(spoiler warning for people who are about to read)
Ok theorists! What do you think happened in the cascade? and what are these dangerous "Demons" blackrunners are afraid of?
Not too sure about first one but I believe the demons are some kind of amalgamation of man and machine. I think the mc is either what the demons were meant to be but somehow got corrupted (as in a perfect synchronization of man and machine working together in harmony) or that the mc is what all the demons were at some point before the ai they had in them started altering their bodies in unforeseen ways. And because the mc was in hibernation, these negative effects have not yet occurred between him and his ai. I suspect the mc might also be more akin to a cyborg and so the demons being corrupt versions of this makes sense to me if I'm correct.
I will highlight some loose ends, maybe this will help us to see a pattern.
We know there was a war against humans, but not what caused it and who they were fighting against.
There is a Virus thats targeting the Y chromossome.
The algorithm was made during The Cascade (maybe it was planed).
There are no human remains to be found from the period everyone was gone.
Superhumans with AI inside them are a thing
Alex doesnt need to eat or breathe, something is sustaining him with what he needs and more, since he is capable of regenerating himself (so he is synthesizing proteins from nothing).
Maybe its just because of the region they're in, but I always found it really interesting how they reinforce again and again that its cold in the summer (something drastically changed the world climate maybe?)
It is said that the demon was mocking mylo, so he has to understand emotions to an extent. (AI? Human? Both?)
If anyone has any idea, please share it if you're confortable
I was thinking that maybe this virus affecting the Y chromosome was made for population control in the pre-cascade era. If there are less males, then there will be less births. And it's not like everyone is into having multiple wives. Plus as we can see, the only way for the current species to maintain their numbers was by making drastic changes to the mating culture by coming up with the Mating Troupe thing.
Sooo, it's like shoot your load and go.
I can see that, but I also thought it could be a bioweapon. It is (apparently, judging by how alex got it) an airborn virus that doesnt express any symtoms except in the next generation, so it would be virtually impossible to notice it and react to it in time before everyone is already infected. If a robot wants to rebel, that would be a GENIOUS play. Slowly reduce the rate in which humans reproduce and when they notice something is wrong, finish them off. That way no one would suapect a rebelion until the very end.
Its definitly possible that the translation software was installed with byte, but never explained how it automatically translated the language. We don't know what happened exactly or when the protagonist was put into preservation due to the memory loss, but it could definitly be a hint that either byte is hiding something from us OR beastmen had appeared around the same time that the cascade happened, which could be useful to know, instead of them appearing randomly years later.
(I'm also ruling out that the translation system was learning the language as they talked since loken talked very little and yet we understood him as soon as he started talking)
It could also be possible that the demons are a alien species, or at least crafted with alien materials. Since the mere THOUGHT or sight of them could drive people insane, much less what they could do to you if they catch you.
Also don't forget that demons ONLY target sapient species like the beastmen and humans, not wild animals. Could that mean the demons were specifically engineered to target humans and bipedal species? Or are they just smart enough to target any species that could pose a threat to them?
(another less likely theory is that the demons are just thinking of this as a game, like playing with their food, and don't leave the blackzones for the sole reason of giving their pray a fighting chance for survival, since they have emotions or at least intelligence, and can kill beings very easily.)