Wanted to talk about the preview video released for it and the varying details in it and speculate some.

Also there's an enemy that I really, really, really like and absolutely have to talk about. So.

So Integrated Strategies 7's accompanying Story Collection event and operators has released but we've yet to really learn what Integrated Strategies 7 will be narratively. All the rest of the IS themes have had something in which facilitates the endings, often times non-canon or fictional to allow the endings to be less restricted by the rest of the world.

Like for past ones:

Ceobe's Fungimist - Hallucinations from mushrooms and dreaming.

Phantom and Crimson Solitaire - Plays written by the playwright of the Crimson Troupe.

Mizuki and the Caerula Arbor - I believe are possible futures/timelines that Mizuki can see.

Expeditioner's Joklumarkar - Valarqvin's visions of the future (may be set in stone, I think some aren't canon).

Sarkaz's Furnaceside Fables - Stories that Nymph and the Furnace Revenants tell.

Sui's Garden of Grotesqueries - The slumbering Sui's consciousness, it's memories and dreams.

But for Integrated Strategies 7 I don't think that we have a concrete understanding of what facilitates it just yet. I think that because it is set within the Black Flow of Bolivar that it would be assumed that some supernatural force unique to the Black Flow would be it or the Black Flow itself etc etc.

But reading the story I think that there's an alternative option that still makes the setting the Black Flow and facilitates stories within it but isn't so strictly limited to the Black Flow both in story telling and how it's executed in the narrative.

In "Bolivar: Diagnosed" we find out that during Reserve Op Team A1's trip to Bolivar that Beagle ends up being killed. I'm not entirely sure how but that part is not important. What is, is that the two new operators, Aphrissa and Pedro, are able to save her soul despite her body dying.

The method in which they do is very interesting, here (also Lorenz is Aphrissa):

They use a sort of dreamscape in order to access Beagle's consciousness in the hopes that they can awaken it despite her body's death so that she may continue existing as a soul and hopefully be brought back later.

Now this does in fact succeed and Beagle is able to continue existing to get an Alter another day (we will come back to that) but it's this dreamscape that is very interesting to me. The very concept is fantastical but it also can reach specifically Beagle's soul and Pedro is a part of it to, essentially working off the three of their memories and this process can awaken Beagle's soul despite her death.

So what exactly is this dreamscape? Well a very important bit of lore is the fact that Aphrissa is a Beast Lord though not by birth. Somewhere in her life she became one, likely due to the experiments the Columbians have been doing in Bolivar. But it's mentioned a few times, I'll use her files:

Miss Christine and the Doctor both sense something in Aphrissa and Aphrissa herself refers to herself as the same as Miss Christine. Now the interesting thing about the situation with Beagle's soul is that Beast Lords themselves are just ghosts and you can see that they have a good bit of deal over souls, for example in "So Long, Adele" Dolly, the sheep Beast Lord, is able to create copies of souls such as Ceylon's mother's soul.

But also Beast Lords have been known to create Dreamscapes in the past too as seen in Portatori and Lappland Alter's Operator Record:

(We will come back to this.)

So Aphrissa is a Beast Lord and as such she can create Dreamscapes and reach others souls as we see her do and it's not the doing of the Black Flow or her equipment. It's purely an ability that she as a Beast Lord has access to from my understanding and I imagine that this will play a large role in the narrative of the event.

Probably not the entire thing as I imagine we will still be navigating the Black Flow, coming across strange sights and what not but that interspersed will be the memories and dreams of various souls within and that the endings will be a mix of things encountered within the Black Flow and memories and dreams.

It would basically work like how Integrated Strategies 6 did in that you have like Ending 1 which can happen just ordinarily. Ending 4 which is a memory the Sui has of the Feranmut hunt and Ending 5 which is a dream that the Sui has for it's revenge.

It also I believe will be similar to Integrated Strategies 1 as Ceobe experiences dreams and from my understanding it also connects to what Integrated Strategies 7 is exploring with Beast Lords and souls and what not. And of course Ceobe is from Bolivar and both are set in rainforests.

Now, to follow up on me saying that that I don't think the storytelling will be limited to the Black Flow is because of this dreamscape and the fact that it's done by Aphrissa because simply put, Aphrissa should be able to bring people outside of the Black Flow into this dreamscape. It's even possible that she can leave the Black Flow and still access it or that this dreamscape retains it's shape even if it's not in the Black Flow possibly.

As such it would be possible for characters who aren't so relevant to the Black Flow, not inside of it etc to still be features in IS7 through entering Aphrissa's dreamscape. Maybe they have to go to her lab in Bolivar but like Aphrissa I don't think joins Rhodes Island after IS7, I think she goes between which does open the door to this scenario.

So for example, Aphrissa and Pedro can go into the Black Flow, interacting with souls within that influence the dreamscape and maybe the dreamscape is like layer 5 or 6 as we start getting into endings 3 and 4. All the memories and however build upon one another so if we get someone outside of the Black Flow be brought into the dreamscape, the dreamscape's shaped after the Black Flow and resembles it up to the ending that's more shaped by memories from somewhere outside the Black Flow.

That's in theory but of course it's not like we're going to get just any character otherwise it loses the theme. So why would we leave the Black Flow and how could it still be relevant? Well, IS7 revolves a lot around Beast Lords and it's mythology.

The disease in the event comes from hounds, made from the Dog Beast Lord. Beagle I think got turned into a creature but her soul is still conscious. Aphrissa is a Beast Lord too. All the enemies are animals, possibly Ancients turned into them due to how Beagle did etc.

So for example the Monthly Squads we get, I wouldn't be surprised if say Miss Christine, Tragodia, Lappland etc were to appear because of their connections to Beast Lords. This proposed ending outside of the Black Flow would be like IS4's 4th ending going to Sargon.

Specifically I'm wondering if Projekt Red could get an ending considering she was raised by a Beast Lord in Caesar, already has had a lot to do with Dreamscapes and maybe just maybe is set up to be like Aphrissa in being a Beast Lord Ancient.

An example of their similarities is this:

Aphrissa unnerves feline Beast Lords similar to how Red unnerves Lupos and also this from Il Siracusano:

This is Zaaro seemingly using the same ability as Red does to scare Lupos, with the next story segment showing Red scaring Crownslayer and both times it emphasizes the cold and uses "Chill" the name of Red's talent.

So both Aphrissa and Red scare their kin and both have a lot to do with dreamscapes. Red has also undergone a lot of examinations from the medical department which we don't really know a lot about but Kal'tsit abruptly stopped and took over citing worry for Red and this was right after learning the effect Red has on Lupos while Aphrissa is a researcher who honestly would be able to continue this research.

Which I think is what the ending would be and why it specifically would tie into Integrated Strategies 7. Aphrissa is a Beast Lord Ancient who uses dreamscapes to explore and learn about the Black Flow which at it's core is all about Beast Lords, whether it's the disease, the nature of animals like Beagle or why the forest moves seemingly being a Beast Lord in and of itself in a way.

Red may not be able to contextualize the Black Flow and it's mysteries necessarily, maybe depending on how much Aphrissa understands about her own condition but that's the thing. Red might well share in Aphrissa's condition and the only thing stopping Red being diagnosed with it or Aphrissa learning more about the relationship between Ancients and Beast Lords and it is Red, especially since it seems that dreamscapes will be what helps Beagle and so maybe Red's situation could help shed light on how to do that being a similar but different, maybe further along the process.

Really there's a lot we can learn I think about this relationship if and it is an if Red is like Aphrissa though I think there's certainly hints.

Not just that though, consider that Red has experience with dreamscapes already. What if Red's poses a different problem than have been dealt with so far because of Caesar's use in there. It's explicitly stated that Caesar has been planting nightmares in Red's head and altering her cognition:

Red's mind, her memories, her dreams have been heavily affected by Caesar and if that all gets unearthed by Aphrissa's dreamscape it could be very interesting honestly same with just how deep Red's issues run that the way to the Ending or what layer the ending is on (as you could think of the levels being a different depth of the dreamscape) would be trickier and decently deep down.

And I just find that interesting on a few levels as well. Would Red need this to develop? Is the suffering Caesar has dealt her just that deep that they literally need to go to her subconscious? Also Aphrissa witnessing how a Beast Lord can harm someone, abuse their abilities and possibly even just having to contend with a Beast Lord powers herself in order to navigate Red's dreamscape.

And I think narratively, now that Caesar is out of Red's life Kal'tsit may want to delve back into the examinations to try and help Red. If word of Aphrissa's work reaches Kal'tsit which it probably would, she may think Aphrissa's research and methods can help Red and with this process and hence why we get this ending.

Which also in this situation, it could be possible that Aphrissa brings Kal'tsit into the dreamscape as well as she's the one who knows Red the most and Kal'tsit is navigating through the harm Caesar has left on Red to reach her subconscious where the ending itself after the bossfight has Kal'tsit talk to Red, help her and then the ending cuts to outside of the dream when Red wakes up and interacts some more with Kal'tsit.

(Also Aphrissa is an Originium technologies researcher and I feel connecting her to Kal'tsit even just a little would be very fitting.)

We've not gotten Red Alter yet and the last Integrated Strategies theme in IS6 was used to set up for the climax of the Sui story with Wang and Ch'en 3 so Integrated Strategies 7 setting up for a future Siracusa event starring Red Alter and similar to how Wang I think gets what he needs for his event, shows Red developing in order to get her Alter with even the possibility of this awakening her Beast Lord abilities...

Well I think it would be really fitting, especially since they introduced Mania as an Elemental Injury type in this IS theme and as Mania comes from beasts they'll need operators to use it and Red honestly would be perfect to.

Which is also partially what I think will happen with Beagle and that she'll follow on from her original self but with the experience of dying, becoming a creature and a soul, will eventually regain her human form back possibly by becoming a Beast Lord Ancient as well and become a Primal Defender who uses Mania.

So IS7's Story Collection event "Bolivar: Diagnosed" has been datamined and you can read the event and operator files now and it's very interesting stuff as predicted but especially in regards to Red's mysteries and theories as I had hoped.

If you know my theory for why Red scares Lupos well, it's confirmed to be possible. So, let's get into that.

If you don't know already, this is the 6* operator for the Story Collection event launching for IS7, Aphrissa:

To cut right to the chase, Aphrissa is to a degree a Beast Lord. In the Black Flow where IS7 takes place, there's a lot of strange things that happen and without spoiling that, another character is turned into a Beast Soul retaining their consciousness but being a Beast after "dying". Aphrissa is a similar situation through things said in the event that I can't get but also in her files where she tells Miss Christine to call her kin after Miss Christine asks her about her "condition" and also says "our kind":

It's vague as to what it is exactly but considering IS7 does turn someone else into a Beast Soul and how multiple characters see something similar in Aphrissa as Miss Christine, a Beast Lord, it's similar enough if not the same to mention.

Now, Aphrissa has parents, she is an Ancient and it's only after she moved to the Bolivar region at age five that sometime after she became a Beast Lord so this makes it canon that Ancients can be and become Beast Lords, that biologically they aren't incapable of it.

How this happened I'm not entirely sure. You could argue that it's the literal Black Flow within the Black Flow, some sort of power that traps souls in it's bounds or it was some sort of machine that did it but I'm not entirely sure and I'm not entirely sure if it's different. For now just focus on the fact it's even possible biologically.

This is huge for me regarding Red, who I've been suspecting to be a Beast Lord ever since Il Siracusano's IS-10 right before the Zaaro bossfight where we get this scene:

From the mention of bottomless fear, to them feeling cold, to the specific choice of word in "Chill" which is the name of Red's Talent and used in literally the next story node, IS-ST-4 to describe how Crownslayer feels upon sensing Red which feels to directly parallel this, I feel it's pretty likely that what Zaaro does is in scaring everyone present is the same thing Red unconsciously has been doing to Lupos.

The fact it's a Beast Lord ability, kind of implying that Red herself is akin to a Beast Lord and now with Aphrissa it is canon that Ancients can be and become Beast Lords through at least one means.

And actually there's one thing about Aphrissa that I think might be a possible nod or just seems similar to Red's situation and it's found in the same file as her conversation with Miss Christine:

Aphrissa tries to pet Miss Christine and Mousse's cats and they act repulsed by her, almost afraid just like how Lupos act around Red.

Now I don't think that this situation is one for one with Red's, in fact I think they're quite different and the Zaaro scene is more comparable but I think breaking this scene down is interesting in regards to Red's so.

First thing, the screenshot I posted before of later in the conversation contextualizes this scene a lot:

Miss Christine asks Aphrissa about her condition to which Aphrissa has to explain that they are the same, that Aphrissa herself is a Beast Lord. Now at first I thought the Feline Beast Lord reactions were because they knew she was one and y'know, it'd be weird if another Beast Lord petted you I would think but that's explicitly not the case: they didn't know she was a Beast Lord and yet they sensed something.

This is really fascinating. They can sense that she is a Beast Lord but not consciously identify that she is one. I think this is why they have the reaction that they do, because they sensed something about her but not knowing what they were weary and confused resulting in an almost fearful reaction to her.

After this conversation they seem to get on just fine, as if identifying what she was feeling reconciled it for Miss Christine.

Now for Red I think this is very interesting for a few reasons. Firstly Aphrissa gets this reaction from Beast Lords specifically, not Feline operators whereas Red gets it solely from Lupo operators and seemingly not Beast Lords. So it's the opposite and like, I would think that Beast Lords if anyone could pick up on this but they don't seem to have, only Lupo operators and maybe animals.

Also the reaction Beast Lords have isn't explicitly fear, more weariness and thinking something is wrong. Contrast that with Zaaro who inspired bottomless fear and there's a big difference, same I think with Miss Christine talking to Aphrissa as to why.

But I think that it's possible that in a similar manner, the Lupo operators sense something from Red regardless of whether it's sensing that she's a Beast Lord or not and generally this is similar enough that I think it's important.

That is the bulk of this. I expect to revisit this topic when IS7 comes out proper with the endings and especially Mania the new Elemental Damage type being explored. In the event it seems connected to "Hound Disease" but Hound Disease isn't something that can be compared to Red in it's current state, there may be something about it but I want to hold on for a little while because I think Mania will be relevant.

So back in May during the 7th anniversary livestream we were introduced to IS7 but also one more thin debuting in that event which is very interesting, particularly to me as a fan of Projekt Red: a new Elemental Damage type in "Mania":

Represented by a pink icon with beast jaws, it's effect as stated in the stream seems to be that it increases the aspd of the target effected while at the same time I believe causing them to take True Damage during the duration and maybe whenever they attack or are attacked.

Now on it's own this is very exciting. We're going to be facing a new element during stages and likely to get Ritualists and Primal Archetype operators who can use it on enemies but for me this new Elemental Damage type in the gameplay suggests it also exists in the lore and that's what I'm interested in.

So where to start? Why with the concept and imagery behind Integrated Strategies 7 of course because trust me, I don't think HG is very subtle about what Mania is but just, look at these:

What should be the most obvious is the heavy imagery around animals, kind of calling to the beast jaws seen in the icon for Mania and the only enemies we see dealing it so far are in fact animals:

But I don't think it's as simple as some zoonotic disease, I think it's something very different. For example let's take a moment to look to the IS7 teaser or more specifically, the official art for it (done by mcmeao on twitter):

So again, there's the focus on animals however these ones aren't so normal looking. These are wearing human clothing, seem to be engaging in human activites like trading, a magic show and using their fists but also evidently they are acting like animals at times, preying on and attacking each other, also like an animal with biting. Also:

No matter how you cut it, there's something abnormal happening here and the first thought would be that these are animals in the process of becoming Ancients as that's a fundamental part of Arknights lore. The Ancients used to be animals but through exposure to Originium became humanoid:

However I would suggest something else. Notice the clothes? For instance the tie on the horse or the trousers on the fish. How do we suppose they managed to both procure them and put them on? IS7 is set inside the Black Flow, a rainforest not many people enter and the horse at least shouldn't be able to put on that tie and collar.

What I suspect happened is rather than animals becoming Ancients, that the Ancients are instead being turned back into animals by some sort of power within the Black Flow akin to a Sarcophagus like Mephisto did and that ultimately, that's what Mania is doing.

Take a closer look at the goat:

I only just realized it but it's wearing a jacket just like the uncanny humanlike animals in the teaser and this is one of the enemies that deals Mania to your operators. I think that the teaser animals aren't just for the teaser but as shown by this goat are accurate to the situation inside the Black Flow and that the people who go inside are becoming animals through Mania.

It's possible maybe that an Ancient-turned-animal can infect others through Mania and that when they encounter another Ancient who presumes them to be just an animal they will attack them, spreading the Mania and causing other Ancients to turn into animals as well.

That's my theory but on top of all of this, I believe that there's another detail to this that could maybe hint towards the origin of Mania because it's not just these jacket wearing goats that deal Mania in the preview but also that big dog.

This is just one of the excerpts that allude to how Hounds were experiments that came out of Bolivar, found in Integrated Strategies 2:

And this is an excerpt from Terra: A Journey (translated from Chinese), hinting that maybe the experiments were on specifically dog Beast Stewards:

The local lupo kin engage in fierce competition for survival, and even today, Syracuse shepherds still consciously drive them away to prevent them from harming livestock. I've also heard a terrifying, unverified rumor that the pero kin were used in military operations in Bolívar, codenamed "Hounds." The Sarkaz show absolutely no affection for the kin, and they wouldn't hesitate to put them on the grill.

Which is very very interesting for this discussion because Beast Stewards are creations of Beast Lords and very much connected to Ancients kind of fundamentally. In the "Sovereign of Beasts: The Unseen Companion" lore video, we learn that originally there were regular animals on Terra but that when the First Catastrophe happened, many died, their spirits being bound to Terra becoming Beast Lords while those who survived became humanoid, Ancients from the exposure to Originium.

Each Beast Lord is an amalgamation of animal souls owing to the kind of ghostly appearances we see from the Signori dei Lupi and Dolly. It also means that some souls can be split off to become lesser versions, Beast Stewards like Mousse's cats or Vigil's wolves and likely the Hounds.

On this, I actually do think that the Hound we see does reflect this a bit more than the others we have seen as of yet if we compare it to the wolf spirits in Lappland Alter's gameplay:

You can see how the wolf spirits teleport from Lappland to the enemy and do those kind of cross attacks. Now look at this, though I apologize for how difficult it will be to see:

The hound teleports from that tile to Varkaris's and disappears however you can see claw marks so it is technically there attacking him and there is something on the tile it teleported from that can be attacked. To me this really resembles what the wolf spirits do which to me confirms that this hound is a Beast Steward and so two things:

It likely comes from a dog Beast Lord, possibly directly and possibly that that Beast Lord is captured or something and thus how it's Beast Stewards are getting experimented on.

A Beast Steward is dealing Mania and if it has any bearing on the lore, then Mania could originate from Beast Lords.

And that is what is so interesting to me because it seems obvious doesn't it? If it's true that Mania is reverting Ancients into animals again and that this event is so focused on animals, that there would be a if not multiple Beast Lords involved with it and that if anyone could achieve that affect that it would be a Beast Lord.

After all we see Dolly, a Beast Lord, turn Ancients' souls into Sheep Beast Stewards in So Long, Adele suggesting that they do hold power over such things and when a Beast Lord like the Dog Lord is possibly being experimented on to create these Hounds, who knows what that results in.

It could be possibly that something went awry with the Beast Lord's ability creating Mania that reverts Ancients into animals, somehow they ended up in the Black Flow and there they attack anyone who they come across spreading Mania which transforms them into animals gradually and they then in turn attack other Ancients, spreading it further.

I can easily imagine IS7 being about seeing these uncanny animal like people in various stages of transformation and even the monthly stories or endings being of varying characters transforming into animals.

But I do want to state, I don't think that Mania is necessarily this in it's entirety. Think of this example as the chaotic insanity that Phantom causes with his singing as opposed to say Mantra's telepathy because end of the day we're likely to get characters who use Mania and I don't think we'll be transforming our enemies into animals, at least not all.

So Mania is likely to take different forms and not just be the version we see in Integrated Strategies. But then what is Mania? How else can we see it? Have we seen it before even?

So remember when I mentioned this is interesting for me as a Projekt Red fan? Yeah. I want to propose that how Red scares Lupos is a form of Mania, a more controlled and not as extreme version of it that we're likely to see in operators that can use it.

Let me show you what I think Mania is going to be with my favourite excerpt from Il Siracusano's IS-10, right before the Zaaro bossfight:

Mania I believe as Neural Impairment is Telepathy, no matter how you cut it (well maybe aside from Carin) I believe that Mania essentially works off of the aforementioned "thread of kinship" or just kinship or the animal side of the Ancients.

Because that's what Zaaro is essentially communicating with here. It's not exactly telepathy, it would be his soul connecting to the soul of the Lupos gathered there to impose upon them his authority as a Beast Lord, as a more powerful soul/amalgamation of souls. Basically similar to how Dolly turned Ancient souls into sheep.

Now I'll forever harp on about how this is what Red does as well. As it says, Zaaro instills "bottomless fear" into the gathered Lupos and it's described as being cold, as specifically a "Chill":

Like I genuinely believe that Il Siracusano was hinting toward why Red scares Lupos through connecting these two scenes through the word Chill as well as to Red's talent, all to imply that Red is using a Beast Lord ability or more specifically: Mania.

Though of course I don't think Red is slowly turning Lupos into actual wolves with this. I wouldn't say that Red is making Lupos act Feral or act of instincts so much either although you can sort of see that sort of reaction in Lappland and Crownslayer:

It's definitely a heightened reaction that Red instills in them that I think you could argue is a more tame and toned down version of what is happening in IS7 besides reverting the people into animals.

This is what I would imagine Ritualists, Primal Archetypes operators would be doing in lore, using kinship to instill certain feelings or making others act feral or with elevated emotions while in gameplay they inflict Mania.

So for the final bit, you would naturally assume that I think/want Projekt Red Alter to be say a Primal Guard or Defender who uses Mania, wouldn't you? Well, I'm not sure honestly. I wouldn't want her to be a ranged operator and using arts or magic in general is strange to me lol.

I think that with how strong Elemental Damage is and that this is basically a gateway to dealing True Damage (putting her in the same club as Kal'tsit, Mon3tr and Amiya) would be cool and good for her as an operator.

I also think that like, making Red an operator who uses Mania should lead to her having a design that reflects it, the inherent wild nature to the Element which Red should by all means have considering her lore and character as arguably the most wild operator we have.

And like, I think that while Red's not turning anyone into an animal that it would be really cool if she became a werewolf which I think this is all very similar to and so it still fits with her character to be connected to this all and that if she did have Mania it could open the door to this and all my theories of her being almost like an Ancient-Beast Lord hybrid kind of being true.

A wild looking, werewolf Red who can now control what scares Lupos into a part of her arsenal and we actually understand as being the newly introduced Mania who does True Damage effectively (and also uses an axe. Gracebearer uses one. It's a part of the archetype.) Would be really really cool and what I want for her Alter.

I think it's a very fun mental image but who knows. I just welcome any possibility that IS7 or it's accompanying event contextualizes Red's situation as I really do think that Mania could explain why Red scares Lupos and I honestly struggle to think of anywhere else we could've seen Mania besides her.

I also welcome Red possibly being an Ending boss for IS7 somehow akin to IS4's 4th Ending or that IS7 in exploring Beast Lords and Mania is actually an elaborate setup for Siracusa 3 as the 8th Anniversary with Red Alter as the limited.

And it's this:

Her mask.

Firstly I just think it kind of stands out against the rest of her outfit, like yeah most of her outfit has utility to it, like the windbreaker or the stormflaps but all of it is just clothing, besides her bag she doesn't have any like equipment or tactical gear.

Besides the mask of course. Like her design resembles something that someone would actually wear say during a storm minus the knives. The mask doesn't really fit that collection.

But you do see masks like it all over Rhodes Island, specifically among those actually wearing it's uniform. Specifically in Episode 8 we see the Doctor and Kal'tsit's squads put the masks on due to iirc originium dust in the air and here is how it looks:

And here is Red's:

Definitely distinct but if you look at predominantly the Reserve Operators, most of their masks are distinct from one another but retains the core elements of it covering mostly the nose and mouth and having parts that extend from the side.

Some examples:

But also what I think would be the biggest point towards is has got to be:

Kal'tsit herself as she's the one who got everyone to wear a mask in Episode 8 I believe and being the head of the medical department I would imagine prioritizes the use of said equipment by personnel and of course she took Red in.

And like, a point is made about Red's exposure to Originium in her Clinical Analysis:

It's probably one of the things that Kal'tsit taught Red about and emphasized to her, that she needs to protect herself against Originium and use a mask. Like, I don't think Red would ever think to use a mask prior to meeting Kal'tsit. Caesar is stated to have only taught Red how to kill so likely never warned her about Originium much less to use a mask and Red not knowing any of this isn't likely to have grabbed it for herself.

So I imagine that it was early on that Kal'tsit gave Red that mask, likely emphasizing how important it is that she uses it and teaching her both how and when to use it. Red would probably say that she doesn't really understand but she does as Kal'tsit tells her if asked.

Of course when it first comes up, Caesar uses it as a weapon to Red. She spent her whole life trying to help Caesar, protect her from True Wolves, people that Red despises and Caesar says that she is one and insinuates they (her) still need to be killed.

But it's kind of become something bigger than just a cruel weapon in Caesar's hand. It continues on into Lappland Alter's operator record:

Here it feels more about Red's nature and struggles. She has a unique situation even among Siracusans and those similarly aligned with the wilderness in that Red is sort of devoid of civilization. Like Lappland yearns for the wilderness but she's still very much connected to civilization, more decadent than fully removed.

And even Lunacub who is the closest a character could get to Red isn't "a true wolf":

Love that Emperor of all people is saying that about Red.

But as Caesar says, Red won't be able to integrate into society because she's the truest wolf, an animal not a human, destined to forever stay in the wilderness in spirit... except it's kind of very tragic.

For one how could Red be the truest wolf when you have literal Lords of Wolves in this world? And ignoring how the Signori are, couldn't Red still fit in with wolves? Well, kind of not. See this is a bit of a reoccurring thing said about the Signori but especially Caesar:

The Signore dei Lupi are called humanlike by Lappland numerous times and if you look at it, through Lappland the wolfpack are integrating into society. Signori like Agnese or Zaaro you could say are doing a particular good job of it.

But Red? Red would struggle to integrate into society even when the Signori can. Literal and actual wolves would do better than her, that's in a way makes the comment of her being the truest wolf even more cruel. She's the truest wolf, the only wolf who can't integrate into society.

But also in Red's module:

The maze is society which as it states she can't integrate into but the wilds don't need her either and in effect she can't belong in either. With Caesar gone it's not like she can return to her home. It's kind of a point of her module as a whole, how she doesn't have anywhere to go and is just using Rhodes as a pitstop while she finds her path:

But Red at this point in time doesn't belong to the wilderness, can't integrate into society and even Rhodes is up in the air with her having already left it and Kal'tsit dying.

Tragically it's the same for her identity. I'd talk about how Red can't be a hunter anymore because there's no more wolves left to hunt but it makes this next bit confusing but still.

With what Caesar said to Red and in fairness revealed as Red had been out trying to murder people innocent of what she was accusing them, Red is left with this question:

And I feel this is the culmination of the "true wolf" thing, this question over her identity and what she is and I think that another thing I find fascinating about it is I feel like it connects to one of the main themes of Siracusa, present from Il Siracusano and still there for Portatori.

Remember Ben? The guy who was a critic of the theatre but also kind of critiqued life itself through a similar lens? This guy:

Ever noticed the book he holds has a title?:

It's a bit annoying to make out but it's Steppenwolf, a real book.

I won't claim to have read it or know exactly what it's about but from my understanding a big part of the book, including it's namesake is on how the main character Harry Haller sees himself as having a divided nature. That of a man living in civilization and a wolf, yearning to be free in the wilderness.

You can see how this relates to Siracusa as a whole, although it's definitely the case that Ben in all this oddities is mean to evoke Harry Haller himself. The thing about Red though is that her situation is kind of the opposite to Harry Haller's and a bit deceptive.

Because where Harry Haller yearns to be free like the wolf, Red is the wolf who can't integrate into society. In fact where the wolf kind of represents the freedom that Harry Haller cannot get, the wolf for Red is the prison except she doesn't really yearn for freedom.

That's the thing about whether she is a huntress or a wolf. While it seems on the surface to be the same man or wolf dilemma, both restrain her to the wilderness and her suffering. A huntress is not human in this, it's just someone slaying wolves in all the awful ways that Red imagines them and some people see wolves.

If Red picked one she'd still suffer and be alone, neither get her closer to integrating into society. Instead the direction I think this is going in is other options will be introduced to shatter the perception Red has that she must be limited to what she knows and has been. And I don't think the new options she will have to pick from either.

Things like being Kal'tsit's ward, Ascalon's protégé, a S.W.E.E.P operative I do not think Red will chose one of and therefor integrate and put these struggles behind her. I think that Red will have to accept that she is all of them, that there's much more to her than any one option or even a dozen options. That where she's trying to fit into one identity as she had a huntress, she can have many facets to her identity and find more.

I think that a similar thing happens in Steppenwolf, that despite him thinking that he had this divided nature that was at war with each other, that he was both and much more and he has to confront this fact although how that goes I don't know, I think it's open ended.

But anyway this has been my thoughts on Red's character, development and themes. There's more to it and I think if you better understand Steppenwolf you could get more out of her story and Siracusa as a whole. It's very much civilization and the wilderness, man and wolf.

And personally I think in Red understanding that she is both huntress, wolf and human that she should become a werewolf.

(Also I apologize for any Steppenwolf inaccuracies.)

Edit: I don't think that Steppenwolf actually yearns to be a wolf or free necessarily, the story kind of pushes him in that direction of a hedonistic lifestyle which Harry deemed negatively as being like a wolf because he overthinks things too much.

Being a man, particularly in the bourgeoisie he hates, thinking he's above them and their rules but he also thinks being a wolf is awful despite how he also wishes to be free from the bourgeoisie lifestyle he has.

And with that understanding I think it actually makes Red's huntress or wolf dilemma even more resonant. Inherently the huntress and the wolf hunt each other and are at odds with one another. Likewise the bourgeoisie man and the wolf are.

The exact same thing happened to Revenants. They were Teekaz with Farchaser, the first King of the Sarkaz who died when he used the Amnannam and created the first Catastrophe, becoming spirits.

Oh and also:

So for the 7th anniversary, Episode 17 of the main story we got Kal'tsit Alter or Kal'tsit - Esperanta as the limited character and there's two things I largely want to talk about in regards to her, one being her name and another being about her physical health.

Starting off with her name, Esperanta, is essentially the feminine form of Esperanto, an international auxiliary language which the creator, L. L. Zamenhof hoped would unite people, foster peace and allow all to share knowledge with one another. Which is very fitting for Kal'tsit as a character and her ties to Babel which in the biblical story was about everyone speaking one language and then being unable to communicate with one another as they all ended up speaking different ones.

But one thing about it that I find especially interesting and I don't think I've seen anyone else bring up is that the name is more important to Kal'tsit than most other Alter names.

See when there's an Alter there's always one of two options. Either they get a sort of title added onto their name like the unchained, invincible, omertosa etc. Or they get a new name essentially like Vina Victoria, Wis'adel, Tragodia.

I believe that largely only the latter option is canon and used by the operator whereas the former tends not to appear in universe besides ones like Nearl the Radiant Knight.

Kal'tsit's however is maybe like Wis'adel's but pretty unique. It's like a blend between the two options. See, Kal'tsit - Esperanta is canon as shown by her File 4:

And what got me to talk about it is over on CN they just released the in-universe reports on the event that they like to do, for Episode 17. Two are from Ursus I believe but the last report is done by Kal'tsit and at the bottom of it she signs her name:

Kal'tsit Esperanta.

So yeah, while I was wondering whether her File 4 really meant she was using it as her real name as opposed to a codename, this sealed the deal for me that Kal'tsit has officially taken a surname in Esperanta.

And believe it or not this is also a nod to L. L. Zamenhof and the real life Esperanto in a really fun way. See when L. L. Zamenhof finished the introduction and complete textbook for what he was calling at the time, Lingvo Internacia (meaning International Language in Esperanto), he didn't publish it under his own name but instead under a pseudonym:

Doktoro Esperanto, meaning Doctor who Hopes.

And as Kal'tsit is herself a doctor you could say that she herself is now Dr. Esperanta, a fun nod to L. L. Zamenhof's pseudonym which he published his textbook on and would later become what this language is referred to now, Esperanto.

Also before moving onto the next point, I just like the idea of using this surname for headcanons and ideas. Like Red? Family is very important to her and in Siracusa family names are very important so cementing that Kal'tsit and her are family by Red gaining the Esperanta surname is fun.

I'd love to see Red exclaim she's from famiglia Esperanta to a confused and terrified Vigil.

It can also probably work for other characters like Mon3tr. Also if you ship Kal'tsit with anyone and want to imagine them being married, well Esperanta is on the table for that. It'd just be fun to call her Esperanta in general though.

My second point as I mentioned is about Kal'tsit's physical health. See there's a few lines in her files that draw attention to the fact that she's very weak physically at the moment, to the point that she largely can't move on her own without the core mechanism of the sarcophagus i.e. the device that lets her float.

Now it's important context that this Kal'tsit isn't the biomechanical being that we've known her as, AMa-10 created by the Predecessors. Through the Sarcophagus, I think, Kal'tsit Alter is a fully mortal human and as such she can die, get ill etc.

And as it appears she's very physically weak. It's kind of vague as to how much this affects her and if it's long term or temporary but a big deal is made of the fact that she is weak and she needs a device to sustain her life force which she wouldn't be able to move without.

To me it sounds like Kal'tsit has a mobility disability of some kind and requires a mobility aid, in her case the core mechanism of the sarcophagus I believe?

And while I can't say this is definitely the case, I've not read Episode 17 nor when Kal'tsit appears at the very end (also I don't think we spend much time with her. It feels like a Mon3tr situation where she only appears at the end and we'll likely actually get to see her and explore her health in a future main story episode or something.) I do like the idea of it.

Also to explore it further, this is Kal'tsit - Esperanta's description:

It says that she gained hope which is very fitting to her name which in Esperanto means hope but it also outright says she gained disability which I would say refers to her weak physical state at the moment.

There's also her sprite for me:

With the context that the core mechanism of the sarcophagus is functioning as a sort of mobility aid for her akin to say a wheelchair, I find it very interesting that Kal'tsit's base sprite portrays her in a sitting position. Her legs being at that angle as well as her knees bent just give that impression to me.

So I like the idea of Kal'tsit having such a disability and whether it's the core mechanism of the sarcophagus which floats or an actual wheelchair, I like the thought of her using such.

I do think it's the case that she can walk and isn't floating everywhere in a sitting position as her base sprite walks and I think she's shown to be standing in a cg so don't take this as anything but a headcanon with maybe a shred of truth in it.

(Although like, AK is all about doctors and medicine, we're a pharmaceutical company, many characters already have disabilities and use like hearing aids, prosthetics and wheelchairs. I don't see why they wouldn't commit with Kal'tsit but at the same time I genuinely don't think they have and I've seen no one talk about it but anyway.)

So update on official Projekt Red appearances.

As the 7th anniversary is Episode 17 and Kal'tsit returning with an Alter, I was really hoping that Red would appear in something with Kal'tsit. I think enough time has passed that most things are out and...

Red didn't appear in Kal'tsit Alter's theme or her special Limited promotional video. She doesn't appear in the event or even Kal'tsit Alter's files and voicelines. Nor does she appear in Kal'tsit Alter's 123 comic pages or anything to do with Closure...

However Viy? The Ursus Commander? The only 6* who isn't a core part of Rhodes Island? The kuranta?:

I am gobsmacked that the one and only time that Red appears in the event revolving around the person she loves the most in the world and it's in the 123 comic of the 6* who she would never have met.

I want to say that maybe Red was considered for Kal'tsit Alter's 123 comics or something prompting this but it's just so wild it's in Viy's of all characters this update.

That said I will take it. Red appearing is always a blessing and the fact that here she's making an Ursus Commander, a descendant of the nightzmora who are all about fear, run in fear from Red without even seeing her or being a Lupo, is wild.

So this post is about Kal'tsit and Projekt Red because of Kal'tsit Alter and her coming back from the dead. More specifically it's about the fact that Projekt Red doesn't make any appearance in this event.

Not in Episode 17's cgs, not in Episode 17's story, not in Kal'tsit Alter's voice lines, not in Kal'tsit Alter's files, not even in Folinic's operator record.

We get shots like this around this event but we don't see Projekt Red who is explicitly stated to have been raised by Kal'tsit anywhere:

However as devastated as I am about Red being nowhere to be seen, annoyingly and I mean very annoyingly I think I can understand why it is that Red wasn't in this event and it's because they're setting up for Red to have a bigger moment with Kal'tsit Alter.

Arguably the biggest moment for Red that could result in her Alter.

Like firstly: Folinic's operator record because Folinic isn't in Episode 17 however the devs as you would expect do want to address that fact and I think it's quite interesting how they do it.

It takes place just before everyone in the Ursus mission is about to leave. Folinic gets Mudrock to help her with various tasks involved around the Ursus mission and the impression that Mudrock gets is that Folinic is also leaving for Ursus for revenge and to "trade her life for Kal'tsit" and is basically doing these expecting to die.

It's a wonderful Mudrock moment but Folinic explains that she misunderstood. See in actuality, Folinic is staying on Rhodes Island. With Kal'tsit's death Warfarin ended up filling her shoes and promoted Folinic too and as Folinic is in an administrative position she got Mudrock to help her with varying things including organizing a defense for Rhodes Island as many Elite Operators will be on the Ursus mission.

She explains that she used to think that her life was all about revenge however what Kal'tsit showed her, the love and care put into Rhodes Island, it showed Folinic a different path. She knew she wasn't as strong as many others on the mission despite being invited to join and decided to stay behind and make sure Rhodes was in a good shape when Kal'tsit returns so she'd be happy.

It's not only a great moment of character development for Folinic but it shows that the devs are trying to not just address those close to Kal'tsit but explain why they weren't on the Ursus mission.

It's also similar to Crownslayer's operator record from People, A People, wherein Crownslayer is denied going on the Ursus mission. She goes to Siracusa and gets presented with various options to not go to Ursus or to prolong it, something her oprec states is what she's always done: avoided Ursus and the truth. But she confronts herself and gets the resolve to finally do so.

As such I feel like it's not that Red has been neglected and more so that they have something else planned to do Red's character, her arc and their relationship more justice and I think that one detail about Kal'tsit Alter will be what it revolves around. Read these:

A big point is made about Kal'tsit's health and while the overall message might be that she will regain her strength in time, right now she can't move without the core mechanism of the sarcophagus and there's a lot of worry about her health from other operators.

This I believe is what is so pertinent to Red and why Red doesn't appear in Episode 17, Kal'tsit's files or voicelines and what will result in Red getting the development she needs to finally get her Alter.

See Red was the Fang of the Signore dei Lupi Caesar except unlike other Fangs who knew about the game and their role in it, Caesar manipulated Red, telling her a lie in order to make Red try harder to win. How did Caesar accomplish this? By leveraging her own physical wellbeing.

Caesar played the loving grandma figure to Red however sometime into the act she tricked Red, using her Beast Lord ability to alter Red's perception into seeing her as having been mutilated. She made Red believe she had her arms and eyes eaten by the other Fangs and lied that she was fading out of existence all to make Red fear she was losing the only person in her life and the only person she loved when in reality, Caesar was perfectly fine.

Portatori establishes this as being Red's primary motivation and the goal she's held her entire life. Throughout Portatori we see her worried for Caesar's health and trying to save her. Effectively it characterizes Red as Caesar's caretaker, a granddaughter working her hardest to help her ill grandmother and while we don't really see in game Red act like this towards Kal'tsit, there is a scene in the anime where she worries for Kal'tsit:

Which brings us to Episode 17 and Kal'tsit Alter because Red went through all of this, Caesar leveraging her health to make Red loyal, Red trying so hard to save her, finally doing so only to be abandoned. She puts her emotions in Kal'tsit's trust only for Kal'tsit to die and Red's worst nightmare just came true.

And then? Kal'tsit returns and she returns having to be on life support, unable to move without the sarcophagus core mechanism and not used to this body. I think in Red's eyes, Kal'tsit's current state would be akin to what Caesar pretended to be like. Red may worry that Kal'tsit could fade away like Caesar did, maybe Kal'tsit can't do certain things with Red just like how Caesar couldn't and Red has already love both Caesar and Kal'tsit before.

Kal'tsit Alter with Kal'tsit's physical state could put Red back where she was with Caesar, effectively replicating what Caesar used to manipulate Red and making Red a caretaker again in Red's eyes.

And I think that's going to be what gives Red the development she needs because it's going to make her confront the very thing that denied her independence, that made her emotionally dependent on Caesar.

I imagine that Red will end up trying to care for Kal'tsit, maybe even at the cost of her own mental state but Kal'tsit will identify what's happening with Red and guide her to, well probably not being so dependent on just one person.

Like Red's biggest issue is her inability to integrate into society because it's unfamiliar and scary to her and relying on one person is much more safe for Red. Caesar probably made Red think that anything besides Caesar herself is terrifying and then made Red fear Caesar's death in order to make Red work hard to stop her from dying.

Kal'tsit however, she's accepted her own death, died, come back to life and accepts her mortality and I think she's going to help Red come to terms with the fact that Kal'tsit will one day die and that Red needs more people in her life and to integrate into society, into Rhodes Island and be able to stand on her own feet.

Which is a really heartwrenching story to tell if it is what they are and I think it makes sense why they would want to give this story the time and attention that it deserves.

When and where this story gets told, I'm not sure. It could be an operator record for either of them really, it could be something they squeeze into like the beginning of a main story chapter. I'd say aim for October but it could really be whenever.

But then if this happens, Red would likely be integrating into Rhodes Island, making friends, being more willing to learn and find her own beliefs. Then maybe just maybe she'll want to even things out with Caesar or Siracusa or something.

But regardless I think this would be the final step before Red gets her Alter where she's not a wolf hunter and not Caesar's Fang but she's her own person, a member of Rhodes Island and who has her own family.

For reference:

Like a collab focusing on Siracusans and you're not going to have a reference to Amiya's Siracusan sister?

So with the livestream for the 7th anniversary of Arknights we got introduced to the 7th Integrated Strategies theme: The Black Flow of the Drowning Seekers:

And I have various thoughts about it including why I find this IS theme in particular to be very funny but first just some background:

This Integrated Strategies theme is set in Bolivar and specifically the Black Flow, a unnatural rainforest with trees so large they block sunlight from getting in, has an abnormal humidity that creates massive rivers and has reported to be literally moving from where it once was, possibly due to collapsals influencing it.

But I want to take a step back to the first Integrated Strategies theme: Ceobe's Fungimist to explain what's so funny.

During "The Great Chief" returns event we are introduced to Acahualla, a region in Sargon but which is quite obviously based on the Amazon Rainforest. The Bolivarian Perro Ceobe is present in the cast and after eating some mushrooms during this event she ends up splitting off and basically becomes the star of her own event, the first Integrated Strategies theme kinda loosely based in Acahualla.

Now I bring this up because it's always bugged me that Acahualla is in Sargon when what it's based off of and a lot of the operators are inspired by the Amazon Rainforest of South America, kinda making it that it should be located in Bolivar instead. That the devs just separated the rainforest and varying Mesoamerican civilizations from Bolivar and just put them in Sargon which yeah they kind of did.

Come Lone Trail several years later we finally get Ho'olheyak, a Kukulkan based off the feathered serpents of found in Mesoamerican cultures and apparently her family come from Sargon as well...

But here's what I find funny about Integrated Strategies 7 because suddenly in The Masses' Travels we get introduced to Gracebearer, another Kukulkan however she is actually from Bolivar which is curious enough as is because I thought Kukukans were from Sargon?

But then here we are with Integrated Strategies 7, set in the Black Flow, a Bolivarian Rainforest likely also based off of the Amazon Rainforest a full six themes after the first and it's like the devs have walked back their initial decision of putting this rainforest in Sargon and coincidentally, Ceobe is Bolivarian so it really is just full circle back to IS1. This time we're actually going to explore the rainforest as well.

But on that note I do have a theory about Intergrated Strategies 7.

See we get introduced to some very interesting people in the teaser for this theme. I'll share the concept art but please go find the original artist for it on Twitter by the name of: mcmeao.

Assuming that these are representative of what IS7 will be like, what's most prominent to me is how uncannily these creatures are a combination of human and animal like traits.

They wear human like clothes, seem to try to barter with one another or to throw fists like humans but also they'll bite each other or seemingly eat others like them.

They also seem to have human hands and maybe even human like teeth?

It's kind of reminiscent of the bear in Episode 16 of the main story.

Or how we know that animals turned into Ancients through exposure to originium:

In this case they would perhaps be at the second stage in this example.

And so I think this is very purposeful and that actually yes they are in an in-between stage between Ancients and animals. The only question is how is this the case? And I'll proffer two possibilities:

Due to the Black Flow being unexplored and it's bustling ecosystem, perhaps there has been a large amount of animals who live here. We know that there are at least one Beast Lord due to the Dog Lord. Maybe originium or Okka or even the collapsals are now turning them into Ancients?

More horrifyingly maybe it's the opposite way around. We know that various explorers and conspiracy theorists as well as Maylander agents have been sent into the Black Flow. Maybe something in there, possibly the Collapsals have a way of reverting these people into their original forms or at least partially. That's why these animals wear clothing, because they were once ancients but now they've been regressed into this state.

Which one it is, who knows at this point. It's possible that this teaser isn't actually representative of what IS7 will actually be like although I'd wager it is to some extent and I wonder what more there is to it.

But on the second possibility. Remember when I brought up Ho'olheyak? Remember what her goal in Lone Trail was? To find a way to make herself into a Kukulkan like her ancestors were, as they were before originium turned them into Ancients.

Isn't it then coincidental? That Kukulkans and a rainforest based on the Amazon now exist in Bolivar and that there may be something there reverting Ancients back into animals? And what was that one detail again...?

Oh yeah, Maylander are actively involved with the Black Flow and sending agents inside.

So Kukulkans are now connected to Bolivar, something in the Black Flow might be reverting Ancients into their original forms and Maylander are involved.

I'd honestly be impressed at this point if Ho'olheyak wasn't involved in some way shape or form and that's kind of fitting way to put it too.

Like when I heard we were getting a Bolivarian Integrated Strategies I was shocked because we don't have many Bolivarian operators who could be used for this theme much less for the Integrated Strategies special of operator bosses. Like:

These are the Bolivarian operators and I feel we'd get pretty far away from the Black Flow and what it is were were to make these operators bosses. The only one I could picture well enough is Ceobe but she already has a boss and was already in IS1.

But honestly a Ho'olheyak boss where she has gone into the Black Flow maybe with Maylander, found the thing that is reverting Ancients into their original pre-originium forms and we fight her as a boss only for her second phase to be her finally becoming a Kukulkan like her ancestors and we fight a flying feathered serpent boss would be really interesting.

Also since Portatori we've gotten an operator kit mechanic that the devs have been playing around with but we haven't really gotten to fully utilize and that's the take-off mechanic inherent to Skyranger Specialists, Skybreaker Snipers and Watchmen Medics. A flying tanky boss in IS could be perfect for this mechanic.

Now I can't say whether this will happen or if it would be the 5th ending boss and ending but it certainly sounds like a fun idea and maybe the most plausible as of right now, at least to me. It would connect Bolivar and Columbia, pay off on Ho'olheyak's story, be fanservice and play with an interesting world building facet with Ancients reverting to their original forms.

I wonder what the general concepts, themes and vehicle if you were of Integrated Strategy 7 will be. I imagine that we'll be seeing through the eyes of explorers, possibly for a group like Maylander? We'll have to see but that's my thoughts on Integrated Strategies 7.

I'd like to point out that we do kind of see the IS7 main character in the teaser trailer:

(This is a spoiler free version hence the blocks)

The red line is every time that Red appears or is mentioned in an event so in order:

The launch and specifically Episode 4 - 4-1, 4-2 & 4-7

Operational Intelligence - Afterschool Homework

Episode 6 - 6-11

Dossoles Holiday - DH-4 & DH-7

Il Siracusano - IS-ST-4

I Portatori dei Velluti

Then finally Episode 15 - 15-3 & 15-21

The circles are for when Red received something (not counting voice actors) so:

Dossoles - Skin

Near Light - Module

Yeah unfortunately that's it. Red hasn't gotten another skin, an oprec or paradox sim yet but at least those are things to look forwards to.

The speech bubbles are for when Red appears in another operator's files, voicelines or operator record:

Not included but Launch she is mentioned in the other Lupos so Texas, Lappland and Provence's voicelines and Lappland's file on launch.

Episode 6 - Technically just before she's mentioned in Reed's files as a loner

Under Tides - Gladiia's... also for being reclusive

Il Siracusano - Lunacub's files

Babel - Ascalon's files

Portatori - Crownslayer and Lappland Alter's files

Episode 15 - Mon3tr's files and voicelines

Ave Mujica collab - In Lappland Alter's operator record

So Kal'tsit Alter as the Watchman Medic archetype's 6* after it was just introduced like a few events ago, kind of wild and a little strange. Kal'tsit is not known for flying and yet she can fly longer than Leizi can. What gives? Why this archetype for her?

Well with her reveal we also are getting a Kal'tsit comic:

You can see from the cover all the different forms of Kal'tsit over 13,000 years and yes top left is also one as it's what Kal'tsit originally looked like before she took on the appearance of a Lynx as you can also see. But here's a better look at it:

You can kind of tell that it's flying above the water and that kind of as such, Kal'tsit started off as this flying being before she took on the appearance of a Lynx and then of an Ancient that we know today and if you look at her Alter:

The machine that she comes with and the general design is reminiscent of her original form as this flying machine surveying the surroundings so Kal'tsit being a Watchman Medic kind of makes sense as a kind of emulation of what she started off as.

Hell to be honest considering we're using the sarcophagus she might even return as that form in some way before then taking this form again. That's just a bit of speculation but I think that it's a cool way to explain Kal'tsit's archetype and newfound (or newly returned) ability to fly.

Kind of want to imagine her floating through the halls of Rhodes Island surveying the area like she used to in a very eerie way.

Just disappointing to me that Red didn't appear anywhere considering her relationship with Kal'tsit. I was really hoping to be able to gush about any appearance and how she appears with Kal'tsit but I guess there's nothing

Like Red could still appear in the event, Kal'tsit Alter's files and the comic but it's disappointing that she doesn't appear anywhere in this stream. Like they could have just teased Red somewhere and that'd be something. It just feels like Red is insignificant to Kal'tsit in the eyes of HG and it's only when they're doing something with Red is their relationship relevant which shouldn't be the case due to Episode 15.