Astral Express (Trailblazer)
Locations: Herta Space Station | Belobog | Xianzhou Luofu
Stellaron Hunters
Aeons
The Trailblazer
Receptacle Stelle (female) or Receptacle Caelus (male)
Introduced: April 26, 2023 (v1.0 "The Rail Unto the Stars" [game launch])
Stelle is voiced by: Chen Tingting (Chinese), Yui Ishikawa (Japanese), Rachael Chau (English)
Caelus is voiced by: Qin Qiege (Chinese), Jun'ya Enoki (Japanese), Caleb Yen (English)
Birthday: (player-determined)
Path: (adaptive, initially The Destruction)
The Player Character of Honkai: Star Rail. A mysterious entity of unknown origin, they are awoken from a deep slumber when an interstellar criminal organization known as the Stellaron Hunters invades the Herta Space Station and forcibly merges their being with a malevolent artifact known as a Stellaron, giving them untold and undiscovered latent power. Devoid of their memories, the Trailblazer joins the Astral Express crew to go on otherworldly adventures, seek the truth about themselves and the Stellarons, and pave the road to the future.
Unlike other characters, the Trailblazer has the unique gift of being able to change Paths, combat types, and weaponry as the situation needs—as of v1.0, Destruction, where they prioritize on pure physical damage-dealing and wields a baton; and Preservation, where they draw enemy attention away from their allies and scorches them with a fiery lance.
- Ambiguously Human: What they are is a driving force of the early story, as their body is "downloaded" over a Stellaron and seemingly have become an entity tied to the Aeons with their supernatural powers.
- Amnesiac Hero: Whatever is going on with their containing the Stellaron, Kafka and Silver Wolf knew the Trailblazer was going to lose their memories over it. Bits and pieces seem to fill their mind from time to time, but the gaps are so vast that very little is solidified yet.
- Bad Powers, Good People: A Stellaron with the Path of Destruction should theoretically be a chaotic Physical God, but their inexperience, humanity, and morals help temper them to be a heroic individual.
- Blood Knight: Depending on the player's choices, the Trailblazer can be extremely eager to get into fights. Some dialogue choices make it their primary motivation for helping others or complain when a fight wasn't challenging enough.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: If the flavor texts is anything to go by, if one doesn't straight up consider them a Cloudcuckoolander. Dialogue choices play with how quirky they can get but their thoughts and some behaviours like described in Companion Cube are completely out of the player's control.
- Canon Name: Though you can give them a custom name, the menu interface for selecting between between the two identifies the male Trailblazer as "Caelus", and the female Trailblazer as "Stelle".
- Chemically-Induced Insanity: After the Trailblazer helps Dan Shu rescue a blind girl, Dan Shu decides to give the Trailblazer a strange medicine as a thank-you present. Assuming they ingest the medicine the Trailblazer begins to feel unusual and returns to the Seat of Divine Foresight to find mara-sent swarming the building. After fighting off the mara-sent, the medicine's effects disperse and they realize that whatever they took caused them to hallucinate Cloud Knights as hostiles. They eventually conclude that the Stellaron inside their body repelled the effects of the medicine before it afflicted permanent damage.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The dialogue choices do determine how spacey they are to some extent, but some of their other behavior the player has no control over like their fixation on random inanimate objects do paint them naturally as being rather out-there.
- Comically Serious: A lot of the humor revolving around the Trailblazer involves them just doing and saying things that are plain odd while remaining stone-faced.
- Companion Cube: Many interactions with random objects in the world, such as trash cans, hotel room closets, and chests containing other people's belongings, have the Trailblazer become absolutely fixated and obsessed with them.
- Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: To both Kiana Kaslana and the Traveler, the respective protagonists of two previous miHoYo games, Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact.
- While Kiana is actually smarter and more competent than her cheerful, book-averse, and lackadaisical façade suggests, the Trailblazer is a stoic, quiet type who is actually much weirder than they let on. Additionally, while both carry an Artifact of Doom in their bodies, Kiana only learns about hers late in her life and its existence is an active threat to her and the people around her until she learns to control it. By comparison the Trailblazer finds out about the Stellaron shortly after waking up, has shown no negative reactions to carrying it and made no attempts to learn how to control it.
- Like the Traveler, the Trailblazer is a Player Character whose gender and name are player-defined, and who can switch combat specializations as needed; apart from that, however, they differ in several ways: story-wise, whereas the Traveler has a set goal of reuniting with their sibling at the start of their adventures, the Trailblazer has very few memories intact at the start of theirs; aesthetics-wise, both Trailblazers wear a black-and-yellow coat over a white shirt (only differentiated with Stelle wearing a miniskirt and Caelus slacks), whereas the Traveler has differing color schemes (black-and-gold for Aether, white-and-sky-blue for Lumine); and combat-wise, whereas the Traveler continues to wield a sword and retain their stats even when changing elements, the Trailblazer changes elements, weapons, and stat priorities in conjunction with Paths.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Regardless of gender, the Trailblazer wears a black-and-white outfit with shades of yellow, and yet they're The Hero of the story.
- Deadpan Snarker: Though you don't get to hear their voice with dialogue options for the deadpan part, there tends to be more than a few choices throughout interactions that highlight that they're not the happiest about the crap they're put through and respond with what can only be interpreted as sarcasm at best and pure, annoyed snark at worst.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: Due to the Stellaron in their body, the Trailblazer has a dream in which the Stellaron spoke to a young Cocolia, witnessing the moment where it started to influence her down a dark path.
- Dub Name Change: In Chinese, Stelle is 星 (Xīng, "star") while Caelus is 穹 (Qióng, "sky" note ). Together they form part of the Chinese name for Honkai: Star Rail (aka Benghuai: Xingqiong Tiedao). In Japanese, the same kanji is used, though due to Alternate Character Reading, the pronunciation is different.
- Genre Savvy: Amusingly from a modern context; when they're aboard the Star Rail for the first time, they outright say it feels like stepping into a science-fiction movie, and seem to understand RPG tropes just enough to have a habit of being able to guess if someone's about to spring a request or a wrinkle into the mix.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The game lets you input a name for the Trailblazer. When the custom name appears in a dialogue, any voiced line will simply skip mentioning it, or use the appropriate pronouns in its place.
- Heroic Mime: Played with; their player-chosen dialog is typically unvoiced, but their internal thoughts are fully voiced.
- Minidress of Power: Stelle runs around in a miniskirt and lacks Modesty Shorts (apart from what looks like white bloomers), but it doesn't stop her from bringing the pain.
- Mysterious Past: They definitely existed prior to the start of the story, as Kafka specifically knows them and they recognize her on sight. But their memory loss is an intentional part of the plan to get them traveling alongside the Star Rail in search of the truth.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: The climax of the Jarilo-VI Trailblaze Quest shows that the Trailblazer is capable of accessing multiple Paths while everybody else is locked to only one. At the conclusion of the arc, they become freely able to switch between the Paths of Destruction and Preservation.
- Physical God: By being the vessel of a Stellaron, they are theoretically capable of mass destruction and extraordinary power far beyond the capabilities of humans, but specifically only show mere fractions of this power both because they don't understand themselves enough to even remotely hope to control it, and because as a Star Rail member, such power is completely antithetical to the safety of everyone and everything around them.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Caelus is named after the Roman primordial sky god
. - Sarcasm Failure: When Cocolia dies in her madness after you fight her and Bronya is grieving, the third option (usually the most silly or sarcastic) is "I can’t think of any joke…" For all their wisecrack, the Trailblazer at least knows to read the room − although Bronya tells them that some humor would actually be welcome at the moment.
- Schrödinger's Player Character: The story implies that both Stelle and Caelus exist at the same time, and Herta's own image art shows her with dolls of both as a Visual Gag, but the Receptacle the player chooses becomes the Stellaron's vessel and thus the Player Character, while it's unknown if the other will matter at all.
- The Stoic: Externally they're a rather blank face almost all the time, rarely expressing much unless something really catches them by surprise, though some element of this is due to their amnesia. Internally, they're a snarky weirdo with a penchant for being completely the opposite to what people see on the surface.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Has these, because they are a vessel for the Stellaron in their body.
- Token Heroic Orc: As far as the cast are concerned, Stellarons are usually trouble magnets that distort the localized reality and cause all sorts of hell upon worlds they awaken on, and it's not known if they're even evil or just not understood yet. The fact that Jarilo-VI's Stellaron is actively manipulating Cocolia to do its bidding only accentuates this. Meanwhile the Trailblazer is, whether by the Receptacle containment of a body overtop or by the unknown nature of the Stellaron within, a straight up heroic individual working with the Star Rail to help people wherever they go and shut down other Stellarons.
- Touched by Vorlons: At the climax of their battle against Cocolia, the Trailblazer draws the attention of Qlipoth due to their heartfelt desire to protect Belobog and its people and is subsequently able to draw upon the power of the Path of Preservation.
- Unique Protagonist Asset: The Trailblazer has the unique ability to switch between different Paths, which also changes their damage type (as of v1.0, Destruction and Preservation).
- Villain Takes an Interest: Nanook, Aeon of Destruction, takes a glance at the Trailblazer after the Stellaron within their body awakens to defeat the Doomsday Beast in the midst of absorbing its final attack to save March 7th, forcing Himiko and Welt to take them away from Herta Space Station, urge them to join the Astral Express, and head to Jarilo-VI.
Paths
Trailblazer of Destruction
Associated Type: Physical
Basic Attack: Farewell Hit
Skill: RIP Home Run
Ultimate: Stardust Ace
Talent: Perfect Pickoff
Technique: Immortal Third Strike
Upon catching the attention of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction endows the Trailblazer with the ability to easily dispatch of their enemies, either with their Basic Attack, Farewell Hit, or their Skill, RIP Home Run, which hit, respectively, a single enemy and in a wide area. Their Ultimate, Stardust Ace, empowers their baton and upgrades the aforementioned attacks into their "Blowout" forms, with heightened damage potency against their principal target, while their Talent, Perfect Pickoff, grants them an Attack boost, of which they can hold up to two stacks at once, whenever they land a Weakness Break, and their Technique, Immortal Third Strike, immediately heals the party based on a fraction of each member's Max HP.
As the Trailblazer continues to walk the path of Nanook, they can now gain Energy at the start of battle, Perfect Pickoff gains the ability to also increase the Trailblazer's Defense, and both normal and "Blowout" forms of RIP Home Run further increase in damage output. Once the Trailblazer is fully dedicated to eradicating the threat of the Antimatter Legion, they gain the ability to restore Energy whenever they defeat enemies with "Blowout"-enhanced attacks, they can heal some HP based on a fraction of their Attack stat whenever they damage enemies weak to Physical attacks, they enjoy a boost to Critical Rate against enemies suffering from Weakness Break, and they can now automatically trigger Perfect Pickoff whenever they defeat enemies.
- Batter Up!: Their weapon on Destruction form is a baseball bat that they found lying in the Herta Space Station.
- Boring, but Practical: Their fighting style is merely slamming things hard, more so if their attacks are upgraded into Blowout forms. Regardless, their ability to switch between wide-ranging and single-target attacks as well as their massive damage output still makes them an effective and versatile Destruction type.
- Healing Factor: Immortal Third Strike is an on-demand field heal that restores the party's HP based on 15% of each character's Max HP, while their second Eidolon Resonance, An Unwilling Host, restores their HP based on 5% of their Attack stat whenever they hit enemies weak to Physical attacks.
- Herd-Hitting Attack: RIP Home Run hits up to three enemies at once, one on either side of the Trailblazer's principal target. In its Blowout form, the principal target will take more damage. The Destruction Trailblazer's sixth-ascension Trace, Fighting Will, adds a 25% damage boost to both forms.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Their fourth Eidolon Resonance, A Destructing Glance, increases their Critical Rate by 25% against enemies suffering from Weakness Break.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:"Rules... are made to be broken!"
- Regenerating Mana: Their second-ascension Trace, Ready for Battle, restores 15 Energy at the start of battle, while their first Eidolon Resonance, A Falling Star, restores 10 Energy whenever either Blowout: Farewell Hit or Blowout: RIP Home Run defeat at least one enemy.
- Stance System: Stardust Ace allows the Trailblazer to unleash upgraded "Blowout" forms of either Farewell Hit or RIP Home Run, with heightened damage against the principal target of the latter, and even more so with the former.
- Status Buff: Perfect Pickoff boosts the Trailblazer's Attack by 10–25% each time they land a Weakness Break, which can be stacked up to two per battle (equivalent to 20–50%). Their fourth-ascension Trace, Perseverance, also allows each stack to grant a 10% Defense boost (to a maximum of 20%), while their sixth Eidolon Resonance, A Trailblazing Will, automatically triggers the Talent whenever they defeat at least one enemy.
- Upgrade Artifact: A variant—their third Eidolon Resonance, A Leading Whisper, adds two levels each for RIP Home Run and Perfect Pickoff, and their fifth, A Surviving Hope, adds two for Stardust Ace and one for Farewell Hit.
Trailblazer of Preservation
Associated Type: Fire
Basic Attack: Ice-Breaking Light
Skill: Ever-Burning Amber
Ultimate: War-Flaming Lance
Talent: Treasure of the Architects
Technique: Call of the Guardian
When their desire to protect their loved ones bring the favor of Qlipoth, the Trailblazer gains the ability to draw enemies away from their allies and scorch them with their fiery lance, in particular by gathering stacks of "Magma Will" through their Basic Attack, Ice-Breaking Light, which are then consumed once four are gathered to allow the Basic Attack to hit enemies around their target. Their Skill, Ever-Burning Amber, has the Trailblazer goad enemies into targeting them, all the while taking up a defensive stance that increases their Damage Reduction as well as adding a stack of Magma Will, while their Ultimate, War-Flaming Lance, scorches all enemies with damage based on a sum of fractions of their Attack and Defense stats, as well as automatically upgrades the next Ice-Breaking Light used, with a negated Magma Will consumption. In addition, their Talent, Treasure of the Architects, allows them to gather up to eight stacks of Magma Will whenever they take a hit, as well as automatically boost the next Ice-Breaking Light and bestow Shields upon the party whenever they attack enemies, and their Technique, Call of the Guardian, erects a Shield around the Trailblazer that lasts for their first turn.
As the Trailblazer continues to walk the path of Qlipoth, Ever-Burning Amber gains the ability to boost their allies' Defense, the enhanced form of Ice-Breaking Light can now simultaneously heal the Trailblazer, and they can enjoy increased Attack and restore some Energy for every turn their Shield is intact. Once the Trailblazer's desire to protect their loved ones burns brighter than ever, both the damage of Ice-Breaking Light and the damage absorption of Shields they erect increase in potency based on a fraction of their Defense stat, they are now automatically granted four stacks of Magma Will at the start of battle, and both the enhanced form of Ice-Breaking Light and War-Flaming Lance gain the abilty to increase their Defense.
- Barrier Warrior: Treasure of the Architects erects Shields onto the party whenever the Trailblazer hits enemies, with damage absorption equivalent to 4–7% of the Trailblazer's Defense stat, plus 20–102.5 points, and lasting two turns. In addition, Call of the Guardian allows the Trailblazer to erect a Shield that lasts through the first turn, with absorption equivalent to 30% of the Trailblazer's Defense stat, plus 384 points; their sixth-ascension Trace, Action Beats Overthinking, increases their Attack stat by 15% and restores 5 energy while the Shield is intact; and their second Eidolon Resonance, Time-Defying Tenacity, further increases their absorption based on 2% of the Traillazer's Defense stat, plus 27 points.
- Boring, but Practical: Their Preservation form is also rather simplistic, their skill acting as a simple taunt and their Ultimate being an all-encompassing attack. However, their attack stat barely changes from their Destruction form which allows them to deal massive damage for what is supposed to be a defensive Path, especially with their Talent that turns their normal attack into splash damage for every four times they were hit.
- Damage Reduction: Their second-ascension Trace, The Strong Defend the Weak, allows Ever-Burning Amber to reduce the party's incoming damage by 15% for one turn.
- Draw Aggro: Ever-Burning Amber goads enemies into targeting the Trailblazer for one turn, who in turn gathers one stack of Magma Will and takes up a defensive stance that increases their Damage Reduction by 40–55%.
- Gathering Steam: The Preservation Trailblazer can collect up to eight stacks of Magma Will whenever they use Ice-Breaking Light or Ever-Burning Amber or are damaged. Once at least four are collected, the former will be upgraded to be able to hit enemies adjacent to their target. War-Flaming Lance automatically upgrades the next Ice-Breaking Light and negates its Magma Will cost. On a related note, the Trailblazer's first Eidolon Resonance, Earth-Shaking Resonance, increases the damage potency of Ice-Breaking Light based on 25% of their Defense stat, twice so on the Basic Attack's upgraded form, while their fourth, Nation-Building Oath, automatically grants four stacks of Magma Will at the start of battle.
- Healing Factor: Their fourth-ascension Trace, Unwavering Gallantry, restores their HP by 5% of its maximum value whenever they use the upgraded form of Ice-Breaking Light.
- Knight in Shining Armor: The Trailblazer's Preservation form was unlocked out of a desire to protect Belobog from a Stellaron-addled Cocolia. Fittingly, their weapon is a lance.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: The lance the Trailblazer wields in combat is the same ice-encrusted lance that Cocolia skewered them through the chest with in their initial confrontation with her Stellaron-empowered Mother of Deception form.
- Rule of Symbolism: The Preservation Trailblazer's ensemble, consisting of a lance, fire-elemental attacks, and a defense-oriented build fits well to the climax of the Jarilo-VI Trailblaze Quest, where the Trailblazer gains the form to protect Belobog from the Stellaron-corrupted Cocolia, and their association with fire thematically fits their role in "melting," so to speak, the Eternal Freeze that has plagued the planet for centuries. This symbolism is further enhanced by their main weapon being the same lance Cocolia used to impale them, just with the outer layer of ice melted away to expose the internal Geomarrow.
- Status Buff: Their sixth Eidolon Resonance, City-Forging Bulwarks, increases their Defense stat by 10% whenever they trigger the enhanced form of Ice-Breaking Light or War-Flaming Lance, to a maximum of three stacks (equivalent to 30%).
- Upgrade Artifact: A variant—their third Eidolon Resonance, Trail-Blazing Blueprint, adds two levels each to Ever-Burning Amber and Treasure of the Architects, and their fifth, Spirit-Warming Flame, adds two to War-Flaming Lance and one to Ice-Breaking Light.
