The Quest To Find Raxxla

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

However in answer to the forum post "Legacy was billed in the Kickstarter campaign as a sequel to The Dark Wheel, however, I was expecting more of a direct follow up ...There was a throwaway reference to Raxxla near the beginning of the story but... " MB did explicitly respond “It was more of a spiritual successor than a direct sequel. We did look at a story involving Raxxla, but felt that was a story that should be played out in game rather than as a novel.”
(See my FD Quotes thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/fdev-ed-relevant-quotes-videos.553526/#post-8671776)

I believe this may be the beginning of the trail...

Orrere Crashed Ship | Canonn Research Group

A wrecked Anaconda crashed nose-first into the moon Orrere 2 b at 43.8214, -173.9800 , scattering its cargo behind it. From the contents of the wreckage, which includes Brewer Corp and Caine Massey crates as well as a number of cargo canisters: Bertrandite (14x), Beryllium (2x), Gold (3x)...

canonn.science

Connection to Ben (Ryder) perhaps?

This would be very close to their home which appears to be BD-22 3573 based on proximity to Isinor, economy type, and Alex Ryder's sky surfing.

 

[simulacrae]

And the Tau Ceti Mission reference is also an interesting possibility (read it online, also didn't seem helpful).

I agree the sun dragon novel didnt seem to have any connection to elite. However - if i remember right - the indication in the tau ceti missions that a rouge planet from the tarantula nebula ( sun dragon delivery system) swung by tau ceti killing off an advanced civilization. I like it for several reasons - Tau ceti being the first mention of raxxla. The Magellanic clouds and raxxla possibly being a rogue planet ( a common speculation) …. Even with the holdstock book tour of the galaxy -they were going to the Magellanic clouds…. But ya - nothing terribly concrete to work with. Hmmm giving me some ideas …

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I agree the sun dragon novel didnt seem to have any connection to elite. However - if i remember right - the indication in the tau ceti missions that a rouge planet from the tarantula nebula ( sun dragon delivery system) swung by tau ceti killing off an advanced civilization. I like it for several reasons - Tau ceti being the first mention of raxxla. The Magellanic clouds and raxxla possibly being a rogue planet ( a common speculation) …. Even with the holdstock book tour of the galaxy -they were going to the Magellanic clouds…. But ya - nothing terribly concrete to work with. Hmmm giving me some ideas …

Yep, but given MB's (or was it DB's?) statement that they'd only implemented one galaxy then I think it just adds to the lore/fluff...

Still pondering & trying to get more information from the garden and that dam logo!!

 

[simulacrae]

Yep, but given MB's (or was it DB's?) statement that they'd only implemented one galaxy then I think it just adds to the lore/fluff...

Still pondering & trying to get more information from the garden and that dam logo!!

Ya i dont discount it as it is visible and the Magellanic clouds are so close as to be a part of our galaxy…. Wouldnt be surprised if there were parts of the “galaxy” that were generated but invisible and not accessible to us yet either.

As far as the logo goes - i think i like it as a yantra . With the 33 dashes symbolizing the 33 gods … the wheel of samsara cycle of rebirth and death with its three parts darma arthra and kama - with the central point moksha … enlightenment… freeing us from they cycle of death.

Raxxla is the EDDQD.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Or could just be dot & circle astronomical symbol for star, 3 arcs for its asteroid belt, dotted hexagon for Guardian "thing" hidden in asteroids of planetary ring... it's the Tri-Via crossroads and the 6 black shapes that puzzle me. They could be shadows? There are 6 moons...

I need a further clue to localise it a bit. I've tried flying in the planetary belts (there are two, and they're huge!), in the dark... it's very boring and not a good ending.

 

[Rochester]

Spoiler: Jorki's Petunia theory

Hypotheses:
1) Elite Legacy hint: Julia as a girl “dreamed of being the first pilot to discover Raxxla”... 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 space was another matter”. So Raxxla system lies in Alliance space! (2015 bubble size so ~30 to max 60ly from Alioth: -33.65625 / 72.46875 / -20.65625); ~1100 systems
2) Elite Legacy hint: 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”
3) Codex hints:
a. "The legend of Raxxla has been in circulation, in whispers, for centuries" a clue? An anagram?
b. Several versions of the Raxxla story mention an alien artefact, the Omphalos Rift, described as a gateway or tunnel through which parallel universes can be accessed. These details, however, were later shown to bear a striking resemblance to the children's story Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars, and soon lost credibility. Undaunted, some Raxxla seekers insisted that the story's author had cunningly concealed facts about the mysterious locale in his book as hints for those with eyes to see....
4) System name may (med probability?) be a subanagram of "Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars" ... "for those with eyes to see". N.B. Astrophil/phel is a boy's name so why "princess"? N.N.B. "for those with eyes to see and ears to hear" is the usual quotation.
5) @Rochester has incontrovertibly shown that MB inserted Paradise Lost cosmology in-game, and this shows the Empyrean as being in/on the border of Alliance space. Milton's Pendent World should be located near to Heaven's Gate and possibly lies between Heaven's Gate & Sol (0/0/0) (i.e. Gateway: -11 / 77.84375 / -0.875 or Wolf 248: 2.78125 / 60.3125 / -0.437) - from usual PLost cosmology pic, though Milton's text has the gate in the East. From @Rochester 's findings Empyrean floor radius ~82.2 ly
6) Li Qing Jao station garden design is a clue (second line of Toast)->Milton's cosmos shown in left panel
7) Trinkets of Hidden Fortune may be required?

ED codex was released in Beyond - Chapter Four 11 DEC 3304 (2018).

Beyond - Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal livestream 18Oct2018 : @1:29:58 Adam Bourke-Waite (Senior Designer) said “that thing we haven’t shown” (i.e. Raxxla codex entry) “there’s elements of that that are probably my favourite parts of this”... so probably interesting graphics scene when Raxxla is activated! m.youtube.com/watch?v=rtmmmP_waf4&list=PL7glm5rbPHKw5-Bx_eQuz3SX7-dyAiyJh&index=9&pp=iAQB

Edifying Will - EXO livestream 21/03/2019 Will Flanagan with Sally Morgan Moore in Void Opal mining wing with EXO in an icy planetary ring. At 31:40 EXO said they’re really looking for Raxxla, Will mimed zipping his mouth then said you are looking in the right place, you’re looking in an asteroid... No reaction from Sally.

Elite: Dangerous Fiction Diary #1 @7mins30 MB said “When you’re travelling in Alliance space make sure you’re not accidentally smuggling something illegal” with big grin and fixed look for several seconds. At about 10:21 he also mentioned the Martian alien artifact in the context of other sentient species in the galaxy (Guardian?)

The "alleged toast of the Dark Wheel":
To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies! Simguru Pranav Antal said “Sol is the birthplace of our race, the shining jewel of our galaxy” in Galnet 14jun3301 . Mother Gaia (mother of the Sky) faction in Sol, planet Earth, moon Luna
To the whisperer in witch-space, the siren of the deepest void! Li Qing Jo station at Earth's moon Luna, inventor of the FSD that allowed travel in witchspace, where the garden design is remarkable- see below
The parent's grief, the lover's woe, and the yearning of our vagabond hearts: Paradise Lost, God the father's grief at humanity's fall, Adam's woe at Eve's failure to resist temptation, Adam & Eve became the original vagabonds
To Raxxla!" (i.e. Paradise!)

Garden design:
Bah. Image deleted during copy & paste!
LHS is Milton's Paradise Lost cosmology ("fast by hanging in a golden chain. This pendent world, in bigness as a star; Of smallest magnitude close by the moon"), There is a tree motif, starting with 4 in the "pendent ball" in the left part of the garden, then 6 trees in the middle part, indicating IMO the prize...and 6 repeated in the right part. Logically middle panel indicates system, with "it" at second planet (not including moons, but does middle panel imply the broader outer ring?). RHS should logically indicate specific location - inner planetary ring?

Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars? ...For those with eyes to see" & "a young man’s quest to save a princess from an alien dragon". I have long advocated that since we don't have the book mentioned in the codex then the clue must be buried in the title string, probably as a subanagram, and somehow the book title hint from Elite Legacy must also correspond to that from the codex...it took me a surprisingly long time to realise "alien dragon" is a viable subanagram of "Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars"! (I blame my advanced age and too much Lavian brandy). Note: the Princess may be from an alien dragon, or threatened by it..the context is unclear-read on!

"Alien dragon": in addition to meaning "extraterrestrial", "alien" can mean "coming from a foreign country", so I looked at "dragon" in various foreign languages: Draconis, Draco, Long, Ryu, dragon, drake, drache, drago, drakon, zmiy, dragua, herensuge, cmok, zmaj, drac, dragone, drak, traekke, draak, draakon, drachen, sarkany, dreki, dragan, smok, dragao, balaur, continuar, draig, dregana, ajagar, zaj, dryagan, aydahar, yong, ajidaar, mangkon, draagan, dreganaluu, nagarr, dryagana, ajagara, makara, tirakan, ejderha, aagondarha, ajdaho, Rong, ziha, draak, zenido, chinjoka, dodon, ikiyoka, drakone, dhiragoni, masduulaagii, joka, inamba, dragoni, udrako, deragona, naga, dragona, tarakona, tarako, doragon

Spreadsheet search of systems in Alliance space: I built a spreadsheet of the ~1100 system names within 60ly of Alioth and did a substring search against the various foreign language dragon names. Ryu system stands out as the only likely "alien dragon" (only one "Ryu", though 2 Draco & around 16 Draconis systems, investigated a few, nothing promising). 'Ryu' is the Japanese word for dragon, specifically the East Asian sort of dragon (wingless, long bodied, four legs), while 'Doragon' is the word for Western dragons.

Ryu system matches the middle part of the garden design! The star, planet 1 and it's single moon were first discovered by "Princess Luna" -this commander name joined the forum Feb 2016, but can't see any posts after 2017; while planet 2 and it's 6 moons were discovered by another. This matches the report that MB said (during the last Q&A he attended, so Lavecon 2017) that the Raxxla system had been honked but Raxxla was not discovered; the earlier three discovery scanner options (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced) were condensed into a single, infinite-range scanner with Beyond Chapter Four release on December 11, 2018 (also it is very probable that Raxxla/Omphalos is not detectable during normal scanner operation). It's possible that "Princess Luna" was one of the FD team, or the name coincidence gave rise to the codex hints, but the use of "Princess" in the codex is suggestive, as is "Luna" (moons are star lovers, they follow them around!). Only space station in Ryu is outpost Francisco de Almeida Hangar ( the family name is derived from the Arabic words "al ma'ida," meaning a plateau), but see no hint here. Distances: 43.07 ly to Gateway, 46.07 to Alioth, 78.62 to Sol, 108.4 to Tau Ceti.

The MB Tours final Tourist Beacon Milton's Paradise Lost quotation ("fast by hanging in a golden chain. This pendent world, in bigness as a star; Of smallest magnitude close by the moon") suggests that Raxxla/Omphalos is located in a planetary belt (hanging in a golden chain?) but near the moon does not fit as Ryu 2a moon is orbiting faster than the belt asteroids.

I feel that at this point the Raxxla logo should provide a final clue, but I can't resolve this part of the puzzle.
Bah. Image deleted during copy & paste!

Something hexagonal hidden in a planetary belt?
"Lonsdaleite also called hexagonal diamond in reference to the crystal structure, is an allotrope of carbon with a hexagonal lattice as opposed to the cubical lattice of conventional diamond", and is found in meteorite debris, formed by high temperature and pressure impacts converting hexagonal structure graphite into diamond. If this is the solution and Raxxla is a giant diamond asteroid I want an FD cheque for my share of the retail value!

Ryu2 has 6 MOONS, suggesting the hexagonal symbology. They're in coplanar circular orbit, the barycentre lies within planet 2. Does dotted line imply a complex orbit between all 6 moons, not sure that's feasible?? Or possibly hidden behind somehow?

Ryu 2 Ring dimensions are 118,440-145,580km; 0.395-0.486ls/ 145,680-469,960km; 0.486-1.568ls, so ring midpoints at 0.44ls & 1.027ls. Inter-belt gap should be at 0.486ls.
Ryu 2a orbital radius is ~4.84 ls/ 1,450,995.5 km/ 0.009699 AU

The trees in the garden design are not equally spaced! If a line were drawn between opposite pairs that would give the logo "asterisk"...? But logically that ought to be repeatable in the system to localise it, however there are only 5 mineral hot spots in the belts. Drawing lines between the orbiting moons will only give a very infrequent hexagonal alignment....is this a time-gated puzzle, does the Omphalos only open when the 6 moons are in regular hexagonal alignment??

The logo is reminiscent of Hecate, key holder of gateways, symbol the Tri-Via triple-crossroad, the triple moon goddess, one of her aspects being Luna...so a hint to the moons and confirmation of the system?

So is there a hint to a specific location within the belts?
There are 33 dots in the logo dotted hexagon...if these were light second counts the hexagon circumference in the logo would imply a radius of 5.25 ls...nothing found
#dots= 5 5 6 6 5 6 total 33...Is this indicating an Orbital distance? (5)56 (6)56?
556,656 km=1.857ls
566,565km=1.89ls
665,655km=2.22ls
656,556km=2.19ls dry dry
565,566km=1.887ls
655,665km=2.187ls
Nope- tried these..
Could be in light seconds for very distant orbital radius, but then wouldn't fit the quotation or location at planet 2.
665,655ls circumference, radius=105.94ls
565,566ls circumference, radius= 90.01ls
tried 100ls above & below Ryu2 poles.

Lagrange point "close by the moon"? (So L1 or L2?)
Mass planet 2,293.3054 Earth Masses
Mass inner ring 150,960,000,000 Mt / 2.52616464e-005 Earth Masses
Mass outer ring 4,422,300,000,000 Mt / 0.000740028 Earth Masses
Mass inner moon 0.0015 Earth Masses Semi major axis 4.84 ls
Ring masses are very small compared with planet 2 mass, so ignore for Lagrange calculation.
L1 -89,441.651 km (-0.298 ls) secondary; 1,361,553.844 km ( 4.542 ls) primary
L2 93,276.651 km ( 0.311 ls) secondary; 1544272.146 km (5.151 ls) primary
nope- nothing at L1 or L2

Running out of ideas! Need inspiration/Lavian brandy!
I've been carrying around a Trinket of Hidden Fortune while conducting this research, it's brought me no luck & I'm getting heartily sick of doing it in the dark (Ryu2 is a long way from the star, and the belts, planet & moons are dark!) while dodging pirates.. I'm getting frustrated & bored. Plus, Sandro was the initial game designer & I always thought he over relied on difficult RNG mechanisms....

Why Petunias? Why not! the answer to life, the universe, and everything (ergo including Raxxla) is 42!

Your location, apart from being in the correct location in accordance with ‘Fall’ - one of the potential walls of the Empyrean, is also right next to Norse system ‘Urdarbrunnr’ the Meeting Place Of The Gods, the fountain or well of Urd (fate).

“The third root of the ash is in heaven, and beneath it is the most sacred fountain of Urd. Here the gods have their doomstead. The Aesir ride hither every day over Bifrost, which is also called Aesir-bridge.” - Gylfaginning.

We have most clearly identified the realm of the Empyrean. If the Miltonian model is being followed, as we’ve postulated, Raxxla ought to hang from the wall of the Empyrean… just on the out-rim of Chaos.

However, the Tour of Brookes, cannot be ignored as an important and intentional clue from FD. In my opinion it spatially advocates the importance of Artemis and that of the significance of the Lost Realms zone.

This generates a spacial disparity between heaven and hell, as it draws too much focus upon the underworld, not of heaven.

This in my opinion raises too many questions: about how Artemis might be significant:

Does it hold some physical clue in itself - which points us towards the Empyrean; there certainly is a spatial alignment that points upwards towards the Morrigans, but there must be something more to it?

Are the tours drawing attention to the Lost Realms zone; if so why; they obviously are referenced in the Codex - why; do they simply identify the existence of the cosmological model, or do they actually hold Raxxla?

I do speculate that the mystery of Starship One was a narrative marker, identifying the area of the Empyrean.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I can't see MB making the Raxxla puzzle totally dependent on knowledge of Milton's Paradise Lost. The two clues in Legacy bypass that completely, and are congruent with the codex's Princess clue. So I think the Paradise Lost model was just to get us into the right part of the Milky Way and I'd be cautious about overegging it.

But the PL quotation "fast by hanging in a golden chain. This pendent world, in bigness as a star; Of smallest magnitude close by the moon" is clearly important since FD have made this the finale of the MB Tour. Logically it's relevant to Raxxla, and I'm thinking it's an indication of it's obfuscation...so may mean in an asteroid belt but may not mean it's physically close to a moon. I think it's just using the metaphor of a small star against the size of the full moon to emphasise it's very small! But then it's ambiguous (smallest magnitude is astronomically very bright!), this is why I dislike poetry!

 

[Rochester]

I can't see MB making the Raxxla puzzle totally dependent on knowledge of Milton's Paradise Lost. The two clues in Legacy bypass that completely, and are congruent with the codex's Princess clue. So I think the Paradise Lost model was just to get us into the right part of the Milky Way and I'd be cautious about overegging it.

But the PL quotation "fast by hanging in a golden chain. This pendent world, in bigness as a star; Of smallest magnitude close by the moon" is clearly important since FD have made this the finale of the MB Tour. Logically it's relevant to Raxxla, and I'm thinking it's an indication of it's obfuscation...so may mean in an asteroid belt but may not mean it's physically close to a moon. I think it's just using the metaphor of a small star against the size of the full moon to emphasise it's very small! But then it's ambiguous (smallest magnitude is astronomically very bright!), this is why I dislike poetry!

Agreed, there will be other elements which point the way.

The text is as you’ve identified is all about magnitude, distance and size.

Milton was describing how Satan sees our universe from a vast distance, and that it was insignificantly tiny, in comparison to the size of the vastness and brilliance of Empyrean (the only source of light). Yet brilliant in itself, it’s uniqueness, as if like a distant star seen from Earth in comparison to the brightness and relative size of our moon - as if from the perspective of an astronomer at that time.

The textual description pops up at least three time in PL and is a physical description of the exact location of Paradise in the cosmos.

So as a clue in game, I am more inclined to perceive Raxxla ought to be a system just under the Empyrean, and very close relatively to one of the Empyrean walls. I think Starship One was another spacial clue for this general area.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I did investigate a possible Starship One link, but arrived at the conclusion that it, Gan Romero and Halsey's visions are all part of a different storyline - the Guardians Reveal, which I think is quite separate from the Raxxla storyline (though I strongly suspect Raxxla's a Guardian object/ship). The Caretakers might be Guardians (or rather Guardians evolved into plasma lifeforms -MB's pet theory...read Sun Dragon); and I still suspect those pesky fireflies from the barnacles/Thargoids sensors!, but the potential overlap could just be obfuscation, or as you say could be another highlight to the general area...perhaps we'll eventually get to see the Alien Lore manual etc and see the reality.. I also suspect the early E/F missions were originally supposed to lead us to the Guardians (use of data crystals as the thematic base, & the myth they referred to would be the mythical alien beings from the discovery of the Mars Alien Artefact), but they were bugged and cropped up all over the place & also FD saw how rapidly players were exploring the Milky Way and realised to keep any semblance of realism they had to bring forward the Guardian reveal, so rather than just fixing the bugged missions they deleted them and set up Starship One etc as a quick solution. I still remember the furore when FD locked Col90 sector etc and people couldn't revisit places they'd already been (I'd been out that way myself, following the 2Mass star chain on my first long distance exploration trip).

At first I was looking for a system hanging from the Empyrean down towards Sol, but couldn't find anything suitable. Though I did conclude Gateway (alternate was Wolf 294 IIRC) is most likely candidate for Heaven's Gate since it matches the usual graphic for PL cosmology (though Milton's text actually puts that to the East side of the Empyrean). Did you or someone else say after the Fall of Man God moved Paradise up into the Empyrean? Couldn't find that in PL. IIRC the Garden of Eden was originally set on Earth, in The East. When they were expelled Adam & Eve were led by Gabriel down the East cliff face to roam the world.

Then I had the brainfart/wave about the anagram match and it all fell into place, apart from actually getting Raxxla to reveal itself!

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Have spent a happy boring couple of hours after lunch travelling from pole of planet to each moon & back, dropping out of SC at the planet and each moon, honking at halfway point on my way to moons a, c & e.

Anybody got any ideas of other possible interpretations for the logo?

 

[Rochester]

I did investigate a possible Starship One link, but arrived at the conclusion that it, Gan Romero and Halsey's visions are all part of a different storyline - the Guardians Reveal, which I think is quite separate from the Raxxla storyline (though I strongly suspect Raxxla's a Guardian object/ship). The Caretakers might be Guardians (or rather Guardians evolved into plasma lifeforms -MB's pet theory...read Sun Dragon); and I still suspect those pesky fireflies from the barnacles/Thargoids sensors!, but the potential overlap could just be obfuscation, or as you say could be another highlight to the general area...perhaps we'll eventually get to see the Alien Lore manual etc and see the reality.. I also suspect the early E/F missions were originally supposed to lead us to the Guardians (use of data crystals as the thematic base, & the myth they referred to would be the mythical alien beings from the discovery of the Mars Alien Artefact), but they were bugged and cropped up all over the place & also FD saw how rapidly players were exploring the Milky Way and realised to keep any semblance of realism they had to bring forward the Guardian reveal, so rather than just fixing the bugged missions they deleted them and set up Starship One etc as a quick solution. I still remember the furore when FD locked Col90 sector etc and people couldn't revisit places they'd already been (I'd been out that way myself, following the 2Mass star chain on my first long distance exploration trip).

At first I was looking for a system hanging from the Empyrean down towards Sol, but couldn't find anything suitable. Though I did conclude Gateway (alternate was Wolf 294 IIRC) is most likely candidate for Heaven's Gate since it matches the usual graphic for PL cosmology (though Milton's text actually puts that to the East side of the Empyrean). Did you or someone else say after the Fall of Man God moved Paradise up into the Empyrean? Couldn't find that in PL. IIRC the Garden of Eden was originally set on Earth, in The East. When they were expelled Adam & Eve were led by Gabriel down the East cliff face to roam the world.
View attachment 391493

Then I had the brainfart/wave about the anagram match and it all fell into place, apart from actually getting Raxxla to reveal itself!

I can’t recall myself, it’s a little murky…

The whole moving of Paradise up into heaven was inferred I suspect, simply as part of Gods grand scheme. Remember ‘paradise’ is the garden in the end, not the universe, that was creation, and initially they were one and the same. Last I recall it’s indicated that was ‘the plan’ for the whole of creation to be lifted aloft, I can’t recall if the garden was physically described through an ‘occurrence’ of being moved or just locked away…

I believe it was just locked off, because God sent Michael and gods flaming sword and Cherubim’s to cast Adam and Eve out into the world, and guard it’s East gate so no one could re-enter.

The universe aka the actual pendant globe stays hanging from its chain, after the fall it’s fixed in place due to Satans viaduct, which created a quick path to hell. Milton also mixes his temporal metaphors, because in Paradise Lost, ‘time’ doesn’t start until the 2nd fall, but initially Milton describing Satans journey prior to that, on the outer sphere of the universe, and describes the Paradise of Fools (Limbo) and likewise the golden stairs etc and contextualises them as locations or pathways for souls to traverse; so the ‘globe’ is a fixed location under the Empyrean.

I agree with your overarching concept for the narrative, but I am inclined to disagree on the point of Starship One. I don’t think it was intended primarily as narrative marker especially for Raxxla, but rather used simply, as a mechanism to seed the environmental story about the existence of the Empyrean, of a heavenly Otherworld, and it’s existence in that particular area, maybe FD hoped Cmdrs would stumble over Raxxla albeit indirectly, personally I suspect FD has done this on numerous occasions?

 

[Macros Black]

Have spent a happy boring couple of hours after lunch travelling from pole of planet to each moon & back, dropping out of SC at the planet and each moon, honking at halfway point on my way to moons a, c & e.

Anybody got any ideas of other possible interpretations for the logo?

Can you share the system and planet you're investigating?

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I've had another idea, but probably won't be able to investigate until the weekend!
Bah, real life!!

 

[Han_Zen]

I can't see MB making the Raxxla puzzle totally dependent on knowledge of Milton's Paradise Lost. The two clues in Legacy bypass that completely, and are congruent with the codex's Princess clue. So I think the Paradise Lost model was just to get us into the right part of the Milky Way and I'd be cautious about overegging it.

But the PL quotation "fast by hanging in a golden chain. This pendent world, in bigness as a star; Of smallest magnitude close by the moon" is clearly important since FD have made this the finale of the MB Tour. Logically it's relevant to Raxxla, and I'm thinking it's an indication of it's obfuscation...so may mean in an asteroid belt but may not mean it's physically close to a moon. I think it's just using the metaphor of a small star against the size of the full moon to emphasise it's very small! But then it's ambiguous (smallest magnitude is astronomically very bright!), this is why I dislike poetry!

So, this pendent world. What is it?
Most text analyses seem to think it represents the entire universe, in the traditional geocentric sense. It does also fit with the earth, as it's basically the only thing next to the moon.

What Milton meant doesn't matter, but how have FD interpreted the sentence?
You don't have to go very far, for the earth to be as dim as as a smal magnitude star. If we are talking about the entire milky way, we have to be really far out.
It could of course also be Sol the devil is looking at, but that makes the moon reference a bit strange.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Good question! Only FD know the answers!

As I understand it the Pendent World in Milton was the Earth, surrounded by several spheres which carried the planets, sun and background stars. Paradise/Garden of Eden was on Earth in The East, connected to the Empyrean (Heaven) via a retractable golden ladder. The implication IMO is that MB was using it to represent Raxxla (i.e. Raxxla is Paradise??)

EDIT: but what the heck, it's poetry!!

I did get the chance to play for an hour this afternoon, despite fighting off the need for sleep due to the horrendous thunderstorms we had last night on the South Coast- I was effectively awake from 01:50! Never heard anything like it...should have opened the curtains and enjoyed the light show! The dog &cat didn't seem to mind, but I objected when they wanted to go out at 06:00!

My idea of last night was a rethinking on the meaning of the garden design...the middle panel seems to show a part (highlighted by two lamps) connected to, but off to the right of, a wide "golden chain", while the right panel seems to emphasise this...so perhaps the trees represent the six moons and need to go further into the system (search for gravitational anomalies? Stop & honk frequently?...FSS??). This ties in with an orbital period of a century or more (from the codex -"circulating, in whispers, for centuries") so from Kepler's Law the orbital radius would be 20.76AU/ 10,359ls; 200 years->32.95 AU/ 16,442ls; 300years->43.183 AU/ 21,547ls.

Have flown out from the star past planet 2, honking and dropping at the above distances then carried on...now at 127kls from the star, nothing to report!

 

[Rochester]

The following is an excerpt from the parallel prose edition of Paradise Lost that Michael Brookes held up as one of his preferred interpretations of the text via his blog. I think if we’re going to split hairs, best first look to one of the potential sources and assess from this, what FD might have made of it?

I believe it’s pretty straightforward, the parallel prose version is spot on in my opinion in this instance, if Brookes were to look for any simpler explanation, I don’t think it gets any clearer:

‘I know you, stranger: You are that great leading angel who not long ago made war against the king of heaven, though now cast down. I saw and heard, for such a mighty host could not flee in silence through my frightened depths, Ruin followed ruin, rout succeeded rout, and confusion itself was confounded.

The victorious armies poured out by the millions from heaven's gate in hot pursuit. But this is my place; I shall hold it if I can, defending what little is left after the encroachments of your civil wars, which compromised the scepter of old Night.

First hell your dungeon was stretched out wide, down below. And now lately the heavens and the earth, another world, have been hung above my realm, attached by a golden chain to the side of heaven from whence your legions fell. If that is where your journey leads, you have not far to go.’

‘Thus Satan skimmed easily acros the calmer waves, and like a weather-beaten vessel he made for the harbour, with shrouds and tackle torn. Or in the emptier spaces not unlike air, he extended unflapping wings, hovering, and cast a leisurely gaze far off at heaven, the home of God and once his native land, stretched out at such a distance that no one could tell if its walls were straight or curved, though adorned with opal towers and battlements studded with living sapphires.

And there nearby, hanging from a golden chain, appeared this pendant world, as big as a star that seems a point beside the moon.

That is where the cursed Fiend was headed at that cursed hour, fully freighted with malice and revenge.’

PARADISE LOST by JOHN Milton
Parallel Prose Edition - Dennis Danielson.

So our pendant world, from the text is literally hanging from a chain from the wall of heaven (most likely the East wall), it is described from Satans vantage point as in comparison to the enormity of Empyrean, as if like a distant star.

When Satan eventually alights upon the exterior surface of that globe, it’s a featureless expanse; eventually he finds the stairs that lead upwards to the gate of heaven.

This was at the apex of the globe, he stands upon that first step and looks down through an expansive opening and sees all the stars and constellations deep within, a pendant universe, bigger on the inside.

It is not by the moon, nor as small as the moon nor our Sun nor system, it is a metaphor for a very distant but huge object, that contains the entire universe, but it is tiny in comparison to the Empyrean.

If the Empyrean is replicated in game, as a large body of systems, then surely paradise / Raxxla is likewise held within a singular system albeit separate and just below it and above Chaos?

Source: https://youtu.be/pvnKXOGYKM8?si=L-k91P1rkdHK8Vh1

 

[Han_Zen]

The following is an excerpt from the parallel prose edition of Paradise Lost that Michael Brookes held up as one of his preferred interpretations of the text via his blog. I think if you’re going to split hairs, best first look to one of the potential sources and assess from this, what FD might have made of it?

I believe it’s pretty straightforward, the parallel prose version is spot on in my opinion in this instance, if Brookes were to look for any simpler explanation, I don’t think it gets any clearer:

‘I know you, stranger: You are that great leading angel who not long ago made war against the king of heaven, though now cast down. I saw and heard, for such a mighty host could not flee in silence through my frightened depths, Ruin followed ruin, rout succeeded rout, and confusion itself was confounded.

The victorious armies poured out by the millions from heaven's gate in hot pursuit. But this is my place; I shall hold it if I can, defending what little is left after the encroachments of your civil wars, which compromised the scepter of old Night.

First hell your dungeon was stretched out wide, down below. And now lately the heavens and the earth, another world, have been hung above my realm, attached by a golden chain to the side of heaven from whence your legions fell. If that is where your journey leads, you have not far to go.’

‘Thus Satan skimmed easily acros the calmer waves, and like a weather-beaten vessel he made for the harbour, with shrouds and tackle torn. Or in the emptier spaces not unlike air, he extended unflapping wings, hovering, and cast a leisurely gaze far off at heaven, the home of God and once his native land, stretched out at such a distance that no one could tell if its walls were straight or curved, though adorned with opal towers and battlements studded with living sapphires.

And there nearby, hanging from a golden chain, appeared this pendant world, as big as a star that seems a point beside the moon.

That is where the cursed Fiend was headed at that cursed hour, fully freighted with malice and revenge.’

PARADISE LOST by JOHN Milton
Parallel Prose Edition - Dennis Danielson.

So our pendant world, from the text is literally hanging from a chain from the wall of heaven (most likely the East wall), it is described from Satans vantage point as in comparison to the enormity of Empyrean, as if like a distant star.

When Satan eventually alights upon the exterior surface of that globe, it’s a featureless expanse; eventually he finds the stairs that lead upwards to the gate of heaven.

This was at the apex of the globe, he stands upon that first step and looks down through an expansive opening and sees all the stars and constellations deep within, a pendant universe, bigger on the inside.

It is not by the moon, nor as small as the moon nor our Sun nor system, it is a metaphor for a very distant but huge object, that contains the entire universe, but it is tiny in comparison to the Empyrean.

If the Empyrean is replicated in game, as a large body of systems, then surely paradise / Raxxla is likewise held within a singular system albeit separate and just below it and above Chaos?

Source: https://youtu.be/pvnKXOGYKM8?si=L-k91P1rkdHK8Vh1

The vantage point is the important factor. Satan is on the opposite side of the gateway, just below the gate to heaven and above the 'north pole' of the universe.
The center of the universe should be earth. It is the center of the Ptolomaic model and of the observable universe.

If we are able to locate the direction to the gate of heaven, then Raxxla should be on that line. It should also be within practical distance from earth, for those who built the portal there.
If portal-travel was the builders only method of hyperspacing, Raxxla would have to be within the Sol system to be practical.
If the builders had similar hypespace ranges we have, Raxxla could be further away, but that would push the distance to the other side of the portal out. You don't build a jump gate 100 ly from your target, if you are jumping 500 ly. If you are jumping to Beagle point or Andromeda, 100 ly is't really a problem.

If what Satan sees from the other side is not earth or Sol the next object that will appear as a dot, is the Milky way. There is nothing between Sol and the entire galaxy that will look like a star, when zooming out from earth.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

@Rochester : depends entirely on how well MB wanted to comply with Milton's prose when setting the location of Raxxla, and how he interpreted things.

Edit: logically, if MB was trying to fully comply with Milton's Paradise Lost, then Paradise (Raxxla) would be somewhere on Earth.

My own hypothesis, derived from all the clues we've been given, is that MB set up the PL cosmology as a general pointer to the border of Alliance space (while also giving us a direct clue in Legacy to look in Alliance space), but I'm not convinced that the Raxxla system is definitely suspended below the floor of the Empyrean region. It's a possibility & since the garden of Eden was on the Earth I investigated some possibilities on/near the line between Sol and Gateway (IMO the most likely "heaven's gate") or Wolf 294 ( which seems to be a better vertical alignment with Sol below the floor of the Empyrean). Gateway is, I think, near the centre of that floor and that ties in with the usual picture of the PL cosmology; but Milton said explicitly that Heaven's Gate was on the East side of the Empyrean.

But when all's said and done the puzzle should be soluble from information given within the game, including the codex. I'm loath to think that MB would rely entirely on knowledge of external sources such as Milton's Paradise Lost when setting the puzzle. I think that's just additional flavour.

 

[Rochester]

Yes it’s difficult to assess how far to take one particular investigation if the author/s have utilised various source material. I agree the Codex ought to point the way.

Much of the metaphorical information is interpretational at best, given the expansive and interchangeable levels of historical references in game.

That data in the codex which can be interpreted, with a certain level of certainty is contrary to the Miltonian hypothesis. Again this is why we challenge our assumptions, what is true and what is not?

There ought therefore be some keystone which advocates a particular location or direction, which we have not yet identified.

Logically I feel it’s tied physically to the book Elite Legacy and the system Artemis. My gut tells me to look below the Lost Realms zone, whereas my mind wants to follow the logic attributed to the Miltonian model!

There is evidently a cross-over of Milton, Holdstock and North mythology. The cosmological model I believe is a combination of all these.

 

[selbie]

As has been established here extensively, MB used Milton's Pendent World idea as a framework for ED's lore. Milton skilfully gives the reader an opportunity to comprehend the unfathomable vastness of the void between Heaven and Hell by combining a visual frame of reference and the very relatable emotional drive of Satan to reach his goal. This also fits nicely with Fernweh - Satan's burning far-pain for a place that he had not seen - at the cosmological 'time' of Milton's quote in the Brookes Tour.

The Brookes Tour Final Destination
If MB wanted the puzzle structure for Raxxla to encapsulate this thematic framework for the vastness of the game's galaxy then, to me, the Brookes Tour beacon text is an overt Raxxla clue with a chunky Miltonesque border around it.

Detail #1 - The name of Tourist Spot 0749 - Surrounded by Wonder.

Michael's wonder. The wonder of this pendent world (universe). The fernweh we feel being stuck on Earth while surrounded by the wondrous far away places portrayed in science fiction. Elite is a game that attempts to satisfy that yearning.​

Detail #2 - Where Michael rests is a matter of rumour.

Key word 'rumour'. The idea of uncertainty - something interpreted rather than objectively known. Most riddles require sorting through various interpretations to find the right puzzle pieces. So it is telling us to make interpretations of this clue to construct our "eyes to see".​

Detail #3 - The restless spirit.

The idea of never being truly satisfied, always driven to seek something. You could apply the Miltonian Satan-perspective framing to this. We may see Michael's world through a similar lens.​

Detail #4 - There was also a new experience to pursue. The next frontier to discover.

Definitely overt but also multi-layered.​

At the surface level it's simply an in-fiction way to reference Michael's work at FDev.​

Then there are the wordings... "was a [singular] new experience to pursue", "Frontier" and "Discover". The past-tense 'was' aspect could mean something to do with Frontier's updated Discovery Scanners from 2018.​

Finally, if we refocus back on Brookes' narrative driving force, I recall Milton's powerful line - “Space may produce new Worlds”. Meaning that the Elite galaxy shall 'produce' this new Raxxla experience we are pursuing.​

Detail #5 - Discussions of Michael's Legacy.

At first glance most people would interpret this to be the legacy of his work he left behind. However, we can't ignore the Elite Legacy novel he wrote as the official companion story. He wrote himself into a cameo role as the mythological Norse-inspired Hammer character. Brookes even sneaks in a direct message to the reader in the codex - "the story's author had cunningly concealed facts about the mysterious locale in his book".​

Detail #6 - A mythological something, stirring wonder, this undefined muth remains elusive.

The word 'mythological' in this case is directing us to "a thing that is of mythology" such as Paradise Lost.​

Stirring wonder is a repeat reference to Wonder described in #1.​

The word Muth appears to be an old word for mouth or opening - so it is easy to see this clue is referencing a mythological place that stirs wonder with an 'mouth' of entry - an entrypoint which was unknown to Satan at the time of his journey across the void of Chaos.​

Detail #7 - The one who knows the way.

If Satan's journey through Chaos is how #6 is framed then, like Satan forging a path to reach the Pendent World, Brookes has forged the path to Raxxla. This is also literally telling us that Brookes' work is a fundamental anchor point for this mystery.​

Detail #8 - This Pendent World.

The crux of the clue, and the objective of Satan's "mischievous revenge". The text that follows after this quote in the Tour is key:​

Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,​

Accurst, and in a cursed hour he hies (hies = go quickly).​

Earlier in Milton's Book 2, Chaos speaks to Satan, saying:

I upon my Frontieres here Keep residence; if all I can will serve, that little which is left so to defend
Encroacht on still through our intestine broiles weakning the Scepter of old Night:
first Hell, your dungeon stretching far and wide beneath; now lately Heaven and Earth, another World Hung over my Realm, link'd in a golden Chain, to that side Heav'n from whence your Legions fell: If that way be your walk, you have not farr; so much the neerer danger; go and speed; havock and spoil and ruin are my gain.

Side Note: The mention of "Frontieres" sparked the thought that this mythology also potentially connects Braben's earlier inspirations and ideas for Elite. The Elite logo's origins have direct parallels to Milton's symbolism, which I detail at the end.

The Codex Clues
With all of this established, we can then assess the codex for clues through this allegorical lens. For example, the Omphalos Rift is described as an "alien artefact" to access "parallel universes". For the sake of this argument, if we strip away the sci-fi interpretations of what this might be then it exposes the allegorical clue telling us what to look for.

Omphalos Rift - it is a central, pivotal connection point between two "worlds". Just like the Pythia oracle divined prophecies (ie. future narrative) through the vapours emanating from a chasm in the rock (aka Rift) from the deceased dragon at the centre of the Earth. An Omphalos was even literally used to [[substitute]] for Rhea's new-born son to save him from being devoured by Cronus.

Alien artefact - Here the author may be pointing outside the narrative world of ED, or outside the in-fiction 'reality' the lore inhabits such as to a narrative device, or something described within a story. For example, a narrative device of Paradise Lost is the reader being shown the cosmos from the perspective of Satan. We are also told about Julia's sole posession being a book - the story of which references an alien dragon.

Parallel universes - an alternate setting to reveal a common truth. Mythology is the timeless example of that. The actions of deities that help explain the cause of something we perceive in our reality.

Edit: Continuing some further assessments...
Tau Ceti - A now 'ancient' human colony formed by people who were portrayed as monsters due to the extinction of the native life. - Cetus being the mythical name of sea monsters, so you could say the colonists 'consumed' the local life. If Tau is the greek number 300, could this mean "300 monsters" ie. colonists?? or perhaps Tau Ceti was the 300th monster (ship) that left Sol? or if the 19th greek letter - the 19th ship to leave Sol?
There is also symbolism for the early colonies spawning revolts against an established power attempting to exert influence over them from afar. Another link to Elite Legacy.

Cora's wild stories - Evokes the imagery of the mythical sea voyages in search of a symbolic treasure. The relationship of Art and Cora is also an "omphalos" connecting Darik and Julia. Art Tornqvist is a character who possesses a ship. Cora seeks it for her treasure-seeking journey, but must ask permission for it. So Art is thus a gatekeeper to that journey, just as Darik was the gatekeeper to Julia's adventures.
Art's name as I had interpreted in the past, is akin to a "Bad" (Art) "Thorned / Troublesome" (þorn) "Room" (Qvist / Kvist) - A PRISON.
It is therefore a strong allegory for Freeholm - a place of confinement, as well as Darik's custodianship of Julia, both sheltering and containing her actions, and connecting the in-fiction allegory of Princess Astrophel's imprisonment.

Ancient myths of Atlantis etc - As established in Detail #2, this is a clue of finding correct interpretation. The common theme being they are all mythical, far away, paradise-like locations, just like the Pendent World is from Satan's perspective.

Unremarkable Moon to a state of cosmic enlightenment - This 'unremarkable' moon being the same symbol Milton uses as a frame of reference for how small and faint the Pendent World appears to Satan after speaking to Chaos. The latter 'cosmic enlightenment' speaking of both the nature of Paradise, and the result of reaching his goal - literally an enlightenment of Satan's understanding of the structure of the cosmos outside his realm.

Students of Raxxla lore - At first this seems like another example of the Satan-perspective framing, however, it may also be referring to Milton's Paradise of Fools where their entire life of "fond hopes of Glorie or fame" is wasted exploring the wrong path. Similarly Milton also uses the moon in this context to dismiss a theory of his time that the moon was the somehow the location of Limbo - ie a vain effort by Ariosto.

The Dark Wheel Turns
A common theme in both the Dark Wheel and Raxxla codex entries is a sense of double meaning, competing theories, resemblances, differing versions, and beliefs based on kernels of truth - ie. legend and allegory.
The codexes also share connections to lore, such as the events of Elite Legacy (Julia, her book, the direct reference to Raxxla, and her father's suspicious murder by shady conspiratorial characters), and the reference to Tau Ceti

Lyta Crane as a 'people's journalist' - means she was likely acting as a citizen journalist who attempted to fact check the various fragments of information about the Dark Wheel. This could be the author's way of saying she is independent of influence from the major powers and thus establishing her knowledge as slightly more authentic. This is further reinforced by the notion of her accusers claiming she's faking evidence for content revenue - indicating she is self-funded.

Some of the more factual elements of the codex are presented to us:

1. TDW station exists at the 8th moon of an 'unnamed' gas giant.​

2. It is a toroid station (likely an Orbis starport type (Auline Enterprise example)).​

3. It is 'dark' or invisible to our perception (for the same reason Dark Matter / Energy is named) - which implies it cannot be discovered passively. In terms of ED gameplay, this means a honk will not suffice. It will need an FSS scan or even DSS. This is assuming it can be directly navigated to without passing the prerequisite initiation testing.​

4. It allegedly contains the 'record and artefacts' which validate the authenticity of the group.​

There are allegedly two avenues to access the group:
Avenue 1: The Meritous Hero - bravery and competence.

TDW initiates a discreet test of courage and skill to pilots. Likely indicating a need for Elite ranking and exceeding certain statistical thresholds - ie. x number of kills, discoveries, trades etc. The 'discreet' wording may mean it is given in a cryptic form, not directly saying what the task is about.​

Avenue 2: The Burdensome Lineage - family heritage (akin to royalty / aristocracy).

Members secretly train their offspring until they are ready to have it revealed to them. Others seek to hide it from their family to shield them from its paranoid and insular members.​

Milton's Book II references 3 classical journeys of courage and skill - 1. the Argonautica; 2. the journey of Io as a cow crossing the Bosporus Strait; and 3. Odysseus threading the needle between Charybdis and "th' other whirlpool" - which we now know as Scylla.

He ceas'd; and Satan staid not to reply, But glad that now his Sea should find a shore, With fresh alacritie and force renew'd, Springs upward like a Pyramid of fire Into the wilde expanse, and through the shock Of fighting Elements, on all sides round Environ'd wins his way; harder beset And more endanger'd, then when Argo pass'd, Through Bosporus betwixt the justling Rocks: Or when Ulysses on the Larbord shunnd Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steard. So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour hee;

Related to this Milton compares Sin's appearance in PL to that of the monster Scylla - human torso and body of serpent with hounds lashing out from her waist.

Before the Gates there sat on either side a formidable shape;
The one seem'd Woman to the waste, and fair, but ended foul in many a scaly fould
Voluminous and vast, a serpent arm'd with mortal sting:
about her middle round a cry of Hell Hounds never ceasing bark'd
With wide Cerberian mouths full loud, and rung a hideous Peal:
yet, when they list, would creep, if aught disturb'd thir noyse, into her woomb, and kennel there, yet there still bark'd and howl'd within unseen.
Farr less abhorrd than these Vex'd Scylla bathing in the Sea that parts Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore:
Nor uglier follow the Night-Hag, when call'd in secret, riding through the Air she comes lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland Witches, while the labouring Moon eclipses at thir charms.

Also from Book II, we learn that Sin and Death are tasked with following Satan to make a path for lost souls:

But hee once past, soon after when man fell, Strange alteration!
Sin and Death amain [ie. pursuing] following his track, such was the will of Heav'n,
Pav'd after him a broad and beat'n way over the dark Abyss, whose boiling Gulf Tamely endur'd a Bridge of wondrous length
From Hell continu'd reaching th' utmost Orbe Of this frail World (our Universe); by which the Spirits perverse With easie intercourse pass to and fro to tempt or punish mortals, except whom God and good Angels guard by special grace.

As an aside, knowing the above Sin/Death figures as guardians of Hells Gate, there is something to consider:
Jaques is an effectively immortal cyberized human and former black ops agent who had participated in the Battle of Hell's Gate - just as Satan encounters Sin / Scylla at Hell's Gate. He then paved a path across the galaxy to allow pilots to travel more freely through his dangerous FSD leap across the void, in a sense paving the way following the path that the PF had laid down (FSD tech, his military cyborg parts etc). Could he represent a hybrid of Sin and Death? A character that had a forced 'sinful' life of killing in the military, and turned into a ghastly hybrid. Some images even portray him with a human upper torso and single support frame below just like Sin is described. Perhaps he is a fallen angel of Satan who has taken a path to redemption.

If the naming of TDW is symbolic of Rota Fortunae, then the clandestine nature of the organisation, along with their supposed power and influence, would mean they attempt to control the fate of humanity - either for altruistic or selfish intentions. The medieval symbolism of Rota Fortunae showed the goddess Fortuna turning the wheel to which kings and other powerful figures are attached. So perhaps this is how TDW see themselves holding true influence over powerful figures within the Pilots Federation and the major powers. It also fits with the idea of Satan's goal to infiltrate humanity and manipulate God's creation.

A Window to Raxxla
I believe that Princess Astrophel is a likely parallel to Julia's children's book - the only known childrens book in lore and, as part of the Legacy novel, likely a direct clue by MB. If the description of the story can be extended, the princess was likely imprisoned by said dragon, so then the imagery of 'spiralling stars' could be alluding to the Princesses perspective looking out from her prison cell seeing the stars wheeling around. A rotating station in orbit around a body would create such a cycloid path. Dragons are commonly portrayed as aggressive and hoard their secrets and wealth, ruthlessly guarding it from outsiders - so the character of TDW organisation keeping a person of importance confined within a prison (either physical or ideological) certainly fits this allegory.

EDIT: Here I can see a connection to the two TDW Codex avenues stated above. You have the character of the heroic protagonist with his bravery and skill making a choice to pursue the princess, and you have the princess being burdened with the responsibilities of her royal lineage by symbolically confining her to an alien prison. The alien dragon element to this being an external entity such as Fate, or the shady Satanic figures that control Fate, invading her World and removing free agency.

Julia's only possession was her book, meaning that it probably had a profound value to her. Perhaps she felt she had something in common with the princess being trapped in Freeholm - also a political prison - yearning for far away places but burdened with the cards that were dealt to her. Her father Darik, if he was somehow involved with the Dark Wheel enclave, may have gone to great lengths to conceal his involvement from her. Perhaps leading to him being silenced by 'the dragon'.

"As senior pilot, Julia was present. Darik had been resistant to her joining Freeholm’s modest defence force at first. She loved flying as much as he did and her skills couldn’t be ignored so he’d eventually given in. In truth he’d cultivated her skill at flying at a young age, so he only had himself to blame."

Darik's father Rex is also the head of an assassin family:

"That was true. He had instructed his children to not speak to the son (Darik) who’d left some twenty years ago now. By the code they lived by, the expected decision would have been to kill Darik. It would probably have been a sensible decision as well. For the first time in his life, Rex had balked at issuing the kill order. So soon after the death of his wife, he lacked the resolve to kill his son as well."

Darik obtained Julia's book via the black market, which implies it was seen as 'dangerous' by authorities. Any oppressive power will attempt to stifle opportunities for free agency and thought. If this is the same book the codex is referring to, then naturally the powers within the Dark Wheel would attempt to erase this alleged source of Raxxla clues.

The Griffin Guardian
Going back to the alien dragon device MB has employed, this is where it might connect some related dots to Braben's ideas for Elite / Raxxla.

It has been verified that the winged creature of Elite and thus the PF's logo was a hybrid idea between Braben and the artist Philip Castle. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/what-is-the-elite-logo.5724/
As Braben states in the early AMA:

"The Elite logo took a while to get right. The inspiration was a mix of pilot's wings and logo. The Griffin thing was Philip Castle's idea."​

It is unknown whether the choice of Griffin was derived from Braben or only Castle, or exactly the inspiration for choosing such a creature. However, given the context of Brookes' narrative framework, it is easy to see where the seed of this idea germinated from, either via Brookes, Braben's, or Castle's own understanding of mythology.

Once again in Paradise Lost Book 2, Satan is specifically compared to a Griffin:

"At last his sail-broad vannes (wings) he spreads for flight, and in the surging smoak
Uplifted spurns the ground, thence many a league as in a cloudy chair ascending rides audacious, but that seat soon failing, meets a vast vacuitie:
all unawares fluttring his pennons (feathers / wings) vain plumb down he drops ten thousand fathom deep as when a Gryfon through the wilderness with winged course ore Hill or moarie dale, pursues the Arimaspian, who by stelth had from his wakeful custody purloind the guarded gold:
So eagerly the fiend ore bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, with head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way, and swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flyes..."

The Armaspians were a mythical one-eyed race who, like dwarves, possessed a wealth of gold and so were in a constant tug of war with the griffins.

EDIT: There is also the description of the wanderings of Io in Prometheus Unbound, noting that she is "not to pass through the north, among the Arimaspi and griffins, but southward." Could this give a directionality to a potential investigation? Something leading in the direction of Galactic South?​

From Karen L. Edwards: Milton and the Natural World: Science and Poetry in Paradise Lost - (pp. 105-107) she talks about how Milton uses the griffin simile to portray a being who fundamentally removes the value of things through its obsessive nature.

"Omitted from Raphael's list of animals brought into being at the Creation, the griffin belongs wholly to Chaos; it "exists" only in the realm of the uncreated, a mass of fragments stuck uncouthly together. By equating the composite with that which is without true form, the simile effectively exposes the griffin as materially or bodily non-existent. In other words, the very proof of the griffin's fictiveness — its monstrous and hence unreal confusion of parts — is the basis of the simile."

"...the symbolic use to which Milton puts the griffin signals his political disagreement with the conservative Browne. What Browne views with complacency — that the griffin, "borne in the Coat-armes of many noble Families of Europe...doth well make out the properties of a Guardian, or any person entrusted" — Milton regards with grim irony. What is called "guardianship" may be instead the rapacious guarding of material self-interest. (In the case of noble families, such material is all too often walled up in mighty palaces, "builded strong and steepe / On a high Rock, [the] better [their] thefts to keepe.") As the griffin pursues his gold, Satan pursues his way, gold and way having been lost through a notable failure of "wakeful custody," for neither the griffin nor Satan knows what is truly worth guarding. Griffin and fiend are audacious and fierce, but only in guarding their own good, which is to misconstrue the good. They are greedy guardians, an oxymoron in the economy of the spirit, where avarice is loss."

"...There is a more apposite reference to the griffin in History of Britain. Milton writes there of a human griffin, "Griffin Prince of South Wales," who, guilty of "frequent inrodes and robberies" and proficient at seizing "much booty" and "great spoils," is a rapacious thief whom "no bonds of faith could restrain." The species of activity at which all griffins seem to excel — hoarding, collecting, cementing, guarding — is precisely what renders the griffin and the noble families it represents unfit to be guardians. The simile in book II pointedly undermines Browne's suggestions about the griffin's symbolic role, implying that value does not inhere naturally in things, not even in gold.

Ancient symbol of devotion to other gods, the gold hoarded by the griffin has no absolute value, the simile implies. Value is culturally produced or manufactured. Hence gold in the passage is implicitly reduced to its unrefined, un-formed, original state, "ore." The sound is repeated insistently in the passage: in course and moarie, in the two contractions of over, and in the reiterated conjunction or in lines 948—50. Value derives, the simile implies, from imposing shape on the unformed and fragmented material of the world, and that which can be shaped can be reshaped. Milton thus turns the skepticism of the new philosophy to new political uses. With its re-thinking of what had been held to be scientific truth, experimentalism had begun to demonstrate that even the "natural" world is a product of human construing. So too, then, the political world: that which is construed can be reconstrued. The principle is suggested even more pointedly in the comparison of Satan to a leviathan in book I, where the superstitious fictions of natural history are equated with the political fictions of the state, and the value that is construed is claimed to be natural."

To me these appear to form a strong analogy for many aspects of Elite. The griffin as the symbol of fiercely guarded political and material power, thus reducing it to a meaningless stewardship just like the Pilots Federation is often politically portrayed. The griffin / Satan / dragon symbolism between the codex, tour, and official lore (ie. Julia's book). The alien dragon (griffin) seeking to control a powerful figure, just as the Dark Wheel allegedly seeks to control the fate of human civilisation. Even potentially the Thargoids as fallen angels, or as souls traversing the bridge between worlds (witchspace) tempting and punishing mortals, and the Guardians who fell from grace, failing in their attempts at "wakeful custody" - their primal hunter nature making them fundamentally unfit to be guardians.

Just as the heroes in mythology threaded a treacherous path to reach their destination, it is apparent our challenge is to symbolically traverse a Dangerous path to reach this "wondrous undefined muth".