#InFAMOUS theories

[codenamehazard]

InFAMOUS Theory: The Origin of the Conduit Gene

Genetics; the study of genes, genetic variation and heredity in organisms. A study that records the wonderfully complex and rich tapestry that is Life all the way back to the first things that had DNA and RNA. Records of a history rich in trials and tribulations of billions of species, all fighting to find their niche in the ecosystem so they may survive and thrive, to pass on their genes to the next generation. A truly beautiful field of science.

With Earth being the death-planet it is, constantly trying to kill its inhabitants one way or another. Ever since the beginning of Life, organisms fought like hell to eke out a living. To continue on and not become the fuel for something else’s survival. Time marches on- environments change, become hostile for some and an Eden for others. For any to survive, they must adapt, and to adapt, mutations happen. Some mutations were beneficial, allowing the organism to survive better or adapt to the new environment. Some were neutral, neither help nor hindrance. Some were detrimental, harming the species’ chances for survival. As organisms adapt and change, nature does what it does best: weeds out the garden of Life. Those that adapted enough to survive and reproduce continued on, their genes successfully passed down. Those who didn’t went extinct; a dead end of that particular lineage.

We know somewhere in this tapestry, the Conduit gene would arise and sow the seeds of the Prime Conduits who would shape the world, for better or for worse, but we don’t know the why, the how, the when or the history of a gene that turns humans into demi-gods.

With this theory, I hope to maybe answer those questions in a way that makes sense.

—---

Let’s start with what we know.

The Conduit gene is a naturally occurring, recessive gene that is dormant at birth, but when activated can give one incredible powers. In a semi-populated area, one in every 16 people will be a carrier of the Conduit gene. The gene is also carried by rats and chimpanzees and the gene also creates a physical characteristic that only certain individuals (namely John White aka The Beast and Cole MacGrath after John gave him the ability) can see. This physical characteristic is seen as a glowing yellow nerve-like bundle in the chest, near the spinal cord.

Another thing of note is that even before activation, a Conduit positive individual seems to have higher than average durability, the prime example being Cole’s accident with a freight truck prior to the events of InFAMOUS. The accident should have at the least permanently disabled him, if not outright killed him, but he survived the accident with only minor injuries.

Three activation methods have been seen, Ray Sphere detonation, an unknown method used on Lucy Kuo for her activation, and extreme environmental stress. 

—--

Now, onto the theory.

With rodents and primates both having the gene, it stands to reason that this gene would go back at least as far as the closest common ancestor shared by both mammal types. Such ancestors dating back into the Cretaceous Period, the Age of the Dinosaurs.

Now in this ancient past, Earth was a very different place, not only in environment, but also in composition. Among the stones and minerals found in this saurian eden was a curious metallic ore that glowed with a faint purple light. These curious veins were natural Rayacite, the scientific name for Blast Shards. All decaying away with their Ray Field Radiation. These Rayacite ores weren’t much different than finding Uranium out in nature

Most animals didn’t seem bothered, dinosaurs, insects, reptiles, all appeared unbothered… Save for one group. Mammals.

Mammals were affected negatively, falling sick and dying off. The only thing that gave them any hope was to live the fast-growing, short-living, make as many offspring as possible lives of rodents in order to survive giant feet, giant bugs, hungry protobirds and the Ray Field Plague.

However… Something started to happen, a mutation that made the early mammals more resistant against this radiation, allowing them to live healthier for longer. Those with this odd mutation were naturally able to get more mates and have more offspring. The lucky offspring that got this mutation were also healthier. Nature runs its course and those with this mutation started to propagate more, outcompeting the others that didn't have this gene.

Time goes on and mutations continued to happen, some good, some bad, but over time, this gene continued to evolve. Longer lives, more resistance, hardier bodies where a Purgatorius could shrug off being stomped on with... Relatively minor injuries. Maybe some of the mammals started to be drawn to the natural Rayacite, maybe not. Somewhere on this evolutionary trip, a big mutation happened that made this proto-Conduit gene into something more akin to the modern day Conduit Gene.

(There maaaaaay or may not have been super-powered shew-monkey things running amok during the time of the T-Rex or maybe proper activations happened later, but I'm sticking with that because the thought of super-powered rodent-monkey mammals terrorizing creatures like Velociraptors and it is quite the funny picture.)

Able to chase off predators and defend their territories, these super-powered mammals made ideal mates, those genes got passed on and for a long time, the ancient Conduit Gene was dominant.

As the Euarchontoglires began to split into the clades that would give rise to rodents, lagomorphs, treeshrews, colugos and primates, these new mammals would be bequeathed with this ancient and powerful gene.

The world continued to change and shift, and life continued on as normal. Even with the odd superpowered mammals running around doing mammal things.

The true chaos begins when the primates start to walk upright and use fire. Brains becoming smarter and more clever, any active Conduits among them start to experiment with their powers. Such power to protect and hunt, these actives most likely became seen as de-facto leaders in their tribes and hunting packs.These ancestral humans continued on their path, becoming smarter, creating languages, cultures and mythologies. The active Conduits of their respective clans were probably seen as god-like beings or being blessed by gods or spirits.

Somewhere along the way, these early humans discovered Rayacite and with it, the potential to awaken Conduits and strengthen those already active. Creating many a ritual to become one of the divine or the blessed, to awaken their powers. Their reasons their own.

Legends continued as language evolved too. Spoken to written. Stories told, art created, all chronicling the stories of these gods in human flesh. Sadly, with such power, corruption is a constant temptation and as humanity evolved and their understanding of their gifts and the strange glowing metal that increases their power, a heavy cloud started to loom overhead.

People started to become greedy.

Some of the ancient Conduits discovered that they could become truly god-like in power and form, making it so that they were practically untouchable and immortal- but such power came with a heavy price. They had to subsist on RFR for without it, their bodies would fall apart and decay.

Like many of Earth’s natural resources, these natural Blast Shards and the radiation they bled into the environment was a finite source. Sure, at first there was plenty to go around, everyone could get their share. Even the gluttons could gorge, but like all finite materials, they started to run low. What do the greedy do when the supply runs low?

They go to war, and what terrible wars they were. These so-called gods sent armies, both human and Conduit alike, to fight. Calling such wars divine. Many lives lost, the Earth bled and wept as these armies fought. So terrible were these wars, it scarred humanity. The Conduits, once respected and honored, now became feared and hated. Those who were called gods and saviors now became the monsters that stalked nightmares and brought ruin.

But even in this nightmare, something had begun to change. As the gluttons drained the RFR away, the plague that had haunted humanity ever since their dinosaur days started to disappear, mutations happened and children were being born without the Conduit gene and they survived plague free. So as the "Old Gods" started to die as there was not enough RFR to sustain their bodies, those that lived in fear retaliated against the weaker Conduits, hunting them down as monsters.

What once was a boon was now a bane as the powerless hunted the powered. While even the weakest of Conduits could overpower a single man, they were quickly overrun by the numbers. Nature seemed to be forcing this gene into obselation, but some Conduits got smart and  hid their powers away.

The less they used the powers, the more muted they became, allowing these clever ones to hide away among the normals. These "mute'' Conduits still kept their durability and were still ideal mates, animalistically speaking. Through them, the Conduit gene was passed on.

These children were now mingling with non-Conduit humans, growing up and having children, both normal and positives. With the plague not a worry, there was no need for the Conduit Gene to be so... Up front.

And so the gene fell dormant, recessive and uncommon. Silently being pasted on from parent to child. Without the world being an irradiated hellhole, people who did have this sleeping gene in them went about their entire lives without even knowing just what kind of potential they had. Living regular human lives, being no different from their peers aside from being much more hardy.

And this was how life went on... Until Empire City and the Ray Sphere blast.

--------

I'd love to give a big shout out to @rogueshadeaux for helping me out with proofreading. She gave me a lot of pointers and I truly appreciate the help! Give her fanfic, InFAMOUS: Erosion, a read! She's a very talented writer and deserves all the attention and praise!

[midgardianqueenreturns]

The funny thing about coming up with Ace Attorney theories/headcanons is that “it would’ve been mentioned already if it were true” can’t really be used as arguments against them because Ace Attorney characters are the KINGS of “not bringing up super significant stuff from my life that you think I would’ve mentioned earlier until it’s relevant to the plot”

[cakemadeofbacon]

I love how Odysseus’ full name is barely said and when it is it is to show either how powerful/controlling he is in a situation or to humiliate him and show how helpless he is

[apollos-boyfriend]

Which theory they'd steal this time?

the latest gravity falls film theory, they have since edited the description to give proper credit to the decoders but that isn’t something you should have to be called out into doing

[wolke17]

hm these quotes in the black boxes rly are always the one thing that causes the respective characters downfall

[somewillwin]

The way I’m making a playlist to make a fake KARMA (Nico’s band) album so I can make Maya art about a fake YouTube channel dedicated to album reactions and also making seb to react to karma too. Shhshshs

Imagine the unhinged theory videos. Reaction to botb. I need to craft the perfect album with the perfect lyrics to make a 17-18 girl go insane.

[we-love-morioh-cho]

Random speculation on the possible climax of The Jojolands -

The boat out at sea was one of the first visuals we got of Part 9 and, in the intro to Chapter 1, we see it again being ridden by Jodio and Dragona alone. We also get this imagery of Jodio ascending a volcano when he talks about the Mechanism - and while I think it's possible these are just metaphorical, I think it's also possible that they're hinting at the climax of the story.

I say this because Jojo loves its ocean and/or boat endings. Just off the top of my head and without going into spoilers - the endings of Parts 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 all feature the sea or characters on a boat in some way. It's not always the literal last page, but it's definitely a motif.

The volcano erupting clearly ties into the lava rock and the lava tubes. A volcano erupting would also resemble the end of Part 2 and maybe the natural disasters / calamities of 7 and 8's endings. And with the set-up that is hasn't erupted in a long time, I feel like this is a safe assumption.

It's way too early to theorize any more, but I have some random loose thoughts. With the endings we've had from recent parts, I'm guessing Part 9 will be tragic or at least bittersweet. While the story so far resembles Golden Wind a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if it incorporates some ideas from Stone Ocean's ending. We also only see Jodio and Dragona on the boat and none of the other protagonists which probably means something 😢

The Jojo Wiki claims that in an interview with Noriko Narumi, the woman who designed the Part 9 logo, she listed some proposed titles for the part. The most interesting was "MADE IN JOJOLANDS". This title was scrapped and it's possibly just a reference to the term "Made in America / the USA" - but obviously it's reminiscent of Made In Heaven. It could've just been a throwback, but if Part 9 is the conclusion to the series / the alt. universe trilogy, then I really think it's possible we might get something similar to the Part 6 ending.

A tragic ending involving two siblings out at sea? Phantom Blood and Stone Ocean both have similar conclusions and, if we are to believe that The Jojolands is the last part, I at least think it would make sense for it to follow this trend and reincorporate these ideas. I can't say if Araki would actually do something like this, but I just noticed these little connections and wanted to put them somewhere.

[prettyflyshyguy]

They're siblings with a strained relationship. Heart Shaped Box is playing on the radio. There's discussions where the word 'freak' is being thrown around circumventing directly calling the person with you in the car, a freak.

Uh-Oh.

[wiidoodles]

Thinking of them 🥺 

Sorry Reggie you’re a space heater

[dayurno]

big truther that kevin secretly and unironically likes when people call him princess like when the foxes make fun of him for being whiny and entitled sometimes (as he is wont to be) calling him princess day and princess kev he’s like wowww u guys suck but he’s actually like Please keep calling me that

there is indeed a fox freshman (corinne i believe?) in the ec who calls kevin a princess to his face. instead of "good morning sunshine" in the foxhole court spanish translation matt actually says "good morning, princess" to kevin. i feel like we started this out as a little joke but it's not one anymore. Perhaps it hasn't been in a long time

it's poised as an insult in both of these instances but i really think kevin just wouldn't care!!!!! one of the things that surprised me most about aftg was that kevin's queen motif wasn't IMMEDIATELY run to the ground by male sports fans because of the feminine associations!!!! the entire time i was waiting for the ball to drop and when it never did, i had a moment of relief sooooooooo potent. i still think it's not very well seen by the most eh. macho crowd but kevin will probably never be beloved by them anyway. either way i think kevin finds a lot of comfort in femininity :3

anyway this is all to say one day eventually someone (nicky) will call him babygirl to his face

[eukaryotesrool]

Leucism and Kimba

So this is gonna be real life facts (ones I'd say are interesting) mixed with some fan stuff, you don't need to know about the franchise to understand this, but it will be long and only slightly hinged.

Grab a snack, a drink annnnnnd...

What is a Kimba?

(Kimba (1965) running)

This guy, the titular hero of Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion franchise (AKA Jungle Emperor Leo(direct translation), Janguru Taitei(untranslated title))

For now, all you folks need to know about him is that he comes from a long lineage of lions with uniquely white fur.

Gee, you know what else relates to lions, white fur, and genetics, oh boy, a segway into the next thi-

What is a leucism?

(Pronounced 'luke-ism')

(Animals with a leucistic disorder, leucistic peacocks look neat, though, they all do)

leucism is a variety of conditions causing a lack of pigmentation in animals.

"Isn't that albinism?"

They're comparable, but seperate, their causes are different, also no leucistic condition removes eye pigmentation, so, Kimba's blue eyes aren't a problem.

(Kimba (1965) running, he does that a lot)

Now I'd like to go over every major leucistic condition and compare/contrast them to what we can note about Kimba.

No, I am not joking.

(OH MY GOD ITS SO CUTE I- er, this is a real life white lion cub, owing its white fur to a leucistic disorder)

Something to remember, most of these conditions don't (or don't to our knowledge) affect lions and could be easily swatted aside as such, but KTWL (Kimba the White Lion) is a work of fiction which consistently does absurd things, for example, Great Mother, a surviving mammoth who lives on a magic mountain and has magic powers or a blue lion (no I won't tell you what makes him blue), so I'm willing to brush aside SOME realism... also I researched them so I want to talk about them.

Yes, there is a condition that causes real life white lions, buuuuut I'm saving that can of worms for later.

Easily disproven

These ones don't work for several reasons, I'll be using only the most glaring issues for the sake of brevity.

Vitiligo & flavism: These two conditions happen over the course of one's life, but we see Kimba near birth, and he possessed his white fur.

Chédiak–Higashi syndrome: Causes symptoms (including but not limited to: peripheral neuropathy) which Kimba almost certainly does not have.

Isabellinism: affects only birds and leads to a golden white, not a snowy one.

(An isabellinistic bird, majestic fellow, eh?)

Xanthochromism: Makes things fucking yellow.

(A xanthochromistic (pictured right) and normal (pictured left) Argentine horned frog, so cool.)

Axanthism: only affects things with light reflecting pigments, and can only make things with normally yellow color have white color.

Amelanism: Meaning lacking melanin, so those black tipped ears and tail would be a no-no, yet we observe numerous pelts of his ancestors all with the exact same ears, and, we have reason to believe, the exact same tail (his father also possessed the same tail)

Okay, that was the bulk of the list, we're making good progress.

Maybe

These ones are harder to disprove, but I'd still say they're obviously not what we're looking for.

Piebaldism: Now, this one seems convincing as it can generate black AND white fur, it is genetically dominant, therefore, could lead to the continous lineage (where at least one of few children seems to always inherit it) but it lacks the uniformity, as I said, every white lion posses the same pattern, with few inconsistently appearing exceptions within the franchise, we'll get to that later on, the point is, consistency is the rule, chaos is the exception, and piebaldism is too chaotic.

(Piebaldistic animals. That squirrel looks so neat! Like his back is covered in snow!)

Waardenburg syndrome: Specifically type two is a strong contender, most notably because it causes bright blue eyes (or a blue and brown eye, sometimes) along with its other effects, HOWEVER, it also causes congenital hearing loss, and in cats (Felis Catus or house cats, technically, but they're the closest comparison I have to lions) said hearing loss is more common and more extreme, I doubt Kimba has that. Type 1 and type 3 cause other malformities that Kimba visibly doesn't posses.

Not sure

I tried, but my research was not conclusive, if you have answers, I'd be glad to hear them.

melanophilin: it is listed, but isn't a disorder, it is a carrier protein, I did some research and disorders with this protein don't seem like they'd make the snow white color we're looking for.

Undisputable

Oh, uh, there's nothing here, we've gone over every major leucistic disorder, there ARE more, but we'd be here all day, and so little is known about them it'd be arbitary.

Well, we're not through with every leucistic condition on the agenda, there's still...

THE CAUSE OF REAL WHITE LIONS

That's right, we've made it.

There's obviously a myriad of similarities, Tezuka was probably inspired by the real life white lions.

For example

(Pictured left, Kimba (1989 anime series) and his love inyerest, Raiya, a fellow lion, but not a white lion. Pictured right, two lionesses, one being a white lion)

The jarringly (among other lions) snow white fur.

(Sorry the images of Kimba's paw sucks, you won't believe it, but it was SO difficult to find a pic online with his paw pads in it, real life white lions? Pfft plenty of pictures in an instant.)

(Yes, pink is the unpigmented color for paw pads)

The pink paw pads

(Pictured left, Kimba's father (2009 movie) pictured right OH MY GOD SO CUTE)

The genetic basis allowing for lineages that share the trait

So then, this is it?... no, no, no, no, sadly, no, not so simple, there is one glaring inconsistency.

Firstly, an aside: I tried researching the specific cause of white lion leucism (it comes from a mutation for tyrosinase) but very little is known about it exactly, though, I gleaned something just by using the oldest tool in the zoology briefcase, me own eyes.

Notice a difference between Kimba and EVERY image of a white lion I've provided? Here, have some more white lion.

(Look at 'em all!)

From male to female, newborn, to cub, to adult, one consistency that Kimba does not share, maybe you already noticed and want me to get to the fucking point, maybe I will, maybe I won't, okay, I will.

(Circles denoting where Kimba posseses the trait, 'x's denoting where the real lion cub does not)

Black fur, Kimba has black fur on the tips of his ears and tail, no image of a real life white lion that I've seen has that pattern, or ANY black fur (wait, did I just retread my point about amelanism? Damn), and I'm lead to believe that does not occur amongst real life white lions, so then...

Kimba is a an anomaly

(From top left to bottom right Kimba's aunt (1989) Kimba's father (2009) and Kimba's father (1989)

In the 2009 version the only white lions we see are Kimba and his dad, and his dad lacks the black fur, in the 1989 series the only white lions we see are Kimba, his dad and aunt, both of the latter lack the black fur, but Kimba retains it in all versions.

Perhaps the cause of white lions is the same as real life white lions, and Kimba is a very rare anomaly within an anomaly, I don't know a whole lot about genetics, but that sounds reasonable enough for KTWL standards.

Buuuuuut, every other version, including the manga that started it all has other white lions retain the same color palette, and even show dozens of white lion ancestors, and a DISTANT white lion ancestor who all have the same palette, so, this anomaly theory is ironically only relevent to anomalies, the 1989 series and 2009 movie, what about for the whole franchise, well...

I don't know

Here's where I'd like to pull something out my hat and save the day with the obvious and true answer... but, there isn't one, at least, not one I found, sooooo, yeah, everyone must come to their own conclusion, maybe you even disagree with some of my reasoning and come to a conclusuon I've disregarded!

I'd love to hear your take away, and what comes next is merely my own personal take.

I don't know (good ending)

i don't know, and that's the point, I like that conclusion, the Kimba franchise contains mystisms, but never delves into them, leaving them as strange mysteries, it is a story about the exotic, it is ever out of reach.

I choose to believe white lions are semi-magical, thus why Kimba's lineage is the ONLY white lions we see in a franchise that stretches from 1950 to 2009, with over a hundred episodes, thus why white lions seem to always produce a white lion cub, but usually only ONE white lion cub, and the rest resemble the mother, because it works by magic rules.

In the 1989 version(and possibly others) Kimba is directly or indirectly likened to the supernatural, the Great Mother, a huge mammoth who can summon powerful snow storms in tropical Africa treats Kimba as such.

Simply, it can't be explained IRL, that's pretty cool, not everything needs to be explained, and MAGIC!

Thanks for sticking around through my insanity, hope you learned something and had fun, I did!

(Normally I'd put a pic riiight here to close things off but I hit the Tumblr image limit, didn't even know they had one)

[codenamehazard]

Random ImFAMOUS thought I need to jot down before I forget!

A common in-game reason for why an active Conduit can't drive or use firearms is because their powers interact negatively with them. (I.E Electricity/Smoke would cook the gas/gunpowder, dunno what reasons were given for Neon, Concrete or Video outside of not needing them)

But... What if a vehicle or a firearm was made using Ray Field Radiation sources as either the power source or as a focus for the natural energy coming out of the Conduit? 🤔🤔🤔

[maburito]

I KNEW IT!!

I KNEW THIS COMPUTER WAS SKETCHY AS FUCK!!

[aparticularbandit]

love how IF tells us that Mukuro has loved Mystery stories ever since she was little. I can so see her watching True Crime Docs with Junko, but also

Junko: What if we locked them up and force them to kill each other?

Mukuro: Whatever makes you happy, Junko-

Junko: But they also have to solve the murders and find the culprit, or they all die too.

Mukuro: NOW I'm listening

Truly fucked up she killed her off before Mukuro got to see some mysteries 😔

Mukuro needling Kyoko about her detective work when.

Mukuro thinking she's a better detective than Kyoko when.

Mukuro thinking she can solve real crimes from listening to all of those podcasts and demanding Kyoko take her to a case when.

Mukuro wanting a staged crime to prove that she can figure out stuff just like Kyoko when.

Is this the real reason Junko was Lico for a few years?

[sparfloxacin]

Randomly found this from my gallery today. What is it with Niko being so aggressive (with Joonas) and why is it so hot?

[dropespeon]

kaito and sonoko deserve to be online friends i think