Character Story: Talvi "Icebound Memories"

Prologue I: Beginnings

In the very beginning, all was cold and silent. This is Teyvat at its earliest moments and is where our story begins.

Teyvat was a world trapped in an endless loop of destruction and rebirth. In their many attempts to bring stability to this world, the Primordial One brought a star from beyond the cosmos and bound it to this world. Yet it took eons to formulate this plan, and even longer to successfully capture the spark needed, not knowing what misfortune awaits them. That individual being the God of Glaciers and Memories. When she was captured, she rebelled against the Primordial One, only after she was promised liberty above all rules of this world that she conceded to this world that did not belong to her.

The nameless god descended from a comet from beyond the skies that was chained to this world. With her powers, she silenced all monsters upon the land and lay down a silver sprout. The tree's roots then spread all over the world, finally stabilizing it.

Yet just as how light casts a shadow, so does darkness accompanies light. For from the same comet that brought life, came a dark mud which polluted and poisoned the lands. It went by many names, Erosion being one of the more common names in the present. Despite hating the predicament that befell her, she took this responsibility upon herself to seal this cursed power and act as regent to the true memories of this world.

The God of Glaciers does not refer to a singular god, but rather hundreds of thousands of smaller individuals called Frost Spirits led by a Queen to form a single hive mind. Each spirit roamed where the frigid winds took them, and they record the events of the world until the time for Teyvat's rebirth is due. By then, the Queen will choose a new heir before induce the Tree of Life to bear a single fruit which contains all the memories contained within the Tree of Life and sacrificing herself to create enough power to protect the young spirits that is to replace them in the new world. When the new world eventually came into being, the spirits would regrow the tree from the fruit, and continue the duties passed onto them. Because of this, her kind survived the rebirth cycles of Teyvat, memories from previous eras were kept safe.

Of course, the transgressor whom arrived after one such rebirth did not like the presence of this nameless god. They tried wrenching this authority from them in the name of the four shades, yet the god was leagues ahead of them. The God conceded Irminsul to the transgressor and left behind a failsafe in the form of a singular sprout independent from the main tree. She also offered a way to ensure humanity's dominance in this world, but in return they must not interfere with their work. Begrudgingly, the transgressor took up their terms, and from then on the rest was history.

With time, the memories gathered in this new Tree that acted as the backup memory of Teyvat grew alongside Irminsul and the Spirit's power. With this newfound strength, the spirits were able to spread their influence beyond the Northern Mountains they called home and beyond. As time went on however, the reasons behind this ancient tradition became lost to time, yet responsibility beckons them to continue their duties faithfully.

For they believe someone will come along and put an end to all this.

This went on for countless cycles, with each reigning Queen only became more detached from the world as they committed themselves to this ancient task in solitude, their lips sealed to keep the truth from the rest of the world in their secluded domain in the Northern Mountains.

Our story begins with one Frost Spirit. It was a small, obedient individual, its voice but a peep amongst its countless siblings. Like many other spirits like those before it, it had maintained the ancient rite of recording history since its birth.

However, fate had other ideas for it.

Once, it wandered way past its territory and into human settlements. It was an accident, and it was severely reprimanded for being so careless later, but it didn't change the fact that it now took an interest in humans.