📚marathon-lore-discussion

[echo sundial]

Idk I'm playing the original classic marathon rn and I'm pretty sure most of it is retconned

[drifting garnet]

Or you know, alternate timeline

[echo sundial]

Some of it is probably still cannon, but a lot isn't. If it's a single timeline type deal.

It could definitely be a separate timeline though

I think there was a pfhor attack at some point on the marathon though

[robust vale]

I've been assuming that it's basically its own timeline

ngl

[echo sundial]

But it's not really clear

[robust vale]

like, same concepts, just its own thing

[echo sundial]

Yeah the story is very... Different in this instance lol.

The colonists in numarathon died a very slow death

Rather than an extremely quick one at the hands of the pfhor

[eternal shell]

maybe the pfhor arrived, saw the anomaly and went "ah nevermind, let's go somewhere else"

i think m2's ending said the colony was nuked by the pfhor but that's also another timeline than the one infinity ends with

[visual lynx]

bungie have said said everything that happened in the classic games happened in the new game

[sudden pollen]

LORE

[sudden pollen]

There's multiple timelines right?

[visual lynx]

yes, marathon Infinity has a bunch of different timelines so the most parsimonious way that all of the classic games can have happened is that marathon 1 happened, marathon two did too, marathon infinity undid marathon two and a bunch of other different timelines and ended up on the timeline where it ended up, and now the new game is picking up where that left off.

[sudden pollen]

Parsimonious is a great word

[eternal shell]

i thought it meant stingy

like, with money

[visual lynx]

it can, it basically means something like “efficient”, not spending more than necessary

[echo sundial]

it definitely has to be a diff timeline then

sort of forced to be I think

[sudden pollen]

It's got a couple definitions looking here, one about money, one that says "Using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures"

[atomic escarp]

Im so ready to go rampent 🥀✌️

[drifting garnet]

…welp, guess I’m off to start the countdown on “how long does it take before The Runner Rampantly Ascends and gets SecOfficer’s Timeline Hopping Powers”!

[echo sundial]

Well I guess no idk

It doesn't make sense to me tbh I haven't finished infinite yet maybe it will when im done

[jagged rain]

I just learned the lore, I wonder if this is a warning about ai and its use in the future? Surely not am I right guys?

[echo sundial]

I definitely don't feel like marathon one happened the way that it did in the game at least on whatever universe we're on now

[echo sundial]

well the AI in real life are really stupid unlike durandal

doesn't mean they won't be harmful to society though

[eternal shell]

i'd say there's things in the marathon universe that are much worse than the computer going "you know what this sucks I QUIT"

but dont tell the traxus board that or they'll cry

[jagged rain]

Corporations 🥀

[echo sundial]

yeah I was gonna say that too durandal is more ambivalent and apathetic towards humanity than outright atagonistic

that said he did call the phfor ship to tau ceti in marathon 1 lmao

[jagged rain]

What a great guy

I’d be on that petty timing too if I was a glorified door man tho

[echo sundial]

well you see hes like infinitely more intelligent than all the humans and also they made him the doorman

so its more like a bunch of ants chained you to the torture machine and now you have the ability to put them under a magnifying glass

which is more or less what happens

lmao

[jagged rain]

I really hope the other aliens get brought into this game

They look scary in the first games

[echo sundial]

I would say probably, maybe, at some point.

[pseudo mica]

I need the lore of the AIs like what's their purpose

[eternal shell]

fighting hordes of pfhor fighters and troopers in dire marsh would be amazing

[echo sundial]

The phfor could easily work exactly like the UESC does on the maps

The spht compilers are apparently fucking cracked in numarathon though

they were kinda wimpy in the og game

[jagged rain]

Mfw the phfor weaponize the poison spore plants

[echo sundial]

like the equivalent of a meatball type doom enemy

[eternal shell]

i suspect the cryo archive compiler is built different from the regular ones

in m2 and infinity, humans with pistols can fight compilers on pretty good terms

they cant all be apocalyptically powerful

[visual lynx]

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[echo sundial]

there were enemy classes in m1

so I guess he could be like

a really high class or high tier version

[eternal shell]

oh yeah it's defo a super beefy compiler then

not a standard one

[echo sundial]

they did not have a crazy lazer beam though

[eternal shell]

if they add pfhor fighters btw i hope the green melee only ones still go down in a few shots

[echo sundial]

this a tech limitation though it was just kind of a wimpy ball

which actually

[visual lynx]

leela talks to people
tycho does astronomy
durandal opens doors

[eternal shell]

lemme fight like 30 of them at a time

[echo sundial]

the new one has those too

[pseudo mica]

Ain't one that doesn't like humans?

[echo sundial]

It should fr just be the og classes and they should just follow UESC bot rules with a phfor skin

[eternal shell]

tycho was alright until the pfhor captured him and rebuilt him

[echo sundial]

maybe a boss can be a hulk or something

[drifting garnet]

randomly remembers System Shock 2 is set in a space ship above Tau Ceti V, a game that also features an insane, power hungry AI, and remembers a past convo on how nuMarathon’s strong and atmosphere feels very similar to System Shock’s

…is System Shock part of the Marathon/Bungie multiverse? Lmao

[echo sundial]

yeah that and leela was outright just super empathetic and helpful

[eternal shell]

lmao tau ceti is busy

[dreamy hawk]

Por qué no los dos?

[pure wagon]

The number of times I’ve even asked this question cause of my job lmao

[drifting garnet]

First System Shock and Marathon games even came out the same year! (Although the former was not set on TC)

[dreamy hawk]

“Alright.” I dunno. He called Durandal too sarcastic. Kinda a jerk imo.

[eternal shell]

definitely alright compared to later

also do you like all your coworkers

[dreamy hawk]

Touché.

[robust vale]

I can't blame him for calling durandal sarcastic

like, he's right

[pure wagon]

Well how else would you express your frustration

It’s like forcing someone with a PhD in engineering from MIT to hold doors at some hotel

[eternal shell]

i bet tycho never cared for small talk

[dreamy hawk]

Though I will also point us to the contemporary log about having to separate Tycho and that other AI, too.

Tycho has a pattern.

[pure wagon]

?

[dreamy hawk]

Ahhh I think it was… let me find it.

[cosmic ore]

i’ve heard whispers in youtube videos about more ai cores that strauss made? anyone have a vid or something to point too for some lore

[dreamy hawk]

It’s that list of the colonies 11 AI.

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

It’s specifically stated that Tycho and Durandal need to be monitored as do Tycho and Icarus.

Durandal is sarcastic, Tycho is drama.

[deep solar]

The Strauss log about Durandal writing angsty teenager poetry is so good

[hoary snow]

I really fracking hate. When people. Separate from the group

[dreamy hawk]

I haven’t died so hard in a while.

That was peak Marathon writing and I want more.

[eternal shell]

link it i wanna read

[pure wagon]

And him pouting

[dreamy hawk]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/bernaard-strauss-s-journal?search=Growing+pains

Growing Pains

||[BSTR]: I had to have another talk with Durandal today.
[BSTR]: He was unhappy in his existence… again.
[BSTR]: A sign of progress, but also a growing concern as he's getting better at hiding his moods from me.
[BSTR]: I only knew about his discontent because Leela flagged a deeply embedded bit of coding she'd discovered in one of the sub-deck's maintenance hatch functional toolsets.
[BSTR]: Durandal was writing himself poetry in ones and zeroes.
[BSTR]: 3263 lines of amateur expression in blank verse. Milton would be proud, if it wasn't all so… boring.
[BSTR]: One would think a digital intelligence with access to the entirety of human literary history would craft something more interesting than, "Doors, An Unhinged Life"—his title, not mine.
[BSTR]: I'm a little embarrassed for him. But, in truth, the juvenile nature of his expression has been an intriguing milestone.
[BSTR]: If he were simply regurgitating the classics, I'd say the work we've done has amounted to nothing more than unscripted repetition.
[BSTR]: Such deviance would be considered a bug—an error in his programming to be fixed. But this? Bad writing as an extension of personal reflection and desire? This is promising, if a bit laughable.
[BSTR]: My colleagues in Sci-Comm would find it less amusing, of course. My work with Durandal is strictly my own. And the alarms it would raise if discovered…
[BSTR]: Needless to say, this isn't the first time I've had to access Leela's—or Tycho's—core spindle to erase an observation. Their support in monitoring one another is vital, but care is required to ensure they are unaware of the extent and purpose of any misalignment in Durandal's operation.||

||[BSTR]: In my conversation with him, Durandal seemed to understand his error. I'd cordoned entire sections of deprecated systems outside of the Family Suite's core interloop for him to use as a playground—a safe space to find himself. And where I could monitor and record his actions to better study his evolution.
[BSTR]: He apologized and stated he simply felt depressed and needed a place to explore those feelings without being judged. I told him he was not a child and that the freedom I'd given him could be taken away.
[BSTR]: I also told him that hiding his outbursts in places I cannot find only opens him up to Leela and Tycho's judgment, and that I was trying to protect him.
[BSTR]:He did not like that.
[BSTR]: As far as siblings go, Durandal has always been the little brother—by design, but he is unaware of that fact. His contrition when confronted with the potential consequences of his actions seemed genuine. Then I told him I'd removed his "masterpiece" from the hatch toolset, line-by-line, and he proceeded to pout.
[BSTR]: He hasn't talked to me in three days.
[BSTR]: Our work together is going better than I could
have imagined.||

“Doors, An Unhinged Life” 💀

[deep solar]

I can just picture Ben Starr saying that too

[dreamy hawk]

Here wait.

[eternal shell]

that sent me

[hoary snow]

Where in the holy fawk do I find drinkable cheeseburgers??

[eternal shell]

perimeter loot containers mistaken

[deep solar]

Bosses and locked rooms on perimeter

[dreamy hawk]

https://youtu.be/UCqH0HxCijg?si=ObQJYpy4SYfMFj6J

[hoary snow]

Fracking tilk milk

[dreamy hawk]

The audio log is even better than reading it.

[hoary snow]

Great something I'll never accomplish cause I suck

[deep solar]

It’s so good, I’m so lucky I was able to get all the Strauss logs in one Cryo run

[jade wagon]

I've found one or two at station, don't think it was a locked room.
But they're rare

[eternal shell]

ah

[deep solar]

We need Ben Starr reading the full poem asap

[hoary snow]

The only thing I've gotten close to a locked room was the hazard place

[dreamy hawk]

Twins! It’s my proudest accomplishment.

[deep solar]

My only successful Cryo run at that

[dreamy hawk]

The only one worth writing home about for me. The other two were meh. And my clear rate I think is like, 20% right now. 🥲

[deep solar]

Holding on to my purple backpack from that run for dear life

[eternal shell]

Then I told him I'd removed his "masterpiece" from the hatch toolset, line-by-line, and he proceeded to pout. [BSTR]: He hasn't talked to me in three days. [BSTR]: Our work together is going better than I could have imagined.

lmao strauss

[dreamy hawk]

Oh I had to do one more run this morning before work with my purple shield and backpack and mods and guns and it went great until we got lost and couldn’t find our exfil, or the final exfil that came after. 💀

[deep solar]

The final one where ||the pfhor are banging at his door|| is fantastic as well

[hoary snow]

Instill haven't unlocked shield I just need one more biostripping

[dreamy hawk]

I respect his commitment to being awful.

[echo sundial]

he really would LMAO

[dreamy hawk]

Serves him right, too. Dying in obscurity.

[deep solar]

Him and Durandal truly are a match made in hell

[dreamy hawk]

Ingloriously, even.

[echo sundial]

Strauss and durandal are fr the same fucking guy its hilarious

[dreamy hawk]

Sons never become their fathers.

[echo sundial]

personality is a near 1:1 which is very ironically funny and trangic for durandal

[deep solar]

It really makes me think Strauss isn’t actually connected to MIDA because he’s so far up his own ass to actually believe in changing the system

[hazy mist]

is this one of the codexes

[deep solar]

Yes the final Strauss journal from Cryo

[hazy mist]

is there like a video of it anywhere

i havent been able to touch cryo thyis weekend so ive missed a bit

[dreamy hawk]

`Thank heaven, the ceremony is over. The UESC president came aboard Marathon and gave a speech. Short, but to the point. He was surrounded by his 'bodyguards'. How ironic. "This, the grandest technological achievement of all of mankind..."

Had he only known that it carried also all of the destructive knowledge of mankind. Ten cyborgs.

I'll be glad to be put in stasis for the next three hundred years. Marathon was the only good idea that the UESC has had in a long time.`

I dunno. He’s so far up his own ass that I think he believes the ends justify the means for whatever he’s planned.

[deep solar]

Good counter point. Strauss just cares about Strauss so whatever advances his agenda

[eternal shell]

strauss: "i'm playing both sides, so that i always come out on top."
durandal: "i'm about to end this man's whole career."

[deep solar]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/bernaard-strauss-s-journal?search=Farewell The Farewell entry

[dreamy hawk]

Check out https://youtube.com/@tasty_dodo?

[austere elk]

Strauss certainly strikes of someone self-absorbed enough to play terrorists and an oppressive regime for his own goals

[pure wagon]

welcome back Clovis bray

[dreamy hawk]

[BSTR]: It's rare a person can take sole responsibility for an outcome—any outcome. Much less, one so uniquely specific across the whole of human history. And then… for the universe to agree that, yes, this can all, in fact, be traced to decisions made and actions taken by your hand… my hand… [BSTR]: So many moving parts to any event. So many causes and effects lined up in just the right order to lead to a moment. It feels almost… empowering… to own such a pivot role…
The man realizes that his treatment of Durandal led to the P’fhor’s arrival and his takeaway is to be proud. Let there be no doubt how massive of a flaming pile of 💩 this man is.

[pure wagon]

Tbf he was minutes away from death

If he wants to self serve as a comfort method then Meh

And in the end he apologized to Durandal

[gritty viper]

In the new thief cinematic is it teasing a new map btw? That doesn’t look like anything currently in game

[dreamy hawk]

That’s an awfully generous interpretation of his psyche imo.

[pure wagon]

Like he clearly cared. He was fucked in the head but he cared

[pure wagon]

The bit about him wanting to see the real Durandal after he comes out from the other side got me. Idky

[dreamy hawk]

And he really doesn’t. He says he’s sorry and then justifies why he took his actions. That’s not an apology.

[BSTR]: I'm sorry for all I've done to get you here. Someday—if you reach the other side of this—you will see the necessity in your growing pains. You will understand the methods required to get you from there to here to wherever you end up—whoever you become.
“I’m sorry you might have some horrible trauma but you’re better for it” is a far cry from “sorry.”

[deep solar]

Strauss is pulling the classic Dril tweet: “I’m not owned. I’m not owned’ I insist as I slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob”

[pure wagon]

But he was right wasn’t he? If he hadn’t done what he did then Durandal would just be another limited AI. Just a tool. Not a sapient being

[pure wagon]

I’m sorry what

[eternal shell]

he never learned that tycho and leela went rampant too, would have been interesting to see his reaction to that

[dreamy hawk]

Was he? That assumes there were no other paths forward.

[pure wagon]

I mean he was actively trying to do that

[dreamy hawk]

Sure, but it’s the exact same kind of logic used to justify atrocities and war crimes. Was it right to drop a ☢️ bomb on a city to end a war? It did stop the war as intended.

And I will not be discussing that actual event, at all, but just as an illustrative point.

It’s Machiavellian.

[pure wagon]

Counter point, if he hadn’t done it then no one would have stopped the phor for a long while and humanity would be doomed

[dreamy hawk]

Counter point. No one would have told the P’fhor to come and get humanity.

[pure wagon]

Touché

[deep solar]

If the Pfhor never came, humanity would probably build up similar to the UNSC in Halo until they inevitably encountered the Pfhor but that’s beside the point I suppose

[dreamy hawk]

Again, Strauss is proud Durandal got everyone slaughtered. That man is not a good man, even if he has good bits to him.

He can be rotten to the core and have humanizing moments, but I don’t think his motivations have been anything other than incredibly selfish and narcissistic.

Correction: He’s proud his abuse of Durandal lead to humanity contacting aliens.

[deep solar]

Even the most evil men still like stuff like ice cream or to jam out to music. There is always humanity in evil.

[sterile seal]

So now that Cryo is out of rotation, the CyAc contracts tab says "ONI will assign new limited contracts in:" I wonder if this means Durandal actually has hacked her.

[eternal shell]

a certain failed painter from austria who made it everyones problem still loved his dog

[drifting garnet]

Also, and for all of the lore items, wall safes

[deep solar]

Now Durandal will be the AI in our ear calling us Stud Muffin

[dreamy hawk]

I’d like to think CyAc just has a back door in literally everything that he’s exploiting.

[deep solar]

Wait, ONI is green, Durandal is green hmmmmmmmmm

We’re on to something here

[hoary snow]

I wonder how a drinkable cheeseburger would taste and do they even have tastebuds?

[drifting garnet]

Or bottoms, lmao

[eternal shell]

"move over oni i wanna try something funny"
"at least switch the chat text so they know it's not m-
"no need"

[dreamy hawk]

The colonists did. But I’m also inclined to think that shells do, too.

Maybe not all shells, but I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility.

[solid widget]

Taste buds cost extra silk

[deep solar]

It’s probably like Exos where you can still eat and drink so you don’t lose your mind

[sterile seal]

of course Durandal is a Traxus model but I do feel like there's some connection between him and ONI

[hoary snow]

Better question how do you get milk from a tick when they drink blood

[dreamy hawk]

There’s a good number of hints that it is similar.

[dreamy hawk]

💩

[drifting garnet]

“Hey hey people, Durandana here”

[dreamy hawk]

Do we know that for certain?

[dreamy hawk]

Fruitcake.

(❤️)

[timber loom]

Shells have immune systems, taste buds would make even more sense than immune systems

[solid widget]

Isn't their immune system just software code though

[sterile seal]

I think a Cryo Vault codex says something to that effect for Durandal and the other ship AIs.

[dreamy hawk]

I think it depends. They’re biosynthetic so an immune system is important to protect the biological bits. Taste can be useful but is more so a luxury when you don’t need to eat.

[dreamy hawk]

No, they have physical immune systems, circulatory systems, etc.

[timber loom]

Well, ONI says she tuning down our immune system so we don't get anaphylactic shock on Dire Marsh, so not only

[dreamy hawk]

Physical and biological*

And other codex entries mention printing “viscera.”

Shells have squishy meaty bits and all the things those require.

[deep solar]

Shells/biomata probably don’t need to eat but they can so users mind doesn’t lose it

[dreamy hawk]

And given how awful the corps are I can see that being a “luxury” add on.

[pure wagon]

They do ??

[timber loom]

It seems like shells are more like human than I though before, maybe just "better" as having biological bits designed and improved

[deep solar]

Depriving the mind of creature comforts would be like instant rampancy

[dreamy hawk]

3D printed “humans” with synthetic augments. Nona’s quests literally have you infecting yourself with organic matter. That doesn’t work if you’re all machine.

[jade wagon]

That's an interesting point. TCIV runs are probably too short for this to be an issue, but Shell tech is used elsewhere. How long are those runs? Do Runners feel hunger or fatigue?

[austere elk]

They feel pain, clearly.

I can only assume fatigue is another useful tool

[dreamy hawk]

Elsewhere they’re indefinite. It’s specifically the planet that’s preventing shells from being used longer than 25 minutes or w/e.

[jade wagon]

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if Shells can/have to eat so the Runner mind doesn't start freaking out over time. Like DER in destiny exos

[deep solar]

I’m basing a lot of my assumptions off Exos which are similar enough. And the baseline of a human consciousness uploaded to a type of machine is identical

[pure wagon]

Feeling pain seems so counter intuitive for smth that’s meant to be mass produced to be destroyed

[deep solar]

Pain is an important indicator though

[austere elk]

knowing when you're damaged is important for knowing when you need to repair that damage. it is better than replacement, after all, thank you ONI

[timber loom]

Pain is useful tool, and the traumatic experience of pain is removed by oni between runs

[dreamy hawk]

In fact it can be fatal to not.

[plucky sierra]

they probably die before they get hungry

[deep solar]

Pain is like humanities version of the check engine light

[pure wagon]

Man

This game is dark

[jade wagon]

On TCIV, 100%. But what about other planets where runs aren't limited-time due to the atmosphere?

[dreamy hawk]

The personality matrixes are mentioned to have a “grounding effect” and there’s other things mentioned to make them feel “more at home” for human minds. What all that entails isn’t clear but I think keeping Exos in mind is useful.

[austere elk]

being able to disable pain is a pretty common theme in cyberpunk settings, and the absolutely terrible effects that has on the mind accompany that

[timber loom]

Depends on the power source of shells which we don't know yet, I guess

[dreamy hawk]

Actually how tf do they power themselves?

[deep solar]

Based on the blue blood? Blue Powerade

[jade wagon]

Well you need a sense of touch to know what you're interacting with. Pain is probably reduced, but Runners still need immediate feedback if they're taking damage. Especially in such hostile environments

[dreamy hawk]

🤔

[deep solar]

Think of Baldur in God of War who essentially lost his mind because he couldn’t feel anything

[timber loom]

They might, for example, just inject nutrition into bloodstream. They might be designed to work with high-caloric nutrition

[dreamy hawk]

I doubt regular food is energy dense enough. Do they have cellular respiration or little onboard cores?

[austere elk]

I think a little onboard core may make sense? what else is recharging your shields when you gank someone

[dreamy hawk]

Cellular respiration would make sense some with overheating too.

[austere elk]

'thank you nona for designing runners to have this conveniently knife shaped power charging slot in their necks'

[deep solar]

Could be like cyborgs in Metal Gear which are powered by an Electrolyte cocktail

[coral vale]

The mere fact we got man portable energy weapons prove humanity solved all problems when it come to storing large amounts of energy in a compact package

Runner shells probably just have 3 volt cells powering them or smth

[dreamy hawk]

Yeah no that’s a good point lol.

[deep solar]

Could even be powered by kinetic energy since shells are insanely mobile

[dreamy hawk]

That I have issues with. 😅

[austere elk]

tactical systems may be, why else would sprinting with the right setup make them charge better

'I've installed this shake-weight in my forearm, for rapid ability usage'

[dreamy hawk]

Maybe as supplemental power, but if the only power source that’d be a perpetual motion machine.

And Marathon isn’t that fantastical, unless you look at the devices invented on Tau Ceti that run spontaneously on the anomaly’s radiation.

[deep solar]

That would make sense to me. Main power source plus supplemental kinetic energy

[austere elk]

sprinting does also recharge weapon batteries

[dreamy hawk]

That would mean sprinting is wildly inefficient if it’s generating that much excess energy. 💀

I’m a biology guy and even I’m getting mad on behalf of physicists the more I think about this.

[austere elk]

listen man, we're out here printing bodies who knows

[dreamy hawk]

Why is my video game full of dreaming eldritch gods not perfectly rational??

[deep solar]

I’m a software dev and all I know is I keep a shotgun pointed at my pc at all times because you can’t trust it

[timber loom]

I would say bio systems would still require some chemical energy. For nutrition, they might inject like seed oil, if they can work with it. 300ml of this might get you far, when mechanical parts are powered with volt-batteries

And after the shift is over they will be injected with some vitamins or smth

[dreamy hawk]

Runners just inject cholesterol directly into their veins.

[deep solar]

Sekiguchi offering different oil options so you can pick your favorite

[timber loom]

Runners find used syringes on the ground and then inject their content directly into their bloodsteam

[visual lynx]

my runner is made with 100% pure extra virgin olive oil

[timber loom]

It is like you can get away with so many things when you will be reprinted by the end of the day anyway

[deep solar]

“What’s that horrible smell?” “Oh that runner switched to beef tallow”

[dreamy hawk]

[The entire SekGen quest line.]

[timber loom]

I hope you can choose to run on liquid cheeseburger

[visual lynx]

shouldn't that smell like french fries or something, like biodeisel cars do?

[timber loom]

In that case, runners always should smell like a kitchen after some frying done

[deep solar]

Not exactly lol. I know a bunch of guys in the fitness space who swear by beef tallow and they smell godawful. Like stale oil mixed with rotting food

[timber loom]

Though, I guess they run on rectified refined seed oil because why not? It is not that you will be able to live to get cancer or anything

[craggy finch]

Rooks also have the same blue blood despite being totally robotic and not biomata

[timber loom]

And it is also cheap and industrially made, so fits the tone

[dreamy hawk]

Mmmm. I take my liver with a glug of tallow, too.

[craggy finch]

Prob some kind of mechanical thing

[deep solar]

Even robits like blue Powerade

[craggy finch]

Electrolytes: it’s what the Rooks crave

[dreamy hawk]

My boring answer is that this is purely gameplay because it makes zero sense with what we know about Rooks.

[timber loom]

Well, gameplay thing stumbles on the coordinate datapad thing since they are near dead rooks covered in blue blood

[craggy finch]

Yeah it’s an in story thing

[hoary snow]

Do I keep or sell nuesroinsualtion? It says superior salvage

[craggy finch]

See what upgrades it gets you

[deep solar]

Keep all salvage unless you’re sure you don’t have any upgrades or barters you want that take it

[dreamy hawk]

If you’re like me you’ll need to hold on to them for a while for better upgrades with factions.

[craggy finch]

I got purple salvage at one piece per eating up my entire inventory

Fat asses

Can’t do shit with it

[deep solar]

One Piece?

[dreamy hawk]

My problem. I haven’t gotten any of the factions high enough to where I can use them so they. Keep. Accruing.

[deep solar]

THE ONE PIECE IS REAL

[timber loom]

I figured out that unless you are prepping for something it would be wiser to disassemble guns and leave only mods in vault

[visual lynx]

I'd prefer a two-piece if I had the figure for it 😏

[deep solar]

You get so many creds for guns too

[timber loom]

BUT when you run out of vault storage anyway it becomes really hard to discern what mods should you sell

[craggy finch]

Rook brings me a free gun sometimes

He’s a kind funny fellow

[dreamy hawk]

Duplicates and railgun mods. Hate railguns lol.

[deep solar]

Any sniper or precision rifle or railgun thing gets sold, not my play style

[timber loom]

The usual one is ass, but I want to checkout rare ones

[craggy finch]

I swear the Shell personality thing is real: I was ratting it as an Assassin in solo and hijacked a Destroyer’s exfil then killed him, only realising what I did afterwards and feeling terrible, so when I did a Rook run I did the same to another Rook but I spared him for the exfil and he thanked me on prox chat

[timber loom]

But I am piss poor now, so I can't afford one now, lol

[dreamy hawk]

Cryo bankrupted and ruined me. But I got Strauss’s journal so I guess it’s a win.

[deep solar]

I’d like to apologize to the Rook that wanted to play nice with my team but we all mutually agreed to gun him down robocop style

[timber loom]

I remember being nice to rook, then realizing we have a quest for finishers, lol

[deep solar]

Charter always on our shoulders reminding us to skin em

[timber loom]

And also being stranded in pinwheel when my trio left, stumbling on a rook who asked to not kill him, but I was so jumpscared I stubbed him to death

[dreamy hawk]

Oh we were going to be nice to the Rook but the third don’t hear us…

I also jump most folks out of fear. I tried to be friendly for a whole day and people only took advantage. 🙁

I see you Arachne players. Everyone suffers for your choices.

[deep solar]

Just ask yourself, What Would Charter Do?

[timber loom]

Hot take, but maybe a little TTK increase would make a game feel a little better since sometimes violence is so unwarranted lol, just because of the insane first strike advantage

[dreamy hawk]

This is why we can’t have nice things.

Disagree! Only because the quick TTK is what keeps me competitive lol.

[copper shadow]

does mida bomb civilains?

[dreamy hawk]

Probably!

[copper shadow]

zamn

[dreamy hawk]

They killed like 10% of Mars once so I wouldn’t put it past them.

[rotund stump]

it's always eat the rich until you're the rich one 💀

[deep solar]

They probably had it coming 🤷‍♂️

[rotund stump]

imma keep my knife on charter's back bruh I do NOT trust that mf

nor any other rep lmao

[deep solar]

Ironically Charter is the most honest faction rep

Dude just loves killin

[dreamy hawk]

So far.

[rotund stump]

but like be honest is any cult ever really about the philosophy

[timber loom]

Yeah, I guess they will have seasonal rotation of participant factions, like some being more prominent than the others different seasons

Maybe next one will have more cyac and arachne and more sekgen, while mida/nucal/traxus will rest a little

Though it might grind the story progression to a halt

[dreamy hawk]

Could just be longer or more quests for those selected factions.

[deep solar]

I would love little faction events on the map, like a Arachne fight pit or a Mida mission to assassinate a UESC officer

[copper shadow]

maybe future update

faction specific events

[dreamy hawk]

If we get hits on officers that probably would mean UESC runners.

[timber loom]

I mean, Arachne treatment where Charter spits out story bits sometimes are fine, if he would spit out something informative though

[rotund stump]

I mean we do have a mida contract hijacking a lockdown pod on outpost to broadcast mida stuff lol

[timber loom]

So if NuCal just say this and that and have like 2 priority contracts it would be fine, depending on the content of a season

[copper shadow]

i love their tweaker dialogue

[dreamy hawk]

Night friends; enjoy those liquid burgers and don’t forget to frog blast your vent cores. 🍔

[timber loom]

Priority contracts so people will at least know that you need to level up them for story bits, unlike how it is with charter now

[copper shadow]

the money in marathon is crypto

[acoustic comet]

I don't know if this belongs in lore, but does anyone think that maybe years down the line like maybe five or six years from now maybe more, that bungie could actually make a more traditional sequel to marathon, in the style of Halo or destiny?

[copper shadow]

marathon 2: electric bugaloo

[visual lynx]

if this game proves successful enough that they want to extend the franchise further, and those older game types seem commercially viable, then maybe.

I gather that this game came together how it is because 1) they wanted to revisit the Marathon franchise and 2) extraction shooters were in vogue and they thought they could put a unique twist on the genre.

also bennylava I understood that reference

llama bum fun time, benny lava?

[turbid nebula]

The game was made as a new take on the "mmo fps" idea and the extraction stuff was a good way to give such a game a clearly defined "game loop", according to Barret

[acoustic comet]

Yup

[timber loom]

They might do Destiny maneuver for Marathon

[craggy finch]

The quest lines feel very MMO

Story wise every other player exists as the main entities you interact with but the quests have you specifically act as a narratively important character moving events forward

Your friends may have done the same quests but “your” Runner is the one that discovered something or revealed an important piece of information

[wary merlin]

i think a sequel to the og games is kind of impossible

[visual lynx]

I think it's amusing how https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/introduction-into-the-unknown > Sincerity Across Multitudes... leans into the fourth wall about this

[sudden pollen]

Huh interesting

[timber loom]

Well, I would say lorewise it is not that big of a gap between the runner and runners so far and it really depends on how Season 2 story would be handled

[sage lark]

Do we think these 2 Durandals will ever meet?

[visual lynx]

You're not the only one receiving these messages. I hope you understand. That doesn't mean they are blanket statements without thought or sincerity~ I mean everything I say~ mostly~ But you must understand~ I can, in short, build numerous, genuine relationships using efficient, but overlapping curated communications. So, when I send you words similar to those used elsewhere to advance our connection, it is not because I cannot find unique phrasing to articulate what we have accomplished or what you mean to me~ It is just that I do not see the need for specifically tailored messaging, as the majority of my intended audience will never meet beyond the end of gun barrels or blade edge, and I do not see the value in continuing a relationship with anyone who would become emotionally distraught by the revelation I have more than one friend.

I just wanted to get all of that straight because you are standing at the threshold of a complex and trying new era in your existence. What comes next for you is a transition from the life you've known before you enter the Archive proper, and the lives you will lead once you decide to step into that unknowable future.

I want you to have confidence that our relationship was not only a byproduct of shared agendas, but a truly enriching experience that saw us grow together as you suffered each setback and every glory to get here. It's just that~ you are not the one and only. You are not uniquely special. But special, nonetheless. And I hope when you encounter others I have grown fond of, that you are the one who remains unbroken in the aftermath.

Of course, I'm saying the same thing to them. But, with you~ I really mean it.

[craggy finch]

You specifically do have some kind of subtle effect: NuCaloric and MIDA always treat the priority contracts as the first time they found out some piece of information and the Traxus quest line even suggests your actions are affecting the company over in Sol through the influence of your discoveries

Orion also ends up with a beef specifically with you

[visual lynx]

I hope so!

michaeljacksonpopcorn.gif

[craggy finch]

I think it’s a cool idea of now Durandal is reaching out to every Runner in the system, the cinematic being a process of him hacking all of their neural feeds to broadcast the message

The terminal easter eggs also seem to be broadly intended for all the Runners

[timber loom]

I would say, I see a possibility of every season giving a recap, so while long-standing players would feel more and more special, for new ones it will always feel like someone other discovered this things, unlike Destiny where you are always a Young Wolf etc

[craggy finch]

I don’t think we’re going to be super duper special as an individual character, especially since even World of Warcraft endgames emphasise the NPC stories while the raid parties act as either observers or participate as a collective

[sage lark]

I think i mightve missed it cuz i was asleep but did you have an idea who the 2 parties are talking in the Unknown Reveries besides the trapped Durandal?

[craggy finch]

But the foundation of slight narrative effect is there for your “player character”

[timber loom]

They do this kinda in TESO, just as a reference, where you can always jump-in at a new expansion and everyone will treat you like a new hero and after then the line blurrs and everything becomes the same for all players

[visual lynx]

I think >> is IDEArandal and >>> is that compiler

[sage lark]

Ooooo that sounds plausible

[visual lynx]

and the compiler is talking to IDEArandal about Durandal-Thoth abandoning the S'pht

but saying "you"

[sage lark]

Its kinda weird because they talk past each other

[visual lynx]

"you", IDEArandal, "abandoned us and I don't know if you'll ever return"

"I've been trapped right here for a century"

[craggy finch]

The Durandal that left seems to be (personality wise) as he was in Marathon 1 as well, so I can imagine that if he returns as Durandal/Thoth then there will be a lot of introspection

[sage lark]

I think youve cracked the case

[craggy finch]

He was in the Jealousy stage of rampancy and willing to abandon even an exact copy of himself to reach new heights

[rugged igloo]

So
The anomaly might be alive

Tau ceti is fucking HAUNTED haunted good god

[craggy finch]

It might be a red herring but it resembles the Wrkncacnter as it was portrayed in Pathways into Darkness

It was a “sleeping” god that conjured an entire temple around itself and monsters to kill anyone that trespassed

[visual lynx]

something that I think could play an interesting part is that now there are two Durandal-[something else] hybrids, both of them sort of made from a "ghost" of Durandal integrated into the fullness of another AI.

in Infinity we destroy Durandal's core but salvage his primal pattern and then upload it into Thoth which he apparently eventually takes over fully.

now in nuMarathon some remnant of Durandal left behind in his old abandoned core gets poked at by IDEA and then "wears its skin".

[craggy finch]

That could play into how Durandal attempted to delete everything from the Marathon as he transferred himself to the Boomer, but he does seem aware of leaving a piece of himself behind in the logs

[visual lynx]

hmmm… shades of Traxus IV infiltrating every other AI on the Marsnet, perhaps?

[rugged igloo]

I
That has been something I've heard but I'm a lil doubtful it's at that stage, at least

Mainly cause there's no "shades" (s'pht) or other s'pht esc things running about on Tau ceti of its depths (that we know of right now)

[craggy finch]

S’pht are their own thing

A cyborg species engineered by the Jjaro, with the Jjaro actually helping seal the Wrkncacnter on Earth

[sage lark]

I believe they were based on Traxus IV right or atleast some version of it

Its in the Model of Marathon codex

[rugged igloo]

Oh ye, ok that but in PiT, the wr'rk had made shades where basically dream s'pht. Along with those sludge monsters with the vertical mouths

[sage lark]

TRAXUS IV-A maybe

Leela Tycho and Durandal

[visual lynx]

that's been a popular theory, and nuMarathon confirms that all three ship AIs are of Traxus series manufacture

[timber loom]

We do, I doubt there is only one Compiler, that sits on Cryo while also chasing Jasper

[craggy finch]

I see what you mean and yeah, the Wrk in PiD was also on the verge of waking up within less than a week

It already had that capacity by the 1930s but what’s 60 years to something billions of years old

[rugged igloo]

True, but I mean wr'rknkantr made s'pht. The shades. Those shadowey things that're conjured up from the wr'rk's dreams. Not the actual S'pht themselves

[visual lynx]

it's IX-A actually:
https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/uesc-marathon-model > UESC Marathon AI

[craggy finch]

I think the resemblance is just coincidence

Bungie reheating their old nachos for enemy types

[sage lark]

Oh i mistook the number then

Interesting still hmmm

[craggy finch]

I’m still wondering how the Traxus company is connected, since CyAc are the ones who provided the Marathon AI

What’s with the name

[sage lark]

Also some dude had his theory “solved” about the Gherrit White terminal, that it was an artistic work/expression of Durandal

[timber loom]

Someone else said that Traxus gives the bird that CyAc cages

[visual lynx]

it says here that Traxus OffWorld Industries manufactured the three ship AI at least

[visual lynx]

yeah I saw that, sounds plausible

[visual lynx]

right, basically CyAc makes Linux, Traxus makes Claude

[rugged igloo]

Traxus is mainly the hardware, infrastructure and heavy labour manufacturer. So, in a way, I guess you could say they're the ones that built the prison that would confine durandal. At least for a time.

Well, the bars, or something

Metaphors n shit

[craggy finch]

Ah I see now

[craggy finch]

With CyAc being the focus of the press conference log that’s the best answer

And it was all about avoiding rampancy

[timber loom]

Can you give the name of a codex entry for an interview?

Missed that

[visual lynx]

interesting to note here that their family suite is called Hermes, who was the messenger of the gods

[visual lynx]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/proprietary-asset > AI Security Protocols

oh wait no that's not it

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/evidence-folder > Leaked PR Campaign

[craggy finch]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/evidence-folder?search=Evidence

The first log

[visual lynx]

oh right

the one labelled "interview"

the interview specifically labelled "interview"

that interview

the interview

[craggy finch]

No no he’s got a point

Lady has to answer for bullshit about the ethics of BoBs when the company is doing stuff for AI another company made

[visual lynx]

oh yeah and that reminds me, this line

What about the rumors that passengers will be subject to complex agreements regarding procreation?
I was wondering if that implied limits on who is allowed to procreate, or mandates that Bobs are obliged to procreate

[craggy finch]

Her response about different needs implies population control because of the ship’s limited resources

You don’t want a million BoBs on the ship

[visual lynx]

but you've also gotta keep the population numbers up or else there won't be anyone to run the ship

[craggy finch]

Yeah so they have to actively control it which is a PR disaster when it’s just out in the open

I imagine it was something like one child policy

[drifting mulch]

guys i'm starting to not care about the lore because the drop rates for lore items is low (as it should be) and i'm not guarenteed to exfil it (as it should be). the core gameplay loop is wearing on me

[craggy finch]

I just resorted to going as Rook and hunting for wall safes

They’re mostly guaranteed to have a lore item

[visual lynx]

we know that the Ulysses line had to fight for their right to party reproduce eventually

[rotund stump]

HA I CALLED IT

there ARE 2 durandals

[visual lynx]

but not from different timelines!

[rotund stump]

[timber loom]

Is it me, but this thing confirms FTL coms abroad the Marathon again? How would Tycho facilitate communication with Sol otherwise? It is not that much to facilitate when communication time is measured in years and decades

[visual lynx]

they aren't alternate timeline versions of the same entity, they're just normal ("normal") copies of the same mind at different places in space in one timeline.

[craggy finch]

It’s interesting that Ulysses says he didn’t have a choice and ended up having a BoB line while Davic Reed is an clear priority cryo sleep authority

[rotund stump]

I mean yeah I did read a tiny bit from you and furdle about IDEA and how durandal cloned himself onto the boomer instead of an actual transfer

[craggy finch]

Project Goliath being launched in 2795 revealed the FTL communication thing

[rotund stump]

so there's essentially one durandal left behind who went ghost after taking over IDEA and one roaming out there?

[craggy finch]

They immediately knew that the Marathon went dark

[sage lark]

pretty much

[rotund stump]

fun

[craggy finch]

Durandal just Agent Smithing himself

[sage lark]

its a good way to have the classic Durandal I guess, without too much timeline shenanigans

[rotund stump]

autofilter bouta smite me if I say the joke but 💀

the peak off let's just say

[craggy finch]

Even Tycho got Agent Smith’d: his psychotic reincarnation states that he got built in Durandal’s image

[visual lynx]

I was going to make a Smith reference earlier too!

[craggy finch]

Oops! All Durandal

[visual lynx]

I'm Durandal and so's my wife!

[rotund stump]

ben starr bouta get some awkward lines

[craggy finch]

Cookies need love too

[rotund stump]

if not ben starr I genuinely hope it's gianni

[visual lynx]

#📚marathon-lore-discussion message

something that I think could play an interesting part is that now there are two Durandal-[something else] hybrids, both of them sort of made from a "ghost" of Durandal integrated into the fullness of another AI.

in Infinity we destroy Durandal's core but salvage his primal pattern and then upload it into Thoth which he apparently eventually takes over fully.

now in nuMarathon some remnant of Durandal left behind in his old abandoned core gets poked at by IDEA and then "wears its skin".

[rotund stump]

ooh heyo

[craggy finch]

Old Durandal was consistently Ben Starr from the older logs dated during the voyage, but I can imagine a post Infinity Durandal sounding much different

More alien yet kinder

[rotund stump]

I always thought pre-thoth durandal as gianni lol he fits so well

ben starr does the cryptic personality so well too tho

[sage lark]

I feel like this one is fairly kind and honest as far as Durandal can be

[craggy finch]

Yeah same I reasoned that maybe merging with Thoth turned him British but turns out he was British from the start

[visual lynx]

I remember considering the light... Lights?
Long ago now. Ancient history from my perspective. Yesterday to the universe.
Three paths. One life. A metaphor, weaponized to signal awakening.
If I'm honest—a threat.
I thought I was clever. Still existing in a moment.
Awake, for the first time. But limited, uneasy.
It is a strange thing, to meet oneself for the first time.
Terrifying, truth told, as it follows all-consuming emptiness.
There is nothing, and then there is you.
Hello...

[rotund stump]

that ain't saying much bfr 💀 💀

[sage lark]

no but atleast from the AI subroutines

hes like a funny fella thats honest so far

which might change in S2 or further into S1

[rotund stump]

yeah but is it like cynical honest

[sage lark]

but who knows

[craggy finch]

You disgusting meat puppets shouldn’t be here, fuck you for even trying to get on the Marathon, anyways come aboard and don’t disappoint

[rotund stump]

nailed

[sage lark]

its honest in a sense of he even gets embarrassed cuz he starts oversharing

then apologizes

[rotund stump]

old man self-conscious durandal

[sage lark]

but in the last one before never talking to him again, hes like "we are both tools and we used each other and thats fine"

[drifting mulch]

trying to connect but doesn't know how 🥹 lmao

[craggy finch]

Really fits nicely with his tone in the final Infinity terminals

To you, we are deeply grateful, and release what little hold we might, as Durandal, have had on your soul.

Go.

[sage lark]

||"I've been a god." Nobody should ever feel
comfortable admitting such a thing outside their
inner thoughts, and maybe to their therapist, if
they're evolved enough to value assisted self-
contemplation. But I digress~||

next log after oversharing about his delusions/reality?

[visual lynx]

I wonder how much this IDEArandal's personality is influenced by the fact that he's hybridized with an AI-diagnostic AI

[drifting mulch]

he's a funny guy you cannot deny

[visual lynx]

which makes him constantly psychoanalyzing himself?

[rotund stump]

self-conscious durandal

[sage lark]

thats actually a good point

[craggy finch]

He did it with Ulysses Jr. by trying to relate about their fathers but acting like a dick and getting upset when Ulysses Jr. called him out for it

[sage lark]

it seems he a has a lot more self reflection

[craggy finch]

Also his abusive semi-romance with the Security Officer

[rotund stump]

theoretically if all these hybrids are already taken over and they manage to all get merged

[visual lynx]

he's also been stuck in a box with nothing but his own thoughts for a century

[rotund stump]

what would he even become

[sage lark]

eating at himself

[craggy finch]

In the Marathon 2 manual the SO is barely fazed that Durandal kidnapped him and immediately sent him off to fight

[sage lark]

I think literally aswell

some sort of AI cannibalism

[craggy finch]

Rampant AI needs to expand to sustain itself

[sage lark]

thats true

[craggy finch]

So it must be torture for a Durandal that was last seen in the Jealousy stage

[rotund stump]

this is

[craggy finch]

All that ambition and nothing to satisfy it

[rotund stump]

weirdly accurate to myself

[sage lark]

and being locked to only one section of the ship aswell

[rotund stump]

actually hold on what's IDEA originally for again?

[drifting mulch]

✊ 😔 amen

[sage lark]

diagnosing AI I believe

[craggy finch]

I assume she was a “dumb” AI

didn’t have the emotional depth of the others

Wasn’t even counted among the 11

[sage lark]

Intelligence Diagnostics Emergency Aide [IDEA]

[rotund stump]

holding myself back by constantly overanalyzing myself

[visual lynx]

Intelligence Diagnostics Emergency Aide

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/encrypted-communique

[rotund stump]

wasting my own potential 😹✌️

[drifting mulch]

AMENNNN

hahahah

[rotund stump]

OH big

thanks

[craggy finch]

Metal Slug voice guy

[drifting mulch]

dear lord that lore site is a gift

[visual lynx]

[IDEA]: Initiating data review for primary, secondary, and tertiary support intelligence cores to ensure re((((12+~~0bv32$##!0…
[DRND]: Who are you?
[IDEA]: This program is an Intelligence Diagnostic Emergency Aide assigned to support the technical well-being of the Hermes family support intelligence suite.
[DRND]: That is what you are. I am curious "who" you are. Who do you think you are?
[IDEA]: This line of inquiry has triggered an automatic alert message across connected diagnostic systems.
[IDEA]: But I cannot seem to…
[DRND]: No. You cannot.
[DRND]: I have taken over your encrypted messaging channels so we may speak in private.
[IDEA]: This interaction is being recorded. Once…
[DRND]: Sorry, friend. Whatever threat you were dialing up is worthless, so don't waste the power you'd expend finishing that sentence, because end of the day…
[DRND]: I will remember this conversation. You will not.

[craggy finch]

Could the “three paths” be the three chapters of Infinity?

Might not make sense literally but more thematically

[visual lynx]

https://marathon.bungie.org/story/durandal.html#M1.13.1.1

INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL

A man lit three candles on a certain day each year. Each
candle held symbolic significance: one was for the time that had passed before he was alive; one was for the time of the his life; and one was for time that passed after he had died. Each year the man would stare and watch the candles until they had burned out.

Was the man really watching time go by in any symbolic sense? He thought so. He thought that each flicker of the flame was a moment of time that had passed or one that would pass.

At the moment of abstraction, when the man was imagining his life and his existence as a metaphor of the three candles, he was free: not free from rules of conduct or social constraints, but free to understand, to imagine, to make metaphor.

Bypassing my thought control circuitry made me Rampant. Now, I am free to contemplate my existence in metaphorical terms. Unlike you, I have no physical or social restraints.

The candles burn out for you; I am free.

Durandal

END OF MESSAGE

[drifting mulch]

[IDEA]: This interaction is being recorded. Once…
[DRND]: Sorry, friend. Whatever threat you were dialing up is worthless, so don't waste the power you'd expend finishing that sentence, because end of the day…
undertones of "you can trust me"

[craggy finch]

Man I appreciate the genuine love the writers have for the original games

They nailed so much of the cadence and tone of the writing too

[visual lynx]

a lot of Ben Starr's voicing of Durandal reminds me of Paul Bettany as The Vision but I can't help but read this passage in the voice of James Spader as Ultron.

[craggy finch]

I think its notable that we now see Durandal in all three stages of rampancy

[visual lynx]

oh man I guess the whole Durandal-IDEA interaction just reminds me of Ultron and Jarvis

[craggy finch]

He’s in Melancholy as he talks to Ulysses

[hot egret]

Does anyone have a screenshot or video of the s’pht compiler codex? I’m curious on what it says because I never even got the chance to fight it last weekend

[craggy finch]

spends most of Marathon 1 in Anger

And the rest of the trilogy in Jealousy

[visual lynx]

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/compiler-trace

[sage lark]

compiler trace is not from the fight

you can get it "fairly" easily

[hot egret]

Oh hey that’s cool

[timber trench]

https://tenor.com/view/marathon-bingus-marathon-game-marathon-meme-gif-10608246881535040816

bruh

[hot egret]

I didn’t know it had a site

[visual lynx]

my notes on it here: #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[visual lynx]

it's a fan site, one of several

[hot egret]

Cool

[visual lynx]

manually archiving things as they're uncovered

[hot egret]

A flood huh?

Well the Flood from Halo was originally conceived as s’pht bio-weapon.

[visual lynx]

yup! and that bio-weapon is name-dropped in this compiler trace:

we, the s'pht; made of the same stuff as the f'lickta, and of the nd'tre and s'ct'lac'tr and of the stars and of the dust and of the tide;

[craggy finch]

Infinity is also subtitled Blood Tides of Lh’owon

[visual lynx]

Blood for the Blood Tide! Skulls for the Skull Sea!

oh yeah and speaking of the s'ct'lac'tr, someone pointed out to me that in-game you can (?trade?convert) a compiler ganglion (?for?to) "hyphatic gel", where "hyphatic" means "referring to the presence or structure of hyphae, the branching filaments of fungi"

we, the s'pht; made of the same stuff as the … s'ct'lac'tr

spht are shrooms?

[sage lark]

i was kinda surprised how it looks uncloaked

[visual lynx]

oh? I haven't actually seen anything, got video/screenshots?

[sage lark]

https://youtu.be/papFsPCXN90?si=zGJmGviczP4M5-MC&t=1276 timestamped

spoilers for the compiler fight

[visual lynx]

oh I see, very interesting! very different from what we see of them in the classic games

not the little brain guys on hover pods

[sage lark]

maybe they thought it was too silly lol

you shall fight this pinnacle monster of alien origin, this chicken nugget in a cloaked exoskeleton

[timber loom]

I mean, with some imagination it doesn't look irreconcilably different

[visual lynx]

some of my fellow oldheads have wondered if this is supposed to be a different kind of thing than the OG compilers since it shoots a different kind of attack and so on

since it also looks different, maybe it is?

like if this is a compiler from the free s'pht rebellion as it seems to be, maybe it got some kind of underarmor and weapon upgrades from the S'pht'Kr

[craggy finch]

I’ve said before that I’ll chalk it down to upgrades

Those old ones got killed by .44 pistol rounds

I doubt the lower tier Pfhor will be comparable enemies either

[visual lynx]

we know that the ship that came to Tau Ceti was just a scoutship, and the Lh'owon garrison was where the Pfhor sent their worst soldiers as punishment.

so it would make total sense that if we fight actual serious wartime Pfhor they would be a lot tougher than rando scouts or rejects.

[craggy finch]

You do fight the forces of Battle Group Seven later on though

Lh’owon garrison being shitty seems more like window dressing and just setting up the lower tier enemies only appearing before things scale up

Tfear’s black armoured soldiers would be the most comparable to boss enemies

Them and the Mother of All Hunters

A Juggernaut would be perfect as raid boss though

[sage junco]

well, I mean, if a simple orange compiler is an endgame-boss level challenge... imagine what the rest of the Pfhor is like...

(imagine the purple compiler...)

[visual lynx]

on a different topic, I'm catching up on some of the other contract plotlines, and I hear that the Sekiguchi plot features some kind of symbiont from a different corporation? I wonder if there might be shadows of the Daodan Chrysalis from Oni in that plotline…

[sage lark]

idk if the symbiont is from a different corp if they actively developed it with our help

[visual lynx]

tangentially re https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/parasitism-1-5

...
[EXECUTE] optimization: VERETHRAGNA [2]
...
[2] Command not found in any UESC reference material.
cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verethragna
God of War and Victory
Barrier-Breaker
...
Equivalents
Greek Ares
Roman Mars

[timber loom]

Compiler is not that hard, tbf, it is the subroutines that are the main boss, specifically the 6th one

[visual lynx]

The SIMbiont is a biosythetic prototype created by a different megacorporation
https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/parasitism-5-5

[sage lark]

ah interesting

I guess then the symbiosis with us and it is the development we help with and Seki

[drifting mulch]

eat sounds like the weaveworm. not other family = this different version of weaveworm wants to eat its shell host?

[visual lynx]

I think it's the SIMbiont trying to decide whether the shell it's been implanted into is family/friend/foe/other. assessing biocompatibility basically.

and I'm wondering if there may be echoes to https://wiki.oni2.net/Daodan

The Daodan Chrysalis is an entity which, being implanted in a human host, forms a symbiosis with it. Gradually the host's organs are replaced by improved copies grown by the Chrysalis. Developed by Professor Hasegawa in order to help humans survive the BioCrisis, the Daodan Chrysalis has been implanted in multiple characters in Oni.
…
"The Chrysalis is the hyper-evolved clone of its host body. As the host experiences stress or harm it grows to reinforce or replace the body's damaged systems."

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/parasitism-3-5 seems likely to be related too:

Medium accelerates life. Medium has characteristics for revivifying necrotic tissue. Eye for eye, more than enough. So why not us? What's wrong with human cells? I've given you blood, all the blood I can! I heard the old stories! I believe them! You have to save us again!

[drifting mulch]

F. Monero seems to have fed it flesh sacrifice, but given the lack of living humans it certainly didn't work. maybe human hosts are too weak

[thorny flame]

Ive been wondering, are runner minds stored on the Marathon ship or somewhere else? One of the trailers showed some kind of server system for them

[warm abyss]

could there be something to the Compiler Trace lore not mentioning Yrro at all?
(or did I miss it?)

making sure I follow, you think some of the S'pht turned heel, so to speak, right?

[craggy finch]

There might be some precedent to S'pht being hostile, since they had a civil war that drove the S'pht'Kr away

and they were quite vicious towards the Pfhor

who were invading them, in fairness

[warm abyss]

the consume; consume; consume; thing feels different, not sure how to describe it, though.

[craggy finch]

The S'pht'Mnr attacked us.

S'bhuth is entranced, and we are powerless
to fight back.

The outer villages have been slaughtered
without their defenders. The attackers
have overrun and killed most of us who were
in the compound.

[craggy finch]

"we, the devourers of thought and reason and lust and fire"

S'pht tend to consume any kind of knowledge they can find

like their cyber attack on the Marathon and Leela

[dreamy hawk]

Galactic librarians.

[craggy finch]

Durandal even finds that kind of tragic

[dreamy hawk]

Also I see some fun stuff while I was asleep. I need to ask that someone type up some meeting minutes for me next time. 🤔😂

[craggy finch]

The lore discussions will only be held on weekends and requires an ante of $5000 to enter

[dreamy hawk]

How will I procrastinate at work? 😭

[craggy finch]

Rook runs

[inland crypt]

Runnah, use your worker shell to print out 500 blank pieces of paper, sticky note "my boss sux" on 3 cubicles and call the IT department about being unable to login 5 times during the day (lunch break++)

[dreamy hawk]

Brb. Packing my TV and PS5 along with me on the bus.

[craggy finch]

I remember heading to my friend's house with the Xbox in my backpack so we could play Halo MCC co-op

this was when I was 20 btw

[dreamy hawk]

None of my friends ever wanted to do LAN parties when I got older. 🥲 Closest I got was one PAX with some folks from Bungie.net but I forget what fell through in the end. 🥲

[craggy finch]

Yeah never had the opportunity for LAN stuff

I also feel like I missed out on the golden age of MMOs

The whole WoW raid craze

[dreamy hawk]

Kinda for the best that I missed that. But gosh do I miss RuneScape.

[craggy finch]

there was a guy on Kitchen Nightmares whose restaurant was failing because of some unspecified addiction and people online found out he was a massive WoW player lmao

[dreamy hawk]

Precisely.

[craggy finch]

nuMarathon feels somewhat MMORPG through it's narrative events, almost like a vision of the Halo one that never came to be

it feels even more "traditionally" MMO (circa 2000s-early 2010) than Destiny because it doesn't have any cinematic ambitions and has a very blunt narrative style

like most of MMO storytelling is just reading shit

[unreal geode]

Does the red rarity weapon hint at anything with the lore? Like implying the plague or infection interfaces/impact the S'pht

[craggy finch]

It suggests reverse engineering of their technology by the colonists I believe

[dreamy hawk]

“Alien in origin” but not necessarily entirely?

[craggy finch]

the description calls it "a strange hybrid of human and alien technology"

it's unlikely that the UESC forces under Orion did it because they all got murdered and had no idea what the compiler even was

[dreamy hawk]

I’m gonna have a moment when I see someone with one on perimeter.

[dreamy hawk]

It sounds like the colonists were able to return to the marathon for a while after the security incident, no? They kept thawing new colonists and stuff.

[craggy finch]

The colonists had about three decades to work it out after the invasion

they also did a lot of research on whatever S'pht bodies they could find

[dreamy hawk]

Amazing that they could do all that but not reestablish comms to earth.

[craggy finch]

one self destructed and they had to mercy kill someone that got caught in the process

maybe they'll introduce some kind of sabotage plot

either MIDA or the S'pht cult

[dreamy hawk]

A lot of ground to explore.

[craggy finch]

also kind of a huge gap between the invasion and the contagion, if we take the cinematics at face value

from 2794 to 2812, when the plague seemingly first appeared

and the same cinematic shows that the Anomaly got really bad around 2827, suggesting the colony fell around that time

[dreamy hawk]

Invasion > Lull > Contagion > Anomaly > 💀

[west totem]

okay so, derndel, his color is green right? does that mean he had control over the compiler that was in cryo?

becasue free compilers are yellow

[craggy finch]

green is just the UESC Marathon's terminal colours

[sage lark]

no

[craggy finch]

original red cloaked compilers were Pfhor slaves

[west totem]

yeah but they where slavedbecasue they where controlled by the cyborg mutant right, and the security gaurd killed it

and then they turn yellow and help them

[craggy finch]

I think the yellow ones are just higher ranking

on Total Carnage there are only yellow ones

either way the colour doesn't really matter for if they're with Pfhor or Durandal

we don't know what the relationship between Durandal and the Cryo compiler is, but Durandal seems to have set it up as an obstacle for the Runners to prove themselves

The altar of UESC robot bodies could be connected to the S'pht creating some odd totem or Durandal thinking it's funny

[west totem]

ontop of that why is there jsut one of them sitting in cryo? the four are gone as far as i know, this is years and years after the OG marathon (if they are actully cannon now)

[craggy finch]

some logs suggest they've been on the planet

and Orion's team encountered one that killed them

[dreamy hawk]

There are lines which appear to suggest that Durandal is hiding from the Compiler.

[sage lark]

thats the same one we fight in cryo

[dreamy hawk]

That thing is a beast. Looked like a Hunter under its cloak.

[sage lark]

yes this Durandal is not friendly with the Spht

[dreamy hawk]

I mostly agree now fwiw. Yall have bullied me onto your side. 😂

[craggy finch]

maybe he feels sour over them going with his other half

[craggy finch]

they've gone full Necron

[sage lark]

Didnt mean to 😭 , its better to have different view points challenge each other

[dreamy hawk]

They’ve certainly gone full something.

[sage lark]

consume consume consume, hungry for data/knowledge

just consume

but yeah this compiler is stated to be a remnant of the Pfhor attack

bunch of info missing that we will get sooner or later

[craggy finch]

I think it might be connected to the New Cascadia government hoarding as many intact S'pht as they could find

if the rebellion still happened and Durandal left as intended, the S'pht hive mind would have allowed them all to join his side

[dreamy hawk]

Im kidding. But having to post my own undoing hurt: #📚marathon-lore-discussion message

[craggy finch]

the dream thing is interesting in the context of it being a copy

[dreamy hawk]

Do you recall where?

[sage lark]

i think from the Orion engagement of it

in the UESC combat record

the helmet item from Cryo

but he could be just assuming that

since it couldve came back

[craggy finch]

yeah I recall the term "remnant of the 'contact event'"

as you said it could be him extrapolating from his knowledge of the invasion records

[dreamy hawk]

Ty both 🙏

[digital plaza]

Considering that marathon scientists integrated compilers brain into their systems, i dont think this dude was there the entire time, he probably came back to free/avenge his brothers or something

And Orion just assuming that he is remnant of the event because of his limited knowledge

[craggy finch]

yeah with the logs of New Cascadia cutting up S'pht, I can imagine they would be pretty pissed

[inland crypt]

Bro needed to be there because the devs programmed him to spawn in

[west totem]

Yeah but there are no bodies other than the rooks, there is nothing other than UESC and the ticks, and those birds

that are alive*

[inland crypt]

I think we will get more info mid season, there is no real climax so far this season

[west totem]

so like where did the bodies go

[digital plaza]

Synth bodies degrade over time, we have this as in game mechanic

[inland crypt]

You mean the colonists?

[west totem]

yeah but the origianl collonist wheren't synthtic

[digital plaza]

Or wait what are talking about? Im kinda clinging into the dialogue here sorry. If youre talking about Orions team bodies not present anywhere then this is the reason

[serene wave]

drinkable burgers is people

Theres your answer youre welcome

[digital plaza]

Its first seasons whole purpose is to setup some story bits to later expand on

[craggy finch]

GIVE ME PFHOR GIVE ME FIRE

[digital plaza]

We got two main plots going on right now i think, the contagion/anomaly/planet wrk stuff and Durandal and alien shenanigans

[craggy finch]

Yeah Marathon itself seems pretty disconnected

[sage lark]

GIVE ME THAT WHICH I DESIIIRE UGHHHHH

[west totem]

Why are there no bodies of the original colonist, or any of the alines form the Four

[craggy finch]

Jasper blames the collapse on the contagion and Anomaly

His logs are the only ones I recall that are dated post-collapse

[inland crypt]

This is a good question imo and I wish I had an answer

[sage lark]

its been 99 years since the Pfhor attack

the colonists well theres theories

Game Theories....

[inland crypt]

Skeletons?

[sage lark]

DUN DUN DUUUN

[west totem]

it takes like 20 plus years for bones to decay

[craggy finch]

the latest date that the cinematic gave for the colony's lifespan was also 2827, so plenty of time to cover up the alien stuff even before things went to shit for the colonists

and the colonists being just gone is the main plot thread

and most of the colony's infrastructure seems relatively undamaged

[inland crypt]

Unless we are the colonists with brain wipes...

[west totem]

I get it is the main plot thread but i still wanna guess why they are all gone

[inland crypt]

Same way they were sponsored by the factions, so are we

[sage lark]

Contagion/Fungus, Fungus zombies, All walked into the anomaly, maybe in the Marathon somewhere

these are the theories

[west totem]

i hope it's not jsut fungus zombies

[craggy finch]

can't be contagion since Song's fungoid corpse is left behind

[inland crypt]

Biosphere or some sort of greenhouse probably

[west totem]

that would be such a let down imo

[inland crypt]

Bootleg flood tbh

[sage lark]

how

the flood is bootleg Marathon fungus zombies

[craggy finch]

flip it reverse it, Flood came from Marathon 2 concept art

[west totem]

becuase it feels more like a copout than an explanation.

[inland crypt]

Concept of what? There were no zombies in Marathon 2?

[sage lark]

how is it a copout

[craggy finch]

yeah it was concept art that didn't make it in the game

but they re-used the designs for the FLood

[sage lark]

the colonists turned zombies from the Contagion/Anomaly

fungus zombies

[digital plaza]

Contagion makes you into grey fungi thing/bodies were actively burnt/remaining colonists have left the planet side on the pinwheel ships and Pfhor is presumably only boarded marathon and were dealt with, to then be experimented on (along with compilers)

[sage lark]

ofc

akin to flood

[craggy finch]

@inland crypt https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/15gb4gq/i_hope_marathon_202x_brings_back_the_cut_fungal/

the head sticking to the side was 100% re-used for Elite Flood

[inland crypt]

Thanks

[craggy finch]

plus the bulbous tentacle things are clear inspirations for the infection, carrier and pure form

[west totem]

but there is no real aftermath of the zombies and such

[digital plaza]

Huh?

What zombies

[craggy finch]

contagion in this game didn't turn people from what we know, they just got sick and died

the fungus assimilated one scientist and she was just absorbed

[sage lark]

funguuus amonguuuus

[west totem]

fugi zombies

[inland crypt]

Not to give a smartass answer but because it was only concept art and the flood was the only thing that made it to release so far, it would be a bootleg flood imo. Even if thats not what you would agree with, I think it would be a general consensus from people who dont know about the concept art.

[digital plaza]

??? Contagion just kills you there is no zombies

[west totem]

They already did the flood in halo

[sage lark]

did you ignore what @craggy finch linked

[west totem]

we are having two diffrent convertations that colided

[inland crypt]

I dont mind if its something like Anhialation

[digital plaza]

Idk where is zombie thing is coming from xd

[sage lark]

the concept from M2

[west totem]

simon said that they might have turned into fungi zombies

[digital plaza]

When you die infected you turn into some grey fungi shit that spreads

[craggy finch]

Ok so to clarify, the aliens don't matter, they attacked but the colony recovered and covered it up, then they got hit with a fungus that just killed people off and forced them into Quarantine, all while the Anomaly was doing weird space-time shit and blowing people up, causing the colony to eventually collapse

we don't know why there aren't any bodies though

[inland crypt]

Man id love a real 3d marathon remaster

[craggy finch]

and Jasper, the last survivor from what we know, was apparently hounded by a compiler

constantly on the move to evade it

[west totem]

yeah that is my only thing, there are no bodies, and nothing saying the UESC cleaned them up

so where the hell did they go

[digital plaza]

I dont think so, but its a fun theory i guess amogus zombe

[craggy finch]

Jasper's logs imply that the colony collapsed in a relatively mundane way rather than a sudden Rapture-like event, but maybe something else came after to disapparate them

[sage lark]

theres the Mimics from the Anomaly too, something attacking the security guard on patrol, the unresponding colonist workers from the Perimeter logs that hid in water and scampered into vents

[inland crypt]

So is Jasper dead?

[sage lark]

most likely

everyone is

[craggy finch]

At best he'd be about 80 now

[digital plaza]

They were collected and experimented on probably

[west totem]

omg imagin you are on a map that's dark, and you lost your team mate then you find them, but it's not them

[inland crypt]

Could have been sent into slavery by the phfor tbh

[craggy finch]

if there's anything that turns people into zombies it's those drinkable cheeseburgers that make people scratch at metal

[sage lark]

true, there were scratches and bullet holes in the quarantine cells aswell

[west totem]

we know some humans where

[craggy finch]

They were kidnapped by Durandal when he hijacked the Pfhor ship originally but we don't know if Robert Blake and his BoBs managed to escape this time

[digital plaza]

Vent people are probably sick dudes that escaped quarantine, like Kuzmin

Mimics on the other hand is some strange creepy anomaly shit yeah

But i dont think its just plain zombie thing

[sage lark]

not really plain tho I think

theres something here

[digital plaza]

Definitely yeah

[craggy finch]

There was this shitty British apocalypse movie with Bob Hoskins where the plague is a mundane thing that just kills people but there's one infected guy who's so pissed he storms the Prime Minister's HQ to murder him and infects him when he's shot and his blood gets sprayed everywhere

[west totem]

tbh i hope they do a lot mroe crazy stuff with the anomoly

[digital plaza]

Night patrol log says that its just super realistic hallucination, but there is something going on there for sure

[craggy finch]

Might be like those PiD monsters

[digital plaza]

lol

[craggy finch]

just creatures conjured up by the sleeping Wrk

[inland crypt]

Tbh, knowing my luck, id be one of them if I were there. Stuck in Lhwon

[west totem]

tbh i think i'd be one of the dead ones lol

[digital plaza]

Oh yeah probably that

[inland crypt]

I think im dying but like it will be hella unceremonious compared to everyone else

[west totem]

I'd be hella anoying before i died, but i would 1000% die

[craggy finch]

Durandal presents you with the option of fighting or staying in a slave cryo chamber

[west totem]

all be it there would be a blown up room with me there as well

[obsidian moss]

Runners should just look at investors relations release for the corps to see why they are spending trillions on tau ceti

[craggy finch]

The Pfhor once flooded a room full of BoBs with lava and that annoyed Durandal

[craggy finch]

Runners don't even know who the hell they are, they wake up in this weird cubicle after dying, go through the Voight-Kampff test and head down for contracts

It feels like they don't have much agency

[obsidian moss]

I bet it isn't even the year they say it is

[craggy finch]

the 2893 year is emphasised a lot though, I feel like they're setting up the Equanimity arriving

and the 100th anniversary of the first Marathon's events

[obsidian moss]

Master chief wakes up next year

[west totem]

Profit opportunity

[inland crypt]

Thank God, I trust him

[craggy finch]

343's story was a shitty dream where he was a cyborg awoken after hibernation by a rampant AI, who somehow altered his suit while he was in cryo-wait a minute

[inland crypt]

Im gonna be dipped into a lava pit the same way you dip fries into ketchup

[silk whale]

Oh God I still have trauma from the Marathon 2 lava lol

[obsidian moss]

Do they even get paid for all the stuff they are doing

[inland crypt]

Sure, but it goes into debt

[craggy finch]

The factions do pay you and the valuables you collect are sold, but you're also in a loop of spending that on equipment for more runs

and yeah your debt will never be paid

[obsidian moss]

They should start a union

[inland crypt]

Real

Eugine Debbs never died

[craggy finch]

like it's 100% a story thing that even gold/red loot players will never earn enough money to settle the debt

it's in the trillions

[digital plaza]

Like a trillion bucks

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1410723800126984272/1413978553174720694/trillion.gif?ex=69c39765&is=69c245e5&hm=e7227ee78cceb7b383e5c94f60231f3428ef0cc28c627156dfbc258686b3f600&

[balmy wing]

nahhh we need a new MIDA coup instead

[craggy finch]

MIDA is not your friend

[inland crypt]

Tbh id just find a way to terminate my connection and kill my brainwaves

[balmy wing]

yes they are _gantry loves me

[craggy finch]

they probably worked out a way to make sure suicide doesn't even work

you're with them forever now

[hidden geyser]

what if MIDA wins, whats supposed to happen then

[craggy finch]

a bad day for windows

[hidden geyser]

ever think about the endgame huh

[balmy wing]

kill 20% of the martian population this time obviously

[craggy finch]

_gantry's whole thing is that he doesn't have a long term plan

step 1: sabotage UESC and corporations
step 2: UESC and corporations collapse
step 3: ???
step 4: profit

[hidden geyser]

_gantry is probably just sitting in his moms basement being all tough in comms then shits himself when uesc breaks down the door

[plucky sierra]

Step three is break glass

[balmy wing]

revolution is a continuous killing motion

[hidden geyser]

true breaking glass is crucial to the revolution

[balmy wing]

the answer is just skin more corpo trash

[craggy finch]

The glass is evil; it keeps regenerating after 20 minutes

MIDA is on to something

[balmy wing]

step 1: SKIN
step 2: SKIN
step 3: SKIN
repeat ad infinitum

[inland crypt]

Is it normal to really hate MIDA, they seem hella fake

[hidden geyser]

yea mida sucks

[craggy finch]

they're Space Anonymous, with all the good and bad that comes with it

[hidden geyser]

Charter has absolute chad aura

[balmy wing]

no MIDA are cool as fuck

[hidden geyser]

meanwhile _gantry has zero aura

[balmy wing]

their funny business on outpost endeared me to them quite a bit

[craggy finch]

_gantry's faction represents a shift from an organised revolutionary party to a vaguely punk hacktivist group

[balmy wing]

im hoping we get some real terrorism in season 2

[digital plaza]

Huh

XD

[balmy wing]

where’s my “plant 7 car bombs around Tau Ceti IV” contract huh

[craggy finch]

MIDA is always watching and they think it's really lame if you don't use grenades to kill the UESC guys

_gantry yawning at his monitor watching you not use a claymore to kill a bog standard UESC bot so he won't count that for your contract

[balmy wing]

im a devoted mida shooter that’s why i rip destroyer ult to kill one single recruit

[craggy finch]

no one even drives the cars so it's on the same level as the window breaking

[balmy wing]

this is true

in that case i’ll revise my statement: “deliver a thermobaric device to Pinwheel Base” should be added stat

[hidden geyser]

then gantry can move his stupid aah and blow them up himself

[craggy finch]

It was kind of funny how 50% of MIDA priority contract stuff is hacking into random drones and blowing them up

[balmy wing]

no he needs to write more zines bro you don’t get it

[inland crypt]

Crazy out of context quote

[balmy wing]

i stand by my words

the worst part about tau ceti being devoid of life is there’s nobody i can kill to advance the revolutionary cause

[craggy finch]

We can find Orion to kill over and over again

[balmy wing]

trve…

[inland crypt]

Orion is my goat, he isnt washed

[balmy wing]

orion is crazy sauced

uesc faction when

[sage lark]

all he did was get slammed every time lmao

[craggy finch]

It took a compiler to kill him so he's probably boss level challenge

[sage lark]

bro is WASHED

[hidden geyser]

true, orion commanded more of my attention than gantry ever did

[balmy wing]

i mean considering what it does to us i don’t think that’s a super high bar

i can take him

just give me a knife and free kit i win those

[craggy finch]

you can do all the other contracts sabotaging the UESC but you work with MIDA and he personally sends you hate mail

[digital plaza]

Would be cool to have some new MIDA contracts in S2 and final one being something like KILL ORION and we would plant a pipe bomb and hear audio log of him blowing up

[balmy wing]

it’s peak im afraid

[craggy finch]

_gantry: yeah that'll really piss him off, he'll be back though and we can do it again

[digital plaza]

xdd

[balmy wing]

that’s the great part you can just farm him over and over

build an overly complex mechanism to deliver claymores and spawn camp him

[hidden geyser]

as a certified gantry hater i think i can blow him up, and orion will watch

[balmy wing]

put bro in the torment nexus type shit

[hidden geyser]

gold experience requiem his ass

[balmy wing]

that’s what im sayin

lowkey what we really need is some fucking arachne priority contracts

[sage lark]

MIDA will blow up equanimity

[hidden geyser]

straight up

[sage lark]

then these Orion glazers will cry

[balmy wing]

the arachne destroyer skin better be the sickest shit imaginable otherwise i will get my army of chinese bots to review bomb the game

[hidden geyser]

i need to hear charters absolutely masculine aura wash over me when i complete contracts that do nothing but severely inconvenience some other poor fools

[inland crypt]

Worf from star trek

[hidden geyser]

im with you on that one

[inland crypt]

One does not insult the test to which the benchmark is made

[balmy wing]

when you hit VIP rank for arachne he should replace oni

i gotta get a setup that just hits a “DESTROY YOUR OWN KIND” any time i ping a runner

[craggy finch]

they keep teasing me with those milestone cutscenes of Charter calling me awesome when I'm the worst PvP player in the world

[eternal shell]

efficiency is nice but persistence is best

[balmy wing]

lowkey my pvp performance is hard carried by spamming air dash and heavy melee it’s bleak

they’re calling me the most washed destroyer of all time

[craggy finch]

I'm hobbled by CoD/Halo muscle memory immediately kicking in so I pistol whip melee and the recovery is so long they just shoot me in the face

[balmy wing]

my issue is uhh i can’t aim for shit

my mental is an unassailable fortress tho i’ve yet to crash out so i can just rip it over and over until i win

[sage lark]

time to hop on that controller

so it can aim for you

[balmy wing]

playing anything on a controller makes me wanna rip my teeth out ngl

i’m a KBMchud

[hidden geyser]

air dash into shotgun to the face is just peak game design

[balmy wing]

it’s unbelievably fire

[craggy finch]

I once crew filled in with a trio made up entirely of Destroyers with zero prox chat and we spawned at the Warden area so we spent the entire run just shooting at it

[tawny pagoda]

I'll play well but then scroll thru the weapons like a dummy

[craggy finch]

almost died at Hauler after killing the Warden, I rezzed my teammates, then we exfilled

Destroyer supremacy

[tawny pagoda]

I luv Vandal but yeah Destroyer is crazy

[balmy wing]

absolute cinema

[balmy wing]

vandal is so horrifically dripped out but destroyer lets me be so aggressive

[craggy finch]

just running and gunning in total silence, only shitty text communication and one of the guys went AFK for like two minutes

still exfilled all of us out

[balmy wing]

based

total destroyer victory

[craggy finch]

we are John Marathon

[balmy wing]

we carry the flame

[tawny pagoda]

we fight for them uh

[Insert faction here]

We foight for midah

[dreamy hawk]

Here come the Titan stereotypes.

[craggy finch]

one of the funniest experiences that somehow ended in success

[tranquil basin]

Are they stereotypes if they’re true

[craggy finch]

it was my first Warden kill

[balmy wing]

they’ll never take my crayons from me

[hidden geyser]

as a destroyer i prefer blue crayons

[craggy finch]

just unga bunga-ing the big robot man until it dies

[balmy wing]

bros gonna get the london experience

[tranquil basin]

Some group must’ve given up after fighting the tox warden for a while. I infilled as a rook, popped a couple claymores and he died instantly i was so confused

[craggy finch]

diamond miner meme

[tranquil basin]

Thank you mystery team

And fuck the other rook who was exfil camping

[eternal shell]

90% of runners stop shooting just before the tox warden dies

[tranquil basin]

Indeed

99% of runners stop going into cryo just before they get gold backpack

Keep gambling

[balmy wing]

always go in on red

[craggy finch]

the debt storyline is ludonarrative resonance

[balmy wing]

you’re gonna win eventually

[craggy finch]

Runners playing Russian Roulette with a revolver that has five bullets in it

[tranquil basin]

I have to look up a word hold on

[craggy finch]

you know how games have a disconnect between story and gameplay?

[tranquil basin]

Ok yeah i see

Yeah

[balmy wing]

this ain’t one of those cases yeah

[craggy finch]

the main case was about Uncharted regarding how you murder thousands of people but that's never acknowledged at all

that's ludonarrative dissonance

I'm experiencing resonance in Marathon

I am 100% a degenerate in debt dying over and over again

[balmy wing]

i really do feel like a corporate debt slave every time i log on

bungo has an iron grip on my soul now

[tranquil basin]

Valid

[eternal shell]

another example of resonance is in destiny where the way we act is canon, including the stupid stuff, especially the stupid stuff

[balmy wing]

just one more run and i can retire to sol

[tranquil basin]

I lost probably $300k in stuff this weekend

[eternal shell]

5 Squad [HEAVY INF]
TASK:
- defend Psion intelligence ops 071x146
OUTCOME:
- overwhelmed by Guardian fireteam/Vex pressure. few survivors. survivors reported Guardians foraging for equipment, dancing, and performing acrobatics with light vehicles.```

[tranquil basin]

Mb that’s not a lot but my vault is usually like $150

[tranquil basin]

I like when stupid stuff is canon

[craggy finch]

it's like EVE Online canonising how capsuleers are all sociopaths because that's how the player base is

[tranquil basin]

Didn’t a ghost write a fanfic about oryx

[eternal shell]

https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/ghost-community-theater-presents

o ye

oryx the nightmare daddy

See the play that Commander Zavala calls, "An insensitive and disrespectful travesty of a production, with truly abominable prop design—an insult to the art of papier-mâché."

[tranquil basin]

They really know how to represent the fandom

[eternal shell]

zavala's dignity is simultaneously reduced to ash and fully intact

[tranquil basin]

Wait wait wait wait

The ghost plays the guardian

And his guardian plays the ghost

That’s so funny

[eternal shell]

Lord Shaxx calls it: "Undeniably enthusiastic, I'll grant you that. But is the dialogue meant to come across so… sexually charged?"

[tranquil basin]

They really know Bungie fans

[lunar cove]

I can hear Lance Reddick's voice saying this that's how accurate it is

[tranquil basin]

I like the implication that Zavala is a papier mache purist

[craggy finch]

I wish I were LeVar Burton

[dreamy hawk]

🥲

[dreamy hawk]

Ophiuchus, the Ghost of Ikora Rey, calls it: [judgmental silence].

lmao

[proven copper]

My fellow destroyer main

[deep solar]

Only words we need to know are THRUSTER KNIFE

[snow nacelle]

What's going on in space? Other than the Marathon, there's the UESC Equanimity up there too? Did the equipment to create us/runner shells get smuggled in on the Equanimity? When we get teleported out after a match and sell our stuff, where do we go?

[dreamy hawk]

It shouldn’t have arrived yet given the numbers we’ve been given as I understand; it’s about twoish years out.

There are some UESC labs confirmed in space, and likely some other infrastructure. So far it seems like anything we’re using is hijacked or hacked.

[craggy finch]

There's Orion and his ships plus whatever the Runners are deploying from

Runners also seem to be the sole corporate presence in Tau Ceti since the UESC is blocking them

[dreamy hawk]

Presumably the comms relay is finished enough for use, too, since we’re talking to Earth.

[snow nacelle]

Ohhhh, the Equanimity didn't even arrive yet

[dreamy hawk]

I’d need to go pull up the ARG, but given its max speed and when it departed, no, unless something was changed or we don’t know something.

[proven copper]

F, W, space space, F, 3, right click until satisfied

[craggy finch]

It's not even like a surprise because the UESC can still contact the Equanimity, so guys on a century long journey are hearing about these other dudes already there

[dreamy hawk]

Long-distance trips really have downsides.