APPLICATION @ jigokucho

[brokebitchmountain]

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Levy
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: Yes
CONTACT: Plurk @ pathogenic
CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Zhongli
CANON: Genshin Impact
CANON REFERENCE: Zhongli canon information | Lore
CANON POINT: Just after the events of Perilous Trail
CRAU HISTORY: N/A
AGE: 6000+ years old
APPEARANCE: Grandpa in all his glory

CONTRACT PAYMENT: The payment will be the rebirth of Guizhong.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

What does family mean to you and who do you consider a part of your family?

Family for Zhongli are those that he holds in high regard and opts to protect without a doubt. The adepti and the yaksha are some of the few that he considers being his family. Xiao is the first and foremost that comes to mind as seen in The Perilous Trail, Zhongli is definitely worried about the other and even comes to his aid at the end by actually saving Xiao. Azhdaha, and Guizhong are the other two which come to mind when thinking about family. Zhongli held Guizhong in such high regard that he vowed to protect their people no matter what after her passing and even tried to open himself up to humanity by learning more about them as a final wish of the other. Azhdaha is the other and just like with Xiao and the other adepti Azhdaha and Zhongli fought so many battles together to protect Liyue that he considered the other a very dear and close friend, aka family. For Zhongli family is a hard idea to really convey, considering how long he’s lived, but those that he shares a strong bond and connection with are those he truly confides in and considers his family.

How do you react to betrayal? How severe must a betrayal be for you to consider it such?

Betrayal for the literal God of Contracts is something that he can never quite overlook. It’s shown a few times in canon that those who betray and go against the contract forged between Zhongli and the other party that they face the wrath of the rock. It’s quite easily seen in the first of his story quests most notably when dealing with the fatui Filment and when finding the artifacts of the fallen goddess of sand, Havria. Filment at one point breaks the contract and Zhongli immediately puts him in his place with a fight, leaving the man beaten and broken, running away with a treasure he so greedily wanted. This is also the same situation in his fight and containment of Azhdaha, who was a very good friend to Morax aka Zhongli thousands of years ago. Regards of the connection Azhadah broke the contract between himself and the people of Liyue and was a threat to them, so Zhongli stepped in and sealed him away.

It seems that regardless of who it is that betrays him Zhongli is a very literal man and will dole punishments towards anyone who breaks or betrays the contract between himself and even between others.

What is your favorite diversion? Hobbies, indulgences, vices? Would you put off important things for that diversion, or would you be more strict about how you spend your time and/or money?

One of Zhongli’s favorite pass times is…shopping, especially for high end products that he cannot reasonably afford which is just hysterical considering he made the in-game currency as an archon. Zhongli is a god with impeccable tastes for all things human, even though he himself is not. He enjoys eating the finest of foods and drinking the most expensive of wines, but he also loves to buy trinkets and things that exceptional in quality and craftsmanship. He also enjoys going to plays and drinking with friends, however when it comes to these diversions, he is rather strict in how he spends his time, as he still is coming down from being a god and a god of order if nothing else. However, since his retirement Zhongli spends his time traveling and seeing the rest of Teyvat now that he’s free to do as he pleases. That is how he now spends his time.

Money, however, he’s not so strict about spending. Zhongli has been shown to make others pay for all his purchases or leave it on tabs for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor without a single care in the world. There’s also the case of Childe who only helps this vice as he often just makes the other man buy his things for him, since he himself is bad with money. In his main story quest, he opted to pay full price for everything for the Rite of Descension without even considering haggling for it showing the player just how downright dumb he can be when it comes to money. This mainly stems from the fact that money for a god is kind of meaningless since they hardly must indulge in things that require it. But for Zhongli who wants to take a step back from godhood and be a ‘ordinary’ citizen the lack of thought and regard to mora just makes him look quirky and strange.

An enemy of your faction has asked for a meeting, proposing a truce of sorts to deal with a greater threat. On one hand, there is indeed a threat at hand, but on the other, this person double-crossing you is just as likely an outcome. Do you agree to the meeting? Do you trust them?

Zhongli, of course, wouldn’t trust them, but he would agree to meeting them, as an old god he’s seen the ins and outs of humans and other beings double-crossing one another to know that it’s never the best idea to outright trust the enemy. Though even he himself has hidden and tricked people who were close to him, Childe being the most recent in canon. The fact of the matter is that Zhongli used Childe for his own personal gain, and almost as a test for his people, to which he simply stood on the sidelines and watched. So, while he would agree to meeting to have a truce to this threat, he would also be wary and try to find out as much information as possible about the person he was meeting with.

Zhongli can be seen as someone who is always one step ahead of adversity, as his entire first story quest showed. Even before the Traveler arrived in Liyue Zhongli had already made plans to hand over his gnosis to gain his own freedom, but also to ensure that his people remained protected.

POWERS & ABILITIES:

Talent list

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, in all his forms however 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 deadly one, the ability to teleport short distances, telekinesis, and being extremely durable as he states that his body is not that of normal people.

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 with sub-space creation they can create a cosmic separate dimensional paradise with their minds.

In Jigoku the sub-space creation will drain him rather quickly so he can only use it sparingly and he’ll be able to only create a maximum of 3 sub-space dimensions which will be no larger than a two-story house.

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 in the past of fighting in the archon war. 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 shield of jade which as the name suggests is a shield for continuous blocking of damage. This shield, as in-game, will only last for a minute or until it’s shattered.

Planet Befall: Aka meteor. Zhongli basically summons a meteor from the sky and upon impact, it encases enemies in stone for around 3 seconds. This ability for in-game purposes functions the same way however the impact will only be around 20 feet in diameter from where Zhongli is standing.

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.

In terms of nerfing, Zhongli will only have the small ability to manipulate stone upon entering the game, as everything else will need to be regained.

SUITABILITY:

Zhongli has been through quite a lot in his 6000 years, especially as the overseer and protector of Liyue Harbor, a huge port city that is one of the central trading hubs in Teyvat. He’s seen and probably experienced a lot of the same things that Jigoku is going to have within it and being so calm, level-headed, and collected as he is this place will likely not affect him too much. Suitability-wise I think he’ll make a good addition to any faction since he’s just so old and experienced in a variety of ways. I do think he’ll struggle to adapt to the technological aspect of things, but he’s willing to learn even if he’s a dumb old rock.

FACTION SUITABILITY:

Shuten Clan

In terms of this clan, Zhongli’s suitability for working within them would be derived from his own sense of justice and need for order. Zhongli is a firm believer in honor, as stated above he dislikes lying and betrayals the contracts he forms. Within the Shutan clan, he would be the one to enforce and even punish those who lie and break deals with the clan.

Tamamo Clan

As for the Tamamo clan, since freedom is its major selling point, Zhongli who has never known such things – given his status as Liyue’s God and protector, would find the newfound freedom exhilarating and curious. Within this clan Zhongli would opt to show people a good time, as he does have an eye for the exceptional and extravagant, and perhaps he’d be able to learn a thing or two about being an ‘ordinary’ human. Though his lack of money and poor use of it would make for an interesting time should he be someone sent out to show people around the town.

Sutoku Alliance

If knowledge is power, then Zhongli is a force to be reckoned with. Known back home as a mysterious man who is knowledgeable in all things within the Sutoku Alliance he would bring knowledge of other worlds and their gods respectfully to the Alliance to perhaps form yet another clan within it. While Zhongli himself could garner and gain quite a lot of information for himself as well. He’s well-spoken, understanding, and above all else open towards learning new things. As a former protector of his people, the Alliance’s motto of "the people need power, and power requires those with the wisdom to manage it" fits perfectly into how Zhongli used to run Liyue as its overseer. In those regards, he would try to protect and nurture those within the Alliance to better help them stay afloat.

Department of Enma

Probably the easiest of the clans for Zhongli to participate in, Enma is everything that Zhongli is at his core. Order and justice are two of the very key factors in Zhongli’s personality as he was the god of contracts and to maintain his lands, he delivered justice to those who broke those contracts and threatened to upend the order he so passionately protected for his people. Zhongli, though not exactly a cop or an officer type, would be willing to seek out those who threaten and disrupt that which Enma fights to uphold within Jigoku. Zhongli would be more than happy to be a part of something that is Enma the reason being is because he was part of Celestia who seems to have a bit in common with Enma as seen with their reaction towards khaenri'ah (a city without a god ruled solely by humans which went against the order and rulings of Celestia) and how they doled out its punishment, which led to its destruction. It’s uncertain on whether Zhongli was a part of that destruction, but he’s bound by contract to not speak of it, making him a perfect representative for a position in Enma. His quote:

"Nothing can be accomplished without rules or standards. No matter if it is mortals or adepti, everyone has their place. This rule keeps Liyue in peace."

Perfectly illustrates his own ideals and thoughts on his people and the city which he once protected. Without rule and without order peace cannot flourish, this is one concept and thought that Zhongli firmly believes in and makes up a good part of his character and actions.



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