About the races of Zhuang Fangyi and MiFu
I wanted to talk about something that’s been bothering me since the recent character reveals — specifically the races of Zhuang Fangyi (Kylin) and MiFu (Sarkaz). A lot of players seem confused about this too...
First — Zhuang Fangyi as Kylin.
Her obsession with chubby lungs, her overall aesthetic, and especially that tail. it all says Lung.
If you compare it to Chen, the tail is almost identical (just fluffier because of her age maybe).
We know from Arknights lore that Kylins are supposed to have equine (horse-like) tails and crystalline horns, like Leizi. Zhuang’s tail looks way more scaly and draconic. Sure, real-world Qilin mythology is very flexible — they’re classic chimeras that can mix dragon scales, deer features, fox tails, and have fire associated with them. But Hypergryph made a clear choice in Arknights: Kylin = horse tail + crystalline horns + strong lightning Arts. I would have understood it perfectly if she was a Lung who happens to use lightning Arts — after all, we already have characters like Avy (Cautus) and Arclight (Kuranta) who wield lightning Arts without any issue. But making her a Kylin with a Lung-style tail feels inconsistent.
Now about MiFu — why isn’t she Kylin instead?
Early in the story a stockader calls her Sarkaz, and at first I thought he was just being a rude illiterate bumpkin (actually cool to finally have something like this in Endfield). Turns out he was right... But her crystalline horns and horse-like tail are just Kylin traits. I can’t recall any Sarkaz in og Arknights with a equine tail.
Her background as a former Stockader resident (as 1.3 trailer says) makes sense with how she fights
maybe she channels her electrical power into her gauntlet strikes and releases it through them, exactly like they show in her animations with those big lightning bursts. This could’ve fit perfectly if she was a Kylin who never properly learned lightning Arts and had to improvise her own style. It even feels like Zhuang might have helped her control it. Instead, she’s officially Sarkaz and maybe its just electric gauntlets and not her lightning arts... :c
The frustrating part is that while they do have some interactions in the story, it mostly feels like we’re seeing everything through the Endmin’s perspective instead of getting real, direct moments between just the two of them. Even in Zhuang’s trust files and 1.2 story, there’s basically nothing about Zhaung's race or how her lightning Arts connect to her design or any info about Mifu.
That said, I could be wrong — the 1.3 trailer seemed to hint at more story focus on them, so maybe we’ll finally get some proper answers and deeper interaction there. Still, right now it sometimes feels like they just spun a wheel for races and assigned them without fully syncing the visuals and lore.
Maybe I’m overthinking this a lot. But the races here are deeply inspired by real mythology, and when the designs and official races clash this much, it stands out. Qilin in real life are auspicious chimeras tied to fire, yet in Arknights they became strict lightning users with horse tails. It feels inconsistent with the visual language they built.
What do you think? Am I missing lore details, does this bother anyone else too? Would be cool if we could gather some questions for the devs about race consistency and future characters lore. I still havent sent my survey, so im thinking about it...