📚marathon-lore-discussion

[rugged igloo]

Probs not.
A lot of the stuff aboard the marathon that helped against the Pfhor was really, REALLY illegal and also really hidden. Mjlunerd and his 9 battleroid brothers were basically the equivalent of sneaking in enough mustard gas to turn the entirity of Ghana into a graveyard

[indigo pasture]

Yeah, Crists were such a good idea though drove a massive colony rush. Then the practicalities of their expense, need for repair, and lifespan became apparent.

[willow vessel]

They burned a bunch of civs once because 3 people had guns. The Misriah Massacre or something it was called i think

[random condor]

But still shit, UESC is kind of autocratic (maybe a spoonful of olicharchic) after all

[digital plaza]

Mass starvation and constant conflicts

[scenic iron]

I wonder how many more years from now where we will colonize Mars for real

[digital plaza]

Living hell

[random condor]

Best would be if we dont

[willow vessel]

100s. Assuming humanity gets its head straight

[peak adder]

nah totally by like the 200s

maybe mid 100s

[scenic iron]

Aww true and we will all be long gone by then

[deep solar]

We’d have to solve problems like keeping Martian colonists supplied when travel times take months between earth and mars

[willow vessel]

Well yeah i meant it as like. Hundreds of years. Not in 100 years

[random condor]

yippieee :D

[rain wigeon]

we may at most see the beginnings of a listening outpost when we're all in our 50s and 60s

[peak adder]

ah makes more sense

[willow vessel]

Man. I would def sell my consciousness to visit a cool and dangerous planet

[rugged igloo]

Mars was facing massive big time famines and so on during the colonization of Sol. With it's population being way too big and it's people being way too underfed, UESC resentment started sprouting like weeds, even with the solar rail orbiters that would drop off supplies.

[random condor]

And go into irrepayable debt :DD

[digital plaza]

WE WONT EARTH IS OUR HELL AND HUMANITY IS DOOMED TO ENDLESS SUFFERING

[willow vessel]

Absolutely. But hey at least the view is beautiful

[rain wigeon]

I think about that xenobiologist recording they released as part of the promotional material

[random condor]

And theres bingus

[rain wigeon]

mentioning how he'd die happy if a alien plague boiled his blood

guess he got his wish

[rugged igloo]

Didn't help that Earth always came first when it came to this so things just got even more bleak for the martians.

MIDA (especially NuMIDA) honestly have every right to be pissed.

[willow vessel]

Welp hopefully they're better than their ancestors

[random condor]

THATS RIGHT RUNNAH, SMASH MORE WINDOWS RAHHHH

[scenic iron]

Oh so in the lore of the games humans that were born on Mars were like second rated citizens

[rain wigeon]

not even

think like peasantry

[willow vessel]

Earth was basically priority #1

[rain wigeon]

to be martian was to be poor

[lunar cove]

Think like East India Company type shit

[rain wigeon]

as common and as rich as dirt

[scenic iron]

Oh ok

[random condor]

Colonizing mars was prob just a funni idea/"innovation" humanity didnt give long term thought into

[deep solar]

Colonial powers always treat the colonies like shit

[willow vessel]

OG Marathon has some pretty amazing lore. Its cool seeing how 100 years changed the universe

And the Colony Files/Recordings give some information as to what happened down on Tau Ceti before the marathon was attacked

[rugged igloo]

RUNNAH

YU GOTS WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A PAHT OF MIDA, NOW ITS TIME TO REALLY PROVE UR WOTH

WROIT "ORION IS A STINKY POOPOO BUTT" ON THE WALL OF STATION , "MIDA RULES, UESC DROOLS" ON THA HOULAH, AND "TRAXUS CAN SUX ON DUS NUT" ON OVERFLOW

IN ONE RUN

[willow vessel]

Don't forget to exfil

[deep solar]

RUNNA U GOTTA PUT A KICK ME SOIGN ON ORION’S BUTT AND EXFIL

[scenic iron]

So the Marathon was built by the humans on Mars to get away from the shithole they lived in? It was not because Earth was dying and humans needed a new planet to live on etc

[willow vessel]

No. The marathon was basically "Given" to the UESC to make a colony ship. To find a new planet to ruin

The Martians were NOT happy about it

[random condor]

RUNNAH, YOU GOTTA TROY HOARDA, SMASH FOIVE HUNDRED WINDOWS AND DING DONG DITCH PINWHEEL STATION 3 TIMES

FOA DA REVOLUTION

(in one run)

[digital plaza]

Both kinda

[willow vessel]

Which gave rise to OG MIDA

Sort of

[rugged igloo]

MIDA themselves (and a lot of maritans) initally wanted the Marathon/Deimos to become another orbiter to help with the severe supply issues they were facing

[deep solar]

Think UN vs MCRN in the expanse too, except here Mars is still under the UESC’s thumb

[willow vessel]

Or UNSC vs Insurrectionists from Halo

[scenic iron]

It sounds like the UESC are big assholes lol 🤣

[rugged igloo]

Or Federation VS Zeon

[deep solar]

MIDA and the OPA have a lot in common too

[rugged igloo]

Honestly the tale of "Earth loyalists VS non earth independant-ists" is a scifi tale as old as Amuro getting slapped in the face

[digital plaza]

Marathon was way out for some people, but for others it was their greatest scientific opportunity

[rugged igloo]

probs older, but yk-

[willow vessel]

UESC isn't all evil. But they certainly are not Good

[random condor]

We humans love our innovations and growth amirite

[lunar cove]

Gantry be like oye beltalowda

[willow vessel]

So. Gantry is an AI right?

Or is he a person

[rugged igloo]

person

[lunar cove]

that implies AI can't be people

[rugged igloo]

I think him and Charter are the only two who aren't AI overseers

[scenic iron]

What about the runners who we play? Are we mercenaries or rebels?

[willow vessel]

Mercs

[rugged igloo]

mercs, but it depends on your skin.

[random condor]

Charters a runner right?

[digital plaza]

Except Charter is a runner, so gantry is the only real guy we see

[lunar cove]

in the grand scheme of things we don't really know what we are beyond what Oni tells us, and she might be lying

[willow vessel]

He was a runner yeah

Now he's uhhh. Human Resources

[deep solar]

Mercs but you can put your own twist on it. Like you could just 100% be a corpo or 100% a MIDA loyalist

[random condor]

Sounds nice and peaceful :D

[rugged igloo]

Yeah, charter's an EX runner
But I still don't think that means he's not a person. He's a very, very bio-mechanical murderous person

[willow vessel]

It is. Maybe not for the victims. But it is for Charter

[rugged igloo]

Each runner skin basically tells a kinda story of what your runner reps, be it one of the org's personal runners, or one of the many more niche groups.

[random condor]

Sooooo, is arachne in possession if a compiler? Theres a coffin in their introduction thingy that looks awfully like it

[willow vessel]

Yeah. I like the Cyber Red backstory

[visual lynx]

yeah, and the same terminal that tells us about the short-lived MIDA coup on Mars also notes how it's weird that the notoriously long-sighted organization apparently never even considered capturing the Marathon, which reads to me as hinting that they did target the Marathon just in a subtler more long-term way and that their whole Martian coup was just a front to distract away from that and never meant to succeed

[digital plaza]

No, its just a coffin

[random condor]

Awwww :(

[rugged igloo]

Same, them and the crash casket skin were fun to read about.

[visual lynx]

if you wanna make an omlette you gotta execute a few million enemy-sympathizing eggs

[willow vessel]

I love that skins have lore

[visual lynx]

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Stalin: I don't care. Catch it! Crack its eggs to make my omlette!

wow I can say "Stalin" but not the name of the US President from 1994?

[rugged igloo]

it fuckin rocks-
Straight makes me wanna waste my cash to buy of the two skins lol

[lunar cove]

I've never gotten in trouble for saying Ross Perot's name but maybe they updated the automod

because they never explicitly name which president Jjaro Ryu from Street Fighter appeared to, I choose to believe he won in 92

[digital plaza]

?

[rugged igloo]

I've heard enough.
Release the wr'rknkantr

[tender yacht]

ive solved the arg

[random condor]

what do you guys think about the theory that the more "permanent" solution the jjaro applied to the wr'kncacenter on earth was to lock it into tau ceti 4 and the anomaly is it trying to escape?

I think its a cool idea but using just another planet seems uncharacteristic for a wr'kncacenter

If PID even is canon

[lunar cove]

I think Tau Ceti's fungus just does that

for the anomaly, maybe the planet's crust just does that too

[random condor]

but THE JJARO WERE ON TAU CETI

[visual lynx]

huh! it lets you?

Clinton?

[grand venture]

Is there any lore that gets into what the UESC bots we fight actually are? Are they human recruits remote-piloting bots? Are they AI agents? Are they digitized conciousness like the Runners?

[digital plaza]

BILL CLINTON

[rugged igloo]

BILL FUCKING CLINTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

[fickle hinge]

can you post game screenshots in here?

[rugged igloo]

no

[fickle hinge]

dang

[random condor]

Theyre regular robots controlled by a systemwide AI called cerberus

[rugged igloo]

i wish we could

[fickle hinge]

i found some weird grafiti that looks like some kind of map and some code

[lunar cove]

they're like the robots from star wars only scarier

[deep solar]

Damn robits

[lunar cove]

the ones with the katanas from the clone wars episode who pretend to be people

[digital plaza]

You can upload it to imgur and send the link

[random condor]

I'm gonna get some sleep now, remember kids: THE JJARO WERE ON TAU CETI

[deep solar]

I have a feeling Orion is gonna be very much Adam Smasher esque when we eventually face him

[digital plaza]

Goodnight twin

[wise plank]

can anyone smarter than me explain whats up with simbiont and the parasitism 5/5 codex

[digital plaza]

By the way guys Borg got automodded for an hour xd

[lunar cove]

yeah what did you want to know

let me pull up Parasitism on the codex cyberacme site

[wise plank]

i mean i just dont understand whats going on with it lol - nona got us to inject the stuff, and it did.. something? and then it has weird pseudocode and cognitohazards and stuff. didnt really get the implication

[final oxide]

So I’m curious. How do you think the gender dysphoria is on the Shells? Obviously Destro, Triage and Assassin are male and have a Male persona-matrix, so I wonder how that affects the Runner.

[wise plank]

im thinking the personality matrix specifically adjusts for that, seems like a good use for it to make sure you dont feel fucked up about your body

[final oxide]

Likely, yeah, the most simple solution. Since we’re digital brains anyway, it’s very possible we just dont care either way by this point lol

[dense delta]

We have no idea how Gender is treated in the setting either, it might be super fucky at that point =]

[drifting mulch]

do digital brains have hormones? does cyac emulate hormones for us 🤔

[final oxide]

Doubt it lol

[lunar cove]

reading through it, Parasitism 5 is listing data from the UESC combat optimization program.

It breaks down what looks like "combat standard, combat elite, vehicle(?) standard and vehicle(?) elite units are directly under the AI cerberus' control, harvesting data for an operation called "Verethregna" (named for a Zoroastrian god of victory).

Orion, the UESC captain, and something called "tciv opsc shell" is untethered to cerberus and can do what they want.

It looks like the code also has a "cognitohazard" inserted that harms "unauthorized consciousnesses" who view the code.

[median hemlock]

the shells do have some degree of biological function but i doubt they simulate hormones like that :p

[lunar cove]

and that Oni was able to sanitize it to make it safe to read?

[wise plank]

is that parasitism 5, i thought that was an earlier one

[glacial juniper]

Was it the colonists that named it 'Dire Marsh' then? because isn't it a bit weird to land on a new planet and be like 'lets settle in bad swamp'

[lunar cove]

wait I'm reading 1 I'm stupid

[open pilot]

Does anyone know what the pink cat on dire marsh is about?

[median hemlock]

fromsoft type shit

[lunar cove]

that's bingus he just chills

[open pilot]

We found him 3 times

[final oxide]

That’s Bingus aka Durandel. Say hi lol

[wise plank]

bingus has been showing up more since last updat3e

[lunar cove]

wtf I fully clicked the parastism 5 entry on the codex site and it sent me 1

[wise plank]

weird

[median hemlock]

i am choosing to believe that bingus is leela

[dense delta]

Which site? ;o

[median hemlock]

i have no evidence for this i just like leela

[lunar cove]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/

[wise plank]

https://tenor.com/view/jt-futurama-leela-don't-know-dont-know-gif-10546536016746611086

[final oxide]

I’m sure Adrenaline-esque responses are there, touch and response to temperature, but yeah, nothing gender-related lol

[median hemlock]

i dont mean gender so much as like, you don't need Hormones to control a body that is receiving digital inputs and outputs

hormones are so varied and complicated that it would be a gigantic pain in the ass to emulate those systems all for what is, by design, a manufactured and disposable body

[final oxide]

That too lol

[clear radish]

I think this relies on how much a runner still remembers of their organic life

[final oxide]

Let’s put that data in reaction time, survival, etc.

[lunar cove]

weaveworms giving me dysphoria because I wanted to shoot a fireball out of my hands

[dense delta]

mean

[median hemlock]

i'm talking strictly like, biology and not how you percieve yourself/etc

[dense delta]

I get enough of that IRL don't need worm Dysphoria lol

[median hemlock]

ikr

[glacial juniper]

assigned rook at infil

[lunar cove]

I feel like the personality matrix stuff for the shells probably overrides the consciousnesses' gender

[final oxide]

Yeah, like in the cinematic where they hand Vandal and Assassin the same childhood photo. That’s what I meant about us just not caring anymore and more rolling with the Matrix.

[clear radish]

ngl, I though that was just an animation oversight

[median hemlock]

also while i recognize that this is a game made in 2026, and therefore is made with our understanding of humans and gender

i do like to imagine that by the 27th century we've moved to a society that percieves gender very differently from ours :p

[final oxide]

We’re still stuffing people in boxes for asking too many questions.

Let’s not get our hopes up lol

[median hemlock]

a lot of things i cant talk about due to server rules suck, but id say people are still learning and growing past the gender norms we've had for so long

even when things blow people are still going to learn and grow to some degree

but im definitely just in the weeds about fun scifi lmao

[final oxide]

And others like the UESC rigidly stay the same, sadly.

[junior rune]

Game started development in 2021 with the orginal back In 1996 I believe

[median hemlock]

girl in the marathon lore channel: i sure do like scifi

[junior rune]

I saw some people getting mad finding out destroyer is a female

[final oxide]

What, the Locus matrix? lol

I’ve not seen anything about that

( Though ironically a female Destroyer design is what got me going on this train of thought at all xD )

[scenic iron]

The Compiler on the Marathon is the only one or there are more nasty surprises on the ship

[dreamy hawk]

We haven’t been there. Don’t know.

[dense plume]

Is tick milk edible?

[final oxide]

…Sadly, yes..

[dreamy hawk]

Delicious, even!

[upper herald]

What the fuck did I come into.

[drifting mulch]

space poo

[upper herald]

This is vex I’ll all over again

[tranquil basin]

I would guess there’s multiple

But I don’t know

[flat spruce]

How do we know this

[dreamy hawk]

I said this last week, but cow milk is literally just fatty sweat. What’s a little processed tick feces?

[final oxide]

We’re running on the idea there’s more than one, since we’ve seen ghosts in the camera feeds.

[upper herald]

💔

[dreamy hawk]

There’s a few codex entries about it.

[final oxide]

And go to the Dire Marsh Greenhouse. It’s right there to see lol

[flat spruce]

😭 they really getting into every detail huh

[dreamy hawk]

You can extract with tick milk to get them. 😊

[dense plume]

There's quite an abundance of ticks on Tau Ceti IV. I bet at least one person tried it, made a concoction out of it, or something!

A TCIV delicacy.

[digital plaza]

https://youtu.be/jWSJ0qvk1dY

[dense plume]

Maybe?

[opal veldt]

I hope we get to see more of the pfhor on the marathon at some point

[final oxide]

I’m gonna go chew on a random stick instead, ya’ll enjoy.

[glacial juniper]

Will bungie make the Jjaro meeting Bill Clinton officially canon?

[flat spruce]

Premium even

God damn

[willow vessel]

Pfhorget it

[opal veldt]

[final oxide]

Yeasty… so it’s like bread-y flavor.. ish? lol

[strange nova]

Why do shells cool down faster when crouched?

[dense plume]

It's high in protein! Adults and children can enjoy Premium Tick Milk!

[glacial juniper]

heat rises

[torpid thicket]

Do we have any leads on the canonical heights of Shells?

[willow vessel]

More than a foot for sure

[torpid thicket]

https://tenor.com/view/futurama-technically-correct-technically-correct-best-kind-gif-1003665987735080676

[dense plume]

What if Sekuguchi Genetics created shells for the sole purpose of prostitution and research on robo-sex? Runners (could be known as Redlight Runners...let's consider this a prototype name) would complete contracts involved in such situations for research, developmental purposes, and, can't forget, entertainment and money to fund the faction. One's consciousness can't be the only human touch to a Runner (shells are modeled after us even). As vast as the universe of Marathon is and deep lore it has, I bet such a thing exists (although it won't be discussed, especially in great detail, in this server for obvious reasons). If not, then it's purely fanon in a fun to imagine alternate universe, haha.

[opal veldt]

I would assume average human height, the shells are just meant to be replicas of human bodies no?

[zealous laurel]

Oh given the exploitative nature of the setting I have no doubt that something like this is a strong probability

[torpid thicket]

True, that makes sense 😄

[velvet temple]

Have we made any progress today

[scenic iron]

Yep and at least no STDs with runner shells haha 🤣

[torpid thicket]

Definitely agree here, just look at Cyberpunk 2077 as an example of how that goes.

[willow vessel]

Vandal

[torpid thicket]

Unless Nona decides to “innovate” there 😅

[drifting mulch]

challenge some math geek to calculate the stride length based the number of meters each step towards a pinged location is and you'll get it

[torpid thicket]

That’s insane enough to probably work. 😂

[zealous laurel]

We've got folks in here breaking down hexadecimal codes I bet you that's a warmup problem for them

[torpid thicket]

Most likely 😄

It’ll be a cool-down exercise for everyone who’re busy head-butting the wall up in #breach-protocol 😂

[terse jasper]

This game needs more Peter Dinklage.

[tranquil basin]

Or use a rangefinder optic

So someone else can view, double measure, and count strides

[zealous laurel]

I genuinely hope he voices an AI to stick it to those who dunked on his D1 performance (I actually found it quite charming in a flat-affect robot kinda way)

[terse jasper]

I read Dungeon Crawler Carl, so I'm very amused that Sponsor Kits are a thing. 🤣

[drifting mulch]

measure twice, walk once

[dreamy hawk]

I would be open to giving him another shot but I will not be open to giving him credit for that performance. 😂

[zealous laurel]

I won't say it was 100% but he was also Working on the Biggest Show in the World at that point so I can cut him some slack 🤣

[dreamy hawk]

I guarantee shells would find their way in to the oldest profession over time, one way or another. I think some things we see in say, Cyberpunk, would possible fit into the dystopia that Sol appears to be.

[lunar cove]

"That W'rkncacnter came from The Moon"

[dreamy hawk]

I empathize with why; doesn’t change the fact he phoned it in, or at least, it felt that way to way too many people (myself included).

[zealous laurel]

"We've woken the S'pht!"

[drifting mulch]

i found a different container variation of the drinkable cheeseburger in quarantine (just environment stuff, not an item). it looks like it's served in a big konjac bag

[fossil zodiac]

I’d hate to see what Earth is like.

[north plank]

Given that we're actively looking for another whole planet to live on I'd guess it's either FUBAR or pretty fucking close

Food shortages/extreme weather events/the social unrest that they bring plus a bunch of other shit

[fossil zodiac]

All that and then some for sure.

[drifting mulch]

Tau Ceti IV runners do it because of debt (supposedly). i'm sure some of us on Earth, me included, would enjoy having their bodies NuCaloric'd and consciousness uploaded into the eternal videogame/internet hedonism cycle

[gritty burrow]

The good news is that runner technology exists and lasts way longer than on tau ceti, so you could get a sweet digital immortality for the low cost of selling your soul to cyac

[dense plume]

https://giphy.com/gifs/106QCYtKPDeIjm

[lunar cove]

I never look at the sky because I'm too worried about other runners, but there's a really neat visual on Dire Marsh of the Marathon silhouetted against the smaller moon (planet?)

[north trout]

Have you seen "PANTHEON"?

ooh... deja vu

[drifting mulch]

what's that?

[grand venture]

This video is great if you’re into the Gnosticism and Teilhard De Chardin conscious universe approaching the closure of the invited deep lore mythos implied by New Marathon’s take on the Jjaro, Compilers and W’rcncactner.

https://youtu.be/e1sqlUSul-4?si=3F7HxW39fdUY5HlL

[north trout]

animated show from netflix about AI/post-humanism

[hazy egret]

OMG Pantheon was crack

I devoured both seasons

[tranquil basin]

Well it’s not like it was an urgent overpopulation thing. Ik Ziegler said that in the vidoc that it was overpopulated, but really the only one having that issue was mars and that was 300y before, 400 now

[shell dune]

Are Rooks just autonomous worker bots? But runners figured out a way to connect to them for a brief duration? Kinda what I gathered from the codex, but maybe I missed something. I thought Rooks WERE shells that were made of recycled uesc parts, but it seems that's not the case

[hazy egret]

and that was before S2 was widely available and had to use Youtube

[north trout]

I binged it when visiting home on holiday a while back

[tranquil basin]

Yeah I’m unsure if they’re actually able to be merged into without the neural sync whatever thing the runners put in there

[lunar cove]

it seems like they're generic construction/security/human replacement labour bots

that Runners sometimes repair and use and such

[visual badge]

Why is the Mars colony seen as a failure by the UESC and Sol society in general? What prompted the UESC and megacorps to invest in the Marathon and its exocolony instead of Mars?

[shell dune]

Yeah, actually way more in-depth than I thought for Rook. And just realized that each time you load in with Rook, you look a little different. Different hand colors, finger conlors. Maybe other parts as well. Since I imagine Rooks being a worker bot, they'll eventually need a lot of replacement parts.

[visual badge]

An addendum to this question: what prompted the UESC to steal Deimos from the Martian colony and convert it in to the Marathon?

[willow vessel]

Desperation

Earth running out of resources

They needed a good template to make a effective colony ship without bleeding too many resources

[willow vessel]

Also look at Mars. No water. No plants. And the plantet isn't habitable without constructing something similar to biospheres. Tau Ceti IV is similar to earth. Oceans. Plants. A habitable atmosphere far enough from its star.

Mars would take many more resources to bring back up from its failure than it would to just make a ship and attempt to colonize a distant planet

Which is why they also looked at other candidates for colonization and didn't choose ones that required extensive terraforming

[grand venture]

They look very UESC, so ONI or a Corp jacking into a worker bot interpretation makes sense. Could also be scrap bots from repurposed UESC parts, but without the core components that make them UESC intelligent. I’m not clear if UESC are AI upload copies, or copies of once human brain scans like the Runners supposedly are.

[willow vessel]

Doesn't the obedience matrix mention something about this?

Lemme check

[grand venture]

“Control unit for UESC ground troops. A faint rhythmic pulse can be felt when held.” So it seems like they’re robotic frames controlled occasionally but also autonomous otherwise

[desert rampart]

where actually are we and the UESC when not on tau ceti

[willow vessel]

Yeah and also "Avoid placing in close proximity to devices capable of independent operation"

[grand venture]

Either in a memory bank on Marathon, or being transmitted by Ansible every upload for a print. It looked from trailers like we’d be on a VALIS-style space station orbiting Tau Ceti IV but that hasn’t been clear

[willow vessel]

Earth. Mars

I know the UESC has some sort of ship in Tau Ceti IVs orbit

Based on some audio files

[desert rampart]

so we can just teleport between solar systems?

[willow vessel]

Teleporters do exist. But i do wonder where all the runner shells are kept

[grand venture]

Only if Ansible (FTL instant comms, usually explained by quantum entanglement) exist in universe since the original marathon distress signal was traditional radio waves

[desert rampart]

I assume the matter transmat still has to object the light speed limit too

[woven stratus]

I know its probably a long shot but has anyone else noticed the timelines for D2 and Marathon are happening simultaneously? The Marathon ship entered Tau Ceti IV in the 28th Century. About the same time The Traveler appears in Sol over Earth and the Marathon has lost contact with Earth.

[desert rampart]

you can't move matter via information, and we just appear we aren't printed in a dedicated printer on the surface of the planet

[willow vessel]

Hmm that is a interesting question

Where do the shells teleport to

And where do they teleport from

[grand venture]

Printed in a space station, UESC ship or satellite and beamed to the surface. It’s in the glitch trailer, they just don’t say where she is before being beamed down. Also later trailers show a beam of light teleporting runners down

[desert rampart]

because if we could teleport across solar systems instantly, there'd be no conflict since universal exploration is basically completely unimpeded for us atp

[desert rampart]

yea that's why I wonder, how the hell are we just operating a rouge station in UESC space where we can beam down onto the planet? The UESC would surely stop us from doing that if we had a physical presence in-system

[grand venture]

That only works if there’s a shell printer at the destination, you’re teleporting to

[willow vessel]

Assuming they know where we operate from

[desert rampart]

I can't imagine it'd be hard to find given the resources the UESC has and advanced tech of this world

[drifting mulch]

from the [possibly not canonical anymore] Marathon cinematic short, they could be in a clone-like hotel high rise possibly planet-side (unlikely given UESC presence) or on a big ass ship (that isn't visible in the sky while the Marathon is??)

[desert rampart]

you can trivially send printers with entaged comms automatically to other systems. That's just a von Neumann probe with teleportation basically.

[willow vessel]

The UESCs HQ Ship isn't visible either

I doubt they're operating from the marathon

[grand venture]

Yeah but fast FTL doesn’t exist in universe, it took 300 years to get to Tau Ceti if I remember correctly.

Also Shells have limited lifespan and cost 3 Trillion a copy

[desert rampart]

could be on a different side of the planet, but they're allowed to be there, we aren't

[woven stratus]

I think the quote "Death is the 1st step" plays a role here.

[desert rampart]

yea because they had to accommodate people and it was several hundred years old tech. If all you need is a probe with a teleporter and comms you can accelerate a lot more

[digital plaza]

UESC dont know where we are and cant legally do much because of the non violence agreement between them and corps

[willow vessel]

That's true. Whos to say we're not operating off one of the other planets orbits

Or one of TC-IVs moons

[drifting mulch]

i think that + other infil quotes are leading evidence to colonists being runners but it doesn't match up with anything else lore-wise at the moment

[digital plaza]

All corps deny any use of runners and any presence on the planet itself

[desert rampart]

the non violence agreement is the strongest reason why we're just allowed to be there, but it still doesn't explain all that much

[digital plaza]

UESC deploys presumably from Equanimity

[willow vessel]

Probably

[woven stratus]

We haven't heard from Durandal at all yet, possible he's the reason for the colonists disappearing. Fitting your theory.

[digital plaza]

We did

He spoke to us

[carmine vine]

I forgot where we are in the timeline. Is this taking place before or after Infinity?

[willow vessel]

Well we do hear from him in the terminals and the index ARG

[desert rampart]

also like, are we pretending the UESC has no legal jurisdiction to say the ship in-system housing all the runners that they watch teleporting to it off the planet is operating illegally, if corporations aren't supposed to be supporting runners

[willow vessel]

Unknown. But for sure after 1 and 2 assuming this IS the same universe

[lunar cove]

in lore they have the Equanimity (rescue/salvage ship) which arrived first, and then a followup wave of corporate/government/mida/arachne representatives

[carmine vine]

Gotcha, just wanna know if this is Durandal before or after merging with the alien AI.

[desert rampart]

how long did it take these support ships to get to the system?

[lunar cove]

uh iirc it took decades for the first one and a few years for the second wave

[rotund stump]

equanimity talk?

[desert rampart]

as in it took decades to get to the system or decades between the UESC arrival and corporate arrivals?

[lunar cove]

I haven't read the lore stuff that gives the speed of them personally but people have said it took about 100 years from launch to arrival for the Equanimity

[rotund stump]

oh wait there's arrival confirmation now?

[lunar cove]

and maybe 5 for the corpo followup? But I haven't seen either myself, just a few people repeating it

[willow vessel]

If we're going by year then its after. Infinity takes place 2811 and its unknown when it ends

[desert rampart]

how has the UESC been on tau ceti for at minimum many years and still nothing has been done

[digital plaza]

Nope but its the main theory

[willow vessel]

They are doing stuff. Deleting and hiding evidence

[lunar cove]

well they did a lot they had time to coverup an entire colony disappearance

[desert rampart]

surely after this long there wouldn't still be this much sensitive stuff just laying around for us to grab off counters and shi

[digital plaza]

Because they weren't?

[rotund stump]

as far as the public knows marathon SRR ops are ongoing and there's nothing about the colony going MIA or suffering an alien invasion entirely

[carmine vine]

I genuinely don't know the relationship between the UESC and the Corpos, are they antiganistic?

[rotund stump]

kinda

[desert rampart]

so the UESC along with whatever ship supports the runners and corporations all arrived in tau ceti at the same approximate time and the UESC hasn't blown a ship housing tens if not hundreds of runners to smithereens?

[rotund stump]

traxus and UESC are known to clash but the UESC also lets corpos bid on projects to invest and lead in

[carmine vine]

I think they know something happened to the colony, but no one knows exactly what.

[rotund stump]

the marathon itself's one of them

[digital plaza]

They legally cant

[carmine vine]

All they have is that they lost contact and that's it.

[desert rampart]

they kill us constantly, they can't attack corporations but we are absolutely illegally present

and a corproate ship housing runners is a violation of the corporate agreements no?

[digital plaza]

How are they gonna prove it

[rotund stump]

and that's why we beam in via etherstep

[drifting mulch]

we as runners are purposefully illegal so the corps don't take any heat for our activities

[desert rampart]

because they can literally see us beam onto the ship? I can't imagine the big beam of light transporting us is all that hard to follow

[inland crypt]

They should tbh, I support Orion

[willow vessel]

UESC doesn't "Legally Support" the use of runners because of established laws.

[rotund stump]

they know it's corpo transport but they can't do anything about it and the corpos are not about to be dumb enough to have a facility tau-side

[carmine vine]

I think the support ship itself is constantly communicating with what I'm assuming Cyberacme and the other corporations, so it would be wise not to blow it up right now.

[drifting mulch]

thank you for corpo overlords for saddling us with eternal debt so that we may enjoy 25 minutes of shell life

[desert rampart]

I hope we get more on this cause the way we all are allowed to just operate in the system and the vague timelines on how we got there are a bit muddy, I'd like to know more

[rotund stump]

nonviolence treaty prevents direct physical clash but it's still a massive treaty overstep

[woven stratus]

We will get a lot of answers in Cryo

[rotund stump]

hence etherstep

[willow vessel]

Basically the UESC doesn't want war with the corporations and vice versa. Runners are like middle men. Proxies

[rotund stump]

^

[inland crypt]

UESC is probably getting some level of data off of us

[digital plaza]

Its unclear if beam is directed onto the ship itself, but even if it did they still cant just blow up corpos ship

[desert rampart]

I wanna know how fast ships can travel now cause the teleport tech feels fairly unlimited if ships are even to able go barely 0.1c

[lunar cove]

yeah you're basically like, an accepted corporate anger pressure valve

[carmine vine]

It's peak cyberpunk; runners having no legalities with their contractors.

[willow vessel]

Infact Orion suggested going after Traxus itself but the Admiral said NO. Basically got mad at him for even suggesting it

[lunar cove]

the UESC knows the corpos are doing this, the Corpos know the UESC knows, they all understand exactly what's going on but it's easier to let them do it and just shoot the runners and maintain the fiction of everyone being at peace

[rotund stump]

etherstep itself already presents questions of if we figured out FTL travel throughout the time of the equanimity setting off

[carmine vine]

My best sense is that the ships can't get to lightspeed, but communications are close to instant.

[desert rampart]

they have to be if we're talking to earth

[rotund stump]

ftl comms are pretty different from ftl travel

but hey knock on wood

[desert rampart]

My assumption is we can move between two established points at FTL (teleportation tech) (very expensive and slightly testy) but can't go anywhere new all that fast

[woven stratus]

It took Leela 92 years to transmit to Earth. We have instant communication now?

[digital plaza]

Besides corpos kinda tell UESC to back off with this stuff or they will pull out funding from this project

[willow vessel]

Teleportation tech exists. We see this in OG Marathon

[desert rampart]

but for our support ships to get to tau ceti we must have much faster ships

[digital plaza]

There is an audio log for all of this, check it out
https://youtu.be/RPqTVlPJ5NE

[rotund stump]

marathon runs legacy tech, not surprising

[desert rampart]

like fairly substantial fraction of the speed of light kind

[carmine vine]

Yeah, the marathon was at least 100 years behind current advancements.

[rotund stump]

ftl comms are confirmed on our first contract by oni to hijack a UESC ftl comms relay

we're just not sure about ftl travel yet but etherstep implies it

[desert rampart]

several hundred no? first the trip, then the colony, then the distress call, each taking tens if not a hundred+ years

[woven stratus]

Okay that part was always confusing

[willow vessel]

Etherstep is probably a more advanced version of the teleporters already present on the marathon

[carmine vine]

Oh, you're right, its way older than.

[desert rampart]

but our response fleets can't have taken all that long could they? like less than 20 years

[rotund stump]

that's why we're still not sure

[lunar cove]

the original response was iirc 97 years?

[desert rampart]

how long did it take the marathon to get there?

[lunar cove]

Marathon took 300

[rotund stump]

aside from no confirmation of the equanimity's arrival even now we also don't know where we're beaming from and it's unlikely the UESC lets any corpo facility tau-side

[willow vessel]

300 years

Approximately

[drifting mulch]

given the marathon infinity's splintered timelines we can infer that Marathon (2026)'s timeline may possible diverge from existing lore

[desert rampart]

so it was travelling 0.03c?

[willow vessel]

I doubt they'd let runners be there lmao. Orion seems pretty hell bent on killing us

[desert rampart]

and the first response was like 0.1c then

so unless they're taking 100 years for each new batch of supplies or response, we must have fast af ships

[rotund stump]

war criminals doing war crime things 😹 ✌️

[carmine vine]

I'm definitely curious with what's been happening because we know about the events of the original games, but I've got no idea what's going on with the Marathon for this many years after the colony collapse. What is going on in Cryo that we have the anomolies and the S'phit still onboard?

[willow vessel]

Well technology does advance alot in 400 years

[rotund stump]

those 2 insubordination infractions don't put themselves on record lol

[woven stratus]

I don't think we're in a separate timeline if Bungie showed the Phfor attack in the 1st cinematic. I could be wrong though.

[rotund stump]

besides everything else

[digital plaza]

It took Euqanimity 100 years to get to TCIV, corpos got their ships here in 10

[willow vessel]

Similar events might have happened in several timeliness

With varrying differences

[digital plaza]

It would seem like tech progressed in that span of time

[rotund stump]

m1's a fixed point in time, the start of m2's when things get diverged

[woven stratus]

Very true

[desert rampart]

I'm mostly wondering this cause like, if we have ships capable of going 0.5c+, FTL comms, and teleporters as long as we get a ship somewhere first, what's stopping humanity at this point from exploring basically every neighboring system with automated ships equipped with teleporters?

[carmine vine]

Captialism

[desert rampart]

seems like capitalism would be in support of that if they can spend trillions on runer shells to pick up scraps off a colony

[carmine vine]

When you put it that way...

[drifting mulch]

we have the tech but still haven't explored the depths of the ocean because there isn't money invested in it. edit: bad argument using irl bs, nvm lol

[willow vessel]

Habitable planets. According to them Tau Ceti IV was the closest ideal planet for colonization. If not they would have sent the marathon somewhere closer

[desert rampart]

again they're putting trillions of dollars per runner just to explore this existing colony. Making new ones probably costs less than a single runner shell

[drifting mulch]

very true

[woven stratus]

Wait a second.... Durandal was originally created to open doors etc, correct?

[carmine vine]

I think there's a genuine value in the corpos trying to find out what happened to their invenstments.

[lunar cove]

not created that was just his job

[carmine vine]

It's wild to think Durandal was much like the butter fetch robot from Rick and Morty.

[gusty condor]

It says in the "Shell death" codex entry that runners usually operate out of a facility in low orbit, likely in the same hemisphere as the combat area

[woven stratus]

If his evolution is in the same nature as his job, what are the possibilities we are in an alternate timeline created by him? One in which he reaches God-hood.

[rotund stump]

gonna recheck that when I'm home but I'm out for the full day

[desert rampart]

yea true, I'm just surprised they don't like, care enough about mining nearby solar systems and such, or looking around for rare materials. If they could wait 100 years for the first colony response, and now they have faster ships, they can explore much further out systems with less wait, dramatically opening up their options

[digital plaza]

Marathon and the colony is a bajillion dollar investment, besides the money, everyone wants to know what happened and potentially exploit new technology's and secrets against each other

[subtle oracle]

Kinda glad I have to go to work so I dont need to spend more time on the ARG

Head hurts

hows lore

[willow vessel]

Lore is loring

Lots of interesting questions

[desert rampart]

yea, but still it was a bajillion dollar investment like 300 years ago, they don't need to send people or a full colony ship anymore, they could seemingly just send a seed ship to then grow off of using teleportation

[rotund stump]

mostly remembered this entry for the DBNO and ASF stuff but not this 😭

mind if you link it?

if yk the cyac site that is

[desert rampart]

which is a lot cheaper

[livid violet]

I mentioned the point in the general discussion minutes ago suggesting Durandal is possibly recruiting disciples for himself, and that's player runners

[carmine vine]

Oh, much like how the OC character became "Destiny"

[woven stratus]

I think it goes a lot deeper than that if he has the ability to create alternate timelines

[willow vessel]

So that means we're becoming Marathon

[desert rampart]

here's the real question

[lunar cove]

We're becoming Gnop

[desert rampart]

would you sacrifice an entire colony to steal an FTL ship

[willow vessel]

Yes

[desert rampart]

agreed

[carmine vine]

I wouldn't, but I'm not that desparate to escape

Durandal was.

[livid violet]

yeah that's true when it comes to the fact that "the Bungie universe is a whole and complete one"

[desert rampart]

it's not necessarily about escape, but ejecting humanity into the future

[willow vessel]

Plot twist the final boss is Security Officer

[desert rampart]

I'd do it to teach the UESC how to do it

[gusty condor]

These are deeply encrypted data recalls that connect an active SHELL to a RUNNER's support systems located in secure points of operations typically removed[2] from the RUNNER's targeted ZONE of interest

[2] Relative to TAU CETI IV operations, this means somewhere in low orbit, typically within the same hemisphere.
Idk how to link it but here i've written out all the relevant info

[carmine vine]

Wild to think how much fuel it would cost to mainatin a base of operations in low orbit.

[rotund stump]

works for me

thanks lol

[desert rampart]

the UESC bots passively float using their jetpacks so presumably they have EXTREMELY high energy density fuels that make it basically free

[rotund stump]

gonna see if I can find anything else when I'm home

[lunar cove]

they're aura farming because Orion has an infinite budget

[willow vessel]

See if Durandal is still around. I wonder if we'll actually find out what happened to the Security Officer

[livid violet]

some easily ignored questions are
Where are we after exfil(the runners)
Who is ONI/behind ONI actually
Why should we trust ONI from the beginning

[gusty condor]

It's the only info i've found on where we operate out of so far

[willow vessel]

Maybe he's dead. Or he's still alive

[woven stratus]

I bet we find his body in Cryo 😭

[rotund stump]

not so much trust moreso just paying cyac off for our consciousness housing and she's just our liaison

[carmine vine]

I think the runners are just data at this point. We exists on servers in a buffer program before we enter our shells.

[willow vessel]

Maybe ONI is Cerberus

[fossil zodiac]

What if the UESC Marathon is actually overrun with Binguses.

[rotund stump]

I...really doubt that lol

[desert rampart]

isn't it said that we're only temporarily in data, and otherwise always in shells?

[digital plaza]

1. Back to the orbital ship
2. AI/CyAc?
3. We shouldn't

[livid violet]

Left hand wrestle with right hand lmao

[carmine vine]

It's possible, I genuinely don't know how long it takes to print a shell.

[digital plaza]

???

[desert rampart]

given the one trailer with the shells all being told who they are, I assume they basically are always in their shells, even when waiting for next deployment

[fossil zodiac]

I don’t know if any codex entries explain this, haven’t seen anything so far.

[woven stratus]

Worm Mommy Nona knows

[willow vessel]

Cerberus. The UESC AI

[livid violet]

definitely some ghosts in the shell and that's the atmosphere Bungie tried to create

[digital plaza]

I know, dosen't make any sense

[livid violet]

Or he is all of us(runners)

[carmine vine]

Maybe Cerberus is Finkle, and Finkle is Einhorne!

[livid violet]

"Darn it this shell is too weak I need my flesh back"

[fossil zodiac]

Definitely gives off that anime sci-fi vibe. Early 2000s/late 90s anime was a treat.

[carmine vine]

Yeah, I'm shocked how much cyberpunk they crammed into hard sci-fi.

[willow vessel]

Just spitballing

[digital plaza]

Bruh

[carmine vine]

The wild part is we haven't talked to a single human in this game. All of our interactions are with AI and sometimes audiologs.

[willow vessel]

Isn't Gantry human?

And Orion

And technically Charter too

[gusty condor]

Charter was a runner so he's also a human(mind)

[carmine vine]

Pretty sure they're AI intermediaries.

[digital plaza]

By the way guys if you want to know more about lore check this out, might find something new or useful #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[carmine vine]

Oh, that's fair, forgot Arachnae.

[gusty condor]

I believe _gantry could be a runner as well?

[carmine vine]

The question about a death cult when death has been solved is wild to me.

[digital plaza]

gantry is a regular dude

Orion and Charter are runners

Everyone else is an AI

[livid violet]

and if the words "extraction will make me god" is for both the player runner and Durandal that means the future plot will expand from here and we may be able to decide to stop him or help him, just as the Day1 Cyro team will have the chance to decide the destiny of the frozen ship members……

[willow vessel]

Wasn't it "Escape will make me god"

[livid violet]

I remember he mentioned Mida agents uploaded their consciousnesses so they can create more chaos, that's to say

[grand venture]

Mistakes will make me Bob?

[gusty condor]

because his skin or clothing is constantly flashing i assumed he was inhabiting a biomata

[fossil zodiac]

Something tells me Cryo is gonna require multiple teams to compromise and actually work together. Doesn’t have to be a permanent alliance, but one that simply furthers goals.

[willow vessel]

Could be an avatar

[livid violet]

I played the escape-ereXXion meme and got warned by Bungie once so I'm always confused by them lmao

[digital plaza]

Its not his webcam dude

Its just avatar

[livid violet]

3 entry cards for three sets of quests and you'll have to finish all of them to unlock the final raid perhaps

[carmine vine]

I'm genuinely excited about this game's story going forward.

[digital plaza]

Every faction guy you see is just a visual representation (except for Charter and Orion maybe), nothing more

[livid violet]

if my assumption is right the boss would be a combination of all schematics shown in the game and the failure will be caused only because they haven't got the right comsumable in pack enough

[willow vessel]

Never thought I'd see a continuation to a 1994-1996 storyline

[livid violet]

MARATHON(2026)
MARATHON ETERNITY
MARATHON: DARK AGES

[craggy finch]

Honestly I’m stoked it’s following up on the first Marathon’s plot threads, which got sidelined from Durandal onwards

[gusty condor]

I don't think it absurd that they could be actual representations of the people we contact in the factions. Since the runner's shells are already so different looking compared to normal humans, and this setting does have a lot of cyborgificaton going on

[craggy finch]

Vulcan and Nona are definitely confirmed as AI

Gaius is one IIRC

[willow vessel]

Def. I mean all they tell us about the colony in the original is that it was partially Nuked

[craggy finch]

Durandal and Tycho note it was blasted into bedrock three months after M1, but either the timeline changed or they just lied

[fossil zodiac]

I do apologize if I say anything ignorant, I haven’t had access to my computer due to work needing me. 😭

[livid violet]

could be cool if factions diverse in the future and different runners move the story forward differently, receive different upgrades, quests and rewards. I only doubt Bungie having enough resources for it

[digital plaza]

Only human is gantry, who uses avatar for neural conversations with you (because he will be obliterated if he would show his real ANYTHING). Charter and Orion might just use their shells when we speak to them, but it's unclear. Everyone else is AI, who does not and don't need to have body at all

[fossil zodiac]

Destroyer seems important, but I can’t truthfully say why, or even pretend to know exactly. Just a feeling.

[pine furnace]

Are the ARG nerds in this discord

[craggy finch]

He’s basically budget Security Officer

A UESC designed shell so he also resembles the bog standard armour SO wore

[lapis river]

[fossil zodiac]

Yeah I do remember hearing about that a bit.

[willow vessel]

Weren't they
Based off the Mjolnir Battleroids?

[livid violet]

He's still human after all the implants on him? That's quite a Theseus' ship

[digital plaza]

#breach-protocol

[fossil zodiac]

From what I gather, yeah.

[craggy finch]

Not explicitly, the codex just recalls how they were purpose built for a certain mode of combat

He just wears UESC style kit

[digital plaza]

What implants

We dont know how he looks like

[fossil zodiac]

Ahhhh okay. So no real relation to the battleroids at all?

[craggy finch]

Everything is purposefully vague at this point, we don’t even know where Runners go when they exfil

[livid violet]

I'll review on his scenes later, I recall that Mida's best men are also some E-ghosts as well

[digital plaza]

Orbital ship where we come from...

[craggy finch]

No Battleroid mentions at all really, the closest is the ARG mentioning the UESC’s concerns with the PR of sending combat cyborgs in the Tau Ceti expedition

[craggy finch]

But whose

[livid violet]

S02: NICE SHELL OLD MAN I'LL HAVE THAT THANKS TO YOUR KINDNESS

[digital plaza]

CyAc/Traxus

[craggy finch]

Our exact relation with CyAc isn’t quite explained either

Especially since SekGen make the shells

[digital plaza]

SekGen makes the shells, CyAc houses our mind

[lunar cove]

Cyac owns the mind I think

[willow vessel]

Everything runs on CyAc or nothing runs at All

[digital plaza]

We in infinite debt to them because of that

[craggy finch]

Debt Infinity

Debt 2: Durandal

[grand venture]

Cyborgs = Battleroids = Dead guys with machine parts = RoboCops in this universe

[lunar cove]

So they get the shells from Sekiguchi and put you in them. Hardware vs Software

[craggy finch]

Or Universal Soldier

[fossil zodiac]

I do also like how each skin has its own distinct lore for what purpose that shell had.

[grand venture]

Such a great movie

[willow vessel]

Like the Cyber Red skin

[fossil zodiac]

Yeeeeah that one’s sick

[craggy finch]

Shadow Index is basically a cool kids club

[digital plaza]

Bunny one has cool lore too

[craggy finch]

They see you do dumb dope shit and give a shell

[willow vessel]

Ex-UESC Special forces turned Mercs

[visual lynx]

the SO was just wearing bog standard powered battle armor

[grand venture]

I’m convinced the original shells blueprints are made like Warframes, from actual people, and it leaves the personality in the shell

[spark relic]

Atleast we all get 24/7 access to the cute AI guide that is ONI

[cinder jolt]

is destroyed wing back up? im seeing people get inside without a notification (no lift)

[craggy finch]

I wonder how many baseline humans are even in the UESC military or if it’s just robots and biomata

[willow vessel]

Just the head

[livid violet]

Drone lift perhaps

[digital plaza]

No

[spark relic]

CyAc needs more budget then

[willow vessel]

Well Audio Logs do show that there are humans with Orions team. And back home aswell

[cinder jolt]

i said no lift, but ty for the attempt

[grand venture]

Allegedly earth and Mars are insanely overpopulated à la Blade Runner or timelines with arcologies

I’m wondering if being drafted to the UESC military means they brain scan or clone your brain somehow. The original colonists had a LOT of clones on the marathon

[craggy finch]

Admiral Sulera doesnt sound altered like Orion, but grunt work could be 100% robots at this point; we destroy them in droves but they can just print new ones

[willow vessel]

That's true. They might be a pencil pusher

[digital plaza]

UESC has like what 00.5% of all people in Sol in their military

[livid violet]

3+1 lifts, 3 security breach ones and one from the drone area, that's all four routes to get in now, no other ways

[cinder jolt]

yeah im just confused hwo there was a thief inside without having a security breach while i had the lift acces thingy, kinda weird. might be a new exploit since its not the first time, or a bug that it doesnt give the notification?

[craggy finch]

Were there clones? The original exclusively involved BoBs, funnily enough you never meet a cryo slept human from Sol in the Marathon trilogy

It’s just all BoBs

[digital plaza]

Maybe audio got fucked up or something

[livid violet]

then should be the drone lift, find a delivery request disk in the cargo area and insert it in a certain nearby terminal and the drone will be powered to lift you up

[craggy finch]

That was an interesting statistic, I’m wondering if that includes bureaucratic personnel since UESC is described as a turbo charged UN

[livid violet]

will not broadcast map wide, but really loud and slow, any nearby runner can easily shoot them down

[cinder jolt]

my friend i just told u I TOOK THE LIFT

[livid violet]

oh my bad sry

[cinder jolt]

unless theres multiple of those discs, idk

[livid violet]

[livid violet]

guess that's the reason

[craggy finch]

Someone already snuck in so I used the vents to climb up ladders

[livid violet]

or there's still the third way to get into through the commanding zone

[digital plaza]

No there's not

[cinder jolt]

there are multiple?

from what i know theres only one request drive

[visual lynx]

FWIW I encourage people to ping me with lore questions or observations of note, makes it much easier for me than scrolling through the whole chat backlog

as the person who made most of the diagrams on

the Dream levels/7 timelines of Marathon: Infinity

[willow vessel]

Pretty sure UESC isn't the main earth government. At least according to og marathon terminals the UEG is still a thing

[livid violet]

whatever I never take that before but that's the only reasonable explanation

[digital plaza]

Pretty sure too, never found or heard two lifts

[craggy finch]

Yeah it represents actual nation states and mostly seems to have colonial authority

[livid violet]

hah then that's some glitch……

[digital plaza]

Helo lore guy why marton when i can just helo

👋

[subtle oracle]

Thats fair. Automod dings you if you mention more than like 1 or 2 ppl at a time so that shouldve more been the warning

[craggy finch]

Damn an OG trilogy fan contributor.

What do you think of the Infinity ending altering the timeline so that the events of M2 (specifically the Pfhor destroying Tau Ceti) never happened?

I’ve seen that theory around and Infinity mucked around with the events of M2 already

[fossil zodiac]

Just wanted to say I love your pfp.

[livid violet]

I guess that happened but the timeline folded and Infinite overwritten the fact however it still happened from the multi-timeline scale

[craggy finch]

It definitely seems like M2’s ending was rendered inconsequential

No human and S’pht alliance

No contact with aliens at all in fact

Wonder if they even have the FTL fusion missiles

Or if Durandal’s communication with the UESC ever happened

[livid violet]

it happened, it didn't happen. threads are far too many XD

every possibility diverses into more possibilities

[craggy finch]

I’m hoping the new game focuses on a singular timeline rather than branching out, all the weirdness in Infinity was because the Wrkncactner woke up and created several realities

And the Jjaro stuff in the Security Officer reacting to that

[livid violet]

considering about Durandal's basic purpose, it's not that possible Bungie don't talk about the 4-dimension problem.
Or they can make a great Deathloop, but that could hardly fulfill their ambition I wonder

[craggy finch]

The Durandal in this game might at least be a multi timeline version, he seems more like the Thoth hybrid than his old self

[dreamy hawk]

Amazing show.

My money is on it being plain Durandal because I’m no fun.

[craggy finch]

I never imagined him as British

Clearly merging with the alien super intelligence turned him British

[dreamy hawk]

That’s actually fair because I never imagined him sounding like that, either.

[deep solar]

The real question is how strong is the Security Officer against my DESTROYER THRUSTER KNIFE

[dreamy hawk]

Strong.

[deep solar]

damn

[craggy finch]

Destroyer is Security Officer lite

He overheats himself mimicking a fraction of sheer 90s FPS speed

And SO turns aliens to gibs with his running punch

[deep solar]

I really hope we get a Battleroid boss fight down the road, it would be so sick

[craggy finch]

The in game power ups also happened to include invisibility

So they could have all sorts of crazy abilities in game

Plus the implication that they may all have Jjaro tech inside

[grand venture]

And FOV fisheye lens for ultra vision, including some enemy highlights

[torn steeple]

Ok guys, how the fuck are the shells on tau ceti, where are they made? I get that they can be transported digitally, but the first distress from the marathon took 90 years to reach earth so there is no way they are getting sent back and forth as data to earth

[craggy finch]

Everything is around Tau Ceti orbit

[deep solar]

FTL tech got better

[craggy finch]

So you are in a ship that makes shells and keeps your equipment in system

Contacting the factions in Sol requires FTL communication, so you are definitely not in Sol

[faint badger]

Btw, didn't Durandal warn Earth of the pfhor invasion? How did UESC only find that out recently?

[craggy finch]

Timeline got fucked up, it’s likely the 17 years didn’t happen as they did

[abstract sphinx]

The premise of the game is that after the disappearance of the Marathon the UESC discovered FTL messaging systems and now use those to explore

[craggy finch]

If anything it’s likely only M1 events happened in this new game

[deep solar]

Sol simply developed better FTL tech in the 400ish years between the Marathon leaving and current events

[faint badger]

Yeah seems so. I'm rewatching some hidden xperia videos rn, and the time line doesn't seem to make sense now

[abstract sphinx]

I think that is covered in the opening cinematic, not sure if you can rewatch that somewhere but if you can it mentions it

[dreamy hawk]

The Equanimity iirc took/is taking 90 years to Marathon’s 300, and then there’s some things that have arrived within five years more recently.

[dreamy hawk]

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[livid lion]

FTL ship made by Traxus launched from the solar system 2888

[abstract sphinx]

They say it verbatim

[spark relic]

I also wonder if there's like a sekiguchi owned factory ship that creates your new shells in orbit or are the shells already manufactured and stored in the ships as backup stock

[dreamy hawk]

And not even all of those.

[craggy finch]

The biggest sticking point is M2 stating that Tau Ceti’s colony got bombed to dust three months after M1, but the Ozymandias short dates the Anomaly events to the early 2800s

[abstract sphinx]

We know they aren’t making us because they complain they can’t get our shells for data

So we skin ourselves and give them a chunk

[craggy finch]

There could still be a massive crater where the space port used to be

Plus details are still vague enough and it seems New Cascadia was actively suppressing information about the invasion

[dreamy hawk]

Nona mentions things being cobbled together; I don’t think it’s purpose-built, whatever we’re using, but instead we’re hijacking some other infrastructure already in place. Orion is a runner, so maybe we’re using things that were intended for him initially?

[craggy finch]

CyAc sees to be pulling your strings for the most part, but they’re a mystery since their representative is just your AI assistant

[dreamy hawk]

It seems like the P’fhor never made it into the atmosphere; there’s potentially damage, but I don’t think there was a proper attack on the colony the same way as in the og games.

[spark relic]

Ooh so like we're using already in place UESC materials/infrastructure

[dreamy hawk]

Or whatever infrastructure was used to build the FTL relay.

🤷

[craggy finch]

There’s an autopsy report of a an alien “combatant” matching the Pfhor’s description and the researchers remark that they were seen “in the field”, which implies there was some surface fighting

[wary merlin]

i wonder if we’ll go to lhowon at some point

[faint badger]

Seems like humanity can just send actual matter across the universe nearly instantly in this game

[craggy finch]

The nine Battleroids being in the colony also meant the Pfhor invasion on the surface wasn’t as destructive, especially since Leela mentions that they were more focused on the Marathon anyway

[spark relic]

Orbit to surface seems to be the hard max range limit

[wary merlin]

they’re somewhere in orbit

[faint badger]

They would have to send a ship in that case. A ship that would take centuries to arrive at Tau Ceti

[dreamy hawk]

I’m not convinced that no invasion happened, but it appears to have at the very least been more constrained/limited than what we know happened before.

[spark relic]

"Beam me up scotty" but first I gotta activate this exfil beacon

[craggy finch]

It did, everyone else seemed to be piggybacking

[wary merlin]

they probably figured faster methods of travel some time between the launch of the marathon and the events of the game

[faint badger]

Is it in the codex? I must admit I haven't bothered to read it yet

[craggy finch]

IIRC the only information we have is at the very beginning of the first game explaining that the space port got nuked and the very last terminal about the Battleroids

[dreamy hawk]

The Equanimity took 90, there are other things that took 5.

[craggy finch]

There’s a whole ARG thing about Project Goliath being planned as far back as 2795 when the Marathon went dark and the UESC deciding to send an expedition

[dreamy hawk]

The colony is also described as being “sacked,” and it doesn’t seem like that’s quite happened imo.

[craggy finch]

At the very least the Ozymandias short confirms the orbital bombardment happened

And some Pfhor and S’pht may have been on the surface if the autopsies are of corpses found around the colony

Rather than transferred from the Marathon

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t disagree!

[craggy finch]

I’d still love to see a cinematic of the nine Battleroids tearing up the Pfhor

Relegating all the non-Security Officer fighting to terminal text is blue balling, even if I understand technical limitations

[spark relic]

"They jumping me!" momment

I wonder if 9 runners could do the same

[dreamy hawk]

I would wager not even close.

[spark relic]

or are runners weaker than battleroids

[dreamy hawk]

100000%

[fossil zodiac]

From what I can gather, Runners aren’t nearly as powerful.

[dreamy hawk]

Shells are “cheap” and disposable, by design. Battleroids/Cyborgs are corpses turned WMDs stuffed with (in some cases) lost alien technology.

[craggy finch]

The Lost Network Packets also revolve around ship security we never see in game and they’re desperate

Our defenses are collapsing. I had no idea just how soft all of our security personnel have become. They just can't fight anymore. Maybe it was the stasis, or maybe they just never fought a hard fight.

I would shoot this terminal right now, if I thought that it would reach that damn AI. I might do it anyway, but ammunition is short. I've run out of ammo for my assault rifle, and the only flamethrower we had was lost when an elevator failed to function, and squad two was cut off.

[spark relic]

1/3 or 1/4 as strong?

and man battleroids sound amazing

[craggy finch]

Battleroids are probably beyond the level of even boss level UESC robots

[fathom egret]

we thinking we gunna see some fungal zombies in later udates?

[fossil zodiac]

Yeah they’re pretty dang scary

[fossil zodiac]

Maybe!

[dreamy hawk]

Nine battleroids essentially single-handedly drove off an alien invasion in the first game. A shell can’t handle more than a few potshots from a standard UESC drone.

[craggy finch]

It all goes back to the Flood, even the Marathon 2 concept art for fungus zombies is 100% prototype Flood

[fossil zodiac]

We’re as disposable as they come.

[craggy finch]

I’m hoping even the basic Pfhor fighter is an absolute menace

Imagine how badass a Hunter would be

[dreamy hawk]

Fungal zombies are a popular theory for Cryo archives.

[spark relic]

Wallahi, we are cooked if the Phor show up again

[fathom egret]

im so excited for enemies being added, and we know they are cuz of compiler. more will be revealed 😼

[fossil zodiac]

I hope we can find a flamethrower or some kind of incendiary weapon.

For the fungal bros

[fathom egret]

and those tick fucks

[dreamy hawk]

Hahahaha. “Nope.”

[willow vessel]

An AR with a Grenade Launcher

[fossil zodiac]

[deep solar]

I do really like the slow buildup of enemies starting with UESC to Compilers to whatever comes next

[craggy finch]

Those legally distinct Predators are something

[fossil zodiac]

Shotgun with dragon’s breath shells.

[craggy finch]

I like that the UESC robot grunts have allusions to the Pfhor ranks, if only roughly

The basic low level ones shooting lightning balls can’t be coincidental

[deep solar]

Mentally preparing us for the pfhor to replace eventually

[craggy finch]

I’m hoping it’s more map based

Would hate for later players to miss out on times when the UESC is PvE

[willow vessel]

How many maps are going to be added though

[fossil zodiac]

If we do fight fungal zombies, I wonder how tough they’d be to put down?

[fathom egret]

last thing will likely be a W'rkncacnter boss 😂

[willow vessel]

Final boss is Security Officer

[dreamy hawk]

It’s dreams, I hope.

[dreamy hawk]

I also have money on battleroids being introduced of at least one flavor.

[spark relic]

We are not destiny guardians lol

[fossil zodiac]

Seeing some kind of nightmare hellscape as a map would be neato

[craggy finch]

The W’rkncactner isn’t even a gameplay entity in the original games, the narrative just acknowledges everything is fucked once it wakes up and jumps to a timeline where the Security Officer can solve problems by shooting things and pressing terminals

[spark relic]

W'rkcacnter will literally unmake us lol

[dreamy hawk]

Or it’ll dream up horrors that manifest in the real world like in PiD.

[craggy finch]

I’m still leaning towards the Anomaly and fungus being similar symptoms

[subtle oracle]

alright well

[craggy finch]

Dreaming god shit

[subtle oracle]

breach is gone

[fathom egret]

hey man im just tryna go crazy here

[deep solar]

W’rkncacnter is more like a force of nature than anything

[dreamy hawk]

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

I’m borrowing this.

[craggy finch]

I know it’s just funny how the biggest threat in the original wasn’t even represented in gameplay because 90s FPS limits

[fathom egret]

the Anomaly is one of my fav things about this game

[dreamy hawk]

Narratively it also feels too big to fight. Like in Destiny, we never actually fight the Darkness.

[fossil zodiac]

I don’t even think we as Runners have any means of doing much against what’s essentially a cosmic entity.

[fathom egret]

lol the witness was like a bunch of parts and still felt small

[craggy finch]

That sort of begs the question of them bringing it to Tau Ceti; I’m considering that Tau Ceti was marked for the colony because of something dormant in the planet and everything else was just a cover story

[fathom egret]

or whatver he called

[craggy finch]

John Pathways detonates a nuke to seal Paul Darkness

[fathom egret]

im a lil drunk

[fossil zodiac]

K.O. A god. 😂

[craggy finch]

From a guy who dented his rifle parachuting in and just ends up fiddling with crystals

[dreamy hawk]

The witness was canonically a poser which I don’t know if it makes it better or worse.

[fossil zodiac]

Just hope for the best. ❤️

[willow vessel]

Considering how many of my teammates have died to a farting fungus and ticks. i think you are correct

[fossil zodiac]

I do wonder if exposure to whatever is on/in Tau Ceti has any effect on our consciousness? Like, any irregularities or anomalous issues.

[dreamy hawk]

Seems to affect AI, at least. How similar are digitized consciousnesses? 👀

[fossil zodiac]

Maybe we’re becoming corrupted by being there.

[zealous laurel]

Tune in NEXT TIME on Dragon Ball Z wait shit wrong franchise

[dreamy hawk]

Honestly think that’s the least of our concerns. I’m convinced CYAC and co are doing things to our memories.

[lapis gulch]

🍻

[fossil zodiac]

Oh no doubt. Selling everything you are to a corpo and hoping they’ll have your best interests at heart? Nahhhhhh.

[silk pond]

my regular teamate is like a magnet to those fungus things, no matter what he always ends up settting them off lol

[spark relic]

Yeah, CyAc probably already making use of our slight amnesia to have mommy ONI coerce us to work for the factions

[fossil zodiac]

Feed us false narratives, lie to us about who we are with the gaps in our memory.

[spark relic]

Cause ONI is like one of the first other "sentient" being we meet after drifting in space for how know how long even tho shes in our heads

[willow vessel]

one of my randoms had a purple shield. he shot the fungus. ran into the fart. then died to a tick

[spark relic]

The exploding target balls are one of the few npc enemies that make me scared lmao

[hasty rain]

I hope for eventual Jjaro ruins maps below TCIV's surface

[spark relic]

We bout to Indiana Jones this shit baby

[latent python]

Where's my crystal skulllll

Watch me nuke this fridge

[fossil zodiac]

What if we fight something similar to the Rat King from TLOU in Cryo? Flesh melded together, multiple bodies fused.

[latent python]

I feel like there might be something like that down on TCIV

[spark relic]

Like a resisdent evil boss but fungal zombie?

[hasty rain]

Fungus infected Pfhor, yeah, maybe eventually

[fossil zodiac]

Look up Rat King TLOU 2

It’s a nasty beast

[grand venture]

I think the UESC or whatever corporation happily will print as many shells as the runners want, since it delays the inevitable realization they’re never going to be free again

[spark relic]

You could say it was Phor-gotten down there till we came along

[fossil zodiac]

Oh? Any clues?

[twin trout]

me, I'm down there

[latent python]

Well the novel contagion did...things to people

[visual lynx]

I think that that is correct. On Rise Robot Rise Tycho tells us that our "friends" (which Greg confirms in an interview with Hamish means the other cyborgs) were "translated to Pfhor slave tanks" like ourselves, though not all survived the process; while in M2, Tycho tells us that the other nine cyborgs were easily distinguished blips on his sensors when the whole colony was being nuked to bedrock. Implying that in that timeline (which is the root of the final timeline) that nuking to bedrock did not happen.

[willow vessel]

looks like s'pht might hit the fan

[visual lynx]

why helo when you can just marton?

[fossil zodiac]

Didn’t see ya, oops.

[fossil zodiac]

Tell me more about this contagion. I’ve heard about it a little bit, but nothing super specific

[visual lynx]

yeah I think none of that happened: #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[visual lynx]

in my teens I imagined him as Sean Connery for some reason

[willow vessel]

poor novels got infected...

[visual lynx]

didn't happen in this timeline apparently

[fossil zodiac]

So are we in a potentially worse timeline?

[latent python]

We don't have fine details on the novel contagion, but we know that the colony was dealing with something that affected both colonists and food storage and maybe even computer systems and AI, possibly even switching between biological and informatic vectors. And all the weird fungal goo in Overflow outside of the Data Wall seems to be related

[fossil zodiac]

Like relative to other ones.

[latent python]

Well...the other timelines released an eldritch horror that unravelled all of reality

[keen plank]

There was a highly invasive fungus seemingly native to tau Ceti that infected the colonists crops, causing them to fail. It then spread to many the colonists causing them to get sick and be quarantined. The anomaly appeared and made the fungus even worse. Despite draconian UESC measures and the biomedical team working themselves to the bone, they could never replicate the data, all studies were inconclusive, and the samples spontaneously combusted.

Eventually supplies ran lower and lower as more and more chaos spread.

[visual lynx]

worse in some, better in others .teh colony didn't get nuked to bedrock in Oct 2794 apparently. but also humanity didn't help sack the Pfhor empire in 2881 apparently.

[fossil zodiac]

Makes me worry now how we can’t find corpses

[fossil zodiac]

I see! Interesting. 🤔

[keen plank]

You can find Clarissa Song’s body pinned by fungus to the Data Wall. She studied the fungus intensely and it eventually claimed her.

[willow vessel]

there is one body you can find in dire marsh

[latent python]

Indeed! Which is why I wonder if there is a mass of fungal colonist goo out there

[tranquil basin]

Sekiguchi, and yeah but the runners themselves are in tons of debt and they will opt for the occasional rook to be in less debt. Also that would depend on how efficiently Sekiguchi can produce shells

[fossil zodiac]

I need to explore more it seems.

[tranquil basin]

I mean the UESC has also been here for a bit, they probably cleaned up to hide stuff

[latent python]

The ticks aren't native to TC, right?

[willow vessel]

inside the data wall? or outside? i cant remember

[tranquil basin]

They are

[willow vessel]

they are

[twin trout]

there's also a uesc robot in dire marsh eaten by the mould which raises interesting questions :3

[fossil zodiac]

Maybe so!

[keen plank]

Inside iirc.. not too far from the entrance.

[visual lynx]

unless they are just the first dreams of the buried w'rkncacnter manifested

[keen plank]

“And NOW, we speak of OTHER THINGS!”

[willow vessel]

ima have to get a ScreenShot of that one

[latent python]

Hmm but I thought there were ticks on l'howon in M2

[visual lynx]

like shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, and cabbages,and kings? and why the sea is boiling hot… and whether pigs have wings?

[fossil zodiac]

I’m also curious to see what other maps we’ll get beyond the Marathon itself.

[twin trout]

if they were in fact ticks and nyot just a similar looking enemy then that could point at the [I can't spell it, the waves and so on so forth that fellow] being the common link between the two different areas, making them a [I still can't spell it] creation :3

[dreamy hawk]

https://marathongame.fandom.com/wiki/Tick

There were ticks but they were flying creatures that do not resemble the current ticks.

[tranquil basin]

I thought you hated that idea

[visual lynx]

different Ticks. the Tau Ceti Ticks more closely resemble M1 Lookers

[keen plank]

“Of the formless devourers, made of DREAMS! Who sleep in BURNING PRISONS! Of the shapeshifters sated by the cascading IMAGININGS of primitive sentience! Omnivores of intellect and the energies of waking life!”

[drifting mulch]

Unrelated to lore but doesn’t it read like it’s about synthsilk https://x.com/gaurab/status/2033386745698582858

[tranquil basin]

I wonder how this will affect sekiguchi

[willow vessel]

synth milk..

[spark relic]

Nona milk

[keen plank]

Premium Tick protein! All natural. Definitely nutritious.

[twin trout]

tastes like milk. Isn't.

[spark relic]

Takes one sip

Dies

[dense delta]

trying to get one now

[willow vessel]

Nice

[keen plank]

Oh it’s safe to drink. Just don’t think of what it’s made of….

[willow vessel]

i want the Marathon 1 AR

yummy grenade launcher

[keen plank]

I like the audio logs where we see how drinkable cheeseburgers are flavored.

“We don’t care if the flavor profile is green. We just want to make sure it’s not in the red.”

[twin trout]

corporations nowadays tbh

X3

[spark relic]

Yeah, i wonder if it's fully liquid

Or like a blended burger that is so blendered it can be drunk

[twin trout]

☝️ 🤓 erm it's drank

[willow vessel]

drinked

[twin trout]

shimmy shimmy yea shimmy yay shimmy yaaah

drank

shwalalalaah

[mild fossil]

soooo new map whennnnnnnnnn

[willow vessel]

When it releases. US Time

[mild fossil]

i want it NOW

I have like 15 keys

[dense delta]

Won't let me post it here

mind if I dm?

[mild fossil]

I honestly hate that they added the keys to the map to the loot pool

[willow vessel]

go ahead

[dense delta]

sent =]

[drifting mulch]

dranken

[late crown]

Can someone give me a run down on the lore I’m pretty confused I watched all the vids and stuff I get maybe 25 percent of it

[willow vessel]

Current lore?

[tranquil basin]

Watch hidden Xperia vids

[willow vessel]

or everything lore

[tranquil basin]

For marton 1-3 and the new ones

[willow vessel]

yeah hiddenxperia is good for lore videos

[late crown]

Current lore like this game lore or all whichever is better to learn

[keen plank]

Colony lore or Marathon series lore?

[late crown]

If sending a vid is better send one

[keen plank]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1rin9ny/the_complete_story_of_marathon_tldr_or_the_lore/

[gritty burrow]

The mandalore gaming review trilogy is a decent recap but it’s long and includes sections on the games themselves

[willow vessel]

https://youtu.be/f9H1fMIFGyc?si=O50r0X-j8C67yB--

this one is the original story

[keen plank]

And here’s a breakdown I made of what happens to the colony:

• A very strange fungal infection breaks out and proceeds to contaminate and infect many crops. You can see some fungal-infested corpses on certain maps. Most notably Dr. Song's body is pinned to the wall of Datamines. Dire Marsh is partially turned into a quarantine zone. The colony leadership tries to keep people calm. Scientists study the samples. They sponaneously combust and defy all logic. Every test is inconclusive and the data is irreplicable. Which is wild.

• UESC Leadership under Reed and others begins to get very...strict. The older colonists remember the attack, but the newer ones being woken up don't. They kill and silence people trying to spread the truth. There's an audio log of someone trying to warn the new ones while they eat before he's quickly subjugated. And they have no problem killing their own leadership or other leadership.

• As things worsen on the colony, an upstart and small splinter religious faction emerge. This pagan cult worships the Spht as "crimson angels' and, concerningly, the W'rkncacnter as gods. Considering one may be sealed in Tau Ceti's sun, not only are people turning to religion but to a cult based around cosmic horror-creating eldritch beings.

• The Anomaly appears in Dire Marsh and things get even weirder. There's a lot we don't know about it yet, but it seems unconnected to the fungus. It's temporal in nature and seems to mess with both time and space. Could be connected to the weirdness of Infinite. Could be something else. Makes the fungus worse.

• Slowly, steadily, people lose hope. Distress signals are launched and are never received. More and more people begin to experience similar nightmares that show them their dead colleagues and family. People die. Crops start to fail from the fungus. More people die. Basic supplies start to dwindle. Coffee becomes a treasure. It's getting...grim.

• Thoughout this entire process, various AI are entering various stages of Rampancy.

• It becomes increasingly clear to some, but not all that Tau Ceti itself may not want humanity there. We do not know the full extent, but many believe it, including the AI Darius. While at first this was dismissed as paranoia or conspiracy talk, particularly by those unfrozen later, things are so bad that it's starting become more credible.

• At an unknown point of time, the Marathon ship returns. We don't know what that implies yet, and there's much more still to learn as the map is unlocked. A Thoth-Merged Durandal, who feels regret for what he did to the colonists, is observing. Having achieved meta stability, he is the most powerful AI of all time, at least as far as we know.

• An unknown sender sends a message from the UESC Marathon: ("Somewhere in the heavens they are waiting.") This is the first message to reach earth from Tau Ceti.

• Earth fights over what to do. Some want a full military fleet. Some what something smaller or more cautious. The result is project Goliath, the UESC response to find out what the hell happened to the colony. A large amount of Runners under the direction of Cyberacme smuggle themselves aboard in cargo. As well as the materials to make & maintain them. Project Goliath makes it to Tau Ceti.

• There, as we try to figure out what's happening ourselves, a new gold rush for resources has been created. Various other organizations, including corporations with some legal rights to things like salvage or tech hire us to find information, steal resources for them, or even obfuscate their liability. The UESC notices and is currently preparing a counter-offensive, set to take place in autumn centered around a night-version of Dire Marsh.

• As Runners figure out how to break into the Marathon ship to steal things, they receive several messages from Durandal. He's very dismissive of us compared to humans. Labeling us as "Cruel." Basically, he's watching everything and inviting us to the ship.

[dreamy hawk]

Me gusta a lot but why are we sure it’s Thoth/Durandal?

[keen plank]

This game takes place after 2 and more and more evidence suggests it may take place after Infinite. But Infinite is also inherently weird.

[visual lynx]

At an unknown point of time, the Marathon ship returns
returns to where from where?

The Marathon was left in Tau Ceti IV orbit after the initial Pfhor attack and never left after that, unless new lore suggests otherwise.

Having achieved meta stability
not a thing

[keen plank]

It’s unclear. We know the ship goes dark and that the colonists consider using it to travel back to earn but we don’t know enough yet.

[latent python]

Metastability is a theorized thing

[visual lynx]

The end result is project Goliath
this was 95 years earlier than where you place it

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t know if I’m sold on that placement in the timeline necessarily. There’s reason to think things didn’t follow the conventional M1 path.

[keen plank]

Does Durandal not work his way through all 3 stages and then achieve stability via his merger with Thoth?

[keen plank]

Got it. I’ll update.

[visual lynx]

no, the term "meta-stable" is only ever used once, in the present tense, by Durandal, of himself and Tycho, during the events of Marathon 2, suggesting it just means "rampant"

[sterile seal]

Skip that whiny nerd there's better lore channels out there for Marathon

[visual lynx]

there is no mention of what stage he is in after he's last stated to be in the jealous stage in Marathon 1

[mint hamlet]

like who?

[latent python]

Sure, Durandal might be flattering himself that he's reached a stage past jealousy but I dunno, it's possible

[keen plank]

I thought most of one and 2 was him working through the various stages. By infinite doesn’t he make it to the heat death of the universe or at least come close?

[visual lynx]

Considering one is sealed in the sun of Tau Ceti's moon
what does this mean? the sun of it's moon would just be its own sun, and we have no information about a W'rk being sealed in there, or anywhere, though there are strong hints that one may be imprisoned within TCIV itself

[sterile seal]

Onepeg and Byf have some good vids

[latent python]

If we're referring to the w'rkncacnter from Infinity, that one is in lh'owon's star

[visual lynx]

he goes through all three stages by the end of 1, and there's no mention of stage in 2 or Infinity; he is around at the Big Crunch (not heat death) billions of years later year.

[sterile seal]

As a Halo fan I admit I've got an axe to grind with HX lol

[terse wren]

No u dont understand its the son of the moon. Its moonpreg

[sterile seal]

There was a doctor who episode about that

[keen plank]

Typo. It seems like several of them have been sealed in suns.

Some think the anomaly is an example of a dreaming one’s power leaking out of the planet as well.

[visual lynx]

the weirdness of Infinite
Infinity

[sterile seal]

Im still kinda attached to the idea that the two Tycho timelines are the same lol

[digital plaza]

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[visual lynx]

A large amount of Runners under the direction of Cyberacme smuggle themselves aboard in cargo. As well as the materials to make & maintain them. Project Goliath makes it to Tau Ceti.
It's unclear but the runners seem to have come on a separate trip that departed 91 years after the Equanimity, and the Equanimity hasn't yet arrived by the time they do. (2888->2893, while Equanimity is scheduled 2797->2894)

[sterile seal]

wish Marathon Pfhor had a proper subtitle

[latent python]

The gold rush for resources also has something to do with the weirdness on TCIV, because a bunch of the salvage materials we're pulling out say something like "destabilized matter"

[visual lynx]

oh yeah I think all three Tycho timelines branch off of each other: the start of Despair is the root of them, Rage pt 2 branches off the middle of that, and Envy branches off the end of that.

[sterile seal]

Basically a bad end branch for M1 that further branches off

We're basically uranium prospectors fighting not only each other but the US Army

[dense delta]

-# this games story is wild lol

[visual lynx]

it's kind of a better end for M1 because the SO being left behind seems to somehow prevent the colony from being nuked the bedrock

it's also arguably the canon end of M1 because where we end M1, Durandal has already departed and not taken us with him, so if anything M2 is the variant timeline

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t know. Maybe the colonists deserved to be nuked to bedrock.

[latent python]

Bold

[sterile seal]

Thats an interesting thought, maybe that's why Tau Ceti is slightly more intact in the current timeline?

[keen plank]

“We’re monsters.” - General Reed

[sterile seal]

The Pfhor were so pissed they couldn't get a full set of 10 cyborgs they nuked the planet

[wet shard]

where can i read a lore rundown for marathon

[keen plank]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1rin9ny/the_complete_story_of_marathon_tldr_or_the_lore/

[craggy finch]

Yeah I read up on how M2 was a functional retcon and recall that the last chapter ends with a screen of the Security Officer helping an injured BoB

M2 implied that he got kidnapped immediately after that last teleport

[tranquil basin]

Hidden Xperia vids and Jake alright

[visual lynx]

what's weird is that even when M1 came out, Bungie was planning what they called the "20/10 Pack", 20 more solo levels and 10 multiplayer levels, which evolved into Marathon 2 eventually. So they knew they were going to have a continuation of the story and I presume a rough idea of what it would be about. So why not end the game proper on a cliffhanger teasing that, like you beam out and the last chapter screen shows you beaming into a Pfhor stasis chamber screaming.

[keen plank]

Things get even weirder when you consider the connections to Pathways into Darkness.

[visual lynx]

unless their plan for the 20/10 pack involved you staying at Tau Ceti… and maybe fighting off the Pfhor return invasion? maybe the whole plot for the planned 20/10 back got shunted into an offhand comment about what happened to the colony while you went to Lh'owon with Durandal in marathon 2?

[craggy finch]

Speaking of Pfhor prison, do you think the victim in the chapter screen of Captured is the Security Officer (his face is opened with a bunch of metal bits poking out)

[visual lynx]

oh yeah definitely

[keen plank]

I like your thinking. They keep teasing the Pfthor in game and I could see them as a new enemy faction that would be released in the future.

[craggy finch]

He’s also depicted in almost all of the chapter screens up until then, after which they show different scenes

[latent python]

Thinking of the alternate world where all the Marathon games are just the SO fighting off the Pfhor every 10 years when they keep coming back to TC

This alternate world is boring

[craggy finch]

That picture of Moe kicking Barney out

[visual lynx]

I have a loose idea about an alternate world where I made my planned prequel to Eternal as an M1 scenario, where the SO is still colony-side as the Pfhor attack and they lose, and there's an Infinity-style time loop involving him eventually going up to the Marathon during the attack, earlier and earlier into the attack, until the successful timeline is when he goes up before the attack even begins, which is why boarding the Marathon feels like something from an old dream that he can't exactly remember… and then canon M1 is a continuation of that victory.

then Infinity is slightly different: it picks up where M1 left off, the SO still at Marathon, gets abducted by the Pfhor, is working for Tycho, basically the Despair arc of Infinity, but he eventually switches sides to Durandal, earlier and earlier in the timeline, until he finds a timeline where Durandal takes him before he even left Tau Ceti… and that's the plot of M2, and the successful timeline.

and then likewise a third proper game with a mission to that rogue star which turns out to have something to do with the Nakh, and then a timey-wimey prequel of sorts to that too.

a fourth involving the full-on war against the Pfhor in which the Drinniol once again revolt, joining the S'pht against the Pfhor, and a timey-wimey prequel to that.

and then a fifth that is basically Halo, the timey-wimey prequel to which is Eternal.

[drifting mulch]

bungie loves the timey-wimey, maybe we will have PvE raids based on the timey-wimey. even end of Halo Infinite had time manipulation! that's a different studio that branched off from bungie. very sad they will never make campaign DLC for Halo Infinite

[late crown]

This is the first game I’ve left the soundtrack audio on for I’m amazed

[sudden pollen]

It goes so hard, even in game its perfect

Cryo is going to be legitimately terrifying, I really wonder what insanity they're hiding in that "7th vault"

[terse wren]

I've got this shit blastin in my car hahahaha

[sudden pollen]

Hell yeah 🔥

[terse wren]

I always want In Death We've Just Begun to come on tho

[desert rampart]

are the clothes physically a part of the shells 🤔

[sudden pollen]

Likely not

[tranquil basin]

I’m hoping they stick to time dilation and select splintered timelines and not changing the past too much

[tranquil basin]

Depends, I think some of them don’t even have outer wear

[jade wagon]

🎶DEE
dee
dee🎶

[peak halo]

I have a stupid question about something pretty basic: i'm assuming that the UESC robots we're fighting are also consciousnesses uploaded to frames, no? Or are they just regular robots? Or are uesc soldiers piloting them remotely?

[twin trout]

they're robots controlled by a uesc ai called cerberus :3

[peak halo]

Ah

There are times when Barion Reed refers to "his men" so I was a little confused

[sudden pollen]

|| Rogue AI deployed by Orion 😨 ||

[faint ingot]

I'm new here but are people thinking that the game is an alternative reality to the OG timeline?

[dense delta]

Seems to be

at least imo

[copper citrus]

why alternative?

[visual lynx]

it's probably the final timeline of Infinity, which is an alternate timeline to the M2 timeline because Infinity is all about timelines and time travel

[drifting mulch]

Nona says they're robot but my worm baby's also a big liar so who knows

[visual lynx]

M1 is canon to all of them though

[peak halo]

I assume the game is going to be agnostic towards the OG timeline, plucking whatever elements it wants to use, and worrying about it is futile to me.

[visual lynx]

Bungie have said that everything that happened in the classic games happened in the new game (but that not everything everyone said was true)

[feral rune]

puppy

[tranquil basin]

Orion, the guy commanding them, does have a shell. Maybe there are more like him? But the majority are just ai bots

[craggy finch]

The codex refers to the grunts you fight as autonomous robots

It explains how they fall for Rook’s ability

[tranquil basin]

Oh that’s the guy from the colony era. He was a colonist who is (probably) dead, but he had human military people who came from the marathon

[sage lark]

Whos that

Theres Davic Reed

[tranquil basin]

General Reed

He says his middle name

[sage lark]

Oh

[tranquil basin]

It’s Barion or Byron or something lemme look

[sage lark]

Yeah General Reed had actual people

Not robots

[karmic wasp]

Something not Soo lore related

Could based doom guy beat Mjolnir 54

[tranquil basin]

Davic Barion Reed

[tranquil basin]

Base doom guy like from the ogs?

No he’s fucked

[karmic wasp]

Emotional support plushie

[karmic wasp]

Yep xd

I knew

Ok how about

[tranquil basin]

Yeah I don’t think he’d survive very long even with all that anger

[karmic wasp]

Post m Infinity mjolnerd

Or

Doom slayer

Hmm

[tranquil basin]

That’s a good question