Musings on Divergent Universe lore
Jul. 24th, 2024 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoThere have always been discussions and arguments surrounding the fact that the gameplay "Classes" (I'll use this term to distinguish it from the lore "Paths") of many characters don't match their philosophical/political backstory. Before, most people reached the conclusion that Hoyo makes an effort to design characters into appropriate classes, but due to gameplay design, that isn't always possible, and so there will be some characters who get placed into inappropriate classes.
I mean, the most obvious support for this is the fact that there are a lot more Paths than there are playable Classes. Our protagonist team all follow the Path of the Trailblaze according to in-game dialogue, but there's no Trailblaze class. The Stellaron Hunters, as we've learned recently, follow the Path of Finality. Argenti is an ardent follower of Beauty. Black Swan is an agent of Remembrance. And so on and so forth... these are all Paths which don't have corresponding Classes, so obviously, the characters need to be sorted elsewhere.
But more recently, with the Divergent Universe: The Human Comedy update, a different consensus has emerged:
If a Path is a concept, a divine portfolio in the Greek Myth kind of way, then only the Aeons can be completely pure of purpose enough to tread solely on a particular Path. They moment they are no longer purely of that Path, they fall from the position of Aeon (which is sorta/partly what happened to Tayzzyronth the Propagation).
All other living beings, however, have varying levels of free will and thus can be a messy conglomeration of multiple Paths. Though most common mortals don't walk any particular Path will enough "force", if you will, to amount to anything. To become a Pathstrider, you need to have some sort of focus on a particular Path above others, but even then, it is very much possible to be a Pathstrider of multiple Paths. Hell, Phantylia even proved that is possible to mainline more than one path as an Emanator.
The Divergent Universe even gives us a bunch of examples in what combinations of Paths could result in! Though, it's still limited by gameplay to combinations of two Paths. But we do see in our player character the possibilities of further combinations, given that our MC is technically powered by the Paths of Trailblaze/Destruction/Preservation/Harmony, with likely a lot more to come in the future.
Recently, I've been sorting out these equations (mostly to strategize on beating Protocol level 5 & 6), and some patterns and bits of lore have stood out to me:
The way the primary vs secondary Paths are given for each "faction" (let's call it) have some patterns.
For the primary Paths, it's defined either by one's driving philosophy (or background social group's philosophy), or by Nature. By the latter, I mean biology; or being blessed by a particular Aeon (which in the case of Abundance, also effectively means biology)...
All of the Propagation/* factions are various subspecies of bugs, no exceptions. The two Abundance/Propagation factions are body horror bugs. And then the rest of the Abundance/* factions are all entities that have sought and received immortality from Yaoshi the Abundance, or have inherited the same through bloodline.
And yes, this is also the means by which a person or faction can "belong" to a Path which they did not choose, and may actively dislike or want to reject. For example, the Xianzhou inheriting the Blessing of Abundance but disapproving of immortality. For example, the Mourning Actors rejecting the concept of Elation, but are still Pathstriders of Elation due to the blessing of Aha. For example, Acheron being an Emanator of Nihility who actively rejects the creed of Nihility and seeks to help others avoid/escape/break free of it.
By contrast, the secondary Path seems to refer to one's methodology, or how one acts as opposed to what one's goals are. Those of */Destruction use destructive methods to achieve whatever their goals are. Those of */Preservations are defenders of whatever their main philosophy is. And so forth.
After grouping and sorting all of the example equations we were given, it seems Preservation is the one consisting of mostly "good guys" (that is, factions with positive goals and and intent to improve on the universe/society/etc.) Next up with a good amount of positive and neutral factions are Elation, Hunt, and Remembrance. Then Erudition & Nihility are up next with a mix of good/neutral/bad factions. A further step down is Abundance, which is a bit more polarized (with Abundance/* being more often bad guys and */Abundance being more often good, implying the Concept itself can be wielded for good, but the Aeon isn't really helping anyone). Then at the bottom are Destruction & Propagation, which are almost all "bad" factions which are threats to the rest of the cosmos.
Casts a new light on the Xianzhou vs Denizens of Abundance conflict, huh?
The Xianzhou itself isn't explicitly listed in the equations, most likely because the Xianzhou as a whole are a complicated set of worlds/populations made up of multiple internal factions, and not all of which have the Blessings of Abundance (for example, short lived people like Yingxing, or Vidyadhara as a whole). But IMO, the Xianzhou philosophy fits very well with this Equation:
Eternal Stranger: Abundance/Hunt
"Immortality is the undying curse, as well as eternity's blessing. All living beings suffer, but there is no one to help them...Willows wrap around your chest and reach to your waist. The mortal wounds heal, signaling your journey is far from reaching its end. The immortals have their own responsibilities. You pick up the sword that could slice through steel and iron, listening to the pleas for help from the stars.
You could probably write some Cloud Quintet stories based on this lore blurb.
As an aside, it's very clear based on all of the Equations involving the Hunt, whether as primary or secondary Path, that this Path doesn't really refer the Concept of "pursue and kill targets for food or sport or whatever other reason", though that is often the imagery used. But rather, the actual Concept in use closer to the Chinese term "侠". I guess "Vigilantism" just doesn't sound as cool on the drawing board, and "Justice" might be too narrow, or close to other paths like Equilibrium to get used.
Also, I guess it's also another fault of the Xianzhou story arc that it really failed to properly present the underlying philosophy of this faction. Penacony arc went into a lot of detail over the philosophical conflict between Order and Harmony, and Order vs free choice, and how Penacony's history built up to the present. But Xianzhou arc main story never presented an in depth definition or defense on the Xianzhou's driving philosophy, why they follow The Hunt and why they are enemies of the Abundance.
In fact, a great many casuals come out of the arc with the impression that the Xianzhou are just being ungrateful hypocrites for obtaining the gift of immortality, and then turning their backs on the source, and are murderously out to off anyone else who seeks the gift of immortality too. You have to actually dig into the readables and side lore to find out that, no the Xianzhou doesn't automatically attack anyone for just walking the path of Abundance or even for worshipping Yaoshi. Their enemies, the Denizens of Abundance, are specific factions which are generally threats to the innocent and are horrible slavers/conquistadors besides.
***
That rant aside, the secondary Path being one's methodology also explains a lot about what classes many playable characters have been placed into.
For example, Jing Yuan being */Erudition makes sense, since he is famed for using on his wits to resolve conflicts. Blade and DHIL being */Destruction makes sense, since the former is a berserker, and the latter inherited just the destructive parts of Dan Feng's powers at his own admission.
For that matter, IMO, some of these folks actually walk more than just 2 paths as well. My headcanon for some characters would look like this:
Jing Yuan: Abundance/Hunt/Erudition
Blade: Abundance/Finality/Destruction
Dan Heng: Permanence/Trailblaze/Hunt (as 4 star) -> Permanence/Trailblaze/Destruction (as DHIL)
Jingliu: Abundance/Hunt/Destruction
Fu Xuan: Abundance/Erudition/Preservation
Topaz: Preservation/Hunt
Aventurine: Preservation/Elation (purely IMO, but supported in that he canonically got an invite to join the Mask Fools before choosing to stick with the IPC)
Firefly: Hunt/Propagation (originally) -> Finality/Destruction (after reawakening)
Going back to the topic of secondary Paths, this particular Equation really drew my notice:
"Penman: Erudition/Hunt
"...You seize the right to knowledge from the sages and donate it to the ignorant stars. Words and thoughts ripple through the waters. The notion of inferiority is nothing but a lie woven by the evil dragon hoarding treasures. When the fountain of knowledge generously flows across the land, people will realize everyone is born equal."
...for how well it matches Dr. Ratio's profile:
"...He demonstrated unparalleled intelligence and talent since his youth, but now refers to himself as a "Mundanite." He firmly believes that intellect and creativity are not confined to geniuses. He seeks to distribute knowledge to the entire universe to cure the persistent disease named ignorance."
Now we know why Dr. Ratio is a Hunt class rather than Erudition for gameplay. It all makes sense!
I mean, the most obvious support for this is the fact that there are a lot more Paths than there are playable Classes. Our protagonist team all follow the Path of the Trailblaze according to in-game dialogue, but there's no Trailblaze class. The Stellaron Hunters, as we've learned recently, follow the Path of Finality. Argenti is an ardent follower of Beauty. Black Swan is an agent of Remembrance. And so on and so forth... these are all Paths which don't have corresponding Classes, so obviously, the characters need to be sorted elsewhere.
But more recently, with the Divergent Universe: The Human Comedy update, a different consensus has emerged:
If a Path is a concept, a divine portfolio in the Greek Myth kind of way, then only the Aeons can be completely pure of purpose enough to tread solely on a particular Path. They moment they are no longer purely of that Path, they fall from the position of Aeon (which is sorta/partly what happened to Tayzzyronth the Propagation).
All other living beings, however, have varying levels of free will and thus can be a messy conglomeration of multiple Paths. Though most common mortals don't walk any particular Path will enough "force", if you will, to amount to anything. To become a Pathstrider, you need to have some sort of focus on a particular Path above others, but even then, it is very much possible to be a Pathstrider of multiple Paths. Hell, Phantylia even proved that is possible to mainline more than one path as an Emanator.
The Divergent Universe even gives us a bunch of examples in what combinations of Paths could result in! Though, it's still limited by gameplay to combinations of two Paths. But we do see in our player character the possibilities of further combinations, given that our MC is technically powered by the Paths of Trailblaze/Destruction/Preservation/Harmony, with likely a lot more to come in the future.
Recently, I've been sorting out these equations (mostly to strategize on beating Protocol level 5 & 6), and some patterns and bits of lore have stood out to me:
The way the primary vs secondary Paths are given for each "faction" (let's call it) have some patterns.
For the primary Paths, it's defined either by one's driving philosophy (or background social group's philosophy), or by Nature. By the latter, I mean biology; or being blessed by a particular Aeon (which in the case of Abundance, also effectively means biology)...
All of the Propagation/* factions are various subspecies of bugs, no exceptions. The two Abundance/Propagation factions are body horror bugs. And then the rest of the Abundance/* factions are all entities that have sought and received immortality from Yaoshi the Abundance, or have inherited the same through bloodline.
And yes, this is also the means by which a person or faction can "belong" to a Path which they did not choose, and may actively dislike or want to reject. For example, the Xianzhou inheriting the Blessing of Abundance but disapproving of immortality. For example, the Mourning Actors rejecting the concept of Elation, but are still Pathstriders of Elation due to the blessing of Aha. For example, Acheron being an Emanator of Nihility who actively rejects the creed of Nihility and seeks to help others avoid/escape/break free of it.
By contrast, the secondary Path seems to refer to one's methodology, or how one acts as opposed to what one's goals are. Those of */Destruction use destructive methods to achieve whatever their goals are. Those of */Preservations are defenders of whatever their main philosophy is. And so forth.
After grouping and sorting all of the example equations we were given, it seems Preservation is the one consisting of mostly "good guys" (that is, factions with positive goals and and intent to improve on the universe/society/etc.) Next up with a good amount of positive and neutral factions are Elation, Hunt, and Remembrance. Then Erudition & Nihility are up next with a mix of good/neutral/bad factions. A further step down is Abundance, which is a bit more polarized (with Abundance/* being more often bad guys and */Abundance being more often good, implying the Concept itself can be wielded for good, but the Aeon isn't really helping anyone). Then at the bottom are Destruction & Propagation, which are almost all "bad" factions which are threats to the rest of the cosmos.
| Path | Negative | Neutral | Positive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preservation | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Elation | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| Hunt | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Remembrance | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Erudition | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Nihility | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Abundance | 6 | 2 | 5 |
| Propagation | 9 | 3 | 1 |
| Destruction | 10 | 2 | 1 |
Casts a new light on the Xianzhou vs Denizens of Abundance conflict, huh?
The Xianzhou itself isn't explicitly listed in the equations, most likely because the Xianzhou as a whole are a complicated set of worlds/populations made up of multiple internal factions, and not all of which have the Blessings of Abundance (for example, short lived people like Yingxing, or Vidyadhara as a whole). But IMO, the Xianzhou philosophy fits very well with this Equation:
Eternal Stranger: Abundance/Hunt
"Immortality is the undying curse, as well as eternity's blessing. All living beings suffer, but there is no one to help them...Willows wrap around your chest and reach to your waist. The mortal wounds heal, signaling your journey is far from reaching its end. The immortals have their own responsibilities. You pick up the sword that could slice through steel and iron, listening to the pleas for help from the stars.
You could probably write some Cloud Quintet stories based on this lore blurb.
As an aside, it's very clear based on all of the Equations involving the Hunt, whether as primary or secondary Path, that this Path doesn't really refer the Concept of "pursue and kill targets for food or sport or whatever other reason", though that is often the imagery used. But rather, the actual Concept in use closer to the Chinese term "侠". I guess "Vigilantism" just doesn't sound as cool on the drawing board, and "Justice" might be too narrow, or close to other paths like Equilibrium to get used.
Also, I guess it's also another fault of the Xianzhou story arc that it really failed to properly present the underlying philosophy of this faction. Penacony arc went into a lot of detail over the philosophical conflict between Order and Harmony, and Order vs free choice, and how Penacony's history built up to the present. But Xianzhou arc main story never presented an in depth definition or defense on the Xianzhou's driving philosophy, why they follow The Hunt and why they are enemies of the Abundance.
In fact, a great many casuals come out of the arc with the impression that the Xianzhou are just being ungrateful hypocrites for obtaining the gift of immortality, and then turning their backs on the source, and are murderously out to off anyone else who seeks the gift of immortality too. You have to actually dig into the readables and side lore to find out that, no the Xianzhou doesn't automatically attack anyone for just walking the path of Abundance or even for worshipping Yaoshi. Their enemies, the Denizens of Abundance, are specific factions which are generally threats to the innocent and are horrible slavers/conquistadors besides.
***
That rant aside, the secondary Path being one's methodology also explains a lot about what classes many playable characters have been placed into.
For example, Jing Yuan being */Erudition makes sense, since he is famed for using on his wits to resolve conflicts. Blade and DHIL being */Destruction makes sense, since the former is a berserker, and the latter inherited just the destructive parts of Dan Feng's powers at his own admission.
For that matter, IMO, some of these folks actually walk more than just 2 paths as well. My headcanon for some characters would look like this:
Jing Yuan: Abundance/Hunt/Erudition
Blade: Abundance/Finality/Destruction
Dan Heng: Permanence/Trailblaze/Hunt (as 4 star) -> Permanence/Trailblaze/Destruction (as DHIL)
Jingliu: Abundance/Hunt/Destruction
Fu Xuan: Abundance/Erudition/Preservation
Topaz: Preservation/Hunt
Aventurine: Preservation/Elation (purely IMO, but supported in that he canonically got an invite to join the Mask Fools before choosing to stick with the IPC)
Firefly: Hunt/Propagation (originally) -> Finality/Destruction (after reawakening)
Going back to the topic of secondary Paths, this particular Equation really drew my notice:
"Penman: Erudition/Hunt
"...You seize the right to knowledge from the sages and donate it to the ignorant stars. Words and thoughts ripple through the waters. The notion of inferiority is nothing but a lie woven by the evil dragon hoarding treasures. When the fountain of knowledge generously flows across the land, people will realize everyone is born equal."
...for how well it matches Dr. Ratio's profile:
"...He demonstrated unparalleled intelligence and talent since his youth, but now refers to himself as a "Mundanite." He firmly believes that intellect and creativity are not confined to geniuses. He seeks to distribute knowledge to the entire universe to cure the persistent disease named ignorance."
Now we know why Dr. Ratio is a Hunt class rather than Erudition for gameplay. It all makes sense!
