The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Jorki Rasalas]

Mmm, Id expect Freeholm to have an orbital period, and a rotation too, so with a decent launch impulse that cargo container could be anywhere in system!

Artemis is only 69 ly from Sol, so might conceivably easily fit the first rumour report date.

 

[Ataxia]

Rough day. Returning from Jellyfish Nebula, huge permit locked sectors making it hard.

 

[Ataxia]

Hmm.. route to Artemis goes through.

 

[Ataxia]

Hmmm...
Michael Brooks passed. Has anyone looked into the tourest beacons for clues?

Brooks Galactic Tours Beacon | Canonn Research Group

Former Executive Producer of Elite Dangerous, Michael Brooks, passed away in June 2023. His memory lives on in all those who play Elite Dangerous and in memorial beacons added in his honor. In the Artemis system, Tourist Spot 0507 Freeholm VIctory can be found. Added to this beacon is the first...

canonn.science

 

[Rochester]

Hmmm...
Michael Brooks passed. Has anyone looked into the tourest beacons for clues?

Brooks Galactic Tours Beacon | Canonn Research Group

Former Executive Producer of Elite Dangerous, Michael Brooks, passed away in June 2023. His memory lives on in all those who play Elite Dangerous and in memorial beacons added in his honor. In the Artemis system, Tourist Spot 0507 Freeholm VIctory can be found. Added to this beacon is the first...

canonn.science

Well there’s so much these could relate to. I don’t presume to know the definitive interpretation, but considering several hypotheses the following is my logical extrapolation.

Firstly there is the actual tour; does every stage of the tour highlight significant content built by Brookes?

Are these locations all connected or singular, representing a number of story arcs Brookes built?

Personally I’ve come to interpret - through comparison, the first stage likely points - due to its intersection, towards the Lost Realms area, which is filled with systems linked to Robert Holdstock, similarly also referenced in the Raxxla Codex!

The other sections I have no clue about, likely equally so…

Does the text align with anything?

Certainly it could be interpreted…

Firstly we have the reference in the tour to M Brookes book ‘Legacy’ and then the peculiar celtic burial method of its character ‘Hammer’; an obvious portrait of Brookes himself…and likewise another reference to ‘Trinkets of hidden fortune’, that book holds a few direct quotes linked to this quest too, namely it names Raxxla (directly) and it discusses a children’s story…because of these I presume these tours only cement ‘legacy’ further to the quest.

Then in the final memorial we have a direct John Milton Reference tied in with Raxxla.

This quote describes John Miltons model universe, a pendant world, hanging from a golden chain. A jewel which burns, similarly to the text used in the Codex.

In short these tours certainly hold some secrets. Personally I feel it’s at least confirming the existence of Raxxla, it’s also giving us a push into the Lost Realms zone… it’s giving us a physical description of what Raxxla might be, eg similar to John Miltons Paradise.

Namely a solid spherical shell whose apex was described as holding an aperture, a portal, an omphalos rift; in Paradise Lost it led to Heavens gate. In two of Brookes commissioned artworks said gates were very prominent…

This same Eden is talked of in Holdstocks Lost Realms, as a primordial Lost Realm… personally I feel it confirms this hypothesis…

What the rest of the tours relates to is an unknown.

Part of the tour points to Delphi; very likely this could just be a reference to the Thargoid narrative, but does the ’Raxxla’ story continue on directionally towards Delphi or is it visa versa, there is not enough data in my opinion to support this, however there is in reverse…

At Delphi we have the oracle and we also have Donars Oak… an Axis Mundi and a World Tree metaphor,

In Holdstocks Lost Realms and other works, such as Ragthorn, said World Tree concepts sat upon an Axis Mundi. In Celtic mythology which permeates much of Holdstocks work, said location was a doorway to the otherworld… this is the basis of Holdstocks Lost Realms book.

Personally I believe this points us back to the Lost Realms sector, because there is a great World Tree in this sector spanning hundreds of light years, namely ‘Yggdrasil’ which sits directly over the system Axis Mundi… around it various systems exist denoting the concept of an Otherworld…

So personally I believe the tour is a directional clue, as to if each stage relates is an unknown.

Your guesses are as good as any, please roll out some tin-foil and let loose. But in my humble opinion FD has thrown us a bone here.

Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-10193472

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

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Mmm
I think if you’re following a Milton-based theory then you have to analyse both Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained for relevance to the Quest. I think his back tattoo is clearly indicating Lost down the left half and Regained on the right half.

 

[Rochester]

That’s a possibility, but my recollection of ‘Regained’ was that it’s a poor sequel. Unlike the first, Miltons follow up is more religious, there is less focus of cosmology and Satan is more atypical, the story being focused more of the temptation of Christ. The book was not so favourably received during its time.

The first work is far more interesting and its cosmological descriptions of the fall and of the Prime mobile are very detailed, there is none of this in Regained to my knowledge.

I’ve no supporting evidence other than intuition but I suspect Brookes had utilised multiple sources to construct something new, a composite of Milton, Holdstock and Lovecraft. Likely I hypothesis more emphasis might have been upon Holdstock.

Lovecraft, I feel inflected the Thargoids; the Thargod cult narrative and I believe the various Generation ship stories too, I do suspect originally everything tied together, and probably still does, but I also suspect a certain percentage of works were not finalised, due I presume to a narrative redux - evident from the 2016/2017 purge.

It’s true that Regained may be yet another clue, I don’t discount it, but I think it might just be a thread stretched too far… it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole with this. If there’s any in game reference, then there might be scope for it.

Holdstock I now feel is a primary influence. Various works of his do focus upon Celtic / Old English and Norse mythology, I can imagine this had an impact upon the inclusion of Yggdrasil; so I’m now pretty much convinced Raxxla is a Holdstock Easter egg, flavoured with a good pinch of Milton….

 

[Ataxia]

Pondering the section within M Brookes book ‘Legacy’ which FD replicated in the memorial beacons, and which I suspect hold some similarity with Trinkets of Hidden Fortune…

‘For centuries there was a spacer tradition that if a body couldn’t be recovered, then an empty coffin would be filled with small tokens by those attending. The coffin soon filled with patches, glasses and a whole range of small items which provided some connection between the mourner and Hammer’

‘At the suggestion of the engineering chief, a cargo pod was transformed into an oversized coffin. The mementoes all fitted inside and a memorial plaque laser-etched into the surface. Lina wept openly as the pod launched into space’ - Michael Brookes Elite Legacy.

Now the pod was jettisoned in Artemis, but with the proliferation in game of Celtic references, and this being a very unique burial theme, I wonder if this tradition had a particular origin?

It also feels to that such references do pull particular focus upon Legacy. With this in mind, it too falls into likelihood, it may be the same book as the ‘children’s story’ alluded to in the Codex, simply due to the existence of various descriptions:

‘As a girl she’d even dreamed of being the first pilot to discover Raxxla. Her father disapproved of such tales when she’d been a child. Even so, the desire to head into deep space called to her’

‘Her father had told her tales of the old gods of Earth, and in the gloom of her cell they seemed larger than life. Here, sat at a table in the middle of the room with his back to her, was a giant of a man. He looked like one of the old gods from the northern mountains, enjoying a break far from Earth’

‘I had no form of entertainment except for a book, a single book about a young man’s quest to save a princess from an alien dragon. My father must have bought it on the black market. He couldn’t have got it from anywhere else - I still have that book’

‘The Beaumont system was a frontier world far below Achenar‘ - Michael Brookes Elite Legacy.

(*new find for ‘mountains - map’ Beaumont is French for beautiful mountain!)

In the absence of any other book without so many oddities and links to extrapolate from, what references could be pulled from Legacy?

I’ve re-read Legacy, and it does seem evident there’s a link involvement related to Artemis, Hecate and Demeter. An obvious ‘leap’ from there ought to be Persephone… but where from there?

There are a number of systems in the Lost Reslms with links to Persephone, especially a few with bodies, factions and a persistent NPC?

Something is missing here, there’s nothing necessarily in Persephone that’s glaringly obvious, so what else could there be the ‘Legacy’ what else could it hold - or does this collectively just take us the area of the ‘lost realms’.

Currently not in game, but when next available I may just try and grind my way through every system in that area… but I’m sure there’s something more we’re missing which ought to refine our search.

What if thats the point.
Each will have their own journey?
What if it's setup so that no matter what if you stick to 'one history' it will point to the same locstion?

Greek, Norse, Egyptian.... Each has it's own path (to travel) before ending at the (same) destination.

 

[El Saico]

Well there’s so much these could relate to. I don’t presume to know the definitive interpretation, but considering several hypotheses the following is my logical extrapolation.

Firstly there is the actual tour; does every stage of the tour highlight significant content built by Brookes?

Are these locations all connected or singular, representing a number of story arcs Brookes built?

Personally I’ve come to interpret - through comparison, the first stage likely points - due to its intersection, towards the Lost Realms area, which is filled with systems linked to Robert Holdstock, similarly also referenced in the Raxxla Codex!

The other sections I have no clue about, likely equally so…

Does the text align with anything?

Certainly it could be interpreted…

Firstly we have the reference in the tour to M Brookes book ‘Legacy’ and then the peculiar celtic burial method of its character ‘Hammer’; an obvious portrait of Brookes himself…and likewise another reference to ‘Trinkets of hidden fortune’, that book holds a few direct quotes linked to this quest too, namely it names Raxxla (directly) and it discusses a children’s story…because of these I presume these tours only cement ‘legacy’ further to the quest.

Then in the final memorial we have a direct John Milton Reference tied in with Raxxla.

This quote describes John Miltons model universe, a pendant world, hanging from a golden chain. A jewel which burns, similarly to the text used in the Codex.

In short these tours certainly hold some secrets. Personally I feel it’s at least confirming the existence of Raxxla, it’s also giving us a push into the Lost Realms zone… it’s giving us a physical description of what Raxxla might be, eg similar to John Miltons Paradise.

Namely a solid spherical shell whose apex was described as holding an aperture, a portal, an omphalos rift; in Paradise Lost it led to Heavens gate. In two of Brookes commissioned artworks said gates were very prominent…

This same Eden is talked of in Holdstocks Lost Realms, as a primordial Lost Realm… personally I feel it confirms this hypothesis…

What the rest of the tours relates to is an unknown.

Part of the tour points to Delphi; very likely this could just be a reference to the Thargoid narrative, but does the ’Raxxla’ story continue on directionally towards Delphi or is it visa versa, there is not enough data in my opinion to support this, however there is in reverse…

At Delphi we have the oracle and we also have Donars Oak… an Axis Mundi and a World Tree metaphor,

In Holdstocks Lost Realms and other works, such as Ragthorn, said World Tree concepts sat upon an Axis Mundi. In Celtic mythology which permeates much of Holdstocks work, said location was a doorway to the otherworld… this is the basis of Holdstocks Lost Realms book.

Personally I believe this points us back to the Lost Realms sector, because there is a great World Tree in this sector spanning hundreds of light years, namely ‘Yggdrasil’ which sits directly over the system Axis Mundi… around it various systems exist denoting the concept of an Otherworld…

So personally I believe the tour is a directional clue, as to if each stage relates is an unknown.

Your guesses are as good as any, please roll out some tin-foil and let loose. But in my humble opinion FD has thrown us a bone here.

Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-10193472

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

View attachment 368273

The points on Artemis by @Jorki Rasalas do shine some new light on the Brookes tour destinations. Let's revise them:

• Tourist Spot 0507 Freeholm Victory, Artemis - AKA HD 16270, HIP 12110, GJ 1048; right at the border between the Cetus and Fornax constellations, but officially belongs to the former. Seems to be a repurposed beacon, given the numbering.
• Tourist Spot 0746 A Brilliant Pairing, Beta Sculptoris - Part of the Sculptor constellation, as the name implies. Anything of note in the Elite lore?
• Tourist Spot 0747 Life Beyond Earth, Synuefe CI-J b42-3 - The odd one out; only Stellar Forge-generated star in the tour and located in Guardian space.
• Tourist Spot 0748 A Rare Warmth, Taygeta - AKA 19 Tauri, one of the Pleiades. The description of the escape pod filled with tokens to honour Michael strongly reminds me of the Trinkets of Hidden Fortune.
• Tourist Spot 0749 Surrounded by Wonder, PMD2009 48 - Part of the Orion nebula. Explicitly talks about Raxxla, quoting Milton and the pendant world.

 

[Rochester]

The points on Artemis by @Jorki Rasalas do shine some new light on the Brookes tour destinations. Let's revise them:

• Tourist Spot 0507 Freeholm Victory, Artemis - AKA HD 16270, HIP 12110, GJ 1048; right at the border between the Cetus and Fornax constellations, but officially belongs to the former. Seems to be a repurposed beacon, given the numbering.
• Tourist Spot 0746 A Brilliant Pairing, Beta Sculptoris - Part of the Sculptor constellation, as the name implies. Anything of note in the Elite lore?
• Tourist Spot 0747 Life Beyond Earth, Synuefe CI-J b42-3 - The odd one out; only Stellar Forge-generated star in the tour and located in Guardian space.
• Tourist Spot 0748 A Rare Warmth, Taygeta - AKA 19 Tauri, one of the Pleiades. The description of the escape pod filled with tokens to honour Michael strongly reminds me of the Trinkets of Hidden Fortune.
• Tourist Spot 0749 Surrounded by Wonder, PMD2009 48 - Part of the Orion nebula. Explicitly talks about Raxxla, quoting Milton and the pendant world.

Yes I agree, there has to be something of importance with Artemis. I think FD have dropped various hints already.

 

[Han_Zen]

Yes I agree, there has to be something of importance with Artemis. I think FD have dropped various hints already.

View attachment 368298

Artemis is the Moon. She has many names. Some of them are direct personifications of the moon. Other are aspects of the moon.
The list of lunar deities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lunar_deities are probably represented with 30 systems in ED.

These lunar deities are closely related to the triple goddess theme, with it's gateways and guardians.

It's difficult to say if these are just hints to Raxxla being a moon or if the Moon it self is the important factor.

If mythology is important to the Raxxla puzzle, it would be logical that the navigational markers are celestial bodies and constellations that were known in ancient times. We can't be sure that FD has made a logical puzzle though.

 

[Ataxia]

Found a vew videos. This one in particular really gives me some good feels.
There are a few aspects that fit many points in RAXXLA and TDW.
Only about a minute long, after I hit Artemis I will be doing the tour. Hope to have some data points for those smarter then me to look at

Source: https://youtu.be/AKjvD5RnBXY?si=6u72HBQIoWJ1q1H0

 

[Darrack]

Ive been sat in my old Annie at Freeholm for the last few days re reading Legacy (i like to follow Elite storys in game if you get what i mean).
I did spend a lot of time here previously but will have a complete re scan of everything once more over the next few nights.
One thing i did notice in the book was on page 219 and his reference when describing the Majestic Class ship as 'Toroid'.

O7

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Ive been sat in my old Annie at Freeholm for the last few days re reading Legacy (i like to follow Elite storys in game if you get what i mean).
I did spend a lot of time here previously but will have a complete re scan of everything once more over the next few nights.
One thing i did notice in the book was on page 219 and his reference when describing the Majestic Class ship as 'Toroid'.

O7

Toroidal is approximately like a donut. So, with that in mind a toroidal shape would be the ring. This is perhaps why the running assumption has been the Orbis station (that and both Peter Jameson and Jaques were die-hard Feds).

P.S. They're the same character. Peter just fakes his death in approximately 3200. See "..All that Glisters" and the fact Peter's Wreck and Peter's Base is in Facece (first Coriolis). Facece is therefore formerly known as Vetitice. Further suspected aliases are Augustus Brenquith (founder of Pilot's Federation, colonized Human space, and designs Saud Kruger Astrogation Console used in all ships), Raffe Zetter (same injury as Jaques), Timothy Brewer, and Jordan-Blakestow and/or sculptor Amita Gutamaya. Yes, St. Peter Jameson was and still is a very busy soul (though given his estimated age there is the possibility of him being the Guardian AI in humanoid form). For unknown reasons, the first game used the term "humanoid" a lot.

Majestic-Class Interdictor

The Empire has always gone for opulence, style and quality with no expense spared. Their capital ships are not just warships, but also serve as roving embassies or giant yachts for their wealthy and powerful owners. Internally they are luxurious, at least in those parts used for entertaining...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

A short Orbis with solar panels which is closest to the mythical TDW station. A good example is Harvestport in Kappa Formacis.

Orbis

The Orbis Starport evolved from the oldest station design having originated during the early years of the Federation and persisted over the centuries with minimal changes.[1] Actually though, it is newer than the Coriolis design.[2] It is a common sight in both well-established and...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

Edited due to overzealous auto-correct.

 

[Ataxia]

Found this interesting post.

Has some hopfully useful information.

Freelance Report: R̶̳̊ẹ̶̽d̴͈͐ä̵͎c̷̥͐t̶̢̅e̵͉̅d̴̜̂ Discovery

After exploring the original Spaceflight One route that Jasmina Halsey traveled, I've found something very interesting. Discovered or re-discovered, this has been the closest I've gotten to Raxxla. But I'm not there yet. My heart literally sank as the realization arrived. Its more than just...

forums.frontier.co.uk

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Here's some historical context that bears repeating in the context of The Dark Wheel and Raxxla myths.

How many all Elite CMDRs do you think there are and how might this impact access to The Dark Wheel and Raxxla?

Not many and especially in all six categories - especially factoring Elite+ ranks. That said, I have strong suspicions all six aren't necessary - but you still need to be quite capable. History here is one of the major factors. Raxxla mythos is known to exist definitively by 2296, but rumors likely predate this by anywhere from decades to possibly a century or more. Pilot's Federation as an organization doesn't exist until 2805. The first Elite CMDR doesn't really happen until centuries later - approximately in the late 3100s. Combat Elite was the first Elite CMDR ranking.

In other words, Raxxla was likely found by non-Elite people if it has been found in the past 1,013 or more years. The Elite ranking probably has more to do with surviving to find it, surviving the trip there, surviving what you find, surviving whatever guards it. There is also the matter that The Dark Wheel apparently takes very seriously being absolutely the best of the best. Basically, you need some combo of the following skills:

- Combat - ability to just survive in the Elite Universe. Combat and good piloting are pretty much a must.

- Trade - Instincts to thrive on your own and make a living and know where to source various resources. Additionally, there is the matter of piracy.

- Exploration - The galaxy is big. Exploration is fundamentally dangerous especially when your survival depends on your wits and resourcefulness when hundreds to thousands of lightyears from civilization.

- Mercenary - An add-on skillset from combat - survival of dangerous situations when lacking a ship.

- Exo-biology - An add-on skillset from exploration that helps you know when a region is important or somehow unique.

- CQC - Ship-based combat on steroids.

TL;DR: Skills pay the bills . Skills keep you alive. You need to be capable of facing anything and make snap decisions that affect you chances and you have to make them fast. You also need to be able to tell what areas are important and what isn't and survive no matter the conditions.

This doesn't even factor into the equation the very deeply twisted historical narratives that appear to be crafted by a group or multiple groups not exactly interested in the reality of the past being widely available to the general public.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

As a bit of personal experience, I have been targeted by assassins merely for ticking off powerful groups in a sector. It doesn't take finding something big. Sometimes merely destabilization of the status quo is sufficient to put you in the cross-hairs of bounty hunters, assassins, military organizations, corporations, and/or local criminal syndicates.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Here me out. We are told the Guardians had a space-faring civilization (despite literally never seeing evidence beyond Beacons). We are told they had shielded cities. I think I am beginning to understand exactly what we found: something like Jeury Terminal is in Van Maanan's Star system (the one given to Guardians of the Free Spirit). This is one of the absolutely giant facilities that appears like a stadium. They also seemingly have a glow as if they are shielded. There is another one of these in Sol: Ehrlich City on Mercury. Further, there is another in Etain (the Far God system) - Vian Landing. I don't think these were built by humans. These are also the rarest of surface sites - usually designated as Surface Ports.

We are told Guardians were taller than us. This might just explain the size of the ramps into these facilities. They are giant. I am seriously beginning to wonder if the Guardian sites we have seen are their much older stuff. Meanwhile, humanity exists in the ruins of the more modern Guardian civilization that happened before they were wiped. Perhaps these giant cities were the Raxxlan cities. Interestingly, these look kind of similar to the Raxxla logo when looked at from above (though obviously more round). Which begs the question: are the non-dockable Horizons sites actually Human or built by Guardians? None of these structures really look similar to our settlements or historical Earth cities - save the skyscrapers that dwarf anything built by humans.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Galactic News: Hyperspace

"The first commercially available hyperspace system was known as the 'Faraway Jump'. The Faraway system was far from perfect, however, depending on a complex network of monitoring satellites, branch lines, stop points and rescue stations – which took hundreds of years to establish – to operate smoothly."

"It was around this time the phrase 'witch-space' first appeared, reflecting the inherent dangers of early hyperspace technology and the strange 'corridor' a ship travelled through during a hyperspace jump. Some even believed witch-space was haunted by 'ghosts of ships that went into Faraway and didn't come out again'. It is certainly true that a number of ships never reached their destinations."

---
I am thinking those orbital installations also aren't exactly human built. Again, absolutely no docking points. Also, our ships seem to be the sole proof of Guardian space-faring technology. Their ability to travel between systems was known as through-space. Guess how our technology was referenced in the first manual - ThruSpace. So, our comms systems came from an alien civilization, too. Through-space after all is just another term for wormholes.

 

[Darrack]

We are told they had shielded cities.

Wasn't London a shielded city in one of Drew's books ?

O7