Shennong
Shennong is an NPC in Arknights. Her legacies play a major role in Here A People Sows.
Background
The people of Dahuang revere Shennong as a venerable deity, as someone who first invented the calendar system and coined the twenty-four solar terms. Every year, farmers would host a celebration commemorating her through a traditional opera, regaling the epic tale of her journey.
In truth, Shennong was a humble yet hardworking mortal farmer. She migrated to a small village in northern Yan, a land where people could harvest peacefully. However, a Catastrophe soon struck the area, devastating acres of farmland and demoralising villagers. They soon suffered a famine year. Shennong, feeling the pain of famine, was determined to improve her people's farming conditions. She dreamed of a day where no one would ever suffer famine, and that farmland would expand up to kilometers in size.
During her time in the village, she met a young Shu who she believed to be a Feranmut who had descended from the heavens. She was in awe at Shu's ability to create crops in the blink of an eye, but she didn't want her to abuse that power, knowing that she couldn't rely on her forever. Instead, she taught Shu how mortals farmed the land, educating her on what it means to be mortal. Working together with Shu, Shennong was able to improve her farming techniques and teach them to the other villagers.
Harvests improved year after year, but it was still tremendously difficult. Feeling that her time was running out, Shennong decided to travel north in search of a "super grain" that would be able to survive growing in Originium-polluted soil. Shu advised against it, especially since Shennong was older now, but the latter insisted. During her journey, she was severly polluted by Collapsals, and died as she returned to her village. The last thing she brought back was merely a small pack of seeds.
Story
Here A People Sows
Although she did not appear directly, Shennong makes a brief appearance as a vision when Wanqing starts to feel the effect of Blight. She hands him a hoe and instructs him to farm. No matter how hard Wanqing tries, he is never able to harvest the grains on the ground. Shennong states that this was the painful life that farmers faced, and that one farmer could only do so much.
Trivia
- She is named after the eponymous mythological Chinese ruler known for his contributions in agriculture.