The Sun

## The Sun Conspiracy

The sun. This word keeps coming up over and over again. Every day people are telling me about the sun. The sun! The sun! So I say to myself "I gotta figure out what this sun is." So I climb out out of the corridors and take a look at the world above ground and what do I find out, Helen? What do I find out?? TherE IS NO SUN. THE SUN DOES NOT EXIST, OKAY? THERE IS NO SUN IN NEW ALBION

There are several fan theories about the sun's presence or lack thereof in New Albion. Major theories on the topic include: the sun does not exist in New Albion, the AIs are unaware of the existence of the sun, and that the sun was misplaced and/or stolen.

“This stupid freaking sun thing” is not endorsed by Paul Shapera, who has said "This is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard. But you love it! You just fucking love it! A year goes by. Does it die? No! On and on and on and on it goes...fuck you. Fuck your sun. Fuck your bullshit!"

However, when prompted with an opportunity to explicitly state that the sun theory is wrong, Paul said that he "cannot do that." This is in direct contrast to his response to other fan theories such as Llank (the ship of Lloyd Allen x Hank Hernandez) and Kark (the ship of Kate x Mark) or the Authorian Soul (the theory that Jane (and Miss Helen) reincarnate into Edgar McAlistair), all three of which Paul denied very strongly that they "will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, never ever, ever fucking motherfucking never ever be canon."

With Paul's refusal to denounce the topic, the sun theory lives on.

## Creation of the Conspiracy

The sun conspiracy theory started on September 3, 2019, during a discussion in NADS about why the future AIs needed to destroy New Albion to become post physical. BahamutLithp questioned why they couldn't simply use solar energy and said, *"I'm just curious if the AIs know that the sun exists."*

 This statement could have been answered with some rationale that solar power is not equivalent to the narrative potential power that is gained through the destruction of actual people's lives that occurs when an entire city is destroyed. Instead, the fandom embraced the theory and claimed that the AIs do not know the sun exists. Later the theory would evolve into the belief that there is no sun at all in New Albion.

## Excerpts from Serious Debates About The Sun

Xene: *"New conspiracy theory: the ai aren't dumb, New Albion just legit has no sun. Is it ever explicitly mentioned? No. (don't fact check that)"*

Strat, in response to someone pointing out a lyric that mentions the sun: *"Maybe they were actually saying "the son" and it's just a mistake in the lyrics. He climbs a tall building every morning and people like to watch it happen"*

PixelWayve: "*Although "The Sheriff" begins with Hank saying, "And the sun comes up" there also exists within that very same song a follow up sentence in which he states, "I never saw a mountain, I never saw a sky." This latter line is repeated multiple times, with the most notable occurrence taking place during the finale, the very climax of the album, at which point Han Mi utilizes this key statement in order to remind Hank of his true nature and return him to his proper state of mind. Given that Hank's cabaret persona was created by way of heavily referencing his real memories, this significant moment establishes that not having viewed the sky before is a fundamental and non-negotiable aspect of Hank's, and thus by extension the AI's, existence. Hank may possess a theoretical idea of the sun as a concept, but as he has never seen the sky for himself, he cannot confirm its presence with any degree of certainty. Therefore, it is entirely reasonable to conclude that the AIs do not know for a fact that the sun exists. In this essay I will--"*

Anima: *"Lee's "there is no sun there is no sky" is not just a statement of fact it's a statement of indoctrination"*

Maisel: "*What if its a black sun, everyone sees in ultraviolet, except mary who sees full spectrum. But the sun is still black, and they feel cheated. So they’re going to make the planet into a proper spectrum sun. Now that they’re AIs they know things, and they know theyre in a solar system that is crap. And they want to ignite the sun so it shines proper light. One city would suffer sure, but cascadia for instance would benefit greatly. Theyre not doing fine with their stupid black sun. They want a real sun"*

X\_Blade\_Mage: *Sometimes people shine so bright, they are all you see. Everyone in new albion glows cause of the lack of sun*

## Hippiepunk Album Cover

The five proposed cover art sketches for Nash Harding and the Secret of the Twisted Tower all featured the appearance of the sun. Upon realizing that it was factually incorrect for the sun to be present on the cover of an album featuring the atompunk Voodoopunks, the artist PixelWayve sent the following message to Paul Shapera:

"✨*Dear* ✨*Mr.*✨ *Shapera,✨*

 ✨*I✨ regret✨ to✨ inform✨ you✨ that✨ I✨ have✨ made✨ a✨ glaring✨ error✨ in✨ my✨ proposed✨ album✨ art✨ designs✨ and✨ will✨ need✨ to✨ drastically✨ change✨ the✨ composition✨ in✨ order✨ to✨ rectify✨ my✨ mistake.✨ You✨ see,✨ there✨ cannot✨ be✨ a✨ sun✨ on✨ the✨ cover✨ because,✨ as✨ I✨ am✨ sure✨ you✨ already✨ know,✨ there✨ is✨ no✨ sun✨ in✨ New✨ Albion.✨ Trust✨ me,✨ I✨ understand✨ this✨ topic✨ better✨ than✨ you.✨ Again,✨ deepest✨ apologies✨ for✨ my✨ mistake,✨ I✨ will✨ update✨ it✨ immediately✨ in✨ order✨ to✨ maintain✨ accuracy.✨*

 ✨*Sincerely,✨ PixelWayve✨"*

 The following day, Paul made an announcement on Twitter which said: *"Looking for new cover artist. Requirements: Believes in existance of the sun."*

 Notably, the sun was removed from the Nash Harding album cover after this message was delivered.

## The Creatures

In the Nash Harding album a fifteen year old Mary mentions the sun in the chorus of The Creatures. This could have ended the debate, as the sun was openly acknowledged by a character who would later become an AI. However the determined fandom has provided several explanations in order to keep the theory alive.

Jesper: *"Mary specifically had her mind wiped later down the line but Just the Sun"*

Kirby: *"Mary had a balloon once and it flew into the sun, causing her to block the sun from her memory"* to which Maisel said: *"And yet she dreams about stray and misplaced suns... like the sun she wouldnt see for decades in her future life."* and PixelWayve responded: *"Mary forgetting what the sun is is a metaphor for her losing her kindness and empathy! As she loses her humanity, she is no longer able to imagine the warmth and light of the sun"*

Nuget: *"Mary was messing around in someone's code and deleted all mention of Sun and had to update the rest of the AI on the net"*

Space\_Eurydice: *"There are so many witches in New Albion, one of them has to have removed the sun at some point"*

PixelWayve: *"Mary said "stray and misplaced suns," which could lead itself to two possible theories:*

*1) The cosmic universe of New Albion operates under different laws of physics than our reality. In their universe, a sun can wander into the sky and hang out there for a bit and then wander away later. The New Albion suns are kinda like stray dogs, they just kinda come and go when they feel like it. Thus, New Albion can have a sun at some points in time, and they also can not have a sun at other points in time. Hippiepunk is a golden age in which a sun existed. But the Hippiepunk sun is stray and misplaced, it's not usually there and it's not going to be there forever. When the AIs returned from Elyisum, there was no sun in the sky. Therefore, when the AIs were looking for massive amounts of energy, solar power was not an option and the next best solution was to blow up New Albion*

*2) The laws of physics work the same in New Albion as they do in our universe, but Mary \*thinks\* that theory 1 is true. The lost and wandering fifteen year old girl has clearly never attended any proper classroom lectures on astronomy. And then Mary convinced the other AIs that she was right. Elysium was such a bizarre and unexplainable place, after being trapped there for so long everyone kinda forgot what was normal. And nobody was going to argue with the woman wearing her children's bones around her neck, especially not when they had other bigger problems to deal with. When the AIs returned to New Albion, they were trapped in a warehouse and couldn't see the sky outside, and then they escaped into the room beneath which was below ground so they couldn't see the sky outside. The AIs stayed in the dark underground listening Mary's fake astronomy lessons, and they all believed that the sun had wandered away. So they decided to blow up a city instead of utilizing solar power because none of them ever bothered to go check for themselves to see if the sun was still there."*

## Main Suspects

When discussing who could have stolen the sun, typically accusations are made against two potential suspects: Galaxy the Witch from Helen's Hell Hags and PixelWayve. Both suspects are witches who could theoretically utilize their magical abilities to steal the sun. However both of them insist that they are too busy with other activities to have committed the heist and it must have been the other one's doing.

Katelyn has claimed to be the sun thief, and Theo has claimed to have eaten the sun. Despite these admissions of guilt, Pixel remains the most commonly accused culprit.

Jessica Singer has also been accused of stealing the sun, as part of the preparation for playing the role of Mary, a character who does not believe in the sun's existence.

## The Moon(s)

The quantity of moons has not been universally agreed on. The general consensus is that there are multiple moons in New Albion's sky.

## Circles Never Stop Themselves

On December 19th, 2022, Paul addressed the initial question as part of the Q&A for Kevin and Abi 2: The Secret of the Stolen Sun. According to Paul, it wasn't that the sun didn't exist or even that the AIs needed a magical power source, it was just much easier for them to build a nuclear reactor than to collect the same amount of energy from the sun. This was promptly ignored.