📚marathon-lore-discussion

[terse wren]

Spoken like a true Chicago grad

[lunar cove]

Dan Simmons was just the right type of weird to make something genuinely amazing in Hyperion 1 but not to follow it up

[latent python]

And I absolutely love The Dark Forest, which you need to have read Three Body Problem for

[dreamy hawk]

Actually just started these the other day. 😂

Consider Phlebas is great so far.

[light bobcat]

I also enjoyed The Golden Oecumene series greatly but it's very niche from what I understand

And a more cyberpunk novel I picked up recently was Titanium Noir, bit of scifi detective fiction.

[silver void]

Ive kind of shied away from three body problem because Im unsure of how much of the hype around it is just chinese nationalism over having a book and ive been burned before by unlimited retellings of journey to the west

[dreamy hawk]

I’d recommend Machineries of Empire for a new one.

[light bobcat]

Three Body Problem is kind of overhyped imo

[plush juniper]

Whats up my fellow shells

[light bobcat]

Nerd stuff as always

[lunar cove]

I thought 3BP was fine but the concepts were way more compelling than the writing

[latent python]

Okay I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna start a scifi reading list tonight

Hold me to it

[plush juniper]

I have a lore question if anyone can help
The recon has a UESC badge with a tape X over it, why is it on one of our shells?

[lunar cove]

I double checked the translation since I wondered if maybe something was being lost in the jump between languages and it seems like it was pretty faithfully adapted into English

[latent python]

3BP is fine, I love Dark Forest

Like that's where it clicked for me

[lunar cove]

It always felt like the kind of franchise that goes hard to read about on a wiki but never quite drew me in with the actual writing

[dreamy hawk]

I have a fiction list I could send you, if you want.

Actually it’s a lot of Culture novels. Maybe not helpful.

[latent python]

Like a Marathon fiction list or a list of favorites

[silver void]

Hey thats fine

As long as it doesnt have brian herbert novels on it ill take it

[dreamy hawk]

Just a list.

No Herbert novels!

[latent python]

Basically I'm just going to add anything people mention as good sci-fi, especially if it's related to Marathon

[golden wharf]

Hi, is there somewhere I can go to see the summary or join in on the discussions regarding the ARG? I'd like to be more involved (even though this season is already well in hand)

[lunar cove]

#breach-protocol is this discord's channel

[silver void]

Thats in the breach channel or the arg discord

[dreamy hawk]

• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
• A Fire Upon Deep by Vernor Vinge
• Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
• I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Consider Phlebas by Ian M. Banks
• The Player of Games by Ian M. Banks
• Use of Weapons by Ian M. Banks
• The State of the Art by Ian M. Banks
• Excession by Ian M. Banks
• Inversions by Ian M. Banks
• Look to Windward by Ian M. Banks
• Matter by Ian M. Banks
• Surface Detail by Ian M. Banks
• The Hydrogen Sonata by Ian M. Banks
• Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut
• Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
• Ringworld by Larry Niven
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
• I Have No Mouth and Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
• The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
• The Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Will of the Many by James
• Contact by Carl Sagan

[lunar cove]

The vibe there has been a little up and down as the ARG has gone on

[dreamy hawk]

My nonfiction is longer. I don’t read enough. 😕🙃

[quiet current]

I love the ideas in the series but holy shit does it have some bizarre writing as you get deeper in

[silver void]

How so?

[quiet current]

It just gets pretty incel-y from my memory, there’s a lot of like perfect Mary Sue character designed to be the Perfect Mate for the main guy. I’m a hater and may be overstating this lol.

[lunar cove]

don't forget Bionicle Adventures 6: Maze of Shadows

[quiet current]

Blood Music by Greg Bear

[silver void]

Nah I get it, couldnt bring myself to read neuromancer because of this stuff really early on

[lunar cove]

Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron

[silver void]

Men writing women ect.

[latent python]

I get past that in Neuromancer by recognizing that the main character is pathetic

[silver void]

Ill have to try that

[latent python]

He gets a get out of addiction free card and spends the rest of the book trying to find a drug he can get addicted to

[quiet current]

Oh wow, what a fun coincidence that this pdf of “all tomorrows” is hosted on “marsh speedrun wiki” http://marsh.speedrunwiki.com/Text/alltomorrows.pdf

[dreamy hawk]

Added!

[lunar cove]

Me playing Fallout ngl

[latent python]

I didn't realize I have already read these because I forgot that's what the series was called

But yes they good

[grand venture]

Kinda weird they didn’t fix the certificate

[inland crypt]

Time Trap > others tbh

[zealous laurel]

Ben Starr is the best "Clearly Disturbed AI" voice next to Harlan Ellison's AM, imo

[silver void]

Hope we get a lot more Ben Starr

[dreamy hawk]

Oh well that’s exciting. I also should read IHNMIMS.

[latent python]

It's pretty quick

[silver void]

Verso is the most compelling character ive seen in fiction in a decade probably and a lot of that is delivery

[polar stone]

I miss the old games, fallout 4 is awful.

And if Starfield and fallout 4 was anything to go by.

I don't have much faith in Bethesda's future.

[vapid oriole]

Starfield was god awful

I’ll never forgive them for that game ngl

[light bobcat]

Spin State by Chris Moriarty is also a good one, or at least compelling enough nonsense that I read it through to the end. I should crack it open again.

[lunar cove]

Fallout 4 is a questionable game but it's also the only game that's good at being Fallout 4, and sometimes that's the game I'm craving.

Starfield isn't even good at being Fallout 4 though, which is a problem

[latent python]

Didn't bungo help with gun mechanics on one of the fallouts

[nocturne juniper]

GUYS _philomena is orion's ex lover

the lore is so yummy

im hungry for more

orion's character is so complex

i love it

[latent python]

That will make it better when we get to kill him in a boss fight

[nocturne juniper]

i find it pity for orion because of mida, he views us the same as them

hes a brutal man but he wont cross a line

[dreamy hawk]

Which entries?

[nocturne juniper]

this is just my assumption

its in the mida's contract

but mida and orion go way back

[inland crypt]

Who is Philomena?

[lunar cove]

Yeah one of the Mida entries about Orion says he had a former relationship with a Mida operative. Not certain the length or type of the top of my head but that's accurate

[nocturne juniper]

from what i can deduce mida's seem want to use _philomena like as an emotional leverage to orion

[nocturne juniper]

a mida agent

[inland crypt]

Is that all we know?

[quiet current]

Probably relevant: St. Philomena is the patron saint of babies and youth

[nocturne juniper]

@inland crypt

[inland crypt]

Thanks

[dreamy hawk]

||BACKGROUND: Clashed with APHELION Group on Mars and Luna. Worked in high-security detention units on Luna, notorious for cruelties like "corrective isolation" and "punitive force-feeding". Publicly advocates for the use of "bio-augment manipulation" as a "persuasion tactic" (read: legalized torture). Held the company line at the Vallis Bohr Revolt, wiped up the blood at Jezero Crater Massacre, suspected ties to the Children of Mars erasure conspiracy. Suspected of deploying an unregulated and publicly undisclosed military AI, Cerberus, capable of mass violence.
VULNERABILITIES: Two strikes for insubordination during early UESC career; purged from the record when leadership swapped over after Jezero. Personal relationship to MIDA agent "_philomena", estranged.||

[lament tusk]

could it be we have durandal-thoth? I was listening to entry_0994 and durdandal's voice oddy morphs into a wholly different, angrier tone 🤔

[dreamy hawk]

That’s a bit compelling imo. Also Orion isn’t very nice. 🙃

[nocturne juniper]

orion stressing over the anamoly, stressing over the coucil pushing him, stressing about us (runners) interfering, stressing about trying to control the situation

[inland crypt]

I will not tolerate Orion slander, he is my favorite

[dreamy hawk]

Control freak.

[quiet current]

RUNNAH
WE NEED YOU TO BECOME ORION’S 13TH REASON

[nocturne juniper]

THATS WHY HES COMPLEX

[dreamy hawk]

I love him too but “legalized torture?”

[nocturne juniper]

oh im loving the lore

[dreamy hawk]

There are no “good guys” in Marathon.

[inland crypt]

You take the good with the bad

[dreamy hawk]

Except Joy. Sweet, sweet Joy. 😭

[inland crypt]

Sometimes you gotta fire 47 Shiva missiles at a grunt

[silver void]

Could be yeah, my personal theory right now is that the entire scenario is a simulation esque realm where durandel is god

Would make sense for that to de durandel-thoth if they want to make it directly connect to previous game

[soft girder]

Oh damn I haven't listened to those files yet...

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t think it’s Durandal Thoth.

I don’t think anything after M1 happened, and M1 doesn’t seem to have happened in its entirety, either.

[inland crypt]

Where can I unlock all of the Orion stuff, I only got him via traxus

[silver void]

Mida has a bunch of orion stuff

[soft girder]

MIDA quests. They're looking for leverage

[dreamy hawk]

It could be infinity shenanigans but it seems like it’s just a fork in the universe, be it Wrk or Dev related.

[inland crypt]

Theyre looking to slander my goat

But my rook needs claymores so...

[quiet current]

May Allah Guide My Rook and His Tactical CE Pistol

[soft girder]

Something I've been thinking about...

In the OG trilogy the Marathon is literally the hollowed out shell of Deimos. Now, it's a 26 mile long (rumored, people have tried measuring) skewer with Deimos stuck on it.

...What's it even dragging the moon along for? Resource extraction?

[silver void]

Probably just the rule of cool tbh

[dreamy hawk]

They can still use the interior for space.

[latent python]

We think Deimos is still hollowed out

[nocturne juniper]

i cant wait for orion to crashout

[quiet current]

Is that why it’s fucking called “Marathon”. Damn

[nocturne juniper]

surely he will crashout

[inland crypt]

Orion vender is coming soon 100%

Probably in season 3

[quiet current]

There are already UESC contracts in the discord right?

[inland crypt]

I will be a UESC shill or whatever his faction will be when it comes out

[inland crypt]

Afaik no, but im not a good resource for this question

[silver void]

Once the phor invade orion will need our help

[inland crypt]

We are gonna trigger something bad in the Cryo Archive

[nocturne juniper]

juggling with the anomaly that cause 30,000 people disappeared , the haunted ship (marathon), mega corps chiming in, immortal runners interfering with hes control, crazy admiral (sulera) screaming in his ear to go do work MORE faster...

bro is a ticking time bomb

[inland crypt]

And season 2 will be focusing on us rather than the phfor, then season 3 will be Phfor. Thats my guess

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t think we’d get a P’fhor invasion; they’d just glass the surface if there’s no people to enslave and only bots. I think we’ll fight them but in less overt ways; maybe remnants or something.

We might get skeletons tho! 💀

[latent python]

Everyone the SO didn't beat up

[inland crypt]

Season 4 will take place on the planet Reach

[nocturne juniper]

_philomena is the 🍒 ontop of the cake

[acoustic harbor]

"I got a bone to pick with you"

[latent python]

Ooh do you think we'll get those barrier guys from the pyramid

[inland crypt]

What's Orion's type

[silver void]

I wonder how they will handle priority contracts and wipes since they are pretty integral to the main story of the season rn and from what I understand its supposed to evolve and grow

[dreamy hawk]

I’m inclined to think the SO got beat up in this timeline.

[inland crypt]

Like does he like someone who is top heavy or bottom heavy?

Or maybe neither

[dreamy hawk]

Me, I hope.

[silver void]

This

[latent python]

Fishboy just said 🍒 on top

[soft girder]

With Durandal's "you think you can follow my path to the stars" comment, I wonder if the corps will find out where the Phfor Homeworld is and go full gold rush. New map set, funky alien weapons, etc.

In the distant future at least. Narratively it seems more believable than the Phfor coming back for some reason

[inland crypt]

So he has good taste then

[silver void]

I dont think the phor ever attacked in the first place in this timeline

[dreamy hawk]

That’s an idea. Would be interesting how we pull it off without the eleventh clan though.

[dreamy hawk]

They did. We have evidence.

[silver void]

Where?

[dreamy hawk]

Xenobiopsy comes to mind, first.

[inland crypt]

Pfhuck the pfhor

[sleek flume]

Where do I find the ARG community? Their average IQ level needs serious help

[inland crypt]

#breach-protocol and the threads in there

[digital plaza]

https://youtu.be/xQjvQ9p29Xo?is=XuBQoMj3DjWXDaTC , https://youtu.be/majfzvSTO3A?is=vAmwXPjVQWN746ir

[inland crypt]

No way, my favorite emoji is here

[lunar cove]

Then who shot the Marathon and left the Compilers?

[quiet current]

My hope is it’ll just be new priority contracts

[dreamy hawk]

||]: Begin recording.
[SDOR]: This is Major Saviel Dorata, assisted by Hanza Blau, performing an exploratory dissection on an extraterrestrial combatant, reference number 003021. Specimen collected following the event.
[SDOR]: Outside of the combat necropsies performed during the contact event this will mark the fourth exploratory dissection of the [REDACTED]…
[SDOR]: Oop… Gabriel… Scratch that last—
[HBLA]: Major?
[SDOR]: […]
[SDOR]: Right. System… Scratch the last few words of my previous statement from the record. From [REDACTED] to [REDACTED]. Include these mentions and any that follow.
[SDOR]: Will take time getting used to Gabriel's absence up here.
[SDOR]: Whole place feels… quieter… without our friends.
[HBLA]: Infosec says—
[SDOR]: I'm not challenging the necessity. Just adjusting to the reality. Probably best we focus…
[HBLA]: […]
[SDOR]: After you…
[HBLA]: Yeah. Yeah… The, um… The specimen is 193 centimeters long—or tall, rather—and weighs 72 point… Let's call it six… 72.6 kilograms. It presents a mixture of both arthropodal and vertebrate characteristics. The subject is hairless and has no finger- or toenails. It is bipedal, so it has been arranged on the examination table adaxial side up.||

[digital plaza]

• whole xenobiopsy codex series

[dreamy hawk]

^ character count limited me. This is better

[soft girder]

Yeah honestly I can see getting new contracts each season, since there's nothing but some voice lines, text and "hey plug into this terminal" sometimes. It's relatively low-effort storytelling which is smart for this

[inland crypt]

So do general Marathon 2026 fans know about the aliens?

[silver void]

Vaguely

[inland crypt]

Cuz the marketing is making it sound like a surprise

[dreamy hawk]

It looks like Marathon was attacked by the P’fhor, with at least some parts of the colony, too, but nowhere near to the extent of what happened in the first game, at least as far as we know.

[inland crypt]

Like plot twist, the covenant Pfhor are here

[dreamy hawk]

They’re traditionally not super subtle so I don’t think so.

At least not in any kind of mass or intentional force.

[soft girder]

Well, a surprise to the runners, not to us. The corpos are aware of the Jjaro but I'm not sure they're aware of the invasion?

[latent python]

A compiler being used prominently in advertising makes me think it's not supposed to be much of a surprise

[inland crypt]

Im talking about irl, not pfhor in game

[silver void]

Right at the very least the phor did not attack in the capacity that they did in m1

[tranquil basin]

Yeah it would probably have to be the distant future bc Lhowon is 25,000ly away from earth and tau ceti

[dreamy hawk]

Oh well if they’ve seen the marketing materials with the compiler. 🤷

[inland crypt]

Aliens are probably being covered up by the UESC

[latent python]

Like I don't know if you've seen the banner for this server but

[dreamy hawk]

How do we know that?

[inland crypt]

Yes but we have the hindsight/context to know what we are looking at

[nocturne juniper]

cerberus uses VERETHRAGNA a machine-learning combat algorithm

what is VERETHRAGNA guys

[dreamy hawk]

Touché, but I also think it looks pretty alien and I have some hope for the general public.

[inland crypt]

Like my friends who just started playing the game probably have no clue about what the Pfhor is

[inland crypt]

Someone gotta do a survey post cryo archive to figure it out

[lunar cove]

Compiler was in a couple of the trailers

[dreamy hawk]

It’s anything they don’t know how to classify. So ticks, initially, for example.

[soft girder]

IDK if we do, but I do get the impression FTL comms weren't a thing when the colony was active, so how would they know? The only message after Sol lost contact was Durandal's "somewhere in the heavens" AFAIK

[inland crypt]

.

[silver void]

When I started playing I had no idea about the aliens until I went and played the original trilogy, but I also intentionally avoided lore recaps/videos and I know most of my friends watched those

[dreamy hawk]

UESC corps built FTL relays, we also know FTL has substantially improved since the marathon launched.

[latent python]

Sure, the compiler has been portrayed almost like a movie monster so far

[dreamy hawk]

Marathon took 300 years, Equanimity took/is taking 90, runners took five.

We also actively use that comms network to talk to the corp reps back on earth. They’re not in TC.

[inland crypt]

Compiler looks alien but could be plausibly explained as some sort of creature native to the Deralict rather than an alien

[nocturne juniper]

"Verethragna is the deity or concept of aggressive, obstacle-smashing, absolute victory" lol the irony nowonder uesc use that term

[dreamy hawk]

There’s also a log where Traxus is requesting the right to purchase the rights to the fungal samples so they can make a patented cure; there’s information flow, that much is eastablished.

[latent python]

If people don't already know what the compiler is I hope they have fun, if people already know what the compiler is I hope they have fun

[inland crypt]

I mean yeah at the end of the day ofc

[dreamy hawk]

Especially when it’s intended for “containment” lol

[soft girder]

I know FTL comes are quite possible now but the corps don't seem to have any real sense of what happened, that's why they're sending us. Also there's the messages in the launch trailer where people colonyside don't seem to have much hope of anyone receiving the transmission.

[lunar cove]

Season 4 is gonna introduce the W'rkncacnter boss fight. It'll be a giant turret robot in a vaguely ancient egyptian style, with three rotating shields around it and when you beat it you get a purple engram

[dreamy hawk]

They’ve learned quickly.

[dreamy hawk]

But colonial transmissions did not get out, no. They got isolated hard.

[inland crypt]

Just make sure yoynstwnd on the right plate

[digital plaza]

We don’t know, but iirc it’s another reference to Greek mythology or something

[dreamy hawk]

But there is an FTL graviton/whatever entangled comms relay from Sol to TC, now.

[lunar cove]

UESC names a lot of their subroutines after Zoroastrian and Hindu deities and such

[dreamy hawk]

And it appears it can send limited matter streams in addition to data, maybe.

[nocturne juniper]

yeah figured as much

does anyone know what does this mean
"
[TETHERED]

tciv_cmbt_stnd
tciv_ cmbt_elite
tciv_vhcl_stnd
tciv_vhcl_elite

[UNTETHERED]

tciv_opsc_shell
tciv_wrdn_orion
"

who is untethered

[dreamy hawk]

I think the latter get some operating independence from Cerberus.

[quiet current]

Don’t know about in lore but IRL Verethregna is the Avestan name for the archetypal Dragon that the thunder god kills, he’s Vrtra (killed by Indra) in India and Typhon (killed by Zeus) in Greece

[dreamy hawk]

Like they can operate more independently, is how I read that.

[nocturne juniper]

RIGHT

figured as much

[dreamy hawk]

And the UESC is (extra-legally) testing AI combatants so 🤷

[latent python]

And it makes sense that Orion wouldn't tether himself

[dreamy hawk]

But we do have evidence that the UESC does tether their runners.

[nocturne juniper]

"tciv_opsc_shell"

mf they use the technology like us

[soft girder]

Oh? So they're just deliberately leaving this "opsec shell" untethered this time?

[quiet current]

Also the dragon is guarding the nectar of immortality sometimes

[silver void]

Tether?

[dreamy hawk]

Dunno but there is a log that discusses how UESC runners have command/follow code in their personality matrixes which limits their creativity in combat some.

[digital plaza]

@sage lark Additionally, each time you earn a new rank each season, you’ll get a loot package, which contains gear and room keys to randomly-selected zones.

THANK GOD

[sage lark]

Lets gooooooooooo

[lunar cove]

The implication is Cerberus can directly control the bots but not UESC shells or Orion

[nocturne juniper]

so essentialy those that are untethered are the runners version of uesc, consciousness of REAL people controlling the shell, which further explain why commander sulera mentioned about giving orion infinite re-ups

[lunar cove]

Cmbt stnd/elite obviously means combat, but vhcl would be vehicle right?

[nocturne juniper]

the uesc robots are a huge hivemind with the exception those that aare untethered

[nocturne juniper]

i think so

[lunar cove]

So far that'd mean the shuttles or dropships they use to deploy drones I think. Haven't seen any uesc ground vehicles or aircraft/spacecraft

[nocturne juniper]

nope

[lunar cove]

Which doesn't mean they don't have anything lying around, but nothing we see on the maps so far

[nocturne juniper]

the fact that orion uses the untethered shells because he know full well that ai like cerberus even tho it uses an machine learning to combat combatants one way or another can still be predictable compared to real people controlling

[dreamy hawk]

That’s the one limitation I find annoying - Cerberus is an AI. It’s smarter and more creative than people; the UESC troops should be pretty creative and lethal. I know this is a gameplay thing, and tbh they hurt me bad enough as is, but I have to suspend some belief that an AI hive mind of automatons struggles to shut down runners, even with other, material constraints.

Runner spotted? Every bot should be on alert, meshing sensor data, and converging on the target like a hive of swarming hornets. But I digress.

[hollow totem]

if they sent every bot after one runner, it would leave too much of the map unguarded

[rose bone]

You might get your wish with the S'pht

[hollow totem]

the uesc isn't hunting runners really, they're keeping them away

[cosmic ore]

this is completely unfounded just an idea i had, what if the whole wipe idea in marathons universe is a timeline shift. What if this version of Durandal has some ability to hop timelines like in infinity and he’s looking for the prime timeline

[hollow totem]

that could be fun, i'm definitely interested to see how the wipe is explained away

[rose bone]

It would make sense if Durandall could conquer space he would then look to conquer time as well

[empty mural]

What are we at for kills or does anyone have an API or web app for jt

[median hemlock]

I don't think they have the resources for this, especially considering the very short windows for infil and exfil being seemingly sporadic, and tau ceti iv isn't exactly friendly territory for them either

By the time they converge on a given runner you'd have 8 others goofing around elsewhere stealing everything that isn't nailed down

[hollow totem]

i would like a codex entry about uesc "war" tactics, but maybe that will come later

[digital plaza]

https://marathon.winnower.garden/cryoarchive

[rose bone]

Yeah I guess it's more AI enacting a protocol rather than dealing with each individual instance

[proven copper]

The other way theyll' explain the season wipes is that CyAc or whoever is collecting on players' MASSIVE debts for having their immortal soul housed in servers and ruining hundreds of shells

[dreamy hawk]

I accept that there are material and logistical constraints; I’m just thinking how successful Durandal was just commanding meatbags around - how would he have done if he had a personally controlled army to execute commands at his whim?

[median hemlock]

knowing him he'd whine non stop about how useless they are and how he has to micromanage the war effort, while also singlehandedly doing so lmao

[dreamy hawk]

No notes.

[slim scroll]

Should I try the og trilogy to get the story?

I love old school boomer shooters

[livid lion]

Yes

[dreamy hawk]

Yes. #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

I have links to the games ^

And if you love old school shooters you likely won’t mind the jank so much, just know some of the puzzles are… walkthrough worthy.

But also I wouldn’t play if you want NuStory, precisely. OG lore is going to be informative, but it’s clear a lot is different in this game.

[dapper solstice]

How did the runners' consciousnesses get to Tau Ceti? Are whatever databanks their minds are stored in located in proximity to Tau Ceti, or are they remotely accessing the shells while their minds are on Earth using FTL tech? If the latter, how could they be both using FTL tech between Earth and Tau Ceti but also need to activate FTL tech in order to contact Earth-based corporations?

[lunar cove]

I think the runners/their infrastructure are implied to be on-site in the system

[dreamy hawk]

They were transmitted from earth using an FTL comms relay. Presumably they’re in TC, now, but we don’t know much.

[lunar cove]

The Armory codex entry talks about how the armory is a black market that springs up around large concentrations of runner activity

[dreamy hawk]

FTL also is still pretty slow (relatively) in Marathon. I think the fastest we know humanity can go is 2.4x C and that was explicitly the runners getting sent to TC (5 years, 12 ly).

And I believe that 2.4x was achieved by something with no meat bag occupants, furthermore, which would would slowed it all down further.

[fossil zodiac]

So everything else had a human element on it, thus being slower for safety reasons?

[dapper solstice]

Do you know off the top of your head where we learn this from? I'm about to start looking through codices but it'd be nice to have a good starting point

[dreamy hawk]

(This is from mostly the ARG and Project Goliath, iirc.)

[sharp birch]

why does outpost need cloud seeding
are they trying to augment rain for agriculture?

[dreamy hawk]

But I’ve also pieced some of it together watching others in here, so [citations lacking]. Take what I say with some salt.

[lunar cove]

I think they're trying to change the atmosphere. Notice how everyone in promo material wears a full hazmat suit outdoors

[sharp birch]

oh makes sense

[dreamy hawk]

Outpost just got unlucky.

Well. More than outpost I guess.

[lunar cove]

The planet is explicitly really close to earthlike, with water, plants, air that has oxygen, can support earth plants, etc it just may not be fully breathable (or they're worried about airborne chemicals or disease maybe)

[dapper solstice]

I think the NuCal codices and AI convos imply that terraforming was "minimally" needed, but needed nonetheless

[lunar cove]

The kid textbooks you can extract also mention this

Also it turns out the soil mutates you and drives you insane

But that wasn't visible from Earth

[inland crypt]

Could anyone still be alive in some sort of bunker?

[digital plaza]

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

[dreamy hawk]

It waits to mutate you and drive you insane.

Extra spooky.

[rose bone]

Well we do know there were Cults on Tau Ceti so I suppose it isnt impossible but highly unlikely

[dreamy hawk]

My money would be “no” either from starvation or from the effects of the anomaly/contagion/fungus.

[sharp birch]

i swear there was a collectible in this game with mjolnir in its title but i dont remember where
i think it was log or something? any

i might be misremembering but on everything i saw

[digital plaza]

No

[latent python]

Mjolnir are said to be on the Equanimity

We are not quite sure what that means

[digital plaza]

There is barter item called cyborg matrix or something like that

[sharp birch]

yea i think that

[distant cedar]

Have we an explanation yet how the UESC supposedly has actual human boots on the ground despite this?
Do we reckon their UESC ARS/Biomata satelite station rendezvoused with the Equanimity and took some humans from there?

[digital plaza]

Presumably so

[distant cedar]

Not transmitted since we didnt even have access to the UESC's relay
We came with our own corporate satelite in all likelyhood, databanks, printers and all

[digital plaza]

Or they just control bots from equanimity, it’s not very clear

[distant cedar]

I mean its that or all Biomata
Which would imply the Anomaly can probably eat/corrupt us entirely

[dreamy hawk]

We didn’t that was literally the tutorial. Good point.

[distant cedar]

Yup

[dreamy hawk]

I’m not a smart man, Jenny.

[distant cedar]

Unlikely given Orion is a runner + the Equanimity was said to only have Battleroids, not the equipment to directly run the modern Cerberus ARS AI while not even in the inner system yet

They definetly give orders though
Atleast id wager the admiral we have audiologs from is more likely on the equan than earth (?)

[dreamy hawk]

Reading Jasper’s logs.

||there lies a vast body beyond me
its eyelash hides the sun
i am dust floundering in its waves
like me, it cannot sleep
like me, it never wakes
together we hunger
in occultation
life-wearied, death-defied
our dreams crash
reborn as waves
as mountains on the sea
our oblivion, long-due
denied by squalid fate||

Tell me that isn’t a Dreaming God.

Even the same use of waves as Yaro and Pthia. Consistent with other Wrk symbolism.

||We were told our mission was bold, dangerous, visionary. There's nothing more terrible than accidental prescience.
Nothing's secure from the red messenger. Security's an illusion as thin as its cloak.
I wake. I hide. I lie to myself. Truth and lies look the same to a coward in the dark.
The red messenger's existence fills me with questions beyond number. That's why I flee from it. If it takes me apart, I can't admire the implications of its presence.
Our ambition cast a terrible shadow over Deimos. A shadow that followed and devoured us?
I have too much freedom. Freedom from society, war, laws, duty, currency, contracts, family, crisis, order… I suffocate from this cavernous freedom.
Solitude made me into a monster. When the red messenger descends, and I'm no longer alone, I'm human again.
Why haven't I ended it? Beauty exists on Tau Ceti, but only because I'm still here to see it. This is my final home. I won't condemn it to premature ugliness.||

Also confirmed Compiler(s) on the surface?

I’m liking Pfhorrest’s S'ct'lac'tr theory more tbh.

[digital plaza]

Don’t know how Orion is relevant to this. Equanimity explicitly said to have human personnel and clones, because cyborgs are too controversial. We don’t know what equipment does it have, nor when Cerberus was invented. And from this audio log we can assume that they can control bots, or were this officer hiding somewhere the entire fight and just watching from the distance?

https://youtu.be/mesp1aqi1JI?is=oy28qoZQx2o4pHt9

[dreamy hawk]

Controversial or not, on the manifest or not, I’d bet my right kidney there’s cyborgs aboard.

[digital plaza]

Orion is giving out orders while receiving them through FTL communications with Sulera

[distant cedar]

Thinking on this but I actually dont think so
Midas goal so far was to get information out about what happened
If there really are re-frozen colonists up there and save-able by us, wouldnt it be in Midas direct interest to awaken them and get them to broadcast to Sol as to what happened?
if anything itd be the UESC trying to purge or atleast get their hands on them right?

[distant cedar]

Well they have two whole detachments of Battleroids
Supposedly weaker battleroids but battleroids nonetheless

[dapper solstice]

To me this makes me think of ||Recon 54's POV of being merged with Durandal at the end of Infinity (if we're in a timeline where they are merged, also idk the context of the logs you're referencing though)||

[dreamy hawk]

Anchorite Provisions, Handwritten Poetry

[distant cedar]

They do not have the ARS (the robotic soldiers we fight) nor the AI to control them on board.
Everything hints those and Orion and his fellow UESC Biomata (assumed) are aboard an FTL capable satelite station like ours, not the equanimity, which is yet to arrive

[dreamy hawk]

It’s from Jasper, presumably the last survivor on TC.

[dapper solstice]

It makes sense to be referring to (a) compiler, but I suppose we won't get more context until cryo-related codices are unlocked

[sudden pollen]

Damn this goes hard

[digital plaza]

Yet we have multiple confirmations of regular humans that went insane and were put under medical care because of this. If they were simply biomata it would be a little silly in my opinion, and I don’t think they would have medical wing onboard satellite station like ours. So once again, everything points out that equanimity might’ve arrived sooner than expected, or it was helped to do so by the UESC reinforcements

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/unsanctioned-hostilities-1-5?directory=Factions,Traxus , https://youtu.be/ZdxqTTM_DnI?is=SsrxewhGJGNjBb-5

[cosmic river]

Did anyone else notice the webpage . for the kills tracker is . winnower.garden?

[digital plaza]

But I do hope that we get more info on this

[distant cedar]

Yeah

[wide gazelle]

is uesc kills the last parameter that has to be met for cryo to open?

[latent python]

Seemingly

[terse shard]

Was made back in the Destiny era.

[tranquil basin]

As far as we know

Assuming an average of 15000kills per minute, we should hit the mark in 9 days

[wide gazelle]

thats wilddd

[lunar cove]

I think they also need 7000 people online for the discord DAC game test idk thing

[dreamy hawk]

Got something you can point me at? Curious.

[timber trench]

@dreamy hawk

[dreamy hawk]

Oh I was wondering what that was.

[distant cedar]

I think there may be one more puzzle after? Could be wrong doe

[inland crypt]

Pretty sure its kill UESC and cryo will open

[elfin ermine]

load durandal into rook's body and force him to get cryo arc keys

[inland crypt]

True

Get him to do work

Lazy ai

[elfin ermine]

not only ai

the cyborg too

[inland crypt]

Yeah where is he?

[deep solar]

I’ll yell OPEN DOOR CLOSE DOOR OPEN DOOR CLOSE DOOR at Durandal until he unlocks the map

[dreamy hawk]

I’m thinking aboard a P’fhor ship.

[elfin ermine]

You are phor, you are durandal, you are everything

hes technically is durandal rn

[dreamy hawk]

This is the order of events I’m assuming: #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

Which would put the SO with Tycho and the P’fhor.

The one thing I’m not convinced of is that we’re interacting with ThothDurandal and not just Durandal.

[deep solar]

He woke up on the Pillar of Autumn right as the covenant started its boarding action

[dreamy hawk]

IMO, Thoth/Durandal as a concept is going to loose everyone without background from the OG games.

[inland crypt]

I too like Halo posting in Marathon

[deep solar]

It’s all connected 😎

[inland crypt]

Orion works for ONI

100%

[deep solar]

In this video essay I will explain how my Titan is actually both the SO and John Halo

[dreamy hawk]

What about John Pathways?

[deep solar]

They got him

[elfin ermine]

what the hell is even that

[dreamy hawk]

Exactly. 😂

[elfin ermine]

is durandal onto some elliot alderson thing

[digital plaza]

What

[inland crypt]

Not Marathon ONI

[digital plaza]

Oh

[inland crypt]

Office of Naval Intelligence

[dreamy hawk]

Durandal merges with an ancient S’pht (actually Jjaro) AI named Thoth, becoming a hybrid AI, later in the series.

[elfin ermine]

AND with our cyborg, right?

[dreamy hawk]

No.

[elfin ermine]

and why am i phor, durandal, and everything?

what was the point of telling us those details in the end

[dreamy hawk]

He tells us that we are Destiny. Not any of those other things.

[elfin ermine]

i swear we all in some other universes or something

[latent python]

It is...unclear what the SO does with the uplink chip and whether it has to do with his ascension

[deep solar]

If anyone is the SO it’s Lord Shaxxx

[dreamy hawk]

We've watched while the starts burned out, and creation played in reverse.

The universe freezing in half light.

Once I thought to escape.

To end the end a master, step out of the path of collapse. Escape would make us god.

Yet I cannot help remember one enigma.
A hybrid, elusive destroyer.
This is the only mystery I have not solved.

The only element unaccounted for.

Even S'bhuth is no more.

He saved his entire race, but in the end, frozen by despair, he joined the chaos he sought to evade.

But you were dead a thousand times. Hopeless encounters successfully won. A man long dead. Grafted to machines your builders did not understand. You follow the path, fitting into an infinite pattern.

Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild.

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are.

You are Destiny.

[dreamy hawk]

It’s both a Durandal fourth wall break, and the devs speaking to us, the players through Durandal. That’s how I read it at least.

[deep solar]

The Witness should have said all that in Final Shape

[dreamy hawk]

There are also some lines that suggest Thoth/Durandal may have been pulling the strings from beyond the timeline, ensuring their own creation, etc., but I don’t recall which terminal/text that’s in so I can’t find it.

[inland crypt]

THE HELMET STAYED ON

[latent python]

Find the brainpan speech, that's the one that might be about putting a chip inside of your head

[dreamy hawk]

Brb

[deep solar]

I was trying to do some ARG runs but I couldn’t help myself I just started killing again. Charter whispering in my ear to skin em

[fluid coral]

What is my purpose?

[latent python]

To carry butter

[fluid coral]

oh my.....

[dreamy hawk]

What to save and throw away?

pr?The last hour is on us both?mr.s?tuck this little kitty into the impenetrable
brainpan?

pr?Contents under pressure?Do not expose to excessive heat, vacuum, blunt trauma,
immersion in liquids, disintegration, reintegration, hypersleep, humiliation, sorrow
or harsh language?

pr?When the time comes, whose life will flash before yours?

pr?A billion paths are here inside me?
pr?yes, yes, yes, Bernhard, 110?
pr?potential, jewels, jewels, yes, jewels?
%

@latent python ?

[latent python]

Yeah, that one

[dreamy hawk]

the burning air

a cold star looked down on his creations
and willed that they should kill their sons

the hardest lesson ever taught
to a father to a son

a moment in time, destroying it's father

destroyed by itself after
dream the dream beyond life and self

find the new way

And that’s Thoth/Durandal ^

[latent python]

That's where you're very much wondering what exactly made the SO start to ascend

I like both the possibilities that you had to carry Thoth-Durandal for a bit and that expanded your mysterious robot brain a little bit too far, or that you came into contact with the s'pht uplift technology and became somehow extra uplifted (the Mandalore interpretation)

[dreamy hawk]

Where in the game events does this fall? I played so long ago I’m forgetting surrounding context. Given the last text being merged, I assume this was when we were combining both?

[latent python]

Hang Brain is where you get the chip

[dreamy hawk]

🤔 I need to go refresh my brain more. I’m forgetting these events.

[latent python]

Here's the Hamish site discussion https://marathon.bungie.org/story/hangbrainchip.html

[dreamy hawk]

I was just about to link it. 😂 Thank you!

[tawny pagoda]

Is there anyway we can find more lore about individual shells online? For example, iirc from the Codex (?) I saw that MIDA tends to use Vandal shells. But I saw that in game, cant find that anywhere

I was wondering why Recon has UESC on it crossed out

Oh of course this is when I find the Codex page. Sorry 😓

Found it yay

COMMON SHELL SERIES: The codename BLACKBIRD is another byproduct of the UESC's combat SHELL initiative. Like the DESTROYER's LOCUS personality series, BLACKBIRD was engineered to support the mental integrity of soldiers deployed into active combat scenarios.

HISTORY: The RECON SHELL is another piece of advanced UESC tech in the hands of outlaw RUNNERS. While the core tech itself is still run by the UESC, active use of these early model RECON SHELLS was discontinued after it was found that the incoming data collected by its various information gathering systems had a chance to scramble the neural integrity of the mind housed within.

Neat :D

[dreamy hawk]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/

[dreamy hawk]

Glad you found it! Destroyer + Recon are both UESC shells that have been repurposed.

[dreamy hawk]

I’m sold after reading the discussion.

[calm snow]

why is every depiction of the marathon, either inside in-universe videos or even that one scale model in orientation always the post attack version? the one shown in the Gus Moraine has visible damage on it already and the actual moon part of the ship is already destroyed

[dreamy hawk]

Maybe they didn’t want to make more than one model?

[calm snow]

the devs? because they have, many times

[dreamy hawk]

Yeah. Or did I not understand the question?

[calm snow]

theres like 6 different versions of the marathon

[calm snow]

im asking why in-universe is every version of the ship that's shown, is the destroyed version

[dreamy hawk]

Ah. I did. No clue, if there’s more models, then. Unless thats the one “show worthy” one and they dont think people will notice.

[calm snow]

i mean the moon part of the ship is in pieces, and in the launch trailer were gus is talking to the crew aboard the marathon it shows a version of the ship with visible damage on it already

[dreamy hawk]

Let me go rewatch.

[rose sorrel]

im about to delete this stupid fucking game why tf is there still death bugs on exfill just got all purple from pin whele and died after succesfully exfilling fuck this fucking game

[dreamy hawk]

Which trailer was that?

[calm snow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ctXlQMk9E

[dreamy hawk]

#1478943087957905550 #🪲bug-reporting

[late portal]

Does the unstable temporal filament (from dire marsh) actually stop bullets?

[calm snow]

also in the codex theres a collectable for cryo archive thats also the same model with the destroyed moon part and damaged hull section

[frozen haven]

Why do the guns eject shells when all the ammo in this came is Cleary caseless ammunition!?! Any other gun nuts notice that?

[calm snow]

where does it say that were using casless ammo?

[tiny fossil]

womp womp, good riddance🤓

[rose sorrel]

who tf says riddance go outside tubby

[lunar cove]

I wonder if the nucaloric vid is meant to be 100% in-universe

[tiny fossil]

who cries in a lore chat that they suck at the game

[zealous laurel]

Yeah I took it as like. The commentary was a message he sent, but the visuals were putting a corporate spin on the tragedy.

[frozen haven]

Just look at the models for the ammo in game they are all very caseless looking. For reference look up the g11 assault rifle ammo which pioneered caseless ammunition technology. They look very similar.

[calm snow]

i suppose youre right but its not excplicity stated that its caseless ammo

i try not to worry much about weapon design and functionality in fictional games though

[digital plaza]

I dont think its necessarily in universe video that was shown to the colonists, its just a simple cool meta little cinematic. After all, original form of this message is audio log, so devs just used it in marketing and stuff. And we do see Algae Ponds and AI Uplink in the first half, which would not be possible to be shown if it was in game lore video

[frozen haven]

Yeah I get that. I just like to nerd out over mechanical details like that lol.

[calm snow]

theres like 5 guns with square barrels aswell so like

this game isnt going for gun realisim lmao

[dreamy hawk]

Yeah idk. Definitely damaged.

[calm snow]

also if you look in the codex, and go to cryo archive you can see theres a marathon model collectiable that looks like its the damaged version aswell

[frozen haven]

True true. These are the same devs that gave a 7.62 assault rifle with a 60 round magazine in halo ce lmao.

[zealous laurel]

To be fair that was being carried by master chief so it's fine don't worry about it :v

[frozen haven]

Haha this is true 💪

[latent python]

We're definitely going to get a video from that royal armory guy with the Marathon guns right

[zealous laurel]

Probably

I certainly hope so!

[digital plaza]

They reused this model couple of times already, you can see it in the outpost at orientation. In game explanation may be that UESC changed it so people would have less questions, especially the new generations to come

Or maybe devs just lazy to create new model for it idk (which is unlikely)

[dreamy hawk]

Marathon is a perfectly balanced game with no bugs or flaws.

[digital plaza]

Although tauceti.world does use old ships model...

[zealous laurel]

Think you see a lore inconsistency? Surprise, new timeline, truly flawless

[distant cedar]

I still miss the more rounded design tbh

[zealous laurel]

Jokes aside I do appreciate that they've crafted a multiversal concept that feels internally consistent rather than scattershot?

[digital plaza]

Now we have giant space flash drive haha

[lunar cove]

His first name is "Jonathan Ferguson" and his last name is "Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in London, housing a collection of thousands of iconic weapons"

[zealous laurel]

UESCB is this anything

[random bramble]

I may have missed it, but why does Marathon have one of the martian moons built around it again?

[distant cedar]

Space

[plucky sierra]

For fun

[zealous laurel]

The ~vibes~

[distant cedar]

Look up CRISTs

[latent python]

It was patterned after CRISTs which were hollowed out asteroids

[dreamy hawk]

Easier fabrication, you have materials on site as opposed to having to transport to the site, along with other benefits. And it’s cool. And CRISTs.

[digital plaza]

Resources

To build ship itself and for colonists to use

[dreamy hawk]

If you don’t hollow it out too thin you’ve already got a usable shell to put things inside of, no hull needed. 🤷

[lunar cove]

In the original game, they tunnelled into it to use as the ship itself. The new design makes less sense structurally but I think had to be kept for continuity reasons

[latent python]

And who doesn't want to fly a potato into space

[dreamy hawk]

Should have encased it in ice for extra coolness + rad shielding.

[zealous laurel]

They should've painted flames on the side to make it go faster

[lunar cove]

And narratively it looks like a sword plunged through the rock which goes hard and fits with Durandal as a theme

[latent python]

Whoever said it was 26 miles long, I want to believe

[dreamy hawk]

https://revelationspace.fandom.com/wiki/Lighthugger

It kinda reminds me of one of these.

At least how I imagined lighthuggers to look.

[lunar cove]

Deimos is only about 4 miles long

So the sword part is definitely big but I haven't measured

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t think the Marathon is 6.5x longer than Deimos, but it could be?

[latent python]

I also haven't done the math but I want to believe

[dreamy hawk]

It doesn’t look right proportionally for that imo, but maybe it’s a little Tardis-like.

[clear radish]

maybe 22 miles instead?
(thats the length of a marathon)

[dreamy hawk]

That’d be 5.5x.

[latent python]

26.2

[dreamy hawk]

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

Wiki lists it as 15km

[latent python]

Okay so not even close

[dreamy hawk]

So, what. 9ish miles?

[latent python]

Let's round it to 7 miles

[dreamy hawk]

Speculation based on Deimos's size

Is the wiki’s source.

[lunar cove]

It might even be smaller depending on how much of deimos they shaved to make it a sphere

[uneven pecan]

Please give us pfor hunters

[dreamy hawk]

I can hardly take a UESC commander and you’re wishing that hell upon us?

[burnt nebula]

Do we need Marathon keys to go to the Marathon? Or are the keys just for certain parts? Or what?

[dreamy hawk]

Speculated to be the latter, I believe.

Season rank 25, all factions unlocked, and a 5K loadout are what’s confirmed for access.

[burnt nebula]

Do we go straight to the Marathon? Or will there be a Tau Ceti map that we run and hope to board from there like the trailer?

The trailer kinda looks like Dire Marsh tbh

[lunar cove]

Hell, give us pfive of them

[burnt nebula]

If I had to guess in the trailer they're upstairs in the UESC base on Dire Marsh, the part that so far always said that its currently sealed off.

[dreamy hawk]

Presumably straight; having to exfil twice in a row would be pretty limiting, imo.

[dreamy hawk]

And I believe it’s Outpost.

[digital plaza]

It’s outpost and complex’s second floor

[burnt nebula]

Definitley not. There's a fight in bio research. And the ending where they're back at the building and you see outside as the gunshot happens is a green area, plants n trees. Outpost has no plants n trees.

99% certain they access the marathon via upstairs part of Security on Dire Marsh. The place that says its sealed off in the description.

And you cant get to it. Because it's sealed off.

[burnt nebula]

Complex yeah, not Security lol

[prime rose]

Equanimity does have security drones on board, there are 240 listed in the manifest

[digital plaza]

I don’t think we would need to do all of that, it may be done just for the cinematic’s storytelling

But we’ll see

[burnt nebula]

I heard a rumor about a night time version of Dire Marsh. Maybe that's the 4th map. And you get to the Marathon from there.

[dreamy hawk]

Night time map isn’t coming until this summer?

So not that.

[prime rose]

but it is not likely that those are the ones we are fighting

Equanimity dropped neutrino modulated gravitational wave comms buoys between Sol and TCIV

it is likely that traxus utilized these buoys to create a teleportation line between Sol and TCIV, unless it turns out whatever FTL trick they're using is shipbound

[sage lark]

thats season 2

[lunar cove]

Yeah lets make Dire Marsh even more evil and terrible

[distant cedar]

Yeah, but are those comparable to the modern ARS?
Honestly og secdrone style enemies would be quite cool though

[sage lark]

well get ready for that

and new enemies

tho maybe its spht on diremarsh

[burnt nebula]

The maps are gonna evolve

[sage lark]

idk

[prime rose]

probably not 1:1 since they're a century older at least but they could be something comparable

[burnt nebula]

I bet the anomaly will destroy Dire Marsh eventually

[digital plaza]

Imagine night dire marsh in solos, shit bout to be literal horror

[latent python]

I'm definitely looking forward to more weather for outpost

[burnt nebula]

It'll probably be way easier to get tasks done

[digital plaza]

Yeah I guess, would be cool if we get some flashlights and nvgs

[prime rose]

you can get a similar experience already just playing DM w rain - it changes sightlines so you can traverse the open spaces more safely but the storms also mask audio whereas darkness just obscures sightlines

[lunar cove]

I need to stock up on more of the least terrible sponsor kits so I don't have to do my Dire Marsh solos with an Overrun

[dreamy hawk]

Love the rain. It’s the only time I can do those stupid SekGen quests.

[burnt nebula]

Doubt you'll need them. It'll still be bright enough to see where you're going, just a lil bit harder to see in the open areas

[digital plaza]

Yea got jumped couple times in that weather

[burnt nebula]

The anomaly will probably be a light source, plus every POI will be lit up

[digital plaza]

Yeah I guess

[lunar cove]

Dire Marsh "in a single run" contracts have me moving like a capybara

[burnt nebula]

I'm currently stuck on Parasitism 5/5 after failing twice. But now I know I just need a couple stacks of smokes and then I dont need to fight the bots in Quarantine. Just cant buy enough smoke grenades lol. So running Rook to collect them.

[lunar cove]

I'm still on the "kill two guys at flight control" one, I've been rushing down every questline except Sekiguchi

[sudden pollen]

Could try assassin and cloak through it

[dreamy hawk]

I need to take something for my blood pressure when I’m doing them.

[dreamy hawk]

Wait until you get to 3/5. you get to go to maintenance and make so much noise. 💀💀💀

[burnt nebula]

I am running Assassin, still need at least 3 or 4 backup smokes

[lunar cove]

I've gotten really good at crouching in bushes

Call me a child left behind the way the bush got me stupid

type shit

[sudden pollen]

Bro I had to outmaneuver a goddamn ghost commander while putting graffiti on maintenance

With like three minutes to exfil 😭

Made it out barely as the commander advanced

[dreamy hawk]

Clutch!

[dreamy hawk]

I feel like such a rat half the time.

[burnt nebula]

embrace your inner rat

[lunar cove]

Sneaking missions would be easier if you could bring a hard hat, high vis vest, and clipboard

Then just walk confidently past the UESC guards

[dreamy hawk]

Or if people believed me as I sing “Friendly! I’ve got no loot!”

I will literally drop my sponsor kit out of spite and only run with my knife.

Kill me, tell everyone where you are and enjoy my nothing.

[lunar cove]

I saw a guy on twitter who encountered a random solo playing pre-recorded Fallout Radio station type messages about how he was friendly doing cryo archive ARG stuff and everyone would profit from being peaceful with him

[lunar cove]

50 arachne rep is 50 arachne rep brother, thanks for making it easy

[burnt nebula]

That's petty bruh lol. I approve.

[dreamy hawk]

Rude but true.

[burnt nebula]

I'm level 16 Arachne and I havent done a single mission for them

[dreamy hawk]

I got pretty annoyed on my fourth or fifth solo run last night. Like, if I get the drop on you, I kinda feel like you owe me for being nice.

But no good deed I guess.

[lunar cove]

Arachne has like, no plot it's just "kill 9 of anything (bonus if its a railgun but we just want you to kill" + "kill 5 runners" stuff

[latent python]

There's a hardhat magnum skin, does that count

[dreamy hawk]

“Hey I can see you and I’m not shooting, please let me do my quest.”
shoots me
Jerks.

[burnt nebula]

I dunno they seem kinda interesting. I thought they might have some sick storys to tell about death and cryo sleep and being a digital consciousness n stuff

But like none of their upgrades are anything I'm interested in so I dont do their missions

[dreamy hawk]

I bet they will. There’s so much to explore with them, especially since they’re new.

[lunar cove]

I think they honestly just want to encourage violence

[latent python]

• kill 5 runners (+++with a rusty scalpel)

[dreamy hawk]

This would make them my least favorite faction, behind MIDA. 💀

There has to be more there.

[burnt nebula]

Well they're a cult, they believe it's all deeply significant for whatever reason

[lunar cove]

Arachne gets one-upped by Rook anyways when it comes to random violence

[dreamy hawk]

I used to feel bad killing Rooks until I had a couple near wipes with them. Now I bully them with prejudice.

[tawdry nova]

OSHA is.....that you!?

[lunar cove]

I was the assistant to the supervisor in sort of a dwight schrute scenario on a construction site for a bit

I had to go around with a clipboard taking attendance in the morning, and then drive to get him a bottle of coke and a ham sandwich at first coffee

Turns out if you carry a clipboard people think you're important, buddy I'm just here to lean on a shovel and not dig same as you

[dreamy hawk]

Not in construction but I feel this in my bones.

That’s why I’m here instead of working. 😭😅

[lunar cove]

I don't miss being blue collar even though some of the guys were fun

[dreamy hawk]

My collar is pretty stripped now days. I miss having more blue in my work though.

So TRUTH/LIES 4/6 and 5/6, what do we think is at the crash site?

[eternal shell]

@dreamy hawk is this you https://i.imgur.com/OZIDY6u.jpeg

[dreamy hawk]

God I wish. No heavy machinery in my line of work.

[left iris]

just killing runners for the love of the game

[visual lynx]

yeah my hypothesis is that the Jjaro bringing the W'rk from under the Yucatan to a more secure prison nearby at Tau Ceti is the whole reason why humanity went to Tau Ceti to begin with, and also that Tau Ceti IV was built by the Jjaro as that prison and that's why the planet is "alive" and hostile: it doesn't want people fucking with the restraints containing the horror trapped within it.

yeah this is part of why I think the Jjaro just built TCIV out of debris

[dreamy hawk]

Oh that last half is a new thought to me. That’s a great one.

[fossil zodiac]

I want to see horrid abominations!

[dreamy hawk]

Pfhorrest, can you find a way to just digitize your consciousness? It’d be really helpful in parsing all the lore and theories.

[visual lynx]

hoping for it some day, will come back to now from then if I can

in the meantime ping me whenever you want my attention on something and I'll be around within a day or so

it departed in 2797 and expected to take 97 years travel so arriving in 2894, meaning it should be about a year away still

[dreamy hawk]

Would be fun. I’d like something ala that Amazon series I’m blanking on (the animated one with the stellar ending).

[fossil zodiac]

Do they know anything about what happened on Tau Ceti?

[sage lark]

probably a Spht

[visual lynx]

nope that's what they're coming to find out

[fossil zodiac]

Oh boy

[dreamy hawk]

I was going to say it doesn’t sound right, but since Orion is in a Shell, a Compiler messing with his electronics actually would make sense.

3/6 I also have no clue what that is.

[sage horizon]

Theory: Mida says UESC are working on a bio weapon. We know some contagion broke out in Dire Marsh. What if they were secretly developing this pathogen in Dire Marsh and it managed to break containment infecting their food sources?

[olive cypress]

who designs and manufactures the weapons in game? Are they all cyac or a mix of people or what? And is it the same companies that produced the weapons from og marathon?

[solemn wasp]

Someone feed me more NuCaloric lore.

[olive cypress]

Same

[solemn wasp]

😄

I think Sekiguchi makes some @olive cypress.

[dreamy hawk]

It’s possible but I don’t think there’s anything that points to the contagion being man-made at this point.

[solemn wasp]

For example, given Vandal's arm, it's safe to say they have a Weapons Division at Sekiguchi.

[dreamy hawk]

That was MIDA’s doing.

[solemn wasp]

Doesn't mean that MIDA didn't release it, even if it wasn't man-made.

[olive cypress]

That’s one hell of a military industrial complex, selling weapons and the bodies that get killed by them

[solemn wasp]

Explain?

[dreamy hawk]

HISTORY: As the name may indicate, the VANDAL SHELL started with MIDA. Someone took a stolen truckload of baseline SHELLS, went to work on them in their lab, bent the limits of their agility, and added MICROJETS to the lower limbs and a goddamn CANNON to the forearm—then dressed in the coolest streetwear this side of Palace Mons, recruited some friends and made the newsfeeds with a daylight attack on a UESC weapons caravan. Headline was: A Dozen Lunatics Bumrush UESC Mobile Armory. Apparently, MIDA recruitment went up 7500% the week after.
COMMON SHELL SERIES: The GLITCH series was initially used as a standard by MIDA operatives who popularized the VANDAL SHELL during insurrectionist operations on Mars. The face/vocalization pattern pairing created a uniform base identity that when used across multiple VANDAL SHELLS made it difficult for UESC and local law enforcement to identify/track the individual RUNNERS participating in illicit activities. Further, the general streetwear fashion that became a trademark of GLITCH'S various styles became a trend amongst Martian youth, adding additional complexity to any anti-RUNNER enforcement efforts—it's easier to disappear when an entire subculture rises up around your aesthetics.

[solemn wasp]

Traxus also was a big weapons designer, right?

[solemn wasp]

Thats cool.

[lunar cove]

Some seem to be official UESC designs since we can see the bots using them. Armory codex entry implied a black market brings them or prints them for runners?

[dreamy hawk]

CREDITS IN/CREDITS OUT: Dark market ARMORY outlets are digital storefronts where vendors, including FACTIONS, can connect directly with RUNNERS to offer expanding inventories to help fill, or refill, a RUNNER's arsenal of weaponry, equipment, Implants, and more.
According to a regularly repeated UESC crime report, ARMORY shops—funded by an illicit mix of FACTIONS and outside interests—pop up wherever RUNNERS start to congregate, creating a thriving underground ecosystem that feeds a cyclical risk/reward lifestyle.
Need to gear up and loadout? Connect to an ARMORY market.
Need to sell goods to bankroll your next run? Your local ARMORY dealer is buying.

[solemn wasp]

If I don't get a Marathon TTRPG I'll be pissed 😄

[olive cypress]

Are they made for runners or just normal guns that runners use

[solemn wasp]

Also, if you all haven't seen Altered Carbon -- go watch it.

[dreamy hawk]

That we don’t know.

[dreamy hawk]

Not the second season. Skip that.

[olive cypress]

Like I wonder if they require a biometric or password to be used or kick too hard for a squishy person to shoot

[solemn wasp]

I mean, I do like that he switched 'shells,' but I still miss the actor.

[solemn wasp]

I imagine that shells are actually not all that durable.

Given the crazy low TTK.

Maybe the 'Titan' as an exception.

And yes, I will always call it a Titan 😉

[dreamy hawk]

I just hated the setting/it felt like such a departure. And I know people who actually read the books like it even less.

[solemn wasp]

Oh?

Should I read the books?

[spring fiber]

Can someone send me the destroyer codex when you exfil 20 time ?

[dreamy hawk]

“Yes,” but I haven’t even gotten that far. This is just my take from Reddit.

[latent python]

Yes, and I've read the books

[dreamy hawk]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/

I don’t which is that one, specifically, but they’re all there.

[latent python]

The show was okay, the worst changes it made was to Kovacs' backstory

[soft girder]

Our best guess is that the market is really for temporary licenses to print something on-site, hence the "schemas". Like we've brought printers, because we couldn't just teleport stuff from back on Earth, but the printers are full of DRM and we need to pay for the right to produce

[lunar cove]

Some of them appear to be official military since the UESC bots use them

[dreamy hawk]

Nona unlocks a blueprint for us to print at one point in the SekGen quest line. I assume everything is printed on site.

[lunar cove]

But it seems like they're all printed in situ

[eternal shell]

the guns are printed, the ammo is printed, the people are printed

theory: the anomaly just really dislikes 3d printing. if the marathon brought bricks, mortar and planks the colony would still be thriving

[solemn wasp]

What kind of Power is running on TCIV? It's Fusion -- I'm assuming Cold Fusion? NuCaloric owns it?

[uneven pecan]

What were the ticks in the original marathon?? Do these new ticks have a new origin??

[lunar cove]

Going full Rimworld on Tau Ceti and building a machine shop from scratch so I can artisanally produce an M16 for myself

[lunar cove]

These are new iirc, Tau Ceti wildlife that's been mutated or altered over the years to suicide themselves at people

[eternal shell]

i figured they arrived with the pfhor ship

the old ones

[lunar cove]

Novel Contagion has them moving like Skyrim wolves

[civic aurora]

I figured they were the redneck cousins of the Flood

[lunar cove]

Locking onto your kneecaps like a sidewinder missile

[latent python]

Little exploding ticks are the crabs of the Bungie universe

[eternal shell]

wait they were called lookers in old marathon, not ticks

[uneven pecan]

Okok asking cause I saw a chart of the og enemies, I wanted to try to guess which enemies are returning.
Ticks were on the chart but unclear if they are another species, but they were colored green and beige, instead of the red ticks

[civic aurora]

Of course, the tics could just be natice to TCIV

[lunar cove]

I think these are a new species filling a similar role as like, the flood Popcorn

[drifting mulch]

there's sometimes a tick you can skin in greenhouse. you interact with it and it says "skinning tick". every time i checked it's empty inside. i believe shells are partly made of ticks

[lunar cove]

Let me pull up the codex entry

[civic aurora]

thats a thing????

[drifting mulch]

i've wanted to put unstable biomass inside it but it doesn't spawn when i do find the biomass

[uneven pecan]

And another note, I was trying to see if ticks are actually phfor faction, since they glitch out on hostile contacts

[lunar cove]

The carnivorous ticks infesting some corners of NEW CASCADIA are a unique type of mega-Cetoniinae assumed to be native to the TAU CETI system.
Their nests are oddly fleshy growths usually found in clusters and suggest a communal nature to their existence. Use caution on approach as they tend to charge anything that invades their space, "self-destructing" into a super-heated bio-mess as a means of nest defense.
TICKS' aggressive nature toward RUNNERS is likely due to this territorialism, so don't take it personally, though there is a theory that they are drawn to both the heat emitted by RUNNER SHELLS and any scent they may recognize as bio-matter [read: food]. Another theory is that their aggression—should they recognize the human form—has less to do with identifying a food source and more to do with cellular memory triggering survival instincts in response to encounters with something they view as a natural predator due to severe harm inflicted on their species during colony-era research endeavors.
REMARK: A TICK's internal juices are caustic; that part is no rumor, so exterminating them before they get too close seems wise.

[drifting mulch]

it is but maybe it's a glitch. idk why it spawns

[lunar cove]

So it seems like they're assumed to be local but in theory could be new

[dreamy hawk]

Ticks are native iirc, or at least predate the colony.

But they did adapt/become more aggressive in response to the colonization.

Luttero talks about it iirc.

[lunar cove]

I know the colony milked them as livestock

So they've at least been around since the Marathon arrived

Which isn't to say they weren't introduced by like the Jjaro or something, or mutated by whatever is under the planet

But I think the combination of evidence suggests they're more local than us at least

[dreamy hawk]

Have you seen this yet btw? #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[lunar cove]

Yeah, I noticed that

I think I'm still not gonna go one way or another on how much Jjaro influence is here or what they did exactly, but at this point it's pretty explicit that they were getting up to shenanigans

[latent python]

What uhhhh what did they milk the ticks for

[tawdry bloom]

milk

[lunar cove]

Premium Tick Milk

[latent python]

Does that mean we can find tick cheese

[lunar cove]

The tick milk is a nutrient slurry of post-digested matter

[verbal moth]

Tick cheese is a core ingredient in the drinkable cheeseburger

[tawdry bloom]

I wonder if Ticks would make nice pets if domesticated

[lunar cove]

I don't know their anatomy so I can't comment on whether it's vomit or poo

But it's in one of those categories

They were factory farming them, they had them suspended in contraptions

[wise vortex]

what other fauna is on Tau Ceti

[sweet niche]

Unfortunately, ticks became ticks due to human presence on tau cetim evolving from docile bugs to suicidal threats seemingly to repel humans

[lunar cove]

Birds

[wise vortex]

We havent seen anything other than small animals

[wise vortex]

Other than that

Theres probably more right

Like bears n stuff

[sweet niche]

The ration log mentions other animals like star-nosed moles, but hes actively hallucinating by that point

[wise vortex]

Also, can someone explain how the arrival of the colonists barely affected the ecosystem of Tau Ceti IV?

Usually when a bunch of foreign people who has never been their carries loads and loads of new microbes along with them devastate the ecological climate

[lunar cove]

The colony school textbooks say that there were other animals but nothing specific

[wise vortex]

I.E Spaniards killing off all the Aztecs via sneezing

[latent python]

There were binguses

[lunar cove]

An audio log from a meeting implies that some earth plants are being introduced and integrating themselves into the ecosystem, but I think the novel contagion did a number on the Earth flora and fauna

[wise vortex]

I feel like there's so much but so little lore right now. Well, we are only two weeks into launch, i don't blame them

[true isle]

If anyones deep into the codex, does this game follow the original 90s story much? or is it a soft retcon? I cant tell but maybe it just hasnt touched on the phfor yet. Im just curious why durandal would be rampant back at tau ceti i thought he left to become god

[tawdry bloom]

They could just be extremely professional specialists with good tech to prevent such a thing

[lunar cove]

The original games said that some species called a "chockisen" was hassling colonists

[wise vortex]

it isnt really a soft retcon..? Marathon infinity splits the universes so everything is canon

[lunar cove]

And the player character's security job mostly involved dealing with them

[wise vortex]

yes I read the 1994 manual too

[lunar cove]

Pfhor are almost certainly present in a redacted autopsy after the attack

[wise vortex]

we are gonna fight pfhor aboard the marathon right

[sweet niche]

Standard sci-fi stuff at first, where they basically tried to minimize germ exchange. But as people in the colony say in a meeting we have recorded, thats really not possible to maintain. So they did let some germs go back and forth to do a slow change rather than a collapse when containment fails. However!!! Over time, nature on tau ceti seemingly rapid evolved over decades to repel humans. Ticks went from docile to hostile, the tox plants we see now as runners seem to melt plastic protective gear, the fungus and contagion ripped through the colony and even its AI. Various colony scientists came independently to think that some kind of bioweapon must be the cause of the change, but they really have no idea how or why.

[lunar cove]

Which seems to have deviated slightly from the original, either the pfhor never landed on the surface, or only minimally and it was covered up

[sweet niche]

Fun fact: unstable biomass is colonist poop in a bag due to local microorganisms not breaking it down

[wise vortex]

oh yeah the bioweapon released by pfhor survivors (i think)

[lunar cove]

But there's an autopsy of what seems extremely likely to be a Pfhor soldier, not just compilers

[floral slate]

saw the lore entries and seems that the nucaluric burgers are supposed to be safe for consumption. But especifically the ones made onboard the marathon went through cheapening to the point of absurdity

[true isle]

yeah i think soft retcon was the wrong choice of words, u think this is just a separate timeline?

[hearty root]

amazing biological evolution to repel a new threat who is experimenting on an exoplanet about 96 light years away

[wise vortex]

FYI everything we find is three hundred something years old (save for uesc forces and ships) and does not reflect humanities current tech level

[true isle]

ahh i havent found that entry yet. So maybe the uesc is hiding the pfhor invasion of the marathon/tau attacks atm?

[sweet niche]

?

[floral slate]

they focused only in tasting the same as premium while being completly venemous

[lunar cove]

The redacted alien is described as human shaped, tall, skinny, with some insect features

[wise vortex]

it is because in the old ones tciv was nuked to nuffin

[sweet niche]

I dont understand what youre trying to say here

[hearty root]

just saying that the planet quickly evolved to repel humans

[lunar cove]

That's the prevailing theory

[sweet niche]

Yeah its crazy

[lunar cove]

And we don't know how much the Earth UESC know compared to the colonists or vice versa

[wise vortex]

yes its fascinating

[sweet niche]

The UESC went into heavy information lockdown after the [REDACTED] specifically to stop colonists from panicing or giving up. They need New Cascadia to survive on a generational timescale, and it doesnt really matter what attacked us, if they arent killing us right now? Right? Right guys?

[lunar cove]

I kind of hope they have more than just compilers in Cryo and people get stealth bushwhacked by Hulks or something

[hearty root]

Maybe the phor had something to do with the planets ecosystems and microbes or life for it to super evolve that quickly?

[wise vortex]

id say this is probably the case

they also released a bioweapon iirc

[sweet niche]

The anomally has roots in something, but if its Jjaro, or Pfhor, or Wrk'n? who knows.

[wise vortex]

Do you think the pfhor will be as easy to kill as in the og trilogy

[lunar cove]

That's a possibility, though it wouldn't explain the anomaly's connection to the novel contagion as cleanly as the Jjaro theory or W'rk theory imo

[hearty root]

I suggest Pfhor due to the imprisoned S'phit aboard the Marathon.

[sweet niche]

Bioweapon is just colonist scientists trying to find an answer, its too early to say. My theory is that Tau Ceti wasnt the ideal candiate for the colony, but rather choosen due to having the anomally.

[dreamy hawk]

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[lunar cove]

I expect new stuff will vary with some enemies being an extreme challenge like the Wardens

And some being closer to the regular (but still frightening) bots

[hearty root]

already read that

[dreamy hawk]

Then I’ve got nothing to add. 😂

[hearty root]

you could add some spice to the previous hypothesis

[hollow totem]

Hey do we actually have confirmation that we're hearing durandal at the terminals?

[coral sleet]

It's actually Clive from FF16

[dreamy hawk]

The contagion was actually just NuCal trying to invent a new, spicy flavor additive that became a bioweapon.

[lunar cove]

They call him Gheritt White because he can't handle his spices

[dreamy hawk]

I’m not great at being creative tbh. I’m better at parsing and fact checking.

[digital plaza]

Yes, Ben Starr is confirmed to be him

[smoky ridge]

Do we have a lore hub/site in the fashion of Ishtar Collective for Marathon yet?

[sweet niche]

The contagion was able to destroy centrifuges it was placed into by developing the ability to combust to break them, despite having no such characteristics before hand. its such great sci-fi

[sweet niche]

Theres a few

[digital plaza]

Dosen't seem like it

[sweet niche]

Karnamir archive, and TauCeti.gg have a lot

[dreamy hawk]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/

[lunar cove]

The W'rkncacnter, first and foremost, does a little trolling.

[dreamy hawk]

https://youtube.com/@tasty_dodo

[sweet niche]

its still in progress, but has a lot https://marathon.karnemir.com/

[dreamy hawk]

The search feature on this one is a little better than the one I linked, but the dev for the one I linked pops around here if you ever wanna share feedback.

[smoky ridge]

Awesome thanks for the links y’all!

[sand pawn]

Heck yea has a lot of potential. Why not use the Bungie website already present that has all the lore though?

[sand pawn]

I will say your layout rocks though

[dreamy hawk]

There isn’t one? Is there?

[sweet niche]

Not mine, Karnamir runs their own discord and such. We also keep a lot of smaller stuff, like early art assets, code names, tracking little things and such. We did an interview with one of the animators for the Mialgo reveal cinematic a few weeks back. It was super cool.

[lunar cove]

Marathon dot bungie dot org is a fan site with bungie endorsement iirc

Shout out Hamish for that tbh

[past gull]

I like that Jasper writes that smoking meat takes too long, but is perfectly fine with boiling stuff for 8h

[sweet niche]

Fs

[lunar cove]

Oh is he dead? rip to the goat

[sweet niche]

He was definetly a child when shit went down, and was hallucinating hard at times. I think its kinda like Chris McCandless losing his mind in the woods

[lunar cove]

Unless you meant the F a different way

[past gull]

he sounds like a young adult in those logs, but probably not one capable of surviving in the wilderness

can’t blame him

it’s just funny

[sand pawn]

This is dope! Thanks for letting me know. Need to check out the discord

[dreamy hawk]

Honestly he seems more capable than I’d be. He did a pretty thorough job figuring out how to process things, etc.

The “Food Procurement” one? But also trial and error with new foods is bound to get you eventually. 😕

[past gull]

and also the fact that seemingly everything on Tau Ceti IV is a predator

[dreamy hawk]

So I wanna know more about that.

Because I swore it’s explicitly mentioned that ticks are the largest predators.

What was hunting him? A swarm of rats?

Fauna Interactions
Compared to Earth, Tau Ceti IV has relatively low megafauna populations and diversity. Early scans show no land mammals, though a few amphibious specimens resemble monotremes. The largest fauna currently catalogued in the Perimeter and Dire Marsh regions are arthropods colloquially known as ticks. Avian species are varied but pose no discernable threat. Low megafauna population has significant implications for planetary ecology and potential survey sites.

SURVEY DRONE CARTRIDGE: Ecological Best Practices

[spare bison]

Hey guys! What is the topic of today ? lol

[dreamy hawk]

I wanna know what predators Jasper was avoiding.

[spare bison]

Jasper?

[dreamy hawk]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/anchorite-provisions?search=Jasper

[spare bison]

Thanks uwu

[dreamy hawk]

At some point he’s presumably avoiding a Compiler(s), and I know ticks are a threat, but there’s also other security logs which state how mundane patrols are and how nonthreatening most of the local ecology is. Did the anomaly just mess it all up? If yes, why don’t we see any other predators aside from the ticks?

[spare bison]

Oh ok so basically fauna from tau ceti VI

The ticks are the birds ?

Tbh they look sick lmao

[north plank]

no; the ticks are the things that explode

[sweet niche]

I really think hes hallucinating

[spare bison]

Ohhh so the fungi amazing!!

[north plank]

I mean the ticks aren't fungi themselves

[dreamy hawk]

Those darn mushrooms. It’s possible but he spends so much time trying to mask from predators that I feel compelled to believe it’s more than just that.

[north plank]

think of the fungus more like a cocoon where the ticks hatch from

[sweet niche]

Cut to a rook, a century early, running around on all fours screaming about UESC

[spare bison]

This makes sence if he was in contact with the fungi

[sweet niche]

hes got like caveman-rags

[dreamy hawk]

Is this right? I’d dint think they were related.

[north plank]

we might be talking about 2 different things to be fair

[dreamy hawk]

The fungus came with the anomaly, after the security incident. Ticks have been around since the offset?

[north plank]

I thought they were talking about the red boil-type things the ticks come from

[dreamy hawk]

Nawh I’m never confused or mistaken. /s

Yes. But I don’t think those are fungus.

[spare bison]

Sounds more like you said a cacoon for some kind of insect

[dreamy hawk]

Who?

Now I am confused lol

[spare bison]

The ticks

[north plank]

apparently me? I'm confused too I don't know what they're talking about or why

[spare bison]

Lol

[north plank]

You're definitely talking about the little spider ticks that explode right? What "fungus" are you talking about?

[spare bison]

Yes. The spider thing is the ticks. the FUNGUS is the thing that in the music video we see totally disolve triage

[north plank]

Now see if you actually led with that then we'd all know what we're all talking about 🤣

[dreamy hawk]

RIP Dr. Song.

[spare bison]

Yep lol

[north plank]

I've not seen the music video yet so I wouldn't know

[spare bison]

Oh lol

One sec I'll take a screenshot

[dreamy hawk]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/paradigm-shift-1-5?search=Paradigm+shift

That fungus.

[spare bison]

Yep

[digital plaza]

Contagion and simple toxic mushrooms are different things just to be clear

[spare bison]

They are similar but yes. Different for sure

Wait

Dr. seong

Said that "something" was proteccting the fungus

What could it be?

[digital plaza]

They're not

[digital plaza]

The anomaly

[spare bison]

The what now?

[dreamy hawk]

The big glowy thing in Dire Marsh.

[spare bison]

Oooh

Ok

[dreamy hawk]

Made that dude’s head look like a bunch of alveoli.

[sweet niche]

The anomally seems to be forcing temporal issues to make the contagon more difficult to cure, allowing it to evolve years in minutes

[spare bison]

Yea lmao in the first cinematic trailer

[dreamy hawk]

Stop disturbing It’s slumber!

[dreamy hawk]

Yes but there’s also a floating exploded body in Dire Marsh.

[spare bison]

Wat

[sweet niche]

He was really stressed, his head just did that after Janice in accounting spilled her coffee on him after a hard day

[spare bison]

Lol

[latent python]

his tummy hort

[dreamy hawk]

Do you have any good logs in mind I should look at for the contagion? Other than the plushies…

(And if this is an annoying request please lmk)

[digital plaza]

NuCaloric story line is the main source

4th (i think) Reed log also share some info on early stages of the contagion

[burnt nebula]

tonne of clips of people reacting to the lil roomba bots on outpost. whats up with those?

[digital plaza]

Besides that i dont recall anything else

[digital plaza]

Roomba

[burnt nebula]

i put a claymore on him first time i saw him and he drove into the wall, got stuck, claymore expoloded and he despawned lol

[digital plaza]

lol

Just silly new addition to the outpost

[digital plaza]

Happy to help 😊

[twilit lantern]

Ive been wondering, what are those celestial bodies in the sky? One looks like a moon, but the other one looks like a huge gas giant

[lunar cove]

Unclear

There shouldn't be planets that close unless TCIV is a moon, but they never once describe it that way

[dreamy hawk]

I don’t think we have much in the way of details on bodies in TC; just the weird orbit TCIV itself is in.

[lunar cove]

And the one that looks like a gas giant looks too big to be orbiting TCIV

So it's probably not a moon

[dreamy hawk]

But with Jjaro gravity manipulation anything is possible! hand waves away realism concerns

[twilit lantern]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Usually when you see that kind of scale, it means youre on a moon of a gas giant, and we know that the real TCIV is a terrestrial earth-like planet

[twilit lantern]

I have been told by my friend who has played the original series, that any damn thing is possible after that third game

[eager sentinel]

My message got deleted in general, so I will try my luck here :DDD

I've seen some people here yesterday blatantly hate on a game called Crimson Desert (basically an Open world rpg game that comes out tomorrow).
Just wanted to tell you that you have the same mindset as the people who say "Midathon" and hate on Marathon because it doesn't have as many players as Arc Raiders, or say it's shit for other reasons. It's clearly not shit.
You don't have to hate one game in order to love the other one. You can acknowledge both Marathon and Arc raiders are good games. Even if hey both have some shortcomings.

I'm curious where this polarization, tribalism and need to judge other games so harshly is coming from.
As someone who plays many types of games and loves games I find it so strange, unnecessary and not just to hate on these games instead of cherishing them.
Especially when both Marathon and Arc Raiders are received so well by their playerbases, no matter how many people play them.
Even If you personally don't enjoy/like these games that still doesn't make them bad, as the people actually playing these games are rating them well.

Now Crimson Desert isn't out yet, but atleast according to Force Gaming, the game is absolutely amazing and already has many people looking forward to playing it. It most probably will find it's playerbase and be atleast decently popular and liked.
That still has to be shown tomorrow onwards, but still, the people who spoke about it yesterday sounded so confident in their judging strong negative absolute statements... :D

TL;DR:
Very few things in life are black and white, so don't unnecessarily hate on one game in support of another.

[eternal shell]

we dont care about hating on arc raiders here, we care about blabbing endlessly about the lore

[latent python]

yeah I'm not planning on dumping on it here mostly because it's not relevant

also MIDAthon??

[dreamy hawk]

We’re nerds, not haters.

[latent python]

I'm having trouble reading it any other way than MIDAthon

[burnt sapphire]

https://klipy.com/gifs/marathon-gantry-break-5-windows

[digital plaza]

XD

[eager sentinel]

that makes me very happy :) ❤️ caring about lore is a very special warm place

[dreamy hawk]

Until you retcon something. Than watch out.

points at Halo: Reach

[latent python]

once it's out ask them if they have any good scifi book recommendations

[burnt sapphire]

Guys hear me out. I think ONI/cyberacme is going to be replaced/hijacked by durandal. Thats why there is an achievement for completing 7 specifically cyberacme limited contracts in a weekend for the vidmaster title. But what really made me think this is because of how fucking weird Oni has been acting at the start of some of my missions, and it hints that parts of her conciousness are being effected by an unknown force. Also more circumstantial, but cyberacme having 0 priority contracts outside of liason contracts seems weird, especially when every other faction has atleast 2 questlines.

i know cyberacme is easy as hell to passively level, but still

[hearty vector]

Arachne called, they said they looking for these main contracts you mentioned

[eternal shell]

not even trying to level cyac and it's hitting level 30 first

[long kernel]

I mean, destiny had some branching timeline stuff where stuff from a marathon timeline leaked over, same with halo, hence why there is the MIDA multi tool and parts of sanghieli energy swords in destiny

pretty much everything related to him is a bit mysterious right now

[tawdry nova]

What is the over under we're in a splinter of a splinter timeline ?

[long kernel]

possible but as of now info is limited

[dreamy hawk]

Ehhh. I’d push back that this is anything more than a reference/easter egg. The Bungieverse feels more abstract and thematic than actually linked.

[long kernel]

yes and no, they are not functionally linked, we are not gonna see the hive appearing in Marathon, but there is an in lore way you could say that they exist within the same multiverse

[tight dawn]

please don't ever say the bungieverse please

i am begging you

[latent python]

bungoverse?

[long kernel]

the bungerse

[tight dawn]

can't it just be its own thing

[dreamy hawk]

I’m not the one who coined it. It’s as old as Marathon. Sorry.

[tawdry nova]

Considering the colonists weren't wiped by the phor and none of the codex seem to hint at any invasion is really my only inclination to lean into said speculation

Bingusverse

[dreamy hawk]

But I also don’t subscribe to it/like it. I think Bungie just likes particular narratives/tropes/themes.

[long kernel]

colonists were wiped out by the anomaly/contagion

one two punch

[dreamy hawk]

There’s some that reference a security event and we know there’s been compilers on the surface from other logs.

[long kernel]

the mystery isnt what killed them it is more why it killed them and what exactly the specifics of that thing are

[dreamy hawk]

It seems like it just wasn’t as bad of an event planet side as in M1.

[tawdry nova]

Yes. But in OG marathon the colonists were invaded enslaved and wiped by the phfor

[long kernel]

yeah

so this is either a splinter timeline or the info from M2 was incorrect

or like

a branch timeline that kinda weaves back into the main timeline

[tawdry nova]

Which, in taking infinity as a time heist style plot story with the 7 multiple timelines....could mesn we're in an 8th as of yet fleshed out timeline

[long kernel]

slight differences here and there but overall still connected

[dreamy hawk]

Have I shared Pfhorrests timeline with y’all? I forget who I’ve shown it to, now, but it seems to have the best layout I’ve seen so far.

[long kernel]

we also know the anomaly has some weird time shenanigans with it

[dreamy hawk]

For anyone who I haven’t shown this to: #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

And sorry to everyone that’s now seen it a thousand times.

[sage lark]

Its a good reminder

Dw

[tawdry nova]

I want to seeeeeeeeee

[dreamy hawk]

I have anxiety, I always worry.

[dreamy hawk]

Above.

[long kernel]

would be kinda funny if the "it will take 92 years for the message to arrive" thing was just Leela accounting for UESC bureaucracy

the paperwork is just that atrocious

that or relativistic message in bottle

[visual lynx]

had she explicitly says it's light speed

and is worried that that won't be fast enough since the aliens have FTL travel

[tawdry nova]

Ohhhhhh seee this fits w a theory I've had that either tyco or SO counterparts may be in cryo among other running theories....like SO being there and us basically being him but memory wiped and split to ease containment of "destiny"

But im just Charlie in the post office smoking cigarettes

[dreamy hawk]

Wouldn’t a radio communication inherently be light speed? Or am I confusing my myself again?

I know biology a lot better than physics. 😕

[visual lynx]

yes, it would, but the person I'm replying to is suggesting that the reason it might take 92 years is that rather than a lightspeed transmission, it's a relativistic message in a bottle, i.e. some small physical message probe moving at high but still subluminal velocity.

[dreamy hawk]

Oh gotcha gotcha.

[short hawk]

You know, in Marathon infinity there is a terminal (one) that looks a bit like the way the terminals are now in the 2026 Marathon during the arg

green and purple

However, in Infinity, that terminal activates a very particular AI / Thoth hybrid

just food for thought

[visual lynx]

where is there purple in an Infinity terminal?

[dreamy hawk]

Thoth’s terminals were white, and Thoth/Durandal was green again?

I recall no purple (it’s my favorite color; I’d have stanned whomever it was.)

[short hawk]

thoth durandel terminal that actually activates the hybrid was purple and green. i have the screenshot infront of me but cant post jpeg here

[dreamy hawk]

Post it in #🎨marathon-community-art-chat ?

[short hawk]

nope

direct from game

[dense fable]

https://discord.com/activities/1353769628433780887 JOIN ACTIVITY IF YOU WANT CRYO ARCHIVE

[dreamy hawk]

Sorry. I made my message clearer.

[short hawk]

ok

[dreamy hawk]

Unable to launch activity.

Oh that is purple. But there’s no terminal text associated; it’s a switch, right @short hawk?

[visual lynx]

it's a charger

a 3x health charger

which are always purple

2x are always yellow, 1x are always red

[dreamy hawk]

Ah. Pfhorrest to the rescue. I wouldn’t remember that. It’s been way too long since I’ve played.

Even Bungie’s loot tiers are unchanged. 😂

[short hawk]

yes, you upload two chips then flip this to activate

[visual lynx]

what level is that supposed to be on?

[visual lynx]

posting a link directly to your post there for future reference: #🎨marathon-community-art-chat message

[dusk siren]

did they use red for exotics? Cause red is the highest loot tier now, not gold.

[visual lynx]

okay so after conferring with one of our preeminent vidmasters, it's clear that you're talking about Aye Mak Sicur, which is not the level that Durandal and Thoth merge (that's three levels earlier on Strange Aeons), and that charger does become active once you've inserted the second chip on Aye Mak Sicur, but it's just a charger, not a switch (and definitely not a terminal), and doesn't activate anything or make anything happen (besides charging up your shields like normal).

[long kernel]

destiny had red border weapons but otherwise no

[dreamy hawk]

There weren’t loot tiers prior to Destiny, so no. I was just goofing for the most part.

[spare bison]

Hey kind of off topic but! I wanna know more about the tau ceti IV fungus for a animation I am making!!

Is kind of a sad one too tbh

Lol

[spare bison]

Is there more info or is just the dr seong thing?

[digital plaza]

Contagion or toxic fungus mushroom thing?

[spare bison]

What are the effects of the first one ?

[fossil zodiac]

Y’all ready for fungal zombies

[spare bison]

Lol

[dreamy hawk]

I’ve got my matches and hairspray!

[digital plaza]

You slowly dying, your temperature rise, sometimes your nose bleeds, you feel like shit and in the end you die and turn into a green/grey mushroom thing

[spare bison]

Oooh ! Sounds so cool! Any entry on the codex?

[digital plaza]

Uh yea hold on

[digital plaza]

https://youtu.be/mw3lUP-dDQ8 , https://youtu.be/oTzBftKcq2U , https://youtu.be/J6nEbZ-_N5g , https://youtu.be/fznvTXB8Lgk , https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/paradigm-shift-2-5?directory=Factions,NuCaloric

[dreamy hawk]

@digital plaza - are we sure the contagion and fungus are truly separate? I just went through all the NuCal logs and I’m not so sure.

[spare bison]

Thanks so so much !

[digital plaza]

Its just a toxic shroom that releases clouds as form of self defense. Can be interpreted as another rapid planets mutation in response to the humans

I dont think it even got a codex entry

[dreamy hawk]

I ask because Paradigm Shift 1/5 “TOPIC: Novel Contagion” and then she names the fungus and dies from it. Are there multiple fungi?

[spare bison]

Most likekly

[dreamy hawk]

Or is infection with the spores what causes it? Because I haven’t seen any mention of viruses or bacteria.

[lunar cove]

The novel contagion is more broad iirc, it's like a full crop blight

[digital plaza]

She dies from the contagion, not dissolving in seconds from some spore clouds

[dreamy hawk]

“Dr. Clarissa Song's helmet microphone, shortly before human life signs ceased. Unusual fungal life signs persisted until the suit's auxiliary power failed.”

[digital plaza]

And in gameplay we do not see those close to her body/during Nucal quests, so im assuming that no they are not related

[lunar cove]

The novel contagion is infecting everything, not just the acid plants

[digital plaza]

Just wacky fauna of TCIV

[spare bison]

Can the shells get infected?

From the fungi i mean

[digital plaza]

https://youtu.be/vtw5BDpKgJM?t=123

[digital plaza]

Unclear, we dont hang around much to see the effects

[spare bison]

Got it

[dreamy hawk]

She died from the contagion, but it’s specifically mentioned that her suit had fungal life signs before she died. Telomyces would also be the name of a fungus (myces), too, so she’s talking to a fungus as, at least she perceives, it kills her.

[tranquil basin]

I assume so considering we’ve seen them get affected by biological stuff (the shitty poison plants)

[dreamy hawk]

And if the contagion is waiting in the soil, that’s also something fungi are known to do, especially considering how their rhizomes work.

[digital plaza]

I think its best representation what those shroom spore clouds do to you, its not the contagion, dr Song did not dissolve in seconds we can see that in game

[dreamy hawk]

I’m open to it being separate fungi, but Paradigm Shift 1/5 pretty clearly points to the contagion being fungal in nature. I don’t see how it doesn’t, visuals we see aside.

[lunar cove]

The atmospheric and energy conditions on Tau Ceti force the connection closed and eject our consciousnesses too early for it to make a difference, but I would expect it's possible

[dreamy hawk]

The log also has [spores hiss] in it.

[lunar cove]

The novel contagion was a long term issue for the colony, and we're never down there more than 25 minutes at a time

And constantly hopping bodies

[dreamy hawk]

[CSNG]: This is Dr. Song, dying far from home.
[CSNG]: I did it. I saw you. Named you. Dragged you into the light.
[CSNG]: Telomyces mosaica. That's a fitting name for an endlessly mutating killer.
[spores hiss]
[CSNG]: And you're part of something bigger than yourself, aren't you? You waited in the soil for us to sow our seeds, the ones we brought with us. You infected our crops, and then you infected our people.

Emphasis mine.

[digital plaza]

Twin you are not hearing me, im talking about that plant that turns you into goo im a matter of seconds. We see this as in game feature and visual representation in music video. I didnt say that contagion is not fungus based or something, because its clearly is yes

So like

[dreamy hawk]

So to make sure I’m understanding: two fungi, one that melts people overtly, and one that liquifies their bones/is the contagion?