Honkai: Star Rail What’s the Story Behind

Hi, Trailblazers! To make it easier to digest on the get-go for everyone, we’re going to take a look at the world setting in Honkai: Star Rail briefly in today’s post.

This material was originally created by Blade’s Coming, make sure to check out their other work.

If you prefer video explanation, one of the best I’ve seen so far is from Oofie:

What’s the Story Behind Honkai: Star Rail?

To put it simply, it is a story about astral travel between worlds. The player, Trailblazer, will be aboard the Astral Express with Himeko, Welt, March 7th, Dan Heng, and more companions to different worlds in crisis. These worlds all have their own culture, geography, and history, and we need to embed ourselves deep into the conflict between local factions to find the Stellaron, which is the culprit of these crises.

Every time we resolve the crisis of a world, the main cast continues on to the next destination.

Currently, we know that the first stop of Astral Express is the Herta Space Station; the second stop is Jarilo VI, a planet that suffered the Eternal Freeze; a third station is a place where tradition meets sci-fi – Xianzhou Luofu. Unlike Genshin Impact, the next station of Star Rail is always unknown and capable of endless possibilities! This means that in terms of world setting, Star Rail doesn’t have quite as many restrictions and can have a lot more creative freedom.

Stellaron and Fragmentum

Stellaron

Cancer of All Worlds, seeds of disaster. Stellarons were sown across the universe by Nanook the Destroyer, but not created by him. Stellarons don’t seem to have a fixed form (supposedly the Stellaron of Xianzhou Luofu is a tree).

Fragmentum

Distorted special phenomena which appear in the vicinity of a Stellaron, continuously eating away at reality.

Fragmentum Monsters: they are duplicated from the Fragmentum’s assimilation of the biological data it has collected. These monsters retain the original forms of the creatures in question but also have mutations (Soldiers, Animals, Machines, and Antimatter Legion).

Relationship Between Stellaron and Fragmentum

The advent of Stellarons causes massive changes to civilizations and ecosystems and generates distortions in space such as Fragmentums.

The Nature of the Galaxy in Star Rail and Chronicle Methods

Theories on the Nature of Galaxy

Star Rail’s world setting is deeply tied to the concept of the essence of the galaxy, and there have been many theories on the nature of the galaxy in-game (very similar to how we question the nature of Earth and the Sun and invented our own theories in real life).

Earlier theories include:

Theory 1

The galaxy is a Cosmos Tree; this theory has the most followers.

Advocate: Zandar One Kuwabara (Member 1 of the Genius Society, Emanator of Erudition)

Zandar believed that the galaxy is a giant tree called the Imaginary Tree. The individual star systems are leaves from this tree; only Aeons who directly sap energy from the imaginary and Emanators who are blessed by the Aeons can travel the spaces filled by imaginary energy and achieve astral travel; Planets, where civilizations exist, are similar because of this.

Refuter: Elias Salas (Member 56 of the Genius Society)

He invented ultra-long-range remote communication technology and disproved the uniqueness of Imaginary, shaking the foundation of the theory of the Tree of the Universe.

Theory 2

The galaxy is just a dream.

Advocate: The Riddlers

Current Galactic History

The most ancient Aeon, Qlipoth, gave birth to the Interastral Peace Corporation. From then on, we have the modern history of the galaxy. Similar to the real world, in Star Rail, the way astral history is chronicled also differs across Paths and stars.

Currently, the following are the known standards:

[Amber] Era

Common galactic chronicle unit. One [Amber] Era is equivalent to several decades.

• 1387 AE: The Interastral Peace Corporation is founded (We know the current date is 2157 AE, moving back some 770 AE, this date is at least 1387 AE or earlier)
• 2154 AE: Wen Huairen’s purchase of several transportation-type Curios (When he was still in charge of the Department of Implement Arts)
• 2157 AE, Month 32, Date 11: Observation of Wubbaboo Behavior
• 2157 AE, Month 39, Date 51: Lyrid Meteor Shower (Researcher Eikura Shuu’s Diary)
• 2157 AE: Galaxy Public Service Award (Main timeline) [To thank the Trailblazer for thwarting the schemes of a Lord Ravager, the Herta Department of Galactic Geopolitics names the Trailblazer Lord of Peace-Keeping]
• 2157 AE, Months 48-51:

The main star of the Abundance segmentum experienced a gravitational collapse due to an unknown influence. Soon after, there was a starquake! Flashes in the universe and gamma afterglow fill everything in the visible range. (Suspected to be either The Hunt or a Stellaron, or even The Destruction. In any case, it’s a crisis waiting for the Nameless’ rescue)

The [Fortification] Era

Current chronicle unit used on Jarilo-VI. 700 years ago: seemingly referred to as the Middle Era. There are the following eras in Jarilo-VI:

• The Resistance Era: Invasion of the Antimatter Legion that sang the Earth.
• Architect Machine Era: The Architects created impressive machine soldiers to help defend against the invasion.

At the end of 47 BF (before Fortification): Katana Thomas was part of a refugee train from Novgofia that traversed the snow to reach Belobog. Their arrival was warmly received by Alisa Rand, who described it as a “Great Voyage,” bringing with it culture, art, and technology that are still influential in Belobog today.

• The Founding of Belobog: Marking the Beginning of the Fortification Era
• Observation of the Fallen Star Era: The fallen star recorded by the Architects, AKA the Stellaron
• The Eternal Freeze: Legions were buried beneath the blizzard, leaving only Belorog standing
• Corrosion of the Fragmentum: Occurred at the same time as the Eternal Freeze
• Geomarrow Excavation Era: Geomarrow was being excavated in the [Underworld] as heat sources

Before the Eternal Freeze arrived, under the blessing of The Preservation Aeon Qlipoth, Architects founded the city despite the mockery from others.

• 100 AF: Cultivated the red sunset fruit that could withstand the cold
• 376 AF: A by-product of burning Geomarrow was discovered that had a small analgesic effect on burns and cuts
• 390 AF: The Bellerain brand was founded
• 694 AF: Richard and Dyanna founded the brand “Suburbia”
• 698 AF, January 13: Alisa Rand premiered in the new concert hall on Fainka Street

[Star Calendar]

Currently used on Luofu

Reference the Chinese Lunar Calendar for details. It is used in An Evening Journey Through Exalting Sanctum: 13 November, 10th Year of the Star Calendar

Unreleased Worlds in Star Rail

Summary of Unreleased Worlds

1. Talia the Kingdom of Banditry.
2. Celestial Differentiator Planet Screwllum: “Mechanical Sun”.
3. Sprightly Vonwacq: There are animal fruits growing on the Thestang tree.
4. Inert Salsotto: Salsotto that ceased to rotate has days and nights that last seemingly for an eternity. People chased the terminator line and moved with it to barely get by. One of the only surviving cities, Tumbleweed, is a city that never stops moving, in order to not be consumed by the endless night or day.
5. Pier Point: The headquarters of the IPC.
6. Arivanta: The gravity of the planet changes all the time according to a Bode plot, Ordinary life forms cannot survive such volatility.

Aeons, Paths, Emanators

Aeons

Aeons are mysterious higher beings with celestial bodies. Each of them controls a different Path and has the ability to travel freely between the stars. They possess tremendous powers to erase reality and create new worlds.

Currently, the seven Paths that different in-game characters follow correspond to the [Seven Aeons]:

1. [The Destruction] Nanook: Recklessness, rage, obliteration
2. [The Hunt] Lan: Decisiveness, coldness, revenge
3. [The Erudition] Nous: Thinking, logic, strategy
4. [The Harmony] Xipe: Understanding, support, cooperation
5. [The Nihility] IX: Lethargy, exhaustion, nothingness
6. [The Preservation] Qlipoth: Patience, sacrifice, protection
7. [The Abundance] Yaoshi: Selflessness, altruism, healing

Paths

Paths are the philosophical concept of the Aeons. Those who follow their paths will receive their blessing.

The Nature of Paths

The nature of the Paths still needs to be studied. For now, we can only describe it as a “philosophical concept”. It is a part of the Imaginary element, the metaphysical aggregation of the spirit.  When specific conditions are met, an intelligent being will completely take over this part of the Imaginary. These intelligent beings are called Aeons and the energy they possess is called Paths.

Relationship Between Paths and Aeons

The Paths bind the Aeons. The birth of every Aeon marks the opening of a Path, and once a Path is opened, it can never be closed; even if the Aeon representing it falls, the Path remains open (the same reason why Star Rail can still perform interastral travel after the fall of Akivili).

When a being has ascended into an Aeon, she will have power over her Path; she can command the Imaginary energy of the Path however she likes, but she can only act according to her Primum Mobile (Aeons are free to use their Paths’ energy however they please, but are also bound by it)

Emanators

Emanators are pathstriders with power directly granted by the Aeons. They are incomparably more powerful than mere mortals. They are typically enforcers of Aeons’ wills.

Relationship Between Emanators and Aeons

With power that surpassed mortals, Emanators are still weak like a drop in the ocean when compared to the Aeons in charge of the Paths. Sometimes the Aeons will grant the power of their Path directly to a mortal and turn them into an Emanator.

You can find more about their relationship in this post:

Honkai: Star Rail Factions Explained