Hi guys I am Inotia King a youtuber, redditor and gamer who likes theorizing about the story. I actually cobbled together a list of some of my more important theories with respect to the game Genshin Impact and Star Rail that I have been basing all of my newer theories on. I'll be putting more of those up on Hive along with new stuff but if you're impatient I also archived all my theories here. I hope some of you guys are game theorists too. Let's try to figure out these great games together!
I don't think it comes as a shock to anybody if I were to say that Natlan could be seen as not accurately representing the region(s) it's inspired by. It did once. We had the character of Iansan who was designed with tribal attire and with the local skintones for West Africa. But when Natlan actually released it was a chaotic mixture of haphazardly tossed together cultures, names and appearances that seemingly lacked any rhyme or reason.
Let's fix that.
Disclaimer: Unlike with Fontaine I more or less enjoyed the story this time. (there are still plenty of plotholes that weren't addressed but if we ignore them the story is far better than what we had with Fontaine) Instead of trying to better adapt the story this topic is going to focus mostly on the universally accepted issues with Natlan, namely that it is the first region miHoYo designed for Teyvat that doesn't adhere to a single culture or history.
The first thing I want to say is that I'm going to try keeping the three regions miHoYo chose for Natlan. I think that despite it being awkward to have a unified region that's based on Africa, Polynesia and the Americas at the same time, there is a way to do it with respect to Natlan's theme and a historical tie-in. All we'd need to do is address that historical tie-in.
First we need a very loose historical context for the fact that both the Polynesians and Native Americans originate from the same place and that is East Asia. The only real difference between the two migrations is that one went south by boat while the other went north on foot. Therefore we already have our connection between Polynesia and America. On top of that both groups ended up scattering into multiple tribes rather than conglomerating into a singular nation. This works very well with how Natlan is organized as tribes. All we have to do is set up up these different cultures as different tribes. Finally based on the timing we can establish a Polynesian and Native American foundation for Natlan's ancient history, the original tribes under the dragons and then Ochkanatlan.
By using these groups we can establish Xbalanque's founding principles for the nation: competing for the right to represent the god (Archon) as dictated by the Heavenly Principles. However this "singular nation" would be in constant conflict which represents the constant warring between the real world tribes. Unlike the Natlan we got, my ancient Natlan would have always been at war which establishes the core ideal of War as the victorious human Archon would embody. The victor will then burn bright while losers must turn to ash. There was no Ode of Resurrection in this archaic period and this would be the original weakness of the nation. In fact there weren't just six tribes in my version of Natlan but numerous tribes. The weakest tribes were wiped out. This reflects the real life conclusions of the wars the Native Americans fought where the stronger civilizations subsumed the weaker ones. Mavuika would then overturn this 500 years ago and introduce the nuanced concept of uniting against the Abyss. And this is due to the Cataclysm, giving justification as to why the Archon Quest focused so heavily on just that incursion by the Abyss when their entire history was plagued by it.
In my version, the other ancient events still happened. Xiuhcoatl still faked its death, joined Nibelung's cause which got it corrupted by the Abyss and then destroyed the local Ley Lines. Therefore the Abyss was able to gain a permanent foothold in Natlan compared to anywhere else in Teyvat. The Sacred Flame would be the method through which the victor becomes Archon-like without actually ascending to Archonhood. You can think of it like the Oratrice in Fontaine. The Contending Fire generated through bitter warfare collects as elemental energy that fuels the Sacred Flame which is actually a product of the Pyro Gnosis and Pyro Archon's Divine Throne. By using the Gnosis this way the human is just given powers that resemble a god while not actually being a god at all. And my version can give a reason for this. The reason why nobody could actually ascend is because no other tribe would allow an enemy tribesman to gain true godhood since it would likely lead to that tribe wiping the others out. In other words the losing tribes would join forces to wipe out the Archon's tribe first so it was agreed for the sake of survival that nobody within a single tribe could have that power permanently. And they did still need an "Archon" because only an Archon could survive persistent attacks by the Abyss. That all changed with the Cataclysm. Their system failed.
Now again the only way to effectively have this mutual hatred would be to make sure each tribe represents a single real world inspiration. Meztli would represent Polynesia in general because the only real inclusion here is Hawaii, the only part of Polynesia that can be included in the region of the Americas. (I'll get to why America in a second.) As for the remaining tribes we already do have several referenced real life tribes. There is lore from the Aztecs, Maya, Inca and Lakota. That's 5 out of 6 modern Natlan tribes. Given how many references are made we can refine Huitztlan into the Mayan tribe, the Masters of the Night-Wind are already mostly based on the Lakota and the Flower-Feather Clan will be Incan. Finally the most prominent Aztec culture will be given to Nanatzcayan. In the past Sakkuk was the only survivor of the group that defeated Ochkan and at present Xilonen is the blacksmith who creates the Ancient Names. Given ore is mined by this tribe it makes sense all the Ancient Name blacksmiths came from this tribe and with such a major aspect of Natlan culture based on this single tribe it makes sense they'd have the most influence. (And of course the Aztecs in our real world were also one of the most influential, probably the most out of these other tribes considering we have a character in this game Waxaklahun Ubah Kan that everybody definitely knows about but not with this Mayan name or even it's other Mayan name of Kukulkan. But if I said Quetzalcoatl who wouldn't know what I'm talking about? In reality many of these tribes believed in the feathered serpent.)
But that's only five tribes so what about the Collective of Plenty? Given the manhua defined the Natlanese as being one people we can tie it into the history of America. (the continent) We can suppose that the original Metzli were more isolated and therefore Venti may not have known about them compared to Vennessa who he suggested all Natlanese resembled. And we know Iansan does not resemble Vennessa either. This is because Iansan is based on Yoruba or West African culture. This group of people only arrived in the Americas because of the Triangle Trade and in fact that's what Vennessa was in the manhua, a slave. Therefore we can establish another period in Natlan where neighboring Remuria and its sister state Aristocratic Mondstadt became colonial powers. (which we already know they were) They invaded Natlan and again my Natlan wasn't a unified nation but a region of warring tribes just like Africa and the Americas were when Europe arrived. During this time slavery was established in Natlan, with scores of people shipped out to Remuria and Mondstadt. Some of these slaves might have even been traded to and fro so much that they already forgot about their own heritage which again we saw from Vennessa's tribe in the manhua. There's another reason for this though which is that Natlan's Ley Lines were damaged by Xiuhcoatl. The memories of Natlan do not get saved in Irminsul as a result which means the only history Natlan can have is the one they continuously tell. This reflects the real life aspect of oral tradition in these tribal societies.
However at the same time that the slave trade was happening so was a disruption to normal Natlan activities. Yoruba culture was forced onto all but the still isolated Metzli tribe as Remuria and Mondstadt brought the people who would become the Collective of Plenty to the nation. There would be two lingering traces of this culture upon all Natlan: the heroic names and the Ode to the Fallen. (this is to explain why they're in Swahili) Then Remuria fell, swallowed by the seas. All of the locals were dissolved into water which felt like divine punishment to the now freed Natlanese. They were able to return home, telling stories about the kingdom where "water flowed as rays of light." Even later the rest of Vennessa's tribe along with other slaves in Mondstadt also returned, explaining that divine punishment defeated the tyrants from the northern lands. This established a new precedent for Natlan: Natlan must be strong or else suffer from the foreign invaders once more. This led to the isolationist beliefs in Natlan. (in my version the Night Kingdom doesn't exist yet) There was also another precedent: The gods desire humanity to be free. (that'll become important in a second.)
With this Natlan established, we move into the Cataclysm. As the massive incursion by yet another foreign power (Khaenri'ah) ensued, Natlan realized it's severe lack of true strength. Mavuika would be the Archon during this time and she decided to take drastic measures. Natlan had been teaching that the gods desire for humanity to be free and that wouldn't be possible if the Abyss won. Using the knowledge bestowed by the Gnosis Mavuika contacted the shining shade Ronova and made a deal: her life for the power to save Natlan. And that deal was the establishment of the Ode of Resurrection and the construction of the Ancient Names.
The caveat as Mavuika knew was that the warring tribes would never be able to fuel the Sacred Flame enough to sustain any of this. Natlan would have to be truly united. To that end she sought someone without any tribal ties. (anybody from one tribe would either cater to that tribe or be accused of doing so by other tribes) She chose Tenoch who was recently exiled from Meztli. As Meztli was isolated, nobody from that tribe would have any bonds to the other tribes. Furthermore having been exiled a person from Meztli wouldn't have any allegiances to their own tribe either. Tenoch was the perfect outsider to act as a champion for all the other tribes, even better than the Archon herself who hailed from Huitztlan. Mavuika was in an even more precarious position as she is of mixed descent. Her father was from Huitztlan but he took a wife from Meztli, something previously unheard of. Even worse, Mavuika's mother carried ancient characteristics, a head of fiery red hair and muscular build. The present Natlanese only vaguely knew of a group who'd been taken to a foreign land as servants that returned to Natlan a few centuries ago and couldn't truly reintegrate into society. Mavuika's victory in the Fire Ceremony was seen as a Nemontemi as a result - a bad omen where darkness would envelop the sun - and the incursion by Khaenri'ah did not help her standing. (and yes I'm only saying her mom's from Meztli in order to keep the Mavuika name which is Polynesian)
Mavuika made a bargain with Tenoch, promising that his tribe would venerate him as a hero if he succeeded. Tenoch was no fool and knew that his tribe would never accept him back. However he personally wanted Natlan to withstand the oncoming darkness so he agreed. Mavuika guided him under the tutelage of Ronova in order for him to succeed in convincing the other tribes to unite with him. Then with Mavuika's power as Archon (actually Ronova's power as a shade) they suppressed the Abyss. However because Natlan had no Ley Lines to protect it the Abyss remained free to reinfest whereas even in Inazuma the Ley Lines kept it contained. Ronova used Yohualtecuhtin to reweave the shattered Ley Lines and apply her power over death to create the Night Kingdom which could act as a temporary replacement for the Ley Lines. However being a weaker version of it, the Abyss leeched into it and bided its time. Knowing that one day the Abyss would be strong enough to launch a new attack the remainder of the plan was to have the blacksmiths of Nanatzcayan construct the Ancient Names which would be based on the heroic names that had become core to Natlanese folklore and tradition. On top of that the Ode to the Fallen was repurposed into the Ode of Resurrection. By using the heroic names, people bearing them could have their entire memories recollected so that Ronova could house them inside revived physical bodies. To power this effect, the people of Natlan needed to continue competing in the Fire Ceremony only now instead of just the prestige of Archonhood they fought with each other to strengthen their unity against the Abyss. This Contending Fire burning inside each Natlanese fueled the Sacred Flame, a fire that was no longer actually a fire but a collection of the purest elemental energy, Phlogiston.
Phlogiston predated the elemental energies humans could wield and was actually the power of the Pyro Dragon Sovereign, something not even Ronova could harness. To that end they'd need another player. During Celestia's war for control, Ronova had worked with her other sisters and her master to suppress the Dragon Sovereigns, foundational beings of the planet. Besides the Geo Dragon Sovereign whose death would have also been the death of the planet itself the remaining Dragon Sovereigns had all been subdued or killed. The Pyro Dragon Sovereign, Xiuhcoatl knew its death was imminent. It had previously faked its death to buy time with which it destroyed Natlan's Ley Lines in a bid to force Celestia to abandon the area. "Natlan" was actually built on top of the last surviving dragon nations, Chichen Uctokah and it was Xiuhcoatl's hope that his kin could launch a counterattack from the nation as long as it survived. Its plan worked and the Dragon King Nibelung rallied together the surviving Dragon Sovereigns and their Dragonlord underlings, bestowing upon them a power from beyond which unfortunately was the Abyss. These dragons were poisoned by it which forced Celestia's hand, leading to Xiuhcoatl's true death along with the destruction of Chichen Uctokah. Furthermore because of the corruption, Xiuhcoatl was forced to separate its consciousness and body and its consciousness was sealed away. Likewise Levia was separated as well with its consciousness given to Focalors. Apep was struck down with a Divine Nail and Nibelung was obliterated. The Geo Dragon Sovereign Morax had chosen to obstain from the conflict in favor of witnessing time's progress. However Xiuhcoatl was still more clever than that. It had already separated itself into two other counterparts, Ochkan and Waxaklahun Ubah Kan. Ochkan would also go on to be killed but Waxaklahun Ubah Kan remained alive. Over time it had come to regret its decisions especially under Nibelung and that it had given up on humanity too soon. Therefore Ronova was able to convince it to become the conduit to process Phlogiston into the power of Light that she could use to perform her resurrections. Waxaklahun Ubah Kan transformed into a spiritual entity, the Wayob who could also motivate the Natlanese to produce as much Contending Fire as they possibly could. Finally while the Pyro Gnosis had been used to collect Contending Fire from the people into the Sacred Flame, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan's would also come to use it to process the Phlogiston into usable Light energy for Ronova. After all the Gnosis was originally it's own power. Of course with so much raw elemental energy flowing into the Gnosis - the item that bestowed the human Archon with her powers - it would eventually burn through the human body. This was the deal Mavuika made, that she'd eventually receive the onslaught of raw Phlogiston from the Gnosis which her human body could not hope to absorb and she'd die.
Side Note: I'm calling Neuvillette's original dragon form Levia because of Leviathan but also because Levia in Hebrew means joined or connected and in Fontaine's story, Focalors needed Neuvillette to connect with the humans in order to convince him to save them with his power over the Primordial Sea. Also in my version here I'm going with my theory that Focalors is the name of the Hydro Archon. Her given name was Egeria but she had dissociative identity disorder that led her to see herself as the calculating Egeria and the pure Furina. This is why Focalors is never actually called Focalors but Focalors' Divinity aka the Gnosis, which was previously Egeria's. It's just like how miHoYo used the quotes in Capitano's name to hint that he wasn't a single person.
In fact Mavuika wouldn't even be able to withstand the Phlogiston for very long. To that end and knowing the Abyss would take a long time to regain its strength, Mavuika would have to be housed inside of a protective shell beyond time and only awaken at the right moment. In the meantime Natlan would be without an Archon, guided instead by the Wayob. Tenoch started a new tradition, a human that represented the Archon until her eventual return. Now with a Night Kingdom that could store its memories, Natlan was able to hold onto traditions and maintain its culture which it would need to do for the next 500 years. Ronova also used the Wayob to reinforce the Natlanese belief in isolationism though now it was because the Night Kingdom's reach only extended across Natlan and its capacity to house memories was likewise limited compared to the Ley Lines.
And that'll lead us to the present and the Natlan Archon Quest. So we get an importance for why they'd need to be united (For Natlan!) and that they hadn't been throughout most of their history, on top of setting up why no legends were passed down about the Huitztlanian Mavuika and even Kinich's line from Act I about how only when a person's Ancient Name survives can their history survive. It also explains why Natlan was the worst off in the Cataclysm and even why it seems less capable of defending itself against it.
There is another part of Natlan that didn't sit right with people, myself included. Natlan is being used to promote Zenless Zone Zero just like Fontaine was used to promote Star Rail. There are many shoutouts in Natlan to the 70s and modern era. Most of it ended up being things that Xilonen came up with like her roller blades, Kachina's digger robot car, Chasca's gun-missile-jet and finally Mavuika's motorcycle but besides Xilonen you also have Ajaw and Kinich's ability to summon what amounts to physical manifestations of old arcade video game sprites, Mualani's lava-worthy, inflatable and partly living surfboard and even Nanatzcayan's knowledge of hip-hop and break dance while Meztli has CDs. Nothing about Natlan allows this stuff to work.
However we can work around this by looking back at the Hoyoverse itself. A rule established by Honkai Impact 3rd is that humanity left to its own devices will advance technologies that cause its downfall. We already saw this rule play out in Genshin itself with the downfall of Khaenri'ah though the direct cause wasn't related to its technology. King Deshret also created a society with advanced technology and it led to the society's downfall. Luckily for us Natlan falls in this boat as well. Natlan is littered with the advanced tech of the old dragon civilization and while the dragons were likely able to control their ambitions, having all of this technology scattered around for humanity to rediscover might lead them to reverse engineer some of it. (Back when v5.1 released I actually joked that Xilonen would love getting her hands on the new boss.) On top of that this version of Natlan that I've created wasn't unified and was constantly at war. As we've seen from European history, when you have people constantly at war technology advances at a rapid rate to keep up with escalation. It isn't unlikely that these tribes would find the Secret Source Mechanisms and then develop advanced weaponry like guns (or shoulder mounted cannons) and rocket powered hammers/sawblade axes. Following the Cataclysm when the nation starts to come together this is when you'd have the blacksmiths of Nanatzcayan develop technologies for the whole nation like Xilonen.
This could then be used as another reason why Natlan is vulnerable to the Abyss. As we see in Zenless, advanced technology can be corrupted by Ether. Since Ether is used to power much of New Eridu's infrastructure this leads to Ether Corruption being a very prominent issue. Natlan likewise is plagued by the Abyss so their excessive use of reverse engineered dragon tech would make them much more vulnerable to Abyssal Corruption than any of the other nations. We have seen this to be the case considering how resilient the rest of Teyvat seems to be when afflicted by the Abyss compared to Natlanese.
We can even take this a step further if we consider advanced civilizations like Atlantis. Some retellings of the myth suggest that Atlantis was destroyed by their abuse of technology. There are also stories (specific examples escape me for the moment) where a powerful technology was kept in check by its creators but once the civilization died out adopters of the same tech didn't know that they needed to maintain it. Natlan could be in this boat. Perhaps the original dragon civilization created their Secret Source Mechanism tech with the awareness that they need to use them in moderation or restore whatever they might weaken. Let's say they weaken the Ley Lines by drawing energy from them. (maybe the Ley Lines are built upon Phlogiston or something) The dragons knew this while the humans didn't and so once they start using this technology they drained the Ley Lines without knowing what they were doing thus further destroying their own Ley Lines and becoming vulnerable to the Abyss.
Finally we have a recurring theme in Natlan which is tech that comes at an ethical cost. Most recently Chasca's Tribal Chronicle introduced Phlogiston powered jetpacks but the underlying mechanism for it required torturing Qucusaurs and siphoning their natural ability to filter Gaseous Phlogiston into fuel for flight. I quickly pointed out that the ethical issue is made moot simply by Natlan contacting Liyue and making use of Plaustrite which lets things float. For the antagonist's sky base she could have used Sunset Vermillionite.
The ethical cost theme is an actual complaint in Natlan but if they addressed the existence of similar and conscience free technology in Teyvat they could add in another wrinkle to justify the use of the unethical tech. In the previous example perhaps Plaustrite requires the existence of Ley Lines on the surface to trigger its anti-gravity ability and thus can't be used in Natlan. Or you could even have the antagonist not know about the Liyue technology and lose her excuse for causing harm to the Qucusaurs once she does thus revealing her underlying hatred of them.
And this can also be used to offer a better explanation for why Xilonen only made one rocket gun for Chasca and not for the rest of the Flower-Feather Clan. Rather than the tech being hard to control (it's called training) the real reason could be that during the age of constant inter-tribal war this technology did exist in abundance and further drained the Ley Lines as a result. Once Mavuika set up the post-Cataclysm rules for Natlan, the aversion to large scale manufacturing of technology was also propragated, perhaps even as a "lie" that mass-produced tech is difficult to control.
Ok so with all that in mind, the Natlan our Traveler arrives in is one that's still working towards Mavuika's vision. The old history was never really recorded because they lacked the Ley Lines that could store those memories. This made it easier to let go of any old grudges between tribes but their cultural differences are still a problem spot and cause petty conflicts between tribes. This makes things like Kachina's close friendship with Mualani (especially Mualani as my Meztli is an isolated tribe) so special. Chasca's role as Peacemaker also becomes much more straightforward. In fact we could suppose that only our major characters are actively working towards friendship while the tribes are only maintaining very weak tolerance of each other. This way the advancements of the Abyss can make more sense not just as a powerful force but one that regularly pits tribes against each other. Let's say Huitztlan was attacked but Nanatzcayan delayed providing aid for one reason or another thereby causing tensions between the tribes and the fear that should Nanatzcayan be attacked, Huitztlan might withhold aid out of revenge.
This ultimately leads to Act IV's Natlan-wide Abyssal attack where the heroes do their utmost to defend all of Natlan but the tribes are only interested in protecting their own. Only when they willingly choose to defend each other does Mavuika's plan work, channeling Natlan's united Contending Fire through the heroes as conduits to then fully power the Sacred Flame (actually the Phlogiston-infused Pyro Gnosis inside) which gives Mavuika the insane burst of power she gained. (At the cost of her life which is then off-set by Capitano. My Ronova would have been secretly hoping for Capitano's revenge and would thus reward it by restoring Mavuika's health.) In the aftermath Natlan finally realizes they are stronger together.
My version of Natlan still doesn't explain why the Statue of the Seven looks like Mavuika. The lore has been consistent that the statues resemble the original Archon that was appointed to rule their respective region. This is why we needed so many lookalike Archons previously: Makoto and Ei, Rukkhadevata and Nahida, Egeria and Furina. It is also generally accepted that the statues were created when the Seven were established (again why they look like the original Archon) and this is reinforced by anti-Celestia characters like Dainsleif and Chlothar never bringing up the statues despite having stories that take them directly to a statue. It is even assumed by the Genshin wiki that Makoto's statue appeared in Watatsumi after Ei defeated Orobashi which was long before the Cataclysm. (it's actually unclear if that's when the statue appeared)
Haborym also falls into this bucket. Humans don't have demon names as you might imagine so there is no reason why there would ever be a Pyro Archon Haborym unless somebody ascended to becoming an actual Archon. Makoto and Ei became Beelzebul and Baal upon Ascension. This makes sense because they became a demon god and gained all of the characteristics of one as well like immortality and the constitution of a god. Mavuika as we've been consistently told is still a human and simply augmented by the Gnosis to be stronger than peak human capabilities. For example Mavuika could only temporarily house the ability to rain fire from the sky to defeat the Abyss. Meanwhile we know Zhongli back in the Archon War regularly rained "spears" of rock the size of mountains down on his many many Archon enemies. Another example is Ei who cleaved an island in half with a single sword swing and this was only a side-effect of her killing an Archon with the attack. We're never told that this was in any way draining for her. On the contrary, this feat is made impressive by the implication that it was effortless on her part as are most of her fights which then made our victory over her so unprecedented.
And miHoYo did themselves no favors here by sending you to the NPC at the end of Sol Invictus who names Mavuika as "Lady Haborym" thereby solidifying that it is her Ars Goetia Demon name as a true Archon. (Keep in mind guys that the Ars Goetia names are the Archon's "true name" like Morax who only goes by the alias of Zhongli while in his human form or Venti which is just an invented name by Barbatos when he took on the form of his late friend. Scara refers to Buer when challenging Nahida. The only Ars Goetia name we have so far that isn't a true name is Ei and Makoto's who only got theirs upon Ascension. Notice how all of their lore focuses on the meaning behind Makoto "truth" and Ei "shadow" as in Makoto the true Electro Archon and her Kagemusha.)
The Mare Jivari having been named over 1000 years ago but then Natlan claims it was named during the incident 500 years ago is still not resolved. I think this is just going to be a continuity error that miHoYo plans to overlook. (Actually the Ars Goetia name thing might even be getting overlooked too. I have a theory that since Fontaine, miHoYo's actually replaced their original dev team for Genshin with a new one so many of the older facts we knew about the game might be obsolete while this new team gets their bearings. We can see that from the jump in quality but with no shortage of these plotholes between the Fontaine story and Natlan's story. In this case, I have a feeling the new team views the Ars Goetia names as something more like titles so Morax and Barbatos are now actually Zhongli and Venti. We'll have to see what happens with Snezhnaya to be sure.)
With how purely evil the Abyss is shown to be it makes our sibling's motives to defy the Heavenly Principles less unclear. No matter what, utilizing the power of the Abyss can't be a good thing. But Natlan and recent stories have been showing us their beneficial side. Enjou saved a Saurian for no other reason than he saw it falling and came to its rescue, even nursing it back to health since we know it was Abyssal Corruption that sent it over the cliff to begin with. I did not have an answer to this plothole. My Abyss is just as malevolent with no possible redeeming qualities.
And speaking of seeing the good in the bad guys, what was up with Mavuika's line about Snezhnaya? We're going to have to confront them? Right after Capitano's sacrifice? Right now we've been getting good Harbinger after good Harbinger. In Fontaine we reunited with Childe who was already something like a frenemy, someone we managed to befriend despite having opposing goals. Then we meet Arlecchino who is probably a saint in the organization. She wasn't even Fontainian but fought as if her own life was on the line to prevent the prophecy. Which then leads to Capitano. Right now we've gotten very mixed signals about the Fatui. Dottore is undoubtedly malicious. There is not a redeeming bone in his psychotic body. Signora and Scara were also in this boat with Signora only being sympathetic because she sympathized with Arlecchino's orphans and Scara being made sympathetic because miHoYo wanted to sell us on the Wanderer. We've also heard about the questionable actions of Pantalone and Sandrone while Pulcinella's only action is being cold towards Signora's death. Unfortunately I had nothing for this. It's just very odd development by miHoYo. (again likely because we have a new dev team since Fontaine) When we get to Snezhnaya are we supposed to be prepared for a fight or will we be welcomed with open arms by the comrades we've already made? Will our mere presence cause a civil war between the Harbingers?
Side Note: If the idea that Dottore will be the next Harbinger sent to take the Pyro Gnosis holds true I think it'll play out in Mavuika's Second Character Quest and he'll be our Harbinger Weekly Boss for Natlan where we can finally end him.
And the last plothole that my version doesn't address and neither did Act V was that big honking Divine Nail hanging out right over the central Wayob totem in the Night Kingdom. We killed the Abyssal version of the Pyro Dragon and then nothing. We don't even get to visit this central area of the Night Kingdom despite Act V's main event taking place 100% in the Night Kingdom. What happened there? Well I already have a theory that would have covered for that so let's go with that having happened along with that very dry scene of the actual sacrifice.
Ok so that's still plenty of loose ends. However my version does explain why the Pyro Archon is the God of War. With a lineage of constant warfare, the leader who attained their position through combat would embody war. Mavuika becomes the first God of War to desire an end to the conflict though this only leads her to build a united front to start a larger scale war against the Abyss. Even after Act V Natlan's Archon will still be selected through combat in my version.
And likewise my origin for Mavuika as a mixed blood with a Huitztlanian father and Vennessa tribe-descended mother being unaccepted by the tribe as a whole explains why nobody recognized that the Pyro Archon was from their tribe. This is further reinforced by my version where the Night Kingdom was only created 500 years ago therefore Natlan's history was only beginning to be remembered towards the end of her initial run. Finally her transporting herself 500 years into the future is better explained by being directly related to a plan she concocted with Ronova (rather than Xbalanque doing it) because the shades all have the power of the Light element and therefore can manipulate time.
All of that from the last paragraph also removes the need for memory manipulation and so any reference to it in the Archon Quest and Xilonen's Tribal Chronicle can be self-contained and unrelated. Natlan just never really had memories until Mavuika set up the new Night Kingdom and Ancient Names system. In fact much of their ability to maintain memories rely on those Ancient Names making the point of Xilonen's chronicle an emphasis on Natlan's fragility if we go with my version.
My Natlan explains why Natlan was the worst effected by the Cataclysm. Their Ley Lines were gone and the Night Kingdom only existed because of the Cataclysm. Furthermore their own use of dragon technology further damaged the Ley Lines and prevented any hope of repairing them meaning even if one of the human Archons did ascend and pull a Makoto, no Sacred Sakura would be able to strengthen Ley Lines that don't exist.
My version also explains why Natlanese are so susceptible to Abyssal Corruption. It is never explained by miHoYo but my version makes it obvious. Their Ley Lines were never repaired and their own weapons and tools make them prone to absorbing Abyssal Corruption. The Pilgrimages and struggle against the Abyss in the Night Kingdom also makes sense. Unlike the Night Warden Wars which don't really explain what the stakes are, what the costs are for losing one or what Natlan gains from a win, my version explains that the Abyss was still rebuilding so all the Pilgrimage was for was to forge stronger ties between the tribes, flood the Sacred Flame with their Contending Fire and essentially train an army for its eventual attack. That also explains why they had time for relaxation and getting in a nice soak in the hot spring. There was no immediate threat from the Abyss. It was strengthening and perhaps its forces might invade in small numbers from time to time but overall the last 500 years were meant to strengthen the tribes as a unified nation which they weren't. The conflict resulted from their own wars and not the Abyss. That is why in spite of Inazuma's civil war, Inazuma doesn't represent war while Natlan does. The civil war was a brief moment in its history. My Natlan until Act IV had never been at peace.
By changing it so that Xbalanque only set up the Natlan built up of tribes with a competition to determine a human successor as Archon and then Mavuika is the one who set up the Night Kingdom and Ancient Names, even changing the competition into the Pilgrimage, it makes Mavuika's six heroes strategy make sense. The reason this never occurred to anyone else before her is that there was never a need and the tribes had never been united. But after the devastation of the Cataclysm Mavuika needed a better solution to save Natlan. The Ancient Names only existed starting with her so at no previous point could heroes gather and collect their memory powers across 500 years. In fact my version didn't even put any emphasis on 500 years. The reason why this was when the heroes needed to awaken was because this was when the Abyss would have rebuilt its strength. Similarly the Ode of Resurrection didn't exist until 500 years ago but because there is no Night Warden Wars in my version nobody ever gets to be brought back by it until Act IV when it is activated by the heroes. Before that the only people that could be brought back as a last resort were the heroes themselves.
Finally while I don't really bring it up, my Xilonen doesn't need to sacrifice her life to make the Hope Ancient Name, my Kachina doesn't die from the Night Warden Wars since they don't exist (I'd probably need some other event to explain how Kachina ends up in the Night Kingdom or why the group needs to go to the Night Kingdom) and the Lord of Night also can't sacrifice itself to repair the Ley Lines. The only deaths in my version are Mavuika's as a cost for channeling so much Phlogiston into herself and then Capitano for the same reason as in miHoYo's version. Likewise Capitano's sacrifice saves Mavuika though my version would be a little different. It would have also been Ronova's plan all along. (right and it became a new plothole in Act V that Xilonen's sacrifice is never even brought up though they made such a big deal about it in Act IV)
This was very fun to do. Honestly while my motivations back in Fontaine were fueled by disappointment (and then anger at Genshin Lore's poor management) I had fun figuring out how to tell the story better. Likewise while Natlan drew tons of criticism for essentially whitewashing three non-white regions that were smooshed together into a single region of Teyvat, I really enjoyed reshaping it while keeping as much of miHoYo's original idea as I could.
