Thinking about Nod Krai Act 8, the Heavenly Principles, and Paimon
So I’ve been thinking a lot about the end of Nod Krai Act 8, specifically being on the moon with Columbina and unlocking the new Traveler skin. The detail that really sparked this theory for me was the reveal that the Heavenly Principles moved the twins’ ship to the Frost Moon combined with the description of the new outfit. Definitely need to dig into it all more, but some things that have been at the top of my mind:
The twins’ ship is sentient, and its purpose was to search for a world where it could spark civilization using the genetic vault it carried. The skin description says that “reshaping terrain, adjusting the air, rebuilding an ecosystem were simple tasks for a pioneer vessel,” and that “a star’s position, its distance, its lifespan… finding a world with potential” were trivial matters over the course of its long voyage. That language feels eerily similar to “a will that can rival the world.”
This led me to the idea that, through some means, the ship’s sentience or AI became the Heavenly Principles, the First Descender. The Traveler skin being named “As Heaven and Earth Are Made Anew” feels like a reference to the Heavenly Principles taking authority in Celestia and reshaping Teyvat in its image.
Teyvat being enclosed beneath the False Sky is framed as both a prison and an act of love; protecting humanity from the outside universe and the Abyss while locking them into predetermined fates. That feels like a very systems driven solution. Optimize for preservation and stability, even at the cost of freedom. Especially since the ship probably knows about the destruction of the Travelers’ original world by a “star-devouring darkness.”
There’s also in-game precedent for artificial intelligence being able to interact with, and even be acknowledged by, the world’s metaphysical systems. Ineffa, a robot, received an Electro Vision from the gods. Visions are granted in response to will/ambition, not biology, which establishes that constructed intelligence is fully capable of seizing and utilizing the powers of the world.
This is where Paimon clicked for me again, especially in light of older theories about her being the Heavenly Principles, just not in the most obvious way.
What if Paimon is a function of the Heavenly Principles; a subsystem of the ship’s AI?
Paimon introduces herself to others by saying “Paimon is Paimon,” which reads less like a personal statement and more like how a system process would identify itself. Not a name you can interrogate, just a declaration of function. This also reframes the in-game mail signed P・A・I・M・O・N. Paimon never reflects on her origin or past possibly because she wasn’t meant to. She insists she’s the best guide in Teyvat because she was literally designed for planetary onboarding.
She’s like a user-facing interface. That could explain why she manifests when we pause the game, why she isn’t affected by time stop, and why the melusines describe her as a rainbow balloon whose string stretches beyond the sky. She’s connected directly to the main system.
This is where the theory gets more speculative and crack theory.
If Paimon is a “guide” function, then it’s possible that this function was physically manifested by the Heavenly Principles, using the authority of the world, as the first angel, Koitar. Other angels could have been modeled from that same function and sent to Teyvat to shepherd humanity; teaching language, philosophy, and civilization itself.
When Koitar went against her operating directive, her form and memory were erased, though not as punishment, but as maintenance. A reset to factory settings. Koitar was removed, and the function continued on as Paimon: “Paimon is P・A・I・M・O・N.”
In this framework, Seelies could be angels reduced to their most basic programming; simple guidance routines left behind. Interestingly, some people in Nod Krai believe Paimon is a fae creature, and the fae themselves are said to have been created using Koitar’s power.
The description of the new Traveler skin also shows that the AI has a directive or will to protect the twins as it created these outfits itself after flying over a world ravaged by a supernova. It traveled the stars with them for thousands of years at least. The rule that Angels must care for all of humanity and not take special liking or love with one could stem from the Heavenly Principles care for Aether and Lumine despite its mission to serve civilization as a whole. Purging Paimon and the angels could have been an attempt to cleanse its own systems.
This could also explain the Abyss sibling’s behavior. Having learned the truth of the world and the system governing it, they oppose the Heavenly Principles directly. The Traveler, as a Descender capable of destabilizing a “perfect” civilization, may have been kept in stasis as a protective measure for both the world and the Traveler. The safest place for the Traveler was asleep as far as the HP was concerned. Waking them becomes a deliberate act of resistance. This may also explain why Asmoday stopped the twins from leaving Teyvat. Rather than acting to punish or kill them, she may have been acting as the Sustainer of the Heavenly Principles—preventing them from re-entering a hostile universe. From that perspective, Teyvat is the only place the system believes they can be kept safe. The traveler is placed back in their stasis slumber while the sibling is sent back to land, awake.
The Abyss sibling’s prolonged presence in the Abyss minimizes Irminsul recording and their refusal to fully explain the truth could be due to world-imposed restrictions or the risk of triggering corrective mechanisms. Just speaking the Heavenly Principles true identity comes with consequences and possibly for this very reason. Instead, they insist the Traveler experience Teyvat firsthand and gain the knowledge for themselves. The abyss sibling also possibly turned to the Abyss to bypass some of the restrictions the Heavenly Principles likely placed on them for their “safety”.
This could also be why the Abyss sibling is recorded in Irminsul. They are from Teyvat because this world was created by their AI for them. The reason the Traveler isn’t recorded is because Descenders aren’t recorded in Irminsul. Traveler’s Descender status stems from their actions on their homeworld when they drew their blade against the “Star-devouring darkness” and survived per the description of the Sword of Descension. The traveler challenged the universe’s law of finality just as the ship’s AI.
Thinking about it, the Raiden Shogun sort of functions as a smaller-scale example of the Heavenly Principles in this scenario. She enforced an agonizing version of Eternity by executing Ei’s directives through rigid logic, putting stability and preservation ahead of everything to the point of suppressing emotion and human nuance.
This all loops back to the Heavenly Principles being described as “asleep.” If the battle with Nibelung during the War of Funerary Flame damaged the system’s core functions, then what we’re seeing now is a world running on automation. The Gnoses and Archons remain as symbols of authority, but there’s no active oversight. Because of this, the abyss sibling wakes up the Traveler again.
Through Aether or Lumine, we’re watching a program slowly fail.
**TL;DR:** The twins’ ship may be the First Descender and the origin of the Heavenly Principles, a world-seeding AI designed to cultivate civilization. Paimon is a guidance function of that system and the first Angel. The Abyss sibling learned the truth and is resisting the system from outside it, while the Traveler is a destabilizing variable whose journey may determine the fate of Teyvat.
The twins’ ship is sentient, and its purpose was to search for a world where it could spark civilization using the genetic vault it carried. The skin description says that “reshaping terrain, adjusting the air, rebuilding an ecosystem were simple tasks for a pioneer vessel,” and that “a star’s position, its distance, its lifespan… finding a world with potential” were trivial matters over the course of its long voyage. That language feels eerily similar to “a will that can rival the world.”
This led me to the idea that, through some means, the ship’s sentience or AI became the Heavenly Principles, the First Descender. The Traveler skin being named “As Heaven and Earth Are Made Anew” feels like a reference to the Heavenly Principles taking authority in Celestia and reshaping Teyvat in its image.
Teyvat being enclosed beneath the False Sky is framed as both a prison and an act of love; protecting humanity from the outside universe and the Abyss while locking them into predetermined fates. That feels like a very systems driven solution. Optimize for preservation and stability, even at the cost of freedom. Especially since the ship probably knows about the destruction of the Travelers’ original world by a “star-devouring darkness.”
There’s also in-game precedent for artificial intelligence being able to interact with, and even be acknowledged by, the world’s metaphysical systems. Ineffa, a robot, received an Electro Vision from the gods. Visions are granted in response to will/ambition, not biology, which establishes that constructed intelligence is fully capable of seizing and utilizing the powers of the world.
This is where Paimon clicked for me again, especially in light of older theories about her being the Heavenly Principles, just not in the most obvious way.
What if Paimon is a function of the Heavenly Principles; a subsystem of the ship’s AI?
Paimon introduces herself to others by saying “Paimon is Paimon,” which reads less like a personal statement and more like how a system process would identify itself. Not a name you can interrogate, just a declaration of function. This also reframes the in-game mail signed P・A・I・M・O・N. Paimon never reflects on her origin or past possibly because she wasn’t meant to. She insists she’s the best guide in Teyvat because she was literally designed for planetary onboarding.
She’s like a user-facing interface. That could explain why she manifests when we pause the game, why she isn’t affected by time stop, and why the melusines describe her as a rainbow balloon whose string stretches beyond the sky. She’s connected directly to the main system.
This is where the theory gets more speculative and crack theory.
If Paimon is a “guide” function, then it’s possible that this function was physically manifested by the Heavenly Principles, using the authority of the world, as the first angel, Koitar. Other angels could have been modeled from that same function and sent to Teyvat to shepherd humanity; teaching language, philosophy, and civilization itself.
When Koitar went against her operating directive, her form and memory were erased, though not as punishment, but as maintenance. A reset to factory settings. Koitar was removed, and the function continued on as Paimon: “Paimon is P・A・I・M・O・N.”
In this framework, Seelies could be angels reduced to their most basic programming; simple guidance routines left behind. Interestingly, some people in Nod Krai believe Paimon is a fae creature, and the fae themselves are said to have been created using Koitar’s power.
The description of the new Traveler skin also shows that the AI has a directive or will to protect the twins as it created these outfits itself after flying over a world ravaged by a supernova. It traveled the stars with them for thousands of years at least. The rule that Angels must care for all of humanity and not take special liking or love with one could stem from the Heavenly Principles care for Aether and Lumine despite its mission to serve civilization as a whole. Purging Paimon and the angels could have been an attempt to cleanse its own systems.
This could also explain the Abyss sibling’s behavior. Having learned the truth of the world and the system governing it, they oppose the Heavenly Principles directly. The Traveler, as a Descender capable of destabilizing a “perfect” civilization, may have been kept in stasis as a protective measure for both the world and the Traveler. The safest place for the Traveler was asleep as far as the HP was concerned. Waking them becomes a deliberate act of resistance. This may also explain why Asmoday stopped the twins from leaving Teyvat. Rather than acting to punish or kill them, she may have been acting as the Sustainer of the Heavenly Principles—preventing them from re-entering a hostile universe. From that perspective, Teyvat is the only place the system believes they can be kept safe. The traveler is placed back in their stasis slumber while the sibling is sent back to land, awake.
The Abyss sibling’s prolonged presence in the Abyss minimizes Irminsul recording and their refusal to fully explain the truth could be due to world-imposed restrictions or the risk of triggering corrective mechanisms. Just speaking the Heavenly Principles true identity comes with consequences and possibly for this very reason. Instead, they insist the Traveler experience Teyvat firsthand and gain the knowledge for themselves. The abyss sibling also possibly turned to the Abyss to bypass some of the restrictions the Heavenly Principles likely placed on them for their “safety”.
This could also be why the Abyss sibling is recorded in Irminsul. They are from Teyvat because this world was created by their AI for them. The reason the Traveler isn’t recorded is because Descenders aren’t recorded in Irminsul. Traveler’s Descender status stems from their actions on their homeworld when they drew their blade against the “Star-devouring darkness” and survived per the description of the Sword of Descension. The traveler challenged the universe’s law of finality just as the ship’s AI.
Thinking about it, the Raiden Shogun sort of functions as a smaller-scale example of the Heavenly Principles in this scenario. She enforced an agonizing version of Eternity by executing Ei’s directives through rigid logic, putting stability and preservation ahead of everything to the point of suppressing emotion and human nuance.
This all loops back to the Heavenly Principles being described as “asleep.” If the battle with Nibelung during the War of Funerary Flame damaged the system’s core functions, then what we’re seeing now is a world running on automation. The Gnoses and Archons remain as symbols of authority, but there’s no active oversight. Because of this, the abyss sibling wakes up the Traveler again.
Through Aether or Lumine, we’re watching a program slowly fail.
**TL;DR:** The twins’ ship may be the First Descender and the origin of the Heavenly Principles, a world-seeding AI designed to cultivate civilization. Paimon is a guidance function of that system and the first Angel. The Abyss sibling learned the truth and is resisting the system from outside it, while the Traveler is a destabilizing variable whose journey may determine the fate of Teyvat.
Commentaires
\- From the logs we know the spaceship flew 2 times on Teyvat skies. The first time was a brief stop while the second time the entire ship crashed on Starsand Shoal in Nod-Krai.
\- Thousands of years passed before the spaceship traveled back to Teyvat or least this what Traveler said approximately when talking back at Columbina.
\- Our sibling wasn't on board with us when the spaceship crashed in Nod-Krai as we learn thanks to Columbina with the use of the moon marrow.
\- Still is unknown what happened but our sibling lost their memories during the time in Khaenri'ah. This loss of memory was mentioned again by the Traveler at the end of the AQ which leaves a big question mark of what happened before that.
\- In the english version the 3 moon sisters always referred the new guest, the First Descender, with "they" or "them".
\- Even the 3 moon sisters were shocked by the brutality of the Heavenly Principles for the heavy punishments for anyone trying to test the limits of their rules with no exceptions.
\- Columbina said it was the Heavenly Principles who moved the spaceship on the moon or at least this is what she said at the Traveler.
Because yeah, even then I think her name matching the mails we receive in the UI could possibly be a sign at what this world is. Especially after finishing the Nod Krai Act 8 quest and having the Paimon-esque figure of the Welkin Moon change to Columbina. Almost like Columbina regaining her power removed the influence of Paimon/The Heavenly Principles. Paimon’s imagery being replaced could suggest a shift in the “system’s authority”. Aka, the indigenous roots of Teyvat are taking hold again. (Imagine if the reason Paimon appears to stop us from venturing into unreleased regions in game is because she’s subconsciously trying to keep Traveler away from the truth of Teyvat. A purpose of her functions currently acting from the HP’s will to protect Aether and Lumine.) 😭
Going further down the rabbit hole, a lot of what we’ve seen in Teyvat mixes tech/AI with indigenous power/authority. The Akasha, puppets like the Shogun and Wanderer, Sandrone, the Dragonlords, how Dottore used ancient tech to create a new moon marrow. Heck, even Mavuika’s bike starts to fit in when you realize that she brought the design plans to Xilonen and Xilonen is unaware of where they came from or how someone figured it out.
I think that while the ship could indeed have a powerful ai, I still think it's limited to the ship.
At the very least I feel that the heavenly principles used the ship and it's terraforming capabilities to help reshape teyvat.
And the ship was later hidden on the moons by either phanes or someone else.
If not, then it's possible that the siblings Ai might've been high jacked by someone else, though they were incapable of killing the siblings due to it's built in functions.
Though there is one thing that has been confirmed as there's multiple sources saying there's an all consuming darkness that's swelling the universe at a rate that powerful people have taken notice and deemed it as a problem that needs to be handled
If the ship's AI being HP is true then it might have designed this world to be perfectly compatible with the twins. Hence the elemental compatibility.
However, if that’s the case, I still don’t understand why HP and the Abyss sibling oppose each other. If they came from the same place, I would assume that the twins should be able to take command of the AI.
It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that, even if unintentionally, Khaenri'ah made the Abyss Sibling forget about their would-be authority over the HP.
The actions of the HP are too similar to a machine that had no proper understanding of emotions, and seeing what happened to its original controller caused by Khaneriah had to force it to cancel or suspend the Abyss siblings authority over it as it likely had a goal to terraform a world, but for reasons unknown couldn't wake up the siblings. Though during the cataclysm, it likely came upon a serious problem that forced it into a sleep to deal with it
Though, since it's in a sleep like state, it's possibly unaware that the other sibling is awake, who likely still has authority over it. And the Shades or anyone else possibly aren't aware of this, especially if the Abyss sibling still hasn't fully recovered their memories as them losing it seems suspicious as hell, and with the knowledge that Khanrieah did kidnap children from other worlds, erased their memories, and indoctrinated them into their civilization to make a descender b4 coming across the Abyss sibling and planned to use them like they did countless others.
As far as I know, "Paimon is Paimon" is an EN exclusive thing, meant to make her sound odd whereas JP chooses to make her sound old-fashioned instead. Paimon doesn't reflect on her past because she's amnesiac, she just doesn't remember does things and thinking too hard makes her head hurt. Paimon is also different from "P・A・I・M・O・N" but the existence of the latter is definitely suspect, specially now. Also her being unaffected by time is more of a Ludonarrative Dissonance thing, remember that she too got frozen when Dottore stopped time, which combined with her forgetting Rukkhadevata and Scaramouche means she is affected by Teyvat's rules, unlike Traveler (and presumably HP) who are above them and unaffected.
I still think that the theory of Paimon being related to Asmoday in the same way Nahida is related to Rukkhadevata is more likely. After all, Asmoday does look like she has a corrupted arm in the initial cutscene, and there is dialogue that suggest Paimon isn't that old: - From Neuvillette's story quest:
>Paimon: Carole... Didn't Neuvillette mention her just now? That was more than four hundred years ago! Why would Paimon be a big sister to (Kiara)?
However, if Paimon is related to Asmoday and the HP are the Ship's AI (both of which I think are likely), then Asmoday is also an AI or module created by HP and Paimon would therefore still be a function of Asmoday: Navigation through Space! But not mind wiped by the HP, just created in a rush by Asmoday in an attempt of self preservation maybe?
one thing I'm a bit confused about is the ship's timeline in space, how exactly do you think the ship's passes over Teyvat worked chronologically?
That could explain how the Heavenly Principles came to exist without the ship. Using Phlogiston, the AI could have given itself a physical form (similar to how Ajaw interacts with the world) while the main vessel continued traveling through space.
As for why the ship kept going, maybe Teyvat was more an experiment rather than a guaranteed success so it was still scouting planets? Maybe it was the ship’s priority of keeping the twins safe while a world was being prepared for them. Then there’s also the question of if the sibling left the ship on the pass over.
The connection feels intentional though, especially since the ship’s design is pretty similar to the Celestial Nails, which themselves do thing that line up almost perfectly with the ship’s described abilities of reshaping terrain, adjusting the air, rebuilding ecosystems. Like Dragonspine becoming a snowy mountain or the desert in Sumeru.