I mean, you have Rat King already. Ratto is the best petto. Vewy cute and vewy cuddwy.
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I meant more… uh, physical pet.
Rat King are not a pet. They are partner in crime.
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Fallen Hero is simply sublime. And I mean that with full philosophical force. It is awe-ing, terrifying, vast. I feel insignificant before it.
I am so thoroughly obsessed with this series that I wrote a whole damn essay for a single theory about it, with scores of accompanying quotes. If that is not a love letter then nothing is.
It is near explicit in how close we come to — but not quite — being told that “Re-Genes” as such do not exist.
It is clearly possible to remove, change, and plant memories; and also neither difficult nor uncommon on the Farm:
Per the admissions to Ortega on Sidestep's fate after Heartbreak:
“Functional. I think they waited for me to go catatonic so they would have an easier time scrubbing my mind and dumping me in a tank to reprogram me. I don’t know why they didn’t wipe me right away.” You’ve seen them do it. Drag away the rebellious and stupid and send them back months later different people. Default factory settings. No memories of what had happened.
“Can they do that?”
“Of course they can. We’re things. Artificial minds, remember? You know that. Re-Genes.”
In this case Sidestep attributes this to the fact that Re-Genes supposedly have ‘artificial minds’. However, there is ample direct evidence that an ‘artificial mind’ is not any kind of requirement for memory alteration — Sidestep alone gives many such examples.
As a particularly succinct selection, here are the two choices given (in Rebirth) when 'helping' Lady Argent find who possessed her:
I try to stay aloft, keeping a light touch as I repaint her memories.
I dive deep, trying to cut out what needs to be gone and insert a new alternative.
There is also the case of Shroud erasing a mind almost entirely, leaving an empty and suitably memory-less shell behind, ripe for use.
As an aside:
Why wasn't Sidestep wiped immediately, or indeed seemingly at all?
Shroud’s fight with Argent shows that she is Farm-trained, and Dr. Mortum’s research reveals that she is a Re-Gene cuckoo herself. Further, Dr. Mortum tells us that she has been working for Lord Ember for at least five years at the time of that conversation. This is neither confirmation nor denial that she was working for the Special Directive at the time of Sidestep’s recapture. But if she was the one responsible for the wiping and had herself already escaped by that time, it would explain why wiping was not an option.
Lastly:
Hollow Ground altering Steel's beliefs permanently without obvious continued direct involvement, likely a tactic Hollow Ground uses large-scale on highly-positioned targets:
“I know Hollow Ground doesn’t exist. (…) Everyone I’ve spoken to in power agrees. The mayor, the LDPD[.]”
You (…) gently undo the knots, one by one. They’re good, skillfully embedded, and filled with compulsion. (…) Hollow Ground is a myth. That’s what you’re feeling.
What do you think about Hollow Ground?"
“That Ortega might have a point—,” (…) “Shit.”
As to the other half of the equation: someone of the right gender and background existed in the correct time and place, close enough in appearance to be mistaken as the same person by someone who is intimately familiar with Sidestep’s face.
Per Ortega's theories on Sidestep's origins:
“I had a suspicion what name Hollow Ground used to go by, and I found out that [Hollow Ground] had siblings. Several. All of them dead. (…) The youngest died while in custody. Juvenile detention. There was a picture. (…) Of you. Or, well, close enough. Younger.” (…)
That could have been you. Your life. Your family. There’s some human out there with your face.
Narratively speaking there is some evidence for this theory beyond it simply being possible. For one, it makes sense that a telepath would be uniquely suited to resist wiping or to re-access these buried pre-Farm memories.
We have one occasion of a memory where Sidestep seemingly speaks prior to being 'implanted' with these false memories:
(Note that the memory calls Sidestep ‘a child’, and does so seemingly from the perspective of Farm scientists, which is a pretty direct contradiction to other visions and beliefs Sidestep professes. However it may not be intended as literal — perhaps more of a ‘child’ in that Sidestep would have been a nascent Re-Gene before implantation.)
People talking like you’re not there. Over your head. A child. No. A thing. Shouldn’t understand. Shouldn’t know. Hasn’t been implanted.
(…) [Y]ou say a word.
no
Confusion. A mistake? Words say one thing, but you can feel it. They are afraid. And you shouldn’t know that word either. And you shouldn’t say it.
And some other miscellaneous details in dreams from early at the Farm that suggest Sidestep has other, inaccessible memories:
How do you know green? How do you know grass? Like a pinprick, a memory that fades because it can’t find purchase.
The difficulty here is that we can assume said implantation occurs after boosting, based both on the timeline of Sidestep’s memories and also that implanting those who would not survive the boosting process makes little sense anyway.
Sidestep discusses the boosting process with Herald:
“I don’t remember that part happening to me. We were—not functional yet.”
Unfortunately, Sidestep already had some measure of telepathy, regardless of whether or not boosting was done at the Farm or before, and may have learned through telepathy, rather than having retained some memories. It is unclear which is the case.
There are a handful of other dreams or visions that may turn out to be relevant later on as well, like
the dream when choosing not to go to therapy:
Memories? There’s a feeling of real, of grit under your knees, of blood in your mouth. (…)
It doesn’t add up. The memories. The thoughts. You don’t have the puzzle, just pieces in your hands that don’t fit. You don’t fit. You don’t remember.
Why don’t you remember? Why won’t you remember? Why shouldn’t you try? Try to see what you shouldn’t?
But, as Herald says of art, “There are things in here I know I’m not equipped to understand.” Yet, anyway. Like the relevance of the vision during Heartbreak, or the one in the therapy session with Dr. Finch. I am sure the dreams and visions are important, but they are hard to interpret, in particular parts of
the dream after the car crash:
This is also a section of relevance to trans Sidesteps — the memory is from a child matching Sidestep’s assigned sex.
You’re seven and standing on the boardwalk.
It’s a lie because you were never seven. Never a child. Fake dreams. Fake childhood stolen from someone lucky to have one. Venice Beach was a ruin long before your time, the remnants home to gangs and drug lords. Did someone add this to the chipped memories you were equipped with before decanting? Why? (…) It feels like (…) a memory of a past that never was. Will you ever catch up with yourself? (…)
It is explicitly questioned why this memory would be added, so it clearly different from other implanted memories either in nature or content, enough so that Sidestep recognizes it as unusual. It is stated that Venice Beach was a “ruin long before your time” – but Sidestep also believes Re-Genes have no childhood and thus that their apparent ages are older than their actual age, so we cannot discount this as being a true pre-Farm memory.
Easier to interpret is the memory we access via Hollow Ground:
Trying to make Hollow Ground curious about the connection with Sidestep:
The aquarium is as tall as you are, (…) it’s the best day of your life, you didn’t think—
Wait. Your life?
A reflection in the glass, your face but far younger than you’ve ever been, eyes meeting yours and [it’s wrong/too young], too innocent, the smile, the chubby cheeks, and there’s a hand on your head, a fond ruffle and a whisper in your ear.
The above variation depends on whether Sidestep is trans or not.
“—that’s a moray.”
A memory. Of course. It stinks of Hollow Ground. A fond memory? Intense enough to form [Hollow Ground’s] mindscape? Looks like it.
(…) It’s dangerous this deep, you can feel yourself sinking into memories of your own, of different tanks, not filled with saltwater but amniotic fluid, trapped, the faces glaring at you covered with surgical masks, tapping the glass, and you twitch, echoes amplified and you can’t get out and do you even know what’s out? Do you know anything? (…)
Floating belly up. How did you lose yourself in here? You went too deep, you need to breathe, but everything you touch gives way, climbing kelp and looking for the sun.
~I got you.~
Dragged back, pulled out, pushed behind. Protected. The ghost of a memory.
Now this is supposed to be Hollow Ground’s memory, but that is doubtful.
An intrusive memory from Rebirth:
Another memory that seems to suggest a child-like Sidestep existing:
Inside your head, you are so short, just tall enough to press your nose against the glass of the shark tank.
Back at the Farm, back as if you had never left.
A shark swims past almost lazily, and you lose yourself in the empty black of its eye. Inhuman. Cold. You are pressed against the glass, grubby little fingers making patterns on its surface.
Younger than you look. Always.
You see teeth set in lipless jaws, shapes so alien they will swim in your nightmares for months. But you can’t look away. Later that night, you grimace in the polished steel of the mirror, trying to shape your mouth into the same frightening grimace.
The look on their faces when you succeeded was one you carried with you when you woke up.
The Hollow Ground memory seems to have some parallels with some of Sidestep’s memories.
The achievement itself message outright questions whether that is Hollow Ground's memory:
That’s a Moray
You’ve been in Hollow Ground’s mindscape—right?
In this version Hollow Ground saves Sidestep, and it sets a variable that leads to
an interesting variation of Hollow Ground's epilogue:
Hope. A stupid thing to have, but if [Hollow Ground is] right, maybe—just maybe. [Hollow Ground’s] fingers still tingle.
What if this memory is not Hollow Ground’s, but Sidestep’s, buried so deeply it is dangerous to bring it to the surface. And it “stinks of Hollow Ground” — it may even be a memory shared among siblings, of different perspectives — hence why Hollow Ground recognizes and is so intrigued by it. What if that voice belongs to Hollow Ground?
In another path you can attempt something similar, but in this version the Rat King drags you out — and it does not trigger the same variable. The obvious conclusion is that Hollow Ground experiencing or touching Sidestep’s memories is necessary, and hence those memories have some importance to Hollow Ground.
This leaves two major possibilities: Hollow Ground is also a Re-Gene and finds kinship in this; or, alternatively and more likely, Hollow Ground suspects Sidestep is this lost sibling, possibly already having some knowledge of or suspicions surrounding Re-Genes.
Another aside:
It is interesting to note that, of the examples we have of telepaths altering memories, 2/3 were demonstrably Re-Genes — and there is fair suspicion on that last count as well.
There is a surprising amount of information to glean from gender variables. Most are aware that Hollow Ground is set as the same gender (identity) as Sidestep, but it is also true for this prospective sibling. The aquarium memory may be far enough back in time that a trans Sidestep isn’t out yet, explaining why the reflection is ‘wrong’.
Ortega also has an interesting conversation on the topic when discussing the Hollow Ground resemblance with a trans Sidestep who fits certain criteria:
“But you know I wasn’t always—” (…) You told Ortega about your transition (…)
“That’s why I was so surprised. (…) The picture looked like you, though I suppose at that age puberty hadn’t really kicked in fully. And the files had [the child] as [your gender identity]. But I suppose it makes sense that Hollow Ground would have been able to pull strings to make that kind of paperwork happen, even if you were a minor.”
(…) So the sibling in question had been [Sidestep’s gender identity].
“I lost track of [the child] when [the child] went into state care, if the gender change had been—reverted, it might explain why.”
Regarding Hollow Ground, this does not prove or disprove anything - but it is clearly a very intentional ambiguity, suggesting that there are strange works afoot. The absence of disproving information for such an obvious conclusion where such information is easy to give prompts the question: why? Why is it so hard to definitively say that Sidestep is not Hollow Ground’s sibling?
Steel, who is more aware than he is willing to admit, also hints at unknown variables regarding Re-Genes:
After the admission that he suspected Sidestep was a Re-Gene (and possibly also a villain, if applicable):
“But here is the thing, (…) I was wrong for believing what I was told about [Re-Genes]. And if that was a lie, a lot of other things make more sense.”
“What things?”
“I can’t tell you yet,” he whispers, leaning close. Secrets kept private between you. “You need to trust me.”
(…)
“I’m not a person.” (…)
“You are. (…) I don’t trust the official narrative any more than I trust yours.”
Now this is an explicit denial by Steel — a methodical and evidence-driven man, who dug deep into Sidestep’s whereabouts after Heartbreak and found things he did not want to reveal — and it is specifically not a denial that being a Re-Gene precludes Sidestep being a person, but that the narrative itself is untrustworthy.
Now, on a logical front: why would you, as Sidestep monologues to Ortega in Rebirth, pour
[a]ll this time, all this money (…) into creating me (…)
and tools like Sidestep when they already exist for you, untapped or possibly even ready to use, within the general public?
In the version of Re-Gene creation that Sidestep was told, the boost powers are controlled for genetically.
You know the Farm uses harvested genetic material when making their Re-Genes. Did they get their hands on some of Hollow Ground’s and decide to see what would come out once they let it simmer in their vats?
It would make sense. A known boost would be a good candidate to produce bodies more likely to survive the drugs. [Hollow Ground has] mental powers too, not your telepathy, but maybe more akin to the part of you that allows you to possess bodies. Another kinship not so easily spotted.
Could [Hollow Ground] even be a Re-Gene (…)?
There is no compelling reason to doubt the heritability of powers even if we consider a different genesis for Re-Genes, except for Herald’s brother, who was a fire boost despite Herald being a flier.
Yet we have hints that Herald’s powers have hidden depths to them.
Herald, on the topic of his powers, when training him:
“Interesting, I wonder how that works.”
“Me too. They’ve done a lot of tests, trying to figure out why and how it happened. Nothing. At least nothing they told me.”
There are a few cases where he exerts extra force or can lift (float) other objects/people. Flight might very well be the least of his abilities. Coupled with that, we have very little information on what his brother’s powers actually were — we have only a second-hand version of the first manifestation, and by Herald’s own admission his powers had not even manifested themselves properly either at the time. Just off the top of my head, I can see them potentially as different versions of energy manipulation. I myself wonder if his brother might be important later on.
Disregarding this single, unreliable counterpoint, it makes sense to go after the close relatives of powerful or desirable boosts — either in case they are very possibly already boosts — or to force them through the boost process, which would have higher success chances, given that they have some idea of what those powers will manifest as and can thus prepare.
The boost process is stated as having a high fatality rate:
a roughly 95 percent chance of killing you or turn your life into a living hell
But what if it doesn’t? What if some of those successes are stolen away for use by the government? Perhaps a certain brother might make an appearance later? Who knows — maybe even as a Re-Gene? Unlikely, but wouldn’t that be some delicious angst?
It would also explain why the boost drugs might not be so heavily regulated as they perhaps should be: they want people to use them. They want a larger pool to draw from, taking them from the general populace instead of dealing with the all the issues that would arise from attempting to design them. Fifty surviving out of a thousand is an inefficient return — but if you are drawing from a large population who have already undergone the most difficult part, then your return is as large and efficient as you need it to be; and you can also easily weed out boosts and powers you do not want, simply leaving them untouched. It’s already clear that the government (through the Farm at the least) actively surveils certain boosted individuals.
Regina Siepen's epilogue
“[D]irector?” (…)
“Yes?” (…)
“We still don’t have any signs of Locus.”
It is not a large step to go from surveilling powerful boosts to trying to find them before they become powerful.
Sidestep and Steel also have a conversation about 'recycling' Re-Genes:
“Recycled?” (…)
“You don’t keep broken tools around. You take whatever spare parts from them you can and then throw them in the trash. Recycle them if you want to be environmentally conscious. (…) And since we’re medical waste, they can’t just dump us in the ground somewhere. The boost drugs. Even if things go bad, there might be useful bits they can use.”
As far as I can see, there is no mention of boost drugs causing any kind of environmental issue with boosts in the general population. Maybe the boosting process is different for Re-Genes and this causes a higher likelihood of contamination; but, if you are kidnapping and experimenting on your own citizens, you obviously don’t want to risk having anyone discover a ‘Re-Gene’ body that looks suspiciously like a ‘real’ person who should be dead — hence it makes sense to remove all traces.
Honestly the whole thing works so well on a thematic level that I don’t see another option that has the same intensity. If I am wrong — well, there is certainly room there to explore plenty of high-level ideas about what makes a person, but the heart of Fallen Hero isn’t in some abstract philosophical concept. It’s in trauma. Being broken, trying to heal. Not knowing how. Maybe failing. Maybe not. Maybe trying even though you fail. There is something dreadfully poetic about overcoming your own inherent inhumanity, about fighting tooth and nail to be human, to be a person — both to be recognized as such and to be able see yourself as such! — only to find out that you were one all along. That you were denied your rights, your own life, and there is no justification beyond lies. That the real monster was man all along! With the way queerness and neurodivergence (among other things) heavily inform the game’s themes, it is a particularly poignant point on how we create in- and out-groups to see as animals, as tools, as scapegoats for society’s ills — and then convince ourselves that these lines are definite, unquestionable, innate, immutable— all based on shaky and ~hollow~ ground that has no basis in reality.
Sometimes we know that, and embrace the system anyway. Because it’s easier. Because it is valuable, even if it is oppressive.
Anyway, with this theory a trans Sidestep has been forced by the state to detransition. Not that this has any real-world analogues at all. 
As a last point, too, a kind of meta-reason: a more virtuous Sidestep can very much become cozy with the Rangers by the end of Retribution, having half the team know Sidestep is a villain and having no repercussions for this. Having Ortega’s tinfoil theories actually prove to be correct would provide some necessary conflict, and certainly throw a vulnerable and already unstable Sidestep into all kinds of emotional chaos — not to mention that it would be a provocative wedge between Sidestep and the Rangers as well. Do we choose to pursue or keep pursuing ‘good’ options, to find meaning in the personal connections we made of our own volition, by our own sweat and blood and tears — or do we pursue Hollow Ground in an attempt to unlock the past that was stolen from us, to try to undo those years of torment?
It is no coincidence that this entire situation plays out in miniature with Ace. It is foreshadowing potential future endeavors to reclaim our own past.
Is the same option available for Ace?
You feel bad for Ace; how could you not? Mind ripped out and eaten, body nearly destroyed. You saved [Ace’s] life, but can you save [Ace’s] soul?
Is there anything left? Sometimes there are glimpses. Reflexes that feel unlike your own. Not memories exactly, more like feelings. The visceral reaction to Shroud tells you not everything is gone. But is there enough foundation to build something new upon?
Maybe. You haven’t tried anything like this before. Maybe it’s a futile effort, maybe the body really is empty, but you want to make sure.
I have countless other theories, some interconnecting, some with evidence, some purely guesswork (a link between the Nanosurge/nanovores and the disappearance of telepaths? between the gates and Anathema’s appearances? between Heartbreak and Sidestep becoming a villain?), but this is my red thread, the one I find most important, most fascinating, as well as being the one that I think is practically assured to be the case. Some of this is highly speculative, regarding e.g. Hollow Ground being the ‘fond’ voice in that memory, Herald’s brother being important later on, or Shroud being the reason Sidestep was not wiped, but not all of it is so baseless.
But of course, for a game surpassing a million words (albeit with not a few passages are near duplicates), there is no doubt that I am missing out on some key clues in the paths I am less invested in; and perhaps there are even significant issues with my theory, in e.g. Herald’s route, or when captured at the auction, neither of which I am necessarily fond enough of to do as much of a deep-dive on as I have on other paths. I am sure there are plenty of pieces I could have included if I went further down those rabbit holes.
I highly encourage everyone to play through different paths, and if you are obsessive like I am, perhaps even code-dive and see what you can discover! Gender non-conformity in particular is fascinating in what it reveals or suggests, and I am saying this even as a player who is not going to pick that option in the first place.
There are so many ways in which choices influence the information you are given and the reactions you receive. Even failures can be rewarding in what they offer, sometimes more than success, which is something I don’t think I’ve truly encountered before. And picking the ‘healthy’ option is often excruciating. It is hard. The mechanic of having the very act of opening up or daring to approach these memories be dangerous in and of itself gives a heavy weight to these decisions. I have never seen a game in any genre that has managed to genuinely make it feel that way — to make it genuinely feel the way that difficult decisions do in our own lives, when we know how we ought be but cannot quite make it there. When our flaws and negative emotions become crutches that we cannot live without, as it does sometimes for us all, even though we hurt ourselves or others by this.
Acts of superhuman will come effortlessly in our power fantasies. And, while we can easily be perfect, in being perfect we are meaningless. And somehow this game cuts right through that nonsense and well and truly makes us face the reality that if any of us were in this position we would make these exact mistakes. That we would be just as flawed.
God, I just love this game so much. I think if I don’t post this now I will just go on forever.
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I posted the same theory earlier in the thread; nice to see that other people are connecting the dots in this way, too!
And as far as Herald’s powers go, also earlier in this thread, I talked about how I think he actually has gravity manipulation.
We get a decent amount of text that describes Herald’s flight and how it “feels,” particularly in contrast with Sentinel’s ability. After I posted about this theory, someone rounded up a bunch of quotes wrt Herald/his powers that all mention gravity. There’s quite a lot of them, though considering I didn’t even register it, myself, it’s something most people probably wouldn’t notice if they weren’t actively looking for it.
This would track because Malin has said that boosting only gives one power/ability, and to get multiple powers/abilities, a person needs to go through the process multiple times. They’ve stated that in cases where a person has multiple abilities and has only been boosted once, it’s a matter of one ability manifesting itself in different ways. And Herald has both flight and super strength.
[quote=“therealhughman, post:2079, topic:131849”]
People talking like you’re not there. Over your head. A child. No. A thing. Shouldn’t understand. Shouldn’t know. Hasn’t been implanted.
(…) [Y]ou say a word.
no
Confusion. A mistake? Words say one thing, but you can feel it. They are afraid. And you shouldn’t know that word either. And you shouldn’t say it.
[/quote]
I also wanna know the context for this!!! I haven’t seen this bit before. I’m curious to know where it is in the story/what paths it takes to get here.
Edit: Oops the quote didn’t work with the spoiler blur. Oh well
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On the other hand, FH is certainly cyberpunk enough that they might, even if they’re not what they’ve been told to be. Emergent sapient AI wouldn’t be so out there.
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Thats the evil path…
I got that one on one of my run.
The ‘what is implemented’ at a guess, I would say a personality. Remember that when children’s start growing at some point they say the word ‘No’ a lot and to everything. To assert their personality. Its as bad as teething if you ask the parents lol. The scientist being afraid is probably because you shouldn’t have any ‘Self’, and you shouldn’t know that word, and what it means. Honestly, this remind me of the Geth when they started asking ‘Does this unit has a Soul’? Same darn thing. If a re-gen start forming a though or a will where they are supposed to be ‘Empty’, how do you scrub that if you don’t know where it came from? Those assholes should be afraid.
I think I got the whole slider, it is many sliders.
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I just found out that you can only romance steel as a male mc… I really replayed his route 3 times as a female mc trying to get an ending with him before I realized it was impossible from the start 
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I’ve never played a killer Sidestep before, but once I realized it only took a couple of corrupt politicians’ lives to get the angstiest route possible with Ortega–in this book, at least–where he’s half convinced you’re a Re-Gene fake of the “original” Sidestep, then so be it
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You can also romance Steel as a non-binary neutral and/or non-binary masculine person (:
Which is what i personally plan on doing 
Does anyone know what max doubt you can get for everyone without being anarchist, while having the justice motive.
If I had to pick the best game I’ve played in 2023, I would pick Fallen Hero: Retribution, hands down. Idc if it’s still February, @malinryden THIS IS A WORK OF ART!!! I swear I’m so basic, I usually have one “true” playthrough and RO and stick with it, but you made me want to try everything! EVEN BEING EVIL AND GETTING CAUGHT, SO KUDOS!!! The story, the angst, the ROs… I loved it all. Your brain is so… powerful 
Now, I’m also super confused and dying to know more, 'cuz I have some theories. I’m with @sammyboy and @therealhughman, I THINK that Sidestep is not a Re-Gene. Like, Re-Genes do exist, but only the blue ones are:
I think that combat models are the ones with artificial minds, while cuckoos are actual people. I don’t remember where, but I once read people feel a natural aversion to anything that looks overly human but clearly isn’t (nvm wikipedia exists). WE KNOW that blue Re-Genes freak people out (and not just for their blue skin) while cuckos blend perfectly.
I also believe the blue skin is a red herring: its function is not to make it easier for cuckoos to infiltrate/spy (since EVERYONE believes blue = Re-Gene, not blue = human), but to make the cuckoos (real people) think they are different BECAUSE they were made to blend in with crowds rather than fitting in because they are actual humans. Slap on body tattoos and years of extreme torture (lots of emphasis on dehumanization), and voila, you have kidnapped children/civillians believing they are weapons and tools.
Something interesting I found in Herald’s route:
I feel like this is important. Sidestep knows that there were two other survivors in their “”“batch”“” (or people snatched), but it seems they weren’t supposed to know that (it looks like the scientists kept them separated?). Why? My theory is that all three of them were Hollow Ground’s siblings. Ortega doesn’t say how many, but it def was more than one.
HG’s siblings were probably kidnapped/experimented on because HG had telepathic powers (and boosted DNA is super valuable, if they can’t take HG they will take the closest kin DNA-wise… siblings. Not always a 100% match, but can be quite close). BUT I’M NOT DONE YET!!! I think that HG’s siblings are Sidestep, Heartbreak, and Shroud:
- Hollow Ground: tactile telepath.
- Shroud: tactile telepath.
- Sidestep: used to be a tactile telepath → later on so powerful they don’t need it.
- Heartbreak: so powerful they don’t need it (but what about before the whole Heartbreak fiasco?)
Sidestep has a VERY similar face to HG, and shares eye color with Heartbreak. Shroud is the most different, but maybe she had a different father/mother? Idk, but she has to be related somehow, I get the feeling she’s important plot-wise.
I think the scientists kept HG’s siblings separated because they were being cautious. If Sidestep (and all telepaths) could retain some memories deep deep inside their mind, they feared the kids would realize someday that they are actually related as in “we had a life, we are people, not vat-grown soldiers!!!”.
Tldr: my point is, I agree so much with @therealhughman, storywise it would be so painful for cuckoos, so heartbreaking (Heartbreak, you knew 
?) to fight for their humanity, their right to be seen and recognized as human, only to turn out they were, and that they could have had a life. I also feel like the Special Directive (or rather, Regina Siepen since Sidestep says they were “her project”), by denying the cuckoos their personhood, works as a metaphor for abusive parents: parents that want to change their children when they don’t meet their expectations and/or drag them back when the child puts distance between them/cuts contact because well, they are done with their parents’ abuse.
Also… I love Herald. He shows so much promise, so much inner rage, it’s… chef’s kiss 
I love me a good golden boi, BUT one who would also get angry for you and be your ride or die??? NOW we are talking 
I also love Ortega and Steel, but damn Danny, you flew straight to #1 xd
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Dude…your clue is right there. ya know that right?
Ortega looks like he’s forgotten he’s talking to one of them
MC is like all others re-gen grown in a Vat Lab. They are just a different Unit, that is why they use different colors for them to identify them, as well as crypted code. MC is NOT HG Lost baby sibling, they don’t have parents, they are REGEN. Created. in VATLAB.
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Thats what Sidestep thinks, and Sidestep doesnt know everything, they know what has been told to them and what they learned, its already well estabilished that Sidestep is a very unreliable narrator.
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No. They are grown in VatLab. The Tattoos prove that. Unless you can explain the fucking Tattoo that are encrypted, and cannot be removed by any means.
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Tbf, we don’t know the process of tattooing that re-genes go through, either, or whether it would work on a normal person. There’s currently no cannon for that in game, though Malin has talked about it a little on their patreon
Edit to add spoiler tags jic
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exactly. We call them ‘Tattoo’ because we don’t have another word for them. But they are more than that. And since they cannot be removed and are encrypted, it fit the narrative: the MC is grown in a VatLab with the Tattoo. The tattoo GROW BACK…they are part of you. They aren’t normal human Tattoos.And until someone or the future books shed light on these tattoos, the fact is simple: GROWN IN VATLAB.
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I think the tattoo process actually happens after boosting, since whatever powers are gained is relevant to the tattoo itself.
But either way, I don’t think that this is that compelling of evidence against the theory that MC is actually an abducted telepath who was brainwashed.
And that’s all it is anyway—a theory. People are just having fun reading into the text and putting pieces together about things. Maybe we’re off base and putting pieces together wrong, but it also really doesn’t matter. It’s not anything worth getting upset about; you can reject the fan theory and not like it if that’s what you want 
There are plenty of fan theories I do that with, myself.
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That would suck…
Honestly, It really would. If any of those theories come true (The sibling of HG, having been kidnapped and altered…) Yuck. It would suck hard.
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quite interesting
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