16: Teyvat’s Timeline: Exploring Medieval Fantasy Beyond Western Europe in Genshin Impact

Johansen Quijano, @QuijanoPhD, Tarrant County College

Discourse and popular media about the Middle Ages often focuses on Europe (500 CE - 1500 CE) while ignoring non-European influences. The almost obsessive focus on the Middle Ages exclusively as a time where only Arthurian knights roamed the land saving peasants from brigands creates a model of medievalism in the cultural unconscious that erases the contributions, and at times the existence, of diverse groups and nationalities from history. These Eurocentric perspectives filter into game design and leads to the creation of formulaic Medievalist games, which further entrench the assumptions of the Middle Ages as an isolated bubble, with the Viking Age, the Islamic Golden Age, and the Chinese Middle Ages – not to mention other nodes of the global Medieval network – imagined as isolated bubbles existing in alternate spaces and points in time. The result is a self-reinforcing loop where misconceptions about historicity inform historically inaccurate games that claim historicity, which furthers misconceptions.

Games that claim historical accuracy, games that are at times difficult to distinguish from each other (see: Mordhau, Chivalry, and Kingdom Come), while often mimetic in architectural design, fail to encapsulate both the diverse populations and cultures of the Middle Ages. These games’ assumptions that the Middle Ages were an exclusively Western European affair does a disservice both to the popular understanding of the period as well as to the games’ design. The reality is that not only were the Middle Ages, even in Europe, full of diverse peoples due to trade via both seabound routes and through the Silk Road, but also that the Middle Ages were not an exclusively Western European period. In other words, we had Medievalism beyond Europe.

Even if Europe were to be seen as the central hub of the nexus of medieval trade routes, these trade routes still extended far into Eastern Europe, went through the Middle East and India into China and Japan, and stretched south through Morocco and Egypt as far as Mali and Sudan (Mills 2018, Heng 2021, Rosa 2021).

Regions throughout the world had their own, often overlapping, Medieval / Middle Ages periods, including the Islamic Golden Age (900 CE- 1300 CE) Medieval China (220 CE- 1368 CE), and Medieval Japan (1185 CE- 1603 CE); as such, it's likely that fantasy games that take a broader global approach to design do a better job at encapsulating the zeitgeist of the historical Middle Ages than hyper-specific games focusing on narrow strips of land. One game that has so far demonstrated this brilliantly is Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact is a fantasy action role playing game in which players take control of one of two characters explore fictional spaces inspired by Medieval Germany, China, and Japan. The game’s architecture, lore, and characters are inspired by the histories of these countries during the late Middle Ages, and reflects the spirit of the Global Middle Ages better than most games claiming historical accuracy. This is not to say that Genshin Impact is historically accurate - it's clearly fantasy or even exclusively inspired exclusively by a Medieval ethos as the existence of cameras and Rock & Roll in the game shows a somewhat broader range of inspiration. However, Genshin Impact’s design and approach to gameplay, which creates a living world with recurring and timed events, shows a vision of Medievalism beyond Europe that, while fanciful, is respectful to the architectures and histories it draws inspiration from.

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Mondstat, the first area of the game, is inspired by Switzerland and Germany, with the city layout mirroring Switzerland's capital city of Bern, (est. 1191) and its houses the design of German cities like Rothensburg (est. 1274) and Miltenberg (est. 1200). The way characters dress is reminiscent of garbs traditionally worn in Germany during the Middle Ages, and the Mondstat hierarchies of noble families enjoying a life of leisure while scholars and officials run the city, the Knights of Favonius keep the peace, and citizens work farming, fishing, hunting, and commerce is reminiscent of the social structures that existed in Medieval Germany. However, Genshin Impact's influences from the Global Middle Ages doesn't stop there.

Liyue’s, environments are inspired by the Chuan-Shaan-Si-Lu (Sichuan) province and its architecture reminiscent of buildings erected during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279). Furthermore, Liyue character models and hierarchies as explored through lore somewhat mirror those of Medieval China. Liyue’s government, for example, is structured in a way where Morax, the Archon of Liyue, hands down his edicts to the Quixing – a group of seven influential business leaders – who then implement Morax’s policies and manage the day to day affairs. This is a similar structure to that implemented in Medieval China with the Three Departments and Six Ministries system.

Players can also explore the land of Inozuma, an archipelago controlled by a military Bakufu in a way similar to how Japan was governed from 1192 to 1867. The similarities in architecture, art, and fashion between Inozuma and Medieval Japan are stunning; from the cherry blossoms that line the landscape and the paintings and statues that decorate the city to the distinctly unique Japanese architecture of the buildings and the kimonos used by the characters, every aspect of Inozuma shows a deep knowledge of, and reverence for, the culture that inspired it.

Still, it's timed local events that make the world feel alive. Events like the Windblume Festival can only be accessed in Mondstat, while the Lantern Rite – inspired by the Chinese Lantern Festival which takes place during the Lunar New Year – can only be accessed from Liyue. These events flesh out the lore and world of Mondstat and Liyue respectively while being respectful to the traditions that inspired them. Still, characters from Mondstat will often comment on events from Liyue and Inozuma and viceversa. This gives each area a uniquely distinct feel as largely independent regions that still exists within a broader interconnected world that engages in exchanges with other cultures. This global approach to design makes the world feel interconnected - as the real world was during the Middle Ages.

Bibliography

Heng, G. (2021). The global middle ages: An introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Mills, T. (2018, June 29). An incredibly detailed, handmade map of medieval trade routes. Retrieved July 6, 2022, from https://www.openculture.com/2018/06/behold-incredibly-detailed-handmademap-medieval-trade-routes.html

Rosa, L. (2021, July 23). Important medieval trade routes. Retrieved July 6, 2022, from https://www.studentsofhistory.com/important-medieval-trade-routes

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Ludography

Mordhau [Computer Software]. (2019). Ljubljana, Slovenia: Triternion.

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare [Computer Software]. (2012). Toronto, Canada: Torn Banner Studios.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance [Computer Software]. (2018). Prague, Czech Republic: Warhorse Studios.

Genshin Impact [Computer Software]. (2020). Shanghai, China: miHoYo.

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