royalty au headcanons [xiao, ningguang, keqing, childe]

NINGGUANG

• her opponents would describe her as “cold and ruthless, a bloodthirsty woman who desires nothing but power”, “a bedeviling witch who preys upon the sins of man”, and a “fearsome enemy both upon the battlefield and within the game of politics”.

• to anyone with half a brain, however, ningguang only strikes fear into the hearts of the vile and repugnant elites who take advantage of their status in order to prey upon beautiful women of lower societal status.
• enter stage left: ningguang, a political outsider to the monarchy of liyue and arguably one of its most well-respected members. she heads the qixing, the emperor’s most trusted royal council, despite being of noble birth.

• ningguang frowns upon those who think of themselves as being at a higher level than her and believes that status in society should be achieved through passion and determination and not through the genes which flimsily tie you to the great heroes of the past.
• if you think of yourself as above the qixing’s tianquan, she’ll use her geo vision to assert herself to your level. she desires not to go above you, deciding that fear can best be struck into the hearts of the corrupt through an even-keeled gaze, especially with irises as piercing as her crimson ones.
• her economic stances are harsh, yet carefully cultivated with the wellbeing of liyue in mind, even if they might raise eyebrows as yearly taxes continue to increase.
• with no current blood heir to the throne, rumor has it that ningguang has been designated as the next empress, should the current ruler of liyue fall. ask her about such gossip and the tianquan will simply wave your concerns off with a flick of her hand and a sharpening of her gaze. 

• i’m here to discuss business, not unfounded rumors, she’ll declare dismissively, yet one can’t help but notice the way her eyes gleam like precious rubies and the way no declination of the news ever falls from her lips upon their inquiries.

KEQING

• a woman born of noble blood, a perfect lineage to set her on a path destined for greatness, keqing has never been satisfied with what has been given to her.
• why settle with the meagre lot the world gives you when you can lurch forward and seize the universe yourself?
• keqing desires not for power, but for reformation. to change the world, you must become one with the world, or in keqing’s case, the liyuean government.
• since her first day in politics, keqing has been concerned with one thing: abolishing the monarchy in place of a democracy, in which the people of liyue pick their own leaders, in which nobility is decimated and everyone can decide their country’s fate, not just a select few.
• she’s never been one to settle for silence, even as those around her nervously told her to keep her mouth shut in fear of the emperor. an electro vision was quickly awarded to her in response to her ostracization amongst other nobles, one in which she does not wear out of pride, but only necessity.
• making waves in the tides of liyue’s political realm had always been keqing’s goal, yet the purple-haired woman had been utterly shocked to be invited to tea by the emperor himself, someone who should view keqing as a political rival, a threat.
• despite shaking knees and haywire nerves, keqing accepted the invitation and entered the tea room with her head held high, only to be greeted with the presence of both the tianquan and the emperor.
• rather than admonishing keqing for her actions, the emperor praised her for her visions of liyue being guided by those who cared and not those who were merely born into it. fascinated with her ideas, the emperor offered her the title of the qixing’s yuheng.
• if one asks why keqing became a member of the government she once loathed, she’ll simply smile and tell you what she’s said a hundred times over.
• the world cannot be shaped to your desires if you are not willing to adapt to its whims as well.

XIAO

• once one of the five heirs to the liyuean throne, xiao is the sole survivor of the legendary esteemed group of the guardian yakshas who assisted the emperor
• now, the unofficial prince of liyue looks not to protect liyue by being its next leader, but to defend those who can’t defend themselves.
• the elusive prince resides at wangshu inn and his residence is a well-kept secret, both amongst the staff and wangshu inn’s typical residents. he cares not for the life of a castle, having thrown away his metal crown in favor of a jade spear.
• he cares not for mortals and finds them foolish, yet respects the emperor’s decision for the next heir to the throne to be a mortal, even if he does not necessarily agree with it.
• after all, should xiao ever demand of it, he knows that the emperor who once freed him from the chains that bound him would also gift him the ability to lead liyue in the event of the emperor’s death.
• the prince much prefers to eat almond tofu in peace on the roof of wangshu inn. if he’s feeling zesty, he might kill a few hilichurls in the process.
• he’s wary to the presence of others, deciding that those who want to get close to him only desire him for his power. after years of torment, xiao isn’t too keen on getting close to anyone who might hurt him further, whether it be through political means or through their deaths.
• if you’re determined to earn his friendship, bring the angsty prince a note from the emperor himself and a perfectly crafted bowl of almond tofu and even he will cave to your demand of just a few minutes of his time.
• i am not disrespectful enough to shut out those the emperor deems worthy, especially in tandem with such a well selected gift.

CHILDE

• eleventh and last in the direct line for the tsaritsa’s throne, childe has always been a genuinely kind individual. the downside to him? he has a penchant for fighting and a bloodlust that nearly consumes him whole.
• he’ll greet you like the perfect gentleman and is usually straightforward about his intentions, no matter how nefarious. he’s always preferred to meet his opponents head on, ignoring the art of deception.
• described by his fellow heirs as “more trouble than he’s worth”, childe often finds himself thrust outside of snezhnaya and into the affairs of other nations, his charm often overshadowing is blatant deceit.
• the prince has close ties with liyue’s northland bank, a pseudo-embassy established by the tsaritsa herself to assert snezhnaya’s international dominance as the world superpower within liyue.
• this means that the prince is consistently meddling within the affairs of the elite. for the smart ones, they avoid anything with even the smallest hint of fatui involvement, but for the dumb ones, which is an astonishing amount of nobles, they fall prey to childe’s saccharine smile and alluring personality.
• this control over the financials of others allows childe to obtain political power – specifically access to high class liyuean galas and parties, in which he can toy with those who evade his financial grasp through false platitudes and promises of a better future for liyue-snezhnayan unity.
• the prince flaunts his political relationships and liyuean interactions with glee, such as the time he duped even the judicious ningguang (who insists that the snezhnayan is most certainly lying) and the way he funded keqing’s flamboyant, revolutionary ideas, only for her to turn on him and become a member of the qixing.
• the only relationship the prince fails to flaunt is his enigmatic connections to the liyuean emperor. at any event, the two are never seen talking, yet the glances the two exchange leave everyone baffled. some say that they are illicit lovers, while others claim that they are sworn enemies who only avoid fighting due to the political downsides it would bring their nations.
• if confronted about the situation with the emperor, childe’s carefree smirk will drop and he’ll meet your eyes with narrowed ones devoid of their previous happiness.
• my relationship with the emperor is no more and no less than a professional one. are you implying i should feel a different way?