#cities of samsara

[passengerpigeons]

becoming largely chill about most things. but i give myself permission to be mad about car infrastructure, car dependence, and cars flagrantly ignoring pedestrian right-of-way and generally endangering beings of flesh. because this is one of the few truly moral axis of this world

#also like increasingly cars piss me off in the abstract too as like #ok like in the united states unless you live in a couple large cities and a handful of specific smaller cities #and like maybe some small towns that built up a decent city center by say 1900 and avoided being disemboweled by the interstates #u need a car to work to get health care to get food but like we all know this #BUT #we all also know this. but it is like one of many traps to bind u to the capitalist economy inextricably #you must cough up gasoline prices and insurance costs and maintenance #and if ur the most likely to be burdened by these costs it probably also means you're making car payments too in a form of debt peonage #like once i thought about owner-operator trucks and how you pay to own the vehicle to work to pay off the vehicle #before realizing that this is just american car ownership for a large number of people in its most brazen and naked form #like we're all (ok not me because i dont have a car) owner operators who own a car to work to earn money to pay off the car #samsara. all is samsara #the wheel spins and spins and spins the wheel goes around

[taco-moment-certifier]

Alright i'm finally doing the "spell your url with songs title" that i saw @abibeur do once

Was a lot of work and I would've liked to put more things in it but oh well

The Fight by The Protomen All Black by clipping. Contaminado by La Femme Orinoco Flow by Enya

Movie (Never Made) by A Silver Mt. Zion One-Winged Angel (Extended Mix) by SiIvagunner Mourir pour des idées by Georges Brassens El Mañana by Gorillaz No Church In The Wild by Jay-Z and Kanye West Teardrop by Massive Attack

Can't Say Goodbye To Yesterday by Carla White End Of Forever by Samsara Blues Experiment Rhinestone Cowboy by Madvillain The Model by Kraftwerk I'm A Fucking Emperor by jazzwave Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown I Cento Passi by Modena City Ramblers Et si nous n'avions pas été là l'histoire aurait été la même mais racontée par d'autres by Diabologum Régions Fédérées by Stupeflip

#music #the protomen #clipping #la femme #enya #silver mt. zion #siivagunner #georges brassens #gorillaz #jay z #kanye west #massive attack #carla white #samsara blues experiment #mf doom #kraftwerk #jazzwave #arthur brown #modena city ramblers #diabologum #stupeflip

[fearfcrged]

sender  catches  receiver’s  wrist  when  they  turn  to  leave (probably aggressive?) - @dayanghan​ (shiro) 

      On instinct they attempted to tug their wrist free, anger seething through them.           Don’t fucking touch me. Don’t fucking touch me. Don’t fucking touch me. 

             ❝I told you, I didn’t lay a finger on him!❞

#dayanghan #dayanghan (shiro) #v.「city full of sufferin’ take me to the promised land」(undercity) #54M54R4 era tag. #i was gonna do before Samsara but couldn't get anything good so this is what happened instead

[reiasindia1]

M3M Golf Hills Phase 1 in Sector 79 Gurgaon| Brochure, Price list, Flat

M3M Golf Hills is a newly launched residential project, located in Sector 79, Gurgaon, offering 2.5BHK, 3.5BHK and 4.5BHK apartments at best prices. If you are looking to buy an apartment in M3M Golf Hills then consult Reias India.

#emerald estate #m3m jewel #ireo city plots #M3m golf hills #adani samsara floors

[interwovenrhapsody]

❝ I AM GOING TO UNALIVE WHOEVER DECIDED THAT DAMN SAMSARA WAS A GOOD IDEA! I'M GOING TO TRACK THEM DOWN AND UNALIVE THEM! WHAT THE HELL, WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS EVEN REMOTELY OKAY?! ❞

#★ ONCE UPON A TIME . . . ( in character ) #(( Legitimately after the Sabzeruz Festival samsara; Melanie can be found storming out of her quarters )) #(( and screaming this while stomping off towards the Sumeru City exit )) #(( she's pissed ))

[hoyowomentournament]

FINALS!!! Furina vs Kiana Kaslana

(Propaganda under the cut)

Furina:

the girl who saved fontaine. condemned herself to a life of silent pain and suffering without any warning or preparation. she could confide in no one, seek out help from no one, all while bearing the weight of her entire nation on her shoulders. not only did her willpower save everyone in fontaine, but after the prophecy was averted, she was finally allowed to live a normal life.

Kiana Kaslana:

TLDR: she's kiana kaslana what do you MEAN!!!! kiana is a beautifully written character who fully encapsulates what hi3 is about and she's so full of love and guilt and (most importantly) hope. she's a clone who struggles with her own identity/inhumanity and traumas extending from when she was a young child and her guilt but is so so resilient and so so so so compassionate which ultimately reinforces her humanity :)

kiana's character IS the honkai impact thesis statement. i don't even mean it as in she's the literal main character and face of honkai i genuinely mean it when i say she just IS honkai impact. she reflects every single theme that they portray [hope over nihilism (chapter 25 || the flame chasers and just. the previous era in general), having agency over your identity and your own story (himeko, her being k423 and being so linked to sirin, everlasting flames || the kaslana household name honestly, bronya, fu hua, mei, sirin), believing in the humanity's inherent worth (chapter 25, arc city || elysia <- important since as a current era herrscher, she is a successor to elysia AND as kiana kaslana, she is a narrative parallel of elysia), having faith in the youth (himeko, kevin || the other flame chasers! notably su), etc.] her character being so reflective is also sooooo OUGH to think about when you view it as a reflection of honkai's 50,000 year samsara because kiana is a representation of these themes coming full circle (especially since many of these stretch back to the previous era and elysia).

SHE FEELS SO MUCH. she's so full of love and guilt. she clearly prioritizes others over herself and part of her arc is her learning to value and love herself as well!!! she would give herself for the world ten times over because she holds so much affection for humanity!! (WHILE FEELING DEHUMANIZED BECAUSE OF HER IDENTITY AS BOTH A HERRSCHER AND K423) and it's actively apart of her character's growth :'')

dear god her growth… okok. so i think first you have to understand that a lot of kiana's growth obviously coincides w general maturity as she grows from a teenager to a young adult. but aside from that i think people often forget that younger kiana is incredibly self sufficient since her father literally left her with little to no explanation when she was like. what 8? the insecurity she feels at that! the anger she has to navigate while also balancing it with her own feelings of missing and loving him. basically: kiana has struggled a lot w instability and is thus kinda good at navigating it. ex: she isnt shaken by nagazora and literally tries again and again and again to save mei and convince mei to let her help. the thing is this fucks w her a bit though because a big thing that she does as a means to cope w instability is avoiding them (not reflective of real life of course, but in the fictional hi3 this is partially represented in kiana's repressed memories about her actual origins as k423). she can not stand the realization that she killed himeko that she's so deep in denial and doesnt truly realize it until more than 10 chapters after himeko dies! she's so horrified with her being a herrscher she actively tries to not use her powers out of fear, even when it puts her in harms way (the chapter XI-EX CG!!!!!! her literally trying to kill herself!!) she literally runs away from her friends and loved ones because she's so scared of hurting them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which is why her promise to himeko to not run away is so important!! because it addresses one of kiana's biggest flaws!!!!! this is especially important bc her refusal to continue her avoidance feeds into her arc during the herrscher of dominion chapters where she both faces her own guilt/identity and deliberately chooses perseverance and hope over nihilism!! she is hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#hoyoverse women tournament #hoyoverse #tournament poll #genshin impact #genshin #furina #honkai impact 3rd #hi3 #kiana kaslana #hi3 kiana

[gold-rhine]

Inazuma Rewrite Act 3

Please start reading from part one before reading this. It will make no sense otherwise.

Act 3 pays off for Acts 1 and 2, and I made some major changes in them, such as change to reasons of vision hunt\Raiden motivations, Ayaka arc, entire resistance storyline, Transience setup, Yoimiya arc setup, so without reading them first, this part will not make sense.

In this installment:

Transcience pay off

Yoimiya arc

Kazuha conflict

Raiden confrontation

Kujou Sara arc

and more

All disclaimers from part one also apply, I’m not gonna copy paste them.

Yae Miko \ Raiden Preparation Training

ok, let’s start with the fact that current “raiden fight training” sucks. Like I get what they’re going for, and training episode idea is very anime, but like. Running in circles around a trashcan that hits you with boss moves is not fun. it is, in fact, super annoying. 

i want to keep the training angle, but make it more... spiritual. and thematic.

so, yae miko is like blah blah, you need to prepare to face Raiden, and I will train you, as the person who knows her the best.

Paimon is like wow, you’re gonna teach us to fight??

Yae Miko is like haha you’re so stupid, no, of course not. Your goal is to change raiden’s mind. For that, you need to know and understand her and where she’s coming from.

We will know you’re ready, when you can pass the Sacred Sakura trial

she leads traveler to the sacred sakura. there are like stone plates with symbols at the base, you know, the puzzle ones.

Yae goes like, do you know what Transience means? Transience is the dream of the nation of thunder. We find the greatest joys in mortal life in fleeting dreams, for is life itself not like the shadow of the thunder? Pursue your dreams into the clouds if you wish, and enjoy the unexpected silence of the dim lamp-lit nights.

traveler and paimon is like yeah wait, we saw smth like that in inazuma shrines and ruins

yae is like great, then show me the symbol of Transience. traveler looks at the puzzle stones, but there weren’t really anything like this in the prev locations which mentioned transience

player can fiddle with puzzle stones, but whatever combination they try, it doesn’t work

after a couple of tries, yae is like okay, it seems you still have much to learn! lets go, i’ll teach you

you go through the inazuma city with her, but seemingly only do bullshit. like, eating ramen, shopping, doing some light novels bs, and like traveler is paying for everything. not too long, like just few minutes, with a couple phrases per activity and fading to black, kinda montage of more and more exasperated and confused traveler and paimon until they’re like wait what the fuck is this. how is supposed to teach us anything??

yae does her signature bullshit smirks like hehe you’re too close-minded, you clearly haven’t understood ~Transience~, so buy me more stuff

paimon does her Angry Stomp, you know the one, like ugh! you’re just fucking with us to get us to pay for stuff, we’re done!

yae narrows her eyes menacingly with a smile like haha is this how u wanna talk to me you little flying shit, paimon hides behind traveler like oops sorry i didn’t say that, but then like, resistance messenger runs up to the traveler and traveler and paimon use this us an excuse to fuck off

Kazuha conflict\ Reveal of the true reasons for Raiden Gokaden fall

turns out messenger is from Kazuha. we meet up with him. he’s in the city despite being fugitive bc he’s heard some maniac is killing ppl, searching for the last scion of the Isshin school bloodline

listen, i love kazuha and i overall like his story quest, but it ends up being more character development for the cursed sword, not kazuha. and like i get it, it’s hard to write conflict for Kazuha bc he’s already escaped samsara, he’s the sole receiver of all therapy in genshin, he rolls 20 on every Wisdom roll, etc etc. 

but that doesn’t mean we can’t explore his character more in depth and give him a conflict, even if his beliefs do not change as the result, but just better articulated.

We’re keeping the quest mostly same, as I said, I like it fine, it’s still about kazuha going on a therapy tour with the cursed sword, but with like. actual stakes

because in canon, when the sword says like oh, together we will have power to defeat raiden, its obviously not really a temptation for kazuha. bc like. the war is already over! kazuha has already won! AND he personally blocked legendary ublockable move that his friend dreamed of doing. why would he go back and fight raiden again?? it makes no sense

so it ends up being just like. kazuha psychoanalyzing cursed sword the entire time. which cool and all, but i want to play quest about kazuha and not the sword??

but, if it happens DURING the war, it’s much more impactful. this is not just revenge, there are lives on the line and no way to fight raiden. so when the sword is like I will give you power to stand up to raiden, then its not only in memory of his friend, but to protect the resistance. It is now a believable choice that can give Kazuha a pause, because situation is dire and they need every advantage they can get

this is also to rhyme with the Delusions motif, the “my own strength is not enough, so I must turn to the corrupted source of power for which i know i will pay”

of course, in the end kazuha decides to not give in to the cursed sword, bc he sees through its facade that the sword is actually weakening and falling apart, but also because he is narrative foil to both scara (scara believes in doing anything to gain power to pursue his obsession, even at great pain to himself, this is why he’s tied with delusions, and then in sumeru quest gets into dotorre’s torture mecha) AND raiden, which i think fandom largely misses. 

both Kazuha and Ei had friends and loving, supporting family, but were kinda sheltered and isolated from people. Ei because she was Makoto’s shadow and didn’t really interact with public, and Kazuha because he was an heir of a falling noble house and he was feeling trapped and focused on trying to live up to his own expectations and anxieties (this btw was beautifully dramatized in his domain in prev summer’s golden archipelago) 

both of them were quiet and kinda introverted, Ei allowing her sister take a central stage and Kazuha admitting that ppl with grand aspirations always captivated him, which obv references his friend. then, they lost everything in one fell swoop. 

Ei lost her friends in the cataclysm and then, her sister. Kazuha’s family died, and later he had to flee his estate, becoming fugitive and then his friend was killed in a duel with Raiden. they both had their small-ish isolated worlds and lost them violently 

and Raiden tried to catch the shards of her falling world and keep them in place, cover them in stasis, as if it could restore what was broken. She saw eternity as the lack of change and decided to never change herself. She closed off from the world, literally destroyed her physical body and isolated her mind in a little locked world, focused solely on “preserving” herself.

in contrast, Kazuha opened up to the world. He didn’t try to stop the winds of change, he followed them. One of this themes is being a part of the world, “One with wind and clouds”, “One with the nature”, “Life has just begun and maybe, the whole world can be my home,” this is why his kit heavily features element absorption and his character stories emphasize how he’s sharp, notices little details in surroundings, even has sharp sense of smell. 

He reached out to people instead of isolating himself, and so he found new friends, he saw the endless beauty in the bigger world even after his own cozy snowglobe was shattered. 

His theme is not only about being open to the world, but also bringing different elements together, and he’s the one who brings people in inazuma arc together. He brings traveler to Thoma, then through him Gorou reaches Beidou and the mercs, etc. this is why he is the one who blocks raiden. 

he is her foil precisely because he can let go and doesn’t let his grief blind him, he will fight her because she needs to be stopped, but not because he wants to take revenge or fore her to suffer. He is the breaker of cycles of pain, not perpetuator

so kazuha refuses, like in original, sword deteriorates more and more, and in the end, becomes weak, but regains memories about his creator in exile in snezhnaya. 

but, with the added twist to the scene where kazuha sees memories of the sword. In our version, Shogun instituted vision hunt decree because vision holding blade smith collaborated with fatui and led to the fall of Raiden Gokaden, 5 sword art schools. 

But now we learn that Kazuha’s ancestor who made this cursed sword, was this very vision-holding blade smith, and he never betrayed Inazuma, instead, he was slandered by Fatui and it was all Scara’s plan on his misguided revenge against Raiden Gokaden.

as in canon, Kazuha reforges the sword with the last shreds of its power. It does not hold its previous cursed strength anymore, but it is a last sword made in lost technique of Kazuha’s family tradition and he swears to restore it, just as he does in canon

Vision Loss exploration\ Yoimiya was always relevant

after this, paimon and traveler are like ugh, we don’t want to go back to yae, we don’t know the answer to symbol of transience puzzle and she will just mock us more. Lets go see how Yoimiya is doing instead!

ok so, I want to address what I see as a problem in how genshin handled vision loss. like obviously, vision loss stands for trauma. and “wow after their vision was taken, they turned into a completely different person” works as initial impression, bc often when someone you know changes drastically, it can feel this way

where this narrative fails is that it never explores further, bc all characters we meet with vision loss are random NPCs we see for 15 minutes, so it ends up being shallow “this guy was very kind and selfless before, but after losing vision he completely ignores ppl he helped with “new number who dis” response”, which like???

framing ppl who are already going through inner turmoil and struggle as like, complete strangers who are not themselves anymore and also completely lose positive qualities tied to their visions, is so tactless and wrong. It’s still the same person, no matter how drastically changed, and they need support, not demonization like “inherently incapable of caring about people after losing vision”.

this is why i think its better to focus on one character players know and care about instead of several NPCs no one gives a fuck about

so we go visit Yoi and meet her with her dad during discussion. it’s festival time and their family always made fireworks for it, they have several orders now too. But, due to Yoi being caught as part of resistance, her family was blacklisted and they can’t get necessary supplies to create fireworks, specifically like special chemical powder. 

so now, Yoi needs to go to all the clients and tell them there will be no fireworks for them for this festival.

Yoi’s dad is very supportive and doesn’t blame Yoi, but she still feels its her fault. She’s not a firecracker she was before, now quieter and harsher, and it does feel like she’s someone new, who traveler and paimon do not know.

we go to the clients to inform them with Yoi, and while doing so learn what fireworks meant for each of them. for some, it was friendship, how now matter how different their lives were, they would get together and celebrate with fireworks. for old couple, its ritual to celebrate their marriage and so on.

they are all sad, but understanding, and supportive and concerned about Yoi. she puts on brave face, but its obvious for the traveler that its hard for her to pretend to be fine.

on the way back, they have a convo about how its tacking a toll on Yoi, and how she feels bad, but also hopeless, and it also feels like something as joyous and frivolous as fireworks is meaningless in the middle of the war and vision hunt

we get back and find Yoi’s dad talking to customers. Its a refugee family, they explain that they live on another island, but once in a few years would visit Narukami for the festival and buy fireworks. They were forced to go to Narukami right now bc of the war, but since they are here already, they want at least something good to come out of it. And they have a cute little girl who is too young and never before saw fireworks and she’s sooooo excited, and the whole time they were running from their home they were consoling her by saying they go to Narukami to see the festival and the fireworks 

Yoi’s dad starts defeatedly explaining that unfortunately they cannot make fireworks right now, but Yoi interrupts him, and for a moment she’s her old self, bright and joyful, she reassures the little girl that its okay, they will have fireworks for sure, and these will be the prettiest fireworks ever!

family leaves, excited, and Yoi drops the facade. she wasn’t “cured” in a moment, but she is determined 

traveler and paimon are like - oh but how will we get fireworks??

Yoi is like “tenryo commission has this confiscated powder in their warehouse and we are raiding it, bc this little girl is getting her family fireworks if its the last fucking thing i do”

bc she realized, viscerally, that actually, fireworks will be more meaningful now BECAUSE of the dark and uncertain times, not despite of them, and whether its someone childhood OR last years of life, time is fleeting and impossible to get back, so giving people joy and hope is more important than ever

she’s not “healed”, she’s not back to her old self yet, but we see that there’s still spark in her and hope for recovery, even if she struggles, and deep down she is still same kind and caring Yoi we’ve met at the start

we do the warehouse domain, fight, do puzzles, get powder, Yoi and her dad make fireworks, we watch basically same cutscene as of the end of Yoi’s first quest now, with ppl looking up at the sky and seeing fireworks and Yoi and traveler watching from the hill.

at which point i want to mention that like, despite some part of fandom calling canon Yoi irrelevant, she always supported inazuma themes, which i will illustrate by using the dialogue from the quest verbatim and showing how i don’t even need to rewrite it to make it fit

Yoimiya: It was by chance that I happened to be born into the Naganohara family, so it was by chance that I ended up learning this craft from my pops.

Yoimiya: It's also by chance that I've met so many people, learned so many things, and discovered that people associate watching fireworks with the things that are most precious to them. 

Yoimiya: Fireworks that disappear in a flash of light are probably the furthest thing away from the eternity that our Shogun desires. 

Yoimiya: But people's feelings don't just disappear, and it's those feelings that give fireworks their purpose. If nobody wanted to watch fireworks, then they wouldn't exist.

Traveler: That's another kind of eternity.

boom! Yoimiya was always a representation of transience philosophy, hoyo just didn’t dramatize it properly and without transience explored during main quest, she felt like she doesn’t belong, while she was an actual Inazuma spiritual end game goal all along.

Makoto Reveal

anyway. traveler, pauses, repeats themselves. “Another kind of eternity... Eternity in fleeting things, because people’s dreams give them meaning...”

they get up and run to yae, looking determined, confused paimon following behind

“i know the answer,“ traveler tells to yae and she smirks, leads them to the puzzle stones near Sakura

“So, show me the symbol of transience“

but instead of fiddling with the stones, traveler gestures at the sakura petals, gliding on the wind and people watching theim

“This is the eternity in transience“

yae chuckles in delight “oh, finally, i thought you’ll never get it. How could be fleeting dreams be captured in stone puzzles?”

paimon is like ooooh is this why you led us around eating ramen and shopping? you were not just fucking around on our money, you wanted to make us think about enjoying momentary fleeting things?

yae gives her signature facetious response like oh of course how could you think i was scamming, how ungrateful of you etc etc, but its clear that she both actually was trying to give a hint AND enjoyed scamming them for free stuff

then she gets quieter, says pensively “but it seems the company of your friends was better help with figuring it out... She always did say that we immortals cannot understand beauty of transience the way humans do...”

paimon and traveler are like “She???”

thats when the cutscene revealing that there were two shoguns and that raiden’s sister died at the cataclysm plays. nothing much to add here, i think the existing cutscene works well, but because in canon it’s played AFTER raiden’s defeated, it feels a bit weird, like post-factum excuse.

like raiden goes oh well ok, i’ll get rid of vision hunt decree, by the way i had a twin sister who died, like?? i think pacing-wise its better to learn why raiden is Like That before “punch her until she changes her mind” fight than after she had already changed her mind

so, paimon is like ooooh, so this is why it seemed that raiden changed so much! she didn’t change, we just saw the ideas of the first shogun

yae is like yes, ei’s grief for her sister and differences in their views is important for you to understand for when you will try to change her mind in her hikikomori mind palace

Storming the palace\ Signora interlude

then yae does the ok lets get Kojou Sara quests, which I don’t really feel like changing, bc like. it does its job fine enough. we need to establish that tenryou commission was corrupted and working with fatui AND that kujou sara will go against her only family for justice

the ayato infiltrating like 5 rebellion guys with gorou and kazuha to take the palace is kinda dumb logistically, but tbh this is not game of thrones. genshin works mostly on anime logic where things happen bc its cool and fitting for the character\narrative beats. making actually realistic attack plan i feel like would be too long, complex and derail from the storyline, so i’d say lets keep it roughly same

What I’m gonna change is Signora cameo. And by change I mean remove it completely. I spent a lot of time trying to make her death work, but it just doesn’t. She has nothing to do with Inazuma story or themes, shows up for 2 seconds and dies immediately. This is a shitshow, like, we’d need to derail whole archon quest to insert her and it still wouldn’t be good. 

if Signora has to be dead for like, the strategic plot reasons, here is my version of how it should go down

ok but we need an opportunity for raiden to do her one hit boob kill move, and how are we gonna do this if we remove Signora?

easy, sara confronts her tenryuo adoptive dad in front of raiden. like, rn she runs to him, he has a speech about how he basically doesn’t care about raiden herself, but really only worships the Boob Nuke. he gets defeated and then sara runs off to raiden and gets knocked out off-screen, like??? this is so awkward. what the fuck is the point

instead, sara is like right now is the time when Tenryuo chief is reporting to raiden, we need to tell her he’s lying to her!

we follow sara to the palace and confront tenryuo dude in front of raiden. he’s like you have no proof u insolent girl and this is after everything i’ve done for u! 

sara challenges him to a duel before the throne and raiden agrees. 

we fight the dude and defeat him. he launches into basically same unhinged speech, but now raiden is here to hear it. 

She realizes that even those who she considered the most loyal of her servants worship not her, but her power, because she removed herself from inazuma and all people know of her is to fear the Boob Nuke. this is a important step in her development that we will explore a bit later

then she annihilates him which i think is much more thematically relevant bc he died from the same blade he worshipped

then, raiden is like well, i’ve dealt with a traitor, but don’t think that it gets YOU off the hook, a criminal is a criminal and I’ll destroy you

then we duel, bc like. her using boob sword at the start of battle is thematically wrong. its a finisher, a kill move. in the first duel she used it at the end. she needs to charge her burst first, you know

so, we go to the plane of euthemiya and fight. it basically goes the same, first traveler has elements disabled, then wishes of inazuma people awaken and empower them.

raiden is shaken, but not convinced. bc this is the Gives a Fuck raiden, it’s not that she didn’t know her people had ambitions, tho she could underestimate them, its that she thought these ambitions can only lead them to ruin and she, as an arbiter of eternity who sacrificed her body to lock her mind in a sword and evade “corruption“, is the one who knows best.

she rallies up and counter-attacks. similar scene as in the first duel happens, she throws traveler to the real world and follows, readying the kill move

and thats when kazuha blocks her 

i think in canon this isn’t given appropriate weight for raiden. bc like. that was her legendary UNBLOCKABLE strike. she one-shot gods and monsters with it. this was her personal proof of perfection, she knows she might not be a philosopher and leader like her sister, but she is The best warrior. like if you want to change her mind, you have to fight her in a duel, her mastery of sword is how she justifies that she’s right to herself

and now a mortal blocked her most perfect move

and not just any mortal! She recognizes the style of the blade he wields. Isshin blade, even though Isshin art died as Raiden Gokaden schools fell

she asks him how did he get this blade and he tells her the truth he learned from the cursed sword

her people never betrayed her. instead, she was mislead by the fatui and pushed her own subjects into running away to the enemies because they didn’t believe she would listen and be merciful to them

the worst thing is that she knows they were right. she would not have been merciful.

and now she watches the bitter irony of how her eternity crumbles.

tenryuo commission, who she thought of her most loyal and closest servants, upholding laws and traditions, in truth were corrupted from the inside, tradition nothing but a hollow form, a fake shape kept just to appease her, with no true soul or meaning, lusting only after power

but the last scion of the clan she though betrayed her, an exile and criminal, a vagabond and pirate, is the one who embodied isshin art she thought lost wholeheartedly, the one who preserved the last true blade of his school. the one who blocked her strike that she thought of as the truest.

and with the vision of a man she had once already defeated in a duel

with all of that, with countless visions rallying up to support an outlander against their own god, with the proof that even killing rebels would be useless because ambitions of the dead will be picked up and reignited again by the living, with proof of the corruption rotting in her government, she cannot see herself in the right anymore

this is why she lifts the vision hunt decree

Raiden’s First Story Quest 

I think there’s general agreement in fandom, even among raiden fans, that her first story quest is one of the worst in game. its so boring and pointless. you go on a date with raiden and then she fights some nerd in a duel. who gives a fuck.

it also takes for granted that all players even WANT to hang out with raiden, which like, at this point she was only a giant dick to everyone around and not everyone is a boob worshipper. for people who already disliked her, being forced to babysit her around and take her photos only feels more annoying and antagonizing

Again, our main change in characterization for raiden is that she actually gives a fuck. like, in canon her country is on the brink of complete collapse after civil war and fatui schemes, 2 out of 3 commissions are barely functional, her robot-sona is malfunctioning the storm, and she not only does not give a fuck, but traveler has to jump through hoops to get to her. and she just goes on a date, trying sweets and light novels. like. guuuuurl. come on, get a grip for 5 fucking minutes and do your damn job. we had to randomly stumble into tenryuo nerd being bullied for her to take ANY part in inazuma’s politics

so, logical thing to do for Raiden Who Gives a Fuck is to go out and try to sort out mess she’s now learnt her country was turned into. 

like, she summons traveler and goes hey, i know we’re not exactly on bestest terms, but I need to root out corruption and fatui’s shit specifically, and i don’t trust my government officials right now, so i need your help in being a guide bc i haven’t left the room in 500 years. 

kujou sara is also there since raiden deemed her trustworthy bc sara was the one who exposed tenryuo corruption to her

i got an ask about how canonically Kanjou commission was in a vulnerable state due to commerce falling with sakoku decree,  and so they could be an easy first foothold for fatui to get themselves into the country, and i think raiden quest would be a good place to explore it, while she’s investigation corruption.

i’m not gonna write the whole plot, it doesn’t really matter, the main points is that raiden sees isolation actually doesn’t protect her ppl, but harms them, that when ppl are not allowed to do smth that they want, they will turn to illegal and much more harmful ways instead, for which delusions are an allegory.

raiden can still do fluffy stuff like trying mango milkshakes or whatever, but while going from one commission to another instead of just wandering around on a date

tenruyo nerd can also be there if hoyo wants to include him for some reason. they can even have same useless duel with raiden at the end that makes her appoint him head of commission

Kujou Sara

as I said, Sara is also there, going with raiden on investigation, showing her competence, until its clear that she’s the sole hinge on which entire tenryuo commission depends.

raiden praises her for her loyalty, and Sara, incredibly earnest and grateful, explains her backstory, how she was a kid falling to her death from a mountain while enemies were storming it, and how she received vision during the fall and thus survived, so she now not only owes her life to raiden, but can’t imagine better cause to serve, as clearly, raiden is omnipotent and all knowing and caring enough to save an insignificant tengu child like her

raiden frowns. she does not grant visions herself, in fact, she is not even aware when electro visions are granted - this is canon btw, it’s from raiden’s own voicelines.

tenryuo nerd sees that raiden is about to speak up, and even though he obv doesn’t know vision secrets, he realizes from her expression alone that she’s about to contradict sara’s story

he interrupts her, apologizes profusely, but takes her aside and begs her to not say to sara anything that can shake her loyalty, because again, this commission is going to crumble without her. These are temoulteous times and they need sara the most, raiden can tell her whatever she wants after inazuma is stabilized

but the thing is that being truly honorable is supposed to be raiden’s redeeming grace. she might be stubborn and inflexible, ruthless and inept, but she is straightforward and honorable, she cannot accept loyalty given on false premises, and we need to show that in action

raiden tells sara bluntly that she did not give her a vision, that she was not aware that sara was in risk of death at all

sara is shaken. her world crumbles before her. this is not just bc of her own vision and life that she thought she owed, but in fact, did not. no, much more it’s about vision hunt decree. its about all the people she was sent after, talked to them and their crying families for hours, telling them that this is for their own good, that shogun knows better, sara herself is an example, is a proof. it’s about all the people she didn’t convince and had to take their visions by force, comforting herself in the knowledge that she personally might not understand shogun’s plan, but what she knows is that is infallible.

and now it turns out it’s not true at all.

this, she cannot take. she asks raiden to free her from service. and bc again, raiden is honorable, even knowing the damage it will do, she lets sara go.

after that, she shows up in events and side quests, showing her on a journey to find herself.

we see her in yae miko’s story quest, protecting ppl from the guy who was possessed by the oni spirit, and later, watching yokai spirits dance in the skies and yearning

we see her in an event with a ghost umbrella, being strict and cross with yokai kids for causing so much ruckus, but secretly fond and protective of them, and playing off her funny rivalry with itto

we see her in itto’s quest, in a part where traveler asks ppl about itto’s character, and she’s being fair, says that he might be an idiot and hooligan, but he would never harm or kidnap innocent ppl

we see her in irodori festival, organizing the community, bc she knows how to do it and she’s good at it and *someone* has to (and bc she cares about ppl without any order telling her to)

then, she’s in kokomi quest, bc kokomi asks her to be present at negotiations, bc she’s the only one from tenryuo in whose honor kokomi can really trust. sara tells her that she has no official standing anymore, but kokomi asks her to be there anyway. later, when dishonesty from tenryuo side is revealed and sara helps to stop the ppl who are trying to sabotage negotiations, kokomi asks sara to vouch for what happened in report to raiden, so that this is not blamed on watatsumi and fair deal can be cut

sara says again that raiden has no reason to listen to her and take the worse deal just on her word. and yet, after a couple of days, report comes back. raiden listens to sara’s word and does not force watatsumi to accept the bad conditions. we can see this affecting sara, her being conflicted

sara\kokomi shippers, ur welcome btw

then, raiden’s second story quest. it starts as of now. we accept commission to deal with abyss wolves spawning, go to the mountain of sacred sakura. but instead of just meeting raiden, we first see kujou sara.

she’s there to protect people because this is who she is, this is the ambition that summoned her vision to begin with, and no lies and manipulations can change that.

like at the beginning of her story, she’s on the mountain, protecting her home from the enemies

like at the beginning, she falls and survives the fall, but she’s too injured and about to be killed by the wolves

but this time, inazuma’s archon has not locked herself in a room.

raiden appears, destroying the wolves and saving sara. this time, she is not just an idea based on false belief of a child. she is there in flesh to finally take action that sara believed she was doing so many years ago.

as in canon, raiden says that she will fight the monsters alone, bc its her duty to protect inazuma.

and this is when sara pledges her allegiance to raiden again.

raiden tells her that her saving sara’s life does not mean that sara now owes that life to her, as raiden’s duty is to protect all of her people

but this is not why sara wants to follow her now. finally, she sees real raiden and not childish illusion of an omnipotent goddess who always knows better. but real raiden is honest, honorable, and despite being strongheaded and often misguided, someone who cares deeply for her ppl and is driven by the same goal to protect as sara

sara tells this to her, asserting that she will not serve her out of obligation or with blind loyalty like before, that she will now think critically and question and tell raiden if she believes she;s wrong, but she will believe in her nonetheless as long as raiden cares about inazuma over herself

raiden says that then they will share an eternity in service of inazuma people, as they should

as sara is injured, raiden sends her to organize evacuation instead of fighting, and quest goes on as in canon

sara\raiden shippers, ur welcome btw

Ancient Sakura Blooms Again

I don’t want to change much else about raiden’s second quest, bc its already pretty fucking good and manages to speedrun raiden’s character development in 45 minutes.

instead, all of my rewrite is meant to be a setup to establish both raiden’s conflict and makoto’s personality and philosophy beforehand, instead of getting infodump from old man ghost in 1.5 scenes

this way, raiden coming to accept the eternity as transience is natural progression instead of speedrun and makoto’s appearance has bigger impact, since she was haunting the narrative from the start and we came to know about her gradually

also, irodori festival can go pretty much the same. scara being behind raiden gokaden fall is now more significant, bc for our version it was inazuma’s inciting incident, and now just like. random lore bit.

also, both raiden and yae miko show up in comedic cameos during festival, but after they learn it was scara, there is a brief serious scene as raiden realizes that while she was blaming fatui for corrupting inazuma, it was only possible bc she neglected her own creation, which is a metaphor for inazuma’s isolation as a whole. she doesn’t explain that ofc, just looks striken

“i thought i’m giving him peace...“

“i’ve told you we should’ve destroyed that puppet“, yae miko spits out (she did canonically wanted to off scara after raiden decided he’s not fit for gnosis bc he cried)

ofc, we won’t give proper backstory before sumeru, but it would be a nice tease that will get deeper meaning once we do know, and also illustrate that both raiden’s solipsistic abandonment and yae miko burning bridges instead of dealing with ppl is not great governing strategies

also, irodori has additional ayaka storyline about how she got involved in all this investigation stuff as a distraction to get away from the house bc ayato asked her to wear family jewels for the festival finale and she sold them in act 2, but she’s too afraid to tell it to ayato

finally, after learning of kazuha’s family keeping secrets from each other that hurt them in the long run, she finally gets brave enough to tell ayato what she did

he stops her mid-sentence and tells her to go check the chests

she’s confused, but obeys. she runs back holding the jewelry, being like oh my god what?? how is that back?? did u buy it back??? did u know the entire time???

of course he knew the entire time. he’s proud of her. he only wished she trusted him enough to ask for his help directly.

you didn’t use the commission funds for this, right? ayaka hesitates for a second and ayato laugh.

of course not. why would he need to steal from commission when there are so many fatui assassins to loot

oh, i always knew you wouldn’t. wait what....

ayato’s quest i’d rewrite completely. he’s still manipulate mansplain manslut, but in better political machinations then sabotaging a wedding of npcs and giving hannibal lector speeches to random goons

we’ve scorched out inazuma’s corruption in raiden first quest, now is the time to restructure and modernize commissions which were gutted by said corruption, for which raiden assembles yae, sara, traveler and ayato, who is the head of only commission that did not sell out to fatui

ayato and yae miko are incredibly petty cunts to each other in a very smiley passive aggressive manner, but they team up to come up with devious machinations for the greater good

sara is there not only for military expert role, but also to speak up for the common ppl which she is finally closer to, and to ground the schemers

raiden sometimes thoughtfully says “why don’t we duel them to death?“ as solution to many problems, and when everyone yells no, shrugs

overall, its kinda rough going and obvious that there are a lot of problems ahead, but also clear that inazuma did change and grew, raiden is no longer a solipsistic tyrant and she has a diverse council she listens to and actively engages with her country’s problems

btw, in ayato vs yae miko schemes off he gets to win and be smug bc its his birthday story quest

Yoimiya’s second story quest

Yoi’s second quest is already v good and obv has a lot of soul in it, i wouldn’t change too much, except for the premise

bc this quest is the reason i decided to make vision loss plotline at all. bc this quest is already perfectly written to be culmination of that plot line, and frankly, gets a lot of ??? without it

like, it starts bc yoi just randomly decides to go on vacation to wish on falling stars. like ok i guess. and she’s like i didnt really care but the whole village really got into it and want me to see it, so i’m doing it for them. like?? why would they be invested in random vacation like that?? mb ok they just love yoi

but then traveler goes to nahida and she’s like sorry, meteor showers happen like once in 200 years. but traveler and paimon are very insistent that they have have to do it for you, they can’t disappoint her. when like. its a random vacation! and yoi is not a type of person to be like ugh i didn’t get to see falling stars, my trip is RUINED

but no, they beg nahida to help like its big deal, and nahida agrees to involve aranara, despite no adult being able to see aranara is a big deal in lore. and then they have a whole conversation about is it ethical to trick yoi into believing this meteor shower is real if it’s just a dream, even if she’ll learn truth later, when like.... it’s a vacation????? she’s just there to have fun???? why are you all so serious

basically, beginning of this quest makes little sense, bc it has no actual stakes until girl in a wheelchair shows up, but narrative treats it very seriously when like “yoi has fun on vacation“ is the only stated goal for the start

BUT, if taken as part of vision loss story, everything snaps into place.

after vision hunt ended, visions were returned to their owners. but not all of them reignited on the spot, and Yoimiya is one of the people whose vision did not activate

and is it any surprise? after all she’s seen in a war, all she’s been through, how could she go back to believing that the world is a good and happy place, in the inherent wonder and joy of it?

her vision stayed grey and silent in her hands. she feels bad and guilty that she can’t be happy go lucky as before, when her father and all of the villagers care so much about her

they nudge her to go on a trip to see the falling stars, inspiration for fireworks, in hopes it will remind her of why she loved them so much before

this is the stakes, this is why inazuma ppl care, why traveler cares enough to ask nahida and why nahida would be moved to break tradition and let yoi interact with aranara, why they have this long convo about if it’s right to trick yoi. bc f it’s about reigniting her belief in world’s miracles, then yeah, it makes a lot more sense to worry about truth of it

not only this, but the disabled girl turns from just random npc to a mirror parallel to yoi. both of them were harshly and suddenly hurt by the world, both lost will to live. and the kicker is that yoi is going along bc she feels bad and bc her family and friends are worrying about her, but she only *really* get into this when she meets this girl

because this is what she was always about, not just happy go lucky girl, but a gold koi, a light of happiness and luck talisman for other people, especially for kids. for this girl, she will believe is the wishing stars

of course, her vision reignites when in aranara dreamland she takes girl’s hand and jumps onto the falling stars to fly across the sky. because it’s not about how the world is cruel. its about how good we can be to each other. what if it’s just a shared dream? We find the greatest joys in mortal life in fleeting dreams, for is life itself not like the shadow of the thunder? Pursue your dreams into the clouds if you wish

#genshin impact #genshin #rhine talks #kujou sara #raiden shogun #inazuma #inazuma rants

[bamdelune]

Open Up (To Me) ♡ Alhaitham x GN!Reader

🎧 Song : Open Up - Meg Ruiz

A year following your death, Alhaitham finds a certain someone wandering the grounds of the House of Daena, fingers gracing the spines of each book without a care in the world.

Angst, angst to fluff, major character death, reader dies, gender neutral reader, no pronouns used, memory loss, mentions of samsara, nahida our favorite wing-auntie.

ALHAITHAM was sure everything happened. He knew. He knew he held your lifeless figure in his arms, cradling it as your head lolled around lifelessly. Dried blood stained your clothes a crimson brown and your skin ice cold, the beds of your nails turning a deep purple. He knew it happened.

You were one of the few courageous warriors that had helped out in Liyue when it was under Osial's attack, having been assigned there by the Akademiya for some extended research. You were meant to come back after a week. You were meant to come back to the safety and comfort of his arms. You were never meant to overuse your Cryo vision, the glass encasing it never meant to shatter and lose its icy glow.

Celestia had other plans.

Millelith soldiers from the Land of Commerce had come knocking on his door. Alhaitham excitedly expected it to be you, standing at the entrance of his home, the all-too-familiar grin of yours with the sun shining onto your skin, making you look all the more ethereal. That excitement subsided when he saw the soldiers, handing him an enevelope that seemed to come from the Tianquan of the Qixing. They waited for him to finish reading its contents.

He scanned over the words. Over, and over, and over, and over again. Was this some kind of sick joke? He expected you to come out with an apologetic smile but he was only greeted by the silence of Avidya Forest and the soldiers.

The soldiers led him to where your cold body laid, peacefully resting for eternity. They left him to provide some space out of respect.

Archons. Even when you were engulfed by the pale of death, he still found you beautiful, like he told you each morning you woke up by his side.

Alhaitham wanted to tear his heart out of his chest. He wanted to scratch his neck to rid him of his throat. He wanted to scream, he cursed at whatever deity was listening. An ugly sob followed by a sniffle escaped his lips, salty tears streamed down his face as he buried his head into your cold neck, cradling the shell of whatever was left of you.

He remembered it, all. too. well.

So would the archons care to explain to him how you were there now, eyes scanning the books on the shelves with pieces of literature secured in one of your arms. Perhaps sleep had wanted to have its way with him for the first time in a while? It has not been long since the incident with the Doctor and Lord Kusanali and he knew his sleep schedule hasn't been the best as of late.

But no matter how many times he blinked, no matter how many times he rubbed his eyes as he pinched himself. You were still there, now on your way to sit at one of the vacant desks and chairs.

It was really you. You, whom he had lost not so long ago. You, whose deathly cold body he held so closely that one morning to evening in the city with the uncomfortably heavy solitude and the realization of your death.

The moment you saw him in your peripheral vision, you looked up at the Acting Grand Sage.

"Hello. To what do I owe the pleasure?" You politely said at the stranger.

Time had stopped for the former scribe. 364 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes. Tomorrow was supposed to be the 1st anniversary of your death. How coincedental.

It was your voice that rang through his ears. The same voice that had wished him good luck. The voice that whispered sweet nothings into his ears during intimate moments.

Alhaitham managed to choke out a few words, sounding strained as to not startle you.

"Greetings." He said, stoic as ever as how you met him for the first time one faithful day in this very library. "I do not recall seeing you around, care to tell me your name?"

You chuckled lightly. Little birdies from around the Akademiya had spoke of a certain grey haired man, the Acting Grand Sage. Some spoke of him highly, whilst the contrasting spoke of him with deep disdain.

"My, the Acting Grand Sage asks for my name? Have I ran into trouble?" You replied, gently closing the open book you were previously reading and leaning over, head resting on your shoulder with a polite grin.

"Quite the opposite, if I may. I find you quite intriguing, not many scholars like to have a physics book open."

"Ah, this?"

You gestured him to lean his head forward to your lips before whispering,

"Truth be told, I wasn't really paying attention to the words. It's my first day here, I wished to pass off as a competent one." You softly giggled into his ear.

Exactly what you had done on your first day, except Alhaitham had an icy aura that surrounded him as if he was traced by it. Now he was the one who had approached you.

The Acting Grand Sage was never the one to believe in hypothetical things like fate but it was as if that very same thing had line this up for him.

Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a pair of small feet and strands of white hair running and flowing freely once he turned his focus to the source. He inwardly smiled.

Oh, he had fallen for you once again.

Worry not for the amount of hypothetical days the Samsara keeps him in a loop. Alhaitham worries not for your loss of memory. He'd willingly get stuck in the chains of it for you, for as long as he finds his way back to you and you the same.

You have embedded and carved a place reserved only for you in his soul only the Primordial One could eradicate and erase.

#bamdelune's bookstore #bamdelune #genshin impact #alhaitham #alhaitham x reader #alhaitham x you #alhaitham x gn reader #sumeru

[alhaithamcore]

i really hope we get more events where characters get to visit different regions, especially sumeru and liyue cuz they’re my faves

like imagine alhaitham going on vacation to liyue specifically to learn about its culture and traditions, cue him running into zhongli who knows literally everything about everything and internally haitham’s just like !!!! omg!! and then they chat for hours about the most obscure things. and haitham is just completely enthralled and zhongli finds himself smiling and enjoying himself because it’s been such a long time since he’s been able to just chat with someone like this

or ningguang showing kaveh around the jade chamber because he is absolutely beside himself with fascination (and excitement) about the architectural design of the place, she even lets him examine the blueprints and answers any questions he has about the construction process, fondly observing the way his eyes light up when she tells him different facts about its design and functionality

or yunjin showing nilou around the teahouse and introducing her to the yun-han opera troupe, and nilou is just completely amazed because she’s never really had a chance to explore other nations’ performing arts traditions before and she thinks yunjin has the prettiest voice ever!!!! and then they teach each other their favorite dance techniques and nilou is just so happy to find someone who loves performing as much as she does!!

or tighnari volunteering at bubu pharmacy and eagerly watching baizhu prepare different prescriptions and medicines, fascinated by his various explanations and techniques, and he’s so excited to see plants from different nations that are hard to acquire in sumeru, enthusiastically scribbling in his notebook and making sure to read up on native liyue plants when he returns home!! he even accompanies qiqi when she goes to collect herbs and is there to help her when she forgets things and baizhu lets him keep some of the herbs as a gift

or dehya spending a day on board the crux while beidou tells stories of her various adventures, admiring her bravery and carefree spirit, particularly enjoying the tale of haishan’s defeat. beidou eagerly listens to dehya recount the daily life of an mercenary in sumeru city, enthralled by the events of the sabzeruz festival samsara, lesser lord kusanali and the treachery of the akademiya sages. they exchange battle tactics and spar with each other, and dehya smiles and laughs because she is genuinely enjoying herself, making a mental note to tell candace everything about her experiences as soon as she returns to aaru village

i could go on and on but this post is already kinda long and i don’t wanna bore y’all fjskdksks-

anyways tldr i love sumeru and liyue very much and i think their respective characters would be best friends. thank you for coming to my ted talk

#genshin impact headcanons #alhaitham #zhongli #kaveh #ningguang #beidou #dehya #nilou #yunjin #baizhu #tighnari #genshin impact #sumeru #liyue #genshin impact kaveh #genshin impact alhaitham #saturn writes 🪐

[the-robot-bracket]

Five Pebbles propaganda:

"He's like 2 cm tall and also the size of a city. He was 'born' sopping wet in a can all alone and is angry at everything always and forever. He has made big mistakes and feels desperately guilty for them and tries his hardest to make up for them. He is a tiny little bug shouting at the world. Just look at his little antennae."

"Five Pebbles is a bio-mechanical supercomputer so large he literally has a metropolis built on top of him but he is also a little ~2ft. nerd who's into poetry and angrily rants to animals. He has a million absent parents. He nearly killed his sister and is sad about it for the rest of time. A rat kills him. This is the ideal character. #FIVEPEBBLESSWEEP"

"Hes a little pink guy, hes also a massive biomechanical superstructure. he wanted to kill himself so bad but only ended up giving himself turbo robot cancer and killing his older sister in the process (who i will also submit in a bit) Hes sooo silly i want to hit him with a brick. If you do that tho he just fries your brain instantly. love him"

"Oh he's such a cringe fail pathetic man, chugged so much water in an attempt to kill himself, instead kills his sister (kinda) and gives himself robo cancer. He'd listen to mcr and watch those cringey emo warrior cat amvs everyday if he could"

"He canonically has a rip-off Pepsi brand based on him, and he also has official art of him as a cat boy."

"Silly little goober, basically a God but also a tiny tiny little buddy."

"Imagine youre busy doing the hardest math ever when a feral cat scampers into your house, bites a chunk out of you, and scatters all your work everywhere. Then imagine that your reaction is to give this feral cat the gift of understanding speech and bless it with ultimate enlightenment so that it may escape samsara. This exact situation happened to Mr Fruity Pebbles about 4 times"

"I'm sure you've heard plenty about how pathetic this massive-yet-tiny supercomputer boy is so I'll just list off some semi-obscure facts that make him even more of my miserable wet cat

- He gets a surprise roommate of an explosive rat on a genocide mission and proceeds to talk to them like they're a person. He acts like they're the most annoying thing in the world but he also gets excited when they bring him something cool, or is clearly trying not to break down in front of them if they bring him chat logs with his friends and/or sister (that he killed)

- He is, both physically and mentally, being eaten from the inside by the consequences of his actions, due to the robot turbocancer and his own inescapable regret

- He seems to project onto nearly every rat that stumbles into his room, assuming they want to die just as much as he does

- The devs once commissioned multiple artworks of him in a catboy outfit I want this twink obliterated and I will fulfill those wishes as the rat who kills him."

"Failed so hard at killing himself, he killed himself. Looks like a lollipop in a dress. I make a habit of dumping stray kittens into his house so I guess a nomination counts as child support."

"Idk he tries to kill himself and fails so miserably it's kinda funny. Also he sucks god bless america"

"He's a wet cat."

#robot bracket #robot poll #propaganda #five pebbles #rain world

[isnt-it-pretty]

So like, I know I'm already writing a fic where Cyno has Eleazar, but I'm asking you to consider Kaveh.

I've already made posts about how I headcanon Kaveh as chronically ill, which is why he lives with Alhaitham (he can't work enough to make a living). I just think it makes more sense than him being in debt to Dori over the house she owns?? Alhaitham, of course, doesn't know this is the real reason; it's easier to stomach people thinking he's just bad with money. But him having Eleazar specifically is an interesting concept, especially when you consider a small detail about canon: Kaveh wasn't in Sumeru City during the samsara. Instead, he was in the desert working on a project, presumably for Kshahrewar.

What if the Grand Sage of Kshahrewar, knowing of Kaveh's illness and anticipating the danger of the samsara, purposefully sent Kaveh out of the city? We know Kaveh is the pride of his darshan and well-liked by almost everybody-- it would make sense for his Grand Sage to try and protect him.

Also an AU where Kaveh doesn't leave for the desert and gets super sick after the samsara 😈 perfect kavetham angst.

#Genshin impact #kaveh #genshin #kavetham #haikaveh #sometimes i'm creative #my posts #chronically ill genshin

[moon-swag-tourney]

Propaganda below!

Looks to the Moon

I LOVE BIG SIS MOON AHHHH... she's literally so so sweet and perfect and i love her…

MY GIRL!!! She deserved so much better. She's one of the first of many MASSIVE supercomputers called iterators designed to solve a problem which her creators eventually gave up on any of them solving and thus was left behind to gradually fall into disrepair. Even though she appears as a small humanoid, iterators in their entirety are actually buildings full of machinery that have entire cities built on top of them.

As one of the senior iterators, Looks to the Moon, sometimes called Big Sis Moon, looks after her younger peers and is very caring towards her fellow iterators. Tragically, her kindness ultimately leads to her structure collapsing leaving her weak and with limited cognitive ability, but even then she is so sweet to the main character. You can bring her random items and she'll describe each one, even if it's just a rock or something. She also gives you advice whenever possible.

She's gone through so much and yet is still so incredibly kind please vote for her she deserves it

Looks to the moon is an iterator, a city-sized biomechanical supercomputer. When you meet her, she is trapped in the flooded and collapsed husk of her superstructure, barely alive. Despite this, she is warm and kind and will tell you about any object you bring her. Looks to the Moon also goes by the name Big Sis Moon, as she is the most senior iterator in the local group and views the other iterators in her care as younger siblings

Moon's the best! She's an iterator, a sentient supercomputer whose structure used to be so big it housed an entire city on top of it. However, the civilization that built her is long gone, and she and the other iterators were left behind, unable to die, unable to leave their structures. Imagine once being a god with an entire civilization relying on you for all their vital resources, only to be left behind, literally a mountain bolted to the ground, as the wildlife slowly takes over the land and your communications with the other iterator fail. Moon's little brother Five Pebble's couldn't accept this fate, and made some rash decicions. This badly damaged Moon's systems, causing her structure to come crashing down to the ground, and her to lose most of her memories and processing power. There's something magical in discovering her for the first time - this fallen Goddess taken over by rust, abandoned inside the giant ruins that used to be her body. Still, she's friendly, and should you be kind to her, she'll return the gesture. She doesn't have much, but she'll gladly give you company and tell you stories. She also still cares about her brother very much, even though he's the one to blame for her bad state. 

Moon is a superintelligent AI called an Iterator. She's designed to (basically) help the lesser beings of the world escape samsara, along with the potentially thousands of other iterators. She was accidentally killed by her brother as he attempted to escape samsara for himself. She's the only character the player can meaningfully interact with, and she's very sweet and kind.

Majora's Mask Moon

Now that's a very angry looking Moon!

Omnipresent. The best way to describe them. You look up. They are there. You can reset time as many times as you like…but until you deal with the problem…the moon is still there.

They are the moon. You can't get moonier than the literal fucking moon. Any yes, they are a major character with autonomy in the story. 

#looks to the moon #rain world spoilers #rain world #majora's mask #majora's mask moon #poll #moon poll

[herrscherofmagic]

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that an Eden expy would be perfect for HSR.

Beauty... What is your definition of beauty? Did you have it? Did the old me have it?

TL;DR: Eden's a HI3rd character with themes/motifs around music, beauty, elegance, and so on. I think it would be cool to see an Eden expy in Honkai: Star Rail :)

Slightly longer TL;DR: Eden is a character whose story revolves around the meaning of beauty in an ugly world, a world in which terrible things happen to good people, in which the greatest and bravest heroes of humanity fail to save the day. In spite of this, even as the last cities of Earth crumbled to dust, Eden still held steadfast on her belief, and she had faith that even though her era is now fading away, the new era of humanity would "script their own fate and sing their own songs."

So I've seen a fair bit of discussion about expys on the HSR subreddit from time to time, and I figured I'd have a go at this with my own post discussing a pre-existing Hoyoverse character I'd like to see in HSR someday!

This post is mostly aimed at an HSR audience so I've written it in a way that should be understandable even without any prior knowledge of HI3rd, but fellow HI3rd peeps might enjoy it too :)

The thought of this came to me when I was playing HI3rd earlier, because when I was looking at Eden's signature weapon, I was thinking "wow, I forgot how beautiful that was" and then it hit me- one of Eden's core themes as a character is Beauty, making her a perfect candidate to be a future Pathstrider of the Path of Beauty! Whether part of the Knights of Beauty or part of a different faction or even walking this path on her own.

There's going to be some light spoilers for HI3rd's story, but nothing that spoils major story beats. Eden is a character from the Previous Era, meaning most of her story takes place in the form of archives and records of the past. This post is pretty much all backstory, and I won't discuss any important "secrets of the past" meaning any big plot twists should remain unspoiled.

So if you're ambivalent or unconcerned about HI3rd spoilers, I'd say it should be okay to proceed, but if you want to play it safe then you should probably return to this post later. All of this is lore from the Elysian Realm, so if you're already familiar with that then there won't be any spoilers at all :)

That being said, this post does contain some pretty heavy content. Nothing particularly graphic or violent, but there is discussion of death and trauma so please keep this in mind!

Some quick context, to start with:

HI3rd's story takes place on Earth, and in this setting there have been multiple "past eras". Over the course of a civilization's development, powerful apocalyptic beings called "Herrschers" appear and wreck havoc upon the world. When the final Herrscher, the Herrscher of Finality*, descends upon the Earth it removes all trace of the current existing civilization... or whatever remains of it. Over the course of 50,000 years a new civilization develops in its place until someday Finality returns once more and the samsara repeats.

Eden is a character belonging to the Previous Era (PE), which is the civilization immediately preceding the Current Era (CE), which is the present-day setting of HI3rd.

*disclaimer: this Finality is not related to the Path of Finality. It's a matter of translation, since the original text uses different characters.

Eden was living a pretty great life- she was a superstar and she was filthy rich, with global tours and widespread fame. In fact, several of the other major characters of the Previous Era (such as Kevin and Su) were fans of her music! Singing, playing instruments, she could do it all. Naturally, she was a fervent supporter of the arts.

Despite this, Eden was still living a "normal" life- a life in which she was blissfully unaware of the looming threat of Honkai. She became painfully aware of it when disaster struck during a concert of hers in Sydney (the PE version of it, of course). During this concert but elsewhere in the city, the 7th Herrscher awoke: the Herrscher of Fire. Almost immediately the entire city was engulfed in raging fires. According to some sources, even the entire continent of Australia was destroyed, but this may have been retconned so take it with a grain of salt.

Eden was (un)fortunate enough to survive this disaster, being saved by one of the former Fire MOTH soldiers that was under the leadership of the person that became the Herrscher of Fire. Though Eden survived and still retained her public image and wealth, there was no returning to her past life. She ended up learning about the organization Fire MOTH, humanity's leading force fighting against the threat of Honkai. While she kept her usual public image, she would also use her wealth to help support MOTH.

The past is no more, but I can still remember this moment. This is what I can do right now.

Over time Eden grew to become a more active member of MOTH, until someday even she would end becoming a soldier herself. She witnessed the toll of war as fewer and fewer soldiers returned from battle and as the survivors became increasingly worn and weary. Though many people knew of her music and appreciated it, as the war went on Eden realized even her music had its limits to how much it could help people. Because of this, Eden chose to volunteer for a program that would give her the strength to fight alongside the rest of MOTH.

One of MOTH's many programs to fight Honkai was the MANTIS project: augmenting humans with the DNA of Honkai Beasts, granting them tremendous power. If they survived the Meta-Morph surgery. Eden underwent this program and survived, placing her as part of an elite force with the strength to fight the Herrschers head-on.

Plus she got a sick pair of guns! so that's pretty neat ^.^

Unfortunately, we know how this story ends. We call it the Previous Era precisely because it ended. Even humanity's greatest heroes couldn't stop the crushing power of Finality.

Eden would not live to see the next era of humanity.

With this summarized backstory of Eden in mind, I'd like to share a few archive entries from HI3rd, featuring Eden. I was originally going to try and summarize and discuss these lore entries myself, but I think it'd be best to keep my thoughts to a minimum and provide the full text instead, so anyone reading this can think about it for themselves and come to their own conclusions instead of taking my word as law.

First, we have one of the records discussing the events of the awakening of the 7th Herrscher. Do note that I snipped out a portion of this archive to shorten it and reduce spoilers, so it's not the complete version found in-game.

Another part of Eden's backstory I want to mention is the way Eden interacted with another major member of Fire MOTH, Dr. Mobius.

Mobius is a pretty complicated character, because while she seems to be a straightforward "mad scientist" type of character, there's a lot of nuance to her behavior and attitude. It's difficult to sum it up, but in this case I'll focus on how other people perceive her: very negatively.

Dr. Mobius' work was groundbreaking for genetics and biology, and her projects (including the MANTIS project as well as early versions of Project Stigma) were crucial in fighting Honkai. However, she was incredibly intimidating and her experiments were... questionable, to say the least. Cold and calculating, not someone to inflict needless cruelty but also someone who doesn't let silly little things such as "ethics" get in the way of progress.

Interestingly, Eden is probably one of the few people that was capable of interacting with Dr. Mobius in a positive way. Many people found it difficult to work under the supervision of Dr. Mobius and most would go out of their way to avoid her, but it seems that Eden was not one of them. This scene in particular is a good example of this:

At this point I think Eden's theme of Beauty is quite evident, and I could probably cut the post short here. But there's one final part of Eden's story I'd like to share, and since it's a scene involving Mobius it builds on the previous entry quite neatly. Since I'm going to end the post with this scene, I'll give my final thoughts first!

I don't really think it's worth worrying too much about expys and whatnot, because ultimately the important thing is whether a given character fits the story, not whether they look like a past character. If we get a "HSR Kiana" or an "HSR Kiana", what matters is the way they fit into this setting. The setting of Aeons and Paths, of a diverse set of factions vying for power and influence across the universe, and how the Nameless will cross paths with this character.

But I wanted to make this post anyways because I feel like Eden's story is greatly underappreciated, and since it has such a neat connection with the Path of Beauty.

Eden's theme of "Beauty" is not just about Eden being a beautiful person, nor is about her beautiful music. To me, it's her understanding of humanity and the way that the arts allow us to connect with each other. It's her ability to reach out and connect with a person as cold and calculating as Mobius. It's just as Eden says, "something that makes people happy, guides the way, and sparks hope."

Just something to keep in mind when reading this final archive entry. I've also re-attached the same image from the start of the post, since I think it takes on a much more powerful meaning with this scene in mind.

For those who're curious, the first & last image of the post are a still shot from the credits of the HI3rd animation "Because of You", which is a very beautiful but also spoiler-filled animated short

#honkai star rail #honkai impact 3rd #honkai 3rd #hi3 #hsr #honkai eden #long post #text heavy #so... i originally posted this on reddit but it flopped HARD >.> #i spent two hours writing this up y'all T_T #i did NOT go to bed at 2am for this eden propaganda to go unappreciated #so plz don't let me down honkai tumblr x-x #also I have violent thoughts about Eden & Mobius /j /pos #their dynamic is so criminally underrated #I flippin' love how someone so popular and beloved (Eden) is accepting of someone so feared and avoided (Mobius)

[boundinparchment]

Dream a Little Dream of Me - X

Celestia has a cruel sense of humor. He’s always known this, ever since his days as a student. But a soulmate? Really? Dottore/Female Reader Soulmate AU. Expect lore speculation, interpretations, etc. Available on AO3 as well. This chapter contains loose references to 3.2's leaked dialogue and the leaked Dottore model. Proceed at your own risk.

He’d read your name in your Akasha profile but to hear it fall from your lips was exquisite.  Even now, hours later in the depths of his own workshop, the syllables still found their way to his lips and he recalled the exact way you spoke them.  

How fortuitous that he wouldn’t have to backtrack, in the end; you certainly saved him the trip of hunting you down.  Again.

Not that he doubted you and your tendency for confrontation and clearing the air, of course.  There was still the variable of your colleagues whisking you away instead.  It only disappeared once he realized it was your attempts with the lift that were interfering with the script he was running.  The blasted device kept sensing one more terminal than expected and at that point, the only option was to let you come to him.

Perfect, really, given the small window of time.

The disappointment on your face was clear as the sun shining through the glass when you received his title, not his name.  You’d attempted to hide it away but it was there for the remaining few minutes, in the way your seeking eyes traced details and in the tiny frown tugging at the corners of your mouth.  The tugging sensation was back in full force despite the reminders to himself that his reasoning was sound.  He disliked this, deceiving you in such a fashion, but it was necessary.

Both because it kept the experiment neutral and because, well…

You were, for all those dreams and visions and connections, a stranger.

And it was better that way.

Especially right now, when the Sages were beginning to prepare for the annual pushback against the Sabzeruz Festival.  Ever resilient in their refusal to acknowledge the Greater Lord’s death, they would waste time and resources burying their heads in the sand at the notion that their God was lost forever.  But the Second Harbinger convinced them that instead it was a perfect opportunity to use the collective consciousness of the city to, instead, divert their faith, and therefore their connections to the leylines, elsewhere.

Knowledge could be harvested, contained for consumption; why not dreams, faith, memories?

He knew, of course, of the latter.  His segments ran on his own memories, leyline energy converted into circuitry and drives.  But it relied on mechanical life and therefore was of no interest to the Akademiya.  All the better, really.

It was likely too late to prevent you from being mixed up in everything, especially if you stayed in the city.  He couldn’t risk the Sages’ nonsense interfering with…

Dottore ran a bare hand over his face, as though the act would wipe away his thoughts.  Tension sat behind his eyes and deep in his jaw.  At least the rest of the mechanical work on the Manufactured God was finished, or so it appeared when he last checked, which meant he could leave the Samsara oversight to the segment as well…

That would leave room for you and finding a solution to keep you from being caught up in everything with his actual work.

He couldn’t have experiments overlap in such a fashion.

It just wouldn’t be practical.

He couldn’t have a repeat of…

His own voice broke him out of his thoughts, “So that’s the one who always appears in the shared consciousness, hmm?”

The Omega segment had otherwise been busying himself fine-tuning something across the workshop, occasionally chatting with the Balladeer, who was now deeply embedded into the machinery.  Dottore glared across his desk as the segment approached, its cravat tucked away and coat discarded in favor of rolled-up sleeves.  Well, at least Omega tended to care for its belongings.  His expense report was already becoming a nightmare as it was.

“She can’t even summon a weapon,” the segment hissed.  “And you mean to tell me she’s the one the Divine throws at us?”

“At me.  There is no us,” Dottore spat back.

“We all see her,” Omega extended his arms out, a mockery of his master.  “Any one of us could just take care of her and no one would be the wiser.”

Distantly, Dottore heard the voices of the other segments, all in agreement, some more vicious than others.  Those that had never experienced coming to terms with a Vision, for they would never receive one, others far too occupied with their own projects to chime in.  He’d finally managed to find a way to sift through for his own thoughts but when he was agitated, confused…they always managed to cross between the rifts of time and bother him.

“Stay away from her,” Dottore ordered, rising from his seat and pressing his hands flat against the surface of the desk, crushing papers in the process.  “I will not warn you again.”

“It’s not as if she’ll know the difference, will she, Zandik?  I am you.”

“No, you’re not.”

He spat the words as if they were the most bitter things he ever tasted and reached out, grabbing the different perspective by the cravat that had come free.  Dottore pulled and brought the segment down so it was bent at the waist.  He had half a mind to rip the faceplate off of the wretched creation for such insolence.

“You’re the closest thing to me but you are not me.  I cannot seem to rid you of the selfishness of my youth, and the arrogance that came with it.”

“Perhaps they aren’t traits to be culled but embraced.  They were what led to—“

“And they led to the ruin of everything I built the first time!”

He reached for the mask before the segment had a chance, revealing the spinning core, glowing red to indicate it was currently in use.  The faceplate dangled from the segment, a tangle of wires and tubing, all of which would have to be carefully pushed back in.

“I will rip out your core and send you to Sandrone for scrap if you continue.”

Dottore’s finger hovered over the core, ready to stop the segment mid-process if necessary.  

The segment relented, its shoulders slumping slightly.  “Yes, Lord Harbinger.”

Prime Dottore pushed the wires and tubes back into their appropriate places and slid the faceplate back into place, fixed strands of hair.

“You are to deal with the Sages, oversee the harvest, and anticipate and handle any threats to finishing this project.  And that is all you are to do.  We are here for the Gnoses, nothing more.”

He patted the segment on the cheek and pushed him away with the hand still holding the cravat, a silent dismissal.  He couldn’t have insubordination.  

The irony of his own rebellion was hardly lost on him but this was becoming tedious.

#dottore #il dottore #genshin impact dottore #il dottore x reader #il dottore x female reader #il dottore/reader #dottore/reader #dottore/female reader #always remember that reblogs>>>>>likes

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

*SPOILERS* ARLECCHINO STORY QUEST!

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So, ppl are mad the Traveler lost to Arlecchino...

The Traveler bodied Childe and Signora in simple 1 V 1 fights. Even when their opponents got to use power-ups, the Traveler remained the same.

Scaramouche, when by himself and not capitalizing off of Tatarigami in the atmosphere, is not a threat to the Traveler despite what he thinks. The people was the most threat to were Fatui grunts and random civilians without Visions.

People need to be honest about his Boss Fight. It was cool and flashy, and also lame. When ppl try hyping him up as soooo dangerous because the Traveler failed to defeat him in a dream 168 times, they conveniently ignore how his ass got so easily tricked into a dream in the first place. They ignore a lot about his Boss Fight actually.

1.) His own body was insufficient for 'godhood'. He needed to rely on a group of 'feeble humans' to create a better puppet body for one. He couldn't do it.

2.) That larger puppet body was capable of channeling multiple elements, which he was not shown to be capable of at all in any of the times he showed up prior to that. Signora even said he only had his rank because he could take more pain and suffering than most and was effectively impossible to kill/destroy.

3.) The puppet body was powered by a Gnosis, which was not his and was not original intended for his use specifically. The Gnosis was used to amplify the larger puppet's elemental abilities.

4.) He was hooked up to that larger puppet for months and had the scholars funneling all kinds of canned knowledge into his vessel to make a new god. None of that information was learned by himself. He needed humans to hook him up to a system they created and needed them to inject it into his mind for him. He did none of that work.

5.) The Shouki no Kami was a result of the efforts of a bunch of humans. All he did was sit there and let them shove tubes in his back. It was probably painful but becoming a 'god' was through barely any personal effort of his own. It was other people doing all the work.

6.) The people of Sumeru City were forced into a 168-day Samsara to collect knowledge, wisdom, and jnana energy for the larger puppet body. Dragging the Traveler for needing all 168 versions of the dream fight to be in their mind and having 1K ppl crowd-source a solution for the official fight, isn't it. Scaramouche needed 168 days of content from those same 1K people to help power his fancy mech suit in the first place.

The Traveler defeating him makes complete sense. Dude somehow lost even with a Gnosis in his possession and the Traveler didn't have a Gnosis to use. The Traveler wasn't even using all the Elements they have access to. Or a better weapon.

Arlecchino has her Blood Fire Curse, a Pyro Vision, and a Pyro Delusion all going at once. She is way more powerful than Childe, Signora, and base Scaramouche all put together. Her curse thing gives her power we don't even understand. We cannot properly evaluate her true threat level because we don't know what it does, or how it works.

The other three were predictable in battle once the Traveler got used to them. That's cuz the power sources make enough sense. Vision = primitive Gnosis that grants specific Elemental Power. Delusion = Vision Wannabe + negative health effects. Gnosis = Elemental Power Amplifier for gods. But the Blood Fire Curse thing? That's new. There's nothing like it anywhere else for the Traveler to learn about it or compare it to.

Also, the Traveler was not going all out because Arlecchino was not going all out either. The Traveler knew that she was testing her children and also knew the fight wasn't really theirs. She had already planned for the fight to happen and wanted the Traveler to protect the children if the time came, but it was not really their fight because they were not enemies. That's why Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet's attacks all appear during the battle and why they're talking the whole time. This was their fight with the Traveler as a back-up.

The children had to show a sufficient level of skill and improvement for Arlecchino to change the punishment they were due, but she was the one to choose when the demonstration ended. The Traveler was the only one still standing by the end, and Arlecchino used her curse to make eye contact and Tsukuyomi them and then manipulated their body into being unable to move(bloodbending???) to defend themself while she came at them.

How do you fight what you do not know? The twins got bodied by the Sustainer... because they didn't know what her powers were or what they were capable of. If they went into that battle with all the knowledge already, it probably would have ended very differently. That's just how it goes. That's why everyone wonders what the rematch will be like, especially with all the Elements and that weird golden power on the Traveler's side.

Ranks actually matter for the Harbingers. Arlecchino being #4 means she's very high up there. The Traveler has defeated every Harbinger Boss up until now and it's actually good that they didn't win this one. Even if it wasn't a real fight on their behalf, they got a good look into what the highest-ranking Harbingers are capable of. And that will serve as a lesson. She was only #4, could do all of that shit, and there are still 3 people above her.

This served as a good lesson on the dangers of hubris imo. If the Traveler beat her with all that shit she did while the Traveler wasn't trying their best, I'd be pissed.

#genshin impact #arlecchino

[shintoinenglish]

Hello!

I am studying Buddhism and Shintō and I was wondering how people combine these two worldviews in Shinbutsu-Shūgō? As I know Shinto is very focused on nature and love for the world around us, while Buddhism believes that we are in the wheel of samsara, the world is full of suffering and we should leave here to Nirvana

Thank You in advance for Your answer.

I don't think Buddhism encourages leaving this world in any way, but rather teaches us how to deal with hardships, trauma, and inequality in this life. It's understandable why many people think Buddhism is more afterlife-oriented, especially in Japan, but this definitely does not mean that this world is inherently bad. It's more of a neutral perspective, from what I've read and heard. Both Shintō and Buddhism acknowledge that the natural world can harm, and the ways this is explained, as well as how humans react to it, varies by sect.

I think Zen temples are a good example of how Buddhism can focus on nature (though I'm not Zen, so please don't take my word for this!). There's a reason why monks trained in nature, in mountains far from the city. There's also a reason why even today, Shugendō practitioners keep practicing their asceticism in the wild. Reminding ourselves that we are part of nature is still Buddhist; being a good steward for nature is probably a way to build good karma (toku) which you can dedicate to others. To give a concrete example, I see veterinarians and those involved in animal welfare and rescue as being of service to Kannon-sama, because that is a field in which compassion is a driving force. Not that you have to be Buddhist to be a veterinarian, but I believe it to be a profession that is inherently compatible with Kannon-sama's goals. Of course, this includes wildlife rehabilitation, and I'd say is even more relevant for 'uncharismatic' wildlife such as vultures, who play a valuable part in the cycle of life on this planet. I lack knowledge in the field of plants, but I'm sure there is something similar to be said about people who engage in environmental activism, guerilla gardening, etc.

Shintō isn't necessarily about love for the world around us, but appreciating connections between people, kamisama and so on, spanning from history to now: the ancient peoples who discovered rice could be edible, to those who first farmed with it, to the farmers currently harvesting it, to the rice itself, full of life, on your plate.

Thank you for sending me this question, it really got me thinking!

#my asks #anonymous #I hope this helps!