Note: The "Jossed" and "Confirmed" folders are spoilers by their very nature. Peruse at your own risk.
His identity has been suspect for a while — enlarged frame, white sclerae, and an apparent relation to another Lesser — but the real kicker? Typelog fragment 2-2-8: "...strange-looking Lesser. Black scales, white eyes. Stranger still, it didn't appear to be immediately hostile..."
- Possibly Jossed — in the genetics lab of the EROS facility, it can be clearly seen that Lessers have gigantic tails. Tezkhra's is shorter than Daszk's, which makes this unlikely.
- And as of his final interaction scene in episode 4, confirmed! Tezkhra was originally one of the prototypes referenced in the abandoned databanks, and was on the verge of death when Rami came across him. Tezkhra requested that Rami alter his body to make him more like a lacertian, and somehow, the augments worked. This was so obvious, though, that when it finally comes out, the rest of the crew admits they already knew.
Take a look at this Typelog fragment:
Either that fragment is a cruel, intentional Red Herring specifically targeted at crazy over-analysists, or it's foreshadowing that fih'jik will appear at some point in the story. (If this is true, that would make that fragment contain some Dramatic Irony...)
- Also, it's heavily implied that there are no native species on the PLSE surface that was the setting for The Reconstruction - it was terraformed and all sentient species were derived from a genetic donor (Tezkhra supplied the Shra DNA, EROS employees probably supplied the DNA for the Humans/Fortians). Logically, there would have to be a space-age fih'jik species from whence the DNA for the surface fih'jik came from.
- More foreshadowing - There are four weapon classes, but only 3 species classifications. It wouldn't be very useful to have the player character specialise in non-combat skills by powering up eXtension modules, so perhaps the Fih'Jik were held back from the beginning make the player choose a more 'standard' specialisation for their character.
- It's such a given, that when (when) the Fih'Jik are introduced it will be an untwist for most of the audience.
- Confirmed; Dena is the first fih'jik.
Specifically...
- Conversely, there's no evidence that Space-faring Fih'Jik would be religious, so the Bible quote is only circumstantial evidence. Religion is cultural, not genetic, and the PLSE projects are covert experiments where the subjects are unaware that EROS even exists, so there would be no transmission of religious ideas from genetic donors to the surface dwellers. Hence, the Fih'Jik religion is an original idea of the Fih'Jik on the surface. The 'Supreme One' may in fact be a Space-fih'jik who was misinterpreted as a God (cf. Clarke's Third Law), just as the Si'Shra's deity was.
- ...Possibly confirmed! (Though not in the way proposed here.) We do see one creature that is very likely to be the first fih'jik in Kara's final interaction scene, but we don't know for certain.
- And now definitely confirmed; in the ending, Willis mentions that Dena escaped with a bunch of embryos. There's no way those aren't fih'jik at this point.
- Almost certainly. In the ending, Willis mentions that Dena escaped with a bunch of embryos. There's no way those aren't fih'jik at this point.
- Yep.
- More or less confirmed. Maybe not a Big Damn Heroes moment, but Mari, Rami, Kara and Daszk are set to return in the final game in the series.
Think about it. It only triggered once technology had reached near-perfection. Immortality and far-space travel had already been achieved. The Shine stopped all progress and knocked civilization back as it desperately scrambled to rebuild. This could also explain why it left planets alone, if it's some kind of "nature versus technology" thing — it could be trying to force humans to stay earthbound instead of venturing across space. However, this wouldn't explain why it didn't touch planet-sized machines, either. Or why it didn't touch the machines on those planets...
Perhaps it was instated by ancient aliens who collapsed under the weight of achieving technological perfection, and they set it up to forcefully prevent other civilizations from making the same mistake... Although, if destroying communication and killing billions is the lesser of two evils, either technological perfection really sucks for some unknown reason, or the aliens are just selfish.
Alternatively, the Shine wasn't created by sentient life, and is simply a force of the universe that prevents technological progression for some reason.
- Jossed! It was a man-made disaster, apparently caused by an experiment in teleportation technology that went horribly wrong.
Regardless, the Shine is very likely magical in origin, so we will probably get some major tie-ins to The Reconstruction when we learn about its nature. Which brings me to my next stab in the dark...
The presence of humans and lacertians in The Reconstruction pretty much guarantees that survivors of whatever horrible cataclysm occurs during I Miss the Sunrise (you know there's going to be something) settled there. If the characters of IMTS learned the truth about the Shine, and the truth about the Shine is the above WMG, then the Watchers may have been instated in order to prevent technological progression from passing the point at which the Shine triggers, since they appear to destroy the world every thousand years or so.
- Major support for this theory: In The Reconstruction's Golden Ending, Rami mentions that the Cycle of destruction was meant to be carried out when technology started appearing.
- Jossed — nothing so complex! The Watchers were instated to collect qualitative data, since Willis thought living beings would be better for that than computers. The Cycle of destruction was simply to prevent inhabitants from creating high technology, taking to the stars, and turning against their masters, as colony 503b did.
Calling it now: The plot will be about {{cat|Folk }}people who specialize in Extension shells appearing out of nowhere and making all the scientists giddy that they found another sentient species, before the cat people start blathering about the Supreme One and how the nonbelievers must be purged.
- Jossed! The plot is about a new group, the EROS scientists, and their morally questionable experiments.
- Jossed! Space Lizard has recently revealed all the merits here. The fortieth merit is awarded upon obtaining all the others.
- Jossed! He doesn't appear at all in episode 4.
- A fih'jik, assuming they're going to appear. A character of a unique species, providing insight into their strange new culture could be very intriguing and fitting for such a special character.
- The Black One.
- Virgil, assuming he doesn't turn out to be Evil All Along.
- Dehl, through Time Travel wackiness.
- Someone completely new who will be impossible to predict.
And as of episode 4, [Jossed none of these guesses are correct! It's Ivoronus, "father" of the Sikohlons.]]
Otherwise, the obvious candidate is the Black One, but that seems a little too obvious...
- Additionally, this means that Moke won't be the Lesser who kills Tezkhra in the backstory of The Reconstruction either.
- And now completely Jossed. Tezkhra's murderer is the Black One, as should have been obvious.
There's something about the guy that just seems sinister. And it would be interesting to see how the other characters (and Ros?) might react.
- Jossed! His final scene is a Heroic Sacrifice where he apologizes to Ros for treating him/her as a tool instead of a person, and diverts the last remaining backup power to get Ros to safety.
- Nope. They're just Artificial Lifeforms created by Willis.
Alternatively, 0001 transferred his mind into Tezkhra, and The Black One is another member of the project. Wouldn't that be interesting.
- Jossed! Number One is still in his original body, and, in fact, the Black One actively tries to stop him.
- Jossed. He's still in his original body.
- Neither of the above theories are correct...so, doubly Jossed?
- Doesn't look like it, actually! He does take a great interest in them, but doesn't seem to actually know how they were created, or their true purpose.
- Jossed. Ros is not, in fact, separated from their fleet at all. The "something very special" probably refers to the Multiple Endings, and possibly the All Your Base Are Belong to Us.
- Nope. The cut characters were Willis, Ral, Amalas, and a character whose existence was cut entirely.
- #0EF7. Their final log says that they're bailing out, and they have the vaguest specialties of the abandoned databanks scientists — #1213 headed the abiogenesis project and #98A2 was obsessed with latent energy, but #0EF7 doesn't mention any specific specialties. They do, however, have the same cold, logical speech patterns as "Five" (complete with random philosophizing), a sharp contrast with the other more emotional (and, later, insane) scientists. Furthermore, their final log makes reference to joining the suppression program. This wouldn't be significant in and of itself...but "Five" makes explicit reference to their suppression wearing off in their final message, and it wore off much later than everyone else's. The connection is conspicuous... Also, something strange: In the final office of the abandoned databanks, there is a gutted computer in one corner — someone purposefully destroyed it to prevent others from seeing its information. However, following the pattern of the other monitors in that room, that monitor would have an entry from #0EF7! (Which would make a lot of sense; most of the others' entries go up to 7, whereas theirs stops at 6.) All of this seems to be pointing at #0EF7 having some special significance that will be revisited later on.
- Jossed. 'Five' is Tezkhra.
But it goes deeper. If you wait until recruiting Kara before accessing Purity Point for the first time, we get a brief look into her thoughts added to the cutscene, and it implies that she knows its origins. This is further supported by her idle chat in the area; in episode 3, she hints that Purity Point was created for a specific purpose, and in episode 4, she seems to express guilt in regards to the place, vowing that she won't allow anything similar to happen again.
All of this seems to imply that she knew how Purity Point was first created, and she must have had a hand in it, as she seems to feel guilty. This matches up with #3849's message — and if she bailed out early (earlier than Cassidy and Cole, it seems like, as they reference someone already having run away in their logs), then she wouldn't know the crazy stuff that happened later on there.
- Nope; in Deirdre's final scene, she says she has no idea what the original purpose of the project was or why the Pure Ones are there. This theory can only be correct if she's lying.
If they aren't the Black One, they're definitely vying for the spot of "most likely Big Bad candidate" (and still may be even if they are...). This is similar to Skint being painted as the Big Bad up until The Reveal right at the end.
The Black One made a comment that 'these small minds' of lessers cannot retain his full consciousness, implying that his mind is not Lesser, and that with each new possession, he loses a little more of his consciousness. Tezkhra may not be aware that he is one of these aliens (having lost that knowledge after going through so many bodies), which ties into his problem with memory retention. This would also explain how he persisted after being murdered by the Lesser on the PLSE surface of The Reconstruction and his 'soul' preserved in that magic crystal guarded by the Tatzylvurm.
- Possible support for this theory: the Black One never tells you his true name. When asked "who are you", he simply says, "You know me as the Black One." Why would a bunch of random humans know who a random Lesser was, and by such a poetic title at that? This would seem to imply that he is some kind of higher being.
- This could tie into the WMG below — could it be possible that they consider themselves akin to gods, if they are from the previous universe?
Now granted, he must not have known that much, since he was just as shocked by The Reveal in episode 3, and doesn't seem to know the truth about lacertians either. But he does seem to be connected somehow...
- This seems unlikely, as in his introduction in the Lesser habitation, he says he was only recently recruited due to the war stretching EROS thin. He may have been lying, however.
Granted, this does require a pretty Contrived Coincidence, that being that natural selection made the lacertians identical to the PL-776 model.
There is a big hole in this, though, which is that Kara's final plotline implies Willis was making slow progress in his abiogenesis project until he uncovered #1213's notes — if he was #1213 himself, his progress should have been constant.
Point 2: The game is constantly drawing connections between Tezkhra and The Black One. They look identical, to the point that Tezkhra has the exact same speaker portrait in the flashback in his final scene, and they can both be augmented despite that normally being impossible for Lizard Folk. The Black One also insists they are entwined in some kind of cosmic destiny. And, it's a weak connection, but The Black One says "Stand clear," during The Reveal in Episode 3 — this is also a favorite phrase of Tezkhra's.
Point 3: In #98A2's final note, he says he plans to find the gate to the latent energy source dimension if it's the last thing he does, "and it might very well be". What if he succeeded, but the exposure to that much latent energy warped his being? Latent energy is magic, so it can do conceivably anything... maybe even reincarnating people into strange Lessers. Maybe even turning people into intangible energy beings.
Conclusion: When #98A2 found the gate, his consciousness was split into The Blue One and The Black One. The Black One retained whatever knowledge he learned there, but his mind deteriorated from the many jumps. The Blue One seems to have forgotten everything, but has retained #98A2's obsession with latent energy. The Drop implies there may be more to this, however.