Formidine Rift... what is it?

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Acaelus Thorn

Acaelus Thorn
Hey all,

On a self-imposed exploration mission related to Drew Wagar's Elite: Reclamation, in which novel a location called the Formidine Rift is mentioned and I believe it is either at the edge of the galactic arm or at the rim of the galaxy. Formidine translates to fear in italian, but does anyone know of any lore that more precisely pinpoints what exactly the Formidine Rift is?
 

IAM GROOT

IAM GROOT
M
Acaelus Thorn said:
Hey all,

On a self-imposed exploration mission related to Drew Wagar's Elite: Reclamation, in which novel a location called the Formidine Rift is mentioned and I believe it is either at the edge of the galactic arm or at the rim of the galaxy. Formidine translates to fear in italian, but does anyone know of any lore that more precisely pinpoints what exactly the Formidine Rift is?
Click to expand...

Been looking for the same thing but can't find any mention other than the clue, "take a line from Reorte to Riedquat and keep going"
It leads in the direction of the elephants trunk nebula and the NGC nebula next to it' pretty uncharted space, I had to abort my search because my canopy blew after being jumped by a NPC gang of vultures whilst scooping
 

Zenith

Zenith
Straight line out from Reorte to Riedquat takes you out past Heart and Soul Nebulae on the left and NGC 281 to the right and below you.
Hypoae Aim sector is the outer edge of the Perseus Arm.
Pha Aeb and Hypo Aeb sectors are slam bang middle of the rift between the Perseus and Outer Arms.
Dryeae Aeb sector is the far side of the Outer Arm.

I'm going to say Pha Aeb / Hypo Aeb sectors in the rift between Perseus and Outer Arms.
Bear in mind a sector is a huge cube 1280ly on a side, subdivided into 512 smaller cubes of 160ly on a side.

In fact I've had a look around and there is a system that would act like a lighthouse in that dark space...
Hypo Aeb AA-A h0
It's about 13059ly from Riedquat (yeah, I calculated it) and is a load of O0 and B0 stars. Once you reach the edge of the Perseus Arm, it will shine there like a siren out in the darkness.
You will need an Anaconda rigged for exploration to get the maximum 40ly jump range.


... In fact, you've probably given me my next expedition once I get back from the core. :)
 
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Acaelus Thorn

Acaelus Thorn
Zenith said:
Straight line out from Reorte to Riedquat takes you out past Heart and Soul Nebulae on the left and NGC 281 to the right and below you.
Hypoae Aim sector is the outer edge of the Perseus Arm.
Pha Aeb and Hypo Aeb sectors are slam bang middle of the rift between the Perseus and Outer Arms.
Dryeae Aeb sector is the far side of the Outer Arm.

I'm going to say Pha Aeb / Hypo Aeb sectors in the rift between Perseus and Outer Arms.
Bear in mind a sector is a huge cube 1280ly on a side, subdivided into 512 smaller cubes of 160ly on a side.

In fact I've had a look around and there is a system that would act like a lighthouse in that dark space...
Hypo Aeb AA-A h0
It's about 13059ly from Riedquat (yeah, I calculated it) and is a load of O0 and B0 stars. Once you reach the edge of the Perseus Arm, it will shine there like a siren out in the darkness.
You will need an Anaconda rigged for exploration to get the maximum 40ly jump range.


... In fact, you've probably given me my next expedition once I get back from the core. :)
Click to expand...

I believe that is the same system I'm currently headed toward (a couple hundred light years out). I don't have my computer in front of me because I'm at work, but it's hard to forget a system with AA-A in it. Is it on the inside edge of a small cloud past the two main arms beyond Reidquat and Reorte? If so, I'll post my findings this evening... I have a suspicion though that I will need to go to the outer edge of that cloud maybe. So hard to tell with the hint. Also, don't need a 'conda to reach it. have a 38LY Asp that' been working great. (despite the cracked canopy and mild hull damage from not paying attention on a jump or two :( )

I would really like to hear some speculation on what you guys expect to find! I'm really hoping that whatever is more dangerous than the Thargoids will be pretty awesome. Although I know there are realistic expectations due to the complexity of implementing what I'm about to mention and likely will not happen, I was hoping to discover a race that exists in black holes, or uses them as a gateway between their realm and ours. I also had a bit of a dream / nightmare about a sentient black hole hunting my Asp down and even jumping systems following me while trying to escape... (I may have been out in the black for too long. Sometimes when you stare the abyss in the face it stares back ;) )
 
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IAM GROOT

IAM GROOT
Sounds awesome, I only have my Cobra at 20 ly jmp range so doesn't sound like I can make the trip just yet. I look forward to hearing your findings later
 

Zenith

Zenith
Interesting hypergiant!

It could be that Fdev haven't enabled the extra story stuff yet. Possibly incoming with Powerplay 1.3?
 

Acaelus Thorn

Acaelus Thorn
That might be true... however... I'm going to have to explore around the far edge of the rim to make sure while I'm here. I'd be really sad if there was a great discovery to make here and I missed it. :(
 

Acaelus Thorn

Acaelus Thorn
I'll tell you what is weird tho. I found ONE other reference to the Formidine Rift and that was a small post in the comments of kickstarter by John Harper author of And Here the Wheel. He states:
"You don't know what I've seen. I've sailed beyond the Formidine Rift, seen the fleets of Octagonal ships blocking out the stars. I've stood on lost worlds, sterilised clean by the Thargoids and erased from humanity's maps. I've seen the graves from the Thargoid wars, countless headstones stretching beyond the curvature of the horizon, little spots of reflected light dottering the abandoned continent ..."
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Weird snippet, here's the link https://www.kickstarter.com/project...se-in-audio-and-print/comments?cursor=5385980 do a page search for Formidine.

..although I wouldn't think the Thargoids would be worse than themselves I supposed it's possible since the character saying to go out here had her memory erased.
 
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EUS

EUS
Wouldn't a straight line in a spherical/curved galaxy actually resemble a curved line?
 
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Erimus Kamzel

Erimus Kamzel
drew said:
It does indeed. I used the root word in Latin as the inspiration, Formido, which translates to 'dread' or 'fear'.

Congratulations Commander. A clue.

Cheers,

Drew.
Click to expand...

Hope you don't mind Drew, but I made a very brief mention of the Formidine rift in a video I've submitted to the Frontier film competition (no copyright infringement intended) :p
 
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drew

drew
Erimus said:
Hope you don't mind Drew, but I made a very brief mention of the Formidine rift in a video I've submitted to the Frontier film competition (no copyright infringement intended) :p
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None taken, Commander. It would be an odd move for an author to alienate his fans. Good luck with your entry.

Cheers,

Drew.
 

Poseidal

Poseidal
Now to think: what rift is feared, maybe feared the most?

I'm heading out in that direction, but I don't know if I'll get any closer.
 

noreply

N
Acaelus Thorn said:
...
I would really like to hear some speculation on what you guys expect to find! I'm really hoping that whatever is more dangerous than the Thargoids will be pretty awesome.
...
Click to expand...

From my memory of reading other pieces of Drew's rather excellent fiction, the only thing I can think of that was more dangerous than the Thargoids would be Galcop (as revealed in Finis).

But obviously, the events of Elite: Reclamation happen after Finis, after Rebecca Weston "took a fancy to going exploring".

It is interesting to speculate what it might be, but I wonder if there is a further clue in that she mentions that it was the Imperials that modified her memory - "it's all there in the Imperial databanks somewhere".
 

Commander Wood

C
I am purely speculating but I would anticipate that the Formidine Rift is an area beyond the galactic arm (as mentioned in straight line from Reorte -> Riedquat) which would appear to be impassable - i.e. no more stellar objects, hence the reason it would instill fear.

To get beyond the Rift, it follows that we would then require some kind of technology other that hyperspace - maybe some kind of wormhole, or travel via dark systems from the DDF (although this would also mean you'd need to scoop fuel from gas giants, not stars - don't think that is implemented yet).

I suppose the reason that whatever is there is still there rather than here, is because reaching our region of space is as difficult for them as us reaching theirs. That would imply a rough match in technological sophistication. Perhaps we won't be instantly wiped out when first contact is made after all!
 

Erimus Kamzel

Erimus Kamzel
Commander Wood said:
I am purely speculating but I would anticipate that the Formidine Rift is an area beyond the galactic arm (as mentioned in straight line from Reorte -> Riedquat) which would appear to be impassable - i.e. no more stellar objects, hence the reason it would instill fear.

To get beyond the Rift, it follows that we would then require some kind of technology other that hyperspace - maybe some kind of wormhole, or travel via dark systems from the DDF (although this would also mean you'd need to scoop fuel from gas giants, not stars - don't think that is implemented yet).

I suppose the reason that whatever is there is still there rather than here, is because reaching our region of space is as difficult for them as us reaching theirs. That would imply a rough match in technological sophistication. Perhaps we won't be instantly wiped out when first contact is made after all!
Click to expand...

When I read the book a while back I took an educated guess at where it is and pictured it between the outer Perseus rim, and the near fringe of the New Outer arm. I've been out there and the star density is obviously very diffuse, defiantly got a 'rift' feel about it :)

A while back I added it to the galactic mapping project. You can have a look and see if it falls in with where you think it should be and I'll happily remake the map if I'm off by a large margin. I guess Drew is the only one who really knows where it is and he may want to keep it secret for any sequels ;)

Link:
Galactic Mapping - Community Project

The Formidine Rift is marked on the following map...

MAP-09 WESTERN INTERMEDIATE REGION (2ND QUADRANT)

Edit: I would also speculate the rift stretches right along the Perseus arm rim, right up to the edge of Hyponia in map 08 ?
 
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Poseidal

Poseidal
Which arm is she referring to? Remember she was telling it from the perspective of the old hyperdrives, not the ones we currently use.
 
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