E3M1: War with the Newts

Step into the deadly crossfire of the **War with the Newts** (**Válka s Mloky**), a conflict between humanity and an intelligent race of sea-dwelling salamanders for control of the Earth. It is inspired by a novel by Karel Čapek of the same name.

# Walkthrough

After his escape from The Degustation, the Player awakens in a holding cell of some ancient fortress, somewhere near the location of the first secret, where the sounds of military aircraft echo from above. The room is empty except for a jar and the door enclosing the room. Time to charge forward!

Exit the room to a t-sectioned corridor, where the Player will observe cells that are much less comfortable than the accommodations from which you have just left. Quite the stench! Sadly there are reminders that not everyone gets the choice to leave, including one poor fellow who seems oddly familiar. If only he had been a space marine!

Beyond the door are battlements where the Player will find the yard patrolled by a new enemy. To the left is a doorway blocked by bollards, while the yard is patrolled by two Newts. These are strange, amphibious creatures, sleek elongated forms walking upright and carrying deadly weaponry. They must be disposed of at once!

There is a double-door with strap hinges on the right side of the battlements that encloses a meeting room where several other Newts are meeting in conference. Here the Player will note the stern banner of the Newts, a circled **M** announcing the presence of the salamander race proudly, somewhere near the location of the second secret.

There is also a valve that opens the bollards, and from behind them emerge another Newt and an S.U.P.. The now-open passage leads to a room with an electrical box and some bullets. Break open the electrical box to open the closed door way ahead of you, which opens to a pier.

The pier borders the fortress's waterfront on two sides. It is actively guarded by two Newts, one observing from a ledge above the inlet next to a large button, and a second who is walking near an open doorway at the other end of the pier.

Continue along the pier past some clips and the advertisement for **MLDK** soap until you come to a door on the right, above which is written **K+M+B+1939**, inside which is locked. Perhaps the button on the ledge above the inlet can help. Jump into the water where you will find a hungry Becva and an underwater opening on the left that is nearby the third secret.

The opening leads to a channel with more hungry Becva that leads to a ladder. At the top of the ladder the Player will find a Brno Super Shotgun and a window overlooking the inlet and the ledge. Jump from the window to the ledge and press the button. This must have raised an alarm, because it will prompt two rocket launcher Newts to emerge from the locked door across the inlet to attack you. Once you defeat the Newts you may enter the **K+M+B+1939** shop, only to find that it contains the Horse Key lock.

The next door down has a sign that states the Player will find**Coal, Firewood, Coke, Handles, Rods, Pins** (**Uhlí Dříví Koks Násady Tyče-kolíky**) within. There is indeed coal, along with a Hussite Hand Cannon.

A third door announces that it is for **B. Antonín & Son Fish and Newts for sale** (**B. Antonín & Syn Prodej Ryb**), where inside you will find some Becva hanging from a line, leading to a doorway where you will find the Newts. Brace yourself!

Beyond the doorway is a room with a sunken floor that has a tank in the middle of it, labelled **Spawn** (**Potěr**), out of which are popping many Newts, some with knives, some that fling Grenades, and even one that has a rocket launcher. Here the Player must learn that it is better to shoot the spawning tank until it is destroyed than to focus attention on the Newts in front of you, since more will keep spawning until you do.

On the right side of the room there is a can of Tasty Canned Poultry, and an entryway covered in slime that leads to another room with more hanging Becva. This second room leads to a third, where you will find three Sewer Rats and a switch. This opens the doorway to a slime-filled nook where you will find the Horse Key. Take the key and another Newt with a rocket launcher will appear to tell you to put it back.

Proceed to the Horse Key door and open it to find the Rusted Key. Now to find the door that matches it! Exit the **K+M+B+1939** shop and find two more Newts patrolling the pier. Proceed past them to an entryway to some stairs leading up, which end in a second floor room, which contains four Newts and the Rusted Key lock next two bollards. Here you will also find another locked door and some shells.

Unlocking the Rusted Key lock will drop the bollards leading to a platform elevator that is currently up. It will lower once the Player approaches, carrying two Newts who wish to inform you that the area is restricted. Press the button at the back of the platform, and it will lift to a control room.

The control room overlooks a platform, beyond which a launchpad with a 50-foot rocket atop it. The entry to the platform is blocked by an electrical beam, which is controlled by Common Key and Aluminum Key locks on either side. To your left and right are double doors that are closed? Which way first?

Take the doors on the left, and you will be dropped down into a dog-leg corridor with no clear exit and some Newts to pacify. Proceed to the other end of the corridor where you will find a button. Press it and more Newts will appear to contest your mastery of the corridor.

Once they are dead, the floor will lower, revealing a second button that is begging to be pressed. Once pressed, more Newts will appear to amuse the Player, and when they are dispatched, the floor will rise all the way to the top, revealing a small room with a toilet overlooking the waterfront.

Open the door to the toilet and you will discover a Newt who is finding a peaceful moment to catch up on the events of the day by reading the newspaper. He becomes quite indignant at being disturbed and declares that the bathroom is already occupied. Do not put up with his insolence and inform him in return that you are simply seeking an achievement that is somewhere nearby.

Shoot the toilet seat and drop down into the muck at the bottom. There is a passage that leads to a ladder, somewhere near the entrance of the fourth secret, where you will find a Ball Lightning Launcher leading to a closed door. Open the door to find yourself back at the room with the Rusted Key lock, only now it is different.

Since you were last here the Newts have brought in a spawning tank, hoping that sheer numbers will be sufficient to deal with your anti-salamander prejudice. However, the Player now understands that the spawning tank is the source of all misfortune, and knows what to do when faced with an abundance of Newts. Once the tank is destroyed, you will find the all-important Common Key.

Return to the lift platform beyond the Rusted Key lock and the rocket control room. This time take the doors to the right, where you will find a Soviet Shotgun that is simply jumping at the chance to smear the walls with Newt blood. This wish will be granted as soon as the Player picks up the weapon, when three Newts appear to task you.

The back of room has a door that is closed, but when the Player interacts with it, a door opens directly behind you. Behind the door is a Newt who is protecting the switch that opens the door. Throw the switch, and behind the door are more Newts who are ready to contest your progression down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs is an exit to the edge of the waterway that feeds the fortress's inlet. Here the Player will behold the rocket in all its majesty, decorated with a curious three-bladed warning symbol that you will vaguely remember is related to radiation. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen! What can you do?

On the right side of the rocket is a rocky prominence with openings that lead to interior caves. Here you will find another bottle of Red Wine and some shells. Enter the cavern and proceed through the slimy interior until you reach a section of the wall with the name Čapek written on it, somewhere near the location of the fifth secret.

At this point you are hearing the dulcet tones of house music thumping away. Follow the sounds until you reach a large room where there are Newts having a rave around a boom box near the Aluminum Key. It appears that they are all on **Ecstasy**, since they are completely indifferent to the Player's approach. Everything is great! No problems. Unless for some reason the Player elects to shoot the boom box. Perhaps the Player might care to throw his hands in the air and rave with the Newts. You might even earn a new Achievement.

Return to the launch pad, and prepare to get busy! The Newts are now wise to your tricks and have brought in two spawning tanks to ensure that the Player will not get away with whatever the Player is attempting to get away with. Once again, apply the tactics that have kept you alive thus far, and destroy the spawning tanks before you are overrun.

With the Newts defeated, return to the rocket control room and unlock both the Common Key and Aluminum Key locks to enter the platform. Unfortunately you are too late! The **AZ-5** button is just before you, but as you approach the rocket clears its throat and begins to lift from the launch pad.

As you watch the rocket lift majestically into the sky, you begin to feel faint as you follow the contrail it leaves. Then all at once, there is a burst of light in the sky, as if the rocket has detonated! What a calamity, if only you could do something! However, darkness overtakes you, and you fall unconscious to the ground.

**Previous:** The Degustation

**Next:** E3M2: Hospital

# Secrets

### Secret 1

The first secret is immediately available in the room where the Player enters the map. Interact with the wall to the right and it will open to reveal a tunnel leading to a ladder going up. At the top of the ladder you will find two Car Batteries, and peaking through cracks in the rocks, can see an enormous rocket.

### Secret 2

You will find the second secret in the hall where the Newts are plotting. Interact with the wall in the back left portion of the room, and it will open to reveal many lovely bars of shiny Gold.

### Secret 3

The waterfront is where the third secret will be found. Jump into the river where it opens to the underwater channel that leads to a ladder. As you swim inside, interact with the wall in the left corner. Here you will find a Hussite Crossbow.

### Secret 4

The cellar of **J. Oberheim's Wine** (**Víno J. Oberheims Víno**) is where the fourth secret is found. As you descend the stairs, interact with the wall in the right corner. The Player will now be able to host quite the party with this extra bottle of Red Wine he finds.

### Secret 5

[[File:E3M1S5 Interior.png|thumb]In the dank cavern of the Newts the Player will find a cracked wall that conceals the fifth secret. Blow it open, and inside you will find a treasure trove filled with bars of Gold.

### Secret 6

The mucky tunnel beneath the privy is where you will find the sixth and final secret. On your way to the ladder, interact with the wall about halfway down on the right. The wall will open to reveal a ladder, at the top of which you will find a Backpack.

# Lore

* Karel Čapek was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel **War with the Newts** (1936) and play **R.U.R.** (**Rossum's Universal Robots**, 1920), which introduced the word **robot**. He also wrote many politically charged works dealing with the social turmoil of his time. Influenced by American pragmatic liberalism, he campaigned in favor of free expression and strongly opposed the rise of both fascism and communism in Europe. He is known as a science-fiction author who wrote before science fiction became widely recognized as a separate genre. Many of his works also discuss ethical aspects of industrial inventions and processes already anticipated in the first half of the 20th century. These include mass production, nuclear weapons and intelligent artificial beings such as robots or androids. Čapek also expressed fear of social disasters, dictatorship, violence, human stupidity, the unlimited power of corporations, and greed. He tried to find hope, and a way out. From the 1930s onward his work became increasingly anti-fascist, anti-militarist, and critical of what he saw as "irrationalism". Though nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times, Čapek never received it. However, several awards commemorate his name, such as the **Karel Čapek Prize**, awarded every other year by the Czech PEN Club for literary work that contributes to reinforcing or maintaining democratic and humanist values in society.

History-ComputerKen Sanders Rare Booksmedia+art+innovation

* **War with the Newts** (**Válka s Mloky**), also translated as **Salamander Wars**, is a 1936 satirical science fiction novel by Czech author **Karel Čapek**. It concerns the discovery in the Pacific of a sea-dwelling race, an intelligent breed of newts, who are initially enslaved and exploited. They acquire human knowledge and rebel, leading to a global war for supremacy. The book does not have any single protagonist, but instead looks at the development of the Newts from a broad societal perspective. At various points the narrator's register seems to slip into that of a journalist, historian or anthropologist. The three most central characters are three Czechs, Captain J. van Toch, the seaman who discovers the Newts; Mr Gussie H. Bondy, the industrialist who leads the development of the Newt industry; and Mr Povondra, Mr Bondy's doorman. They all reoccur throughout the book, but none can be said to drive the narrative in any significant way. Only the last four of the book's 27 chapters deal with the eponymous war. It relates a series of skirmishes between Newts and humans, eventually resulting in the outbreak of war when the Newts declare their need to destroy portions of the world's continents in order to create new coastlines and so expand their living space. With Earth's landmass one-fifth destroyed and humanity offering little resistance, novel cuts away from the action to a conversation between two personas of the author, called the Author and the Writer. Between them they map out the long-term history of the Newts: the Newts will all but destroy the Earth's landmass, leaving only a tiny clump of humanity to work for them in their factories. Eventually they will form separate countries and destroy themselves by committing the same follies as humanity; humans will then inherit what remains of the earth; new continents will arise, and "America" will be dimly remembered as an Atlantis-like mythical land.

GhedoghedoKate MacdonaldAboutManchester

* In Poland, it is not uncommon to spot the inscription **K+M+B** or **C+M+B** on their doors. The tradition of writing these letters has its origin in the 18th century. On 6th January, all Catholic churches hold a special holiday mass where priests consecrate chalk, incense and gold. Priests say that people these days rarely bring their jewellery into church to be blessed, as gold is now out of fashion. The clergymen acquire chalk for parishioners on the eve of the holiday. Each participant in the mass returns home with white chalk and writes ‘K+M+B 2017’ or ‘C+M+B 2017’ on the outside of their front door. The number denotes the year, but the letters have a few different interpretations. Priests insist that they need to write ‘C+M+B’, since those are the first letters of the phrase ‘Christus mansionem benedicat’ (Latin: ‘Christ blesses this house’). However, the so-called ‘people’s version’ caught on more – ‘K+M+B’. It is believed that the three kings who came to worship baby Jesus were named Kaspar (Casper), Melchior and Balthazar, and ‘K+M+B’ are their initials. (Culture.pl)

* **České slovo** (**Czech Word**), also known as **Svobodné slovo** (**Free Word**) was a Czech daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in Prague since 1907, by Publishing House Melantrich, until its cancellation in 1997. The newspaper was founded by Union of National Social Workers of National Social Party led by Václav Klofáč and Jaroslav Šalda. The newspaper was banned several times between 1915 and 1918, 1939 and 1945 and nationalised from 1948 to 1990. During the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Josef Pejskar and Council of Free Czechoslovakia published a version for the Czechoslovak exile (1955–1990).

* The jet fighter seen flying overhead in **War with the Newts** is a **Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21**, also known by its NATO codename, **Fishbed**. The **Fishbed** is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union, and flown by the **Czechoslovak People's Air Force**. Other nicknames include: **balalaika**, because its planform resembles the stringed musical instrument of the same name; **Ołówek** which is Polish for pencil, due to the shape of its fuselage, and **Én Bạc**, meaning silver swallow, in Vietnamese. Approximately 60 countries across four continents have flown the **MiG-21**, and it still serves many nations six decades after its maiden flight. It set aviation records, becoming the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, the most-produced combat aircraft since the Korean War.

Gojanovic123456789As seen in-gameparfaitsBadge of the Czechoslovak Air Force

# Trivia

* This level has three references to the Wolfenstein franchise. These include the **Blazkowicz** skeleton in the holding cells where the Player enters the game, a reference to **William "B.J." Blazkowicz**, the protean hero of the series from **Wolfenstein 3D** forward. There is also the Gold, a reference to the gold and other treasures that Blazkowicz frequently encounters during his adventures. Also the holding cell where player begins and a t-sectioned corridor at the beginning are reminiscent of beginning of **Wolfenstein 3D**.

* This episode marks the return of two previous weapons that were present earlier in the development of the game. The original **Rocket Launcher** was replaced by the **Hussite Hand Cannon** on 9 June 2021 in version 0.3.5. As of **E3M1** it is one of the weapons that the Newts carry. **E3M1** also marks the return of the **Ball Lighting Launcher**, which was among the original panopoly of weapons, until it was removed from the game on 26 April 2022 in version 0.5.0.
* On 1 April 2023 Spytihnev published on his Twitter as an April fools joke a trailer announcing a new game called Salamander Wars. It included footage from E3M1: War with the Newts.