Archon War

Archon War
Type	Historical Events

The Archon War was an era of various power struggles between gods that began several thousand years ago for unknown reasons, although scholars in Teyvat believe it began over seven divine seats in Celestia. While different regions settled their power struggles at different times, the era drew to a close 2,000 years ago after the final seat was claimed.

With the end of an era came the establishment of a new order under the Seven Archons. They established the seven nations, determining their method of governance through their ideals and shaping their nations using their elemental powers.

Overview

How or why the Archon War began is currently a mystery. Gods were able to coexist relatively peacefully before the War began, so the circumstances that triggered the Archon War are currently left to speculation. The logistics of the war are also unknown, such as how the nations were divided or how the victors were determined.

According to Soraya, the war began as a struggle over the seven divine seats in Celestia, both for supremacy and to see their plans for a prosperous humanity to come to fruition. However, not all gods participated in the war with the intent of taking a divine seat; some wanted to defend their territory, while others didn't even want to fight and tried to save as many people as possible from the destruction of the war.

An alternate explanation is that the death of gods removed divine seats that previously existed in Celestia, and The Seven were either gods who kept their seats by prevailing over the others, or were beings who ascended to godhood after defeating gods of old. Decarabian's death resulted in the "crumbling of an ancient seat of divinity," while Barbatos ascended to godhood and became the Anemo Archon.

Neuvillette, the reborn Hydro Sovereign, recalled his predecessor's memory after the return of the Ancient Authority, that "all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other." It is presumed that the aforementioned event is the Archon War, and the Heavenly Principles manipulated the gods to eliminate each other.

After The Seven were established, most defeated gods fled Teyvat and took refuge in the Dark Sea — lands outside of Teyvat where The Seven have no dominion, where they became known as "evil gods." Some gods, however, chose to cooperate with The Seven and even became important figures, such as Boreas.

Mondstadt

2600 years ago, in the midst of the Archon War, the city of Mondstadt was located northwest of the current location, what is now known as Stormterror's Lair. Back then, there were two warring gods: Decarabian, the God of Storms, and Boreas, the King of the North Wind. The entity who would become Barbatos was but a wisp of the wind, with little to no power.

At that time, Mondstadt was a wasteland of ice, snow, and endless icy blizzards, almost impossible for humans to live in. This was all caused by Boreas, who gained his powers from an ancient — and likely deceased — god. In order to protect his people from the cold, Decarabian enclosed the city into a wall of storms, letting nothing go in or out of it; Boreas declared war on Decarabian, but was incapable of landing even a scratch on his tower. For his part, Decarabian seemed either uninterested in, or incapable of, defeating Boreas, and was content with keeping his people safe. Unbeknownst to Decarabian, however, his people felt trapped and worshipped him out of fear, which he mistook for genuine devotion.

During his time as a wisp of the wind, Barbatos befriended a young bard who dreamt of freedom. He also saved the Gunnhildr Clan, who had left Decarabian's city to live in the frozen wasteland, and their resulting faith empowered him. Eventually, Barbatos and the Nameless Bard, alongside Decarabian's disillusioned lover Amos and an unnamed knight, raised an army against the God of Storms. They eventually emerged victorious, taking down the god and freeing the people from his stormy cage. Unfortunately, both Amos and the bard were among the casualties, causing deep regret for Barbatos.

After Decarabian's demise, Barbatos claimed a divine seat in Celestia, becoming the first — and only — Anemo Archon among The Seven. Boreas, despite holding tremendous power, was aware that he was ill-fit for the role of a loving archon who could nurture humanity, as he found human society to be a disappointment and only accepted abandoned infants and outcasts as his kin. Believing himself unfit for the position of Anemo Archon, Boreas chose to disappear. In his final days, he realized that his icy blizzards could only destroy life and decided to let his power flow into the land of Mondstadt instead, putting an end to the icy storm. Boreas would eventually return as a spirit, watching over the area now known as Wolvendom and working with Barbatos as one of his Four Winds.

Barbatos' first use of his powers was to take the form of the young bard as a way to honor him. After that, he used his wind powers to shape the land to make it prosperous for his people, teaching them the values of freedom. He then left the people to themselves, refusing to rule them directly and risk becoming a tyrant himself. Instead, he journeyed throughout Teyvat, often paying visits to the Geo Archon, Morax, of the neighboring nation of Liyue.

Liyue

During the Archon War, Morax, Deus Auri, and Guizhong, the God of Dust, lived with the adepti and their people in the region now known as the Guili Plains. When the war began, they stood by each other and fought other gods. 3,700 years ago, Guizhong died in a particular battle which also ravaged the Guili Plains, and Morax took the people south of Mt. Tianheng and established Liyue Harbor.

After the establishment of Liyue Harbor, Morax continued to defend his people from other gods and monsters. One of his exploits was the war with an unknown god in Chenyu Vale. The war was implied to be particularly bloody, as the Bishui River was said to be crimson red. Morax easily overwhelmed the god, who then sought to flood the Bisuhi River in a final attempt to defeat him. This act would have also destroyed the vale, causing the god's adepti disciples, Fujin and the Herblord, to defect. The two rebelled against their master, along with their old friend, the suanni Lingyuan, to evacuate the people. The god's fate is unknown, but the Herblord fell in battle and Fujin "sank to the sea," losing much of her powers in the process.

Other notable feats of Morax were defeating and sealing various gods and sea monsters at Guyun Stone Forest with stone lances, among them were Osial and the Chi of Yore. Although they were defeated, the stone pillars became divine, but with hatred and curses within as well. Marchosius, the God of the Stove, was one of the gods who sacrificed his power and godly status to prevent the calamities and plagues caused by the war from finally destroying Liyue. The demons that were generated, however, posed a threat to the people, so Morax assigned a group of adepti called the Yaksha to eliminate them. The karmic debt accumulated proved to be too much for them, either perishing or disappearing; as of the present day, Xiao is the only alive and active yaksha.

The serpent god Orobashi was also one of the gods lost to Morax. After its defeat, Orobashi fled to Inazuma.

Meanwhile, the Salt Goddess Havria, known for both her gentleness and relative weakness compared to other gods, tried to avoid the chaos of the Archon War and yearned for the peaceful days of old. However, in that brutal era, she found herself making more and more concessions until all she had left for her and her people was the land now known as Sal Terrae. In the end, she perished at the hands of her own people: realizing that her love and kindness were incapable of protecting them, the king of her people decided to slay her both as a demonstration of their decision to take a more militaristic stance, and to spare her the agony of defeat and destruction at the hands of another god. On her death, however, the surge of power that emerged from her body turned anyone who had been in the area into salt. Those who survived were scattered throughout Liyue, most eventually settling in Liyue Harbor and forming Yinyuan Hall with a distorted version of events.

Inazuma

Little information exists about the Archon War in Inazuma. The Inazuman archipelago was united under the rule of the Electro Archon, the Raiden Shogun — which was Makoto (Baal), with her twin sister Ei (Beelzebul) serving as her kagemusha. One of the gods they defeated was Orobashi who fled and found itself beyond the seal that separated Enkanomiya from the rest of Teyvat. Since then, it rescued the people there, brought them back to the surface, and created Watatsumi Island using its own scales for its people. Orobashi and the people of Watatsumi lived peacefully within the nation of Inazuma up until Orobashi's rebellion and defeat against the Shogun.

Sumeru

Unlike other nations, the three God-Kings: King Deshret, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and Nabu Malikata peacefully shared the throne with each other, although Remus refused to be under King Deshret and left Sumeru. King Deshret even went so far as to reject the position of Archon (with Gnosis and/or the Dragon Authority implicitly referred to as a "gift" given to him by Celestia) to pursue his own interests and ambitions. Multiple events subsequently led to the deaths of King Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers, and Rukkhadevata thus was titled as the sole Archon of Sumeru. After Lesser Lord Kusanali erased Rukkhadevata from the Irminsul, the world now knew Kusanali as the Dendro Archon that arose from the Archon War.

Fontaine

Little evidence of the Archon War is known in Fontaine, though it likely coincided with Remuria's conquest of Fontaine. At this time, Egeria had been sealed away by Celestia for using Primordial Seawater to give human forms to the Oceanids. Meanwhile, the God King Remus, who created and ruled over the ancient civilization of Remuria, had desperately sought a way to avert the prophecy wrought on by Egeria's actions. In his attempts to bring all of Fontaine under his rule and thereby save everyone, Remus began a vicious campaign of conquest against the other tribes of Fontaine, whom he would either convince to join him or take by force. Remuria was led into destruction by its own creation, Phobos, as Remus and Scylla's plan to stop Phobos failed, which resulted in Remus's death, Scylla's imprisonment, and Remuria's sinking into the Sea of Bygone Eras. Celestia commanded Egeria to return from the "primeval prison" they had trapped her in and take over Remus' position in ruling Fontaine.

After ascending as the Hydro Archon and cementing her rule, Egeria exiled all of the nation's criminals, who were treated as outcasts. Some of these criminals repented and begged for mercy, which she heard and granted by having them "protect" her secret in the depths, which they did by constructing the Fortress of Meropide.

Natlan

As Natlan operates on the unique rules and system from all other nations, that humans can ascend and become Pyro Archon, there may be no Archon War in the traditional sense. The rules and system were set by Xbalanque, the first Pyro Archon, by borrowing the power of the heavens after his ascending to the divine throne.

Conclusion

As the Archon War drew to a close 2,000 years ago, only the Seven remained, giving Teyvat the seven nations we know today.

Only Barbatos and Morax remain as the original victors of the Archon War, while the other five nations' Archons have been replaced over the past 2,000 years. Baal died 500 years ago in the cataclysm and was been replaced by her twin sister, named Beelzebul, under the name "Baal." Similarly, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata also died 500 years ago in the cataclysm and has been replaced by her incarnation in the next samsara, Buer. The previous Hydro Archon - Egeria - perished during the cataclysm, and her remains became the Amrita Pool while her consciousness was anchored to the Human Realm by the Harvisptokhm (grown by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata) to contain and cleanse the Abyssal defilement in the Girdle of the Sands, she was later succeeded by one of her familiars Focalors as the new Hydro Archon. The title of Pyro Archon was inherited by multiple humans throughout the years, with the latest holder being Mavuika.

After Nahida purged Rukkhadevata from the Irminsul, the world's perception was changed and Nahida was now known as the only Dendro Archon since the Archon War. Zhongli's altered Character Story 5 now indicated that he and Barbatos were the only two of the first Seven to remain in positions of rulership. This supposes that Buer lost the ruler position due to her amnesia after exhausting her power during the cataclysm, and only regained her position recently. Thus, she is not viewed the same as Zhongli and Venti.

Other Languages

Language	Official Name	Literal Meaning
English	Archon War	—
Chinese (Simplified)	魔神战争 Móshén Zhànzhēng	War of the Demon Gods
Chinese (Traditional)	魔神戰爭 Móshén Zhànzhēng
Japanese	魔ま神じん戦せん争そう Majin Sensou	War of the Demon Gods
Korean	마신마신魔神 전쟁전쟁戰爭 Masin Jeonjaeng	War of the Demon Gods
Spanish	Guerra de los Arcontes	War of the Archons
French	Guerre des Archons	War of the Archons
Russian	Война Архонтов Voyna Arkhontov	War of Archons
Thai	สงครามเทพอสูร Songkhram thep asun
Vietnamese	Chiến TranhChiến Tranh战争 Ma ThầnMa Thần魔神 / Trận ChiếnTrận Chiến陣戰 Ma ThầnMa Thần魔神	War of the Demon Gods / Battle of the Demon Gods
German	Archontenkrieg	Archon War
Indonesian	Perang Archon	Archon War
Portuguese	Guerra dos Arcontes	War of the Archons
Turkish	Hükümdarlar Savaşı	War of the Archons