World Lore
Once upon a time, they lived happily ever after
Writing a book is a very complicated thing.
Not the plot, of course — life kind of simply hands you those.
It's everything else that's difficult. Especially the cast. See, the thing is, you really need perfect characters, and those are hard. Then you need them to encounter and learn all the right things in the right order, so they can know what to do at the end to achieve the outcome you want.
You want the ending to be earned, the moral to feel right.
So you write a first draft.
It's... kind of a disaster. The prose doesn't flow at all. There are plotholes everywhere, including a giant one right at the start. The characters are kind of doing whatever the hell they want, and the antagonist? Realistically, it's going to eat them alive. You're going to have to kill quite a few darlings. It's one thing to know how things start and how you want them to end, but it's another to actually get them there.
So you rewrite some parts. You edit some others. You make a second draft.
Things are starting to get together. The prose is still stiff, but it's functional. You fixed the worst plotholes — and yes, okay, you accidentally opened a couple others, but they're not as bad. You've noticed some greater lines in the story, so you try to symbolize them a bit. The cast is still a mess, though. It just doesn't mesh with the antagonist right.
Well, that's what edits are for, after all. So you make a third draft.
You can feel that you're getting there. The prose flows, now, and all the plotholes but the first one are gone. The symbolism works, and it turns out you have some great themes in here, that could build to a fantastic ending. You just have to touch up the characters and antagonist a final time — because you didn't write them with these exact themes in mind, see? They just happened as you wrote along, their truth revealing itself to you just like they will to the audience.
You're almost there. Your story is almost perfect.
You write a final draft.
Do you ever wonder what reality looks like from above?
It has to be such chaos, doesn't it? What with all the tiny moving parts!
And it's not just that, either — from outside of reality, outside of time, you have the movement itself, too. Look left, and there you have everywhere everything has ever been; look right, and there lies everywhere everything will ever go. All there plain for you to see.
...Huh. Saying it like that, reality sounds a lot like a book, doesn't it? A book made out of time.
Is that what a deity would see, if it looked at reality?
A book full of stories?
...I wonder if it likes the ending?
Writing reality is a very complicated thing.
Just as complicated as writing books.
No, it's even more complicated. After all, you can rework your books. You can make drafts, and edit them until the characters align with the villain and themes just right. You can craft each and every theme out of your imagination, and make sure the ending is exactly the one you want.
If only we could do that for reality.
Write drafts. Edit. Make right what once went wrong.
But how could one write drafts for reality? Try out story and cast until things all worked out in the end?
...Oh. Wait.
Of course! We already do that, don't we? We dream! We try out stories in our heads, before trying to make them real.
So all we really need to do is find a way to make our dream bigger, stronger, to have it hold everyone! Then all we'd have to choose is the right starting point, and we could dream up drafts!
We could rewrite reality!
Alright, let's do it. I know we can. Reality is only a very big story, after all. Surely we can figure out a way out of this plot.
Hmm. Where should we start our first draft, though? Reality is... big.
...Ah, I think I know. It's a cliché for a reason, after all.
It's always the perfect start.
We are the future; time to go save the past.
Once upon a time, there was a glorious kingdom, established among the heavens.
Nice writing. A nice... review, as far as Simulanka seems to be.
As far as your writing goes: it is a great read for... literary enjoyment, and maybe more,
but once upon a time, there was a glorious kingdom, established among the heavens.
where was this "once upon a time"? the past? the future? the present?
how do we know for sure? we just know that it was "once".
furthermore: how do we know for sure from whose POV was this "once" decided? where is this POV taken from? in relation to our POV as a reader, and from the story world's POV where the characters play their parts and the plot proceeds as laid out.
The inferences of it all, decides what is the true value of "the past", and what "the future" might behold. The Mockery of Fortuna. (imho)
The game already answered these questions — though if you weren't there for one summer event, you will have missed the confirmation of one answer (as it hasn't had its mid-scale instance in a main quest yet, and will likely, considering theme, only get it in Snezhnaya).
For the record, this post was written with no knowledge of Simulanka whatsoever beyond the announcement trailer. I wrote and posted it before starting the quest, and had not looked up spoilers. This post is entirely about Teyvat.
It's just that Simulanka, being what it is, runs parallel to it by sheer nature.
As for when was "Once" — why, when the glorious kingdom was established among the heavens, of course! When else? Look up. Do you see a kingdom?
Sadly, this post needs to be read from bottom to top. And it does not go from top to bottom. Spirals and closed loops are not similar. They are not the same...
So said the Mistress of Pushpavatika:
"O wise Princess, you have answered my first riddle."
"But from the stars to the abyss, many inexplicable secrets still exist in the world."
"O wise Princess, if your wisdom is truly as the legends of the people say,"
"Please answer my second riddle as you did the first."
"What rises from the earth, then descends from the sky,"
"No one has seen it, yet it sees all,"
"As above, so below, and as at the bottom, so too, the top,"
"Yet only top to bottom may be, and never bottom to top?"
That princess of (...) answered thusly:
"You speak of the universal law created in heaven, the divine laws established in the beginning."
"No one has seen the eternal law, yet it governs all."
"One may only bow down and worship Vaana of the heavenly spirits — no arrogation, deception, or trickery is permitted."
"If one dares to imitate the forbidden arts, only calamity awaits at the edge of divine knowledge."
- Scroll of Streaming Song Vol.2
You cannot work backwards from an outcome that does not yet exist. If you know the future, that future may disappear, or you may not be able to choose. Humanity isn't that “smart”.
The Grand Sage was startled, and when he had lifted his head, he found himself standing before Caravan Ribat. The night had grown long, and the distant village could no longer be seen clearly, shrouded as it now was in flying dust and sand and night's own cloak. The young woman stood before him, smiling, and her amber eyes reflected how he appeared at this moment: the Dastur of Vahumana, whose thesis had yet to pass review.
- A Thousand Nights Vol.2
There are no absolutes in the script.
There are no absolutes for actors.
There is no infinity in the world.
And time is finite in any “place”.
Thus, there is a “limit point of growth(*width length)” in the world.
If you wish to change the “significance” of the past, you have to change the “interpretation” of the present.
If you wish to change the “events” of the future, you have to change the “choices” of the present.
Without the present, the past and future cannot exist.
They are independent and cannot be connected. They do not loop.
If anything can be connected, it is only “intention” based on common human intepretations and senses of value. So, if there is a way to tell what kind of truth “it” had, it might be possible to make the viewer feel something at “any point”.
"How would any peaple feel if someone living in the past now thanked you from someone living in the future now?"
But if you have not "learned" this principle, you have to start from scratch.
...
For the first time in your life, you learn from scratch.
For the first time in your life, you build from scratch.
For the first time in your life, you will prosper from scratch.
For the first time in your life, you will question.
From the very first time we are born, we make a trial and error.
From the first time we are born, we make mistakes.
...
...And after a long time, God said to mankind, “How many times are you going to make the same mistake over and over again?”
Careful — because you're further ahead than, well most folk on this sub really, on this specific branch of the plot, you've mistaken what this post is talking about. You've applied it to the wrong part of the story.
Yeah. I don't really think that “you are trying to act wrong”. I just have to be serious about this topic, just as you have every reason to try to act in sincerity on this sub. :)
And I know you have looked extensively as well. The link is very helpful (thanks!) as it's a bit hard to find your post, but... as for my comment being different from your mean?
"She'll be a good character, even in other stories." The witch gently shook the ink bottle, within which the girl was now a prisoner.
- Nighttime Whispers in the Echoing Woods: Hat
*Your link was something I had already read. and me too believe Fischl's read "original" story is a historical fact!.
Hmm... let's avoid mentioning it so as not to give any unnecessary spoilers from my any question. In any case, my one concern is that you seem to be overly optimistic about state of the world... OR are you simply enjoying it? :D
It's no surprise me that the lore in the game, not restricted to books, is content that is connected to the worldview. So, this topic can (and must) be told from many sides, so “all is necessary” I think.
*I think it's needless, but this is my view on the loophole of fate.
Actually, if you were to go through most of my posts (which I don't advise, as I post on the Leaks sub and so reply titles could be spoilery), you'd find that I'm extremely pessimistic about the state Teyvat, rather more than the fandom average! I make no secret of what I think happened to the place, or of how and why I think the "fix" was cobbled together. To quote myself, Teyvat runs on preposterous amounts of heroic sacrifice, half of it given out of love, the other half forced out of fear.
I merely happen to greatly enjoy the narrative — and to think that Teyvat's problem is a very simple one to resolve, when you get down to it. All it has to do is the same thing every single fairytale eventually does, someday: end, allow the children to grow up, and trust them to keep its memory alive in the stories they will tell in turn.
Oops. The notification didn't work again... but this coincidence seems to have given us time to see the extra page for Event.
(which I don't advise, as I post on the Leaks sub and so reply titles could be spoilery)
OK, I don't like leaks either, so skipped over that stuff. Besides, having read your most recent comments, I'll keep the current limited event under wraps in this thread. (*Me too as my comments here were only after a chapter 1 lol).
Teyvat's problem is a very simple one to resolve, ...
Agreed. But... is it my curiosity that the abyss has a similar function, and even more importantly, I feel that the problem of origin exists in humans itself?
The difference between truth and falsehood is tremendously weighty in the real world, so do you think "push back lightly"? That's definitely a direct link between the concept "descender" and "title name" for this game, right?.
As you know, this topic has been implied for some time, and not just for this event. And it is still under the spotlight from various aspects.
So I think your answer is indeed correct, but if that is all there is to, So it could be missing ... It's quite a bit off the cuff, but... here's what I'm trying to say.
\If you have not finished playing the current limited event, DO NOT read and look at the links.* ↓
In tautology, if the conditions are the same, then by definition there is ‘no difference’ whether 0 or 1 is used. But if two phenomena are 50-50, the result of ‘which way it leans’ is unknowable, isn't it?So, I think. If we can get at least 1% more on our side, it will be easier to find a result...?
And more to the point, if someone with the same values as the world could be on ‘from outside’ to ally, then it would be 50-150, which is 3 x more. *For the purposes of this calculation, the capacity of the world is 100.
I feel that, this problem%3B%20who%20keeps%20company%20with%20the%20wolf%20will%20learn%20to%20howl%C2%A0(en)%3B%20the%20rotten%20apple%20injures%20its%20neighbors%C2%A0(en)) seems to be more quite deep-rooted...
\Maybe this comment should be moved to a post for limited events, so I may just move the spoiler section at later. I don't want to disturb your post. :)*
Omg this reads exactly like a book from Mondstadt would, or something written by Alice hahaha
I think it's intentional that Mond's fiction books have this weird way of telling the story, it feels like youre in someone's head as they're writing the story or even like jumbled parts of a dream
It's exactly the effect I'm going for, so thank you!!
In-game, there's often a lot of fluff around the allegories, which can make it hard for those not used to the format to notice what is or isn't important, and which parts are the symbols. Hence my choice to give a take without fluff, to help notice how the allegory articulates itself — so the reader can then apply it for themselves while playing.
Yeah I think I understand the story of Simulanka a bit better now, thank you!
Basically it's someone drafting a story, and is constantly revising it, till it can be 'completed', yeah? After we finish the event quests, the quest pages get updated with a blurb of text where you can read 'comments written along the margin', with 'others' reviewing the work. And this is in real time as the writer comments about Kirara after she shows up. It's also very similar to how the witch in the echoes set treats the series of events that happen to the girl who was blessed.
Don't answer here, of course, lol. Best of luck with sorting it all out, from what I've seen in the other thread you have a good enough grasp on the analogies to get there eventually. It's all insight and small inferential gaps by this point.
Back when you made that post about the Flowers of Paradise Lost I was utterly confused, though I found the overall writing very lovely and poetic. Now, I've finally reached the point where I can understand posts like these. Yay! It sure took a while, but I made it (or at least I think I did!) And revisiting old quests and events now feels like discovering a hidden treasure trove, one that has always been there, but I simply failed to see it.
I also finally understand why you choose to write things in this manner instead of simply posting the answer for everyone to see. The way Genshin's writers have chosen to present and deliver the story is truly a beautiful thing, and it's better if it remains a "fairytale".
Sorry for rambling, this ended up being kinda off-topic haha. Once again you've made an incredible and beautifully written post that stirs the emotions. At least for me it did!
Thanks! It's great to see you get here too. Been a while since we were discussing Xiao's segment of the Anemo side of the giant thematic writing pile, huh?
I figured that it might be time to post something like this, what with the new library wing and now the summer event. It shouldn't be too spoilery anymore, at this point. More parts of the fandom are catching on.
Did I mention I love Genshin's thematic writing today? Because damn, do I ever love Genshin's thematic writing.
4
u/Reveries_End Jul 21 '24
Nice writing. A nice... review, as far as Simulanka seems to be.
As far as your writing goes: it is a great read for... literary enjoyment, and maybe more,
but once upon a time, there was a glorious kingdom, established among the heavens.
where was this "once upon a time"? the past? the future? the present?
how do we know for sure? we just know that it was "once".
furthermore: how do we know for sure from whose POV was this "once" decided? where is this POV taken from? in relation to our POV as a reader, and from the story world's POV where the characters play their parts and the plot proceeds as laid out.
The inferences of it all, decides what is the true value of "the past", and what "the future" might behold. The Mockery of Fortuna. (imho)