my honkai: star rail page
well it’s official. i’m crazy.
i’ve been keeping up with star rail (be sure to laugh if you understood that reference) through the wiki’s archive of the dialogue. many thanks to everyone who contributes to it, you’re letting me experience the game in the best way possible
i have a few thoughts about the genius society and associates so… we go on, back into the depths
there is ratiorine everywhere for those with eyes to see (herta is also here)
in simulated universe: unknowable domain, we’re introduced to patavia. she is a member of the intelligentsia guild, a laureate, and considers herself a mundanite. sound familiar?
the ties to ratio are obvious and scalding. patavia was given a chance to “crown herself as the perfect scholar” - without getting too into the lore, she discovered the core to a highly intelligent network of computing machines - but let self-doubt get to her, and instead peered into the mind of what’s considered the smartest being in the universe. unable to understand what she saw, she jotted down what would be known as the “solitary waves theory.” the theory would be solved by none other than herta and would also be her ticket into the genius society (ouch!)
it looks like the mundanite-herta feud has been ongoing for a really long time now …
the same story has another prominent character: polka kakamond, #4 of the genius society. also known as the lord of silence, she is infamous for murdering several genius society members. most notable to us, however, is her ability to manipulate probability
"In my presence, the sequence of poker cards is not random, and the outcome of a coin flip has been predetermined. Whether it's storm or waves, all chaos shall move according to my instructions."
if the manipulation of probability = being lucky flies over the players’ heads, what she says herself pretty much confirms it. if patavia is ratio, then polka is aventurine
i’m not caught up with aventurine lore so i don’t know if he and polka have any further connections (i heard from one theorist that aventurine will be the IPC’s downfall, a bit similar to polka killing members of her own society) but it’s a line of thought that may be followed down the line
the inverse is also true: patavia is aventurine, and polka is ratio
Patavia connects her consciousness to the core. In an instant, all Scepters across the vast distance of the Empire reform into a complete nervous system, ready to serve their long-awaited new ruler.
However, just as she is about to ask her question, a sliver of self-doubt seizes her mind. She lifts her head to look out into the field of flowers, as a sweet scent and a glimpse of pastel-colored robes drift by.
Patavia had spoken with that person a number of times before. That floating and insubstantial woman with an indiscernible face, but concise and absolute speech. Her words are piercing and precise like a surgeon's scalpel, always cutting through Patavia's confusion and resolving Patavia's self-doubt, whilst filling the scholar with a sense of inferiority.
it’s polka’s words and presence that cause self-doubt in the moment patavia about to crown herself, similar to ratio’s message stopping aventurine from succumbing to “dormancy” but with a twist. if patavia were to crown herself and advance humanity further than what polka perceives is natural, polka would have killed her. in both cases, a death is prevented
ratio is more of a “genius society killer” than aventurine, though he only wants to upend the laypeople’s fanaticism with the geniuses through nonviolent ways. he is also the hinted/foreshadowed 5th partner of herta’s simulated universe project, a position polka was sought out for but rejected
anyways my crack theory (if it wasn’t already) is that ratio is meant to end the mundanite-herta feud by solving a problem that herta or the society cannot solve. the chapter he’s introduced in is titled “crown of the mundane and divine,” meaning he is the crown holder that patavia never was. it won’t lead to him entering the society (i hope) and it may or may not have something to do with amphoreus. and why else would amphoreus be laden with greco-roman influence like ratio…. right guys? right?
if the dead could return
while i was looking at the genius society members’ art for references, i fell in love with ruan mei’s splash art. without a word, it conveys her goal to “return what once was back to how it is”
it’s the window blinds’ design depicting a different tree than the one that stands in the background, her goal literally blinding her, though not entirely. it’s her slightly perturbed, surprised face as she’s forced to confront the truth. holy cow
it’s no secret that ruan mei and herta are similar, ruan mei even admits so. "This is a strange, instinctive feeling. That one named 'Herta' is rather similar to me. I mean... similar on a deeper level." like herta, ruan mei clings to science as it is unfailing, unlike people. the “deeper level” ruan mei is referring to is surprisingly uncomplicated. their myriad celestia trailers show how important their childhoods and inner children are to them
“Recently, I've had some different thoughts. At first, I was terrified of its appearance. It is born of wonder, does not resist, and does not grieve. It is the closest thing to the feeling I had when I was a child.”
“And I want to meet Droidhead. I will meet THEM! So we need to start running, start running with your puppet body! This way ‘Herta’ can run even faster- faster, faster, faster!”
where they differ is how they treat what has passed or will pass. herta doesn’t cling to it, evident in how she creates puppets that are only “70% similar” to her younger self. ruan mei wants to preserve things as they are and were, even if it means defying the laws of biology. see the difference in their light cones (and also how they are still similar!)
She once loved to seal the moment when plum blossoms were on the verge of wilting and keep them close to her. It has been many years since then. Many lifeforms — rambunctious, sweet, and everything in between — have bloomed from her hands, but the plum blossoms still wilt at their preordained times. It has been many years since then. Her visage in the mirror seems untouched by time. But, in the grand scheme of the cosmos, is she too destined to last for but a fleeting moment?
"If all is set for eventual demise, what purpose, then, does creation serve?" After a silence that seems to stretch to eternity, the winds blow, the petals fall, and the reflection in the mirror tenders the same answer as always.
"For the day when plum blossoms are no longer kept."
She deftly caresses the icy surface of the mirror. Such soliloquies have happened too many times for her to count.
In the beginning, it had the exact same pose as the previous portrait. Looking at the face identical to hers, she was convinced that this was not her.
"Impossible. How can two portraits be exactly the same?"
She tweaked its joints, opened its eyes, and made its fingers softer. She looked happy when all the changes were done.
"Completely different from yesterday. This is more like who I am today."
was this all just an excuse to preserve their light cone stories on my site….. well … as of right now, i have no idea where their story is going, but it’s not a stretch to say that they’ll have a confrontation based on these differences, especially because they are inextricably linked to ruan mei’s ambition. if anything, it will likely end harmoniously, considering the existence of fugue (a girl ruan mei brought back from the dead), who is an acknowledgement of the preservation of the past and the changes of today
"That is me..."
She stands at the end of the road and no longer looks back in reminiscence —
"It's the original me, and also the brand-new me."
moments of joy 2
favorite moments in and out of the game
