The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Rochester]

Based on the various insights given in this thread over the years, I suspect that there is a strong indication the core of FD was not actually interested in the IP of Holdstock.

Holdstocks book The Dark Wheel was certainly originally a tie in, but his mythology and characters etc were developed totally separately.

I get the strong suspicion that anything related to that book is NOT directly cannon, and probably was only included in ED reverently, by Brookes, I suspect it is reflected only by name or allegory and originally was not intended as a key narrative aspect.

For instance, the Lost Realms zone, is obviously highlighted in the Codex, but it is a large area of systems named after mythical locations utilised by Holdstock, you will not understand this conglomeration of Edens, unless you’ve read Holdstocks books, hence an Easter Egg.

I suspect that zone was introduced under the nose of the core of FD, its description in the Codex an attempt to either point us there (for an unknown reason or narrative) or it’s key to understand the location of Raxxla directly.

I think the problem is; we the audience see Raxxla as a key part of the narrative, I don’t believe the core of FD shared that perspective. I think originally it was a reverential Easter egg, nothing more and it’s blown up into something that contingent hadn’t expected.

So the existence of any original or complex system or mechanism not linked to the removed DW story, I suspect is doubtful.

I do believe post-codex, FD has embraced Raxxla as a larger esoteric mystery, I do believe it is now part of a larger ‘environmental storytelling’ aspect, but originally it wasn’t, at least not at the bequest nor interest of the core of FD.

I postulate that any ‘hints’ in game are going to be very vague, very weird and more akin to the statement that Raxxla is a state of ‘cosmic enlightenment’.

I believe Brookes wrote the Codex, he also wrote all the Gen ship stories, and he probably seeded (indirectly) various nods and winks towards a very large cosmological construct, that Raxxla is tied to directly, a concept which is vast. But ultimately not the official core narrative.

It will have a physical location, but our focus has to be much ‘wider.

I think we are still very close.

 

[Louis Calvert]

First thing I thought of when seeing your new graphic - the Mayan hieroglyphs

Going down a deeper rabbit hole:
The macaw and quetzal were important figures in Mayan culture.

The graphic also resembles some headdresses depicted in Mayan art or the partial profile of a Mayan's face with a headdress.
Incidentally the Rhea (aka. ñandú guazu) is a flightless bird of South America.

Tangentially, the codex refers to myths like El Dorado and Prester John. That got me thinking about the ancient Muisca people. Like the El Dorado wiki explains, the account of an appointment of a new ruler with a ceremony of discarding gold items into Lake Guatavita seems similar to Prester John ruling a kingdom of "riches, marvels and strange creatures".

The spanish Quest of El Dorado poem talks about "An alien Indian, hailing from afar," which, given their terms for foreign ethnicities, could be a link in the codex with Prester John, who was also a king of the east (ie. a foreign / distant land). This also shares a link with an unfortunate European interpretation of Atlantis being related to Mayan culture.

Despite the dark discriminatory implications, if you look at these myths, they all seem to derive from a colonial perspective of yearning to find a more advanced / prosperous / glorious ancient progenitor culture that came before current "lesser" cultures.

Perhaps it is symbolic of what Raxxla could be? You could infer that Raxxla is the most advanced element of ED, and if it is unique from all the alien races we know of, then it would fit with the idea of a progenitor civilisation.

That image you posted there of the two birds is extremely similar in style. The 'flat' rendering, the curls and complex geometries - very, very close.

I'm unsure if the style itself is meaningful at this point (everything has to be something), but interesting info, thanks.

"Raxxla is a definite place, and that it holds a mystical secret."

 

[Han_Zen]

Were you checking in the system or around the system? I believe the exact distance was 3,155,760 ls from the Tionisla graveyard. Although the only thing at the spot of the graveyard is the Curious partially decrypted beacon POI. I'm not sure which direction to go from it!

I've been flying around. All we have on the distance is: "At 0.1 light years from Tionisla he (Rafe) was safe from detection".

The graveyard orbits Tionisla every 234.8 days (same as New Caledonia). Anything as far out as 0.1 ly could stand basically still, if they wanted. I don't think Rafe would spend fuel to stay at a constant distance from the Graveyard.

 

[Han_Zen]

I believe Brookes wrote the Codex, he also wrote all the Gen ship stories, and he probably seeded (indirectly) various nods and winks towards a very large cosmological construct, that Raxxla is tied to directly, a concept which is vast. But ultimately not the official core narrative.

I think you might overestimate MBs contribution. He left ED for the dinosaur game in 2017, long before he left FD . He did of course partake and lead in the development of the initial background for ED. Those early text may well have been used later, in the codex and in other stories.
We know MB had the idea for Powerplay and lead the so called 'Retcon'. After that, I think it difficult to pin anything directly on him.

ED is just a computer program. New executive producers would have the same knowledge as MB had.

 

[Emperor]

I finally got one! WOOP WOOP! 8 days of patience, going to space jail and one Mexican cruise I finally got it! I've picked up a bunch of Guardian artefacts and now I'm hunting for a few Thargoid items. I picked up Trinkets of Unknown Fortune and scrapped the hunt for AI Relics.
Before I bring the FC out to the Landscape Signal, are there any more recommendations for items to bring out? Just a reminder, I'm bringing items out to see if traversing the systems around the L. Signal with said items will trigger an event.

SAP8...Solo it with cargo hatch limpets?
And any tips as it's rising up the list for things I need to try as no one has sold one to my fleet carrier so far

One thing I want to try is hanging out in some systems and see who comes sniffing for the cargo and see if it's more than just pirates.... If the DW finds you and you can't find them it might trigger something...

Oh and where did you get the trinkets from... Want to carry some of those too!

 

[D7]

I've been flying around. All we have on the distance is: "At 0.1 light years from Tionisla he (Rafe) was safe from detection".

The graveyard orbits Tionisla every 234.8 days (same as New Caledonia). Anything as far out as 0.1 ly could stand basically still, if they wanted. I don't think Rafe would spend fuel to stay at a constant distance from the Graveyard.

Also - DW Page 23: "Besides, wherever we're going, we're only going a tenth of an LY. And that's basically safe (RE the safety of witch jumps at that time)."

Wait, where did you find that "The graveyard orbits Tionisla every 234.8 days"?? do you know where the graveyard is?

 

[Han_Zen]

Also - DW Page 23: "Besides, wherever we're going, we're only going a tenth of an LY. And that's basically safe (RE the safety of witch jumps at that time)."

Wait, where did you find that "The graveyard orbits Tionisla every 234.8 days"?? do you know where the graveyard is?

"The the cemetery is always between the planet and its star" . This means it has the same orbit time as the planet. It probably sits in the Lagrange point (L1).

 

[ajg007]

"The the cemetery is always between the planet and its star" . This means it has the same orbit time as the planet. It probably sits in the Lagrange point (L1).

Without going back in game as can't right now, I'm positive the 'Curious Transmission Partially Decoded' POI beacon, in Tionisla when scanned, claims that the actual beacon is on the original site.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

"The the cemetery is always between the planet and its star" . This means it has the same orbit time as the planet. It probably sits in the Lagrange point (L1).

If anyone did want to look there for it, that should be possible to check in principle. Given the relative masses, the L1 point should be just over 1% of the Tionisla - New Caledonia distance away from New Caledonia, or around 3.3 Ls away. It's hard to be more precise than that because the masses are only recorded to fairly low precision, and keeping an exact course between the planet and the star would be tricky too.

In theory there could be a hidden POI there - like the Pareco comet - which doesn't show on FSS and is only detectable by getting within 1000km so you're in its frame of reference. If so, actually finding it would require extremely careful flying.

 

[Mecrutio]

SAP8...Solo it with cargo hatch limpets?
And any tips as it's rising up the list for things I need to try as no one has sold one to my fleet carrier so far

Yes, solo with hatch breakers. Wait in supercruise at systems in a state of civil war or civil unrest and look for "Military Courier Vessel" in the contacts. My ship is a fully engineered Cutter with 8A prismatic shield. (8A Bi-weave with a quick charge engineering is probably better) Turret Beam Lasers/Pulse Lasers on all hardpoints and a 5C Hatch breaker controller with a collector limpet controller. Finally, a fighter hanger with a close to elite pilot.

1 - Don't kill anyone. Should you not have any success, run away. A 200 cred. fine turns into a 5000+ bounty and eventually, notoriety.
2 - Don't interdict. All transports eventually low wake somewhere and "await further orders". Just jump into the low wake.
3 - Wait for yours. Most of these couriers are in wings, some are not. Try to use the pilot in a fighter to take on the small defense ship.
4 - The 5C Hatch Breaker is important as it allowed me to overwhelm the point defenses.
5 - A LARGE helping of patience.

My trick is kinda cheap, but it fell into my lap. For me, the Corvette was the best to pirate. I wanted to follow it to an Anarchy System so that no Security Forces would join the frey. After 45 min. I felt that it was too long and nothing was going to happen so I attacked. Before this however, I had the Point Defenses targeted and I noticed that it was decreasing in strength for what ever reason. (Mine did not) At the moment of attack, 1 of the 3 point defenses was down to 67%, 2 of 3 at 85%. I believe this gave me an edge as the lasers could not get precise enough to pin point any targeted point defenses.

So do the attack run, once their shields are down to zero stop the attack and spam hatch breaker limpets. (The closer proximity the better.) Eventually they break thru and a message will pop up saying resources siphoned. Check the contacts to see if what you want was removed. If not, rinse and repeat the hatch breaker spam/check contacts. Once what you want is out, use limpets to collect it then get out of there. Screw the fighter. (It's virtually controlled from the mother ship so no loss of life.)

Trinkets were found on "Random Adders". The first one I found had them so I can't verify if it's random.

Good Luck!

 

[D7]

"The the cemetery is always between the planet and its star" . This means it has the same orbit time as the planet. It probably sits in the Lagrange point (L1).

"The the cemetery is always between the planet and its star" . This means it has the same orbit time as the planet. It probably sits in the Lagrange point (L1).

Aha- Ok that makes sense. So, the L1 Lagrange point is 3.64 Ls from the surface of New Caledoinia by my calculations. That may in fact be the distance of the POI id have to check. That seems to settle the Graveyard location!! Thanks for the input.

 

[D7]

If anyone did want to look there for it, that should be possible to check in principle. Given the relative masses, the L1 point should be just over 1% of the Tionisla - New Caledonia distance away from New Caledonia, or around 3.3 Ls away. It's hard to be more precise than that because the masses are only recorded to fairly low precision, and keeping an exact course between the planet and the star would be tricky too.

In theory there could be a hidden POI there - like the Pareco comet - which doesn't show on FSS and is only detectable by getting within 1000km so you're in its frame of reference. If so, actually finding it would require extremely careful flying.

"and keeping an exact course between the planet and the star would be tricky too"
Why tricky? fly from Tionisla orbit pointed directly at the sun and go about 3.64 Ls from New Caledonia's surface...

 

[Louis Calvert]

... That may in fact be the distance of the POI id have to check.

It is.
Galnet 1: 1 Oct 3302
Galnet 2: 2 Dec 3302

"A small group of EM-transmission technology enthusiasts in the Tionisla system claims to have partially decoded the encrypted message transmitted from the Tionisla Orbital Graveyard by an antique Cobra Mk III a few months ago."

Note: the Graveyard is much more an homage to Drew Wagar than it is to TDW novella. The Graveyard is only present is the narrative, not in the physical reality of the game. Or, you might want to imagine that the Tionisla authorities don't want people messing it up, so our nav systems can't 'see it', the closest we can get is that beacon (presumably on the edge of the Graveyard proper, relaying the message from the Cobra...).

 

[Ian Doncaster]

"and keeping an exact course between the planet and the star would be tricky too"
Why tricky? fly from Tionisla orbit pointed directly at the sun and go about 3.64 Ls from New Caledonia's surface...

Tricky because you're trying to hit something 1000km in radius at a distance of 3.6 Ls (~1,000,000km), and really need to hit the inner part of that to actually stand much chance of seeing it as a POI before you flip out again. The planet has a radius of just over 6000km, the star has a radius considerably larger than that, so figuring out where the cylinder you need to fly down is to sufficient precision is not going to be easy: you'll need to line up with sub-pixel accuracy.

The exact distance measure is imprecise because we don't know the planet or star mass exactly, plus the orbit isn't perfectly circular, so the search area for that 1000km radius is probably around 50,000 km long given the imprecision

And, of course, everything is orbiting ... so your target is itself moving sideways at around 30km/s relative to where that straight-line course was when you departed, so even if you did line up perfectly when you set off, you'll miss completely if it takes you more than about 30 seconds to get there (but if you're travelling that fast, you've got a good chance of skipping right over the zone without seeing it, because you'll pass through it in about 1/20th second even if you hit dead centre)

 

[D7]

Tricky because you're trying to hit something 1000km in radius at a distance of 3.6 Ls (~1,000,000km), and really need to hit the inner part of that to actually stand much chance of seeing it as a POI before you flip out again. The planet has a radius of just over 6000km, the star has a radius considerably larger than that, so figuring out where the cylinder you need to fly down is to sufficient precision is not going to be easy: you'll need to line up with sub-pixel accuracy.

The exact distance measure is imprecise because we don't know the planet or star mass exactly, plus the orbit isn't perfectly circular, so the search area for that 1000km radius is probably around 50,000 km long given the imprecision

And, of course, everything is orbiting ... so your target is itself moving sideways at around 30km/s relative to where that straight-line course was when you departed, so even if you did line up perfectly when you set off, you'll miss completely if it takes you more than about 30 seconds to get there (but if you're travelling that fast, you've got a good chance of skipping right over the zone without seeing it, because you'll pass through it in about 1/20th second even if you hit dead centre)

I see... I get that the target is very small and I suppose you are assuming that you have to fall out of SC in just the right spot because you could only see the graveyard after leaving SC. That seems reasonable - is that your assumption?

Now, I am not really trying to find the graveyard that accurately. I just want to be in reasonably close proximity as a point of origin to fly in a targeted direction that might be in the direction of Rafe's Anaconda 0.1 LY away. I think it would be essentially impossible to land on that spot by falling out SC dead on the target (his Conda home) which would be even smaller than the graveyard - by a long shot. But, I also have to assume that Rafe would have had that same concern so he likely had a reasonably short range beacon at his home so he can find it himself. Short range because his whole thought process was to stay undetected from (presumably) the DW or other bad actors he ticked off over his life. Therefore, if you get in the general area of his Anaconda you should be able to pick up a beacon on your radar or contacts - while in SC. Otherwise it is hopeless trying to find that position - if ED even put anything there.

RE: "...so your target is itself moving sideways at around 30km/s relative to where that straight-line course was..."
I'm not sure the actual game mechanics work in that real-life manner. If you are at New Caledonia and you set your sight bead on the sun in SC you fly to the sun without the reticle really showing any drift at all toward the sun or back toward the planet.

 

[Bushido Brown]

Space... Is big.

 

[Rock Hermit]

Haven't been on for a looong but didn't the graveyard point us the the Formidine Rift? Wasn't that solved when the Zurha(or something like that) was found?

 

[Han_Zen]

Without going back in game as can't right now, I'm positive the 'Curious Transmission Partially Decoded' POI beacon, in Tionisla when scanned, claims that the actual beacon is on the original site.

That is the Sidewinder from the Salomé event, isn’t it?
That should be in the right spot.

Or was it. Cobra?

 

[D7]

Without going back in game as can't right now, I'm positive the 'Curious Transmission Partially Decoded' POI beacon, in Tionisla when scanned, claims that the actual beacon is on the original site.

I don't see that in the message... Perhaps a different POI??

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Now, I am not really trying to find the graveyard that accurately. I just want to be in reasonably close proximity as a point of origin to fly in a targeted direction that might be in the direction of Rafe's Anaconda 0.1 LY away. I think it would be essentially impossible to land on that spot by falling out SC dead on the target (his Conda home) which would be even smaller than the graveyard - by a long shot. But, I also have to assume that Rafe would have had that same concern so he likely had a reasonably short range beacon at his home so he can find it himself. Short range because his whole thought process was to stay undetected from (presumably) the DW or other bad actors he ticked off over his life. Therefore, if you get in the general area of his Anaconda you should be able to pick up a beacon on your radar or contacts - while in SC. Otherwise it is hopeless trying to find that position - if ED even put anything there.

Bearing in mind that if the quoted distance was 0.1LY - on a jump system like the original Elite's which measures to 0.1LY accuracy [1] - the real value could be anywhere from 0.05-0.15 LY. The imprecision on where the graveyard is or even which side of the sun it's on is going to be negligible in that context. (And that still holds even if you assume the quoted distance as 0.10LY so between 0.095-0.105 LY as a range)

[1] Technically the original Elite's jump system only measured to 0.4LY accuracy, but you had to really be paying attention to notice that.

RE: "...so your target is itself moving sideways at around 30km/s relative to where that straight-line course was..."
I'm not sure the actual game mechanics work in that real-life manner. If you are at New Caledonia and you set your sight bead on the sun in SC you fly to the sun without the reticle really showing any drift at all toward the sun or back toward the planet.

Oh, absolutely they do.

It's just that planets and stars are generally far too big and slow moving to notice the effect. In the two minutes it takes you to fly from the Tionisla sun to New Caledonia, New Caledonia will move by less than its radius in the sun's reference frame. By the time you get into the planet's reference frame, being off by a fraction of a pixel on your initial course will be entirely unnoticeable ... and if at that point you look back at the sun, it will take most of a day to move by its own diameter against the background stars.

If you find a sufficiently fast-orbiting body, though, it gets a lot more noticeable. Mitterand Hollow is the obvious example - you can see that orbit extremely quickly in real-time, and drag any attached Fleet Carriers and signal sources around New Africa with it. Now try to drop out on one of the FCs around it without using your navigation locks - just by eye. Even typo-d examples like that aside, something like Carcosa B1 orbits its star fast enough (and has a small enough reference frame of its own) that dropping out on the orbiting Amber Dock station can involve some unusual manuevers even with the benefit of navigation tools: going in a straight line from the star will not put you in quite the right place.

Remember that you're normally travelling in supercruise at several Mm every second even when slowing down to drop. Your target moving at <1% of your speed is going to be masked massively by you being even a degree or so off-centre on your flight path ... so it's usually unnoticeable. Dropping exactly on a hidden POI at the L1 point of a planet would be a situation where it is extremely noticeable.