Salt and Dissertation

For an event that was supposedly the story which wraps up the whole of Integrated Strategies #2 and gives us the closures to the stories of the survivors of the Crimson Troupe, all we got was essentially a recap? They gave us the story of IS#2 and then before the event dropped they gave us the manga talking about Shalem and Lucian’s pasts, and the event story just— rehashed all of that. And even then, that wasn’t the focus of the story of Act or Die; the focus was on this entire murder mystery on a set of characters that weren’t connected to the Troupe at all.

When our survivors did show up, it was at the very end of the event in a quick cameo that told us absolutely nothing in terms of where they are after like, two to three years post the events of IS#2 (Because give or take the time between IS#2 and Act or Die was in fact two to three years); It told us nothing about Playwright who I doubt most new players knew existed and told us nothing about how Shalem’s doing either— Let’s focus on that.

Shalem is my original favorite purple boy when it comes to Arknights as a whole, truth be told. I love his voice, I love his demeanor, and I love his crazy little laugh when you activate his skill. Because of that, I struggled through playing IS#2 when I didn’t have a single E2 operator to my name just so that I could get him and find out what his deal is.

What I found from him was honestly fascinating!

He was a kind boy taken into the Crimson Troupe the same time that Lucian was, and his kindness provided a sort of sanctuary within the cutthroat environment that the Troupe fostered. This led to him being treated poorly within the Troupe as he was unable to perform the sort of bloodthirst that they wanted out of their members, and that led to him escaping from what’s essentially a drama murder cult.

He came to Rhodes Island, gave himself a new name, and mentioned absolutely nothing of the Troupe until it was FORCED out of him— Hell, when he found out that Lucian was also at Rhodes he ‘ran away for an age’ only to be forced back when Lucian went missing in the events of IS#2 (see Shalem’s Archive File 2).

He was forced to wear a dramatic ‘mask’ to hide his sweet and gentle self and be able to survive the cruelty and insanity of the Troupe, and after he left, he allowed himself to be that kind self once more and even set hard boundaries about how he wanted to interact with his past.

Out of the three survivors we know (him, Lucian, and Playwright), he truly did survive the Troupe, though he’s still suffering from the nightmares of what they forced him to do and the hallucinations that seem pretty common amongst Crimson Troupe members.

For a time I always wondered what exactly is it that made Shalem avoid Lucian like the plague and I always thought it was simply because Lucian was the Troupe’s ‘Blood Diamond’ and the most beloved by the Troupe Master.

I got that question answered in Act or Die; Shalem and Lucian hatched an escape plan that went awry and Lucian stayed behind while Shalem ran away.

There was always a conflict of interest and experiences between Shalem and Lucian that led to them being unable to properly connect with each other.

Shalem felt alive amongst people while Lucian felt alive on the stage,

Shalem hated playing the roles assigned to him while Lucian thrived in it,

Shalem was unable to do and is haunted by the things he was forced into within the Troupe, while Lucian sees them as simply unfortunate things that happened.

Narratively, they were supposed to be each other’s foil.

….So then what the hell happened in the ending of Act or Die?

Shalem, our Shalem, who has been shown to want nothing to do with the Troupe or even the theatre stage in general anymore, who set hard boundaries on only discussing that part of his life when prompted, who wants to break away completely and fully from that part of his life that we had to force him back for IS#2, our Shalem that avoided Lucian like the plague— is now joining Lucian’s new ‘troupe’?

Our Shalem, that in his Operator record wants a normal life so badly that he’s miserably suffering through the hallucinations and nightmares of the Troupe still haunting him, joined Lucian’s new ‘troupe’?

It’s not even a forced hand situation. Playwright had to cajole him into a response— HELL, PLAYWRIGHT WAS THE ONE THAT INVITED SHALEM AND HIMSELF. Lucian simply stated his goals, and then says that he (and Playwright) are free to do as they please. It’s simply that Lucian wants to perfect HIS art, wants to perfect HIS drama now that he has these abilities, and he wants to reform the Troupe because really, it truly is only him that could do so. And thus, because of their shared history, Lucian is opening the ‘troupe’ to them.

Why didn’t Shalem say no?

This was the wrap-up event for the entire IS#2 story and the Crimson Troupe members we have on Rhodes Island payroll. We got to see Shalem nearly the same amount of times we did Lucian in the flashback sequences, and we saw that, again, not only was there a conflict of interest, but Shalem chose to leave Lucian behind— because Lucian chose the Troupe, the Troupe that harmed Shalem, the Troupe that forced kindhearted Shalem to see death and cruelty on a massive scale that he simply could not handle.

Shalem was right to leave the Troupe, don’t get me wrong on that. The Crimson Troupe was a cesspool of insanity, and there’s definitely something inherently different with Lucian for him to be able to thrive in such an environment.

Shalem experienced DECADES of suffering because of that Troupe from childhood to his debut to adulthood, decades that Lucian would never understand because he was beloved by the Troupe Master and thus had more leeway than the regular actor within the Troupe.

He left and ensured he stayed gone until he was forced back into it simply because he’s the only one that knew anything out of the entire Rhodes Island, and he was reluctant about it the whole way. (see Shalem’s Talk 1, Talk after Trust Increase 1, Promotion 2, and IS#2 Monthly Squad - Today’s Teatime)

So why, in this moment, didn’t he decline the invitation?

Shalem’s character is back to square 1; he’s back on the stage he hates, he’s back to shadowing Lucian who doesn’t need to be shadowed and who he’s already had a falling out with, he’s back at the river and instead of cutting ties for good, he’s returned to the Hell he knows and fought so hard to leave BY HIS OWN CHOICE.

It doesn’t make any sense. Any sort of established character we got from Shalem went out the window in favor of— what, keeping the Crimson Troupe survivors together just in case they do more Crimson Troupe content in the future?

Normally I praise Arknights’ story writing, but this wasn’t the best choice. If anything, I wish we’d gotten Shalem giving a firm no and at most being an intermediary between Rhodes Island and Lucian’s new ‘troupe’ at the very most.

His own way of fighting and overcoming the demons of the Crimson Troupe is to simply live an normal life. Not all of us have to kill Ageless beings and absorb their duties and essence.

I still love Shalem. I do. But this? This is not it, #notmyshalem