Theories [SPOILER HEAVY]

Well I don't know how much attention this thread's going to see, but anyway...

If anyone wants to discuss their thoughts or theories regarding the campaign's story, here would be a good place for that. There seems to be two main ideas on the Transcendant's origins at the moment:

Connection to the T-V War:

WMCoolmon said:

I looked at that as, the Transcendant trusted you because it was able to actually communicate with you. And because maybe it couldn't really kill itself or even control itself...when Omega 1 mentioned that the Transcendant was reliving its 'last memories', I figured that it was experimented on during the later stages of the Terran-Vasudan war, and was slowly and unconsciously reforming the universe into its memories of that.

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Connection to Sync:

ngtm1r said:

I thought the Transcendant was Alpha 1 from Sync, actually.

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I'm interested to see what ideas people can come up with. There's a lot of little clues and things scattered throughout the campaign - for instance, did anyone notice the Anukets?

I just ruined the story for myself by reading this thread...

im guessing the transcend was some terran-vasudan-shivan hybrid that was created and hid away during the hades rebellion. he was probably moved to some small installation in the system where you first encounter him. he escaped not too long before the story and started absorbing everything he encountered (installation, smuggler base).

I don't believe he was any sort of hybrid of the races at all. Rather, I believe the Transcendant was a product of humanity and of humanity alone. Now what KIND of product is the real question. What exactly is he? Saya (Omega 1) suggests that he was once a human being that transformed into this "Transcendant."

He was also labeled "humanity's greatest achievement and failure combined."

But much of it is left in the hands of ambiguity, seeing as Omega wing probably only passed themselves off as understanding the Transcendant and his origins, and not truly knowing anything about him. They just seemed like a bunch of crazed fanatics, really, unless he of course was drawing them to him like the pirates and civilians.

But if that's the case, then that would mean Sunder would have been drawn to him as well, and surely would have gone mad. However, there is a striking difference between Sunder and everyone else going for the Transcendant--he isn't insane. He's probably the only one who understands the Transcendant, because the fanatics came to the Transcendant because they were drawn to him and they were awaiting the "inevitable" end, their marriage with the darkness. But Sunder, on the other hand, could hear the Dark One, could understand him, and knew that he needed liberation. Sunder gave him that.

Perhaps the Transcendent was once an inhabitant of End, before whatever it was happened that laid waste to it. Perhaps he was trying to undo the destruction, so that he could go home?

Just throwing thoughts out here, nothing particularly made me think of this...

Great campaign, by the way - you're a superb storyteller. :nod::yes:

the Transcendant is in sync, you have to look for him though. He's in the first mission as well, the nebular's color is a good give away. He's in the subspace mission when the freighters get attacked in there. He's there again when you deliver the cargo, when everyone's subspace drives go crazy... connection anyone?

I belive that the Transcendant and Sync are somehow related, how I am not sure yet. It appears that the Transcendant has some kind of subspace powers, which could be linked with the reseach being done at the same place where sync was orginaly found by the ... er what's it's name Deimos class corvette that you go arround with in sync. I feel that the Transcendant is some how a mix between human and a subspace drive (maybe even a shivan as well for good measure). This would explain the teleportion power he seems to have, and how the orginal research station(s) went missing.

Sync is a object of great power, one that can easly control subspace. If the Transcendant is in anyway connected to subspace (either being part of a subspace drive or a shivan) then he is likely to be drawn to it. This seems to be true as a cargo containor (which looks rather like sync) is seen in Transcend. Perhapes it is just part of the Transcendant's memory. Something went on in that first nebular in sync.

There is a connection between Sync and the Transcendant.

If you listen to the transmissions of the Transcendant and compare them with the messages in Sync, you will notice that some of them are the same. Memories of the Transcendant?

In one mission the Transcendant transmitted something like:
"...too....luck but I'd rather take my chances with the..."
In Sync, when the Persistence is powering up again to leave Capella, Phi 2 says:
"Me too, good luck, but i'd rather take my chances with the Shivans"

Or in the last Mission of Transcend:
"Doesn't his death bother you?"
"...isn't our time to die..."
Phi 4 said the first to Alpha 3 in after the Ester was destroyed,
the second said Alpha 3 when the Ereikheten arrived.

But there are also some other things. The Sync nebulas look like the one in Transcend. The so called second Terran-Vasudan War at the end of Transcend, a reflection of the Persistence and the fighters being chased by the Vasudans. Are these the memories of the Transcendant, of what happend in Sync? Maybe the Shivans would have appeared if the Transcendant had more time to alter reality.

We have the same messages in both campaigns, the same nebulas, a reflection of events, I believe the Transcendant is Sync. Didn't Omega say that "it" was the GTVA's greatest triumph and failure, a triumph because it could do mass scale jumps, create a subspace damperfield and manipulate subspace, but also a failure because they lost the control? It all makes sense for me.

But two things still bother me, what happened to the Carthage?
And the end of the Sync campaign? If they had doomed the GTVA, how could it still exist in Transcend? Could it be that the Transcendant had altered reality before Transcend or was there some kind of restoring of reality already?

sry for typos and misspelling, english isn't my mother language

i need to replay sync.

As do I... you do seem to have plenty of good points there though. Never thought of half of those myself. :

Very interesting connections you've presented, Allmote, but now I think I have to go play Sync, and a bunch of other campaigns. I haven't really played any campaigns around here besides Transcend...which I think should change. Soon.

And about this Persistence ship you mention. The Generation in Transcend was actually named Persistence before Ransom decided to change its name to Persistence. It's evident in two missions, and Ransom called it a "Freudian slip." I think that sealed it for me. Sync --> Transcend.

True, the other instance being when the GVC Canyenus (or something along those lines) exits Subspace an proceeds to announce "We are engaging the Persistance"...

*revives thread*

After going through both Transcend and Sync, I've come up with an explanation, methinks.

I've convinced myself that the Transcendant is Alpha 3 from Sync. I remember Alpha 3particularly saying how he wanted to "go back and make it all right", and watching him slowly lose his mind over the course of the last episode made me think that he (or Beta 2, possibly) was about to achieve Transcendance in some form or another.

When Alpha 3 became Transcendant, he seemed to be able to go back in time, but this time in Transcendant form to alter the results of Sync (namely, the Shivan invasion of the GTVA). The nebula in Transcend, specifically where the cargo was found, is quite possibly the same nebula from the beginning of Sync, the one which the Tether tried to flee through the unstable node (the same that was only stable enough for a cruiser).

My theory regarding this is that this node was the focus of the Transcendant's mission into the past. He wanted to collapse the node to prevent Alpha from Sync from ever returning to GTVA space, and therefore not allowing any of the events of Sync to be played out, and therefore, the GTVA is saved from the Shivans. This is evident at the rewinding of time near the end of Transcend, as the events that made Sync transpire no longer played out, and therefore there was no need for any of the events in Transcend to have played out the way they did.

The only hole I can really find is why they would have taken Marcell at the end of Transcend the second time. Joseph (the Omicron wingman whom Marcell was replacing) wouldn't have died as a result of the Transcendant, and therefore there would be no need for Marcell to be recruited into the 103rd.

Time travel and altering time makes my head hurt.

Time for some tea.

Nuclear said:

The only hole I can really find is why they would have taken Marcell at the end of Transcend the second time.

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They didn't. The mission fades out instead of having you encounter the 103rd.

I have this feeling that we haven't met the Transcendant yet in Sync. Either someone is going to have to reinvent themselves, or we're going to meet someone new.

Hmm...this is interesting...it's from right before the Transcendant brings you into subspace. Notice anything familiar?

That and 95% of the Transcendant's messages remind the player of lines spoken by various characters either in logs or missions in Sync.

Curiously, I've never really noticed that before. I need to go play those last few missions again...

I wonder how would Shivans react for Transcendant's influence. Would they become slaves like Chondral or Generarion?

Who knows? It seems they would have been consumed by him like the rest of the universe was about to be. Though I wonder if they'd be able to use their subspace HAX to try killing him or something.

Perhaps they did try... :nervous: [/vague hint]

Now my theory.

Remember red nebula in the end of Sync? Presistance found Triton class freighter, which towed it away before. It was almost destroyed. Earlier they found Phi 4. It was also damaged, but less than Triton, because he jumped out later than Triton. Phi 2 jumped as the last one, but he wasn't found.

I think Phi 2 is Transcendant.