The story of Nod-Krai has come to an end, so let's learn more about it.
Voynich Guild and Curatorium of Secrets
As Nod-Krai is a highly autonomous region, there are no administrative organizations to act as police. Instead, people often turn to the Voynich Guild or the Curatorium of Secrets to resolve problems. The Voynich Guild is the most influential merchant guild, known for its neutrality and impeccable reputation. They strive to stimulate Nasha Town’s economy by creating a public voting platform, mediating local disputes, and trading goods from all over Teyvat.
One of the Guild’s regular customers is the Lightkeepers, an organization that protects Nod-Krai from the Wild Hunt. They supply the Ratniki with various medicines and bandages. One day, a traveling merchant named Liben was robbed upon arriving in Nasha Town. Since the city lacks a court or other administrative organizations, someone suggested he contact the Voynich Guild. The Guild's staff not only recovered Liben's goods but also bought everything from him, too. After defeating the Rächer of Solnari and Dottore, Nod-Krai’s faction, including the Voynich Guild, founded the League to resolve problems together. Tarno is the representative of the Guild in the League.
One of the closely related factions to the Guild is the Curatorium of Secrets, a gathering place for intelligence and a true power behind the scenes of the Voynich Guild. This establishment can handle any task for a price, and many strange rumors circulate about its owner. Like the Guild, the Curatorium is known for its neutrality, so it cannot interfere in conflicts between different factions. Thus, the Curatorium's boss couldn't openly help the Frostmoon Scions’ Moonchanter retrieve their stolen relic from the Fatui, so she had to fire her employee so she could help outside the organization.
The Curatorium of Secrets is the headquarters of the Northern Intelligence Network, a worldwide black market for information. Any faction can buy or sell any information. The boss of the Curatorium of Secrets and the Northern Intelligence Network has informants, business partners, and clients all over the world. The main informant from Mondstadt is Diluc Ragnvindr, a wine magnate and Darknight Hero.
The Northern Intelligence Network also collaborates with Yelan, a secret agent in the employ of the Liyue Department of Civil Affairs. She always pays cash upfront, leaving no slightest room to cash in a favor in the future, and will throw down twice, even three times the asking price without flinching for even the most sensitive intel.
One of the regular business partners from Sumeru is Dori Sangemah Bay. She not only brings Mora but also various news from her homeland. When Dori first arrived in Nasha Town, her Jinn lost consciousness due to kuuvahki, and Dori found herself in a life-or-death situation. The owner of the Curatorium of Secrets came to her aid, and now the merchant always offers a thirty percent discount on the purchase of intel or goods.
One of the responsibilities of the Voynich Guild and the Curatorium of Secrets is the organization and conduct of the Nod-Krai Trade Expo. A long time ago, back before Nasha Town even had its name, the place was essentially one giant black market. With no administrative oversight, trade that was prohibited elsewhere was fair game here. So, the place began to attract business from all over Teyvat. Over time, more and more people settled there, and what was once a black market became what is now Nasha Town. The spirit of free trade has been a local staple ever since, and eventually, the "Nod-Krai Trade Expo" was born, which takes place every year with the opening of the shipping routes.
All transactions concluded at the expo are protected, including those considered illegal elsewhere. The Guild's responsibilities include registering participants, providing storage and sales space, and resolving disputes. One day, Fontaine and Liyue's special services arrived at the expo to track down a criminal group that had long been supplying unusually powerful weapons. Neither the Special Patrol nor the Department of Civil Affairs could find a single lead until someone let slip the source of the weapons, leading directly to the Nod-Krai Trade Expo. Since the Voynich Guild receives a commission from both sellers and buyers for transactions, the owner of the Curatorium couldn't allow the Special Patrol and the Department to carry out the arrest on the expo grounds, but she did allow the operation to be conducted off-site to maintain neutrality.
Nefer
The boss of the Curatorium of Secrets is Nefer. She was born in Sumeru, to the Shimti tribe, descended from refugees from Tulaytullah. Her father, Sinuhe, the tribe's chief, once rescued people from the Sumeru Akademiya, who gave him their address in exchange for aid in the desert and promised him the status of a special ambassador. Sinuhe hoped that with the Akademiya's help, he could lead his tribe out of the desert and give them a better life.
After one of the sandstorms, the Shimti well was filled with sand, and the chief was forced to draw water from another tribe's well, which incurred their wrath. Sinuhe wrote a letter to the Akademiya asking for help and to enroll his daughter, but they never responded. War broke out between the tribes, and the entire Shimti tribe, except for little Nefer, was wiped out. With her entire family gone, Nefer settled for a time in Aaru Village.
When the people of Aaru approached the Akademiya seeking a talented and intelligent girl, Nefer hoped to enroll in the Amurta Darshan. But when she arrived in town, she was enrolled in Vahumana without a placement exam, with a dismissive remark about the desert people. At the time, it was believed that the entire purpose of desert-dwellers’ existence was to record the history of their tribe, thereby providing material for cautionary tales and polite conversation.
The students didn't consider her an equal either: they asked if it was true that desert people couldn't count, were always fighting with each other, and drank animal blood. Nefer felt as if she were an interesting curiosity to them, a footstool for them. She tried to justify herself and prove that the desert people were not what they imagined, but she still felt she didn't belong at the Akademiya. Remembering her father's letters to the Akademiya, Nefer decided to examine a box of old letters and discovered that her father's letter had never been read.
After promising her father she would show him how to lie properly, Nefer, bidding farewell to her only friend, left the Akademiya and set out into the desert to avenge her family. She approached the Iab tribe as a special ambassador of the Akademiya and promised to pay fifty million Mora for the right to excavate the well that led to the Shimti tribe’s death. The day after the deal was concluded, a second tribe, Unut, attacked the Iab tribe, which meant they had a traitor. In reality, Nefer approached the leader of the Unut tribe herself, promising to pay him fifty million Mora for the elimination of the second tribe. The next morning, both tribes were completely annihilated, having killed each other due to Nefer's deception.
After avenging the destruction of her tribe, the girl returned to her village, only to find it in ruins. Only the ancient temple of the Ibis King, one of King Deshret's seven pillars, stood untouched, as if neither war nor sandstorms could shake it. Near the temple, the girl noticed a black kitten, which served as a vessel for the spirit of Thoth. The cat, Ashru, led her to the heart of the temple, where the Ibis King made a deal with her and asked her a riddle.
King Deshret had once locked away the Three Kings, Thoth, Sobek, and Heryshaf, in Aaru on the far shore of eternity, the ultimate dreamland of all desert dwellers. He told the Ibis King that he could be freed from his eternal curse if he chose people who could give the correct answers to three riddles. And although Thoth had already asked two questions, he still had not received the correct answer.
When Thoth asked Nefer what determines truth and falsehood, she answered, "a liar's soul," the last time. Liars are the best at seeing through the falsehoods of the world, but if you want them to tell you the truth, you have to reach their souls. The Ibis King found the girl's answer convincing enough, so he rewarded her with a special chess box capable of revealing secrets. It was thanks to this box that Nefer was able to learn about the Rächer of Solnari's past, using the remains of his heart as a mediator.
But her answer was not what King Deshret wanted, so Thoth remained imprisoned in Aaru. Only several years later, when a calamity began in Sumeru, did Nefer answer all three riddles and free the Three Kings. Furthermore, thanks to the Ibis King's connection with the Moon, Nefer has received the Moon Wheel. But instead of "the gaze of the gods,” she feels as if she is being watched by that old trickster. The girl took Ashru, the kitten who had escorted Nefer to the Ibis King, with her. She believed that one day Thoth would use his body again to communicate with her. Now, Ashru works as a Curatorium of Secrets receptionist and secretary and welcomes the clients.
After Nefer received the chess box from the Ibis King, she traveled to Nod-Krai. At the time, it was completely under the control of crime bosses. Nefer knew that even the most loyal lieutenants dreamed of overthrowing the bosses who sat on the throne. She eliminated all the leaders, giving the lieutenants a chance to rise to power, only to tear each other apart. Nefer herself had only to wait for the dust to settle. When she founded the Curatorium of Secrets, the place immediately became shrouded with rumors. Some believed that the owner performed mysterious rituals and kept war hounds chained up, and when the time came, she would unleash them to bring destruction upon all.
One day, a young man drew his blade against her and declared that no matter how meticulous a schemer Nefer was, she was still flesh and blood, and all he needed was one moment of reckless courage to bring her down. Nefer didn't even pay attention to this threat and merely praised the young man for being the only one who had dared to act from the heart. For this courage, she decided to reward him with knowledge and told him about the kind of people who could truly walk the path of victory. And although she knew he wouldn't make it far, she had gained a new temporary employee of the Curatorium of Secrets.
Some time after its opening, the Curatorium of Secrets announced that anyone could now place a commission there, just like at the Adventurers' Guild. At first, parents forbade their children from even approaching the place, telling them scary legends. But the children knew that Nefer gave them sweets and told them interesting stories. The Curatorium's first ordinary client was a girl whose parents had disappeared. Jahoda, the best employee, easily discovered clues and saved the girl's parents from bandits. As a reward, Nefer asked for only a single hairpin from the little girl's head. After this, more and more people dared to enter this mysterious place.
Jahoda
The best and only full-time employee of the Curatorium of Secrets is Jahoda, who was forced into thievery and murder as a child. When Jahoda first joined the Seahook Gang, she was a little girl who muttered stories incessantly before going to bed. One day, the gang took all the money they had swindled from a dishonest merchant. After compensating the victims, each gang member received a substantial reward. When one of them reached for a necklace from the merchant's belongings, the latter lunged forward, trying to snatch it. He burst into tears, telling the story that the necklace contained the only remaining photograph of his wife and daughter.
The thieves didn't believe it and took the necklace, but when it came time to divide the loot, neither the necklace nor Jahoda was anywhere to be found. At first, the thieves thought Jahoda might have betrayed them for the necklace, until one of them, Zinaida, asked if the girl had gone to return it to the merchant. When Jahoda returned, her guilty expression only confirmed their suspicions, and the boss of the Seahook Gang sighed wearily, deducting the necklace's price from Jahoda's reward. Later, when Jahoda was already working in the Curatorium of Secrets, she met the merchant again, who was immensely grateful to her.
When Nefer had first arrived in Nod-Krai and was eliminating crime bosses, the Seahook Gang was no exception, and under the influence of Mora, he was eliminated by his own gang. Jahoda, who by then had acquired numerous scars and a fever, set out to take revenge on the man who ordered her boss's assassination, Ratfan. Despite her illness and having been shot twice and hit with a hammer, Jahoda infiltrated his camp and defeated all the guards, but was too weak to kill Ratfan. As she had done many times before, she planned to return the following night. She became a legend among thieves: some said they were haunted by her obsessive spirit, others that she had become the Wild Hunt, and only Ratniki could stop her. But in truth, she was just a girl who needed a reason to grow up. The next night, Ratfan set a trap for Jahoda, and she calmly stepped into it. Ratfan offered her Mora, gems, fame, and riches, but she didn't need any of it.
Jahoda learned of Ratfan's location from Nefer, who simply wanted to eliminate him by proxy. The girl couldn't pay for the service, but she promised to work for Nefer. At first, Nefer decided she had no use for this sick, starved, scarred girl without an arm. She offered to introduce Jahoda to the Treasure Hoarders or the Adventurers' Guild, but the latter firmly refused. Nefer suddenly clapped her hands, cutting off the conversation. She'd heard everything she needed to. "The rest doesn't matter, but since you said you'd work for me and could do anything... I believe we have a deal." Thus, a contract was forged between Nefer and Jahoda, and although the girl didn't have time to figure out the situation, she now had a place to hide.
One day, Jahoda saw a familiar necklace in the Adventurers' Guild, one that her former gang colleague, Ihanti, had left as a reward for a quest. Ihanti asked for the stolen items to be returned, and Jahoda volunteered to do so. When she returned the items from the Treasure Hoarders, Ihanti was in an awful state: he was almost blind and seriously ill. When she met Ihanti, he refused to see a doctor and asked Jahoda to let him go, giving her a rag doll as a parting gift. Although Jahoda wanted to bring him at least some medicine, when she returned, Ihanti was already dead. The girl then promised that she would not suffer the same fate.
When Jahoda hadn't yet received a Vision, Nefer gave her a turquoise glass ball to give her authority when carrying out assignments. Nefer also spread rumors about the Vision, and the attitude toward the girl noticeably improved: rewards became more generous, and the assignments more challenging and demanding. And although Jahoda felt great pressure from the increasingly difficult assignments, she worked even harder. One day, Nefer returned from a night walk and saw Jahoda trying to help people even in her sleep, because she possessed the Vision. As Nefer was about to leave, she caught a fleeting glimmer of turquoise. A lie told a thousand times suddenly became true, and for her diligence and desires, Jahoda received a real Vision.
Comissions
The Curatorium of Secrets provides a wide range of services, including finding cats for the Frostmoon Scions, purchasing fishing gear from Liyue, identifying suspects, delivering medical supplies to the Lightkeepers, purchasing robot parts, sending letters to other countries, settling debts, and much more. One of the Curatorium's clients was Gaming, a Wushou dancer from Liyue. He had come to Nod-Krai to perform a traditional dance for one of the elders as a birthday present and then heard about work opportunities there. Gaming hoped Nefer could introduce him to local suppliers to find high-quality wood for the stage.
Another client of the Curatorium was Chevreuse, captain of the Special Patrol. She contacted Nefer to find a suitable training location for her squad. They had spent too much time in Fontaine and had become accustomed to the training routine, so Chevreuse decided to organize their training in a new location under unexpected circumstances. Besides Chevreuse, Chef Escoffier from Fontaine also contacted the Curatorium of Secrets. She came to Nod-Krai in search of new ingredients and encountered a robot girl who smelled of krumkake. Escoffier then contacted the Curatorium to find this girl and ask for the recipe. Sometimes, Nefer invites experts from other countries to offer them work.
The boss of the Curatorium of Secrets invited Emilia, a forensic cleaner from Fontaine, to conduct an investigation. A wealthy man died suddenly, and someone managed to cover up the traces, the only clue being a strange odor in the room. Since the man left a huge inheritance, his family generously paid Nefer. She gathered specialists to investigate, and she, with her extensive connections, quickly assembled a worthy team. It included a formidable fighter from Fontaine, a smart scholar from Sumeru, an insightful investigator from Inazuma, and a resourceful merchant from Liyue. Emilia joined the team as the "Aroma Analyst."
The Curatorium of Secrets occasionally participates in the investigation of murders and other crimes. Thanks to the support of the Voynich Guild and the assistance of the Traveler and Paimon, the Curatorium participated in the investigation of the murder of Sergeant Major Sousi of the Lightkeepers. There were no signs of a struggle in his room, and the only suspect was Sousi’s colleague, Ratnik Flins, who was seen leaving the room. The Traveler and Paimon were able to identify the killer as Rerir, one of the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah, who possessed the ability to assume the appearance of other people. Another of the Curatorium's investigations was the case of Hark the Crackjaw.
One day, the ship Atlas, on which Hark was helmsman, crashed, leaving him as the only survivor. People said he first visited Snezhnograd and then joined a caravan, but then, during an argument, he accidentally killed a fellow caravan member, prompting a reward to be offered for his capture. On the run, Hark sought refuge with the hermit Derwent on Lempo Isle, and although the hermit recognized him, he still sheltered the criminal. Hark soon killed Derwent and took his place, disguising himself as a hermit. He wore a mask to hide the scar on his chin and killed a merchant. Thanks to the investigation of the Curatorium of Secrets’ best employee, Hark the Crackjaw was found and stopped.
