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6%% NOTE TO EDITORS: Character entries per section are always sorted according to general tropes, playable characters, then [=NPCs=] (the latter two being in alphabetical order).
7
8[[WMG:[[center: [- ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'' '''(Main Character Index)'''\
9[[Characters/HonkaiStarRailAstralExpress Astral Express]]\
10''Locations'': [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailHertaSpaceStation Herta Space Station]] | [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailJariloVI Jarilo-VI]] | [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailXianzhouLuofu Xianzhou Luofu]] ([[Characters/HonkaiStarRailCommissions Commissions]]) | [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailPenacony Penacony]]\
11''Factions'': [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailStellaronHunters Stellaron Hunters]] | [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailGeniusSociety Genius Society]] | [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailInterastralPeaceCorporation Interastral Peace Corporation]]\
12[[Characters/HonkaiStarRailAeons Aeons]]-]]]]]
13
14The universe is vast and full of wonders, and so are the numerous people and figures that the Astral Express meets while traveling the star rails that Akivili the Trailblaze laid eons ago that live and shape it.
15
16A list of all the characters in ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail''.
17
18Characters with their names in '''bold''' are playable.
19[[foldercontrol]]
20----
21[[index]]
22!The Astral Express
23* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailAstralExpress The Astral Express]] [[note]]'''The Trailblazer''', '''Dan Heng, March 7th, Himeko, Welt''', Pom-Pom, Messenger[[/note]]
24
25!Locations
26* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailHertaSpaceStation Herta Space Station]] [[note]]'''Arlan, Asta, Herta''', the Wubbaboos, Xenohydro, Ruan Mei's Creations [[/note]]
27* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailJariloVI Jarilo-VI]] [[note]]'''Bronya, Gepard, Lynx, Pela, Serval''', Cocolia, '''Clara, Hook, Luka, Natasha, Seele''', Findie, Oleg, '''Sampo'''[[/note]]
28* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailXianzhouLuofu The Xianzhou Luofu]] [[note]]'''Jing Yuan, Sushang, Yanqing''', '''Guinaifen, Imbibitor Lunae, Jingliu, Luocha''', Diting, Master Gongshu[[/note]]
29** [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailCommissions Commissions]] [[note]]'''Fu Xuan, Qingque, Tingyun, Yukong, Bailu''', Dan Shu, '''Hanya, Huohuo''', '''Xueyi'''[[/note]]
30* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailPenacony Penacony]] [[note]]'''Misha''', '''Gallagher''', '''Firefly''', Siobhan, '''Robin''', Sunday, Mr. [=McCoy=] [[/note]]
31
32!Factions
33* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailStellaronHunters Stellaron Hunters]] [[note]]'''Blade, Kafka, Sam, Silver Wolf''', Elio[[/note]]
34* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailGeniusSociety Genius Society]] [[note]]'''Ruan Mei''', Zandar, Polka, Aiden, Rubert, Sserkal, Yu Qingtu, Elias Salas, Dr. Primitive, Screwllum, Chadwick, Stephen Lloyd[[/note]]
35* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailInterastralPeaceCorporation Interastral Peace Corporation]] [[note]]'''Aventurine''', '''Jade''', '''Topaz & Numby''', Owlbert, Skott, Velite[[/note]]
36
37!Aeons
38* [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailAeons Aeons]] [[note]]Akivili, Nanook, Lan, Nous, Xipe, IX, Qlipoth, Yaoshi, Aha, Mythus, Oroboros, Long, Idrila, Fuli, Tayzzyronth, Terminus, [=HooH=], Ena[[/note]]
39[[/index]]
40
41!Annihilation Gang
42Another faction that follows the Path of Destruction. The collective label for the various species that look up to Nanook in their sprees of pillaging and annihilation, but are inadequate to fundamentally understand and carry out the will of the Destruction. As such, Nanook rejects them, as they have "impure" reasons for destruction.
43
44[[folder: In General]]
45[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/everflame_2.jpg]]
46[[caption-width-right:1000:Akash, Dubra, Duke Inferno, Caterina, and Constance]]
47* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:Aventurine and Black Swan state that Acheron offed Duke Inferno and caused the disbandment of the Ever-Flame Mansion. While Duke Inferno's death is emphasized by Black Swan looking into Acheron's memories, it is left unclear whether others of the group were killed alongside him, or if their plans even remain in motion with the death of their figurehead. Acheron later reveals that she spared his underlings, and a Penacony readable indicates that they eventually tried to take hostages in Penacony for ransom, only to fail and all be imprisoned.]]
48* ArcVillain: "A Night of Ever-Flame: Scene 33" establishes their intention to accept the Family's invitation to Penacony's grand celebration, and lays out each member having a different target. [[spoiler: It's ambiguous whether this will still be the case with Acheron's elimination of Duke Inferno and the Ever-Flame Mansion's supposed disbanding as a result of it.]]
49* AssholeVictim: The Jepella Brotherhood was one of the most powerful factions within the Annihilation Gang until they were toppled by the Stellaron Hunters inciting the Jepella Rebellion.
50* EvilVersusEvil: The Annihilation Gang itself is divided into more than one faction, some of whom are enemies with one another. The Jepella Brotherhood and the Ever-Flame Mansion have long held a sordid rivalry. The Jepella Rebellion, sponsored by the Stellaron Hunters, had the not-so-unintentional side effect of weakening one of Ifrit's rivals, allowing him to gain power, presumably with the goal of setting him up as an ArcVillain for Elio's script.
51* TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether: Ifrit refers to his minions as his children, and they in turn as "father".
52* NotAfraidToDie: In a true reckless Destruction fashion. In "A Night of Ever-Flame: Scene 33", when Constance asks "what if we end up dead?", Akash shushes her, saying "since when have those on the Path of Destruction feared death?" When Dubra asks if they have any fallback should their plan gets foiled, Ifrit sternly answers "such a thing does not exist".
53* OmnicidalManiac: The Data Bank explicitly says that the Annihilation Gang destroys and pillages civilizations to satisfy their own selfish desires, which even Nanook considers impure.
54* PsychoSupporter: To an already murderous deity. Nanook is ruthless, but not sadistic. It is implied that Nanook attempts to destroy the universe because they believe that [[ItIsBeyondSaving the current universe does not deserve to exist]] and wants to [[RestartTheWorld let something new take its place]]. The Annihilation Gang admires Nanook for destroying things, but do not understand the Aeon's reasons. The Gang enjoys destruction for "impure" reasons, like sadism or plunder. They [[WellDoneSonGuy yearn for Nanook's gaze]], but will never get it, and suffer from too much PsychologicalProjection to understand why.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder: Duke Inferno]]
58!!Ifrit
59[[quoteright:488:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1000053628.jpg]]
60[[caption-width-right:488:Duke Inferno]]
61->'''Voiced By:''' Meng Xianglong (Chinese), Teruyuki Tanzawa (Japanese), Lee Joo-seung (Korean), Bob Johnson (English)
62
63The master of the Ever-Flame Mansion. A demon born from a planet that was destroyed by Nanook, who has destroyed many civilizations in the name of Destruction and seeks for Nanook's gaze, yet has never received it.
64----
65* BaitAndSwitchBoss: At first, all the foreshadowing hints at him becoming a major ArcVillain in Penacony, [[spoiler:only for him to be unceremoniously KilledOffscreen by Acheron, to establish her as an extremely dangerous WildCard.]]
66* BigBadWannabe: He likes to think he's a big deal but is easily outwitted by Ratio when trying to assault the Herta Space Station. Later, he is [[spoiler: unceremoniously KilledOffscreen by Acheron when travelling to Penacony and his underlings are simply arrested by conventional law enforcement.]] Not hard to see why Nanook didn't even acknowledge this guy.
67* BadassInANiceSuit: He wears a nice red suit and has spearheaded the demise of many civilizations.
68* CoolCrown: Wears a fiery crown that floats above his head. According to its Relic description, it was made from embers of a destroyed star.
69* EarlyBirdCameo: Was first mentioned in "The Ashblazing Grand Duke" Relic set, which tells about his birth, role as a destroyer of countless civilizations, and [[SequelHook Penacony inviting him]].
70* EnergyBeing: He and his race of flame demons are stated to be a type of energy being similar to Wubbaboos and Heliobi.
71* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:He knew he had no chance of defeating Acheron, but he nonetheless accepted his end with grace, even admitting that everything comes to end.]]
72* FantasticTerrorists: Compared to the Antimatter Legion which acts like your typical AlienInvasion, Ifrit works more by systematically spreading terror, including announcing their attacks on broadcast, with the breaking news about their attack in Herta Space Station being styled similarly to terrorist attack news.
73* FlamingSkulls: He has a burning goat's SkullForAHead.
74* GruesomeGoat: Ifrit has destroyed many civilizations and his head is a fiery, skeletal goat head.
75* HighClassGlass: Wears a monocle to complement his suit.
76* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:If Aventurine and Black Swan are to be believed, Acheron killed him offscreen and stole his invitation into Penacony. In the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" teaser, disintegrating pieces of his skull can also be briefly seen when Black Swan peers into Acheron's memories while trying to find out how she did it.]]
77* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He's the leader of a terrorist organization who styles himself as a duke with the fanciful attire to match.
78* MeaningfulName: Named after a specific type of djinn that's associated with flames and generally malevolent.
79* MonoNoAware: In a twisted example, he believes that "the true beauty of things can only be appreciated in its destruction".
80* NotAfraidToDie: Again, in true reckless Destruction fashion. [[spoiler:Acheron only came to mug him for his invite (and had subdued his "children" nonlethally) and offered him mercy, but he chose to fight her to the end. His choice to fight arises both from his beliefs and his desire to overcome a superior foe or die trying to prove himself to Nanook.]]
81* ParentalFavoritism: He calls Constance his "most ambitious and exceptional child", implying that he considers her to be the best of his children.
82* SpaceMaster: He was born from the Phase Flame, an interdimensional fire created by a posthumous member of the Genius Society. As a result, he can bend space, effectively allowing him to teleport. This also lets him teleport other people against their will, with the phenomenon resembling SpontaneousHumanCombustion. However, the range is short, and space bending technology exists, which can be used for TeleportInterdiction.
83* UndignifiedDeath: [[spoiler:Ultimately averted. Black Swan's perception of Acheron's memory shows a CurbStompBattle in the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" video, and the fact she doesn't even remember him and his crew until the end of the video initially implies that she only saw him as a nuisance. In the flashback sequence to his final moments proper, he gets to lay out his philosophy, being DefiantToTheEnd and NotAfraidToDie, to which Acheron displays SympathyForTheDevil when the topic comes up with Welt. In hindsight, her original reaction to remembering his death appears to be born of Acheron's forgetful tendencies rather than a dismissive remark.]]
84* VillainousValour: [[spoiler:In his final moments, he fully accepted his fate (facing Acheron) with great composure and chose to go out fighting]].
85* TheWorfEffect: Ifrit is established as a powerful EnergyBeing, causing chaos on Herta Space Station before turning his attention to destroying Penacony. [[spoiler: He never makes it, with Aventurine and Black Swan accusing Acheron of carrying out the assassination. This establishes ''her'' as someone incredibly dangerous, especially since the encounter was so insignificant to her that it takes her a while to place who Black Swan was talking about]].
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder: Akash]]
89!!Akash "The Tuner"
90->'''Voiced By:''' Zhao Zihan (Chinese), Creator/TarusukeShingaki (Japanese), Baek Seung-chul (Korean), Talon Warburton (English)
91[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akashhsr.jpeg]]
92 [[caption-width-right:300: The Tuner]]
93----
94* BlindMusician: Implied. Duke Inferno says he "lit a fire" in his eyes, when saying this the image on screen is of an eye ball on fire, and when we see Akash's face it's covered by dark shades.
95* InstrumentOfMurder: His demonic-styled cello, which produces flames when he plays a note.
96* MeaningfulName: "Akash" is Hindi for "sound".
97* MusicalAssassin: Implied. He carries a demonic-looking cello that produces flames, and his task is to "serenade" the upcoming celebration.
98* TheOneGuy: Out of the four "children" of Duke Inferno, Akash is the only man. He also seems to be a less direct combatant, compared to the scythe-wielding Dubra and the dominatrix-styled Caterina.
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder: Caterina]]
102!!Caterina "The Shacklebound"
103->'''Voiced By:''' Li Chanfei (Chinese), Creator/YukoSanpei (Japanese), Lee Sae-byeok (Korean), Arianna Ratner (English)
104[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caterinahsr.jpeg]]
105 [[caption-width-right:300:The Shacklebound]]
106----
107* ChainedByFashion: True to her title, she wears a pair of shackles and a collar with broken chain hanging from them.
108* CommissarCap: She has a black leather one, which briefly shoots flames.
109* FeetFirstIntroduction: She's first shown stomping on her chained ball with her heavy metal shoes.
110* FieryRedhead: She has vibrant red hair, and comes across as the most aggressive of the bunch.
111* HellbentForLeather: She's dressed completely in black leather, including [[PaintedOnPants pants that look painted on]] and a crop top with straps arranged in a pentagram over her cleavage.
112* MsFanservice: Huge breasts, HellbentForLeather, PaintedOnPants, and wears a revealing bustier that bears her midriff and cleavage.
113* MyBloodRunsHot: Implied, with Duke Inferno claiming to have given her "blood of fire".
114* MythologyGag: She bears more than a little resemblance to Shub-Niggurath from ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd''.
115* OfCorsetsSexy: She wears a black bustier to highlight her large breasts.
116* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: She's a FieryRedhead dressed in black and is a member of a terrorist organization dedicated to commiting destruction ForTheEvulz.
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder: Constance]]
120!!Constance "The Dahlia"
121->'''Voiced By:''' Ruan Congqing (Chinese), Creator/MikoiSasaki (Japanese), Kim Do-hee (Korean), Creator/JenniferLosi (English)
122[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/constancehsr.jpeg]]
123 [[caption-width-right:300:The Dahlia]]
124----
125* CreepyBlueEyes: She has bright, inhuman blue eyes that match her flames.
126* FlowerMotifs: She is represented during Duke Inferno's speech by an ever-burning dahlia, which is likewise her alias. She also wears a large black dahlia as the accent piece on her hat.
127* HornsOfVillainy: She has a pair of horns, curling to frame her delicate features. She's also said to be the most ambitious and favorite of Duke Inferno.
128* LightIsNotGood: She's dressed in all white but is far from good.
129* PrehensileTail: Constance has a long, slender tail to match with her demonic horns.
130* PsychoticSmirk: Seemingly fond of this (as seen in several of her shots), which, in spite of her elegant outfit and reserved attitude, makes her creepy.
131* SoftSpokenSadist: Constance speaks in a soft, sweet voice that belies her position as Duke Inferno's favorite.
132* StylishSunhats: She wears a large and elegant sunhat decorated with a single black dahlia.
133* TechnicolorFire: She can summon vibrant, blue flames.
134* TheVoice: [[spoiler:Her voice can be heard speaking to Black Swan in the Trailblaze mission "Cat Among the Pigeons" when the latter examines Ifrit's invite that was stolen by Acheron.]]
135[[/folder]]
136
137[[folder: Dubra]]
138!!Dubra "The Scribe"
139->'''Voiced By:''' Su Ziwu (Chinese), Creator/RurikoNoguchi (Japanese), Kim I-an (Korean), Creator/KayliMills (English)
140[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dubrahsr.jpeg]]
141 [[caption-width-right:300:The Scribe]]
142----
143* BadHabits: The girl is dressed like a member of the clergy, wearing a mitre and a veil as well as having several crosses on her clothing.
144* BlackCloak: Dubra's true(?) form is one of these, floating midair and controlling the girl with string-like chains.
145* CreepyCoolCrosses: The girl has several crosses decorating her clothing and her headgear, though it's unclear what they would symbolize in Star Rail's universe.
146* CreepyDoll: The little girl is merely something controlled by Dubra, collapsing unnaturally and controlled by strings.
147* HatOfAuthority: The girl wears a large headpiece similar to a Bishop's mitre, giving her an air of religious authority.
148* MasterSwordsman: Implied as Duke Inferno claims to have taught her mastery of the sword during her introduction.
149* SinisterScythe: Dubra wields a massive scythe, held by the ghostly being that seems to be her true form.
150* TemptingApple: In his speech to his followers, Dubra is represented by a beautiful golden apple that is rotting inside. The girl is likewise cradling a bright red apple in her hands, just prior to being revealed as a front for the creature controlling her.
151[[/folder]]
152
153!Galaxy Rangers
154
155Devotees of the Hunt who travel the cosmos, upholding the beliefs of justice via one's own action.
156
157[[folder:In General]]
158* ArchEnemy: With Dr. Primitive. It's rumored that after the Galaxy Rangers thwarted one of his plots, he went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to hunt them all down.
159* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The Galaxy Rangers' main claim to fame was the assassination of Lord Ravager Zulo, an Emanator of Destruction.
160* GondorCallsForAid: One unspoken rule among all Galaxy Rangers is that if a special relic that signifies the death of a prominent Galaxy Ranger is fired, ''all'' of them must converge on its location in order to take revenge for their fallen comrade.
161* IWorkAlone: While they are all part of the same faction, each of the Galaxy Rangers typically operates solo and very rarely team up.
162* NeverHurtAnInnocent: According to Boothill, the "bottom line" that all Galaxy Rangers follow is to never kill innocent people. Other than that, anything goes.
163* PayEvilUntoEvil: As followers of the Hunt, the Galaxy Rangers are firm believers of answering violence with violence.
164* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Boothill reveals that despite the many rumors they were wiped out by Dr. Primitive, the Galaxy Rangers are still alive and active, and are simply staying under the radar for the time being.
165* VigilanteMilitia: The Galaxy Rangers are not a formal law enforcement organization and are simply a loose collection of vigilantes from around the universe who have dedicated their lives to hunting down evildoers and galactic threats.
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder:'''Acheron''']]
169!!"Acheron", AKA [[spoiler:Raiden Bosenmori Mei]]
170!!!'''Introduced:''' March 27, 2024 (v2.1 "Into the Yawning Chasm" [first half])\
171'''Voiced by:''' Juhuahua (Chinese), Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (Japanese), Park Ji-yoon (Korean), Creator/AllegraClark (English)
172[[quoteright:552:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/acheron_2.png]]
173[[caption-width-right:1000:[[labelnote:''Click to see her pre-game.'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2024_04_05_at_75126_pm.png[[/labelnote]]]]
174->'''Rarity:''' 5★\
175'''Path:''' The Nihility\
176'''Type:''' [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]]\
177
178An alleged member of the Galaxy Rangers visiting Penacony. Seemingly helpful if taciturn, not all is as it seems...\
179\
180Acheron sends her foes to oblivion with swift, precise swordsmanship. Her Talent, ''Atop Rainleaf Hangs Oneness'', allows the party to simultaneously build one stack of Slashed Dream for Acheron and one of Crimson Knot onto their foes whenever they inflict debuffs (to a maximum of nine each), with the latter prioritizing building stacks upon the foe with the most such stacks, receiving them should the inflicting attack hit multiple foes, as well as inheriting stacks from another marked foe should they fall. For her part, Acheron can build both stacks through her Skill, ''Octobolt Flash'', where she slashes onto her foes and leaves afterimages that hack away immediately after. Once she has nine stacks of Slashed Dream, her Ultimate, ''Slashed Dream Cries in Red'', is unlocked, during which she traps all her foes in a monochrome dimension and inflicts them with penalties to all kinds of type resistance, then hacks away at one foe at a time with three strikes of ''Rainblade'', each of which consume up to three Crimson Knots to be able to damage all other foes (and whose potency increases proportional to the number of stacks consumed), before ending with a reality-shattering ''Stygian Resurge'' slash on all foes that clears all remaining Knots. In addition, her Technique, ''Quadrivalent Ascendance'', is a swift slash that instantly defeats normal enemies, while against elite- or boss-grade foes and Trotters, it damages all foes at the start of a new wave and chips at their Toughness Gauges regardless of resistances, and grants her a same-named buff that automatically builds a stack of Slashed Dream and Crimson Knot (on a random foe) after using her Ultimate.[[note]]When fully upgraded, she automatically builds a stack of both kinds at the start of her turn, as well as gains a boost to raw damage proportional to the number of fellow Nihility Pathstriders in her party and to Critical Rate when attacking debuffed enemies; new enemies that enter battle suffer greater damage whenever she uses her Ultimate; she automatically gains five stacks of Slashed Dream and Crimson Knot (against a random foe) at the start of battle, as well as up to three stacks of her Technique's buff whenever she builds Slashed Dream beyond the maximum; the preliminary slashes of her Ultimate allows her her to build up to three stacks of a damage boost that last for three turns afterwards whenever she attacks foes afflicted with Crimson Knots, while its finisher is augmented with six additional strikes; and all her attacks can now shred Toughness Gauges regardless of enemy resistances.[[/note]]
181----
182* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Acheron is a stoic and serious woman with long dark purple hair.
183* AlternateSelf: Of Raiden Mei from [=Gun Girl Z=] and ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', sharing her Chinese and Japanese voice actresses. [[spoiler: Izumo's downfall heavily mirrors that of [=HI3=]'s Previous Era (with some elements from the present-day story), and she admits to finding the veiled story Welt tells of Kevin Kaslana and Project Stigma familiar. Even her full name, Raiden Bosenmori Mei, outright mirrors the Herrscher of Thunder.]]
184* AmbiguousSituation: Her true nature is left unclear after Aventurine reveals that [[spoiler:Acheron is likely not a Galaxy Ranger and in fact is probably an Emanator, though he's not sure which Aeon she's tied to. Then again, it's not certain if Aventurine is [[UnreliableNarrator telling the full, or even partial, truth]]]]. Given her past involving what appears to be IX, it's implied ([[spoiler:and confirmed as of ''Cats and Pigeons'']]) that she's a Self-Annihilator, someone who gazed at the Nihility and lost part of their selves, taking the "meaning" of their lives - and especially the few that can "single-handedly withstand the encroachment of Nihility on their existences," which causes the road she walks to be like a shadow of IX cast in the world. As far as her being a Galaxy Ranger, she considers herself to be in the role of one, but not a fully committed one, and she does not follow the Hunt like most of them do. [[spoiler:During his call with Black Swan, Boothill claims she's an imposter (as far as being a member of the Galaxy Rangers). Acheron later reveals that she was indeed impersonating a Galaxy Ranger so that she could get their attention and give Tiernan's Relic to them.]]
185* AmplifierArtifact: Her third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, ''Frost Bites in Death'' and ''Strewn Souls on Erased Earths'', adds two levels to her Ultimate and 1 to Basic Attack with the former, and 2 to her Skill and Talent with the latter.
186* AnimalMotifs: The "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short prominently compares her to a snake, and snake-like vertebrae are also featured in the patterns on her clothes as well as splash art. Additionally, she has [[AnimalEyes snake-like slit pupils]].
187* TheAntiNihilist: While Acheron is definitely jaded and world-weary, and knows from experience that not all stories have even a chance at a happy ending, her conversation with Aventurine reveals [[spoiler:she doesn't believe that the inevitability of death makes life meaningless. If anything, she believes that this inevitability ''[[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers actually makes death itself not worth worrying about]]'', and encourages him to keep on "preparing" to welcome the end that, when it's time for his final rest, "the end" will give a completely different meaning, and [[FaceDeathWithDignity he can lay down his laurels with no regrets]]]].
188* ArmorPiercingAttack:
189** Acheron's Technique and Ultimate [[AntiArmor cut through her enemies' Toughness regardless their weakness]], in addition to a DamageIncreasingDebuff for the latter tied to her Talent.[[note]]The former also deals damage worth twice her Attack stat[[/note]]
190** Her sixth Eidolon Resonance, ''Apocalypse, the Emancipator'', increases her Ultimate damage's Resistance Penetration against all damage types by 20%, in addition to allowing her Basic Attack and Skill to [[AntiArmor shred through Toughness Gauges regardless of her foes' weaknesses]] and change the properties of these attacks such that they are considered Ultimate damage.
191* AwesomenessByAnalysis: It is shown that Acheron has a sort of natural intuition that lets her catch onto things much more quickly. For starters, she is able to immediately deduce that Welt's cane contains a potent black hole-type power without even interacting with it or being told about what it is, and she is able to almost instantly deduce a connection between given attributes of Family members when shown a list of their names and traits.
192* {{BFS}}: Her introduction shows her wearing an [[{{UsefulNotes/Swords}} odachi]] that looks almost as long as she is tall.
193* BlessedWithSuck: [[spoiler:As an Emanator of Nihility, she is both blessed and cursed. She can use the Path of Nihility to make herself less noticeable or to destroy her enemies, but by the nature of being so directly linked to IX is cursed to have one foot in the grave and for her memories to keep fading.]]
194* BringIt: During the [[https://youtu.be/IQQPDPAvxTg?si=oHVGHklzgFqTXxmP "Your Color"]] trailer, Sparkle sends illusions of Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Blade to attack Acheron. What does she say before she [[CurbStompBattle utterly curb-stomps them]]?
195-->'''Acheron:''' Do your worst.
196* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" short, Black Swan asks Acheron about the fate of the Annihilation Gang since she suspects that [[spoiler:Acheron killed Ifrit]]. Acheron doesn't even know or remember who the Annihilation Gang even are, and it isn't until much later that she actually recalls them and casually shrugs it off.
197-->'''Acheron:''' Annihilation Gang... Annihilation Gang...? ...Oh. ''Those'' guys.
198* CallForward: In Penacony's Trailblaze Mission, Acheron mentions having a dance with a beautiful lady from the Garden of Recollections, though she forgot to ask for her name. The "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" video shows that particular encounter with Black Swan.
199* CharacterCatchphrase: "the waking world". She would usually say this line in context of being lost in delusions, fantasies, or - in the context of Penacony - dreams. She particularly says "May death be the end of your boundless dream... Guiding you back to the waking world" 3 times: [[spoiler:the first time, she says it after checking on the spot where Firefly "died" and picking up something that glows and floats up. The 2nd time is towards Duke Inferno in a flashback; as he showed an unwavering will and belief in the philosophy of Destruction and had chosen to keep "burning" to the end, she decided to reciprocate in kind. The final time is with Tiernan; it's part of her guiding what was left of him after he realized he was DeadAllAlong and his UnfinishedBusiness (trying to go back to Penacony and see Mikhail again) was what held him back.]]
200* CharacterSelectForcing:
201** {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Her fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''The Abyss'', gives her Basic Attack, Skill, and Ultimate a damage boost depending on the number of other Nihility Pathstriders in her party--115% if one, 160% if at least two. Her second Eidolon Resonance, ''Mute Thunder in Still Tempest'', reduces the quota for the maximum boost to one such Pathstrider, in addition to a RegeneratingMana effect.
202** The "Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm" Planar Sphere set released alongside her is seemingly made specifically to synergize with her kit, as it applies a 12% Crit Rate buff [[SituationalSword if its wearer is in a team with at least one other character of the same path.]]
203* CleavageWindow: Her outfit leaves a significant amount of her chest exposed, which the [[MaleGaze camera highlights at times]], such as in her EarlyBirdCameo.
204* ColorCodedCharacters: Her [[ElementalHairColors hair]], [[ElementalEyeColors eyes]], and outfit are all purple in color, both of which match her Lightning element.
205* CommonalityConnection: Downplayed. [[spoiler:She and Aventurine are able to relate to each other as people who have lost everyone who mattered to them, with Acheron helping him out of his nihilistic belief that death is all there is by sharing her own views that death does not matter and encouraging him to keep on living]].
206* ContraltoOfStrength: In all four languages, her voice has a low timbre that reflects her serious demeanor. It also complements her deadly skills in swordplay and status as an [[spoiler:Emanator of Nihility]].
207* CosmicHorrorStory: [[spoiler:Formerly the protagonist and presumed only survivor of one. Now traveling the universe seemingly with the day job of preventing other cases from happening, or cleaning up after they have.]]
208* CrissCrossAttack: Her Skill has her rush towards her target and move around them so fast that she creates afterimages, then she appears again in her initial position and sheathes her blade as her afterimages slash her target and adjacent enemies in the shape of an X.[[note]]With damage worth 80–176% and 30–66% of her Attack stat against, respectively her target and adjacent foes[[/note]]
209* CriticalHitClass: Unlike most Nihility characters, Acheron specializes in this:
210** One of three stats Acheron can upgrade via her Trace tree is her Critical Damage, with her getting a 24% boost once fully unlocked.
211** Her first Eidolon Resonance, ''Silenced Sky Spake Sooth'', gives her an 18% Critical Rate boost against debuffed enemies.
212* CurbStompBattle: So far, any serious fights against Acheron have ended very poorly for whoever dares to challenge her:
213** She defeated [[spoiler:Duke Inferno]] very easily [[spoiler:and killed him when he refused to back down.]]
214** When Sparkle sends illusions of the Stellaron Hunters at Acheron during the [[https://youtu.be/IQQPDPAvxTg?si=oHVGHklzgFqTXxmP "Your Color"]] trailer, Acheron beats all three of them simultaneously without taking a hit, and she also utterly obliterates the whole illusion with her Ultimate.
215** When [[spoiler:Aventurine's ultimate attack against the Astral Express forces Acheron to act, she fully unsheathes her blade and instantly destroys him and his massive attack with ''one slash.'']]
216* CurtainsMatchTheWindows: Like her previous incarnations in ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' and ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', she has purple eyes and hair.
217* DamageIncreasingDebuff:
218** Her Talent allows her Ultimate to inflict a 10–22% penalty to all kinds of Type Resistance against all foes throughout its duration.
219** Her fourth Eidolon Resonance, ''Shrined Fire for Mirrored Soul'', permanently inflicts enemies that enter battle with an 8% Ultimate damage vulnerability.
220* DarkAndTroubledPast: The video "Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World" shows her home world Izumo being in a constant war with beings called Yaoyorozu-no-kami from neighboring Takamagahara, and she was one of their best fighters. The war was fought with countless casualties and sacrifices, but the worst part is that she and her fellow people realized too late that everything is "naught" before the "black sun" above them, heavily implied to be IX, which [[DoomedHometown caused both planets to disappear without a trace]].
221* DarkIsNotEvil: Acheron is a frighteningly powerful swordswoman dressed in black and purple [[spoiler:who also wields the horrific powers of Nihility itself as an Emanator]], but she is by no means malicious, and is nothing but helpful to the Trailblazer and the Crew.
222* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Whenever she uses her Technique or Ultimate, the color of her surroundings (including enemies) become monochrome, save for the red on her outfit and attacks.
223* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Ifrit]] is a functionally immortal energy being in the same vein as Phantylia, which neither the Astral Express nor the entirety of the Luofu have found a way to permanently kill yet. Yet Acheron is allegedly able to outright kill [[spoiler:Ifrit]] [[KilledOffscreen offscreen]] some time before arriving on Penacony. [[spoiler:Ifrit did admit that, as he knew Acheron is an Emanator - and thus, ''more'' of a "Cthulhu" than he is - he'd be no match for her, but he chose to go down fighting regardless.]]
224* DifficultButAwesome: Acheron plays significantly different from most characters in a way that makes her not very straightforward to use. She lacks an Energy meter for her Ultimate, rendering any Energy-boosting effects and/or loadouts useless on her, instead using a stack system that requires inflicting nine debuffs to unlock her Ultimate. Managing to get around this limitation, however, rewards you with an extremely powerful and relentless attacker who crushes bosses and enemy waves alike with fantastic damage output.
225* DumpStat: Because Acheron's Ultimate does not use Energy, she gains nothing from her Energy Regeneration stat, or any loadouts and Simulated Universe blessings that buff or grant Energy. She does, however, still benefit from the ''Brain in a Vat'' blessings from the Path of Erudition, as they're technically not tied to Energy.
226* EarlyBirdCameo: She was featured in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlOnfjtTBic TGA Candidacy Video]] before making her appearance in the game.
227* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Back on Izumo, Acheron had a HimeCut similar to Raiden Mei's, as shown in "Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World". Over the course of the trailer, her hair gradually became more messy. After becoming a [[spoiler:Self-Annihilator]], her hair covers one of her eyes, to emphasize on her gloominess as an [[spoiler:Emanator of IX]].
228* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Like all her previous iterations, Acheron came from a place with a Japanese cultural aesthetic. Specifically, her home world Izumo takes its name from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo,_Shimane a real-life city in Shimane Prefecture]] hosting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-taisha one of the most important]] UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} shrines in Japan, claimed in myths as the gathering place of the gods, while the Yaoyorozu-no-Kami from neighboring Takamagahara that they fought against is named after the vast pantheon of ''kami'' and the heavenly plane they reside in from Myth/JapaneseMythology. In addition, the real-life Izumo is also believed to be the place where the entrance to Yomi (called Yomotsu-hirasaka) once existed.
229* FailureToSaveMurder: [[spoiler:Acheron blames herself for Firefly's apparent death, believing she could've prevented had she broken her vow not to draw her sword. Whether the Trailblazer [[WhatTheHellHero agrees]] or [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre disagrees]] depends on the player.]]
230* FashionableAsymmetry: Her outfit has a long flowing white sleeve and a pauldron covering her left arm, while her right arm has an elbow-length black glove adorned with metal on her hand, leaving her shoulder bare. Her left boot only reaches up to her knee, while her right boot goes up to her thigh. She also has a flame-shaped tattoo on her left thigh.
231* {{Foil}}: At first, Acheron and Aventurine seem like they have nothing in common; however both of them have a similar DarkAndTroubledPast of struggling with SurvivorsGuilt, which is why Aventurine turns to her to ask about "why are we born into this world if it's just to die."
232* {{Foreshadowing}}: Black Swan's line about her is "Avoid entering someone's past memories lightly, especially hers." The "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" video eventually shows why, as Black Swan tried to peek into her memories. [[spoiler:In the end, Black Swan says that "some memories are like silent abyss, filled with those who have drowned in it."]]
233* ForgetfulJones: Acheron is described as someone who frequently forgets important things. This is shown in the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short when she doesn't even remember facing the Annihilation Gang until she's reminded of them by Black Swan. She can remember emotions longer than specific details, so she tries to keep track of important things by associating a strong emotion with them. [[spoiler:This is implied to be a result of her encountering IX, encounter with which causes any unfortunate soul to become BlessedWithSuck and receive a curse that causes some aspect of them to repeatedly decay away. Some especially strong-willed Doctors of Chaos are able to persist against their curse indefinitely, but most Self-Annihilators eventually burn out of existence]]. She also claims that she can remember bits of memories whenever she unsheathes her blade, with the narration noting that she instinctively grips her blade whenever she says so or she's trying to remember something.
234* FreezeFrameBonus: In the "Your Color" trailer, in her introduction shot, you can faintly see the words "Self-Annihilator" in the background, at the same time as "Galaxy Ranger" is displayed prominently on the foreground.
235* GameplayAndStorySegregation: As of v2.2, despite otherwise being on friendly enough terms with the Trailblazer that they can even invite her to take a group photo along with other playable characters at two different photo stand-ins at Clock Studios Theme Park, she does not send any daily messages to the player if they have her in their roster. This contrasts towards [[spoiler:Jingliu and Tingyun, who do not send daily messages due to story reasons[[note]]canonically, Jingliu never meets the Trailblazer, while "Tingyun" is Phantylia in disguise (therefore was never on friendly terms with the Trailblazer)[[/note]]]].
236* GatheringSteam: Besides inflicting Crimson Knots on debuffed enemies, Acheron can build up to nine stacks of Slashed Dream to unlock her Ultimate. In addition, her second-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Red Oni'', instantly builds five stacks of both kinds at the start of battle (the Knots on a random foe), and allows her to build up to 3 "Quadrivalent Ascendance" stacks (similar to her Technique) whenever she builds stacks of Slashed Dream beyond the maximum nine, which will [[ResourceReimbursement return up to 3 stacks of Slashed Dream and inflict up to 3 stacks of Crimson Knots onto random enemies after her Ultimate ends]].
237* HaveWeMet: She asks the Trailblazer if the two of them had ever met before when they first met in the Dreamscape.
238* HidingBehindYourBangs: Acheron is said to be aloof and taciturn, and her hair covers one of her eyes.
239* IaijutsuPractitioner: Most of the time, when she's not doing SheathStrike, she draws her sword out for a quick, blink-of-an-eye slash before she sheathes it again. When she activates the power of "Naught", however, she instead goes for wielding her sword two-handed to deliver powerful, screen-shattering slashes.
240* InterfaceSpoiler: Defied. In her profile, her affiliation is "Galaxy Ranger", but after completing "Cat Among the Pigeons", it'll change into [[spoiler:Self-Annihilator]]. Her character stories also have censored parts that are uncovered after completing said Trailblaze Mission.
241* InvincibleHero: Acheron is almost completely untouchable. Every fight she gets into is a CurbStompBattle in her favor, she's able to brute-force through Sparkle's illusions, Black Swan's attempts at probing her mind resulted in [[spoiler:Acheron subjecting her to a MindRape without even realizing it]], and the one time she was forced to draw her sword, [[spoiler:it obliterated a Stoneheart-empowered Aventurine in one hit and left a permanent scar ''in the sky itself'' where she struck]].
242* {{Invocation}}:
243-->(Ultimate activation) "I weep for the departed."
244-->(Normal speed) "Dusk's rain, it too shall fall!"
245-->(×2 speed) "It too shall fall!"
246* KissDiss: In the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short, Acheron swiftly withdraws her hand when Black Swan plants a kiss on it, interrupting the latter's pushing up of her sleeve. Black Swan simply smiles and grabs her wrist to continue their dance.
247* KnowWhenToFoldEm: [[spoiler:After she defeats Aventurine, Acheron is confronted by the Dreammaster, who orders her to leave Penacony. Though she could easily defeat him, Acheron complies with his demand to avoid causing any more collateral damage. Of course, she doesn't ''actually'' comply near the end in order to help the crew stop Sunday's plans.]]
248* ManOfKryptonite: Acheron is this to Black Swan [[spoiler:due to being a Self-Annihilator whose memories are constantly erased and due to being an Emanator of IX. Since the Path of Nihility revolves around the belief that the universe itself and everything in it are meaningless and worthless, it is the antithesis to that of Remembrance, which embodies the ideal that all memories of the universe should be preserved because they hold meaning. As such, when Black Swan tried to peek into Acheron's memories in the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short, witnessing IX's power in such a way could have killed Black Swan, and subjected her to a brutal MindRape.]]
249* MeaningfulEcho: In the beginning of Penacony's storyline, before she and the Trailblazer depart for the first time, she says this line to them. Around the climax of Penacony's storyline, [[spoiler:i.e right before our heroes go back to fighting Sunday]], she says it again, and this time the Trailblazer also said the last part of the line.
250-->''The golden dream is getting restless. In the coming nights of long, I'm afraid you will face many tribulations and witness many tragedies. And finally... your sight will only see black and white. But please believe me that in that monochrome world, there will be a glimpse of fleeting red, and when you make a choice, it will reappear before you once more... What you must do now is ponder its significance. And then... You can return to the waking world. '''That's where we all find our answers.'''''
251* MeaningfulName:
252** Her alias in Chinese and Japanese, respectively "Huángquán" and "Yomi" (both readings of 黄泉), are names of the underworld in [[Myth/ChineseMythology their]] [[Myth/JapaneseMythology respective]] myths. Meanwhile, in English, "Acheron" is the name of a river that serves as the entrance of Hades in Myth/ClassicalMythology. The meaning becomes more pronounced in "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" video where Black Swan indirectly describes Acheron's memories as "a silent abyss, filled with those who drowned in it" - Acheron's mind is a veritable ''underworld''.
253** Her birth middle name, [[spoiler:Bosenmori (忘川守), means "guardian of the river of forgetting". This "river" is a possible reference to river Lethe, one of the 5 rivers of Classical myth's underworld (as is "Acheron"); it is known to cause forgetfulness to whoever drank its water, like how Acheron is suffering from losing her memories. The "guardian" part[[/note]]aside from being a reference to historical Japanese courtesy titles[[/note]] refers to her role of guiding lost souls in the PurgatoryAndLimbo manifestation of IX so that they can either escape Nihility or find solace in their last moments, as seen with Aventurine and Tiernan.]]
254* MechanicallyUnusualFighter: Acheron has a number of unusual and unique mechanics, to the point that her Aptitude Showcase separately demonstrates her overworld and in-battle capabilities.
255** Her Technique can ''[[OneHitKill kill]]'' entire PreexistingEncounters instead of simply damaging them and can be chained if another encounter is nearby. It also will not use any Technique Points if it misses.
256** Instead of filling a gauge by dealing and receiving damage, her Ultimate can be unlocked through the party inflicting at least nine debuffs, visualized as petals on a flower. It is also not a one-and-done attack, instead allowing her to target up to three separate foes with single-target slashes before unleashing a fourth, all-encompassing strike.
257* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: In "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas", Black Swan attempts to read Acheron's memories... only to be shown a horrible nightmarish sequence that left her terrified of Acheron's true nature. It goes double for her since she's a LivingMemory and Acheron is [[spoiler:an Emanator of Nihility - her forgetful nature means that she's a walking black hole of ''memories'', complete with an image of Black Swan being torn apart by a black hole]], which makes it one of the few things that can genuinely threaten her.
258* MindRape: In the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short, Acheron inflicts this on Black Swan when she attempts to read her memories, leaving the Memokeeper absolutely terrified of Acheron's true nature. Given that Black Swan sees [[spoiler:Ifrit's dead body before she sees Acheron through the Duke's monocle and the former says "are you asking me?"]], it's implied that [[spoiler:Black Swan is experiencing the moment where Acheron "tore Ifrit apart" from ''his'' perspective]]. It wasn't intentional on Acheron's part, though, as the latter didn't notice Black Swan struggling and kept dancing as if nothing happened until the end when Black Swan is gasping for air after her experience. In Acheron's voiceline about her, she only remembered the mesmerizing dance.
259* MsFanservice: Much like her previous incarnations in ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' and ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', Acheron is very well-endowed and shows off a good amount of skin, especially her breasts and midriff. Her long hair and [[StatuesqueStunner tall frame]] add to her attractiveness, though it's still downplayed since the story doesn't draw any specific attention to her beauty.
260* MysticalWhiteHair: Her hair turns white whenever she draws on her powers of Nihility.
261* MythologyGag:
262** Acheron is the "Raiden" archetype of this game, following the footsteps of Raiden Mei from ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' and the Raiden Shogun/Ei from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', all three being tall, beautiful women with long dark hair, Japanese cultural aesthetics, mastery in swordsmanship, and association with lightning, as well as identical Chinese and Japanese voice actresses (as well as Korean with Ei). In addition, her Ultimate has her hacking away at enemies in a similar fashion to Mei's Ultimate (as the Herrscher of Origin) and Ei's Elemental Burst (in addition to sharing the former's mirror-shattering effect for its finisher and the latter's reliance in some form on her allies' input to unlock its full potential).
263** Acheron's outfit is reminiscent of Mei's battle suits, particularly her Herrscher of Thunder, Striker Fulminata, and "A Post-Honkai Odyssey" outfits, as well as Ei's more pronounced Japanese design elements and hair accessory.
264** Upon the Trailblazer's first meeting with Acheron, she tells them they remind her of her old friend, but her relationship with said friend varies depending on the Trailblazer's gender: a steadfast ally if Stelle, an eventual rival if Caelus; both are obvious references to Mei's relationship with, respectively, Kiana and Kevin Kaslana.
265** She also quotes one of Sakura's lines in Elysian Realm, especially in Chinese where the words are taken verbatim.
266--->'''Acheron:''' "Once, someone told me: 'No compassion for the enemy, for it is cruelty upon yourself. But you must see clearly who the true enemy is...'"
267** This quote (and one of Trailblazer's responses) is also a reference to one of Aponia's conversations in the Elysian Realm when she's talking to Mei (with the role now reversed; the Mei counterpart of this game is saying Aponia's quotes)
268--->'''Acheron:''' "Everyone, and every face they remember, the joy and the heartaches, the vows sealed and those left hanging... all will inevitably march towards a predetermined ending. If you had grasped the journey's finale right from its inception... I would ask: Would you still embark on this journey?"
269--->'''Trailblazer:''' "I would blaze a trail without hesitation."
270*** This gets referenced again at the end of "A Walk Among the Tombstones" in her conversation with Aventurine. When he asks why they struggle against destiny, her response references the complete version of Mei's response to Aponia above:
271---->'''Acheron:''' "Even if the ending has been predetermined, that's fine. There are countless things that humans cannot change. But before the end, there are many things that humans can do while on their journey. And because of this, the "end" will thus reveal a completely different meaning."
272** Her "Thunder Core" Bonus Ability Trace is named after Mei's Core of Thunder.
273** In the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" trailer, one of the scenes traced by Black Swan resembles the shot of Mei standing over a fallen Kiana[[note]]the scene in question instead shows a fallen soldier aiming his rifle at her[[/note]] from the ''Honkai Impact 3rd'' animated cutscene "Lament of the Fallen".
274** In the "Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World" Myriad Celestia trailer that focuses on Acheron, elements of Mei's theme "Honkai World Diva" can be heard in the background music. In addition, Acheron is shown wielding both the Sentinel blade Howl and the Bearer sword Origin, direct references to Mei becoming the Herrschers of Thunder and Origin respectively. Acheron even briefly has a pair of Oni horns similar to Mei in her Herrscher of Thunder form, though the size of Acheron's horns are mismatched compared to Mei's uniform horns.
275** When Welt tells her about how his world managed to defeat Kevin, Acheron acknowledges that his story is very similar to hers, but with the key difference that she slew her world's Kevin on her own, but still failed to save her world. She also acknowledges that she's not "who he thinks she is."
276** After their battle, she asks Sam if he dreams of those slain by his hand; this is the same question Kevin asks Mei in one of the Elysian Realm interactions. Mei answered yes; Acheron flashes back to her encounter with [[spoiler:Duke Inferno]] after this question. Later, Sam answers that he doesn't, and Kevin admitted the same thing.
277** Her Ascension voiceline says "Never turn back — the path behind is gone." Aside from another reference to the mythical Yomi[[note]]Izanagi was told by Izanami to not look back as they walked out of Yomi, but he eventually did so out of curiosity; Izanami had turned hideous and horrified him, so much that he decided to run away and leave her behind, with her angrily chasing him and swearing that she'll kill 1000 people each day as revenge[[/note]], it's an oblique reference to one of Mei's victory quotes, "To move forward is my only choice."
278** In "In Our Time", 2 scenes involving her has different themes from [=HI3rd=] playing: "Yesterday" for her final talk with the Trailblazer [[spoiler:inside the "horizon of existence"]], and "Why" for when [[spoiler:she revealed her real name]].
279** The scene where [[spoiler:Acheron awakens the Trailblazer from Ena's Dream, reaching out for their hand as they fall from Penacony's sky,]] is one big reference to the scene of Mei reaching out to Kiana in "Lament of the Fallen" and "Graduation Trip".
280* NoSell:
281** In her character trailer, "Your Color", Sparkle tries to trap her in an illusion, but she sees right through it, and shatters it with little effort.
282** In gameplay, as a result of her Ultimate not using energy, she is completely unaffected by enemy debuffs that drain or hinder energy generation.
283** She has natural resistance to the effects of other Paths [[spoiler:due to being an Emanator of Nihility. This allows her to escape Ena's Dream easily and contact Black Swan to rescue her and get her to rescue the rest of the Astral Express in turn, saving them from being forever lost in the Dreamscape.]]
284* NoSenseOfDirection: Acheron gets herself easily lost in Penacony's hallways. This luckily ends up getting the Trailblazer out of trouble with Aventurine when she passes by and intervenes.
285* NotSoStoic: Downplayed, as she remains cool-headed throughout the Trailblazer's first encounter with her, but when parting ways with the Trailblazer, she is shedding tears after revealing that they reminded her of a close companion she knew.
286* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Acheron killed Duke Inferno in a CurbStompBattle, which is only confirmed though short flashbacks in her memories. Keep in mind that Duke Inferno was an energy being, akin to Cirrus, which would make killing him no easy feat.]]
287* {{Oni}}: Back in her homeworld, she became an oni after prolonged exposure to the Kami and weapons forged from them. After taking on the power of "Naught" (implied to be Nihility), however, she lost her horns and her hair became white.
288* OneHitKill: Her Technique will instantly strike down normal enemies without entering combat, and she can execute it up to thrice in succession. While [[ContractualBossImmunity it won't instantly kill elite- or boss-grade foes]] or Trotters, it will instead deal damage and reduce their Toughness Gauge regardless of resistances.
289* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Her announcement post states that "Acheron" is but an alias she goes by, and no one knows her real name. [[spoiler:She eventually reveals in a flashback that her true name is Raiden Bosenmori Mei.]]
290* ParasolOfPrettiness: Acheron carries a red ''janomegasa'' with flame and flower motifs in her splash art and trailer that enhances her lonesome and mysterious aura.
291* PersonOfMassDestruction: She's strong enough to unleash a WorldWreckingWave capable of shattering entire dreamscapes. [[spoiler:She does so to awaken the survival instincts of the people trapped in Ena's Dream, jolting them "awake" to destabilize the dream.]]
292* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: When she enters her other form, her hair goes from going past her waist to nearly touching the floor.
293* PurpleIsPowerful: Her hair, eyes, and outfit are primarily purple and she's strong enough to fight Sam to a draw. [[spoiler:Aventurine also claims she is in fact an [[SemiDivine Emanator]] (though he doesn't know that her path is Nihility, and thus Acheron is an Emanator of IX) who managed to slaughter Ifrit (a nigh-immortal EnergyBeing similar to [[SemiDivine Phantylia]]) [[KilledOffScreen offscreen]] in a CurbStompBattle.]]
294* RainbowSpeak: Some of her dialogue, such as her asking the Trailblazer information relating to her long lost old friend and her close bond with them, and noting dark rumors surrounding Penacony, has the subtitles [[red:colored red]]. Notably, in some of those lines, what she actually says are randomized, sometimes including lines she had said before; the Trailblazer can seemingly pick up that something's wrong with it too. [[spoiler:In some cases, even the Trailblazer's own dialogue can turn red as well such as when they try and reject their help ([[ButThouMust the red text will have the Trailblazer accept her, like the other option]]) when meeting her again with Black Swan. This seems to indicate some level of influence on Acheron's part onto the Trailblazer themselves with the latter noting that something is off.]]
295* RedEyesTakeWarning: Her purple irises turn red in her "activated" form, enhancing her already high level of swordsmanship with the powers of [[spoiler:Nihility]].
296* RegeneratingMana: Her second Eidolon Resonance automatically restores one stack each of Slashed Dream and Crimson Knot (on the foe with the most such Knots beforehand) at the start of her turn.
297* {{Ronin}}: As a wandering swordswoman from a lost world with a Japanese-inspired FantasyCounterpartCulture, Acheron fits the role in all but name.
298* RummageSaleReject: Acheron's outfit is very revealing, asymmetrical, and looks cobbled together from many different parts.
299* SemiDivine: She is believed to be an Emanator. Of which path, it is uncertain, but strongly implied to be the Nihility. [[spoiler:This was confirmed in ''Cat Among Pigeons''.]]
300* SenselessPhagia: In one flashback, she was eating a kind of fruit given by the old man she was traveling with; he mentioned that the fruit first tastes sweet but has a very spicy aftertaste, yet she ate it without flinching. The old man thought she had lost her sense of taste, but she clarified that she could still taste faint sweetness.
301* SexyBacklessOutfit: The asymmetry of her coat leaves a good portion of her back exposed.
302* SheathStrike: Her announcement post mentions that she always strikes with her scabbard without drawing her sword, as shown in [[spoiler:her fight with Sam]] where she swings it despite not removing it from its sheath. Despite this, the "White Night" music video has her wielding her sword without said scabbard. Her basic attack ''Trilateral Wiltcross'' has her swing her blade onto enemies while it's still sheathed.
303* SherlockScan: She seems to have an uncanny ability to spot hidden objects and see a person's true identity almost instantly, demonstrated when she identifies the Star of Eden hidden inside Welt's cane and how the Astral Express is carrying a Stellaron around, as well as [[spoiler:figuring out Sam's true identity]].
304* {{Shinigami}}: The lore of Acheron' associated Light Cone implies that she occasionally acts like the inverse of one when she traverses through the [[spoiler:PurgatoryAndLimbo dark sea manifested by IX]], rescuing souls from losing themselves to nothingness instead of sending them off to "the afterlife". [[spoiler:When Aventurine wakes up there after successfully killing his dream self, [[WarriorTherapist she appears to help him reorientate and even encourages him to find purpose in living on]]]].
305-->''She reaches out and saves the drowning from the temptations of Nihility, and one mirage after another bursts apart behind her figure.''
306* SignificantWardrobeShift: Back in Izumo, she used to dress ''much'' more conservatively in a white kimono tied with a red obi and traditional okobo sandals. In the present day she has switched to modern and revealing streetwear consisting of boots, black leathery hotpants with a matching crop top, and a coat with a single furisode sleeve, the latter possibly to keep some reminder of her homeland while also refitting herself with attire appropriate for a wandering lifestyle in the cosmos.
307* SingleStrokeBattle: At the climax of "A Walk Among the Tombstones", [[spoiler:Aventurine pulls out his ultimate move against the heroes in an attempt to get Acheron to act. The act works, as Acheron steps in and unsheathes her blade before delivering a single slash, one powerful enough to tear the space of the Dreamscape asunder and turn the world grey in one massive shockwave. Aventurine ends up being transported into a "death dream", one of the manifestations of IX's power.]]
308* SingleTear: When parting ways with the Trailblazer after their first encounter, she sheds a tear from one of her eyes, seemingly due to the Trailblazer's appearance reminding her of an old friend she had. [[spoiler:She does it again before unsheathing her blade when Aventurine threatens to bombard Penacony with his giant poker chips.]]
309* SoleSurvivor: Implied to be the only native of Izumo left after her homeworld was not only devastated by the Yaoyorozu-no-kami but also consumed by the black hole that was slowly sucking it in.
310* SpannerInTheWorks: The Dreammaster attempted to eject Acheron from Penacony's grounds to prevent her from becoming this, as [[spoiler:an Emanator of Nihility would not be affected by Ena's Dream, and thus would be capable of destroying the dream with the power of Nihility. Unfortunately for him, she still manages to pull it off since she is able to get in contact with Dan Heng and Boothill on the Astral Express thanks to Black Swan, allowing them to formulate a backup plan with the assistance of Firefly.]]
311* SquareRaceRoundClass: While ostensibly a Nihility Pathstrider, Acheron has little-to-nothing to do with its usual specialties (i.e., debilitation and damage-over-time) and plays more like Erudition (such as Serval), with her Crimson Knot debuff serving no real purpose other than providing an additional damage outlet for her Ultimate. At most, her Ultimate can inflict a penalty to All-Type Resistance Penetration, and her fourth Eidolon Resonance allows it to inflict a DamageIncreasingDebuff on enemies, but even then the former only benefits herself since it only lasts as long as her Ultimate is active. She does, however, benefit greatly from being on a team with other Nihility Pathstriders, both for her fourth-ascension Bonus Ability and her Crimson Knot being stacked when any ally (even non-Nihility ones) inflicts debuffs.
312* StatusBuff: Her sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Thunder Core'', gives her up to three stacks of a 30% damage boost (hence a maximum of 90%) for three turns after using her Ultimate whenever its preliminary strikes hit enemies afflicted with Crimson Knots, as well as augments its finisher with 6 strikes dealing damage to random enemies, each dealing damage worth a quarter of her Attack stat (like Argenti's fully-charged Ultimate).
313* StatusEffectPoweredAbility: In addition to building stacks of Slashed Dream for Acheron, her Talent allows the party to inflict a stack of Crimson Knot (to a maximum of nine) whenever they inflict debuffs (including whenever they are Broken, which will always inflict debuffs). Stack infliction tends to prioritize the foe with the most such stacks, being the only one to receive it whenever attacks that inflict debuffs hit multiple foes as well as inheriting it from another afflicted foe once it is defeated. Whenever Acheron triggers her Ultimate, each of her preliminary strikes consume up to three Knots of her target to make her deal additional damage to all other foes, whose potency increases proportional to the number consumed; as the finisher consumes all remaining Knots from all enemies, this incentivizes players to carefully choose her targets to maximize her damage potential.[[note]]With damage worth 14.4–25.92% of her Attack stat per preliminary strike, 18–32.4% for the spread damage plus 9–16.2% per additional Knot consumed (hence a maximum of 36–64.8%), and 72–129.6% for her finisher[[/note]]
314* SultryBangs: Acheron's hair covers her left eye to fit with her alluring MsFanservice design.
315* SwordBeam: She launches several while fighting Sam during the ''White Night'' music video announcing v2.0, [[spoiler:and sends a single giant red slash towards Aventurine that shatters his domain along with him in the climax of the ''Cat Among the Pigeons'' Trailblaze Mission]].
316* SympathyForTheDevil: [[spoiler:She compliments Duke Inferno as a determined and heroic Pathstrider for his willingness to sacrifice his life as a martyr for the sake of his children, commenting to Welt that not even a villain like him deserves disparaging.]]
317* {{Telepathy}}: As seen in her first encounter, she can seemingly read and transmit thoughts.
318* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: After the Nameless' efforts prove ineffective against [[spoiler:Aventurine]] as he prepares to level Penacony, Acheron finally unsheathes her blade and delivers a blow so powerful that she [[spoiler:''bypasses the inability to kill in Penacony'', sending Aventurine to the "horizon of existence" while leaving behind a bisected movie screen and a massive red scar in the sky]].
319* ThreeStrikeCombo: Her Technique invokes this, having three separate attack animations when used repeatedly.
320* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: She throws her (still sheathed) sword at Sam at one point during their fight.
321* TrademarkFavoriteFood: She likes peaches, saying that they embody life's delights and pleasures. One of her IdleAnimation and official chibi stickers depict her eating a peach. It's a possible reference to two things:
322** In Myth/JapaneseMythology, when Izanagi was escaping from hordes of monsters in Yomi (the underworld, as well as Acheron's namesake in the Japanese localization), he threw some peaches to distract them, as the fruit symbolizes longevity, vitality, and the divine.
323** In ''Honkai Impact 3rd'', when Mei and Kiana have a heart-to-heart talk in chapter 32, the former mentions that her favorite school snack is the peach pudding. When Kiana asks why, Mei says that it was the snack she first shared with a genuine friend - Kiana herself.
324* TheUnchosenOne: She actually wasn't invited to Penacony for the Charmony Festival, she had to resort to mugging one of the official invitees so she can get in - [[spoiler:Duke Inferno]]. Her actual reason for coming there is to [[spoiler:return Tiernan's relic to Penacony, as the latter wished to meet Mikhail again; with her meeting Boothill, though, she passes said relic to him instead, which proves to be one of the keys to saving Penacony in the end.]]
325* WarriorPoet:
326** At the end of the "Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World" trailer, in the Japanese version, she says "Even if everything in this world is as fleeting as dew, but still..." which is a reference to a haiku by Kobayashi Issa from Edo period: "露の世は, 露の世ながら, さりながら" ("The world of dew is merely a world of dew, even so...") While he meant it in the context of him finding it hard to accept that [[DeathOfAChild his baby daughter is dying from a disease]] (in spite of him being a Buddhist, which espouses detachment from worldly matters), in Acheron's context it meant that even if her world is crumbling and losing all of its meaning, [[TheAntiNihilist she's against giving up]].
327** Her Ultimate line in Japanese is a haiku: 涙雨、降りて溢るる、渡り川… During her battle against Aventurine, she adds 2 more lines: 黄泉路を行けず、常世還らむ[[labelnote:Full meaning]]"Rain of tears, they fall and overflow the river... the path to the underworld (Yomi) is inaccessible, returning [you] to the mortal world" (paraphrased in English translation as "I wish to mourn the departed, weeping like rain, to swell the crossing stream...as the tide arrives, leading you back home.") Notably, she also sheds a SingleTear as she's reciting this.[[/labelnote]] These are a reference to a tanka poem in Kokin Wakashu, by Ono Takamura: 泣く涙、雨と降らなむ、わたり川水、まさりなば、帰りくるがに[[labelnote:Full meaning]]"As [I] cry, rain falls onto the stream, [I] shall return as the water rises"[[/labelnote]].
328* WarriorTherapist: The aftermath of her duel with Sam shows that instead of prolonged fighting, she got him to stop with some simple choice statements and questions, delivered in a dispassionate and honest way that compels Sam to open up to her, and is taken a step further when Acheron declares that [[IKnowYourTrueName she knows who Sam really is]].
329* WeaponSpecialization: Acheron's associated Light Cone is "[[https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Along_the_Passing_Shore Along the Passing Shore]]" (5★), whose "Steerer" passive increases the wearer's Critical Damage by 36–60% and inflicts Mirage Fizzle on enemies once per attack for a turn, which increases the wearer's damage dealt to them by 24–40%, and increasing again by the same value for Ultimate damage. Not only does Acheron appreciate Mirage Fizzle as another way to stack Crimson Knot, her Ultimate counts as multiple separate attacks, letting her apply it to every enemy on the first hit against the one with Crimson Knot and vastly strengthen every future hit thereafter.
330* WhiteAndRedAndEerieAllOver: Her "other form", as seen in the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" trailer, her Technique and Ultimate, has her color scheme turning into mostly white and red, with her hair turning white and [[RedRightHand her right arm bared but colored blood red]], complete with red and white flowers growing on her body. This is part of her backstory taking on the power of Nihility.
331* WillfullyWeak: Acheron is shown to prefer fighting with her sword sheathed most of the time, rarely unsheathing the blade unless absolutely necessary, and even then, she only unsheathes it slightly. [[spoiler:The one time she does end up fully unsheathing her blade, she's powerful enough to [[CurbStompBattle utterly obliterate Aventurine]], one of the extremely powerful Stonehearts of the IPC, in a ''single slash.'']]
332* WeirdnessMagnet: She’s often regarded as this, with both herself and others commenting that seemingly wherever she goes, dynamic and mysterious events are sure to occur.
333* YouRemindMeOfX:
334** During her first encounter with the Trailblazer, she claims that the Trailblazer reminds her of an old friend she once had.
335** While Welt does not directly state as such, Acheron catches on that he is suggesting that he knows someone like herself when he tells her the story of Kevin Kaslana. Acheron's response is to simply remark that there are countless worlds out there, many of which share the same faces but different paths, and that she's not "who he thinks she is". It is also for this reason that Welt admits that he wants to trust her, being so similar in appearance to someone he knows.
336[[/folder]]
337
338[[folder:'''Boothill''']]
339!!Boothill
340!!!'''Introduced:''' v2.2 "Then Wake to Weep"\
341'''Voiced by:''' Peng Bo (Chinese), Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi (Japanese), Kim Dan (Korean), Andrew Russell (English)
342[[quoteright:552:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boothill_2.png]]
343->'''Rarity:''' 5★\
344'''Path:''' The Hunt\
345'''Type:''' Physical\
346
347A cyborg cowboy affiliated with the Galaxy Rangers.
348----
349* AxCrazy:
350** When he realizes he's speaking with Black Swan and not Acheron over the phone, his first assumption is that she's there to be Acheron's bodyguard, so he immediately offers to put a bullet in Black Swan's head and asks her to clean her forehead in preparation for it.
351** When trying to enter Penacony, one of his backup plans is to take high profile guests hostage to force the Family to take action, something Dan Heng vehemently refuses to take part in.
352* CompanyCrossReferences: He seems like a more human Billy Kid from Hoyoverse's upcoming {{Roguelike}} VideoGame/ZenlessZoneZero, being cyborg cowboys with a black, red and white colour scheme.
353* DestructiveSaviour: According to some of the assignments from "All About Boothill", he has a bad habit of being needlessly reckless in combat, which tends to cause a lot more problems than it solves. This goes anywhere from accidentally polluting a river with spent bullet casings to starting a forest fire as the result of a battle and risking the lives of endangered animals.
354* EarlyBirdCameo: Boothill has a [[TheVoice voice-only appearance]] in Version 2.1, where it is revealed that he is hunting Acheron, inadvertently coming into contact with Black Swan when he calls Acheron's room to threaten her.
355* ExoticEyeDesigns: He has target scopes within his pupils.
356* FingerFirearms: His index and middle finger can transform into literal finger guns that fire a stronger shot.
357* FullConversionCyborg: His personal Lightcone shows that his entire body is cybernetic from the neck down.
358* GondorCallsForAid: In the final battle against [[spoiler:Sunday, Boothill fires Tiernan's relic into the sky, which summons ''every'' Galaxy Ranger in the universe to help destabilize Ena's Dream and give the Astral Express a shot at defeating Sunday]].
359* GoshDangItToHeck: He's actually rather foul-mouthed, but the IPC tampered with his [[TranslatorMicrobes Synesthesia Beacon]] and causes his dirty language to come off as sounding cutesy or corny instead.[[labelnote:For instance...]]"Fuck", "Motherfucker", and "Son of a bitch" becomes respectively substituted with "fork"/"fudge", "Muddle-fudger", and "Son of a nice lady".[[/labelnote]] This has apparently been a long running issue.
360* GuestStarPartyMember: He is briefly playable during Penacony's third story arc where we explore the story through his and Dan Heng's point of view before even becoming available to recruit from the gacha starting from the second half of 2.2, though his stats, Relics, and Light Cone cannot be viewed. The only story segment that Boothill is playable in does not feature any enemies to fight, so his ability names and combat voicelines cannot be seen or heard.
361* HiddenDepths: He has a surprisingly refined taste in alcohol, being well versed in rare and expensive liquor such as Asdana White Oak, which goes for hundreds of thousands of credits per bottle.
362* JustLikeRobinHood: The "All About Boothill" mini-event provides several witness accounts to Boothill's various on-goings about the galaxy, where he is described as someone with a particularly strong grudge against the IPC and has repeatedly sabotaged their operations, but is willing to go out of his way to help the innocent and do good deeds for those who need it.
363-->'''Boothill:''' If I run into some shirtbag I don't like, I'll definitely rob them blind, and when I next run into someone with a need of credits, I'll just give the money to them. If you reckon that's justice, then I guess it is.
364* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Boothill's hair appears to be long enough to reach his waist.
365* MirrorCharacter: Like Blade, he is a LongHairedPrettyBoy with a black and red colour scheme whose desire for {{Revenge}} has driven him across the galaxy.
366* MrFanservice: A LongHairedPrettyBoy HellBentForLeather cyborg in a shrug that exposes his literally metal sculpted {{Underboobs}} and midriff, and pants with hip windows.
367* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: A space cyborg cowboy who, like tales of heroic cowboys, drift around and fight injustice wherever he goes.
368* OralFixation: His [[https://www.hoyolab.com/article/28988397 character introduction]] mentions that he has a habit of chewing on bullets.
369* {{Revenge}}: According to his introduction post, he has a score to settle with the [=IPC=] with his primary target being Oswaldo Schneider. [[spoiler:His final scenes in version 2.2 has him cornering a very much alive Aventurine at gunpoint, demanding where Schneider is.]]
370* RevolversAreJustBetter: He wields a futuristic revolver as his primary weapon.
371* ScaryTeeth: He has jagged shark teeth.
372* SirSwearsALot: He is very prone to blurting out plenty of swears and curses, but due to his Synesthesia Beacon being tampered with, they all come out heavily censored and modified.
373* {{Underboobs}}: A rare [[GenderInvertedTrope male]] example. His shrug leaves his "nipples" exposed.
374* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: He always has one or two backup plans in place, but rarely tells anybody due to his friends often being "unreliable".
375* VaporWear: A rare [[GenderInvertedTrope male]] example. The hip windows on his pants show that he's not wearing underwear.
376* WantedPoster: Similar to the Stellaron Hunters, the IPC has a wanted poster out for Boothill with a bounty in the excess of 730,000,000 credits. He claims that it makes his work (on hunting bad guys or key IPC personnel) easier, so he has no problem with it. Boothill's ultimate attack animation also has him collecting a wanted poster of his current target before shooting them.
377[[/folder]]
378
379!Garden of Recollection
380
381A group of worshippers of Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, who serve as their messengers and seekers of memories.
382
383[[folder:'''Black Swan''']]
384!!Black Swan
385!!!'''Introduced:''' February 6, 2024 (v2.0 "If One Dreams At Midnight" [first half])\
386'''Voiced by:''' Yang Menglu (Chinese), Creator/HitomiNabatame (Japanese), Kim Ha-yeong (Korean), Arryn Zech (English)
387[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_swan.png]]
388%% [[caption-width-right:591:some caption text]]
389
390
391->'''Rarity:''' 5★\
392'''Path:''' The Nihility\
393'''Type:''' [[BlowYouAway Wind]]\
394
395A Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection, who is the narrator of the [[https://youtu.be/JruxFQurUDQ Myriad Celestia Trailer: Fables About the Stars Part 1]]. She first makes an official appearance in Penacony, where she was invited by the Family as a representative of the Garden of Recollection.\
396\
397Black Swan condemns enemies afflicted by damage-over-time debuffs with up to fifty stacks of Arcana imposed by her Talent, ''Loom of Fate's Caprice'', which explode at the start of their turn before resetting to one stack, in addition to expanding its damage radius to adjacent foes (also with a chance to inflict Arcana) if they have at least three stacks and allowing damage-over-time debuffs to ignore a fraction of their Defense with at least seven. For her part, Black Swan can inflict at least one stack through her Basic Attack, ''Percipience, Silent Dawn'', which has additional infliction windows depending on the number of her target's Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and/or Shock debuffs; one a time with her Skill, ''Decadence, False Twilight'', where she drops a magic circle on her target and adjacent foes, with an additional chance to inflict a Defense penalty for three turns; and repeatedly at the start of battle on all foes with her Technique, ''From Façade to Vérité'', with decreasing chances for every stack successfully imposed. Her Ultimate, ''Bliss of Otherworld's Embrace'', summons phantasmal arms to squeeze the life out of all her foes, as well as imposes Epiphany for two turns, which increases their damage intake during their turn and simultaneously counts their Arcana damage as Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and Shock effects, as well as negates the first Arcana stack reduction whenever it is triggered.[[note]]When fully upgraded, she gains a chance to automatically impose stacks of Arcana, whenever her Skill hits enemies afflicted with damage-over-time debuffs, a new foe enters the field, or whenever they are attacked (with an additional window should they manually trigger such debuffs), as well as impose a penalty to her foes' Wind, Physical, Fire, and/or Lightning Resistances if they have the corresponding debuffs; defeating enemies afflicted with Arcana has a high chance to impose six stacks on adjacent foes; and the Epiphany effect imposes an Effect Resistance penalty, as well as restore some of Black Swan's Energy either at the start of the afflicted's turn or whenever they are defeated.[[/note]]
398----
399
400* AmplifierArtifact: By unlocking her Eidolons, you can upgrade her third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, ''As Above, So Below'' and ''Linnutee Flyway'', which will add two levels to her Skill and Talent with the former, and 2 to her Ultimate and 1 to Basic Attack with the latter.
401* AnimalMotifs: Swans, naturally. She holds her namesake animal in her Myraid Celestia trailer, and in the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short, she flaps her arms while dancing with Acheron, and of course [[spoiler:her desperate attempts to leave Acheron's mind after the latter unintentionally {{Mind Rape}}s her is compared to a swan struggling in vain against a snake's attacks]].
402* ArmorPiercingAttack: If an enemy has at least seven stacks of Arcana, any damage-over-time debuff they have will ignore 20% of their Defense stat. This also applies to adjacent foes (as Arcana damage is expanded to include them with at least three stacks).
403* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:In the Child's Dream, she intervenes just in time to save the Trailblazer and Firefly from getting killed by Something unto Death, and helps them escape the twisted dreamscape.]]
404* ChainLethalityEnabler: Her second Eidolon Resonance, ''Weep Not For Me, My Lamb'', gives her a 100% base chance to inflict six stacks of Arcana on foes adjacent to an inflicted foe whenever it is defeated, making it easier for her to kill other enemies faster.
405* CharacterCatchphrase: "Life is akin to a winding labyrinth, where memories serve as our sole companions." This is first said in her trailer, and then around the climax of "In Our Time", where she claims that said words bear great significance to her. In her 1st character story, it was first said by her mother, who was struggling with forgetfulness; when young Black Swan thought about how she'll lose her mother forever (after the latter's death) if the former's memories of her ever become blurry, that was when she realized the significance of those words.
406* CleavageWindow: Her outfit leaves a good portion of her sizable breasts exposed, which the [[MaleGaze camera has drawn attention to]].
407* ContinuityNod: Part of her 4th character story is about the memories of a resident in Penacony - who is depicted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPAw4l2rUr8 "A Revisiting of Past Dreams"]] video.
408* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Her first Eidolon Resonance, ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'', imposes a 25% penalty to Wind, Physical, Fire, and/or Lightning Resistances if an enemy is inflicted with Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and/or Shock, respectively.[[note]]With the way Epiphany (from her Ultimate) works, her Arcana debuff will count as all 4 of the aforementioned debuffs and thus will activate all said penalties.[[/note]]
409* DamageOverTime: Black Swan has her own unique form of such an effect called Arcana, which stacks up to fifty times and explodes to deal Wind damage at the start of the afflicted enemy's turn before the stacks are reset to one, and whose potency is tied to her Talent's Trace levels. Black Swan has a chance to manually impose the stacks--one at a time with her Basic Attack (by 50–68%), a 100% base chance against her target and adjacent foes with her Skill, and repeatedly on all foes at the start of battle with her Technique (a 150% base chance, with a 50% reduction to success rate for each time a stack is successfully imposed)--and when the enemy's turn comes up, each active damage-over-time debuff an enemy has also has a 50–68% base chance to impose stacks (again tied to her Talent) before Arcana deals damage.[[note]]Worth 96–264% of her Attack stat in its base form, with an additional 4.8–13.2% boost per stack (hence a maximum of 240—660%)[[/note]] Furthermore, her sixth Eidolon Resonance, ''Pantheon Merciful, Masses Pitiful'', gives her a 65% chance to inflict Arcana on any foe attacked by her allies, with another 50% chance to inflict an extra stack for each one she is applying onto enemies (from any source).
410* DeathDealer: Her attacks consist of her throwing several CardsOfPower at the enemy.
411* EarlyPersonalitySigns: Her 1st character story offers a glimpse of her younger self: according to her mother - who's implied to be a diviner that uses cards, just like how Black Swan presents herself - she has been an avid enthusiast of past stories and loves contemplating various natures of life, often asking heavy and difficult questions. In her 2nd character story, it's written from the perspective (memories) of a Memokeeper who posed as an explorer who visited her home planet; the "explorer" found out that they could (indirectly) find more worthwhile memories of her planet by observing her activities. Because of this, said "explorer" decided to pick her as a new Memokeeper. This wholehearted respect towards memories was also how another Memokeeper was convinced (after following Garden of Recollection's tradition of asking her 3 important questions) that Black Swan is worthy to become one of them.
412* FemmeFatale: She fits most of the criteria: beautiful, alluring, mysterious, and not afraid to use her looks to get what she wants, as shown in "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" with Acheron (although, unfortunately for her, that attempt went [[MindRape horribly wrong]]).
413* {{Foreshadowing}}: Part of her 4th character story is about her collecting memories of certain individuals she met in Penacony whose names are hidden. However, with the release of stories and characters after her, how she described said memories align closely with the true natures of certain characters: [[spoiler:Aventurine, Sparkle, Firefly and Acheron]].
414* FortuneTeller: She picks cards in a manner reminiscent of a tarot reader.
415* GameplayAndStorySegregation: [[spoiler:Black Swan will start aiding the Trailblazer both during the second phase of Something Unto Death and while guiding them through the dream version of the Reverie, which has been warped into a hostile place. This is represented in combat by a special button that will let Black Swan summon several glass hands to deal damage and inflict Arcana when fully charged, in a similar manner to the Engine of Creation during the Cocolia fight or the Imbibitor Lunae during the Phantylia fight. However, nothing stops you from bringing the playable Black Swan in your team.]]
416* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: She is a serene and graceful FortuneTeller and her hair and outfit are purple in color.
417* HartmanHips: Black Swan's hips are slightly wider than her shoulders.
418* HighClassGloves: She wears a pair of purple gloves that go up to her biceps to fit along her appearance as a sensual and elegant FortuneTeller.
419* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: In the video "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas", as she's dancing with Acheron, she says that "in this nocturnal hunt, the Ranger is not the only one who hunts". She means that she's going to look into Acheron's memories, specifically trying to find out whether [[spoiler:Acheron truly killed Duke Inferno]] - but then as Black Swan peeks into her memories, the former ends up being "hunted" by the latter as Acheron [[MindRape figuratively "tears her apart"]] [[BirdVsSerpent like a snake preying on a swan]], followed by scenes of predator creatures capturing their preys. In the end, some time after their dance, Black Swan even says "[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere tonight is our final engagement]]".
420* IKissYourHand: Among the already intimate touches Black Swan was making on Acheron in "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas", she also flirtatiously kisses the back of the latter's hand to set up the magic foundation she needed to peer into Acheron's memories.
421* {{Invocation}}:
422-->(Ultimate activation) "Memories are ever changing."
423-->(Normal speed) "Beneath the silent waters, lies an endless abyss! Ehahahahaha..."
424-->(×2 speed) "Beneath the waters lies an endless abyss!"
425* {{Irony}}: She comes from the faction that believes every memory has meaning and should be preserved... and her gameplay path is Nihility, which comes with the mentality that believes that everything in the universe is meaningless and worthless.
426* LasciviousBeautyMark: Not a typical facial beauty mark, but rather, her SexyBacklessOutfit exposes a mole on her back.
427* LaserGuidedAmnesia: As a Memokeeper, part of her powers include manipulating memory, [[spoiler:which she inflicts on Sampo and Sparkle without warning to avoid an altercation from the latter in her Companion Mission. The two are left without any memory of what they're doing on Penacony, let alone where they are until a certain length of time passes before their memories return, and by then Black Swan will have been long gone.]]
428* LivingMemory: Implied, like the Messenger. In one Myriad Celestia trailer, she "moves" around in pictures and statues, briefly animating them in the process, matching the Messenger's description that Memokeepers are beings of pure cognition that can move unimpeded by conventional means of movement. In-game, she confirms that she doesn't need to use the Dreampool to enter the Dreamscape, and she offhandedly says that she can phase through walls. In her 2nd character story, prior to becoming a Memokeeper, she had a talk with one, who explained to her that the price of seeing past memories of things is that "people will remain oblivious to your presence unless you are willing to reveal yourself."
429-->''About Self: Existence'' - "Mortals are bound to the perception of the tangible, failing to comprehend that it is the spirit and the spiritual that form the true essence of the cosmos. Through the grace of "Fuli," we may shed our perishable forms and attain closeness to the true essence of being."
430-->''Sharing: Memetic Entity'' - "The day I became a memetic entity, I saw my own corporeal body dissolve, people's memories precipitating, crystallizing, and then shattering in the flow of time. They gleamed with such brilliance, as if they were crystals with boundless facets. It was in that moment I grasped, that everything is transient, but memories are eternal."
431* LongHairIsFeminine: The elegant, sensual, and graceful FortuneTeller has long white hair that reaches her hips.
432* MeaningfulEcho: In her 3rd character story, when another Memokeeper asked her about what legacy she would left behind if she ceases to exist one day, she answered "My memories. They are seeds from the past and will be reborn in the future." This is later echoed by - of all people - [[spoiler:Acheron, particularly regarding her true name, during her final talk with Tiernan]].
433* MeaningfulName: Her name comes from the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory black swan theory]]" that, to explain in her words, "people fail to acknowledge the existence of black swans until they encounter one". She likened a Memokeeper's existence/presence to that of the idea of black swans.
434* MindRape: Black Swan ends up a victim of this (albeit unintentionally) during the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short when she tries to look into Acheron's memories. [[spoiler:This is due to Acheron being an Emanator of IX and a Self-Annihilator who is basically a walking black hole of memories, making her a [[ManOfKryptonite mortal threat]] to Black Swan since the latter is a LivingMemory.]]
435* MsFanservice: Black Swan seems to be designed with this trope in mind, with large breasts (which her outfit draws attention to), HartmanHips, a SexyBacklessOutfit with a NavelWindow and [[LegFocus tights under thigh-high boots]], and an official character art depicting her smiling and lying down in a seductive pose. She also uses her beauty to her advantage when it suits her, such as when she questions Acheron about the Annihilation Gang in the "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" animated short.
436* MythologyGag: Her role in the "Fables About the Stars" trailer is remarkably similar to that of Dainsleif in the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAlKhARUcoY Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview]]" of ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', being a mysterious narrator who provides descriptions and {{foreshadowing}}s of future characters and plotlines.
437* NavelWindow: Her dress becomes transparent around the area of her navel, allowing it to be seen.
438* NearDeathExperience: Black Swan found out the hard way that [[spoiler:Acheron is her ManOfKryptonite as a Self-Annihilator with a "black hole" memory, and appears to have only been saved because Acheron returned to her usual self in the nick of time]].
439* NightmareHands: Her Ultimate has her summon a horde of sinister glass hands to crush all enemies in their grasp,[[note]]with damage worth 72—129.6% of her Attack stat[[/note]] as well as impose Epiphany for two turns, which [[DamageIncreasingDebuff increases her victims' damage intake by 15—27% during their turn]] (e.g., damage-over-time or Arcana activation) for the next two turns, negates the stack reset of the first Arcana damage, and [[LiteralWildCard makes Arcana count as Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and Shock effects for any ability that involves them]] (such as Luka's enhanced Basic Attack, which triggers Bleed damage, or Hook's Burn-based abilities).
440* NotSoAboveItAll: After the end of her Companion Mission, the Trailblazer questions Black Swan's identity after being messaged by Sparkle, who was pretending to be Black Swan to find the memory bubble that the Trailblazer viewed. The mysterious Memokeeper bombards them with a bunch of WordSalad about memory, then impishly caps it with a Pom-Pom sticker.
441* OhCrap: When Black Swan tries to peer into Acheron's memories, she is horrified by whatever she saw and later admits she made a terrible mistake in trying to view the Galaxy Ranger's past.
442* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: She's usually calm and collected with a gentle smile, which makes her terror-struck face after peeking into Acheron's memories and getting subjected to MindRape utterly jarring. This is made more significant by Black Swan's nature as a Memokeeper; she lacks a physical body and thus hormones to generate biological emotions like fear.
443* PercentBasedValues: Her sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Candleflame's Portent'', increases her damage output worth 60% of her Effect Hit Rate, to a maximum of 72% (i.e., if said stat is at least 120%).
444* PowerFloats: She floats in the air in during her idle animations and when activating her [[LimitBreak Ultimate]].
445* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: Is named Black Swan and is once described by Acheron as wearing a "black veil," but the primary color of her wardrobe is purple.
446* RegeneratingMana: Her fourth Eidolon Resonance, ''In Tears We Gift'', restores 8 Energy whenever an enemy afflicted with Epiphany takes their turn or is defeated, in addition to granting Epiphany a 20% penalty to Effect Resistance.
447* SexyBacklessOutfit: Her outfit leaves her back exposed, though her long hair partially obstructs it.
448* TheShrink: After a manner, having an understanding of people's thoughts and emotions that [[spoiler:she is quick to calm the Trailblazer down after they witness Firefly's death, and after hearing out Aventurine's offer, she styles herself as a psychotherapist when talked to.]]
449* SplashDamage:
450** Her Skill hits a target and adjacent foes,[[note]]worth 45—99% of her Attack stat[[/note]], with a 100% base chance to inflict a stack of Arcana and also a 100% rate to inflict a [[DamageIncreasingDebuff 14.8—22% Defense penalty]] for three turns.
451** If an enemy has at least three stacks of Arcana when their turn comes up, it'll additionally trigger a blast that deals damage to adjacent foes, with a 50—68% chance to also inflict a stack of Arcana on them.[[note]]With splash damage worth 72—198% of her Attack stat[[/note]]
452* StatusEffectPoweredAbility:
453** Her Basic Attack has additional 50—68% chances to inflict more Arcana for each damage-over-time debuff (i.e., Wind Shear, Burn, Bleed, Shock) active on her target. Her second-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Viscera's Disquiet'', gives her Skill a 65% base chance to also inflict Arcana in the same manner.
454** Her fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Goblet's Dredges'', gives her 65% base chance to automatically inflict a stack on new enemies that enter the field, as well as gives the party's attacks that manually triggers damage-over-time debuffs (e.g., Kafka's Skill) a 65% base chance to inflict up to three stacks of Arcana at a time (one for each such debuff triggered).
455* TooManyBelts: Besides the typical JRPG belts dotting her outfit, Black Swan also has a leather belt prominently wrapped over the top of her ''veil'' of all things.
456* VaporWear: Because the bare skin of her back and sides are fully exposed, there is no way for her to be wearing a bra underneath her outfit.
457* WeaponSpecialization: Black Swan's associated Light Cone is "[[https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Reforged_Remembrance Reforged Remembrance]]" (5★), whose "Crystallize" passive increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 40-60%, as well as bestows up to four stacks of Prophet whenever they attack enemies with damage-over-time debuffs (at a rate of one per debuff type), which increases their Attack stat by 5-9% and allows any damage-over-time debuff they inflict to ignore 7.2-10% of their target's Defense. Such effects facilitate Black Swan's specialization in taking advantage of damage-over-time debuffs and bolstering her Arcana damage, and helps in one of her passives that turns her Effect Hit Rate into extra damage output.
458* WildCard: [[spoiler:For the sake of solving the mystery of Penacony, Black Swan is willing to ally with multiple of the involved factions. This includes striking up an alliance with Aventurine, before also making one with the Nameless out of both faith in their abilities and as part of her deal with Aventurine, who wanted the [[PlayerCharacter Trailblazer]] brought to him to strike a deal.]]
459[[/folder]]
460
461[[folder:The Messenger]]
462!!The Messenger
463[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starrail_image_1683677334.png]]
464->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MeganShipman (English)\
465
466A mysterious agent of the Garden of Recollection, an intangible, unnoticeable woman who was drawn to the Astral Express by the rarity of a Receptacle who carries a Stellaron. Although she answers to a greater organization and is not an active, let alone known, Nameless, she journeys with them across the stars in order to record the Trailblazer's past, future, and influence on the universe. She presides over the Forgotten Hall, a repository of the Trailblazer's past battles and experiences, and offers them aid in exchange for memories.
467----
468* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The Messenger freely admits that although she once possessed a body of flesh and blood, she has long since abandoned her physical form to become a being of pure thought.
469* BlueAndOrangeMorality: She has some odd ethics on memory and the manipulation thereof. She's restricted any memories of herself from the majority of the Astral Express crew without permission, claiming that by limiting knowledge of her existence to only the Trailblazer, she's preserving the value of those memories by keeping them unique. She likewise claims that fulfilling the Trailblazer's request to restore their own lost memories would be a gross violation of law.
470* ChekhovsGunman: For the most part, the Messenger is just a regular NPC you can interact with on the Astral Express, up until [[spoiler:you take March 7th's Companion Mission and discover that she--who may or may not be the same one in the Astral Express--is responsible for suppressing March 7th's memories on orders from the Garden of Recollection]].
471* DissonantSerenity: She sounds disconcertingly cheerful and calm when informing the Trailblazer that violating even one of the Garden of Recollection's laws concerning manipulation of memory will result in her immediate termination. Justified somewhat by the reality that the Messenger has no physical body, and subsequently lacks biological instincts and hormones that would drive her towards survival or emotional responses.
472* TheFaceless: She is always seen in a reflective full-face mask underneath a hood, obscuring any possible features. Talking to her reveals that she does ''have'' a face, but insists on charging the Trailblazer an unnamed amount of memories to earn a look.
473* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Should the Trailblazer reveal her presence to the rest of the Astral Express crew, the Messenger becomes annoyed with them and wipes the crew's memories of the conversation, as them knowing about her existence is against the Garden of Recollection's rules regarding distribution of memory.
474* LivingMemory: An unusually literal example. The Messenger is a cognizant, self-perpetuating thought pattern that can only interact with the world by inserting herself into the memories of sentient beings. She exists independently of the physical world, and isn't dependent upon any one person or place, but is in turn restricted in that she can ''only'' interact with memories, and must rely on the cognition of others to travel.
475* MemoryJar: Her role as a Memokeeper is to venture out into the vast universe, collecting precious and irreplaceable memories to prevent them from fading. Her current mission is to follow the Astral Express and assess the memories that someone carrying a Stellaron will generate.
476* TheNeedless: Lacking any kind of physical body, she does not experience exhaustion, hunger, or pain, nor does she need sleep or material fulfillment, and exists in perpetuity even in circumstances fatal to mortals, such as solar storms.
477* TransferableMemory: The Messenger's very ''existence'' is this trope. She's a living collection of memories capable of interfacing with and altering those of other sentients. She can download, delete, copy, paste, and edit memories at will akin to computer data, though she claims that the ways she can manipulate the memories of others is harshly limited by the Garden of Recollection's laws.
478* WellIntentionedExtremist: She claims that [[spoiler:her suppression of March 7th's memories is meant to protect her, implying there is some AwfulTruth hidden in them that can destroy her otherwise]].
479[[/folder]]
480
481!Intelligentsia Guild
482
483A faction that follows Nous the Erudition, and the polar opposite to Genius Society. While Genius Society are composed of geniuses recognized by Nous themselves and spend most of their time pursuing knowledge on their own (barring a few exceptions), the Intelligentsia Guild are composed of ordinary people who believe that knowledge should be shared by all through an academic network of mutual learning, allowing them to transcend past the limitation of ordinary individuals and become something greater. They are heavily sponsored by the IPC, gaining vast resources and ease of interstellar travel in exchange of knowledge.
484
485[[folder:In General]]
486* BoringButPractical: The Intelligentsia Guild is comprised of ordinary scientists and engineers. They cannot singlehandedly revolutionize entire fields like geniuses can, but ReedRichardsIsUseless is mostly in effect for the Genius Society, and their results only rarely benefit the public. Moving the universe forward is mostly up to the Intelligentsia Guild.
487[[/folder]]
488
489[[folder:'''Dr. Ratio''']]
490!!Dr. Veritas Ratio
491!!!'''Introduced:''' January 17, 2024 (v1.6 "Crown of the Mundane and Divine" [second half])\
492'''Voiced By:''' Sang Yuze (Chinese), Creator/ShunsukeTakeuchi (Japanese), Lee Donghoon (Korean), Jordan Paul Haro (English)
493[[quoteright:591:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drratioportrait_ezgifcom_webp_to_png_converter.png]]
494%% [[caption-width-right:591:some caption text]]
495
496
497->'''Rarity:''' 5★\
498'''Path:''' The Hunt\
499'''Type:''' [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Imaginary]]\
500
501A self-assured and eccentric member of the Intelligentsia Guild who calls himself a "mundanite", Dr. Veritas Ratio is well known for his surpassing intellect, draconian ways of teaching, and the strange plaster full-head mask he occasionally dons. A teacher by trade, he journeys the stars to spread the gift of knowledge in his self-proclaimed mission of eradicating the disease known as ignorance.\
502\
503Dr. Ratio castigates all who fail to meet his standards with his Talent, ''Cogito, Ergo Sum'', which allows him to hurl a high-velocity piece of chalk as a follow-up attack. His Skill, ''Intellectual Midwifery'', strikes at one foe, with its chance of triggering his Talent increasing proportional to the number of their debuffs, while his Ultimate, ''Syllogistic Paradox'', summons a giant pillar which he manipulates to crush his target as well as inflicts the "Wiseman's Folly" debuff, which guarantees his allies' next two attacks against them to trigger his Talent. In addition, his Technique, ''Mold of Idolatry'', generates a plaster statue of himself that draws enemy aggression as well as reduces their Speed for the first two turns of battle.[[note]]When fully upgraded, his damage output increases against foes with at least three debuffs, with a further boost proportional to the number of further debuffs; his Skill gains up to six stacks of a Critical Rate and Damage boost proportional to the number of debuffs on his target (with a further upgrade increasing the cap to ten and allows him to immediately gather four at the start of battle), as well as sees a heightened chance to reduce his target's Effect Resistance for two turns; his Talent's follow-up attack is augmented with additional hits depending on the number of his target's debuffs, as well as restores some Energy; and Wiseman's Folly can now trigger his Talent thrice.[[/note]]
504----
505* AmplifierArtifact: By getting his Eidolons, you can unlock his third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, ''Know Thyself'' and ''Sic Itur Ad Astra'', which will add two levels to his Ultimate and 1 to Basic Attack with the former, and 2 to his Skill and Talent with the latter.
506* AncientGrome: He has a Latin name but an ancient Greek motif overall (his combat abilities have prominent geometry and mathematics motifs, his use of a classical statue mask and a marble column in his Ultimate animation, etc.).
507* AnimalMotifs: To an extent, owls. His shoulderpiece resembles an owl, and it also shows up as the image of his Talent. They are considered symbols of wisdom in Western cultures through associations with Athena, goddess of wisdom in Myth/ClassicalMythology, befitting such a learned man as Dr. Ratio. Owls are also ambush predators, and can be regarded as ill omens. Dr. Ratio's appearance in the v1.6 Special Program is sudden and unannounced; his introduction in the "Crown of the Mundane and Divine" story is similarly out of left field, and Herta and Ruan Mei were never aware he was even there. [[spoiler:While his role in the latter story is certainly helpful, one can see his initial appearance as an ill omen for the chaos instigated by Duke Inferno, as Dr. Ratio only took measures to mitigate damage and capitalize upon it, and nothing to actively ''stop'' it.]]
508* AntiDebuff: Inverted with his fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Inference'', which gies his Skill a base 100% chance to reduce his target's Effect Resistance by 10% for two turns, making them more easily inflicted with debuffs, which many of his abilities rely upon.
509* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: He's rather snarky towards Aventurine while they're working together during the events of Penacony and even [[spoiler: seemingly betrays him. Later, it's revealed that he was on Aventurine's side the whole time and even gives him some genuine advice to help the man when he was struggling to find the meaning of all of his struggles.]]
510* BadassBookworm: Dr. Ratio clearly sculpts his body just as much as his mind, supporting his intellectual pursuit of eradicating ignorance with overtly physical attacks in combat by slamming enemies with his codex and throwing chalk at them. His ripped body is also shown in full display.
511* BadassTeacher: He acts like a teacher even in combat, with him literally schooling his foes.
512-->(Follow-up attack line) "0 points! Next!" / "Fail! Get out!"
513* BathingBeauty: A rare male example with his Light Cone, which depicts him reading in a bath. He mentions it as a personal hobby, nursing and cleansing his body alongside his mind in relaxation.
514* BlueMeansSmartOne: His hair and outfit are dark blue, and he is an esteemed scholar and educator.
515* BreakingOldTrends: Dr. Ratio is the first Hunt Pathstrider whose kit has no innate means of increasing his speed or advancing his actions, instead representing the path's focus on rapidity through a deluge of hard-hitting follow-up attacks.
516* CleavageWindow: His shirt has a diamond-shaped cutout over his sternum.
517* TheComicallySerious: He's prone to some odd behavior like wearing a plaster head cover, making flamboyant poses (including in his statues) or speaking in fancy terminology. And he does all that with complete seriousness.
518* CriticalHitClass:
519** One of three stats Dr. Ratio can upgrade via his Trace tree is his Critical Rate, with him getting a 12% boost once fully unlocked.
520** His second-Ascension bonus ability, ''Summation'', allows his Skill to bestow him up to six stacks of a Critical Rate and Damage boost (by, respectively, 2.5% and 5%) [[StatusEffectPoweredAbility for every debuff the enemy has]], lasting the entire battle (hence a maximum of 15% and 30%). His first Eidolon Resonance, ''Pride Comes Before a Fall'', increases the maximum stack count to ten (hence an optimal boost of 25% Rate and 50% Damage), and immediately grants four stacks at the start of combat.
521* DeathFromAbove: His Ultimate has him summon a giant column, which then crumbles and topples onto a single enemy for massive damage.[[note]]With damage worth 144%–259.2% of his Attack stat[[/note]]
522* DiscOneNuke: For players who started playing between the second half of v1.6 and the end of v2.1, Dr. Ratio can be immediately obtained from the mail as soon as the prologue Trailblaze mission, "A Moment of Peace", is completed, allowing Dr. Ratio to become part of their initial starting roster. Being a 5★ Imaginary Hunt unit, he can become a strong source of Imaginary damage early on for players who do not have Welt, Luocha, or Imbibitor Lunae (all three of them are also 5★, with the latter two being on a time-limited banner), long before obtaining the 4★ Yukong and the 5★ Harmony Trailblazer[[note]]By the time the Harmony Trailblazer becomes available, Dr. Ratio will no longer be given for free[[/note]], who are given for free significantly later in the story.
523* DrawAggro: His Technique summons a statue of himself (in various poses), which for ten seconds will attract enemies' aggression in its radius, and if the attracted enemies are attacked, they'll be inflicted by a 15% Speed penalty for the first two turns of the next battle.
524* DudeWheresMyRespect: Even if he is critical of the Genius Society and his accomplishments are on par with theirs, his Character Story implies that he always wanted to join the Society but was unable to do so, as he Nous never gave THEIR gaze upon him. Recognizing this, he set out to spread knowledge and possibly make everyone on par with the people who shared Nous' gaze and privileges instead.
525-->"If this day I have not gained the recognition of Nous - then it stands to reason that I never will at any point in the future."
526* ElementalEyeColors: His amber eyes match his [[LightEmUp Imaginary Element]].
527* EnragedByIdiocy: Dr. Ratio makes no secret of how much he hates stupidity and ignorance, outright comparing them to diseases to be eradicated.
528* ExactWords: [[spoiler:Sunday asks Dr. Ratio if he would be willing to betray Aventurine, which Dr. Ratio denies. Sunday bribes him with the promise of Stellaron research anyways and Dr. Ratio reveals Aventurine's entire plan to him. However, the scholar never actually said he would betray Aventurine, and the plan he leaked was really a decoy to throw Sunday off.]]
529* FashionableAsymmetry: His right arm is covered by a long flowing blue sleeve and an owl-shaped shoulder piece, while his left arm is mostly bare.
530* FemaleGaze: His trailer has a shot of him crossing his legs at an angle that focuses squarely on his thighs and butt, especially since he's sitting on an invisible seat.
531* GlassCannon: He's capable of decent damage but has low Defense like other Hunt Pathstriders.
532* {{Guyliner}}: On the bottom of both his amber eyes, he wears matching red eyeliner that enhances the sharpness of his gaze.
533* IdeaBulb: A light bulb appears besides his head in one of his idle animations, where he thinks to himself while an apple hits his noggin without noticing, a reference of the legend of Isaac Newton discovering the idea of gravity.
534* {{Invocation}}:
535-->(Ultimate activation) "Esse est percipi..."[[note]]"To be is to be perceived..."[[/note]]
536-->(Normal speed) "Knowledge is the measure of all things. It reveals truth and falsehood."
537-->(×2 speed) "Knowledge, measure of truth, and falsehood!"
538* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: May well ''invoke'' it through his plaster mask. Figuratively, it helps him by shutting away his senses so he can think in peace. Literally, it keeps a barrier between him and the ignorant masses.
539--> '''Dr. Ratio''' - (About Self: Headpiece): "First, with the headpiece on, isolated from my five senses, I can think without interference. And second, I don't have to set eyes on stupid people. Of course, they don't want to see me either."
540* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's rather mean to people who don't match his standards and is somewhat haughty besides. That said, it comes from a place of frustration and disappointment rather than any malice. He does earnestly believe that ordinary people can learn to grow and evolve without the need to rely on geniuses and wants them to let go of their foolishness to achieve it.
541* LifeSavingEncouragement: [[spoiler:When he parts ways with Aventurine in Penacony, Dr. Ratio hands him a vial containing "doctor's advice" and tells him to open it when he's at the end of his rope. After Acheron "kills" Aventurine and sends him to the "horizon of existence", she tells him to open it when he questions the point of life, and inside he finds a note left by Ratio telling him to keep living, which aides in pushing him to decide he is not ready to die]].
542-->'''Ratio:''' [[spoiler:The impossible in the Dreamscape is not "Death," but rather "Dormancy". Do stay alive. I wish you the best of luck]].
543* MagicWand: He uses his chalk as a wand when attacking with his skill.
544* MeaningfulName: His full name, Veritas Ratio, means "truth of the matter" in Latin. In the Chinese and German versions, he's straight up called "Dr. Truth".
545* MrFanservice: Dr. Ratio is a very good-looking man, wearing a shirt that showcases his ripped physique, and his Light Cone even depicts him as a BathingBeauty.
546* NeatFreak: {{Downplayed|trope}}, but Dr. Ratio certainly enjoys his baths, and one of his idle animations involves aggressively scrubbing clean his codex after presumably finding it dirty. More figuratively, he despises foolishness and what he perceives as "mental filth".
547* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: His character stories note that he has published works and made discoveries in numerous fields, including medicine, biology, engineering, mathematics, physics, philosophy, and natural theology.
548* RegeneratingMana: His fourth Eidolon Resonance, ''Ignorance is Blight'', regenerates 15 Energy whenever he triggers his Talent.
549* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: His text messages has him using a lot of fancy words, befitting his scholarly ways.
550* ShapingYourAttacks: His Skill takes the form of summoning a tetrahedron made of light to strike at his target (representing a math problem).[[note]]With damage worth 75–165% of his Attack stat[[/note]]
551* SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration:
552** As a member of the Intelligentsia Guild, Dr. Ratio seeks to share knowledge and eradicate ignorance which he perceives as a widespread disease. True to his mission, [[DiscOneNuke he can be immediately obtained after completing the Prologue Trailblaze Mission "A Moment of Peace"]] between the second phase of Version 1.6 and the end of v2.1. This is also why his actual path is The Hunt even though he follows the faction of Erudition.
553** His kit performs at its best against enemies suffering from debuffs and damage-over-time effects, which is primarily the domain of Nihility characters. Quite fitting that an educator whose purpose is to fill vacant minds with knowledge would be at his prime when working off other characters whose Path represents emptiness.
554* SmartPeoplePlayChess: His introduction in Trailblaze Continuance "Crown of the Mundane and Divine" is of him playing chess... with himself.
555* StarterMon: A variant; between the second phase of Version 1.6 and the end of Version 2.1, players can recruit Dr. Ratio for free via mail, as a thank you towards players for their dedicated support in helping the game become nominated and won Best Mobile Game in the 2023 Game Awards.
556* StatusEffectPoweredAbility:
557** His Talent has him [[ChuckingChalk toss a chalk at enemies]] as a [[OutOfTurnInteraction follow-up attack]];[[note]]with damage worth 135–297% of his Attack stat[[/note]]; his Skill gives him a base 40% chance to trigger his Talent, with an additional 20% for each debuff his target has (meaning it is guaranteed if they have at least three debuffs). His Ultimate also applies Wiseman's Folly to his target, guaranteeing his allies' next two attacks against them to trigger his Talent. His sixth Eidolon Resonance, ''Vincit Omnia Veritas'', extends the Talent trigger count of Wiseman's Folly to three, as well as increases their damage by 50%.
558** His sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Deduction'', increases his damage output against foes with at least three debuffs by 10% per debuff to a maximum of 50% (hence it has a minimum boost of 30% and needs at least five debuffs to be maximized).
559** His second Eidolon Resonance, ''The Divine Is in the Details'', augments his Talent's follow-up attacks with [[SituationalDamageAttack up to four additional strikes]] with damage worth 20% of his Attack stat for each debuff his target has.
560* StealthMentor: [[spoiler:His role in "Crown of the Mundane and Divine" has him playing the part in throwing Herta's Space Station in disarray, all to fulfill his goal of teaching the researchers and staff to not give into [[HeroWorshipper blind worship]] towards the Genius Society.]]
561* SternTeacher: He has extremely exacting standards and does not suffer fools in his classroom. Classes taught by him, according to his character story, have a completion rate of ''3%''
562--> '''Dr. Ratio''' - (on his harshness towards students): "There are students of mediocre abilities, students who think too highly of themselves, students who waste their talents... There are too many kinds of students, and the ones among them who are both talented and diligent are few and far between. Those filled with vim while vacant of thought remain a horde."
563* ATasteOfPower: He is a trial unit in "Crown of the Mundane and Divine" Trailblaze Continuance released in the first half of Version 1.6 before his release in its second half.
564* ThrowTheBookAtThem: His basic attack ''Mind is Might'' has him whack enemies with the codex he carries. It's extra painful due to being made of stone.
565* {{Tsundere}}: He's outwardly annoyed by Aventurine's flippant attitude and seemingly illogical reliance on his own luck to accomplish his goals, but knows him surprisingly well and supports him in his goals. Most prominently shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wMuR2Mrwt0 Aventurine's Keeping Up With Star Rail video]], where he stubbornly denies being friends being Aventurine and only admits he's not altogether terrible to work with, only for Owlbert to reveal that Aventurine personally requested for Dr. Ratio to appear on the show, pointing out that Dr. Ratio wouldn't have accepted the invitation if he didn't know Aventurine well.
566* UnflinchingWalk: His Ultimate animation has him drop a giant column on an enemy, then walk away from it after its drop.
567* WeaponSpecialization: Dr. Ratio's associated Light Cone is "[[https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Baptism_of_Pure_Thought Baptism of Pure Thought]]" (5★), whose "Mental Training" passive increases its wearer's Critical Rate by 20–32%, Critical Damage by 8–12% for each debuff their target has (to a maximum of three, hence an optimal 24–36% boost), and grants them the "Disputation" effect for two turns whenever they use an offensive Ultimate, increasing damage output by 36–60% and allowing their follow-up attacks to ignore 24–40% of their target's defense. This complements Dr. Ratio's kit, incentivizing players to keep putting pressure on compromised foes, as well as further enhances his Ultimate and Talent.
568* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:The end of "Mundane Troubles" reveals that despite helping thwart the Annihilation Gang's attacks on the Herta Space Station, he also had a hand in exacerbating discontent amongst its staff and used his own Phase Flame to merely ensure Ifrit's attempts to teleport the missing researchers into the vacuums of space failed instead of actually doing anything to prevent them. When confronted by Screwllum, who realized his involvement, he admits he did what he did to curb the [[HeroWorshipper blind worship]] the researchers display towards Genius Society members such as [[InsufferableGenius Herta]] and [[MadScientist Ruan Mei]], believing this stunts their ability to learn and grow on their own.]]
569[[/folder]]
570
571!Knights of Beauty
572
573Followers of Idrila the Beauty. They travel the cosmos alone, professing old codes of chivalry in their search for their missing Aeon.
574
575[[folder:'''Argenti''']]
576!!Argenti
577!!!'''Introduced:''' December 6, 2023 (v1.5 "The Crepuscule Zone" [second half])\
578'''Voiced By:''' Liang Dawei (Chinese), Creator/ShinnosukeTachibana (Japanese), Choi Seung-hoon (Korean), Adam Michael Gold (English)
579[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/argenti_portrait.png]]
580%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
581
582
583->'''Rarity:''' 5★\
584'''Path:''' The Erudition\
585'''Type:''' Physical\
586
587A member of the Knights of Beauty. A forthright and earnest man who wanders the cosmos to extoll the virtues of Idrila's good name with unwavering conviction. He first meets the Astral Express when they are trapped inside a Giant Sting, and helps them get out of the situation.\
588\
589Argenti gracefully dispatches his foes with increasing force facilitated by his Talent, ''Sublime Object'', which bestows up to ten stacks of Apotheosis, which boost his Critical Rate, for every enemy struck by his spear: one at a time with his Basic Attack, ''Fleeting Fragrance'', and all enemies at once with either the downward strike of his Skill, ''Justice, Hereby Blooms'', or his Ultimate, ''For In This Garden Supreme Beauty Bestows'', a mighty swipe which can be further upgraded into ''Merit Bestowed in "My" Garden'' to additionally deal six strikes at random. In addition, his Technique, ''Manifesto of Purest Virtue'', dazes surrounding enemies, rendering them unable to attack the party, as well as deals damage against all enemies and regenerates some of Argenti's Energy at the start of battle.[[note]]When fully upgraded, he gains some Energy at the start of battle, as well as enjoys heightened damage against foes with no more than half their HP; he automatically gains stacks of Apotheosis at the start of battle, which in turn gain a Critical Damage boost, as well as extends his capacity to twelve stacks;; and his Ultimate can now boost his Attack stat for one turn if he uses it on at least three foes as well as ignore a sizable fraction of his enemies' Defense.[[/note]]
590----
591* AmplifierArtifact: By getting his Eidolons, you can unlock his third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, ''Thorny Road's Glory'' and ''Snow, From Somewhere in Cosmos'', which will add two levels to his Skill and Talent with the former, and two to his Ultimate and one to Basic Attack with the latter.
592* ArmorPiercingAttack: His sixth Eidolon Resonance, ''"Your" Resplendence'', allows his Ultimate to bypass 30% of his enemies' Defense.
593* BewareTheSillyOnes: He is dressed in overly flamboyant armor, with long, flowing red hair and a habit of speaking in PurpleProse. He is clearly not meant to ever be taken seriously, due to his delusional devotion to a goddess who is implied to not even exist. [[spoiler:Then he slew a massive space insect that was putting the entire Astral Express at risk, by himself. And he survived.]] His battle kit contains very little in the way of complex mechanics; all he can really do is play the offensive, and that’s all he needs.
594* BlindedByTheLight: His Technique dazes surrounding foes for ten seconds, rendering then unable to attack the party. Should the party attack them to initiate battle, all enemies take damage equivalent to 80% of Argenti's Attack stat, and he gains 15 Energy.
595* CriticalHitClass: His Talent allows him to build up to ten stacks of Apotheosis, which provides a 1–2.8% Critical Rate buff each (hence a maximum of 10–28%) for every foe he hits and lasts through the whole battle. In addition, his second-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Piety'', automatically grants him one stack at the start of battle, while his first Eidolon Resonance, ''A Lacuna in Kingdom of Aesthetics'', adds a 4% Critical Damage boost to each stack (hence a maximum of 40%), and his fourth, ''Trumpet's Dedication'', allows him to gather two more stacks at the start of battle (hence three at optimal) as well as extends his stack capacity to twelve.[[note]]Meaning his maximum Critical Rate and Damage boosts grow to, respectively, 12–33.6% and 48%[[/note]]
596* ChronicHeroSyndrome: As a wandering knight, he's compelled to rescue any troubled soul he comes across. [[spoiler:The reason he's late to the Penacony storyline is because on his way to the planet, he somehow stumbled across 40 people in need of saving, and assisted every one of them.]]
597* DorkKnight: Argenti is, without a doubt, a compassionate man of great kindness and capability who holds a true, deep allegiance to his faith. This faith, by that same measure, makes him a bit of an oddball - in his Character Reveal trailer alone, and as shown in-game, he's introduced aboard the Express wholeheartedly and unironically praising the beauty of a ''potted plant''.
598* EarlyBirdCameo: He was first name-dropped in one of Simulated Universe: Swarm Disaster's occurrences, "Knights of Beauty to the Rescue". Most of the time, choosing to accept his help (among other knights) will grant you 3 Blessings of your current Path.
599* EncounterRepellent: His Technique inflicts Daze on nearby enemies in the overworld, which will make them stop pursuing the party. Attacking them in this state will inflict damage on all enemies equivalent to Argenti's Attack stat on the first turn, and recover 15 energy for him.
600* FlunkyBoss: As a boss, he can summon 3 kinds of floating statues, and enhance their potency. One of them deals Physical DMG onto all of your characters, another one applies Barrier to him (and to all other statues when enhanced), and the last one grants him a DMG buff. When they're killed, the targets of their effects will become reversed between him and your party.
601* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Argenti is a chivalric knight who follows the Path of Beauty, and he appears in [=SoulGlad=] Festivity Auditions as the defending champion, upon which a boss fight will ensue. [[spoiler:However, if you explain that you're trying to save Penacony, seal the Stellaron and are following the Watchmaker's wishes, Argenti will gladly step aside and make way for you, completely averting his boss fight]].
602* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Argenti enters the [=SoulGlad=] Festivity Auditions as the defending champion. This doesn't stop the player from using their own Argenti in the competition fights and even in the [[MirrorMatch boss fight against him]].
603* GreenThumb: Though a plant superpower element doesn't exist as an official type, Argenti's Skill has him stab the ground with his spear, causing rose vines to erupt and pierce all enemies.[[note]]Depending on Trace levels, its damage is equivalent to 60–132% of his Attack stat[[/note]]
604* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In order to help the Astral Express escape the innards of the Giant Sting's belly, Argenti plans to launch himself out of the train and use his spear to stab the bug's stomach to force it to vomit the crew out, though he does assure the Trailblazer he will try to make it out alive as well. After the Astral Express crew successfully escape, Argenti is seemingly never seen or heard from again... [[SubvertedTrope then afterwards texted the Trailblazer asking if they're okay, much to their and March's relief]].]]
605* HeroOfAnotherStory: As a warrior travelling the universe following the traces of a missing Aeon, saving people and solving various crises along the way, Argenti is doing pretty much the same thing Astral Express is; only unlike the Express, most of his heroics happen off-screen, and the players only get to hear about a small fraction of them.
606* InexplicablyAwesome: In "Night of Universal Hallucinations", [[spoiler:he jumps out of the Astral Express into the stomach of a giant bug with no helmet and no spaceship, and shortly after texts the Trailblazer with news that he's fine.]] No explanation is ever given as to how he accomplishes this.
607* {{Invocation}}:
608-->(Ultimate activation) "Until I see that light once more..."
609-->(Normal speed) (Normal Ultimate) "...I will protect all beauty in the universe."
610-->(Normal speed) (Enhanced Ultimate) "...I will protect all beauty in the universe... for Idrila."
611-->(×2 speed) (Normal Ultimate) "...I will protect all beauty!"
612-->(×2 speed) (Enhanced Ultimate) "...I will protect all beauty! ...for Idrila."
613* KnightErrant: As a Knight of Beauty, he travels the universe in search of Idrila, helping people along the way; pretty much every time the player hears about him, he is rescuing someone from trouble.
614* KnightInShiningArmor: A classic example. He and the other Knights go by the code of chivalry (which is stated to be obsolete in modern times by the game) and, somewhat like historical religious crusaders, march across the worlds to preach the ideals of Beauty and their Aeon, Idrila. They (Argenti included) also wear luxurious armor, ride dexterous mounts, sing beautiful songs, and [[KnightErrant offer their aid to those in need]].
615* LargeHam: If his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhqU5X_sMPA trailer]] is anything to go by, Argenti is truly grandiose in just about everything he does, including his use of PurpleProse.
616* LimitBreak: His schtick. Argenti can charge up his ultimate twice to unleash a much more powerful attack, denoted by an outer ring around the Ultimate gauge. The skill icon additionally starts out as a rosebud that blooms when the second energy level is met. The fully-charged Ultimate also [[RandomizedDamageAttack deals six additional damage bursts on a random foe]].[[note]]Damage is worth 96–172.8% of his Attack stat in its base form, 168–302.4% in its upgraded form, 57–102.6% for each random strike[[/note]]
617* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Quite fitting for a noble Knight of Beauty to have a flowing long mane of hair.
618* MeaningfulName: His name is derived from the Latin word "argentum", the name of the metal silver, which fits both his [[KnightInShiningArmor outfit]] and [[LargeHam his attitude]].
619* MirrorMatch: Nothing's stopping you from bringing your own Argenti to fight him. In fact, as he and all of his summons has Physical weakness, Argenti himself is a great counter to him.
620* MistakenForTerrorist: [[spoiler:When meeting him in 2.2, he mentions that because of his silver armour and fiery red hair, he was initially mistaken for Stellaron Hunter Sam when he arrived in Penacony, though he managed to straighten things out without a fight.]]
621* NiceGuy: He's a noble KnightInShiningArmor played completely straight, who goes around helping everyone in need of help that he comes across simply because it's the right thing to do.
622* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:In 2.2, he's the one who found and rescued Aventurine from the Primordial Dreamscape, after the latter's Nihility taint completely broke Aventurine's Cornerstone. How he managed to reach the place in the first place to rescue Aventurine ''and'' got out isn't elaborated upon]].
623* RecurringBoss: The Express crew first battles him in his Companion Mission (released in 1.5) on the Astral Express, [[spoiler:and then on Penacony as a part of [=SoulGlad=] Festivity Auditions (released in 2.2).]]
624* RegeneratingMana: His Talent regenerates 3 energy for each enemy hit by his attacks. His fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Generosity'', also regenerates 2 Energy for him for every new enemy that enters battle.
625* SecretAIMoves: Playable Argenti cannot summon the floating statues that his boss self uses.
626* SkippableBoss: [[spoiler:In Penacony, if you explain to him why you need to win the Festivity Auditions (which he happens to be the defending champion of), he lets you pass without a fight and bids you good luck.]]
627* SimpleYetAwesome: Argenti isn't at all difficult to operate--use his Skill to quickly gain Energy and stack his Critical Rate buff, then pop his Ultimate when it's completely filled for its bonus damage. ''Extremely'' effective.
628* SituationalSword:
629** His sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Courage'', gives him a 15% damage boost against foes with no more than half their HP.
630** His second Eidolon Resonance, ''Agate's Humility'', bestows a 40% Attack boost for one turn whenever his Ultimate hits at least three foes.
631* SomethingAboutARose: His kit features heavy rose motifs and holds one in his Wish artwork, and this young man upholds the virtues of Beauty.
632* SpeaksFluentAnimal: He can speak to insects of The Propagation.
633* TakesOneToKillOne: Despite being a Physical Pathstrider, his boss self and the statues he summons to assist him are weak to Physical damage. Ironically, [[MirrorMatch this makes Argenti himself a good unit to use against him]], as he can hit all their weaknesses and potentially kill all of the statues to severely hinder the boss version.
634* ATasteOfPower: Argenti is playable as a Trial unit in the ''Boulder Town Martial Exhibition''.
635* UnexpectedCharacter: Safe to say nobody expected him to show up [[spoiler:during the 2.2 story, as the reigning champion of the pageant, forcing a miniboss encounter. He was only foreshadowed beforehand at the start of audition as a contestant with red hair. He's also tied to Aventurine's return to reality.]]
636* WeaponSpecialization: Argenti's associated Light Cone is "[[https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/An_Instant_Before_A_Gaze An Instant Before A Gaze]]" (5★), whose "A Knight's Pilgrimage" passive increases its wearer's Critical Damage by 36–60%, and their Ultimate's damage by 0.36–0.60% per point of their Max Energy (to a maximum damage boost of 64.8–108%). With currently the highest Max Energy of 180 and a very rapid way to build both Energy and Critical Rate through his Talent for fast and efficient Ultimate use, Argenti is singularly poised to take full advantage of this Light Cone's simple but potent boosts.
637[[/folder]]
638
639!Masked Fools
640The followers of Aha the Elation, an intergalatic organization of unpredictable tricksters devoted to pursuing whatever amuses them.
641
642[[folder:In General]]
643* TheAntiNihilist: The Fools believe that the universe is a cold and uncaring place, with laughter the only thing that could possibly give it meaning. In this way, the followers of Elation believe in creating "laughter" throughout the universe, seeking to create change and sow chaos as a means to give life meaning. This could just as easily result in acts of great kindness or petty mischief, as their ultimate goal is to stir the pot to avoid the stagnation of nihilism.
644* CompanyCrossReferences: They are the second mysterious organization of mask-wearing "fools" to appear in a Hoyoverse game, the other being the Fatui from sister-game ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact''.
645* CoolMask: As implied by their name, they each have a mask which holds some level of importance to them for as-of-yet unknown reasons, and feature prominently in their designs. [[spoiler: Except for Sampo, whose mask was stolen by Sparkle.]]
646* ForTheLulz: As the most radical followers of the path of Elation, they believe personal enjoyment is the only thing that gives the universe meaning.
647* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The three Masked Fools we meet to have received the most story focus so far have this dynamic, further helped by the three knowing each other personally.
648** Giovanni is the nice. He treats other characters very courteously and while his status as a Masked Fool and convenient presence to give exposition and guide the Trailblazer and March makes him seem suspicious, any dubious intentions he may have are thrown out the window with the reveal that he organised the Atherium Wars event to [[spoiler: give Hook an opportunity to reunite and play with the Trailblazer.]]
649** Sparkle is the Mean. Of the three, she's the one who methods of creating Elation are the most actively malicious; Socially, she's a complete {{Troll}}ish {{Jerkass}}, and a lot of her actions [[spoiler: such as impersonating the deceased Robin in front of Sunday and even offering to continue doing so for the sake of the Family's reputation, [[TranquilFury which only serves to enrage him]]]], makes her come off as very callous.
650** [[spoiler: Sampo]] is the In-Between. [[spoiler: Sampo is a unrepentant thief and conman, who's not above cutting and running when it suits him and will betray his clients for the right price. However, he's also very affable and, as noted by Sparkle, has lines he won't cross. Additional info also suggest that he's a FriendToAllChildren.]]
651[[/folder]]
652
653[[folder:'''Belobogian Masked Fool (Unmarked Spoilers)''']]
654!!Sampo Koski
655->See his entry [[Characters/HonkaiStarRailJariloVI here]].
656[[/folder]]
657
658[[folder:'''Sparkle''']]
659!!Sparkle
660!!!'''Introduced:''' February 29, 2024 (v2.0 "If One Dreams At Midnight" [second half])\
661'''Voiced By:''' Zhao Shuang (Chinese), Creator/ReinaUeda (Japanese), Seong Ye-won (Korean), Creator/LizzieFreeman (English)
662[[quoteright:840:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sparkle_1.png]]
663%% [[caption-width-right:591:some caption text]]
664
665
666->'''Rarity:''' 5★\
667'''Path:''' Harmony\
668'''Type:''' [[AtomicSuperpower Quantum]]\
669
670An unpredictable, somewhat unhinged Masked Fool. Unscrupulous and dangerous, her idea of "fun" involves impersonating other people through acting and illusions, something she demonstrates very readily in Penacony, her purpose known to none but herself.\
671\
672Sparkle revels in chaos by encouraging her allies to use their Skills with reckless abandon through her Talent, ''Red Herring'', which increases the party's Skill Point pool from five to seven, as well as their damage output up to thrice for two turns whenever they consume SP. Her Skill, ''Dreamdiver'', summons a phantasmal carp that increases an ally's Critical Damage for one turn, as well as forwards their turn (except if used on herself); her Ultimate, ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'', has her wear a fox mask that restores 4 SP as well as bestows the "Cipher" effect onto the party for two turns, which further bolsters her Talent's damage boost; and her Technique, ''Unreliable Narrator'', bestows the "Misdirect" effect onto the party, rendering them invisible to enemies and adding 3 SP at the start of battle.[[note]]When fully upgraded, she automatically increases the party's Attack stat, with increasing potency proportional to the number of her Quantum-type allies; her Talent can now add three Max SP, while its damage buff gains the ability to ignore a fraction of enemies' Defense proportional to the number of stacks; her Skill's Critical Damage buff is now extended to the start of the buffed ally's next turn, as well as also applied to allies with Cipher whenever she uses either her Skill or her Ultimate--the latter, if at least one ally is already buffed; and the Cipher effect is extended to three turns, as well as gains a direct Attack buff.[[/note]]
673----
674* AmbiguouslyEvil: While she isn't outright evil, she's definitely not as benevolent or benign as her fellow Masked Fools [[spoiler:Giovanni and Sampo]], especially since it's still not clear why she's searching for the Watchmaker's Legacy.
675* AmplifierArtifact: By acquiring her Eidolons, you can upgrade her third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, ''Pipedream'' and ''Parallax Truth'', which will add two levels to her Skill and 1 to Basic Attack with the former, and 2 to Ultimate and Talent with the latter.
676* AnimalMotifs: The masks around her are AsianFoxSpirit styled, while she also features numerous gold-fish swimming around her and in an ornament on her belt. Both animal imagery associated with summer festivals and revelry, as well as mischief.
677* ArmorPiercingAttack: Her second Eidolon Resonance, ''Purely Fictitious'', allows the party's attacks to ignore 8% of enemy Defense per stack of her Talent (hence a maximum of 24%).
678* AtomicSuperpower: With Quantum power, she's capable of using quantum physics' "many-worlds theory" to shift her appearance to someone else (even people with vastly different body from hers), as well as masking her appearance to make her and her team undetectable to enemies.
679* BewareTheSillyOnes: Sparkle may be childish, but she's still very dangerous, [[spoiler:knocking the Trailblazer and Firefly unconscious and sending them to A Child's Dream]].
680** [[spoiler: Sparkle repeatedly offers a prized possession as a gift, the "Mutually Assured Destruction Button." That she promises when pressed, will completely obliterate herself and the Penacony dreamscape. For a moment Aventurine is incredulous that she would be allowed to bring such a destructive device anywhere near Penacony, but then realises that with her outlandish claims and silly persona, it could actually be a case of CrazyEnoughToWork. Later, she gives out multiple buttons to random guests of Penacony while disguised as Robin (after offering her services to the Iris Family to mitigate the damage that would be caused if Robin's disappearance got leaked.)]]
681* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Sparkle can have some... very strange logic at times, as shown during her shared Companion Mission with Black Swan.
682* CoolMask: She's pictured wearing a traditional kitsune mask, and has two more floating around her in her warp art.
683* CriticalHitClass:
684** One of three stats Sparkle can upgrade via her Trace tree is her Critical Damage, with her getting a 24% boost once fully unlocked.
685** Her Skill boosts an ally's Critical Damage (worth 12—26.4% of her own, with an additional 27—48.6%) for one turn, as well as [[CooldownManipulation advances their turn by 50%]] (unless used on herself). Her fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Artificial Flower'', extends its duration to the start of the buffed ally's next turn (hence bolstering [[OutOfTurnInteraction Ultimates and follow-up attacks]]), while her sixth Eidolon Resonance, ''Narrative Polysemy'', adds a further boost worth 30% of Sparkle's own, as well as expands the buff on all allies endowed with Cipher whenever she uses either her Skill or her Ultimate (with at least one ally already buffed).
686** Her specialized Light Cone Earthly Escapade takes this further with the Mask effect, boosting everyone's Crit Rate and Crit Damage for two turns when she enters the battle, and can retrigger the ability after she recovers four skill points. Sparkle's Ultimate, conveniently, recovers four skill points.
687* CuteAndPsycho: Sparkle's cheery, childish personality and mannerisms belie a twisted person out to do things for her own entertainment, morals be damned.
688* DubNameChange: The name "Sparkle" is a reading of 花火, a pairing of Han characters commonly used in Japanese to mean "firework" and read via ''kun'yomi'' [native] method as "Hanabi" (hiragana はなび), which is then read as "Huāhuǒ" in Chinese (where the word for "firework" is usually 焰火 ["Yànhuǒ"]), while the Korean dub opts for transliteration as "Seupakeul" (hangul 스파클; the characters can be read via hanja as "Hwahwa" [화화]).
689* EncounterRepellent: Sparkle's Technique renders the party undetectable for twenty seconds, as well as adds 3 SP should they enter battle.
690* ExoticEyeDesigns: Her irises have four lighter patches which, which combined with her pupils, form the shape of a cherry blossom. All five "petals" in each eye glow pale pink when she uses certain abilities.
691* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Sparkle appears to be a very cute and cheerful young girl, but beneath that cute face is a very nasty and sadistic jerk.
692* FantasticRacism: Although she was not necessarily being sincere, she was quick to insult Aventurine and call him untrustworthy based purely on his Sigonian heritage.
693* FemmeFatale: She is a beautiful, mysterious woman described as a "dangerous master of theatrics" that lives only to seek out amusement.
694* {{Foreshadowing}}: Even before the reveal, there are numerous hints that [[spoiler:the Sampo you meet in Penacony was actually Sparkle in disguise the whole time]]:
695** [[spoiler:He mistakes Firefly for March 7th. The real Sampo has no trouble remembering other people's faces.]]
696** [[spoiler:He repeatedly assures the Trailblazer and Firefly that the activities they're doing aren't illegal. The real Sampo doesn't really bother explaining how some of the stuff he does is pretty illegal.]]
697** [[spoiler:He only refers to himself as Sampo, when the real Sampo often likes to refer to himself with a FullNameBasis.]]
698** [[spoiler:He's shown to get rather annoyed and disappointed at how blind the two seem to be to the truth. The real Sampo almost ''never'' gets angry and annoyed like that, especially with someone he seems to regard as a friend.]]
699** [[spoiler:Particularly sharp players will notice that even his way of ''speaking'' sounds rather off, starting from when he reintroduces himself.]]
700* FourthWallPsych: The very first time she speaks in the Trailblaze mission, she looks directly at the camera and asks a question that is relevant to the Trailblazer at the time. One cut later, and we see she's actually speaking to Aventurine.
701* GenreSavvy: Being a former actress, she knows many kinds of story conventions, and uses it to weave together a "investigation game" which she roped Black Swan into (with Sampo's help).
702* GirlishPigtails: Has her long black hair tied in a pair of tails, which, combined with her youthful look, strikes a jarring contrast to her moral ambiguity.
703* HiddenDepths: According to the teaser trailer for "S.P.A.R.K.L.E ~ Sandman Peeps as Rhythm Keeps Live Event", she's a fan of jazz music. Being [[{{Troll}} Sparkle]], she indulges this interest by trapping a popular jazz band inside one of her illusions.
704* HollywoodHypeMachine: [[https://youtu.be/IpuQvbTwCWU Her Myriad Celestia trailer]] suggests that "Sparkle" was originally a character a promising young actress played, before the constant string of performances (upwards to '''''990''''' fully-booked showings) eventually made her snap, [[BecomingTheMask adopting the "Sparkle" identity]] for real and becoming the Masked Fool she is today... [[UnreliableNarrator assuming anything in it isn't another show she concocted to gather sympathy]].
705* HostileShowTakeover:
706** In Black Swan's "Keeping Up With Star Rail" episode, she suddenly takes over Sampo's role in describing Black Swan, complete with her [[NinjaProp tearing Sampo's namecard]]. In her own episode, Sampo himself appears, with the namecard visibly duct-taped.
707** [[spoiler:In the end of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC-kqoR7lUE her "Keeping Up With Star Rail" episode]], when the light goes dim, Owlbert gets replaced offscreen with her ([[ImpostorForgotOneDetail his medal tied to his cape is changed to a red flower knot]]). It's also implied that she also hijacked the episode's upload herself, given that the episode is [[NotHyperbole quite literally titled]] "[[LeftItIn Sparkle: Ability Intro Vid (remember to fix title)]]", [[BreakingTheFourthWall the description is the Masked Fool being annoyed that the host has to provide their own video description]], and [[OverlyLongGag a comment left by the HSR channel itself]] has her going OhCrap over forgetting to fix the title.]]
708* {{Hypocrite}}: She criticizes Aventurine for coming from a planet infamous for producing liars, thieves, and manipulators, which is rich coming from a Masked Fool who can flawlessly disguise herself as other people and isn't afraid to to use that skill to manipulate others merely for her own personal amusement.
709* ImposterForgotOneDetail: When Sparkle attempts to impersonate Black Swan during a call to the Trailblazer, she claims she forgot the contents of a memory bubble and needs to see it again. The Trailblazer picks up on this since a Memokeeper should not be capable of forgetting anything, causing Sparkle's plan to fail.
710* InternalHomage: In her gameplay preview trailer, she gets to say "Rules are made to be broken!" - i.e Destruction Trailblazer's Ultimate line.
711* {{Invocation}}:
712-->(Ultimate activation) "Let's play hide and seek."
713-->(Normal speed) "A thousand faces in a thousand places. Can you find the answer?"
714-->(×2 speed) "Can you find the answer?"
715* {{Jerkass}}: Sparkle is, as of 2.0, outright the most unpleasant person in the playable cast. She's incredibly rude to Aventurine (even coming across as bigoted in her comments), and even [[spoiler: impersonates Robin, who is dead at this point, to her brother who loves her very much.]] In addition to all those, Sparkle often speaks in an [[{{Troll}} intentionally aggravating]] manner.
716* KickChick: Sparkle's Basic Attack, ''Monodrama'', has her merrily skip up to the enemy and give them a RoundhouseKick.
717* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Sparkle impersonates Robin after her death as a way to mock Sunday. He is ''not'' amused by this.]]
718* LadyInRed: The first female Masked Fool, dressed in a curve-hugging red dress suiting her name.
719* LargeHam: Kicked up a gear in her character trailer.
720-->"What is Elation? Me! '''[[AGodAmI I AM ELATION!!]]'''" ''(Cue [[LaughingMad Maniacal Laughter]] and DisneyAcidSequence)''
721* LegFocus: Sparkle wears ''incredibly'' foot-exposing sandals that only barely qualify as "footwear" (being held in place by a pair of fancy laces and nothing more) and in her splash art, they've already fallen off with Sparkle not caring at all. Moreover, although many of the playable ladies in the game have outfits that can easily be described as flattering, Sparkle's dress has a "hemline" that terminates just below her ''buttocks'', meaning that any artwork or scene she features in, like her splash screen or her 5* light cone, shows off her legs completely.
722* MasterActor: As a Masked Fool, this is her idea of seeking amusement: playing pretend. She even boasts that she can pass as a member of Genius Society if she wants to. In her own Myriad Celestia trailer, she was implied to be a famous actress in her home planet. In "Masquerade Duet", she plays all of the Sweet Dreams Troupe robots that Black Swan and Sampo faces, with their voices sounding distinct from each other.
723* MasterOfDisguise: Sparkle can disguise herself as anyone for her deceits. [[spoiler:She disguises herself as Sampo when she sends the Trailblazer and Firefly into the real Dreamscape, and the final scene of the story's first arc has her disguise herself as Robin to Sunday, after the real Robin is ''killed.'']]
724* MesACrowd: Sparkle plays everyone in her character trailer, all but one of which eventually "having their strings cut", with the last two playing RussianRoulette together.
725* MirrorCharacter: She's one to Firefly within the Penacony storyline, as both are beautiful young ladies with fire-themed names who use deception at one point in their quest for the Watchmaker's Legacy. But while Firefly is a NiceGirl who [[TokenWholesome wears a rather tame outfit]], Sparkle is a LadyInRed who has a [[{{Jerkass}} nasty personality]].
726* MsFanservice: Sparkle is a beautiful FemmeFatale wearing a [[KimonoFanservice revealing short kimono]] that draws particular attention to her [[LegFocus legs]].
727* MultipleChoicePast: One of her lines outright says that she will come up with whatever backstory matches your tastes. She specifically mentions "An abandoned orphan, a cursed little girl, the last descendant of the puppet clan..." all of which are the subjects of her first three Character Stories.
728* MundaneUtility: Her Technique, which gives her temporary stealth, makes Sparkle one of the best characters for Trotter Catch in Simulated Universe: Expansion Module, as Trotters will not run from you and thus become absolutely trivial to catch. Sparkle's stealth can also be inherited by another character via switching, so you can team her up with a character with good mobility like Imbibitor Lunae or good offensive technique like Kafka to make the room even more of a joke.
729* MythologyGag: Her "Mutually Assured Destruction Button" is a possible reference to ''Honkai Impact 3rd'''s "Kevin Killer Mk. 666", one of Vill-V's inventions that was designed to "factory reset" the Elysian Realm.
730* OhMyGods: "By the [[TricksterGod Laughter]]."
731* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In "Masquerade Duet", she directly voices all of the Sweet Dreams Troupe members that Sampo and Black Swan meet during their "murder investigation game." When Sampo is talking to the "Sheriff" that Sparkle likes to arrange her own death, "Sheriff's" voice slips up to Sparkle's own (angry) voice before "he" speaks normally again.
732* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Her first appearance has her trading verbal barbs with Aventurine, it's also one of the few moments she drops her cutesy voice and speaks seriously.
733* PetTheDog: Despite her wildly self-centered nature, Sparkle does have her moments.
734** [[spoiler:Although rude and aggressive in her first meeting with Aventurine, she seemed charmed enough that he actualy sort her out to leave him with a clue. While cryptic and delivered as an insult, Aventurine later admits it helped set him down the right path to achieving his aims on Penacony.]]
735** [[spoiler:While approaching Sunday in the disguise of his dead sister was undoubtedly Sparkle twisting the knife, she seems to have been sincere about playing the role of Robin to keep up the masquerade for the Family, with Dr Ratio's later comment suggesting that its greatly helped the Family to pretend that everything is going smoothly for Robin's planned performance.]]
736** Sparkle is among the crowd gathered at Clock Studios Theme Park watching the ''Dreamjoy Memoir" movie on the large screen after it was repaired. When the Trailblazer talks to her, she gave them a genuine compliment on the effort they put into the filming of the movie. She does, however, give an AlternateSeriesInterpretation of the film, thinking that maybe Clockie is the real bad guy while Boss Stone and Old Man Wood are actually good guys, and from her words and mannerisms it's implied that she does so purely because it's more amusing that way.
737* PowerStereotypeFlip: She's a Harmony unit and part of a faction that revels in unpredictability and chaos, which is basically the ''opposite'' of Harmony.
738* RedHerring: In "Masquerade Duet", in the "first case", one of the clues she left behind for Black Swan is a Pom-Pom doll. The "constable" who works with her points out that it's most likely misleading "evidence". In the "second case", one of the clues is... a literal red herring, also unrelated to the case at hand. It's all part of Sparkle messing with her. It's also the name of Sparkle's Talent. [[spoiler:Her "Mutually Assured Destruction Button" also ends up being this, even though we see scenes of her distributing it to the people; supposedly they're meant to be used when the Charmony Festival begins, the story instead focuses on Sunday's battle against the Astral Express crew as the festival starts, and by the time we see Penacony's people again, they've been trapped in Ena's Dream. Sparkle was last seen in a scene recovering from the chaos caused by the battle.]]
739* RegeneratingMana: In a variant, Sparkle's Ultimate restores 4 SP for the team, while her second-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Almanac'', increases her Basic Attack's Energy generation from 20 to 30 points.
740* SetBonus: Her sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, ''Nocturne'', bestows the party a 15% Attack boost, which can increase depending on the number of Quantum-type characters in the party (including herself), at a rate of 5/15/30% for each such member (hence a maximum of 45%).
741* SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration:
742** Sparkle's idea of "fun" as a Masked Fool is impersonation. True to form, her Skill is very similar to Bronya's, except done in her own, unpredictable way. It has a fixed 50% turn advancement, so buffed allies are not guaranteed to get their turn, and it increases Critical Damage (like Bronya's Ultimate, also scaling with her own Critical Damage) instead of giving a general damage boost, meaning Sparkle gets to laugh at the enemy if they eat a critical hit and take major damage, or laugh at ''you'' for getting frustrated at missing the critical hit and losing out on her buff. Her Technique is also similar to Seele's in that she allows everyone in the team to be undetected by enemies.
743** Sparkle's second-ascension Bonus Ability allows her Skill's Critical Damage boost to carry over until the start of the buffed ally's next turn, hence enhancing their follow-up attacks (as well as Ultimates). In the context of the Simulated Universe, where the path of Elation is centered around empowering such attacks, this means Sparkle is actively supporting her Path.
744* SoftSpokenSadist: As one of the more radical members of the Masked Fools, Sparkle sees people's suffering as a toy for her own amusement and is shown to be an unrepentant sadist who loves to annoy people without ever raising her voice.
745* StealthMentor: Aventurine later realizes that when Sparkle told him to go "find a mute" to befriend, she was actually giving him a hint. He at first thought that the "mute" refers to someone who cannot make a voice, which is why [[spoiler:he goes after Robin and witnessed her death]]. But later, Sparkle tells him that there are 2 mutes and he's going after the wrong one. [[spoiler:After his boss fight, he says that the other "mute" would be "someone who cannot speak" - someone who had reached the other side of Penacony's "anti-death barrier" and lived, but can't tell the tale; he's glad that she (said person) is still alive and well.]]
746* SupportPartyMember: Sparkle's abilities revolve around increasing the party's damage output and providing them with more SP to work with.
747** Her Talent increases the party's SP pool from 5 to 7 points, as well as bestows up to three stacks of a 3—6.6% damage boost for two turns whenever they consume SP (hence a maximum of 9—19.8%). This makes Sparkle a fantastic companion to such SP-hungry damage-dealers like Qingque and Imbibitor Lunae.
748** Aside from regenerating 4 SP, her Ultimate bestows the Cipher effect onto the party that provides a further 6—10.8% boost to her Talent's damage buff for two turns (hence an optimal maximum of 27—52.2%). Her first Eidolon Resonance, ''Suspension of Disbelief'', extends its duration to three turns as well as adds a 40% Attack buff, while her fourth, ''Life Is a Gamble'', extends the SP regeneration to 5 points and raises the SP cap to 8.
749* TwoFaced: Not her ''per se'', but her fox mask is evenly split into white and red halves, which fits her trickster personality.
750* ThirdPersonPerson: In the Japanese dub, she refers to herself by her own name ("Hanabi").
751* WeaponSpecialization: Sparkle's associated Light Cone is "[[https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Earthly_Escapade Earthly Escapade]]" (5★), whose "Capriciousness" passive increases its wearer's Critical Damage by 32–60%, and grants the Mask effect for the first three turns of combat, which gives the party a 10-14% boost to Critical Rate and 28-56% to Critical Damage, in addition to bestowing stacks of Radiant Flame whenever they gain SP (even if it reaches its cap), which are then consumed whenever four are collected to refresh Mask for four turns. On top of greatly enjoying the Critical Damage boosts, Sparkle's Ultimate immediately recovers exactly 4 SP, letting her maintain the Mask effect with trivial ease.
752[[/folder]]
753
754[[folder:Giovanni]]
755!!Giovanni di Giorgio da Epsilon
756[[quoteright:390:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giovanni_voice_actor_v0_7qxl5gdbtvtb1.jpg]]
757->'''Voiced by:''' Zhao Zihan (Chinese), Manabu Sakamaki (Japanese), Park Seong-yeong (Korean), Creator/JasonMarnocha (English)
758
759The mysterious masked backer of the "Aetherium Wars" tournament.
760----
761* ConnectedAllAlong: As a Masked Fool, he's acquainted with the other Fools such as Sparkle and [[spoiler:Sampo]].
762* Fiction500: He's stated to be incredibly wealthy.
763* ItAmusedMe: As a follower of the Path of Elation, he does whatever he feels is personally amusing which in his case means seeing a story through to it's conclusion. This includes funding a massive gaming tournament just so [[spoiler:a little girl can see their friend once again]].
764* MenacingMask: He wears a mask that combined with his habit of giggling a lot makes him look a lot creepier than he really is.
765* SheepInSheepsClothing: In the Aetherium Wars event, March 7th spends most of the event being suspicious of him since he's constantly pushing the Trailblazer into progressing with the tournament while laughing off any attempts to ask for an explanation (as well as being named after the villain of [[Videogame/PokemonRedAndBlue Pokemon Gen I]]). [[spoiler:Turns out that, at least in this case, there's no malicious intent and he basically organized the tournament at Hook's behest just so she can have fun with the Trailblazer]].
766[[/folder]]
767
768[[folder:Zhongshan (unmarked spoilers)]]
769
770A woman who claims to be a member of The Unshackled, a minor outworld group in Xianzhou Luofu that worships Yaoshi and believes that releasing wildlife (or "unshackling" in their words) will let them gain "merits" from the Aeon of Abundance. She appears in the adventure mission "Bestial Ferocity".
771
772----
773* CallBack: Sparkle uses "Zhongshan" as one of the "suspects" in her murder mysteries in "Masquerade Duet."
774* CodeName: The name "Zhongshan" is implied to be just an alias; she says that "my friends on the Luofu called me Zhongshan".
775* {{Foreshadowing}}: Throughout the mission, there are several hints (mostly from her words) that point to her being a member of the Masked Fools. In her letter you get in the end, she says that the Trailblazer must've realized along the way that she's suspicious, and she hopes that they can say "Aha" from the bottom of their hearts.
776* InsaneTrollLogic: During the mission, the "Three Benevolent Ones" of the Unshackled mentions a problem with their release of wildlife: one of them planted endangered plants, which gets eaten by the endangered sheep released by the second, and the third's released wolves preyed on said sheep. The Trailblazer is told to "solve" this problem; when they point out that [[StatingTheSimpleSolution the three can just release wildlife in different worlds]], Zhongshan says that the members have business on the Luofu and can't just go out easily. She instead chooses to approach it in a different direction: find a "creature" that can meet all of the criteria of the Three Benevolent Ones' preferred wildlife (plants, endangered animals, beasts of prey). The Trailblazer then suggests inorganic lifeforms - ones from Jarilo-VI, a planet on the brink of destruction and thus are (in a way) "endangered". After the two travel to Belobog to acquire some automatons, they and Zhongshan [[MetaphoricallyTrue smooth-talk the three into believing that the robots fit their "definition" of the wildlife they prefer to release]], and while they have some doubts, the three are convinced and proceed to release said robots. About a day later, said robots ended up causing trouble in different ways and the three got arrested by the Realm-Keeping Commission.
777* KarmicTrickster: While half of what she's doing for The Unshackled is for the sake of a gag, the other half is to make them realize their wrongful ways and flawed mentalities, especially by showing how harmful the consequences of their actions are.
778* KnewItAllAlong: In the middle of the mission, the Trailblazer gets a message from Jingyan (a Realm-Keeping Commission officer) to infiltrate The Unshackled and "crumble" them from within; they then try to keep it a secret from those around them, Near the end of the mission, though, it's implied that Zhongshan already knew about it, telling the Trailblazer to collect their remuneration.
779* OverlyPrePreparedGag: In the letter she left you after the mission, she says that "I just 'unshackled' them". This is after her deception "humbles" the Unshackled's members and she bails them out of the brig for the troubles they caused for "releasing" the automatons from Belobog; she sincerely wants them to let go of their delusion of "self-proclaimed kindness". Near the end, she also says "I don't know if you like this joke about unshackling, but I hope you do."
780
781[[/folder]]
782
783!Antagonistic Factions
784[[folder:The Antimatter Legion]]
785
786The army of Nanook, Aeon of Destruction. The Antimatter Legion is made up of inhuman beings infused with Antimatter whose singular goal is to spread destruction towards the universe.
787
788They consist of: Baryons and Antibaryons, Voidranger: Reaver, Voidranger: Distorter, Voidranger: Eliminator, and Voidranger: Trampler (elite).
789----
790
791* AnimatedArmor: A closer look at the Legion models shows that they have several holes across their bodies which reveals that their internal structures are entirely hollow, looking more akin to sentient suits of armor than actual lifeforms.
792* BladeBelowTheShoulder: The main weapons of Reavers, the basic foot-soldiers of the Legion, are a pair of arm-mounted curved blades made out of Antimatter.
793* EnergyBow: Tramplers' strongest attack is to create a bow and arrow made of energy and fire it on one of your characters after a turn passes. It has a high chance of inflicting Entanglement.
794* EvilVersusOblivion:
795** While they’ll attack just about ''everyone'', the faction giving them the biggest headache is the IPC, due to how their philosophies are the exact opposite to one another. Whereas the IPC fights for the Preservation, and is not above committing morally dubious acts to carry out Qlipoth’s will, the Anitmatter Legion fights for the Destruction, and seek to destroy the universe, as per the will of Nanook.
796** Another organization that opposes them is the Stellaron Hunters. They are willing to commit morally dubious acts in the name of following Elio’s script to reach the point where the Trailblazer will face against Nanook. Though whether or not the Antimatter Legion is aware of this has yet to be determined.
797* MookCommander: Distorters can command other enemies to attack a specific target.
798* MythologyGag: As inhuman creatures that seek to destroy civilizations wherever they find it, they're essentially this universe's equivalent of the titular Honkai from ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd''. Likewise, the Lord Ravagers seem to occupy a similar role to the Herrschers, as a PersonOfMassDestruction that commands the mindless hordes and are capable of infiltrating a civilization for the purpose of destroying it from within.
799* OmnicidalManiac: Less so on the 'maniac' part (it's stated that Nanook's desire for destruction is more philosophical and cold, and doesn't appreciate destruction for the sake of self-gratification) but they still want to destroy the universe and everything in it.
800* OneManArmy: The generals of the Antimatter Legion are the Emanators of Destruction, also called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Lord Ravagers"]]. They're more than capable of wiping out planets and are considered so dangerous the Xianzhou Alliance, which is made up of several planet-sized ships and are considered one of the galaxy's superpowers, finds it preferable to avoid Lord Ravagers and their vessels as much as possible.
801* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Tramplers resemble one - making them [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot undead alien centaurs]] - and they frequently attack by kicking your characters with their horse legs, including a ShockwaveStomp. One text in Seat of Divine Foresight implies that they're based on creatures of Abundance called "Houyhnhnm".
802* {{Overheating}}: Each time Eliminators attack, their blasters will overheat, and they have to spend a turn cooling it down, so they effectively attack once every second turn. This is to balance the fact that said attack not only deals substantial damage, but also applies a DamageIncreasingDebuff.
803* ScaryDogmaticAliens: They serve the role as the titular hostile alien faction who invade planets purely to cause destruction and wipe out all life for the sake of Nanook's philosophy, and they consider everyone who isn't on their side an enemy.
804* ShapingYourAttacks: Tramplers can cause a block of quantum to rise from beneath your character's legs, dealing damage.
805* SpinAttack: Reavers have an attack where they rush towards one of your characters and perform a spinning slash as a Blast-type attack.
806* StarKilling: According to the in-universe book "List of Archenemies" in the Seat of Divine Foresight, one of the unnamed Lord Ravagers of the Legion has the power to extinguish entire stars and plunge their planets into complete darkness, earning them the nickname "Sun Devourer". They have already wiped out one-third of the stars in the Yvanna chain.
807* UnwittingPawn: To the Stellaron Hunters. While both them and the Antimatter Legion are still mortal enemies by default since they fight for different causes, the Stellaron Hunters will bait the Legion into key locations as scapegoat tools if it benefits them, such as Silver Wolf baiting the Legion to Herta Space Station in the Prologue so they can divert attention away from them and fulfill Elio's prophecy of awakening the Trailblazer. The Legion troops themselves are unaware that they're being used to fulfill another faction's goals other than Nanook's desire to destroy the universe.
808* WarriorUndead: Lore entries of several Antimatter Legion units state that they are [[ArtificialZombie the remains of almost-dead or dead warriors who were thrown into the Warforge and fused with Antimatter to empower them]], essentially making them an army of undead soldiers.
809* YouWillBeSpared: Nanook is willing to spare a few, particularly powerful victims of theirs if they obey their will, although in the end they'll still be destroyed like everyone else. These people become the Lord Ravagers, the [[CoDragons seconds-in-command]] of the Legion.
810
811!!Doomsday Beast
812
813An artificial beast created from fragments of a dead Leviathan plus several other dead creatures, meant as the Antimatter Legion's heavy-hitter. It assaults the Herta Space Station in the story's beginning before it was repelled by the Trailblazer and Astral Express crew's efforts. Can be later refought as an Echo of War.
814
815----
816* CognizantLimbs: You have to knock down its Disaster's Right hand, Dawn's Left Hand, and Antimatter Engine before you can hit it directly. When the 2nd phase comes up, you have to repeat the process.
817* DraconicAbomination: an artificial beast that vaguely looks like a dragon with grotesque features, created to herald destruction of worlds.
818* HerdHittingAttack: the attacks done by its right hand will always hit all your characters at once.
819* ShootTheMageFirst: Antimatter Engine has a skill that can buff both its hands and recover their Toughness Gauge if they were broken, and in the 2nd phase, the only way to stop Impending Doom is to inflict Weakness Break on it. As such, the Engine should be the priority target.
820* TurnsRed: When it enters 2nd phase, it'll immediately [[BeginWithAFinisher use "Impending Doom" to deal big AOE damage to your party]], and the attacks done by its right and left hands are enhanced, dealing more damage and potentially causing Imprisonment and Entanglement respectively. It can also repeat Impending Doom after several turns passes.
821* WarmupBoss: as the first Echo of War boss for the "beginner's area" (Herta Space Station), it's designed to be dangerous yet simple: its CognizantLimbs are weak to Physical (Antimatter Engine), Ice (the right hand), Wind (the left hand) and Fire (all three), and at that point you'll most likely have Physical Trailblazer, March 7th, Dan Heng and Himeko (the last one given as a "trial") respectively.
822
823!!Lord Ravager Phantylia the Undying
824->'''Voiced by:''' Huang Ying (Chinese), Yurika Hino (Japanese), Tara Langella (English)
825[[quoteright:800:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phantyliatheundying.png]]
826%%[[caption-width-right:800:some caption text]]
827One of the Antimatter Legion's Emanators, Phantylia specializes in using subterfuge and deceit to trick her enemies into destroying themselves from within. She is a Heliobus and therefore has the ability to possess living beings. Can be later refought as an Echo of War.
828----
829* ArcVillain: She's the true villain behind the Xianzhou Luofu storyline.
830* AutoRevive: Her Destruction Lotuses cannot be permanently destroyed; when their HP is depleted, they will enter a "Repose" state for 2 turns, after which their HP gets filled back to full.
831* TheBaroness: Phantylia's boss form takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman, and is known among the Lord Ravagers for her more subtle approach to destruction. Welt describes her as someone that enjoys toying with her victims, destroying the minds of those she corrupts and taking pleasure in sowing the seeds of discord wherever she goes.
832* BecomeARealBoy: The description for her Echo of War boss drop, Regret of Infinite Ochema, her decision to hijack the Ambrosial Arbor to prioritize a body instead of instantly imploding the Luofu, and her own statements, highly imply this is her own real goal. She's stated to fear destruction despite being its Emanator, and she wished for an imperishable body for that reason.
833* CooldownManipulation: She can manipulate roots to "strangle" one of your characters, delaying their turn.
834* DemonicPossession: This is apparently how she can possess other people, though Welt mentions she would need to break their mind and spirit first, which is why he believes [[spoiler:her possession of Tingyun isn't what it seems]].
835* EnergyBeings: She does not have an actual physical form, only appearing as a small ball of fire, and needs to possess or create a physical body if she wants to affect the material realm.
836** With the introduction of the Heliobi, which are also beings of pure energy, it's pretty much all but established that Phantylia is likely a Heliobus herself. Her "true" form has her manifest as a blue-green flame, she is immortal since she lacks physical form, and she can possess living beings, which are traits she shares with Heliobi. There's also the fact that all of the Heliobi know Phantylia by name, and the Heliobi's thousand year imprisonment at the hands of the Xianzhou Alliance would explain why Phantylia decided to target the Luofu in the first place. However, the Regret of Infinite Ochema description suggest that she's just as enslaved as the other Heliobi are.
837* EvilSoundsDeep: As she reveals herself, [[spoiler:Tingyun's]] voice lowers in pitch until it reaches her true natural voice.
838* FlowerMotif: Her headdress is shaped like a lotus flower, which symbolizes purity and rebirth.
839* {{Foreshadowing}}: According to Jing Yuan, only an Emanator of another Aeon could sneak a Stellaron onboard the ships without him knowing. Then it turns out that an Emanator was indeed allying herself with the Sanctus Medicus for that express purpose.
840* GiantWoman: Phantylia's boss form is a gigantic woman whose size is comparable to Jing Yuan's Lightning-Lord.
841* GreenThumb: Courtesy of the power of Abundance, she can conjure lotus flowers or roots to attack you, with the flowers serving as [[FlunkyBoss her flunkies]].
842* HerdHittingAttack: She gains access to powerful AOE attacks starting from phase 2 onward.
843* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
844** Her preferred method of destruction is manipulating civilizations into destroying themselves. For example, [[spoiler:she tried to destroy the Luofu by kickstarting a civil war between the Cloud Knights and Sanctus Medicus. When that didn't work, she tried to forcibly convert Jing Yuan into a Voidranger. But due to Jing Yuan’s sheer willpower to resist her control with his Lightning-Lord delivering the final blow and Dan Heng freeing him, she failed at that as well, forcing her to leave the Luofu after her defeat]].
845** Gameplay-wise, when her Destruction Lotuses have their HP depleted, Weakness Broken, or their Bloom buff dispelled, they will inflict a DamageIncreasingDebuff on Phantylia and delay her next turn.
846* HumansAreInsects: She refers to Jing Yuan's party as "ants" and some of her attacks are [[FingerPokeOfDoom finger flicking]] or [[CombatHandFan using her hand fan to swat your characters]] like one would do to a pest.
847* ItAmusedMe: As a Lord Ravager, Phantylia could destroy her targets directly through brute force if she chose to, but she instead chooses to manipulate them. There is no other reason for her to operate like this other than she finds it more fun to see her enemies destroy themselves.
848* ManaDrain: In a variant, her Abundance Lotuses can absorb 1 Skill Point from you. When killed, the lotuses will return 3 Skill Points.
849* TheManBehindTheMan: it's revealed that she was the one supporting Dan Shu and the Sanctus Medicus behind the scenes.
850* MaximumHPReduction: Her Destruction Lotuses can inflict "Prana-Siphon" debuff onto your characters, which will block a percentage of their HP from being recovered. Like any other debuffs, it has a duration and can be dispelled.
851* TheMole: Her typical MO is to impersonate an important figure and take advantage of their position to secretly sow chaos and division, just like what she did by [[spoiler:impersonating Tingyun]].
852* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:She shrugs off her defeat in the Luofu and mocks the protagonists for destroying a body she created for herself 'on a whim' - though said defeat still [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere forces her to retreat]] with her plan effectively ruined. Welt later explains that it would take much more firepower to permanently kill her.]]
853* PercentDamageAttack: She can command her Destruction Lotuses to target one of your characters; after a turn, the target will take damage equal to more than half of their Max HP. This attack can be prevented by Weakness Breaking them or removing their "Bloom" Buff.
854* PurpleIsPowerful: Phase II of her boss fight colours her in purple hues as she unleashes the power of Destruction. [[spoiler:Her attempted forced transformation of Jing Yuan into a Voidranger also causes purple lightning to surround him.]]
855* RegeneratingHealth: Her Abundance Lotuses can regenerate 50% of their HP per turn.
856* TheVamp: She's quite playful in her interactions with her foes, and takes pleasure in corrupting her victims. She's eager to see heroes fall into darkness, bringing about their own destruction and the downfall of their civilizations.
857* VerbalTic: Much like [[spoiler:Tingyun, her puppet]], Phantylia also refers to other people as [[spoiler:"benefactor"]].
858* YinYangBomb: She first utilizes power of Abundance (courtesy of Ambrosial Arbor) in the first phase, then power of Destruction in the second, and both in the third and final phase.
859* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Her alliance with [[spoiler:the Sanctus Medicus]] was only ever one of convenience, and once they [[spoiler:successfully smuggled a Stellaron into the Luofu and revived the Ambrosial Arbor]], Phantylia had no more use for them and they subsequently became expendable to her.
860
861[[/folder]]
862
863[[folder:Stellarons (Unmarked Spoilers)]]
864Stellarons, described as the "Cancer of All Worlds", are artifacts of unknown origins which randomly appear on planets and cause widespread chaos through reality-distorting phenomenons.
865
866Much about Stellarons are veiled in mystery, as analyzing one is said to be difficult, but it is understood Stellarons warp the Imaginary Energy around them on a massive scale, which has the side effect of affecting the galactic Star Rails used by Astral Express train to move across vast distances of space, rendering them unusable. Additionally, their presence also manifests the Fragmentum, a spatial corruption which spawns elemental monsters.
867
868Due to the mere presence of Stellarons being capable of hindering the journey of Trailblazers across worlds, resolving Stellaron-related incidents is considered one of the unofficial duties of those who walk the path of Trailblaze. The events of Jarilo-VI reveal the Stellarons might be in fact sentient entities with their own "will" and "voice".
869----
870* AmbiguousSituation: There is much about Stellarons which are yet to be understood by people across the universe.
871** Stellarons aren't even initially understood to be sentient. In Jarilo-VI, only the Trailblazer (who is a host to another Stellaron), Cocolia, and Bronya can hear the Stellaron's voice. March 7th notes the Nameless has encountered and sealed several Stellarons, and this is the first time they had known a Stellaron had a voice and could communicate; thus, it is unclear if ''all'' Stellarons are sentient and simply didn't make themselves known, or if Jarilo-VI's Stellaron is a unique case.
872** Related to the above, it is also unclear if the Trailblazer is a person who happens to be a Receptacle to a Stellaron, or if the Trailblazer ''is'' the Stellaron's consciousness manifesting through a suitable host.
873** It is speculated the Stellarons are artifacts of Nanook spread across the universe in the Aeon's effort to systematically destroy everything. However, whether or not this is the case remains to be seen. At one point Nanook the Destruction blesses the Trailblazer to fight against a Doomsday Beast of THEIR own Antimatter Legion. Yet, not long after that Qlipoth the Preservation also does the same, followed by Xipe the Harmony; the fact multiple Aeons could bless a single person with a Stellaron inside them strongly suggests they are not particularly affiliated with a single Aeon.
874** It is shown the powers of Stellarons can freely influence and interact with those of Aeons. Not only can Stellarons in general affect Imaginary Energy which Akivili's Astral Express relies on for space travel, the Stellaron inside the Trailblazer can harness Nanook, Qlipoth, and Xipe's blessings for the host's use. Meanwhile, the Stellaron in the Luofu can accelerate the side effects of Yaoshi's blessing of immortality in the citizens of Xianzhou, turning them into Mara-Stricken monsters at a much more rapid pace, which affects even Foxians and Vidyadharas despite their typical immunity to it, while the Stellaron in Penacony is used to isolate its Dreamscape from the chaotic Memory Zone when it can only be normally done by an Emanator of Remembrance or Enigmata. All of these suggest there is a certain degree of connection between the nature and powers of Aeons and Stellarons.
875* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: If all Stellarons are sentient, this might in fact be their modus operandi.
876** The Jarilo-VI Stellaron first responded to a wish to stop a planet-destroying threat by essentially rendering said planet inhabitable as a frozen landscape.
877** The Xianzhou Luofu Stellaron responds to the local population of immortal-hating people by accelerating the degeneration and monster transformation of the people.
878** The Penacony Stellaron granted the wish of the freed prisoners for escapism by forming a peaceful Dreamscape within the Memory Zone, but it's sustained by drowning the visitors' with pleasure until their minds succumb, which The Family supports. Additionally, the Dreamscape has been slowly crumbling back into the Memory Zone, corrupting the Memes within it.
879* TheCorruptor: The Jarilo-VI Stellaron first invoked BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor to the first Supreme Guardian of Belobog by responding to her wish in a way which devastates the planet and keeps the last pockets of humanity confined into a single city and underground. Then it spent the next centuries 'whispering' its intentions to anyone it could contact, particularly the Supreme Guardians. Cocolia is the victim who gets the worst of it, and she is effectively turned into its pawn in realizing its 'vision' of a new world, as Cocolia under its influence calls Bronya 'mother of the new world'.
880* DubNameChange: In Chinese and Japanese, its name 星核 translates to "star core" or "star nucleus".
881* ItCanThink: At the very least, the Jarilo-VI Stellaron can. Whether or not the others do remains to be seen.
882* JackassGenie: The Jarilo-VI Stellaron was first contacted by the Supreme Guardian Alisa Rand, who wished to eliminate the invading Antimatter Legion. It did so... by summoning the Eternal Freeze, which froze most of the world in the process. It wiped out or stopped cold both the invading Legion and just about every person on the planet outside of Belobog. Meanwhile, the Penacony Stellaron propped up the Dreamscape... by feeding on its visitors' minds, and even then it doesn't last forever as the Dreamscape is starting to collapse back into the Memory Zone.
883* MythologyGag: The Stellarons have many references to ''Videogame/HonkaiImpact3rd'':
884** From the trailer "Jepella Rebellion", it's implied that the Stellarons take different forms in different planets, and at least in some of them, the Stellaron Hunters taking them out causes chaos and havoc in the respective planets, if not outright collapse. This is a reference to the "Ether Anchors"; they're the CosmicKeystone of various bubble universes, each of them have different appearances, and taking them out of the "bubble" will cause the bubble to slowly destabilize. There's also a mysterious faction that hunts Ether Anchors of various bubble worlds for some unknown purpose, just like the Stellaron Hunters.
885** As seen so far with Jarilo-VI, the Xianzhou Luofu and Penacony, the Stellarons grant people their wishes but with a negative consequence, this method is very similar to how Sa is able to destroy bubble universes by granting them their wishes.
886* NoOntologicalInertia: Zigzagged. The Astral Express crew hope that sealing the Stellaron and removing its influence from Jarilo-VI will end the Eternal Freeze and allow the planet to flourish again. The Eternal Freeze does end upon the stellaron's sealing, clearing the skies above Belobog for the first time in centuries. Unfortunately, the Stellaron's influence has become so entrenched in its 700 years on the planet that it will be a long time before Jarilo-VI regains a fraction of its former fertility. However, without the Stellaron's influence, Belobog now has the chance to make real headway against the Fragmentum.
887* RealityWarper: Stellarons harness Imaginary Energy, i.e. the very energy which sustains reality and its phenomenons. One Stellaron freezes an entire planet along with a horde of the Antimatter Legion -- an entire army blessed by Nanook. Another Stellaron can cause the long-dead Ambrosial Arbor to grow again, while the third one encountered can stabilize a section of the Memory Zone to form a peaceful Dreamscape, implying Stellarons might be this trope on a scale comparable to [[PhysicalGod Aeons themselves]].
888* SealedEvilInACan: As of present time, no known Stellaron has ever been destroyed, so whether or not they can even ''be'' destroyed is up in the air. As such, the preferred method to deal with one is to seal its activity and confine it, which at least temporarily removes the threat.
889[[/folder]]
890
891[[folder:Fragmentum]]
892Phenomenon caused by Stellaron corrosion that warps and corrupts spaces and spawns dangerous creatures.
893
894The enemies consist of: [Element]spawns, Incineration & Everwinter Shadewalkers, Mask of No Thought, Imaginary Weavers, Blaze/Ice Out of Space (elite), Frigid/Searing Prowler (elite), Stormbringer (elite) and Guardian & Decaying Shadow (elite).
895----
896
897* AlwaysChaoticEvil: In-universe, the Intelligentsia Guild warns the general masses that the echoes created by the Fragmentum should not be mistaken or treated like the real deal, lest horrible consequences may occur, as they tend to be hostile and dangerous.
898* CompanyCrossReferences:
899** Somewhat akin to "Ley Line memories" in ''Videogame/GenshinImpact'', the Fragmentum can spawn [[LivingMemory "ghosts" of people in the past, who are stuck in the time they lived]]. In the "Vessel of Mediocrity" sidequest it's revealed that [[spoiler:the "Cyrille" you're interacting with is the Fragmentum memory of the real Cyrille who had passed away long ago]]. The daily mission "Ghost of the Past" in Belobog will also have you come across these "ghosts" whom you need to tend to before they disappear.
900** The Calyxes, Stagnant Shadows and Caverns of Corrosion are also creations of the Fragmentum and are said to hold the "data of reality" that the Fragmentum gathers - just like the Leyline Outcrops, World Bosses and the various farming Domains in ''Genshin'', as all of them are linked by the Ley Lines, which hold the "memories" of reality.
901* CooldownManipulation: Everwinter Shadewalkers' attacks can delay the action of their targets by 50%.
902* CounterAttack: The Guardian Shadow can impose various kinds of "bans" onto your characters; from using basic attack, skill, or from outright attacking her (only if there are other enemies around). Violating this ban will result in her dropping a ThunderHammer on the violator. The "bug" version of her in Simulated Universe will punish ''all characters'' whenever a ban is violated. The bans are treated as debuffs, and will be cleared each time the afflicted character violates the ban; they can also be cleansed with the right skill. She can be prevented from counter-attacking if you inflict a crowd control debuff on her, or if you break her Toughness Gauge. There are 2 achievements related to this: one is when all of your characters violate her bans, and another is when you manage to not trigger her CounterAttack for the whole battle.
903* DisappearsIntoLight: Fragmentum creations and anyone sufficiently contaminated by their influence disappear into particles of light upon death.
904* FeatheredFiend: The [Element]spawn group of Fragmentum monsters (consisting of the Flamespawn, Frostspawn, Thunderspawn, and Windspawn) look and act like birds, and they attack your party members by flying directly into them. They will even let out an eagle's cry when killed in battle.
905* FlunkyBoss:
906** Frigid Prowler can summon Everwinter Shadewalkers to aid it. It can also [[CannibalismSuperpower "devour" one of said Shadewalkers]] in order to buff its ATK and empower its next [[ChainsawGood Ice Wheel Fist]] move. However, if you manage to defeat all of the Shadewalkers before the Frigid Prowler could "devour" them, [[EpicFail it will fail the attempt]] and get inflicted with [[DamageIncreasingDebuff -50% DEF debuff]], and you can also get an Achievement for causing this to happen the first time. Its "bug" version in Simulated Universe can summon more Everwinter Shadewalkers, will devour all of them instead of just one (and gain more buffs afterward), and can use a powerful AreaOfEffect attack on the next turn.
907** Stormbringer's "bug" version in Simulated Universe can summon 4 Windspawns after its strongest attack.
908* GoKartingWithBowser: For all the danger that the Fragmentum poses on interstellar civilizations, it's an odd sight to see genuine Fragmentum monsters willingly participate in the Boulder Town Super League event to casually spar against your party in what amounts to a "friendly" competition rather than a war of life and death.
909* TheHeartless: Both Guardian Shadows and Decaying Shadows on Jarilo-VI are implied to be the manifestations of past Supreme Guardian's regret, hatred, sorrow, and other negative emotions that are given physical forms by the Fragmentum. From the Stagnant Shadow drops of these two elites, they're implied to be Svetlana and Alina Rand. The two most noticeable ones are [[spoiler:Cyrille as a Guardian Shadow (who appears in the "Vessel of Mediocrity" sidequests) after being murdered by her own people over Stefan's schemes several hundreds of years prior]], and [[spoiler:Cocolia as a Decaying Shadow (who appears in Gepard and Serval's Companion Mission "Only A Child") following her death in the main story]].
910* HelpfulMook: Zig-zagged with Masks of No Thought. They're still hostile enough to attack you, but defeating them will cause them to replenish your party member's energy, allowing you to build up their Ultimates quickly.
911* HostileTerraforming: Fragmentums assimilate the surrounding data, destroy it, and then recreate their own versions, effectively transforming worlds.
912* InfiniteSupplies: Given that the Fragmentum can create copies of pretty much anything in existence and can even manipulate time, it's not uncommon for the Trailblazer to take advantage of Fragmentum phenomena to farm for experience, credits, gear, and rare upgrade materials.
913* ItCanThink: Some Fragmentums are capable of creating complex plans, like the Guardian Shadows.
914* MagicMissileStorm: Decaying Shadow's strongest attack has her preparing herself for a turn, and on her next turn, she'll launch up to 9 golden magical projectiles onto your characters at random. Before said turn comes up, attacking her will reduce the amount of the projectiles launched by 1 each time, and breaking her Toughness Gauge will stop the attack entirely. There's an achievement you can get if you can deplete the number of projectiles (without triggering Weakness Break) before she can launch them; when this happens, [[EpicFail she'll raise her staff as usual, only for her to shake her head in confusion as her projectiles are gone.]]
915* MundaneUtility: In the "Lab Assistants in Position" event, Wen Shiling hypothesizes that the high temperature of Blaze Out of Space monsters can be used to extract liquid coffee and smelt metal.
916* StatusBuff:
917** Mask of No Thought can buff the ATK of all enemies.
918** Imaginary Weaver can give themselves a buff after using [[HerdHittingAttack Reverberating Carol]] which grants DamageReduction to non-Type Weakness attacks and increases the damage of their next attack.
919** Blaze Out of Space and Searing Prowler have moves that buff their ATK stat.
920* StatusInflictionAttack:
921** The attacks of Thunderspawn, Windspawn and Incineration Shadewalker can cause [[DamageOverTime Shock, Wind Shear and Burn]] respectively.
922** Blaze Out of Space's attacks can inflict Enkindle, which is similar to Burn but with longer duration. Their "bug" version in Simulated Universe has an unique move that [[StatusEffectPoweredAbility absorbs all of the Enkindle debuffs in the party to empower an AOE fire attack]], increasing its DMG per Enkindle absorbed.
923** Ice Out of Space's attacks can freeze their targets. Their "bug" version in Simulated Universe has an unique move that [[StatusEffectPoweredAbility specifically targets frozen units to deal big damage onto them]] and the adjacent units, and clears their frozen status.
924** [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Stormbringer]]'s attacks have a chance of inflicting Wind Shear. Its strongest attack (aiming with an EnergyBow like Voidranger: Trampler) will also [[StatusEffectPoweredAbility specifically target units affected by Wind Shear]]. However, if none of your units have Wind Shear on them before it can launch said attack, [[EpicFail the attack will fail to come out]] - there's also an achievement for when you can manage to create this situation.
925** Frigid Prowler has an attack where it blows strong icy winds, causing AreaOfEffect ice damage that inflicts "Deep Freeze" onto your characters. This status reduces the afflicted's Ice RES and SPD stats.
926** Searing Prowler's attacks can inflict Burn on your characters. Its strongest attack can also [[StatusEffectPoweredAbility deal more damage if it hits characters with Burn]], or (for its Simulated Universe's "bug" version) deal extra Blast damage onto Burned characters.
927** Decaying and Guardian Shadows' attacks can cause Imprisonment and Shock respectively.
928* UndergroundMonkey: Most of the Fragmentum monsters are {{Palette Swap}}s of enemies from other factions. For a few examples, the Everwinter/Incineration Shadewalkers are based off the Silvermane Soldiers, the Stormbringer is based off the Antimatter Legion's Trampler, and both the Frigid and Searing Prowlers are based off the Automaton Grizzlies and Direwolfs respectively. They even share similar movesets, albeit with some mechanical tweaks here and there to make them distinct. {{Justified|Trope}} in that the Fragmentum is known to [[RealityWarper bend reality]] and make echoes based on things that already exist.
929* UnfinishedBusiness: The Fragmentum assimilates data, especially strong desires and emotions. It is unclear whether immortal souls exist in this universe, but the occasional LivingMemory will show up in a Fragmentum as a result of the unfulfilled desires of the original person. The Trailblazer sometimes gets tasked with putting them to rest.
930[[/folder]]
931
932[[folder:Abominations of Abundance]]
933
934Part of the Denizens of Abundance who wish to spread the blessings of Yaoshi to all other races in the galaxy... whether the latter wants it or not. The Xianzhou Alliance allied themselves with Lan the Hunt to hunt those abominations that threaten other worlds and prevent other races from attaining immortality.
935
936In particular, there's also Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, a secret heretical sect in Xianzhou who wishes to continue worshipping Yaoshi (whom they call the "Merciful Medicus"), against the wishes of the rest of Xianzhou. They believe that becoming mara-stricken - a condition after a long-lived species has lived long enough that turns them into mutated monsters - is a way to embrace the original blessings of Yaoshi upon their ancestors.
937
938Their ranks consist of:
939
940''Mara-Struck'': Soldier and Warden
941
942''Disciples of Sanctus Medicus'': Internal Alchemist, Ballistarius, Shape Shifter (elite), and the Ascended (elite)
943
944''Abundance Sprites'': Golden Hound, Wooden Lupus and Shadow Jackhyena, and Malefic Ape (elite)
945
946----
947
948* AchillesHeel: Any character with StatusBuffDispel such as Pela. Mara-struck Soldiers and Wardens, Shape Shifters, and Malefic Apes each have a dispellable buff ([[AutoRevive Rebirth]], [[SuperMode Maddening]], [[LifeDrain Draining Hit]], and [[GatheringSteam a stacking damage buff]] respectively) which, if removed, make them significantly easier to deal with.
949* AutomaticCrossbow: The Ballistarius wields one that he uses to fire a PinballProjectile bouncing around your party.
950* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Mara-struck Soldiers wield 2 arm-blades in combat.
951* BlowYouAway: The Ascended's attacks are Wind-type and can inflict Wind Shear on your characters.
952* BodyHorror: As shown by [[spoiler:Banxia]] in Bailu's Companion Mission "Evanesce Like the Morning Dew", the process of mutating into a mara-struck monster isn't pretty and involves permanently fusing the host's body with the armor they wear, meaning they can never take it off. What makes it even worse in [[spoiler:Banxia]]'s case is that she's still self-aware about it when the process takes shape.
953* CastFromHitPoints: The Shape Shifter burns a chunk of health to perform its [[FlunkyBoss Mara-Summon ability.]] This also gives them [[LifeDrain Draining Hit]], healing them for every instance of damage they deal so long as the summoned Mara-struck Soldiers have Rebirth, which means its next turn follow-up of Thudding Calamity (a single-target attack that strikes multiple times) will heal them for the lost health and then some unless you either [[StatusBuffDispel dispel the status]] or remove Rebirth from the Soldiers.
954* DeathActivatedSuperpower:
955** Golden Hound is able to [[WoundedGazelleGambit advance forward nearby enemies' actions after its death]].
956** Internal Alchemists can inflict "Spur of Thunderwoe" onto your characters; when said Internal Alchemist dies, characters with said status will receive damage.
957* EnemySummoner: The Wooden Lupus can summon Shadow Jackhyenas onto the field. The latter will inherit the same HP as the former's current HP, and the latter has weaker Toughness Gauge than the former.
958* FateWorseThanDeath: Becoming mara-struck is consistently regarded as this across the Xianzhou. Unlike straight-up dying, mara sickness involves becoming an insane, super-strong monster that experiences incredible suffering and is an active danger to everyone around them.
959* FlowerMotifs: Ginkgo trees, which symbolize longevity and vitality in multiple countries, including China and Japan.
960* FlunkyBoss: The Shape Shifter can summon Mara-struck Soldiers to aid him. While the Soldiers still have the Rebirth buff, the Shape Shifter gains the ability to [[LifeDrain heal themselves by attacking]].
961* TheHeretic: While most of the Mara-Stricken are unwillingly mutated, the more powerful ones are part of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, a heretical group within the Xianzhou who revere Yaoshi.
962* ItCanThink: Turns out the mara-stricken still retain their sentience in spite of their aggression, and frequently speak during battle.
963* KillerGorilla: The Malefic Ape is a huge and strong blue gorilla-like creature that was once created as Xianzhou's war beast.
964* LightIsNotGood: The Mara-struck Soldier and Disciples of Sanctus Medicus enemies are covered in bright golden ginkgo leaves, but they are very hostile to everyone.
965* MaximumHPReduction: The Ascended can inflict "Prana-Siphon" onto all your characters, causing 30% of their HP to be "blocked" for 2 turns.
966* MeaningfulName: The "mara" in the name likely comes from the Buddhist demon of the same name, who is also associated with death and rebirth. The Mara-Struck Soldiers, at least, [[AutoRevive come back to life with half-health]] after being killed once in battle.
967* MySkullRunnethOver: An in-universe theory suggests that this is the root cause of mara. Due to long-life species' immortality, their brains eventually run out of space for memories. This leaves only the most vivid and extreme memories, which tend to be memories of intense negative emotion that precipitate the transformation into a mara-struck.
968* OrnamentalWeapon: The Shape Shifter wields a shield like Silvermane Lieutenant, but they never use it to defend themselves.
969* SavageWolves: The Golden Hound and Wooden Lupus (and Shadow Jackhyena) are creations of old Xianzhou and were meant to be war beasts.
970* ShockwaveStomp: the Shape Shifter has an attack where they jump and land onto your characters, dealing Blast damage.
971* UndergroundMonkey: The Mara-struck Wardens are a variant of the Ten-Lords Commission's personnel, the Wraith Warden. The latter is slightly weaker than the former, but their attacks can inflict the unique "Reverberation" debuff; it does nothing on its own, but if your character with the debuff takes a hit from any attack, they will become stunned, delaying their turn significantly.
972* UnskilledButStrong: The Malefic Ape is best summed up this way. Its only attack is a single-target attack (a powerful GroundPunch), and the way it always targets whoever last used their Skill makes it predictable, but it will buff itself before attacking up to 3 times before it gets exhausted, so anyone that becomes its target must be prepared to tank the massive damage its attack does. Its "bug" version in Simulated Universe is stronger in that it gains its attack buff each time your characters perform Skills and is no longer dispelable, and it now has a SuperScream attack that hits the whole party, but the way it works now is more manageable: it now only does the GroundPunch attack once per "Wrathful Roar" activation (normally 3 times), and the attack (and the attack buff) will be canceled entirely if it suffers from Weakness Break.
973
974!!Abundant Ebon Deer
975
976A creation of the Ambrosial Arbor, made after the latter was revived using a Stellaron, in order to guard its roots. In the story, the Astral Express crew has to fight it to stop the Arbor's overgrowth in the Artisanship Commission.
977
978----
979* AchillesHeel: As the boss of the Simulated Universe's World 7, Remembrance is bar none the best path to use against it. With its ability to spawn in highly disruptive saplings and eventually gaining three actions per turn in its final phase, it ''really'' doesn't like getting frozen and denied the ability to act, which Remembrance happens to revolve around. Having an Ice weakness further inventivizes trying to chain freeze it. It says something that Herta, who has been largely dismissed as a weak unit for endgame bosses, is considered one of the better options for the Ebon Deer because of how easily she can set up mass freezes against it.
980* BlowYouAway: One of its attacks is a HornAttack that deals AOE Wind damage.
981* CounterAttack: One of its PlantMooks can strike back if you attack it.
982* GreenThumb: With the power of Abundance, [[FlunkyBoss it can create various]] PlantMooks out of the ground.
983* HopelessBossFight: the first time our heroes fight it, it [[HealingBoss heals itself every turn]] by absorbing energy from Ambrosial Arbor. After they retreat and find a way to cut off its connection to the Arbor, they can finally defeat the creature. It can still occasionally heal itself the same way in the second battle, but the healing is now relatively weaker.
984* MookMedic: One of its PlantMooks can heal others based on a percentage of its HP.
985* PowerUpFood: In its later phases, it can create a special plant whose purpose is to grow fruit each turn. If it manages to grow 2, the Ebon Deer will consume them to fuel its strongest attack (an AOE lightning strike that can deal massive damage).
986* ShockAndAwe: It can summon lightning strikes onto your characters, one at a time.
987* StatusBuff:
988** One of its PlantMooks can buff the Ebon Deer's ATK.
989** In its later phases, it can occasionally buff its DEF and block its Toughness Gauge from depleting for 2 turns.
990* StatusInflictionAttack: one of its PlantMooks can inflict a special debuff that makes one of your characters uncontrollable and be forced to use their basic attack onto a random enemy for a few turns.
991
992[[/folder]]
993
994[[folder:The Swarm]]
995The spawn of the Aeon of Propagation, the Swarm is composed of insect-like alien creatures that mindlessly propagate throughout the universe, consuming everything in their path. Though their Aeon is dead, their presence is still felt.
996
997They consist of: Juvenile Sting, Lesser Sting, Gnaw Sting, and True Sting (boss).
998----
999
1000* ActionBomb: The Lesser Sting's primary purpose is to explode on your characters' face after a turn, dealing Blast damage with a chance of inflicting Outrage status (like one of Abundant Ebon Deer's plants' effect).
1001* BigCreepyCrawlies: All of the Swarm creatures are big bugs that are at least as big as a full-grown person.
1002* CombinationAttack: True Sting's strongest attack has it prepare for a turn, and when its next turn comes, it and all the other Sting mooks will attack your characters simultaneously, dealing heavy AOE damage. This attack can be stopped by breaking its Toughness Gauge, and you can also reduce its damage by killing the Sting mooks around it. There's an achievement you can get when it uses this attack after all of the Sting mooks are killed, averting the trope and reducing the damage to a minimum.
1003* EnemySummoner: As befitting the path of Propagation, this is their entire schtick. Juvenile Stings will split off full-health copies of themselves every few turns, and True Stings can summon multiple Juvenile and Lesser Stings at once or even another True Sting. Combined with their massive defenses in higher difficulties of Swarm Disaster, it can quickly become difficult to kill enemies at a rate faster than they can summon new enemies. To mitigate this, Swarm enemies explode when they are killed, damaging the rest of the enemies and making it easier to finish them off.
1004* ExplosiveBreeder: Of the non-sexual variety; what makes them truly dangerous is the ability to propagate themself purely through mitosis. This reflects in-game, as even weak members of the Swarm will reproduce themselves endlessly if not dealt with or staggered quickly enough.
1005* FlunkyBoss: Befitting the theme of the Swarm, True Sting can spawn Sting mooks out of its body. In its third phase, it can even [[DualBoss split into two True Stings]]. There's an achievement you can get if you can defeat the 2 True Stings at the same time.
1006* HordeOfAlienLocusts: They're [[TheSwarm a swarm]] of insect-like alien creatures that only think of devouring and reproducing.
1007* LightningBruiser: They're fast enough to almost always get their turns before your characters could; if your characters are slow enough, some of them may even get a second turn. They also have tough Toughness Gauge; you need to use 3 basic attacks to break a Juvenile Sting's gauge, and 4 for the Lesser Sting, when most mooks need only 2 basic attacks to Weakness Break them; they also have more HP than most common mooks. Their attacks may look weak at first, but with how fast they are, the damage can become substantial as they add up, especially with how Wind Shear can stack.
1008* SandWorm: While not appearing in-game, a narration of the Simulated Universe: Swarm Disaster game mode describes amongst the forces of the Swarm a gigantic worm with metallic teeth.
1009* SetAMookToKillAMook: If any of the Swarm enemies get killed in battle, they'll release an explosion that damages all other enemies on the field and inflict [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Vulnerability]] on them. The explosion deals substantial damage, enough to possibly start a chain of explosions among all Swarm enemies if you've been thorough enough on depleting their HP. There's also an achievement for [[ThrowTheMookAtThem defeating True Sting with the explosion of the spawned Sting mooks]].
1010* SpinAttack: True Sting has an attack where it spins its whole body once, dealing damage in an AOE.
1011* StatusInflictionAttack: Juvenile Sting and True Sting's attacks can inflict [[DamageOverTime Wind Shear]] on your characters. Also, one of True Sting's attacks can [[StatusEffectPoweredAbility cause Wind Shear to tick once on your character if they're afflicted by it]], dealing additional damage.
1012
1013!!Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz
1014
1015An Emanator of Propagation personally bred by Tayzzyronth, a gigantic insect capable of destroying celestial bodies to be used as incubators for new Swarm offspring. The real Skaracabaz had long died, but a 'Synthetic' version breaks free in the Seclusion Zone of Herta Space Station, later able to be refought as an Echo of War.
1016
1017----
1018* BackFromTheDead: As part of [[spoiler:Ruan Mei]]'s research on Emanators, Skaracabaz was cloned for study.
1019* BreathWeapon: It can fire a stream of quanta death ray from its mouth, dealing Blast damage to your characters.
1020* CloneDegeneration: The synthetic version of it [[spoiler:can only exist for 56 seconds due to its unstable existence. Ruan Mei had calculated this outcome and considered it a failed experiment]].
1021* EnergyBall: Its strongest attack in the 2nd phase is to prepare for a turn while it creates a forcefield carapace. In its next turn, it will create a gigantic quantum sphere and slam it down onto all your characters, dealing massive AOE damage.
1022* FlunkyBoss: To a greater extent than True Sting. Aside from an Entanglement-inflicting attack that also spawns a Gnaw Sting at the same time, it has a move where it creates a forcefield carapace that [[DamageReduction reduces damage taken against it]] and make it spawn either Gnaw Sting or Lesser Sting whenever it takes a hit. To compensate for this, when it gets Weakness Broken while this carapace is active, it will release an explosion that damages the HP and depletes Toughness Gauge of all of its spawns, and inflict a DamageIncreasingDebuff on them.
1023* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The battle with Skaracabaz [[spoiler:lasts much longer in gameplay than the 56 seconds the clone can supposedly exist for]].
1024* KingMook: To the Sting mooks, especially the Gnaw Sting that is also introduced alongside it in the same version.
1025* StarKilling: According to its FlavorText, it can fire death rays that can destroy entire stars.
1026
1027[[/folder]]
1028
1029[[folder:Trotters]]
1030
1031Pig-like interdimensional creatures known for getting lost in various places, travelers who encounter these creatures see them as good omens.
1032
1033----
1034* ArmoredButFrail: The Trotter of Preservation puts up a shield that blocks numerous hits, but once the shield is broken, their HP and defenses are quite poor and can be defeated quickly.
1035* CowardlyMooks: when they spot you on the map, instead of attacking, they'll attempt to run away, and then jump into a dimensional hole after they run for long enough. If you get to attack it, it'll spend its time cowering and attempting to escape; if you can't defeat it after a few turns, it'll jump into a dimensional hole.
1036* MetalSlime: Their entire schtick: they're semi-uncommon enemies that are somewhat difficult to kill, run away in three turns, and give extra rewards if defeated. The rewards vary from Stellar Jades (if found in the overworld), to extra items and Credits (if randomly spawned in an overworld fight), to extra Blessings (in the Simulated Universe), or buffs to allies or debuffs or damage to all enemies (in the Forgotten Hall).
1037* StealthPun: Trotters are pig-like creatures who hold treasures. [[spoiler:They're "piggy banks", and they're outright called "Interdimensional Piggy Banks" in the Russian translation.]]
1038* SuperpoweredMooks: There are variants of Trotters in Simulated Universe with the power of Paths: Trotter of Abundance can [[CastFromHitPoints sacrifice its HP]] to [[MookMedic heal other enemies around it]], Trotter of Preservation [[ShieldBearingMook puts up shields on all enemies]] that have to be broken first by your attacks before you can damage any of them, and Trotter of Destruction can perform a CounterAttack that [[HerdHittingAttack hits all of your characters]] if you attack any enemy.
1039* VisualCalculus: In battle, when they get into the phase where their Toughness Gauge gets blocked and they gain absolute Effect RES (a sign that they will flee in the next turn), they start "murmuring" mathematical equations out loud; if you squint, one of them is the formula of Schwarzschild Radius.
1040
1041!!Trailblazer's Aether Spirit Trotter
1042
1043In the beginning of Aetherium Wars event, the Trailblazer and March 7th bump into Eric, who found a certain Aether Coin, and 2 IPC grunts threatening him to give the coin to them. After our protagonists beat the grunts, Eric decides to give the coin to you, which contains a rare Aether Spirit: a Trotter. Unlike other Aether Spirits who are merely copies of existing enemies and can only obey commands, this Trotter behaves as if it's wholly alive. It becomes the Traiblazer's primary Aether Spirit for the event.
1044
1045----
1046* BoringButPractical: Its abilities aren't too fancy but it's also the most reliable healer of the Aether Spirits.
1047* CompositeCharacter: Its Basic Attack is an [[HerdHittingAttack AOE attack]] like Trotter of Destruction, while its Skill is a [[HealingHands whole party heal]] like Trotter of Abundance. Its Ultimate is a SuperMode that adds the property of its skill into its basic attack, in addition to buffing all allies' damage output for 20% for a turn.
1048* FlawedPrototype: Most Aether Spirits mindlessly obey orders. Why does this one have an actual personality? [[spoiler:It was one of the IPC's earlier models and had a production flaw, in that they replicated the original creature's personality instead of filtering it out. Asta thought that was cool and kept the glitched creation as a collector's model.]]
1049* HealerSignsOnEarly: It's the first Aether Spirit the player obtains, and it has healing capabilities that encourage the player to keep it on their team.
1050* HelloInsertNameHere: Played with in that you have to choose one name out of 10 predetermined names. They can range from cute-sounding names like "Puffball" or "Bubbles", to bombastic names like "Trotterlord", to hilariously generic ones like "Warp Trotter" or just "Trotter".
1051* TheReveal: The event organizer, Wilder, later reveals that [[spoiler:this Aether Spirit was part of Asta's collection, and that its "lifelike quality" is because of an anomaly that occurred when uploading its data during its creation; somehow, its data was uploaded completely instead of selectively, hence how it acts life-like and almost sentient.]]
1052* StarterMon: It becomes the first Aether Spirit that you acquire in the event's story, and it'll be a major focus of the story as the Traiblazer's SignatureMon.
1053* StatusBuff: Its Talent is to increase the ATK of other party members for a turn after it takes a hit.
1054* SupportPartyMember: The Trotter's damage potential is middling at best but its skillset makes it a powerful party-wide buffer and healer; its Talent and Ultimate can improve the team's firepower while keeping your team topped off.
1055* WeakButSkilled: The Trotter has rather mediocre stats and basic abilities, but it makes up for it by being the only Aether Spirit to get four chip slots (the maximum possible), making its utility extremely flexible. It is also the only Spirit who can use the Trotter Patch Chip, which boosts its HP and ATK by a hefty 35%.
1056[[/folder]]
1057
1058!Historical Organizations & Individuals
1059[[folder:Glamoth]]
1060
1061An interstellar-wide nation that perished due to a Swarm invasion. It was once known for their advancements in warfare technology, chiefly the "Iron Cavalry Regiment" that relentlessly fought against the Swarm, and their leader, Empress Titania; however, the sheer amount of debris from the war blotted out their world's sun, and their civilization eventually faded away. It's the subject of the Planar Ornament "Firmament Frontline: Glamoth" and also forms a cornerstone of the backstory of a member of the Stellaron Hunters.
1062
1063!!General Tropes
1064* AmbiguousSituation: While the "River of Death" is the main evidence that the war occurred at all, the Intelligensia Guild has different interpretations as to how the conflict ended: one side believes that the Swarm completely destroyed them, while another side believes that the nation "completely overshot its enemy".
1065* ArchEnemy: TheSwarm, given much of the known history about Glamoth is about the war between the two. One of the ornaments uses the term directly to describe the relationship between the two.
1066* CoolSpaceship: They had various spaceship fleets that formed the backbone of the force that fought the Swarm. They also ended up forming a substantial part of the River of Death that now encircles Glamoth's home solar system.
1067* DubNameChange: A very strange case. While ''all'' other translations use the name Glamoth, it's changed to Glatiramer in the Russian translation for unexplained reasons. Glatiramer is, of all things, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glatiramer_acetate a multiple sclerosis medication]].
1068* TheEmperor: Titania commanded all the Iron Cavalry Regiment, both to expand the nation's territory and to fight back the Swarm invasion. However, unbeknownst to most, she's only a "[[ArtificialHuman weapon born to fight]]", [[PuppetKing who had no real power over the "throne"]], created by Republic of Glamoth's ruling council. The "Welkin Empire" was, likewise, [[AllJustADream a telepathic dream shared between her and her soldiers]]. She was implied to be aware of this, and was secretly revolting against the nation's rulers.
1069* HeWhoFightsMonsters: It's said that the "empire" started becoming more and more like its adversary, and its people eventually looked upon the Empress and the cavalry with fear.
1070* KnightInShiningArmor: According to the dream of the "Welkin Empire", Glamoth's Iron Cavalry was described as "silver-white iron knights", and that "their arrival was like a gift from the gods, bringing the light of day back to the human world". Sam definitely has the look, wearing polished silver armor with gold highlights and green internal lights.
1071* PoweredArmor: The surviving example of Glamoth "mecha" we see in the game is this, and is similar in proportion, form and function to a [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Tekkaman]] and/or a [[VideoGame/{{Warframe}} Warframe]], with some elements of a Franchise/KamenRider as well. Although it is not HumongousMecha-sized, the example we see is still easily seven feet tall or more.
1072* PyrrhicVictory: While they managed to end the onslaught of the Swarm on their world, what arrived afterward was not daylight, but another sunless sky, courtesy of the mechanical debris and lepisma corpses strewn around their star system. It's said that the civilization faded away afterward.
1073-->''Perhaps one day the empire would attain the victory it so desired. But on that day, will Glamoth still be a paradise for humanity to rest in?''
1074* SuperSoldier: The Iron Cavalry Regiment is this in a nutshell, warriors with PoweredArmor and highly destructive capabilities. The way they're described, they were implied to be [[TykeBomb raised from a young age to shape them all as soldiers]].
1075
1076!!'''Sam'''
1077!!!'''Introduced:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yIlGpgCus Myriad Celestia Trailer: The Jepella Rebellion]] (c. v1.2)\
1078'''Voiced by:''' Gan Ziqi (Chinese), Creator/JunKasama (Japanese), Jang Seo-hwa (Korean), Adin Rudd (English)
1079[[quoteright:900:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/npc_sam.png]]
1080 [[caption-width-right:900:The Molten Knight]]
1081
1082The sole known survivor of Glamoth to date, Sam is a former member of the Iron Cavalry who still retains his armor, and is also known as the "Molten Knight". Seemingly having lost his purpose after Glamoth's end, he has been promised a new way forward by the leader of the Stellaron Hunters, Elio, and now strives to discover that purpose... while bringing to bear his overwhelming power when necessary for the Hunters' cause. And upon the world of Penacony, the Trailblazer will have reason to cross paths, and swords, with this former knight.
1083
1084A full listing of tropes concerning Sam can be found in his folder on the Characters/HonkaiStarRailStellaronHunters page. (Contains spoilers for the Penacony Trailblaze Mission!)
1085[[/folder]]
1086
1087!Other
1088
1089[[folder:Void Archives]]
1090!!Void Archives
1091%%->'''Voiced by:''' (English), (Chinese), (Japanese), (Korean)\
1092
1093The very same being that originally appeared in ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd''. He is a Divine Key, a powerful weapon from a lost civilization, storing all its knowledge, and capable of mimicking the powers of the other Keys. Gaining sentience, he stole a human body, and became an ally of Welt Yang. Together, they traveled to this universe and encountered Himeko on the planet Salsotto. His current whereabouts are unknown.\
1094\
1095For tropes specific to him before the start of ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', see [[Characters/HonkaiImpact3rdAPostHonkaiOdyssey here]].
1096----
1097* TheGhost: He traveled to this universe alongside Welt, and the pair continued to travel together for some time. He seems to have been present on Salsotto, when Himeko invited Welt to join the Astral Express but hasn't been mentioned since then. What happened and where he went remains unclear, as the younger members of the crew like March 7th seem to have never met him.
1098* IdenticalStranger: The Void Archives used one of the spare bodies of his former user Otto Apocalypse to gain a physical form, and therefore would be identical to Otto's counterpart in this universe. The traveling merchant known as "Luocha" is also identical to the Void Archives, a fact that [[spoiler: Welt keeps close to his chest upon seeing a photo of Luocha]].
1099[[/folder]]
1100
1101[[folder:The Unshackled]]
1102A group of Yaoshi followers who travel the universe to "unshackle" various forms of life by setting them free into the wild. They are featured in the sidequest "Bestial Ferocity".
1103----
1104* AnimalWrongsGroup: They believe they are doing good in the name of Abundance by releasing various flora and fauna into the ecosystems of planets and world-ships they visit. Not only is this causing a headache for the Realm-Keeping Commission who has to deal with the potentially invasive species that they release, they soon find out that each of them prefers releasing different types of organisms who just so happen to prey on each other, wasting their own efforts. The Trailblazer is unwillingly roped into their schemes after killing some Abominations of Abundance that Tonya released, with the backing of the Realm-Keeping Commission hoping they can dismantle the group from the inside.
1105* BreakingTheFellowship: After [[spoiler:Zhongshan's plan gets all of the main members arrested by the Luofu's Realm Keeping Commission, it's revealed in Zhongshan's letter that all of the members went their separate ways, with only a few of the more harmless members remaining behind on the Luofu]].
1106* ButtMonkey:
1107** They're nothing but a source of ridicule in their sidequest, and it doesn't help that [[spoiler:a Masked Fool makes it her personal mission to keep trolling them for the sake of a few laughs]].
1108** Nannan is considered this by the rest of the group, since he desires to release the microorganisms in water into the wild. The other three Benevolent Ones think that this is such a stupid endeavor that they kicked him out of their group and continually belittle and insult him. [[spoiler:Consequently, he is the only one to escape punishment when the plan to release automatons into the wild backfires spectacularly.]]
1109* DidntThinkThisThrough: Their attempts to carry out their work on the Luofu consistently end in disaster. They keep trying to release endangered plants and animals back into the wild but make the mistake of releasing them ''in the same place''. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Naturally]], the endangered herbivores start eating the endangered plants, only in turn to be eaten by the endangered carnivores who subsequently starve when their food suppy runs out.
1110* DumbassHasAPoint: Nannan "unshackles" bottles of drinking water, supposedly to release microbes. The others think he isn't taking it seriously, but his actions are harmless enough to make him [[spoiler:the only member of the immediate group to not be arrested]]. Eventually, his faction of the Unshackled invest in ecological farming with domestic wastewater, making his faction the only one authorities start to appreciate.
1111* SmallNameBigEgo: [[spoiler:Zhongshan's letter states that this is how she viewed the Unshackled. She considered them to be pompous, arrogant people with an inflated sense of self worth who used their devotion to Yaoshi as an excuse to flaunt their moral superiority over others, which is why she was motivated to take them down a peg or two by "unshackling" them instead]].
1112* TakeThat: They're quite obviously a jab at well-meaning but incompetent environmentalists who want to do their part to help the environment but don't know how to do so in any constructive or meaningful way.
1113* WellIntentionedExtremist: They try to unshackle as many living things as possible in the name of serving Yaoshi and the Path of Abundance, who values all life. Of course, they're doing things wrong.
1114
1115[[/folder]]
1116
1117[[folder:Hakuhatsu Ki]]
1118!!Hakuhatsu Ki
1119->'''Voiced by:''' Qin Qiege (Chinese), Creator/SatoshiHino (Japanese), Yoon Yong-sik (Korean), Sean Lynch (English)
1120
1121A mysterious figure from Acheron's past.
1122----
1123* AlternateSelf: Implied to be this universe's version of Kevin Kaslana, with his moniker meaning "White-haired Oni" (Kevin has white hair and a demonic form with horns), sharing the same Chinese and Japanese actors and a tragic history involving a world destroyed through a lengthy conflict with a corruptive force. The 12 Sentinels he discusses with Acheron similarly echo the Divine Keys and Herrschers of Kevin's past, while his sword, named "End", is represented by a flaming sword similar to Kevin's iconic weapon, and also referencing Kevin taking on the partial authority of Finality.
1124* PosthumousCharacter: Acheron confirms with Welt that she killed him.
1125* TheVoice: The "Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World" animation centers on him repeatedly questioning the woman that would become Acheron, but he is never shown.
1126

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