Isenstadt

**Isenstadt** (also known as **Eisenstadt**) is a city in Nazi Germany which serves as the setting of 2009 game *Wolfenstein*. It is the only place on Earth in which Nachtsonne crystals can be found.

## Background

It is a town in Germany called Isenstadt. More specifically, Isenstadt is located in Austria, but during the course of World War II, the two countries were essentially one, indistinguishable locale (Hitler was Austrian, after all).

During the war, when General Viktor Zetta came to Isenstadt to mine Nachtsonne crystals and investigate the possible applications of the Veil, he hanged the mayor and town council, and declared martial law. A massive German garrison was established, with many sites in town turned into research facilities or military strongholds. A German resistance movement to overthrow the Nazi occupation force called the Kreisau Circle was established in the same year after Caroline Becker's husband was publically executed.

At the time of the game the city is highly contested, but the Nazi garrison has largely forced the resistance movement into retreat though a series of brutal crackdowns on any actual or percieved sympathisers; when BJ arrives, many locals can be heard talking about just giving the Nazis whatever they want in the hope that once they have it the occupation will end.

A colossal armoured Zeppelin hovers omniously over the Midtown district, and is the cause of much concern for the locals who speculate as to why it is there.

## Gameplay

Isenstadt is divided into two major hubs, **Midtown** and **Downtown**, each of which is divided into two sectors for loading purposes, Midtown into **Midtown West** and **Midtown East** and Downtown into **Downtown East** and **Downtown West**. Missions take place in various locations reached from the hub.

Each hub sector contains a number of random spawn locations for waves of Nazi soldiers, replenished at regular intervals; these spawns increase in difficulty with each storyline mission completed. Like other levels, Isenstadt has hidden Gold, Intelligence and Tomes of Power; the Intel screen in the Journal shows a combined total for both sectors of a hub. While never stated, some items can only be gained after certain missions; one Gold in Midtown can actually only be accessed after the tunnel to Downtown opens.

The hubs contain Safehouses for both the Kreisau Circle and Golden Dawn mission givers. A number of **Black Markets** can also be found in the hub areas, run by brothers Anton and Stefan Kriege; these will allow the player to exchange money (both Gold and mission reward money) for weapon and Thule Medallion upgrades.

Midtown is unlocked gradually. Initially the player will encounter a locked door to Midtown East near the Black Market, locked doors *to* the Black Market in the sewers, a large concrete barricade blocking passage to the second door to Midtown East, and a barricade, a locked door and a locked gate preventing access to the third. These all vanish / unlock after the mission Dig Site is completed, but the third door remains locked until later. A further locked door can be found in the sewer close to Dig Site, and give the message "Complete Cannery;" this is actually the door to Downtown.

After Midtown East is unlocked, a massive fire in a tunnel with two wrecked Tiger tanks prevents access to the square containing the missions Hospital and Cannery; there are also a pair of locked doors in a wrecked building to the side which have the messages "Acquire Hospital" and "Acquire Cannery." This fire is extinguished when either Farm or Church is completed, and the locked door in Midtown West (which leads to the same square) is unlocked at the same time.

### Missions

The main missions are:

* **Train Station**, entry to Midtown West. This area is where BJ arrives and meets the Kreisau Circle agents, promptly sabotaging a "Special Operations Train" carrying Veil technology.
* **Dig Site**, a Kreisau Circle mission accessed in Midtown West. This site is where the Nazis are excavating a Thule site (similar to the one in The Defiled Church in *Return to Castle Wolfenstein*) to search for a Thule Medallion to replace the one lost on the *Tirpitz*. It is here that BJ first encounters the Thule Portal, which had been discovered and partially dismantled by the archaeological team.
* **Church**, a Kreisau Circle mission accessed in Midtown East. This church is said to be a place where the Veil is particularly thin and ghosts can sometimes be heard; the area is the scene of a fierce battle between Kreisau Circle resistance fighters and Nazi soldiers. It is home to a strange machine designed to harness the power of the Veil, which creates a huge pillar of light in the sky.
* **Cannery**, a Kreisau Circle mission accessed in Midtown East. The derelict cannery has become a large-scale research and testing base used to develop advanced weapons, as well as being a processing centre for Veil Energy which creates the Veil Barrels seen elsewhere. It is under the direct supervision of General Zetta.
* **Farm**, a Golden Dawn mission accessed in Midtown East after visiting the Raven's Nest Tavern in Midtown West. This apparently innocuous fortified farm is built over an enormous cavern where Nachtsonne Crystals are harvested, with a huge number of Sniffers present to sift through them for quality examples.
* **Hospital**, a Golden Dawn mission accessed in Midtown East. This Hospital has been taken over by the Nazis in order to use the patients to research uses of Veil technology on humans, and contains the rebuilt Thule Portal.
* **Castle**, a Kreisau Circle mission accessed in Downtown. This fortress is taken over by Deathshead and is seemingly used as a base of operations by high-ranking members of the occupation force. It contains another machine designed to harness the power of the Veil.
* **Airfield**, a Kreisau Circle mission accessed in Downtown West. This airfield services the Zeppelin above Isenstadt, and contains a number of advanced Veil-based research projects, including a replica of the machine seen at the Church.
* **Zeppelin**, accessed from Airfield. This colossal Zeppelin seemingly uses Veil technology instead of hydrogen to keep it airborne, and is heavily armed and carries a complement of aircraft. It is the final destination of the Thule Portal, which forms a key part of the Black Sun powered weapon which Deathshead plans to use to win the war.
* **Black Sun Dimension**, accessed from Zeppelin. This is the final mission which you have to defeat Hans Grosse. There are several levels. You defeat him by destroying each crystal you gained except Veil. At the End Deathshead is mad at you for destroying Grosse and the portal.

These are implied to be out of town areas, with the trips to Castle and Church shown to take a substantial period of time since it is daylight in the hub areas and night during these missions. Airfield is only slightly closer since it is near sunset when it is reached. It is rather harder to explain why Cannery takes place at night, given it is clearly only just outside the accessible part of Midtown East.

As well as these, there are three strings of sidequests which can be activated by meeting NPCs in the hub areas:

* **Warehouse** then **Officer's House**: Given by a Kreisau Circle agent in Midtown West. Both in Midtown West.
* **SS Headquarters** then **SS Paranormal Base**: Given by a Golden Dawn agent in Midtown East. Both in Midtown East.
* **Radio Tower**: Automatically triggered on exiting Castle in Downtown. The towers are in both Downtown sectors while the mission itself is in Downtown West.

## Trivia

* According to some document artwork in the intel screen, and an obelisk near the hospital and SS headquarters the city is named "Eisenstadt"'in original language. Eisenstadt is actually a city in Austria. Eisenstadt can be read on a map from Intel as well as a sign or two as well.
* Isenstadt has direct trains to Hamburg, Germany, it seems this is where B.J. entered into the city from as well..
* The name is close to "Eisenstadt" which would mean "iron city." Most likely the spelling is a reference to Isengard, the fortress of Saruman in the *Lord of the Rings* novels.
* Isenstadt is only mentioned twice in The New Order, once in B.J. Blazcowicz 1946 history card, and Caroline Becker's history card. The only details mentioned is that Caroline was born there. B.J. encountered Deathshead there, which lead to Caroline Becker being shot by Hans Grosse due to the actions of BJ's encounter with Deathshead. There is no reference to any of the supernatural aspects or the Black Sun material. The developers had said they didn't consider most of the game as part of the continuity.
* Maps on the walls in the Kreisau Circle safehouse in Midtown suggest Isenstadt is in the south of Germany, in either Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg.
* In *The New Order*, following the events of *Wolfenstein*, Blazkowicz would end up in an asylum for 14 years after a failed mission and the Nazis would go on to win the war and dominate the world. The city of Isenstadt's fate is unknown during that time. It may have been reoccupied or the Nazis destroyed the city as revenge for B.J's encounter with Deathshead.
* There is a real city named "Eisenstadt" located in Eastern Austria. It has a castle as well, though it looks nothing like the castle in the game. The game's castle appears to be based off of the Austrian castle in Salzburg.

## References

1. ↑ See monument in game, and map/documents images in game
2. ↑ http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/castle-wolfenstein-untitled-sequel/guide/page\_2.html
fr:Isenstadt

ru:Айзенштадт