Marathon's Story... What's New (Sept-Oct 1995)


Oct 31, 1995
Bach <kirill@lava.net> provides further speculation on the meaning of the Gheritt White terminal. This has been added to the Gheritt White section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Oct 29, 1995
Confused about the use of latin in the Marathon Story then check out the Latin in Marathon 1 section of Facts and puzzling things about... for translations and other information.

Oct 23, 1995
Kenneth M. Anderson <kanderso@mabillon.ICS.UCI.EDU> provides some interesting speculation on the meaning of the Gheritt White terminal. This has been added to the Gheritt White section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Oct 18, 1995
Added additional information to the Tycho section in Facts and puzzling things about.... This discusses issues raised in the new terminal text of the Marathon 2: Durandal (Demo).

Steve Wood <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> writes to clarify a point. The 'cheater' message at the 2nd terminal on What About Bob? is not a true terminal message in that it appears underneath the Marathon logo on the first screen. There are no other screens.

Oct 17, 1995
Many thanks to Steve Wood <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> for sending me the Marathon 2: Durandal (Demo) terminal text in HTML format no less! Read the terminals on the Marathon 2: Durandal (Demo) page.

Added new section Marathon 2: Durandal (Demo) text changes to Facts and puzzling things about... to discuss the development of the Marathon Story since the Preview.

Oct 16, 1995
Tom Klancer <tklancer@wam.umd.edu> (also known as Pfhormerl on IRC) writes concerning the Marathon II Demo: "If you look at pict resource 10303 in the Map file, you'll notice the name Leela pops up. I don't quite know how it ties in yet, but she's there...".

Steve Wood <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> writes:
"That screen in the picts with the word "Leela" is just the accompanying picture to the same old text that says,"Leela has been taken back to the Pfhor homeworld along with most of the computer systems from the Marathon"."

Oct 13, 1995
The Marathon 2: Durandal (Demo) is officially out. The Demo terminal text and other story information will be added shortly. Relevant to the Marathon Story is the following text blurb from Bungie's web site.

Fresh from your triumph on the starship Marathon,
you are seized by the rogue computer Durandal to do
his bidding in a distant part of the galaxy. Within
the ruins of an ancient civilization, you must seek
the remnants of a lost clan and uncover their
long-buried secrets. Battle opponents ancient and
terrible, with sophisticated weapons and devious
strategies, all the while struggling to escape the
alien nightmare..

Oct 7, 1995
Interested in the REAL facts about Mars and Demios? Then check out Bill Arnett's <billa@znet.com> excellent WWW site The Nine Planets , a Multimedia Tour of the Solar System.
Now here is an interesting piece of information about Demios.

"There is no completely satisfactory theory as to how Deimos and Phobos came to be in orbit around Mars."

And if you check out Bill's information on Phobos , the larger and innermost of Mars's two moons you will read that

"It seems likely that Phobos and Deimos formed elsewhere and subsequently captured by Mars. But how did the capture occur? Was it made possible by a thicker atmosphere long ago?"

and also

"Phobos and Deimos may someday be useful as "space stations" from which to study Mars or as intermediate stops to and from the Martian surface; especially if the presence of ice is confirmed."

Nick Strobel's < strobel@astro.washington.edu> WWW page on the Milky Way Galaxy has some details on the size of our galaxy.

Want to estimate the number of technological civilizations that may exist in the Milky Way Galaxy (Pfhor, S'pht, etc). Then you need the Drake Equation.

Oct 6, 1995
David Menendez <dmm264@psu.edu> provides a possible explanation for the problem of distances in the Marathon Story. This is added to the Distances section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Oct 5, 1995
Matthew T. Russotto <russotto@pond.com> points out that there are problems with distances in the Marathon Story. Added new section Distances to Facts and puzzling things about... to discuss this issue.

Oct 4, 1995
Matt Soell <matt@bungie.com> of Bungie writes to say that he is not in a position to confirm or deny that the Lost Network Packets will appear as terminal text in Marathon II.
What?... you want the e-mail?.... come on give me a break!

The new Red Sand section has generated a considerable amount of speculation and it's only been up 2 days! Theories abound. Is K'lia Mars?, is K'lia Earth?, are we descendants of the S'pht? Are we seeing shades of Total Recall? And if you've just tuned in you'll think we're all crazy. Better catch up at the Red Sand section.

Oct 3, 1995
David Lohnes <welohnes@got.net> maintains that we may have overlooked some very important evidence that supports our humanity. His views are added to the You section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Edited the links on this page so that they now point to the new addition in each section rather than the beginning of each section.

Oct 2, 1995
Added new section Red Sand to Facts and puzzling things about.... Is there some long distant connection between the S'pht and Mars (The Red Planet)?

Bach <kirill@lava.net> has dug deep into the archives and found some information which might help to explain the frequent use of historical references and Latin text in the Marathon Story. Use this link to the Marathon HyperArchive and read the text of the eWorld Conference transcripts No.2.

Craig Petko <pe97ce41@acs.wooster.edu> provides further evidence to suggest that you are not human.

Oct 1, 1995
Added new section The Pfhor Ship to Facts and puzzling things about.... If the Pfhor ship is a mere scoutship what do captains of Pfhor battlecruisers eat for breakfast?

Dennis Keeler <dskeeler@umich.edu> provides evidence to suggest that the "space fighter" that materializes at the beginning of the story is not in fact the Pfhor scoutship. What evidence you ask? Well you better check out The Pfhor Ship section of Facts and puzzling things about.... Dennis's interpretation of events also has some subtle implications (see below)

Added additional information to the Durandal section in Facts and puzzling things about... to account for Durandal's outward signs of rampancy as you initially approach the Marathon. This information is based on the above submission by Dennis Keeler <dskeeler@umich.edu>

Added additional information to Bungie's time line section in Facts and puzzling things about... to suggest that you may have boarded the Marathon later than 0842 hours. This information is based on the above submission by Dennis Keeler <dskeeler@umich.edu>

Sept 30, 1995
Well as Alice would say "curiouser and curiouser". Matt Soell <matt@bungie.com> of Bungie writes to say that their previous e-mail transmission contained an error. You don't want to read it. Needless to say Rampancy is still endemic. James B. Miller wrote "The roots of Rampancy appear to have arisen from the widespread distribution of faulty Intel chips which found their way into the hearts of most computer systems in the late 20th century." (James B. Miller, 2320, "Life and Death of Intelligence")

Added new section which discusses issues raised in Bungie's new official time line for Marathon 1. And yes problems appear. Check out Bungie's time line section in Facts and puzzling things about....

Added the Marathon 1 Demo terminal text. Why? Well somebody had to do it! Go on relive the nostalgia. And while you read it try and find the changes.

Sept 29, 1995
Well you live and learn. Joe <jchou@socrates.ucsf.edu> points out that there is a second 'hidden' message on BaseDestruction (Terminal 2) of the Marathon 2: Durandal (Preview). That's the S'pht history terminal. There is also an interesting graphic plus a failed attempt to load a graphic. The text of this terminal is now added to the BaseDestruction level. Thanks Joe.

Both Thomas Johnson <palantir@expert.cc.purdue.edu> and Steve Wood <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> provide similar explanations for what Durandal means when he says "Do you blame me for what I did before I was free?". Full details in the Durandal section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Arthur van der Harg <vanderHarg@DIMES.TUDelft.NL> provides some further elucidation on the mysterious exit terminal text on Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Check out The 10th military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Sept 28, 1995
Bungie reply to some of the points raised in this web site. Read their e-mail message. Read the Lost Network Packets. We now have an official timeline. This is added to the dates section of Facts and puzzling things about.... Many thanks Greg K. and Matt S.

Bach <kirill@lava.net> points out that Durandal's statement "You are about to see what no human has ever seen." contradicts our knowledge of previous events. Yet there is a possible explanation for this. Full details in the you section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Sept 27, 1995
Added Steve Wood's <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> explanation for why Durandal (and Tycho) become obsessed with the inevitable closure of the Universe to the Durandal section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Steve Wood <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> highlights a discrepancy between what Durandal tells us at the beginning of Marathon 2: Durandal (Preview) and what Leela tells us at the end of Marathon 1. Intrigued? Well check out the dates section of Facts and puzzling things about....

Steve Wood <smwood@ccs.neu.edu> informs me that "the Marathon 1 Demo has different terminal messages than the same levels in the full game." Are these differences important? Well you better dig out the demo. Now where did I put mine.......?

Who is Steve Wood? Well he's the guy who gave us some detailed info on the Marathon II Demo at MacWorld Boston. You never read it? Well then check out Bryan Mendoza's Marathon II page . Look under the MacWorld Boston Reports.

Sept 26, 1995
Added Thomas Reed's <reed@visar.wustl.edu> answer to the meaning of the word "pragma" in The 10th military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg section of Facts and puzzling things about.... This provides additional support for the hypothesis that the exit terminal on Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! is a communication between AIs or within the same AI. This inturn has implications for the identity of the 10th military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg.

Added new section Tycho to Facts and puzzling things about.... Many thanks to Bach <kirill@lava.net> for acting as a sounding board for this section.

Added an additional piece to the Durandal section in Facts and puzzling things about... which provides additional support for a conspiracy theory.

Sept 24, 1995
Many thanks to all those people who suggested that I display the terminal text like the terminals in the game (green on a black background). While initially reluctant I bow to the pressure. Use Netscape for full effect. This is a quick implementation. No graphics as I wish people to read not wait! Special thanks to Bach <kirill@lava.net> for helpful suggestions. To see how it should be done check out his favourite Marathon terminal.

Sept 23, 1995
Added additional evidence that suggests you are not human. Enforcers never fire on humans? Would Leela lie or are we...

Bach <kirill@lava.net> rightly points out that Durandal refers to our "human mentality" and asks why he would say this if we were not human? This point is addressed in the you section.

Sept 22, 1995
Added new section Durandal to Facts and puzzling things about.... This was originally written sometime ago but left out because it was unfinished. It is still unfinished but is now added to help explain the last section of Count Roland. Thanks to Dennis Keeler <dskeeler@umich.edu> for pointing this out.

Sept 21, 1995
Added Simon Brownlee's <Simon.Brownlee@jrc.it> answer to the mysterious colony text. But questions still remain.


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Hamish Sinclair
Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
Last updated Jan 15, 1995