#like what the fuck did that line in neuvillette's ''vision'' story mean

[starsandthorn]

"the distance between sitting in the hands of the anemo archon statue in mondstadt and standing on the head of the statue of the omnipresent god in inazuma is exactly 6666m" how the fuck did you guys figure that out

#personal stuff #delete later #was looking into smth regarding the omnipresent god statue. weird she looks a bit like egeria huh #could just be a consequence of similar haircut and bangs + all divine beings in this game wear hoods as symbols of their divinity #but considering she was created directly by the shade of life. i imagine there might be a bit of resemblance there #which might be a hint towards the statue's identity? #like i know we all think it's istaroth but i'm pretty sure that's because she's literally the only divine god we know the name of #and bc she's wearing an eye of the storm AND the exact distance from venti's statue #considering they were. if not besties then they were at least both worshiped in mondstadt for a while #but yall thought nicole was istaroth too like come on #like it might make sense if ei's og plan was to collect visions and use the statue to stop time or smth? #but. we all know how that went. grimaces. thank god we don't have three-act archon quests anymore right #but her sticking visions into a celestial statue does make me curious about the responsibilities of the four shades #and if one of them either had something to do with the vision system or with the quote-unquote ascension system #like what the fuck did that line in neuvillette's ''vision'' story mean #about the gods receiving gifts after a vision holder completes their duty. HUH #just auuugh. ripping and tearing #hope we get to see a full design of egeria when furina's second story quest comes out in. 4.6 i think

[iustitians]

ooc; headcanons/worldbuilding - on the Dragon Sovereign's Authority or lack thereof, and how it fucks with you

(whiny child voice) Moooom Neffi is turning a meme into a serious meta agaaain

Fontaine Archon Quest spoilers (4.2 in particular) below.

No really, this idea literally did start with a meme. Specifically, with this post that I accidentally ran into on Twitter. My first reaction was, presumably, similar to everyone else's. I laughed and was like "lmao yeah they kinda have a point". And then I started thinking. (Oh no.)

Exactly why was Neuvillette like this?

And as I thought about it more, I had a bit of an epiphany. Or maybe just a bunch of random thoughts, who knows. Anyway.

Even though Neuvillette's identity as the Hydro Dragon Sovereign is revealed to us in 4.1 and so is his negative attitude towards Celestia (he openly refers to the Heavenly Principles as the "First Usurper"), it is not until after completing Masquerade of the Guilty that his character story parts and voice lines about judging the Archons and the heavens, restoring the original order etc are unlocked. In addition, they are also generally worded in a more grandiose - and sometimes borderline hostile - tone than what is made available to us prior to 4.2. (With the exception of Neuvillette's final ascension quote, but quite frankly, it's literally a 4.2 spoiler that in my opinion should have been blocked by story progression as well. But maybe they just don't do that to ascension quotes. I dunno.)

Before we complete the 4.2 AQ, the most we get is Neuvillette mocking Venti and Zhongli for the fake Visions, which like... when you think about it, he kinda has a point lmao. The tone of his voice lines towards the Archons that unlock after completing said AQ also cannot be compared to his attitude towards Furina - whom he believes to be the Hydro Archon - throughout the Fontaine story. Yeah, he can find her exasperating at times, but there is no outright hostility, no talk of judging her someday - not to her face and not behind her back - and while he says that his Authority could be restored if the Archon were to disappear, he does not wish for it. He doesn't seem to want it to happen, and in fact seems kind of resigned to it not happening, believing the solution to be unrealistic. "I can't do much without my Authority unless the Archon were to disappear. But given the status quo, let's try to find a different way to deal with the prophecy. Anyway I need to go back to my office." Very different tone from stuff like "I shall fulfill my vow to judge all of The Seven, even if the sky should fall and the ground give way".

It's something that's been puzzling me for a little while now, and then I realized something. We can obviously go the easy route and say that, well, of course he didn't talk about doing things he did not have the power to do at the time. But I like to think that this goes deeper. So okay, bear with me for a moment.

The fact that, unlike the Archons, Neuvillette is not obligated to hand out Visions and only does so out of his own choice, and may also have actual control over who he grants a Vision to (unless we really want to insist that his first Vision being given to Furina of all people was a coincidence, which I mean... it might have been but I am not convinced), suggests that this power may actually be more native to the Dragon Sovereign Authority than anything else connected with being an Archon. This may be further supported by how the people from other nations - to our knowledge, at least - continue to receive Visions even after the Archon has handed over their Gnosis. (In addition, the people from Inazuma and Sumeru still got Visions in the 500 years during which Raiden and Kusanali did not hold their Gnoses.) After all - unlike the Gnosis, the Dragon Authority, tied to the Archon's Divine Throne, cannot be simply pawned off or stolen. So even after giving up the Gnosis, the Archons still possess the Authorities and continue to "impart shattered shards of their masteries" to humans, whether they are aware of and like it, or not.

(Plus, Neuvillette does not give half a shit about the Gnoses. He himself didn't know what they truly are until the Skirk Loredump™ and he casually handed the Hydro Gnosis over afterwards, further supporting the idea that those things are completely unrelated.)

What am I getting at here? Well, we know from the Inazuma Archon Quest what losing one's Vision does to a person. Having been deprived of what is essentially a piece of themselves, many of the victims of the Vision Hunt Decree lost their ambitions and goals in life, sometimes also some critical memories, could undergo a change in personality, and obviously no longer possessed the power that a Vision grants.

Which should sound a little familiar right now.

If this is what losing a Vision does, and if the theory that Visions are connected to Dragon Authorities is correct (which I will not call my theory by the way, I am not the first person to think this), then what if losing the Dragon Authority does the same to its original owner?

Thinking about it this way, that would explain a lot about the way Neuvillette was prior to regaining his Authority. His ambition and goal were either deeply concealed, or just simply missing, never once mentioned. His memories were very incomplete, to the point where he didn't even remember his connection to the Primordial Sea - which, if we want to believe the Vishap legend, he is the literal heart of, and even if we don't, said connection is still extremely close. His personality - as the Hydro Sovereign, rather than the Iudex - was certainly different, or rather it is, again, more appropriate to say that certain traits were missing. And, obviously, his power was very fragmented, as demonstrated by the way he struggled against the Primordial Seawater breaking free in the Fortress of Meropide.

This is also something that makes sense to do from Celestia's point of view. It's not impossible that they knew from the start that, even if the Sovereigns are killed, they can and will eventually be reborn, so they cannot be entirely removed as a potential danger that way. However, by stripping them of their power and ambition, Heavenly Principles not only had an additional tool to establish their own system and, in Neuvillette's words, "subdue and control the resentments and loathing of the world" - but also could neutralize the threat that the Sovereigns pose by depriving them of both the will and the means to stand against the heavens.

Without their Authorities, the Sovereigns are akin to humans who had lost their Visions. They are quite literally incomplete, and able to do little more than watch and wait while they hold on to their grudges and hatred (see also: Apep) or accept the ongoing status quo the way Neuvillette did. But give it back to one of them and they instantly begin to threaten to Fucking Get Celestia One Day - and the main reason why Neuvillette is not getting on that immediately, as he himself says, is because he sees watching over Fontaine as a duty (and in a way, a gift) granted and entrusted to him and wants to fulfill it first, so he will presumably remain in Fontaine for as long as it needs him. Because let's face it, if he were to leave right now, the country is screwed. He's not only the chief administrator, governor and judge, but also Fontaine's battery.

So, yeah. I don't really have a particularly meaningful and graceful way to close off my ramblings. Who knows, perhaps next update or next nation releases new information that either proves me right or completely and utterly wrong. Again, this post started with a meme. But still, this was a connection that I drew and found both interesting and potentially plausible, and so I decided to throw some words together to sort out my thoughts in a somewhat coherent way.

If you somehow read this to the end, I salute you.

#✦ ooc. #✦ headcanons. #✦ worldbuilding. #loud wheeze #enjoy whatever this is #they call me Neffi One Neuvi Meta Per Month on account of me writing one Neuvi meta per month

[daggryet]

❤💛

and oh ive figured out why inazuma quests where lacking (at least for me)

they were a little too fast, but not like. to be fair, not much faster than the rest, except like. half of the story wasn't there? like it's all in the legendary quests, the aftermath, the peace treaty stuff and the tension. and I haven't gotten through all of the legendary quests yet but inazuma seems to be the only one that has this kind of Important Stuff shoved away into smth like that

and yeah you technically have to go through all the legendaries for the area but like. i didn't. i didn't even know i should have until I got to that quest with xiao and the nameless adeptus (cool quest btw i was. So fucking scared they were gonna kill xiao)

so yeah. like i finished the sumeru quests and it was basically the same as the inazuma one. except they didn't put any of it away to legendaries and instead just made it whole

which yeah. maybe they weren't sure about inazuma when it just came out. but like. mond quest was full. it had the aftermath and all right there. were they trying smth new? was it a schedule issue? who fucking knows

but yeah. it's not that bad a quest even if the whole thing about raiden being tragic was a bit much for me. like. she was basically a dictator but I should feel bad for her and not for her people hoyoverse?

I mean. Considering political climate in China having rebels be good guys at all is kind cool. But still.

so yeah. that's my thought. gonna be going through the story quests, both archon and legendary, kinda fast in the coming days. i have neuvi guaranteed, but I also want wriothesley (literally because of people's fanart, bark bark awooga and all that) and i hope to have primos by the end of neuvi's banner. at least enough to try for a 50/50

yeah, been talking a lot in a server about my problems with inazuma, and half the story not being there despite that missing half obviously having a lot of weight on the story is a big part of it. like, why should i care so much about tepppei when we've not been shown teppei more than two times? i want to care about teppei, i can think of reasons for why his death is so important to traveler, but i'm not being SHOWN IT.

and raiden being solely tragic is so strange because of all the things we've not been shown in the inazuma archon quest, raiden's callousness and cold power is like the one (1) thing we did get to see. and the visions being given back, so raiden doesn't have those 99 tortured souls on her conscience, is such an obvious marketing choice because us using the power within the visions, the last ambitions of the owners, was such a big part of the finale that the visions still having power is such a dumb choice. i guess it's because it was such recent crimes against her people, that they kind of removed any consequences for it, because zhongli did get to keeps his morally grey nuances in his story quests (and raiden's were, as you said, purely oh woe is me)

i actually think there's a reason for why inazuma lacked and why the writing went so downhill for that region in particular (or well, for that archon quest). probably some behind the scenes drama with writers stepping down close to the deadline. that would make sense with how they very obviously had a big plan for the archon quest, like sumeru was going to be, but somewhere along the line, the story didn't get written.

the world quests for inazuma are so good!!! they're really sad, but they're all following the theme of "you can't change the past, but you can try to put its ghosts to rest", and i just love that so much. i'd definitely recommend doing them if you have time for it. (also, just like in sumeru, some regions in inazuma won't really be unlocked until after the quests have been done).

good luck with story quests!!! if you've come across any good ones, just send me another ask, i have so many thoughts on some of them:DDD and GFOOD LUCK ON WRIOTHESLEY!!! AND NEUVILLETTE!!! YOU WILL GET THEM BOTH!!!

ALSO!what did you think about the 4.1 trailer? i'm SO excited to see how it unfolds. with arlecchino likely being the big bad from the fatui, i'm gonna have to accept that lyney is probably gonna be on the wrong side, but STILL, his "wriothesley, where did you take my siblings?" still absolutely broke me. also neuvillette coming out to fight, hope childe gets an opportunity to face off against him

#ask #❤💛 anon #long post #genshin

[starsandthorn]

read through all of neuvillette's stories on the wiki and. what do you MEAN people were right about him giving furina her vision

#personal stuff #delete later #KIND OF. sort of. #man i love getting vision and celestia lore like AUGH. gnaws on it forever #but yea really interesting to me. neuvillette has the power and authority that the hydro throne had #so he can portion off bits of his power and hand them out in the form of visions like the heavens did #the WORDING is really interesting to me though. like specifically talking about the Heavens and the Seven Archons #like this implies that the Thrones in celestia are responsible for handing out visions instead of the individual gods #which we already knew from ei's voiceline about electro visions not getting handed out. what was up with that btw #CANNOT wait for snezhnaya where we find out what the hell a gnosis actually is and does and why the fatui's collecting them #if they seemingly have no influence on an archon's authority or seat in celestia and only act as a connection to the heavens #like the hydro throne is gone. it's super gone. but the hydro gnosis is still. around. and apparently performing whatever task gnoses do #for arlecchino to still. want it. #also all of the archons being so flippant about their gnoses. do they know they're made from some dead guy's corpse do you think #venti didn't fight back when his was being taken zhongli and nahida traded theirs and ei literally just didn't care #god. REALLY interesting. also the line near the end of his ''vision'' story abt vision holders is so fucking ominous #''and when one so gifted completed their duty...the gift the gods would receive in return would be more abundant still'' #HUH. EXCUSE ME. #like. allogenes as investments for elemental power? is that what we're getting at? #still wondering what the hell happened to vennessa. can we get some information on what ascending to celestia means. please