Genshin Impact

Okay, I have to just ask: people say that Rana is popular, but I have seen no evidence of such. Are there Rana fans? Do they write fanfic, or draw art, or make theories? If so, why is it invisible? Liben is a known meme, but I have never felt so gaslighted as when I hear people say that anyone gives the smallest of craps about Rana.

Like, Timmie would elicit more emotion in the fanbase from what I've seen.

Rana being popular is news to me. I suppose the novelty of earning a Vision for a generic NPC is nice, but I see much more fervor for Jeht or Enjou.

I'm guessing that, apart from the Dendro Vision, Rana was briefly hyped up for being the first NPC to fight alongside the party (as well as having a Genius Invokation TCG card), though that novelty has since worn off with the addition of other ally NPCs such as Jeht and her father Jebrael, Sonny and Luca (a pair of Spina di Rosula agents), Caterpillar (a hilichurl), and Curve (a Mek).

Fanart of Rana:

[1]◊ [2]◊ [3]◊ [4]

From the google search, most of the art seems to focus on her theoretical splash art if she became playable someday. There's also her axe, I think they were hopeful it would become a new weapon type (Navia cheated).

@The Pyro Gnosis: The problem I see is how the story will justify the Traveler putzing around in Natlan for a year if the Pyro Gnosis falls into the Tsaritsa's hands, because she'd then have all seven and surely the Traveler would want to emergency rush to Snezhnaya to stop whatever she's about to do with them. If the Tsaritsa doesn't get the Gnosis for a while, especially if the Traveler has it, it's a lot easier to justify the Traveler not prioritizing rushing to Snezhnaya right away.

@ NPCs: Teppei was their first attempt at making people care about an NPC, but that failed because he looks generic and it's blatantly obvious something bad's going to happen to him. Enjou was then very successful, because (imo) it's not all that obvious he's a bad guy until the twist and the idea of an Abyss Herald being so lovable and goofy is great for comedy. He became so popular they made a claymation "playable teaser" for him and now gave him White Day art.

Rana had the novelty of being the first NPC that fights alongside you, but she's otherwise kind of generic-looking and since she's sidelined for all of Aranyaka it makes sense she's not nearly as popular as Jeht. It helps the Eremites have really cool designs too, so Jeht wouldn't even be that out of place on the playable roster if they made minor tweaks to her model to make her stand out just a little more. Rana walked so Jeht could run.

Edited by PhiSat on Mar 28th 2024 at 10:23:44 AM

4* units for the Kazuha/Neuvillette banner: Barbara, Xingqiu, Yanfei

yikes those are bland.

On NP Cs, want to mention the fox mask shrine maiden. I know people still complain to this day that they have to give up her mask for a weapon schematic.

Regarding the Traveler and the gnosises(?), I can't really tell how involved they are in stopping the Fatui from collecting them all. The last couple of Archon quests have made it clear that the Traveler doesn't support the Fatui but also isn't visiting these nations to protect the archons either.

It’s not the same kind of NPC that you guys are talking about, but I have been thoroughly enjoying smaller scale villains in the last few regions. Y’know, the villains from character stories, world quests, events, etc.

They made often have generic designs, but they’ve tended to have more effort into having dope personalities and stories at least since later in Inazuma.

Especially Sumeru’s. It’s just a rogues gallery of freaking supervillains over there.

The Traveler's been consistently unhappy when a Gnosis has been taken. I don't think we're meant to think they're indifferent to the Tsaritsa taking them.

Unsupportive of the Fatui sure but they aren't active in stopping gnosis theft either. Remember the Inzauma arc? For half the questline the Traveler was dead set on NOT getting involved. Ayaka practically had to guilt trip them into it, and even then it was for the people's sake and not the archon's.

Edited by Stage7-4 on Mar 28th 2024 at 1:13:32 AM

Well, there's still the obligatory Dainleaf quest left, that will probably address the matter because if the Pyro Archon is dead then the Traveler doesn't have a reason to go to Natlan.

At that point the Traveler was still in shock over seeing their sibling and there was no indication that the Gnosis was at risk of being taken yet. The Traveler was there to meet the Raiden Shogun and get info on their sibling and didn't want to get involved in anything that risked the Raiden Shogun not helping them until Ayaka convinced them the Vision Hunt Decree was more important. They were unhappy with Zhongli trading his Gnosis to Signora, unhappy when Yae traded the Gnosis for them to Scaramouche and unahppy later when Nahida traded her and Raiden's Gnoses to Dottore and annoyed hearing Neuvillette gave his to Arlecchino. Every time the Traveler's been unable to stop a Gnosis handover, not unwilling. Hell, most of the time they've been knocked out somehow when a handoff's taken place. The only ones they weren't physically incapacitated for were Zhongli's and Neuvillette's (and they weren't there to warn Neuvillette when he handed his over).

Edited by PhiSat on Mar 28th 2024 at 2:57:31 AM

That said, there's a chance the Traveler's feelings on the Tsaritsa acquiring the Gnoses may become tinged with ambivalence, if not concern for her and/or Snezhnaya, upon learning of Skirk's warnings about the Gnoses, namely that they are made from the corpse of the Third Descender and are calamities waiting to happen. At the very least we can imagine the Traveler using the Pyro Gnosis (assuming they get a hold of it before the Fatui, or at least strike a deal with Capitano) as a bargaining chip to allow them safe passage into Snezhnaya and learn what the Cryo Archon is really after. There's also the fact that the Traveler is immune (or at least will experience no more than mild inconveniences) to several negative effects otherwise fatal to Teyvatians (mortals and gods alike), so that could come into play anew.

I don't think the Traveller's hesitance was about the Fatui specifically. IIRC, it was more a "I'm tired of being the whole who deals with everyone's crises" mood in general.

It is pretty noticeable that after Inazuma, the Traveller only gets involved after getting attached to other characters. In Sumeru, they befriend Dunyarzad, then through her bond with Nahida and are drawn into the plot. Then in Fontaine they make friends with the Hearth siblings, and through them get to know Navia and Neuvilette, who drag them into the rest of the plot. It makes the exasperated characterization in smaller events where they just want to be paid seem more consistent, since they don't actually care about anyone or anything there.

Except kids. The Traveller will straight up drop everything to help a kid in trouble.

Overall point being that stopping the Fatui from collecting gnosises/gnosi/gnosees is a very low motive on the Traveler's to do list, if at all.

Also feels like we're all mistaken on what a gnosis is, what they do, and what the Fatui even plan to use them for. The don't feel like the 7 chaos emeralds that turn an archon into a super archon, and I know I'm not the only one that made that assumption.

But the next update is focused on the Fatui so hopefully we get some more breadcrumb answers.

I don't know if I'd go that far. At this point the Traveler hates the Fatui enough that occasionally the Fatui being involved has been a reason in and of itself for them to get involved with the occasional conflict.

But I think it's safe to save that the Traveler is... well... a traveler by nature, and are much more comfortable going from place to place helping with the occasional problem if they can and getting paid if possible. Big, huge and distracting problems of national urgency - while the Traveler has no problem bragging about solving them - are not things they're actually interested in getting involved in and they generally need a reason to do so even with the Fatui there.

The only Gnosis I think the Traveler has ever really shown being really upset about is Ventis, because Signora actually attacked and stole that one from a friend. The rest of them, while the Traveler doesn't approve of what the Fatui are up to, they accept that the archons gave them away of their own free will.

Lest I be misunderstood, I get that the Traveler doesn't like the Fatui (as an organization because clearly not its individual members). What I'm saying is that the Traveler is more a fireman than a soldier when it comes to dealing with them. The Traveler only gets proactive in stopping them when the nation's people are effected and doesn't really do preemptive strikes. The gnosis seems to be treated more like the nation's crown jewels than a powerful elemental artifact that might blow the world up if you collect all 7: it would be nice if they didn't steal the crown jewels but none of them are worth more than a life.

But I can and will rant all day about the fatui. I maintain the stance that they're the most inconsistently written faction in the game.

One moment they'll be barely doing anything wrong and the next "woe, child kidnapping and experimentation be upon thee" Thanks Dottore

What if the seeming inconsistencies in the Fatui's modus operandi is itself the consistency?

One recurring theme in their characterization is their vague directives to obtain the Gnoses of the six other Archon-states by any means necessary—y'know, "the end justifies the means."

Also, keep in mind that the director of the Fatui, Pierro, is a former court mage of Khaenri'ah. Given his ingrained animosity towards Celestia (and by extension the Archons and their people), it wouldn't be surprising if he really doesn't care how the Harbingers and their underlings go about their business so long as they produce results, morals of the Archon-states be damned.

That’s the impression I’ve gotten, yeah. Each region has a different Harbinger running operations there, and each has both a completely different MO, technique for grabbing the Gnosis, and motivations. So each region, under the command of that Harbinger, feels very different - but it’s an explained inconsistency.

There’s also the consistent contrast between the rank and file members, and the higher ups. The Fatui generally seem to be one of those organizations where any one can join, but you can’t really advance to a higher level unless you’re evil or ruthless and so on. So the rank and file can occasionally be decent people who barely know what their own organization is up to, but the elites are diabolicatipn monsters.

Though I think there is also a bit of Early-Installment Weirdness in that the Fatui might’ve been originally intended to be a more direct and overtly hostile threat, until they decided to pivot into making them a more insidious threat instead. Signora is the only Harbinger to outright steal a Gnosis, vs the others who always use manipulations and conspiracies to coerce Archons into trading for it instead.

Signora being a more overt, imperious monster when that’s not what they wanted the Fatuinto be going forward might have contributed to them getting rid of her as apposed to keeping her around like every other Fatui, though that’s just a guess.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 29th 2024 at 9:55:22 AM

It's worth noting in-universe inconsistency doesn't mean inconsistent writing. The Fatui clearly isn't a coherent organization, each Harbinger rules their own fief and Pierro/the Tsaritsa only cares if they're following the overall goal of gathering gnosi. Otherwise their means are entirely dependent on what each Harbinger personally prefers. Hence why they can go from primary villains in one arc to side villains in another to quasi-benevolent in the most recent one.

That's a kind of insane way to set up an incredibly powerful paramilitary intelligence/diplomatic organization but the Tsarista clearly works in mysterious ways lol

Edit: Oh, I just saw that two people already made essentially the same point. Oops. Great minds think alike I guess :V

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Mar 29th 2024 at 2:40:50 AM

None of the harbingers knowing what the others are doing is stupid. Somebody is clearly calling the shots, likely Pierro if not the Archon. Feels like people switch between the Fatui being a superstrong nation or ragtag misfits depending on if it's a compliment or criticism. But whatever, I'll bite. Lets say the leaders are really bad at oversight...

The inconsistency is in how the OTHER nations and their people treat the Fatui. You'd think after the first terrorist attack/"act of war" they'd be blacklisted from everywhere besides maybe puppet-controlled Inazuma. And the frustrating thing is that sometimes they are, but then sometimes they're just those whacky foreigners? They still get their bank, hotel, and orphanage and their agents get to blatantly walk the streets like it ain't no thang.

And Hoyoverse still writes things like "aw poor Victor, nobody likes him" or "look at Vlad and Nadia, aren't they cute?" And I just can't sympathize, I don't care how deep they buried their heads in the sand about the terrorism and child experimentation. That stain just don't scrub out!

Edited by Stage7-4 on Mar 29th 2024 at 4:18:41 AM

I don't think that's an inconsistency, per se. That's just the characters not acting in the way a real life person would.

And even so, it's not necessarily that off base. The whole "duplicious nation that everyone knows has spies that are up to something, but whom everyone merely watches out for either to keep their enemies close or for their own covert reasons" thing works for the semi-medieval fantasy setting Genshin goes for.

Everyone knows they're evil, but tolerates them rather than go into another open war.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 29th 2024 at 4:21:00 AM