The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Jorki Rasalas]

Anagrams are funny and “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars” is a long title. Some form of code is usually more FDs modus operandi.

It's still enjoyable to play with anagrams. I like to combine these to online solver tools, when I play with them:

Internet Anagram Server / I, Rearrangement Servant : anagrams, wordplay, solve, crossword, transmogrify, pangram, shuffle, fun

Discover the magic of anagrams with the Internet Anagram Server

wordsmith.org

https://boulter.com/anagram/

They give a balance of between solving huge anagrams and the ability to add 'custom' words.

An example of what you can get from “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars”: SCAN ALTAIRS THIRD PLANET SENSORS RIPPLES GH

The GH at the end is a bit iffy, but I interpret it as ' Good Hunting'

My hypothesis, if I can justifiably call it that, is that MB has given us a clue to Raxxla’s location and it lies in the text string “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars”. I suspect a subset of the letters within that string, when appropriately rearranged, gives the system name. However the ED system naming is rather weird and an everyday English dictionary cannot help...and last year doing the check manually I found 90+ potential matches within 64ly of Sol...

 

[Han_Zen]

My hypothesis, if I can justifiably call it that, is that MB has given us a clue to Raxxla’s location and it lies in the text string “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars”. I suspect a subset of the letters within that string, when appropriately rearranged, gives the system name. However the ED system naming is rather weird and an everyday English dictionary cannot help...and last year doing the check manually I found 90+ potential matches within 64ly of Sol...

I think you need to find a good subset. You get to much with with “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars”.
Sol, Altair, Spica, Antares, Polaris, Pleiades and Regor Sector pops right up. Probably a bunch more as well.

Alternatively drop the rearranging and just remove letters?

Edit. Example: Polaris

 

[Dox Paradox]

So, I'm off to Hodack now, don't know if it has ever been checked Raxxla/TDW-wise (haven't even checked EDSM) but a prison colony locked behind a permit makes me curious.

 

[Grens404]

Been reading through Xaintly's compilation of this thread (and this thread) and I'm trying to wrap my head around all of these ideas. It can be difficult to follow. Few questions - would it be folly to consider any of Drew Wagar's work from his Oolite Saga books to be legitimate sources of information regarding Raxxla and The Dark Wheel? If we can consider it I found very interesting that the idea of Raxxla is the generator of witchspace and that witchspace is manufactured. I'm sure this has been expanded upon but I'm losing myself in these 1507 pages of information!

Second, have we confirmed that the TDW minor faction is indeed THE Dark Wheel? I was reading that the missions were removed. Any reason for that? Should I consider getting an Elite rank to gain access to Shinrarta Dezhra?

Thanks and sorry if I'm repeating things that have been said in here

 

[Rochester]

No such thing as a silly question here, there are many rooms here with as many unsolved mysteries and even more prattling Cmdrs scratching glyphs on the ceilings. It can be problematic finding one’s way around. Page 1 is a good start as any.

Nothing is truly known for certain, anything is plausible.

It’s possible that any 3rd party content could have been appropriated by FD and amalgamated into other storylines. There is no way to truly know.

If you feel this is a possibility, go for it, but Drew has actively distanced himself now from the ED IP so it’s rather unlikely in my opinion.

 

[Grens404]

Good to know - and what about the current TDW minor faction? Any reason why the previous missions were removed? Anyway to do missions for them outside of Shinrarta Dezhra?

 

[Rochester]

Again should be a link on page 1, but technically there is no official public statement issued regarding them.

If you were to ask FD support about this tomorrow, they very likely will state they still exit, because we’ve discovered through our combined investigations ‘Support’ aren’t actually privy to any internal information without a Devs intervention.

FD only confirmed these particular missions removed, to us, after we here cross-examined them, and they had to admit via a Dev support ticket they were in fact removed (page 1). No ‘reason’ was ever provided.

We can only hypothesis why.

Very likely it could be due to a clash with new code; an existing bug; simply poor implementation; Cmdrs being too good at finding things (before they were meant) etc. etc.

If you can find any related missions do let us know!

But as far as we have found out the Devs have confirmed to us those missions were just removed, anything left in situ regarding that ‘story’ is just a ‘curiosity’ they then indicated it ‘may be’ turned back on?

It’s all in my opinion potentially tied to a now redundant narrative time-line; which would I’m hypothesising, have led us eventually towards the Thargoid and Guardian narratives. Or part of the larger narrative which was just paused.

In my opinion this created a gap and they filled it with a basic filler, I’m presuming their initial narrative was far more detailed and potentially mission driven….or a really cool Holdstock Easter Egg, or it was a pre-cursor of Brookes unwritten book…

The existence of the codex, which was inserted after this fact, is the only reliable information. Many here feel it is the only reliable insight and potentially holds some hidden directions.

It’s possible FD repurposed elements from that narrative and constructed the codex to give us hints and clues, but generally everyone is in the dark.

That is not to say any older information is irrelevant, in fact it’s likely very insightful. It all depends upon if Raxxla’s location hasn’t been altered, did FD change anything? Is it narratively locked?

We don’t know. But the existence of the codex as ‘new information’ is I feel evidence it exists and can be found.

Any new insight is welcome. All ideas are welcome. Good hunting O7.

 

[Grens404]

Awesome thanks for the information. There's so much it's hard to even know where to start if I wanted to dive into this. I'll give page 1 another read and just monitor this thread!

 

[Grens404]

"Whenever someone tries to
usurp the Dark Wheel name, sooner or later they get quietly shut down. And that's how I
know" - Felicity Farseer.

Is it possible the missions were removed for this reason and was communicated poorly to the QA team or something like that?

"It is futile to attempt to
contact the Dark Wheel on one's own initiative, however - it is always they who initiate
contact, initially in disguise, revealing their true identity only once a suitable test of
courage and skill has been discreetly administered, and passed."

 

[Darrack]

The Dark Wheel still bugs me.
Raxxla as we know comes from the Alien World, a people a place with history on Earth, no worries, but The Dark Wheel was also listed as a 'Place' (Narathnu Sector), why then use the name for a different entity, a faction?

O7

 

[simulacrae]

Kierran Rayne - Black Queen…. Another chess piece name

 

[Dox Paradox]

Kierran Rayne - Black Queen…. Another chess piece name

The system might be worth a visit too. Who know. Why mention he is native from Alpha Caeli ? (Alpha Caeli = "First Sky")

"The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up Raxxla (thanks Eco)"

 

[simulacrae]

The lunatic is all idée fixe

Always got a kick out of Umberto Eco - was from his book Foucalults Pendulum…. Rather liked this passage.

As to first sky … sounds good but i looked it up - its the alpha star in Caelum … the engravers chisel. Hmmm still worth checking out

 

[yelboc]

Again should be a link on page 1, but technically there is no official public statement issued regarding them.

If you were to ask FD support about this tomorrow, they very likely will state they still exit, because we’ve discovered through our combined investigations ‘Support’ aren’t actually privy to any internal information without a Devs intervention.

FD only confirmed these particular missions removed, to us, after we here cross-examined them, and they had to admit via a Dev support ticket they were in fact removed (page 1). No ‘reason’ was ever provided.

We can only hypothesis why.

Very likely it could be due to a clash with new code; an existing bug; simply poor implementation; Cmdrs being too good at finding things (before they were meant) etc. etc.

If you can find any related missions do let us know!

But as far as we have found out the Devs have confirmed to us those missions were just removed, anything left in situ regarding that ‘story’ is just a ‘curiosity’ they then indicated it ‘may be’ turned back on?

It’s all in my opinion potentially tied to a now redundant narrative time-line; which would I’m hypothesising, have led us eventually towards the Thargoid and Guardian narratives. Or part of the larger narrative which was just paused.

In my opinion this created a gap and they filled it with a basic filler, I’m presuming their initial narrative was far more detailed and potentially mission driven….or a really cool Holdstock Easter Egg, or it was a pre-cursor of Brookes unwritten book…

The existence of the codex, which was inserted after this fact, is the only reliable information. Many here feel it is the only reliable insight and potentially holds some hidden directions.

It’s possible FD repurposed elements from that narrative and constructed the codex to give us hints and clues, but generally everyone is in the dark.

That is not to say any older information is irrelevant, in fact it’s likely very insightful. It all depends upon if Raxxla’s location hasn’t been altered, did FD change anything? Is it narratively locked?

We don’t know. But the existence of the codex as ‘new information’ is I feel evidence it exists and can be found.

Any new insight is welcome. All ideas are welcome. Good hunting O7.

My understanding was that FD has confirmed the current non existence of the E/F missions that started this thread (perhaps someone has a reference?)

Fior a while there was confusion, but I thought more recently they stated that they were no longer in the game.

As for TDW in Shindez, the canon lore book Premonition us explicit in calling them a hoax.

The codex goes to a lot of trouble to cast doubt on them, and I believe it does so to explain the loss of the E/F missions ( my opinion)

Add to that that FD completely ignored the Turning the Wheel campaign, I feel satisfied that they are no use to us in the quest, being a mere shell and distraction.

 

[Rochester]

Fior a while there was confusion, but I thought more recently they stated that they were no longer in the game.

As for TDW in Shindez, the canon lore book Premonition us explicit in calling them a hoax.

The codex goes to a lot of trouble to cast doubt on them, and I believe it does so to explain the loss of the E/F missions ( my opinion)

Add to that that FD completely ignored the Turning the Wheel campaign, I feel satisfied that they are no use to us in the quest, being a mere shell and distraction.

The confirmation is listed on page 1.

Technically there is no official statement, on the face value no change has ever been officially communicated.

However I raised a ticket (see page 1) as a genuine consumer enquiry and got confirmation at that point they were in game! I then sought confirmation and provided them conflicting evidence, in the form of referencing the FD feedback to previous Cmdrs, and admitted I could not active them either.

Support then went and got clarification from a Dev who confirmed they were not in game.

Much later I posed the same question around the ‘Trinkets’ (in this thread) same standard response was issued as above, I then repeated the above response giving context, and got a second confirmation these missions were removed.

Technically this is not an official press release, but a standard ‘customer enquiry’ on why certain ‘advertised’ assets were not accessible.

 

[Dox Paradox]

I get this strange feeling we are running in circle for something half-broken, if even reachable...

 

[Rochester]

I get this strange feeling we are running in circle for something half-broken, if even reachable...

Yes I suppose it does feel like that, sometimes but it’s evident from FD choice to build and promote the DW and Raxxla Codex’s that whatever was before, something new was implemented.

It makes sense for FD not to confirm if their content was historically broken, as it would potentially pull focus and generate unnecessary negative PR.

Instead they sat on it I suspect and later put the Codex together as either a genuine fix or as an interim bandage.

FD modus operandi it might be construed is to nerf broken content, retro fit content, or pause content until it’s needed.

If the codex was just a placeholder it could be assumed this whole rigmarole is only narratively gated. Yet there exists contradictions to this, so we have to accept public actions as evidence of content being in game.

The above hypothesis can only be resolved when someone finds them in game and you have to access that situation on its own merits, if it’s was narratively gated there will be evidence of this, and FD potentially will have placed themselves into an inevitable negative PR situation, as well as a typical ‘end of game’ situation.

It stands to ‘reason’ this should not be the ultimate objective.

The best solution in my opinion, would be to nerf historical content, separate it from any ongoing narrative, and just place it somewhere in the void, and then take what was left on the worktable and retrofit it something new, to repurpose it (the codex) as some clue towards finding it…

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Been reading through Xaintly's compilation of this thread (and this thread) and I'm trying to wrap my head around all of these ideas. It can be difficult to follow. Few questions - would it be folly to consider any of Drew Wagar's work from his Oolite Saga books to be legitimate sources of information regarding Raxxla and The Dark Wheel? If we can consider it I found very interesting that the idea of Raxxla is the generator of witchspace and that witchspace is manufactured. I'm sure this has been expanded upon but I'm losing myself in these 1507 pages of information!

Second, have we confirmed that the TDW minor faction is indeed THE Dark Wheel? I was reading that the missions were removed. Any reason for that? Should I consider getting an Elite rank to gain access to Shinrarta Dezhra?

Thanks and sorry if I'm repeating things that have been said in here

It would indeed be folly. Drew repeatedly said that he knew nothing about Raxxla, nor did any of the other authors, apart from Michael Brookes. The authors were told to stay off the topic of Raxxla, that was reserved for FD. Drew’s Oolite books are entertaining reads (& free!) but are purely fan fiction and have no relationship to the ED world.

It seems that the only lore that is valid for ED is that contained within the game (Codex, Tourist Beacons) and those parts of the official ED novels that do not relate to Thargoids..there were no diplomatic meetings with Thargoids etc (a shame, I quite like Out of The Darkness).

The one proviso I would suggest is Elite:Legacy, which Michael Brookes wrote. I suspect he might have put a clue in that book-see my earlier post on that and the children’s novel vs codex’s Princess Astrophel.

I think Galnet might also be counted as lore, but be aware that FD said NPCs can lie so nothing said is 100% reliable.

 

[Han_Zen]

The Dark Wheel still bugs me.
Raxxla as we know comes from the Alien World, a people a place with history on Earth, no worries, but The Dark Wheel was also listed as a 'Place' (Narathnu Sector), why then use the name for a different entity, a faction?

O7

Raxxla in Elite has most likely nothing to do with Raxxla in the Alien World. Holdstock probably just reused a cool name, form a different story and different universe.

That being said, the string “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars” do contain the words: ALIEN REPTILIAN PREDATORS

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Yes I suppose it does feel like that, but it’s evident from FD choice to build and promote the DW and Raxxla Codex’s that whatever was before, something new is now in game.

OR they just removed the old E/F missions because, as said above, the TDW in SD are usurpers, and those missions led nowhere...I think the question that then arises is why hasn't the faction itself actually been deleted?

The Missions disappeared before I got involved in the Quest, but it seems to me that they were indeed obfuscation. Reading the OP info on them they promised much but didn't lead anywhere. It may be that the data crystals that in the SAP8 containers were sought were intended to lead to Guardian sites, but they jumped around the bubble and didn't appear to have a satisfactory outcome. I’ve pointed out that if you examine SAP8 containers they appear to be identical to Trinkets of Hidden Fortune, they have the same serial number. So is that their real purpose? To lead us to investigate Trinkets? Their description is “a very rare commodity that is strictly prohibited in almost every jurisdiction, linked to TDW faction. container appears to hold an assorted collection of low-value trinkets, knick-knacks and statuettes (Grandmort??). Such trinkets are generally used by superstitious pilots to try and win favour with the lady Fortuna. However, these particular knick-knacks have a much more valuable prize hidden within.”

That bit about being ‘linked to TDW faction’ and having a ‘more valuable prize hidden within’ intrigues me. And why are they strictly prohibited everywhere? That doesn't make sense unless they contain some deadly toxin, OR FD is making their importance highly apparent.

Edit
Fortuna is an in-game system, not checked there yet.

I have just bought MB’s Sun Dragon book, but havent got very far into it yet. Not holding out much hope for ED clues though.

In Legacy he did have heroine Julia as a girl “dreamed of being the first pilot to discover Raxxla”. As a girl Julia grew up without toys with a single possession, a book “about a young man’s quest to save a princess from an alien dragon” (ad for his Sun Dragon book, or a clue?? Compare with “Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars” book reference in Codex). Before the events of Legacy unfolded she wanted to leave Freeholm Satation and make her own way in life. She hoped to keep her Eagle as she’d grown accustomed to its idiosyncrasies...”whether it was a suitable ship for travelling all the way to Alliance spacewas another matter”.
So is that a clue that Raxxla lies in Alliance space???