Omg hi i just found your blog. Your star rail yapping is fantastic oh my gosh every post is so good
What do you think about this whole Trailblazer = Akivili business? Theyve brought it up in all the recent patches, and this one was even explicit where the abyss called "Akivili" and TB was like "oh thats my name"
But like. How did we get here, do you think? Akivili's been missing for at least 10AE and then they pop back up as a stellaron hunter????
Is TB a fragment? Reincarnation? Desperate wish on a stellaron?
I'm leaning toward "purposefully rebuilt". Like the OG aeon is still dead but between the stellaron, the training in SimU, our time on the Express, and some desperate wishes of the cosmos, the TB is meant to slot back into place as a new one.
Anyways, nice to meet you!
Nice to meet you too!! Im always glad (and lowk baffled) whenever someone likes my frankly unhinged yapping lol
My thoughts on the whole Akivil-Trailblazer deal is... ever fluctuating. Back in like.. i think August last year? I made a crack theory that was basically just me losing my mind based off of the Trailblazer's e3 (which still drive me mad, why is it the goddamned watch of all things cmon-) but basically the tl;dr, was that I was claiming that the Trailblazer is simultaneously Akivili and Terminus, at the same time. Being Akivili who descended from Aeonhood back into a mortal, and is on a track to ascend into Aeonhood again, as Terminus rather than Akivili.
That theory, aka the theory i refer to as 'the fucking pocket watch theory' was entirely crack. However, theres been.. an unreasonable amount of stuff since last august that has aligned, pretty damn well with that theory. Everytime something is proved semi-accurate, I crash out a little because again, it was a literal crack theory because I was losing my mind over their e3. But nope, apparently Apollo's Dodgeball likes my face (Or IG Terminus' dodgeball?) Such as the soft confirmation that Trailblazer does physically resemble Akivili and Nanook.
I dont really subscribe to it anymore ofc, because just as many parts proven accurate have been proven incorrect.. though mostly the less major aspects, such as Himeko's homeland possibly being Pegana.
Regardless, the base of the theory is still something I abide by: that Trailblazer is heavily connected to Terminus and Akivili. While not being a being created by an Aeon, they have been altered by the power of one, most likely either Finality or Trailblaze. However, I also abide by the fact that Finality & Trailblaze arent actually truly separate paths. Not split from the same origin path, or one merged into the other, but two paths running parallel.
A rather fitting analogy I could use is that both the Finality and Trailblaze are train tracks between two stations, one train going from the beginning to the end (Trailblaze) and the other running from the end to the beginning (Finality). While they have different destinations, different ideals, will see things in a different way from the other, they are ultimately the same thing at their core.
The Trailblazer is one of the few characters that does in fact hold the power of Trailblaze and Finality at the same time, and can seemingly balance the two ideals against each other. The only character actually. The only other character who has ties to both paths (beyond perhaps, Firefly and Silver Wolf's desire to embark on the Express... though Firefly's desire is moreso a desire to walk the same path as the Trailblazer again, and Silver Wolf's was moreso a desire born of boredom.) Is Isee, a former navigator of the Express, who is implied to have turned to Finality after Akivili's disappearance and found the Omen Vanguards. Aka the nicer cousin to the Creed Exequy and Stellaron Hunters, who try to prevent the disasters foretold by Terminus' mutterings. (Nicer cousin, because the Creed Exequy lowk worship the apocalypses Finality foretells, and the Stellaron Hunters, while attempting to prevent Finality as a whole, really have committed to the whole 'dirty my hands so yours stay clean' and 'sacrifice the few for the many'.. and it just so happens that with the desire to save the universe, the few is proportionally a lot larger than one would assume.)
Isee turned from one path, to the other. The thing is.. generally, when someone changes paths, the ideology and desires of said person will shift. We see it with Dan Heng for example. When he fully accepted permanence once again, his ideology of running away, symbolized by his 4star Hunt form, changed to one of protecting those he cares about, symbolized by DHPT's preservation path. (I will always stand by the fact that gameplay paths are important to the character, regardless on whether they align with the characters lore path.) Dan Heng remained largely the same person. But his ideology has since changed almost wholly. While he's always been a protective person, he had also been a really evasive person, very closed off emotionally, even to himself. Very afraid of loss, and afraid of getting hurt by that loss. Since 3.6, that has changed. He's opened up, he's more secure in himself, his past, his future.
Isee likely had a shift in ideology like that, however, one could argue that if anything, he began to walk Finality in a way to be more active than the Trailblaze is. Ironically, the Astral Express did become more renown as heroes rather than travelers after his departure.
Akivili around the same time Isee joined, disappeared. From what we can plot out, this was somewhere between, lets see, I think maybe around 2104 AE, and uh... 2058 AE. ... More towards 2100~ or so, those two numbers are just the two more definitive... ish numbers I can find before and after their disappearance. It is currently 2158 AE, following the Belobog MQ (and likely related to Qlipoth's noticing of the Trailblazer). Which means it has been around 50 or so amber eras since Akivili's disappearance. So, year wise? Well. An estimate of somewhere between 3800 to 12000 Trailblaze (aka our) years since Akivili's disappearance. Possibly more. Possibly less.
That is a long, LONG time. Im not gonna touch when the Astral Express crashed on planarcadia or when Himeko got it back up and running because.. who knows honestly the timeline is SO messy man and anything to do with Himeko makes my head hurt because either her memory is FUCKED, or the writers keep retconning without removing or just NOT communicating and its... certainly fun for someone like me. But regardless. Akivili has been gone a very long time.
I dont exactly think Trailblazer is Akivili. Or at least not wholly. Nor do I think that they are Terminus wholly. We know that Trailblazer is a synthetic being, different from a genetically modified person like Firefly, different from a intellitron like Pearl or Screwllum. They are quite possibly one of a kind.. two of a kind maybe, depending on whats happening with the opposite Trailblazer to whomever you picked. Trailblazer has been referred to as a vessel more than once. Normally in regards to the Stellaron of course, because they do hold a Stellaron. They are a vessel for the Stellaron.
From what we've seen though, the majority of what the Stellaron allows them to do, is resonate with other Stellarons. The path resonance is their own thing, not the Stellaron. We havent seen it do much else, we havent seen its purpose be questioned. Arguably, I'd say its not something that keeps them alive. They were living before the Stellaron after all. Kafka's wording makes me think- 'one could say that you are a one-of-a-kind stellaron vessel' not that they are, that one could call them that. She's telling the truth in this line, but the way she says it, in hindsight its pretty clear its a 'the truth but not the whole truth' situation. (Also while I was double checking the line, I got the lie variant like twice, and actually listening to her say it was so funny, the way she was talking was so blatantly a struggle to lie to Trailblazer.)
Modified by the power of an aeon, not an aeon specifically. We know Akivili is MIA, likely dead, by unknown means for an unknown amount of time. (I do have a theory on that btw, somewhat. More of a thought. What if they went beyond Qlipoth's wall? The Aeon of Exploration, Freedom, Connection, Trailblazing.. could they really resist going beyond the largest boundary of them all? We know that Trailblazers will always Trailblaze regardless be the danger... would the Aeon of Trailblaze truly hesitate in the face of the danger of the void where countless horrors, Leviathans included, reside?)
We also know that Terminus is fragmented akin to Fuli, albeit differently... magic god cats how I adore you.
So. Consider this: The Trailblazer is at their core, a vessel. Yes, they hold the Stellaron, but what if it's meant to be a red herring? Stellarons have been used as such before.. kinda. I mean, the Stellaron Hunters themselves seemingly use collecting them as a red herring for their true goals. The Stellaron is held as a mask to conceal what it is that the Trailblazer is truly a vessel for.
That which being a fragment of Akivili, and likely Terminus.. possibly currently, possibly in the future. Perhaps, the only fragment remaining of Akivili. Hence the connections to Raccoons- something not unlike the stray black cats of terminus in many ways, but still separate. People would likely be able to sense the power of the Trailblaze, hence why the Trailblazer needed to join the Astral Express. Well no duh, a Trailblazer is going to emanate pure trailblaze energy. They're just a rather steadfast pathstrider.. which the Trailblazer is. Hence why the other, longer standing Nameless seem to admire the Trailblazer, why so many people consider them the gold-standard of Trailblazing, why the many people we've seen basically convert, have been so heavily influenced by the Trailblazer. Beyond that, the mere fact of the Stellaron within the Trailblazer would be enough to cover up any irregularities.
I mean you would think, that with something so universally despised as the Stellaron, the fact the Trailblazer contains one would be kept more or less under lock and key. But no, while its not something thats broadcasted, its never really been something that theres been much effort put into keeping private.
But while a Stellaron would be able to conceal the truth of what the Trailblazer contains from the majority, it couldnt conceal it from everyone. Especially not beings who are far more familiar with Akivili. (Pom-pom ikyk smth about Trailblazer goddamnit, you keep SO many secrets istg.) For example...
Lygus. (Yeah you expected me to name literally an Aeon, huh? Nope not yet!)
Lygus was technically alive back before Akivili was Akivili. Or at least, around the same time. Nous and Akivili both ascended around the same time. Lygus is probably one of the few in number who was alive to remember a time that Akivili was still present. The same Amber Era that Lygus came about, is the same Amber Era in which the first Silver Rail between worlds was established.
Lygus was fooled by the Stellaron and the Trailblazer being a pathstrider of the Trailblaze. At first. I dont know if Lygus really would have come to the conclusion that Trailblazer is a vessel for a fragment of Akivili, but during that conversation they had in the Exomyth in 3.5? He at least got a clue to it. Up until that conversation, Lygus had been wholly seeing the Trailblazer as a Trailblaze Pathstrider, branded by Destruction same as he. His faith in them not being a true disruption to his goals was shaken there. Because that conversation proved to him that the Trailblazer was first and foremost, a trailblazer. They did not want the power of destruction offered, and perhaps the power and possibility that he saw in them.. was far from being aligned with that of Destruction.
Now, imma bring up the aeons. Obviously, the Aeons can tell damn well.
And just as a fragment of Terminus is Terminus, as a fragment of Fuli is Fuli.. a Fragment of Akivili is Akivili. Some aeons can recognize it seems, that the Trailblazer is not wholly Akivili. Nous, Qlipoth, Xipe.. they can tell, of course. This being is not truly Akivili. But it is a being very close, a being apiece of Akivili. And so they treat them as THEM. So far, they've done only the same as THEY would, no? Nanook.. THEY know damn well, that this weak fledgling is nowhere near the same being as the Aeon who once offered them a ticket. But they could be. The path that this fledgling walks is dogging the same footsteps as Akivili.
But other aeons..? Such as Aha?
It's Akivili! Akivili is back, its been so long! So what, that Akivili is small and 'human'? THEY have played human so many times! Its fun, isnt it? THEY've missed Akivili so much. THEY want Akivili to never leave again, so why not simply become ONE? Are ELATION and TRAILBLAZE truly so different? Both are fun arent they?
Aha likely recognizes in some part that this isnt wholly Akivili. But again, the Trailblazer is Akivili enough.
And if the Trailblazer hold a fragment of Akivili, it does make sense, why they keep responding to Akivili without much of a second thought. That is them, or at least.. some part of them. Why nobody seems to really give it much of a second thought.
As it stands, the universe's Akivili is the Trailblazer, in a way, akin to the way Cyrene is Amphoreus' Fuli.
Another reason I personally think the fragment thing makes sense is because the more you look, the more parallels you find between Cyrene and Trailblazer tbh.
As for the Trailblazer being a 'build-a-akivili'.. I think it makes sense. Everything the Trailblazer has gone through has been pushing them to ascendance. I mean, Firefly even said it herself, right? 'Transcend finality'. Right?
I dont really think that the Trailblazer would ascend into Akvili. Yes, 'transcend finality' would make you think either ascend into Terminus, or Akivili, but Akivili, has already existed. Theres no precedent for someone to once again ascend into the role of an Aeon already existing. But transcend Finality.. doesnt really make sense for Terminus either, does it?
The Trailblazer has arguably been touched by too many paths to ascend into the Aeon of Trailblaze. Yes, they are at their core a Trailblaze Pathstrider. But everything they're ideals are not pure Trailblaze. Within them, is Destruction, Finality, Elation, Harmony, Preservation.. not solely Trailblaze. Their Trailblaze is fueled by the paths they walk.
Theres no precedent for someone ascending to replace a fallen Aeon.
Actually, if anything, theres a precedence against that very thing.
One, who currently, lives on the fucking Express as a Passenger.
Sunday, technically, was not meaning to ascend to Aeonhood. He was attempting to resurrect Ena. But what ended up happening, was that he began to ascend as a new Aeon. Specifically, an Aeon who could be considered a new form of Trailblaze.. an Aeon born of Trailblaze and Order. An entirely new path split off from the two. Sunday could not resurrect Ena, if anything i'd say that the hand of god he reached to touch, was a ghost of his god pulled from the Aeon who THEY became one with. Sunday was not able to become a new Ena either.
A dead Aeon can not be brought back. A dead Aeon cannot be supplanted with a new version.
But paths can be absorbed into each other. A path can be usurped by a newborn aeon. It is the easiest with paths that already are close.
Finality and Trailblaze are two halves of the same path. The beginning and the end. Two things that which the Trailblazer, is so very familiar with. Every end is a new beginning of a new journey, every beginning is the end of the last.
You want to know another Aeon that the Trailblazer has seemingly caught the attention of?
Ho-oH. The Aeon of Equilibrium. THEY've had an eye on Trailblazer for awhile.
Tl;dr.. Trailblazer has possibly the only fragment remaining of Akivili and possibly one of Terminus, and is on track to ascend to be an Aeon that governs both Finality and Trailblaze, an Aeon of the End, the Beginning, and the Journey between, and the ever repeating cycle of it, because the end and the beginning are the same at their core.
I mean, a origin station and terminus station are often the same station if only for different trains, no?
^ Me right now, basically. Anyways! This is kinda a theory that i've had silently brewing in the back of my mind for awhile, and this ask just kinda opened the floodgates. Ive been sitting down for the past two and a half hours writing all this out and double checking sources lmao. Hopefully this is interesting and a satisfactory response lol.
Theres probably more stuff I could add, and more genuine evidence, but I cant think of it right now, and lowk my leg is going numb. So, im gonna leave it off here.. for now lmao.
