#xiao lore

xiao was originally a kind soul, filled with innocence and gentle as can be. he was not yet under the title of “adeptus” yet, for that was a role assigned solely to those under rex lapis. he was a quiet person that resided in sumeru and dreamt of frolicking and dancing in fields filled with flowers. mimicking a bird, feathery golden wings jutted out from his back, which he often used to lift him up into the bright skies of sumeru. however, xiao possessed a strange ability, that of being able to eat, alter, and erase dreams and memories. he never thought this would be of much importance, though, as he was soon to learn, he was sorely mistaken. xiao never truly knew where the root of these powers came from, though, after morax looked back on it, he suspected the conquerer of demons had a heavy connection to irminsul. his life was spent, for the first few thousand years, in peace.

untill calamity shook the earth. fire ravaged the lands, tearing everything apart in its wake. and unfortunately for the little yaksha, he was caught right in the middle. the mistress of chenyu vale swept through teyvat, enslaving any she deemed could help her in her desperate grab for power. lazing around in her throne as her dutiful bloodhounds killed and sat silent at her feet. she taught that love made people was a distraction and made people weak, telling that power and blood were the only thing you should strive for. she found xiao particularly valuable for his dream-eating ability, making him commit atrocities that cannot be named, stripping him of his innocence and gentleness, setting his standards so high that he could never possibly achieve them. a heavy part of the reason that xiao was able to be enslaved was because of the concept of a “true name”, a contract that, once ahold of a “true name”, lets you take control of the person in question. conditioned to believe he had to fight for his worth, and reduced to eating snow just to prevent himself from starving to death. those beautiful, feathery gold wings of his, cut off untill they were left to nothing more besides feathers scathered through the winds and gashes that never healed properly. xiaos old master knew his weaknesses, knew what made him tick, and exploited it to no end. eventually, the lord of geo, otherwise known as morax / rex lapis used the primordial jade vista to free xiao from his suffering and seal the mistress of chenyu vale away into the chasm, forever buried under layers of rock.

xiao believed all of this was a product of his naivety and locked away all his “mortal emotions” deep inside his heart, so deep infact that he was convinced that he could no longer feel emotion. he did not remember what life was like before his old master, where he used to happily dance around in rows and columns of beautiful daises and roses. he no longer believed he could feel emotions connected to things that were “pleasent”, let alone deserve such luxuries. he vowed to serve morax for life, to repay rex lapis and repent for his “sins”. sometimes, he still catches himself dreaming of a time where he could live in peace and repose for all his “crimes”, despite knowing such a day would never come. zhongli gave him the name “alatus”, otherwise known as “general alatus” so the soldiers that served under him had a name to refer to him by, and so he was protected from reliving the same torturous fate again. he was also known as xiao, or his adepti title, “conqueror of demons”, though he thinks that he does not deserve the title due to his past. zhongli also gave him the form that we know so well, though still keeping aspects of his prior body. the archon of geo also banded together 5 yakshas, forming a team he tasked to clean up god remains during and after the archon war.

extra : yakshas are not exclusive to liyue, hence xiao hailing from sumeru and being liyue “pureblood”. adepti however, are exclusive to liyue being the title given to those that serve under rex lapis.

the 5 yakshas grew close, forming a bond similar to siblings as they served. over time, they accumulated karmaic debt from the god remains and the monsters tainted with the abyss. this karma slowly drove them insane, leading 2 to kill each other in a bloody brawl, one to drive himself deep in the chasm, where he ended up succumbing to his fate after fearlessly fighting one last time, sealing himself in a cave with a mortal. the last one just succumbed to all the despair and agony, driving her mad. xiao knows that even a single second of complacency will lead to him giving into the karma and becoming just like the monsters he swore to defend against, and he will meet the same fate as his brothers and sisters. he is constantly plagued by pain, endless and agonizing. xiao hallucinates “himself”, a symbol formed by his mind to personify his endless uphill battle with his karma. he is still ever vigilant, guarding the most precious parts of his body, even while asleep.

perilous trail quest : xiao still cares deeply for the other yakshas, despite knowing most of them were driven insane to their death. however, the fate of bosacius had never truly been solved, as he had gone missing in the chasm. xiao still clung onto a fragile hope that bosacius had somehow remained alive down there for centuries, so he went down in an attempt to gain a sort of finality, a hope to achieve closure. and there, the traveler and their companions found him. wounded, still praying that bosacius was alive, buried deep under layers of rock. inevitably he came to accept that bosacius was in fact dead, though it was comforting to know what he ended up becoming. as the crew was completing the ritual to escape from the chasm, xiao realized that they were not all going to make it out at their current pace. feeling that he owes a certain amount to the other yakshas, decided to sacrifice himself so the others could get out. however, zhongli saved him despite xiao already having accepted his fate.

extra : awwuwuhhhh xiao and zhongli familial relationship so cute i luv.. they have a much sweeter bond beyond just xiao serving zhongli for saving him. there still is a huge power imbalance though since xiao holds zhongli on a HIGH ass pedestal.

extra that could not be fit in due to me being stupid and not being able to find a connection : xiao is heavily related to jade and the moon (which are both present in CHENYU VALE), though the connection is not very established and we do not know the reason for it. the mistress of chenyu vale (who is theorized to be his old master,) is ALSO very connected to jade and the three moon sisters and CHENYU VALE. the mistress also has a heavy connection to dreams, having the ability of “granting dreams.” zhongli likely taught xiao dream trawler which is an adeptal art used to enter peoples dreams, which was made easier by the fact that xiao already knew how to eat alter and erase dreams / memories. also xiaos old master probably gave him his signature (primordial jade spear) ,, i think zhongli was probably really scared to let xiao go back into the chasm because that is where he sealed away xiaos old master.. but who would he be to refuse,, also apparently xiaos character 魈 roughly means monster or demon?? take it lightly i asked my chinese parents and they barely knew either

sumeru connection : xiao is? somehow? able to just tap into the irminsul and ERASE memories. also xiao has a heavy connection to buddhism, with the mentality of “severing the 3 deadly selves” and how he thinks that the things he did while under his old master were “sins” despite him being enslaved. western cultures typically do not think about crimes committed under some sort of coercian to be considered morally wrong. sumeru and liyue are both based off of eastern cultures though im probably grasping at straws.😓😓 also the jinni named liloupar in one of the sumeru story quests talks about shapeshifting into a YAKSHA, showing that yakshas were not exclusive to liyue and were scattered around teyvat. everything involving xiaos dream / memory ability is shrouded in mystery.. take all of this with a grain of salt.

extra about xiaos personality : he is very self sacrificial / self deprecating, though that is to be expected due to his belief that he is a monster,, he would likely spend the rest of his life trying to repent for his nonexistent sins by further killing monsters and driving himself to insanity as this is what he believes he deserves. thats probably also a coping mechanism for him. the reason i think xiao had an affinity for music and dance prior to his enslavement was because it mentioned him being saved by ventis MUSIC though that may just be because venti is the god of anemo and a bard so his tunes would naturally have a stronger effect than most.. how xiao wields his polearm is also? graceful in a way? but also kind of wild and raggedy since he mainly learned to do this when he had to figure it out before he got killed. it takes a lot of skill and precision for him to use a polearm like that, so there had to be some prior knowledge of for example DANCE for him to adapt very easily. an introvert by nature; doesnt stay away from humans SOLELY because of his karmaic debt, though that factors in.

facts / headcanons :

- xiaos favorite food is almond tofu ! he likes it not because of the sweetness but of the silky taste. says it tastes like “a fond dream”, a nod to how he used to eat dreams

- he also eats foods that his old friends liked , for example ticker fish from pervases. if he knew the other yakshas favorite foods he would eat them like it was his last meal. (half canon? he might already know the other yakshas favorite foods might just have not been revealed in lore yet. he is shown to be eating ticker fish though.)

- he would blush teal as his blood is teal. this might be an adeptal thing ? idk

- in canon, his voice is very raspy. (headcanon this to be from disuse, might be canon as xiao is not one of the more social adepti)

- he sees himself as just a weapon and not as a person with his own desires

- his adeptal form is a vermillion bird! the one they use for merch is just marketing.

- xiaos vision is actually very good, being able to see a tiny poem written on a leaf from 10s of meteres away

- has a soft spot for kids (half canon? i think?)

- has a gentle side, though reluctant to show that side to others. additionally, anything he tries to be gentle to (e.g animals) tends to either die or flee due to his karma ravaged body. this further fuels the belief that he is a monster

- extending onto his belief that he is a monster : during his trailer he hallucinates a demon in liyue harbor when in reality it is just a girl with a mask meant to “scare off monsters.”

- in one of zibais lines he is currently shown to be getting some kind of treatment for his karma, hence him being able to be around children as shown in this years (2026) birthday art. this also shows his gentler side and his soft spot for kids as mentioned previously.

- normally, his karma / aura manifests as dark teal wisps around his body, however when he is feeling emotions aligned with the feeling of pleasure it manifests as small glowing white butterflies or dots of the same color! shown in his 2025 birthday art where he states that he feels very relaxed while being on the boat with us. also yet another connection to chenyu vale tho not as important ,,

- played the flute before his enslavement and was quite good at it (headcanon, though might be canon and mentioned somewhere ive just missed it)

- turns into a bird and calls out to his dead friends everyday

- dislikes the process of cooking and finds it tedious

- his karma manifests in him as voices yelling in his head, flashbacks, and nightmares. karma is a lot like ptsd with similar symptoms. xiao also carries survivors guilt for those killed in the archon war

- xiao created bishui plains by killing his friend and letting him bleed out. he cut off skybracers horns to hold up nearby mountains, and then killing him. skybracers blood created the river that flows through the plains. xiao is shown to feel guilty about killing skybracer, though he quickly hides it.

- (headcanon) the tattoo on xiaos arm were either symbols carved into him as a form of marking from his old master or symbols of protection forged by zhongli when he freed xiao from his eternal suffering.

- (headcanon) bosacius / the other yakshas made the clothes that we see xiao in today. they also made zhonglis clothes (canon), so it is a small way of honoring the yakshas, even today.