Hi guys! I am Inotia King a youtuber, redditor and gamer who likes theorizing about the story. I actually cobbled together a list of some of my more important theories with respect to the game Genshin Impact and Star Rail that I have been basing all of my newer theories on. I'll be putting more of those up on Hive along with new stuff but if you're impatient I also archived all my theories here. I hope some of you guys are game theorists too. Let's try to figure out these great games together!
I just want to vent about this game a little because I had originally given up on Wuwa as a game since v1.3 because the gameplay was very boring and far too easy to stay interested in. Then I gave up Wuwa's story following the first part of Rinascita because it was just not getting better. However I kept hearing that Septimont and beyond was significantly improved and the story was finally figuring itself out. Therefore I decided to bite the bullet and watch the Septimont and current Lahai-Roi stories much to my detriment. Never again.
What I can say about Huanglong was that the entire arc was original Kuro work for the most part. It was more or less just themes and shoutouts that Kuro took from miHoYo. The opening cutscene for example was marginally derivative in that the game also had its own "Unknown God" modeled after their previous game's main protagonist. Genshin's Unknown God looked unmistakably like Herrscher of the Void Kiana so Wuwa's Unknown God looked just like Lucia. Rover itself is a synonym for Traveler. (and Wanderer) Similarly, the "Moonchasing Festival" was clearly based on Genshin's Moonchase Festival and related to the same real world holiday as well. The game's first regional expansion also happened to be a frost covered mountain (Dragonspine) and Kuro even named it Mt. Firmament after the false sky lore of Genshin that was based on the Gnostic Firmament. (right and there was even a dragon's form inlaid into these mountains though there was a lore reason for Dragonspine while Jue wasn't quite the same as the rocky dragon slope of Firmament) Finally you have the Fractsidus and their Overseers which is obviously lifted from Genshin's Fatui and the Harbingers. Scar is just Childe. His boss fight even has 3 stages where two of them are just him and the last is him in a mutated form. Phrolova is a little more interesting. She started out as just Signora but Signora was killed off and not made playable so Phrolova ended up turning into Columbina's original characterization later. However the rest of the lore during this time was only vaguely inspired by miHoYo's Hoyoverse and Kuro made its own interpretation of it where life is formed by sound waves or "frequencies" which is based on the Hoyoverse's fictional version of string theory but taken literally. Huanglong's story is totally removed from anything miHoYo made. It just wasn't a good story and players let Kuro know this. I was actually defending Kuro back then and offered some critiques.
Following Huanglong though, Rinascita is 100% based on Genshin. As the first new region released in the game's v2.0 major update, Rinascita is an isolated island nation cut off from the rest of Solaris-3 by hard to traverse waters due to the major antagonist who also serves as the god of the region, Leviathan. This is Inazuma, an isolated island nation cut off from the rest of Teyvat by hard to traverse waters due to the god of the region who serves as the major antagonist, the Raiden Shogun. However in order to not be 100% Inazuma, Rinascita is also designed around Fontaine's unique mechanics and culture. Fontaine is based on Industrial France and as the nation of Hydro, you can dive underwater throughout the nation. Rinascita is based on Renaissance Italy and as the nation of Aero, you can fly throughout the nation. Then you meet the first released character of the region, the daughter of a prominent family whose forward thinking runs afoul of the other two rivaling factions, one a religiously based group directly linked to the nation's god and another a political rival. She wields the power of the ice element and has an assistant that acts as a tour guide for the main character. So this is the Glacio/Cryo character Carlotta/Ayaka, prominent daughter of the Montellis/Yashiro Commission's Kamisato clan who rivals the Fisalias/Kanjou Commission and a subordinate organization to the ruling god Imperator/Raiden Shogun called the Order of the Deep/Tenryou (heaven's will) Commission. We are guided by her attendant Zani/Thoma.
And the rest of the game follows suit:
Zani is designed around Arlecchino (Genshin) and Evelyn (Zenless) with a similar backstory to the latter. Her role in the story is a cross between Thoma (Inazuma inspired) and Clorinde (Fontaine inspired) as she looks after Carlotta (Ayaka and Furina respectively)
Brant is a cross between Wriothesley and Navia and he brought us to Rinascita like Beidou did. As Wriothesley, he's the ship captain that saves the outcasted Fools sent on the Pilgrim's Sail (Meropide) and as Navia, he's their leader who runs his operation in a literal hole in the ground called the Fool's Elysium. (Poisson)
There is also some element of Lyney in Brant but this applies more to Roccia who is his Lynette, a quiet girl with an attention for detail that she occasionally blurts out.
Cantarella is very obviously an oversexed version of Kokomi who had been lusted after by Genshin players on her release. Cantarella has the same jellyfish motif, attacks with what looks like swimming animations while she floats in the air, her Fisalia family comes from an ancient civilization (Enkanomiya for Kokomi) and she's the current head of this family. (High Priestess) She also had to unfortunately work with the Fractsidus (Fatui) in order to realize her goal of freeing Rinascita (Watatsumi) from the tyranny of the Threnodian. (Shogunate) From even a meta sense, players believed Cantarella was the true Blessed Maiden which turned out to be false as Cartethyia was the "dead" true maiden. In Genshin, players thought Kokomi was the resurrected Hydro Dragon but Neuvillette turned out to be the "dead" true dragon.
Cartethyia is actually unrelated to anything from Inazuma but instead is an amalgamation of Sumeru's Nahida and Fontaine's Furina. She was split in two by a god (Rukkhadevata to Nahida) where one of these pieces would be powerless while the other would retain her full divinity. (Furina and Focalors' Divinity) The one with the divinity became corrupted by the Threnodian who had assimilated the Sentinel Imperator. (Rukkhadevata corrupted by forbidden knowledge) In the end Imperator's (Rukkhadevata's) plan was to erase herself and the Threnodian (Abyssal forbidden knowledge) from existence. This would then free Cartethyia (Furina) from the burden of fate so she could live her own life.
Ciaccona is a genderswapped Venti (players had claimed Venti looked like a girl) and Kazuha. (players joked that Kazuha was a better Anemo Archon than Venti) Ciaccona (Kazuha) can use a leaf as a musical instrument, senses things on the wind that others typically can't and is a bard by profession (Venti) but is a traveling bard. (Kazuha is a traveling ronin)
The Carnevale is both the Irodori Festival that progressed Inazuma forward and the Sabzeruz Festival in Sumeru that celebrated Cartethyia (Nahida) rather than the Sentinel (Rukkhadevata) so it was opposed by the Order of the Deep. (Sages)
The Inazuma and Sumeru theme of tradition over progression is core to Rinascita. Leviathan (Ei, sages) wanted to keep Rinascita (Inazuma, Sumeru) from changing so it had the Order of the Deep (Tenryou Commission, Akademiya) oppose any attempt at change.
Septimont diverges from Rinascita storywise despite it just being another piece of the region. Septimont takes the aesthetics of Fontaine's Petrichor (Rome) and story of Natlan. The gladiator contest is obviously the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame. The Hunt and High Tide over Sanguis Plateaus is just the Night Warden Wars.
Lupa is Mualani, strong fighters who are meant to become heroic figures. They love to compete and are introduced as veteran fighters with many wins already under their belts.
Mya is Kachina, underdog fighters who deeply desire to win for once. Mya (Kachina) was lulled by the Dark Tide (Abyss) when she died.
Phrolova started off as Signora but then became more like the version of Columbina hinted about in Childe and Scaramouche's voicelines about her and her then single appearance in Winter Night's Lazzo. Basically she says strange things in a flighty tone and she looks like a damsel but this only hides her true monstrous self. However, her storyline plays out the Petrichor World Quest where she (Remus) has preserved her dead town (Remuria) in a Sonoro Sphere (Grand Symphony) intent on bringing them back to life. (preventing their death by the Fontaine flood prophecy)
Adding to Phrolova, we have Fenrico (Boethius) and "Triss" (Sybilla) who are blinded by their god's destructive plan because they foolishly believe it will save the people from the Dark Tide. (Great Prophecy) In the end, the real culprit behind Phrolova's act (Petrichor World Quest) was Triss (Sybilla) as the Grand Architect. (Grand Symphony)
Augusta is the most blatant clone of a Genshin character to date. She isn't even any different from Mavuika except for her very fake accent which was meant to be Greek but her VA is Scottish and doesn't know how to do a Greek accent unlike Zani's VA. Kuro attempted to make her mildly different by giving her the Havoc element instead of Fusion but she had a sun crown on her head (Pyro Archon) wields a massive broadsword (Claymore Character) is the Ephor (Archon) who leads her nation as the Hero of Heroes (leader of the Six Heroes of Natlan) and this is why the Dark Tide (Abyss) keeps whispering to her that she'll fail. Her death is even fated to happen and is a subplot to the story. There's also a section showcasing Augusta's (Mavuika's) childhood and aspirations to become Ephor. (Archon) Finally there is even a section of Act VIII where Augusta (Mavuika) and Rover (Traveler) embark on separate paths towards facing the False Sovereign (Gosoythoth) before they converge together to defeat it.
Iuno looks like Mona and has the ability to see fate like she does and because of this ability they both felt that fate could not be changed. Also because of this ability, Kuro was able to link Iuno to Natlan's Citlali. It was Iuno (Citlali) who foretells Augusta's (Mavuika's) fated death and means to stop it. However because Citlali doesn't have a plan for this as fate can't be changed, Kuro had to use Scara's changing of fate story instead so Iuno (Scara) erases herself from existence in order to nudge fate just enough. After that, Rover (Traveler) had to bring Iuno (Scara) back by showing her that she wasn't alone in her painful fate of people taking her for granted. ("betraying" him) In the end, Iuno (Scara) is back but nobody remembers her and so her story going forward is detached from what we knew about her from before like her being the priestess. (Harbinger, Kunikuzushi)
These two acts run through Natlan's Acts III-V but the beginning of it is actually set in the Ochkanatlan World Quest. We start by entering a narrow mountain pass where fireballs rain from the sky. Tyranno (Evil Dragon) is a dinosaur (Saurian) and we chase it until the fated battle where Iuno (Cocouik) tells us it's actually the False Sovereign. (OchKan) Early in the following act, Kuro actually has Brant paraphrase the Natlan creed, "If you do not first become ashes, how will you rebuild? Embrace your fire." ("The victors burn bright while the losers must turn to ash.")
The finale to Rinascita unravels a little as Kuro had exhausted most of the available content from Genshin. Therefore we got a rerun of the first ending to Rinascita where the enemy is once again Leviathan in the form of Fleurdelys and Cartethyia is once again in peril and "died." However Kuro included the part where only Rinascitans are dreaming of sinking into an enormous, black ocean. (only Fontainians will dissolve into the Primordial Sea)
There was enough material left for Galbrena at least. She's somewhat like a genderswapped Genshin character except her look is also lifted from another character unlike Ciaccona whose look at least is original. Galbrena (Kinich) was attacked while traversing through ruins where she discovered a powerful TD (dragon) called Chimera (Ajaw) and by making a pact with him, they fight for humanity together. However when Galbrena (Kinich) dies, Chimera (Ajaw) will gain control over her body. They also have an antagonistic relationship with each other where Chimera (Ajaw) persistently tries to belittle Galbrena (Kinich) to bolster his own ego as "Forefather." (Almighty Dragonlord) Her look with the black shorts and exposed toned abs is Dehya's look, palette swapping from red to blue.
Side Note: Galbrena's weird Slavic accent though doesn't fit with Rinascita but then neither did Augusta's Scottish-Greek accent. These characters are friends so maybe they grew up in the Scottish/Russian part of the Greco-Roman Septimont? That is 100% Kuro original. miHoYo hasn't come up with a Scottish/Russian/Greco-Roman region yet though Nod-Krai which I previously said miHoYo adapted from Rinascita does come close, being Celtic/Baltic/Balkan/Slavic with just a little too much Persia.
Lahai-Roi is the third region for the game and therefore just like Rinascita, it is based on the next region for Genshin: Sumeru. Sumeru is divided into two specific areas the rainforest and the desert wasteland. Lahai-Roi is divided into underground forests and cities and the frozen wasteland on the surface. The main feature of Lahai-Roi is the Startorch Academy (Akademiya) and the students all carry a Cassette. (Akasha Terminal) The forest areas are inhabited by short rotund creatures created from the Exostrider (Dendro Archon) called Soliskins. (Aranara) And the Duskveil (Wall of Samiel) prevents the spread of Voidmatter (forbidden knowledge) from reaching Startorch Academy. (Akademiya) But in order not to be 100% Sumeru, it is also Genshin's Khaenri'ah, a technologically advanced underground nation with no patron god and based on the cold Nordic region. Kuro also copied over the Frostmoon Scions from Nod-Krai as the Roya, a tribal group who are the original inhabitants of the frostlands (Hyperboreans) and worship the artificial sun Helios. (false sky image of the Frost Moon)
Lynae is interesting. She is based on the gyaru and so she takes on the look of Star Rail's Rappa with the skater movement style of Genshin's Xilonen along with the graffiti attack animations of both of them and then the biker chick of Zenless' Burnice. These 3 characters happened to be actively compared against each other by the miHoYo community. Personalitywise though Kuro didn't really hide that Lyn(ae) is just like Lyn(ey) since she was upbeat and gave the Rover (Traveler) a guided tour of Startorch Academy (Fontaine) but then it turned out she was working with the Fractsidus (Fatui) but was actually a merc from the New Federation. (Arlecchino's House of the Hearth a more benevolent branch of the Fatui) Once discovered, she desperately hopes to be accepted for who she is and not what she was. (Lyney and Lynette wanted to stay friends with the Traveler despite being Fatui)
Mornye is another Columbina and she won't be the last. Phrolova was changed from Signora into the earliest form of Columbina. By Nod-Krai, Genshin had released Columbina but she was very different. Her story would become even more different later so Mornye represents the early phase of this new Nod-Krai Columbina. She's a meek and softspoken girl who is disabled because of her legs which makes her walk and run in a unique way. Columbina at this point was considered blind and she too walked and ran in a unique way but it wasn't explained why in any way other than that she was weak. Just like Columbina's story is related to the Scions, Mornye's Act II was related to the Roya. The traitor in the Roya reflects the traitor in the Scions, both of whom were disillusioned by their respective traditions which related to Mornye (researcher of Helios) and Columbina. (the goddess of the Frost Moon)
Nod-Krai's Archon Quest had finished by the time Aemeath released but this wouldn't have been enough time to make use of the most recent material. Kuro really wanted to use the Columbina story arc and therefore Aemeath became the only character to have her story take shape across two acts. In Act III we have her introduction as the true Columbina clone. She's a ghostly presence who only meets with Rover and becomes deeply connected to them as the story progresses. Then when Aleph-1 (Dottore) poses an imminent threat to the region she sacrifices herself by entering a pathway into the past. Act V took place recently and was ample enough time to figure out how to use the rest of Columbina's story. In fact, Kuro took a clip from one of Genshin's cutscenes wholesale to use for Aemeath. You can see it in the header image at the top of this topic. Act V gives us the collection of all the Lahai-Roi (Nod-Krai) characters figuring out that Aemeath (Columbina) is still alive and where she is, in order to help Rover (Traveler) get her back. Aemeath (Columbina) also revives by first creating an Exoswarm body for herself (Luonnotar) that can anchor her soul. Actually Duskveil could also be related to Columbina since the Aemeath after her sacrifice used Duskveil (kuuvahki) to protect Lahai-Roi. (Nod-Krai) She also marked spots across the region that guided the group to where they needed to be and what they needed to do to stop Aleph-1. (Rerir and Dottore)
Luuk is literally a doctor that has a shady past thus warranting some mistrust though the characters in game don't really show it. Just like Baizhu. They even have very similar personalities, tones, even their impassive expression.
Sigrika is the final character Kuro uses elements of Columbina on. In this case, she's the chosen one (Moon Goddess) and everybody puts unnecessary pressure on her, believing she'd solve their problems. However she takes more cues from Nahida in that she internalized those expectations. They even used the Act V scene from Sumeru where Nahida (Sigrika) is trapped inside of a bubble separating her from the real world and she's questioning her worth while the Traveler (Rover) is pounding away on the bubble's wall to try and convince her of her strength. (Kuro also gave her Jahoda's wide assortment of anime expressions)
Lucilla is the game's next Cantarella but she takes after Nod-Krai's Nefer what with being the one running things behind the scenes. And if that wasn't clear enough, Kuro gave her a Segue where Lucilla (Nefer) visits a dreamworld on purpose and it goes awry when the Fractsidus (Rerir) hijacks her visit to force her to relive her painful past which backfires when it doesn't work on her and instead she catches their rabbit. (Rerir)
The sky over Solaris-3 is false and the Etheric Sea is up there. Rover was a member of an alien race from a distant planet who was summoned to save Solaris-3 and the Exostriders are the spaceships used by their Sentinels. The Exostrider crashed in Lahai-Roi. This was taken wholesale from Genshin's A Space and Time For You where the false sky became a barrier against the Abyss outside of it and the Traveler was revealed to be an alien who was summoned as a Descender to save Teyvat and arrived by spaceship which crashed in Nod-Krai. The ship housed their homeworld's people as a DNA database. (actually this is an example of copycat telephone because miHoYo took this idea from Squaresoft's Final Fantasy IX)
Besides Genshin though, Kuro didn't want to be caught only copying from one source so the following list is where it mixed things up with other sources like miHoYo's Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero but also other games like Atlus' Persona 3 and 4.
Back in Lahai-Roi's Act III, Aemeath didn't have enough Columbina story to pad out hers so Kuro also gave her Cyrene from Star Rail. Aemeath (Cyrene as Mem) has Rover (Trailblazer) take her to several locations during their time together where she regains pieces of her memories. In order to prevent Aleph-1 (Irontomb) from posing an existential threat to the world (universe) but more importantly Rover (Trailblazer) she creates an intentional time loop and goes into the past to help the Exostrider reseal Aleph-1 and close the Stridergate. (set up an endless time loop, closing off Amphoreus forever which will prevent Irontomb's creation)
Before Aemeath, Kuro also used Star Rail's Amphoreus story to create the NPC Avidius who is 100% Phainon right down to the cape. Avidius (Phainon) is set to become the Hero of Heroes (Deliverer) while Augusta (Mydei) the Ephor (King of Castrum Kremnos) is his rival though they are friends. In the end, Augusta (Mydei) had to give up being the Hero of Heroes (savior of Okhema) which passed on to Avidius. (Phainon)
As Avidius is Phainon, his keeper was also taken from Amphoreus. Cristoforo (Lygus) manipulated and wrote Avidius' (Phainon's) entire life to prepare him to become Leviathan's (Irontomb's) vessel. Upon learning of this, Avidius (Phainon) swore to carve his own path in life. (and then Avidius died while Phainon fought across billions of reiterations of the world, defying Lygus each time despite knowing there wasn't any solution)
Phrolova started out as Signora and then gained some early Columbina traits added to her in order to make her sympathetic enough to become playable. However Wuwa also copied elements from Persona 3 including Strega. Phrolova is also Chidori as both of them feared attachments more than death.
Persona 4's overarching theme was also used twice. In Rinascita, the Ragunnesi (humanity) unconsciously desired to be fooled by Leviathan (Izanami) so it created the Paradise (TV World) based on what they wanted to believe in. However in order to exist in this realm, they must become infected by the Dark Tide. (become Shadows) In Lahai-Roi, Aemeath was intending to keep Rover in the dark about their past but Rover (Yu Narukami) explained that they needed to know the truth no matter how painful because even the sweetest of lies is still just a lie.
Hiyuki actually bookended Act V with her Segue where she is a fictional miko because she wields a katana and her "Suzu" is just a bracelet with jingle bells. An example of a real miko in design, religious references, abilities, role, and tools would be Yae Miko from Genshin. The reason Hiyuki doesn't have much in common with a real miko is that she's actually based on all three of the currently released Zenless Zone Zero Void Hunters, none of whom are shrine maidens. She is a very powerful Glacio (Ice) swordswoman (Miyabi) that hails from a Japan-based region whose power comes from the Sentinels (Creator) which made her a target for the Fractsidus (Exaltists) who were hoping to turn her into the Threnodian's Resonator (Creator's Messenger) but she easily turned that around on them by quickly rejecting this potential future in a montage that showcased her swordsmanship. Her sword's name is even FrostBurn which is the Anomaly state Miyabi inflicts. Hiyuki (Yixuan) succeeded her older sister Gyokuro (Yijiang) as the next Miko of Flaming Sakura (High Preceptor of Yunkui Summit) after she was killed by overusing the Suzu (Qingming Sword) a power that comes from the Sentinels. (Creator) She uses her Shirotori (Qingming Bird) to assist her allies from afar. The Suzu (Qingmind Sword) works by sacrificing the user's potential futures (memories of the past) until there is nothing left and causes death.
Denia didn't start off with any notable traits from an existing character but that all changed when Kuro released her Segue. She's an orphan with unique attributes (Yidhari) that attracted the attention of the Fractsidus (Exaltists) specifically the Grand Architect (Creator) as Nivora (Sarah) who used her as a conduit for Aleph-1. (Mysterious Town) There was even a horror section in that story where Denia (Yidhari with Phaethon's group) are chased by zombie puppet Nivoras like a cross between Slenderman and Resident Evil. (Wandering Hunter Ethereal and creepy little girl like a cross between Silent Hill and Resident Evil) This chase section is also reminiscent of the Death Shadow from the Persona games where as it approaches you can hear the sound of chains (Nivora puppets creaking footsteps) (Ah-deh footsteps that sound like Resident Evil's Nemesis) steadily approaching from behind. There's also the Abyss aura seen a few times in Genshin chase sections. But Denia was also slated to be the vessel of Aleph-1 (Creator) which changed her (Ye Shiyuan) into a version of her in a black outfit (Black Shiyuan) and now that she's fully embraced this side of her, she's intending to fight Aleph-1 (the Creator) on her own and separated from Rover/Sigrika/Startorch Academy. (Phaethon/Shunguang/Yunkui Summit)
Side Note: When it comes to Avidius, in Kuro's defense v2.7 came out about the same time as Star Rail's v3.4 where we would find out what became of Phainon. Therefore Kuro didn't have more than the Star Rail players to work with and back then the theory was that Phainon was just going to become a Lord Ravager. This is essentially what happened to Adivius only he "overcame" this fate by dying lol
One thing I highly praise Genshin for is the use of real world references. Most games will use a term or element from a historical, cultural or religious source for the purposes of what it could be for their game. For example, Bahamut from the Final Fantasy franchise is a winged dragon but in reality, it's a fish. Similarly, Shiva isn't an attractive ice woman. Persona games have Personas all lifted from folklore across the world but usually don't share any abilities with those references unless they are ones Japan understands. To compare, we can relate references Wuwa made to those same references made by Genshin.
The Grand Architect assumed the identity of Kharon when players arrive in an area called the River Styx. This is plainly lifted from Greek mythology. However since he's actually the Grand Architect, that's as far as this reference goes. On the other hand, Zenless has the character Trigger whose codename became Charon. She belonged to a team all named after the five rivers in Hades like Acheron and Lethe. Her original codename was Phlegethon also one of the rivers. Together they had formed Lyre Squad referencing the myth of Orpheus who traveled the underworld in a failed attempt to bring back his dead wife. This was the major theme of Trigger's Agent Story, being unable to let go of those who had died just like Orpheus couldn't let go of his wife. This caused suffering to Orpheus, Trigger and also the story's antagonist Grim Vulture. At the end of the story, Trigger assumes the name Charon in honor of her former squad and assumes the role as their guide through the underworld because the same incident that caused their deaths also gave Trigger her unique Ether Vision which lets her see Ether properties in objects like Ethereals who are essentially walking corpses. In other words, miHoYo used the mythology of the Greek underworld to explore their story, tying the real world references into how the characters bearing them relate to them. Kuro just created a version of the literal character without actually doing anything with it and since there isn't any known afterlife in the game, there won't be anything done with it.
Hiyuki as a miko. She wears the miko outfit and she has bells. Ultimately, she's more related to a taijiya given she hunts supernatural enemy forces like the TDs and she dispatches them with a katana. Her bracelet bells are not a real shrine maiden's Suzu (though the word does mean bell) and there is nothing in Shintoism about using Suzu to sacrifice your future in any kind of ritual. On the other hand, Genshin's Yae Miko is 100% a miko. She too wears the outfit but she also serves as Guuji or head priestess at the Narukami Shrine which is a shrine preceded by a long winding path adorned in torii gates. This makes the shrine a reference to Japan's real world shrines to Inari, the most popular kami in the country. Inari is related to the kitsune in Japanese folklore sometimes even depicted as one. Yae Miko is a kitsune. Unlike Hiyuki, Yae wields a Gohei in battle and in her rituals at the shrine. A design choice was made by miHoYo that she is to date the only Catalyst Character who doesn't use the equipped Catalyst when she attacks but instead uses her Gohei. A Gohei is a vessel for a divine entity which gets channeled through the miko and is why while the common kanji for miko is 巫女, it was also once written as 神子 or child of the kami. This is Yae Miko's name. Yae's signature weapon is what a miko's Suzu Bell actually looks like and it makes further references as it's named Kagura's Verity. One ritual that miko use their Suzu Bells for is the Kagura Dance which was first performed by the kami Ame no Uzume, a kami who inspired the creation of the miko in Japanese culture. In mythology, Ame no Uzume is also the one who lures Amaterasu out from her self-imposed seclusion which had been destroying Japan. This relates to the Inazuma Archon Quest where Yae is the one who works out a plan to draw Ei out of her self-imposed seclusion in the Plane of Euthymia which was ruining Inazuma. Yae has a line about people being mirrors to reflect upon one's shortcomings and this line is in relation to Ei having secluded herself. It is a direct shoutout to how Ame no Uzume used her mirror Yata no Kagami to reflect on Amaterasu which convinced her to end her seclusion. Finally the region name itself, Inazuma means lightning in its capacity to infuse soil with nitrates thus "ina-zuma" fertilizing it for rice cultivation. Inari is the kami of rice cultivation.
Speaking of Japan-based regions, Kuro created Ashinohara for Wuwa along with the city of Honami. Honami is just a typical Japanese girl name just like Kuchiba, Chisa and Hiyuki. Ashinohara is a shortened version of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni which is just an ancient name for Japan. Worse, that Kuro chose this name makes it yet another case of copying miHoYo. Ashihara means land of reeds which is meant to say that Japan is a good place to cultivate rice. Like Inazuma. On top of that, the design of Honami is clearly just modern day Tokyo. At best, the central tower that should be Tokyo Tower was switched out for the fictional tower being affected by the Voidstorm that sent Honami into Voidspace. Compare that to Inazuma which is a nation of islands just like Japan that borders the "mainland" nation of Liyue or China. Parts of Inazuma include Watatsumi which is based around Japan's Okinawa Prefecture specifically drawing attention to the Ryukyu Kingdom and Tsurumi which takes heavy inspiration from Hokkaido and the Ainu.
And to go a step further with naming, Hiyuki is Hiyuki because of the yuki part which means snow. Hiyuki is a Glacio character. Miyabi too is an Ice character and is also a typical Japanese girl name. However it has no relation to ice. Her surname on the other hand, Hoshimi is a non-standard version of a typical Japanese surname. Hoshimi is usually written as 星美 and 星宮. These names wouldn't really mean anything for Zenless or Miyabi so Miyabi's surname is written 星見 and this meaning can reference Miyabi's lineage as a descendant of Swordmaster. As Swordmaster was a first generation Void Hunter, she'd be working on behalf of the agents sent by the Imaginary Tree like the Traveler from Genshin. The Traveler and their sibling were depicted as shooting stars thus Swordmaster "saw the stars" hoshi-mi.
After Rinascita, the game went off into a Segue for Qiuyuan. This entire story plays out like a typical Chinese martial arts film from Hong Kong's heyday. Liyue is also designed around the film scene as it isn't actually based on any specific time period or region of China. This allows the region to mix designs from the Tang Dynasty (Ningguang) the Qing Dynasty (Qiqi) and even the western-influenced Republic era (Zhongli, Hu Tao) while showcasing traditional Chinese folklore like the yaksha, illuminated beasts and immortals alongside various regional cultures around the country like Sichuan spicy cuisine (Xiangling) southern Chinese architecture (Chenyu Vale) Inner Mongolian landscapes and music (Chasm) and natural landmarks like Zhangjiajie. (Huaguang Stone Forest) Wuwa's Huanglong doesn't share this design setup.
Whew that was a long one. So why can't Kuro come up with an original story? The truth is they can and they have. It just wasn't good. Then possibly due to business pressure, Kuro made the conscious decision to work off of what worked already namely miHoYo. Over time especially with certain groups praising them for it, Kuro likely chose to keep copying and so their potential for original work has been left undeveloped.
Beyond that though, most developers aren't known for utilizing real world references to the extent that miHoYo has and so in that case, it's not surprising that Kuro hasn't either. Besides Hiyuki not relating to real miko in any way, anime depictions of Buddhist monks have never been realistic either and the anime trope of throwing ofuda talismans at enemies is not at all how they're used. Yojimbo might be a wandering samurai but Final Fantasy's predecessor to him, Odin doesn't have anything to do with the mythical Asian blade-cutting sword Zantetsuken especially since he uses a spear. Also Bahamut not Bismarck should be a whale and Bismarck should be a battleship. You don't typically get the miHoYo brand of a wasserburg city at the center of their German-based region of Mondstadt where the buildings are German design, the Church of Favonius is modeled after Germany's Cologne Cathedral and the nation is protected by an order of knights reminiscent of the Teutonic Knights of Germany's Holy Roman Empire period, headed by a Grand Master.
I personally would have liked to see Kuro stick with doing their own thing. The pyramids weren't built in a day so even if Huanglong's story wasn't the best, the devs could have gotten better over time. To offer an example, Hypergryph had long written a story for their own universe and now in Endfield, they've got a fully realized story which is pretty good and also has nothing to do with miHoYo. There's only two regions left for Wuthering Waves and it's likely we already know what they'll be like. Ashinohara is already known to be a place that is a closed off nation that's prejudiced against Resonators just like Inazuma. The New Federation will likely be a fire-themed doppleganger to Snezhnaya.
Why can't Kuro come up with an original idea? | Ecency
