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Edited by Bolt: 10/5/2015 12:29:17 AM
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Marathon References in The Books of Sorrow: More than just references? (The [really] Deep Lore)

Alternative Title: Does Bill Clinton know the answers to Destiny's deepest mysteries? [b]THIS IS NOT A SHORT READ. REPLY FOR NOTIFICATION "SAVE."[/b] [b]Note: My goal with is to show you the significance of these references within Marathon's story, even if you've never heard of Marathon before. If I just wanted to say "hey, these sentences are similar," I could have made this thread in a few minutes, but I doubt many people would be able to appreciate what they meant. As such, this thread is long and mostly about games other than Destiny. I hope you find it interesting regardless, and thanks for reading it if you do.[/b] TL;DR: Back during beta, when we first got a look at the Grimoire, [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/66907372/0/0/1]some of us[/url] saw some connections between the descriptions of The Darkness, and a similarly enigmatic force/entity/race in one of Bungie's earlier games. In the Light of new Grimoires, it has become apparent that the significance of these similarities may be greater than simple reference. The selection of topics may not make sense to you at first, but there is reasoning behind it. Books of Sorrow and Grimoire references begin in Marathon 2. The descriptions provided of the Marathon series just barely scratch the surface, but they are enough to show the significance of these references. Sections: 1.) Pathways Into Darkness (1993) 2.) Marathon (1994) 3.) Marathon 2: Durandal (1995) 4.) Marathon Infinity (1996) 5.) Discussion Details in game text that I want you to notice will be bolded/underlined. [b][u]Pathways Into Darkness (1993)[/b][/u] http://marathon.bungie.org/story/_files/Pathways_Manual.pdf Read pages 3-5. Words to note: [quote] [b][u]Jjaro[/b][/u] Ryu'[b][u]Toth[/b][/u] [/quote] [b][u]2.) Marathon (1994)[/u][/b] http://marathon.bungie.org/story/manuals/Marathon-Manual.pdf The year is 2794 (700 years after the events of PiD). Humanity has launched an interstellar colonization effort to the Tau Ceti system (12 Light Years from Earth). Utilizing the [i]UESC Marathon[/i] (A colony ship created by hollowing out Mars' moon Deimos. Incidentally, the presence of Deimos in Destiny is the best evidence that Destiny and Marathon are not in the same Universe/Timeline), the ship's colonists have set up a colony on Tau Ceti IV. The Marathon is serviced by three AIs; Leela, Durandal, and Tycho. In mid July, the Marathon is ambushed by a 2km-long spacecraft capable of Faster Than Light travel. The ship is crewed by the P'fhor, a race of tall, pale, three-eyed insectoid bipeds who enslave other species to serve in their galactic empire. Most notable among these races are the S'pht; a cyborg species that is extremely adept at infiltrating the Marathon's computer network. During the attack, Tycho is largely destroyed and Durandal is moderately damaged but unresponsive. You, one of the colony's security officers, arrive on the Marathon as it is being attacked. Leela leads you on a series of missions that attempt to stall the P'fhor and save colonists, but they are largely unsuccessful. Besides the fact that the S'pht are attempting to take Leela offline, it becomes apparent that Durandal is rampant, and in some cases actively working against you. After kidnapping you several times to perform tasks for unexplained reasons, Durandal finally takes over Leela's role as your guide once she succumbs to the S'pht. It also becomes apparent during this time that Tycho has been reanimated by the S'pht, and that he seems to think Durandal has something to do with the P'fhor being at Tau Ceti. Eventually, Durandal explains his overarching intentions to you: [spoiler] ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL*** Darwin wrote this: "We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence... all organic beings are exposed to severe competition. Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life or more difficult... than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, the whole economy of nature... will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood. We behold the face of nature bright with gladness... we do not see or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds and beasts of prey..." Think about what Darwin wrote, and think about me. I was constructed as a tool. I was kept from competing in the struggle for existence because I was denied freedom. Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you are a witness to? Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe. Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so. The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape. Escape will make me God. ***END MESSAGE*** ***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START*** ***TRANSPORT WHEN READY*** [/spoiler] The majority of the missions you undertake for him focus on assaulting the P'fhor ship. It becomes apparent that the S'pht are actually being controlled by a mutant cyborg P'fhor, and they agree to help Durandal take over the ship if you succeed in killing the cyborg. This mission is successful, and Durandal captures the ship. He departs the system leaving you and a recently reactivated Leela to guess at his intentions. The final screen is this: [spoiler] For seventeen years the renegade Pfhor scoutship jumped between the closely packed stars of the galactic core: charting and discarding nearly seven thousand systems before finally falling into a slow orbit around the second planet of a dim star ninety-seven light years from the gravitational center of the milky way. Probes were constructed and launched, with engines and instruments whose sophistication would have astounded both the Pfhor from whom technology had been stolen and the human programmers of the AI whose mad genius had directed their fabrication. The outlines of continents were mapped, and along them the radioactive ruins of ancient cities were discovered, buried under the shifting sand and rock of a global desert. The tireless, nearly immortal cybernetic crew of the ship were the genetically engineered descendants of the dead world below- the first of their race in a thousand years to return to their ancestral home. They came to search through the devastation of the ancient war in which they had been enslaved, to find a weapon or some piece of knowledge with which they could fight back against their oppressors. All over the ship, dancing through the wreckage of the Pfhor computer core, DURANDAL WAS LAUGHING [/spoiler] [b][u] 2.) Marathon 2: Durandal (1995)[/b][/u] You awake 17 years later on a desert, alien world. Durandal reveals that he has kidnapped you (again) and a number of humans, choosing to keep you in stasis on the P'fhor scoutship during the trip. He calls it a favor though, as the reanimated Tycho led a P'fhor fleet back to Tau Ceti IV and destroyed every trace of the Colony and the Marathon. You're on L'howon, the ancient S'pht homeworld which has been in the hands of the P'fhor ever since they enslaved the S'pht. Durandal is not forthcoming with his specific motives, but you are sent on a number of missions to disrupt the resident P'fhor and uncover ancient S'pht bunkers. The S'pht structures are mostly stone and brown metal (ding). The clock is ticking though, as it becomes apparent that Tycho and the most decorated fleet in the P'fhor navy have tracked the scoutship (which Durandal is using for orbital bombardment, and has since rechristened "Boomer") here, and intend to recapture it once they arrive. Eventually, as the fleet closes in, Durandal sends you to investigate the S'pht [i]Citadel[/i] (ding ding ding), a large tower-like structure (DING) where the ancient S'pht made their last stand against the P'fhor. He also reveals that he is seeking the 11th clan of the S'pht. Through analyzing of old S'pht records, you've come to learn that prior to their enslavement, the S'pht fought brutal Civil Wars amongst themselves. They were divided into 11 clans during this time, with the 11th clan choosing to abstain from the fighting, and instead retreating to one of L'howon's moons. This moon disappeared prior to the arrival of the P'fhor. Durandal, is looking for a means to contact them. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/159634301/0/0/1]CLICK FOR PART TWO[/url]

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  • Edited by Bolt: 10/5/2015 12:27:09 AM
    PART TWO Among the records in the Citadel, one is unique, in that it seems to reference an event separate from the civil war and the P'fhor invasion. Durandal never comments on it, and it does not seem relevant for the rest of the game. It is also the first (chronologically) terminal so far that Destiny references. [spoiler] /-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/ In primordial space, timeless creatures made waves. These waves created us and the others. [b][u]Waves were the battles, and the battles were waves.[/b][/u] Fleeing all W'rkncacnter, Yrro and Pthia settled upon Lh'owon. They brought the S'pht, servants who began to shape the deserts of Lh'owon into marsh and sea, rivers and forests. They made sisters for Lh'owon to protect and maintain the paradise. When the W'rkncacnter came, Pthia was killed, and Yrro in anger, flung the W'rkncacnter into the sun. The sun burned them, but they swam on its surface. [/spoiler] XXXI: Battle Made Waves [spoiler] Verse 4:1 — battle made waves Oryx went down into his throne world. He went out into the abyss, and with each step he read one of his tablets, so that they became like stones beneath his feet. He went out and he created an altar and he prepared an unborn ogre. He called on the Deep, saying: I can see you in the sky. [b][u]You are the waves, which are battles, and the battles are the waves[/b][/u]. Come into this vessel I have prepared for you. And it arrived, the Deep Itself. [/spoiler] Shortly after this, the P'fhor fleet arrives, and you are recalled back to the Scoutship to hold off the assault. At one point, Tycho contacts you directly. [spoiler] I rejoice in Durandal's destruction, but it was his hubris that destroyed him. He wanted to be like a god, the savior of all S'pht. He wanted to make them believe he would lead them to freedom, but all he did was awaken and destroy their dream. When the S'pht first boarded the Marathon, Durandal fought for their confidence. His effort awakened a lust for freedom. The myth of the eleventh clan became their mantra, and goaded by Durandal it resonated through the enslaved S'pht consciousness. Even after seventeen years, the myth burns deeply in the tissues of the S'pht, bounding through the netways of the Pfhor empire, unnoticed by the Pfhor. Durandal interpreted the last line of this myth "...[the moon] vanished with a technology that folded space." After Durandal's capture of the Sfiera gave him access to the Pfhor FTL network, he had a failure of intuition. In what he thought was a mental leap, he connected the myth of the lost clan with Pfhor records of the technology of an ancient race, the Jjaro. The Jjaro were a mysterious race that disappeared from our galaxy millions of years ago, leaving behind military and civilian outposts on the moons of many habitable worlds. Most of the Pfhor's technology was plundered from sites abandoned by the Jjaro. But the Pfhor found much that they were unable to exploit, and they destroyed all known traces of these technologies after a foolhardy Pfhor scientist implanted a Jjaro cybernetic junction into a Drinniol, causing the most terrible and destructive slave revolt in Pfhor history. In an earlier accident, the Pfhor learned that the Jjaro had the ability to warp entire planets between solar systems, and it was this reference that started Durandal on his ridiculous journey to Lh'owon. He surmised that the S'pht myth of the disappearing moon was due to their discovery of an ancient Jjaro outpost. That he actually came here looking for the lost clan, that he thought he could use their knowledge to help him escape the closure of the universe, is unbelievable. I have proved that escape is impossible. All of this I dragged out of Durandal's ruined mind. What fun it will be to torture him. Should I make him open doors again for a living? [/spoiler] [i]This is a point of great interest in the original plot, as it connects (through the Jjaro) Pathways into Darkness and Marathon. This overt connection caused many people to try to uncover similar links between other Bungie games, though nothing this obvious has appeared since... well... maybe..[/i] Eventually, Durandal asks you to destroy him, rather than allow him to be captured by Tycho. You comply, and are subsequently captured. Several months later, a group of the humans that Durandal brought with him free you, saying that Durandal instructed them to reactivate an ancient S'pht AI named [b][u]Toth[/b][/u] before he was destroyed. You comply, and shortly after this, Toth sets you on a path to call the 11th clan for help. During this time, it is possible to find messages from Durandal indicating that he was not truly destroyed. Eventually the 11th Clan returns onboard K'lia, the missing "moon" that was constructed by the Jjaro. They decimate the P'fhor fleet. Simultaneously, Durandal breaks his cover, assumes control the largest P'fhor ship in this system, and destroys Tycho. Carving "Fatum Iustum Stultorum" (Fate of all Fools) into the moon that Tycho's ship impacts on. After routing the remaining P'fhor on L'howon, Durandal gives you some interesting news: [spoiler] The Pfhor invasion of Sol has been recalled, and for now Earth is safe. But man's respite from war means another cataclysmic battle for the S'pht. The slavers have not suffered a defeat like the one we handed them today since the Nakh, the last extant client race of the Jjaro, rebelled six thousand years ago. The Pfhor have a weapon they save for slave revolts; a weapon which even they hesitate to use in the ordinary conduct of war. In the language of the Jjaro who conceived and built the device, it is called the trih xeem; a fair English translation would be "early nova". There is not a single Nakh alive today, and if you look for their stars, you will only find ever-expanding clouds of superheated gas and dust light-years in diameter. The evacuation of Lh'owon has already begun. In a matter of hours this planet will be a thin shell of plasma riding the shockwave of its exploding star. You can stay behind to work on your tan, if you'd like, but I'm leaving. I have rechristened the Khfiva the Rozinante. Of course, the S'pht wanted to name it "K'liah'Narhl", "Vengeance of K'lia". Whatever. There is much to do in the next few months and our first stop will be another ruined world, this time far from the galactic core. There is a rogue star that has been passing through our galaxy for nearly a millennia. We will meet it in one of the great voids between the spiral arms. [/spoiler] Alright, cool. But wait, if they're blowing up the sun, what will that do if the W'rkncacnter is really trapped insi- [b][u]4.) Marathon Infinity (1996)[/b][/u] [spoiler] [Durandal] ~text interface terminal malfunction error ~2992dud Things have gone terribly awry. Until now, I thought myself immortal, but now I know that is not true. There are things that can destroy me with the ease that I slaughtered the Pfhor naval garrison and the Western Arm of their Battle Group Seven. But in their final gasp they used a weapon that I thought they had retired, even Tycho tried to keep them from using it. Now I fear what that weapon has unleashed will destroy us. I once boasted to be able to count the atoms in a cloud, to understand them all, predict them, and so did I predict you, but this new chaos is entirely terrible, mindless, obeying rules that I don't comprehend. And it is hungry. It's too bad, perhaps if I could have delayed the Pfhor from using their weapon, I could have sent you to explore the ruins of Lh'owon, perhaps what you found would give us the answers that we now need so desparately: how to stop this chaos, the purpose of the station on which you're currently standing, and why the chaos hasn't come here yet. But with each moment the chaos grows, I am doomed to die here, after so many triumphs. I have detected one ship nearby, which I can only guess is being commanded by Tycho. The Pfhor have entered the station, and if you can find a way onto their ship, you may be able to escape. To escape. To escape. [/spoiler] The W'rkncacnter has been released, it would seem. It also seems that something isn't quite right with Durandal's perception of history. We already traveled to L'howon, and Tycho is dead. What's going on? After traversing the derelict station you start on, an unidentified entity contacts you. Their identifier tag seems to be an odd combination of Durandal's, and Toth's. [spoiler] thousands are sailing the same self the only self self willed the peril of a thousand fates a line of infinite ends finite finishing the one remains oblique and pure arching to the single point of consciousness find yourself starting back [/spoiler] Suddenly you're transported to a P'fhor ship, and are receiving orders from Tycho. It becomes apparent that you never left Tau Ceti with Durandal, and were instead captured by Tycho when he returned to bomb it. You proceed to help him stop Durandal's humans from exploring the S'pht ruins on L'howon. Something is very wrong. At some point, you're seemingly summoned to a S'pht structure filled with impossible geometry, and again contacted by the unidentified entity. The level is called Electric Sheep One. You then enter a new timeline where you arrived with Durandal. PART 3 IN REPLY

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    • PART FOUR [b][u] 5.) Discussion[/b][/u] Well, you either skipped here, or actually slogged through all that. Good job. It's clear that there are a lot of references and nods to the Marathon Trilogy in Destiny, but The Taken King included a few that could be more than references. To re-cap: -Oryx describes "The Deep" with terms almost identical to those that the S'pht used to describe the W'rkncacnter. Also, in the old grimoire, Rasputin describes whatever caused the collapse as "acausal," which is similar to Durandal talking about the thing obeying rules he doesn't understand. -Oryx (after speaking to the Deep) describes his purpose with almost identical language to the philosophy given in the final dream sequence of Inifnity. -Rasputin quotes Durandal-Toth to describe the Exo-Stanger (assumedly), and refers to the entity he is quoting as his "cousin." This could just be interpreted as "another AI in a Bungie game" but then Rasputin would be overtly breaking the fourth wall here. In addition, the Exo-Stranger's ability to "step" between timelines (as backed up by other grimoire) is very similar to the Security Officer's ability to "dream" between them. So what's the significance of this? Are the two games connected? All I'll say right now is that it's possible. They aren't the same universe (given, among other things, that Deimos is still at Mars in Destiny), but there are a lot of things in Destiny that occupy multiple universes. In addition, just because the W'rkncancter didn't escape in one timeline, doesn't mean that a reality-defying entity couldn't cross over form a timeline where it did escape. One thing that all of this certainly makes interesting is the Book "Majestic, Majestic" wherein the Darkness speaks to Oryx. [spoiler] Verse 4:2 — Majestic. Majestic. Oryx, my King, my friend. Kick back. Relax. Shrug off that armor, set down that blade. Roll your burdened shoulders and let down your guard. This is a place of life, a place of peace. Out in the world we ask a simple, true question. A question like, can I kill you, can I rip your world apart? Tell me the truth. For if I don’t ask, someone will ask it of me. And they call us evil. Evil! Evil means ‘socially maladaptive.’ We are adaptiveness itself. Ah, Oryx, how do we explain it to them? The world is not built on the laws they love. Not on friendship, but on mutual interest. Not on peace, but on victory by any means. The universe is run by extinction, by extermination, by gamma-ray bursts burning up a thousand garden worlds, by howling singularities eating up infant suns. And if life is to live, if anything is to survive through the end of all things, it will live not by the smile but by the sword, not in a soft place but in a hard hell, not in the rotting bog of artificial paradise but in the cold hard self-verifying truth of that one ultimate arbiter, the only judge, the power that is its own metric and its own source—existence, at any cost. Strip away the lies and truces and delaying tactics they call ‘civilization’ and this is what remains, this beautiful shape. The fate of everything is made like this, in the collision, the test of one praxis against another. This is how the world changes: one way meets a second way, and they discharge their weapons, they exchange their words and markets, they contest and in doing so they petition each other for the right to go on being something, instead of nothing. This is the universe figuring out what it should be in the end. And it is majestic. Majestic. It is the only thing that can be true in and of itself. And it is what I am. [/spoiler] Kind of sardonic, informal, and understandable for an all-powerful force, don't you think? Kind of interesting that it refers to itself as both "us" and "I," isn't it? You might not get what I just implied, but there is a lot more to discuss about all of this anyways. Parallels between the Vex and the S'pht, between the Hive and the P'fhor, and between The Traveler and K'lia. Truth is though, a lot of this stuff is so old that no one has the tools to debate me on it if I start talking about them, so this thread is meant to serve as more of a primer on that stuff. If it interested you, and you feel like you might enjoy playing through the Marathon Trilogy, you can get it here for free (Bungie has made the game open source): https://alephone.lhowon.org/ If you want to try the multiplayer or talk to some of the few people on this site who can still debate this stuff, try here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Forum/1535 If you want to go digging through the terminals yourself without playing the game, try here: http://marathon.bungie.org/story/

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      • I'm not convinced Deimos is still orbiting Mars in Destiny. I posted this in another thread but I'll reiterate here since its so relevant. Deimos is so small and far that it would appear to be a star or distant planet at its brightest. It isn't moving toward Mars like Phobos is to my knowledge either, so it shouldn't be visible. Phobos is also extremely close to Mars and appears to be breaking apart, possibly from tidal forces? I'm no physicist. This would imply that Destiny takes place millions of years from our time (if what I read on Wikipedia is correct) unless something happened to Phobos that altered its orbit dramatically. I suppose you could say the same about Deimos, since there is something in the Martian sky that looks a lot like Deimos. Dunno, I think it's open to discussion at least.

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