My personal one would probably be Dr Thule in albatross, "I suppose you're actually going to listen to this creature. He's about as human as an ABIOTIC FACTOR." It sucks but I think it'd be funny.
I've seen lots of people discussing wether or not our characters are anomalous, and while I think to a small extent we might be, I think that only comes from our interactions with the anomalous, and not from us being it ourselves. (so I figured I'd compile some evidence from a person who believes we aren't.)
It's not hard to see why, our characters pull off some impossible feats of bioengineering, strength, endurance, and luck. But it's important to note that's only comparing it to OUR world, not the world of Abiotic Factor. In the world of Abiotic Factor there are several more forces at play then the comparatively simple ones in our world.
- Perforations
- Portals
- Magic
- HUGE technology progression for the 90's
- and way way more
So under these new rules, let compare our character to others in the universe:
Abe and Janet: these two, are absolute super geniuses, Abe having made pocket sized simulations of cascade labs, bioengineering on the fly, and getting a submarine working. Janet having helped debug the appearant spaghetti code of a simulated cascade labs, and overall being just incredibly capable. Also when mentioning the portal in residence they say:
Janet: I wonder if the energy shedding caused by the transluminal effects of the mega-portal has inverted the entropic frame...
Abe: Could it be that simple?
This clearly says that these two are operating on a very different level, and yet they still acknowledge our characters feats, but they don't think they're supernatural.
The Blacksmith: according to his entry, he was hired by Frake, no one has seen his face, he has no known accent, and seems to be a super genius and super manufacturer as well, being able to do equations in his head that even the smartest would struggle to do.
And yet he isn't studied, he's just treated like a person, so clearly he isn't viable to be classified as an I.S.
Lenora Riggs: Being part of Trans-Recon Shes survived seemingly impossible odds, which even our characters struggle with. She's talked about like an urban legend and Manse and Cascade seems to deeply commend her work.
There are MANY other characters like this, which to me, shows a pattern, intelligence and strength in our world is much different from characters in AF's world. Which begs the question of why a lot of people seem to think we HAVE to be anomalies.
The blood trail: our characters in most people's mind leave hundreds of bodies in our wake, which while impressive isn't an impossible feat, but also something I haven't seen people mention, is that most people play this game in duos or solos but I'm almost positive we are canonically in a larger group, so while yes it would seem impossible for 1 scientist to solo manufacturing, a group of 4 wearing peccary armor and weilding crossbows? And sneaking around? Much much more realistic.
Also even late game it's mostly our weaponry and armor that carry us, take off the armor and we are still squishy little meatbags.
The traits: our characters seem to be VERY VERY competent, having incredible intelligence, and fortitude, but again, in this world that seems to just be the way things are, in canaan Riggs mentions seeing manse signing our transfer papers, meaning we were smart enough to be remembered by her, and this trend continues when you look at the starting jobs, almost every single one mentions "being better at ____ then your colleagues" so I think we are just REALLY smart like a lot of other characters in the world.
Dr Cahns comments: I've never understood this point, Dr Cahn mentions in reactors that 'we should be studied' but also Dr Cahn is quite clearly just manipulating us, as not even two lines later he says "did I mention how extremely capable you are?" It's almost comical how he's just trying to appeal to our ego, and it seems to work, as people are like 'he clearly knows we're anomalous' but I think he only says that to manipulate us.
Another thing is that on Albatross, he mentions we were "ignorant to the point of absurdity." Which is weird to say if he was the one pulling the strings, and it's not as if he was trying to break our spirit, because only a couple lines later he says he'd love to work with us again, because of how competent we were otherwise. So I also highly doubt he actually thinks we're anomalous in some way.
There's a lot more, but I think it's worth considering that instead of us being anomalous, something higher up on the food chain than Dr Cahn and his master is just screwing around with time and us, than simply "we have to be anomalous." And while there is a lot to suggest we are, there's a lot to suggest we aren't, and I have to commend the devs for making either option viable, I just don't personally think we are. Would love to hear opinions though.