Der Gesamtplan - Germany's Master Plan

[RadZakpak]

As the years have gone on and the Aether story has gone in so many different, wild directions, we sometimes take for granted bits of interesting lore from the past. In particular, while exploring Der Riese I appreciated all the little clues about 935's purpose, and in particular, the hints at Germany's plan to re-take Europe.

 

"The Giant is rising. Face the might of the Nazi Zombies in their heartland. This is where it all began. This is where the master plan took shape. Is this where it all ends?"

 

"Follow the Master Plan"

 

We can figure out pretty quickly that the "Gesamtplan", or "Master Plan" involved using Group 935's research to create an undead army and creating teleporters to mobilize the army across Europe. Also, Die Glocke fits in there somewhere. This lore was what kept people talking about zombies back in 2009 as they awaited Black Ops' release, and a lot of what I will discuss today was probably already deduced on this very website ten years ago. But over the years there have been little breadcrumbs released that give us a better idea of just what the Master Plan entailed, all the way up to, and even past Tag der Toten with the Group 601 images that recently came to light. Today I want to paint a picture of what each step of the plan may have been and analyze the implications.

 

Let's start with an old but gold mystery:

 

Group 601 and the Shadow Government

Group 601 is a mystery that has been talked about at length here on the forums for years, with their first appearance being in Der Riese, of course.

 

On first inspection, it could just be assumed that 601 was the original number of the Group that occupied Der Riese, and Treyarch changed it at the last minute. However, we now know that Group 601 is a canon organization, and they seem to be the organization running the Kino Facility's experiments. They are firmly a part of Germany's Master Plan to create an undead army and take over the world. I would propose that Group 601 was also operating out of Der Riese alongside Group 935. It also operates under even more secrecy than 935, with their work unbeknownst to even Richtofen:

 

"Battle the undead in this theatrical installment on "Zombies". New twists and clues could uncover the final plan. It's show time!"

 

"Entry 741021! Perhaps the station will hold the key to the real goals of Group 935. I still do not trust my unconventional allies, but they are of great use to me. But I digress. Who would've thought the MDT was capable of time travel? How many stations does this group have? Where did that little girl disappear to? Only time will tell what new questions await us in this... THEATRE OF THE DAMNED!"

 

Despite being a prominent member of Group 935, and even being the person that Maxis entrusted with breaking the trust barrier and assisting in teleporter experiments, Richtofen did not know the full extent of what Group 935, and Group 601 within them, was up to.

 

He was, however, aware of the shadow Chancellor of Germany. We discovered in Tag der Toten that many months after the war is over in Europe, Group 935 is continuing to work for the German Chancellor, a figure who is most likely not Hitler (unless we want to add another conspiracy to the pile.) Group 935 continues to operate independently on the surface, managing to avoid total capture by Allied forces when they reclaimed Europe, but in the shadows is Group 601 which is still working for the remains of the German government in hiding. Perhaps they are in South America, a topic which is explored in this great thread. The Chancellor was promised an undead army and super soldiers for the purpose of re-gaining lost land by 1945.

 

Re-Capturing Europe

So Group 601 is who is executing the Master Plan, but what are the actual steps of the Master Plan? Step 1 can be found across Der Riese.

 

Near all three teleporters on the map, there are wooden boards with the letters ENG, FRA, and GER on them, obviously shortened from England, France, and Germany. Additionally, near each teleporter is a corkboard with unique images and writing related to this step of the plan. Let's do a deep dive on all three:

 

 

This corkboard is near the teleporter to England. On the bottom left is some sort of map with a marked location, and above it is a picture from Shi No Numa. These two images, along with the calendar and picture of Verruckt, appear on all three corkboards in this exact position, and I am confident that the map is showing the location of Shi No Numa. Unfortunately, the map is too low quality to make any concrete statements on its location, but perhaps we may get lucky and someone recognizes the area and Shi No Numa's location can finally be resolved after all these years.

 

Anyway, we see three pieces of paper with strange drawings. I believe all three are meant to depict types of traps to be used on undead in the event of an outbreak. The one on the left is clearly the electroshock defenses seen in-game. The second appears to be a swinging guillotine trap activated by trip wire. The third, I cannot make out very well, but presumably it's another trap.

 

We also see a map of what is clearly England, with a location circled somewhat near London, at its nearest coast. Because this map is put right next to a depiction of a lighthouse, it can be assumed that what became Call of the Dead was originally going to be set on an English shore. Still, this does not rule out Group 935 having a base at another lighthouse also in England.

 

We see two pieces of text, "folgen Sie dem Gesamtplan" or "Follow the Master Plan" and "die Glocke ist jetzt Mobile" or "The Bell is now mobile." I find it interesting that this appears on the England board, since it is the one country not on the mainland. There has been some mystery if Die Glocke is the teleporter, the coil we see holding the PaP in Der Riese, a flying vessel, or just some form of technology used by all of Group 935, but this supports the idea that it is some kind of vessel or perhaps a massive weapon. Lastly, we see a calendar in September with several dates circled with question marks and a picture of Verruckt. Presumably these dates were potential days to enact the Master Plan which never came to fruition due to Richtofen's intervention.

 

 

Here we have the France corkboard, again with the presumed location of Shi No Numa, a picture of Shi No Numa, a picture of Verruckt, and the calendar. There is an unreadable note in the top left. The image on top of the map of France is mostly unrecognizable to me, but I could potentially see it being a view from beneath the Eiffel Tower. There is a piece of text that seems to read, "sobald unsgerichtet ist der Aufsatz das Rohr." Google translate doesn't do this phrase a lot of favors, but I think it is mean to be something along the lines of "as soon as the (resonator?) is attached to the conduit." It's worth noting that we hear a mention of a "conduit" again in Moon: "Groph: Yes, Doctor. The machine is ready, and awaiting the conduit." This may tie into their original vision for the Paris map.

 

In the bottom right are two more new images, one very clearly of a zombie in front of the Eiffel Tower, and the other a little less explicit. Behind it, we see another image of a rudimentary trap, this one some kind of crusher that leaves only a pool of blood. Finally in the top right we see what could be art of the Hellhound, though its strange stance and seemingly large eyes make me think of some kind of cryptid like a chupacabra.

 

 

 

Lastly we have the German board. There's a newspaper clipping about bees leaving the village of Ludwigsdorf, a German village close to the border of Poland, and not far off from the location of Der Riese. At the top is a map of an unknown place with a circle indicating "mogliche position von Uup?" or "Possible location of Uup (115)?" If you know where this is located, please share it. There is also a map of Poland with the location of Der Riese circled. There is text that is partially cut off, but we can gather "Sie fur Darstellung" or "you for presentation", "Oberkommando vor." or "High Command before." and "Sie bitte sofot" which is something like "please (do something) immediately." I believe that this is coming from the German High Command, and that it relates to the image of a theater in the top right. This is stating the purpose of Kino being in a theater, to present research to High Command within Germany. Lastly, there's another diagram of what looks to be an electrical trap.

 

All this to say, the target locations of Group 601 are a coastline near London, a facility in Paris, and the Kino Facility in Berlin. In one swift motion, Germany planned to unleash hordes of undead within three major capitals in Europe and cripple the Allies' hold, allowing the next phase of the plan to take place.

 

Strength Through Order

"First Europe! Then the whole world!"

 

With the Allies in disarray, unable to recover from the coordinated zombie attacks, the undead army would be recalled as they are obedient to their masters, having been trained at the Kino Facility:

 

"Those seats, that screen, they wanted to implant the mind with instructions!"

 

The most loyal members of the SS still operating at Group 935 facilities along with super soldiers created in Siberia would be sent in to create order amongst the survivors and claim them for Germany. They would be assisted by mechanized units and wonder weapons, with the already war-torn continent unable to push them back to Berlin once again. The fight, however, is not done. There are still the Americans and the Soviets to worry about. Now comes step two:

 

 

Now things are going to get a little more speculative as we do not have a lot to go off of. From the above image, however, we can deduce that stage two will involve radio towers and nuclear explosions. What if, however, this mushroom cloud is not indicative of nuclear arms being used to fight international enemies, but rather 115 rockets ala Moon. I think you see where this is going.

 

Dropping 115 bombs over the United States and the Soviet Union, more undead will be created which will destroy the countries' infrastructure. These towers could act similarly to global polarization devices, giving Group 601 dominion over the newly created undead hordes overseas. I'd also propose that these towers were put in place covertly, and that they have to do with HAARP:

 

While the real world HAARP does not exist by 1945, Germany's version may be a cover for this plan to control the undead. For all we know, there's a similar early creation of the Duga Array in Soviet territory to facilitate this plan. How were these towers set up exactly? Maxis says in Der Riese that Group 935 has "operatives" in America spying for them, so it is not unlikely they would have them all over the world.

 

"Manhattan down!"

 

Like in Europe, super soldiers and mechanized infantry armed with wonder weapons step in and bring order to the newly claimed territories. From here, Step 3 would most likely be Germany establishing itself all over the world and cleaning up all the undead left behind in the conflict.

 

 

Stage four has the new one world government launching satellites into space and claiming more territory outside our little blue planet. These satellites are also used to control the masses, perhaps through direct mind control or through broadcasting propaganda. Regardless, it's a very grim future. Thankfully, it never happened; At least, in our timeline. Had Richtofen assisted Maxis in perfecting the teleporter rather than betraying him, this could have been the fate of the world. It's a hard choice between this and total destruction of the Earth and all of its inhabitants.

 

(Also, side tangent: Our actions in creating the fractures in BO3 may have inadvertently caused Germany to be able to go forth with the Master Plan. In Der Eisendrache there is an easter egg with a newspaper that transforms from one about a parade to one about a zombies outbreak in London and an emergency meeting in parliament. By killing Ultimis Richtofen and erasing him from the past and future of the Deceptio fracture, Group 601's plans are not stopped since Operation Stapler never happens, and zombies are sent to London.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[anonymous]

Verrückte post, @RadZakpak!

 

12 hours ago, RadZakpak said:

There is a piece of text that seems to read, "sobald unsgerichtet ist der Aufsatz das Rohr." Google translate doesn't do this phrase a lot of favors, but I think it is mean to be something along the lines of "as soon as the (resonator?) is attached to the conduit." It's worth noting that we hear a mention of a "conduit" again in Moon: "Groph: Yes, Doctor. The machine is ready, and awaiting the conduit." This may tie into their original vision for the Paris map.

That is a great finding! It reminds me of something out-of-place Maxis mentions in a Der Riese radio:

 

"The test subjects have survived teleportation but are currently unresponsive to commands and cannot be controlled. If we are to overcome this obstacle we need to increase the frequency and size of the experiment. To this end, I suggest we find not only a regular supply of 115, but that we also find a larger conduit to channel the energy. Our operatives in America have informed us that the US have a large supply of the element at the Nevada base, so time is of the essence if we are to stay ahead of them."

 

Maxis states that to control an undead army, a larger conduit is needed. Could this be the reason of Group 935's station in Paris? The Eifel Tower is among the tallest antenna-like constructions in Europe, and it may serve perfect for directing the untoten and controlling assaults on enemies within Europe.

 

Perhaps Nacht der Untoten was the prototype of this experiment, where American and Soviet POW's were put in the bunker while the zombies were resurrected and controlles via the nearby electricity tower. But Maxis needs to increase the size, hence why he directs himself at le Tour Eiffel.

 

The fact he starts to talk about the American 115 deposit instantly after is also striking. May it be an indirect reference to a Tower in the United States (BREN tower at Jackass Flats or the Nuketown Drill?).

 

That large map on the "German corkboard" has features in it that remind me somewhat of Mongolia's northern border (the think line downleft), so perhaps this is Tunguska's location? Although the map doesn't really make sense.

 

As for the Shi no Numa map, my best guess is that it is the northwestern shore of an island. Or maybe Japan? It is hard to see on mobile, haha