The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Rochester]

Pondering the following text from Paradise Lost:

‘He views in bredth, and without longer pause Down right into the Worlds first Region throws His flight precipitant, and windes with ease Through the pure marble Air his oblique way Amongst innumerable Stars, that shon Stars distant, but nigh hand seemd other Worlds, Or other Worlds they seemd, or happy Iles, Like those Hesperian Gardens fam'd of old, Fortunate Fields, and Groves and flourie Vales, Thrice happy Iles, but who dwelt happy there. He stayd not to enquire’ John Milton Paradise Lost.

Context: Satan has left hell, made his way up through the realm of chaos, then finds and is directed by the characters Chaos and Night (from their thrown), up towards heaven, then he finds the pendant globe, alights upon its surface, wandered lost towards its apex, guided by the light of heaven (for it was gods will he found Eden) and then from the golden chain/stairs flew into it and down towards Eden, down through the spheres where he observed ‘other Edens’ before settling down upon the surface of our sun.

In the text these other Edens are described by Milton as much like examples of the ‘Hesperides’ and of that of the ‘Fortunate Fields’, concepts of utopias similar to that of Elysium.

This strikes me similar to that in the writings of Holdstock, where he described Eden as a ‘Lost Realm’, comparing it with the said fortunate fields and the Hesperides and others alike, not far-fetched being that both utilised classical references.

But considering those systems I identify as being in the lost realms area in game, could we consider that Brookes intended to build that area of systems, not only as a reference to Holdstock, but also as a reference to Paradise Lost - ultimately combining the two texts into his own creation.

If that were true then do the Lost Realms in game equate (from Brookes presumed perspective) to be the said ‘other Edens’ as they were equally compared by Holdstock to be similar to ‘otherworlds’, that these other Edens were the same observed on Satans decent, - then does this potentially go towards further, establishing the Lost Realms being ‘above’ Raxxla, and it hanging below it like a pendant world?

Again this is my personal hypothesis and a creative analysis of both texts in relation to elements in game, in the absence of any real evidence to the contrary; this equally could be wrong, but it makes a beautiful analogy of what might be in game!

Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-10214625

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

I have my own copy now of Paradise Lost, so I'll read up on the context of that quote but I'll have a look for the lowest named system around the Lost Realms region, now that I've returned to the Bubble. Additionally, I want to take a look along the Sol - Axis Mundi line and visit some of the systems close to it, though not going too far down.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

‘He views in bredth, and without longer pause Down right into the Worlds first Region throws His flight precipitant, and windes with ease Through the pure marble Air his oblique way Amongst innumerable Stars, that shon Stars distant, but nigh hand seemd other Worlds, Or other Worlds they seemd, or happy Iles, Like those Hesperian Gardens fam'd of old, Fortunate Fields, and Groves and flourie Vales, Thrice happy Iles, but who dwelt happy there. He stayd not to enquire’ John Milton Paradise Lost.

This post is for all Raxxla Hunters. The quoting of Rochester's post is merely illustrative as are the tree symbols. The primary purpose is to make you think on why the Oisir-Raxxlans were supposed to have built the pyramids downwards and not skywards.

I am going to make a point that may lighten a path for some and yet confuse others. For any consternation this causes, I would like to apologize in advance. Sometimes you loose a few seeds in getting a tree to grow towards heaven (the tree metaphor here is very intentional).

The renaming of Delphi of December 11, 3304 from Pleiades Sector IR-W d1-55 was clearly important as it coincided with the introduction of the Codex Knowledge Base, Codex Map, and an archival record of each individual CMDRs actions. It was was so important the head of Omphalos Infotech Universal Cartographics saw fit to publish the announcement in GalNet. But let's take a moment to see where it is compared to Yggradasil - not anyhere remotely close. Now sure, trees have sometimes huge canopies or crowns. But, what then can explain something so centrally important as Delphi's renaming deserving such pomp and circumstance for its' auspicious renaming, that almost any descriptor but central would fit more appropriately. It quite frankly, isn't close to anything else except other settlements in the remote Pleiades Nebula region. Yet, the same system Delphi hits this idea home of a very central importance with the stations The Oracle and Donar's Oak. Despite all this, the systems Delphi and Axis Mundi are separated by 350.18 LY.

Perhaps it isn't the place that is important but something about it. Nevermind that Delphi was the center of both Greek culture and geography. Delphi for centuries was destined to alter events both within the Greek civilization and beyond. All who sought The Oracle had to cross a threshold. That threshold bore the entrance maxims that altered history even when the words of the Oracle fell upon deaf ears. There were other maxims in the temple, but those three were more important than all the others combined. You had to cross the threshold to find the Otherworld...

Socrates said the following at his trial for corrupting the youth...

The unexamined life is not worth living - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I only hope that some will understand the meaning of this post. Sometimes it takes falling fruit to change history (see Eve and Newton).

Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/inspiration-geometry-cube-3oKIPaYYYLafTAM0i4

 

[Darrack]

The primary purpose is to make you think on why the Oisir-Raxxlans were supposed to have built the pyramids downwards and not skywards.

I did think about this and as someone who has a fascination for the physics behind 'Time', an upside down pyramid is a Penrose diagram.
Many have proposed that the Penrose structure can incorporate Black Holes in order to travel to multi dimensions.
I have no idea how the physical 'upside down pyramid' would work as a dimensional gate but it was the similarity of the triangles forward projection and the way Time can be used via BH's for instant travel that got me thinking.

O7

 

[Louis Calvert]

This post is for all Raxxla Hunters.

The renaming of Delphi of December 11, 3304 from Pleiades Sector IR-W d1-55 was clearly important as it coincided with the introduction of the Codex Knowledge Base, Codex Map, and an archival record of each individual CMDRs actions. It was was so important the head of Omphalos Infotech Universal Cartographics saw fit to publish the announcement in GalNet. But let's take a moment to see where it is compared to Yggradasil - not anyhere remotely close. Now sure, trees have sometimes huge canopies or crowns. But, what then can explain something so centrally important as Delphi's renaming deserving such pomp and circumstance for its' auspicious renaming, that almost any descriptor but central would fit more appropriately. It quite frankly, isn't close to anything else except other settlements in the remote Pleiades Nebula region. Yet, the same system Delphi hits this idea home of a very central importance with the stations The Oracle and Donar's Oak. Despite all this, the systems Delphi and Axis Mundi are separated by 350.18 LY.

Perhaps it isn't the place that is important but something about it. Nevermind that Delphi was the center of both Greek culture and geography. Delphi for centuries was destined to alter events both within the Greek civilization and beyond. All who sought The Oracle had to cross a threshold. That threshold bore the entrance maxims that altered history even when the words of the Oracle fell upon deaf ears. There were other maxims in the temple, but those three were more important than all the others combined. You had to cross the threshold to find the Otherworld...

You're right in that the renaming of Delphi and the release of the Codex info on Raxxla seems important - but many, many, many people have tried unsuccessfully to discover anything there.

As an alternative idea, consider that the correlation may have been a coincidence caused by the need to bundle together 'software updates' into a package:

• We've already discussed the fact that Aegis uses Greek-myth inspired naming conventions, and have done so for naming the Thargoids and Aegis ships, systems, and stations (and Aegis itself). It's possible that the renaming of Delphi and the stations was related to following that theming and nothing else. Delphi was the first recorded Thargoid surface site discovered IIRC, foreshadowing the future: the Oracle station is above that site. This is internally self-consistent with the theming and doesn't really need to be expanded further.
• Separately the Raxxla Codex info has an unknown source, almost none of the info is dated. We know there are plenty of examples of Greek-myth inspired naming and such in the galaxy that are unrelated to anything else. If we take the Codex at face value, the "Omphalos" reference is reported as hearsay/myth, and may in itself be nothing more than an offhand reference.

The codex update and the renaming of Delphi only seems like a significant link because they happened concurrently for us, but what if they were, in fact, done years apart and/or by entirely unrelated people*.

Now the logical argument here is that maybe someone renamed Delphi as a clue to the Raxxla Codex info, knowing that we'd get access to it - which may still be the case, but that implies that someone is leaving clues to find, which begs the question as to why no-one has ever found anything significant at Delphi (that we know of) - and so we return to the start of this post in a recursive loop.

My question would be:

• If we didn't have the Raxxla Codex then would Delphi being renamed be significant at all? (recall that many other systems wee renamed at the same time).
• If Delphi hadn't been renamed then would there be any in-game connection with the word/idea of "Omphalos"?

I suppose I'm saying that correlation isn't causation. I would be nice to have more than a singe connection.

---

* i.e. what if whoever penned the Raxxla Codex at Fdev did it several years before it was made public to us - and/or what if whoever renamed Delphi at Fdev was working on a different team with entirely different goals and had no knowledge of the contents of the Codex update that was going to be bundled into the same update. To us getting the info at the same time, it seems like a massive clue, to Fdev it was two entirely separate bits of info that were coincidentally released together in one very large mass of stuff. The alteration of "Omphalos Infotech" in the UC entry makes sense to me if someone at Fdev was proof-reading the Codex update before final release and noticed that two unrelated things shared the same name, so to avoid confusion they altered one of them before release. If anything this reinforces that the "Omphalos" reference in the Raxxla Codex was more important to keep than then UC entry.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

• If we didn't have the Raxxla Codex then would Delphi being renamed be significant at all? (recall that many other systems wee renamed at the same time).
• If Delphi hadn't been renamed then would there be any in-game connection with the word/idea of "Omphalos"?

I'll start by answering the questions. However, before we get into that you are at least subconsciously aware something is deeply amiss. You may not have found the core idea that I am alluding towards, yet. Suffice it say, the cognitive dissonance is actually a good sign.

1. Probably not as obviously but many a story arc have centered on events in the Pleiades Nebula and especially the system now known as Delphi. Though, I would argue The Oracle and Donar's Oak already made it important before the renaming.
2. See system Axis Mundi, and stations The Oracle and Donar's Oak. The Omphalos Stone is a religious artifact directly linked to the Temple of Delphi. It represents the "navel of the world". There are probably others I am forgetting. The Sentinel being in Delphi is also important. It represents the Guardian of the Gate. This Guardian of the Gate is Time or Cronus (occasionally spelled Kronos or Chronos). In various stories, he guarded the Omphalos Stone.

So, what are the entrance maxims to the Temple at Delphi and how are they important? Also, contrary to popular thinking, the parts of larger lore that don't make sense is going to be your savior.

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

The Elysium system (located in the Lost Realms region) has a planet called Cronus, with a moon, Kailas.
This is worth another visit but the system is inhabited and I'm not sure I'll find anything here (I've mapped both already iirc) but it might be a waypoint that needs visiting... .

 

[Rochester]

Mountains

As part of my Lost Realms mapping project a number of those systems contain references to mountains / hills.

Elysia - Kailas, the name of a Himalayan peak; the abode of Lord Shiva.
Ys - Chroin, Scottish for peak.

I don’t think that’s a coincidence. In Celtic / Saxon / Norse traditions hills / mountains or burial mounds were thought of as passages to the ‘otherworld’. Another thread which I feel substantiates my Lost Realms hypothesis. There’s more to this I’m sure…

Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-10210796

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Mountains

As part of my Lost Realms mapping project a number of those systems contain references to mountains / hills.

Elysia - Kailas, the name of a Himalayan peak; the abode of Lord Shiva.
Ys - Chroin, Scottish for peak.
Avalon - Grach, Welsh for peak.

I don’t think that’s a coincidence. In Celtic / Saxxon / Norse traditions hills / mountains or burial mounds were thought of as passages to the ‘otherworld’.

Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-10210796

This will help you. It discusses not just just the various trees - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_tree?

For the record, was shooting for making this idea intrinsically much stronger. It has really solid foundations. You need to account for Cronus/Kronos/Chronos/Saturn being a guardian with dominion over time. I provided some sources to help you build up this foundation. Delphi is hugely important.

 

[Rochester]

Carl Jung did like to paint world trees.

C.G. Jung’s The Tree of Life: from Norse gods to eastern mysticism | Art | The Guardian

Included in the secret Red Book, the illustration marks Jung’s departure from science into the realms of myth, magic and soul<br>

amp.theguardian.com

 

[simulacrae]

The primary purpose is to make you think on why the Oisir-Raxxlans were supposed to have built the pyramids downwards and not skywards.

I would argue that for Holdstock his upsidedown pyramid - is a reference to Mount Meru. Which is often depicted as an upsidedown pyramid to accommodate the increasing sizes of worlds in the vedic/ hindu cosmology (there is also a possible relation to the blade that indra used to kill the snake vitra…related to the phurba and world axis… but i digress). Holdstock has has the intrepid explorer Saramandara finding the raxxlan homeworld. I think the name is possibly relating to Samsara and Mandara.. samsara which is itself the wheel of time and fate… the dark wheel… also meaning wandering… and Mandara the mountain which is used as pivot for the churning of milk creation myth… think SagA*. And of course the talmor lens being related to indras net as i mentioned earlier….

Regarding early greek thought - i would think they are using the tetracyts as the basis for their model for the cosmos and the harmony of the spheres. With everything emanating from the “one”. - the sun … it is a standard pyramid… however from the perspective of the individual achieving enlightenment - there might have been an inversion of the pyramid….

Looking forward to what people find with the landscape signal search.

Edit:
Holdstock was verymuch into the whole mythmeme idea with his mythagos and universal myths… the tree and the upsidednown pyramid are the same … when you include the underworld the pyramid turns into an hourglass much as the roots of a tree match the branches above … as in the image cmdr cormorningstarfelian linked…

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

I visited Kailas today and then wandered among some named systems with very low populations beneath the Lost Realms near to the Sol - Axis Mundi line (and a few a little off it) but I think I went too far down for a pendent world. No luck even on finding airless moons with large craters! (On a typical day of exploring, like out near Barnard's Loop last week, I would find dozens...).
When I am next on Chroin and Grach will be on my list to visit and maybe these three make an encircling range that I can use to narrow down my search. (Elysia is off to one side of the Lost Realms). If the region is large, as I suspect, I can try and break it up a bit. Uninhabited or very low population (low thousands) systems are my priority, as are named systems (as opposed to catalogue names or procedural names).

 

[Rochester]

Been thinking for some time - fernweh, could this relate to the longing to return to the Otherworld?

Holdstocks Lost Realms dwells on this concept, a return to the otherworld those ‘lost’ realms, and certainly many of the Irish / Celtic tales and Arthurian fiction extrapolated from these, is fixated upon this ‘desire’ to return to those lands, which generally we’re supposed to be beyond our sight snd difficult to get to.

I think the use of the term may actually be another hint to look at this concept of an Otherworld, and especially the work of Holdstock.

Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast. This page: Paradise Lost: A History of Fantasy and the Otherworld by Christopher Mahon

clarkesworldmagazine.com

The Celtic Otherworld – Celtic Life International

celticlifeintl.com

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Been thinking for some time - fernweh, could this relate to the longing to return to the Otherworld?

Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast. This page: Paradise Lost: A History of Fantasy and the Otherworld by Christopher Mahon

clarkesworldmagazine.com

Possibly. Just a bit of personal opinion: the game is much better with the older lore. That said, the lore exclusively on Elite Dangerous is solidly dystopian. The old stuff makes the new lore even darker by several orders of magnitude. I need to do a dedicated thread on it on the forums. I am presuming people would appreciate lots of spoiler tagging. The crazy thing is there is a lot of lore just in Elite Dangerous. The old stuff is there if you look. The amount of lore you are dealing with factoring in the older stuff is just nuts.

 

[Louis Calvert]

Been thinking for some time - fernweh, could this relate to the longing to return to the Otherworld?

Holdstocks Lost Realms dwells on this concept, a return to the otherworld those ‘lost’ reslns, and certainly many of the Irish / Celtic tales and Arthurian fiction is fixated upon this ‘desire’ to return to this lands.

I think the use of the term may actually be another hint to look at this concept of an Otherworld, and especially the work of Holdstock.

Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast. This page: Paradise Lost: A History of Fantasy and the Otherworld by Christopher Mahon

clarkesworldmagazine.com

It makes sense. Nice find

From your link:

"These stories give a critical insight into nearly all tales of the otherworld: the otherworld is a paradise, and contact with it opens to the door for longing, both for the characters in the story and for the reader, who cannot help but feel a small twinge of excitement at the prospect of crossing over into a land of wonder, and a sense of emptiness when the hero finds himself bereft of his elfland. The ultimate narrative is one of loss, with the otherworld standing in for Eden."

That's very similar to what the Codex is saying about both Raxxla and those that seek it. That sort of made me think about some older ideas that keep coming back up. Just sort of posting ideas here:

I'm wondering if this is pointing towards Raxxla being some Guardian simulation (which could easily be a complete paradise in every way) as many have suggested (as opposed to being a literal stargate portal). That would certainly enable the more esoteric aspects of the myth the be fulfilled without changing the 'rules' of the current universe.

I've always liked the idea that one of the ways some Guardians survived total annihilation was to retreat to a virtual world. Now Salvation has uploaded to the Matrix we know that humans uploading is possible. He might not be the first to have done so, which might be the origin of the Raxxla myth (and maybe some weird stuff like Halsey's visions, etc.)

Given Salvation's transition and the death of his physical body, we can call that an afterlife, which (as far as I can tell) is quite in keeping with some of the themes in Paradise Lost too? The Guardians and the Constructs might be allegories for the war in heaven, given that the Guardian civilisation seems to have been something of a paradise which fell to civil war. They were even basically described as gardeners who revered nature for much of their history, they even made/modified creatures, and made new life (the Constructs). That's pretty god-level stuff right there.

Could it be that the allegory here doesn't relate to Humanity, but to the Guardians? They're the ones that lost Paradise and we're sort of intersecting with the remains of their story? We're longing for something we never had - but they did.

What if Raxxla is some sort of Guardian Matrix that was found ages ago (maybe the Martian artefact or something) and people managed to interface with it? They found it was a paradise where anything anyone wanted could be had safely and easily. Maybe that's the treasure that's worth protecting. You could easily sell that to rich folks who want to know they'll have a nice, personalised afterlife forever...

It might be that Raxxla (as a location) is a heavily-guarded world where the matrix is located. That might easily place it in the bubble and it would almost certainly have a population and normal signs of commerce and trade... Something like that might be recognisable by finding somewhere with unusual non-military but very strong defences, like a settlement with strange features and mysterious protectors.

Anyway, I don't think I'm saying anything new here, but I do think something like this would very neatly marry all the clues and speculations we have together. It could even be one of the first colony worlds settled, or Mars itself, for example, to keep the timeline working given the early date of the first reference.

 

[Rochester]

It makes sense. Nice find

From your link:


That's very similar to what the Codex is saying about both Raxxla and those that seek it. That sort of made me think about some older ideas that keep coming back up. Just sort of posting ideas here:

I'm wondering if this is pointing towards Raxxla being some Guardian simulation (which could easily be a complete paradise in every way) as many have suggested (as opposed to being a literal stargate portal). That would certainly enable the more esoteric aspects of the myth the be fulfilled without changing the 'rules' of the current universe.

I've always liked the idea that one of the ways some Guardians survived total annihilation was to retreat to a virtual world. Now Salvation has uploaded to the Matrix we know that humans uploading is possible. He might not be the first to have done so, which might be the origin of the Raxxla myth (and maybe some weird stuff like Halsey's visions, etc.)

Given Salvation's transition and the death of his physical body, we can call that an afterlife, which (as far as I can tell) is quite in keeping with some of the themes in Paradise Lost too? The Guardians and the Constructs might be allegories for the war in heaven, given that the Guardian civilisation seems to have been something of a paradise which fell to civil war. They were even basically described as gardeners who revered nature for much of their history, they even made/modified creatures, and made new life (the Constructs). That's pretty god-level stuff right there.

Could it be that the allegory here doesn't relate to Humanity, but to the Guardians? They're the ones that lost Paradise and we're sort of intersecting with the remains of their story? We're longing for something we never had - but they did.

What if Raxxla is some sort of Guardian Matrix that was found ages ago (maybe the Martian artefact or something) and people managed to interface with it? They found it was a paradise where anything anyone wanted could be had safely and easily. Maybe that's the treasure that's worth protecting. You could easily sell that to rich folks who want to know they'll have a nice, personalised afterlife forever...

It might be that Raxxla (as a location) is a heavily-guarded world where the matrix is located. That might easily place it in the bubble and it would almost certainly have a population and normal signs of commerce and trade... Something like that might be recognisable by finding somewhere with unusual non-military but very strong defences, like a settlement with strange features and mysterious protectors.

Anyway, I don't think I'm saying anything new here, but I do think something like this would very neatly marry all the clues and speculations we have together. It could even be one of the first colony worlds settled, or Mars itself, for example, to keep the timeline working given the early date of the first reference.

Lore wise - I feel this is one of many potential solutions, one we’ve all likely considered.

But I suspect the intent is a homage to a Holdstock Easter egg; and the intricacies are evidence of Brookes writing style, and that he built this architecture for some now removed narrative we’ll never get to see.

I am interested in the very early indications by FD that Raxxla, has a physical location, that ‘supposedly’ it’s been passed through, and ultimately a little sad we will never get to see Brookes original narrative path instigated by the Dark Wheel missions and the confirmed link to the Trinkets of Hidden Fortune, which FD confirmed via support was a story and one which later had been removed.

I suspect that Brookes was later hired to write the Codex, in a redux of these missions, so as to coalesce his invention, Raxxla, in the absence of the wider story, hence its abstract nature.

That original scope I suspect was much wider, and likely made sense of the various archaeological architecture we’ve uncovered. I think it held up much of the later Guardians and Thargoids narratives, but likely was far too complex or it overshadowed Braben’s design?

I propose Brookes posted the Codex as an allusion towards a Holdstock Easter egg, and it’s a map towards finding it. I don’t believe it reflects all of Holdstocks work, but focuses solely upon his core work for which was most famous for.

From the early indications it’s possible that whoever does eventually find Raxxla - will likely know it when they find it.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I did think about this and as someone who has a fascination for the physics behind 'Time', an upside down pyramid is a Penrose diagram.
Many have proposed that the Penrose structure can incorporate Black Holes in order to travel to multi dimensions.
I have no idea how the physical 'upside down pyramid' would work as a dimensional gate but it was the similarity of the triangles forward projection and the way Time can be used via BH's for instant travel that got me thinking.

O7

You gotta remember to carry some meatballs and tomato sauce when entering the pyramid!

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

As a retired scientist I’m concerned about approaches I’m seeing of late. Scientific method means you have to look at ALL of the evidence...so a theory must address the codex descriptions AND the toast AND the logo. Cherry picking evidence to support a theory is the path to delusion.

 

[Han_Zen]

It makes sense. Nice find

From your link:


That's very similar to what the Codex is saying about both Raxxla and those that seek it. That sort of made me think about some older ideas that keep coming back up. Just sort of posting ideas here:

I'm wondering if this is pointing towards Raxxla being some Guardian simulation (which could easily be a complete paradise in every way) as many have suggested (as opposed to being a literal stargate portal). That would certainly enable the more esoteric aspects of the myth the be fulfilled without changing the 'rules' of the current universe.

I've always liked the idea that one of the ways some Guardians survived total annihilation was to retreat to a virtual world. Now Salvation has uploaded to the Matrix we know that humans uploading is possible. He might not be the first to have done so, which might be the origin of the Raxxla myth (and maybe some weird stuff like Halsey's visions, etc.)

Given Salvation's transition and the death of his physical body, we can call that an afterlife, which (as far as I can tell) is quite in keeping with some of the themes in Paradise Lost too? The Guardians and the Constructs might be allegories for the war in heaven, given that the Guardian civilisation seems to have been something of a paradise which fell to civil war. They were even basically described as gardeners who revered nature for much of their history, they even made/modified creatures, and made new life (the Constructs). That's pretty god-level stuff right there.

Could it be that the allegory here doesn't relate to Humanity, but to the Guardians? They're the ones that lost Paradise and we're sort of intersecting with the remains of their story? We're longing for something we never had - but they did.

What if Raxxla is some sort of Guardian Matrix that was found ages ago (maybe the Martian artefact or something) and people managed to interface with it? They found it was a paradise where anything anyone wanted could be had safely and easily. Maybe that's the treasure that's worth protecting. You could easily sell that to rich folks who want to know they'll have a nice, personalised afterlife forever...

It might be that Raxxla (as a location) is a heavily-guarded world where the matrix is located. That might easily place it in the bubble and it would almost certainly have a population and normal signs of commerce and trade... Something like that might be recognisable by finding somewhere with unusual non-military but very strong defences, like a settlement with strange features and mysterious protectors.

Anyway, I don't think I'm saying anything new here, but I do think something like this would very neatly marry all the clues and speculations we have together. It could even be one of the first colony worlds settled, or Mars itself, for example, to keep the timeline working given the early date of the first reference.

I think it's likely that Raxxla is related to some form of civilisation, that has Guardian roots. Looking at the timeline of galactic and 'historical' events, there is a long time between the end of the Guardians and early human civilisation.
The end of the second guardian civil war was probably at least a million years ago. The ancient myths and religions of earth aren't old at all, compared to this. The absolute oldest Hindu stories may originate from about 15 000 BC.
There is a huge gape in time between 15 000 BC and 1 000 000 BC. Whatever existed in early human history or exist now, will not have be the Guardians we know from the logs.

It's a bit unclear who survived among the Guardians. The original history logs ends with: " all the Guardians other than those who had been exiled a century earlier were dying". This clearly indicates that the exiled Guardians, with AI implants may have survived the war.
The Guardian Codex states that the AI decided: "the only way to preclude further violence – while giving their own burgeoning society the best possible chance of survival – was to destroy what remained of the Guardians’ civilisation".
It's hard to interpret if the exiles were included in the 'remainder of the Guardians' civilisation'. It would have been relatively easy for the fully sentient constructs to end the exiles, as the practically lived in them. On the other hand it is possible that the exiles were so well integrated with the constructs that they were part in the decision to end the rest of the Guardians. We know that the constructs were confined to the Monolith network. Keeping the exiles around, may have given them more freedom to roam the galaxy?

If Guardian remnants are described in human myths and religions as goods, I would say the exiles survived and remained autonomous. The behaviour of ancient goods does not suggest machine like logic.

Both modern religions and vissions from Halsey and Romero may suggest that these creatures may have evolved beyond the need for a physical body. If Raxxla was used to house the gateway 'the goods' used to access monkey planet, it may simply have been rendered obsolete and left to drift in space.

 

[Han_Zen]

As a retired scientist I’m concerned about approaches I’m seeing of late. Scientific method means you have to look at ALL of the evidence...so a theory must address the codex descriptions AND the toast AND the logo. Cherry picking evidence to support a theory is the path to delusion.

I agree. We are however quite far from anything that could be considered evidence at all.

We are more at the stage of the project where everyone writes what falls in to their head uncritically, on post-it notes.