Eternal

From Traxus

Eternal is a scenario for Aleph One which continues the story of the Marathon trilogy. It is a nearly total conversion, featuring all new levels, textures, weapons, music, and interface, and several new creatures and characters, alongside the complete cast from the original trilogy and several familiar locations.

Eternal is the oldest and longest-in-development scenario in Marathon history, having begun development in 1996 immediately upon the release of Marathon Infinity. Known originally as "Forever More", the project continued haphazardly for the next four years until going dormant in the year 2000. Four years later, in June of 2004, the project was to be abandoned as scrap, but due to popular support development was instead resumed. The first playable version of Eternal, "Mark I", consisting of only the first chapter, was released on July 25th, 2004; the 790th pre-anniversary of the attack on the Marathon.

Over the next 26 weeks, four more "Marks" were released, each completing the next chapter in the game and improving upon the previous materials, culminating in the release of Eternal Mark V on Marathon's 10th anniversary, December 21st, 2004. Eternal Mark V received over ten thousand downloads before going offline, but it was always merely the penultimate release. Originally scheduled to follow soon thereafter was the completed release, "Eternal X", which would put the final polish on the scenario. But that project took on a life of its own, wholly revising much of what had already been developed for Eternal Mark V, and it would not be until February 2008 that Eternal X finally saw public release.

Contents 1 Storyline 2 Levels 3 Weapons 4 External links

Storyline

Picking up from the end of the Marathon trilogy, you find yourself suddenly ninety-four years in the future, in the year 2905. You are on the S'pht moon K'lia, hanging in orbit over a desolate and ruined Earth. Clearly all is not well with this future, and once again you are the last hope for mankind. The people of this time say that nobody really won in the war with the Pfhor; but now, thanks to recovered Jjaro technology, a plan has been devised to make things right. Paired with another sort of hybrid creature, the former Battleroid known as Hathor, you have been selected to venture back across time, one hundred and eleven years in the past to the UESC Marathon. There, you and Hathor are to set in motion a plan that will alter the course of history and bring true victory to mankind. But things don't always go according to plan, and what begins as a mission to right history turns into an epic pursuit which spans not only the stars but also the centuries...

Eternal features five chapters set in five very different times and places within the Marathon universe. They are:

• Chapter I: Memory, set aboard the UESC Marathon during the initial Pfhor attacks in the year 2794 A.D.
• Chapter II: Enemy, set on and around a Pfhor colony during the last days of the Pfhor war in the year 2881 A.D.
• Chapter III: Prophecy, set on Lh'owon during the S'pht Clan Wars in the year 811 A.D., and during the Pfhor conquest of Lh'owon in the year 1811 A.D.
• Chapter IV: Legacy, set near an abandoned Jjaro mining colony approximately 12,000 years ago.
• Chapter V: Antiquity, set in an ancient Jjaro facility over 65 million years ago.

Levels

Prologue: "Destiny"

• The Far Side Of Nowhere

Chapter I: "Memory"

Intro

• Deja Vu All Over Again
• Septococcal Pfhoryngitis
• Dysmentria
• Sakhmet Rising

Failure

• Unwired
• Roots and Radicals
• The Tangent Universe

Success

• Core Done Blew
• Heart of Fusion
• To Sleep Perchance To Dream

Chapter II: "Enemy"

Intro

• Hysterical Womb
• A Friend In Need
• Unlucky Pfhor Some
• Unpfhorseen

Failure

• May The Pfharce Be With You
• Pissing On The Corporation
• The Living Receiver

Success

• My Kingdom Pfhor A Horse
• Burning Down The Corporation
• The World Is Hollow

Chapter III: "Prophecy"

Intro

• S'pht'ia
• Let Sleeping Gods Die
• She Is The Dark One
• S'pht Happens

Failure

• Eat S'pht And Die
• Flames of Icarus
• The Manipulated Dead

Success

• Second To Last Of The Mohicans
• Forever My Greatest And Only Love
• The Land In The Sky

Chapter IV: "Legacy"

Intro

• Pfhor Får Lamm
• The Incredible Hulk
• Babylon X
• Dread Not

Failure

• Bug-Eyed In Space
• Run, Coward!
• The Ensurance Trap

Success

• Once More Unto The Breach
• Genie In A Bottle
• Floating In The Void

Chapter V: "Antiquity"

Intro

• Echoes of Eden
• The Dead Live in the Catacombs
• Not A Natural Formation
• Deep Into The Grotto

Failure

• Frog Blast The Vent Core
• I've Got A Bad Feeling About This
• The Philosophy Of Time Travel

Success

• This Message Will Self Destruct
• We Met Once In The Garden
• Where Giants Have Fallen

Epilogue: "Destiny"

• The Near Side Of Everywhere

Weapons

Eternal features the following weapons:

• Cronus-class Fusion Pistols, like the Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol but double fisted and without a charging mechanism.
• Ouranos-class Fusion Cannon, automatic fusion cannon with charging mechanism.
• Aggregate-Issue Shock Staff, the staff weapon carried by Pfhor Fighters with melee and ranged attack functions.
• Aggregate-Issue Havok Rifle, the rifle carried by Pfhor Troopers, superior to the assault rifle in the original Marathon Trilogy in that it is vacuum capable.
• Willful-Issue Scatter Rifle a.k.a.S-rifle, the weapon which was carried by Pfhor Enforcers in the original Marathon, it fires automatic high velocity pulses and has a shotgun-like secondary function.
• Willful-Issue Napalm Cannon a.k.a. N-cannon, the weapon which was carried by Pfhor Enforcers in Marathon 2 and Infinity, which fires flame bursts.
• Wave Motion Cannon, a powerful ranged weapon of Jjaro origin.
• Gravitronic Blades, powerful melee weapons of Jjaro origin.

Earlier versions of Eternal (Marks I - V) featured the S'pht Orb Device in place of the Gravitronic Blades.

External links

• Eternal's website