They cloned people for their organs, then they just made them into soldiers—expendable soldiers.
Correct me if I am wrong.
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Malin Confirmed that Re-genes have organic bodies https://fallenhero-rebirth.tumblr.com/post/181818189236/do-re-genes-need-to-eat-if-yes-do-they-need-the#notes
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I think she has said their bodies are organic and their minds are artificial. She has also said recently that telepathy can not be replicated by mods - it is a boost only ability (ie organic rather than technological in nature). And that Re-Genes don’t really have childhoods, they are grown in a vat and decanted at about 14 to begin training.
So, my theory is that the MC is 100% organic human, but bred in a lab and probably exposed to boost drugs at some point, with a certain amount of knowledge/beliefs either implanted by other telepaths or by regular old brainwashing. Sort of like Grunt in Mass Effect.
Full body cloning is canon in the setting. So I’m guessing they have “lines” sort of like stem cell research IRL. Certain genetic lines are probably known to interact positively with the boost drug, so they grow clones in vats, apply the drug, force grow it, then open them up and see what they got. (A very angry alpha level telepath in Sidestep’s case, OOPS).
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what about the HB ? Got any juicy stuff to share ?
If you want my unsupported tinfoil theories, sure. Caveat: Malin is experienced in writer fuckery and plays her cards close to her chest. I could be way off base.
Behind a cut for length
Okay, facts:
- HB is a telepath
- They were experimented on, which we see in book 1 in a flashback as their mind merges with Sidestep. We don’t exactly know the effects except that they were capable of generating a huge telepathic field afterward, although they had no control of it and it seemed to be physically destroying them
- Spoiler from a recent update on the demo: telepaths are disappearing en masse and no one knows why. Heroes don’t seem to be aware, but villains and their henches have noticed and begun gossiping.
- Sidestep is having intense nightmares that keep them from sleeping, which is why they bail out into the puppet every night.
- Sidestep is still tired all the time
- HB shares characteristics with the puppet AND with MC. They have puppet’s gender but MC’s eye color. (This is book one info marked as a spoiler because I learned it by code diving. I’m obsessive and this is probably not intended to be caught by most readers.)
- The puppet is a boost. This was hinted in book one and has come up again in the demo of book two.
- There were animal experiments with the boost drug. Malin mentioned super powered dolphins off the coast that attack ships and thus there is less sea trade in this setting. I don’t think it’s a stretch to think human experiments happened or are happening.
Theory: HB was an experimental crossbreed between the genetic line that produced Sidestep and Hollow Ground, and the genetic line that produced the puppet. Probably cutting edge R&D at the time went pearshaped, destroyed a lab and got loose. They are physically dead, but their mind is sharing headspace with Sidestep. I think this is the reason Sidestep can’t sleep and it’s possible HB is active in our body while we are off in the puppet.
The goal with HB seems to have been to create a hugely powerful telepath. But they broke its brain and that led to a hugely publicized catastrophe resulting in many deaths. Cover up or no, I think this line of research was probably discontinued. I do think they experimented on Sidestep after the incident to try to figure out how it all worked.
Leading to alternative methods - we know about the Rat King, a networked set of psychic rodent brains. What if you could network human telepath brains? I think that’s what the Farm is up to in the present day, including kidnapping non-ReGene telepaths like Locus.
Bonus puppet theory: I think they are a discarded clone. The boost drug gave them precog abilities, but left them brain dead. It’s possible whoever created them (the farm, or a competitor?) assumed they were a dud and dumped them on a public hospital. They appeared brain dead and that generally leads to full death without medical support, and ah, the West Coast in this setting is a horrible capitalist dystopia. They were probably intended to die and be harvested for transplant organs, until a certain naughty telepath hijacked them.
Thanks for listening to my unhinged conspiracy ranting. Feel free to ask questions or argue, I haven’t discussed these theories with anyone before and my thoughts could stand to be challenged on the matter.
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so …
Summary
your theory is HB is inside sidestep ? 
personally I think HB is dead , but connecting 2 telepath with one open like a portal to something did the damage we are seeing . I could see it with the ‘‘learned the hunger’’ .
So who is a known boost so far ? Do you know ? is Ortega a Boost ? Herald? Hollow Ground ?
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Ortega is a mod - the electricity powers are from an internal generator.
Herald is a boost - he and his brother both took the drug. His brother died, Herald didn’t.
Hollow Ground is probably a Re-Gene similar to Sidestep. Maybe they are the original we are cloned from? This is baseless speculation, lol They may be a telepath of some type, or have other abilities. Malin said it’s not really predictable how the drug works, and we know very little about HG except they killed the marshal before Ortega
Argent is a boost of an unusual type. Not much is known unless you got a sample for Mortum to look at. And it’s mysterious even if you did.
Steel is a military grade mod.
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hummm
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is that fact or theory that hollow ground is a telepath ? Cose if she was…wouldnt Ortega target her 1st ??? when we possesed Argent ??? She already had a vendetta against them right ?
Ohh how about argent ??? you must have something about the sharrrrrrrk !!!
how come nobody tried to kidnap…whats his name…Orc dude with the nano gun ?
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Yes, someone already explained about the reference to the game, but the myrmidons from Greek myth were soldiers who were made from transformed ants.
So they were artificial people.
I think Psychopathor was orc dude? He is a mix of a telepath and a mod. It’s not known how strong a telepath, but since he didn’t use it on us it’s probably just enough to use the Rat King and not much more.He’s dangerous because of a combo of mods plus his gun being autotargeted by the Rat King. Anyway, the Special Directive did take him because we reported on him in order to grab the Rat King in the chaos of the battle.
There are no facts on HG’s power set. I speculate based on their similarity to Sidestep. They may be a telepath or they may have ended up with some other psychic ability (we’ve seen precog and some kind of sentry with hyper senses so far. Telekinesis is also a thing mentioned at some point in the puppet plot in book 1 regarding gambling. We don’t know what power they actually have).
Ortega didn’t used to know very much about Hollow Ground. They have a grudge based on their relationship to the old Marshal, who was murdered by HG. I don’t remember or it is unknown how they killed the Marshal. Beyond that they are a mysterious underworld figure Sidestep has never met, and we don’t know what if anything Ortega has learned about them in the past 7 years.
We don’t know about Argent’s sharks except that her power appears related to the nanovores (spoiler for book 2 if you gave a sample of her hair to Mortum). She also appears to be seeking a cure (spoiler for most recent demo update). She does appear to turn a little feral in combat (if you fight her on the bridge in book 2, you can see her 3 black irises again (or for the first time if you didn’t see them in book 1).
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wait…
Summary
Argent is seeking a cure ??? where did you see that ??? lol (I’m a shameless #OrtegaforLife , so didnt do any other route :P) .
Yeah , Psychopathor is the orc dude hahaha . Don’t ask me why I imagined him as a tall ugly Warhammer like Orc with a green Gun that shoot plasma XD
how about the dr. ? Any juices theories there ? we know they are human right ? So when they were vilain…were they modded then ? Or is she a sleeping mod of some kind ?
that restaurant scene , where mc notice that Ortega has a mask of their own . It really made me feel like MC was out of the game for longer then well…the story say 7 years or so? seem like Ortega changed or those were things the mc just never looked for…kinda weird . Make you kinda feel nostalgic but also angry…cose its more Blank to fill out…lol
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Mortum - they have a minimal amount of modding. No metal. (I think they call theirs wetware?) They are canonically transgender and have mods for that (gender confirmation surgery is more advanced in this setting due to the commonplace body modding. It’s apparently not difficult to do nor very noticeable). They may have other minor upgrades but they don’t like invasive modding and refuse to mod the puppet if you request them to. They did used to be a villain, and they worry about being recognized by Ortega, but otherwise they keep it quiet. They appear to have been a mad scientist archetype with wild and crazy weapons rather than a boost or mod. Now they do their inventing for other villains and just get paid.
Argent - this is spoilery because it’s the most recent update in the demo (the auction scene) plus you only notice with certain MC attributes. I’ll put the whole thing under a blur: If Argent is your nemesis or if Sidestep is a fighter, you notice that a villain named Oryx moves in a familiar way. Oryx is there looking for the regenerative device that some Sidesteps may be after as well. Plus some comments about Argent being hungry all the time (certain versions of the scene in the HQ kitchen), and that Mortum noticed similarities between her hair and the nanovores, led to speculation on tumblr that the nanovores interacted with her boost power somehow, and is now increased her metabolism to an insane degree and is causing her to deteriorate. 1+ 1 = she may want to use the regenerative device on herself as a way to get rid of the shapechanging metal body and go back to normal.
ORTEGA!!! Okay I’m… biased… I love him… I think he uses his charisma to make social interactions go smoother, but that a lot of the time it is just a front. We know they really dislike the hero worship that went with being a ranger, especially the marshal. They like Sidestep/the puppet so much because they can have a fairly normal relationship without any weird fawning. So yeah, I do think they put on a kind of social persona and mask their deeper feelings. I also want to point out that Sidestep does not have great social skills. They were trained in some manipulative techniques for infiltration, but otherwise they appear to rely an awful lot on using their telepathy to read people’s expectations and then just mimic that. But they can’t do that with Ortega. They pretty much have to take Ortega at face value, and I think they get fooled by the “I’m attractive and rich and totally have my shit together” persona.
What we actually know about Ortega - they are up to their neck in debt due to their mods. Mods are crazy expensive. Bo, one of your possible henches, is an ex military mod who turned to crime to pay for upkeep. Ortega and Steel, by contrast, have theirs paid for by the government in exchange for being Rangers. I’m pretty sure you can get this all from book one, but it’s also based on some tumblr asks.
They are probably also addicted to painkillers. You can have a convo with Mortum in book 2 about mods, if you ask them to mod the puppet. They say no, you wouldn’t want it and every mod they know is addicted and in pain and it just gets worse the older you get as your body can’t keep up with the strain of the machines inside you.
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Summary
and is it possible…since ya share similar Love for Ortega (just different gender lol)…that she couldnt walk before ? Cose that scene…I think it was in book 1…when he ask her if she regretted…and she say ‘what ? fighting in a dress?’’ and he say something else…and she say ‘I like walking and you saw my debt or bill’’ …
doesnt that suggest that she either couldnt walk before…or if she didnt mod she wouldve lost her legs ??
Oh No…why did you say that 
now I’m gonna Imagine Dr Mortum…as
or at least…a smarter female version of that lolol
So argent…is trying to steal the same tool as the mc ? Which is…Dr. Mortum weapon as well ? man…that got complicated fast LOL…all held under Hollow Ground Ebay Account!!! LOL
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Dr. Mortum wants something else from the auction - a gun that can miniaturize anything and store it for long periods of time. Sidestep (depending on motivation) is after a regenerative medical device that can remove scarring etc.
Ortega - correct, they were paralyzed by their accident and can’t walk without mods. I believe a whole new spine was installed and then more military style mods when they joined the Rangers to pay for the spine. They would have their legs but probably have to use a wheelchair. And they are a noted daredevil and adrenaline junkie, you can imagine how much of a nightmare they were to deal with when they can’t get up and go wherever they want and jump off cliffs like a moron.
The auction can be more complicated than that… my Sidestep makes her money by stealing from criminals. Then she is going to take that money to the villain auction and bid on things they want with their stolen money. All while maintaining eye contact and daring them to start something 
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oh so it isnt the same item…I though it was the same…
Doh moment lol
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So argent will fight the mc over the tool…huh…that should be fun lol
https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1439388431ra/15829198.gif
thats Ortega charm…they are an idiot…but mah idiot 
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Illuminati Confirmed
So is there no way for MC and Argent to work together in the heist?? I mean they want the same thing… so was hoping they will team up and steal the machine…then use the machine one after another…or is that machine useable only once?
More like it has to be assembled first, likely requiring a further series of heists and thefts to secure its components. What we’re stealing are the blueprints and research behind the device. The project was likely shut down before they even built a prototype, so we’re going to be prototyping untested technology with ourselves as the guinea pigs.
Argent can find her own plans, these are my mc’s. Though if he wins out against the government his shell corporation may become an actual one and actually built and sell the devices. I mean, super high-priced medical equipment, right? If they don’t already have it I’m willing to bet both the black market and the other nations of this world, such as the Soviet Union would be willing to pay top dollar for it.
Fallen hero: oceans 8?
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they both value anonymite…
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and unless you take the romance route with argent…(and even then!)…if its true she is dying…why would she hand it over for ?
hell…that may just break any romance lol…
mc: argent! if you love meh…you give it to meh! pretty pleaseee!
Argent: I knew it! you were just lying to get to this! Well I need it MOAR!!
(muahahaha)…totally evil scenario 