Genshin Sumeru - Tumblr Posts

Quick question for my fellow Genshin players. Has anyone ever thought about what an 8th nation would look like on Teyvat? Like what cultures would they be based off? I mean, wouldn’t it cool to see a nation that’s based off Korea or Poland or Medieval Mali? Or is that just me? Share your thoughts.

P.S. If you recognize where the art came from, friend me plz.

Alhaithem ear design idea! Or maybe just my own made up reason as to why alhaithem has the ear thingies-

Okay- so the idea is that alhaithem either can’t hear very well or literally doesn’t have ears, could be from some research incident, and the headphones(?) act a lot like hearing aids and his ears, he literally cannot hear without them

(Also just another reason for angst, hehe- maybe the incident is why he took up being a scribe instead of a researcher, or maybe Kaveh is the somehow involved in the incident and alhaithem blames him for it making their relationship sour)

A Series of Sumeru Mishaps [Double Trouble SAGAU]

A body double takes on the land of wisdom and dreams. Meanwhile, the ordinary and extraordinary folk alike are swept into the maelstorm of chaos that is their Creator’s ‘international ambassador’.

Aka the -Sumeru 3.0 update consumed me like fungi so here we are- special edition. Also known as -Tighnari didn’t come home and threw a Jean at me so I’m venting- edition.

MASTERLIST

Sumeru was brimming with both life and death, which you came to learn when you stumbled onto a patch of land reeking of absolute corruption. It was a horrifying yet heartbreaking sight, where the vitality of nature was poisoned by the strange red plants, the air itself suffocated your lungs with the stench of death.

“This looks really terrifying realistically…” You murmured, about to bolt the other way when you noticed something peculiar and green dogging your footsteps, “Huh?”

Patches of fresh grass trailed behind you, like you had purified the very land you stepped on. It was quickly overtaken by the withering again but you had enough time to process what you just saw.

“… can I simply stomp out those withering tumors?”

✾~✾~✾

“Someone already dealt with the withering zone in the southeast?” Tighnari questioned, ears standing rigid in his confusion as he stared at the forest ranger.

“Huh, how strange… whoever our little helper is they are either unfortunate enough to stumble into the withering zone or foolish enough to deal with it on their own.” Tighnari didn’t mince his words.

In the back of Tighnari’s mind, he wondered if this had any connection to the appearance of the Creator’s sibling before he shook his head. While the sibling has proven themselves to be highly troublesome- the sibling’s tendency to tackle and cuddle the wildlife instantly came to mind- they wouldn’t be that reckless, right?

Right???

Somewhere, a sneeze sounded from amongst a cuddle pile consisting of Rishboland tigers and a tired body double.

The customers of Lambad’s tavern have grown used to the sight of the Creator’s international ambassador lounging around like a sun-tanning cat. What they haven’t grown used to, however, was the utter strangeness of their actions.

Every evening, the ambassador would walk into the tavern and take the empty table in the far corner. Ordering only a drink and dessert, they would blankly stare at the wall for hours before they leave.

One day, Lambad decided to finally ask about his strange customer’s behaviour- it wasn’t because several concerned customers gave him an exorcist’s phone number, of course not-.

The answer Lambad received only unnerved him even further.

“Oh, the music for your tavern is quite soothing to listen to.” The ambassador replied nonchalantly.

Somehow, Lambad felt cold amidst the warm atmosphere of his own tavern.

The tavern owner stumbled, confused and a little terrified, “But- the tavern doesn’t play music?”

A cryptid smile was his final answer, and Lambad ran away under the guise of getting more food. The ambassador’s humming haunted his retreating figure.

The gossip rushing through Sumeru that evening only strengthened the rumours of a 'mad foreigner’ or 'the Creator hears the music of the winds, serenaded by the adoring Anemo Archon’.

Surprisingly enough, those two rumours never got connected to one another.

✾~✾~✾

“As the Creator’s ambassador and body double you must be aware of the dangers the rainforest presents, correct?” Tighnari’s ears twitched in irritation as you guiltily knelt dogeza-style before him.

“So why would you fool-hardily run to a ruin drake and let it attack you? Have you lost your sense of awareness? Did you perhaps eat one of those mushrooms I specifically told you not to?”

The forest ranger’s calm voice took an underlining growl, stifling his instincts to lock you in his room and prevent you from running headfirst into danger.

Perhaps you won’t notice if your injuries took you a little longer to heal?

“… OST.”

Tighnari snapped out of his thoughts, “Pardon?”

You sheepishly avoided his stern gaze, “The battle OST was so good that I have the habit of… finding new enemies just to listen to it?”

“… so you did eat those hallucinogenic mushrooms.”

✾~✾~✾

Port Ormos was no stranger to eccentric individuals, especially since it readily welcomes and houses Akademiya students who had to trade their genius minds for something- if you’d questioned the older folk around the docks, they would tell you of a strange Akademiya student who used to come around the evening to throw bags into the river while cackling. It was only after that student’s expulsion did people realised those bags he threw were his failed experiments: dead mice, dead fungi, missing people, etc.-

It was quite normal to see a student from the Akademiya having an existential crisis or being arrested in public. But the person wildly dancing in the middle of the street was not from the Akademiya.

In fact, the madman strangely resembled the tiny memorial statues of the Creator.

“Mom, is that person alright?” A young boy innocently pointed at the twirling figure.

His mother quickly ushered him away, “Ignore them, sweetie, and pray to the Creator that their troubled soul is laid to rest.”

“If fungi bad, why cute?” Arapaha had no idea how to deal with the Rainbow Not-Nara. The trees had welcomed the Not-Nara with wealthy growth, the winds joyously sang and the waters have turned a pure blue for the return of the Rainbow Not-Nara.

And yet-

“Release the bad shroom-kin, Rainbow Not-Nara! Shroom-kin bad, and not cute!” Aragana, their youngest, fumed, bouncing as they angrily waved their stick at the Rainbow Not-Nara.

This particular group of Aranara had stumbled upon their Rainbow Not-Nara by accident, having followed the sound of someone singing Arana’s music off-key.

They expected to find the Golden Nara and Paimon, though the Golden Nara’s singing was more harmonious and deeper than this particular voice.

The Rainbow Not-Nara choking cuddling a group of fungi in the middle of a cave was certainly not what they expected to find.

The Rainbow Not-Nara’s aura turned gloomy, like blackened skies and red cubes descending, as their grasp around the unusually still fungi tightened, “Fungi is cute!”

“That’s not true!” Aragana blustered, “Aragana is way more good than that bad shroom-kin! A-And way more cuter!”

Silence descended upon the clearing.

“Aragana, if you wanted me to hold you too you could’ve just say so…” Rainbow Not-Nara spoke gently, like dewdrops upon the fragile leaves in the midst of a rainstorm, loosening their grip to make room for the stuttering Aranara.

The fungus made its move at that very moment.

“AHHH BAD SHROOM-KIN!! RELEASE THE RAINBOW NOT-NARA’S FACE BAD SHROOM-”

You: it’s an onion

Doppelgänger: for the last time it’s a tree-

You: *waves at the Tree of Dreams* it’s just a gigantic space onion, you can’t change my mind

Doppelgänger: You- Traveler, tell them!

Traveler: … Paimon thought it was a giant onion when we found it too

Paimon: You traitor! You asked that Aranara if the tree was edible!

Collection of Genshin Photography

2024: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 -

2023: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -

2022: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -

" the god of wisdom's enemy is wisdom itself, and the oasis of knowledge is a mirage in the desert of ignorance. "

" in the city of scholars there is a push for folly, yet the god of wisdom makes no argument against it. "

" ..have you heard of Irminsul before? "

dottore has me in chokehold oml-

ORORUN REDRAW GUIDE !

i think we’ve all seen the atrocity that is genshin’s unreleased character, ororun. the entirety of natlan is a mess really, but as a yoruba person myself i CANNOT keep quiet about ororun specifically.

outside yoruba mythology, in yoruba, ‘Olorun’ (the name ororun is based on, pronounced o-law-roon , with o pronounced as in orange and the ‘roon’ pronounced shortly, not dragged on at all) is actually the same word we often use to refer to God in Christianity. Christianity is the primary religion among us yorubas so honestly, i was kinda glad they misspelled his name. it would feel SO disrespectful referring to whatever that thing is with the same word we use to refer to God who we actually worship. religion aside, genshin’s depiction of Olorun (cultural god, not Christian one) is downright disgusting. i’d never paid too much attention to genshin and its poor representation, but now that my culture has fallen victim to it, i completely understand all the outrage.

edit: please note that while we use ‘Olorun’ to refer to the Christian God, Olorun is just a general word for ‘god’ itself ! for example if i say “God in heaven” and “god of thunder” we know i’m referring to two different beings, in yoruba it’s the kind of the same—the same word is used to refer to both the Christian and other gods, but we know it’s different, even though olorun can be capitalized regardless of what god we’re talking about (unlike english where the Christian God is capitalized and other gods aren’t) at the end of the day though, when we say “olorun” even without context, we are usually referring to the christian God !

1. PLEASE DO NOT DRAW HIM WITH ANIMAL EARS !

i’ve noticed that hoyoverse has this nasty habit of portraying every dark skinned character as wild or animal-esque. kaeya seems to be the only exception to this. even xinyan, though lacking any animal features, has this wild energy to her. some might call it a stretch, but i feel like her features are pretty feline in comparison to other liyue characters.

Olorun in our culture is the supreme god of the heavens. In my opinion, it is disrespectful to liken him to something akin to an animal. normally i wouldn’t even mind that much, but with how hoyo makes its few dark characters more and more like animals, i can’t help but feel weird about it. its really off putting.

2. HIS HAIR WOULD NOT BE CURLY !

majority of nigerians have 4C HAIR. not wavy hair or loose curls. some have 4B, but 4C is the usual here, that is, kinky or coily hair. Olorun is often portrayed as bald in traditional art, but trust me if he had hair his hair would resemble his people’s, not Tyla’s.

DREADLOCKS ARE A YES ! outside nigeria, locking hair is pretty common, but in nigeria a lot of people have locks naturally. our hair sometimes just grows out that way, no treatment no nothing. dreads are 100% an appropriate style, they look good asf too.

3. PLEASE USE CULTURAL FABRICS IN YOUR DESIGNS !

when i saw ororun’s outfit, i almost started crying. they couldn’t even bother to dress him up a little. they really dressed my brother in a scarf and cape and called it a day 😭 upon how fashionable we nigerians are know to be, hoyoverse still made it their mission to embarrass us stylistically. God knows my people have suffered man 😭

ankara is a traditional nigerian fabric that features bright colors and lots of patterned designs. see below:

here in 9ja, we love our ankara. it’s a big part of our fashion here and trust me it would look excellent in your designs. it’s perfectly fine to draw ororun in normal fabrics since he’s a deity and it’s not like ankara existed back then, but if you really want to represent nigeria, ankara is a must 🙏

i’m going to address another fashion piece because if you search up nigerian fashion you’ll see it a lot: beads.

these orange beads are igbo (another tribe here in nigeria) NOT yoruba. does this mean you can’t use it in olorun’s design ? no ! let me explain. tbh, here in nigeria there’s a bit of...tension between clans. it’s not that common, but older people are definitely a lot more tribalist. as a yoruba i love my igbo brothers and sisters, i truly believe they’re the most fashionable clan and i adore their festivities, they always go over the top. please, just look at them:

(only one image because of image caps, ugh)

anyway, we yorubas wear beads too. but the specific way the beads are worn around the head and in multiple layers round the neck is igbo, not yoruba. though i personally wouldn’t care too much if i saw olorun with igbo beads since all i want is for him to at least look nigerian, at the end of the day he is a yoruba deity. it might be disrespectful to dress the god of one clan as if he belongs to another, especially since there is so much historical ( and very slight but uncommon present ) day tension between both clans.

here’s a more yoruba outfit. sorry yall, it might be hard for you to distinguish if you’re not yoruba or igbo, but a lot of nigerians can tell the difference at a glance. ( actually nowadays, there is so much overlap between yoruba and igbo fashion, but there are many specific styles that may be associated with one tribe and not the other, for example how beads are worn in the above paragraph ) please do your research, he’s not only a nigerian god, but a yoruba one.

one more thing, because i know it will start discourse : skin tone.

nigerians have a very diverse range of skin tones. some of us are so pale, if not for our afrocentric features we could maybe pass for another race. however, ororun is yoruba.

light skinned nigerians are usually igbo. not to say that yorubas can’t be light skin, but here in nigeria if you saw a light skinned person, we’d automatically assume they were igbo. igbo people usually have lighter skin tones. majority of yorubas fall on the more milk to dark chocolate end of the skin tone spectrum. i’m saying this now because i know a lot of people are going to start arguments over ororun being redrawn as ‘too light’ or ‘too dark.’ i don’t really care about complexion, but i thought i’d help you all get your facts right.

that’s it ! if you read all this i’m super thankful. i don’t usually post about this kind of stuff but i honestly love my country and could go on about it for days. nigeria is such a beautiful place with a diverse range of cultures— from hausas to fulanis to so many more. natlan was supposed to be Africa’s time to shine, as well as latin americans, but hoyoverse said fuck you and your people. they did this to an extent with sumeru but natlan was done straight up dirty—not a single melanated character in sight, and the only one who does have melanin, iansan, looks so desaturated you might as well call her grey. i saw someone on tiktok call mualani a dark skinned character—it was at that point that i knew genshin was done for.

please REBLOG this post so it reaches more people and artists in the fandom !! this is literally the third time i’m making this post because tumblr refuses to show it in the tags for some reason 😭 i encourage other cultures who feel misrepresented to make posts like this too. it’s a perfect opportunity to educate and inform people about the diverse cultures genshin has once again failed to represent properly.

Hoyo has never been one to make customer satisfaction their top priority, but we’ve been able to call them out before and i truly believe we can do it again. Natlan is not poor design choice. it is blatant racism, a nation based on POC ethnicities with not a single colored character insight. Hoyoverse has been able to escape racism accusations for as long as i can remember, but natlan is the icing on the cake. we CANNOT allow hoyo to proceed as planned without giving them the appropriate backlash.

Also, if you redraw ororun using this guide, make sure to tag me here or on my main blog, @heartkaji !! i’d love to see all your redesigns. once again, thank you all for reading and have an amazing day !!

I have been sent to the corner 😅

My friend doesn't want to hear about my headcannons so time to harass the Internet~

Hear me out: Genshin Daycare. Aka...Everyone but the Archons (plus Nevulliette) as little children.

Ugh it's gonna rot my brain if I don't talk about it...To the drafts!

Credit to Thai McGrath for letting me use the song!

did I post this here yet?

enjoy

Al-tighnari redesign by me!!

Me happy about Tighnari being the first character with an Arabic name to be introduced(being an Arab myself and enjoying the rep), prompted me to find out the inspiration behind him and his design. I came across a FandomWiki forum saying that Genshin Tighnari was inspired by a real life botanist/poet from Andalusia. I immediately had to go check and found that it was true! There was in fact a poet named Ibn Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Malek Almuri Altighnari-- Altighnari being a nickname in reference to the poet originating from a small village called Tighnar just north of Granada, Spain. But despite Andalusia having been an Arab-conforming place at the time (at the time of the Islmaic reign) the fashion was not plausible to be the true reference for in-game Tighnari's clothes. They were rather simple, although being the source of many other traditional clothes in the East. but it made more sense that the clothes originated from Easter Africa than Spain because Sumeru's forest is mainly based off of Persia and Morocco, and it's desert area being based off of Egypt. So I searched through the these exact places, their traditional clothes, and I studied each similarity, excluding Egyptian clothes cause I already know what those look like (way too far fetched for this qjhsnjaks) I had high hopes for Morocco's clothes, until I found that there were many missing details and too many iterations for their style to properly compare them to Tighnari's outfit's and its supposed source of inspiration. there was no large belt and no strange ropes. Til then I had come across another sadly debunked FandomWiki forum saying that Tighnari could have Amazigh origins, but despite, I believed it for a while actually! it was the most (if not the only) plausible answer, seing as how despite Al-tighnari and the Amazigh being from two completely opposite regions, it held more possibility that the cultural clothes that belonged to them could be the inspiration for Tiggi bois outfit. I was very fixated on studying just general Amazigh style clothing, but BUT THEN I came across one particular photo that had an outfit EXACTLY like Tighnari's and I went BINGO!! there was everything, the excessive misc, the colorful ropes, the wide belt and the strange accessories. I FOUND IT FOLKS!!! TIGHNARI IS BASED OFF OF TUAREG CULTURE!!! The tuareg people of the desert whose attire never fails to wow me. it's so colorful and lively it's actually so pretty!! So upon all this, I decided to recreate Tighnari's design to my liking to make him look more authentic!!

TADAA!!!

I kept some aspects of his original outfit, like most of the colors and the misc, but I also added many cultural touches!! the jellabah (dress), the headscarf and the traditional jewelery worn by women! I thought I would be a nice touch :D

if it wasn't for his ears, Tighnari's head would be fully covered, but hey, stylization is valid!!