Intermission 5 - Who we are, how far we've come

21st of the 9th Cycle

"Gah!"

Mona ate the dirt once more.

Struggling back to her feet, face flushed, she could hear Aether stifle a laugh behind her. Despite being blind, she could feel Rosalyne's amused gaze boring into the back of her head. Standing, she brushed the dirt off her dress and didn't bother to entertain her companions with her frustrations.

Only to trip again a few steps ahead. Catching herself before she fell again, once again Aether stifled a laugh, disguising it as a coughing fit. Mona was glad to know she could provide such impeccable comedy to him.

"You are seeing, but you aren't looking." Rosalyne decided to help her. She had heard that before, 'you are looking, but you aren't seeing,' but she never heard it flipped around before. Before she could ponder too hard on the vague advice, Rosalyne continued.

"You are seeing the world, but you aren't looking at it. You see a rock, and witness its growth, you witness the erosion of time, the smallest microorganisms and spirits that inhabit it. But you aren't looking at the rock, which is why you keep tripping over it. You are so focused on the trees that you've forgotten you are in a forest."

But she couldn't help but stare at the trees, Mona thought. Her vision was as much a curse as it was a blessing, she could no longer look at the mundane world. When she told them as such Aether chuckled, as if he heard a joke.

"Of course you can. There is nothing spiritual or conceptual about it, it's all physical. You were born with two eyes, and had your entire life training your muscles to open and close them at will, even wink. Now you have a thousand, and simply have to restart the process."

"But until then I'll be living blind. And personally, seeing too much is preferable to seeing nothing at all."

"You'll have to get used to it, but it will be an investment you'll be glad you have made." Rosalyne said, "I'm blind too, in the conventional sense. My 'eyes' are just balls of liquid flame that look like eyes. But my senses extend far and wide, and I see much more than humans."

"Here, close your eyes." The witch held onto her arm, "I will hold onto you so you won't fall."

Mona took a step forward, this time in total darkness.

22st of the 9th Cycle

The Land of Wind was a beautiful place, Rosalyne thought.

The proses and songs told of a once barbaric land, cursed with everwinter and mountainous terrain. If Rosalyne was a foreigner, she could've easily believed that they were all lies.

For the land of wine and song was one of gorgeous verdant plains and rolling hills. Blessed with a favourable climate and fertile soil, vineyards were a plentiful sight, producing the best wines and beers known to all of Teyvat. Orchards were not uncommon either, the fruits here sweeter and juicier than the rest of the continent.

And it was harvest season, and so they were blessed with a sight only to be seen in this land of plenty.

Vast fields of gold, stretching as far as the eye can see. Over the hills and plains, stalks of golden wheat dominated the countryside, rustling in the hallowed winds. Swans sang their songs in distant blue lakes, whilst the smallest of birds twittered overhead, chirping in the shade of emerald trees.

It was a halcyon sight, watching as farmers waved at them - and as they waved back. It was a pleasing sight too, for all that Rosalyne disliked the Anemo Archon she always had a soft spot for her homeland. And now, she was looking at this peaceful land's most powerful weapon.

The ears of wheat scythed and rolled and stored and shipped, this was the most powerful weapon in Mondstadt's arsenal. Rosalyne watched the golden fields sway in the breeze, and saw an ever-present hand gripping at the throats of every nation in Teyvat bar Inazuma.

For Mondstadt was the breadbasket of Teyvat. Every nation on the continent imports food from here, and for infertile lands like that of Natlan and Snezhnaya, Mondstadt was the lifeline that kept their people fed.

No one antagonised Mondstadt, for if the flow of wheat stopped your people would starve, and if your people starve, your government would be toppled. It happened in Fontaine, and it never happened again.

The uneducated spoke of Mondstadt as a weak land cursed with an absent god. They said Mondstadters knew nothing of war and hardship, and they were puzzled as to why Mondstadters loved their god so if said god was never there for them.

Give a man a loaf of bread and he could feed himself for a day. That is the system that exists in all of the other nations, their Archon is the hand with the loaf of bread. And the people worship them for it.

But teach a man how to farm, and he could feed himself for the rest of his life. That is the system that exists in Mondstadt, that is why the Anemo Archon never had to be present. And that is why the disparate cities of the Land of Wind are united in their love of their lord.

These are the Lands of Wind, and Mondstadt was the City of Hymns. Here was the unrivalled Crown of the North, known far and wide. Because for all the other nations need swords and spears to push their agendas, Mondstadt needs nothing more than sweet words and a sweeter smile.

Rosalyne didn't like Barbatos, but she could respect his dedication in ensuring his people will never have to be ruled again.

23nd of the 9th Cycle

Aether felt Paimon's presence before he saw her.

But she came out with a bang anyway. Paimon entered the mortal plane with an explosion of stars, leaving Mona reeling back at the sudden sight of unfiltered divinity.

Paimon spoke, her tone was a strange mix of unadulterated fury, calm annoyance and pure exasperation.

"I leave for a single cycle, one cycle! And you three nearby bring about the end of the world! What gives!?"

The god stared at them with a raised eyebrow, hands on her hips. When it was clear none of them was going to say anything, she continued.

"Did you know how much paperwork I had to do? All of Celestia was in chaos, I have never seen the likes of it since the Cataclysm! We were all fucking preparing for the apocalypse when Barbatos waltzed in and told us it was a false alarm. Social order, gone! The economy, in shambles! Barbatos, laughing at us! Barbatos, that fucking clown!

Paimon grew more and more heated the longer her tirade continued. By the time she got to Barbatos she was pretty much screaming in their faces. Aether had the distinct sensation that Barbatos wasn't very well liked in Celestia.

Paimon whizzed around again, before stopping right in front of Mona and staring into her blindfold. The god spoke through gritted teeth.

"What. Did. You. Do?"

Mona hastily backtracked, nearly tripping over if it weren't for Rosalyne catching her. The former astrologer raised her arms in surrender.

"I don't know!?"

"You don't know!?" Paimon screeched back at her.

Mona swivelled her head, looking at the two of them in a not very subtle plea for help.

Aether coughed into his fist, "It isn't her fault - no wait it technically was. What I'm saying is that it isn't her fault that she doesn't know, she was dreaming at the time."

Mona looked at him in confusion, Paimon wasn't any less merciful.

"Well? Tell her!"

"..."

"When you were dreaming, the Sky disappeared." Rosalyne finally said.

"So like-"

"No, not like what I did. I brought down an artificial sun that broke through the Sky, and Celestia fixed that hole some time after I did that. What we are talking about is someone else removing the Sky entirely, then replacing it."

"But- but only an Elder God could do that." Mona paled.

"Yesss," Paimon hissed at her, "you get an idea of what you did? And that wasn't even the end of it!"

Paimon gestured to him to continue.

"There was nothing beyond the False Sky, nothing but Night. With the capitalisation- yes, you get it. You caught the gaze of the Mother of a Thousand Young, the Sister of the Black Woods, the Beloved Queen of the Stars, the endless, imperviable, irresistible Night."

As Aether uttered those words, the world quietened, as if someone muffled all noises in existence. Shadows grew longer even if it was a cloudless day, and the slight ever-present breeze stopped as if it were never there. And it all went cold, a chill dug into his bones, and his breath produced a blow of mist.

A second later, and the breeze restarted, the birds started chirping again, and it was a normal pleasant and cool day in the land of wine and song.

"Twelve hours," Paimon told Mona, "twelve hours unlike anything Teyvat has ever experienced before. From Mondstadt to Inazuma to the ruins of Khaenri'ah. From Arcadia Evanescent to Arcadia Resplendent. From the deepest pits of the Abyss to the highest towers of Celestia. There wasn't a single soul in these lands and beyond that didn't experience the passing gaze of the third oldest God to exist."

"..."

"So? What did you do?"

"We awakened Kairos the Undying Wind, we killed his mortal body, then I crushed the Madman's Skull."

A troubled look formed on Paimon's features, and she brought her hand up to her chin in thought.

"She's the Hierophant now." Aether helpfully supplied.

Paimon's eyes snapped onto Mona once more, her face grew increasingly unreadable.

"What?" She voiced tonelessly.

Mona took another step back, sweat forming on her brow, "Istaroth called me the Vivisector of Miracles, but Aether was the one that called me Hierophant."

"Ista- Astaroth!? No- Aether is right, both are one in the same. This is troubling…"

Paimon disappeared, her form fading away like mist. Her ominous words lingered in the air.

Rosalyne snorted derisively, "You shouldn't worry about it, for it simply means Celestia is angry because you are no longer a pawn in their claws. Learn how to use your new powers, and you shan't have any master again."

"We all have masters," Mona replied, "believing in something greater than us keeps us sane. I've simply traded one master for another."

26th of the 9th Cycle

The atmosphere in the City of Mondstadt was tense, to put it lightly.

People walked with their heads lowered, and looked up at the Sky from time to time, as if anticipating something to drop. There were more knights on patrol than normal, and even they looked nervous.

A fortnight since Teyvat was graced by the gaze of an Elder God, and the people still haven't recovered. The mood was grim, and the usual lighthearted and cheerful songs were nowhere to be heard.

But Mona wasn't one to dwell on such, for she had come with a purpose. After all, Mondstadt was the end goal, and the very reason she had accompanied Aether on his long journey. A journey that has come to an end, for her at least.

And yet, as she climbed the steps leading to the Knight's Headquarters, she couldn't help but think. Was she still the disciple of her master? Things have changed, in the cycles long journey to reach Mondstadt. She was no longer the starry eyed astrologer that she departed as, but the Hierophant.

Mona was no longer subject to Fate, yet she still acted as if she was. Old habits die hard, she supposed. She decided that her last act as apprentice was to return her master's belongings and complete the 50-year old pact. Then, she would create her own destiny.

"Ah, you must be…" A lady met her in the hall. Tall, dressed in violet, Mona knew who she was. For the Witch of the Purple Rose was one of the greatest magi in living history, perhaps only rivalled by the Crimson Witch and a few select members of the Hexenzirkel.

"Mona Megistus, of the Hexenzirkel. Were you informed I had made a deal with the Knights?"

"Yes indeed," Lisa Minci informed her, "I will call little Klee over. Please, you may wait in the library."

"I hope it's no trouble."

"Of course not. In fact, I would be honoured if we could share notes and discoveries." She demurred.

Mona offered a relaxed smile, "It would be a pleasure."

The library of the Knights of Favonius was a wondrous thing to behold.

Well, that was to be expected, as it was the life's work of the Witch of the Purple Rose. Every shelf was brimming with tomes and scrolls, from fables to arithmetic to astrology to thaumaturgy. Lady Minci left no stone unturned in ensuring her library was one to boast of.

Mona was not alone inside the carefully curated library, for there were many of the Knights' Magi Corps, historians, even scholars from Sumeru. The evening lights pierced through the high windows, illuminating the halls, Mona stood within the largest library in the north, and breathed in the smell of parchment and ink.

She would enjoy her time here.

"Here!"

Klee shoved a lacquered wooden box into her hands, beautifully ornate. Mona gave it a good heft, and felt the object inside tumble. It felt like a book, and perhaps it was. For she did not open her eyes to check, as she wasn't so curious to invade her master's privacy.

"What happened to your eyes?" The small girl looked up at her.

"An experiment gone wrong, my eyes were burnt away."

"Ecks-pary…?"

"The lady means she had an accident, little Klee." Lisa explained.

"Ohh… don't worry, I had a lot of accidents too! I hope you get better soon!"

"I hope so too."

Not one to stick around, or perhaps she had the attention span of a goldfish, Klee dashed off to find something else to do.

"So what happened?" The witch asked her, once Klee was out of earshot.

"I saw something no mortal should've survived seeing, and got off lightly. My eyes were an acceptable price for knowledge."

"Well," Lisa laughed, "for people like us everything is an acceptable price for knowledge."

"Isn't that the truth…"

Author's Note:

This chapter is such a mess. All of the little scenes here were meant to be their own chapters but I couldn't bring myself to complete them, so I just mashed them all together into this compilation of scenes. I also found out that the Unknown God/Sustainer of Heavenly Principles has a name - Asmoday. It was apparently found in the game files, so I rewrote the Prologue to reflect this.

Below is just me ranting about worldbuilding.

Notes on Food Resources in Teyvat

1) Addressing bias

If you felt that there was Mondstadt bias in the Rosalyne POV scene that's because there was. Now, La Signora's personality is hard to parse - mostly because all we know about it is from her limited screentime and background lore. But one thing is clear: she despises the gods, and Barbatos especially. But she has never outright said, nor shown any hint of hating her homeland - Mondstadt. In fact, the reason she hates Barbatos is because he wasn't present to save Mondstadt from the Cataclysm 500 years ago.

This means that she must at the very least hold some fondness for her motherland. So yes, the is Mondstadt bias because Rosalyne is a native Mondstadter, as it is obvious she would have some bias for her home.

*Crown of the North is an actual title for Mondstadt. It was said by the official Genshin account on both Facebook and Twitter calling Mondstadt, and I quote: "City of Freedom, City of Hymns, Crown of the North. Mondstadt, blessed by Barbatos, God of Anemo — will you be the first verse of my song?"

2) Food Resources in Teyvat (and the stupidity of Snezhnaya)

There were two points in the story where I mentioned food. First was in Interlude 3, in Ningguang's POV, second is here, in Rosalyne's POV. So I want to write an entire dissertation about it.

Disclaimer: Most of this is pure speculation, we simply do not know enough about the other four nations to come to any actual conclusion. But we do have 3 nations, and a massive dose of common sense.

Mondstadt is a fertile place, this is canon. "Under Barbatos' blessing, most of Mondstadt has a gentle climate that allows crops to flourish." - That's a quote from the wiki. So we know for certain that Mondstadt is a significant producer of food - wheat and maize and such. With some inference, we can parse a few more places that may be farmland, and places that aren't.

2a) Liyue

Let's start with what we know. The Bishui Plain is a large region encompassing nearly all of northern Liyue, and is named after the Bishui River. This means that the Bishui Plain is an incredibly fertile place, and we even have solid proof. First, Qingce Village is dominated by terraced farmlands, just visit and see for yourself.

Second, the Qiongji Estuary leading up to Luhua Pool, right next to here is the ruins of the Guili Assembly. The Assembly was the dominant nation in the region once, and in a time when foreign trade didn't exist because of the Archon Wars they needed to produce their own food. The Guili Plain was the perfect spot, south of the Bishui River, east of the Qiongji Estuary, the entire Plain was fertile and perfect for agriculture. Not to mention Marchosius was one of the gods in the triumvirate - and he was the Patron God of Soil.

Western Liyue (Minlin and the Chasm) has rocky soil and is not very suitable for farming. Southern Liyue (Lisha) looks green and has a river running through it, so it may also be suitable farmlands - but considering ruins there it's likely the development in the area is not up to par with northern Liyue.

In conclusion, the Guili Plain is long abandoned, and whatever farmland that once existed there is long gone. This leaves Qingce and perhaps Lisha as the sole domestic producers of crops in Liyue, and considering the size of Liyue, it is almost certain that the amount they produce isn't enough. Luckily they have good ties to Mondstadt, who can export the extra food they need.

2b) Fontaine and Inazuma

Let's start with Inazuma. Inazuma, bottom line, is self-sufficient. They can feed themselves, and that's it. Considering their comparatively low population, that's very likely possible. So let's look for some suitable farmland in Inazuma.

Yashiori and Tatarasuna are no, Seirai and Tsurumi are obviously no. Kannazuka is iffy. That leaves us with Narukami Island as the sole producer of food in Inazuma. Enter the Byakko Plain, a river runs through the island, and the Byakko Plain is right south of it - perfect farmland! And north of the river is the Hakushin Plains, with its purple soil - I'm not making this shit up by the way ("The Hakushin Lands are located at the base of Mt. Yougou." That's a quote from the wiki.). And considering the magic purple soil, it's likely that the place is fertile and good for farming.

Watatsumi is self-sufficient - the game actually goes into detail about this. The Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri is a ritual conducted to ensure the soil continues to be fertile, so kudos to the game developers for actually thinking this through.

Next is Fontaine. Pretty self-explanatory, Fontaine is a land of rivers and lakes, very fertile much farm. However, Fontaine is also pretty much going through the Industrial Revolution, and is pumping a fuck ton of toxic waste into their rivers. How do we know this? The Wishful Drops Event (Oceanid Event), in this event we learn that the oceanids (water spirits) absolutely despise the current Hydro Archon and are fleeing Fontaine - this is why there's an oceanid in Liyue.

With a little bit of inference, we can surmise that Fontaine is losing a lot of its farmland to industry, and thus need to import more food from elsewhere.

2c) Natlan and Sumeru

We don't know anything about these two, but we can infer.

Sumeru is either desert, jungle, or both. Deserts aren't fertile (duh) unless there's a convenient river running through it and a very specific climate. If the Sumeran Desert is anything like Egypt, then Sumeru is an agricultural powerhouse. Did you know Egypt pretty much fed the entirety of the Roman Empire by itself? Yeah. But of course in the case of Sumeru that remains to be seen.

As for the jungle, it can be a good place for farmland if farmers cut down a ton of trees (Look at the Amazon Rainforest). However considering Sumeru is the nation of Dendro and all it is unlikely they are doing that. It is more likely they prefer hunting and gathering instead of farming. In conclusion, perhaps Sumeru is self-sufficient, but unlikely.

Natlan is based off Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and South America. Volcanoes are a sure thing in Natlan, it is mentioned in the game (talk to people at Inazuma bathhouse). Now, volcanoes can either mean very fertile soil, or lava soil. Considering Natlan is a realm of fire and heat and probably looks like hell on earth, the former is incredibly unlikely. Knowing Hoyoverse and how they made Dragonspine, Natlan will probably have 'boiling heat' mechanic or something like that. So no, Natlan, very unlikely to be self-sufficient.

2d) Snezhnaya

No. Snezhnaya is a land of constant snow and ice and everwinter, with blizzards and snowstorms and fuck all. There is very unlikely to be good farmland in Snezhnaya, just look at Russia.

Now let's talk about the pure retardedness of their government. They actively antagonise the one nation that could provide them with food to feed their people, and that's stupid. I want to give a real-world example, but that's going to be political and considering the world at this time no thanks.

Of course, we don't know anything about Snezhnaya, maybe they didn't know La Signora would act like a bitch, maybe they built a lot of greenhouses, maybe the game developers didn't think about this at all because this is a game and I'm looking far too deep into it. But from a faraway view, the Fatui's actions are nothing more than pure stupid.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. The next chapter will be a special one.