The game has been in development hell and handed to a new studio, while still keep getting delayed.

I don't want a bad game to happen, but the above is not a Good Sign.

I don't like to shit on a game before it is out either. So we hope for the best but keep our expectations low.

The Ghoul doesn't necessarily need direct orders from the Regent to act, especially in self-preservation.

Occam's test would have forced the Ghoul to act. Had he finished, the Ghoul would be discovered and that is not good news for them. The Coalition has people specialized in braking blood bonds of ghouls and converting ghouls to double-agents but the process is not... pleasant. And the Ghoul may not even know about it, meaning they may suspect that they will be tortured and killed on sight. With Remold that is a very likely too. Their loyalty to their dormitor to prevent harming them and their own self-preservation compels them to act.

We know that the Hunter Data disk was stolen. We know someone choked Occam and upset the chalices with everyone's blood in them to ruin the blood test. We know that Grimal choked Occam (burn) and had the cigarette box before giving it to Matilda for some reason. We know that when the eye guided Markus, the symbols he saw meant "puppets" (plural because there is no singular) and "danger" (which is puzzling).

We also know that the way the security room's camera was disabled in a different way than the pub and pub corridor's camera (the cameras gave feed but it was scrambled, as if jammed), where we know Matilda was. The security camera's last frame was that of Grimal, the person who was mesmerized to choke Occam. It is very, very likely that the Ghoul tampered with both the camera and the footage (indicating they had access to both) to implicate Grimal.

I have a google doc about this.

I mean, even in gun-toting America, why are civilians supposed to have anti-tank weapons again?

There is one: the way he said about looking "inside" the Formori and the way he talked about "The Earth will choke on him". BSDs have a particular relationship with Gaia.

If you want to know what is going on and why they kept a lot of stuff between HtP and TTS, rewatch Alfabusa's video on the subject where he explains it. TL,DR: HtP is a spiritual successor. Not a reboot.

I am actually tired of trying to discuss HtP-TTS connection and decided to save myself the aggravation.

There is a connection and Alfabusa's video announcing that TTS is put on hiatus. If you don't want a rewatch, the tl,dr is: HtP is a spiritual successor, not a reboot.

Wh40k lore will not serve you well in WoD.

And I understand the sensitivity, don’t get me wrong, I like HTP being its own thing, but I think the Expys are part of the fun.

I don't mind the Expys by themselves. What annoys me is that people see an expy and think that TTS and WH40k lore will tell them about a character in HTP that is set in WoD. Most often by taking info from TTS/WH40k and trying to find the nearest thing in WoD without looking whether that actually works.

But here's another problem: People see expys where they are not. Like, even I thought that Grimal was an expys even if only a very light one.

She's not, by Word of Earndil himself.

So do you see the problem here? People see TTS where it is not. People read TTS into it. In trying to figure out what is going on in HtP, TTS is a hinderance. Not a guide. WoD lore is already confusing and contradictory because that is by design.

In HTP it makes even more sense, because they already have all of these characters and they couldn’t use them to the fullest, so they divided the plan to make the work easier for them and also likeable for the fanbase that will be familiar with the setting.

The issue is that it actually makes it harder. A character, in terms of writing, is an interaction of various traits that interact with everything else. Other characters, the setting and the story/plot itself (or even more stuff). For example, James Johnah Addams' interaction with Spider-Man (because I am playing Spider-Man 2) is that he hates him and pushes negativity into Spider-Man's life through his media influence. It is a major factor that sets the tone of Spider-Man's life. That is something you can build upon, play upon but without it, JJ has little point or almost nothing to do.

If you are translating a character to another setting with new characters, you have to rearrange or rework those traits to fit into to the new Everything in order to stay true to that character and make work what makes that character work.

It is endlessly easier and better to make new characters that fit in with the Actual Story/Plot and Everything Else much better than trying to wrangle an old character from a different series. Sure, you can take old characters and recycle elements, themes and other bits and bobs to them. Such as mannerisms, voice performance and visual design. There is no such thing as 100% Truly Original character. But a new character is still a new character.

People you’ve described sound like insane gatekeeper’s that would do anything to turn HTP into TTS but I haven’t yet met anyone this zealous here.

There are regularly threads made by people that do what I wrote in the above. Here is one that is trying to cram the Horus Heresy and the lore of all 20 primarchs into HtP. Check also my flair.

Fair enough. I like your attitude.

Nah, that would be Chapter 7.

Chapter 6 will be the Golden Goose Gang meeting and running from the Coalition/ Second Inquisition, with maybe seeing some hints of Pentex infiltration. We might see Mr. Palmer again or hear his voice, or otherwise see some hint of Pentex influence. Remember, they are not one big corp that controls everything, they are just one name among many corporations controlled by the Wyrm, like a metaphorical hydra.

But between conflict with Occam, the Coalition is the most obvious antagonist. The Coalition does not take kindly to rouge elements, especially when they mess with their assets/allies like D did with the Arcanum. No matter how well-intentioned D is, they will want D's intel and sources (along with anything else he knows) and aren't known to take no for an answer.

Or a lot of desperate shoehorning.

The Ogres have a clear policy where they don't confirm or deny any fan theory.

They do it on the official discord too (it's 5$, once). They tell you this. At most, they will clarify lore (and official WoD lore, maaaaybe minor details about stuff that happened in past chapters that doesn't have an impact on future ones).

No sane writer is going to spoil possible plot point of their own show. Especially for a mystery show. They want to keep the suspense going so people watch the next episode/video/whatever to find out. Leading and misleading people's assumptions is part of the running a show.

It's like they have a consistent policy where they don't confirm or deny any fan theory for show featuring mystery!

And I understand this critique when people are saying Occam or Grimal or Remold are clear expies from TTS.

Then these people are grasping at straws. At most, Grimal makes any sort of sense and only in a vague way that doesn't define her role or character in HtP. There is no equivalent of either Occam or Remold unless you take characterizations as key character components and then start doing mental gymnastics.

I am not saying I can predict his whole character arc, but I do think the available evidence provides some clues as to who he is, which is what I think OP is saying

And let me guess, the clues are all in TTS?

That the part that I have a problem with and I am calling it out.

Whenever these discussions come up it the line of logic is "this character strongly resembles my favourite TTS character! That must mean that every characteristic, trait, background detail and plot will be the same, no matter how much the early 21st century WoD setting has trouble with that, no matter how many leaps of logic that requires because they are the EXACT! SAME! UNDISPUTABLE!". The logic? "This character is an expy from TTS, therefore anything and everything about their TTS counterpart must also be true in HtP".

The logic just doesn't track and it gets very asinine as well as tiring very quickly.

We don't have a forming divide.

We have a a handful of vocal people that really just want TTS to be continued and keep grasping at straws to make HtP fit that mold no matter what mental gymnastics are required.

Most people just ignore it. There are people that politely comment things like "hey, maybe the Ogres use the same VAs for similar performances". Then there are people like me, going "hey, TTS is over, could you please talk about HtP in the HtP subreddit rather shoehorning TTS into it just because the same artist/writers made a similar character".

The issue is that you see a connection and don't see the several layers of disconnection.

Authors and even artists can make similar characters all the time or even make a new character based off another character. It is still a new character. In a new setting. In a new plot.

Assuming that you know and can predict everything about the new character based on the old character is a big presumption. One that also says that the Ogres are lazy and are recycling TTS plots and characters.

An interesting theory but there are some problems with this.

1. Simply consuming Vitae and becoming blood bonded is not the same. You need to take multiple doses over time for the blood bond to form.
2. Even with a blood bond, you don't create an instant telepathic connection to your dormitor. No matter what you are willing to do, they still need to give you orders.
3. How would the Regent be alerted to D's investigation and lockdown? She would need to be able to react.
4. How would the Regent deflect blame from her Ghoul and unto the false one? More specifically, how could she implicate Grimal by disabling the security camera at the exact right moment?
5. How would the Regent know where the Hunter Data disk was located?
6. Regarding this passage:

I suspect that this is due to the innate fear humans have of Garou taking precedence over all else and causing her to quickly obey.

No. Delirium does not work when the werewolf is in a fully-human form, only in Crinos (the war-form that Matilda took in the end of chapter 5). Werewolves have few powers to control other people's minds and more limited.

Matilda could have used Geas to make Grimal light the joints and that is the "voice" Grimal heard Matilda ask her.

Matilda could have stolen the power from the Ghoul but that requires both witnessing the power used and knowing who used it, ie, the Ghoul using Dominate. At which point all she needed to go home is to simply tell on that person (if not splatter the Ghoul on the wall herself).

Exactly, that is an excellent point. Again, he does have to care about Herbie's loyalty or lack of thereof. He only cares that he gets what he wants.

Just because he visits the Chantry doesn't mean that he is up-to-up on all of its goings-on.

If he knew that Herbie has long since left, again, as long as he can make Herbertus/Kevin do what he wants, he doesn't care. Palmer wants the lantern and to get Chapman to cover up this incident. As long as Kevin complies, Herbie is not his problem.

Also, consider this: Palmer might know the truth but he is a businessman. Why would he care that Herbertus has gone rouge? What does he profit from confronting the vampire about it? What profit does killing Herbertus give him? Why burn a bridge that he might use for a trade route? So he played along with Kevin's lie, to better probe what is going on right now and to make use of later. If Palmer wants Kevin, he knows where to find him and potentially trade that information for something else. Hell, even bringing up Kevin's desertion might be useful in undermining the Regent.

This.

There are people that see the connections between HtP and TTS but not the many disconnects. Especially the bit where they are two seperate shows.

These people can harbor many preconceptions (especially the notion that HtP is somehow a continuation of TTS) that can make discourse around these characters skewed.

Supernatural spirits created by the Wyrm that werewolves fight that have a strong, established presence in WoD-verse. Particularly through Pentex holding group. Oh, look, her mask has a P letter.

Fomori are creatures sworn to bring about the Apocalypse, with a dead Earth drowning in pollution an death.

Ross would be in tremendous danger of being potentially near Black Spiral Dancers or other, worse creatures. Pentex does experiment on werewolves.

Not the way he spoke and acted. He made his distaste for Bennings clear (HE is the reason he is there, which makes sense for a werecreature) and the way he asked Palmer. He was acting on his own initiative.

Could he be fooled or otherwise coerced? Hard to say. We saw so little of him. But he seemed in control of himself and acting on his own. .

I strongly suspect that he is sensing that Herbie is not on the level and something is wrong. Especially when Herbie was reluctant about the item.

But consider his position. He has a smooth relationship with the Regent and he is about to have a meeting with her. He doesn't want to wrinkle that relationship. He suspects that Herbie might be up to something but he doesn't know what.

The important bit? It's not his problem. Herbie is not his employee. As long as he gets what he came for (which he did), Herbie is the Regent's problem (if he is that at all), not his. He might make a mental note of reporting Herbie's odd behavior to the Regent, just like he said so, and let the Regent sort him out.

He has reason to be uncertain because vampires are hard to read and Tremere especially can be strange. Herbertus could have been sporting that wizard hat when he saw him in the Chantry.

I have a feeling that Blair might even let him and not care about the consequences with all the (possibly Fomori) drugs she is under.