>>532236346
it's 1) for several reasons:
1. Alain is a fucking genius, as far as feats are concerned, he's at least next to Al-Ahmar, if he was alive his tech would be beyond whatever the Fatui have now and the Talochard quest wouldn't make any sense (and it makes a lot of sense with 1)
2. His end is mentioned in an artifact set
3. He got traumatized by events dealing with soul and was extremely against them
Also he created an AI early on during his life (Seymour), which is also why the Talochard quest wouldn't make sense
the Talochard quest gives the backstory of Sandrone and a direct parallel through Curve, you also have hints of this through the dancing robots boss and the tragedy behind it