The Keeper Language Decoded (For Real this time)

[caljitsu]

 

(last updated 2021-02-04)

Almost four years ago, the entire community was told that we now had in our hands, the keys to decoding the Apothicon and Keeper languages. Now once again, with @EricMaynard, @Bench_Appearo, and myself (as well as several others) having spend an inordinate amount of hours on it over the past few weeks, I tell you today that, just as with our previous venture into Apothicon, this was not the case. In fact, we had barely scratched the surface of the Keeper Language. 

 

WHAT WE KNEW:

At first glance, it would seem we had more information about Keeper than was the case with Apothicon. Indeed, @MrRoflWaffles had published the Keeper Word and Pronunciation grids, allowing for what many believed was total access to the language - as well as this, very brief allusions to grammar and the methods in which words were made up. At the end of this process, we can safely say there is far more - both in terms of the language at face value and for its lore implications. 

 

 

WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW:

Firstly, each keeper word has a value in Base 9 - this is nothing new, as MrRoflWaffles had told us this, however it seems as though his reasoning was incorrect. In the real world, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages used a system "Cuneiform" - this is the oldest writing system in the world and appears in Origins, as well as being a clear inspiration for Keeper. These ancient cultures (as well as many more that followed and even some cultures today) used a different system to Base 10 to count, called Sexagesimal or Base 60. Look at your hand: On each finger (discounting your thumb) you have three visible fingerbones, and you have four fingers - this means with one hand, you can count to 12, just as today in the West, with one hand we count to 5. If you look at a Keeper's hand, they have three fingers, each with three finger bones - this means with one hand, they can get to 9.

The majority of words in keeper are built up from what we have dubbed as “prime words”. Every word can be assigned a number in base 10 (our real-world counting system). If you then check the prime factors of that number (the values that can only be divided by themselves and 1 that multiply to make the word you started with), it becomes clear that the meanings of these words create the larger word. We were somewhat aware of this due to a brief mention in one of the “Keeper Language” videos by Milo - however without the full knowledge of Apothicon, we were unable to fully appreciate this.

Many of these “prime words” are Apothicon Radicals. This suggests a sort of cultural correlation between the two and indeed many of the words are similar, whilst being slightly different to their Apothicon counterparts. This of course makes sense from a development perspective, as Treyarch likely developed the languages at the same time, however it also makes sense from a lore perspective, as the language that is known as Apothicon by the time of the Aether storyline has existed for far longer - being the original language of the pre-keeper race long before their war and racial split. As a result, the Keeper language evolved with the Keepers and whilst the Prime Words are very much the same as the radicals, the meanings behind larger words has changed in order to better match the Keeper’s culture and worldview - more on that later. 

Most interestingly, we can now, for the first time, present written Keeper grammar. For years now, full keeper sentences in game were untranslatable, with only the specific words being translatable. For an english comparison, this is the difference between “break wall” and “You must not ever break this wall”. A clearly huge difference. I must be transparent, however: whilst we are confident in our methods, as we have at this point translated every quote we could find in game to check for consistency, some of the Keeper pronunciations themselves are estimates by us based on the patterns the language follows. This was done out of necessity, as there are no spoken instances of these few pieces of grammar in game, and therefore sadly, the only people with knowledge of these pronunciations are Milo and Treyarch themselves. I must repeat though, this does not affect translation. Now, every Keeper quote - both audible and written - is translatable.

 

 

KEEPER ETYMOLOGY:

As previously mentioned, in our lore, the Keeper language was developed far later than the Apothicon language and thus represents a culture that has diverged from that of the Apothicons. A great example of this is the word for Survive.

In Apothicon, this word is made up of the radicals “Flow/Radiate”, “Change”, and “Harms”. Clearly to the Apothicons, the concept of survival requires being able to flow and change constantly, or the ability to adapt, however they must also harm others in order to accomplish this. This makes sense as in order to literally continue to exist, Apothicons must consume the life energy of living creatures. The Keeper word, however, is only made up of the Prime Words for “Flow/Radiate” and “Change”, but no mention of the radical for “Harm”. As the Keepers secured their existence long ago, they have no need to harm others, like the Apothicons, in order to ensure their survival. A good example of a concept that has not changed, however, is the word for “All” - where in both Keeper and Apothicon, it translates to “Hold Change” (however it should be noted that, as discussed in the last thread, the Apothicon word has been modified in order to reference their newly acquired hivemind - obviously absent from the Keepers’ word as they are able to think independently).

THE IMAGE AND THE PROCESS:

The image itself is a replication of the original treyarch design document (seen in the teaser for the Awakening DLC for Black Ops 3 and printed on the shirt given to Milo) and is as accurate as we could possibly make it, however unfortunately, the structure section was completely absent and so is of original design.

The process itself was far more complex than that of the Apothicon Language and so took more time. The main issue was the grammar. Unlike the Apothicon project where we were able to determine words based on blurry images of the shirt, no image existed of the “structure” section of the shirt and so we had the bare minimum to obtain the grammar. Whilst searching the few videos Milo had made on the Apothicon language for information, we came across a quote which he had written in transcribed keeper (keeper sounds written in english) along with its english counterpart - which as we later learned, was also written on the sword in Shadows of Evil. This served as our “rosetta stone”, as just like the Ancient Egyptian Language was cracked when a stone was discovered with both Ancient Greek (which they knew how to read) along with the same message in the lost language, we were now able to match the unknown keeper grammar symbols to tangible sounds - and their english meanings. 

From there, I began research into English Grammar rules (I will spare the details as it’s fairly dull) and was able to construct tables which allowed me to use processes of elimination to determine what grammar “component” was likely to fit where - this was then compared to in-game keeper quotes to see if it made sense in practice. This was done for practically every texture of written Keeper.

As previously mentioned, a few pronunciations (marked on the language sheet) are estimated based on the pattern that the other pronunciations follow. We tried our hardest to search for any reference (both with in-game and out-of-game sources) for vocalisations of these grammar components, but as far as we know, they exist only on the shirt and on the original design document. If anyone has any information on these few points of contention, please don’t hesitate to come forward.
 

 

WORD SYNTHESIS:

Just with Apothicon, you can have a lot of fun with this. In order to create a word, all you need to do is think of the word’s meaning in its most basic sense, then search through the “prime words” for those that fit this, then simply multiply their corresponding base 10 number together. Convert this to Base 9, then use the pronunciation guides in the “structure” section to complete your word!

 

 

NOTES:

The first and obvious point is that of the few grammar components that have estimated pronunciations - this has been said enough already and so won’t be reiterated here (As of 2021, the grammar has been solved and corrected. No approximations are now used). Secondly, you may notice a missing slot for “Oot”. As far as we can tell, this is similar to “yog” and “nool” in Apothicon, where it simply uses the symbol of the piece of grammar it is replacing. Thirdly, the markings for “command” and “statement” have no keeper pronunciation - this is as they are never pronounced, and slot round a sentence (like a capital letter and full stop/period in English). Finally, the choice to assign words their base10 value was done to enable word synthesis without having to waste time in base conversion.

 

CLOSING REMARKS:

Just as last time, it’s been my pleasure and privilege to bring this to you and I’m sure all those who have been part of the project would share the same sentiment. I thoroughly believe that this is information the community deserves and now, along with its companion, the Apothicon language, this long-standing mystery within the Zombies community has - hopefully - finally been solved. I really hope you all enjoy this, because as much as the hours were tiring, all of your support the last time around is what helped me push through and finish this. Thank you all. Now, Ul Kree Lu tsar leemagagra bahr lo leegra lu Kreeholo.

 

[KronoriumExcerptB]

Awesome work guys. I love how these languages can really give us another perspective from which to look at the story.

 

I've compiled all the words and their factorization. Most of these factorizations, make sense, like Keeper being good/fortunate^2 and Apothicon being evil/bad/misfortunate^2, some of them are quite insightful like how the Keepers apparently view time as a resource, and a few of them don't really make sense or maybe I'm missing a meaning.

 

Destination/to- Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Feeling/Sensation/Conciousness-  Opposite/duality/altered form * Origin/Form

Shame/form- Opposite/duality/altered form^3

Neutral/stable- Explore/Expand *Opposite/duality/altered form

Across/between- Origin/Form *Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Magic- Opposite/duality/altered form* Reality/Completeness/Existence

Journey- Origin/Form *Explore/Expand

Void/Abyss/Outer Space-  Opposite/duality/altered form^4

Dream/Illusion-Opposite/duality/altered form *Origin/Form^3

Volatile/Chaotic- Opposite/duality/altered form^2 *Explore/Expand

Story/History/Origin Tale/Record-  Reality/Completeness/Existence * Origin/Form

Permanent/Unchanging-  Opposite/duality/altered form* Time/Temporal/Impermanent 

Transcendent-  Reality/Completeness/Existence * Explore/Expand

Emotion/Motivation-  Good/Fortunate * Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Truth-  Reality/Completeness/Existence^2

Flee/Escape- Origin/Form * Move  

Doom/Horrible Consequence-  Reality/Completeness/Existence* Evil/Bad/Misfortunate
Keeper- Good/Fortunate^2

Cross/Move beyond/Venture- Move* Explore/Expand

Lie/Falsehood- Reality/Completeness/Existence^2 * Opposite/duality/altered form

Human- Explore/Expand^2 *Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Pursue/Chase- Opposite/duality/altered form* Origin/Form * Move

Apothicon- Evil/bad/misfortunate^2

Buff- Opposite/duality/altered form*Good/fortunate*Reality/Completeness/Existence

Curse- Opposite/duality/altered form* reality/completeness/existence* evil/bad/misfortunate

Renegade- Resist/Repel/Fight^2

Despair/Sadness- Opposite/duality/altered form* reality/completeness/existence

Eternity/Forever- Time/Temporal/Impermanent^2

Fear- Opposite/duality/altered form* Good/fortunate* Time/temporal/impermanent

Protect/keep- Good/fortunate*hold

Time-  time/temporal/impermanent* resource

Rise- Move*benefit/gain/ability

Fall- Move * loss 

Decay- Evil/bad/misfortunate* flow/radiate

Zombie-Opposite/duality/altered form^2* explore/expand^2 *evil/bad/misfortunate 

Transform- Change*Potential

Eclipse- Converge/together*open

Servant/Slave- Resource*hold

Banish- Move*harm

Space- Resource*open

Pod- potential*hold

Seal up/seal away-  Change*close

Stop/prevent- Potential *close

Insanity Elemental- Opposite/duality/altered form* Good/fortunate*flesh/body/animal

Grow- Resource*flow/radiate

Beast- Opposite/duality/altered form^2 *explore/expand^2*change

Portal- Open*light

Water- Change*bone/metal/solid/mineral

Eye- Resist/repel/fight* Time/temporal/impermanent^2

Egg- Potential*Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Create- Hold*Flow/radiate

Altar- Benefit/gain/ability *bone/metal/solid/mineral

Capture/hold captive- Hold*acquirable 

Margwa- Shadow*Teeth

Heart- Potential*hatch/produce

Unlock- Open*Flow/radiate

Lock-  Close*flow/radiate

Key-  Open*Device/machine

Lock/Seal- Close*Device/machine

Sword- Light* Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Invade- Damage*flow/radiate

Statue (of keeper)- Good/fortunate^2 *Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Parasite-Consume*flesh/body/animal

Seconds- Evil/bad/misfortunate*time/temporal/impermanent

Break/destroy- Evil/bad/misfortunate* Change

Minutes- time/temporal/impermanent*change 

At same time- Converge/Together*Benefit/Gain/Ability

All- Change*hold

Times- Time/temporal/impermanent*points

Hour- Time/temporal/impermanent Bone/metal/solid/mineral

In/into- Move*acquirable

Open- Potential*open

Magic box- Opposite/duality/altered form*Reality/Completeness/Existence *Contain/surround

Survive- Change*flow/radiate 

Perk Machine- Benefit/Gain/Ability *Device/Machine

Door- Open* Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Quick Revive-  Teeth*Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Trap- Damage*Device/Machine

Robot- Opposite/duality/altered form^2* Explore/expand^2*device/machine

Idgun-  Flesh/body/animal*Weapon

[anonymous]

Triple brains to you, Eric and Bench! Genuine killer work, this, you just decoded an entire language!

 

Love that thing about the fingers, I wonder who was that clever to see that? From what I understand from this is that the invention of Keeperese (which followed the Great War and Apothican-Keeper split), went prior to making contact with the early civilisations at Mesopotamia.  I really must print this language form out to hold it alongside me next time when I play BO3.

 

When will I be able to follow this language as a course on Duolingo? :p

[caljitsu]

5 hours ago, anonymous said:

Triple brains to you, Eric and Bench! Genuine killer work, this, you just decoded an entire language!

 

Love that thing about the fingers, I wonder who was that clever to see that? From what I understand from this is that the invention of Keeperese (which followed the Great War and Apothican-Keeper split), went prior to making contact with the early civilisations at Mesopotamia.  I really must print this language form out to hold it alongside me next time when I play BO3.

 

When will I be able to follow this language as a course on Duolingo? :p

So the finger thing was something that came to me as I was doing the very first preliminary research - I already had an interest in the Akkadians and the Sumerians. I think you're on the same trail of thought as I am now, which is what if writing as a concept was given to the earliest of the mesopotamians by the Keepers? It would explain the similarities.

 

The only issue with this is that original Cuneiform was pictographic, however you could easily say the Keepers visited these societies in between the notable jump between Pictographs and the more complex wedge-shaped symbols (We don't really know why this shift happened, only that it did).

[caljitsu]

9 hours ago, KronoriumExcerptB said:

Awesome work guys. I love how these languages can really give us another perspective from which to look at the story.

 

I've compiled all the words and their factorization. Most of these factorizations, make sense, like Keeper being good/fortunate^2 and Apothicon being evil/bad/misfortunate^2, some of them are quite insightful like how the Keepers apparently view time as a resource, and a few of them don't really make sense or maybe I'm missing a meaning.

 

Destination/to- Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Feeling/Sensation/Conciousness-  Opposite/duality/altered form * Origin/Form

Shame/form- Opposite/duality/altered form^3

Neutral/stable- Explore/Expand *Opposite/duality/altered form

Across/between- Origin/Form *Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Magic- Opposite/duality/altered form* Reality/Completeness/Existence

Journey- Origin/Form *Explore/Expand

Void/Abyss/Outer Space-  Opposite/duality/altered form^4

Dream/Illusion-Opposite/duality/altered form *Origin/Form^3

Volatile/Chaotic- Opposite/duality/altered form^2 *Explore/Expand

Story/History/Origin Tale/Record-  Reality/Completeness/Existence * Origin/Form

Permanent/Unchanging-  Opposite/duality/altered form* Time/Temporal/Impermanent 

Transcendent-  Reality/Completeness/Existence * Explore/Expand

Emotion/Motivation-  Good/Fortunate * Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Truth-  Reality/Completeness/Existence^2

Flee/Escape- Origin/Form * Move  

Doom/Horrible Consequence-  Reality/Completeness/Existence* Evil/Bad/Misfortunate
Keeper- Good/Fortunate^2

Cross/Move beyond/Venture- Move* Explore/Expand

Lie/Falsehood- Reality/Completeness/Existence^2 * Opposite/duality/altered form

Human- Explore/Expand^2 *Opposite/duality/altered form^2

Pursue/Chase- Opposite/duality/altered form* Origin/Form * Move

Apothicon- Evil/bad/misfortunate^2

Buff- Opposite/duality/altered form*Good/fortunate*Reality/Completeness/Existence

Curse- Opposite/duality/altered form* reality/completeness/existence* evil/bad/misfortunate

Renegade- Resist/Repel/Fight^2

Despair/Sadness- Opposite/duality/altered form* reality/completeness/existence

Eternity/Forever- Time/Temporal/Impermanent^2

Fear- Opposite/duality/altered form* Good/fortunate* Time/temporal/impermanent

Protect/keep- Good/fortunate*hold

Time-  time/temporal/impermanent* resource

Rise- Move*benefit/gain/ability

Fall- Move * loss 

Decay- Evil/bad/misfortunate* flow/radiate

Zombie-Opposite/duality/altered form^2* explore/expand^2 *evil/bad/misfortunate 

Transform- Change*Potential

Eclipse- Converge/together*open

Servant/Slave- Resource*hold

Banish- Move*harm

Space- Resource*open

Pod- potential*hold

Seal up/seal away-  Change*close

Stop/prevent- Potential *close

Insanity Elemental- Opposite/duality/altered form* Good/fortunate*flesh/body/animal

Grow- Resource*flow/radiate

Beast- Opposite/duality/altered form^2 *explore/expand^2*change

Portal- Open*light

Water- Change*bone/metal/solid/mineral

Eye- Resist/repel/fight* Time/temporal/impermanent^2

Egg- Potential*Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Create- Hold*Flow/radiate

Altar- Benefit/gain/ability *bone/metal/solid/mineral

Capture/hold captive- Hold*acquirable 

Margwa- Shadow*Teeth

Heart- Potential*hatch/produce

Unlock- Open*Flow/radiate

Lock-  Close*flow/radiate

Key-  Open*Device/machine

Lock/Seal- Close*Device/machine

Sword- Light* Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Invade- Damage*flow/radiate

Statue (of keeper)- Good/fortunate^2 *Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Parasite-Consume*flesh/body/animal

Seconds- Evil/bad/misfortunate*time/temporal/impermanent

Break/destroy- Evil/bad/misfortunate* Change

Minutes- time/temporal/impermanent*change 

At same time- Converge/Together*Benefit/Gain/Ability

All- Change*hold

Times- Time/temporal/impermanent*points

Hour- Time/temporal/impermanent Bone/metal/solid/mineral

In/into- Move*acquirable

Open- Potential*open

Magic box- Opposite/duality/altered form*Reality/Completeness/Existence *Contain/surround

Survive- Change*flow/radiate 

Perk Machine- Benefit/Gain/Ability *Device/Machine

Door- Open* Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Quick Revive-  Teeth*Bone/metal/solid/mineral

Trap- Damage*Device/Machine

Robot- Opposite/duality/altered form^2* Explore/expand^2*device/machine

Idgun-  Flesh/body/animal*Weapon

This is really great, I considered doing this at one point but I think you've proven I would have never at least double the space! Great work man.

[Hells Warrrior]

@caljitsu awesome work by you and the team, I have promoted this too twitter and facebook for you and pinned and featured here.

[RichKiller]

I really like the fact the language involves prime factors.
Thank you once again for your work on these languages, well done. 

[KronoriumExcerptB]

Some of my favorite story-related translations:

 

Human: Explore Altered Form. This one seems to be a reference to how humanity are always destined to research zombies. As we see, seemingly every government eventually ends up with a zombie research team.

 

Transcendent: Expand Reality. Not too much insight but I’m assuming this is a reference to the attempt of humans like Pernell and Richtofen to ascend into Agartha.

 

Dream/Illusion: Opposite/duality/altered form* Good/fortunate. This one is weird, and I’m only highlighting it because of the interesting differences here between Apothicon and Keeper. The Apothicon translation for Dream is Mind Damage. Keepers also have ‘illusion’ as a synonym for dream, while Apothicons have ‘insanity’ as a synonym for dream. Characters like Pablo, Peter McCain, and Pernell have all had dreams relating to the Aether or Keepers/Apothicons.

 

Curse: Evil altered form reality- a reference to purgatory maybe?

 

Zombie: Altered form expand evil.- Zombies are responsible for expanding evil in the eyes of the keepers 

 

 

[anonymous]

7 hours ago, KronoriumExcerptB said:

Human: Explore Altered Form. This one seems to be a reference to how humanity are always destined to research zombies. As we see, seemingly every government eventually ends up with a zombie research team

Could be, but I think it would be strange to name a whole species after their corrupted version (zombies), and this translation also differs from the translation of zombie by misssing 'expand evil'. Perhaps it is the 'altered form' in the translation of zombie that references to the 'altered form' that humans are. 

 

I'm thinking about the myth of ancient aliens basically 'sewing' humanity: Either captured monkeys/apes. genetically modified by the Keepers, or Keepers that mated with apes, forming humans. Another possibility is that the Keepers derived from humans, but went another evolutionary path, thus humanity having an 'altered form'. Where that 'explore' references to I am unsure of, but perhaps to the Keepers having 'explored' or researched our race for quite some ages now, or simply to mankind's curiousity and need to explore new things. I wonder @caljitsu if 'explore' could also be translated as 'exploring' or 'explored'.

 

Thanks for all your translations, @KronoriumExcerptB!

[caljitsu]

11 hours ago, anonymous said:

Could be, but I think it would be strange to name a whole species after their corrupted version (zombies), and this translation also differs from the translation of zombie by misssing 'expand evil'. Perhaps it is the 'altered form' in the translation of zombie that references to the 'altered form' that humans are. 

 

I'm thinking about the myth of ancient aliens basically 'sewing' humanity: Either captured monkeys/apes. genetically modified by the Keepers, or Keepers that mated with apes, forming humans. Another possibility is that the Keepers derived from humans, but went another evolutionary path, thus humanity having an 'altered form'. Where that 'explore' references to I am unsure of, but perhaps to the Keepers having 'explored' or researched our race for quite some ages now, or simply to mankind's curiousity and need to explore new things. I wonder @caljitsu if 'explore' could also be translated as 'exploring' or 'explored'.

 

Thanks for all your translations, @KronoriumExcerptB!

I can't hear the idea of Humans being a keeper design without recalling the still unexplained Keepers of Origins - Humans with little facial structure and huge fangs

[anonymous]

Using this language it appears to me that the altar of the Skull of Nan Sapwe reads 'horrible consequences'. I assume that refers to the fact the skull can be used as weapon. I haven't fully solved the human skull altars yet, though I know one translates to 'blood'.

 

EDIT: Okay so took a look at the human skulls in=game, and one is 'blood', one is 'resist/fight', one is 'chaotic' and one is 'horrible consequences/doom', just like the skull of Nan Sapwe itself.

 

Also checked the symbols on the trial pillars but those don't include actual words

[anonymous]

The lore about Nan Sapwe. This is what Tac found about it's mythology:

Quote

The rupture between the Saudeleur and the Pohnpeian god, Nahn Sapwe, begins the final chapter in Nan Modal’s decline. Originally associated with the Dipwinpahnmei clan, Nah Sapwe, the thunder god, became the most prominent of the many gods and spirits on Pohnpei. As the “god above the land,” the voice of Nahn Sapwe could be heard by all Pohnpeians. He existed as an indigenous unifying force in an otherwise divided land. For a time, the Saudeleurs and their god Nahnisohnsapw had imposed themselves upon the island. Pohnpeians, however, had begun to grow restive and contemptuous under Saudeleur rule; they now offered token homage to Nahnisohnsapw, while maintaining steadfast belief in their own gods. The Saudeleur’s attack on Nahn Sapwe, a desperate, self-destructive act, constituted a total break with the island. Though dominating the people of the island, the Saudeleur, ultimately, could not subjugate the divine forces that provided the life of the land.

Source: Upon a Stone Altar: A History of the Island of Pohnpei to 1890

This Thunder God was actually a Keeper, one of the Ancient Aliens that visited humanity in the past. With this thread and the language revealed, we can finally translate that what was written on the hieroglyphics.

"Evil" and "Rise" --> "Evil rises"

"Keeper" and "Protect" --> "The Keeper protects"

 

"Seal up/away" and "Cross/move beyond/venture" --> What happened here? What is sealed up? Could the tentacles imply that the presence of the skull seals up the Apothican demons at that location?

 

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming"