Theorizing on the Tsaritsa and Snezhnaya
So a while ago I made a post overanalyzing Linnea's SQ and the species of fae in Snezhnaya,, so I'll just sort of... rant about my theories (and hopes) for Snezhnaya, because it will be a lore bomb.
To begin with, it's pretty much confirmed that Vodyanista will be our playable siren: Linnea has a voiceline that is subtle as a brick about it, and on top of it, she's the prima soprano of a troupe I will not try to spell correctly. I also did my research, and turns out, a vodyanoy is a sort of water spirit in slavic culture. And the suffix "-ista" seems to be a feminine suffix (if you know russian, correct me), so there you go: Vodyanista.
With Linnea and Celaeno there, will probably give us more lore on Hyperborea and, you guessed it, more nailed civilizations. It might even be a subregion.
And then there's the Tsaritsa, Anastasya Feodorovna Snezhnaya. She is named after Anastasya Romanov and Alexandra Feodorovna, the last princess and Tsaritsa of the Russian empire respectively, so... there's that. I wonder what that could be foreshadowing. Fun fact, "Anastasya" means "resurrection", and "Feodorovna" means "daughter of Feodor", which was the name of another Tsar. In other words, our Anastasya comes from an important family, maybe a very, very strange kind of fae.
For now, all that we know of her backstory is that she is the daughter of the Bely Tsar (I haven't found anything interesting on that name besides that it means "white"), who fell in love with Saarelainen, presumably Ajax, who was also the Third Descender. He was then asked by the Bely Tsar to open the "gates of Pohjola", maybe Celestia or something like that, but it was a trap, and he went willingly, knowing that otherwise, his beloved Anastasya would suffer the punishment. Saarelainen was carved into the Seven Gnoses, and Anastasya became the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya we know today.
From there on, I have a few theories. We have the rebel route, and the sentimental route, as I like to call them.
For the rebel route, my theory is that the archons are giving up their gnoses because the Tsaritsa needs it for her plan, and they support it. But why can't they just... rebel themselves? Well, notice how the oldest archons, the ones who were there during the Cataclysm, are more scared of rebellion? Nahida, Focalors and Mavuika are way bolder, but still hold back: Nahida threatened to wake up the Heavenly Principles, Focalors... well, we all know about her middle finger to Celestia, and Mavuika pretty much did a warmup for Columbina's return with a moon included. They have their nations to protect, they are scared.
But the Tsaritsa? She has no love left for her people, nor do they have any left for her. The Tsaritsa has always seemed kind of... self sacrificing to me, like she couldn't care less about the Shades having their eyes locked on her and her nation.
I might be going crazy, but I think that Snezhnaya is gonna get nailed. Or in other words, that she's gonna take the fall for the rebellion against the heavens, and just like Focalors did, choose to be the last Cryo Archon, the last Tsar of Snezhnaya (name foreshadowing). I think that the other archons know that, and they are helping her because she will sacrifice herself, and since that will spare them from having to get their own nations nailed, the least they can do is help her. It would also explain why Mavuika and the Pyro Archons, who are mortal and isolated to Natlan, have no idea of her plan.
The sentimental route is way less dark. The theory here is that the archons are giving up their gnoses out of respect: like, I wouldn't keep a piece of my coworker's dead lover's body, no matter the authority or power or whatever it gave me
Of course, that raises the question of whether the Tsaritsa wants to revive Saarelainen or just use the gnoses to overthrow Celestia. Personally, I think both.
But there's another detail: it was the Bely Tsar who set Ajax up. He might have very well been the only archon who was willingly on the Heavenly Principles' side. Why? No idea, but maybe the Tsaritsa also wants to defeat Celestia as a sort of redemption for what her father did.