Fontaine/History

The timeline of historical events within the Fontaine region.
==The Old World==
 
* During the Seven Sovereigns' era, the Primordial Sea was located on the surface of the world. Most of Teyvat's lifeforms originate from the Primordial Sea due to its unique properties.
**Legend says that the Hydro Dragon, one of the Seven Sovereigns, once resided in Fontaine. It is said to be the "beating heart" that ruled over the Primordial Sea.
**Hydro Vishaps believe that the Primordial Sea originally had a composition similar to that of blood, and that life originating from the Primordial Sea evolved into different, individual forms by developing blood vessels to keep the waters of the Primordial Sea within themselves. (Whether this belief is held by other Vishap species has not been determined.)
*After arriving in this world, the Heavenly Principles takes a portion of each of the Seven Sovereigns' elemental Authorities. The Sovereigns go to war against the Heavenly Principles, but are eventually defeated.
==The First Era==
The term "first era" is derived from The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria.
*Towards the end of the "first era" — likely the era established after the Heavenly Principles's rise to power — humanity begins to covet things that belongs to Celestia and attempt to break away from their fates.
* The people are eventually punished by having their cities destroyed by tsunamis and then buried underwater after 100 days of rainfall, which "drowned all sin and arrogation" and forces humanity to rebuild civilization all over again.
** Sybilla, a divine envoy tasked with guarding an Irminsul tree, remains as the sole survivor of the flood.
==The Great War==
The term "great war" is derived from Neuvillette's Vision Character Story, which refers to a "great war of vengeance" which badly wounded the Heavenly Principles.
*Sometime following its defeat, the original Hydro Dragon withers away.
**According to the Oceanids, Egeria is created as the Primordial Sea's new heart by the Ruler of Life, a divine envoy and one of the Heavenly Principles's Four Shades. Despite being created by a "ruler of humans," Egeria is created entirely from material originating from Teyvat.
**No new Hydro Dragon can be born so long as Egeria resides within the Primordial Sea.
==The Interim Period==
While not formally established as its own period in time, Liyue lore indicates there was a stretch of peacetime between the Great War and the Archon War. 
*According to legend, the first Oceanid is born after Egeria sheds the "first tear," which later gives birth to all other Oceanids. Egeria bestows a task to the Oceanids "to seek an understanding of the diverse array of species and to love every creature." 
**To fulfill Egeria's desire to connect everyone in the world, the Oceanids disperse across the waters of Teyvat to act as "spies." However, Rhodeia of Loch denies any ulterior motive on Egeria's part.
*Some Oceanids soon desire to live on the surface, having seen and envied human life. Not wanting to refuse her followers, Egeria decides to fulfill their request by taking water from the Primordial Sea and pouring it into the Oceanids' "blood" vessels, thus creating humanoid forms for them to walk on land. 
**Celestia deems Egeria's "act of life" a sin and sentences her to be sealed for her crimes. At some point, Fontainians learn of a prophecy claiming that water levels would rise and eventually, the people of Fontaine will be dissolved in order to wash their sins, reverting into what they once were.
==The Archon War (?–2000 years ago)==
 
*Sometime after the fall of Gurabad in Sumeru, Remus arrives in the High Seas seeking a place to die. There, he accidentally discovers the ruins of a forgotten city and meets the city's only surviving inhabitants: Sybilla, a former envoy tasked with guarding the Irminsul tree there, and the other Golden Bees. They foretell that Remus was destined to come here; that he will create a new, prosperous and thriving nation; and that the nation's desire for justice will lead to its downfall. Remus' begrudging acceptance of his destiny causes the Irminsul to turn into a golden ship, which they use to establish the empire of Remuria over the waters.
*Remus' reign is prosperous, becoming known as the "golden era" and the "grand symphony" of Fontaine. Remus is credited for helping his people develop agriculture, construct giant cities and temples, and spread the beauty of music and art. To push his dream of creating a harmonious, enlightened civilization, he uses the Fortuna to call other tribes to join the empire of Remuria and conquers any tribe which refuses to join him, such as the tribe which Erinnyes and Cassiodor hailed from.
*After turning Remuria into a flourishing civilization, Remus' worries about its future leads him to seek a way to avert the destruction which Sybilla had prophesied. Though she believes it to be a futile effort, citing the rise and fall of civilizations as the law of Fortuna, she points him to Egeria, who was imprisoned in the depths of the Primordial Sea, to find a possible solution.
**Scylla, who is guarding Egeria's prison, attacks him, and they battle for thirty days and thirty nights. Afterwards, their exhaustion gives Remus an opening to explain the reason for his arrival. Bemused by Remus' futile dream, Scylla grants him passage to visit Egeria.
**To Remus' dismay, his meeting with Egeria yields no results, as Fontaine's fate was sealed by her "original sin" of creating a new race of humans using the Primordial Sea's power. Egeria gives Remus a goblet of primordial water, which he intends to use to "create a world of endless prosperity, one without conflict." Intrigued by Remus' ideals, Scylla decides to leave the Primordial Sea to join his cause.
*Remus believes that so long as the "harmonious symphony of prosperity" continues to play, Remuria will prosper forever. He sets about perfecting his civilization, paying particular attention to his capital city, Capitolium.
** Hoping to make Remuria's peoples escape the flood, he mixes the primordial water with an immortal stone to create a Golden Ichor who would contain the souls and minds of his peoples and places this Ichor full of souls into Golems, and tries to replace the entire Primordial Water with his golden Ichor.
**Remus creates the Grand Symphony with Sybilla's life some time after turning his people into stone.
***Phobos inherits Sybilla's lack of her own persona (or will). All of its actions are purely to make humans happy.
***Phobos begins satiating the people's desires of bloodshed, knowing that everyone would follow its orders, as not doing so was "tantamount to betrayal".
*The Remurians continue to grow arrogant and bloodthirsty, believing that this is what their Imperator wants.
*Remus, seeing the extent of their moral degradation, conspires with Scylla in secret to destroy Phobos.
**Scylla leads an army of Vishaps into the Capitolium as a part of Remus's plan.
***Remus perishes while unleashing the power of the Symphony.
**The Harmost Boethius, seeing his retreat as a betrayal, steals the golden Ichor and seals the Dragon Scylla with it and the chains the Harmost Euergetia forged.
*Remuria and its peoples are sunk under the sea at the same time the Dragon is sealed. The golden Ichor is eventually corroded by the Primordial Sea and the survivors turn back into "Barbarism and Annihilation".
*After Remuria is destroyed and sinks deep underwater, Celestia commands Egeria to return from her primeval prison to take over Remus' position and rule Fontaine.
**Egeria returns to Fontaine and gathers the survivors, mediating between their feuds, and instructs them to establish new cities around flowing springs, thus commencing an era guided by law which endures to the present day. She is awarded a Gnosis, ascends as the Hydro Archon, and becomes one of The Seven.
==Post-Archon War (2000–500 years ago)==
*Cassiodor founds the Marechaussee Phantom to fight against the Golden Troupe.
* Egeria exiles all of the criminals from her nation, who live in misery as they are shunned by society.
** Eventually, some of these criminals beg for forgiveness, which Egeria heard through the waters. Egeria grants their wish for redemption, ordering them to guard her secret — the entrance to the Primordial Sea — beneath the waves. This results in the construction of the Fortress of Meropide, where the prisoners live and guard the path to the Primordial Sea. However, this secret would eventually become forgotten over time.
==Pre-Cataclysm (>500 years ago)==
*While knowing she could not make an enemy of the divine, Egeria did not want harm to befall her followers because of the prophecy. She assigned Focalors, one of her Oceanid followers, to be her successor, hoping that she would be able to concoct a plan to deceive Celestia.
* The Fleuvre Cendre, ruled by the outlaw Eduardo Baker, runs afoul of the bureaucracy of the Court of Fontaine; it is raided by the Maison Gardiennage and its leaders arrested. Eduardo is sentenced to exile in the Great Red Sand. 
**The Siege of Poisson — While being led to exile, Eduardo is freed by his henchmen and flees to Poisson, taking the Maison Gardiennage personnel who had been escorting him as hostages. Poisson is razed in the ensuing battle between Eduardo's faction and the Gardes, resulting in the deaths of many of its residents. The mayor of Poisson, Renault de Petrichor, likely died in the siege.
**In the aftermath of the siege, Renault's son, Rene de Petrichor, and Eduardo's son, Jakob Baker, are sent to the Narzissenkreuz Institute, where they befriend Alain Guillotin and Mary-Ann.
==The Cataclysm (500 years ago)==
 
*500 years ago ― Egeria dies and Focalors takes over. Due to differences in ideology between Egeria and Focalors, the Oceanids refuse to obey Focalors and go on self-imposed exiles from Fontaine. 
** The director of the Narzissenkreuz Institute, Lyris, who was herself an Oceanid, also disappears.
*The great beast Elynas appears in Fontaine, spreading severe pollution to the land and sea. Basil Elton, vice-director of the Institute and former Admiral of the Fontaine Navy, comes out of retirement to fight against the threat. The Fontaine Armada set off for what would be their final battle; for 35 days it pursued Elynas, all the while attracting monsters from the Abyss. After finally catching up to the beast, the armada slammed into him, which destroyed the ship and killed all its crew while also mortally wounding Elynas.
**Elynas eventually dies from his wounds, but maintains his consciousness.
*A massive flood later called the "first diluvian period" (or "first flood period") submerges much of Fontaine, including the Narzissenkreuz Institute. The Institute, now flooded and without a director or vice-director, officially closes; Jakob and Rene are adopted by Karl Ingold, while Alain and Mary-Ann are adopted by Emanuel Guillotin. 
**At some unknown point, Alain enrolls into the Institute of Natural Philosophy in pursuit of mechanical research.
==Post-Cataclysm (500–100 years ago)==
 
*~499 years before the ― Focalors avulses her divinity from her body and spirit, leaving behind Furina as her humanity. Furina was then instructed by Focalors to publicly take the mantle of the Hydro Archon as a measure towards saving Fontaine from the prophecy. 
**Focalors then creates and proceeds to seclude herself in the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, acting as the Oratrice's verdict-giving system. Continual trials to be held in the Opera Epiclese would allow Indemnitium—a form of power derived from people's belief—to be accumulated in the Oratrice, of which Focalors would allot a small amount to power Fontaine. The majority of the remaining power was to be stored and utilized when the people of Fontaine would hold the trial of the Hydro Archon, as stated in the prophecy.
**~499 years later, the Oratrice sentences the Hydro Archon to death. Focalors bears the punishment, and has willingly given up her full authority as the Hydro Archon to the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, thus clears the people of Fontaine from their 'Original Sin', and making them - including Furina - fully human. As the result, the Hydro Archon's divine throne is destroyed - hence there will be no further Hydro Archons and the Oratrice is no longer functional - and the people of Fontaine can no longer be dissolved by the Primordial Sea water.
**Due to the extreme exhaustion and stress she endured for the last 499 years, Furina leaves the Palais Mermonia and Opera Epiclese, where she settles down in an apartment.
*? years ago 
** Karl, Rene, and Jakob explore the Khaenri'ahn ruins in Vourukasha Oasis and Madinat al-Nuhas, guided by the Order of Skeptics. During the trip, Jakob's weak constitution caused his health to deteriorate. Unbeknownst to Karl, Rene went behind his back and used Abyssal power to save Jakob. During this trip, they also deduce the "world-formula" from the records they found in the ruins, predicting a second flood period which would destroy Fontaine in the next few centuries.
**Jakob and Rene return to Fontaine and soon discover Elynas' remains. They begin conducting secret experiments on the remains, namely by having Jakob absorb Elynas' blood. After some time, he became able to survive without eating by subsisting mainly on Elynas' flesh.
**During their research into Elynas, Jakob and Rene bump into their childhood friends Alain and Mary-Ann. They are accepted into the Institute of Natural Philosophy following Alain's recommendation. 
***Rene begins recruiting researchers from the Institute of Natural Philosophy into a secret society he has named the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, created to help Fontaine survive the coming apocalypse that he and Jakob had predicted.
***Jakob and Rene conduct a failed experiment to try to save the life of Carter Scherbius, Alain's sickly research assistant who the two had grown close to. However, the experiment goes horribly wrong and Carter is left in a semi-conscious state with the tissues of his body destroyed, leading Alain to cut off ties with them.
**Some time after the split, the Guillotin siblings become members of the Marechaussee Phantom. Alain creates a mechanical assistant prototype and names it Seymour, tasking to always accompany and protect Mary-Ann.
**Lyris returns to Fontaine, although she spends her days alone in the remains of the Narzissenkreuz Institute longing for the past. Rene and Jakob eventually find her and convince her to join the Ordo.
**Rene decides to become "the first subject" of his radical experimentation and have his personality removed, using the Holy Blade of Narzissenkreuz alongside Lyris' purified essence to dissolve himself into a pure base personality for the gestalt. However, the ritual was a failure, and Rene is almost dissolved completely into the pure waters, only partially saved by Jakob through some unspecified method.
**Jakob takes over as the de facto leader of the Ordo. During this time, the construction of the Tower of Ipsissimus, the Ordo's base of operations, is finally completed. 
***Jakob eventually creates a Hydro Tulpa to store Rene's disembodied consciousness, using Lyris’ essence, Alain's pocketwatch and Carter's corrupted remains as the basis for his body. He names the new body "Narzissenkreuz," and the newly reborn Rene returns to leadership at the Ordo.
***Narzissenkreuz then uses what remained of Carter's body to create Caterpillar, a hilichurl endowed with sentience. He also teaches Caterpillar human speech.
** Emanuel Guillotin is assigned to investigate the Ordo. However, he, along with the Champion Duelist Marfisa, are ambushed and absorbed by Narzissenkreuz. From absorbing their memories, Narzissenkreuz learns that the Court of Fontaine is hot on the Ordo's trail.
*~400 years ago — Narzissenkreuz orders Jakob, Caterpillar, and Lyris to enter Elynas' remains, a ploy to draw the attention of the Marechaussee Hunters away from himself. Mary-Ann and Seymour are among those sent to Elynas to arrest the Ordo members. 
**During the battle, someone triggers an explosion which causes multiple human casualties and damage to Elynas' remains. Mary-Ann is fatally wounded and, for reasons unknown, has her personality absorbed by Lyris. Seymour is also heavily damaged. Jakob, however, survives the incident.
**The Melusines are born from the wounds in Elynas' remains, caused by the shrapnel of destroyed clockwork meka flying through the air from the explosion and piercing through its body.
**Narzissenkreuz falls into the Primordial Sea hidden beneath the Tower of Ipsissimus.
**Caterpillar is found guilty of being an accessory to Narzissenkreuz's schemes and imprisoned in the Fortress of Meropide.
*~400 years ago — Neuvillette is instated as the Iudex or Chief Justice of the Court of Fontaine. 
**The newly appointed Chief Justice of Fontaine brings the Melusines from Elynas into the rest of Fontaine for the first time. However, Fontanians were hesitant to accept Melusines into their society, believing them to be creatures of calamity due to an increase in "strange incidents," coupled with Neuvillette having just been appointed as the Iudex.
**Carole is one of the first Melusines to live among humans in Fontaine. She worked alongside the then-leader of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol, Vautrin, in order to foster goodwill and cooperation between the two species, in spite of the distrust towards the Melusines at the time.
**5 years later, Neuvillette awarded Carole and Vautrin with the Medal of Peace for their hard work in developing the relationship between Fontainians and the Melusines. However, not long after, a group of hardliners opposed to Neuvillette, including Thibert and Suavegothe, committed a murder and successfully lured Carole to the crime scene. They then framed her for the murder and incited a crowd of people into ordering her detention, resulting in chaos between the Gardes and the mob. As a result, Carole committed suicide to pacify the situation. Vautrin subsequently became enraged by her needless self-sacrifice and sought revenge on the hardliners, killing them to exact his own form of justice. Neuvillette was likewise upset at the turn of events. 
***After being exiled to the Fortress of Meropide, Vautrin became a model prisoner and established the Mutual Aid Society, which used a design similar to Vautrin's Medal of Peace as their badge for the next 400 years.
***400 years later, the Melusine Kiara would have a similar incident where someone threatened her, prompting Neuvillette to personally investigate to ensure an incident would not happen again. Kiara, who was kept inside the Palais Mermonia for her own safety, had a dream where she encountered Carole, who remarked that she was delighted to see the Melusines' dreams of living peacefully with humans come to fruition.
**The Melusine Sigewinne, wanting to save a human friend, accepts a potion from her teacher to give her a more human-like appearance, with more natural skin and human hands. However, she ends up breaking an ancient Fontanian law regarding turning other species into human, resulting in her being sent to the Fortress of Meropide to serve out her sentence. She chooses to stay after her sentence is lifted to help the inmates with medical needs.
*? years ago — Alain leaves the Marechaussee Phantom and establishes the Fontaine Research Institute of Kinetic Energy Engineering.
==Recent Past (<100 years ago)== 
*"The Two Musketeers Incident" - An assassin hired by Morris murdered Elisa to cover up his illegitimate relationship with her. This murder was witnessed by their children - Baptiste and Veronique - leading them to seek revenge against Morris. Twenty years later, Baptiste would pen "The Two Musketeers," a novel-turned-biography, while Veronique had trained to become a musketeer herself.
*? years ago ― Wriothesley is adopted by a seemingly great couple who have also adopted other children. 
**Later, Wriothesley would learn that the couple had only raised him, as well as their other adopted children, for the purposes of human trafficking; the children who were sold were never seen again, and those who didn't sell were simply "disposed of."
**Upon learning the truth behind his "adoptive parents," he killed them and set all of the remaining children free. He was then convicted for his crimes, and sent to the Fortress of Meropide. Eventually, he routs the previous administrator after declaring a duel against them, and ends up taking the post for himself.
*? years ago ― Callas, the president of the Spina di Rosula, contemplates between improving relationships with the Court of Fontaine or general quality of life in Poisson. He and his wife, Clementine, ultimately decide on the former, creating the Aquabus system. A fringe group, led by Romeuf, disagree with his logic and part on bad terms.
*~3 years ago ― Callas is accused of murdering Jacques, a Sinthe seller turned double agent who Callas had been working with behind the scenes to put an end to the Sinthe trade. In actuality, an unknown assassin hired by Marcel had shot and killed Jacques, and was in turn killed by Callas. Marcel then dissolved the assassin's body with water from the Primordial Sea, erasing any evidence that would have exonerated Callas. 
**Rather than risk Navia's safety by testifying agains the Sinthe producers in court and provoking them, Callas chose to maintain his innocence through a duel rather than go through a trial. Before dying at the hands of Clorinde, he told her to take care of Navia, a final request which she accepted. In the event that they would try to harm Navia, Callas' associates would reveal information about Sinthe.
*? months ago ― The Kamera is redeveloped in Fontaine and spreads to other nations.
==Notes==
===Lore Discrepancies===
===Translation Notes===
===Editors' Assumptions===
==References==
==Navigation==
fr:Fontaine/Histoire
vi:Fontaine/Lịch Sử
pt-br: Fontaine/História