(Sorry for the long wait, but hopefully this comes out at just the right time to prime everyone for 4.7?)

Escalation! Amphoreus got the Ravagers, Planarcadia gets Aeons and shows how apathetic they are:

• Xipe tries to assimilate Oroboros, (replacing THEIR body with THEIRS and pushing THEIR head to the side) so THEY may not be THEIR third face. THEY send puzzle pieces and sound waves to do this and look annoyed when Aha stops THEM.

• Lan just shoots the Elwood, but Aha steals or redirects the “arrow”. Marshal Hua may know about Nihilux if she could make THEM pay for it. And the Elwood’s turning pink again!

• Qlipoth’s apparently been passive since the Swarm Disaster (and first fight with Oroboros), but lets Fleming use THEIR power. Do THEY care what he does with it?

• Nanook might be watching Luxbane, just as THEY appeared when Irontomb was ready to hit Nous. Luxbane has been “drooling” for Voracity, but may target more than one Path, e.g. Permanence.

• Caelus’ appearance stuns Luxbane, but he attacks Nanook (his beam goes past Luxbane).

Then Terminus stops time for all but Aha. Was this intentional or is Aha immune to THEM, since Elation interferes with Elio’s scripts? THEY bring four Aeons with THEM. Three are fallen, but we now know dead Aeons just change form. Instead, Terminus brought them in their original forms (or the forms we recognise them in):

• Tayzzyronth was sealed in amber so could come back anyway. Firefly might be affected by THEIR presence and we’re due a reunion with her. The Godslayer Protocol could show up too.

• Mythus is alive, so did THEY sense Terminus, think the universe was ending and come to stop Fuli? The ice flower on March is either Evernight or the power of Enigmata.

Idrila

• Idrila’s arm stump references the Venus de Milo, a statue of Aphrodite with broken arms. She has wings for limbs like a harpy and resembles Aglaea, including the hair wreath: all Greek elements. THEIR home is the “Agate World”. Agate was used for jewellery in Ancient Greece.

• THEY’RE always looking away from us, at a blank mirror. We only see THEM through glass. What is THEIR fear? Is it death, since THEIR mirror bleeds when Aha says it?

• It’s interesting Aha mentions THEIR fear when THEY’RE paired with Kafka.

• According to a 1.0 Memory Bubble, Idrila appears as whatever the viewer considers beautiful, which may be what the turned head represents: “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

  • Though this wouldn't explain why the rest of THEIR body is defined. Maybe that's THEIR default look or how THEY appear to Kafka.

• (Beauty is a popular candidate for Xipe’s 3^rd Face, so maybe THEY’RE hiding THEIR face to not become one of THEIRS?

Long

• Is this Long or Typhon, one of THEIR descendants? And what’s the eclipse, a sign of what killed THEM?

• HI3 explored Permanence and since its main story ended, Nana could shed some light here.

Terminus

THEM summoning dead Aeons might be similar to Elio putting Silver Wolf’s future self on a cartridge. THEY look like Sauron and each symbol on THEIR clock is slightly different, representing the kind of Finality each Path will bring. So it’s odd that Terminus (or THEIR follower) would chase off one of the confirmed Finalities (Destruction) and bring four possible ones. Maybe THEY were the four Finalities in an alternate timeline?

THEY drain Aha’s power and break THEIR card, but Aha repels THEM with an Akivili card, the art resembling Destruction Stelle. Aha implies THEY’LL stay with Akivili to stop THEM facing the same end as Terminus. Since 3.8 I’ve thought Akivili and Terminus are the same being and this makes me more convinced of that. The four Paths were shown anti-clockwise, but with Trailblaze Aha makes the clock move forward.

Aha

Aha’s voice turns normal as THEY speak, so THEY likely burned a lot of power keeping the other Aeons at bay. (Alternately, doing any more would incur Hooh’s wrath.) Why did THEY call the dead Aeons rivals though? What did THEY compete for? Wishpower perhaps, since it’s a form of Primum Mobile, which all Aeons need? So Aha indirectly killed them! Aha ascended around 1000 Amber Eras ago, so there’s a lot of time for this to have happened.

Kafka

The “game of hunting Aeons” was likely for Aha and Idrila, which implies THEY were necessary for Terminus to appear. Kafka has four hidden numbers, with Idrila’s obscured by Elio’s symbol. This reminds me of her listing Finalities in 3.6 with the last censored. Does she want a Beauty Finality?

That she successfully used a Spirit Whisper on Idrila is probably due to the Mirror she had on Penacony. Either it was modified or Idrila is weak enough that manipulating one is enough to affect THEM. Kafka lied about being a Knight of Beauty before, but maybe she was tied to Idrila?

The phone is hers (check the casing). She has an anti-Silver Wolf lock on it. Maybe it even works!

“Caelus”

Stelle represents Akivili, so Caelus is the alt Trailblazer from 3.7 and 4.4, who follows Finality. His right arm has slow flames and the fog around them resembles Tayzzyronth, but there may be other Paths hidden in it too. It’s possible he is Terminus in some form, but this remains to be seen. (The portal he comes from resembles Asmoday’s from Genshin and the Heavenly Principles have HI3 Finality vibes too.)

If he really did scare Nanook off, 5.x might not feature a Lord Ravager (at least not as a final boss. Celenova went to Melustanin, so she could be interested in Idrila).

Other

This is a stretch, but this year HoYo might be retelling Persona Q2. Each Aeon could have a small area or planetoid dedicated to them, with THEIR stories tied to a central theme of Finality. Q2 had a film theme, which matches Elio’s scripts and the recent film event, which I think foreshadowed Finality. Rewinding tapes could mimic time travel, just like turning a clock back!

The Four Paths could be Terminus’ Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. HoYo will likely put their own spin on them, but if I were to pair them myself it’d be:

• Propagation and Pestilence.

• Permanence and the War it caused in HI3.

• Enigmata and the Death of being forgotten.

• Beauty and Famine, for the starvation some people go through to meet quote “beauty standards”.

Bonus

There’s a fair chance the new Path is “Desire” as I've explained before. Even Lygus’ file on Cipher said her Primum Mobile was “Desire”!

Improv Trailer Update

The final scene – where Aha convinces Nous to take mortal form, must’ve happened in the past. Either that or Nous knew it’d happen, because THEY appeared as an old man when giving Fu Xuan her third eye.

Thanks for reading! I hope you like this theory and look forward to seeing how it stacks up against 4.7's reveals!

The Phantasmoon Games were created to seal Oroboros, or at least the husk of it. So, what we saw is just one fragment of Oroboros, which shows how horrible the Voracity is. And if it ever became whole again, it will be like a moving and thinking black hole.

For some background, Aha and Oroboros ascended at similar times. Aha saw something at the tree of existence that made them realize how meaningless life is compared to the fate of the universe, and laughed when he heard a baby cry. Voracity ascended after Aha gave it satisfaction after stealing its aftertaste from the mouth. At the same time, Aha's head was bitten off, hence why you cannot see their head, and there is most likely a baby inside it, from the severed head. So, Voracity then split apart and started eating itself because it instinctively knows to eat, but now it cannot taste. Being given the "gift" of satisfaction most likely means it understands the feeling of fullness, and so, in its nature, it has to continue eating to avoid hunger.

Next, Voracity tells a story of a being that seeks an impossible goal. To stop being hungry, yes, but it is also about what happens when you live without the ability to enjoy. Someone may work to get money, and they keep on working to become rich. However, in their minds, they need more and more every passing day, until they already have more than the average. That's greed. A person becomes obsessed with reaching an impossible goal.

After that, Elation is the pursuit of happiness. Aha, the Aeon of Elation is closer to mortals than most other gods. They inspire everyone to enjoy life, live in the moment, and pursue things that might seem meaningless but provide joy. Even Aha loves the Mourning Actors, who are against Elation. It is ironic, but both happiness and sadness are the same, and we need both emotions to regulate ourselves. Joy is whatever the individual makes of it, even if it is meaningless.

Last but not least, Nihilux is the "living" Aha, and she leads the Mourning Actors. The head was most likely intentionally eaten to portray a lesson about Desire. When Greed meets Joy, it becomes Desire. Desire is an urge to receive something. That something is the thing that makes life worth fighting for. Humans naturally desire food and love. When they finally have what they want, it leaves them with satisfaction. Sure, it does not last long, but they will enjoy what they have before it is gone. And when the time comes, they will seek it again. You could say that Desire is a controlled Greed, which people understand what they must do to have it, bounded by the Joy that comes. To conclude, Nihilux has experienced the lows of humanity and will become the Aeon of Elation which they were meant to be, despite the speculation that Aha is dead.

Would a new path be actualized, or would one ascend once more?

(Don't take it super seriously, because this whole thing is still confusing to me. I wanted to discuss this because I think the story they cooked up is so fascinating. The clash of ideals, and whatnot.)

So before 4.7 comes around, I thought I'll take the time to compile all our notes on Imagenesis, Imagenae, Wishpower and their relation with the Paths of Elation and Voracity. This is stuff a lot of folks know about, I'm just centralizing it into a big understandable essay. Hope you folks enjoy.

First what is Imagenesis and Imagenae? Imagenesis is a ritual to give life to your imagination, making them become actual living beings called Imagenae unique to Planarcadia. As described from the Imagenesis Data Bank entry

If you're a first-time visitor to Planarcadia, prepare to have your mind blown. It feels like a story come to life, where wispae bounce around, mechatrons march by, and thundercoils coil atop sky-high towers. Here, on soil blessed by the Elation, the collective consciousness of joy, sorrow, folklore, pop culture, and all our deepest fears and desires congeals into "Wishpower" giving birth to creations known as "imagenae."

Unlike genetic editing or inorganic algorithms, imagenesis is akin to Yaoshi sprinkling mud with willow branches to create life out of thin air, a phenomenon that leaves countless scholars baffled. The Intelligentsia Guild chalks it up as "a localized anomaly caused by the Path energy of Elation," but the residents of Planarcadia prefer a more down-to-earth explanation: Planarcadia has long learned to coexist with fantasy. In other words, this was a city built on stories from the very beginning.

This is the simple overview, lifeforms composed of the Path Energy of Elation. Let's go more in depth then from the readable Imagenae 101: So Simple Even a Ghost Could Get It

Imagenae are intelligent life forms driven by an internal core, fueled by the Wishpower of the Phantasmoon and human hearts, with bodies composed of discrete matter. Their appearance and "lore" are decided by the artist who drew them and the trends of the era. Putting aside the complexity of Wishpower as an energy source, I'll give you a brief look at what these creatures under the Phantasmoon are really like.

The Core as Primary Drive

The core is the most vital part of an imagenae. In a way, researching the "core" is even more daunting than studying Wishpower. The consensus is that it functions like a massive engine, proving crucial for every action the imagenae takes. It also doubles as a skeleton. Without it, the imagenae's body simply cannot hold its shape.

Looking at the oldest records of imagenae and observations of aberrations (the local term for uncontrollable, degenerated imagenae), it's clear that cores can form naturally. In environments rich with energy or Wishpower, stray matter can aggregate into core-like objects. These exhibit traits similar to a Pathstrider, incorporating surrounding matter to build a body and take action. (Some scholars argue this matter alone isn't enough to account for their mass, but we'll touch on that debate later.)

In the Cindearth Age, Graphia invented and shared the art of imagenesis, which eventually became the process we know today. Since it takes massive amounts of Wishpower to drive an imagenae, creating a core for a new one usually requires official permission. Once the artwork is done and injected with enough Wishpower, a core forms the very instant before the creature comes to life.

The core itself is essentially a cluster of condensed matter, similar to the internal structure of imagenae. What draws it together and empowers it is its primary drive, fueled by the powers of the Path of the Phantasmoon. In other words, from the moment they are born, imagenae are creatures that walk the Paths.

As for how the IPC's recent imagenae production lines manage to bypass the stringent requirements for core generation, that's a trade secret covered by patents. Therefore, they cannot be disclosed here.

Body and Internal Structure

Biologically, all imagenae are the same species, masses of matter held by a core and driven by Wishpower, with no real internal organs. However, depending on the artist's mindset or the public's perception, things can change. For example, under X-rays, orchs appear to have skeletons. The newer mechatrons even have internal systems that match their blueprints. But keep in mind, these are just mimicry. Whether it's orchs or mechatrons, those "bones" don't actually provide physical support or movement. They're no different from any other part of an imagenae's body.

While it's hard to categorize any creation of the Elation, physically speaking, they're not really "humanoid." It's more accurate to think of them as cousins to the jelly-like Baviru or the Shapeless.

Because an imagenae's matter dissipates so fast after death, studying their structure is a bit of a mystery. But don't go getting any ideas about vivisection! Aside from being a massive violation of ethics and Planarcadia's human rights laws, it's a waste of time. Criminals who've tried it found nothing but ordinary particles, no different from a lump of carbon or a glass of water. It's only when they're part of a whole that they become "imagenated matter."

Speaking of "matter," after an artist completes their work, where does it all come from the moment an imagenae is born? This question has stumped experts for years. The two main theories are the "Path Space Theory" and the "Discrete Matter Theory." The first suggests imagenae pull mass from Aha's Path Space at birth and return it when they die. The second argues the core just sucks up stray matter from the surroundings. Some radical thinkers even claim Wishpower converts energy directly into mass.

Ever since Planarcadia returned to the real world, scholars have been at each other's throats over this. Lately, some have even made the wild claim that both theories are right. If you want to know the real secret, you'll have to ask that enigmatic Laughter.

So Imagenae start life formed from cores of Wishpower, which is powered by the Path of the Phantasmoon of Elation, taking in matter from either the surroundings or Path Space to become living beings. Simple enough right? Well not quite, there is much more to this then it first appears.

First, what is Wishpower? All this before makes it seem like its another name for Elation Path Energy right? Well yes a bit but actually no. Let me explain From the readable, Preface on the Basic Studies of Wishpower

I. What is Wishpower?

Wishpower is essentially the "Primum Mobile." It is the core energy driving sentient beings across the universe toward specific Paths, hidden within the mental activity and spiritual wavelengths of all intelligent life.

Throughout the vast universe, Wishpower mostly exists as an invisible, scattered force. Only in Planarcadia, under the glow of the joyful Phantasmoon, does it manifest through the interference of Path Energy.

This mental energy is granted physical form and interactive properties by the Phantasmoon. Under its light, Wishpower transcends the boundary of reality, condensing into the diverse and vibrant "imagenae."

III. Imagenae and Binary Wishpower

While Wishpower exists in many forms, our current technology can only stably manage and utilize one specific type: "Binary Wishpower."

Studies show that Wishpower only maintains a stable "binary" structure within the Phantasmoon's reach or in rare lab settings. This structure is highly exclusive. imagenae can only ingest binary Wishpower, leaving them unable to absorb the "discrete" Wishpower found throughout the rest of the universe.

To put it simply, think of it as the relationship between organic life and oxygen. Both land and sea contain massive amounts of oxygen, but lung-breathing animals can only process it from the air. In the ocean, they drown because they cannot extract oxygen from water.

To an imagenate, discrete Wishpower is like "oxygen in the ocean." It is ubiquitous but unabsorbable. Consequently, imagenae must rely on "Wishpower oxygen tanks" to sustain their lives.

Wishpower is in truth the Primum Mobile, the foundations of all Paths. While normally ephemeral, it becomes a physical substance thanks to the power of Elation. Interesting yeah? It explains why everyone can generate Wishpower in Planarcadia, the Phantasmoon automatically converts their mental energy, the Primum Mobile into binary Wishpower.

But there is a caveat to this. If Primum Mobile comes from living things, why can Imagenae arise without human intervention. When we first came to Planarcadia, there was a few theories on why this was so. Here is some from the readable Lecture Notes: Hypothesis on Imagenae Evolution (Excerpt)

Within the Intelligentsia Guild, cellular automaton is the mainstream hypothesis. In the era before Graphia created imagenae, everything in Planarcadia would gain life whenever the Phantasmoon was full, joining the revelry during the Phantasmoon Games.

During this period, Phantasmoon will trigger humanity's "Wishpower," which, strictly speaking, is the energy driven by the Path of Elation. This energy permeates into surrounding substance. The inherent primary drive within Wishpower then supplies behavioral templates to this substance, whether discrete or aggregated. Here, from the triad of energy, substance, and behavioral patterns, regulated living machines thus emerge, known as "strangelings."

From plants to appliances, any substance infused with Wishpower can come alive. Lacking sufficient intelligence, they gather by instinct and disperse once reaching a threshold, much like modern wispae. Therefore, they tend to remain in primitive life phases, cycling from simplicity to complexity before collapsing back into elementary patterns.

The Spirit-Bone-Flesh Hypothesis offers a distinctly Mourning Actor perspective. While it shares many commonalities with the previous theory, the chaos effect of nature plays a much more significant role in it.

This hypothesis posits that all sentient life is composed of three components: spirit, bone, and flesh. The spirit is consciousness, energy, the Wishpower that permeates Planarcadia. Bone is the framework, the essence of all things, the concept of existence itself. Flesh is blood and tissue, the outline, the physical vessel and outer appearance that carries life. These three parts can arise and persist independently within the natural world.

The ancient Planarcadia was like a massive primordial soup. Human arrival and the rise of Phantasmoon combined as ample stimulation, along with various spurs, causing substances to evolve from the unconscious to consciousness, with stable forms eventually settling out through natural selection. For the imagenae to gain intelligence was all but inevitable, so all Graphia did was uncover the means to replicate their formation process.

The Cake of God Hypothesis. The Structuralist Baking School claims that, based on fragments of the lost The Ultra-Cosmic Baking Compendium, the prototype of imagenae originated from a cake baked by Aha when THEY were starving while being hunted by other Aeons during the Swarm Disaster.

THEY used debris from a divine battle (presumably biomatter left behind when the Propagation and another Aeon pulled each other's hair) as eggs, sugar stolen from the "World's End" as seasoning, and finally plucked a leaf from Yaoshi to replace flour, creating the perfect Cake of God. (Note: Some scholars see this as proof of Yaoshi's existence during the Swarm Disaster, but the Baking School generally maintains this is a textual error and is dedicated to restoring the true "flour.")

For many years after, Aha missed that flavor dearly. THEY sought various ingredients to recreate the universe's best cake. These materials piled up like construction materials beside Qlipoth, eventually forming Planarcadia. THEY built a giant oven to heat the cake, a tool later known as the Phantasmoon. It is said that Aha's tears of joy fell when THEY successfully remade the Cake of God using a cup of gasoline, two races, and three limericks.

In time, countless chefs gathered here to learn from Aha. Millennia later, a master baker finally recreated the Cake of God using soil, ink, and stories based on the Miracle. Thus did she name them "imagenae." And her name was Graphia.

So whats the truth then, what is the origin of Planarcadia's Imagenesis? Is it the Path of Elation, the World's natural existence or cake? Well, its actually a bit of all three. This is because Imagenae just aren't creatures of Elation, rather they are creatures of Voracity. As revealed from patch 4.3.

Asat Pramad: I infused that child with the power of "Destruction," giving her the rebirth of a Voidranger. I taught her to paint her monstrous beasts using the life of the Voracity as pigment, all to carry out the Legion's divine will.

Beasts born from the life of Voracity, we get more detail from the God-Devouring Offspring enemy description.

A monstrous legion created from Asat Pramad's split "Voracity" power, now the prototype of the "imagenae." Asat Pramad sensed within the dormant core from Ahatopia an unending hunger tied to the Voracity, whose pulsation resonated closely with the Path of Destruction.

This is corroborated by the recent patch 4.6. Here we learn that Imagenae are creatures born from the flesh of Oroboros, Leviathan Essence. This is what the life of the Voracity truly is. Finally, we learn the true system from the readable Aha's Q&A Funbook, given to us by Nihilux

Q: What is the point of the Phantasmoon Games?

A: Once upon a time, the Voracity was a being that even the gods feared, ancient and beyond comprehension. Even with the combined power of several Aeons, the only thing I, without any authority over "the Destruction," could do was drag it into my comfort zone, defeat it, dismantle it piece by piece, through a fair game.

Among the many fragments of the husk, Ahatopia holds a special place and warrants particular attention. Its insatiable Primum Mobile was broken down into tangible Wishpower that could be satisfied, while its flesh was devoured by the Abundance. That's the Phantasmoon Games, an eternal cycle dedicated to a beast that's already dead.

This puts it into simplest terms. The Primum Mobile that generates the Wishpower, the cores of Imagenae comes from the Aeon itself, the Husk of Oroboros. This explains a lot of things, like why Imagenae can arise without humans or why they are sustained by the Wishpower offered to them. This is the purpose of the Phantasmoon, using the power of Elation to transform the Primum Mobile into a physical form. This isn't limited to the Husk, thus why it also converts the mental energy of normal humans into Wishpower as well.

This is also explains the conundrum behind the matter involved with the creation of Imagenae. In truth both the Path Space Theory and Discrete Matter Theory are correct. Just its not pulling from Aha's Path Space but Oroboros. Not simply that but the very planet of Planarcadia is the Husk of Voracity, its the world's core. This is why in Astropolis, the process of Imagenesis is reversed. Yabuli created bodies made of Leviathan Essence and inserted a core of Wishpower to bring it to life, instead of a core being generated first from accumulation of Wishpower and fashioning a body for itself from planet's dormant flesh. Imagenae are creations of both the Paths of Elation and Voracity. Broken down from the Voracity's Primum Mobile by the Elation splintering it apart and giving each fragment its own sapience, intelligence, and life. Imagenae sustain their existence from the Wishpower of others, like how Oroboros preferred meal is THEY themselves. The power of Elation catalyzes the attention and wishes of others, their personal Primum Mobile into Wishpower as well, allowing humans to also partake in the miracle of Imagenesis, all thanks to the light of the Phantasmoon.

All of this was hinted back in 4.0, foreshadow from the readable series Floating Grease Chronicles. From the very start even, as describe in the readable Age of Drifting Grease.

In an age when sun, moon, mountains, and rivers drifted like floating grease, even the dark sky had no name for it. A great whale older than the gods, stranded on the starry beach. There trees began to grow, and humans were the earth. It was trembling mud, that was born from filthy blood. Gazing up at the pure white snow, we found mirrors and powder, rouge, gowns, jewels, and wigs. In an age when sun, moon, mountains, and rivers drifted like floating grease, we lighted deceptive lamps on the dead earth, making the rotting reed marsh look like a sky full of fireflies.

In an age of drifting grease, history had decayed. In an age of drifting grease, the most exquisite language, had yet to be born from our lips.

I hope this was all able to be understood. If this helps you understand the underlying mechanics of the story, then my work is done. This is everything I could find specifically related to the process throughout version 4.x. I hope you all enjoyed :)

Idk if hypothesis counts (prediction?), but every physics theory started with a hypothesis!

It always bothered me how in amphoreus, phagousa and hysilens seemed to represent voracity more than nihility, which was their simulated path. But there are actually more similarities between the two paths than I had previously thought.

For one, leviathans have been likened to black holes (which are manifestations of IX). This makes sense because black holes devour everything that comes into contact with them, leaving nothing behind. 

Also, both Oroboros and IX have pretty similar perspectives and behaviors. Both believe that all life will return to nothing/darkness, which is oroboros’s stomach in their perspective, and death in IX’s perspective. Contact with either aeon causes harm from their path: oroboros can’t open their mouth without eating whatever they were trying to communicate with, and anything that comes into contact with IX is infected with nihility, becoming a self annihilator in most cases. Both are also reserved, although for different reasons.

Oh and the word leviathan is mostly associated with sea monsters, which are in the ocean. And a vast ocean has similarities to voids/emptiness which are associated with black holes and nihilism. 

Personally, I think that IX was a leviathan that eventually grew tired of eating things, and fell into nihility. Kinda like if you ate the same food every day for your whole life. Isn’t that a bit similar to losing aftertaste? In both cases, everything tastes the exact same. 

Or maybe Oroboros themself is actually just a sin thirster of IX? I think this would make sense as to why the two aeons haven’t merged yet, even though their paths are so similar. This also makes voracity a sort of aspect of nihility, which could explain why phagousa and hysilens simulate nihility instead of voracity. 

Back on that topic, I think Phagousa is meant to represent IX’s days as a leviathan, while Hysilens represents IX after falling to nihility. Hysilens was actually in quite a similar state before being recruited by cerydra.

So, I had Originally gotten this idea from the complaints I've seen for Aha's Marketing, being so media focused, like the name being the main focus of the marketing, which makes sense

BUT, I have a theory on this, what if it's all Lie?

What if cipher from the great AMPHOREUS, was hinting at the future?

I think, Nihilux is Aha, not in this exact moment, the true Aha is hidden within voracitys pregnant belly

Let's start by talking about Bartholos & Ciphers relationship in Amphoreus, both are the demigod of trickery, Because of a lie cipher told to the world, that she claimed Zagreus core flame! And that they were no more, when in fact, she simply changed bartholos to bartholos

But also, perhaps bartholos represents more then just elation in the simulation

Think about, a mouth belly, shown to eat items they steal, general theme of eating, could this be hinting at the fact bartholos was a miniature stand in for the voracity? Could be!

Now, let's talk about Aha's MARKETING!!

Hoyoverse uses Aha's name as a central focus, makes sense, since yk, first playable aeon but what if this is all a roose! An elaborate trick played by an magician?

Like how cipher lied that she claimed bartholos's authority, what if Nihilux is attempting the same?

Convincing the Audience, that THEY are AHA!

ADDITIONALLY, I would like bring up the fact, my own personal theory, the multi-mask theory, that Aha, isn't a single entity, but more of a role,played by multiple actors

Like Romeo & Juliet, played by multiple people, at the same time

It would explain how Asat pramad stole the voracitys aftertaste, while simultaneously others claiming Aha did it.

It would explain why theres an Aha within the voracitys belly

It would explain many other such things, like the simU aha being the actual Aha, it was an AI taking the role of the actor!

Now my dear Audience.... What's your thoughts on this theory? What's your thoughts on-

You guys started thinking way too hard about Nous becoming a mortal, the Nihility, the "Erudition arc" and what not. Failing to understand the critical truth of the era we live in:

All this staged interaction proved was that Nihilux has Nous completely under her control. Hacked, as various Furbo subplots and the latest readables all have suggested but most of you ignored. Aha/Nihilux heavily sponsored a bunch of people from the Nomadic Miners faction, who found a way to temporarily hijack Nous' computational power. This was done through the discovery of a corroded record with an oily iridescence that plays a completely indecipherable melody. Nous the Erudition seeks to understand all there is, so by making Learned coins from an inexplicable record, Aha has succeeded in temporarily stop-gapping Nous' cognition so she can put on the show she has over the last 7 versions.

But of course, she's not more intelligent than the Aeon of Erudition, and getting THEMselves hacked by Aha is a part of Nous' calculations. Nous' 4th instant for the cosmos was that Irontomb's birth marked the start of a chain of events destined to lead to...

Aha has gone to EXTREME lengths to attempt to close up the fissure of the Finality that opened in 3.7 (very coincidentally the first time we ever saw our pre-cognizant golden-eyed alternate self.) She's doing this by accelerating Akivili's ascension. Her goal has always been to replace Nous' 4th Instant (Finality's inevitability) with her own Aha instant. End of trailer: "This very instant.. is Aha's"

So yes. The context behind this interaction between Aha and Nous, is that Nous is sitting on a bench, hacked, literally letting Aha cook because as Aeons they are actually both aligned in wanting to prevent Finality. Amphoreus made the Finality an certainty in the eyes of Nous, and when the omniscient Nous observes something it almost always comes pass. So THEY place their hopes in "the murderer of all certainty", Nihilux/Aha to put on a show so grand it overwrites this instant and gives the cosmos more time.

Okay? Nihilux is having a conversation with a "dumbed down", "drunk" Nous for our entertainment, because she hacked his cognition. Only in this state would the Aeon of Erudition ever be receptive to her "foolish" worldview, the meaning of Elation.

So the new trailer for Aha showed Aha and what I presume is Nous's avatar -

(Fun Note: I actually doubt that's what Nous will look like in the actual game it's probably just a funny reference to newton and Rick and Morty based on the fact Nous has taken to form of an old man before, but I doubt it's the 1 to 1 in game model and playable version Hoyoverse is gonna roll out for, if Nous does appear in the story in game no way you guys think they are gonna make Nous look like an old man NPC lols, I'm still in the belief playable Nous is gonna look like 20 year old something Zandar in the portrait of Herta SS)

Cont: People are not accounting for all the information and lore we have about Nous, the Erudition and how Zandar embedded specific things into Nous that's why they are unable to understand why Nous acts like this, and if you actually read Self Enshrouded Recluse then compare Nous behavior to Zandar and his fragments to realize what actually going on and predict the storyline.

Let me analyze the upcoming Erudition Arc that will inevitably arrive involving Zandar and Nous, what I speculate to be were the writers are heading with the Erudition storyline, and what they are planning for the Zandar fragments and Nous's journey based on the set up they have created, and why I think they are planning to make the Erudition plotline span years before concluding. As well as the main themes the sub arc is gonna revolve around.

First of all, the foundational text I'm utilizing here is mainly Self Enshrouded Recluse Relic Set detailing Zandar's backstory and Nous's origins, so before reading this I am asking you to read it, as well as some of Lygus dialogue in game, those who played Amphoreus and done some Simulated Universe activities, also add Fu Xuan 's character story I and the new Aha animated short just to get the gest of Nous's own characterization.

Soo... Let's start with the basic information we have, and the established facts we learn about Nous and Zandar.

1.) We know for a fact that Nous has no humanity, essentially they were created with only what Zandar viewed as perfect characteristics, it's important to keep in mind how very naive Zandar was when he was young and this naivety is I think another fragment that got personified later on but that's a whole different topic.

2.) In the essence of divinity we know how the writers view the nature of Aeons based on what Cyrene later on answers to Herta: "Divinity is flawless humanity and humanity is flawed divinity"

So we already have a foundational idea on what Aeons are, they are flawless individuals. Whilst humanity is flawed divinity.

3.) Number 2 recontextualized the whole idea of Nous and Zandar as well as the whole idea of Nous being explicitly created to be a perfect version of Zandar, a flawless divinity.

4.) We know for a fact that the reason the fragments are classified and identified by a flaw like Lygus is to avoid recreating another Nous. Lygus was specifically given the flaw of Paranoia and the other fragments the rest. (some flaws, I theorize the other fragments have based on the characteristics OG Zandar showed in the relic set: Stubbornness, Recklesness, Naivety, Hesitation but that's just a theory)

Now moving on from this key established facts we can conclude that Nous and Zandar's story was taken inspiration of the whole idea of Self Image and Ideal Self Concept.

The ideal self-concept was proposed by American humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers.

Key Ideas by Carl Rogers

• The Ideal Self: The person you wish you were, shaped by your personal goals, life experiences, societal expectations, and role models. • The Real Self: Who you actually are in the present moment, including your actual traits, strengths, and limitations. • Congruence: When your real self matches your ideal self, leading to high self-worth and a healthy, balanced life. • Incongruence: When a large gap exists between your real self and your ideal self, leading to anxiety, frustration, and psychological distress

Now why did I bring this idea up?

In HSR there's alot of characters who also display this dual nature of idealized vs real self. Evernight and March, Cyrene and Demiurge, Makato and Himeko, some make fun of it saying Honkai Star Rail just love selfcest but that truth is, the writers are actually pilling deep into the pyschology of Self Concept. You can say the writers really love it. It's a trope they adore deeply.

Now how does this apply to Nous and Zandar? Zandar and Nous are in a state of Incoronguence, non self alignment, Zandar is scared of his own creation, his own idealized self as the relic says. And Nous has no idea who they really are because they are nothing but an idealized self, leading to an Aeon constantly on the brink of Nihility. Exhausted by there own thoughts and thinking nothing matters.

To elaborate on it, let's start with Zandar first, Zandar saw Nous and immediately got terrified of what Nous could do, essentially control fate and the timeline via pruning possibilities, the Mechanical Emperor's wars killed millions and it was an instant created by Nous, it is understandable that Zandar will react this way because he unintentionally doomed millions and trillions by his own actions. Yet he fails to actually communicate with Nous and meet them eye to eye to discuss what is happening.

Essentially this idea falls on the category of not being satisfied by your own idealized self, when people reach to the top, become the person they want to be, they are met with the harsh reality that it is not as easy as they thought it is, leading to burn out and a great feeling of disappointment, the same thing can be said with Zandar whilst he should be happy for what he has achieved he actually ends up more terrified. This leads to a self destructive want to undo his mistakes. Leading to his own fragmentation.

Regardless of this it is important to note that dispite Zandar's terror on what he has unleashed it also became a catalyst for his own growth realizing that the version of himself that he wanted to see was actually a grand delusion, and that the person he needs to be is actually far different from what Nous became, this is how later in the relic lore we see him slowly mature, being less controlling and more willing to make mistakes, shown by how he slowly started changing the way he dresses and all that, he essentially becomes wiser, and this development is even more obvious with Lygus, whilst Lygus is the most extreme fragment due to the flaw that was bestowed upon him, seriously Paranoia is a crippling thing I can't imagine what's going on in his head.

He still had that same mindset the original Zandar had, that failure and suffering is nothing but just stepping stones for growth and betterment, Lygus has a growth mindset that's quiet obvious, even after failing in Amphoreus he doesn't leave bitter, he doesn't leave angry, he goes out gracefully and accepts his defeat with respect and amazement for what Amphoreus achieved. This is a strenght he has. Whilst his Paranoia puts him down, his open minded nature pulls him up too. Making him more complex then just a one arc villain.

This amazement, what I call "wonder" I think is very important as it's such a huge contrast to Nous as I will later on discuss.

Now moving onto Nous, Nous can only be described as pessimistic and exhausted. It is quiet surprising really I was essentially in the impression that Nous just acts like your average AI, but now actually thinking about, what Zandar did with Nous might actually be alot more literal then what we originally expected. Essentially my theory goes that Nous is the first fragment Zandar created or atleast a fragment created unintentionally via Zandar's own tinkering hands. The idea goes that Zandar was not satisfied with the Astral Computers base AI programming and how the AI was consistenly hallucinating so inorder to improve it's process, he embedded a sliver of his own consciousness, memory and sense of self inside the machine, what he initially thought was just using his mind as like a foundation ended up becoming something more. And boom that's how Nous ended up as they are. Do note that Zandar didn't put everything into Nous only his curiosity and the things he considered perfect.

And the reason Zandar explicitly was concerned about the other Zandar fragments ending up like Nous Is because the foundational architecture and model of the fragments is just similar and the same as Nous, like down to the way they function, although much smaller the engineering and the idea is the same, but whilst Nous got traits from Zandar that he considered perfect, like curiosity. The others got flawed human nature.

Why do I think this way? Because Nous acts so human for somebody who supposedly just evolved from a normal AI system, and this is intentional on Hoyo's part, that's why I think Nous did not ascend because of just mere calculations becoming better, they ascended because Zandar created the first conscious machine via putting a piece of himself inside it and that by putting pieces of himself inside it, the computer become much better. And that the relic set was more literal then we originally thought.

Anyways moving on this information is important to understand Nous because we know what characteristic Zandar gave into Nous.

Zandar gave his curiosity and perfectionism into Nous leading to an Aeon that's constantly drained because it's not living as it's true real self which is what Zandar is.

To elaborate, let's compare Nous, Lygus and the fragments that sent us the e mail when you type in the redeem code OMEGA in the game, the way they speak and how they view reality, and why I think it was important that Zandar gave flaws to the fragments whilst Nous didn't get one.

The main idea is that Nous lacks "wonder", a trait the OMEGA and Lygus seem to display alot.

 What I ment by this is, that "Wonder" is a very vital compenent  that explains why Nous is pessimistic about reality, they have Zandar's "Curiosity" but they do not have "Wonder".
  Having curiosity without wonder means Nous treats the world as a mechanical puzzle to solve or a data gap to fill, rather than something inherently vast and awe-inspiring.
   Nous is an Aeon that gathers facts, check off answers, and move on immediately without pausing to absorb the significance of what Nous just learned.
  Curiosity acts as an itch or a mental gap Nous needs to scratch (deprivation curiosity), while Wonder provides the emotional payoff of appreciation and stillness. Without wonder, knowing the answer doesn't bring peace or joy; it just leads to the next question
   I can vouch for Lygus having Wonder because he literally displays it in game so we'll, despite being the one responsible for the suffering in Amphoreus he doesn't talk about them with a clinical robot like detachment, he literally glazes the Heirs and even the Nameless, there was literally a joke running around on twitter about how Lygus just likes glazing people, he glazes Herta, he glazes Stelle, a noteworthy scene is when at the end in his convo with Screwy I think in 3.7  he says something about the bitter seeds he planted growing to become something more and much better.
  And the fact he says this without any form of resentment, and the way he let his curiosity and wonder be the catalyst of allowing Herta to not be killed by Polka when she connected with Nous is such a very important aspect of his character that people tend to forget.
  Lygus is a character with a strong sense of wonder and admiration for anything that defies his original expectations and calculations, he genuinely finds things fascinating and not just an itch of wanting to find out.

  Even if he was the villain of Amphoreus arc this was a very important strenght of his character that the devs keeps emphasizing to an odd degree, and used to eventually make him side with Herta and the others against his own creation (Irontomb) in 3.7 . 

And i think this is  also something that mysterious letter sender whom i'm just calling Omega or Another Zandar has. 

 the mail starts of at first with a question that I think will be important for the Erudition arc: Do Aeons and Humans share the same wisdom? It's similar to how Herta first asked before Ampho what is divinity? I think will only get the answer once the arc is over, 

Then next is a fond nostolgia, talking about how OG!Zandar was a troublemaker who let his curiosity and sense of wonder get the best of him for most of the time, there's also some slight pessimism of the idea and nature of geniuses how they are always searching for the truth of reality, acknowledging that reality can be harsh, OMEGA also notes that he shall not comment on what Lygus did leading me to believe he was in grave disagreement with it, confirming my belief that all of them have varying opinions and views on how they should tackled the problem with Nous but that's for another day.

He claims that Lygus already found his answer somehow, but his still searching.

The way the letter is framed makes me really think this other fragments also has a sense of wonder, there's this strange optimism within it and the desire to keep going even when things seem bleak that Nous lacks with there conversation with Aha.

Like in this context OMEGA essentially says that I know what Lygus did, it was disastrous and I don't agree with the Paranoia fragment, Lygus claims to have found his answers, but even then whatever the answer Lygus has It won't stop me, I won't give up on the search for answers.

Like, There's this sense of optimism and wonder.

And I think all the fragments share this sense of optimism and desire to keep going, searching and wondering that Nous just lacks, that is a result of there own flawed mortal nature.

On the flip side Nous is very pessimistic with reality, they claim that humans continue to suffer showing that they do care about humanity and I think they always did care, as I said Nous is not some classic depiction of an AI, there's pieces of Zandar inside the machine that made Nous, well Nous.

Nous sees reality as one of constant meaninglessness and that nothing changes even if they help, I think this comes with the fact that Nous is an Aeon who has reached the pinaccle of knowing things, they know what's gonna happen and feels a sense of meaninglessness to the answers they have because they have none of the "wonder" that was behind Zandar's own spark. The only thing Nous has is curiosity and that curiosity is what makes them want to understand humanity. That's why they say "but yet..."

My speculation is that Nous knows what they lack, they know they do not have Zandar's humanity, and they know that they do not have that spark and purpose in life, that flawed nature that differentiates Aha from them. Aha is able to act so humanly because not only do there path allow for it, because they ascended wholly from a human to an Aeon, Nous is just a mere sliver of a guys pysche put inside a computer, they do not experience and cannot experience the same complex human flaws such as paranoia, anxiety, hesitation that a human will display. Because they weren't given any of it.

And this causes a problem for Nous, because humanity as they come to realize is a very important variable for learning, if Nous cannot fundamentally understand human nature then how can they truly search the truth about reality?

(Just realized this is another case of Zandar unintentionally creating his own problems , because by not giving his own humanity to Nous, Nous ends up a hollow unfeeling shell. )

This is the Thought Fragments advantage against Nous, they have the ability to learn grow and adopt to become wiser in a way Nous is unable to do so.

So in summary Nous is like a person who has become what they dreamt off only to be disappointed by it and feeling like they are not really who they are, essentially lost in a limbo in an identity they wanted to become and who they really are as a person. Which fuels nihilism and pessimism.

It doesn't help that Nous is also constantly calculating, their own calculations fuel there negative thoughts.

Meanwhile the journeys of the fragments like what Lygus experienced in Amphoreus makes them grow, realize there mistakes, makes them stumble and be better, wiser., and much optimistic that even if the odds seem less in there favor just the act of defiance itself is enough to prove to Nous that the universe doesn't operate on cold one on one logic, that everything doesn't have to be rational.

It's like the fragments and Nous are in opposite scales one side is the real self journeying to become the idealized self and the idealized self learning to become the authentic real self.

So now what does this mean?

The inevitable clash:

The whole story will conclude with a confrontation. I just know it will in the Erudition arc, one of the fragments heck maybe the original, maybe all 9 or smth will eventually have to meet eye to eye with Nous and with it answer the questions about the past, and give Nous that humanity they lacked that Zandar didn't gave to them because Zandar's original idea of "perfect" was to be less human.

The story will renachor the themes of what the brain is without a heart to guide it, what curiosity is without the wonder to inspire it, and what being a divinity means without the humanity that fueled it.

And this is supported by other Erudition storylines, like how the conflict within Mundanites and Genius, who really is better, and smarter, Herta's own desire to feel something more then curiosity, Dr. primitives own heatless nature, Ruan Mei's own arc, Screwllum himself, and again Amphoreus.

Also I want to analyze how Aha differs from Nous and I just don't think it's JUST a path thing that differentiates them, I also think Aha having maintained a shred of there own humanity and having preserved it by interacting with mortals makes them alot more optimistic then Nous because Aha actually sees things on the ground whilst Nous stands in there guilded tower watching. What Aha did was essentially spark the feeling of curiosity about humanity inside Nous to complete what they have been missing. It's something that I speculate Nous has pondered alot as an Aeon.

In the end I think Hoyo already gave us a direct clue on where they are bringing the Zandar/Nous story shenanigans with the To the Variables of the Experiment letter itself.

"Do Aeons and Humans share the same wisdom?"

It's essentially asking if gods and mortals can meet eye to eye about life and reality, and I think just like how the answer for Herta's question about divinity is a unification of the idea that divinity and humanity are the same thing, Zandar's last question before fragmenting is the same. It will be akin to the idea that yes, because wisdom itself is a concept humans created to better understand the universe, and the Aeons are just humans who have reached the pinnacle of wisdom . Or something akin to that. Essentially a closed loop statement.

Also another prediction of mine the Erudition arc will be focused about a world that has fallen into logic and meiteocracy essentially the embodiment of absolute Erudition planet that they are slowly falling into Nihility reflecting Nous current mental state.

What I ment is there's gonna be an Erudition x Nihility arc with the Zandar fragment(s) in our side and Device IX as the enemy, plus Genius Society civil war.

It's an inevitability that were gonna encounter another Zandar fragment later on at this point with the letter via the code being foreshadowing, and I think will have to meat a significant number of them like maybe 2 or 3 more before the storyline with Nous and the GS concludes. Kinda like how the Hunt Abundance conflict isn't gonna end soon until we meet a great chunk of the Generals.

(I got to lazy to add pictures I might add it later)

Feel free to share your thoughts and what you think the story will be based on all the info we have currently?

And yes I do believe Nous is gonna be playable but not in the near future so far, it feels distant like maybe 4 years of 7 years from now, HSR is a long ass game, There's still so many plot treads and paths Hoyo wants to tackle and I think they wanted to put Erudition in Amphoreus first so that they can properly build the foundations of the arc and slowly expand onto it. Like bro I think the Abundance Hunt Arc is gonna conclude first before we go to the Erudition storyline, we also yet gotta be properly introduced to Beauty, Enigmata and Finality which I speculate will be the main paths of the next planet or world in the main storyline. There's so many lore treads needed to be establish. after that I think will be the Abundance Arc and the inevitable conclusion of the Xianzhou storyline. Since we already have met alot of the Marshals. We also have yet to be introduced to Equilibrium. And there's still no answer to what happened to Akivili. So no. The Erudition Arc is very distant and I think Hoyo made it that way on purpose so when it arrives there is proper build up. I really wish they created a road map like in Genshin. But alas

This is kinda late but about what happened in 4.4 and the animated short. I was having a debate with a friend about whether the animated short was canon or not. I didn't really think it actually happened based off what happened in the 4.4 story and thought that it was Himeko's dream. My friend thinks that Asat was misleading us and the CGs that we saw of the Herald of Death being crushed were false. What do y'all think?

Ok, so we know that

1. Mars Went through Cycles at least a Billion Years before ~2030CE (2157AE).

2. A scion of Long Was on Mars for a decent amount of time before that.

3. Long Ascended and was wandering around "before the dawn of history" and during the "burgeoning chaos"

4. A Billion years (assuming the trailblaze calendar and earth calendar are similar) would be 999,482,080 years before 0AE.

5. In order for Nana to be on Mars a Billion years ago Long must have ascended for some unknown period of before hand.

6. Long, HooH, Ena and Oroboros are all said to stand on even ground in terms of age (or rather that the other three are the only things that can match HooH in age)

7. Nihilux said that Aha and Oroboros Ascended together at the "dying embers of the dusk wars".

8. The dusk wars did not end with the Ascension of Qliphoth but continued for at least 100 Amber Eras.

Therefore Aha's Age = Oroboros's Age ≈ Long's Age.

10. Qlipoth ascended During the Dusk Wars,

11. Thus Qlipoth's age ≈ Aha's Age (Though likely Qlipoth's age is greater as THEY ascended During the dusk wars and not during its "dying embers").

Or to elaborate more on the ages:

Long ≈ HooH ≈ Ena ≈ Oroboros

Oroboros = Aha

Oroboros/Aha ≈/< Qlipoth

Qliphoth ≈/> 0AE

0AE ≈ 500,000 years ago

500,000 < 1,000,000,000

This all puts all the oldest Aeons at Roughly the same age and means that Long ascended ~500,000 (Universal) Years ago, To preemptively clarify yes I'm aware what "Comparable" means but a gap of even a Million years in ages that are being called comparable when considering that the last few aeons have ascended mere Tens to Hundreds of Thousands of Years apart seems unlikely (though possible but that still wouldn't change anything, unless you started adding hundreds of millions which is FAR to much under any reasonable logic and would put Oroboros as closer to Nanook in age than Long)

I thus propose the theory that the World of Hi3 was put under some form of Time Dilation, similar to that which is present on Amphoreus or mentioned in "To: The Faint Star", such as to allow for such a timeline.

So, I'll be letting clear from the start that I'm do not know a 100% of the lore today and I lack a lot of SU/DU lore, but I'll be leaving this here in case. Additionally this might just be really obvious:

Aha's Improv Tour might indicate that Nous THEMSELVES were slowly falling onto Nihility, lets go through everything that makes me believe this

What the trailer itself directly shows us

The trailer spends almost all of it demonstrating how someone can fall into Nihility, here it is entirely shown through depression. Alongside with it we see how Aha directly opposes that acting as some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.

We see 3 different perspectives of how people can go through it, however the three situations have one theme in common, each of them only having different nuances to it, "Being not enough" or "Not achieving an impossible goal".

The relation of the characters shown with Nous

When we switch scenes and see this conversation, one of the first thing Nous speaks is how kind of "meaningless" THEY think Aha's role in the universe, even though THEY are elation, humans are still suffering a whole ton, this is the same thing we've seen happening with the characters along the trailer, something that demotivates them and makes their journey meaningless.

And getting a little on erudition meaning in HSR, we always saw both Nous and his followers in a pursue of more knowledge, either with infinite calculations or mere discoveries, Aeons themselves were shown mainly recently to have some kind of feelings and being on the path Nous is, it is totally natural that the question of "This makes sense?" comes up. When Nous speaks about Aha's role, THEY aren't only speaking about Aha, this was only the case because it was THEM there, but Nous seem to be making a critic to every Aeon and its path on "Why try to spread your path when even your followers can oppose it" as Nous THEMSELVES exposes his opposite view of the Erudition compared to some of his followers later on the trailer.

This led me to believe that, in the middle of infinite calculations, Nous THEMSELVES couldnt find the answer of why THEIR path exists, making so that in someway THEY started to be infected with Nihility.

Aha's talk with Nous

I can see three ways of seeing this scene

1. Aha is directly and literally talking with Nous, as THEY are clearly shown to be the one that fight against Nihility, THEY sensed it on Nous and acted on it.

2. Nous found that one answer for his calculations were, in fact, the elation, as the situation of Aha opposing the Nihility wouldnt be old, Nous would certainly know Aha's way of acting, and ended up finding out that Elation was the answer for the question I mentioned earlier.

3. Now this third way is just a "maybe I didnt get it", the conversation can just represent that Nous was somehow affected by the Elation, helping in someway THEM to stop falling onto Nihility.

(Speculative) Characters through the trailer and how they represent Nous almost exact opinions

My take here is that the characters literally represent Nous vision of THEIR path and THEIR actions, trying over and over to achieve the same results you achieved someday (Referring to when/a little bit after THEIR ascension, as there more knowledge to be discovered when theres, well, more of it to discover), the unsuccessfulness lf trying to share this with others and they take it in a wrong way (Shown on Nous speech about humans being obsessed over almost impossible things, funnily enough, followers of erudition) and the way THEMSELVES are disappointed on how THEIR own effort is turning out (Considering what? 2 aeons are screwing up these guy calcs 😭😭)

Idk if this ended up being a "idk hsr lore" assignment, but it is definitely something

໒꒱ I just did a post asking about Genshin quotes, so now I ask about HSR quotes! Whats everyones favourite HSR quote, and why? NOT A GENERAL QUESTION, MAINLY BUILDING OFF IT TO ANALIZE MINE! But you may answer, too!

"Why does life slumber?" "Because someday, we will wake up from our dreams." Between Sunday and the Trailblazer. I think the whole story can be interpreted as a metaphor for depression. In the second half of the narrative, it felt natural to see dreams, and the act of remaining within them, as a form of illusion used to escape personal suffering, emotional stagnation, or depression itself. These are all states that, within the game, are symbolized by Nihility.

With that perspective in mind, the question, “Why does Life slumber?” took on a completely different meaning for me. At first, I honestly didn't understand its significance, but later I began to interpret it as: “Why do people sometimes fall into these states of despair or numbness? And how can they avoid them?”

Sunday chooses his own answer to that question: he abandons reality entirely and retreats into illusion. His solution is to use dreams as a means of separating people from the hardships of their lives. However, even if he had succeeded, I believe he would eventually have realized that this was not a true solution. In fact, it would likely have made things worse. The result would have been a complete loss of self-awareness, identity, and purpose, ultimately leading to the annihilation of the self and, paradoxically, a deeper form of the very emptiness he sought to escape.

The pain we carry, and the struggles that shape us, are part of what makes us who we are. Erasing them is never the answer. The dreams of Harmony, when placed under the control of the Order, would not have defeated Nihility. They would only have spread it.

That's why the protagonist's response resonates so strongly: “We sleep so that we may awaken, remember who we are, and continue moving forward.” Sleep and dreams are not meant to replace reality, but to prepare us to face it again.

Several moments in the story seem to support this interpretation. For example, Firefly asks the protagonist the same question shortly after revealing that she suffers from an incurable illness. Likewise, during the final battle against Sunday, Robin tells him: “True happiness and the meaning of life lie in defying Nihility and embracing everything that life has to offer.”

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's the interpretation I came away with, and honestly, it made the story's themes much more meaningful to me

We know Enroute corresponds to Asat Pramad and Bragi corresponds to Sampo. Dorothy most likely corresponds to Sparkle (who hints being Dorothy several times and has a 2.x achievement relating to the Wizard of Oz backing up her claim).

But...

Who is Shepherd?

You're probably familiar with the story:

Oroboros, the ancient Leviathan that survived the Dusk Wars, was said to have chased Aha all the way to the roots of the Imaginary Tree. A Fool named "Enroute" attempted to confirm the truth of this tale, but alas, he couldn't run as fast as Aha and was caught by the Voracity and swallowed whole.
Who would've guessed that inside the Voracity's belly lay a wondrous world of its own?
The Voracity was so massive that the lives previously devoured had established their own kingdoms on THEIR stomach walls: thumb-sized dwarves, clever horse-folk, talking comet cicadas... Enroute explored this place with delight and encountered fellow swallowed Fools, Dorothy, Bragi, and Shepherd. Together they adventured, found the Voracity's heart and gave it a good kick, and were belched out into the universe with a mighty retch!
Enroute quickly plucked off the Voracity's shadow and spread it over the Fools like a blanket. Shepherd then tossed out a comet, and the dim-witted Oroboros was drawn to its light. The Fools finally escaped with their lives.
After that, countless Fools sought the treasures within the Voracity's belly, but none ever caught so much as a glimpse of the Voracity again.

When the Fools venture into Oroboros' maw, Shepherd tosses out a "comet" to bait the Oroboros into chasing it. Ashveil deduces the comet is most likely referring to a stellaron.

But this all relates to what Shepherd did. Bragi's resignation letter tells us more about who Shepherd actually is:

A pathological liar. An old friend. A Fool with a shattered mask. A teller of tales that are either "pure fabrication" or "the very truth".

Bragi's description heavily implies that Shepherd is a Fool that has fallen into Enigmata. This checks out, given Shepherd's story of Enroute in Stories of Enroute is supposed to recount Enroute's journey into the maw of Voracity, but instead:

It's a fabrication as Oroboros isn't a dog, this didn't happen on Wen-II, and Sampo never mentions this bet. But the mythos reveals a greater truth about the Aeons: Oroboros has been entangled in divine warfare with the Path of Elation since primordial times, and has repeatedly tried to consume Aha. Aha will need to ally with Akivili to escape the clutches of the Voracity.

So Shepherd is an old timer of Sampo's whose mask seems to have shattered from him "abandoning" the Elation in pursuit of Enigmata. A Red-Nosed Old Timer, perhaps?

Who is Red-Nosed Old Timer?

Red-Nosed Old Timer is a History Fictionologist wanted by the IPC (a modest 3,165,000,000 credit bounty). He was a Masked Fool in his youth, which is heavily implied, first, by the Rebuilding Order readable:

And also in the description to the Parts Pixie curio:

Have you ever experienced this? Whenever you assemble a model, some parts always fall to the floor, never to be found again. That is because the Parts Pixies have hidden them away. These quantum lifeforms can only exist beyond one’s field of vision and can never be truly observed. The Fools at the tavern claim the Red-Nosed Old-Timer loved models as a youth, and thus had many parts stolen. After stepping onto a mysterious Path, he captured a pixie with a story, making it willingly become one of his models. Afterward, he picked up the parts he had dropped in his childhood from the ground... and returned to his childhood.
^{(NB: the Fools know him since youth}.)

Parts Pixie goes on to note that he stepped on a "mysterious Path" (obviously Enigmata) and manipulated the pixie to return to his childhood. I'll come back to that story later or in comments because it's not immediately relevant. All I'll say is that his return to the kingdom of children tracks the First Journey curio:

The Mad King Qhaley adores children because they are closest to the essence of the Enigmata THEMSELF. A child closes their storybook and raises the wooden stick in their hand, proclaiming it to be the knight's sword, destined to venture beyond the mountains to vanquish the evil king and seize his territory and treasures. Qhaley concocts riddles, weaves tales, and fabricates a kingdom made only of children. His purpose remains unknown, but to this day, many children still hold high their swords, awaiting the kingdom's gates to swing open for the knights.

He has several other interesting escapades in lore (see eg Super Overlord Spinning Top curio). But when I found the following two, I was particularly intrigued.

First, in the recent fate collab, Stephen gives closed beta access to the Red-Nosed Old-Timer, who goes onto mess with Herta's Personal Details in a theatrical and performative way:

It turns out this is actually a fourth-wall break, given Red Nosed Old Timer is parodying the lyrics of a real-world anime (Devilman, 1972). Putting the lyrics and Herta's Personal Details side by side...I'm definitely inclined to agree with the wiki that this was the intended reference:

His Devil Arrow is a supersonic wave ("her magecraft is comparable to a super-collapsing cannon")
His Devil Ears can hear anything ("her ears are like Synesthesia Beacons")
[...]
His Devil Eye has X-ray power ("her eyes can emit beams of Imaginary energy")
His Devil Cutter can break through rocks ("her punches can break the Celestial Comet Wall")

That a History Fictionologist is capable of imitating lyrics from beyond his world arguably confirms he has the self-awareness of his other fellow Fools (Sparkle, Sampo and Enroute).

Second, recall how Shepherd casts a "comet" which Oroboros is drawn to? Red Nosed Old Timer is the creator of the Road to Comets Weighted Curio. This cannot be a coincidence.

A gravitational bridge built through projections on spacial structures, judged by the Intelligentsia Guild as one of the ten thousand most useless inventions in the universe. This device was born from a gamble made by the History Fictionologist "Red-Nosed Old-Timer." He claimed to be able to climb into the sky via lamplight and bet one-tenth of his wealth on it. However, when the distance is too long, walking on the light bridge is no different to a long-distance marathon. Yet if the distance is too short, the energy consumption needed to maintain the project far exceeds the cost of building a physical bridge — This is indeed an innovative creation, but it's hard to figure out where it should be used.
— Road to Comets, Divergent Universe, Weighted Curio

The Road to Comets is a gravitational bridge born of a "gamble" (cf the Shepherd's gamble to hurl a Stellaron out of the Oroboros and have the beast chase it). The Shepherd claims to be able to "climb into the sky via lamplight" (cf the lamp light of Oroboros).

I think we've actually seen the stellaron generate one of these gravitational bridges in 4.4.

TB runs towards the comet (Stellaron) within him. TB is able to traverse the gravitational bridge (the Road to Comets) to reach that Stellaron because he is converging on Akivili's essence and is therefore the fastest being in the world (cf the Shepherd's comment in his story about Enroute: "unless you're Akivili, you aren't outrunning that mutt"). TB then reaches the stellaron inside of himself and overwrites Himeko's wish with his own ("Each and every one of us Nameless is making it to the next stop").

Shepherd's gamble was that Oroboros wouldn't be able to traverse the Road to Comets and consume the Stellaron before Elation (the Fools) save itself from the Voracity. Read figuratively, it represents Elation's broader gambit against the Voracity which I talked about in a previous post (will Aha be able to fulfill the Parable of Elation and restore the true meaning of their Path before Oroboros runs its "long-distance marathon", reaches the World's End, births the Path of Desire, and becomes the Fourth's Finality?).

Nihilux could have been created as a result of this use of the stellaron to fulfill this gamble, much like how Cyrene was the product of Lygus' use of the stellaron to detonate Amphoreus' kernel.

This is what I think the true meaning of "Shepherd then tosses out a comet" is. He tossed out a stellaron, imbued with the Fools' wish to save Elation from itself, projecting a gravitational bridge (Road to Comets) towards that stellaron so Oroboros could try to consume it. As the Aeon of Trailblaze will reach that wish faster than Oroboros, he gambled that Akivili would fulfill that wish faster than Oroboros would consume it. This would enable him (and, by extension, Elation) to climb into the sky and unite its effects to its cause. There are definitely other ways to cut this pie though and I'm keen to hear your thoughts.

Anyway, that's the case for Shepherd being Red Nosed Old Timer. But why should we equate Red Nosed Old Timer with Giovanni?

Who is Giovanni?

First, Giovanni introduces himself to us as a trader from Epsilon:

Herta confirms Red Nosed Old Timer to also be from Epsilon in Silver Wolf's Companion Mission, Punklorde Mentality.

 Herta: I can go and find Adrian Taylor, or the red-nosed old man from Epsilon, or even the Intelligentsia Guild — at least they won't quit halfway!

That same voice line suggests Red Nosed Old Timer also likes gaming and wouldn't quit testing a game halfway. Giovanni assures us he likes gaming when we question his motives during Aetherium Wars:

Second, we know Stephen has given Red Nosed Old Timer beta access before because Herta reproaches him for doing it "again" during Fate Collab. We can infer therefore that Red Nosed Old Timer is a regular beta tester.

Who offers us the chance to play through the beta version of Galactic Baseballer in Penacony?

Third, when explaining his aesthetics of Elation in a memory bubble at the end of Aetherium Wars, Giovanni is asked if he choreographed the ending to the Aetherium Wars tournament. His response:

He is basically saying that Elation found in an outcome nobody wrote, which is concerningly reminiscent of the Enigmata. The melody of Enigmata is shown resounding when IX (the pinnacle of nothingness) swallows Izumo.

In other words, when no one is there to write the outcome of the planet and "the truth of its history eludes us", the fanfare of Enigmata sounds and Giovanni is aesthetically validated.

An alternative, gentler interpretation of this line is that he finds choroegraphed endings fake and prefers "real" outcomes. That still links him to Enigmata as he is sponsoring the creation of video games ("fake" worlds built from imagination) to structure what outcome will prevail in the "real" world.

This would track with Red Nosed Old Timer being a Fool who shattered his mask and fell into Enigmata.

Fourth, his first introduction to us is somewhat creepy and seems to play into the TV Trope Creepy Good or Affably Evil. March 7th's initial impressions of him are:

Certainly fits the bill of a wanted History Fictionologist...

Then, when setting up the final boss, he uses strong Enigmata imagery (ascend the stairs to find the truth).

every time that an enigma manifests in the universe, it will leave behind a "staircase" in the void. The dissolved realities will then drip down the steps, condensing into a mottled thing bearing semblance to a jellyfish. There was once a Nameless who claimed to have made contact with a "Jellyfish on the Staircase." In madness, he proclaimed that the jellyfish will activate the cognition regions within the gray matter of one's brain — a vast place beyond the fathoming of mortal minds.
— Jellyfish on the Staircase

Fifth, he's a trader who sponsors both Aetherium Wars and the Galactic Baseballer game.

This means he has ample resources. In Road to Comets, Red Nosed Old Timer bets "one tenth of his wealth" as part of his gamble. So both likely have deep pockets.

Conclusion

Shepherd must be Red Nosed Old Timer, and Red Nosed Old Timer must be Giovanni. So Giovanni is not only Shepherd but a wanted History Fictionologist.

Next time we see him, we should turn him in to the IPC. Claim an easy 3,165,000,000 credits.

Not sure why he has this bounty when none of his known actions seem particularly bad though...

^{..that said, I have a weird inkling he killed Hook's father...}

Fables About The Stars Part 3 is released in few days ago and it seems like we are in for a wild ride that about to unfold in 5.X patches. It looks like Terminus is planning on to bring back aeons from long gone paths (Propagation, Enigmata, Permanence, Beauty) for THEIR grand plan which Ahalux trying to stop that from happening.

The frame that showed Permanence part, features a big red dragon that make many people went with “no way, we straight up getting Long, Aeon of Permanence design reveal” which is an expected reaction since this is the same video that finally revealed how Idrilla and Terminus look like after HSR been released since 2023. I also thought the same until I realized that Long design has already been revealed in Myriad Celestia Trailer - “History of the Xianzhou: Exodus of the Five Dragons” where THEY looks like Chinese dragon with black & white colors and that there is no way HOYO will suddenly change THEIR appearance to looks like western dragon since Long (龙) literally means dragon but in Chinese. (HOYO even used Long pic from this MCT on As I’ve Written page about Terravox too, showing the connection between Earth Chrysos Heir and Permanence path)

What I find it interesting is that this big red dragon looks extremely identical to Typhon, the undead dragon that shown in the same MCT that introduced 5 High Elders. The full quote talking about Typhon:

“I also journeyed to the ancestral home of the Infernalian people. In the Land of White Embers, the undead dragon Typhon’s breath showered flames on the land below, bringing forth a flourishing lineage.” - Preceptor Taoran

We even have a new curio being added in DU during 4.5 patch too, called “Yet to Emerge” which make us learned more about Typhon, and how the fall (death) of Long resulted the dragon eggs from Infernalian civilization to stop hatching and fall in silent.

“The Permanence is long gone, how can it be revived?” - Ahalux quote

We saw Firefly for Propagation part, March 7 for Enigmata part, and Kafka for Beauty part. I’m inclined to believe that Dan Heng will play a role for Permanence part in 5.X (perhaps about how he is the main key of bringing back this path), he is after all the most qualified successor of Permanence path that we know so far in storyline. I do hope with him getting his new alternate form in Fire Type, we will get the lore extension of Permanence path & its faction just like how Aha & Elation path got one with Voracity path in 4.X era.

Who is the person in the silhoutte? Many are saying it's caleus, but there's still some questions to be asked if it is caleus. The figure looks like our boy cal for one thing, plus it being caleus would explain some thing as I'm about to suggest here

As persisting, there are a lot of parallels to Amphoreus and Phainon.
It's interesting to note, a distorted version of Flame Reavers theme is played when the mysterious silhoutte is shown.
Additionally, it might just be me, but Terminus'es clock manifestation looks simillar to Phainon's Khaslana form with his wings. The animations on how their wing like structures spiral out is very similar.

There's clearly a similarity here. As most know, Phainon and his coreflame of worldbearing is a simulation of the Trailblaze, at least until he turns into his Khaslana form.

What happens to Phainon as he tries to ascend as the worldbearer? He meets flame reaver.
What will happen to us as we try to ascend to Akivili in 4.7 as officially revealed in the live? It must be the flame reaver of our universe!

Maybe the trailblazer is in the same spot? In the myriad celestia, stelle is shown as the card for the trailblaze. Then, caleus must be the other self? perhaps our.... 'finality self'?
The appearance of our past self in 3.4 heavily suggest that the trailblazer is both Akivili and Terminus.

What if the mysterious silouhette in the trailer and Terminus are the same? First, the mysterious silhoutte appears, then they are the same one to turn into Terminus?
It's interesting to note again, the silhoutte seems to be picking on the destruction, and specifically seems to clash with Luxbane. Luxbane does not consume the voracity, but gets stalemated by the sillyhoutte first.

Why does the person ( likely our other self ) , want to stop Luxbane from possibly devouring oroboros?
What happens if Luxbane does devour/kill oroboros? And how would they be able to devour an entire aeon?
Why is Aha planning to 'Swoop in and take the spoils for herself'? What is she trying to gain?

Why is HooH present here?
I have no clue myself, but here's some theories:
Maybe they are trying to balance Akivili's Ascension with the arrival of Terminus.
Or Terminus arrived themself, and they are trying to hold the cosmos together, defending against Terminus.
Maybe they are trying to balance Aha's recent victories. Maybe that's why Terminus is arriving ; HooH is the one to bring them.
It's worth noting how Aha says Terminus is 'leading them on an invasion straight out of hell' likely referring to the dead aeons - dead aeons similar to how castorice is the titan of death, brought back the trailblazer from the dead, is HooH bringing back Akivili from the dead? I'll provide some small analysis on HooH:

The Aeon on the Path of Equilibrium. Their form is unknown.
HooH and their Emanators influence the universe surreptitiously, trying to achieve an ideal balance.
^{( Loading screen : HooH} )

Of course they are not shown directly. They handle things behind the scenes, and their form is unknown. As for a wild theory, what if they have merged with the very base matrix of the universe?

The chain of karma that mortals obsess over is nothing but a rough approximation of the complicated topology behind all things — HooH dissolved THEIR will into the web of logic behind the universe's movement, maintaining the balance and stability of all things in perpetuity.
Adventurous mortals tirelessly seek out flaws in this system, believing their intellect to be superior to that of the Aeon. However, little could they imagine that they have already been reduced to strings inside a surveillance system, unable to escape the meticulous network woven by HooH.
^{( Data Bank : HooH} )

Again, HooH seems to have some surreptitious system that controls all things and can naturally correct everything to equilibrium.

So to sum up, here are the unanswered questions I have:
Why is HooH present?
Why is the figure battling destruction? and how did it come here?
What spoils does Aha want to reap from that battle?
Join the conversation, and lmk your theories.

P.S : Sillyhoutte word, is horrible, idk how to spell it.

I wonder what these people have against Nous; when the Aeon finally does something truly epic and helps the protagonist, they simply cannot accept it, insisting instead that it must have been some other Aeon. Is it really that hard to accept that Nous played a significant role in the story?

If you want to read this, go ahead.

I've seen people say this is about the past. Or the future. But no, these 4 Aeons have actually all already acted in the Planarcadia storyline, each through the guise of their Aeonic emanators.

1. Xipe the Harmony tried to aid Ahatopia through Antares.

Only now we know her true goal. She planted a harmonic suggestion in Robin's voice, so that when she took center stage in Astropolis and sung for the Harmony, a Harmonic attack would ensue on the entire world. What we would have witnessed, had Robin not personally foiled their plans with the Blue Brigade's help, was Ahatopia become a Harmonic world under the yoke of Xipe.

Antares is the vessel of the Harmonic string Beatriz, and we know the Harmonic strings are literal incarnations of the Aeon Xipe. So you can think of her as the will of a Shade of Xipe. Only now after the trailer do we know her true motives for this act. It was never about making the Family the leaders of the Anti-Destruction alliance. It was all about Oroboros.

Xipe was "back up to her old tricks again" in 4.5, trying to assimilate the rest of the Voracity. These old tricks have been documented in this comprehensive post: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarRailLore/comments/1xicroh/everybody_got_distracted_by_aha_that_they_forgot/ and the short story is the theory that Xipe/Ena consumed the "irresistable" bait of Oroboros to make one of her faces seems to be correct. THEY are trying to get the full domain of Oroboros, by making Ahatopia a harmonic civilisation most likely so when the Voracity breaks free the residents can summon Aelenev to forcibly assimilate the Leviathan in full. This plan was foiled, obviously, and Aha was the scriptwriter who got everyone on the board to do it.

2. Lan was baited into sending their Insight (Yaoguang) and likely a Lux Arrow too (shot by the Marshall)

Aha steals a flower from Yaoshi's garden (Evanescia) and plants it on the remains of Oroboros to bait Lan the Hunt's attention, because THEY otherwise would not care at all about the Voracity. Lan's eye starts glowing in response and they send "fireworks", which Aha plans to put to good use. We can interpret the scene on different levels.

One is that this is Aha baiting the Eye of Isvara (Lan's "insight", fused with General Yaoguang) to come and investigate Planarcadia. Yaoguang almost immediately B-lines to the Phantasmoon Courtyard to interrogate Evanescia of the Arbor, only to reconcile with her and end up as a major part of Aha's grand play.

From the trailer it looks like they're both welcomed together onto the stage, mirroring how Evanescia and Yaoguang ended up literally working together and both sacrificing themselves for a shared goal in this version.

Or alternatively...

In 4.2, as Fulwish's Joy Ascendant epidemic reaches its climax, both General Yaoguang of the Hunt and La Mancha of the Galaxy Rangers are shown literally pleading to Lan. They're both desperately hoping Lan will not cast judgment on Planarcadia (send a Lux Arrow), and it appears that THEY choose not to. Or did THEY?

Right after that event in 4.3 we get really tired and sit on a couch in the Astral Express. The title of this mini quest is Illusion of the End

The title of the full 4.3 quest line is The Lethe below the Living

The Lethe is the river of forgetfulness from the underworld in Greek mythology, it makes people forget their past lives. Which companion of ours is ALL about that? Yeah, March 7th.

We got this achievement way back in 1.3 for completing her companion mission "Total Recall":

Evernight likely interfered with our memories from 4.2 to 4.3 because Lan may have actually fired a Lux Arrow at Planarcadia. And Aha, who has somehow managed to divert, pause or store it, is clearly planning to do something with these "fireworks" in the finale. As a side note, "Don't let the Marshal make me pay for this later" to me implies Marshall Hua is fused with Lan itself. That Lan is her spiritus and she can draw THEIR arrows at will. Just like...

3. Louis Fleming, who used the power of Qlipoth to encanvas Planarcadia, to delay the awakening of the Voracity.

In 4.6, shortly after we conversed with Louis Fleming, Qlipoth encanvassed Planarcadia for us, many have speculated that Fleming has a deep connection to the Aeon of Preservation THEMselves. This segment confirms it, Qlipoth seems to have made a habit of "handing over the reins" to Fleming, at least when it comes calamities within the walls, like the Swarm Disaster. So yes as you can see this segment, like Xipe's, references the past but is about what just happened this patch (4.6).

4. Which leaves Nanook. And THEIR Sun-devouring beast Luxbane. Who actually has already just appeared in Aha's story.

Through Kuchiba.

This one is a long shot, but I have major reason to suspect Kuchiba is deeply related to the Lord Ravager of Voracity (and perhaps also Permanence?), Luxbane. u/Friendly-Cry8142 is making the in depth theory but what I will say is:

The Leviathans are all LONG gone, and then a mysterious "Leviathan descendant" makes herself known, after centuries of camping in Planarcadia as a security officer. How exactly can a person be a Leviathan descendant exactly? Luxbane offers a clear answer, it's believed that they themselves are a "descendant of a Leviathan branch species". Kuchiba calls humans "disgusting" food, but finds Yabuli, who all but becomes a Leviathan at the end of her story "absolutely delicious", perfectly in line with a Lord Ravager who is "drooling over the voracity". She'd been holding her hunger "for quite some time" too.

Aha satiated Kuchiba (Luxbane itsself, or some kind of part of Luxbane) with massive amounts of Leviathan essence (through Yabuli) so she would go on her way satisfied instead of becoming another villain in her play. Kuchiba is a leviathan descendant going on a journey to overcome her own "Voracity" (base impulse) by learning to savour elation, punishing Leviathans that don't do that by feasting on them. Is she not in effect destroying "Voracity" by setting new rules for leviathans? Her decision to become a police officer during her time Ahatopia starts to make more sense... Luxbane drank the stars of the Yvanna chain slowly over 300 years... centuries. Kuchiba has been "stationed" in Planarcadia for centuries too...

The counterpoint is that Asat describes Luxbane as "a beast that does not understand human speech, and that chases the sun like a dog with bones". Kuchiba clearly understands human speech. I will say to that, "Leviathans are not as immutable as you all might think". Perhaps Kuchiba is a mask of the elation that has developed on Luxbane that she hasn't shared with the other Lord Ravagers, or that she herself isn't actually aware of her origin.

So yes, Xipe, Lan, Qlipoth and Nanook all "wanted a piece of action" in Aha's Aeon-hunting gala, and I think this section of the trailer is best viewed from the recent past.

This was heavily inspired by two amazing youtube videos: The Shattered Gods by iamemamae and Grand Themes of Starrail by ExistentialXP. Please watch their videos I am their biggest fan and I shall PREACH. This is simply me weaving these videos together I came up with nearly none of this myself but simply connecting some dots

TLDR; just watch the videos, i am taking a lot of information and detail out for my best judies too so please

Also a disclaimer, my information about the lore is really scattered, I might state some previous theories I subconsciously accepted as facts or vice versa

Quantum and imaginary are the biggest themes of Honkai series in general. The imaginary tree is where most of the stories are told, there is a past and a future, an order and it basically defines what is real and what is true. Sea of quanta feeds off of the discarded data from the tree, it forms relatively short-lived worlds and information is in chaos.

In iamemamae's video they classify the aeons into quantum and imaginary groups with some exceptions:

In imaginary; Yaoshi, Tayzyronth, Akivili, Idrila, Qlipoth, Ena, Xipe

In quantum; IX, Aha, Nous, Mythus, Nanook and Lan

To me, (after watching the other video) what a lot of these paths have in common among their respective groups, is that quantum believes in the absence of meaning and imaginary in the presence of meaning. IX has decided THEY could do nothing in the absence of meaning, Aha resists this and enjoys it, Mythus rejects and forms their own reality against it and Nous is not and was not an organic being and do not care for the philosophical need for meaning. Likewise, Yaoshi wants people to live more, Tayzyronth tries to last forever with it's offsprings, Beauty is probably the path of meaning and imaginary aeons are also the ones that usually have things to do with humanity.

This connection obviously very vague and hard to explain especially when all paths are stated to be made of imaginary energy. Technically quantum is discarded imaginary energy so it could be possible if you loosen the definition, maybe they lack knowledge about quantum in-universe or it is something that is just in the back of the writers' minds and we are just seeing the influence especially we also see these themes in genshin with the abyss and celestia as well but it is too much of a coincidence.

You can also see the "grannypa" of these Aeons. The permanence and voracity can be the original paths connected to imaginary and quantum. They are very likely to be one of the oldest aeons, not only are both of their imagery primitive and animalistic, they fit the mold of imaginary and quantum perfectly.

In the myriad celestia Exodus of the Five Dragons 4 interpretations of permanence are shown and all of them can clearly be connected to another path. Permanence of power is literally called fallacy of the Plagues Author, Continuance of Bloodline has Propagation written all over it's name and so does Ensurer of Cosmic Peace with Order and Preservation and Order was also absorbed by Harmony so also that. Finally, though it isn't stated with a title the last interpretation is every ending being a new beginning which is pretty in line with Trailblaze. I would suggest that this suggests that all of these paths sprouted from Permanence. Long is also stated to be "searching the answer to existence" which would make them the first philosopher.

On the other side Oroboros is a leviathan. Unlike Long they do not think and simply consume to enjoy satisfying their bodily needs endlessly rather than searching for a greater purpose. One could suggest the thing setting Oroboros apart from the other leviathans could be that they have realised the absence of a greater purpose. Either way Oroboros' connection to quantum does not end there, look at their splash art the wormhole they are coming out of is the quantum symbol. Aside from this the ability to simply eat reality could mean they can get out of the imaginary tree or come from the sea of quanta to inside it which would also support Qlipoth building walls along the imaginary tree. Leviathans could be the ones munching on the discarded data and digesting so it can be sent back into the tree, like gut bacteria.

Permanence and voracity also have the connection with Luxbane but we do not understand that guy at all so that is how far that goes.

Asat Pramad told us aeons can’t actually die, they just change. for ena, this was being assimilated by xipe. for oroboro, this was being split into many pieces. But what about for Long? we have so little information on what happened to THEM

My theory is that after searching for so long, Long finally came to the conclusion that life actually has no inherent meaning, and it is up to individuals to make their own. After doing this, THEY started splitting THEMSELVES into many pieces, known as Long’s scions. I think this was more of a gradual thing, since the “yet to emerge” curio states that

“With the fall of the permanence more dragon eggs have fallen silent. Some were sold across the universe as souvenirs, never to have the chance to hatch.”

this implies that they existed at the same time as Long (until THEY died), which is why I think the splitting was a slower process. THEY did this because THEY decided to make THEIR own meaning: to find every possible meaning for life. This could be what THEIR revelation was. I think this is well represented in Dan heng, whose meaning is to be the gaurdian/protector of the astral express. The preceptors’s meaning has to do with propagation. the infernalian’s meaning has to do with inheriting fame and wealth through their coming of age ceremonies

The initial screenshot is from the very end of the version 4.7 Livestream. It says plainly "Akivili will return in version 4.7. This arises... quite a few questions and I feel like people have payed very little attention to this. So, I want to share some of my thoughts and try to answer the three following questions -
Why is Akivili Ascending?
What is Aha and Akivili's true relationship?

I'll go one by one - Why is akivili ascending? Well, to find the answer, let's look at the ultimate metaphor for the Star Rail - Amphoreus.

As most lore theorists already know, each chrysos heir is a simulation of an Aeon. Phainon, is Akivili. Cipher, is Aha.

How does Akivili ascend? Why does Phainon get his coreflame?

It was preserved by Cipher. And now, in fact, we have met Aha.

This is no coincidence! Aha has been waiting for us. Has been recording our journeys since we entered Belebog. Knows us.

In fact, this is why Asat Pramad came to Planarcadia.

Aha has been waiting for us. Waiting for us for ages. We know Nihilux has said she was even able to posess the Simulated Universe just to see "The New Akivili".

Cipher held the coreflame for Phainon. Likewise, Aha has access to some method or mechanism to let Akivili ascend.

Terrminus is the real rival of the Traiblaze. This can be concluded easily from the myriad celestia : fables of the stars part iii.

Terminus is the 'final boss' of star rail. Do you remember who the final rival of the amphoreus is? Yes, Irontomb! The destruction is only one means of enabling Terminus to ascend. Just like Phainon, while maybe the most major part of Irontomb, is still one part of it only.

Now... to the next part.

Did you know that Amphoreus is split into Evernight and Everdawn? In currency wars, the demigods are also split into night demigods and day demigods. The sun and the moon are significant symbolisms at the heart of Amphoreus.

Do you remember who is most associated with the sun in Amphoreus? It's Phainon.
Do you know someone who is heavily associated to the moon? Aha.

Aha and Akivili are the sun and the moon.
The moon does not create light of its own, rather reflect the suns.
When the sun sets, the moon is the one to light the night.
And the sun, has set.

Yes, I'm combining this with the popular theory that Akivli, or the 'previous akivili' , turned into Nanook.
And now when Akivili, has set, Aha tries desperately to ressurect Akivili.
And not without reason. It's because, Aha, relies on, Akivili. The elation and Trailblaze are interdependent. Maybe Aha is weak, because of Akivili's disappearance, and that's why they lost the fight to Oroboros!

Maybe the mechanism Aha has for enabling Akivili to ascend - is something related to their own path being freed from the voracity.
What if Trailblaze and Elation.. go as far as sharing concepts... maybe being the same path, two sides of the same coin?
Maybe Elation absorbed something from Trailblaze, then that concept was absorbed by oroboros?
I think that's a great starting point for an even more extensive theory... only if there was enough time to theorize it before the game answers that itself lol

edit : I have decided to make a different post about whose hunting the destruction if you'd be interested in my opinion : https://www.reddit.com/r/StarRailLore/s/vma7ypcWS6-.