Elster (LSTR-512)

Elster is a LSTR (Elster) unit Replika within the Eusan People's Navy. She is the player character and protagonist of SIGNALIS (game).

Elster begins the game with the quest to find her missing Gestalt in the facility of S-23.

## Main Story

At the start of the game, she awakens on the Penrose to find it has crashed on a frozen planet called Leng. She finds a Gate and upon passing it finds a hole in the ground, in this hole she finds a strange room where she picks up the King in Yellow. Eventually we find her again within the top floor of S-23 stating she is searching for Alina Seo. Over the course of the story Elster travels through S-23 going deeper into the facility and passing various enemies before eventually reaching the bottom of the mines. Here she finds "Nowhere" and after pushing through this strange area she emerges in a vast field of red "Eternity". Within Eternity she passes through another Gate and finds various previous dead versions of herself, before succumbing to injuries. After a dream sequence where she remembers her past with Ariane on the Penrose, she reawakens determined to fulfil her promise. She then descends down a hole to Rotfront. After completing several puzzles in Rotfront she returns to the strange room, which she learns was Ariane’s. Walking past the door, she then fights Falke in a final battle. Defeating Falke, she pushes to the Gate again where Adler waits, he stabs her and she shoots him. She pushes forward back to the Penrose despite the fatal wound, and finds her way back to the Cryo Room, before the Game Ends and she succumbs to the damages.

## Elster-512 Past

From Documents and Flashbacks we can put together a timeline of Elster's Life Prior to the Events of the Game.

### Gestalt and the Vinetan War

Elster's Gestalt was a Vinetan soldier whose neural pattern was uploaded to the planet's central Neural Archive. The Eusan Nation used her neural pattern to create the LSTR Replika Unit. Her original neural pattern was lost after the central Neural Archive was destroyed, but the Nation would use the neural pattern of a dead LSTR unit to continue producing them.

Elster's Gestalts Name is debated, however it is known that she fought in the War with Unit 12. Photographs of Unit 12 were sent to soldiers' families in Rotfront. Elster can find some of these photos in the Yeong photo store. During the false ending, Elster experiences the memories of the Gestalt in a series of brief flashbacks. She is seen with a serious injury to her right eye. She survived the war, and is later seen standing next to Alina Seo with a bandage covering her eye.

There are two leading theories for who is Elster's Gestalt those being Anna Huang and Lilith Itou

#### Proof For Anna Huang

Huang's name also appears on a the safe containing butterflies, which has a password of LSTR. To many this affirms her as the Gestalt of LSTR.

However, on the photo it is shown that the Gestalt of LSTR was lower ranked then Alina, and if the theory that the top of the list is the CO is to be believed then the women in the photo likely is not the CO and thus is not Huang.

#### Proof for Lilith Itou

The photo is found in the Yeong Family store, and is believed to have been found by Ariane originally from the Itou's. This would connect the Itou family to the photo and provide evidence that the girl in the photo is an Itou.

The meaning of her name is more symbolic to Elster's journey, being as Lilith was one who defied god. Elster too defies a god most directly being Falke.

Lilith's injury to her right eye closely matches the injury Adler inflicts on Elster's right eye, during the ending.

### Prior to the Penrose

Prior to serving on the Penrose it is unlikely that Elster did very much, if she did there is a chance she served on Vineta for a short time, this is evident by her comment regarding the planet on the Orrery. This comment however could be a sign from her Gestalt Memories regarding the Planet.

> The Ocean World ravaged by war, I can hear the sound of the sea
>
>

### Phase 1

Elster would spend the rest of her life on the Penrose, The Penrose has 3 main stages.

Phase 1 is the beginning of the Trip, and there is no clear document detailing the objectives during this time. As the ship is still pushing towards the edge of the solar system during this time.

During this phase Elster and Ariane would begin to fall in love with each other, as is evident by the Cycle 888 note

> I've tried to teach Elster how to dance. It's so cute how clumsy she can be when it comes to these things.
>
>

### Phase 2

Phase 2 begins at 1500 cycles or 1500 days or 4.105 years. This is the secondary stage of the Penrose Program and is the stage where the second half of the program is spent in. We can read about it from the Phase 2 Briefing

> Start of decrypted transmission
>
>
> By our calculations, 1500 cycles of mission time will have passed when you receive this message. Congratulations, Comrade! By now, you should have become fully acclimatized to your new life onboard your ship
>
>
> As you approach the Oort Cloud, your search for new worlds will begin. Utilizing the long-range sensors, you will scout for valuable resources, habitable worlds, or signs of alien life. Remember to rely on your Replika to assist you in maintaining your vessel. We all wish you great success in your mission.
>
>
>
> End of decrypted transmission
>
>

It is during this phase that Elster and Ariane were very deeply in love as demonstrated by the Cycle 1024 Note

> Before I met Elster, I never believed I would find someone I could fall in love with like that.
>
>

### Phase 3-The End

Phase 3 begins at 3000 Cycles, or 3000 days, or 8.21 years. This is the final stage of the Penrose Program, and is the stage where the decay of the Penrose - 512, Replika, and Gestalt began to occur. We can read about the mission particulars from the Phase 3 Briefing.

> Congratulations, Comrade! You've survived 3000 cycles, reaching the final phase of the Penrose Program. With the end of the operational lifetime of your Replika unit approaching, it is time to prepare for the final phase of your mission
>
>
> If you have not found a suitable world for landing by this point, accept that you will not. Find solace in the thought that others might be successful where you failed. As you are probably aware, your ship's spare parts and rations will soon be depleted.
>
>
> Life support systems and reactor shielding will soon to leak from the cooling system. begin to fail, and radiation may begin we recommend you do not attempt to prolong your suffering by reusing old filters or begin rationing supplies.
>
>
> Instead, make peace with your fate. We suggest that you, ask your Replika, while it is still operational to spare you from a slow and agonizing death, or that you take permanent rest in the cryogenic pod
> Remember you will die having served your Nation by partaking in a glorious demonstration of our power.
>
>
>
> End of Decrypted Transmission
>
>

This is the stage we see the beginning of with the party held by Ariane and Elster in the Memory Sequence.
In this stage the Reactor begins to decay which causes a radation leak. This causes a rapid decay of the state of Elster and Ariane, it is suggested in this state that the Gestalt is to be put into Cryo permanently to allow for a painless death or killed by the Replika, however it seems as though something went wrong seeing as Ariane suffered from Cancer before her death. In the end Elster ultimately dies before she is able to help Ariane pass on. We can learn this from examining the corpse of the Penrose Elster in Ende which will say the following.

> *"I couldn't keep my promise. Despite my best efforts, I eventually fell ill, too. It had to end this way."*
>
>

## Theories

### Why Elster Died First

Elsters are expected to stop functioning soon after the start of Phase 3, or the 8.21 year point.

> *"Congratulations, Comrade! You've survived 3000 cycles, reaching the final phase of the Penrose Program. With the end of the operational lifetime of your Replika unit approaching, it is time to prepare for the final phase of your mission..."*
> *-* Found in a decrypted transmission during later parts of the game.
>
>

In Replikas an oxidant is used in place of blood. When one considered the science behind oxidants, they will find that these are highly reactive molecules that in biological systems can worsen the effects of cancer.

Combining this knowledge with the fact that the Reaktor is estimated to begin failing in the 3rd phase, a fact that is supported by Ariane's presumed development of cancer from the radiation, we can determine that the same cancer that slowly was killing Ariane would likely kill Elster quicker, thus why the note mentions that LSTR units approach operational end during this time, as they succumb to the radiation far faster than a human.

This left Ariane in a situation where she was unable to be put to rest by Elster, as Elster died before she could. However, it is theorised that each Elster we find dead inside of the game possess the neural pattern acquired from the *Penrose - 512* mission which may give an explanation as to why there are so many dead LSTR models since it is possible that they are previous iterations of the same LSTR - 512 model.

## Gallery

1. ↑ Anna Huang
2. ↑ Lilith Itou
3. ↑ Orrery (interactable)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Key of Love
5. ↑ Penrose briefing: Phase 2
6. ↑ Penrose Phase 3