Epicyon

Feel free to tell me your theories analyses and thoughts about Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, Arknights and Fate series. Ask box is always open

[epicyonbeforeidie]

I always love to headcanon certain parallels between Juste and Richter. One way I do this is through their hobbies, interests, and dreams.

Juste had many interests, things he enjoyed doing and was good at besides hunting. Unfortunately, he gradually had to give up each of them in favor of fulfilling the Belmont legacy, something that caused him a great deal of grief.

Richter, by contrast, never really had that problem. He had no major hobbies or interests and nothing he was good at outside of hunting. That in itself became a problem, because he could never imagine a life that did not revolve around continuing the Belmont legacy.

Juste had a life outside the Belmont legacy, and that was a problem. Richter had no life outside the Belmont legacy, and that was a problem.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

The new fables about the stars made me think much more about Nanook and THEIR connection to the Trailblaze, so I want to talk about it.

The entire story of Honkai Star Rail is marked by two Aeons, Akivili and Nanook. We play as the Nameless, retracing the steps of the missing Aeon of Trailblaze. And our journey seems closely tied to destruction, the Trailblazer carries a Stellaron within them, which is heavily theorized to be connected to the Path of Destruction. Nanook was the first Aeon to cast THEIR gaze upon us, and so far, every planet we’ve visited bears fragments of destruction in some form.

Nanook is said to be the youngest of the Aeons. They were born on Adlivun, a planet devastated by the Emperor War and the Swarm Disaster. Interestingly, Akivili visited Adlivun before Nanook ascension, and even more curiously, disappeared suddenly around the same time.

In the Swarm Disaster, we see intriguing artwork of a person with dark skin, bright hair, bandaged arms, and golden blood. It unmistakably evokes Nanook. This figure also holds an Astral Express ticket, and it looks like someone else may have given it to them. (Was it perhaps Akivili?)

In the Simulated Universe, Fuli appears to show us Nanook memories as a human

“Reaching out to catch a shooting star” and “You laughed at the exploration.” The Astral Express often appears as a shooting star, and exploration is central to the Trailblaze. It really seems like Nanook, in THEIR human life, was either a Nameless, or at the very least, someone who tried to walk the Path of Trailblazing.

In game, we’re told that “Nanook probably ignited their own home.” That word probably is especially interesting. Maybe Adlivun burned because Nanook ascended. Or maybe Nanook ascended because Adlivun burned, who knows.

In Fables About the Stars, Celenova says, “Trailblazing always ends up igniting something, no?” Did Akivili caused the spark that ultimately triggered Nanook ascension? It’s entirely possible.

Kafka tells us that our goal is to destroy Nanook. If Akivili played a role in Nanook ascension, it would only be fitting for the Trailblazers recreating Akivili steps to try to fix THEIR mistake.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Some time has passed since I dropped my previous theory, and we've gained some new information.

So I was completely correct about the third way to kill an Aeon, which is nice.

We learned that there's some strange connection between Destruction and Trailblaze (and most likely Finality as well) through Amphoreus and the workings of the Worldbearing Path (one can change into the other for some reason). It also seems that the entire HSR universe is trapped in one massive (and multiple smaller ones) cycle.

Isee witnessed both Akivili's disappearance and Nanook's ascension, and it appears that the former happened first in the timeline, though we can't be certain yet.

Because of that, I think it's possible that Akivili literally became Nanook. After reaching the end of their journey, they turned away from their Path, died, and were reborn as Nanook.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Arcane is goated and keep up the awesome work on your blog!!! 🫂🫂🫂🫂🩵🩵🩵🩵♥️♥️♥️💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Thank you very much! ^^

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Nihility and The Abyss

Hi3, HSR, and Genshin Impact all share interconnected worldbuilding. The Paths system seems to permeate all of Hoyo worldbuilding. In Hi3 and HSR, this connection is quite obvious, but contrary to appearances, Genshin shares it as well. Teyvat is simply much more isolated, which makes the connections not that obvious. But they are still visible, mainly through themes and writing.

For example, Dottore is very clearly coded as an Erudition type character. The use of Destruction and Erudition imagery in his animation doesn’t feel like a coincidence either.

The newest Genshin event, Homeward, He Who Caught the Wind, revealed some interesting ideas about the Abyss. It describes Abyss as the hatred of all unchosen futures, which is quite a fascinating concept in itself.

While discussing this on Twitter with @wrthings, we came to realization, Nihility and the Abyss are extremely similar if not identical.

Both are accompanied with similar Nietzschean quote. 

Both are represented with the color purple. 

Acheron “I weep for the departed” and the image of IX we have clearly makes it look like They are crying. 

Both Nihility and the Abyss corrupt all life they encounter and seem capable of extinguishing stars.

Abyss being straight up called Nihil, and existing on opposite end of absolutne reality.

Despite appearances, Nihility may not represent simple nothingness, but rather despair. Aha actions seems to confirm that, they are desperately trying to avoid falling into Nihility after discovering the truth of the world. 

When viewed this way, everything starts to align.

In HSR, Erudition cuts away countless possibilities by anchoring a single chosen timeline. But what happens to all the discarded futures? Based on Genshin recent lore, a compelling idea is that these rejected possibilities become Nihility.

There are some hints supporting a connection between Erudition and Nihility in both games. 

The Genshin Devil card strongly connects the concepts of enlightenment, a strictly Erudition concept, with the Abyss.

The Device IX created by Polka Kakamond lies behind a black hole, and Acheron refers to it as the “Nihility’s end” Hoyo frequently plays with the idea that beginnings and endings are the same, which strengthens this interpretation.

If Nihility and the Abyss are indeed the same phenomen, this has major implications for both Genshin and HSR. For instance, if Nihility results from Erudition anchoring a single future, then Phanes, who is strongly coded as an Erudition-type character attempting to enforce one correct timeline could ultimately be responsible for the Abyss in Tevyat.

This idea also has interesting implications for Amphoreus. If Erudition leads to Nihility, then a perfect world of As I’ve Written that started from Erudition may inevitably collapse into Nihility if not prevented in time.

But like all Paths in HSR, Nihility doesn’t carry only negative connotations. In both games, Nihility and the Abyss can also represent new beginnings and infinite possibilities. From the Abyss, unknown opportunities can emerge and grow, as we see with Durin and in the Homeward, He Who Caught the Wind End event. From Nihility, new possibilities can arise as well, as shown by Aventurine, who through Nihility, was able to awaken and rediscover his will to live.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Oh yes Mydei suck my dick more, like everyone else hasn’t already done that.

The last person I hoped would be normal and not jump on this deliverer nonsense, and yep, they disappointed me in that way too

[epicyonbeforeidie]

“A lamb will always offer itself for humanity, but never for the gods, even if in the end, its sacrifice is completely forgotten” Drawing of the Forgotten Heir of Kephale

We know almost nothing about Khaos, but from what little we do know, his story is one of the most tragic in HSR and in all of Amphoreus

[epicyonbeforeidie]

I have thoughts about an Amphoreus Fate AU

Master Servants duos:

Phainon - Khaslana (Pretender)

Mydei - Nikador (Berserker)

Castorice - Thanatos (Archer)

Anaxa - Cerces (Caster)

Hyacine - Seliose (Lancer)

Cerydra - Hysilens (Pseudo-Servant Phagousa Rider)

Cipher - Zagreus (Assassin)

Cyrene (Beast XIII/L, Love, Lament)

Some more random notes about it:

It would be a Fate setting with Amphoreus characters.

Aglaea was originally meant to summon a Servant, but Cipher was quicker and replaced her by stealing her catalyst.

Tribios was also meant to summon a Servant, but by complete accident, Phainon ended up being a Master.

No Servants have any divinity except Phagousa, for whom Hysilens is a Pseudo-Servant.

I would expect it to be a really proper, civil, and cordial Holy Grail War, no hard feelings, no attacking other Masters, just clashes between Servants, with every Master being somewhat friendly toward each other. Sadly, the perfect Holy Grail War was ruined when Berserker and Lancer instantly went rogue.

Mydei would immediately use his three Command Spells to stop Berserker, but he would be unsuccessful, only hoping that Berserker would disappear without a supply of mana. Unfortunately for him Berserker was somehow able to continue manifesting, as if someone kept supplying him with mana.

Lancer, after judging Hyacine not worthy of being her Master, left. Hyacine refused to use Command Spells, trusting and believing that Lancer wouldn’t do anything awful, and believing that she could still prove herself and that they could gain understanding with each other.

The rest of the Servants are loyal, though some of them have their own agendas.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

That's me, and that will be me, the closer we get to the Amphoreus part two

Some random thoughts about the Amphoreus ending:

Honestly, Hoyo really messed up this temporary ending of Amphoreus, especially when it comes to character conclusions. I genuinely don’t know where most of the Chrysos Heirs are supposed to go from here. These characters remember countless cycles, became gods, lived entire lives, and died multiple times. After that, how do you continue their character arcs in a way that feels satisfying to players?

Sure, they could lean into themes like searching for who you are or living for yourself, since that’s a fairly natural direction and easy character progression. But they can’t realistically repeat that same arc ten times for different characters. There are many possible approaches, we don’t actually even know what Amphoreus becoming real will look like. Maybe the planet will simply appear and everyone there will still be our Heirs. Maybe it appears and they aren’t our Heirs anymore because they don’t remember anything. Maybe they reincarnate across random planets like the animals Dan Heng took, living entirely different lives.

But I highly doubt Hoyo will choose any of those last three options. Replacing beloved characters with identical looking substitutes would upset way too many people. Players want to see their characters again, not copies with identical faces. That means Hoyo is more or less forced to continue developing the existing Heirs, and that’s where the biggest problem lies.

In AIW, the Heirs have everything. Everyone is happy, fulfilled, and free of pain or struggle (which is honestly a deeply uncomfortable concept but I already written about it before). For a satisfying story to happen, something has to go wrong. An artificial conflict must be introduced, which inevitably means stripping that happiness away and causing character regression.

Phainon is the clearest example of this problem. He’s extremely popular, so he’s guaranteed future story presence and SP, it’s not a matter of if, but when. But because of Amphoreus, you can’t give him meaningful future relevance without destroying his current happiness and undoing parts of his character growth.

Lord Ravagers already teased his future relevance as an emanator of Nanook (and I still don’t understand why Hoyo refuses to just say this outright, especially after Dan Heng literally turned to the camera and said “Emanators are when a person gets a gaze from the Aeon and receives a blessing from them”, and we saw Phainon receive both). But that direction is degrading compared to where Phainon is now. He’s happy with his friends and family, and suddenly the plot has to force him into the tragedies that follow emanators of destruction. Who actually wants that? Why give him ideal life just to rip it away?

This isn’t like Belobog, where the ending was hopeful but we were explicitly told it’s just the start of the struggles, characters still had room to grow. Amphoreus on the other hand ends in a perfect heaven. Anything less afterward feels like a cruel downgrade.

It feels like Hoyo tried to soften a controversial ending by giving everyone an unrealistically happy resolution. But now continuing the story in a satisfying way is incredibly difficult, and I honestly doubt they can pull it off. They wrote themselves into a corner. Amphoreus should’ve just been real from the start, AIW created more problems than it solved.

Some people say the ending was intended to be “bittersweet” but… it’s not? Everyone is alive and happy in this freezer, except Cyrene, but she’s obviously coming back at some point.

It’s honestly kind of funny that Cyrene was put in a separate freezer just so she wouldn’t interact with anyone except the Trailblazer. Hoyo commitment to making Cyrene not have any sort of relationship is quite impressive. Her “grand sacrifice” (which no character really cared about) is guaranteed to be undone in the future. We were told as much by Herta, and logically she has to return, if only because they need to sell her later. So why should players even feel sad about it?

TL:DR

It’s insanely hard to continue Amphoreus story and characters in a satisfying way that will not look like a downgrade because of the ending. And I’m not confident Hoyo has the ability to handle that well.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Some really interesting theories and what ifs about the Stellaron on Amphoreus

Lately, I’ve been discussing Amphoreus theories with a Joy, and we came up with a pretty wild idea.

First, let’s set the stage. Back in version 3.6, the Scepter files received an update where it was revealed that Lygus used Stellaron contamination to prevent others from interfering with Amphoreus. That’s quite a big proof that Stellaron exists on Amphoreus, something Dan Heng and the Trailblazer had already suspected. The real questions are, where is this Stellaron, and what wish did it grant?

On every other planet, the root of the crisis has always been the Stellaron and the wish tied to it. Stellaron function like falling stars that grant wishes, but instead of stopping afterward, they keep expanding endlessly, like a cancer. For example, on Lushaka, one inhabitant wished to raise levels water. The Stellaron responded, and the water has continued to rise uncontrollably to this day.

Now, there are some hints that Phainon might not actually be native to Amphoreus. According to the Golden Scapegoat mutterings, he is the lamb that rode the waves and came to the world, where he lost his memories and began considering it his home. He also has a notable connection to the Demiurge but that’s a topic for another time.

Phainon’s is heavily connected to the act of carrying the wishes of others and trying to fulfill them.

I think you know where are I am going with this.

So here’s the idea, what if the Stellaron answered someone’s wish, and that’s how Phainon ended up on Amphoreus?

The big question is, in what way? Did the Stellaron literally become Phainon? Was it used to save him, resurrect him, or maybe summon him into this world? We don't really know and every option could work really well with current plot and it's themes.

Phainon heavily parallels the Trailblazer, so linking him to the Stellaron feels like a natural conclusion. This would also mirror the Astral Express journey, which repeatedly highlights the cruelty of outsiders being dragged into unknown worlds to help save them.

Interestingly, Phainon also shares similarities with the Abyss Sibling from Genshin Impact. If the theory about him arriving from beyond Amphoreus is true, then just like the Sibling, he entered an unknown world, forgot his past, and grew to see it as home. Adding the Stellaron to the equation makes the parallel even stronger, a world wishing for a savior, and the Stellaron summoning Phainon in response.

So, who made the wish? There are a few possibilities:

Scepter

Irontomb

Lygus

Cyrene

Amphoreus itself (either its people, or the world as a whole)

Hoyoverse clearly drew inspiration from the Fate series. You can see it with Mydei his design is inspired by Archer Gilgamesh, while his personality resembles Caster Gilgamesh more. If Mydei echoes Gilgamesh, then Phainon shares some traits with Enkidu. In Fate/Grand Order, there’s a character named Kingu, created by using a wish granting artifact to reanimate Enkidu’s corpse. The villain did this to get help from Kingu to awaken her, much like how Phainon seems tied to awakening Irontomb. If that’s true, then perhaps Scepter or Lygus wished for him. Another option is that Irontomb itself wished for a head, which manifested as Phainon.

Still, I doubt Scepter or Irontomb had the consciousness to make such a wish at that time. On the other hand, Lygus clearly understands what Stellarons are and how to use them, so it’s possible he used one to fuel Irontomb growth.

Then there’s Cyrene. Our first impression of her is her wish that the world would never need a Deliverer. That could be clever foreshadowing. She is the writer and outsider to the Phainon’s hero. It’s possible she made a wish to the Stellaron that backfired catastrophically.

But the most logical explanation might be Amphoreus itself. In 3.4, Cyrene says they set out to answer the world’s desire, and that Amphoreus wishes are cruel.

And Stellaron wishes cannot be stopped. So what happens if the world itself wished for a hero? Would that mean the world is now doomed to always need one, forcing that hero to constantly act, in never ending cycle? That would be a truly cruel wish of the world.

[saggy-hein]

This is so intresting, really. But after 3.7, what if instead of Phainon, the wish has something to do with Cyrene instead?

The fact that Cyrene is a child of anasrava yet somehow was born in the simulation might meant that Cyrene was the outsider -- because child of Anasrava is supposed to be fragments of Fuli and therefore shouldn't somehow ended up inside a simulation unseen by the real world - heck, even basically an equivalent to codes in the eyes of reality. So it's either Cyrene was in an ice shard small enough to enter Irontomb's system, killed by Lygus and than being put into Irontomb for maybe unlimited storage of memory, or for other reasons we don't know yet -- perhaps even something like what you've offered, a wish to the Stellaron by Amphoreous.

(This is connected to my HC that Demiurge and Cyrene are basically the same person, with Cyrene being made perhaps because the body (Irontomb) refused to lose it's head (Demiurge, or she was apart of the head) and therefore leaving Cyrene, or PhiLia093 as fragments and/or left over code from Demiurge)

Lygus did say that he make a stellaron explode inside of Irontomb (correct me if I'm wrong) therefore the nonexistant form of a stellaron anywhere in Amphoreous or on places beyond it. But Lygus still used it power to conceal Amphoreous from the rest of the world so maybe the stellaron can still grant them their wish.

But going in this road might point to a conclusion that wished to exist, to not be forgotten, perhaps even in a similar way with the wonderland from the 'Alice of Human Sacrifice' song.

And in a way, her (Amphoreous) wish is fulfilled, forever existed in the past and even will return as a real, new world in the future. That's where Cyrene's role come in, she love the world so much she refused to keep the cycle moving on that first cycle and move onto their 'Era Nova' like how Khaos and his own Flamechasers friends did (Gnaeus, Calypso, Castorice and Polyxia, etc.)

This might be also because she and Phainon both realized the reality that Era Nova is nothing more but a fake promise, the new dawn is not even real and they'll lose all of their friends - especially Phainon.

But if considering the theory, than this will take it to the direction that Amphoreous will begone in the future, destroyed as Irontomb finally rise. So if Amphoreous's wish is to exist, than the best way to do so is to keep having Amphoreous existed forever in a certain period of time -- staying there in the past even during the timeframe in which Amphoreous took to return from their destruction.

Soooo, yeahhhh!!

This is just my opinion and theory though... :')

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Okay, so from what we learn in 3.7, the situation with the Demiurge and Cyrene is really complicated, and it doesn’t make much sense once you think about it a bit more. According to the Scepter files Cyrene wasn’t originally a pure child of Ansrava, she became one after Irontomb destroyed the entire universe. So the Garden of Recollection trying to obtain the pure child of Ansrava in 3.6 doesn’t make complete sense, because at that point the pure child of Ansrava didn’t actually exist for them to seek.

Unless we hand wave it as a bootstrap time paradox and say „don’t worry about it”, but that’s not a very satisfying explanation.

Your headcanon that the Demiurge and Cyrene are the same person is completely correct. Cyrene is the seed the Demiurge left behind after she went back in time at the end of Amphoreus to trap herself in a bootstrap time loop.

The Stellaron situation is strange too, because the first thing we learn about Stellarons is that they can’t be destroyed only sealed. But now we’re told that Lygus somehow managed to blow one up. The thing Lygus used was Stellaron contamination, so I guess the implication is that the Stellaron itself doesn’t really matter in the Amphoreus story, it can’t grant wishes, it can’t talk like it used to. I think it was only mentioned that because the Demiurge Matrix was destroyed using it, somehow allowed Cyrene to resonate with the Trailblazer?

[epicyonbeforeidie]

It’s December, so it’s time for the annual Padoru drawings

[epicyonbeforeidie]

There's a theory from Ashikai that Aeons come in contrasting pairs that oppose and fight each other. Ashikai pairs Nanook with Qlipoth, but I don’t fully see that connection, Preservation already stands as the natural enemy of Voracity. That makes me wonder that there isn’t really any Aeon of Creation who directly opposes Destruction. Lygus mentioning that we don’t fully understand Destruction only reinforces some of my thoughts.

What if Nanook is both the Aeon of Creation and Destruction? Nanook desires to destroy the current universe so that a better one can be created, creation through destruction like how you can’t make a chair without first cutting down a tree (he too has strong jesus references in his design). This could explain the Stellarons who hold destructive power of creation. There's a strong theme here, the destructive power of creation and creation of destruction.

This also sheds some light on Phainon and his dual themes of destruction and creation. Let’s be honest he’s likely the Lord Ravager trapped in Amphoreus, yet he’s also strongly tied to memories and creation. If he represents creation through destruction it would make a lot of sense

[moontheoretist]

I saw that theory Ashikai made but I forgot who she paired Traiblaze with. Anyway, after Amphoreus I'm lowkey convinced that Nanook's counterpart was Akivili as Traiblaze and Destruction seem opposites.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

It’s a solid guess considering that Trailblaze and Destruction must be connected somehow.

On one hand we’re told that our destiny is to kill Nanook, but on the other Trailblaze is said to always ignite something, and it’s implied this path might even support Destruction goals in some way.

In Amphoreus we’re told that Trailblaze leads to or even becomes Finality. So when everyone assumed this meant Trailblaze opposes Finality, that doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case

[moontheoretist]

I'm not partial to the reading of "igniting" you have proposed before in another post of yours as I read it in more metaphorical sense (and honestly I was surprised that your thoughts went straight to some kind of calamity). As you can ignite many things like passion, rebelion, imagination etc. it doesn't necessarily has to be a destructive force that gets "ignited". Anyway, I do agree with you tho about possible dark side of the Traiblaze in regard to Finality. We did already know that every Aeon and every Path is a two-edged sword. That nothing really is black and white in HSR, especially not Aeons. I'd even dare to say that Traiblaze's course may be dependent on the idea of "why do you Traiblaze" and an answer to it. As in the segment when we are questioned by Nous in 3.7 we can give our own answer to this, while the other gender TB gives another, more cold, more detached answer that only cares about "the result" rathen than "the journey".

[epicyonbeforeidie]

I assumed that this ignition was something beneficial to Destruction, mostly because it was mentioned by Lord Ravager Celenova in the context of "what if Akivili brings another salvation". She basically says it’s not a problem because Akivili always ends up igniting something, and that brings even more majestic ruin. But I can see a different interpretation, especially thanks to Phantylia message left in the Ruin of Time.

There’s definitely something interesting about Finality connection to the Trailblaze and the sudden appearance of the Trailblazer we didn’t choose. And honestly, the entire Herta Nous conversation is extremely interesting on its own

[epicyonbeforeidie]

There's a theory from Ashikai that Aeons come in contrasting pairs that oppose and fight each other. Ashikai pairs Nanook with Qlipoth, but I don’t fully see that connection, Preservation already stands as the natural enemy of Voracity. That makes me wonder that there isn’t really any Aeon of Creation who directly opposes Destruction. Lygus mentioning that we don’t fully understand Destruction only reinforces some of my thoughts.

What if Nanook is both the Aeon of Creation and Destruction? Nanook desires to destroy the current universe so that a better one can be created, creation through destruction like how you can’t make a chair without first cutting down a tree (he too has strong jesus references in his design). This could explain the Stellarons who hold destructive power of creation. There's a strong theme here, the destructive power of creation and creation of destruction.

This also sheds some light on Phainon and his dual themes of destruction and creation. Let’s be honest he’s likely the Lord Ravager trapped in Amphoreus, yet he’s also strongly tied to memories and creation. If he represents creation through destruction it would make a lot of sense

[moontheoretist]

I saw that theory Ashikai made but I forgot who she paired Traiblaze with. Anyway, after Amphoreus I'm lowkey convinced that Nanook's counterpart was Akivili as Traiblaze and Destruction seem opposites.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

It’s a solid guess considering that Trailblaze and Destruction must be connected somehow.

On one hand we’re told that our destiny is to kill Nanook, but on the other Trailblaze is said to always ignite something, and it’s implied this path might even support Destruction goals in some way.

In Amphoreus we’re told that Trailblaze leads to or even becomes Finality. So when everyone assumed this meant Trailblaze opposes Finality, that doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case

[epicyonbeforeidie]

If you look closer As I’ve Written is really unsettling

I understand conceptually that AIW is meant to be a freezer, a placeholder where we can meet Amphoreus characters before Amphoreus Part Two, when Amphoreus becomes a real place. But damn, walking around and reading the dialogues in AIW gives me shudders.

Everything in AIW is good, perfect, nice, and pleasant. Everyone is happy and at peace. Characters show no trauma from their past experiences, there are no real conflicts, no grudges, and everyone has forgiven each other completely. Nobody asks questions about what happened before or what will happen next. No one is afraid or uncertain about their potential future. After so much suffering and pain that we witnessed, this sudden 180 degree shift is jarring.

Yes, it’s supposedly the first peaceful moment for many characters but the total lack of any trauma response or any negative emotion at all feels deeply unnatural.

It’s especially strange because earlier we were told that inheritance of memories had to be turned off in the past because characters went mad after around ten cycles. We saw it with Flame Reaver, who because of how many cycles he endured, suffered massive brain damage and couldn’t even speak coherently at the end. But now it’s suddenly suggested that everyone remembers everything, and somehow they’re all completely fine with it.

Everything is so perfect and good that you can’t help feeling unsettled. You keep waiting for a crack in the facade, waiting for people to act like normal human beings in these circumstances. You wait for the other shoe to drop but it never does, so you’re left freaked out.

The only two characters I noticed who show anything remotely negative so they act as somewhat normal people in this situation is

Phainon who has one line suggesting that he suffers some form of derealization

Caenis, who freaks out about their messy, bad memories but is immediately told by Nereides to just forget it and lose yourself

Eurypon has issues with his past lives too, but everyone dismisses it almost instantly.

Characters like Anaxa, Aglaea, and Cerydra should be asking more questions and showing caution. They should be planning for what will happen when they rejoin the cosmos not just repeating vague positive lines. Anaxa especially, he’s a famous skeptic whose Primum Mobile is Critique, yet here he is wandering around calm, carefree, and asking no questions. It feels OOC to the point of being uncomfortable.

There’s also this side quest in 3.5 where Apollonius learns he’s nothing but a memory in a bubble. Even though he’s happy in that bubble, he chooses to leave every time essentially killing and resetting himself. But now in AIW, he’s suddenly totally fine with the situation and shows no problem with this.

And where are the previous Titans? We see Gnaeus, Calypso, Polyxia… but where is Khaos? They were friends, yet no one mentions him and everyone seems to have forgotten he even existed. It reminds me of the question, Could you really be happy in heaven if the people you care about are suffering in hell? Or in this case are missing and completely forgotten by everyone.

Ableism TW

But still the worst part for me is this

It is genuinely awful to portray paradise as a place where every person born with a disability is magically healed. This is a harmful trope for a reason, and here it feels like the story is implying that in a perfect heaven there is no place for disabled people. I’ve always felt that in paradise, disabilities should be accommodated, not erased. Would you want a part of yourself removed just because someone else decided you’re better without it and then calls it a gift? It’s terrifying. Not every disability is erased (glasses are still there, Polyxia is still in a wheelchair though that’s probably just a model issue the same way Calypso is still a ghost and Tribios still has her curse). But it still feels wrong. I can understand removing Chrysos heirs curses, but normal disabilities like blindness in Futini, or muteness and deafness in Sophronia? Why?

We also don’t know how AIW works. When the characters become real again, will their bodies stay like they are currently? Will their disabilities return? Both possibilities are deeply uncomfortable.

Now imagine you’re a normal person from Amphoreus. You experienced tragedy, pain, probably died in the Black Tide. Then you wake up in this “perfect” pink paradise. You learn your entire life was a lie, that you were never real, but you might become real someday if you stay trapped in this claustrophobic paradise for unknown amount of time, inside a book someone else holds. And you have to hope they don’t lose it or destroy it or anything like that. Your life story is displayed to everyone in the cosmos without your consent, because it might help speed up the process of making you real. If you had a disability, it’s magically removed because it’s “paradise” but you don’t even know if it’ll come back once you become real. Nobody questions any of this. Nobody asks what will happen when they become real members of the cosmos. Everyone is peaceful, happy, satisfied, and content. Honestly? That sounds like a claustrophobic nightmare.

All of this makes Sunday being there unintentionally hilarious, because AIW is literally Sunday ideals made real yet every character just calmly accepts it. It’s bizarre.

Don’t misunderstand me I know Hoyo didn’t intend for AIW to be creepy. They went full romanticism with questionable writing choices, and we ended up with this uncanny dreamworld. I can’t believe no one in Hoyo stepped back and said, “Wait… we’re doing Penacony ending 2.0, except this time the story is praising it.”

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Honestly, I really wanted to like Cyrene too and I just ended up disappointed? I actually like all of the chrysos heirs besides her

Yeah, I had such high hopes for her after 3.4, but then the later patches came out and… yeah

It really feels like every other Chrysos heir is much better written. Even Hysilens and Cerydra, who got a pathetically small amount of screen time, feel like stronger characters and real highlights of 3.5

[epicyonbeforeidie]

I don’t usually write rants like this, but I need to get this off my chest.

With Cyrene who is clearly an Elysia expy coming to Honkai Star Rail, I sincerely hope she won’t be too much like Elysia. I wouldn’t mind if she shared some conceptual similarities, as long as it’s done right this time. But honestly, my hopes aren’t high.

I have a lot of thoughts about Elysia, and none of them are positive. At best, I see Elysia as the biggest disappointment in the entire series at worst, I outright despise her.

The thing is, I love “perfect savior” characters. They usually come with deep emotional arcs, internal conflict, and explorations of both the good and bad sides of humanity. That’s why Elysia frustrates me so deeply.

She’s portrayed as this flawless, idealized being loved by all of the characters, and even the writers. The narrative constantly screams at you: “She sacrificed everything for humanity! She is perfect! She loves humanity! She married humanity! She’s your wife too! - Don’t you love her already?”

But it all feels empty and shallow. Her so determination rings hollow because she never actually struggles. She doesn’t make mistakes. The story tells us she’s witnessed humanity at its best and worst but we never see this. Everyone worships her, and the moment there’s even a slight hint that she might doubt herself as a Herrscher, the writing bends over backward to reassure her that none of it matters because she’s just that perfect.

She doesn’t fight her nature. She doesn’t question her convictions. And because she never experiences genuine negative emotion, her “goodness” has no weight. She’s like a cardboard cutout that is sweet to the point of blandness.

What makes it worse is that there was potential. There were hints she could have been more than just a flawless goddess — maybe even morally ambiguous. But those hints go nowhere. It’s a waste of setup and a complete letdown.

Perfect characters can work, when their perfection is shown to be inhuman, and even evil and dangerous in its incompatibility with humanity.

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Fate a series full of complex savior figures like Morgan, Castoria, Kiara, Jeanne d’Arc, and all of the Beasts. Each of them is unique, carefully written, sometimes heroic, sometimes terrifying. They struggle. They question themselves. They feel. The writing doesn’t beg us to love them it just shows us who they are and lets us come to that conclusion on our own.

I still cling to a sliver of hope. The Amphoreus arc is written by a different team than the Elysian Realm, and they gave us Phainon a brilliant example of a savior archetype done right. He’s full of doubt, hiding his negative emotions behind a mask of perfect deliverer. He’s broken, lost, and empty yet he still fights to find his convictions and protect the world.

So I beg let Cyrene, who seems to be another “savior” type have real flaws. Let her feel, struggle, and have a opinions on the world around her. That’s all I ask.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

I actually wondered for quite a while whether I should write an add on to that post, so thank you for giving me an excuse and the motivation to actually do it. Because… yeah

I’m genuinely impressed with what they ended up doing with Cyrene. She’s essentially just an Elysia fused with the Herrscher of Corruption, but done much, much worse. She has exactly the same issues Elysia had, only much worse.

But let’s go chronologically. I wrote that post before version 3.4, and because of Mem and her… personality, I had serious doubts about Cyrene as a character. But then 3.4 dropped, and surprisingly, I actually somewhat liked Cyrene there. I even smiled at one of her dialogues. Her doubts, uncertainty, and fears made me think, Ohhhh we’re finally going in the right direction with her character. I was hopeful.

Then 3.5 came out… and it somehow became so much worse. But I stayed silent, hoping they’d merge the 3.4 Cyrene and Mem versions and that she’d be more Cyrene than Mem. There wasn’t much change in 3.6, so I waited for 3.7, which was supposed to be her patch.

And then the marketing began.

Marketing often doesn’t directly affect the game itself, but it does reveal how the creators view a character and what kind of audience they’re aiming for. And Cyrene marketing was very telling.

A character meant to embody love and care deeply about the people of Amphoreus… yet she barely has any meaningful interactions with them. In her trailer, her wish is to travel with the Astral Express, no Chrysos heir in sight. It really makes you wonder if she ever cared about them at all.

And the skin for her bow? People said, „Well, she’s Mem, she doesn’t have any memories with heirs.” (Except she does and much more then she ever had with the Trailblazer, but whatever.) I decided to accept it for the moment and wait for 3.7 proper.

To be fair, there was one trailer that hinted at something interesting that her love might not be as pure as it seemed, that she might even be willing to freeze the entire universe just to preserve Amphoreus. But, of course, that went nowhere.

Then 3.7 dropped, and… yeah.

How do you make players care about a character? You show their struggles their doubts, their flaws so their good traits shine brighter. And most importantly, you show them interacting with others. Interaction limited to a self insert character only goes so far, especially when that self insert lacks a strong personality. It ends up feeling like the character is just talking to themselves most of the time.

They had chances to give us meaningful interactions. We got a small taste of it with Cerydra, but even then, Cyrene felt more like a plot device than a person. She had an established relationship with Phainon, but they erased her memories, so neither cared about the other anymore. Her most important relationship was completely wasted replaced with the Trailblazer

Shaoji loves his metaphors so much that Cyrene ends up repeating the same two over and over again until she stops sounding like a person and starts sounding like a wind up doll. It’s honestly eye rolling. How are we supposed to care about someone like that, especially when they didn’t even try to make her endearing first? It really feels like they were banking on players love for Elysia to carry Cyrene character.

And why should we feel sad about Cyrene sacrifice? She wasn’t torn about it, it didn’t even feel like she had a reason to do it. We’re told she did it out of love for Amphoreus, but we never saw that love. The bootstrap paradox time loop only makes things worse (it retroactively ruins 3.4 Cyrene character too) since everything was meant to go this way from the start anyway.

And then Herta says there’s a chance she might return. Great. So she’ll be back and honestly, that worries me, because it means she might steal screen time from better characters.

Don’t even get me started on the supposed hate born through love contrast with Phainon. Everyone expected Cyrene to represent love with some darkness, some hate but no. In 3.7, hate is entirely wrong and evil, and love is the only good, pure thing. Cyrene love is portrayed as so perfect it feels empty and fake.

In theory, she was meant to embody ideal love because she learned from fairy tales and from herself. But she lived, she experienced the world. She shouldn't have this kind of perfect outlook anymore. There were hints she could be more complex character. Yet in 3.7 all of that depth was stripped away.

Cyrene became the flawless savior of Amphoreus, struggle free, perfect and hollow. We were left with a boring shell of a character wrapped around what was once an interesting concept.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

I got inspired and decided to draw Phainon in the style of the From the Lostbelt manga covers

[epicyonbeforeidie]

Some really interesting theories and what ifs about the Stellaron on Amphoreus

Lately, I’ve been discussing Amphoreus theories with a Joy, and we came up with a pretty wild idea.

First, let’s set the stage. Back in version 3.6, the Scepter files received an update where it was revealed that Lygus used Stellaron contamination to prevent others from interfering with Amphoreus. That’s quite a big proof that Stellaron exists on Amphoreus, something Dan Heng and the Trailblazer had already suspected. The real questions are, where is this Stellaron, and what wish did it grant?

On every other planet, the root of the crisis has always been the Stellaron and the wish tied to it. Stellaron function like falling stars that grant wishes, but instead of stopping afterward, they keep expanding endlessly, like a cancer. For example, on Lushaka, one inhabitant wished to raise levels water. The Stellaron responded, and the water has continued to rise uncontrollably to this day.

Now, there are some hints that Phainon might not actually be native to Amphoreus. According to the Golden Scapegoat mutterings, he is the lamb that rode the waves and came to the world, where he lost his memories and began considering it his home. He also has a notable connection to the Demiurge but that’s a topic for another time.

Phainon’s is heavily connected to the act of carrying the wishes of others and trying to fulfill them.

I think you know where are I am going with this.

So here’s the idea, what if the Stellaron answered someone’s wish, and that’s how Phainon ended up on Amphoreus?

The big question is, in what way? Did the Stellaron literally become Phainon? Was it used to save him, resurrect him, or maybe summon him into this world? We don't really know and every option could work really well with current plot and it's themes.

Phainon heavily parallels the Trailblazer, so linking him to the Stellaron feels like a natural conclusion. This would also mirror the Astral Express journey, which repeatedly highlights the cruelty of outsiders being dragged into unknown worlds to help save them.

Interestingly, Phainon also shares similarities with the Abyss Sibling from Genshin Impact. If the theory about him arriving from beyond Amphoreus is true, then just like the Sibling, he entered an unknown world, forgot his past, and grew to see it as home. Adding the Stellaron to the equation makes the parallel even stronger, a world wishing for a savior, and the Stellaron summoning Phainon in response.

So, who made the wish? There are a few possibilities:

Scepter

Irontomb

Lygus

Cyrene

Amphoreus itself (either its people, or the world as a whole)

Hoyoverse clearly drew inspiration from the Fate series. You can see it with Mydei his design is inspired by Archer Gilgamesh, while his personality resembles Caster Gilgamesh more. If Mydei echoes Gilgamesh, then Phainon shares some traits with Enkidu. In Fate/Grand Order, there’s a character named Kingu, created by using a wish granting artifact to reanimate Enkidu’s corpse. The villain did this to get help from Kingu to awaken her, much like how Phainon seems tied to awakening Irontomb. If that’s true, then perhaps Scepter or Lygus wished for him. Another option is that Irontomb itself wished for a head, which manifested as Phainon.

Still, I doubt Scepter or Irontomb had the consciousness to make such a wish at that time. On the other hand, Lygus clearly understands what Stellarons are and how to use them, so it’s possible he used one to fuel Irontomb growth.

Then there’s Cyrene. Our first impression of her is her wish that the world would never need a Deliverer. That could be clever foreshadowing. She is the writer and outsider to the Phainon’s hero. It’s possible she made a wish to the Stellaron that backfired catastrophically.

But the most logical explanation might be Amphoreus itself. In 3.4, Cyrene says they set out to answer the world’s desire, and that Amphoreus wishes are cruel.

And Stellaron wishes cannot be stopped. So what happens if the world itself wished for a hero? Would that mean the world is now doomed to always need one, forcing that hero to constantly act, in never ending cycle? That would be a truly cruel wish of the world.