Editing Marathon (section)

==Races==

===Humans===

Your standard run-of-the-mill humans, the ones in the game are also known as BOBs, short for Born-on-Board, a derogatory term for those born among the awake crew (the majority were in cold sleep) during Marathon's long journey. Unlike Halo's "Humanity Fuck Yeah!" treatment, here they have an opposite treatment: The 50 year war they wage with the Pfhor? A sideshow. Anything bad that happens to them? Who cares. Anything good that happens to them? Irrelevant to us. The only human we're supposed to care about is our hero, the Security Officer (who turns out to be something way beyond human in the end). The game encourages killing BOBs, not helped by A-BOBs, the Pfhor-made simulacrum suicide bombers that look like regular BOBs, and the Xbox Live port of Marathon 2 has a achievement for killing every single one you encounter.

Their fighting force in-game is represented by:

'''MADD:''' Short for Marathon Automated Defense Drones, these flying, machine gun drones are a critical part of Marathon's defense. Durandal later modified a number of them to carry grenade launchers, but something in their programming made them also attack humans.

'''BOBs:''' In the first game they are helpless, unarmed civilians that run around in panic just asking to catch a stray projectile in a face. The Pfhor captured and put many humans to cold sleep in the first assault on Marathon, and when Durandal hijacked the ship he decided to keep the things as it is. When Durandal arrived to Lh'owon, he woke them up and gave them a choice: Fight for him or return to unreliable cold sleep units. Many reluctantly chose to fight, and were given basic training, were modified with basic cybernetics and armed with accurate if weak magnum pistols.

'''VacBOBs:''' Trained for combat in vacuum, these guys wear basic power armor and are armed with fusion pistols, specifically designed by Durandal to haywire Pfhor electronics.

===Pfhor===

Tall, humanoid, slightly buglike, three-eyed (and sometime more) slavers. They rule an Empire that seen better days, which they build using Jjaro technology, though later circumstances forced them destroy anything Jjaro related.

Their forces consists of:

'''Fighters:''' Imagine a Covenant Grunt that lost a lot of weight, make it tall, give it an extra eye, replace the pistols with a Shock Staff (basically a crystal on a stick that they can swing to create an energy blast for ranged combat) replace the cowardice with hivemind-like obedience that won't allow it to retreat (or early 90' AI limitations if you prefer it that way), and you got a Fighter. They are weak enough to die from a single charging punch to the face, but they try to make up for their weaknesses with sheer numbers.

'''Troopers:''' Basically a Fighter donned in the armor for fighting in vacuum and armed with a equivalent of a Assault Rifle/Grenade Launcher combo. Only slightly less numerous than the Fighters.

'''Wasps:''' Flying bugs that are dangerous in large numbers. Replaced in later games by...

'''Drones:''' A cheap flying mechanical combat drone that is more a nuisance that a threat, and can be hacked to fight against their former masters.

'''Lookers:''' Large beetle-like bugs that explode upon contact. Some breeds are can turn nearly invisible.

'''A-BOBs:''' The latest from Pfhor's "Ministry for the Eradication Through Imitation of Hostile Species Unsuitable for Enslavement", the A-BOBs are simulacrums that serve as suicide bombers, and are nearly indistinguishable from a real human unless one knows where to look, which is a moot point since they have to up close to check the telltale signs, and anyone that lets a simulacrum to get close has screwed up, if not already flying in multiple directions in separate pieces. Otherwise, keep the ears open for strange gibberish, like "Frog blast the vent core!".

'''Hulks:''' Halo fans may recognize them as Sharqui. Here they are known as the Drinniol, and are much smaller, but still dwarf over humans and Pfhor alike. They are naturally peaceful creatures (except when it comes to Nebulons), and thus were enslaved by the Pfhor without much trouble, and used for manual labor and as large meatshields in combat. Despite their gentle nature, they are the reason that the Pfhor Empire is in decline: Long ago, someone decided to implant Jjaro cybernetics into a Drinniol. Details are scarce, but what is known is that the act started the largest slave revolt in Pfhor history, and that their Empire was in slow decline since then. Replaced in the later games by...

'''Tank Cyborgs:''' Faceless metallic humanoid upper bodies connected to tank threads with guns for hands, they are a result of Pfhor experiments on captured Tau Ceti colonists. Their role is to be a bullet sponge that can fire back, with their weaponry consisting of flamethrowers, machine guns and a semi-homing grenade launchers. There is also a giant Monstrous Creature variant known as the Mother of All Tank Cyborgs.

'''Hunters:''' Heavily-modified Pfhor donned in heavy power armor and armed with powerful plasma shoulder cannons, these guys are Pfhor Empire's elite soldiers. While they inspired the looks of Halo's Hunters, in combat they are more comparable to Elites (though the giant dual bosses variant near the end of third game might have been a more direct inspiration). There is also a giant Monstrous Creature variant known as the Mother of All Hunters.

'''Enforcers:''' Pfhor [[Commissar]]s, there to execute the will of the High Command while executing those who don't follow their orders well enough (not for disobeying, but for not doing them perfectly). In the first game they wielded long-ranged auto-rifles, while in the sequels they donned pimping cloaks and replaced their guns with burning plasma guns that can fire both straight and diagonally.

'''Juggernauts:''' Officially designated as an Utfoo Heavy Assault Craft, unofficially known as a Big Floaty Thing That Kicks Your Ass. Armed with dual plasma cannons and multiple missile launchers, these babies are the Super Heavy Flying Monstrous Creatures of the Pfhor army. They also blow up like a tactical nuke when they crash, so run the moment you hear the beep-beep that signals their fall.

===S'pht===

A long time ago, when the Jjaro arrived to Lh'owon, they uplifted the local fauna and modified them to be their servants. When the last of Jjaro died, he left a race of floating cyber-brains with a shared consciousness. Despite that, they split into eleven clans, and they warred with each other. This state of affairs deeply disgusted the eleventh clan, the S'pth'Kr, and they choose to leave Lh'owon on their dimension traveling moon, leaving behind a riddle as the only clue on how to contact them that can only be solved if all clans unite. That unity came when the Pfhor invaded, and while the elders solved the riddle, they had no means to put the information to use, and so they starved to death in their Citadel instead of submitting to the slavers. The clans were shattered, the S'pht brainwashed to serve the Pfhor as computer engineers and hackers, with the legend of the saviors from the eleventh clan floating in their shared consciousness.

'''Compilers:''' Outwardly resembling legless cloaked humanoids, these S'pth are used by Pfhor for mental labor, and are armed with homing plasma cannon in their "chest" area when used in combat. Some are equipped with invisibility devices.

'''Defenders:''' The S'pht'kr Elite Guard, they wear advanced flying, shielded power armor with automatic plasma cannons, and are capable of annihilating all but the toughest opposition in no time.

'''F'lickta:''' Imagine a reptilian, headless yeti with a huge vertical mouth (which leads to their wombs) taking almost the entire upper body, and you will be right on the mark. These are the S'pht animal ancestors, used in the old days by S'pht as janitors due to their physiology absorbing any outside organic material.