Happy Pride, so let's celebrate with my gay crack ship that got out of my hand and turned into an AU.
Integrity AU explores the unexpected romance between Fuxi and Yi.
Taking place mostly during the Eternal Cauldron Project. As Fuxi connects with more people, he reflects on his actions as a Feng and strives to become a better person. It causes drastic changes to the dynamics in the Tiandao Council and some aspects of the Project.
Despite this curious pairing and one major change to a character, it still mostly follows the canon flow of events, unless a character takes action that contradicts it.
Sol of Integrity is just an empty title, given because it looks good on a leader. Fuxi was taught how to behave with it but didn’t care. Like a shareholder, he votes on the Council with his twin sister, Nuwa. They do not have to participate in developing ideas to solve problems it faces every day, nor are they expected to. They can just reap the benefits from its successes and vote against whatever they don’t like.
One day, Eigong brings along a new Sol, Yi, as he has a risky proposal to save the Solarian race from Tianhuo. Naturally, it needs the approval from the Fengs as it will require a lot of capital. When Eigong introduces them to each other, he finds Yi cute and casually flirts with him. Yi, instead of his usual disdain or defiance in these circumstances, becomes visibly embarrassed. This gives him the confidence to pursue Yi once again, and he agrees.
As this relationship blossoms, he begins to care about more than just money, power, and his family, and is able to form genuine bonds with people around him and Yi. He becomes a moral person through conversations and Taoist teachings with Heng, leading to a new faction within the Council and the drama that ensues.
Yi - Lovestruck Innovator
For all of his life, he has relentlessly pursued science to prove to himself and everyone else that he is right to choose this path, and never batted an eye at romance. Never in a million years did he expect he could find love with how much he neglects and rejects that aspect of his life.
He appreciates Fuxi being grounded and a natural leader. Fuxi helps him manage the Project's bureaucratic side, allowing him to focus on improving the Eternal Cauldron. He is still a workaholic, but there aren’t as many things on his plate, so he allows himself to spend more time with his lover, and even friends and family. He is considerably more passive during this period as he learns to slow down and enjoy the frivolous part of life from Fuxi.
Goumang - Permanent Third Wheel?
Before Yi even entered the picture, she had been yearning for Eigong’s approval more actively. Instead of making genetically modified crops to feed all of Penglai or Jiangshi technology, she investigates Fusang DNA and improves the yield of the milk it produces. Fuxi seized the opportunity to partner with her and commodify it, and she reluctantly agrees as she needs funding. He looked down on her because she was a peasant; she despised the rich and was ashamed that her labour got commercialised.
As Fuxi becomes a better person, she is the first person he apologises to. They become friends, sharing the stories of how they grew up that shape them today. However, she and Yi are still not on good terms, so Fuxi forces them to reconcile. In the end, they all get along and work as a team to make the Eternal Cauldron even better, and vote together in the Council, especially on issues regarding morality.
Nuwa - Prisoner of Selflessness
She and Fuxi used to be co-dependent (NOT romantic). They have lived together forever as twins, with him helping her with mobility, and their shared love for “low-class” interests like opera. They are the only ones who understand each other in the Feng Clan.
Once he has found love, this bond has been considerably weakened. After an ultimatum, Fuxi leaves the Feng Clan for good, and she is forced to step up as the head of the clan. She becomes business-savvy and a capable leader who holds her own and can effectively manage the Council’s finances even without Fuxi’s help. But she has to sacrifice her time and love for opera, her morals and empathy, and eventually, her remaining bond with Fuxi as their views diverge further. She does not fault him for finding love, but finds any excuse to blame Yi for taking her twin brother away and making her life worse.
Feng Matriarch (Fuxi and Nuwa’s Mom)
One of the Council members in the past. The Feng who pushed Eigong to find immortality by threatening to cut her funding.
Steps away from Council duties as her health declined because of Tianhuo. Using her leverage to get her twins to step up and take on responsibilities and learn to be leaders, while increasing the Feng Clan's influence there. Fuxi takes it seriously, while Nuwa is just kinda there, informing her who she wants as her successor.
Against Fuxi and Yi becoming a couple, even if Yi is the brain behind the Eternal Cauldron Project and viewed as a saviour of Solarian-kind, because he was born a commoner. Fuxi showed promise as a good leader and a savvy businessman, so she tolerated this for a while just as she did with the twins' love for opera. thinking he will eventually "return to his senses".
Because of Yi, Heng, and Goumang, Fuxi learns to become a good person and disagrees with the Feng Clan’s practices more and more.
Once she is near the end of her life, she becomes desperate for Fuxi to become her successor and issues an ultimatum that he either give up on the relationship or give up being a Feng. Fuxi throws away his hood, neck decorations, and belt right then (all the rings being a symbol of the Feng Clan) and leaves the estate.
Quickly forces Nuwa to become the head of the Feng Clan, making her more independent and cutthroat in the Matriarch’s image, teaching the Feng Clan’s “techniques”, and constantly comparing her with Fuxi. Shortly after Nuwa showed some promise, the Matriarch died from Tianhuo, and the stress of everything probably didn't help.
Sees her brother’s first date and immediately clocks how this relationship will work.
Reaches out to Fuxi as he increasingly stays at her family’s home because of disagreements with the Feng Clan. She explains the central lesson of Taoism to him, and that the happiness he brought to Yi’s life is enough for her, exactly what he needs to hear at that moment. He starts practising Taoist teachings, not to make the most money but to look after the people who work for him.
Plays instruments with Fuxi together and helps him with makeup because Yi wouldn’t budge on both.
With both her and Fuxi as examples, Yi caves that Taoism is not just a backwards, anti-science propaganda but serves a purpose. Yi won’t practice it himself, but is willing to be more open-minded and moral.
Yi no longer fully dismisses her words on Fusang, and she agrees to do some experiments. With the help of Goumang, they made some small breakthroughs, but she only experiences its feelings, and few can be expressed using words, so it is not precise enough. They respect her (and Fusang’s) wish to stop.
Didn't approve of Fuxi because he is so rich. While it secures Yi's future (if there is one), what the Feng Clan had to do to get that rich is definitely against their beliefs. Being a noble doesn't help, as most people wouldn't like them even at the best of times, and they are still living well during a crisis.
Since Fuxi embraces Taoist teaching in his actions, they warm up to him even if they still have their gripes. Aiming to save all of Penglai with his influence is commendable, but the Project is not something they would ever approve. As they saw more points of view with Fuxi, it mended Yi's relationship with them a bit.
Despite Fuxi not considering himself a Taoist (because it is a sore subject for Yi), Yi's parents demand that he wear Taoist clothes as a compromise to showcase his dedication to Taoist beliefs to the world and make people think he has been fully converted, and he agrees. He left the Feng estate so quickly that he didn't pack up his stuff, having extra clothes for free doesn't hurt.
His Taoist clothes are tailor-made as he is way taller than all of Yi's family. It has a custom 丙 Bing symbol (his Sol seal symbol) on the back, lovingly sewn by Yi’s mom.
Full Doc for Integrity AU, it contains everything on Penglai for now.
