MINERVA - Carnage - Deep in darkest Poland...

Deep in darkest Poland... - posted by Cargo Cult on Thursday September 11 2008

A long-abandoned, pitch-black military bunker - the path ahead illuminated only by the useless light on a mobile phone, and the focus assist on a camera.

*** MESSAGE END ***

Article Comments (now closed)

1. Confused

Posted by Naurgul at 1:15PM, Thursday September 11 2008

Say, you went to Poland now? What's with all these trips!? I bet Valve provides all their employees with teleportation technology; it's the only logical conclusion! :p

I must confess I love exploring places like this, I can only assume that besides the frustration with the inadequate lighting, it must have been a really nice experience.

Anyway, I like the pictures but, with all due respect, I do long for something less cryptic of a message than a few photographs taken in an abandoned Polish bunker.

2. nice

Posted by kast at 1:47PM, Thursday September 11 2008

hmm, would love to see this kind of place in person.

I saw a documentary show about a huge bunker complex like this in Prague, I think. It extended for miles, contained tank and munition factories, and over two thirds of it were blocked by intentionally-created cave ins. It looked pretty similar to this, though you had to access it through a small hole cut into the welded shut metal door.

3. Poke-O-Matically!

Posted by Sortie at 4:34PM, Thursday September 11 2008

I had a deep look at the data of each image. All I found was links to Adobe, W3 for their XML standarts and some sinister http://www.iec.ch/ . Rather surprising how much data is embedded into your .jpg's!

Poking the xhtml source led to the rediscovery of this folder http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/files/user_id_1/ wherefrom I can present the world exclusive non-posted http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/files/user_id_1/IMG_0428.jpg barbed wirefence from Adam's cross-britian trip!

Oh and have a look at Adam's Seatle trip? http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/sets/72157606411754409/ :D

4. re confused

Posted by Pace at 12:49AM, Friday September 12 2008

Naurgul, "frustration with the inadequate lighting"? Frustration? How about sheer terror? I mean one of those invisible mutants could be just around the corner! (after all, STALKER was pretty much a real depiction of Eastern Europe, right?) Even if the mutants were on holiday it looks like it'd still be a pretty spooky place with no light.

What wonders me is the ***message end***. End of what? This post didn't begin with **message begin** or whatever. That got me thinking, so I went back and the first blog post on this site is called Beginnings, perhaps this is the end of the Minerva blog? Last post? (as Naurgul indicates, the paucity of actual information around here is helping to lead me to dire conclusions.)

5. Well..

Posted by Cargo Cult at 2:20AM, Friday September 12 2008

... perhaps I *did* get eaten by a mutant, and not the hundreds of minuscule little vampires haunting the area?

(I am covered in bites. Literally so. And this was despite the liberal use of mosquito repellent...)

Luckily, I have also taken other photos, a few of which are here:

http://flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/sets/72157607239207119/

6. Re: Confused

Posted by Nightshade at 7:41AM, Friday September 12 2008

One of the reasons why I'm so partial to this site is the cryptic nature of the posts.

'For as She states "Light Blue Touchpaper", we must ponder, as the rat examines it's Master...'

7. Message end?

Posted by Namthe at 1:20PM, Friday September 12 2008

Seems to me whoever wrote the message got eaten by whatever's hiding in that big black ominous doorway...

8. Awesome Stuff

Posted by Mercer at 8:27PM, Friday September 12 2008

I love all these abandoned areas, they have such a distinct, compelling look. I'd be great to see more!

I really need to play STALKER...

Also, I would be super creeped out trying to explore a dark abandoned bunker for fear of anomalies...

9. ...shit

Posted by Sortie at 3:35PM, Saturday September 13 2008

Seeing such destructed easily-reconstrutable shapes makes me want to drop my modding project and do a map based on Adam's photos. Shit. And I really should be doing unethical stuff using the HTTP protocol thus breaking laws of privacy.

10. Music

Posted by Mikel S at 5:45AM, Tuesday September 16 2008

I was just accessing the guy who made the music for Minerva's site, and it came out wierd, but what I did manage to read said that he made 5 tracks for the game. What was the fifth? I count 4: Omnia, Liberalitas, Duco, and Abscondus.

11. Anomalies

Posted by Yar Kramer at 9:16PM, Tuesday September 16 2008

This is spooky-awesome.

Of course, the "MESSAGE ENDS" makes me think of finding a little PDA like in Doom 3, from which a voice says "Audo log of George C. Tuberhonker, Esq. We're being attacked by monsters, and the locker combination is 123, and -- OH GODS! GET IT OFF ME! AUGH! ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!! End of log."

12. Recon

Posted by Lewk at 2:03PM, Thursday September 18 2008

You always seem to take photos of interesting subjects unlike my photos of dull un-interesting drivel.

I dare ask, these aren't some reconnaissance trips to take reference photo's and the like for one Half-Life 2 Episode Three would they?

The Polish military photos are quite alluring, especially the Hind Helicopter.

14. Re: Wibble

Posted by Sortie at 8:17PM, Thursday September 18 2008

Truly, your speed disappoint me! My RSS revealed the forgotten Poland minutes before this shocking annoucement.

Very inspiring photos indeed, and beautifully taken, as usually!

15. Heart-Attack

Posted by Kaith at 10:35PM, Friday September 26 2008

Those are some pretty wicked environments there. Guess I'm going to end up exploring the game-version alone with the lights out and the volume up to max. I'm not sure why I make myself do it... Maybe there's some part of me that likes being shocked into falling out of his chair...

16. Sonic screwdrivers...

Posted by windlab at 11:43AM, Tuesday October 14 2008

You have a pack of sonic screwdrivers! Didn't know the Doc. gave the away like that.

17. Sonic screwdriver

Posted by Yar Kramer at 8:10PM, Thursday October 16 2008

Yeah, I gotta get me one of those ...

Article is now closed for commenting.

MINERVA: Episodic, Single-Player Half-Life 2