荒地生星 …

… ᵃ ˢᵘᶰ ᵃˢᶜᵉᶰᵈˢ ᵃˢ ᵇʳᶤᵍʰᵗ ᵃˢ ʲᵃᵈᵉˑ

[yanwangye]

[ . . . ] 山海化形 . all powers under heaven , rise and fall of land and sea.

independent & highly private / selective writing blog for MORAX / ZHONGLI / REX LAPIS of genshin impact, heavily headcanon based, drawing from chinese mythology & personal interpretation of canon lore. mature, 18+ only. loved by yên, she / they, 21+. carrd under construction.

i do not claim legal ownership over this character. however, any ideas, motifs & headcanons are of my own creation,  as well as any graphics, headcanons, aesthetics, etc.

[ . . . ] ooc.

my name is yên ( she / they ),  vietnamese,  well into my twenties. i’m infamously slow, & in general i keep to myself & am rarely active on the dash. i can take anywhere from a day to a year to reply to things, seriously, so i ask that you be patient with me.  i'm very chill & always open to plotting. thank you for reading!

[ . . . ] writing.

interactions are plot-centric & typically multi-para threads. third person present is my go-to. in general, my writing is adaptable, but i find i’m at my best when i combine simplicity & imagery.

[ . . . ] conduct.

due to the mature nature of this blog, i will not follow anyone under the age of 18  ( though preferably 21 ). i am highly selective, & will only interact with those whom i follow, who also follow me. i also only follow those i know i’m going to interact with ic, regardless of whether we know each other ooc.

i am duplicate friendly,  and will gladly write with multiple portrayals of a character!  i only require that each dynamic be unique to each portrayal  ( no overlaps in shipping,  mainly ).

my own formatting is fairly simple. i do ask that if you write with me, you refrain from formatting with more than 2 spaces between each word, & refrain from photoshopped replies.  aside from all this, please just don't be a weirdo or bigot. if i need to tell adults to not be terrible people, then we're not going to be in the same circles to begin with. i block liberally.

[ . . . ] portrayal.

the most significant divergence i have from general fandom interpretation of zhongli is that i portray him as ( in the simplest terms ) a genderfluid / nonbinary butch lesbian.  while he/him is the most common pronoun you may see me use,  i will also use they/them and she/her depending on the situation.  while morax currently presents as masculine in appearance through zhongli,  this has not always been,  nor will always be the case.  they are both an adeptus and a god,  and as such,  are able to shape their body however they see fit.

and in case it is not already clear,  i will not write any ships with male characters.  i understand there are a plethora of men that zhongli is shipped with in fandom,  but as already stated,  regardless of how zhongli presents at a given time,  they are only attracted to and interested in women. with that said, i will not go looking to ship with female characters commonly interpreted as lesbian ( ningguang, ei, etc ), and will only do so under heavy, heavy plotting and development. while my zhongli is not a man, his common fandom characterization is, and i am not comfortable just jumping into his typical ''straight'' ships for this reason ( excluding guizhong, obviously ).

beyond that, i am willing to plot and develop long - term ships given plenty of discussion!

i am also far from a zhongli apologist or whatever you wish to call it. while i understand all of his reasons for the choices he has made, i can and will be highly critical of them.

[ . . . ] triggers.

there will be mature / suggestive / violent material on this blog due to the nature of my portrayal. triggers that may appear include: blood, gore, sexually explicit material, death, familial death, war. all triggering posts will be tagged as such: trigger tw

[nightmarespires]

Brigitte Lin (as Dongfang Bubai) and Joey Wong (as Xue Qianxun) in Swordsman III: The East is Red  (1993, dir Tsui Hark)

[capfly]

東方不敗之風雲再起 Swordsman III: East is Red (1993) - Raymond Lee Wai-Man, Tony Ching Siu-Tung

[capfly]

白髮魔女傳 The Bride with White Hair (1993) - Ronny Yu

Brigitte Lin

[yanwangye]

brief run-down for modern plot purposes:

zhongli is an international luxury consultant based primarily in shanghai. he often works in new york, where he is officially an undertaker for a funeral home in manhattan's chinatown; unofficially, his consulting work can range from financial advice, to quietly cleaning up bodies for various high-paying groups with utmost discretion. no one really knows who he is or where he comes from. he has no public family name or relations, and seems to have connections just about everywhere. only those closest to him have an idea of his actual identity: a demon named morax that keeps itself entertained through money, contracts, and tea. zhongli, whether the human personage or the demon, is genderfluid. they will primarily present as masculine in public, but enjoys femininity just as much, and will default to the latter in more private and intimate dealings.

miscellaneous details:

6'3. lesbian. long black hair with amber tips, often kept tied back. any pronouns acceptable. career liar, but incredibly reliable. bit of a petty streak. extreme tendency to manipulate and gaslight.

[maggiecheungs]

BRIGITTE LIN as Tsao Wan in PEKING OPERA BLUES (1986) dir. Tsui Hark

[smallestchurch]

Brigitte Lin in Peking Opera Blues (1986) dir. Tsui Hark

[xanaxfarts]

In the Mood for Love (2000) dir. Wong Kar-Wai

[yanwangye]

hello

[pofusoup]

mr. geo :-)

[yanwangye]

hehe…

[yanwangye]

— leisurely wanderings in the mortal world. independent. highly private. slow activity. a writing & study blog for zhongli ( yanwang dijun ) of genshin impact, heavily headcanon based.

[mofufu-fufu]

Year of the dragon

[yanwangye]

the general thought that people have regarding morax's personality before guizhong ( a cold, unfeeling, borderline sociopathic brute ) is very interesting to me because other than a throwaway line from venti, i have no idea where it could have come from. perhaps it's a simple case of telephone compounded with the ails of the EN localization, but it does also feed into the fanon idea that he has always been cool, unrefined, too stoic for his own good leading all the way up to the moment of his retirement - which is simply untrue. i think it's important to understand that morax's entire existence in the plot of liyue's history ( and pre-history ) is that of a religious figure. if he seems distant and unreachable, it isn't because he's rude or rough around the edges, it's because he is the supreme follower and creator of the way / the path of the xianren / the tao. when venti in the EN calls him a brutish, blundering buffoon, he's referring to how morax has personally treated him. when venti in the CN version says he does not understand sensitive hearts, he's referring to morax's strict legality in rules and contracts, which heavily contrasts to barbatos' own ruling style ( or lack therof ). it's also a flat misconception that morax did not care for humans before meeting guizhong, as we know for a fact that he was already leading and caring for his own settlement of humans that congregated around mt. tianheng after he raised it from the sea. the guili assembly was not only guizhong and her people, it was an alliance that brought the peoples of both their existing civilizations together. and when the archon war began, the adepti who were already under his guidance as disciples swore to follow him because of his "compassion and mercy." tl;dr the comparison of current laid-back zhongli and serious archon dijun is stripped of so much nuance when we just think of him as a blockheaded rock guy. this was someone that took on the role of political leader and religious figure, spearheading and guiding countless people for 4000+ years, that finally decided he needed to have some time for himself.

[yanwangye]

was no one going to tell me about the optional NPC dialogue in zhongli's second SQ where jiu (evil retuo) explicitly calls morax a usurper

[yuelun]

She knew that it was within the palm of his hand that he held such unparalleled perseverance far beyond the imagination of any, and yet, she harbored ever so tightly within her own, the will to defy it. "No." And so that, might just have been the driving force behind the immaculate factuality that'd escaped from her lips that had sounded uncannily much like his own, and so very little like her. But try as she might, such charades were never upheld for long, for her nature was one akin to a force of nature (or so a very specific adeptus had once uttered), and gaiety always bubbled just beneath the surface. It was, after all, the only opponent to inevitably always best her. And yet she'd try to delay it, that guilty admission she knew would color her cheeks and the sound of her laugh, delay admitting to the lie that she had presented him in broad daylight, or the final hour of it at least, as her tongue darted out from between her lips, signaling a fake urgency of concentration, at least long enough to polish that mask of absolute fraudulence. For it could wait many mornings from now still, after all. "Well, in that case, I must consider myself lucky that soon does not yet mean now, Morax."

And if the corners her lips hadn't already tugged firmly in unison, making way for a smile that had grown far too bright and far too quickly in the light of her pride, then they most definitely would have when he'd reached for her, most unexpectedly so at that. And though she'd moved to evade him, it had been little more than a futile attempt, for in truth there was no will to contest the craving of a heart, hers, and the craving for one's touch, one's affection, his. "And I hardly call that fair play!" And as the smile lingered, ever bright to counter the sun that'd captured her countenance then without mercy (or was it him?), she'd found herself on her feet shortly thereafter, even if she'd not quite yet met him at his side. He'd have to do a bit more for that. "I wasn't aware that you had resorted to cheating as to get your way."

[yanwangye]

for all the stillness that becomes his face, so often lacking in even the smallest shred of expression, he cannot help the smile that cracks the facade like a flower that breaks through stone to bloom. it has always been so easy to reflect her light, after all ; he is not merely a shining stone to light the earth, but a clear surface to mirror and refract the grace she bestows. and so when she stands, his gentle hold falling from her wrist in the motion, he watches her as one would watch the moon, yearning for guidance in the darkest night.

"cheating?" he repeats, a glint of mischief in the amber of his eyes as he likewise stands, one hand still pressed to the work table to allow for a smug little lean. had it been any other that accused morax of such a thing, even in jest, the god of contracts would have had a wealth of words with which to admonish indeed. it seems that haagentus brushes beyond the rule of his law as she always does, and so gracefully. after another moment of deep consideration, he supposes that he might make do with her accusation. pushing off from the table, he closes the distance between them and comes to stand behind her, reaching around to wrap a sturdy but elegant arm about her front, the hand of his other brushing a stray lock behind her ear.

"if i am to cheat in response to your own cheating, would that not then ultimately be considered fair play?" if only she could see the grin on his face before he's pressing kisses to her temple.

[yanwangye]

"surely this can wait until morning?" a jest of impatience, frustration that can only be feigned in the presence of one that brings only smiles to a face so often still as stone -- and just as cool, though never so when it is her words that sweeten the air. he sits at her work table, chin resting in his up-turned palm as he gazes at her with all the warmth of sun on a spring day as she toils away at her latest project. he was never as adept with mechanics as she or liuyun, much more capable of speaking with gechen on the wonders of her music, or traversing the mountains and naming the stones with retuo ... still, he finds himself in her realms following on her billowing coattails with all the eagerness to listen and watch, to learn from her. of course, much of it flows past him like water on a smooth stone, but he catches what he can like a thirsting soul crouched at a stream.

"the sun is soon to set," morax makes a move then, his free hand reaching for her own hidden in her sleeves, grasping at her wrist and pulling with a gentle tug. pleading. pathetic, really, he laughs to himself. "and you promised me a walk along the river before dark."

@yuelun