Lost or Loose Content and Plot Threads

[Intelligence Quotient]

To preface, I'm working on a video series about the Aether Story - and in it I intend to dedicate some time investigating the oddities and unused material of each map. So I'm hoping with this thread we can start a discussion and learn about the things that never were, collecting the discussion together in one place. If we were to talk about how Shangri-La could have been on Mars, let's discuss why that could be and what it would mean for the story. Or if we talked about Moon being Paris, how would it diverge from the story we know?

[anonymous]

Ah, a topic that makes me curious every time I think about it: lost plots in Zombies. I made threads about the Shangri-La/Mars connection, which I think is still very relevant today, and Group 935's Paris station.

 

Black Ops II is said to originally have had a DLC 5, including the four classic maps and possibly also Moon. Check out this thread if you are curious. But the development of Black Ops II's maps were interesting to say it blandly. Tranzit had a whole different layout, Die Rise may have originally been planned to be set in Russia (unconfirmed), Buried's initial inspiration was the New York City underground ("Manhattan DOWN!") and then we haven't even talked about the other map concepts: A Victis map on board of a pirate ship and a map based on a zombified version of the Campaign level "Fallen Angel", set in Lahore Pakistan.

I also keep thinking that the original plan for Moon to take place was in 2012, the year that the Earth would be destroyed according to the Maya Calender (which was hinted at with CotD's "Vril map" and the Aztec gods in the Moon loading screen). The teaser poster of Black Ops II Zombies even stated 21/12 I believe, a reference to 21 december 2012: the day the Maya predicted the Earth to be destroyed. My personal speculation on the whole 'time pocket' thing is that the three Victis maps were set in different times. The Earth's destruction somehow triggered a destruction across all times, so we have Tranzit (around 1960s), Die Rise (around BO2 campaign era) and Buried (prehistory).

 

I also have the feeling that before Richtofen's Grand Scheme (and the replacement of Paris for Moon), the Illuminati would gonna have a larger role. Also we see the grey alien in Hangar 18 MP map and the elongated skull in Shangri-La, so I think the original intent of all extraterrestial life was to have the 'greys' (which fits with the whole Element 115/Illuminati thing). And maybe, very maybe, CotD was originally going to be set in Antarctica. Keep in mind that according to the stories, Antarctica (CotD) was said to have a gateway to Hollow Earth (Shangri-La). I always liked the idea that Ultimis went to Shangri-La via CotD because the gateway to Agartha would be there somewhere.

 

With the newer games I have way less ideas about what could have originally been planned, although I am quite positive that post-BotD Richtofen would reveal himself in the end to be the Shadowman (see this thread).

[clueless]

The even-more sinister undertone of Tranzit that's overlooked due to the fog covering every corner of the map. The only extent we see of "more than meets the eye" to the casual player is the underground lab in the Power Plant and the Pack-a-Punch lab in the Bank Vault. There's so much more that was never truly explored, merely left to interpretation and some post-humous lore about Broken Arrow in general that also avoids the Green Run / Hanford Site situation specifically. If Tranzit was made with even half of what was planned, how would that all have translated to the map we know now?