The Quest To Find Raxxla
- Thread starter Macros Black
- Start date
Sadly, no further clues could be extracted from the missions. Although the black box salvage gave an audio track, and after hours fiddling with Audiosy?, I managed to get audible audio, but again nothing that could give me other leads.
The Elite missions themselves seems to have stopped, it's been a very long time since I've seen them last, so I think they've been pulled.
Thats a shame...
Not sure where we are at with this mystery at this point, I'm out of ideas...
May need another look at the list of clues we have..
Not sure where we are at with this mystery at this point, I'm out of ideas...
May need another look at the list of clues we have..
I've been tinfoiled hatting with Raxxla a bit lately:
There's a few missions given out by the Dark Wheel from Shinrarta Dezra. These missions reference: A place that isn't a place and 'A Door that is also a Key'
A place that isn't a place often refers to Home is where the heart is, or simply 'Home'
A door that is also a Key, i figured might be a keystone.
As it happens there's a keystone in astronomy in the Hercules Sign (which lorewise is related to the tale of Dionysus):
Location of the KeyStone: 67 Pi Herculis, Eta Herculis, Zeta Herculis, 58 Epsilon Herculis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(constellation)
when the map is locked on earth and turned at the right angle, you get the keystone image (obviously)
So far trying to find a bright star inside the keystone has been problematic, because of its size and apparent distance between stars.
There are some stellar anomalies when you use the Keystone as a view through. Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's a start to the right point.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/351786-Chasing-Raxxla?p=5507740#post5507740
There's a few missions given out by the Dark Wheel from Shinrarta Dezra. These missions reference: A place that isn't a place and 'A Door that is also a Key'
A place that isn't a place often refers to Home is where the heart is, or simply 'Home'
A door that is also a Key, i figured might be a keystone.
As it happens there's a keystone in astronomy in the Hercules Sign (which lorewise is related to the tale of Dionysus):
Location of the KeyStone: 67 Pi Herculis, Eta Herculis, Zeta Herculis, 58 Epsilon Herculis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(constellation)
when the map is locked on earth and turned at the right angle, you get the keystone image (obviously)
So far trying to find a bright star inside the keystone has been problematic, because of its size and apparent distance between stars.
There are some stellar anomalies when you use the Keystone as a view through. Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's a start to the right point.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/351786-Chasing-Raxxla?p=5507740#post5507740
Last edited:
A new lead! Good job! Even if it turns out not to be right, it has to be followed. Hopefully I will be able to help soon enough...
knowing FD's fetish with (greek) Mythology, this could be a good lead. I will add it to my list of places to search, right after the seven sisters. There is more going on in the Pleiades, I don't think we have discovered it all yet.
Rafe Zetter's remark that Raxxla, if it exists, is in another galaxy got me to thinking recently. How far would you have to travel to reach another galaxy? It turns out to be not that far at all.
The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is only 25,000ly from Sol and would be a breeze to reach since it has actually merged with the Milky Way.
If we narrow down the search for Raxxla to this region of space then instead of searching from among 500 billion candidates ... we've narrowed it down to just 1 billion.
The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is only 25,000ly from Sol and would be a breeze to reach since it has actually merged with the Milky Way.
If we narrow down the search for Raxxla to this region of space then instead of searching from among 500 billion candidates ... we've narrowed it down to just 1 billion.
Last edited:
Will be travelling the edge of the galaxy post 2.4; will make sure to look for galaxy shortcuts. Didn't see any whilst at Star One though.
Hopefully someone can put me straight - to get these missions do you need 'Elite Combat Rank' or triple Elite (Combat, Trade, Exploration) rank? Or just Founders world permit?
I have founders world permit, I am Elite Trader and Explorer but not combat. I am allied with the dark wheel but these missions never drop for me. Are they still in game or do I need the Combat rank as well?
If I do need elite combat I guess I will be grinding CNB's ! Thanks for your help.
I have founders world permit, I am Elite Trader and Explorer but not combat. I am allied with the dark wheel but these missions never drop for me. Are they still in game or do I need the Combat rank as well?
If I do need elite combat I guess I will be grinding CNB's ! Thanks for your help.
Haven't seen these missions in a very long time.
And FDev haven't replied with to acknowledge there's a bug or to say "working as intended"... so should we assume that they only become available through other means? E.g. Certain level of faction rep needed? Do these missions now appear as inbox messages when triggered by some in-game event, e.g. USS?
Currently I'm too far away from the bubble to test any of these theories.
To my knowledge, the CMa Overdensity is heavily disputed. In recent years theories have shifted towards a stream of stars that wraps around the Milky Way multiple times, called the Monoceros Ring. However, current theories hold that the ring-like structure (and three other structures) are simply parts of the tidal stream of the spiral arms in a previously unmeasured density. The theory behind this is called the Corrugated Galaxy.
So the CMa Overdensity is far from certain and it's even more uncertain if the structures in the CMa constellation are of extra-galactic origin.
The Children of Raxxla have conducted a special Monoceros Mission in June 3303 to survey parts of the overdensity's area and data is still being analyzed. However, as of now, no oddities or unusual concentrations of anomalous stars have been found yet.
Last edited:
Maybe I've missed something here, but I don't think we can travel beyond the Milky Way in the game ... yet.
A guide to what we know and what we think we know.
Raxxla.
To some it is a mystery. To others a mere folly.
What is it, where is it and why does it even matter?
When it comes to Raxxla separating fact from fiction is extremely difficult. Almost all of what we know about this mysterious place (if it is a place) is apocryphal at best ... it is therefore essential to begin with what we know to be true and then work our way from there through the legends before embarking into conjecture.
What do we know? We know that there is an organization known as "The Dark Wheel" which had tasked itself with finding Raxxla. The following quotes from And Here The Wheel by John Harper contain much of what we know about Raxxla and The Dark Wheel:
and
From this source we get no explanation of what Raxxla was or is. Very little context indeed or even confirmation that Raxxla is anything more than a myth.
Raxxla also finds mention in Drew Wagar's Premonition. It is discussed between three characters in the following conversation:
Once again we have very little by way of description and nothing to confirm that Raxxla is anything more then a myth. Finding this mysterious place (if it is a place) with so little to go on seems impossible. 500 billion stars and the only real clue is a single word: RAXXLA.
We must therefore move beyond what we KNOW about Raxxla and step into the realm of possibility.
We now turn our eye towards sources that are not considered canonical: The Dark Wheel novella written by a man named Robert Holdstock. It is here that most of us were first introduced to the word "Raxxla" through Jason Ryder's final words to his son Alex as their ship, the Avolonia, came under attack from a mysterious Cobra Mk III:
Like Alex we the readers are left with no context as to who or what this "Raxxla" is. Is Raxxla the name of the pilot of the Cobra? We are left with a mystery until an old friend of Alex's father, Rafe Zetter, puts the word into context:
Later in the story Rafe adds a little information to what we already know:
This then is all that we know about Raxxla. Anything beyond this is pure conjecture and grasping at theories. Raxxla had it's inception inside the mind of Robert Holdstock. Sadly Holdstock died 2009 so we have no way of asking him what inspired the myth.
...but Holdstock didn't leave us entirely in the dark.
Robert Holdstock, who's writings helped shape much of the Elite universe, happened to write under several various pen names. One of which was "Robert Faulcon" and that name likely shares origins with the Faulcon DeLacy corporation which builds so many of our favorite space ships.
He also wrote under the name "Steven Eisler" and it was under this name that he wrote The Alien World and it is here, years before Elite, that "Raxxla" and "The Dark Wheel" are first introduced to a mass-market audience.
The Oisir-Raxxla are described as an ancient war-like reptillian race bent on conquest. The purpose of this context was to recruit slave labor to help build The Talmore Lens:
This Talmor Lens sounds very similar to the alien construct described by Rafe Zetter as a gateway to other universes. Whether or not Raxxla actually exists remains a mystery. Even if it does ... finding it among the galaxy's 500 billion stars seems like a long shot ... as Luko said, "Only the crazy ones go looking".
Raxxla.
To some it is a mystery. To others a mere folly.
What is it, where is it and why does it even matter?
When it comes to Raxxla separating fact from fiction is extremely difficult. Almost all of what we know about this mysterious place (if it is a place) is apocryphal at best ... it is therefore essential to begin with what we know to be true and then work our way from there through the legends before embarking into conjecture.
What do we know? We know that there is an organization known as "The Dark Wheel" which had tasked itself with finding Raxxla. The following quotes from And Here The Wheel by John Harper contain much of what we know about Raxxla and The Dark Wheel:
The Dark Wheel has been around for centuries, always led by a Ryder, always hunting for Raxxla
Alex Ryder had two sons: Neptune and Oberon. Oberon believed he could find Soontill. Neptune considered anything other than Raxxla to be irrelevant. Arguments ensued and we split from the Dark Wheel. We followed Oberon and formed the Circle of Independent Elite Pilots
Raxxla also finds mention in Drew Wagar's Premonition. It is discussed between three characters in the following conversation:
‘You’ll be telling me Raxxla is real next,’ Tsu scoffed.
Luko shrugged. ‘This I do not know, but I think it is more likely to be real than not. These people, they claimed to know …’
‘Wait,’ Raan couldn’t hold back. ‘Raxxla is a fairy story for children, what you’re talking about is those crazy stories about the Dark Wheel …’
‘Not the same.’ Luko shook his head. ‘Not the same at all. They need no names, no identification. They just are. As for Raxxla, what better way to hide it than make it out to be a myth? Only the crazy ones go looking …’
Luko shrugged. ‘This I do not know, but I think it is more likely to be real than not. These people, they claimed to know …’
‘Wait,’ Raan couldn’t hold back. ‘Raxxla is a fairy story for children, what you’re talking about is those crazy stories about the Dark Wheel …’
‘Not the same.’ Luko shook his head. ‘Not the same at all. They need no names, no identification. They just are. As for Raxxla, what better way to hide it than make it out to be a myth? Only the crazy ones go looking …’
We must therefore move beyond what we KNOW about Raxxla and step into the realm of possibility.
We now turn our eye towards sources that are not considered canonical: The Dark Wheel novella written by a man named Robert Holdstock. It is here that most of us were first introduced to the word "Raxxla" through Jason Ryder's final words to his son Alex as their ship, the Avolonia, came under attack from a mysterious Cobra Mk III:
Father and son faced each other for a last moment, each watching the other through a mist of tears and confusion—
'I don't understand . . .' Alex screamed above the noise of the dying ship, meaning: Who's trying to kill us?
'Raxxla!' Jason said. 'Remember: Raxxla!' Then, as he pushed Alex back into the cramped escape pod, he shouted, 'Remember me, Alex! I wouldn't have wished this on you. Raxxla!'
The escape pod was jettisoned. Alex tumbled. The sleek shape of the Avalonia was above him, and then just white light— White heat. Cold space!
'I don't understand . . .' Alex screamed above the noise of the dying ship, meaning: Who's trying to kill us?
'Raxxla!' Jason said. 'Remember: Raxxla!' Then, as he pushed Alex back into the cramped escape pod, he shouted, 'Remember me, Alex! I wouldn't have wished this on you. Raxxla!'
The escape pod was jettisoned. Alex tumbled. The sleek shape of the Avalonia was above him, and then just white light— White heat. Cold space!
The last thing he said was the word Raxxla. I don't know what that is. An alien, I guess . . .'
Rafe smiled, shaking his head. Suddenly there was a brilliant sparkle in his eyes: Raxxla's no alien, Alex. It's a ghost world. A planet. A legend . . .'
Rafe smiled, shaking his head. Suddenly there was a brilliant sparkle in his eyes: Raxxla's no alien, Alex. It's a ghost world. A planet. A legend . . .'
Later in the story Rafe adds a little information to what we already know:
Raxxla—if it exists—is in another Galaxy; you know the legends.
Your father was chasing the mythical planet Raxxla. Does it exist, or does it not? If it does, then on Raxxla there's an alien construct that's a gateway to other Universes, and all that's in those Universes in the way of bounty, and treasures, and aliens, and life . . .
'Jason Ryder was convinced that Raxxla existed. That's why he trained for, and became a part of, the Dark Wheel, the legend-seekers. I hadn't heard much from him or about him for some time until just before he died, when he told me he'd found evidence for the real existence of Raxxla. He came back from Deep Space to get a proper team together . . . ' Rafe smiled bitterly. 'But just before he was due to go back, he decided to take a safe-worlds holiday jaunt with his son . . . and an assassin was waiting for him.'
'But why?' Alex asked. 'Why kill him for finding Raxxla?'
'Because there are people on Raxxla already. This is only a guess, mind you, but from what happened to Jason I'd say it was close to being right. We've long suspected that a corps of élites lives there, and are exploiting the gateway. They're powerful, twisted men. Powerful enough to hire an assassin to kill the threat to their dominance.'
Your father was chasing the mythical planet Raxxla. Does it exist, or does it not? If it does, then on Raxxla there's an alien construct that's a gateway to other Universes, and all that's in those Universes in the way of bounty, and treasures, and aliens, and life . . .
'Jason Ryder was convinced that Raxxla existed. That's why he trained for, and became a part of, the Dark Wheel, the legend-seekers. I hadn't heard much from him or about him for some time until just before he died, when he told me he'd found evidence for the real existence of Raxxla. He came back from Deep Space to get a proper team together . . . ' Rafe smiled bitterly. 'But just before he was due to go back, he decided to take a safe-worlds holiday jaunt with his son . . . and an assassin was waiting for him.'
'But why?' Alex asked. 'Why kill him for finding Raxxla?'
'Because there are people on Raxxla already. This is only a guess, mind you, but from what happened to Jason I'd say it was close to being right. We've long suspected that a corps of élites lives there, and are exploiting the gateway. They're powerful, twisted men. Powerful enough to hire an assassin to kill the threat to their dominance.'
...but Holdstock didn't leave us entirely in the dark.
Robert Holdstock, who's writings helped shape much of the Elite universe, happened to write under several various pen names. One of which was "Robert Faulcon" and that name likely shares origins with the Faulcon DeLacy corporation which builds so many of our favorite space ships.
He also wrote under the name "Steven Eisler" and it was under this name that he wrote The Alien World and it is here, years before Elite, that "Raxxla" and "The Dark Wheel" are first introduced to a mass-market audience.
The Oisir-Raxxla are described as an ancient war-like reptillian race bent on conquest. The purpose of this context was to recruit slave labor to help build The Talmore Lens:
What was it that drove the Oisir-Raxxla to systematically enslave whole galaxies, however bloodlessly? They wanted to build Talmor Lenses. They wanted to enslave time itself. At a time when the Human race had not yet evolved beyond the tiny, lemur-like ancestor that lived on the African plains, the Oisir-Raxxla were still a peace-loving, rather naive race, who had journeyed beyond their own galaxy by just a few hundred light years, and had established primarily friendly contact with those alien races that they had encountered. Planetfall on the world we know as Jodethum changed the destiny of the Oisir-Raxxla totally.
Even then Jodethum was a dead world, a ruined place, covered with the scars of war and the remnants of cities that had once spanned its continents. For thousands of years the Oisir-Raxxla explored the vast caverns. the sky-high structures, the orbiting satellite cities, their interiors preserved in a state of dust-free mummification. They learned much of the creatures that had lived here and had ruled the Universe so many millions of years before. They learned secrets that led to the development of what we would call the warp drive, the space mechanism which allows the almost instantaneous traversing of vast distances of space. They discovered an ancient wisdom that had never been applied by the elf-like inhabitants of Jodethum. It was the secret not just of stabilizing time, but of moving through time, of controlling time in a way beyond even the power of the great Gestalt on Hiiraldion. Humankind had felt that they were close to discovering the principle, for occasionally the warp drive would fail and ships would pass into the distant past or future, but we could not control the effect finely enough for it to be of any use. To protect this mind-boggling secret, one of the greatest races that had ever walked the star fields had waged civil war and ultimately destroyed itself.
It took 40 generations for the Oisir-Raxxla to decipher the coded formulae and find what they must do to bring time under their control; and the answer was daunting. It involved the building of lenses and stabilizers not just across their own world, but on worlds that spanned the enormity of the Universe itself. A million lense, a million stabilizers, a million power harnesses, a million structures to twist the flow of space, and focus everything on the Saramandara Pearls; and when it was done, time would cease to exist in that globular cluster, and the Oisir-Raxxla would have a haven from the ravages and destructive fingers of time. They would have a place from which they could explore and enjoy all of time, each and every wonder of each and every Universe that had ever been or ever will be.
Even then Jodethum was a dead world, a ruined place, covered with the scars of war and the remnants of cities that had once spanned its continents. For thousands of years the Oisir-Raxxla explored the vast caverns. the sky-high structures, the orbiting satellite cities, their interiors preserved in a state of dust-free mummification. They learned much of the creatures that had lived here and had ruled the Universe so many millions of years before. They learned secrets that led to the development of what we would call the warp drive, the space mechanism which allows the almost instantaneous traversing of vast distances of space. They discovered an ancient wisdom that had never been applied by the elf-like inhabitants of Jodethum. It was the secret not just of stabilizing time, but of moving through time, of controlling time in a way beyond even the power of the great Gestalt on Hiiraldion. Humankind had felt that they were close to discovering the principle, for occasionally the warp drive would fail and ships would pass into the distant past or future, but we could not control the effect finely enough for it to be of any use. To protect this mind-boggling secret, one of the greatest races that had ever walked the star fields had waged civil war and ultimately destroyed itself.
It took 40 generations for the Oisir-Raxxla to decipher the coded formulae and find what they must do to bring time under their control; and the answer was daunting. It involved the building of lenses and stabilizers not just across their own world, but on worlds that spanned the enormity of the Universe itself. A million lense, a million stabilizers, a million power harnesses, a million structures to twist the flow of space, and focus everything on the Saramandara Pearls; and when it was done, time would cease to exist in that globular cluster, and the Oisir-Raxxla would have a haven from the ravages and destructive fingers of time. They would have a place from which they could explore and enjoy all of time, each and every wonder of each and every Universe that had ever been or ever will be.
This Talmor Lens sounds very similar to the alien construct described by Rafe Zetter as a gateway to other universes. Whether or not Raxxla actually exists remains a mystery. Even if it does ... finding it among the galaxy's 500 billion stars seems like a long shot ... as Luko said, "Only the crazy ones go looking".
I still cannot REP you
but an excellent write-up as usual Jaiotu!!!I'll echo what I said earlier:
A few other points that are confirmed:
1) MB has confirmed Raxxla is in-game
2) He and DB know where it is
3) No further clues will be given
Another tidbit of personal theory:
Since Raxxla was supposed to have been reachable ages ago with very early jump-drive tech, I believe it might actually be closer to the bubble than people think. It may be a rogue planet in a star system that for whatever reason doesn't show up with an ADS honk, and needs to be found in a similar fashion to some other discoveries (example: Generation ships). We need a point of origin, and a direction, and then need to fly out tens of thousands of LS until it appears in the NAV panel.
Last edited:
Hidden away somewhere in the Exploration subthread I started a discussion about a possible expedition to locate ancient stars.
As I've said elsewhere ... I have a feeling that Raxxla (if it is a place) is older then the universe itself. There is a class of stars known as "Population III" stars. One of the goals of the James Webb Space Telescope is to find evidence of these stars ... stars who's existence dates back almost to the Big Bang itself. These are massive metal-poor stars with an age nearing 14 billion years.
I believe that Raxxla will be found orbiting a metal rich star that is older than what is possible given current theories regarding the age of the universe and that the "gate" on that world was used to shove Raxxla and its parent star back into the distant past. It's great age would be the result of having traveled through the eons twice.
It is, of course, pure conjecture. A guess. Gut instinct. The quest has to start somewhere.
As I've said elsewhere ... I have a feeling that Raxxla (if it is a place) is older then the universe itself. There is a class of stars known as "Population III" stars. One of the goals of the James Webb Space Telescope is to find evidence of these stars ... stars who's existence dates back almost to the Big Bang itself. These are massive metal-poor stars with an age nearing 14 billion years.
I believe that Raxxla will be found orbiting a metal rich star that is older than what is possible given current theories regarding the age of the universe and that the "gate" on that world was used to shove Raxxla and its parent star back into the distant past. It's great age would be the result of having traveled through the eons twice.
It is, of course, pure conjecture. A guess. Gut instinct. The quest has to start somewhere.
Part of the problem with that is that even the Oldest Known Stars that are in the game(For Example HD 140283) the age of the star is not accurate to real life estimates when I visited it a couple month's back. Few others have the same problem. But I suppose you can happen on a Procedural one that is extremely old beyond the age of the known universe
Last edited:
Yes. There are a few things "wrong" about the Elite: Dangerous galaxy and I've been informed that there was a time when stars older than the universe were fairly prevalent via stellar forge. I've been told that Frontier fixed those anomalies that resulted in some stars being older than 14 billion years so, presumably, if we were to stumble upon a Pop III or older star it would be "legitimate".
I've yet to test this myself. I believe that there are a few stars registered in EDSM that had an age greater then the age of the universe. I'm planning on visiting those to see for myself if Frontier fixed them or not.
I'm not sure how many of you have read Drew Wagar's latest book Elite: Premonition. The following will be a mild spoiler if you haven't.
It would be very nice to hear directly from Drew on this particular point so we can know for a fact if the intention of Premonition was to basically erase these missions (and any clues from their content) from memory and "reset" the Raxxla mystery in some way
It is indicated within Premonition that The Dark Wheel faction at Shinrarta Dhezra may not be the actual Dark Wheel faction that can trace its lineage through the Ryder family to the quest of Raxxla. If that is the case then it really throws some ice on many of the notions contained in Macros the Black's initial postings in this thread. The obfuscated in the outer rim missions, SAP 8 containers and all the other Dark Wheel missions may have nothing to do with the quest for Raxxla at all and may amount to nothing more then "Dark Wheel" of the founder's world system attempting to leverage old legends on behalf of their faction ... just like there is no link of continuity between the modern PMF "Galcop" faction and the original Galcop of the first Elite game this "Dark Wheel" faction appears to be "The Dark Wheel" in name only.
You have to remember that the Dark Wheel are the masters of obfuscation. Misdirection and confusion are definitely their modus operandi. Having people question whether they even exist suits their purposes extremely well. The Dark Wheel faction at Shinrarta Dezhra may be official, or it may not be. You need to ask yourselves whether or not it would suit the purposes of the Dark Wheel to have such an outlet and if they did, to what use would they put it?
Cheers,
Drew.