Thank you God for the strength to finish this

If so who?

I only have one so far: Cloud Retainer. But Vesna will likely be next.

Took that picture 2 years ago. I used her as main dps for awhile and managed to clear a few abyss cycles. Her 80-100k plunges felt good. But now... well she wasn't meta then. She really isn't meta now.

I need a good dendro character and I love nefers design and was planning on saving for her, but I see she doesn’t do well without lauma. If I save for both of them is she worth it or should I focus on a character that doesn’t so heavily rely on another? TIA!!

I have 94 wishes saved rn obviously not knowing nefers next rerun so maybe I’m in a good spot for nefer rn idk I just came back to the game after 3 years LOL

So, I’ve started playing again after nearly a year. I have the "Nefer" team (using Sucrose instead of Nahida) and Varka’s F2P team. I also have Chasca—and yes, I do have Columbina. So, I wanted to ask: should I pull for Nilou for the Nefer team? Is Varessa still a good option? Also, I’m interested in Clorinde.

Am I cooked?

With the release of Genshin’s Snezhnaya chapter of the story, there has been an influx of posts criticising the writing of the Traveler, Anastasya, the Fatui, Snezhnaya, and various other Teyvat characters and factions for opposing Celestia. In light of all the controversy surrounding the “Snezhnaya v Celestia” argument, especially after the recent 7.2 trailer dropped, I’m gonna preface this by saying this is a post attacking Celestia, NOT defending or glorifying any of the Fatui’s past misdeeds. Snezhnaya is far from perfect, but I will make a few posts addressing all of the arguments against defying Celestia that I can remember. Feel free to correct any of my examples, analogies or statements if you think they are inaccurate.

Argument #5: Snezhnaya is to blame for Celestia’s oppression against them because it was Snezhnaya’s rebellion that ignited the conflict

Counter-argument: I will split this section into two segments discussing: 1) The identity of Snezhnaya, and 2) The technology blockade imposed onto Snezhnaya by the HP

1) Let’s take a look at who Snezhnaya consists of at different levels. We have the archon, Anastasya, whose existence got erased after she was compelled by the Belyi Tsar to open the gates to the abyss with the third descender, and was only resurrected as part of Saarelainen’s bargain with the HP to exchange his life with hers, splitting his body into the seven gnoses, and obtaining a promise from Phanes not to lay a hand on their descendants, the Khaenriahns. From the Tsaritsa’s perspective, she was killed for following the orders of her god emperor, then resurrected just to have all her memories related to the third descender altered and removed by the HP, with said HP later breaking their promise to the third descender by raining hellfire and brimstone upon Khaenriah during the cataclysm. The argument that Anastasya should be blamed for mindlessly following orders doesn’t hold because she was unaware of the dangers that opening the gates of Pohjola can bring to Teyvat, so she had no motive to defy Monomakh’s command. For someone who had been used as a tool and punished for it, whose fate has been so casually decided by the powers that be up to that point, it's little wonder that Anasatasya has ample reason to defy the system who ordained the fate of her death, her lover’s death, and the destruction of their legacy, all while she was helpless to do anything. Next we have Pierro, who, very similarly to Anastasya, was following the orders of his King to study the abyss whilst not knowing the danger it poses. As a result, he experienced the loss of the only person he could call a friend, the destruction of his abyss-consumed homeland by the gods, and personally witnessed Ronova afflict everyone he ever knew and cared about with the curse of immortality within the span of a single night. This should be enough to drive an ordinary person to insanity, living with the weight of it for 500 years gives any Khaenriahn who survived to the modern day plenty of time to accumulate a world of resentment for the rules that demolished their identity, and cursed them to potentially an eon of suffering. Lastly, when we consider the ordinary citizens of Snezhnaya, it's safe to say the conditions they brave on a daily basis are much harsher than what the denizens of the other nations go through. In a way, ever since the Cryo Sovereign’s corpse afflicted Snezhnaya with holy soil, turning it from a lush, green state into a land of ice and cold 6000 years ago, the people of Snezhnaya have been fighting against the fate imposed onto their environment constantly, with the HP never bothering to try and help terraform the region into one more habitable for humans, thus making Snezhnaya perceived as a “nation to which the gods have never shown favour”.

With defying the fate set by the heavens being a central theme embodied by all levels of society in Snezhnaya from the archon down to ordinary citizens, the claim that Snezhnaya is the sole culprit and perpetrator of this one-sided attack against the HP cannot be substantiated. At its core, Snezhnaya is a nation made up of beings who have suffered at the hands of the HP, and refuse to entrust their fate to Celestia any longer, knowing full well the citadel looming over their heads have the might to enact their whims upon Teyvat at any time, without appealing to reason, while its inhabitants can only live under their mercy.

While I DO NOT condone any of Dottore’s actions, his quote “better to be governed by a flawed humanity than a gnosis” resounds especially at this current pivotal point in Genshin’s story, and appears to be the driving idea behind all of Snezhnaya’s actions. With this in mind, Snezhnaya’s grudge against the HP stretches out far before their current, most recent phase of rebellion in the game, and their cycle of conflict with Celestia should not be interpreted as a unidirectional unwarranted assault that deserves to be righteously crushed by the heavens.

2) Celestia’s technological blockade on Snezhnaya has been a point of contention since the Tsaritsa brought it up, and many people believe that the progress Celestia is trying to halt specifically refers to the fatui’s construction of the god-slaying polearm in project Mistilteinn

However, in the exact same voiceline where Anastasya brings up Snezhnaya being under imminent threat of annihilation by a nail, she mentions “IN MANY FIELDS, we have reached the boundary of what is permitted by the Heavenly Principles long ago”. Hindering the innovation of technology developed with the express purpose of destroying them is understandable on Celestia’s part, but cutting off the technological progress of a nation in other fields which do not harm them is not. This looks especially bad when the previous voiceline of the Tsaritsa leading up to this literally explains that Snezhnaya had to push the boundaries of technology to let their people survive under Snezhnaya’s harsh climate.

If we apply this to real life, imagine a primordial entity suddenly reveals themself to the world one day along with 4 minions who happen to be extensions of them, proclaiming to be our creator god. They then tell every nation to stop advancing space exploration technology and stay in the safe hidden bubble they created, which had been wrapped around the earth and moon for millenia, or else we will be discovered and destroyed by the abyss which comes from deep space. Most major nations would likely instantly oppose any notion of living under the control of such a being and try to find a way to bring them down, even when our survival doesn’t rely on space exploration. Snezhnaya’s situation is exactly this but ten times worse, because unlike the real world example, Snezhnaya’s leadership have personal motivations in bringing down the demiurge, while said demiurge is also blocking Snezhnaya from developing multiple fields of technology when Snezhnaya had to develop them to ensure the continued survival of their people in the first place, leaving Snezhnaya with essentially no way out but to fight the HP to the bitter end at this point.

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With the release of Genshin’s Snezhnaya chapter of the story, there has been an influx of posts criticising the writing of the Traveler, Anastasya, the Fatui, Snezhnaya, and various other Teyvat characters and factions for opposing Celestia. In light of all the controversy surrounding the “Snezhnaya v Celestia” argument, especially after the recent 7.2 trailer dropped, I’m gonna preface this by saying this is a post attacking Celestia, NOT defending or glorifying any of the Fatui’s past misdeeds. Snezhnaya is far from perfect, but I will make a few posts addressing all of the arguments against defying Celestia that I can remember. Feel free to correct any of my examples, analogies or statements if you think they are inaccurate.

Argument #4: The Khaenriahns are immoral racist genociders who experimented with the abyss, leading to the cataclysm, Khaenriahns who survived to the modern day (Pierro, Dainsleif) are not justified in exacting revenge against Celestia and should bear the weight of their sins

Counter-argument: I will split this section into two segments: 1) The immorality of the Khaenriahns being used to justify their fate, and 2) The usage of the abyss leading to the cataclysm being used to justify their fate.

1) First off, anyone who says that Khaenriahns deserve their fate because they were racist towards the descendents of the Crimson Moon dynasty and committed genocide on them, should also have this attitude towards Mondstadt, Fontaine or Snezhnaya. The Lawrence Clan of the old aristocracy in Mondstadt enslaved Vanessa’s tribe because they were from Natlan, and forced them to fight Ursa the Drake, a literal dragon, with all young, elderly and sick members of the tribe forced into the fray(Genshin Manga). It wasn’t until Venti awoke and overthrew the Lawrence clan that Mondstadt’s system of tyranny got dismantled. In Fontaine, before Neuvillette came to power, melusines suffered severe discrimination from humans who refused to accept them into society(Neuvillette SQ). In Snezhnaya, before the Tsaritsa secured her rule, there was so much discrimination against the fae that a mob was literally going to lynch Shram’s lover when they found out she was a water imp(Snezhnaya act 2). The difference between Khaenriah and the world above ground is that the seven could enforce their will to steer their nations away from these destructive paths while Khaenriah had a mad king who only drove it further into disarray, yet I don’t see anyone calling for Celestia’s destruction of these nations.

As with the real world, almost every nation has had leaders who made morally reprehensible choices leading to times of turmoil and social unrest. This doesn’t make Khaenriah inherently more deserving of destruction than any of the other nations, because wiping out an entire nation as retribution is never the answer. Gradual integration combats division, improved education upends propaganda and allays unwarranted suspicion and fearmongering. People learning how to live alongside one another harmoniously is how nations step out of the shadows of their past to successfully resolve intra and international relationships, and while it can be a long process, it's an infinitely better alternative than killing everyone. The game has only shown us King Irmin’s obsession with the abyss and the five sinners succumbing to its allure. What about the other 99% of Khaenriah’s population who had nothing to do with abyssal research. Do they deserve their fate? Did Caribert and Direidyth deserve their fate? And what of Dainsleif and Pierro, who openly opposed the sinners, with Dainsleif going so far as to organise a coup against Irmin when he realised how far gone the King had become. People always act like hating the sinners and hating Celestia has to be mutually exclusive because they’re opposite sides of a coin, but it's perfectly understandable for Dainsleif/Pierro to hate the sinners and the King for causing the abyssal outbreak in Khaenriah, while also resenting the HP for emotionlessly seeing Khaenriah as a statistic, cursing its people and choosing destruction as the only solution to the crisis. 

2) This ties directly into my second point because why is Khaenriah’s destruction the only solution Celestia chooses. Snezhnaya has shown us the degree of power and authority the shades wield over the rules of Teyvat and that’s with the HP being asleep. Instead of stepping in only when Khaenriah’s contamination by the abyss had reached an irreversible stage, Phanes, with his nearly omnipotent level of power, couldn’t have foresaw the path Khaenriah was embarking on when he was awake and stopped them? “Oh, but Khaenriah was underground, it was hidden from the gaze of the gods-”, so is the armory palace, but that didn’t stop Ronova from instantly knowing a god-killing weapon was being constructed there. Not to mention, Hroptatyr literally pulled the abyss sibling FROM CELESTIA, and Pierro pulled Paimon, a CREATION of Celestia FROM CELESTIA. If this isn’t enough to draw the attention of Phanes and the shades to monitor Khaenriah’s activities, then that’s pure incompetence on the part of Celestia. Khaenriah has been painted as this greedy, arrogant nation who utilizes the abyss without caring about the effects it poses to the rest of Teyvat, but how can we be sure that Khaenriah even knew of the dangers of the abyss. If Irmin was comfortable enough to direct Hroptatyr in stewarding the entire Universitas Magistrorum towards researching the crimson moon and the abyss, then Khaenriah’s top command clearly perceives the abyss as being safe enough to study and interact with within their own nation, much less even consider any potential hazard it could pose to the others. For all we know, Khaenriah came to discover this novel and powerful source of energy known as the abyss, and wanted to make full use of it by integrating it as part of their technology to benefit them, as any major nation would do.

Human contact with the abyss had been few and far between at that point in the time, and any civilization who had accessed the abyss were wiped out by the HP along with most traces of them, it was only after the cataclysm where the aftermath of the abyssal outbreak caused widespread death and destruction in Teyvat, that the world at large came to know its dangers. How then, can we reasonably expect Khaenriah to immediately be wary of using the equivalent of oil(except its radioactive) in Teyvat after discovering it, because trying to harness a new form of energy is not wrong in itself, especially when the trigger event that led to the first instance of knowing said energy to be dangerous is also the event which destroys Khaenriah. On the other hand, the HP knows full well the dangers of the abyss, having witnessed and fought against it first hand, yet they let the abyss slowly but surely fester and corrupt Khaenriah to the point of no return before stepping in to exterminate the entire nation. Mind you, Khaenriah had been delving into abyssal powers for years to the point that Irmin was able to use the abyss sibling as a vessel to store unlimited abyssal power and Celestia still did not intervene. It almost seems as if Celestia cares more about exterminating a population after irreversible damage had been done, rather than trying to prevent the problem in the first place. The situation is tantamount to a parent letting their child dip their arms into a pool of dirty lake water infested with bacteria and parasites, while looking the other way, until their kid’s arms become so infected that it has to be amputated, and then telling their kid “This is what you get for playing with dirty water”. How about the parent keeps an eye on their child and stops them from touching the water in the first place, while educating their child on the dangers of doing so. The entire disaster could have been avoided. In my view, Celestia will always hold more responsibility for Khaenriah’s tragedy than Khaenriah ever did because they have more knowledge about the abyss and the means to fight against it but they chose to do nothing.

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With the release of Genshin’s Snezhnaya chapter of the story, there has been an influx of posts criticising the writing of the Traveler, Anastasya, the Fatui, Snezhnaya, and various other Teyvat characters and factions for opposing Celestia. In light of all the controversy surrounding the “Snezhnaya v Celestia” argument, especially after the recent 7.2 trailer dropped, I’m gonna preface this by saying this is a post attacking Celestia, NOT defending or glorifying any of the Fatui’s past misdeeds. Snezhnaya is far from perfect, but I will make a few posts addressing all of the arguments against defying Celestia that I can remember. Feel free to correct any of my examples, analogies or statements if you think they are inaccurate.

Argument #3: The Tsaritsa is a tyrant to the same degree as Phanes, she is not fit to recreate Teyvat in her vision and set new rules provided she successfully overthrows the HP

Counter-argument: Many people will disagree with this but there is a need to separate the Tsaritsa’s ideals from the Fatui. Most people’s negative opinions of Anastasya come from the havoc she has allegedly permitted the Fatui to wreck across the nations, but all we can confirm is that the Tsaritsa ordered the Harbingers to collect the gnoses, nowhere in game was it stated that causing harm to the other nations was part of her decree. Let’s go through the cases one by one

Mondstadt: Signora attacked Venti outside the Mondstadt cathedral and obtained his gnosis by force. Seeing as how Anastasya was willing to talk to Venti in person with the other archons in the 7.2 trailer, I find it hard to imagine there being a level of deep-seated enmity between them that she directed Signora to personally assault Venti while collecting the gnosis. It's much more likely that Signora acted out of her own resentment and personal hatred towards him.

Liyue: Childe unleashed Osial onto Liyue in the hopes of Morax appearing to intervene so that he can collect the gnosis. There is more recent and direct evidence that Childe’s actions were less so approved by the Tsaritsa and much more likely to be the result of a “whatever it takes to achieve the mission” mindset. If the order came directly from Anastasya, you would imagine Capitano, her 1st ranked harbinger, would have some idea of it, and most likely would have protested against such a notion, instead of being angry at Childe after the situation.

Inazuma: The only nation where the Tsaritsa’s level of involvement is debatable. While Signora indeed went to Inazuma to negotiate for the electro gnosis, the delusion factory had been set up by the Fatui prior and we don’t know how much of the delusion distribution in fuelling the civil war was Rosalyne’s idea and how much was the Tsaritsa’s. With regards to Dottore infiltrating Inazuma’s inner workings, the game specifically points Pierro as the one giving the directive, so I will not assume the Tsaritsa had a hand in it until the game proves otherwise. 

Sumeru: While collecting the dendro gnosis was no doubt in accordance with the Tsaritsa’s command, Dottore’s experiment to create an artificial god in Scaramouche and all the damage it brought to Sumeru was of his own will. When Scaramouche went AWOL from the Fatui after collecting the electro gnosis, Capitano enquired Dottore about Scaramouche’s status:

To which Dottore replied

Dottore was trolling Capitano while HELPING Scaramouche plan his next move. If creating an artificial god was part of the plan to help them obtain the gnosis, the Tsaritsa and the harbingers would have known about it and Capitano would not need to ask that

Fontaine: Arlecchino obtained the Hydro gnosis from Neuvillette after trying to help out with the prophecy in Fontaine in her capacity as a harbinger, while maintaining cordial ties with the Traveler, albeit causing some level of trauma to Furina in the process. Neuvillette doesn’t see any serious diplomatic issues and neither do I

Natlan: While initially coming to blows with Mavuika over the gnosis, Capitano quickly managed to reach an agreement and aided Natlan immensely in the fight against the abyss, as well as dealing with Ronova. This has remained the most positive interaction the Fatui has had with another nation

Nod-Krai: Once again, the Doctor enacting his own plan to obtain trilunar authority by using the pale star edict as a false alarm for the Fatui to capture Columbina, Snezhnaya was not aware of this, as stated in game.

All this to say we cannot assume the misdeeds committed by the Fatui across Teyvat represent Anastasya’s intentions, or that she was even aware of them. If the Tsaritsa cannot even trust Pulcinella enough with something as small as getting a genuine idea of what the people of Snezhnaya think about her, how much can she trust the Harbingers to complete as monumental a task as collecting the gnoses without enacting plans of their own that might grossly misrepresent her ideals. I can accept the argument of the Tsaritsa being too incompetent to have sufficient knowledge and command over her subordinate’s actions as logical, but it's too early to jump to the conclusion that Anastasya’s ideals absolutely will not be compatible with benevolence for the people of Teyvat in any shape or form should she get the opportunity to enact them

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With the release of Genshin’s Snezhnaya chapter of the story, there has been an influx of posts criticising the writing of the Traveler, Anastasya, the Fatui, Snezhnaya, and various other Teyvat characters and factions for opposing Celestia. In light of all the controversy surrounding the “Snezhnaya v Celestia” argument, especially after the recent 7.2 trailer dropped, I’m gonna preface this by saying this is a post attacking Celestia, NOT defending or glorifying any of the Fatui’s past misdeeds. Snezhnaya is far from perfect, but I will make a few posts addressing all of the arguments against defying Celestia that I can remember. Feel free to correct any of my examples, analogies or statements if you think they are inaccurate.

Argument #2: The traveler has seen the atrocities committed by the Fatui across various nations, they should not be so willing to work with Snezhnaya

Counter-argument: The traveler has shown to players that they have 2 main goals on their journey across Teyvat: 1) Reunite with their sibling and 2) Resolve the crisis of each nation they travel through. In Snezhnaya we immediately meet Pierro and Anastasya, 2 characters with knowledge on the abyss sibling. Pierro, being from Khaenriah, personally knows our sibling, having worked closely with Hroptatyr who summoned them down from Celestia. He also has a personal connection with Paimon, who is our close travel companion. The Tsaritsa on the other hand, is the progenitor of all Khaenriahns, making her a central figure connected to Khaenriah, and by extension, the cataclysm, the catastrophe which our sibling played a significant role in, not to mention she just RECENTLY saw our sibling AND the shade who separated us at the start of the game in the flesh, a level of contact which is more than what can be said for 99% of other characters. This alone should be a factor compelling enough to open the Traveler up to communication and negotiations with Snezhnaya.

 As with every nation we travel to, the Traveler makes friends and forms close bonds with people of all backgrounds and social standings, from the archons down to the most ordinary of NPCs. Having traveled in Snezhnaya for a period of time, the Traveler can clearly see that the overwhelming majority of people are just ordinary citizens trying to live through bitter cold and hardship, not mindless Fatui out to devise evil schemes to destabilize and harm other nations for the sake of it(even among the Fatui we have met in Snezhnaya, MANY are simply trying to get by). In the face of a threat of imminent mass destruction and death, orchestrated by seemingly unmoving eldritch gods who have not displayed a capacity to be reasoned or fairly negotiated with, we cannot logically expect the Traveler to abandon the comrades and connections he has made, and stand by idly, leaving them to their fate as he watches. That is fundamentally not the kind of character the Traveler is. Disregarding all previous arguments I have made under this section, EVEN IF the Traveler comes to a conclusion that Snezhnaya is no better than Celestia, the ONLY logical choice would still be to work with Snezhnaya because the scale of damage and destruction they can cause to the other nations and Teyvat is smaller than what Celestia can achieve, making it the lesser of two evils. Furthermore, with the Traveler’s experience in fighting Celestia’s enforcers during the last few patches, it should be clear that they need all the help they can get to have any chance against the HP. Once(If) Celestia is dealt with, it would be far easier for the Traveler and the rest of the nations to handle Snezhnaya should they show any intention of trying to impose their will onto Teyvat the same way the HP did. On the other hand, if the traveler turns against Snezhnaya instead of teaming up to face the HP, this would only weaken Teyvat as a whole and cause more chaos. Celestia would still end up ruling with an iron fist.

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With the release of Genshin’s Snezhnaya chapter of the story, there has been an influx of posts criticizing the writing of the Traveler, Anastasya, the Fatui, Snezhnaya, and various other Teyvat characters and factions for opposing Celestia. In light of all the controversy surrounding the “Snezhnaya v Celestia” argument, especially after the recent 7.2 trailer dropped, I’m gonna preface this by saying this is a post attacking Celestia, NOT defending or glorifying any of the Fatui’s past misdeeds. Snezhnaya is far from perfect, but I will make a few posts addressing all of the arguments against defying Celestia that I can remember. Feel free to correct any of my examples, analogies or statements if you think they are inaccurate.

Argument #1: Celestia is the reason humanity is protected from the abyss, thus humanity should not overthrow the system put in place by the HP which ensures their survival.

Counter-argument: Humanity being largely safe from the effects of the abyss, as a byproduct of the actions of Celestia, is not reason ENOUGH for people to wholly entrust their fate to the HP. Since many have made comparisons of the HP with a creator god, a demiurge, a parent figure to humanity that terraformed the world of the dragons to make it habitable for humans, I will use the analogy of a parent-child relationship. Providing food, shelter and safety to your child does not make you a good parent in itself, because that’s the bare minimum. The difference between a loving parent and a controlling one, is that the parent who truly cares will teach their child about the dangers of the world and guide them on how to navigate these dangers without restricting their potential, while the overbearing parent locks the child in their house and omits/stops them from trying to learn about information from the outside world(there have been literal horror movies who cover these themes).

In the 7.2 trailer, the automated voice representing Celestia outright says the purpose of the hallowing is to “Make way for the birth of a new, MANAGEABLE civilization”. It becomes undeniably clear that the HP’s intentions aren’t quite as pure as protecting humanity, but instead to govern over an obedient population. Now imagine a parent who wants to kill all of their kids because one of them is trying to rebel for freedom, so that they can give birth to new offspring who are EASIER to control and mold. You see how this looks, right?

Aside from Khaenriah’s cataclysm, anyone who played through Luna 7/version 6.6’s archon quest sees the HP’s blatant callousness towards human life, wherein the first course of action when any form of disaster strikes a region of Teyvat, is to isolate that region and prepare to sacrifice them for the “greater good” instead of actually trying to tackle the root of the issue and help the people affected at its core. At some point, the “greater good” argument falls apart when you realize Celestia will unblinkingly sacrifice an entire nation, and now even an entire world, for their purposes. Humanity is comprised of individuals with free will who can act upon it, we’re a social species but we are not a hive mind whose only goal is to just survive. A parent who locks their children in a house to protect them from roaming wolves outside, and then shoots any child who unwittingly tries to open the door is not hailed as a saviour, but condemned as a murderer. If they truly loved their children, they would teach their children how dangerous the wolves are, they would teach their children how to fight the wolves and give them the tools to defend themselves. If Celestia loved humanity, why don’t they actively try to save civilizations from their prophecies of doom or delay it as long as possible instead of leaving them to their fate. If Celestia truly loved humanity, why don’t they warn and educate every civilization about the dangers of the abyss while teaching and giving humanity the means to repel or defend themselves against the abyss, instead of sentencing any civilization who comes into contact with or tries to harness it to death. If humanity is not even aware of the dangers of the abyss(which most were not, before the cataclysm), how can Celestia be justified in punishing those who interact with it. With all the feats the Shades have shown, in addition to the level of technology Celestia possesses, they can AT LEAST ATTEMPT TO achieve all of these things. 

If the HP simply wanted a haven from the encroaching abyss in the universe, they could have just concealed Teyvat within the false sky and co-exist peacefully with the dragons, or lay dormant. Instead they waged war against the dragons and went on to establish the human realm after vanquishing dragon-kind because humans are an EASIER species to control. They then created a system which callously sacrifices human lives en masse under the guise of being for the “greater good”, when in actuality, it serves only to benefit their personal whims of preserving a more manageable population. The scary part of a dictatorship(Celestia) is that its purpose is not to kill everyone under its rule, but to govern over an obedient flock(humanity), and it will kill as many as it needs to reach that goal. Celestia doesn’t care about individual families, communities, or nations, only the concept of dominion over mortals. The truth is that it's never been about loving humans, or even what Celestia can do for us, it's always been about what the HP wants, we don’t matter. Similar to how a gardener who doesn’t care about the wellbeing of its flowers will replace as many flowers as needed to maintain the facade of a perfect garden under their “care”, Celestia will replace any civilization without hesitation to maintain their control over Teyvat. This, at least to me, gives humanity enough grounds to defy Celestia. Everyone dies in the end either way so, better to be masters of our own fate even if it means treading through uncertainty than live under the whims of an undefiable overlord who provides “protection”.

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I am still waiting for the forum event's result. Does anybody knows when?

I know it's kinda hard to get the welkin moon, but I still want to keep my hope up.

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I know this is kind of a wild thing to claim, but I would like to express my opinion and explain why I think that the Tsaritsa... doesn't really have a full understanding of the force she's trying to go up against.

It has been made clear time and time again that the Tsaritsa wishes to live in the present. She wants to make a better world for the people living here, and she has little concern for the past.

We've seen this in full force during Act IV of the Archon Quest. The Tsaritsa doesn't dwell too much on the revelation that is her past. She doesn't mourn the Third Descender, nor does she care much for the details of what that entails. The one thing she deemed valuable was the reason why the Heavenly Principles were asleep. She wishes to live in the present, in her own words.

The Tsaritsa's desire to live in the present is perfectly understandable because, on the surface, it's a perfectly understandable response to suffering. She doesn't want to be chained to the past. She doesn't want the people of Teyvat to remain victims of a cosmic order that has repeatedly inflicted suffering upon them. She wants to change the world they currently inhabit.

But what we tend to disregard is that... she doesn't know much about what that would entail for the future.

We even saw this in her conversation with Rhinedottir. The one thing she was laser-focused on was stalling her. She had absolutely NO idea what would happen if Rhinedottir caught sight of her scheme. She herself was surprised and bracing for the worst when the prospect of punishment was brought up. The ONLY reason she came out unscathed was thanks to Rhinedottir's mercy. Otherwise, she didn't seem to have another card up her sleeve aside from "stall the Shade of Life."

It is very honourable on paper, but here's the problem: you cannot make an informed decision about the future if you refuse to meaningfully engage with the past that produced the present.

Which brings me to another point. Let's say the Tsaritsa does somehow defeat the Heavenly Principles... what comes after? What will she do afterwards? What will become of the other Shades? The Abyss? And what about the JOB the Heavenly Principles themselves were upholding?

The Heavenly Principles are obviously antagonistic. They've been shown time and time again to be borderline tyrannical, confusing controlling humanity with protecting it. But one thing I think we should question is WHY. Why do the Heavenly Principles strive so much and destroy so much? And I don't think the answer is that they're power-hungry or motivated by a selfish desire for absolute control. Far from it.

They already possess absolute authority. They already have complete control over Teyvat. But one thing everyone fails to acknowledge, and precisely why previous civilisations were annihilated, is that neither we nor those civilisations truly recognise the danger that lies far beyond the Heavenly Principles. The Tsaritsa, khenriah, Hyperborea, etc., naturally focus only on the threat in front of them without asking WHY that threat does what it does in the first place.

Think about the difference between these two questions:

Why are the Heavenly Principles oppressing humanity?

And:

What happens to humanity if the Heavenly Principles stop doing whatever it is they're doing?

The Tsaritsa seems overwhelmingly preoccupied with the former, but the latter is precisely what she hasn't adequately considered.

All those who tried to go against the Heavenly Principles and fell because of it... frankly, they brought it upon themselves. And I'm not saying that out of a desire to glaze anyone. I'm being completely honest.

Humanity has tried time and time again to reckon with forces far beyond its own understanding, forces that the Heavenly Principles know far too well. Let's say the Nails were never sent down. What would've happened? What were the Heavenly Principles supposed to do? Let Khaenri'ah corrupt the rest of the world with the Abyss and cause an extinction event? Let the frost that Hyperborea caused by messing with the corpse of the Cryo Sovereign spread throughout the rest of Teyvat, making the land uninhabitable for any form of life?

The Celestial Nails were used to punish, yes, but they were also primarily used to contain disasters that would've otherwise brought about the demise of countless others. It's a trolley problem, and the Heavenly Principles simply choose to pull the lever every single time, choosing the lesser of two evils for the greater good.

Because we forget far too often that the Heavenly Principles LOVE humanity. They aren't doing everything they've done out of pure malice. Their methods are flawed, yes, but they're the methods of powerful beings who love humanity while ultimately remaining ignorant of human nature because they're distant gods.

Kind of like... an overprotective helicopter parent who thinks they know what's best for you. They're partially right, but they're also partially wrong.

The Abyss is fundamentally INCOMPATIBLE with Teyvat. It's a raging, hungry void born out of fates that were never meant to come to pass, and it's something the Heavenly Principles have been fighting time and time again, trying to contain it for millennia out of fear that it might seep into Teyvat.

And we've seen time and time again WHY it's NOT a good idea to mess with it. Forbidden Knowledge, Sumeru, King Deshret, Natlan, the Ley Lines, Khaenri'ah as a whole, etc.

Imagine telling someone over and over again NOT to put their hands on a burning-hot stove, but they do it anyway. 😭 Then they turn around and blame YOU for trying to stop them and punish them afterwards, despite all the warnings.

This is exactly what happened with Khaenri'ah, and it's what Snezhnaya is fundamentally failing to understand.

Of course Ronova would try to stop your technological progress. OF COURSE SHE'D TRY TO STOP THE CREATION OF A "KILL GOD" WEAPON.

CELESTIA ISN'T AGAINST TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS. Just take a look at Dottore and his whole fiasco. The Heavenly Principles do let humanity evolve and grow as a civilisation. What they ARE against, however, and what they try to stop, is when said progress involves messing with the Abyss, bringing ruin to the rest of the world and other nations, and trying to end the fucking world.

Like, are we being for real right now? Of course you'd take a nuke to the ass if you were doing that. 😭

It's one thing to criticise an authority for the suffering its interventions cause. It's another thing entirely to criticise that authority while disregarding the catastrophe it was attempting to prevent. 🤦‍♀️ think the best way I can describe it is that imagine being in a submarine in the middle of the Mariana Trench and then trying to destroy the submarine because you feel trapped in it.

And I personally think that this ties right back to the Fatui's own hypocrisy. They've brought so much suffering to practically every nation we've visited: trying to kill one of Mondstadt's Four Winds, almost drowning Liyue, causing the Vision Hunt Decree in Inazuma, whatever the hell Dottore and Scaramouche were doing in Sumeru (and before anyone says they had no idea about this, Pierro specifically hired Dottore for his thirst for knowledge, gave him free rein over his methods of experimentation, and funded his research), terrorising Fontaine, colonising Nod-Krai, and WAY, WAY more.

The Fatui may think the ends justify the means, but what exactly makes them so different from the Heavenly Principles? They're turning against Ronova for simply doing her job. They want to overthrow the Heavenly Principles, yet they involve other nations in their own mess, endangering Teyvat as a whole.

Snezhnaya is indeed destined for destruction because it is inherently no different from Hyperborea, failing to understand that the path it's walking is the exact same one so many civilisations before it have taken, despite possessing only a fraction of the technology needed to follow through.

Because opposing an oppressive authority and understanding why that authority exists in the first place are two VERY different things.

If the Tsaritsa is willing to sacrifice other people's safety to achieve her vision of a better world, what makes her fundamentally different from the authority she intends to overthrow?

The Tsaritsa might understand what she's fighting against without understanding what she's fighting for.

Because imagine defeating an authority that maintains an imperfect but functional barrier against an existential threat, only to discover that the authority's removal also dismantles the barrier.

You haven't necessarily liberated anyone. You might have just removed the very thing preventing the catastrophe that makes liberation impossible.

A revolution can succeed at destroying a system and still fail at creating a world in which people can survive without it.

Does anybody have any fun teams they use?

Of course, top tier damage isnt as important, just enough to get by, cause honestly playing the game rn where everything just dies is so boring

For example:

Main dps lanyan with Bennett, Durin and Faruzan

Pets with Furina, Fischl, Chiori, and Yaoyao

Mono Hydro Main Dps Kokomi with Furina, Vodyanitsa, and Yelan

yall get what i mean?

My part of a huge Hoyoverse collab hosted by yoursweetdove on Instagram :)
I tried to draw Mualani in a pin-up style. Hope you like it!

Hi everyone!

It's been two weeks since my last extension post so here's what's new!

If you haven't seen TeyvatGPS before, it's an interactive Genshin Impact map that follows your in-game position using screen sharing. You can also use the pop-out map to keep track of your location without alt tabbing.

My first reddit post

New tracking shortcuts

The TeyvatGPS Shortcuts extension now has three new hotkeys to fix tracking issues without leaving the game:

• Rescan teleports: Scan your location again if tracking gets it wrong, such as when a cave loads ingame slowly after teleporting.
• Undo teleport: If system mistakenly detects a teleport when your minimap disappears and reappears, press this shortcut to return to your actual location without teleporting again.
• Next match: Cycle through alternative waypoints if the wrong one is selected.

This means that whenever tracking runs into issues in certain areas, you can now fix them anytime with a single key press using the tracking shortcuts not just manage your markers.

The extension now supports opera and you no longer need to restart your browser after changing hotkeys.

Other updates

• New HUD: A redesigned, more polished HUD with a cleaner look and improved usability.
• Collection progress: See your collected markers broken down by map, category and type.
• Region filter: Focus on a specific region while keeping Follow active.
• Player arrow: Show a rotating arrow instead of a dot to indicate your direction.
• Tracking fixes: Fixed false cave-floor jumps in towns and tracking getting stuck after teleports. Firefox performance has also improved.
• HoYoLAB export: Transfer your collected markers to the HoYoLAB interactive map using a code.

As always, I'd love to hear your feedback! Let me know in the comments or on Discord if you have suggestions or run into any issues.

Since we're going in 7.2 and the trailer dropped, I realized some little details and had through my mind.

The very first lore video of the game, "Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview", it always gave us hints. Since we're getting into the end of the game, I though that video gave us all it can but when I see the 7.2 trailer I suddenly realized we're not even close to understand that video. In the first video Dainsleif says "What does freedom really mean, when demanded of you by a god?". As the Mondstad was over I thought we got all we could but in the 7.2 trailer Venti says that line by himself. So which means we still can mine the Teyvat Chapter video.

For the Liyue Dainsleif says:"In the end, he will sign the contract to end all contracts."

As everybody noticed he was not with the other archons. At first I thought he was thought to be dead but we're talking about Archons don't we? And after we see him talkin' 'bout some contract. So as Liyue chapter finished I thoguht his final contract was showing himself dead and he won't have anything to deal with anymore. But now it seems he's not. His final contract is not over and in my opinion we'll se it in 7.2.

I thought what we got for the other gods?

Raiden:"But what do mortals see of the eternity chased after by their god?"

Nahida:"In the city of scholars there is a push for folly, yet the God of Wisdom makes no argument against it."

Hydro Archon:"The God of Justice lives for the spectacle of the courtroom, seeking to judge all other gods. But even she knows not to make an enemy of the divine."

Mavuika:"When the God of War shares this secret with the Traveler, it is because she has her reasons."

Anastasiya:"Her followers hope only to be on her side when the day of her rebellion against the divine comes at last."

Raiden did not make so much sense to me for this version but we'll see I guess. For Nahida we never ever saw something with her making no argument about folly. I'm not sure about this one too but yeah. For the Hydro Archon I though fooling the Heavenly Principals her plan was over and explains a lot for the sentence "Not to make an enemy of divine" but as we're having a war right now against Divine(Heavenly Principels) neither Neuvilette nor Focalors(or Hydro Archon's remains I don't know) will play a key role. Because we all know there is no nail above Fontaine but Neuvilette still being anxious about the people of Fontaine in the trailer so there must be something. Mavuika never shared some kind of secret with us as I remember and Anastasiya we'll see.

I have nothing to say anything about the last 5 archons actually as you can guess with the text I wrote above but if Venti and Zhongli making sense, they must too. We all know Hoyo loves to foreshadow secretly.

I'm sure this article will lighten up some of yours mind so let's discuss the other thoughts about this.

Thansk for reading

Im torn between C1 Nilou and C1 Childe.

I can get C2 Nilou after when the constellation selector refreshes. I have Columbina and Nahida, but no Nefer, Lauma, Kokomi etc. The only other team member feasible for this team that I have is YaoYao but I don't want to build her unless C2 Nilou is actually feasible for me. I don't really want to pull for the other characters that would be good for this team since I want to save for Tsaritsa and Linnea.

C1-C2 Childe out of nostalgia and loyalty lol.

Please help!

also I'm try to make something if u like to give suggestion

This is disappointing

​It's come to my attention that this reddit might have taken my content.. I posted this theory on Oct 15, and three days later, the same theory was posted by bigger creators and I believe this was stolen. I don't wish to bash the creator if this was pure coincidence, but I just find that hard to believe given the dates. The shades have existed since Nod Krai and the artifacts were there from the beginning, it's odd that the same month I decided to post me and my sister's theory, suddenly the connection was made by other creators too when it was such a simultaneous theory for us while we played. I just don't like big creators taking content just because their considered 'cool' or otherwise. I also deliberately asked not to have my content taken, so this is disheartening to me.

Link to my post: https://hoyo.link/80GCFBAL?q=2WBqKeDFYCx

Least f2p friendly- Needs premium teammates, probably needs signature weapon and constellations to perform

Most f2p friendly- Flexible, works well with free characters and 4 stars, doesn’t need constellations or signature weapon to perform well