Cyrene/Story

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Cyrene is the childhood friend of Phainon from their hometown of Aedes Elysiae. In one flashback, she was shown talking with a young Phainon, calling him the "Deliverer" in the prophecy. Some time later, she was seemingly stabbed by the Flame Reaver, bleeding golden ichor.^[1]

She was the Chrysos Heir and demigod of Time from the final Amphoreus cycle before the start of the eternal recurrence. While Phainon became an Okheman soldier after Aedes Elysiae fell to the black tide, Cyrene became a student within Oronyx's temple. When the Flame-Chase Journey was supposed to end and bring forth the birth of the Lord Ravager Irontomb, Phainon and Cyrene instead continued the experiment, weaving a long dream for Amphoreus and removing "Time" to have Fuli gaze upon the Scepter and save the world. Fuli's gaze would grant every version of Cyrene the power to reset time, creating an unending Flame-Chase Journey — and because "Time" had to disappear, Cyrene did as well. She decided to imbue her soul into her blade, and left it up to other versions of herself to delete "Time" again and again.^[2] Along the way, her consciousness without her memories became the fairy Mem after meeting the Trailblazer.^[3]

During this time, March 7th visited the Path Space when the Garden of Recollection tried to coax her to enter Amphoreus in an attempt to save the Garden. Cyrene, who was lingering in this space, stopped her before she could be convinced — however March still continued on and entered Amphoreus in order to reunite the Trailblazer and Dan Heng.^[4]

Appearance

Cyrene appears as a tall young woman with light pink hair, fringe with side bangs that curls inward, elf-like ears, and purple eyes with diamond-shaped pupils, accented with pink, green, and blue highlights. Her hair reaches her knees with some white streaks and fades to a darker pink, blue, and green. The middle of her hair is braided into two hearts, with a crystal hairpiece framed in silver. She has a white rose on the right side of her head, with a grey ruffle, pastel fabric, and a white laurel wreath halo.

Cyrene wears a shoulderless, backless, high-low ruffled white dress with side waist openings. Underneath is a sleeveless, high-neck stained glass pattern garment. The bodice of the white dress features many intricate white details that frame the undershirt. A blue and pink rose is placed at the right of the dress at the waist with a silver heart frame under it. The inside of the dress is purple, the front is ruffled with a yellow-blue gradient short ruffled fabric on the side. At the back, a large white bow is placed at the waist, two ruffled fabrics in a green, blue, purple gradient are featured, along with another four white transparent fabrics.

Tied around her neck is a white rose with a purple planet-shaped earring on her left ear. Cyrene has short, ruffled separate sleeves with a high-low hem. Her upper arms are adorned with silver arm bands, an Amphoreus tied ribbon in pink and blue wraps around her right wrist, and two white ribbons with a white rose on her left. Cyrene dons crystal-like closed-toe pumps with purple soles and a white patterned design on her calves and right thigh. On her left hand, she wears a silver ring with a pink heart-shaped crystal on her ring finger.

Additionally, when summoning Memosprite Demiurge or when using her Technique or a certain idle animation, the transparent fabric on the back of her hairpiece and waist grows longer, and she gains an elaborate white halo.

History

Originally, Scepter δ-me13 was queried by Nous, the Aeon of Erudition to find the "prime mover of life." To achieve this, Scepter δ-me13 began to nurture a life form possessing an "Ego." However, after Lygus came across the Scepter, he detonated a Stellaron within the kernel layer of the Scepter. The Demiurge survived the explosion but became contaminated and fell into a deep slumber. When the eternal recurrences were initiated by Khaslana and Cyrene, Cyrene entered the kernel layer to upload and record the memories of the Flame-Chase, intendindg to offer them to Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance. During this process, in her loneliness, Cyrene often spoke to the Scepter and, unknowingly, communicated with the Demiurge. As the eternal recurrences continued, Cyrene's presence and stories gradually influenced the Demiurge. Over time, the Demiurge began to resemble the fairies of the Membrance Maze, and eventually, it took on the appearance of an adult Cyrene. By the 33,550,336th eternal recurrence, the Demiurge was fully roused, though at the cost of losing her memories initially.^[5][6]

In the form of Mem, she first appears after the Trailblazer receives the gaze of Fuli,^[7] and showcases the ability to gather memories inside of Amphoreus and use them to travel back through time.^[8] Initially, other characters do not understand Mem, with her spoken dialogue consisting of "mem" and "memi." Only the Trailblazer and Oronyx are able to communicate with her,^[7] but after the defeat of Nikador, Castorice becomes able to understand bits of Mem's speech, and she begins speaking in understandable words periodically.^[9] After entering the trial of Oronyx, she is able to speak in complete sentences.^[10] Mem mentions that her name is something she came up with on a whim, and before realizing her identity as Cyrene, she wonders what her real name is. She also notably experiences flashes of the destruction of Aedes Elysiae, as well as a memory of Cyrene being cut by the Flame Reaver's weapon.^[9]

After Mem sacrificed herself to protect the Trailblazer from the chaotic flow of time, the Demiurge took the form of Cyrene in the 33,550,337th eternal recurrence. The memories of the 33,550,336 previous Cyrenes and Mem merged together. Demiurge then embarked on a journey with the Trailblazer and helped stop Lygus from completing Era Nova by influencing Cerydra, the Ultimate Protocol of the Scepter, and convincing her to aid the Trailblazer and their companions in saving Amphoreus. She also rescued the Trailblazer from the prison of memory created by Evernight and brought her to a Light Cone, where Evernight was confronted by March 7th.^[11]

After the Era Nova process was completed, the Demiurge took on the form of a mature Cyrene, met the Trailblazer, and revealed that she had regained all her memories. She remembered that she was the thirteenth Titan of Amphoreus. Cyrene then recounted the moments she had shared with the original Cyrene and explained how those experiences had taught her to "Love."^[6] Following the Battle of Amphoreus, the defeat of Irontomb, and the victory of the Cosmic Alliance, made possible through the Demiurge's actions, Herta informed her of the gaps in the causality of Amphoreus, which could lead to Irontomb reforming once again due to missing logic. The Demiurge was presented with two choices: remain in the present and allow Irontomb to eventually manifest again, or return to the past to fill the gaps in causality and close the loop, thereby denying Irontomb any chance of victory.^[12]

When she returned to the past, it was revealed that Fuli had never gazed upon the Trailblazer; it was, in fact, the Demiurge whom Oronyx had mistaken for Fuli. The Demiurge also planted the ceremonial blade once wielded by Cyrene in the Sacrament Courtyard. The Demiurge also sent out a signal, in form of traces, to the mirrors of the Garden of Recollection, hoping that the Trailblazer would one day eventually arrive at Amphoreus. At the end of her path backward through time, the Demiurge's consciousness and mind transformed into PhiLia093.^[5][13][14]

Trivia

• In-game, Cyrene's name is a pen name she gave herself, meaning "ripples of past reverie."^[4] She explains that she came up with it the first time she wrote a poem, and that she wants her words "to be like pebbles falling into a pond, dropped from the past to send ripples into the future."^[15]
• Cyrene bears many similarities including a striking resemblance to Elysia from Honkai Impact 3rd, particularly her playable character form, which heavily resembles Elysia's Herrscher of Human: Ego form.
  • New Page, the track that plays when Cyrene first appears in Trailblaze Mission Dawn, Shine at the World's End, is an instrumental variation of TruE, a song that plays in the Honkai Impact 3rd Animated Short: Because of You.
    • Her introduction at the end of Myriad Celestia Trailer "Amphoreus' Saga of Heroes" is identical to the final shot of Elysia in Because of You.
    • The giant Cyrene present in the battle against Irontomb is also reminiscent of the giant Elysia seen in Because of You.
  • Like Elysia, Cyrene often mentions the word "romantic," and subtitles when she speaks sometimes append an eighth note symbol (♪) at the end of her sentences.
  • PhiLia093's serial number, 093, when flipped upside down spell "EGO," which is Elysia's codename.
    • Cyrene is also later referred to as "Flawless Ego,"^[16] while Elysia is often associated with the word "flawless."
  • Cyrene's existence as the Thirteenth Titan parallels Elysia's role as the 13th Herrscher.
  • Cyrene's favorite day of the year, 11/11,^[17] is Elysia's birthday.
• The crescent moon-shaped weapon the Flame Reaver wields is Cyrene's ceremonial blade.
• According to Phainon, Cyrene was really good at stargazing and divination, especially with cards.^[18]
• Cyrene has the following aliases:
  • Reney (by Relimem^[19] and Tribbie)
  • Pink Sea Hare (by Hysilens)
  • Cyrie (by Hyacine)^[20]
  • Peach (by Demiurge)^[15]
  • Amphoreus's Heart^[15]
  • Sister (by March 7th)^[21]
  • First Nouspore (by Anaxa)
  • Flawless Ego (title in As I've Written, Amphoreus' Saga of Heroes)
• According to Evernight, Cyrene's Myers–Briggs personality type is ENFP.^[22]
• The translation of the morse code "... . .    -.-- --- ..-    - --- -- --- .-. .-. --- .--" shown in Cyrene's Character Trailer, "With You Once More," translates to "SEEYOUTOMORROW."
  • The beats of the music also follows the length of the morse code.
• The 2D animation sequence in Cyrene's Character Trailer references the animated independent film False Memory.
  • Cyrene's Character Trailer and False Memory share the same themes of false memories and inserting one's self into another's memory.
• Cyrene's splash art resembles a heart symbol.
  • Cyrene also makes a heart-shaped gesture with her hands when attacking after using her Technique.

HoYoverse Shared VAs

• Cyrene shares the same English voice actor, Aiden Dawn, with Ronova and Mr. Nine in Genshin Impact.
• Cyrene shares the same Chinese voice actor, Yanning (宴宁), with:
  • Pela and Molten Cheese Tart
  • Elysia, Liliya Olenyeva, and Herrscher of Corruption in Honkai Impact 3rd
  • Mushoku Kika in Houkai Gakuen 2
  • Lumine, Noelle, Qiqi, and Prune in Genshin Impact
  • Anby Demara and Soldier 0 - Anby in Zenless Zone Zero
• Cyrene shares the same Japanese voice actor, Inoue Marina (井上 麻里奈), with:
  • Yanqing
  • Elysia in Honkai Impact 3rd
  • Zhu Yuan in Zenless Zone Zero
• Cyrene shares the same Korean voice actor, Jo Kyoung-i (조경이), with:
  • Yanfei and Aino in Genshin Impact
  • Corin Wickes in Zenless Zone Zero

Etymology

• Cyrene is derived from the Greek name Kyrene, meaning "lord," "ruler," and "sovereign queen."
  • Cyrene is likely named after Cyrene, a nymph and Thessalian princess in Greek mythology. She became a queen after her lover, Apollo, founded the city of Cyrene in her honor.
• Cyrene's Chinese name means "past ripples," similar to her stated in-game meaning of the name "Cyrene."^[4]
  • 昔 xī means "past," and 涟 lián means "ripple."
• PhiLia093 is likely derived from philia, an Ancient Greek concept of love meaning "friendship" or "affection."

References

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