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Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I
Posted By: Steve LevinsonDate: 5/23/02 5:01 p.m.

OK, folks. Here is my fist stab at a volunteers' effort for the 3rd party scenario, Marithon Rubicon. This review of the first level, Rozinante I, is more to set the background for the scenario than anything. It'll probably be a while before I get to the next level, so feel free to add your own comments. And if you haven't played the game, be sure to play it!

Last thing you knew you were destiny, and now, suddenly, you are aboard the Rozinante, and Durandal’s pawn again. What gives?

Of all the various 3rd party scenarios that have been developed to complement the original Marathon Trilogy developed by Bungie, Marathon Rubicon is arguably the one that most closely hones to the original Marathon plot. This is an amazing feat when one considers the way Bungie left things at the end of Marathon Infinity. Let's take a minute to review how we got where Rubicon begins:

At the end of Marathon 2, you had defeated the Pfhor at Lh’owon and Durandal had rechristened the Khfiva, the ship he captured to replace Boomer, the Rozinante. He planned to head off with his S’pht to explore another ruined world, a companion to a rogue star that had been traversing the galaxy for centuries. He warned you that the Pfhor were deploying the trih xeem and that Lh’owon would soon be riding the shock wave of its exploding star.

What happened next was the basis of Infinity. The detonation of the trih xeem released the W’rcacnter and, suddenly, the very fate of the universe was in question. Not even Durandal could prevent this and it fell upon you to make things right. In the end, you chose an alternate time line in which the events of M2 never happened – at least not the way we remembered them. Instead of going to Lh’owon with Durandal, you were abducted by Tyco and forced into the service of the Pfhor empire. In the end you managed to double cross him, salvaging Durandal’s essence and unifying it with the ancient S’pht AI, Thoth. With the help of the combined Durandal-Thoth entity, you activated the Jjaro space station, Aye Mak Sicur, and contained the nova, preventing the W’rcacnter’s release. In effect, you became a God.

So how in the world did you get from there to here? Did Infinity never happen? As we’ll see later, the authors of Rubicon did include a few references suggesting that Infinity did indeed happen. But what of the ending screen from M2 if that particular time line didn’t occur? Most people would agree that the entirety of Infinity, with the exception of the Infinity final screen, takes place between the M2 level All Roads Lead to Sol and the M2 final screen. The way I tend to see it, after completing M1, you enter a series of time loops, all leading back to the instant of the detonation of the trih xeem. Finally, you find the correct path (or possibly A correct path) that allows the universe to proceed to the history relayed in the final screen of M2. It’s not that M2 never happened, but rather that all time lines happened. This, I believe, is the impression of the Rubicon team as well.

But if you became a God, how did you ever end up being a mere mortal again. And what happened to the Durandal-Thoth entity? Did they get a divorce? From the perspective of Rubicon, it doesn’t really matter, but I think that the answer is found in the final terminal screen of Aye Mak Sicur:

The creature, or creatures S’bhuth fears are either dormant or a myth – we’ve seen nothing to account for his terror.

This doesn’t exactly fit with the reality that you have experienced, surviving multiple releases of the W’rcacnter. In other words, there is an inherent paradox in that, in preventing the W’rcacnter’s release, you erased the events that lead to its release in the first place. So although all time lines happened, the one that survives must not and cannot have any memory of the others. Just what did happen in the ultimate history of time is never revealed in Infinity, nor in Rubicon. The final screen of Aye Mak Sicur goes on to state:

The newly chosen Olders of the remaining S’pht are capturing as many of the Fl’ckta creatures and other native life as is feasible before they must leave with K’lia. They are hopeful, though, and with our help will carve another paradise out of the void. To you, we are deeply grateful, and release what little hold we might, as Durandal, have had on your soul.

It would appear that, in the end, Durandal goes back to being just Durandal, and you go back to being a mortal. And, now, here you are on the Rozinante! Did Durandal have a change of heart? Did you decide to go with him after all? Did you volunteer to be placed in stasis for the near century between M2 and the sacking of the Pfhor system by the combined forces of Earth and the S’pht’Kr in 2881? These things we may never know.

Suffice it to say, Durandal seems to have a strange affinity for humankind – this species that created him and yet imprisoned him. He may have felt a kinship with the S’pht and a desire to help them gain their freedom and to build a new world to replace lost Lh’owon, but he was not willing to abandon humanity, either. When the war between the humans and the Pfhor seemed to be at a crossroads, Durandal decided to step in, and to “enlist” the services of his favorite cyborg.


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Replies:

Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante ISteve Levinson 5/23/02 5:01 p.m.
     At Last, Somebody Do this *NM*REB 5/23/02 9:09 p.m.
     Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I ArchitectureTru7h 5/24/02 11:33 a.m.
           Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I ArchitectureSteve Levinson 5/24/02 12:04 p.m.
                 Ahh... such memories...Boomer 5/24/02 12:32 p.m.
                 Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I ArchitectureTru7h 5/24/02 5:28 p.m.
                       Great that your reviving the Voulenteers -Ernie 5/25/02 10:00 p.m.
                             Thanks - I'll post the next segment in 2 or 3 days *NM*Steve Levinson 5/25/02 11:15 p.m.
                       Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I ArchitectureAndrew Nagy 6/5/02 7:31 p.m.
                             Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I ArchitectureTru7h 6/6/02 1:49 p.m.
                 Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante I ArchitectureAndrew Nagy 6/2/02 7:36 p.m.
     Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante ISteve Levinson 6/25/02 8:50 p.m.
           Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante IInverted Sock Puppet 6/26/02 12:41 a.m.
                 Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante ISteve Levinson 6/26/02 7:39 a.m.
                       Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante IC Lund 6/26/02 3:39 p.m.
                             Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante ITru7h 6/26/02 6:04 p.m.
                                   Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante IInverted Sock Puppet 6/27/02 12:27 a.m.
                             Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante ISean 9/19/02 6:21 p.m.
                                   Well I'll be damnedSteve Levinson 9/19/02 7:59 p.m.
                                         Re: Well I'll be damnedSean 9/19/02 8:39 p.m.
           Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Rozinante IRincewind MoG 6/27/02 12:37 p.m.
                 it looks like an ant biting *NM*Tru7h 6/27/02 12:49 p.m.



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