Occupants
The Occupants are the name given to the extraterrestrial creatures who arrived on Earth inb 2047CE.[1]. Their arrival brought discordance and disease, spreading a virus that caused humans "cry" themselves to death, draining all the fluids in their body out through their eyes.
Watcher. There's no turning back from this.
WARNING! This page contains Spoilers for Chapter 10 and the ending of the game. The true nature of the Occupants is a major plot of the game; therefore it is heavily suggested that you finish the game before reading this page.!
Much of what we know about Occupants' interiority comes from interactions with Source, the final Occupant who remained on Earth, after the rest had left. While early humans and the clone society refer to the species as "Occupants", Iris and the ancient sisters refer to them as "the Keepers". Source also uses this term to describe themselves in Chapter 10 of the game.
Biology[edit | edit source]
The Occupants communicate via telepathy, and can share memories directly. They do not appear to share the same sensory functions that humans do, such as sight, sound, or touch. They are instead able to sense and directly experience the perspective of other life forms. They must however be close enough in order to be able to do this.
Their true form seems to be the ring-like objects, which is capable of rotation and indepent propulsion. They are able to project themselves however and manifest physically, resulting in humans misattributing this projection to be their body - In an attempt to communicate with humans, the Occupants projected a glowing red imitation of the human body. Not much is known about the Occupant's physiology. They do not seem to require food or energy to survive, and are capable of surviving for an untold amount of time in deep space. They possess perfect recall, however there are limits to the "capacity" of a single occupant to store memories.
Due to their extremely alien nature, initial communication with humans was difficult, as humans were not able to understand by what means the Occupants had to communicate by. Among the early attempts to communicate, a piano was played to the Occupants. They perceived this as "discordance", and tried to communicate in kind, a misunderstanding which resulted in the Occupant's disease.
The Occupants seek to "save" Earth's inhabitants by conducting a "lossless transfer" of all of Earth's memories, preserving everything as data. They do not understand the concept of "death", as they consider the living and their data-memory as equivalent.
History[edit | edit source]
The Occupants who arrived on Earth were "branched" (essentially created, or born) in deep space with only a few memories. The most prominent of these was the vision of a binary star system with two suns colliding - It is presumed that this was the Occupant's original star system, and that the Occupants who arrived on Earth were fleeing the destruction of their homeworld.
They drifted through space for an untold amount of time before just happening to cross Sol's orbit. Having scant few experiences or sensations
It is not known how the Occupants were first discovered. Some members from an unnamed organisation were the first to try communicating with the Occupants, however all methods failed. Johnson The 50 attempted to communicate via music, playing Bach on a piano to an Occupant. The Occupants had been studying the humans in turn, but were revulsed by the "discordance" in the music they were being played. They tried to respond in turn through the genetic code they had been studying, giving birth to a virus that would cause the cataclysmic Occupant's disease.
The Occupants attempted to mimic the humans body, and started manifesting themselves as the giant, glowing, headless red humanoid form that most humans would come to assume was their body.The Occupants gorged themselves on human memories and sensations, however the sheer volume of experiences overwhelmed the Occupants whose capacity to hold them was now overflowing.
As they grew more familiar with humans, they became drawn to intense emotional distress and especially humans who were near death, and they would assimilate the full memories of humans before they passed, preserving them forever. This impulse was interpreted as a kind of sadism by certain humans.
The presence of Occupants on Earth was a poorly kept secret, and although some videos ciruclated and the pandemic caused by their arrival was well known, the existence of alien life was not confirmed by offical sources before mid-year, 2047.
The Occupants demonstrate a capability of interfacing directly with electronics and computer technology, and in late 2047 it is suggested by some that the Occupants may target data centres. By the end of the year, human civilisation had been irreparably damaged by the disease.
By the 2070's, the surface of the Earth was a barren wasteland. Occupants are shown still inhabiting the Earth and continuing to imitate humans by sitting and lounging atop the ruined skyscrapers of Vancouver.
As time went on with humanity all but extinct, most Occupants chose to leave the planet Earth, save for one who remained, having developed a fascination and attachment to a certain human. The Earth is shown to be encased in a giant prism of sorts, with some English text resembling programming languages visible on the surface.
quote about "lossless transfer"
there is a comfort in a familiar camouflage
deal with iris
check if this quote is correct
SOURCE: We are speaking their language now. Is that not a form of death? (ch. X)
some hinted abusive demands from Iris during ch7 flashbacks
Relationships[edit | edit source]
Iris[edit | edit source]
that quote from ch4 of iris accepting the occupant's gift
secretary and vice and the yellow one
that quote from ch7 thats iris talking aboutt how the occupants keep demanding more and more from her
it was bad
Secretary[edit | edit source]
SOURCE: You will be just me. You always were.
A branch of the occupants with their own mind, similar to Iris and Principal branching off clones
Quotes[edit | edit source]
SEPERATE THESE TO RELEVANT SECTIONS LATER!! i am heading to bed goodnight
SOURCE: I manifested their body… and for a moment, they responded. I saw vivid transmissions of myself reflected back to me. I saw myself for the first time. Yet, when I attempted to return the transmission, they still could not understand. Instead, they tried means unknown to me.
SECRETARY: The piano... It was an ugly, rigid instrument.
SOURCE: The machine that produced unnatural vibrations...
SECRETARY: (singing)
SOURCE: Yes. Each tone unstable. They seemed to enjoy this... Discordance.
SOURCE: The more we perceived this world, the more the discordance. Discordance at the peak of cogency. So, we repeated as they did. Gave them discordance in kind. One by one, signals of such clarity. So many of them… joined together.
SECRETARY: A heightened state of awareness.
SOURCE: We were spilling. It was too much for any single one of us to hold. So we manifested an us to cumulate this world. To keep all we could not. We did not want to waste. Where there was once nothing, there was now… plenty.
SECRETARY: They died...SOURCE: There is that word again.
SECRETARY: You murdered them.
SOURCE: ...
SOURCE: The transfer was lossless. And I remain.
SOURCE: I chose Iris to remain with me. Others chose differently, but Iris...was an epicenter for – as you say – heightened awareness.
SECRETARY: She was mean... Mean to those around her...
SOURCE: She had a gift...and she kept giving. A dangerous gravity. I always kept her close – and to myself.
SECRETARY: You communed with her.
SOURCE: We came to an understanding. I branched myself to you and you and you. A medium for her to keep everything. A bridge for her to better understand us. And for us to better understand her. More and more was etched into her genetic code.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The Occupant's dialogue was not layered through editing – the voice actors are partners who have done dance performances speaking in unison before, and thus were able to speak in unison in the recording booth.[2]
- The Occupants' unique speech pattern is inspired by the episode "Darmok" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as the Cantonese language's memetic qualities.[3]
- An "Occupation" is typically used to describe an invading force during wartime or in a colonial context. The choice of this term to refer to the extraterrestrial invaders links symbolically to Hong Kong's history, existing under the foreign rule of the British and Japanese empires, and later Mainland China/Chinese Communist Party.
- The Occupant's disease ravaging humanity echoes the disastrous pandemics wrought by European pioneers visiting the Americas and Pacific islands. However, in this instance, the disease was not inadvertantly brought to Earth by the Occupants, but rather created as a misguided attempt at communication.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
OCCUPANT: There is a choice and we will not make it. (ch. 4)
An Occupant "choosing" people (ch. 4)
An Occupant (ch. 4)
Secretary meeting Source (ch. X)
The merged form of Secretary and Source (ch. X)
An occupant ring.
3 Occupants hanging out on buildings (ch. 4)
4 Occupants hanging out on buildings (ch. 4)
The Occupants' base form (the rings) (ch. 4)
Earth, after the occupants had "preserved" it (ch. 4)
The 2 stars in the Occupants' home system (ch. 4)
Iris, left alone with an Occupant (Source) in The Orchard (ch. 7)
SOURCE: Several of us diverged... searching to form our own memories. Some settled here. (ch. X)
SOURCE: This planet will remain and its memories will remain.
"Discordance at the peak of cogency." ch. X
