Elster/Ariane Yeong

Elster/Ariane Yeong, is a canon ship from the survival horror video game Signalis. This is the game's most popular ship.
==Canon==
Ariane and Elster, whose real name is actually LSTR-512, meet aboard the Penrose 512, a scouting AEON spaceship (National Ministry for Work and Education, or Arbeits- und Erziehungsorgan der Nation, abbreviated as AEON). Ariane is the ship's pilot and a Gestalt, "shape" in German. Gestalts are a type of human. LSTR-512 is a replika engineer. Replikas are biomechanical humanoids, created with neural patterns from Gestalts.
Against AEON's orders, Ariane befriends the LSTR that was assigned to her ship. By playing the music and watching movies alongside the replika, Ariane destabilised LSTR-512, whose neural pattern was from a soldier. This caused the Gestalt memories to resurface.
Over the course of the Penrose 512's voyage through space, Ariane and Elster fell in love. Ariane kept the parameters of the mission a secret - the vessels were to never return and instead just decay in space, with the ships' nuclear reactor onboard failing, something fatal to the Gestalts on board - instead choosing to live out her day to day in happiness with Elster. Eventually Ariane began to die of radiation poisoning. When Ariane was close to death, Elster, then damaged due to the passage of time and the failing ship, in an effort to save Ariane, used a cryo-pod to prevent Ariane from dying.
The game starts with Elster looking for Ariane in a mining facility where she used to work before becoming a pilot. It soon becomes obvious something is very wrong.
==Fandom==
Due to the game's multiple endings and complicated story, much of the art created by fans explores the endings and their possible meanings. There are several posts and essays dedicated solely to understanding the actual timeline of the game and who exactly Elster is, where they really are and what happened after Ariane was put into the cryo-pod. Since the creators of the game refuse to be the voice of God, much of the plot is left up to analysis by fans.
===Common Tropes and Themes===
* Fluff: is a very common tag in fanfics, possibly to counter the fatalistic and depressing reality of canon.
* Doomed Lesbians: canonically, Elster and Ariane's relationship is very angsty, as Ariane is dying in an horrifying way (hair and teeth falling out, nails breaking, sores etc.) and is being kept alive by Elster, who just wants to save her.
* Persona Degradation: this refers to "the development of a unique personality, and by extension, free will."What exactly is 'Persona Degradation'? Elster works fine even if her 'persona' has been 'degraded' by doing activities with Ariane post by Pete-zaTime on Reddit In fics, this usually refers to the moments when Elster begins to feel for Ariane, eventually falling in love with her. Similar to other awakenings and self-awareness in robots or android characters, such as the deviancy virus from Detroit: Become Human.
==Fanworks==
===Fanfic===
* A Victim Of Stars by DearAgonist and Ostheim89, 4 part WIP series, a compilation of fics within the same thread of canon for the survival horror video game SIGNALIS. (2024-2025)
* I Feel Something Behind Me Like You're There by 1helios1, the first ship fic on AO3, Scattered memories from onboard the Penrose-512. (2022)
* Return by Some_Creep, a canon divergence fic, What if Ariane and Elster got to go home. (2024)
===Fanart===
* Ariane and Elster Comic by themaarika on Tumblr
* You cannot see the stars on Rotfront. by some-creep, for the story Return by the same author, on Tumblr
* the red eye by miikpal on Tumblr
* THIS SPACE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK by yuri-hell-world on Tumblr
===Fanvids ===
* Ariane X Elster (2) by Ena-yippee/ on Youtube
* SIGNALIS - Snowfall | Short by WolfdigglyOmen/shorts on Youtube
* Signalis Edit - I Can't Come by adamadx12 on Youtube
===Animations===
* In other words Hold my hand by legendknit on Tumblr
* this really happened in the penrose-512 flight. i was there and i saw it by arainydancer on Tumblr
* Today is 5/12, so here's s little loop of the wives dancing together ✨✨✨ by sosadraws on Tumblr
* over and over by asoingbob on Tumblr
* Train Ride by legendknit
* signalis - won't last a day without you by 64suns on Tumblr
* When multiple Elsters want to keep their promise- Perhaps this is hell. by joetastic2739, voice acting by DipperPancake on Tumblr
* SIGNALIS FAN MV (rare animal - glass beach) by seykoya on Youtube
* Ariane and Elster animation by themaarika on Tumblr
* Signalis SFM - First Kiss by HotrodMcCoolgal on Youtube
* SIGNALIS - Mmm Yeah [animation] by TayakoX on Youtube
=== Cosplay ===
* Ariane and Elster Cosplay by _jablko15 on Twitter (X)
===Other===
* Animated fanart with poem by clodcakes on Tumblr
* Ariane and Elster [Signalis] playlist by Mary Sweet Bird on Spotify
==Archives & Fannish Links==
* Elster | LSTR-512/Ariane Yeong Tag on AO3
* Elster/Ariane Yeong Tag on Tumblr
==References==
Category:Pairings
Category:Femslash Pairings