DISCLAIMER: All of the events described and quoted in the present text, as well as characters, locales, and other settings present here are property of their rightful owners. This is a purely fan-based theory, thought about by a man who has played and loved every single game, and wishes to share his thoughts with the world.

Doom, , and all of their assets are registered trademarks of iD Software and

Heretic, Hexen and all of their assets are registered trademarks of

All the images utilized are the property of their respective owners, a few of them edited for purposes. Everything expressed here is merely an opinion and doesn't reflect any official statement from the makers of the games.

Now go ahead, and enjoy!

Table of Contents Greetings, ladies and gentlemen...... 1 The Beginning: Before Heretic ...... 3 Rise and Fall of the Serpent Riders: Of Parthoris, Cronos and Thyrion...... 3 Cronos, the world of Hexen ...... 4 Proto-Earth: Thyrion...... 4 The Thyrion Theory ...... 5 In modern times ...... 8 Of Rage, and its possibilities...... 11 Doomed ...... 11 Quake ...... 12 Summary ...... 14 Discussion ...... 15 Change log ...... 15

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. To begin with, I would like to explain the purpose of this document. In short: Every single ID game is connected in one way or another, even darker and more magical games such as Heretic and Hexen, and it falls within a cohesive continuity that hints at something massive and incredibly fantastic.

Sounds crazy, does it not? Well, please do allow me to give some context. This began upon discussing with a good matey about the upcoming Wolfenstein: The New Order game, and recalling that on 2009's iteration of Wolfenstein, there is a Tome artifact that powers up B.J.'s Medallion powers and whatnot. This is, indeed, a nod to the Heretic/Hexen game series created by Raven Software, using the engine, and they really held no other relation with any other of the games. The item referenced in Wolfenstein is called a "Tome of Power," an artifact that can enhance the bearer's weapons, increasing their destructive power; pretty much the same function in Wolfenstein as it does in Heretic, Heretic II and Hexen II.

A nice little nod, but it goes deeper.

Veterans of the Heretic/Hexen series may recall that Hexen 2, the last game in the series, takes place in the land of Thyrion, a place which is, quite literally our own world. It has distinctive locales such as Mesoamerica, Greece and Rome, Egypt, Western Europe and even the Tibet, albeit with different names (Mazaera, Septimus, Thysis, Blackmarsh and Tulku, respectively.) Now, the plot in this game, revolves around a demonic conquest, perpetrated by Eidolon, oldest and mightiest of the Serpent Riders. During this time, magic roamed the earth, and the Tomes of Power made their appearance in the world of Thyrion to power Eidolon's war machine, and were used by the four heroes of the world to defeat the Rider and bring peace.

But what if some remained? What if a sliver of magical artifacts remained in the world, and were found? What if these were used by people with a deep interest and knowledge in the occult, to gain power and raise an army with impossible technology and magical artifacts?

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What if this someone happened to be a man named Adolf Hitler?

And this is where everything begins to fall into place. The technology, magic artifacts and occult things researched by the Reich during the events that occur in Spear of Destiny, Wolfenstein 3-D, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein (2009) and The New Order are actually the remnants of the magic in Thyrion.

Still farfetched, no? Well, my dear friends, like any good story, this one must begin from the beginning. So grab your reading glasses, a snack, and sit back for what may be one of the greatest stories in gaming history.

In chronological order of the events described, this theory follows the steps of the next games:

Heretic 1 and 2 > Hexen > Hexen 2 > Spear of Destiny > Wolfenstein 3-D > Return to Castle Wolfenstein > Wolfenstein (2009) > Wolfenstein: The New Order > > DoomRPG > Doom 1 > Doom 2 > Doom 64 > Others.

The "Others" section refers to games such as the Quake series and Rage. And now, onto the meat and potatoes of this whole thing. ALLONS-Y!

Also a fair warning: Here there be spoilers. Proceed at your own risk!

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The Beginning: Before Heretic It all begins before Heretic, as it is described on the Chronicle of Deeds, Hexen 2's game manual. It commences with the legends of the Steppe Dwellers of Kazul-Mok, foretelling the coming of evil into the world. In their legends, in the time before and beyond memories, a powerful spellcaster created a vessel to travel across the Aether, the substance holding the universe and its planets together, held in its place by a powerful crystal barrier that separates the universe from the darkness beyond.

In his search for knowledge and his desire to explore beyond the limits of knowledge, the wizard rammed the prow of his vessel into the crystal barrier, opening a bore that let in a trio of powerful demons into our plane of existence. Horrified by the accident, and likely immediately regretting his life choices, the wizard used all of his power to cast the preventing more creatures from the void from seeping in. But the damage Picture non- was done. related

Rise and Fall of the Serpent Riders: Of Parthoris, Cronos and Thyrion The next step in our journey would be the games Heretic/Heretic 2. These take place in the land of Parthoris, where the Serpent Riders make their first assault into the Reality. The plot of this game follows the Sidhe elf Corvus, the Heretic, along the various locales of Parthoris, a land of magic and arcane lore, of powerful artifacts and elder technologies.

The world of Parthoris was largely shaped by the Seraph, a race of divine-like beings, mighty spellcasters that created a large amount of magical technologies and artifacts that would shape the lives of the inhabitants of Parthoris for ages to come. As they would leave the mortal world behind, they predicted an enormous evil coming into the world. As a response, they created one final artifact to protect the people of Parthoris: The seven most powerful Seraph magi sacrificed themselves to bind their souls into the Tomes of Power, artifacts capable of enhancing the magical abilities of anyone who came to use one of them, enabling them to produce feats of power beyond imagining. Due to their power, they were hidden away to prevent their misusage, and so they remained hidden. Until D'sparil came.

Corvus, Heretic's protagonist, managed to steal one of the Tomes of Power, Teejallah, whom aided him in his quest to bring down the Serpent Rider. As explained by Heretic 2's manual, the Tome of Power was actually a sentient being, holding the soul of

3 the once mighty Seraph magus and channeling its power into Corvus, allowing him to cast more powerful spells, eventually allowing him to kill D'sparil and free Parthoris... For a time.

Cronos, the world of Hexen We travel now through space and time, to the world of Cronos, a world ruled under the iron fist of three powerful factions that dictate every aspect of the people's lives. The Legion, holding the military power of the world; the Church, enthralling people's spirits, and the Arcanum, holding a tight leash on the usage of magic and using it to control the populace.

It was in this land where the second Serpent Rider, Korax, made his attack. Easily swayed by his promises of power and eternal life, the rulers of Cronos' governing powers, the Grand Marshall Zedek of the Legion, Traductus, High Patriarch of the Church and Menelkir, Archmagus of the Arcanum, delivered the people they were meant to protect into the Rider's claws.

Only three young apprentices, one of each faction, rose to face the Serpent Rider: Baratus, Warrior of the Legion; Parias, Priest of the Church, and Daedolon, Magus of the Arcanum. Together, they managed to defeat Korax, even without the aid of the powerful magic of the Sidhe, and the existence of the Tomes of Power in this world. They were aided, however, by the existing network of Portals that function along the lands of Cronos.

Proto-Earth: Thyrion The last world to be assaulted, by the oldest and strongest of the Serpent Riders, Eidolon, was Thyrion. A land of jungles, war like societies, mystical pyramids and dark castles. Otherwise known to them d00dz as "Earth."

Eidolon took the remnants of D'sparil and Korax's army and added them to his own, and used them to crush the once mighty kingdoms of Thyrion. But there's one particular thing going on here: They had Tomes of Power.

Eventually Eidolon was defeated by four nameless heroes, who later defeated the wizard Praevus, stopping his plot to utilize the combined powers of the Riders to become invincible. But as we see the closing scene of the game, there's a distinct demon-like shadow looming over us.

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The Thyrion Theory To commence, let us make one thing clear: Thyrion is Earth. As I have said before, it has all the distinct settings and cultures of our world; as shown in the game, Mesoamerican Aztec culture, the Egyptian culture, Greco-Roman culture, Western European culture, and even Tibetan culture. While the names in-game are changed, when you play on multiplayer you can see that each episode is named after its real world counterpart, respectively: "Meso," "Egypt," "Romeric," and "Blackmarsh;" this may be for making the naming of the maps easier, but also implies a closer relationship with our world, upon which we can build on.

Now, a war, an invasion of the size of Eidolon's onslaught would leave a terrible marking in humanity's history, yes? Well, it was brought forth by the use of powerful magical forces and arcane artifacts, that enabled the coming of the Serpent Riders in the first place. To be more specific: At the end of Hexen, we are treated to the Heroes of Cronos stepping upon a raised dais holding the Chaos Sphere, an incredible source of magical power that could create worlds, or destroy them. The Heroes are wrenched off this plane before they even manage to touch the thing, and finally we're treated to what is presumably Eidolon's hand moving pieces on a board.

At the final fight against Eidolon, at the end of Hexen II, we actually see what seems to be the dais shown at the ending of Hexen, still holding the Chaos Sphere, which the demon uses to power himself up (this will be important later on, do make note!) Upon its destruction, Eidolon loses a great part of his strength, and then can be killed by the Heroes of Thyrion.

An event of such a magnitude would certainly be recorded somehow, no? And how did the Tomes of Power come to Thyrion in the first place? Well, my dear friend, read on!

First, let's address the issue with the Tome of Power. As I said above, as explained in Heretic II, the Tomes are actually sentient beings created by binding the soul of a Seraph magus into the enormous leather bound book; it is to be noted once again, that Seraphs were the ultimate spellcasters, holding immeasurable power. So much in fact, that they actually anticipated the coming of the Serpent Riders (maybe they are the fabled Steppe Dwellers of Kazul Mok, or somehow related to them?) and created the Tomes of Power to protect the people of Parthoris. For the sake of congruency, let's assume that the various tomes collected through the course of Heretic are actually symbolisms for the times when Corvus' Tome regains enough strength to be used again, as can be seen on Heretic II's

5 introduction and game manual: Teejallah regains enough of the power it expended to defeat D'sparil to retrieve its sentience and open a portal back to Corvus' homeworld, as upon destroying the Serpent Rider, he was cast out into the shattered realms conquered by the Riders.

Alright, so that explains the origin of the Tome of Power, but why aren't there any in Cronos, and why do they exist in Thyrion? Well, the Serpent Riders are Space-Time travelling demons that can seep through the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff that composes the universe, so it stands to reason that the attacks on Parthoris, Cronos and Thyrion may happen simultaneously, yet at different times and on different worlds. So in this sense, Cronos didn't have Tomes of Power because they hadn't been -created- yet. "But wait!" you may be thinking now, "What do you bloody mean they can be created? This is MADNESS!!!" Well not so fast! Let's recall the facts about the Tome of Power shall we? It was created by fusing incredibly powerful souls into a black book full of arcane lore; they enhance the wielder's abilities enormously, and as demonstrated by the lady Teejallah, they can open rifts in space. What else is shown and said to do such things?

Why the Chaos Sphere of course! The Chaos Sphere holds the Aether that keeps the universe in place, and as such it can create gashes in reality, leading to other worlds, and it is shown to increase Eidolon's power as he taps into it, pretty much the way a Tome of Power would do. So then it is reasonable to think that the power of the Chaos Sphere could have been used to create the Tomes of Power seen in Thyrion; at the end of Hexen, Eidolon is shown "planning" his movements, showing the Heroes of Cronos facing off (and defeating) Korax, along with various other "pawns" dead on his chess board. It is safe then to think that the attack on Thyrion happens after Korax and D'sparil have been defeated, and as you may recall, Eidolon actually took over the remnants of their armies. Eidolon is a cunning and devious monster, so why couldn't he figure that the Tome of Power had a lot to do with the destruction of D'sparil? And why, he could be aided at figuring that out, too!

Let's go back to Heretic and Heretic II. In the time between both games, a nondescript amount of decades passes in Parthoris; the plot in Heretic II sets the fallen Seraph Morcalavin creating a fake Tome of Power in order to cast a "Spell of Ascension," but due to the usage of the fake Tome, the spell backfires and corrupts him, driving him insane and leading him to create a plague that scourged the people of Parthoris. As if D'sparil wasn't enough.

But, how did he create this fake Tome of Power? And how could he do so, without binding a soul to it? Alright, back to Eidolon. As I have said, he is cunning and relentless, and he returned to Parthoris in order to retrieve D'sparil's shattered army. So then, what keeps him from having met with the last High Seraph left in

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Parthoris, and listening to his plans about casting the most powerful spell, aided by the most powerful artifacts ever created? Let me note two things: One, it is implied that the Serpent Riders can assume a purely human form, as seen on D'sparil, thus not looking like, well, demons; two, during the time after D'sparil's defeat, presumably when Eidolon went to retrieve his armies, Corvus had the true Tome Teejallah in his possession. Morcalavin's spell needed the power of the Seven Tomes, of which he had only six, so he needed a replacement. And here's where Eidolon comes in.

Using the power of the Chaos Sphere, he helped Morcalavin. The Sphere provided the power source necessary to charge the Fake Tome, and Morcalavin taught Eidolon, or was seen, casting the spell to create said Tome. But the fake Tome was not pure as Teejallah's sisters were, but tainted by the vile magics of the Serpent Rider and the Chaos Sphere, and brought Morcalavin into madness, causing further doom on an already broken land. But Eidolon got what he wanted: A means to strengthen his army, to make it undefeatable. The Fake Tomes of Power.

Using this knowledge, Eidolon could use the Chaos Sphere to create soulless, disposable fake Tomes in Thyrion and use them to strengthen his army. In Hexen 2's manual it is said that the "Tome is a staple of all warrior's guilds," but their origin or reason of existence in Thyrion is never explained. So let us think, then, that under Eidolon's influence the magi of the warriors guilds channeled the arcane powers of the Sphere into huge leather bound books, brimming with magic knowledge and lore, infusing them with magic and creating the Tomes of Thyrion. This is how the Fake Tomes were created.

After Eidolon's defeat, an event of the magnitude of the war against Eidolon must have remained in the minds of the people, right? Well, not necessarily. Ravaged by the war, and with most scribes and loremasters dead due to Eidolon's onslaught, the tale of the Riders faded into Oblivion, fading beyond legends and forgotten entirely. The Heroes of Thyrion, knowing that it had been magic what had brought these beings into the world in the first place, hid the remaining Fake Tomes and other magical artifacts away, so they could never be found, and used again, giving the role of Guardian to a trustworthy mage. And so ends Hexen 2, the name Thyrion was forgotten, spun away from the minds of the people, and the planet merely came to be called Earth.

But as the game ends, we're treated to a demonic looking shadow looming over Themedes, the writer of the Chronicle of Deeds. A shadow that is never explained, but that may come to have more meaning than you may think.

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And then comes the beginning of Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

In modern times The intro cinematic to Return to Castle Wolfenstein sets us in the year 943 A.D. where we see a nameless mage fighting against the undead lord, Heinrich the First. Interesting things to notice here: The man uses a magic staff and is clearly an adept at spellcasting; Heinrich has a devilish, possessed appearance; the mage lets out a pained grunt akin to Heretic's Corvus, plus his attire and staff are similar. But what does this have to do with anything?

Alright so, as we recall, there was an unidentified demonic creature seen at the end of Hexen 2; plus, let's remember that the Chaos Sphere is destroyed in order to defeat Eidolon, so the barrier between our universe and the Void is gone. Who is to say some other demon didn't come through to our plane? A demon that could have given a Lord magical knowledge, and the lore to raise an army of the undead and become immortal? Like, an Angel of Death?

Now, there is no discrepancy with the time. Castles and places as the ones seen in Thyrion, in Hexen 2, have existed hundreds of years B.C. In Hexen 2, we see many Judeo-Christian influences, particularly in the Cathedral levels, but these can be explained too: Eidolon has at his command creatures that depict Angels (Fallen Angels, to be precise) and he is a huge red horned beast who breathes hellfire. Sounds familiar? That explains the religious influences in a world before Jesus Christ and Christianism/Catholicism: Just like his brother D'sparil did, Eidolon created a cult around himself, and absorbed the gods of the lands of Thyrion into it. As he was defeated by the Heroes, and the tale of his physical shape spread, it became exaggerated until it became the Devil himself.

But returning to more modern days now...

As I said before, caches of Fake Tomes and ancient magical technology could've been stacked away, and found by one Adolf Hitler. In his pursuit of knowledge on the occult, he disheartened a cache of such artifacts, and an ancient weapon, a staff with three forks. The Spear of Destiny. Hitler's superstitious nature leads him to see this as an omen, for he who holds the Spear shall be invincible, and in his pride, he creates the greatest Empire the world has ever seen.

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The knowledge he gains from the occult artifacts disinterred by his people, let his chief medical researcher Doctor Schabbs reanimate the dead and create an army of mutants; his scientists gained control over the elemental energies of lightning, allowing him to create biomechanical augmentations and armor for his soldiers. It all looked good and bright for Adolf, until one William J. "B.J." Blazkowicz came and tore everything apart.

First, he seized the fabled Spear of Destiny. Then he ended the chemical war planned by general Fettgesicht and overseen by Otto Giftsmacher, he infiltrated the depths of Schloss Höllehammer and put a halt to Doctor Schabbs production of mutants, and ultimately killed the Führer, and his mysterious army of spellcasting ghosts.

And this gets interesting too: The game art depicts the Spear as a trident, actually: A shaft with a three pronged metal head; ingame, B.J. is shown holding the spear, which has a distinct blue glow around it. Now that is interesting, I recall having seen a trident with a blue glow somewhere... A trident, three... Such as the symbol of the Serpent Riders perhaps? And wasn't D'sparil's weapon a trident that shot lightning balls? Ladies and gentlemen, the Spear of Destiny is actually D'sparil's trident, maybe broken by the beating Corvus gave him. And it makes sense, as I shall now explain: Korax took the heart of D'sparil and built a shrine around it (As seen in the Bright Crucible map in Hexen,) so why wouldn't Eidolon have taken his last remaining powerful asset, his now broken trident, and brought it with him? It became a "spear" as the side prongs broke off, but it retained some of its power, allowing it to channel lightning to a degree and fuelling Hitler's scientist's experimentation with raw energy.

But a weapon of such power would likely attract powerful creatures. And what did we say about a demonic entity before? So, Hitler gains the supernatural ability to clone himself, and said clones can actually throw balls of fire, a decidedly magical ability. Who could have taught him that? Why the creature that latched itself to the Spear of Destiny of course, the Angel of Death. Who is, in actuality, the shadowy figure we see at the end of Hexen 2, and the one who tried to use Heinrich the First to wreak havoc into the world once again. A decidedly minor demon compared to the Riders in terms of power, but mischievous nonetheless. Another possibility, however, is that the Angel of Death is also the Harbinger of Doom, as seen on Wolfenstein RPG, who once defeated by B.J. Blazkovicz, loses one arm a leg

9 and swears vengeance on his descendants... And then goes and has said arm and leg replaced by bionics, becoming the .

Then comes Return to Castle Wolfenstein. With Hitler dead, the worst of the war was yet to come, as General Deathshead took over the operation, and delved deeper into the occult, producing new weapons, new mechanical abominations and causing a whole lot of pain in the rear for the world. Until B.J. went back to action and brought down the just- released Heinrich the First.

Now, Return to Castle Wolfenstein does show more elements of the occult and magical, the Dagger of Warding that is unearthed by Helga von Bulow and guarded by Olaric, the figure of Thulian lore, who proceeds to butcher her, and the spells cast by Heinrich to revive the undead, which are very similar to what D'sparil uses in Parthoris, as his army is made of corpses.

But Thule... interesting name no? An ancient civilization based in magic and technology surrounding the mysterious Black Sun. Thule... could it be related to Thyrion somehow?

We'll see.

In Wolfenstein (2009) is when the link between Thyrion and our world is apparent. As I said, powerful magical artifacts that can bend time, power up weapons, create shields and other amenities are discovered. And this artifact, the Thule Medallion, can be enhanced by finding Tomes of Power. The Fake Tomes that remained from the war against Eidolon. And notice how the spells cast by the medallion are similar to those cast by some of the items in Hexen 2: Shield of the Icon of the Defender; Power of the Tome; Vision of the Torch, and the time bending part is new.

And here we come to the dimension of the Black Sun, which is actually a black hole that sucks in everything in sight, and powers strange devices and machines. A black hole, sort of like... a bore? A hole in reality through which eldritch abominations can come into our world? Well, seems that our friend the Space Sailor didn't really close the gap that let the Riders in, huh.

And then comes Wolfenstein the New Order. All we know thus far, is that the Reich won the war somehow, and created a lot of technology in its wake. Of course, we can assume that B.J. will defeat the Nazi scum. And after that, he marries one Julia Marie Peterson, with whom he sires a boy named Arthur Kenneth Blazkowics, who changes his name to Blaze because it's better for his image; he marries a Susan Elizabeth McMichaels and has a son, whom they

10 name William Joseph Blazkowicz II after Arthur's father. A young child known as "Billy Blaze."Or Commander Keen, for the dudes.

And this is official territory now, I ain't manufacturing nor conjecturing in this: Billy Blaze, the protagonist of the Commander Keen games, some of the first games made by and iD software is the grandson of war veteran B.J. Blazkowicz.

Of Rage, and its possibilities RAGE would be placed before the Doom games, as its plot goes that in 2029 an asteroid crashes on earth but people are preserved in stasis cells and whatnot. So this plan for preservation could be related to Doctor Schabbs' (from Wolfy 3d) and Deathshead research on life preservation, as we're shown people having their bodily fluids replaced and put into stasis. The Arks open, but not all of them, and this gives way to the plot in Rage: Only some of humanity is back in the world, with a dominant military force in "control" and Rageguy fixes that by kicking their behinds and opening the rest of the Arks.

Here, we can think that the military force may have been related to the UAC (and let's not forget there's a BFG shot ammo in the game) or otherwise the leaders of the company may've been stuck in the malfunctioning arks. So, humanity rebuilds, space exploration comes into motion and things get better for everyone. Rage begins in the year 2135, some 106 years after the fall of the meteorite, and the events in Doom and take place in the year 2145, so in the span of 10 years, humanity could've established itself back into the world, but with most of it ravaged, there could've been not enough food or resources to live adequately, and so the UAC with its technology sets off to conquest the far reaches of space.

Doomed While there is no specific date given as to when the UAC was founded, by the year 2145, ten years after the events that happen in RAGE, the Union Aerospace Corporation has been working on teleportation experiments. They manage to open a portal to Hell opens, everything flares up and we know the story. Then Doom II comes, and Mr. Doom guy goes to the demons' home turf to kill them all. Then Doom64 marks the end of Doom, with him staying in their home dimension to make sure they never come again. Something to be noted is that as per the Doom II RPG, the name of the protagonist of the game is Sergeant Stan Blazkowicz, descendant of good ol' B.J., who defeated the Harbinger and made him the Cyberdemon

As we recall from Doom 3, there's a sort of "void" between worlds when teleporting. Also of notice is that the doom that befell on Thyrion, Cronos and Parthoris was heavily influenced by the existing portal networks; each of the previous games dealt

11 with gashes in reality that led from one point to another instantly, just as the UAC did in Doom. So, in truth, Hell is actually the Darkness beyond Worlds, from whence the Serpent Riders come from, only modified and altered by the technology salvaged from previous invasions and twisted to accommodate their evolution.

So this may be within the span of one year: Hell breaks loose on Phobos, Deimos and Mars, then on Earth, the Demon falls and humanity begins rebuilding. The UAC keeps its functioning under a tight leash from the government, but still it dun goof'd but this time on another planet, taking to the events of Doom64. This time, Doomguy stays in Hell to make sure no Demon can cross over to our world again, and it works. For a while.

Quake Meanwhile, the UAC keeps improving its space travelling technology, exploring new worlds and whatnot, but as it is prone to happen, a new threat looms over humanity. A race of biomechanical horrors made from piecemeal from various other species, melded together despite their rot and incompatibility, and built only to kill. The Strogg, of course, leading us to the events in Quake 2 and then .

Let us notice that the Strogg logo can be seen not only in these two games, but also in Quake I plastered on boxes and some places, so this suggests some clear relation. I am inclined to place Quake 2 before Quake 4 due to the technologies involved. First off, in Quake 2 and 4 we can see that the spaceships they use are much more advanced and large than those we see in Doom 3, so it stands to reason that the UAC, under the watch of the government, advanced its research into Air and Space machines, and this technology allowed humanity to survive against the Strogg in the first place. Second, the final in Quake I is called, as I said, Shub-Niggurath, sometimes known (in the Lovecraft mythos) as the All-Mother, who clearly has the power to reanimate dead tissue (as seen in Quake I.) So it's possible to think that the Strogg are actually the remnants of the worlds conquered by her, melded together with black magic and technology and sent to conquer that pesky race of humans again.

Humanity wins, of course, and so comes Quake I. In the disarray after the end of the war, in a military base the UAC restarts its long gone forays into teleportation, and like the dog who returns to lick his own barf, once again hell freaks loose and it is now the turn of Quakeguy (Ranger in Quake 3) to clean things up. This time, he's brought to the core of the Elder Ones' worlds, the very epicenter of the Demon's home dimension, where black magic and twisted technology hold sway over reality. Of course due to Quake's graphic limitations, there's not an abundance of detail in the game, but a few things are clear: First off, Shub-Niggurath's armies are made out of different species and races of creatures, possibly coming from conquered worlds and in a form similar to the Strogg; second, they're mostly undead, which is akin to what D'sparil did on Parthoris, raising an army of undead

12 to fling at the world; third, technology is implied to exist in the worlds of Quake, as seen in the Ogre monster and the devices found within the arcane realms. So it could be possible to think that, indeed, the technology that breathed life into the Strogg was actually the magic of Shub-Niggurath, and the biomechanical implants meant to mass produce them easily and keep an army supplied; that would also explain the clearly diminished number of monsters Quake I has in relation to Quake II and 4.

The events of Quake take place, until Ranger/Quakeguy reaches the heart of the demons' homeworld, finally facing the true mastermind at the end of End of Eternity. As it happens to be, it is a Dragon, a creature often associated with ambition and evilness and hellbent on destroying anything that lives. And in the end, he breaks the machine that allows demons to come into our world, and that's the end of things.

After that, quite similarly to the Serpent Riders, the Vadrigar in Quake 3 seem to be able to manipulate, and exist, outside Time and Space. Given their set of abilities, in fact, there may actually be some relation between the Riders and the Vadrigar, perhaps they too are demons on the power of the trio, or even stronger, who don't concern themselves with their brethren's lust for conquest and destruction. Or they may be the ones causing it, so they can root out the greatest warriors from every world and every species and send them into their Arena Eternal, to watch them fight for their amusement, for eternity.

And in the end, this is how it is all an enormous, cohesive universe, that clicks together.

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Summary 1. The Serpent Riders break into this universe, the bore that let them in wasn't properly sealed, becoming the Black Sun. Tomes of Power are created in Parthoris, and brought to Thyrion thanks to the power of the Chaos Sphere 2. Thyrion = Earth 3. -The Riders are defeated, and on Thyrion, the remaining fake Tomes and magical artifacts are stashed away. A threatening figure looms in the distance. 4. The world forgets about Thyrion, possibly renaming it "Thule" 5. Heinrich the First rises, influenced by the demonic presence 6. Heinrich is imprisoned by the last Guardian 7. Hitler finds the Spear of Destiny, actually D'paril's broken staff. Strikes deal with the Angel of Death/Harbinger of Doom, gains supernatural powers 8. Hitler uses magical knowledge to raise army of mutants and expand technology 9. B.J retrieves the Spear of Destiny, defeats Harbinger who swears vengeance on his descendants, defeats Hitler, Heinrich, the third Reich 10. Pieces of old Thyrion magic technology such as the Tomes of Power are found 11. Blaze Blazkowicz sires Billy Blaze, Commander Keen 12. The UAC is born and expands its technology enormously, the events in RAGE take place 13. The UAC expands, humanity travels into space 14. Doom guy/Stan Blazkowicz fights against Hell itself, stays there to protect the world. 15. Humanity rebuilds after the invasion from Hell. Space travel capabilities increase. The Strogg attack. 16. The Strogg are brought down, experiments on teleportation are resumes. Enter the Slipgate Wars 17. Ranger/Quakeguy slays Shub-Niggurath. Follows into the core of the demon's homeworld, slays the Dragon, destroys the rift machine 18. End

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Discussion There are of course certain inconsistencies with this theory. First and foremost, it doesn't take into account games such as Quake and Rage. An idea of how they may fit, is that Quake II and 4 take place years into the future, after Doom, the earth is decimated by the Strogg but humans manage to survive, giving way to Rage. Humanity advances again and resumes the experiments with teleportation, giving way to Quake I and the End of Eternity. And Quake III is a spinoff.

Also, a few of the stuff may not fit in chronologically; it is discussed whether the first two Wolfenstein games, Spear of Destiny and Wolfy 3D remain within the continuity of Return, Wolf, and New Order.

In this case, the events in WolfensteinRPG make the theory more solid by linking Doom guy to the Blazkowicz lineage, which gives more cohesion to the whole thing.

The topic of teleportation, whether via magic or technology is a recurring theme in all of iD's games, which I believe, lends further credence to this ordeal.

In any case, this is my theory as to the continuity of the iD games, starting from Heretic and all the way to Doom64 and possibly Quake I End of Eternity, where it all ends. I hope you have found this to be as interesting to read as it was for me to type and explain, and I would very much like to listen to your comments about this, and discuss further possibilities of what may be one of the greatest, most massive stories ever told.

Thank you for reading, I hope you had a fun time!

Yours truly,

Daniel Andrade.

Change log

1. May 3d, 2014: First version of the document. 2. May 3d, 2014: Second version of the document, added the following a. Placed Rage on the timeline b. Placed Quake 2 and 4 on the timeline c. Placed Quake 1 on the timeline d. Placed Quake 3 on the timeline

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