Trace

"There's these Traces inside the Transistor. Everyday people, once upon a time, but now... well, not quite themselves. And they're... trapped. No walls in there, mind you, it's just... they're on their own. Listen close and you might hear them. Some of them, I mean. The ones you know." -- Royce Bracket

A Trace is a set of data collected by the Transistor from a living or dead person. Collection of the Traces of selected individuals for use in the Transistor was a major goal of the Camerata.

Overview[]

Traces are transfers or copies of variable portions of their source's knowledge, personality, and physical aspects, and may be considered the soul or essence of an individual. A Trace may appear visually as a translucent blue cube floating above its source's physical form. This cube can be absorbed into the Transistor, which stores the Trace in an individual Trace Bank and attempts to derive an associated Function for use in combat. Information about the Traces associated with each Function can be unlocked through use and viewed at Access Points, but Trace Banks can only be viewed under unusual circumstances from within the Transistor. Normally, Traces separated into Trace Banks cannot communicate with one another.

There is some evidence that Function-suitable Traces can be derived without appreciably affecting the persons from whom they are sourced; such Traces and their functions may exist within the Transistor while still being available to be harvested from their sources later. An intact Trace suitable for derivation of a Function can also be extracted from a living person without killing them, removing an aspect of that person to the Transistor while leaving them alive and otherwise unharmed. This aspect is then retained in the individual's Trace Bank. Traces can even be derived from the dead, even if they have been deceased for hours or days. However, individuals wiped out thoroughly enough by the Process may briefly retain enough of a Trace to communicate with the Transistor but not enough to be stored there or to produce a usable Function, and such Trace data is ultimately completely lost.

The Transistor sorts the Trace Status of each of its sixteen Functions into one four categories. The largest category, with eleven Traces, is those whose Traces were Integrated upon or following their deaths. The second, with three, contains those whose Traces were Recorded without harming their source. One Trace, that of an individual harmed but not killed by contact with the Transistor, is listed as Intact, and one, from whom a full Function File could not be extrapolated, is listed as Non-Recoverable.

History[]

Spoiler warning!
This article contains major spoilers for Transistor.

After discovering the Transistor, the Camerata planned to collect the Traces of unique individuals inside it and use their Functions to shape Cloudbank. To avoid detection, they chose to murder each targeted subject, harvesting their Traces and allowing the Process to consume what remained. The rash of disappearances, which took place over the span of a year, were covered up with suitable narratives to placate Cloudbank's population, an endeavor made easier by the administrative positions of some of the Camerata's members. At least three members of the Camerata also deposited their own Traces in the Transistor without appreciably harming themselves. During experiments, they established that Traces integrated by the Transistor remained isolated from one another but could be faintly heard by the weapon's User if acquainted with them in life, and that entering the Transistor temporarily did not allow personal interaction with the Traces.

In the final incident of their campaign, an attack on a planned target was thwarted by the presence of a companion who leaped in front of her and was killed by the Transistor in her place. His Trace data was corrupted during the Transistor's attempt to integrate it, becoming unrecoverable but remaining sufficient for the derivation of a suitable Function. At the same time, the Transistor obtained an intact Trace from the original target, leaving her alive but removing her voice from her body.

The unusual circumstances allowed the companion, despite his own death and unrecoverable Trace, to converse with other Traces during the brief window while they were being integrated by the Transistor, holding conversations with them until they became isolated from him in their Trace Banks. During these times, the Transistor's new User could hear her companion's side of the conversation, but not that of the integrating Trace. The companion could also see and remark on static data about each stored Trace when the User examined their Functions.

Over time, as more Traces were found and integrated and more Functions were used in combat, the User's access to passive Trace data and usable Functions increased. The User would eventually enter the Transistor temporarily and observe the monuments of its Trace Banks, though it was impossible to communicate with the Traces inside.

Only sixteen Traces are known to have been successfully archived by the Transistor. By the time the Process was stopped, no other life remained in Cloudbank, and the Traces of the bulk of its population were lost forever.

The User ultimately chose to integrate the rest of her Trace with the Transistor using the same method as had been employed with her companion. For unknown reasons, this bypassed the Transistor's isolating Trace Bank system and allowed her consciousness and that of her companion to exist together inside the Transistor.

Acquisition[]

Of the sixteen Functions ultimately held by the Transistor, those belonging to Red and Unknown are derived from unique Traces captured during the Camerata's attempt to murder Red. Discovery of the partially Processed bodies of Lillian Platt and Preston Moyle allow Red to acquire their Traces and unlock their Functions, although their disappearances, and presumably their initial integration, took place some time earlier. Sybil Reisz's Trace is integrated after she is defeated.

All remaining Trace-derived Functions, already part of the Transistor, can be unlocked as Red levels up; whether a player can unlock all of them in one run depends on how many Limiters are enabled. Of these, the Traces of Bailey Gilande, Farrah Yon-Dale, Henter Jallaford, Maximilias Darzi, Niola Chein, Olmarq, Shomar Shasberg, and Wave Tennegan were integrated when they were murdered by the Camerata, while those from Royce Bracket, Grant Kendrell, and Asher Kendrell were recorded safely through experimentation after they discovered the Transistor. Whether or not the Kendrells' Functions have been unlocked by the time Red reaches Bracket Towers, Unknown can interact with their Traces then, but if Bracket's Function has not been unlocked by the game's last battle, its use must wait for Recursion.

One encountered Trace, that of Q. Precht, cannot be acquired because he is mostly Processed and "too far gone" when Red reaches him.

Trivia[]

Traces are named after digital traces.
Sybil was also able to hear Unknown's voice after he was absorbed by the Transistor, indicating that the two knew one another before his death.