The OG 8 of VALORANT

[half inlet]

Hi, I'm new here and just wanted to share something I have in my mind.

I noticed there is some kind of a divide between the first 8 agents and the others:

• We know Omen (and thus also Viper and Sage) are important factors in the creation of VP
• Notice that of the first 7 agents, only 2 are radiants, with more joining only after Agent 8 is gone
• Phoenix, the first person to join after #8 disappeared, is our story lead (especially in an earlier lore), and he clearly doesn't know everything, only learning about Omega after facing his double.
• We know that VP usually sent Agents on solo missions before the Venice Incident

I know its not much, but I think devs are trying to set up some before-Venice version of VP, that wasn't meant to include more then 8 agents, and possibly had a different purpose and stricter no-radiants policy, which changed after #8 disappeared? What do you guys think? Does it make sense or am I just digging too deep?

[boreal hare]

Your idea that Agent 8 could've affected the VP's perspective on radiants definitely makes sense. Omen was very closely tied with Viper and is an artificial radiant, while Sage's powers are practically invaluable to the VP, so the loss of Agent 8 definitely seems like it could have changed some rules and attitudes within the protocol

The initial 7 agents don't have any ill will towards Radiants though, so a more headcanon-y approach that I came up with could be that the "secret backers" were against Radiants, and the Agent 8 incident led to Brimstone, Viper and Sage having more authority over the VP

Which led to them more liberally allowing Radiants into the protocol

that's more speculation than theory though

[kindred hare]

Interesting
First, you're definitely cooking something here
I have some stuff to say that's gonna take a while to write, but for now I just want to mention: we don't know when A8 left. We know that they're gone by the time the WARM UP cinematic took place, but the date of their leaving could be anywhere between '1 day before WARMUP' and '1 day after they were hired'
It's possible that most of the Agents (including Phoenix and those who joined after him) knew them well, before they left

Aight, second thing
Something I've noticed when looking over the older Agents is how they all play much more vital roles in the VP's structure than all the others
Like, Brim/Viper/Omen were the og members.
KJ was hired immediately after that, and she handles pretty much all the tech-related stuff for the VP (consider voicelines like "Once we win just dump all your tech in my lab, I'll fix it up.")
Cypher's their intel guy, Sova is their boots-on-the-ground scout, and Sage is their medic (alongside her role in the Radiant Training Program which came later)
All of them play a vital part in how the VP functions as a whole

Compare this with all the Agents who came after 8. Phoenix, Jett, Reyna, Raze, Breach, Skye, Yoru... all these seem to be more generic 'skilled fighter that's good to have' than 'I want a person with X skills because I need them to do Y thing'
Which is another example of the VP undergoing a major change in how they work post-8
It's not directly related, but it aligns with your point pretty well

[boreal hare]

Ever since Chamber it's felt like they just recruit people who pose a threat or are required for the problems they have at that moment

[kindred hare]

Oop had to go afk sorry

[queen heath]

Then again, a lot of this can be explained with Brimstone's innate trust to give important tasks (or missions in general) to older "more experienced" VP agents with that voice mail about Sova being over worked (I can't find the voice mail idk which patch it was from )

[kindred hare]

Also note how almost all the Agents hired post-8 are radiants
This I don't think is as significant, but it's still something ig

[queen heath]

Found it :D

Might as well copy over what Viper says:
"Brim, we can't pull this off any longer. We need more scouts. You have to stop relying on Sova. I know, you trust him, he's capable. But he's one man and he's exhausted, not that he admits it. Heaven forbid your golden boy ever let you down. Cypher's network is invaluable but it's a crutch. It doesn't replace our need for agents in the field. We're losing Brim. You know that, right? If we're going to survive, we need more information. We need more eyes."

[kindred hare]

As to why the older version of VALORANT was so different
This is kinda a pocket theory that I've been cooking, but I think that the OG VALORANT was created as an org to directly counter the actions of Hourglass
Which I suggest mostly because it answers a lot of questions: how Omen's assassination attempt directly caused the VP to be formed, why Mr. Bosse Mann knew so much about them, the hatred in is voice when he told Omen that he "became one of them!"

Keep in mind that we don't actually know that much about the VP's original mission statement, or why they were founded, just that it was "in response to the events that occurred around First Light"
(https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/4/21163705/valorant-riot-games-story-fortnite)
Skye's trailer implies that they also do some stuff related to rifts (which I have some other issues with, to be discussed later™), but at the same time we've never seen the VP engaging with rift management after that
They certainly must have had some other job before the Omega attack took precedence

Oh also for the presence of radiants
I don't have as good an explanation for that
But perhaps it's because VALORANT recruited all its starting Agents pretty soon after its formation, and since that was almost immediately after FL, radiance wasn't yet quite as prominent/there weren't as many radiants with helpful powers that they knew of yet

[queen heath]

Off topic by fortnite being in the link is so funny for no good reason

[queen heath]

Do we have any information on if the scenes depicted in the Duelists Cinematic are the first time Omega had attempted an attack on Alpha? It's a fair assumption to make that at this point Alpha still hasn't employed Jett into VP, with Sage refering to Omega Jett as "the hostile" and Phoenix following by calling the hostile "her"

Then again, Sage relays to Phoenix to not let her plant (https://youtu.be/e_E9W2vsRbQ?t=66 time stamped) so maybe there had been an attack prior to this, which makes me believe that the Omega attacks probably followed after Agent 8's departure. To tie this back to the theory we are discussing, the first attack from Omega may have lead to VP seeking out (more) Radiants?

[kindred hare]

Yeah I have no idea why that's there lmao

[kindred hare]

No, Jett was already in the VP by then
#dev-q-and-a message

She hadn't met phoenix because the VP was organized differently back then

[queen heath]

interesting

Then we can only really guess they had all the agents up until 13 (Breach) when that Cinematic too place. Since Skye was the first addition to VP after VALORANT the game came out

[half inlet]

This would imply that there was a huge amount if time between Phoenix and Sage joining Valorant, jugding by the fact that Sage is second in command and Phoenix, well, himself

[charred sand]

just one point Sage is not second in command, Viper is.

This thread got me thinking about agent 8 and tbh and one of the teasers we got for Reckoning cinematic has been on mind ever since it dropped:

We know Omen took the outlaw from the hourglass operatives while fighting them. in the cinematic he inspects it and tells Sova " I think you will like this"... So Outlaw was not one of the standard weapons in use for the VP before directly facing off hourglass.
In the teaser, Omen is holding an Outlaw and is standing directly in front of no.8 gun closet which only contains outlaws. in my opinion this could potentially symbolize something about agent 8.
In the cinematic the hourglass boss clearly describes an " us vs them". in his eyes Omen left hourglass and joind the side of the VP. I am thinking it is possible agent 8 plays a reverse role to that dynamic in the sense that they either
defected from the VP to hourglass with no loyalties to the VP any more
Or
are an undercover spy from the VP currenly working for hourglass but their true loyalties still belongs to the VP

[half inlet]

Oh sorry, Brimstone says "Sage, if I die out there, you're in charge"
Still, it shows her that he trusts her

[charred sand]

absolutely. just to offer the source: #dev-q-and-a message

and #dev-q-and-a message

[half inlet]

Could make sense
We know that #8 is alive and somewhere where he will eventually come back from
And also, Mr Evil Boss says "you became on of them"
While it may be only about Omen, it could also mean Omen and 8 both worked for Hourglass and both left

[charred sand]

but, if 8 also worked for hourglass and left are you suggesting agent 8 then joined VP and left VP as well?

[half inlet]

Possibly, why would his locker be scratched out if he was supposed to come back?

[charred sand]

to keep up the appearance that they are cut off from the team.

I currently don't think 8 originally worked for hourglass. imo it would only make sense if 8 worked for the vp and left the vp for hourglass (whether as an undercover spy or truly left the vp)

[half inlet]

Then why Outlaw in his locker in armory? A weaponsmith like chamber? Maybe that was his role in original squad (Like Intel for cypher or tech for KJ)

[charred sand]

imo Outlaw being there is more symbolic of their changed loyalties rather than a literal thing.

[quasi beacon]

something off is that every locker one contains one type of gun too

[half inlet]

Oh, so maybe Outlaw is just weapon numer 8? xd

[charred sand]

the VP did not have outlaw in their arsenal before making a hit on the hourglass. So they put the gun they looted from hourglass in the closet of the agent they lost to hourglass, if that makes sense.

[quasi beacon]

but that teaser is from before the raid right?

[charred sand]

it is... but then it would not make sense for Omen to tell Sova " I think you will like this" if Sova had already known the Outlaw in the VPHQ.

I think that teaser is more symbolic in general

[quasi beacon]

that makes sense i suppose

[charred sand]

and of course it is being used to tease the Outlaw

[quasi beacon]

although what would be sage's locker is filled with vandals

Sova's is filled with Operators though

[half inlet]

Just neat easter eggs imo

[charred sand]

probably yes

[graceful ridge]

We didn't see the area from HQ in the cinematic (unlike the cypher scene, for example). The Omen/Outlaw teaser could also take place at the end of the cinematic, when the looted weapon was brought to HQ. Still, as Strawberry said, the get-up will probably still remain symbolic with Omen preparing his skills.

[river lion]

this is like being given more responsibility without the promotion pay

[kindred hare]

Also yeah what's up with this teaser
I've been meaning to talk about how the room is designed exactly like the VPHQ
Like the design of the ceiling lights and the door exactly mimics what we typically see in there
At the same time, the cinematic implies that he found the gun in the Hourglass Tower, and the teaser is implied to be chronologically before the cinematic

[kindred hare]

You cooked here

[swift copper]

momento mori mmmmmmmmmmmmm

i get the feeling that's Agent 8's lil catchphrase or something

[kindred hare]

Yeah I yoinked that from matte art for WARM UP lmao

[kindred hare]

Weird timeline though
Why would the teaser be showing an event after the cinematic?

[swift copper]

wasn't outlaw shown to be in the number 8 locker or arsenal

perhaps they forgor about it and once they saw it, omen went "omg this gun i likey"

[graceful ridge]

To serve as a teaser for outlaw and not to belong chronologically before the cinematic. I mean, the teaser is still part of the cinematic, because it potentially shows what they brought with them from the cinematic.

[river lion]

also the door opens to the location when they're in the helicarrier, looking like before they drop