Good afternoon Agents and Investigators. My name is Mustafa Said and welcome to another special edition of Niantic History.
I received a rare opportunity to conduct an interview with the London Enlightened Agents at the center of a whirlwind of secrets that unfolded during the previous summer Anomalies of #TimeZero and #SaveKlue: Richard Walden, Sam Albuquerque, Dom Armstrong, Chris Whittleston and Gonçalo Margalho.
: OK, so let’s go back to the beginning at #TimeZero: how did you get your hands on the package?
: I was the first one to approach the Niantic team on site at Greenwich Park.
: So Campbell told you to bid off to the Corps? WOW
: While me and the gang had a few beverages, me and Dom decided to troll to see how important the doc was. Yes Mustafa: She wanted me to sell the package.
A) get Niantic attention
B) judge how valuable it was
C) stall for the edit to be finished
I even created a fake event and sent some people to look in the pub for the package. Then when the edit was done I Dom released it and I shared to g+, Quickly the ingress account called us out so I deleted their comments as fast as they made them. They then just clapped and knew we was pro. Especially when people started noticing code.
As soon as the first video was released we knew we needed a line.
So we got Sam to try fill us in on the story etc:
After that, we started working on the next document and video. And we started putting the pieces together.We thought being Scottish and the London event not actually having any of the lore characters at it for everyone to meet, we could get her to London.
We had hacked like mad in Canterbury before TimeZero. Then virus arrived and the 1000+ L8 xmp were pointless.
Then we released the second video. It was a video selfie in my back garden. At the time I think we learnt so much, We really put the Google tools to good use. I think it enlightened us all a bit more, we learnt so much about the true meaning of enlightenment:
We’d written loads of quotes from members of the Scottish enlightened and it was all pointing originally to a portal. A statue of some Scottish guy that situated in London. Anyone remember?
How so? I remember reading them thoroughly and all I can recall was that they just kept asking for Glyphs. Hulong was going to go ENL if you surrendered them
But in what way did they start to get more..aggressive in their demands?
(Most of the codes in that are probably dead but if not, have fun!-Mustafa)
Dinghy Dock Restaurant (Puerto Rico) 18.302170,-65.299582 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=18302170&lngE6=-65299582&z=18
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/I21nRHOlEa-zV6xx8pVW8UJYuk6VfFnpJZqppHewPHeDZUTLF3E1ySiE7vrqxjhZUjK1HzSMbCM
Lo:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_Bf9UoZSKSbqumtQDV9sPxt1CxbwNEiToTl8EI0uNhxbdReqgs2TlYiLmAVPt6OqMafI-dosfuq60Po
Angel Cemebterio Tibas(Cost Rica) 9.961735,-84.088614 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=9961735&lngE6=-84088614&z=17
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/FdUD88m-ruOMLIbwGcwKewMz-4rHdqfiYt0PfnfKWOaKzVASTReT0WDCYVdJywMsft3z-Laz3E8
Lo:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/MGvOjgQoYnXa3hv0kCw9gBuAUBwMXY0miIzcTztHTQJGVEMxa3aK8wvtmQm-zEUOYYeo0m_FdEa0nhw
Nicolae Titulescu(Romania) 45.645899,25.593818 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=45645899&lngE6=25593818&z=16
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CCMPtTtcq3emOnFB_MI4Yh0GePIBgIEc1Pl6HBLFNcd2ME6CsVe-iNp8Wd8Nr_vIRDD86gL5Mzk
Lo:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AlK70TCxX3ZC8-xSlrhov4VI5TSL9z71K7ZbwXIKjZ6QD3yJiNqpY5iIIIF1hT6CFZJU8QuNBUMY2II
Iglesia de Conkal (Mexico) 21.074667,-89.520181 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=21074667&lngE6=-89520181&z=17
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/gnGAOw1ie2ATlrG96xySTyWi2DiZJZIr66eaqI3ysk6l4x-Cn0iMbSsnmpzzt_AB7kX9wCUxtTc
Lo:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/XoXYrteIy059CjjrOB_qKJRblK7Uq7nSZltsGYtWpN4NY_fB2ef5FtOBLw07PmGpSvnmXVO8L50xTYQ
Escultura Centro Civico (Argentina) -33.121706,-64.334153 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=-33121706&lngE6=-64334153&z=18
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/btcRJdwn2Ju0BoDJK2OLD9IvE8WUU4XUyIcw0yK7Y4Y3MC2hCiFyoUKELFbrw_gadeR3mx3XF9lqYck
Lo:https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ctoFXuV684shthIahBEGQ_ow7jxSX9ftLE_9S87hXUAER5sCwPxyz2NmiOCs7eKFjGT7TxRiOMAkUCY
Little Free Library (Russia) 53.208439,50.136097 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=53208439&lngE6=50136097&z=17
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IqTspJZksNfPMEB1wK7JyPxwNxMgL3gXNSop6IQnG8Nd-jjNUIf8vJ3KYa2GZGoFuRw4mKHUMtA
Bihuroaz Kamana Mosque (Maldives) 4.175963,73.510601 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=4175963.0000000005&lngE6=73510601&z=18
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/AHOXmsGsuarH_xQu9L72n-INIcNsFLvS1FL0k3f9HqRYn6Ucjy6AeNthpCS2kgl_MWTA1qfUSRQ
Estátua garcia de orta (Portugal) 41.161633,-8.664824 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=41161633&lngE6=-8664824&z=17
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/G3pRhPXUewtwFxSbtn4cL5h2j9uWIuKVfrF5P5qysD_ybAI9hEIMCJCN4k6nI5PbWjwlBIwacX8
New Albuquerque (USA) 35.090461,-106.679512 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=35090461&lngE6=-106679512&z=17
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/hHsS5954sNNHykRCHkSev3NPfH6eBrMghQptnpGea12VKM2LmOOckX2DfDsW1tPqK4W4QqC-jY0
Travelling Palm(UAE) 25.057251,55.273601 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=25057251&lngE6=55273601&z=17
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/2rxBoeVGQOqlMQ1TMWe48ChiVz0kNz0Lqc_bMkBHqFTjsZr0Z3zop17mcw9MudXApKf0_w34jNE
O Cristo Redentor, Corcovado, (Brasil) -22.951591,-43.210848
http://www.ingress.com/intel?ll=-22.951591,-43.210848&z=17&pll=-22.951591,-43.210848
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/TTuZMWDky6f9LiaRV0hDvJ69GGiNi32DXgRvsmApv6dJuYN_P_H5ZWpPxvmXe7WnxnSsuxRJwOQ
NGK Church, Worcester (South Africa) -33.620533,19.453380 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=-33620533&lngE6=19453380&z=17
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Plsban9lgyo-UEs1WAM0ZMnpnNTjw6KE9OsR1mhpApbmqsv-wybYA0SAWq5_xMFm86sth2sOS3k
Ingresso Sinagoga (Italy) 41.890272,12.478822 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=41890272&lngE6=12478822&z=17
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/zsilqN5g6IPaqnb65gC9cAjVTDfpuw2cvIZ8Z4EqDY-G5MGBbn8h0z6Fo4R6yle2yqLJViIS-hU
Saraswathi Temple, Osmania University (India) 17.418156,78.525519
http://www.ingress.com/intel?ll=17.418156,78.525519&z=17&pll=17.418156,78.525519
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uDc1Ee-ekeMEM24ZCT1V0dK9s4_OWavS5TWW-_ZoMrmYm1bppzvieIki0fyFN4LgEDwdy8iIYOg
Agena Lion’s Club Memorial(Japan) 26.380295,127.851287 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=26380295&lngE6=127851287&z=17
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6w9x1dysfRJUrFxdWdKBFi6BXComQ3JoDNCpGWhuog5UT7aZq44oez-uaw3II8WkgQcp3nOVAmk
The Little Mermaid Sculture (Philipines) 7.041331,125.584543 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=7041331&lngE6=125584543&z=18
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ydIiu6s1ebHBUoA0uyek3x9LSHoVpdME7w3x2WWc_BHmwkmrR8BzFNFv5uewElKunWSKJBjySQg
Robert the Bruce(Canada) 51.061515,-114.092858 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=51061515&lngE6=-114092858&z=17
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WB4ZiUdQ0Poe7MyXwjItvKNGPSkFNVgwkRYIgvkES3iEkC4aMWZdpfcAaonbH6gsrlj7ONlAgF4
Oamaru Steampunk (New Zealand) -45.058611,171.003055 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=-45058611&lngE6=171003055&z=17
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/UyztffQryM6QW_Bfq8v5w6F9ijflHCXYdUU3KmYXxHyPZlGcrcdf9t-EDQGQv_ycy_ZT-w4n9DY
Life Saved (United Kingdom) 52.374538,-1.265341 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=52374538&lngE6=-1265341&z=17
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/BV_UNb5MPOQAQcwtsOzP5Wr9T7ltbIZ4lM649S_TIWIT2nutlFopps93ERSa905_6VTdwFCY8-k
Leipzig Statue 4 (Germany) 51.341880,12.381241 http://www.ingress.com/intel?latE6=51341880&lngE6=12381241&z=17
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/9Jq1OwpdiZiOHX31ClXLoWc8RVFFbw1HKv50WbNtj3uPMkQdz8tMcm6Gl1AOYkeGu1kNlu7yuD4
(For Sam’s full thoughts on the Glyph Hunt, its formation and more, please check out this post: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+SamAlbuquerque/posts/LrgztboRBzG)
Okay, second one: You guys are really the only players that have done something like this. Ever since your adventure, Niantic has kept the story close to their chest and rarely lets it fall into players’ hands. Do you believe that Niantic should allow players more interaction with the story beyond Anomalies?
Although it started with a lot of trolling and inside-jokes – the original hangout we set up was called “Troll Niantic” – we soon realized that we *were* able to play ball with the writers at Niantic and that they were taking us seriously. At that point, we started to take things a lot more seriously too, and ended up with an enormous appreciation for the complexity of the story line and the work that the ARG writers go into.
And so, in conclusion, what are we supposed to take from this? At the end of it all there are two things I’d like to share with you all to close out my thoughts:
It was all for fun. Just to enjoy an interesting idea and have a blast doing it. But it was also a huge responsibility and came with its own little struggles:
But despite all that, these guys had done all of this with a laugh:
At the end of it all, everything that had happened, all the drama and all the secrecy-it was all started from a simple idea to have a blast and enjoy the ride. And that is what changed the world of Ingress on June 30th, when the Enlightened managed to win the Anomaly and obtain Klue’s alignment.
Thank you all for being here during this special edition of Niantic History. Until Next Time!
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