You! Yes, you, fellow DedSec member! Join the community (and Wrench) and help us uncover the truth behind the disappearance of the Shuffler 4 (aka Benny, Aili, Seema and Richard).
The Shuffler Hunt
Four individuals have disappeared in a mysterious manner. All of them were part of the same circle, Benny being a DedSec member and Seema a known street artist. The group was known to be investigating “The Shuffler” urban legend which has previously been unproven.. until now?
Introduction
So you’ve heard about ‘The Shuffler’? Is it just an urban legend in game? or is there far more to this than meets the eye? (or ears). Naturally the most fun you can have as a Shuffler hunter would be to visit watchdogs.tumbler.com where all the clues were dropped by ubisoft and the investigate yourself fully or alternatively if you need a helping hand you can look through our extensive notes that we as team_shuffler on Discord discovered collectively.
The Shuffler Mystery in-game pre-requisites
To be able to participate in the shuffler mystery, you must have done the story operations as follows:
DedSec Main Operation: Looking Glass
Chapter Missions:
- Trouble at Home
- !Nvite to Mayhem
- R&R
Basically if you haven’t done these missions and you don’t have Raymond ‘TBone’ Kenney in your hackerspace, then you do not have the requirements met for the shuffler mystery to activate in your game. Do the above Dedsec main operation first, then look into the shuffler mystery once you have T-Bone in your hackerspace.
Shuffler mystery - Step by step solution
We know some of you reading this will not want to read every page in the document so the following steps if followed correctly will gain you the really cool shuffler outfit. A lot of confusion seems to only be caused by either you not recording your time code in the correct order or if you are not at the final location at the correct time as per your time code, so please ensure you get this bit right!
Step 1: Make sure you have met the pre-requisites to unlock the shuffler mystery
Make sure you have met the pre-requisites for the shuffler mystery. (Looking Glass operation completed and T-Bone (Raymond Kenney) is in your main hackerspace.
Step 2: Record your shuffler time code.
Visit the four locations for the shuffler graffiti in Can Anyone Hear Me order…
Location 1: Train Boxcar
Location 2: Shack by the canoeing lake
Location 3: South Oakland Train Tunnel
Location 4: Graveyard.
(Locations are shown clearly on map in section labelled ‘Graffiti’)
Take a picture/selfie using marcus’s phone. After taking a picture and hearing the audio go into Nethack vision and you will see a blue glyph hidden under each red graffiti. Note down each of these symbols in order. The symbols translate to numbers and these are shown on the deciphered shuffler symbol sheet at josh’s desk:
Once you’ve visited all 4 locations in ‘Boxcar, Shack, Tunnel, Graveyard’ order and recorded the 4 numbers (deciphered from the symbols) you should now have a 4 digit number between 0000 and 2359 which is a time on a 24 hour clock. (Military time). If you have a number bigger than 2359 then you’ve visited the locations in the wrong order or have written the number down wrong. Re-do step 2 and follow precisely.
Step 3: What to do with ‘your’ time code.
Go to the main Hackerspace and use the couch to sleep on and set the alarm time to a time somewhat before the time code you recorded in step 2. (allow time for you to get to that location) Note: the sleep in game timer is AM/PM and your time code is 24 hr clock.
Timecodes 0000-1159 | Timecodes 1200-2359 |
If your time is 0000 then that is midnight. So your number refers to a time between midnight and 11:59AM. Set your alarm so that you wake 30 mins or more depending on how quick you can get to the location below. | Set your sleep timer to a PM time. If your time code is 1300-2359 then you deduct 12 from the first two numbers to get your PM (Afternoon time), and you make sure you set your alarm for a PM time rather than AM. So 1631 would mean you want to set your alarm for some time before 4:31pm. |
Step 4: Go to the final location
Go to the location marked below ★ at a time well before the time from your time code as quickly as you can and face the north wall.
Step 5: Position ready to take a picture
Get your camera ready some minutes before your time is due. So if your timecode was 1330 you want to be ready to take a picture with Marcus’s phone at 1:25pm. BE READY!
Step 6: Take a picture when you hear the strange noise
If all goes well and you’ve visited at the correct time from your time code then you should at the exact time of your time code hear a noise and see this in the top left of your screen when you have your camera pointing at the wall:
Take a picture quickly! and you should then hear marcus saying the words “Am I hearing things?”
immediately after taking the picture you will be able to see a blood splatter on the wall.
Step 7: Interact with the blood splatter on the wall
You shoud now ‘USE/INTERACT’ the blood splatter on the wall. (Hold E on PC, △ on PS4, and Y button on XboxONE. (These controls should be shown on the blood splatter object anyway)
Shuffler Cut Scene will now play for you here. Enjoy!!
Step 8: Collect you shuffler outfit
After the cutscene pick up the shuffler outfit that appears on the floor by the wall where you took the picture.
You now have the shuffler outfit! Getting this solution was a team effort by Team_Shuffler on Discord. If you want to say thank you please join us on discord and mention that you followed this cool guide (or one of our video’s).
Enjoy the outfit, and please do wear it and try out the really cool ‘stealth takedown animation’ that you see when you take down mobsters/gang members and guards in restricted areas. You will notice that marcus hears a voice saying several disturbing things when he uses this too, which can be heard very clearly in nethack Check it out!
Timeline of discoveries
The following is a timeline of our progress, to make it easier for new participants to catch up! You can click the blue topics and it will take you to the section explaining them.
- Feb. 15th - Found the graffiti symbols at the four sites;
- Feb. 15th - Realization that the NetHack icons were different for each person;
- Feb. 16th - Figured out that the names on the sites were the victim names;
- Feb. 17th - Attempt at creating a timeline for the Shuffler4;
- Feb. 17th - Game files exploration (which we stopped);
- Feb. 17th - Creation of the Doc.
- Feb. 17th- Found a cipher at josh's desk that helped us translate the nethack symbols into numbers;
- Feb. 18th - deduced that these numbers are a time, in the format HH:MM;
- Feb. 22nd - Blog updated with new audio file cleaned up by Josh, we translated the signals
- Feb. 28th - Blog updated by Wrench, may or may not have clues.
- April 4th - Blog updated by Sitara, contains pic of Seema’s glyph’s tunnel.
- April 17th - Game Update
- April 17th - New blog post.
- April 17th - Completion of the Shuffler Mystery! Congratulations everyone!
Graffiti
Note: If you cannot see the graffiti in-game mentioned as below, then please see the pre-requisites section earlier in this document.
The first step found by the community, also the key to activating the strange quest.
Up until now they don’t seem to have a specific order.
We noticed that each graffiti piece has a small radius around it in which our members will hear creepy ambient sound. It’s also been noted that the graffiti show a different image if NetHack is activated. Upon approach, you must take a picture of the graffiti, which will trigger an audio recording.
File digging has revealed that they are referred to as “Glyphs” in the game code.
Map of Shuffler Graffiti location
Map by DedSec member Hotfox the Cop
- Bayview Rise, in a boxcar near the restricted area
- On a shack beside the lake in North Oakland, behind a fence
- Inside train track tunnel in outskirts of Oakland
- Cemetery headstone near the Golden Gate Bridge
All locations, with exception of the boxcar one, have been previously hinted at in Sitara’s blog on Tumblr, more specifically in Sitara’s posts. The tunnel one being hinted at in the news article, the grave was in the picture of the same news article, and the shed being in the background of the picture of Benny and Aili.
VIDEOS
The following links are videos to show what happens when the picture of the graffiti is taken:
SYMBOLS
CAHM Messages
The very first time you take a picture of each graffiti, a message will pop up at the top left corner of the screen, revealing one word for each graffiti. The words are as follows:
- Boxcar - ??can?
- Shed - ?anyone??
- Train track tunnel- ??hear?
- Gravestone - ?me??
Red Graffiti
Under each Graffiti there’s a sequence of symbols that represent the name of one of the four missing individuals. It also shows who’s speaking in the audio.
- Boxcar - Richard
- Shed - Aili.
- Train track tunnel - Seema
- Gravestone - Benny
NetHack Glyphs
Each location where you find the Red Shuffler graffiti you should use your nethack vision to see a hidden blue glyph. This blue glyph represents a number and it has been found that these numbers are used to form a time. This time is in military time so 4pm would be 1600. It is important that you record these nethack numbers in the order of Boxcar, Shed, Tunnel, Gravestone so that you have your unique time written down.
Update on Red Graffiti and NetHack Icons
Turns out they are both part of the same cipher, the red graffiti ones being letters and the NetHack ones being numbers, the complete translation was found on Josh’s work area, in a piece of paper pinned to the wall.
>>>Skip to “Hour Code” to know our current theory on the use of the NetHack symbols<<<
AUDIO LOGS
Dedsec members Vanade and Skauron have transcribed all of the conversations heard when activating the graffiti.
The Voice of the Missing Shuffler4
The tapes from Benny, Aili, Seema and Richard are tied to specific locations, their specific glyphs. >>>explanation here<<<
I've seen it. And I don't know if i can describe it. It's not really there. It's
in between places. Like when you focus on floaters in your vision... between your
eye and what your seeing. That's where it lives. It can't quite be here... so
I think it brings us there. Wherever there is.
-Benny
It was in my head. In my ears. Like little insect legs shuffling around. I tried
everything. Flushed them out with water. Stuck Q-Tips as far in as I could. The
Doctor told me I had damaged my own eardrums, but the noise kept getting louder
and louder. The guys convinced me to come back out here. Maybe it's crazy but I
need to find out what is in my head. *sobs*
-Seema
Oh Jesus. Benny got pulled into the wall. He just.... God, Benny--where did it all
his blood go? It just got absorbed into all the cracks. Just sucked it right in.
I don't think I can run from it anymore. I think it's inside me. I think it's going
to pull me in, too. I can feel it tugging. owwwwwwwwwww!
-Richard
Richard and Benny are both gone now. and I am too. It folded my body. broke it down, tucked it into the cracks between space. Is this how it travels? How can I ever come back with no body, huh? Can anyone hear me? Hello? HELLO?
-Aili
Marcus’s calls to Dedsec regarding Shuffler tapes
Marcus’s dialogue with the other DedSec members will always follow the same order, no matter the order in which you find the glyphs.
1st call. (Participants: Marcus, T-Bone and Josh)
Marcus: Whoah this is shuffler territory? Ray you ever hear of any symbols associated with the Shuffler legend?
T-Bone: Year. Weird patterns. Alien geometry. Grids and webs that don't make any sense.
Marcus: Yup, we definitely have some of that here.
Josh: What's a Shuffler?
T-Bone: Urban Legend
Marcus: A creepy one.
T-Bone: The story goes if you try to make sense of it, you'll lose your damn mind. Might
end up in an asylum just drawing that shit on the walls with no idea why.. or what
it even is. Hum, man, I was there once and it was trippy.
Josh: Uh? Ok.
Marcus: This is so cool!
Josh: Looking through the Dedsec Channel.. other people are finding these too. Let me
just compare yours with the others. Ok. It's a hoax.
Marcus: What? why?
Josh: It looks like an alphabet/number swap. Too easy.
Marcus: Maybe they wanted the message to be clear?
Josh: So why not just write in english.
Marcus: Could be about getting you to just read the symbols. Maybe that’s how they get into
your head and drive you insane?
Josh: Not funny. See if you can find some more and I can complete the alphabet cipher.
Marcus: Count on it, i'm gonna go find them.
2nd call. (Participants: Marcus, T-Bone and Josh)
Marcus: Guys i've found another symbol, this is so fucking weird. And amazing!
Josh: Where did the shuffler story come from?
Marcus: Old Bay Area Legend about this creature that kind of... lives between world. In
the cracks. Sometimes you can hear it shuffling inside the walls, or maybe on the
other side of a fence. They way my dad told it, the thing really likes trains too.
T-Bone: You know, back in the glory days of the railroad, one car-hopper had to stay awake
while the others slept... listening for that shuffling noise. A lot of disappearances
back then... right on those tracks. Well I mean the equipment has been replaced over the last century. But they
say blood stained wood softens. It will never support a rail as it did before.
Josh: Stop!..... Stop!!
Marcus: Any luck on the decoding josh?
Josh: I've got about 1/3 of it. I'll need some more samples.
3rd call. (Participants: Marcus, T-Bone and Josh)
Marcus: Sending another Shuffler symbol your way. I hope we're getting close.
Josh: You guys are kidding right? There's no such thing as a Shuffler.
Marcus: Probably not, but there have been a few hundred disappearances linked to it. Some
kids came out here to film a Shuffler documentary. All they found were four weird
little audio tapes.
Josh: What was on them?
T-Bone: Nobody knows. Police have kept the Shuffler tapes locked up. Of course they deny
any tapes exist.
Marcus: They exist. I've heard some of them. But I don't have the set yet.
Josh: You're just messing with us.
Marcus: Nope. They are real and goddamn are they creepy! Either these kids are running a
brilliant hoax or something really bad happened to them.
Josh: OK
4th call. (Participants: Marcus, T-Bone, Sitara, Wrench and Josh)
Marcus: Ray... I found the Shuffler Tapes!
T-Bone: What? You're kidding me!
Marcus: Nope. Some weird-ass shit on these!
Sitara: I don't wanna freak anybody out, but...I just heard something that sounded A LOT like shuffling.
Josh: No no no no no, can't hear you! no no no.
Sitara: You guys don't hear that? it's so loud.
T-Bone: Back in the sixties, the government was experimenting with mass hysteria. Turns out, certain concepts, certain words spread faster than others. they thought they could induce paranoia... suicidal thoughts... in the enemy ranks.
Wrench: and reality tv was born.
Josh: You guys suck.
Marcus: What now?
Josh: I think I've got the cipher done but... where's the message? I feel like we're missing a piece of the puzzle.
Marcus: There's gotta be something out there.
Hour code
We managed to come up with a theory about the NetHack numbers that works so far, although we still don’t know exactly where to apply the results.
The theory uses two separate theories we came up with previously, which were the “they represent hours”, brought up by DedSec member Lumi and Lucifer, and “they need to be in a certain order”, by DedSec member Vanade.
The first one supposed that the set of four random numbers would be placed in some sort of order to give each member a set time ( HH:MM), the second one supposed we should order our glyphs in the order of the CAHM messages.
So far, testing has brought positive results. We asked the present DedSec members to share their numbers and till the present moment all of them have been positive for hours between 00:00 and 23:59.
This has also been sustained by the previously explored game code, which revealed text such as Hour_01, Hour_02, Minute_01 and Minute_02 when referring to the glyphs, by DedSec member JumboTheSunBro.
Recently, DedSec member laptopgeek started exploring the possibility that each member’s hour code might be related to their timezones. Here’s his archive with data gathered from other members.
Extra Information
Weird sounds
Main Hackerspace
One of our DedSec members, Ninja Dragon, has found a corner in the Hackerspace in which weird sounds can be heard. >>>Video<<<. This audio hasn’t been entirely cracked yet nor was it completely connected to the shuffler.
It has been tried for SSTV and other things, coming up only with a very faint morse code that was partially translated to “help me”, other methods of sound cracking lead to the words “she”, “sees” and “these”, but none of these can be confirmed 100% as they weren’t clear enough.
Other DedSec members have confirmed that the audio is present even before activating the quest, and even before meeting Ray, so it may really be unrelated after all. We have decided to drop it until we can get more hints on it.
Upon closer inspection, another member discovered that during certain hours (apparently 2 AM), it’s possible to hear a different audio while in the same area if NetHack is active. >>>Video<<< , however,The two kids talking gibberish are a confirmed easter egg of the Audio Director's children and are unrelated to the shuffler mystery<<<<
Blog Audio
February 22nd - a new tumblr post by Wrench confirms that Josh was able to clear up the sound from “Benny’s laptop” and an audio file was provided. Dedsec members Clock and ne0teric were able to probe the file to reveal glyph symbols, shown below.
When translated with the cipher we obtained from Josh’s desk, the audio file glyphs read:
I can't com3 back
I can't bring it
through. benny
(the dot in the third line is being interpreted as a period for now, which suggests that benny wrote the message and is signing his name. however, it could be a comma, in which case maybe someone is talking to benny “I can’t bring it through, benny”. it could also be nothing at all--”I can’t bring it through benny”--but this is unlikely)
Unknowns: (we don’t know if these points are significant or not)
- The file itself is named “Orange_Clown_Buffet_horse”
- Benny uses a 3 instead of an “e” in the first line, even though he uses an “e” elsewhere in the message (so it’s not as if “e” isn’t available)..
Theories:
- Dedsec member Tyelperin had the idea to apply l33t speak to the message due to the use of the 3 in place of an e, which produced some numbers that could somehow be used in the future, possibly as coordinates;
- Dedsec member benpdley found an artist named Bernard Buffet, a french artist who would often paint clown pictures, but had one which was titled “San Francisco”, that showed Union Square. These covers two aspects of the audio file’s name.
- Dedsec member Lucifer took a deeper look into the Bernard Buffet parallel and wrote a doc with useful information she gathered, which includes some strange coincidences:
- Dedsec member EpicStreamMan brought up that maybe the 3 in the audio is just a reference to the discord chat, which is named “#shuffl3r_myst3ry”
Sound “glitch”
Some players have experienced sound glitches and “shuffling” noises when playing after triggering the secret mission.
Personal experience has been game sound in general gradually becoming slower and slower.
The sound glitches appear to affect all gaming platforms (PC/XBoxOne and PS4)
We have no reports of the glitch happening to people who have not started the mission.
Intercepted conversations between NPCs
The following conversations have all been witnessed in-game by many members:
I heard they buried one of the shuffler Four.
Parents never found a body, but wanted the ceremony.
That's so sad. Those poor people.
I think the kids are alive. I think they need to keep looking.
One of those shuffler teens was in a canoe club with my uncle.
What does he think? Was it a prank?
He says the girl was a huge horror nut. Loved scaring people.
He says just wait, she'll show up eventually.
No way the Shuffler thing is real.
No, but somebody took those kids.
You don't think they're just hiding somewhere?
No way. It's been too long. They would have cashed in.
Maybe they're doing it for art?
Eh. If so, they need to go back to art school.
Huntin' Shufflers?
YES. So addicted. It's stupid, I know.
I read he likes intersections.
Cracks. Tunnels. Grids.
In a lot of the old tails, he walks the train tracks.
What am I supposed to do with that?
I dunno. You're the Shuffler Hunter! :)
Code hints
The following data was retrieved by DedSec member JumboTheSunBro:
--------
PROFILER_SYSTEMIC.STEREOTYPE_BANKS.Dockworker Dockworker 4294991486 PROFILER_SYSTEMIC.STEREOTYPE_BANKS.Dockworker.OCCUPATIONFILTER_Dockworker OCCUPATIONFILTER_Dockworker 705707 705708 4294991487 PRESENTATION.DLC.Shuffler_Support Shuffler_Support Glyph1 705715 !(Sw)Benny Glyph2 705716 Glyph3 705717 !(Sw)Ai Li Glyph4 705718 !(Sw)Seema GlyphObjective1 705915 !(Sw)??can? GlyphObjective4 705916 !(Sw)?me?? GlyphObjective3 705917 !(Sw)??hear? GlyphObjective2 705918 !(Sw)?anyone?? TrainyardMessage 705919 !(Sw)BEYOND WALLS
FOUR MOMENTS
FIND PASSAGE
RENDER FLAT 4294991489
BEYOND WALLS
FOUR MOMENTS
FIND PASSAGE
--------
The image above shows the binhex files from the progression layers library file.
--------
―oω'DLC_Shuffler_TS_6thCall_SawTheShuffler8Ρώ^ζΣ·Y,"ήfkD"όΓc
The code line above indicates a possible “call”
ΎLgraphics_geometries\decals\shuffler\shuffler_alphabet_paper_04.high.xbgmip
The code line above indicates we had a translation for the alphabet, which should be the one found near Josh.
±;graphics_geometries\decals\shuffler\shuffler_number_2.xbg»
The code line above indicated that the glyphs in NetHack were geometric 3d shapes and were supposed to be numbers (so we know they aren’t textures, but 3d models).
ähÏCMoveSingleAnim&„6%mËØŠ«, Mmainroot\blendtrees\b11-029-01_shuffler-in-hidout-idle_mplyr_000f_norm_nowepy2 53ÕDÑ>ªÓ
The code line above indicates the shuffler is an entity.
é!±Ît.?=£BÙ{®¾}Ë}ØAÜ㊹cWanimations\gameplayevents\b11-029-01_shuffler-in-hidout-idle_mplyr_000f_norm_nowep.maby ïa.¯½k‘’¯‹ªÇë%ÆÑ~Ž·2€?!oHtbÂV…ÿÿÿÿvÿ8&ÈQ¡’{‰‘«{’$êù:€?±Íöc€>i¬<¿˜ì0w¶Ü1.ê,Ù±¹û0w¶Ü1.ê,+´H–¿[*y¢T6¨(´ˆh%ßÜÔÖ«NÃŒ™#5÷ûÀ
LayerNameShuffler_Dimension_MainLoadvwxyyzselfl0|‚@F@@IÀ@‹Áœ@€ graphˆASeconds€?Start~€‚selfl0„Š @‹@@œ@F€@‹ÀÀœ@€ graphen_26ÐA
LayerNameShuffler_Dimension_Main Unloadcdeffgselfl0ir @F@@IÀ@IÀ@‚IÀÀ‚IÀAƒ‹Âœ@€ _graphÀA
SkipPostFXSkipCameraAlign
KeepDronesForceStopVehicle€?PostCinematic
The code lines above indicate that the Shuffler dimension has a load, therefore it is most likely that it has it’s own map. (Most likely doesn’t mean it is confirmed).
6Qworlds\san_francisco\generated\wlu\wlu_data_shuffler_fourglyphs_progression_physÈç
The code line above indicates that there really seems to be only four glyphs.
--------
4C36-AEBE-D84040B8C3FF}{06E3FF51-7986-469A-B3D3-E280B86D5494}w2fx_chr_gameplay.falling.falling_013561093321w2fx_chr_gameplay.falling.falling_01.w2em_chr_debris.rock.falling_chunks_01_1{EA4ADAA4-1FCA-48DC-A0D3-2AB6FC878F50}8915211070w2fx_chr_gameplay.shuffler.impulse{9CA6F719-2206-431B-911E-EEB6009A34B8}790420416w2fx_chr_gameplay.shuffler.impulse.w2em_wpn_shuffler.glyphe.directional_1{ADF2B2AF-B592-4437-926A-C4B34D0C5DA2}6920867630,0.2,0-90graphics\gfx_wd2\tech\gfx_shufflerglyphe_01_3x1_da.pngW2EM_WPN_ShufflerCount(4) AAAAADeazT4AAIA/fJuJPw==Count(10) AAAAAOsUwD+x+Tg+D9WPP0Uq3D77ymY/r18oP0GKWD8AAIA/4uBZPw==500Count(2) /AUFAPwAAAA=Count(4) AAAAAAAAAAAAAIA/AACAPw==w2fx_chr_gameplay.shuffler.impulse.w2em_wpn_shuffler.distortion.shockwave_m_1{C0394F5C-07F0-4B44-9315-9E50D4BEA1C3}2808202403128graphics\gfx_common\gfx_distortionshockwavemask_d.pnggraphics\gfx_common\gfx_distortionshockwave_d.png0.322.3Count(20) rMUnuch5uT5tyhU9j7cvPzzauD0sJXw/rMo+Pm6nqD+nXEE+P3KpP3+8hz47kME/NQyfPr71zz/JsPo+
The code block above indicates a directional shuffler impulse.Debris falling, Shockwave. “Something big is bound to happen.”
PS:We got told that we don’t need to dig the files to solve it so we won’t do it anymore, but since everyone saw these, I’m adding them here so new members know what we are talking about.
PS²: Special thanks to @SirKane for developing the tools for data extraction
News report transcript
Transcripted by DedSec member Skauron:
“Police are still searching for 4 teenagers who have been missing now for 48 hours. Officials claim that while normally such a case would move into missing persons. The fact that these teens were reporting a viral internet series creates complications. Self identified as 'Shuffler Hunters', the group was on the prowl for the Bay Area Urban Legend and broadcasting their adventures. While they were unable to comment at this point in the developing investigation, Police seemed to be leaning toward the conclusion that this is all an elaborate publicity stunt. If you have any information about the Shuffler teams, please contact the police tip line.”
While this report mentions four teenagers and the Shuffler, it directly contradicts information found at Sitara’s tumblr IF it is talking about the same four people we know disappeared in 2016. Otherwise it can mean more people are disappearing in the present date.
Time skips
Some members have experienced time skips, going from 2am to 5am or other hours. This, however, has been confirmed to be just the game’s way of joining two players who have different times in their worlds.
If you have other players in your game, you won’t be able to progress in the quest, as taking pictures of the graffiti won’t trigger the audio. It will stay like that even if you force quit the game, returning to normal only if the player dies.
Timeline of Disappearances
The four missing people were Benny (DedSec member), Aili, Richard and Seema (Richard’s girlfriend, also a street artist).
The current timeline is as follows:
1- Seema gets "infected" - can't confirm it as being the first one 100%, but her audio says "The guys convinced me to come back out here", so I suppose the others were normal and thinking she was crazy or at least still alive;
2- Benny gets Infected and is "pulled to the other side" or killed - Evidence in Richard's audio - “Benny got pulled into the wall. He just.... God, Benny”;
(The date benny went missing has never been fully confirmed)
3- Richard is gone - January 2016 - Evidence in Aili's audio saying "Richard and Benny are both gone now. and I am too" and in the news article dating his disappearance, Aili’s audio might also point to her own time of disappearance;
(confirmed missing date: January 17th, 2016)
4- Seema disappears - May 2016 - Evidence in the news article;
(confirmed missing date: May 13th, 2016)
5- Benny's first mention on the blog - "Happy new Year" post in Sitara’s blog.
- I can't pinpoint Aili's disappearance but according to her Audio, it was after Richard and Benny. Can't confirm if before or after Seema.
(confirmed missing date: April 2nd, 2016)
confirmed missing dates extracted from Benny’s notes aqquired on April 17th, 2017 from shuffler.zip which was embedded in a jpeg file in the sitara blog)
Wrench’s posts
The following posts are in chronological order.
Original posts:
Post 1: It’s Real! (Posted February 1st, 2017)
IT’S REAL!
THE SHUFFLER IS REAL! Don’t let Sitara FOOL you.
(Hi kiddies, this is your friendly neighborhood HANDSOME-PYROMANIAc-gENIUS, WRENCH!)
Okay. Sitara told you all about Benny, right? College kid. SMART. Bit of a doofus. All around great DedSec member. He disappeared. DISAPPEARED! And so did his BEST BUDDIES. Him and three other kids. The Shuffler 4.
I KNOW he was looking into the Shuffler when he disappeared. He was KEEPINg NOTES and making MAPS of the CITY and s @#$. We STILL have his computer with some of his files. Kid encrypted them pretty good, but I’m SURE we’ll find some INTERESTING s@#$ in there.
Some people are saying it’s just a bunch of flakey kids RUNNING AWAY and they’ll show up again. Well, they WON’T. Not unless we find them! I mean, shit. Even THEIR FAMILIES are GIVING UP on them now. We went to Benny’s FUNERAL. They didn’t even have a body!
The TRUTH is out there, and we’re gonna FIND IT.
Tags: Shuffler, TheShuffer, Wrench, WrenchPost, Wrenchtakeover, dissapearances, TheShuffler4, Shuffler4, Benny, RIP, mystery, ShufflerisReal, JoinDedSec, JoinUs, Findthetruth, WrenchRocks, DedSecMember, NOTaHoax, WatchDogs2.
Post 2: Emergency Post-Thing (Posted February 16th, 2017)
EMERGENCY POST-THING
PEOPLe!!! We have entered FULL ANIMAL FARM. Like all posts are EQUAL but some are MORE EQUAL than others. Sitara’s gone full FASCIST mode to remove the truth about the Shuffler. She’s even DELETING or EDITING posts from people trying to seek the truth. Is she in CAHOOTS with the Shuffler?! I’m staring at her right now. She’s staring back like she KNOWS. My fellow Shufflites… do not let her silence us. Keep posting. We’ll find the TRUTH even if she thinks it’s a waste of DEDSEC’s time and energy… or if she’s already LOST HER AUTONOMY to the Shuffler’s pandimensional mental assault and is secretly plotting our doom. The look on her face right now tells me I may be the first VICTIM. Keep me in your PRAYERS AND/OR PAGAN RITUALS. WRENCH OUT.
Tags: Wrench, Wrenchtakeover, Wrenchisthebest, TheShuffler, Shuffler, TheShufflerISREAL, Thetruthisoutthere, FindtheTRUTH, DedSec, Everydayimshuffling, ShufflerisREAL, Sitara, SitaraShuffler, Shufflites, JoinDedSEc, WatchDogs2.
Post 3: On the tracks, in the trenches (Posted February 22nd, 2017)
ON THE TRACKS, IN THE TRENCHES
SHUFFLITES, you never cease to AMAZE! It’s fan-FREAKIN-tastic to get this kind of DedSec support (EpicStreamMan, I’m lookin’ at you! BTW, I always read that as EPIC STEAM MAN which is even more epic). We know this isn’t a hoax, and we’re going to PROVE it. Once we do—we’ll… lock ourselves up in padded rooms and wish to BAJEEBUS we were wrong. ANYWAYS. The TRUTH is everything!
INinja_DragonI has been talking to Benny… from the OTHER DIMENSION. Yes, Benny. WE HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR. But now what?! Skauron’s been hearing Benny around the hackerspace, which is both terrifying and completely terrifying. Also a lead. Does anybody have a spirit board? Josh and I are going to PROBE these noise, but we could use some help. I know Lumi’s on the case with her VERY PARTICULAR SET OF SKILLS.
KlockoBL has been finding some suspiciously named files out there using a hex editor. Something about a PORTAL. This is HUGE. Was this part of the original investigation before our TRAGIC TEENS were swallowed up? Is this portal their way out? Or our way IN? He seems to think it’s related to a specific time. This COMPLETELY lines up with my own research – Shuffler activity goes NUCKING FUTS in the early spring months with most documented disappearances in APRIL. Let’s hope KLOCK0 lives up to his name and figures out a timeline here.
We’ve got DizzyDave studying those WHACKED OUT symbols people keep finding. Will he crack the code?
Legend has it this thing does NOT take kindly to people snooping, so if you hear SHUFFLING, run. And stay away from cracks. In the walls. In the sidewalk. Loan your plumber a belt, because it’s NOT worth the risk, people!!!
JOIN US:
Tags: TheShuffler, Shuffler4, Shuffler, TheShuffler4, Shufflerdissapearances, Wrench, Wrenchpost, Wrenchtakeover, Shufflites, ShufflerISREAL, notahoax, thetruthisoutthere, FindtheTruth, TheShufflerExists, DedSec, StayShufflin, hackerspace, Benny, portals, otherdimensions, Dimensionaltravel, symbols, investigation, codes, JoinDedSec, JoinUs, WatchDogs2.
Post 4: You were right (Posted February 22nd, 2017)
YOU WERE RIGHT
You know, even though the Shuffler is WITHOUT A SINGLE POSSIBLE DOUBT, ONE-HUNNARD-PERCENT real, I like to keep a healthy skepticism before I get excited about things. That’s just who I am. But you guys were RIGHT. I can hear BENNY in the ambient sounds of idle machinery. But hey—healthy SKEPTICISM… Josh has given me a cleaned up file of some audio that was running on another frequency next to Benny’s laptop to share with you guys.
Here >> http://bit.ly/AudioSitaraTumblr
YOU DECIDE. Get to work, people. I’m going to go start building my own PROTON PACK!
Tags: TheShuffler, Shuffler4, TheShuffler4, Shuffler, Shufflerdissapearances, Wrench, WRENCHTAKEOVER, WRENCHpost, Shufflites, ShufflerISREAL, NOTahoax, thetruthisoutthere, FindtheTruth, TheShufflerEXISTS, DedSec, hackerspace, Benny, mystery, audiofile, Bennylaptop, portals, otherdimensions, dimensionaltravel, symbols, investigation, JoinDedSec, JoinUs, WatchDogs2.
Post 5: Staring into the abyss (28th February 2017)
STARING INTO THE ABYSS
It’s WRENCH again. Sitara told me to stop logging into her account, so Hawt Sauce offered to HELP ME lock her out to deliver some major news. No doubt I AM IN major trouble with the boss-lady and she’s working hard as HELL to get back in, so time is severely limited here. By the way, she keeps making fun of my use of caps, but that’s making fun of my self-expression. Shame on her. And ShE caN’t stand it when they are maDe compleTely random. Confession time: it tickles tHE old wigglies when she goes into PSYCHotIC rage mode. But hey, At LeAsT I DoN’t AlTeRnAtE eVeRy LeTtEr LiKe I dId In HiGh ScHoOl! OUCH, right?
Onto serious business! I’ve been digging into TONS of research about our local SHUFFLER legend and I’ve mapped it all out scientifically for you. Without further doo-doo, here’s it is in all its TENTACLEd Splendor:
What are those numbers? I’m glad you asked. They are SCIENCE. Pull up a desk and I will educate your brain. (1) People claim to have seen its face. I have seen PAINTINGS of it. Graffiti. But this is not its face. It’s a dimensional probe, flat so it can slip through the TIMESPACEFOLDS. It has sensory organs on it to report back DATA. (2) Since it is preoccupied with dimensional travel, it must have some kind of badass defensive system. I went with BLOWFISH spikes because spikes > ALL. (3) It must have tentacles. SCIENCE demands it. (4) I spent a lot of time in a lot of books trying to figure out why it makes shuffling noises. It turns out animals with a lot of wiGGly things probably shuffle. SCIENCE. I call them shufflation appendagery. (5) If Spielberg taught us anything, it’s that other dimensions produce a kind of SLIME-WOMB barrier that leaves you SOAKED when you come back out. The shuffler probably has dimensional PARASITES that eat it all up after he’s back from travel. It’s very likely some of them followed it through when it probed, so I’m watching for them.
I realize there may be some flaws in my theory, but it’s got to be CLOSe, right? I’ll probably get this thing INKED on my lower back. Maybe have the guy clean up the design a little. UH OH. That sounds a LOT like Sitara’s motorcycle outside. GOTTA RUN. If you have ideas on Shuffler anatomy, please share them with us. EXPECT RADIO SILENCE, BUT STAY SHUFFLIN’.
Tags: Shuffler, TheShuffler, dimensionaltravel, Shufflersketch, sketch, Wrench, Wrenchpost, WRENCHTAKEOVER, SCIENCE, Shuffler4, ShufflerIRL, dedsec, hackerspace, Shufflerlegend, tentacles, spikes, appendages, shufflation, shufflationappendagery, slimewomb, parasites, otherdimensions, JoinDedSec, findtheTRUTH, shufflerISREAL, JoinUs, Shufflertattoo, stayshufflin, WatchDogs2.
All capitalised words in posts:
Dedsec member ANDROID has tried to extract information from Wrench’s blog posts, here the posts and his findings:
(1st post) THE SHUFFLER IS REAL
FOOL
SMART DISAPPEARED BEST BUDDIES
I KNOW KEEPINg NOTES MAPS CITY
STILL SURE INTERESTING
RUNNING AWAY WON’T.
THEIR FAMILIES GIVING UP FUNERAL.
TRUTH FIND IT.
(2nd post)FULL ANIMAL FARM
EQUAL MORE EQUAL
FASCIST DELETING EDITING
CAHOOTS KNOWS TRUTH
DEDSEC LOST HER AUTONOMY VICTIM.
PRAYERS AND/OR PAGAN RITUALS.
(3rd post) OTHER DIMENSION WE HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR.
PROBE
VERY PARTICULAR SET OF SKILLS
PORTAL HUGE
TRAGICTEENS IN
COMPLETELY NUCKING FUTS (FUCKING NUTS)
APRIL WHACKED OUT
NOT SHUFFLING
NOT
(4th post) YOU WERE RIGHT
WITHOUT A SINGLE POSSIBLE DOUBT, ONE-HUNNARD-PERCENT RIGHT.
BENNY SKEPTICISM
YOU DECIDE.
PROTON PACK!
Sitara’s posts
The following posts are in chronological order.
Post 1: Happy New Year! (posted Jan 12th 2017)
Sitara’s first post mentioning Benny, also the first post with content related to any disappearances and mention the Shuffler.
Happy New Year!
We celebrated in typical DedSec fashion: loud and proud. Pretty sure Wrench and Marcus still have hangovers. You really gotta keep hydrated, kids.
A bunch of leads poured in after our last post. We’re loving it, so keep ‘em coming. We also got a lot of questions about how we work, so I figured I’d explain a bit.
We each pick our own ops to research and then pitch them to the group. Whoever is interested joins in. Those who aren’t interested, don’t. Sometimes there’s not enough to keep more than one or two people busy on a single op, even if a lot of people want to do it. If there’s a lot of interest, and a lot to do, that’s when the whole group throws in on something. It’s different each time.
Right now Wrench is following up on the Nudle stuff. Josh picked up on some strange noises coming out of Prime_8 (the jerks). Marcus and I are following up on the disappearances. One of our own disappeared a while back, so this one hits close to home. Kid named Benny. Benicio. He’s a good guy, and not the kind to just drop off the grid without warning. All of us are really invested in this one. I’m sure you can understand why. For now it’s just Marcus and me working on it because we don’t have enough for the others to do yet.
I think we’re dealing with a couple different causes on this one. The disappearances are too random. Whoever is taking the homeless isn’t the same person (or people) taking tech savvy college kids. I’m betting on something sketchy with one of the tech giants. Marcus is betting on the mafia. Could be both. Or neither.
For those of you who keep sending us messages saying it’s The Shuffler, or The Hook, or Bigfoot… please stop. Those are urban legends and just waste our time.
Again, happy New Year, guys! Here’s to 2017 being a good one.
Tags: DedSec, DedSecisBack, HappyNewYear, DedSecNewYear, DedSecOps, DedSecOperations, Benny, Benicio, disappearances, Marcus, Wrench, Josh, Sitara, WatchDogs2, JoinDedSec, DedSec2017, TheShuffler.
Post 2: Benny & Ai Li 2016 (posted Jan 13th, 2017)
Benny and Ai Li, 2016.
Tags: Benny, Benicio, AiLi, disappearances, DedSecMember, RIP, DedSec.
Post 3: Because the Truth Matters (Posted Jan 25th 2017)
News clipping from January. While the first part seems unrelated, the second part mentions two more missing people, Richard and Seema.
Because the truth matters.
Hacker Group Exposes Police Shooting
The hacker group known as DedSec recently released footage of a deadly encounter between a police officer and an unarmed youth. They claim there was a cover-up within the police department and that officials attempted to “bury the truth”.
The released footage shows a police officer approaching a young African American man identified as Mike Nassan. The encounter quickly escalated with the officer throwing the young man to the ground and the young man pushing the police officer in return. There were two shots fired and paramedics said the young man was dead before they arrived on the scene.
Amidst accusations of corruption, the police department released a statement declaring they “deeply regret this tragic event” and they offer their heartfelt “sympathy to the young man’s family and community.” They refuse to release the name of the officer involved.
DedSec claims the death was a result of poor police training, which allowed the incident to escalate, and erroneous ctOS information. Nassan was apparently marked as a high risk criminal in his ctOS profile, although there is no record of him committing any crime and, indeed, he appears to have been a promising high school athlete. The hacker group claims the police officer was primed to consider Nassan a threat because of the ctOS profile.
———————-
Mysterious Disappearances Haunt Oakland
It’s been a year since Richard Jackson disappeared and still we have no new information, just more disappearances. The young man was reported missing in January 2016 by his girlfriend, Seema Mashruwana, who herself went missing four months later. A well-known street artist, she was last seen working near the train tunnels in south-east Oakland. Two other members of the same social circle have also disappeared.
Were all of these young adults kidnapped? Is this all some elaborate hoax? Friends and family are bewildered. Mariana Jackson, Richard’s mother, says she “just wants to know what happened” even if it turns out her son is dead. “There’s no closure,” she says, “and you find yourself wondering all the time if he’s okay. If he’s hurting…”
Tags: DedSec, NoMoreLies, DedSecOp, shooting, WKZ, ctOS, coverup, JoinDedSec, Seema, Richard, disappearances, Oakland, WatchDogs2.
Post 4: Back to Scheduled programming (posted Feb 2nd 2017)
This post was made after Wrench’s first invasion and is the last we heard of Sitara until now.
Back to Scheduled Programming
Sitara, here. You can probably tell since I don’t capitalize half of every other word, unlike some people (cough-Wrench-cough).
As Wrench so thoughtfully reminded me, there’s a ton of BS out there on the web pretending to be news when it isn’t. It’s made up to con you. Let’s talk about how to tell a fake news story from a real one, okay?
Here are the top 3 reasons people post fake news:
1. They’re selling something.
A research group that’s paid for by a cigarette company has a conflicting interest in not saying anything bad about cigarettes. Nudle saying their smart cars are awesome isn’t reliable—it’s not like they’re going to say their own product sucks. A TV station is really unlikely to criticize their major investor.
2. It gets them ratings or traffic, which means influence.
News outlets will sensationalize things (like this Shuffler BS) because they know it gets them clicks, and those clicks matter to the advertisers who buy space on their pages. Websites will post insane articles about celebrities to increase their traffic.
3. For shits and giggles. ‘Cause some people are just trolls.
Yeah, that one’s pretty self-explanatory.
I can’t emphasize this enough—do your research! We don’t go into an op half-cocked (not if we can help it). You shouldn’t make major decisions without knowing the facts. So check if someone else is saying the same thing. If it’s WKZ, take it with a grain of salt. We already know they’ll take money to kill a story. But, if it’s WKZ and the local radio station, and the Valley newspaper, and a Stanford researcher… better chance it’s real. Because we’ve got a bunch of different independent sources saying it. This isn’t foolproof, but it’s a good test.
What I’m saying is, don’t just believe something because everybody in your friends’ feed links it.
Tags: DedSec, JoinDedSec, WKZ, fakenews, Nudle, Shuffler, DedSectips, lifeprotips, WatchDogs2.
Post 5:Miss you girl! (Posted April 4th 2017)
This post was made during Wrench’s birthday, doesn’t seem to contain new information, as the tunnel location is already known. Some people think it might be a new lead while others think it was made purely to attract new hunters.
Seema used to go to these tunnels to do her art. I miss you, girl.
P.S. Happy Birthday, Wrench. I baked you a cake, but you hijacked my account. If you don’t mind eating off the pavement, there’s probably some left outside. You may have to battle the raccoons.
Tags: Seema, tunnel, sreetart, graffiti, Wrench, Wrenchbday, Sitara, DedSec, DedSecHackerspace, JoinDedSec, WatchDogs2.
6: Box Picture/Benny email (Posted April 17th, 2017)
This post’s clue was found by DedSec member Selhurst-Steve. To see it, download the image directly from tumblr and open it’s properties. You’ll be able to read the following message in “zalgo text”:
“I'm inside. Help. If anyone finds this, I am most likely gone. Find the key and complete my work. Benny"
Above is how the text shows, image made by DedSec member anonymous_shuffler.
After that, DedSec member Sir Kane found a hidden password protected .zip file inside the image, and DedSec member FOC_Reaper managed to extract the content of the .zip file using an app (BUT we were supposed to find the password for the .zip instead..)
Little fun fact: Opening the image on notepad shows it was made using Photoshop CS4 :D
Also: there is exactly the same number of red question marks on the box as there are letters in the password for the zip file
We got a weird email today from Benny’s computer. I don’t know who sent it or why you’re messing with us, but I’m done with this Shuffler nonsense. It’s not funny anymore. These are missing people. Real lives. There was an attachment. I’m posting it here only because I want to demonstrate how far this hoax has gone, but I warn you - it’s a waste of time and energy. I already found something hidden in it and I’m sure some of you will do the same. If you want to follow the trail, who am I to tell you no? Just keep in mind tinfoil hattery is exactly why this country is split right down the middle. Stop falling for diversions and focus on fact. The Shuffler is anything BUT fact.
Tagged: Shuffler TheShuffler Shuffler4 Benny hoax Sitara DedSec WatchDogs2.
Shoebox Items
A list of weird items or places found in the game what might be connected to the Shuffler in the future, as our current knowledge of how this will play out can point to things being already in the game, just not activated yet.
- Computer in Silicon Valley HQ - might be just a normal computer, but it’s screen is unique among all the other HQs, while the others repeat at least once in different locations. Game-design wise, it doesn’t make much sense to have a special asset like this for no reason.
Dedsec member jewoGRFS tried to mess with the image on the computer’s screen:
- Floor, wall and ceiling cracks - ***Please send yours on Discord, there have been many already but we didn’t have this section yet ***
- Wall cracks on the side of a bridge in Oakland, near the coast, “between” the two train tracks marked red on the map.
- Wall cracks in storm drain near the tunnel glyph.
- “Cat island” - It’s a strange island found in the game’s map, that doesn’t exist in the game’s “physical” space. You can see it at the edge of the coast, a little bit to the south of the graveyard.
- “Cat graffiti” - DedSec member jewoGRFS found a graffiti with four cats near the location of the cat island, which can only be seen from the sea side. He theorized that each cat might represent one of the four missing people.
- Strange cabin at the top of the map - has blood inside an open shed. There’s also a bloody toilet with a few tricycles nearby.
Theories
- Graffiti 5 and 6 may be somewhere on or near these dark red and blue lines;
- Connected points might be supposed to form some shape, maybe the WD logo or a pentagram. Since solving part 2 we have also theorised that it may be linked to a Fibonacci Spiral layout. (unproven)
- NetHack symbols being part of the same alphabet as the graffiti that was translated OR not being part of it at all OR being numerical (this last one being supported by evidence found in the game files); >>> CONFIRMED<<<
- Graffiti symbols being part of the alphabet of the 2019 poster (note: One of them seems to match the one for “E”, but that’s the only one); >>>INVALIDATED <<<
- Some people also theorize that the co-ordinates from the expanded ending might be related but no connection has been made yet;
- Seema might possibly be the culprit or at least the vector. If the timeline is correct, she was the first to hear the Shuffler and the last one to disappear, she was also a street artist, which would explain the graffiti;
- Wrench’s post on the blog mentions Benny and his friends working on annotations and maps, but so far the only maps found in the hackerspaces were of real life San Francisco;
- “Shuffler is a digital being” theory
Since we found out the blue symbols found in the graffiti when using NetHack are 3d models, it could be possible that the Shuffler exists “online”, if the “grid” they mention is the internet.
Considering the following piece of audio: “I've seen it. And I don't know if i can describe it. It's not really there. It's in between places. Like when you focus on floaters in your vision... between your eye and what you’re seeing. That's where it lives. It can't quite be here... so I think it brings us there. Wherever there is.” , it could mean that the Shuffler can be seen within NetHack.
This theory also speculates that the shuffler could spread like a virus, while being like a digital trip. This would also tie in with Ray’s dialogue about the experiments: “Back in the sixties, the government was experimenting with mass hysteria. Turns out, certain concepts, certain words spread faster than others. they thought they could induce paranoia... suicidal thoughts... in the enemy ranks.”;
- Previously mentioned “hour code” theory. >>> CONFIRMED<<<
- Possible Digital-Trip related hysteria theory
We know that in the watchdogs universe, soundwaves have been used in the past to induce fantasy experiences in the people who hear them.
Following this concept, we know that all of the graffiti sites emit a sound.
Maybe during a certain time (April?) and a certain hour (the nethack hours? ) , that sound induces a digital trip sort of experience and the person who hears it thinks they've been spirited away to a different dimension where they are trapped, but in reality are wandering through the real world. Perhaps they end up committing suicide?
-Theory by DedSec member Vanade
- Possible Digital-Trip tech being used theory
“In the first game Defalt manufactures synthetic drug trips, you can buy them and they alter your gameplay experience. When he goes dark, he twists to Blume's side, and even works alongside Umeni Zulu [Ray: I can geotag the old Umeni building in the background {circa WD1, Bad Blood]. Of course SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER [pish posh WD:BB has been out a while now] so now, Blume/UZ have access to his data, and therefore the basic formula of the synthetic, altered reality drug. It's easy to make "bad code", just as easy as "bad drugs" [did you know the Greek question mark looks exactly the same as a semi-colon? semi-colons are the very basis of coding!] so my theory is that Blume, with its ties to the military contract as conceived with the Ten Year Plan owned by Tidis, has sold this information [true synthetic altered reality effecting the organic mind]. Since Tidis is known for its robotics, it makes sense that even though they built a giant robot [which is one of the hallucinations you can choose from, btw. giant robot spider, in WD1], they might also be experimenting in nanotechnology. The spider bot was mainly to be used as crowd control, but nano-bot crowd control via hallucination and hysteria is totally viable!
By this method, the nanobots could form a HIVEMIND, allowing people to communicate subneurological messages, like the above.
Perception is your own reality, an American military phrase.
Also, Wrench and Marcus talk about robot zombies in game.”
-by DedSec member Havik.
- Juno Theory:
“Since the worlds of Watch_Dogs 1 and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag had intersected in a mission in Watch_Dogs 1, they could intersect again. The Shuffler could be related to Juno or IS Juno from the Assassin’s Creed series.
Juno is part of the First Civilization, beings that could influence people’s thoughts through their advanced technology, called Pieces of Eden. Her conscience is currently floating through the digital void (the “grid” that is the Internet as mentioned in this document) after the events of Assassin’s Creed 3.
With the extended ending that was patched into Watch_Dogs 2, Dedsec member Lumi proposed that the location of the next game could be in London, where Assassin’s Creed Syndicate had taken place. This suggests that both worlds had intersected again.
Juno could have come to San Francisco, so she could be making those sounds people hear, trying to recruit them. She wants a physical body to put her conscience through, so she could come back and take over the world. The four people that were investigating and got kidnapped could have accidentally stumbled upon the secret war between the Assassins and Templars. Someone (sorry can’t remember) mentioned that Abstergo’s logo had appeared on Blume technology, so Blume could be linked to Abstergo. Blume could be kidnapping people who can hear the shuffling noises, courtesy of Juno, and send them to Abstergo.
>Expansion of theory:
“DedSec member EpicStreamMan proposed that the "lady in white" that another Dedsec member Incno mentioned, was actually Juno.
DedSec member FanatSors cited evidence from “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate” supporting the theory: https://youtu.be/McxjHnwWBG8?t=245
DedSec member JumbotheSunBro expanded on the theory of Juno, saying that Juno required a body that has more machine parts instead of mostly organic (possibly hinted at in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag), so she's slowly pointing Abstergo that way. An organic body makes her weak and is harder to control, while she's adept at controlling technology. He also pointed out that the way Blume achieved quantum satellite data technology which is seemingly impossible for us to achieve, was Juno's work.
He also theorized that the nanobot experiments on the hobos in the “Watch_Dogs 2: Human Conditions” DLC could also be an experiment for her. Juno is slowly pointing mankind towards Synthesis so JumbotheSunBro wouldn't doubt that she would be behind the nano experimentation. Use big data on that and you have a whole grid of people willing to follow you.
He wondered why Juno didn’t try and shut down Dedsec on her own, since she has the power. The four people were going completely against the tide and putting an entire scheme down. DedSec member Crescentlightning suggested that Juno could shut them down easily, but that would be suspicious. JumbotheSunBro suggested that the problem is that the other three weren't exactly hackers, but Juno could've used soundwaves as an experiment for mass control, similar to how the Pieces of Eden work.”
Open to suggestions and expansion on the theory
-by DedSec member Crescentlightning
- Render flat theory:
“In one of the audio files we hear Seema say, "...It folded my body. broke it down, tucked it into the cracks between space..." which had a lot of people confused.
It got me thinking about the file JumboTheSunBro and Lumi found that had the words, "BEYOND WALLS - FOUR MOMENTS - FIND PASSAGE - RENDER FLAT". For a while we thought that render was being used as the rendering on a computer however, with the way I speak and write, I remembered that I use the word 'render' as a common word. For example, you can render something useless. You can 'render' something flat by folding in half in some circumstances. She also says that by breaking her body, she was pulled into another dimension which follows 'find passage, render flat'. This leads me to believe that it is entirely possible that by 'rendering flat' you can 'find passage' to the other dimension and that these two sentences could be related. It is also possible that by figuring this out, we could trigger the "train-yard message" or the train-yard message could trigger this.
However, I don't have any theories on how to do this, only that they could be tied together.”
- by DedSec member Lucifer.
- Data theory:
“This Theory works on everything that is known fact in the game.
We all know Blume and Haum, etc is collecting data on citizens, and they may be collecting even more than DedSec has or knows, they might even have enough to reconstruct someone's personality by cross-referencing Nudle, !nvite, and other data.
With security cameras everywhere it's not hard to imagine that every waking (and sleeping) moment is being recorded and stored on some ctOS server,
so you could theoretically recreate someone's profile with all the data.
Ray mentioned that the government was doing a lot of stuff with hysteria
and it just so happens that the FBI has a home in Oakland, so the FBI is not afraid of kidnapping people. We know that because they "kidnapped" Wrench for interrogation, regardless, they're used to holding people hostage.
So, the FBI kidnaps people and is clearly working in tandem with Blume, etc. In the game it's revealed that they want "Zero Days," but obviously they could be up to something more sinister.
I propose that they are all trying to turn people into data.
Now, allow me to present the evidence:
The audio logs state that the "Shuffler" resides within walls, within cracks, at intersections, and likes trains. Well, wires can be found in all of these except for the trains. The trains go back to the original game when Blume constructed railroads to haul their shipping containers; this can still be seen in the first game with all the train tracks and abandoned Blume cargo.
Now, because FBI and Blume are all buddy-buddy, we know some data-sharing could be happening between them.
Blume, with mass surveillance and a backdoor in every companies' butt, has a very extensive cross-reference profile on everyone who isn't a hermit. At this point, I am also going to draw on the theory of W_D and Assassin's Creed (henceforth known as AC) being in the same universe, OR different, either way this works.
We know that Blume and Abstergo have some sort of dealings and Abstergo is well-known for one thing (besides being notoriously evil): the Animus (DNA machine). The Animus can retrieve and possibly store data as DNA, this means you could, beside memories, store the entirety of a person as DNA, and with an entire cross-reference profile, recreate them digitally. All you'd need is some human test subjects and some programmers, which Blume has a lot of, as human trafficking is not new to W_D so this is very likely.
They could, in effect, force people's consciousness into a server, as data and they would exist as data in a mainframe.
Now, back to the Shuffle, the Shuffler could be a digital thing, and in that case, could be the AI which controls these digital people. The four kids have disappeared one-by-one, presumably, meaning that they were each forced into a computer separately.
The Shuffler is the program that pulls them into the computer, converting them as data, and then keeping them in confinement, like some sort of Satan in hell, and making sure they don't escape. If they indeed are data on a computer, they would exist as data, which travels through wires, and wires can be found in intersections, cracks in the walls, sidewalks if you dig deep enough. They can also exist in containers if they are stored on servers/hard drives being shipped from one place to another.
The railroads were once used to move stuff around back when Silicon Valley was building (source: an NPC or something), and of course the Shuffler would travel with that data, on the servers/hard drives being transported via trains.
So, in conclusion, Blume is using its data from itself, Nudle, Haum, !nvite and the FBI to kidnap people and force their consciousness onto servers/hard drives, as digital beings, the Shuffler is a program which keeps all these digital people in check, and could be used as a more evil Bellwether of sorts to spread hysteria and fear among the physical people.
That concludes my theory.
Q.E.D.”
Addendum to Data Theory
“Chase said the Shuffler Mystery would be "dark" and "long". This (in reference to people being turned into data against their will) seems to fit the connotation of "dark"- not really horrifying and scary as in the sense the Shuffler is a monster, but unethical, and, in my opinion, something the public should protest against, like with Tidis and its Ten Year Plan. It fits with the theme of big data and impending corporate oppression.
An alternate version of my thoery would be: if they don't force everyone's consciousness into a computer, they could create code thatbehaves like them, in a believable way, and create clones of them, either through eugenics or some help from Abstergo, so that anyone who steps out of line could be easily replaced with an exact replica, and Bume is the puppeteer.
Another thing I forgot to mention (and couldn't come up with an explanation for until February 21, 2017. The Shuffler glphys could be like QR codes. If the Shuffler is indeed a digital thing (i.e. software within the ctOS system and existing infrastructure), then one can "scan" it, which redirect you to an audio file that exists somewhere on Blume's server farms, but unknown to everyone else. Evidence from the game seems to support this idea: you "scan" the glyph with your camera, as you would a QR code, and you get a phone call (aka, the audio file). Furthermore, when in Nethack mode, the numeric glyphs can be seen, which means that like QR codes, the Glyphabet (my personal term for the glyphs) is a digital representation of data invisible to the human eye. So, in reality the numeric glyphs could be seen by electronics but not humans under any normal circumstances, so in this case the code you are actually scanning is the number. Either way, the Glyphabet and Shuffler face seem to behave like a QR code (i.e. as encoders) for data in the ctOS system, except it is hidden and no one knows about it”
-by DedSec member Royal Fluffy Catgirl.
MEMES
Because why not, right? We need to keep our sanity somehow. All of the following memes were made by our DedSec members.
Click below to see dank memes.
__ __ ______ __ __ ______ ______
>>/\ "-./ \ /\ ___\ /\ "-./ \ /\ ___\ /\ ___\ <<
>>\ \ \-./\ \ \ \ __\ \ \ \-./\ \ \ \ __\ \ \___ \<<
>>\ \_\ \ \_\ \ \_____\ \ \_\ \ \_\ \ \_____\ \/\_____\<<
>>\/_/ \/_/ \/_____/ \/_/ \/_/ \/_____/ \/_____/<<
FONT!
DedSec member Eizak made this really cool font based on the Shuffler’s cipher!
*Works only in capital letters and numbers
Click below to download it!
______ ______ __ __ ______
>>/\ ___\ /\ __ \ /\ "-.\ \ /\__ _\<<
>>\ \ __\ \ \ \/\ \ \ \ \-. \ \/_/\ \/<<
>>\ \_\ \ \_____\ \ \_\\"\_\ \ \_\<<
>>\/_/ \/_____/ \/_/ \/_/ \/_/<<
^Demo^
Some things were credited, some weren’t because I just didn’t know who to credit (so if you did it first and would like credit, let me know).
This compilation of data was brought to you by Lumi, Vanade, Vivian Dao, ANDROID, Skauron and EpicStreamMan :D With the help of all of the WD official Discord members, who have been working extra hard to crack this secret mission.
Sorry for any phrasing mistakes or confusing formatting >__< any form of criticism is welcome!