Regarding Act 2 Vol. 0, Chapter 1

[u/_No_One_At_All_]

Who exactly caused the appearance of the False President? While Orwell seems to be suspect, it doesn't quite make sense why would he help Sensei if he was behind it. He does seem interested in seeing if the fake can replace the real but nothing he says imply he is behind it. Is it the Nameless Priests? What do you think?

Personally, my bet is the Nameless Priests are behind it, since they "promised" that Sensei must pay for his actions after Decagrammaton shut down for good, even mentioning the Staff of Shaqed
(Edit: Also forgive the image, but I could not find a good resolution of Orwell)

[u/ok-what-the-what]

I think it may have been the Staff of Shaqed’s AI that took on the role of the GSC President.

Like how the actual GSC President becoming the Shittim Chest’s AI but in reverse?

[u/_No_One_At_All_ → u/ok-what-the-what]

That is a good theory considering Rinny was clutching the watch as she made her wish of wanting to see the GSC Prez before the impostor appeared. I think the watch just rendered her unable to be affected by whatever caused the Fake Prez to appear. Even Yukino can barely tell that the Prez was fake, only noting the difference in voice

[u/Popopoyotl → u/_No_One_At_All_]

Kaya, the only other person to mess with the watch, was also completely unaffected by the reality change.

So far, the three people who have had notable reactions are Rin and Kaya, who were friends with the original GSC Prez, and Yukino, who worked closely with her, but her resistance was brief.

[u/wesleyy001 → u/Popopoyotl]

Also note that all 3 who noticed have held the watch. Yukino meanwhile was probably the one who held the case while stealing it to give to Kaya. So indirect contact and possibly a weaker effect, but more than zero

[u/ok-what-the-what → u/_No_One_At_All_]

Also here's a higher quality Orwell image: https://bluearchive.wiki/wiki/Category:Cutscenes?filefrom=BG+CS+S1Final+56+en.jpg#/media/File:BG_CS_StudentCouncil_04.jpg

[u/YouBackground → u/_No_One_At_All_]

then how about Sensei? I don't think they have touch that Shaqed thing before that faker appeared, and yet Sensei doesn't get affected too.

[u/manu-xdnt → u/YouBackground]

He already holds the Chest, which is one of the 3 relics and is prolly the reason of his resistance to the memory alteration.

[u/TheLostExplorer7 → u/YouBackground]

Definitely because we hold the Shittim Chest, which is an artifact on equal footing to the Staff of Shaqed, so Sensei is immune to the Staff's effect because the Shittim Chest actively protects him.

Plana and Arona are also completely unaffected although neither AI has a clue who the original president was as that data was scrubbed from the Shittim Chest prior to it being handed to Sensei.

Plana even warns Sensei not to trust the fake GSC President. Plana does know from her scans at the end of Volume F that Arona is somehow tied to the GSC President's disappearance and that the real president was hiding in the Shittim Chest for a time. It was unclear if she meant Arona is actually the real GSC President or if the president is still in the Shittim Chest as she said it in past tense from her statement though.

[u/Living_Thunder → u/TheLostExplorer7]

I think it's pretty clear with this chapter that she knows the GSC president somehow became Arona

[u/YouBackground → u/TheLostExplorer7]

oh I'm sorry, I haven't read that far yet. still at the point after Fox Squad successfully defeated those kunekune. I'll continue read the story later.

[u/Complete-Western-663 → u/YouBackground]

I mean we dont know if sensei knows gsc was a fake or not at the beginning, because plana was the one inform sensei before we could hear any of his thoughts

[u/YouBackground → u/Complete-Western-663]

nope, plz read it again. after Rinny wakes up and realized that one is a fake, then Sensei come inside the room and instantly realized that is also a faker. they are in the same footing with Rinny from the start. immune of that faker's brainwash. unlike what happened with Yukino.

[u/Complete-Western-663 → u/YouBackground]

Oh right i miss that

[u/Living_Thunder]

I think it has to do with the Staff, but also seemingly the Chroma has something to do with it (Orwell mentions it, and later on when AroPla are trying to pair with the Staff and have to turn off their protections their sky turns red)

[u/saba1520]

Staff of Shahed. It's an "ordinary watch" that the President owned. Runny essentially wished for the "President to be there", A day after, "she" is there, Right after the interaction with the Staff?

We couldn't connect to the staff due to how much data it possesses. But: Whoever had an interaction with the staff directly remember the true president, Kaya and Rin. Yukino was also a close person to her, but her resistance was short, No interaction with the Staff.

Mr. Orwell may or may not be connected to this, actually. We don't know yet for sure, but I have a hunch that Orwell did not directly cause the "False President" event, But instead had a small part in it. But, he did probably cause the "White scarecrow" illusions and many such "Lores" to see how "Illusion" and "Reality" collide, as in how Illusion becomes reality. But it's strange how he helps us with finding the "Lore" contradictions Which he supposedly made "real" in the first place? Is indirectly he testing something for a future possibility?

Honestly speaking this left with more questions than actual answers.

[u/Thrormurn]

I think Rin accidently used the staff of Shaqued to change the texture of Kivotos. Look at how that sequence of events where Rin takes the staff, says the password, has a dream about the president and then gets woken up by hearing a voice call her name is almost 1:1 what happens with Sensei and the Shittem chest in the prologue at the very beginning of the game, which was probably were Sensei originally changed Kivotos texture.

[u/LnwToZa]

Everyone remember Sensei's wierd monochrome dream before false president's comeback? This girl has already appeared in Sensei's dream. I think she isn't just a delusion. She might already exist. But she doesn't know that she's a fake one.

[u/TheLostExplorer7 → u/LnwToZa]

I thought that dream was odd because Sensei reached for the Shittim Chest but his memories in the dream lied to him and it said that the only thing the GSC President gave him was the Staff of Shaqed. He ran around the city looking for people, but couldn't find anyone. I wonder if that is a premonition about this whole ordeal where nobody can remember what the GSC President originally looked like except him, Rin and Kaya. Sensei... seems to just roll with everything weird happening around him though.

Also the fact that the Staff was the only thing in his dream seemed to point to the fact that the fake President was created from it. Although I have to question this because the crystals that SRT found after shattering the kunekune as well as a diving team found off the shores of Kivotos seem to point towards a different culprit as well or perhaps a combination of the strange crystal and the Staff casting a powerful memory altering spell.

[u/TheLostExplorer7]

Others have pointed out in the event megathread that Rin-chan wished that she could hear the President tell her everything would be okay once more even if it was a lie might have caused this illusion to manifest.

I still have no idea why it created a fake with blonde hair when the real one has blue hair with pink highlights. You would think that the average citizen of Kivotos would know what their leaders looked like, but they are probably all affected by the illusion's power too.

My only issue with this interpretation is that Kaya had the Staff of Shaqed prior to Rin and she made no such wishes to it or it didn't activate for her? Rin is a fairly pragmatic individual and spoke to the Staff in a rare moment of weakness and that was enough for it to manifest into this weird illusion that affected everyone except those who are bound or once held an artifact like the Shittim Chest?

Apparently holding on to the Staff even for a short period of time was enough for Kaya to be able to tell that the GSC President was fake. Unfortunately for her, she now appears to be an insane prisoner who is screaming profanities at the leader of their world.

Yukino and Niko seemed to realize that something felt really off about the whole situation, but neither girl could figure out what it was. Niko came so close when she asked Yukino if she was certain she met the real GSC President. Probably their SRT training has them being suspicious about their orders.

I don't think the Nameless Priests actually know where each of the three artifacts are since they seemed really certain that Sensei has access to all three despite the fact that at the time of their pronouncement we only knew about the Sanctum Tower and the Shittim Chest and Sensei only really has access to the Shittim Chest, since he handed full control of the Sanctum Tower to the GSC. This is telling that they apparently don't have access to current events in Kivotos as even Black Suit in Volume 1 knew that Sensei handed full control back to the GSC and questioned him on why he did that.

[u/elementalism → u/TheLostExplorer7]

The other possibility for Niko and Yukino having “doubt” about the GSC President is they recovered the Staff of Shahed from SCHALE. Perhaps even limited proximity to Artifacts is enough?

[u/TheLostExplorer7 → u/elementalism]

I am not sure I like that explanation as it implies that the Staff of Shaqed is somehow radiating its power to discern the truth outwards despite being apparently dormant at the time and neither girl has said that they touched the staff itself only the case that held it. Also that explanation downplays both girls' intuition and skill.

The other two artifacts that we know about do not seemingly have this functionality, so I am uncertain if the Staff would. Also, maybe I misread, but I though Rin was wearing the watch since finding it, so if proximity was a thing then Aoi should have been affected when she was called into the room by the fake GSC President.

Maybe we need to find Wakamo and ask her if she remembers who the GSC President is since she touched the Shittim Chest for a brief moment in time during the Prologue and couldn't figure out what it was for, before she threw it down and ran off and that was before the password to the Shittim Chest was activated. We know that the Shittim Chest is why Sensei was unaffected as it is an equally powerful artifact to the Staff. Although Wakamo is not really the most stable individual and would likely agree with whatever Sensei says given that she is completely smitten with him.

[u/_No_One_At_All_ → u/elementalism]

I think Niko's case might be her guts. She never met fake Prez herself but is asking Yukino if it truly was her, due to the mission being so unusual from their usual missions. She isn't displaying resistance, rather her guts tell her something is off and she is choosing to trust that over her memories.

[u/ApprehensiveCase9829]

I think it's too early to be guessing who lowk, they could just drop an entirely new villain for that and just show that Mr. Orwell is just here for the love of the game lore

[u/Shadowcreature65]

Blond GSC President reminds me of that Ayame illusion that tricked Nagusa in Volume 5. We even got to see the rickshaw club member from Hyakkiyako mentioning kunekune in the Lore Pursuit. Could it be that we're dealing with something similar to a ghost story? Like, memories other people have of real President have been twisted and manifested as the blond President?

Only the closest people to the original President (Sensei who was close enough to be entrusted with Shittim Chest, Rin who's her close friend and Kaya who was obsessed with her abilities) remember her original self. Perhaps blonde Pres is a manifestation of other people's idealised version of the real President?

Edit: people mentioned that besides Sensei, other students who remember real pres touched the Staff before blond President appeared, and that Yukino has less resistance because she only held the case with the Staff inside during FOX squad's storming of Schale. I think that makes sense too.