November 6th 1945: With the official statement being released from Dr. Schuster himself that Group 935 has come to an end, it is time that I report my findings to the OSS immediately. The things I've seen, the things we've done, it's a marvel in technological advancements that could very-well help turn the tides of a conflict I foresee arising between the US and Soviet Union. I will forever stand with the states, but I fear that someone will do the same as I am planning considering many Russians were a part of Group 935 completely unaware of Dr. Maxis' deal with the Nazi Party. Call it a hunch, but I firmly believe Cornelius Pernell will be of great importance as far as getting a task-force authorized to move in on Der Riese and snag what little research is left after the outbreak. Rumors are that Richtofen himself visited the site soon after the outbreak occurred, but I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is. Nobody had heard from him for quite awhile before anything serious ever went down. With the information released by Schuster in his report, he said that within 935 was a division Richtofen ran called 601 that opposed Maxis' decisions of Nazi Party association. Who woulda known a secret division existed within an already top-secret research group? Clearly not me considering I was never aware of 601, but 601 is to be kept secret by all former members, regardless of who we align with. I will stick to this promise, but my overwhelming loyalty lies with none other than the US and if push comes to shove, 601's research will not remain secretive, especially with all that has been revealed through this document of resignation. According to Schuster, they established a station on the god-damn moon of all places for Richtofen's own private research. Only the elite of 601 even had a lick of knowledge as to what it was about. Something about Vril-Ya technology and the gate-way to unlimited power? Considering the things I've seen with my time in 935, I must admit that this doesn't sound entirely fiction to me. Regardless, I will report this to the OSS. They'll have a field day with the research we've unearthed through 115, I'll surely be promoted to some kind of high position of authority with whatever they find themselves doing with it. Because of the respect I have for the man, I will leave out his crimes in my report. In times of war, you do as you're told and nothing but. Otherwise, you become a victim yourself. To all Group 935 and 601 members; this is Doctor Reinhard Schuster, and I am here to address to you the information that I never, ever wished to be on the end of giving out. As of today, November 5th 1945, all functions of Group 935 and Division Group 601 will have come to an end with the loss of the primary Der Riese facility to our experiments. You are to leave your posts and return home to your families that Dr. Maxis once said you must keep in the dark. Our secrets, will no longer remain secrets. I wholeheartedly expect you to report our activities to your governments, but just be aware that I am not to be held accountable for any rule breaking from this so-called "Geneva Convention" rumored to be in development with the assistance of over 196 countries. This however is not an attempt to keep me from atoning to my own crimes against humanity that I've committed as an active member of both 935 and 601. Every night the faces of every P.O.W I executed on Griffin Station haunt me. The terrible looks of fear on their faces before I personally gunned them down to power the machine Dr. Richtofen was researching... It truly is an act of terror that I have committed that I shall never forget. As some may know who are part of 601, I am the sole survivor of the Griffin Station Outbreak. I bare knowledge too cursed for one to keep record of, that is why I will vehemently ask that those of you who were part of 601 to not reveal at least that to your governments. The powers we sought to unravel on the Moon-Base are far too great for us. We weren't meant to uphold it. To all the Group 935 members who are likely scratching your heads at the mention of 601, allow me to fill you in. Group 601 is a fragment of 935 that Dr. Edward Richtofen himself founded along with myself and Dr. Friedrich Groph in an effort to distance himself from Dr. Maxis' increasingly Nazi-Controlled 935. As you all should know, the Nazis threatened to cut funding for 935's research without the full alignment to the Nazis. Richtofen considered this unacceptable and created 601 in hopes to stay true to Group 935's original motto; "To Improve the Human Condition." I will say that Richtofen had noble intentions, that would later become clouded by the power he sought through the M.P.D Project on Griffin Station... It's truly a shame, but alas. One cannot change history, and you're a fool if you try. With this all being said, I hope you can create a better tomorrow by letting your governments know of what we did as scientists together. 115 in the right hands will lead to a human revolution in technology and lead us towards a utopia. With this being said, I'm Dr. Schuster, and this is likely the last time I will ever address all of you together, collectively. Thank you for your time, and I hope this letter gets received in a timely fashion for you all.

The story is quite simple, really. At least it started that way, it wouldn't last too damned long however thanks to the meddling of the Shadowman and his pals manipulating you feeble minded humans throughout the billions of years this world of mine has been around. But to bring it to a beginning, and believe me there WAS a beginning, it'd be what I'm about to tell you. When your comprehension of time began, you didn't even exist yet! Let me just say this right off the bat, time is an illusion and doesn't truly exist, you people simply created it on a whim! Honestly gave me hope for you lot when you started out, but soon I'd bite my tongue. Regardless, in the beginning there was nothing. And then poof, something came along. The Keepers and Apothicons can and will both agree that The First One popped into existence seemingly out of nowhere! Along with The First One came a fated book that would go by many names in history. Whether it be Al-Azif, The Necronomicon, or just known as the Knowledge Bearer, the real name is "Kronorium" however. Many theorize the book itself is omnipresent and alive itself and continues to write itself with an endless number of pages only manifesting what the reader can bear to imagine. That won't come into the equation until later, so allow me to continue on with the story of The First One if you please. The First One created life itself, created the Keepers which bear an uncanny resemblance to what can only be assumed looks like The First One. Thing is, none of you will ever know what a Keeper truly looks like! Your feeble little minds wouldn't be able to comprehend their true forms, it would tear your bloody heads apart! I digress, among these Keepers were myself and someone you know as the Shadowman. He wasn't always called "The Shadowman." I once called him friend... With the creation of the Keepers came the Aether. The very essence of existence floating between the known and unknown sides of the universe, keeping all things interwoven together so life could flourish! The First One needed a way to manipulate the Aether to its bidding, so it created The Summoning Key to do just that, the most powerful artifact in any universe to exist. Just as the old saying goes however, if one is to have good, there will always be evil. Unbeknownst to The First One, when The Aether was created, some of it was consumed with malice and was laid to waste deep below Creation where it would twist and churn into something far worse than anyone could ever conceive. Some Keepers journeyed into areas of Aether manipulation nobody ever dared to go and unleashed the darkness upon their very souls. Among those who experimented, was my good friend... I warned him not to do it, but alas he gave into temptation and I suppose fate willed it to be done. The First One was utterly dismayed by its creations trying to take hold of the mantle of responsibility within the multi-verse. That's exactly what the fallen Keepers tried to do, you know. Wipe the Keepers dedicated to The First One out as to forever stand as the superiors of the multi-verse. The Great Aether War began soon after. I was hand-picked by The First One itself to lead the Keepers into an all-out bloody war against my fallen brethren, now calling themselves Apothicons. Bloody bastards stole our language, our weaponry, everything you could imagine. Even after the millennia that has passed since we claimed victory over them, it hurts me to this very day. The war lasted for many, many centuries as you humans would calculate it. Truly there has never been a worse time for me, and I have to relive it over and over again keep in mind! When victory finally came, The First One banished the Apothicons below creation where this Dark Aether was held. I really wish it didn't, because the friend I once knew was banished right along with the others and would become such a great beastly figure I dare not mention it. The Keepers weren't exactly perfect either, I did my own fiddling with the Dark Aether in an attempt to bring my dearest friend back from the point of no return. His will, was not as strong as mine unfortunately. The First One banished me to be the overseer of a new creation that it declared as "Mankind." So that's my story, why I'm stuck here as a bumbling old-Englishman bearing my burden like a champion so my kind can continue to rule from afar. It's not all sunshine and fucking rainbows for dear old Monty, let me tell you that much! After my banishment, The First One simply vanished. Nobody has heard the voice of it since the war came to an end, many theorize that it simply willed itself out of existence out of disappointment leaving the Keepers as the sole guardians of the universe, but I'm not too sure. All I know for a certain is that the Apothicons claim that The First One is on their side, bunch of horse-shit that is! I'm done with this sch-peel, I'll leave you on this note Richtofen. I trust that with the Kronorium now in your possession you will do the right thing for us all.

I'm a simple man. My stance is one of cold precision. What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age. Ice Staff > Everything Else

Oh dear god just when I thought my creative juices for Zombies were gone, the community revitalizes it for me. This is probably the best idea I've seen in a very long time. I will be sure to participate.

For my english class, we're currently going over the job interview process and what you need to do for it and such, basically things that a five year old should know by age four as JonTron would say. I put together a fake job interview request to Group 935 simply because I could, and I thought I'd share it with this lovely forum. Hope I get the A, as this was worth 100 summative points. Without further ado, here is the job-interview request from me if I were in the CODZ Universe. Note: Not everything is storyline-correct for simplicity's sake. Dates do not match up with the official timeline because honestly, how am I going to explain this to my teacher? Bare with me on this one! Doctor Friedrich Groph Research Head of 601 and Head of Griffin Station Group 935 Breslau, Germany Salutations, Doctor Groph: I’m writing you because I recently heard of the passing of Doctor Richtofen and the loss of the Der Riese facility to an outbreak. I personally hope to “join” Group 935 and work in the 601 division of it. Yes, I am aware of your split factions since the war began and Doctor Maxis insisted on getting support from the Nazi Party. I was an associate of Richtofen’s, I’m sure he never mentioned it. I hope to take over his position now that he has unfortunately passed on. I know of many more locations of 115 deposits around the globe, including my own home. So, I feel like I will be useful to you. I am primarily writing you as I know of Richtofen’s secrets and benefits that Group 935 would likely want their hands on. I have his personal notes as he sent them to me as he wrote them. Truthfully, I’m an agent of the United States who is willing to put all my eggs in the basket so to speak for Germany. I’m applying for Head of Operation Shield. I suspect you have already taken the reigns since Richtofen’s passing, but I feel it is only right for you to keep control over Griffin Station like Richtofen intended. I assume you and Doctor Schuster are still taking orders from Doctor Maxis despite your bitterness towards him during the war. Let me help you in this, I know what Richtofen was planning. I’m a graduate of Heidelberg same as Richtofen, as I went there to study after I graduated from high-school. I have conducted my own fair share of experiments with the element as well, being given schematics and blueprints from Richtofen during his time in Group 935. In 1945, soon after the war ended I was employed by the OSS in the United States to reverse engineer a prototype of the Wunderwaffe DG-2. Intending to keep the power for Group 935 and not willing to betray my old friend, I told them it couldn’t be done. I can finish the work Richtofen never had the chance to. I am going to be your man to truly live by Group 935’s motto. To improve the human condition. Thank you both, Groph and Schuster for considering me for the position. I hope I can begin to assist you well within the coming week. You can call me by the number I listed above within the next week to either confirm me or deny me the position. Once again, I hope to hear from you both. May the three of us open new worlds and bring a better tomorrow for the human condition. Objective To improve the human condition with Group 935 Faction 601. Experience April 13th 1939-October 28th 1946 Head of Department The OSS Prefer not to list the #. Washington DC, Virginia Responsibilities: Reverse engineering, experimentation with 115, mining, leading people towards excellence, same thing as Dr. R. Education December 18th 1934-May 25th 1939 Heidelberg University Tiffin, Ohio Skills & Training I am an expert with the experimentation of Element 115. Awards & Honors Nobel Peace Prize for Science Personal Interests Long walks on the beach References Harvey Yena Founder of the Ascension Group, former Group 935 member Ascension Group Baikonur Cosmodrome 451-757-9935 [email protected] Peter McCain Deputy Director of the OSS OSS The Pentagon, Virginia 330-584-5732 [email protected],com Cornelius Pernell Commander of the OSS OSS The Pentagon, Virginia 330-584-5731 [email protected]

I'll have to listen to all of these, none of them are familiar to me and I am incredibly interested by this list, very interested.

I have often thought about what songs I'd have playing for specific Zombie maps for some reason. Like say for example Treyarch didn't want to do their own music stuff for their maps, they'd just use music from other artists and such. Shit like that kinda interests me, and with that I composed a list of all the maps and different music I would use to fit the map well. Hopefully you enjoy my own little creativity break! (Warning: considering my music taste consists of 90% A7X they'll be here an awful lot.) Nacht Der Untoten: War Pigs: Black Sabbath Verruckt: Sanitarium: Metallica Shi No Numa: Master of Puppets: Metallica Der Riese: Deutschland: Rammstein Kino Der Toten: Good Times: Finger Eleven FIVE: The Times They Are A Changin': Bob Dylan Ascension: Afterlife: Avenged Sevenfold Call of the Dead: Ich Will: Rammstein Shangri-La: Welcome to the Jungle: Guns N Roses Moon: Paradigm: Avenged Sevenfold Tranzit: Unholy Confessions: Avenged Sevenfold Die Rise: Almost Easy: Avenged Sevenfold Mob of the Dead: Wish You Were Here: Pink Floyd Buried: Save Me: Avenged Sevenfold Origins: Sympathy for the Devil: The Rolling Stones Shadows of Evil: Bat Country: Avenged Sevenfold The Giant: I'll Keep Your Memory Vague: Finger Eleven Der Eisendrache: Natural Born Killer: Avenged Sevenfold Zetsubou No Shima: Sonne: Rammstein Gorod Krovi: Roman Sky: Avenged Sevenfold Revelations: When The Man Comes Around: Johnny Cash Blood of the Dead: I Won't See You Tonight Part 1: Avenged Sevenfold Classified: Walk: Pantera Alpha Omega: Amerika: Rammstein Tag Der Toten: Exist: Avenged Sevenfold Do you have a list similar to this? Let me see some in the replies, I'm interested if anyone has come up with their own personalized easter egg songs for each map.

June 5th 1914 I can no longer look at my purpose on this planet as not divine or purposeful. My studies with Group 935 will become legendary within the scientific field. Last night, I was visited by another version of mein self. I know, this is a crazy thing to say, but I have no doubt that it is indeed not of my imagination. I have reasonable suspicions that this latest project Group 935 will supposedly send us on will lead to numerous dark secrets being unearthed. I am fearful, but admittedly giddy inside with this new-found enlightenment. The other me, he came to me last night speaking of a great journey that lies ahead. A journey unlike anything the entire universe will have ever known. He handed me these strange vials of blood, he told me "You will need this blood. When the time comes, it will protect you." After that, he simply vanished without a trace, running into what appeared to be a rift in space-time itself. I will not alert Maxis to this, as I fear he may not understand me and have me removed from my position at Group 935. I cannot allow this. Strangely, there are numbers on these vials... I cannot be sure exactly what these numbers are or even what they mean, but I'm sure they're significant. Only time will tell what the meaning of this mysterious visit means. -Edward Richtofen September 21st 1916 I have heard the rumors growing ever-more throughout the past few weeks. Apparently, Group 935 has found a journal belonging to a knight from the legendary and supposedly fabricated "Great War" that myself and Maxis were put in charge of studying. Before now, scientists and scholars all around the world have theorized and come to agree that the so called Great War was nothing but a fabrication of mad knights and kings in a forgotten era. With the discovery of this journal, Group 935's higher-ups are no longer so sure. This journal proves to us that this so called forgotten era had men way ahead of their time with scientific advancements. This journal written by a knight by the name of "Sir Pablo Marinus" contains real geological coordinates! This is simply wunderbar as far as discovery goes! We now know that the 17th Century was not the first time coordinates were actually used, but instead it was 13th Century! The higher-ups are currently working on finding the location the coordinates lead to, but I cannot help but suspect they already found it by now and are simply hiding it from everyone else. I will pursue further details. -Edward Richtofen May 24th 1917 Just as I had suspected, the higher-ups sent Maxis and I to Northern France to scavenge anything we can find from the journal of the knight. We've discovered a series of underground tombs with corpses that are still preserved after all these years despite not having any clear mummification process like the Ancient Egyptians. If anything, it appears as if they only recently died. There is no stench of death, no decomposition, frankly I am amazed to see this. As time went on we discovered the main chamber to the tombs. After we tried for weeks to break it open to no avail, we had almost given up and reported back to Germany. Until out of frustration, a soldier guarding the tomb began to play music to calm his nerves. The music seemingly opened up the chamber as if by magic. I once again cannot doubt that fate itself has willed me to come here... But for what? Maxis has begun to seemingly lose his mind, I have been thinking of reporting him to the higher ups of Group 935, but I fear it may interfere with my purpose. He speaks of a little girl named Samantha, his "daughter" despite having no lover to my knowledge. Plus, if it was his daughter, why is she nowhere to be seen, and why would she be on top secret grounds? It makes no sense to me, but I digress. Maxis wants me to build these magnificent staves that are said to be wielded by heroes of The Great War. Maxis, as I stated previously is chasing after myths and legends rather than what he should be doing for Group 935. Despite the fact that as time goes on I fear the Great War is more fact than fiction, I also fear that perhaps opening the main tomb was a big mistake. The element is here in such abundance and we don't even know the full capabilities of it yet. I fear the worst, is yet to come. -Edward Richtofen May 15th 1918 Through the exceptional powers of Element 115, we have constructed mechanized abominations. I... cannot say I am not utterly intoxicated by the power we wield with an iron fist here. I am however incredibly concerned for Maxis and the soldiers around the dig site. Specifically at Dig Site 64 where the main tomb is located. Ever-since we began using the 115-generators our men have reported "ancient figures" emerging from the tomb. I at first deemed it a 115-induced hallucination but I can no longer consider it anywhere near that. It is accurate, and it is something we should have handled more cautiously. I was a skeptic of this until I saw it for myself. Ancient knights looking more decayed than anything I'd ever seen walking around and attempting to attack other soldiers. The soldiers put them down with bullets, but some were not so lucky. Eventually becoming as violent as the knights that attacked them. Our men have begun to get sick with some unknown illness that appears to kill them, then regenerate their dead cells bringing them back to life. Element 115 is incredibly dangerous and should never have been discovered. I now doubt my grand purpose here, I think this is something we never should have found. There's so much that we have to do... a vessel for Maxis, the staves, the opening of the gateway... Agh, even as I write I am getting confused. I must admit that I myself am not immune to these 115-induced delusions. Maxis came to me today and told me he renounces his involvement with Group 935 and encourages I do the same. I told him I already reported him to the higher-ups, but he didn't seem concerned. He looked more... sickly than ever before. Perhaps he too was succumbing to the illness going around the campsite. I will investigate further, but I refuse to let him die. I lost my parents before already, I will not lose another. -Edward Richtofen June 4th 1918 An outbreak has begun at Site 64. The undead knights are swarming my men by the thousands and overwhelming us all, consuming everything in its path. I was right about Maxis, he was infected with whatever the illness was that had been spreading like wildfire across the camp. I have since removed his brain before infection and drawn up schematics to preserve him in a drone-like body until we can find a way to bring him into a new body. Unfortunately my pieces were scattered throughout the progress of the outbreak, I fear I will die here. I am now no longer believing in my purpose whatsoever. Maxis told me he believes a higher power is watching over us, but I do not believe his words to be true. Everything that man has told me is nothing short of 115-induced delusions for the past year. He has been consumed by evil. Wait a second, was ist los? There are three men who just entered the room.

This is easily one of the most, if not the most interesting theory I've ever heard about this comic-book loading screen thing.

The Peter McCain in Revelations I believe was confirmed as a pure accident, but correct me if I'm wrong on that. As for why Peter McCain is gone from his hanging spot in Shi No Numa, I believe that the plane right there is the plane he goes into that leads him into the Agonia Fracture.

I figured I'd take my own small crack-shot at a theory for all to see. Now, Peter McCain. A legend within the Zombies Storyline, one could even argue it was him who kick-started the story we know and now love back in Shi-No-Numa. Of course we've come to learn over the years he was an OSS Spy sent by the US to extract information from Group 935, but what if he's also something more than that? Perhaps, similar to Pablo Marinus, he is a Hero of the Great War. Think of it for a moment, it wouldn't be the first time we're thrown a curve-ball like this but in my opinion it all makes sense. I'll explain why. This recording from Alpha Omega is my basis for this theory. Pernell: Doctor Hale says you're making big improvements every day now. Peter McCain: Yes, sir. You might say I'm beginning to feel like the old me. Pernell: Absolutely remarkable. How far you've come these past few months can't be understated. How's the memory loss? Peter: Still a struggle, sir. If I close my eyes, I can see it clearly for a moment: Der Riese, Asylum, the Shi No Numa. But, then it's gone. Pernell: And the nightmares? Peter: The nightmares, sir? Pernell: Doctor Hale mentioned something about strange dreams. Giant Monsters, Medieval France. Peter: Not in weeks, sir. Those have subsided. Pernell: Outstanding news. So, what's next Peter? What are your plans once your recovery's complete? Peter: Sir? Pernell: Well, Doctor Hale mentioned your interest in staying on at Broken Arrow. Peter: Broken Arrow brought me back from beyond the veil, sir. I could think of no greater honor than repaying the organization for what they've done. Pernell: Believe me, Peter, the honor would be all ours. These are strange times. I need good men like you in my circle. DOD's claws are deep into our organization: Too deep. I've not confirmed it, but I suspect they've planted spies in our ranks. Last month, out of the blue, they forced me to give up the Elemental Shard, as if they knew what we were up to. Peter: I'm sorry to hear that, sir. Pernell: Oh, that's all right. DOD don't know it, but I managed to break the shard in two. Kept half so that we can continue our work. We need to stay on our toes. I need people I can trust. You're welcome to join the organization, but it'll mean swearing loyalty to Broken Arrow before the United States. Company over country. I need to know that's something you can do. Peter: I can do that, sir. If you notice during this conversation soon after Peter McCain is brought back to life by the Elemental Shard, Peter has dreams of medieval France and gigantic monsters from what can only be described as a nightmare. Why would Peter have visions of The Great War if he hadn't been there? You could argue it's just an effect of the Elemental Shard, but that is simply too boring of a reason and Treyarch usually doesn't go with the boring reason, as dumb as that admittedly sounds to say out loud. We also know that at the end of Alpha Omega we see that Peter McCain's soul is transported into the Elemental Orb similar to how Gersch was able to do at the end of Ascension. Before flying off into the unknown, Peter says one thing that has me interested. "I have some unfinished business to attend to." What exactly is this unfinished business? I don't have an answer for that, but my theory is that he was meant to be a soldier in the Great War similar to Marinus. We know that inter-dimensional travel is able to be done through the form of an Elemental Orb. We saw Gersch go from the original timeline into Dimension 63's Gorod Krovi. If Gersch was able to do it, why wouldn't McCain be able to do it too? Plus, the Elemental Orb is created specifically to transport a human soul into another inhabitable body. Whether it's the A.D.A.M Unit he was trapped in by Pernell or a different body of a fallen soldier in battle, he could transport his soul into a new host and bring it a new life. My theory is that Peter traveled to the Great War and played a pivotal role in getting Revelations Richtofen into the cryo-pod that goes to Blood of the Dead, breaking the cycle in the first place. This also creates another theory now that I think of it, the Broken Cycle Universe that is BO4 has happened multiple times just like the Cycle we saw from WaW to BO3. The events that happen in THIS version of the Broken Cycle lead to finally ending the cycle forever and banishing everything to the Dark Aether. It's complicated to explain as this entire storyline is, but I hope you can at least grasp an understanding of what I'm trying to say here.

I always thought Carrion did a better job telling a story of a Zombie and the human soul that still resides in the body, but yes that was an error of mine, completely forgot about The One honestly. As for Tranzit being re-released, I genuinely hope that it does get remade as well. It really deserves a second chance in the community, but knowing the majority of this community, it'll still be hated no matter the potential it may have.

Before I start, I feel it is only right to tell you all exactly what I am doing with this series of posts. My goal is to shed some light on what many do not understand about Tranzit and Die Rise. Sure the map designs themselves are debatably good or bad, but the world building is superb and something we really haven't seen since. My goal with this post is to make you re-think your possible bad opinions about these two maps in specific. Even after this post, they are personally not any higher on my list of favorites or least favorites in the Zombies continuity but I do hope you can realize the good and bad about these maps in a more unbiased light. So without further ado, let's get to Tranzit and Die Rise: maps that nearly killed all interest in Zombies in general. Let's begin with Tranzit before we go to Die Rise. Tranzit: Tranzit had quite possibly the most hype built around any Zombies map to date. If you were around back then, you knew of the hype surrounding it. You knew how badly everyone wanted to know about the state of the Zombies Storyline after Moon had happened. Regardless of the hype, Tranzit was released unfinished and with just about unanimous hate from the community. But what if I told you that Tranzit truly does have redeeming qualities and could be considered a great map in certain aspects? You'd likely call me crazy and hate on me saying that I don't understand or that I am some sort of fool, at least if you were on the Reddit you'd be telling me that. Regardless, I think Tranzit, despite being unfinished and having some gameplay elements that aren't the best, is one of the better maps of BO2's offerings. Let's jump into the strongest aspect of Tranzit and work our way down to the worst things it has to offer. The World-Building and Lore: Tranzit has it's fair share of lore that most people completely disregard the existence of and it's truly unfortunate to see. According to the Timeline, Tranzit takes place 10 years after the missiles from the Moon hit the Earth and fractured it greatly. We learn that in those 10 years, Richtofen and Maxis have been trying desperately to battle one another in an effort to take total control over Agartha to pursue their ultimate goals. According to a radio by a survival group called "Jackass Flats" (Yes, Jackass Flats is the canonical name we are given.) The survivors in the group are literally torn apart from one another due to mysterious voices demanding they do what they instruct to lead to salvation. Here's an excerpt from the radio talking about it. "This is a warning to anyone contacted by a group of mysterious voices. Several of our party began to hear the voices and their competing instructions and incompatible demands drove a wedge down the center of the camp. Half of the camp is carrying out the demands of... (Static) only through electronics. This voice is a...big...(Static) and its ultimate goal is unclear. The other voice cannot be heard by humans who have some...(Static) on the...(Static) madness this way lies. Neither of these instruction sets will...understand... (Static) Those of us who have not chosen a side have been hunted by both sides. Seeking to force us to assist them." We see that survivors of the fracturing of Earth have become cult-like followers of either Maxis or Richtofen trying to obey their orders. It's crazy to hear such a thing happen in all reality, it's frightening even. Imagine this happening in a real world scenario, zombies are everywhere and the survival group you're a part of is fractured to the brim because of mysterious voices telling you to build structures for their own plans. It would be scary to even meet a single person, what if they were followers of Maxis and you were a follower of Richtofen? No doubt there'd be trouble. Maxis even encourages not listening or flat out murdering Richtofen's followers, it's simply amazing world building and needs no further explaining I feel. Just the thought of these poor souls being puppets to higher powers is scary to me, and honestly should be to you as well. Here's another excerpt from a radio if you still do not believe that Maxis and Richtofen battling it out using poor helpless survivors is terrifying. "Voice. Come in unidentified electronic voice. We've been attempting to activate your spire as instructed. But one of our members began hearing the other voice you warned us about. He turned on the rest of us and shot one member of our crew and wounded another before we restrained him. Hello? Hello? Damn this thing, why doesn't it answer when we call it. HELLO?" As we later learn through the Buried Easter Egg, Maxis indeed was the true evil one who wished to destroy the world to open Agartha simply to be re-united with Samantha once again. I remember it being a huge-shock to me personally as I always saw Richtofen as the evil one trying to eliminate Maxis at every turn due to petty jealousy. But to have Maxis full on turn on us like that and be willing to destroy the world for his own benefit, it was scary to see. But what if I told you that on release day, we knew this was coming? Yes, that's right, from day one we knew Maxis was the evil one. Don't believe me? Read this, it's another radio from Tranzit. "You think you're so smart, huh? Haha. You think you can manipulate everyone into doin' what you want, but we know the truth... Your calculated works...and your sinister agents. You... you mean to destroy this planet and kill us all! Haha! We're not going to help. No way, no how. So yeah, keep talking, no one is going to hear you because we destroyed everything. Everything electronic, starting with...evil...radio...box thing!" Maxis has the ability to speak to people through the electronic devices that they have after learning how to merge with electricity through the Crazy Place when he was teleported there decades prior. These survivors somehow discovered the truth and began to destroy their electronic devices in an attempt to render Maxis unable to communicate with anybody else so his grand plan wouldn't be enacted. That is, until Victis comes around and ruins it all and builds the Spire in favor of Maxis rather than Richtofen. The easter egg itself is not a good aspect of this map, being incredibly tedious and RNG heavy. But we'll get to that later. The Easter Egg Song: The Easter Egg song for Tranzit is a very interesting one, and one that came out of the blue for the community. At this point, the only vocalist we'd had for Zombies was Elena Siegman who everyone unanimously loved and appreciated. Enter Clark S. Nova, the mos underrated vocalist that has appeared on the Zombies Soundtracks over the years. I personally remember seeing the trailer back in 2012 thinking that Carry On by Avenged Sevenfold was going to be the easter egg song and was hyped. Initially I hated this new easter egg song, but as I've grown older I've pieced the meaning of the song together and have even grown to adore the instrumental along with Clark's vocal style. The song is called Carrion, and is essentially a song playing on a perspective we've never really thought of before. The perspective of the undead, the zombies themselves. I find it interesting to finally see a perspective from a zombie, and the fact that it basically shows the zombies are slaves to the influence over them, still having the soul of the former human residing within them. Feeling everything, seeing everything, even hearing it all. They're still very much aware of themselves, but they are simply slaves, unable to do anything but attack. It's incredible to think about really. Reminds me of the Zombies in 28 Days Later if any of you know that movie. Not dead, but unable to control themselves. The Map Design: With the exception being Town and maybe Bus Depot, Tranzit has an absolutely abysmal map design to it. Imagine if you took all the fun parts of Origins and made your character slower, add more obstacles that damage you, and more zombie types to annoy you. Oh wait that's right we also call that Origins in Zombies Chronicles my bad. But back to my point, do all those things and you have the map design for Tranzit. It isn't very fun, and is not in any way easy to maneuver around as a player with the strategies the community has come up with over the years. Tranzit does have its own fair share of strategies to do, but think about it for a moment. Is that really enjoyable to get to a high round on Tranzit as it may be in other maps? Pulling out a weapon that can break after about 10 seconds of usage once every millennia? If your answer is yes I recommend you check yourself into a hospital, for you are sick in the head my friend. Actually now that I think of it, Town doesn't have a good map design to it in Tranzit itself. No wall weapons are to be seen in Town. Not a single one. Lose your ammo in your weapons over there, you're done for. But back on topic, another issue I have with Tranzit is the Pack-A-Punch system. Yes, this has been beaten to death over the years when it comes to the community talking about Tranzit, but it really cannot be under-stated how awful the Pack-A-Punch setup is on this map. For starters, you need the turbine which is a buildable from the spawn (aka Bus Depot). You need to take the turbine all the way to the Power Station, place it right beside a specific door that doesn't look important in the slightest, go to the Town and open a door that has no indication you can open it with an explosive, and then boom, you go down the stairway that unlocks if you placed the turbine down and you can go build the Pack-A-Punch to upgrade your weapons. Did I mention the zombies can break the turbine at any point in time and are actually ATTRACTED to placed buildables? Just imagine for a moment that your turbine breaks on your way to Town but you didn't know. You make it all the way there through the fog and the denizens, only to have to go ALL THE WAY back to Bus Depot and then to Power Station to re-place it and then all the way back to Town once again, hoping the turbine doesn't break. Yeah, real fun isn't it? Oh and to add some salt to the open wound, the Pack-A-Punch pathway doesn't stay open forever after you open it. Walk away from it for long enough, oh yeah it'll shut. It really doesn't help that you can't simply stay in the Pack-A-Punch area if you wanted to because there's no room to run around. Without going any deeper into this, I hope you do understand that the map flow is very, very hectic and simply atrocious in more ways than one. I felt that it was better to talk about the actual design and flow of the map rather than be the millionth person who complains about the Fog and the Denizens. (As horrible as they are, it is not a valid complaint to constantly just say Tranzit is terrible simply because of these two additions.) The Wonder Weapon: It's the fucking Jet Gun. That's truthfully all I need to say. The Jet Gun is synonymous within the community as everything a wonder weapon should not be. I remember seeing the trailer as a kid and initially thinking it was a motorcycle. Yes, I was a dumb kid but really, why would I expect a literal gigantic jet-engine to be a weapon? Nevertheless one we'd have to travel all the way around the map to even build. It's not even the fact that you have to travel all the way around that makes the process of getting this thing entirely terrible, while yes it is a chore to go and get all the pieces, this was before Mob of the Dead. You had to grab each and every single piece for this god-damned weapon one at a time. One. At. A. Time. If that wasn't somehow bad enough for you, you also are restricted to building it at only one work-bench. That's right, there's only one place that allows you to build this stupid contraption. That one place is in the Town area. So, once you take about an hour or two out of your life and take each piece one at a time to the Town and build it, you get the Thrustodyne Aeronautics Model 23, the weapon everyone and their mother in the community simply refers to as the Jet Gun because the weapon name is somehow more of a mouth-full than Wunderwaffe DG-2. As if this could not at all get any worse, the weapon has a recharge timer of a minute and forty seconds. Don't wanna wait to recharge it? Okay, have fun rebuilding this thing from scratch when all the pieces break off into different places. Sometimes, you really got to wonder who the fuck sat back and thought certain things were a good idea. You better strap yourself in, because we aren't done with just how bad this weapon is. Those pieces, when or if they break apart and scatter, they can occasionally fall into an out of bounds area depending on where you are so that you never can pick the piece up again. Also, if the piece lands in the fire it will be unable to be obtained ever again. If you aren't blind, you'll notice that the entire map is FILLED. WITH. LAVA. It really does baffle me how badly they goofed up the wonder-weapon in this map, and luckily we haven't seen a weapon as bad as this one since. The Avogadro The Avogadro itself isn't a bad boss enemy, but the biggest gripe I have with the damned ball of electricity is that he gives literally no reward whenever you take him down but he can get you killed so easily if you're not careful. Not to mention, he plays an absolutely pivotal role in the Easter Egg if you're doing Maxis' side. The RNG of trying to actually spawn him in is time consuming and absolutely maddening. He always seems to spawn in whenever you don't want him to or when you simply don't even need him, but never when you actually need to use him for something. The Avogadro cannot be killed with bullets from your weapons, and only with a melee attack. I like the change-up, but with the lunge knifing that exists in most Treyarch games, trying to eliminate the Avogadro can lead to the end of a game because you just shoved yourself into your zombies train. Now, I hope this has maybe made Tranzit at least more transparent as a map and maybe is even better than what you once thought Sure, there's some huge, glaring negatives, but there's really some redeemable things in this map. I think every map has at least one good thing about it, even if I truly hate the hell out of it, there will reside one good thing within it. What do you think of Tranzit? Do you feel the same as me? Let me know down below. Next up on the chopping block is Die Rise, so stay tuned for that!

I've had this one kicking around in my head for awhile, but I found it to be perhaps too controversial to post anywhere. But now that I've discovered a safe place in the Zombies Community to express opinions, I figured now was the best time to finally share it. In my opinion, the most tragic characters in the entire Story-Line are EASILY the Victis Crew. Before you send your nuclear warheads towards my current location, let me back up my opinion with stuff said in not only the timeline, but in our own theories as a community. To start off with it, the Victis crew is a group of random civilians who led relatively normal lives before the events of Richtofen's Grand Scheme took place in 2025. Misty was a farm girl, Marlton was a conspiracy theorist hellbent on uncovering the mysteries of Broken Arrow, (theory) Russman was a worker for Broken Arrow with a family, and Samuel Stuhlinger was a simple man who happened to be a mad conspiracy theorist unlike Marlton. Once Richtofen's Grand Scheme fell into place and the rockets hit the earth, the Zombie Outbreak began worldwide. Russman lost his life's work at Broken Arrow, Misty lost both her parents to Zombies, Marlton dug a little too deep and found more than he bargained for, and to survive, Samuel began to eat Zombie flesh. These guys got fucked hard by powers far beyond their control and perception. As if that isn't enough, let's look at their story when their paths cross in the first place. 10 years after the missiles hit Earth, Marlton, Misty, Russman, and Stuhlinger meet one another at the Green Run facility. (AKA Hanford Site) When there, they are contacted by both Maxis and Richtofen. Richtofen however can only speak to Samuel because of his past with eating Zombie Flesh to survive. In an effort to gain the upper hand on Richtofen and destroy the world, Maxis tells the group to construct the Pylons in his favor. To which the group obliges, despite Samuel's pleas to follow Richtofen. Richtofen for a moment even attempts to blackmail Stuhlinger into following his plan at Die Rise, threatening to tell the rest of Victis about his time with The Flesh. Once there's only one Pylon left, Victis begins to wander the earth while the voices of Maxis and Richtofen fall silent for a two months. Upon arrival to Buried, the group constructs the final Pylon in favor of Maxis who then thwarts Richtofen and opens a pathway to Agartha, causing the destruction of Earth to occur within the next year. Victis was betrayed by Maxis, the one who they thought would lead them to salvation. Not only are they betrayed by Maxis canonically, but in Richtofen's ending we see him take control of Stuhlinger's body against his will. Currently that's all we know about the Richtofen ending, but either way you slice it, these guys get betrayed by other-worldly powers beyond their control. They have no power or even choice. They're merely pawns to Maxis or Richtofen, no bigger purpose. They are betrayed despite their efforts to please the voice of what they hope is salvation. It's really rather sad to think about. Even when they separate for a point in time and return to one another, they now follow the voice of Richtofen hoping that he will be their salvation. Only to once again, be sent on a quest for his own intentions and being frozen in cryo-stasis at the end of it all. I guess you could say Primis Richtofen at least did them a favor offering them a chance to live, but they would be stuck in cryo-stasis for the rest of the cycle, never to be awakened. Forgotten by time. This happens in the Cycle Universe, but an arguably worse fate befalls them in the Broken Cycle. In the Broken Cycle, they're awakened from their cryo-stasis slumber in Alcatraz after Nikolai reads from the Kronorium attempting to finally end things right. Once again, they are sent on a mission to acquire a device for Nikolai. This time, they have to build and deliver the Agarthan Device for a purpose they know nothing of. Being loyal to Richtofen as they have yet to be steered wrong by him, the group listens to Samuel when Richtofen speaks to him. When they build the Agarthan Device and deliver it to Nikolai, they are once again betrayed despite their hard work and sacrifice. This time, they're erased from existence rather than plain and simply betrayed. Banished to the Dark Aether along with Primis and Ultimis, forever being forced to endure darkness and suffering until the end of time. One of Samuel's last words to Richtofen is literally "You haven't forgotten about us have you? We did everything you asked." It's honestly sad to see that not many people care for Victis as characters when they've all been through so much. Of course, their actual characters are not the best in the world, being incredibly stereotypical and all, but so is Ultimis and everyone loves them. Victis was perfect to play as to end the story we all know and love, and nobody can convince me otherwise.

Ok, so, we all have an introduction story for Zombies I'd assume. Some are more boring than others, some are more adventurous than others as well. Me personally, I'd say I fall in the middle when it comes to a good introduction story. It wasn't exactly boring, but it wasn't too adventurous either. Regardless, that is besides the point. The point is that through this story I'm about to tell ya, I met some wild ass people and had a ball of a time following the story and being a part of the community. This, is how I became introduced to Zombies. If my memory serves me right, it was April 5th of 2009. Soon after the release of DLC Pack 1 which was March 19th 2009. It was a rather normal day of school, we all played Pokemon at the round-tables at lunch and were simply having a good time being kids. I was either in Kindergarten or 1st grade at the time, I don't exactly remember. But what I do know is that my life was about to change for the better once lunch was out and it was time for us to go to recess. Unfortunately, we'd gotten hit with a rain-storm and we had to stay inside for recess. Bummer, right? No playground time and instead we have to be inside playing with baby-toys as we referred to them as back then. It was a bummer, but one of my best friends who to this day I keep in contact with was about to change my life forever. He decided to bring in his copy of Call of Duty World at War, and his freaking Xbox. How did he get away with this you may ask? Dude, I have no idea. The school really just let us kids run wild for an hour or so with no chaperones until the next class of the day would begin. Regardless, we got into a huge group and crowded ourselves around the Xbox, passing the controller back and forth playing the game. Eventually it was my turn and something caught my eye. "Nazi Zombies" it was called. I had grew up with Zombie movies, having an uncle that was in his middle-school and high-school years as a kid really helped me in that department. I was asked my friend, "What's this right here?" he told me it was a super scary game-mode with you guessed it, zombies. Super scary and Zombies? You were speaking the language of 7 year old me. I pressed the buttons to set up a match, and played my first game of Nacht Der Untoten. Needless to say I didn't make it too far, only Round 10 but for my first time ever playing at the age of 7, I consider that an achievement. I remember opening the Mystery Box and getting the M2 Flamethrower and having the time of my life lighting zombies on fire with it. It was simple, difficult, and incredibly fun. We began to play it every single time we had inside-recess and would all take turns playing it. About a week later, my friend came to me after school and wanted to hang out at my place over the weekend. I asked my parents that night and they let it happen. To this day I don't think I've ever told them what exactly occurred that night, but it was legendary. My friend brought his Xbox and surprised me with an all new zombies map for us to play together. The map was called Zombie Verruckt, and there was so much more to do in it. I fell in love as soon as we played it. We didn't sleep at all that night, not because we were playing for so long, but because we were so scared of Verruckt. The haunting screams and shouts throughout the Asylum, the feeling of isolation being separated from your team-mate behind the power doors, it was absolutely mind-boggling to us at the time. The highest round we ended up getting to was Round 15. We could never beat out the super-sprinters in Verruckt, but we loved the endless replay value. I truly owe so much to this silly little gamemode, for forging endless friendships with people I'd never end up knowing had this not come into existence. So with that, I leave you with my story of first playing Zombies. I hope you enjoyed!