the arc follows joseph's past. it turns out that joseph was an outsider that had been adopted by a church after his parents froze to death, using their remaining body heat to keep him alive in front of the church. he spent his childhood in a tightly knit community, helping the priest look after the other orphans' needs, tend to their home and helping people in need. after the nearby jever river overflowed, the church became crowded with homeless citizens and wounded seeking refuge - the agitation eventually driving the old priest (who also was joseph's paternal figure) to death by exhaustion. it was shortly thereafter that he met magwald xargin - then an enthusiastic researcher hoping to distribute medication to the impoverished population. it was through xargin (and his hospitalization after the church was burned by xenophobic citizens) that joseph met his elder sister, alexandra 'sasha' jobson. for the next few weeks, joseph developed a close friendship with xargin, with whom he shared a deep desire to help those in need. however, the medication they provided to the bereaved population and outsiders (even going as far as trying to smuggle them out of xargin and sasha's university - then led by victor statchus) proved ineffective and one night, sasha was beaten to death by outsider-hating citizens. it was then, through the letter that she had left behind, that joseph learned that sasha's research was primarily focusing on military-oriented cybernetics. feeling all hope was lost, xargin conveys his bereavement to victor, who decides that he is worthy of receiving the nanotechnology that sasha had been working on. after xargin rebels against victor, joseph tries to stop his erstwhile friend but is mortally wounded - however, in a last plea, joseph tried to convince xargin that life was still worth living. in response, the former scientist infected the teen with nanomachine-infested blood, turning him into an amalgam. the next day, victor statchus gave him the garm motorcycle and entrusted him with tracking down the now renegade magwald xargin.