The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Rochester]

Looks like we arrived at the same place, more or less, using the same references. Where did this go? What did you end up trying? Why aren't you at Raxxla now? What stopped you? Where did the trail dead end?

We (I) never found anything, primarily because some other shiny thing caught my attention and I got distracted, by the Tau Ceti reference and Donars Oak issue which took me on the Yggdrasil goose chase trying to bring more relevance to the Sol theory.

Again the pictorial element of the Raxxla logo is perplexing, as it has a number of very solid interpretations; Sol and something hidden; Saturn and an omphalos hidden, or Delphi and the tripod and something hidden.

*then the obvious 6 corners = 6 stages of the toast = 6 locations = triangulation?

Personal current favourite is the Delphi system idea, as it ties with the Tau Ceti reference (maybe the date is a red herring) and the logo makes sense - central dot and circle = omphalos, three prongs a tripod (oracle)… but still what does a hexagon relate to / describe?

Apart from Saturn none can provide an adequate explanation of the meaning behind the use of a hexagon. What could it relate to?

Can we breakdown other logos, do they all have a common language of description?

Currently no further along myself than before, I’m still at ‘Dangerous’ and not Elite (out of choice because I hate grind and want the rank to mean something) so it’s possible a lot of my actions are locked due to that. Currently PC is still mothballed, so only accessing ED via PS4 account for astronautic exploration purposes only.

Concerning Yggdrasil and @Pyroboros, I had not come across that reference before, but fail to see the relevance?, other than I like the phrase: “The name was chosen because Yggdrasil took disparate pieces of software and assembled them into a complete product”.

Back to the hexagon, it may just represent a star, or six points of reference or Saturn itself! Its anyones guess…

“In Rosicrucian and Hermetic Magic, the seven Traditional Planets correspond with the angles and the center of the Hexagram as follows, in the same patterns as they appear on the Sephiroth and on the Tree of Life. Saturn, although formally attributed to the Sephira of Binah, within this frame work nonetheless occupies the position of Daath.“

Hexagram - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Louis Calvert]

Personal current favourite is the Delphi system idea, as it ties with the Tau Ceti reference (maybe the date is a red herring) and the logo makes sense - central dot and circle = omphalos, three prongs a tripod (oracle)… but still what does a hexagon relate to / describe?

Apart from Saturn none can provide an adequate explanation of the meaning behind the use of a hexagon. What could it relate to?

I remember (I dearly wish I could find it) ages ago - back in the days of the first Thargoid probe discoveries and the early trail leading to Pleiades - a tweet(?) from Fdev that basically said something like "we put stuff in-game, and if no-one finds it we drop another hint".

I guess I'm saying that I think Delphi, Saturn, Sol, Tau Ceti, green glow, exploration into the void, and a lot more ideas are all actually maybe different angles on the same puzzle - not mutually exclusive.

A great mystery is one you can solve from different angles or rather many people can see it from different angles and come to the same conclusion.

 

[CMDR_Ryunosuke]

okay hold up, I had another wild thought. Hear me out here, what if... Raxxla... isn't Raxxla...

What if Raxxla, is a corruption of another word, or name, that ... hence just stuck?

so let's take the word 'Cookie', it comes from the Middle Dutch word 'coeke' or Cake, which is basically what a cookie is, a little cake. The British call them biscuits (which are not to be confused with scones, the fluffy pastry you eat for breakfast with gravy)

It could also work the other way as well... what if Raxxla, has itself, been corrupted into another word?

 

[Darrack]

the fluffy pastry you eat for breakfast with gravy Butter

O7

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Looks like we arrived at the same place, more or less, using the same references. Where did this go? What did you end up trying? Why aren't you at Raxxla now? What stopped you? Where did the trail dead end?

Not sure who you’re asking, but if you’re asking me about my my “Raxxla in Sol” theory, it failed. I did extensive searches in Sol and found nothing, nada, nowt.

It’s not the only theory of mine that has failed- e.g. search for my post on “Paradise Lost”, which I thought was a good one at the time.

This is the nature of theorising. You start with a hypothesis or two that allows some predictions and lead to some supportive evidence, which then allows further predictions to test. Eventually all theories fail (i.e. some evidence comes to light which cannot be explained by the current theory) and are replaced, hopefully, by something better.

For example my current theory that David Braben’s love of astronomy is the key and that the Toast is discussing Gravitational Wave detection of Raxxla is the best to date because it coherently addresses most of the things we know. Of course that doesn’t make it “correct”, it just means it perhaps stands a better chance of being correct. Only finding Raxxla will determine which is the correct theory!

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method.

@Louis Calvert : “I guess I'm saying that I think Delphi, Saturn, Sol, Tau Ceti, green glow, exploration into the void, and a lot more ideas are all actually maybe different angles on the same puzzle - not mutually exclusive.”...
Whoa there! You’re conflating a whole load of things there, that way lies space madness! We do not know that these things are linked in any way except for the fact that FD put them into the game. Probability is that they are not linked. Moreover some may be intentional red herrings. FD have put all manner of words/names into the game, using ancient mythologies, RL scientists and other notables, etc etc. This does not mean that they are significant in any way! It may have been a way to get a lot of names to use, it may have been a way to generate red herrings, it may have been both!

Are you referring there to the “green glow” that I detected and first reported while searching for asteroids in Sol? If you read all the posts about it you will find that we concluded it was a game-design graphics artefact due to the time that the colour palette takes to decay when you change views from the system map to out-the-cockpit view. It is a distraction but means nothing. It was observed in other systems by people who were helping me investigate it, so is a meaningless thing.

I think it would be extremely poor game design if ED only had one puzzle. In very broad terms there is-it’s the top level puzzle about a game set in 3301/3308 when humanity has expanded into the Milky Way after FTL travel was invented. Other than that it is enlivened by independent storylines, which may or may not be linked or cross-over. But viewing them as coherent is a road to space madness, you’ll end up finding meaning in textures of surfaces in the game...pareidolia!

Mmm, seems you’re already on that road.... “Mimas Conspiracy”??? To prove a conspiracy you have to prove that its omission was deliberate based on ulterior motivation, as a way of obfuscating something. IMHO starting wild rumours is not helpful in the Quest. Many RL things are omitted from the game, doesn’t imply any conspiracy. Where is Ceres? Why is LAWD 26 a Wolf Rayet? Why cant we land on the moon? You’ve triggered my sceptical streak...not a good feeling over breakfast.

 

[Darrack]

David Braben’s love of astronomy is the key

I thought about this connection to, especially as one of the greatest minds of all time related to space, Professor Stephen Hawking, spent most of his life in Cambridge even though he was born in Oxford.
Ive been reading through my Hawking collection for clues!
Small connections i know but hey straws and all that.

O7

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I thought about this connection to, especially as one of the greatest minds of all time related to space, Professor Stephen Hawking, spent most of his life in Cambridge even though he was born in Oxford.
Ive been reading through my Hawking collection for clues!
Small connections i know but hey straws and all that.

O7

You’ll read some fascinating stuff, but I siriusly (pun intended!) doubt that Stephen Hawking had any interest in the game, or involvement in its development, so you won’t get any clues! His in-game tribute is the Hawking Gap, where one of the Dynasty Plot bases is located.

 

[Darrack]

You’ll read some fascinating stuff, but I siriusly (pun intended!) doubt that Stephen Hawking had any interest in the game, or involvement in its development, so you won’t get any clues! His in-game tribute is the Hawking Gap, where one of the Dynasty Plot bases is located.

Completely agree however my thoughts were the other way around ie Fdev taking inspiration from the man himself and his research into Black Holes.

O7

 

[Louis Calvert]

Mmm, seems you’re already on that road.... “Mimas Conspiracy”??? To prove a conspiracy you have to prove that its omission was deliberate based on ulterior motivation, as a way of obfuscating something. IMHO starting wild rumours is not helpful in the Quest. Many RL things are omitted from the game, doesn’t imply any conspiracy. Where is Ceres? Why is LAWD 26 a Wolf Rayet? Why cant we land on the moon? You’ve triggered my sceptical streak...not a good feeling over breakfast.

... Jorki... Prove to me that Gravity Waves play any part in Elite Dangerous please. Show me one single example of Gravity Waves existing in-game, please. Show me one single example of a reference to Gravity Wave detection in any part of in-game narrative please?

... Why, Jorki... are you starting wild rumours?! Jorki! That's not helpful in the Quest. Many RL things are omitted from the game.

Don't be so patronising.

 

[Darrack]

Mmm, seems you’re already on that road.... “Mimas Conspiracy”??? To prove a conspiracy you have to prove that its omission was deliberate based on ulterior motivation, as a way of obfuscating something

Im not sure anyone is pulling the conspiracy card, its just another avenue of thought, the more thoughts the better.
It may have been deliberately omitted for future use or a genuine mistake, for now all they have said is that its not unreasonable to believe that in the future new moons will be made available to land on around Saturn.
Currently of the 6 only Titan is unavailable to land on so im calling new "moons" as something to consider.

O7

 

[Louis Calvert]

Revisions to the Raxxla Logo​

While I'm waiting to hear back from CS about Mimas, I wanted to take a pass at this since I see a lot of ideas based on the number of dashes in the hexagon.

The Original rebuilt Raxxla logo that we all use is great - actually it's better than the one in the codex, more care has been taken over it, and I think that's possibly unfortunately led to some theories about the number of dashes being more significant than it might actually be.

I worked as a graphic designer for 20 years: Looking at the codex logo I can see very clearly that whoever made it simply drew a hexagon then simply converted the outline to dashes -takes about 1 minute to do. You can tell because of the uneven distribution of the dashes around the corners.

I can't match it exactly since I don't have access to higher-end software since I retired but even with free Inkscape I've been able to illustrate it here well enough for this example. With Illustrator or Corel software I could easily have set the correct line weight and kerning between dashes to exactly match the distribution from the codex - i'd be surprised if it wasn't actually one of the pre-set dashes.

I can't remember who rebuilt the logo a while back (sorry!), like I said they did a brilliant job and this is absolutely not bashing their recreation work (except this one little bit of accuracy) - I suspect they spent more time and care recreating it that the original creator, no doubt.

For this reason I'm pretty certain that the number of dashes is irrelevant in terms of a "clue". It only seems significant because of the more carefully balanced recreation.

 

[Rochester]

Revisions to the Raxxla Logo​

While I'm waiting to hear back from CS about Mimas, I wanted to take a pass at this since I see a lot of ideas based on the number of dashes in the hexagon.

The Original rebuilt Raxxla logo that we all use is great - actually it's better than the one in the codex, more care has been taken over it, and I think that's possibly unfortunately led to some theories about the number of dashes being more significant than it might actually be.

I worked as a graphic designer for 20 years: Looking at the codex logo I can see very clearly that whoever made it simply drew a hexagon then simply converted the outline to dashes -takes about 1 minute to do. You can tell because of the uneven distribution of the dashes around the corners.

View attachment 332383

I can't match it exactly since I don't have access to higher-end software since I retired but even with free Inkscape I've been able to illustrate it here well enough for this example. With Illustrator or Corel software I could easily have set the correct line weight and kerning between dashes to exactly match the distribution from the codex - i'd be surprised if it wasn't actually one of the pre-set dashes.

I can't remember who rebuilt the logo a while back (sorry!), like I said they did a brilliant job and this is absolutely not bashing their recreation work (except this one little bit of accuracy) - I suspect they spent more time and care recreating it that the original creator, no doubt.

For this reason I'm pretty certain that the number of dashes is irrelevant in terms of a "clue". It only seems significant because of the more carefully balanced recreation.

Yup I concur, something I take for granted, I noticed that too so my gut never attributed anything to the ‘number of dots’ myself also being from the creative industries. It’s a good point to make as it will hopefully rule out one avenue of foil and save time.

I presume the dashes are a simple graphical illustration of a hidden object; a broken / dotted line.

Raxxla has been described as hidden or lost or more importantly 'obfuscated' - to darken, to make obscure, confuse, to be evasive, unclear, hide from view.

Those dotted lines could be used for a number of purposes, but it could simply represent a diminished boundary, indicating the hidden parts of an object.

By convention, technical and engineering illustrations use a solid line for what is visible and the dashed or dotted line to indicate concealed lines and edges, usually on the reverse of an object.

 

[CMDR_Ryunosuke]

... Jorki... Prove to me that Gravity Waves play any part in Elite Dangerous please. Show me one single example of Gravity Waves existing in-game, please. Show me one single example of a reference to Gravity Wave detection in any part of in-game narrative please?

... Why, Jorki... are you starting wild rumours?! Jorki! That's not helpful in the Quest. Many RL things are omitted from the game.

Don't be so patronising.

in the astronomical sense, a Siren is a pulse of radio waves typically from a neutron star or black hole. A dark siren is formed from the collision of two neutron stars or two black holes.

Standard Siren

Dark Siren

 

[Darrack]

Revisions to the Raxxla Logo​

While I'm waiting to hear back from CS about Mimas, I wanted to take a pass at this since I see a lot of ideas based on the number of dashes in the hexagon.

The Original rebuilt Raxxla logo that we all use is great - actually it's better than the one in the codex, more care has been taken over it, and I think that's possibly unfortunately led to some theories about the number of dashes being more significant than it might actually be.

I worked as a graphic designer for 20 years: Looking at the codex logo I can see very clearly that whoever made it simply drew a hexagon then simply converted the outline to dashes -takes about 1 minute to do. You can tell because of the uneven distribution of the dashes around the corners.

View attachment 332383

I can't match it exactly since I don't have access to higher-end software since I retired but even with free Inkscape I've been able to illustrate it here well enough for this example. With Illustrator or Corel software I could easily have set the correct line weight and kerning between dashes to exactly match the distribution from the codex - i'd be surprised if it wasn't actually one of the pre-set dashes.

I can't remember who rebuilt the logo a while back (sorry!), like I said they did a brilliant job and this is absolutely not bashing their recreation work (except this one little bit of accuracy) - I suspect they spent more time and care recreating it that the original creator, no doubt.

For this reason I'm pretty certain that the number of dashes is irrelevant in terms of a "clue". It only seems significant because of the more carefully balanced recreation.

All looks a little bit sithy to me

O7

 

[Rochester]

Updated my Yggdrasil ramblings again:

Thread 'The Yggdrasil / John Milton conundrum'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-yggdrasil-john-milton-conundrum.607684/

An additional assumption, takes into account the key findings but also in addition the omission made by FD of any real clarification to identify a maximum range capability of early FTL travel during the early stages of exploration.

In so much that this can be interpreted as identifying Tau Ceti and the 2296 date in the codex as a mechanic to draw a spatial temporal map, or area / sphere of influence from Tau Ceti (centre) to Achenar (furthest discovered) and this when overlaid with another area of influence set by Sol to Achenar or relatively Pandemonium, identifies an overlapping area within the upper celestial hemisphere.

This it is assumed, relates to the ‘outer rim’ of a presumed John Milton spherical area, where in Paradise Lost, Lucifer walked upon the crystalline sphere and where he saw the gates of heaven.

This being an abstract metaphor written by Michael Brookes, for the general location of either Raxxla, something else or an archived narrative.

Upon the outer rim.

It’s all still very possibly, I accept, total projection and Space Madness.

*Upon the crystalline sphere - Midjourney.

 

[Yuki Estelle]

Since the Raxxla logo has been brought up again I just wanted to dredge a few points from past studies that I find relevant:

1. The center symbol (the circle with a dot in the middle ☉) was used during Renaissance Europe to depict the sun.
2. The three outer arcs resemble one of ED's target reticles.
3. As previously mentioned, dotted lines appear to indicate something in the background, or behind. This also occurs in ED when targetting bases and stations behind planets/moons.
4. The 6 strange black shapes on the outside are presumed to utilize negative space, rather than indicating actual shapes themselves. Train your eyes to see the space in between them and you are presented with 6 rectangles radiating outward. This could potentially represent a station, such at the one we see in the Dark Wheel Codex entry or the backside of a normal station interior.

When placed together, these symbols prompt a number of interesting theories. If we take them at face value using their proposed functions, it could translate into something like, "A targetable Ocellus or Oribis station hidden behind a sun."

More abstractly, since a weapon reticle is used we could interpret it to mean the only way to find the station/object hidden behind the sun would be to complete a series of combat missions or tests, which falls in line with the Dark Wheel's motif.

When stripped of all presumption we are left with some wild theories. Safely assuming the circle with a dot at it's center is still the sun, we could be looking at a Dyson Sphere enveloping it. Or a giant Guardian construct. The whole image could even represent an astroid base.

At the end of the day this is all speculation, but I feel like it's an important addition since the symbology used appears to be commonly recognizable.

 

[Allen Stroud]

For assistance.

In all the discussions I had about the guide material, David Braben never once referred to anything related to Robert Holdstock's DW story. The only references to it in any of those discussions were from Michael Brookes, Me, or T James.

 

[Louis Calvert]

Since the Raxxla logo has been brought up again I just wanted to dredge a few points from past studies that I find relevant:

1. The center symbol (the circle with a dot in the middle ☉) was used during Renaissance Europe to depict the sun.
2. The three outer arcs resemble one of ED's target reticles.
3. As previously mentioned, dotted lines appear to indicate something in the background, or behind. This also occurs in ED when targetting bases and stations behind planets/moons.
4. The 6 strange black shapes on the outside are presumed to utilize negative space, rather than indicating actual shapes themselves. Train your eyes to see the space in between them and you are presented with 6 rectangles radiating outward. This could potentially represent a station, such at the one we see in the Dark Wheel Codex entry or the backside of a normal station interior.

When placed together, these symbols prompt a number of interesting theories. If we take them at face value using their proposed functions, it could translate into something like, "A targetable Ocellus or Oribis station hidden behind a sun."

More abstractly, since a weapon reticle is used we could interpret it to mean the only way to find the station/object hidden behind the sun would be to complete a series of combat missions or tests, which falls in line with the Dark Wheel's motif.

When stripped of all presumption we are left with some wild theories. Safely assuming the circle with a dot at it's center is still the sun, we could be looking at a Dyson Sphere enveloping it. Or a giant Guardian construct. The whole image could even represent an astroid base.

At the end of the day this is all speculation, but I feel like it's an important addition since the symbology used appears to be commonly recognizable.

These are all excellent points. I hadn't made the connection with #3 "when targetting bases and stations behind planets/moons", that's a good insight!!

@Rochester yes that's a good point about the dotted line too, it's almost certainly "missing" or "hidden" or... something 'not there'... or something like that.

@Allen Stroud thanks, that's always good to know. I think people need reminding that Elite Dangerous is the Primary Source - as you put it so well - as often as possible. I'm still seeing people quoting the 7ly jump range because of original Elite

I do think there's symbolism in the logo, but as we've pointed out, it's probably relatively simple and only one part of the larger puzzle.

I have a ton of updated thoughts, I am compiling an updated version of my Saturn idea, need to bash my notes into shape; but I'm just waiting on the final CS message on Mimas so I can share that in its entirety with you all first.

For now: CS confirmed Mimas is missing deliberately (not a bug/accident/forgot to add it) - I'm just waiting on confirmation of a couple of clarifications I asked for.

Question: Is the green of the Raxxla logo important, do you all think?​

 

[Rochester]

Very interesting, would like to know why it’s omitted intentionally, if it’s nothing more than ‘it’s tiny’ we don’t do tiny it cost to much’ then that puts it to bed, but if they won’t say then we’ll. that’s a big what if!

O7

 

[Rochester]

Regarding the colour green, in Ancient Greece, green was associated with Demeter, the goddess of the harvest!

In the codex ‘Cora’ could be an allusion to Kore / Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, who on her travels sort of ‘got drunk and talked about pirates’.

Demeter was a wanderer (vagabond) of the earth who took on in the likeness an old woman named ‘Dos’ or ‘Doso’ [doh'soh]; at the city of Eleusis (at a well) she met the daughters of the king ‘Celeus’. They offered her a nice glass of wine but instead Doso preferred a nice pint of warm beer laced with drugs.

Demeter is assigned the zodiac constellation Virgo, the Virgin, by Marcus Manilius in his 1st-century Roman work Astronomicon. In art, the constellation Virgo holds Spica, a sheaf of wheat in her hand and sits beside constellation Leo the Lion. In Arcadia, she was known as "Black Demeter".

But that’s rabbit-hole thinking for you, anything can be attributed meaning if you dig deep enough.

From a design perspective green is a safe colour that generally represents…well nature, its popular because it’s well balanced, stable and harmonious with other colours. It’s just very functional.