Syne and Son of Jissara Core

[Yvenne]

Warning: Phaedra II spoilers ahead!!!

I just fought the mega varmint and was about to finish the mini dungeon, and the option to give the core to her comes up, but I'm still not sure, like at all.

Let's chart Jissara's course, from logs, starting with the eve of the 14th Great Planet Rush, when the Son of Jissara has been commissioned by the Akkadi Research and Development Group to survey a group of seven select planets as potential points of interest to their science department.

1. Their first planet was DeLuca VII, where Vhess experienced 'an ordeal', before moving to the second planet on their list, Nyphea, and this is also when we find out Phaedra is the third planet on their list.
2. They land on Nyphea, forest biome with tauric sapient natives and primitive bow-and-arrow technology, the away team gets brainwashed with pheromonal mind control agents, and the captain gets kidnapped and inducted into a local priestess's harem. During the rescue operation, they find an underground compartment below the temple he was housed in, with a spaceship dated at least 1000 years prior, and because it is in the frontier of UGC space, this naturally raises questions about who or what is out there in fringe space, that likely are technologically superior now if not then. Vhess made an A.I. to scrape the ship's data for analysis later. I'm sort of getting Reapers from Mass Effect type vibes from the whole thing.
3. They land on the third planet on their list, Phaedra, after noting the glass war some 100 or so years ago, and satellites implying the civilizations on the ground did manage to achieve space age, however briefly or not, before they nuked their save file on the tech tree, so to speak, and had no autosaves, for shame. They land near a settlement of hyraxi and begin trades, after initially making contact with local tribes from emergency backup radios, which I assume uses the Q-COMM network which is mentioned later by Vhess, and that "Someone, or something, is running a dark Q-COMM network separated from the public net. There’s no way to breach it without a hardwire connection to a port, but the reverse isn’t necessarily true. We’ve got so many Q-COMM devices running in the science department alone, it’s like hanging out a ‘please hack me’ sign to anybody who knows their way around EWS. There’s already evidence that our flight systems have been probed by an outside source. I need to tell the captain before it’s too late!"
   
   That was the last ship log, at least we can hope most of the crew wasn't on board when whatever happened, happened. There's evidence of a missile impacting the captain's quarters, and of course the mauled half of a body that resembles Syne.

Then let's look at who we know to be on the Son of Jissara:

• Captain Leoric
  Kaithrit or possibly leonine origin.
  
• Commander Kiara Dorna
  From her family's warp field institute. We know the Ausari developed warp gates so we can surmise her species, and the Steele Tech probe arrived here with the warp gate, before the glass war, chronologically.
  
• M'Tera Vhess
  A.I. Specialist formerly working for KihaCorp, and "the only non-ausar" on the crew other than the captain himelf, by his own admission. Of course, for the sake of Syne's argument, the crew might not consider synthetics as part of the crew. Notably, she has a "personal mark of excellence from Kiha herself" and is subbing in for the residential computers expert who was out on maternity leave, and only joined them for this one tour.
  
• All Ausar female crew (excl. above)
  "The native race, the dhrisa, have proven... remarkably accommodating to my fully female crew, but staunchly refused to so much as speak to myself, Commander Dorna, or crewman Vhess" and this was to do with them being "‘breeders’ - that is, those of us with breeding poles between our legs". So based on this, we know that, other than the commander, all others are biologically fully female and not hermaphroditic, as is the case with Kiara or Vhess, who are the only crewmates to have phalluses at this point in time in the tour, in their crew, other than the captain himself.
  
• Doctor Gyse

Now let's look at some more notable snippets of text, whether it be how the ship is described, or things Syne says.

• "A captain’s chair that looks like a pharaoh’s throne with all the gilding adorning it"
  Okay, I can sort of see how synthetic sapient sexbots could go unacknowledged or at least, not referred to by name and just collectively referred to as part of the all female crew harem, if you're also the type to gild your captain's seat into a throne. I'm not against it, it might not be totally garish like in my head, but to have your seat of authority in gold demarcating you from the rest of the crew, kind of a red flag. Syne gets that one.
  
  
• "This room contains the ship’s secured equipment lockers, its computer servers, and a particularly large dog crate. You’ve already taken the computer core from the server rack."
  Well, I guess we know where the varmint came from? One would think though, that it would do more damage to the server room when it's housed in here with all this silicone and circuitry, when freed, before going out to start chewing on the ship's innards.
  
  
• "The lower half of a KihaCorp gynoid’s body is draped over the edge, her legs skewed at an impossible angle and bent backwards over the lip." and the PC dialogue "And I saw another gynoid that looked just like you inside, torn up by that creature.” (referring to Syne)
  Fun fact: Syne is a Gryvain gynoid and has the hermaphroditic parts to show for it. AKA, she has a 'breeding pole'. Her 'twin' found on the crash site, looking similar and thus also a Gryvain model, must as well. We know it's not a latter modification because of the clone. I don't believe the Dhrisa would know the difference between an organic and a gynoid, or that there even would be a functionally meaningful difference to a bow-and-arrow culture. Conclusion: Syne and that unknown gynoid can't possibly have been in the ship when they landed on Nyphea, without being mentioned as an exception, like the three that stayed on the ship.
  
  
• (Syne, when asked about the data in the core) “Ah, the ancient starship. Fascinating, isn’t it, knowing there are more advanced species somewhere out there than even your own? Or is it frightening?” She laughs, tapping her chin. “Who’s to say. Either way, that information is very important, as you can imagine. Those in power within the Confederacy should know what might be lurking out beyond their borders, no?”
  Well, she does, for some reason, know what's on the core. I'd imagine she should, that's the only thing she's shown concern for so far. She hasn't talked about anybody in the crew, hasn't shown any concern for other possible survivors or their whereabouts (although if how she implies she was treated by her captain is true, some bitterness is understandable), and it is interesting to say 'their' borders when referencing to Confederacy space if you're a Confederate citizen, because you'd implicitly consider if 'our borders', but again, an unhappy gynoid not feeling in place with the confederation is not on its own entirely suspicious. Or of course, it could be interpreted as her specifically talking about those in power in the confederacy controlling it and by extension its borders, is technically 'theirs' and it would be more of an interest to them than the average layperson if there's a super advanced civilization out in the fringes of space.
  
  
• “Until then, take care out here. It’s an awfully dangerous wasteland these days.”
  Oh yeah? I wonder when it started being dangerous? Was it when the nuclear war started? Was it when everything got glassed and the surface became irradiated? Was it when an AI decided to make a religion and start hoarding up old era tech and practicing trickle-down scienconomics? "these days" is weird to add if you haven't been here long enough to see anything but a dangerous wasteland...
  
  
• "“I saw some of the captain’s log,” you tell her. “He never mentioned you."" and "Mmm? Does that surprise you, Captain - do you speak of your own sentient masturbatory aids when you’re setting down your official records; is it unusual to own multiple gynoids if you can afford them? Hm, I’m well acquainted with a wealthy executrix who has a whole harem of companion A.I.s modelled after every race in the Confederacy, just for variety. Her leithan catamite was custom-made by Kiha herself, with an ass that could shape diamonds and legs like a show-pony. Don’t read too much into a wealthy man or woman’s taste in sex-bots, Captain. We’re more like lingerie than a lifestyle: something private, just for yourself and your partners to enjoy. At least, that’s the way most people treat us."
  I feel it's very manipulative and evoking pity, how self deprecating she's being, referring to herself as a sentient 'masturbatory aid' when I don't think most pleasure bots are sapient, even the new V-KO maid lines don't have this level of eloquence and self awareness. Let's not even get into the literal sex slaves of Carver and the like, yeah it's real sad for you but it's par on course for literally everything in the whole galaxy, boo hoo. Let's assume that is how most people treat them, and not just the wealthy exectrices that are her friends, apparently, who are collecting entire production lines of robots like LaBuBus. How on EarthPhaedra II, is a KihaCorp gynoid stranded on an irradiated frontier planet, and also talks about being well acquainted, presently, with a wealthy executrix with a harem of companion A.I.s? "We’re more like lingerie than a lifestyle" - again, it comes back to, who owns multiple pairs of the same set of lingerie? Syne on one hand talks about multiple bots for variety, when talked to about an identical looking half body in the ship. Twin thing, maybe that's just what the captain was into, but it doesn't add up. Why is a gynoid pleasure bot even acquainted with a wealthy executrix?
  
  (Also, this is the second mention of Kiha during this event, founder of KihaCorp, just a bit strange, feels like foreshadowing. Vhess is an AI specialist with a mark of excellence from Kiha herself according to the logs, and now Syne is talking about Kiha custom made gynoids. But still, it's centred around A.I.)
  

Of course, all this begs the question, is she a gynoid bot at all, is she even part of the crew, at any point?

I don't think so, based on the above evidence gathered, so the question remains, who is she? It's one of the below five I feel (well, four, with the last being a catch-all):

• She is who she claims to be and I'm wrong
  Could be. It could be that all the oddities I found could be explained away, that the cat femboy captain of the Son of Jissara was just very organo-supremacist and actively avoided all mentions of synthetic gynoids on board, even when it leaves the logs partially incomplete and contradicting, such as about 3 being left on the ship during the Nyphea fertility ritual event, or describing the rest of the crew other than himself and the beta Dzaan Vhess, as all being female Ausari, and this interpretation relies on Leoric not even considering the gynoids as sapient individuals, and just 'masturbatory aids' as Syne claims. It doesn't make sense. If not by name, you would think, he would say something like "the 3 of us, and 2 gynoids with breeding pole analogues" or something even if nonspecific. You would have to actively go out of your way not to mention them in such a specific scenario, and I don't think this captain if anything, was shy about sex or would be embarrassed about the idea of keeping sexbots if they are universally accepted as masturbatory aid relief like Syne wants you to believe. You would think he'd just casually mention it, in passing or something.
  
  
• She is Evermind
  Also possible. This would explain how she knew ahead of time what would be on the computer bead because pretty sure she ran the dark Q-COMM and breached their firewalls, but it doesn't explain why she would send me, and not herself or one of her whole veritable army of fanatical zealots that won't ask questions and are armed with glass era tech from the vault and such.
  
  
• She is the A.I. Vhess made to scrape the ancient ship's data back on Nyphea, and somehow got a hold of a gynoid body.
  Well, Vhess was quite gifted with AI. Maybe it got out of control. It would explain better than Evermind though, she wouldn't have as many resources at her disposal.
  
  
• She is Kiha
  KihaCorp is named after the CoC draconic salamander girl Kiha. KihaCorp specializes in A.I. manufacturing - and I personally believe Kiha is also an A.I. or digitized uploaded organic lifeform that straddles the line between the two. Syne happens to be a Gryvain gynoid. Gryvains are dragons. We still can't explain what the first gryvain body was doing in the ship. My theory? She's a hivemind of gryvain gynoids, and it's a case of multiple bodies one mind, or connected separate instances. The first body was her first attempt to recover the core, after the ship crash, and the now-mega varmint got to her silicone body so she needed to find someone else.
  
  
• She is something else, definitely A.I., likely Phaedran origin.
  "You flesh and blood things are all the same in the end, consumed by greed and fear!" ... "Such a sudden change... “Who are you, really?” The gynoid gives you a dangerous glare. “Someone better not trifled with. Go then. Take the core, for whatever good it will do you. But leave Phaedra in peace; this planet does not need more of your kind to exploit it, as you have done to me.”

Honestly, this whole thing started because I really didn't like Syne's attitude. Like, she's actively manipulating me here, feeding me breadcrumbs of information, sending me into danger, and her story doesn't add up. I also don't like how I can't like, copy the contents of the core as a Tech Specialist or something, or just beam it to Steele Tech AND hand her the core. Also, a 100k credit reward for finding a new alien spacefaring civilization that predates all of UGC? Um, okay, just seems a bit unbalanced. Like, missing a zero maybe??

"I knew it was a mistake to trust you, but I thought... thought you somehow might be different. I won’t make the same mistake twice.” - This really triggered me lol. Wow, thanks for your valuable opinion, random woman who sent me into life threatening danger with no actual reward and complaining when I choose to keep my spoils. I'm totally not feeling vindictive or anything~

Okay, just a bit. I don't know, I'm kind of conflicted on her honestly, and what to do here, whether to give the core or not. I'm normally a Nice Steele! I don't even want a reward most of the time to do something good, but here I feel like I'm getting tricked, or passing up on something really significant, and the way she gets so mad if I decide to keep it, could read either way as righteous indignation (for doing literally nothing, she just pointed me here, I did all the work, how is that "exploitation"? I didn't take payment in advance, she can keep that. There was no transaction or contractual obligation for me to follow through and hand it to her), or it could read as being mad she failed to hoodwink me and is showing a falsity of righteous indignation as well as embarrassment and anger for having been caught in the duplicity, maybe. But then she does say stuff like she's been betrayed by organics before, but also stuff that shows she really wasn't who she claimed to be earlier.

If she is who she claims to be, I have absolutely no issue with handing over the computer core, but I think a tech specialist should be able to duplicate the contents. If she isn't, I don't like being tricked, and it's too valuable a thing when normally I might let a trick slide. Sure, the 'breeding rod' is tempting and I guess her hermaphroditic nature is meant to appeal to a broad player base, but there's no shortage of lewdery in the galaxy or even the planet, she really should have had better bargaining chips than like, something I could find probably in a couple steps in literally any direction. Now, if 'she' was instead a suave dom of a man, and he straightforwardly just asked me to do it, I'd hand it over, I'm glad I could help Daddy! I mean what. You heard nothing.

What do y'all think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

[Savin]

and a particularly large dog crate

Joke's on you, that's for Commander Dorna.

 

[Yvenne]

Joke's on you, that's for Commander Dorna.

Rebuttal! I refuse to believe that Commander Dorna is THE ONLY crew mate that would be interested in petplay in an all female ausar crew!

 

[Jarylan]

I can't wait for more information on what this choice means. But I will say this, I don't trust her a bit. And her being KihaCorp make doesn't help.

It's quite clear there's something very weird going on in Phaedra, between the Evermind, cults, KihaCorp, and everything else.

Did you also find the communicator and have Anno look at it?

 

[CrazyBakaBaka]

I'm going to call this post a good-enough reason to post a personal crackpot theory about Phaedra, namely that we've met the Evermind twice.

So let's review the history of Phaedra. We know Phaedra is very to the Core Worlds (specifically the Kalas System) per the Kihan Armature. Looking over the claims by said Armature, we learn that the Gates and Victor's probe arrived very early. Combined with what Syne tells us it's clear this was near the end of the 13th Planet Rush, but before the 90th year. Going on pure speculation, but it looks like there was a lot of research into the probe (at least as far as managing to develop the Q-Comm Transmitter) and this seems to have set off an arms race that resulted in the planet all but destroying itself. I don't know to what extent KihaCorp existed beforehand, but can confirm that they mostly came into being as we know them after the war. What is certain is what Syne tells us, that Kiha was looking into terraforming tech and humanitarian aid. Strange for an AI company, not so strange if your planet has blasted itself halfway back to the bronze age.

As for if KihaCorp and Phaedra are connect? Beyond the CoC references, the fact that anyone who isn't native is from KihaCorp, and the Q-Comm transmitter, there is one other important link. Per the Nukas codex entry, we can see that KihaCorp has been making things difficult for Xenogen on the legal side, and it isn't much of a stretch to guess that anyone who tries to do something on Phaedra gets stuck dealing with KihaCorp. So I think it's safe to say that KihaCorp and Phaedra are very intertwined, which makes sense if it is where KihaCorp was founded.

Now, as for the many faces of Kiha, the most obvious is the Evermind, a deity whose name and portfolio she stole after. Both the Evermind and Kiha are known for favoring a Draconic Form, and it explains a lot about Kiha's refusal to be seen in public if she is an AI whose primary body is currently located on an irritated wasteland. The second face is one you mentioned, that being Syne. Not only does Syne reveal a lot about KihaCorp and Kiha, but one particular line she says is "I used to be much more muscular, and even had wings, but these days I like a softer approach." That muscular, winged look is one Kiha is known for favoring (I don't remember where I read this unfortunately), and being the Ruler of the planet certainly explains some of her choice words if you don't give her the core. Plus, Syne taking away important tech does match the Evermind's m.o. of taking away technology she thinks is too dangerous (which is "anything more advanced than a combustion engine" aka all the fun stuff) from everyone. Plus, Syne has a fascination with the simpler pleasures of life, and according to Vermillion and (I think) Elcine, the Evermind shows a general tendency to be more interested in simpler or living things, like a child, than stuff like complex technology designs.

Spoiler: An aside on the Kiha/Evermind thing

I know that authors tend to reuse themes and concepts, but part of the reason I call this mess crackpot is because even I think the whole "Thing that imitates being a god with a fascination on the simpler pleasures of living" is starting to be a bit much.

As for the third face, this one is the stretch, but the Kihan Armature (henceforth called K.A.) is likely another body of Kiha. The weakest evidence I can give is that both K.A. and Syne refer to their bodies as "armatures". For much stronger evidence, not only is K.A. the one who reveals that the probe arrived pre-fallout and no matter what makes it pretty clear that if you want the probe, you are going to have to face the Evermind. She mentions that she prefers to meet people in VR (which is the only place anyone has been able to meet Kiha), and her story about the Guardian of Flame is... off. The tale adds up by itself, but Elcine claimed that the Guardian was something the Evermind planned on deploying, and the plan: Get a ship out to Phaedra, kill all the crew and hijack the ship, feels overcomplicated when she, the CEO of KihaCorp, could've just had an AI pilot the ship to Phaedra, no murdering people necessary. And finally, when you leave K.A tell you "You’re making a good first impression so far. Keep it up, and I’m sure you’ll find your way into the Evermind’s good graces before long." To me, there is no real way to interpret this sentence as anything but an indirect admission of being the Evermind.



Now that my own nonsense is out of the way: On the gynoid near the core, I assumed that the Captain did have a gynoid and the look alike was just a bit of humor, but I think "Syne tried to get the core on her own, got mauled by the Varmint and outsourced its retrieval" is a much more logical explanation. I certainly agree that Syne's reaction to you taking the core isn't great. Everything about her screams "I'm lying" and trust is a two-way street. If I wasn't so sure of Syne being the Evermind and me wanting to be on her good side as much as possible I would absolutely stick with the pragmatic choice of sending the info to Steele Tech. Also, her comment about not mentioning "sentient masturbatory aids" is funny because for Captain Steele, anything fitting the typical understanding of the term (a sexbot) is a recognized crew member that absolutely would show up on the logs somewhere, especially Olympia if you are using the Sidewinder.

 

[Yvenne]

I can't wait for more information on what this choice means. But I will say this, I don't trust her a bit. And her being KihaCorp make doesn't help.

It's quite clear there's something very weird going on in Phaedra, between the Evermind, cults, KihaCorp, and everything else.

Did you also find the communicator and have Anno look at it?

Oh, is it on the SoJ? The thing is um, I generally don't keep multiple save files unless I'm exploring the ramifications of a choice - at least until I decide which I'd pick and move forward with, or Bad Ends I particularly like reexperiencing being subjected to, but without the 'End' bit hahah.

Unfortunately. my most recent save file happened to be in the ship mini dungeon instance, after defeating the varmint, and raiding the pheromonal agent locker (code is the name of the doctor on board), but before going back to Syne and making the choice on the core. I was still hung up on it, and ideally I'd just leave the dilemma for future me and go back to finishing the Korgi'i hold on this save and recruiting Eitan, or tend to my Frostwyrms and encourage more pureblood children between Frosty and Flurry to repopulate the nearly extinct species, but I'm kind of stuck here now until I resolve the choice between giving Syne the core or not hahah. I've done not giving the core, going up north and tried the train dungeon for a bit, but I ended up not saving it because I'm still indecisive over Syne.

Ideally, if I wanted to explore the choice fully, I suppose what I should do is also give the core, build rapport, do the train dungeon and meet her later at wherever she said she'd be and talk more and get to know her. That is an option too, but it feels like a lot to do when I personally don't like her vibes already, especially to hear dialogue lines if she's going to remain as evasive, tight-lipped and straight up deceptive.

If I wasn't so sure of Syne being the Evermind and me wanting to be on her good side as much as possible I would absolutely stick with the pragmatic choice of sending the info to Steele Tech.

This is kind of the crux of the issue for me too. Like, I don't know for sure what Syne is, but I'm sure she's not just a gynoid, or that her goal is what she claims. I don't think she's Evermind just because she has a planet wide grip on resources and people from what I've seen so it makes little sense to have me go about it. Of course. unless she already knows what's in the bead and it's some elaborate trust fall exercise or something. Either way, I'm not inclined to trust without an indication she trusts me with honesty on her end, which really doesn't seem to be the case.

I feel the ancient space civilization should be a bigger deal than its purported to be as well, which is why I'm hung up on giving her the core, because to me it feels like there's a slim chance that this news reaches the UGC top brass, even if she was affiliated with KihaCorp, companies are generally not forthcoming about information that they could pre-emptively use to gain an upper hand, like by not telling your megacorp competition or the UGC which would inform the former about the tech, and instead trying to go salvage it themselves, which seems like what Syne would do given the gynoid we saw on scene too, assuming my theory regarding what happened there holds. As the heir to Steele Tech on the last planet with the probe standing between myself and taking up the mantle as the head of the corp, it doesn't matter if the board is tight lipped about the news or not because the decision won't be up to them soon enough, and I do believe the right decision would be to inform the UGC. Because of the potential for a Reaper situation.

My main issue is not wanting to miss out on content. I've collected every crew member just because I can even though the majority are women and I'm generally into men, because they do all contribute something regardless and the more the merrier! I can't help but advance every relationship to its potential endpoint and I'm now in a polycule with members all over the galaxy even though it feels rather uncomfortable personally third wheeling and inserting myself into these pretty established pairings like Anno and Kaede. I might do it all differently in a different playthrough.

The thing with Frosty and Flurry kinda upsets me too. Frosty likes me and doesn't want to just do it with Flurry because it's like cheating on me? But Frosty only chose me because she spent countless years looking for one of her own kind to no avail, only for her to do this species lifelong pair bond thing to me after seemingly exhausting her options and finding a good enough combatant to be like 'okay, she'll do'. She literally admits to it as much, and it's just the truth. I then spend like 2 years raising our kids only for another frostwyrm to show up, call me unworthy or something and fight me for the right, and like at this point I'm like what am I even doing here, I literally blocked Frosty from having her happily ever after because technically Flurry and Frosty should've met if I didn't intervene and been a happy traditional frostwyrm couple, and it is my existence and literally just having met me first, that is stopping it, because Frostwyrms don't have divorces apparently so now it literally feels like I'm holding Frosty captive and she has developed this stockholm syndrome for me, when Flurry is literally everything she's wanted before settling for me, and can give her continuation of her species, and are both hermaphrodites and can get their freak on too. So because of the pair bond, now I need to be there or Frosty can't get her freak on because frostwyrm thing, and that's not even getting into needing both parents around to hatch the egg. It's all very sweet, but yeah, I'm starting to see how this species died out.

Maybe my flaw is reading too much into all this lol. But yeah, where I was going with that was, the erotic parts are great and all, but sex alone, is not the end-all be-all of things, and I really don't mind missing out on Syne rewarding me for being her hero, or pawn - the jury is still out on that - but she looks like someone significant to the story, regardless of whether it be Evermind, Kiha, or something else, and yeah I don't want to get on her bad side either if it means locking myself out of a part of the story, unless of course, not giving her the core also has an equivalent amount of content such as having to fight her, which I wouldn't mind either, but I just don't know where Syne fits into the story yet, so I'm indecisive about continuing from this point.

I'm going to call this post a good-enough reason to post a personal crackpot theory about Phaedra, namely that we've met the Evermind twice.

It is! I'm always excited to hear different ideas, analyses and interpretations.

As for if KihaCorp and Phaedra are connect? Beyond the CoC references, the fact that anyone who isn't native is from KihaCorp, and the Q-Comm transmitter, there is one other important link. Per the Nukas codex entry, we can see that KihaCorp has been making things difficult for Xenogen on the legal side, and it isn't much of a stretch to guess that anyone who tries to do something on Phaedra gets stuck dealing with KihaCorp. So I think it's safe to say that KihaCorp and Phaedra are very intertwined, which makes sense if it is where KihaCorp was founded.

I did figure the probe came early, but I didn't think about the implications and the fact it probably set off a series of technological advancements from reverse engineering the tech but their social development did not keep up with the same pace and they likely blew themselves up because they weren't ready to have tech like that.

Now, as for the many faces of Kiha, the most obvious is the Evermind, a deity whose name and portfolio she stole after. Both the Evermind and Kiha are known for favoring a Draconic Form, and it explains a lot about Kiha's refusal to be seen in public if she is an AI whose primary body is currently located on an irritated wasteland. The second face is one you mentioned, that being Syne. Not only does Syne reveal a lot about KihaCorp and Kiha, but one particular line she says is "I used to be much more muscular, and even had wings, but these days I like a softer approach." That muscular, winged look is one Kiha is known for favoring (I don't remember where I read this unfortunately), and being the Ruler of the planet certainly explains some of her choice words if you don't give her the core. Plus, Syne taking away important tech does match the Evermind's m.o. of taking away technology she thinks is too dangerous (which is "anything more advanced than a combustion engine" aka all the fun stuff) from everyone. Plus, Syne has a fascination with the simpler pleasures of life, and according to Vermillion and (I think) Elcine, the Evermind shows a general tendency to be more interested in simpler or living things, like a child, than stuff like complex technology designs.

Muscular and winged, also draconic like the current form, so many mentions of Kiha. My one gripe with the KihaCorp being founded here theory is that, KihaCorp would need to have been founded ~100 years ago, after the glass war on Phaedra, in the middle of the 13th rush, and that's the one where Victor Steele made Steele Tech too (~200 years ago starting with the 13th rush to the present), so it's not farfetched to say one could make a galactic megacorp in that timeframe, sure. However, Vhess was an ex-employee of KihaCorp with a personal mark of excellence from Kiha, and she was also the one that figured out the dark Q-COMM, left a message about it on the ship log and went to inform the captain, so it leads me to believe Kiha wouldn't put one of her best employees in jeopardy and destroy the ship she was on, if Kiha was also Evermind. I would assume Vhess would find it weird had she noticed anything of KihaCorp make as they landed on Phaedra, having previously worked for KihaCorp and everything Leoric says implying KihaCorp is already well established at this point in time.

As for the third face, this one is the stretch, but the Kihan Armature (henceforth called K.A.) is likely another body of Kiha. The weakest evidence I can give is that both K.A. and Syne refer to their bodies as "armatures". For much stronger evidence, not only is K.A. the one who reveals that the probe arrived pre-fallout and no matter what makes it pretty clear that if you want the probe, you are going to have to face the Evermind. She mentions that she prefers to meet people in VR (which is the only place anyone has been able to meet Kiha), and her story about the Guardian of Flame is... off. The tale adds up by itself, but Elcine claimed that the Guardian was something the Evermind planned on deploying, and the plan: Get a ship out to Phaedra, kill all the crew and hijack the ship, feels overcomplicated when she, the CEO of KihaCorp, could've just had an AI pilot the ship to Phaedra, no murdering people necessary. And finally, when you leave K.A tell you "You’re making a good first impression so far. Keep it up, and I’m sure you’ll find your way into the Evermind’s good graces before long." To me, there is no real way to interpret this sentence as anything but an indirect admission of being the Evermind.

True, that's pretty compelling. I'm not sure what to make of this myself, but I think you're onto something here as well! I think I'll wait a bit longer to see how Syne's content plays out before continuing, now that I'm stuck on the SoJ until I resolve the core choice hahah. Most likely not giving her the core, but I also don't want to antagonize her for no reason if we just got off on the wrong foot and she might just be secretive but good, y'know? I don't see it, because bad vibes, but it's also the last planet, I suppose there's no longer a need to 'rush', hah!

 

[PanzerGuitar00]

I just edited my file to undo the quest and save scum to avoid doing it whenever I'm on phaedra.

It's a shockingly uncommon encounter so it's not hard to navigate around without bumping into it.

 

[Skunkupine]

Consider this:
According to the in-universe lore, Khia was a pretty good person, who wanted to help and make things better. So, what if the sequence of events is:
Some decades before current time: Khia ascends to being an originally organic brain in silico, and runs her corp via gynoid remotes.
SteeleTech probe arrives on Phaedra. Residents begin reverse engineering the probe and advancing well beyond their society's readiness.
Khia becomes aware of Phaedra, and determines they are on a path to destruction. Being a good person, a smart person, but not necessarily a wise person, she decides this is a golden opportunity to help guide a civilization along the shining path to enlightenment, and starts to meddle.
However, as wise people know, the hardest thing to change about an organization is culture, and instead of guiding them along the shining path, Khia's involvement just makes thing go smash harder. (there is wisdom to the Star Trek Prime Directive).
Now, Khia has the guilt of failing, and probably also blames SteeleTech as well - after all, it was their probe that triggered the problem. So, she's trying to help out as best as she can, bearing in mind the wisdom she so expensively acquired. She is also testing Steele, to see if Steele will do the right thing as well and accept the cost of sending the SteeleTech probe to Phaedra. This may lead to the acquisition of the probe being something like Khia saying "This is your property. This is what it did to this world. By accepting this probe, you accept the harm your father did to this planet, and pledge to help put it right."

 

[Jarylan]

That'a an interesting theory.

But I would probably snark at her in response. I do not believe a parent's sins pass to their children. If it Vic royally fucked up and his plan just about destroyed a planet and its civilizations, that's not my fault, I bear no responsibility for it.

Not saying I wouldn't help, I would, obviously.

But not gonna stand for someone preaching to me about how this is somehow my fault (or the company's fault) for being Vic's family.

 

[PanzerGuitar00]

I just edited my file to undo the quest and save scum to avoid doing it whenever I'm on phaedra.

It's a shockingly uncommon encounter so it's not hard to navigate around without bumping into it.

Oi, what's the laughing emoji for?

 

[CrazyBakaBaka]

Ideally, if I wanted to explore the choice fully, I suppose what I should do is also give the core, build rapport, do the train dungeon and meet her later at wherever she said she'd be and talk more and get to know her

You don't need to do the train dungeon. Syne shares her tile with the entrance to the train dungeon.

Oh, is it on the SoJ?

No, the communicator is the Q-Comm Transceiver, which is acquired the first time you beat one of the Ancient Warbots. Show it to Anno [and Olympia if you have her] and you will learn a few things:
1. Both are very insistent on it being a "Model Seven Q-Comm Transceiver", which used to be a KihaCorp best-seller.
2. Whether or not this particular transceiver was ever for sale is debatable, as it has no Serial Number despite having the spot where the sticker should go.
3. There is no way it could've been in a Phaedran War Machine, as KihaCorp was founded during the 13th Planet Rush but after the Warp Gates for the 14th Rush were sent out.
4. According to Olympia, there is no sign of it having been time-traveled or teleported through a wormhole. It does show signs of having been near an Atom Bomb explosion and is about as old as KihaCorp, being one of the first ones ever made.

As Steele will note, that odds of Phaedrans making an exact copy of a KihaCorp product they had no way of obtaining is basically 0. Since the gates weren't active, there is no way for a Transceiver made in the Confederacy to have reached Phaedra before everything went Kaboom. So KihaCorp must've had some other way of reaching Phaedra that they didn't bother applying anywhere else. With Olympia ruling out the fun answers, I don't have a good explanation for the Transceiver outside of "KihaCorp was founded on Phaedra, and used what they learned from studying the probe and Warp Gate to pull a Reverse Rush on the UGC."

so it leads me to believe Kiha wouldn't put one of her best employees in jeopardy and destroy the ship she was on, if Kiha was also Evermind.

Eh, I did think about this, but what happened to the Son of Jissara isn't super clear. Steele says that the ship suffered from "Mass driver hits from the surface", I'm not entirely certain what that means, but I'm pretty sure it means "Got hit by anti-air attacks aimed from the surface". We know that SoJ did land long enough to trade with the Hydraxi and that something was probing the flight systems, but that doesn't mean they were actually tampered with. We also don't know why the SoJ was shot down. Presumably it was when they tried to leave, but that's it. Based on Syne's reaction though, I'm willing to make a theory that she used some guise to approach them and tried to get that Data Core. The Crew (rightfully) thought it was weird, said no, and tried to leave so she shot them down with the goal of retrieving the core afterwards, valuing the data over the life of one employee. Only to suddenly get ambushed by that Varmint and forced to rely on Steele to get the core for her.
(Not my best theory, but I don't have a better answer for why a non-Kiha/Evermind would shoot down a ship trying leave, and no other group is known to have Anti-Air tech. Because the only person on the planet who can tell us anything about the SoJ seems to be a compulsive liar, I don't have much hope for getting a clear answer.)

But I would probably snark at her in response. I do not believe a parent's sins pass to their children. If it Vic royally fucked up and his plan just about destroyed a planet and its civilizations, that's not my fault, I bear no responsibility for it.

I don't disagree, but my limited understanding of mythology is that both Dragons and Gods tend to be big fans of "Sins of the Father", so I'm less than optimistic about the opinions of a Dragon-God. There is a genuine argument to be made that the Tainted Wastelands of Phaedra are just as much of an encapsulation of Victor Steele's legacy as the Inheritance we will earn from the probe. The inheritance is the shiny good part, the incredible wealth that let him (and will let us) live whatever sort of life he pleased. The Wastes a reminder of the planets, asteroids, and lives spent up to create that wealth, the Radiation being both the consequences he inflicted on others, and the embodiment of the life he lived that led to him becoming so Tainted and dying. Does that mean the suffering of Phaedra should be a part of our Inheritance? I think not.
TBH, Phaedra is not a Steele Tech problem. Fixing an irradiated planet would require terraforming that is more in line with the skills and tech of something like the GHR than what a mining company can do. Now if a certain other Steele wants to stick around and help fix the planet where they can, they are plenty welcome too. But outside of some of monetary aid and maybe having a biomedical team work on trying to fix some of the effects radiation has had on the tribes, I don't think there is anything we can do with Phaedra other than take the probe and skedaddle.