#more sal vindagnyr stuff

[yuesya]

How long has it been?

Far too long, evidently. Imunlaukr stares at the snowy path, barely even recognizable as a proper path up the mountain anymore, with the sheer volume of snow that it is buried beneath. It’s clear that the roads to Sal Vindagnyr are no longer maintained for travel, and that’s… not a good sign.

The deeper into the mountain they go, the more Imunlaukr becomes uneasy. There’s an element of something unnatural to the cold –as if there is some freezing element attempting to dig its way beneath his skin, not just a coldness that exists in their surrounding environment. The people of Sal Vindagnyr are not used to long winters, and Imunlaukr is worried for them. Between the harsh cold and the lack of supplies from any traveling merchants, the survivors of the kingdom would not have had an easy time surviving here while Imunlaukr had been gone, searching for a solution.

… The Divine Nail. Imunlaukr looks towards the center of the mountain, where that gigantic nail had suddenly descended from the heavens, smashing deep into the ground and bringing with it an endless winter upon Sal Vindagnyr.

“The survivors have been living here all this time?” the accompanying knight from Mondstadt murmurs, a faint note of disbelief in those words.

“They have,” Imunlaukr confirms. “The Divine Nail seems to prevent citizens of Sal Vindagnyr from leaving the kingdom, even though things are in this state.”

“So that’s the reason why you, a foreign traveler, were tasked with seeking a way to resolve their predicament,” the knight turns his gaze upon him, silently assessing. “To be entrusted with such a task… they must have great faith in you.”

Something clenches inside Imunlaukr’s chest. They trusted you. What if you���re too late?

“… I can only hope to live up to their faith,” he says eventually.

The knight nods in understanding, and pats Imunlaukr on the shoulder with an armored hand.

“Fear not,” he says. “If you cannot trust in yourself, then trust in the Great Hunter. I do not know how you managed to convince the lord, but if they’ve agreed to lend their strength to you, then there is nothing that you worry about.”

… There is something to be said for the unwavering faith that the people of Mondstadt have in their god. A staunch belief that their god is the greatest of protectors, a bulwark shielding them from the dangers that threatened them.

In the legends, it was said that Lord Decarabian descended from the heavens upon witnessing the pain and suffering that men faced, eking out their survival in a land overrun by countless beasts. The god had been moved by their plight, and henceforth declared that no beast-monster would be permitted to intrude upon their land, granting a safe haven to those who otherwise would’ve been devoured to the bone by bloodthirsty beasts.

Sympathetic towards humanity was a consistent portrayal of the Great Hunter in tales relating to their exploits. It was a deciding factor in Imunlaukr’s decision to travel to Mondstadt and make his plea, although…

I have no reason to leave this land.

…

For a god that was celebrated for their love of humanity, the Great Hunter was… far colder than what Imunlaukr had thought they would be like. Imunlaukr had not seen them interacting closely with their people, not like how the God of Dust smiled and chatted with her people in their bustling marketplaces. If anything, the Great Hunter had appeared to be distant and detached, and was quite difficult to find or even catch a glimpse of.

… But they’d agreed to help. Even though they’d been cold and inexpressive, they were still the only god who agreed to Imunlaukr’s unreasonable request to help the people of Sal Vindagnyr, the kingdom that incurred the ire of Celestia.

I suppose I could make an exception.

Imunlaukr closes his eyes, and for the very first time, inexplicably feels as if he understands the urge to pray.

[herrscherofmagic]

At the risk of being overly pessimistic, I've got some thoughts to share about HI3rd and Part 2 and whatnot. This is more of a vent post than any proper discussion or analysis but I want to share these thoughts somewhere because it's been on my mind for ages, and learning that the new UI comes tomorrow with the new patch has finally pushed me to write this.

Regarding Part 2, I will say that I'm willing to give it a shot. I know quite a few people (at least in some parts of the honkai community) felt a bit iffy about the Salt Snow Holy City arc, but I ended up loving it. So even though I haven't even started the current Fu Hua story arc, I do want to catch up and continue with the story.

But when I think about the past of HI3rd... I can't help but feel a genuine pain at the wasted potential of this game, its stories, and its characters.

There's a charm about early HI3rd that I really enjoy, partially out of nostalgia but also thinking about what could've been. So far, it seems like Mihoyo is intent on going full steam ahead and moving on. I don't see any sight of older valkyries being given minor updates (i.e. voicelines and basic animations/emoting), nor the early story being reworked, and even the original UI is getting straight-up replaced with a new design theme.

What do I think about when I think "early HI3rd"?

Hyperion. St. Freya. Shicksal. AE.

Of course this includes classic stuff like the White Comet battlesuit, or the early story arcs like the Battle of Schicksal.

But I'm also thinking about the incredibly neglected Armada and Dorm systems.

I'm thinking about all the different Valkyries and Valkyrie squads that we're told exist, yet only serve the tiniest slivers of roles in the story. The Phosdjinns (Susannah's old squad). Wendy & the Valkyries at the Schicksal base she was stationed at. Jackal, before she quit Schicksal and joined AE. Ana Schariac. Alvitr. Ragna.

I'm thinking about the fact that we still know virtually nothing about Bianka's brief stay at St. Freya. Or about how Rita struggled to become an S-Rank Valkyrie as a relatively normal person who had no stigmata like Bianka nor Herrscher powers like Kiana.

In terms of aesthetics, I think about the bright colors we associate with Hyperion and the old menus.

I think about all the old weapons & stigmata, and even the new ones, and how they have tiny descriptions that hint as so many interesting things behind the scenes. AE's Project: MEI, for instance, or Schicksal's St. 1504 labs.

I remember how often some people used to go "oh Genshin, pffft whatever, Honkai is so much better and it has cool animations and songs and it's Depression Impact and all that stuff!!!" and I used to agree with that. In some cases I still do.

But then I think about how EMPTY HI3rd feels. Genshin has some issues, but it's story has continuously been getting better, and the early content is still a fairly solid foundation. There's tons of interesting lore archives and hidden details across countless weapons, texts, and archive entries. You can learn so much about the past of Mondstadt's Aristocracy or the civilization of Sal Vindagnyr, or about the Yakshas, and Adpeti, or the 5 Inazuma sword-forging schools, and Enkanomiya, and so on.

But there's almost nothing about Schicksal or AE. We know almost nothing about how these two factions operate, aside from "they have a bunch of fancy tech".

Hyperion's not the only flying ship Schicksal has. Aside from Helios we also see and hear about others like the shuttle that the Immortal Blades used in Arc City, or the large ships we see flying in the background of the Armada home screen.

Where are those ships built? Who's crewing them? What does Schicksal do with all these resources? How are the Valkyries in these ships and stationed in bases across the world fighting Honkai in their own way?

What about AE? Sure AE has robots, but robots alone aren't enough. AE still needs leaders and people to make decisions. We know about the obvious Welt, Tesla, and Einstein. But what about Raiden's father, Raiden Ryoma, who we saw play an active role helping AE in the Second Eruption? How does he use ME to help support AE's operations? Are there others like him who make their own investments and sacrifices to help protect their corner of the world?

What was Susannah's life like before and after she joined the Phosdjinns? What about the Phosdjinns themselves? We know a tiny bit about them: their squad leader, Matilla, seemed to come to lead the squad after the past leader died in combat. The other member, Zofia, seemed to promise the old squad leader to protect Matilla. And Matilla chose Susannah herself, so she may be at least partly responsible for getting Susannah up to the point where she could join the Immortal Blades.

What's their story?

What about Ragna and the Valkyrie Assault Squad? I remember there was a CG long ago, Idk if it was permanent content or a temporary event CG, but it revealed that Ragna knew both Rita & Bianka as well as Himeko. So the same person that trained Himeko and led her into battle also gave guidance to Rita and Bianka. What was her life like? How were these incredibly influential Valkyries changed by this role model they have in common?

And speaking of Rita... in the Meow Town Escape event, Rita told Susannah how she had to work hard to join the Immortal Blades and become an S-ranker. Rita has no legendary stigma like Bianka, nor is she a Herrscher like Kiana, nor a MANTIS like Hua. So how did she get to become an S-rank? What trials did she endure, what sacrifices did she have to make?

What about Sin Mal? What happened to Cocolia's orphanage after the failure of the X-10 experiment? How did Cocolia end up working with AE, and how did she end up serving as an agent(?) for World Serpent as well?

Speaking of Cocolia, what happened to her after the Second Eruption? She went from being a minor officer in the Red Army in the middle of Siberia, to running an orphanage that also ran a secret set of experiments. What did she endure in all those years?

There's so much more I could go on about. Wendy, Ana, pre-World Serpent Jackal, Alvitr, Amber, Dr. Nagamitsu, Sin Mal.

All these characters have hints of their stories throughout the game. Sometimes it's a small set of flashbacks, some are fortunate enough to star in a single arc, and some are unfortunate enough to get most of their character development in temporary events.

And of course St. Freya itself could do with more screentime since most of that story is told through manga, not even in the game itself.

But all of these details lead... nowhere.

HI3rd is full of countless seeds of stories, little snippets that tell us that there's so much more beyond the story of our main trio. These characters don't all need full story arcs, of course not. The main story is written and done (though I think the first few chapters deserve a solid remake).

But there could've been something more. Archive entries, weapon & stigmata descriptions, new Valkyrie Chronicles episodes, etc. Schicksal HQ OW could've been revamped to tell us more about the Immortal Blades, Otto, Amber, and Dr. Nagamitsu. Sakura Samsara could've been polished to meet modern standards, giving both Kallen and Sakura fans better content without having to write them into a new part of the story.

Heck, I even think Mihoyo could've even released a "St Freya semi-open world". Make a "Chapter 0" prologue that takes place in Nagazora when Mei awakens her Herrscher power and when she & Kiana meet Bronya. Then make a couple of short story missions mandatory in the Schicksal semi-open world, then lead that into Chapter 1. That way the Main trio gets a proper introduction and we're not thrown into an in-progress story with no proper beginning.

Then that Schicksal semi-open world could have been filled with all sorts of content that develop the early story without having to cram lots of stuff into the post-Selene events. Short slice-of-life stories in the St. Freya school days, little peeks at the past life of Himeko and Theresa, archive entries telling us more about Schicksal & St. Freya.

Players that want to advance the main story can do so almost right away, just with a bit of extra context going into the action. But old & new players alike could revisit this era of Honkai and learn more about these beloved characters, and the rest of the story could continue as-is without having to cram extra story arcs elsewhere somehow.

I've been thinking about all this stuff for months, hell maybe a couple years now. As someone who plays HI3rd, Genshin, and HSR, and enjoys all 3 games equally, I like to see how these games can all learn from one another. HI3rd has so, so much room to grow as a game and as a story experience, and Genshin & HSR provide a lot of examples of ways this can be done.

There's a lot of room to adjust the early story of HI3rd and add content without bogging down the pacing of the main sequence of events, just like Genshin & HSR have lots of side content like character stories, stuff that's important and enjoyable but also isn't part of the main story and doesn't get in the way of those events.

But as far as I can tell... none of this is ever going to happen. At least not anytime soon.

Part 2 is here, and the new UI is coming. We'll soon get introduced to a new cast of characters, and new stories will be told.

But I don't agree with the whole "let the past stay in the past" thing here, because these aren't finished stories. HI3rd has countless untold and unfinished stories already.

I think expanding on the stories of these characters and organizations will only improve the rest of the game.

Learning about Jackal's past will make her more than just a mustache-twirling villain that throws a tantrum when Senti breaks her toys.

Learning about Wendy will make her an actual character and not a shitty "look at this character and their sad back story, oh no they turned evil, oh no they died off-screen! how sad :(" character.

Learning about Himeko's past is obviously going to make her sacrifice feel more impactful. Final Lesson was already sad, but what if we had in-game story content that showed us what happened to her when her father died, and when she joined Schicksal? What if we got to witness her growth under Ragna's leadership and the way her life was changed when Ragna died?

All of these characters could benefit from a bit more backstory, even the Main Trio. Exploring these early stories would make HI3rd's setting feel so much more alive and thought-out. Not everyone cares that much about these characters, but Mihoyo has the power to give them a reason to care.

I know not everyone likes the way the Elysian Realm story played out, but I think nearly all of us can agree that the Elysian Realm did a great job at presenting the story of the Flame-chasers. We get archive entries that tell us key scenes of their past, and we interactions with them that show us their personalities. But so many other characters outside of the Elysian Realm get nothing like that.

Obviously implementing even some of these ideas would take a lot of time and effort. I understand why Mihoyo might've chosen not to address the early story, because for a given amount of resources they're gonna make more profit off of continuing to move on and make new characters and focus the story around them.

But knowing why things happen doesn't stop me from being disappointed about them. Even if Part 2 turns out positively, that won't fix all the broken things in Part 1.

As I write this, I'm listening to one of the Genshin OSTs from the Narzissenkreuz Ordo. Having finished that world quest series recently, I keep thinking about just how incredible that story was. The story of these characters and the tragedy they endured reminds me so much of the struggle of the Flame-chasers. But that was all side-content. It was unvoiced quests with minor characters with simple models. But they had so much life to them. They had interesting motives to push them through the story, and they had interesting connections with each other. The story of the Narzissenkreuz is just one part of the many intertwined stories of Teyvat, and it's a beautiful part.

And then I think about HI3rd, and I wish I could have this same experience with HI3rd, where I could think about the lives of these characters and their motives and the struggles they go through, but I just can't. Not without diving fully into the realm of fanfiction and dreaming up stories that give these characters the life they never got to live, and which they may never get to live in the canon of HI3rd.

All these seeds of stories that were planted years ago and neglected ever since. Never watered, never sprouting, never getting to see the sun.

[kyogre-blue]

I started act 3 of Inazuma but was quickly reminded that this is where it all falls apart. The NPC side questing stuff in acts 1 and 2 was often tedious, but it at least served a purpose, but making you captain of a squad? Having you fight random ronin, "investigate" some monuments? It's purely padding, and the stuff with Teppei is already racing ahead with absolutely no sense of pacing...

So I peaced out to explore Enkanomiya instead. I had opened it a long while back, but only progressed a bit of the main world quest chain. Now, it's at 100%, the shade quests are all done, and the key sigils are all used. As a result, I've also finished the Sacred Sakura's Favor.

Despite having all the islands except Narukami also at 100%, I'm a good ways off from buying out the sigil shop tho. I did get the furnishing I really wanted and finished my interior build though, and that's the important part.

When I explored Enkanomiya on my main, I was rather meh about it. I did it as it came out, and it felt like yet another dark, dreary, uninhabited place with lots of annoying climbing and holes where you couldn't see anything, like a good half of Inazuma before it. (btw, they didn't do any layered maps here either. They literally just did Sumeru because everyone must have complained, and Fontaine because of the underwater. The other old regions? lol who cares about them, amirite)

On the second go around, while I didn't enjoy Enkanomiya as much as Dragonspine, I did like it a lot more. It does have some extremely cool and striking visuals, and the sinshades really are a good touch. They tell some pretty interesting stories. I just wish this was somehow connected to the actual living characters we have. I liked both the older shades from Byakuyakoku's brutal history before the Orobashi and the newer shades from Enkanomiya's last day, talking about how they're going up to the surface. It's interesting that this was a place that was left behind purposefully. Not in a disaster, or from the population slowly wasting away like Sal Vindagnyr, but to move out into the light.

(It's really very interesting to compare the sinshades in Enkanomiya vs the lingering ghosts on Tsurumi after the fog is lifted vs the ghosts in Liyue. I still wonder what happened in Liyue to create the conditions for all those ghosts. We don't see that in any other modern nation.)

I also did some remaining world quests on the surface, for "Masanori" and Inaba Kyuuzou. It really reminded me of how full of potential 2.0 had felt, when Inazuma threatened to be going somewhere. The quests are very simple and short, but they have some actually pretty good character writing. Both these samurai guys are given very distinctive characterizations, and they portray pretty vividly the brutality of the war. "Masanori" also drops some interesting hints about Inazuma's society... But all this is ultimately aggressively wiped away in later patches, and by Sumeru, you can see how the writers have very decisively started aiming much lower.

(Hot take, but Sumeru's writing isn't particularly better than Inazuma's. It's just that Sumeru is ALL on the level of Inazuma's conclusion, so there's no sense of dissonance, like Inazuma having an interesting buildup that completely falls apart in the last act. Sumeru is just all bland, dragged out, surface-level time wasting the whole way through.)

But now there's nothing left to stall on. I have to do act 3, and then Ei's two quests, since that's required to unlock Ayato, Itto, and Thoma content.... sigh.

[monkeydoespride]

After the response on the Sal Vindagnyr post. I do hope the people of tumblr appreciate Tsurumi Island and the Moon Sisters more than reddit did. I personally believe this to be my best work so far and the low reception did hurt a little bit. Also please feel free to discuss and theory craft in comment and reblogs. I love reading about lore and especially off of stuff I wrote.

[niteshade925]

(SPOILERS for v1.2 Dragonspine lore)

New update, new lore, new speculations, here we go again.....

So it’s pretty obvious that a kingdom of sorts existed at the mountain.  The location names on the map include “Entombed City - Ancient Palace” and “Entombed City - Outskirts”.  There are ruins everywhere, stone tablets with symbols that I don’t think we have encountered in any other region, more visual motifs of Celtic knots patterns and the “petal” shapes popping up, more ruin guards, and more mentions of the “white tree” (I believe the official English translation of “cypress” is actually incorrect), which used to be mentioned only in loading screen text as the mysterious tree that grow throughout the continent of Teyvat and seems to be connected to the "Ley Lines". (Or maybe the tree IS the Ley Lines)

Of all the new stuff, there are a few quests and puzzles that were of particular interest and may suffice to tell the story of what happened way back then. These are the "In the Mountains" questline, the 8 stone tablets puzzle, the 3 boxes puzzle, the Frostbearing Tree, and the dragon tooth quest (the one that gives you the spear as reward). Let's start from the 8 stone tablets puzzle. There are 8 stone tablets (they look like the tablets you can find in Liyue, but these have symbols on them that I don't think we've seen in any other place so far.....but I'm not sure so please correct me if I'm wrong) in various places in Dragonspine, mostly near some sort of puzzle. Each can be read and gives a line of text that look like it's part of a longer whole. (They can be read in the "Ancient Carvings" page in the Genshin Impact wiki)

These 8 inscriptions can't be put together by themselves, but must be understood in the context of the "In the Mountains" quest and the 3 boxes puzzle. The 3 boxes puzzle requires 3 quest items, whose descriptions are below:

Now there's a clearer picture of the story. We have 4 characters: a priest/king (Varuch?), an unnamed princess, an unnamed record-keeper, and the outsider Imunlaukr. In the Dragonspine mountain there once existed a city surrounded by lush greenery named Sal Vindagnyr. The princess of the city had a dream of a black dragon (Durin) which was a sign of doom. Then along came Imunlaukr the outsider, who the princess apparently fell in love with. Imunlaukr posessed the sword that could cut apart ice and snow, also known as Snow-Tombed Starsilver. Then for reasons unknown, Imunlaukr left Sal Vindagnyr (according to the record keeper Imunlaukr "abandoned" the princess), and the Skyfrost Nail descended onto the mountaintop altar, thus turning the mountain into the uninhabitable frozen wasteland we see today. The king prayed to the gods in Celestia for guidance and tried to heal the Leyline/white tree, but the gods would not answer him anymore, and the tree withered. Eventually the king died on one of his trips to the altar. Meanwhile the princess tried to paint wall murals (presumably the ones found in the vault room that you can unlock with the 3 boxes; screencaps below; note the sky island Celestia and the worshippers carrying up offerings) depicting the winter disasterland finally melting away, but froze to death before she could finish.

The record keeper, the last person standing, became so disillusioned with the gods that before he died he cursed the whole world to doom by Durin. Eventually Durin did come along and was defeated by Barbatos and Dvalin. Durin fell into the mountain, becoming the giant ribcage seen in the northwest side of Dragonspine. Durin's powers persisted however, as evidenced by the pulsating red heart in the cave below the rib cage, the red crystals, and the crimson agate littered throughout the mountain. By the life-giving (?) power of Durin and the actions of our MC, the white tree came back to life as the Frostbearing Tree, now featuring red crystals growing out of its branches.

So this is the story I've pieced together from the clues. The interesting thing to note here is that Imunlaukr has been mentioned before, in the description of the Sacrificial Greatsword, but as the name of a clan rather than a single individual. Imunlaukr apparently also means "battle-leek" in Old Norse (please correct me if I'm wrong), and refers to some sort of sword. I have not found what "Vindagnyr" might mean.

Now the question is, why did the gods of Celestia drop the nail that doomed Sal Vindagnyr? Did it have something to do with the presence and/or actions of the outsider Imunlaukr? After all, Albedo did tell us that Teyvat is somehow naturally resistant to outside things, so much so that life from the outside cannot grow properly in Teyvat. Also it was hinted that Barbatos chased Durin into Dragonspine purposefully, so perhaps the white tree's revival was not a coincidence.

But regardless of the speculations and questions, one thing is clear at this point: there is definitely a developing theme of humans vs gods. In the travail trailer this is pretty much the theme throughout. In-game in the prologue this wasn't readily apparent, mostly because Barbatos was the god of freedom and didn't quite want to rule Mondstadt, thus there wasn't much room for conflict between him and the humans. In chapter 1 this becomes more important as there was some conflict between the Qixing and the Adepti over who should be the ones governing Liyue, but this was resolved as Morax stepped down and Madam Ping convinced the other Adepti to hand over control to the Qixing. And now we have stories of a whole city that froze because of a gigantic nail dropped by the gods in Celestia. I think we will see this conflict deepening as more of the story is revealed in later regions.

[mamichigo]

more vindagnyr au stuff

*

Albedo wakes up with frozen limbs and burning veins. His body is buried under several layers of snow, gathered through years of eternal winter. He crawls his way out with blunt nails and raw fingertips, the emulated breath in his chest standing still.

He breaks his shell to be greeted by a pure white world, and snow that falls like ashes. All he sees is a desolate land, and a crying dragon drawing its last breath--although its heart, strong and stubborn, beats alongside Albedo's own. 

He doesn't know it yet, but it's on the 17th of September that Albedo awakens a second time; the date is stamped on history books, the day when the Anemo Archon put a raging dragon to sleep under the unrelenting frost. The day when a doll found itself alive again. He makes a mental note of the date, and establishes it as his birth, the moment when chalk is sullied by blood.

Alone and surrounded by the ruins of Sal Vindagnyr, Albedo knows, despite his slumber, that there's nothing left of the nations that first brought him to life.

[elegyofthemoon]

this ask is your excuse to rant about the sal vindagnyr princess if you want <3

:) is gonna be long.

but i think several months ago i just realized that someone has translated the abyssal ruins language and i was having a fun time running around trying to transcribe ruins i'd run into in my spare time. there's one particular place in dragonspine that is my favorite and that would actually be the sal vindagnyr princess's room - one of the two hidden rooms up on the mountain. and this room just makes me think a lot

there's a lot of stuff prior to entering the room that you can get such as the princess's box. For example you get the prophetic dream that the princess had which leads to the fall of the Skyfrost Nail over the kingdom 

And then you get the Princess’s Box which is needed to unlock one of the hidden rooms.

A treasure box with a decorative pattern at the bottom. The ornamentation seems to be a part of a three-piece motif. Once the pattern is completed, a certain door may open.

"I'm afraid I can't finish the fresco".

"It's been a while since I last saw the blue sky and green grass. I don't know which hues to use to capture the landscape of thawing ice and snow that my father so longs for."

"By the time he comes back, everything will be back to how it was. But I can't take this cold anymore."

"Forgive me, Father. Ukko, I'm sorry you had to see us like this."

"Imunlaukr, I wish I could see you again..."

And then you finally come to the room itself and the room is painted wall to wall with depictions of Celestia — the same paintings that the Princess mentions in her note on the box. 

It’s here that there’s also texts that reads “IUVANT, ANGEJ/LI, FIDELES” and “ISCITE VOS VOLTIS SEI ACE”. I asked a friend to translate it for me and she translated it as “Help the faithful angels” or “Tribute to the angels” and “Look at yourselves.”

So with all this general background, here’s where my brain decided to just park for a little bit. We have a general timeline that what doomed Sal Vindagnyr to the hands of Celestia was the prophetic dream that the princess had of Durin. I couldn’t help but think again and again about the princess making these drawings in her final days. By then, there really was no hope for Sal Vindagnyr and I think a lot about the guilt she must have felt for having the dream that would end her people’s lives, even if it was completely out of her control. I can’t remember if these frescos are meant for another purpose, but it seemed like it was not just her decision to draw it but her father’s as well, but with the ruins that go along with the images, I started thinking that the frescos were meant to be a message back to Celestia. 

Based on the Priest’s box description too, the third image should have been about how the verdant kingdom of Sal Vindagnyr freezes over into the snowy mountain we know: a way to preserve the story of what happened to this kingdom. So I just get lost thinking about how in her final days, the Princess tries to make up for the guilt by sending a message back to Celestia some way: for Celestia to look at themselves for what they’ve done to her kingdom in these paintings.

"Once again I'll climb this peak looking for guidance. By the time I back down, my daughter will have finished the second painting."

"As long as the third one will be of thawing snow and ice, everything will be fine."

…But as the Princess’s box describes, even the drawings she is unable to complete before her death, and all she has left is her own desires as a person: the wish to see the outlander Imunlaukr one more time. 

Thing is though, Imunlaukr does return again to the kingdom, but by then the princess had already died. In the very same room we find these unfinished frescoes, we also see a forgotten “Snow-Tomed Starsilver” greatsword — the sword that Imunlaukr had used during his time. And just augh. 

Honestly, I think it’s just reflecting a lot on the general tragedy of the princess: the responsibility she held over the death of her kingdom and her attempts at a resolve only for that to fail, too. The final wish to see a loved one again and the devastation that her loved one would return too late. I think that’s kinda what I feel overwhelmed with when it comes to the princess’s story— 

…Literally all this to say “I decided to name the princess ‘Minette’ and she is mine now :)”. Mostly because of the ruins written outside of her room reads “VERE MINE” so “very mini” lol

Not that I plan to do anything with it (maybe.) I just kinda wish that there was more to her. I want to see what she was like when she was alive. I wanna see her relationship with the outlander Imunlaukr. Just. more please.

[rewovenfate]

@qucintly​ | call

dragonspine. tedious even in matters unrelated to his work, and yet, enjou was here on work. find some stuff from sal vindagnyr, the prince had ordered, and translate it for the purpose of some plans to be made there. enjou had tried to point out that it’d be best for someone to fetch those items and bring them back, buuuut that had earned him a glare and a snarky remark.

the prince was right though. he hated the cold. he had to use his lector form to combat it, and even then, it only did so much.

but what he hated MORE than the cold? pesky travelers who were known for interfering with the abyss’s work.

“look, considering i know you and the blonde have both been going back and forth between mondstadt and liyue, how about you just let me do my work, okay? i’ll even consider it a favor for the other outlander.” he didn’t want to get into a fight, but really, he was prepared for one if he had to.

[kyogre-blue]

AC mentioned that it’s hard to take Kaveh seriously as a genius architect, and I agree. 

To start with, he shares a setting with people like “Aberaku, Helios-Forger,” a dude who made an entire artificial sun AND the massive temple where its housed. We have ancient ruins that are still breathtaking, like Old Mondstadt, Sal Vindagnyr, Nantianmen, and absolutely everything in the desert. How can you even peep about building something amazing when you have the double pyramid next door? 

And that’s not even getting into more modern stuff like Ningguang’s Jade Chamber. 

But it also doesn’t help that Mihoyo really obviously just did not care to spend time making Palace of Alcazarzaray look particularly good. 

It’s actually a rather small structure, with one pavilion like we have for the teapot, one small side building, one slightly larger main building, and nothing else. It’s all in the same Sumeru main city style at that. 

Compare Alcazarzaray: 

To Pardis Dhyai: 

At least the Pardis Dhyai greenhouse is unique, and they even have much fancier gardens. But it’s definitely hard to tell that Alcazarzaray is supposed to be something outstanding from the way it’s rendered in-game. 

It’s really very unfortunate, since I like Kaveh and would love for him to actually live up to the hype. But alas. 

[kyogre-blue]

Ruin classification, part 2 (lol)

Continuing from yesterday’s discussion of the mysterious architecture style that appears in the Golden Apple Archipelago, I found a few more places. The current list: 

Former Ha’ar Islands

Thousand Winds Temple 

Nameless Island (of Wind and Time)

Cape Oath

Windrise

Dragonspine (Sal Vindagnyr) 

near Ridge Watch

around Sal Terrae 

Yaoguang Shoal 

Guyun

Shrines of Depth

I’ll tl;dr my thoughts on this spread: Basically, there are two options here. One is that these places were built by different groups and they all simply learned this style from some original ancient civilization. We currently won’t have enough info to tell anything about this “proto-civilization,” so that would be the end of it.  

The other option is there was some civilization that spanned the entire eastern coastline of Mond and Liyue. Here is trying to explain them one by one, as a kind of narrative: 

Starting at Mond’s north-east coast, Thousand Wind Temple was built to pray for a respite from the cold, and Sal Vindagnyr’s lore mentions that it was founded by those seeking refuge from “snow and strife.” This is tangentially supported via the Sacrificial series being the only other mention of Imunlaukr. 

Going down south via the coast, you reach Windrise and then Cape Oath. Cape Oath is possibly connected to Pilos Peak, and I am assuming the Archipelago has the remains from that, when Venti yeeted it. I can’t imagine what they were doing over there, but it’s bound to be a big deal. 

Onward, you hit Sal Vindagnyr. Perhaps you can consider them the core civilization, which would tie into the Shrines of Depth that closed up after it fell. 

Ridge Watch, Sal Terrae, and then Yaoguang Shoal would then be the immediately surrounding areas west and southward of Sal Vindagnyr (future Dragonspine).  

And then Guyun is the south-most aspect of all this, though... and extremely puzzling one. 

Moving on to the boring rows of screenshots as proof of how bored I was. Let’s start by reviewing the quirks of this style. 

Fancy archway, note the three-pointed “mora” symbol in the center of the knot:

Bottom of pillars: 

Pillars inside pillars: 

Rocks walls have texture: 

“Stained glass” wall decor: 

Ugly tiles:

OK, so let’s move on to the very puzzling gameplay function of this style, Shrines of Depth. 

Top and bottom pillars are present, window design very similar to the wall decor. 

But the lore for Shrine keys: 

These Shrines of Depths sealed themselves off when the civilization that built them was lost. Keys lost deep within domains are able to break the seals. Or perhaps that, for a moment, these keys help the seals to forget all that they have lost.

This is very hmm because Morax let this “civilization” build on top of Guyun, which was only created when he sealed up a bunch of enemy gods. And it’s not like those archways washed up on Guyun. They are very clearly part of the landscape. 

On the other hand, the same stuff is present in Thousand Winds Temple, and also the nearby Wind and Time ruins. These temples are described in the Sacrificial weapon set, which says they were built while the war between Decarabian and Andrius was going on. But this set otherwise talks about the founding families of New Mond, so it should have been too long before Decarabian’s fall.....?

The other location discussed before is Cape Oath, which is connected to the now defunct Pilos Peak. This is presumably what Venti yeeted out to the Archipelago... 

Other locations: 

Windrise! Same bottom of the pillars, and there is another nearby structure with the same columns. 

Before you ask, this is the only area next to a statue of the Seven to be like this. 

Dragonspine (or rather Sal Vindagnyr):

It’s all over the place, really. They even have lanterns in the same style, which I haven’t seen anywhere else. 

However, worth noting is that the Mural Room, and the Mural Room alone, uses styling more similar to the Domains and World Boss arenas. Here is both the three point symbol in the knot and the four point symbol of the domains: 

Near Ridge Watch: 

And then, this one was very strange, around Sal Terrae: 

Now, I’m not too sure whether Havria’s actual location would count? 

Havria herself is associated instead with these chalices: 

And the one-time domain from Zhongli’s ch1 had a completely different design style (more Liyue-leaning, I would say). 

This same style also appears on the shore nearby, on the side of Dragonspine: 

(There’s a whole bunch of pillars and arches, I’m just too lazy to add even more images.) 

Now, this adventurer fellow, Wenze, has some interesting dialogue: 

Wenze: Hello, are you also an adventurer searching for the Abandoned City?

Wenze: Oh, you haven't heard? Somewhere beneath these ruins lies an ancient abandoned city.

Wenze: Rumors of such a place have circulated for many generations at the Adventurers' Guild, but nobody has found it yet.

Wenze: These ruins were once a city, too. But it was probably abandoned long before even the Archon War.

Wenze: It is said that beneath those two trees are buried the bodies of the last king of the ancient city and his enemy, who was also his true love...

Wenze: They perished together, but their burial separates them for eternity.

Wenze: The two trees that grew above the ruins once everything had turned to dust stand, just like them, face to face but separated...

I can never figure out which two trees he means? None of the trees there are particularly impressive or obviously paired together?? 

However, this dialogue makes it pretty clear those ruins can’t be the same civilization that built Thousand Winds Temple or on Guyun, since those definitely do not predate the Archon War. 

Unless.... Mihoyo are reusing the distinctive architectural style.... 

They wouldn’t... right? Right??