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Feel free to ask about anything, story, process, lore etc.

Also, a short update. I have been very busy this month wrapping up the remains of my work here in Sweden, in April I will be doing the same in France, so I will be traveling for most of the month. This will either lead to lots of writing or none... hotel room vibes vary.

It is kind of sweet, though. Fallen hero: Rebirth was started when I was stationed elsewhere when my workplace moved, and I was sat in a nearly empty borrowed work apartment in the evenings. Looks like Revelations will start the same way.

I am nearly finished wrapping up the story threads for the first chapters, and since I am torn between a few possible scenes to start with, I will probably put this to a vote soon. The Retribution fallout will be fun to deal with!

I am also still working on the Rebirth update, but with the chaos at work, I haven't really found the peace to fix bugs and extend things, so it is still a work in progress.

Comments

Ghosty

yay my First question time! okay can sidestep grow protective of HG if they consider them family? how do re-genes deal with loosing someone close to them? How do they deal with someone close to them getting rebooted? Depending on the circumstances/relationship can Sidestep tease or mock HG and Nocturne for not revealing the truth to the Jake of being red-threaded? How did HG's mother react to the younger sibling's arrest and death? Why was HG secretive of their powers even with their family? So HG is a high ruthless person so I'm wondering can they be impressed/disturbed by even more ruthless Sidestep? Will Jake ever get to see his family again? If the younger sibling had survived would they had helped with the crime family business or would they have wanted to be independent? How would have HG reacted if they wanted to strike out on their own? How would Regina react to High Ruthless Sidestep? Can we make her truly fearful of sidestep? How would Sidestep mindscape looked like before HB and after? Can Sidestep grow aware of being Red-threaded? Depending on their bond with HG how much can sidestep's feeling vary? Did Sidestep call other re-genes their sibling after escaping or is that something they learned during their cuckoo days? Is it possible to see HG mindscape in book 3? do you have any though what were HG younger sibling's last coherent thoughts? Malin have you watched/read Naoki Urasawa's Monster series? If not I recommend to watch it!

rainywinterday

In Rebirth during the acquistion of rat king MC thinks they would have preferred to let the rangers deal with Psychopathor instead of the special directive if they hadn't pulled the shenanigans with Argent. So let's imagine an AU where MC decides to get the rat king before nanovore and calls the rangers about psychopather. What would happen? Considering it would probably be an all hands on deck mission all the ranger would have attended? Would MC be spotted or identified by one of the rangers?

rainywinterday

What happened to psychopther after he was caught by the special directive? Not sure if this question is too spoilery: what's going to be in the Rebirth update? Thank you!

Vargr Helsing

Any book/comic/manga you had as an inspiration for this story, when you first started writinf fallen hero?

woomba

Was it ever shared how exactly Chen landed on Ortega’s list of people they’ve punched for Sidestep? Would you ever consider writing any more dark/bad ending snippets like the one you did with Herald on your Tumblr? Will there be more mentions of the piercings Sidestep can have in the story? Specifically the tongue piercing- I only recall Ortega saying how much they like it after kissing in the headquarters Do you have a detailed description of each of the Rangers’ uniforms? Is Sidestep aware that they have the potential to be Heartbreak 2.0?

Kai ️‍

I love the Rat King; do they each have their own names/do they even want that? Are there individual personalities? What's their favorite thing about Sidestep? Do they have opinions on other characters? Did they have bodies before? How old are they? (sorry if any of these have been answered by you in the past -- new here and combed through some but definitely not all the past posts lol)

keltena

One of the things I love most about interactive media is how choices that don't "do" anything—that don't change the story, your stats, or even much flavor text—can be some of the most memorable parts of the experience. Fallen Hero includes a fair deal of this kind of mechanically-neutral interactivity; for instance, the choice of how to greet the Rat King changes a grand total of one (1) sentence, but it's very important to me that we get that choice! Are there any choices like this that you're particularly fond of or think were important to include? Have you ever been surprised by how much readers cared about a seemingly "unimportant" choice? I was really tickled to discover that the game acknowledges if your character turns out to have the same name as Herald! Did you have any plans to do the same in other characters' introductions/name reveals (e.g., if the MC is named Ximena/Jimena), or is that just not realistic to implement? Can boosts donate blood? That seems like it *should* be disqualifying, but maybe things are different in the wild west? It seems like Hollow Ground always says their "request" out loud when threading someone. If this isn't a spoiler, do their powers depend on the target hearing and understanding the suggestion? (i.e., would it be a problem if they couldn't hear or misunderstood HG's words?) Or is it just HG's intentions that matter? This is a very silly question, but… what would Hollow Ground have done if the MC chose an outfit with, say, opera gloves? Sighed and revised their dress code instructions for next time? Arranged for the gloves to meet with an unfortunate spilled drink accident on the way in? Found an excuse to touch their guest's face in a totally non-weird manner? Question from a friend: Any chance our hero (er, villain) will have occasion to visit a zoo at some point? Or is that basically sensory overload for a telepath? I hope your travels go well!

Joshua Carter

Does Sidestep have issues eating? I imagine the farm didn't teach the re-genes skills like that if not avoiding it all together and having some sort of supplement instead. Would something like that have been noticed since Ortega loves to take them to eat/Elena loves to cook for them? Would the RO's insist on patching up Step not that they know he's a re-gene? How would it go over if they still refused? I believe it was mentioned in a pervious Q&A about the oldest known re-gene/life expectance and that they wouldn't look their age. I perceived that to mean that they would look younger although maybe not FAR younger. If Step at the given age of 30 looked shockingly good given the time passing would Ortega or Chen have made note of it? Would Sidestep have ever falsified some sort of family memory/backstory if asked in conversation in the early days, just something on the fly to curb suspicions? Did Ortega, Chen or Themmy ever witness Step getting out of hand when they were helping on a mission/caught out doing their own vigilante shit? Like just taking a beating a tad too far or almost using a lethal weapon because 'oh shit he dropped his gun- that could end things quick,' type thing? Depending on the puppets training in boxing or aikido, if step frequented the places and is obviously no noob, is it possible Ortega noticed them and was watching the puppet for god knows how long, perhaps out of curiosity and like 'Wow that normal guy/gal is really...would maybe a little scary facing off against someone else..' Lowkey I can see Sidestep garnering a lot of fleeting attention at the gym aside from the puppets attractiveness. Ortega- putting those fingers in his mouth AGAIN. Does this man have an oral fixation or is he just trying to catch Step off-guard? (As if he has to try that hard)

Halfbad

If Sidestep starts hanging out with or building a friendship/romantic relationship with the other Rangers besides Ortega how do they feel about the relationship development given how much effort it took Ortega to befriend Step? Given it’s possible to end Retri exposed as the villain or draw the attention of the Farm and there are a few instances where Sidestep muses that if things go sideways they could abandon their civilian life. Even though it’s unlikely the ROs will let Sidestep succeed would there be an option to attempt? In endings where Step is exposed as the villain and told Argent at the auction with a high relationship she doesn’t confront you at the hospital. In this case what is her plan if Step has the regenerator? If Ortega had told Chen their theory about Sidestep being related to HG in the past (or a version that implied Step had criminal family given Steel doesn’t believe in HG) would that have effected Chen’s suspicions of Step? And given that Sidestep is not as good an actor in hiding their poor mental health and the HB scar acts as a facet of their trauma/mental health, how evident is high/low HB scar value to other characters?

Enaka The Naka

Thank you for all your hard work and good luck with your traveling!! ^^ Why is heartbreak called heartbreak?? (both the incident and the person) How long was heartbreak's journey until they got to the building? Was heartbreak a human or a regene? if word got out that hollow ground was a telepath, would the farm show interest/try to go after them? did the heartbreak experiment have anything to do with the core? did heartbreak have anything to do with the void/green sky before the experiment?? what was heartbreak's civilian life like? did they have a family? did the farm perform the heartbreak experiment on sidestep?? if sidestep stuck a post-it note drawing of a dick on ortega's conspiracy board how would they take it? was there something else in heartbreak’s mind during the heartbreak incident? another passenger? did any of the rangers visit sidestep’s grave?? did any visit regularly??? What does ratkingspoon mean? mortum mentions that being a mod is painful, is ortega or chen addicted to any pain medicine like they say? what kind of branches exist within the special directive besides the farm?? are psychics and telepaths the same thing?? what are their differences, if they have any???? who bought the building after the heartbreak incident? when dr mortum mentions that the prototype regenerator is black tech for a reason, what kind of consequences are they talking about? consequences to the user? what was anathema's opinion on the catastrofiend?? About argent, does her family have any boosting??? did she recieve any type of medical procedure before hand??? a transfusion or transplant??? was she already a technopath before her accident, or born a technopath??? can the regenerator be used to grow back entire limbs? would chen want to use it? Can sunstream fly? Would jake be able to access the same "dimensions" the void used? How would Sidestep's nightmares affect their love interests individually if in close proximity to them? What kind of pet would the love interests be interested in taking care if they could? would spoon get nightmares if we stayed with chen?? ortega's mind is completely walled from telepathy, but walls can only go so high, if a telepath was powerful enough could they peak over that wall? or is it not a wall and its a genuine obscurity does mortum know anything about the heartbreak experiment? Has sentinel ever done sniping jobs back when he was a ranger? does the shooting at the diner still happen if the puppet doesnt go? does ortega go alone? does sentinel keep in touch with ortega and/or chen? was sentinel ever aware of the farm's existence? what's sentinel's opinion on regenes? has he ever worked with them in the past? how about sentinel's opinion on hollow ground? has sentinel been threaded by hollow ground? did sentinel keep his wingsuit after he retired, or did the government take it back? where was sentinel when hood was killed? where was sentinel when chen was shot? was he already retired by then?

J.A.Nguyen

Hello! I hope that you are well, and that this time is peaceful and productive for you! My first question is, is it possible to have a—positive is a strong word LMAO but a relationship with the imposter that is not antagonistic/can become so? The second, more indulgent, could we perhaps engage in rescuing our RO as a villain at some point 👀. Thank you! I hope you have a good trip.

creyindustries

Would Ortega (or any of the Rangers, really) join a Sidestep that has killed if they agree with their general goal, even if it's just to hold them back from killing even more?

Salomé Kandráčová

Oh wow, you already have so many questions to answer! Haha, wow, really looking forward to the replies! (: Success with taking care of the wrapping up of work in France! I really hope you will have a same experience as with Rebirth, it would be a beautiful coincidence/parallel.

Luuu Vi

I'm new to this whole universe and the experience has been wonderful!! congratulations!! and I wish you all the best and all the rest possible. <3 (and sorry anything, english is not my first language) the Question: I've been reading the old Lores posts and wanted to say that Ortega's point of view is incredibly interesting. I know there is no canon way that Sidestep's face/identity is revealed but could we in the future (Patreon Or game)have Ortega's point of view of what he thought after the reveal? the paranoia growing without him being sure if it was a coincidence or not, the conflicting feelings of liking Step too much but at the same time thinking he is a relative and connected to one of the most dangerous crime organizations in the city. how was the internal dialogue with himself? what was it like to deal with the feeling (platonic and romantic) of wanting step in their lives despite everything?

D-ZA

Q: Can we dethread Jake or Mortum in Book 3 ? Q:2 (Please spoiler me a little T^T )In Book 3 Can we reclaim our body If we stuck as puppet? QA3: If In book 3. we stuck as puppet. Can we still gain precognition stat ? QA4: Ortega said that they won't lose Sidestep again in Hospital ending (If Sidestep stuck as puppet and Mortum help them kidnap their body ) What do they mean ? Is it mean that they won't lose leak to HG or they just worry about Sidestep ? or both ?

snickering eggplant

Hi! First time asking a question and maybe I didn't dig deep enough into the Q and A and that it'd been explained before, but: Considering how far AIs and robotics have come along-Step/Ortega/Chen, how come that Sidestep is not more paranoid about spy drones and surveillance cameras? Sidestep could easily obfuscate someone's impression of themself to be of a different person, say a hotel front desk, but the cameras in the consierge will have captured their faces/figures right? Another related question would be that given how sneaky Ortega is, how come they haven't sic a miniature camera drone (shaped like a bird or a fly etc) or something to the likes of that and follow Sidestep straight to their villainous base already? A telepath can't sense a drone right? Also semi related, how connected are the people to the internet? Aka personal computers, smart phones, smart appliances/everything being connected to the internet/public wifi network in Fallen Hero? And how far are the non-general AIs along, aka the non sapient cousin of Sidestep? How powerful is the equivalent of Google Maps/Siri/chatGPT in this world? Thank you very much for this wonderful creation that is the world of Fallen Hero, Malin! I hope the questions are not too much trouble for you to answer.

Felicia

I’m kinda new to Patreon, but I just wanted to say I love your writing so much. Ever since reading Rebirth years ago it has always stayed with me, and I can’t wait for more! For questions, sorry if this has been answered already, but what age was Sidestep when they were decanted? The books mention teenager I believe but I was just curious if you could give a specific age? Will it be possible to get a ‘bad’ ending in book 3 where Sidestep can die before book 4? Will we get to see more of romanced Danny being protective of Sidestep in book 3? I love that that sweet Flyboy. Thank you!

KingDingDongofPooPooMountain

Hope things will settle down soon for you and you can get some rest! Questions: - When you try to dethread Chen while you are exhausted, you collapse. If you brought the Rat King with you, the scene says "[...] He's surrounded by a ghostly halo of worried rats". Was Chen able to feel the Rat King when that happened? - What kind of tea(s) does Chen drink? It was mentioned when you go over to his apartment he offers you something like jasmine tea. - Not sure if you answered this and no need to since it might be spoiler-y, but will we get a chance to befriend Ace? Thank you and take care!

Tweedle Dee

Hello, I wanted to say thank you so much for being so engaging and giving so much of your time to us as you construct this world. I can't praise you enough, but I'll still try lol. My questions for you are on the processes that you go through with writing. How do you set yourself up for success? And how do you recognize that your writing something you can utilize and something that strayed from the original thought? I'm curious to know what you think/do with your writing when suddenly your 2000 words deep into something that should probably be put on the side? Hopefully that's not an unfair question to ask, I somethimes attempt to write but often think I'd rather read on how other people structure lol.

dissonantsixth

Hi! As an aroace I naturally gravitate to stories of difficult friendships, camaraderie forged in fire, and blood brotherhood almost above anything else. Now FH has the "difficult" part down to a T, and that's already such an amazingly rare thing in IF that I really can't thank you enough. It's my lifeblood. But after reading the Void series I can't help but wonder if it will ever be possible for Sidestep's current reluctant acceptance of friendship to mature into a more mutual, proactive commitment? "We're in this for life", "I would follow you to hell and back", or even a simple but honest declaration of "I want to help you"?

DreamingofRoses

Weirdly enough, I'm super interested in the character you named Verdant (plant growth and healing powers are the two powers I'd choose if I got super powers): Is there a 'known' black market trade (besides the military-sponsored one) in trafficking boosts with super-specific abilities that people with enough power or money might want to take advantage of on an individual scale? (Is that what happened to the telepaths?)

Daniel Rodriguez (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-08 01:00 Just finished my fifth playthrough and i gotta give u props on how detailed and rich the story is.The more times i immerse myself in the universe, the more questions i get. In the best way possible. So many questions for the series future. 1. In book 1, after villian debut. Ortega mentions about wanting to work with other heroes. Unfortunately, they dont make the squad( some get picked up by the army). Will we be able to hear from them again? 2. I get found out as the bad guy.While hospitalized, Lady Argent takes my eye. Will i be able to get revenge on her? 3. Will we ever get our puppet to use the armor in the future? 4. Will there be a situation where the puppet get "memory wiped" to avoid suspension? Or to make Morton angry at the MC( im evil that way&gt;:) Sorry some questions sound personal but overall, i hope you the best success no matter what happens. Will continue to support you now having found your patreon. 5. Is the puppet boosted?
2023-03-25 20:13 Just finished my fifth playthrough and i gotta give u props on how detailed and rich the story is.The more times i immerse myself in the universe, the more questions i get. In the best way possible. So many questions for the series future. 1. In book 1, after villian debut. Ortega mentions about wanting to work with other heroes. Unfortunately, they dont make the squad( some get picked up by the army). Will we be able to hear from them again? 2. I get found out as the bad guy.While hospitalized, Lady Argent takes my eye. Will i be able to get revenge on her? 3. Will we ever get our puppet to use the armor in the future? 4. Will there be a situation where the puppet get "memory wiped" to avoid suspension? Or to make Morton angry at the MC( im evil that way>:) Sorry some questions sound personal but overall, i hope you the best success no matter what happens. Will continue to support you now having found your patreon. 5. Is the puppet boosted?

Just finished my fifth playthrough and i gotta give u props on how detailed and rich the story is.The more times i immerse myself in the universe, the more questions i get. In the best way possible. So many questions for the series future. 1. In book 1, after villian debut. Ortega mentions about wanting to work with other heroes. Unfortunately, they dont make the squad( some get picked up by the army). Will we be able to hear from them again? 2. I get found out as the bad guy.While hospitalized, Lady Argent takes my eye. Will i be able to get revenge on her? 3. Will we ever get our puppet to use the armor in the future? 4. Will there be a situation where the puppet get "memory wiped" to avoid suspension? Or to make Morton angry at the MC( im evil that way>:) Sorry some questions sound personal but overall, i hope you the best success no matter what happens. Will continue to support you now having found your patreon. 5. Is the puppet boosted?

Marmalade

Congratulations on the release of Retribution, and I hope you have a good time in France! Starting the next book the same way you started Rebirth is pretty cool. -I desperately want a sidestep hoodie! Is producing merch something you might consider in the future? -Do you have any tips on FINISHING a project? The last 10% always seems to take forever... -Would Ace's precognition allow them to see if a person would survive a dose of the hero drug? Could sidestep ever be desperate enough to take a second dose willingly? -What's on Ortega's birthday wish list?

Anonymous

First and foremost, I hope you are feeling better! I really have enjoyed your games, and being active in the forums it was a lot of fun to see people's theories. Here's a few questions I have... - I was reading through some of the prior threads, and was confused, why is Sidestep sometimes referred to as HG's younger siblings? I noticed questions tend to have that assumption, is that confirmed or head-Canon? - Can Step actually... Become Ace? Like, ditch their original body entirely? I have 2 Steps who would want to do so due to wanting a real chance at a 'fresh start.' If so, is a requirement of that the loss of their telepathy? - I assume this one is spoilers, but can a Step who made HG think they are dangerous still gain their trust against a common enemy? Anyway, I really enjoy the story and look forwards to what you have to say!

Stella

Hello! I was wondering why Ortega calls Sidestep to the hospital after the accident!

Sofia Brunswick

If you decide to pursue the Herald romance route while also romancing Ortega, Herald makes several mentions of not wanting to be 'that guy'. What guy?? What is he talking about?

Eden

How's the gaming industry in FH? Do consoles such as Game boy or Nintendo 64 exist, or more advanced? How popular is it? Is Dr Mortum named themself after Caput Mortuum or is it something else?

Stellar Skadi

Will trans Sidesteps be able to pursue bottom surgery in future books?

Stellar Skadi

Second question: In a particular path of Retribution, we can see the Rat King piloting our armour on their own and doing a pretty damn good job of it. In the future books, is something that can be explored further, and if so, will we have to have seen it in Retribution to pursue it further?

Barbie

I think he meant not wanting to be the guy who comes uninvited into an established relationship and breaks it up/not wanting to be a homewrecker.

Barbie

Is anything retained after a regene gets reset/wiped? Like muscle memory/reflexes or anything like that? Do scars go 'through' regene tattoos as well, or do they get broken up by the tattoos? Or is it that the scarring has to be pretty extreme to show on the tattoos as well? Do you have an idea of if there will be a scene/scenes of a genderquestioning Sidestep experimenting with presentation/etc before doing anything more 'official' like coming out/medically transitioning/etc? Or will that be more headcanon/fanfic territory? In the same vein, will a genderquestioning Sidestep be able to discuss it with other characters (or discuss it more, with Mortum)?

Sofia Brunswick

Will it be possible to romance Argent without revealing our villain identity in the future? Also, whats the difference between the 'amiable' and 'respectful' relationships with Argent in how she thinks about/treats the MC? And in the trans reveal with a highly suspicious Ortega, what were they planning on doing/saying if the MC had actually confessed to being the villain?

Eden

Did Sidestep learn how to play instruments at the farm?

kerrigan

Why are cuckoos created with tattoos that span most of their bodies? I know they don't have them everywhere to facilitate inflitration but they still cover a lot of the body and in a place as hot as Los Diablos they might have been considered to cause more suspicion. What inspired you to create Ortega? Maybe an old question but I think Ortega is the best representation of latin american culture I've seen and I love it.

Jordan

For a Sidestep who is friendly/helping out with the Rangers, what sorts of things are they helping out with? I've always wondered what that would entail. What kinds of books does Ortega have on their shelf? Any particular genres or subjects?

Chke

If Chen had somehow discovered the truth about Sidestep before HB would he have been as sympathetic as he is in the present, or would he have felt vindicated in his suspicion and jump to the worst conclusion?

Stellar Skadi

Does Sidestep know that their nightmares can 'leak' and effect others?

bookishTomato

Could we get a new link to the Discord? I think the old one has expired. Also, is Step getting to see their old mug in Ortega's apartment coming for people who didn't do the Ortega Apartment Hangout but *are* on the no leg rights innocent staying in Ortega's apartment pathing?