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aeroblossom · 5 months

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i know we're one archon off just enough to make the eight gym leaders in a pokemon au, but consider another approach: the archons as champions ft. some story ideas, i put a concerning amount of thought into this --

mondstadt champion venti (flying • fairy) is fought in secret, since no one can guess he's the champion. the mondstadt elite four are eula (ice • dark), klee (fire • fairy), jean (flying • grass) and finally diluc (fire • flying). venti is friends with celebi - as is nahida - and istaroth manifests as dialga. albedo is kind of like the professor for mondstadt, sucrose gives you your pokedex :] durin is yveltal. dvalin is rayquaza. no one knows about it, but kaeya is friends with articuno.

rhinedottir explores the abyss which is basically the genshin equivalent of the distortion world headed by giratina, aided by her signature hydreigon. dragonspine is our mt silver lol. alice has a delphox (klee has a fennekin) and mismagius. barbeloth, of the hexenzirkel, has a xatu. albedo has a garchomp. for some reason, i picture nicole with hatterene. mona has a cosmog!

zhongli is similar (rock • dragon). the order is hu tao (fire • ghost), yelan (water • dark), ganyu (ice • fairy) and finally xiao (flying • dark). childe boss, but he has like three typings - (water • dark)/(electric • dark)/(electric • water). he has a wailord and probably attempts to fight kyogre with his bare hands in fontaine. oh and his foul legacy is from palkia. the adepti are like pokemon rangers btw! and guizhong, after her death, appears also as a cosmog maybe? xiao has an absol, ganyu has suicune, hu tao has trevenant and spiritomb. azhdaha is groudon guys i'm sorry. ningguang is our professor archetype for liyue, and the pokedex is delivered by keqing on the orders of ningguang.

inazuma has two champions - one as the raiden shogun puppet (electric • steel), and one as ei herself (electric • fighting). ayaka (ice • steel), then kazuha (flying • steel) - but he gets exiled, and is replaced by ayato (water • steel). followed by kokomi (water • dragon), and finally yae miko (electric • fairy). yae miko has ninetales and zoroark, kokomi has milotic and nihilego! yes i know that's an ultra beast shhh. professor trope is yae miko, and you have to smuggle your confiscated pokedex with yoimiya and sayu's help.

sumeru champion nahida (grass • psychic), who is heeded by wanderer (flying • dark) as her deputy. wanderer is like n from pkmnbw, you fight him instead of the champion, the pseudo-champion. btw his signature would be a mega evolving banette. the first elite four member is dehya (fighting • fire), followed by cyno (electric • dark), then nilou (water • grass) who was recently appointed! and finally alhaitham (grass • flying). nilou's position used to be tighnari's (grass • poison) but since he left the akademiya, nilou took it. dehya has a female pyroar, nilou has lilligant. nahida and venti are familiars to celebi and the two formes of shaymin! rukkhadevata manifests as xerneas. apep is zygarde lol. token professor looks to be tighnari, but is really just nahida, and collei gives it to you.

for fontaine, i imagine furina (water • fairy) as the champion who sacrifices her position - and her life - so there's no seat of champion left. she later adopts the (water • dark) typing. the fontaine elite four is fought in this order: navia (rock • dark), wriothesley (ice • fighting), clorinde (electric • steel), and finally neuvillette himself (water • dragon OBVIOUSLY). alternatively, neuvillette assumes champion position and his seat as last member of elite four is supplanted by arlecchino (fire • dark)! neuvillette has a dragonair and is a familiar to kyogre, furina has lapras and manaphy/phione, arlecchino has a houndoom. additionally, lyney (fire • dark), lynette (flying • dark) and freminet (ice • steel) fight for arlecchino. ooh but imagine if they get ahold of latios and latias somehow, and use those to fight you! their signatures are gardevoir (lyney) and gallade (lynette) other than a pair of meowstic, and freminet has an empoleon as well as an espurr. sigewinne has a signature azumarill, and she's the professor! the pokedex you were meant to receive falls in the water, so freminet fishes it out for you.

#im gonna make a separate post for the regional gym leaders #GOD THIS POST WAS SO FUN #pokemon au #rhinedottir #alice genshin impact #barbeloth #genshin lore #furina #venti #zhongli #raiden shogun #raiden ei #nahida #🏷

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melanie-the-artful · 5 months

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Genshin Character Names' Meanings

Hello there! So, I remember I once saw a post about meanings of some characters' names in another fandom, and while some of those names probably were given to those characters just because they fit, some of them certainly were chosen for their meaning, and well, it was just interesting to read! And yeah, here I am, in today's series of "I have freaking nothing else to do" I brought you a list of meanings for Genshin characters' names (today only Travelers and Mondstadt).

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Aether | Comes from the highest air layer - where the gods live, and from the god who embodies it in Greek mythology; Also not sure whether it's connected, but fun fact: in Latin "Iter" means «Journey»

Lumine | Literally «Light» in Latin

Kong (Chinese Aether) | «Heavenly», «Air» or «Sky» - Chinese Name

Ying (Chinese Lumine) | Literally «Glimmer», «Twinkling» or «Light» in Chinese and a Chinese Name

Sora (Japanese Aether) | Literally «Sky» in Japanese and a Japanese Name

Hotaru (Japanese Lumine) | Literally «Firefly» in Japanese and a Japanese Name

Paimon | Comes from King Paimon, the 9th of Goetia Demons

Amber | Well, in her case it obviously references her eyes that carry that color, and it is also similar to the word «ember», which underlines her being a Pyro wielder; Also «Fierce» as an originally Arabic or Celtic Name

Kaeya | «Monsoon Flower» - Sanskrit Name

Lisa | «God's Promise» - German Name

Jean | «God is Gracious» - Originally French Name

Barbara | Although in our world it is believed to come from barbarians, in context of Genshin she might've been named so after Barbatos, the Archon rulling over her nation. It also makes sense considering how her father also serves at the church; Also «Foreign», «Strange» as an originally Greek Name

Diluc | Comes from «diluculum» - Latin for «Dawn»

Noelle | «Christmas» - Originally French Name

Klee | Literally «Clover» in German

Albedo | Term for the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body; also a Latinicized alchemical term meaning «Whiteness» and «Purification»

Sucrose | A chemical element, also known as C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, or just sugar

Mona | «Solitary», «Adviser» or «Wish» - German Name

Fischl | Considering German grammatics, literally means «Little Fish»

Amy | «Beloved», «Dearly Loved» - German Name

Bennett | «Blessed» - Originally French and Latin Name

Rosaria | «Rosary» or «Wreath of Roses» - Derives from originally Latin Name Rosarius/Rosarium

Diona | «Goddess» or «From the Sacred Spring» - German Name

Eula | Could be based on the german word for owl Eule or the German Name Ulla which means «Will»

Mika | «Who is like God» - German Name

Venti | Sounds similar to the word «windy», also literally «Winds» in Italian

Barbatos | Comes from Duke Barbatos, the 8th of Goetia Demons

Crepus | Comes from «crepusculum» - Latin for «Dusk»

Seamus | «Supplanter» - Originally Irish Name

Frederica | «Peaceful Ruler» - German Name

Alice | «Noble» or «Exalted» - Originally German Name

Rhinedottir | Originally Rhine was a name for someone who lived by the Rhine river in German, yet the word itself originates from the word 'renos', which means «Flowing Water» or «Raging Flow»; meanwhile "dottir" is «Daughter» in Icelandic

Barbeloth | May derive from the Gnostic aeon Barbēlō, a supreme, androgynous entity in Gnosticism known as God's first thought, being his "feminine aspect" and the Mother-Father of the aeons

Nicole | «Victory of the People» - Originally French Name

Varka | Likely based on the Old Persian 𐎺𐎼𐎣 (varka), meaning «Wolf»

Decarabian | Comes from Marquis Decarabia, the 69th of Goetia Demons

Dvalin | Comes from a dwarf in Old Norse tales, meaning «The Dormant One» or «The One Slumbering» (akin to the Danish and Norwegian "dvale" and Swedish "dvala", meaning «Sleep, «Unconscious Condition» or «Hibernation»).

Durin | Overally associated with a dwarf named Durin, who is also from Norse tales, though some say it is of Latin origin and means «Firm», «Enduring»

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Yeah, here it is! I know, I basically made a compilation of things you can find yourself in Google, buuuuuut in case you were too lazy or not curious enough to do so, I did so in your stead! And I have to admit that those are not names of my homeland, and I may not know all their variations or significance, yet I'm still interested, and I'll be happy if you're willling to correct me. And maybe I will even dig in deeper into the topic next time!

So, see you!

Edited: Yeah, I added a few more meaningful characters and Travelers' names on other languages + a few other tiny additions. I think now it seems a little more complete. Next up is Liyue!

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electric-hydrangea · 2 months

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Istaroth is Paimon (ft Venti & Mona's Master)

disclaimer: the amount of comments i've gotten on reddit saying "Istaroth isn't paimon, she's a branch of istaroth!!" that is literally what i'm saying

Who Is Istaroth?

Istaroth is a God who can control time & wind, a shade of Phanes (Primordial One). She was known in Mondstadt and Enkanomiya, but the people of Mondstadt gradually forgot about her. When Enkanomiya sank, she continued to be worshiped because she was the only shade who responded to them. The worship stopped when Orobashi arrived and banned Sun & Moon (a book all about Phanes, Enkanomiya, and Istaroth.)

The statue in Inazuma is Istaroth. I also believe that the Battle Pass Icon is her. The article itself ties connections between her and the Welkin Moon girl. Ignoring how their appearances are identical, they also have connections with the moon. Istaroth is associated with the moon through “Sun and Moon”. Additionally, “Astaroth” (goetic demon) is the personification of the moon and can control it.

Istaroth’s aliases are “The Thousand Winds”, “Tokoyo Ookami”, and “Kairos”.

The Theory:

It’s better if I compile this more into a list. Starting with the smaller stuff…

The Paimon menu allows you to control time. I honestly feel like this is the best evidence.

Paimon is in all of the marketing, emails, she’s the one who delivers us messages outside of the game itself, but no one in the game knows who she is. When people see her, they think she’s a balloon, a fairy, or a pet.

Paimon jokes about being the God of Protection

Paimon’s outfit has the same details as a fully-leveled Statue of the Seven. Her crown has the same design as the golden bar on the statue. Her boot also looks like the nails sent down by Celestia.

Canotila the Melusine described Paimon as a balloon floating in the air with her string extending upward above the sky itself.

Phanes created Istaroth; she is a being of Teyvat. Since she is affected by the Irminsul tree, it would explain why Paimon is affected by the tree.

Astaroth is depicted as having a crown, which Paimon has.

Astaroth and King Paimon both specifically teach sciences and answer any question asked of them.

In Gnosticism, which is where Genshin gets a lot of its inspiration from, Barbelo is a part of Bythos, and Barbelo is both male and female.

In Genshin, Istaroth is Barbelo, and Phanes is Bythos, having created her as a shade. Paimon and Venti are parts of her.

In Ars Goetia, King Paimon is aware of all past and future events, anything that has happened or will happen. This includes “secret things”.

In Genshin, Istaroth has similar powers; control over time and the whole thing that happened with Makoto and Ei (more on that later).

In Venti’s Character Demo, it says that he is “born from the branches of time.”

In “Sun and Moon”, they say that Istaroth, “Was the measure of a thousand winds and the sun and the moon”, with Venti associated with the wind and Paimon associated with the moon.

In Gnosticism, Barbelo is one of the most important figures of Gnosticism. She is known as the “triple androgynous name”, or as the “three times spirit”, having three parts of herself. Barbelo/Asherah is another name for Ishtar, who is one of the parts of Istaroth’s name. Barbelo is depicted as a figure that looks similar to the Welkin Moon girl.

Two paragraphs ago I said that Istaroth is referred to as a thousand winds, a sun, and a moon; Venti is the wind, Paimon is the moon. So who is the sun?

There’s a character in Genshin named Barbeloth, Mona’s master. I believe it’s possible she could be the sun. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why she has the name of this important figure connected to Istaroth. Genshin has a theme of “three”, and Mona’s master renamed herself to be “Astromancer Barbeloth Trimegistus”, which could also tie into the three identities of Istaroth.

In Venti’s Character Story 3, it says that he was a “single thread of the thousand winds that roared through the northern lands.” Notably, Istaroth goes by “the thousand winds”.

In the quest “Time and Wind”, you’ll hear a voice saying “An ancient tale comes whisked away in the wind.. In time it will grow and sprout again.” Which could be referring to the samsara cycles and how Istaroth (Paimon/Venti/Possibly others) will continue the story. Additionally, the sundials are actually more likely to be moondials.

In 2023’s Lantern Rite, Venti shows up introducing himself with the saying connected to Istaroth. Paimon completes the saying, and then remarks “Did Paimon just unconsciously complete that saying?”

The statue of Istaroth in Inazuma wears a necklace with an Eye of the Storm on it, which is most prominent in Mondstadt. It’s also noted that this statue and Venti’s statue are 6666 meters apart from each other. Additionally, this statue is called “Statue of the Omnipresent God”. This perception of Istaroth is supported in the Ars Goetia as well as in Genshin; Paimon is everywhere. The statue’s moniker is “Thousand Armed, Hundred Eyed”, which is a reference to real-life Guanyin, but I take note of the “thousand”, a theme with Istaroth.

The Sacred Sakura was planted with the help of Istaroth. When Makoto died, Ei went into the Realm of Consciousness and said goodbye to her sister. When she came back, the tree was there, and all the people acted like it had been there forever. The Realm of Consciousness is also a domain (not the one we’re used to for battle), where time flows differently. Another example of a domain would be the Eternal Oasis.

The ancient Near Eastern goddess Astarte (Istaroth), she works closely with Baal. I thought that detail was cute considering the story quest.

In Raiden’s 2nd Story Quest, Rifthounds attack the Sacred Sakura’s roots which cause it to ooze glowing blue stuff, and Paimon asks what it is, but there was never an answer.

This might be a stretch, but it could have something to do with what I call Celestial filth. For example, the Lumenspar is Celestial filth. Like the Abyssal goop, it’s invasive to the Chasm and spreads quickly. The description of it is “A sky-blue crystal that glitters so brightly that it brings forth echoes of the heavens above.” Having your Lumenstone equipped causes the Abyssal text to fade away. The Celestial filth comes from the nails sent down from Celestia, but the fact that the tree goop is blue and glows reminds me of the Lumenspar.

When Yae takes us through the Realm of Consciousness, we see Inazuma being built, and the memories are all of Inazuma, except for these Cecilias. Cecilias only grow in Mondstadt, on the Starsnatch Cliff “where harsh winds blow.” Cecilias are tied to Venti.

You could also say that Raiden storing the visions on the statue is symbolic, considering that visions are tied to both Celestia and the Archons.

Also, when it comes to Paimon’s design, she has a cape-thing with the galaxy on it, and in the Paimon menu, when she floats, she leaves behind a constellation trail. I also tie this with Istaroth’s theme of the moon, but it also reminds me of the general concept of otherworldliness.

There's a Mesopotamian symbol named the Star of Ishtar (Istaroth), which looks similar to the Deshret symbol and the Khaenri’ah star and it's also closely tied to the crescent moon.

Why doesn’t Paimon remember she’s Istaroth?

The answer could be Samsara cycles. With every samsara cycle, the same roles are always present, but it’s new people playing them. Something happened to Istaroth, and we don’t know what it was, but she’s disappeared and now we’re stuck with the twerp Paimon. I’m not sure how to answer this question. Maybe it’s like the Sumeru archons.

Something To Note

In the beginning of Genshin, we start the game at Starfell Lake. It’s never said where we fish Paimon out, but we could imply that it was at this lake. The lake, which isn’t too far away from the Nameless Island associated with Istaroth. People have pointed out that the background of the Paimon-fishing-out-CG is actually Guyun Stone Forest. In the beginning cutscene, we can see the nameless island in the distance. Paimon says nothing about where we fished her, so who knows. It’s our first time being in Liyue, but she knows that the statues look different because we’re in Liyue, so personally it doesn’t make sense that we got her in Guyun Stone Forest.

More About Welkin Moon Girl

This part is at the end because it’s me just playing with an idea. So it’s called “Blessing of the Welkin Moon". Welkin means “the sky” or “heaven.” She’s blessing us with primogems. Primogems are… From the Primordial One?

They’re described as “beyond the mundane world” and have the same chinese lettering as the phrase Primordial One and Allogene. Considering that the Gnoses are made from the 3rd descender's remains, would it be out of reach to say that Primogems could be created by/from the Primordial One?

Anyway, you could read it as Istaroth blessing us with pieces of Phanes (or, by association, herself).

The Welkin Girl’s cauldron has the triquetra on it, a symbol of Phanes and his shades, the same symbol on Paimon’s tummy. The Genshin Impact logo itself has Paimon’s crown, the circlet, above it. Genshin meaning allogenes, and thus tied to Phanes.

reposted from my reddit & hoyolab

#istaroth #venti #genshin impact #genshin theory #phanes #genshin lore #barbeloth #genshin mona #genshin venti #paimon

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sparkknightella · 10 months

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Mild Hexenzirkel Lore Dump/Random Things I’ve noticed in The Mage’s Tea Party vid

So as we all have seen, there is this pretty pretty little image of 8 witches that appear at the start of the video

At first I was going to try to match up each Cameo with a known member, but there really is not enough to go on. Especially considering both Alice and Andersdotter appear to use the Bottom Left Cameo on their teacup and ink bottle respectively.

I could just not be seeing it correctly because they are very small, but it definitely looks like it’s the woman holding her book in both of them, not the two different emblems of witches with books.

Literally no idea what this could mean but now i’m very confused about the point of the 8 emblems at all.😭

NOW TO THE FUN PART

Each member that spoke seemed to have a special little flash of art during Alice’s last little speech.

I’ve included them in the order they appear as she’s speaking. I’m assuming they match up with each member in the order they started speaking in the video. Meaning the first represents Alice, the second represents I. Ivonova N., the third is Rhinedottir, fourth is Andersdottor, and the final one is Barbeloth.

Each painting has a witch motif somewhere, EXCEPT Andersdottor. Keep this in mind

Alice’s is interesting because she is HATLESS, unlike the other witches shown in these paintings. She appears to be gazing at something descending on Teyvat with a giant stack of papers beside her. Maybe she witnessed the Twin’s fall to Teyvat while she up late working on an early edition of the Teyvat travel guide?? who knows.

I. Ivonova N.’s seems straight forward until you realize there is a second witch in the background. This second witch is drawn with a different outline which leads me to believe she could be an illusion of some kind. Maybe the real Ivonova is projecting a fake Ivonova to see if her love will come back?? maybe to see if there’s an assassin after her? again, who knows!

Now Rhinedottir’s had me thinking THOUGHTS. Is Rhinedottir the witch flying by in the background? or the little girl with fierce braids?? I have no idea what kind of conclusions to draw from this.

ANDERSDOTTOR… I spent a good 10 minutes trying to find the witch and I simply cannot. Maybe Andersdottor was the only member who genuinely had no magical or elemental abilities or proficiencies. Maybe she was just a simple mortal, who’s allegorical retellings of the world led to her being invited into the Hexenzirkel. We do know she’s one of the only canonically DEAD members. Her painting shows the main characters from The Boar Princess.

and finally, Barbeloth. Not much to say, big hat, clearly astrological. Mona’s master blah blah. Clearly some of these were more fun than others

Anywho, i’ve been watching Genshin Lore videos all day and not a single Hexenzirkel video mentioned these really cool paintings included at the end and their clear connection to the stories of these witches!!! I hope someone sees this and starts thinking big thoughts with me!!

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rhineposting · 1 month

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“My dear sisters, there’s someone I need to introduce to you!”

Doom was long since on their doorstep by the time those words reached Barbeloth Megistus’ ears : a dishonor of the worst kind to one who’d call herself the greatest astrologist of all who ever lived, a self delivered insult to her own skill and wisdom. How laughable. An all seeing eye that couldn’t see a serpent crawling up it’s leg, how worse could it get from there? Such questions were beyond her still - for whichever her eyes rested upon, it’s truth was known deeply and thoroughly to her. None were excerpt, not even her friend from beyond their sky.

Eternally youthful Alice, the omnipresent sorceress capable of traveling back and forth through the starry eggshell of Teyvat - a wise beast donning the excitement and cheer of a hatchling, approaching all and everything in equal joy and curiosity. Should one be fortunate enough to see her in person, they’d describe her as a hyperactive lagomorph forced to don the body of a somewhat masculine middle aged woman. A feature as annoying as it was endearing - though Heavens knew she’d rather die than admit that out loud. When they first met, a bond was established almost immediately : though Barbeloth thought of it more as Alice grabbing onto her with both arms and legs, refusing to let go.

(Yet it wasn’t as if Barbeloth ever intended on tearing Alice off her back, either.)

Since then, they had met many an intriguing women, much like themselves : Nicole, a Seelie fortunate enough to cling onto her natural form as opposed to deteriorating into a one eyed ghost - her cryptic messages as charming in their contents as they were jarring in the way they were delivered. Not that long after, there was Iovita Ivanonva, a witch specialising in medicine - her expertise granting her the ability to prolong her life for as much as she’d like. Alice simply could not resist the fragrance of roses that followed her everywhere. Then, Mathild Andersdotter - an ordinary writer from the land of winds, yet the first one to introduce the idea of studying stories within the Irminsul.

Each of them Barbeloth had foreseen arriving weeks, sometimes months in advance. None had escaped her gaze, reaching far into the future.

Except…Her.

“This is Rhine - she’s from Khaenri’ah!” Alice proudly presented the woman to them all - even standing behind her, as to all could witness her fully. “She’s an apprentice in the Royal Court despite being so young, isn’t that incredible?”

If there was anything to be called incredible, it had to be Nicole’s reflexes - the very moment Barbeloth reached under the table to grab her shoe, the Seelie grabbed her by the wrist. Not once breaking eye contact with Alice and the alchemist both, her expression as neutral as it always was. Peace was a river and she was it’s bottomless spring. Nothing close could be said about Barbeloth, who had been five seconds away from reaching for a plate to throw in place of the shoe. Three, after the star-eyed woman smiled and bowed.

“Good day,” she greeted them, her voice low and pleasant to the ear. “I’m honored to finally meet Alice’s friends. I’ve been looking forward to this meeting as I heard many great things about you.”

That greeting could not have been practiced and scripted any more, even if the serpent of a woman would have liked to : and yet Mathilde swallowed her venom. She put down her pen and manuscript to offer Rhine a seat by the table.“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Ms. Rhine,” she smiled. “Take a seat and stay for a while, I’m certain you have many great stories to share.”

So she had - directly to Barbeloth’s left hand and next to Ivanovna.She too swallowed the venom without thinking twice - in turn, she poured the young woman some tea into a spare teacup. Still Barbeloth couldn’t believe what she was bearing witness to. It felt too absurd to be true - yet, here they were.

“How much sugar do you take?” she asked. “Cream, milk or none? Syrups? We have plenty, any flavor you could think of.”

She asked for lemon and ginger with just one small spoon of sugar - and ginger and lemon she received with but a single please. The seer watched as the bottle traveled across the table, it’s contents generously poured into the cup. Ivanovna even stirred the tea for her. The serpent couldn’t be any more pleased, even if she wanted to.

Her fading eyed turned to Nicole - believing that with her age and wisdom surpassing that of the other three, she’d see the woman for what she really was : a courtesan that pretended not to carry a den of snakes under her garments. Nicole however only spared her a glance with the side of her eye - and finally, her hand let go of Barbeloth’s wrist.

Only to cut Rhine and Alice a slice of cake each, passing it to them on decorated plates.

“Eat to your stomach’s delight,” she said. “May your thirst be quenched and your hunger satiated.”

And the serpent accepted each offering with barely held back glee.

“Thank you all so much, words cannot describe how much I appreciate your kindness.” ***

Barbeloth managed to catch Alice by a slim miracle - a second later and she would have been off, hopping and skipping across the continent yet again, the only thing holding her down being a hand : wrinkled and bony, contrasting starkly against her soft, full hands. With a curious eye Alice lifted the brim of her red hat - just enough to meet gazes with Barbeloth, who was gritting her teeth away into a fine dust, thinning eyebrows furrowed in a grimace.

“…Eris, dear, my friend. I know the truths we perceive may not always align in the same direction, I’ve known that would be from the moment I first saw you. I know asking you to look upon the stars from my point of standing is a fool’s errand. I know that better than anyone.”

Though her voice scalding in it’s tone, Barbeloth lifted the hand she held higher as one would lift a newborn babe and joined her long fingers around it. Her touch the furthest thing from firm, tender as a clover patch. Though bearing all the power in the world to pull away, there Alice stood frozen, her red eyes open wide in shock, glimmering like rubies in the faint moonlight from above. Her lips, just as red, ever so slightly agape - uttering not a word.

“Yet, this once and just this once, I need you to see through my eyes as such : " the astrologist frowned, lowering her head and in turn, allowing for the starry embroidered veil to conceal her face in ever so rare humility, “You nor any of us mustn’t speak to this woman ever again, for she’ll bring horrid misfortune.”

Silence hung in the cold, evening air for a while - the onky warm thing being their breaths and Alice’s palm held between Barbeloth’s - slowly pulled away as the sorceress chuckled.

“Do you truly think my judgment of character is that poor, dear friend?” she asked as she readjusted her hat and scarf alike, “If she wasn’t trustworthy, do you think I would bring her to meet all of you?’

“It’s not a matter of faith, Eris,” Barbeloth scoffed - almost exclaimed, her voice sharp against the dull sounds of the night around them. “It’s a matter of reason and common sense and I am pleading of you to use both. I may usually tolerate your lack of imagination, but just this once, I need you actually look at things like the wise woman you are.”

“What’s gotten into you, Barbs?”“I’m asking you the same question!”

Behind them rang out footsteps - faint clicking of heels against solid stone, accompanied by the even fainter sound of fabric swaying as it moved. To surprise of neither Barbeloth and Alice, the source was none other than Rhine - dressed up and ready to leave. One look alone at her face was enough to know that she was well aware of the topic of the conversation.

“Is everything alright?” the serpent asked with the innocence of a lamb, knowing full well the answer to her question, ”You both look rather upset. …Is this a bad time?”

The night lit up for the three of them as Alice smiled -it might have as well been morning right then and there.“No, no, all is well!” She shook her head, long ears ever so slightly swaying as she did. “So, ready to go?”

As she said that, Barbeloth took one look at Alice’s face and just like that, she had her answer of what had gotten into her : those starry, teal eyes with the slightest hint of green and gray, glimmering like the nebulas that hung above them like the most beautiful tapestries of them all.

The obviousness was almost too painful to endure - so much that she couldn’t utter a single word as she watched her best friend and the serpent fly away into nothingness. Only a single bark of humilated laughter left her, long after they were gone.

#rhinealice #rhinedottir #alice genshin impact #barbeloth #hexenzirkel #genshin #genshin impact #genshin impact fanfics #genshin impact fanfic #rhine writing

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protect-namine · 5 months

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I put up a poll on which events will likely happen first in genshin and someone actually said that we'll get venti's second story quest before exploring natlan, and I'm like. oh buddy. I soooo badly want that to happen, but at this point I think the fatui will gather all the gnosis before we even get that story quest lmao

for context: the fatui has all the gnosis except natlan's (presumably). the archons' second story quest usually introduces interesting Fundamental™ lore and a new weekly boss. zhongli introduced the idea of erosion and traveler being a witness; ei showed chaotic spacetime dimensions and just... the weird flow of time using the sakura tree, nahida and apep gave us dragon lore and the idea of memories being convertible to energy.

I guess it's up in the air what fontaine's will be. 'cause from what I understand, technicallyyyy... there is no hydro archon anymore. the divine seat was destroyed so the authority is back with the hydro dragon sovereign instead (the gnosis is more like an elemental amplifier, but it's not really the source of elemental "authority"). so I guess it could be neuvillette's second story quest that will introduce something new, but it could also still be furina's. idk.

anyway. so like. regardless when venti's second story quest will appear, what is he gonna reveal this late into the game? it can't be about preserving history through songs, because zhongli already covered erosion and we also already saw in wanderer's interlude quest that fiction may contain more truth than memories and historical records. it can't be about time travel and dimensional pockets (domains) where spacetime is chaotic, because ei already showed us that (plus... everything that happened in that interlude quest with xiao and yelan).

so, this late into the game, what information is he gatekeeping from us that we can't discover through others? natlan will probably drop more dragon lore, so that can't be it. alchemy is albedo and rhinedottir's whole thing; astronomy/hydromancy is mona's and barbeloth's; fates and the fake sky might even be wanderer's, 'cause I guess his vahumana thesis is gonna be his future story quest and he introduced the idea of the sky being fake. or, I guess nicole's too. structure of teyvat might be alice's thing (since she takes care of teyvat's borders). dainsleif always reveals new khaenri'ah and abyss order lore. surlatogi and skirk probably covers the abyss stuff.

so that leaves us with... descenders and celestia? omg can venti give us descender lore pleaseeee I think he should actually be the one to clear that up for us, especially since it's possible he was the one that summoned the twins to teyvat in the first place. but I guess celestia would work too. the statue of barbatos is engraved with "gateway of celestia" after all.

#mine musings #liveblogging genshin #i mean yeah we already kinda knew that the v1 characters will circle back around to being relevant in the end game #but like......... venti-related lore is somehow everywhere and nowhere at the same time lmao #if all venti is gonna reveal is that he summoned the twins to teyvat.... buddy we already KNEW that so like. likeeeeee #just tell us! what you're hiding!!!!#you know. in all of this i still don't know what childe's deal is lmao #like. everyone has their own Thing meanwhile childe is such a wild card that he kinda?? fits into any of the lore categories i mentioned

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monards · 2 months

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all the humans who have entered hexenzirkel have probably left with debilitating anxiety and or questionable tea drinking issues to cope with said debilitating anxiety . because I think any person would if put in that situation

#whether or not this applies to rhine is up for interpretation #man if I had to listen to Nicole barbeloth and Alice talk all at one table for more than 15 minutes my head would implode #brave brave soliders🫡#tfw you gotta start mixing in alchohol with your tea because there’s no other way to stay sane #old hags and their old hag agendas #sighs dreamily #hexenzirkel hcs

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inavagrant-a · 1 year

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"See? Romance isn't dead."

#status.#in character.#excuse him for suffering loss one too many times and saying that those times were enough #mixed with the abandonment issues #barbeloth (mona's master) is probably gonna try to kill him if she finds out awraxa

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depthwhore · 1 year

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Hexenzirkel Summary and Lore (Spoilers)

The hexenzirkel was an organization revealed in the 3.5 Windblume festival event. They're a group of witches, with Alice and Rhinedottir (Gold) being the most recognizable to show up. They presumably conduct irminsul exporations- trying to find out Teyvat's secrets.

Hexenzirkel directly translates to "Circle/Coven of witches" in German, witch (haha witch which i'm so funny) makes sense because Mondstadt is said to be inspired by Germany.

Even though they seem to have different opinions and alignments, they all still banded together to do find out Teyvat's secrets.

The members are listed as below:

Alice, Klee's mother and the "Teyvat Travel Guide" author "a"

Barbeloth, Mona's instructor and famed astrologer "b"

Nicole "n"

Ivanovna, Scarlett's instructor "j"

Andersdotter, author of "The Boar Princess" "m"

And two or so others unknown.

Even though these 7 each have a chair at the tea party we see up in Mondstadt's sky, we only know about 6 specifically and in one of the photos we see a total of 8 appear.

It's implied that some of these ladies are dead (Ivanovna, Andersdotter), so that might explain why there's only seven chairs... but more than one witch is dead so that's probably not the case.

The earliest mention of this witches' tea party would be in Lisa's voicelines:

"Mona? She seems to be an excellent mage, but I'm not a part of their Hexenzirkel. The idea of Irminsul exploration and formal tea parties just leaves me cold."

There's nothing to say that Mona is actually apart of the Hexenzirkel, but this may have been said because of her instructor being in it. "B"'s name derives from Barbelo, a 'divine female principle' in Gnosticism- a certain set of beliefs that primarily say that the world around us is a dream, and that you should be unmaterialistic to get out of there and into the 'real' world.

Barbelo is often associated with creation and told to be the "Eternal aeon" or the first human.

Thank you for reading this! I'll have a follow up maybe later or tomorrow expanding upon this idea and explaining more about Alice and Gold.

#hexenzirkel #genshin lore #genshin impact #genshin alice #genshin rhinedottir #klee #albedo #mona #mondstadt #3.5

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scarletooyoroi · 1 year

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A touch of Mona history/idea posting

buuuuut will be read more'd of course due to a mini spoiler on windblume.

Ever since I seen someone propose the idea in the theory spear that Mona is actually a fallen star, not the alien ones like outside of Teyvat, but one of Teyvat's very own stars itself.

It just feels like some unknown bit about her history clicks with me. Primarily it makes me want to jump back to the Golden Apple Archipelago event. One prominent fact that shines within it, is that it reflects a lot of history of each individual amidst Xinyan/Kazuha/Fischl/Mona.

And y'know what? Out of all of their special cutscenes, which showed either a past or present time with them.

Why was Mona's this?

It looks like a fairy tale that was fashioned together if anything. At the same time, the other two cutscenes with the others reflected not only hints about their past, but also a matter of the present with Xinyan involved. So just how should we perceive Mona's here exactly? I think that the GAA itself provided the answer to that said question.

I wasn't out here with the five head thinking to really connect that at the time. Initially I was just of the idea that Mona's life was a really seclusive one underneath the wing of her master, an upbringing focused mainly on her craft and never the details of a human life coming up. This is what leads me to a small smidgen and tidbit about her master from the most recent event!

For one, the Genshin channel itself revealed that 'B' s name is actually Barbeloth. This in turn is a particularly surprising name for a number of reasons, for one! Which I'm pretty sure is angled from the name Barbelo, and after a small look up on that-

Now! By all means I'm not saying this is anywhere close to one for one. I do however believer that she may have quite the unnatural level of origin herself, seeing how 'out of reality' she is to the more mundane aspects of human life, least from Mona's descriptions.

Moving on to small tidbits that are more like signs in my eyes.

This explanation always was particularly strange to me. One could imagine that in her field it simply means that the stars just give you the '404' error message when you try to divine. Though using the world in banish in particular holds the connotation of being exiled from a place/location. This in itself strikes me curious since Mona found her master within the human settlements within Teyvat from the sounds, but maybe, her master could've discovered her first?

There's a lot unexplained so I could be wrong entirely in the location they first met.

Second of all!

There's this constant imagery of using a lost and roaming star through the world as the 'place in' for Mona's travels/travails while her tale is recited. It gives me the impression of how it coincides with a lot of other details that composed her mirage at the time, the 'materialization of the self' as Fischl aptly put it.

While these details are more in your way compared to the obscurity methods Genshin loves to use, this face value matter feels way too good to pass up on this matter. So I wanna sit this idea here to get my creative juices flowing. I really love diving up into her history when it comes to this game, and it does feel like they're teasing this idea.

Also in the latest cinematic pertaining to the Hexenzirkel??

Could this be homage to the crystal bird from Mona's GAA trailer? -.o

fmrsdg like BRO there's just so many things that I can pick and prod when it comes to this!

Also I find it no coincidence that the first appearance of Mona ever in Genshin would be during the 'Unreconciled stars' event. Genshin what are you trying to say in the form of this double layer about her origins.

#| OOC Musings #damn you mona megistus for being so fun!!!

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kyogre-blue · 1 year

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*squints at windblume ch.3 in "started playing in 3.3"* I've no care for the hexaedron nor Alice, I only know her from teyvat travel guide and she was such a jerk in the Mondstadt edition. Also I have neither Albedo nor Klee so thank goodness I read up on them beforehand I guess

on the other hand I do find it very funny that Venti getting along with everyone everywhere (xinqiu, kazuha, xinyan, hu tao, yae miko, etc) also extends to those who hold violent intent towards him djdjd (though they really don't explain why the hexagon challenged Venti in particular out of all the archons...or when, bc Venti isn't easily found to posit a challenge to, nor known for his martial prowess if it was purely the hexhocuspocus' arrogance talking. Hope this is a plot thread that they will adress in the future but honestly getting a bit tired of seeing so many threads hanging—ik we're only halfway through the story but still. And NOT a fan of lore being locked behind a time-limited event)

That's not a recent player problem. The Hexenzirkel have never come up in the story before. They've only been mentioned in passing in some character voice lines and bios.

The only thing we knew about them was that they're a bunch of witches who sometimes study the Irminsul, and Alice and Mona's master and Albedo's creator were among them.

Note how this event directly confirms that the group itself is utterly irrelevant. Scarlett thought they were a secret council who can change the course of history, but in fact they're just some randos who happen to include three+ immortals. The entire thing is just spruced up but ultimately pointless pedantry to explain how certain future characters know each other. I'm fairly sure that the writers just thought the aesthetic of a witches' tea party was cool but had no actual use for this idea, so it's just set dressing, basically.

I'll list the members here, because it's easy to lose track... because all these characters are utterly unknown to us:

1) A is Alice, Klee's mom, "One who would never lie". Her amazing feats include killing a whole bunch of eternally cursed people in gruesome ways, cursing a man to only speak by repeating what is said to him while trying to cure his stutter, abandoning her young child and refusing to visit despite having time to screw around endlessly, damaging a location that is both historically significant and has a strong personal importance to others because it "didn't look old enough," and various other nonsense.

2) B is Barbeloth, Mona's master.

3) R is Rhinedottir, "A flower that is not of this world". She is Albedo's creator. But she also created the rifthounds and Durin, and 500 years ago, her (Gold's) monsters ravaged the world.

4) N is Nicole, "Guide who will never get lost". She's the one who speaks to the Traveler at the end of Scaramouche's thing. This entire event probably exists to facilitate her upcoming presence.

5) J is I. Ivanovna, the one who went back home (presumably to Snezhnaya) to get married. She's had many successors, of whom Scarlett is the latest, but Alice refused to acknowledge any of them. Probably irrelevant, since she's succeeded by a bunch of NPCs.

6) M is Andersdotter, "A legend that never ends". She's a human author who wrote the popular fairytale "The Boar Princess"

The thing I can't puzzle out is which one of them killed her lover when he grew old. By elimination, it seems to be Alice? It's not Gold, it's not woman Hans Christian Andersen, it's not Mona's master or J, so it has to be Alice, Nicole, or a secret other member, since this might not be all of them.

In regard to them challenging Barbatos, it's because this is a Mondstadt event and the writers wanted to have Venti involved. Aside from that, I guess it's to show their human arrogation ARROGANCE.

I can guarantee this doesn't matter at all, so you don't need to keep track of it.

#playing genshin

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