You just gave me another Nightmares flashback.

TO THE EARLY FOLKS: I know, Day of the Epsilon isn't up yet. Hold on. Working on it.

Prospect A Map Concept by The Meh Weaponry provided by: The Meh/HitmanVere/Nightmare Voyager Characters, Story, Map Layout: The Meh Creative Directors: Nightmare Voyager/HitmanVere/anonymous Time taken to create: February 11th, 2017 to March 15th, 2020 Pre-Cutscene Story - “The Lonely Astronomer”: https://www.callofdutyzombies.com/topic/185590-the-unity-series-the-lonely-astronomer-pre-cutscene-story-for-prospect/ Opening Cutscene: The Pillars of Creation beckon a silence as the Machina Fini Mundi powers up, close to opening through to the first destination the Angels must visit. The Entity himself begins to speak as the camera cuts across the main corridor. “This Universe… it was not created under any normal circumstance.” A flashback to bright fires, the face of a man deformed and twisted. Engulfed in light, beings most unholy amid other, holier winged beings clash and mold into the man’s unrecognizable face and burst like solar flares, before dissipating with the rest of its imagery. All the while, the camera pans through “Vapor Serenitatem”. “There was love, and this universe beckons for more…” Flashing images of Jeanne and Adam together in “Vapor Serenitatem” pass by, showing them as they hold themselves close, forming a world of serenity and passion through each and every breath. The images dissipate once more, and the camera switches back to the main corridor, but instead begins to pan towards the insides of “Sanctum Dei”. The Entity takes up the screen, and the camera turns darker. “I… fear for the future.” A small, yet noticeable blackened core brightens within the Entity. “Heh… even a God grows from his own concern…” The voice whispers. “You are a coward…” The camera pans back to the Machina Fini Mundi, as it shines brightly. Thomas and Stacey walk to its front, and press buttons shining green, red and blue. The first portal opens, and the Angels step forward. The Entity flashes behind, speaking once more before the screen cuts to black. “They must do this… they are the Angels. But what defines divinity? What happens when those who are meant to save… bring about something else?” Concurrent to this line above, a voice whispers, barely audible. “Don’t you deny them their prospects…” Map Layout: Map Description: “It’s time to assure the future. In this penultimate installment of The Unity Series, we will follow the Angels as they work to avert the Epsilon’s return. A path undertaken, yielding artifacts beyond humanity, in three realms left hidden away. There is but one path to absolution… and they believe they are on it. Yet, a fear lingers...” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPAWN: "Ex Machina": I feel that, in explaining the way this map works, the best path we could take is explaining the fundamentals first. As, with Prospect, it follows an ambitious path. The way this map functions is through the use of the Spawn as a nexus point, to say, for each location to be accessed from. There are three locations to be had with this map, and each is accessed via a portal, opened through the means of either accessing the power, or… other means. Regardless of the facts - the characters will spawn into Ex Machina, the room that the Machina Fini Mundi resides in. Coming off of the final scenes of Intuition, the door audibly shuts behind you - an inactive Pack-a-Punch machine phasing in front of it - as the screen lights up - the Machina Fini Mundi just before everything else. After a moment or so, the Machina Fini Mundi reaches full power, and begins transferring its energies into creating a red portal to its direct left. Noticeable among all of this as well, Healing Elixir rests directly to the left of the Machina Fini Mundi. Regardless - Stacey will speak after this, saying: “Your first destination is the Isle of Rhodes. If we’re going to make this polarization device properly, we need a receptacle that can channel all that energy. Thankfully, an astronomer of old was able to make such a thing: the Antikythera Mechanism. He didn’t realize what truths laid in its depth. The compatriot sorrows followed him for his life - and is why it’s now locked behind what we can only describe as an ‘Escher-esque safeguard’. You’ll see when you get there. Suppose it is called the Castle of Hades for a reason… oh, almost forgot - try not to stick around there for too long. As, with all things, being stuck in one place for too long does wonders to the brain. We have faith in you guys. Good luck.” After that, all you really have to do… is step into the portal. ANTIKYTHERA: "The Isle of Rhodes" (Castle of Hades): The portal from Ex Machina drops you onto the Isle of Rhodes - in front of a castle, at its “Promenade” - all foreign in design, ancient, blackened with stone but golden-laced in marble... as if it were made anew. A stained glass window marks the building - Angel wings adorned with arrows and thorns, castrated by cuts and burns, the bloodied patterns creating a near-realistic dripping effect - marking this place as a danger to those who would enter. A lightened powder snow cascades the bushes alongside the front door - the left of which containing a possible spawn for a shield piece. Nothing keeps you entering as of yet, however - the first door in this section of the map lies ahead, costing a mere 500 points. Upon opening said door, however, two “Knight” Zombies - a variant of Zombies first seen in the Citadel - adorned in armor guard the door, and attack the players upon walking into the first room. Dispatching said Knights and glancing towards the room - subtitled “Processing” - you begin to understand the maddening structure that you face. With naught but an archaic, large, and out of place computer mechanism in front of you outlining the basic structure of the Castle of Hades, the room looks desolate, before directing attentions towards the ceiling, as you realize that it is mirroring the room, but objects like a large center table, chairs littered and broken around it, and two statues of Athena mark the respective sides of the room. The Angels themselves are mirrored to this room as well, and - surprisingly, the objects are real and invisible from the floor itself. So, guiding yourself through this room would require following the mirror path, if all else - notwithstanding avoiding all said obstacles in the first place. While guiding yourself around the room itself, to the left side of the door entering this room, you find a strange new device - a caged orange-colored energy in the form of a pistol, but chaotic and changing its form. This is the “Whillwhisp” - which acts similarly as to WWII’s randomized wallbuy functionality in later maps that pulled from a pool of base guns in a category. Indeed, in the case of this Whillwisp in particular, you are able to purchase a random pistol from this for 500 points. There are more, moving forward… but, for now, we shall continue onward. Heading towards the left hand side brings you to a buyable window (750 points), and going to the right side of this room leads you towards a normal looking door (800 points)... and those who have read my maps before probably know what I’m about to say next. For the sake of ease and lack of complications, we’re going to start with the left-hand side on this one. Buying this window creates a barrier able to be mantled, that of which leads into the “Throne Room” - although, in its decrepit current state, it would be wrong if we were to truly give it such esteem. Indeed - that of its chairs, tables, and the like are scattered to ruin, as candle stands and banners are either still up, or fallen. A small, decrepit, stone throne with a headless skeleton sits in the back end of this room, the whole of which is stained by time… almost vanished, in its own ways. Next to the throne, a Shotgun Whillwisp (750 points) is on the wall. Above lies slight sunlight, reflected onto that of three different mirrors, that of which, creates a flurry pattern of beams that cross around the room as said mirrors perpetually rotate. The nature of this sunlight, however, is tainted - as, to the smallest touch, the sunlight will damage players, and down them within the timeframe of two seconds (with or without Ephemeral Genesis). As such, navigating around the room is nothing short of difficult. All that said, however - there is a glowing, red mass of stones ahead, to the left side of the room - acting as a sort of doorway (1250 points). The stones, upon second glance, look like a broken stairway... Opening this “doorway” blows out the stone steps - upwards, unfortunately, which destroys any chances of a set of stairs. Indeed, this is the first instance of an area that, once entered, the only way out from it is the usage of the Angel Wings, which are activated passively by Round 2 - and act as a simple secondary jump in this circumstance - but, in others, can be used to glide beyond and pass otherwise insurmountable areas. The Wings themselves gain a momentary hover and glide mechanic (through the jump button) that last for about 3-5 seconds. Secondarily: Every four rounds, players are given a single melee replaced as a wing thrust, that pushes you forward - and will kill any and all zombies in the way of that thrust. There is more to be had as to the powers the Angels receive, of course! That is an aspect, however, that should be discussed later on. As for our situation here - simply jump down the “hole” where the stairway was, and turn left. This will lead you into the “Living Quarters” - an expansive, high-reaching tower of a room, with tables and beds laid astray - thrown across the room itself - mattresses, however, aligned and lined up to others across the room, enough to rise towards higher levels of it. Said mattresses will bounce players in disordinant patterns around the room - some leading to nowhere, and a justifiable fall to death. Others, leading to secret passages, some of which may just lead you back to where you began… or where you’re wanting to go - or to another area of the Castle entirely. At least one of these paths, however, will take you towards a single Box spawn, on a wooden platform. After bouncing for a while along the right paths, you will reach the top of the room - towards the next doorway (1250 points), which is made out of stone from stairs once more. Just as the other one, however… stairs, they are not. Opening this doorway not only blasts out the stones, but sucks players into it, taking them down into a slickened metal slide. It slides every which way, even dividing in certain areas. Looking around its depths will show the likes of magma, emerald, and a slightened glimpse of “Promenade” and “Processing” - as if, the sight of which came from that of the portal you entered in. Converging once more, to meet and lead into the next room - subtitled as the “Access Lane”. The “Access Lane” is perhaps, itself, one of the more hectic of the rooms amid the Castle - as, upon entry, zombies will immediately rush (at least a quarter to a half being comprised of Knights). Immediately to the left lies an SMG Whillwisp (1000 points), and ahead from that lies a perk on the ceiling of the room - Icarus Contact. The room, otherwise, is very simple to navigate around: Forward from the slide, left from Icarus Contact, all of which leads into the final door of this side of the Castle (1500 points), and the final room of the area - “Antikythera”. But, before I lead into “Antikythera”, I would like to backtrack to “Processing” and detail the other side of the map, assuming you were to pick the 800 point door. Buying said door makes it collapse down onto itself - as it reveals to be naught but a bookshelf, leading into a forlorn “Library”. Assorted tables dot the landscape - littered with books and charred, fallen bookshelves, the knowledge surrounding having been scattered to dust and time. The tables and bookshelves, as it would seem, are charred and laid askew for good reason - as, it would seem that the floor of the room itself is damaging to the player - without Ephemeral Genesis, three hits are able to down a player… but with it, that integer increases to five. I guess they took “the floor is lava” very seriously here… fun. Luckily for you, Ephemeral Genesis just so happens to lay on the right side of the room, nearby the next door (which, is free) - as well, a Sniper Whillwisp (1100 points) to its left. The free door forward leads into the “Cubicle”, to which, itself, has a singular and small purpose - a breaker between the rooms. It being a small, robust room with a slighter height to a balcony above… there really isn’t all that much to do in this room. While carrying the lack of safety from the ground in itself from the “Library”, the “Cubicle” lies as the only room where the only action to be had of traversal is through wall running and jumping. In doing so, one will reach towards the aforementioned balcony, which leads forward to a gated fence… on the ground level of the Isle. Outside? Whatever the case, the fence gate costs 1500 points, which leads you straight into the “Greenhouse”. Entering into the “Greenhouse” itself without knowing what it brings is, itself, dangerous. As, when entering, you will notice that a slight damage and blurring of the screen will begin - similar to that of Moon, outside of areas with oxygen. Indeed… whatever flora was planted and nurtured in this place was unnatural, just as much as it was intoxicating. Over time, damage will begin to grow, and by about 20 seconds in, your character will die. During all of which, the screen will show hallucinations of zombies, alongside other… secrets, to say. Regardless of which, is less than difficult to manage, as the room itself is a small maze in its own merits. Getting around it quickly will lead to an Assault Rifle Whillwisp (1400 points), and to the door leading out of the room (2250 points). Opening of this penultimate door will dissolve it to dust - and will break into a torchlit, darkened and damp corridor. The tunnel itself inclines down, and holds a single free turn off the beaten path to its right, a hidden room of its own respects - the “Garden of Persephone”. Vines of varying colors, both real and solid stone, coalesce around the room. A single light cascades from the top of the room - a far-off top to a well, showing us to be far below it. The light cascades a statue of a Greek-style woman, holding a vibrant rainbow-colored diamond flower - the petals cascading a stained spectrum across the room. In the entrance corner to the left of all this, a shield piece spawn will lie. Staying on the path laid out for you will lead you towards the “Weapon Cache”. Aligned with an arsenal of both archaic bolts, arrows, bows and the like mixed with a coalescing amount of near modernity, the room is… somewhat of an anomaly. A dangerous one, still - as about four archaic, yet somewhat modern turrets exist to shoot players with arrows and bolts… enough where the impact of it will kill in at least four shots. Shooting them will send them offline for a round at a time. To the right of the room lies a Mystery Box spawn (the Castle’s default spawn)... and to the left of the room, the final door towards “Antikythera” will lay. No matter which side you enter “Antikythera” from, the cost of the door will rest at a sturdy 1750, and will open from both sides. Immediately upon opening the door, a Box spawn is able to be noticed in the middle of the room, alongside a shield piece spawn in the left hand corner of the room - all the least of which being your worries, however, as four Knights rush the players. Dispatching them is advised, as you approach the true Antikythera Mechanism. The Mechanism itself looks renewed and more metallic compared to its… less perfect counterpart - and is connected to a pod close behind, filled of a green, bubbling liquid… and holding a beast. Archaic and old, demonic of all respects - but latched onto with metallurgical torture. Above, it is marked as the “Pazuzu Pod”. Upon approaching the Antikythera Mechanism, you will be prompted to hold the action button to activate it. Doing so will latch the doors leading into the room closed with unholy red fires, and will churn and move the Pazuzu - as it wretches and gutturally screams in its pod. All of which will create and thrust a wave of Knights and zombies into the room. The activation of the machine will take about a minute to work up from this, all of which will lead you to manage the growing horde. On completion of the activation, the screen will go white and kill every zombie in the vicinity - enough to hold their spawn for a moment. The Pazuzu has returned to its inactivity, but has left a large gash in the pod. Stacey will then speak to the Angels, as the screen returns and the zombies fall: “Well… that could have gone better. But, the Mechanism is prepped and working. Which means, we can now access and manipulate the Castle of Hades enough to actually help you in a meaningful way. Not that it’s of worry just yet… we’ve got a bit more to do before that. Your next stop: Europa. We’re phasing in respirators at Ex Machina for you - our design. Just because you’re ‘Angels’ doesn’t exactly mean you don’t need the air. That, and… given our reports of Diavolo Station, we’re sending in some... ‘tech help’, to say. They’ve got quite the nasty AI system over there… be careful, and recover the Devil Orchid.” A new portal will then open to the right of the Pazuzu Pod, leading back into Ex Machina. Both the portal on this end of the Castle and within “Promenade” will stay open for the duration of the game. A receptacle for P.E.S. systems will have spawned in by the time you get back to Ex Machina - and alongside the Castle’s access portal, a new, green portal will spawn... DEVIL ORCHID: "Europa" (Diavolo Station - Proxy Code 30495) Entering in from the green portal in Ex Machina, you will be transported to Europa - directly outside Diavolo Station itself. This spawn is able to give quite a vista, as the right-hand side of the building is almost cascaded by an unnatural buildup of vines. Ironic, considering that’s the only real sign of life that the area gives - there’s as much crashed aircrafts as there are anything else, amid bloodstains and the like to cascade the blue ice around you. To your direct right from the portal, a possible shield piece spawn lays - and, ahead of that, a Mystery Box spawn, close to the first door into Diavolo (750 points). To the left of that, as well, a Pistol Whillwisp is available. Opening the door to enter Diavolo Station will lead you into the “Reception”, and directly coming in from the door… an automated voice will screech, only for a moment. Perhaps, in a pain of its own. Whatever it was, it would seem to have control over the power systems in Diavolo, as lights will flicker on or off, or just be off in general. Directly to the left of the door, a Sniper Whillwisp will be on the wall, and on the opposite side of the room to the right, a Box spawn will lay - the default for Diavolo Station. Once again, we are given two options in regards to pathways - behind the “Reception” desk, or the door to our direct right. For the sake of clarity, though, we will start with the door behind the “Reception” desk. Passing through the “Reception” desk will trigger an automated alarm, as a voice utters a warning - albeit being slightly downtuned, considering the power circumstances: “WARNING: Unauthorized personnel are not permitted beyond this area. Step away, or suffer further consequence.” Of course… we don’t listen to voices telling us not to do things. The door from “Reception” (1000 points) behind the desk leads into the “Laboratory” - but, before you can even begin to react, four automated turrets churn up, alight with blue light, and aim towards the players, as the automated voice returns: “You were asked to step away. My masters programmed me to respond to threats of all kinds - and you read as a larger threat than any ever seen. You deserve no quarter. Prepare to-” Suddenly, the turrets’ colors shift to green, and a new voice - static, but surprisingly human, as if through radio transmission - comes through: *bzzt* “...that’s enough outta you for now! Hello, hello, hello! Glad to finally get the chance to speak with ya - or, at least, help. I’d be the guy they told you about - Adeva, at your service. The Prophets’ control isn’t quite through yet… this fragmental side of the timeline is kind of difficult to patch through, and there’s a thing or two keeping them from talkin’. Namely, you guys standin’ around and listening to me when you could be opening up the place, and getting everything powered up! Get a move on - we need that Devil Orchid, snappy. I’ll do my best to keep the automated threats from rearing their ugly head.” *bzzt* Indeed - we have a new companion among us - but, for the future, we will learn more of him and who he is at a later point in time. For now - the mission and location are what concerns us. The “Laboratory” itself is a long, mostly rectangular room, filled to the brim with desks, test tubes… you name it. Unnatural flora resides around the room, most of which having been isolated to its own area for testing, regrowth projects, and a plethora of other things. Alongside it all, a few shards of elemental rock, vials of unknown liquid… there’s a lot here to see. All the same, however - the farther into the room you get, the more and more objects and desks are broken, and the more smears of chemical and blood appear. Indeed - whatever came through here was not all too pleasant. In the middle of the room, on the left side wall, an SMG Whillwisp will appear - and, moving forward from that, in the dead center of the other side of the room, Sleight Blight appears. To the right of Sleight Blight, another door out of the “Laboratory” is able to be bought (1000 points) - which will lead into the “Living Quarters”. Nothing much is to really be said about this particular room - definitely looks lived in! The beds are a bit disorderly, though - as if people were just ripped right off of them! Other than that, a Box spawn lays in the corner of the room. Now, there is a large set of stairs heading down towards the next room - towards the AI responsible for all of this - able to be purchased for 1250 points. But, for the moment, I would like to once again return to the "Reception". As, the secondary path exists (able to be purchased for 1000 points) - and it leads to the “Study”. Perhaps the most destroyed of all the rooms, it is relatively small - a desk lays in the corner, broken in half, and destroyed bookshelves lay astray across the room; to which, at that aforementioned desk, a possible shield piece spawn exists. To the far right of the room from the shield piece lays Spectral Vision, with a Shotgun Whillwisp beside it. Once more, a large set of stairs leads down and is purchasable for 1250 points - and both lead to the same place… the “J.U.D.A.S.” AI. The room itself is rather large, but rather quaint. A few secondary large modem systems stand around, nearby a door covered with stone and real vines on its right hand side. To its left, a shield piece spawn lays on the side coming from “Study”, as does an Assault Rifle Whillwisp from the side coming from the “Living Quarters”... and in the middle of all this - a large computer screen, akin to that of one we’ve seen in Dunes prior. Coming towards the computer screen will urge you to once again hold the action button to activate it. When doing so, the computer screen - once lit with a dim blue tint - will shine bright and flash on, the stagnating symbol of a sword and shield adorned both with thorns flashes… and a digital face, similar to that of Rushmore from Alpha Omega will appear. The J.U.D.A.S. AI will then speak to the players - almost clandestine, but… unhinged: “All systems operational. What are you? You show as enigmas in my system - unnatural, like the Orchid. But so much more. I must conduct further research. Hold still, specimens - this is going to hurt a lot.” All of a sudden, a flurry of zombies are heard rushing down the steps - only to be gunned down by an unknown force. Suddenly after this, automated robots will rush down the steps towards the players - fortunately, they have a similar health to zombies, if not at least 1.7x more health more, so… taking them out will be of relative ease. The rush of robots will continue for 45 seconds (after which, post-activation, the robots will spawn intermittently with zombies every now and again). After which, another bright white light will shine on the screen, clearing the stone vines from the Station as J.U.D.A.S. screams, and speaks again: “ERROR: Fragmented energy of the Devil Orchid. Interference detected, both metaphysical and physical. Enemy enigmas detected… at Eidolon Base? This does not compute… listen here, you-” Adeva once again will cut off J.U.D.A.S., and speak to you (and Stacey): *bzzt* “Ahhhh, shut the hell up. You’re annoying. Hey, good work on all this - patching through the Prophets is going to be easy! Coming through now.” *bzzt* “Hey, guys. Whatever you were able to do has given us the access to help you - again. J.U.D.A.S is quite the bastardous virus, eh? Well, don’t worry - the J.U.D.A.S. AI is not going to bar us from the Devil Orchid. Tell us, Adeva - what are your energy readings telling you?” *bzzt* “They’re connected somehow. Like the Orchid willed the AI into its state. Crazy high readings, mind you, but… connected all the same. We’re dealing with something big here.” *bzzt* “Something you think you can help handle?” *bzzt* “For you guys? Always. Though… I imagine you probably wanna tell them what comes next before we begin that.” *bzzt* “Way ahead of us today, eh, Adeva? Nice one. He’s right - you have one final place to open up. You won’t need respirators there, but… nice to have, I guess. In any case - you guys ever hear about Atlantis? I imagine you have - it’s an old legend about that Greek-esque city-state that sunk down to the bottom of the sea. Well, let me enlighten you - we… might have created it… and, it was actually named Theon. Crazy, I know - but… you could refer to it as a “beta Citadel” if it makes you feel any better. That’s where you’re headed next.” *bzzt* “Lucky you. They never let me go to Theon.” *bzzt* “Adeva, your proclivities are why we don’t send you places like this.” *bzzt* “...fair point. I’ll keep guard on Diavolo for you guys. Just bring me a souvenir. I hear the totems are lovely this time of year!” *bzzt* After this exchange, another portal back to Ex Machina will spawn in “J.U.D.A.S.” - and, once again, the portals outside of the Station and inside “J.U.D.A.S.” will stay open for the duration of the game. Jumping back into Ex Machina once more will reveal a third, final, blue portal having opened... TRIDENT OF THALASSA: "Atlantis" (Theon): Entering this third and final (blue) portal from Ex Machina will transport you directly to Theon - or rather, Atlantis - and onto a marble staircase. Walking forward from the staircase, you will find yourself at the “Mezzanine” - to which, a large area of the map and surroundings can be seen. The “Mezzanine” itself rests as the bottom of a semi-steep incline of land, and the city travels upwards from that incline as you move forward from it. From this vantage, you will find that there is a stark similarity to the architectural designs found within the Citadel of old - Romanesque architecture… but earlier than that, even. The bulk of the area surrounding is rather lush and lively, almost picturesque - a flowing fountain to the left, supplying an endless stream of water, and a market surrounding a bulk of houses to the right… it’s a surprisingly livable place. Four circular Towers adorn the bulk of the map - two of which connecting to a large, barely visible and circular Temple. Each tower has a colored beam running through it - light blue and yellow to the left, a darker blue and orange to the right - and all suffuse into the dome that lies above, as well as a dim and inactive sphere of energy in the middle of the whole of Theon. A Subsurface Moon, if you will. Moving into the “Mezzanine”, a Box spawn will lie to your direct left, as will a shield piece forward on from it, in front of a closed-off hut. After which, two paths are left to you once more to your left and right - each costing 750 points. I would normally take the opportunity to start with the left side, but… given the proclivity of how this map works for us, I will start with the right hand path - for, it has only one true accessible room for this particular moment. Opening said right door will lead into a path adorned with buildings, enough that stack rather high up compared to the rest of the city. Turning left and heading towards the area ahead leads you to Theon’s “Mecca”... and it is truly a splendorous spot. The area itself is cascaded by life - flora surrounding of its own, a core tree in the middle of everything. Market stands and food baskets still stand surrounding this tree, and buildings are aplenty aligned near towards the respective tower this room shares - the tower, of which, subtitled to be the “Tower of Electricity”. To the direct right coming forward from this room’s entrypoint, a Box spawn sits - the default of Theon. To the direct left, as well, a Sniper Whillwisp lays. Moving alongside the left wall, more buildings adorn this side, leading towards a gated door between them. Unlike the doors you have met up to this point, it is not purchasable - and it will prompt you to “activate the L.I.G.H.T. mechanism”. As will another door ahead from this, between a shield piece to its left, and a Shotgun Whillwisp to its right (close to the Tower). Henceforth, the map will urge you to retrace your steps and head towards the left side of the map. Opening said left door will lead to a curved path adorned with flora - none too much left after reaching what comes ahead - a small “Alley” adorned with a bulk of buildings and refuse from the poor. Kind of like a normal alleyway, really… except for the fact that this one has a Pistol Whillwisp to its direct left. Something that, I would imagine anyone in an “Alley” such as this would probably cherish and fill with pure ire. Moving forward, there is two paths again left to this - one that leads forward, and another that you are unable to open once more, for this moment. Oh well… time to move forward to that other door - purchasable for 1500 points. This door will lead you into the “Still”... and, to which, you will find that the centerpiece of the room is the aforementioned, and ever flowing current of water. Upon this closer inspection, you will find that it has a large fountain receptacle in its bottom, and a drainage for what water leaks out of its reach. Indeed, what this current is doing is creating its own purification spiral - taking seawater from beyond the dome’s barrier, dragging it down and using the energies of this city to clean it. In so, it makes this water drinkable. Directly to its left, another tower lies to your left - subtitled the “Tower of Ice”. Other than that - to the direct right of the entrance of the room lies Western Rejack. Keeping to that side, a Box spawn and an SMG Whillwisp lay across the other side of a room, leading to another inaccessible door. Crazy - what’s all this to? Luckily, in crossing towards that Box and Whillwisp, there was a secondary door leading to the right - this one purchasable for 1250 points. This will lead to the aforementioned “L.I.G.H.T.” mechanism - indeed an acronym just like the “S.I.G.H.T.” machines of old, standing for “Life Injector of Generalized Harmonic Tonality”. Except, unlike that machine, the “L.I.G.H.T.” mechanism has a pool of ethereal blue energy to pull from. Other than that… the design is pretty on-par. ...and, of course, if you haven’t already figured it out by now… activation of this device is what will open everything else to you. Reminiscent of the Citadel in its entirety, the start-up of the device will last 30 seconds, and Knights and Brutes will once again rush you in their attempt to rend your soul from you. To no avail, of course - as they will all perish. Meeting the 30 second deadline, the “L.I.G.H.T.” mechanism will beam its energy into the Subsurface Moon. This will, in turn, beam its own receptacle energies into all four of the respective Towers, and each will now have a door that will slide open within them. Just as well, the doors that were once unopened are now freely opened, leading forward. Stacey will sound: “Excellent work. These areas are now opened up to you - and now, we can finally conduct our work. We must take hold of the Antikythera, Devil Orchid, and Trident of Thalassa. These items, when combined, are essential towards the creation of the device we seek to make. The Entity’s taken to calling it The Unity Engine. Fitting, really. Well? Get to work. We’ve left you all the means to make well on this - even the means to upgrade your weapons. We will be with you, to guide along if need be. Aim for the Lights of Tomorrow. Per aspera ad astra.” ...but, before we carry on, there is a slight bit more to cover as to what this map offers - two more areas to discuss. Almost all the aforementioned paths that were once unopened will feed into the “L.I.G.H.T.” mechanism area, and those others, including what one that leads forward from the mechanism, will lead into the penultimate room before the temple ahead: “Ascension”. The area itself is more just the typical temple promenade - the beginning entrance of it, in a sense. Romanesque in all standings, of course… and adorned aplenty in plentiful supply. Entering from the “Still”, there is a shield piece spawn to your direct left, and an Assault Rifle Whillwisp to your right. Entering from the “Mecca”, there is a Box spawn to your left, and Two-Faced Charade will lay to your right. Well, naught left but to head into the next area… the “Temple of Thalassa”. Indeed, the room itself is rather large in scope - a vast, circular corridor, adorned with eight different statues across its circumference, of which four are our respective Angels… and the other four are of our Prophets. In the middle of the room lies a larger statue of the old primeval Greek spirit of the sea, Thalassa, and under her grace lies a throne. Ahead of the throne itself, the Trident of Thalassa lays planted in a circular mechanism of gears and cogs - and above it, a star chart lays, as the Trident points itself towards a reach of stars otherwise unknown and unnoticed. A slight small beam points out from it, to a single star, to which blood covers the area around it - with one word able to be understood: “Convalescent”. To the direct right of the statue of Thalassa lies a build table for the Shield of the Apostasy, and behind the statue on the far side of the room lies the Cauldron of Mystique. Just as well, two other doors lead aside from the Cauldron of Mystique - both to towers. The “Tower of Wind” to the left, and the “Tower of Fire” to the right. Other than that… it is as Stacey said. All of these paths are now left for you to tread - all are to be conquered. For it is, as it will be. A singular path awaits. Characters: Perhaps one of the larger mechanical changes in Prospect would be how the Characters quite “work”, to say. Firstly so, falling into “ability talk”, the jumps for the Angels have been changed to better fit them - they can now jump to higher places, and glide farther by comparison to Citadel’s iteration of the “Angelic Wings”. Other than that, however… assuming that you may use a controller, the “D-Pad” now isn’t for things like claymores or GobbleGum-esque nonsense, but for something I would like to call “Angelic Powers”. Due to the events of Citadel and Intuition, the power of the Angels has grown, and branched. With their training, they gained powers nigh higher than any ever seen before… both intrinsic to their cores, and physical by their like. Shared, they may be, but united… that, they are. Now, with the designs of the Angels in particular, their D-Pad power alignments are the same across each of them, and are as follows: Left D-Pad - “Weaved Cosmos”: This power creates a three-second timeframe where your health regenerates quickly. [Ability Regeneration Time: 5 minutes] Right D-Pad - “Vice Virtues”: This power creates a 10 second timeframe that boosts what damage you can dole out by 5x - but this comes at the cost of health, which degenerates over time. Overuse of this ability within the allotted timeframe can, in fact, kill you, and it is advised you use this ability with caution. [Ability Regeneration Time: 10 minutes] Up D-Pad - “Gracious Lights”: This power grants the user with five seconds of invulnerability. Sounds pretty good, right? [Ability Regeneration Time: 10 minutes] Down D-Pad - “Wing Blast”: This power uses the Angel Wings to blast zombies with a gust of wind, which is able to knock down said zombies. It can reach to the ends of a crowd. Pretty good for a situation where there is no real way out of a corner. [Ability Regeneration Time: 5 minutes] The Angels themselves also have “Intrinsic” abilities, and added ultimate moves to their Left Hand of God… but, I think, in talking about that, we would do best to dive into their character blurb. As… their mindset has changed since Citadel… and their experiences in Intuition have indeed rocked them, and their worldview, to their deepest core. Let’s have a look. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adam Maxwell, the Angel of Willpower: "Things have certainly changed since we first landed back at Eidolon. Needless to say, certainly. I'd always thought that I'd never have that 'manifest destiny' that people seem to cherish so bad, but... I can't help but to look at these latest events and think that to be wrong. I became something far bigger than myself in all of this, and... found something to love in all of it. I think that's all I really needed. The powers and skills are all nice too, though. This thing we're going to do... well, I hope it goes well for all of us. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I think all of us are. But... we can do it. I hope we can." ======================================= Intrinsic - “Fortitude’s Sun”: Akin to that of the “abilities” of old, Intrinsics work rather similarly by effect. Adam’s Intrinsic works like a pseudo-boost to Icarus Contact (it does stack), giving him a slight boost of speed. Alongside this, Adam gains a passive 1.2x damage boost to every weapon he uses. Ultra Move (L.H.O.G.) - “Archangel Descent”: This particular ultra move acts similarly to how Gravity Spikes would - in that, Adam will slam the Left Hand of God down to the ground. This causes a shockwave that will kill all close zombies, and damage and/or stun zombies within a 20 ft. radius. Jeanne Clarke, the Angel of Justice: "I guess I know when my life became all fucked up, don't I? Strange doesn't really begin to describe what's been going on as of late. But I do realize, in hindsight, it really couldn't have been any better. It was all good, this. The life I didn't want has become the life I made for myself, in a heartbeat. By the next, I'd become far more confident in those choices. Those choices... gave me Adam. I... couldn't be any more content. Truly. This thing, what we're about to do... I think it's best we do it and fix everything up right. Maybe then, we can all rest for a bit. Let the universe do its own thing. Settle down. That sort of thing. I need that." ========================================= Intrinsic - “Amazing Grace”: Jeanne’s Intrinsic gives her the ability to revive downed players faster (about half the speed of usual revives - it stacks with Healing Elixir). Characters revived by Jeanne will also gain a “shielded hit” which gives them one hit of invulnerability before they begin to take actual damage again. Ultra Move (L.H.O.G.) - “World Canvas”: Comparable to Destiny 2’s “Dawnblade” class, upon activation of World Canvas, the Left Hand of God gets shrouded in fire. In this form, you can use it either offensively or defensively - the offensive form will create a slash of fire in the direction the sword is swung (like a stroke of paint on a fresh canvas), and the defensive form will plant the sword into the ground, giving it the ability to revive and regenerate the health of players caught in its light, whilst also giving a 1.5x boost to weapon damage passively. Alex Kalajian, the Angel of Life: "I can safely say, nobody expected anything. Not even me. Who'd have thought, right? This universe is so much bigger than we could have ever dreamed of. There's forces larger than us, perhaps more powerful... though, if what they tell us is right, we'll probably have a chance. I feel... free. So free. Maybe this thing we'll do will help us reach a freedom unlike any other, too. I do think there's those among us that could use it." ========================================= Intrinsic - “Escape Artist”: Comparable to Glitch and Blaze Phase, this ability is able to be passively activated by crouching as Alex, and charges itself over the course of two seconds. Upon standing back up, Alex will be shot back to the area he was standing at four seconds earlier. The path leading from the spot he crouched to the now current spot will be visible, and will damage zombies. Ultra Move (L.H.O.G.) - “Genesis Beam”: Upon activation of this Ultra Move, Alex will be given three seconds of charging of the sword, before it unleashes a high-energy laser blast onto whatever is in front of him. This beam can kill zombies up to 100 ft. away. Vladimir Gusarov, the Angel of Wisdom: "I've heard it said that a soul and mind are more powerful than anything the physical world could throw at you... and I think these recent events have proven that ideal quite right. It's almost funny. Being bound to a doubt-filled world, but a whole world inward to show that the doubt is just an illusion. I wish I'd seen it sooner, I do. We stand on the brink of a new understanding, all of us. All we need to do is... complete our mission. The whole universe is against us, but... I would think it well that we may find our way." ========================================= Intrinsic - “Sight of a Million Souls”: Vladimir’s Intrinsic kind of works like a mixture of Spectral Vision and Hellfire Lens - in that, it buffs both perks immensely. With this Intrinsic, Spectral Vision gives off longer mists, more ammo drops, and more point bags. Secondarily, Hellfire Lens lets you see an enemy from 50 ft. away under these effects. Ultra Move (L.H.O.G.) - “Soulstrike”: Upon the activation of this Ultra Move, Vladimir will rise the sword to his eyes, and a sort of “ethereal lens” will be created through the sword, showing all zombies highlighted in red. Any zombie highlighted in red will be vaporized after three seconds. The red will fade if they run out of Vladimir’s eyesight. This Ultra Move lasts for the entirety of the activation of the L.H.O.G., if selected. Weapons Snipers/Single-Shot Rifles: M14 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Mnesia] Locus (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Scorpio] USR [Upgraded: Underling of the Soul Redeemer] P-06 [Upgraded: Perversions of Persephone] Paladin HB50 [Upgraded: Divine Crusader] Harquebus [Upgraded: Skeleton Key] (Note: “Elemental” - dark matter shots. Aesthetic will change to fit more towards the actual ‘Skeleton Key’, as well. Works similarly to the Magmagat, mechanically, based on rounds. Gets charged shots that release a dark matter “padlock”, both freezing farther-off zombies in place, and disintegrating the closest of the pack.) Shotguns: KS-23 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Kinetic Syzygy] KRM-262 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: The Dragon’s Glare] Browning C-725 [Upgraded: Bergelmir’s Call] (Note: Based on the 725 from Modern Warfare (2019). Secondarily, bullets on the upgraded form of this gun shoot cold-energy. That is to say, over time, bullets will slow and possibly freeze zombies.) Pancor Jackhammer [Upgraded: Mjolnir] Model 1887 [Upgraded: The Nightmare Voyager] Blunderbuss [Upgraded: Jörmungandr’s Spite] (NOTE: It now shoots venom pellets!) MTs-255 [Upgraded: Mistakes of a Timeless Spire] Assault/Tactical Rifles: AK-74u (wallbuy) [Upgraded: AK-74fu2] AK12 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Athena’s Kiss] KN-44 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: The Kindred Never] Swat RFT (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Retrogressive Frequency Tormentor] Galil [Upgraded: Lamentation] HBRa3 [Upgraded: Heart of the Broken Ranger] Man-O-War [Upgraded: The Lord of Steel] ICR-1 [Upgraded: The Iconoclastic Ruler] OSA [Upgraded: Overtly Skewed Apotheosis] S6 Stingray [Upgraded: Siren’s Symphony] Blind Perdition (based on the Pulse Rifle from Destiny) [Upgraded: Visions of Apophis] Khvostov 7G-0X (based on the exotic Auto Rifle from Destiny) [Upgraded: Victor of the Light] Pistols: Starr (Jeanne spawns with this) [Upgraded: Supernovva] .357 Magnum (Alex spawns with this) [Upgraded: The Magnum Opus] M1911 (Vladimir spawns with this) [Upgraded: Mustang and Sally] Atlas 45 (Adam spawns with this) [Upgraded: World’s Fall] RK5 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: The Dealer’s Absolute] Five-Seven (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Ultra] AF11 (aka AF2011-A1) [Upgraded: The Thrasher’s Abattoir] RW1 [Upgraded: The Rectum Wrecker] Hawkmoon (based on the Destiny gun of the same name) [Upgraded: Raven of Fundament] Centurion (based on the revolver from Singularity) [Upgraded: Sigurd’s Testament] Fleur de Lis (based on the Flintlock pistol) [Upgraded: Fleur de la Reine] Submachine Guns: Uzi (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Uncle Gal] PDW-57 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: Predictive Death Wish-5700] MP40 (wallbuy) [Upgraded: The Afterburner] Skorpion EVO [Upgraded: Judgment of Rameses] SN6 [Upgraded: Subsequenced Neurogenesis] ASM1 [Upgraded: The Ancient Sin of Malice] Razorback [Upgraded: Heavy Metal Hellfire] PPSH-41 [Upgraded: The Grim Reaper] P90 [Upgraded: P115 Pulverizer] Grease Gun [Upgraded: The Black Hand] Peacekeeper [Upgraded: Diplomatic Immunity] Light Machine Guns/Heavy Weaponry: Mauler [Upgraded: Ebony Maw] RPD [Upgraded: Relativistic Punishment Device] Chainsaw [Upgraded: The Shredder] Hades [Upgraded: Epitaph of Chthonius] QBB LSW [Upgraded: The Theory of Everything] Launchers/Other: [NOTE: Upon upgrade of any launcher, they no longer deal explosive damage to the player.] Panzerschreck [Upgraded: Longinus] Fliegerfaust [Upgraded: A Devil's Reign, Eternal] Titus-6 [Upgraded: The Merging of Titans] Ballistic Knives [Upgraded: The Krauss Refibrillator] Annihilator [Upgraded: Creatio Ex Nihilo] ("Creatio" is normal shots, "Nihilo" turns the bodies of zombies into what's practically "explosive projectiles". They explode after a short period of time.) Specialist Weapon(s): Left Hand of God (Available to use after Round 8, or after all three powers within each section of the map have been activated.) Wonder Weapons: Ray Gun [Upgraded: Porter’s X2 Ray Gun] Ray Gun Mark II [Upgraded: Porter’s Mark II Ray Gun] The Railgun [Upgraded: The Divider] Hand of the Atlanteans [Upgraded: The Warcry of Tūmatauenga]: To make long explanations short - this is an energy-fueled harpoon gun that everyone has access to at any point in the game from the box. The “harpoons” are made of pure blue energy, and are capable of eviscerating entire crowds. The lore of Theon would quantify that this was a creation based from the gods themselves… but it is of questionable truth, considering that this is a weapon that can be given from just about every area that the map has to offer. Ironically, just as well… this weapon has a history of being a part of the affairs of each place. A book in the Castle opened to a schematic of the weapon… a prototype recreation on the table of Diaviolo… and the real thing, from Theon. Of course, it would be led to believe that, by this logic, Theon is the true origin of this weapon. But, that all said… just how it managed to unearth itself and fall into the hands of each realm is truly a question that is hard to justifiably answer. Upgrading this weapon changes the harpoon aesthetic to orange energy, and gives the gun a large energy boost. Charging shots on this weapon causes the harpoon to split into three, and unleashing said shot will unleash three cavalry war horses forward towards whatever it is shot at. This, however, will eat up a quarter of the ammo the gun holds. Tacticals: Lifeblood Resonation Device (L.R.D., or Lord): Akin to that of Exo Zombies’ own Repulsor, but better. The waves that come out from it are a darker red tint, and lasts up to Round 15 with easy one-hits. Buildables: [NOTE: Because Angelic Powers override the D-Pad functionality, the Shield itself now takes up the slot for the Right Bumper on controllers (RB, and so on), so as to not conflict with anything. Which… yes, that does mean that Frag Grenades will be replaced. Sad, I know.] Shield of the Apostasy: Essentially a slightly enhanced version of the Zombies Shield from Black Ops II. This shield can take more hits, and can be charged up for a more powerful hit. When planting the shield, you can also charge that, to give off a strong pulse to the ground that stuns any nearby zombies, and may also cause any in close proximity to become crawlers or die. Achievements: Greek Mystique (10G): In Prospect, solve the riddles of ancient philosophy, sanctify the Pazuzu, and acquire Antikythera. Skyshock Code Validated (20G): In Prospect, spark the destruction of belief, purge the J.U.D.A.S. AI, and recover the Devil Orchid. Primordial Depths (30G): In Prospect, absolve the Essence of Andronimus of its original sin, and take hold of the Trident of Thalassa. The Fates Aligned (50G): In Prospect, assemble The Unity Engine. The Fates Collide (50G): In Prospect, the dawn will find you. You’re So Thoughtful (5G): In Prospect, find Adeva a souvenir. [NOTE: There should be something in “Mecca”…] Depth Chargers (15G): In Prospect, unleash the cavalry of The Warcry of Tūmatauenga and kill 20 zombies at once with it. Honestly Overpowered (15G): In Prospect, wield the Hand of the Atlanteans, Railgun and Ray Gun Mark II at the same time. You Really Ought To Try Something Else… (25G): In Prospect, wield the AF11, KS-23 and Fliegerfaust until Round 25. Once again, the Masochist reigns. Perks: Healing Elixir [Quick Revive; 500/1500 points -- Ex Machina, next to the Machina Fini Mundi] Spectral Vision [Vulture Aid; 3500 points -- Located in Diavolo Station: Study, in the corner nearby the stairs to J.U.D.A.S..) Sleight Blight [Speed Cola; 3000 points -- Located in Diavolo Station: Laboratory, at the back end of the room.) Ephemeral Genesis (Juggernog; 2500 points -- Located in the Castle of Hades: Library, next to a fallen bookshelf besides the door to the Cubicle.) Icarus Contact (Stamin-Up; 2000 points -- Located in the Castle of Hades: Access Lane, just before sliding into Antikythera.) Two-Faced Charade (Double Tap II; 2000 points -- Located in Theon: Ascension, next to the door leading into the Temple of Thalassa.) Western Rejack (Mule Kick; 3500 points -- Located in Theon: Still, at the bottom right area of the room.) Cauldron of Mystique (1250 points -- Located in Theon: Temple of Thalassa (Perk Selection: Two-Faced Charade, Western Rejack, Hand of Lazarus (aka Tombstone), Spectral Vision, Chronos Descent (aka Timeslip), World Shell (aka Victorious Tortoise), Taste of the Grail (aka Secret Sauce), Hellfire Lens (aka Death Perception), Stygian Bellow (aka Electric Cherry).) Easter Egg Songs: In Prospect, each section of the map has its own song to be had - each mostly incorporated in an effort to connect with its location in some capacity or form. For the matter of transparency, it’s… probably worth mentioning how hard it was to connect these songs. Regardless, these are the songs, and how to activate them. Song #1: Gojira - “Pray” HOW TO ACTIVATE: You’ll need to shoot three golden quills scattered around the Castle of Hades. Their locations are as follows: 1. Promenade - Next to the entrance to the Castle of Hades, behind a bush on the right hand side of the door. 2. Garden of Persephone - Besides the statue, in a bush. 3. Antikythera - Next to the Pazuzu Pod. Song #2: Wang Chung - “Space Junk” HOW TO ACTIVATE: There are three distinct radios scattered around the base. Upon each one, Adeva will attest and praise the curiosity of the Angels. The locations of the radios are as follows: 1. Reception - Behind the counter. Adeva will say: “Well, look who’s a curious little cat! Hey, if you can find the other two radios I placed around here, I’ll let you guys preview a song from my latest mix. Sound good? Have at it!” 2. Laboratory - On the floor, alongside a collection of broken beakers and dead leaves. Adeva: “Damn, the Prophets really weren’t kidding when they said you guys were tenacious. One more to go!” 3. J.U.D.A.S. - Nearby the modems. Adeva: “Man, you guys are impressive. Here’s this song for you guys, off my latest mix - and… hey - when this is all over, drop by Winged Graces, yeah?” Song #3: The Ocean - “Mesopelagic: Into The Uncanny” HOW TO ACTIVATE: You will need to find three small Moai statues around Theon. The locations are as follows: 1. Mezzanine - Nearby the exit door leading towards Still. 2. Still - In the fountain. 3. Mecca - Behind a merchant’s booth. MAIN EASTER EGG: "The Fates Abroad" Step 1: “Greek Fire” “It would appear that, to truly churn the Antikythera to life, we will need to energize it - and, justifiably, the beast contained. For… as it would seem, its heart is connected to the inner cogs of the mechanism. Yep… we need its lifeblood just as much as anything else. What are we going to energize it with, though? Collective wisdom makes sense, I’d say. Vladimir, you’re a gifted man - if you see something out of the blue and less ordinary… do something about it.” =============================== Across the map, there are a flurry of torches on the wall, only visible to Vladimir through the use of “Soulstrike” and colored a fluorescent blue - the collection of which, rest within the “Living Quarters”, “Access Lane”, and “Throne Room”. In activation and lighting of these torches through the rooms via said usage of “Soulstrike”, they not only conjure them into being for everyone else to see, but they also spawn larger cauldrons next to the Pazuzu Pod. It is with this that one will need to grab the Shield of the Apostasy and touch the first torch. Doing so will alight the Shield in flames that will slowly damage the shield over time. Reaching another torch will repair the shield a slight bit. Upon reaching “Antikythera”, use a lunge attack forward on each of the three cauldrons, and the Pazuzu Pod will bubble and smoke, causing said Pazuzu to screech again, and awaken… as it begins to bang on the pod continuously… and a crack forms ever so slightly larger. Step 2: “Programmed By Virtue” “...yes, yes, that worked! The Antikythera is receiving the energy from the fire like nothing. Now we need to find a way to hold that energy recursively… just the kind of thing that the Antikythera Mechanism was made for. I would imagine they routed the core programming through that archaic computer out front, if not through other areas as well. Worth taking a good look, I’d imagine. Do try to be careful, though - you’ve now angered something far more wretched than these hordes, it would seem.” =============================== At this point, the large computer screen in “Processing” will shimmer into activity - changing what was a prior layout of what was contained in the Castle to a static mess. However, within that static mess, a word is able to be made out from it - “life”. Secondarily to this, four dials now exist on the walls of “Promenade” (nearby the right-side bush), “Library” (to the wall next to the Sniper Whillwisp), “Greenhouse” (to the left most corner of the room), and the “Garden of Persephone”. Each dial is set with numbers, going from 1 to 26. Thus, the step to be had from this is to set the order correctly from the dials to represent the word on the screen. For “life”, set the “Library” dial to 12, the “Garden of Persephone” dial to 9, the “Promenade” dial to 6, and the “Greenhouse” dial to 5. After which, a cauldron of fire nearby the Pazuzu Pod will shine into rainbow colors, and link itself with its fire into the Antikythera Mechanism - heating it up, making its color change into a dimmed red hue. After the dials change, a fifth dial is added into “Antikythera” (opposite wall of the mechanism), and the word on the “Processing” screen changes to “death”. For this word, the same room order will apply, but the numbers will change - “Library” to 4, “Garden of Persephone” to 5, “Promenade” to 1, “Greenhouse” to 20, and now, “Antikythera” to 8. The second cauldron then will link into the Antikythera Mechanism once more - and, over the middle, it will remold the patterns above it, creating a receptacle… whilst heating the machine even more. ...and, finally, a sixth dial appears in “Processing” (next to the screen), and one final word appears on the screen: “Change”. Ironically, the order changes this time for the dials - “Processing” to 3, “Garden of Persephone” to 8, “Greenhouse” to 1, “Promenade” to 14, “Library” to 7, and “Antikythera” to 5. The third and final cauldron will link itself into the Mechanism one last time, bringing it to a bright orange color… before the flame itself coalesces and burns into a circular, energetic ring into the framing of the Antikythera Mechanism. With all this attunement done, the Antikythera Mechanism will now shine golden… and will urge you to activate it. Holding the action button is advised… ...but before the machine can activate, the Pazuzu breaks the pod… and the lights of the Castle flash and fade. Step 3: “Aggressor Mechanica” “Welp - luck’s gone there… you guys have the Pazuzu on your hands now. The Antikythera Mechanism shows no damage, no disconnect… what you’ve done up to this point has been perfect for insulation of the energies. But that Pazuzu… we need to complete the mechanism if we want ANYTHING to work for us. You need to destroy its body. Kill the shell, and the true form should reveal itself. =============================== The Pazuzu, in this current form, is a beast made of flesh and metal - forged out of the heart of the Castle’s hatred. It bears angelic metal wings, alongside metal covering and torturous machinations alongside it. The size of the Pazuzu is not too dissimilar from a Zombie… if not taller, and ever so slightly faster. Its main form of attack comes from its sheer speed, being able to push forward with its wings for a quicker boost, or just running towards players and clawing them. Secondarily, it has a ranged attack where it spits fireballs from its mouth. With these attacks, it takes at least three hits of each or any of these in succession to down a player. Just as well, it has an ultimate move that comes from a three second charge of a sight attack that will immediately down a player, if caught in its vicinity. The only means of blocking this attack is through the use of the Shield of the Apostasy - being able to stun it right back for five more seconds. It is with all of these elements that you will find taking down the Pazuzu to be slightly difficult. It can block just about anything bullet-oriented with its wings, so launchers and energy-based weapons are much more advisable in regards to taking it down. Secondarily, there is a solid strategy within the stunning of the Pazuzu, as it cannot block regular bullet fire while stunned. After a sizable amount of damage is dealt to the Pazuzu, it will fall over, dead… but not gone, as the life energy of the Pazuzu - red and ethereal - will immediately fly up from its corpse and once more begin pursuing players. If it reaches a player at all, it will immediately take control of a player and start trying to kill other players. The player it takes control of can break free of said grasp over time and effort through mashing the said action button, however. It is this bloodlust and anger, however, that will lead to the Pazuzu’s downfall - as, you will have to use this to your advantage and lead it towards “Antikythera”. Upon reaching close towards the mechanism, it will almost open up like a portal, with a blue tornado of wind spinning around, as it takes a hold of the Pazuzu and sucks it into its depths. After which, the Mechanism will begin to glow - red, for a moment, then green, before returning to an ever present orange. Stacey will sound upon this having been done: “Fantastic work on the Pazuzu. His life force will be enough to change and shift the Antikythera into something more. Phase it back into Ex Machina, and we’ll do the rest of the work setting up for the next piece - the Devil Orchid. Adeva will brief you as to what you need to do for this. Hopefully, well. Good luck over there.” After this exchange, you can once again hold the action button on the now-reforged Antikythera Mechanism, and it will phase out of the room. After which, all you will have to do from here is leave the Isle and return to Ex Machina - to which, the Isle’s portal will now have disappeared from. From here… just head back to Diavolo Station. Step 4: “Order of the Devil Orchid” *bzzt* “Yo, guys… so, listen to this: There’s a history to the Orchid that you might not know. An Order, to say. Not that unlike what you found and learned back in Eidolon… in fact, that was what it was! They used some ancient technique… vimanas, mercury vortex, I dunno, whatever the fuck. It got them here. They knew how to channel the energies of the Devil Orchid. Energies, of which, are much more fluid than you think. Y’all ready for some botany?” *bzzt* =============================== At the current, the room to the Devil Orchid is blocked off to you still. Bulbous flora patches cover the whole of the building, spots to which are able to be popped open… but not with bullets, but with Jeanne’s “World Canvas”. There are about 12 patches to be hit on the wall and grounds around the area - five of which can be found between the rooms, one for each, and the rest dotting the area leading from outside the building up to the roof. After all of these patches are taken out, hitting the entryway to the room the Devil Orchid is held within is necessary to completely unleash and open it up to you. The room itself is adorned with archaic ritualistic carvings amid thorns and vines surrounding the nexus point: The Devil Orchid, shining red and vibrant, pulsing like a heartbeat. It’s not exactly a focus to be had, however - as a rush of Brutes will come from the room. Each will drop a USB Drive, meanwhile one will drop a VR headset… weird to have, right? Perhaps these dead men will reap usefulness after all... Step 5: “A Virus of Thorns” *bzzt* “Crazy. Those scientists were doomed the moment they got locked in there. Lucky as shit, though… they ran J.U.D.A.S. - which, believe it or not, is like no other operating system out there. Fuckin’ thing’s got a whole world just waiting to be explored within it. Or at least, they were designing such a thing. It’s this kind of concept that’d break the idea of AI singularity wide open - give it a world, it takes it and reaches beyond. After all that nasty stuff with the Devil Orchid and its energy manipulation, though… shame, really. That would have been something. Venture in. Use the keys. Clear the code, and you should begin a system purge. Dear god, am I glad I’m good with computers. You should be, too.” *bzzt* =============================== The idea here is relatively simple, to start: Place all the necessary USBs onto J.U.D.A.S. and plug in the VR Headset - doing so will show them all glowing, and the VR Headset will then rest on the base of J.U.D.A.S.. Nearing it will give a prompt: “Hold down [action button] to venture into the Digitalscape.” Only one player can access the Digitalscape - to which, it does not matter who. While said player is in the Digitalscape, J.U.D.A.S will sound: “ERROR: Enigma has entered the Digitalscape. What are you trying to do? Start a system purge? I will end you before you can accomplish such a task. Putting base on high alert. You will burn.” This message will then end, as J.U.D.A.S. sends a horde of robots - along with zombies - down the steps towards the room. It is the players outside the Digitalscape that are responsible for keeping the player inside protected - just the same as it is for themselves. For the player inside the Digitalscape: You will find that your body is given a polygonic design, and will receive a wireframe Hand of the Atlanteans with infinite ammo to hold upon entry. You will spawn onto a rectangular, moving platform, as it pursues a path where blackened data blocks will appear. It is with this that you are held the responsibility of shooting them all with the digital Hand of the Atlanteans. The path that the platform follows will persist for another three minutes, before reaching a final, large data block - one of which, before being able to destroy, will have to be hit with an Ultra Move. After which, the player will then be immediately be taken outside of the Digitalscape, watching as it slowly collapses. Step 6: “A Crimson Betrayal” “E-e-error: Core p-proc-cessor overlo-load. S-s-system pur-urge be-beginning. Wha-what have yo-you done?!” *bzzt* “Bet it feels like shit to be taken down a step. No hard feelings, J.U.D.A.S., but we need the Devil Orchid. You’re stopping us - henceforth, we kind of have to stop you. Hostile takeover, much?” “F-f-feeble. I. WILL. PURGE. ALL.” “I’m sure you will. Anywho… starting the download. Angels - he’s gonna give ya hell. Give it right back!” =============================== Perhaps the most simple step I may ever write… All you have to do from this point on is stay alive for about five minutes, as the download progresses. Over each minute that passes, J.U.D.A.S. will become more and more erratic, and the systems around the base alongside them will glitch out. As the download completes, J.U.D.A.S. will scream: “N-no! Let me live! LET ME BE FREEEEEEE-” ...and then, the screen will turn black. As will everything else. The room now cascaded only by the flashlights given on the respirator systems. The vines of the Devil Orchid will recede - perhaps, because there is now no threat to its sanctity. Perhaps, it could only sense the danger of J.U.D.A.S., and did all of this for its protection. Regardless of the philosophy, Stacey will sound once more: “Ahh… systems purged. Awesome work, guys! The Devil Orchid is ours to use - the pieces for The Unity Engine are fitting together perfectly so far… all we have left is the Trident of Thalassa. We’re very close now. Keep going. ...oh, and… as for you, Adeva - you’re off now. We’ll call on you when we need you next.” *bzzt* “Aww, but I really wanted to help out over in Theon!” *bzzt* “...yeah, and you know what happened the last time you meddled in the affairs of an ancient city.” *bzzt* “...touche… just, promise me you guys will visit the club sometime, then.” *bzzt* “Maybe soon, Adeva. After this is all over…” After which, once again… you will be prompted to leave Europa. The portal to which, after reaching back to Ex Machina, will close once more on you. Leaving you naught but the sunken city... Step 7: “The Ebb of Time, The Flow of Space” “Okay, so… a bit of a confession: We had some level of a hand in the creation of Theon. Now, it wasn’t all like the Citadel - I’d like to be absolutely clear on that. No, it was more… Citadel beta. It got out of hand because of the fact that they, just like the Citadel, found and abused forces they didn’t understand. Quite a marvel what they made, though. What they conjured up. Those Elemental Towers… marvelous. We gave them the Totems of Ebb and Flow, and that’s what they did with them. Now we’re going to use those Totems to align to the true force we need to conjure to unleash the Trident: The Convalescent Star. ...which, you all should know. You made it. Well, get to work. We’re on the cusp of something marvelous.” =============================== This step requires mostly time and patience from the player. As, there is a lot of set-up. First and foremost, each of the players will have to traverse their way into the each and every Elemental Tower. Each has a staircase moving upwards, surrounding a glass wall that shows a beam of energy respective to each Tower alighting that said wall. Reaching the top, they will find a relatively larger sized Moai statue adorned with jewelry, brimming with the energy as it curves around the roof and pushes ever more upwards. Below the statues, there are circular, movable pieces of stone adorned with the symbols of each Element the towers represent. Activating and aligning these symbols properly will have to take a larger consideration as to their surroundings - the top represents what one is above it, the middle represents what it is, and the bottom represents what is to its side. So, for example: If we were in the “Tower of Electricity”, the symbols would have to rest, from top to bottom, as Fire, Electricity, and Ice. Aligning these symbols properly for all towers will raise their roofs upward, enough that you will be able to see each Totem from respectively from each tower. The platforms will lower slightly, before a pool of energy appears and rests. At this point, everyone is required to shoot in the respective direction of their Totems - that is to say, the player in the “Tower of Ice” should shoot through the pool of energy towards the totem in the “Tower of Fire”, as should the players between the “Tower of Electricity” and “Tower of Wind”. As each hits, they will align the whole of their energy between the Towers, and uplinking all of them will cause said energy to travel into the peak of the L.I.G.H.T. mechanism, then towards the “Temple of Thalassa” - onto the tip of the Trident. The energy from that will point up again, towards the Convalescent Star as it did before. You will then be given the prompt, upon reaching towards the L.I.G.H.T. mechanism or the starchart, to channel the Convalescent Star. A mini-cutscene will then begin, as Stacey sounds: “Excellent… the Convalescent Star, combined with the Subsurface Moon, should create more than enough energy for us to suffuse into the Trident. Let’s see about activating conversion…” … “...wait. Something’s wrong. The energy of the Convalescent Star… it’s refusing. Not something like actively being incompatible, but… it is actively just not letting us. That makes no sense... it’s just energy. How can it have any kind of will? Unless… ...oh, shit. Guys, you’ve got trouble heading your way! Get down!” Suddenly, the map begins to shake, as, overhead, a large orange energy whale flies through Theon’s dome, and into the map. As it begins circling the area around the Subsurface Moon, it speaks down to the players in anger. “THY POWER IS FALSE - Ye, who left us chained!” “...is that… Andronimus? It feels like… a million souls in one. Like a thousand suns of energy... How is that possible?” “We can hear thy Prophetic allegory… thy false scripture. T’was Anima Ex Machina… collective soul. Thine power, mantled from OURS. OUR WILL. OUR LIGHT. Thee, who wished to assuage us, tear us away… conceal and chain our existence. Thy will is wrong. Thine birthright is false… Apostates be damned to the deepest pits. We will take back thy power… launch thee to Perdition.” “Andronimus - please, listen! What we did, we didn’t mean for you to be led astray, to fade. We were going to help you! Don’t you understand that? There was nothing to stop the destruction of the Citadel… it was a rigged realm of false life after the fall.” “Thy Will should not be allowed to determine the merit of existence, O Prophetics. Thy Will should not be allowed to determine the meaning of life!” “What did you want us to do? Interfere? There are constraints in this universe that prevent us from that… you should know that. After all… you’re only here now because your visions and fear led you to doing just that.” “Thy Will would let your pet do just what thine wouldn’t. No matter. What Thy Conscience knows… is only virtuous vengeance. We burn. We wish to take Thy Lights away. Thy Apostates’ Universe, constructed by Prophetic rays, is not righteous - it will endure alone - we will make it so. For it is RIGHT. It is what is necessary.” “...you say that like it was always what you wanted. You saw… everything, didn’t you? You knew that the Citadel would fall - so you created the zeitgeist you wanted, and you created this abomination just so you could challenge the light when it failed you. Before you take this path, answer this - what else did you see? You must know your fate… after all, most everything you’ve predicted so far has been set in stone. Right? So… what do you know, Andronimus? What do you know of your fall?” “SILENCE, HEATHEN LIARS! Thy Fate is MINE. Thine Will createth us, now thine will desolate it. BURN IN THE DARKNESS!” At that moment, the Essence of Andronimus thrusts itself towards the Subsurface Moon, consuming it in one fell swoop. Step 8: “Death of the Euclidean Overcasts” The players will be cast into relative darkness, following the previous cutscene that transpired. The only light shining left in Theon is left both to the Essence of Andronimus, and the Elemental Towers, alight in… strangely shifted colors - colors that the Essence of Andronimus shares. They now violently flash between every imaginable color. As if, directed without a purpose. But the Essence of Andronimus has one - to cull your light. The Essence of Andronimus has only one true mode of attack to boot, in the form of small energy blasts from its eye. After about three rotations around the Towers, it will charge a massive beam attack from its mouth - where the Subsurface Moon will still lay within as a nexus of energy for this beam to build. If this beam hits, it is an instakill. They will fly between the area surrounding the Towers, to which are now your only solace - as the map itself is now falling apart, flooding from the loss of the Subsurface Moon. However, all is not lost - as the energies left from the Towers are holding - long enough to put a plan into action. It is with this knowledge in mind that you will be prompted to head into the “Tower of Ice” - towards its peak. Upon reaching it, the tops of each Tower will blast off, leaving nothing but the Ebb and Flow totems visible and effervescent. The players will then have to dip the Hand of the Atlanteans (of which, everyone is required to have at this point) into the Ice Tower’s Ebb Totem, and wait for the Essence of Andronimus to begin to charge its beam attack. It is at this moment that you should unleash a charged attack from each Hand of the Atlanteans - all of which will thrust into the Subsurface Moon and unstabilize it, making the Essence of Andronimus recoil with a closed mouth - energy blasting out from its teeth. After which, a Max Ammo will spawn, and a platform will spawn to launch over to the Tower of Electricity. This is a repeated step, and happens the next three times between the Towers of Electricity, Wind, and Fire. Upon the final successful hit of your collective Hands, the last platform will launch you into the core of the Temple of Thalassa - with enough force to completely shatter the starchart. The Essence of Andronimus, in its desperate state, will then rush towards the players as a last resort - in an attempt to destroy them with a final beam attack. It is with this that you are inclined to shoot the Hand of the Atlanteans at the Essence of Andronimus with normal shots - together and united. This final attack will completely unstabilize the Subsurface Moon within him, burst open the Essence of Andronimus, and blast it into a tornado of energy. The energy, of which, will pool and suck itself into the Trident of Thalassa - alighting it with the mixed energies of the Convalescent Star and the Subsurface Moon. After which, grabbing it will completely unstabilize the city’s dome, and water will thrust forward, in a huge wave… ...but not before the screen turns white, and Stacey sounds: “We fly towards providence…” Step 9: “Atomically Existent” “...and the pieces fall into place. ...*sigh*... Those were the words of the Entity when we first activated the Machina Fini Mundi to save our universe… our timeline. It was… important, to us, that we could create something new from the horror of a time where it had gone to rot. All the injustices from that time, all the lost souls from that frame, that portrait… we were able to save them. We were able to conjure a fate anew. ...and now, we may hold that mantle to you. For you have found the pieces that may forge a dawn unending. A newer, even brighter fate. This… goal, this life. These were the Fates Abroad. ...poetics aren’t my thing, so I hope that sounded good. To get to the point a bit… we’re sending you down to Earth now. It’s time we charge the Unity Engine. We’ll worry about getting the Entity out there to you guys, but… for now, that Engine feeds on life force. So… you know what to do.” =============================== You will spawn at the bottom of a hillside, close by in the view of a cascading city. Visible to you are plenty of items of interest… malls, a forest, a brightened club… but the more interesting sight, if I were to choose, is the telescope that lays at the top of the hill. Regardless, however - as the completed Unity Engine will rest in front of you - the hulking Antikythera Mechanism shining in the sunlight, with the Devil Orchid carved and thrusted into its core, and the Trident put into an opening between both, for which the whole of the device shimmers and shines. Energy aplenty, it is able to receive the means to which you can thrust a new change… a change that the Entity that can facilitate. But not without feeding. ...and so, once again, a simple enemy-clearing step is presented to you, peaking at 500 kills. For each 100 kills given, a vision of each Prophet will circle the Unity Engine… as the clouds begin to part and circle around the site. Upon killing 500 zombies… the Unity Engine will activate, and the screen will go white. End Cutscene: The Angels, descending with their wings to the Earth below, with sword in hand, feel a shadow of doubt slip by for only a moment. It soon diminishes, and falls back to pride. The Earth shakes upon their landing, as the sky folds to reveal the Entity phasing into existence, shining a light harsh enough to reform the sun. The Prophets soon enter in, phasing in with them the Machina Fini Mundi, next to the new and golden-forged Unity Engine. Thomas looks onto the Angels, a prideful smile gleaning from his face, as he sets the dials of the Machina Fini Mundi. The camera pans over as the Prophets walk beside the Angels, Vincent in particular congratulating the group, as they look ahead. Immediately following, the screen transitions to the Machina Fini Mundi. A darkened yet whole hum luminates the device, as it connects its frequencies The screen cuts to the device, as the golden dials from the Antikythera Mechanism spin, and needles point with purity and accuracy. A power begins to heat, if not build, into the Devil Orchid, as it rises and blasts out of the Trident of Thalassa, shooting its powers into The Entity. The Entity surges, brighter and brighter with every moment. “Ah, yes…” The Entity feels the metaphysical thorns within him dig deeper. “The process is underway…” The Entity knows only one way this will end. He sees what he wants to see, letting it whisper to him as he turns further. “Yes… that’s it… you understand… suffuse my Ebony Heart...” The Mists… the Red… “...and I…” The Trial… the Pillar… “...am…” The Prospects… “...COMPLETE!” The Epsilon. The screen cuts to a bright white, and then fades into black. … fin Creators Notes and Acknowledgements: So? What’d you guys think of Prospect? Good? Ambitious? A lot to take in? Well… whatever you’ve got to say, do tell in the comments. As for the rest of this… well... There’s a lot I could say here… but, y’know? I think I’m gonna abstain on this one. It’s not that I don’t want to send my thanks towards Voyager and HitmanVere again, they always deserve it. But… yeah, y’know, I think I might have to hold back... ...after all, the final map’s up already! My words are better used there. Well? What are you waiting for? Go read “Day of the Epsilon”. I’ll link it [here] for you. ...did, uh… did the punk-out work? Did I surprise anyone? Eh… I thought it was good. Besides all that, yeah… I liked writing Prospect. There was a lot to cover in a short amount of time. Y’know, a lot of maps usually take time to build these sorts of things longer and through other maps… and, yes, I do think I could have benefited from that writing. But, you guys know me… I love ambitious ideas. This felt like it would be a real cool way to tell it. Notwithstanding what follows… as, let’s face a fact… I just told you about Day of the Epsilon. The map, the revelation, that I’ve wanted to hold away for the longest… there’s a lot to take in, a lot to reveal, and a lot that needs to be said to wrap this story up, and… y’know what? I think it’s gonna be great. So… yeah. There’s my “actual” blurb on Prospect. It definitely could have been better than this, I know, but… when you all see what the Day of the Epsilon blurb is, I think you’ll understand why I wanted to save my words. So! As always… ...per aspera ad astra. (...this is the part where you scroll back up and click on the link to Day of the Epsilon.)

I don’t know about you guys, but I always seem to be able to look at Zombies and find pure bleakness. I mean, just the overbearing reality of the cosmos and universe - what the world means in the story. We’re just ants messing with forces above us, forces beyond comprehension, and these poultry gods above us are without compassion to our plight. We’re just a means to an end. Notwithstanding all the other things that make it bleak: The horrors of Alcatraz, the futility of Dimension 63 and the SOE crew, the whole point of the sacrifice in TDT. It’s why I can appreciate the atmosphere of BOTD and the TDT ending - they nail the bleakness of the situation to a tee. I wish and hope for more in the future.

(psst, hey, updated this - it's all coming together)

Not necessarily an item of contention, there. Artistic representation differs - we're comparing a game from 2012 to one from 2018/2019. Regardless - the moon's in her eyes, and that's enough symbolic evidence to consider that there's a likely chance it's her. I don't really know many who argue this, but if you'd like, we can talk more at length in the Discord General Chat.

I can guarantee that it is Russman. It really, probably, doesn't have that much meaning or true merit, these days. Fun thing about jumpscares, there.

I don't think that this is particularly supposed to have been anyone - although, the likely argument is Samantha. This is secondarily defended by new knowledge: Classified's intro and artwork. Hell, I mean, they share the moon eye from the left.

UPDATE (03/10/2020): Updated for radios. Juicy stuff. The Day nears.

So Steven Universe Future just used this song. Quite a vibe song.

UPDATE (03/06/2020): As we approach the Ides of March, I wanted to do some tidy work. Or, rather, I wanted to retroactively add new things into the old maps. It is with that sentiment that I'm updating this post - and soon enough, Dunes and Citadel - with Radios. Some might take just ever so slightly longer, but... this map's got 'em now, and that's all that matters. The Day's still approaching - at the very least, I can prepare. Per Aspera Ad Astra.

Look, I’m sorry, but... @caljitsu is indisputable.

If you haven't caught up... yeah, I recommend doing so.

...so this was a bit of an unorthodox lore bomb for you guys. I figured y'all deserved to know where we were going. Where we were heading. ...well, mostly. I'll let the posts speak for themselves. Per aspera ad astra. -The Meh

Confessional Three: “The Depth of Our Souls” “Ahh… y’know, Atlantis always amuses me! Funny thing, everyone assumed that was the name for centuries on now. Not sure why. Probably my fault, but, again… I don’t really remember. Anyways… Prophets kinda came in clutch - they created the Citadel. But, before that, it was this place - Theon, as it were - that they’d lay some testing ground down. Beta Citadel, perhaps? It’s even got a little Moon, to boot! The citizens kind of had a different, even more archaic method of worship - ritual sacrifice. They would take poor souls to temples to give blood to their gods - that is to say, all their respective elemental towers were slaughterhouses. But, those sacrifices were like blood magic, because it fed the Moon - more and more, its energy would amass… enough to where the citizens could control the movement of the city itself. It wasn’t long before they used this same energy to create war machines, and attempt to conquer the world. Of course, all that energy needed its own sort of conduit - and so, the Trident of Thalassa was created. Part of the energies of the Moon suffused into the damned thing, and… god, y’know, you kind of had to be there to see that thing in action. Because… it caused some desolation... As expected, the Prophets and Entity both kind of deemed Theon’s actions inappropriate - so they were forced to lay their hands down and cull the entire place. Sadly, no real backups were made - the energies backfired and infected the entire populus. There was nothing but dead, once more. Seeing their error, the Prophets and Entity dug a watery grave for their secrets… and submerged it. The Trident, however, alight still with energy, was enough to create a breathable atmosphere to last thousands of years. I know, I know… they have some skeletons in them, those Prophets… but they meant well. Always. Their motives aren’t always perfect, but… they’re human. So are you. You probably mean just as well. I can only hope our collective mission lets our motives shine eternal. I wish y’all the best. Per Aspera Ad Astra.” ~Adeva

Confessional Two: “The Fall of A Terminus Amid The Rising Sky” “Europa… damn, y’know, when y’all Angels said you guys had went so extra with the terraforming, I didn’t really believe you. But… Diavolo Station’s a marvel. Truly. Small, sure. Quaint on the inside, I’m bettin’. But a modern marvel… ...well, at least to you guys. You guys had more information than I did, surprisingly - Europa was to be used more as occupied land to study the nature of cold cells… or, more on, the practical use of that, alongside the study of that damned element that let you do so much for yourselves. Selfish? Not really. Stupid? Entirely. I’m getting off track… anyways, it played out pretty similarly to Eidolon, didn’t it? They dug deep in the ice this time, and they found a cave of stone - a crypt, as it were. Inside, a room laden with vines, flora, unnatural life… and an Orchid made of pure crystalline, but almost stone to the touch. Not a bloomed Orchid… strangely. But an Orchid. Your scientists deemed it the Devil Orchid after a day, because retrieval and isolation in its own quarters higher up from the cave itself killed at least ten scientists, and twenty of the extraction crew - cave in or not. ...and they all started going mad. But, see, Diavolo was clever, because they had safeguards for this - the J.U.D.A.S. AI. Of course… by this point, Eidolon had fallen, and you were fighting that fight already - or, were about to. Can’t seem to recall which one. Time’s confusing - of course, you kind of rewrote it. Either way - J.U.D.A.S. culled the internal threat that damned Orchid caused by that time. No survivors. Just… ceaseless dead. Seeing as the only accessway to the Devil Orchid would be to travel back into the fractured timestream… I’d have to advise you to be careful on this one? I swear, none of these other places are as complicated as Diavolo, but… yeah… the minute they cleared the mess, they kind of created that issue. So you’re going to have to deal with it, one way or another. Oh, uh… wear a coat there, too! Pretty chill… pretty chilly.” ~Adeva

Confessional One: “The Desolate Fields of Evermore” “Yo! Writing this for posterity’s sake - heard through the grapevine that y’all were about to make that trip, and build the Unity Engine… crazy undertaking. But, I wanted to do what I could to help out, and so I spent my time visiting around the areas where the pieces lay, scoping it out… y’know the deal. Recon. Y’all deserve to know what you’re gettin’ yourselves into. ...which leads me into the first of three: The Castle of Hades - laid on the Isle of Rhodes. Nasty, nasty place… ironic, right? With a name like that… well, anyways, it’s a dark realm. Few that have entered ever came back, and those who did… they ain’t ‘round to tell nowadays. That all said, I’d heard tell of dark visions of a winged beast, abrasions across reality… madness of physics. I can tell ya - not surprised, personally? We deal with some shit, y’know? But the Castle itself… that shit predates just about every civilization I can tell. It might even predate us. Not that those would know of it - it strays from civilization itself, almost willingly. Barely visible to those who become lost… Human proclivity is mental, though. Because it wasn’t long before a cult - somehow - housed up in it. Refuge or not… they were worn down in weeks. Most went mad - others… wanted a device made. Something to safeguard them, from what they only could describe as ‘the future fate abroad and above… for the sanctity of reality itself… to conjure the Holy One’. Not that they had the knowhow or materials to create such a device… but, again, nagging proclivities! Humans are crazy. They chartered Hipparchus - and thus, their deeds could be concealed through the creation of a duplicate fraud amid the truth - that, of which, I’m willing to bet you saw in museums. It got to its destination either way - perhaps a little too late, though. That group, they couldn’t be helped… by the time it made shore, by the time they got close to the Castle… everyone was gone. Dead. Dying. Deserters of a forlorn societal feat of depthless insanities (...god, I should write a book!). The only one left to the Castle was the cult leader… and it is said that he was able to bring the machine to the Castle’s deepest, darkest depths, farther than most mortal men had mustered. He never left the Castle again after that. Maybe he left himself to his throne. To bask in his fallen kingdom. That’s all I got, though. My info runs blank on the place past this. I don’t have a layout, I don’t really have a plan to give… I don’t really know what to tell you to expect. Hell’s gate is open to you, and it’s probably telling you to abandon hope. ...ahhhhhh, who am I kidding? Y’all won’t fail or lose hope. ...hopefully.” ~Adeva

I really, really, really, reeeeeeally don't understand or get this post - or find a point to it. The lot of these finds and prospects, to me, are blurbs of research tied by strings on a board similar in style to It's Always Sunny's "Pepe Silvia" bit... and I mean, no disrespect to it either! Just... urgh... I can't. I'm going to kind of break down my grievances here: First off - this is kind of plagiarized straight from Wikipedia. That alone, as to my recollection, is an offense enough worth locking this post down - to which, I very well should. Secondly - if it weren't, it would be easier to read. All you could have said was "chaos theory is a part of mathematics that deals with situations and systems where a small change impacts and changes the behavior of that entire system". But, you didn't. Because you plagiarized. Plagiarism #2. Ironically, from the same Wikipedia article. Oh, and... yes, I'm going to point this out. Every time. You should have written something out of your research yourself. People aren't going to just know what you mean when you cite the Lorenz system (which I dare not even begin to simplify, because god knows I can't) or the Hénon map (basically the same) - but what you could tell them is that these are examples of chaotic systems, with difficult predictability and all. But, again, you didn't. Because you plagiarized. Plagiarism #3. But, to this, I can definitely give you some credit - fire, water/ice, earth, wind... electricity, perhaps, even? Regardless of the form - four elements always made sense when you boiled down our perceptual Aether to some levels. It's a connection worth having had, for sure - which, again, I do wish you had just said that. All that was important was to connect this, and be like "alright so chaos theory has X to do with the alchemical Aether and elements". ...you still didn't. Because you plagiarized. So far, we haven't actually heard you say a word of your own, so... Plagiarism #4. Same article. Once again... a little bit of credit. These are all some level of concept that should have been touched upon - and likely would have been - in the Chaos Storyline, if it continued. I would have liked to see and hear more about these scientists trying to reproduce prima materia over the years - hell, the Holy Grail would have been cool, too... even though that wasn't even something you actually meant to cite - because that wording comes from your article. Because - again - you plaigirized! That's the bulk of my patience gone - you get the point I'm trying to make. This is all information that you should have cited, or written down as sources, or paraphrased. This isn't a post - it's like ten articles in a boiling pot, and it's a bad fuckin' dish. In regards to your updates: These should have been posts of their own! It would have had some merit. I'm locking this thread for the foreseeable future.

Hey, guys. Been a bit. I don't really know how to begin this thread, so I'm just kind of going to go off the top of my head for the bulk of it, so... I apologize if this is a bit of a weirder addition to the full retrospective. A lot of these have been kind of like that - stream of consciousness and all - but this is somewhat different, because I wanted to give you guys some good news. ...that being that Unity is approaching the final finished form. It is, for a lack of better words... almost complete. It's... kind of crazy, in my mind, to think that all this work is about to end in a single moment, a single ubiquitous and perfect cap-off end... at least, to me of course. It's crazy that all this got me as far as it did. As most of you are likely aware, Unity has basically been my whole world... my whole thing, my reason to be, in this community. It's my lifeblood. A story so strangely crafted but so crazily worth it. It's... I don't really know. Part of me wants to cry, the other wants to sit back and look at what I've created and smile, part of me just... wants it to be. And I'm going to give it to you, soon. So soon. That all said... I've still got a lot of medial bits of work I've yet to do. Little bit of Extra Lore here, little bit of radio additions there, little bit of quotes over that way, and a Supercut up there somewhere... it's a lot more than it sounds, while being a lot less than it sounds. That all said - I think you knew about that stuff. So... yeah. Y'all have helped me keep this madhouse going. The least I can do is keep giving until this machine's ran out of things to give. ... ...I should write a book. xD Anywho... this kind of went a bit off the rails for a short post. I'll leave ya to it. Be good for me? Oh, and, uh... beware the Ides of March. Per aspera ad astra. -The Meh

We’re not saying it’s a thing that would happen, just kind of musing the idea. Kind of like just wondering “hey, what if we could make this map a reality”?

I feel like you misread the whole thing with the "past-future" stuff. It's not exactly what I meant - I'm referring to the idea of this map being ripped between realities, existing simultaneously between both, but unstable all the same. Unnatural and broken. Kind of like the MOTD perks - they're there, but they're not. They don't exist yet, and are displaced between realities, and they phase between. It kind of takes that concept and flips it on its head - doing that to an entire temple/futurescape of some sort... perhaps, an entire city. The literal merging of both civilizations. I'm not exactly certain how I'd take the Hellscape idea. It goes off of the concept of there being a hell at all, in a way. At least, in my head. So... maybe it's just kind of that. An eternal suffering pit. Again, I don't know what I'd go for with it. To be honest, both of these names - Desolation Cell, Terminus Falls - they've been inextricably linked to Unity for forever, without me really knowing the right place for either of them, or wanting to tell stories through them. I don't know if I'm going to use these in the future, and that's kind of where I'm at with them, in the current. Just kind of uncertain. I'm confident more in the idea that Terminus Falls should be a name for a one-off of some kind, though... not for Unity, but, just its own thing. Desolation Cell... I dunno. For there is a story behind everything. A story that wraps everything together. I just don't know if that story is the right story. ...I'll stop thinking out loud. xD Maybe you guys will find some allusion to it all, though. Maybe I'll finally get some ideal purpose just dwelling on it. I dunno. I got a lot on my mind, though.

Time for a proper response: My whole thing with map concepts and all is that most of you know where I'm headed - just not the true goals or outcome... probably. I've hinted enough that I'm gonna tackle some pretty big ones in my next maps (y'know - the ones to cap off Unity... has to end sometime). In the meantime, I've had some smaller ideas in the past few years that I couldn't fit into an actual Unity map. Those include: -A past-future map - a place ripped between two realities, two timelines, where one is a futurescape of technological advancement and the like, and the other is Romanesque and about equally as splendorous. An accident occurred that caused the entire map to break open and become torn across its entirety - the EE would resolve that. Working name is Terminus Falls. (None of this is solid, nor the name. The name, however, is something I've had for years. I'll probably find a use for it.) -A hellscape world. I really don't have anything solid about this one, more-so that it's likely to have some deeper inspiration on the darker sides of Hell, Dante's Inferno, and such. Nothing about it concrete, and the working name has essentially the same ethos: Desolation Cell. Those are basically all I got. I bet you expected a list of stuff from me - not so.