Barbatos, the Anemo Archon of Mondstadt and God of Freedom. A God who treasures the hard-fought liberty of its people, and his own. For that reason, he relinquished his rule to the people of Mondstadt, only intervening when their freedom was challenged. To an inexperienced eye, like those who didn't live in his lands, they found this attitude as lazy, reckless and negligent. A God who slumbered and loafed around for most of the ages wasn't fit for the title of one of The Seven.

The winds of Freedom knew no border, and they didn't stay locked in that northern region of Teyvat. For that reason, Barbatos was not as indolent as people believed. His interventions were scarce and not quite as physical as other Archons. But wherever tyranny arose, there would be those who have nothing to fear. Those who yearned for liberty and freedom. That breeze always led to a wind of resistance, where the soft lullaby of a lyre would invigorate those who heard it.

Petty tyranny was common in Teyvat. Even in his region, there were quite a few examples of unjust taxes and backwards thinking. But the people of Mondstadt, and the Knights of Favonius, could deal with those on their own. Acting on every instance, after all, would spend his powers faster than a westerly wind. He chose not to intervene in such events unless it was a piece of a bigger picture.

Some mid-level tyranny also existed, though it was rare. Landlords demanded exuberating tithes on villages, merchants utilising mercenaries to sow fear on commoners or even outright revolts against social inequity. He had seen it all, and he had helped as much as he could.

For an actual, high ranking level of tyranny… Even the God of Freedom had his limits.

As part of the Seven, it was out of the question to help those who challenged the ruling Archons of Teyvat. Even if he tried, it would only be a matter of time before his tune was found out. After all, these rebellions were limited. Most Archons' rule was unchallenged, either out of fear or devotion. And if they somehow managed to rebel, the reasons chosen were rather off-putting for Barbatos. Vengeance, lust for power, religious animosity... Rebellions, after all, didn't imply a love for freedom.

His inaction didn't mean approval, however. He despised how some laws of Fontaine were unfair and outright unethical. The contracts of Liyue were unchanging yet singleminded. Sumeru's caste system was an abomination. And Inazuma's eternity was a synonym for stagnation.

There were instances, however.

Barbatos' interventions on other Archon's lands were few, but they had happened. Morax himself had the displeasure of suffering one.

A few hundreds of years after the Archon war, a pirate problem had grown unchecked on Liyue. Not one or two ships, but an entire wooden city travelling the coast of Teyvat. People, old and young, fleeing mostly from Liyue's bad harvests yet unchanging contracts. These people, however, had to resort to looting and stealing to survive. Upon learning about their attacks on Yaoguang shoal and the Guili plains, he sent forth his Adepti to deal with them. When the Adepti descended upon a pirate fleet, a convenient gale directed the ships away from their grasp. While damaged, they lived to tell the tale.

Before Morax was informed of what happened, his old friend Barbatos had appeared before him.

"Is it really fair to judge those who are victims of factors beyond their control as petty villains?" Barbatos claimed. "When weeds invade your garden, you do not prune their leaves, you uproot the whole plant. Otherwise, the weeds would return and multiply beyond your control."

"Maybe so," Morax answered. "Yet their leaves would still wither and turn to dust."

Barbatos giggled before slowly floating away.

"Not if you transplant them. Dandelions were once considered weeds, yet we learnt of their medical and cultural uses. Iron used to be discarded as being impossible to smelt, wasn't it?"

The moment Barbatos disappeared from his sight, the Adepti returned with the news. Following this, Morax dictated the imports of crops, foodstuffs and new tools and techniques into Liyue. Not only to stave off the lingering famine, but to improve the overall situation of his citizens. When the battered pirate fleet returned, however, their crimes couldn't go unpunished. Morax himself escorted the fleet into Liyue harbour, where they were offered a contract. To become Liyue's northern merchant fleet and pay off their crimes.

It is said that Morax would hold Barbatos accountable for the way he had to backtrack on his actions. Other versions say that a friendly rivalry began between the two Archons. Barbatos, however, would say that the fine wine he gifted Morax was enough to smooth out their bonds.

While Barbatos himself might have thought Morax's solution was a limitation on their freedom, he knew there was no other way for them to continue forward.

Not all occasions were as calm and rational as the pirate fleet incident. Morax, while not as stubborn and tactless as Barbatos thought, was a somewhat close Archon. Their nations were friendly and enjoyed deep trade ties. It was Mondstadt's great wheat fields that fed Liyue during its hardships, and it would be Harbour's ores that fed the Freedom city's furnaces.

Barbatos couldn't always be as upfront as with him. And he would learn this a hundred years later when it was his meddling that almost got Mondstadt into a war with Fontaine. A nation that nowadays could be said to be a sister nation.

Shortly after the Hydro Archon died, Fontaine suffered through a period of turmoil. The new Hydro Archon, while trained, was still unaware of how her laws could affect their citizens. So when the Archon introduced a few new laws, among them the Sedition and Espionage act, the people of Fountain found themselves at a crossroads. Were laws not there to protect them? These new laws seemed fine on paper, but now everyone could be a target of the High Judges of Fontaine. It was on that sudden turmoil when the tune of freedom could be heard in the wind.

The new Archon was under the belief that breaking laws would be akin to sin, something immoral and unethical that nobody in their right mind would do. But when these impossible occurrences started to occur monthly, and then weekly, they knew something was wrong. And then, something broke in Fontaine's populace. A routine check by an army patrol on the trade district suddenly escalated into an outright popular uprising.

The Hydro Archon, still steadfast on the belief that Fontaine wouldn't willingly break laws, searched for answers. Fontaine's closest trading partner was Mondstadt, and their merchants lingered on the city like it was the city of Freedom itself. The Archon knew of what occurred during Decarabian's rule. Perhaps those freedom-loving city dwellers wanted to do the same to her? Did Barbatos believe her rule to be weak, simply because she was new? After making her own investigation, the Hydro Archon heard the melody of a lyre throughout the city. And with that, she knew it. Barbatos had played a hand in the trade district's uprising.

An explosion rattled the Fontaine's lake as the Hydro Archon picked off Barbatos from among the crowd of revolters. They flew up into the sky, water sprouts emerged from the usually calm reservoir, while the Hydro Archon held Barbatos by the throat.

"Normally people try to shake my hand when they meet me. This is a new one." Barbatos stated with a worried laugh, as he tried to shake off her grip.

"How dare you meddle in the affairs of my country?" The Hydro Archon retorted. "Does Mondstadt have no respect for the laws of their brethren?"

"Ah, well, I'm a simple spectator. It wasn't me who instilled the seed of anger in their minds," Barbatos' voice was calm, not putting up resistance. "A drowning man will clutch at a straw. You pushed your people and they pushed back."

"Are you implying this is my fault? When it is you Mondstadtians who always grasp at the light of power?"

"Trust me, if I was behind this, I wouldn't have been caught so easily."

The Hydro Archon wasn't convinced. Yet she was the only one capable of judging the situation. But was she? Barbatos wasn't a citizen of Fontaine or even a citizen of Mondstadt. She didn't have the authority to judge him. The only ones would be those above them, but… Still, all evidence… what evidence?

A quick flash of energy suddenly stopped in front of them. Coming from Liyue, the light shaped itself into Barbatos' old friend.

"I cannot allow this to continue, my dear companions," Morax started, his arms crossed. "May I suggest we calm down with a cup of tea, and work this out with a contract?"

"Please, I suggest you two stop," A cold light had suddenly appeared beside them, the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya. "Any more of this, and they," She looked up at Celestia. "will have to intervene."

"You two are siding with him, aren't you?" The Hydro Archon replied, the disdain in her voice clear. "Very well, I will do this out of respect to my seniors," She released their grip on Barbatos. "But you are not in the clear."

"I didn't mean to upset you. Though I think you have a bit of an anger issue," Barbatos was quickly stopped by Morax.

"Your breath stinks of alcohol, Barbatos," Morax's voice was firm, so much so that both Anemo and Hydro Archons froze in place.

Shortly after, a contract was made. Barbatos would not be allowed into Fontaine. In exchange, the laws that created social discontent were abolished. It might seem like a one-sided deal in favour of Barbatos, but the Gathering of the Gods of that decade was based on Fontaine. Something Barbatos particularly liked for its diversity of alcohol.

It is said that the brief scuffle was resolved years later when the Hydro Archon visited Mondstadt. What apparently began as a dispute over what region's wine was better, ended up in a drinking contest that Barbatos' swept through. After a rough night, it seemed that Fontaine's Archon formally apologised to her Anemo counterpart.

It is quite clear that Barbatos, while a God of Freedom, was also seen as a God of Popular Discontent by his fellow Archons. Always meddling into the affairs of other nations on behalf of the downtrodden. There were more incidents where Barbatos meddled in other Archon's regions on behalf of their people, but those would be superfluous. Especially since the cataclysm would send him into a deep sleep.

That is, until today. Because some news had reached Mondstadt a few days ago. Apparently, information was leaking from the isolated islands of Inazuma. The Almighty Raiden Shogun, in her most gracious will, had enacted the Vision Hunt Decree. All visions were to be confiscated, apart from some selected few from the Tri-Commission.

It was the sudden cries for help and freedom that awoke Barbatos from his sleep. Cries that he hadn't heard of ever since the Cataclysm. It looked like his people were fine and free, while his close friend Dvalin was still resting his wounds away.

He still heard them. The desire for freedom in their voices. Not only from Inazuma, but from Snezhnaya, Sumeru, Fontaine. In his sleep, it seemed, the winds of freedom had only maintained Mondstadt healthy… and even there, things didn't look stable.

Still, he preferred this to the hell that happened 500 years ago. At that time, he had to get his hands dirty in a way he would prefer to never do again. Now, people genuinely needed help, and those in Inazuma seemed the most desperate. His memory was still foggy of the events of the Cataclysm, but he could recall a great deal of pain occurring on those islands.

Whatever the case, he had to move. And help the people of Inazuma if the Shogun would not.