The Quest To Find Raxxla

[playerwon]

Interesting point actually, Is "there will be no hints" still relevant - or was that even ever actually true?

i think that can be said of anything thats ever been said about raxxla.
hell, ive even heard they took it out of game cause of conflicts in lore/dev world.
yeah, im sure the entire thing is just a mind (insert expletive here) on top of a random location that someone will stumble upon one day.
or its permit locked lol.

 

[Louis Calvert]

NOTE: I've since edited this with some info at the bottom that seems to suggest most of these travel time numbers aren't right I've left the post the same though for posterity

my point being if there is a link then what could link Tau Ceti with Delphi, in game, or visa versa; other than knowing you classics from school!

Alright then, I've never thought about Tau Ceti before so let's take a fresh run at this Maybe my total noob idiot approach might jog something that might be helpful to you! This is all just from in-game sources as usual.

Tau Ceti from the Galmap description:

"First colony outside the Sol system, where the first alien life was discovered. Unfortunately the last remnants are now in zoo enclosures for tourists. Crops cover most of the surface."

The Tourist beacons at Tau Ceti detail the history of the first extrasolar colony. The last dated entry is 2242.

In early 2240, hours before the Earth fleet arrived in Tau Ceti, the main settlement changed its name to Taylor Colony and voted for independence from Earth. Without the starships to give battle, the colonists targeted the Earth fleet dropships as they attempted to land. Neither side could gain an advantage and so diplomacy resumed. With some bitterness on both sides, a negotiated settlement was reached and in 2242

That's 54 years before the 2296 Raxxla codex date from Art Tornqvist. We know that before 2159 (The first date in the Tourist spots) Tau Ceti was colonised using early FTL systems described as 'slow and inefficient'. How slow?

Early FTL speed:
The Tourist Spot says:

Further ecological transgression by Tau Ceti colonists was uncovered in 2228 when an undercover documentary found its way back to Earth... Earth sent a military task force to the system with orders to revoke its colonial charter.

In early 2240, hours before the Earth fleet arrived in Tau Ceti...

So if we assume (because we have to) that the Earth Fleet left immediately in 2228 and went at best possible speed, they reached Tau Ceti in 12 years. Tau Ceti is 11.94ly from Sol, so that means early FTL travelled at approximately lightspeed, and we can assume military FTL was probably as good as anyone could make.

Therefore by 2296, how far could anything containing Raxxla actually be from Earth?

FTL Radius by 2296:
The Tourist spots show that Tau Ceti was the first colony, and by 2159 it was established and self-sufficient. So let's say for argument and ease that Footfall was 2150. The fact that it's the first (known) colony means that we could start the distance/time calculation from 2138, the assumed launch date of the Tau Ceti colonisation ships given that it took them 12 years to reach Tau Ceti.

Galnet tells us that Hyperdrives were invented in the early-22nd Century, which puts the launch of the Tau Ceti mission extremely close to the first successful Hyperdrive test, it could be within a few years even. Galnet later tells us that Hyperdrives weren't commonly available to civilians until the 2800's so that means, if these older Galnet articles are still to be considered vaguely accurate, that the spread of human exploration and discovery by Art Tornqvist's time was considerably under the 157 lightyear radius we get from the assumption of the 1ly per year travel time of early Hyperdrives from the Tau Ceti tourist spot. 157ly assuming a ship launched in the same year as the Tau Ceti mission and just kept going.

Raxxla must have been discovered, then leaked, before 2296 in order for Art to write about it. And, aside from assumed test-ships, we know there weren't civilians like us zooming around in early hyperdrives. Given that ships took 1ly per year to move, they were likely all pretty massive too, having to support crew for years, even if they were in stasis.

Conclusion:
To me, this heavily suggests that early Raxxla as known by Art Tornqvist must have been relatively near Earth. Certainly closer than 70ly (assuming a ship travelled out there, then turned back and reported Raxxla, then that news got to Tau Ceti for Art to journal about it in a very offhand way. I'm assuming the little colony of Tau Ceti wasn't launching interstellar exploration ships yet so the news would need to travel to Tau Ceti from earth, so 157/2)-12=66.5, rounding it up to 70 for ease.

Given that 70ly away would mean 70 years, and assume a ship left at the same time as the Tau Ceti mission, that's very unlikely, so that to me suggests it would limit the range very considerably.

The Tourist beacons do mention FTL probes, but we have no information on how fast they were or how long they travelled to reach Tau Ceti, so we need to assume that they also move at 1ly per year - hyperdrive is hyperdrive regardless of what it's pushing? If we assume unmanned probes are faster, which is very reasonable, then maybe we could expand the range a little given the news of Raxxla may then travel faster than the people discovering it, or it was discovered by probes - but again, we have no info on that so it's impossible to guess. Going by only what's in-game, we can assume a 70ly limit at maximum.

What's next?
We can assume that ships back then wouldn't have been sent randomly to every system within 70ly, especially since the Tau Ceti beacons tell us that probes were used to assess the viability of the system first. It was probably crazy expensive and so they would prioritise habitable (or profitable) star systems within that range and ignore the rest entirely.

It's also a valid assumption to say that even probes may have been crazy expesnsive. Maybe they used telescope-based methods like we do to determine the likely composition of a star-system before assigning probes to the most likely. That would even further reduce the possiblity of an accidental discovery that would lead to some secret mission. Of course, it's possible Raxxla was discovered pre-hyperdrive - like maybe some astronomer studying nearby stars saw something that couldn't have been natural and so when Hyperdrive became possible a secret expedition went there to explore. We have no info on anything like that, so we can't include that here though.

I suppose making a list of attractive systems less than 70ly of Sol and, starting with the nearest and working out, then check them for clues like POI's or beacons and the like. I assume that's been done and found nothing, so, other than that, I've no idea what any of this could possibly mean, other than Raxxla is closer to Sol than most people are looking.

This set of assumption jenga obviously is flawed, but unless my maths is bad (which is usually is!) the general numbers are correct given in-game info.

Other things? connection of the less obvious kind? Tinfoil?:
The only other thing I could think of is the Martian Relic (Galnet). The Tourist beacon says it was discovered on Mars in 2280, that's only 16 years before Art Tornqvist's journal entry. Given the assumed 12 years travel time for news from Earth, that means Art was writing his entry within 4 years of maybe the first non-human artefact discovered, on Mars no-less!

Galnet makes a firm link by association between the Martian Relic and Thargoids, we could question why Fdev did that if they're not actually linked. Obviously that's old Galnet though so may no longer be a valid source.

I could make a case here that given the connections and timescale here, maybe Raxxla is linked to the Martian Relic and therefore the Thargoids, which means that Tau Ceti's Art Tornqvist journal entry might be simply another thing pointing to Tharogids. What if the Martian Relic was called Raxxla back then...

Galnet (Martian relic of 2280): "Indeed, there is so little concrete information in the public sphere that some have questioned the Relic's very existence. But leaked Federal records confirm that the object, which was sequestered by the Federal government shortly after its discovery, is very real."
Art Tvornquist 2284: "... Maybe we should go find Raxxla while we're at it!"... (date adjusted for 12year lightspeed delay)

Maybe Raxxla is "R-XX-1a" A catalogue number for the Martian Relic, conspiracy theorists started calling it Raxxla because it's easier to say!

EDIT: I have just discovered that most of this might be very wrong with regards the early FTL. Apparently the Tourist beacons also say this:

"Taylor was elected civilian administrator in 2161 and immediately pushed for the colony to become fully independent from Earth. In response and at the behest of the mission's corporate backers, Earth sent a delegation to Tau Ceti 3 to scrutinise its practices. What they found was widespread active destruction of the planet's native ecosystem. The Authority for Ecological Control issued guidelines for habitat conservation and recommended a second mission be sent in twelve months to judge if any improvements had been made. When this arrived in 2163 and found the situation had grown worse, trade sanctions were recommended and imposed. "

This heavily suggests that it's possible to travel between Earth and Tau Ceti in a year or less. I'm not sure really how that fits with the later info that suggested a 12-year travel time between Tau Ceti and Earth.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Alright then, I've never thought about Tau Ceti before so let's take a fresh run at this Maybe my total noob idiot approach might jog something that might be helpful to you! This is all just from in-game sources as usual.

Tau Ceti from the Galmap description:


The Tourist beacons at Tau Ceti detail the history of the first extrasolar colony. They last dated entry is 2242.


That's 54 years before the 2296 Raxxla codex date from Art Tornqvist. We know that before 2159 (The first date in the Tourist spots) Tau Ceti was colonised using early FTL systems described as 'slow and inefficient'. How slow?

Early FTL speed:
The Tourist Spot says:




So if we assume (because we have to) that the Earth Fleet left immediately in 2228 and went at best possible speed, they reached Tau Ceti in 12 years. Tau Ceti is 11.94ly from Sol, so that means early FTL travelled at approximately lightspeed, and we can assume military FTL was probably as good as anyone could make.

Therefore by 2296, how far could anything containing Raxxla actually be from Earth?

FTL Radius by 2296:
The Tourist spots show that Tau Ceti was the first colony, and by 2159 it was established and self-sufficient. So let's say for argument and ease that Footfall was 2150. The fact that it's the first (known) colony means that we could start the distance/time calculation from 2138, the assumed launch date of the Tau Ceti colonisation ships given that it took them 12 years to reach Tau Ceti.

Galnet tells us that Hyperdrives were invented in the early-22nd Century, which puts the launch of the Tau Ceti mission extremely close to the first successful Hyperdrive test, it could be within a few years even. Galnet later tells us that Hyperdrives weren't commonly available to civilians until the 2800's so that means, if these older Galnet articles are still to be considered vaguely accurate, that the spread of human exploration and discovery by Art Tornqvist's time was considerably under the 157 lightyear radius we get from the assumption of the 1ly per year travel time of early Hyperdrives from the Tau Ceti tourist spot. 157ly assuming a ship launched in the same year as the Tau Ceti mission and just kept going.

Raxxla must have been discovered, then leaked, before 2296 in order for Art to write about it. And, aside from assumed test-ships, we know there weren't civilians like us zooming around in early hyperdrives. Given that ships took 1ly per year to move, they were likely all pretty massive too, having to support crew for years, even if they were in stasis.

Conclusion:
To me, this heavily suggests that early Raxxla as known by Art Tornqvist must have been relatively near Earth. Certainly closer than 70ly (assuming a ship travelled out there, then turned back and reported Raxxla, then that news got to Tau Ceti for Art to journal about it in a very offhand way. I'm assuming the little colony of Tau Ceti wasn't launching interstellar exploration ships yet so the news would need to travel to Tau Ceti from earth, so 157/2)-12=66.5, rounding it up to 70 for ease.

Given that 70ly away would mean 70 years, and assume a ship left at the same time as the Tau Ceti mission, that's very unlikely, so that to me suggests it would limit the range very considerably.

The Tourist beacons do mention FTL probes, but we have no information on how fast they were or how long they travelled to reach Tau Ceti, so we need to assume that they also move at 1ly per year - hyperdrive is hyperdrive regardless of what it's pushing? If we assume unmanned probes are faster, which is very reasonable, then maybe we could expand the range a little given the news of Raxxla may then travel faster than the people discovering it, or it was discovered by probes - but again, we have no info on that so it's impossible to guess. Going by only what's in-game, we can assume a 70ly limit at maximum.

What's next?
We can assume that ships back then wouldn't have been sent randomly to every system within 70ly, especially since the Tau Ceti beacons tell us that probes were used to assess the viability of the system first. It was probably crazy expensive and so they would prioritise habitable (or profitable) star systems within that range and ignore the rest entirely.

It's also a valid assumption to say that even probes may have been crazy expesnsive. Maybe they used telescope-based methods like we do to determine the likely composition of a star-system before assigning probes to the most likely. That would even further reduce the possiblity of an accidental discovery that would lead to some secret mission. Of course, it's possible Raxxla was discovered pre-hyperdrive - like maybe some astronomer studying nearby stars saw something that couldn't have been natural and so when Hyperdrive became possible a secret expedition went there to explore. We have no info on anything like that, so we can't include that here though.

I suppose making a list of attractive systems less than 70ly of Sol and, starting with the nearest and working out, then check them for clues like POI's or beacons and the like. I assume that's been done and found nothing, so, other than that, I've no idea what any of this could possibly mean, other than Raxxla is closer to Sol than most people are looking.

This set of assumption jenga obviously is flawed, but unless my maths is bad (which is usually is!) the general numbers are correct given in-game info.

Other things? connection of the less obvious kind? Tinfoil?:
The only other thing I could think of is the Martian Relic (Galnet). The Tourist beacon says it was discovered on Mars in 2280, that's only 16 years before Art Tornqvist's journal entry. Given the assumed 12 years travel time for news from Earth, that means Art was writing his entry within 4 years of maybe the first non-human artefact discovered, on Mars no-less!

Galnet makes a firm link by association between the Martian Relic and Thargoids, we could question why Fdev did that if they're not actually linked. Obviously that's old Galnet though so may no longer be a valid source.

I could make a case here that given the connections and timescale here, maybe Raxxla is linked to the Martian Relic and therefore the Thargoids, which means that Tau Ceti's Art Tornqvist journal entry might be simply another thing pointing to Tharogids. What if the Martian Relic was called Raxxla back then...

Galnet (Martian relic of 2280): "Indeed, there is so little concrete information in the public sphere that some have questioned the Relic's very existence. But leaked Federal records confirm that the object, which was sequestered by the Federal government shortly after its discovery, is very real."
Art Tvornquist 2284: "... Maybe we should go find Raxxla while we're at it!"... (date adjusted for 12year lightspeed delay)

Maybe Raxxla is "R-XX-1a" A catalogue number for the Martian Relic, conspiracy theorists started calling it Raxxla because it's easier to say!

I like it and it is really well put together but I am required to disclose this because the following facts have proven endlessly frustrating in determining the range at which Raxxla must been from Sol in light of colonization and/or hyperspace technology:

Per GalNet "Galactic News: Generation Ships" departs in 2097. This is the first generation ship. It is importantly the Mayflower 97. Per "Birth of an Empire" the majority of the convoy reaches Achenar in the middle of the 23rd Century (approximately 2250). It is notable that unlike what the Codex states, Marlin Duval may not have completed the journey as the moons Duval's Grave and Lawrence's Grave exist in Capella. Mayflower 97 is notable for having stopped in Tau Ceti per First Encounters but has never been located. Tau Ceti is 11.94 LY from Sol. Capella is 42.83 LY from Sol. Achenar is 139.45 LY from Sol.

Then we have the Early Colonies beacon in Delta Pavonis (19.93 LY from Sol) that places era of rapid expansion starting at 2230.

Arcturus is settled in 2304 per system description and is 36.71 LY from Sol.

 

[Rochester]

Additionally to my early ramblings.

If the codex points to Delphi, via a: use of the term omphalos ergo Delphi. b: use of the name Tau Ceti ergo the myth of Cetus ergo Zeus ergo Donars Oak…

Why use Donar’s Oak?

I get that to call the stations Ammon, or Zeus would be too vague, so it works… but why Donars Oak?

It’s such an arcane reference?

Now given that prior to this we didn’t know about my Yggdrasil or John Milton sphere hypothesis (if correct and not just space madness), why reference a Germanic tree cult with associations with the mythical Yggdrasil axi mundi?

If it’s not a direct reference to go look at the Yggdrasil sphere of influence - why utilise Donars Oak… it’s so vague… unless the codex is directing us to Delphi and together they direct us to the bubble?

This was my initial seed that took me on my madness… then you have that correlating with the supposed John Milton sphere and if you draw a sphere around Sol to the furthest system settled by 2296 it correlates!

You then have the use of the astrological symbol for Sol in the logo!

The dates relating to the Mars Relic I too find interesting. Art also was a ship board mechanic (engineer!) based out of Tau Ceti, so he could have been on an interstellar ship with faster than light drive!

I don’t think we can presume too much around faster than light travel at that time, because technically that just opens a can of worms and it means Raxxla could be anywhere, making this assessment pointless.

The inclusion of a date indicates a sphere of reference, we have a number of systems discovered upto 2296 which could be utilised as a starting point.

But that’s if the date has relevance. That’s if the Yggdrasil sphere and Milton sphere are true (they might not be)…which is it?

Is it Tau Ceti and the bubble, is it Delphi? Is this intentional or are we over thinking it, there’s a contradiction.

My hypothesis could be irrelevant, but even without it the Tau Ceti assumption stands, as it potentially links to the Mars relic by 4 years…

 

[Louis Calvert]

Very interesting!

I've no idea of the utility of pointing us to Delphi via (potentially) two different paths, if we're just supposed to go back to the bubble with no real idea where or why??

As an alternate idea: Maybe the Pleiades Delphi is a deliberate misdirection? Essentially, doesn't help you with Raxxla but drops you into the Thargoids for your trouble!

I mean, this is dumb given the context of Elite Dangerous, but there's obviously a Delphi on Earth, and Yggdrasil is an Earth based myth. If the Raxxla logo does contain the symbol for Sol (a circle with a dot could be almost anything ofc so I'm not sold on that) then... I mean... why not assume that all this stuff is pointing at Sol? That does link pretty neatly with your axis mundi idea doesn't it? and @CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian pointed out that the Gamap 'axis mundi' is Sol , of course.

I suppose, given the nature of Elite, a myth from Sol would be as exotic to most people as a myth about deep space portals is to us. I assume Sol in 2296 would be something like The Expanse just before the gate opened, densely packed with ships zooming around all over the place and settlements all over the place.

Haven't been to Sol for a long time, might be worth a trip

 

[Louis Calvert]

I like it and it is really well put together but I am required to disclose this because the following facts have proven endlessly frustrating in determining the range at which Raxxla must been from Sol in light of colonization and/or hyperspace technology:

Per GalNet "Galactic News: Generation Ships" departs in 2097. This is the first generation ship. It is importantly the Mayflower 97. Per "Birth of an Empire" the majority of the convoy reaches Achenar in the middle of the 23rd Century (approximately 2250). It is notable that unlike what the Codex states, Marlin Duval may not have completed the journey as the moons Duval's Grave and Lawrence's Grave exist in Capella. Mayflower 97 is notable for having stopped in Tau Ceti per First Encounters but has never been located. Tau Ceti is 11.94 LY from Sol. Capella is 42.83 LY from Sol. Achenar is 139.45 LY from Sol.

Then we have the Early Colonies beacon in Delta Pavonis (19.93 LY from Sol) that places era of rapid expansion starting at 2230.

Arcturus is settled in 2304 per system description and is 36.71 LY from Sol.

Indeed! I've just read more of the Tourist beacons and realised I made a mistake by not including some info that seems to suggest heavily that in 2161 Earth sent a delegation to Tau Ceti that arrived in less than a year, returned to Earth, then sent a second delegation that arrived in 2163. So... FTL both cheap, relatively quick and easy then. Makes most of my prior post totally wrong

Data taken from Tourist Spot 0169: "Taylor was elected civilian administrator in 2161 ... In response and at the behest of the mission's corporate backers, Earth sent a delegation to Tau Ceti 3 to scrutinise its practices. What they found was widespread active destruction of the planet's native ecosystem ... recommended a second mission be sent in twelve months to judge if any improvements had been made. When this arrived in 2163 ..."

That means that the later info I used about the Federal fleet must have actually meant that they procrastinated for 11 years before dispatching the fleet, which to be fair does sound very realistic

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Though, I do have something close by Sol that would be worthy of a second glance - LAWD 26 (the Bubble's only Wolf-Rayet). Need to validate what phase it would have been in a few million years ago. Guardian stars are a special type of star that can cycle in and out of main sequence several times before dying called asymptotic giant branch stars. It is less than 24 LY away. In case you haven't gathered, Sol's neighborhood is actually very weird compared to the rest galaxy in astronomical terms.

 

[Thatchinho]

All I do recall was the Codex was inserted, literally a few days later players found the Delphi system. Maybe that’s just through playing, and they happened upon it, but I’m aware some players read data logs when a patch is released. Just seems plausible it was uncovered by those ‘watching’.

Delphi was just an existing system that was renamed in a patch. It was already well known prior to that.

 

[Thatchinho]

Though, I do have something close by Sol that would be worthy of a second glance - LAWD 26 (the Bubble's only Wolf-Rayet). Need to validate what phase it would have been in a few million years ago. Guardian stars are a special type of star that can cycle in and out of main sequence several times before dying called asymptotic giant branch stars. It is less than 24 LY away. In case you haven't gathered, Sol's neighborhood is actually very weird compared to the rest galaxy in astronomical terms.

Lawd 26 is an interesting one. I’ve asked the CMs about it before but it never really went anywhere. The question IMHO is whether the history of ED was written with Lawd 26 B existing as it does in game, or whether it was written with the real life galaxy in mind.

 

[CMDR Davanix]

Lawd 26 is an interesting one. I’ve asked the CMs about it before but it never really went anywhere. The question IMHO is whether the history of ED was written with Lawd 26 B existing as it does in game, or whether it was written with the real life galaxy in mind.

It was supposed to be the White Dwarf below, something got screwed and we got a Wolf instead, id say a few digits or details where inputted wrong and the stellar forge created what the white dwarf was before it went nova

Gliese 293 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[alexzk]

I got triple Elite tonight finally. Pilot's federation gifted me special sign to draw on ship.
So new theory - DW will contact you if ship has this decal when you dock to somewhere

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I got triple Elite tonight finally. Pilot's federation gifted me special sign to draw on ship.
So new theory - DW will contact you if ship has this decal when you dock to somewhere

Congratulations!
But needing triple elite is not a new theory, nor is docking at a specific station to get the TDW invitation.

 

[alexzk]

Congratulations!
But needing triple elite is not a new theory, nor is docking at a specific station to get the TDW invitation.

I know. New is - decal must be painted on current ship used

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

I know. New is - decal must be painted on current ship used

There are reputation locked progression missions even in Independent or Alliance factions and systems. Rank is more a function of proven skills. Also, in most cases you can take higher difficulty/dangerous missions than your official rank (unless it is explicitly locked to a proven skill level). Mission locks are more often stuff such as cargo space, suit types, passenger cabins, etc.

 

[Allen Stroud]

Looks like the Tau Ceti Tourist beacon was text I wrote for the guidebooks.

 

[Cunder]

NOTE: I've since edited this with some info at the bottom that seems to suggest most of these travel time numbers aren't right I've left the post the same though for posterity



Alright then, I've never thought about Tau Ceti before so let's take a fresh run at this Maybe my total noob idiot approach might jog something that might be helpful to you! This is all just from in-game sources as usual.

Tau Ceti from the Galmap description:


The Tourist beacons at Tau Ceti detail the history of the first extrasolar colony. The last dated entry is 2242.


That's 54 years before the 2296 Raxxla codex date from Art Tornqvist. We know that before 2159 (The first date in the Tourist spots) Tau Ceti was colonised using early FTL systems described as 'slow and inefficient'. How slow?

Early FTL speed:
The Tourist Spot says:




So if we assume (because we have to) that the Earth Fleet left immediately in 2228 and went at best possible speed, they reached Tau Ceti in 12 years. Tau Ceti is 11.94ly from Sol, so that means early FTL travelled at approximately lightspeed, and we can assume military FTL was probably as good as anyone could make.

Therefore by 2296, how far could anything containing Raxxla actually be from Earth?

FTL Radius by 2296:
The Tourist spots show that Tau Ceti was the first colony, and by 2159 it was established and self-sufficient. So let's say for argument and ease that Footfall was 2150. The fact that it's the first (known) colony means that we could start the distance/time calculation from 2138, the assumed launch date of the Tau Ceti colonisation ships given that it took them 12 years to reach Tau Ceti.

Galnet tells us that Hyperdrives were invented in the early-22nd Century, which puts the launch of the Tau Ceti mission extremely close to the first successful Hyperdrive test, it could be within a few years even. Galnet later tells us that Hyperdrives weren't commonly available to civilians until the 2800's so that means, if these older Galnet articles are still to be considered vaguely accurate, that the spread of human exploration and discovery by Art Tornqvist's time was considerably under the 157 lightyear radius we get from the assumption of the 1ly per year travel time of early Hyperdrives from the Tau Ceti tourist spot. 157ly assuming a ship launched in the same year as the Tau Ceti mission and just kept going.

Raxxla must have been discovered, then leaked, before 2296 in order for Art to write about it. And, aside from assumed test-ships, we know there weren't civilians like us zooming around in early hyperdrives. Given that ships took 1ly per year to move, they were likely all pretty massive too, having to support crew for years, even if they were in stasis.

Conclusion:
To me, this heavily suggests that early Raxxla as known by Art Tornqvist must have been relatively near Earth. Certainly closer than 70ly (assuming a ship travelled out there, then turned back and reported Raxxla, then that news got to Tau Ceti for Art to journal about it in a very offhand way. I'm assuming the little colony of Tau Ceti wasn't launching interstellar exploration ships yet so the news would need to travel to Tau Ceti from earth, so 157/2)-12=66.5, rounding it up to 70 for ease.

Given that 70ly away would mean 70 years, and assume a ship left at the same time as the Tau Ceti mission, that's very unlikely, so that to me suggests it would limit the range very considerably.

The Tourist beacons do mention FTL probes, but we have no information on how fast they were or how long they travelled to reach Tau Ceti, so we need to assume that they also move at 1ly per year - hyperdrive is hyperdrive regardless of what it's pushing? If we assume unmanned probes are faster, which is very reasonable, then maybe we could expand the range a little given the news of Raxxla may then travel faster than the people discovering it, or it was discovered by probes - but again, we have no info on that so it's impossible to guess. Going by only what's in-game, we can assume a 70ly limit at maximum.

What's next?
We can assume that ships back then wouldn't have been sent randomly to every system within 70ly, especially since the Tau Ceti beacons tell us that probes were used to assess the viability of the system first. It was probably crazy expensive and so they would prioritise habitable (or profitable) star systems within that range and ignore the rest entirely.

It's also a valid assumption to say that even probes may have been crazy expesnsive. Maybe they used telescope-based methods like we do to determine the likely composition of a star-system before assigning probes to the most likely. That would even further reduce the possiblity of an accidental discovery that would lead to some secret mission. Of course, it's possible Raxxla was discovered pre-hyperdrive - like maybe some astronomer studying nearby stars saw something that couldn't have been natural and so when Hyperdrive became possible a secret expedition went there to explore. We have no info on anything like that, so we can't include that here though.

I suppose making a list of attractive systems less than 70ly of Sol and, starting with the nearest and working out, then check them for clues like POI's or beacons and the like. I assume that's been done and found nothing, so, other than that, I've no idea what any of this could possibly mean, other than Raxxla is closer to Sol than most people are looking.

This set of assumption jenga obviously is flawed, but unless my maths is bad (which is usually is!) the general numbers are correct given in-game info.

Other things? connection of the less obvious kind? Tinfoil?:
The only other thing I could think of is the Martian Relic (Galnet). The Tourist beacon says it was discovered on Mars in 2280, that's only 16 years before Art Tornqvist's journal entry. Given the assumed 12 years travel time for news from Earth, that means Art was writing his entry within 4 years of maybe the first non-human artefact discovered, on Mars no-less!

Galnet makes a firm link by association between the Martian Relic and Thargoids, we could question why Fdev did that if they're not actually linked. Obviously that's old Galnet though so may no longer be a valid source.

I could make a case here that given the connections and timescale here, maybe Raxxla is linked to the Martian Relic and therefore the Thargoids, which means that Tau Ceti's Art Tornqvist journal entry might be simply another thing pointing to Tharogids. What if the Martian Relic was called Raxxla back then...

Galnet (Martian relic of 2280): "Indeed, there is so little concrete information in the public sphere that some have questioned the Relic's very existence. But leaked Federal records confirm that the object, which was sequestered by the Federal government shortly after its discovery, is very real."
Art Tvornquist 2284: "... Maybe we should go find Raxxla while we're at it!"... (date adjusted for 12year lightspeed delay)

Maybe Raxxla is "R-XX-1a" A catalogue number for the Martian Relic, conspiracy theorists started calling it Raxxla because it's easier to say!

EDIT: I have just discovered that most of this might be very wrong with regards the early FTL. Apparently the Tourist beacons also say this:


This heavily suggests that it's possible to travel between Earth and Tau Ceti in a year or less. I'm not sure really how that fits with the later info that suggested a 12-year travel time between Tau Ceti and Earth.

Achenar System

War with the federation

Achenar drew the irritation of the Federation at the start of 2323, when reports reached Earth that the colonists had wiped out a sentient race on the planet. This, coupled with the refusal of Achenar to become a member, caused the Federation to send a battle group to take control of the system by force. / The fleet eventually arrived in the Achenar system at the start of 2324. Gathered intelligence meant the Imperial forces ambushed the Federal forces as they jumped into the system. What they hadn't predicted was the enemy to use their pack hunting formation against them.

Delta Pavonis System

Accidental Extinction

In 2182, fragile indigenous life, still at an early stage of its evolution, was discovered in the Delta Pavonis system and through a bacteriological accident, completely wiped out in the same year. When further alien ecologies were discovered in the Beta Hydri and Altair systems, and with the failure of the project to terraform Mars, it looked like humanity would bring the cosmos to its knees, much as it had managed to do to its own planet.

Sirus Corporation Founding

By 2200 corporations had a stranglehold on a great many aspects of life, and this didn't stop during colonisation, though there was quite a delay before the first wholly corporate system was settled. The colonisation of Sirius by a solely corporate mission in 2339 and its rapid to rise to become the premier supplier of drive fuel to first the Federation and then the Empire led to much corporate profiteering between the two powers. Throughout this period, conflicts of interest were raised by congressmen backedby corporate interests. However, eventually Sirius Corporation delegates were also responsible for initiating negotiations between the two powers.

 

[Thatchinho]

It was supposed to be the White Dwarf below, something got screwed and we got a Wolf instead, id say a few digits or details where inputted wrong and the stellar forge created what the white dwarf was before it went nova

Gliese 293 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Is that speculation or was something actually said about it by FD? The White Dwarf is there, it’s Lawd 26 A, so there wouldn’t appear to be any issues with that itself. The WR just appears to be extra.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Achenar System

War with the federation



Delta Pavonis System

Accidental Extinction

0170.png

drive.google.com

Sirus Corporation Founding

Conversion in Achenar always struck me as a possible Guardian world thus implying the Mudlarks were potential escapees of the Great Annihilation that turned back to naturalistic living to avoid an angered Guardian AI. Gravity there is 0.90G and was 0.64 Earth masses. Temperature is 317K which is slightly warmer than Earth and surface pressure was 0.89 atmospheres (1 is Earth "normal" at sea level).

 

[Cunder]

Conversion in Achenar always struck me as a possible Guardian world thus implying the Mudlarks were potential escapees of the Great Annihilation that turned back to naturalistic living to avoid an angered Guardian AI. Gravity there is 0.90G and was 0.64 Earth masses. Temperature is 317K which is slightly warmer than Earth and surface pressure was 0.89 atmospheres (1 is Earth "normal" at sea level).

Not only that you got speed distance between maybe Sol to Achenar, It took the Feds a whole year to get to Achenar as it stated from start in 2323 and arrived at the start of 2324

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Not only that you got speed distance between maybe Sol to Achenar, It took the Feds a whole year to get to Achenar as it stated from start in 2323 and arrived at the start of 2324

There is even more details in "Logistical Nightmare" beacon in Beta Hydri of the trip to Achenar and the results upon arrival. Weirdly mentioned is Federal hunting pack maneuver being weaponized against the Federation due to an intelligence leak that occurred.