The whole time we've played Genshin we've been introduced to sides at war with each other and all the different players within it. We know that there are many different ideas on how this war should be decided and they all seem to be independent of each other. You do have Pierro who is likely from Khaenri'ah but he's allied himself with Snezhnaya's Archon and working towards her plan to take the Gnoses from the other Archons. Our sibling on the other hand is working towards lifting the curse Celestia placed on the Hylic or hilichurl people and then doing a hard reset on Teyvat by destroying it.
That second plan is from the Abyss Order which our sibling has sided with. These are the fallen people of Khaenri'ah and they power themselves through the Abyssal Energy to further their plans. Based on the lore of Enkanomiya that means they represent the Void Realm.
But remember how Tsumi described how it actually works.
The Abyssal Energy isn't part of the Abyss Order. It's a substance that they are just addicted to and they are using its power. That power also protected them from the water in the Inverted City that was weakening the other cursed people like Dainsleif.
So if we think about it that way then it's as if the Abyssal Energy itself is also a side. It's only using the Abyss Order to meet its own goals. But does that make sense? Would the energy itself be conscious?
In my big theory I worded things in a specific way. I claim that what Khemia actually does is rip open the fabric of reality and draw in something like the Honkai to be used as power. Now I can tell you guys why I said it like that.
A short while ago I expanded a little on my theory saying that maybe the Monad from Gnosticism will be the Imaginary Tree and Teyvat will know it as the Goddess of Fate and mother of Phanes Ananke. At the same time that left it possible that the Sea of Quanta would be Chaos the God of the Void and that same rivalry between the tree and sea is what the Honkai really is.
My recent topic on the Imaginary Tree talked about its Chinese name - 虚数之树. 虚数 is a real world quantum physics term the imaginary number but that first word is actually in Genshin too. 虚无界 is the Chinese name for the Void Realm. Notice how that word in imaginary number is there too? The second word 无 means "without" so what the Void Realm really is is a world without the imaginary. In other words it is the antithesis to the Imaginary Tree aka the Sea of Quanta. The Void Realm itself is beyond just the Abyss.
The underlying point here is that we're working in tiers. At the very top is the basic "war" of creation vs destruction. Ananke the Imaginary Tree is struggling to stay ahead of Chaos the Sea of Quanta which is trying to destroy it. This plays out on scales we have no control over. But their conflict seeps further down. You have Ananke's child Phanes who in a healthy universe like Genshin's is working to contain humanity's ambitions to keep the universe thriving Otto's whole "pruning" theory. This is because unkempt human ambition ultimately becomes destructive and there are many references to how the world will burn as a result of human malice. That's Khaenri'ah and the Abyss they became.
On their own Celestia would have had no trouble crushing them and keeping the world going as usual. But they had to come up with Khemia which allowed the tiers to bleed into each other and made our journey towards Plan A much more important. Khemia allowed Chaos to empower the Abyss with its pure "without imaginary" Void power. So this is direct empowerment similar but different from the Honkai powered Herrschers in Honkai Impact. Both work in the same way. You have humans who are corrupted and are coerced into causing destruction which tips the balance in favor of the Sea of Quanta. The difference is in the tier. In Honkai the universe itself is tipped in the sea's favor so the Will of the Honkai which is the same thing as Phanes in Genshin works towards helping to destroy it. But here in Genshin the Abyss forces are under the thrall of the sea itself.
This is also likely why the Abyss forces weren't affected by the Inverted City like typically cursed people are. They are above anything terrestrial. And at the same time it makes our sibling's plan with the Abyss even more dumb. Genshin's universe is winning in the rivalry. It was at no risk for destruction like Honkai's is but thanks to the manipulation of Chaos the Abyss could push the balance back in its favor.
How's that for stakes?
Tips and Tricks from a Super Casual Genshin f2p
