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| Marathon 2: Durandal | |
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Developer(s): |
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Publisher(s): |
Bungie |
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Platform(s): |
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Release date(s): |
November 24th, 1995 (Macintosh) |
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Other release(s): |
Super Marathon |
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Genre(s): |
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Mode(s): |
Singleplayer, multiplayer |
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Rating(s): |
ESRB: Mature (M) for Animated Blood, Blood and Gore, and Violence |
Plot[edit]
In 2811, Durandal arrived at Lh'owon in Narhl'Lar to look for any piece of technology made by the S'pht he could use stop the Pfhor's conquest of the galaxy. Mjolner Recon number 54 was sent down initially to begin gaining access to the Pfhor computer network. At the same time, Durandal began bombarding the Pfhor outpost from orbit. This caused issues with the Pfhor's water purification systems. The notion that Pfhor were there at all caused Durandal to suspect involvement by Tycho. Durandal even admits, this time less cryptically, that he was the one that called the Pfhor to Tau Ceti in order to gain freedom from the Marathon's limited systems during his rampancy. He informed MR54 that the Pfhor returned to Tau Ceti and destroyed the rest of the colony and claimed responsibility for the death of all 24,000 colonists. He also claimed that this technically bought Earth time due to distracting the Pfhor with a war with the S'pht. The S'pht were working to improve much of the weaponry MIDA stashed on the Marathon.
Durandal came across a myth about the S'pht'Kr, an alleged 11th clan that left the planet long ago as survivors of the S'pht-Pfhor war. He began to search Lh'owon for true evidence of their existence and a way to contact thing, assuming that their technology had improved drastically over the last thousand years. While Durandal had hoped the Pfhor had more information, having been stationed there for 15 years, unfortunately being sent here was being used as punishment rather than research. MR54 was able to find ancient records of the original war on Lh'owon between the Pfhor and S'pht, but nothing useful about the 11th S'pht clan.
Durandal soon recalls MR54 from research to aid in the garrison against the Pfhor. Durandal's initial attack failed because the Pfhor were able to make use of a lava pumping station. Durandal had MR54 bury the control center itself in lava. During the destruction of the control center, Durandal finally came in contact with Tycho who informed him that Leela had been dismantled and shipped to the Pfhor homeworld for study. To further his attack on the Pfhor garrison, Durandal sent MR54 to attempt to quickly and efficiently disable defenses surrounding a fort he wished to take. MR54 finds a note left for him by F'tha. He requests that MR54 free the S'pht hive-mind so that the ones on Lh'owon may also rebel against the Pfhor. MR54 is the sent to aid the humans sent to take over their would be command center. MR54 managed to open a set of doors allowing heavy machinery to be landed by shuttle. While doing so, Thoth attempted contact with MR54, but his message was, as all messages from Thoth were, highly cryptic.
Durandal continued scrouging the Pfhor network by sending MR54 in to insert a virus into the Pfhor drone network. This had limited success at converting some Pfhor drones to Durdandal's side. He then sent MR54 to search more locations for information, but ultimately realized that searching the Pfhor network was futile and turned his attention on the S'pht computers detailing information about the old war. Specifically he sent MR54 to the S'pht Citadel of Antiquity. Durandal hoped that in the last moments of the war, the S'pht had discovered something of use. While MR54 attempted to make his way inside, Durandal came to realize that Pfhor Battle Group 7 was in route to Lh'owon. Searching the tower did not yield results, so MR54 was teleported by Durandal to an old bunker beneath the tower. It was there that the last of the S'pht, huddled together, were finally defeated. While MR54 was searching the bunker, Durandal found it was Admiral Tfear's battle ship, Khfiva, that was leading the charge against him. MR54 managed to find information about the S'pht'Kr, but not how to reach them. In a desperate bid, Durandal sent MR54 even lower to a final secret chamber under the bunker under the citadel.
MR54 finally found the old S'pht creation myth about how Yrro and Pthia, two Jjarro, came to Lh'owon and made the S'pht as well as the myth about the W'rkncacnter, a chaos demon that killed Pthia and flung Yrro into rage and dispair. Amongst the record was a riddle about where the S'pht'Kr went and how to bring them back. Unfortunately, Durandal's ship was crippled and crashed into Lh'owow's second moon. Durandal lamented that even though he finally had the answer, he would likely not be able to use it. He brought MR54 to attempt to handle the Pfhor invasion, but it slowly became clear that it was a hopeless battle. Tycho attempted to convince MR54 to surrender. Tycho even ranted about how his existence on the Marathon was unsatisfactory and that was his motivation to join the Pfhor. Durandal was coordinating an evacuation while attempting to hold off the Pfhor. These efforts were hindered when Tycho started messing with Durandal's teleportation network, causing MR54 to be sent to an abandoned and unimportant section of Narhl'Lar.
Realizing that there was nothing more to be done, Durandal demanded that MR54 kill him so that he could not be captured and the to go find Robert Blake. This didn't work; the Pfhor downloaded him to a specialized containment device before MR54 could take him offline. MR54 was also captured and thrown into a Pfhor prison.
One month later, Robert Blake and his men managed to rescue MR54, realizing how valuable of an asset the Battleroid was. Blake and his men managed to hide out in a secret area where the S'pht had released the S'ct'lac'tr, a virus that specifically kills Pfhor. Durandal's instructions to Blake were to reactivate Thoth. Blake sent MR54 to begin reactivating Thoth's various systems. Inexplicably, Blake's base was invaded by Pfhor and MR54 was momentarily recalled to exterminate the Pfhor invaders. The Pfhor once again used the simulacrums they had used on the Marathon. MR54 was informed he must not only deal with the Pfhor, but also destroy all the simulacrums. Before sending MR54 back to continue reactivating Thoth, Blake made MR54 aware that he was planning to steal a Pfhor ship to return to Earth and that MR54 was welcome to join him.
Eventually, the Pfhor became wise to the plan to reactivate Thoth and started sending Pfhor troops to ambush Blake's men and MR54. In spite of this MR54 was successful in reactivating more of the ancient S'pht AI's systems. It was at this time Durandal revealed he was still alive and attempted to warn MR54 that Thoth was not concerned with winning, but with balance. MR54 was soon after able to reactivate Thoth, who immediately attempted to save the humans from destruction while also contemplating the situation he was awoken to a thousand years after his last existence. Thoth sends MR54 to rescue the humans while delivering cryptic messages about the create S'pht cycle, promising that the 11th clan will return and charges MR54 with keeping the Pfhor far from Lh'owon.
The S'pht'Kr returned to Lh'owon with a vengeance. Thoth caused the missing moon they inhabited to be warped back to Lh'owon. The S'pht'Kr immediately started battle with the Pfhor and aiding the humans. The suddenly returning moon caused Tycho's ship to crash and Durandal wrote his epitaph into the surface: "The just fate of fools." Realizing Durandal had returned, Blake made good on his plans to steal a Phfor ship and leave before Durandal could use them as fodder again. Durandal let them go, likely since he had a much more powerful army. With the S'pht'kr and MR54, Durandal eradicated the Pfhor off Lh'owon, forcing them into a full retreat. Durandal captured the Khfiva and the S'pht renamed it K'liah'Narhl. With a full battleship under his control, Durandal made ready to make good on his attempt to finally stop and thus escape the closure of the universe.
Unfortunately, the Pfhor, unwilling to yield Lh'owon, sought to totally destroy the entire solar system. The used the trih xeem (early nova device) on the sun, causing it to explode and unwittingly release the W'rkncacnter within.
Gameplay[edit]
Appearances[edit]
CharactersSpeciesOrganizationsLocation |
VehiclesEquipment and technologyWeaponsMiscellaneous |
Features[edit]
Gallery[edit]
| Preceded by Marathon (1994) |
Marathon 2: Durandal | Succeeded by Marathon Infinity |
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