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Dead Space - The Story Thread

BEFORE READING FURTHER. THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM BOTH DEAD SPACE GAMES, THE ANIMATED MOVIES AND THE BOOKS, DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT PLOT POINTS SPOILT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

On an intial playthrough of Dead Space 1 or 2 the story might not appear to be very fleshed out, both games appear to have simple "escape from danger" stories. This is not the case at all.
Dead Space has an incredibly complex and well threaded together universe for a game of it's type. Yet since it is still early days it has managed to escape the convoluted nonsense the games in a similar genre experience.

This thread is for the discussion of the extended Dead Space universe as opposed to Isaacs struggle (obviously users can talk about this as well). The main aim is to see if we can achieve some structured resolutions about what we expect in the next game based on the information we have already been given.

The Dead Space wikia contains a vast amount of information about the Dead Space universe http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

The following are extracts from the wikia that I believe make up the "base" of the Dead Space story. Please PM or respond if you would like any further information on the OP and I will happily update.


Where it all began - The Black Marker -

The Black Marker is an alien artifact discovered on Earth by the Earth Government in 2208. It was then hidden to discourage alien belief, yet was brought to public knowledge by Michael Altman, who had been contracted to research the marker 200 years prior to Isaac Clarke's arrival on the USG Ishimura.

The Black Marker was initially found by Michael Altman and a team of researchers in the asteroid impact crater off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. It was thereafter concluded that the Marker landed on Earth along with an asteroid that may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years ago.
Altman's discovery of the Marker led his religion to grow faster than any other religion ever formed on Earth. Altman was killed mysteriously and became a martyr figure to the religion's believers. The government is presumed to have killed him in an attempt to silence the truth about the Marker's true origins. In reality the government had him killed by a necromorph to martyr him so that they could create this new religion with him as a martyr figure. The Black Marker is revered by Unitologists as an immensely powerful holy object which God has sent to show that death was not the end. Various tests on the Marker led to it being reverse engineered, and the result was the Red Marker. This information was saved by Harmon, who recorded it and brought it with him when he and Altman escaped from the sinking platform that contained the Black Marker and a horde of necromorphs.[1]

The Black Marker's influence is similar to the Red Marker's. It was revealed in Dead Space: Martyr that there is a different force surrounding the Black Marker than just the ability to cause madness in humans. The hallucinations that are thought to be caused by the Marker are not caused by it at all. There are other forces at play. Altman thought that there was something in the human mind that caused the hallucinations; a kind of defense mechanism that is activated when in the Marker's presence. Altman was not immune, but he was able to resist the madness caused by it. It is also possible and very likely that in all of these cases there are actually two forces working on people's minds. This is shown when many people in Dead Space: Martyr claim to hear two voices. One of these voices tell the people to kill themselves, presumably the necromorphs. The other appears to be the marker which tries to protect people from necromorphs by telling them to run, or in the case of Issac, manipulating them to help the marker stop the necromorphs. Its existence had been known to the locals that lived near its resting place for generations, but was never spoken about to outsiders and was referred to as the "The Tail of the Devil". The locals tend to cross their index and middle fingers when speaking of it.[2]

The Black Marker was classified government property and, although Unitologists worshiped it, they only appear to have had pictures and possibly the leaked vidlog from Altman. As most data was classified, their conjectures and the spun comments of the dead scientist Altman caused irrational, hysterical ideas about the Marker to gain momentum and the Unitology religion offering vague promises of hope for immortality, with apparent scientific credibility, excited many previously purposeless and depressed people in the dry and impoverished world, who became fanatics.

The Church, of course, always wanted to get its hands on the Marker (which was the reason they were so excited by the Marker found on Aegis VII), though they seem to have had access to the Marker prior to the events of Dead Space, suggesting they had agents in the government.

The symbols on both of the Markers apparently represent DNA, and the double helix structure of the marker itself is a clue to this. However the signal it broadcasts is different than what it says on the markers themselves and what the people write that are affected by the marker. It is possible that each of these different sequences is for a different necromorph.

Altman's Story

Little is known about Altman's early life. At some point he became an anthropologist (geophysicist in the book) and soon moved to the Chicxulub crater with his girlfriend Ada. He also had a varied ancestry, with his own mother being a Native American although he didn't know from which tribe.

During his normal work at the the Chicxulub crater, Altman had begun to suffer from regular nightmares and headaches for weeks before his initial finding. During a routine scan, he detected a strange gravitational anomaly in the heart of the crater that soon began to emit a powerful signal. Attempting to share this knowledge with the public, he was eventually contacted by an individual from DredgerCorp, a covert government company who often moved into areas illegally to continue business. After the contact mysteriously died, Altman later managed to find video evidence of a DredgerCorp attempt to dive down to the signal and find out what it was. Both the men involved in the dive were killed after one of the went insane. Intrigued, Altman tried to blow the whistle on the failed attempt to find the source of the signal against the will of Ada. He was promptly taken into custody by government officials working for DredgerCorp Impressed with his skills of finding out about their operation, Altman was given a choice to help them find the signal, revealed to be coming from an artifact, or be killed to remain silent. He agreed with staying alive.
Altman was brought aboard a covert floating science station along with work colleagues and Ada. He soon befriended a submarine pilot named Hendricks and was ordered to make a dive to retrieve the artifact. Diving into the depths with Hendrickes, the two piloted the sub down to the artifact. Beginning to suffer from the same madness as the previous attempt crew, Hendricks attacked him and Altman was forced to subdue him. Strangely, Altman was unaffected at all by the artifact except for a hallucination of Ada's mother who finally told him what the artifact truly was: the Black Marker. After repeated dives, the Marker was eventually brought onboard the station alongside a sample of strange, fleshy tissue Altman found in the water.

Because of his ability to be in close proximity to the Marker without the adverse side affects of his colleagues, those influenced by the Marker who had come to worship it as a deity began to hail Altman as an unwilling prophet. Despite this attention, Altman noticed how the station's crew had begun to split into believers and non-believers and that violence and murders had begun to escalate. Realising the power of the Marker and with the belief that the government was planning on utilizing it as a dangerous and deadly weapon. Altman escaped from the ocean facility and made an announcement about the Marker in Washington D.C. He was soon recaptured and watched as a sudden Necromorph infection brought about by an insane scientist injecting himself with the tissue sample destroyed the facility and killed all the staff. Altman managed to escape with the help of work colleagues, all of who were eventually killed by the creatures. Hoping to find Ada who had disappeared and get away, Altman returned to the shores near Chicxulub but realised how he could stop the Marker. Fighting his way back inside the facility, he managed to replicate the Marker's genetic code and signal in an attempt to calm it. It eventually did so and Altman destroyed the entire facility as a measure to make sure the Marker would not be found again..

Unfortunately, Markoff and Stevens (two military men who were overseeing the project) then had him captured and planned to kill him, and use his Martyrsim to enhance the name of the Church of Unitology, a faith that Altman unwittingly 'founded' and caused both Markoff and Stevens to believe. The men copied the code Altman had used to calm the Marker from his research and planned to use it as a blueprint to create a second Marker.

Altman was put into a sealed area with only a spoon for a weapon against a Necromorph made of three corpses, including Krax's, one of Markoff's soldiers. The Necromorph that killed Altman very closely matched the description of a Brute.

After Altman's death, the Government began to twist the truth about his fate to the version that the universe would come to know. Altman was apparently assassinated by the Earth Government after spreading the word of the Black Marker and of Unitology whilst working on the research team studying it. Since then, Unitologists have worshiped him as a martyr figure for their faith and interpreted the Black Marker to be a sign from God.
Many statues of Altman are also seen in Dead Space 2, in the Church of Unitology. Interestingly, despite the Necromorphs present in the building, the area seems relatively unaffected by the outbreak, like it had been ignored by the infection.

Necromorphs - And also, what is the writing on the marker?

The DNA patterns covering the surface of the Black and Red Markers are the codes for the viral organism that creates the Necromorphs, an infection noted in logs as a "recombinant life form". According to data logs, the first known Necromorph infection was during the reverse engineering project of the Black Marker, which subsequently created the Red Marker. The Marker was relocated to Aegis VII hundreds of years ago by the original Aegis VII doctors. They had set up the lab on a deserted planet so they could test the Marker and its effects well away from any outposts of human civilization. The Aegis VII doctors copied and recreated the life form using the DNA patterns listed on the Markers. Initially the "recombinant lifeform" existed only in a petri-dish and remained dormant (what exactly the lifeform resembled is unknown). The lifeform did not react to any of the doctor's tests, and was deemed a failure. However, one day, a doctor did not fully decontaminate himself when entering the lab and a few dead skin cells fell into the Petri dish. As such, the infection by the recombinant lifeform immediately activated and reanimated the dead skin cells.
The Red Marker actually inhibited the necrotic flesh testing and it was then that the scientists noticed that it produced an apparent "dead space" field, inhibiting the Necromorph infection from spreading.

Soon afterwards, an accident similar to the Petri dish incident resulted in the infection of two doctors. They were promptly quarantined, where they soon died and shortly after infection, the two doctors transformed into the very first Necromorphs (one doctor became a Leaper, the other an Infector). When the Leaper pierced a ventilation shaft it promptly attacked the other doctors, which the Infector then began transforming. This caused the Aegis VII outbreak to commence.

While it is known that all of the doctors on Aegis VII were killed, very little is detailed on what events transpired after the creatures escaped. A log reveals that, after the initial catastrophe began on Aegis VII, one of the doctors had a "vision" where he has the idea of constructing a pedestal to broaden the signal the Marker is emanating, thereby containing the Necromorph Hive Mind and all infection present on the planet. Since the Marker is found hundreds of years later on its pedestal on the barren surface of the planet, it is suggested that they were successful.

There are four unique Necromorphs: the Leviathan, Slug, Spider, and Urchin which are all large and grotesque blobs of flesh that utilize their tentacles to attack. How they are created and from what is unknown, but they may be independent organisms or an extreme offshoot of the Brute Necromorph (i.e made from combining several different corpses). The Leviathan may be created from the Corruption, as it seems to merge with part of the ship's hull.

There is a low probability that the Necromorph virus is a natural occurrence, as it is attributed to the Black Marker or to the reverse-engineered Red Marker based upon it, though the exact nature of the relationship between the Necromorphs and the Black Marker, and by extension the religion Unitology which was built around the latter, is impossible to determine.

The Red Marker

After the discovery of the Black Marker, the Earth Government began researching the extent of its capabilities and structure. The research team, which originally featured Michael Altman, studied the Black Marker and reverse engineered it for their own use. Through an accident in basic decontamination the team discovered that the genetic code written on the marker was the code for the Necromorph contagion. Later on when the team was moving the Red Marker past the lab room containing the samples of the Necromorph contagion, it was discovered that the Marker emits a field or "Dead Space" that stops the Necromorph DNA from initiating recombination and makes it go dormant. As time went on some members of the team, through unknown events, became infected and were turned into Necromorphs and subsequently quarantined. The team became overrun by their research and most of them were killed by the Necromorph infection. The remaining team, lead by Dr. Eando Dukaj, created a pedestal, that one of the members claimed to have seen in a vision, most likely made by the marker, that could amplify the "Dead Space" made by the marker in the hopes of stopping the Necromorphs from spreading, and hopefully giving them a chance at survival. The team succeeded in making the pedestal and locked the Hive Mind and the rest of the infection with it on Aegis VII.

The Red Marker Part 2 - The Story of Dead Space 1 and Dead Space Extraction

Discovered by accident by an illegal mining colony on Aegis VII, the marker was hailed amongst some colonists as proof to their faith's credibility. Shortly after the discovery of the marker, cases of insomnia, depression and later dementia began occurring. Despite increasing cases of violence, colony management overrode P-Sec protestations and prepared to bring the Marker inside the colony itself. When the Marker was removed from its pedestal, it emitted red light and simultaneously broadcast an across-frequencies scream. Apparently taking the 'scream' as a signal, fifty Unitologists committed mass suicide; in a similar event of insanity, an extraction team engineer killed numerous members of his team and other colony personnel.
By order of Captain Benjamin Matthius, the marker was brought to the USG Ishimura from the colony and a no-fly order was implemented between the colony and vessel. The bodies of all the murder victims were then sent to the ship secretly. The bodies of all the suicide victims were intentionally kept on the colony by the colony manager as leverage to have the Ishimura send him a vessel to transport him to the ship as he felt he deserved to be a part of the Marker's discovery. Days later, Planet Crack was to commence. Upon initiating the planet crack, a blackout occurred throughout the entire colony. Panic immediately ensued and people quickly started being slaughtered. It was later discovered by a colonist that the Marker's inscriptions represented a DNA recombinant code for necrotic flesh that results in the creation of The Necromorphs. With the bodies of the suicide victims as their hosts, the Necromorphs soon began running amok in the colony, killing off and transforming more colonists. The colony soon fell apart and with all the shuttles destroyed in a flight accident, it was soon completely overrun with Necromorphs. In the end, only a few colonists survived, most notably, Brant Harris. He was clearly traumatized by the events and provided rich information for the scientists aboard the Ishimura.

Not surprisingly, the Ishimura soon followed the same fate as the colony and more Necromorphs were produced as a result of the Marker's removal.

Through text logs found about the ship, Isaac Clarke discovers that the Marker is a divine relic of Unitology, a religion founded by Michael Altman 200 years ago. Unitologists view Michael Altman as a martyr due to his mysterious death after blowing the whistle on the Marker that was found on Earth. The Marker discovered by Altman, however, was black and not red like the one found on Aegis VII. It is revealed by Kendra Daniels that that the Red Marker was in fact a manmade copy of the Black Marker, the true alien artifact discovered on Earth. The Marker was then brought to Aegis VII and test fired with gruesome results. It was soon decided that the marker was too unstable and was subsequently buried deep within Aegis VII. The system was then sealed off. Two centuries later, an illegal mining operation by C.E.C. rediscovered the Marker with disastrous results.

For the two centuries it had been buried in Aegis VII, the Red Marker had sealed off the "Hive Mind", a massive creature that controlled the Necromorphs through telepathy. Upon removing the Marker, the creature was released and went about killing off the humans of Aegis VII, the Ishimura and the USM Valor with its Necromorphs. The Marker was brought back to Aegis VII by Isaac Clarke in the hopes of once again sealing off the creature as well as the Necromorph infection. Though Isaac managed to return the Marker to its pedestal, which caused it to glow, this action was halted by Daniels, who returned and took the marker and attempted to flee with it on a shuttle. She was then killed by the Hive Mind; which was then defeated by Isaac Clarke. He then immediately escaped on the shuttle while the Marker remained behind on Aegis VII. It was presumed obliterated when the tectonic load the Ishimura had previously removed from the planet (with a mass of roughly a few trillion tons) was released and fell back to the planet with a cataclysmic impact. The Marker however was not completely destroyed and many shards of the Marker were left on the ruins of Aegis VII. Three months after the incident on the Ishimura the USG O'Bannon was sent to the ruins of Aegis VII to complete two missions. The first mission was to find a way to hold the breaking planet together. The second mission was to recover as many shards of the Marker as possible. Ships were sent down onto the planet and one of the crewmen found a Marker shard. He recovered it but it gave him dangerous hallucinations that caused him to kill a fellow crewmate. Only one ship managed to make it off the planet before it blew up completely and docked back in the USG O'Bannon. The Marker shard was examined by a scientist on the ship who became affected by it to such an extent that he killed his wife and baby, thinking they were monsters. The shard was eventually thrown into the ship's core reactor by the surviving crew members and destroyed.

The Hive Mind

The Hive Mind is arguably the main antagonist of Dead Space. It was the result of testing the experimental Red Marker that had been reverse-engineered from the Black Marker for military purposes over two centuries ago on the remote planet of Aegis 7, then suppressed by the Marker as further experiments were aborted, the Marker proving itself to be too dangerous to wield as a weapon. A tower-like being that is the source of the Necromorph outbreak on Aegis 7 and, subsequently, the USG Ishimura, this monstrosity telepathically controls all other Necromorphs. The Hive Mind is capable of utilizing its immense tentacles that run along its massive body to crush its enemies. The organs lining its mouth and behind its ribs are vital to the Hive Mind's survival.
Initially seen on a blurred video shown by Dr. Kyne and worshiped as a divine being by the insane Doctor Challus Mercer, the Hive Mind is fought in the final level of Dead Space and is found on Aegis 7.[1] Its appearance is that of a titanic, segmented worm-like monster. It was seen briefly writhing at the edge of the platform where the Red Marker's pedestal lay, screaming and commanding all Necromorphs within the vicinity to impede Isaac from reattaching the Marker to its pedestal. They fail, and the Hive Mind is briefly rendered dormant by the reactivated Marker until Kendra Daniels removes the Marker and takes it back to the shuttle.

 

[sam27368]

Unitology and the Truth

The Church of Unitology is described as a massive religion based on the belief that the Marker will bring about eternal life. While the exact details of much of the religion's theological and doctrinal basis remain undisclosed, Abraham Neumann mentions that Unitology was based on Scientific ideology, but soon became religious after, followers believe, the Earth Government killed Altman.[1] They consider the Marker to be evidence that human life originated outside of Earth.
Founded around two hundred years prior to the events of Dead Space, Unitology had its beginnings when Michael Altman discovered the Black Marker. Upon discovering and studying the Marker, Altman led a massive religious movement which established Unitology as a major religion. At the time many people had lost faith in religions and the new aspiring religion appealed to them and drew many converts. This process of growth was accelerated when Altman was mysteriously killed. The faithful suspected the hand of the government in his assassination, and his subsequent martyrdom only furthered their growth and radicalization.
The Truth
Unknown to the church's members, however, much of Unitology's history and ideology have been fabricated by its leaders for their own benefit. Michael Altman never truly believed in the promise of the Marker, and was in fact murdered by Craig Markoff, who used his death and several of his broadcasts to establish Unitology as a rising religious movement under his control. Moreover, despite the tensions between the church and the Earth Government, the true masterminds behind Unitology were in fact members of a splinter group of the government, who intended on using the Church to fulfill their power-hungry ends, and believed that the creatures that the marker spawned (see section below) were in fact the next stage in human evolution. The religion was founded to get the public to convert to the supposed next stage in evolution, although the Unitologists remain blissfully unaware of it.
The Marker -
It would be 200 years before a colonist would decipher the meaning of the Black Marker: the inscriptions on the rocks surface are the code for the recombinant DNA that transforms human corpses into the terrifying creatures known as Necromorphs. While these revelations are extraordinarily important to show the truth behind the church, both incidents where this critical information was discovered resulted in the virus escaping and the Necromorphs killing everyone.
Death/Convergence -
The Unitologists' sole belief is keeping the body intact for death, and in great shape, so that it may be "reborn", along with the other member's bodies, to live as a greater community. The horrific truth behind convergence is that it is not speaking of being reborn into a peaceful spiritual existence, but the physical human body being horrifically twisted into monstrous, hive-minded killing machines known as Necromorphs.
The true founders of Unitology were fully aware of the Necromorphs, but thought that they were, in fact, the superior race, and that all humans were meant to "converge" to join their race as the next step of evolution. Fully aware that the idea of being transformed into a monster was in no way a sane basis for a religion, the church's founders twisted the wording of the belief of the church, to make the post-death convergence sound like a spiritual, religious process. The idea to keep the body intact for death is in fact used so that the newly spawned Necromorph that will result from infection will be in as best shape as possible. Human bodies are kept in storage, as the founders believed that the Necromorphs will one day make their way across the galaxy and infect the preserved corpses, and they will one day join the "greater community", the Necromorph community.

These are the points that have personally bugged me about the story and I hope Visceral shed more light on in future releases -

*Convergence. I'm guessing by the word converge it means the necromorphs and the marker coming together (the writing on the marker contains the DNA code for the virus that creates the necromorphs). So since the marker opposes the necromorphs, why are the necromorphs worshipping it?

*Since the marker emits the signal that makes the virus dormant. (Surely at the end of DS2 when they are worshipping it) they should be dead or paralyzed?

*Why are the necromorphs trying to stop Isaac from destroying the thing that could very well destory them?

*I'm quite confused about the hive mind controlling the necromorphs.
Why do you need a hive mind to control them? It's a virus, the sole purpose of nercromorphs is to kill to create more necromorphs.
If the hive mind is controlling the other necromorphs then why is there only one at Aegis 7 and not one on the sprawl?
It seems a pretty big coincidence that the Hive Mind just happens to be on Aegis VII, pretty lucky to pick that planet out of the billions to test the red marker

 

[badcrumble]

The Marker in Dead Space 2 doesn't seem to oppose the necromorphs the way the one in DS1 did. Until we know more, I'd suspect that different Marker copies are flawed in different ways.

 

[LiK]

I'm hoping Dead Space 3 features an all out assault against the other Marker sites but I'm not sure how they'll keep the horror concept if more people join Isaac.

Btw, really love how much Unitology sounds like Scientology.

 

[Castor Krieg]

It seems a pretty big coincidence that the Hive Mind just happens to be on Aegis VII, pretty lucky to pick that planet out of the billions to test the red marker

Wasn't Hive Mind created as off-shot mutation during Altman's research on the Red Marker? I'm pretty sure 99% of things we cannot explain will fall into "Marker's copies made by humans are faulty and shit happens". My guess is in DS3 we should be seeing more of the power of the real, Black Marker.

 

[Speedymanic]

The Marker in Dead Space 2 doesn't seem to oppose the necromorphs the way the one in DS1 did. Until we know more, I'd suspect that different Marker copies are flawed in different ways.

It'd be interesting to know what the Black Marker does to Necro's.

Anyway, the changes can be directly attributed to whatever is in Isaac's head changing the design for its own purpose.

Visceral should have dropped a small hint at what Convergence actual is. We know is starts to lift and vaporise(?) Necro's...but for what purpose? A new Hive Mind?

 

[K' Dash]

I'm hoping Dead Space 3 features an all out assault against the other Marker sites but I'm not sure how they'll keep the horror concept if more people join Isaac.

Btw, really love how much Unitology sounds like Scientology.

I don't think they can cover everything in 1 more (main) game.

 

[stupei]

The Marker in Dead Space 2 doesn't seem to oppose the necromorphs the way the one in DS1 did. Until we know more, I'd suspect that different Marker copies are flawed in different ways.

If you watch the second animated film -- which is okay, not great and not terrible, but hits some interesting story beats and gives us a look at what drove Stross crazy -- it's said that when the Marker on Aegis VII exploded the shards each held all of the Marker's DNA and that essentially a new Marker could be created out of each fragment.

It's possible that the Marker in DS1 was genuinely there to stop the outbreak but it's also possible that the manipulation was designed to have the current Marker shattered so that it could be cloned into several new Markers. It also programmed Isaac to trust in Nicole when she said she was going to destroy the new Marker, which resulted in Isaac releasing a whole lot of necros into the government facility, thereby starting massive convergence.

 

[LiK]

I don't think they can cover everything in 1 more (main) game.

Probably more spin-off animations and books about the other Markers with the main game focusing on the final Marker.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Glad someone made a thread like this I'll have to give it a read this weekend when I have the time.

 

[Patryn]

Don't forget that we see something that EarthGov claims is "Convergence" when enough dead bodies reach the marker. What exactly was happening is kind of unclear, but a regenerator does appear shortly afterwards.

Plus, the Marker seems to have a mind of its own, given that it tried to kill all its "makers" (keep in mind, the final boss of DS2 is Isaac fighting the marker in his mind), suggesting some malevolent intelligence behind everything.

We should also note that there seems to be an "Overseer" who is running at least 12 Marker research facilities. Whether he's affiliated with EarthGov or Unitology is uncertain.

 

[Speedymanic]

Don't forget that we see something that EarthGov claims is "Convergence" when enough dead bodies reach the marker. What exactly was happening is kind of unclear, but a regenerator does appear shortly afterwards.

The Ubermorph/Regenerator makes its first appearance in Chapter 13. If you're quick enough, you can see it walking into the facility when you cause the power outage.

 

[badcrumble]

I hope DS3 shows us one of the giant mausoleum ships that are supposedly hidden out in space by the Unitologists.

 

[wayward archer]

Here's my theories:

The black market emits a "dead space" that causes people to see visions/go crazy. It rewrites their DNA but makes those changes dormant.

When they move away from the marker the changes begin to take effect and they mutate into a necromorph. They can then go on to spread those dna changes with those bat creatures.

The brute (a necromorph made from several bodies) can be created by the Black Marker, so...

...the Red Marker is an imperfect copy (I think I read they had to substitute a material that they couldn't reproduce) but it has pretty much the same effect. I think the hive mind is basically a brute necromorph that keeps growing. Seeing as how there is some coordination between the necromorphs (they don't fight each other, the different bodies of the brute work together), the hive mind is basically a mutant necromoprh that has enhanced intellect.

They put the marker copies on several different planets in advance of humans settling them, perhaps to see if the marker could create life on those worlds (that was one of the original theories, that the black marker had created life on earth by spurring evolution), or maybe just to experiment on what the marker copies would do to the settlers once they arrived. They didn't want to use it on earth because they weren't quite sure what would happen. I guess the unitologists leadership goal is basically to have markers up and running on all of their worlds, helping everyone 'evolve' into a superior form of life.

And I think the marker doesn't shut down necromorphs completely, but it calms then perhaps, or emits some kind of repellent field... or at the least prevents them from making new necromorphs within the field (however living things are infected with the visions and violence as seen in dead space extraction, and when they move away begin to transform into necromorphs).

 

[Dyno]

Great thread! I thought about doing a story thread after finishing the game but I procrastinated. Glad you did it.

As is typical with many video game stories Dead Space has been dwelling on the 'effect' aspect of the story and has not spent much time with the 'cause' part.

I could be wrong but in Dead Space 2 there was mention that the Marker's message is a code that causes hallucinations and eventual madness in most people but some, the truly intelligent, can decipher the code on a sub-conscious level without going mad and it is from these people that the Marker can be replicated.

What confuses me the most is the Marker's dual nature. One aspects wants to create Necromorphs, the other aspect wants to suppress them. Do these two aspects work towards the same goal? If so what is it?

Also, has there not been at least three Markers? The Black, The Red, and then the giant brown (?) one that was on Titan Station. That one was made with the knowledge Isaac was imparted with, right? Why was it so much bigger than all the rest?

Regarding convergence, perhaps this is how Hive Minds are made. In any rate for convergance to be successful Isaac had to be brought directly before the marker and to facilitate this the evil presence within the Marker used Isaac's memory of Nicole to create an ally for him that would later betray him. What did that final battle in Dead Space 2 represent and what would Isaac's fate have been if he failed in that fight? Simple death seems unlikely because that could have happened anywhere on the ship and not in front of the Marker. Was Isaac to become a champion for the Marker? Did the Marker not already have a champion in the unique form of that armoured regenerator?

These are my questions...

 

[Castor Krieg]

The black market emits a "dead space" that causes people to see visions/go crazy. It rewrites their DNA but makes those changes dormant.

There is an audio log on Ishimura or later, one of the scientist recalls that the Marker has no influence on "smart people" but makes others go crazy.

EDIT: Just read your next sentences. Yes, they mention that in DS2.

 

[Dyno]

Another question: Who is in the gunship that shoots Dana once she and a couple goons capture Isaac? I saw this last night again on my second playthrough and it was a very well-timed rescue. Don't remember it being brough up again in the game.

 

[sam27368]

Another question: Who is in the gunship that shoots Dana once she and a couple goons capture Isaac? I saw this last night again on my second playthrough and it was a very well-timed rescue. Don't remember it being brough up again in the game.

I just assumed it was EarthGov grunts watching Isaac and taking out any threats. Considering at the end EarthGov "needed" Isaac, they were quite happy to shoot him throughout the game.

 

[Vilix]

I didn't understand the use of the Hive Mind either. In Dead Space: Aftermath, when they threw the shard of the Red Marker into the ships reactor and destroyed it, that in turn destroyed all the Necros. My question is who is controlling what?

 

[hteng]

the marker story doesn't make sense, on one hand it's trying to protect people from the necromorphs, on the other hand its making people go crazy and killing each other, then on another hand it manupilate 1 or 2 people to do its bidding and then on another hand it has the fucking necromorph virus formula written all over it so some dumbass would go trigger another outbreak. i swear the whole marker story makes my head hurt.

I didn't understand the use of the Hive Mind either. In Dead Space: Aftermath, when they threw the shard of the Red Marker into the ships reactor and destroyed it, that in turn destroyed all the Necros. My question is who is controlling what?

yea this too

and there was no hivemind in DS2, who were controlling them then?

 

[Vilix]

the marker story doesn't make sense, on one hand it's trying to protect people from the necromorphs, on the other hand its making people go crazy and killing each other, then on another hand it manupilate 1 or 2 people to do its bidding and then on another hand it has the fucking necromorph virus formula written all over it so some dumbass would go trigger another outbreak. i swear the whole marker story makes my head hurt.

And then there's Maude!

 

[Grisby]

As a card carrying member of having every piece of the Dead Space merchandise I have to say your thread was a joy to wake up to this morning, I'll chime in with some theories too after I get back. I love how Visceral able to take take something so simple and make it into a full blown universe.

Extraction, I believe, is still the best told DS story and it will be interesting to see what happens in the DLC.

 

[LiK]

As a card carrying member of having every piece of the Dead Space merchandise I have to say your thread was a joy to wake up to this morning, I'll chime in with some theories too after I get back. I love how Visceral able to take take something so simple and make it into a full blown universe.

Extraction, I believe, is still the best told DS story and it will be interesting to see what happens in the DLC.

I assume you're gonna buy the 1:1 Plasma Cutter replicas? Just need $230.

 

[Speedymanic]

I didn't understand the use of the Hive Mind either. In Dead Space: Aftermath, when they threw the shard of the Red Marker into the ships reactor and destroyed it, that in turn destroyed all the Necros. My question is who is controlling what?

Two theories.

One. Nothing - acting on instinct, killing everyone/everything that wasn't a Necro.

Two. - The Marker. - explains why there so many of them in the tunnels. They were attempting to get to the marker.

That's my take on it.

 

[Pancho]

Dead Space universe is so damn interesting, I just hope it doesn't reach the levels of confusion of Kingdom Hearts. I think that the element of duality, good and evil, will maybe play a larger role in later games. Even the Marker's design sort of hints to duality, 2 parts intertwining and meeting at the ends. I don't know just a thought.

 

[badcrumble]

I think the Hive Mind was basically the 'evil half' of that particular Marker trying to make itself a body (and being shut down by the 'good half'). In DS2, it looks like the regenerator is its attempt to create a body for itself (and perhaps Isaac would have ended up as its new 'champion' if he had lost).

 

[stupei]

There is an audio log on Ishimura or later, one of the scientist recalls that the Marker has no influence on "smart people" but makes others go crazy.

EDIT: Just read your next sentences. Yes, they mention that in DS2.

The scientist is obviously mistaken though in that the Marker seems to make less intelligent people openly and overtly violent while it targets intelligence for manipulation through use of images of the dead. Stross was a scientist, after all, and Isaac is an incredibly skilled engineer.

But then most people who are being manipulated by the Marker can easily identify its influence on others while still insisting that the images affecting them aren't false at all.

 

[judhudson]

Subscribed, thanks for creating this, OP!

*Edit - will read the full story this weekend.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Excellent thread. I have yet to play Extraction and finish Aftermath, but I've gone through just about everything else.

If it helps, Milham said that the Markers affect Necromorphs, but they don't cause Necromorphs.

Who else was creeped out by Nicole in the final battle, that alien creature speaking through her, saying it must be reborn? Did this thing and its kind create the Markers or do the Markers suppress them? Did the Black/Red markers reject Necromorphs to prevent a Convergence Effect because it was premature or for other reasons.

Edit: Also, have you guys read Dead Space: Salvage? These mysterious guys called 'Oracles' appear in it... and I'm thinking the voice after the credits may be one of these Oracles.

 

[Replicant]

the marker story doesn't make sense, on one hand it's trying to protect people from the necromorphs, on the other hand its making people go crazy and killing each other, then on another hand it manupilate 1 or 2 people to do its bidding and then on another hand it has the fucking necromorph virus formula written all over it so some dumbass would go trigger another outbreak. i swear the whole marker story makes my head hurt.

I agree. It's just confusing all around. The only way I can fanwank it is if I assume that just as the marker has the ability to manipulate things to do its bidding and spread Necromorph population, it is also perceptible to suggestions from other creatures around it. Thus, a human survival's instinct can actually override its original intent and create a system in the marker which acts as a mechanism to protect the species that wants its protection.

What I'm trying to say is that maybe it has the ability to preserve the survival instinct of the species that came into contact with it. Maybe prior to humans encountering it, a dying race which was the Necromorph came into contact with it and imprinted their DNA so they can propagate when the marker comes into contact with another species. When human first came into contact with it, they had no idea of its power so their mind go crazy because the marker was already imprinted with the necro's desire to propagate itself. It's only when a bunch of humans try to survive that there's a split in the marker's basic function and it starts to act as a protection for those humans instead of functioning purely to serve the Necro's goal.

I don't know, I know it's overly complicated but at the moment the explanation the game has don't make any sense to me.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I agree. It's just confusing all around. The only way I can fanwank it is if I assume that just as the marker has the ability to manipulate things to do its bidding and spread Necromorph population, it is also perceptible to suggestions from other creatures around it. Thus, a human survival's instinct can actually override its original intent and create a system in the marker which acts as a mechanism to protect the species that wants its protection.

What I'm trying to say is that maybe it has the ability to preserve the survival instinct of the species that came into contact with it. Maybe prior to humans encountering it, a dying race which was the Necromorph came into contact with it and imprinted their DNA so they can propagate when the marker comes into contact with another species. When human first came into contact with it, they had no idea of its power so their mind go crazy because the marker was already imprinted with the necro's desire to propagate itself. It's only when a bunch of humans try to survive that there's a split in the marker's basic function and it starts to act as a protection for those humans instead of functioning purely to serve the Necro's goal.

I don't know, I know it's overly complicated but at the moment the explanation the game has don't make any sense to me.

I kind of like this idea... but I don't think the Marker is capable of working for either the Necromorphs or Humanity through imprinting... it's intelligent and I think whatever created it wants to be "reborn" (through the Convergence Event?) but I agree with you when you say it's manipulating all sides to its own ends. Though I like your idea of other sentient creatures affecting the Marker itself in a symbiotic relation.

 

[sam27368]

I agree. It's just confusing all around. The only way I can fanwank it is if I assume that just as the marker has the ability to manipulate things to do its bidding and spread Necromorph population, it is also perceptible to suggestions from other creatures around it. Thus, a human survival's instinct can actually override its original intent and create a system in the marker which acts as a mechanism to protect the species that wants its protection.

What I'm trying to say is that maybe it has the ability to preserve the survival instinct of the species that came into contact with it. Maybe prior to humans encountering it, a dying race which was the Necromorph came into contact with it and imprinted their DNA so they can propagate when the marker comes into contact with another species. When human first came into contact with it, they had no idea of its power so their mind go crazy because the marker was already imprinted with the necro's desire to propagate itself. It's only when a bunch of humans try to survive that there's a split in the marker's basic function and it starts to act as a protection for those humans instead of functioning purely to serve the Necro's goal.

I don't know, I know it's overly complicated but at the moment the explanation the game has don't make any sense to me.

My own personal view is that it's an alien experiment, in which the alien race that created the marker planned to use it to test it on other species to see which ones are the strongest to build an army.

 

[stupei]

Honestly, though, I'm not sure why it's necessary to assign noble intentions to the Marker in the first game. Yes it dampens the effect and yes Nicole shows Isaac how to stop the immediate outbreak. But by doing these things there are now 11 other Markers spread all across the universe and almost no one knows the danger level they pose. The Red Marker in DS1 helping Isaac has actually put the other Markers in a position to do much greater damage than it would have on its own stuck on Aegis VII.

If Aegis VII wasn't contained, though it would have been a disaster for the immediately surrounding area, by now most Unitologists would know the reality of convergence and it's likely that many (if not most) would be less devoted to their religion or possibly oppose it. Instead there remain millions of people fully dedicated to protecting the 11 remaining Markers.

The Marker "protected" Isaac but in doing so it also imprinted itself on his mind -- and after being shattered into numerous fragments, managed to imprint on others -- and put its overall hive consciousness into a position to do way more damage. I don't think this is necessarily contradicted by the "actions" of the Marker in DS2. There's no reason not to believe that its intentions were always nefarious and that it's just not until DS2 that these motivations become fully clear.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

thanks for making this thread

the marker story doesn't make sense, on one hand it's trying to protect people from the necromorphs, on the other hand its making people go crazy and killing each other, then on another hand it manupilate 1 or 2 people to do its bidding and then on another hand it has the fucking necromorph virus formula written all over it so some dumbass would go trigger another outbreak. i swear the whole marker story makes my head hurt.

It doesn't make any sense to me either.

 

[sam27368]

There are some developers of DS on this forum, I hope they can shed some light

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

So do you guys think Isaac has mind powers now? I mean... he did destroy a Marker with his mind!

Spoiler

Just kidding.

Question: Is it explained why the Needle Machine (or Dark Machine or Eye Poke Machine) is necessary to unlock his memories/Marker blueprints? How does that help?

Just seems painful for the hell of it. That part had me pretty on-edge and squeamish the whole time.

 

[Max]

I'm still confused about the very end of DS2. Multiple markers are mentioned, presumably more reverse engineered red markers. I assume EarthGov is in control of their secrecy in attempt to prevent the Unitoligists from making the same mistake. Although the measures they must have gone through to keep it all together after two crisis's is just impeccable to me.

And what are the other markers preventing? More Hiveminds? If so the necromorphing virus has a manipulator super government. Or something.

Dat story.

 

[Numpt3]

I have a question about the story guys... In the game it is said that Isaac was on the sprawl for a few years and helped to create the marker and I'm assuming that the Ishimura was there for a similar ammount of time. But how did the infection on the sprawl actually start? Did I miss something ingame?

 

[Clott]

Yeah, thinking back on the game I am still unclear about how the infection started in DS2

 

[ajim]

"Yeah, thinking back on the game I am still unclear about how the infection started in DS2"
The infestation starts after the completion of the Marker that Isaac helped build. It could have infected some dead bodies, and from there it begins. Maybe the infestation transferred from the Ishumura that they brought there too?

 

[MightyHealthy]

I'm starting to lean on the "it was deliberate" idea (about the outbreak)

Tiedemann says "we didn't expect this many," when talking about the convergence effect there at the end

 

[ultron87]

Question: Is it explained why the Needle Machine (or Dark Machine or Eye Poke Machine) is necessary to unlock his memories/Marker blueprints? How does that help?

Just seems painful for the hell of it. That part had me pretty on-edge and squeamish the whole time.

I just want to know why it decides to jam your eye out if you miss the pupil. Doesn't exactly seem like safety was the first priority of that thing's designer.

 

[luxarific]

I'm starting to lean on the "it was deliberate" idea (about the outbreak)

Tiedemann says "we didn't expect this many," when talking about the convergence effect there at the end

It was - the IPhone Dead Space game apparently tells the story of how the outbreak started (Unitologists).

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/975302-/57997544

You actually find the saboteur's body (or least a body floating next to a log entry made by the saboteur as soon as you arrive at the mine's from the Ishimura (make a 180 degree turn once you stand up - you'll see a woman's body and a log entry and probably some ammo floating right in front of you).

Re the eye-poke machine: the optic nerve/retina are considered parts of the brain (they're the only parts of the brain that can be physically seen without cracking open the skull). So if you wanted to get information directly out of a subject's brain, without killing the subject/causing serious physical debilitation, going in through the eye would make sense (insert hand-wavium here). If you take a look at the display messages that flash during the poking process, you'll see a reference to the lateral geniculate, which is the structure in the brain that processes visual information from the retina. This is an assumption on my part, but apparently, for "smart/pure" individuals like Issac and Stross (maybe Lexine?), looking at the Marker itself is enough to give you sufficient information to build one (<--complete guess).

 

[Tendo]

I'm a bit confused...Earthgov planted the seeds for Unitology...Why? Why were they building another marker just to create an outbreak? Did they explain the purpose for a convergence event?

 

[MightyHealthy]

It was - the IPhone Dead Space game apparently tells the story of how the outbreak started (Unitologists).

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/975302-/57997544

You actually find the saboteur's body (or least a body floating next to a log entry made by the saboteur as soon as you arrive at the mine's from the Ishimura (make a 180 degree turn once you stand up - you'll see a woman's body and a log entry and probably some ammo floating right in front of you).

Thanks for the clarification

I just kept wondering, because of how Tiedemann stresses "expect."

 

[MrWhitefolks]

I apologize for the possible look of this post (on my phone), but what if the 'convergence' is the creation of a hive mind?

We know that the pedestal used on aegis vii was designed by man to boost the dormant inducing signal created by the marker, so it seems like a hivemind is created/used to protect the marker (the pedestal was created AFTER the hive mind was already present, right?). Perhaps convergence is a base defensive mechanism created by the marker to ensure it's continued survival (after all, the markers appear to be sentient in some ways).

Edit: also, if we look at the larger necromorphs, we see that they are a combination of multiple 'samples' (re: bodies) being used to create a larger life form...so one could consider the idea that bringing together thousands upon thousands of necromorphs would supply the nessecary amount of genetic material to create something massive enough to be a hivemind?

 

[luxarific]

Thanks for the clarification

I just kept wondering, because of how Tiedemann stresses "expect."

I actually completely forgot about this very important question, "how did it start", which Issac himself asks within a few minutes/hours of waking up. After seeing people's questions about it, I realized, hey, the game doesn't actually give us an answer and googled a bit. I'm sort of annoyed that EA didn't give us the answer in Dead Space 2 and instead put it in an IPhone game that probably not that many people will play. (I'm an Android owner and would definitely have purchased the game if it were available for my phone platform, but there a lot of people out there who don't have smartphones at all who wouldn't be able to play it even if it were available on Android. At least the hacker game is available on two of DS2's major platforms, if not the PC.)

Maybe we'll see more of the outbreak's beginnings in the Severed DLC.

I apologize for the possible look of this post (on my phone), but what if the 'convergence' is the creation of a hive mind?

We know that the pedestal used on aegis vii was designed by man to boost the dormant inducing signal created by the marker, so it seems like a hivemind is created/used to protect the marker (the pedestal was created AFTER the hive mind was already present, right?). Perhaps convergence is a base defensive mechanism created by the marker to ensure it's continued survival (after all, the markers appear to be sentient in some ways).

Edit: also, if we look at the larger necromorphs, we see that they are a combination of multiple 'samples' (re: bodies) being used to create a larger life form...so one could consider the idea that bringing together thousands upon thousands of necromorphs would supply the nessecary amount of genetic material to create something massive enough to be a hivemind?

I would agree that, from what we know now, the Hive Mind would appear to be the result of a Convergence Event.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Well, there's a good reason that we don't know how the outbreak starts: We're following the entire thing from Isaac's perspective, from when he wakes up to when he gets off the Sprawl. It's only a few hours of his life, and not every question will be answered, like in real life... it's they "Why?" that sticks with you... though there are enough clues around to sort of make a guess... when the Red Marker was destroyed, the Necromorphs turn into a DNA sludge (according to a Audio Log), but when the Titan Marker was activated, they regenerated or something. I haven't played the iPod game, but I'm guessing Carrie Norton, the protagonist, is duped into releasing them (though she tries to stop it, and fails - I do like the connections between various media how these characters are ultimately connected and cross each other without ever realizing it).

Lux, thanks for the description of why the eye was used... makes lots of sense.

The idea of Convergence is interesting, but it's still not explained... it does seem that Teidmann did not want Convergence to occur and Isaac accidentally jump-started it by killing the Government Sector defenses when he had to get in to destroy the Marker.

What I'm really curious about is what makes people like Isaac and Lexine so special... is it just cause Isaac has an enormous amount of willpower (I mean, he destroyed an Eldritch Abomination with his mind and the Titan Marker in turn). Why is he the way he is? The Marker obviously changed him.

And also, the Overseer/Possibly the Oracle... what's his role in all this? He's the real human antagonist here (though the real antagonist as mentioned in the other thread, is whatever thing created the Markers.)

Wonder why the Maker has to die for the Convergence Effect to actually... have effect.

 

[luxarific]

Well, there's a good reason that we don't know how the outbreak starts: We're following the entire thing from Isaac's perspective, from when he wakes up to when he gets off the Sprawl. It's only a few hours of his life, and not every question will be answered, like in real life... it's they "Why?" that sticks with you... though there are enough clues around to sort of make a guess... when the Red Marker was destroyed, the Necromorphs turn into a DNA sludge (according to a Audio Log), but when the Titan Marker was activated, they regenerated or something. I haven't played the iPod game, but I'm guessing Carrie Norton, the protagonist, is duped into releasing them (though she tries to stop it, and fails - I do like the connections between various media how these characters are ultimately connected and cross each other without ever realizing it).

Oh, I like the concept of all the DS spin-off media/mini-games. I'm just majorly bummed I'll never be able to play the Dead Space IPhone game, since I'm sort of a whore for this universe and want to experience everything. Oh well, maybe one of these days they'll port it to Android (highly unlikely).

The idea of Convergence is interesting, but it's still not explained... it does seem that Teidmann did not want Convergence to occur and Isaac accidentally jump-started it by killing the Government Sector defenses when he had to get in to destroy the Marker.

What I'm really curious about is what makes people like Isaac and Lexine so special... is it just cause Isaac has an enormous amount of willpower (I mean, he destroyed an Eldritch Abomination with his mind and the Titan Marker in turn). Why is he the way he is? The Marker obviously changed him.

Hopefully it will take them many more games to explain everything. I don't want DS3 to be the last game in the series. The marker/hive mind don't really seem like they'd be that practical as weapons, which is probably why Earthgov dumped the red marker on Aegis VII. So theoretically Earthgov, assuming it's not totally infiltrated by Unitologists, would not be that interested in building 12 more markers. And yet it did.

There was that one log you find in a lab in GovSector, saying that smart people see plans (forget the exact terminology), and everyone else goes crazy. Issac is smart and Stross, as seen in Aftermath, is also (Lexine struck me as a bit of a dumb damsel in distress in Extraction, but that's just my opinion). Presumably Ellie is also smart; she doesn't seem to be experiencing any negative effects from the marker at all.

Wonder why the Maker has to die for the Convergence Effect to actually... have effect.

Don't get that either. "Make us whole" would seem to lend credence to the theory that the Hive Mind is basically a big conglomeration of Necromorph bodies. Why is a Maker's mind even necessary? Perhaps to give the Hive Mind that results from a Convergence event cognizance?

 

[badcrumble]

Interesting that the DS2 regenerator has a circular set of eyes just like the Hive Mind... that more or less means that it, not Isaac, would've been the center of the new Hive Mind. But yeah, I dunno why it needed Isaac to die.