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Marathon's Story Page
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Marathon's Story Page
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #967. Bungie completes their Marathon foursome with a clip of the fourth level... Cryo Archive. Cryo Archive posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. January 13, 2026. Bungie writes: Glimpse into Cryo Archive, the first floor of the UESC Marathon.Interesting that Bungie describe Cryo Archive as the "first floor" of the UESC Marathon colony ship. In the original concept art for the UESC Marathon by Tom Hicks the functional areas were mapped out as sections: 
UESC Marathon (macro functions) by Tom Hicks originally posted on ArtStation. May 24, 2023.
While this is concept art created in the later half of 2022 the ship's overall shape hasn't changed much. Perhaps "first floor" is a throwback to The Library in Halo: Combat Evolved. ::shudder:: As the UESC Marathon colony ship was a generational ship the amount of space needed for cryo storage would have been small. The Marathon manual tells us: The original crew of the Marathon consisted of 50 Senior Staff, 1150 Officers, and 24,000 civilians all of whom were citizens of the Mars Colony or Earth. Some individuals were placed in stasis for the interstellar journey, but most civilians lived and worked on the ship and raised families there. As the crew aged, a new generation of humans were born and raised on the Marathon.Perhaps this has changed. Staying on the subject of the UESC Marathon colony ship we have the Old and Busted, and the New Hotness. New Hotness.  UESC Marathon (Marathon Reveal Cinematic Short screenshot). April 12, 2025. Old and Busted.  UESC Marathon (Marathon Reveal Cinematic Short still). April 12, 2025. So why do we leave the Sol system in the Old and Busted?
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #966. t h e y t h o u g h t w e w e r e g o n e, t h e y w e r e w r o n g Bungie made a carefully constructed post on x.com (twitter) which took account of its specific multiple image formating. I've tried to replicate below in old school HTML.
Click each of the quadrants and they expand to give you a message from MIDA. Yes, it's the old glitchy rhetoric from everyone's favorite underground terrorist organization.
Well apart from IT'S IENAI IENAI takes you to ienai.space . IENAI SPACE ask... Are you ready to build your next thruster? Have Bungie finally decided to skip step #6 (in this timeline) and go straight to step #7 ?  MIDA would be proud. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #965.  I want to go home. It's tough being a colonist, escpecially on Tau Ceti IV. Date 7 ◦ 3 ◦ 2794 Marathon Reveal Cinematic Short. April 12, 2025. Date 3 ◦ 13 ◦ 2812 Marathon Reveal Cinematic Short. April 12, 2025. Date 12 ◦ 21 ◦ 2827 Marathon Reveal Cinematic Short. April 12, 2025. I want to go home. Throughout history there are incidents of a commander, having landed on the shore of a hostile country, ordering his men to destroy their ships, so that they would have to conquer the country or be killed.  The reference to boats rather than ship suggests that they were referring to the Marathon's shuttles. Without the shuttles there was no way to get back up to the UESC Marathon. There was no going home. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #964. It's MIDA Monday. Death, the end of all things. But the dream is not over. My dream, yours. Now RUN. They are coming.  RUN.  FILE DATE: 2442-01-06 CASUALTY EXPECT: MINIMAL CASUALTY OUTCOME: PREDICTIONS EXCEEDED (SOURCE)  It took only five seconds for over five hundred starving Martians to be incinerated. In the ensuing investigation of the Hovertank Vid-cams, it was clear that only three of the rioters were armed, and that the rest of the crowd was trying to flee the scene. Those three became known as the Misriah Three. They have gone down in history for starting the most destructive and bloody conflict since Humanity had left Earth. Remember the Misriah Three .   |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #963. This caught my attention.  Marathon by EVR//DFT (@theEverdrift) on x.com. January 3, 2026 It's an excellent composition by EVR//DFT (@theEverdrift), formerly known as Mo (@theEverdrift). If you look closely at the UESC Marathon and follow it all the way down you will spot something interesting. It reminded me of the Pathway Into Darkness image in 'The Ancients' poster by David Candland. For Bungie's 20th Anniversary celebration on July 7, 2011 artist David Candland did a retro-style limited-run poster called 'The Ancients' featuring three of Bungie's earlier games Pathway Into Darkness, Marathon and Myth.  Here's a larger version of the Pathway Into Darkness panel.  The artist Nathan Anderson (aka Deimos-Remus) went on to create a similar poster entitled "Let sleeping Gods die" in 2013.  Pathways into Darkness by Deimos-Remus on DeviantArt. October 22, 2013. Deep below the pyramid you face a Demon folded in black clouds.   The Demon is referred to in the Cortana Letters. I've had the strangest dreams lately - raging seas, howling beasts, a Demon folded in black clouds. Some say the Demon at the end of Pathways Into Darkness bares a striking resemblance to a compiler (S'pht) in Marathon. Which brings me back to the artwork by EVR//DFT above. Why would you put a compiler (S'pht) at the end of the UESC Marathon?  (circumstances are cyclical) |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #962. Bungie posted another Marathon clip and asked... What did they mean by this? You can see it below. What did they mean by this? posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. January 8, 2026. The clip shows 12 scenes of eclectic wall graffiti, aging posters and other artwork. There is a nice blend of OG Marathon and NU Marathon. There is even a famous historical idiom, namely "Burn the Boats" or variations thereof. Here are the 12 scenes in chronolofical order.
Rampant (@RampantYT) posted the following in response to the clip: I think they are priming us to look to the environment and world for pieces of the puzzle story wise. Feels like they are getting experimental with their story, kinda like Marathon Infinity.Bungie simply replied... "yes" The rampant speculation has already begun. The opening scene is clearly an attempt to explain Marathon Infinity's complex timelines. Bungie posted a larger (portrait) version of their Marathon clip on YouTube. You can see it below. What did they mean by this? posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on YouTube. January 8, 2026. Here are a few hi-res stills.
From top left to bottom right. Mural of Pinwheel Ship with destroyed wing. Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est? Atrocious colony spelling or something more? Gabriel confirmed as one of the eight colony AIs. You can read about the colony AIs in a Project Marathon rampancy memo by Dr. Bernhard H Strauss dated 17 COLUMBRA 459 two days before the launch of the UESC Marathom. If you're been reading the Story page every day since May 2023 you should be up to speed on all this. Marathon Is Daily Attention. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #961. It's sketchy Friday. We've got sketches. First up... AlexZhir (@SANYNOCHKA) gives us a Happy New Year sketch.  Happy New Year by AlexZhir (@SANYNOCHKA) on x.com. January 3, 2026. Mr. Marathon is wearing his traditional flappyboi Christmas jumper. Flappyboi is an OG Marathon thing and is shot for sport.  AlexZhir's artwork attempts to bring OG Marathon fans kicking and screaming into the 21th century. But they resist. How do you make an OG Marathon map? Well Gore_M4chine began with a sketch.  Marathon map sketch by Gore_M4chine on the Unofficial Marathon Discord. January 1, 2026. Paper level design is a lost art form. Thankfully people are still sketching on paper. Case in point.  Marathon sketch by TokyoBlvck on the Official Marathon Discord. January 1, 2026. Can we still call her Thief? CLASS NAME SHELL NAME Stealth Void Destroyer Locus Vandal Glitch Recon Blackbird Medic Aux Thief Icon Rook "I don't need no stinkin' name", said the repurposed UESC bot. Marathon Is Disconcerting Appelllation. Happy sketchy Friday. Stay sketchy. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #960. Time for a story. Thanks to Ezandora for sending in a link to an October 23, 1992 news article in The Harvard Crimson, a daily college newspaper. You can read it below.  The Harvard Crimson. Campus News. October 23, 1992. Greg Kirkpatrick was a beta tester on both Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete (1992) and Pathways Into Darkness (1993). He is acknowledged (Special Thanks) in both game manuals. In Pathways Into Darkness there is a dead Special Forces soldier called Greg on the level Watch Your Step.  Those spider things were all around me, butIf you enquire about the dish washer he will reveal. Yeah, like a dish washer dropped from threeThere is also a secret conversation prompt which will illict the following reply. Man, I'll never get to play Street FighterIn the Pathways Into Darkness Official Hint Book (page 32) you can read the following.  Greg Kirkpatrick would go on to join Bungie and worked on both Marathon (1994) and Marathon 2: Durandal (1995) as both a writer and map maker. At the end of 1995 he left Bungie to set up his own gaming company Double Aught Software. Double Aught would create the Marathon Infinity scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon" for Bungie in 1996. Fastforward to July 2002. Bungie (now a Microsoft Game Studio) begins a web-based comic strip. The Greg Kirkpatrick dishwasher incident was immortalised in comic form on February 25, 2003. You can see it below.  The dishwasher incident was always thought to be a joke. But thanks to Ezandora we now know there was tru7h in the tale. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #959. Attention, unauthorized Runner. You are trespassing into a military security zone. Bungie have posted another video clip of the Marathon level Outpost. Outpost posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. January 5, 2026. Outpost is a "Be Quick or Be Dead" level. Not to be confused with the Iron Maiden song of the same name. Bungie described it as a "meat grinder map" intentionally made to be hard. Hang around on Outpost too long and you are fodder. So... "Be Quick or Be Dead". Bungie's previous clip of Outpost made this a little more apparent. Outpost posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 31, 2025 Here's a recap of the other Marathon level clips Bungie have posted. The opening level Perimeter on the fringe of the colony. Perimiter posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 22, 2025 The above clip was quickly replaced with this version. Perimeter posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 22, 2025 Can you spot the difference? Yes, it's a YAM by Bungie. Another One (intern) Bites the Dust. Not to be confused with the Queen song of the same name. But I digress. Hot on the heels of Perimeter came a clip of Dire Marsh. Dire Marsh posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 26, 2025 Bungie entitled this one "Secrets and bodies sink into the morass on Dire Marsh". Case in point. Feels Like a Trillion Bucks posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 26, 2025 At this stage Runner indenture to Sekiguchi Genetics is at an all time high. "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave". |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #958. PREP YOUR SHELLS WEAVEyourPATHtowardDEADLYrepetition  Heading out on a Run? Feeling chilly? Never fear Veil has you covered! Sekiguchi Genetics fan Veil created his own Sekiguchi Hoodie.
Veil writes: Here's a Sekiguchi hoodie I made!A lore accurate hoodie? Crikey!  Sekiguchi Genetics Hoodie (detail) by Veil on the Alright Runners Discord. October 30, 2025. Even the hoodie itself is lore accurate. Veil explains: You guys would not believe how difficult it was to find a blank this color with the right blend Basically got it off the dark webHoodies from the dark web? Just the ticket for the dark sci-fi world of Tau Ceti IV. Back in the day all we had was the heat of our monitor to keep us warm playing Marathon. 
Bungie's infamous Monkey Boy Ad, 1996.
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #957. It's MIDA Monday. "if they can steal the moon they can steal your life minute by minute" MIDA really rocked the Marathon ARG 2023. They hacked and helped others to hack the websites of the UESC, Traxus Global and Sekiguchi Genetics uncovering a well kept secret. CETI OUT THE BAG NEW GOLD RUSH OLD WORLD NEW WHATS WAITIN?? COLONY/OTHER?? INTELLIGENCE/OTHER?? They defaced public property at Venice Beach, Los Angeles. The Marathon ARG 2023 continued with the Marathon T-Shirts months later.   MIDA's last message... OME MILLION FACES ONE NAME ONE MILLION MEANINGS MIDA JOIN THE REVOLUTION And people did.  MIDA Tattoo posted by TheWeatherIsMIDA[nerd] on the Official Marathon Discord. May 2, 2025. Fastforward to the Marathon ARG 2025. And people ask... What happened to MIDA? |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #956. Bungie's marathonthegame X account recently posted two art renders from the game. You can see them below. Red versus Blue.  Marathon art render by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. January 2, 2026  Marathon art render by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. January 2, 2026 Former Marathon Art Director, Joseph Cross, also posted the images and wrote: Another beautiful key art render from the Jeremy Hanna and the Bungie Pub team. Using the color and architecture to find graphic compositions like this was always a goal is always super satisfying.Interestingly if you view these images on Bungie's marathonthegame Bluesky account you will get alt text descriptors for both images. The alt text for the top (red) image is Recon, Thief, and Assassin. The alt text for the bottom (blue) image is Vandal, Assassin, and Recon. All makes sense... right? If you also look closely at the blue image you will see writing on the column which confirms that the UESC have control over Earth, Mars and Venus.  Marathon art render by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. January 2, 2026 No doubt the UESC will be updating this to include Tau Ceti IV unless you do something about it. So what are you doing? Still stuck on Outpost with your hair of fire? Outpost posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 31, 2025 The UESC don't want you to get up to the Marathon colony ship. As they say in the movies...  Marathon Is Definitely Incendiary. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #955. Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon-inspired art from around the world we give you... Jonathan Caridia (aka karidyas), a New Zealand-based UI designer and artist. Jonathan writes: Made some location posters using new looks from the ViDoc, going off a template that's popular at the moment as a holiday exercise.
These are the first four levels of Marathon, coming in March 2026. Andy Salisbury, Global Community Lead for Marathon, writes: On Tau Ceti, death is the first step.Of course it would be the "seventh vault" . Bungie have been putting the number seven in Marathon since 1994. Here's what Bungie had to say about the number seven in this two page excerpt from The Secret History of Mac Gaming by Richard Moss.
Fastforward thirty odd years. Who will be first to breach the seventh vault and take the first step in Marathon? In keeping with the dark sci-fi world of Tau Ceti Jonathan created dark mode versions of his posters.
You can check out Jonathan Caridia's work on Instagram and his website jonathancaridia.com . |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #954. It's sketchy Friday. We've got sketches. First up.... So you are at work on New Year's Eve what do you do? Risk writes: "throwback work doodle" .  Marathon by Risk on the Unofficial Marathon Discord. December 31, 2025. The iconic UESC Runner from way back in 2023.  Where is the UESC Runner in Marathon now? Well Bungie posted an image of the helmet on Christmas Day.  A new helmet... posted by Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) on x.com. December 25, 2025. And on the floor A shattered visage lies No thing beside remains dontdoitmev gives us a sketch of the original Marathon Marine.  Marathon Marine by @dontdoitmev on Bluesky. December 26, 2025. The Chinese text roughly translates as: The helmet is Marathon 1, the clothes are Marathon 2-drawn based on the illustrations. It was a completely rough sketch, but the hatching saved everything.She included two work in progress sketches.
Last up... corripio crvo gives us another Marathon Marine sketch.  Marathon Marine by corripio crvo on the Unofficial Marathon Discord. April 18, 2025. corripio crvo writes: "colour and shading coming soon" . As fate would have it... it never happened. When asked "Does marathon man know trigger discipline or is there imminent danger?" . corripio crvo replied: "there is imminent danger. there are s'pht compilers outside my house" . We featured corripio crvo's Marathon art back on August 16, 2024 but as hgrethedelon (@hgrethedelon). That account no longer exists. I guess the S'pht compilers finally got him. Happy sketchy Friday. Stay sketchy. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #953. Happy New Year to Marathon's Story page readers... Everywhere! It's also a new month. But what happened last month? Well here's a snapshot of what we featured. What did you miss?
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Last updated Jan 1, 2026