Solanum

Solanum
Species	Nomai
Planet	Quantum Moon

CAUTION: SPOILERS
Solanum is the last remaining Nomai in the Solar System. She can be found on the Quantum Moon. The player can engage her in brief conversation and get her perspective on a small range of subjects, but the language barrier prevents further discussion. She seems unsurprised to see you and unaware of the fate of her race, although she says she suspects that she 'might not be entirely alive'.

History

CAUTION: SPOILERS
Solanum is a young Nomai who was venturing on her right-of-passage pilgrimage to the Quantum Moon's sixth location when the core of The Interloper ruptured and wiped out the rest of her species. Little is know about her past, but she is directly mentioned in a number of text logs, including encouraging and congratulatory notes in the Tower of Quantum Knowledge.

Interactions with the Player

CAUTION: SPOILERS
Upon landing on the Quantum Moon, the player can locate Solanum's corpse at the south pole. Her spaceship has become quantum entangled with the moon, and will blink in and out of existence randomly. If the player manages to venture to the moon's north pole, they can then disembark from the Quantum Tower as the moon orbits around it's sixth location. At this point, the player is free to venture back to the south pole where they will encounter Solanum alive and standing serenely, as if waiting for their arrival.

Trying to interact with her prompts her to create some symbolic language stones, which will allow the player to have a rudimentary conversation with her about the Eye of the Universe, the Quantum Moon, and about each other. She says that she has many questions she can't ask because she cannot understand your language, but is happy that you are able to translate hers. When you're finished with the conversation she will continue to gesture towards the symbol stones. The only other choice is to leave her. She doesn't seem perturbed by your departure.

Quantum Entanglement

CAUTION: SPOILERS
Solanum's arrival on the Quantum Moon has created an interesting temporal scenario. Given the curious quantum properties of the moon, at the moment the core of the Interloper ruptured, she was technically present at all of the moon's possible orbital locations at the same time. Thus, as the moon orbited the five planets within the immediate blast radius of the comet, she was killed along with the rest of her species. But in the sixth location, around the Eye of the Universe, and far from the reach of the comet's destruction, she was spared. As such, this is the only location in spacetime in which the player can find her still alive.

It's highly likely that, due to the inconsistent and uncertain laws of physics at this location, time has not passed at a conventional rate for her, which explains why she is still alive thousands of years after the rest of her species has died. It's even possible that time as we know it ceases to exist in that space - it could be mere hours, or even minutes since she landed, from her perspective. And while her lack of surprise at meeting you seems strange, she seems well-educated as to the unpredictability of the Quantum Moon, and therefore is likely prepared for any unexpected encounters she might have.

At one point in your conversation with her, she correctly guesses that she might not be 'entirely alive'. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that in five of the six possible realities in which she simultaneously exists, she is in fact dead. She doesn't elaborate further on this point.

Finale

CAUTION: SPOILERS
If the player has located Solanum during their run, they will find her during the finale after they have entered the Wormhole on the Eye of the Universe. When gathering the rest of the Hearthian explorers, Solanum can be heard playing an instrument that sounds like a piano. She will join the rest of the group at a campfire and play the game's theme, conjuring a new universe from the smoke of the fire, and restoring life to reality.