The lover's woe
Dictionary definition of “woe”: noun, big problems or troubles:

  • “The country has been beset by economic woes for the past decade.”
  • “Unusually poor harvests have added to the country's woes.”

If Odysseus is the subject of this part of the toast then Penelope would be the lover; with respect to her problems (in addition to her husband’s non-return) it would point to the problem of the suitors and her attempts to avoiding marriage whilst the great wealth of Odysseus is being consumed. Further to this the suitors plotted to kill Odysseus should he return and also his son Telemachus on his return from searching for his father during his trip to Pylos and Sparta which Penelope feared and discusses with Eurymachus.
 
The yearning of our vagabond hearts

Odysseus is described in some translations as a “vagabond” or “beggar” when Athene transforms him in order to ensure he is not killed on his way home (BkXIII:416-440 Athene disguises Odysseus).

“Resourceful Odysseus replied: “Why did you not inform him, then, you whose mind is all-knowing? Did you want him too to suffer dangers, wandering the restless waves while others consumed his inheritance?”

Then Athene, of the flashing eyes, answered: “Don’t trouble your heart too greatly over him. I guided him, so he would win fame for travelling there, and he has no problems, sitting at ease in Menelaus’ palace, with all the luxuries he needs before him. Yes, those young men in their black ship wait to ambush him, keen to murder him before he reaches home, but that will not happen I think. The earth will close over those Suitors who steal your possessions, long before then.”

So saying, Athene touched him with her wand. She wrinkled the smooth skin on his supple limbs, and thinned the fine hair on his scalp, and gave him the body of an old man. She dimmed the beauty of his eyes, and dressed him differently, in a wretched cloak and ragged tunic, of tattered filthy smoke-grimed cloth. Then she flung a large deerskin, devoid of hair, over his shoulders, and handed him a staff, and a sorry-looking leather pouch, punctured here and there, hanging from a piece of braided cord.

When the two of them had made their mutual plans, they parted: and the goddess left for glorious Lacedaemon, to bring back Odysseus’ son.”




Odysseus yearning throughout the story is clearly to return home to Penelope, Telemachus and Ithica and reclaim his rightful place as the leader of Ithica.

Issues with the toast: “Vagabond Hearts” not “Vagabond’s heart”, would suggest the player’s hearts as all Elite players are essentially travelers in space and start as poor commanders of the smallest ship and looking to get home (or to Raxxla?).
 
The deepest void (Butes/Boötes)
Boötes void

At nearly 330 million light-years in diameter (approximately 0.27% of the diameter of the observable Universe), or nearly 236,000 Mpc3 in volume, the Boötes void is the largest-known void in the Universe, and is referred to as a supervoid. Its discovery was reported by Robert Kirshner et al. (1981) as part of a survey of galactic redshifts. The center of the Boötes void is approximately 700 million light-years from Earth.

“Another myth that features the sirens is that of Jason and the Argonauts. Like Odysseus, Jason and his men also had to sail past the siren’s island. Fortunately for the Argonauts, they had Orpheus, the legendary musician, with them. As the sirens began to sing their song, in the hopes of seducing the Argonauts, Orpheus played a tune on his lyre. The music overpowered the voices of the sirens, and the Argonauts were able to sail safely past the island. Only one Argonaut, Butes, was enchanted, and he jumped out of the ship in order to swim to them. Fortunately for him, he was saved by Aphrodite, who took him from the sea, and placed him in Lilybaeum.”

There are 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy as known to the ancients... Butes is Bootes.... ;-)
 
The siren of the deepest void!

Odysseus must also encounter the Sirens in order to get home and is told how to avoid the fate of the Siren’s calls by Circe by using beeswax to block the ears of his sailors. She advises he can hear the song himself if he is bound to the mast and instructs his crew to ignore his commands to release him until they have passed danger of the siren’s.
 
The mother of galaxies!

Gaia – Mother of Galaxies
In Greek mythology, Gaia is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (the sky), from whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods), the Cyclopes, and the Giants; of Pontus (the sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Earth is the centre of the universe, the underworld and the sky are the sum total of the known universe.

At the time of writing of the Odyssey astronomy followed the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system) which is a description of the Universe where the Earth is at the center. Under the geocentric model, the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets all orbited Earth.
 
To the jewel that burns on the brow - Sirius
Sirius, also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, is the brightest star in Earth's night sky. The name means "glowing" in Greek — a fitting description, as only a few planets, the full moon and the International Space Station outshine this star. Because Sirius is so bright, it was well-known to the ancients.

The Ancient Greeks thought that Sirius's emanations could affect dogs adversely, making them behave abnormally during the "dog days", the hottest days of the summer. The excessive panting of dogs in hot weather was thought to place them at risk of desiccation and disease. In extreme cases, a foaming dog might have rabies, which could infect and kill humans they had bitten. Homer, in the Iliad, describes the approach of Achilles toward Troy in these words:

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky
On summer nights, star of stars,
Orion's Dog they call it, brightest
Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat
And fevers to suffering humanity.

If Gaia is the mother, then Sirius is the jewel that burns on the brow being the brightest...
 
To the whisperer in witchspace
If this is indeed Thargoids then it's points to Pleiades

The Pleiades are among the first stars mentioned in literature, appearing in Chinese annals of about 2350 BC. The earliest European references are somewhat later, in a poem by Hesiod in about 1000 BC and in Homer's Odyssey and Iliad.
 
and if you put it all together you'll be most likely none the wiser.... ;-)

but here's my go....
  1. To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies! - From Earth to Sirius
  2. To the whisperer in witchspace, the siren of the deepest void! - To Pleiades to Boötes
  3. The parent's grief, the lover's woe, and the yearning of our vagabond hearts. - Anticlea (Prism System) to Penelope (no reference in Gal Map… but Arcadia from Astrophel and Stella? - see below) and to Ithaca

Astrophel and Stella

Some have suggested that the love represented in the sequence may be a literal one as Sidney evidently connects Astrophil to himself and Stella to Lady Penelope Devereux, afterward Lady Rich. Sidney and Lady Penelope had been betrothed when the latter was a child. For some reason the match was broken off, and Lady Penelope married Lord Rich, with whom she lived for a while most unhappily. She is thought to be the Penelope Rich, the wife of Robert Rich, 3rd Baronet. Payne and Hunter suggest that modern criticism, though not explicitly rejecting this connection, leans more towards the viewpoint that writers happily create a poetic persona, artificial and distinct from themselves.

The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, also known simply as the Arcadia, is a long prose pastoral romance by Sir Philip Sidney written towards the end of the 16th century. Having finished one version of his text, Sidney later significantly expanded and revised his work. Scholars today often refer to these two major versions as the Old Arcadia and the New Arcadia. The Arcadia is Sidney's most ambitious literary work by far, and as significant in its own way as his sonnets.


To Raxxla!

Just a thought... :)
 
Fantastic work @Emperor . The first time in a long while I have read a series of posts and though "could be onto something here"

Well it's not all correct and not quite worked out but I thought as Jorki was bored and other's might correct some of the mistakes/missing bits it was worth putting my thoughts out there...

I'm not the first to link it to Greek mythology or the Odyssey, many have however with the next chapter name it is "a little bit obvious" and I thought it was time I should actually look at Homer's work in more detail.... and there are links to Homer's work all over the place (Thargoid names, generations ships, where the Thargoids first appeared, etc, etc).

Other constellations in the Odyssey are worth looking at and trying to fit with some of the toast, and I don't see too much linking to the Iliad (possibly that's viewed as the Thargoid's first war and this is the 2nd part).

And above all there's one thing linking it all to the Odyssey and then working out what it means....

But I bet some people will be off to Ithaca to check that system out... ;-)
 
Well it's not all correct and not quite worked out but I thought as Jorki was bored and other's might correct some of the mistakes/missing bits it was worth putting my thoughts out there...

I'm not the first to link it to Greek mythology or the Odyssey, many have however with the next chapter name it is "a little bit obvious" and I thought it was time I should actually look at Homer's work in more detail.... and there are links to Homer's work all over the place (Thargoid names, generations ships, where the Thargoids first appeared, etc, etc).

Other constellations in the Odyssey are worth looking at and trying to fit with some of the toast, and I don't see too much linking to the Iliad (possibly that's viewed as the Thargoid's first war and this is the 2nd part).

And above all there's one thing linking it all to the Odyssey and then working out what it means....

But I bet some people will be off to Ithaca to check that system out... ;-)
There is a book called ‘Islands in the Sky’, that covers the astronomy of Homers Odyssey. I’ve only read the parts that are online, but it’s quite interesting. It matches the islands Odyssevs vissits, to stars in the sky.

 
There is a book called ‘Islands in the Sky’, that covers the astronomy of Homers Odyssey. I’ve only read the parts that are online, but it’s quite interesting. It matches the islands Odyssevs vissits, to stars in the sky.


very interesting.... a Penelope reference!

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The mother of galaxies!

Gaia – Mother of Galaxies
In Greek mythology, Gaia is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (the sky), from whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods), the Cyclopes, and the Giants; of Pontus (the sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Earth is the centre of the universe, the underworld and the sky are the sum total of the known universe.

At the time of writing of the Odyssey astronomy followed the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system) which is a description of the Universe where the Earth is at the center. Under the geocentric model, the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets all orbited Earth.

I guess if i were to pick a mythological link to Mother of Galaxies these days it would be Rhea (Daughter of Gaia)

Rhea is the Mother of the Gods... The myth of how she saved baby Zeus from being swallowed by Cronos incorporates both the Omphalos as well as the Galaxy.
Rhea wraps a stone in swaddling clothes and pretends to give it milk ... it spills and becomes the Milky Way... from mothers milk (Galaxias being Ancient Greek for Milk).
The stone Rhea used is apparently often described as the Omphalos stone that became the "navel of the world".

As to the Jewel on the brow... I got nothing .. I suppose it could be the Omphalos itself?
 
Ever wonder why Ishtar, Cybele, Rhea, and other aspects of the Great Goddess ride lions?

The Pythia is Virgo!


Linking this back to my previous ramblings...


As well as here:

 

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I guess if i were to pick a mythological link to Mother of Galaxies these days it would be Rhea (Daughter of Gaia)

Rhea is the Mother of the Gods... The myth of how she saved baby Zeus from being swallowed by Cronos incorporates both the Omphalos as well as the Galaxy.
Rhea wraps a stone in swaddling clothes and pretends to give it milk ... it spills and becomes the Milky Way... from mothers milk (Galaxias being Ancient Greek for Milk).
The stone Rhea used is apparently often described as the Omphalos stone that became the "navel of the world".

As to the Jewel on the brow... I got nothing .. I suppose it could be the Omphalos itself?

Yes I considered that one too! :)

Got stuck on the jewel too... and settled on Gaia as the mother of galaxies as it starts from Earth as the birth place of humanity, the geocentric model of the universe at the time and also linked in with Sirius nicely in the Odyseey being the brightest star in the sky at the time (with it's relevance to Elite and expansion of humanity across the galaxy with hyper-drive technology).

I also personally think the "Toast of the Dark Wheel" takes you to their base as part 1 of the mystery and then there's the Raxxla codex which would need decrypting for part 2... for the "To Raxxla" bit...

Not to say Gaia is correct, just seemed to fit nicely and Rhea could be in the next part as "Raxxla is said to hold an alien artefact called the Omphalos Rift"
 
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