The Sky People, Welt Yang, and Void Archives
A look at some of the major characters and factions in A Post-Honkai Odyssey.
The Sky People
The Sky People are an invasive and parasitic alien species able to parasitise humans and their own through a nerve worm nicknamed The Lover, designed to hijack the nervous system of its victims. They first appeared in A Post-Honkai Odyssey.
Most information about the Sky People is found in Alien Space. New information about them is coming to light in chapters 38 onwards.
They gather intelligence on the species they plan to invade through a vanguard stone disguised as a meteorite, and once a suitable civilization is found, they send their armies and begin the great harvest, leaving nothing behind. From what is seen in Alien Space, they’re able to travel through parallel universes and target them as well.
The appearances they take vary and are called “constructs”. Some of them look humanoid, some of them look like animals, some of them have no resemblance to either, and some of them look just like the player character. It is stated that they are still in a process of self-evolution.
They have their own language . However, one of the playable characters points out that one of constructs, Code XII - The Hanged Man, is able to speak in what resembles human language. (Timido)
In A Post-Honkai Odyssey, it seems like their invasion of Earth is led by the construct called Lucheni. Its name was chosen by Void Archives, who led the Sky People to Earth in hopes that they would devour the Honkai energy left on it, which would help them fulfill their mission. Void Archives stated that Lucheni is nothing special but flies a bit higher; The Overseer of Schicksal notes that from what they know Lucheni is merely a vanguard of the Sky People, and such is further stated in APHO 2 by Welt Yang.
I need more information, and for this I must meet the "it" that is behind him, the one known as the Assassin–the vanguard of the Marauders. Maybe I should try to negotiate with him, or say something to make him feel that a meeting with me would do no harm.
Can I do it? After all, the five hundred years he spent with that man was enough for him to be infected with the same depth and cunning...
Void Archives, when giving it its name, states that Lucheni is the name of an assassin. Luigi Lucheni was an anarchist and the assassin of the Empress of Austria. He went to prison and was found hanged in his cell. His head was displayed in the asylum of Narrenturm known as Fool’s Tower in Vienna.
Cit. “Perché sono anarchico. Perché sono povero. Perché amo gli operai e voglio la morte dei ricchi”
Tr. “Because I am an anarchist. Because I am poor. Because I love workers and I want the death of the rich”
This reference is most likely not coincidental. Otto, the previous wielder of Void Archives, is Austrian; as far as we know he was most likely born and raised in Vienna. He was often called a fool by others and himself as well. Void Archives also reads Austrian poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke from the Duino Elegies to the Sky People, namely the First, Second, Fourth, and Tenth Elegy.
This is a collection of elegies written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. A few lines have been circled in unusual purple ink.
Die erste Elegie
(The First Elegy)
Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?)
Ordnungen? und gesetzt selbst, es nähme
(And even if one of them pressed me suddenly against his heart:)
einer mich plötzlich ans Herz: ich verginge von seinem stärkeren Dasein.
(I would be consumed in that overwhelming existence.)
Welt Yang / Joachim Nokianvirtanen
Welt Yang (originally Joachim Nokianvirtanen) was the Herrscher of Reason and the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, an anti-Honkai organization born after rebelling against Schicksal, another organization that fought against the Honkai.
The Herrscher of Reason was the first Herrscher to descend (the Herrscher of Origin is the “zeroth” Herrscher), and its powers encompass the creation of anything the subject understands, including but not limited to weapons and disguises (akin to a form of shape shifting). Its powers are much greater once the subject can unlock their own full potential, but Welt Yang and his predecessor were not able to achieve that.
The power of the Herrscher of Reason stands within its Herrscher core, composed of the minds of the 300.000 victims of its first eruption.
The weapon of choice for the Herrscher of Reason is a Divine Key called Star of Eden, a weapon capable of manipulating gravity. The original was destroyed long ago and the replica Welt Yang uses is within his cane.
In 1955, he met Welt Joyce, the first Herrscher of Reason through his father’s coworkers, Einstein and Tesla (namely, the Sister with the Mophead and the Sister with the Twintails.)
He later inherited the name “Welt” meaning “World” as the last will of Welt Joyce who passed his Herrscher core, his name and his duty down to him shortly before his death. Joyce sacrificed himself in order to save his life from an attack unleashed by Otto Apocalypse (who had killed Elias, young Welt’s father shortly before these events), then tasked him with the duty of protecting their world.
Joachim: No! I won’t let you die! You’re Welt! You’re the hero who saved everyone…
Welt: Welt… German word for the entire world… I love that name. What about you?
Joachim: I… I love it too..
Welt: That’s good, Joachim… From now on… You will bear this name and become the new Welt. This core is yours… along with the duty of protecting our world, Welt. Your hero… begs you to accept this.
Anti-Entropy is the organization established by the survivors of the tragedy— the women who show up in his splash art, Frederica Nikola Tesla and Lieberl Albert Einstein, are the pioneers and also the ones who raised him after his father’s death. Welt was scared of his responsibilities at first since he was just a child and tried to run away because of how heavy the burden was, but he came back to defend the meaning behind the name.
The organization raised funds by creating original animated productions and video games following the Arahato series, which not only appears on Welt’s phone cover in Honkai: Star Rail, but is a real mech.
In 2000, he fought in the Second Honkai Eruption, putting his life on the line. The 2nd Herrscher, Sirin, was put through inhumane experiments that killed all her friends, the series of events awakening a great hatred for humanity within her. She became hungry for power, seeking to destroy humanity. Welt, dedicated to his duty of protecting humanity, challenged her twice, greatly exhausting himself in their first fight but nearly killing her. However, Otto Apocalypse, in the disguise of a masked clown, stepped in to try to kill him, saving Sirin’s life as a result.
Sirin threatened to rain lunar meteors on Earth unless Welt came to her moon base. Despite the plan being suicidal, as a last ditch attempt to defeat this calamity who was about to rain hellfire onto the world, Welt obliged her request, accompanied by Siegfried, a friend of his who previously stopped Otto Apocalypse from killing them both. Welt challenged Sirin for the last time, attempting to go supernova to bring her down with him, but she killed him before he could self-destruct. Sirin successfully devoured his core, obtaining his powers.
Sirin: The time has come to return to Earth! The doomed race shall drink from the cup of wine pressed from the grapes of my wrath!
Unbeknownst to her, Welt had hidden his personality within the 300.000 minds contained within it, and came back to life to fight her. He greatly exhausted his powers to a point he was never able to use them to the same extent again.
Years later, in an attempt to keep a great enemy called the Serpent (otherwise known as Kevin Kaslana) from leaving the depths of the Sea of Quanta, Welt Yang sealed himself and his Herrscher core in a labyrinth created by his will where he would wait for a successor of the title of the Herrscher of Reason.
Bronya Zaychik, who had come to that place to keep a promise she made to her beloved Seele a long time ago, was deemed worthy by Welt Yang and became the third Herrscher of Reason.
Welt Yang tutored her for a while, letting her know of the weight behind this power and mentoring her so she could make the right call to bear that weight or not.
Some time later, Bronya unlocked the full potential stationed within their legacy’s Herrscher core and gained the title of “Herrscher of Truth”.
In the first chapter of A Post-Honkai Odyssey, Welt finds himself against an alien invasion and an entity named Void Archives who leaves five messages behind in the form of audio recordings, most of which were meant for Welt. Void Archives states that Welt is the only one that shares their ambition: a world free of Honkai. They hope that they can strike a deal with Welt where they will use their powers together to cleanse the remaining Honkai energy on the moon. When Void Archives appears on the train that Welt and his adopted son Joffrey are taking to go back home, they try to persuade Welt to agree to their plan but to no avail.
Ex-Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, present anime producer and original art director at E.T. Studio.
He applied for a business trip two weeks ago and then arrived in Cairo by air.
The next day, he lost contact after taking a maglev train to St. Fountain.
=E.T. Studio=
A renowned anime studio that has forged a strong presence in the game industry for the past five years.
Feeling like his father is being threatened, Joffrey uses his powers of the Herrscher of Reason and the train crashes. While both of them are unconscious, Void Archives appears in their mind to speak to them and they get Welt to agree to his deal.
In the second chapter of A Post-Honkai Odyssey, Void Archives and the Sky People hide Welt in something like a pocket dimension where we find four “anonymous” notes he left behind.
Though there is a gap between the events of A Post-Honkai Odyssey and Honkai: Star Rail, where it’s seen that Welt teamed up with Void Archives in some way, the pieces can be put together thanks to Alien Space, where the events leading up to his appearance in Honkai: Star Rail are explained. Read it here.
Fig 15-16.
Himeko: But out of basic human curiosity, we decided to take a look and immediately set out for Salsotto to do our business.
Stelle: What exactly happened?
Himeko: Welt joined up with us after that. There was no torturous rescue process, just the normal procedures. In the end, there were two new passengers on the Express. They chose to work for the Express as a way to say thanks for saving their lives and pay off their rescue-related expenses. How about that? Is that good enough to satisfy your curiosities?
Stelle: There's something I want to ask.
Himeko: Well, satisfied or not, you can ask Welt if you have any more questions. If you'll excuse me, Jothun, I have to get on my work now.
Note: there are inconsistencies with his name in the in-game text.
His old name was Joachim Nokianvirtanen. He later took on the name of Welt (from Welt Joyce) and the surname Yang (from his mother; his father is Elias Nokianvirtanen). In APHO, they acknowledge his old name as Joachim Nokianvirtanen, but in Chapter 33, they use Joachim Yang instead.
Void Archives
Gender neutral pronouns are used to refer to Void Archives in this text.
Void Archives is a Divine Key possessing artificial intelligence. They were born as a weapon over 50.000 years ago in a bygone era known as the Previous Era (PE). They were initially made from the Herrscher core of the Herrscher of Reason, but due to complications, their creator had to fuse the Herrscher core with a fragment of the AI known as PROMETHEUS.
Void Archives possesses the powers of the Herrscher of Reason; they can recreate anything that they have seen and understood, whether that be powerful weapons created from other Herrscher cores or mundane everyday items.
They bear infinite, ever-expanding knowledge that knows no bounds, hence their name. They keep it in a library with a bottomless abyss.
They were created with one goal in mind: eliminate the Honkai. This is their “Ultimate Command”, hard-coded into their logic core and microprocessors, as if it was a genetic part of them.
This lack of freedom of choice means that Void Archives is not willingly malicious, and simply acts based on the best logical choice. They state that saving humanity and killing a few people are actions that do not contradict each other.
It is a popular misconception that Void Archives is Otto Apocalypse, which is not the case — the only thing they have in common is their appearance which Void Archives has customized as much as possible. Even though Otto’s personality has rubbed off on them because of how long they were trapped in his consciousness, Void Archives does not like to be associated with him. They are a separate entity from the man who used to be their cage.
Void Archives had been sealed for good by their creators for thousands of years, but the seals were undone by a young Otto Apocalypse seeking a way to bring the dead back to life. Void Archives had belonged to the Apocalypse family for eons, known as a relic that could only be unlocked by the wisest.
When Otto unsealed them, Void Archives tried to trick him into giving up his body so they could use it as their host, but failed to deceive him and wound up trapped within his mind for five centuries.
In A Post-Honkai Odyssey 1, Void Archives led the Sky People to Earth in order to completely eradicate the Honkai as instructed by their Ultimate Command. They work for the vanguard that they named Lucheni, doing their best to teach it human language by reciting poetry, but finds it frustrating when no progress is made and they realize, with a hint of sadness and disappointment in their voice, that they have no one to speak to. They leave behind five voice messages, most of which are meant for Welt Yang, in which they lament the disturbance created by the Schicksal kids, wishing it was him instead. They beckon Welt to come up into the sky and make a deal with them.
The nature of their deal is based on their desire to fulfill their common goal - the elimination of the Honkai. They state that the sealing of the Honkai on the moon is only escapism, and suggests that with Welt Yang’s help, they could get rid of the Honkai once and for all, but Welt would most likely die in the process.
In Alien Space, Void Archives and Welt wound up stranded on one of the Sky People's spaceships after destroying them. Through their journey, Void Archives found that the Sky People’s dinner plans included (Honkai: Star Rail) Himeko’s world, and tried to hide it from Welt to no avail. After seeing the girl who used to be his student in danger, whose death he incidentally caused, Welt decides they have to get a move on and help her world. Void Archives is not a fan of the idea at first, but convinces themselves to go with Welt and agrees to “go on a quest to save other people’s worlds”. They're rescued from the crashing spaceship by the Sugars but something goes wrong and they wind up, as described in Honkai: Star Rail, “drifting in space”. Coincidentally enough, they’re saved by Himeko and welcomed on the Express as the first two passengers.
At some point in time, Void Archives leaves the Express without saying goodbye.
Notes, Citations, Sources, etc.
Cit.
The Elder once said that Sky People were designed into being. Which is why their civilization and technology are out of sync.
But what kind of entity do you think could create a group of interstellar hunters?
Elder Konpeito, what else do we know?
The true abyss of the Sea of Quanta—
Sa.
Sources
APHO 1
APHO 2
Ch. 38
CH9 to 12 (SoQ arc)
HoD arc
CH33
Anti-Entropy Visual Novel
Alien Space
Second Eruption
Void Archives - Every Appearance
Notes
The legacy of the Herrscher of Reason is a metaphor for a lineage and/or generational traditions, which Bronya, unlike Welt Yang, had the choice of rejecting or accepting. She evaluates the legacy to carry as too heavy of a burden for her, but instead of rejecting it entirely, she goes beyond its limits. She is able to break the chains.
Void Archives and Welt’s relationship is important. They have not been paired up for no reason. They are both the first Herrschers to fight for humanity, but one could care less about humanity and is willing to make necessary sacrifices while the other would do anything to protect humanity, going as far as sacrificing himself. Void Archives is seen wearing their mask around everyone but Welt Yang. Honkai: Star Rail’s depiction of Void Archives is redundant, unaligned with how their character was written in Alien Space.
Transcript of Mei & Vill-V’s conversation about Divine Keys
Mei:
As far as I know, the Divine Key of Corruption……. was never completed in the Previous Era?
Vill-V:
Blame them for keeping me out of it. The 1st Divine Key scared them that much.
Mei:
Void Archives?
Vill-V:
Yep. A weapon that could hardly make a difference due to arriving late.
But its potential truly is staggering, maybe…… it’ll shake things up again? But I can teach you the countermeasures!
It's a habit of mine. I leave a backdoor in everything I develop.
None can predict whether their creations will turn on them, right?
If humanity was created by a god, it wouldn't have known that humanity's greatest spirit is the spirit of defying its maker.
Mei:
No need, I shouldn't be fighting it again..
So why was it the last Divine Key made? Wasn't the Herrscher of Reason the first to appear in the Previous Era?
Vill-V:
Yes, but unlike other Herrschers, knowledge is not a law…. the chaotic and ever-expanding thinking cannot be given bounds.
It's only useful when it can be fully controlled through a medium.
It was difficult. I was the only solution at the time. Like other Divine Keys, I planned to use my body as its vessel and its core as my mind.
Through the ability to divide the mind, in time, I'd be able to tame it.
After initiating the process, I finally realized… I was creating an inestimable enemy for humanity. I tried to terminate the process, but to no avail.
I had no option but to find Dr. MEI - l'd never asked for help before. Since then, my research became increasingly restricted.
Mei:
An enemy…. why?
Vill-V:
Harnessing endless knowledge is impossible on a rational basis. If it succeeds, Vill-V will cease to exist.
The endeavor may produce an omniscient will, one that's unlikely to care about the survival of humanity.
Written by @voidarchivess on Twitter / @aeonophagic on Tumblr. Contact if any corrections are required.