Zhongli

A mysterious expert contracted by the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Extremely knowledgeable in all things.

Zhongli is a calm, reserved, and polite man, who holds an air of nostalgia. He knows much about Liyue's history and culture in part due to his time as the Geo Archon; like Venti, he has many experiences and memories, as he was a god well before The Seven even existed. He holds philosophical ideas towards money and has great respect for Liyue's traditions, including those that have been forgotten or warped over time. Zhongli tends to be humble, being worried he comes off as a "bourgeois parasite".

Zhongli tends to forget about Mora in transactions, agreeing to spend large sums of it without having any Mora on hand and even taking "discounts" as granted despite being an obvious scam. He often ends up relying on his acquaintances for financial support, such as the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor or Childe. Although he works for Hu Tao, he does not like her childish behavior.

It is later revealed that Zhongli's "carelessness" stems from being the creator of Mora. With the Gnosis allowing him to create limitless Mora, he never had to worry about running low on his personal finances. Unfortunately, when he chose to live among mortals, he lacked the foresight to find an alternative for them to continue minting Mora in his absence, along with creating a retirement fund for himself. As a result, he shamelessly spends the Mora of others.

Zhongli is the latest mortal vessel of the Geo Archon, Morax, who serves as a consultant for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. To the people of Liyue, their Archon carries many titles: the Geo Archon, the God of Contracts, the God of History, the God of the Stove, the Stonebreaker, and the Warrior God among them.

Having lived for over 6000 years, Zhongli has first-hand experience with much of Teyvat's history, including the start of the Archon War. At the time, Zhongli was the co-ruler of the prosperous Guili Assembly alongside the God of Dust, Guizhong. During a certain battle, despite their efforts and the aid of the adepti, Guizhong was slain and the Guili Assembly was destroyed. Sometime afterwards, 3700 years ago, Zhongli moved his people south of Mt. Tianheng and established Liyue Harbor, where it stands to this day.

The Hus of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, who have been in this business for 77 generations, are the masters of handling funerals. However, Hu Tao, the current owner of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, primarily focuses on the art of sending mortals on their way.

For the various ceremonies for sending adepti off, Hu Tao usually employs the help of a friend in more or less the same business. That person's name is Zhongli. The adepti have been with Liyue for millennia, but only a handful have ascended in the past three thousand years, which means that everything regarding the traditions now only exists in texts. This is not something one would likely witness twice in their entire lifetime.

Not even the most particular and learned of researchers or scholars could find one fault in Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's ceremonies for sending adepti off.

Everything must be perfect, from the costumes, the time, the place, the items, the weather, the scheduled length, the size of the permitted audience, to the stature, profession, and age of the said audience. Nothing can be overlooked.

When folk describe Zhongli as "living history," the latter usually only smiles and sighs.

"I... just have a good memory."

In Liyue, if a person pays great attention to details, and has insuperable criteria by which they judge certain matters, then they are called "particular."

In truth, everyone is "particular" about something. Some people hate spicy food, others don't eat fish, and some want their tofu served sweet...

But as for Zhongli, he is particular about everything. He must attend operas by the most celebrated performers, take the most luxuriant thrushes out for walks, and he must go into the kitchen personally to instruct the cooks as to the ratio of scallops and fish required to make the most authentic Fullmoon Egg.

Zhongli has expertise in all manner of things: from fashion to daily necessities, wine and snacks, teas and spices, flora and fauna, and he will even actively debate affairs of trade, state, and international relations.

But he only ever fills you in on some useless trivia, because he enjoys sharing such interesting things with you.

When making a purchase, look to slash prices.

This is common knowledge among the people of Liyue. No matter what high heavens the store owner praises their product to, no matter its ancient history or classical value, prices are always flexible. Half the stated cost is a good place to start.

But when Zhongli pays up (or rather, calls for someone else to pay up on his behalf,) he never looks at the price tag. As long as it catches his eye, Zhongli will pay as much as the owner asks.

Indeed, he will even buy it at a premium sometimes.

But for some reason, Zhongli always forgets to bring money.

For small purchases, he has friends to help him out, and large bills he somehow finds ways to have written off.

To those merchants who secretly pride themselves on their powers of flattery, Zhongli is a man of strange proclivities: in truth, he knows a great deal about the value of money and finance, and he also understands the suffering of the people.

However, he seems to not understand that poverty is part of the human condition.

Or perhaps it might be said that he cannot imagine himself being poor.

How has such a person not died of hunger yet?

There is no way Zhongli can starve.

Such concerns as profit and loss are beneath his notice. The Seven Nations and the world itself are where his efforts are directed. As for wealth... He is wealth itself.

He is Morax, the overlord Rex Lapis who rules Liyue, and the Geo Archon of the Seven Archons. The very money that circulates throughout Teyvat, Mora, is named after him.

When night falls, and bustling Liyue begins to slumber, he will sometimes stand atop the towering mountains and gaze upon this city, which he made with his own hands.

To the people of Liyue, Rex Lapis has many divine titles.

When he laid down Liyue's laws by his divine might, he was the God of Contracts. When he minted the first Mora and made Liyue strong by dint of commerce, the merchants revered him as the God of Commerce.

He has lived through countless years and is the eldest of the Seven, and so historian call him the God of History.

Thousands of years ago, the forbears of the citizens of Liyue Harbor struck stones together to start fires and used piled stones to create stove. These blessings derived from the Geo element led the Geo Archon to gain the title of God of the Stove.

People from other lands tend to call him Morax, though the people of Liyue prefer to use the term Rex Lapis.

But in the hearts of lovers of opera and children, Morax's on-stage aspect, the all-conquering defender of Liyue — the Warrior God — is the most fascinating.

The delicacies that Rex Lapis discovered while lost in the streets, the plaques inscribed with his handwriting, a famous opera that he once starred in, playing the part of a warrior...

Many stories and tales of Liyue are, when studied closely, stories of people visited by their deity at some point — and the citizens of Liyue are most proud indeed of that history.

As the founder of Liyue Harbor, "contracts" are the most important thing to Morax.

From simple monetary exchange and agreements between merchants to the ancient laws that Morax himself laid down, there is no part of city life untouched by "contracts."

To merchants, "contracts" are the most important standard that they hold themselves: deadlines, invoices, shipping destinations... Only a refined and strict order can sustain vibrant commerce, which is itself the lifeblood of Liyue Harbor.

Thus the Qixing punish violators of such laws unceasingly, not only to uphold the divine rulings of Morax but also to allow Liyue to maintain its vitality.

Through the millennia, every generation of the Liyue Qixing commits to interpreting the law, including subtle amendments to plug loopholes found in the law. Any loopholes that remain undiscovered are seen by the merchants as "permissible if unaddressed," and they make killings off such holes until they are discovered and patched up by the Liyue Qixing.

Amid this game of cat-and-mouse, the book that collates such amendments has reached a whopping 279 pages thick.

The person currently responsible for maintaining this book, the Tianquan Ningguang, is secretly (and humorously) referred to as the "Tailor of Liyue," in honor of her speed in patching these laws up, and for her sharpness of eye.

But no matter how complicated or tangled mortal laws become, one of these stands above all others in the eyes of Rex Lapis.

"The one who reneges on their words shall suffer the Wrath of the Rock."

Rex Lapis, most ancient of The Seven, has lived far too long. Rex Lapis still remembers that moment when the final archon took their divine seat, thus ending the Archon War and the era of warring gods. The Seven were a diverse lot and dispersed far and wide, but they all shouldered the burden of guiding humanity.

As time passed, many of The Seven's titles changed hands, and only two remain of the first Seven: Rex Lapis and the Anemo Archon.

The carefree Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, is the second eldest of The Seven.

When Barbatos first came to Liyue, Rex Lapis believed his fellow archon to have encountered some terrible crisis in pursuit of their duties, thus requiring his aid.

So when Barbatos descended in a gust of wind, the Geo Archon had already prepared himself to receive this neighboring deity and lend what help he may. But as he looked, the Anemo Archon tossed a wine bottle at him.

"Here's some wine from Mondstadt. Care for a taste?" To forsake one's duty to deliver a single bottle of wine — what a preposterous notion!

Yet the Anemo Archon kept coming to visit, to explore Liyue Harbor, all sorts of strange questions on his lips. The Anemo Archon's questions knew as little limits as the wine in his hands.

From then on, the first Seven would often gather in Liyue. Rex Lapis still remembers how those wines tasted.

The world has changed much since then, and all that was once familiar has faded into memory. The seven seats changed and again were changed, till five of the seven at the table were all departed.

Nor would the duty of guiding humanity be honored by the new archons.

Even the hardest rocks may be worn down after three thousand years.

Nor would the wind ever return again.

One drizzly day, the ancient ruler was strolling about Liyue Harbor, and overheard a merchant telling one of his workers, "You've finished with your duties, go ahead and call it a day."

Long did he stand amidst the milling crowd.

"Have I... already finished my duties?"