Lore
The energies, dimensions and organizations that hold the mythology together.
Forces
- AetheriumCrystallised Dark Aether energy, harvested from outbreak zones since the Cold War era. It is the modern continuity’s upgrade currency — Requiem refined it into the crystals that rank up skills, and every game since has kept some form of Aetherium tooling for weapons and abilities.
- Element 115A fictional element (also called Divinium) at the heart of the mythology. Its energy reanimates corpses, enables teleportation, and powers Group 935’s wonder weapons.
Places and dimensions
Organizations
Technology and equipment
- The KronoriumAn ancient text whose pages rewrite themselves as history changes, holding the full account of the cycle, the Aether, and the blood-sacrifice mechanics the finale turns on. Richtofen reads it in the Alcatraz pocket dimension and walks into his own death because of what it says; Nikolai follows its final page to end the saga at Tag der Toten.
- The Mystery BoxA rune-carved wooden crate that trades points for a random weapon — the only consistent source of most wonder weapons since 1946. Roll a teddy bear and the box packs up and moves to another spawn, taking your points with it. In fiction it runs on Element 115; at the table it is the franchise’s oldest gamble, unchanged in spirit from World at War to today.
- The Summoning KeyA small blue orb said to predate the universe around it, able to capture, hold, and release souls. Primis spends the Black Ops III arc filling it — four rituals in Morg City hand it to the Shadowman, and the crew spends the rest of the saga taking it back. It ends the story as the container that traps him for good.