27: Fallen Empire

The Pfhor invasion of Sol has been recalled, and for now Earth is safe. But man’s respite from war means another cataclysmic battle for the S’pht. The slavers have not suffered a defeat like the one we handed them today since the Nakh, the last extant client race of the Jjaro, rebelled six thousand years ago.

The Pfhor have a weapon they save for slave revolts; a weapon which even they hesitate to use in the ordinary conduct of war. In the language of the Jjaro who conceived and built the device, it is called the trih xeem; a fair English translation would be “early nova.” There is not a single Nakh alive today, and if you look for their stars, you will only find ever-expanding clouds of superheated gas and dust light-years in diameter. The evacuation of Lh’owon has already begun. In a matter of hours this planet will be a thin shell of plasma riding the shockwave of its exploding star. You can stay behind to work on your tan, if you’d like, but I’m leaving.

I have rechristened the Khfiva the Rozinante. Of course, the S’pht wanted to name it K’liah’Narhl, “Vengeance of K’lia.” Whatever. There is much to do in the next few months and our first stop will be another ruined world, this time far from the galactic core. There is a rogue star that has been passing through our galaxy for nearly a millennia. We will meet it in one of the great voids between the spiral arms.

Call me Hypersleep... Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzling November in my soul; whenever I find myself pausing before polygon warehouses, bringing up the rear of every n00b funeral—then I account it high time to get to mapping. But lo! What monomaniacal tempest: since first the white whale Pfhorte breached these waters, man has pursued his obsession with Too Many Polygons, that pale destroyer of framerates and sanity. There now came Captain TK—leagues of wisdom in his countenance—and decreed that no man requires more than 500 polygons, channeling the spirits of God, The Devil, and that mysterious Prophet Jones. Tell me, does not Durandal Done Different fill one with wonder?

I'd like to congratulate you, the player, for making it through this campaign to the end and finding this secret terminal. I'd like to thank RyokoTK for organizing this collaborative effort, which motivated me to get off my butt and start making Marathon maps again after a 25+ year hiatus. I'd like to thank all the other contributors to this project who have made some really amazing levels. I'd like to thank our play testers for providing great feedback that really helped out. See ya starside, Murgen ROoF

Thank you so much for playing our game!! It was fun to make these maps and collaborate on making a cool scenario, but we really just had two major rules to follow to make the best game possible. Rule 1: It doesn't really matter if your map can technically run in the vanilla application so long as it passes the vibe check and is fun. Rule 2: No smoking. Now get out there and hit a home run, slugger!!

Well, I never thought I'd be writing my own dev terminal. Thanks to Ryoko, and all others who contributed to this project. I've mapped off and on for 25+ years, but DDD is the first time anyone will play any. So I guess this was the kick I needed to Officially put out some content. Onto the next one, I guess! Nice to officially be a mapper. Plus my son was born while making Sixty Thousand Leagues, so I'm finally enough of a dad for this dad game. Shoutout Elliot, maybe he'll play this one day. Thanks to you, the player, for playing DDD. See ya starside! --BaudrillardBoy

PLEASE - send help! I don't want to be stuck here on Lh'owon, forced to live out my last moments in this 2.5D wasteland. Unable to look at my own two feet. A F'lickta already pelted me with shit, and it hurt real bad. Like getting hit with rocks. At least it evaporated into nothing right away. But of course the smell’s stuck around. How am I even here? Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? Is it too late to make it to Jason Jones' ship? You think I'm joking? Get me outta here!! -wb | July 1, 2025

There once was a man at Tau Ceti. Whose name we all seem to forgetti. He met the Phfor, left behind Only smoldering slime, And proved Tycho to be just so petty. ...... Sorry for the low effort there. It's been an awesome project to see some of the best creators in the biz make some really slick stuff & to be inspired by it to learn some new skills and make a little something myself. I promise more down the road. --future