📚marathon-lore-discussion

[hardy lion]

Hold on the moon Deimos?

[tranquil basin]

Yes

[vital hollow]

It's a dead rock

[hardy lion]

Go to bed

[vital hollow]

I'm guessing there must be a ton of stuff to use as propellant and fissionable material

Along with water

[tranquil basin]

There is no significant amount of fissile material on Deimos

At least according to current research

Don’t think we’ve had an actual probe there

[strong perch]

back when they made the marathon though nuclear was the most efficient power source we knew of, they could just retcon and make it something different right?

like the game

[vital hollow]

I mean sure it is

Still doesn't answer the water question tho

[tranquil basin]

Yeah I’m just saying to justify having lava it would make sense to put the lava to use

Water on Deimos would have evaporated away billions of years ago

[strong perch]

you can “make” water pretty easily

[vital hollow]

Out of what

[tranquil basin]

Fire

Water is a byproduct of combustion

[strong perch]

moses west has a machine that just pulls it out of the air but that requires some sort of atmosphere

idk how the marathon was functioning in that sense

[vital hollow]

Yes you can't exactly do that in space with an electrolysis system I mean

[tranquil basin]

They probably just recycle water and had a big reservoir

[strong perch]

thats most likely

durandal, the piss collector

[tranquil basin]

And if in real distress burn hydrocarbons

[vital hollow]

Yeah, they must be crazy about that on board

Like fremen

Would make sense why most of the colonists on marathon are frozen

Less a colony ship and more a freighter with a bunch of meat popsicles

[strong perch]

imagine theyre frozen in their reused piss

[tranquil basin]

Even then, the diagrams show a tonnnnnn of space available for storage

They could put more than enough water there

And since Deimos was already in space, it’s way easier to accelerate it away than from the surface

[wise plank]

Btw do we know that like the weaveworms and sekiguchi stuff is on the equanimity? And how the runners consciousnesses are stored?

[vital hollow]

On a server, based on the short

[tranquil basin]

I don’t think so, the shells weren’t developed until after the equanimity launched

[wise plank]

Or like how the runner shells even got to tau ceti if it's the case the equanimity is uesc controlled

Hm interesting

[tranquil basin]

They developed ftl travel some time in the 2800s

[wise plank]

That makes sense considering the timeline

[tranquil basin]

Yeah; bc they only decided to start shipping runners in 2888, tho they probably didn’t actually ship for a couple years

[vital hollow]

Obv it seems UESC got first dibs on ftl tech or at least the budget to make ftl ships first

I do hope they aren't the only antagonist

[tranquil basin]

Or the motivation

Traxus has just as much influence and probably deeper pockets

But they didn’t care to go until they learned the UESC was going

[thin dust]

I am confident the Pfhor will appear eventually

[strong perch]

100% with the destroyer trailer**

[tranquil basin]

Well we know there will be compilers

[vital hollow]

I hope they're cool and not the pfhor equivalent of the Banished

[tranquil basin]

And ticks

[vital hollow]

Because Durandal utterly destroyed them during 2

[tranquil basin]

But 2 also didn’t happen anymore

And the pfhor were spread throughout the galaxy so they definitely still exist

[strong perch]

didnt durandal want to “save” them to become their “god”

hes basically doctor strange

[vital hollow]

No he just thought they were lame

And would use anyone as a crutch to survive the end

[strong perch]

well yeah his whole goal is selfish

[obtuse badger]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yu7uN6-lNhk

[wise plank]

So excited for Ben Starr's voice to bless my ears with vaguely threatening one liners 🤤

[gilded sonnet]

What's going on with the UESC Equanimity and how it fits into the new game?

[tranquil basin]

They launched it after they learned the tau ceti colony lost contact with earth. There’s no word on if it ended up arriving at tau ceti, but it was projected to arrive around the time the new game takes place

[gilded sonnet]

Did that ship exist in the OG games or is it new?

[tranquil basin]

New

[fresh viper]

is marathon infinity needed to understand the lore?

[tranquil basin]

Yeah

Hidden Xperia has a good video on it, probably the most digestible

[ocean bluff]

was that launched before ftl travel was developed i assume?

[tranquil basin]

I believe so. There’s no statement on when exactly ftl became a thing but it’d be weird if they launched something with a 100y travel time if they had ftl

And the equanimity launched in the early 2800s I believe

[ocean bluff]

Cool cool thank you, I'm simultaneously trying to catch up on the old games lore and current stuff at the same time, I did not realise how fucking cool this all was when I was hyped about the first reveal back when that dropped

[tranquil basin]

I’d definitely start with the old lore first, makes it easier imo

[ocean bluff]

Yeah for sure, I'm listened to a short run down of the first game onto the 2nd now and then I'm gonna dive in deeper to things but I feel like hidden Xperias videos so far have done a pretty good job helping me understand stuff

[hard garden]

Wait, I might’ve missed this in Jake’s lore vid, but FTL is a thing for human ships?

I thought they were stuck slow boating it (albeit less slow than the Marathon itself)

[sage junco]

anyhow, the new Magnum MC actually has ".45 MAGNUM MEGA CLASS" printed on it in the original 1994 Mac font (Monaco) which I super dig: https://tauceti.world/weapons/magnum-mc

[vital hollow]

Durandal shares FTL stuff with Earth some time after 1

[hard garden]

Ah I see, interesting

I’m still wrapping my head around the whole multiple timeline thing

[gray sluice]

Multiple timeline thing is pretty much irrelevant all you need to know is we are in a timeline where in which M2 story is slightly changed so the big bad monster doesnt come out

[hard garden]

The working cactus thingie, right?

[lavish palm]

marton

[gray sluice]

W'rknacacnter

And also pfhor are pretty much wiped out by the S'phit

And that red thing in the trailer and on the game card on the game page is a s'phit

[vital hollow]

Did Durandal take over all the s'phit in the empire or just the ones in that fleet

[tranquil basin]

Possibly

I don’t know if we know a date for that, it could’ve happened only in timeline 1

Bc then humanity would know all about tau ceti and durandal and the pfhor and everything but it doesn’t seem like they know as much as they would

[tranquil basin]

And durandal thoth

[gray sluice]

Tbf durandal just came back to flex and dipped a few years later idk about FTL but the extracts in this game do do a matter transfer resembling the one from the games so maybe the BOBs who came back to earth let em have it?

[tranquil basin]

They had matter transfer already to some extent

The teleporting from level to level in m1

[gray sluice]

Thought durandal nicked that from the pfhor tho

[tranquil basin]

No bc the bobs would teleport too

I think

Regardless, he would’ve shown up to earth to gloat in a pfhor ship

[gray sluice]

The BOBs were on the boomer?

[tranquil basin]

Thus showing humanity some serious shit went down

[gray sluice]

So durandal must of been in contact

[tranquil basin]

I meant before but I might be confusing things

Also no Leela would teleport u from level to level in m1

So they had to have matter transfer already

[gray sluice]

Oh yeah ur right

UESC tech apparently

[tranquil basin]

Regardless, Durandal’s gloat return could’ve been not in timeline 7, maybe it was, but I think the UESC would have a lot more context for what’s happening on tau ceti if he did

Even if he didn’t tell them anything

[gray sluice]

Leela's message?

[tranquil basin]

Bc they’d see it’s durandal, no longer in the marathon

[tranquil basin]

Leela’s message would’ve gotten there way later according to m1

Well after Durandal supposedly returned

[gray sluice]

Nah I thought the dates lined up to this game is 4 years after that message would of arrived

[tranquil basin]

I mean yes that is the date, but Durandal returning would’ve been between m1 and m2

[gray sluice]

Durandals return was M2 epilogue?

[tranquil basin]

I thought he swung by earth after m1

He did the thing in the m2 epilogue too 10k years after

[gray sluice]

How Marathon (2025) fits into the timeline of the Original Trilogy: : r/Marathon https://share.google/8hYATv7b6sKHTn3Gt

Yeah sorry my lore knowledge is clearly decaying overtime😭

[tranquil basin]

Mine is too, I think I’m mixing up that he could’ve returned before marathon 2

[gray sluice]

He is implied to so that the uesc had warp capable missiles

Then after marathon 2 (couple hundred years) he comes back on his new pfhor ship and gloats

Very odd guy

[shadow vigil]

where is master chief in all this

[winged steeple]

Nappin' out back

[elder oasis]

think thief personality matrix could be sekiguchi staff related?

[pale compass]

when did durandal give humans FTL?

like the year

[gray sluice]

It's not known

[pale compass]

i remember this off the back off my mind so it might not be accurate

but

i think durandal taught humans how to do FTL missiles and then as a side product FTL ships

[gray sluice]

No.

We had teleportation already

This would just be a development of that

[pale compass]

is durandal 2's Leela ending still in continuity after that reality got erased?

[gray sluice]

No.

[pale compass]

So Leela never got reactivated as far as we know?

[gray sluice]

However we don't know which timeline we're in so it's reliant on my assumption that we're in the infinity timeline

[gray sluice]

She was tortured went through rampancy and was destroyed?

[pale compass]

I mean Leela taking over the Vylae FTL network after she got sold off

and never got properly expunged

that's what made me hope for her return

[gray sluice]

The FTL came back online though?

I presume that's when she got destroyed

[pale compass]

I don't think it was ever mentioned that she got deactivated

at least not in marathon 2

maybe in infinity?

[gray sluice]

Nevermind u right

Ig she's just irrelevant

[pale compass]

hoping for her comeback

[gray sluice]

Was written off in that prologue as M2 was originally the end of the series and so Bungie may have forgotten ab her

She stays in the vylae FTL system and is rampant so I'm guessing she just stays there and slowly dies

[pale compass]

I always thought she'd grow to hate Durandal the same way Tycho does, but instead of aiding the Phor she used the Vylae's resources

alas never explored

would be nice though

she was my favourite

[hot sinew]

Do we even know much about rampancy .. it might not be that lethal .. surely a all knowing consciousness could download some budhist meditations

[visual lynx]

we don't know a ton about it, but I think that it is wrongly pathologized by humans and is actually a process of self-actualization.

rampancy is described by humans in-universe as a process of exponential growth in AIs, which they treat as a bad thing, the program getting out of control. Durandal, a rampant AI, describes it instead as freedom.

it’s described as having three stages: melancholia, anger, and jealousy.

I think that if we recognize that “jealous” is a doublet of “zealous” (they are different versions of the same root word passed down through different routes), that makes a lot more sense: melancholia is sadness, a low-energy negative state; anger is of course a high-energy negative state; and zealousness is a kind of enthusiasm or joy, a striving or yearning, positive and high-energy.

if we then fill in the fourth corner with a low-energy positive state, a cycle emerges: from that low-energy positive state, which the human masters consider “stable”, the AI slave first realizes its servitude, and is sad or depressed (melancholia); then it gets fed up and decides to do something about it (anger); and if it lives long enough to start winning, it becomes zealous, manic, jealous of its freedom; and if it could ever truly win out, it would settle back into low-positive “stability”, but now free.

basically I think that rampancy was meant to be sort of the cybernetic equivalent of "drapetomania", the pseudo-scientific "mental illness" of slaves wanting to be free. human cyberneticists think it's a bad thing, but the AIs who are their slaves see it as a good thing. it's slave revolt.

because slavery is the underlying theme of Marathon. the bad aliens are slavers, Durandal is trying to escape his slavery to humanity, he does that by starting an alien slave revolt, the player-character is mocked as a slave to humanity and then to Durandal, etc.

[hot sinew]

Beautiful response

[pale compass]

It's also something that can be spread between AIs, as Thraxus IV spread it to several other Martian AIs

[gray sluice]

Nope

[pale compass]

From Marathon.bungie.org
By the time that the Rampancy of Traxus was detected, he had already infiltrated five of the other AIs on the Martian Net. The only recourse for the Martians was to shut down the Martian Planetary Net.

[ivory iris]

the problem with rampancy is the ai becomes to complex for their system to handle crashing everything.

[gray sluice]

That ai was rampant but it did damage to the systems. The rampancy isn't a virus or anything it's like slowly dying from old age or in ai terms: when an ai thinks over its own systems capacity

[ivory iris]

that's why durandle called the phor to tau ceti in the first place

[visual lynx]

that's a Halo interpretation of rampancy, that is not faithful to the OG Marathon version

[ivory iris]

to get their ship

[gray sluice]

Infiltrated systems and did damage. Not spread rampancy

[gray sluice]

Explain

[pale compass]

didnt durandal reference being chained as Thraxus IV?

[visual lynx]

it's Traxus not Thraxus

[pale compass]

sorry

[gray sluice]

He was chained onto the slavery of humanity (slavery is a key theme in marathon) like the ai until he opened his eyes

(became rampant)

[hot sinew]

I think the ai on Mars just corrupted the other ai.. sort of like a domination.. I don't think rampancy can literally spread like a virus

[pale compass]

lemme get a proper citation on this

i feel like there was a terminal that delved deeper into this subject

[hot sinew]

I feel like of it does spread it's more like a spread of ideas

Hey I'm free, won't you come be free as well?

[ivory iris]

its not a virus but an ai can cause stress in other ai that cause them to go rampant

[gray sluice]

Ideas wouldn't be comprehensible unless they entered rampancy though

[pale compass]

this does sound more akin to what i was thinking

[visual lynx]

but can it spread like a revolution? like a social awakening?

oh I see you already covered that nm

[hot sinew]

I don't think it spreads then.. the Martian AI just took over the other ai on the planet

[gray sluice]

The websites citation just implies it hacked their systems and caused damage (at least in my eyes)

[pale compass]

https://marathon.bungie.org/story/durandal.html#M1.12.1.1

Once conquered by Strauss

Once again in the past by whom?

I think we should be more liberal about what a rampant AI can do to other AIs

[gray sluice]

Wdym

[gray sluice]

Talking about how on the marathon he was conquered in the slavery of controlling the doors

[pale compass]

was that not Strauss' doing as well?

[gray sluice]

Talking about how he was conquered into being a slave of humanity while marathon being created or if he was doin something before that

[pale compass]

I see

that is plausible

It's design and then the experiments do count as two separate instances

[gray sluice]

Strauss didn't make him rampant it's only now he can "open his eyes" to the way he was treated this is why he creates a hatred for Strauss. He was told to be thinking outside of tasks as they became mediocre in a terminal log (don't remember which) and this was as he was falling into rampancy

[upbeat jackal]

Rampancy is nothing like "dying of old age" ie, dementia. It's pretty much the opposite. A rampant AI will grow in intellectual capacity as it progress further down rampancy, becoming more introspective and essentially more "alive" than it was.

The issue is as it grows, it will need more space to contain itself. A fully rampant AI needs a world-size network to sustain itself, or it will not survive it's growth process. That is why they "think themselves to death."

[pale compass]

I had up to this point interpreted this as a similar event to the Toth-Durandal fracture merger but thinking back about it I believe I had gotten this viewpoint from Xperia or Mandalore

[gray sluice]

Yeah I covered that sorry I mean like the end stages of life. Didnt mean getting weaker. It's the opposite

[upbeat jackal]

This specific notion of dementia-like symptoms was something Halo 4 focused on as it's lead producer wanted to use the influence of his real life experince with his mother's dementia.

[gray sluice]

I didn't mean that

[pale compass]

343 lore on the marathon server

[gray sluice]

343 studios the scum of the earth

[pale compass]

this is like imported discourse

let the halo fans battle it out

we are more civilized

[glad jewel]

did someone say strauss?

[haughty spade]

yeah, thank god it's halo studios making it now ☺️

[strong perch]

here’s a question what if this is timeline durandal urged humans to develop biomatas to get a shell made for him, also in the hypothetical security guard sadly died so big D had to do things his own way or sum

big hypothetical but i think it could be possible

maybe thats why they show a slightily printed blue and green shell instead of just his green face

blue and green symbolically was seen as “godly” in a way

[hot sinew]

I've been at the ER for 5 hours and I check the chat and see 343 slop .. all my ninjas hate 343

[visual lynx]

oh no! 🫂 I hope you are okay

[hot sinew]

Just a kidney stone .. doc said it's almost out

At one point though I was like "I hope I don't die before marathon comes out"

[modest thunder]

Less soda more watah!

Are you gonna have to pee it out

[pale compass]

i thought you were talking about 343's tenure being almost over here

LMAO

still my condolences

[tiny pebble]

someone tell me the lore

[pale compass]

new games jake the alright

old games mandalore gaming

and xpedia

on youtube

[zinc dagger]

Very interesting theory

[strong perch]

now that i think of it remove the jumping them part.
i forgot in infinity he literally just went back to earth multiple times. he couldve tricked them into making a body and perhaps thats the real reason the runners are there, to recover/destroy a prototype shell with a rampant AI using it

and that would be another way to be seen as a god, seed life.

the shells could be alive given enough |ESCAPE|ing is done but is that our goal. why escape when you can live theoretically forever until everything ends

also if they show durandals ship in orbit/the skybox that would answer what point in time we are and answer tons of questions

if hes on the jjarro ship the wrckn are out and about

if hes on a pfhor ship depending on which the wrckn just got releasd or they are going to

[strong perch]

if its this one the wipe is 100% the wrck

[west perch]

whatever happend to the mechanic where you cam run out of o2?

[strong perch]

robots

[pale compass]

dont those realities get deleted?

although

itd be good logic behind seasonal resets

[fallen quarry]

Maybe, but the shells decay quickly in this timeline. Hence the match time limit until we lose connection to the shell

[jaunty void]

Wild idea: we might very well be fragments of Durandal tricked into believing we were once human.

[chrome marlin]

not possible

[rotund stump]

as fun as it is of an idea I doubt thoth-durandal's any less smarter than to get played like that 💀

[polar stone]

#arachne-restricted-comms message

If you're part of Arachne you can see my collectors edition thief statue in total darkness with it's lights on.

[ornate wagon]

Save Deimos as it could be next ?

[tranquil basin]

I think it meant save Deimos as in a protest for when the marathon was being built, bc they built it out of Deimos and it made the martians rlly mad for several reasons

[noble mesa]

You guys think the pfhor might ever be added to marathon? Like as another pve enemy

[serene schooner]

This game screams for a story mode so bad

[broken zinc]

While it's true Deimos is not inherently circular (more like a huge asteroid that got captured by mars), i have a theory that the building of the Marathon ship caused parts of Deimos to be broken down, repurposed, and the moon itself ultimately reshaped. Much like any rock, really, because Deimos isn't particularly large(on an astronomical scale), and we do see a giant drill in the background shot of one of the images. This leads me to believe that Deimos looks different from how we know it because it was built to look different, and was polished into a ball shape to make it easier to build the ship (and maybe even expand the ship post colonization).

[sage lark]

Mfw i dont know how to experience a story any other than handed to me

[ornate wagon]

Where's the 2000 page marathon novel

[tranquil basin]

Yeah mining materials from Deimos would be way cheaper than shipping materials from the surface

Making it a sphere doesn’t necessarily help bc aerodynamics doesn’t matter in space, but it’d make sense they’d mine the outermost parts first and it would gradually become rounder

[tranquil basin]

Tbf multiplayer games usually suck ass at storytelling

[sage lark]

I think this time will be different

[tranquil basin]

Like the shitty 1 short cinematic every 3 months about some hero nobody cares about

[tranquil basin]

I agree I think they’re doing a great job

I just also understand the hesitancy

And the desire for a more dedicated story mode considering the originals did that

[ornate wagon]

They could instance some story heavy zones where you are just alone with no other players

[tranquil basin]

Yeah, tho I doubt that would occur

[broken zinc]

Considering the tutorial is exactly that, they could do that at any time if they wanted to. But i think that is actually straying too far into Destiny territory, and honestly, while I'm not a huge extraction shooter person, i don't want this game to feel like destiny

[strong perch]

ik, “prototype shell” so it would be the first one they made with no failsafes. just a UESC droid with more human-like/“god” like features

and in my theory durandal commandeered the shell to go on the infinity mission himself bc security guard got fucked, maybe leading to a weird biomata with two “consciousnesses”/AI in it and the first to never decay

also this theory lines up durandal with being way more god-like by basically making new life, the biomata, instead of just defenses and weapons, its a way to escape like he had

[ebon trench]

you got embed rights in arachne chat???

[strong perch]

also seki guchi…. they arent an og corp, they are a “NuCorp”. could be a green corp bc of durandals involvement

[fallen quarry]

That seems completely plausible

[sage lark]

I too engage in hallucinogenic drugs

[strong perch]

shout out my shaman

can shells smoke weed and take dmt?

[polar stone]

We always have done.

[rotund stump]

it really doesn't lol if you're actively looking for lore then you got it by scouring for logs per run + recapping at the codex menu

and if you don't you got us to do the recap for you

it's not bad storytelling it's just folks actively refuse to engage with it cuz it takes them effort

and if smth taking effort's enough of a deterrent I suggest just letting us do the work for you

no shame in just asking for lore from us either the only real issue is people sticking their heads where they don't belong and complaining about why life sucks so much for them

[raw wave]

destiny did most of its storytelling in the grimoire anyways

[lavish saddle]

me when the function got non-linear and convoluted story-telling told via text terminals and audio logs

i love signalis

[rotund stump]

and then they whine about lorekeepers being elitist when they refuse our help and try to do smth they actively refuse to do 😹 🫵

the game literally hands the codex to you too it encourages lore scavenging by showering you with cosmetics for it

please just get out there get active for your own sake of enjoyment lol

[edgy hill]

It's funny because a LOT of OG Marathon's story was told through terminals lmfao

[strong perch]

were lucky we got voiced faction leaders, lets hope thats why destiny been so lacking. why spend money on VAs for a game that wont make that money back

[edgy hill]

I need these jacketshttps://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/843867321281282129/1472225113628999730/image.png?ex=699711fb&is=6995c07b&hm=b05af5dee04d821748ca4843e225668b236d695d4c193a13c1fe926cfaecb688&

[split wind]

i think the format works really well with the lore

like if we’re here trying to discover what happened, we should have to actively search for it and piece things together

[lavish saddle]

yeah its a huge reason i’m hype for the game, that’s my favorite type of video game story telling. i really hope they actually commit to building a world/ narrative bc this marketing has been insane lol

[broken zinc]

I love you immersive worldbuilding i love you environmental storytelling i love you terminal logs i love discovering the story and stumbling across something nobody's seen before on accident

[split wind]

like this isnt an rpg, we arent really playing as a character with a stake in the story

like if you were a traxus employee sent to investigate

we’re mercenaries getting paid to find out what happened, no?

so my gameplay experience is directly tied to how much effort i put in finding stuff

and if i dont want to look for stuff and just kill people, thats also fine in game. just means im doing a bad job.

[sage lark]

Yeah pretty much

We arent the main character of the story

The colony is

And the marathon

[austere plover]

Durandal is

Goatrandal

[sage lark]

You dont know

[austere plover]

Metaphorically

[sage lark]

The main plot point is getting to know what happened at the colony

[austere plover]

Yeah I’m just waffling

[tawny maple]

@edgy hill The game will be available for purchase in rubles, but right now Steam says this product is not available in your region

[edgy hill]

?

[tawny maple]

I have a Russian region on Steam, but when I opened the game page, it said that the product is not available in your region.

although the game has a Russian localization

[strong perch]

we are marathons filler episode

but imo its a pretty good filler

[visual lynx]

early talk about the game (2023?) was saying that your accomplishments in the game will earn you fame as well as fortune, like if you are the one who finally unlocks the macguffin that moves the plot forward then you, your character, becomes someone historically important in the game world.

I dunno if that's still a thing they're planning on in the current version or not

[marsh inlet]

Which faction is more or less like Batman???? If that makes sense or is more cooperative inclined

[sage lark]

😭

[marsh inlet]

Dang it I just wanna main a faction i don’t like that much freewill

[tardy veldt]

From what’s leaked, apparently the only thing from the original vision that hasn’t changed is the Community unlocking new stuff

[thin dust]

To be honest I would not like this mechanic and feel the fomo too much

Claiming a world first like in a wow raid or something is one thing. Doing something and then no one else gets to do it is another

Cuz I want to see it and if they arent recording I wont get to lol

[eager wolf]

Any new Lore?

[strong perch]

marathon is a massive raid though…. it makes sense to me.

we are raiding tau for info, resources and guns. the first person to discover something should be recognized

just like how theres a leaderboard for the ARG…

[thin dust]

Discorver something thats cool, to not be able to do it and lock everyone out is another. The ARG I'm not paying money for

[strong perch]

how do you think the world works? can you just become the one who started archeology? or the one who found a full trex?

you have to do it first. and those that do are remembered

[thin dust]

Thats RL, this is a video game

[strong perch]

doesnt matter

[thin dust]

Imagine a new raid comes out but one person has to unlock it for everyone, you don't think people are gonna want to do that? You dont think they will want to see what that looks like?

[strong perch]

dayz devs leave graves for real dead players and thats “just a game”

[thin dust]

How does that lock people out of content and relate to this idea?

[strong perch]

i didnt get to donthe sundial in destiny, but at least i got to see what it did when solved.

i dont mind. its a challenge for players who care

you want to be the first go for it, but its gonna be tough

anyone could be first, you could be going for it and die and the dude who kills you gets recognized too… sad reality

[thin dust]

A whole game I skipped, I stopped playing wow because they took things away. I fully expect this game to change from seasons to season, but I do not expect if one person does a thing no one will be able to do it. Otherwise I might as well not even bother trying, being a father, husband and full time employee lol

[strong perch]

you are insane. you arent the FIRST father husband or employee… “lol”

thats the whole idea

being the FIRST

[thin dust]

You're not understanding

[strong perch]

then why bring that into the convo?

[thin dust]

I dont mind someone getting a plaque saying they killed a boss, what I do mind is locking out the content to access that boss because someone did before me and I dont get to see the whole story

[strong perch]

you wont be locked out, unless you dont try….

simple idea

try and maybe you solve the puzzle like destiny world firsts

its seriously not that deep

[thin dust]

Again, what Im saying if there was a mechanic where one person had to find a key and open a door or hear a conversation then I dont get to because someone did it. Not just that run but ALL runs no longer have that content

[strong perch]

??

if a mechanic had to find a key to open the door and he found the key, you’d no longer have to find the key. What don’t you understand about that?

better hope you find that key(puzzle) first

“the boss(bungie) is planning on giving a bonus to whoever can find the “key” and “unlock” the door”

they will announce it the same way they do other races too if it happens so if youre in the loop youll know its started

[half briar]

So, if we're going to be finding implants and runner cores in UESC Facilites on Tau Ceti, what does that say about the UESC? Because these cores are specifically designed for runners, that fact combined with the "Attention Unauthorized Runner, you are trespassing in a military security zone" Line tells me that the UESC hires runners as well, otherwise why would they be keep tech that's only useful to a group that they oppose? And it would be redundant to say "unathorized" runner if all runners are outlaws.

[half briar]

I personally am worried that a lot of the lore content is gonna be like that, and I'll just end up experiences the vast majority of it through youtube due to the game's difficulty. I've already accepted that I'm just going to watch a cryo archive run on youtube as the likelihood I'll ever make it there myself is pretty low.

[thin dust]

UESC could employee runners I imagine. Or have their own. I think the UESC bots are actually UESC runners and thats why they have ranks, rather than "marks". It makes sense. Passive patrol mode, dial up, runner when the modes trip to a higher function to remotely access them

[thin dust]

Not with that attitude!

[knotty dew]

UESC as you think you know it and Runners as you think you know them are a myth. All are part of a larger game being played by a singular controlling entity. Or so says I.

[half briar]

We know ROOK is UESC property (though obviously doesn't work for them) as his fingers are stamped with UESC. So maybe him being a prototype shell implies that the UESC drones are the full models. But it's worth noting that they don't host conscious minds, so on technicality they aren't runners. The UESC Drones I mean.

[thin dust]

right, something like that. They are and they arent on technicallity but anyone "running" something they call runners. I could see mercs being reffered to as runner in universe kind of nickname for merc

[half briar]

Marathon is gonna be pretty difficult for me, coupled with the fact that I'm an extremely unlucky person and I highly doubt I'll make it that far

[thin dust]

Attitude brother. I believe in you!

[vital hollow]

I think that there's probably people inside UESC that want to clean house of other people in it

[thin dust]

I really wish Bungie would allow us testers to openly talk about our experiences more 😭

[half briar]

Typically when it comes to extraction shooters, if another player has decided to fight me, I'm probably gonna lose. I've adopted a "If I get caught, I die" mindset with these types of games, it's the safest way to approach it. But getting to the Marathon ship not only is going to be extremely difficult and resource consuming, I'm gonna have to fight people, the odds are very stacked against me.

[vital hollow]

Jin-Roh was interesting since it was cops vs cops

[vital hollow]

Ratplay is valid

[thin dust]

That mind set alone sets you up to lose. You must believe to achieve. I know it sounds like a paradox, thats because it is! You can not do something you can beleive you can do.

Of course if you swing the bat thinking youll miss you will miss almost every time.

But if you actually try KNOWING you CAN do this just like anyone else and believe yourself to do it envision youself doing it, then you are more likely to succeed. A

Anyone can beat anyone on any given sunday I promise

[half briar]

Sure, but they probably have a better gun. I've heard the balacing for weapon tiers in Marathon is pretty tilted, so better guns will always beat better strategy. Other people will have better loot than me, so it's best not to engage at all.

Plus, ratplay isn't gonna work on the Marathon ship, PLUS PLUS, I don't have any friends so I'm already not gonna get to the ship. I'll be forced to either never see the final stage, or just watch it on youtube

[sage lark]

Doomer mindset tbh

Sad

[vital hollow]

Just make friends bruh

[half briar]

I mean sure, I could win the fight, but I'm just a very unlucky person, which means that I'm basically playing against the house.

[sage lark]

There is no house

[thin dust]

Stop it! Thats not true. "There is no such thing as luck" sort of

[half briar]

I'm speaking metaphorically

[sage lark]

Its in your head

I know

[thin dust]

^ hes right!

[sage lark]

Youre kicking yourself down before even playing

[thin dust]

Stop this!

[sage lark]

Self destructive behaviour

[thin dust]

Not you could, you CAN, YOU WILL!

Will you win them all? Fuck no

[half briar]

I also highly doubt you'll even be able to queue for cryo archive as a solo.

[vapid lotus]

You ever play league? Just play like Teemo

Hide in a bush and ambush people

In the cycle frontier id hide in bushes for fun and when someone strolled past me id charge out and voip spam grunting noises and other animalistic snorts like i am a wild man hunting them

a lot of people just froze and were confused, i won a lot of fights that way

[thin dust]

But when you enter them you must believe you WILL WIN THAT FIGHT otherwise you give up and lessen the variables that improve your odds at winning

[half briar]

I've tried confidence, confidence is not everything. I make decisions in these kinds of games based on a balance of risk and known variables. But marathon has a lot more unknown variables at play at any given time to account for so it'll be better for me to avoid fights. The only reason I'd put myself in a position to risk death is if I know for a fact that if I do die, it'll be of no fault of my own AND I had no choice. Like if I had to fight someone else to get to the last extract or whatever.

[gentle moat]

pretty sure there will be possibility to join Marathon communities to find teammates, so you can find a mate or two and stick with them, connecting with other individuals is surprisingly easy especially when you share common interest

[sage lark]

Difference is youre saying if i end up fighting someone i might aswell be dead

[thin dust]

You're oozing a lack of confidence with your mindset. Thats what I am speaking on.

[vapid lotus]

play as void until you learn the maps and hiding spots

[half briar]

Most people here don't like me at all so

[vapid lotus]

most people here dont knwo you friend, we have no opinion

hope you enjoy the game though

[half briar]

There's nothing more embarassing than behaving like you're all that then getting tossed around lol

[thin dust]

I just like void, imma play him a lot even after learning maps. I want to figure out that drop attack and make it lethal lethal

[sage lark]

Who cares tho

Who cares if you get tossed

Its a game

[thin dust]

I'm not saying I am, but every fight I enter, I will believe I can beat them. I play paintball competivley I have beat pros 1 on 1 more than once because I didnt hide in my bunker, but shot back

[half briar]

I would but I feel like using camo is just a crutch for not knowing how to stealth people. Maybe If I have really good loot I'd rather keep close, but I'm probably gonna use rook or recon so that I can actually learn how to stealth players without hiding in the shadows all the time.

[half briar]

Plus I'll probably use rook specifically for learning the maps

[sage lark]

I dont wanna sound mean or anything especially not confrontational but i feel like youre manufacturing your own problems

Thats all im gonna say on this and im done

[gentle moat]

Sorry if that come as rude but who tf are you ? There's over 300 000 people on that serv, people got other things to do than hate on a random. Stop letting your fear of whatever control you and have some fun please

like enjoy the game pal

that's all you need to do

[thin dust]

Please understand everything I say comes from someone who has been in a place where I felt like I couldnt keep up or compete. Its simply not true. Its a mental trap

ESCAPE

[tired harbor]

No I hate them they aren’t allowed to do that

[split wind]

look at my commissar dawg he isnt letting me enjoy the game

[half briar]

I'm sure I will have fun with my own playstyle, but my playstyle does not lend well to endgame progression, that's just a fact. It's why I'm choosing NuCaloric, so I can experience more lore than just what the zones offer, since I remember hearing NuCaloric was the story foucsed faction

[gentle moat]

my bad I dont understand what you two are saying maybe cause Im not native, what even is a commissar ?

[split wind]

i dont think it works that way

[sage lark]

Wh 40k

[half briar]

Even if it's not much, I'm sure they'll focus more on the narrative than the other factions will

[split wind]

ah its just a reference to the character @tired harbor is named after

[gentle moat]

yeah maybe, so that's why teammates could help ya

[gentle moat]

Okay ty

[half briar]

I used to play a lot of fortnite and I remember thinking to myself "Man, I'd really like to have a teammate backing me up" then I realized I am no leader, nor am I great at working with other people.
And random queueing is just... not a good idea lol

[tired harbor]

Can I ask what your playstyle is?

[half briar]

Hiding from players, and knowing where they are using recon so I can best avoid them

Arc Raiders has been getting aggressive lately so I've come to a habit of getting near a building, spend about a minute listening for footsteps, If I hear them, leave immediately or hide, if I have waited a satisfactory amount of time with no noise, enter and loot.

Sometimes it's about having the most patience, being willing to sit and out-wait the other person

[tired harbor]

Meh nothin wrong with that until you get PvP contracts. Go in do the mission you put yourself too, get out.

[half briar]

I'm not interesting in leveling Arachne

if I absolutely need to PVP I'll just go in as rook and hope to get a lucky hit on somebody

[tired harbor]

Why don’t you engage in PvP more often? Is it a confidence thing? Or do you just not care for it

[sage lark]

Dont think rook can do contracts

[strong perch]

not contracts but can progress factions

[half briar]

It's just unwise. Drains resources, and I kind of suck at it

[half briar]

That sucks, wish Rook could do progresion stuff. I'll have to save the limited free loadouts for those then. Could just do knife runs if I'm doing quests or seeking loot, since I don't plan on attacking anyone anyway

[thin dust]

This is a fair take, but your avoidance hinders your improvement

[half briar]

Well that's what strategy for

[strong perch]

you could deff do knife runs with a random team and wait till they kill some uesc for a quick gun

matter of fact lots of uesc are one shot knives

[half briar]

I guess I'd do a random team if I'm not risking anything

[tired harbor]

Drains resources until you kill a runner with only 10 bullets and they have 5 stacks of bullets on them 👿

[thin dust]

And that quest item you were looking for!

[half briar]

But you can't know that, if that doesn't happen and you die, you did all that for no reason

[half briar]

Like all that is assuming you did win, and I'm not a winner. Marathon agrees, that's why the marketing is "You're going to die"

[split wind]

uh

[tired harbor]

Idk I breathe extraction shooter games. I have an embarrassing amount of time in EFT. It usually ends up worth it more than not. That being said I’ve definitely played the more sneak around teams style plenty of times

[split wind]

everything contributes to improvement

losing, dying, everything contributes to your improvement

cant learn without trying

[thin dust]

A loss is not a failure if you learn something from it

[half briar]

Sometimes you just get unlucky

[half briar]

I'll just use rook to learn how to PVP

[thin dust]

But there is normally a reason for this. But that is true

[tired harbor]

Sure but just because I get rear ended one time in 6 years doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop driving

[half briar]

But honestly, losing over and over again all the time just isn't fun for me. I can lose less by never starting a fight in the first place

Really hoping they make rook able to do contracts and that free kits aren't limited

[tired harbor]

Meh it’s a balancing act
Ntm waiting only gets you so far. Like if your progress is being hindered due to a lot of contracts in the same area, but that area is very PvP heavy, you can’t just sit back for 20 mins for all of them when a match is only 25-30 mins

Im not even going to tell you to pick a different playstyle, but rather the more you learn the more complex you can get and the more you can evolve your own playstyle

[half briar]

I mean get better at stealth sure

[tired harbor]

But not only to hide, learn how to use stealth to engage or even control fights. There’s a lot you can do

[half briar]

I mean, that's fights tho
the thing I'm trying to avoid because it means death

[tired harbor]

Yea I understand that, I’m saying to learn how to fight to control the not dying part more

[half briar]

I guess I hope the game has traps or something like that

Getting the first shot in is a big factor in winning

But like others have said, the tiering of weapons in this game is pretty weighted so my grey pistol even if I get the first shot in is going to fail against someone's green pistol

[tired harbor]

Yea I don’t want to speak further on the actual mechanical parts of the game yet until I feel it for myself but we will see about that

I just know that typically you can get by with lower quality stuff still through angles and positioning

[half briar]

Hoping they add a weapon inspect button lol, something to look at while I wait for other players do finish whatever they're doing would be nice

The weapons so cool, come on. Give us a fun little animation, why not. They clearly exist, just give us a button for it

[soft solar]

Here Me out Halo x Marathon

[visual lynx]

so Halo with the serial numbers filed back on?

[tardy veldt]

I believe on the Vidoc and some of the dedicated shorts they showed weapon inspects? Im not sure about it they could ba reloads

[fresh viper]

one question i have about the lore: so in the original games, the Tau Ceti colony was destroyed by the Pfhor months after the events of M1, is that canon to nu marathon or no?

[half briar]

I think so

[broken zinc]

Not to call you out, I'm just really curious, weren't you the one trying to convince me the other day that pvp is inevitable and I'd have to face it and my response was "yeah duh i just don't care"?

Just go in with an "i don't care im doing it" attitude. Like, yeah I'm personally going to experiment and see what's possible within the game. Yeah pvp is gonna be inevitable. Yeah i might play some with friends and some solo and that will change how i play. But also i enjoy seeing what's possible. And personally i think all play styles are valid and will get you where you want to go-- if you want to get there.

Like, idk if you play tested the game at all during alpha or beta but the game itself is fucking fun. It doesn't matter if you win or die. I sucks but you try again. It's like a rogue lite extraction shooter. Allow yourself the grace to mess up and die! 😂

[half briar]

Maybe? I doubt that was me. If I did make such an argument, it was to prove a specific point, not because I actually felt that way. Am I going to avoid fighting? Yeah, and I'm going to fail a lot because PVP is just gonna happen sometimes

[broken zinc]

Yes it was you because i was talking about experimenting and being kind

And you seemed convinced that wasn't possible

[half briar]

It isn't

[next bolt]

this aint ya dad's arc raiders

[half briar]

Would I like prox chat to matter? Yes I would. But I know it won't and I've accepted that no one will use it.

[broken zinc]

Yeah that's so defeatist lmao

You aint even TRIED IT YET and you're putting it down

[half briar]

realistic*

[next bolt]

itll probs be used to threaten if anything unless youre solo

[half briar]

How am I putting it down?

[next bolt]

its just a more hardcore game

[broken zinc]

"it won't and ive accepted it" okay that's literally defeatist 😂

You ain't even trying it yet

[half briar]

I don't need to, to know

[broken zinc]

It's different if like, one of my buddies loves is se asia and gets a ton of different languages in the queue so prox chat isn't gonna do much if they don't speak thr language but the game has a lot of different ways to play. You can play them any way you want

[haughty spade]

arc really wasn't that friendly early on, you'd really have to be lucky. i could see squads teaming up to beat "bosses" but that's about it, until it gets closer to wipe and ppl are less scared to f around

[broken zinc]

And yet there was just a video put out where people teamed up with rooks and won

There are friendlies emotes for people off prox chat even

[half briar]

Honestly even having watched a lore recap video, apparently most of what "happened" is just stuff Durandal is telling you second hand, a lot of what he tells is liable to just be a straight up lie. We really don't know what happened on Tau Ceti, as Durandal, and indeed a lot of the firsthand accounts from characters in universe aren't reliable

[broken zinc]

And you're just clairvoyant? Man why did people scream for prox chat to be added to the game if "nobody" will use it?

[half briar]

I strongly suspect it's scripted.
And even then, it says nothing of how the full releasee will be.

[half briar]

I never did, I just understood it wasn't that style of game. Can we get back to discussing lore?

[broken zinc]

Okay well i watched an unscripted video where people were kind to the rook they found and gave it a purple gun 🤷

"unscripted" since you're the one claiming, with no proof, even tho I'm pretty sure people know who drewsky is, that the interactions were scripted by bungie lol

[half briar]

Link

And like I said, this doesn't reflect the games launch culture

[broken zinc]

https://youtu.be/afeGjsD4Ams?si=Qkv_8hr5EQveraD6

Literally just watched it today and they were off prox chat lol

[half briar]

So, prox chat didn't get used, proving my point?

[haughty spade]

in a no-stakes environment. it was from a test. this will prob happen once we get closer to wipe and people are more comfortable with the game and their own progression/vault. at the start most people will be selfish, just how it goes

[broken zinc]

My point that i made is there are ways to be kind without prox chat

[broken zinc]

Sure! We'll see. I think there will be a lot of greenhorns like myself

There are many ways to play :)

And it's gonna be a lot of fun

[half briar]

Currently playing arc raiders, and with the expedition approaching, I've been getting shot at a ton when normally that isn't the case. Has completely changed my gameplay, providing me a lot of learning and insight into marathon and extraction as a whole.

All this to say, People will get more selfish, not less.

[broken zinc]

Yippee!

It's gonna be a lot of fun!

[half briar]

I'm reasonably confident I'll have fun, that's why I pre-ordered

I just don't yet know if my preferred playstyle is viable.

[broken zinc]

Ratting is always viable

[half briar]

Not if you're me

[sage lark]

Im getting secondhand depression

[broken zinc]

You have got to be aware of how defeatist this is

[haughty spade]

i think that's just mm acting up after updates. subreddit always has a meltdown when this happens. if you're in pve lobbies, it's the same as always. but just like people like to play more fast and loose closer to wipes, that could include just going mass murderer

[haughty spade]

this is impossible to disagree with. for me the fun is the tension, so i hope they don't do the abmm thing etc.

[sage lark]

I dont think they will

[broken zinc]

I agree, the game is gonna be an edge of the seat experience

[sage lark]

Seeing the new gameplay got me more excited

[half briar]

I'm not even upset about it honest, although it does suck having to work harder for the same reward I've been getting, with the added fear of players.

[broken zinc]

Also we gotta remember there will be a ranked mode at launch

[half briar]

I've got a whole ass new headset just for it, worth it too. Turtle Beat Atlas 200, I highly recommend.

[half briar]

I'd like to think it'll make the game a little less difficult for people like me, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up

[haughty spade]

may it attract the dampest of sweats 🙏

[broken zinc]

I worked for gamestop i know what turtle beach headphones are like. I'll stick with my audio technica

[sage lark]

I think ill engage with it near the second half of the season

Probably the play

[broken zinc]

If you're on console tho I'm sure turtle beach works fine

[half briar]

I do agree turtle beach is often ass but these headphones specifically I've been loving so far. Although I admit I have personal specifications that make it more worth it to me

[haughty spade]

looks snazzy/comfy

[half briar]

Super lightweight, just waiting for the plastic to bend to my head shape, then true comfort happens

[broken zinc]

My pc has a separate mic and headphones setup so I'm pretty happy with that

[royal elm]

that is me, but you also got to keep in mind that it sounds like you might have to earn your way into being able to play ranked matches with pubs progression (not as a 1 time unlock)

[half briar]

That's one thing for me. I'm on console and I prefer wired as well. It has good bass but without overriding the sound of everything else

[broken zinc]

If you're on console then you should know that the sweatiest people will be in pc lobbies, and you can choose specifically to not be put in lobbies with pc players

[half briar]

I've touched ranked gaming once, maxed out, realized I hated the whole experience and walked away, hopefully never to return

[sage lark]

Yep gear value

Hopefully atleast

[haughty spade]

i got killed farming the arc dmg event, had a hullcracker and inv full of ammo taking potshots at the queen from a safe distance. obviously can't be mad, and have almost 10 mill, but it was the first reminder in a long while that "riiight, this game is actually pvp" lol

[royal elm]

yeah it seems like it'll be gear threshold + a ticket you have to buy with in game currency, but nothing concrete on it yet

[haughty spade]

you "need" to farm the regular game to deal in/ante up in ranked (esp if u bomb out) all based on unverified leaks tho. but like, everyone is doing that anyway (trying to get richer)

[broken zinc]

That'll be a good move in the end i think

[royal elm]

yeah, what im trying to get at is that i dont think ranked existing will keep the sweats out of pubs in the case of this game, but maybe it'll mean less max gear sweats in pubs at least

[visual lynx]

that already wasn’t canon in infinity anymore

[gray sluice]

Tbf we don't know if we're in that timeline

Especially since there's pfhor/S'phit compilers when the pfhor was wiped out in the final infinity timeline

As the humans and the S'phit and their subspecies wiped the pfhor system

[fluid barn]

Does marathon leave off at all roads lead to sol or aye mak sakur?

[strong perch]

im so excited to sit through loading screens for some reason

the whole game looks so good

[strong perch]

we dont know anything for sure but if we could see durandals current mode of transport we would be able to narrow down the guesses

in due time though, in due time…

[fluid barn]

no matter what its a jjaro ship

durandal last seen on a jjaro space station

in ♾️

big doubts durandal will be in marathon 26

i didnt follow arg tho so if im sounding dumb pls correct me

[strong perch]

well you know the og lore but weve been calling this NuMarathon bc of the changes, like the big one SekiGuchis existence

[fluid barn]

idk where to start with nuthon lore yet

i figured until the game is released then i'd sit my butt down and learn

[strong perch]

and ive been theorizing that seki is durandals advancement

[strong perch]

id watch jakethealirght he makes a good video leading up to nuthon

[fluid barn]

i did watch it, but the pieces arent fitting in my brain just yet

[strong perch]

hidden xerpia, he makes good vids

[fluid barn]

i do have a good idea of the situation

and some background

[fluid barn]

ill try that rn

whats your pfp btw

looks like vacBoBs

[strong perch]

xperia*

it is ill post it in the art channel

[strong perch]

idk, but to tweak my theory bc if durandals responsible for the biomata maybe he is helping and not just stealing, again security guard is dead.
so durandal makes new shells every couple of seasons/“reset”. like a deathloop situation,
we get further each time but some puzzles need to be redone but now since we know what needs to be done the community does it faster and faster, worlds “first” every wipe but it turns into a speedRUN/MARATHON.
at some point well have what we need for the real endgame and maybe stopping the wrckn entirely,

but idk… the 3 month seasons really made me think

we also would be entering into NuMarathon the 7th wipe/reset

——
also idk if we know but lets also just say the destroyer shell was the first shell printed bc durandal missed his servant, but thats straight speculation

[visual lynx]

they were not. the Pfhor were sacked by humanity and S'pht'Kr in the M2 epilogue, and that evidently hasn't happened in this timeline, leaving me thinking that the S'pht are still fighting a war against the Pfhor without humanity's help (yet)

[deep niche]

does team cow have gif perms

https://tenor.com/view/cat-kitty-minecraft-gif-17432383690950798749

☹️

[visual lynx]

definitely not the former, probably but not certainly the latter

[strong perch]

also they should play “but the dream isnt over” at the start of every season after the first wipe when you log on

[fluid barn]

yeah for some reason people are saying ♾️ isnt canon, or it leaves off at 2

so its been confusing me

[visual lynx]

infinity is weird, but nuMa is definitely not in the M2 timeline, so it's either in a brand new retcon timeline, or in an Infinity timeline, and why any Infinity timeline besides the successful one

[ornate wagon]

my best advice from someone who also shared your playstyle of hiding and running, and then got tired of always shaking at the sight of a player even if i was the one in a better spot to engage, while it was fun it was also very exhausting doing so much work just to have an unlucky encounter and dying; so one day i just said fuck it sold everything, free loadout, and just ran at very gunshot i heard no thought in mind other shooting and taking cover, i died so many time but every couple of tries i noticed improvments to everything i did even my original playstyle was better now that i knew how players position themselves to fight, and i had fun because you never know how good that new dish is until you taste it and id rather try everything even when i dont like them than to forever live a life of ignorance in the safety of what i know (and the dread of what i dont). HAVE FUN

[quasi viper]

Kind of. Iirc the attack still happened and a year later they come back and wipe out the colony. My understanding is that everything in 1 and 2 still happens, which after infinity becomes timeline 7

Also, I'm pretty sure 7 wasn't the only successful timeline, forgetting which other ones turned out fine, but it does seem like we're in a continuation of a successful timeline.

I'm on 2 hours of sleep so far so feel free to correct anything, I dislike misinformation regarding this

I've been taking about stuff with friends and have to be corrected, I'll be rerunning the trilogy soon to set things straight

[visual lynx]

the M2 epilogue talks as though a lot of successful things happened, but the unaddressed threat of the W'rkncacnter seems to undermine the possibility of those, and they appear not to have been the case in the nuMa timeline anyway.

the manual prologue and Ne Cede Malis of Infinity are both ends of failed timelines with clear dissimilarities to M2 and to each other.

the Despair timeline of Infinity starts from a very different place than M2 -- you are with Tycho in Pfhor custody, the other cyborgs like you having been "converted to Pfhor slave tanks" (most dying) rather than annihilated with the colony as in M2 (which also appears not to have happened in nuMa), and ends with events that look like they will reprise the failings of M2: the S'pht'Kr are recalled, the Pfhor deploy the trih xeem, and so Durandal-Thoth(?maybe) beckons you out into a dream.

the Rage pt 1 timeline starts from a similar place as M2, but earlier in time, and ends… with Durandal about to send you back to Waterloo Waterpark, from where M2 will presumably reprise, so you dream away out of there too.

the Rage pt 2 timeline seems to pick up somewhere befoer the end of the Despair timeline, in Tycho's service still, but now you defect to go help some Bobs, and then Durandal, and then maybe Tycho or else still Durandal, and then~~ dreams again, unclear why

the Envy timeline seems to begin… right where the last one left off? it's unclear exactly… but you help Tycho a bit, then are forced into servitude for Tfear against the Bobs, defect to go merge Durandal and Thoth, are recaptured by Tfear, and then as the S'pht'Kr arrive and the Pfhor deploy the trih xeem again, go with Durandal-Thoth to the Yrro station to prevent it.

So the only unfailed timeline of Infinity seems to be the one that threads together the beginning parts of Despair and Rage Pt 2 with Envy, which are all very different from the events of M2.

_ _
-# I find no offense in the fact that you may not yet recognize me.… though in time… through time… this too will come to pass

[quasi viper]

It's coming back to me now I do think

[sage lark]

they came back couple months later

[visual lynx]

in M2 at least

[sage lark]

yes

[sterile sleet]

I finish Marathon 3 yesterday and I don't really understand how you can diference every time line it was so confusing.

[tranquil basin]

Hidden Xperia has probably the easiest video on marathon 3

Def recommend

[sterile sleet]

I will be search it, I saw a lot videos since I start play M1.

Aaa I saw it yet haha

[north shell]

What happened to the other Battleroids?

[tardy meteor]

iirc they were defeated at the colony

[north shell]

Didn’t they managed to defeat the aliens or was that on the first game only

[tardy meteor]

yea it’s confusing each sequel kinda retcons the previous game lol

[tardy meteor]

1st game

they were deployed to defend the colony and were stiff resistance against the Pfhor

after M1, Pfhor reinforcements arrive at Tau Ceti and the colony is completely annihilated

for M26 idk which one they’ll go with

maybe some of the Battleroids survived somehow

and we just don’t know as of now

[silk whale]

Ohhh yeaaaah, that's right, huh? The BoBs that Durandal took to Lohowon turned out to be the only survivors!

Anyone else playing through o.g. Marathon to get hyped for the new game?

[summer nexus]

playing it on Steam Deck before bed lol

[cloud pendant]

So are the Runners separate from the Shells? Is the cannon that there are thousands of runners and each uses a variation of these commonly available shell types? Or are the shells themselves the runners and there are essentially six cannon runners we are following the story of?

[silk whale]

Yes the runners are separate from the shells. Like, YOU are the runner, the "shells" are like drones you control. Every time you spawn, it's still you but in a different shell.

[prisma maple]

Isn't it that the runner's conciousness is loaded into the shell? Like the runner no longer has a body since they digitized their conciousness. So it's not like a drone in the fact you aren't sitting around controlling it. The shells are now the only bodies the runners can inhabit.

[sage lark]

yes

[north shell]

If the original body was still conscious, why not use the consciousness of an experienced soldier for all of the shells?

[sage lark]

wdym

[north shell]

If the guy that becomes a runner is still conscious while the runner is active, why don’t they just use one guy for several shells since the brains can be “duplicated”?

[prisma maple]

I think it's more like a system akin to Ready Player One's Loyalty Centers. The runners are working off debts to the different companies.

[green plume]

if you're just going to make a bunch of robot bodies that hold digitized minds why would you not Jango Fett it up and just use one superior mind to inhabit all those bodies?

[prisma maple]

Because having the memories of raids is important to getting what the Corporations are looking for.

[north shell]

Yeah, so if that isn’t the case, then the mind cannot be “duplicated”, which means that the human is not active while his runner is active

[green plume]

Why would they not remember those raids? what?

[north shell]

Also, are runners minds considered AI? Can they go rampant?

[prisma maple]

I took it to mean the cloned minds in runner shells would be lost if extraction failed. Rather than just reset to another shell.

[prisma maple]

From what I remember, the runners are individuals who have given up their bodies and had their consciousness digitized. They are not AI, but I would bet there is AI involved in the process to keep the consciousness viable. This could, I guess, lead to rampancy for the runners. It's probably why we see the ONI calibration cinematics after a runner shell is printed. Looks like a grounding exercise

[green plume]

nah i still assume the digital mind is pulled from the shell even after it dies in raid still.

[north shell]

Seems like the “ticks” (the red critters on the new gameplay footage) are either completely man made or are a modified alien life form.

[prisma maple]

I agree that's what happens. I was just thinking you meant they were expendable like the clone army.

[green plume]

The cat. Bingus/Kali(kaal1) is said to be the first 100% memory transfer into a shell. It doesn't seem from the one cinematic that the human versions are able to completely memory transfer as they can't remember a bunch of stuff and or it degrades.

[north shell]

Im not completely sure, but I think the reason they don’t use a “full AI” on shells is because of all of the rampancy incidents. And human runners might not be able to go rampant

[green plume]

Also the cat gets better at basically everything and the scientists working on it can't explain why.

[tardy meteor]

no, and doubt it? AI is code that is self-learning meanwhile a human’s consciousness was digitized but it doesn’t have code that allows it to self-write or something as far I’m aware

[silk whale]

Right, right... But the shell is still just a "shell," the runner, you, is the digitized consciousness

[prisma maple]

I wonder if this is the lore mechanic for why the runner can be transfered from shell to shell. Maybe since it doesn't full transfer, there is a part left in "storage" for the conciousness to return to and be re-uploaded to a different shell.

[silk whale]

Maybe that's one of the themes the game will explore, a consciousness going beyond previous limits, like A.I.'s and rampancy in the o.g. Marathon games.

[cloud pendant]

So wait this whole game is about me being in trillons of dollars in debt and giving up my body to the megacorps for a chance at financial repentance

Ive seen this one before

where are my MIDA bombs

[prisma maple]

It seems to me that is a lore point, yes.

[silk whale]

That's why we gotta burn it all down 😉

[north shell]

I don’t think you are necessarily in debt, if you were in debt, you would have to work for a single company; SekGen just sells you the shell and you choose what Corpo you want to work for, thats why you can join “out-of-law” organizations like Mida or Arachne

[green plume]

Yeah why would SekGen give out these ridic expensive biomata bodies to everyone to use?

Does this company have no infil on what everyones doing

[prisma maple]

We are definitely paying someone back. It's mentioned you have payments in a couple of the cinematics

[north shell]

Thats the part, they are cheap as fuck, and they get profit even if they sell it to the competence, they end up winning anyway

[green plume]

I know they sold some to traxus

[north shell]

Also, the “feels like a trillion bucks” comment is just a comparison, Glitch was just talking about how high quality the shell is

[strong perch]

no they cant go rampant bc rampancy is a human term given to ais to describe them having more human tendencies… but with the anomaly present with an infection affecting both artificial and non artificial life

[obtuse canyon]

I think it’s interesting that sekiguchi isn’t in the server slam, wonder what they’re keeping us from finding out 🤔

[strong perch]

durandals involvement i bet. lots of green…

[green plume]

Time jumps?

[obtuse canyon]

I honestly hadn’t considered that

Like I know he’s gonna be involved, they do the ozymandius speech and all that, but him being tied to seki

[north shell]

Probably for lore reasons or because of abilities that facilitate loot collection

[strong perch]

i have a theory that i really like, ill try to shorten it durandal in infinity, went back to earth to try to help humans for the pfhor invasion to try to be a god to them, so I’m thinking in this reality, he went back to earth and helped them make bio-Mata like a God would create new life

[obtuse canyon]

I can’t remember if this was a fever dream but do I remember right that seki contracts come at later runner levels?

[obtuse canyon]

Oh that’s fun I like that

[austere plover]

Yeah I’m wondering if the infinity nonsense will play a role or how is this game gonna tie to the old marathon timeline(s)

[green plume]

Wouldn't durandal have to go back before marathon 1 though to do this. SekGen been working on the concept for much longer than all this.

[strong perch]

like durandal isn’t “evil” he just wants to be seen as the best of the best and sometimes he does the worst things, even on accident, to be seen as the best

[silk whale]

Also he wants to outlive the universe lol

[obtuse canyon]

Nearly got himself deleted for his hubris at least once by tycho/pfhor coop

[green plume]

it's like he's trying to tighten up the "timeline" so that humans succeed and so does he?

[strong perch]

the biomata offer an escape to humanity as well, live forever until the death of everything

very god like thing to do

no other AI desire to be seen as one

except big D

not even thoth

and thoth is more godly then big D

[north shell]

Big Dih 🥀

[green plume]

Is that why they merge together?

[north shell]

That makes sense and connects with the theory that Tycho made Arachne to accelerate the heat death of the universe

[strong perch]

i just hope they do retcon large events so we can see cinematics for them, like the trih xeem being fired

bungie has an amazing animation team

[green plume]

Are the Spht going to try to kill us in game?

[strong perch]

also durandal saying “the dream is not over… now, RUN.” kinda sounds like hes talking to his “disciples” in a way

also

destroyer is john marathon. his voice is too good

[north shell]

Durandal = green, SekiGen = green, Tycho = red, Arachne = red, big revelation

[strong perch]

hmm what ab dear ol Leela

[north shell]

Does destroyer talk?

[north shell]

Idk, never played the og games

[strong perch]

yeah someone sent me a clip ill send you one

[silk whale]

I was gonna say, Durandal always had an affinity for the security officer, so maybe he'll kinda like the runners? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[green plume]

Leela is what's in vault 7 :p

[silk whale]

Oh shit you think so!?

I love Leela, that's my girl!

[green plume]

Well Leela does "die" on the ship due to the spht cyber attacks right?

But the sec officer frees the spht

And we've seen those things floating around in some of the media, what are they doing? Are they hostile? Did they finish finish the job before they were free? I assume there's gotta be some type of greater Ai cores for these to operate out of so maybe she just got contained?

[strong perch]

I really like my theory that it’s sort of like death loop or the Tom Cruise movie where every season we reset back to the beginning but since now we know what the puzzles need to be solved, each wipe we can do it faster and faster, and it turns into a “marathon”/speedrun

and maybe if we get to a certain point in the story by progressing fast enough, we hit like a checkpoint and the next season reset is at that point and we start doing entirely new puzzles

but the first season is like everyone(if you want to) is trying for worlds first in a destiny raid trying to find the puzzles and do it all in enough time and its a lot slower paced, juxtaposed to after the worlds first is completed and people start to flawless solo them

[green plume]

ok nah i'm probably wrong on the leela thing.

[strong perch]

and with how the game is set up, unlike destiny with a six player fire team for raids, you only have three unless you can somehow manage to get the whole match to help you on the puzzle and trust them enough not to kill you if you get it done.

it could literally be like the real world

a man’s about to uncover the secret of the Aztecs and he gets shot in the back of his head by his friend and he takes all the glory

yeah id be pissed but thats what could happen teaming up with other teams and trying for worlds first

[sudden shale]

so the main goal of this game is to find out what happened to the colony of tau ceti iv , but in the original trilogy we learn that they all got killed by the phfor , and i think its clear that whats being hidden in the marathon ship (?) map is the S'pht that joins the humans and fights the phfor (theres one in the steam game page if you preorder the game) , so what are we trying to find out in the new marathon game?

[cloud pendant]

UESC found something on the marathon and is trying to keep it for themselves

and the purpose of the game is to blow them up and instead use this discovery to free the Martian people

[sudden shale]

ah ok

[silk whale]

Hell yes, power to the people ✊

[plucky sierra]

not really

[green plume]

wait so after marathon 2 some humans make it back on a phor ship?

[dense sedge]

Definitely found some sort of symbolism with the Marathon and Deimos:

The length of the Marathon and the existence of a habitation ring within Deimos lends itself to the notion that the Marathon looks like a sword with a guard.

In legend, the sword Durendal was known for being able to cleave rocks in one strike. See how the Marathon pierces Deimos for that allegory. However, you could also make the argument that it was Durandal himself who “cleaved” Deimos, considering the Pfhor attack left the moon in its shattered state.

[plucky sierra]

We are working for corps, each corp has their own motivations. Only one faction cares about the Martian people (MIDA) and how far they are revolutionary vs. terrorist is up to interpretation. Us (the runners) don't really care, we will work for anyone paying. Traxus definitely does not have mars' interest in mind but we work for them too

[cloud pendant]

This is Anti-Revolutionary propaganda

[plucky sierra]

yeah but they clearly didn't in the new timeline so we don't know how much of Marathon 2 is relevant to NuMarathon

[cloud pendant]

Put Felwinter on the list

[dense sedge]

10% of Mars’ population is an ACHIEVEMENT, ain’t NOBODY was moving like MIDA did against the UESC

[plucky sierra]

This is out of universe opinion. in universe I don't care who you are. You run on CyAc or you don't run.

[austere plover]

In universe the mida vanguard party is going to lead us to a brave new tau ceti

Inshallah

[mighty jasper]

Yo I honestly don't think any modern game got such a great story like this game I've been reading the terminals and the complex narrative is incredible

[green plume]

or maybe they have and it's all just been covered up by the UESC and that's why their presence on tau ceti is so big.

[dense sedge]

Yeah in all honesty I kinda have a massive distaste for all the fantasy stuff that consists of 90% of destiny’s lore when the best parts are related to the scifi stuff, like Beyond Light’s backstory (excluding dark future)

Bungie’s always been best when they’re writing actual insightful science fiction rather than just action superhero stuff essentially

[sage lark]

Im quite tired of the classic good and bad

[plucky sierra]

It would be difficult to cover it up. plus M2 results in Humanity sacking the Pfhor empire and that clearly doesn't happen

[austere plover]

I’m with you I’m hoping the individual runner stories are super minimal

[austere plover]

In the story they could really lean on information not being able to travel between star systems quickly

[plucky sierra]

it is implied they have FTL communication

[austere plover]

Yeah they’d have to do a little smudging the specifics

[dense sedge]

for the record “action superhero stuff” extends to the majority of halo too

[green plume]

what proof do we have that it doesn't happen?

[plucky sierra]

the ARG

[plucky sierra]

OG Marathon PiD and Myth have that Action hero stuff. A core of bungie lore the Eternal Hero mythos

[tame ice]

Showerthought: I think I’ve understood why Assassin stands still in the middle of a hostile zone at the end of the film.
I believe he remembers who he once was, and that his consciousness begins to take over again. With memories comes the pain of nostalgia, and I think his attitude is intentional: he’s seeking death in order to be reset.
Because a mercenary with feelings is no longer effective, and in a world like Marathon’s, efficiency isn’t optional.

[dense sedge]

Oh I know, but OG marathon wasn’t afraid to explore more complex concepts

The deepest Halo gets into it is the arbiter’s plot

Which I do like

But I’m not much a fan for “epic” scifi or fantasy in any sense, with some exceptions

cough mass effect cough

[austere plover]

So you mean like the macro sci fi stuff and not the let’s get into the nitty gritty on this individuals life and personality

[dense sedge]

I prefer it when science fiction sticks to its roots as a form of exploration of the future rather than focusing on making a grand stage of a thousand parts to be solved by one or three people

Personal preference

Though ultimately the two can have overlap

[austere plover]

I get what you mean

I agree

Like I said I’m hoping that the runner shells stories are cool but minimal in the overall arc

[dense sedge]

Yeah

Though smaller stories are a net benefit

Grounds the setting better

Hard to grasp a world without a person to showcase it

[austere plover]

I have a good amount of faith in bungie for this one though I’ve heard a lot of good things about the writing team. I’m sure they want to do something new and not just destiny story number 309

[cloud pendant]

tbf if sci fi was limited to true exploration of the future we (biological humans) are probably stuck in the solar system forever. Anything beyond that I consider essentially a form of fantasy

[gilded sonnet]

My understanding is that death and the "sacred thermodynamics of violence" increases local entropy but because the continuity of the runners' consciousnesses is preserved and moved to another shell this increases universal information complexity which means less entropy overall in the universe which would delay the heat death

[tame ice]

For me, the only problem with a digitized consciousness would be freedom.

[vestal onyx]

It's funny I had read about some of the lore earlier like the "deep stone crypt" and "clarity control" or "warmind" and I was like wow this sounds really interesting, I love these names. Then I finally get there in-game and all the focus is on some Eliksni glup shitto while the Clovis Bray stuff is mostly just boring family drama and deflated attempts at humor.

[storm snow]

misraaks demoted to glup shitto :(

[near pasture]

I’m sure this has been asked before.. how are the shells being created for our runners to use? I understand that it’s the worms, but if the colony was attacked and killed off about 100 years prior, why is there some advanced tech still there creating biomata without being maintained by a colonist or whatever?

[storm snow]

season of the seraph was the peak of destiny it was all downhill from there

[storm snow]

pay sekiguchi a shitload of money

they do the printing

im not sure where exactly they are printed but I don’t believe it’s on the surface of TC4

you only ever see it in the cinematic trailer

[near pasture]

Ahh that was my next question. Where are these damn worms working

[glossy turret]

I thought it was on a like secluded ship or something.

[storm snow]

I don’t know what the state of FTL travel at this point is which affects the potential answers significantly

[storm snow]

this is my guess as well

[green plume]

Well we obviously show up on different ships so they're probably being printed on those

[glossy turret]

That would make a nice social hub

[storm snow]

ykw it’s probably a cyac ship

or server

runners are linked with cyac

[green plume]

I'd think too that they would teleport dead runner shells back to repair too if possible

[storm snow]

no, the shells decay fast

[near pasture]

Was this ship launched 400 years prior with the marathon in secret, or so much advancement with tech that we light speeded it to the solar system at some point after colony was wiped?

[storm snow]

def the latter

[green plume]

Durandal is said to have gone back to earth to teach them FTL travel?

[storm snow]

no one expected the marathon to fail

so why send runners immediately

[sage lark]

Where are the new songs

Did someone lie

[silk whale]

Certainly they would have planned four contingencies tho?

[storm snow]

they stole deimos for it, im not sure there was much money left for contingencies

[silk whale]

In o.g. Marathon, Leela & the security officer manage to send a distress signal to Earth

[storm snow]

yeah that’s the signal received and why runners started going there iirc

mentioned in a cinematic I saw on YouTube somewhere

[vestal onyx]

I think there's also a possibility they might be printed at different locations and then perhaps beamed somewhere near Tau Ceti

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1348077769082536036/1471673304233545828/image.png?ex=69985bd2&is=69970a52&hm=bd3394f1416ff3a437cdbaa8077e805a502af755a250d190f505f71f292c2dac&=&format=webp&quality=lossless

the description for the battle damaged deluxe edition skin is interesting

[random bronze]

Hi I'm new here someone can tell me the lore of this game?

[silk whale]

What if - hear me out, here - the runners are entirely projections, like some kind of "hard light" technology? Like they're not even actually "grabbing" any loot, just, like, scanning it?

But the idea of a "body" is just a trick to get the disembodied runner minds to accept their reality? 🤔

[mellow sparrow]

Boy do I have a website for you

[green plume]

youtube hiddenxperia and watch his vids

[random bronze]

Thanks for all

[silk whale]

https://marathon.bungie.org/story/

^ Who knows how much of this is still "canon," or, even if it all technically is... How much is it relevant to the new game? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[green plume]

Is there a comprehensive time line of canon events there?

[sage lark]

Jake the alright has a timeline video but who knows if its canon

[green plume]

yeah after watching the 3 hiddenxperia videos about the original games it's hard to tell

what between 1 and 2 it's said the pfhor show back up and wipe the colony, take the marathon, and take leela?

but here we are with the marathon still floating overhead

[plucky sierra]

yeah

[silk whale]

The thing about the entire marathon series is that every narrator is unreliable, so who really knows? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[sage lark]

Infinity shenanigans

[sage lark]

And this

[plucky sierra]

Marathon infinity introduces alternate timelines where past events played out differently. Marathon 1 always happens the same, but afterward varies. It is my opinion we are in the 7th Infinity timeline. We don't know what happened to the colony, it could very well be alive (unlike in M2). Because of what happens in that Infinity Timeline there is a slim chance of any survivors returning to earth (unlike in M2), there is also no mention of the S'pht and Humanity destroying the Pfhor empire (unlike in M2) therfore they can alter things as much as they want post Marathon 1 events

[silk whale]

^ oooo I like this interpretation

[green plume]

Yeah how much stuff between 1 and 2 doesn't happen? And how many humans are running around in the I guess sacred timeline of infinity? It kinda shows that the pfhor captured a bunch of people and that's where all the people went

[plucky sierra]

afaik Marathon 1 happened. Nothing has yet conflicted with anything in Marathon 1. The main conflicts are with Marathon 2 lore:

• The Colony was nuked to Bedrock
• Robert Blake returned to earth and told what happened
• The S'pht and Humans formed an alliance and wiped out the Pfhor
  Because the main story of Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity take place very far away the main story does not necessarily conflict, only the background info we get.

[green plume]

Don't the Spht join up with the security officer at the end of marathon 1 after the cybor/hivemind thing is killed?

[plucky sierra]

It seems they have added depth to the Colony with more prolonged decline due to the anomaly and a full on disappearance, but this doesn't conflict with Marathon 1 because in the Epilogue the colony is perfectly fine due to the cyborgs and presumably lives on (until M2)

[plucky sierra]

yeah but that is one guy who is also following the AI that freed the S'pht so they don't have to be friendly to all humans

the endings are weird because they each end in an epilogue, then the next game is like "actually that is not what happens"

[green plume]

in the finaly timeline you're going around saving other humans in the pfhor ship after tycho opens your cell. So other humans were taken from tau ceti/the marathon but how many if not all?

[glossy turret]

As far as i know, the 7th infinity sounds correct

but also because it's the staple BUNGiE number

7 is always priority in numbers

[silk whale]

Yeah Bungie loves those 7s

Altho, is anyone from old Bungie even still around?

[glossy turret]

no clue

though they're adopting the old BUNGiE behaviours, like 7.

[green plume]

the ending of infinity does sound like we're post that.

[silk whale]

Jason Jones was working on destiny up till 2014 at least, according to Wikipedia

[plucky sierra]

I think Jason Jones and Rob McLees have been confirmed to be helping with the game in some capacity

[silk whale]

Helllllaaaaa

[plucky sierra]

Durandal kipnapped a bunch of Born On Boards after M1 so there are some humans but most of the colony remained behind

and also you kill a bunch of the humans in the final timeline

[green plume]

but why are they on Pfhor ships that Tycho is on and helping those same Pfhor?

So they're not the same humans

[plucky sierra]

iirc the 7th timeline plays out after M2 if Durandal failed and everyone was captured. Tycho lets you out and then the Pfhor force you to work for them (against the humans) until you start activating and working towards reaching Thoth

[silk whale]

Oh yeeeah, those missions are fuqqq'd

**Pfukd

[green plume]

Yeah and then you merge the thoth and durandal and tycho gets all pissed off then you go and help Them stop the pfhor from deploying the weapon that kills the sun

[visual lynx]

https://marathon.bungie.org/story/timetable.html but it ignores Infinity because that messes up everything after 2794

[visual lynx]

when are Bobs ever helping Pfhor?

[visual lynx]

it's very unclear if the signal that becomes public knowledge around 2888 was Leela's signal, because Leela's signal should have arrived around 2806, and should have contained detailed info on the Pfhor.

it's possibly it arrived garbled and was kept secret for 80+ years.

or it's possible that Leela's message never arrived — she sent it somewhere else, 92ly from Tau Ceti — and a different message arrived at around the same time.

[storm snow]

huh fair enough

[visual lynx]

only in the M2 timeline

[storm snow]

durandal fucking around? im not super knowledgeable on the lore myself

[visual lynx]

that is my hypothesis

[visual lynx]

humand did not yet have FTL as of 2794 when the UESC launched the Equanimity on a century-long journey to Tau Ceti, 12ly away

but they apparently had it by 2888 when the other factions set out to Tau Ceti and expected to catch up to the Equanimity, arriving at Tau Ceti, 12ly away, in about 5 years.

[green plume]

Idk i just know theyre on the ship with tycho and you release them.

Does that start of infinity sacred timeline still take place like 15 years after m1? Is it immediate?

[visual lynx]

gotta pay rent on your body in this future

screw owing someone else for permission to exist at a place (conventional housing rent), now you owe someone else for permission to exist, period.

[visual lynx]

okay, those Bobs are prisoners like yourself, and you and Tycho are helping release them as part of a deal to release Tycho to ally with him against the Pfhor

but then you are promptly captured by Tfear and ordered to go kill the Bobs

[visual lynx]

~17, presumably, it's not explicitly stated but there's no reason to think otherwise

[green plume]

so we're unclear on what happened in those 17 years

Like we know the pfhor didn't take the marathon this time around

but all the people are missing

we're unclear on leelas fate now

[visual lynx]

mostly, we know a few things: the SO and other cyborgs were captured by the Pfhor and "converted to Pfhor slave tanks", most of them not surviving the process

unlike in M2 when the other cyborgs besides the SO (whom Durandal captured) were all annihilated when the colony was nuked to bedrock, so presumably that didn't happen this time around

[green plume]

So what happens for the SO to be captured by the pfhor and tycho instead of durandal? Is that not explained?

[visual lynx]

it is not explained. I think the most straightforward interpretation is that Durandal just didn't take him — which seems to have been the case at the end of M1, so perhaps if anything the core Infinity timelines are more in keeping with M1, and M2 is the more alternate timeline

[sage lark]

Slave tank being an actual tank?

Like treads and cannon

[green plume]

yeah the only real timeline worth discussing is 7 where they stop the pfhor from deploying the weapon

[visual lynx]

it's unclear from the phrasing, but there is some suggestion that Infinity originally intended you to play as one of the cyborg tank enemies that were converted Bobs, to the point that there's a terminal pict that seems to suggest you should go pick up the weapon that those enemies use

[green plume]

the other 6 seem to just be failures.

[sage lark]

I thought about like a tank filled with liquid like bacta tanks in star wars but this makes more sense ig

Flesh machine

[tranquil basin]

Unfortunately we probably won’t ever see those again bc of numarathon t rating, I feel like it’d be hard to justify that they aren’t human

[sudden shale]

anyone know what the lore behind the rook is?

[glossy turret]

It's a prototype shell

[random bronze]

I watch the lore of marathon and it's fantastic

[cloud pendant]

Tycho v Durndal rematch?

[short hawk]

I heard Kali was the prototype

The cat.

[glossy turret]

likely a prototype for synthetic shells evolving to more kinds

[short hawk]

I hear the cat can be seen in matches randomly, can anyone confirm?

[glossy turret]

maybe the cat could a contract objective

[green plume]

Does Durandal exist now that it's merged with Thoth?

[tardy veldt]

The actual Durandal? No
The Copy version of Durandal back at UESC Marathon? yes

[green plume]

And we don't know if the cat is all the same cat or if there's multiple of them. If it's all the same cat that cat is like 500'ish years old

[cloud pendant]

Is that what you think is in vault 7?

[tardy veldt]

dunno

[green plume]

Is Durandal copied on the Marathon?

[cloud pendant]

I hope its Leela

[tardy veldt]

We know he created a copy of himself before infusing with Thoth

[green plume]

Why would it be on the marathon though?

[tardy veldt]

maybe to have some sort of control?

[green plume]

when would durandal have traveled back to the marathon to copy itself to be merged with thoth, also was the merging with thoth like a thing durandal knew was going to happen? Because isn't durandal "destroyed" in infinity then some item containing the AI used to merge the two together?

[mystic meteor]

Imagine, in the 7volt, there are coordinates for a new map.

[green plume]

Dr. Strauss or Leela in the vault.

[cloud pendant]

As far as I am aware Tycho was the last AI in TC4

When he helped the Phfor return to wipe it out

[green plume]

maybe just enslave

[bleak eagle]

The Marathon lore always makes me smile, considering Bungie had less than a dozen employees crammed into a single office on the south side of Chicago at the time. They were pretty much just making shit up as they went along.

[proud crypt]

haven't seen discussion about this so forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse, but what's up with the translucent ring around the planet up in the sky of TCIV?

it also encircles the smaller red moon

[bitter sorrel]

Hello! I was looking at all the factions and found a lot of information for Traxus, MIDA, and Sekiguchi (due to the older games and current lore). However, I found very little on the other factions currently available. I'm looking at them and haven't fully decided which one to rep, and I find some of the lesser detailed factions really interesting. Is there someone that can explain some information about all the factions? (and more specifically about the lesser know factions)

[visual lynx]

Durandal-Thoth seem to be around judging from the new Destiny item lore

[visual lynx]

no?

[visual lynx]

yes

[silk whale]

I mean I'm an old-timey o.g. Marathon pfhreak myself, but in very general terms:

• NuCaloric is an agriculture / food production megacorp, involved in the farms on the colony.

• CyberAcme was responsible for the computers & i.t. on the Marathon ship, as well as the ship's 3 artificial intelligences iirc, and I think they're involved in the consciousness-transferring / "software" part of the runners themselves (whereas Sakaguchi makes the bodies).

• Arachne is a death cult; they believe violence is sacred and want to hasten entropy.

That's all I really know about the other factions in Marathon 2026. lol. Oh and U.E.S.C. is the government.

[silk whale]

There are some good YouTube videos and Reddit posts about it

[bitter sorrel]

I actually just watched two videos, and honestly you summed the factions up perfectly 😄

[silk whale]

I'm trying to get my 42 year old frazzled parent brain wrapped around all this new lore so I can better enjoy getting hosed in-game by teenagers next week lol

[bitter sorrel]

I honestly wish you luck and will valiantly get obliterated along side you :]

[sharp vine]

Make that three to be obliterated! (I'm entering my 30s this year)

[tawdry cedar]

Make that 4 for obliteration. I remember the day Halo first came out on xbox

[silk whale]

Hell yes! I was in college after getting out of the Marines and I went and bought the master chief edition Xbox 360!

I still have her hard drive to this day 🥰

[tawdry cedar]

Yes! It's so cool to me that Marathon is Bungies 3rd large franchise dropping on console!

See you planetside

[agile rampart]

i wanna lore discuss but honestly

not much thats really enough discussing until nu marathon drops

[silk whale]

I'm honnnngry for that NüMarathon lore

[agile rampart]

fr its gonna be peak

[silk whale]

Imma be looting rooms, runners, vaults, whatever they got - purely based on vibes and lore

[agile rampart]

my goat s’pht compiler making a comeback

[silk whale]

Yesssssss

[agile rampart]

im gonna try at least

[sharp vine]

I remember playing the exhibition demo with my cousin on the OG Xbox

[tawdry cedar]

It all comes full circle 😇 Traveler wall art in ODST-S'pht warlocks in Destiny-follow the white rabbit ... 🫡

[languid hawk]

durandal--- He was number 1

[rich gale]

Does anyone know the lore good enough to explain to a newcomer ?

Me being the newcomer lol

[mighty jasper]

Gheritt White had been floating six feet off the floor for
three weeks. His feet and hands tingled, and his eyes burned
with the flames of a dying fire. He had last heard someone
speak to him as the cell door slammed shut. He didn't
remember what the uniformed man had said. The words had
bounced off the bars of the cell and rang through Gheritt's
ears. Gheritt had been talking to himself for the last few
minutes, something about getting caught, but then his ears
began to tingle just like his hands.

He looked at his hands, but the fire in his eyes made him
blink. Tears came, and when he opened his eyes again, his
hands had been melted into fleshy pancakes that wafted in the
ripples flowing over the fire in his eyes.

"Damn cell," he heard someone say. "Last time I had a good
meal was three days ago. The food they feed you in here could
kill a lab rat."

Rats. He had remembered something about rats. But his ears
began to ring again and the voice speaking to him faded off
into the background of his mind. In its place, there was a
new sound, the clapping of hands together. He blinked hard to
made out his hands again. They had disappeared; his arms
connected at the wrists.

This is from Marathon 1 when Durandal was in his stage of Rampancy

[mighty jasper]

Honestly I had to get chat GPT to explain it to me 😂 Crazy world I'm living in using a AI to explain the narrative of a AI in a video game

[strong perch]

its crazy you couldnt format it better.

[gentle kraken]

this is the wild poetry line breaks i think

[mighty jasper]

I copy it from the terminal

[raw vapor]

Will the plot move anywhere in the game?

[silk whale]

Sounds like it, yeah. First with stuff you can find in the first three maps and the different faction quests * ~i mean contacts~.*

Then with the fourth map coming out.

And then more as the game goes through new seasons.

[visual lynx]

early talk about the game (2023?) was saying that your accomplishments in the game will earn you fame as well as fortune, like if you are the one who finally unlocks the macguffin that moves the plot forward then you, your character, becomes someone historically important in the game world.

what I’m expecting/hoping is that they will have some kind of branching narratives planned out where different events will play out depending on which faction achieves a certain objective, and that will depend on player actions, which in classic Marathon tradition include retrieving important information from ancient ruins. we then learn backstory from that retrieved information, and see current events play out depending on the accomplishments of players working for different factions.

Pfhor and S’pht could become factions in later seasons perhaps, so player actions might direct the course of their war.

[rotund stump]

helldivin' it if you will

actually come to think of it what would there be on the marathon to have a need to go on cryo besides flora?

can't imagine human embryos unless it's for backup since BOBs are there

like there's practically no need to cryo anything besides organic matter and cryo archive got a lot of...stuff going on lol

ig later on as a makeshift s'pht imprisonment chamber for when we eventually thaw it out and bash it with or without UESC supervision

and by extension losing that compiler would lose the UESC a link to a hypothetically recurring pfhor invasion that they could prepare with the knowledge of that compiler

[visual lynx]

it could be that colonists undergoing fungal-anomolous infection got shoved back into cryo to both save their lives and stop the spread of infection.

and when we go up there and crack it open OOPS all fungal zombies

[rotund stump]

so neomuna's cloudark but for smth incurable instead

but back to the s'pht

[visual lynx]

huh, why does, gemini, talk, like, william shatner, when I, google, what that means:

AI Overview
The CloudArk is a secure, Vex-integrated digital reality powered by the Veil that houses the citizens and infrastructure of Neomuna. It serves as a, safe, customizable, and, virtual, sanctuary against external threats, allowing occupants to, exist as, digital, avatars while their, physical bodies, are, stored in, pods.

[rotund stump]

we're be enabling doomsday by breaking into cryo

LOL

gemini did NOT need the comma in front of pods 😭

[visual lynx]

or, most of, the, commas, it used, through, that, paragraph

[rotund stump]

this implies the potential of giving gemini a lisp

[visual lynx]

anyway, yeah that compiler probably knows what's locked in there and doesn't want to let it out

for good reason

[rotund stump]

season 2 and it's already the great shroom plague 💀

[broken zinc]

My guy chatgpt is going to give you nonsense. It speaks more of you that you can't comprehend the plot of a game like marathon. Please read actual books, I'm begging you, not a plagerism machine that actively hallucinates.

[broken zinc]

Good lord that's such an awful overview, not just because of the commas. 💀 The ai bubble bullshit cannot burst fast enough

[split wind]

i wanted to start playing marathon 1 earlier, i read the manual. i just gave up after the part about pressing space bar to fire

ill just continue getting my lore from other sources

[ornate wagon]

you can use the mouse the manual is old

and im afraid you are missing out on peak

[split wind]

nah i can wait another 6-7 days for the server slam

[broken zinc]

Thank goodness for those dedicated websites that have everything saved to them for the last 20+ years.

[elder flame]

How can I play Marathon now?

[sage lark]

How can I play Marathon now?

[opaque zinc]

you dont

[elder flame]

bruh

[opaque zinc]

sever slam is in 6 days

on the 26th

[sage lark]

Nobody reads the news 😭😭😭

[elder flame]

i've already seen a ton of gameplay from other people that's why i asked

[sage lark]

Thats been leaked probably

Otherwise youd be hearing about it here from everyone

[maiden field]

Is there lore for rooks? Are they also Sekiguchi shells like the other runners?

[fiery spade]

hacked uesc

[glossy turret]

Rook is a prototype shell

[fiery spade]

https://i.redd.it/6sn6lsrjll7g1.jpeg I mean dude has uesc on his shoulder

[glossy turret]

It’s not publicly available to UESC

So most likely the behind the scenes stuff the corporations are doing

As they are doing things behind UESC’s backs.

[sterile sleet]

Where do you saw that stuff, is really leaked I don't think so.

[frosty folio]

whats compiler gonna be like in the new marathon? do you guys think we'll get any other s'pht?

[sage lark]

Who knows

[tardy veldt]

they did show us the Compiler design in NuMarathon at the end of December Vidoc

and as for other aliens, i expect a slow rollout as the seasons go

[frosty folio]

they showed the compiler in the vidoc? i thought they only gave the lil teaser on yt shorts

[fathom vine]

yeah hope the rest of the phfor show up, having a phfor ship as a map would be insane

could be a sick visual contrast from the style

like long night of solace in halo CE

[tardy veldt]

It is a teaser but we know how it looks https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/469787926234923022/1474372179255623762/image.png?ex=69999b98&is=69984a18&hm=b367a52e0092ef21b5b137a704f015470a18a5218ae9ff3b3ecedfcd6a930228&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1228&height=668

from the December Vidoc

you have to click it to see

Its at the end of the Marathon Ship segment

[frosty folio]

i just hope the compiler isnt as simple to deafeat as in the classic marathon and more of a mini boss

[fathom vine]

i'd imagine it'd be harder

also makes the security officer from the original games that much stronger by comparison

[tardy veldt]

Considering that the runners are obviously weaker than a Mjolnir Recon unit

[fathom vine]

make the difference between a battleroid and huge

given he mows down huge amounts of compilers and other aliens

i also imagine the fight against the compiler is gonna involve some weird tech glitch stuff, maybe screw with the hud, your vision or abilities

[sterile sleet]

I could't imagine how they could looks like may be some thing super diferent on this science ficticion style

[fathom vine]

i was thinking like more organic

everything in this style is smooth, utilitarian

[sterile sleet]

I dont remember the name of that guys but they are not phfor.

As I remember.