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Some time ago, our comrades @RadZakpak and @Carnage Evoker had a rather interesting discussion about the appearance and role of green light throughout several zombie maps. Green light doesn't appear often, but when it does it is exclusively associated with a paranormal and unnatural event. We have experienced it in: The Shadows of Evil intro cutscene, every time a character commits a murder. The green lantern post in Morg City. The green lanterns in Tranzit, allowing Denizens to dig a hole. The portals appearing around a stone pillar upon doing a 'skull cleansing ritual' in Zetsubou. The light of the submarine beams in Call of the Dead, allowing the Golden Rod to appear in the map. In Call of the Dead, the green morse code broadcasting the message "V-R-I-L". As seen, there are not many cases when green light makes an appearance, and the very reason of why this is may be what it actually indicates. You see, green light seems to indicate some level of interdimensional interaction. To understand this, keep in mind that our mortal brains cannot comprehend anything beyond our 3th dimension, the physical world around us. In this thread, I've explained it more elaborate, but the take home message is that when a fourth dimensional entity or event makes it's entrance through our thirth dimension, things may look twisted. In his stories, Lovecraft even used this theory for the appearance of his multi-dimensional beings passing through our dimension, causing the typical 'tentacle shapes' his creatures often have. Imagine a 3D fruit (say, a grapefruit or starfruit) passing through the flat 2th dimension, this would actually look like this: If you'd live in the 2th dimension, and actually see a 3D fruit moving through your universe, you'd definately process this information as "paranormal". The same is the case for any epidimensional object, event or entity occuring or passing through our 3th dimension. Multiple religions and cultures across the world fit with the idea of their gods being impossible to perceive, while they are always there, observing us from some realm beyond ours. As a Biblical verse tells us: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." - Cor 2:14 Okay so, clearly this would be the case for any angel, demon or spirit. Some humans even claim to be able to communicate with these, using magical diagrams such as Ouijaboards or the Seal of God (also referred to in the books of Der Eisendrache: "Occultism in the court of Elizabeth I" and "The Evil Archon"). We can actually see this being done by for instance the Warden, using his absurd Apothicon octogram to correspond with his dark lords. But how would this go with lifeless things? No entities passing through our dimension, but events happening between. How would our human brains cope with such thing? I believe this may be indicated as 'green light', like a blur our brain creates to handle with things we cannot physically see nor understand but yet are happening. The Denizens dig a hole through the Aether, initiated by the green light emmited by the lantern posts. We know the souls of the victims of the Shadows of Evil murders got attached to certain objects, and the process of these souls leaving their physical body and moving through our dimension may be seen as green light. Sacrificing a human soul in the final Call of the Dead easter egg step releases sufficient amount of energy to open up a gateway to Pablo's pocketdimension, retrieving the Golden Rod. Notice how the same dials are also encountered in Tag der Toten, where Pablo says the following about them: "Take this, they can help you communicate with otherwordly entities". Cleansing the skulls in Zetsubou opens up temporal rifts, allowing zombies to enter this point in space-time to defend the rituals. In short words, green light seems to mask an event we cannot comprehend. An interaction between our realm and another one.

Wow, After 7 Years of making THIS thread, which was a new discovery in TRANZIT of an age old easter egg that pretty much went unconfirmed & unsolved since Der Riese, I think I can finally put to rest the appearence of the "J.D." initials and the word "DELGADO" that appears on the Chalkboard. I stumbled across this BO3 texture (which I think is from Origins Chronicals - i_p7_zm_ori_debris_paper_names_c A List of Treyarch Dev names John "DELGADO" https://www.artstation.com/jdelgado01

Have you ever wanted to experience the Call of Duty Zombies storyline as a narrative, interweaving all the little details to make a story that can be read anywhere? The CoD Zombies Storybook is an anthology project, telling every facet of the zombies storyline in a narrative fashion for easier reading and understanding, with some artistic liberties and theories thrown in to keep the story cohesive. If you would like to view each chapter on the site, click here. You can click any chapter on the sidebar to the left or go from the table of contents. Book 1: Ascend From Darkness (Complete): Told from a variety of perspectives, Book 1 chronicles the exploitation of Element 115 by Group 935 during the Second World War, which ultimately led to the chaos pervading the entire story. Book 1 introduces Doctor Edward Richtofen, his superior and rival Doctor Ludvig Maxis, as well as Maxis' daughter Samantha. It also shows the war and experiments taking place behind the curtain from the perspective of American spy Peter McCain, as well as soldiers across the front, “Tank” Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki. Book 1 will see the rise and fall into madness of the brilliant Richtofen, as he sets a plan in motion that will alter time and space permanently, and have him come to meet his three infamous test subjects for the first time. [Google Doc Here] Book 2: A Soul Alone (Coming Soon): Set back and desiring power, Edward Richtofen enlists the help of Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo to complete his plan to enter the Aether. Through all the blood and gore from legions of undead controlled by Samantha, the group, together known as Ultimis, finds themselves sent jumping through time in search of key components to Richtofen's plan. As we follow Ultimis, we see the ramifications of Richtofen's actions on the world during the era of the Cold War, where Group 935 scientists are used between the United States and Soviet Union in a technology race. The unholy experiments perpetuated by Group 935 and Samantha's influence create chaos in the modernizing world as major powers meet in order to keep the peace. [Google Doc Here] Book 3: Brimstone To Damnation: Following Richtofen's entering of the Aether, the world in 2025 is plunged into chaos from the fallout of the missiles sent to Earth by Maxis. Broken Arrow, the organizational successor to Group 935 in the United States created during the Cold War, is in part responsible for the post-missile civilization's falling apart. Former agent of Broken Arrow, known only now as “Russman”, wanders America, his memories inconsistent from the 115 exposure. Along his travels he meets Samuel Stuhlinger, a disgraced reporter with former connections to a flesh-devouring cult. Utilizing Broken Arrow's technology and wary of zombies and other survivors, they travel in search of solace in Hell on Earth. Marlton Johnson, an engineer and conspiracy theorist, who has only survived through his intelligence and knack for technology, meets Abigail “Misty” Briarton, a farm girl who lost her family and searches for a better future. As the four would come together at a zombie-infested bus station, they would be known as Victis. The world has been plunged into a war between those on the side of Ludvig Maxis, his voice now a part of technology across the globe, those listening to Edward Richtofen's voice inside their head, and hordes of the undead. Caught in this conflict, Victis must choose a side and find purpose as the world literally crumbles beneath them. Book 4: Salvation Lies Above: When Edward Richtofen began to meddle with Element 115, he inadvertently caused ripples across the multiverse. One Dimension 63 was home to alternate versions of Group 935, Richtofen, Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai, and Ludvig Maxis, now present during the first World War. Lost without her father, Samantha calls to the Ludvig of this dimension, enlisting his help as well as Richtofen and the three soldiers sent to capture him, in order to free her from the Aether. Together, Richtofen and his unconventional allies would become Primis. Following Samantha's freedom, Richtofen would come to learn of his true importance to the state of the multiverse. Driven to put an end to the chaos ensnaring it, and to redeem the actions of his other selves, Richtofen comes together with the rest of Primis to collect their eternal souls and put an end to the reign of the Apothicons, an ancient evil responsible for Richtofen's corruption and the spread of Element 115 throughout the dimensions. Book 5: No One Escapes Alive: A chain of events is set in motion that will break the cycle that has been continuing for so long. From across the multiverse, Primis, Ultimis, and Victis come together under the command of Nikolai, now burdened with the knowledge of the Kronorium. The breaking of the cycle has created ripples across space and time, drawing both Monty and the Shadowman to the conflict as they try to prevent Nikolai's grand scheme. Only now as the Aether has reached its end do their true motivations become clear. My goal with the storybook is for readers to have an easy to understand and an entertaining source of zombies knowledge. If you have any criticism or any concern regarding accuracy of information, please ask in this thread. The purpose of this thread is to suggest any changes and provide criticism for the way the story is told. I am an amateur writer, and criticism will only help me. I will also use this thread to update when a new chapter is posted. NOTE TO ANY NEW READERS: Do not take my work as a definitive understanding of the storyline. Understand that there are many points in the zombies storyline left ambiguous or that were completely abandoned by Treyarch. My goal with the storybook is to use commonly accepted theories from the community to fill in these gaps to create a cohesive story. Simply, do not use my storybook as the be-all end-all source of storyline knowledge, as much of it is speculation, and as the storyline continues to evolve under community intervention, things will change in the story.

Bringing this topic up again because I am an insane person. I think I have a more consistent answer for the eye colors of zombies, and it centers around the MPD. By default, zombies seem to just have Apothicon influence with red eyes. When the MPD is present on the Moon, however, the eyes by default are orange-yellow. When Richtofen takes over, he changes them to blue. The APD overrides the MPD in the local area in Alpha Omega to be white. Why are the eyes red in Mob of the Dead and Blood of the Dead? They are in a pocket dimension consisting entirely of Alcatraz Island and the unfinished bridge. No MPD. Why are the eyes red in Tag der Toten? Is is also a pocket dimension consisting of the Siberian Facility. No MPD. Why are the eyes red in Revelations? It takes place in Agartha where the Apothicons have brought their influence, but no Moon and no MPD. Why are the eyes red in Gorod Krovi? This I think is the crux of the wider answer. At the end of Der Eisendrache we teleport the MPD to Earth, remove its controller, and blow up the Moon on November 5th, 1945. The way fractures seem to work is that they build off of each other, so by blowing up the Moon on November 5th, 1945 in the Deceptio fracture, the Moon blows up at the same time in the Proditione and Agonia fractures. Gorod Krovi takes place on November 6th, 1945, so the Moon is now blown up and there is no MPD to influence the zombies, hence the red eyes. Why aren't they red in Zetsubou No Shima? Because ZNS takes place on October 18th, 1945, before the Moon is blown up. The MPD is still there. In Origins and Shadows of Evil, the Moon and MPD are still there, planted by the Apothicons ages ago, so the eyes are orange. I think this theory aligns with what Blundell said about the eyes mattering sometimes and something they don't matter. With this theory it doesn't really change anything that the eyes in Gorod are red, it's just that way because of when it takes place. Same with where Blood and Mob take place. But it does matter in certain cases where we need to know who is in the MPD.

I'm enthousiast to say that I have found a theory to explain the big paradox that bridges the Giant and Tag der Toten, and simultaneously the Cycle and the Broken Cycle. Both outcomes of the Multiverse requires the other one to exist, but how can this paradox be explained? Big thanks to @Forest Fire with his interesting discussions and thoughts on this subject, which sparked the idea of this thread. Also, you need a bunch of Cristopher Nolan brains for this one, so good luck. A Paradoxal Prologue A discovery made by no one else than our @clueless himself was a paradox that emerges in the Giant, a paradox that is proof that the Cycle has been broken before. To understand this we have to look at Mob of the Dead, the map that is essential to breaking Monty's Cycle. As you may know had Primis to travel through Alcatraz between Zetsubou no Shima and Gorod Krovi, however at some point in the Cycle a trap was set up. Essentially, the souls of the mobsters were used to create a pocket dimension (Mob of the dead), eternally trapping Primis, disabling them to proceed in Monty's Cycle (Blood of the Dead). During the climax of Mob of the Dead, the souls of the prisoners are transported to the Golden Gate Bridge. But this time, the plane doesn't crash because Weasel meant to bring them here. So what happens to the plane? Well, if the Cycle Continues, the purgatory Hell dimension does a "soft reset" that returns everything back to its former spot, and the only ones with memories are the Warden and Weasel. Icarus never makes it far enough to reach the storms Eventually though, the Weasel does win, stopping the Alcatraz Cycle and causing Monty's Cycle to break as well via Blood of the Dead's ending, Alpha Omega and Tag der Toten. So Icarus, flying through the sky, eventually flies through the storms overhead. In Zetsubou no Shima we get a glimpse of what such storms can do; temporal displacement. Point of the story: Only in a Broken Cycle can Icarus leave Alcatraz. And, ladies and gentlemen, what do we encounter on the roof of the Der Riese Waffenfabrik during the Giant? Icarus, the indication and proof that the Cycle has been broken before. This is the Giant's Paradoxal Prologue to our story… Dempsey: "Hey other me, if you're hearing this, then it means something's gone FUBAR. We're going to Plan B. Stick to that kraut bastard like glue. We need to find out what the hell he has been doing, what he's going to do. We may be able to get a fix on your location if you can trigger one of the paradox visualizations. Good luck, we're all counting on you. Oh, wait, what ever you do, don't get too close to the radioactive beacon. Makes your hair fall out." The Nexus Point I've devoted an entire thread to this which I can recommend to read, but I will summarize it here. The main point is that the events in the intro cutscene of The Giant is a so-called 'nexus point', an event where various timelines converge. And there are two possible outcomes, hear me out. Primis Nikolai, Dempsey and Takeo arrive at der Riese and persuade Ultimis Richtofen to join them and awaken the test subjects. What's more, they tell him to not open the MTD because that would unleash a great evil. Here's the split: either Richtofen activated the teleporter, or he doesn't. In case he doesn't, they will awake the test subjects and some radioactive event will occur, leading to the 'Fallout House' radios: Maxis is talking about a battle won, a nuclear wasteland, the children disappearing and himself suffering from a radioactive disease. Possibility 2 is that Ultimis Richtofen does activate the MTD: Primis Richtofen steps out and Monty's Cycle will happen. He is send by House Maxis, who is following Monty's plan to fix the world ever since the "knock on the door". Ever since, the past is changed and Maxis perceives that the children return and his radioactive disease is reversed. As the original outcome of the universe was changed, his old experiences first became vague memories, and then vanished completely. But this is not restricted to Maxis: Also Primis Nikolai, Dempsey and Takeo who initially firmly wanted to keep Ultimis Richtofen alive and awaken the test subjects, now fall into confusion and follow Primis Richtofen who obeys Maxis' mantra: "the test subjects must never be awoken". Completely reversed to their initial plan. Maxis: "Reality itself is shifting. I find myself reflecting on memories I am not longer sure are my own. Beyond the window, I saw a wasteland stretching far as the eye could see. I saw scourge visited upon the Earth. I saw the children withered before my eyes. That was before... before he came. Samantha has been returned to me once more, as have you Edward... as have you." Of course, Possibility 2 is what we directly see in Black Ops 3. But Possibility 1, the outcome that got overwritten by Possibility 2, is what happened prior. It is the outcome that eventually led to a "battle won" but with a very pyrrhic victory: A world destroyed by radioactivity. The Beacon Remember the Dempsey radio I quoted earlier? These personal messages to Primis Nikolai, Dempsey and Takeo are recorded before Possibility 2 overwrote Possibility 1, so outside Monty's Cycle. Dempsey states that they may be able to get a fix on other Dempsey's location if he and his pals can trigger a paradox visualization, coming back on that later. If you thought things were complicated, brace yourself for the next part. Now in Tag der Toten, you can hear Richtofen saying the following: "I remember something Samantha told me a long time ago. She told me her "dad had a plan"." This plan of Maxis, obviously referred to by Sam's quote in the Origins outro cutscene which took place in the House before Possibility 2 overwrote Possibility 1 (as the Cycle didn't happen yet), may include whatever led to "winning the battle and destroying the world". This old plan of Maxis was before Monty instructed Maxis the events of Black Ops III. Anyway, immediately after Richtofen saying this in Tag, Nikolai exclaims "Look, the Lighthouse is lit!". This sounds very much like Maxis saying: "Look, the Beacon is lit" after completing the Giant's 'Paradoxal Prologue' easter egg. In Blood of the Dead it is made clear that a lighthouse is a way to communicate across the Aether. So are our actions in the Giant essential for what happens in Tag der Toten, and vice versa? Is this why Dempsey mentions that he needs to get a fix on the location of his other self via a beacon that is radioactive? Talking about radioactivity, is the beacon the reason of the radioactive world that was a consequence of Maxis' plan? The description of Tag's Easter Egg is to "Resolve the Paradox". It could function, in a certain way, as a means to complete the paradox, the very paradox we were introduced at in the Giant. Tag der Toten is the final piece of puzzle for the odd radioactive timeline that was caused by Possibility 1 even before the Black Ops III Cycle started. Perhaps the fire and lava appearing in Tag during this quest as a consequence of '115 evolving' may be caused by the nuclear fallout of Maxis' plan. So before the Giant happened, Tag der Toten was already going on. Or no, what is better to say, Tag der Toten already happened: Time is irrelevant in the Multiverse. The crashed Icarus at the Giant is proof that plane has left the Alcatraz Cycle and that the Monty Cycle was broken before. But if you think we are finished, there is something else left. The End There is one thing you may be wondering: If Tag already happened, how could there still be a Multiverse with Element 115 at all? Consider this: We activated the Beacon while playing the Giant, which already takes place in Possibility 2. So to break the Cycle, the Cycle must already have occured. And I think the location that Dempsey wants us to trigger is that of the Frozen Forest. Remember this sequence: "I am the last of us, but I will be joining you soon my friends. -cough, cough- death is near. I hope what we have done doesn't come back to bite this universe in the ass. Thank god we will all be gone, because if Monty ever found this place, we would be in a world of shit. Maybe now, with us all gone, the children will truly be safe. -D " This sounds very much like the ending of Tag der Toten. Nikolai, Dempsey, Takeo and Richtofen die in the Frozen Forest so the children will be safe in a new world, without Element 115 and Aether. This may be what happened at the end of Possibility 1: Maxis mentions that the world is destroyed (the 'old' Aether Multiverse is presumably absorbed in the radioactive Dark Aether) and the children are gone (they left to the new world, Maxis explicitly says they are gone and not neccesarily dead). The Element 115 that is 'evolving' at the end of Tag is already the process of it vanishing from existence, and the world is annihilated in a radioactive fire. Now the sentence "awaken the test subjects" even makes sense: It regards Victis in their cryogenic slumber cells in Alcatraz. Because Primis travelled to the Frozen Forest, Victis is woken up and Tag can actually happen! So could the outcome of Possibility 1 not only be Tag der Toten, but also the dissolution of the Aether Multiverse in general? And then, Monty knocked on the door of the destroyed House, eventually triggering Black Ops III to happen which backwards affected everything so the Aether Multiverse was contineously re-established anyway again? If you came this far, cheers on that. Hope to see you in the comments!

Paying my respects to Ray Liotta, who passed away earlier today. He apparently passed away peacefully in his sleep, at age 67. I knew him best as Billy Handsome in Mob of the Dead, but I know he was a huge influence across generations of acting. Dude seemed like a genuinely good guy on top of his amazing roles and even better performances. Rest in peace, Ray Liotta. Your afterlife awaits, and I hope it's a good one.

@Grimmstein has made up a lovely piece of cover art for Book 1:

"Okay everyone, gas around" * Sighs* "Give me order!" "The Doktor has a Christmas story your you" "Ooh story time I love it!" "Oh joy, I'm warm and fuzzy already" "Feel free to leave Dempsey. Or kill yourself" "Is that mistletoe? I suddenly feel like kicking your mounth" "Where's my wodka? Where's my where's my wodka?" "Nikolai put down that bottle" *Smashes bottle and yells* "Ouch, not there" "I have a story for you that my grandfather used to tell me when I was a little, little, little..." "Ah, it's like grandpa used to talk about hookers" "Nein, it's nothing like that" "I like hooker!" "It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse" "I kill the mouse!" "That's good Takeo, well done" "The shotguns were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that Zombie Klaus soon would be there" "Oh I love Zombie Klaus!" "Yeah" "Takeo and Dempsey were snug in their beds" "What?" "While visions of murder danced in their heads" "Murder!" "I like murder" "And Nikolai in his 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap" "I be big spoon, you be little spoon, yeah?" "Shh, don't tell anyone" "Okay" "When out on the lawn there arose such a clamor, I reached for my luger and pulled back the hammer" "Ahahaha" "Away to the window I flew without haste, Tore open the shutters and began to lay waste" *Laughs* *Laughs* "Banzai!" "The blood on the breast of the new-fallen dead, gave the luster of rubies all glistening und red" *Sighs* "When, what to my wondering eyes should I see, But a miniature sleigh pulled by filthy monkeys" "Oh, I hate monkeys" "And then, as I stood with my mouth all agape I heard the moaning and gnawing of those damn dirty apes." "Because they have no honor!" As I drew back the trigger, all set for the kill, Down the chimney came Zombie Claus, ahaha, what a thrill!" "Ohhh!" "He was wearing the flesh he tore from St. Nick" "Oh!" "And his clothes were all bloody!" "Oh man this is sick sick" "A bundle of limbs poked out from his sack, And he looked like a hobo, just having a snack" "Like my brother, he is broke" "His eyes were glazed over, his nose was not there! His cheeks were half eaten, but he had not a care! The drool from his mouth spilled onto the floor, And the stench from his carcass, I simply adored!" "That's just wrong" "The stump of a leg he held tight in his teeth, And he wore some intestines on his head like a wreath" "Oh-hoh!" "He had sores on his face and a distended belly, That shook when he moaned, like a bowlful of jelly" "Like pregnant hooker!" "He was deliciously gaunt, it made me giggle, And I laughed and I laughed, I wet myself a little..." "It happens" "A wink of his eye as it "popped" from his head, Oh how I love, the sexy undead" "Really?" "He's not well" "He spoke not a word, and went straight for my heart, As I leveled my 12 gauge, and blew him apart" *All laugh* "Haha, Now we are talking" "On the floor lay his finger aside of his nose, On the tree, like ornaments, were his teeth and his toes" "Ohhh" "And then in an instant, he sprang back to life, I threw down the gun, and reached for my knife" "You need katana!" "But up the chimney he went, as he gave me the finger, "Nein!" I shouted "you must stay, you must linger!" " "No, come back Zombie Klaus" "And I heard Zombie Klaus moan, as he flew out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-bite." *All laugh* "Haha, bit, get it? Ah fuck you"

Chapter 41: Great Tribulation ServantB67129.txt Chapter 42: Delusions of Grandeur

A few corrections when it comes to specifics, because this EE is very buggy and for that reason there was a lot of misinformation. But according to trial and error and the code, this is a more accurate series of steps for Maxis' side: https://www.reddit.com/r/CODZombies/comments/gi9z1w/actual_die_rise_guide_for_maxis_side_tired_of_the/ The main contentious step is the "reincarnation is key" one. Apparently Russman has nothing to do with it. You only have to pack-a-punch the ballistic knife and go shoot the buddha statue or somewhere near it after killing enough zombies and triggering the "reincarnation is key" line. After that, for some reason Misty and Marlton have to be the ones to pick up the balls or the game will glitch. So I think he says, "Ah, yes! Do you see? The energy of their broken souls has been released! Their energy fields remain in flux. Matter must be transformed before it can be contained. The Spire must be energized as fire and light. Create a field with which to bind it." after shooting the buddha statue, implying you should use the trample steams and the balls to create the field. Then, after creating the field, he would say, "Excellent! The energy fields are changing, transforming, flowing. Ah, you are on the right path. You must look for objects of steel. With the appropriate weapon, their energy fields can be manipulated" with the weapon of steel being the galvaknuckles at the end. It's possible he might be using Victis' energy also, he just isn't implying it. But regardless, they are used to manipulate energy acquired in a different manner. I also find it interesting that it must be done in a specific way, hitting the different directions of the tower in a certain order, which feels like it would relate to some pseudoscience about energy and the poles, but I'm no expert there. As for what the balls are, they seem to be made of the same material as the lion statue and have a similar pattern to its neck collar. I have to assume it's just some kind of mysticism at play.

Part 2: A lost tape in the archives (January-November, 1983) 1983 was considered one of the most dangerous years of history, with two nuclear superpowers being entangled in a Cold War with each other. Among the many spies involved in this international ‘Chess Game’ was a woman named Samantha Maxis. Deployed in the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, she was a connecting link between the CIA and the spies on the other side of the Iron Curtain. One of her ‘operatives’, Tatyana, was active in the Lubyanka, the KGB’s headquarters in Moscow. In 1983, several fanatic KGB’ers found something extraordinary here, abandoned and hidden in the archives of their old WW2 files. It was a tape with old war footage of Soviet soldiers liberating the Polish village of Morasko, stumbling upon Projekt Endstation. There were shots of monstrous humanoids, undead. Seeing this, the ‘extremists’ realized that they had uncovered a gamechanger for the rest of the course of the Cold War. As soon as possible, a large number of scientists, materials and resources were allocated to Morasko, attempting to investigate the site of Projekt Endstation. This operation was called ‘Operatsiya Inversiya’, literally meaning Operation Inverse, starting upon the Red Army’s first encounter of the Cyclotron on February the 3th, 1983. Due to it’s secrecy, all men and women involved were obligated to break contact with all their contacts, including their families. Among them was one Kazimir Zykova, a mechanic whose family lived in the Baltic region of the Soviet Union. He had decided to work for Operatsiya Inversiya due to his belief in communism and the Marxist revolution worldwide, but against the will of the KGB, he attempted to write a letter to his wife, explaining his sudden demise. After several days of residence on the side, Zykov was approached by Colonel Lazarev, the head of the operations at Morasko. The Cyclotron had to be deactivated, and as Zykov understood WW2-aged German equipment, he was demanded to go down into the former Nazi stronghold to cut the machine’s power. Little did Zykov realize what was awaiting him… Packed in a hazmat suit, wearing led plates around his most vulnerable parts, Zykov entered the underground bunker in an efford to contain the radiation leaking from the Cyclotron by deactivating the power. However, just like the case in 1945, the Cyclotron was unable to be deactivated by cutting the power. It seemed that energy from the Dark Aether was feeding the mechanism. Zykov couldn’t turn it off. With the undead roaming the undercrofts, Zykov was barely being able to keep himself alive. Once he knew he couldn’t turn the power off, he was willing to sacrifice his life for the greater good. He realized something important was at stake, something beyond one human life. He sacrificed himself for the world. At the same time, realizing something important was going on at the KGB, Tatyana, one of Maxis' spies in Moscow, send a worrying message to Maxis. Upon seeing the tape herself, Tatyana was determined to sacrifice her life in order to prevent what was going to unfold. She was able to steal the tape and bring it to her house, but she was caught and arrested moments later, and brought to the KGB’s prison. The Soviet fanatics were determined to keep the files about Projekt Endstation and Operatsiya Inversiya classified to the West. Another one of Maxis’ spies in Moscow was able to retrieve Tatyana’s package and could send it across the wall to West-Berlin. Here, Maxis made contact with Grigori Weaver, her supervisor in the CIA, operating in the Pentagon. Upon receiving and seeing the tape, he realized the danger of Operatsiya Inversiya, and founded the Requiem department.

In Nevada, the cactuses are tall And the Eye of Providence sees all So don’t get it twisted Their demands are listed From the Shadows, they watch you crawl - J "B" Chapter 45: Relentless Epilogue: Rebirth Well everyone, it's been 4 years. And after numerous rewrites, major life events, entire new games, and new depths of zombies lore, I can say we've reached the end of the line for Book 1 of this project: Ascend From Darkness. I'm not quite 100% finished as I am still going through and updating chapters for V2 of the book. The new link for V2 of the book can be found here. So far I've updated chapters 1-14 and foresee finishing updates by the release of Cold War. If you've already started reading the old version, and want to be up to date on what is changing, you can follow along here. Here's to the future of this story. Let's see where Cold War takes us, and we'll be right back after these messages...

To whom it may concern We're all going to burn I fear I am nearing the end My ink has run dry I'll give the radio a try Maybe then His hand He will lend Who am I kidding From where I am sitting There is no rule left to bend But heed my call Read through it all And perhaps my warning will send - J "B" Chapter 39: Last Disciple Entry1474.txt Chapter 40: Will and Testament

So concurrent with the final 8 chapters, I'm going to be working on a V2 of Book 1 to make little tweaks that I think fit better in canon, fix mistakes, remove plot threads that are unnecessary, and just make general improvements. This is gonna be needed before I can put this book out there as a more final product since I started on this version of the book all the way back in 2017 and my writing style and ideas have changed since then with many discussions and everything we've learned in Black Ops 4. For anyone reading this that has read earlier chapters and noticed something that doesn't seem right or could be improved, let me know so I can add it to the change list. If something isn't explained enough or confusing that's very important. For right now, here are changes I plan on making, in case someone starts/started reading before V2 is done: - Removing instances of Richtofen referring to the Shadowman as "My Lord". That was reactionary to Blood of the Dead, but I think their relationship is different from the Warden's. - Adding more references to Maxis' Vril experiments and better explaining what that's all about. - Making sure the zombies' eyes are always yellow. - Adding evidence of the Illuminati to Shangri-La, giving Richtofen more reason to be angry with them and leave, for not sharing their knowledge with him. Stuff like the Illuminati writing on the gongs. - Changing the idea that Richtofen came up with teleporter technology. The Keepers were the original inventors, and Monty seems to have influenced Maxis' interest in it. - Adding instances to suggest Maxis has knowledge of Keepers in some capacity. - Adding Keeper stuff back to Der Eisendrache. I originally left it out believing it to be limited to fractures, but I've changed stances. - Mentioning "The Genesis Code" early on, something Maxis has interest in. - Making sure Griffin Station is not given that name until Group 935 occupies Griffin Castle. - Adding a mention when Richtofen returns to Der Riese from Shangri-La how he found an ancient teleporter there. This is the same one we see used in the Classified opening cutscene.

Greetings, CoDZ! I wanted to create a thread with a clear transcription of the story that we know so far. Upon reading through the the transcription sections of @RadZakpak and @clueless so far, though, I realized I knew nothing. Therefore, I thought it would be a better idea to make this a community thread akin to that of @MysteryMachineX back in the days. Part by part, bit by bit, we will work through all intel and story that we know thus far. I hope this thread will spark some critical discussion and that we together create this new story, based on the fragments of intel that we obtained in the game. Let's start with the WWII era: Part 1: The First Breach (1938-1945) Part 2: A lost tape in the archives (Jan-Nov, 1983)

The serial number, printed on the tail of the plane, reads “194501”. There are a couple things we can determine from this, one is that the plane was manufactured in 1941, as the entire serial number would read 41-94501”. And two, is that they would identify themselves over the radio as “Yankee-501”, we can determine this because of the large “Y” painted on the side of the plane, and the last three numbers of the serial number. My theory is that Treyarch intended this to be an easter egg where the radio callsign (Yankee-501), is read as “Yankee SOL”, using L33T speak, or “Yankee sh*t out of luck”. Referencing the Americans, or Yankees, on board, being shit out of luck, they crash and subsequently all die on this night. Speaking of night, I assume that “NI7E” is simply supposed to be read as “night”, in L33T speak.

Intro Bringing up some occurances of this recurring theme for discussion In no particular order. If you can think of any more or have any ideas please discuss below! Examples 1) Archangel (Origins) The most clear example. 2) Chronicles Trailer This goes with the "minds eye" metaphor angle. 3) Physical globes Black egg looks much like a leyline globe Summoning key VERY similar + apothicon influence Shang meteor looks a lot like a globe also. But this time with physical geography instead of leylines. Conclusion Of course the obvious thematic interpretation is that it's about "control" and power. A strongly recurring theme. But with the Venus references in ciphers. The shrinking meteor with the baby gun. I was wondering if there might be another way to look at this that might shed some light on the origins of the Black Egg and the summoning key. I'd love to hear any ideas! Thanks for reading.

Just found this on the COD Zombies reddit before the post was deleted... But since I have came back to the site, this is the only evidence of the existance of BO2's DLC 5 with a screenshot of Der Riese running in-engine. As this was the list of enemies for BO2 DLC 5, it was going to be a Proto-Chronicles before becoming Chronicles.

High res picture of farm loading screen

Credits: To start things off thank you to "Lack of finding names" for contributing many photos of the early Green Run in a previous thread. It is generally understood that during the early development of Green Run, Jimmy Zielinski envisioned a Tranzit that was much grander than the the one that shipped at launch. "Anonymous" wrote an amazing thread discussing this in great depth going over cut game modes and features. Prototype Preservation Channel: **DISCLAIMER** INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC IS SPARCE, I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INACCURACIES. Back in 2019 a YouTube channel by the name of "Prototype Preservation" disappeared just as quick as it appeared. This channel focused on early pre-alpha versions of Call of Duty Black Ops 2, mainly focusing on the multiplayer content showing the many ways that the game has progressed during its early development, also showing many features that were cut along the way. It is theorized that many of the dev kits they utilized were sourced from "Prototype Warehouse" on "Archive.org". However, it was directly by the hand of Treyarch that this channel was terminated as they have been known to send cease and desist letters to those who either obtain these dev kits or post media from them online. Multiple users have claimed that Treyarch has an automated tool to remove this type of media from the internet as it is posted. "It's a real shame Activision took down most of the devkits available on Archive.org. Prototype Warehouse had all the devkits for every cod game available there and all his youtube videos were taken down showing each game, but now it's hard to find any available devkits for bo2. The ones I do know that have them. Are just trying to avoid an C&D letter from Activision. Usually the first one is just to scare you, but most don't chance it with them." - RedxSkull There is without a doubt an early dev kit of the zombies game mode somewhere in circulation on the wider internet, and in fact Protype Preservation before their termination claimed to have a copy with early Green Run, even playing it claiming is was very different from the map Tranzit that we got at launch. This was said 3 days leading up to the termination of the channel, ergo the only footage of pre-alpha Green Run is now lost, assuming Prototype Preservation was served a cease and desist because of this claim. Since then several new pieces of photos/audio media have come up but no video exists of the early build online at all. Leaving the greater internet to wonder what early Green Run was like except the people holding these dev kits. Media: overview2.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM overview1.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM farm1.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM farm3.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM 1669178086858-alphatitlescreen.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM title1.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM alphatitlescreen1.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM town1.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM town.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM townalt.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM busdepot.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM busdepot2.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM farm2.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM farm.png - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM Screenshot_1.jpg - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM Screenshot_2.jpg - Google Drive DRIVE.GOOGLE.COM [img]https://i.imgur.com/tYoAL3O.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/tYoAL3O.png[/img]

This thread will be dedicated to an anthology series of various conversations from throughout the multiverse, catalogued for your reading pleasure. These are canon to the Storybook project.

Guten tag everybody! It is widely acknowledged that the labor we process during Easter Egg quests are not merely joyous and challenging minigames, but also often make sense on a story scale. Usually, the Easter Egg quests are being written by the developers also involved in working out the story, hinting at a clear overlap in the two concepts. Considering quest and story are one and the same, this doesn' t mean their correlation is always clear. It is for that reason that I created this thread, inviting all of you to participate in this ''think tank" of converting the actual steps of Easter Eggs into logic that makes sense in the story. Today I would like to discuss Die Rise, which, after looking into it, is a pain in the ass to convert it into story. Additionally to that, I never did the Easter Egg myself, and the sequence of steps sometimes differs a bit depending on the guides I found on internet, not making it easier either. But utilizing the quotes of Richtofen and Maxis, we may be able to make something of this. Connecting the elevators and the symbols So in this step, four players have to stand on four similar Chinese symbols that can be found on the elevators. After this, they have to stand on the same symbols appearing on the ground somewhere in the map. I found a quote of Maxis which is likely referencing to this step: "The alignment has begun. You are on the right path. Please, continue. You must trigger the symbols in the correct order, an order that only trial and error will reveal." It seems that standing on the elevator symbols led to an "alignment" which must be continued by triggering the symbols on the ground in the correct order. To understand this I think it is essential to understand the meaning of the symbols. The term "alignment" reminds me very much of celestial bodies, but of course that is nothing more than mere guessing. @DragonGJY I was wondering if you could make up something of this symbol, or if it may return in certain Chinese philosophies or mythologies? The spheres When obtaining a sniper rifle, Richtofen says the following: "We must neutralize any errant energy fields in order to prevent Maxis from enacting his plan. Take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the sources do not fall under his control, [laughs] if you can find them!" This is obviously a reference to the balls that can be found in the big Dragon board. These are "sources of errant energy fields". Now I have never done the Easter Egg myself, but can someone describe how these spheres look like? Do they look technological, like the Vril Sphere on Moon or perhaps even the Summoning Key? The Germans require the players to shoot them, teleporting them into the smaller Dragon statues in the spawn room. I'm think there is a possibility these spheres are artifacts of some kind, perhaps linked in some way with Dragons or Naga' s, ancient warriors of the Vril-Ya. They also seem to be tied with Shangri-La, so perhaps this sphere artifact originates from that site? http://blackopsofficialfansite.yolasite.com/resources/Singola-1.png After transporting the spheres to the small dragon statues, Maxis says this: "It is working! The sphere has relocated! Now, one more must be found." Richtofen' s path 1. From now on, Maxis and Richtofen' s path split up: Richtofen wants to destroy the spheres because they could help Maxis in doing his stuff, very similar to how Maxis orders us to destroy the Amplifiers in Buried because they are essential for Richtofen. Just casually sabotaging each other, and it seems that whatever toxicant is in the Sliquifier, rapid liquidation works the best: "The balls! It's all about the balls! You must purge their energy before Maxis interferes! Perhaps a rapid liquidification will suffice, yeah? Then do it!" Interesting that he mentions that this causes the balls to be purged of energy, like there was already some kind of energy inside. And whatever is inside the Sliquifier, it draws this energy away. 2. Taking care of Maxis' spheres, Richtofen requires you to place trample steams around the Tower, and shoot zombies at it. Note that this is very similar to Tranzit, where you must kill zombies under the Tower to power it up (either by releasing their 115 or their Life Fore). "The spire, it needs the energy of the undead. We must find a way to make our blood sacrifice" 3. After this, you need the Galvaknuckles to punch the Tower. "Only with your combined energy can we fully control the tower. You need a conduit for the electrical energy contained within your living flesh. Any ideas? Oh, I know. How about those electric knuckle-thingies?" Richtofen mentions the Tower requires the energy of Victis. Something to do with their souls? Maxis' s path 1. As for Maxis, he desires you to grab the balls and them them to the Buddha room. Two players must stand in front of the golden statues and kill zombies to charge the artifacts, presumably similar to how we charge the Apothicon eggs in Shadows of Evil? In that case, it is Life Force of the undead that is sucked in the egg-like artifacts. "The energy within the spheres is in flux. Fear not, we will need them in due course. Now, find the enlightened one. A blood sacrifice alone is not enough. Reincarnation is key." 2. You now need to stand in front of the Buddha statue ("the enlightened one"), and one of the players must, tragically, die. After this, someone with the Krauss Defibrillator must revive him. While reading some Easter Egg guides, it seems to be that Russman specifically is the one that must be reincarnated. Is that true? If that' s the case, it may have something to do with Russman' s elusive nature and the fact that his mind is fading away so often. Is his soul even his? 3. Now, use the Trample Steams to blast the artifacts at the Spire. Maxis will say the following: "Ah, yes! Do you see? The energy of their broken souls has been released! Their energy fields remain in flux. Matter must be transformed before it can be contained. The Spire must be energized as fire and light. Create a field with which to bind it." Additional evidence that the spheres contain the life force released at prior Blood Sacrifice. It is strange to me, however, that this couldn' t be done directly like we do with Richtofen' s quest in Tranzit: directly killing the undead under the Tower. Why did it had to be done via the artifacts? Perhaps to "cleanse" their life force from the Dark Aethereal spectrum and convert it into "light" Aether? Something I am not so sure about is when the following quote comes in. Can someone help me? "Excellent! The energy fields are changing, transforming, flowing. Ah, you are on the right path. You must look for objects of steel. With the appropriate weapon, their energy fields can be manipulated" The difference All in all, the two quests are quite similar. Except that Richtofen can directly use the energy of the undead, while Maxis needs to kill them in the Buddha room and converse their energy via the spheres. What' s more, Richtofen can directly use Victis' energy via the Galvaknuckles embedden in their living flesh, whereas morbid Maxis needs a full reincarnation of poor old Russman. Different types of the ethereal spectre perhaps? What' s also remarkable is the various mentions of "energy field", which, if I search that on internet, refer to the following things: Ahh, lots to chew on there, isn' t it @Mattzs? But we can get into that discussion later, first I'm interested how y'all think about the story-wise relevance of Die Rise' s Main Quests.

Ah, I remember correcting some steps of that guide. I'd like to emphasise that this is true. The quote, however, is "Reincarnation will reveal the way forward." Fun fact, it doesn’t matter who picks up the balls. I have proven that in a comment to the post you’ve linked. That quote is after having completed the sequential floor symbols step, not after completing the Trample Steam step. The "objects of steel" refers to the balls in the dragons' mouths, while the weapon refers to any sniper rifle. I consider the most-correct Die Rise Maxis Easter Guide to be either the current CoD Wiki Fandom's guide, or my guide which includes each of Maxis' quotes along with what triggers them divided into which steps they occur in.

Intro Hello again, today I’m bringing a little brain food for you all to chew on. @anonymous mentioned in a recent discussion the various different depictions of a “soul” we see through the Aether story. Which prompted some digging. After some research, I realised that every different depiction of the mind/body/soul we see through the story relates to a section of the soul as viewed by the ancient Egyptians. (that’s right, these guys who made a very brief cameo in the Buried intro cutscene) Disclaimer: All these aspects were considered “different” parts of the soul from the perspective of the Ancient Egyptians. However they have been used to depict the “entire” soul in various other religions and media. So, they could very well all just be different ways of depicting the same thing by Treyarch. A single "soul" not segmented. Or not. That’s up to you to decide. Sources: All quotes come from this Wikipedia page, through which you can find the academic references. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_conception_of_the_soul) All screenshots are from the video games, comics and related media released by Treyarch. Sources are given above each image. The Eight Components of the Soul Khet(physical body) “The physical form had to exist for the soul (Ka / Personality) to have intelligence or the chance to be judged by the guardians of the underworld. Therefore, it was necessary for the body to be preserved as efficiently and completely as possible.” Preservation of the physical human body... While initially it might seem that this is the clearest cut of the components, it is actually one of the more complicated. For the main reason that, unlike some of the other components, the depictions of this all relate to partially or completely unexplained sections of the lore. Namely: 1) The “Cryogenic Slumber Party”, achievement from Moon. 2) The comic book remake of the “Nacht” loading screen (below) 3) The Gorod Krovi Cipher #1 which relates the cryo-pods to the “Nuketown” drill, and blood vial “sequencing”. (the “drill” and “sequencing” not being understood either) “We will keep the individuals in stasis, on ice to speak, and continue the specimen rotation once we finish drawing more power from the drill. Oh, I almost forgot, the sequencing for the current blood samples is as follows: SSMJABR” Visual examples: Call of Duty - Zombies #6 Tag Der Toten Call of Duty - Zombies #3 Sah (spiritual body) "Spiritual representation of the physical body" Not much to go on for this one. In most interpretations these appear as humanoid “ghosts”. Much like we see in MOTD and BOTD. Visual examples: Mob of the Dead Blood of the Dead Ib (heart) This is where things get really interesting. “In the Egyptian religion, the heart was the key to the afterlife. It was essential to surviving death in the nether world, where it gave evidence for, or against, its possessor.” I won’t get too deep into the weeds here. But basically, a theory that some of us have been workshopping is that (ignoring the AO/Tag rewrites) the elemental shards (one of which we see in the comics) are the “hearts” of various characters, the elemental shards (that we see in Origins) are related to these. And the elements relate to the colours of 115 we see through the story. (Red Blue Green etc) I'll leave it at that, and avoid any more sidetracking. We see a “version” of this they used in AO/Tag with the elemental shard being the “souls” of our four characters bound into one “object” or “element” which was then that fabric of spacetime. (Or something along those lines, don’t quote me on AO/Tag stuff) The key relation though is the line “It was essential to surviving death”, as the nature of the shard (/s) is what keeps the cycle going, and is (as the quote says) the real thing keeping the four “alive”. The other relation is “it gave evidence for, or against, its possessor”. Which is exactly what we see with various music easter eggs (Kino, Origins etc). In the easter eggs the 115 (/elements /hearts) plays a song which reveals the true feeling or thoughts of whichever character is bound to that element/shard/heart. Visual examples: Call of Duty - Zombies #2 Origins (song “Archangel”) Kino der Toten (song “115”) Shangri La (we see here any early prototype of the idea of the elements as “hearts” back when the story was less defined) Ka (vital essence) “Ka was the Egyptian concept of vital essence, which distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person” Very simple one here. The “vital essence” being present in a dead human body without the other elements of the soul causes reanimation and “zombification”. The essence is an energy source, that we can extract, as seen in various maps. Visual examples: Origins (soul boxes) Shadows of Evil (charging the eggs) Ba (personality) “𓅽 was everything that makes an individual unique, similar to the notion of 'personality'. It is sometimes depicted as a human-headed bird flying out of the tomb to join with the Ka in the afterlife” This one we see only a few times, mostly in BOTD. Thematically though it is mentioned various times. Specifically the “flying out of the tomb to join with the Ka in the afterlife” part is reference by the “Escape from the tomb” poster. The one we see in the House and ,more importantly, in that very same BOTD where the “bird” spirit forms are featured. Visual examples: Blood of the Dead (bird spirit form) Blood of the Dead (heavy handed thematic reference to the function of the bird spirit form with the "Escape from the Tomb" poster) Shut (shadow) "Egyptians surmised that a shadow contains something of the person it represents. Through this association, statues of people and deities were sometimes referred to as shadows. Another form the shadow assumes (is as) an object which would create a shadow." As with the Physical “cryo” components, this relates to an area of the story that is still being debated. And as you can tell from the quote it’s not completely understood by historians either. However, examples of this manifestation can be seen during the eclipses of various maps (Der Riese, The Giant, Shangri La) “object which would create a shadow”. We also see it related to the “evil Samantha” spirit in the Classified poster (half her face is in deep shadow with the eclipse Moon for an eye). While there is clearly something to this, the concept of “Shut” is not very well understood. It seems likely to me that this concept was merged with different philosophical ideas, such as the “duality of man”. For example, in “Shockwave” (from the aforementioned Classified) there are various relevant quotes, such as “evil” Samantha claiming to be a “shadow”, as well main “duality” references such as “noon and midnight, turn endlessly”. I won’t go any deeper into this one for now. Visual examples: The Giant (Moon casting a shadow) Shangri La ("object" casting a shadow) Classified Poster (lots of relevant symbolism here, more can be found in “Shockwave”) Sekhem (form) “Little is known about the Egyptian interpretation of this portion of the soul. Many scholars define Sekhem as the living force or life-force of the soul which exists in the afterlife after all judgement has been passed.” Here the real word understanding matches our understanding in the context of Aether. “Little is known”. I would put forward the children in the House as a potential example, but not with any certainty. (Potential) Visual examples: The Gift (Director’s Cut) Ren (name) “As a part of the soul, a person's name was given to them at birth and the Egyptians believed that it would live for as long as that name was spoken. Which explains why efforts were made to protect it and the practice of placing it in numerous writings.” In Aether this concept has seen some overlap with Lovecraftian concepts of the name (especially in BO3 onwards). This concept being that knowing someone’s true name gives you power over them, especially in the case of demons. Examples that spring to mind are Nyarlathotep disguising his true name as Tony "hale' Rapt as revealed in Gorod Krovi cipher #11. And also, Richtofen carving his name in Shangri La, which relates more to the Ancient Egyptian angle we’re looking at here. Visual examples: Shangri La Akh (intellect) “Relative to the afterlife, akh represented the deceased, who was transfigured and often identified with light. It was associated with thought, but not as an action of the mind; rather, it was intellect as a living entity. It was associated with thought.” We have a pretty clear example of this one. The spirit form of Gersh in Ascension and Gorod Krovi. In the easter egg we assist SOPHIA is extracting information from him. Information from learned experience, that would logically reside in the “intellect” rather than other areas of the soul. Visually, as a ball of light, he is clearly “identified with light”. We also hear him thinking out loud, and he talks to us during the easter egg, unlike other soul forms we encounter. Clearly a manifestation of “intellect” in my view. Another example is the light orb "soul" form we take when fast traveling in BOTD. As with Gersh, it is clear that this orb form transports our intellect and memory. These orbs can also talk and are aware of their surroundings, much like Gersh. Visual examples: Gorod Krovi (Gersh's "intellect" in its non-corporeal (soul) form) Blood of the Dead (playable character's "intellect" in its non-corporeal (soul) form) Conclusion That’s all I have on this topic. Please add any ideas and stuff in the comments. This is a really big topic and I tried to be as brief as I could to avoid it getting any longer than it is already… So I hurried over a few parts and missed some entirely. (brains in jars etc etc) Some related topics I might tackle in the future are the Ancient Egyptian “Book of going forth by day” (which has some strong connections to “Remember Forever”) and other sections from the “Book of the Dead”. Until then, thanks for reading. Rapt

Some of you may know of the Spitfire variant "Deep Voyager" from Black Ops 4. Something you might not know is that the gun flashes Morse Code when you reach the 250 kill requirement in zombies. The morse code it flashes is "-. . --." This translates to "Ned" this is a reference to Ned Land, a character from the Jules Vern novel "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" The variant itself actually depicts a specific scene, where a Giant Squid attacks the submarine the Nautilus. The character "Ned" referenced by the morse code is trapped in the brig during this scene. As the damaged submarine begins to fill with water. The morse code is a signal letting us know he is trapped. Obviously this variant also appears in MP. So it's just a fun little easter egg, and not really related to the zombies story. Although having a living thing trapped inside a weapon is an idea that has come up in zombies before in a few different ways. I still thought it was worth sharing though!

More BO3 Zombies Pre Alpha stuff! Includes early GobbleGums, Few ‘Giant’ Screenshots, and some Shadows of Evil. Oh and a Cold War Bonus of Die Mashine Dark Aether.

Although Die Rise itself had very little story, it introduced concepts which have been used since Origins to begin solidifying the Aether storyline. While examples vary, I want to bring in two of the unexplained examples: Now, since this post has inspired me to finally have a look into the Mahjong game, I thought I'll be sharing this: Mahjong has different types of tiles. There are those who are referred to as "Honor Tiles", which consist of the four winds, as well 3 dragons. So since the Easter Egg revolves around the dragons, this seems to be a good reason as for why picking this game to be used in the Easter Egg (beyond it being a a traditional Chinese game).

Now you said something interesting here, let' s dig a little deeper in it: Apparently, the order of the four different directions can be found by using the Mahjong tiles that are scattered around the map: 東 - East 南 - South 西 - West 北 - North This is not the first time the four cardinal directions are hinted in the story. On the Moon loading screen, one can see a picture of the Vril Interface in front of the MPD, with the following 'advertisement': The five Aztec deity names that are mentioned each stand for a cardinal direction: Cipactli (crocodile; east), Ehecatl (wind ; north), Cali (house; west), Cuetzpalin (lizard; south) and Coatl (snake; east). The ad mentions that the Vril Interface, or Mythos Disc, defines celestial patterns for someone's own "practical and magical purposes", which I assume are those of the MPD occupant's. These four directions also return in the mystic 'Vril Map' found in Call of the Dead. Tying this with the Global Polarization Device at Die Rise, it actually makes sense since it is generally believed that the Tower resonates the will of the MPD occupant through the Aether across Earth. In all four directions may not literally imply North, East, South and West, but coult hint at the four dimensions of space-time, manipulative for those that gain control over the Tower. The symbol on the Dragon sphere looks like a swastika to me, but not a Nazi (right-turned) but a Hindu (left-turned) one. In Hinduism, this spiritual symbol stands for a lot of things, but one of them is the four cardinal directions: North, South, East en West, symbolizing the flow of the universe. I' ll come back later to reply on the rest!

@Lack of finding names an idea popped in my head about this which is sole speculation but I am sure @Carnage Evoker would love it. What if the four classic maps were originally intended to be busstops in Tranzit? We have Nacht already. We also have zombies with mysterious badges of "Hanford Sanatorium" on them, which perfectly fits with a structure similar to Verrückt being somewhere out there. Der Riese, also referred to as "factory", would easily fit as one of the nuclear factories that were present at the Hanford Site. In the pre-Alpha concept art you posted earlier, we even see factories as an intended area in Tranzit. Shi no Numa would be a bit more tough to place, but it would actually fit quite well with the wooden barns, fences and other structures found in Farm. The area itself even seems to be covered in a green fog as opposed to the red colour encountered in the rest of the map, quite fitting with Shi no Numa. Now, the maps may not have entirely been put in Tranzit. Think of it more like Tranzit's Nacht, which is partly accesible and a bit changed when compared with the original map.

I love the John Dee references: Pretty sure that's the inspiration for the ring of skulls in the void bow: A Painting of John Dee, Astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, Contains a Hidden Ring of Skulls WWW.SMITHSONIANMAG.COM The life and work of John Dee contained a strange mix of science and magic Wish we had more information about the denizens to know what's going on there:

if you guys want to see my youtube channel, here is a link: http://youtube.com/channel/UCQTi2Z6a3aHMRLExX3scxXA/videos

Alright so I lied about that one, not into this series anymore and have just about entirely moved on. Thanks for the memories at least, while they had lasted.

Thank You! Working on it was a blast!

This comes a little later than expected, but, I finally pushed through and finished editing Version 2 of Book 1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jiaHzygu1JByl_oaegLmcwVchoC4BHHMCkpQY-FAPkQ/edit?usp=sharing For the list of major changes, you can check this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LCq_i_x7HDF8RgLQOEE10QAUqGg1-7yrpVln72DsTPQ/edit?usp=sharing I'm finally going to take a step back and leave it as is. This is the complete Book 1. And thankfully, Cold War doesn't seem to be changing much about the Aether storyline, so I'm content knowing this is pretty much the final version. Now then, on to Book 2!

"Nuketown (After Round 30)" I believe it's round 25 for Nuketown.

Yeah that's true. We've had it for a while, it'd be nice for a new switch up. Love to see what Die Maschine and the new maps give us.

Might not even be a controller. Hell, the concept of a controller is vague as it is in the Aether story. The voice is clearly a male Russian, but that's as far as we know for the moment.

Part 1: The First Breach (1938-1945) Nazi-Germany's official foundation of the secretive Uranverein (literally: the Uranium Club) was in April 1938, shortly after the discovery of nuclear fission. It's objective was to research and develop atomic weapons during the course of World War II. The Reichsdirector of the Nuclear Program was Kurt Diebner, a German nuclear physicist from that time. Several years later, in the midst of the second Great War, two German professors working in the field of nuclear and quantum physics, Dr. UlrichVogel and Dr. Kurtz, designed a particle accelerator under the name 'Projekt Endstation'. The project was all about a device called the Cyclotron, a particle accelerator which was believed to be supreme in uranium enrichment, a process essential in developing nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Dr. Diebner approved their project, and announced that the Nazi government would fund their research. Dr. Vogel and Dr. Kurtz had to leave their university, and depart for an area near the village of Morasko, West Prussia. Here, the facility in which the Cyclotron could be built in absolute secrecy was being constructed by the labour of prisoners of the nearby concentration camp, Fort VII. Several years passed on as World War II continued and Dr. Vogel and Dr. Kurtz kept performing experiments with the Cyclotron. On the 7th of March 1944, while running Test Run 12, an incident occured. After colliding two particles, the machine started to alter the environment, and objects were materializing in the chamber. It appeared that they had caused a spacetime breach, generating a Rift to another dimension. Slowly, the scientists at Endstation began to realize that the incident was no setback, but rather a breakthrough. The Cyclotron was unable to be deactivated, as it was powered by the energy of the other realm they just breached, the Dark Aether. While the scientists at Endstation were cautious in investigating the Rift, word was send to the Reich's High Command about the latest events. Meanwhile, dr. Vogel and dr. Kurtz were intrigued by the effect the cyclotron accident had on the exposed subjects. They discovered that their bodies were contaminated by a mysterious substance deemed as 'Exo-Element 1', essentially 'zombifying' living persons. Almost one month has passed since the incident, and the scientists were still studying the effects of Exo-Element 1 on the exposed men. As they seemed to behave very violently, they were sealed in a chamber. Removing the Exo-Element 1 from their brains reduced this behaviour, but they were still not fully healed. It began to look like the patients couldn't be saved anymore, and their fate was doomed. More research regarding Exo-Element 1, the Rift and the dimension that was beyond showed unlimited potential. On the sixth of June, the Western Allies landed on the shores of Northern France and the created of the second front was a fact. Germany started to lose more and more soil, and the Reich's High Command started to get more desperate as they were putting their bets on the Wünderwaffe programs: high-tech rifles, rockets, giant armored vehicles and the atomic bomb received more funding. The German chancellor also started to see the potential of Projekt Endstation, and approved more funding for the facility. The bunkers beneath Morasko were originally built to enrich uranium for Nazi-Germany's nuclear program, became now devoted to research and possibly weaponize the extraordinary anomalies that they had stumbled upon here. The released isotopes from the machine had unnerving effects on the habits of exposed subjects, and the newly discovered Exo-Element 1 also proved to be able to be weaponized in the form of the Decompressive Isotopic Estrangement device, or D.I.E. in short. After studying the effect of Exo-Element 1 contamination of subjects by the Wechsler, Dr. Vogel began to realize that the transformative effect could be used as a weapon itself as well. The idea of creating an undead army made him study the effects of the element on the brain, and how to restore basic orders and loyalty to Nazi-Germany. As the end of the war approached, Endstation's research provided a potential key to flip the course of the war in the Nazi's favour. Vogel had a plan: Dr. Vogel states that preparation have been made ready to open what he calls 'the Third Front'. In 1945, Germany was stuck between two fronts: the Eastern and Western Front. I believe that this 'Third Front' is not a geographical, but rather a global one. This is where the gamemode Zombie Onslaught comes into play for the first time: As we see many years later, in the Cold War, activating the Cyclotron can lead to interdimensional breaches randomly across the globe. Perhaps this is the Third Front, spawning in undead contaminants all over the world, weakening the Allies. I am curious what the package is that they talk about… Germania was the name of Germany's capital during the Nazi's regime. It seems here that something or someone was send from Endstation to Germania, apparently 'ensuring victory'. Something must have gone wrong, as clearly the war ended with the Allies as victors. I wonder though, if it has something to do with the package send earlier to Morasko. What do you think?

ok look... i know this thread is super old but i just had one thing to say. i saw this thread when i was rather young back in 2014. about i was 12 at the time, and for some reason this thread just popped into my head and i remember this exact message. im not sure if you're still active on here but i just wanted to say thank you

And in the darkest night If my memory serves me right I'll never turn back time Forgetting all but not the time

Shadows of Evil introduced us to a new story element that may or may not be implemented into future maps. This element is the Use of Lovecraftian Lore in the form of the Apothicans. Strange Pods growing from the ground and unspeakable blasphemies invading morg city. However is this really the first time we have seen a reference to Lovecraft before? Let us take a look back in Black Ops 2 and World at War as well as take an example from H.P lovecrafts short story. The Colour out of Space. In this short story a meteor falls from the sky and lands in a small town near a farm. Scientists come to experiment on it and discover that the Meteor never cools down and when it does it usually takes a long time. Water around it produces steam and as time goes by it shrinks in size. When the meteor is broken it reveals that the inside resembles Glass and has the distinct characteristic of Colour. Eventually the meteorite vanishes and the people are left to their own devices. However the tale does not end there, hunters notice that the wildlife is changing in the area, they find a rabbit that is deformed and horrendous. Eventually the Crops grow in huge abundance but their taste is bitter and disgusting. Time goes by and animals whither and die. The people begin to go insane until they start to deteriorate and die off in gruesome ways. Eventually whatever was in the meteor begins to rise from the contaminated well and blasts off into space in an array of colors. However one Small piece falls back into the Well. The range of this infection seems to spread an Inch a year. I tell you this story because it has parallels to our own storyline. Shi No Numa takes place in Japan after a meteorite is discovered in the swamps. Of course, this meteorite causes the dead to reanimate but something new was just implemented a few years ago during Origins. In the Cutscene the Meteorite is shown to have landed prior to 1917. Now, this could just be the same event in another dimension but as seen in The Giant we know that Multiple Universes have very similar events occurring at the same exact time. So if we are to assume that the Meteor in Shi No Numa is the same meteor we see in origins then we can safely assume that 30 years later the meteor has still not cooled down. We can also see that the Origins meteor fits the description of the meteor from H.P Lovecraft’s story. When the surface is cracked the inside is like glass displaying Colour. 115 which is found in the Meteor has the same effect as the story. The people begin to whither away and die and animals suffer grim mutations. Zombies and Hellhounds. Hellhounds are shown to have been a product of the Der Riese incident however their first appearance was in Shi No Numa.. So what does this mean in our storyline? Did I just state something that has already mostly been said for years already? Well, here is where it gets interesting. There are some possible Origins for the meteorite in H.P Lovecrafts story. it could have been crafted by beings from another dimension and deliberately sent to earth. Evidence in the story comes from the fact that the radiation spreads one inch a year and how given enough time the entire planet would eventually be engulfed in a Plague which destroys the earth completely. The same can be said for the Zombies meteorite. It was because of this One event that eventually led to the Rift being broken during the events of Moon. It is possible that the Meteor was sent to earth during a critical time in history where it’s scientific properties would be used to create weapons and devices. It was World War II when the meteor landed in Origins timeline, however in the First timeline it could have landed during WWII. What do these 2 events have in common? They both landed during a time of great conflict, when scientists were racing to create a weapon to win the war. It is possible that these meteorites were sent to Multiple realities in hopes that one of these dimensions would eventually and foolishly break the Rift. Without 115 the Teleporters would not have been perfected. The moon pyramid would not have been discovered. Griffon Station would not have been built and the Missiles would have never been sent to earth. There is also something else that casts a shadow on the future. The meteorite surges with electricity. Objects that are teleported often surge with electricity shortly after being teleported. Hellhounds do this, The mainframes do this, and apparently do does our meteor…

I'm glad you've liked it! I still plan to keep it going, I've just had issues with time and motivation.

Excellent work collecting all of these images! Very interesting to see the design philosophy.

Chapter 4: "Remember Forever" Chapter 5: "It Came Out Of The Sky" Pygmalion Film Reel Transcript Also, just wanna say here that going forward because of those unreleased Group 601 images I'm changing Group 601 to be the name of Maxis' alliance with the Nazis rather than my previous explanation in Book 1. I will eventually go back and fix Book 1 to reflect this. Anyhow, enjoy!

All of Book 1 and the progress I've made on Book 2 is now available through the site through this link: https://www.callofdutyzombies.com/story/home/ It should be compatible with PC and Mobile, and will be much easier to load and read than through the Google Doc. I'll continue trying to update both sources in the future.

Just wanna say before anyone starts reading Book 2, please know that there are certain plot threads that will be spoiled somewhat from Book 1 that I have added, so I recommend for the best experience reading Book 1 through first. Thanks! In a bunker now Strange guns and stranger voices This will be my tomb - J "B" Book 2: A Soul Alone Prologue: Undone Chapter 1: Danke Schoen Der Riese Occupation Status Chapter 2: Blue Monday Chapter 3: The Night

@clueless here's to eternalizing your theory!

You are a man amongst boys, Pinnaz. That is all.

Yeah that is spooky I hear now that I have been playing "five" a bit too much... You can also get powerups in the rooms sometimes.