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[gravitydefier]

Xiao

Genshin Impact
Mischa
heavensblessing @ plurk /laskaris#2672

apsara/feitian

⯌ Physical changes
- cloak of golden feathers

⯌ Mental changes
- if someone steals the cloak, they can steal him.

⯌ Other
If Xiao is being sociable, it's his monster driving.

OOC Info: Permissions

⯌ Backtag y

⯌ Fourthwall n

⯌ Shipping y

⯌ Smut y

⯌ Violence y

⯌ Off-Limits graphically described body part removal and dismemberment. also facial scarring. no dementia effects (magical or otherwise: senility jokes/talking about it are fine). Please check in about extended discussion of food/eating: sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's intensely no-go.

⯌ Other
I play Xiao with Chinese voiceover characterization, not English: so as a default state, he is soft-spoken, melancholy, and detached, not aggressive. I will generally specify in threads but in case I don't/forget, that's pretty much baseline.

Also for those unfamiliar, he tends to speak very little and bail on conversations when he's done. I'm very sorry, it's not you, it's just the way he is.

IC Character Info

⯌ Inmate Name
Xiao

⯌ Inmate Designation
Butterfly's Dream

⯌ Inmate Age
2000+

⯌ Cell Block
Nymph

⯌ Crimes
mass murder, torture, dream eating, murder (multiple counts), manslaughter, destruction of property, picky eater, leaving you on read in person

by killthecake

Comments

Info: Xiao's Karma Bullshit

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Yakshas: The Guardian Adepti.

The document mentions that though the yaksha were mighty and upright among the adepti, they were bound by their own karma to suffer great horrors and tribulations. As such, they wandered the land in a state of unending suffering.

Basically, what Xiao has going on is that he has a lot of karmic hindrance: he is tainted by the resentment of the dead gods he's murdered for the last 2k+ years. (karma in Teyvat has been confirmed to be referring to the resentment and hatred of the dead gods, rather than the real-world religious meaning).

And this shit comes with consequences. While Xiao himself has a very high resistance to it, all the other yakshas ultimately succumbed to their karmic burdens - dying, going mad (and then turning on and killing each other), etc. He does suffer immensely both physically and psychologically from this, pretty much constantly.

But the evil gods also held immense power, and their lust for revenge ran deeper than mere mortals could ever contemplate. Xiao relentlessly slaughtered the endless, impure manifestations of their vengeful souls, but in doing so, he caused them to fracture. Eventually, these fragments of their hatred were able to taint Xiao's own soul.

The only way to eradicate such hatred is to accept the karmic debt it brings. The magnitude of the bad karma Xiao has accumulated over the years is enough to consume flesh, bone, and soul alike.

And yet, Xiao does not feel any hatred. Having lived for over two thousand years, no single karmic debt constitutes anything more than a fleeting memory.

What does this have to do with you? First, he's pretty much "karmically radioactive": it spreads. So, canonically, human souls are less resilient to this shit than the yaksha are/were, and Xiao's karmic debt taints his surroundings/mortals he is in too-prolonged contact with. Vision-holders are said to be more resistant to these effects, while non-Vision-holders who came into close contact with a yaksha (a different one) went mad in very short order.

Normally this is less of a problem except that he now lives with all of you, yayyyyyy.

So if you would like to play with the corruption of Xiao's aura, great. Would you like your very own black miasma aura, rage sickness, and/or horrible pain, at least temporarily? Well, have I a bargain for you. Other possible effects including "forgetting who you are", "forgetting your memories", etc.

Perhaps ironically, a mortal that was tainted by a different yaksha's karmic debt and survived (if permafucked, mentally) was actually soothed by Xiao's presence when passing by the inn that he lived in.

If you would like to not play with this, also great. We can just ignore it, and the mortals who run/work at the inn he stays at in canon haven't shown any signs of it either, so precedent.