The Quest To Find Raxxla

[CMDR Zulu]

Well I’ve gone mad previously trying to decipher the Winking Cat Story line in the past so I don’t feel as though I’m unbiased enough for it now But I’ll just put out a few of the things mentioned within it to possibly generate thoughts.

I’m going off memory because my usual searchable Galnet Archive is down unfortunately.

First theft: A work of art that watches the viewer and adapts itself to fit the viewer.

2nd: Lal Candromir New Dawn statues stolen from Eotienses.

3rd: Giant holosculpture above Olympus on New Years Eve. (I may be remembering out of order, sorry) The sculpture was supposed to be the federation logo. Do we know what that logo is supposed to represent? I tried looking but came up short.

4th: Rembrandt‘s two circles, Guernica by Picasso, Terra Absentia Zoe Okeke from Mars. Terra Absentia might be intended to mean “missing land“ or Land in absence.

5th: Returned a painting to Alioth named Penance Street.

Now in the 4th theft they specified the centuries these works of art were created as 17th, 20th, and 23rd. Could these centuries be applied in any meaningful way to narrow down a location? Or are they indicating something else.

I’ll have to check what you mentionEd Rochester. Sometimes hints to scents like ammonia for example could indicate a relationship to Thargoids.

There’s got to be a reason why they keep bringing up Winking Cat although that storyline ceased so long ago at least in my mind. I remember the devs of Sea of Thieves would leave little objects in their streams to hint at stuff. I think FDEV having the Winking Cat magazine may be a similar approach.

 

[Rochester]

Always thought it was them being a little 'obvious'.

Source: https://youtu.be/PLRZ0dIvwHY

 

[simulacrae]

Well i feel kind of let down by the so called geologist .... he was calling the barnacle site "the stones" I get the henge reference... but they

What are we missing regarding this Winking Cat stuff. There’s got to be something there.

Something about cats eyes... I suppose

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

Cat's Eye Nebula, NGC 6543 - Hubble Telescope

An astrophotograph by Rudy Pohl on AstroBin

www.astrobin.com

 

[CMDR Zulu]

Cat's Eye Nebula, NGC 6543 - Hubble Telescope

An astrophotograph by Rudy Pohl on AstroBin

www.astrobin.com

I don’t think it would be so simple as pointing directly to the Cat’s Eye Nebula. Maybe but I’m skeptical, and I’m sure it’s been explored 100 times over by now but who knows.

 

[Crimson Echo]

I can see the Winking Cat stuff tying into the current story, but not to the dark wheel or Raxxla. Most of the characters we know of in the dark wheel that could have pulled this off are all dead except possibly one or two (Alessia Verdi or a Ryder).

The Winking Cat heists likely required:
1) Beyond state of the art tech capability
2) Interest in AI dev or control of AI (knows about past 'secret' ai experiments or guardians etc)
3) Sympathy towards the alliance and an need to atone for past actions
4) Some understanding/appreciation of "ancient" art
5) A willingness to work outside the lines
6) Ability to locate 'lost works". (connections to black markets etc)

From this it seems likely that the heists were the result of a state, inra or club backed group. Arissa to my mind is the most likely candidate to be backing the heists. She has the tech. She is aware of the threat of AI as Emperor. She may regret the actions of inra in killing mic turner (which basically no one is supposed to know about in detail except federal and imperical leadership.). She decorates her living spaces with ancient paintings etc per Premonition. She was willing to use unofficial back channels in Premonition, and Salome had a tendency to spark rebellious streaks in people she meets. Having the entire imperial intel apparatus to call upon would make finding/tracking hidden things much easier.

As far as engineers go Jameson(automated systems expert, high level Pilots federation resources), Nemo (Hacking), Tani (mysterious imperial backer, possibly Arissa?,gang ties,power systems) or the Dweller (underground) seem the most likely options, but most any of them (or a sub set) could probably done it given the right motivation. The general connection between engineers and the club muddies this a bit.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

I could see the winking cat being a female descendant of Robert Garry (Ryder), he was a pirate with a heart of gold/folk hero. I could see a whimsical cat burglar art thief coming from that

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I agree, the Channel 4 broadcast, although rather strained did feel overtly heavy, are they so lost for irony that they're employing Raxxla etc as easy source material, or as I fear gearing us up for some future content drop.
<snipped>

I’m missing something here - a reference! WHAT Channel 4 broadcast???

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Well i feel kind of let down by the so called geologist .... he was calling the barnacle site "the stones" I get the henge reference... but

<snipped>

I feel, from reading your & Rochester’s posts, that I seem to be suffering from a timesIip event ... feel I’ve missed something important...
WHAT geologist? What’s the reference here??

 

[Rochester]

"Where" Raxxla "Was"?

About 2:15. Past tense? A clue or filler, was Raxxla an event, is this poor delivery or a deliberate hint, e.g. Winking Cat deals with incidents occurring at different times, artwork from different time periods? Who knows.... smells fishy.

The Winking Cat always perplexed me, probably because it referenced 2 real life paintings by Picasso and Rembrant.

That threw me because Picasso loved Rembrant and replicated many of Rembrants works. The 2 circles is throught to be a reference to Giotto and his perfect 'O' amongst others.

Perfect Circles

www.smithsonianmag.com

Likewise Picasso had a favorite assignment for young artists to have them try and draw a perfect circle....

By drawing a perfect circle, Picasso aligns himself with Giotto as well as Rembrant as an artist who replies to his critics not with words but simply with a pure line.

What has this this to do with the other 'fictional' artists that The Winking Cat steals? My only hypothesis was that the artwork was irrelevant, the Galnet articles either 'fluff' or red herrings, that something else was being referenced, locations and times?

Source: https://youtu.be/52qsTzsvouY

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

Just noticed the first piece of MB's back tattoo just happens to be Adamastor....

Adamastor - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Adamastor is a Greektype mythological character famed by the Portuguese poet Lus de Cames in his epic poem Os Lusadas (first printed in 1572), as a symbol of the forces of nature Portuguese navigators had to overcome during their discoveries. Cames gave his creation a backstory as one of the Gi

alchetron.com

 

[Rochester]

Just noticed the first piece of MB's back tattoo just happens to be Adamastor....


View attachment 193600

View attachment 193599

Adamastor - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Adamastor is a Greektype mythological character famed by the Portuguese poet Lus de Cames in his epic poem Os Lusadas (first printed in 1572), as a symbol of the forces of nature Portuguese navigators had to overcome during their discoveries. Cames gave his creation a backstory as one of the Gi

alchetron.com

Excellent work Cmdr, well spotted, I feel this is the beginning of the journey mapped out on the skin of Brooks.

I would not be surprised if the journey is purely 'creative' and is a narrative we must follow.

 

[Rochester]

Just noticed the first piece of MB's back tattoo just happens to be Adamastor....


View attachment 193600

View attachment 193599

Adamastor - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Adamastor is a Greektype mythological character famed by the Portuguese poet Lus de Cames in his epic poem Os Lusadas (first printed in 1572), as a symbol of the forces of nature Portuguese navigators had to overcome during their discoveries. Cames gave his creation a backstory as one of the Gi

alchetron.com

Excellent work Cmdr, well spotted, I feel this is the beginning of the journey mapped out on the skin of Brooks.

I would not be surprised if the journey is purely 'creative' and is a narrative we must follow.

Back in the Truthsayer interview MBs stated he had nothing to comment 'at that time'; and his continued reluctance to publish, in his own account, his best work to date, and then go commission a book cover and then a back tattoo, only raises my suspicions that MBs has already written Raxxla as the goal of his narrative which will be played out, over time in game.

Much like the megaship Adamastor, I am becoming doubtful that its 'currently' discoverable, yes, that its in game, but only within the context that its yet to be 'actioned'.

We will know for certain if this is the case if following FD next big narrative content drop, part of that correlates with Brooks tattoo, then Raxxla may be at the end of this narrative.

We as questers may hold more cards than others, to make a few narrative jumps, but so far if the Adamastor is the starting point whatever comes next may not actually be discoverable until FD place it in game.

Was the Adamastor, already in game prior to this Halloween event? Is anything which follows already in game?

It would make sense for FD to utilise this method of drip feeding narrative, as its what they do.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Just noticed the first piece of MB's back tattoo just happens to be Adamastor....


View attachment 193600

View attachment 193599

Adamastor - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Adamastor is a Greektype mythological character famed by the Portuguese poet Lus de Cames in his epic poem Os Lusadas (first printed in 1572), as a symbol of the forces of nature Portuguese navigators had to overcome during their discoveries. Cames gave his creation a backstory as one of the Gi

alchetron.com

Mmm, point of order!

Adamastor was supposedly one of the Tritons, but not pukka greek myth as he was invented by a Portuguese poet

Cape of Myths : The story of Adamastor - Cape Point

The Story of Adamastor, the Untamed Titan Fall of the TitansOnce upon a time, so long ago that not even the Greek gods had been born – or so the sages tell us – the Earth and the Sky gave birth to twelve Titans. These were fierce and violent creatures, with bodies as big as

capepoint.co.za

The figure at top left of the tattoo actually seems to be taken from the Triton Gate at the Pena Palace Portugal

Pena National Palace Triton Gate in Sintra, Portugal - Encircle Photos

This evil looking creature that is squatting in a claim shell over a bed of smaller ones is perched above the Triton Gate at the Pena National Palace. Apparently he symbolizes the creation of the world. He makes most castle gargoyles look tame.

www.encirclephotos.com

So unless MB/FD suddenly seem to be improbably mixing up their lore (not an entirely impossible scenario ) I’m still sticking with Triton. I suspect the Adamastor gen ship is the start of a trail, but nothing to do with TDW/Raxxla; I note the hint at smuggling and unauthorised colonisation. More likely this is scenario building leading to the major invasion of thargoids that we’ve been threatened with for the last five years; makes sense since pic of thargoids on the ground was leaked a while ago and I expect this is going to be a significant part of Odyssey release gameplay...
Unless it’s just a Halloween-related Easter egg

Edit: ah, a Frontier livestream, not the actual UK Channel 4 news...thought I’d missed something important. So, the Raxxla/Thargoid/Guardian references at the beginning are just fluff. This is related to the Adamastor gen ship in Chukcan (in the Coalsack? There was nothing there when I went looking for Raxxla there 2 years ago). At 4mins 30 there’s a night sky with stars-time for the pattern matchers out there!

 

[Vetinari]

Was the Adamastor, already in game prior to this Halloween event? Is anything which follows already in game?

No, it was in that mysterious sub-light space between systems that Cmdrs can not get to. Nor were any of the new Coalsack additions, they grew overnight and other stuff was revealed after a huge sandstorm uncovered all the wreckage at the same time.

but DB has said 'What a silly question, of course its in the game'.....but people still take their own POV, it either is or it isnt, its accessible v behind permit, its accessible v its not 'unlocked' yet.

 

[Thatchinho]

So unless MB/FD suddenly seem to be improbably mixing up their lore (not an entirely impossible scenario ) I’m still sticking with Triton. I suspect the Adamastor gen ship is the start of a trail, but nothing to do with TDW/Raxxla; I note the hint at smuggling and unauthorised colonisation. More likely this is scenario building leading to the major invasion of thargoids that we’ve been threatened with for the last five years; makes sense since pic of thargoids on the ground was leaked a while ago and I expect this is going to be a significant part of Odyssey release gameplay...
Unless it’s just a Halloween-related Easter egg

A bit of both maybe, but also a whole load of something else. Not sure how close you've been following it, but the events discovered date to 3111. o7

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

No, it was in that mysterious sub-light space between systems that Cmdrs can not get to. Nor were any of the new Coalsack additions, they grew overnight and other stuff was revealed after a huge sandstorm uncovered all the wreckage at the same time.

but DB has said 'What a silly question, of course its in the game'.....but people still take their own POV, it either is or it isnt, its accessible v behind permit, its accessible v its not 'unlocked' yet.

Or, more likely (to my mind), it’s been in-game and accessible from the outset but it’s so mind bogglingly obvious that nobody has checked it out (like the single in-game BH that contains an fsd jump trigger) or else it’s a Guardian/Thargoid/ human (gen) ship that might be off the ecliptic somewhere, 80,000ls out...

 

[Rochester]

Yes my point entirely, I would not put it past DB and MB to hide Raxxla behind some drip fed narrative.

Its in game but we haven't turned it on yet....

As confirmed above these Halloween elements were not available to us prior to that date.

The creator of the Adamastor first appears in The Lusiads, written by Luís Vaz de Camões in 1572, although there is no direct connection to John Milton, this work has some historical comparisons to Paradise Lost but nothing concrete.

Its easy to see how MBs could have utilised it within his source material yet, discounting the occurrence of recent events, could we have discovered the Adamastor using its appearance in his tattoo?

In the Lusiads, its described as appearing with a dark cloud, and a mouth as dark as coal....

On this alone would our scavenging of the Coal Sac brought us to anything prior to 2020, I doubt it.

My point is, if something or other occurs over the next narrative that matches the next element of the tattoo then its 'probable' this wider narrative was written by MBs, as to if it contains or leads us to Raxxla is still up for discussion, but its interesting none the less.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

A bit of both maybe, but also a whole load of something else. Not sure how close you've been following it, but the events discovered date to 3111. o7

I’ve not been following it at all, stuck searching tediously for jumponium in Shinrarta prior to an extended trip out to Sweols...So are we expecting a reveal on 31 October? (I assume you meant 3110 as there are only 30 days in November ).

 

[Thatchinho]

I’ve not been following it at all, stuck searching tediously for jumponium in Shinrarta prior to an extended trip out to Sweols...So are we expecting a reveal on 31 October? (I assume you meant 3110 as there are only 30 days in November ).

Nope, 3111 as in the year

Edit - just on the off chance that that sounds sarcastic... the events discovered are from the year 3111.