#Dark Aether Storyline

[kapkant7]

"No weapon can defeat me even if it's from the Dark Aether" lol get Military Industrial Complex'd nerd welcome to the 1980s

[coldgoldlazarus]

Metroid II and Metroid Prime 2 share something fundmental, I think, and it's not the number.

The darkness, for sure

Samus deleting an entire species, sure

But also, contrasting that with her empathy and willingness to help

[shinmiyovvi]

Here's some 80s Au of Tank Dempsey before my class starts tomorrow. I'll do Nikolai next once I have the time to make my babyboi 💖

Another version of the fanart (Btw, I didn't add some chromatic abbreviation since I feel bad for your eyes 😣):

Without text and filter:

[jazz-bazz]

Lab Coat AU

very self indulgent au (sometimes also kinda diary dump) bcs this major stressing me out and ghouls make things better… so might as well stress out the ghouls by projecting, also kinda manifesting 🤞

the idea came from talking about ghouls with @hypnoneghoul when we’re both in class 😬 and i thought ‘nuclear scientist dew with a messy bun in lab goggles’ then @alwaysjustmina asked me about it and she wrote a little something (thank you so much 🖤) and i ran with it… and it took a 90° turn bcs it ended up being different, though the coffee shop is still there and phantom also works there, but now rain is also a scientist and everyones a scientist and some are professors, and yeah, you get it

the general idea is that they’re all scientists working in the same building, though they have different topics and are working for different degree levels, but theyre close friends, even the profs are also nice and chill (unlike mine)

on the weekends they do various things, but often get together for some down time at zenith, copias bar. oh and they also often get lunch together at terzo‘s diner or snacks at the coffee shop phantoms working at

dew and rain are pining for each other (so said the other ghouls who have a bet going on, actually theyve been secretly dating since their fifth semester, and rain is planning to propose after they’re both done with their phds but dew got there first 😂, copia knows bcs rain was drunk)

copia and aether are dating, sunshine and mountain have been on several dates and we’re just waiting for mountain to ask her out, swiss is courting phantom and phantoms also crushing on aurora…

who else hmm… i kinda wanna have zephfrit but i have no idea how to connect their storylines… and cirrus cumulus… i have too many ghouls and no idea how to connect them 😭

under the cut i put their research topics and the degree theyre working on, and also what they do on weekends, which is not gonna interest anyone but me but 🤷‍♀️

side note : these are inspired by real professors and lab supervisors in my own university, and also the building layout are also kinda based on my own, and some misc facts too… okay im basing a lot of this on my own uni 😬 let me make make my life sounds more interesting than it actually is okay, and also i need distractions

side side note : im aiming to do my bachelor‘s degree end of this year, and my current plan is to do it in the group im basing mist‘ from… who knows how that will go, but hey, manifesting

also special mention to you guys who patiently read through my ramblings @webbyghoul @sexy-sea-basss and @mikorsghouls who said you wanted to hear about this

OrgChem :

Mist -> (Prof) Photosensitive molecules in biological processes

Rain -> (PhD) Bioluminescence for cancer research, has etsy shop for crochet plushies

Cumulus -> (Prof) Environmentally friendly substitutes, weekends volunteer at hospital

Mountain -> (PhD) CFC for environment, helps at the family owned flower shop

Swiss -> (Master) SF6 substitute for cooling mediums, sings at local bar on weekends

TheoChem :

Cirrus -> (Prof) Highly precise method to research the structure of matter and fundamental interactions, coffee shop manager for weekends

Zephyr -> (PhD) Vibronic effects in electronic transitions, play piano with Swiss at the bar

Cowbell -> (Master) Compounds of heavy elements and their properties

PhysChem :

Omega -> (Prof) Quintessence / Dark energy and dark matter, volunteer at the hospital on weekends

Dew -> (PhD) Nuclear physics for dark matter, interaction of WIMP (weakly interacting massive particles) with nuclear matter (modeling the WIMP-Nucleus interaction), teaches some kids guitar on weekends or evenings

Aether -> (PhD) Dark energy and Einstein’s theory of gravity

(these 3 are less physchem and more just phys)

Alpha -> (Prof) Surface chem for harvest, storage, and transformation of energy

Sunshine -> (Master) Development of long lasting low cost solid batteries, work at the city library on weekends

InorgChem :

Special -> (Prof) Controlled electron transfer at heavy metal complexes

Ifrit -> (Master) Metalorganic catalysts from transition metals

Aurora -> (Undergrad) Med student, coffee shop regular

Phantom -> (Undergrad) Chem, coffee shop barista

[starcrossedspirit]

WICKED & UNHOLY - A CoD Zombies AU Story

Dark Aether has spread, engulfing everything it touches. Monsters, zombies, and a Dark Aether mutation plunges the world into darkness leaving only chaos in it's wake. Towards the northern mountains of Verdansk Shadow Company looks for anything that may have been left behind from the reaches of the 80’s when Adler was there. Desperate to find anything to help sway the tides of battle with the plagued undead, Velikan finds hope in the form of a village witch, supposed to have inherited “magic” from the other world. Down in ground zero of Urzikstan Nolan has been tasked with forcing scientist to figure out how to close the gates of hell and in their possession is his daughter. If he does not cooperate, Nolan will kill them and fearing for their lives, the scientist works tirelessly day and night to preserve humanity. And finally Konni is not yet done trying to take over. With whatever semblance there is left to a natural world Makarov fights. Weary of her brother’s actions, his sister does his bidding but only with the idea to help stop him. It begins with contact between her and Task Force 141 during an unlikely meeting.

Pairings: fem!oc x Ghost / fem!oc x Velikan / fem!oc x Nolan Tags: Slow Burn / Supernatural Elements / AU- Zombies Tag Warnings: Major Character Death / Depictions of Violence / Eventual Smut Archive Link: Wicked and Unholy Tumblr Link: forward → Original Characters: Yelena Volkova / Karina Usyk / Briar Hawthorne Ratings: Mature

A/N: This story does not follow the regular storyline of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and instead borrows ideas and elements to make an AU of it's own. You do not need to know much about CoD, Zombies or even war stuff to follow, this is really just for fun. I just wanted to make romances for characters and to put them to a story. Thank you so much and enjoy!

[etherealspacejelly]

ok so. i am currently working on a fic. its a story that has been rotating in my brain for years about an avengers OC. idk if i want to start posting it as a WIP or wait until it's finished.

what im gonna do is post the prologue here, under the cut. it is entirely worldbuilding because. i came up with a new alien species with Lore™️ that i made as canon compliant as possible because im a fucking nerd. so you kinda need to know all of that before i can tell the actual story.

if you're interested, please give it a read and tell me what you think and whether you would want to read more! if it gets enough attention i'll start posting the chapters i have to ao3. i have a tag list for my fics so lmk if you want to be added to that too.

quick summary of the fic as a whole: The last surviving member of the Light Elf race, Einar, is taken in by the Avengers when they are orphaned at 10 years old. They nurse Einar back to health, and slowly form a bond with them, helping them to process their grief and heal from their trauma. There's a lot of fluff, a lot of angst, a lot of hurt/comfort, and of course found family.

It starts during the events of Thor: The Dark World and follows the storyline of the MCU from there.

Prologue:

In the beginning, there was only darkness. The only world to exist in that darkness was a tiny, desolate rock named Alfheim. This was the home of my ancestors, the Elves, before time, before space, before light.

No one knows how long they lived like that, alone in the dark. All we know is that at some point that darkness ended. The universe began, and light and life exploded into existence. For most of the Elves, this was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. They swore to protect and nurture all life and to serve the light. But others believed that this was a perversion of the natural order, that the universe belonged in darkness and should be returned to that state. They vowed to destroy the light by any means possible.

War broke out between the two opposing sides, an Elvish Civil War that lasted for many billions of years, with both sides only ever coming together to kill each other. And so, they evolved separately into two species: the Dark Elves and the Light Elves. Each side became stronger and stronger with each generation, evolving new abilities and traits to give them an edge in battle.

A few millennia ago, a great battle ensued between these two sides on Svardalfheim. The Dark Elves tried to use their most powerful weapon, the Aether, to destroy the universe. The Light Elves fought with all their might, but the Dark Elves had the upper hand. That is until the Asgardians arrived.

Odin's father, King Bor, and his army tipped the scales and won the battle for the Light Elves. They confiscated the Aether and sealed it away where no one would find it. Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, fled in his ship and bombed the planet behind him hoping to destroy what remained of the Light Elf army, not caring if his own perished as well.

Only two Light Elves survived.

They fled to find a place to hide, to recover their strength for what they knew would be the final battle of the War. They needed a primitive, unknown, safe planet to seek refuge. They found one.

Earth. Dominated by a bipedal, fairly intelligent species descended from tree dwellers. No one would think to look for them there. It was on this planet in the middle of nowhere that these two Elves decided to take a risk, one last desperate attempt to give them an edge against the Dark Elves. They had a baby.

That child, the last Light Elf baby to ever be born, came to be in England, Earth, in the spring of 2003. They named the child Einar, an old Norse name meaning 'the lonely warrior', for that is the future they believed their child was destined for. Little did they know how wrong they would turn out to be.

[gayaethernaut]

Am I the only one who thinks it’s still too early to compare the Dark Aether storyline on the same level as Aether?

The Aether storyline had 26 maps worth of content across five games AND comics over the span of eleven years.

So far the Dark Aether storyline has had 10 maps worth of content (I’m counting Outbreak and Urzikstan as one map each to make up for also counting Terra Maledicta and The Archon as two different maps) across three games over the span of just four years.

To put things into perspective the Dark Aether storyline wouldn’t even be at Black Ops 2 yet if we were comparing the two storylines at the same rate.

[vulpes-ferus]

FFXIV LFRP; Miyako Akane

Full name: Miyako Akane

Race: Auspice/Yokai

Gender: Genderfluid? Nonbinary? Really, it's whatever they feel like at the moment. Her pronouns depend on the skin she's in at the time: she/they, or he/they. Typically prefers her female presenting form unless her masculine form is more preferable to those she's interacting with.

Sexuality: All of it. Anything.

Marital Status: Single! She's not settling down, she's always on the prowl.

Age: Several centuries old

Profession: She doesn't have one! Though technically they may read your cards or offer a boon...for a price, and she rarely accepts actual currency

Hobbies: Pranking mortals. Preying on mortals. Seducing mortals, people watching... and generally just about anything to do with the forest, or nature.

Hair: Dark orange/white accents

Eyes: Amber

Distinguishing Marks: Typically veiled as a Miqo'te, there is little distinguishing about her person to those unable to see through the magic she uses - although on occasion, one might spot a fluffier tail than she actually seems to have, out of the corner of their eye. To those able to see through this magic... she's quite a bit different than her feline glamour would suggest to the average person. In their feminine presenting forms, she always has red tattoo-markings around her eyes.

RP Hooks

She's still as-yet un-roleplayed, so there's a lot of potential - and there's less impetus for me to want longer storylines on her, so if you just want a few one-off scenes to have your cards read or the like, those are easier on her than on my other characters, though I'm always a sucker for a long plot/storyline that's steeped in character growth! Never be afraid to approach me if you have an idea!

Maybe you want your cards read! I have several tarot decks IRL, and an oracle deck that's well-suited to her too, and I could no doubt use the practice, myself. She essentially makes fey bargains - deals with weird prices that aren't always clear at first.

She may be centuries old, but she was barely over a century when she was imprisoned out in the East, and only escaped her magical prison in the last couple years! (I was, in fact, inspired by JJK and Sukuna for her imprisonment.) She ran from the East and took a new face to pose as, since she was captured and imprisoned in the East, and the people there still respect the old legends... and the Black Shroud is an excellent forest, vibrant with life! ...and unsuspecting mortals.

Speaking of the Black Shroud, there's a lot of ways to interact with her in regard to that! You could randomly run into her. She could do what kitsune do in the old tales, and lure you off the road at night and get you lost. Maybe you've seen something weird in the forest, or heard strange tales from travelers. Maybe you're just really in tune with the elementals and they've mentioned a new entity in the forest...really, I'm open to about anything with some talk about it beforehand!

She feeds on aether! She doesn't have to kill people to do this, though she's certainly not above it - what are morals to an animal, anyways? Food is food. Prey is prey. But sometimes, it's easier to just seduce someone and feed on their aether, before leaving them naked and drained in the forest to have a laugh at their expense.

Given her long imprisonment, much about the world is new to her! Maybe you lure her in by showing her all the nifty new stuff there is, and blowing her mind at how much things have changed in a few hundred years.

You could be an antagonist! Hunt her, if you like! Maybe she hurt you, or someone you care(d) about! Maybe you're from the East and found out her prison was dismantled, and you fear yokai; or you're just a Shroud Dweller who has been wronged, etc.

Romance! While I don't tend to like interactions that are solely focused on seeking out ERP - she is a sensual creature, and physical intimacy is an indulgence and a way to consume aether... though I don't know how she'd feel about genuine romance... last time she indulged in that, it got her caught and imprisoned!

She likes pranks/mischief... and sometimes that mischief can seem cruel if you don't understand the mindset of a creature of the wild. Engage her on her level, and she might find you more 'fun' than 'food'.

Alternately, she carries her soul around in an orb she wears as jewelry, and if someone got their hands on it, it'd be bad news for her!

About anything you can think of and want to brainstorm together! She's an alt that's good for long-term or short-term RP; serious, or not-so-serious moments... there's plenty of potential!

The OOC

Writer is 30+, and I prefer RP partners to be 21+ - I do prefer darker, more mature RP, but that's not all I'm capable of! I just like morally grey explorations - and questions like 'what really drives a person?'

Late nights aren't really something I can do anymore, past 11-12pm my writing isn't any good, though my schedule is open enough to allow earlier starting times. Also I'm CST, and prefer in-game RP. I simply can't stay in character when RP isn't moving in real time, and tend to just forget to respond to out of game stuff, or not feel well enough to write some days, and it ends up taking so long that I can't stay in character. Thus, scheduling in-game scenes ahead of time will always be what works best for me.

No canon characters please, it just really breaks my immersion/my character wouldn't have any reason to interact with canon characters really! Unfortunately, this means WoL OCs as well - their power level is just so intense that I can't really justify my OCs interacting with the WoL: time-traveling slayer of gods at the edges of the universe. (And no shade to canon RPers of any kind - it's just not my cup of tea, is all. Embrace your fun, my friends!) I also don't mind bending lore, but outright ignoring/breaking with it is also not really for me - and again, there's no judgement for how others choose to have fun, but I like to respect the canon.

I prefer plots, and RP with a purpose - contact solely focused on ERP is not welcome. ERP as part of an on-going story doesn't bother me, however.

Don't bring IC into OOC, or vice verse!

Communicate! If the RP isn't working for you, just tell me! I prefer 'organic RP,' but if you want to steer a story (RP) in a certain direction or don't want it steering in a direction, let me know! I much prefer having that conversation, rather than allowing an RP partner to be silently upset or uncomfortable!Follows come from @ooc-miqojak , and my other blogs are @miqojak and @antlers-and-omens!

[horizon-forbidden-sheesh]

HFW: Realistic Gameplay

I'm not sure how many people do this, but I like to approach my HFW gameplay to make the experience as realistic as possible. Here are a few of the considerations I keep in mind while playing to ensure my timeline is accurate to the game's storyline. :)

[⚠️ Warning! Some light spoilers are referenced ahead.]

ON SLEEP:

How long can Aloy reasonably go without sleep? Maybe 48 hours, but the high-intensity work she does requires dexterity & focus, so her accuracy & analytical abilities diminish the longer she's awake.

When she's desperate, or thiiiiis close to her goals, she likely gets tunnel vision, and gameplay gets a bit sloppier. (ie. Latopolis 😬)

Plus, the world is way more DANGEROUS for people at night! Humans are not a naturally nocturnal species, even if Aloy's stealth approach excels in the cover of darkness. She's also probably a little ~off~ in her circadian rhythm because she's one of a very few future humans exposed to blue light, lol.

ON FOOD:

Let's assume she's fed when she stays at any given settlement, but out in the wilds, she should be eating every day.

This means with a small food pouch, she can really only be out in the wilds for ~3 days without having to hunt her own meals. (Which no doubt, she can do, but do your really think Aloy has the time or patience to be cooking while she's saving the literal world? Nah.)

ON TRAVEL:

Along the way, I have to ask myself: how much does the side quest matter? How time-sensitive is it? Is it already on her existing route?

I try to WALK through settlements to A) not appear insane, B) accurately simulate the time she would actually spend there.

Can she really sprint all day long?? In this house, we jog. ("most humans can store about 20 miles’ worth of glycogen in their muscles." - NYT)

I don't love riding machines unless it's a long distance or an urgent situation. (ie. Sprinting back to the Base from Tilda's house) The reason for this is because:

A) you alert literally every machine around you, and I prefer to play a stealth approach

B) Riding is associated with Rebel activity, so you'd likely meet resistance from Tenakth locals.

C) not every path is cut out for riding (ie. On Lowland paths, her steed is likely too heavy & might get mired in the swamp / Riding in the Desert during the day, the metal would burn the everliving sh*t out of her.)

ON WEATHER:

In the Desert, I try to sleep during the day & travel at night. It's way too hot to be out during the height of day—even if it's around late October when she's there.

A little rain never hurt anybody, but major storms require cover & a wait-out period. I once got stuck in Sky's Sentry for half a day while I waited for an AETHER-driven storm to die down.

In my gameplay, it's November when Aloy turns up in Sky Clan territory (Yosemite Valley) which means it's freezing at night!

ON TIME:

I track calendar days while I'm playing to make sure I'm within GAIA's estimated ~3 month climate collapse timeline estimate. (Note that she doesn't give this estimate until Aloy discovers the Base, a little over 1 month into gameplay.)

Aloy is probably stuck in Stone's Echo for ~2 weeks healing her ribs. "Most broken ribs heal on their own within six weeks" (Mayo Clinic) But there's no way Aloy has that kind of patience. PLUS I'd bet big money when GAIA made her, she was given some cool genetic boosts that make her heartier than most naturally-born humans. In my game, I took her on some pretty chill missions back to Chainscrape afterward to give her more time to heal.

The game is literally set up to have us experience the seasons as we navigate the world over ~4-6 months!! (ie. The trees are changing color in Chainscrape when we begin in early Autumn / The Riverhymn side quest tells us it's the first of the winter bloom / There is snow in Yosemite Valley.)

From Embassy to Singularity, my gameplay took 132 Days (~4 months). I still have some side quests & errands to finish up, so if you try and complete all tasks before the Singularity, you're probably looking at 5-6 months total.

Okay, that's all I can think of off the top of my noggin, but I'd really love to hear if anyone else has some rad realistic constraints they like to add to the game! :)

[tea-kettlezztoo]

Since they're making her relive her childhood (the ppl closest to her dying, dog becoming hellhound, being corrupted) they may as well make Samantha get her memories of the Aether storyline back by the end of MW3 Zombies

And live. And not be trapped in the Dark Aether forever bc its where she supposedly belongs (it's not)

[asilentsongbird]

Hi, here I am again rather quickly!

Your analysis of your work has given me inspiration 👍

-----------------

For my part, I imagine more of a harem between our reader and the Harbingers, while leaving him a kind of independence.

So our reader can wander all over the palace without the need to be accompanied (because everything is sufficiently guarded, to protect the reader the Tsarina).

But as soon as our reader wants to go out (even if the climate is particularly cold), I think it would be a waste of time to negotiate with the Harbingers.

They have already lost La Signora, it would be a shame to lose their precious deity.

Perhaps by abusing your power over the youngest Harbingers a bit, you might hope for a few vacations with him in Morepesok.

To the general dismay/displeasure of the other members, which complicates their relations even more.

What's perfect, as a reader, is that it's not your fault. You are far too pure to have influenced him

----------------------------------

I hadn't thought about the Abyss hypothesis, this world seems so special to our reader.

If he had inadvertently gone astray (to escape from cultists who are far too euphoric, by the arrival of a deity), I think it would have had disastrous consequences for our reader.

The latter could be more manipulable and torn between two factions:

Aether and Lumine, who wants to save all those locked in this dark world and make you, the reader, the one and only deity.

And Dainsleif, who will do everything to make you rank with them, doing his best to hide you from the Abyss and the Archons, who are on their way to find you.

------------------------

I was happy to work on this storyline expansion, especially the Abyss.

There are other ideas floating around in my head that I hope you will continue to enjoy.

Anon!!! ily!!! These ideas are so fun but like at the same time made me laugh so hard.

Like, imagine someone getting on your bad side and then suddenly your eleven harbinger boyfriends are out for blood. It would really be:

Random person: GET YOUR BOYFRIENDS

You: They're fine they're really sweet when you get to know them :D

Random person, about to get murdered in horrible ways: AHHHH

Okay, okay, obviously this person would have to sneak in because you are so right, anon, the harbingers would never let you outside.

BUT they might be convinced for a group outing. Maybe. If you can behave and bundle up well against the cold. And if all of them go with you. And if you don't do anything to get into trouble. Actually, why do you even want to go outside? It's cold and unsafe out there. You're better off staying inside.

There, no need to worry about such things.

----

Anon, dear anon, you have now put ideas in my head about yandere Dainsleif. Please. This is amazing.

He's a man who has lost his country and all of his people. In the moment that it mattered most, he failed and couldn't protect them. But somehow, he still has you. You're still with him, perfect in every way.

He can't lose you to. He can't fail again. So yes, he knows you want to help out the abyss monsters but they're not your concern anymore. He needs to keep you safe, by his side, and protected.

You'll get used to it eventually. It just takes some adjustment at first, always having him hanging off you. And by the time you realize just how hard it is to get away, it's already too late.

Dain isn't going to let you go. He won't ever lose the one thing he has left. The one thing that could make everything right.

He can't help his old people anymore. But he can help you and make sure nothing ever happens to you.

And that really is all that matters to him.

[kapkant7]

Saw this going around on Twitter and decided to take a crack at it. Template by FanaticSpam

Some of these were very difficult, you could slot in Samantha instead of Richtofen, Outbreak instead of Firebase Z and Mauer Der Toten over Der Riese depending on the day. Also for anyone confused the Guilty Pleasure is The Darkest Shore from CoD WWII

[coldgoldlazarus]

Echoes and Hunters are really interesting to me because of their place relative to the rest of the series, as basically the closest thing to being self-contained Filler Episodes in Samus's life. It can be argued the Prime games as a whole are a filler arc, what with how you really don't need to play the Trilogy to understand the 2D games' ongoing narrative. Even so, it is still a whole arc within itself; despite being decent standalone titles, the phazon connection spanning all three enriches them in conjunction with one-another, and Corruption in particular leans a lot on the setup the first two provide.

Yet at the same time, while definitely connected to the other two, Echoes is distinctly the odd one out in a lot of ways, and the overarching phazon storyline seems almost incidental at times despite Dark Samus and the background setup of the conflict. It's not confirmed either way, but the dark world could be read as a pocket universe created by the leviathan seed malfunctioning, or a whole parallel dimension that it simply broke through into and created the copy of Aether within. Even if it is the latter, the Ing were probably a byproduct of the interaction of Phazon and the dark dimension, but there is also the possibility the were a distinct entity existing beforehand. Regardless of all of that, the Luminoth and Aether as a location certainly stand out as unique, and are only loosely connected to the bigger picture through a shared history with the Chozo.

Hunters, meanwhile, may wind up tying into Prime 4 through Sylux, but that too is extremely incidental to the main story focus, which is even more outright disconnected from the usual Metroid factions and concepts than even Echoes is. As people have joked about before, it really says something that killing Gorea, a terrible eldritch abomination that singlehandedly wiped out an entire galactic-region-spanning civilization, is probably one of the least important things Samus has done in her career. Even that aside, apart from Sylux and Weavel, most of the other hunters are similarly unique and disconnected from the established story, with Trace and the Kriken Empire in particular standing out as an elephant in the room that are weirdly less relevant than the info on them would imply.

And I love the overarching storyline, both of the Prime games and the series as a whole, and how the different mainline titles are for the most part thematically enriched by their interconnectivity and parallels. (Even Proteus Ridley, for all the problems I have with him, I do appreciate as a clear bridge between Corruption and Super.) But there is also something really fascinating to these two more avant-garde titles, that really expand the universe and try new things, instead of remaining confined to the core concepts the series usually keeps a tight focus on.

There is a risk of going too far and possibly losing sight of the aesthetic/thematic shore, so to speak, but I feel like we're not quite there yet, and I appreciate the effort to branch out. On the flipside, there is again some weirdness to some of this stuff being so confined instead of having a bigger impact, (looking at you Trace) but the level of tightness of the mainline games does kinda work in our favor here. Sure it's weird, but it's not out of the realm of plausibility that the Kriken really are a big deal, but just... elsewhere, and mostly haven't directly relevant to Samus's life outside of this one-off run-in with Trace.

Idk, I'm not really going anywhere in particular with this, I just think it's neat.

[shinmiyovvi]

When I told you that I would finally start making my Cod MW and BOCW ocs and I wasn't lying? Yeah... They're now being worked on like I wanted to

[griffincastle]

Hello, I hope you’re having a great day.

I haven’t played any zombies maps later than bo4 (I’m sorry). Can you explain what happens afterwards with Samantha and “the Director” and also possibly recommend some maps? Thank you 😊😊😊

One of the many improvements cw brought to zombies was that they made the storyline WAYYY more accessible. Meaning, now you could collect intel and radios in-game, then check them out in your game menu anytime you wanted. So the summary below has a radio/intel/cutscene you can find online! If you wanted to catch up on the story as a whole, all you need is some headphones and free time.

So, Sam and Eddie go into the light at the end of [REDACTED] in bo4…

Sam doesn’t remember her childhood starting the new story, and only remembers the orphanage in West Berlin. There's another gap in her past again, until she goes to Heidelberg (the same college Primis Ed went to!!) and graduates in math/language. She's then recruited to the western intelligence agency to keep an eye on what the communists are up to.

Eddie has zero personal history revealed. We only have small bits like: he was a fighter pilot (a callback to the "red baron" Manfred Von Richtofen haha. His plane was literally called the “blue baron”), he experimented on college students once by purposefully drugging them, and he has/*had a woman and child in his life. Also, he has an American accent like child-at-the-house Ed.

*whether they are alive is not confirmed, but the current evidence suggests they are not. Though, that has more to do with Weaver than Samantha. I could address this in a post not about Sam and Eddie's relationship.

He joins the CIA under the office of extra-regular activities, but when Sam learns of the soviets opening the dark aether portal, the CIA finds out as well. Ed proposes to create requiem to contain the threat, which is approved. 

So, now we may assume that we're at the beginning of Cold War.

Sam and Eddie officially first cross paths after Samantha was hospitalized. A different character, Dr. Peck, pushed her into the portal to the dark aether… BUT Eddie told Dr. Peck, explicitly, to banish sam. It's also important to note that dark aether time progresses differently, where 10 earth years = 100 dark aether years. So, sam was physically and psychologically damaged after 2 earth days/several dark aether months spent surviving. 

One can suspect that, unlike sam, Eddie can remember the aether storyline. He wanted her to be exposed to the dark aether, and for her to weild her former powers. We find that other people trapped in the dark aether never ended up developing powers. Instead, they go insane, die, or mutate.

(and I say Eddie can remember, because only Sam was able to control zombies at any point of the aether story. After moon, Ult Richtofen's zombie control powers were immediately severed when maxis exploded the earth. In the comics, his control of zombies was because /he/ was also a zombie. Or rather, using a zombie body. So he knows it had to be /sam/ that goes through the portal because she'd get powers.)

Now back to the hospital. As she recovers, she reveals visions and dreams she doesn't understand- as the player, we know she is recalling the aether story. For example, she mentions the great war and familiar faces…

When Sam starts showing signs that she can do special things, Ed forces her to go to a facility to "train" her newfound powers. However, he uses supreme abuse and manipulation to force the powers to surface. (I.e. forcing sam to teleport her dog away from gunfire, straight up exploding a random guy so Eddie won't get her girlfriend assassinated on camera…) 

Eddie is deliberately using torture to surface and control her powers, too. During the hospital stay, Sam was able to levitate a book after getting really excited over seeing her gf (gf is canonical by the way). Eddie could use any strong emotion, but is probably his cruelest iteration here. 

Eddie eventually manipulates Sam that she needs to give herself up so the forsaken (the antagonist of cw) doesn't destroy the world. She does so by entering the forsaken, which is in-turn able to be captured by the husk of robo-sophia.

As of now in the story, Sam is MIA, and Eddie closed down Requiem to pursue "project Janus," which has not been revealed . We know likely has to do with sam's sacrafice and the capture of the forsaken.

So that’s Eddie and Sam’s relationship! Very tense, but they also share many similarities with each other as characters.

AS FOR MAP RECOMMENDATIONS.. Firebase Z is king. It’s literally so fun and I never get bored with it. It has elements similar to origins, mob of the dead, DE, and the story is fullest here. Outbreak is a great map to get acquainted with the new play-style and is completely unique and exciting. If you’re looking for tighter gameplay and some comedy, Maur Der Toten. There’s a robot character named Klaus that’s just Primis Ed without a filter.

[jamieaiken919]

If possible, can you please explain the controversy going on rn with MW3 Zombies? I bought the game last year for the PS5 Bundle, but haven't touched it in months, and only really cared about the multiplayer bc the zombies portion was garbage imo compared to CW, but bc I haven't really been in the fandom for a while I have no idea what's going on?

I had heard it had something to do with AI and the bot situation, but I would like a detailed explanation bc everywhere I go to try to figure out wtf's going on I get more confused tbh

Hello anon!! Welcome to my little corner lol

Okay so, full transparency here, I’m probably not the best person to answer any questions when it comes to the Dark Aether story lol. I became very jaded with the Zombies storyline after BO4, and have only peripherally kept up with the story since then.

That being said, in terms of the AI thing, that I can kind of answer for you. Recently Treyarch posted a job listing for an artist/animator position, where part of the specifications listed working with generative AI tools.

I nabbed this from twitter, but the parts highlighted in orange detail that the position will be required to work with and “polish” assets made with generative AI tools. Obviously, people are pissed about this, and for good reason. From my minimal understanding, I heard that this was more of a requirement that Microsoft was putting on them (and again, I could be very wrong on that), but it’s still a terrible look for Treyarch regardless.

If anyone else has more information on this, feel free to jump in!