A deep look into Deepcolor
I'm starting a new Tumblr side-blog for the Arknights and Endfield posts I've written over on Reddit, under the name Sunder_the_Gold.
[Operator Record: 'Azure Memories']
Priest: "The first time I saw you, you were absorbed in your painting, just like this."
Eccentric Artist: The first time you saw me? When was that? It's been so long, I can't remember.
Priest: I was hiding behind that boulder, that day you met the Herald for the first time.
Eccentric Artist: So you were by the water..
Presumably sometime after the Cult of the Deep tortured the secrets of hybridization out of Laurentina's body...
But apparently before they could guide the Many to produce the First To Speak...
A cultist followed an unknown, uncommunicative Herald to a shore, in the territory of an unknown nation.
The Herald found an Aegirian Islander painting on that shore, and perceived her neither as predator nor prey, but as potential kin. It offered its "seed" to the woman, who accepted it.
Then she joined the Cult of the Deep to further her transformation, likely guided by the cultist who watched the meeting.
An Islander? Not a citizen of Aegir?
If you think that a Seaborn could just casually approach an Aegirian city. That a civilian painter would sit at an undefended border of such a city. That the border would be called a 'shore'.
Setting that aside, let us talk about lived experience and perspective.
We know for a fact that Skadi comes from an underwater Aegir city, and that she sees the surface world as foreign. "When you've finally made the long journey through the dark up to the water's surface—your eyes dazzled by the sparkling stars all over the sky, your cheek soothed by the cradling waves, your tears seep into your mouth. They have the same salty taste of your home—compared to all that, the bathtub at Rhodes Island is so tiny and puny... I'll have to show you my home someday."
But an Islander Aegir, who has spent her whole life on dry land like other Terrans, sees the transition in reverse. One does not arise out of the ocean onto dry land; one descends from the land into the ocean. When speaking humbly of her skills as a painter, dismissing her level as easily attained by all, in her own words Deepcolor says, "she is still at the shoal of the sea of art."
A shoal is a sand bar or other embankment so close to the surface you could stand on it without swimming.
Deepcolor does not speak of standing on the continental shelf of the sea floor, facing the dry land above. Nor does she speak of facing away from the land, standing at the edge of an abyssal cliff. She describes herself as a drylander who has only gotten her ankles wet as she descends into a world unknown to her.
Oh, I'm sure that Deepcolor has visited the ocean floor, since she met that Herald. She's describing her metaphorical journey as an artist, rather than her literal traveling experience.
One Ocean, But Which Shore?
[Archive File 1] Operator Deepcolor was born to an upper middle class family in Columbia, where her father was a professor of oil painting at the Schumann Art Institute of Leithanien. Through her father, she had access to all the greatest art salons, and was profoundly influenced by the scene from a very young age. Enamored of oil painting, she resolved to become an artist. Under the guidance of her father, Deepcolor quickly showed a tremendous talent for painting and she began her art studies and easily earned the grades to be accepted into Thyssen University, where she attracted the attention of a certain advanced Originium institute in Victoria, leading her to triple-major in Originium control. After graduation, she received an offer from the Harmenszoon Design Studio and worked there for almost three years.
Occam's Razor suggests that the Herald met Deepcolor in Iberian territory. Almost everything to do on dry land with the Many and the Cult and the Islanders takes place in Iberia.
While Iberia has become inhospitable to Aegirians a generation or so ago, we know various young Islanders who grew up in Iberia with advanced educations. Weedy emerged as a capable engineer, and Thorns mastered both biochemistry and an Iberian fencing style. It's not impossible that Deepcolor could become a painter.
But we know that Aegirians became Islanders in other nations as well, and Cultists may seek them out. Cicero found Mizuki in Higashi, where Akafuyu and Kirara likewise grew up. Cuora hails from Columbia.
The archive file doesn't specify which parts of Deepcolor's personal account seem to contradict the accounts of Rhodes Island's own investigation.
Obviously, Deepcolor needed to lie about the time she spent with the Cult of the Deep. But that would only have comprised the most recent years of her life, after she met the Herald.
So everything up to Thyssen University, or the unnamed Victorian institute for Originium Arts, might be the honest truth.
Deepcolor comes across as an awkward liar, so I doubt she concocted her entire story out of a desire of self-aggrandizement or drama. Especially given her humble self-deprecation in regards to her artistic abilities.
Deepcolor's Operator Record reuses backgrounds and NPC sprites exclusive from those originally used for Iberian stories. But this is not conclusive of her origins, or even of its own geographical setting. Especially since none of the townsfolk seem concerned about an Aegirian among them, or worried about the Inquisition.
Besides, if the cult originally found her in Columbia, it would make sense to hide anywhere else, even in Iberia. Perhaps hiding in plain sight, under their nose. Particularly since a Columbian citizen would normally not be permitted to immigrate into isolated, locked-down Iberia.
Deepcolor's archive files lack any hint that Kal'tsit sealed part of her medical records. Then again, the same can be said of fellow launch-operator Specter.
It's only when Skadi debuts that we get confirmation that Kal'tsit limits medical testing regarding Sea Monster hybrids, and seals records of other tests. It's only after [Under Tides] that Kal'tsit allows the Medical Department to learn more of the truth.
Did Deepcolor manage to fool Kal'tsit, or did the Cold Lynx see through her like all the others? Does Rhodes Island really only test blood for Originium content, and not for anything else?
Ironically, despite being a former member of the Deep Cult and an octopus, Deepcolor lacks any tentacles on her own body. This is especially funny compared to Andreana, who has tentacles naturally despite being an uninitiated member of the Abyssal Hunters, who have no animal features.
Andreana even has the inhuman W-shaped pupils of a cuttlefish, whereas Deepcolor's pupils seem normal. (With the possible exception of her E2 art.)
The third installment of Highmore's Memory Mapping says of Highmore:
Perhaps she never fell asleep, only let her consciousness drift for a moment. It has been too long since she desired sleep from physical fatigue. The blood and flesh of Seaborn have made her strong and resilient, and virtually eliminated the need for sleep, but the mind does not acclimate to the long waking hours so quickly.
Deepcolor, too, seems to have such an ability. She said that, by the time the murderous cultist found her, she had worked on her current painting for 'months' without sleep. Yet she showed no sign of fatigue.
In [SN-10 After], Specter informed Irene that most Aegirians can't breathe water. Naturally, all Abyssal Hunters we've seen, can.
I therefore assume that Deepcolor can breathe water. Furthermore, that she has descended into the lightless depths of the ocean to see "boundless water" with her own eyes.
[Archive File 3] It has been confirmed that Deepcolor has a photographic memory of the appearance and detailed features of every Operator she has ever met. Through simple observation, she derives a complete picture of their bodies and even minute imperfections that the Operators themselves are not aware of. By further analyzing these data, Deepcolor can summarize her subjects' private information that most intelligence operatives would need long periods of observation to acquire, such as lifestyle choices and daily habits.
While exceptional, these abilities are not quite inhuman. We can't confidently dismiss the idea that Deepcolor could do this before she met the unnamed Herald. Indeed, if Deepcolor had such abilities from a young age, then she might honestly believe the absurd notion that "this is nothing but a basic skill possessed by all painters."
However, we know that hybrids have a great deal of control over the directions of their transformation. It would only make sense for a painter like Deepcolor to develop her visual senses and cognition to inhuman levels, whether she meant to or not. To see colors outside of the human-visible spectrum, and more keenly distinguish outlines, textures, and depth of field.
Her vision is such that total "darkness" does not seem "black" to her.
Her final Trust Line: "The battered world, paint peeling, finally closes its eyes in its dark depths—that's right, darkness is the true color of the ocean. Black is the only color you see, you say? Wait till I share all I know with you..."
She may disagree with her physicians about the accuracy of her memory. In her operator record, a neighbor laments how Deepcolor can require her models to pose for a "whole day" as she paints them. Perhaps she sees so much detail that even what others would consider 'perfect recall' falls short of her standards.
Still Images versus Sequential Art
As regards any jokes about Deepcolor producing naughty doujinshi...
Sincerely, I think Deepcolor might struggle to do the sequential art necessary for comics.
She loves painting portraits and landscapes, devoting entire months to a single image.
If she has developed her eyes and visual cortex beyond human limits, that doesn't mean she did the same for the parts of her eyes and brain that track and calculate movement. I specifically excluded that detail from the list, because it's useless for still imagery.
Even if true, this would not mean that she can't or doesn't draw erotic art. Just not erotic comics.
Deepcolor is the artist that mangaka or publishers commission for the cover art, not the content of the comic (or book) itself.
Aside from maybe a centerfold.
[Appointed as Assistant] "Good morning, Doctor. Can I paint a portrait of you? And don't worry, I'll try not to... bring it to life. Besides, I'm not capable of bringing EVERYTHING to life, you know!"
[Talk after Trust Increase 1] "That's right. Even if no one understands me, I'll keep making art. No matter what kinds of monsters my works might become..."
I'm not entirely sure how to interpret this. The first voiceline seems self-contradictory, first suggesting that Deepcolor has to actively fight to make sure her portrait of the Doctor won't 'come to life' (whatever that means) and then asserting that Deepcolor can't make certain paintings come to life at all.
The second voiceline asserts that Deepcolor's portraits sometimes take on a life of their own against her will...
But none of her limited lore shows us any such painting. All of her paintings are normal except for her methods.
But her paint? That seems very much alive.
[Operator Description] Deepcolor, Supporter Operator of Rhodes Island, is ready for combat with her 'assistants.'
You don't want to know how she draws.
[Archive File 3] Furthermore, perhaps most difficult to understand are the creatures she commands, dubbed 'helpers' (or 'tentacles' by nosy Operators). The reason these long, thin threads are called 'creatures' is because they possess the intelligence and mobility of a pet trained to follow orders, greatly adding to Deepcolor's combat flexibility. After comparisons to the 'Meeboos' created by Mayer of the Rijn Life Research Center [Rhine Lab? Rutra Workshop?], these creatures are actually mechanical entities defying any existing classification. They have spindly bodies without noses, mouths, or ears.
The archive file is largely bullshit, of course.
Deepcolor's Module lore and Operator Record make it pretty clear that her "assistants" or "tentacles" are just her particular expressions of Nethersea Brand.
Deepcolor is a launch operator, designed well in advance of the debut of the Nethersea Brand and its mechanics. So that, and Deepcolor being cagey about the exact nature of her "helpers", and people apparently trying not to look too closely at the creatures, may explain certain discrepancies between the archive files and the reality.
In her Operator Record, Deepcolor's Brand covers every inch of the inside of her temporary home, disguising itself to seem like wallpaper, furnishings, trash. At her command, it reveals itself in all of its ravenous, blue horror, ready to engulf and devour her enemies.
In her Module lore, Deepcolor uses her Brand as paint. On her 'Weird Palette', all of it seems like the same, disturbing shade of blue to a normal person. But when applied to a canvas, the Brand apparently takes on whatever color she wishes, allowing her to paint a 'normal' portrait of a normal person.
We don't know if her Brand paint is separate from her Originium-enriched Arts-casting paint, or one in the same.
We likewise don't know how Deepcolor generates and controls Nethersea Brand; this might be another of her inhuman mutations, an Originium Art taught to her by the cult, or both.
The flavor-text of the "Wander Into Wonderland" node of [Caerula Arbor] tells us that Mizuki, despite lacking any capability for Arts, can likewise control Nethersea Brand.
In contrast to Mizuki, Deepcolor's files repeatedly mention her talent for Arts.
[Profile] She is remarkably gifted in the use of Originium abilities, Arts support, and combat coordination.
[Archive File 3] Operator Deepcolor's Originium abilities remain poorly understood, which is also a key reason why Rhodes Island recruited her.
This record suggests that Deepcolor casts Arts by painting upon thin air. So far, we have not seen her do such a thing in the story. The combat animation for her basic auto-attack shows her painting or sketching on her notepad before launching a triangular projectile of nondescript energy at her target.
Possibly, Deepcolor paints on the air to construct Visual Traps. Presumably, areas that beguile the enemy's sight and spoil their ability to aim attacks. Thus, granting all of her allies to to 50% Physical Evasion.
Deepcolor's records don't imply at all that she has revealed her ability to hypnotize others into compelled obedience.
In her Module lore, she paints someone who commissioned a portrait. Though she openly employs her Nethersea Paint in front of them, her client steadfastly and anxiously refuses to recognize or acknowledge the terrifying strangeness. Even when her client later looks back on the experience and recognizes more things that make no sense, the client chastises themself to overlook it.
In her Operator Record, Deepcolor has employed her hypnosis so often that she's gained a reputation.
Art Shop Owner: We keep our distance from her, when we can help it.
Art Shop Owner: It's not so bad when she's at home painting, other than the strange noises, from time to time. When she's sketching outside, though... everyone stays as far away as they can. Don't want to get press ganged into modeling for her. There's no getting away once she sets her eyes on you. You have to sit there and wait for her to finish, no matter what else you might have to do. And, as you know, paintings aren't the quickest thing to get done... poof, there goes your whole day.
Strange Outsider: Why don't you just say no?
Art Shop Owner: No...? Yeah... why not just turn her down? Seems easy enough. (Mutters to himself with a blank expression)
Strange Outsider: Sir? Are you okay?
Art Shop Owner: I-I'm fine. I'm trying to think back to what she said to me, but I just can't remember a thing.
Sadly, Deepcolor couldn't employ the same trick against her former fellow cultist. Else she might not have needed to kill him.
Amaia: Evil Mentor or Fellow Student?
Like Deepcolor, Amaia wasn't much of a fighter.
They each wield Nethersea Brand as a territory-controlling weapon. As Deepcolor used hers to devour her would-be murderer and destroy her temporary home, Amaia could use her to devour the hall and hull of the Stultifera Navis... though she could not use it to threaten or hinder Specter in any meaningful way.
They each employ perception-manipulating Arts. Specter even possibly implies that Amaia uses hers to help her avoid Specter's attacks ([SN-ST-11]), similar to how Deepcolor's "Visual Trap" allows herself and allies to evade attack.
Perhaps Deepcolor learned from Amaia, or one one of Amaia's students, or a shared teacher.
If Amaia could hypnotize people at least as effectively as Deepcolor, that certainly wouldn't have hurt her efforts to interrogate Laurentina. To bury her identity under "Specter", an obedient nun of an unusual but inconspicuous Iberian sect of the Lateran faith.
Amaia's most effective attacks against Specter, at their reunion, came in the form of words. Always reframing her treachery and abuse in a positive light, bragging about stolen secrets even Specter didn't remember yet, trying to shake Specter's identity as an Abyssal Hunter with the truth of her hybrid nature.
As Ling is to Dusk, Amaia is to Deepcolor.
In Amaia's place, Deepcolor might also try to evoke the feelings she deems would best disarm or neutralize her opponent. But rather than relying on words to make you relive happy memories or confront horrible visions, Deepcolor would literally paint you pictures.
Yet against the murderous cultist, Deepcolor sued for peace with words.
Just as Deepcolor's Visual Trap skill takes a long time to charge, Deepcolor needs time to paint a picture.
Of course, she also didn't plan for that encounter. Amaia prepared to confront Specter, but Deepcolor was just spending another normal day painting when the cultist found her. And her painting was not meant for him.
Had Deepcolor been waiting to delay Specter, she would have prepared by painting that hall of the Stultifera Navis.
Strange Outsider: She's got a temper? Violent type? Or more of an arrogant artist?
Art Shop Owner: Well... you might say she's got a sunny disposition.
Art Shop Owner: Anyway, it doesn't matter. She's a little loopy, you know. Says lots of weird things. Don't let the things she says get to you. I'm sure she doesn't mean any harm by them.
Strange Outsider: Heh... didn't think you'd turn around and start defending her.
Art Shop Owner: She's a little off-kilter, sure, but she's never hurt anybody. Plus... Half of what I sell here is her work. Her stuff is popular.
Even the townsfolk who found Deepcolor a little disturbing, a little off-putting, a little-overbearing... didn't hate her. The Rhodes Island portrait-commissioner who watched her use devouring abominations as paint... didn't fear that she would turn that "paint" against her.
At Rhodes Island, she has befriended Glaucus, who regularly sits to watch her paint.
When the townsfolk heard her house violently collapse without warning, they quickly banded together to dig her free. They had accepted her as one of their own.
Even when confronted with someone who wanted her dead, Deepcolor sued for peace. Repeatedly, she tried to convince the cultist to repent and escape. To retreat with his life, and to leave the cult. She didn't give up until after he marked her for death.
Furthermore, as an artist, Deepcolor cares about producing art that other people simply enjoy. She loves people so much that she offers to paint almost anyone she interacts with. If they refuse, she gifts them with at least a sketch.
She doesn't shy away from art that disturbs, terrifies, or pushes boundaries, but what she ultimately wants to share with others is "Beauty".
"I want beauty, eternal beauty, dwelling in all life."
Onboarding at Rhodes Island
Launch operators can wait a long time to canonically join Rhodes Island. Poor Platinum waited two and a half years.
We have no evidence yet to suggest that Deepcolor has yet boarded the landship, as of [Caerula Arbor], which canonically takes place after [Chapter 8], [Dossoles Holiday], and [Stultifera Navis].
She does not appear in the main story, nor any side story or vignette. Of operator records or module blurbs, only in her own. In the archive files of other operators, she has a passing mention among other names in Glaucus' social circle. Of official media, she might have some stickers or merchandise, but she has appeared in no animation, and in no comic that I can recall.
[Talk 1] "I feel like I'm not supposed to appear here..."
However, absence of evidence is never evidence of absence. We do have other operators as obscure as her, who may never get any more lore or screentime than she currently has.
(To name a few: Plume, Pudding, Chestnut, Roberta, Quartz, Matoimaru, Cantabile, Firewhistle, Toddifons, Breeze, Corroserum, Tuye, Windflit, Qanipalaat, Nine-Colored Deer, SURTR.)
Nevertheless, Deepcolor obviously joins Rhodes Island eventually. And interacts with the people there.
[Talk 2] "There are lots of fun creative resources here at Rhodes Island! I'm feeling inspired..."
Deepcolor needs a safe place to hide from the Sea Monsters, now that a former fellow cultist has left a mark on her that draws the attention of the beasts and provokes them to destroy her.
But just as we can't be sure when, we really can't be sure why she choose Rhodes Island as her refuge. Maybe she ran across Mizuki or Highmore and they led her back? This would be a soft retcon, considering her archive files should be freer about her truth, but whatever.
In the town where she hid from the Deep Cult, Deepcolor gained a reputation for press-ganging anyone she wanted into modeling for her paintings. If she saw you, your entire day could vanish, so people learned to avoid her sight. They also gave her house a wide berth, because of the strange, disturbing noises sometimes heard from within.
If she has such a reputation at Rhodes Island, her archive files make no mention of it. Perhaps Deepcolor improved her memory to the photographic level her archives mention; she might no longer need people to model for her that long. Or else she's restraining herself more aboard a landship full of doctors, casters, researchers, and professional warriors than she did among urban civilians.
Her personal quarters might not be wallpapered with Nethersea Brand in disguise. Either doing so would risk giving her secret away, or her secret is already known enough without her having to worry about a sudden attack from the Abyssal Hunters.
Deepcolor's files do not note the "sunny disposition" that the townsfolk saw in her, but neither do they contradict it. However, her files do make note of how freely she gives away her artwork.
...in her spare time, when she sketches quick portraits for her teammates....
Note 2: After rejecting Deepcolor's request to paint a portrait of the creator of this file, the profiler still received a sketch from her.
This same archive file also mentions Deepcolor's uncanny ability to intuit things about people without being told, including things that they may want to hide. But the report makes no mention of Deepcolor using this awareness for mischief or malice.
Both of them took the leap that Deepcolor wholeheartedly stepped back from. Highmore's story would only confirm Deepcolor's convictions, but Deepcolor might want to hear Mizuki explain how he went though with it and yet recovered all of the human qualities that Deepcolor refused to lose. Given that Mizuki isn't trying to help Highmore or anyone else achieve his present condition, I imagine he would tell Deepcolor she made the right call; it's not worth it.
Beyond that, Deepcolor might appreciate Mizuki's unique cooking, and find inspiration in his Higashi culture.
If Deepcolor onboarded before Gladiia and Mizuki, maybe Gladiia had a harder time sniffing Deepcolor out than Mizuki. Or maybe Deepcolor doesn't onboard until after Kal'tsit convinces Gladiia not to hunt Mizuki.
Either way, Deepcolor and the Abyssal Hunters probably do not want to try bonding over their mutual love of art.
Two otherworldly painters; one who half-abandoned her humanity, and one who was never human to begin with.
[Dusk's Archive File 1] "There is the occasional operator who gains Dusk's favor, but they are few and far between."
[Dusk's Archive File 2] "It's pretty rare that anyone gets to 'make friends' with Dusk. She has a temperament that, if I'm being honest, is not quite as nice as Nian's."
While Dusk refuses to accept commissions and rarely gives away paintings, her Operator Record shows that she has no contempt for humans who make a living by painting.
Dusk's illusions do not exist for those who do not see them; close your eyes and it cannot draw you in. And yet we know that even mortals caught in Dusk's paintings can find ways out. Unless Dusk sees the world that Deepcolor sees, Deepcolor could see through discrepancies that Dusk does not notice, and perhaps thus find herself unaffected by some of Dusk's illusions. Dusk herself is affected by her own illusions, and lives by eating illusionary food.
Conversely, if Deepcolor could not hypnotize her former fellow cultist, I don't believe she has a chance of hypnotizing Dusk. At least, not without preparing a Visual Trap for that purpose. If Feranmut fragments can become intoxicated on wine, and die by the sword, then they can be hypnotized by someone with sufficient ability.
[Archive File 2] "Dusk has an interest in all kinds of contemporary artworks. If you want to get close to her, giving her books and photo collages is a great way to break the ice!"
So Dusk might have befriended Scene, too.
Scene is not a painter, but she is an artist with photography, and a lover of landscapes.
I think both Deepcolor and Dusk have the insight and the patience to appreciate Scene's company.
This one is curious. Did they happen to meet by accident? Other than being introverted Islander Aegirians, they don't have much in common.
Glaucus never encountered a Sea Monster before ["Forgotten Lighthouse"], and apparently has no ties to the Deep Cult. Also, she's an engineer, not an artist.
But it is canonical: Deepcolor allows Glaucus to watch her paint, and Glaucus likes to watch Deepcolor paint despite most people wanting to avoid her Nethersea Brand.
Then again, Glaucus is best buddies with Blue Poison, whom people also want to avoid. Perhaps Glaucus learned of some people avoiding Deepcolor and decided to make sure she had at least one friend.
[Promotion 1] "Um, could you just... stop caring about me? If you keep treating me like this... like I matter... I-I don't know what will become of me..."
At this point, I think I'm going to slate an entire future post for talking about the possible retcons and the playerbases's shifting understanding of "The Sea" and its related characters.
Suffice to say for now that this line is one of various reasons we once assumed Deepcolor to be some kind of spy. Which her Operator Record seems to completely contradict.
Without that theory, this line no longer seems to make sense with what we've seen of her personality and background. If Deepcolor didn't have a deep-seated conviction that she mattered as an individual person, she would have become a Sea Monster instead of leaving the Deep Cult.
What does remain consistent is that Deepcolor responds strongly to the Doctor's regard, and she has a keen interest in learning how the Doctor sees the world.
[Talk 2] "Doctor... what color are you, reflected in my eyes?"
[Talk after Promotion 2] "Ha, so this is your color? Look into my eyes, then... paint me in your colors."
[Talk after Trust Increase 3] "The battered world, paint peeling, finally closes its eyes in its dark depths—that's right, darkness is the true color of the ocean. Black is the only color you see, you say? Wait till I share all I know with you..."
[Idle] "Are you... dreaming? Is the world in your dreams as colorful as the beings in this world, Doctor?..."
To be frank, Deepcolor seems to be one of the various operators Down Bad For Doctor. Or at least platonically romantic.
The Doctor has a remarkable track record, of winning over hybrid Aegirians so thoroughly that they become enthusiastic about sharing their secrets.
Despite this, Deepcolor has a harder time trusting the Doctor in regards to her combat applications.
[Added to Squad] "Me? Going to battle? Are you nuts?"
[Appointed as Squad Leader] "I can't lead that many people."
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