doing some digging and reading of lore for my yaoqing trio manifesto (which is leaning slightly feiqiu heavy at the moment BUT I AM determined to do Moze justice as well. part of the reason I am yelling about this here, because it is so fascinating)
When Feixiao first meets Moze, he tries to attack her, angry with her+her troops for routing the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus who had been experimenting on him. Despite the experiments, he had considered them family, not knowing the broader details of their operation but only that they had 'saved' him (for their own purposes) after he was orphaned and abandoned by his previous home. We don't know any details about his life prior to the Disciples, for now.
Back to Feixiao! It seems that she had initially planned to have nothing further to do with Moze after freeing him- after his initial first lunge at her, she deflects, telling him that "Someone will come to plan a home and life for you. Just follow them and you will be fine."
Moze does not listen, and continues trying to attack her. She dodges, holds him back, tells her soldiers not to react or punish him- and admits that he reminds her of herself, freshly escaped from the borisin war camp where she grew up. And this similarity prompts a change of mind:
First of all, hilarious that part of the deal was Feixiao being like "you can try to kill me... but you need to learn and grow and take care of yourself first." okay mom
Second of all:
We see this odd transaction they've got going- Feixiao, who says her only enemy has ever been herself, places a guard who has a vested interest in killing her close to her side- to keep her on his toes, to (presumably- this is my own speculation) train him to be the best equipped to take her out, should she ever actually become a threat.
She trades his attempts on her life for missions carried out on her behalf- and it is through those missions, which Moze at first only carries out to earn more 'forgiveness'/attempts at trying to revenge himself upon her, that he begins to question his loyalty to the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, and realize the extent of the harm that they did- but doesn't think about it, because to question that would be to throw this whole tenuous balance into question. If he no longer feels loyalty to the Disciples, and no longer wants revenge on Feixiao, what does that leave him with?
And in his E6, which I've seen people refer to as the character represented in their purest form, we see this:
Moze, clutching one of Feixiao's strales so tightly that it cuts him. Clinging to the fascimile of vengeance, of her transactional forgiveness- even if he has stopped truly wanting to kill her, and even if there is nothing to forgive.
We all know and love the fanfics people write that are x reader and stuff but I propose: Moon absolutely pining after Sun and y/n playing wingman to help Moon work up the courage to tell Sun
Feel like I'd be a funny thing to sit and think about
hey i found your "anaxa's stories are all in forgotten mediums" post again. did you know that at the beginning of 3.3, when Trailblazer is reminsicing about the chrysos heirs that have already departed, they mention everyone's name except for anaxa's? they say "mydei, may your battles know no defeat", "see you tomorrow, trianne", and "at the end of the west wind, shall we meet again, castorice" but for anaxa they just say "the incarnation of reason, at the edge of existence, have you found your answer?". he's already being forgotten
man. MAN. I didn't even think about this but you're so right about that... come to think of it (don't quote me on this I haven't 100% explored the grove yet) but I don't even know if there are any fragments of recollection where we actually witness him. Which is of course devastating in light of my post, but also took a? weirdly comedic turn? when I got to thinking. Hold on. We, the players, of course saw a lot of Anaxa- how much did the Trailblazer actually see of him?
under the cut because I ramble for a lil bit
Which sent me down a rabbit hole of looking through quest transcripts, and to my knowledge the answer is- not much. The Trailblazer finds him in the Grove and goes with him to deliver condolences to the vitcims' families, but to my knowledge they don't really interact again until he testifies against Aglaea at the pre-Citizen's assembly vote, and then the TB and Castorice head off to Styxia and are gone for the next two weeks.
We, the players, get to see inside Anaxa's head, but the Trailblazer has no idea what this guy is up to. Before they depart for Styxia with Castorice, Aglaea mentions Dan Heng and Hyacine's findings in the Grove- so the Trailblazer leaves knowing that Anaxa is planning Something to do with Kephale's body, but doesn't know what. He gives Castorice his philosopher's stone to aid them, too, which has got to be some weird mixed signals. And then TB arrives back from Styxia right before Anaxa gives up the coreflame and dies.
Imagine you are the trailblazer, sent to find this random scholar. Upon finding said guy, you witness him looking pretty-much-dead on a throne before getting indwelled by a titan. You help him deliver condolences to people's families (thoughtful of him), hear that he apparently has some kind of beef with Aglaea, and then later hear that he's probably going to use alchemy to commit what some would consider to be blasphemy. He also testifies against Aglaea at an assembly, which tracks, but also doesn't bode well for the next meeting in a few weeks. Can't worry about that, though, because you have to go to the city of the dead. You spend two weeks there, get your life back, say goodbye to Castorice, and arrive back to the Vortex of Genesis approximately five minutes before that same scholar. rips the coreflame out of his chest and dissolves.
The conversation about Anaxa and how he will be remembered (or misremembered, or not at all remembered) by the rest of Amphoreus is deeply fascinating. And devastating! But also thinking of it from the Trailblazer's perspective is kind of cracking me up right now. Anaxa out of context would be deeply confusing.
Trailblazer having a much briefer and less personal memory of Anaxa could be an interesting point on the topic of his legacy, but it's also kind of also... they didn't really know the guy on the same level as the others!
This might be just another case of late-night Knick finding things too funny, and this dialogue was probably meant to be more on the side of TB trying to be respectful and serious about it because. Yeah they just said goodbye to Castorice and are about to watch this other guy essentially die as well. A heavy occasion! But in my head, and knowing that TB can be a bit awkward and anxious at times, their internal dialogue at this moment is probably just like: I don't really know this guy. What do I say? I should say something, it would be disrespectful if I just stay silent. Let's just copy Aglaea. Yep
To put it in silly terms, to the TB Anaxa is kind of just. this meme
busts down the door. back on my honkai-star-rail-posting because hi hello I was reading through Jiaoqiu's character stories and ???
what the heck. what the heck. heart: broken. tears: shed.
themes of hot and cold! Jiaoqiu developed his nine-square cauldron technique, specifically noting its "convenience and effectiveness in dispelling the cold that ails one's constitution," with the intent of helping those on the battlefield. But after watching those he managed to save return to fight, to get hurt and die despite what he had done to save them- when Lan intervened only after so much blood had already been shed, when he ran onto the field to save Feixiao? After he wakes back up THIS is what he says. what the fuck. he began with such optimism and good intent and wanting to help others weather the cold of the battlefield only to succumb to the chill and hopelessness himself. what the hell
3. I'm not going to attempt any sort of proper analysis on this at the moment because I am tired and Feixiao hasn't released yet but I am VERY curious to get her side of the story of. hiring Jiaoqiu/him coming out of retirement for her because. hello??
This dialogue is between Jiaoqiu and his former master. Sir what do you MEAN you "want this general to heal Jiaoqiu's despondent heart." what do you MEAN she will show him what the true purpose of a healer is. rattling the bars of my cage I need Feixiao's character stories to be out yesterday so I can cross-examine this. I need someone more eloquent than me to analyze this. I need to go to sleep so I can wake up refreshed and analyze it myself.
In summary every new piece of information I learn about either Jiaoqiu or Feixiao or their dynamic with each other makes me even more insane. thank you and goodnight
the Topaz thoughts are back with a vengeance! I want to study her under a microscope.
I hadn't properly read through her character stories before and. crazy how it begins with her excelling in every training class except for business etiquette. crazy how at the beginning of her time in the IPC she despised formalism. crazy how in her final character story she is unable to come to the retirement party of her uncle/benefactor, instead sending a letter that he remarks at the formality of. Crazy how she initially got into the IPC because she was inspired by the change they enacted in her homeworld and believed in their capacity to do good, but in becoming a model employee severed pretty much every personal tie she had prior. GUH
I repeat, I want to study her under a microscope. possibly write a longer post about her at a later date
thinking about hyacine honkai star rail on this fine day. I love her I miss her I need to pull for her on rerun. love you characters whose strength is in their kindness. aughghh
Hello! Welcome to a peculiar intersection of two current interests of mine. If you're unfamiliar with either of these pieces of media, allow me to offer a brief explanation.
Honkai: Star Rail (referred to as hsr from here on out) is a scifi gacha game in which the universe is presided over by godlike beings known as Aeons. That's about all you really need to know for this post- I'll reference specific characters in a few of my explanations, but that's not Crucial for understanding.
The Magnus Archives (tma) is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a- wait, sorry, those aren't my notes. Let's try again. The Magnus Archives is a horror fiction podcast wherein a group of archive workers catalogue, and increasingly come into contact with themselves, the inexplicable and horrifying events caused by a group of otherworldly fear entities.
Both the hsr aeons and the tma entities share the obvious similarities of being extradimensional beings who don't often manifest directly in the world, but who hold exceptional power and often inspire mortals to their cause/develop powers in relation to them (avatars in tma, emanators in hsr). I suppose with the knowledge of both groups of beings rattling around in my head it was inevitable that I would start thinking of comparisons between them. Some things don't Completely match up- both the aeons and entities are cosmic beings that don't subscribe to human conceptions of morality, But there are several Aeons that don't really fit neatly into the system of fears. For those, I have either left them without tags or gone into. Things that Could potentially be seen as horrifying/fearful about them, even if not a part of their seeming purposes.
The following list is based solely on my own readings and a few hours of thought yesterday. If you feel I've misunderstood or mistagged your favorite entity or aeon, do please tell me so! I'm under no illusion of this being a perfect list and I would LOVE to hear others' taggings and arguments in favor of such. There are also a few aeons I struggled to come up with a tagging for, so if you have any thoughts on those, please say so. I'd love to chat about it.
Let's begin!
Aha/The Elation - The Stranger
The Stranger was my obvious first thought for this one, because. masks/circus aesthetic, duh. Aha and Nikola Orsinov (for non-tma folks: Nikola is a murderous sentient ringmaster mannequin who is far too delighted about everything) would vibe so hard. But there are ALSO very strong Spiral vibes here. Madness and absurdity and laughing at things you shouldn't and deception of the senses? Aha and Nikola would vibe, but Aha and Michael Distortion would ALSO vibe pretty hard. I think I'm still in team Stranger for this one, in part because there's another Aeon I think fits the Spiral better, BUT I could be convinced either way, really. Let's talk about it.
Ena/The Order - The Web
Gestures vaguely at the puppet strings in my poorly-cropped image above. Ena is not the only Aeon I feel could potentially fit as the Mother of Puppets, as you will see, but. Especially in the direction that we see Sunday take things in hsr- regardless of his noble intentions, there's still a whooole lot of hidden machinations and stripping away of free will going on. Super webbish behavior, that.
Fuli/The Remembrance - The Eye
Fuli isn't quite as... for lack of a term, voyeuristic as we see the Eye to be in tma, but I think out of the entities it's still the best match. Fuli records information- all information, all memories- for the sake of preserving and crystallizing it. Fuli will not let anything be forgotten. THEIR followers form an organization known as the Garden of Recollection, busying themselves with collecting the memories of others- and more radical ones among this number do so by stripping memories from their subjects without asking permission. Doesn't that sound familiar?
HooH/The Equilibrium - The Web (x2)
Another Aeon that, like Fuli, isn't necessary malicious or hoping to inspire fear in the same way that the tma entities do, but. HooH and their followers do not take center stage, and prefer to influence the universe from behind the scenes. The goal of achieving a balanced universe isn't super Web-aligned, but HooH definitely could fit in with the fear of being controlled or influenced unknowingly.
IX/The Nihility - The Vast
IX was a tricky one to pin down, for me. There are a number of entities you could make a case for for THEM- the End, the Lonely, and the Dark were all options I considered. But I ended up landing on the Vast in the end, because in tma this fear covers not just the literal fear of large spaces and falling, but also the existential fear of one's on smallness/the insignificance of humanity. Which fits the Nihility pretty darn well.
Lan/The Hunt - The Hunt (duh)
This is admittedly kind of an obvious one. I am not immune to low-hanging fruit. I do think there could be some aspects of the Slaughter in there as well, if we think about the tma statements of ordinary people being almost casually inspired to brutal violence, and the hell that the Abundance Wars put the Xianzhou Alliance through. But the need to hunt, the commitment to chasing down monsters of the Abundance- still pretty darn Hunt-aligned.
Mythus/The Enigmata - The Spiral
This section is kind of the continuation of my confusion about how to properly tag Aha. INITIALLY I was thinking Spiral for Aha and Stranger for Mythus, swayed in part by the fact that the Stranger's ritual in tma is literally called the Unknowing. The Stranger deals with everything that is uncanny and inhuman, which at first seemed to match pretty well- but further reading has made me switch. Aha is just so Stranger vibes, and Mythus' whole deal is not just the uncanny, but actively obscuring and confusing mortals about what is true.
Nanook/The Destruction - The Desolation
I feel like this one is another somewhat obvious tag? A case could be made for elements of the Slaughter in here as well, but I ultimately feel that the Desolation is more fully aligned with destruction moreso than the (still destructive!) focus on violence that the Slaughter has.
Nous/The Erudition - The Extinction
Nous definitely has some Eye vibes as well and I will not pretend otherwise. But I remain firm in my tag of THEM as the Extinction nonetheless. The Extinction is all about the end of/superseding humanity, especially caused by their own hands. Nous is a giant supercomputer that ascended to Aeonhood and rendered THEIR creator irrelevant/unnecessary. We see Dr. Ratio, a character in hsr, go unrecognized by Nous, despite his brilliant mind, because he is too invested in the betterment of humanity, while Nous is all about looking beyond humanity and solving the universe's questions. This is another count against tagging Nous as the Eye, for me- the Eye does not have any such goals for its watching so much as it kind of just wants to Watch. Everything.
Oroboros/The Voracity - The Hunt (x2)
While the Hunt in hsr more resembles the stuff that happens to avatars of the hunt in tma- like, the need to hunt monsters we see in characters like Trevor Herbert- I feel that Oroboros corresponds to the more animalistic side of the fear- it is a voracious predator, and everything in the universe is its prey.
Qlipoth/The Preservation - The Lonely
HEAR ME OUT. HEAR ME OUT ON THIS ONE. I initially really struggled to tag Qlipoth, and wondered if I might actually have to leave THEM without a tag- until I did some further reading! There's one readable that theorizes that Qlipoth wants to "preserve" planets by isolating them from each other, behind barriers. I think of Belobog, holding out for 700 years behind their walls- blessed by the Preservation, but cut off from the rest of the universe. It's not a perfect tag by any means, but. food for thought.
Tayzzyronth/The Propagation - The Corruption
I feel like this is another fairly self-evident tag! In tma, the Corruption deals with bugs, infestations, and general filth/unhealthiness... extending, on a metaphorical level, to unhealthy companionship. We see multiple statements in tma about people's minds being twisted to the point where they find a sense of home/belonging in a swarm of worms or beetles. Compare this to Tayzzyronth, the last surviving member of THEIR species who birthed a horrific self-replicating swarm of insects so they wouldn't have to be alone. Yeah.
[we have no images of Terminus. no poorly cropped header here!]
Terminus/The Finality - The End
End of existence, death, finality. This one is a relatively easy tag.
Yaoshi/The Abundance - The Flesh
Yaoshi is so fascinating to me (Lan don't come for me) and I really really think. That THEY correspond most strongly to the Flesh. Benevolently granting immortality but at What Cost... ties a little bit into the physical fear of bodies/meat but also the existential/body image aspects of the Flesh fear: wanting to become something better than what you are and escape the confines of a short-lived body… which Yaoshi can do, happily, but which will leave you Changed to the point of being unrecognizable.
Things I couldn't tag! And some concluding thoughts <3
For the Aeons: Akivili/The Trailblaze, Long/The Permanence, Idrila/The Beauty, and Xipe/The Harmony all kind of stumped me. For the fears: I couldn't find any Aeons that I felt corresponded well to the Dark! There were also a number that have elements of the Slaughter in them but none that I feel totally match up with it.
I'd love to hear thoughts on those/on a potential reshuffling of my taggings here. If you stuck this far through my rambling- thank you! Please feel free to subject me to so many rambles in return, I would love to hear them/talk about star rail lore in general. If you haven't listened to tma and have the stomach for horror, I would greatly recommend it. I'm speaking here as someone who does Not generally enjoy either horror or podcasts, but got extreeeeemely sucked into this particular horror podcast.
Still gotta figure out the Bloodmoon and KC situation in the swap AU since in the show universe one was part of Moon and the other also happened to be Moon models
So in the Swap AU would they be Eclipse models? Probably, right? That's what I'm gonna run with for now, gotta figure out names for Bloodmoon in this AU cause it's not a Moon anymore (insert shrug)
