The Quest To Find Raxxla

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I think the most fitting for the spiraling stars, would be the different pole stars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_star

If you pick any one of them and watch it for 25,770 years, you will see it spiral slowly out to about 40° declination and back in to the center of earth's axis at 90° declination(The Ophalos point / Axis Mundi). All of them will move in this extremely slow spiral.

This would also fit nicely with Vega as princess Astrophel, as Vega is a historical north pole star.

I think it just means the galaxy. 'Spiraling stars' being stars arranged in a spiral, rather than moving in spirals.

However, an example of a star which does follow an actual spiral would be one gradually falling into a black hole. A decaying orbit forms a spiral path.

stares hard a Source 2 again

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Let's, for the sake of argument, assume that the Codex contains encrypted/encoded clues regarding Raxxla. The question then becomes "How do we decode them?"

So, what are our options?

Character substitution cipher:
The thing about character substitution is that the output invariably looks like somebody threw a Scrabble set at a wall. You simply don't get human-readable out of it, even in a different language. (See the Exodus logs for examples.)
So we can safely assume this isn't the way.

'Hidden' text:
Hiding the real message inside a longer text - first letter of each word/line for example. Poetry is a good medium to use for this, since nobody cares about grammar or line lengths, making the creation of the fake message somewhat easier. The Codex could be using this style, but it's easily brute-forced and I personally would be disappointed.

'Cryptic crossword' clues
Do I need to explain these?
If there's anything in the Codex to lead us forward, this is how I'd expect it to be presented - but I still don't believe that Raxxla will be found by an easter egg hunt. Still, I like the intellectual exercise of trying to decipher them, even if it's almost certainly pointless.

 

[yelboc]

Let's, for the sake of argument, assume that the Codex contains encrypted/encoded clues regarding Raxxla. The question then becomes "How do we decode them?"

So, what are our options?

Character substitution cipher:
The thing about character substitution is that the output invariably looks like somebody threw a Scrabble set at a wall. You simply don't get human-readable out of it, even in a different language. (See the Exodus logs for examples.)
So we can safely assume this isn't the way.

'Hidden' text:
Hiding the real message inside a longer text - first letter of each word/line for example. Poetry is a good medium to use for this, since nobody cares about grammar or line lengths, making the creation of the fake message somewhat easier. The Codex could be using this style, but it's easily brute-forced and I personally would be disappointed.

'Cryptic crossword' clues
Do I need to explain these?
If there's anything in the Codex to lead us forward, this is how I'd expect it to be presented - but I still don't believe that Raxxla will be found by an easter egg hunt. Still, I like the intellectual exercise of trying to decipher them, even if it's almost certainly pointless.

carrying on the brainstorm:

Reverse Book Ciphers
normally you have numbers that convert to letters of the plaintext by looking up the words or letters in the reference text, but for coordinates you have it the other way around - words that make numbers by looking up the words in the reference text.

Triangulation from systems implied from the text
By identifying 3 systems in the galaxy a fourth can be triangulated - the text points to systems - I gues we've already done alot of this in our mythologising.

 

[PeteACarter]

carrying on the brainstorm:

Reverse Book Ciphers
normally you have numbers that convert to letters of the plaintext by looking up the words or letters in the reference text, but for coordinates you have it the other way around - words that make numbers by looking up the words in the reference text.

Triangulation from systems implied from the text
By identifying 3 systems in the galaxy a fourth can be triangulated - the text points to systems - I gues we've already done alot of this in our mythologising.

With triangulation, I wonder if the clue could be in likening the search to el Dorado, prester John and Atlantis?

I still think Fernweh is important somehow though. Otherwise why fernweh, not wanderlust, or any other similar term. This is also the only theme that carries directly to the DW toast, with vagabond

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Ok seems, most do not count Zion/ Jerusalem as the hottest topic. Let me offer a few ideas.

a) „Zion“ was the place where the first and second Temple of King Solomon were built (Nr. 1 by King Solomon himself; Nr. 2 by Nehemias). From a masonic point of view I‘d say - look at the heart of Darkness.

b) Wasn‘t there something about Zion in Dune? Awful long time since I read that. We have IX - so worth a try?

So what have I been about since asking Scytale to repost the Tattoo?

Well since I theorize the Tattoo symbolizes a journey through the underworld (classical Heroes journey part 2 and 3: Descent into darkness, travelling the underworld, return to light) I asked myself what greek mythology had to say about entrances. Answer: Okeanos, Acheron and lands of the Cimmerians. No Okeanos or Acheron on Galmap but Cimmerians. Went there and did some (not concluded) scanning. Nothing unusual so far (discovered 7 geological sites on C4 using DSS, investigated No 1, nothing unusual, invaded some bases on C4 and got jailed). After finishing Cimmerians I'll head to Styx and Orcus.

If anyone here is around on PS4 and wants to wing up I'm using my iCourier Perceval until after finishing Styx (only m bases) and will then switch back to my Conda Marco Polo.

I'm not saying you shouldn't investigate, but I kicked the Greek Mythology systems and anything 'underworld'-related hard during the Formidine Rift mystery and never came across anything unusual.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

With triangulation, I wonder if the clue could be in likening the search to el Dorado, prester John and Atlantis?

I still think Fernweh is important somehow though. Otherwise why fernweh, not wanderlust, or any other similar term. This is also the only theme that carries directly to the DW toast, with vagabond

It's probably nitpicking, but my reading of fernweh is that it's more targeted than wanderlust. Wanderlust is a desire to travel, whereas fernweh is a desire to be somewhere (else) specific. So if I had an urge to explore China, that would be wanderlust, but a desire to live in Hong Kong would be fernweh.

Vagabond actually fits better with wanderlust than with fernweh, since again it's about having no fixed destination.

 

[Thatchinho]

carrying on the brainstorm:

Reverse Book Ciphers
normally you have numbers that convert to letters of the plaintext by looking up the words or letters in the reference text, but for coordinates you have it the other way around - words that make numbers by looking up the words in the reference text.

Triangulation from systems implied from the text
By identifying 3 systems in the galaxy a fourth can be triangulated - the text points to systems - I gues we've already done alot of this in our mythologising.

Slight point, but you need more info than the names of 3 systems for trilateration or triangulation. Either that or you’re making an assumption of equidistance, which is fine as a starting point in the absence of any other info, but is a pretty big assumption to make in general.

For trilateration you need 3 reference locations and the distance from those 3 locations - that will allow the calculation of 2 possible destinations.

Triangulation’s more of a visual thing in this context. Just having 3 locations wouldn’t tell you anything in terms of a further location. As an example (off the top of my head), from text you’d need something like ‘find the place where the angle between A and B appears to be X, the angle between B and C appears to be Y, and the angle between A and C appears to be Z. (With X,Y,Z being angles, not cartesian co-ordinates.)

Edit - just for clarity, with the example above I’m talking about the type of information you’d need to be able to derive from the text, not a specific form it would need to be presented in within the text.

 

[PeteACarter]

Just going back to spiralling stars for a moment, I found this timelapse of a wolf rayet interesting...https://plus.maths.org/content/spiralling-stars

 

[Thatchinho]

It's probably nitpicking, but my reading of fernweh is that it's more targeted than wanderlust. Wanderlust is a desire to travel, whereas fernweh is a desire to be somewhere (else) specific. So if I had an urge to explore China, that would be wanderlust, but a desire to live in Hong Kong would be fernweh.

Vagabond actually fits better with wanderlust than with fernweh, since again it's about having no fixed destination.

Same.

Though I’d say ‘fernweh’ also encompasses not knowing what the specific place is. A ‘looking for something, don’t know quite exactly what it is, but will know it when I find it’ type thing, if you see what I mean.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Same.

Though I’d say ‘fernweh’ also encompasses not knowing what the specific place is. A ‘looking for something, don’t know quite exactly what it is, but will know it when I find it’ type thing, if you see what I mean.

Yeah, I'd agree with that:

Wanderlust: I'll keep moving
Fernweh: I'll stop when I find it

Of course, it could just be that whoever wrote the Codex just hit a thesaurus and picked a word that sounded cool

Edit:
This is the problem I have with trying to 'solve' Raxxla.
Since we don't know what's a clue and what's not, we end up assuming that everything is a clue, to the point that it'll take us longer to evaluate all the possibilities than it would to fly to every star in the galaxy

 

[thebattlepope]

Since we're talking about asterisms, here's another fun angle - this one regarding the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of all galaxies.

The great diamond:

Great Diamond - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

To dig this rabbit hole a lil deeper, Spica/Alpha Virginis is a part of this particular asterism, and is associated by some with Hermes Trismegistus. Fun times.

And yeah, the worst part about this whole hunt is that we don't know what's a lead and what isn't. Hell, we can't even reasonably use the fact that raxxla was supposed to be in since gamma, seeing as it may have been moved in one of the patches to play better with new game features... or locked off behind an unknown permit.

EDIT:

"Spica is believed to be the star that gave Hipparchus the data that led him to discover the precession of the equinoxes.[13] A temple to Menat(an early Hathor) at Thebes was oriented with reference to Spica when it was built in 3200 BC, and, over time, precession slowly but noticeably changed Spica's location relative to the temple."

And there's Thebes being mentioned. The plot, it thickens.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Since we're talking about asterisms, here's another fun angle - this one regarding the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of all galaxies.

The great diamond:

Great Diamond - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

To dig this rabbit hole a lil deeper, Spica/Alpha Virginis is a part of this particular asterism, and is associated by some with Hermes Trismegistus. Fun times.

And yeah, the worst part about this whole hunt is that we don't know what's a lead and what isn't. Hell, we can't even reasonably use the fact that raxxla was supposed to be in since gamma, seeing as it may have been moved in one of the patches to play better with new game features... or locked off behind an unknown permit.

Ahhh, Cor Caroli. I thought that might be a Rift clue too. I swear I'm gonna forget which mystery I'm trying to solve!

 

[yelboc]

Fernweh: The term was invented by author/traveller Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, who, apart from doing a lot of travelling, was buried in a "sea pyramid" in a landscape garden !

His travel name was either 'The deceased' or 'Semilasso' if thats any help.

 

[Lori Jameson]

Sag A* 2 - B type star

EDSM - Elite Dangerous Star Map

The Galactic Positioning System of Elite: Dangerous at your service.

www.edsm.net

What about the White Eyed Pea?

 

[Lori Jameson]

You're not wondering why it's called 'Source 2'? Go to Prism system, where all the stars have names, but none of them have additional numbers - so why 'Source 2' and not just 'Source'? Where is 'Source 1'? Is there a 'Destination 2'? That sounds like somewhere interesting to go.

Incidentally, if you go to Prism, don't get over-excited about the star called 'Diamond' - that's definitely a Rift thing.

Edit:
Obviously I mean letters, not numbers, so Source 2 should be Sagittarius A* B, which makes it all the more curious.

Source 2 alludes to the fact that when radio telescopes went to view Sag A* there was 2 large sources of radio waves, not the expected 1 from Sag A*.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Source 2 alludes to the fact that when radio telescopes went to view Sag A* there was 2 large sources of radio waves, not the expected 1 from Sag A*.

Thanks for that

A review of the literature suggests there should be at least another 11 'Source x' stars orbiting Sag A*.

 

[Count dEstard]

I'm not saying you shouldn't investigate, but I kicked the Greek Mythology systems and anything 'underworld'-related hard during the Formidine Rift mystery and never came across anything unusual.

Kind regards for that. But.. you had no DSS at that time. So I'll give it a try and have fun.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Kind regards for that. But.. you had no DSS at that time. So I'll give it a try and have fun.

Absolutely! Go for it! I certainly don't claim to be infallible and there's definitely the potential for mapping to find something I missed

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

My suspicion of the choice of the word 'fernweh' is that it's a word that in 36+years I've never heard before nor read in any books. Yet in definition it's an older language word( unless it's regularly used in germany, which I suspect it isn't).

Why would a game set so far in the future use such an uncommon word that isn't even necessarily relevant today?

 

[yelboc]

It was familiar to me already (depends on what music/literature etc. you are into I guess) but it stood out as a bit deliberate, a bit like Prester John in the companty of Atlantis and El Dorado.. but again Prester is familiar to some..