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Altman Be Praised!

Michael Altman was a geophysicist and the central figure of the Church of Unitology, credited as the man who, in 2214, first revealed the proof of alien life to Mankind: the Black Marker.[1][2]

He is believed by the Church of Unitology to have been assassinated by the government to suppress the knowledge of the Marker.[3] The government, however, has maintained the story that Altman's death was accidental[4] and that he was no more than a hoaxer.[1]

Biography[]

At some point in his life, Altman became a geophysicist and moved to the Chicxulub crater with his girlfriend Ada, an anthropologist. He also had a varied ancestry, with his own mother being a Native American, while his father was of German descent. At the time of the Black Marker's discovery, Altman was in his early 40s, had dark hair that was graying on the sides of his temples, and had bluish green eyes.

Marker Discovery and Death[]

"When the Black Marker was first discovered on Earth so long ago, the government at the time hid all evidence of it from us. When our prophet Michael Altman spoke out against them, he was silenced."
—The leader of the Circle, Jacob Arthur Danik[3]
0220 ui proj marker 1

Footage of the Black Marker being pulled to the surface above the Chicxulub crater.

During his normal work at the Chicxulub crater, Altman had begun to suffer from regular nightmares and headaches for weeks before his initial finding. During a routine scan, he detected a strange gravitational anomaly in the heart of the crater that soon began to emit a powerful signal, and later managed to find video evidence of a failed attempt by DredgerCorp to access the source of the signal. Intrigued, Altman tried to blow the whistle on DredgerCorp's actions, against the will of Ada. He was promptly taken into custody by government officials working with DredgerCorp. Impressed with his skills in finding out about their operation, Altman was given a choice to help them find the signal, revealed to be coming from an artifact, or be killed to remain silent. He agreed with staying alive.

Unitology 010

A Unitologist mural depicting the Black Marker "speaking" to Michael Altman.

Altman was brought aboard a covert floating science station along with colleagues and Ada. Once the artifact, the Black Marker, was brought to the surface, it was speculated that its signal and technology held tremendous power and could be used as a source of limitless energy.[5][6] At the same time, Altman's ability to be in close proximity to the Marker - without the adverse side effects of turning violent - led the members of the research team who had been influenced by the Marker and had come to worship it as a deity to begin to hail Altman as an unwilling prophet, and as the one the artifact "spoke" to. Realizing the power of the Marker and with the belief that the government was planning on covering it up entirely, Altman escaped from the ocean facility and made an announcement about the Marker during a press conference in Washington, D.C., declaring that the artifact was the first proof of alien life, that it predated humanity, and that it needed to be studied by a coalition of scientists from all over the world.

Altman was soon recaptured, being brought back to the research facility, and bore witness to a sudden Necromorph outbreak that destroyed the facility and killed all of the staff. Altman managed to escape with the help of colleagues, all of whom were eventually killed by the creatures. Hoping to find the missing Ada and escape, Altman returned to the shores near Chicxulub but realised that there may be a way to stop the Marker. Fighting his way back inside the facility, he recorded the Marker's replication codes in an attempt to appease it, before sinking the entire facility to ensure that the artifact would not cause any more harm.

Unitology 011

Altman's death as later depicted in a Unitologist mural.

After his escape, Craig Markoff, a military man who had been overseeing the project, and Stevens, a psychologist who had been working alongside Altman, captured him and revealed that they were both believers in the Marker's divinity, although Altman briefly wondered if Markoff's faith was genuine or if he was simply pretending to believe as a way of bending others to his will. Meanwhile, Stevens revealed his belief that the Necromorphs were merely a "glitch" of the Black Marker, and not the true "eternal life" promised by the artifact; according to Stevens, the Marker's true plan would be revealed once a new Marker was found or once the Black Marker was successfully replicated as per its requests. Stevens declared that, as believing in the Marker's plan was a matter of the "salvation" of the entire human race, he needed a way to get the public to share this faith, using Altman's death and apparent martyrdom to found a new religion that would prepare humanity for the coming Convergence. Before the two men killed Altman, Markoff assured him that the Black Marker being sunk was merely a temporary setback, pointing out that it had been sunk before and that it would inevitably be brought up again.

Martyrdom and Legacy[]

"Altman's followers mourned his death but found divine solace in his message of unity. They would not allow the truth to be silenced and formed the Church of Unitology to bring his teachings to the world."
—Unitology History Log[2]
DSR Stevens Interview

An interview with Stevens about Altman's death.

After Altman's death, Stevens began to twist the truth about his fate, publicly declaring his martyrdom and using his reputation of having known Altman personally to lend credibility to his claims,[7] which fueled interest, civil unrest and demands for action. Revealing only Altman's data that would support his conclusion about the Marker's divinity, Stevens helped found the Church of Unitology to continue what he claimed to have been Altman's vision. Since then, Unitologists have worshipped the geophysicist as a martyr figure for their faith and interpreted the Black Marker to be a sign from God, supported by fragments of knowledge from Altman's notebooks that were seemingly provided by Stevens.[8]

Altman's body came into possession of the Church, and centuries later, it had been stored in one of the many stasis capsules that were sent into deep space aboard the massive ships of the Church's Mausoleum Fleet.[9]

Trivia[]

  • The Hebrew meaning of the name Michael is "Who is like God?". In Old German, Altman means "old man" or "wise man".
  • Both in name and appearance, Michael Altman bears a resemblance to the leader of Heaven's Gate, Marshall Applewhite.
  • The assassination of Altman on March 15 may be a reference to historical figure Gaius Julius Caesar, who was assassinated on the same date.
  • In the original Dead Space game log "Unitology Article," Michael Altman is said to have been an anthropologist, as opposed to a geophysicist as referred to later in Dead Space 2Dead Space (2023) corrects this by changing the text log to be in line with the updated lore.[1]
  • Michael Altman's discovery of the Black Marker and martyrdom is explored in the 2010 novel Dead Space: Martyr. It should be noted, however, that several key plot points and lore elements of this novel were abandoned after its release and were explicitly contradicted by newer established lore, leaving the book's canonicity ambiguous.[10] As a result of the various lore issues presented by Martyr, this article uses a broad overview of the book's events combined with the canon information about Altman found in the games.
    • B.K. Evenson, author of Martyr, wrote a book in the '90s titled Altmann's Tongue.

Gallery[]

Sources[]

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