the great and noble clan of —

by izabellwit

Chapter 2: Chapter Two: Fic Notes & Character Thoughts

Summary:

Additional notes and timeline thoughts for Vennessa's rebellion.

These are a compilation of the story notes I made while writing this fic; they mostly detail my own personal view of how Vennessa’s rebellion unfolded, inspirations/parallels/references drawn between the characters of historical Mondstadt and the Mondstadt characters we know and love in the current age, and just a whole lot of random thoughts. Normally these kinds of notes never see the light of day (if they’re too long, I usually just edit them down or cut them out entirely from the end notes section) but I had SO many thoughts about these guys I just couldn’t figure out where to cut it off. 

Also, some of the headcanons presented in this fic—  in particular the creation of the Ragnvindr clan and the red-haired warrior’s lineage—  are also present/the backstory of the Ragnvindr clan in other fics of mine, most notably “the brothers grim.” I plan to reference back to this headcanoned history in those fics as well, soooooo… figured having a reference to refer back to would probably be best, ahaha. Saves me room in those fics’ end notes!!

 

Fic Notes (part TWO!):

—Ragnvindr’s ancestor— the red-haired warrior—is heavily implied to have been an outsider to Mondstadt (check out the Freedom-Sworn sword description!), who wandered into the cage and then probably just couldn’t get out. It’s likely that he was from Natlan (just because the red hair already has a bit of a history with Vennessa) but I thought it would be interesting if perhaps the warrior also had a different lineage, as well…one with a hatred of gods and stars in their eyes… who would, eventually, come to establish a kingdom of their own.

Time and history has dulled the stars in the eyes of the Ragnvindr clan, but they remain forever steadfast to the land, and to the strength of humanity. 

— Vennessa and her paperwork struggles are on ongoing saga; she really only started learning how to read Mond in the last few years, and she is still deeply wary from the last time the Lawrence clan tricked her into her doomed fight with the Drake, so the work actually gives her a lot of anxiety. There’s also not a lot of info about her people or their traditions, but based on the brief mentions of the elders, it may well be Vennessa’s people abide by an oral tradition… which means she wouldn’t have ANY previous experience in the written word. Cue more stress.

— On another note, given how the nobles maintained their power over Mondstadt and the presence of bards, Mondstadt also probably somewhat follows a hybrid oral/written tradition. I imagine that the general populace learns their history through oral storytelling via bards, and written documentation and records are often only kept by the nobles, who are the only ones who know how to read and upkeep them. (For obvious reasons, this set up is easily corrupted.) Kreuzlied is likely the one who taught Vennessa and other members of the rebellion to read Mond, in order to give them an edge. Once the nobles are overthrown, Vennessa sets up a public school system; written and oral history become available to the people, and years down the line the differences in writing style will crystalize into “Mond” and “Old Mond,” with Old Mond being the writing style of the nobles. 

— I like to think that in the later years of his life, once the underground network could run without much input from him, Kreuzlied became a schoolteacher. He enjoys teaching people how to read, and it probably gives him a very petty satisfaction to take a tool his family once used to hurt others and turn it into a thing of joy and learning and equality.

— Vennessa’s story about the bird is heavily based on her eventual ascendance to Celestia, and the Windrise tree that stands at the center of the great field. It also, I think, captures the complication of Mondstadt for Vennessa. It was a place of loss and indignity—  it is a place where freedom is possible. Though it has become a cage for many, it has the chance and possibility to be better—  even if some people see that wish as a distant dream. Which is to say, much like the nameless bard, Vennessa is equally driven by the dream of “seeing the birds in flight,” albeit in slightly different context. 

 

Thoughts on Main Four:

• Venti
  
  • Venti and his dynamics with the nameless bard and the others have always caught my interest (and honestly I have so many thoughts about them now I might just end up writing a whole other fic about it all) but the fact Decarabian’s fall gives them the freedom they all crave but also essentially causes Venti to lose all of his friends either to death (Amos, the bard), hatred of the gods (the red-haired warrior) or even to faith (Gunnhildr, because to someone who became a god fighting the divine, what would that worship mean?) anyway. It gets to me.
    
    
  • Venti is a passive figure in most respects; though he can and will interfere in events should shit go down, when it comes to big decisions—  who lives and who dies—  he tends to leave those choices to others… probably because they’re the ones who will have to live with the consequences of those choices. This does not, however, make him a pacifist. I think Venti is a truly kind individual… but a god born in the midst of rebellion has most definitely seen bloodshed.
    
    
  • Venti appears to Vennessa at the gates, but otherwise keeps his identity as Barbatos under wraps—  only the main upper legions of the rebellion know his identity, though the noble Gunnhildr might suspect. This is intentional on Venti's part—  he doesn’t want “Barbatos” to be the one to overthrow the clans. The rebellion must come from and be driven by the people… and besides which, after all this time, Barbatos doesn’t really have enough power to just straight up fight every clan and their legion of knights anyway. Would probably not end well for anyone!
    
    
  • Cue the era of spy Venti, who is just like bard Venti… but secretive… and cooler…
    
    (Ragnvindr: stop saying those stupid lines while making your cape whish. It's embarrassing that I even know you.)
    
    

• Vennessa
  
  
  • As for Vennessa— the role of Grand Master/Dandelion Knight— and just in general, becoming a central power figure in Mondstadt—is still deeply new to her, and everything it entails is something she is still trying to deal with. I wanted to shed some focus on Vennessa’s adjustment to this new role, and her feelings about it.
    
    
  • Though she’s quieter about it, the malicious compliance plan appeals to her in part because it traps the nobles as they once tried to trap her—and because it is taking her and Mondstadt’s freedom by force and wit rather than by the nobles’s say-so. Which definitely appeals to her own worldview, haha.

• Vennessa later becomes the Falcon of the West; I had to make a joke about her having an “eagle eye!” Falcon eye. Whichever. Beyond the joke, though, Vennessa is very analytical when it comes to measuring her opponents; in the midst of rage, however, she can tunnel-vision a bit.
  
  
• Vennessa’s vision, though not mentioned in this fic, is anemo. She actually receives it that first morning after she kicks the nobles out of the city: as dawn rises over the city and the people sleep off their all-night celebration, Vennessa finds the Vision nestled in her hands, as if, deep in sleep, she had reached out and claimed it from the air itself.
  
  
• Years later, as the first Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, Vennessa will eventually find that place from her memories—  the green field and blue sky that led her to dream of flying. She will often wander beyond the city gates in the times when her heart is heaviest, and the sight of the land and sky, with the birds flying overhead, brings her comfort. The field and sky she remembers from that childhood dream is the same spot where the Windrise Tree will someday stand.
  
  
• Fun fact: Vennessa doesn’t join the party in singing not just because of Serious Thoughts… but also because she’s tone-deaf. She can’t sing. Venti has yet to find this out; she is putting EVERYTHING she has into hiding it from him. Mainly because Venti will try and encourage her to sing anyway. 
  
  
• Also yes, this IS a joke on Paimon eventually calling Venti a “tone-deaf” bard. He finds it so funny for reasons he refuses to explain. In Celestia somewhere, though, Vennessa is feeling strangely vindicated….
  
  

• Ragnvindr
  
  
  • Ragnvindr by nature is going to get compared to Diluc a lot, not only because of relation but due to his circumstances: he is involved in the winery business, he fights for the protection of Mondstadt, he is a knight later disillusioned, etc.
    
    
  • However, Ragnvindr stands apart from Diluc—for one thing, he is also a poet—or at least a singer (see “Ballads of Squire,” songs presumed to have been written by Ragnvindr), and he is a person driven by a different kind of regret: Ragnvindr was once a Knight, and helped the nobles, and only questioned what was happening after the death of his friend, the Dawnlight Swordswoman. He is reluctant to become a noble because of this: in contrast to Diluc, Ragnvindr (at least in this moment) does not know how to trust in himself or his own judgment.
    
    
  • (He and Venti are also rather good friends, given their similar professions— Ragnvindr calls Venti “bard” not out of mocking but rather respect. It's when he calls Venti “useless Archon” that he means to insult him, ahaha.)
    
    
  • Ragnvindr’s grandfather runs the tavern Angel’s Share; once the Dawnlight Swordswoman dies, Ragnvindr takes up her sword and leaves the knights in disgrace, and returns to help his grandfather with the tavern instead. After meeting Kreuzlied, the tavern slowly becomes a hub for the resistance, and a place to gather info.
    
    
  • Ragnvindr does not get involved in the actual making or selling of wine until many years later. He actually started wine-making as a hobby… alongside a nameless co-conspirator who, for whatever reason, received no credit in helping found the eventual famous winery business. In later years many folk will have dark theories about the co-founder and why they were never credited, and what may have happened to them…. Venti, the nameless co-founder in question, just didn’t want to deal with the paperwork. Or with the complications of popping up centuries later with the same name and face when there’s a paper trail about him. The statue of Barbatos is bad enough!! 

• Ragnvindr really does just go up to every person bold enough to complain about the Lawrence clan in public and is just like “hey. Nice to meet you. Come join my cool new noble clan”
  
  
• Ragnvindr sees no issue with this. 
  
  

• Kreuzlied
  
  
  • Kreuzlied was another interesting character to craft— we know him only by an alias, he’s a former noble, he used to be part of the Wandering Troupe, he fought with the Bell, and he eventually founded an underground organization. From these facts, I tried to shape a more proper personality: a serious and rather soft-spoken young man who dislikes being in the open and grand gestures of wealth but isn’t against performance, and who is bitter that his heritage saved his life while his friends died around him. If Ragnvindr is all bark and no bite, then Kreuzlied is the one who is mild and kind and absolutely seething on the inside, ahaha.
    
    
  • Kreuzlied also has a complex relationship with Ragnvindr, as Ragnvindr became the friend (and witnessed the death of) one of Kreuzlied’s own dear friends—  the Dawnlight Swordswoman. Kreuzlied is both grateful that she was not alone in her final years, and bitter about her ending. He is also deeply invested in securing Ragnvindr's well-being because of it (perhaps in the place of their shared lost friend,) and this desire to help ultimately nets the newly-formed Ragnvindr clan a gold mine in underground information networks… the same ones Crepus will eventually use centuries later to get in contact with the Fatui and betray Mond with. 

• Kreuzlied is a serious person with a secret silly side. The silly side is unlocked either through alcohol or just by throwing Venti at him. The guy is weak to a mischievous aura.

 

Timeline of Rebellion:

• Timeline begins about three years before the start of the fic; Vennessa fights with Ursa the Drake, many of her people are killed by the archers on the wall, and Venti appears to Vennessa as Barbatos, frightening away the Drake and visibly giving Vennessa his blessing and support. Follows the manga scene pretty closely. 
  
  
• Lawrence absolutely doesn’t hold up his end of the deal; Vennessa and the scattering of her people that survived the gates flee into hiding with Barbatos’s help, and Lawrence reacts badly to the show from Barbatos. The people of Mondstadt are thrown into turmoil at the sudden reveal of their god, and especially that he appeared to someone neither native to Monstadt nor a member of the nobles.
  
  
• What follows is a somewhat minor culture war—  the Lawrence and other corrupt clans attempt to backlash against Barbatos’s influence; the statue is torn down, and stories of Barbatos buried. Their attentions, however, are on the wrong threat—  Venti is very busy singing his usual songs in the square… meanwhile Vennessa, who has found shelter with a scion of the noble clans (hello Kreuzlied) and his underground network, is slowly amassing a following in order to free her people—  and eventually Mondstadt as a whole— for good.  
  
  
• Kreuzlied had begun establishing the underground network a few years before the Ursa the Drake fight; the Wanderer’s Troupe rebellion was maybe three/four years before Vennessa’s fight with the Drake. Kreuzlied met with recent knight-reject Ragnvindr about six months before the fight with the Drake; Vennessa met them both through the network. 
  
  
• Rebellion becomes more established, with the main hub at the Angel’s Share tavern and Vennessa, Kreuzlied, and Ragnvindr becoming the main faces within the group. (Venti often aids them, mainly through collecting information and breaking those caught by the knights out of jail. He is VERY good at getting out of jail; good luck trying to catch the wind!)
  
  
• The rebellion is limited to a slow amassing of power and support; Lawrence’s backlash against Barbatos somewhat backfires, as it loses him the lower echelons of the church for good and infuriates the more devoted of the people; a large amount of Mondstadt’s free citizens, who were a neutral party thus far for fear of incurring the nobles’ wrath, begin to join the rebellion.
  
  
• The rebellion stalls; after two years of fighting, minor operations, and a slow build of influence, Venti fakes a contract with Rex Lapis that claims the nobles have sold the Knights and people to Liyue (see Venti’s character stories on this one!) Any further “neutral” parties swiftly change tracks, and a large number of knights, thus far opposing the resistance, prove themselves horrific hypocrites and turn against the nobles. The nobles' power is now SUPER fragile. Gunnhildr approaches Vennessa and offers their support, now seeing Vennessa as an actual contender for changing the power structure. 
  
  
• The nobles, in a frantic bid to calm the coming storm, offer a compromise to Vennessa. She will have a seat at the council (where the main noble heads gather and create laws; Lawrence is the head of it), as well as powers to oversee and manage sections of Mondstadt. The nobles hope that the deal will placate Vennessa; Vennessa accepts the compromise mainly to avoid further bloodshed on the streets. She hopes to throw out the nobles through less disruptive methods before resorting to force alone. Every member of the resistance is deeply aware of the cost of freedom, and after three years of fighting, want to mitigate loss of life as much as possible. The nobles do not see similarly.
  
  
• Vennessa gets her seat at the council; she is given the title of “Dandelion Knight” by the people. The nobles hateeee this. The seat at the council is basically a farce; the nobles shove useless paperwork and trap documents Vennessa’s way to exhaust her and tire her out while still giving the illusion of power. Vennessa is well aware of what they are doing but completes all the paperwork anyway out of enraged spite. She is going to throw them out of those gates AND finish all the fucking paperwork.
  
  
• This brings us to the start of the fic! The main struggle in overturning the nobles lies in the current written laws— tailored by the nobles, of course—  that say only nobles can make (or break) any laws that govern Mondstadt. (Vennessa's “seat” at the council is again, an illusion, and further influence is denied to her using this excuse.) The group decides the best way to “bloodlessly” overturn the nobles is to find a way to undermine that law.
  
  
• Cue Venti with the steel chair.

 

Foreshadowing & Character Contrasts:

• Vennessa, Ragnvindr’s ancestor, and Kaeya
  
  
• Though Vennessa and Jean are often compared and contrasted (and they do have a lot of similarities!) part of the fun of this fic was drawing parallels between the characters that I don’t often see parallels drawn between. In Vennessa’s case, she has a lot of parallels to both the red-haired warrior and to Kaeya: they are all outsiders to Mondstadt and have complicated feelings on the nation itself; they all eventually stay in Mondstadt anyway due to the family/friends they found there.
  
  
• As a contrast, however, while the red-haired warrior and Kaeya both have complicated (or hateful) feelings about gods, Vennessa is more neutral/reverant, and also has a fairly casual relationship with Venti despite his status as archon. As far as she is concerned, though Venti is a god, he was a friend first—  and that he is her friend is the only thing that really matters. His being an archon is second to that.
  
  
• For the warrior and Vennessa—  Mondstadt represents a place of loss, of both family and freedom. That it later becomes “home” probably only complicates it more. This complication is also echoed in Kaeya, who's view of Mondstadt as home is similarly complicated, if for slightly different reasons.
  
  
• For Kaeya and Vennessa specifically, they are both laden by a sense of “duty”-- Kaeya to Khaenri’ah and later the knights; Vennessa to her people and eventually Mondstadt as a whole.
  
  
• That said, I also wanted to reference Vennessa’s parallels with Jean as well—  most especially in terms of duty, devotion, and the burdens of having a whole LOT of people relying on you for a whole host of issues. The final scene with Vennessa and Venti on the balcony of the Angel’s Share is a direct callback to Jean’s story quest!
  
  

• Kreuzlied and Diluc
  
  
  • Kreuzlied is a more complicated figure. He’s pretty much doomed to be compared to Eula since, much like Ragnvindr and Diluc, they’re related and have similar complex feelings on their clan; Kreuzlied’s grudge is much more personal, however, due to the deaths of his friends and found family (the Wanderer’s Troupe). In this way I found Kreuzlied much more similar to Diluc, and drew parallels accordingly—  they are both people with a deep grudge against a power they thought they could trust (family for Kreuzlied, the knights for Diluc) and the breaking of that trust (tied to the death of a loved one) will spark and anger that drives them for the rest of their life. They also have similar tempers, on purpose on my part—  they both seethe rather than explode.
    
    
  • Kreuzlied also is the founder of the information network largely theorized to be the same one Diluc later falls into (see his character stories for more info). Talk about things going full circle.

• Unlike Diluc, Kreuzlied does like alcohol…. He just doesn’t drink a lot. Mainly because he’s a very happy drunk and he finds it soooooo embarrassing. 
  
  
• Ragnvindr and Venti
  
  
• As mentioned earlier, Ragnvindr is basically doomed to be compared to Diluc… but actually, as I was writing this, I ended up seeing him as having a lot of parallels to Venti! They both take on a power and responsibility that they neither really want nor honestly trust themselves with, and both are driven to freedom by the death of a friend who later becomes their entire inspiration and whose legacy becomes a huge part of their identity.
  
  
• It is unknown how the wind sprites of Old Mondstadt related to Decarabian; they are just as likely to be unrelated as they could be a part of his power over Mondstadt. If you DO take the stance that wind sprites were likely mostly on Decarabian’s side, that creates another parallel— Venti too was once a part of the oppressive power, however unknowingly, and eventually turned away and revolted against it—  much like how Ragnvindr was in training to be a knight before the Dawnlight Swordswoman questioned his worldview. (See the story of the Flute and the book “Ballads of the Squire” for more info there!)
  
  
• They are also both poets. Song buddies!

 

A lot of these notes are based off lore from artifact and weapon sets; a lot more are just based off my own ideas and stuff I think is funny. Feel free to let me know what you think!! I love hearing your guys’ thoughts on this stuff, and I LOVE chatting about worldbuilding and lore stuff, ahaha.