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

[Masheikh Scytale]

Yay! About time

To be fair, we did try to have some of these conversations a while back but I seem to remember getting slammed for focusing too much on the story/mythological elements and to stick to "facts" as we knew them. Hence the explorations went firmly in the "what" and "where" directions.

I'll find some time later to post a summary of how I think this is fitting together. But for this, you're right on the money. We need to look behind the motivations of the characters involved. Remember, Drew already gave us some big hints towards that, saying he's predominantly a character writer and getting us to look into Etymologies of things.

There was also my post way back when on the connections behind the planetary naming in Prism, the connection with Greek and Babylonian mythologies that got some nods from Drew also.

Much of the problem with this mystery is that there have been a lot of stops and starts whilst Drew negotiated with FD to tell the story, and let it unfold the way he wanted to.

That all changed a couple of months ago when he and FD came to an agreement (so we are told) hence the story has begun to move at a pace.

Even though there have been some new turns in the story, we haven't really learnt anything new yet as Drew is still laying the ground I think, bringing us, the story, and any new folks up to speed after the few false turns it took in the past year.

I'll post my thoughts on where we are up to a little later - but by way of a tidbit: I firmly believe that the galaxy map that we access through our ships is different to the actual galaxy.

We have been told before by FD that the skybox we see in ED is the same as what is represented in the galaxy map, with every star visible we see can also be viewed and plotted to in the galaxy map. (Permits permitting.)

My hunch is that in a few areas of the galaxy, if we look properly we will see that there are different and/or more viewable stars through our cockpit than what is displayed in the map.

Those are the dark systems. The ones that haven't been mapped - not because no one has been there yet, but, because we are being controlled by the powers (in-game). This is also why our ship movement is locked during FSD charge - to prevent misjumps but also to control what CMDRs can and can't do.

The old woman saw past this facade and I believe Salomé did too.

After all, how best to cover up something that happened across multiple systems by simply not allowing them to appear in the galaxy map?

One of the "who" questions we can ask is who is behind 'universal cartographics'. (Though I seem to remember we did briefly touch on this question before.)

Anyway, I'm out of time for now. Just arrived at work

Gteat ...thx for the usefull synthesis.

But as long as we aren't allowed by game features to pick a star in the skybox and tell our nav system " get me there" we will be chasing our tails until Fdevs decide ' times are a changing' ...

 

[Jaiotu]

Gteat ...thx for the usefull synthesis.

But as long as we aren't allowed by game features to pick a star in the skybox and tell our nav system " get me there" we will be chasing our tails until Fdevs decide ' times are a changing' ...

Well, if I start to see something unusual then I plan on checking the nav panel for any stars that don't appear in the galaxy map.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Yay! About time

To be fair, we did try to have some of these conversations a while back but I seem to remember getting slammed for focusing too much on the story/mythological elements and to stick to "facts" as we knew them. Hence the explorations went firmly in the "what" and "where" directions.

I'll find some time later to post a summary of how I think this is fitting together. But for this, you're right on the money. We need to look behind the motivations of the characters involved. Remember, Drew already gave us some big hints towards that, saying he's predominantly a character writer and getting us to look into Etymologies of things.

There was also my post way back when on the connections behind the planetary naming in Prism, the connection with Greek and Babylonian mythologies that got some nods from Drew also.

Much of the problem with this mystery is that there have been a lot of stops and starts whilst Drew negotiated with FD to tell the story, and let it unfold the way he wanted to.

That all changed a couple of months ago when he and FD came to an agreement (so we are told) hence the story has begun to move at a pace.

Even though there have been some new turns in the story, we haven't really learnt anything new yet as Drew is still laying the ground I think, bringing us, the story, and any new folks up to speed after the few false turns it took in the past year.

I'll post my thoughts on where we are up to a little later - but by way of a tidbit: I firmly believe that the galaxy map that we access through our ships is different to the actual galaxy.

We have been told before by FD that the skybox we see in ED is the same as what is represented in the galaxy map, with every star visible we see can also be viewed and plotted to in the galaxy map. (Permits permitting.)

My hunch is that in a few areas of the galaxy, if we look properly we will see that there are different and/or more viewable stars through our cockpit than what is displayed in the map.

Those are the dark systems. The ones that haven't been mapped - not because no one has been there yet, but, because we are being controlled by the powers (in-game). This is also why our ship movement is locked during FSD charge - to prevent misjumps but also to control what CMDRs can and can't do.

The old woman saw past this facade and I believe Salomé did too.

After all, how best to cover up something that happened across multiple systems by simply not allowing them to appear in the galaxy map?

One of the "who" questions we can ask is who is behind 'universal cartographics'. (Though I seem to remember we did briefly touch on this question before.)

Anyway, I'm out of time for now. Just arrived at work

That slamming must have been before my time. I've been yelling 'Persephone' at people since I got here

Regarding the story, I think with Kahina sidelined to an asylum, we're kind of at the point we were last year when the story died after she went missing.
I wouldn't be surprised if we get some information from a previously unknown source - remember, Reclamation was far from a linear narrative, so Drew has form in that respect.

Anyway, good to have you back, and I'm looking forward to the full details of your ideas.

 

[Jaiotu]

That slamming must have been before my time. I've been yelling 'Persephone' at people since I got here

Regarding the story, I think with Kahina sidelined to an asylum, we're kind of at the point we were last year when the story died after she went missing.
I wouldn't be surprised if we get some information from a previously unknown source - remember, Reclamation was far from a linear narrative, so Drew has form in that respect.

Anyway, good to have you back, and I'm looking forward to the full details of your ideas.

Kahina is at the asylum? I thought CoR brought down the transport and forced it to eject escape pods?

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Kahina is at the asylum? I thought CoR brought down the transport and forced it to eject escape pods?

Maybe they did. I might not be up to speed

I see nothing in Galnet *shrug*

Oh, it's the unofficial/semi-official/official CoR NPCs role-playing or not.
Such clarity. Many confusions.

 

[Jaiotu]

Maybe they did. I might not be up to speed

I see nothing in Galnet *shrug*

From a few pages back:

There just might be some news regarding Ms. Loren's current situation: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/302881-Salomé-and-the-Children-of-Raxxla

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

From a few pages back:

Yeah, I tracked it down.
Does a thread on the forum make it true or not?

Doesn't change the questions that need answering though, so I'll not fret about it.

 

[MAUXUS]

We know that cmdrs have been scanning the eafots region and found nothing so far (OK, patience, it takes time).
H&S...nothing.
We found multiple bridges to get around the rift.
The RR line and systems along that line? nothing so far...
Past the rift and beyond? Nothing that i know of.
We have been scouring those places yet found nothing interesting. We might have just missed it, of course, it's a big place with lots of systems. Or maybe we keep going around in circles, avoiding the one place we should really focus on?
Has anyone tried searching the rift? What if what we are looking for is actually hidden right in there and we keep going around it?
"Once you get there you will need to find a way through" is different than "across". I understand that one can get "across" without necessarily going "through" (the bridges we have found)?
The rift could also be considered the key and the door, and the solution could be at "the core of the problem" (core of the rift?).
Perhaps the reason why it's a rift is because stars and systems are purposely hidden from our view, not because there aren't any there?
Can this be?

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

We know that cmdrs have been scanning the eafots region and found nothing so far (OK, patience, it takes time).
H&S...nothing.
We found multiple bridges to get around the rift.
The RR line and systems along that line? nothing so far...
Past the rift and beyond? Nothing that i know of.
We have been scouring those places yet found nothing interesting. We might have just missed it, of course, it's a big place with lots of systems. Or maybe we keep going around in circles, avoiding the one place we should really focus on?
Has anyone tried searching the rift? What if what we are looking for is actually hidden right in there and we keep going around it?
"Once you get there you will need to find a way through" is different than "across". I understand that one can get "across" without necessarily going "through" (the bridges we have found)?
The rift could also be considered the key and the door, and the solution could be at "the core of the problem" (core of the rift?).
Perhaps the reason why it's a rift is because stars and systems are purposely hidden from our view, not because there aren't any there?
Can this be?

We could have found it a hundred times and never know, because we have no idea what it is.

 

[MAUXUS]

We could have found it a hundred times and never know, because we have no idea what it is.

I know, but think about it. We keep going around the rift and we don't even look in there? We assume that there is nothing in the rift but what if the absence of stars/systems is not a "natural" occurrence but something caused by some type of cloaking? That would be a heck of a way of hiding something in plain sight. Just sayin'...

 

[Zeeman]

I know, but think about it. We keep going around the rift and we don't even look in there? We assume that there is nothing in the rift but what if the absence of stars/systems is not a "natural" occurrence but something caused by some type of cloaking? That would be a heck of a way of hiding something in plain sight. Just sayin'...

I spent a lot of time looking around the Rift, as it is on our maps, 55LY jump range makes getting around it a touch easier. I thought of what you're saying when I was there, the problem was, it's very hard (for me anyway) to work out when stars in the skybox are which in the galaxy map. ie - what is missing from the galaxy map and what is not.

As DrewCarnigie said, we could have found it many times over, and had no clue. Drew himself even said words to that affect...

Z...

 

[MAUXUS]

I spent a lot of time looking around the Rift, as it is on our maps, 55LY jump range makes getting around it a touch easier. I thought of what you're saying when I was there, the problem was, it's very hard (for me anyway) to work out when stars in the skybox are which in the galaxy map. ie - what is missing from the galaxy map and what is not.

As DrewCarnigie said, we could have found it many times over, and had no clue. Drew himself even said words to that affect...

Z...

Understood.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I know, but think about it. We keep going around the rift and we don't even look in there? We assume that there is nothing in the rift but what if the absence of stars/systems is not a "natural" occurrence but something caused by some type of cloaking? That would be a heck of a way of hiding something in plain sight. Just sayin'...

If the thing we're looking for in the Rift is an ABSENCE then we really, REALLY need to figure out the Why!

As to the Rift not being a Rift - maybe to some extent. It is, after all, the gap between two arms of our reasonably typical spiral galaxy, but it could still feasibly have a higher density of stars than we're seeing.

 

[MAUXUS]

If the thing we're looking for in the Rift is an ABSENCE then we really, REALLY need to figure out the Why!

As to the Rift not being a Rift - maybe to some extent. It is, after all, the gap between two arms of our reasonably typical spiral galaxy, but it could still feasibly have a higher density of stars than we're seeing.

Problem is that it's easy to get thrown in a goose chase and doing that in the rift is no fun. Plus there are way better leads out there that we should keep investigating. But we should just not discount anything, me thinks. I just find it really, really odd that if I zoom into this area, far away from everything:

Spoiler

There are actually more stars than there are in the rift:

Spoiler

As to the why, what do you mean? Galcop, Imperials and Feds want to hide it from us...in plain sight?

 

[Legacy_LuckyLuke]

Gteat ...thx for the usefull synthesis.

But as long as we aren't allowed by game features to pick a star in the skybox and tell our nav system " get me there" we will be chasing our tails until Fdevs decide ' times are a changing' ...

But this is the point - assuming for a moment that this is how our navigational systems are designed in 3302 - that we are limited by what we are able to plot via the galaxy map.

This is a little bit unsatisfying though, as it means we couldn't physically visit a system that was designated as a "rift" system, so I presume it might be a bit of both.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

That slamming must have been before my time. I've been yelling 'Persephone' at people since I got here

Right on, Commander

Anyway, good to have you back, and I'm looking forward to the full details of your ideas.

Indeed it is. I'd just been waiting for the story to reach a point where it was useful to start crunching again. It feels like that time is now

Plus I'd been following Drew's directive up until this point - to get friendly with the engineers before 2.2. Which I have now done. (Such a good soldier )

 

[Legacy_LuckyLuke]

Yeah, I tracked it down.
Does a thread on the forum make it true or not?

Doesn't change the questions that need answering though, so I'll not fret about it.

I believe CoR are waiting for the official response from FD as to the impact of their actions early in the week.

 

[crushdepth]

If the thing we're looking for in the Rift is an ABSENCE then we really, REALLY need to figure out the Why!

As to the Rift not being a Rift - maybe to some extent. It is, after all, the gap between two arms of our reasonably typical spiral galaxy, but it could still feasibly have a higher density of stars than we're seeing.

The trouble with the rift is that it is a remarkably unremarkable bit of space, once you get past heart and soul. It's distinguishing feature is a lack of distinguishing features. The odd type O is about as exciting as it gets.

 

[MAUXUS]

The trouble with the rift is that it is a remarkably unremarkable bit of space, once you get past heart and soul. It's distinguishing feature is a lack of distinguishing features. The odd type O is about as exciting as it gets.

Yeah, that's all we can just about see.

 

[Zeeman]

Understood.

If the thing we're looking for in the Rift is an ABSENCE then we really, REALLY need to figure out the Why!

As to the Rift not being a Rift - maybe to some extent. It is, after all, the gap between two arms of our reasonably typical spiral galaxy, but it could still feasibly have a higher density of stars than we're seeing.

I think MAUXUS is on the right track, as I think deleting stars from the charts is quite possibly the exact sort of thing a government would do to hide something. As I've said before, I think the rift is a spiral arm back form where we are looking - ie - H&S *IS* the far side of the rift, and I'm basing this purely on the fact that this was all possible in Gamma, and even 30LY jump ranges were out of reach for most people, even if technically possibly, it was too early for most to actually be able to afford.

As for finding missing stars, I'm open to ideas on quick ways to achieve this.

Z...

 

[MAUXUS]

I think MAUXUS is on the right track, as I think deleting stars from the charts is quite possibly the exact sort of thing a government would do to hide something. As I've said before, I think the rift is a spiral arm back form where we are looking - ie - H&S *IS* the far side of the rift, and I'm basing this purely on the fact that this was all possible in Gamma, and even 30LY jump ranges were out of reach for most people, even if technically possibly, it was too early for most to actually be able to afford.

As for finding missing stars, I'm open to ideas on quick ways to achieve this.

Z...

I dunno guys, i'd hate to be the one responsible for a yet another goose chase and the rift is dangerous. I don't think it's smart to just head there to try things and risk getting stuck and/or losing the ship with tons of data. Or at best waste time. And the mind is known to playing tricks and make its own thruth when faced with closed doors (if u know what i mean). But, and i'm gonna steal a quote here: “An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution.”. Perhaps we are not there just yet. We should not discount the other leads while at the same time keep an eye on this.