Was the Sedition of Imbibator Lunae another round of the Phantasmoon Games?
In light of the deluge of information we've gotten these last few patches, pieces of old information have connected seamlessly with the new. Some were easier to discern, such as the links between Voracity and Abundance, while others were harder, like the influence of Voracity upon the Sedition. Now, what does seem incredibly clear to me is the fact that there seems to be a husk of Voracity beneath the Ambrosial Arbor. While the previous two metas do explore this in depth, and while the mythological and game canon point to a sound possibility, what I was missing was the key component: the ritualistic Game that was introduced as a crucial aspect of the Vorcity + Abundance puzzle.
The Phantasmoon Games as a necessity
As Ruan Mei says herself during Arcadia of Terror & Mystery, The Lethe Below the Living, this ritual that involves sealing these husks of Voracity beneath Abundance Plaguemarks like the Panarch Elwood entails using the power of Voracity against itself while Abundance keeps these husks contained. While not all are as clearly defined as the Phantasmoon Games, they all possess the same bones as one another, even if they appear markedly different.
Which is what makes this possibility very interesting, especially when juxtaposed to one of the questions you can ask Asat Pramad during the MSQ of 4.4, In Ravages Does The Whistle Sound, of the truth behind the Phantasmoon Games. While Planarcadia's is very well-defined, it's on the planet of Vonwacq that possesses interesting parallels to the Xianzhou Luofu, both with their own "games."
The "games" of Vonwaq and the Luofu
In the planar ornament, Vonwacq's Island of Birth, of the relic set Sprightly Vonwacq, gives tale of a cycle wherein Vonwaq's own plaguemark, the Thestang Tree, would produce a monster known as a demon king that would not only be reborn every sixty years, but demand that the tribespeople of Vonwacq set aside their conflicts and send their strongest warriors to Wacq Island where they would be forced to face this monster, Supplicants of their own kind. However, this isn't the only instance of a plaguemark producing a similar monster.
In Jingliu's companion quest, Clouds Leave No Trace, and in her 4th character story, we learn of another instance wherein a "demon king" was born: the Half-Draconic Abomination, the failed byproduct Dan Feng and Yingxing's scheme to combine the essences of Dan Feng, the flesh of Shuhu, and the power of the Ambrosial Arbor in a hopeless attempt to try and revive their lost friend, Baiheng.
Now, what's also interesting is the fact that their respective Plaguemarks, the Thestang Tree and the Ambrosial Arbor, are both shown to be capable of similar kinds of creation.
The Alien Tree Seed, a trace item that's said to come from the Thestang Tree, demonstrates the same alchemical properties: it outright tells us that the Thestang Tree combines the genes of different species to create the ideal lifeform (demon king), which isn't a far cry from how the Ambrosial Arbor was utilized in the same, catalystic respect during the Sedition to create the Half-Draconic Abomination, another hybrid, Abundance being.
Both Dan Heng IL's first character story and this conversation with a Mirage Echo in A Dragon Gallant, Its Ocean Distant of Topclouded Towerthrust reveal to us what may have been the first "game" ever performed on the Luofu; not a congregation of warriors or Supplicants, but a regular maintenance of the Ambrosial Arbor that forced Yubie to drastic action, while it became a draining ritual for other High Elders like Dan Feng, an exact echo of the necessary evil these "games" became as Asat told us.
Was Yaoshi the true spreader of Abundance?
Backpedaling to what Ruan Mei said during Arcadia of Mystery & Terror, The Lethe Below the Living, Aha became the arbitrator of Oroboros' remains following the Swarm Disaster and summarily proliferated them across the cosmos, utilizing Abundance Plaguemarks as a stopgap.
Knowing this, however, challenges a long held belief in canon, especially where it concerns the Xianzhou Alliance and what they've believed all 8,000+ years of their existence.
In Ambrosial Arbor's Arrival of Investigation of Ancient Pattern Rubbings from the Luofu, it's basically summed up that when Yaoshi first appeared to the Xianzhou hexafleet, THEY blessed them with the first Plaguemark: the Ambrosial Arbor. However, with the extreme likelihood of a husk of Oroboros sealed beneath the Arbor's roots, it begs the question: was it really Yaoshi that did this?
In the mission summary of Postmodern Imagenesis, A Resounding Gong, what's summarized is the fact that Aha very much stole a Plaguemark, or a plucked branch that was eventually transplanted in the Phantasmoon Courtyard as the capstone to the Voracity interred within the planet.
It may go further, as--given the incredible shape-shifting capabilities of Elation-related beings like Sparkle/Sparxie and Asat Pramad--it may even be possible that Aha disguised THEMSELVES as Yaoshi in order to confer this blessing, not unlike how it's speculated Aha was Nous back in 3.7.
More than that, there's many telltale signs that these "games" were extremely manipulated.
In the Planar Ornament set, Sprightly Vonwacq, a shocking revelation surfaces: a higher civilization had created a control room that became the means by which the planet's games with the so-called "demon king" were orchestrated and controlled, speaking of the sophistication behind its mechanisms. And yet, this isn't the only place this is evident.
Between Investigation of Ancient Pattern Rubbings from the Luofu and Report: A Rare Plant Specimen, like the control room found beneath/within the Thestang Tree, something similar is hinted to exist beneath the Ambrosial Arbor, outright said to be a secret technology. In the report, samples from the Ambrosial Arbor are curiously noted to be bionic in nature, which fits with what we've learned.
Again, in Investigation of Ancient Pattern Rubbings from the Luofu, we're outright told that the Plaguemarks are capable of producing sophisticated technology, such as starskiffs and jade abacuses. Therefore, it would stand to reason that the Thestang Tree and Ambrosial Arbor share technological roots, and if not the Master of Elation personally fleshing out such technology, then it stands to reason the ones behind it may be connected to Aha somehow.
(Of course, this is much harder to prove, but the connection remains glaring, all the same.)
Conclusion
To sum it all up, the chances are low but not zero that the Sedition of Imbibator Lunae, when juxtaposed to the "demon king" games of Vonwacq, may have enough in common to make the possibility, well--possible. And if this were the case, Dan Feng, Jingliu, Yingxing, and Baiheng were all unknowing supplicants to this bloody game. If the case, it remains to be seen if Aha actually found it amusing (Aha is said to be the one laughing during the fight with Phantylia, so might it be connected?).
