Character Base

• Character Name: Zhongli
• Age: 6000+
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Genshin Impact | Ongoing canon (canon point is up to April 2021) | Historia Antiqua Chapter II

• Items Coming Along:

-Guizhong’s Dumbbell
-Vortex Vanquisher
-A tea set
-A bag of mora

• Content Warnings for Character:
Mentions of war and death

Character Background

• History: History

• Core Relationships:

Guizhong: Probably the most influential and important of all his relationships, Guizhong the God of Dust, was one of Zhongli’s very first friends and acquaintances. She was good natured, and gentle, unlike Zhongli or as he was once known -Morax- who was the brawn of the two and hard as stone. Their meeting changed Zhongli forever as they founded Guili Plains together and were there for one another throughout the Archon War. He carved a stone sword for her, the primordial jade cutter, and used it to cut down friend and foe alike after her untimely demise. Guizhong’s the reason for Morax’s change into a God that serves his people and protects them offering humans the knowledge of building houses and stoves – all this wisdom he learned from Guizhong herself. Her presence has so affected Zhongli that for his rite of parting the flower which he uses is the Glaze Lily – Guizhong’s favorite. Without Guizhong’s relationship it’s hard to tell if Zhongli would have turned into the Archon he is in the present, ever watchful but also curious as to how humanity lives. But it also had him experience loss and death of a dear friend.

The Traveler: Zhongli’s relationship with the Traveler is beneficial and very good. The Traveler having helped Zhongli set up the rite of parting and protecting Liyue has earned him a very special place in the Geo Archon’s heart. If there was anyone that Zhongli would be willing to protect if would be the Traveler. He sees the Traveler as a curiosity as well, knowing that there are other worlds out there and that the Traveler is from another planet entirely piques Zhongli’s interest, but he doesn’t make it a point to interfere or intervene in the Traveler’s choices along the journey. In this way Zhongli may experience the world outside of Teyvat and learn more of the customs of humans and other countries in Teyvat as well.

Childe: Zhongli and Childe’s relationship is a rocky one to say the least. Zhongli acknowledges the young man’s power and even mentions that he’ll keep an eye on him. Zhongli’s relationship with Childe is an odd one. The two of them seem to be on friendly terms even after the whole Osial incident, but that doesn’t mean that Zhongli doesn’t keep a close eye on the other. If anything after the incident Zhongli is even more aware of Childe’s presence, then ever before, and it has put into perspective what a human like Childe is capable of.

Venti: Having lived as long as he has, Zhongli has seen the passing of many friends throughout his lifetime. And some of those friends he even caused to be sealed away or killed. However, Venti the God of Anemo was a friend that’s been with Zhongli through thick and thin. Despite Zhongli’s temperament and disgust towards Venti it’s obvious that the Geo Archon cares for the other even if showing it by simply reminiscing about the friend from Mondstadt who brought him Dandelion Wine. It’s this knowledge that Venti is there as a friend that helps alleviate some of the erosion that Zhongli himself states to have.

Azhdaha: Probably almost as significant as Guizhong, Azhdaha was a being born blind and took it upon himself to form a contract with Morax. Morax granted him sight and the two became friends, so much so, that Azhdaha fought alongside Morax to protect the people of Liyue. Together they were an unstoppable force and together they had an incredible bond. But as the years continued onward Azhdaha suffered from erosion, from the poisoning and drying up of the Ley lines from which he took sustenance, and in turn, forgot his contract with Morax. The contract being that should Azhdaha threaten the order of Liyue he would be sealed away again by Morax himself. Unfortunately, such an occurrence comes to pass and Azhdaha winds up being sealed beneath the Earth. This is yet another experience of loss for Zhongli in his ageless existence.

The Adeptus: Despite Zhongli's stepping down from his godhood with the relinquishing of his gnosis he and the adepti are still very much in contact with one another. Even though Rex Lapis is no longer the god of Liyue they all still respect him. One of the main relationships we do see, however, is Zhongli's relationship with Xiao who suffers incredible pain for his karmic debt. Zhongli personally sees to his care by giving him a special medicine Remedium Tertiorum which is apparently a medicine that nothing of that world can withstand. His relationship with Xiao shows a caring and nurturing side to Zhongli, one that is not often seen. But there is also Ganyu as well, whom Zhongli deeply respects as when asked to speak of her history he fears not even his own telling of it would be good enough to receive her approval.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences:

Zhongli is knowledgeable which is easily seen through his literal agelessness and being over 6000 years old. But on top of that Zhongli has, on more than one occasion, shown just how much knowledge he has by spouting off information that most people have never even heard of. Such things being specific rites, stories, and even legends that have been lost to time and forgotten. An instance of his random knowledge is when building a specific set of furniture Zhongli talks of Liyue following a multitude of rules when there is furniture in a study. He calls them decorative arts that are arranged into 3 schools of thought and 9 areas of specialization.

Zhongli is loyal seen by his clear and ever-present need to follow and stick by the people of Liyue. His loyalty is shown in the second chapter of his story quest when even though Azhdaha was a friend of his Zhongli still sealed him away due to his threat towards the order of Liyue and its people. Zhongli also has some loyalty towards the Traveler as well by wanting to show them Liyue’s sights, fighting alongside them, and even taking an interest in them due to their otherworldly nature. Zhongli has some dialogue that expresses his feelings towards the Traveler in this way most notably is the quote:

“Being with you like this is truly a lively and joyous experience.”

This clearly shows Zhongli’s thoughts and feelings towards the Traveler and having met them being something of a great experience for him in general. Perhaps there’s some kinship amongst the two as they are both slow to age and therein lies Zhongli’s connection with the other.

Zhongli is calculating seen easily by his entire planning of faking his own death and fooling Childe and even the Traveler into thinking he really wasn’t Rex Lapis. Throughout the entire Rite of Parting, Zhongli was there all along to witness it and perhaps as a trial for the Traveler, he allowed the other to help him. But Zhongli also allowed the Adepti and people of Liyue to fight Osial off by themselves, stating that he would have stepped in had the outcome shifted in Osial’s favor.

(2+) Negative Experiences:

Zhongli is also very duty-bound which ties into his loyalties. It’s uncertain where Zhongli’s loyalties lie, while he enjoys and helps the Traveler with mundane things from their exchange at the end of Zhongli’s second chapter the Traveler asks him about their sibling and the incident of Khaenri'ah. To which Zhongli responds that he cannot say a single word about it due to his ‘contract’ with what one would assume to be Celestia (aka the overseers of Teyvat). This paints Zhongli as a god that takes his written and spoken contractual obligations seriously and without any cutting corners. He is so immersed and driven in the ways that he’s been living by for over 6000 years that he would even jeopardize his own friendships over his duties. Duty and abiding by one’s contract are a core piece of Zhongli’s character as is evident by this interaction but several others as well. His sealing of Azhdaha was due to a contract and even him giving up his gnosis was all in a contract that he himself states he will always follow.

The final core trait is Zhongli being ancient. Through this trait, all the other previously mentioned ones are tied together. It’s obvious that the oldest archon would have incredible knowledge but in turn, he also suffers from maintaining this knowledge and history. In losing many of his friends along the way of gaining that knowledge he has witnessed the untimely deaths and sacrifices of so many others that the toll on his mind is evident by stating that erosion has affected him as well. He is loyal to his people, but he is also bound to silence with his ties to Celestia as he is duty-bound and loyal to his namesake of God of Contracts, which he got from Celestia during the Archon War, making it so he can never break the contracts he makes unless they are fulfilled in some way.

Duty leads to suffering, and these losses Zhongli has faced through his 6000-year long life have ultimately lead to an old, eroded, and weathered soul. Zhongli when one gets right down to it may be a god, but he still has emotions, a heart, and a memory that is far too good for his own good. He states that his heart is made of stone and yet he still suffers when he loses those who are close to him. There are many secrets that Zhongli keeps and perhaps it is to protect and conceal himself towards others. And that is perhaps where his loyalty and friendship with the Traveler comes to light:

“There are many events of ages past... many secrets that lie hidden...
They have been eroded by time, forgotten by the people... abandoned.
But you are capable of finding them and bringing them into the light.”

This exchange almost seems as if Zhongli wants the Traveler to follow this dangerous road into places unknown to discover the truth for themselves, as his contract and duties don’t allow him to assist. Zhongli is ancient and unfortunately, he is also impassive and hands-off when it comes to humans and their affairs. Being a god, he has mostly stayed out of mortal affairs and therefore will not intervene unless it’s something that threatens the order of Liyue itself ie: Azhdaha’s chaos. To this effect his ancient ways of dealing with humans and the world, in general, is a detriment to his growth and newly accepted position as a mere mortal.

Zhongli is also stoic. On the surface Zhongli puts up a very good front as a mortal human, however he did not earn his title and history as being a fearsome god of war for nothing. While in the present form of a human Zhongli’s perchance of inflicting the ‘wrath of the rock’ upon anyone is very low, when it comes to disciplining or enforcing upon those who have broken a contract with him, he is to the point with his punishments. This often makes him come across as cold-hearted or stoic. A good example is in his first quest where Kilment, a Snezhnaya agent, broke the contract between himself and a firm follower of Havria (the now-dead god of salt) upon breaking his contract Zhongli intervenes and inflicts the wrath of the rock upon Kilment ordering him to leave Havria’s final resting place. It’s further seen when he doles out punishment to Wanyan for also breaking her end of the contract as well, which was to tell her the truth of the God of Salt’s demise. Despite her being of incredible faith, Zhongli told her the truth that her goddess was murdered by her own people during the Archon War. This visibly upsets the woman, but Zhongli continues forth without batting an eye because it is her ‘punishment’. This goes to show his stoic and almost callous nature when it comes to those who break their contracts with him. But this is probably all because archons put themselves at a distance from humans and it would not be wrong to say that his years fighting in the Archon war made him cold and detached when it comes to doling out punishment and making hard choices. But it is wrong to say that he looks down upon humans, in fact, he finds them rather fascinating. He cares for the people of Liyue and it shows how long and devoted Zhongli has been to his people. Enforcing the rules and being a stickler for them just comes as his position as the God of Contracts and this makes him seem emotionally detached a lot of the time.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers:

Even without a Gnosis Zhongli is a force to be reckoned with! Being the Geo Archon and one of the Adepti, all his powers are earth-based and mainly are support typed powers. It is also shown that Archon’s like Zhongli can change their appearance at will. His one other canon appearance is that of a dragon, but there is also the story of him being a woman and getting lost in Liyue as well. In all his forms his eyes remain the same amber hue. Like many gods in other media, he has some general abilities such as: self-healing though he can be killed if the hit is a fatal one, the ability to teleport short distances, telekinesis (as he doesn’t actually hold his weapon when he fights), being extremely durable as he states that his body is not that of normal people, and suppression of his presence.

Being the prime Archon and an Adepti, he possesses a great working knowledge of the three secret arts: Alchemy, Sigils, and Sub-Space Creation. Within the game itself, Alchemy is used to make various elixirs that grant weapons powers. Alchemy, however, requires specific items and materials to fashion things from. The use of sigils allows Adepti to store their powers in the form of symbols, and sub-space creation allows for Adepti to create a separate dimensional paradise with their minds. Sub-spaces in-game are essentially called Domains. In Trench, this power will be boosted with his Darkblood but not much will change with the actual power itself as it's very limited in its scope of use.

Zhongli’s in game abilities revolve around rock/geo statuses. He is also an expert in polearms (as it is his weapon of choice in-game) but he’s likely to be proficient in all manner of weaponry given his age and experience. His in-game abilities are as followed:

Dominus Lapidis: Basically, this erects a geo pillar from the ground which deals continuous geo damage to anything in its field – for in-game writing purposes we will say the field is around 10 feet. Dominus Lapidis has another form which is called a shield of jade which as the name suggests is a shield for continuous blocking of damage. It manifests itself as an amber, iridescent, screen that has pieces of rock within it. Referenced here: Jade Shield

Planet Befall: Aka meteor. Zhongli basically summons a meteor from the sky and upon impact, it encases enemies in stone for around 3 seconds. Referenced here: Planet Befall

On top of these abilities, Zhongli can move, control, and manipulate metals and rocks something akin to Earthbending. As it was stated that he literally remade the entirety of Liyue’s landscape and the huge pillars of rock jutting out of the sea around Liyue were supposedly his doing during the Archon War.

• Blood Type: Darkblood
• Omen: His Exuvia form seen here: Omen
• Blessed Day: July 15th – which is a headcanon day, but it’ll be the day of Guizhong’s demise
• Patron Pthumerian: The Reckoning
• Blood Power Manifestation:

Considering that Zhongli has canon powers that tie into his Darkblood given ones not much will change with telekinesis and reality warping. His blood powers will basically be less powerful than his canon powers. He will, however, be able to stop time for short periods at first – a few seconds and at most 30 seconds until he gets better at using his blood powers.

Writing Samples

One: Sample 1
Two: Sample 2

The Player

• Player Name: Levy
• Player Age: 32
• Player Contact: Plurk @

pathogenic | Discord @ levantholos#4601
• Permissions: Here.

APPLICATION @ doeit