Year Zero Glossary

Listings of words important in the understanding of the world of Year Zero.

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105th Airborne Crusaders

A military unit formed in the fictional world of Year Zero. The unit seems to have formed after the bio-terrorism attack in Los Angeles that is described in the Hollywood in Memoriam website. Members of the unit seem to all share a deep belief in Christianity, and use their faith as motivation in the war.

1 (216) 333-1810

A telephone number from the Year Zero promotion. When the number is called, it plays back an audio recording of case number 71839j from U.S. Wiretap website. The recording is of a female who gets trapped in a nightclub when a person infected with Red Horse comes in.

1 (310) 295-1040

A telephone number from the Year Zero promotion. Upon calling the number, a recording is played of a newsreader, a man making comments on the events explained by the newsreader, and a clip of "Survivalism."

1 (866) 445-6580

A telephone number from the Year Zero promotion. This phone number is found on a sticker on the back of the Year Zero album. The number leads to a recording from the US Bureau of Morality telling the caller that by purchasing the album, they have been flagged as Anti-American.

24.x.y

A numbering system found with Year Zero promotional items. See Numbers article for specific information.

A

AIR

Abbreviation for Art Is Resistance.

Angry Sniper

A fictional character from the world of Year Zero. A predominant character, he's featured in the BallgameOver.mp3 as well as on the Consolidated Mail Systems website. He also appears to be the one running the Be the Hammer site.

Another Version of the Truth

• Song: The fourteenth track off of Year Zero. A remix by the Kronos Quartet and Enrique Gonzalez Müller is featured on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.
• Website: Fictional website created for the story of Year Zero. On first glance, the website appears to be nothing more than a large graphic, with a simple, patriotic, (if somewhat propagandistic) American message, and it is labeled at the bottom as coming from the US Bureau of Morality. Upon more digging, a message board is revealed in which citizens are discussing many things about society, mostly involving resistance to the oppressive authority in place.

Art Is Resistance

Website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. Like the name, the site suggests resistance via artistic means, rather than violence.

B

BallgameOver.mp3

A recording from the fictional world of Year Zero. It is about a man (presumed to be Angry_Sniper) who sets off bombs of Silver Nitrate in Wrigley Field, and shoots and kills someone.

Baseball in February

In BallgameOver.mp3, the character mentions that the baseball game is in February. This has significance because currently, professional baseball games are usually not held in that month.

Be The Hammer

Website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The site seems to be created by a former soldier, and suggests violence as means of resistance against the government.

Beginning of The End, The

The second track off of Year Zero. A remix by Ladytron appears on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Blue pills

A type of medication given to soldiers in the fictional world of Year Zero. These pills are said to help re-introduce the aggression that is killed by Parepin. Unlike Red pills, which are given only to "special" soldiers, these pills are given to all soldiers.

Brian Tsunoda

Website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website seems to be an early research paper abstract about the The Presence. The paper appears to have three authors, one who's name is Brian Tsunoda.

C

Capital G

• Release: A single released from the Year Zero album.
• Song: The seventh track off of Year Zero. A remix of it exists on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Cedocore

Website created for the fictional world of Year Zero.

Church of Plano

Website created for the fictional world of Year Zero.

Consolidated Mail Systems

Website created for the fictional world of Year Zero.

Copper

In the fictional world of Year Zero, Copper is used in the vaccine to prevent infection by the Red Horse virus.

E

Elliot R Carraig

A character from the fictional world of Year Zero. Elliot is first mentioned on the Exterminal website as a member of a resistance group called, The Spiders.

Exhibit 24

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website is dossier of evidence against a classified individual, who is speculated to be Trent Reznor. In addition, the site lists usernames of members from both The Spiral and Echoing The Sound as a part of The Resistance Network.

exhibitA.wav

exhibitA.wav is an inverted version of "Capital G" found in the Year Zero-related website Exterminal. When combined with the original "Capital G", it produces an [audio clip] leading to the Mailstrom wreckage pain.

Exterminal

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. It is a database of the inmates in Extrajudiciary Federal Detainment Camp in Guam. Included are many references to the actions various individuals and groups, providing a broader understanding of how people are fighting for their freedoms in Year Zero.

F

Free Rebel Art

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website is akin to the Art Is Resistance website in that it preaches non-violent resistance. However, further research of the website reveals more.

G

God Given

The tenth track off of Year Zero. A remix of it can be found on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Good Soldier, The

The fourth track from Year Zero. A version of this song appears on the vinyl edition of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Grace The Teacher

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website features the journal of the fictional character, Jeremiah Snow.

Great Destroyer, The

The thirteenth track from Year Zero. A version of this song appears on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Greater Good, The

The twelfth track from Year Zero. An instrumental version of this song appears on Survivalism.

H

Hollywood in Memoriam

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website is a memorial for the victims of what appears to be a terrorist attack on the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Hour of Arrival

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. This website is a letter from a fictional character by the name of Doug to his unborn child.

Hyperpower!

The first track off of Year Zero. A version of this track with added lyrics by Saul Williams and slight changes to the music can be found on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

I

I Am Trying To Believe

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The content of the website centers around a (fictional) drug called Parepin.

In This Twilight

• Song: The fifteenth track off of Year Zero. This track was originally "leaked" via a thumb drive as part of the Year Zero experience. A remix of it can be found on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.
• Bootleg: A fan-compiled bootleg of one recording of every song that NIN had played live from 2005 to 2007. The bootleg consists of what was felt was the "best" performace of each track mixed together to sound like one concert.

J

John Ferminger

A fictional character from the world of Year Zero. Mentioned in the website The Water Turned To Blood, John later took on the name of "John of Boston" after being in a traffic accident when water turned to blood under the bridge he was traveling on.

Judson Ogram Correctional Facility

A correctional facility from the fictional world of Year Zero. This place is mentioned in from the website The Water Turned To Blood and is where "John of Boston" is being kept.

M

The Mailstrom

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The Mailstrom is a server-hopping program designed to catch emails as they are transmitted to the Consolidated Mail Systems, a government controlled central e-mail server for all e-mail content on the Internet. This helps provide insight into the lives of people living in world of Year Zero.

Me, I'm Not

The sixth track off of Year Zero. This track was originally "leaked" for the promotion of Year Zero. A remix of it exists on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Meet Your Master

The eleventh track off of Year Zero. A remix of it exists on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Mining For Life

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website is for the fictional company of Anglo-Johnson Ltd., which seems to operate not only mining for platinum in South Africa, but also encourages organ and skin donation.

My Violent Heart

The eighth track off of Year Zero. This track was originally "leaked" as part of the Year Zero promotion. The "leaked" version had the ending, which when played through a linear spectrometer, revealed The Presence. On the Year Zero album, however, that ending is on the track, "The Warning". A remix of it exists on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

N

Neil Czerno

Founder of Open Source Resistance, Neil is a nonviolent activist and an important person in the world of Year Zero.

Nerochip

An item from the fictional world of Year Zero. This item is a tiny red device, initially implanted in the right wrist of all convicts of violent crimes, which traces the whereabouts of the person who carries it.

Nohurry.mp3

An audio track file from the fictional world of Year Zero. The file was found on the Another Version of The Truth website. It is about a son of an Imam who is killed by a SWAT team looking for a Muslim extremist.

Nottingham flyer

At the Nottingham concert, fliers were found which at first seemed to contain hidden text possibly relating to the world of Year Zero.

O

One Country At A Time

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website jumps between the narrative of teenager and a comic strip of soldiers in Syria.

Opal

A substance from the fictional world of Year Zero. Due to global warming, the coca leaves used to make cocaine rot too quickly to use. Opal has taken the place of the dwindling cocaine supply.

Opalescent Haze

A website that appeared a few days prior to the release of Year Zero. The site was originally thought to be one of the Year Zero websites, but was quickly revealed to be a fake.

Opalo.mp3

One of the files found on the Another Version Of The Truth website. It is an audio file with a short report about the DEA battle with a Columbian drug cartel.

Open Source Resistance

A website created as part of the Year Zero experience, but not set in the fiction world of Year Zero. The website encourages people to submit works that will help awareness of the issues which could lead to a world like that in Year Zero.

Operation Chip Sweep

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website seems to be a part of some kind of news organization, and talks about the Nerochip in Great Briton.

Operation Swamp 0000

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. This site appears to have been constructed by one of the "chip-pullers" mentioned on Operation Chip Sweep. It contains detailed instructions, complete with photographs, on safe removal of a nerochip from one's own body.

OSR

Short for Open Source Resistance.

P

Parepin

A drug from the fictional world of Year Zero. This drug is put into the water supply in the United States to help combat biological terrorism. Although, opponents of the drug claim that its use is to change serotonin and dopamine levels to keep the population sedated and easy to manipulate.

Philomela

A character from the fictional world of Year Zero. She is a member of the Another Version Of The Truth Forums. She claims to be partially responsible for the death of a local man that was reported in the papers.

Pilgrims

A group from the fictional world of Year Zero. The goal of the group is to send information back in time to the year 2007 in order to stop the world of Year Zero from happening.

R

Red Horse

A virus in the fictional world of Year Zero. Victims of this virus are prone to homicidal psychosis and massive hemorrhaging from lachrymal ducts, ears anus, and urethra. The virus is highly contagious and may spread via airborne means. The mortality rate is 100% within 48 hours. See Redhorsevector.net for more details.

Red Horse Vector

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. This website talks about the Red Horse virus, an Ebola like virus which is less likely to fail due to climate conditions. There's information on symptoms, development, and also the development of a vaccine. It's also revealed through a video that this was the virus used to kill Jed Mather, the American diplomat, in Algeria.

Red pills

The nickname given to a type of drug in the fictional world of Year Zero. The pills are suppose to be given to soldiers to to reintroduce the aggression killed by Parepin.

S

SBI

Acronym for Secure Broadcast Informatics.

Secure Broadcast Informatics

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The site appears to be for a communications company. But, there seems to be some peices of a puzzle scattered around the main site. Once the puzzle is put together, a password may be entered.

Shards

See Wreckages.

Shatter36

The username of a character from the fictional world of Year Zero. The name appears Another Version of The Truth forums.

Solutions Backwards Initiative

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. This website is linked to the Secure Broadcast Informatics website, and seems to have been created by a group of individuals called, Pilgrims.

Star Chamber

According to U.S. Wiretap, Star Chamber was an underground club that participated in anti-government activity which suffered an attack from the Red Horse virus.

Survivalism

• Release: Also known as Halo 23. This is a single released to promote Year Zero.
• Song: The third track off of Year Zero. This was one of the tracks "leaked" as part of the Year Zero promotion. Versions of this track can be found on Survivalism and Capital G.

T

Travis Woodgate

A character from the fictional world of Year Zero. Travis is first mentioned on the Exterminal website as a member of a resistance group called, The Spiders.

U

U.S. Wiretap

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website contains the case number 71839j, which is the transcript of an agent from the US Bureau of Morality interviewing a police officer about the incident at the Star Chamber.

U.S. Bureau of Morality

A government agency created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The agency seems to be the most powerful force in the United States, overseeing everything from media to family planning.

V

Vessel

The fifth track off of Year Zero. A remix of it exists on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Viability Index

A website created for the fictional world of Year Zero. The website is a real estate guide. Showing cities affected by the "climate change," this site offers advice on how to sell your property in that area or whether or not to invest there.

W

Warning, The

The ninth track from Year Zero. A version of this song appears on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D. Another track with the same name was mentioned on the PDF poster for With Teeth, but it is most likely a different composition.

Wreckages

Information given out in Year Zero promotional items that are used with the website The Mailstrom. Each one of these items opens a different part of the website that allows a look into the world of Year Zero.

Y

Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D

Also known as Halo 25. It is the remix album to accompany Year Zero, and was the first NIN release to come with a disc of multitracks for lsiteners to remix the album by themselves. This was also Trent Reznor's last release as a signed artist.

Year Zero

Also known as Halo 24. Best known as NIN's first concept album, and the extraordinary promotional campaign behind the album's concept.

Yearzero.nin.com

The official subsection of the nin.com website pertaining to Year Zero.

YZ

Acronym for Year Zero.

YZR

Acronym for Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

Z

Zero-Sum

The sixteenth track off of Year Zero. A remix of it exists on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.