Prophecy of Fontaine

The prophecy of Fontaine (unofficial name), referred to in-game simply as the prophecy, is an apocalyptic prophecy that is believed to have been foretold by Egeria, the former Hydro Archon.^[1]

It is speculated by the Traveler that the ancient stone slates in Fontaine that outlined the prophecy may have been the doing of Vedrfolnir, the Visionary.^[2]

According to the prophecy, all inhabitants of Fontaine are born with sin that cannot be absolved. The prophecy also states that one day, the water levels in Fontaine will rise, and all individuals with sin will be drowned and dissolved, with only the Hydro Archon remaining, weeping on her throne. The prophecy further predicts that during this great flood, the sins of the people of Fontaine will be washed away.^[3]

History

All life that has ever existed on Teyvat can trace its origins to the Primordial Sea. When the Heavenly Principles arrived, they deposed the Hydro Sovereign and usurped its elemental Authority over the Primordial Sea in order to create the first human beings on Teyvat.^[4] To further solidify their control, they also created a new "heart" for the Primordial Sea — the later Hydro Archon, Egeria — and bestowed upon her both the authority over Hydro and the guardianship of the Primordial Sea, effectively replacing the Hydro Sovereign.^[5]

Egeria's Sin

Egeria created familiars out of pure water known as Oceanids, whom she tasked with understanding all lifeforms on Teyvat and "connecting them" through love. However, after observing humans and their colorful lives, many of Egeria's Oceanid subjects expressed a wish to transcend their elemental natures and live human lives.^[6]

Hearing their pleas, Egeria granted their wish: after obtaining life-granting water from the Primordial Sea, she poured it into the Oceanids' "blood vessels", which gave them humanoid forms to live on land. These humans eventually organized into various tribes who worshipped Egeria as the Mistress of Many Waters.

However, this came with a catch: if these humanized Oceanids ever came into contact with Primordial Seawater of a high enough concentration, their faux blood would seep back into it and dissolve them into regular Oceanids - devoid of the sense of self and individuality they possessed as human beings.^[6]

Egeria's Punishment

Despite Egeria's benevolent intentions, she had not been granted permission from the Heavenly Principles to create a new "human" race and her transgression angered them severely.^[6] To punish Egeria,^[6][7] Celestia imprisoned her inside the Primordial Sea and condemned all of her human creations by branding them with "Original Sin" to reflect their illegitimate origins. This set in motion the prophecy that foretold that all of them will one day be dissolved back into the Primordial Sea during a great flood, washing away the sin of their existence in a show of ultimate justice. At some point in time, an unidentified individual (speculated by the Traveler to be Vedrfolnir) would record how exactly the prophecy would play out upon stone steles, which is presumably also how the people of Fontaine indirectly came to know of their impending doom.

Meanwhile, the dragon Scylla was tasked by Celestia to guard Egeria during her imprisonment. Here, she was visited by her contemporary god Remus, who sought answers to stave off the prophesied destruction of his nation of Remuria. She granted him a cup of Primordial Seawater, which he processed into a substance called Ichor, and used it to transfer the essence of his human subjects into new bodies of eternal, unaging stone. Remus hoped that these immortal bodies would grant his subjects the ability to transcend their fate. However, the plan failed as Remuria was still destroyed by a great flood^[8], sinking deep underwater and taking with it the souls of countless Remurians still trapped inside their insoluble stone bodies.^[9]

After the Archon War, Celestia released Egeria from her imprisonment, granted her a Gnosis, and placed her onto the seat of the Hydro Archon. After ascending into her new role as God of Justice, she helped many of the exiled criminals of Fontaine build a new home, the Fortress of Meropide, which also served the secondary purpose of guarding her "secret" deep beneath the water: a large opening into the Primordial Sea which could serve as a potential trigger for the prophesized flood.^[10] Egeria perished in the Cataclysm 500 years prior to the start of the game without finding a solution for saving her people from the prophecy, instead leaving behind an ominous conundrum for her successor.

Recent Events

Focalors' plan

After Egeria's death during the Cataclysm, one of her Oceanids who were turned human - Focalors - would rise to Archonhood. Focalors judged that the only way to circumvent the prophecy was by deceiving fate itself into thinking it had been ostensibly fulfilled, while simultaneously saving the people of Fontaine in reality. To this end, she split her godhood away from her human vessel, Furina. Furina masqueraded in Focalors' stead for 500 years to deceive the people of Teyvat and the Heavenly Principles alike into believing that this human was the true Hydro Archon. Meanwhile, Focalors hid her divine self, alongside the Hydro Gnosis, within the confines of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale.^[7]

The Oratrice was a device capable of using the trials that continuously occurred in the Opera Epiclese to convert the faith of Focalor's subjects into an energy source called Indemnitium. Only a fraction of Indemnitium was used to power the everyday lives of Fontainians, and the majority of it was secretly accrued inside the Oratrice so that on the day that the prophecised disaster finally struck, she would have obtained enough power not only to sentence herself to death, but also destroy the Divine Throne of the Hydro Archon itself, shattering the yoke of the Heavenly Principles over Fontaine once and for all.^[7]

The next part of Focalors' plan involved absolving the Fontainians of their branding with Original Sin, which meant they would become bonafide humans who would no longer dissolve into the Primordial Seawater. This judgement could only be passed by someone who possessed the Elemental Authority of Hydro and the ideal of justice which it represented. After executing herself, she would return the Authority stolen by Celestia to its original owner: the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, whose current incarnation was Neuvillette. Despite being born in human form, Neuvillette initially held little regard for humanity and was quite undecided regarding the purpose of his own life. Focalors invited him to serve as the Iudex of Fontaine and preside over its trials, hoping that the long years of experiencing an array of human emotions at court would enable him to understand humanity and want to protect them. Thus, when the Authority over Hydro would be restored to him, he would exonerate the humans and overrule the sentence of guilt Celestia had placed upon them.^[7]

Present Day

While the Traveler was incarcerated in the Fortress of Meropide, Wriothesley showed them a large sluice gate in the Forbidden Zone locking the Primordial Sea below the fortress. Wriothesley confirmed that if the gate failed, then all of Fontaine would be dissolved into the sea. This risk led Wriothesley to build his own ship, The Wingalet, as a precaution against the prophecy. The ship was inspired by the legend of Remuria where King Remus took the Golden Bee and rode the Fortuna over the waters.^[10]

On the day that the prophecy would ultimately come true, Furina was made to stand trial by the citizens of Fontaine on charges of deceiving her people by hiding her true identity and to pressure her into confessing her secrets. Just as prophesied, she was judged guilty by the people of Fontaine, their Chief Justice Neuvillette, and the Oratrice itself in the most historical trial in the nation's history. Shortly after she was found guilty, a colossal whale broke into the Opera house, attracted by the "blood" of the Fontainians.^[6] It was warded off by Childe in his Foul Legacy form.^[7]

As planned, the Hydro Archon received the death sentence. Focalors used the power of her amassed Indemnitium to execute herself and destroy the position of Hydro Archon, granting Neuvillette full authority over the element of Hydro, and freeing Furina from her curse in the process. Neuvillette, with his newfound authority over Hydro, absolved the people of Fontaine of their "original sin" and used the powers of the Primordial Sea to convert their faux blood into real blood, turning them into "true" humans.^[11]

In the ensuing battle against the All-Devouring Narwhal, Neuvillette separated the beast's consumption of Primordial Water, allowing him and the Traveler to subdue it. The battle resulted in its roiling Hydro energies overwhelming Teyvat's deep seas, flooding Fontaine as the prophecy foretold; however, as the people of Fontaine were now truly human, they were not dissolved into water, and the waters receded just as fast as they flooded the nation.^[7] Although those who had already been dissolved were unfortunately not restored, further casualties were minimized or avoided thanks in part to the Wingalet rescuing many from drowning in the waters until they retreated once again.

Slates

These are a series of slates found in ruins south of Poisson, depicting stages in the root and progression of the prophecy.

The first slate, depicting Egeria creating Fontainians from Oceanids.

The second slate, showing Celestia enacting punishment on Egeria's and the Oceanids' kin for the sin of creating a new human race.

The third slate, allegorically depicting the Hydro Archon standing on trial, with the water symbolizing justice, according to Neuvillette.

The fourth and last slate, depicting a flooded Fontaine and the Hydro Archon solely weeping on her throne.

Trivia

• The story of the Fontaine prophecy makes references to the original sin, flood myth, and Noah's Ark in Christian theology; Egeria's transgression against the Heavenly Principles being the "original sin", the flooding of Fontaine (and subsequent dissolution of its people) being the "flood myth", and the Wingalet airship serving as "Noah's Ark."
• According to Nahida, the prophecy was "carved into" Irminsul a long time ago.^[12]

Change History

References

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