I would like to preface this by saying I may be completely off the mark.
It's a sad truth of these forums that when someone thinks they have “discovered something” they immediately think they are right with no room for error. So.. I could be wrong.
Last night just before bed I was pondering the Unknown artifacts again, we never really figured them out. We have almost no information about them and yet they are significant enough that Fdev put them in the game as a hidden interaction following the Proteus wave incident.
Several questions are still lingering:
With those questions in mind when I awoke this morning I set out to give them another look over and I have come to a wild hypothesis. (Tinfoil time if you have it).
The Unknown Artifacts are possibly some kind of proto-maelstrom.
I know, I know, evidence right? So. I will again add a preface that I do not have any video recording equipment so all I have is pictures taken from in-game but nothing I will say in relation to my observations isn't readily viewable by you the reader if you have one of the artifacts kicking about. Let's start with an array of images of the Artifact on the surface of a random world. (I don't think the type of world is important in regard to the observations).
As you can see in each image there are several things of note:
The above images were taken after ejecting the artifact into space within the edges of the Taranis Maelstrom. I was unsure if there would be an interaction but i thought it important to try.
Ok Enough Rambling, the question your probably asking is how did I reach my above theory?
What we know of the maelstrom so far is that its structure appears to be (outside to inside):
The images above are: lightning within the maelstrom and the maelstrom core respectively and are here for visual reference.
I am incredibly bad at using art programs but here's my bad paintbrush attempt to visually explain my hypothesis:
My hypothesis suggests that the purple circle roughly correlates to the maelstrom cloud, the blue polyhedron to the inner caustic core (or the core we currently cannot bypass that surrounds the center), and the red circle is the core itself. We can see the lightning in both the relic and the maelstrom.
Does this mean I have any more answers? No. I still don't know what this means if anything at all but if anyone has some more interesting ideas to add please feel free to add them. If I like the look of your ideas I will add them to the original post with credit to the relevant CMDRs that contributed.
o7
It's a sad truth of these forums that when someone thinks they have “discovered something” they immediately think they are right with no room for error. So.. I could be wrong.
Last night just before bed I was pondering the Unknown artifacts again, we never really figured them out. We have almost no information about them and yet they are significant enough that Fdev put them in the game as a hidden interaction following the Proteus wave incident.
Several questions are still lingering:
- What are they?
- What are they for?
- Why did the Thargoids create them?
- How do they relate to the Proteus wave?
- Do they have some significance regarding Update 14 content?
With those questions in mind when I awoke this morning I set out to give them another look over and I have come to a wild hypothesis. (Tinfoil time if you have it).
The Unknown Artifacts are possibly some kind of proto-maelstrom.
I know, I know, evidence right? So. I will again add a preface that I do not have any video recording equipment so all I have is pictures taken from in-game but nothing I will say in relation to my observations isn't readily viewable by you the reader if you have one of the artifacts kicking about. Let's start with an array of images of the Artifact on the surface of a random world. (I don't think the type of world is important in regard to the observations).
As you can see in each image there are several things of note:
- It is green (guardian artifacts are blue) suggesting that it has in someway been changed physically by the Thargoids
- It seems to have a “core” which is made up of a sphere-like object surrounded by a Polyhedron reminiscent of a D20 from tabletop gaming (not relevant but its the only reference I could think of
) - Surrounding the “core” is a slowly expanding gas cloud that actually reaches beyond the surface of the Artifact. (See the below images of the relic inside the maelstrom for a better view).
- Yellow Lightning can be seen arcing across the artifact looking like it's either traveling from one end to the other (through the core) or emanating from the core itself. I am honestly unsure which is accurate. It may be both.
- The exterior of the artifact is damaged and several large chunks are missing. Could this mean that whatever the Thargoids did, they brute-forced it?
- Finally, there are several guardian markings on the outside that appear similar to the obelisk markings found at almost all guardian sites in the galaxy. (I think this is just left over from its time as a normal artifact)
The above images were taken after ejecting the artifact into space within the edges of the Taranis Maelstrom. I was unsure if there would be an interaction but i thought it important to try.
Ok Enough Rambling, the question your probably asking is how did I reach my above theory?
What we know of the maelstrom so far is that its structure appears to be (outside to inside):
- A large and expansive gas cloud filled with lightning and various thargoid vehicles and structures.
- A somewhat denser layer of the gas cloud that is immediately caustic in a roughly spherical shape around the “core”
- A roughly spherical core of undulating unknown material that is red in coloration that is easily 60-70km in radius
- An unknown structure at the center has been described by Fdev as the largest structure they have ever put into the game (what this means we have no idea).
The images above are: lightning within the maelstrom and the maelstrom core respectively and are here for visual reference.
I am incredibly bad at using art programs but here's my bad paintbrush attempt to visually explain my hypothesis:
My hypothesis suggests that the purple circle roughly correlates to the maelstrom cloud, the blue polyhedron to the inner caustic core (or the core we currently cannot bypass that surrounds the center), and the red circle is the core itself. We can see the lightning in both the relic and the maelstrom.
Does this mean I have any more answers? No. I still don't know what this means if anything at all but if anyone has some more interesting ideas to add please feel free to add them. If I like the look of your ideas I will add them to the original post with credit to the relevant CMDRs that contributed.
o7
