✧:     编年史

     i am going to be treating archon titles and names in somewhat the same way that chinese culture treats given and courtesy names.  as background:  in modern times,  chinese people only have one name  ( excluding nicknames and western names that they might give themselves if they so desire )  but many countries in the sinosphere used to adopt many more.  in ancient china,  it was typical to have a  surname  and a  given name at birth;  when someone reached adulthood at around 20 years old,  they would find a name for themselves that others would call them,  also known as their  courtesy name.  a lot of emphasis was placed on seniority, class, and social status so in order to respect those boundaries,  the two names were heavily divided.  it was considered disrespectful to refer to someone older by their given name,  so courtesy names were meant for casual conversations and loose friends.

    the reason why it fell so out of fashion in current day is because of the attempt to equalize everyone when emperors and royal court officials were replaced by political personnel.  nothing about the emperor’s rule and the strict levels of his court and nobility exist anymore; it’s no longer clear who is subordinate aside from age and roles like boss and employee,  and even then those terms are fairly loose.  though age still plays a very big role in terms of respect,  they have been replaced with titles like ge / jie / di / mei / lao / etc.

GIVEN NAME:              归终 ( guīzhōng )                                             归  --  to return to                                             终  --  the end / finale

COURTESY NAME:     灵墨  ( língmò )                                            灵  --  soul of / spirit                                            墨  --  ink / writing

     guizhong is comparatively lenient in what she’s referred to,  especially in liyue where there really isn’t much written about her in books out of ill will;  quite the contrary,  any remaining texts about her sing praises about her name and of her charity towards the original people of liyue.  however,  she’s nothing if not careful,  and going about as an archon in an era where they have dwindled in number and power would be foolish.  and perhaps she just wants to partake in a bit of the fun,  too.