The Order of The Keepers / Illuminati

[Rapt]

Just a small story connection here between the Illuminati and the Ancient Order of the Keepers.

There are only two references to "Order" (Capital "O") in the timeline.

In the beginning 

JANUARY 24TH, 1940

Richtofen renounces his involvement with the Illuminati. When asked how he could abandon

his obligation to the Order he says, “Teddy was a liar.”

 

Dimension 63

FEBRUARY 13TH, 1944

A fruit vendor tells the Reporter about the Ancient Order of the Keepers, and how they're the
only ones “holding back the forces of the apocalypse.” He talks of people hearing "chanting...

from beneath the city."

 

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Theory is that the Illuminati are the Ancient Order of the Keepers.
I know "Order" is a common term across lodges and secret organisations so it's very possibly a coincidence.

However a couple of context clues point in the direction of this theory.

 

• When Richtofen is "trying to do the right thing" he works with the Illuminati on aquiring the blood and perpetuating the cycle. 
   

APRIL 16TH, 1940

Richtofen arrives in Dimension 63, where he contacts members of the Illuminati and enlists their

help to build a laboratory facility beneath Alcatraz.

APRIL 18TH, 1940

Richtofen meets with Stanley Ferguson and convinces him to assist with the Illuminati’s

construction of the Alcatraz laboratory.

 

• When he is corrupted by the Dark Aether in BO1 he leaves the Illuminati to pursue his own goals. 

 

JANUARY 24TH, 1940

Richtofen renounces his involvement with the Illuminati. When asked how he could abandon

his obligation to the Order he says, “Teddy was a liar.”
 

• And finally, Richtofen was acting in the interests of the Illuminati when he joined 935.

AUGUST 11TH, 1936

Maxis invites Richtofen to join Group 935. He agrees, secretly acting on behalf of the

Illuminati’s interests.

 

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So by this we can see that the Illuminati take an interest in Richtofen in all universes.
They also take an interest in group 935 and by extension the research into element 115. (conjecture)
Their goals align with the Richtofens who are not obviously evil.
Their goals do not align with Richtofen's Grand Scheme.

The Ancient Order of the Keepers goals appear (from the information we have) to allign with those of the Illuminati.
And we know they are present in the "modern" era taking an interest / attempting to influence events. (as we see in shadows, they directly relate to events on earth)
There was no real plot requirement for the Illuminati to exist in the "new" story and for them to directly assist Richtofen if they had no stake in the overall plot.
I can very easily see the Shadows reference to the Order being an effort to better fit the Illuminati into the direction the story took with BO3.
Also, Richtofen is the only O4 character to appear in Shadows where the Order were mentioned and were likely present in some form (as far as we can tell from the timeline)

Contextually I think it all lines up nicely.
I'm not sure how else the Illuminati would be involved with something as important to the fate of the universe as the lab / blood vials.
A group of humans lacking Keeper/Apothacon influence or knowledge from the Kronorium would not be involved so deeply with the fate of the universe etc.
Unless they were only retained so obviously in the timeline as a plot device to explain the lab below Alcatraz.
And that they were just used as a tool by Richtofen and were not directly aware of events.
However I find that explaination unsatisfying.

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That's it, please if you have any quotes / info that relates to this let me know.
If I missed anything obvious please roast me.
Or if you have any different theories about the nature of these Orders I would love to hear them!

Rapt

[anonymous]

Great thread, Rapt! I too think there is a connection between the Illuminati and the Keepers, and that the two either cooperate or are the same. 

 

As you noted, the Illuminati and Order of the Keepers often seem to act in the same interest. What's more, they seem to have the same enemies. Is it coincidence that right after Richthofen touched the Black Pyramid on the Moon and came in contact with the Shadowman, the harbinger of the Elder Gods, he left the Illuminati? And why does the Warden, stating his personal hate to the Illuminati in one of the radios, worship this very same Shadowman and Overlords? Clearly the Apothicons are no friends of the Illuminati.

 

Now I'm curious of what you think about the following idea, but what if the Illuminati is the human branch of the Keepers? We know that in the Great War a Knigjts Templar-like faction fought alongside the Keepers against the Apothicons, and some say the Illuminati found it's roots in the Knights Templar. But that's not all: we encounter Illuminati language on the gongs in Shangri La, a city heavily influenced by the Keepers (notice the Black Sun symbol and the ancient teleport mechanism). This language reads "Beware of the Dragons fire", and @RadZakpak discovered something that eerily looks like a Dragon on the Keeper side of the Great War scene we see in the Alpha Omega intro. Not only that, Naga's (Dragons in Hindu mythos) were closely associated with the gods, the Underworld a.k.a. Agartha and were even believed to be able to travel through different dimensions. 

 

You might see where this is going to, but what if the Illuminati already ages from ancient times. The Keepers could have reached out to them to provide them knowledge and spread the word about the Aether and the Apothicons. Perhaps Shangri-La even was an Illuminati city.

 

In Revelations, Monty has the following quote:  "The Keepers, an ancient order who've been granted the wisdom to see beyond the limitations of their own realm. Even while the rest of mankind scrabbled around in the dirt, drinking their own piss, the Keepers took the mantle of benevolent watchers." From this quote it almost seems like the Keepers were among the humans. Could this have been the Illuminati, the human branch of the Keepers?

 

Lastly, we got this quote of the Reporter in a radio in Shadows of Evil: "Asking around, I've heard more than a few whispers about this Ancient Order and the Keepers. I think it's some kind of cult." In opposition to his earlier mention of the Ancient Order of the Keepers, this time it is Ancient Order and the Keepers. This too was found by Rad and it has made me wonder for so long. Is there a difference between the Ancient Order and the Keepers? Is the Order a reference to the Illuminati? Is that why in the undercroft of Morg City, said to be a Keeper stronghold, we can find a map of Alcatraz, clearly an Illuminati stronghold?

 

Sorry for the tamblings, just wanted to share it. Oh and by the way, welcome to CoDZ buddy! You're on the right place for story talk here :).

 

P.S. You might find this thread & commentbox interesting: https://www.callofdutyzombies.com/topic/197187-the-order-of-forgotten-mysteries-13-the-illuminati/

[anonymous]

Im thinking, what if the underground city under Morg City was an ancient Illuminati city constructed in North America?

[Rapt]

Ty for the welcome, I don't know how I only found this place now! 
I really like your point about the templars.
Also about the Order being made up of Keepers and Humans.
While ingame we only see Monty and the Shadow Man assume human form, there is no reason for the other keepers to not be capable of this.

The Keeper emblem on the chest seems to be a very obvious and intentional connection.
We see it shared across Keepers, Primis, Templars etc.
But it still doesn't connect directly to the Illuminati despite all the similarities.

About the city below Morg and the map of Alcatraz, I think I need to go do some more no-clipping.
Morg city is the closest we ever get to the Order, there are likely some other hints around.
Especially with so many unsolved codes on the map.

[anonymous]

7 hours ago, Rapt said:

About the city below Morg and the map of Alcatraz, I think I need to go do some more no-clipping.
Morg city is the closest we ever get to the Order, there are likely some other hints around.
Especially with so many unsolved codes on the map.

I'd be up for that as well, might look into it this evening. Usefull resources could be @caljitsu's dictionaries of Keeper and Apothicon language here and here. 

 

Morg City is a weird location, espessially since it is a fictional city in a twisted dimension. 

 

"Your world, as it was, is still here. It's shifted slightly, wrenched from its rightful place. Many of the souls, who inhabited it, have succumbed to the... darkness. There are echoes in themselves, trapped in a fractured shadow of reality." - Shadowman

 

In Blood of the Dead we learned that certain Satanic rituals, in this case performed by the Warden, can lead to formation of a pocket dimension. The above quote led me to believe this very same goes for Shadows of Evil. Richthofen says the following in BotD about simply swimming away from Alcatraz:

 

"Water seems so calm, such a shame that any attempt to cross it will delete us from existence. I'm tempted to let Nikolai try" - Richthofen

 

From this I conclude that pocket dimensions are very local; the twisted version of reality we see in Shadows of Evil is very local: Morg City or possibly only downtown Morg City. In case of the Alcatraz pocket realm, we know the Illuminati lab was exclusively to the pocket dimension and was not there in the regular, untwisted version of Alcatraz. Could the same be true about the Morg City undercroft? We know citizens could hear chantings under the city so I assume the Ancient Order was active in normal Morg City as well, but perhaps the deep lava city we see in the Pack-a-Punch room is unique to the pocket dimension, hence why the Shadowman sends our four characters to there: only in this twisted version there lays the Apothicon Rift Stone and the Apothicons can be freed. Speaking about our characters:

 

"You have blood on your hands, it cannot be cleansed! Your sins have allowed others to tear their way into your world" - Shadowman

 

Remember the Only the Cursed Survive teaser for BO3? Interesting enough, it seems like only those that have sinned remain unzombified and can enter the pocketrealm. Perhaps that's why the Ancient Order performs human sacrifices... In this twisted realm, the Apothicons and undead rule, but not directly. They are mere shadows of evil, as the true Overlords, the Elder gods, those who the Shadowman serves, lay outside the physical world.

 

By the way, out of some shady quotes of Nero Blackstone, I think he might be the one who performed the first rituals causing them to travel to the pocket dimension. Either he or the Reporter.

[Rapt]

Cheers, I'll check that out!
Using the info we now have on the setup of the MOTD pocket to inform the setup for the Shadows pocket is a great idea as well.

I'm going to take your advice and look at the entire underground area and see what I can find.
I'll probably start a new thread about it soon if the roof laundry doesn't distract me again.