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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 #435. As we reach the end of the month here is a random snapshot of some of what we covered in July. What did you miss?
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #434. So back on May 2, 2024 we featured Zuc's animated Rage. Rage (animated) by Zuc on Marathon Discord. April 30, 2024. Check out that taunt. Now Andres Bravo (@andresbravo2003) on tumblr is turning Marathon artworks to life with AI. Animated Marathon artworks by andresbravo2003 on tumblr. July 3, 2024. What next I hear you cry! AIs creating games? Humans running around like rats in mazes doing the bidding of their AI masters? Flip the switch... find the cheese! Is this a trap or just a dead end? Stuck at the bottom of a hole. How droll. Oddly, this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember... We were all warned in 1994.  Be sure to keep your Battleroids on a leash at all times... by whitestripe999 on r/marathon. February 14, 2023. But no one listened.
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #433. The S'pht Citadel of Antiquity reimagined by tacticus359 (@tacticus359), a 3D modeler and antiquities dealer on tumblr.  S'pht Citadel of Antiquity by tacticus359 (@tacticus359) on tumblr. July 23, 2024 The Citadel of Antiquity is featured on the Marathon 2 level The Hard Stuff Rules... Commenting on the level's name Grek Kirkpatrick wrote: This level was named for the fact that it was incredibly difficult to make. In fact it was a triumph of mind over computer. My machine crashed every 5 minutes while making it, and I had to move each point at least ten times to get to the underlying areas. While working on it, I referred to it as the Citadel.The map has seven (yes seven) overlapping levels. If you make it to the seventh level you might meet the antiquities dealer selling his wares (Thursday - Sunday only). Yes it is Monday!  He sells... Jjaro knick-knacks and the like.
Here's one of the terminals you will find in the Citadel of Antiquity reimagined by Cookiepwee and Cherrysproutz. The Hard Stuff Rules... by Cookiepwee and Cherrysproutz on YouTube. January 25, 2024. Time for a Marathon reboot? 
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #432. So what do you do after beating Marathon 2: Durandal on Steam? Go to the pub? Well AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) drew a picture.  I beat Marathon 2: Durandal by AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on x.com. July 27, 2024 Alex writes: marathon is a difficult game this is an achievementI didn't have the heart to tell him about what's coming next...  Before Marathon on Steam was a thing... c-53 (@c-53) on tumblr wrote: Im enjoying looking at Marathon level maps bc like? Marathon, and Marathon 2 are just straight lines.
Reasonable. Boring. Very linear and easy to follow.  Marathon level maps by c-53 on tumblr. July 16, 2023 Now I am not sure what AI program he used to create this but it's FUBAR. See if you can spot where it all goes wrong. Which may help to explain this...  Marathon Infinity by c-53 on tumblr. June 19, 2023 coldgoldlazarus (@coldgoldlazarus) gave us another version of events.  Marathon Trilogy synopsis by coldgoldlazarus on tumblr. May 25, 2023  The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1983. The Scream is by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch painted in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images in art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of playing Marathon Infinity. Play Marathon Infinity at your own risk! |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #431. Taking inspiration from the concept art in the Marathon ViDoc...  I SEE IT! BRATAT!... BRATAT... BRATAT!... FUCK! ...Jack Strider (@strider_au) gives us Marathon Hacker Girl.  Hacker by Jack Strider on x.com. July 26, 2024 Yup... she got that dirty S'pht in the end. Oh wait... we are not allowed to call them that now. Welcome to New Cascadia. Land of the Free!
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #430. If the UESC Marathon had an employee of the month award...  #1 Door Guy by AlexB207 on x.com. July 24, 2024 #1 Door Guy is a 'quick durandoodle' by AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on X. Has that Marvin (Hitchhiker's Guide) vibe about it. Here I am the brain the size of a planet and all I do is open and close doors. Mattias Pilhede and Sai Cheung did a humorous video on YouTube of an AI responsible for opening and closing door on a space ship. While not Marathon-related, one commentator (@bionichuteagain2583) did make the connection... This is the plot of Marathon except the ai would have opened that door as fast as possibleThen there is the Door Boy sketch by living in a box. 
Door Boy by living in a box on Marathon Discord. March 28, 2024.
It came with simple tagline 300 Years a Slave. It's inspired by the 'secret within a secret' terminal on The Rose. If you've found the terminal then you know why it is called the 'secret within a secret' terminal. Yes, another Greg Kirkpatrick level. And last but not least... And here you are, stuck at the bottom of a hole. How droll.  Stuck at the bottom of a hole. How droll by NapalmG. 2005. Durandal also controls elevators. This piece or artwork was inspired by the secret terminal on the Jason Jones level Smells Like Napalm, Tastes Like Chicken! You have to be very fast to get back out with the Tozt.25 Flame Unit AND having read the terminal message! If you are not fast enough... It's really too bad- we could have had so much fun together. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #429. Happy Marathon Announcement Day. On this day 30 years ago Bungie announced their new game... Marathon. Somewhere in the heavens...they are waiting ran the tagline. There was even a brief description of the story. Marathon is set far in the future on a colony ship in outer space. A science officer on the mission, you are the last hope for defending the ship as hostile and intelligent aliens prepare to destroy every living thing.You play as a science officer?  The July 1994 edition of Inside Mac Games magazine even had a Sneak Peek of Marathon by Tuncer Deniz. Further details were given about the story, elements of which would be seen in the final game. Hollowed out Deimos, the colony, alien technology discovered (Jjaro were at Tau Ceti?), you arrive on board the Marathon to discover that aliens have attacked the ship. But you play as an electrical specialist (aka electrician).  But wait... there's more. It is also... Happy Marathon Attack Day.  FUCK by DLU/Deimos (@Matrix_XV) on twitter.com. May 25, 2023. That's right folks on this day 770 years from now the U.E.S.C. Marathon will be attacked by hostile alien forces. According to Bungie's corrected timeline the Marathon will be attacked on July 25, 2794 at 0820 hours. But how did Bungie know that the Marathon was going to be attacked 800 years from the day they announced Marathon when they didn't know the date on the day they made the announcement? Indeed Bungie didn't even know the date when they released Marathon. Who told them?  |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #428. Sparkle on! It's Wednesday!  Sparkle on! It's Wednesday by qrowscant-art (@qrowscant-art) on tumblr. December 8, 2023 qrowscant-art writes: you understand. durandal design is from @databufferStaying on the subject of Durandal...  door handle by jax / tommy on Marathon Discord. December 3, 2023 jax / tommy writes: some durandal fanart :D wanted to make a cool robot type design for him soA cape? jax / tommy replies: YEA!! he definitely seems like the type of guy to wear a fancy cape i borrowed the idea from another artist actually, they were originally gonna draw durandal with a cape but decided against it, but i liked it so much i added it to my design hahaSo who is the other artist responsible for all this then? But wait there's more... jax / tommy gives us his version of Tycho.  tie co by jax / tommy on Marathon Discord. December 6, 2023 He writes: to add onto my durandal one i sent here, heres a design for tycho :) i didnt show it but the arm under his cape is almost completely ripped offjax / tommy would later post these designs on tumblr as @nerdsinc nerdsinc wrote: designs of durandal and tycho from marathon!!! really proud of how these two came out. little bits of their design were borrowed from @databuffer's designs, go check em out!!Hmmm... |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #427. And now back to Marathon. It's a S'pht kind of day. First up we have a nice sketch of a modern looking S'pht by Lord of Multiple Flies (@BUNKER_SPECIMEN) on X  S'pht Attack by Lord of Multiple Flies (@BUNKER_SPECIMEN) on x.com. May 29, 2023 And for those who like to color things in...  S'pht Attack (no color) by Lord of Multiple Flies (@BUNKER_SPECIMEN) on x.com. May 29, 2023 More recently we have Compiler by Alex Blashill (@AlexB207Swag) on X.  Compiler by Alex Blashill (@AlexB207Swag) on x.com.July 21, 2024 Alex is an aspiring young artist whose career we are watching with great interest.  For Bungie Day this year SIR DOUBLE D (@SIRDOBLEDAS) gave us a scene from new Marathon.  Compiler and Runner by SIR DOUBLE D (@SIRDOBLEDAS) on x.com.July 7, 2024 Startled... the player drops his Kettlebell with seven more reps to go. Don't you just hate that! But seriously what are these objects ripped from the bodies of dead clones?  Are they related to a player's consciousness? "by 2850, clone technology allows a person to reliably shift their consciousness from their 'born' body to new, synthetic bodies and back again."Does taking these mean that shifting is interrupted? Or maybe they are just a trophy. Demonio, cazador de trofoes... But I digress. It's a S'pht kind of day. In case you all forgot this is what the S'pht originally looked like from Relotixke, an artist on DeviantArt.  s'pht by Relotixke on DeviantArt. February 9, 2011 A member of the S'pht'Kr Elite Guard installs the latest software on his Defender. Like you do. Here's a bigger shot of the installation process. Compiling...  s'pht dude by Relotixke on DeviantArt. October 9, 2011 |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #426. Staying on the theme of Pathways Into Darkness crazc (@fistofcraz) on X posted the following...  Wallace and Gromit posted by craz (@fistofcraz) on x.com. June 12, 2024 craz wrote: pathways into darkness. That's exactly how I looked running from the pyramid to the helicopter extraction before the small, low-yield nuclear device went off. err... no it was like THIS! Honest it was exactly like THAT! The Jjaro said they would arrive on Earth two and a half years later to take more permanent measures. But that's a story for another day. brutal deluxe (@Pile_of_Things) points out that the cover picture of Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo was changed.  Wallace and Gromit posted by brutal deluxe (@Pile_of_Things) on x.com. June 12, 2024 brutal deluxe writes: this was like a reversed american kirby where they made the gun more innocuous looking in the american box artLet's hope we get a minigun this time. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #425. Happy Halo Reveal Day! Yes folks, on this day 25 years ago (silver anniversary) Jason Jones stepped on the Macworld Expo stage in New York and revealed Halo to the world. The rest they say is history. Relive that moment below. Steve Jobs and Jason Jones. Macwork Expo NY. July 21, 2000. Today is also... Happy Sack Day! On this day 25 years ago Bungie released the Mac Action Sack.  "Action Sack For Those That Lack" proclaimed the press release. If you lacked sack you could buy one at Bungie's Macworld booth. Hidden on the Mac Action Sack CD were four invisible files. Three were hidden in the Minotaur No. 7 folder and were Halo concept art by Shikai Wang. The creation date on each file was June 16, 1999. 
trooper by Shikai Wang. Halo concept art hidden on Mac Action Sack. July 21, 1999.
grndsprtcrft by Shikai Wang. Halo concept art hidden on Mac Action Sack. July 21, 1999.
transport by Shikai Wang. Halo concept art hidden on Mac Action Sack. July 21, 1999.
The fourth invisible file is a story for another day.
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #424. And now for something completely different. Marathon nostalgia by Crimson Caravan Company (@CrimsonCaravans) on x.com. July 18, 2024 This piece of Marathon nostalgia is from Crimson Caravan Company (@CrimsonCaravans) on X. The Crimson one writes: So many people talking about @MarathonTheGame from @Bungie lately got me feeling all nostalgic!It brought a smile to my face reminding of those early hurly-burly days. As any diehard Marathon fan knows Marathon is strewn with Beavis and Butthead references. From level names to the Marathon source code itself. #ifdef DEBUGDouble Aught continued the tradition in Marathon Infinity giving us Beavis and Butthead meet the W'rkncacnter on Aye Mak Sicur. 9320wrefkddudAnd of course there is the infamous BUTTHEAD cheat code. But like Fight Club we don't talk about the Marathon Cheat Codes. BUTTHEAD activated! 
TKO by General Radix and Eric-3 on DeviantArt. October 5, 2016.
Tycho head butts Durandal in this TKO rendition by General Radix and Eric-3 on DeviantArt. Here's the line art for this dramatic engagement. 
TKO line art by Eric-3 on DeviantArt. October 5, 2016.
No one gets back up after a Marathon BUTTHEAD. The one drawback of using the BUTTHEAD cheat code is that you lose all your other weapons. Oh wait... I am not supposed to talk about Cheat Codes. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #423. Happy Marathon 2 Announcement Day! This day 29 years ago Bungie announced Marathon 2: Durandal.  Jason Jones did say: "I don't know how many people noticed this, but the very last thing that happens to the player in Marathon is that he is teleported off the last level to where? Maybe someday we'll take advantage of this."The old teleporter MacGuffin. One instant you're looking forward to retiring from combat as the hero of the defense of Tau Ceti and the next you're on an alien world seventeen years later and half a million light years away.M❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚...  Today is also... Don't Worry, Be Happy Day. That's right folks, 24 years ago Alex Seropian and Ed Fries took to the stage at Macworld Expo 2000 in New York and told Mac fans... Don't Worry, Be Happy. Halo is still coming to the Mac. Ed Fries and Alex Seropian. Macwork Expo NY. July 19, 2000. Unlike Jason Jones a year earlier there was no handshake for Alex from Steve Jobs. By all accounts Steve had entered the first stage of Rampancy on hearing that Microsoft had acquired Bungie a month earlier (June 19, 2000)  Marathon gore by redorth on tumblr. May 27, 2023 As the song goes... In every life we have some trouble And last but not least today is also... Goodbye Alex Day. This day 22 years ago Alex Seropian announced he was leaving Bungie after founding the company 11 years earlier. Bungie's website posted the announcement.  But that's a story for another day.  "That's All Folks!"
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #422. Marathon Girl.  Marathon Girl by Alex Okita (Bungie West). October 1998. The above artwork dates back to 1998 and is by Alex Okita who was working on Oni at Bungie's west coast office (Bungie West). It was one of the first representations of the Security Officer as a woman. It should come as no surprise that Alex drew this as he did the concept art for Konoko, the lead protagonist in Oni.  Konoko. Early concept Art by Alex Okita (Bungie West). 1997. Bungie's press release for Oni on November 18, 1998 read: Oni tells the story of Konoko, a one-woman SWAT team whose approach to fighting crime is a devastating combination of rational calculation and fighting fury.Inspired by Alex Okita's Marathon Girl, General Radix gave us Mariko and Konoko some 21 years later.  Mariko and Konoko by General Radix on DeviantArt. April 1, 2020. General Radix wrote: Back in 1998 or so, Alex Okita drew a "Marathon girl"; it was on his now-defunct, barely-archived personal site, and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Eventually I asked if anyone at the Story Forum had saved it, and it so happened that Hamish did; turns out the "Marathon girl" looks a lot like a proto-Konoko.Fast forward to 2023. Ryder Tost (@Rydertostart) gives us Konoko in Marathon.  Konoko in Marathon by by Ryder Tost on x.com. June 9, 2023 And... Rythaze (@Rythayze) gives us Oni Baloney.  Oni Baloney by Rythaze on x.com. October 30, 2023 Not Marathon related I hear you cry! Well check out those Marathon symbols. Marathon Is Doujinshi Anime. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #421. Beta... gamma... blamma...  Thanks to Jeoku for drawing my attention to a Fourth Curtain interview with Tim Morten (CEO of Frost Giant Studios). The interview opens with a discussion on 'early access'. Alex Seropian reveals Bungie's 'early access' experience in 1994 (aka a Marathon beta leak) You can listen to the relevant part of the interview below. The Fourth Curtain. Tim Morten's Giant Strategy. May 22, 2024. Bungie had two 'early access' experiences with Marathon in 1994 The first was a Marathon beta leak in early October 1994. The second was another Marathon beta leak (called the Marathon gamma) in early November 1994. The fact that Bungie had two Marathon beta leaks in the space of a month lead to this humorous usenet post entitled Day In The Life Of Bungie by David Barabe. Bring on the Marathon blamma. Matt Soell (Bungie Software) would later reveal details on how one of the leaks occurred. Matt wrote: The Marathon beta leak has a bit more intrigue behind it, but it boils down to the same thing. We showed the beta to a group of out-of-state distributors. During the night, someone broke into the locked hotel room where the beta-bearing Mac was stored and copied it, and 24 hours later it was all over the Net. Incredible what some people will do for the cheap thrill of being the first to pirate a new software title.Now thanks to Alex Seropian we have details on who was responsible for the other leak.  Note that these two leaked betas are not the same as the ones that Bungie officially release on the Marathon CD in 1995.  Bungie announced the Marathon CD on April 20, 1995. The press release stated that the CD would contain the following: Formerly available only on diskette, the Marathon CD, due May 1st, bundles the game with a smorgesbord of shareware enhancements that multiply the life of the game and its entertainment value.No mention of Marathon betas or indeed the Marathon Music tracks in CD quality either. You could find the Marathon betas inside a folder called 'old marathons' in the 'Holiday Marathon Music' folder.  err... Bungie actually made the 'old marathons' folder invisible on the CD so that only hardcore Marathon fans would discover it. Yes folks, a Bungie first! How this invisible folder was found and by who is a story for another day. Inside the 'old marathons' folder were three other folders, called: feeling the noise (june 94)Inside each folder were the files relating to an early version of Marathon. For example:  If you could get these to work (not easy) they showed Marathon's early development and its Pathways Into Darkness origins. Marathon had some interesting early features.    To be continued...
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #420. Two days ago we asked if you were ready for Marathon Infinity on Steam? Well Jack Strider (@strider_au) is getting ready...  Marathon Infinity by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on x.com. July 15, 2024. Jack writes: probably obvious but I'm doing an Infinity artwork in the style of the previous ones I've posted when Classic Marathon games were released on Steam. Haven't nailed down the vibes yet but I really want it to inspire a feeling of awe and creepiness, the exact feelings I got from ∞Getting a strong munky (@munkaccino) vibe from this one. MarathonGuy by munky on x.com. September 1, 2022. Styrbear (@Styrbigbear) also did something similar.  Marathon by Styrbear on x.com. October 16, 2022. If you have never played Marathon Infinity and are wondering what's all the fuss how hard can it be... it's just a game right? Well I will let coldgoldlazarus (@coldgoldlazarus) offer one possible explanation... Marathon Trilogy synopsis by coldgoldlazarus on tumblr. May 25, 2023 Play Marathon Infinity at your own risk.  Apologies to Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #419. And now for something completely different. Is pixel art making a come back?  Marathon pixel art by Survi on cara. July 6, 2024. This pixel art of a Marathon Runner is by Survi (@survi) an artist from France. Up next... that classic Marathon look. A pixel animation of the Security Officer by Zuc.  Security Officer by Zuc on Marathon Discord. June 19, 2024. And all the way from Sweden... pixel art of Marathon Man by BoJustBo1.  Marathon Man by BoJustBo1 on DeviantArt. January 31, 2024. There are a lot of Marathon fans in Sweden. Those Marathon T-Shirts were designed in Sweden. 
Back in 1998 Stefan Arnborg from Sweden wrote to the Bungie Webmaster: Did you know that right now there is a movie playing in Sweden called Beck 2. The movie is about Sweden's best policeman who gets involved with a mysterious murder case. In that movie they play Marathon 2, but they call it Final Doom and it's played by psychos in the Stockholm subway.Scenes from the film eventually appeared on the internet. Beck - Final doom? Apparently the psychos in the Stockholm subway called themselves... Marathon Is Doom Again. But I digress. Sweden also gave us the Marathon Purity Test. Ninety-eight Marathon questions, the more you answer 'yes', the higher your score. Of course, you have to answer them tru7hfully. The test was created by Sippan. The Marathon Purity Test is no longer available... but that's why you read the Marathon's Story page. We never Pfhorget. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #418. Staying on the subject of Lh'owon here are three Marathon 2 landscapes from back in the day by Phobos-Romulus (aka Neal D. Anderson).  Alien Landscape (Marathon 2: Durandal) by Phobos-Romulus on DeviantArt. October 11, 2006.  Alien Landscape 2 (Marathon 2: Durandal) by Phobos-Romulus on DeviantArt. October 13, 2006.  Alien Landscape 3 (Marathon 2: Durandal) by Phobos-Romulus on DeviantArt. October 19, 2006. They have that MaraToon feel. Loving the colors. When Marathom Infinity was released the Lh'owon landscapes (day and night) were replaced with more generic vistas.
Then again in Marathon Infinity you are never sure where you are anyway.  Unused concept art by Craig Mullins reused in Marathon Infinity. See the Craig Mullins gallery for more details. One things for sure... you're not in Kansas anymore. Lh'owon a Marathon 2: Durandal & Marathon Infinity Remix by Zanezooked on YouTube. June 17, 2024. Let's get 'em!  Blood Tines of Lh'owon by Phobos-Romulus on DeviantArt. March 18, 2010. Marathon Infinity is coming to Steam next. Will you be ready? Marathon Infinity by c-53 on tumblr. June 19, 2023 Remember folks... forewarned is forearmed. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #417. Back on July 8th we asked experts in digital manipulation if it was possible to recreate the Marathon box art as it was 30 years ago. Not an easy task as the original Don Dixon artwork had been modified. Now Myrzir on the Marathon Discord is the first in with his recreation of the original box art.  Marathon box art recreation by Myrzir on Marathon Discord. July 11, 2024. Here's a side by side comparison with the original box art.  Marathon box art recreation comparison by Myrzir on Marathon Discord. July 11, 2024. I think you will see that there are still some areas that are not matching up. To help others in their efforts to recreate the original box art Myrzir has kindly made an enlarged version of the original Don Dixon spacescape. It's a 7MB png image (2400 x 1596 pixels). As they say in Marathon... go big or go home! Staying on the subject of spacescapes TheNonSequitur on DeviantArt created this piece as a homage to the final screen in Marathon Infinity.  Marathon by TheNonSequitur on DeviantArt. December 9, 2005. You are Destiny. This piece dates back to 2005 and would still make a great wallpaper for your mobile. From spacescapes to planetscapes. Lh'owon?  City-spires by Wizards0nly on x.com. May 22, 2024. The piece is entitled "city-spires" and is by Wizards0nly (@Wizards0nly) a concept artist from British Columbia, Canada. When I first saw it I immediately thought Lh'owon and the title clinched it. Yet the artist does not give any indication that it is Marathon-related. Here are the daytime and nighttime Lh'owon landscape textures from Marathon 2 for reference.
So it gets honorary Marathon status on the Story page. It reminds of that terminal on Six Thousand Feet Under where we learn that Lh'wown was terraformed by Yrro and Pthia. Fleeing all W'rkncacnter, Yrro and PthiaBut paradise was not to last. The warring S'pht clans put paid to that. On an often missed second terminal message on Eat It, Vid Boi! we read: After the marsh wars between S'pht'Lhar andA very evocative piece describing in simple lay prose the high tech event of warping a moon out of a planet's orbit and the ensuing gravitational catastrophe. Another "opps" moment for the Jjaro. It would not surprise me if the title of the Marathon Infinity scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon" was inspired (albeit subconsciously) by the above terminal message.
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #416. Happy Halo for PC and Mac Day! Yes folks, on this day 22 years ago Microsoft finally announced that Halo: Combat Evolved would be developed for the PC and Macintosh.  Halo invades the PC. Gearbox Software and Bungie. 2002. In truth Alex Seropian (CEO and co-founder of Bungie) and Ed Fries (Vice-President of Games, Microsoft Corporation) had said as much two years earlier at Macworld Expo 2000 in New York. But that's a story for another day. Jack Strider (@strider_au) from down under... Australia not the Yucatan Peninsula... sends us a message scrawled on an image that is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember...  JJARRO WERE AT TAU CETI by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on X.com. July 11, 2024. Jack writes: Don't believe what the UESC puts in their map reports every week. They're hiding something. Concealing it.You can just about make out other parts of the message and Jack is a... PIDER. The reference to JJARRO WERE AT TAU CETI is from the map writing on the Greg Kirkpatrick level Never Burn Money. Yes the same level as the infamous Deprivation Chamber and the Gheritt White story. How deep can lore go? Back in 1995 the map text could only have been read once fans had developed the technology to edit Marathon maps. Shades of Stanley Kubrick's 2001 and finding the alien monolith on the moon.  Never Burn Money map viewed using Pfhorte 1.0d11. April 1995. Oddly Jjaro is spelled Jjarro by Greg on his map and it's the only reference to this ancient alien race in the first game. Talk about hiding lore connections deep in your game. While Greg Kirkpatrick is thanked in the Pathways Into Darkness manual did he have a hand in writing any of the game's story? I had the opportunity to put this question to Greg back in 1997. He replied: Jason Jones wrote the Pathways story. To answer the question: not at all.So there you have it. Jason came up with the concept of the Jjaro. Jjaro is the original spelling and Jjarro is Greg's spelling variant. Thanks to Myrzir and Atlyx on the Marathon Discord we have this high quality transparent Pathways Into Darkness logo. This is the box logo version.  Remade PID logo by Myrzir and Atlyx on Marathon Discord. July 11, 2024. Now all we have to do is wait for the boxes to put it on. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #415. Staying on the subject of Pathways Into Darkness here are two objects you won't find in the game. Can you spot them?  Red Pathways by Jonathan Allen (jallen327) on DeviantArt. April 23, 2013. This piece is by Jonathan Allen, a US based artist whose style is a blend of Manga and American comics. Jonathan wrote: Two things that go great together, like peanut butter and bananas: Fanart of Pathways into Darkness from Bungie (Free at the Apple Store), and Agent Red from Phillip M. Jackson (JollyJack)And yes, you are correct. The two objects you won't find in the game are the working automatics. Seriously... what else were you thinking? If you recall at the start of Pathways into Darkness your automatic is empty and your bag of spare clips was lost during the fall. All the ones you find on the bodies of your team are empty and there is not a single clip to be found... anywhere. On the subject of salacious tongues...  Headless by Gregory Paul Sharits on imgur. June 29, 2011. This nightmarish piece is by Gregory Paul Sharits, an artist based in Colorado, USA. Where are monsters in dreams? When Pathways Into Darkness won a Macworld Hall of Fame Award in 1993, journalist Steven Levy and founder of the Hall of Fame Award wrote: When these monsters come at you, they aren't simple line drawings, but something that might have come from a brain merge of Tim Burton, Anne Rice, and Hieronymus Bosch.Gregory Paul Sharits has nicely caught that aesthetic in his Headless artwork. Gregory is probably best known for his mature content.  Pfhor Fighter by Gregory Paul Sharits on DeviantArt. June 26, 2011. His Pfhor Fighter image is listed as 'mature' on DeviantArt due to the graphic nature of the Bob lying on the ground. Yes, that's was a Bob. The Pfhor is standing for a picture with its recent kill. So the next time you hear a future apologist say that the Pfhor did nothing wrong, that they were just defending themselves against a hostile rampant AI and his psycho Battleroid, just show them this picture. Never Pfhorget. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #414. So back on Bungie Day we asked...  On the first level of the Pathways Into Darkness Demo A1 there is a room. Inside the room there is an object. No one has ever found a way into this room to discover what the object is. For 31 years it has remained a mystery. A well guarded secret. Now thanks to President People on the Story forum we have the... answer. President People writes: I used Torch to dig a hole to the hidden room to see what was inside. It's empty, save for a door that's untextured on the narrow ends:  A door? President People explains: Viewed from the right angle, the walls behind the empty space appear untextured as well:
Where does the door lead to? President People couldn't say...  Do dead men dream?   Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on x.com. July 10, 2024. Jack Strider (@strider_au) gives us this excellent version of Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate in a modern Marathon style. Getting a strong Craig Mullins vibe from this piece.  Halo group by Craig Mullins. See the Craig Mullins gallery. According to Jack this is his first ever environment made from scratch! Check out this detail.  Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on x.com. July 10, 2024.  Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on x.com. July 10, 2024.  Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on x.com. July 10, 2024. Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate is the name of a level in Pathways Into Darkness. Bungie's Official Hint Book gives the following translation: It's Italian and translates to, "Abandon Every Hope, All Who Enter Here." It's the inscription above the gates of Hell in Dante's Inferno.For more information see the Pathways Into Darkness page. Remember folks... forewarned is forearmed. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #413. i have been roland...  Marathon Cyborg by Loumade on DeviantArt. July 8, 2010. Fourteen years ago to this day (well yesterday) Loumade, a French artist, gave us the masked adventurer of time. Loumade wrote: Ma version du Marine Cyborg de la trilogie Marathon , après toutes ses aventures , masqué , aventurié du temps ....Was this a foretelling of future events in Rocamadour? Did the Marine Cyborg return to retrieve the sword of Roland? Two years later Loumade gave us the Marathon Marine in epic form... sans l'épée de Roland et... la cape!  Marathon Marine by Loumade on DeviantArt. October 10, 2012. Check out that smile! Of course the question is... Qui s'est retrouvé avec l'épée de Roland et... la cape Questions... questions... "There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to." |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #412. Thanks to President People on the Story forum we have the original Marathon box art by Don Dixon.  Our Galaxy by Don Dixon on Cosmographica. Back on July 4th treelama found the original Marathon 2 box art by Don Dixon.  Red Giant Sun by Don Dixon on Cosmographica. This artwork was cropped and used on the back of the Marathon 2 box, manual, CD envelope and CD case.
A further search found the original Marathon Infinity box art by Don Dixon.  Barnard's Star by Don Dixon on Cosmographica. This artwork underwent a degree of digital manipulation before being used on the back of the Marathon Infinity box, manual, CD envelope and CD case.
The original artwork by Don Dixon used for the Marathon box also underwent some digital manipulation. The Marathon box art has a number of key features, notably the large star at the top right and the star cluster at the bottom left.  Cropping Don Dixon's original artwork will only get you so far. As President People points out some parts of Don's original artwork had to be moved to achieve the final Marathon box image.  I will leave it to the experts in digital manipulation to see if the Marathon box image can be recreated as it was 30 years ago. Regarding the original image Don Dixon wrote: Our Galaxy. Stylized view of the Milky Way as seen from 100,000 light years. Acrylic on illustration board, 1988.No doubt the Jjaro were responsible for moving some stars around since 1988.
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #411. Happy Bungie Day.  M12 pony by Atom95 on DeviantArt. December 7, 2014. It is also Happy Pathways Into Darkness Demo Day. That's right folks... most people forget this but on this day 31 years ago Bungie released the Pathways Into Darkness Demo via America OnLine and Macintosh FTP sites on the World Wide Web. Those who believe in the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) point to predestination, the progenitor being released on July 7th (Bungie Day), seven years before Bungie Day would actually become a thing.  The Art of Bungie's History by TD Spiral / soyjak brothers mashup 7 of 7. No one saw me do it. July 7, 2024 The demo (Demo Version A1) came with Bungie's save anywhere feature™. However Jason Jones would remove it from the final release explaining... It is too easy to save in the demo. Nobody thinks about saving-- they just do it. If you could save like this in the release version, it would be too easy to brick yourself in a corner...Jason added: The save runes (as someone previously said) allow an additional level of difficulty to be added to the game, but more importantly they make dying mean something in the release version. In the demo, dying was meaningless: if you died, you just reverted to the game you had saved a few minutes (or seconds) previously.Make your death meaningful. 
Zombie by jamessmith6 on Deviant Art. December 2015.
On the first level of the Pathways Into Darkness Demo A1 there is a room. Inside the room there is an object. No one has ever found a way into this room to discover what the object is. What could it be? Happy Pathways Into Darkness Demo Day and Happy Bungie Day. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #410. A week ago we featured Jack Strider's excellent audio/visual interpretation of the MIDA Mini-Tool lore. You can see it again below. MIDA Mini-Tool lore by Jack Strider (@strider_au) on x.com. June 29, 2024. Since then I have had a number of people asking about the comic adaption of the MIDA Mini-Tool lore. Where is it? Who did it? etc. Well it is by Lamb (@Lambdafallout12), a United Kingdom based artist with his own weekly sci-fi comic strip. We have featured his MIDA Mini-Tool lore comic adaptation on the Story page before but you can see it again below. Lamb did four panels in his comic adaptation but he didn't cover all the lore text. I have taken the liberty of using one of his art pieces from the same time period which I think fits the text. See if you can spot it. Hopefully one day Lamb will return to the lore and complete a fifth panel. First off here's the full text of the original MIDA Mini-Tool lore tab from 2017.  Now Lamb's comic adaptation. 2472/11/17 - 4.9°S 0°E AUDIO ONLY: Strauss is gone. Whole sky alight as his ship set off. I might be the last MIDA survivor on Mars.  MIDA Survivor by Lamb (@Lambdafallout12) on x.com. May 26, 2021. The gun detected teleports yesterday and I had to move camp. Cannot shake the fear that they will send battleroids; even this AI marvel couldn't save me.  MIDA Survivor: Battleroids by Lamb (@Lambdafallout12) on x.com. June 9, 2021. Shot the ice this morning. The gun fired a thermal round and then a pellet of water purifier. Came out pure and sweet. Marvelous.  MIDA Survivor: Martian Water by Lamb (@Lambdafallout12) on x.com. (June 1, 2021) I've been reading the gun's Encyclopedia Arcana. All about the crash that became Strauss's obsession and hope. "Metastability in the salvaged construct!" Ha ha! Let's hope our ideals too can pass through grief, fury, and envy into a new freedom elsewhere.  Le'marathon Cyborg with the A.I Durandal by Lamb (@Lambdafallout12) on x.com. January 12, 2021. Wonder if the gun heard me when I asked to go somewhere better. Wonder why it led me here. Going to follow its compass tonight. Down below.  MIDA Survivor: The Vexing variable by LLamb (@Lambdafallout12) on x.com. June 16, 2021. The person who wrote the MIDA Mini-Tool lore tab certainly knew Marathon's story. The date is accurate and uses the corrected Bungie timeline. It refers to MIDA, Bernhard Strauss, battleroids, the Crash of Traxus IV, the 'Holy Grail' of cybertonics and the three stages of Rampancy (albeit with different names). It reveals that MIDA were on board the UESC Marathon when it left for Tau Ceti IV and Strauss's obsession and hope. It would not surprise me if this was written by former Halo and Destiny writer Jon Goff, now narrative lead on Marathon. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #409. Given the week that is in it... with the Rumble at Rocamadour... it's not surprising to see more pics of Durandal with a sword. First up we have Nixalis (@nniiqs), a Hungarian artist with this striking Durandal pose.  Durandal by Nixalis (@nniiqs) on x.com. July 1, 2024 This was actually an artfight attack for everyone's favorite Databuffer (@Databuffering) That meant Databuffer had to respond or suffer the ignominy of the Box!
Door Boy by living in a box on Marathon Discord. March 28, 2024.
The challenge accept Databuffer responded... with sword and... cloak. A full Roland no less!  Durandal by Databuffer (@Databuffering) on x.com. July 4, 2024 But as every Marathoner knows... you never go full Roland. In the words of the Bungie Webmaster from bygone days... "I think we both know what this means.... |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #408. Happy Pfhorth of July. If you have ever picked up the Marathon 2 manual (Mac or PC) and turned it over you will have seen an interesting planetscape on the back.
This image is also used on the back of the Marathon 2 box, CD envelope or CD case, although it is heavily obscured with text and screenshots.
So what is the image? Is this Lh'owon or perhaps that rogue star we were heading for at the end of Marathon 2? Questions... questions... Now thanks to the detective work of treelama (Aleph One developer) we have the original full image and it is by none other than Don Dixon. Red Giant Sun by Don Dixon on Cosmographica. A little bit of cropping gives you this.  This would explain why Don Dixon is credited under "Packaging" in the Marathon 2 manual. The image is described as follows on Don Dixon's Cosmographica: Red Giant Sun - In about 5 billion years our sun will warm and swell to consume the earth; the distant moon transits the swollen solar disk ; acrylic and gouache on illustration board, 1984, © Don Dixon.Don Dixon you may recall did the artwork for the Marathon Poster. Or more precisely it was the background detail of artwork commissioned for a Del Rey Books cover but eventually not used. It was then repurposed for the Marathon Poster. Bungie's gain... Del Rey's loss.
Of course this begs the question did Don Dixon do the image on the back of the Marathon Infinity manual?  The same image is used on the back of the Infinity box and CD envelope.
A search of Don Dixon's Cosmographica site reveals this image. Barnard's Star by Don Dixon on Cosmographica. If you flip it horizontally and crop it you get this.  Oddly, Don Dixon is not credited in the Marathon Infinity manual for this artwork. An oversight or something more? The image is described as follows on Don Dixon's Cosmographica: Barnard's Star - 6 light years away, might serve as a dim orange sun for a family of planets © Don DixonWhile there is no image on the back of the Marathon (1) manual there is on the back of Marathon box. Don Dixon is again credited under "Packaging" in the Marathon manual. So it is likely that this is one of his paintings. But which one? Inspector treellama promises to solve this mystery once he has recovered the stolen sword at Rocamadour. Locals are stumped as to how the thieves managed to remove the sword, which was embedded into the cliff high above the ground and attached by a chain.Sounds like... 
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #407. Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon art from around the world we give you... Tshidiso Tshetlo (@tshidisotshetlo), a self taught artist and photographer from Johannesburg, South Africa.  Marathon watercolor by Tshidiso Tshetlo (@tshidisotshetlo) on x.com. June 20, 2023. This is a traditional watercolor painting. Now that's something you don't see everyday! Here's are two work in progress pics of his painting process.  Marathon watercolor (work in progress) by Tshidiso Tshetlo (@tshidisotshetlo) on x.com. June 20, 2023.  Marathon watercolor (work in progress) by Tshidiso Tshetlo (@tshidisotshetlo) on x.com. June 20, 2023. Tshidiso Tshetlo has also done some Destiny watercolors. You can see more of his artwork on x.com and also on Instagram and YouTube where he goes by the name Lebogang Tshetlo. Back to the future. This ad for The Fifth Element video release caught my attention. Videos remember those?  The Fifth Element video release. December 17, 1997.  Marathon concept art. May 24, 2023. The Fifth Element's costume design was by Jean-Paul Gaultier and production design was by comic book artists Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières. With a pedigree like that how could you not be inspired.  |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #406. Back in October 2022 EdBoy (@liquid_edboy) made an interesting observation. He wrote: The Fifth Element is just the Sol System during Marathon.There has been a long association between Marathon and the 1997 film The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis.  Indeed this association began many months before the film was actually released. Yes folks, that's how they did teaser trailers back in the '90s. Cryptic as hell. The film's tagline... "It Mu5t Be Found"... was the inspiration for... tru7h. Tru7h has become part of the collective consciousness of Bungie-fandom and Bungie themselves have long since accepted that they will never expunge it from their network. Then again it was all their fault in the first place. 
 But I digress. Back to The Fifth Element, the W'rkncacnter and those Jjaro Tech stones. The ending of The Fifth Element is oddly familiar, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember...
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #405. All the news that's fit to vid. Thanks to ancient map maker "Suicide" for sending in high quality scans of Bungie's Bungievision from Fall 1996. If you want to know what Bungie-life was like in 1996 then... Read This!
The top story is Bungie celebrating their fifth year in existence on June 14, 1996. That's right... June 14th. Bungie would later change it to July 7th to fit a carefully orchestrated narrative. Don't drink the kool-aid folks. In true Bungie fashion their fifth year anniversary party included seven kegs of beer! There is the reason why Bungie's events banner looked like this.  Bungie's events banner 1996. How do you think they created a game like Marathon?  Mark Bernal working on Marathon 2. Pic from the Marathon Scrapbook. It just didn't spring into existence...  Bungie's soapbox banner 1996. Check out those "tightwad specials" from Mark Bernal and Rob McLees. That's how you sold games back in the 90s. And can you even say the word " friggin' " these days never mind put it in an ad? Now if we could only get our hands on Bungievision Spring 1996 we would really know the full tru7h.
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Last updated July 31, 2024