[Tag SPOILERS] Jeb Brown: the man, the myth, the legend

[anonymous]

Buried is perhaps the weirdest and most random map the community ever got. Elements that appeared almost more magical than sciencific, a Giant, the Ghosts, a magic well, the self-changing maze and most importantly, the location it is set in, combined with the map’s lack of backstory intelligence, made Buried a popular mystery to theorize about. But recently, after 6 years, radios in Tag der Toten gave us a more insight into Buried. 

 

Our main character will be the 40 year old Jebediah Brown, the gunsmith of Purgatory Point. He didn’t originate from that frontier town, it appears that her widow mother, presumably a rich woman who had inherited a small fortune from her deceased husband, took him there when he was ten years old. Ms. Brown and her son lived in the largest, possibly sole, mansion of the town. Besides being the town’s gunsmith did Jeb Brown have a great interest into the most impressive human discovery of the time: Electromagnetism and electrochemistry, in particular the research of the scientist Michael Faraday. For in his local area, one could say that Jeb Brown was the blacksmith with the broadest knowledge concerning electromagnetism, and the citizens of Purgatory Point were glad to have him. In 1885, something radical happened in Jeb’s life.

 

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Jebediah Brown: The day is the 14th of April, the year of our Lord, 1885. A day I will hold dear until my last. (sigh) I have done and spent 30 years of my life in Purgatory Point. My Ma' brought me out here when I was but 10 years young. She hoped to give us a chance at a new life. They're good folk here at Purgatory Point. And sure, sometimes they get a little rowdy and maybe we stray too far from heaven's gaze up there. What do you expect from a frontier mining town? Something happened to one of the miners. Clive Farnsworth, a good man, came by the shop a few times. Anyway, he went down into that mine, stayed down there for 10 days. When he came back up, he was... changed. They say he was like a feral animal, rabid and carnivorous. His mind was gone, his flesh all sallow and bloody, his eyes are blazin' a red light! First home he stumbled upon was me and Ma's. I was at the shop at the time. Ma' went out to meet him, and Clive he... Doc' said it happened quick. Clive jumped on her, ripped her throat. Ol' Bill ran over, put two through Clive's skull. Shot him dead, like a dog. And Ma'... she's been laid to rest now. She'll rise up to Heaven. And bless her soul, she'll be greeted with open arms. That mine. They've been digging for that blue rock. Some folks say you stare too long you'll find the devil in it. I need answers, I need to understand what happened. I'll head down to that mine tomorrow

 

Purgatory Point was no normal mining town. Located in an area that would later be known as ‘Groom Lake’, it layed on top of one of the largest deposits of Element 115: the crystalline manifestation of Vril energy. Miners from the town excavated this precious blue metal, possibly simply for it’s pretty glance and colour. However, after the above mentioned incident, Jeb discovered odd features corresponding with the blue rocks. As an ‘electricity hobbyist’, he quickly discovered the rocks functioned as the conduit of a certain type of force related to the electromagnetic spectrum. But more odd events were about to happen.

 

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Jebediah Brown: The day is the 19th of April, the year of our Lord, 1885. Somehow, I don't know how it's possible. Last I recall I was headed into the mine, I swear I was only down there for a few hours. When I come back up, townsfolk say I've been missing for 5 days. Then there was last night, when I slept I had a vision. Two angels came down to me from Heaven. They told me I needed to be ready, to prepare for what was coming. What was coming, they would not tell me. But how to prepare, "build a machine" they said. "A machine that would grant you great power". This machine was complex requiring mechanical skill, mechanical skill I do not have. I told them so, but they said not to worry. They would guide my hands. The way they described it, sounded like an oven or a kiln. You stick your rifle inside, and when it come back out, (chuckles) let's just say that rifle will pack a serious punch.

 

Jeb’s skills and knowledge were chosen by Angels to (re)construct an ancient device used to upgrade weapons by the power of 115. Whilst Jeb’s knowledge remained limited, the Angels assisted him. But the other interesting part from this radio I find the part about his perception of time. He seems to have discovered that the presence of the rocks might alternate the dimension of time, or at least how one perceives it. When doing the Buried Easter Egg, there are various quotes of Richtofen and Maxis that make me think that Buried takes place in some kind of pocketrealm where various humans (the Giant, the Ghost, the Wisp) are eternally trapped. There is something odd about Purgatory Point…

 

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Jebediah Brown: Today is the 30th of June, the year of our Lord, 1885. My invention is the talk of the town. People been coming from far and wide, eager for a chance to upgrade their firearms. Revolver, rifle, the machine don't care it'll pack 'em all. I pray every night thanking the Heavens for sending the two angels, I couldn't have done this without their guiding hand. They returned to me last night. They told me there was another machine they wished me to build. They called it the Agarthan Device. Said it had the power to grant that which one truly desires. I told them I was their servant. Show me the path, and I will walk. They said I needed 3 things. The blood of an elder god, an Elemental Shard, and a metallic vessel to harness and carry both. To find the blood, they instructed me to travel to the bottom of the ocean. I told them this I could not do, for I would perish. To craft an Elemental Shard, they instructed me to forge four souls with a blue rock from our mine. I told them this I could not do for I did not have the means to siphon a human soul to an element. But a metal vessel, well, I am a blacksmith. That? That I think I could manage.

 

This were the golden days of Jebediah Brown’s intellect. The Angels granded him such a knowledge about Element 115 and the ethereal realm that he invented things like the Time Bomb, Paralyzer and the Amplifiers. These latter devices are encountered in the Easter Egg, embedded in the ground, seemingly harvesting the energy in the soil or air around. They amplify energy, eventually projecting it in the dimension around it. In the Quest we use it for what I believe similar reasons as the gongs from Shangri La, but Jeb Brown might have used them to harvest the energy used in his inventions. The purple “smoke” seems to be a common feature in many of his creations (the Paralyzer, the Lantern, the Ghost and even the Vril Vessel when empowered in Moon seems to emit something purple). 

 

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Jebediah Brown: Today is the 21st of July, the year of our Lord, 1885. I have, uh, a confession. I am burdened with sin. I fear I am the architect of my own damnation. This town... this town is cursed. The Devil himself has possessed our people, folks had been acting all kinds of crazy. Paranoia, visions, seeing thing that ain't there. And the violence. Seven dead in the last 5 days. Sheriff don't know what's gotten into these people, but I know. It's that damned mine! Them blue rocks! Doc' believes them to be meteors from the sky, from up in the stars. Maybe from Heaven. But whatever the cause, I fear the disease that consumes this town has gotten to me as well. Last night, I felt overcome with loss and grief. I went to see Ma' in the cemetery. Maybe it was the whiskey, maybe it was delirium I can't say what... I, uh, dug her up, and , uh, took her into town. I took her to my shop where I kept the machine. I, uh, I don't know what came over me, like something took control of my body, like a puppet on strings. I put her in the machine. I don't know why, may-maybe, maybe it would bring her back to me. But she vanished. Nothing came back out. I stumbled home in a daze, but as I arrived, I see before my eyes... I see an apparition, a spirit. It looks just like her. Only when she was younger. She floats around the house now. I catch her playing the piano. The angels, the angels, they came back to me again. I've built the metal carriage just as they asked. Only one thing left to do now, upgrade it with my machine.

 

So this is how the Buried Ghost was created: She was, or is, the mother of Jeb Brown, put into the Pack-a-Punch machine. As we see in Shadows of Evil, the machine is some kind of direct one-sided gateway to the Aether, matter being transferred into energy. Anyway, the moment Jeb put the corpse of his mother in the machine, he unintentionally cursed her soul. The purple smoke around the Ghost in proof for her visit to ‘Hell’, as “Hell is purple”. Occasionally, her corrupted and restless soul haunts the very place where she used to live: the Brown Mansion.

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Jebediah Brown: Today is the 22nd of July, the year of our Lord, 1885. We are truly lost, this town, these people. We are being punished by Heaven for our transgression and now must suffer the righteous hand of retribution. I did as they asked, I put the metal vessel in the Pack-a-Punch machine, just as instructed. Next thing I know, all the energy, all the power of the world get sucked out of the air as if pulled inside the machine! Next thing, the world went white. I came too and I see that I, my shop, all the people, the whole damn town has been transported as if willed by the Lord into this cavern, buried below the surface of the Earth! I fear we are at the threshold of Hell, the world just waitin' to open below our feet! We've been overrun by the Devil's army! The dead have risen and now do us in battle! My name is Jebediah Brown and I bow humbly before the tow angels and ask for forgiveness. Show us the path to salvation! We are listening!

(Sounds of woods cracking)

Jebediah Brown: Hello?

(Zombies enter the room)

 

 

Finally, Jeb obeys the Angels into Pack-a-Punching the Vril Vessel he crafted to the Ancient’s design. (Ironically, all ancient rods in CoDZ are man-made, as the Origins staves are rods recreated by Maxis). The Vril Rod is a conduit for ethereal energy, upon putting it into the upgrade machine the chunk earth Purgatory Point was located on was ripped out of it’s original place in space-time and displaced to an Angolan subterranean cavern system. Now the Zombies Timeline says the following: 

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“October 13th, 2025

The Earth fracturing triggers further Temporal Rifts, teleporting an 1800s American Western Town underneath a Mining Facility in Angola.”

 

 

I believe this is nonsense, as it contradicts with the radios found in Tag and the Timeline is written by the Keepers and Monty. I therefore believe the Angels who contacted Jeb were of the Keeper faction, and not the Apothicans. Monty tries to hide this information from us and therefore writes something else in the Kronorium. The idea that this Timeline excerpt is wrong is strengthened by a couple of Marlton’s quotes:

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"It seems that this place was a ghost town long before the tectonic shift."

 

On top of this, the town must have arrived in Africa at least before 1945, as it was then when Richtofen’s crew discovered it. We got another interesting quote by Marlton, this one said when the player is still in the Livingstone Mine area, above the ground:

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"I'm confident that this facility predates the rift. As such, there may be more to it than meets the eye..."

 

This quote simply screams for attention. There is more to it than meets the eye? What is going on with the mining facility? What strikes me is that the complex itself looks like it is relatively new, dating from at least post-WW2. That would mean it was built after the Western village had been teleported there. So did the miners built it there while being conscious of what lays beneath? How did they handle the undead problem? This needs some extern thoughts and ideas of you guys. Anyway, as the Timeline is fucked up and as the Timeline is, for all I know, the only evidence that Buried takes place in a given date in the future, I believe we have no intention to take that as a fact. Subsequently, the theories about Buried occuring in a time bubble or at the same time of Moon might still be standing @RichKiller @Cal. Such ‘bubble realm’ theories would also make quotes such as “a soul trapped in this realm forever (Arthur)” and “imprisoned in this place for all eternity (the Whisp)” making sense. Maybe the version of the Angolan mine with Purgatory Point merged in it that we visit is a twisted, isolated version of the original one, filled with zombies… Please leave your thoughts and ideas!

[RichKiller]

You'll have to excuse me for not reading the vast majority of this post to avoid spoilers.

I'll say this:
In my eyes, the only way to make sense of the "buried-moon" theory is to assume the so called "bubble".
More specifically, Victis telaports back in time with the buried town itself to prehistoric times.
If Maxis wins, the rift opens in the original dimension and the Apothicons take over (hence the orange atmosphere and the "booms" i.e meteors) to consume it sooner or later.
If Richtofen wins, he mends the rift and the Apothicons do not take over the dimension (hence the massive earth shaking).

Richtofen placed the bubble, which protects the dimension from the Apothicons. 
As for the NAVcard paradox: Richtofen controls Victis' mini-cycle- Richtofen can push Victis from Buried back to Tranzit.
Victis always "wakes up" in Tranzit. The Buried cutscene is merely a far memory of the past, style MoTD intro, and cycle, the giant entering quotes, etc
(it happened but not recently as the crew thinks).  Richtofen always pushes back Victis from the bubble to Buried until a result happens- either Maxis or Richtofen wins.

Also recall that the timeline is not reliable as it is an Apothicon book. The Apothicons intended that both Primis Richtofen and Dr. Monty read its pages and act accordingly. 
If it is too close to Ultimis' Richtofen's plan, it's not there.  This is a war between entities, each thinks they know everything. Everyone try to outsmart the rest and
make sure they see exactly what they need to see. This alone justifies the way the zombies storyline is displayed. In WaW-BO1 we see Ultimis' prespective. In BO2 we see Victis' prespective, In BO3-BO4 we see Primis' prespective. I think Richtofen's perspective started in BO4 but did not finish. If we knew Richtofen's full perspective on the story, I think it will complete the missing pieces. That's all we need. 




 

[anonymous]

Oh fock how much have you read? I totally forgot about it, I'm so sorry man! How could I forget this?

[RichKiller]

1 minute ago, anonymous said:

Oh fock how much have you read? I totally forgot about it, I'm so sorry man! How could I forget this?

Mostly last paragraph. All good. 

[anonymous]

1 minute ago, RichKiller said:

Mostly last paragraph. All good. 

Phewww, I almost felt like I killed an example of an almost extincted species. You know, you people going dark are rare and respected, and once someone gets spoiled or stops going dark, there'll never be a way back. I'll read your reply tomorrow, go to bed now.

[anonymous]

12 hours ago, RichKiller said:

As for the NAVcard paradox: Richtofen controls Victis' mini-cycle- Richtofen can push Victis from Buried back to Tranzit.
Victis always "wakes up" in Tranzit. 

Speaking about that, this reminds me of Richtofen's Quest step that must be done to fix the "hole in space time left somewhere along the way". Could be about the NAVcard paradox. In this step the players teleport to the future the pull a couple of levers at their dead bodies. Could that cause Victis, after them having died in round infinity after Richtofen's Endgame, to rezurrect back in time in Tranzit, to put the Buried NAVcard in the Tranzit tower? That could be why for the Victis not being dead yet, this step must have been done for them to proceed to Richtofen's Endgame. They change their own history. That would also mean Richtofen's path is an endless loop, even if he wins the 'round infinity step' must have been performed, starting the loop again. This would go on forever, untill Victis decide to follow Maxis' path and Origins happens, setting the stage for the story's continuation and change of the past.

 

Difficult to wrap your mind about, but I believe it would solve both the NAVcard paradox and why Richtofen's path cannot be seen in the Kronorium: the events have been changed untill Maxis' path was chosen.

 

Something totally irrelevant of this but I just realized that the Timebomb, in contradictionary to the MTD's and Rifts, teleport the player back in time but without the (past) player being located in that time. Let's hypothise that Richtofen wants to use a timebomb to travel back to kill himself: Impossible, he isn't there. The Timebomb doesn't duplicate, so to say. Its an entire different type of teleportation/timetravel. Any idea how this would work?

[RichKiller]

3 hours ago, anonymous said:

Speaking about that, this reminds me of Richtofen's Quest step that must be done to fix the "hole in space time left somewhere along the way". Could be about the NAVcard paradox. In this step the players teleport to the future the pull a couple of levers at their dead bodies. Could that cause Victis, after them having died in round infinity after Richtofen's Endgame, to rezurrect back in time in Tranzit, to put the Buried NAVcard in the Tranzit tower? That could be why for the Victis not being dead yet, this step must have been done for them to proceed to Richtofen's Endgame. They change their own history. That would also mean Richtofen's path is an endless loop, even if he wins the 'round infinity step' must have been performed, starting the loop again. This would go on forever, untill Victis decide to follow Maxis' path and Origins happens, setting the stage for the story's continuation and change of the past.

 

Difficult to wrap your mind about, but I believe it would solve both the NAVcard paradox and why Richtofen's path cannot be seen in the Kronorium: the events have been changed untill Maxis' path was chosen.

 

Something totally irrelevant of this but I just realized that the Timebomb, in contradictionary to the MTD's and Rifts, teleport the player back in time but without the (past) player being located in that time. Let's hypothise that Richtofen wants to use a timebomb to travel back to kill himself: Impossible, he isn't there. The Timebomb doesn't duplicate, so to say. Its an entire different type of teleportation/timetravel. Any idea how this would work?

The time bomb doesn't duplicate but there could possibly be more than one time bomb. I'd argue this is a time bomb activation:

 

 

The time bomb is not exactly time travel. Some stuff does not change like opening doors etc. I'd say it's more of reversing events back to the point where the time bomb was planted. Some events affected by the aether don't change when activated.