Sovereigns

Who were the Sovereigns

Sovereigns were the 39 rulers of the Old World: the unified reality that existed before the Sundering. Each Sovereign controlled a pair of opposing Aspects: philosophical or scientific principles that existed in balance with each other. Light and Dark. Love and Hate. Life and Death. Strength and Weakness. The Sovereigns maintained the equilibrium between these opposing forces, and the Nexus (the energy network connecting everything) functioned smoothly as long as they did their job.

When the Sundering split the paired Aspects apart, some Sovereigns transitioned into Novarch roles, keeping one half of their former domain. Others disappeared, died, or wander the Planes without a territory. The missing, dead, and vanished Sovereigns are part of the game's central mystery.

Known Sovereigns

Victus (1st Sovereign. Order and Chaos)

The most powerful Sovereign. After the Sundering, he became the 2nd Novarch with authority over Order only (Chaos went to the Novarch Jude). Victus is the figure most directly connected to the World-Ender conflict. He fought the World-Ender seven times and destroyed them twice, but the Pact of Rebirth made the World-Ender impossible to permanently kill.

Kumyo Kyo (4th Sovereign. Reality and Illusion)

Darsea's older brother. After the World-Ender killed Darsea, Kumyo Kyo sealed the World-Ender in the Plane of Illusion for over 214 years: a promise to his dying sister. He then vanished entirely. The Reality Aspect after the split is governed by the 8th Novarch, Bai Mei.

Amstradath (5th Sovereign. Life and Death)

Connected to the World-Ender through the "Pact of Rebirth": an agreement that granted the World-Ender immortality. Kafka (the 11th Sovereign) commanded dark power great enough to rival Amstradath. Whether Amstradath entered the Pact willingly or was coerced is unknown. Their current status is unclear, and notably, the Life/Death pairing may not have fully split, possibly because of the Pact.

Bashirdo (7th Sovereign. Change and Stasis)

Controlled the paired Aspects of Change and Stasis. After the Sundering, Change went to Amorphiron (14th Novarch of The Changelands) and Stasis went to Roslin Greenleaf (15th Novarch). Bashirdo's current status is unknown.

Armand (8th Sovereign. Light and Dark)

After the Sundering, Armand kept Dark and became the 17th Novarch. He gave the Light authority to a monk named Prabhas (16th Novarch), then imprisoned Prabhas. He's afflicted by the Sunbane Curse and desperate for a cure.

Darsea (10th Sovereign (Memory and Oblivion)) DECEASED

Killed by the World-Ender. Kumyo Kyo's younger sister. Her death destabilized the Memory/Oblivion Aspects and triggered the spread of Oblivios disease across the Planes. She had traveled with the World-Ender and Parayaya as friends before the Sundering. She is the only confirmed dead Sovereign.

Kafka (11th Sovereign (Strength and Weakness)) MISSING

Vanished during the Sundering. Blade was her sworn guardian. She commanded dark power rivaling Amstradath. Her disappearance caused the faction under her command to collapse entirely. Blade became the 22nd Novarch of Strength in her absence and spends most of his time searching the Planes for her. In Honkai: Star Rail, Kafka is a member of the Stellaron Hunters. Her appearance as a Sovereign in Nexus Anima deepens the cross-game connections.

Vowbinder Crone (12th Sovereign. Beauty and Ugliness)

Controlled the paired Aspects of Beauty and Ugliness. The name "Vowbinder Crone" carries heavy implications. Someone who binds vows and is described as a crone. Current status and Novarch succession unknown.

Parayaya (14th Sovereign. Love and Hate)

Parayaya retained the Hate Aspect and became the 29th Novarch. She lost the Love Aspect in the split. Legends say she "fell in love with one she should not have, and for that suffered treachery and punishment." She was personally betrayed by the World-Ender. Now a Phoenixbreaker Novarch, she hunts the World-Ender for revenge.

Masked Hero (20th Sovereign. Courage and Cowardice)

Controlled the paired Aspects of Courage and Cowardice. The Courage Aspect after the split went to Lucian Valentine (40th Novarch). The name "Masked Hero" suggests a figure who hides their identity behind heroics. Current status unknown.

Shen Wang (23rd Sovereign. Wisdom and Folly)

Controlled the paired Aspects of Wisdom and Folly. Current status and Novarch succession unknown.

Apeiron (28th Sovereign. Infinity and Finity)

After the Sundering, Apeiron became the 57th Novarch with authority over Infinity, having lost the Finity authority. The large gap between Sovereign number (28th) and Novarch number (57th) suggests the numbering systems follow different logic.

Other known Sovereigns

The pattern of succession

After the Sundering, the 39 Sovereigns' paired domains split into at most 78 individual Aspects, distributed across the 81 Planes (some Aspects may govern multiple Planes or not correspond to a Plane at all). Not every Sovereign became a Novarch. Some, like Victus, transitioned directly. Others, like Darsea, died. Some, like Kafka, vanished. And in several cases, the Novarch who inherited an Aspect wasn't the original Sovereign at all. Blade wasn't a Sovereign, but he took the Strength Aspect when Kafka disappeared.

Legacy

The Sovereigns cast a long shadow over the current world. The Novarch system is built on top of what they left behind, and most of the game's mysteries, the Sundering's cause, the World-Ender's true motivations, the missing Sovereigns. Trace back to the Old World that the Sovereigns once governed.