Cassiodor

So the Remurian Saturnalia 2024 event is something we're hosting on twitter. Basically it's "make a fic with a char from the Remuria cast for each day of Saturnalia". Here's the event info so you can understand better: https://rentry.co/remurian-saturnalia-week-24

Now, let's get onto the wip fanfic!!

Note to mods: this includes Aurelius/Dryastis mentions, which is in the lore for Silvershower Heartstrings. Don't nuke this post for shipping, it's in-game!

***

“Cassiodor! Cassiodor!” The door flew open with a bang, and Aurelius gripped the doorframe, panting. His bangs were even messier than usual, sticking to his sweaty forehead, and his long braid had several white feathers sticking out of it.

”Aurelius, brother,” Cassiodor said with a concerned frown, “why the urgency? It’s Saturnalia. None of us are working today, by the mercy of the Glorious Sebastos.” Cassiodor caught a whiff of the alcohol on the other Harmost’s breath and smiled. “And I see that you’re already participating in the festivities, ho!”

Aurelius shook his head wildly. “I—I am aware that we’re off-duty,” he panted. “It’s not about that. It’s my,”—a few more pants—“it’s my geese. I must’ve taken my eyes off them for too long, for I suddenly noticed that Dryastis had gone off and started eating the Rainbow Roses in the Hortus Euergetis!”

Cassiodor frowned again. “Dryastis? Isn’t that your lover’s name?”

Aurelius blushed. “Well, I, ah… I may have named my favorite goose after her.”

Cassiodor winced. “Ah, I see, then… Have you spoken with Euergetia?”

Aurelius’s eyes widened to the size of trumpet horns. “By the Sebastos, no! I do not have a death wish! And that’s not all, brother. After I rounded up all my other geese, I chased Dryastis out of Hortus Euergetis, and she…” Aurelius shuddered, and Cassiodor braced himself.

“…She dove right into one of the pipes of the Sebastos’s organ!”

***

This is the first Saturnalia I’ve properly enjoyed in a while, silently mused a certain God King as he sipped Bituria’s finest wine from a beautiful copper rhyton. Remus of Remuria sat with his legs crossed on the glistening golden roof of the Domus Aurea, mesmerized by the way the afternoon sun glinted off of the various rooftops of the Capitolium. The Initium Iani had been opened for the holidays, and for one week, everyone was welcome in the Eternal City.

Remus’s gaze turned towards the crowded streets, filled with people in colorful togas and cloaks. His people, his subjects, his children, all of whom he loved dearly, all partaking in the festivites. The sight filled him with joy and wonder, and the whimsical expression on his face was quite unbefitting for someone of his status.

“Remus. That whimsical expression on your face is quite unbefitting for someone of your status,” scolded a voice on his left. He turned his head towards the intruder, his maskless face on display.

But that was alright. The “intruder” was someone he knew well—and anyway, it was Saturnalia. As per custom, neither him nor the other Harmosts would wear their masks out in public.

“Scylla,” Remus said joyfully, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled. “How pleasant it is to see you.”

***

Aaaand that's what we have so far!

Bestie pings: @CalicoTheKat @CloudyBerryGirl @IntrovertedBigBoss @Lunenexe @IALDABAOTH1

Hi again, it's us with YET ANOTHER Remuria lore post!

So if you've done your reading around the Faded Castle, you'd know that Cassiodor did quite a bit of gatekeeping to prevent interest in the ruins of Remuria from arising, and to protect the seals in the ruins of Petrocorii (now Petrichor).

He canonically gatekept from the Fontainians that the Marechaussee Hunters were survivors of the fall of Remuria, not Egeria worshippers. He also canonically spread falsehoods about Remuria to prevent people from finding the Seals of Chymical Marriage and keep the Faded Castle a secret.

But what else did he do? Because if he did that, then there's more he could've done. A lot more. So here's our theories on other things that Cassiodor gatekept:

Euergetia

If you've noticed, not once was Harmost Euergetia of Remuria mentioned outside of the Faded Castle and Sea of Bygone Eras. History has literally forgotten her. Sure, that could simply happen. For certain. And yet! If you look at the engravings in Hortus Euergetis (not calling it a tombstone because she's not confirmed dead, although it's either death, disappearance, or insanity for her), Cassiodor writes a very sus line:

"Though your beneficence be forgotten, though your name be forgotten, here the flowers shall always bloom for you."

Read that again.

Why did he think she'd be forgotten? What'd she do? It's not like she Irminsul'd herself, records of her still exist.

But only deep underwater and in the Faded Castle.

All of this leads us to believe that Cassiodor gatekept Euergetia's existence. His own sister!

Aurelius

According to Silvershower Heartstrings, Harmost Aurelius of Remuria was not a real person. Now, we know this is false. All that esoteric stuff that the Narzissenkreuz Ordo was all about? Aurelius invented a good chunk of it. The Four Orthants, the idea that they need to be united and pierced with a metaphorical substance... ah, yes. All of that. We can thank Aurelius for that!

Yet the people of Remuria think "Aurelius" is a fictional character, one with no historical counterpart.

Seeing what Cassiodor did with Euergetia, is it that far of a stretch he gatekept his other brother's existence as well?

The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria

Oh, man. This book. It's awfully inaccurate―something we only realized after we panicked and edited a section of Project Remuria, thinking that the book was correct. It was an easy fix, but still a pain in the neck. It shouldn't have happened at all! Keep your lore consistent, HoYoverse!

Except, is this really a HoYoverse problem? Or is this a "Cassiodor was gatekeeping again" problem?

Let's think. The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria was written a mere century after the fall of Remuria, and yet it is wildly inaccurate. But it's not like there's someone who can correct it.

Oh, wait. Cassiodor's alive.

We theorize that The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria was actually written by Cassiodor to further spread misinformation on Remuria, hence why it's so wrong despite its recent-ness.

Standings:

Cassiodor's ability to gatekeep: VI

People of Modern Fontaine: Nulla

Two extremely important government figures, an entire faction, a whole fucking castle, the seals in that castle, and a major history book. The winner of this round is Roman Ratio.

Pings: @CalicoTheKat @CloudyBerryGirl @IntrovertedBigBoss @Lunenexe @IALDABAOTH1

Please let us know if this is incoherent it's late 😔

Credits to: Cyclic_abelian (from the HoYoFair special program; “Fate of Fontaine”)

THEY’RE ALL SO PRETTY AFDJABSJSB

The seven most important Remurian figures have all had their histories messed around with:

• Remus's name was dragged through the mud, and he was made out to be a madman and conqueror while in truth he was benevolent, a pacifist, and doing everything he could to save the Remurians from their fate

• Scylla being a Vishap was forgotten, instead he was painted as a cruel, white dragon when in reality he was merciful to the Remurians; also, he was thought to be a traitor to Remuria when he was in fact very loyal

• Wriothesley mentioned Sybilla in the Archon Quest, but it was mostly forgotten that she had created the Symphony

• Cassiodor's ties to ancient Remuria were forgotten, to the point that connecting the Marechaussee with Remuria was considered a mistake that not even a child would make (Ruggiero's notes I)

• The Symphony made Boethius out to be way worse of a person than he actually was, painting him to be a madman and a traitor when in reality he was being possessed by the people's desires... he may not have been the best person in reality, but he was loyal and devoted, not the traitor that the Symphony made him be

• Aurelius (hoo boy! This was fun) has a play about him (The Saga of Aurelius), and in some versions of the legend about him he was so obsessive over his crush that she begged to Egeria to be turned into a pine tree, while in other versions of the tale, he was shot with an arrow and had his body dumped into the sea (Silvershower Heartstrings); in reality, he died when his ship (the imperial flagship, but not the Fortuna) was sunk by traitors with him on it (Ancient Engravings in Alta Semita). In addition, the figure in the legend that is literally based on him is said to have no historical counterpart; in other words, the people of Fontaine think he's not real. But wait! There's more! Despite him being a legend and nothing more (ha), the Narzissenkreuz Ordo used his research and theories, as Aurelius was the one who discovered the Quadrant of Qualities (Memory, Wishes, Soul, Persona; these became the Four Orthants) as well as the concepts of Substance, Property, and Relation

• And last but certainly not least, Euergetia was completely erased from history, only mentioned for the first time in some records in the Faded Castle; her blood was used to forge the chains that bound Scylla. We have no closure on her, no knowledge of her status―is she alive? Dead? No one knows. Nothing is confirmed.

It must suck to be a historical character, especially from Remuria. Some Fontanians do not believe that Remuria even existed. And Remuria in general was just tragedy after tragedy. Give us some happy Remurian content hoyo >:c

Anyway we just wanted to ramble about Remuria lore thank you for listening to our TED Talk and feel free to ask more questions about Remuria lore (the Aurelius one killed us we just found out about the sheer injustice today, he was done dirty af)

-🎼

Alternate text: Harmost Euergetia (fandesign) stands next to Harmost Aurelius (fandesign). They both exclaim, "We got pages!" Below them, there are screenshots of their pages, labeled "Euergetia" and "Aurelius". In the top left corner, Harmost Cassiodor exclaims, "Hooray!"; Harmost Boethius, meanwhile, says, "You barbarians will pay for taking so long".

No it’s not just the eyes we promise