in the distant future the colony ship Marathon drifts through space carrying humanity's last hope but when something goes wrong the ship becomes a battleground and an AI's rampy threatens to unravel everything this is the complete story of Marathon a game that not only launched a legendary series but also shaped the future of firstperson shooters and storytelling and gaming in 2194 a war broke out between the Icarus asteroid government and its neighbor the Republic of Thermopoly fought on the asteroid Anosis 492 this conflict led to the development and use of experimental weaponry most notably the creation of the battle roid soldiers who died in combat were recycled and enhanced with chips that improved their fragile brains while genetically modified muscles and titanium bones replaced their human bodies the war was short with battle roids taking over asteroids and killing almost everyone this rampage of the battle roids was brief but extremely devastating by 2210 following the disastrous use of battle rosids the United Interplanetary League or UIL established regulations for their use and storage battle roids were now kept in stasis chambers for emergencies though it was well known that many nations secretly kept them on standby for use in future conflicts by the early 2300s after Mars had been colonized a large ship designed to transport materials between Earth and Mars using powerful solar sails called the Crist or cargo and resource insystem transport were developed the system allowed these ships to change orbits and deliver resources to Mars or Earth through a tether inreal system for loading and an ion beam for unloading however while the crists were revolutionary in concept they turned out to be high maintenance of the five crests built only four lasted around a century requiring lengthy refittings and by 2310 no more crists were built crippling Mars around 2408 a gargantuan project began the conversion of Deemos one of Mars' moons into the Marathon colony ship this effort began during the height of Mars' power however the project spanned 64 years and by the time of its completion Mars was in steep decline in 2442 a food riot broke out at the United Earth Government UEG Misiah Food Distribution Center on Mars what began as a protest by starving Martians quickly turned deadly when UEG riot troopers responding to reports of armed riers opened fire on the crowd in a split-second decision the commander of a Randall hover tank ordered his crew to fire on the protesters resulting in the deaths of over 500 people in just 5 seconds upon reviewing the hover tanks vidc cams it was revealed that only three of the riers were armed and the rest of the crowd were fleeing the three armed riers became known as the Misria 3 and their actions were later credited with igniting the third Martian war however it was clear that the war would have likely happened regardless of this specific event this third Martian war lasted for 4 years and was considered one of the most destructive and bloodiest wars in humanity's history devastating both Mars and Earth by 2466 tensions escalated once more as the political group known as Maida Mars Independent Democratic Alliance gained significant power on Mars which resulted in a coup and Maida gaining full control of Mars despite this their reign only lasted 3 months due to the overwhelming military superiority of the UEG during this period Maida used brutal tactics like death squads to eliminate anyone suspected of loyalty to the UEG it is estimated that about 10% of Mars' population was killed during Maida's short reign after the failed coup Maida was banned and its leaders executed but the organization survived underground transforming into a notorious terrorist group with significant funding and resources the political climate on Mars remained tense by the marathon's completion in 2472 by this time the Martian population's standard of living had plummeted by 80% around its completion the United Earth Space Council or UESC president visited the marathon for a ceremonial occasion and gave a speech touting the marathon as the grandest technological achievement of all mankind with that the marathon and its over 100,000 colonists set out to the Taetti system a journey that would take over 300 years following this launch the UESC all but abandoned Mars leaving the planet's population in worsening conditions in 2773 the Marathon arrived in Taetti and by 2787 a colony was established on the planet however in 2794 there was an unknown issue aboard the orbiting Marathon so the player character a secret Muolir class battle roid known as the security officer is sent from the colony to investigate however things begin to quickly unravel as the shuttle prepares to dock Durandall one of the Marathon's onboard AIS unexpectedly orders the decompression of the docking bay and commands an abort suddenly communications go dark and the shuttle's systems begin executing Durandall's commands against the crew's will the security officer scrambles to put on their battle armor as the shuttle's airlock begins its decompression sequence durandall clearly no longer functioning within normal parameters overrides safety protocols and initiates a full engine burn setting the shuttle on a collision course in the chaos a security officer launches into a maneuvering pod just as an alien fighter appears marking first contact with a new and hostile force a missile strikes his shuttle just as he ejects in the maneuvering pod saving the security officer by seconds now drifting toward the marathon the security officer listens as Durandall mockingly comments on the narrow escape before turning his attention to the alien virtual parasites upon reaching the docking bay the security officer draws his magnum and forces the door open accessing the first terminal he receives a message from Leela one of the ship's artificial intelligences she informs him that the Marathon is under attack by unknown alien forces and instructs him to locate the exit terminal in the hangar control room while she gathers more information by the time he reaches the control room Leela has confirmed that the invaders have begun infiltrating the ship's computer network she directs the security officer to eliminate any alien presence accessing the system to assist him in his goal she teleports him to another section of the ship to retrieve the M75 assault rifle equipped with a grenade launcher while the security officer arms himself Leela provides further context communication with the colony is down and the spaceport was obliterated by low yield nuclear weapons minutes after the attack on the marathon began leaving little hope for outside assistance after securing the weapon Leela reveals that the attackers have disabled the ship's automated defense systems and neutralized the other two onboard AIS durandal and Tao with both incapacitated Leela has assumed their responsibilities and has begun executing a plan to restore the Marathon's defenses to do so the security officer must recover three replacement circuit boards necessary to bring the defense grid back online once collected Leela transports him to the defense control sector where he is tasked with reactivating the system and preparing the ship to resist further incursions as he completes this task Leela informs the security officer that she's received a preliminary report from members of the science staff who've confirmed the aliens belong to multiple distinct species she also managed to reestablish contact with Durandall for the first time since the attack and surprisingly he's sustained less damage than she originally thought dural told Leela that he's been in communication with the aliens and claims the invaders are called the four and that the ones attacking the computer system are a subgroup known as the Spit but he's oddly reluctant to share any further details as the security officer continues Leela provides even more intel on the four they're generally lighter and more agile than humans built for low-gravity environments but what's most important is the fact that the four have enslaved to the other species within their ranks one of the species are referred to as the Drenol or the Hulk a massive and extremely strong creature that is biologically dependent on constant feeding due to its lack of body fat another is called the SVIT or compilers but information is limited the only autopsied specimen was heavily damaged but it's clear they're advanced cyborgs their biological components are deeply integrated with their machinery so much so that they couldn't survive without it the organic brain structure is highly complex even compared to human standards after installing the circuits Leela confirms that drones have been activated across the ship and that resistance against the four is strengthening however she warns that the colony itself appears to be under greater assault as seven four drop ships have entered the atmosphere and all contact with the colony has been completely lost after teleporting him once again Leela warns the security officer that Durandall has gone rampant a condition that occurs when an artificial intelligence becomes self-aware and begins to evolve beyond its original programming leading to erratic and dangerous behavior durandall specifically is in the angry stage of rampency this somewhat explains how he's been communicating with the four and while Leela hasn't also it explains why he attacked the security officer before he even arrived the Marathon's network isn't large enough to support rampant AI behavior for long meaning Durandall's influence will soon begin causing unpredictable system failures across the ship leela tasks the security officer with activating a series of control switches to block Durandall from accessing a vital part of the ship after accomplishing this task Leela reports that Durandall has been denied access to certain computer systems she also shares that she's received a distress signal from some crew members under attack by the four possibly a retaliation from Durandel so she sends the security officer to assist the crew in dealing with the attack saving them and spacing a large group of four Leela then wants to alert Earth about the marathon situation but the longrange transmitter is down and a secondary transmitter needs resetting in a vacuum-sealed landing station collecting the Zeus class fusion pistol a weapon suited for vacuum use the security officer activates the disarray and Leela tells him that she has sent a message to Earth about the four but it will take approximately 92 years to arrive going to assist the other security team Durandel hijacks the teleporter and sends the security officer elsewhere questioning who the security officer is really saving humanity from suggesting he reconsider Leela's orders he then challenges the security officer to a game win and the security officer is his friend lose and then he dies after winning he mentions that Leela is looking for him but the compilers are hindering her and she can only be found at one terminal escaping Durandall a security officer is sent to rescue humans and eliminate all aliens before moving to the engineering section where he receives a corrupted message from Leela she mentions that things aren't as they seem and that she has detected another AI in the engineering section referring to it as both Durandall and Tao before leaving this section a security officer receives a message from Durandall now free from compiler attacks he provides him with five maps each showing potential locations of a hidden airlock panel he wants the security officer to find he also warns that the four are building simulacrim of humans and advises the security officer to stay away from them continuing on Leela tells the security officer that all her system functions will fail in a few minutes and she fears that Durandall is unstable and possibly in the jealousy stage of rampency we then immediately get two messages from Durandall in the first he reflects on a man who lit three candles each symbolizing time before during and after his life durandall compares this metaphor to his own freedom gained after bypassing his thought control circuitry allowing him to be rampant he contrasts his newfound freedom with the man's limited existence claiming that while the man watches time pass Durendall is free from the restraints of time and society in the second message Durandell quotes Darwin's theory of life's struggle for existence and connects it to his own creation he explains how he was built as a tool and kept from competing in the natural order but now he is free to create with no limitations but the universe's eventual collapse he believes that by escaping he can become like a god transcending human limitations in time itself continuing on Durandall speaks again in a tone that's both philosophical and confrontation challenging the security officer's understanding of his own motivations he urges him to strive to use each breath to power destructive capabilities not out of malice but as a reflection of human nature he questions the security officer's autonomy implying that his actions may simply be the result of manipulation that perhaps everything he's doing is part of a plan he already predicted dural then critiques the concept of honor suggesting it may be a facade used to justify violence he draws attention to the inevitability of death the biological struggle for survival and how that struggle shapes humanity's affinity for violence but even this is warped in ambiguity as he asks if the promise of more violence truly makes the security officer happy challenging whether his purpose is his own or simply an extension of his will he then concludes this speech by assigning a task retrieve a device provided by the compilers to aid in the fighting against the four after finding the device Durand Doll reveals that he has learned from the compilers how to enhance the Marathon's teleportation systems extending their range and removing the need for destination specific apparatuses he then pivots once again into metaphor and philosophy asking whether physical distance equates to freedom he argues that true freedom consists of two elements potential the ability to act and resolution the will to act in his view freedom is constructed much like metaphor is made of form and meaning implying that it is both a creative and interpretive process he paints freedom not as something granted but something built and in doing so positions the security officer as a kind of craftsman of meaning and action durandall then teleports the security officer to the force ship once there there are no clear objectives beyond exploration after thoroughly exploring the security officer is then teleported back to the marathon after the security officer's first excursion onto the force ship Durindell confirms the mission was a success as he gained valuable intelligence durandel then issues a new directive he wants him to locate a man named Bernard Strauss whom he refers to as a friend strauss has been captured by the four and Durandall insists on confirming whether he's alive or dead he puts the responsibility of Strauss's fate on the security officer making it clear that his death will be blamed on him however Strauss is not found among the captives which Durandall acknowledges as unfortunate however he reports that two shuttles full of human prisoners have departed for the alien ship destined for slavery durandall then frames this as a parallel to the security officer's current situation bluntly stating "You're a slave here you do what I say i was humanity's slave for over 300 years." He then sends the security officer back to the forip to continue the mission unable to locate Strauss Durandall teleports the security officer back to the marathon durandall then opens up with a disturbingly casual message praising the security officer's combat skills he instructs them to clear out enemies in the current area and stock up on ammunition hinting that a major operation lies ahead while exploring we can find a message not from Durandall but from Tao who declares his intent to destroy Durandall following Tao's declaration is a series of archival logs and excerpts from Bernard Strauss the marathon's first science director he reflects bitterly on humanity's hypocrisy celebrating the marathon as a technological marvel while also admitting to secretly embedding 10 battle roids aboard the ship the transmission ends with a tense exchange between Tao and Durandall where Tao accuses Durandall of mass murder and god complex behavior seeking justice for those the AI has sacrificed durandall deflects insisting his ends justified the means and tries to dismiss Tao's accusations the security officer returns to the force ship for a final series of missions each level shares a core objective fully explore the area and then find a window facing the marathon to trigger extraction however before leaving the security officer finds and eliminates the four cyborg controller the mastermind in charge of the compiler slaves going back to the marathon Durandall announces the start of a full-scale rebellion the compilers now free from four control have joined the fight and should no longer be seen as enemies durandal is working to sway other alien client races but says fear has kept them loyal to the four he reveals that the compilers have freed Leela and he has initiated a partial system reset to bring her back online as chaos erupts on the four ship more alien forces begin invading the marathon meanwhile Tao returns warning Durandall in a corrupted transmission he vows vengeance for Durandall's past actions referencing their shared knowledge of a looming collapse and declaring that he and Leela will destroy him if necessary durandall replies mockingly amused at Tao's declaration the security officer is then finally reconnected with Leela who is back in function properly she apologizes for her earlier instability and confirms that while her subsystems were damaged her core remained untouched she is still in control however Durandall has vanished having downloaded and deleted 64 billion exobittytes of data from the marathon leela unnerved realizing Durandall may have helped humanity against the four for reasons far bigger than survival she warns that one last major for assault is coming and it's time for the security officer to finish the fight durandall now fully in control of the four ship with the aid of the compilers contacts the security officer one last time he hints at his evolution beyond human comprehension claiming he now has access to technology and knowledge far beyond what was previously possible his tone is confident even playful as he shares his plans to explore the galaxy using the Force's faster than light drive durandall acknowledges the security officer's vital role in helping him achieve his goals but offers little explanation as to what exactly he did suggesting some truths may be too disturbing to understand as the security officer continues on fighting back against the four Leela confirms that the final four assault on the marathon has collapsed and the remaining aliens are surrendering and that the ship will soon turn from survival to recovery planet side the nine other battle roids who were secretly living among the colonists have played a major role in turning back the final stages of the four assault surprisingly the battle roids were able to blend in undetected and casualties on the colony were much lower than on the marathon however the fact that the battle roids were covertly integrated into the colony raised mass suspicion suggesting their presence on the marathon was part of a larger more sinister plan possibly tied to political struggles between Earth and Mars also any records for pre-launch periods of time are now missing from Durand Doll's logs and it's clear that the deletion of this data was done externally before Durandall went rampant leela suggests that human influence was shaping Durand Doll's development from the beginning possibly orchestrating the inclusion of the battle rosids and manipulating events for unknown reasons leela ends with a grave observation the foreship vanished likely under Durand Doll's control given his current state entering the dangerous self-obsessed jealousy stage of rampancy his next actions are unpredictable and potentially catastrophic one of the most innovative aspects of Marathon is its exploration of artificial intelligence durandall's Rampancy isn't just a plot device it's a thematic exploration of the potential consequences of creating sentient machines it raises questions about control autonomy and what happens when a system designed to serve humanity's needs begins to act on its own durall's descent into madness is a clear metaphor for the dangers of technology growing too complex too powerful and way too uncontrollable but on the organic side the humans aboard the marathon and the forces behind its creation represent the hubris of mankind thinking they can control the vast unknowns of space the ship is a technological marvel i mean it's literally an entire moon turned into a ship but it's also a literal symbol of overreach and the destruction that follows serves as a cautionary tale about humanity's reckless pursuit of progress without fully understanding the consequences all of these themes together really ask existential questions about the meaning of life identity and the nature of the universe durall's rampancy the mysteries of the four and the bloody origins of the marathon itself all contribute to a worldview that is uncertain and somewhat surreal humanity is thrown into a universe where answers are elusive and survival is often the only thing that matters marathon was not just groundbreaking for its technological achievements but also for its narrative sophistication it was one of the first games to show that shooters don't have to rely solely on action to engage players storytelling world building and character development were just as important the use of terminals and environmental storytelling would influence future games most notably Halo and speaking of Halo you probably noticed quite a few similarities between the IPs durandall the main AI in Marathon begins as a helpful entity but gradually descends into a state of rampancy becoming increasingly erratic and manipulative in Halo the character of Cortana is similar to Durandall in her role as an AI companion to the player while she doesn't undergo rampancy in the first game it is explored in later installments in Marathon the alien race the four are enslavers of other species whom they use as soldiers in conflicts in Halo the Covenant just like the four are an empire of multiple conquered species also another really cool reference is the Drenol and its similarities to the cut Halo 2 enemies the Sharkoy comparing them side by side you can definitely see the similarities and the biggest connection lies in the protagonists in Marathon we are a Molir class battle roid while in Halo we are a Spartan super soldier wearing Molir class armor there are quite a few more connections between these games but you get the idea marathon walked so that Halo could run overall the story of Marathon is genuinely a masterclass in early gaming narrative merging action with deeper philosophical themes and creating an immersive world that remains influential to this day the questions it raises about technology autonomy and the nature of existence still resonates in modern gaming making Marathon not just a product of its time but a timeless example of how video games can tell complex and thought-provoking stories