening and it's honestly a miracle he didn't stab someone yet

[jad3-d]

scara: was seen by ei as too emotional and fragile to be a vessel for a gnosis, couldn’t bring himself to kill kazuha’s great grandfather due to sentiment, didn’t hesitate to erase himself to try and fix his past mistakes, is always seen surrounded by small creatures in his official arts, literally carries a little doll he made himself around as a traveling companion, etc.

a lot of people after this event, for some reason: wtf why is he suddenly being soft?

[ohitslen]

*Vampirizes your Vashwood*

keep reading for more :)

If there needs to be much closer close-up please let me know!

[kkolg]

N and baby Kim doodles :)

Fun Fact: Kim used to wear his hair down as a kid but would be mistakenly called a girl a lot- he would correct them very quickly.. he wears it in a ponytail now to avoid that but it sometimes still happens (he still love his hair and takes extremely good care of it😌)

[collectorcookie]

NOOOOO because this actually bothers me so much???

Hiiro never saw a smartphone, a car, or even a building in the first 16 years of his life. And not only was he still able to navigate the city when he got there, but he was able to navigate it well enough to track down and find his brother that disappeared years ago?

That's actually terrifyingly smart????

And then people turn around and make fun of him for not knowing what an omelette is or how to order food with tablets. LIKE HOW IS HE SUPPOSED TO KNOW.

Hiiro shows great adaptability by recognizing his shortcoming and going to aira for help. He also has both ridiculous intelligence for his age + circumstances and also great physical strength due to his training.

It is only logical to assume that in a few years there will probably be an event with hiiro destroying ES, tying back into his original goals of the !!-main story. This time not to destroy idols themselves, but to protect idols from a corrupted industry. In this essay i will-

i think a lot of people forget hiiro isn't stupid, like you know that canonically he gets higher scores than tsukasa in class and tsukasa is literally an honor student and wants to top him one day. just because he may not understand city culture doesn't mean he's lacking in logical smarts

[thedissonantverses]

“This game is so sanitized where’s all the slavery??”

Well, if you don’t save Minrathous the fascists take over and kill all the abolitionists and hang their bodies around the city as a warning and it is done intentionally to illustrate how bad things would get under the Evanuris….

“WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FREE THE SLAVES!”

Well, you can make one of your queer abolitionist friends archon so they can end slavery on a mass scale-

“THIS GAME IS SO SANITIZED!!!”