[Theory] (Spoiler) Doesn’t Exist
(repost because “Zezura” counts as a spoiler in the title)
[Theory] Zezura Doesn’t Exist
So, my fiancee and I streamed most of the Early Access (still trying to get into the Observatory) together during the first couple days of release. During and after that time, my lore brain has been spinning nonstop, and now I have to share one of my primary theories: Zezura Does Not Exist.
This sounds absurd, I know. But, we already know from SN1, BZ, and what we’ve gotten so far in SN2 that Alterra will lie or say whatever to achieve their goals. My theory, then, is that Alterra always INTENDED for us to reach Proteus, but they knew no one would sign up for “4546B Part 2: Aquatic Boogaloo”. So, instead, they offered a group of “debt slaves” the opportunity to clear their debts by colonizing “Zezura” - a place described as the total opposite of Proteus. Yet somehow, miraculously, we have access to all of the blueprints necessary for an ***aquatic*** expedition and settlement: all of the external power generators “conveniently” function underwater as well as they would on dry ground. We “conveniently” have access to the Tadpole, a submersible, despite expecting a mostly desert planet. Zezura’s description, particularly from the Discord, does not make sense for what we are kitted out to do. By all accounts, the pioneers should not be able to survive for long on an ocean planet when expecting deserts. And, it’s not like we’re accessing the entirety of Alterra’s blueprint database - if we were, hypothetically, it’d make sense for NoA to have us manufacturing Cyclops and Seamoths, as they are now proven by Ryley to be effective in these scenarios. “Oopsy Daisy, we crashed on another random ocean planet - activating Protocol 4546B” would be the logical response from NoA if Alterra really did enshrine Ryley as this success story. Instead, we’re told that our desert gear is perfectly suited for the exact opposite environment. Which, sure, you could argue that this advanced, futuristic tech can be more easily repurposed for different environments. But there’s one thing that can’t be that easily explained away, I believe - the Angel Comb.
Why is there an Angel Comb on the ship? Why is it so neatly placed in the middle of the “Adaptation” chamber, with Alterra technology built around it? This isn’t just some random growth that burst through the hull over the indefinite period of time before we were printed, and it’s too cleanly implemented for it to be added after the crash by one of the original Pioneers. Plus, if it were a new addition, it wouldn’t make sense to have a designated “Adaptation Chamber” that NoA is aware of, not to mention the signage for it and the hologram. Or, if the Adaptation Chamber existed without the Angel Comb, why wouldn’t we utilize the “Alterra-Approved” system? We’re told it’s “Alterra nanotechnology” enabling the first Angel Comb’s adaptation, but that raises more questions: why does it have to be this plant? Why can’t we just shove a fist inside of a fish and adapt that way? If the plant uses Alterra nanotechnology, why do all the other Angel Combs work the same way? Did Alterra seed the Angel Combs onto Proteus? Did they decide to cropdust random planets with nanotechnology to ensure future pioneers would be able to survive “just in case”? All of these seem too coincidental, complicated, or illogical as explanations compared to a much simpler explanation - Alterra has been to Proteus before, and the Angel Comb was one of their first living samples from the planet.
For whatever reason, Alterra abandoned their original expedition to Proteus and, in lieu of hiring an expeditionary crew to explore the planet and collect Architect technology, opted to try and recreate Ryley Robinson’s Lightning-in-a-bottle level of discovery with a shotgun blast of “pioneers”, this time *purposefully* crashed onto the planet. They made sure that the Angel Comb was integrated into the ship to help the pioneers acclimate to the water pressures and desensitize them to the unusual survival requirement of “stick hand in weird plant goo for DNA Windows Updates”. They fabricated stories of Zezura to explain away the specific tech being assigned to the Cicada’s crew and to entice as many people to join as possible. Then, they created NoA to ensure the true mission went according to plan and to moderate the pioneers to ensure they didn’t fall out of line. Logs were falsified to show an “unexpected phase jump”, computer systems were programmed to describe the stars of Proteus as “wrong” so the pioneers wouldn’t expect their crash landing to be anything but an unlucky coincidence, and when the original pioneers became too comfortable with their new surroundings and decided they could escape their “debt slavery” through their “Jubilee”, NoA printed us to destroy the World Tree and its telepathic Bloom virus (another theory for another post).
We’re not crashed on a planet far from where we were meant to be - this is always where Alterra wanted us. They’ve been planning this since they first found Proteus and retrieved that Angel Comb in the Adaptation Chamber. But now, the question is - why? (More theories for more posts!)