brandon kennedy <sigonsteele@yahoo.com> writes:

in the binary number system (computer code), the number 7 = 111 and 1+1+1= 3
coincidence?

What happens when Bungie fans "grow up"? Tom Pratchios <tom@ten15.net> writes:

The art department (completely separate from what I do up in the web group) handled the graphics for the 2004 Annual Report.

http://www.harris.com/harris/ar/04/ar2004.pdf

Once that landed in my lap, I saw the hinting of a symbol that was familiar to me, as if it were from an old dream..

But I digress a little.

Being the lead designer and the one responsible for putting that content into web-deliverable form, I took some liberties...

http://www.harris.com/harris/ar/04/

Now, unless you make a habit of browsing sites at an obscenely high resolution, you'll probably never see the following (bottom-right)

http://www.harris.com/harris/ar/04/hf/images/04bg.gif
and
http://www.harris.com/harris/ar/04/hf/images/04bg_alt.gif

I may be a "professional" now, but it's fun to pay homage to the games that made (and continue to make) me who I am.

Oct 12, 2004 (Tuesday)

One week on and Anaphiel <anaphiel@earthlink.net> completes his latest piece of Marathon artwork and it's definitely worth the download. Tom Cruise, Marlon Brando or Christian Bale.

Tolkien references in Marathon? Well you be the judge.

Oct 5, 2004 (Tuesday)

More Marathon artwork in progress from Anaphiel <anaphiel@earthlink.net>. Great stuff.

Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com> continues his transcribing of the original level notes for levels 12 and 13 from the first Marathon game. Normally to see these you have to visit arrival.bungie.org and type in ARCHIVE in the top box and OUTLINE in the bottom box and then view the scanned images. However an attempt has been made on the Story forum to transcribe these notes without going through the hassle of viewing the scans of the original pages and trying to decipher the hand writing.

The full list of the levels transcribed so far are as follows:

Level #0 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #1 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #2 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #3 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #4 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #5 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #6 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #7 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #8 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #9 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com>

Level #10 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com>

Level #11 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com>

Level #12 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com>

Level #13 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com> and another Level #13 by mnemesis <tvansinden@earthtech.com>

Posted out of sequence:

Level #26 by Alexander S7range <astrange@ithinksw.com>

Sept 28, 2004 (Tuesday)

jeff n <jeffnosanov@yahoo.com> writes:

I was idly reading about swords on www.wikipedia.org, the free online encyclopedia. Imagine my glee when I stumbled upon a mentionÊof the sword "Durandal"! I went from there to the article about Roland, which is here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland

and from there to a drawing of Roland holding the sword Durandal, which is here:

http://www.legends.dm.net/art/roland.jpg

Which I think is a great find.

www.wikipedia.com also has a page about the Marathon series, which is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_%28computer_game%29

drew <drew@friendpeople.org> writes concerning the mysterious binary string #101111011110111100001# is is a '7' displayed on the exit terminal of "Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!". See the The 10th military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg section for details.

Sept 10, 2004 (Friday)

Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> writes:

This screenshot is taken from the episode "The Torment of Tantalus" of the TV show _Stargate SG-1_ (first series, eleventh episode). Look familiar?

Very.

Michael Shuster <amarok101@hotmail.com> sends in this pic of a Pfhor tattoo. Seems they are getting quite common.

Aug 25, 2004 (Wednesday)

The Marathon music remake continues. Craig Hardgrove <craig@eiganhat.com> has added an another track to his list of Marathon 1 level music remakes. This one is Chomber. A full list of his remakes can be found at fireball here

Aug 8, 2004 (Sunday)

Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com> continues his transcribing of the level notes for Marathon with Level #11 on the Story forum.

As Anaphiel <anaphiel@earthlink.net> noted in this Story forum post Craig Mullins has updated his website. Don't know who Craig Mullins is? Then check out these sites devoted to his Marathon artwork.

Marathon Art Gallery - Craig Mullins
Marathon Art: Craig Mullins
The Art of Craig Mullins
and
Craig's home page

Muller spotted in Wisconsin? Check the Pathways Into Darkness page for details.

Aug 7, 2004 (Saturday)

There's a growing thread on the Story forum entitled When did you first play a Marathon game? Want to share your experiences or simply learn how others got hooked... then join in the discussion.

Aug 6, 2004 (Friday)

Blast from the past...

Back in June 20, 2001 the seven glyph puzzle was solved revealing a cornucopia of early Marathon development documentation including the original level notes for the first Marathon game. To see these you had to visit arrival.bungie.org and type in ARCHIVE in the top box and OUTLINE in the bottom box. Shortly after there was an attempt on the Story forum to transcribe these notes without going through the hassle of viewing the scans of the original pages and trying to decipher the hand writing. More recently this attempt was revived by Vid Boi. The full list of the levels transcribed so far are as follows:

Level #0 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #1 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #2 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #3 by Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>

Level #4 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #5 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #6 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #7 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #8 by Joe Mahma <joemahma7@home.com>

Level #9 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com>

Level #10 by Vid Boi <sippan@macnytt.com>

Posted out of sequence:

Level #13 by mnemesis <tvansinden@earthtech.com>

Level #26 by Alexander S7range <astrange@ithinksw.com>

The Marathon 2 Durandal story outline was also transcribed from the original scanned pages. You can read the first page and also the third page. So what happened to the second page?

July 7, 2004 (Wednesday)

Happy Bungie Day to Story page readers... everywhere!

Charles Craig <fortunato2000@yahoo.com> provides some insightful commentary on the The Unformatted KYT Term. Message:

Just wanted to write in with a little tidbit that applies to the "Facts and Puzzling Things About" section - it generally applies to "The Unformatted KYT Term. Message" (I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh...) and, to a lesser extent, to "You".

As William Spencer pointed out, it's definitely reminiscent of Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" concept, wherein a lone human is reincarnated, over and over, each live fated to become a crucial figure in the battle between Law and Chaos. In the very first story, within the opening chapters, we see this:

"And the names? Was I John Daker or Erekosë? Was I either of these? Many other names - Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Aubec, Sexton Begg, Elric, Rackhir, Iliam, Oona, Simon, Bastable, Cornelius, the Rose, von Bek, Asquiol, Hawkmoon - fled away down the ghostly rivers of my memory."

Even more interesting is that the above is actually the REVISED version of that same text - Moorcock rewrote portions of the story when getting it printed in novel form in 1970. The original novella version, circa 1962, presented a slightly different refrain...

"Shaleen, Artos, Brian, Umpata, Roland, Ilanth, Ulysses, Alric"

Any of those names seem familiar?

In essence, as Moorcock developed the idea of the Eternal Champion, he started to assign many of his other fictional works to that pantheon, making the lead characters of most of his stories (and indeed, a number of minor characters as well) incarnations of the Eternal Champion. However, in the earliest draft, he simply used figures out of actual history. Artos is the Latin of Arthur - the somewhat famous figure out of British legend. Brian is most likely Brian the Blessed, who also figures into Irish and British myth (his head being buried under the Tower of London, protecting England from invasion). Ulysses (or Odysseus) was the main character in the Odyssey, and came up with the idea for the Trojan Horse (he also fought with Achilles). Alric was the leader of the Germanic tribe which eventually sacked Rome. Ilanth MIGHT be Iolanthe (a Fairie, from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta of the same name). I have no idea about Umpata or Shaleen, though as for Roland, I think we all know him by now...

Moorcock is fairly well-known in fantasy/sci-fi circles - consider that TSR looted his works as well as Tolkien's when they created Dungeons and Dragons. I'm sure at least SOMEONE at Bungie could be pushing for the idea that many important characters in the Bungie mythos are bound by a similar destiny, if not one-and-the-same (consider the Pathways/Marathon/Halo main char connection - it COULD be the same char).

Hope my first contribution to the story page interests you - having just gotten into the Marathon world via Halo, I'm deeply impressed by the amount of work you've put into the page. Being deemed worthy of adding to it would be great, but I also understand if it never gets posted (is okay, I have self-esteem, I can cope ~wink~). Either way, just wanted to point that out to you, in case you'd missed it.

Winston Churchill <agent_c1874@yahoo.com> writes concerning the acronym "IWLML" that appears on the Halo PC box:

IWLNL on the Halo PC box could be I Like Winning Not Losing. In the Halo novels the authors keep bringing up the fact that the Master Chief always wins.

See the Box Acronyms section for full details on Bungie's box acronyms.

June 30, 2004 (Wednesday)

As mentioned in this Story forum post it would seem that from the latest issue of Weird magazine (July) that a UK gaming company is using Craig Mullins' opening screen to Marathon 2 to promote their upcoming game "Triangle". Claude Errera <errera@bungie.org> kindly scanned in the page in question from his copy of Wired magazine. You can see it here (191K).

June 4, 2004 (Friday)

Bungie Box Acronyms... they're back! The mysterious Enkidu <enkidu@bungie.org> writes in a Story forum post:

Is this the appropriate time to mention that HaloPC has a box acronym of its own? (Just reviewed that section of the story page, didn't see it mentioned... and didn't think to look until your post.)

ILWNL

Your guess is as good as mine!

May 30, 2004 (Sunday)

Joshua Bell <inexorabletash@hotmail.com> writes:

On Bungie.net's new Marathon pages (http://www.bungie.net/Games/Marathon/) if you click on Wallpapers there's a version of the Lh'owon chapter screen art by Mullins. The image is titled "Vic on a real bad day"

I searched your story site with Google - no mention of "Vic" anywhere. Is "Vic" a known name or slang for anything or anyone in the Marathon universe? Bear in mind that I've never seen the physical manual - I purchased the Action Sack to play the games with Aleph One - so it might be sitting on the first page in bold print.

Anyway, just curious - is "The Marine" named Vic?

("Vic" being typically slang for "victim", it's kinda catchy. Better than Master Chief any day.)

Tim Branin <Sonofhydra@aol.com> writes:

As you may be aware there is a web site called Homestarrunner.com. What it is, basically, is an online cartoon show updated weekly focusing around a collection of zany characters, the foremost of which is the lovable dimwit Homestar Runner. Again, if you already know what I'm talking about you might as well disregard the previous paragraph, if not I strongly suggest you Click the following link Everybody! Everybody! before continuing on with this E-mail.

Anyway, back to the business at hand. Using a Wallpaper JPEG provided by the site, Photo Shop, and my own mediocre drawing abilities, I have cruelly transformed all 11 original characters into Marathon characters. I had to do some stretching to fit to combine some characters but I feel It worked out quite well. Homestar looks quite dashing as the security officer, and Strong Mad was a perfect Yeti. I did end up having to use the S'pht compiler twice, but M1 Minor Coach Z, and M2/° Major King of Town still look great. All in all this is definitely worth updating the site for.

P.S. Here's a link to the original picture before I butchered it. http://homestarrunner.com/wallpapers/everybody1.jpg

Graham Lasseter <tyr02@hotmail.com> writes concerning the level name "Eat the Path":

Just writing for another interpretation of the level name Eat the Path. Made me think of Hansel and Gretel who used food to makeÊa path to return. If you eat the path you dont how to get out. Theres no going back. Kinda fitting for a mazey level i thought.

Ibrahim Halim <monotoilet@yahoo.co.in> writes concerning That Marathon Book:

Yes. That Marathon book. I was browsing your site for the of six of the seven remaining when I came across something interesting. The third Marathon book, titled "Homecoming" features an A.I. by the name of "Ozymandias".

This name is the subject of a poem.

"And on the pedestal the words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
look upon my works, ye mighty, and dispair!'
Nothing beside remains.
'Round the
Decay of that colossal wreck
Boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
-P.B. Shelly, 1817

The imagery is vaguely familiar... as if from an old dream.

May 11, 2004 (Tuesday)

On the Story forum... did Marathon Infinity predict Matrix Reloaded? Some interesting parallels between the mysterious dream terminals in Marathon Infinity and the Agent Smith clones in the Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. And yes... the similarities are uncanny.

May 5, 2004 (Wednesday)

Thanks to all those who have written in about the odd goings on at enkidu.bungie.org. Some have likened it to Cortana Letters back in early 1999. You can find a very good summary of the Enkidu saga in this HBO forum post. There's also some discussion on the subject on the Story forum here and here. Nathaniel Rhein <space-cowboy@sbcglobal.net> notes that Enkidu is the name of Gilgamesh's companion.

Jeff N <jeffnosanov@yahoo.com> writes:

I signed up for a newsletter from Square Enix and I received a free PS2 game demo. The game is Front Mission 4, and it is about a future world where war is fought with, what else, giant fighting robots. However, interestingly enough, the institute that develops these machines for the European Union is called "Durandal".

Also on the Story forum

Those Story forum T-shirts are on there way... have you got one?s

And polyurethane Marathon keychains... what about those original 3ozs of killer steel?

And Red 1.1... join the discussion on the Story forum.

May 1, 2004 (Saturday)

Devin Sanera <ambrosia512@mac.com> writes concerning Robert Blake. See the Robert Blake section

A possible seventh ending on the Pathways Into Darkness page.

Apr 16, 2004 (Friday)

Dave <omikron@orcon.net.nz> writes concerning the Latin phrase "tu delenda est" found on the secret teminal of "Welcome to the Revolution". See the Latin in Marathon section for full details. Note that the last time this section was updated was on June 11, 1999.

On the Story forum

Marathon Scenario news gets another updated

Letters to the Webmaster updated... but not up to the usual standard? Make you own mind up... click here

No REDS under the bed... but certainly on the forum. The RED Volunteers series continues

Apr 15, 2004 (Thursday)

On the Story forum Craig Hardgrove <craig@eigenhat.com> has posted links to remakes of the original Marathon soundtracks "Leela' and Swirls'. Worth a listen. There is also discusion about pattern buffers, teleportation, concept art and RED. Go check out the Story forum.

Apr 14, 2004 (Wednesday)

28 pieces of Marathon Concept Art have been unveiled at the new look bungie.net. The artwork by Reginald Dujour and Robert Mclees is from both Marathon and Marathon 2. Interesting to see some of Reg's early work on Marathon 2 before he left Bungie. The list of descriptions with each image are as follows:

Marathon 2, sketch used in ad
Syphon Tick corpse
Phfor Warrior hard death corpse
Hard death for Pfhor Enforcer
Hard death for proposed Phfor Fungal Zombie
Hard death for the Syphon Tick
Soft death for Pfhor Enforcer
Hard death for Pfhor Enforcer
Running leg animations for Fighter
Running legs for player character
Sketch of Hunter running. Animation test
Sketch of player running. Animation test
Concept stuff for Fungal Zombie
Sketch for another Terminal image
Concept sketch for Marathon 2 Compiler
Final line art for the Compiler
Animation test for Syphon Tick hard death
Final line art for unused Fungal Zombie
More final line art for unused Fungal Zombie
Components of Marathon (one) Compiler
Unused Apocalypse beast concept
Concept of the Pfhor Probe
More concept of Pfhor Probe
More concept of Apocalypse Beast
Concept of the S'pht 'Kr
Concept for Fungal Zombie
Limbs for alternate Fungal Zombie
Concept for alternate Fungal Zombie

Note that the 'Apocalypse beast' should actually be called the Armageddon Beast. See the Missing Aliens section of Facts and Puzzling Things About...

There is also new Marathon section up at bungie.net. However some of the information is of dubious nature and smacks of revisionism. But hey that's life.

Apr 13, 2004 (Tuesday)

Kudos to Raul Bonilla <scrapbook1997@hotmail.com> for updating the Marathon Scrapbook section. Raul writes:

The update address a large amount of typographic errors. At the same time, I seized the opportunity to smooth things out, as well as adding additional information to my notes.

Thanks also to Claude for uploading the file.

Many thanks to Robin Kunde <robin.kunde@freenet.de> for spotting a typo on the The "Try again" Term section of Facts and Puzzling Things About... The last time that section was updated was on Sept 30, 1999. Remember what you were doing back then?

Apr 12, 2004 (Monday)

Fixed the creation date for the Marathon demo v1.2 on the Marathon Demo v0.0 section of Facts and Puzzling Things About...

The Pathways Into Darkness page gets another update. This time we learn a little more about the possible purpose of the Red Velvet Bag.

On the Story forum:

More Marathon Walpaper

New Bungie.net... coming

Marathon Scenario news updated

Another cryptic Marathon pic to analyse

Sigma website updated

And the RED Volunteers series keeps on going. Check the Story forum for all the posts

Apr 4, 2004 (Sunday)

The Pathways Into Darkness page gets an update.

On the Story forum:

Marathon Story Forum T-shirts

Strange goings on...

Jumping Bobs?

Apr 1, 2004 (Thursday)

Calandra Witter <callie21v@hotmail.com> provides some interesting speculation on the original level names:

Could the mysterious ", ya ya ya." fragments on M2 levels have been some sort of universal placeholder name along the lines of:

Title goes here, ya ya ya.|
Curiouser and Curiouser·|.|
Bob's Big Date|, ya ya ya.|
The Big House|use|a ya ya.|
God Will Sort The Dead·|a.|
Kill Your Television|a ya.|
Fatum Iustum Stultorum|ya.|

Note that "ya ya ya" fragments appear only on single player levels for some reason.

*****

There are similar orphaned letters on a pair of Infinity levels:

Route 66|ap|
Melatonin|p|

So perhaps:

Another Map| (YAFNM?)
Unnamed Map|
New Net Map|

*****

Despite all the working titles suggested for "Naw Man He's Close," the most likely answer might have been hiding in the Vacuum Levels section:

"Naw Man He's Close ... started out life as a concept--the player free falling toward the hull of Durandal's ship ..." -- Chris Geisel

Hull of Durandal's Ship|
Naw Man He's Close|Ship|

*****

These three levels seem to have been built on top of each other:

A Converted Church in Venice, Italy|
Son of Grendel|rch in Venice, Italy|
Bagged Again|l|rch in Venice, Italy|

*****

Waldo World Arena|
Return to Waldo|a|

*****

And by way of pure guesswork:

Thrud|mpact|
Deep Impact|

This title might have been deemed unsatisfactory since you can't actually damage terrain in Marathon.

From the Story forum:

More Marathon artwork.

The best piece of Marathon fan fiction... ever?

The RED Volunteers series goes from strength to strength to... well just check out the whole Story forum for the continuing series.

Mar 31, 2004 (Wednesday)

Over the years people have noticed Marathon references in the games from Ambrosia Software. Games mentioned on the Story page have included Escape Velocity, Mars Rising and Ferazel's Wand. Now David Chandler <guerrillastylish@hotmail.com> writes concerning the Ambrosia Software game Diemos Rising:

While I was looking in the Applications folder of my iMac, I found something interesting. There was a game there called Deimos Rising, by Ambrosia Software, that I didn't remember getting. The readme says that the game is fully licensed to be included on all Apple computers, so I assume it came pre installed. The description says this:

"Deimos Rising is a vertically scrolling arcade-style game featuring 12 battle zones and a large variety of enemies to conquer. 1 or 2 people can play.

"Using alien technologies, military forces have swept back into power on Mars. This totalitarian regime must be stopped and its robotic armies destroyed. You are in charge of a VacFighter, equipped with both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground weapons. To succesfully complete your mission you will need to master this craft and its weapons. New weapons, bonuses and surprises will be available as you progress!"

Anyway, I know your thinking that Deimos was Mars' moon that the Marathon was converted from, and this seems like a weak link, but there is a level in the game called Thermopylae.

Chlazza <chlazza@hotmail.com> writes:

I was poking around on the net looking for Marathon stuff today and stumbled across the webpage for Marathon County, Wisconsin:
http://www.co.marathon.wi.us/
I got a chuckle out of it, but then I noticed their logo in the upper left of the page (direct link: http://www.co.marathon.wi.us/images/button.gif -
sorry it isn't bigger).
I thought to myself: "Huh, that looks familiar..."
After a few minutes of searching, I found it:
http://marathon.bungie.org/story/2ndtournamentsticker.html

Maybe the site designer was a fan of Marathon, or perhaps this is just a coincidence?

Mar 27, 2004 (Saturday)

From the Story forum:

RED Volunteers begins.

Marathon Eternal a third party scenario is released.

Vote Marathon... or something.

Mar 24, 2004 (Wednesday)

First there was this guy who got his head shaved in the shape of a Marathon symbol. Remember that? Then people began to get Marathon symbol tatoos. Remember those? Morgan Roberts <nioxin@comcast.net> has that beat though with this tatoo. Perhaps we need to start a new facts and puzzling things about... section. ;-)

Mar 22, 2004 (Monday)

On the Story forum today:

The Physical Manifestation of Chaos or as they say on "Aye Mak Sicur"... ^9320wrefkddud.

Want to learn S'pht? Then you need to study the S'pht Language page.

Another update at the Marathon Fan Fiction Archive.

Mar 21, 2004 (Sunday)

Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel) has put together a page for all his Marathon artwork, textures, screenshots, sketches etc. You can find it here.

For Marathon news, views, discussion, rants, etc check out the Story forum.

Mar 19, 2004 (Friday)

Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel) has created another piece of classic Marathon artwork. This one, called The Pfhor, takes you back to the eerie Pfhor scoutship of the original Marathon. Study the image carefully for that deja vu detail. It will make you want to fire up Marathon again just to play... Pfhoraphobia.

The artwork keeps flowing. Jorge Salas on the Story forum posts a Marathon black desktop. Good to have for those late nights at the computer.

For Marathon discussion check the Story forum.

Mar 18, 2004 (Thursday)

Mike Leong <Shuffledna@aol.com> writes concerning some historical connections in Marathon:

11 Clans of the S'pht, with Kr being crucial in Durandal's victory. Some S'pht were freed from Pfhor captivity, but others remained enslaved. There were 11 Greek generals at Marathon. 10 were divided into a council under the leading general (polemarch). When time came to decide to engage the Persians or not, the council was split 5-5 and Callimachus, the polemarch, cast the deciding vote favoring attack, which led to victory over the Persians.

The Persians were part of a great empire that had reached its peak and headed downhill after Marathon. The Pfhor's demise starts with the return of S'pht'Kr and then leads to the destruction of the Pfhor capital by humans and S'pht.

After the Persian line broke and the Greeks assaulted the ships, they were able to secure 7.

The Greeks were defending not only against the Persians, but also against Hippias, the former tyrant of Athens. Perhaps similar to Tycho going from controlled by humanity to controlled by the Pfhor and then attacking Durandal/S'pht

See the Historical & Mythological References in Marathon section for more details.

Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel) has updated his Marathon desktop pic page. Check out this Story forum post for the details.

Also on the Story forum is a link to a piece of Japanese Marathon-related comic book style art.

Mar 17, 2004 (Wednesday)

Happy St. Patrick's Day to Story page readers... everywhere!

Mike Leong <Shuffledna@aol.com> writes concerning some interesting connections between Marathon and Dante's Divine Comedy:

KYT Term

This is very reminiscent of some scenes towards the end of Dante's Purgatorio.

I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh.
I have been called a hundred names and will be called a
thousand more before the world goes dim and cold.
I am hero. She has been nameless since our birth,
a constant adversary caring for nothing but my ruin,
a sword drenched in my blood forever, my greatest and
only love. She is the dark. O Lethe, enemy and lover, without

(Lethe is one of two rivers in Purgatory)

whom my very existence would be pathetic and vulgar!
Our relationship is complex and perhaps eternal.
(Dante is saved by Beatrice, her purpose is to draw him to Heaven, their relationship is eternal)
We met once in the garden at the beginning of the world
and, unaware of our twin destinies, we matched stares
across a dry fountain.

(Dante meets a woman in the Garden of Eden at the top of Purgatory, across the river Lethe, which springs out of a fountain, along with its companion river, Eunoe)

And I recall her smiling at me before
she devoured the lawn and trees with a translucent blue flame
and tore flagstones from the path and hurled them into the
sky, screaming my sins.

(The woman smiles at him, leading to the next cantos in which Dante is accused and repents of his sins)

I powder a granite monument in a
soundless flash, showering the grass with molten drops of
its gold inlay, sending smoking chips of stone
skipping into the fog. She splinters an ancient oak

(According to the Inferno, there is a theory that the destruction of a statue made of different materials, including stone and gold, led to the downfall of the Golden Age and the creation of Lethe)

with a force that takes my breath and hurls me to the ground.

(This woman also plunges Dante into Lethe, taking his breath away and rendering him helpless for a period of time)

She lea% [leaves?]

Perhaps references to the Purgatory are appropriate at this time in Marathon 2. You've just been through the Inferno (1 month in Phfor captivity), and are being drawn to the Jjaro and the escape of the closing of the universe by Durandal (Marathon Infinity). Dante was drawn to heaven and God by Beatrice. I know the analogy isn't perfect, but there's something to think about.

Mike goes on to talk about the numbers 3 and 7 used widely by Bungie:

-Bungie's calculations:
Carnage ratio: 1:33.33
Kills per minute: 13.73
Hmm, lots of threes and sevens...

References from Dante in Marathon

3 (Note that Dante gets this number from the trinity, but it is not unreasonable to think that Bungie got it from Dante):
-3 Canticles (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso)
-3 Main characters in comedy (Dante, Virgil, Beatrice)
-3 steps before gate of Purgatory
-3 manifestations of tree of knowledge in Purgatory
-3 Major virtues: faith, hope and love
-Satan has 3 heads
-Ingue Ferroque is made of three rings (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso?)

7
-7 Levels of purgatory
-7 Virtues prominent in purgatory (including faith, hope and love, and 4 lesser virtues)

Finally, remember PID's Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'intrante (Abandon hope, all ye who enter). I'd say Dante was one of Bungie's main influences in making Marathon.

On the subject of PID and pyramids in South America check out this Story forum post for some bizarre goings on. Here's a small piece courtesy of Reuters news service

TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Remnants of space dust that constantly showers the world are helping unlock the secrets of a 2,000-year-old Mexican pyramid where the rulers of a mysterious civilization may lie buried.

and

The name Teotihuacan (The Place Where Men Become Gods) was given by awed Aztecs who inhabited the area 700 years after the city was abandoned around 600 AD. The Aztecs were stunned by the monumental buildings and precise city planning.

and

The number four is a constant theme in the city, split into four different residential zones. A vessel from Teotihuacan found elsewhere shows four figures who appear to be co-rulers around a god of thunder, Teotihuacan's state deity.

Mar 16, 2004 (Tuesday)

More Marathon-inspired artwork posted to the Story forum.

Marathon references in the movie "The Sphere"? You be the judge.

Yet more Marathon artwork from Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel).

Marathon Scenario News updated!

What the Government don't want YOU to know.

and much... much... more on the Story forum.

Mar 15, 2004 (Monday)

A number of people have written in requesting links to Marathon art sites. So here's a short list.

Marathon art by Craig Mullins:

Marathon Art Gallery - Craig Mullins
Marathon Art: Craig Mullins
The Art of Craig Mullins
and
Craig's home page

Marathon art by Chuck Fox.

A single excellent Marathon pic by John Wallin Liberto. You can check the rest of John Wallin Liberto's work here.

And as noted yesterday Jay Faircloth's Marathon desktops.

Mar 14, 2004 (Sunday)

More excellent Marathon artwork from Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel) on the Story forum. This one's called Counterattack (136K). See here (132K) and here (150K) for slightly modified versions.

Also check out Jay's Marathon desktops. Multiple versions for all monitor sizes.

Mar 13, 2004 (Saturday)

Antoine Williasm <webmaster@the7thletter.net> sends in a link to a book called the The Seventh Letter. Here's part of the blurb for the book:

The Number 7

Why is its presence so dominant on planet earth?

What is the meaning behind the number seven -- is it God's watermark? Or is it some lucky coincidence that the number seven has a dominant presence on the planet earth? Author Jack Williams has discovered that there is more power in the number seven than we realize.

Mar 10, 2004 (Wednesday)

Check out this Marathon story forum thread for some outstanding Marathon inspired artwork. Very nice. Warning... the link opens a 202K graphic. But it's worth it. Check here for more artwork. Thanks to Anaphiel <anaphiel@earthlink.net> (aka. Jay Faircloth) for all the hard work.

Jay's Marathon artwork first came to light on the Story page back in 5 Jan 2001. Check the What's New section on this date for some details about his 'Try again' image.

He has some Halo artwork too. See http://halosn.bungie.org/miscart.html?item=69&rc=1

He also came runner up in the Gathering of Developers Oni Fan Art Contest with "Dark Future, Darker Past". Some say he should have come first... if it wasn't for the accident...

Feb 16, 2004 (Monday)

Matt Cannon <dizzy@subnova.com> points out that there is a Marathon-like logo on the PS2 network adapter. He sent in an image to prove it. You can see it here.

On the subject of Marathon-like images Sam Fletcher <deagol@mac.com> writes:

I believe the Marathon symbol is an abstraction of the Yucatan Peninsula crater. I was flipping through my astronomy text book this afternoon, and BOOM! There it was, sitting there right next to the equator -- our beloved nightmare circles! Check out some of these pics I found with a Google Image Search:

http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1995/ootw_951206/ob951206_sm1.gif

http://www.geo.vu.nl/images/grav-3.jpg

I don't think I need to explain why it's the Yucatan crater that appeared (unwittingly, to its designers) on the Marathon, because...

"Yucatan" is seven letters long.

Observant readers of the Story page will have noticed the use of this image on the Marathon timeline section for about... seven years now. Coincidence... or...?

Feb 8, 2004 (Sunday)

Was Greg (Kirkpatrick) special? Find out on the Pathways Into Darkness page.

Check the Story Forum for the all the latest news and Marathon site updates... yes some do get updated.

Feb 4, 2004 (Wednesday)

D'oh! left the Christmas decorations up until now... just as well nobody is checking this page any more. ;-)

All the activity is on the Story Forum... so head on over.

David Chandler <guerrillastylish@hotmail.com> writes:

I was replaying Half-Life, I noticed that the suit you wear is called the Hazardous Environment (HEV) Mark IV Suit. A bit similar to the Mjolnir (Mjolnir also being the name of your armor in Halo) Mark IV cyborg. I was wondering if maybe someone from Valve is an ex-Bungie worker, or perhaps it's a small stribute, or merely coincidence?

Jamie White <jamiewhite@blueyonder.co.uk> writes:

I think someone at Nasa is a Marathon fan:

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/

Notice the red and greens? Look familiar? Interesting to note that it's only available as a Java and Mac OS X app! :-)

Another Marathon reference in EV Nova? Luke Uecker <ozamanzius@hotmail.com> writes:

Text discription of station "Nil'la Mjolnir"

"During the brief war with the Colonial Council, the Polaris were saved by the timely intervention of the Vell-os, and also through the actions of one of the Council's cyborg-soldiers. Little is known about that man, other than part of his unit designation - Mjolnir. Apparently, he destroyed a piece of new technology that would have ensured victory over the Polaris. It is worthy of note that he is the only non-Polaris soldier to have been remembered by the Polaris warrior-caste with respect, although with the destruction of the warrior caste, little more is known about the man."

Intresting thing to bump into. Maybe Durandal could enlighten the Polaris Ruling Counsil on the nature of this mystery machine-man?

Jan 7, 2004 (Wednesday)

Aaron Hee-Stacpoole <aaronheestacpoole@yahoo.com> writes to say that the Bungie Support Site is down. According to the Support site page it went down last November. Here's the text:

The Bungie Support Site that you once knew and loved is no more. Bungie Studios has always valued our relationship and commitment to our fans and it's imperative to us that quality support is available for our games. Unfortunately, the current Bungie online team does not have the resources to provide the level of support we feel is required. Since we're a part of Microsoft, our products now fall under Microsoft's robust Product Support Services. Since Take 2 Interactive owns the rights to both Oni and Myth, support for these games can be obtained at the Take 2 Interactive site listed below. We've enjoyed delivering entertaining support articles over the years but the time has finally come for us to throw in the towel and hand it off to the big boys. We will, however, carry over some of our existing files and articles to the new Bungie.net site when it launches next year. Farewell support site. We will miss thee.

If, like Aaron, you are looking for the PID or Marathon updaters you are currently out of luck.

Jan 1, 2004 (Thursday)

Happy New Year to all the Story page readers... everywhere!

Eric R <riscica@gmail.com> writes concerning the S'pht terminal on "Eat It, Vid Boi!" which refers to the red sands of the dead:

Almost all sand contains small amounts of iron. Over time, the iron oxidizes and turns red. Therefore, the age of a desert can be determined by the color of its sand. Red deserts, like those on Mars, are ancient.

So the red sand of the dead, spreading across Lh'owon may be referring to signs of age spreading across Lh'owon as time passes and the planet becomes even more ancient. So much time has passed since the carnage that the deserts have changed in color, or that more deserts are now red as a result of time passing.

The red sand of the dead, spreading across Lh'owon may also simply be metaphorical, referring to the spreading of carnage and war, and the sands being stained red by the spilled blood of the dead.

Rampant speculation may have died down lately but that doesn't stop the use the term... For example Tristan Bayless <roadbeef@hotmail.com> writes:

I'm an avid Marathon fan and have followed your webpage through all of its updates in at least the last four years. I thought you might get a kick out of the license plate; it's off of my own car. I originally planned VENTCOR and MJOLNIR, but settled on the current because.. well, its a cooler word!

Jason Parsons <arakasi@kireji.com> draws our attention to an Easter Egg in System 7 which was around at the same time as the release of Marathon and contained numerous references to the number seven:

I just stumbled across this (at http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/System7.html ):

System 7 has a secret about box. I'll bet you didn't know that. Not too many people do. A short time after I joined the Blue Meanies, we started making plans for a secret about box in System 7. It was my job to figure out how to trigger it, what it should contain, and how to hide it in the sources so nobody at Apple would get wise before it was too late to stop us. I talked to a few other Meanies and we came up with a pretty good scheme. The trigger was full of sevens. If there were seven windows with titles having seven letters, and a user chose the seventh menu item in a menu, and that item was currently disabled, then the secret about box would appear. Sheila Brady wrote a poem dedicated to the development team to put in the window. Darin Adler and I spent an evening implementing the triggers in the most obscure way we could devise. The code to bring up the window and the picture containing the poem were hidden in the data fork of the system file. The picture was encrypted and the decryption key was assembled in pieces by the various triggers throughout the toolbox. I did that so if someone ran across the strange looking code in the System file, they still couldn't see what was in the picture. It was cool!

Note that the trick was for Macintosh System 7 and contained 3 references to criteria requiring 7. I don't know that this has any direct relation with Bungie or their affinity for the numbers 7 and 3 in the Marathon trilogy but it's fun to imagine. :-)