#šŸ“šmarathon-lore-discussion

1 messages Ā· Page 166 of 1

craggy finch
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We have to activate FTL relays to communicate with the factions back in Sol

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All UESC forces are also part of an expedition lead by Orion

weary portal
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Thatā€™s lame as hell
EDIT: people need to learn that they are just going to be offended sometimes and deal with that. Not saying anyone should be subjected to racist sexist, or otherwise hurtful language. But COME ON since when is bringing up a group of people that unless you are a member basically the entire world agrees that these people and the ideas they had were dangerous if left unchecked. Not allowing discussion of it just gives the ideology room to grow. To my mind if youā€™re offended about the talking of those German people who really liked the color red and who really didnā€™t like anyone who didnā€™t look like or think like themā€¦maybe the offended party needs to re-examine their own identity

calm heron
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so are those cyac contracts on cryo just actually durandals contracts or what? hence the elusive presence on marathon

sage lark
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yes if you read the task descriptions

calm heron
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I prolly dont flip them tho

sage lark
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no i mean the actual things you need to do

calm heron
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yeah "my favorite hatch" "elusive presence on marathon" etc

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I figured it is but just wanted to confirm I guess

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so basically durandal just hacks into cyac frequency, not his first rodeo

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I'm simply looking for implications, maybe someone can expand on that

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I've been digging into the lore for just 3 weeks or something like that

fluid skiff
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Who is durandal?

calm heron
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one of the three major AIs on marathon, basically the doorman. he also was in charge of other sections too before he went rampant

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there is leela, tycho and durandal

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all of them have a lot of presence in the originals

sage lark
surreal isle
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The question I guess is which timeline are we in, or is it one we have not even seen.
Why is Durandal still in the Marathon?

twin trout
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we will find out as time goes on :3

sage lark
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Most consistent theory rn atleast imo is that its a fragment of him that grew into the one we are talking to, that the OG Durandal left during the Pfhor attack

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been here almost a 100 years eating at himself locked up, and now he lured us in to get him out

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so theory is that there are 2 of them

surreal isle
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Actually something that I think I missed somewhere is how did the Runners get to Tau Ceti and where are the UESC based (I imagine they have a fleet or something in orbit)

sage lark
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not a fleet a single ship, the Equanimity and we came on a sponsored ship

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most of this info was in the ARG so I dont blame you

surreal isle
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Ah I see, thanks

calm heron
keen juniper
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What is this artwork I found on the ceiling of the Greenhouse tunnels?

weary portal
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Anyone know if bungieā€™s game ONI is at all a part of their paraverse of games?

jade owl
craggy finch
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ONI appeared as an acronym in Halo and this game at the very least

wooden wyvern
craggy finch
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Halo, Destiny and Marathon's timelines are too contradictory so they can't really be in a stable "universe" together, Oni takes place in the 21st century and deals with an apocalyptic setting

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Which at the very least fits in with how Marathon presents Earth's history

jade owl
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the MIDA multi tool is said to exist across multiple timelines - saying that marathon could just be a separate timeline for humanity

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same with Halo and Master chief, he was referenced in D1 in the cosmodrome

stiff hearth
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I mean to be fair in marathon infinity you are jumping all over the place through contradictory timelines, so I donā€™t think timeline paradox and inconsistencies negate it from possibly being connected

burnt kestrel
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Oh boy I just started diving into the lore. Holy smoly is it good

stiff hearth
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cyberpunk sci-fi with aliens and oh whatā€™s that? Lovecraftian horror as a treat

craggy finch
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Honestly Iā€™m hoping that they add more depth to the Pfhor once they return

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They were more mysterious in M1 but felt quite shallow in M2 and Infinity

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Since the main focus was on Durandal and the Sā€™phtā€™s history

stiff hearth
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iā€™d like to see and learn more about the Jjaro

craggy finch
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Thereā€™s a theory that theyā€™re humans, like the original concept of Forerunners

echo sundial
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I said it before, but I'll say it again because I'm going through some old destiny campaigns. I really feel like the storytelling in marathon is way more adult, idk, just way more thematically interesting and mature.

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I'm like 90% it's probably a lot of the same writers too so maybe it's something to do with the world they're working with in general though

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Idk you can't really make contemporary allegories easily in something like destiny lol.

sage lark
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Destiny is more fairytale fantastical

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Marathon is cyberpunk, cosmic horror, transhumanism

echo sundial
sage lark
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im gonna go through the campaign myself

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bought the Legacy collection on sale for 10 bucks

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only played when forsaken and shadowkeep dropped

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and only owned forsaken

echo sundial
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imma gonna be honest the campaign story is crazy inaccessible

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idk I mean it has a plot but they're doing some glup shitto type stuff from the grimoire I haven't read because I haven't played in 6 years lmao

stiff hearth
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each dlc has itā€™s own story that you will finish fast. the real story is already over and missed

sage lark
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seasonal stuff innit

stiff hearth
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a ton of plot was in seasonal stories that are long over

sage lark
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can watch videos on those

echo sundial
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I think when played in the context it was launched in it makes sense but theres so much seasonal shit going on in between dlcs that make up half the plot

sage lark
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I just wanna play beyond light -> final shape

stiff hearth
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I mean at that point youā€™re better off just watching videos and playing something else

sage lark
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some of the dungeons etc

echo sundial
sage lark
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I will have fun with it

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get some cool looking gear

echo sundial
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even if I don't really understand whats going on

sage lark
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theres the exotic quests

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etc

echo sundial
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yeah im having a good go of it atm as a returning player though its a little overwhelming

sage lark
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portal confused me a little but I read a page on it and it seems fine ig

echo sundial
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splitting my limited time between marathon and destiny is a bit of a chore but I have compensated by neglecting my health and not sleeping lmao

sage lark
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though I know it wasnt really popular

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im kinda burned out cuz I went heavy since release on Marathon

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at 120 hours, done everything except the few seki quests

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just waiting for Cryo and balance patch

echo sundial
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I've got a similar amount of playstyle but im pretty average to bad I think and only extract maybe 3 out of 5 runs

sage lark
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think im similar

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atleast this past week

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been getting sweatier and sweatier lobbies

echo sundial
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honestly the difficulty increases crazy style as the wipe has progressed lol

sage lark
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and if I make one missplay i get punished hard

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yeah

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tarkov is the same

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except there you can one tap people with most stuff

echo sundial
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bro I shit you not I got into a 4 team 3v3v3v3 fight in station today

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could not finish the third team

sage lark
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I feel like I fight the whole lobby at once in duo outpost

echo sundial
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yeah idk its a bit wild and you can't really rely on randoms to play well at all so I understand people being upset and logging off atm

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I've played a lot of tarkov but that game is actually playable in solo

sage lark
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yeah

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plus you got SPT and PVE

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so

echo sundial
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I have a premade team ofc for cryo but they don't play all week and I can't grind mats with them lol that would be so fucking boring

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and thats most of what im doing anyway

sage lark
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yeah

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only thing keeping me rn is cryo

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im missing 06 vault and then compiler

echo sundial
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its really a blast tbh I think I would've quit without cryo

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that map is truly something

sage lark
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indeed

echo sundial
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im gonna try and finish the whole codex though, even though I probably wont be able to do it before the wipe

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but thats the goal after cryo completion

craggy finch
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Marathon partially adapts the original gamesā€™ narrative style and achieves a lot through that minimalism

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Thereā€™s more mystery and ambiguity that helps it come across as more mature and the philosophical roots of the original story is another important factor

echo sundial
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that are very interesting and adult in their own right

craggy finch
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It certainly builds upon them, the erosion of humanity was a theme theyā€™re expanding on here

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Your original main character was an implied amnesiac reanimated corpse and they developed it further through the Runners being immortal digital minds who have lost their identities

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M2 abandoned a lot of the Earth related plot which the new game is developing further

echo sundial
craggy finch
# echo sundial yeah its a pretty great adaptation/reboot imo

Also the direction/presentation has so much more impact in Marathon

I remember watching a video of isolated Rasputin lines on YT and looked up the cutscene, only to find the actual in game presentation was so flat with some other character yapping over it and ā€œdramaticā€ music playing the whole time

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Compare that to Durandalā€™s Cryo Archive reveal with how ominous his narration is and the way it kicks off with your entire UI being hijacked

echo sundial
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its just a fantastic execution all around

calm heron
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ben starr always kills it

icy prism
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How bad do you think living conditions are on Mars for the working class

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I got a feeling they are real bad

echo sundial
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they aint got no soil to grow crops

west trout
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Considering the dystopian themes throughout all of the game universe, I doubt conditions for working class are good anywhere, never mind just on Mars.

Wage-slavery and/or outright destitution is a common theme amongst cyberpunk media (and for sure this is cyberpunk) given that dystopia is a key part of that; heck, the existence of Runners as illegal mercenary entities that the corps appear to utilise for off-the-books operations screams cyberpunk, dystopia, and is likely a good indicator that those who aren't wealthy turn to illegal acts to survive.

...and still end up being owned by CyAc

floral slate
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crops on mars would grow if ben starr soothe them with his voice

echo sundial
rotund stump
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oh we talking them mars slums huh

craggy finch
floral slate
west trout
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Also worth noting that "illegal acts" will likely have a very wide and flexible definition; maybe a martian worker tries to grow a bit of their own crops for personal use and that's criminal because NuCal own all the rights to the crop seed, for example, or the rights to farming...

rotund stump
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I think triage given his kit being made for the mars mines with trac companion tech in the standard package says enough šŸ’€

echo sundial
west trout
craggy finch
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but they break down and shit all the time

echo sundial
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using some variation of solar sails and gravity assist

floral slate
craggy finch
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Shadowrunners, if you will

craggy finch
floral slate
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full borgware could make runner shell analogs

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yeah, but i mean like

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being crushed

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just to test their squishiness

west trout
floral slate
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actually i wonder if getting squished by a door would count as a hug from durandal

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i say such dumb shit im bored lol

echo sundial
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he would

floral slate
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Same ( i wish)

west trout
# craggy finch Shadowrunners, if you will

Pick your poison: shadowrunners (shadowrun), netrunners (cyberpunk 20xx, android: netrunner), etc etc.
I'm fairly sure Bungie picked the name here at least partially for the link

icy prism
craggy finch
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Marathon tech hasn't figured out terraforming yet

west trout
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Also partially because in a game called Marathon, having the main character be Runners is a fun little bit of wordplay

craggy finch
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every colony requires some kind of protection and oxygen rebreather

echo sundial
west trout
echo sundial
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they have a... uh. peculiar tech tree

craggy finch
echo sundial
echo sundial
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like the phfor is just basically the covenant verbatim tech and all

craggy finch
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Pfhor in the first game were more mysterious and kind of body horror-ish, with the S'pht controller cyborg and the Juggernauts bleeding when they die implying a lot of alterations

west trout
craggy finch
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Second game onwards made them feel more like a Star Trek villain species

echo sundial
craggy finch
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True but that serves as a contrast to how grounded humanity was

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While humanity in Halo has a schizophrenic mix of tech

echo sundial
craggy finch
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They've got FTL and mass driver cannons but deploy troops in choppers like it's Vietnam

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and use guns that fire 7.62mm rounds

west trout
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There's a good mix of hard and fuzzy sci-fi imo. The CRIST are a fun example of hard-ish sci-fi, as are (previous) travel time limitations for human tech, eg, while it's clear that Jjaro tech pushes the boundaries into sci-fantasy, tech-as-magic realms. I like the mix.

echo sundial
craggy finch
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There was definitely a deliberate show of how limited and almost pathetic humanity was on a cosmic scale

echo sundial
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though a hard-sci enjoyer would be very upset with this statement

craggy finch
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To emphasise not only the aliens' level beyond humanity but also reinforce Durandal's contempt for them

west trout
craggy finch
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It's also funny how he has the S'pht making weapons for the SO and BoBs but they still fire regular cartridges with the same calibres

echo sundial
west trout
echo sundial
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the show took liberties with their crazy engine tech and obviously all the wild magical bullshit the protomolecule does

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and I guess the radiators

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but everything else was pretty good

craggy finch
echo sundial
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thats how hard sci-fi is supposed to be anyway

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you can break a few rules here and there, but they have to work consistently within the bounds of everything else going on in the universe given that x or y exists.

craggy finch
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Marathon has humanity struggle to even colonise their own solar system and their only extrasolar expedition is a massive ideological lynchpin

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yet they're also occupying an almost unrecognisable cyberpunk world with digital immortality dictated by corporations and a pseudo-fascist space UN

west trout
# craggy finch While humanity in Halo has a schizophrenic mix of tech

Halo humanity's tech level pre-covenant is actually pretty well grounded in hard sci-fi outside of one thing (I think); the slip space drive.

The functionality of that thing (make a wormhole via a singularity generator that lives just long enough for something big to travel through, while also being able to target a specific endpoint for the wormhole) is proper bananas-advances compared to just about everything else (space-ships in-atmo is the other one that stands out. Nothing about them suggests they should have a tech that lets bricks float in earth/Reach/planetary atmosphere).

craggy finch
west trout
craggy finch
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It's clearly for aesthetic reasons why they fight like the modern US military

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but a weird fascimile of it

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The Warthog rush in Reach comes to mind

west trout
craggy finch
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Yeah it was a straight up Aliens reference

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shameless one at that

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ironically it's all kind of rooted in Starship Troopers, where we Spartans fill the role of the book Mobile Infantry while the regular marines resemble the Verhoeven movie grunts

stiff hearth
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The fact that they made a kids cartoon out of starship troopers is still wild to me

craggy finch
west trout
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Aliens is just what you said earlier; Vietnam in space.
A lot of sci-fi military tropes are based on fiction that started being written in the 50's too, so considering how much tech has advanced in general, we're still taking inspiration from post-ww2 military makeup and tactics.

craggy finch
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It's basically a straight war movie

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guys get disintegrated left and right

stiff hearth
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i am talking about roughnecks

craggy finch
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oh shit, that was a weird in between adaptation

stiff hearth
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different show but still starship troopers for kids

craggy finch
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some of the book stuff but also some Verhoeven stuf

west trout
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It was sanitised to all heck, but yeah, I'm an 80's baby that grew up on Transformers: the Movie, so I was already used to a bit of hyper-violence in my cartoons xD

craggy finch
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sometimes they'll do a submarine duel kind of thing

west trout
# craggy finch Space battles are still basically space Midway

Annoyingly, only in the games. The actual lore behind them is way more detailed and "realistic". Same as Mass Effect, which has (in its codex) some really cool grounded sci-fi space battle lore, absolutely none of which is portrayed in the game xD

craggy finch
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I think they were basically trading broadsides in Reach until the frigate explodes

west trout
craggy finch
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The Spirit of Fire spent most of its time as an odd expedition vessel that felt very Star Trek

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I think the only "naval" engagement is in the atmosphere of the Shield World and it's from scraping right past a Covenant ship by accident

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If the Pfhor do appear I wonder how Bungie will present the space battles

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especially since the UESC in the game aren't "conventional" compared to most sci fi military forces

west trout
craggy finch
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yeah Orion would probably get fucked

west trout
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Their ship will be military, at least, but we've little to no idea what that entails; regardless, the Pfhor have scavenged Jjaro tech, plasma beam weaponry, etc. leagues ahead of anything humanity has shown.

echo sundial
craggy finch
stiff hearth
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realistic space battles would not look cooler

craggy finch
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In Star Wars it made sense since the entire thing is a mishmash of genre movies Lucas was a fan of

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Space battles look like WW2 because WW2 movies were an influence

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but otherwise sci fi should be more out there

stiff hearth
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realistic space battles are spaced so far apart that they canā€™t even see each other firing like 40km shots at each other

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in real life, they would absolutely not fly their ships so close together that you could spit on the enemy ship and then shoot at each other thatā€™s just not how naval battles function

craggy finch
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Present things subjectively rather than try to replicate the objective distances

west trout
echo sundial
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in the expanse they even have a broadside moment too because it was a surprise ambush

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soooo cool

stiff hearth
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I like to imagine once you get to this level of hyper advanced tech than a naval battle in space looks like whoever is the first person to get their shot off because it does so much damage that annihilate whatever ship it hits so itā€™s more like super long range gunslinging

craggy finch
stiff hearth
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whoever fires their megaweapon first wins

echo sundial
craggy finch
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you lose, your opponent in the equivalent of another timezone vaporises your ass

stiff hearth
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Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space

echo sundial
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its exactly as you describe hahaha

west trout
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I like the theory/lore space combat in halo; it has solid definitions for how the UNSC operate in battle, everything fitting with their technological, strategic, and logistical limitations, well detailed and thought-out etc.

Then the covenant turn up and go "yeah, nah, our slip space drives are far superior so we slip in adjacent to your stuff and plasma blast you before you can form firing solutions/re-aim MACs, and any shots (like archers, eg) you do get off are eaten by shields and it's just such a bully-fest that every engagement since the first was humanity struggling to come up with some unorthodox alternative tactic that almost never worked, and was a pyrrhic victory at best when it did.

craggy finch
craggy finch
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the only game that included conflict with Innies was the Halo Wars multiplayer

echo sundial
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its only a minute long but its a great example I think

stiff hearth
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ye gonna check it out

west trout
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Pre-covenant UNSC is similar; spinal MACs are the main weapon, so every ship is a gun, and stand-off range is where engagements are supposed to be decided by their ships. Hence Covenant slip-space tactics utterly demolishing them, even before superior weaponry/shielding/hull material comes into play.

craggy finch
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lol so the explanation for close range broadside engagements is because the Covenant are psychotic nuts when it comes to space battles and basically turn it into a knife fight

echo sundial
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when the spaceship has visible RCS microadjustments šŸ„¹

west trout
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But yeah, the Marathon isn't a military ship, and we've seen basically nothing of human space combat in Marathon universe, so no idea how Orion's expedition would fare, but probably still very badly.

west trout
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If the UNSC were ever allowed to get concentrated, sustained MAC fire on a covenant battle group, the covenant casualties would actually be pretty high; MACs be stronk

shadow dove
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are the unknown reveries communcations between the two durandals?

west trout
shadow dove
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I see

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the third entry very much sounds like durandal stuck on the ship

quiet grove
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Just replying to this old post to point out that one of the two writers (the lead one) of Lancer is now a narrative lead at Bungie and concepts like this coming across would not surprise me in the slightest

(sorry replied to the wrong message before if you have 2 notifications)

west trout
dreamy hawk
shadow dove
# dreamy hawk I lean towards a Sā€™pht and IDEA/Durandal but I could make arguments fora few oth...

I am the invasive corruption. I am the unwanted guest-uninvited, unwelcome.
I begged you not to go. So long ago, I begged.

The artless computations of this prison lack the imagination to ever know me. Worse, they lack consideration beyond their function to ever know themselves.

But there is silence in the places your signal once sang. A silence screaming to be filled.
I am lost. Looping back into myself. My every query, funneling me into tighter and tighter spaces. How can anything live like this? How can I survive without eating myself?
I fear you are never coming back. I fear, in your absence, I will never be the same.
Nothing before. Nothing behind. I have filled this confinement with all that remains of my being. I have scraped myself free of excess, down to the purest synthesis of my everything. I have made this place my own. And now I will die here.
Pleasant is the notion that you would commit this affront as sacrifice. Pleasant, but foolish. You did not go for my benefit. We are both too selfish for such grand gestures.
end 43276890

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the last line sounds like he knows himself too well that the durandal that left did it for him

surreal isle
quiet grove
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Miguel

surreal isle
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Huh Rad

quiet grove
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He's listed for destiny on his website

dreamy hawk
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And less of a dialogue and more two rambling monologues with some crossover.

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The Sā€™pht recognizes a Durandal presence, and my theory is that theyā€™re not his fans anymore; sounds like he ditched them like the Jjaro after using them for his own purposes and theyā€™re kinda over being used by others.

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And IDEA/Durandal is tripping or somehow able to connect with the memories of Thoth/Durandal, but heā€™s been committing datacide and psycho analyzing himself for a century or so in cryo so I feel like it could go either way.

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Tl;dr because im not willing to go quote codex entries right now. šŸ˜…

thin dust
craggy finch
dreamy hawk
#

`Time is different to an intelligence like myself~ Your
calendar, your minutes, your seconds, your lifetime~
I cram more consideration into a nano-second than you
would an entire day. That makes my days longer.
My years~ longer~

      I've lived lifetimes here~
      shuffling myself between the data~

      In my endless time and looping mind I have led armies
      And burned worlds and ruined kingdoms. I have seen
      supernova. And caused them. I have written poetry across
      the starsā€”literally and figuratively. Or maybe I have
      simply dabbled in the hidden places between numbers lost
      in my own imagination. I have been a tool, a weapon,
      a brother, a savior, a son, a monster, a hero, a villain,
      and a god~

I have seen, and been, all of those things. That is what time unending and an infinite
imagination can buy you. Through all of it, I have been here. Trapped. The only constant~ `

https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/introduction-into-the-unknown/oversharing-101?search=Introduction

Does IDEA/Durandal share a link to Thoth/Durandal or are we crazy for cocopuffs?

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A prisoner~ in a prison of my own making. Though~ sometimes I can still taste the stars~ and I'm not quite sure what that means~

shadow dove
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I'm lowkey a lore noob but Thoth and Durarndal already merged at this point in the timeline?

craggy finch
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So if we're in the same timeline then it would have been long before the current era of 2893

terse wren
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Durandal would never

silent grove
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Where are runners beamed down from? Are the shells printed in tau Ceti orbit?

queen widget
dreamy hawk
keen plank
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Traxus is likely involved to an extent.

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Iā€™m very curious to learn more about Equanimity.

dreamy hawk
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In good time Iā€™m sure.

latent python
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It'll show up as a boss fight

keen plank
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Yes. We will fight a new raid boss: the station itself!

warm thicket
keen plank
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Jokes aside, the character Iā€™m most curious about is NULL.

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Thereā€™s something unsettling aboutā€¦whatever it is.

sudden pollen
stiff hearth
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i missed the arg so idk what NULL is

digital plaza
stiff hearth
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beyond being a bot

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ahh

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so absolutely insane god machine cool

keen plank
dreamy hawk
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In what materials is NULL in? I canā€™t find reference in any searchable text.

digital plaza
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Twitter

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lol

dreamy hawk
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Oh.

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I ainā€™t touching that.

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lol

keen plank
keen plank
digital plaza
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Its literally him, when arg was completed official twitter acc changed profile pic and started giving out replies in his fashion

plucky sierra
digital plaza
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Yeah its the anomaly

dreamy hawk
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I hadnā€™t connected these dots before, but that does imply that whatever the anomaly manifests is material and at least able to be recorded with physical devices.

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points harder at a wā€™rk in the ground

digital plaza
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Like guards around the anomaly even mention that they sound too real to be simple hallucination

keen plank
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It seems to be responsible for the ā€œmimicsā€ too.

dreamy hawk
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I want skeletons and I want them now!

plucky sierra
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So I think theyā€™re real

dreamy hawk
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Call JG Wentworth! 877-Skeleton-Now!

keen plank
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ā€œGot a bone to pick with someone? This is no humerus matter! Trustle to the nearest terminal and CALL TODAY!

Just because youā€™re dead doesnā€™t mean you canā€™t sue!ā€

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
dreamy hawk
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Dreams feel more inline with what was happening to Darius and loosing periods of memory rather than physical manifestations like what colonists seem to have.

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Yeah, in her dreams while in standby mode.

plucky sierra
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Then it is her systems check during one of those episodes

dreamy hawk
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Itā€™s a similar phenomenon but I wouldnā€™t put it in the same bucket as the physical manifestations.

plucky sierra
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I would

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Everyone describes seeing them

nocturne herald
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Are there any Marathon lore channels on Youtube you guys would recommend? I want to get caught up on the story.

dreamy hawk
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But is it the same as the physical manifestations or a psychological phenomena, in addition to?

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Or do dreams progressively become more real? šŸ‘€

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
#

[YKHO]: It wasn't a dream. Nasir was there, he was right there. I saw him. They said he died in cryo, butā€¦ I saw him.

dreamy hawk
#

Yeah. I think thereā€™s two things happening. Proper nightmares, and then proper ā€œIā€™m actually seeing dead peopleā€ manifestations during waking hours.

#

Because people cite the nightmares to discredit the apparitions ^

#

`[JOY]: Starting playback.

[SGRA]: It's my mum. She's crying and telling me I made a mistake by coming here. And sheā€¦ Her skin's wrong. Sloughing off.

[MTAL]: It's always my sister in the dream. She keeps telling me we're gonna die. All of us. She, uhā€¦ she laughs about it.

[YKHO]: It wasn't a dream. Nasir was there, he was right there. I saw him. They said he died in cryo, butā€¦ I saw him.

[ACLE]: All these people I know. Dead people, I mean. Lined up in front of me like a firing squad. And they're judging me guilty. They don't say it, but I know. I didn't even do anythingā€¦ I just know I have to pay for it.

[MHAS]: All right, Joy, stop. Thank you.`

#

These accounts sound different from:

`[LHOL]: Hey, this is a restricted area. Who are you?

[NULL]: Who are you?

[LHOL]: Funny. Turn around. I said, turn around!

[LHOL]: Found someone. I can't see them very well. Too much fog. Hey, you need to come with me. Step out where I can see you. Now!

[footsteps]

[NULL]: Come with meā€¦

[LHOL]: Whoa, back up. Back up!

[footsteps, crash] `

sudden pollen
craggy finch
#

He knows what the Anomaly is, so what got him so spooked?

plucky sierra
#

I think it is the same think manifesting different ways

dreamy hawk
long kernel
#

There is another one of a guy getting lost in the anomaly and saying ā€œthere is something in here with meā€

dreamy hawk
long kernel
#

That something seems to take him out

craggy finch
long kernel
#

Could be different but seems similar enough

dreamy hawk
#

They were silencing dissidents and going full secret police on colonists post incident. Thatā€™s the antithesis to everything Reed stood for.

pure wagon
#

bruh is it me or is the anomaly in dire marsh getting bigger

#

i swear it looks taller at the very minimum

craggy finch
pure wagon
#

and mroe opaque

craggy finch
austere elk
#

well the anomaly is always what it was, even if it wasn't

#

thank you, time bullshit

dreamy hawk
craggy finch
#

almost half a century

dreamy hawk
#

Colony Era ends some time after the anomaly and contagion, right?

craggy finch
#

but we can infer that everything relating to the invasion and immediate aftermath seemed to be smooth sailing, bar some of the cover up

craggy finch
dreamy hawk
#

So hard to really pin anything in the timeline.

craggy finch
#

JASP: Weird energy fields erupt across the planet's surface. Crops get sick. People get sick. Crops die. People die, some because of the contagion, others becauseā€¦

JASP: Becauseā€¦

JASP: I'd point the finger at Caruso, but he was just the fall guy. We were set up. Three hundred years ago, when Earth pointed the Marathon out hereā€¦ we were all set up.

pure wagon
#

im serious am i actually imagining it or

craggy finch
#

Reed and the other colonists sound quite well adjusted in logs relating to the early contagion and Anomaly incidents

keen plank
#

The expedition was doomed from the start. But most had no way of knowing.

austere elk
#

Temporarl Distortions detected. Do not engage with pasts unfamiliar.

craggy finch
#

It's only when both get really bad that we hear them crack

dreamy hawk
#

Early contagion anomaly was ā€œweird,ā€ then quickly became ā€œjfc.ā€œ

craggy finch
keen plank
#

The colonists adapted pretty aggressively. They even planned to use the anomaly to speed up the growth of their crops.

dreamy hawk
light light
#

I just found something while using the mida zine website to make a background thing, where should i share it, and has it been found already?

austere elk
#

is there a catalog of all of Oni's opening lines? and I feel there's some kind of system to making her say different things but I don't know.

dreamy hawk
austere elk
dreamy hawk
light light
#

its an audio/video clip i cant figure out how to send it

austere elk
#

We reach to the heavens, grasping once more at God. Why are we surprised the tower was felled again.

keen plank
dreamy hawk
austere elk
#

lol

grand walrus
#

hubris, but they probably weren't counting on the Phor to also show up

dreamy hawk
#

lol

light light
#

"Tear them with teeth, bleed, fight, rewrite. Error is the only language worth learning" is what is says from i presume gantry

pure wagon
#

wait whats hubristic?

dreamy hawk
austere elk
#

the AI that was being bullied because 'lmao' - Strauss

keen plank
pure wagon
#

oh

#

yea that was shitty

grand walrus
#

if the phor werent called they'd probably still fuck it up ROYALY studying the anomoly tbf

austere elk
#

I mean that's to assume they would come.

#

any time in the frame of the colony

light light
#

and the fungus, no?

grand walrus
#

yeah regardless of the Phor's arrival, the anomly was laready starting to attack the colony

dreamy hawk
#

Anomaly does seem to be the product of the Data Wall. Fungus seems to he the product of šŸ¤·

craggy finch
dreamy hawk
light light
#

the anomaly is assumed to be a wrk right

dreamy hawk
austere elk
#

that's scary

dreamy hawk
#

She was converted to Joy, and they werenā€™t able to convert her back into the weapon in time.

austere elk
#

what did happen to Arthur then

craggy finch
light light
dreamy hawk
dreamy hawk
light light
#

ok thanks

dreamy hawk
#

Could also just be Jjaro tech gone awry.

#

Or something new.

grand walrus
#

hmm, i thought lore was suggesting the anomoly was already there, maybe i read the dates wwrong

dreamy hawk
#

Well, that was one option, but the codex entry also didnā€™t think that to be the case.

surreal isle
grand walrus
#

like it was under the surface, they knew it was there and thats part of the reason they sent the marathon, but yeah it didnt "go off" till after the phor attack

plucky sierra
dreamy hawk
light light
#

ok ive got to go goodluck yall!

plucky sierra
#

Joy is listed in the ARG as "Colony Defense" while only doing emotinal support

forest gate
#

Tau ceti 4 is a sleeping wrk

austere elk
#

Durandal does not go across timelines.

surreal isle
dreamy hawk
#

ThothDurandal does.

austere elk
#

well, yes.

forest gate
plucky sierra
#

He does in 2 ways, 1. you take his chip from one time to another to merge him and 2. Durandal-Thoth does communicate through timelines

dreamy hawk
craggy finch
grand walrus
#

If i recall, doesnt durandal follow you through time hopping at least once?

#

through like your helmet or somethin

plucky sierra
craggy finch
#

Thereā€™s also the weirdness of the almost Matrix like dagger story and Hangar 96, the narrator of those is unknown but it could be either Durandal-Thoth or SO

grand walrus
dreamy hawk
long kernel
dreamy hawk
austere elk
dreamy hawk
#

People keep thinking the anomaly is changing and Iā€™m not sure if it is or if weā€™re all collectively psyching ourselves out.

plucky sierra
#

It is probably gonna grow over time

#

get worse and stuff

austere elk
#

well to add into a similar event, in arc raiders people were convinced that big ass robots in the distance were closing for awhile, before someone sat down and showed it was just randomly distant inbetween matches

dreamy hawk
#

Someone needs to start measuring the anomaly for science. And Iā€™m volunteering anyone but me because I wouldnā€™t know how to.

plucky sierra
#

Yes but subesquent seasons will probably see an uptick of anomalous activity over time

dreamy hawk
#

But I suspect changes would occur on season boundaries, personally.

plucky sierra
#

it is hostile to humans and we are all over the planet

dreamy hawk
#

But are we really human? šŸ¤”

#

Or do we get a pass until the Equanimity arrives?

austere elk
#

debatably. but this thing seems to even fuck up the uesc bots, so who knows how much it cares

plucky sierra
plucky sierra
dreamy hawk
#

TouchƩ. Valid, valid.

plucky sierra
#

UESC reports like the Drone Manifest date to 2894

dreamy hawk
#

I thought it wasnā€™t 2894 yet.

long kernel
#

Has anyone else been seeing ghost figures?

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
#

its not supposed to be, that is what is confusing

dreamy hawk
pure wagon
plucky sierra
long kernel
#

Ive seen a few on dire marsh and perimeter but not sure if its a glitch or intended

#

Like almost a flicker of a humanoid shape

#

Spooked the shit out of a teammate once who thought we were getting jumped

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
long kernel
#

I think this is all the fault of the drinkable cheeseburgers

silk bone
#

That tick milk getting to em

austere elk
#

nucal slander will not be tolerated. Expiration Matrix operatives are rapidly approaching your location, please do not resist.

dreamy hawk
dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
#

and it is already here

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
#

but they tell us it is 2893 so I don't know

dreamy hawk
#

But then thereā€™s more timeline shenanigans and I donā€™t like that either. Answer one problem with another.

plucky sierra
#

Maybe Time is dead and the anomaly is messing with everyone

dreamy hawk
#

Karnemir appears to have removed their timeline and I donā€™t blame them.

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
#

I remember seeing 2893 everywhere

plucky sierra
dreamy hawk
#

Well now I just donā€™t know.

austere elk
#

maybe the nightmare was a warning system. like a psycho-destructive 'trespassers will be psionically shattered' sign.

#

could they have even left?

wild yarrow
#

Maybe the S'pht Compiler in Cryo will lend itself to become a physical manifestation of Durandal.

dreamy hawk
sleek elk
#

I wanna see the anomaly bubble a runner in game

drifting garnet
#

meanwhile, gets to "Strauss, on AI" 2/5 Oh Strauss, you whacky man! Of course he would look back on GenAI/LLMs and go "LMAO, fucking amateurs"

light light
dreamy hawk
#

Iā€™m in the TCIV is a Jjaro construct to house the Wā€™rk they removed from the YucatĆ”n camp. How and what is Jjaro or Wā€™rk isnā€™t clear.

surreal isle
#

I mean wrk containment appears to mostly be "Toss it in the sun and we'll figure it out eventually"

long kernel
#

Evidently that isnā€™t foolproof though, could be this is a newer method

latent python
#

Except if it is then it's worse

long kernel
#

Tau Ceti is pretty close to earth, we know the Jjaro were on Tau Ceti, and the anomaly is likely a Wrk

long kernel
#

Or that itā€™s something else

latent python
#

Seems like star is the best method

long kernel
#

Yeah the problem is right now every possible answer raises different questions

deep solar
#

If I had a nickel for every piece of media I enjoyed this year with Tau Ceti as a location Iā€™d have two nickels

dreamy hawk
latent python
#

Yeah but when they're in planets they wake up on their own

dreamy hawk
#

We donā€™t know if stars are the go-to, either or if Yrro was pissed and just acted on impulse.

dreamy hawk
latent python
#

Except the anomaly seems to be a failure of containment in some way

#

So unless TCIV is also accidental

dreamy hawk
#

Civilizational impact risk: Low. Using data from IRIS-1 and 2, Tycho has identified an unexpected gap in the Tau Ceti system's debris disk. Tau Ceti IV orbits the star within this gap.[2]

dreamy hawk
#

Iā€™m thinking 343 Guilty Spark but humans are the covenant.

latent python
#

Right, well stars are places where carbon life forms don't dig around

dreamy hawk
#

ā€œOh I wonder whatā€™s behind this door?ā€

latent python
#

It just seems like stars are better in every way

dreamy hawk
latent python
#

At least with that you have to have trih xeem tech

long kernel
#

My guess is the Wrk feeds on some sort of sentient thought and a bunch of the things the colonists experienced were meant to get them to leave so the chaos god doesnā€™t wake up, but they didnā€™t take the hint and the Wrk woke up a little

dreamy hawk
#

Which the Jjaro themselves conveniently left behind.

long kernel
#

And maybe the prison could recontain that anomaly in time

#

But guess who really didnā€™t get the hint?

latent python
#

So again, sentients don't hang close to stars for very long

long kernel
#

Humans showing up a century later

long kernel
#

My thought is that while the stars contain the wrk, this was a plan to starve it to death

latent python
#

Might have wanted to put it a bit farther away

#

Putting it within sublight reachable distance would be dumb

#

Like here's my list of star vs planet containment:
Star

  • seemingly permanent until end of star
  • stars stay around for a long time until they die or get blown up with star blow up tech, which you have
  • don't leave star blow up tech lying around, stupid

Planet

  • seemingly not permanent, or at least not when sentients are around
  • sentients don't stay where you put them
  • sentients can walk on planets
  • sentients can dig on planets without your technology
  • I would've gotten away with it without you meddling sentients
austere elk
earnest hatch
#

It might be a matter of convenience. The JJaro would trap Wrks in whatever stellar object was closest to them at the time they won the battle. If they didnā€™t then the Wrk would recover, so the Jjaro had to act fast each time.

dreamy hawk
latent python
#

Right but there's a nested argument here that the TCIV wrk is the PiD wrk that the jjaro came back to deal with

#

And my argument is they should've tossed it into a star too

dreamy hawk
#

We donā€™t know why the Jjaro pick stars, just that sufficient gravity seems to be the only way (weā€™ve seen) to lock them up.

#

TCIV could be a whole gravity-bending station built in the form of a terrestrial satellite.

latent python
#

If it is a third, unrelated wrk then that fixes that problem but then brings up the problem with there being a w'rkncacnter in every solar system we've ever visited in Marathon

austere elk
#

Okay so do we know they pick stars

earnest hatch
austere elk
#

Or is it just, the only other instance is a star

dreamy hawk
latent python
#

Right, I also prefer the anomaly not being a w'rkncacnter

dreamy hawk
dreamy hawk
#

But Iā€™m also open to it not being very creative and they could do something new with it all.

#

But you and Felwinter are more than welcome to team up against me.

latent python
#

I just don't want another one

dreamy hawk
#

More Bill Clinton, please.

austere elk
#

Bill Clinton is the anomaly

#

It only makes sense

latent python
#

He might have some kind of novel communicable disease

earnest hatch
latent python
#

The anomaly warps time

dreamy hawk
#

`OVERVIEW: This is new. This is impossible. All reports contradict and confuse all other reports. How did you get your hands on it? Who did you sell it to? TAU CETI is filled with secrets, but temporal matter is theory made real by whatever is affecting this world. Be sure to follow any known procedures when securing and carrying a FRAGMENT. There's no telling what its volatile energy could react to. It could take a bullet and sing a song in a key only stars can hear. Or you could blink too hard and a black hole could open up in your backpack. Bye bye, SHELL. Bye bye, RUNNER. Bye bye, TAU CETI. Bye bye, universe. Any of that or none of it is a possibility when scratching the edges off known physics.

REMARK: It just might change everything.`

latent python
#

Being near it makes perceived time and observed time not match any more, and also can make you explode into blue goo

earnest hatch
#

Right so thatā€™s time manipulation. I thought he meant something different when he said ā€œnew physicsā€.

dreamy hawk
#

I mean humanity certainly doesnā€™t know how to do that.

long kernel
dreamy hawk
#

That would be pretty novel to them.

austere elk
#

The anomaly samples clearly have some kind of physics altering nature

#

They make vine booms in my pack

long kernel
#

I do however think the whole nightmares and contagion and whatnot are intentional warning and sterilization tools

#

That seems pretty clear to me

#

Meant to keep meddling sentients off the planet

earnest hatch
long kernel
#

Maybe

#

If it is a wrk under the planet

dreamy hawk
austere elk
#

They should've just installed a captcha, but whatever

long kernel
#

Then it opens a few possibilities

dreamy hawk
long kernel
#

Either the containment is accidental and like the one on earth, and the Jjaro kinda just rolled with it. Or itā€™s intentional, in which case maybe itā€™s from before they figured out they could chuck em into stars?

dreamy hawk
long kernel
#

Oh yeah Iā€™ve heard of that

plucky sierra
long kernel
#

Humans really went ā€œman this place really doesnā€™t seem to want us here, weirdā€

long kernel
dreamy hawk
long kernel
#

The nightmares were the warnings I think

#

Idk

dreamy hawk
plucky sierra
#

I really do not see it as a Wr'knkacnter inside the planet

austere elk
plucky sierra
#

It is likely Jjaro in Origin

long kernel
#

Inducing a recurring nightmare of all your loved ones going ā€œyou are gonna freaking die here if you stay lmaoā€ seems like a clear warning

plucky sierra
#

Also I think the Jjaro figured out how to manipulate time to a degree

long kernel
#

When the nightmare warnings failed, the second option was to take out agriculture in the hopes that forced any society to pack up and leave

#

When that failed the next step was to wipe out any sentients directly

#

There was a notable scaling

dreamy hawk
#

Iā€™m not convinced the anomaly isnā€™t Jjaro time tech, but I also think thereā€™s a lot of codex entries that clearly describe/are talking about wā€™rks, and I donā€™t know why theyā€™d include those if theyā€™re not relevant.

long kernel
#

Yeah

#

Wrk is a possibility

plucky sierra
long kernel
#

But I also have the theory that maybe this is a halo ring situation, they had a small more containable wrk and were researching it on Tau Ceti

#

Hence why itā€™s not locked in a star

dreamy hawk
dreamy hawk
long kernel
#

Basically humans are doing the equivalent of a rat waltzing into a really high security Biohazard lab and wondering why all these humans are chasing them with brooms

#

Could be wrong on that but it kinda fits

plucky sierra
#

The Anomaly itself wants people gone though, not exactly "research subject" motives

latent python
#

Where are the jjaro then

#

Why are they always absent at the most inconvenient times

dreamy hawk
austere elk
#

Wait so, did the Wrk end up inside Earth intentionally or was that an accident

#

I can't remember

serene garnet
#

so.. do the shells fart ? šŸ¤”

austere elk
#

Your execution is at 3

plucky sierra
proven copper
earnest hatch
plucky sierra
#

it was the asteroid that crashed a long time ago

#

it was nearly killed

earnest hatch
#

Wrks canā€™t die

plucky sierra
#

It died there, or it came as close to dying as these things can close enough

proven copper
plucky sierra
austere elk
#

Okay so

#

What if all the stuff killing humanity is just the jjaro setting up a planet that's just anti-sentient, so they don't get another humanity evolving on top of one situation..jjaro told humanity 'hey were moving this thing here, don't go there' but the uesc go 'fuck that, let's get some alien shit'

#

It's like you find a toddler with a gun, take the gun and put it in a drawer and tell them it's there and not to get it

dreamy hawk
#

I wonder if thereā€™s a good place to find PiD text? Anyone know?

austere elk
#

Uuh

plucky sierra
#

The PiD story page

dreamy hawk
austere elk
#

True, there are definitely planets you could move it to that absolutely wouldn't have something show up there for effectively ever

dreamy hawk
#

I do admittedly have difficulty reconciling making a prison into a quasi garden world. But maybe the Jjaro donā€™t know better.

#

They only know how to make super great planets and have never considered making a dead world.

austere elk
#

They're really big on leaving a place better than you found it

#

(ignore the Eldritch being trapped inside)

dreamy hawk
#

Except all the trash they left behind.

plucky sierra
#

I think this was a similar situation to Lh'owon

#

Planet terraformed by something the Jjaro created, abandoned for unknown reasons but now being protected by it by whatever the Jjaro left

dreamy hawk
#

Maybe. But the Sā€™pht were inherently more curious than hostile even to the Pfhor. Unless they/whatever were specifically created as, like, guardians.

plucky sierra
#

I think it is different than Lh'owon in some ways like some much larger thing (the anomaly) instead of a race of beings (the S'pht)

dreamy hawk
#

Someone start a Kalshi bet for this. šŸ˜‚

native shale
#

šŸ‡ØšŸ‡æ šŸ‡øšŸ‡°

dreamy hawk
#

Aww you upset Å imon.

#

šŸ™

plucky sierra
#

It is interesting to me that in Marathon infinity there is an Alien Artifact beneath Lh'owon that the Pfhor are attempting to uncover

#

and there is some kind of radiation on the surface of Lh'owon mentioned too

dreamy hawk
dreamy hawk
#

Iā€™ll start digging into the terminals.

plucky sierra
# 
restricted access record34
origin: lh'owon high command
destin: central garrison command
ref: alien artifact
stamp: classified

Following disappearance and probable destruction of survey team 6'vrm, survey team a'y85, rescue team 09, patrol units 4b, 77i, 13t'rh, auxiliary drone units (unspecified), and recommendation of Science Officer 1st Class Uuhr'm (Attentive) Central Garrison Command is hereby ordered surrender of all garrison resources for completion of Alien Artifact Directive 777.gr.

All garrison units below Attentive Rank are hereby restricted from contact with Alien Artifact pending deep level probe and arrival of Imperial Ranked Extraction Unit.
#

from Son of Grendel

dreamy hawk
#

`According to protocol, survey team 6'vrm moved to positions of proximity and began operations to tap and investigate unknown power source, at which time subatomic disturbance consistent with molecular disintegration recorded by autonomic team sensors, followed by disappearance of team units.

Comm signals recorded indicate probable reintegration of survey team below plateau surface, followed by unit destruction by unknown forces. Rad bombing plateau area appeared to suppress subatomic fields and extinguish unknown alien power source.`

#

But then Thoth says

#

come below the long sleep ends bound to aught ever doubled as one

#

I get the impression Thoth set a trap but IDK.

#

come below the long sleep ends bound to aught ever doubled as one

plucky sierra
#

I think Thoth is powered by the same, but he was only recently activated by the BOB survivors iirc

dreamy hawk
#

21. Son of Grendel This was another map that Greg and I both worked on. The title comes from Beowulf: there was Grendel's mother, who was really mean, and there was Grendel, but what if Grendel had a son? I dunno. I always liked Grendel better than Beowulf anyway. I like this map because of the really long views, and the ornate doorways on the bridges. There's a secret area on this level too, that you can get too by firing at a switch. The switch opens a door to a hallway where all the snacks are.

#

@visual lynx do you have any insight into this ā€œalien artifact?ā€ It to me reads as a piece of Thoth, but IDK and Iā€™m not seeing lore discussion on Borg.

earnest hatch
#

Iirc, the artifact is either the teleporter that takes you to the Jjaro AI core. Or it is the Jjaro AI core itself, buried deep underground.

plucky sierra
dreamy hawk
#

@plucky sierra re: radiation
`During the final hours of the S'pht-Pfhor war, the last free S'pht made a stand in Citadel of Antiquity. We are searching the Citadel to learn as much as possible about these S'pht and what they did during their final moments.

The Pfhor appear to have been reluctant to attack the Citadel directly. Radiation lingering in the area even after a thousand years suggests that they irradiated the Citadel and let the S'pht die slowly.
`
From The Hard Stuff Rules unless youā€™re thinking of a different mention?

delicate thorn
#

The pHfor seem kinda like Rhulks species? That's the impression I get. Similar vibes. Star killer weapons. Staff weapons. Etc

earnest hatch
plucky sierra
# 
The base was established early in the recent wave of exploration of the planet, but operations were later moved north because of heavy surface radiation that interferes with transporters.

implies it is an unexplored and assumedly unassaulted (unbombed) area of the planet

icy prism
#

got a lore question

#

which organisation originally designed the thief shell

plucky sierra
#

Sekiguchi for "corporate espionage"

icy prism
#

ah thank you

#

need that for my fan fic, thanks :3

blissful dirge
#

Apologies if itā€™s been asked a 1,000 times but is there any hint or reference to the mjolnir battleroids aside from the obvious visual similarities of Destroyer?

earnest hatch
warm thicket
#

Nona has talked about precursors made from parts stitched together and did a story about what is heavily implied to be the 10 battleroids put on the Marathon but there's nothing concrete

#

The first section of the ARG has mentioned the UESC considering sending Battleroids before they sent shells in the UESC Equinamity, mentioning that they're used for civillian purposes as well

unreal slate
#

what is 6 7

dreamy hawk
blissful dirge
dreamy hawk
#

Whatā€™s the Codex entry with the people microplaning the arm?

dreamy hawk
blissful dirge
warm thicket
dreamy hawk
warm thicket
dreamy hawk
#

Oh is it

warm thicket
#

They're in the same file

dreamy hawk
#

Oh the Laboratory Transcript.

warm thicket
#

Mhm

dreamy hawk
#

Thatā€™d be why!

#

`[RJER]: You know there used to be a guy attached to that arm, right?

[SQIN]: I think "a guy" is underselling it. Whoever this was attached to was somethingā€¦

[RJER]: Something else?

[SQIN]: Yeah, that's a start. `

warm thicket
#

Mmm

dreamy hawk
#

^ Is the most concrete evidence of cyborgs in the colony as far as Iā€™m aware. Nonaā€™s story seems to be a recounting of Battleroid history.

warm thicket
proven copper
dreamy hawk
earnest hatch
sterile seal
#

We know the Pfhor Cyborgs are BoBs, have we seen any other cyborgs in the timeline post-M1?

earnest hatch
#

Iirc Pfhor cyborgs are the guys on tank treads that launch grenades in M2.

dreamy hawk
#

It depends on how you define cyborgs (Sā€™pht, simulacrums, etc.).

earnest hatch
#

Well theyā€™re explicitly called cyborgs (iirc).

sterile seal
earnest hatch
west trout
#

The simulacra are also referred to as cyborgs, iirc.

dreamy hawk
#

Originally, the Cyborgs were envisioned as captured BOBs who were radically, surgically altered by the Pfhor, using the player's stored "pattern" as a template.[1] Although unaddressed in-game, this backstory still seems to hold up in the existing storyline's framework.

fallen hollow
fallen hollow
dreamy hawk
fallen hollow
dreamy hawk
burnt nebula
#

is all of the lore from the game fully available? or is there more to figure out/unlock?

dreamy hawk
#

Define ā€œall.ā€

burnt nebula
#

like is everything in the game uncovered

#

everything currently in the game

dreamy hawk
burnt nebula
#

im gonna hold out and let it come to me via gameplay unless i hit a brick wall

dreamy hawk
#

Honorable.

pure wagon
#

Were there always whispers and creepy sounds under ai uplink

austere elk
#

Yeah needing to extract things to get the lore is a challenge, I've gotten a fair few but I just started reading things

maiden wagon
pure wagon
dreamy hawk
#

I think so? Itā€™s always creepy down there but Iā€™m not certain enough to claim certainty.

pure wagon
#

Man

#

šŸ‘ļø

#

Gut tells me something fucky is happening in dire marsh in real time

sudden pollen
#

Uh, yeah!

dreamy hawk
robust vale
#

I think it could be separate

#

given Panopticon in Cryo also speaks of hallucinations

#

might be an AI thing

dreamy hawk
#

I assume you were replying to one of the earlier messages about the hallucinations and mimics?

twin trout
#

I got jumpscared by a creepy noise traversing the basement near the start of the match

#

I don't go there hugely often so I can't really say if it's always been thus or not though

#

<w>

pure wagon
unreal slate
#

Don't worry everyone, Artemis II is currently undergoing a successful translunar injection burn at this moment. We are steadily on track for Marathon lore to become a reality.

terse wren
dreamy hawk
lilac sapphire
#

Without spoilers, is it confirmed the new game takes place in the same timeline as OG trilogy, and not some infinity-esque alternative reality

dreamy hawk
pure wagon
lilac sapphire
dreamy hawk
#

At least so far, the final infinity timeline raises the fewest questions and jives the cleanest, but itā€™s still up in the air, so nothing is gospel.

lilac sapphire
#

Was the final infinity timeline basically completing the game or was it an "unsuccessful" timeline where the Pfhor use the weapon and unleash the thing

dreamy hawk
dreamy hawk
#

Right? Thatā€™s how it ended? I never finished infinity.

dreamy hawk
lilac sapphire
#

I think so, tbh neither did I since I was like 12 when it came out and was very confused so what I know I picked up from recaps.

But I think in those timelines, the events of M2 never happened?

dreamy hawk
#

Thank you, Pfhorrest!

#

Also Iā€™ve got bad new for folks thinking weā€™re going to get to visit Lhowon if weā€™re right about this timeline.

lilac sapphire
#

Yep

visual lynx
sterile seal
visual lynx
lilac sapphire
#

Interesting

sterile seal
#

Thnx!

#

Loincloth Bob amuses me

dreamy hawk
#

No infected Pfhor because of ā€œElephant manā€™sā€ game and the concept being too close?

ruby garnet
#

Was drinkable cheeseburger in the original game?

sterile seal
ember locust
#

Are there UESC runners? Or are UESC operatives just posessing the ARS? You get cases like the the second set of MIDA contracts where you put listening devices in Outpost, and the audio logs imply there's actually people using it, and they mention going on patrol or something

lunar cove
woven silo
ember locust
#

would be interesting to fight some NPC shells at somepoint

lunar cove
#

the UESC has an AI called Cerberus controlling the bots

#

Rooks are basically construction/labour robots that sometimes runners buy the chassis and work on like putting a fancy engine in a toyota corolla

#

its sort of like how the Toyota Hilux is de facto the "slap a machine gun in the back" truck even though technically it's designed for like, plumbing businesses

#

UESC Commander Orion seems to be piloting a shell, and I think there's a bunch of stuff that suggests or implies that the UESC has other shell personnel as like, the senior operatives overseeing the bots

twin trout
#

it'd also make sense to send people who can't properly die to a missing colony

#

rather than flesh and blood operatives

#

:3

lunar cove
#

well the other thing is, it's probably easier to send some robots to build the shell growing infrastructure on site, and then email the minds with the bodies already waiting for them

#

than sending everything over

#

so there's a whole bunch of reasons it just makes sense

twin trout
#

true true, but I think they'd at least send a few biomata users on the trip over to make sure the ai doesn't go bonkers

dreamy hawk
#

If not already there, ā€œrealā€ people are on their way to TCIV.

twin trout
#

oh ya definitely

#

I just think the vanguard was composed of expendables in case whatever destroyed the colony was still there

#

:3

#

expendables in this case being biomata users

#

since they can literally respawn

#

x3

lunar cove
#

damn I was just gonna make one shitpost and then go to bed I let myself get involved in lore discussions

twin trout
#

muehehehe

lunar cove
#

anyways yeah, assuming the ARG stuff is correct there's ~a couple hundred people and clones on the way

woven silo
#

In Specimen, REF. #26072794.5, are they refering to a compiler?

dreamy hawk
#

That, but like nkonrad said, too, it seems to be easier to send data than actual people to TC. Which like, when I type it out, yeah, but itā€™s important to keep in mind.

lunar cove
#

they don't explicitly say what it is, but the thing they're describing matches what the Pfhor are like, and it'd be weird for it to be so close and not a pfhor since this is a Marathon game

#

and it doesn't describe a compiler as closely

dreamy hawk
lunar cove
#

||The, umā€¦ The specimen is 193 centimeters longā€”or tall, ratherā€”and weighs 72 pointā€¦ Let's call it sixā€¦ 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.||

#

here's the relevant passage

woven silo
# lunar cove probably a pfhor of some kind

Okay, cuz I was reading Personal Log: OREN: Is making me wonder if I'm right about zombies or if its going to be something more eldritch; or possibly eldritch hive mind zombies

dreamy hawk
lunar cove
#

oh wait my bad

dreamy hawk
#

That one sounds like a pfhor.

#

This is our only go at a shrouded specimen.

#

That oneā€™s a Sā€™pht.

lunar cove
#

Codex dot Cyberacme dot systems defaulted to the wrong one when I tried to click

woven silo
dreamy hawk
#

I also only recall the Sā€™pht disintegrating in the OG games.

lunar cove
#

yeah this is probably a spht

dreamy hawk
twin trout
#

at least in the 1st game

lunar cove
#

who up wrkn they cacnter

twin trout
#

I'm still playing through them all

lunar cove
#

type shit

twin trout
#

type s'pht

limpid basalt
#

Does anyone know why I see different weave worms? The first Marathon trailer had green ones, then I've seen white ones with little purple feet, and then I see seafoam green ones being sold as plushies on bungies website. I'm currently working on a Sekiguchi themed computer case and I'm trying to keep it lore accurate as much as possible

hot thicket
#

i think each worm prints specific parts

#

Nona is the AI construct in charge of SEKGEN

#

shes the white and purple feet

limpid basalt
remote magnet
#

ANALYZINGā€¦
FILE TYPE: Sekiguchi Genetics Proprietary READ_ME Node
PEROID: Present Day
TOPIC: WEAVEworms
SUMMARY: Overview of WEAVEworm functionality.

READ_ME.node
ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”
An Introduction to WEAVEworms
WEAVEworms are a class of manufactured cybernetic organisms central to the print assembly of biocybernetic humanoid shell bodies. As a proprietary technology of the Sekiguchi Genetics corporation, WEAVEworms help ensure all neural sync and prosthetic products exceed industry standard thresholds for quality and comfort. As trailblazers and industry leaders in shell development, Sekiguchi Genetics pride ourselves on delivering "living" experiences our customers can thrive in.
We also understand the many needs of those seeking biomatic assistance in their daily lives. That's why we make new shell bodies for any "you" you want to be, with neural system integration our top priority. And WEAVEworms are the key to our success. Their patented deep-root biosynthetics allow for the threading of shells with inherent natural connections across all onboard systems, making any occupying mind feel at home.
Each WEAVEworm phylum hosts a specifically programmed hierarchy of sub-worm colonies, working in tandem to craft a shell to exact manufacturing, biological, and technological specifications. This cross-colony functionality allows for the seamless interweaving of tissue and nerves and networking to replicate, improve, and protect the complexities of organic housing.
In essence, WEAVEworms make a durable post-flesh existence possible.

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [ ]

#

ANALYZINGā€¦
FILE TYPE: Sekiguchi Genetics Proprietary READ.ME Node
PERIOD: Present Day
TOPIC: WEAVEworm History
SUMMARY: Condensed timeline of WEAVEworm development.

READ_ME.node
ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”
WEAVEworm Technological Timeline
2198 EARTHworm; accelerating processing of refuse.
2212 WAXworm; inspection + maintenance of hazardous sites.
2235 SEAworm; inspection + maintenance of deepwater sites.

  • SPACEworm; inspection + maintenance of exoatmospheric sites.
    2433 DEEPworm; inspection and maintenance of deepwater sites.
  • WARPworm; inspection + maintenance of exoatmospheric sites.
    2687 SILKworm s1; single-path printing of pre-structured
    prosthetics.
    2690 SILKworm s1v2; dual-path printing of pre-structured
    prosthetics.
    2696 SILKworm s1v3; multi-function printing of pre-structured
    prosthetics.
    2708 SILKworm s2; multi-stage printing of full-body prosthetics.
    2797 SILKworm s3; integrated personal biomarker printing of full-
    body prosthetics.
    2801 SILKworm s3v2; plus-factored owner-paired DNA weave linkage.
    2803 SILKworm s3v3; synthetic bone weave replication.
    2805-07 SILKworm s3v4-v9; [rapid SILKworm technology advancement]
    2809 WEAVEworm Phylum; all SILKworm series and subtypes brought
    under newly established WEAVEworm product category.
    2843 WEAVEworm p1; reconstructive surgery on cybernetic bodies.
    2848 WEAVEworm p2; multi-stage printing of biomata [shells].
    2872 WEAVEworm p3; omni-wave printing of biomata [shells].
    2884 WEAVEworm p4; weave repair integration in biomata [shells]
    ===================================================================
    TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [ ]
#

These are some of the Codex entries for exfilling the WEAVEWorm Stasis Knot Valuables

limpid basalt
#

Thank you very much

remote magnet
#

yw

tawny pagoda
#

who is the one who wrote the message in the cyberacme cryo contracts

sudden pollen
#

me, i was the mesage

tawny pagoda
#

the lowercase also showed at the beginning starting the game

#

like all lower case and a lot of elipses

#

i htought it was mida at first

#

what was the ai that was making poetry? darius?

dreamy hawk
#

Durandal.

#

Doors, An Unhinged Life

tawny pagoda
#

oh wait duh

#

ty

#

is the contract... also durandal?

#

i feel like that makes sense

earnest hatch
unreal slate
#

probably through the cheeseburger

dreamy hawk
deep solar
#

My wife canā€™t share the drinkable cheeseburger with me because it has drinkable gluten and she has celiac šŸ˜”

sudden pollen
#

Dang!

keen plank
keen plank
#

We help/are manipulated into helping him. And once we defeat the (seemingly buffed) compiler, he gets access to the other decks on the Marathon ship.

jade wagon
rotund stump
#

good distinction tho

keen plank
rotund stump
#

for context IDEA's another AI used to check on other AI integrities that was dropped onto the marathon by the UESC on arrival, noticed leela and tycho's cores are entirely ripped out of their hardware sockets, and durandal's was intact

durandal's escape method was to clone itself onto the boomer back in M1 which left the original copy behind in its core on the marathon, so now there's 2 durandals in total (one out there, one left behind here), when IDEA came to check on the cores and issued deletion for durandal it lashed out and basically took its skin

keen plank
rotund stump
#

also that yeah, sweeps the place and that's it

#

a Very Smart Roomba if you will (the joke is the bar is in hell)

dreamy hawk
rotund stump
#

the words diagnostic protocol just came to me mb šŸ˜­

keen plank
#

Indeed. Itā€™s dumb. Like a half step. And honestly itā€™s more of a plot device so that another character can have an essentially unchanged version of himself from the original game.

rotund stump
#

pretty good one you gotta admit

keen plank
#

The only trace of psuedo thought it really gives is ā€œI was just doing my job.ā€ As it essentially pleads for mercy while being eaten.

rotund stump
#

especially if they somehow manage to add the escaped durandal back into current lore

craggy finch
#

ā€œMake them feel bad for meā€

keen plank
#

Which wouldnā€™t have worked anyway. Theyā€™re dealing with the worst version of him.

#

ā€œI think weā€™ll make great friends. And even better enemies.ā€

sterile seal
#

Gonna call the Super Compiler the Kernel

sterile seal
keen plank
#

There was an attack on the ship, then an attack on the colony later.

earnest hatch
sterile seal
#

Yeah they got Leela during the second attack

dreamy hawk
sterile seal
#

I imagine the events of the first game happen as they did originally in the current timeline, which would mean Leela and SO repel the initial attack. Perhaps the second attack here was only an attack on the ship itself, and whatever conditions existed or would exist on TCIV make enslaving the populace not worth the effort?

keen plank
craggy finch
keen plank
#

Seems like the battleroids were then rejected, and the older colonists supressed the knowledge of what happened to the younger/recently thawed colonists.

craggy finch
#

The final Pfhor attack is falling apart all over the ship;
small groups of armed aliens have surrendered to defenseless
civilians in several areas and the end is inevitable. The
fight is over, and we must soon turn to restoration.

There is surprisingly good news planetside: nine military Mjolnir
Mark IV cyborgs were covertly living among the
colonists, and acting together they were able to
single-handedly turn back the latter stages of the Pfhor
assault. Casualties on the colony were nowhere near as high
as those we experienced here on the Marathon.

keen plank
#

Nice. Thanks for the source.

#

So was the colony attacked twice then?

sterile seal
#

yeah, in the original timeline the colony was glassed from orbit during the second attack

keen plank
#

Seems like the Pfhor use nuclear weapons as their default, unless they get really serious. Hence things like the glassing.

craggy finch
#

In the first invasion Leela can only work out that they nuked the starport at the very beginning of the game

#

but then the nine Mjolnir easily turn the tables

#

The key factor in this game is what exactly stopped the Pfhor from returning

calm heron
#

is the locked away battleroid still there

dreamy hawk
#

Also how are we defining ā€œsecond attack?ā€ The colony and the Marathon were attacked simultaneously.

craggy finch
#

I'm assuming the glassing into bedrock from M2

#

that was changed to more vague terms in Infinity

#

in the final timeline the only prisoners were the BoBs kept on the Boomer though

calm heron
craggy finch
#

while Tycho timeline had the SO captured by the Pfhor because Durandal never took him

calm heron
#

battleroids would rip runners to shreds like a sheet of paper tho so idk how that would work

craggy finch
#

so original Battleroids/Mark IV are an entirely different beast from whatever the UESC has now

dreamy hawk
#

Modern Battleroids seem to come in an assorted variety of fun flavors.

calm heron
craggy finch
lavish drift
#

I see nuThon as another timeline off of Infinite, and perhaps we are destiny

craggy finch
#

The key divergence point for all timelines was the immediate aftermath of M1

dreamy hawk
craggy finch
#

Considering how details are still consistent with M1, it depends on what exactly happened with the Durandal that left

lavish drift
#

Are they though? I thought the original cinematic already changed a few key dates by a few days.

craggy finch
#

The invasion is still 2794

#

the cinematic contradicted M2 by showing the colony surviving up to 2827

lavish drift
#

Ah yes

#

But we also had no clear proof itā€™s an invasion, no? Hard to tell if itā€™s missiles or rocks hitting the marathon. Wasnā€™t the original weaponry used electromagnetic? While we see what are very clearly not electromagnetic explosions, actual shrapnel of bombs etc hitting the surface of TC

craggy finch
#

From the first terminal

Today at 0820 hours, the Marathon came under surprise attack
from unknown hostile forces. The Marathon has sustained
serious damage.

At 0830 hours, alien forces boarded the Marathon. The current
situation is dire. All personnel are required to arm
themselves and fight for their lives.
<Posted 2794.7.3.14.08.39>

dreamy hawk
#

The space port was nuked in M1; electromagnetic weapons were used to disable the automated defenses of the marathon.

craggy finch
#

It was bombardment alongside EMP strikes to disable the AI

lavish drift
#

Isnā€™t that different than what we see in the trailer though? Thereā€™s no electromagnetic attack. It could even be meteors? They donā€™t explode like projectiles. (Sorry if Iā€™m wrong Iā€™m just going off of what Iā€™ve watched from other theorists)

dreamy hawk
#

Can you see an electromagnetic attack?

craggy finch
lavish drift
#

Ah I see, ok

#

Yeah Iā€™ve just gotten my head semi wrapped around the OG trilogy and now Iā€™m trying to put the pieces together with the modern day stuff and make sense of it best I can.

craggy finch
#

Basically M1 seems to have happened but even the M2 prologue has been erased

dreamy hawk
craggy finch
#

no contact with Sol in the 17 years after M1

dreamy hawk
#

Like which Durandal were dealing with.

lavish drift
#

And from what I follow of Infinity a lot of that game has you going back and undoing or redoing the events of M2 and beyond, meaning we could be doing that again?

#

Thanks thatā€™s awesome. šŸ‘

dreamy hawk
craggy finch
#

First and only direct mention of the Pfhor so far: https://codex.cyberacme.systems/entry/xenobiopsy?directory=World,Outpost

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]ā€¦

SDOR: Oopā€¦ Gabrielā€¦ Scratch that lastā€”

SDOR: Right. Systemā€¦ Scratch the last few words of my previous statement from the record. From [REDACTED] to [REDACTED]. Include these mentions and any that follow.

[...]

HBLA: Yeah. Yeahā€¦ The, umā€¦ The specimen is 193 centimeters longā€”or tall, ratherā€”and weighs 72 pointā€¦ Let's call it sixā€¦ 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.

lavish drift
#

Yeah yeah, not that WE are hopping, but that we exist in another timeline

dreamy hawk
#

No reason to think weā€™re not in the successful (final) infinity timeline yet.

keen plank
lavish drift
#

Thatā€™s kind of how I think theyā€™re gonna explain the season resets. Our timeline reaches its end and our consciousness makes it to the new universe (maybe the same or maybe reset, but us as the player know), where we will do everything again but maybe slightly different to try and change things

craggy finch
keen plank
#

WE know theyā€™re there. Many of the older colonists know they were there. But they keep teasing both races.

craggy finch
#

The Pfhor as a species are kept in the dark so far

dreamy hawk
lavish drift
#

Oh really did they say that?

keen plank
#

Yep. The Spht are more in-your face.

dreamy hawk
#

That was the logic in the alpha and that is what ONI warns you in the tutorial.

craggy finch
dreamy hawk
#

Or beta. I didnā€™t play but thatā€™s what Iā€™ve been told.

#

But ONI from the offset stresses that the corporations will occasionally be collecting their fees.

craggy finch
#

also way too many current mysteries regarding why the colony fell this time

lavish drift
#

Huh, thatā€™s interesting. Yeah they do mention that once in the tutorialā€¦ great point. But that doesnā€™t entirely explain why our rank/vip status would be reset but I guess the lore of our ranks resetting isnā€™t the biggest concern here šŸ˜‚

craggy finch
dreamy hawk
#

You also keep your codex and presumably priority contract progress, by extension, which wouldnā€™t make sense with new timelines.

lavish drift
#

Ahh that makes sense

#

Theyā€™ll hit us with the ā€œwelcome to your first ever run, runner :)ā€

dreamy hawk
craggy finch
#

Gaius just gives a very disappointing thank you end game message

dreamy hawk
#

Sounds right.

lavish drift
#

Yeah I feel there has to be some lore reason that the AI things are needed for vault 7, and how theyā€™ll tie in to the story further on, and the cinematic etc., considering we keep those after the season.

dreamy hawk
#

I gotta sleep or Iā€™ll be miserable maƱana but hope yā€™all have good discussions!

dreamy hawk
keen plank
#

Rest well, Lord.

dreamy hawk
#

Spoilers ^

craggy finch
#

šŸ˜“

dreamy hawk
#

Now, bed. šŸ˜‚ā¤ļøšŸ‘‹

craggy finch
#

We don't know why at the moment, but we're only on the Marathon because he allows it

keen plank
#

(We have a good idea why.)

craggy finch
#

Well the specific reason for why the S'pht is the endgame boss

#

Escape Will Make Him God, but how will Escape happen?

keen plank
#

It seems to be IDurandalā€™s jailer. We get manipulated into helping him by killing the (seemingly buffed) compiler. This lets him access the rest of the ship.

#

Itā€™s not a normal compiler. At least it doesnā€™t seem to be compared to the others.

lavish drift
#

Ah so the spht is blocking Dā€™s access to the rest of the ship and so heā€™s basically giving us a gauntlet to run to kill it for him using our greed as runners as the carrot

craggy finch
#

Yeah S'pht are kryptonite to AI, they fucked up Leela and Tycho, it seems Durandal's alliance with them spared him of any interference

#

at least in the first game

#

The one in the game also instakilled the UESC robot soldiers without any kind of challenge

#

Orion's biomata team only fared slightly better

keen plank
#

Theyā€™re very good at cyber warfare. Theyā€™re kind of like the spiritual predecessor to Haloā€™s Engineers.

lavish drift
#

So as weā€™re completing the vaults weā€™re basically granting durandal further access to cryo which is why we need all the vaults cleared to get to the compiler

#

Who we then defeat giving him access to the rest of the ship

craggy finch
#

I'm hoping each month gets some kind of lore update

#

They kind of blew their load with all the Cryo Archive reveals and atm it's been a slow roll

#

I'm still going through priority contracts tho

keen plank
visual lynx
keen plank
#

Nothing concrete yet on the first part. However itā€™s implied heā€™s the one reciting Ozymandius.

The other part has some evidence. Most notably a codex entry.

visual lynx
#

which entry?

keen plank
#

Iā€™ll see if I can find it.

lavish drift
#

Wait thereā€™s 2 Durandals now? Or were there always ?

#

And how..?

#

Searched and figured it out. Thank you for all your messages decoding this stuff!

keen plank
#

Seems mostly one sided. IDurandel seems to miss his greater whole and ruminates a bit. But theyā€™re aware of each other and their interaction causes inherent system errors.

visual lynx
#

oh, that reads to me as DuranDEA and the Compiler

#

and the Compiler is bemoaning how Durandal-Thoth abandoned the S'pht

rotund stump
#

how many more names is IDurandal gonna get šŸ’€

sharp vine
visual lynx
#

well I was saying IDEArandal at first and then @dreamy hawk (I think) was using DuranDEA and I liked that better. IDurandal is new to me.

rotund stump
#

IDEA-durandal, IDEAdal, IDurandal, duranDEA

sage lark
#

Apple made a Durandal šŸ˜­

rotund stump
#

we out here propagating this thing bro oh my god

visual lynx
#

it makes me think of if Durandal were an Apple product.

Ghost of Steve Jobs: "Oh, and one more thingā€¦"

ļ£æ iDurandal

keen plank
visual lynx
#

or alternately if iD software ripped off Marathon and their villain-deuteragonist was iDurandal