One of the main draws of Honkai: Star Rail is its story, which fans find to be well-thought-out for a free-to-play game. Its densest and most complicated major chapter so far, which involves the planet of Penacony, just ended — leaving some people with more questions than answers. It has a lot of players and a plot that involves layers of dreams, secrets, schemes, and backstories, which all lead to an epic final battle and an emotional ending.
Penacony is best known for being the “Planet of Festivities,” an image that is well-preserved by its ruling authority known as “The Family.” It’s like an extensive space hotel where rich people from all over the galaxy visit to fulfill their fantasies. The Astral Express was invited to the planet to attend the Charmony Festival, but the crew was also tasked to find the “Watchmaker’s Legacy,” which leads them to uncover its dark past. This journey also leads them to another Stellaron disaster, which is a common theme in Honkai: Star Rail‘s main story.
The Dark History of Penacony in Honkai: Star Rail
Penacony’s story has two main mysteries: how the planet’s dreamscape works and Sunday’s grand plan. Most people see Penacony during their prolonged sleep sessions in specialized dream pools within its Grand Hotel. It’s unclear in the beginning how the dreamscape works and sustains itself. Honkai‘s Sunday is a representative of the family and the organizer of the Charmony Festival. His sister, Robin, is a famous singer who is set to headline the event. While he does seem cordial at first, he’s secretly enacting his grand scheme to trap the citizens of Penacony in an eternal and painless sweet dream away from reality. This audacious and delusional goal can only be understood by knowing Penacony’s turbulent history.
A Brief History of Penacony as an IPC Prison Camp
Before being the Planet of Festivities, Penacony was established as a prison by the Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC). The exiles are put into labor to mine Memory Bubbles to prevent an unknown disaster. These Memory Bubbles are created from Memoria, which the game says is a vessel for a person’s memories and consciousness. The planet is located within the Asdana Star System where Memoria naturally occurs and leaks rapidly into the universe. Eventually, the prisoners in Penacony lost their grip on reality and the outside world, presumably because of their prolonged exposure to Memoria and the prison environment that the IPC created for them.
A Stellaron, which is also known as a seed of disaster, broke out in Penacony during this period. The prisoners took advantage of the disarray caused by this disaster and went to war with the IPC. The latter lost control of the planet, leaving the prisoners to govern it. During the war, the Astral Express came to Penacony and blazed a trail that connected it to other worlds once more. The Trailblazers Mikhail, Tiernan, and Razalina stayed on the planet to help the prisoners reclaim their independence.
The
Aeon of Harmony Xipe
, possibly recognizing the Penacony’s chaos after the war, integrated the prisoners into The Family. This is a powerful organization blessed by Xipe herself to unite everyone across the universe.
The Family, The Watchmaker, and The Dreamscape Explained
The Trailblazers in Penacony eventually went their separate ways, with only Mikhail left to help lead the planet. A dissenting group took advantage of this and activated the Stellaron. The Family came to Mikhail’s aid to seemingly seal the Stellaron. They also worked with him to turn Penacony into the Planet of Festivities it is known today, building the hotel, theme parks, and other lavish attractions. Mikhail’s imagination turned even the mundane objects alive. It was during this legendary era that he was bestowed the title of “The Watchmaker.”
The Stellaron Disaster Within Honkai: Star Rail’s Penacony
Early in the story, the player sees that two characters, Stellaron Hunter Firefly and Robin, have somehow been murdered from within the Dreamscape by an unknown creature. This has Charmony Festival guests, especially the Astral Express Crew, IPC executive Aventurine, and supposed Galaxy Ranger Acheron, even more intrigued by the mystery of Penacony’s Dreamscape.
Acheron Vs. Aventurine
In a desperate attempt to uncover this secret, Aventurine threatens to harm people until Acheron stops him by using a powerful slash of her sword. This supposedly kills Honkai: Star Rail‘s Aventurine and creates a big gash on the Dreamscape. Acheron appears to him again as his life flashes before his eyes and reveals that Penacony’s Dreamscape is like an island with high walls that isolate people from the rest of the world. It used to float on the sea of Memoria, but now it seems to be sinking, possibly causing its residents to decay physically and mentally.
Outside the Golden Dream
Firefly somehow comes back from the dead and reveals to the Trailblazer, who they befriended earlier, that they simply woke up in an area outside Penacony’s main dream. She takes the player there. Meanwhile, Sunday interrogates Gallagher, a security officer for The Bloodhound Family. He accuses the guard of being the murderer. Gallagher proves him right by calling on the same monster that slashed Firefly to do the same to him.
The Trailblazer, along with the rest of the Astral Express, and Firefly wake up in Dreamflux Reef, an area outside of Penacony’s main Dreamscape. Robin and Sunday also end up in this place. Here, they learn from Gallagher that Dreamflux Reef is where people go when they wake up from the Dreamscape. Dreamflux Reef is also the original Dreamscape, so essentially what the characters have been experiencing before was a dream within a dream.
The Watchmaker’s Legacy
Gallagher explains to everyone that he is a close ally of Mikhail, the original Watchmaker. He also reveals that The Family did not suppress the Stellaron on Penacony. They used it to build the Dreamscape that people know now as the Planet of Festivities. This is highly unstable and has taken a physical and mental toll on its residents, as explained by Acheron earlier.
The crew also finds out that Misha, a bellboy of the Grand Hotel, is the Watchmaker’s Legacy. He is also the child version of Mikhail, which the Watchmaker manifested in a dream while waiting for the other Trailblazers to come to Penacony. He passes on his hat and pocketwatch to the Astral Express crew to fulfill his last wish before truly dying.
Sunday’s Turn and Endgame
The crew plans to return to the main Dreamscape to speak with the current Watchmaker Gopher Wood and stop him from using the Stellaron. However, Sunday has other plans. He’s in cahoots with Wood to create a new dream world free of suffering, but also free will in the name of Ena, the Aeon of Order. Sunday also double-crosses Wood in this regard, as he aims to create a world without Aeons or Paths. The crew clashes with him, and they win with the help of Jing Yuan and Dan Heng.
The player supposedly wakes up and everything is suspiciously fine. They soon find out that the whole battle was a ruse by Sunday to make everyone think that no further trouble surfaced, while also trapping them within his new dream world. The Trailblazer and the rest of the crew confront him once more for the final, and real, battle.
The Aftermath
The Family arrests Sunday after his defeat at the hands of the Astral Express. Gopher Wood could not answer to his crimes, as he supposedly committed suicide before his plan with Sunday commenced in hopes of waking up within Sunday’s dream. The epilogue shows Lady Bonajade, Aventurine’s colleague telling Sunday that she was commissioned by Robin to help him get out. However, he is suspicious of Jade’s motives.
During the epilogue, the IPC negotiates with The Family about their plans to reclaim Penacony once more now that it is in a weakened state. They negotiate a deal that the former will finance The Family’s efforts to rebuild the planet through a large loan. Meanwhile, the player and the rest of the Astral Express crew attend the real Charmony Festival and honor the graves of the former Trailblazers before leaving Penacony for their next destination.
