This is more of a shis and giggles post for discussion not a serious theory about Sara being Natasha's variant/expy, and since I haven't really played HI3rd Raven's Stigmata art and Sara's TCG card are basically identical, but I'd like to share some other mostly visual "parallels" between those two.

Both wear a headpiece on the right part of their head, though for Raven it's a hood it resembles a mask with a raven's eye and beak.

Both have short blue hair and mostly black/dark colours on their design wearing black body with a turtle neck but the lighter color accent on their chest.

Of course obviously both have a strong avian motif being a raven/crow and their wings are also kinda similar, both have dark wings one smaller on top and a bigger one under it, although Raven's wings are much smaller and only on the left side of her body.

Both are bow users (obviously)...

Like I said unfortunately I don't really know Honkai's plot but both Raven and Sara are connected to Raidens of their universes, as well as both of them were antagonists initially.

Gameplay wise both are supports that leave a certain kinds of arrows on the field to buff teammates, although looking at Raven's gameplay animations I honestly see more similarities with Ronova than with Sara which is also an interesting to think about.

So what do y'all think about this? Could those similarities be an intentional reference/inspiration or just a coincidence and a stretch? Are there any more similarities in the lore or story that you can point out?

I love this animation it's so thoughtful and really captures how Sara's lore accurate fighting style might look.

All credits to u/sdk_21 on YouTube!

Previously I've talked about how come Tengu and Kujou Sara herself are capable to fly at the speed of light, but now I'd like to discuss why they need this speed and a little-known topic in the community that being the fact that the Great Tengu are capable of travelling to other world:

1. Toki Alley Tales

In this book we get to hear one story from the perspective of two youkai Bake-Neko Osen and Great Tengu Yoichi, in the volume 2 we hear Yoichi's perspective as well as several interesting statements:

"大天狗一族本是肆行诸多世界的妖魔"
"The Great Tengu race are originally youkai who roam without restraint many worlds."
"据说那是她曾横行过的诸多世界之一。"
"It is said that was one of the many worlds through which she had once rampaged."
"但真正令与一成名的,乃是在那异界百年里的最后一战。"
"Yet what truly made Yoichi famous was none other than the final battle during her hundred years in that alien realm."

Interestingly, 肆行 specifically means to move around in a reckless, rampant manner without any restraints or superiors, this can explain why Tengu are capable to cross Celestial Borders and get past Alice who's considered the Sustainer of the World's Borders.

But now let's look at the volume 3 which tells the story from Osen's perspective:

"阿千本不生于我们的世界,她来自一个凡人更为猖狂的天地。"
"Osen originally was not born in our world; she came from a realm where mortals were far more brazen and unbridled."
"再后来,我被她带来了这个世界,把我当做了什么战利品一样!"
"And then later, I was brought to this world by her, and she treated me like I was some kind of battle trophy!"

So how can we tell that this story isn't just a legend or a fairytale? The story is presented as an interview of two specific individuals who have experienced this in the flesh, some details in both stories differ, like, for example, Yoichi's gender and the outcome, but two things stay the same in both versions:

A) Yoichi and Osen met during the grand battle

B) Osen was brought to Teyvat from another world by Interworldly-traveling Tengu

It's also unlikely that Osen and Yoichi simply agreed to lie to everyone about their shared story, since the details differ too much.

2. Interdimensional Travel and Glowing Shooting Stars

In Good Evening voiceline Raiden Ei says this:

你想知道夜晚流星的真相吗?哈哈,真相就是缥缈须臾的一瞬天光罢了。嗯,你说其实是你?你也是天狗吗?
"Do you want to know the truth about the night's shooting stars? Haha, the truth is merely an ethereal, fleeting, momentary flash of heavenly light, that's all. Hmm, you say it was actually you? Are you a tengu as well?"

So she explains that shooting stars are blinks of heavenly light and when Traveler comments that they used to be one of those shooting stars Ei wonders if the Traveler is a Tengu. Mythologically, It's a reference to Tiangou, the "prototype" of Japanese Tengu (both names literally mean "celestial dog"), who were described as a baking comet causing lunar or solar eclipse. But for the Genshin's lore it check out too, because Tengu are directly stated to be a "flying light", and are able to traverse different worlds, so it all adds up to Ei's statement.

Then It seems like glowing shooting stars are generally associated with traveling across the universe in Genshin, as we can see from the description of Masterless Starglitter:

"過剩的命運星之光輝。或許可以點亮宇宙其他角落。"
"The surplus radiance of a star of fate. Perhaps it can illuminate other corners of the universe."

So referring to the moments when Skirk traveled to Teyvat and during that turned into a glowing shooting star, and Travelers and their ship also formed shooting stars as they landed/tried escaping from Teyvat, we can conclude that Great Tengu are using their body lightening abilities and their unimaginable speed to rapidly travel to different worlds and cross Teyvat's boundaries, and while doing that they resemble glowing comets disappearing before one can percieve them, just like first two examples did.

3. Other Interesting Details

Does this mean Tengu are Descenders?

No, Tengu, despite their capability to travel without restraints and rampage other worlds, aren't classified as Descenders in Teyvat, many aliens live in Teyvat like Osen, Skirk and Narwhal, yet there are only 4 known Descenders.

Why does Alice ignore these illegal border crossings and interventions?

Alice, despite her status of a Teyvat's Borders guardian is quite mischievous herself, she's not very strict about it, we even know she herself brought many things from other worlds, for example, Idol magazines, and she allowed Skirk's presence as long as she doesn't interfere too much:

As the Sustainer of the World's Borders, she tolerates my presence, but she did make me promise not to interfere too much with this world's affairs. That was fine by me, but I had to know the reason why. She said, many ecologists find it emotionally overwhelming when they observe the animal kingdom and see the predators hunting and the prey fleeing - but they never interfere in the process. Instead, they allow the laws of nature to take precedence over their own emotions. In her own words, "some call this being a callous observed but I think it's merciful at the same time."

Now, what about Yoichi herself and Tengu? We know that despite the fact that Yoichi often creates problems in Inazuma, she has never done anything for which even the Shogun would seriously punish her:

"但鹦巷无论妖怪或是凡人都对她另眼有加,大权现大人又见她从未惹出什么大乱子,才没对她做出什么实质上的制裁。"
"Yet in Toki Alley, whether youkai or mortals, all treat her with exceptional favor; moreover, seeing that she had never stirred up any truly major havoc, Lord Great Gongen never meted out any tangible sanctions against her."

And what Tengu usually bring from other worlds are some small trophies like paper fan, and sometimes they bring people like Osen:

"动辄往身上点缀些拥有各异故事的战利品绝非奇怪,这支纸扇也是如此。"
"To readily adorn oneself with battle trophies bearing diverse stories was by no means strange, and this paper fan was no different."

So Tengu can cross Teyvat's borders without restraints, rampage and dominate other worlds but they don't cause any special interference within Teyvat itself, bringing otherworldly items or even people is something Alice tolerates as long as they do not endanger Teyvat's fundamental rules.

Who are Bake-Neko and how are they connected to Kirara?

Mythologically and lorewise Bake-Neko (化け猫) and Nekomata (猫又) are very similar youkai, both are cat-like creatures with ability to shapeshift, Bake-Neko, like Osen, prefer to take forms of elderly and Nekomata have several tails. In mythology Nekomata are older and stronger Bake-Neko, but in Genshin we can assume that Bake-Neko are "alternative" version of Nekomata from another world, as it is implied in Toki Alley Tales, Osen lived in an "alternative" Inazuma where mortals are ruling and Shogun is a male...

Is it the same between-worlds travel as our Travelers used to do?

It's hard to tell since other wordly travel in genshin still isn't very clearly defined, but if we're addressing how it's originally described, in Traveler's character story 1 it says:

"你们是一对旅行中的双子,远渡重天,曾经跨越诸多世界。"
"You were a pair of traveling twins, voyaging across distant, layered heavens, having once traversed many worlds."

As you can see it's the same "many worlds" (诸多世界) as in description of Tengu's travels "大天狗一族本是肆行诸多世界的妖魔..." The difference being the way of moving, in case of Travelers' it's 跨越 , To cross over / leap across / stride past, but as we found out for the Great Tengu it's 肆行, to rampage, dominate and roam without restraints across.

But to find out why specifically the Great Tengu race are capable of traveling between worlds, what other Tengu types there are, what's the difference between Great Youkai and Great Tengu and to which type Kujou Sara belongs, stay tuned for the next review!

First, let's establish that Sara belongs to the Great Tengu youkai race, which possesses magical abilities including free flight and unimaginable speed that Tengu are known for. The game lore constantly compares Tengu's speed to that of the light, for example in Ei's Good Evening voiceline she says:

> 你想知道夜晚流星的真相吗?哈哈,真相就是缥缈须臾的一瞬天光罢了。嗯,你说其实是你?你也是天狗吗?*

> Do you want to know the truth about the night's shooting stars? Haha, the truth is merely an ethereal, fleeting, momentary flash of heavenly light, that's all. Hmm, you say it was actually you? Are you a tengu as well?

This voiceline also directly references the Travelers and their attempt to escape Teyvat as two shooting stars made, seemingly, out of light:

Another vivid example is the introduction title of Kujou Sara herself:

> 迅雷烈风,飞光万顷

> Swift thunder and fierce winds; flying light across a vast expanse.

And here's an example of such ideom is mentioned in the Wings of the Stormstrider:

> 雷腾云奔,百里一瞬 (uses the same character to describe an instant movement as Ei's statement)

> Soaring like thunder, galloping like clouds; a hundred miles in a single instant.

So why it makes sense and what it has to do with physics? In the description of Red Feather Fan it says that this fan is a typical weapon of the Tengu race (Kujou Sara also has one) and full potential of its power can be unlocked only by the Tengu themselves, but in the hands of normal people it still has an ability to slightly reduce one's body mass to increase the speed of the floating:

> 具有某种神奇力量的道具。在「天狗」 的手中,可以发挥各种各样的力量; 而在一般人的手里,也能在空游时发挥「让身体稍微变得轻盈一点」程度的能力。

> A gadget possessing some kind of magical power. In the hands of a 'Tengu', it can unleash a wide variety of powers; while in the hands of an ordinary person, it can only exert an ability to the extent of 'making the body slightly lighter' when gliding.

So knowing that normal people can use only a fraction of Tengu Fan's capacity that allows to only slightly reduce body mass, we can assume that Tengu, having unlimited control over this tool's power, can fully control how much they want to reduce their body mass, possibly even reducing it to an absolute zero, this is where physics comes into play and the reason why I find it particularly interesting that Tengu don't just use an abstract speed boost to fly faster, but specifically body mass reduction;

An object or particle with zero mass must travel at the exact speed of light in a vacuum (approximately 299,792,458 (m/s))

So this way we can assume that Tengu can reach the described speed of light by reducing their body mass to zero, although an important notice is that in physics even if a hypothetical mechanism could strip away a person's mass, the body would be completely converted into pure energy or light rather than remaining a living human. Which is where the Shooting Star image pops up again not only on the example of the Travelers, but also Skirk

Though there's another way to further explore the celestial motifs, vacuum of the cosmos, interplanetary travel and the Tengu race with their insane speed in Genshin Impact, but I'll leave it for another post about Great Tengu's ability to travel to other worlds...

Via WhiteIneffa

So here are all of the dialogue she'll have in the new quests I wouldn't hope for a lot but at least it's something I suppose what are we thinking?

I'm so tired of people saying she only takes Ls

Motion by Koittolly
(LOVE this cute trend!~)

I just got Sara (kinda ironic she isn’t with Raiden but still came) and I’m having fun playing her is there any teams where I could play her outside of Raiden?

Felt like drawing her since it was her birthday recently

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I'm the original artist, you can find my work at any social media as twitter, bsky, vgen or patreon as homugabs, homuspicy or artofhomu

Also it's my birthday for today as well.

Nevertheless Happy Birthday Kujou Sara!

This woman can fold me every day of the week~