Chigda's No. 1 Enjoyer

Danqing Season Recap

So that we're on the same page, here's a quick rundown of my understanding of the Danqing storyline. Danqing is composed of two "layers" of reality. Danqing Island is the "real" world that has been connected to the Sea of Stars, while Danqing Realm is the other layer of reality that is also the origin of the island.

Artist Cat was a different Nikki who hailed from a Miraland that had been destroyed. She created a painting that would become the blueprint for Danqing Island, this was the Danqing Realm. She then sacrificed her ink soul (which seems to be all her Whim, basically) to populate the island, essentially creating an island full of Whimborn (which as a term has not been defined, as far as I know, but I think it's safe to say they are artificial constructs made from Whim) by bringing her paintings and items to life, but they were not "real" lives as they were still just...paintings and items. Thus, she established the Yin Yuan Festival in order to ensure that the artificial lives could form connections with each other, eventually becoming real souls through these connections, as well as making Danging Island into a new, real world as well. (See also: my rambling about how this works and the philosophy around it.)

Essentially, the cycle of reincarnation on Danqing Island worked like this:

something or someone with part of the ink soul in Danqing Island (a person, a blade of grass, a bug, etc) dies

they are sent back to the Danqing Realm, where the Ink Pool, the facilitator of the cycle of reincarnation, receives them (the Loong is also in charge of watching over this to ensure all souls are reincarnated smoothly)

they are reincarnated back into Danqing Island where they form new yin yuan/connections, further strengthening their piece of the ink soul, eventually becoming a real soul

rinse and repeal

So...Boneyard with its soul tide and pools and reincarnation, anyone?

What does the Boneyard mean for Danqing Island?

So, does the Boneyard's lore on souls and reincarnation contradict Danqing Island's at all?

At the moment, I am inclined to say no.

The island was a replacement for a destroyed Miraland. It wasn't connected to our Miraland at all until the Sea of Stars noticed it, and even then, we don't know for sure the result of Danqing Island becoming real. We know its residents can reach other landmasses now, but did it become a new, second Miraland? Or are those landmasses part of our Miraland, i.e. Danqing Island has connected to our world and appeared in its oceans...the way Wanxiang Realm is above Linlang?

So there's two options here:

If Danqing Island remains isolated as its own world and replaces the previous, destroyed Miraland, then perhaps the Danqing Realm with its Ink Pool becomes the new equivalent of the Boneyard? So all souls within this new, Danqing world now travel to the Danqing Realm's ink pool upon death, where they go through the cycle of reincarnation.

If Danqing Island truly became part of our Miraland though, then perhaps Danqing souls, now that they have been strengthened enough to become real souls, will now start passing through the Boneyard?

I'm personally more inclined toward the former, but right now we have no confirmation, unless people from Danqing start showing up in future locations.

Piecey Souls?

Interestingly, Danqing Island also gives us an explanation for how Pieceys have souls if we assume that they aren't, at birth, basically receiving a reincarnated soul.

Now, I believe Pieceys going to the Boneyard isn't shown in-game, but Pieceys appeared as part of the artwork for the soul tide in one of the teasers before 2.5 launched, so I've just been running with the assumption that they do go to the Boneyard after death (Faewish Sprites also appear in this, but i also haven't seen any ghostly Faewish Sprites...alas).

And Pieceys need to have souls to separate them from the Whimborn.

Of course, the simplest option is that when a Piecey is born from a wish or strong emotion, they receive a reincarnated soul. But what if they don't? What if they are truly born from a wish or related emotions applied to a piece of cloth or clothing?

This also manifests in different ways, and Golden Season was actually kind of ambiguous about this (which I love, more subjectivity in-universe on lore please). Most Pieceys are born from wishes of people around them or their owners. But some wishes so strong that the Piecey is either possessed by the soul of the wisher or believe themselves to be the wisher. Most of the Golden Season cast were the latter type, but they also made a distinction here against one of them who was the former: Coolyn verbally insults Tommy when she points out that he will never understand her, because he was born from the wishes of someone nearby and knows this vs. someone like her who believes herself to be or is that person.

So if Pieceys are "just" born from the power of wishes and emotion...AKA Whim, how do they get a soul?