In today's Intel leak we have, for the first time, confirmation from Ezekiel Calvin himself that he is, or was, a...

In today's Intel leak we have, for the first time, confirmation from Ezekiel Calvin himself that he is, or was, a member of the ancient AntiMagnus. Somewhat ironically, this confirmation comes concomitantly with an admission that Calvin's current relationship status with the group appears to be “it’s complicated."


There has been considerable speculation as to how fundamentally different the post-recursion Calvin will be from his previous self. There is the obvious matter of his lost memories. Like all simulacra, Calvin will have no direct memories of his previous life over the 1331 days prior to his recursion during Abaddon. However, Calvin had a distinct advantage over the other participants in the Niantic Project: he knew he was a simulacrum. Therefore, he would have prepared for this, leaving himself copious notes and information to bring his new recursion up to speed. This latest message seems to confirm my earlier prediction that Calvin would be able to collect his memories.


The more complicated question is this: what are the implications of the fact that it was the Enlightened, rather than Calvin's own faction, that captured the majority of his shards?


Some have speculated that being captured by the opposing faction is enough to flip an individual's affiliation like a light switch. Clearly this theory has already been disproven with respect to entities existing in the Ultimate (Jarvis) or the N’Zeer substrate (ADA). Evidently, this weakens them, but does not appear to alter their orientation.


Of course, it doesn't neccesarily follow that the same is true of simulacra. However, I would argue that the same principle applies: simulacra are compromised in some way by the actions of the other faction but their loyalties do not automatically flip.


I suspect that Calvin's simulacrum is now somehow “tainted” from the perspective of the N’Zeer and their earthly disciples, AntiMagnus. Perhaps by capturing his shards, the Enlightened have given the Shapers partial access to Calvin's thought patterns. This would make him an unwitting intelligence liability for his own organisation. Anything Calvin knows, the Shapers might be able to learn as well. Clearly the AntiMagnus are keeping Calvin at arms length after his recursion. I propose that this is not because Calvin has abandoned the cause, but because AntiMagnus can't fully trust him. It will be interesting to see how Calvin manages to reconcile his membership, perhaps even leadership, within AntiMagnus with this new reality.

I look forward to hearing what my fellow investigators think of this theory. I'd like to acknowledge that Yik Sheng Lee​​ was, I believe, the first to identify Calvin as an AntiMagnus, a theory he defended over an extended period of time. I'm sure he is gratified to see this confirmation as a validation of his perennial prescience.

Edgar Allan Wright​​ flint dille​​ John Hanke​​ Hank Johnson​​ H. Richard Loeb​​