#the solaris agency

[tsa-society]

ASCII Art done by AMItac and relased on a Demoparty somewhere in 2024 for TSA - The Solaris Agency

[stellar-collective]

If you're still taking requests (/nf /gen):

Phoenix and everyone else enjoying fireworks on New Year's?

Reginald is telling Phoenix that he’s surprised they’re not off running the firework show, and they’re telling him that they were asked but they decided to hang out with their friends instead. this is a lie they got hard banned from using fireworks while drunk which, as its New Years, they most definitely are

here’s the version with the flat colors bc i think this is the first time i’ve drawn them all together and idk i like them :]

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

I know it isn’t exactly a new thought to consider that, post the Death Engine, Zoraxis had ample opportunity to capture the Agent if they got there quickly enough… And maybe after that they’d torture them, kill them, convert them to their side.

But I think the opposite is an interesting concept, too.

What if the Agency took Solaris with them when they secured Phoenix from the wreck?

What would they do with her? Would they let her die, or try to stabilize her condition? And if they succeeded with the latter, what then? She’s the mind behind the most dangerous tech the Agency has ever seen. Do they keep her as a prisoner? Try to use her wavering loyalty to convert her to their side?

And how would Zoraxis handle it? Solaris probably got under Zor’s skin, true, but better that than letting the Agency use her impressive intellect for good- god forbid.

… Though, that’s if they even know she’s alive at all…

[i-expect-you-to-die]

One of the Two Password Locked Webpages - Shawn's Desk!

The password for this website is as follows:

that`sTHEpASscOdEx

The website has a habit of lagging, so below the cut is all the important files which can be found by going into the website!

^ This is the background image, the rainbow paperclips as well as his seeming break up with Sam heavily implies that Shawn is gay :]

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on the poster and score?

Let's dive in!

First off the poster? Magnificent. Easily the best DC one since The Batman. Evokes Alex Ross, the original Donner film posters, and Star Trek all in one.

"Look up" is easily the best Superman tagline since "You'll believe a man can fly"

Moving on to theme, at first I wasn't happy. Really, we're using Williams theme again? Sure it's iconic but so is Elfman's Batman and Spider-Man themes. Chasing nostalgia has no appeal for me, but y'know what? I'm warming up to it, mainly because Gunn put his own spin on it. The open hymn take on the opening notes is beautiful and I do love using electric guitars in lieu of the traditional orchestra

Murphy better have only brought back the main Superman theme though, I want new music for everything else. Especially Lex, he deserves his own killer theme

Now the main event: the trailer. Short version is I like it! It feels like it's taking the best from Donner and Snyder while doing it's own thing. In fact what the "feel" of it reminds me most of is the Raimi Spider-Man films which are still my favorite superhero movies

Superman bleeding and bruised is what I specifically mean. What I loved about the Raimi Spidey films is how Spidey was always torn up, bloodied, and bruised by the end. It showed that he went through hell, and made you root for him. I think a lot of complaints about Cavill in MoS would have been mitigated if he hadn't looked totally untouched after destroying Metropolis fighting Zod. Here seeing Superman all beaten up does a lot to make you empathize with him, it makes him feel scrappy instead of OP

Something else that feels reminiscent of Raimi's films is the love for the civilian cast specifically in the focus on the Daily Planet crew. Everyone other than Lois was window dressing in the DCEU but I've got high hopes for this incarnation

Funnily enough there's still plenty of "Snyder" here. Lots of somber shots of Corenswet looking glum, the public cursing him while the oppressed cry out for a savior, in fact I don't think he smiles ONCE, but y'know why people aren't complaining? There's color for one. There's a touch of whimsy and fantastical with Krypto, the kaiju, and the Superman robot. This feels like a world not mired in misery, a world that's not as carefree as the one Reeve lived in, but not nihilistic like Cavill's. In fact you know what? This feels like the movie the third MoS trailer teased but didn't deliver.

Corenswet is the first actor since Reeve where I buy that people don't recognize his Clark and Superman are the same guy, they "look" different

Superman saving people! Shouldn't be something you praise but after the last guy we need to

Lex looks unhinged and I love it. I think Hoult's going to be a generational Lex Luthor

Mr. Terrific looks badass but I don't care about the rest of them to be honest. Guy looks like a total dweeb and I'm amused Gunn chose to be comic accurate with him seemingly

Ok so the orb and the kaiju are different entities. Orb is potentially Solaris? I'm fine with a different design and origin for him (his origin especially was never getting adapted as it was in the comics) but I hope he has more agency than merely being a grunt for Lex given that's Ultraman's apparent role

Pa is totally going to die and I bet that scene with him and Clark is Clark realizing Pa doesn't have much time

Yeah Gunn moved that Middle Eastern country to Eastern Europe to reduce the controversy, still think that could backfire even with a location change everyone can tell what it's a stand in for

Fortress is very reminiscent of Donner. I was hoping for the All-Star mountain but I can't complain since the Robots being there means it should be more than barren hallways inside

Left me feeling excited as hell. It didn't erase all my doubts and concerns, but it left me with faith that this will finally be the first Superman movie since Donner to truly capture who the character is in all his essence, especially given:

Anonymous asked: Did you see that amongst other things, Gunn gave his take on real self Vs mask

Gunn is going the third route to the "who's real?" question by saying neither are who Superman is in his entirety. Great, I'm a fan of the modern approach which acknowledges that both are masks to an extent, and the "real" Clark is only shown to those who know his secret. Everything I'm seeing makes me believe this is going to be a Superman whom the audience can root for, empathize with, and witness that Superman is a character with just as much complexity as Batman and Spider-Man. Perhaps I'll be mistaken but right now I feel the most optimistic I've ever been about Superman's future.

[hollowtones]

what'd you think about jade shadows?

I put it under a read-more because I don't know how to talk about this without talking about spoiler stuff. The tl;dr is "I liked it but I wish there was a little bit more."

One of the things I didn't like isn't even really part of the quest itself, but I saw a mutual bring it up a few days ago & it's been on my mind since: it feels a little odd to have a content warning before your sidequest, and then not give you any way to skip the quest if it's content you don't think you'd be able to handle. Especially given there's a whole event & rewards that only unlock afterwards!!

OK on to the contents of the quest itself. There's a lot of themes of love and connection and empathy in the face of systemic cruelty or indifference, in this game in general, and a lot of how that manifests is stories about characters fighting for self-determination and agency (the Ostrons trying to stay free of the Grineer, the Solaris trying to destroy the systems that keep them in debt & deny them bodily autonomy, Umbra, the Tenno, the Lotus, etc etc).

I think it's interesting to try and explore a tragedy where we aren't able to help someone in time, where the powers that be have brutalized someone and we as individuals aren't able to get there in the nick of time & help them claw their agency back. I think it's an interesting thematic & emotional through-line (with very strong parallels to Ordis... very smart choice to make him the event vendor / narrator, I'm feasting good on all the new dialogue LOL), and I think there have been enough well-written woman characters in the game that don't get written out or killed for the sake of some man's tragedy or growth that I don't immediately roll my eyes about them trying a So Sad The Woman Dies story.

I do also think this would have hit harder if we got more information about Jade herself!! I realize "this woman broke a law and was completely dehumanized / made into a Thing by the empire, stripping her of herself to suit their ends" is Kind Of The Point, and they make enough of a fuss about "wow there's a lot that's redacted about her history, huh!" that I assume this is a plot thread they're leaving hanging for later. But I feel like the big moment would have resonated better if they gave us a little more info to establish this character, other than "she was heterosexual" and "the Orokin were fucked up, don't forget" haha.

(I do find it funny that the storyline about Ballas, who got Divorced So Badly that he Caused Nearly All Of Today's Problems, is all wrapped up, but the story keeps going "no no, don't worry, there's still plenty of opportunity to remind you how fucked the Orokin were." Here's these two people that broke some insipid law about conceiving a child & so their bosses and leaders broke their brains and turned them into bio-weapon lapdogs as punishment. Every time they go "BTW Something Was Deeply Wrong With The Orokin & We Still Feel The Aftershock Of That Today" I clap my hands like a seal.)

Warframe Babies Are Born!!!!! This little tyke is fuckin weird. What's their problem. I think it's weird and cool. I don't really feel much about "this character is a parent now!" type of storylines. (I did pop off when Stalker got to do his shithead honourable samurai defending a child with one arm thing. I'm a sucker for that & they made it coooooool. It feels like they're setting up some kind of "Lone Wolf and Cub" situation. The scythe being juiced up with BabysPower was also funny.) The baby thing is neat to me from the perspective of, like... This is something weird and new that's never happened before in this universe. That's exciting and kind of scary! I'm interested to see where they go with that. (Presumably in a year or two. Very funny to drop this on us when a completely different major story arc is right around the corner with 1999.)

Gianni's delivery was fuckin killer. I'm excited for whatever next arc they do with Stalker if it means they're gonna pay my boy to grunt and yell and scream more. It feels very strange to be acquainted with two people who've done voice acting in "Warframe" now. Me next? ^_^

I like our new Corpus weirdo. I hope she comes back. Fun to get more stuff with the Sisters of Parvos & with Mr. Granum himself. But I liked her a lot. It got a fuckin laugh out of me to have her through all the quest excited about her big promotion that she's going to get & resolving that with "Is that a fuckin baby??? Fuuuuuck! They don't pay me enough to shoot a baby with a gatling gun!" I wish her ending scene was a little more than just stoically standing aside but literally anything else I can think of feels way too cheesy or on-the-nose.

The facial animations on the Operator were really fuckin weird. I just remembered that. I thought that was just a thing on my end but I watched someone else play & the faces looked weird for them too.

Hunhow's a good inclusion. I like him seeing the Stalker stewing in his own misery because he hates the only people that could offer him help & going "aw man, c'mon buster, don't be like me now." I like his signature that he puts in his emails. I like that he's still an emotionally constipated weirdo that hates us but is still endeared to us in some way. (They make nods to The New Strange in his ending email, which makes sense given that this also feels like a quest setting up More Weird Shit In The Future, but I do get a laugh that it also reads as "JADE WAS PREGNANT? OKAY... WELL. DON'T FORGET THAT I HAVE A WOMB TOO, KID." Thanks Grandpa. Love you too Grandpa. Thanks for the sweeties Grandpa.)

The event quest feels like a nice bow on top. I like the parallels between Jade and Ordis. Wanting to afford her the dignity in death he could never be given. Acknowledgement of Ordan Karris is fun!!! (The line about him being conflicted with the thought of Granum un-cephalon'ing him has me rubbing my hands together.) I'm excited that we're getting so much of Parvos Granum lately. What a shit head. It's funny to see him so hyped up about Ordan. "Duuuude! Your history's famous killer!! That's awesome? Do you wanna work for me? C'monnnnn we both hate the legacy of the Orokin. Wouldn't it be awesome if MY rule was the one dehumanizing you and wielding you as a weapon instead?" This is something they've been establishing as early as "Parvos and Ballas in bed with one another doing shady back-room deals over a Warframe bodyguard and specter particle research" but it's fun whenever they sow the seeds of Parvos being so much like the Orokin he hated.

I wrote more than I thought I was going to!!! I like the thematic through-line idea of this quest but I wish they executed on it better. I like the stuff this is presumably establishing for the future. I really like the event quest as... not quite an epilogue, I guess, but as an addition. Other than that I thought it was okay! I wasn't expecting anywhere near the level of Whispers in the Walls, but that quest being such a high bar makes a "pretty okay" quest stick out to me a little, haha.

[gamebird]

Watership Down character list:

22 males 2 females

I think I've figured out why the rabbits are having a hard time of it.

But seriously tho, this is a big issue with older works. I listened to Solaris recently and it had a cast of four - 3 men and 1 woman. The woman was ... basically a replicant created by an alien. Limited dialogue, almost no agency.

I read a compilation of 'the greatest science fiction stories ever told' once, a very thick tome, and wrote down the gender breakdown. Lots of stories had no women at all. I remember one hilariously had an egg-laying alien that was still male, because it had agency and was intelligent (I shit you not; the human protagonist even thought that - that it could not be female because it was independent and built stuff).

I am so pleased with modern fiction where women exist and have lines and get to do plot-meaningful things!

[kitkatyes]

Miscellaneous ieytd headcannons that can’t get out of my head

Hivemind used he/they pronouns- he because he’s mostly masc presenting but they because they identify more with a swarm of bees than a human

On the topic of Hivemind, he personally names every be they own and can tell them apart

Prism 100% forgoes titling her documents so her organising system is just ‘untitled document 1’, ‘untitled document 2’, etc.

Ollie wanted to work in an aquarium when he was younger

Solaris is definitely a butch lesbian— you can’t change my mind

The Handler is absolutely atrocious at using technology and somehow manages to download all the viruses

He also types miserably slow

Fabby and Prism are basically pen pals who message each other daily about their creations

Phoenix is a huge nerd who somehow managed to rope a chunk of the eod department into a DND campaign

Shawn in HR knows all the gossip and Phoenix regularly visits him for it

Shawn also has a hidden alcohol supply because of all the shit the Agency puts him through

In person, Zor has the worst social anxiety, hence why they always appear faceless

Juniper does voice acting on occasion but kinda sucks at it

He also has a pet cat that he named ‘cat’ so he wouldn’t get attached (spoiler alert! He did, indeed get attached)

[darkmaga-returns]

Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), Publisher of The Solari Report, says the real work for the Trump Administration is happening now.  CAF is a financial expert and former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Admin.) who managed hundreds of billions of dollars in her career.  CAF says this is a fight within the Trump Administration that is summed up by those who will fight for freedom and sovereignty and those who want America under Deep State control.  CAF explains, “You had a lot of people who voted for Trump that wanted to see him protect freedoms.  You also have a lot of people voting and donating for Trump because they think he can get them the control grid.  The centralization and decentralization are both hoping Trump will give them what they want. . . . Trump has to do something that works economically.  The first day, Trump will be asked to fill the top 10 or 20 positions.  Ultimately, after you fill the cabinet and the other top positions, then there are another 10,000 positions to be filled.  The President does 1,000 positions, and those thousand do the rest of about 10,000 positions.  The guys who want the control grid are trying to get their people in place.  The guys who want freedom are trying to get their people in place. . . . After you get the people in place, it’s going to have to be battled out one policy at a time. . . . So, this is trench warfare, and it’s not going to be decided by the election.  It’s going to be decided by the staffing and the policy debate that happens day after day.

The corruption that has to be cleaned up is huge.  Take the recent announcement of royalties being paid to a government health agency — the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  CAF says, “The NIH is receiving $1.1 billion from Pfizer–BioNTech for the Covid vaccine shots.”

Ed Dowd says we just added a fresh 800,000 disabled people to the 4 million disabled since the CV19 shots were introduced.  The total amount of disabled people in the US from the CV19 vax now stands at 4.8 million.

[civilotterneer]

I'm curious about your Starfinder campaign! Would you be willing to tell me more about it? :D

So it depends, we've gotten a few in now. I'll give you the universe we've made and the most recent campaign we just finished.

The Rishi Sector

In the Rishi Sector, there exist a limited selection of races and nations:

Orcs - The Orcish Triumviratelive - in a 3 habitable world system, with each one drawing from a For Honor faction, using UNSC style ships

Elves - The Elvin Technocracy - from a destroyed homeworld and of a capped population but of technilogical prowess, using Star Wars Naboo style vessels

Draconians - The Scaled Empire - the most populous and powerful race of large, krogan-like draconid people, use Star Wars CIS ships

Dwarves - Deep Rock Galactic - a capitalistic empire of industrious and wealthy people, use Star Wars Republic style ships

Pixies - Deep Rock Galactic - living on the moon of the dwarven homeworld and as a subsidiary of DRG, one of the rarest races, no ships

Amurrans - The United Fiefdom - a cat like unisex race of strange genetic capabilities, using Star Trek Federation style ships

Gnomes - Deep Rock Galactic - Gnomes are actually fired dwarves, being as you can't leave DRG in good terms as a dwarf, dwarves are administered a genetic untreatable disease turning them into a gnome

Solari and Lunari - The Stellar Conjugate - the newest member of the Rishi Sector, this twin race comes from a tidally locked world where it's still kind of the Wild West, custom designed ships that look like trains and steam vessels

Automatons - Unkown Government - Prolific wanderers of the Sector, their only known homewolrds are large ships housing a super intelligence. Begin life as an android and slowly remove biological parts to become a full automaton. Use Star Wars Mon Cala style ships.

A common threat in the sector are Saurians, dinosaur-like raiders from a fallen empire using old, dying technology. They refuse to work with any of the Rishi Sector races. They use Halo Covenant style vessels and weapons, and even have a subrace of Elites in them.

Lastly, a new threat appears! The Empire of Man has been making scouting runs into the Rishi Sector, hellbent on spreading the word of their unholy, unknowable god. They are based on The Empire from Star Wars and use their ships.

Totally-Not-A-Suicide-Squad

Our most recent campaign involved our characters being prisoners, with long sentences based on your races average lifespan. We were being sent by the Elvin Intelligence Agency (EIA) as a multi-racial scouting mission to a newly discovered anomaly.

This anomaly turned out to be human in origin, which until now, were completely undiscovered. While our goal was to just find useful items to lessen our sentences, we discovered that this base will be used by an invasion fleet to travel to the sector, since a large, untraversable nebula separates the Rishi Sector from where the Humans are coming from.

Our party explored what remains of the abandoned base (all the previous humans were slowly picked off by the local dinosaurs until only 1 vampire human remained in the most secure base). Many characters died, a grand total of 5 character deaths occurred over the course of this 5-shot campaign.

My character was actually one of the only people to start the campaign and end alive still. Morandro'goth, an orc from the Asiatic planet, was a shaman who may have accidentally offed several financial advisors on commands of 'The Spirits'. He was a Psycic class, and had a whole thing about communing with local spirits to find information. In combat, he used very-strong telekinetic magic to throw items with incredible velocity at enemies. He would also summon some spirits to fight with him.

Some other characters included:

A swashbuckler bat-like sprite (Deceased to literal demonic beetles)

An ammuran kineticist (Deceased from a fall, irony)

An automaton monk (Deceased twice, first to an orc known as "The Throngler", second to kamikaze-ing a Tie fighter with the last human vampire in it)

An elvin oracle who was actually a thrall to the vampire and backstabbed us (Deceased as he failed his master's mission to collect an orc)

Morandro'goth and a Lunari ranger were successfully able to escape with plenty of items to undo their sentences and live as free men afterwards.

This campaign, run by a friend, is actually supposed to be a prologue to a future campaign I will run, which will include the Empire of Man invading the sector and the party having to stop them.

What the Future Holds

We're about to start a long-term campaign, where we're all adventurers on a newly-colonized and wild planet. There'll be a lot less direct sci-fi from cities and whatnot, but plenty of interactions from characters who might use plasma weaponry against nature.

I'll be playing a Solari Divine witch, with the background of being a nun and working to further her religions teachings, but also to study how old gods may 'die' and how the living things they make are derived from said gods. Her familiar, a form of otter-dog creature (A Damibwa) from the Lunari part of her homeworld, is also how her paton speaks to her, giving her divine orders.

[tsa-society]

It´s christmas time and so, another round of the XMAS Meeting ( Grill n Chill ) edition happened on 30-Nov-2024 in the Wuppertaler Brauhaus.

Again, Demosceners, RetroLovers, Makerspace and Engineers visited this Place to have a good time and good beer and good everything.

Merry Christmas from TSA / DevLab TSA

[stellar-collective]

have y’all ever seen that one post about Mistlefoe(TM)? it’s just mistletoe but instead of kissing whoever is under it you have to FIGHT them.

i think that mistlefoe is a time-honored Agency/Zoraxis tradition that stretches back so far that no one knows which of the two organizations came up with it first. over the years, it’s been honed down to a science: no weapons, one attack each, dodging and blocking is allowed. it’s still stupid dangerous but when has that EVER stopped them

most people have a signature attack that they do under the mistlefoe. here are a couple of my ideas, feel free to add on!!

Agent Phoenix - bit of a wildcard; default is a friendly slug to the shoulder since most agents don’t try to dodge their attack (highly subject to change since every Phoenix is so different)

Reginald - a well-telegraphed right hook that can be easily dodged. you’d better actually dodge it tho bc he hits HARD

Juniper - he’s slapping you. everyone knows that that’s what he’s going to do, and everyone thinks that they’re going to be the one who can block or dodge or otherwise avoid it, but you cannot prevent the John Juniper Movie Slap. it is inevitable. he’s slapped everyone at Zoraxis, and now he’s slapping everyone at the Agency. you cannot stop him

Roxana - she thinks that this game is stupid (true) but if absolutely forced to participate she’ll roll her eyes and punch you in the solar plexus and instantly knock the wind out you. most people don’t force her into it twice

Fabricator - she plays dirty, man. either she’s got a trap already set up (technically against the rules, but who’s going to call her out?) or she’s going for the shins with her high heels. you will die

Solaris - she’ll effortlessly block anything you throw at her, then flick your forehead. sounds weak but she’s got enough finger strength she can knock you off your feet like that

Hivemind - no bees allowed, so he’ll just pinch you really hard for a similar effect

Caliente - he’s the sort of man who respects the classics. you can expect any kind of straight-forward punch from him

Anna - when she first joined, she’d go for the ribs. by the end, though, whatever she threw was so easy to dodge it was sort of hard to tell what she was even going for

Ollie - he’s either booping your nose or laying you out flat with a punch even he didn’t know he was capable of, no inbetween

Zor - pray that you never find yourself under the mistlefoe with them. no one knows what they do because no one has ever survived it

did i miss your fave? do you have a funnier idea? lmk :]

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

a compilation of overcomplicated hypothetical future IEYTD installments that i would kill to be canon

ft various spoilers for all three of the current non-hypothetical installments also ft really bad names for them in order to keep the list organized

I Expect You To Die; Once Burned, Twice Shy

During one of their usual heists against one of Zoraxis' latest schemes, Phoenix finds themself caught in what turns out to have been an orchestrated trap from the start. Not only is Zoraxis unscathed from the agent's attempt to stop their plans, but in the process, they find a way to pin their escape/the damage left behind on Phoenix in a catastrophic way, severing the Agency's trust in them and their handler.

Time after time again, Zoraxis have underestimated the Agent, but by separating the biggest thorn in their side from their main source of intelligence, power, and even locomotion, what can they possibly do to stop them from tearing down the rest of the Agency? And how is the Agency supposed to stop them without their star pupil turned 'traitor'?

Left with nothing aside from the guidance of their handler and their own sharp intuition- devoid of the Agency's tools or assistance- Phoenix needs to prove to Zoraxis and everyone else that they're more than just the tools the Agency lets them wield.

The 'gimmick' of this plot is kind of meant to be a parallel to what happened with Zoraxis at the end of the sequel. That being losing their trust with the rest of the world, and being forced to work in the shadows as opposed to hiding in plain sight. Because of this, a variation of this plot could be Zoraxis framing the entire Agency, instead of just Phoenix, forcing all of them to work and exist under the radar until they can clear their names. I just think the Phoenix specific plot is more entertaining, and made more personal by focusing on the protagonist.

I Expect You To Die; Pick Your Poison

The Fabricator probably has the most untapped potential and implied history with the Agency aside from Zor themself. While to me it feels like she's such an important character any plot that focuses on her would be a very late-game element, I can definitely see her serving as the 'main' antagonist of her own entry to the series.

The Agency- despite knowing the location of at least one of the Fabricator's workshops, are too intimidated by her lethality and talent to consider sending any more Agents to apprehend or face off against her. Behind Zor themself, they've gone on to list her in her dossier as the most lethal mind in Zoraxis' sprawling arsenal.

The Fabricator already has a bit of a vendetta against the agent, if not for the damage done to her workshop, then for the damage done to Zor's schemes, and by association, all of the tech she engineered for them.

There is also the point to consider that the Fabricator is in a very interesting place, for an antagonist position. Knowledgeable enough to know what happens to disappointing Zoraxis operatives- the cause of Juniper's death, almost Prism's, and who knows who else's- and yet… she seems more or less unbothered to remain by their side despite. The Agency wanting to get the Fabricator out of Zor's hands partnered with her seemingly deep running loyalty has very interesting implications for a betrayal arc of sorts.

I Expect You To Die; Reach for the Sky

Solaris is another character that has been brought up again and again in various ways, implying relevance- or at least, future relevance- to the series. While it would make perfect sense for her to accompany a Fabricator-focused installment, there's an equal probability for her to get something to herself.

Solaris- while perhaps not considered as dangerous as the Fabricator- is on par with her in terms of intelligence, and the Death Engine is still considered by the Agency to be one of the most powerful weapons to scourge humanity (as opposed to exclusively agents, as something like project KBOOM would have been).

While her loyalties to Zoraxis were obviously shaky even during her first appearance, Solaris is very self driven, and just because she may have broken ties with Zoraxis* doesn't mean she's completely out of the picture. As one of the Fabricator's tapes in Eaves Drop would suggest, Solaris still holds a grudge on the agent that destroyed her life's work. It isn't out of the question to consider that she would try to seek out her revenge, even on her own terms.

It's interesting to consider an arc that separates on competing with Zoraxis, rather than against them. Maybe- despite severing alliances with them- Solaris' tech is still of interest to Zor, which gets them involved the spat by proxy. Or maybe Zor- much like what they did when Anna intended to defect- is sending out a couple of operatives to take care of their newest loose end, with Phoenix finding themself caught in the crossfire.

*It is also possible that Solaris' 'defecting' from Zoraxis may have been a hoax or an effort to save face, with her being publicly tied to a newly exposed homicidal company. While somewhat unlikely, were this the case I don't think much about this hypothetical plot would change, save for Zoraxis being more of a main player (as they usually are) as opposed to a background threat.

I Expect You To Die; Playing With Fire

Vitti will almost certainly be given a mainstage role in a future installment, though with so little known about her, it's difficult to place how or where she'll show up. We know she used to be a field agent (maybe even Reginald's agent, when we consider that he used to hold the title of 'lead handler' at the same time she was 'lead agent'), and that she either had or gained ties to Zoraxis that may have lead to her erasure from Agency history. She also has the best case argument for being the Phantom, implying an interest in the Phoenix, as well as their survival.

To me, she's the perfect case for a betrayal/eluding-to-betrayal style arc without dipping into mind control. With the Agency being a dubiously-moral force as it stands, Vitti seems the perfect character to at least raise the potential that the Agency isn't really as good as they project themselves to be… and that the Phoenix isn't as safe with them as they'd like to think they are.

Maybe the two of them communicate off radar- Phoenix chasing after Zoraxis' tail while Vitti watches from the sidelines- breaching their coms to say her piece… Maybe the handler gives a piece of advice that Vitti contradicts, with her's being the safer option… Quietly worming the idea into the agent's head that even their own handler may not always have their best interest in mind… Whether or not there's any member of the Agency they can actually trust.

At the end of the day, Zor wants to tear apart every last facet of the Agency. But, they have a rival's fondness for the Phoenix… If they join Zoraxis, they'll be spared. They'll survive. If they stay with the Agency, they'll inevitably burn with the rest of them. She made her choice a long time ago… and she expects the agent to choose correctly.

I Expect You To Die; World in Your Hands

I don't care if it isn't likely I would do ANYTHING for a mind control arc (or something similar, at least), where we play as a Phoenix who- one way or another- has become a Zoraxis operative. It doesn't need to make sense while it happens because it would be fun as shit.

It isn't as if Phoenix still doesn't get to leave a trail of fiery destruction in their wake, it just isn't to the detriment of Zor this go around… Instead of the handler in your ear (🙁 no jared mason…) you can have one of the Zoraxis Operatives- either a new one, or a rotating cast of old ones (😊 yay mela lee). The souvenirs you bring back being exceedingly dangerous contraptions, explosives, prototype weaponry, and of course, many, many Zoraxis brand foodstuffs of varying degrees of quality. AND it would give Schell an excuse to bring back things like genuine gun combat from the first game.

And you get to be evil. Which literally who doesn't want to be evil?? Hello? We can get an epic evil cinematic intro and everything? An encounter with the handler where his voice shakes in genuine fear- for his life, for who his agent has become, for what Zor has done to them- HELLO??

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

i think it would be really funny if in ieytd4 there was a third organization made entirely of people who have been wronged by both Zor and the Agency. Prism and Solaris and Juniper forming their own organization called Fuck All You Guys Im Out