In Ghost Fragment: Rasputin 4 we get to hear Rasputin musing about the Exo Stranger. He talks of her stepping forward and back (through time) and wants her to show him how to step so that he can win. Remember that Rasputin wants to "At the end of things when the world goes dim and cold or hot and close or it all tears apart from the atom up I will shout those names defiant and past the end I will endure. I alone." Basically, he wants to escape the closure of the universe. As do the Vex. And the Hive. Seems to be a lot of that in Destiny... and in another Bungie game...

Oh, and there's also this:

Rasputin: "You’re not one of THEM [long dead, alive again, their bodies grafted to powers they and I do not understand]"
Durandal: "BUT YOU WERE DEAD A THOUSAND TIMES. HOPELESS ENCOUNTERS SUCCESSFULLY WON. A MAN LONG DEAD. GRAFTED TO MACHINES YOUR BUILDERS DID NOT UNDERSTAND."

Rasputin: "It’s like my cousin said, elsewhere: I know who you are."
Durandal: "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE"

Combined with the Darkness potentially being a Marathon W'rkncacnter and the references keep piling up. Maybe it's nothing more than a nostalgic author sliding in sly winks to the past, but I kinda hope it is something more. :)

I don’t know how far to read into the similarities. Are they just winks and nods for fun, or do we take some of it literally?

Technically the Vex and Oryx want to escape the heat death via entropy in the universe. We know now the universe won't close, but will keep expanding forever, until all energy is uniformly distributed and no work can be done.

Don't forget all the Pathways into Darkness references we've seen in the marketing.

Yep, I went with the wrong term. Both the worms and I think maybe Oryx himself mention something much closer to heat death than Marathon's gravitational closure. Thanks for the correction. :)

I'm still think she works for Osiris.

Technically the Vex and Oryx want to escape the heat death via entropy in the universe. We know now the universe won't close, but will keep expanding forever, until all energy is uniformly distributed and no work can be done.

That's up in the air. For a long time we've actually believed the end state we were headed for was Big Rip - the accelerating expansion of the universe would reach a critical threshold and tear everything apart.

I think that consensus has been questioned lately but I haven't followed the research.

Why? I don't remember the Exo Stranger or any of the Ishtar scientists being mentioned near Osiris. Am I forgetting something?

Technically the Vex and Oryx want to escape the heat death via entropy in the universe. We know now the universe won't close, but will keep expanding forever, until all energy is uniformly distributed and no work can be done.

That's up in the air. For a long time we've actually believed the end state we were headed for was Big Rip - the accelerating expansion of the universe would reach a critical threshold and tear everything apart.

I think that consensus has been questioned lately but I haven't followed the research.

The current best guess is this:

In several billion years, the universe will collapse into it's lowest (or lower) energy state since we are most likely in a false vacuum. Studies on the Higgs suggest this very strongly. This would destroy everything in the universe at the speed of light making life impossible. After that, either the big rip or the big freeze as what remains continues to expand, grow apart, and go cold.

As for the big rip, it's not so much tearing everything apart as it is space eventually expanding faster than the speed of light at microscopic scales, making subatomic interactions impossible.

Why? I don't remember the Exo Stranger or any of the Ishtar scientists being mentioned near Osiris, which could be his connection with a Warmind. Am I forgetting something?

In the Osiris Grimoire card someone claims to have proof that he was a Golden Age experiment mis-incarnated as a human. The reasons I think the Exo works for Osiris are because:

1. They both have an obsession with the Vex and are working outside of the City's influence to accomplish their goals.
2. The Exo stranger has a pulse rifle that looks identical to the Fate of All Fools, which was originally the reward for going 9-0 in Trials (in data mining).

Not that this proves anything, but I even asked a Bungie employee if the Stranger did work for Osiris and they told me that was a great question, but wasn't drunk enough to answer it :)

P.S. This doesn't discount the Maya/Stranger theory, could be a further piece of the puzzle. I think if both the Strange and Osiris are obsessed with the Vex they would probably be linked in some way.

Combined with the Darkness potentially being a Marathon W'rkncacnter and the references keep piling up. Maybe it's nothing more than a nostalgic author sliding in sly winks to the past, but I kinda hope it is something more. :)

The W'rkncacnter, in addition to being unpronounceable, were simply a myth in Marathon. Just a legend.

The jjarro station is online, and we're wrapping the nova in its containment fields. The creature, or creatures S'bhuth fears are either dormant or a myth--we've seen nothing to account for his terror.

The darkness in Destiny is most decidedly real, since we see the effects.

And in the timelines where strange and terrible things happened? Unfortunately, I'm not a Marathon expert. :(

The new Vision 81 doesn't exactly echo Maya's story but it is close. The subject of both:

- Begin with doubts. (Maya thinks she's responsible for being captured by that Vex)
- Watch the collapse take place. (The Exo Stranger watches it "now many times")
- Never waver. (The Exo Stranger is "...resolute."
- Hear a female loved one calling them back. (Maya hears Chioma while she is using her Golden Age experiment)

Perhaps this is a piece to the puzzle that doesn't fully connect yet? Or it could easily be a description of Osiris and have nothing to do with Maya and the Exo Stranger. Still, it's interesting...

And in the timelines where strange and terrible things happened? Unfortunately, I'm not a Marathon expert. :(

The failed timelines are all simply the result of the Nova going off, ripping apart the ships and such. No mention of the wrencancerwhatever. Basically, the pfhor have a weapon to make a star go nova early, and they are using it to destroy Lh'owon. This a problem because everybody will die, and it is though that it will unleash the beasts trapped in the sun.

You end up containing the Nova with technology from the Jjaro space station, saving yourself. All the other timelines have the Nova going off killing everybody.

The way Durandal intended to escape the universe's closure, if I recall, was to get ahold of Jjaro technology that lets you fold mass away from the universe. This would decrease the density enough that gravity wouldn't be strong enough to pull things back into a big crunch.

That sounds an awfully lot like the Black Garden... folded out of normal space and time.

in one of the failed timelines the nova goes wrong, and instead the W'rkananter escape and destroy the Pfor fleet and Durandal's Boomer. The horror of the Pfor admirals is mentioned.

"But the trackless whisper chattering through
the hollow space in these cursed walls buzzes
and threatens madness. The abomination
cracked the shells of my crew and sucked the
husks, tossing them unseen and shattering the
spindle like a dried creche.
The shields are gone, not down, but gone, and
so are the engineers. It's coming back, I'm
sure: and my last mercy is immolation.

Great Mother crouched behind the Throne, I
make this wrong right."

in one of the failed timelines the nova goes wrong, and instead the W'rkananter escape and destroy the Pfor fleet and Durandal's Boomer. The horror of the Pfor admirals is mentioned.

"But the trackless whisper chattering through
the hollow space in these cursed walls buzzes
and threatens madness. The abomination
cracked the shells of my crew and sucked the
husks, tossing them unseen and shattering the
spindle like a dried creche.
The shields are gone, not down, but gone, and
so are the engineers. It's coming back, I'm
sure: and my last mercy is immolation.

Great Mother crouched behind the Throne, I
make this wrong right."

Which level is this? You have to do weird stuff to get to the failed timelines sometimes. Maybe I've missed it after all these years...

Is there a good/easy way to experience the Marathon story besides playing it? I've tried, and it was marginally okay, but the oldness of it is a huge barrier to entry for me, I just can't get absorbed in it like I would have experiencing it while new. ):

Can I read all the terminals somewhere? What's needed to understand the Marathon story? Am I losing out on something fundamental by not actually playing it? Etc, etc.

Halo was my first entry into Bungie fandom, and while I've caught up somewhat with the company's history and some of the basic aspects of things like Marathon, I still feel like I'm missing out on tons.

Is there a good/easy way to experience the Marathon story besides playing it? I've tried, and it was marginally okay, but the oldness of it is a huge barrier to entry for me, I just can't get absorbed in it like I would have experiencing it while new. ):

Can I read all the terminals somewhere? What's needed to understand the Marathon story? Am I losing out on something fundamental by not actually playing it? Etc, etc.

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals on the marathon story page.

Is there a good/easy way to experience the Marathon story besides playing it? I've tried, and it was marginally okay, but the oldness of it is a huge barrier to entry for me, I just can't get absorbed in it like I would have experiencing it while new. ):

Can I read all the terminals somewhere? What's needed to understand the Marathon story? Am I losing out on something fundamental by not actually playing it? Etc, etc.

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals the marathon story page.

You can also read them (slightly different format) in the Marathon Spoiler Guide:

http://marathon.bungie.org/spoiler/

EDIT: Crap, no you can't. :( But there's a bunch of other info in there.

Is there a good/easy way to experience the Marathon story besides playing it? I've tried, and it was marginally okay, but the oldness of it is a huge barrier to entry for me, I just can't get absorbed in it like I would have experiencing it while new. ):

Can I read all the terminals somewhere? What's needed to understand the Marathon story? Am I losing out on something fundamental by not actually playing it? Etc, etc.

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals the marathon story page.

You can also read them (slightly different format) in the Marathon Spoiler Guide:

http://marathon.bungie.org/spoiler/

The terminal links are broken! Marathon.org doesn't exist anymore.

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals on the marathon story page.

Thanks for the link at any rate. I'm not sure playing it is really in the cards, both because of limited time, and because of it's age. Someday I may give it another shot, but that won't be any time soon.

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals on the marathon story page.

Thanks for the link at any rate. I'm not sure playing it is really in the cards, both because of limited time, and because of it's age. Someday I may give it another shot, but that won't be any time soon.

My recommendation is to play the original versions of the game, and not Aleph One. Aleph One just kind makes everything look and feel worse in my opinion. If everything is as intended, it's not that bad. Turn off the music in Marathon 1, because it's much scarier and more atmospheric without it. M2 and Infinity ditched music for ambient sound, confirming my preference :-)

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals on the marathon story page.

Thanks for the link at any rate. I'm not sure playing it is really in the cards, both because of limited time, and because of it's age. Someday I may give it another shot, but that won't be any time soon.

My recommendation is to play the original versions of the game, and not Aleph One. Aleph One just kind makes everything look and feel worse in my opinion. If everything is as intended, it's not that bad. Turn off the music in Marathon 1, because it's much scarier and more atmospheric without it. M2 and Infinity ditched music for ambient sound, confirming my preference :-)

Can you even play Marathon 1 with current hardware without Aleph One? I'm pretty sure you would have to have a OS9 machine for that...

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals on the marathon story page.

Thanks for the link at any rate. I'm not sure playing it is really in the cards, both because of limited time, and because of it's age. Someday I may give it another shot, but that won't be any time soon.

My recommendation is to play the original versions of the game, and not Aleph One. Aleph One just kind makes everything look and feel worse in my opinion. If everything is as intended, it's not that bad. Turn off the music in Marathon 1, because it's much scarier and more atmospheric without it. M2 and Infinity ditched music for ambient sound, confirming my preference :-)

Can you even play Marathon 1 with current hardware without Aleph One? I'm pretty sure you would have to have a OS9 machine for that...

Yes, but there are old mac OS emulators. If you DO want to play with the music, you want to play with system 7. Later systems update the MIDI instruments, and change the music dramatically.

I remember updating to OS 8, and Harry the Handsome Executive suddenly sounded like shit.

Is there a good/easy way to experience the Marathon story besides playing it? I've tried, and it was marginally okay, but the oldness of it is a huge barrier to entry for me, I just can't get absorbed in it like I would have experiencing it while new. ):

Can I read all the terminals somewhere? What's needed to understand the Marathon story? Am I losing out on something fundamental by not actually playing it? Etc, etc.

Yes, you need to play it through. Just reading the terminals is no substitute. You can read all of the terminals the marathon story page.

You can also read them (slightly different format) in the Marathon Spoiler Guide:

http://marathon.bungie.org/spoiler/

The terminal links are broken! Marathon.org doesn't exist anymore.

Eep - you're right. All fixed now.