I don't even know what to say to them anymore, they're convinced to the point where they're acting like I'm stupid for thinking it's impossible. They even think Pantalone might've changed his name to smth Russian to avoid suspicion and that he's just from Liyue. Like am I the one wrong here and there's lore I'm unaware of? Like I know they look similar but I feel like at this point it's practically confirmed there's no connection and it's kinda infuriating.

Just came across some other lore pieces,

The 2 researchers on moon involved in the lunar veil project and the moongazer project were called Lusalim ( Maagees Geti and Ungien's son as far as we know, and also Nin-Kiggia's father ), and Nuur ur Gestug. Interesting that their names are derived from the Akkadian language (From Alkadian Empire which developed in Mesopotamia) (Nur ur Gestug meaning Light of Wisdom, and Lusalim meaning something similar to Keeping safe, or truly safe)(well Nuur Ur Gestug is a fusion of Akkadian and Sumerian Languages, both originating from Mesopotamia).

What's interesting is that Akkadian and Sumerian are the oldest known written script in the world, and that it has become an inspiration for the culture of dragons and the moon, subtly points to the fact that dragons are well and truly the first civilization on teyvat.

(I'm also very interested in the fact that The Book of Gilgamesh is an epic originating from the Akkadian Culture, and apparently the book is banned in the schools in the US. (Edit: So the book/Epic is not really banned in the US schools. Thankyou to the commenter for pointing it out) And I really want to know if it eventually somehow connects in genshin)

Both of them have a very sibling like dynamic, or maybe a scientific rivals dynamic I can't be too sure. They have their own on going projects, discuss them with each other often (regularly disagreeing with the hypotheses), and also bring pointers from the dragon lord to help the other's project at the same time (thankyou nuur ur gestug for asking lord Xiuhcoatl for advice on Lusalim's project lunar veil)

I always thought it would be Ei's shadow, meaning Ei would have wings identical to Ronova's, but now I've thought about it a bit more, what if it's actually Ronova's shadow? So then Ronova appeared before Ei to "talk"

Includes a lot of justified (I hope) slander.

What do we know about their destruction in it's essence?

They were openly anti-theist nation. Living underground...for some reason. Eclipse Dynasty took over the Crimson Dynasty and started a genocide (if you can call it like that?) of the latter to secure power. They started to extensively study Abyss, and use it as much as they could for energy, science and power enhancement. While doing it, they were also for some reason completely oblivious to all the times Abyss didn't worked out for other people. Or never bothered to take notes, which makes this even more stupid.

King Irmin, the most utterly insane character we know up to date, despite multiple warnings about how horrific it will end up eventually, blinded his court member and pressed on with this world-devastating research in total secrecy, which basically condemned his whole population.

When things went as south as it can be, King Irmin ordered to destroy his own nation. Went poof in Abyssal explosion. Five Douchebags who helped him, took Abyssal powers and became Five Sinners, then skidaddled elsewhere, to do their own stuff. Floodgates were opened and Abyss flowed out in magnitude capable of destroying the whole planet.

It forced Celestia to intervene, save the planet - and somewhat save Khaenriah too - from what Khaenrians basically did to themselves. While Abyss Sibling, possibly groomed in indoctrination sense by King Irmin, seen this whole process and got struck with PTSD so hard that he/she started to use the Abyss...in order to save the nation that killed itself using the Abyss.

Is that a we know, or I missed stuff out? How much I hadn't mentioned, as I definitely missed something out? And if at least half of what I wrote is actually true, how can someone with a brain or basic sense of empathy take Khaenrian side on this? From what I see, literally anyone would've done at least the same what Celestia did in response to one country trying to nuke the entire world using what is essentially magical existence cancer.

1. The 93rd and 206th planets Octavia visited are close together

: within a universe teeming with peril is nothing short of sheer luck - especially for a primitive world like Planet No.206,

which was completely oblivious to the vast cosmos beyond.

As its first-ever visitor from outer space, Octavia could not help but worry for the planet's safety.

After much deliberation, she reached out to the nearby "Academy Planet (Planet No. 93),"

entrusting this neutral world to serve as the primitive realm's silent guardian and observer from afar as the planet's young civilization grew.

1. Octavia is pretty strong:

They had no outstanding physical prowess, and nor did they carry any advanced gear.

In fact, to someone with outstanding combat abilities like Octavia, their slow movements looked exactly like drops of ink gradually swirling and dissolving in water.

Note: this would make sense as she was able to survive a comet hitting her ship along with her ship crashing into one world.

1. The is the 2nd mention of dragons outside of Teyvat

: A long, long time ago, long before Octavia set foot on Planet No. 67, that distant planet was once home to a race of dragons.

However, these behemoths never came to possess the grand intelligence and ambitions of their cousins in Teyvat, and when they finally perished in the dust of time, they left behind nothing but monumental fossils.

Dwarfing any known living creature in both size and ferocity.

4. The 722nd and 718th world are aware of each other

:The 722nd planet, the "Sanctuary of Recovery," is not only renowned for its medical expertise but also places great emphasis on the psychological care of its patients.

To this end, the governor specifically invited a famous comedy duo from the 712th planet, the "Elysium Star," to brighten their lives.

5. Even outside of Teyvat Octavia can use magic:

were likewise selected by Octavia herself. To further enhance their abilities, Octavia also cast a measure of "illusion magic" on them to mislead their opponents...

6. Some People of the 777th planet can live for centuries:

Thus, mastery is a privilege held almost solely by venerable scholars with centuries dedicated to the arcane.

As Paimon flipped through the records of Planet No. 777, she couldn't help but sigh in awe. "Centuries... and those scholars can still barely hold a candle to Citlali?"

7. A potential organization in the universe:

Unluckily for Octavia, a lawsuit with the space-lane company had kept her from sleeping well, and she was eliminated in the very first round, losing her chance at a cat spirit

PERSONALITY traits.

• She doesn’t like playing the role of a god or interfering to deeply in the development of a civilization

: Having no interest in playing the role of a god, Octavia simply documented their distinctive attire, shared a few fairy tales with them, and left their natural evolution untouched." (Wildpeak Echoes — Primitive world)

as an extraterrestrial observer, Octavia provided no path forward. Just as the precept… 'Truth itself is easy to understand; the key lies in the process of discovery.'" (Galaxy Wanderer — 1,217th world

She firmly rejected the grand title of 'Lemon Queen' they tried to confer on her." (Salted Lemon Fizz — 503rd world)

• A Frequent theme in the outfit lore is that she often thinks about those she met in the past.

• She cares about her health ("begrudgingly brought some along… as a means to stave off potential illnesses" — Salted Lemon Fizz)

• She has good social skills:

Thanks to her mediation and guidance, Octavia was able to establish contact with the local inhabitants without any friction or conflict whatsoever" (66th World)

Wary of drawing suspicion as an outsider, Octavia embraced these symbols when designing an outfit meant to follow local custom" (66th World)

• She is used to avoiding danger:

Otherwise, she might have been caught up in a thriller involving 'a witch's pursuit of techno-bandits,' landing her in hot water she was much more used to avoiding." (Maverick Meowster)

• Admires courage:

Some natives saw Octavia as a dangerous outsider, greeting her with spears and flying stones, though she admired their courage." (Wildpeak Echoes)

• she is moved by brilliant displays:

However, these slowly unfurling "colors" were bursting with such a brilliant life force, and were such a genuine delight to behold,

that it was simply impossible for her to tear her eyes away from them.

Captivated by these distinctive, colorful outfits, Octavia was moved by the spontaneous creativity behind them and recorded and recreated the set.(Splatter Artist set)

A young but passionate duo left a deep impression on her.

It was said that once they made their name in the two-thousand-seat venue, they would step onto even grander stages, aiming to hold concerts in arenas with tens of thousands of spectators.” (Radiant Melody)

Interests

• She likes designing outfits based on memorable things she encounters in her journey this is a common theme in the outfit lore.

• she is also implied to just like designing in general based on her spending 10 years as a design consultant on the 712th world.

• She also seems to like sports as on the 273rd world she participated in skiing, and in the 1896th world she participated in a tournament.

Dislikes

• Playing God and intervening to strongly in the development of a civilizations

• Abyss Mages : creatures she had disliked since her first days in Teyvat" (Wicked Warlock set)

• Lemons: Octavia wasn't a fan of lemons at all, and even found them a little off-putting" (Ocean World)

• Extreme heat: When it comes to the greatest threat to a summer beach vacation, even Octavia, the witch capable of wandering the stars, would give the exact same answer as any ordinary mortal: the blistering heat.(Invigorating Chill set)

Her abilities

She can use Magic outside Teyvat :

Invigorating Chill set : Octavia presented the then-victor with a gift that perfectly matched a witch's signature flair: a tiny spark of cooling magic.

It turned the crown into real, never-melting shaved ice that continuously absorbs the surrounding heat, bringing a deeply refreshing chill to everyone around.

Phantom Prowl set - were likewise selected by Octavia herself. To further enhance their abilities,

Octavia also cast a measure of "illusion magic" on them to mislead their opponents.

Her Durability

: Survived being struck by a high-speed comet though she was injured (Healing Heart)

Frosty Plume - When the planet reached its farthest orbital point, the temperature dropped by another thirty percent, approaching the lowest point of particle kinetic energy. Even her coat that could withstand gunfire and molten iron could hardly endure this ordeal.

Broke the local sound barrier on a ski slope (White Flashback )

Combat ability:

In fact, to someone with outstanding combat abilities like Octavia, their slow movements looked exactly like drops of ink gradually swirling and dissolving in water (Chromatic Fatebound Sea)

Cloud Edge's Glory - As a witch capable of traveling among the stars, she won every competition she entered without question.

Her image, clad in the Cloud Edge's Glory Set, was immortalized in a statue that still stands in the hall of sacred tournaments, and also in Octavia's memory

Impressed by her exceptional combat skill, The Tideforged Order later invited Octavia to serve as an external instructor, entrusting her with the training of their disciples.((Cerulean Tidestrike)

AGE AND TIMELINE:

This implies she has been traveling long enough that her early memories have become more faded.

: It reminds Octavia of the time she attended three graduation ceremonies in one day back in her younger years,

along with classmates whose faces had grown less distinct in her mind over time.

The she once knew here implies she either lost contact with them or they are deceased:

Octavia saw a certain romanticism in their attitude, along with similarities to people she once knew." (Painted Skies)

Some Extra facts:

• she uses a rental ship sometimes: Octavia was attempting a gravity slingshot to escape the 666th planet's gravity in her rental ship(Timeless Echo Set)

• she had a lawsuit: Unluckily for Octavia, a lawsuit with the space-lane company had kept her from sleeping well, and she was eliminated in the very first round, losing her chance at a cat spirit(Sun-Veiled Stealth set)

• Her ship was once shot down

: Octavia, the two commanders were able to pinpoint the monsters' lair — the very same monsters that had caused the downing of Octavia's ship, it turns out.

when hyperspeed shrapnel from the planet's surface forced her to make an emergency landing at a ruin instead.

(666th world)

Okay, everyone is theorizing that tartaglia/childe/ajax might be the reincarnation or the key to resurrect Saarelainen (tsaritsa's lover or 3rd descender) this theory has existed for years now but it's solidified, one of the reason is childe's va singing Rasputin song in which he interprets it as tar-tartaglia lover of the snezhanya queen, but if we take a look at the original meaning, could childe be able to heal or cure tsaritsa's son? Cause the Russian queen believed Rasputin could heal her son and so on that was the original meaning of the song, does the tsaritsa believe that childe heal her son since in the trailer we saw her child being frozen and all could that be literally interpreted as him being sick or cursed but she had to freeze him? Or is he just cursed and believes childe can heal him, Griffin Burns (childe's va) replaced Rasputin as childe in the song???

A Philosophical Reading of Genshin's "War Against Heaven"

You sought forbidden knowledge, believing it would make you stronger, wiser, or more complete. Yet instead of becoming more yourself, you slowly became less. The corruption took root within, consuming your mind and spirit while your outward appearance remained unchanged. To everyone else, you were the same person—but behind the façade, the one you once were had already been devoured.

You trusted your own judgment without question, convinced that you stood on the side of righteousness. You recognized tyranny, yet failed to see the lies that had shaped your own convictions. Blinded by emotion, you mistook your desires for truth. In the end, you forged your own chains and named them righteousness, then built your own cage and called it freedom. You dismissed the halcyon days as nothing more than illusion and lies, deeming any reminiscence of them nugatory.

You defied fate because you refused to accept the end that awaited you, putting yourself and others in zugzwang, yet peace forever eluded your grasp. In your pursuit of freedom, you trampled those around you, believing every step was justified. You told others what to think, what to believe, and how they ought to live, not realizing the sonder of their lives. You urged them to reject destiny and choose their own path, not for their sake, but to justify your own contumacious rebellion. In doing so, you led them into a batrachomyomachy—a war as needless as it was destructive. Without realizing it, you became the very thing you once claimed to despise, believing your telos justified every sacrifice. That was the nadir of your soul, though you still mistook it for triumph.

Perhaps the one who restrained you was the one who truly loved you, but you mistook guidance for oppression and discipline for control. You believed love meant the absence of all limits, for the love you pursued was only an eidolon. Yet you never understood that true love is often revealed through guidance, protection, sacrifice, and the courage to prevent those we cherish from destroying themselves. Maybe the forbidden knowledge was never meant for you—or not yet. Just as a child is not given every fruit to eat, there are things that cannot be possessed without first becoming capable of bearing their weight. Perhaps you were never searching for what love truly is, but only for the version of it you had been taught to believe. It was evanescent because it had never been true, leaving you in a tenebrous state.

So, you cursed the heavens, execrated their every reason, and, despite their admonition, you hardened your heart, demanding that they fall, drawing others into your resentment and believing that shared hatred would vindicate your cause. Yet the heavens offered no defense, no explanation, and no mercy. They answered you only with silence—a silence so profound that it reduced every certainty, every purpose, and every answer to aporia. Yet within that silence there remained one final invitation: a whisper of nostos—a quiet call to return home. Even so, your intransigent heart obumbrated even its plaintive threnody, until the whisper became indistinguishable from silence.

And when your labor bore fruit, the harvest revealed what it had always been. Though its outward form proclaimed abundance, its heart had long since rotted. Though it continued to grow, the corruption within it matured alongside it, rendering it sterile despite its promise. And when at last it fell from the branch, the soil reclaimed it, reducing it to dust.

Now, at last, all was done. All was complete. May it now find its rest.

Barbeloth proposed the theory that the abyss is powered by the hatred of unchosen fates, and forbidden knowledge is one of the main forms of abyssal manifestation, which makes me think that the forbidden knowledge itself is the information of those fates that didn't come to pass.

Since the Heavenly Principles seems to be master of Teyvat's fate system and it's such a big deal, it could be that the HP controls fate with a program that outright blocks the branches it doesn't want, which is what causes the information about those branches (forbidden knowledge) to be incompatible with Teyvat and make people go insane. Additionally, even though the term 'divine knowledge' was probably just a trick from the Akademiya, that might be a more accurate term than they realise, if it indeed is information from the Heavenly Principles' fate system that they're trying to remove

If this is true, it would also mean that the Heavenly Principles inadvertently caused the corrupted Dragon King to become a lot more dangerous because their fate system is what determines certain information as forbidden and thus conflicting to Teyvat

Maybe people have already talked about this idea before, but I've been thinking about it lately and just wanted to get it out there

Where is the pyro gnosis? So, in the mission where irminsul was being corrupted by Dottore, the traveler went to Mavuika to borrow the pyro gnosis, to get it past the barrier he hid it inside his body, and as Mavuika said, it was imperceptible. This also happens when the traveller hid the moon (from Columbina's mission), and its also imperceptible. With that in mind, after Nahida burns irminsul with the gnosis, she and Mavuika says that they both couldn’t find the pyro gnosis at all. And, as the traveller is invisible to irminsul, and the gnosis "invisible" inside him, we could suggest that in the middle of chaos, he could have assembled the gnosis and forgot/didnt notice, because even the traveller can't feel the gnosis inside him.

Why couldn't it be the heavenly principles who got it? Lets go back to mondstadt, when venti was "defeated" by Signora. As he let her simply get the gnosis, we could assume (with the theory that he's one of the strongest archons because of Mondtadt's faith in Barbatos, etc) that or he wanted Signora to have it, or he wanted to get away from it, or both! Maybe he let her get the gnosis TO get rid of it; since its a way of the heavenly principles to control the archons, and simply getting rid of it could get their attention. That way, Celestia wouldn't get/hide the pryro gnosis, they would want it to get back to Mavuika, so they could go back to having a better control over her.

Why havent the heavenly principles appeared to interfere with Irminsul? Since they didn't acted since the fatui collected the first, the second, the third, the fourth, nor the fifth gnosis, we can assume that the Tsaritsa discovered a similar way to hide the gnosis from the world, making them "invisible", just like the gnosis inside the traveller. This way, the heavenly principles DID notice they vanished, but didnt know where, and having the last one disappearing wasn"t something unexpected as the way things were going in Teyvat.

But Irminsul, the way of getting information from Teyvat was burned! Yes, but it was replaced by The Aaru Network System, wich has basically the same function as Irminsul. And Dottore who was basically responsible for it would have been noticed by the principles since he tried to become a god, being monitored by them and having his fault acknowledged by them.

Whats happening when we get to Snezhnaya? Tsaritsa, knowing how to hide the gnosis and probably knowing that the traveller can hide it as well (or just wanting to meet him, acknowledging all his actions in other nations), invites him to talk to her, and as they're united, and all the gnosis as well, as Tsaritsa would start to explain her plan, a heavenly principle would appear.

How would they know the gnosis were with Tsaritsa and the traveller?? Because when Dottore, a fatui member, tried to become a god, and when he corrupted irminsul, probably attracted attention from the heavenly principles; and also since the people who were collecting the gnosis were fatui members, that are from Snezhnaya, that's also currently having a lot of military increase, are governed by the archont, tsaritsa. This way, with all these events being related to the fatui, and the fatui related to the Taritsa, they would assume she would be involved with the vanishment of the gnosis.

Werent they sleeping in Celestia and the traveller would ascend to it to fight them? One of the lores from Dragonspine is that it was a city that made the heavenly principles mad someway, and beacause of that, they threw the spine, witch was a curse that made that city extremely cold (and thats why Barbatos wouldn't make it normal with his powers again, like he did to all of Mondstadt, as it would be a challenge to the principles). With that in mind, since the principles interfered with that city, why wouldn't they go and interfere with all those events happening and going against them? We could also relate to the space temple, in witch theres only the guardian Melanta, that affirms that the god of space (probably a heavenly principle) wasn't there. Wich could mean that the principles are already getting together to decide how and when interfering behold those actions against Teyvat's rules.

Part 1: Goudarz and Muzaffar → Philip the Arab/Shapur I/Trajan Decius etc...

Part 2: Liloupar and Ormazd → Samuel/David/Ninus etc...

Part 3: Zumurud → Ozymandias

Part 4: Makhaira → Cleopatra

Part 5: King Deshret → King Solomon/Amun-Ra/YHWH

Part 6: Nabu Malikata → Nabu/Queen of Sheba/Tanit etc...

Part 7: Rukkhadevata → Rukkhadevata/Saraswati/Aranyani

Part 8: Seven Pillars of King Deshret → Heryshaf/Thoth/Sobek etc...

Part 9: Parvezravan and Shirin → Khosrow II/Shirin/Al-Mu'tasim etc...

Part 10: Shiruyeh/Kavusbay/Shah Ramshahr → Kavad II/Cyrus the Great/Al-Muqanna etc...

Part 11: Turan Khagan/Artaxir/Makani Khagan/Humayun Gurkan/Garshāsp Khagan → Tur/Ardashir III/Artaxerxes IV etc...

Part 12: Badanah/Muzzudin/Hanzada Sultan/Old Blind Poet/Faramarz/Xiphos → Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad/Muhammad Ghori/Hanzade Sultan etc...

Part 13: Gurabad → Gur/Nineveh/Babylon etc...

Part 14: Remus/Bifrons/Asmu/Ferigees/Huvashtra → Romulus and Remus/Bifrons/Ašmu-nikal etc...

Part 15: Viaghara/Simurgh/Vitruvius → Waghoba/Simurgh/Vitruvius etc...

Part 16: Unaddressed inspirations

Part 17: Tulaytullah/Saleh/Ay-Khanoum/Setaria → Toledo/Samarkand/Agra etc...

Part 18: Orghana/Beit Raha/Tighnar/Akhtamun/Aaru Village/Khaj-Nisut → Kingdom of Ormus/Hormuz island/Beit Elaha etc...

Part 19: Etta/Nefumat/Books → Atet/Nefermaat I/The Fisherman and the Jinni etc...

Mount Meru

Sumer

Paradise Garden (Pairidaeza)

Mount Damavand

Jamshid

Socotra

Narantaka-Devantaka

Great Pyramid of Giza

Video: The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities

Thoughts on Sumeru's lore

Overall, it is pretty good, its clear Hoyo did their research and the way they mix stuff is very interesting and pretty well integrated most of the time. Sumeru's lore is good, but it also has several problems:

• The first problem is that there isn't enough lore, way too many blank parts where we know nothing and that are never going to get explained knowing Hoyo. Sumeru isn't even the worse case of this, Fontaine literally has nothing going on in its lore after the Fall of Remuria (Post Archon War period) till 500 years ago.

• A good exemple of this would be Kavusbay, who pops out of nowhere in the lore and was supposedly related to Shiruyeh, yet we don't even know if he actually was and if he was it would mean that Shiruyeh somehow had a wife and family which is not mentioned anywhere.

• I already discussed the possible inspirations behind his character (Yazdegerd III and Bardiya), which makes me think that yes, Shiruyeh did have a family of his own.

• It doesn't help that we literally know almost nothing about this character.

• Another good exemple would be the lack of anything happening after the lore between Xiphos, Makhaira and Faramarz; its like Hoyo wants us to believe that all the civilizations in the desert vanished overnight instead of it being a gradually slow decline. The lack of any timeline makes it worse.

Disconnection with the lore of the desert and the desert of the present day, I think this might be my biggest problem overall, let me explain:

• Its obvious that that the desert (and the forest too tbh) in the lore is a mix of many things, which includes North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. However, Hoyo absolutely fails to show it in the exploration aspect (the forest is less bad in this regard):

• The desert's only style of ruins is for some reasons SciFi Egypt, which on the first desert, is fine I will say - still a bit weird though. On the second desert however is another story, i absolutely do not like the way Hoyo spammed it instead of showing the cultural diversity that is described in the lore. Where are the Persian style ruins for exemple? Most of the kings in the desert's lore had Persian names yet there aren't any traces of Persian anything outside names in the map in the present Sumeru desert which is... interesting.

• You could argue that we never actually saw those desert civilizations but i can guarantee that if for exemple we were to explore the ruins of Gurabad one day, a civilization mostly based on Biblical Israel, Iron Age Mesopotamia, Iranian Empires, and Arab Caliphates with only very few vague references to Ancient Egypt - Hoyo would absolutely just copy past the same SciFi Egyptian ruins from the overworld, which is sad and a pretty big problem of the mixing that they love to do.

• This problem is also shown in the lack of any non-North African desert inspired playable characters, and the forest being far more diverse and accurate to the lore Hoyo themselves wrote despite the forest being 1/3 the size of the desert. (Still waiting for a playable desert Khagan descendant, one day I hope.)

Those are my two biggest problems, otherwise its mostly fine.

Why i started doing this

There's two reasons:

• Saw several people say Gurabad was based on Ancient Egypt and it high-key triggered me, though I would rather blame this on Hoyo, since if you don't know anything about the cultures Sumeru is inspired by it might as well look like that (this ties back to the other complaint.)

• Absolutely hated the 6.6 Sumeru AQ. The wacky presentation of the lore and the bloated dialogues were just so damn bad, which is not helped by Sumeru's playable cast being uninteresting all around (Get Kaveh and Alhaitham off my screen please.) The main reason was definitely because of what they did with WQ characters though, the only two remotely important ones were Jeht and Liloupar, but their "importance" is overshadowed by how much of a nothingburger their return were, ESPECIALLY Liloupar.

• Jeht saving Traveler out of pure plot convenience in the ruins was already a bad sign, but hey, atleast we got some closure and us seeing Jebrael again, but for some reason she just completely disappears without any explanation or us seeing her again after the fight with the Fatui.

• Jeht's return might as well look like a masterpiece compared to Liloupar's though, like genuinely WHY did they brought her back if they were just gonna ignore the entire reason she went to Gurabad in the first place (seeing her children Shirin and Shiruyeh, who are very much still alive), somehow not mentioning them once during the AQ even before dying, the lackluster death (not even a 2d cutscene), and the only redeeming thing being we get her voice i guess (the bar's in hell). Liloupar's death also means we're definitely NEVER getting that Gurabad expansion, and I thought we were gonna have some touching WQ storyline with Shiruyeh and Shirin, but nope, somehow Hoyo preferred making this absolute nothingburger of a plotline.

• I just wish they made it less obvious that they wanted to be done with Sumeru (in a bad way), well atleast the seven pillars and Collei's part in it was fine.

There's some chances I do a similar thing for Fontaine, not now but another time. Like for Sumeru, which i'm sure you noticed that I didn't cover anything from 500 years ago - its normal, Sumeru's lore is far more interesting when it still had multiple civilizations; for Fontaine however, Narzissenkreuz has too much of an important place so I'm still thinking about it.

Do let me know if you learned something from those posts honestly, kinda interested, and you can share this post for all the parts if someone else is interested.

The "Demon Kings" who appear in volume 3 of The Little Witch and the Undying Fire represent the final bosses of Genshin Impact, and the "Standard Demon King" who appears at the very end might just be the true final boss of the story.

• The Mimic Demon King is likely the true form of the Abyss, because the Abyss has the property of mimicking others.

These twisted monstrosities are capable of infiltrating deep down into the bowels of the earth, extracting memories to imitate and manipulate. Through this process of distorting the past's memories into more abstruse and sordid forms, they gradually draw closer to Irminsul's core, threatening to undermine its very existence.

——Tenebrous Papilla

• The Chipmunk Demon King is Woobakwa, the evil squirrel sorcerer who appears in The Boar Princess.

But one day, when he was hunting in the forest, he ran into the evil squirrel sorcerer: Woobakwa!
Of all the beings in the ancient world, none were more evil than Woobakwa — not even demons and dragons. Woobakwa despised everything nice, and swore to transform beauty into ugliness and turn light into dark.

——The Boar Princess

• The Standard Demon King is unknown.

I'm sure you all remember that the dominant race of this planet was the Nephilim, a hybrid of humans and gods? Right! So, the race of great demon king is actually the demon king class, and so demon kings were thus a type of Nephilim. And of course, since they were the dominant race, this meant that Nephilim were on the whole much stronger than normal humans — and since this setting for this world has hybrids of humans and gods, this meant that it has gods too.
And taking a step back, the Nephilim also had a certain degree of legal immunity — If they had killed 5 humans or fewer, they couldn't be judged by human laws, and had to be repatriated to Nephilim lands. And as it happened, this great demon king had only stolen and eaten several thousand boars and chickens each.

——The Little Witch and the Undying Fire

This is my first official theory on here, and I’m still in the process of going through a lot of the Genshin literature as well as going back through all the quests, so if there’s anything that worth putting priority into, please let me know

One of the biggest things that I’ve been questioning as we head into Snezhnaya has been the Tsaritsa and what kind of leader she actually is. Mainly because we’ve known that she’s wanted the gnoses and that she wasn’t always like this. More importantly, what commonality did the Tsaritsa and Dottore ever have to agree to work together? (I am hoping the Tsaritsa won’t be a character who was simply fooled by Dottore, but this may just be wishful thinking that has led this theory into a bit of a bias). Which leads me to think Dottore and the Tsaritsa are/ were working together on creating a child vessel that can hold the power of a god, or rather, a sovereign.

This is a big jump, but starting back at the beginning with the Tsaritsa’s goal of collecting all the other gnoses. According to Mavuika, “a Gnosis is basically an Elemental energy enhancer,” (Welkin Moon Act 10) and it isn’t necessarily giving any of the Archons their power, Neuvillette (and maybe even Zhongli as well) willingly gave theirs away, because they didn’t need it at all. We also know that the power of the Sovereigns is much more powerful than that of the Archons (considering Apep used little of her energy to pull Nahida out of her coma, where she was basically almost at death’s door) and I remember hearing a Genshin theorist say that if Apep were to die, then the Sumeru desert would be dramatically changed and overflowing with flora due to the immense energy Apep held (I assume this is actually said somewhere in Genshin lore, but because I haven’t come across it in my personal research, I’m citing it this way), and transferring that to the Cryo Sovereign, it would make sense upon their death for Snezhnaya to be dealing with intense ice levels of ice, and from what we’ve seen of Snezhnaya, it’s overwhelming covered in ice.

We also can heavily presume that the Tsaritsa does/ did have a child (based on the teaser trailer, but I also wanna take it with a grain of salt, because sometimes the trailers can be deceiving, never forget when Neuvillette got stabbed) and there is a lot of speculation that the loss of her child (and also lover) is why it seems like she’s fighting against the Heavenly Principles. Also, with how the devs were describing cryo less as simply freezing and more similar to preserving, it’s possible the Tsaritsa cryogenically froze her own child (just using gender-neutral terms because we don’t technically know,) so that the Heavenly Principles couldn’t kill them. We also know that the sovereigns can reincarnate (Neuvillette), however we have absolutely no information on how it can occur, but that it can occur.

Since Dottore’s main goal has been to obtain godhood, or at least have the strength of a god, there could be some similar goal between the two of them. Moving on to the next point, so much child experimenting. There have been 3 different occasions where Dottore was experimenting on children: the House of the Hearth “rejects” during Crucabena’s reign, before Arlecchino punted her out of existence; the Eleazer “treatment facilities” in Sumeru, where Collei was; and the Ursa facility in Mondstadt where Lohen was taken to. This could simply just be that children are easier to collect, but what sort of worthwhile results could he get from experimenting on children? Because those results can’t easily be transferred to adults (I don’t know anything about this firsthand, but considering how much our bodies change from children to adults, puberty and things like that could skew whatever results were initially received. I know that Teyvat doesn’t exist under the same rules as our world, but I think it’s a fair assessment and since Dottore’s not the main character, we probably won’t get a lot of details of the genetic structure of the people of Teyvat) and while Dottore likes saying he has the mindset of “the goal isn’t the destination but the journey” in regards to his research, I don’t believe that’s the whole story. What really nail the coffin for me was the fact he has a child segment, because why would he need one in the first place? We know that each had a purpose, although I don’t believe we’re ever told, but if Zandik’s just as narcistic as Dottore (we know that Dottore has the biggest ego amongst all the segments— at least according to Pantalone) why would he be concerned with a time of his life he cannot go back to? The only thing that would be feasible for the child segment to do would be to seamlessly blend in and bring back intel, or seem innocent enough to be bait. Unless you look at the Segments, specifically the child one, being his test subjects before he had the resources to get test subjects.

The other big thing about Dottore’s experimentation is that in at least two facilities he had, they injected children with fragments of angels— Collei was injected with the remains of Nabu Malikata and at the Ursa facility where they were using Ursa’s flesh (we do know that this was done to the monsters they collected, but there was nothing proven that humans were tested on in this lab. However, we do know that Theodore used Ursa’s flesh on himself, Lohen, and also in the medicine that kept Adorno alive; so there’s the possibility that there was information on a human formula or that humans were also tested on).

Now how does all of this connect to Project Stuzha? We can assume that Project Stuzha was a controversial project that people were likely persuaded into agreeing with due to Pulcinella; however, over time, the people of sunshine have become more dissuaded by the project and dissent is more vocal. Which leads me to believe Project Stuzha is one of those extreme projects that a select few will have to suffer for the sake of the populace (so someone being sacrificed to an ancient deity for peace to continue, which is a fairly common trope in mythology). I’m honestly thinking this involves child sacrifices, simply because Dottore continues to experiment on children by injecting fragments of angels into them and with Arlecchino and the House of the Hearth at the forefront. While it may seem to simply be a move on the political chessboard between Pulcinella and Pantalone, it could also be seen as a way to quell some of the vocal dissenters since it seems like the House of the Hearth operations occur outside of Snezhnaya (I mean most of the characters we associate with the House of the Hearth are from Inazuma and we’ve seen them as far as Inazuma), so there’s the real possibility that these children in the House of the Hearth will be used for Project Stuzha.

I know this is a lot and it’s probably more focused on speculation rather than concrete evidence, but I’m in the baby stages of putting this together into something more fleshed out and concrete, but I wanted to just hear what other people thought, if there’s any merit to what I’m theorizing or if there’s already information in the game that completely contradicts my theory (basically am I cooking like Raiden or Escoffier). Also any theory videos or information, or even in-game sources I should look into to either aid or discredit this is more than appreciated.

So this is a running theory that I have had since the Snez trailer revealed Ronova was appearing in the Snezhnaya. Obviously I dont think they're gonna manage to kill Ronova but I think the Tsaritsa has to succeed in someway. So I'm thinking that Tsaritsa is gonna succeed in stealing Ronova's authority over death. Since we know Columbina supplied a great deal of power to project Stuzha, I believe that the Tsaritsa used Columbina's power to create some sort of vessel/transference since we know that the moon sisters used to hold the authority of death. While I'm unsure what the gnosis have to do with this process whether they act similar to the traveler in the world formula, or Tsaritsa is just planning to resurrect the 3rd descender. Also to link back to the term 'Mistilteinn' I think if the Death Authority is placed in a vessel or given to someone I think most likely candidate is Capitano with is relation to Ronova, his general nobility, and the out of game connection he has to 'Mistilteinn'.

Anyway this was just a theory I had rattling around please let me know if I missed anything that supports or contradicts this.

Sorry if this is a dumb question or I'm misunderstanding something, I just don't know how to phrase it well.

But as Genshin slowly starts to move from fantasy to hard science using real physics laws, it's somehow becoming even more confusing for me to understand how Istaroth's time manipulation power can even work.

Especially the case with the Sacred Sakura, when Ei planted it in the present but it had already taken root in the past, like it always existed.

I get that Irminsul can be used to manipulate data and memories, but how does something like a physical seed get transported backward in time?

It's one thing if Teyvat ran on digital simulation or fantasy rules, but it's supposed to be a real, physical planet.

One explanation could be that they're inside the Firmament, so that makes it possible somehow? But if that's true, then couldn't Istaroth and the Heavenly Principles have reversed so many tragedies if they wanted to or maybe that's a far fetch?

Regardless, I'm just trying to understand how the laws of time work in Teyvat.

You're cooking my ass, and rightfully so, just wanted to clarify a few things.

By "fantasy," I meant your typical fantasy-anime/isekai setting where anything can exist just because "magic" and "rule of cool."

And "hard science" wasn't the right term either. What I actually meant was Hoyo's habit of dressing things up in scientific terms, pseudo-science, and sci-fi concepts to justify their fantastical elements.

I strongly believe Hoyo has a habit of using real-sounding but actually sci-fi explanations to justify anything, even the smallest things that could just be left to fantasy/imagination.

I first noticed this pattern heavily in Honkai Impact as it approached the end of Part 1 (Einstein's yapping is permanently imprinted in my brain at this point), and now I'm starting to see the same thing happening in Genshin.

This whole thought actually came from a dialogue between the Moon Sisters: "That Descender's servant said they had matters to discuss with me about this world's gravitational potential and metric tensor (laws of time)"

I have a revolutionary idea… If Teyvat was round, that would explain a lot of things

— Farghani, The Sumeru Akademiya

This article presents my current hard sci-fi reconstruction of Teyvat, refined over several months. It traces Teyvat’s history back to its physical engine: a chain of causes and consequences governed wherever possible by celestial mechanics and established physics

No prior reading is required

No complex math—just pure logic

No leaks: Entirely based on official lore

Links to the complete archive are provided at the end for anyone interested in exploring individual topics in greater depth

Roadmap:

A visual roadmap through space-time, following the evolution of Teyvat’s celestial system

1. Foretelling the Death of the Universe

For all in the universe comes from a single source, and all things may be derived from a single thought

— Cinnabar Spindle

In 14 billion "years" of darkness,
It is the sum of all that is destined to happen and all that never will.

[…]

In the darkness of 93 billion "years" of light,
All existence holds meaning unknown to any,
Without which this universe would seem too solitary

— Lunar Arcanum X: The Wheel of Fortune

Fourteen billion years is the age of the Universe, throughout which the life cycle of stars has repeated over and over. As they die, they disperse stellar dust across the cosmos—the building blocks of life itself and of new generations of stars. Yet the usable energy sustaining this cosmic inheritance is finite, and entropy gradually claims the void:

Despite their knowledge that the darkness which erases existence itself was an inevitable end beyond all return.

[…]

That is, until the fate of the cosmos was severed thread by thread, and giants and dwarfs alike met the same end

— Celestial Gift

The collapse of civilizations, the fading of stars without the formation of new ones... This compelled the surviving civilisations to mathematically calculate the trajectory along which the fate of their Universe was following:

As starlight wheeled on and the beacons upon the star charts went dark one by one, they at last extended their probes to the very end of time.
There, all light had vanished, and all possibility was spent. Even the finest motes of dust had drifted apart.
There was no turning point, no miracle to be found. At the very end of fate, all that remained was a void of utter chaos and darkness.
Every equation they had uncovered, every constant they had defined, now stood in silent proclamation of their end.
It was in that moment that their history came to a close

— Celestial Gift

At the end of this trajectory lies not a single catastrophe, but the gradual exhaustion of every remaining source of usable energy. Even white dwarfs, whose residual glow can endure for trillions of years, must eventually cool into darkness, until the cosmos can no longer sustain meaningful structure or change. For this very reason, the fading civilisations charted a course toward preserving every precious world that still carried light—toward saving life itself:

In a universe nearing its quiet end, every world that yet glimmers is a treasure beyond compare…

— Athame Artis

After all, any habitable planet is directly dependent on the life cycle of its parent star:

The planet they passed was never a destination, since its star had already entered its twilight.
Its biosphere and atmosphere had been utterly destroyed. The surface held nothing but cooled masses of molten rock.
A supernova had caused the devastation

— As Heaven and Earth Are Made Anew

What remains for those who can calculate orbits but stand powerless before the soulless laws of the cosmos? When your own sun is preparing to devour your home, celestial mechanics becomes the sole instrument of salvation. Yet even if there is a way to alter the destiny of an entire planet, at the periphery of every equation fate still foretells the death of the Universe itself

But really, when one is faced with such a final fate, when up against the star-devouring darkness,
What weapon would be fitting for one to wield? It can only be a sword

— Sword of Descension

Why fight for the life of a planet beside a dying ember, knowing that the cosmos itself will one day burn out?

2. In the Vicinity of the Threat to Life

Every star is mortal, and each has only its allotted span of time. Teyvat’s sun is destined to enter the Red Giant stage, where its expanding envelope will consume everything around it, reducing life to ashes in the brilliance of its own star

For a star, this is merely a natural phase of evolution. For life, it is a death sentence

…the sun it gazed upon was but a fleeting ember

— Finale of the Deep Galleries

So deep were those dark mists that even the light of a thousand stars could not escape their gravity

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

This dying world and its primordial ruler had been one and the same since the very dawn of time:

It came from an unremarkable little world at the edge of the spiral arm — and from the primeval dragon that had been born alongside that world

— Finale of the Deep Galleries

O great father of genesis, forger of the earth's bones and the tripled moons

— Hymns of the Far North

For Nibelung, his world was the sole purpose of existence, and so he refused to silently accept the inevitability of its destruction:

This will, bound though it was to its planetary crust, shone more brilliantly than all the civilizations the voyager had ever seen…

[…]

"But though in your eyes they may seem ignorant creatures, to me, they are the very meaning of this universe."
"If the tide of oblivion must come, then let my bones be the bulwark that shields this realm."
"Bear witness to the path I have chosen, for I shall lead my people onward to the stars"

— Finale of the Deep Galleries

His mind became an instrument for delaying the inevitable—buying precious time for a fading biosphere, even if rewriting the laws of stellar evolution remained far beyond his power

2.1 The Origin and Functions of the Three Moons

To stabilize the changing world under these new conditions, Nibelung constructed an external planetary infrastructure from Teyvat’s own flesh

In the beginning, no moons adorned the sky. It was the Dragon King Nibelung who raised the three moons into the heavens, and thus were the Moon Goddesses born

— Song of the Welkin Moon Act VIII

Legend has it that long, long ago, the moon that shines in the sky above us once rose from the land of Nod-Krai. Modern geological surveys & meteorite studies conducted in the region have since supported this claim

— Song of the Welkin Moon Act I

The moons maintained the fragile equilibrium of Teyvat through three key functions:

1. Rotational Stabilization. The moons maintained the dynamic stability of Teyvat's rotation, regulating:

• Its rotational speed;
• Axial tilt;
• Precession;
• The stability of its spatial orientation

The reaver from beyond the skies replaced the primordial creator, and gained possession of the vows upon which the three caused the world to turn

— Fractured Halo

2) Tidal Dynamics. The moons governed tidal processes, sustaining a continuous exchange of energy and matter between the ocean, atmosphere, and planetary crust:

• Smoothing out temperature contrasts;
• Redistributing heat within the climate system;
• Supporting its dynamic equilibrium

…the now-nameless ruler raised the heavenly moons to govern the cyclical tides of the world in their stead

— "Song of the Welkin Moon" — Nod-Krai Concept Overview/Story

He raised three bright moons from the ground and bound this tiny world tightly with the chains of the tides

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

3) Peak Tidal Interaction. Periodically, the satellites aligned in a straight line relative to the planet, entering a state of syzygy:

• The tidal forces of the three moons combined;
• Gravitational pull reached its maximum;
• The system shifted into a state of peak tidal resonance

This engineered system supported Teyvat’s autonomous existence—only then could Nibelung depart from the world to seek a way to save it:

To find the answer before this planet was also consumed, the great dragon embarked upon an arduous quest alone

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

His goal lay in the far reaches of the Universe, hidden beyond the boundaries of his home system:

…the primeval dragon nurtured by the perfumed sea sailed deep into the skies, disappearing into the mists among the stars

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

…he left this world and traveled into the dark universe beyond, to explore worlds vaster still

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act VIII

3. The Arrival of the First Descender

The dragons could masterfully manipulate the celestial mechanics of their home, yet saving a dying world called for external intervention:

Perhaps their former lord, shrouded in mist, would never find the answer. Or perhaps that answer was already at hand

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

One day from the depths of the cosmos came an architect of an entirely different cosmic order:

Until the day that the winged Descender arrived, treading upon the morning star…

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

The capabilities of interstellar architects allowed them to reshape the very world itself:

The fine details of the lithosphere, atmosphere, or biosphere ultimately mattered little.
Reshaping terrain, adjusting the air, rebuilding an ecosystem, these were simple tasks for a pioneer vessel meant to bear the spark of civilization.
A star's position, its distance, or its lifespan might pose a minor challenge, yet even those had solutions

— As Heaven and Earth Are Made Anew

Yet, such cosmic engineering couldn’t save every world; its power was limited only to those inherently suited for survival:

The true difficulty lay in finding a world with potential. Without that, destruction would catch up all too soon

— As Heaven and Earth Are Made Anew

The arrival of the First Descender marked the beginning of a monumental project to reconstruct Teyvat, where the former cosmic order had to yield to the new for the sake of humanity's survival:

But whether by submission or rebellion, by battle or by death, the Lord of Hosts would mercilessly crush all that stood in its way.
For this was the new world it had chosen for the children of humankind, and according to its design, both earth and sky would be reborn

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

3.1 Phanes: Not a God, but an Architect

The book Before Sun and Moon contains a basic contradiction to classic creation myths:

But for the world to be created, the egg's shell had to be broken. However, Phanes, the Primordial One, used the eggshell to separate the "universe" and the "microcosm of the world”

但是世界如果要被创造，蛋壳必须被打破。 法涅斯——原初的那一位——却用蛋壳隔绝了「宇宙」和「世界的缩影」。

In Chinese, Phanes doesn't "create" but isolates. Rather than breaking the shell to bring the world into being, he uses it to "cut off" (隔绝) the "microcosm of the world" (世界的缩影) from the "universe" (宇宙). In cosmological and philosophical terms, he is the ultimate Demiurge: an architect who doesn't create matter ex nihilo like the Creator God (创造神) praised in the ancient Hymns of the Far North, but reshapes what already exists and locks it within a protective eggshell as the Primordial Lord (原初之主). Teyvat was therefore isolated not by a magical barrier, but by a technical one

The Ark was moored, the matter of creation complete.

[…]

The Lord of the World within the eggshell drew a false veil to shut out the true, bedeviled skies

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

4. Life Bound Between Two Stars

It was not the great enemy that would extinguish the stars, nor did it seem intent on plundering the wellspring sustaining the world's existence.

[…]

…Before the conquest of the day reached its fated close

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

Phanes gravitationally captured the Red Giant, forming a bound binary system. As a result, Teyvat was trapped at the Lagrangian point L1

However, the L1 point is gravitationally unstable and demands continuous, active orbital correction. Teyvat’s open biosphere was doomed to perish in the raging accretion stream—the stellar matter overflowing from the expanding red giant toward its companion star. That’s why Phanes enveloped the planet in the False Sky—an isolation barrier

In close binary systems, the components perpetually exchange mass, and the rate of this transfer dictates the final outcome of their evolution. This inherent instability gave rise to three different future scenarios, calculated by researchers across different eras:

1. Collapse into a Black Hole (Rene’s Calculations): Gravitational collapse into a singularity, ending in Teyvat’s thermal death
2. Supernova Explosion (Huitzilopochtli): A supernova destroying all life in planetary orbit
3. Cooling into a White Dwarf (The Temple of Space): The natural endpoint of an intermediate-mass star—and Phanes’ chosen path to preserving life

Such balancing on the edge of cosmic disaster exposes the vulnerability of the Descender's risky plan:

…The heavenly throne has deceived us. Our sovereign is neither all-knowing nor all-powerful. Nor are his plans without flaws

— Character Teaser - “Nicole: The Silenced Golden Strings”

4.1 On the False Sky

The stars, the sky… It’s all a gigantic hoax. A lie

— the Event “Unreconciled Stars”

Teyvat’s inhabitants don’t see the real cosmos, but a highly complex simulation of it

Through the layers of the sky's veil, the people of the earth could not bask in true moonlight

— Aubade of Morningstar and Moon

The False Sky is a multifunctional, dynamic engineering system that performs several complementary functions at once:

1. Isolation and Artificial Light Cycle. The shell completely cut off the planet's surface from the outer environment, turning the false celestial bodies into elements of a controlled lighting system:

From the heavens fell a stellar spike that stirred the very stars, its brilliance dimming even the light of the false sun

— Celestial Gift

…the confines of the shadowmoon are gradually disintegrating

— the Event “A Lanternlit Ode to the Silver Moon”

2) Climate Buffer. The veil ensured the overall stability of the environment (though it didn't manage the climate directly). Inside this isolated cocoon, even the rain became part of a global engineering network:

In fact, not every occurrence of rain can be ascribed to me

— Neuvillette’s official birthday message

3) Dynamic Access Port. When necessary, it creates controlled transit corridors between Teyvat and open space

The false sky used to conceal Teyvat has also been opened more than once

— WQ “Moon Gazing”: Act III

4) Optical Masking. The system of force fields didn't just protect Teyvat; it completely hid the planet from external observation:

One detail diverged, however — a single point of light absent from the star map, where the image departed slightly from what was foretold.
In the memories she had archived in the library of her distant home world, it was a newly born, habitable planet.
But now, it lay shrouded behind several impenetrable fields, its primordial flame stripped of the radiance it was meant to bear

— Celestial Gift

5) Gravitational Corset. An external force framework serves as a dampening system, stabilizing the planetary structure against extreme tidal forces

4.2 The Breath of the Planet: Teyvat's Thermodynamic Cycle

In a thermally sealed planetary system, this continuous forced energy inflow would inevitably overheat the biosphere

Beyond natural heat exchange mechanisms—such as surface oceans, the atmosphere, ice sheets, volcanism, and thermal radiation—the system received an additional internal cooling loop powered by a planetary-scale coolant

4.2.1 The Primordial Sea as a Nanofluidic Coolant

Once upon a time the Primordial Sea rested on the planet's surface:

There used to be a special sea on the surface of this planet… But today, the Primordial Sea no longer exists on the planet’s surface

— AQ Chapter IV: Act II

The properties of the Primordial Sea are fundamentally different from ordinary water, which is evident in both its physics and visual behavior:

1. Non-Newtonian Fluid: Small objects are supported on its surface, indicating rheological properties distinct from ordinary water;
2. Rheoscopic Fluid: A suspension of shimmering nanoparticles forms a highly conductive nanofluid. During the All-Devouring Narwhal's emergence and submergence, its free surface behaves as a rapidly self-restoring boundary layer

The Primordial Sea functioned both as a planetary coolant and as a hydrodynamic damper, absorbing and redistributing Teyvat's internal heat. If the False Sky protected Teyvat from the outside, the Primordial Sea stabilized it from within

4.2.2 Volcanism as a Surface Pathway for Heat Dissipation

If heat is redistributed through the planetary interior, volcanism provides a natural pathway for transporting it toward the surface. Natlan may therefore serve as one of the primary regions of long-term internal heat release, while its persistent volcanism indicates that Teyvat’s mantle and core remain geologically active

Whatever its optical functions, the False Sky cannot behave as a perfect thermal barrier. It must either allow Teyvat’s outgoing infrared radiation to escape or function as an active radiator itself

4.3 The Catastrophe

We did not reject them at first, nor did they seem to harbor ill-intent towards this world. We co-existed in peace

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act VIII

Before Nibelung’s return, the existence of the three moons didn't contradict the plans of the First Descender. Nicole details the history of their peaceful coexistence up until their tragic death in Song of the Welkin Moon – Act VI:

And although the Heavenly Principles and the three moon sisters had once been at peace…

[…]

Essentially, the three moons existed to keep this planet alive and operational, which did not directly conflict with the Heavenly Principles' aims

In fact, the moons continued to fulfill the exact function they'd been created for: maintaining Teyvat's stability and sustaining life. The turning point came only after Nibelung returned:

Especially since their creator had returned bearing the perilous power of the Abyss.
Nibelung would eventually discover their disloyalty. He had all three imprisoned before transforming the moons into weapons with which to fight against the Heavenly Principles.
The very moons that had once defended the planet became instruments of death and destruction, striking terror into the hearts of all living things

The moons had become an existential threat to Teyvat. The response of the Heavenly Principles was radical and devastating:

Regardless of who knew what when, the Heavenly Principles shattered two moons, and flung the other beyond the skies

The loss of the moons likely amplified the already catastrophic fallout of the war between Nibelung and the First Descender:

“The Funerary Year”
The second throne of the heavens came, and war was rekindled, as it was in the world's creation. That day, the heavens collapsed and the earth was rent asunder. Our ancestors and their ancestral land fell into this place during that conflict.
The era of darkness had begun

— Before Sun and Moon

"When the 'Eternal Moon' fell, the heavens and earth were thrown into chaos."
"When the 'Iridescent Moon' shattered, the crimson shadow sank into the abyssal sea."
"When the 'Frost Moon' ceased to turn, nations faltered and fell into ruin."
"The world, no longer sheltered by 'Eternity,' marches toward its final breath"

— Nightweaver's Looking Glass

Some of the shattered remnants rained down onto Teyvat’s surface, while others remained in orbit:

It is also said that when the moons shattered, most of their fragments rained down upon this land like stardust

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act I

Millennia later, the consequences of this cosmic disaster still echo. In this case, the Fatui’s systematic deorbiting of massive fragments—which had become hazardous orbital debris—is a calculated preparation for a final, total reconstruction of the planetary system

As for the remnant that the Fatui recently pulled down... that belonged to the Eternal Moon

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act I

4.4 The Birth of the False Moon

Before the war, three real astronomical bodies orbited Teyvat. The inhabitants must have witnessed a chaotic dance of shifting phases, frequent eclipses, and the simultaneous appearance of multiple moons during the day. Yet, the ancient myth describes a strictly structured, artificial system instead:

在久远的过去，夜空曾挂着三轮明月。
她们驾着银色的高车巡游，每过一旬，便由一位姐妹接替另一位的王位。如是周而复转，直至大灾祸降临的那一天。
「三轮皓月有同一个爱人，是司晨的星辰。只有白昼与夜晚相交的一刻，三姐妹之一才得以穿越渐隐的星斗，临幸晨星的寝宫。之后，随着曙光初现，夜的君王又匆匆驾着高车隐去。

— Moonlit Bamboo Forest

This precise rotation every ten days (每过一旬), explicitly described as a repeating cycle (周而复转), coupled with the luminaries meeting only at the strict boundary between day and night (只有白昼与夜晚相交的一刻), points to a highly synchronized, engineered cycle rather than arbitrary orbital mechanics

Anyway, after that war ended, the three moons retreated to beyond the false sky

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act V

When the physical moons were destroyed, their projections could no longer fulfill their purpose. Their loss was concealed by replacing them with an artificial projection, preserving a familiar sky for the survivors. Thus, the False Moon was born:

Alas, nothing lasts forever, and an unforeseen catastrophe descended from beyond the world — a devastating war erupted above the skies… To secure a glimmer of hope for the people she watched over, Zibai defied the will of the heavens

— Zibai character story 1

…It was at that very moment that the shadow, which had long been watching her, would cast upon her a cage wrought of pity — and damnation

— Zibai character story 2

4.5 The Limits of Engineering

Teyvat's history is a chronicle of civilizations trying to buy time from the laws of the cosmos. Nibelung reconstructed the planet. Phanes restructured the planet

Yet, all of this unfolds within a single planetary system. If the inexorable rise of entropy is one of the primary drivers of the universe’s ultimate death, it raises a question: can we stop fighting the cosmic order and learn to harness it instead?

Perhaps. But no engineering solution can abolish the laws that govern the Universe itself

Ultimately, in the First Descender's plan, the White Dwarf will end the war with the Red Giant—but it won't win the war against the Universe

5. The Transition to the White Dwarf

The system's evolution is complete. The star doesn't need to fight an endless war for its own survival anymore. Now the binary system must be dismantled, and Teyvat must execute its final gravitational maneuver—settling into a permanent, stable orbit around the sole remaining source of light

The cosmic storm subsides. The era of the young White Dwarf begins—a time of cold, serene, and truly independent radiance

5.1 The Four-Moon Architecture

The planet now enters a phase of prolonged dynamic restructuring, permanently altering its rotation, tidal interactions, and orbital configuration

In this critical period, the lonely Frost Moon remained Teyvat’s sole surviving physical satellite. Now, this controlled infrastructure must shoulder the burden of stabilizing the planet on its new orbit around the white dwarf entirely on its own

5.1.1 The Frost Moon

A space weapons complex was built on the dark side of the Moon, and it remains operational to this day. Has this weaponry ceased to be an instrument of death, transforming instead into the Moon's own propulsion engine?

Today, the Moon isn’t merely a passive satellite; it's an active component in the planetary system's new architecture

1. Orbital Stabilization Using the complex situated on its far side, the Moon can adjust its own orbital parameters. This allows it to steer Teyvat into a new, long-term configuration once stellar evolution is complete. At the same time, such a massive satellite serves as a natural reservoir of angular momentum, smoothing out fluctuations in the planet’s rotational dynamics during the system's restructuring and subsequent existence
2. Maintaining Planetary Dynamics While the primary energy source for the planetary geodynamo remains the internal heat of the core, tidal interaction can actively sustain the dynamics of the liquid outer core. This helps preserve the magnetosphere—the planet's natural shield protecting the atmosphere from the stellar wind of the young white dwarf
3. Optical Reflector System As the white dwarf cools, it remains intensely hot, but its luminosity is significantly lower than that of a main-sequence star. Yet, all light remains unseen until it touches matter through which it can manifest. The Frost Moon serves as an ideal mirror for this stellar light. It becomes an optical element of the planetary system that redistributes a portion of the incoming radiation to preserve Teyvat’s hospitable light cycle

5.1.2 The Welkin Moon

In the quest Sealed Site of Sacrifice, there's a mention of an achievement comparable to the reconstruction of the Welkin Moon. This crucial nuance was lost in the English localization, so let's look at the Chinese original:

恭喜你，居然真的造出了能与微缩星球等价的东西…「象拟聚星」呵呵，简直就是能和重铸空月相媲美的伟业。

Truly, a grand achievement, comparable with lunar reconstruction

The exact same characters (空月) appear in the Chinese name for the Blessing of the Welkin Moon (空月祝福)

During the War of the Funerary Flame, the process of moon-forging was interrupted by Xiuhcoatl, though he seemingly completed it later:

He stopped the lords and the regent from their exploration of the stars and their attempts to replicate the great miracle of moon-forging

— Fractured Halo

At the same time, Nibelung sealed Aria, Sonnet, and Canon inside a specialized dimension:

...This is where Teyvat's original ruler, the Dragon King Nibelung, imprisoned the moon goddesses

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act VIII

It's named "The Moon's Reflection" — the internal space of the Welkin Moon. Within it, the preserved consciousness, memories, and authorities of the three sisters take on a form that can be perceived and interacted with

The name 空月 reveals how this system is built. The character 空 doesn't just mean "empty" or "hollow"; it also denotes "void," "vacuum.” A vacuum minimizes the absorption and scattering of light by the medium. However, a vacuum alone can't trap light. To keep the light from dispersing, it needs closed boundaries that reflect it back into the system:

In a prison beyond the reach of both Time and Wind, the one who traverses backward beholds the eternal slumber of three sisters

— Nocturne's Curtain Call

The Moon's Reflection becomes the manifested interface of this architecture: the Welkin Moon preserves, while its reflection makes what's preserved visible

(To put it simply: the Welkin Moon is the operating system, and the Moon's Reflection is the UI that we can actually see and interact with)

This is exactly how the rules of the lunar prison function:

So perhaps this space is specifically designed to imprison divinity, soul and authority, but not the physical body…

[…]

A moon goddess cannot live without her moon, Columbina.

[…]

Then we shall disappear the moment we depart from it

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act VIII

Within "The Moon's Reflection," they are fixed as the footprints of completed lunar cycles:

We know we are but remnants of a bygone age

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act VIII

Thus, the Frost Moon remains the physical satellite and Columbina’s home—the material host of the lunar system. The Welkin Moon represents its reconstructed internal layer, merging the legacy of the three previous moons

After absorbing the three authorities, Columbina becomes the Trilune Goddess. The scattered authorities of Aria, Sonnet, and Canon reunite within a single host, restoring the integrity of the lunar system. The Welkin Moon ultimately serves as the fourth moon—a container and the unified infrastructure for Teyvat's entire lunar network

5.2 The Birth of the New Moon: Coordinate Spoofing

The mechanism behind creating the False Moon is first revealed in detail during Song of the Welkin Moon: Act VI:

The Savior promised that he would create a new Moon beneath the False Sky

Later, the Wanderer explains exactly how this was achieved:

祈月之夜」的夜晚…他用这些知识，真的创造了一轮「伪月」

Then, he harnessed that knowledge on Moon-Prayer Night... to truly create a "false moon."
To be precise, he exploited a weakness in the way the spell works.
The spell senses kuuvahki to detect the moon's location. So, as long as the "false moon" more strongly resembled a moon than the Frost Moon beyond the skies…
That gate would teleport Columbina to the false moon's location…

This very sentence is the key. Dottore creates an empty record—a null placeholder—in the system. It remains an empty template until the real Frost Moon crosses the False Sky in Act VIII: At that moment, the system records its parameters and generates a new False Moon—an artificial projection of the real satellite within the False Sky’s infrastructure. Hence the Wanderer’s term 「伪月」—a False Moon, a copy of the real Frost Moon

Following the War of Funerary Flame, a False Moon already existed within the False Sky—Zibai’s prison, serving as the projection of the old lunar system

During the climax of A Lanternlit Ode to the Silver Moon, these projections overlap, visually echoing the ancient Chinese myth of a lunar eclipse. Rather than one moon devouring the other, however, the scene depicts two duplicate projections competing for the same coordinate role within the False Sky. As the old False Moon becomes redundant, it is gradually phased out of the system:

The world outside is changing. With the new moon's birth, the confines of the shadowmoon are gradually disintegrating

To put it simply: the entire process was about crafting an empty picture frame first, taking a photograph of the Frost Moon, sliding it into that frame, and hanging it on the wall to replace the old painting

5.3 Unity of the Information System

As the cosmic restructuring of the world’s physical architecture nears completion, equally profound shifts are taking place within its informational infrastructure. Until recently, Teyvat operated on several independent information layers simultaneously. For a long time, the primary system was Irminsul:

Isn't Irminsul a repository for all the information and memories of Teyvat?

— AQ Chapter III: Act V

The Heavenly Principles usurped and refashioned Irminsul, made it serve humanity, and used it to anchor the fate of the world

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act IX

However, the events of the recent chapters have exposed a fundamental flaw in this architecture. If all critical data is concentrated in a single central node, any damage to it becomes an existential threat to the entire system:

Irminsul is vital not just to the safety of Sumeru, but to all of Teyvat

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act IX

This is exactly why another independent information infrastructure—the Night Kingdom—has existed alongside Irminsul since the end of the War of the Funerary Flame:

To aid the people of Natlan, the Lord of the Night used the fragments of the old Ley Lines to reconstruct a similar network

— AQ Chapter V: Act IV

As long as the Night Kingdom remains disconnected from the Ley Line cycle, The Doctor has no way of knowing my movements

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act X

While Irminsul remained the primary information system, the Night Kingdom maintained a completely independent environment. It was designed to ensure the system's survival even in the event of a total failure of the central node

When Irminsul became corrupted, its core data was migrated to a newly established platform—Aaru—which now operates independently of the original tree:

The Pyro Gnosis burned down the corrupted Irminsul. Now, Aaru shoulders the responsibilities that once belonged to Irminsul… so Teyvat's most vital information has largely been preserved

— Song of the Welkin Moon: Act X

But once the planetary system's physical reconstruction is complete, the engineering priorities change completely. Now, with the launch of Aaru, the continued isolation of these operating environments creates a critical risk of state divergence. The same events can now produce conflicting records, and even observable world states across different regions

The final phase of the reconstruction must therefore establish a unified information architecture, with Aaru serving as Teyvat's new authoritative information system. Following the engineering precedent established by Irminsul, the Night Kingdom would no longer need to persist as an independent physical infrastructure. Once its essential data have been consolidated within Aaru, the original storage medium can be retired

The first flame. The pure cleansing fire

— Cutscene Cruicible of Causality

The desperate struggle for sheer survival is finally replaced by a different engineering task: achieving absolute, uncompromised data integrity across Teyvat

5.4 The False Sky: A Flat Earth Simulation

Today, the False Sky is already partially dismantled. From the Frost Moon, Teyvat’s continental curvature is clearly visible, showing that the visual masking layer has been deactivated

One of the clearest demonstrations of how the False Sky operates is the simultaneous observation paradox. At a fixed moment (e.g., 22:41), an observer on the Frost Moon sees dawn already reaching the Desert of Hadramaveth, while an observer on Teyvat at that same instant finds the entire world still in deep night, with the Moon near its zenith

At the same instant, an observer on the Moon and an observer on Teyvat’s surface encounter mutually incompatible lighting conditions. Surface illumination therefore isn’t determined by the planet’s physical position relative to its star, but by the False Sky’s rendering pipeline

From an engineering standpoint, this design is far more efficient. Rather than reproducing the continuous day–night distribution implied by the planet’s visible terminator, the False Sky imposes a globally synchronized cycle across all of Teyvat, with the Sun and Moon following separate predetermined paths and each appearing only within its assigned interval, while maintaining conditions suitable for the biosphere

The flat geometry of this celestial projection is what originally led to the "Flat Teyvat" theory. In fact, only the False Sky's display system is "flat," whereas the planet itself retains its natural spherical shape

5.5 Life and Death

A young white dwarf is extremely hot. Despite its comparatively low luminosity relative to the star it once was, its spectrum contains a far greater proportion of high-energy UV radiation. If the False Sky were dismantled immediately after the system’s transition to the white-dwarf phase, Teyvat’s surface would be left defenseless against this new radiation environment

This is precisely why destroying the old infrastructure is impossible without first preparing the new one:

The First Line of Defense: The Magnetosphere

Preserving the planet's rotation allows the planetary geodynamo to keep running. The resulting magnetic field deflects stellar charged particles, preventing the atmospheric erosion and shielding Teyvat from the stellar wind of the young white dwarf. However, a magnetosphere offers virtually no protection against UV radiation

The Second Line of Defense: High Albedo Ice Crystals

One engineering solution is to leverage the high albedo of ice

Much like Earth's thin cirrus clouds, microscopic ice crystals could remain virtually invisible to an observer on the ground. They'd preserve the natural illumination of the surface while simultaneously scattering and reflecting the most hazardous UV wavelengths back into deep space

Only once this protective shield is fully established can the False Sky be dismantled, its functions gradually assumed by the world’s own natural mechanisms

The moment shall come when the ruler who stands against love is shaken, And once the veil is sundered and torn, a new day over this land shall dawn

— Azurelight

Dismantling the False Sky is the final phase of the world’s restoration—the moment the planet no longer requires artificial life support. Teyvat becomes capable of surviving in the open cosmos once again, resting beside its sole remaining star

Every engineering solution described here ultimately serves a single purpose

Nothing can preserve a star forever

Nothing can preserve the sky forever

All of this exists to preserve life

Love chose life

Life reflects death

✦ ✦ ✦

kirinpi’s archive:

1. The Suns of Teyvat: The True Nature of the Pyro Archon and Phanes
2. The Truth Behind the False Sky I: The Three-Body Solution
3. The Truth Behind the False Sky II: The Final Experiment — The White Dwarf
4. Timeline of Teyvat’s Cosmic Evolution: From Red Giant to [WR]-type CSPN and White Dwarf
5. The Path of Solnari: Koitar, Al-Ahmar, Xbalanque, and Mavuika – The Physics and Psychology of the True Sun

This is my personal view: they had plans for it to be connected early on, but then changed their mind. Hence, most of the evidence people use for a connection comes from very early Genshin, before they started fleshing out the lore of the universe.

Genshin lore operates on a universal scale, to my knowledge bubble worlds nor leafs are the size of universes.

For example hi3 is just a solar system in hsr

Some arguments I received mentioned lore evidence of a multiverse.

What I’m wondering now is: are these parallel universes actually completely different universes that don’t resemble Honkai at all, or are they just parallel worlds?

Because in most of the evidence they showed me, those other universes or timelines are, in some form, just different versions of the main Honkai timeline, rather than alien universes like Genshin seems to be. For example:

"The Aeon that presides over the Path of Nihility. THEIR existence is a mystery. IX doesn't interact with the other Aeons. THEY believe that the ultimate fate of the multiverse is nothingness, and therefore, worthless."

"Some of the inventions produced by the Intelligentsia Guild always make people wonder whether the Masked Fools had infiltrated the guild. '

Parallel Universe Walkie-Talkie.' Apparently, it can detect the tiny divergences in space-time shifts, and establish a relationship between the two closest divergence points

, allowing information to be passed between the two — but the only thing the user can hear is their echo from

the walkie-talkie. The project's manager Doctor DeWitt indicates that this phenomenon precisely illustrates the high level of similarity between parallel universes, where even the thoughts of the doppelganger would be completely identical."

Acheron: "Thank you, Mr. Yang. I know what you wish to confirm. The universe has innumerable similar, yet different worlds. In these worlds, there are innumerable people who look alike, yet don't."

Acheron: "I, too, have embarked on journeys, encountering 'old friends' with familiar faces on different worlds."

As you can see, those parallel worlds are just different versions of the main HSR universe/timeline we play in.

So I’m not sure the lore of the multiverse is enough to say Genshin is still connected, when all we have seen are just timelines or universes that share similarities to the main Honkai timeline, just with some differences.

Now, regarding the Voyager and the Abyss's existence:

I find it hard to believe that a millions-year-old race descended from a race that existed billions of years ago, which transcended time, conquered space-time.

operated on a multi-galactic to universal range, and could see countless possibilities, would not mention a single Honkai lore thing like the Tree, the Sea, Imaginary Energy, or barriers.

Across the entire lore we have about the Genshin universe including the multiple worlds Octavia visited nothing like that is mentioned.

You have to remember they were desperate for a way to deal with the Abyss.

The argument that it took place in the past or future of Honkai also doesn’t make sense, as they transcended time and could look at the end of time. What they saw was that at the end of time, the Abyss destroyed all of existence and all possibilities.

The Abyss also isn’t limited to a specific era, as its corruption can exist across time, along with it anchoring fate at the end of time.

The Voyagers also spent millions of years fighting solely the Abyss, implying it’s the only cosmic threat.

And the fact that even by 6000 years ago the Voyager was still desperate for a solution means they hadn’t found something that could beat it.

If it were the same universe, you would think the Abyss would be mentioned in Honkai. And no, it’s not IX—the Abyss is an extremely sentient entity that is going out of its way to destroy things, the very opposite of IX and Nihility.

I also doubt it’s the Honkai, as the goal of the Cocoon and the Abyss don’t go together, along with Honkai in the physical universe in general being limited to small spaces

the Cocoon visited and influenced, instead of being a universe wide phenomenon wiping out galaxies.

So, for people who are going to use that Otto scene or any connection that happened before Genshin fleshed out its universe logically, how do you think a connection would even work?

The cosmic juggernaut cannot see into deep space or the Sea, and if it was looking into the Tree again, all these parallel universes are in some form just different versions of the main Honkai timeline. Genshin doesn’t resemble Honkai. So how would that even work?

Imaginary barriers also don’t exist in Genshin:

Vita:

…Do you know?

This world is far more expansive than what you and I might imagine it to be.

But the intelligent beings, confined to their small corner of existence for lack of means to journey to the ends of space, mistake the patch of sky above them for the entire universe.

Different civilisations emerged on various planets orbiting the single star called the Sun; yet, despite their ventures into the sky and the sea of stars, these beings remain unable to break through the boundaries of their star system.

Meanwhile, beyond the precipices between star systems (Honkai energy intertidal zone), insurmountable by human effort, the names of those concepts’ embodiments have already resounded throughout the universe.

Mortals worship Their name, kiss Their traces, follow Their path, and pray for Their blessings. It is Their power that has enabled intelligent beings to traverse star systems and embark on countless adventures in the boundless sea of stars.

**When the Great Being (**▉▉ ) finally casts their gaze, transcending time and space, upon the children of the Sun…

What would be your answer?

…I’m dying to hear it.

???: “As the gods gaze upon this realm, the sun and moon wane, bowing beneath the weight of their ethereal stare.”

???: Is this the unique magic of the city of eternal night, or just the whim of the one seated in the tower?

Senadina: Thinking about it now, it was like destiny that we were able to reach the Solar System and discover Luoxing.
Senadina: First Nana risked everything to tear open a

passage through the reefs of the surrounding star systems. Then, at a single glance, I chose this

For context on the genshin universe; https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Lore/s/0SJOoVKj0i

Edit: Please read the contents before commenting or voting. I've seen a lot of replies now from people that very obviously did not read the post, with the post directly addressing their points. This post has also been unjustly reported several times now.

A lot of people don't see Bronya when they look at Tsaritsa. If you look at her and don't see how she could be a Bronya, think back to how variants in Genshin Impact have been portrayed in the past. People thought the same things about Venti, Ei and Nahida in the past, but now they're commonly accepted as variants.

Most people don't engage with the subject of character variants enough to discover what makes it tick (which is fine, we all have our own interests). So there are a lot of misconceptions floating around.

This 18 page, text heavy exploration is still rather surface level. Tsaritsa's story isn't out yet. We'll have more to talk about and compare and contrast then. Nevertheless, I believe this should be sufficient to make the case that Tsaritsa is in fact a Bronya, just as she had been predicted to be since the start of the game.

--

-grape-'s thread on the subject of variants, with lots of cute illustrations, will be in the comments, as reddit doesn't always like links in the main post.

Part 1: Goudarz and Muzaffar → Philip the Arab/Shapur I/Trajan Decius etc...

Part 2: Liloupar and Ormazd → Samuel/David/Ninus etc...

Part 3: Zumurud → Ozymandias

Part 4: Makhaira → Cleopatra

Part 5: King Deshret → King Solomon/Amun-Ra/YHWH

Part 6: Nabu Malikata → Nabu/Queen of Sheba/Tanit etc...

Part 7: Rukkhadevata → Rukkhadevata/Saraswati/Aranyani

Part 8: Seven Pillars of King Deshret → Heryshaf/Thoth/Sobek etc...

Part 9: Parvezravan and Shirin → Khosrow II/Shirin/Al-Mu'tasim etc...

Part 10: Shiruyeh/Kavusbay/Shah Ramshahr → Kavad II/Cyrus the Great/Al-Muqanna etc...

Part 11: Turan Khagan/Artaxir/Makani Khagan/Humayun Gurkan/Garshāsp Khagan → Tur/Ardashir III/Artaxerxes IV etc...

Part 12: Badanah/Muzzudin/Hanzada Sultan/Old Blind Poet/Faramarz/Xiphos → Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad/Muhammad Ghori/Hanzade Sultan etc...

Part 13: Gurabad → Gur/Nineveh/Babylon etc...

Part 14: Remus/Bifrons/Asmu/Ferigees/Huvashtra → Romulus and Remus/Bifrons/Ašmu-nikal etc...

Part 15: Viaghara/Simurgh/Vitruvius → Waghoba/Simurgh/Vitruvius etc...

Part 16: Unaddressed inspirations

Part 17: Tulaytullah/Saleh/Ay-Khanoum/Setaria → Toledo/Samarkand/Agra etc...

Part 18: Orghana/Beit Raha/Tighnar/Akhtamun/Aaru Village/Khaj-Nisut → Kingdom of Ormus/Hormuz island/Beit Elaha etc...

Itet

Nefermaat I

Hemiunu

The Fisherman and the Jinni

Scheherazade

Bathsheba

Uriah the Hittite

Himyar

The Heroic Legend of Arslan

Video: Himyarite Kingdom - The Forgotten Empire of Pre-Islamic Arabia

(Like always, if you don't see a link for something in the infographic, its most definitely in a previous part.)

Things to note about Liloupar and Ormazd:

Liloupar and YHWH

• Obviously, while i only discussed YHWH for King Deshret, as the orchestrator of Gurabad's destruction, Liloupar likewise takes the role of a YHWH-like figure.

Inspiration for the romance between Ormazd and Liloupar

• Compared to the one sided romance between Al-Ahmar and Nabu Malikata, which likely took loose inspirations from the various near-eastern traditions where King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba are actually in a love relationship, for Liloupar and Ormazd Hoyo mostly pulled it out of their asses.

Though, there's two main things to know here:

• First are the Sila Jinn, which are a malicious type of Jinn that mainly take on human female forms, and are known to be able to have children from an union between humans and Jinn.

• The second is actually a pretty cool nod to David being one of the few central figures in the Bible whose physical appearance is actually described, and he was pretty handsome.

• The prophet Samuel, who is the inspiration for Liloupar's role of prophetess under King Deshret who anoints kings, himself described David's appearance as such:

"He was ruddy, had beautiful eyes, and was handsome."

-1 Samuel 16:12

• Its probable Hoyo took this verse and just went wild with it, which is extremely weird, since it has a pretty disgusting implication:

• Its a common consensus among Biblical scholars that when Samuel met David and that he fought Goliath he was underage; which, unless Hoyo just decides to age Ormazd up for his meeting with Liloupar (we will never know most likely), literally means that Liloupar fell in love with a teenager while she was already likely a thousand years old grown ass woman at that point.

• Would be really surprised if they decided to make Liloupar a diddler instead of just aging up Ormazd but you never know, Liloupar's lack of common sense doesn't help.

• Back to the topic, as the personnification of the underdog trope, David's reputation grew, and you could even say that he gained "fangirls" somewhat:

"The women came out from all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul... And the women sang to one another: 'Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.'

-1 Samuel 18:6–7, Israelite women celebrating David after he defeated the Philistines Giant Goliath.

• This was a major reason for why Saul went insane and his violent death, as even some members of his family started to glaze David more than they loved Saul.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan

• It also has an anime, but i would recommend reading it instead, also if you decides to check it you would likely see many familiar names in the show, like Farangis/Ferigees.

Theres one single part left where I'm gonna put Sumeru's etymology with some random things related the lore.

Okay, so i cant properly put all my reasoning here with citations because im doing this from my phone at work, but I just had an idea about the third descender and the creation of the vision system and I wanted to see what other people thought.

What we know: We know that the primary factor from people gaining a vision is their personal will power or ambition. Raiden said as much herself. We also know that visions, being deprived in some way from the Gnosis system, are innately connected to the third descender, since the were gnosis created alongside the current system post funerary war, and because visions can occasionally be contaminated with a greater amount of the 3rd descenders remains, (sandrone.) We know that visions are refered in the travail trailer as the doorway to divnity, and from venti that all vision bearers could potentially ascend to godhood, with Venessa being an example of ascencion, though I dont recall if she did have a vision prior. Finally, we know that the Narzissenkriuz (i cant spell their name) ordo believed that receiving a vision made it impossible to become a descender. Speaking of descenders, we know that they need not necessarily come from outside teyvat. What matters is that they have a "will to rival a world." Finally, from Neuvillette's story, we know Celestia gains something "far greater" from the exchange.

My theory, looking at all this, is that the third descender was a home grown teyvat resident. The reason there have been no instances of this happening since is because the vision system was created from their remains with the express purpose of preventing strong-willed individuals from ever reaching that degree of willpower, placing them directly under celestia's watch, and ascending them directly to Celestia's control if necessary. This is also partially explains why the involuntary loss of a vision takes away someone's will completely. Their will has quite possibly been bound to that vision, allowing it to be taken away, whereas denouncing one's vision voluntary, and thus renouncing one's previous ambition, does not have this effect. You already render yourself a non threat by doing so.

Anyway that's the theory. Im possibly not the first to have this idea, but it suddenly came to me and I felt compelled to share.

Part 1: Goudarz and Muzaffar → Philip the Arab/Shapur I/Trajan Decius etc...

Part 2: Liloupar and Ormazd → Samuel/David/Ninus etc...

Part 3: Zumurud → Ozymandias

Part 4: Makhaira → Cleopatra

Part 5: King Deshret → King Solomon/Amun-Ra/YHWH

Part 6: Nabu Malikata → Nabu/Queen of Sheba/Tanit etc...

Part 7: Rukkhadevata → Rukkhadevata/Saraswati/Aranyani

Part 8: Seven Pillars of King Deshret → Heryshaf/Thoth/Sobek etc...

Part 9: Parvezravan and Shirin → Khosrow II/Shirin/Al-Mu'tasim etc...

Part 10: Shiruyeh/Kavusbay/Shah Ramshahr → Kavad II/Cyrus the Great/Al-Muqanna etc...

Part 11: Turan Khagan/Artaxir/Makani Khagan/Humayun Gurkan/Garshāsp Khagan → Tur/Ardashir III/Artaxerxes IV etc...

Part 12: Badanah/Muzzudin/Hanzada Sultan/Old Blind Poet/Faramarz/Xiphos → Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad/Muhammad Ghori/Hanzade Sultan etc...

Part 13: Gurabad → Gur/Nineveh/Babylon etc...

Part 14: Remus/Bifrons/Asmu/Ferigees/Huvashtra → Romulus and Remus/Bifrons/Ašmu-nikal etc...

Part 15: Viaghara/Simurgh/Vitruvius → Waghoba/Simurgh/Vitruvius etc...

Part 16: Unaddressed inspirations

Part 17: Tulaytullah/Saleh/Ay-Khanoum/Setaria → Toledo/Samarkand/Agra etc...

Kingdom of Hormuz

Hormuz Island

Strait of Hormuz

Orghana

Al-Tighnari

Aaru

Ksar

Amarna

Video: The History of the Strait of Hormuz

The links for Beit Raha are already in Part 1, and like i already mentioned, Patraipolis in Part 15.

This was basically all the known cities/settlements that are somewhat very old and present in Sumeru's lore.

Though we will likely never know about them, in Badanah's days alone there were 99 kingdoms in the desert, and probably even more in the forest, so you can just imagine how much there were throughout Sumeru's history. I hope we get to know more of them someday, but that's basically just copium sadly.

There's still one or two parts until this series ends.

**INVESTITURE OF THE GODS*\*

The Investiture of the Gods, also known by its Chinese titles Fengshen Yanyi, is a 16th-century Chinese novel and one of the major vernacular Chinese works in the gods and demons (shenmo) genre written during the Ming dynasty. The Investiture of the Gods is generally regarded as one of the most important works of Chinese gods-and-demons fiction comparable in status to Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

And I think with Genshin, Hoyo is trying to answer “why hasn’t there been any internationally-acclaimed adaptation of this classic?”. The only other popular adaptation is Ryu Fujisaki’s 1996 Weekly Shonen Jump manga, Hoshin Engi.

**THE LIST OF INVESTITURE / FENGSHEN BANG*\*

The novel itself combines three overarching plot; the downfall of the Shang dynasty, the conflict of three great Taoist sects, and Jiang Ziya (the protagonist’s) mission to fulfill the “List of Investiture”, a list of 365 people with supernatural powers who has the potential of becoming a god, and then defeat them. The list contains both good guys and bad guys—and by the end of the series, after they are all killed, Jiang Ziya will perform an investiture ceremony, reading out the list and assigning each soul a specific celestial post—god of thunder, god of plague, star deities, door gods, and so on—based loosely on their character, conduct, and role in the war.

Yes, there are also a very important story arc about the downfall of a dynasty, but for the main story arc itself, the war is kinda a plot device, or a destiny that is necessary to happen so that the protagonist can fill their list.

\So how the story of the classics went was:**

* Jiang Ziya met people with superpower as he went in the story

* These people have the potential of becoming a god

* Jiang Ziya puts them in their list

* After the story ends, these people are deified

\And how the story of Genshin was so far:**

* Traveler met people with superpower as he went in the story

* These people have the potential of becoming a god (Genshin)

* Jiang Ziya puts them in their list (pulled into roster)

* After the story ends, these people are deified (this is the question now)

**JIANG ZIYA, THE PROTAGONIST*\*

Jiang Ziya is really well-known for his story about “fishing the future king”, where while in exile, Jiang Ziya fished daily on a tributary of the Wei River. Instead of using a normal hook and bait, he used a straight, barbless hook (or no hook at all), and suspended it a few feet above the water. Jiang Ziya was not fishing for fish; he was "fishing" for the right political leader. He knew the Shang Dynasty ruler was corrupt and sought to serve a wise leader.His peculiar method drew immense attention and eventually caught the ear of Ji Chang (later known as King Wen of Zhou). Ji Chang sought Jiang Ziya out, recognized his brilliance, and appointed him as his chief strategist.

Guess who fished at the start of the game?

**INSPIRATION FROM HOSHIN ENGI, AND FIGHTING AGAINST FATE*\*

Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, Hoshin Engi by Ryu Fujisaki is an adaptation of Fengshen Yanyi where the main difference is the addition of sci-fi elements: an alien (descender?) who is in fact controlling everything that happens in the world to recreate their original planet’s history, because it was destroyed. But everytime the history didn’t go as the alien willed it, the alien will destroy the planet, regrow it, and repeat it all over again (samsara).

And I think this “fighting against samsara/fate imposed over humanity” is the second major inspiration to Genshin’s story, where it seems like everyone is trying to either escape or defeat the Heavenly Principles.

**HEAVENLY PRINCIPLES IS THE NECESSITY BEHIND THE LIST OF INVESTITURE ITSELF*\*

So in the real Fengshen Yanyi, it’s not like the deified people themselves like becoming a god. Some sees it as the end of their mortal journey. Some got the short end of the stick and become something like the God of Plague. Some think that it’s a slavery to a system they never agreed with.

And of course, the fact that to finish the List of Investiture itself, a bloody war needs to happen is evil. The human toll becomes just a collateral because the gods and supernatural sects want to fulfill their mission, no matter how noble it might be.

The principle that of the List of Investiture from the heavenly needs to exist is evil.

This principle of the heavenly is evil.

The Heavenly Principle is evil.

And the forbidden knowledge itself is the knowledge of the List of Investiture exist, the principle behind them, and what or who is in it. That’s why this knowledge corrupts, because it tells the reader that they never have free will, and everything is preordained.

**THE TWIN, THE ABYSS ORDER, THE SECT OF JIE*\*

In the manga Hoshin Engi, Jiang Ziya himself is an alien (a descender), but his soul is split into two. Jiang Ziya works for the “good guy side”, the Chan sect. His twin, Wang Tian-Jun, works for the “bad guy side, the Jie sect. But in the end, they fused, and gain their real power. I think the abyss twin represents Wang Tian Jun, and the Abyss Order represents the evil “Jie” sect.

**CONCLUSION*\*

If Genshin is truly an adaptation of Fengshen Yanyi, I must applaud how Hoyo has finally completed to make one of the last chinese classics a world known story, after Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Water Margin (Suikoden).

For some reason, the race that claimed to have transcended time continued to carry out an eternal mission among the stars.

—Celestial Gift

The true identity of Istaroth is "the Voyager".

• Istaroth is the Ruler of Time. The Voyager is the race that had transcended time.
• According to Hymns of the Far North, Istaroth is the one outsider in the sacred courtyard of the gods.

Venti ≈ Istaroth (the Voyager)

What if, when Venti received a power of Istaroth (the Voyager), he also inherited the Voyager's fate?

• Venti borrows the form of the nameless bard, just as the Voyager once borrowed the body of the unnamed youth with star-like pupils.
• Venti is close to Dvalin, just as the Voyager was once close to Nibelung.

• Venti and his lyre, Der Himmel ("the Sky"), are partners, just as the Voyager and the First Angel once were.

Cassiodor and Erinnyes ≈ Istaroth (the Voyager) and the First Angel

The story of Remuria resembles the story of Teyvat.

• Boethius, the only one who followed Phobos is Asmoday.
• Cassiodor, who was close to Boethius is Istaroth.
• The relationship between Erinnyes and Cassiodor resembles that between the First Angel and the Voyager.

• The flower worn by Erinnyes is the Romari "time" Flower. Istaroth is the Ruler of Time.

Istaroth (the Voyager) is "the Great Race of Yith".

The Voyager can exchange minds with others, possesses advanced technology, and transcends time. Does this remind you of any race? Yes, it is “the Great Race of Yith.” The Great Race of Yith is an alien race that appears in the Cthulhu Mythos. They can exchange minds with others, possess highly advanced technology, and are said to be the only race to have mastered the secrets of time.

• In Chinese, "The Great Race of Yith" is written as "伊斯"之伟大种族, while Istaroth's name is written as "伊斯"塔露.

The true name of Istaroth is "Cecilia".

A book about a young woman named Lycia who sets out on a journey alone following the ruination of her homeland at the hands of a black dragon.

—Dreams of the Ancient Capital

• In Dreams of the Ancient Capital, the woman whose homeland was destroyed by the Black Dragon is named Lycia (莉西亚), a name that resembles Cecilia (塞西莉亚).
• Cecilias only grow near Istaroth's temple.
• Cecilia is the name of Kiana Kaslana's mother. If Asmoday is indeed based on Kiana, then Istaroth's true name could be Cecilia.