Rotfront
Rotfront is a moon orbiting the fourth planet in the solar system. It is the fourth inhabited body in the solar system.
This is the planet where Ariane, Isa and Erika lived during their teen years, as well as being the focus of the Nation's expansion.
During the events of Signalis, Elster visits several different locations on Rotfront.
Lore[edit]
A moon where the Nation's most renown yet recent colony is located.
General Information[edit]
When interacting with the orrery, Elster remarks:
Rotfront, the ice moon circling the biggest gas giant. Still in the process of Klimaforming.[1]
Rotfront is mentioned in the Dream Diary:
18th Night.
I was floating in the sunless sea below the ice of Rotfront,
when I saw a large creature move in the darkness below me
in the moon's dark core.[2]
Traditions[edit]
On Rotfront there is extended folklore regarding The Red Eye, this being a reference to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, an anticyclonic storm produced by a high-pressure area in the atmosphere located on the gas giant Rotfront orbits. Early settlers believed it to be a representation of their way of life and even in the present the people believe it to be a symbol of the surveillance of the Nation and the ever-watching eyes of the Protektors.
The people living of Rotfront also celebrate a holiday known as Mondfest, during which the citizens will gift each other rationmarks, the nation's currency, dipped in red. Formally this symbolizes the blood of the revolution but there is also connections to the Red Eye suggested by some.
During one iteration of Mondfest, the celebrations would be put on hold due to either the infection or the Protektor Corps's attempts to locate the Imperial spy.[3]
Theory - Rotfront is Europa or another of Jupiter's Moons[edit]
Given the world's proximity to a gas giant-type planet, host to a "red eye" anticyclonic storm visible to the naked eye from the surface, it is almost certain that Rotfront is, in fact, one of Jupiter's moons. Jupiter is home to many of the solar system's largest celestial moons, making one of the following a likely candidate as possibilities for the Klimaforming process:
- Europa: its orbit is the closest to Jupiter itself, close enough that its massive suspected oceans are warmed by tidal heating as well as radioactive. It is lauded as one of the most likely moons to host conditions suitable to create life.
- Ganymede: The largest celestial moon in the solar system, larger than Mercury although significantly less dense. It also generates a magnetic field, making an atmosphere potentially more tenable.
- Callisto: as with the two previous options, is home to an sub-surface ocean, but is mainly heated by internal radioactivity due to its further distance in orbit. Is a similar size to Mercury, but with less gravity.
- Io is another possible candidate, but is extremely volcanic: no mention of this is made in lore items, although depending on the capabilities of Klimaforming technology this could have been rendered a non-issue.
Of these options, given how only six planets have been listed as colonized by the Empire and Nation, the Klimaforming process was likely only applied to planets that presented the least obstacles to prospect and, by current indications, this would most likely point to Europa.
Known Locations[edit]
Block Sector C[edit]
Block Sector C is the name of the area of Rotfront Elster explores during the Rotfront Level that occurs during the final chapter of the game.
Rotfront Interplanetar Station 06[edit]
Rotfront Interplanetar Station 06 is the name of the radio station that was once operated by Ariane's mother which we visit during the "Eternity Plate" First Person segment.
This is a small radio station featuring a large antenna array nearby that it coordinates. This station is likely where Ariane spent most of her childhood seeing as it is where her mother worked.
This station also showcased a small bunker next to it in the memory, which is unknown if it existed in the actual station, or was just a way for us to exit the memory. If it did exist then it suggests that perhaps one would hunker down in these bunkers in the events of a particularly bad snow storm, or a possible attack, as this is an interplanetary station and as such an important communications link.
Mandelbrot Polytechnische Oberschule[edit]
Mandelbrot Polytechnische Oberschule is the name of the school that was once attended by Ariane, Isa and Erika that the player observes during Isa's flashback.
This school's name, Mandelbrot Polytechnical High School, suggests that it specialized in engineering, technology, applied science and natural sciences, suggesting that the Nation promotes subjects that lead to improving production while discouraging pursuit of the arts or anything pertaining to human culture, contary to the ways of the Empire.
The Rotfront Metro[edit]
Rotfront seemed to use a great number of trains to travel on the planet, we see the inside of one of these trains during the Train cutscene.
The Metro seems to connect various locations on the moon, as it seems Ariane used it to get around from her apartment in Sector C to the School and perhaps even took it from the Radio Array to Sector C.
The Metro can also be seen on the lower levels of Sector C when Elster explores that area.
Cut Content[edit]
Memorial[edit]
Memorial is a cut scene that has the tag ROT which indicates it is from Rotfront. The Memorial scene depicts a concrete version of Falke or the Revolutionary as well as a large tower flanked by radio arrays and buildings, suggesting it was built within the more urban parts of the moon.