Question: your favourite Dixing worldbuilding?

[china_shop]

What are some of your favourite pieces of worldbuilding about Dixing, from canon, or your own or someone else's fanworks?

Some of mine are:

1. Dixing has a glass factory. (I don't know if I or nnozomi came up with that; maybe we both did in parallel? Maybe someone else did first?)


2. The Dijun's throne being a relic of the spaceship. (I read that in a fic; anyone recognise it?)


3. The various wildlife possibilities, including keeping moles as pets.


4. “In the age of light there were feast days every week or two. Since the Hallows were lost, we only really observe the oldest holidays.” Lao Chu twirled the point of his knife against his fingertip; no blood resulted, so it couldn’t have been as sharp as it looked. [...] “Night of the Ancestors, the Bitter Melon Festival for the harvest – though most of the crops are blighted now – and Hei Pao Shi Day.” (From here.)

Comments

[bladedweapons]

This might be broader than you are looking for, but I think the very fact that they are from space and said to have arrived on (seems to be?) single space ship. It raises a lot of fun questions about whether they were multi-generations in space, and whether seeking a place to settle and what and why they left (colonists? refugees?)....Also I can't remember the degree to which it is canon, but the notion that landfall for them was recent enough (in the framework of dixingren possible longevity and so perhaps longer social memory) that it was kind of still within the realm of history, not completely relegated to myth. (**I can't quite remember canon on that, I'm pretty sure it was still generations earlier(?), but in any case, the kind of history where your great grandmother might have been alive for something is very different from the kind where a lot depends upon archaeology or texts.)

[china_shop]

Ooh, yeah, those are all cool things. (I have no expectations re scope -- go wild! ♥)

It raises a lot of fun questions about whether they were multi-generations in space, and whether seeking a place to settle and what and why they left (colonists? refugees?)

Explorers? Scientists? Yes -- so many great possibilities. :D

but in any case, the kind of history where your great grandmother might have been alive for something is very different from the kind where a lot depends upon archaeology or texts.

Very true! Hmm, we don't really have any sense of the possible life span of Dixingren, do we? (I don't think we can use Shen Wei as a datapoint because of the energy seal.) IIRC, Chu Shuzhi is 100 or so. I wonder how long the Regent's been alive...

Ten thousand years plus however long pre-YOHE that the space ship arrived is a ~very~ long time, but yeah, I love the idea that those are loooong generations. :D

[trobadora]

Another headcanon of mine: Dixingren lifespans vary greatly between individuals, so the concept of a "generation" is very different from humans. :)

[china_shop]

I feel like that's almost canon? Who do we see presenting as kids? bb! Shen Wei and Ye Zun (disqualified), young Chu Shuzhi (long-lived) and Chu Nianzhi (deceased), Zu Ma (much older than he looks), Zheng Yi (a little older than she looks), on the one hand; but Wu Xiaojun who seems to have aged at a regular rate, on the other. :-)

[trobadora]

the notion that landfall for them was recent enough (in the framework of dixingren possible longevity and so perhaps longer social memory) that it was kind of still within the realm of history, not completely relegated to myth

Yeah, that's the impression I got too! When Da Qing mentions it in YOHE, the way he talks about it is very much as known history, not distant myth, even though it must have been a long time ago. Lots of mutation has taken place; the opening narration tells us that the ancestors of the Yashou deliberately combined their genes with native flora/fauna, but the ancestors of Dixingren went underground and mutated there on their own, so that must have taken some time! But by the time of YOHE, all of that seems to have been the normal state of affairs for quite some time already; none of it is new any more.

And that's a great question about why the spaceship left its original home, and whether they were escaping from somewhere or looking for something ... also, whether their original civilisation on their world of origin is still around and might one day get in touch with them again!

[china_shop]

the opening narration tells us that the ancestors of the Yashou deliberately combined their genes with native flora/fauna, but the ancestors of Dixingren went underground and mutated there on their own, so that must have taken some time!

Unless they had technology to guide it and speed it up?

[trobadora]

They might have, but it didn't sound like it was one-and-done, and there's no telling how soon after their arrival downstairs they even realised what was happening. You could go a lot of different directions with that in fic, I guess!

[trobadora]

I love Dixing glass! I thought it was nnozomi's idea originally, but I don't know for absolute sure.

I don't remember which fic had the Dijun's throne as a spaceship relic, but a) I love everything to do with Dixingren's alien origins, and b) one of my favourite Dixing headcanons is about the throne: it interfaces the Dijun with the palace and Dixing as a whole, but because without the Hallows Dixing is low on resources, it doesn't quite function as it should, draws energy from the Dijun and drains him. With the Hallows, it might run the other way!

I also love the concept of Dixing radio, based on the old-fashioned radio we seen in that bedroom once.

[bladedweapons]

one of my favourite Dixing headcanons is about the throne: it interfaces the Dijun with the palace and Dixing as a whole, but because without the Hallows Dixing is low on resources, it doesn't quite function as it should, draws energy from the Dijun and drains him. With the Hallows, it might run the other way!

I love this too! And suddenly had a thought - if the throne is a spaceship relic, maybe it is somehow adapted from some kind of ancient biolink technology that was part of what made the spaceship run or the navigation interface or something. Although I guess then there's a time problem if it runs on the Hallows...but who knows, if it were a kind of...channeling device, maybe it got repurposed after the ship's source of energy was lost, first to run on the Hallows, and then, when they too were lost, to run on the Dijun...

[trobadora]

I do like the idea that it was originally a device to pilot or run the spaceship!

And yeah, in Dixing the throne might originally have run on whatever energy source ancient Dixing was built on, which must have come from the spaceship. The meteor presumably destroyed that - and when Dixingren went back underground and rebuilt after the war, it would have made sense to re-engineer it to make it run on Hallows energy instead ...

[china_shop]

I do remember nnozomi posting about it. ♥

one of my favourite Dixing headcanons is about the throne: it interfaces the Dijun with the palace and Dixing as a whole, but because without the Hallows Dixing is low on resources, it doesn't quite function as it should, draws energy from the Dijun and drains him. With the Hallows, it might run the other way!

That's very cool! And makes total sense.

I also love the concept of Dixing radio, based on the old-fashioned radio we seen in that bedroom once.

As you know, I'm a little more ambivalent about that one wrt it being actual headcanon, but I've really loved the fics I've read about it.

[trobadora]

That's very cool!

It really is! IIRC shadaras brought that one up during the rewatch. (I'm not sure if someone else mentioned something similar before - I have a vague recollection, but I might be mixing things up. Do you remember anything?)

I've really loved the fics I've read about it.

Yeah, it's a fantastic concept for fic!

[momijizukamori]

Hmmm I don't think I have a single standout favorite, I just love the variety of stuff people come up with.

I *did*, however, set up an AO3 collection for fics that did worldbuilding stuff, so people should def add bookmarks of their faves there (bookmarks because AO3's collection-handling is kind of bad and gives mods way too much control over fic in the collection, with no way to permanently disable those controls)

[china_shop]

Oh, that's very cool! What a great collection of fics. &hearts

(I didn't know you can add bookmarks to a collection. Do you have to bookmark your own work if you want to add it like that?)

[momijizukamori]

Yeah, you'd have to bookmark your own work, which is a little silly - but gives the benefit of being able to add bookmark tags, which I was using to group stuff by what kind of worldbuilding it touches on - it's in the fic tags for some of them for sure, but not always in the same way across fics.

[trobadora]

Oh, that's a very cool idea!

I don't use AO3 bookmarks, can you bookmark your own fics? (Would it be very weird if my only bookmarks were my own fic?)

[momijizukamori]

You can bookmark your own fics - I have no idea what the perception of it would be, given that I don't look at other people's individual bookmarks, though there's a lot of variety in usage, I think.

[trobadora]

Btw, you shold totally make a post on the comm about this, so more people will see!

[autodach]

My favourite bit of worldbuilding in canon is that Dixingren dress like Haixingren for the most part, but there's also people wearing robes(the ruling class?). The regent even changes upon entering Dixing - wouldn't be caught dead in a suit in Dixing apparently XD

Dixing is such a fun playground for fanfic and headcanons! I love to see what everyone comes up with♥️

[trobadora]

Yeah, this is a good one! My headcanon is that it's either a class thing (we know from what the Regent says about the succession that there is some sort of nobility), or a proximitiy-to-the-palace thing.

Also the change in appearance between Dixing and Haixing, which applies only to the Regent and the Envoy, who are also the only two people officially< allowed to use the passage ... I always wonder about that.

[autodach]

Also the change in appearance between Dixing and Haixing, which applies only to the Regent and the Envoy, who are also the only two people officially< allowed to use the passage ... I always wonder about that.

That is fascinating! They’re so consistent about it (at least until it becomes impractical in Shen Wei’s case), suggesting it’s a matter of pride/status to wear their robes while in Dixing.

[china_shop]

The regent even changes upon entering Dixing - wouldn't be caught dead in a suit in Dixing apparently XD

No one would pay him the proper respect in a suit! It's not like he has Hei Pao Shi's presence and natural authority. ;-p

Dixing is such a fun playground for fanfic and headcanons! I love to see what everyone comes up with♥️

Yes! Me too!

[autodach]

Haha his authority doesn't come natural at all, does it XD

[china_shop]

I just thought of another one I came up with for a fic: that the drinking masks are memorial masks.

Shen Wei huffed a laugh through his nose, and his voice went far away. “Our forefathers came from the stars. It took them many years to reach Haixing, multiple generations. People were born on the spaceship, and people died. Of course, there was no place to bury the dead, so we began memorialising our loved ones in—”

“Masks.” Yunlan felt an uncomfortable twist in his stomach. He forced his tired eyes open. Shen Wei was staring at the ceiling, his face expressionless.

“Yes. We carry our dead with us. We wear them. That way we can be with them again, eat with them, drink with them. In times past, only certain wealthy families could afford the practice, but it’s grown more common lately. Even flimsy plastic masks can carry much sentiment.”

(From this fic. Zhao Yunlan is feeling uncomfortable because of having stole the vomiting guy's mask.)

This has kind of become my headcanon. :-)

[trobadora]

Oh yeah, I remember that one! Such a fascinating idea.