brett307

I don't believe Maxis is evil. But he is rather insane. Let me explain: Let's review Maxis' life in full here: His wife has died and Samantha is really the only person he has left in his lifetime. I mean, he was willing to keep her at a weapons factory just to ensure her safety, and above all else, he had been trapped in an advanced AI system as a disembodied spirit unable to even KNOW the whereabouts of his daughter, who had basically been separated from him due to the selfish will of his research assistant bent on usurping power he knew would end in catastrophe. So once he finally finds out his daughter his safe on Moon and thinks he has thwarted the man who has torn his life into shreds, he finds that he has only multiplied the damage done and worsened the conditions of humanity. Oh yeah, and then his own daughter dies shortly after. How could this not drive a father to the brink of insanity? Not only do I believe Maxis is not evil, I pity him and understand his struggle. He may not be making the right choices by sacrificing the remnants of humanity, but you must understand he is a father. He would do anything to be reunited with Samantha, even if it meant deceiving the remaining human population and destroying an entire planet (over half of which is populated by brainless undead, mind you).

Sorry, but your theory and the diary don't seem to match up. He says that he hopes Richtofen's thirst for power doesn't become catastrophic- well for one thing he already HAS that specific power he has yearned for. And I'd consider the collapse of civilization and the undead ruling the Earth to be a pretty catastrophic outcome at this point.

The same occurs after doing the Easter Egg and inserting the correct Navcard in Die Rise. Depending on what side of the EE you did last in that map, the glow will either be blue for Richtofen's side or orange for Maxis' side.

That's what I had in mind. It appears that the missiles likely caused tectonic shifts that resulted in the town being smashed into Angola. I 100% agree with you on this one.

I know now is probably not the BEST time to contemplate the story, but that code looks awfully familiar to the symbols found on the Shangri-La gongs and the MPD on Moon... Maxis also states the energy of the Aether is strong in this map, and there were previous inhabitants of this subterranean "rift." Argatha anyone?

The incident is either: 1. The zombie outbreak. 2. The missile launch. 3. The fire mentioned in the Die Rise radios.

We know enough about Stu: he was in the Flesh, and now can hear Richtofen. To be honest, that's good enough for me. He's FAR from fine as well- he's having short term memory loss, paranoia, not to mention hearing constant groans in his head during Die Rise... there is something seriously wrong with Stu.

There isn't any mentioning of Maxis taking control of Russman in Die Rise. There is no such quote and no evidence pointing to that. You may want to check back on that one...

Okay, so here's what we found out: -Russmana and Stuhlinger already knew each other prior to meeting Misty and Marlton. They arrived in Tranzit (called "the town") on the bus and the four met there -Society has (obviously) collapsed, but few have managed to survive -The group is aware of Richtofen, whom they refer to as the "German voice" -Russman was an operative at the Broken Arrow facility, ever since an incident. This could be the zombie outbreak, the missile launch or the outbreak in Broken Arrow mentioned in the Die Rise radios -Buried is set somewhere in Southeast Africa

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't David Vonderhaar suggest in a tweet (that was quickly removed upon published) that the players could determine the fates of our N4? My theory is that, as our characters are being referred to as pawns to Maxis and Richtofen, which usually refers to being useless and only essential in furthering a major plot, perhaps will our characters be "offed" by Richtofen upon completion of the last tower? Think about it: Stuhlinger is slowly becoming infected due to his contact with 115, and and blood stains are already lining his face- perhaps we could see something similar to MotD's endgame here? Once we complete Richtofen's tower, he disposes of us by allowing Stuhlinger to be fully infected, thus causing him to attack the other three as a zombie (much like in Turned) while in turn the others must kill him? The same could happen for Maxis: Richtofen is enraged at their betrayal to his plans and does the same thing? It's just a theory, of course, but I feel as though it would be the perfect way to bring in the O4.

Hey all! Bit of a new poster, so some much-needed tips from you veterans could be helpful after this post! But anyways, I've decided to accumulate some background for our new mobsters based on what I've seen and heard in-game, so feel free to add more details you've find or that I missed. 1. Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca: An archaic mob boss imprisoned in Alcatraz after being found guilty on June 13th, 1932. Sal built an empire on drugs, gambling and prostitution, but is insecure, and his incarceration led to his power slipping away. Sal refrained from violence in his mob and often contracted others to get victims or targets out of the way. Upon his incarceration, he was one of the three inmates who conspired with Al Arlington to escape the island using a makeshift airplane. 2. Billy Handsome- Cold and psychotic, Handsome was a contract killer who was incarcerated on account of 116 murders. As long as his kills were gruesome, gory, and made the headlines, Billy was always the go-to sociopath, and is driven by a dark and personal guilt. 3. Michael "Finn" O'Leary- Finn is an arrogant, Irish-American street thug that was imprisoned after his wife, silent film actress Angelina Bow, testified against him for 16 accounts of gambling fraud. 4. Albert "the Weasel" Arlington- A mastermind schemer and efficient con man, Arlington was arrested after being the discovery of his extensive criminal history whilst a suspect in a Los Angeles bank heist. Arlington kept a journal in the prison where he planned to build the Icarus, a makeshift airplane that would be used to fly off the island while being mocked by other inmates for his scrawniness. Arlington is the only one of the four aware of the never-ending cycle and planned to break free from it by killing his companions.

This is very interesting as well. The Warden obviously was a Satanist. There are rituals set up all over the prison. Now the Warden becoming Brutus...interesting. I'll have to think about it. I'm not saying it's wrong. In fact, it sounds good. But I'll have to think more on that before I decide. I appreciate the support, MurderMachine. I know the theory lacks evidence, but it just seems weird that the warden has hung photographs of Brutus in his office. I feel like if we can get that writing solved on the walls then a lot more will be revealed...

I think we have a winner... But seriously, amazing theory. I think it's safe to assume that your theory is correct, and I have some additional info you might want to add. Having my fair share of encounters with Brutus, I've heard him say an interesting quote; "This is MY prison!" I'm sure you've seen this already as well, but there are several newspaper clippings on a bulletin board in the Warden's Office with pictures of Brutus. And what's the headline of said picture? -SPECT WARDEN. Obviously the first word is cut off, but Warden is pretty clear. Before jumping to conclusions, let's look at some evidence: 1. According to one of the trailers, Treyarch said that the Warden would collect civil war weapons and is the creator of the Blundergat. Billy Handsome supports this theory when he says that he smuggled the weapons from the warden's "private collection." So now we know that the warden has a collection of civil war weapons. 2. There are dozens of candles littering the warden's office, blood smeared on the windows and cryptic messages written on the walls. The state of the office greatly resembles a Satanic ceremony, so for now we can presume that the warden is a Satanist. Now put all the pieces together: Could Brutus in fact be the warden? There is minimal evidence, but it adds to the theory: Brutus (the warden) wants power over the undead, so he starts Devil Worship in his office and starts to go crazy trying to achieve power, and is eventually turned into one of Satan's minions and his plans all go wrong. Again, just a theory, but I thought I'd share it with you.

There are two possible endings to the Easter Egg and the entire game, therefore. 1. Albert Arlington (the Weasel) is killed by Sal DeLuca, Finn O'Leary and Billy Handsome, and 19 days later they were sentenced to the electric chair for his death. This causes the cycle to continue as the four will be sentenced back in time to relive these events after the execution, and is arguably the worst of the two endings. 2. The person playing as the Weasel manages to kill Sal, Finn and Billy, allowing Weasel to live and escape the paradox and evade his fate, thus breaking the cycle. This could be considered the better of the two endings considering it allows the cycle to be broken and, presumably, all the mobsters to escape the paradox.

You know what interests me the most here? The fact that Stanley Fergurson (the guard killed and later zombified in the opening cinematic) is the one explaining the escape. This leads me to believe that if the cycle isn't broken (or is broken) the outbreak fades from existence or something like that. As for Arlington, I feel like this won't be the last we'll see of the Weasel. His in-game quotes are very interesting- he talks of remembering the name Nikolai, and seems to have some sort of knowledge pertaining to the story. Arlington seems to be the Richtofen or Stuhlinger of this group. I hope we get more of his character mentioned in the story at some point, cause he must have some importance.

I agree. Why are we all getting so worked up over this? As a person who is terrible at Zombies and can only dream of achieving any sort of side-quest on any map, the sooner we figure out the quest the better!

Don't forget about the water tower, which wasn't built until 1941!!

Ray or Chazz works for me.

The name "Side-Quest" was initiated from the COD: Zombies Panel last year, in which devs specifically referred to the Side Missions as Side-Quests. But I agree, Side Missions is more fitting and appropriate.

I'd have to agree, this seems about right. One thing I'd like to point out here is that the Water Tower seen on Alcatraz in the Behind the Scenes trailer was built in 1941, so obviously our map takes place sometime after that. All in all this seems solid.

I love how we have finally gotten a proper backstory for this Wonder Weapon: the Warden collecting and creating hybrids of Civil War weaponry makes me suspicious...

While I have no clue as to what the symbol means, the structure that symbol is drawn on is quite interesting...it almost looks like a spire or pylon....

So to summarize, we have two populous theories currently: 1. MotD is set between 1934-1947, and our new crew will be literal prisoners that are fighting to survive the zombie outbreak. OR 2. MotD is set in the same time-frame as Die Rise and Green Run, and the new crew we play as are the ACTORS who were filming a movie SET in the Prohibition Era (much like CotD). Personally, I see continuity issues with the second theory; if the map truly is in the same time-frame of Die Rise and Green Run, why would you bother making a movie when the world is literally crumbling and zombies are running rampant everywhere? Not to mention that 115 is now airborne...we all heard George Barkley, it's Hell on Earth right now. But again, just my thoughts.

This is some awesome thoughts, I was thinking the same thing really. However, there's one big thing that's left out here: a quote from Moon that directly tells us what launching the rockets would accomplish in the first place! After playing Samantha Says thrice, Maxis will say: "Good. Now that I am in control of the station, we'll have one last chance to sever Edward's link with Earth. Retrieve the artifact, and take it to the launch platform." Okay, so by launching the rockets, we would be severing the link between Earth and the zombie population there, and the Aether, Richtofen's location. So now it seems as though maybe these polarization towers actually strengthen or amplify the connection with Aether and the zombie army on Earth? If this is the case, it seems to be the reason why Maxis launched the rockets aimed at the tower locations: he wanted to destroy them, and cripple Edward's ties with the zombies, "lessening the damage he could cause". But considering the calculations were off, and the rockets hit NEAR the locations of said towers (i.e. Nuketown), Maxis' Plan B is to activate them himself, commandeer control of the zombies, and then...well, that's all we really know of his plan as of right now.

Getting back on topic... I think MurderMachine's "Evolution of the Zombie" is most accurate. However, I think the Denizens are included in there somewhere- I think they may have branched off of the Gas Zombie family and evolved in a separate family. Either that, or Treyarch pretty much disregarded the story when conceiving those sons of bitches and simply added them for maximum rage.