Since the arbiter generals are inherited positions and the spiritus is seemingly part of that, do you think there has been a successor to a general just outright rejected by the spirit?
Could a person even be the general if they weren't an emanator of hunt. Lowkey been thinking about the dynamics of the different emanators since herta space station and especially ruan mei
It’d be interesting to learn about a General that got rejected by a spiritus! Far as we know currently, hasnt happened, but we’ve only actually stepped foot on one ship, and we still dont have much info on the others histories. Learning about one that happened to would certainly be possible, and absolutely interesting.
The spiritus are moreso like heirloom weapons over fully sentient beings with proper will of their own. And you don’t have to be an Emanator to become a General. You probably can be- hell, maybe Hua was a General before tje Marshal, and an emanator before that as well, but its the role and spiritus that properly gives you the emanator status. Tbh, i kinda doubt being an emanator before a general, mostly bc it feels like something that would land them a role more like Marshal Hua’s.
And then Ruan Mei isnt an Emanator. The only Erudition emanators we know of are Herta, Zandar/Lygus, and Dr Primitive. Not even Nous’ favorite Genius Hitman of Polka is an Emanator.
The Genius’ are people acknowledged by Nous, but that doesnt make them Emanators, because its solely an acknowledgement of their intellect and potential. (And also Nous is lowk using them lol.) If the Genius’s were ALL considered Emanators, then the Trailblazer is an Emanator of thus far 5 paths, because its the same level. Or six, actually, because Nous DID also gaze and CONVERSE with them through Herta. (Which is a bigger feat than a fair majority of Genius Society members can claim lol.)
To get direct power from Nous, you basically have to be a special type of insane/overly curious. Or be Nous’ insane dad. Herta asks questions for the question, Herta researches what holds her interest and then moves on to the next question. Dr Primitive is.. insane, and reallt fixated on the monkey thing, but part of why, is because he basically views it as resetting life to overcome where it has stagnated so it can evolve further- iirc. Primitive is fucking wild. Zandar/Lygus wants to discover the prime mover of life, and has split himself into 9 fragments to figure that out. And also he wants to kill his aeon child.
Compared to the other geniuses… they all have an expertise. Ruan Mei is researching life, Screwwy.. is Screwwy, Polka wants to keep the circle of knowledge as is, Stephen literally is just a kid whose insanely smart, he just wants to be left alone but his genetics said ‘no <3 lock in kid you’re gonna do things <3’
Basically, with Erudition Emanators, you have to be tje right combination of insane fenius and curious. Its not enough to be insanely smart.
All the Aeons have specific requirements for emanator status.
Nous, curious & smart enough. Aha, entertaining enough. Nanook, powerful and connected to some other path/aeon to want to kill the mf. Basically you need to align with the aeons ideals in a specific way.
Theres seemingly two exceptions. IX, bc IX is too nihilistic to care or bother (hence why Acheron is so unique). Fuli, because their emanators are fragments of them because they arent born yet, and will be from one of those fragments.
Terminus might also function similarly to Fuli, but all things considered, I’d argue that a Finality Emanator (cough, Elio, cough) is someone that would be acknowledged with Terminus’ ascent at the universes end, and follow Terminus’ path backwards.
Imo, emanators are prettt simple when you boil the concept down to its core. They’re just people that have managed to align with the Aeon in a way closest to how they themselves ascended to govern their path. It gets complicated when you start looking at the specifics- or trying to compare the emanators of different paths. No two emanators of a path will truly be the same, and that goes like, 5x as much for emanators of separate paths.
Oh, also. You can use something derived from an Aeon’s power without being an actual emanator. You can draw power from something blessed/gifted by a Aeon (for example, Fu Xuan’s gift from Nous) but if its not drawing power DIRECTLY and ACTIVELY from the Aeon, it dont count.
You can be both acknowledged and blessed by an aeon without being an emanator. What qualifies you as an emanator first before any other specifics, is drawing from the Aeon and path actively and directly. (Conduits can still count, such as the cornerstones and spiritus. You’ll just be a ‘lower grade’ emanator.)
And not all Emanators get the same treatment and access. Like, Silver Wolf & Acheron have more or less unhindered access. Their limit is based on themselves and how much they can withstand rather than the aeon deciding to cut them off. Meanwhile other Emanators have a hard limit as to the amount of power they csn call upon, on the Aeons side. Id argue Herta, Stonehearts, and Generals are like that. And then the amount of power that say, the Generals can call on compared to Marshal Hua is absolutely different, or Diamond vs the other Stonehearts.
Again, emanators are pretty simple as a core concept. The amount of discourse around them in wild. Like it should not need to be so explicitly stated whose one and who isnt. Context clues are always there!
One of these days, the Trailblazer is liable to become a proper emanator (of Trailblaze or Finality, hell mb both)… and hoyo could basically look straight at the camera and say “They’re an emanator” and there would STILL be people going ‘idk.. do they really count though..”
like please, why were we arguing about Jing Yuan being an emanator on the emanator themed anniversary art?? Bro is there with Herta, Acheron, Phainon and Cyrene. Theres a pattern and we all know what it is, why are people in denial-
