The Inara link Morningstar posted earlier pointed to the author Charles Beaumont. While at first it was easy to dismiss as a randomly chosen name for stations, I started to see why MB may have chosen the name Beaumont as the name of this elusive system for Legacy. Especially considering MB's associations with Lovecraftian "old ones" and dark unseen horrors from a nameless void.
Charles Beaumont was an influential science fiction writer whose stories often dealt with otherworldly horrors and subsequently wrote many of the episodes for the Twilight Zone show.
One of those episodes called
Valley of the Shadow was set in a town called
Peaceful Valley where a
reporter named
Philip happened to find himself stuck there, eventually discovering that it is home to a
clandestine community of people with access to
advanced alien technology "
given to the town 104 years ago by a scientist from an unknown planet". The crux of the story was that the reporter, now aware of their existence, became '
imprisoned' inside an invisible wall around the town with the threat of being 'executed' to preserve their secrets. After falling in love with a woman named
Ellen, he tries to
rescue her from the perceived lack of freedom being imposed on the town. Upon successfully escaping, he finds out she was planted to
discreetly test him to determine whether "men had learned the ways of peace". His "execution" for breaking their law is actually having his memories erased and being returned to where he first arrived.
From my own interpretation of the show's title, the
Shadow in this case is likely representing the invisible unconscious 'blind spot' of one's personality. The part of the subconscious mind that the Ego does not want to acknowledge.
If Philip the reporter represents the
ego - the idealised self - choosing to
see the world through the lens of 'freedom', then the shadow he projects would be his
demonisation of the people imprisoning him despite their 'higher' wisdom about the risk of proliferating their powerful technology. He effectively manifests an
alien dragon out of his own fears of a truth buried in his subconscious. A truth that humanity is not yet wise enough to wield this powerful technology without destroying itself. Thus, being unworthy to wield it safely, the truth is erased from his mind, restoring his human ignorance and leaving him with a vague sense of dejavu.
Much like the 'erased' memory of Jasmina Halsey's vision that she found difficult to describe to everyday society and later retracted entirely out of a perceived shame. It also aligns with her intense desire to improve humanity's path to reach this goal.
In Elite, the Thargoids are a race of beings that seem to act without ever caring or acknowledging our intentions. It is as though they know something we don't and are simply acting to protect that "something" through their own volition. Similarly, while the Guardians did seem to triumph over these Thargoids for a time, they ended up manifesting a more powerful 'shadow archetype' in the form of the Construct, which also arrived at the same conclusion that their true predatory nature was not fit for custodianship of the galaxy.
If Philip the reporter had a more wise approach to the people of Peaceful Valley (ie. the gatekeepers), he may have given himself, and thus humanity, access to an 'enlightened power'. Just as if the Guardians could have prevented their own downfall by the truthful acknowledgement of their more shameful aspects. Something that is often espoused in Paradise Lost with the fall of Satan and later the fall of man. Satan / Humanity could have redeemed themselves if they acknowledge the source of their desire which blinds them from 'wakeful custody' of truth and goodwill.
Beaumont is a system literally "
far below" Achenar - the star / jewel "at the end of the river". If Beaumont is the id, then this represents a "truth that is repressed" - just like the Empire tried to repress the
pirate/slave uprising. So, just like players investigated the wreckage of the Starship One incident to find the truth of the matter, maybe there is a similar need to find a hidden truth about Beaumont? or maybe a place similar to Beaumont such as Freeholm?
What about Achenar's sister star
Sirrus / Sirius? Is there a
shadow far below it too?
What system is Freeholm "far below" which would represent a greater authoritative power above? (it may not necessarily be the Empire)
What other symbols of
Hell far below the Empyrean / Paradise exist in the game?
In light of this theoretical 'lens', it begs the question:
What kind of
Test of Ego do we need to undertake in order to acknowledge a given truth within Elite?
What shadowy entity do we need to "confront" in order to reveal this mythical "state of cosmic enlightenment"?
Is this the nature of the discreet test we need to pass for The Dark Wheel to reveal itself to us?
Some further symbology to consider in the search:
The name
Philip originates from Greek names for "lover of horses" (Philos + Hippos).
The name
Ellen originates from French / Greek names meaning "brilliant", "torch", "light".
In one fantasy writing sense, a heroic knight would ride a horse to save the princess from a dragon. The princess would be symbolic of this light at the end of his journey (aka river / path).
To stretch the metaphor thinly in context with the codex toast, a
browband is a piece of a horse's bridle that runs across the horses 'brow' and acts as a central structural anchor point (axis mundi?? omphalos?) to prevent sliding. A jewel is a crystallised 'stone'. So a central stone on the brow of a horse-like figure. Is there a horse symbol in mythology relating to a mother of galaxies? A system name that reflects this?
What about a star within the Horsehead Nebula?
