The Duality Of Star Rails Genius Factions | Honkai Star Rail Lore

[@mattpet7913]

Intellegensia is how academia functions while genius society feels more like privatised labs

[@qwayzer_blazar]

Couldn’t have put it better! I work in both of them because of my field and it really felt like that while questing through the game.

[@mattpet7913]

@@qwayzer_blazar unless ur doing a PhD funded by a company I don't think u can do both academia and industry at the same time. And even if u have such a PhD working in an academic lab is very different from a privatised one which has more money available. Im currently in academia but im finna switch to pharma industry within the next 3 years

[@Maevix3142]

Thats.. actually pretty accurate 🤔

[@skistorm739]

@@Maevix3142 aeons share one thing in is determinism

[@unkxz9149]

@@mattpet7913 I know a professor that need money for his private lab/research, that's why he's teaching in college. because I thought private lab/research make no money unless sponsored or a part of some kind of project, so I thought it's common for them to teach in college, no?

[@AnArtistInAVoid]

Intelligentsia Guild is basically a big school for humanity, while the Genius Society is a fancy book club for incredibly smart people, if we had to go to analogies. With that in mind, Intelligentsia Guild seems more favorable to me, tho I ain’t smart enough to do much there.

[@idontspeakjapanese6289]

Not just humanity, the Guild is welcoming all sorts of lifeforms that wants to pursue knowledge. Kinda sad that people are forgetting that Humanity are not the only existing race in the universe.

[@AnArtistInAVoid]

@@idontspeakjapanese6289 it’s just me generalizing stuff. I know there’s more than just humans in the hsr universe

[@Deepstab1]

From what I saw on the ruan mei quest, the main difference its that genius as recognized by Nous care for nothing besides pushing the boundaries of knowledge and have little or no interest in were their research leads, its consequences or how to use those discoveries, they only care about creating new knowledge because you see even if Nous knows all that can be knows about the universe doesnt mean he knows everything for knowledge needs to be perceived and built in order to be used, the universe its full of unknown data and Nous needs brilliant minds to pierce the misteries, compared to other genius es like dr ratio he is actually concerned about how to use the knowledge he builds, he cares about ethics and morals while the genius society care little about things like that, TLDR ratio its actually concerned about the purpose of knowledge while ruan mei and herta care only about uncovering knowledge itself no matter the consequences

[@AraYuannn]

Yeah cuz nous themselves don’t care baout mortals, so infeel like as long as ratio still care about people he would never receive nous gaze

[@confusedfrog294]

This is very well put and I agree! Knowledge on its own cannot be applied, only obtained. It only serves a purpose when it’s paired with values. I think the Genius Society is a good example of knowledge without values and how people will put it up on a pedestal regardless.

[@tomoe6108]

Of course, much like some of the geniuses actually helping others, some Intelligentsia Guild members don't care much about ethics, at least as much as people like Ratio would have you believe. The main one that comes to mind for me is Todd who you meet on the Luofu, though the only consequence for his actions was on himself

[@thomasfalcon5234]

for sure, and to add onto this point i also think that civilization in a world as vast as star rail would probably be more harmed than helped by the dissemination of all the knowledge kept by the genius society. i think advancing too quickly can lead to people using technology whose repercussions are not immediately apparent, or as shown through the Calderon Chadwick quest, might be taken advantage of by the wrong people.

[@NagaTales]

Another important point is that the names used for their groups are very deliberate. A 'Society' is is usually a voluntary association of otherwise independent entities who share usually only a common interest, while a 'Guild' is inherently a cooperative organization where all member entities operate under the same set of self-imposed standards.

[@Zyleace]

Genius society seeks to find truths and experiments on stuff about the universe. They are seemingly selected based on their curious nature where they are willing to go through rigorous research without any biases. Intelligentsia Guild meanwhile focuses more on application and innovation of information they find and disseminates them through public as well. Information for practical use basically.

[@WarpCorpFromProjectmoon]

Intelligensia is school-ish but genius society is cool kids club

[@Maevix3142]

Genius society has a pretty strict entrance requirement so yeah it does feel more like a club 😂

[@Huyrrou]

A way to look at the Genius Society is that it is an asylum, Nous collect them in order to put them into the spotlight. So when someone do something crazy, the universe would be able to react quickly. Imagine if something like Rupert happen again, but by somebody unknown in the furthest edge of the universe.

[@Kita15190]

The difference of localization among languages is interesting, and gives insight. In EN, the localization team opted for "Genius Society", while in JP it was used "Genius Club". The difference in the tone of formality is really striking and gives me the idea of a looser association. All of them seem to have in common of researching topics of their interest and making breakthroughs without necessarilu reflecting whether is ethical or safe. Ruan Mei questline was really unsettling when taking this into account. So while Herta sounded annoying to me on trailblazer quest and her obsession with SU, at the end, she looks pretty tame.

[@Mystic_Moon28]

My guy Aiden is not even mentioned here despite him also sharing his research to the world and the first one to actually partner with IPC. Herta even said he was the the most selfless.

[@aryapratama5648]

One thing that Genius Society share with each other are their self centered and selfish nature Even their aeon are also Selfish because Nous already know everything on the universe but choose to not say it

[@silverhawkscape2677]

I don't think so.the Erudition doesn't Tell you the Answers it teaches you how to ask the Right Questions. I don't think even Nous knows it has all the Knowledge because New Knowledge is constantly being created. I saw the Genius Society as a way to hasten the Process of creating New Knowledge.

[@Maevix3142]

Nous never being able to learn everything because new knowledge is always being created is an interesting idea, although in most Nous related lore so far its heavily hinted that its able to sort of predict the future so I wonder whether its already circumvented this limitation and has already predicted what new knowledge would be discovered before its actually discovered. I mean most knowledge or information already exists right it just hasnt been discovered so while people are struggling with 1+1 Nous already knows algebra and calculas will exist in the future and is just asking people questions to lead them to it. Sorry text wall 😂

[@aryapratama5648]

@@Maevix3142 ahhh that make sense Nous asking question for future problems, and poeple need to find the answer themself That is realy make sense for being who basically have godly calculation like Nous

[@silverhawkscape2677]

@@Maevix3142 Makes sense. The Genius Society exist to Hasten the discovery of New Knowledge.

[@electroneurons]

Dr ratio do be quite based though ngl

[@memer_nerd21610]

He be L + Ratioing illiteracy fr

[@Maevix3142]

His story is kinda sad though.. he really wants to join the genius society, working on a video about him actually 😁

[@conejitorosada2326]

The Intellegensia guild is the common sharing, knowing, and finding of research, and knowledge which is a monumental tasks as what would happen if a common belief were to be false? It has happened several times in our own world that the Scientific community often look at scrutiny over new research, and gives existing one a benefit of the doubt which inhibits progress, and continues falsehood to spread, yet at the same time due to this any results coming from the community will be more reliable, higher quality, and tested for reproduction. The Genius Society is individual works of people who sometimes coordinate with each other to know, and learn. Due to not inhibited by current beliefs, they are able to travel the space of the imaginary more than others which allows them to see past the clouds of skepticism, and see the knowledge at hand, yet in the same time it is only theirs to compare. No one else can give proper input to their research, no criticism, nor anything as it is all their own. This results in more groundbreaking discoveries to be made yet all of it has to be taken with a grain of salt as not all of them can be replicable, fully know the side effects, and it's reliability. These two groups are two approaches for knowledge. Neither one is in the wrong, nor is one better than the other. These two groups being separate is honestly the best condition for the universe, a handful of geniuses to make discoveries that the Intellegensia guild could hope to replicate on their own. The Geniuses will travel the space of the imaginary, while the Intellegensia will form the bridge between the logical ground, to the shuttle of space.

[@luckytako633]

6:33 The reason why Nous created the Genius Society was to solve the mysteries of the world. I've read this somewhere but I can't seem to remember. That's why only a select few of people becomes part of the Genius Society as only the brightest of the brightest minds are the ones that captures Nous attention as it believes that the abilities of this certain person can contribute to his teseadch which was to solve all the mysteries of the world.

[@UnlikelyDecoy]

There are some lore crumbs in game about how people tried to rank the members whether in terms of their creations or achievements. Within our Simulated Universe genius group, who do you think would rank the smartest?

[@Maevix3142]

Oh thats an interesting question, but its probably difficult to compare given most of them have different areas of expertise like ruan mei is a biology expert but screwllum is a specialist in other fields. Though if I had to give an answer, id probably lean towards zandar the first member or just herta, i mean she found a way to just reverse aging

[@Valia2899]

I mean, that mf really crafted a frickin aeon 😂. Imagine being a literal god's creator 🤣

[@GhostEmblem]

Good breakdwn. I gravitate more to intellegensia but it is a precarious gravitation.

[@Maevix3142]

Doing research for the video both of them have pros and cons, I thought I was a genius society person myself but after looking into it dont think I like either of them 😂

[@duongnguyen-s1i]

the way i view it, the genius society is not even a group but more an exclusive and special title granted by nous. (the smartest people) and some would collab for their own goal. while the intellengietia (idk how to spell it D:) group is an actual organisation, they advance in science slower cause they are preoccupied in sharing it and making it more accessible. kinda like dr ratio is a teacher, a teacher would know more advance stuff than a researcher cause he is using that time teaching his students

[@yaboiwhyss3480]

i don't want to be arrogant correcting things you said since maybe you read more in depth than me but i believe herta's office portrait of elias salas has narration implying he did hoard the synesthesia beacon for himself and that the intelligensia guild reverse engineered it and spread it around the world , there's also the fact herta is less helping the guild and more in a trade relationship with the ipc which has it's own scientific team referred to as the research and development department though dr ratio does say that department is full of idiots, finally another member who spread his inventions and research is aiden who also cooperated with the ipc but again since the ipc is only a sponsor to the guild it's hard to claim for sure he associated himself with the guild and again i might be just missing sources in the in-game literature so if you're so kind to respond do guide me to some of the reading

[@Maevix3142]

No worries, im not an encyclopedia and sometimes get things wrong (theres quite a lot of lore in genshin and star rail) so feel free to correct me if I ever make an error. What you mentioned is exactly why at the end I mentioned that neither faction is truly good or benevolent. I mean even herta who publicly works with the IPC only ever gives a fraction of what she knows to them and like you mention is only really doing it to gain access to funds for her simulated universe. I mightve confused Aiden with Elias as I recall one of them was actively working with the intelligentsia guild until their death afterwhich they didnt get any support from the other members until herta came along

[@NikolaCosa]

I would want to be a part of the Genius society but knowing my nature as of yet, I will prolly in fact gravitate towards the Intelligensia guild

[@GabrielMichaelDels]

As a scholar myself, Intellegensia Guild sounds like my cup of tea.

[@Lokitty719]

The guild would be my preference as I prefer the sharing information, to the point of wanting to be donated after death as someone might learn something from my body.

[@thelostone2694]

That is not really strange that followers of Aons chose to form groups with very different view points since Aons themself are more akin to manifestation of the concept rather that a person you follow. Erudition and Hunnt are very jarring examples, because in Erudition case how do you understand the concept of knowledge? Do you think about sharing knowledge, hoarding knowledge, making new discoveries, do you gather knowledge for some purpose or just for knowledge itself? The genius society feels like Knowledge for knowledge itself, if they can acquire it why should the not? even if in the process they can destroy unspecified numbers of life, and after they have their answer it doesnt really matter to them anymore but why should they share they knowledge with someone that my not even be able to comprehend it. The Guild feels more like academia, gathering knowledge to spread it, people come to them to learn new thing and then guild send them to teach more people acquire more knowledge and continue this cycle

[@rayyerontheblock4190]

The guild anyday the society is a ticking time bomb

[@Maevix3142]

Not if Polka Kakamond has her way, there might be no living members left by the time we reach Penacony 😂

[@TheTenzen12]

I don't think it's accurate to say GS do think for personal gain. In general IG see knowledge as means to end where for GS knowledge itself is goal and they mostly don't care about any benefits. This is probably also why Nous choose them as it itself was created to gain knowledge and not necessarily do anything about it.

[@Maevix3142]

Hmm i see where youre coming from but I was thinking more along the lines that most GS would do anything to discover what they want to discover and that seems like a personal gain for them especially with so many of them not bothering with releasing their research to others. I mean doesnt necessarily mean that they dont want to but maybe their just obsessed with finding answers and not sharing them

[@Redishrat_Ch]

We chose the guilds of courses and rise there, because we have low brain cell to work properly

[@Maevix3142]

I dont think I can even get into the guild 😂

[@Redishrat_Ch]

@@Maevix3142 Side character 101

[@BlackSkarrow]

Is Fu Xuan considered a member of the Genius Society? She received Nous' gaze, and even the machinery she uses on the Luofu to divine future/past events is a result of Nous. It's confirmed that nobody else can use/understand it besides her.

[@secondaegis9190]

Receiving a gaze isn't the same as being made an Emanator. By your logic, we would be emanators of both Preservation and Destruction: Two concepts completely against each other.

[@Maevix3142]

As far as we know, shes been said to have visited Nous's temple, asked it questions and received a gift from him in the form of her third eye but it doesnt specifically mention that she was made an emanator

[@asafesseidonsapphire]

​@@secondaegis9190not exactly, let's take for example Jarilo VI storyline, we destroyed the menace to the future of the planet, consequently preserving the life and the fire in the hearts of every being living in Jarilo VI.

[@atti6us]

“The crown of the Divine and Mundane”

[@Masaaee]

Are you eventually going cover the theory that polka kakamond might be himeko

[@caficafe]

How is that

[@BilalAhmad-ff3xq]

I thought it was kafka.

[@shutup1037]

Huh?

[@Maevix3142]

I've heard about this theory but havent researched it in detail yet, perhaps ill put all potential identities of polka kakamond in one video. Ive seen people speculate shes herta as well

[@LizardKingRequiem]

Its still so weird to me that ruan mei’s whole thing is life and creating life but her gameplay is her being a musician…

[@nopputhihk848]

You should looks into her design, that guqin is not for playing music.

[@LizardKingRequiem]

@@nopputhihk848 shes literally playing it through….

[@tarlfor1105]

me personally? (answer to the question at the end) haha im too dumb to enter either guild. BUT if i am smart enough to enter whichever one i want Probably genuis society tbh cuz i CAN collaborate, but i can choose to heard my stuff to myself and do my own thing And hey if i'm really THAT lonely sometimes I'll just collaborate with the intelligensia guild... Just not "working with others" as my main job (introvert)

[@Miyao05]

Intellegensia guild because i believe in sharing knowledge.

[@Redishrat_Ch]

Eyyy 5k sub

[@Maevix3142]

😆 didnt think people liked the ramblings

[@aarondodo4076]

Do you read books and watch documentaries purely for fun? Do you do this even if it is "useless info" and "not what you should do now" (i.e. procrastination)? Do you feel existential dread in the form of depressive boredom when it feels like everything just keeps repeating and all-so-common? If so, you'd understand that "good or bad" is just unnecessary luxury when you're simply trying to survive this admittedly often very formulaic and boring world --- Like a parrot who simply will pluck its own feathers and kill itself without enough stimulation, one who is picked for the Genius Society cannot survive without satisfying their enormous curiosity. And it is not up to them to choose, be it nature or nurture, it is already what it is. Much like some people simply lose themselves without a "higher absolute meaning (in the form of good and bad, right and wrong)", some others will go mad without "something new and interesting to learn or observe". Personally, I would definitely satisfy my own curiosity first to keep myself alive and sane --- and then, if I still have some time/resources left, I will consider also satisfying my sense of compassion or whatever need for common public belonging. Arguably, for those who are in the Genius Society, they're already serving "public good" when they can keep themselves interested in the world: when parrots go mad from insufferable boredom, they bite and they pluck out their own feathers. When geniuses go mad from boredom, they can most certainly take a whole chunk of the world with them as they end this suffering.

[@missingchannel2698]

Isn't intellegensia is for preservation

[@Maevix3142]

They are sponsored by the IPC who follow the path of the preservation or more specifically Qlipoth, the aeon of preservation

[@drea4pres970]

Goodness, I love Ratio. Ruin Mei seems like an autistic nerd that doesn’t understand humans. Meanwhile, the empathetic Doctor, professor, philanthropist went out of his way to help regular people. Long live DR RATIO 😊

[@Maevix3142]

Hes kind of a jerk though calling people idiots and all but admittedly he does help the average person quite a lot even sharing his knowledge and tech with them to better their lives so everything balances out i guess 😂

[@theburning_yandere710]

for me, Genius society might be a good place to me.. I don't really care much about sharing "knowledge" and I prefer to focus on my own interests...