A SUMMARY IN SUMERU | Genshin Impact Song!

Thanks to Genshin Impact for reaching out to work with me and making this project possible! #ad

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When I was first approached to work with Genshin Impact on a promotional song for their next big update I would be remiss to say I wasn’t sceptical. Just what would I DO with it? It’s for certain not my typical fare here on the channel but there’s nothing I love more than a challenge. (Arguments could be made for a good, strong cheddar but Big Cheddar have yet to reach out about a song).

So Liz and I set about playing and researching the lore of Genshin Impact to try and find an angle that would be a good fit for the channel. In our research of the lore we discovered two key things;

Number one: There is a LOT of it. Like, wow. There’s a lot to get your head around. How would I pick one thing to squeeze into a song?

Number two: There’s an entire region of the game devoted to the pursuit of knowledge with a grand academy at its centre.

Well if we’ve proved one thing over the past five years it’s that if you give me an establishment where some sort of authority figure could conceivably lecture a listener on a given relevant topic, I can squeeze that through my noggin's song nozzle and extrude a jam from it.

So what if… I tried to cram as much lore as possible into as little time as possible? Now THERE’S a challenge.

This song could easily have been five times longer and still not covered everything so it’s far from comprehensive, but as a fun race through the history of the continent of Teyvat it is, as the kids say, a bop.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped pull this project together! To Jemma for returning to the channel to make the costume after her fantastic prior work on The Toybox, to Stargirl for her work on the makeup, To Kitnxi and Xoriak for their work on the CG and as always to Oxygen for his work on composing the music and mixing the track!

A lesson learned on this project? A big fake moustache glued to your lip that stops your upper lip moving plus amore subtle physical performance to imply age plus the fact that said moustache also hides half of your mouth PLUS half the time trying to balance on a moving treadmill in a full length trip hazard of a robe whilst also performing in character to incredibly fast lyrics...

Equals A: a very hard time lip syncing and B: the fact that even using all the best takes you can't see my mouth moving under all the facial hair half the time. Trust me, it is!

Stay tuned, folks! There’s another big project on the horizon!
(And Big Cheddar, if you’re listening, call me.)

#genshinimpact
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Check out the full Stupendium originals playlist for all of my original songs!
STUPENDIUM ORIGINALS:
THE STUPENDIUM ON SPOTIFY:
THE STUPENDIUM ON iTUNES:
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Lyrics, vocals by The Stupendium
Video by The Stupendium and Lizzy CJ
Song produced by @OxygenBeats

Genshin Impact, its world and characters are the property of HoYoverse.
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The Stupendium is a musician, animator and content creator, creating weird, wonderful and usually incredibly nerdy songs and animations. Join them on their journey to obscure, niche internet stardom! They have some pretty decent videos, wonderful facial hair and a great sense of discomfort describing themselves in the third person.

[TheStupendium]

Use this Gift Code: GA9FPD42SJ4V (April 10th – May 30th) To get 60 Primogems and 5 Adventurer's Experience!

LYRICS:

Oh, hello!
You don’t look familiar
I suppose you’re here
For a little bit of lyrical enlightenment, hmm?
Alright then
Strap in!

VERSE 1:
Welcome, weary traveller, you’re new, I haven’t seen ya
You stand amidst the grandeur of Sumeru Akademiya
A scholarly repository of knowledge and philosophy
Concoction and apocrypha are seldom to be seen here
Our word is official in a whirlwind of disciplines
Enlightening the minds of the world and its citizens
You strike me as likely a person who’s visiting?
So, might be you find you’re uncertain of fitting in?
We’ve boffins in technology and noggins for biology
But you’ve dropped into the college of the prof of Aetiology
The study of what was and is, their causes and, well, probably
You’d think of it as ‘history’, simplistic but just tolerably
So, honoured be the Sumeru to summarise events for
A quick initiation to equip you for adventure
The mythic twists of nations, the intrigues and invasions
Exquisitely relayed by a semi-certain mentor
I’ll be honest, there’s a lot of it, and though we’re never wrong
There’s a reason no-one’s ever tried to show it in a song
Whilst musicians of tradition throughout the kingdom might prefer ballads
When I’m spitting wisdom, you’ll forgive a little word salad
Right, here goes then!

I’ll start with the easy stuff
Well… easy-ish…

So, I’ll take you through the basics, the most obvious of straight facts
You’ve landed in the land known as the continent of Teyvat
It’s made of seven nations, there’s Natlan and then Fontaine and
Sumeru and Inazuma, Snezhnaya, Liyue, Mondstadt
Now, don’t get overwhelmed, there’s a plethora of realms
Elemental Light, abyssal Void and human, where we dwell
But don’t think of them as places, they all take up the same space
It’s more like layers in a cake, well no, that’s silly, maybe… well
The cake is filled with currents! No, the elemental kind
There’s light and dark respectively, but ours are called Ley Lines
Like magic streams of energy that carry all the memories
Of everyone there’s ever been and all they’ve left behind
Perhaps I should have tackled this before we’d begun
But the human realm was helmed by ‘The Primordial One’
I’d expect a God progenitor needs modern context first?
No, this is too complex, I’ll save it for the next verse

CHORUS:
The Genshin dimension is pretty intense
Filled with events too dense to mention
Now I don’t mean to test your comprehension
But I think it’s best you pay attention
If you fall from the stars for all sorts of fun travels
Before you can start you’ve got lore to unravel
The Akademiya encyclopaedia’s a crack source
Want to make an impact? You’ll need a crash course

Right, you got all that?
Good!
How about a little Ancient History?
OK! You asked for it

VERSE 2:
So, many millennia ago there was the Sovereigns
Dragon lords, the all-powerful sort, just sort of hovering
About, all seven with a territory, embellished
By their presence with their elemental offerings
You want to hear specifics? Well, we haven’t got time
But each nation’s God has got their own impact on their climes
There’s Cryo, Pyro, Hydro, Dendro, Electro, Geo, Ameno
Really convenient that they all happen to rhyme!
Then obviously enters the Primordial One
The progenitor I mentioned? And a war was begun
The Primordial One fought the Lords of Dragons
And when all’s said and done, the Primordial… won
The Old World ends and the new begins
Which the God made fit to have humans in
And though peace and prosperity were brief we can generally
Agree the Human Realm is quite a useful thing
An addendum, I should mention, there were sisters in the moon
Only one of them was Canon but I’m pretty sure it’s true
They lived in a lunar palace where they kept the stars in balance
And a people called the Seelie rose to relevancy too
But that’s beside the point, the fact is all were living happily
For several generations Gods reside beside humanity
A great civilization, nations weaved into a tapestry
Of arts and innovation – then the Ancient Calamity
The universe did just get a rebirth
But it soon laid waste to the heavens and earth
When The Second Who Came, yes, I swear that’s their name
Suddenly entered the game and well the records are regretfully mehhh
What happened next? We’re not actually sure
They were far too busy dying to keep track of the score
The moon sisters eclipsed and the Seelie were wisped and -
Let’s just break for a chorus then come back for the war…

CHORUS:
The Genshin dimension is pretty intense
Filled with events too dense to mention
And this session’s intent’s to attempt to condense
And to dispense with all the questions
If you fall from the stars for all sorts of fun travels
Before you can start you’ve got lore to unravel
The Akademiya encyclopaedia’s a crack source
Want to make an impact? You’ll need a crash course

Oh! You’re still here!
People don’t normally make it this far
I thought you might’ve switched for a different video
During the second chorus! Heh heh…
Right…

VERSE 3:
Listen up! It’s time to learn about The Archon War!
When it started? Again, we are not sure
It either starts in the Calamity or after it, what matters is
It happened, it was bad and that it lasted for
At least a whole millennia, again, be clear, we’re guessing here
The deities in Celestia, a region in the heavens, where
The gods sit in their special chairs and sit and do whatever, dared
To question who knew better and who gets to keep on resting there
Seven Divine Seats saw the heavens divided
Each nation collides with those they used to ally with
As deities fight over a place in the sky
Until they got a seating plan they could agree on decided
And when chaos subsided and the seats were agreed
And those nations in flames had their new deities decreed
All seven could then get on with an era of peace
Nope! There was an eighth one hiding beneath their feet!
Yes, Khaenri'ah was underground and hidden from the gods
Which as you can imagine, well, they didn’t like a lot
So, they smote them for their vanity, now known as the ‘Calamity’
Which backfired quite spectacularly, well what were the odds?
As they unleashed abyssal creatures, which was probably horrific
But again, when being eaten, no-one documents specifics
So, better not to dwell because it’s plainly depressing
Another half millennia and hey, it’s the present!

CHORUS:
The Genshin dimension is pretty intense
Filled with events too dense to mention
Now I don’t mean to test your comprehension
But I think it’s best you pay attention
Now this sessions intent’s to attempt to condense
And to dispense with all the questions
To make a little sense and help retention
A melody to prep you for ascension
If you fall from the stars for all sorts of fun travels
Before you can start you’ve got lore to unravel
The Akademiya encyclopaedia’s a crack source
Want to make an impact? You’ll need a crash course
Want to fight Gods? Well, before your destiny
You’re gonna have to battle with some lore complexities
You can master magic or amass a great attack force
Want to make an impact? You’ll need a crash course

OUTRO:
There we go! We’re done!
A complete and thorough history of the land of Teyvat
Everything you could need to know
Though I did neglect to mention the Gnoses, the vision-wielders
The Fatui and the Abyss Order
At least one or two other types of dragon…
Look, there’s a lot, okay? You’ll figure it out
It’s stressful trying to keep track of this stuff
It takes a toll!
Look at me!
I’m only 26!

[wiliam]

I can’t believe an old man just taught me genshin impact lore for 7 minutes while at the same time rapping. Truly an incredible scholar

[idaniluz]

Fun fact: in the game, the akademya hates any form of art, unless it's about intellectual topics. This song really captures that.

[Cosmosdestructor]

“Though only one of them was Canon” is a such a great verse because Cannon was literally one of their names.

[darkoakquarks]

As someone who loves Genshin lore the many "yeah..we don't actually know" is so accurate!! Loved it

[kiban_]

And then 2 minutes later, a giant nail dropped on the Akedemiya because some guy managed to get forbidden knowledge about Celestia

[Second_UNIT]

This really was the perfect song for the lore enthusiasts:
"When it started? Well, again, we're not sure" LOUD SIGH IN THE BACKGROUND
Yeah, that's. Thats us.

[YoWuzUp]

Little insignificant attention to detail thing, he has that emblem on his hat, and it's actually the emblem for the Vahumana Darhshan in the Akademiya, which is the appropriate darshan for a history professor to be in. Love that.

[havcola]

"When it's all said and done the primordial... won"

Love the delivery here. An almost exasperated 'Well, I don't know what to tell you, the homonym was just _right there_ '

[gomoodobee]

i've never seen anyone sum up the entirety of genshin lore so well in 6 minutes... that's impressive on its own.

[AC-qcve]

Never expected a Genshin Impact song from you, truly a otherworldly experience!

[bartthebart]

The pun about only one of the moon sisters being canon is so great. There is so many layers to it besides just one of the sisters being named Cannon. But also the fact that out of the three supposed moons that should exist according to the story book, everyone in the human realm only can see one of them. 🤩

[hateisme]

"if you fall from the stars for all sorts of fun travels, before you can start you've got lore to unravel" this line will be stuck in my head for the reste of my life

[TaosoftheVoid]

As a Genshin player, this is a very accurate lore summary. Remember to check back in your books in the Akademiya's library on time! *They'll know*

[apasten]

Stupes might be the only person who can pull off 6 minutes of an old-I mean 26 years young-man explaining lore vividly, and still make such an incredible song!
Also, oo Oxygen keeps making such awesome tracks to anything and everything.

[Merio_TheMerrier]

Stunning visual? Checked
Amazing rap skills? Checked
A bloody complex lore explained in 7 minutes? Checked
Is stupendium brilliant? Yes he is

[kylestar]

Fun fact: I'm pretty sure knowing history like this would have Celestia kill your ass

[metalray]

I love how the scholar tell you the lore in song, but when the lore gets overwhelming for the viewer he tries to simplify it, like the layers of a cake lyric, it's lyrical genius. Thank you for this amazing song, Stupendium.

[miachanmlp]

As a Genshin player I can tell you guys did a lot of research on the lore to make this song! It turned out awesome! :D

[screaming-birb]

“Look at me! I’m only 26!” That line killed me