Al-An

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You may append your seed code to my species designation. Please call me AL-AN.

― Al-An

Al-An, also referred to as Alan, is a member of the Architects and a vital character in the story of Subnautica: Below Zero.

When Kharaa broke out, Al-An's mind was stored away, while his architect body was destroyed. Al-An appears to be unique in that his mind has remained conscious, unlike other stored minds (which are in a dormant state).

Story

Al-An, like the rest of his species, had his consciousness uploaded to a Data Hub. His physical body was likely disposed of afterwards, although Al-An's mind stayed intact. They remained capable of thought and speech, unlike the other Architects encountered in The Crater. This could be because Al-An was the project leader of the Kharaa's research team, giving him access to a better storage technology. Sometime pre-S:BZ, he sent a distress signal to Marguerit Maida, but she didn't answer. He sent one to the Alterra employees as well, but as soon as Alterra found him, he hid himself. He claimed that Alterra's motivations didn't align with his. When Robin Ayou enters his Data Hub, she offers to download Al-An into her PDA. Al-An misunderstands this, and thinks Robin's equipment is part of her body, so he accepts her help. He gets downloaded into Robin's head/cerebral cortex.

Following the transfer, Robin will have to find and scan parts of Al-An's Storage Medium throughout the story, including an Architect skeleton, Architect tissues and Architect organs. These can be found at the various Architect Caches laying around Sector Zero. Between the transfer to Robin's head and getting transferred into a new body, Al-an speaks with Robin often. Once Robin has all the blueprints and materials, she can construct a body for Al-An at the Fabricator Base. Here, it's revealed that he disobeyed the directive from his network when collecting the Sea Dragon eggs. This resulted in the mother of the eggs destroying the Kharaa laboratory, where the eggs were. This set the Kharaa loose on 4546B. He says that it was his mistake, and that he must return to the Architect world to repair the damage he's done. Robin accompanies him.

Personality

Al-An understands that being in Robin's head is uncomfortable for her, so he helps her build his new body. Al-An is worried about what happened to his species. He feels guilty, as he could be indirectly responsible for what happened to them. His network trusted him with leading the mission to 4546B. He values efficiency and research above most things.

He seems to be curious about human behavior. Yet, he doesn't understand many aspects of it, like dreaming, listening to music and sarcasm. Over the course of the plot, he learns to recognize some of the latter.

Relationships

Robin Ayou

Al-An was downloaded into Robin's head, making him depend on her entirely for that time. Al-An understands that this is uncomfortable for Robin. He helps her create him a new body by finding Architect facilities and body parts for her. Robin is committed to helping Al-An, even after learning that the Kharaa escaping to the planet was his fault. She shows empathy towards Al-An when he reveals this, and she trusts him enough to leave with him. Al-An calls humanity inefficient many times, likely because of his lack of awareness as an Architect. Robin often responds to this with sarcasm. The two of them bond over biology, as they're both researchers. Al-An helps Robin with her grief for her sister.

Marguerit Maida

Marguerit doesn't respond to Al-An's distress call. While in Robin's head, Al-An is afraid of her when she is in her Prawn Suit. He hopes that Robin will stay away from Marguerit in the future.

Gallery

<tabber> Concept Art=

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  Final concept art of Al-An by Pat Presley

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  AL-AN Concept Sketch by Pat Presley

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  Concept art of Al-An's mechanical arms by Pat Presley

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  Architect concepts - by Pat Presley

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  Architect concepts - by Pat Presley

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  Architect concepts - by Pat Presley

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  Architect concepts - by Pat Presley

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  Architect skeletal structure concepts - by Unknown Worlds

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  Architect concepts - by Alex Ries

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  Architect concepts - by Alex Ries

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  Architect concepts - by Alex Ries

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  Architect concepts - by Alex Ries

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  Architect concepts - by Alex Ries

</tabber>

Trivia

• The name "Al-An" or "Alan" is likely a play on the word "alien".
  • The name “Al-An” was a combination of Alterra’s assigned name for his species which was “Almanac” and what Al-An refers to as his “seed code” which is “An”. However the name Almanac has been changed to Architects so the meaning of this name is now unknown.
• It was previously stated by story writer Tom Jubert that the Architects would not be seen. Ironically, it would be Jubert who later unwittingly revealed the existence of Al-An on the developers’ public Trello board.
• Al-An's distress call is Morse code for S.O.S.