| UESC Marathon | |
|---|---|
 The Marathon's redesign from the 2023 Marathon trailer
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| Production Information | |
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Manufacturer: |
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Shipyard: |
In Mars orbit |
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Role: |
Colony ship |
| Specifications | |
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Length: |
25.2 kilometers[1] |
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Width: |
2230 meters[1] |
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Height: |
542 meters[1] |
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Mass: |
18.7 Gigatonnes |
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Engine: |
Bussard Ramjet |
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Complement and crew: |
50 senior staff |
| Service Information | |
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Launched: |
2472 |
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Commissioned: |
2405 |
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Decommissioned: |
2787 |
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Destroyed: |
2794 |
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Participated battles: |
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Known commanders: |
Captain Clemente di Roxas |
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Affiliation: |
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| Marathon information | |
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First appearance: |
Marathon (1994) |
- "This, the grandest achievement mankind has ever conceived will be for the purpose of peace and the preservation of the human race. May this great technological ark carry with it the sum total of all human wisdom, and may neither time nor distance weaken our common ties."
- — President Marcus Tiberius Buendia[2]
The U.E.S.C. Marathon [CFX-1], usually referred to simply as the Marathon, was a colony ship, built by the Unified Earth Space Council using Deimos as its frame.[3] It was the largest ship humanity had ever constructed.[1] Politically controversial at the time of its construction, the Marathon would take over 60 years to complete. Officially, the vessel was sent to the Tau Ceti system in the hopes of establishing a colony.
The ship was launched in 2472 and arrived in the Tau Ceti system in 2773.[4] It carried over twenty-four thousand colonists, eleven AIs, and – unofficially – ten Battleroids.
The Marathon was attacked in 2794 by the Pfhor ship Sfiera, but successfully overcame the attack. A further attack by Pfhor reinforcements meant that the ship was later lost along with the Tau Ceti colony.
Early history[edit]
- "Applying for the expedition was my uncle's idea. He wanted to be able to see the sun. Breathe clean air. Eat plants we grew ourselves. I just wanted a change! Anything was better than burning bodies."
- — Soren Gleison
Development[edit]
The Martian government sold Deimos to the UESC in 2395 at the height of its power, and the vessel's preconstruction phase began in 2405. However, as the CRIST orbitals began to break down, the Mars colony began to implode economically. Rampant starvation and poverty struck the planet.[3]
Despite this, construction continued without issue as the planet below continued to fall on harder times. Martian citizens began to see the Marathon as a symbol of oppression by the UESC, and they called for the ship to be made into a CRIST – but the concept was never seriously considered by the UESC.
Despite being built with Deimos as its frame, the vast bulk of resources used in the ship's initial construction came from the main asteroid belt.[1] A large majority of the UESC Marathon's sytems were powered by CyberAcme.
The ship's main AI was Leela, who was accompanied by Durandal and Tycho. Durandal was in charge of the ship's autonomous functions, such as doors, life support, and kitchens. Tycho controlled the science and engineering network.[5]
The exact details of the Marathon's status are unknown during the Third Martian War and the MIDA coup. MIDA never made a serious effort to weaponize the ship, which would eventually come to be known, historically, as one of their greatest missed opportunities.[6]
There were no other incidents with the Marathon's construction until the ship was launched in 2472.[4]
Conspiracy[edit]
After the failed MIDA coup, its sympathizers and saboteurs infiltrated the project.[7] The scale of the conspiracy is unclear, but over the course of the Marathon's construction they smuggled weapons aboard in the hopes of beginning a new rebellion far from the UESC.[8] So far, Dr Bernhard Strauss is the only known member of MIDA among the Marathon's command staff.[9]
Colonization[edit]
After its arrival in Tau Ceti, the Marathon would complete the development of the Tau Ceti IV colony in 2787.
The exact details of the colonization effort are unknown. Beyond harassment by the local Chockisens, nothing suggests efforts were particularly gruesome.[10]
One of the settlements may be called New Cascadia.
Battle of Tau Ceti[edit]
Initial successes[edit]
On July 25, 2794, the Marathon came under attack by elements of the Pfhor Empire after Durandal made contact with a Pfhor ship.
In the initial attack, the Pfhor scoutship Sfiera dropped out of FTL above the colony and deployed forces to seize the colony and the Marathon itself. Tycho was taken offline by S'pht compilers, and Leela came under relentless cyber attacks. All personnel were ordered to arm themselves and fight for their lives.
The Security Officer, who boarded the Marathon while under fire from a Pfhor fighter, came under Leela's command, and together they resisted the Pfhor invasion by solidifying defenses, saving civilians and sending a distress signal back to Earth. However, by Leela's own estimation, the message would take 92 years to reach Sol.
Leela was unable to defend herself from the cyber attacks by the S'pht and fell out of contact. The Security Officer was then kidnapped by Durandal himself. He revealed that he was the one who lured the Aliens to the colony as reprisal for humanity's transgressions against him – specifically, the torturous experiments conducted by Bernhard Strauss on him. However, Durandal had not allied himself with the Pfhor; he planned to hijack their FTL capable ship to explore the universe before its eventual end.[11]
In his communications with the aliens, he'd grown sympathetic with one of their client races, the S'pht, and had resolved to help free them from Pfhor captivity. The Security Officer managed to destroy the Pfhor control system holding the S'pht in line, and the newly freed slaves aided the humans in repelling the Pfhor. With the S'pht no longer attacking the Marathon's systems, Leela came back online. She quickly regained control of the situation and sent the Security Officer to secure the last few holdouts of Pfhor aboard the ship.
On the colony below, the nine battleroids who'd been living among the populace managed to repel the Pfhor onslaught with minimal damage to the colony itself. The surviving Pfhor surrendered to any human they came across, even the unarmed ones.
In the chaos, Durandal seized the Pfhor scoutship for himself. Before leaving with his new S'pht allies, he teleported the Security Officer and an unknown number of colonists into stasis chambers for later usage.
Orbital armageddon[edit]
The Pfhor managed to drop a distress beacon before being completely overtaken by the humans. Reinforcements soon arrived, and the colony was unable to repel the much larger battlegroup.
Leela and Tycho were seized by the Pfhor, and the colony was glassed from orbit. The only known survivors were the colonists in stasis aboard Durandal's ship.[12]
Aftermath[edit]
Contact with the colony was confirmed lost in 2795, with a public announcement of the loss of communications made in 2804. The UESC commissioned Project Goliath to reestablish contact with the colony. In 2888, a message was received from Durandal: "Somewhere in the heavens, they are waiting."[13]
Operations[edit]
Staff[edit]
Initially, the Marathon's crew included:[14][15]
- 50 senior staff
- 1150 officers
- 4800 generational crew
- 24,000 colonists
This does not include BoBs, generational crew who were born-on-board while the Marathon was in transit.
3 shipboard AIs:
8 colony AIs:
And unofficially:
- 10 Mjolnir Battleroids[11]
Facilities[edit]
The Marathon had extensive square-meters of facilities dedicated to the following functions:
- 400,000 m2 shared hydroponics/protein synthesis areas
- 150,000 m2 combined "residential" areas
- 84,000 m2 combined social spaces
- 62,500 m2 exoatmospheric vehicle hangar/maintenance areas
- 41,400 m2 combined EXFAB/ADDMAN shop areas
- 27,000 m2 combined cafeteria/commissary spaces[1]
Known facilities[edit]
- Core Center
- Cryo Archive
- Defense Center[16]
- Engineering Section
- Experimental Vacuum Chamber[17]
- G-4 Sunbathing Landing Station[18]
- Manufacturing Center[19]
- Manufacturing Transport Station
- Port Hangers[20]
- The Rose[21]
- Shuttle Drydock
- Quarantine Center[22]
- Transport Station[16]
- Unidentified regions
Systems[edit]
- Automated Manufacturing System[19]
- Bussard Ramjet[24]
- Colonist hybernation & Active habitats
- Colony Fabricators
- Computer Net[25]
- Front Long-Range Radar & Scanning System
- Infrared sensors[26]
- Long range transmitter array[27]
- 8 Mk 52 GW/n COMRELAR[1]
- Moon Harvesting systems
- 2 Moro SAT/TeleGEAR[1]
- Radar sensors[26]
- 4 Sublight Engines[28]
- 3 Traxus C2M ACRA Fusion Thrusters (LPIR)[1]
- 2 Traxus K1S fusion reactors[1]
- Visual sensors[26]
- Waste Recycling & Purification
Gallery[edit]
An alternate look at the Marathon from the 2023 announcement trailer.
The Marathon as it appears in the reveal cinematic short. Note that it slightly differs from how it was shown in the original 2023 announcement.
Another angle of the colony ship, showing the UESC logo on the side.
The Marathon experiences damage during the 2794 attack.
The Marathon after being attacked.
A closeup digital render of the Marathon.
The message received from the Marathon.
A partially destroyed Marathon over Tau Ceti IV.
The damaged Marathon over Tau Ceti IV.
The Marathon seen from the surface of Tau Ceti IV.
The Project Marathon title.
A row of humans aboard the Marathon in cryo storage.
A map of Cryo Archive.
An isometric view of Control, located at the center of Cryo Archive.
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Classic[edit]
The UESC Marathon as it appeared in the original trilogy.
A maneuvering pod on the Marathon.
A long range transmitter array from the Marathon.
A terminal from the Marathon.
A pattern buffer from the Marathon.
A health recharger from the Marathon.
An oxygen recharger from the Marathon.
A Sub-Zero Cryo Storage Unit from the Marathon.
The panel of a short-range teleporter from the Marathon.
A yellow door from the Marathon.
A blue airlock door from the Marathon.
A circuit board for the Marathon's automated defense system.
An ID card found on the Marathon.
The UESC Marathon's login image.
List of appearances[edit]
This section is a stub. You can help CyberAcme by expanding it.
- Marathon (1994) (First appearance)
- Marathon 2: Durandal
- Marathon (2026)
Notes[edit]
- Dates in the original game were officially retconned by Bungie in the "Lost Network Packets" document. Any dates given are based on that article.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Marathon (2026), Codex, UESC Marathon Model, UESC MARATHON OVERVIEW
- ^ Marathon Manual
- ^ a b Marathon (1994), Couch Fishing, Terminal 2
- ^ a b Marathon: the Lost Network Packets
- ^ Marathon (1994), Bigger Guns Nearby, Terminal 3
- ^ Marathon (1994), The Rose, Terminal 2
- ^ Marathon (1994), Ingue Ferroque, Terminal 3
- ^ Marathon (1994), Blaspheme Quarantine, Terminal 2: 2nd message
- ^ Destiny 2, MIDA Mini-Tool Lore Entry
- ^ Marathon (1994), Marathon Manual, page 6
- ^ a b Marathon (1994), Beware of Low Flying Defense Drones, Terminal 2
- ^ Marathon 2: Durandal, the Final Screen
- ^ Marathon (2026), Opening Cinematic
- ^ Marathon (1994), Marathon Manual, page 15
- ^ Marathon (2025), ARG Document, AI rampancy memo
- ^ a b Marathon (1994), Arrival (chapter), Never Burn Money (level)
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), Cool Fusion (level)
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), Cool Fusion (level)
- ^ a b Marathon (1994), Arrival (chapter), Bigger guns Nearby (level)
- ^ Marathon (1994), Arrival (chapter), Arrival (level)
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), The Rose (level)
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), Blaspheme Quarantine (level)
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), Blaspheme Quarantine (level), Terminal 2: 2nd message
- ^ Marathon (1994), Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap, Terminal 2
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), Couch Fishing (level)
- ^ a b c Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), G4 Sunbathing (level), Terminal 1
- ^ Marathon (1994), Counterattack (chapter), Cool Fusion (level), Terminal 1
- ^ Marathon (2025), Leaked internal Marathon design
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