The CoD Zombies Storybook

[RadZakpak]

Have you ever wanted to experience the Call of Duty Zombies storyline as a narrative, interweaving all the little details to make a story that can be read anywhere?

 

The CoD Zombies Storybook is an anthology project, telling every facet of the zombies storyline in a narrative fashion for easier reading and understanding, with some artistic liberties and theories thrown in to keep the story cohesive.

 

If you would like to view each chapter on the site, click here. You can click any chapter on the sidebar to the left or go from the table of contents. 

 

Book 1: Ascend From Darkness (Complete): Told from a variety of perspectives, Book 1 chronicles the exploitation of Element 115 by Group 935 during the Second World War, which ultimately led to the chaos pervading the entire story. Book 1 introduces Doctor Edward Richtofen, his superior and rival Doctor Ludvig Maxis, as well as Maxis' daughter Samantha. It also shows the war and experiments taking place behind the curtain from the perspective of American spy Peter McCain, as well as soldiers across the front, “Tank” Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki. Book 1 will see the rise and fall into madness of the brilliant Richtofen, as he sets a plan in motion that will alter time and space permanently, and have him come to meet his three infamous test subjects for the first time. [Google Doc Here]

 

Book 2: A Soul Alone (Coming Soon): Set back and desiring power, Edward Richtofen enlists the help of Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo to complete his plan to enter the Aether. Through all the blood and gore from legions of undead controlled by Samantha, the group, together known as Ultimis, finds themselves sent jumping through time in search of key components to Richtofen's plan. As we follow Ultimis, we see the ramifications of Richtofen's actions on the world during the era of the Cold War, where Group 935 scientists are used between the United States and Soviet Union in a technology race. The unholy experiments perpetuated by Group 935 and Samantha's influence create chaos in the modernizing world as major powers meet in order to keep the peace. [Google Doc Here]

 

Book 3: Brimstone To Damnation: Following Richtofen's entering of the Aether, the world in 2025 is plunged into chaos from the fallout of the missiles sent to Earth by Maxis. Broken Arrow, the organizational successor to Group 935 in the United States created during the Cold War, is in part responsible for the post-missile civilization's falling apart. Former agent of Broken Arrow, known only now as “Russman”, wanders America, his memories inconsistent from the 115 exposure. Along his travels he meets Samuel Stuhlinger, a disgraced reporter with former connections to a flesh-devouring cult. Utilizing Broken Arrow's technology and wary of zombies and other survivors, they travel in search of solace in Hell on Earth. Marlton Johnson, an engineer and conspiracy theorist, who has only survived through his intelligence and knack for technology, meets Abigail “Misty” Briarton, a farm girl who lost her family and searches for a better future. As the four would come together at a zombie-infested bus station, they would be known as Victis. The world has been plunged into a war between those on the side of Ludvig Maxis, his voice now a part of technology across the globe, those listening to Edward Richtofen's voice inside their head, and hordes of the undead. Caught in this conflict, Victis must choose a side and find purpose as the world literally crumbles beneath them.

 

Book 4: Salvation Lies Above: When Edward Richtofen began to meddle with Element 115, he inadvertently caused ripples across the multiverse. One Dimension 63 was home to alternate versions of Group 935, Richtofen, Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai, and Ludvig Maxis, now present during the first World War. Lost without her father, Samantha calls to the Ludvig of this dimension, enlisting his help as well as Richtofen and the three soldiers sent to capture him, in order to free her from the Aether. Together, Richtofen and his unconventional allies would become Primis. Following Samantha's freedom, Richtofen would come to learn of his true importance to the state of the multiverse. Driven to put an end to the chaos ensnaring it, and to redeem the actions of his other selves, Richtofen comes together with the rest of Primis to collect their eternal souls and put an end to the reign of the Apothicons, an ancient evil responsible for Richtofen's corruption and the spread of Element 115 throughout the dimensions. 

 

Book 5: No One Escapes Alive: A chain of events is set in motion that will break the cycle that has been continuing for so long. From across the multiverse, Primis, Ultimis, and Victis come together under the command of Nikolai, now burdened with the knowledge of the Kronorium. The breaking of the cycle has created ripples across space and time, drawing both Monty and the Shadowman to the conflict as they try to prevent Nikolai's grand scheme. Only now as the Aether has reached its end do their true motivations become clear.

 

My goal with the storybook is for readers to have an easy to understand and an entertaining source of zombies knowledge. If you have any criticism or any concern regarding accuracy of information, please ask in this thread. The purpose of this thread is to suggest any changes and provide criticism for the way the story is told. I am an amateur writer, and criticism will only help me. I will also use this thread to update when a new chapter is posted.

 

NOTE TO ANY NEW READERS: Do not take my work as a definitive understanding of the storyline. Understand that there are many points in the zombies storyline left ambiguous or that were completely abandoned by Treyarch. My goal with the storybook is to use commonly accepted theories from the community to fill in these gaps to create a cohesive story. Simply, do not use my storybook as the be-all end-all source of storyline knowledge, as much of it is speculation, and as the storyline continues to evolve under community intervention, things will change in the story.

[anonymous]

He is working on this for a while now, and its great to see every week or something, the book gets updated with a new chapter. What I think is very well done are the characters. Richthofen is a crazy intelligent psychopath (and the leader of the group), Takeo is the only sane and wise one (I really wonder where @RadZakpak gets all these wise quotes and proverbs from), Nikolai the vodka addicted communist, and Dempsey the brutal hard-language guy. Even the relations between the characters (such as between Richthofen and Nikolai) are done very well.

[RadZakpak]

Chapter 12: "Hemlock Philosophy" is now up on the site here. In this chapter we explore Takeo's plans for the future, and his past training as a Samurai. The crew regroups to prepare for their final departure from Der Riese, discovering one final secret held within Group 935's facility.

[Steelie]

This is amazing! Hats off to you for taking on such an enormous project, I'll be sure to read it!

[InfestLithium]

Question about Chapter 12:

 

fFor the Fly Trap to activate, didn't it take a PaP'ed weapon to start the event? I could be wrong though since I only remember the BO remastered classic maps...not sure if a grenade worked in WaW.

[anonymous]

28 minutes ago, InfestLithium said:

Question about Chapter 12:

 

fFor the Fly Trap to activate, didn't it take a PaP'ed weapon to start the event? I could be wrong though since I only remember the BO remastered classic maps...not sure if a grenade worked in WaW.

I was wondering the same. Dempsey uses a grenade, although I believe his weapon is not PAP'ed, so even if he shoots the trap does not work.

[Steelie]

I'm wondering in the prologue, the perspective seems to switch between third person and Raines' perspective?

[RadZakpak]

3 hours ago, anonymous said:

I was wondering the same. Dempsey uses a grenade, although I believe his weapon is not PAP'ed, so even if he shoots the trap does not work.

I meant to imply he Packed a weapon of his while he was off with Nikolai and Takeo, sorry it wasn't more clear. Also truthfully I think having to use a Packed weapon is just a gameplay mechanic to make the fly trap something harder to find. Using any kind of force on the panel I imagine would activate it.

 

2 hours ago, Steelie said:

I'm wondering in the prologue, the perspective seems to switch between third person and Raines' perspective?

Yes, the perspective tends to switch around when it's most convinient, and I try to keep chapters consistent and keep it clear whose point of view we are reading from.

[Steelie]

I absolutely love how you worked in the radios by the way!!

[RadZakpak]

I have gone back to Book 1 and fixed many grammatical and continuity errors in several chapters. Nothing too major besides Chapter 12 - "Asylum" being changed to Chapter 18, to better fit the timeline of events. Also some wording is changed in the prologue since it is meant to take place after the war has ended.

 

I have also added rough dates and locations to each chapter to hopefully clear up some confusion and better establish setting. Unfortunately many events in the story are undated.

[RadZakpak]

Chapter 13: "Retreat" is now up on the storybook section of the site here. Now together again, our characters prepare to depart from Der Riese in a teleporter modified by Doctor Richtofen, but plans are rushed and they are accidentally thrust into a strange new setting they are not prepared for.

[InfestLithium]

Finally, now we're getting into Black Ops territory.

 

The best part. (Also, like the MTD/MDT reference!)

[RadZakpak]

Chapter 14: "Kino der Toten" is now up on the site here. Our crew finds themselves twenty years in the future, fending for their lives in an abandoned theater used by Group 935. What horrors will they uncover in their quest to escape the Theater of the Damned?

 

This is my favorite chapter yet and probably the longest one. Hope everyone enjoys, it was a labor of love.

[anonymous]

11 hours ago, RadZakpak said:

Chapter 14: "Kino der Toten" is now up on the site here. Our crew finds themselves twenty years in the future, fending for their lives in an abandoned theater used by Group 935. What horrors will they uncover in their quest to escape the Theater of the Damned?

 

This is my favorite chapter yet and probably the longest one. Hope everyone enjoys, it was a labor of love.

Love it. You describe this map and the horrors within just as perfect as you did with the previous 2 maps.

[RadZakpak]

4 hours ago, anonymous said:

Love it. You describe this map and the horrors within just as perfect as you did with the previous 2 maps.

Thank you! That's one reason I'm excited to get to Black Ops III with Zetsubou: I love describing the horror of a map.

[RadZakpak]

So I took a look back at Book 1 of the anthology, and was shocked to find that in my word processor I only filled out 52 pages. In comparison, I have filled out 92 pages for Book 2, and I'm not even halfway done. This makes me feel I have skimped a lot of good info with Book 1 and would like to go back at some point and further flesh it out.

 

I would like to know what everyone here would like to see further expanded in Book 1? Some ideas I thought of were perhaps bringing up Richtofen's involvement with the Illuminati (Which would do wonders filling in that gap between 1939 and 1945 in the first group of chapters). I also ask if you guys feel there should be chapters explaining things like the Vril-Ya, the Aether, the Keepers/Apothicons, etc., or would that be too much for an introduction to the story when these elements won't even show up until future books.

 

So yeah, let me know if you have any ideas for chapters or how I should further expand on certain characters. Because Book 1 is before the games I don't have a whole lot to work with outside the radios.

 

 

[anonymous]

10 hours ago, RadZakpak said:

So I took a look back at Book 1 of the anthology, and was shocked to find that in my word processor I only filled out 52 pages. In comparison, I have filled out 92 pages for Book 2, and I'm not even halfway done. This makes me feel I have skimped a lot of good info with Book 1 and would like to go back at some point and further flesh it out.

 

I would like to know what everyone here would like to see further expanded in Book 1? Some ideas I thought of were perhaps bringing up Richtofen's involvement with the Illuminati (Which would do wonders filling in that gap between 1939 and 1945 in the first group of chapters). I also ask if you guys feel there should be chapters explaining things like the Vril-Ya, the Aether, the Keepers/Apothicons, etc., or would that be too much for an introduction to the story when these elements won't even show up until future books.

 

So yeah, let me know if you have any ideas for chapters or how I should further expand on certain characters. Because Book 1 is before the games I don't have a whole lot to work with outside the radios.

 

 

I have thought about the possible fact that the Illuminati are the Apothicans. You know, with Richthofen's "deal" with the Shadowman. An idea that has to less prove to be proved, but perhaps an idea. The Illuminati for sure is an interesting topic. I love the Apothican voices in Richthofen's head you sometimes mention, really well done those. But the whole Apothican and Keeper stuff was discovered by Richthofen only after Origins. In WaW and BO1 there is actually very little mentioned about them. Perhaps you could briefly mention them when Maxis (or perhaps Richthofen) is investigating them. Or the invention of the VR-11 using Vrill energy (I believe). The research to the "Hollow Earth"/Agartha/Aether. I believe you have already mentioned the three Vimana's. Tunguska. The Nazi expeditions to the Poles in order to find Agartha, and that kind of stuff.

 

Maybe you can talk a bit more about the secret research stuff of Maxis which Richthofen finds in the safe in Der Riese in Book 2. Or perhaps you could talk more about the stations Group 935 sets up, like Kino der Toten and Shangri La (or perhaps you would rather keep them secret and introduce them in Book 2, discovered by Richthofen.

 

Overal, it is logical that Book 1 is shorter, because the only information you got about that are some theories and the radio's. Book 2 you base on the game features, the map layout, and practically everything Treyarch gave us.

[RadZakpak]

I decided to depart from the expected for a little bit, and started a Tales from the Multiverse arc titled "Whispers of Morg City". Chapters 1-3 can be found on the site here. I plan to do 7 chapters for this arc.

 

Uncover the deep, alluring secrets of Morg City, a city shrouded in darkness and mystery. Follow a young reporter looking for quick cash from the mysterious Mr. Rapt, as he studies life in the bustling Morg City.

 

Once the 7 chapters are done, I should return back to Book 2. I just needed a bit of a break and school lately has been hell on my productivity.

[InfestLithium]

Compeltely in love with the Morg City stories! Really pulls you into the limelight and premier of the city before becoming corrupted. Fantastic storytelling as always, @RadZakpak!

 

I do have a question about Chapter 2 of it: http://www.callofdutyzombies.com/story/morgcitych2/

 

I know @PINNAZ found the "Cursed" promo image Treyarch made to be the Chicago skyline, but I was curious to see as if Morg City were also based around Chicago? In this chapter, it seems like Morg City was within vicinity of San Fracisco. While it only make sense because the MotD mobsters were based in SF, I just wanted clairty on if you thought that same thing when making the two cities within close proximity?

[RadZakpak]

1 hour ago, InfestLithium said:

Compeltely in love with the Morg City stories! Really pulls you into the limelight and premier of the city before becoming corrupted. Fantastic storytelling as always, @RadZakpak!

 

I do have a question about Chapter 2 of it: http://www.callofdutyzombies.com/story/morgcitych2/

 

I know @PINNAZ found the "Cursed" promo image Treyarch made to be the Chicago skyline, but I was curious to see as if Morg City were also based around Chicago? In this chapter, it seems like Morg City was within vicinity of San Fracisco. While it only make sense because the MotD mobsters were based in SF, I just wanted clairty on if you thought that same thing when making the two cities within close proximity?

I did not take into account the Chicago theory when I was writing, so I meant to leave it very ambiguous. The thing is, the actual phone call in SoE has the tram departing to the Waterfront District. So if the phone call is actually right after the Ferguson interview in San Francisco as it is implied, the reporter takes a direct route from SF to Morg City, which may very well be in the Chicago area. I meant to base the proximity of Morg City and the Reporter's apartment on the Reporter's accent, which gives me a vibe that he is from that general area. But now that I think about it, having him travel across the country to SF to interview one guy, then immediately go across the country again to Morg City, which is very close to his home as I stated it is kind of ludicrous. So I may do some rewrites to have him live closer to California to justify him going out of his way to find Ferguson before relocating to Morg City, across the country. If anyone knows a bit more about accents and where the reporter might be from, that may make things easier.

 

Also, thanks for the compliments! I've been really interested in the lore surrounding Morg City recently and just had to get the story out while ideas were fresh. Things are about to start getting stranger.

[InfestLithium]

I think the easiest way to compare is to match the accents of the Mobsters to the Reporter. Because if we know the mobsters to have been based in SF and acknowledge their presence in Morg City, that would evidently link Morg City near the SF area no?

 

The mobsters' voice actors probably didn't put too much emphasis on accents - just used their normal, but slightly more abrasive, dialect.

[RadZakpak]

3 hours ago, InfestLithium said:

I think the easiest way to compare is to match the accents of the Mobsters to the Reporter. Because if we know the mobsters to have been based in SF and acknowledge their presence in Morg City, that would evidently link Morg City near the SF area no?

 

The mobsters' voice actors probably didn't put too much emphasis on accents - just used their normal, but slightly more abrasive, dialect.

It would make sense for Morg City to be close to San Francisco rather than Chicago. While the skyline in the Cursed poster is interesting, it is probably just stock imagery used as a base for the art. I will update the story accordingly.

[anonymous]

You said the whole reporter/Morg City stuff takes place in 1944, while in fact, it is in 1942.

 

In this post, @Tac explains that promotional material for Shadows of Evil has stated that the map is a 1940s world.  Additionally, the only year in the 1940s in which April 10th falls on a Friday (as seen on the Snapchat promotional material) is 1942.

[RadZakpak]

2 hours ago, anonymous said:

You said the whole reporter/Morg City stuff takes place in 1944, while in fact, it is in 1942.

 

In this post, @Tac explains that promotional material for Shadows of Evil has stated that the map is a 1940s world.  Additionally, the only year in the 1940s in which April 10th falls on a Friday (as seen on the Snapchat promotional material) is 1942.

Thank you, I will adjust accordingly. Not sure where I got the idea it was in 1944.

[RadZakpak]

Chapters 4 and 5 of Whispers of Morg City are now up on the site. Chapter 4: "Marketplace" is here. Chapter 5: "The Order" is here.

 

After weeks of becoming acclimated to Morg City's night life, the young Californian reporter discovers a strange disease corrupting the people of Waterfront District, and sets out to find answers on its origins.

 

Thanks for reading everyone! Things have been very busy for me lately and they don't seem to be slowing down. Hopefully Spring Break will give me some more time to write.