That logo is fan made. FD has nothing to do with it and it’s not the Dark Wheel symbol.
The Quest To Find Raxxla
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That logo is fan made. FD has nothing to do with it and it’s not the Dark Wheel symbol.
I would not concentrate too much on symbols. INRA , DW and Raxxla symbols can be correlated with stuff outside of the game almost 1on1 in a matter of seconds. There is math behind and a reason for that math.
The only things that is bothering me is that unresolved pic with a map of a system (or part of galaxy map) from some ship (7-8 circles, similar to federation logo?). That one does not fit (to me).
Each to his own, enjoy the game and keep em coming!
From: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3376283
And obligatory prophecy: there shall be pirate base in space (demolished space outpost or mega-ship,
(most probably in an asteroid ring) in a story.
The only things that is bothering me is that unresolved pic with a map of a system (or part of galaxy map) from some ship (7-8 circles, similar to federation logo?). That one does not fit (to me).
Each to his own, enjoy the game and keep em coming!
From: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3376283
And obligatory prophecy: there shall be pirate base in space (demolished space outpost or mega-ship,
(most probably in an asteroid ring) in a story.
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I don’t remember who made it, but it’s about five years ago.
There were plenty of speculaions in the UA thread, back then.
It has never been in the game or anything official.
Would it be helpful to try and reconstruct the Bubble at the time of the first Raxxla quote (2296)? Having the ability to visualise the region of inhabited space at the time might provide some clue as to where might have been a good place for The Dark Wheel to position their base and also suggest the reach of the exploration ships of the era, which are perhaps more likely than other types to have encountered Raxxla (but certainly not the only type - e.g. the Faraway Jump Network took centuries to complete so might have been under construction at the time and the ships that built the network would have been travelling deep into interstellar space).
Sorry for another text wall! TL;DR Is it known how many / which systems had been colonised by 2296?
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Discussion of the size of the Bubble in 2296 and its relevance to the location of TDW base and Raxxla
There is a separate issue of working out when Raxxla could have been first found and exploited based upon looking for sudden changes in the rate of technological advancement. Revolutions can happen of their own accord, especially in times of change or conflict (there were big environmental problems on Earth that doubtless contributed to the development of large scale space transportation) but, just as we are experiencing a revolution now from our contact with the Guardians and Thargoids, so should there be some signs that someone was getting some advantage from exploiting new knowledge.
Sorry for another text wall! TL;DR Is it known how many / which systems had been colonised by 2296?
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Discussion of the size of the Bubble in 2296 and its relevance to the location of TDW base and Raxxla
The system Gyton's Hope is 39.97 LY from Sol and according to the system description was one of the first systems to be colonised. Interestingly, this system lies in almost the exact direction of the Formidine Rift when viewed from Sol. In almost the exact opposite direction from Sol there is Zeaex, though I'm not sure when that was colonised. Going upwards (above the Galactic Plane), Arcturus is potentially close to this limit and going down in the Galactic Plane there is Fomalhaut. If there are no early colonies beyond Gyton's Hope, then the Bubble at the end of the 23rd Century might have been no more than 80 LY in diameter, centred on Sol. Shinrarta Dezhra is outside this region but not significantly so - I could certainly envisage well-heeled individuals and corporations being able to establish a foothold there. Achenar is about 160 LY away, so the Empire was established in a location roughly four times farther away than the edge of the early Bubble - but most of the ships made it so it was clearly feasible to establish a colony at such distance, albeit with large scale backing by someone extremely influential (Marlin Duval). It also seems clear that people knew Achenar was a suitable location for a colony site, so perhaps ~160 LY could have been close to the endurance limit of the exploration ships of the era, or at least unmanned probes.
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If the early Bubble really was this size, then it seems reasonable that The Dark Wheel would not have gone farther than ~160 LY to build their base, as they would have needed to visit occasionally and ship maintenance supplies, equipment, spare parts, food, medicine and personnel etc.
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The distance of Raxxla need not be so constrained - regular visits are not required. Reaching it might have been at the limit of what was possible - or even beyond, as the early hyperdrives were not reliable, so it could have been found by a misjump (I'm assuming these are still canon, as there was one in Reclamation). If a 23rd Century exploration ship misjumped to Raxxla, getting back might have been almost impossible. It could even be that the wreck of such a ship was found by someone with logs detailing what had happened to it and their attempt to get home - something like this could fit in with Jason Ryder finding evidence of Raxxla and needing to outfit an expedition to reach it. Depending upon what Raxxla is and who found it and in what ship (able to make it back or not), a return journey might not have been possible, only communications. How the rumour first got out - and indeed where the name Raxxla itself comes from - implies that information made it back but that it was not enough, except perhaps for a few Elite pilots, to enable anyone to work out where it might be. Perhaps journeys there were one-way only but there was something that made it worthwhile. Fast forward a thousand years and the name remains all we know about some mystery in the depths of space, whilst the passage of time has doubtlessly increased the fantasy aspects of the myth, in which there is only a very tiny seed of truth.
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If the early Bubble really was this size, then it seems reasonable that The Dark Wheel would not have gone farther than ~160 LY to build their base, as they would have needed to visit occasionally and ship maintenance supplies, equipment, spare parts, food, medicine and personnel etc.
.
The distance of Raxxla need not be so constrained - regular visits are not required. Reaching it might have been at the limit of what was possible - or even beyond, as the early hyperdrives were not reliable, so it could have been found by a misjump (I'm assuming these are still canon, as there was one in Reclamation). If a 23rd Century exploration ship misjumped to Raxxla, getting back might have been almost impossible. It could even be that the wreck of such a ship was found by someone with logs detailing what had happened to it and their attempt to get home - something like this could fit in with Jason Ryder finding evidence of Raxxla and needing to outfit an expedition to reach it. Depending upon what Raxxla is and who found it and in what ship (able to make it back or not), a return journey might not have been possible, only communications. How the rumour first got out - and indeed where the name Raxxla itself comes from - implies that information made it back but that it was not enough, except perhaps for a few Elite pilots, to enable anyone to work out where it might be. Perhaps journeys there were one-way only but there was something that made it worthwhile. Fast forward a thousand years and the name remains all we know about some mystery in the depths of space, whilst the passage of time has doubtlessly increased the fantasy aspects of the myth, in which there is only a very tiny seed of truth.
I feel like the longer this thread goes, the more we're having to repeat the same things. "Erhm, sorry, no one has actually honked the system Raxxla is in; at best, it's an unsubstantiated rumour." "The logo is fanmade." "Drew doesn't know...yes, I know he wrote the...yes, I understand that he...just, please. He doesn't know." "Again, no, it's not in the Formidine Rift" "CMDR Thrust from Bradford is not, in fact, already there."
Things like that.
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CMDR Thrust from Bradford is not "already there" - he was there back in gamma, and can't see the point of returning.
miscommunication!
yes, TDW is a toroid, therefore orbis.
but I was saying that if Raxxla is a station it could be either an early small galcop coriolis, or a guardian station.
Yes, we also keep returning to the "Raxxla is close to Sol because early hyperdrives couldn't go very far" argument.
Pro:
Con:
So that leaves us with few options:
If FDev had said one way or another whether "some commander has honked the system" that would be a massively helpful clue.
Yes = Raxxla is 99% likely to be in the bubble or near something interesting
No = Raxxla is 99% likely to be permit-locked or in some random system you can't find without getting a hint
If this was old-school Star Wars, where they had some guy who's whole job was to keep the lore consistent and he was consulted on the placement of Raxxla, then for sure, it's within like 600ly of Sol, tops.
But all indications are that David has like 100% creative control over the game and if he says 'stick this object in Gru Hypu F-U 92-69' then nobody's going to argue with him about how well that fits into the lore.
If someone stumbles on it and is like ' why is it 30k ly from sol, nobody could ever get that far with the old hyperdrives' they'll be like 'Alex Ryder's dad was a raxxlan wizard and he used magic to get there'.
Ideally, people should ask more good questions on a livestream or official forum about this.
Not "Does Raxxla exist?" or "Where is Raxxla" since they obviously can't tell us, but any metagame question like this:
Pro:
- Makes sense from a logic, lore and story point of view
Con:
- We have no idea what factors were taken into consideration by FDev when choosing the location of Raxxla
- All indications seem to be that David Braben personally chose the location of Raxxla and few people at FDev even know what it is
- For all we know, David just threw a dart at the milky way, or rolled a 1d400-billion sided dice and stuck it in a random system. You'll recognize it because its planet icon on the system map will be Trollface.
- Pretty much every system within about 1000ly of Sol has been explored, even down to mapping the worthless ice worlds
- Braben/FDev doesn't act like he's treating Raxxla as a major game element that he's annoyed we haven't found yet. He grins and smiles and acts like it's basically an easter egg.
- They probably wouldn't want a big easter egg to be something so easy to find that it's discovered in the first 6 months and then nobody cares about it anymore, so they'd probably NOT want to put it right in the bubble.
So that leaves us with few options:
- Raxxla is not close to Sol
- Raxxla is in an asteroid belt (nobody explores those since they won't show your name and have no obvious benefits)
- Players are prevented from going to the system Raxxla is in (eg, permit-lock)
- Raxxla is disguised, or an unusual POI or body that isn't discoverable by normal means
If FDev had said one way or another whether "some commander has honked the system" that would be a massively helpful clue.
Yes = Raxxla is 99% likely to be in the bubble or near something interesting
No = Raxxla is 99% likely to be permit-locked or in some random system you can't find without getting a hint
If this was old-school Star Wars, where they had some guy who's whole job was to keep the lore consistent and he was consulted on the placement of Raxxla, then for sure, it's within like 600ly of Sol, tops.
But all indications are that David has like 100% creative control over the game and if he says 'stick this object in Gru Hypu F-U 92-69' then nobody's going to argue with him about how well that fits into the lore.
If someone stumbles on it and is like ' why is it 30k ly from sol, nobody could ever get that far with the old hyperdrives' they'll be like 'Alex Ryder's dad was a raxxlan wizard and he used magic to get there'.
Ideally, people should ask more good questions on a livestream or official forum about this.
Not "Does Raxxla exist?" or "Where is Raxxla" since they obviously can't tell us, but any metagame question like this:
- Is Raxxla something any commander could stumble upon by accident?
- Could it be found by a player who's only played a week, doesn't have horizons and has just a fuel scoop & a cobra 3?
- Has any player been in the same system as Raxxla? [Better: How many players?]
- Have any recent game changes (eg FSS, mapping) made it easier to find Raxxla than before?
- If someone were to find Raxxla, could another commander also find it by doing exactly the same actions the first person did?
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Hi Cmdr,
from my background of crop circle research I was suspicious about the blueprint of the TDW logo as well as that from the CoR.
It is the crop circle of June 1st, 2008, found at Barbury Castle, Wiltshire. They altered the steps towards the center a bit.
I have written confirmation that the human makers of this crop circle have no affiliation to FDev nor do they are affiliated with any of the authors (i.e.Drew). Their aim to create this crop cirlce was completely different. Sooo, the time the book with the logo was published has a coincidence with the time the crop cirle ("The Pi formation") appeared. The crop circle was taken over for the TDW and CoR logo.
Links? Lucy Pringle claimed the photo credit on this circle but it seems that resource has been 404'd since I had to credit it for borrowing. (Daily Mail coverage)
I wasn't aware humans had claimed to manufacture it?
I believe the left white image is indeed fan-made (researching where it came from) but the circular graphic at the centre directly references this representation of Pi. To confirm this for yourself, from the centre of the image on the right count the number of dotted segments the line crosses before "stepping" to an outer ring. You should end up with Pi to 9 decimal places. Yes I have far too much time on my hands.
I have seen other Thargoid puzzles showing Pi to 3 decimals which I'm unsure if anyone solved!
See that below
Perhaps math is involved after all!
EDIT: I *think* the image on the left is real? The earliest I have seen it referenced is 23rd September 2016 where it appears on this page about the whole Salomé business. Supposedly it's the emblem for the Dark Wheel :/ https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Kahina_Tijani_Loren
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An excert from a very old thread...
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ant-to-know-about-the-Formidine-Rift-(Part-3)
very end of post #4
"That Dark Wheel symbol on Drew's site": darkwheel1.jpg
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ant-to-know-about-the-Formidine-Rift-(Part-3)
very end of post #4
"That Dark Wheel symbol on Drew's site": darkwheel1.jpg
- Drew has clarified that it's a piece of fan art, and is neither canon or anything to do with the Rift Mystery. He just liked it enough to put on his blog.
Ah, great. Thanks for that!