sweet alyssum

For starters, this is what is mentioned regarding Cyno and the spirit so far. 

More About Cyno II:

With my body as a vessel, I can harness the power of the spirit that dwells within me. This is possible in part due to my natural constitution, but also due to a deal I willingly made in the past. There's no reason to shy away from the topic. If I am to weigh the souls of others in this world as a matra, then I must also place my own soul on the scales to be judged in the same manner.

From Windblume Day 2 dialogue with Lisa: Lisa: I suppose you're something of a mentor to her (Collei), aren't you? Now that I think about it, the two of you aren't so dissimilar. The power of Hermanubis once brought you great suffering.

Cyno: That's all in the past now. Besides, Professor thankfully didn't treat me like a test subject for the priest's power like the higher-ups had hoped, even though I was a desert-dweller.

(For some context, in the webcomic the Fatui experimented on Collei when she was young, injecting her with "archon residue". In Cyno's words, "You can think of it as a kind of parasite." He seals it within her in the end.)

Just two lines of dialogue in this convo raise so many questions!! Because wow did this information come out of left field!!! 

So at face value we find out:

Cyno's spirit caused him some suffering

He was brought up by professor Cyrus (100% unrelated to the Mondstat guy)

He was supposed to be a test subject

He refers to Hermanubis's power as "the priest's power"

It's not said outright what groups these "higher-ups" belong to, I'm guessing it's the Akademiya. Cyrus, a professor of the Akademiya at that time, took care of him. And in his letter to the Sucrose Mailbox, he does mention he had been living in the Akademiya since childhood. Cyno's Letter: You are correct to assume that I seldom lie. This has to do with my upbringing. As a desert-dweller who has been living within the Akademiya since my childhood, my unusual identity makes it hard for others to trust me — and it would have been harder still if I was not honest. As a result, I learned to talk less and speak no more than what is necessary.

Uncovering the secret behind the prophecy may come with its perils. If you need someone who would never lie, I can join you.

—

So to finally address the Hermanubis and priest's power thing.

To start, Hermanubis is a combo god of Hermes and Anubis in reality. Won't go into more details, but I do want to add he's also referred to as a symbol of Egyptian priesthood. Hermanubis has only two prior mentions:

Cyno's Vision story: 

"…Some believe that Cyno is actually a descendant of King Deshret. They say that he grew up in a temple located in the Great Red Sand and was raised by a nameless Hermanubis priest who cultivated Cyno's will and strength before, when he was ready, bestowing upon him a Vision and requiring him to cross the desert all by himself to arrive at the Akademiya and enact Hermanubis' will…"

The second is the Lay of Al-Ahmar. From the description: "The veracity of the story cannot be determined", and it's written from the perspective of a Jinni. But regardless, it really only mentions Hermanubis once, as "one as wise as the greatest of sages", which doesn't say much anyways. I've heard some people think Hermanubis is King Deshret, but I highly doubt it.

Hermanubis also has Anubis's jackal head, influencing Cyno's headdress design. Who else is also depicted with a Jackal headdress???? Yep, this is how I segway into Kasala.

In the 3.1 AQ, we find Kasala's grave (with a massive Jackal statue) underground and find a recording of his last memories there. Alhaitham reads off the elegy, "Here lies our faithful priest, Kasala. His wisdom is a miracle among the people, deserving of high praise and admiration."

Following shortly is the cutscene of his memories: "...Were it not for Greater Lord Rukkhadevata from the forests, the damage would have been irreversible. She summoned the priests to build temples, and infused into them the divine power of life…"

"...I have spent my whole life since guarding one of these many temples, but now, my duty is coming to an end…"

So, all we know about Kasala is that he's a priest that served in the time of King Deshret, and helped run one of the temples to combat forbidden knowledge. Nothing concrete regarding Hermanubis so far. However, we do know that priests of Hermanubis are said to exist (or at least rumored to), as mentioned in Cyno's Vision story. 

I'm speculating that Hermanubis priests do exist. Also going off the real life Hermanubis, perhaps the spirit once was the leader of the priests in King Deshret's time. And that Cyno is descended from those priests. But I guess we'll have to wait for more lore crumbs in the next limited event Cyno shows up in to learn more!!! (Cries)

Jotting down some other questions I have bc of two freaking lines of event dialogue + his chara story/voiceover lines:

How/when/why did Cyno become a vessel for Hermanubis

What deal did he make with Hermanubis

How/when/where did the Akademiya find Cyno

Where's Cyno really from in the desert

Cyno's "natural constitution" ?  ? ?

How many people actually know he has a spirit in him

Once again, wtf is the Temple of Silence!!!!

Side notes, recently learned that one of the Caravan Ribat messages talks about Cyno: Message: "They say one of us from Aaru Village has become a high official at the Akademiya. We desert folk might well live a better life in the future."

Message: "I barely earn enough carrying these stones. But with a single order of carrying something like cans of knowledge, I could afford to get married back at my hometown."

Another Person's Message: "But I heard that that official happens to be one who tackles smuggling. I don't think that person will be on our side."

Message: "Tsk, that's how we desert folk end up like this. We don't unite."

[EDIT Mar 09: It's not directly stated to be about Cyno, but the topic of "tackling smuggling" seems like something the matra would deal with.] Interesting that maybe Cyno could be from Aaru Village…?? But no one recognized him in the AQ, so I'm a bit suspicious of its validity. It could be possible people would have forgotten who he was since it was years ago, but hm…

Also Cyno finally explicitly confirms himself as a Spantamad graduate. It's been implicitly confirmed for a while now, but it's nice to hear it from Cyno say so himself. I wanna know more about what else he knows regarding elements and what not…

(Banging on Mihoyo's door) Mihoyo explain!!! But also holy shit I'm absolutely eating up these crumbs. I love Cyno. Cyno best boy. I hope they add Cyrus too bc he sounds like a fun time. (I'm just delulu and wanna see Cyno shyly call him "dad" lmao. Also Cyno pls call Lisa your big sister.. I'M BEGGING. I play w CN audio so I just wanna hear "Lisa jiejie" lol)