Pandaemonium by John Martin, accessed at Wikipedia here
Asmodeus, King of Hell, the Archfiend, feels as if he is losing control. And there is nothing he hates more than losing control.
What events have Asmodeus scrambling may differ from campaign to campaign. If running a game in a conventional Pathfinder setting, perhaps it is Cheliax’s dwindling territory and repeated defeats. If running a game with Pathfinder 2e’s War of the Immortals material, perhaps the deaths and departures of gods have Asmodeus feeling uncertain of his strength and permanence. If using the Age of Monsters material from this blog, perhaps it is due to Lamashtu’s position being assaulted by Mormo, Mormo’s victory over Lamashtu, or even the dirty little secret of how Asmodeus and Geryon have rewritten Hell’s history to erase Typhon and give Geryon all his accomplishments and none of his faults. It could be all of those things.
Whatever the impetus, Asmodeus seeks to reach out to the other great powers of the Lower Planes. The daemons and demons. Build a unified front for shared defense, and to promulgate the goals of evil throughout the cosmos. And of course, get more daemons and demons to play by his rules.
This unified front is the Pandaemonic Parliament. A gathering of 72 of the finest minds from Abaddon, the Abyss and Hell, all trying to further the corruption of the Universe. And their first plan is a winner. Each of the Parliament members has invested some of their power into a Seal, a magical sigil that allows those who draw it correctly to pull from that fiend’s power for their own uses. A much more immediate and tangible benefit than merely worshiping a fiend, and many mortals are skilled at deluding themselves into believing that their souls can remain unscathed despite tapping into fiendish power. Some of them may even be correct, as there is no alignment restrictions on these “binders”, as they call themselves, and some binders have learned abjurations and rituals to keep themselves safe from corruption.
Theoretically, the split between factions on the Pandaemonic Parliament is even: twenty four demons, twenty four daemons, twenty four devils. In the “spirit of cooperation” however, Asmodeus created a Prime Minister, Bael, to weigh issues from all sides, who has taken a neutral evil seat over from the daemons. Bael is a three headed fusion, a demon, devil and daemon all in one. Asmodeus brushes over any questions of Bael’s true allegiance and advocates for his neutrality. Most of the daemons and demons in the Parliament know that they’re being used, but hope to exploit their exploiter, gaining access to Hell’s resources while minimizing how many compromises they have to make.
In order to unify the squabbling fiends of the Pandaemonic Parliament, Asmodeus uses what he is best at. Fear. Asmodeus believes, or at least claims to believe, that the kytons, sahkils and qlippoth pose a threat to the devils, daemons and demons respectively. The kytons pose no such threat—they care much more for flesh than for souls, and even their demagogues are much more interested in pursuing their own projects than unifying and attempting anything so drastic as conquering Hell. Most of the daemons of the Parliament aren’t fooled: sahkils and daemons have more commonalities than differences, in their hatred for the River of Souls and their love of tormenting and devouring mortals. But they are happy to pay lip service to the idea at Parliament meetings and target sahkils with violence when they have the opportunity. It is entirely possible that Asmodeus’ fears of war between the fiendish subtypes will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
On the other hand, Asmodeus has a point about the instability of the Abyss and its power structure. The Abyss is an ever changing place, and the demonic members of the Pandaemonic Parliament are those who want to push back against those changes. New types of demons are emerging from larvae, taking over the places and roles of the old guard. The qlippoth do want to take back what once was theirs, and are doing so through a new and alarming angle. More and more, the boundaries of qlippoth and demon are blurring, as qlippoth lords grow more avid for worship and demons and qlippoth are more likely to cooperate, or at least tolerate each other, on a case-by-case basis. Most alarming is the work of Pale Night, a creature who actively bridges the realms, and her newest project, an attempt to unify qlippoth and demons under a single banner. A great divine beast with two heads, representative of his split nature. Demogorgon.
The Pandaemonic Parliament is an attempt to bring the flavor of the Ars Goetia into Pathfinder. As part of this project, the remaining 72 demons of the Ars Goetia will receive statistics, split between demons, devils and daemons. Each Parliament member is a fiend of CR 15 and up; some are demigods in their own right, but many are unique members of existing fiend types. As this project progresses, the binder class from the D&D 3.5 Tome of Magic will be converted to Pathfinder 1e, working with the 72 fiends of the Goetia.
I often get asks about the relationship between servants and those they serve and how the relationship develops over time or what's appropriate between servant and employer at any given time. Many period dramas do get this right but a lot don't and send mixed signals to the audience about the true nature of the relationship between servant and employer.
There's a Strict Hierarchy
This is one inescapable concept that often gets forgotten in a lot of modern media. The relationship between servant and employer is a hierarchal one, the employer and servant are not on the same level socially.
Servants will always address their employer by their title or by sir/ma'am - at least in public and if there is any deviation of the rule, it's in private and only at the invitation of the employer themselves. Employers in turn would use the appropriate title for the servant in question (I outline these here). This done very well in Downton Abbey, especially when Tom marries into the family and they struggle with calling him 'Tom' rather than Branson.
A servant would never greet their employer informally or answer back. This is inaccurately portrayed in the exchange between Mrs Russell and Turner in The Gilded Age.
Servants would also not address their employer directly without being addressed first. This is very single meeting.
Servants would not walk in step with their employer or sit in their presence. They would walk two or three steps behind at all times and only sit when invited. They would not touch their employer without leave either. This is done well in Queen Charlotte, with Brimsley.
A servant would have to obey orders from another member of their employer's family or their guest but only within reason. This is shown in The Gilded Age the lady's maid Adelheid is borrowed by Mrs Russell from her daughter for a time when she fires her own maid.
Above and Beyond
Some employers might expect more from their servants that aren't exactly in the job description. It was understood in service that sometimes you would be asked to tackle things not in one's paygrade. In Queen Charlotte, Lady Danbury's maid Coral helps her lady lie about the death of Lord Danbury to allow her time to gather herself and appear more upset. For example:
A lady's maid might act as messenger between a pair of lovers.
A footman might lie to the mistress about the whereabouts of his master (with the master's approval of course)
A butler might procure some less than legal party favours for a bash his lord and lady are throwing.
A guardsman might aid their charge in escaping the house/palace for a night of fun.
No matter what, a servant is expected to go above and beyond without complaint. The response to "jump" should nearly always be "how high". However, if there is a strange or harmful request, a servant had recourse to ask a higher ranking servant or employer whether or not they should agree to the request.
That being said, servants are people at the end of the day and might have scruples. Often, servants were far more conservative than their employers but more often that not, they would swallow their morals to do the job that is needed. This is accurately portrayed in Downton Abbey when Mrs Bird complains about Mrs Crawley asking her to wait on Ethel, a former prostitute, leading to Mrs Crawley to dismiss her.
Bonding
Because some servants work closely with an employer, relationships often evolve between employer and servant. There must be a certain level of trust between servant and employer or else the house would fall apart. Bonds do form but these bonds don't interrupt the hierarchy or the professional relationship - at least in public. For example:
A lady's maid or a valet might act as confidant to their mistress/master, keeping their secrets. This is seen in Downton Abbey where Anna and Bates act as confidants with Lady Mary and Lord Grantham respectively.
A kitchen maid may slip the children of the house an odd treat in defiance of their parents or governess.
The staff might chip in for a gift for a beloved employer on an anniversary or special occasion.
The same is said for employers, who would also show favour by gift giving or promotion.
A loyal servant might be left some money on the death of their master/mistress.
A retiring lady's maid might be granted a gift from her mistress.
Employers might listen to the advice of their servants or servants may approach employers in times of difficulty. An employer might see a servant's child educated well or might pay a doctors bill, but these are kindnesses. Because there is a certain level of proximity, certain familiarities can grow but it is unlikely that either will consider it 'friendship' exactly.
Boundaries
However, there are boundaries between servant and employer. Even in cases of familiarity and good will, a servant and employer would not meddle in each other's affairs. For example:
A servant might dislike an employer's guest but would not refuse to serve or wait on them. This is depicted inaccurately in Downton Abbey's Christmas special, where the butler Stowel refuses to serve former chauffeur Tom Branson.
An employer in some eras could not deny a servant the right to get married.
A servant may be expected to be available at any given time and come running at the sound of the bell. But if a servant is on a day off or ill, an employer can't punish them for not being available when knowing beforehand they wouldn't be.
A good servant knows when they are needed and when to disappear. They should not linger if it is clear they shouldn't be here.
A servant might see their employer engaging in harmful or immoral behaviours but would not have the right to criticise or inform anybody.
A servant might be tasked with dealing with their employer in a state of undress (but this never crossed gender, a valet or a butler would handle a naked male employer and only a female servant would deal with a lady's intimates) and while seeing them in this state, would not look or make a big deal over it.
The professional boundary should not be breached on either side of the divide. A servant wouldn't approach an employer with personal issues nor would an employer welcome the servant's unauthorised counsel.
The Downsides
This is an uneven system most times and the employer does wield a lot of power. Servants are in this dynamic because they need to survive and provide a life for themselves so often they stick out bad situations rather than risk not being able to find a job again. Servants in some eras could be physically or verbally abused without recourse. Some servants often faced harassment and sexual assault from other staff, guests and/or employers. Servants desperate to keep their positions would often keep quiet about their circumstances in order to retain their place. This is accurately portrayed in Outlander: Blood of my Blood, with Mrs Porter and Julia, along with many other possible unnamed women and girls.
Call script because phone calls are harder to ignore than emails:
"Hi, I'm calling to tell you that the reports you received of sexually abusive content on Steam and itch.io are fraudulent and were made by religious extremist groups.
As a [insert company] customer I'm expressing my discontent and requesting that you rescind your demands to these platforms."
Because someone is on the ball, Turner Classic is playing (among other WWII films) The Great Dictator today.
If you haven't seen it, please do. It was produced by Charlie Chaplin in the late 1930s, when it became clear that the war was going to happen, and came out in 1940 after it had started. Essentially, Chaplin realized that his famous mustache was about to be usurped forever by a fascist, and that fascist was going to kill a lot more people in the future than he had already.
It's a parody, made before the worst horrors of the Nazi regime were known to the general public, so there is discomfort here (if you've seen Disney's Der Fuhrer's Face, you'll get the idea), but the movie ends with Chaplin essentially saying "fuck it, no one else seems to be speaking out about this and I'm going to use my platform to do that."
For context, this character is a Jew who has been mistaken for the dictator (for obvious mustache-related reasons), and has been sent onstage at a rally to give a speech. Instead of trying to impersonate Hitler, he says what he really thinks. And keep in mind, Chaplin was coming out of semi-retirement for this. It was the first time most people had ever heard him speak, and this is what he said:
As you may have seen online, Spain is going through a flash fall since October 29. It's mainly affected the Community of Valencia but also some parts of the south-west and the cold drop is now moving to the north-east.
95 bodies have been found at the time I'm writing this (edit: 158 now), there's still people missing and entire towns are isolated as they don't have electricity and their roads have been destroyed. A lot of people don't have tap water or any means to cook. If you're wondering why people didn't evacuate beforehand, it's because authorities didn't care enough to warn people so technically everyone had to go to work and school. Though politicians should be held accountable, the most important thing at the moment is to help those in need. So here's some ways you can help both people and animals that have been affected.
Families and towns
Horta Sud is a county in Valencia that has been the most affected by the floodings. People are leaving their houses because they're scared of the infrastructure getting damaged and even walking by foot to Valencia capital to get food. You can help those families via this gofundme.
Hambre Cero is a Spanish non-profit that was founded after the earthquakes in Indonesia. They will be giving food to those who need it. Here's different ways you can donate.
Cáritas is a Spanish organization formed by different Catholic non-profits. They'll be giving food and also helping clean up the towns. You can donate here by clicking the button where it says "donar".
You can help rebuild the town of Letur (Albacete) by donating to this gofundme that's directly coordinated with the town hall.
This gofundme is joining efforts with the town hall of Valencia to help people who have lost their homes.
Please help this family in Valencia rebuild their home.
Una copa por Valencia ("a drink to Valencia") is a campaign organized by Spanish influencer David Aliagas. The idea behind it is to donate the amount of money you would spend on drinks on a night out. He'll be joining effort with local non-profits. You can help here.
Animal shelters
Refugio Minipow was home to 50 rabbits and guinea pigs. Thankfully, the owners were able to move all the animals to their homes and those of their neighbors, though the shelter itself has been destroyed right after recent renovations. There's different ways to donate here.
El Refugio de María a dog shelter in Sueca (Valencia), is completely flooded, leaving the dogs visibly distressed, as shown here. You can donate to PayPal [email protected]
Modepran is a dog shelter in Campanar (Valencia) where infrastructure damage has left some dogs without a proper sleeping area. You can donate through PayPal here.
Gatos Campo de Gibraltar is a cat shelter in Los Barrios (Cádiz). need of assistance for relocating cats to new homes and rebuilding damaged facilities. You can donate to their PayPal [email protected]
Protectora San Antón is an animal shelter for cats and dogs in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). The entire place is flooded and the animals don't have a comfortable place to sleep in. Cats can't even walk on the ground. You can donate to their PayPal [email protected]
I'll be adding more as I find them. Thank you everyone for your help.
PLEASE. THIS IS A ONE INCH HIGH BARRIER: JUST DON'T USE A WORD. IT'S NOT HARD.
It's a frightening lack of respect for a group to go "hey this is our culture/religion/mythology? Please don't use that word" and apparently all the white people are like "but what if I did anyway to make my unity horror game 0.01% scarier?"
Just use a different word! Call it a deerman, deer god, forest spirit, whatever. Try to care at least a little when someone says not to use their culture for entertainment.
Here's a list of deer in mythology. If you have to have a mythology-based creature, you can go find one of these that's not THE ONE YOU'VE BEEN SPECIFICALLY ASKED NOT TO USE.
Alternative words/terms/names to call the creature the internet made up:
-The hungry ones
-The stalker
-Forest spirits
-The antlered beasts
-Blood starved beast ((thank you bloodborne))
-Famine incarnate
-They who come at night
-Geoff
-Anything else you can come up with
Literally use the creativity you used to design your creature and give them a name that hasn't been stolen from a culture you don't understand.
i'd like to add that the original creature isn't even deer based, and has nothing to do with deer, the creature that has a deer skull you see in art and movies is like...arguably a different thing
For folks who don’t knows what word is being talked about: W*nd*go. In addition to the above, I wanted to clarify to anybody who is confused (my understanding) of why it’s censored in the original post and why I’m choosing to censor it when interacting with above posts: I have been told that you’re not supposed to use the real name so as not to attract its attention (like the true name of the bear being lost because so many cultures called it taboo, or inverse to why many Jewish folks censor G*d/god in their writing)
While I’m not a believer in anything supernatural, it’s a pretty low bar to clear to just… not use a sincerely held cultural belief outside of its context and stripped of anything but questionable aesthetic, particularly when you yourself are not of that culture (see: yes it actually is different from all the Christian mythological “reinterpretations”)
I'm native american and my tribe is a subdivision of the Algonquin who first told the story of the Wendigo and you are all spreading a lot of misinformation that is very frustrating to me, it feels like an uphill battle to keep explaining this, please read.
This is like the third or fourth time I've reblogged this but I'm doing it on my other account because I don't wanna keep spamming my poor followers with the same post.
If you are not indigenous you have NO RIGHT to tell people how we feel about our stories and myths. You do not KNOW what our sincerely held cultural beliefs are. And as a matter of fact, you are painting us all as the 'noble savage' trope by assuming that we are all so cripplingly superstitious and we so deeply believe in our monsters that saying the name of one is offensive to us.
The Wendigo is a myth. It is a story. It is a legend. You can say the word Wendigo. Stop going after random strangers you don't know for saying a word you don't even understand. Stop it. Please. It has never been a forbidden word. It isn't even part of the legend that 'saying its name will summon it', you summon the Wendigo by engaging in cannibalism.
The legend itself has an important message about greed and destruction, about selfishness in the face of death and survival. It has been used to describe many variations of greed and selfishness, both in the form of other natives and from invaders. But we don't all believe in a literal evil spirit/monster that will come get us if YOU say the word Wendigo, that's infantilizing.
The language of my tribe is nearly extinct. Our stories have been suppressed for centuries by racist non-Natives. We don't care if non-Natives tell our stories as long as they get the story RIGHT by at least taking it from an original source, because it keeps them alive.
By the way the Wendigo is totally unrelated to deer and does not have antlers, that shit is just made up by non-natives, which also pisses me off to no end. Wendigo is a spirit that possess a human, so it looks like a human, it could be anyone you know, that is part of the message and moral of the story.
(btw I won't be responding to anything on this account, I've said what I needed to say)
Look I know people mean well, I DO. I'm not saying these things to make anyone feel bad or to be angry, but if you DO want to help elevate Native voices, please understand the difference between uplifting our voices and speaking OVER US. If you want to uplift our voices then find things written by actual natives and reblog it, and ask actual natives and reblog that, interviews, native american websites and books written by natives, etc. And also don't ask one tribe to speak for another because we are not all the same. But by taking one thing you heard somewhere and spreading that around from your own mouth, you're speaking OVER us.
Even if one native told you not to say it, that's one native. I promise the majority of us are NOT overly supersitious. If one native you spoke to is so superstitious that it freaks them out if you say the word Wendigo, then don't say it around them. If you want to protect the virgin ears of everyone with a closely held belief then don't say the name of ANY mythological beast, don't say 'God', 'Jesus', or 'Satan'. (If you think only white/European/colonists believe that saying 'Satan' will summon him, I would like to point to a swath of very traditional Christian native Americans including my own grandfather)
I saw one person say like 'respect the culture and the people who are SCARED of that shit' in the tags and like, once again, that is SO infantalizing. I know you don't mean it to be, but you really think all natives are so SCARED of a story that we get genuinely distressed by you TYPING it on the internet??? And you don't see how stereotypical that is?
Again, I'm not saying this to make anyone feel bad for trying to help, but if you want to help then you will understand this.
To people reblogging posts written by actual natives (not just mine, anyone), thank you for setting an example, it's the only thing tempering my frustration, to see some people out there spread my words without speaking for me, and learning from it. <3
(okay I lied about not responding to anything, this one just hits right)
Kabbalah in the Worldbuilding of Genshin Impact; Part 3: Very Impure, Very Sinful
Written by Sabre (@paimoff on twitter) and Schwan (@abyssalschwan on twitter)
The Origin of Evil
In earlier parts of this theory, we've discussed how the elements of Teyvat and their ideals are similar to the sefirot of Kabbalah, as well as the implications of the similarities between Descenders and the Kabbalistic Primordial Man. In this section, we'll be discussing how the metaphors used to describe evil in Kabbalah are made literal in Genshin, specifically in the form of the Gnoses and the Heavenly Principles. We’ll also be connecting the Traveler’s role as RPG ProtagonistTM to the Kabbalistic concept of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) and how that relates to their role in the good-evil duality.
When it comes to the concept of evil in kabbalah, there are generally two perspectives considered: 1) evil is the result of an imbalance in the dichotomy of divine mercy vs divine judgment, and/or 2) the existence of evil is an inherent part of creation that can be affected by the actions of humans.
The Zohar, a foundational text of Jewish Kabbalah and massively influential on Western esotericism, details several explanations for the origin of evil. This theory does not contain a comprehensive analysis of the philosophy of evil in Kabbalah, but we’ve tried to at least mention or summarize the core concepts that can be tied directly into discussion of Genshin’s worldbuilding.
The primary explanation in the Zohar is that evil originates in the sefira of divine judgment if it is not counterbalanced by divine mercy. This creates a parallel but mirrored/inverted system of the sefirot, called the Sitra Achra, which we will refer to with the literal translation “Other Side”. This dimension is associated with death and anger, and a few other unique traits we’ll explore later on. It’s important to note that according to this perspective, the existence of evil is actually a necessary part of the divine plan for the world - some of the commandments in the Torah (Jewish law), or even regular human activities like sleeping, are described as actions that ‘appease’ the “Other Side” and keep the balance between good and evil forces in the world. The Zohar even goes as far as to suggest that the “Other Side” can function as a ‘test’ for the righteous: In order for someone to be fully righteous, they must descend completely into the realm of the “Other Side” and resist all their temptations and then emerge pure. Those who fail are doomed to become breeding grounds for demons. Interesting.
The Husks in a Nutshell
The Zohar also introduces the concept of the klippot, literally husks, shells, or peels . The name Qlipoth, which players of Honkai Star Rail might be more familiar with, is just another spelling of the same term.
The Zohar’s conception of the sefirot is like a nesting doll: the sefirot are one inside the other, like concentric circles, and the klippot are the shells each sefira makes around the one inside it, as illustrated in the drawings below, where each ring or square represents one of the sefirot.
This ties in to another one of the Zohar’s explanations for the origin of evil: evil has always been mixed in with the sefira of Keter, the first to be emanated, and in order for reality to be formed, the evil had to be purified out. This was done by repeatedly creating worlds and destroying them, until the creative divine energy was purified. Think of it like when you’re washing something you’ve dyed, and it takes multiple washes for the dye to stop bleeding.
This process leaves behind “shards” of evil, which become the foundations of the dimension of evil, the “Other Side”. The Zohar names some of the klippot as direct counterparts to the sefirot, giving them equivalent roles in their respective dimensions, but there is no consistent or complete description of all the names or comparisons.
Similar to the process of creation and destruction described above, Rabbi Isaac Luria (very influential Kabbalist in the 16th century) described a process where there are multiple iterations of the creation of the world, resulting from the dilution of divine energy as it is emanated into the void where reality is created. (For a more detailed explanation of this, check out Part 2.) Luria compares the sefirot to vessels filled with divine light, and the farther these vessels get from the source of the light, the weaker they get. Eventually the vessels shatter and form the klippot, which here are technically fragments of the divine and not inherently evil. However, unlike the sefirot that can balance each other, these fragments are isolated and intense attributes of the divine that eventually become evil and demonic.
In the context of Genshin, the klippot take the form of the Gnoses, reflecting their role as both remains of evil and fragments of the divine isolated from the source.
Demons and Dead Descenders
Back in Part 1 of this theory, we briefly discussed the implications of both the inverted Irminsul and the Demon Gods, or Archons, in the context of Kabbalah. We hypothesized that Teyvat is in the dimension of evil, aka the “Other Side,” and the Archons have demon names to indicate their alignment with each of the evil equivalents of the sefirot: the klippot. There is no standardized list of demons associated with the “Other Side,” so we think that they are using the Goetic demon names instead, like some historical sources have done in their incomplete lists.
We also suggested that the Gnoses themselves could represent the klippot of each element, the “shell” around the sefirot. This was based on the information we knew about the Gnoses at the time which was basically that:
a. It is an “internal magical focus that resonates directly with Celestia itself,” and represents the archon’s status as one of The Seven (Archon Quest, Prologue, Act III, Ending Note). This may be related to Zhongli’s concern that giving up his Gnosis will mean that he cannot defend Liyue anymore (Zhongli Character Stories: Gnosis)
b. It can gather elemental energy for the Archon, presumably acting as some kind of amplifier, given that the Archons have elemental abilities without a Gnosis (Nahida Character Story: Gnosis). This is presumably how the Akasha (and the Oratrice) was able to be powered by the Gnosis, and how Nahida was able to use the power of two Gnoses to access Irminsul and delete Rukkhadevata, something she could not do with her own power (dendro+electro amplifying reaction indeed).
The Fontaine Archon Quest and subsequent Neuvillette character stories introduced two new crucial pieces of information that cemented the role of the Gnoses in this theory:
a. The Gnoses are the remains of the Third Descender, and since they are remains, they are cursed. Skirk even says that the Gnosis “smells” “very similar to a god's ‘curse’.”
Skirk: Regardless, you should probably get rid of objects of "misfortune," to prevent any disasters from befalling you.
Skirk: To live is in itself a blessing. But once a person dies, the bonds he once had with this world shall all turn to curses.
b. The Primordial One was wounded in the “great war of vengeance” (probably when the Second Who Came arrived) and couldn’t “suppress the original order” of the world anymore. They and the “one who came after” created the Gnoses from the Third Descender and used them to “subdue and control the resentment and loathing of the world.” This seems to have created a new order to the world, where the remaining primordial “fragments” were destroyed, and humans gained the “seven remembrances.” (Neuvillette Character Story: Vision). This is implied to be related to the Archon War and to humans receiving Visions, which is described as a “shattered shard” of an Archon’s authority.
With this updated information, we have more evidence for our claims that Teyvat is in the realm of the “Other Side,” and that the Gnoses are the klippot. Here we compare key traits of the Gnoses and the Kabbalistic metaphors used for evil:
While the Gnoses and the “inverted” world of Teyvat are certainly the most overt references to the klippot and the “Other Side” in Genshin lore, derivations of these concepts are sprinkled throughout the worldbuilding in the form of repeated references to ‘shards’ and ‘husks’ of power and will. In the next section, we’ll go through two primary categories where the klippot of Genshin can be found: Death and the anger it leaves behind, and judgment, which includes the concept of sin in Teyvat, and speculation about how the Heavenly Principles turned Teyvat into the “Other Side.”
Rest in Pieces: Death and Anger
As you may have noticed, dying in Teyvat is not exactly straightforward. Death is meant to be a sort of recycling/reincarnation process via the leylines, but it seems like there are infinite exceptions to this rule. Hilichurls are cursed to never be able to enter the leylines, and thus are never able to truly die. When gods die, they can stick around indefinitely as corrosive and resentful energy (like Yaksha’s Karma and Inazuman Tataragami), or their remains can be used to permanently change the environment, like Rukkhadevata creating the Harvisptokhm out of Egeria’s remains to seal Tunigi Hollow. God-like individuals have also ‘died’ after being split in pieces, and those pieces contain some aspect of their will or consciousness, like Liloupar or Hermanubis and his Ba fragments. The Ba fragments are even associated with specific traits like the sefirot are: Sethos specifically mentions might and glory, which could correspond to the sefirot of Gevurah and Hod respectively. Both these and the resentful energy of things like the Tataragami can influence the actions of humans who come in contact with these fragments and remains.
The will of more ordinary people can also remain after death: the Shadowy Husk enemy descriptions call them “nothing but a husk,” and that “the long years and a curse seems to have robbed them of their reason and memory. Now, all that remains within that armor is the will to "fight for something, someone, and some matter."”
All shall decay in the end, and this is all that is left of the Black Serpent Knights amidst the merciless march of their sins, curses, and time itself.
We also have instances where a powerful being’s sacrifice provides the power for an ‘impossible’ event to occur: the Goddess of Flowers using her body as a conduit to give Deshret access to forbidden knowledge, or Sybilla sacrificing her life to create Phobos. Sybilla, who was likely also a Seelie, is described as being from the land of the dead - more on Seelies later. And most relevantly, we have the death of the Third Descender being used to create the Gnoses.
Logically, this death-associated release of power makes sense In a world that is also the “Other Side.” But it also seems to be a double-edged sword: just like how the order of the world itself is held together with the Gnoses sourced from death, the death of other powerful beings can destabilize it.
And speaking of the Gnoses - how is it that ‘death’ energy can be used to channel elemental energy, which should belong to the sefirot? As we mentioned earlier, that’s because the klippot and the sefirot are derived from the same divine source material - at their core, the realm of the divine and the realm of the demonic are the same. The distinction between these powers in Genshin is their source: are these the true elemental powers original to this world, or is this the power stolen by the Heavenly Principles?
Teyvat has its own “laws”: Judgment, Sin, and Curses
Earlier we mentioned that the Zohar’s primary explanation for the origin of evil is an excess of divine judgment. In Kabbalistic thought, divine judgment refers to the setting of limits during creation - without it there would be no distinction between anything and the world would just be an everything soup. For more on this idea and its usage in the Fontaine AQ, check here. When it comes to the human expression of this idea, “limits” would be equivalent to the concept of laws, both natural (like physics) and legal (like the concept of social contract).
The Heavenly Principles are thought to be the highest power of “law” in Teyvat, described in the Scroll of Streaming Song as “the universal law created in heaven, the divine laws established in the beginning.”
Nahida also tells use that the Gnoses represent the laws of the Heavenly Principles:
Nahida: I'm sure you remember the entity that changed your fate — the Heavenly Principles.
Nahida: In fact, the Heavenly Principles has been quiet since the Khaenri'ah disaster five hundred years ago. I used this point as leverage against The Doctor.
Nahida: I told him that the Heavenly Principles may be awakened if I destroyed a Gnosis. Although it was just a bluff, he still fell for it.
Nahida: I assumed that the Heavenly Principles wouldn't just stand by and let such extensive damage to its "laws" take place.
What do these laws entail, exactly? Rukkhadevata in Scroll of Streaming Song explains:
"One may only bow down and worship Vaana of the heavenly spirits — no arrogation, deception, or trickery is permitted."
"If one dares to imitate the forbidden arts, only calamity awaits at the edge of divine knowledge.”
As expected, these “divine laws" include definitions of sins, and conveniently for us, these sins tend to be punished with curses, yet another misfortune associated with the klippot.
There are three* curses specifically associated with the Heavenly Principles:
The “curse of the wilderness” which turned non-pure-blood Khaenriahns into hillichurls (but may be older than the Cataclysm considering hillichurls have been around since before that time and there are other references to humans turning into various monsters that aren’t associated with the Cataclysm)
The curse of immortality put on pure-blood Khaenriahns during the Cataclysm
The Seelie curse, which has multiple variations:
a. Arama says the Seelies were cursed to become “empty husks” if they fell in love with a human. The curse would make them lose their intelligence and their bodies would shrink, becoming the little treasure Seelies found in exploration
b. Wolfy in the Imaginarium Theater talks about the Boar Tribe who were forced to place parts of themselves on a scale, and then lose those parts of themselves, as a punishment. The description of what happened to these boars sounds a lot like the Seelie curse.
Wolfy: Those boars who placed their heads on the scales became wolves, lizards, and snakes, leaving only their strength. Those who offered their muscles became rabbits, leaping three paces to a bound, instinctively guiding people to treasure.
*Paimon voice* “Maybe it should be called the rule of four!”: While we don’t know yet if this is associated with the Heavenly Principles, Skirk references a god’s curse, which in context seems to be related to the Gnoses and the fact that Gnoses are the remains of a dead Descender.
In summary, the Heavenly Principles, their “divine laws” and corresponding curses and punishments are the Teyvat equivalent of the excessive divine judgment that leads to the formation of the “Other Side”. According to the Zohar, the “Other Side" and the klippot sustain themselves through stealing divine energy and feeding off human sin. We’ve already discussed how the Gnoses are the means for stealing divine energy, so how does human sin play a role in this equation?
The Sinners Are All That's Left
After the war with the Second Who Came, and the Seelies were cursed, the Heavenly Principles established the order of Teyvat using the power from the death of the Third Descender: the Gnoses. They then had the gods of each nation fight to the death for the chance to win this power and become representative of their “law”, creating resentment in many places across Teyvat. Given what we know about the klippot, we must consider the Archon War as the Heavenly Principles creating strife and death to power themselves enough to maintain the order of Teyvat.
A similar system is presented in one of the in-game novels, Princess Mina of the Fallen Nation, which tells the story of a princess prophesied to bring destruction. Her nation is plagued with wars due to “Nakura’s Hex,” which drains the life force from people and the environment to strengthen the soldiers, who then in turn, continue fighting to be the most powerful, which leads to them draining more life. In the fifth volume, Mina and her slayful samurai bestie arrive at the Sky Tower, where they meet some priests and learn the truth of their world: Nakura’s Hex was originally created to preserve the “slowly declining” world. Mina learns that she must sacrifice herself, destroy the current world, and use the stored up power from Nakura’s Hex to create a new one. It’s left ambiguous if she succeeds.
If the Heavenly Principles are able to gain power from wars and death, then they should also be able to gain power from sin as well. And lucky for this theory, we just finished the Fontaine region, where this very concept was explored in the Archon Quest. In order to collect enough power to destroy her Archon throne and return the Hydro authority to Neuvillette, Focalors created the Oratrice. The Oratrice pronounced verdicts during court cases and converted the people’s belief in justice into Indemnitium, which was then used to power Fontaine. In reality though, most of this power was stored up to eventually kill Focalors. In other words, the crimes and well, sins, people committed against each other generated tangible power that could be used by a god.
In this context, the fact that the title “Sinner” is associated with the cataclysm and Khaenri’ah, and the recent reveal that the Five Sinners split a “world-shattering” Abyssal power between each other become more significant.
Considering all that we’ve discussed regarding the use of death as a power source in Teyvat and its connection to the Heavenly Principles in their capacity as the Other Side, we are left wondering if the Sinners attempted their own Third Descender moment. In the context of what we’ve theorized about the Primordial Human Project previously, Rhinedottir’s role as a Sinner feels particularly relevant here. Whatever it was exactly that the Sinners were trying to do, their power definitely was “world-shattering,” since 500 years later Teyvat is still recovering from their and the Heavenly Principles’ actions during the Cataclysm.
And speaking of the present day problems of Teyvat, we are now ready to talk about the role the Traveler plays in the interplay between the Heavenly Principles and the original order of Teyvat.
The Repairing of a World More Broken Than Elon’s Twitter
Ever since the Traveler woke up in Teyvat they have been helping everyone around, whether it’s finding lost pets, defeating evil dragons, finding cures for the sick, cleaning buildings or leyline disorders, maybe defeating another dragon… whether big or small there’s no feat that’s beneath our protagonist. That’s what the heroes do right? Well yes. But it also has a deeper, Kabbalistic significance.
Lurianic Kabbalah builds on the Zohar’s idea that human actions can either strengthen or appease the klippot by proposing there are also specific actions humans can do to have a positive influence on the world. There are two states the world can exist in: Tohu (chaos), where the sefirot are unbalanced, and Tikkun (repair), where the sefirot are harmonized together. Luria taught that humans could contribute to the “Repairing of the World” (Tikkun Olam) by strictly adhering to the religious laws of the Torah. With time, the idea that humans can contribute to the improvement of God’s world by performing acts of kindness and altruism has become mainstream in Judaism, and in the modern day, Tikkun Olam has come to refer to the value of social justice. By performing these “repairing” actions, the Divine Energy that’s “trapped” inside the klippot is released and returns to its rightful place, contributing to the balance and harmony of the world.
Similar concepts are referenced directly in Genshin: In Chinese, the Heavenly Principles are Tiānlǐ: “Heavenly Order.” Li refers to a concept in Confucianism that literally translates to ‘rite,’ and refers to specific ritual actions that connect human action to the harmony of the greater order of the universe. Li is not necessarily religious rites as it also includes “basic” human interactions with each other and nature.
Another similar idea is the alchemical As Above, So Below, which is generally interpreted to refer to either the movement of the celestial bodies affecting events on Earth, or the correspondences between the macrocosm and the microcosm (the human being). You may recognize this second idea from Part 2 of this theory.
In other words, this means that the actions that humans take in the material world can have a direct impact on the spiritual world (in Judaism) or on the larger movements or changes of the rest of the universe (Li and alchemy). These concepts are all relevant in our discussion of the role of the Traveler, but here we will also be using it to illustrate how the Heavenly Principles have control over Teyvat.
The concept of As Above, So Below has been mentioned in the context of the Heavenly Principles in Scroll of Streaming Song:
"O wise Princess, if your wisdom is truly as the legends of the people say,"
"Please answer my second riddle as you did the first."
"What rises from the earth, then descends from the sky,"
"No one has seen it, yet it sees all,"
"As above, so below, and as at the bottom, so too, the top,"
"Yet only top to bottom may be, and never bottom to top?"
That princess of (...) answered thusly:
"You speak of the universal law created in heaven, the divine laws established in the beginning."
"No one has seen the eternal law, yet it governs all.”
The Goddess of Flowers is implying here that technically this principle should apply to the Heavenly Principles and their laws, but in the order of Teyvat, only the law can govern the “below,” the world, and the world can not reciprocate their influence on the “above.” This would mean that human action on Teyvat actually does not have an effect on the “sky,” which is the spiritual realm. In the Flower of Paradise Lost artifact lore, she says that the "master of the heavens, consumed by fear for the rising tide of delusion and breakthroughs, sent down the divine nails to mend the land, laying waste to the mortal realm..." This suggests that the sealing off of the connection between Teyvat and the heavens is the result of the Heavenly Principles’ fear of the power of the “invaders” and the effect they and other humans could have on them from the human ‘realm’ of Teyvat.
More simply, this means that the Heavenly Principles are actively preventing the humans of Teyvat from performing the “Repairing of the World”.
The (semi)literal translation of Zhongli’s burst voiceline also references this, but in connection with Li and Confucianism, rather than alchemy: “Heaven moves; all follows.” In this scenario, he, as the Archon, has the authority to act as the executor for the Heavenly Principles’ law (Tian Li), and invokes “heaven” to set a limit/boundary. You can even see this illustrated with how his burst stops the enemies from moving, as he restores ‘order’. (Credit to Cristal Marie for this insight)
The one exception to the restriction set by the Heavenly Principles seems to be the Traveler, whose helpful acts are excellent displays of “Repairing the World”: Indeed, while Traveler was initially just showing their good nature, many of their actions have contributed to restoring a balance to a Teyvat that seems to be in a state of “Tohu” (chaos).
Examples are varied and extensive, but we can categorize Traveler’s actions as follows:
Returning things to their rightful place: repairing the Statues of the Seven by returning the Oculi, helping the Seelie return to their courts.
Repairing and balancing Leylines: cleansing Leyline disorders at places like Chenyu Vale, the different islands of Inazuma, cleansing leftover Forbidden Knowledge at Sumeru.
Aiding people and living beings: from the Aranara and Melusines to Scaramouche and Dvalin, ill or struggling NPCs, lingering ghosts, etc
Defeating and suppressing evil forces: Osial, Beisht, an eroded Azhdaha, the Thunder Manifestation, the Tatarigami at Yashiori, different agents of the Abyss Order, the All-Devouring Narwhal.
Performing appropriate rituals: the Funerary Rites for the “passing” of Morax, the Rainjade Rite at Chenyu Vale, the Festival Utsava, the Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri, the Sakura Cleansing Ritual, etc.
All this repairing, cleansing, returning things to correct places and balancing elemental energy fits with the Lurianic description of how “Repairing the World” is achieved.
In the first part of this theory we compared the Kabbalistic sefirot with the seven elements of Teyvat, as different “colors” derived from elemental energy. We also mentioned how the famous array of the Sefirot in the “Tree of Life” is an idealized state: the truth is that they won’t be arranged in such a balanced way until the coming of the Messianic Age, and that will only be achieved once the repairing of the world is complete. In this context then, the Traveler’s actions should be accelerating the arrival of this ideal state.
But… isn’t Teyvat the world of the “Other Side”? Who exactly is the Traveler aiding with their actions? Aren’t they strengthening the klippot by maintaining the order set by the Heavenly Principles, who have been accused of being “usurpers” chaining the world to an unnatural order? Or is the Traveler actually reversing this and returning the world to its natural state?
There are a few instances when we are led to doubt that the Traveler is doing the ‘correct’ thing as they purify/restore places in Teyvat. During the Chenyu Vale world questline, Lingyuan says that the adeptal energy the Traveler gets from Fujin has the power to “suppress nature” and that their efforts to perform the Rainjade Rite go against nature as it is intended to be. She also makes a cryptic comment about how humans used to be part of nature, but are no longer. This may simply refer to how humans affect the world around them, or perhaps it’s meant also as commentary on the Traveler’s actions and the way they are generally considered to be positive and restorative.
In this case, if the Traveler is doing wrong, could it be that the “true Messiah” is out there, being labeled as a “sinner” for trying to release Divine Energy from the evil grasp of the klippot?
After all, we know someone who fits that description: the Traveler’s own sibling.
Purification through Sin: how the Abyss Order are the good guys akshually
There was actually a movement in Jewish mysticism that believed that doing exactly the opposite of what Luria advised (following the laws of the Torah) is what would achieve the complete repairing of the world. This movement started in the 17th century, in the Ottoman Empire, when a man named Sabbatai Zvi claimed to be the long awaited Messiah. It wasn’t the first time this happened, indeed Christianity arose from one of those very claims.
The Sabbatean movement, like many before them, drew criticism from more conservative Rabbis particularly due to the seemingly unstable behavior of their leader: sometimes boldly going against Jewish law, other times falling into periods of melancholy that were “unbecoming” of the Messiah. The breaking point for the detractors of Sabbatai Zvi was his public conversion to Islam after being threatened with torture and execution by the Ottoman authorities, effectively becoming an apostate to the Jewish faith. Despite this, Sabbatai Zvi had a big following, and his conversion didn’t deter them.
What’s relevant about this Messianic claimant movement is that much of the fuel for its credibility was based on Kabbalistic thought. Nathan of Gaza, an accomplished student of Jewish theology, was the first believer that Sabbatai was the real Messiah, and from then on used his deep knowledge of Lurianic Kabbalah to argue why Zvi’s questionable actions were what had to be expected from the Messiah, including the most serious sins. Much of the reasoning for this is explained in a text that is still polemical today: the Treatise on Dragons.
Nathan argued that even though the entirety of the created universe was emanated from Divine Light, that doesn’t mean all of this divine essence was used up: there was a good amount of Divine Light that wasn’t involved in creation, and in a way “didn’t desire” to become created matter. When the endless Divine Light “retracted” to make space for the future world, the leftover “Void realm” had remnants of Divine Light that didn’t want to be part of creation, and were even hostile to it. Afterwards, Divine Light entered the Void in a “vertical line”, penetrating it and kicking off creation, including the subsequent shattering of the vessels mentioned earlier. Eventually, the shattered fragments of the vessels and the hostile remnants of Divine Light formed the realm of the “Other Side.” So now, the upper levels of the Void is where the created world is located, and it’s also the realm where humans can aid the “Repairing of the World”. However the lower levels, where the klippot are located, are so evil that only the Messiah themselves can “repair” them. That’s why the soul of the Messiah was cast into the “Other Side” even before creation, when Divine Light penetrated into the Void Realm. This soul would be particularly connected with the klippot, incarnating many times across history as different people that would endure terrible temptations and suffering, all with the objective of purifying the klippot at the bottom of the “hole of the great Abyss”, from the inside.
While this interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah was devised to explain the behavior and life of one particular individual (Sabbatai Zvi), for our Genshin Impact theory it serves as an explanation for the actions of the Traveler’s Sibling. After all, we have never seen them hold contempt or hatred against Teyvat like the exiled dragon sovereigns seem to have. Rather, the Sibling and the Abyss Order focus on toppling the Heavenly Principles. The Sibling even seems to have tried to reverse the initial effects of the Cataclysm, attempting to save Khaenri’ah and parts of Teyvat along with Dainsleif, until whatever they saw at the “sea of flowers at the end” made them change their mind. Abyss Sibling is also constantly somber and serious, even when chatting amicably with the Traveler during Bedtime Story, which fits Nathan’s explanation on how different people containing the soul of the Messiah have tended to have a melancholy disposition, constantly battling the temptation to sin and struggling with the uglier side of life.
All this, plus the constant description of the Abyss Order and other Khaenri’ans as “sinners” leads us to think that the actions of its current leader, the Princess/Prince of the Abyss, are in line with the Sabbatean notion of “purifying the klippot through sin”.
Why Am I A Broken Messiah and other old Death Note anime lyrics
One final comparison to draw in this “redemption through sin” is actually from different Abrahamic religions other than Judaism. Gerschom Scholem in his book about Sabbateanism also points out the similarities of this movement to at least one, or perhaps more, early Gnostic Christian sects.
It’s difficult to discern what was genuine belief and what were accusations of heresy by mainstream Christian theologians, but there are at least two Gnostic groups that seemed to identify themselves with Biblical characters typically associated with sin.
The Cainites allegedly claimed that since the God of the Old Testament was nothing but an evil imposter, salvation would come by opposing his laws and engaging in sin. In their narrative, Cain was but a victim that triumphed over the evil Demiurge and his minion: Abel, while Judas was either the most illuminated disciple of Jesus, who aided him in opening a path for humanity’s salvation, or a hero who opposed the evil Jesus’s attempt to further hide the truth of the world. The second group were the Ophites, who identified themselves with the snake that invited Adam and Eve to go against God’s prohibitions in the Garden of Eden, because doing so would actually reveal the truth about the Imposter God and the True God to them and their descendants.
Whether what we know of these groups is reliable or false, we also know that there was a more generalized Gnostic belief that humans were “sinful bodies” made of “lesser matter” that nonetheless contained “sparks of divine essence” within them: it was through the discarding of the “lesser body” and the “ascending of the divine sparks” towards the Pleroma that humanity could gain salvation. This is very reminiscent of the Kabbalistic notion of “releasing the sparks of Divine Light” from the “husks” of the klippot.
Gnosticism is one of the chief inspirations for the world building of Genshin Impact. If the notion of the Other Side accurately describes the condition of Teyvat, and the characteristics of the klippot are comparable to the order imposed by the Heavenly Principles, then it’s very likely that “repairing” the world will be done in a Gnostic way, whether it’s escaping Teyvat or entirely destroying it.
Also, the Twins having opposite stances when it comes to the “salvation of the world” could be compared to the Christian and Islamic belief that the arrival of the end times will be heralded by a fake “Anti Messiah”, right before the appearance of the actual Messiah of salvation. It could be then, considering the role of the “Sinful Messiah” described before, that the Princess/Prince of the Abyss is behaving like the Antichrist precisely because this is a necessary role to be performed so the Traveler can bring salvation to the world.
At this time, we still don't know which of the twins are the one whose actions are actually leading to the “salvation” of Teyvat. Is the Traveler unwittingly helping the klippot exert tyrannical control over an exiled, scattered Divine Light? Or are they returning the world to a state older than the Heavenly Principles? Is the Abyss Order actually trying to liberate Teyvat from the oppression of the “Other Side,” or are they just looking for power and vengeance? And what role does the exiled Dragon race play in this dichotomy of divine and demonic?
Perhaps Natlan can bring us those long-awaited answers…
References:
The Origins of the Klippot / Qliphoth & Sitra Achra in the Zohar - Kabbalah on the Problem of Evil
Introduction to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism - Part 10/14 - Christian and Lurianic Kabbalah
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (Scholem). Sixth Lecture: The Zohar II: The Theosophic Doctrine of the Zohar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_(Confucianism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_above,_so_below
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (Scholem). Seventh Lecture: Isaac Luria and his School
Introduction to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism - Part 10/14 - Christian and Lurianic Kabbalah https://youtu.be/gqvcifVWjvM?si=BYS_7FbX8lz9iQJy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbateans
Introduction to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism - Part 12/14 - Sabbateanism and Mystical Heresy II https://youtu.be/F5QU5ylhOqA?si=dSR4SEbnkMfCUJj_
Sabbatai Ṣevi : the mystical Messiah, 1626-1676 (Scholem). Chapter 3: The Beginnings of the Movement in Palestine (1665)
⚠️ In regards to the natlan controversy (and Sumeru by proxy)
Do NOT accuse people of being racist just because your skin colour cannot be found in a game. Learn to know that people don't live in the same situation as you.
Please read this fully for the reality of things
I'm sorry for getting political, skip if you don't want to interact
I’m kinda sad at the fact that a lot of people are quick to hate, judge, and scrutinise Hoyo without understanding the situation.
With recent teaser of Natlan characters, people are rightfully upset at the fact that the characters shown to hail from Natlan… don’t exactly look the part. With characters lighter than my own skin tone (I’m a Chinese Southeast Asian by the way, heya) people are calling hoyo bullshit and accusing them of being a racist for failing time and time again at giving us characters with POC shades of skin. Now I’m not here to defend Mihoyo for their actions, or to tell you to stop being mad at the situation being the way they are. No, I’m here to shed you some light of how life is as a game company under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xin Jin Ping (XJP cause I won’t be bothered to type his whole ass name)
I've highlighted points of each section
Any pages that requires translations, I recommend using DeepL instead of google translate because you can check the meanings of specific words and it's translation are better (imo)
Skip to the last part if you just want a summarised version
Before we get into the nitty gritty that is Genshin drama, I'll give you a run-down on what and how China works.
check the part "In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it" if you want to go straight on to the point
People’s Republic of China
is a Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic. This means that China is under a one-party (Chinese Communist Party) rule with communism ideology on how they rule and govern the country and socialist standards for how they manage their economy and everything else. [.]
The CCP holds a very nationalistic view
[.] which is commonly used as propaganda [.] for them to garner either sympathy or control over the people of China. These nationalistic view, in its raw and most rudest form, simply states that Chinese people are pure by upholding traditional Chinese culture (that's not even traditionally Chinese, more or less more catered towards communism and the CCP's ideologies which are that they're great and everyone else is wrong) and not mixing themselves or tainting themselves with things that are not pure (i.e. anything that isn't Chinese, from China, belongs to China) This nationalistic views, which glorifies China and detests anything foreign (i.e. culture, language, people, etc.) have led to a lot of xenophobia being built and nurtured inside of China's society [1] [2] [3]
Aside from the CCP's nationalistic views,
China's society is very censored and monitored by the CCP
[.] Google, YouTube, or more specifically, the internet itself is heavily banned by the government, electing the people to use the CCP's private internet that allows them to be monitored 24/7 through IP location and private information. [1] [2] [3] [4] Aside from heavily monitored and controlled internet access, people in the real world are also actively being watched and monitored through CCTV with facial recognition features and an AI that can predict people's action (yes, exactly like the akasha, and yes, Sumeru arc is based on reality, I won't talk about it here but feel free to read between the lines and compare it with the sources and news articles I'm about to drop on you) [1] [2. Behind paywall] [3] [4] [5]
With its censorship in mind, let us talk about what brings us all here:
the gaming censorship in China.
In order for a game to be published in China, whether it's made by an indie or a multi-billion dollar company, the game has to go through a complicated preliminary test made and assigned by the CCP to play, test, and go through your game before publishing it anywhere in Chinese media [.] This test includes you company's paperwork, your game's paperwork, the things you're displaying in your game, and the story it's trying to tell. There are not that many rules on what should and should not appear inside of your game, such as: polyamory, the undead (in both graphic and non-graphic manner), etc. That should be considered tame and should cause no problem, however, we do have a problem with one of the rule given which is: Emphasizing Cultural Sensitivity.
Emphasizing Cultural Sensitivity
in the article I've mentioned before, describes it as "Games should impart “correct” information on politics, law, and history, as interpreted by the authorizing agency." Now what does "correct" information entail? Who fucking knows because truth is relative. Facts, when in the eyes of the CCP, are relative to what they believe is to be right and what they want us to believe is right.
Now with that out of the way, let us get into the main deal.
MiHoYo
(not to be confused with Hoyoverse/Cognosphere which is their international branch) is a is a Chinese video game development and publishing company, founded by three classmates from university Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao [.] That means that Genshin Impact's development, ever since it was at its infancy, first-established days, and updates until the near future, are all subjected onto that game censorship law that I mentioned earlier. Now you might all be wondering, what does all of those rules have to do with genshin characters having dark skins? To that I point you towards the fact that MiHoYo and the CCP are and have been actively working together ever since around September 2021. [1] [2]
Cooperation between MiHoYo and the CCP
Ever since Genshin Impact's massive hit both nationally and internationally, its massive fanbase has hit the internet no one has ever seen before. It is the first ever Chinese game that has gotten world wide acclaim and with that, new eyes begin to look upon China. It is no surprise to anyone that Genshin is very particular about showing and promoting Chinese culture to the outside world. Genshin has somehow become the face to Chinese culture in just a year, with limited events such as Lantern Rite and Moonchase festival to showcase China's cultural beauty. With world-wide acclaim comes a price, wherein the CCP no longer treats Genshin as "another game" but a tool that they can use to promote and advertise themselves into the global population.
Begin the censorship and micro-manipulation of things in Genshin
New gaming censorship dropped after the Genshin Impact became a hit in the industry, with even Venti and Gorou as examples of characters that should not appear in media published in China (effeminate man) [.] In additional to the list I've linked in the "the gaming censorship in China" section, a lot more additional rules have been added to that list, such as: queer representation, morally grey character, but I what I want you to look at more is the section where "historical elements, including characters, maps and clothing, should conform with mainstream accounts." in addition to that, a self-regulation pact was made between game companies and the CCP that bans any and all content that is deemed "politically harmful" and "historically nihilistic." Now focus more onto that "historically nihilistic" point, what does that mean?
Historical nihilism
is a term used by the CCP and many Chinese scholars to describe research or discussions deemed to contradict an official state version of history in a manner perceived to question or challenge the legitimacy of the CCP [.] TLDR; it's a term used for when what you're saying clashes or goes against what the CCP said. Why is this important you may ask? It's because that now, at this point, if anything Genshin does something—whether that'd be plotline, design etc.—that the CCP thinks shouldn't exist or be represented, they have the lawful right to block or stop it from reaching the final product. Now this, this is what happened to Genshin's Sumeru and Natlan cast.
In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it
white has always been a predominant part of modern Chinese beauty culture, for some reason (I don't know and I'm not going to go that deep into it, research it on your own if you're curious) In fact, it's not only China but also Asian culture in general. White skin has always been hailed as pure and beautiful here in Asia, where the line "as pale as the moon" is a common compliment to give to someone. Skin colour that are tan or even darker are connected to being dirty or stinky. Despite the younger generation not really adhering to that view, the older generation (calling out the CCP here) upholds that standard till this day. Pin straight hair, round eyes, pale white skin, and a thin figure are the standards put upon those born as female. Their male counterpart are not that different, with lean and fit being the preferred body type rather than big muscles or bulky forms.
The reason behind why this is the case is because of Asia's strict social code in rules and appearances. We must appear prim and clean, that means no dyed hair, no tattoos, no piercings, and minimal make-up. Anyone that goes against those rules are regarded as delinquents or deviants that usually break the rules and do criminal activities (despite it not being the case) Having a bulky stature also applies to that list, regardless of what gender you are, and especially for men. You're regarded as dangerous, criminal, bad influence if you look like that in public (this is why we don't have that much bulky characters gang and why we were robbed of heavy muscles Itto orz) (he deffo was very bulky in the original design, probably similar to the Nobushi but it got nerfed in final product)
Given all of that in mind, it's no wonder that Sumeru's and and Natlan's casts are mostly white... but were they always that way?
The original skin colour design for Natlan cast might've been darker than what we have in the final product.
As a lot of people have mentioned (especially with the many beautiful edits I'm very fond of) the character designs for Natlan's new up-coming rosters looks better with darker skin tone. Take for examples this edit right here:
taken from @ rarepairz on twitter [source]
Their designs (with darker skin tones) seem to pop more, giving highlights onto their clothes and accessories in comparison to the original design. Here are more examples of this happening:
taken from @ Wabs_nabs on twitter [source]
It is especially clear to anyone with basic colour theory that the colour used for designing the clothes and accessories and highlights in the hair look better with darker skin colour. There is *intent* on making it this way in comparison to woeful ignorance of making them look white as hell. If they were to intentionally to make the characters look white, they would've chosen a better colour for the clothes, less bolder ones and eye-popping ones to contrast with the already luminescent light that's emitting from the skin.
And this is not the case for only Natlan, by the way! The same thing happened when the Sumeru cast was first leaked. Case in point this:
taken from @ animuswonder on twitter [source]
and my personal art of Cyno and Nari:
Look at how much contrast there is between their colour palette or how much resonance there is, with Cyno his more cold-colour attire and hair, in comparison to his deep dark warm skin or Tighnari that's the epitome of a "spring girl" like come on man. There's INTENT in those designs, to have more darker shades than they are in the game. Sadly, they just can't do it due to censorships. Why? Because, as I have mentioned before, darker shades of skin are represented as dirt here in Asia as we glorify pale skin more.
The representation of uniqueness and differences in Chinese game is not common due the fact that most Asian countries are homogenous, which means they prefer everyone and everything to be the same, to look the same, and follow and do the same things. They do not advocate for uniqueness, they do not advocate for individuality, they advocate for us to conform and to follow like a sheep in a herd. Because of that, most people spend their whole life trying to whiten up their skin, keeping them light, and those who are darker than most are shown prejudiced and scrutinised.
Mentioning again the fact that MiHoYo and the CCP are working closely together, Genshin Impact is currently being used as a cultural weapon by the government. With MiHoYo showing numerous time that they've donate and support Chinese cultural heritage, the CCP is using that fact and holding control over Genshin as a way to promote and advertise sympathy towards Chinese culture and the Communist regime by proxy. It's like how your parents are getting you to eat broccoli brownies in hopes that you'd eat normal broccolis and other vegetables by proxy. Everything and anything that Genshin shows in its game are now under close inspections of the CCP and colourism especially will not fly-by their radar.
In conclusion
Your anger and hatred towards the new characters’ designs are justified, however the person you aim those anger and hatred should not be towards Mihoyo, or Liu Wei, or any of the staff members but towards the situation and the laws and the local government MiHoYo has to adhere to.
We're already lucky to have MiHoYo even wanting to represent and shpw different cultures from different parts of the world, telling us engaging stories, and incentivising us to think more and to be be more of us instead of following the crowd and to judge those in power (if you are literate and have the ability of a 6th grader, you know the theme Genshin Impact is showing in its story). In a world where they aren't able to live as freely as people outside of mainland do, they shouldn't have to put their life at risk by creating a game that goes against the CCP's laws that will lead to a deduction to their social points (yes, those actually exist, WAKE UP). Yet they do, they update every month, telling stories, creating characters with many characteristics that goes against Chinese gaming laws, just for us to enjoy.
Do NOT accuse people of being racist just because your skin colour cannot be found in a game. Learn to know that people don't live in the same situation as you.
You are right to be mad, you are right to be upset, but do not condemn them for something they hold no power to. It's between their lives and your fantasies and if you choose to value your delusion over their livelihood then that just shows what kind of a person you are.
Where's this conviction towards other game companies aside from MiHoYo? Where's the rightful air when it comes to companies that breathe much fresher air? Do they not have the same responsibility? Or is it because you actually do not care and merely want to point your unbridled emotions towards something or someone? If so, you're pointing at the wrong person.
