The Orphanage takes in abandoned material from Marathon & Aleph One in the hope that it will either grow to maturity under another name or that individual pieces can be incorporated into other scenarios.
Many projects are begun, the authors minds set on goals ranging from humble single-level maps to glorious scenarios surpassing Bungie's efforts. Sadly many, if not most, bite the dust, the effort required for maintaining any project being strenuous. While they develop, however, a substantial amount of usable material can be created (textures, sounds, plots etc.) that should not simply disappear into oblivion. The Orphanage is the official scrap-heap for partially-completed projects, a source of adoptable materials that can be utilised to bring other projects to maturity. Here they are for consumption.
Purpose of the Orphanage
![the orphanage curator]()
The Orphanage takes in abandoned material from Marathon & Aleph One in the hope that it will either grow to maturity under another name or that individual pieces can be incorporated into other scenarios.
Many projects are begun, the authors minds set on goals ranging from humble single-level maps to glorious scenarios surpassing Bungie's efforts. Sadly many, if not most, bite the dust, the effort required for maintaining any project being strenuous. While they develop, however, a substantial amount of usable material can be created (textures, sounds, plots etc.) that should not simply disappear into oblivion. The Orphanage is the official scrap-heap for partially-completed projects, a source of adoptable materials that can be utilised to bring other projects to maturity.
As Aleph One (Marathon Open Source) has grown it has raised the quality of materials that can be used. Textures now have higher resolutions using png or dds formats instead of the original gif. Lua and MML scripts have been incorporated to modify the characteristics of individual games. 3D objects are now possible. Scenarios such as Rubicon and Tempus Irae have been revamped to take advantage of these changes. It is to be hoped that materials in the new formats & qualities will become accessible here.
All the material here is stored here is on site. If a link doesn't work it's an error in my coding. Quick solution is to be imaginative in the ftp address (check similar material - I've probably missed a directory name or made a typo) or the slow way is emailing me.
Content Transfer to Fileball
Bad News: the new Fileball site below is now off-line indefinitely and probably for good. I would suggest that anyone seeking old maps ask members on the Pfhorums. This doesn't affect the content of this site.
The Fileball Archives have reopened and offer ready upload & download access for Marathon & Aleph One-related files. Much of the Lh'owon Ar'kives material has been transferred there and can be found under the Fileball.net directory. To try to ensure a central location for material searches, the contents of the Orphanage have also been copied and can be found in the Scrapdirectory. Anyone wishing to contribute to the Orphanage can now do so with a direct upload to the Fileball website. The contents of this website will remain online indefinitely and donations will continue to be accepted and made available both here and in Scrap.
Occasionally the Fileball site is off-line with a periodic server problem. The original Lh'owon Ar'kives material can be obtained here by a slow ftp link.
New Additions
Apotheosis
Apotheosis used custom textures & monsters and was almost completed and was lacking only the finishing touches for a scenario, but was overtaken by the introduction of Aleph One hi-res textures. Since revamping would have been too time-consuming for the author it's now here for someone else to finish or cannabilise.
Where Monsters Are In Dreams
WMAID is still in development but Bad Man has released a weapon that won't be used. If someone wants to make use of a Fission Minegun (within Marathon) the physics & images are available. Both WMAID and Marathon: Infested are till active projects.
Marathon & Beyond
Regrettably Marathon and Beyond has bitten the dust, the material on the Big House site being the only surviving files. A copy of the demo is now available here.
Marathon: Red and Marathon: Destiny
Both Marathon: Red and Marathon: Destiny have the gone the same way.
Marathon: Infested
The good news is that Infested and Where Monsters Are In Dreams are both still alive and growing.
Marathon: Bloodlust
Dean Dunakin has donated the artwork side of Bloodlust, including new aliens & weaponry, chapter screens and storyline. There is all or most of the material needed to create a Kfahr alien, SMG Bob and an energy handgrenade.
A bonus for this donation was the storyline for Marathon Ares Research Station (M.A.R.S.) a scenario sketched out but which never progressed to map building.
