So you want to know about the Formidine Rift? (Part 3)

Something like this maybe, just less s%&t.

nOr14re.png


My 1991 PC called, wants its star map back.
 
Has there been any more news about Hawkin's gap or the confluence?

No. I think they were just possibly a bit of flavour.

Although they do have something obviously in common with the rift: They are not on galactic maps, being places informally designated by pilots. They are features which exist in the 'real' ED universe, but not the virtual one that we are more familiar with: The Galmap. If this is what is cited as being 'linked' to the Rift, then the conspiracy being pointed to is that we -as pilots- are relying almost entirely on the galaxy as represented to us, but that such a representation is being distorted, edited and modified by people in order to hide things. The conspiracy that links other - seemingly unreleate - conspiracies is that there is a wide conspiracy, which keeps them off our maps.
 
Here is the list of Cluster

Eafots JO-Z d13-41
Eafots OG-V b57-3
Eafots EU-Y b55-0
Eafots EU-Y b55-3
Eafots UH-C b54-2
Eafots KB-B c27-11
Eafots UH-C b54-3
Eafots TH-C b54-1
Eafots TH-C b54-2
Eafots OB-E b53-2

Ok, thanks!
So have these systems been explored for something Formidine? (Sorry- cant get into game at present to check for myself)
 
Oh my...

It appears 6 Cassiopeiae is an Alpha Cygni variable. Which I have just learned means 'that some portions of the stellar surface are contracting at the same time others parts expand'. If a star had a heartbeat, this would be it.

They are named after Alpha Cygni (Deneb), the 'head' of the Northern Cross. Reminds me of John the Baptist and Medusa...

Let's cut off the head then.

If you draw a line from Sadr (the HEART of Cygni, as opposed to Schedar, Cassiopeiae's HEART), through Deneb; it cuts right through the middle of Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis and Perseus! (I'll upload a pick when I get home)

Mildly related perhaps (via Monsieur Perseus); 'Names similar to Deneb were given to at least seven different stars, most notably Deneb Kaitos, the brightest star in the constellation of Cetus'.

Bonus, 'All these stars are referring to the tail of the animals that their respective constellations represent.' which is just simply terrific given the amount of tail chasing we're doing. It's like they know.

---
Update...

Bit of a stretch maybe, there are 18 Alpha Cygni variable stars listed on the Wikipedia page. Out of those 18 we have:

CS Cam
CE Cam
κ Cas
ν Cep (Cepheus)
6 Cas
9 Per (Perseus)

I think I'm actually turning into tinfoil.


CMDR. Astirian
Naval Intelligence, Imperial Grey Wolves


This might help you Astirian - My model can convert back and forth between "real" star coordinates and Elite Dangerous system coordinates. If the "EAFOTS Cluster" on the R-R Line was a "real" place, it would be right in the Cassiopeia constellation when looking from Earth. The problem is trying to mix the 3-d clues (the R-R Line) and the flat clues (constellations as seen from Earth). I made the below using https://in-the-sky.org/

xvJDwYo.png
 
Ok, thanks!
So have these systems been explored for something Formidine? (Sorry- cant get into game at present to check for myself)

Jorki - I don't know if these systems have been checked or not. I searched all the systems in the EDDB and collected those less than 5 light years off the R-R Line. There could be other systems in the "R-R Pipe" that have not been entered into the data base yet. Here is the output:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UuL4zjlPt1OD9mQXt0dThRXx_a-8W6V70PW8kjyHeBg/edit?usp=sharing
 
Jorki - I don't know if these systems have been checked or not. I searched all the systems in the EDDB and collected those less than 5 light years off the R-R Line. There could be other systems in the "R-R Pipe" that have not been entered into the data base yet. Here is the output:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UuL4zjlPt1OD9mQXt0dThRXx_a-8W6V70PW8kjyHeBg/edit?usp=sharing

Sorry Cmdr, that was a general question to this thread, as you appear to have found the conjunction of two separarte clues- the R-R line form Reclamation & the Galnet article on the EAFOTS signal transmission from the interred Cobra in Tionisla graveyard. I would have thought the Rift searchers would have been jumping up & down in excitement over this, but not a peep. I can't get into game, but if you can then could you check those systems in the Galmap to see if UC data exists for them?
 
Sorry Cmdr, that was a general question to this thread, as you appear to have found the conjunction of two separarte clues- the R-R line form Reclamation & the Galnet article on the EAFOTS signal transmission from the interred Cobra in Tionisla graveyard. I would have thought the Rift searchers would have been jumping up & down in excitement over this, but not a peep. I can't get into game, but if you can then could you check those systems in the Galmap to see if UC data exists for them?

I'm personally not jumping up and down because I see the Cobra clues to be nothing more than a restating of the RR line direction for people who haven't read Reclamation.
I don't see anything in either that indicates more than a direction to the Rift.

Also, we still have precisely no idea what we're looking for, even if we knew where it was.
 
I'm personally not jumping up and down because I see the Cobra clues to be nothing more than a restating of the RR line direction for people who haven't read Reclamation.
I don't see anything in either that indicates more than a direction to the Rift.

Also, we still have precisely no idea what we're looking for, even if we knew where it was.

Well duh, you're looking for something cool. [wacky]
 
i get the feeling salome may now vanish if she is found to the outer rift , a hidden base that wasnt raxxla would be nice, just an outpost out there that can act like jaques a place to dock / deliver data and then explore. Might be good if she lays low for a while, others can deliver messages anyway, i get the feeling a lot of this unfolding is happening out of the game though

Would be nice if the mechanikcs would allow a wider array of commanders to get directly involved
 
This might help you Astirian - My model can convert back and forth between "real" star coordinates and Elite Dangerous system coordinates. If the "EAFOTS Cluster" on the R-R Line was a "real" place, it would be right in the Cassiopeia constellation when looking from Earth. The problem is trying to mix the 3-d clues (the R-R Line) and the flat clues (constellations as seen from Earth). I made the below using https://in-the-sky.org/

http://i.imgur.com/xvJDwYo.png

Thanks, that's pretty helpful stuff. :)

I cross referenced my dinky map with Muetdhiver's one and it overshoots anyway. It's too far above the galactic plane. Well, it still intersects EAFOTS but it's pretty high and misses his blue circle and the RR line. EDIT: I'm not curving the line properly, maybe it does intersect after all?

Something just occurred to me: Check your six.
 
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CMDR iliteratSqirel, reporting from en route to the rift. Exploring alternate routes to the Heisenberg crossing.

Came across an interesting configuration in two systems in a row ... see below. Mind, this is not in the rift, only 5Kylies out from Sol towards Heart and soul, but far below the galactic plane. The yellow moons piqued my interest. They turn out to be rocky bodies. What's interesting I think is the sequencing.

8BpmZBc.png



Any thoughts? Is this uncommon? Otherwise: As you were.
 
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CMDR iliteratSqirel, reporting from en route to the rift. Exploring alternate routes to the Heisenberg crossing.

Came across an interesting configuration in two systems in a row ... see below. Mind, this is not in the rift, only 5Kylies out from Sol towards Heart and soul, but far below the galactic plane. The yellow moons piqued my interest. They turn out to be rocky bodies. What's interesting I think is the sequencing.

http://i.imgur.com/8BpmZBc.png


Any thoughts? Is this uncommon? Otherwise: As you were.

Not quite uncommon, but still a nice find.
 
An alternative perspective on the 'clues' from the Tionisla Cobra:

When the 'EAFOTS' clue dropped, this triggered an ambitious attempt to brute force the solution, with Cmdrs making a valiant attempt to scan every system in the Sector. This has resulted in no significant discoveries to date.

The 'Vain Queen' clue has been commonly interpreted as being a refinement to the EAFOTS location and efforts have been made to narrow down the search area based on various conjunctions of Cassiopeia, Cameleopardalis and Perseus.

I propose that we've got it backwards - that the Vain Queen is an attempt by FD(rew)ev to BROADEN the search.
In evidence, I present the following points:

EAFOTS is the nearside of the Rift and contradicts the Reclamation information that the Rift must be crossed. I strongly believe this is just a re-stating of the RR line information in a more public setting.

The EAFOTS Galnet post makes no mention of additional information contained in the transmission, whilst the 'Vain Queen' post adds the secondary information. It also includes the tertiary encrypted portion in case we need another nudge later.

Drew is a storyteller - in this case Kahina's story - and it is therefore unlikely that, having gone to the effort of crafting this mystery and tying it to both Reclamation and elements in-game, he will want it to be solved by presenting is with a sequence of treasure-hunt style clues leading to a system name or set of coordinates. There is no 'Why' in that, and a good storyteller will always have a 'Why'.

To me, this adds up to a realization that we're doing this all back-to-front. We're focused on the Where?, we have given little thought to the What? and none at all to the Why?


I don't claim to have any answers, but here are some of the questions I'm asking myself:

Why does Greek mythology, and particularly the Underworld feature so strongly in the storyline?
Why 'Salome' and the 'Seven Veils', and how does this tie to the Greek mythology?
Why would the authorities cover up something that doesn't appear to be a threat? - Federation and Empire are much too busy posturing over the Barnacles for there to be another military force lurking out in the Rift.


Feel free to ignore this, to pick holes in it, or to derail the thread with unrelated discussions.
 
An alternative perspective on the 'clues' from the Tionisla Cobra:

When the 'EAFOTS' clue dropped, this triggered an ambitious attempt to brute force the solution, with Cmdrs making a valiant attempt to scan every system in the Sector. This has resulted in no significant discoveries to date.

The 'Vain Queen' clue has been commonly interpreted as being a refinement to the EAFOTS location and efforts have been made to narrow down the search area based on various conjunctions of Cassiopeia, Cameleopardalis and Perseus.

I propose that we've got it backwards - that the Vain Queen is an attempt by FD(rew)ev to BROADEN the search.
In evidence, I present the following points:

EAFOTS is the nearside of the Rift and contradicts the Reclamation information that the Rift must be crossed. I strongly believe this is just a re-stating of the RR line information in a more public setting.

The EAFOTS Galnet post makes no mention of additional information contained in the transmission, whilst the 'Vain Queen' post adds the secondary information. It also includes the tertiary encrypted portion in case we need another nudge later.

Drew is a storyteller - in this case Kahina's story - and it is therefore unlikely that, having gone to the effort of crafting this mystery and tying it to both Reclamation and elements in-game, he will want it to be solved by presenting is with a sequence of treasure-hunt style clues leading to a system name or set of coordinates. There is no 'Why' in that, and a good storyteller will always have a 'Why'.

To me, this adds up to a realization that we're doing this all back-to-front. We're focused on the Where?, we have given little thought to the What? and none at all to the Why?


I don't claim to have any answers, but here are some of the questions I'm asking myself:

Why does Greek mythology, and particularly the Underworld feature so strongly in the storyline?
Why 'Salome' and the 'Seven Veils', and how does this tie to the Greek mythology?
Why would the authorities cover up something that doesn't appear to be a threat? - Federation and Empire are much too busy posturing over the Barnacles for there to be another military force lurking out in the Rift.


Feel free to ignore this, to pick holes in it, or to derail the thread with unrelated discussions.

This is part of the reason that we have a mission leaving in search of Cassiopeia A. So far, every one of my forays into the Rift have been attempts to find an Unknown something with very little reason WHY I'm actually out there hunting for something that isn't even supposed to be public knowledge.

Hunting for Cas A gives ME a reason to be out there. I have a specific objective. And yes, I have admit: it could be all for nothing. Cas A may be missing "just because".

There are three possibilities, in my view.

1. The developers simply overlooked Cassiopeia A.
2. Cas A is missing because of a design decision.
3. Cas A is missing on purpose.

Each of those possibilities provides an oportunity, imho.

Here's an execise for you: go to the galaxy map and search for "pencil". Go on, i'll wait.

You'll find the Pencil Nebula. Know what is missing? The neutron star at the center of that particular supernova remnant. They took the time to handcraft the nebula (hard part) but didn't put in the neutron star (easy part)? I think there is more to this then just a developer's mistake.
 
Feel free to ignore this, to pick holes in it, or to derail the thread with unrelated discussions.

Greek myths => most of local stellar bodies names come from them ... we wont see any troll/elves/goblins related. (Thor and Odin are far away this region)
Underworld => hyperspace/witchspace/jump range related to Raxxla/Formidine myth. Precisely: the "core of the problem" and "The key is also the door"
Threat => what do we know about what superpowers might consider a threat (Kahina?) or about their real resources ?

Might well be an infinity of other possible answers of course... These are just mine.
 
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This is part of the reason that we have a mission leaving in search of Cassiopeia A. So far, every one of my forays into the Rift have been attempts to find an Unknown something with very little reason WHY I'm actually out there hunting for something that isn't even supposed to be public knowledge.

Hunting for Cas A gives ME a reason to be out there. I have a specific objective. And yes, I have admit: it could be all for nothing. Cas A may be missing "just because".

There are three possibilities, in my view.

1. The developers simply overlooked Cassiopeia A.
2. Cas A is missing because of a design decision.
3. Cas A is missing on purpose.

Each of those possibilities provides an oportunity, imho.

Here's an execise for you: go to the galaxy map and search for "pencil". Go on, i'll wait.

You'll find the Pencil Nebula. Know what is missing? The neutron star at the center of that particular supernova remnant. They took the time to handcraft the nebula (hard part) but didn't put in the neutron star (easy part)? I think there is more to this then just a developer's mistake.

The Wolf-Rayet star that SHOULD be at the center of NGC 3199 is either missing or misplaced.
There's a pattern developing here. Now it could just be that the person responsible for nebulae didn't talk to the person responsible for stars, or it could be something deliberate.


If I wasn't so anti-social I'd be heading out with you to look for Cass A :)
Because that search has a What component to it - it may or may not be Rift-related, but there's still a specific question you want an answer to, which I think is the way we need to be approaching this mystery: Ask a question, go out and get an answer - rather than hoping to find an answer and then working out what the hell the question was.


For now, I have a question:
Ishtar is a K-class star, but I vaguely remember it being a super-giant. Can somebody check I'm not imagining things?
 
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I been wondering if the "EAFOTS" signal might have been missing something. Perhaps it confused the computer into Looping rather then completing.
 
Greek myths => most of local stellar bodies names come from them ... we wont see any troll/elves/goblins related. (Thor and Odin are far away this region)
Underworld => hyperspace/witchspace/jump range related to Raxxla/Formidine myth. Precisely: the "core of the problem" and "The key is also the door"
Threat => what do we know about what superpowers might consider a threat (Kahina?) or about their real resources ?

Might well be an infinity of other possible answers of course... These are just mine.

Yes, there are a lot of stars/constellations with Greek mythological names, but there are also Egyptian and Babylonian ones.
Plus Prism is a hand-crafted system with all the bodies named following Greek myths - check out @Matzov's summary (linked from the first page of this thread) which has the official Drew seal of approval. If Drew had wanted to use a different thematic structure, it would have been easy enough for FDev to create relevant systems - the fact that he didn't should, I think, be taken as significant.

'The key is also the door' supports my argument that we need the Why and the What before we worry about the Where - the Why makes the What 'visible' (that is, meaningful, rather than something being un-hidden).

Difficult to hide a battlefleet in deep space for any period of time. Somebody stumbles across it, you need to resupply, you rotate the crew and somebody gets drunk in a bar and says something they shouldn't... Not to mention the difficulty in building it without anybody noticing.
Kahina might be a threat to some people's personal ambitions, but she's not threat to the Empire. Even if she somehow became Emperor, nothing would change - she'd be a pedalo trying to change the course of a supertanker.

I think the thing that the powers are afraid of if KNOWLEDGE - they have it and they don't want anyone else to.


Uurghh, I feel like an ant trying to comprehend an elephant - I can see toes and a trunk, but not how they fit together.
If I could only step back far enough to see the whole thing, then I could ask the right question (Can I have a bun please?)
 
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rationalizations for all occassions
Trip, fall, ouch, I meant to do that.

Could bug ticket the missing neutrons?
Write a galnet "Who Stole Nebulas Neutrons"?
The whole thing has a Lemmony Snickets, Dirk Gently, Kurt Vonnegut vibe to it.

Left AR Cass yesterday as it was on my route. Why not stop by and see if I can find a nice meetup stop and forward it on. I don't think you could find a more uninteresting pile of featureless ice landables. Good news did you know that EDD and EDMC both pump your DDS scans to EDDB? Do a DDS on a body, switch to the browser, refresh the system bodies list and it's already there with it's materials list. If only we could re-DDS bodies we've found pre guardians. Think I will request that, a force DDS button.

He's right though the clue's as such don't add up to much and with each that's come along decision branching of interpretation are made that lead down certain paths such as we search for an it in the formidine which is a conclusion in itself. The clues are like a gathering crowd of people pointing to something they can't see in the sky. Hard to find note and outline online software that doesn't also mean selling my soul to the holy trinity of cyber archdemons Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Narratively Salome has been stripped naked and is heading for the bottom circle of hell. Perhaps she'll emerge reborn like Nelson Mandela.
 
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