What you need to know about the Ever-Flame Mansion: Honkai: Star Rail's new villain group menacing Penacony

Honkai: Star Rail players have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of version 2.0 in February for a while now. Not only will the game's next major update bring with it the next world in the Astral Express Crew's journey, Penacony, it will also see more wonderful characters take the spotlight, including Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha in version 2.0.

Developer HoYoverse then gave more fuel to the Penacony hype train when they released the jaw-dropping Myriad Celestia Trailer — "A Night of Ever-Flame: Scene 33" on Friday (19 January). This latest trailer introduced players to Duke Inferno and his four 'children' of the Ever-Flame Mansion, an ascendant faction within the Annihiliation Gang.

So, who are the members of the Ever-Flame Mansion and what role will they play in Penacony and Honkai: Star Rail's overarching story? Read on as we break down this latest lore bomb.

The Ever-Flame Mansion, the Annihilation Gang, and Nanook

Before we dive into the members of the Ever-Flame Mansion, we must first know what they are as a group. The Ever-Flame Mansion is one of the groups that form the Annihilation Gang, a faction devoted to Nanook the Aeon of Destruction that exists separately from the Antimatter Legion.

There are five known members of the Ever-Flame Mansion: Duke Inferno and his four 'children'; Constance, Dubra, Caterina, and Akash.

The other group under the Annihilation Gang is the Jepella Brotherhood, though both groups see each other as enemies despite belonging to the same faction. However, the Jepella Brotherhood was destroyed by the Stellaron Hunters during the Jepella Rebellion (as depicted in the Myriad Celestia Trailer: The Jepella Rebellion — Scene 47), which allowed the Ever-Flame Mansion to become the eminent group within the Annihilation Gang.

But while the Annihilation Gang is devoted to Nanook, they have not earned the Aeon of Destruction's gaze.

According to the Data Bank entry on the Annihilation Gang, Nanook only has contempt for them because they lack the ability to systematically pursue the will of Destruction. Unlike the Antimatter Legion, the Annihilation Gang's goals behind their pursuit of Destruction is not 'pure' enough for Nanook, who can see their selfish desires being mixed into what should be an untainted desire to simply destroy.

And because Nanook continues to hold them in contempt, Ifrit and the Annihilation Gang continues to cause wanton destruction throughout the cosmos in a vain attemp to earn their Aeon's gaze. Their next target will be Penacony, the Planet of Festivities, its ruling Faction known as the Family, and the many other intergalactic factions attending its upcoming celebration.

Now, let's get into the who the five known members of the Ever-Flame Mansion are and what role they will play in Honkai: Star Rail's story moving forward:

Duke Inferno, Ifrit

Duke Inferno, whose real name is Ifrit, is a fire demon who takes on a humanoid form but with a head resembling a flaming bovine skull that wears a crown. He was born from a white dwarf star named Fetora, which was destroyed by Nanook and subsequently gave birth to the race of fire demons Ifrit hails from.

According to Dr. Ratio, Ifrit is a special case among the fire demons of Fetora, as he is a scion of the Phase Flame curio and thus had the ability to phase himself and others through space.

Like the other fire demons of Fetora, Ifrit sees Nanook as emperor and saviour despite the Aeon's continued contempt for them. Even so, Ifrit claimed the embers left behind from Fetora's destruction and molded it into a crown that he now wears as he continues to pursue Nanook's gaze as the head of the Ever-Flame Mansion.

It is unknown how Ifrit came to adopt his four children, but his dialogue suggests he chose them for their destructive potential, imbued them with some of his own power, then adopted them into the Ever-Flame Mansion as his children.

Ifrit now continues his pursuit of Nanook's gaze in Penacony, as he plans to destroy the planet and the members of other intergalactic factions visiting it after receiving an invitation to attend the festivities. In pursuit of this plan, he commanded his four children to target the four factions are devoted to the Aeons of Harmony, Preservation, Elation, and Remembrance.

Ifrit was first introduced in Honkai: Star Rail through the Ashblazing Grand Duke relic set. He then made his first appearance in the Trailblaze Continuance Mission "The Crown of the Mundane and Divine", where he used his phasing abilities to cause havoc in the Herta Space Station before being foiled by the Trailblazer and Dr. Ratio.

Ifrit is voiced by Bob Johnson in the game's English dub, Tanzawa Teruyuki in the Japanese dub, Meng Xiaolong in the Chinese dub, and Lee Joo-seung in the Korean dub.

Constance, the Dahlia

Constance, also called the Dahlia, is a beautiful purple-eyed, black-haired woman wearing an elegant white dress and hat. While she appears human, she is most likely a member of some sort of demonic species as she has front-facing horns and a devil-like tail with an arrowhead-shaped tip.

Ifrit describes Constance as his "most ambitious and exceptional child", even saying he has "nothing more to teach [her]". Because of this, we can infer that Constance is the most powerful of Ifrit's four children, maybe even rivaling or even exceeding her adoptive father's strength. She also produces a deep blue flame, the colour of the hottest flames.

From her dialogue in the trailer, Constance seems a bit unhinged, teasing her sister Caterina's zeal by telling her "a little pessimism might be wise, what if we all end up dead?" This goes against Ifrit's view of how Destruction should be pursued, that is brave and heroic in its pursuit without fear of death. With that said, Constance does seem like someone who will do just that despite her joke.

Ifrit commanded Constance to destroy the Garden of Recollection, the followers of the Aeon of Remembrance Fuli, telling her to "strip away all they hold dear and leave naught but the Remembrance's tomb".

Constance is voiced by Jennifer Losi in the game's English dub, Sasaki Mikoi in the Japanese dub, Ruan Congqing in the Chinese dub, and Kim Do-hee in the Korean dub.

Caterina, the Shacklebound

Caterina, the Shacklebound, is a red-haired woman wearing a dominatrix-esque outfit. She is also bound by a ball and chain, a type of restraint used to bind prisoners, though the ball part looks more like a heptagon.

Ifrit says that he "kindled a flame in [Caterina's heart] and granted [her] blood of fire", which points towards some if not all of his adoptive children being granted a measure of his power. Caterina seems to have a bold and brash personality, even telling Ifrit that Constance isn't necessary for his plans and that he can take all of their enemies alone.

Caterina was commanded by Ifrit to destroy the Interastral Peace Corporation, an intergalactic mega corporation that controls the economy of the cosmos while also being the most fervent followers of Qlipoth the Aeon of Preservation. Caterina was told by her adoptive father to "use [her] wrath to shatter the Preservation's sanctum and melt their gold to create a statue of [Nanook]".

Interestingly enough, Caterina also seems to be an expy of the Honkai Impact 3rd character Shub Niggurat.

Caterina is voiced by Arianna Ratner in the game's English dub, Sanpei Yuuko in the Japanese dub, Li Chanfei in the Chinese dub, and Lee Sae-byeok in the Korean dub.

Dubra, the Scribe

Dubra, also called the Scribe, is one of the most game's interesting characters in terms of design we've seen so far.

At first, she is shown to be a young one-eyed, white-haired girl. However, it was later revealed that the girl is only a puppet controlled by a cloaked being bearing what looks to be a purple flaming mask. Because of this, we speculate that Dubra may be another fire demon of Fetora like Ifrit.

Ifrit tells Dubra that he "set [her] form alight and taught [her] mastery of the blade". Unlike her other adoptive siblings, Dubra seems to express genuine concern over Ifrit's plans, telling him it "wise to plan ahead" and asking "what is our fallback if things become perilous?"

Ifrit commanded Dubra to destroy the Masked Fools, the followers of the Aeon of Elation Aha, telling her to "maim the Elation and let the performer's blood and tears pour into the Abyss".

Dubra is voiced by Kayli Mills in the game's English dub, Noguchi Ruriko in the Japanese dub, Su Ziwu in the Chinese dub, and Kim I-an in the Korean dub.

Akash, the Tuner

Akash, also called the Tuner, is a white-haired man wearing blue-tinted shades. In fitting with his title, he also carries and plays the double bass, a large musical instrument with four or five strings. Like Constance, he also produces a blue flame, though they appear to be significantly lighter in shade.

Ifrit tells Akash that he "lit a fire in [his] eyes and showed [him] the music of the strings". He also seems to closely follow his adoptive father's philosophy, asking his siblings "since when have those on the Path of Destruction feared death?"

Akash was commanded by Ifrit to destroy the Family, the faction that rules Penacony and is devoted to Xipe the Aeon of Harmony. Ifrit told Akash to "serenade the celebration and hush the Harmony into muted awe".

Akash is voiced by Talon Warburton in the game's English dub, Shingaki Tarusuke in the Japanese dub, Zhao Zihan in the Chinese dub, and Baek Seung-cheol in the Korean dub.

Will the Ever-Flame Mansion characters become playable?

So far, all of Honkai: Star Rail's Myriad Celestia trailers have featured characters that are either already playable or were revealed to be playable after the trailer released. Because of that, there is a real possibility that some, if not all, members of the Ever-Flame Mansion could also become playable characters in the future.

With that said, we do acknowledge that some may see the fact that the Ever-Flame Mansion is a group of straight-up villains as something that casts doubts on their eventual playability. However, we counter that a significant number of Honkai: Star Rail's playable characters aren't upstanding citizens either.

Foremost among them are the Stellaron Hunters Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Blade. While the Stellaron Hunters are more like antiheroes who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty in order to prevent Nanook from destroying all of existence, they are all still wanted criminals with bounties on all their heads amounting to millions of credits.

There is also the pair of wannabe god-killers in Jingliu and Luocha, who were partly responsible for the Stellaron Crisis in the Xianzhou Luofu as part of their plan to kill Yaoshi the Aeon of Abundance. Oh, and let's not forget that Luocha does bear the face of Honkai Impact 3rd's biggest villain.

So, even villains can be playable in Honkai: Star Rail, and we certainly can't wait for the Ever-Flame Mansion to join the game's roster too. Constance, Dubra, and Ifrit particularly have very interesting designs, and having clearly non-human characters like Dubra and Ifrit become playable is honestly very much needed.

Honkai: Star Rail is currently in version 1.6, which features three new characters in the 5-star Ice Harmony character Ruan Mei, the 5-star Imaginary Hunt character Dr. Ratio, and the 4-star Quantum Destruction character Xueyi. Dr. Ratio was also given to players for free at the start of the second half of this version.

After version 1.6 comes the massive version 2.0 update in February 2024, which will see the release of a new planet in Penacony as well as three new characters in Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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