History WMG / ManOfMedan

[[WMG: A hyper-potent version of DMT constitutes the Manchurian Gold.]]

[[WMG: Joe's son will be a character in a future game in the series.]]

[[WMG: This game takes place in the same universe as ''Until Dawn''.]]

[[WMG: Future games in the Dark Pictures anthology will be genres other than horror.]]

While "Dark Pictures" does sound like something more horror-related, plenty of stories can be dark without being in that genre. It would also be rather constrained for the remaining seven games to ''all'' be horror, especially on account of the Curator, who apparently has a "repository" of all sorts of stories.

[[WMG: ''Shroud Of Innocence'' will be one of the future games in the anthology.]]

[[WMG: You, the player, and the Curator are otherworldly beings that exist in another dimension.]]

[[WMG: Another future game will tell the story of the archaeologists who went missing in Iraq, as seen in an old newspaper on the ship.]]

[[WMG: Fliss owned the Milan before she was legally old enough to captain a boat.]]

[[WMG: Manchurian Gold is a product of the Japanese biological weapons program.]]

[[WMG: Conrad and Julia's last name is Hope]]

[[WMG: Manchurian Gold [[VideoGame/HouseOfAshes Isn't Synthetic]].]]

Either the Japanese (as suggested in a theory above) or Americans could have discovered the aliens and attempted to weaponize their venom during the darkest years of World War II. This venom, stored in canisters aboard the ''Ourang Medan'' then triggered the events of this game.

With that in mind, the fact that the alien venom and Manchurian Gold have the same effect on humans is very suggestive. Both cause intense fear, and apparently have a hallucinogenic effect. There are also suggestions, in [=''HoA''=], that similar aliens have been found at other sites (the clean-up crew at the end seems unsurprised by their discoveries, and make reference to an [[NoodleIncident incident somewhere named Winterhold]]).

With that in mind, the fact that the alien venom and Manchurian Gold have the same effect on humans is very suggestive. Both cause intense fear, and apparently have a hallucinogenic effect. There are also suggestions, in ''HoA'', that similar aliens have been found at other sites (the clean-up crew at the end seems unsurprised by their discoveries, and make reference to an [[NoodleIncident incident somewhere named Winterhold]]).

Also because the anthology is starting to tie together now, and with few direct connections yet established between ''Man of Medan'' and ''Little Hope'', it'd be interesting if their family was somehow connected to the town.

Just because they have no confirmed surname and Julia shares her character model with Catherine Hope from ''VideoGame/HiddenAgenda''.

[[WMG: The Manchurian Gold is a hyper-potent form of DMT.]]

On top of explaining where the Manchurian Gold came from, along with violent reaction to its existence being unearthed, this could be why it was so poorly secured for transport. If the Americans didn't develop it themselves, then their knowledge about its properties could have been dangerously incomplete. A few documents that survived incineration here, the unreliable and patchy accounts of scientists who saw it in action once or twice there...those sources would create a profile of the substance with some massive blank spaces related to its behavior. It seems like the deadly neurotoxin is, under normal circumstances, a pretty stable liquid. That's probably what higher-ups believed they would be transporting when they put the Manchurian Gold into a simple wooden crate, presumably containing a few poorly sealed bottles, and instituted precautions more focused on keeping people away than on keeping it contained. It's only after first being exposed to intense heat, in the form of a lightning strike, and then encountering water that the Gold becomes a volatile gas and floods the ''Ourang Medan''. At that point, having adequate respirators on board might have kept things under control and minimized loss of life, but there just aren't that many to go around. The entire ship was probably doomed in the first place because those responsible for transporting the toxin weren't aware that it needed a waterproof container and a dry environment, or that it could become an airborne hazard if improperly handled.

On top of explaining where the Manchurian Gold came from, along with violent reaction to its existence being unearthed, this could be why it was so poorly secured for transport. If the Americans didn't develop it themselves, then their knowledge about its properties could have been dangerously incomplete. A few documents that survived incineration here, the unreliable and patchy accounts of scientists who saw it in action once or twice there...those sources would create a profile of the substance with some massive blank spaces related to its behavior. It seems like the deadly neurotoxin is, under normal circumstances, a pretty stable liquid. That's probably what higher-ups believed they would be transporting when they put the Manchurian Gold into a simple wooden crate, presumably containing a few poorly sealed bottles, and instituted precautions more focused on keeping people away than on keeping it contained. It's only after first being exposed to intense heat, in the form of a lightning strike, and then encountering water that the Gold becomes a volatile gas and floods the ''Ourang Medan''. At that point, having adequate respirators on board might have kept things under control and minimized loss of life, but there simply aren't that many to go around. The entire ship was probably doomed in the first place because those responsible for transporting the weapon weren't aware that it needed a waterproof container and a dry environment, or that it could become inhaleable if things went wrong enough.

If there were more containers involved, or if researchers produced more in the US after the loss of the ''Ourang Medan'' and retained a vast quantity of it, it's likely that a diplomatic nightmare would ensue from its discovery. If more "advanced" forms were developed later and still in storage for future use, that could complicate relations even with allied countries. Hence why the military doesn't take kindly to the crew of the ''Duke of Milan'' finding out that they recovered it. They've probably got more, and may have used it on the battlefield to force entrenched enemies to kill each other.

From the name alone, it seems likely that "Manchurian Gold" has some relationship with the Japanese puppet state, Manchukuo. Unit 731, an infamous division of the Imperial Japanese Army responsible for some of the most heinous atrocities committed in East Asia was based there. In the 731 building complex, experiments were performed using various chemical and biological weapons on live human subjects. Between their testing there and their deployment in the field, around 500,000 people likely met their deaths either directly or indirectly as a result of the unit's research.

In 1947, with the Cold War ramping up, it's likely that the US would have wanted to remove any novel agents from the region. The Chinese Civil War was in full swing, and the risk of the region falling to Mao Zedong's forces (which would occur only two years later, in 1949) meant that the gas could easily end up in the hands of an organization that was then a staunch Soviet ally. The possibility of furthering research to produce something usable in the field would likely have occurred to the US, as well.

Any collaboration with either Unit 731 or a related division would have been a much larger public relations disaster than the opening of the Operation Paperclip files, which detailed cooperation with former Nazi scientists. Since those associated with the division were unquestionably, universally war criminals, and since there would be no way to cover this while acknowledging who they were, the revalation of what was in the cargo hold of the ''Ourang Medan'' would have likely implicated living officers in a decades-long cover up involving the organization's crimes. A still-existing stockpile of Manchurian Gold (or any "advanced" derivative) would have been a diplomatic nightmare if it were uncovered in the wake of what happened aboard the ship, further complicated by the aforementioned complicity involved in obtaining it and possibly protecting its creators. Hence, why the military doesn't take too well to the discovery that it was on board the ship.

This is the most likely explanation for why she has a license that appears to be forged and claims she's in her thirties, despite her looking to be around the same age as the college students around her.

* At the very least, they'll be different genres of horror. One entry might be a technothriller in the vein of ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' or the works of Creator/MichaelCrichton. Another might be more Gothic horror in the vein of ''Literature/{{Dracula}},'' ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}},'' or the works of Creator/EdgarAllenPoe.

[[WMG: Another future game will tell the story of the archaeologists who went missing in Iraq, as seen in an old newspaper on the ship.]]

Specifically, your role is basically an agent sent to enter the story and guide the characters to survival, while the Curator keeps record of your successes and your failures. Taking it a step further, if the Dark Pictures Anthology is indeed in the same universe as ''Until Dawn'', perhaps the actual benevolent entity that is guiding them is ''Beth'', assuming that the world the Curator lives in is a pocket dimension in the afterlife.

What else was the book in Julia's cabin for, if not foreshadowing?

While "Dark Pictures" does sound like something more horror-related, plenty of stories can be dark without being in that genre. It would also be rather constrained for the remaining seven games to ''all'' be horror, especially on account of the Curator, who apparently has a "repository" of all sorts of stories.

[[Future games in the Dark Pictures anthology will be genres other than horror.]]

[[WMG: This game takes place in the same universe as ''Until Dawn''.]]

[[WMG: Joe's son will be a character in a future game in the series.]]