#not only is this surtr speculation but also speculation for the plot going forward

[zeravmeta]

Arknights CH11 spoilers + theory speculation about Surtr (long)

So in CH11 it was confirmed that Nightingale is indeed a biological experiment that Theresis made in an attempt to recreate Theresa, with the goal being that they’re trying to pull Theresa out of the Sarkaz Collective Consciousnesses afterlife and modify her in order to control her public image and unify the scattered Sarkaz across Terra, unaware that Theresa is still alive inside Amiya. They finally managed to make a doppelganger of Theresa, but all she can do is follow orders, she doesn’t really have any of Theresa’s knowledge or experiences.

I think Surtr might also be one of these experiments, but in a different sense.

Now, obviously it’d be easy to say “oh yeah they share amnesia” but it’s the actual details surrounding their circumstances that make me wonder. Both Nightingale and Surtr share a very similar type of memory issue, where it’s not just that they don’t have memories, but in fact have memories they shouldn’t have: Nightingale, despite scoring averagely on the operator written exams, has an incredible grasp on medicine and biology as well as healing arts that are supposedly outside her range. In her profile, Amiya is unable to distinguish what Nightingales personality is because Nightingale herself is wearing a persona where she isn’t able to properly distinguish who she is. In the same vein, Surtr herself has no recollection of who she is or even how long or far shes been traveling, with the only thing in her head being scattered amounts of random imagery, locations, and people she’s never met. There’s also how their stats are listed in their profiles

Both Nightingale and Surtr have mostly average/below average ratings on their profiles for their competency as operators, with a single excellent/outstanding trait. There’s also the different in their competencies: Nightingale excels at healing Arts and can literally take away peoples pains, while Surtr is an incredibly powerful fighter despite having basically no Originum Arts.

This type of issue seems oddly specific but it makes sense when you consider what Theresa is: the King of Sarkaz, not just in title but in blood and weapon. Being the King of Sarkaz isn’t just in being recognized, but actually inheriting the Arts that denote someone as a worthy successor, the Arts that Amiya has. The Arts that work on empathy and accessing the memories of previously alive Sarkaz by connecting to the Sarkaz Collective Consciousness.

I go into more detail on Sarkaz modification and the empathy power here, but basically in trying to recreate Theresa, Theresis was also trying to recreate her Arts that work via memory and empathy, and the reason why both Nightingale and Surtr have so many scattered memories and have trouble distinguishing their senses of self is because the Arts weren’t properly recreated.

All that said, I think that Surtr specifically, despite having been an attempt at recreating Theresa, was for another goal: The recreation of long dead Sarkaz subraces.

CH11 starts with Theresis calling the various kings of the different Sarkaz races with the goal of forcefully occupying Victoria while it’s unstable in order to conquer it and then declare to the world that he’s going to take over Terra in a giant unification war. The different types of Sarkaz have been alluded to and mentioned throughout the overarching lore (you can view the list of them here), but I want to mention a specific one: the Diaboli.

The Diaboli are the eponymous “Flame Demons”, and you’ll notice that Ifrit is listed as one of them, however it’s also known that Ifrit is an experiment by Rhine Labs, where Ifrit herself was originally a Savra who was modified with remnant shards of Diaboli. You’ll notice in Surtr’s profile that, despite her game play mechanic being that of a powerful Arts nuke, her in game lore actually lists her Originum Adaptability as flawed. Comparatively, Originum Adaptability is Ifrit’s one outstanding trait, so what explains this discrepancy if they’re both supposed to be Diaboli?

Well, Ifrit is a Savra that was modified with Sarkaz DNA, while Surtr is a full-blooded Sarkaz. Ifrit’s Arts are likely what made Rhine Labs want to infuse her with Diaboli shards in the first place to make a powerful Flame Demon because the powers would be complementary. But Surtr? Well, it wouldn’t really matter how powerful her Originum Arts are if she’s just using an ability inherent to her type of Sarkaz. That’s why no one can explain why her sword becomes super heated and can shred through anything: because Surtr is just using powers inherent to that of Diaboli Sarkaz, the sword itself isn’t special. Even if her Originum Adaptability is weak, all she’s really doing is a basic infusion of Arts into her weapon, something that nearly everyone on Terra can do if they even have an inkling of how to use Arts. I do want to note that Sarkaz Arts are constantly exemplified and detailed as their own special type compared to other Originum Arts, so it’s not a stretch to say that certain Sarkaz gained their denotation because they have specific types of arts to their names. Mudrock, for example, is a Gargoyle type Sarkaz and can thus use Arts that are about controlling the earth, but even a Gargoyle whose Originum Arts are weak would likely be able to control earth in some way.

But all this then begs the question: If Theresis was just trying to make a clone of Theresa, why does Nightingale look so distinct? Why bother with other types of Sarkaz and not just use his own blood to try and recreate his sister?

It’s because of Kazdel itself.

With the biological experiments, it’s not simply that they were trying to make a Theresa body double: they’re instituting a full on Kazdel repopulation program of all the various Sarkaz subraces that have slowly been eroded over the years due to the racism against them and the mercenary lifestyle they’re forced to adopt. It’s not just that Surtr was a clone experiment of Theresa, she was a recreation experiment to try and make Diaboli Sarkaz again. We know it’s possible, too, because Ifrit (who was originally a Savra) was able to be converted into a DIaboli Sarkaz by Rhine Labs with only mere fragments of these long dead Sarkaz, and Kazdel technology is far beyond what many people believe specifically because they’ve kept it hidden. If Rhine Labs was able to make Ifrit into a Sarkaz with only a few shards, I’d imagine that Kazdel would likely have access to more Sarkaz relics and ancient DNA to try and use.

And given that Theresis intends to forcefully occupy Victoria and declare war on the rest of Terra, this may also be a way to make tons of powerful, subservient soldiers.

Basically, Surtr is another one of the biological experiments by the Confessarius to try and recreate Theresa, likely a “newer” model that's far more stable and powerful physically compared to Nightingale, but she’s a “failure” in a similar way because she has a jumble of different memories and lifetimes since they couldn’t recreate the King of Sarkaz’ empathy powers correctly. Where Nightingale was likely a test run for the King of Sarkaz empathy power specifically (which is why her Arts are so powerful), Surtr’s base was that of the now functionally extinct Diaboli, because Theresis is also using these experiments to not only remake extinct Sarkaz subraces but also create an entire army of them by using the Confessarius to continually pull Sarkaz wills out of the Sarkaz Collective Consciousness. A true army of demons from hell.