The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Emperor]

if any of you have not been keeping up with Drew he's been helping a visit out to the Formidine rift and retelling the story and providing some foot notes that might be interesting on what happened as the Salome story unfolded and how he worked in secret with MB on the early parts of the story even before the game was released while the galaxy was being built by MB... "Michael Brookes didn’t want the rest of fdev to know about it either as he thought it might get stopped, so it was a bit of a secret pact!"

Ninja's Salomé and the Formidine Rift Expedition

jonbaker.me

(Drew is also back talking about Elite Dangerous.... "Drew Wagar's twitch stream will be running weekly from the 11th of January 2024 at 8pm UTC/GMT.")

Here's his advert...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZaLzwq9nRs


Anyway some of the footnotes from the Formidine rift site in the spoiler below give a flavour of the types of clues, game changes that MB and Drew discussed and put in place... as well as some of the issues and fails by FD...lol

And perhaps the saddest footnote:
"We were all set to continue this story, but MB was moved to Jurassic Park in 2017 and after that the Oresrian/Thargoid war story and various other bits of lore were stopped or retconned. It would have been fun…"

The "Greek Mythology" page I found interesting based on this comment and how MB worked his clues...
"There’s a lot of Greek mythology and astronomy in Drew’s clues and work. The Thargoid story (by the late, great Michael Brookes) was mostly codes and cyphers, very maths and science. Drew wanted a different route that was more accessible for more players. General knowledge, language puzzles and lateral thinking."


You'll need to read the site for the full context (and how vague/hard it was!), but as I mentioned perhaps a little insight in to the puzzle creation process of MB which is relevant here...

Spoiler

This had its genesis in the ending of Elite Reclamation, when MB asked me for some mystery ideas. All the authors chucked ideas in, but The Formidine Rift was the one that got Michael excited, so we developed it from there.
We were aiming for a sort of “The Da Vinci Code in space”
BTW – Formidine is “Fear” in latin. We wanted it to be spooky.

Historical note. The Formidine Rift idea was actually concocted by Michael Brookes and myself prior to the launch of ED. We were both working through in a private writers’ forum hidden on the main fdev forms. We discussed a “raxxla-esque” type of story (raxxla itself was off-limits to the writers) that would play out in game and I embedded the first clue in Reclamation during 2013 as it was being written.

The way it was supposed to work is as follows.
Michael Brookes and I collaborated on putting a small code in the text of systems scattered across the bubble. This was done when Michael Brookes was creating the starmap for the stellarforge in an Excel spreadsheet before ED went live. Michael Brookes didn’t want the rest of fdev to know about it either as he thought it might get stopped, so it was a bit of a secret pact!
We embedded a code “EBP” in various systems across ED and seeded the galaxy. These systems had Greek mythological names as a clue that they were linked in some unusual way… It was supposed to be a bit like “Bad Wolf” in Dr. Who

The idea was that in systems throughout ED with Greek mythological names in them, there would be an odd repeating code in the text descriptions of those systems…. the letters “EBP”…

Eventually EBP was revealed a code used by MB and myself to indicate folks were on the right track. EBP is a -13 caesar cipher which gave “ROC” – Right on, Commander. – There were several “EBP”s in various Galnets issued.

"Take a line from Reorte to Riedquat and carry on to the edge of the arm
The “curious transmission” pointed at constellations2 in the same direction"

This was “technically” the first clue, as it was put in the text of Reclamation before the game went live. MB organised Reorte and Riedquat so they would indicate a general direction in space towards the outer edge of the galaxy…
The “curious transmission” was the first in-game clue that confirmed to players that the story was an actual in-game thing, not just an easter egg for the book.

In terms of selling the exploration data...
When I first discussed this idea with the Dev team and MB, I was told it wouldn’t work because players always go with the money. I said, let’s try it and make the Federal CG more lucrative… but the CoR less lucrative… but indicate that the CoR is the “right thing to do”. The CoR CG won. I think it’s one of the only examples of a competitive CG where the underdog won. Players changed the galaxy that day.

FD Fail...
The delays in spawning the bases due to the patch problem was the main issue here. We had a skip a clue that would require players to visit all the Greek myth “EBP” tagged systems, because there wasn’t any more time in the dev cycle and Frontier wanted the book published in the summer. So we had to issue an “fast track” clue.

Each of these names are spread across the ED galaxy in various please and were, at the time, connected with EBP clues in text descriptions. Unfortunately a lot of them have been replaced now, so it’s not possible to find and follow the original clues. However, the intention was for players to visit the various locales, find the EBP… slowly assemble the bits and then get the final location as a result…

"The Zurara Megaship"
As mentioned before, originally a wrecked Anaconda with text logs prior to me being commissioned to write Premonition. It was later upgraded… a bit cheeky… but since no one had found it, MB and I thought it was a great way to introduce megaships and voice acting into ED.

FD Fail...
"Salomé had the answers, in the lore, at this point and wanted to release them to everyone rather than them being hidden."
These logs were inadvertently released into the game too early by an error by Fdev. They should have only appeared when one of the four protagonists reached Teorge. But they appeared during the chase. Something similar happened with the Galnets for the Gnosis – Fdev QA was a bit hit and miss!

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

Thanks Emperor! I have watched some of Drew's streams and his writing videos before so I knew some of this but certainly not all.

It is fascinating to read that:

Spoiler

FD had a hidden check to determine if you had visited every member of a given set of systems.

That's the kind of thing that could hold back finding the next step in the quest for Raxxla, or Raxxla itself. Maybe the reason FD can say that they know why no one has found it is because they can check whether anyone has done this. If finding Raxxla was down to the methodology of people exploring, it becomes less tangible to know why something has not been found. e.g. if FD were asked why no one found the Voyager probes before they did, they would not be able to say that they know the reason, because it could have been just missed by someone flying 1001 Ls away, or too fast to notice the signal source pop up.

Today I visited Goibniu and Ogma for the first time, these being relevant to the Sidhe mythology, and also Berkanan, which I think (hope), is the last of the tree-runes. In addition, I noticed a system called Ragnorak (quite the Shibboleth!) and visited that for the first time as well (it is well away from interesting areas, being close to the frontier of the Bubble way up in Alliance space on the Colonia-facing side). Another system I visited for the first time was Ovid, which has an Earth-like World called Kenash with a very close-orbiting moon, Paseguru, perhaps another mountain (a preliminary check online for both planet and moon has not yielded any references at all)? Both planet and moon have stations orbiting them but outside the moon's orbit - the one supposed to be orbiting the moon orbits further out than the one orbiting the planet - it does not look like it ought to be gravitationally bound to just the moon, so I suspect this is a hand-crafted location. The Sidhe systems are all over the Bubble and it is hard to see a pattern, though Brigid is close to the Epona, Dana and Idunn triad around Beta Sculptoris. I have encountered some more unusual system names that I plan to visit soon. I'm back to wandering around the region below the Empyrean, looking for places I have not been or interesting names.

 

[Emperor]

Good day Cmdrs, NLTT 46621 is now officially in a war state. Please support the Link to overthrow The Leaders of Eos as per my previous post

Did some CZ's tonight.... looking OK so far....

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

And perhaps the saddest footnote:
"We were all set to continue this story, but MB was moved to Jurassic Park in 2017 and after that the Oresrian/Thargoid war story and various other bits of lore were stopped or retconned. It would have been fun…

I'll be honest. I really don't see the Oresrian/Klaxxian divide being gone. There is too much lore invested into divides that cause significant long-term problems (see Thargoids reaction to certain things and the whole Guardian civil wars, and the very weird plot twist where the Thargoids turned Proteus Wave against Salvation). I believe we may well get clarification on that sooner than later especially the "Thargoids" are actually caught between humans and something worse. We also had Oresrians in The Dark Wheel novella, Drew Wagar's books, and a mystery 3rd species in the FFE journals. The time is rapidly approaching where the elephant in the galaxy has to dealt with finally. It also wasn't just aliens, you see the same divisions showing up repeatedly in humans. It just wouldn't make sense that this arc is completely abandoned for as much effort was put into it.

They used way too much ink for this story arc to be abandoned. Delayed sure, but not abandoned. This may have even been more to get a much larger amount of the players questioning if the story was as simple as we've been told.

 

[Han_Zen]

SIMBAD is, as always, our friend: https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=RS+Puppis

As it turns out, RS Puppis is listed ingame by another identifier, HD 68860.

EDSM - Elite Dangerous Star Map

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

www.edsm.net

Always!

 

[Han_Zen]

I'll be honest. I really don't see the Oresrian/Klaxxian divide being gone. There is too much lore invested into divides that cause significant long-term problems (see Thargoids reaction to certain things and the whole Guardian civil wars, and the very weird plot twist where the Thargoids turned Proteus Wave against Salvation. I believe we may well get clarification on that sooner than later especially the "Thargoids" are actually caught between humans and something worse. We also had Oresrians in The Dark Wheel novella, Drew Wagar's books, and a mystery 3rd species in the FFE journals. The time is rapidly approaching where the elephant in the galaxy has to dealt with finally. It also wasn't just aliens, you see the same divisions showing up repeatedly in humans. It just wouldn't make sense that this arc is completely abandoned for as much effort was put into it.

They used way too much ink for this story arc to be abandoned. Delayed sure, but not abandoned. This may have even been more to get a much larger amount of the players questioning if the story was as simple as we've been told.


View attachment 380074
View attachment 380075

I agree. The Klaxians are still at least an option. They are clearly mentioned in Premonition, which was written well after the so called 'retcon'. The Klaxians are of course mentioned by a character in the book. Characters may tell lies. FD still have the option to add the Kalxians to the game at any point, without needing further explanation.

The 'retcon' was all about the fate of the Alliance efforts to establish diplomatic relations to the Thargoids, in the late 3250s. Pre retcon, this was a partial success. After the retcon, it was changed to a failure. This is confimed by the corrosion damaged Qest ship in Ted Turners basement, in Premonition. Mic Turner or the FFE player character was killed by Thargoids.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

especially the "Thargoids" are actually caught between humans and something worse.

The Oresrian / Klaxian divide in itself may well still be there in some form - there are certainly hints in the Azimuth material and elsewhere that the Thargoids seen now are not necessarily the same Thargoids fought in the first war, at least.

This specific thing doesn't work in the context of Elite Dangerous, though - and I think people may have been raising this back when MB was still on the project: the human bubble is a few hundred LY across and human activity outside that zone is extremely sparse and essentially irrelevant. There's no geographically plausible way that the Thargoids could be fleeing something in such a way that they needed to traverse human space to do so, or that whatever was chasing them would need to stop to deal with human space rather than adding perhaps 50 LY onto a multi-thousand LY travel distance to go around it entirely (while making a note to come back for it later, if so inclined).

 

[Bushido Brown]

There's no geographically plausible way that the Thargoids could be fleeing something in such a way that they needed to traverse human space to do so, or that whatever was chasing them would need to stop to deal with human space rather than adding perhaps 50 LY onto a multi-thousand LY travel distance to go around it entirely (while making a note to come back for it later, if so inclined).

Definitely, but that's assuming only the spatial factor. If we assume the pursuer to be something which would feel compelled to stop and deal with something like humanity then that changes.
Maybe the thargs stop here for some light meta alloy action just to lure things here. Intergalactic timespans might make such an investment worthwhile.

Picture a wave of machines bent on removing intelligent life from the universe.
Or a species out to harvest biomass/ biological distinctiveness.
Or even a race similar to humans which would simply stop to say hello, and which these thargoids have failed to communicate with? Seems to be a common problem with them/ us.
Or something ineffable in other ways. Does it even need explaining if they show up suddenly?

Also they might live in witch space, and who knows how that works?

 

[Rochester]

Thanks Emperor! I have watched some of Drew's streams and his writing videos before so I knew some of this but certainly not all.

It is fascinating to read that:

Spoiler

FD had a hidden check to determine if you had visited every member of a given set of systems.

That's the kind of thing that could hold back finding the next step in the quest for Raxxla, or Raxxla itself. Maybe the reason FD can say that they know why no one has found it is because they can check whether anyone has done this. If finding Raxxla was down to the methodology of people exploring, it becomes less tangible to know why something has not been found. e.g. if FD were asked why no one found the Voyager probes before they did, they would not be able to say that they know the reason, because it could have been just missed by someone flying 1001 Ls away, or too fast to notice the signal source pop up.

Today I visited Goibniu and Ogma for the first time, these being relevant to the Sidhe mythology, and also Berkanan, which I think (hope), is the last of the tree-runes. In addition, I noticed a system called Ragnorak (quite the Shibboleth!) and visited that for the first time as well (it is well away from interesting areas, being close to the frontier of the Bubble way up in Alliance space on the Colonia-facing side). Another system I visited for the first time was Ovid, which has an Earth-like World called Kenash with a very close-orbiting moon, Paseguru, perhaps another mountain (a preliminary check online for both planet and moon has not yielded any references at all)? Both planet and moon have stations orbiting them but outside the moon's orbit - the one supposed to be orbiting the moon orbits further out than the one orbiting the planet - it does not look like it ought to be gravitationally bound to just the moon, so I suspect this is a hand-crafted location. The Sidhe systems are all over the Bubble and it is hard to see a pattern, though Brigid is close to the Epona, Dana and Idunn triad around Beta Sculptoris. I have encountered some more unusual system names that I plan to visit soon. I'm back to wandering around the region below the Empyrean, looking for places I have not been or interesting names.

I’ve been working on something similar regarding regards the Sidhe mythology. It’s a work in progress but I’ll post it for consideration.

Of interest: do you have any definitive list of said tree-runes? This I think may be an integral element!

 

[Rochester]

Tuatha Dé Danann

Note: these are not definitive and correlations are based upon open source information; various names might been interchangeable based upon locational origins; much may be fictitious or modern interpretations of verbal/oral history.

Of note many of the entities described below, their locations or their race are also likewise utilised by Robert Holdstock in his ‘The Lost Realms’.

It is my suspicion that Michael Brookes has incorporated this race into the game, not arbitrarily. Their positions I believe follow an existing architecture, where ‘upper’ gods are established within an ‘upper hemisphere’ - which sits ‘above’ a zone of Chaos, and identifies a larger‘Miltonian / Holdstockian Cosmological model.

My initial assumption is that they form the skeletal foundations of this architecture and help denote the zone of the heavens.

The Tuatha Dé Danann are otherwise known generally as ‘the folk of the goddess Danu’ the "mother of the gods" or "mother of all things". The term Danu however is a modern word based upon Danann.

Danann - is also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé or tribe of the gods who lived in the ‘Otherworld’ a realm of realms which exists both outside but also within our reality.

The Danann are associated with the Sídhe or old burial bounds as entrances to the Otherworld.

The Danann included: the Dagda, the Morrigan, Lugh, Nuada, Brigid, Manannán, Dian Cecht, Goibniu, Ogma, Nuada also known as Nodens, Etain, Bodb and Dearg.

Dagda is not in game, but has multiple alternate names, including possible links to Odin and Donn, which is in game.

The Manannán is not in game but his realm Mag Mel is.

Then there were the Fomorians, an opposing population to the Tuatha Dé Danann potential destructive forces of nature, demons, or malevolent spirits, that may have dwelt underwater beneath the earth. However certain Fomorians were directly related to the Tuatha Dé Danann such as Brigit (Brigid).They were fought by various members of the Danann.

Danu is in game (Y+)
Morrigan is in game (Y+)
Dian Cecht is in game (Y+)
Goibniu is in game (Y+)
Ogma is in game (Y+)
Nodens is in game (Y+)
Etain is in game (Y+)
Boann is in game (Y+)
Lugh is in game (Y-)
Brigid is in game (Y-)
Bodb Dearg is in game (Y-)
Fomorians is in game (Y-)

Relationships - these are not definitive and only based upon open source information, these were used to establish any in game visual links which may help correlate patterns.

• Dagda and Morrigan were husband and wife.
• Ogma was a child of Dagda.
• Brigid was a child of Dagda.
• Bodb Dearg a child of Dagda.
• Dian Cecht a child of Dagda.
• Brigid in neo-paganism is worshipped in conjunction with Lugh and/or Cernunnos.
• Ogma is linked to Lugh by trial of combat.
• Ogma related to Etain.
• Lugh lived in a kingdom called Tara.
• Lugh may have had a shared family relation to the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians.
• Morrigan, Macha and Badb were sisters. Macha is not in game but it’s possibly a cognate for Danu. Together they may have formed a tripartite goddess.
• Nuada (Nodens) was married to Boann.

Contextual
Tara is in game
Mag Mel is in game
Cernunnos is in game.

The image below is as above but includes the Lost Realm of ‘Avalon’.

The next image shows the above, but includes the identified zone of Storms aka the Chaos zone; and the zone of the Underworld.

The next image shows the path of the first stage of Brookes tour (green), and some of those systems mentioned in Brookes Drabbles (white); and far below certain systems linked to various myths linked to Avalon, Lands of Youth / Apples etc…

The image below includes the Norse Norns and Greek fates.

The next image uses the Greek Wind Compass to show my hypothetical true North, and shifts these systems upon that axis.

 

[selbie]

The "Greek Mythology" page I found interesting based on this comment and how MB worked his clues...
"There’s a lot of Greek mythology and astronomy in Drew’s clues and work. The Thargoid story (by the late, great Michael Brookes) was mostly codes and cyphers, very maths and science. Drew wanted a different route that was more accessible for more players. General knowledge, language puzzles and lateral thinking."

You'll need to read the site for the full context (and how vague/hard it was!), but as I mentioned perhaps a little insight in to the puzzle creation process of MB which is relevant here...

This could be a significant indication as to how the Raxxla mystery is structured.
A mystery devised by Braben and constructed by Brookes means it could be extremely technical - far more than any Thargoid or Guardian mysteries we've seen.

It certainly explains why I've been banging my head against aspects of this. So much of it would involve technical knowledge and, because the clues are so ethereal, it is so easy to lose the trail of breadcrumbs whilst also knowing I don't know enough about the subject matter It certainly is a great way to learn about fields of science I wasn't aware of though

 

[El Saico]

This could be a significant indication as to how the Raxxla mystery is structured.
A mystery devised by Braben and constructed by Brookes means it could be extremely technical - far more than any Thargoid or Guardian mysteries we've seen.

It certainly explains why I've been banging my head against aspects of this. So much of it would involve technical knowledge and, because the clues are so ethereal, it is so easy to lose the trail of breadcrumbs whilst also knowing I don't know enough about the subject matter It certainly is a great way to learn about fields of science I wasn't aware of though

For an example of pure raw Brookes, look no further than the Thargoid Probe encoded data: https://canonn.science/codex/unknown-probe/

 

[Robert Rockbite]

For an example of pure raw Brookes, look no further than the Thargoid Probe encoded data: https://canonn.science/codex/unknown-probe/

You have to be some kind of Elite to solve such a Riddle.

 

[selbie]

@Louis Calvert I think we are on the right track with the signal. I can now say with more confidence they are fragmented pieces of a larger puzzle.

This evolved from a sudden realisation I had from my earlier post about Zeta Puppis and the idea of Cepheid variables and T Tauri stars.
A while back I had explored the Signal shapes and tried to match it to the Taurus constellation, but in reading more about Puppis I realised this was the real key.

Puppis is one component of the greater Argo Navis constellation - the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. It includes Carina (the hull) and Vela (the sails).
Puppis is latin for the poop deck (from french - la poupe) or the stern (rear) of a ship - typically an elevated section for navigation.

For reference, here are the landscape signal lines traced out:

Spoiler: The Landscape Signal Lines

Left (Red) - the Mountain,
Middle (Blue) - what I call the "Taurus", and
Right (Green) - another line I spotted in the noise.
These seemed to be the most common elements of the signal, aside from one which seems close to the right-hand line of the Mountain image.

While overlaying these shapes over the constellations, I recognised the aft shape of the Puppis constellation. From there it was just a matter of lining things up. The moment I saw it I knew this had to be something.
The mountain is not a mountain.... it's Vela the sail with the mast running through it!!!
Edit: version 2 might be closer:

Spoiler: Version 1

Here is where it gets a bit tinfoily, but relates to earlier ideas I had.

SHIP METAPHOR

---

The codex references Art Tornqvist and Cora. Art is stated as being a shipboard mechanic. Cora, unknown if his wife or daughter, wants to borrow his ship to find a treasure. Much like Jason and the Argonauts went on a voyage seeking the Golden Fleece.
Related to this, in classical times the Argo constellation appeared to skim along the river of the Milky Way - mother of galaxies?? (a ship is typically referred as feminine)

The name Art Tornqvist can be broken down to its syllables Art-Torn-Qvist.
A Kvist in some languages is the name for a Dormer - a room-like projection from a roofed structure. The aft poop deck of a traditional ship has something resembling that:

Spoiler: La Poop

The term Aft also derives from the Old English æftan. Say Æftan Kvist 3 times quickly
You could also stretch the meaning of Torn as the nordic Thorn - a thorned, or weaponised, poop deck.

Cora is another name for Persephone - daughter of Zeus & Demeter and wife of Hades - Groves sacred to her stood at the western extremity of the earth on the frontiers of the lower world - here's one for you Rochester , which itself was called "house of Persephone".
Cora also came home "soused" or, preserved in salty water - a sailor!

Vagabond heart - Sea voyages often resulted in loss of crew / ships - parent's grief, lover's woe. In the mythical tale, as a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. He was asleep under the stern of the rotting Argo when it fell on him, killing him instantly.
Ships can also be referenced as "the jewel of the ____ sea" etc.
A ship's drive could be said to be the "door and key" to the galaxy. A whisperer in witchspace, the siren of the deepest void.

A Brow is a nautical term for the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
The brightest stars (jewels on the brow) that relate to the hull / keel of the Argo Navis are:

• Canopus / Alpha Carinae
• Miaplacidus / Beta Carinae
• Avior / Epsilon Carinae
• Aspidiske / Iota Carinae
• Upsilon Carinae
• Regor / Gamma Velorum
• Naos / Zeta Puppis
• Ahadi / Pi Puppis
• Tureis / Rho Puppis

Ride on, Commanders!
That's all I have for tonight, but this is only scratching the surface of what I'm thinking about. Perhaps this can help someone find at least something that will help crystallize my other ideas into something more substantial

[Update - added Upsilon Carinae - a well known binary with two Two A I Supergiants]
[Update 2 - added newer constellation image]

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

The tree-rune systems are: Purisaz (thorn), Ansuz (oak or ash), Berkanan (birch) and Ehwaz (yew).
These are not concentrated in a particular part of the Bubble.

In your 3D diagram just above showing the Norns and Greek fates, there is a cluster of four purple dots just below the lowest point of the yellow triangle. This is close to the centre of the architecture, so I thought they might be interesting to visit and see what is nearby.

 

[Darrack]

Worth mentioning, technically in the timeframe of Elite Polaris would no longer be our pole/north star, it would be Gamma Cephei named Alrai ingame HIP 116727 or Errai (Different naming convention)

This is a good point, is it due to the 'precession' cycle thing?

O7

 

[Darrack]

The tree-rune systems are: Purisaz (thorn), Ansuz (oak or ash), Berkanan (birch) and Ehwaz (yew).
These are not concentrated in a particular part of the Bubble.

In your 3D diagram just above showing the Norns and Greek fates, there is a cluster of four purple dots just below the lowest point of the yellow triangle. This is close to the centre of the architecture, so I thought they might be interesting to visit and see what is nearby.

Bare in mind Ogham has six different meanings, in England Ash is Nion, Oak is Duir, Birch is Beth, Yew is Idho and with Thorn having no place in Druidry at all.
Also more confusing is that these are Ogham (tree) names whist the Ogham alphabet has different names for each rune, they are not the same.

O7

 

[Louis Calvert]

@Louis Calvert I think we are on the right track with the signal. I can now say with more confidence they are fragmented pieces of a larger puzzle.

This evolved from a sudden realisation I had from my earlier post about Zeta Puppis and the idea of Cepheid variables and T Tauri stars.
A while back I had explored the Signal shapes and tried to match it to the Taurus constellation, but in reading more about Puppis I realised this was the real key.

Puppis is one component of the greater Argo Navis constellation - the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. It includes Carina (the hull) and Vela (the sails).
Puppis is latin for the poop deck (from french - la poupe) or the stern (rear) of a ship - typically an elevated section for navigation.

For reference, here are the landscape signal lines traced out:

Spoiler: The Landscape Signal Lines

View attachment 380110 View attachment 380112 View attachment 380113

Left (Red) - the Mountain,
Middle (Blue) - what I call the "Taurus", and
Right (Green) - another line I spotted in the noise.
These seemed to be the most common elements of the signal, aside from one which seems close to the right-hand line of the Mountain image.

While overlaying these shapes over the constellations, I recognised the aft shape of the Puppis constellation. From there it was just a matter of lining things up. The moment I saw it I knew this had to be something.
The mountain is not a mountain.... it's Vela the sail with the mast running through it!!!

View attachment 380126

Here is where it gets a bit tinfoily, but relates to earlier ideas I had.

SHIP METAPHOR

---

The codex references Art Tornqvist and Cora. Art is stated as being a shipboard mechanic. Cora, unknown if his wife or daughter, wants to borrow his ship to find a treasure. Much like Jason and the Argonauts went on a voyage seeking the Golden Fleece.
Related to this, in classical times the Argo constellation appeared to skim along the river of the Milky Way - mother of galaxies?? (a ship is typically referred as feminine)

The name Art Tornqvist can be broken down to its syllables Art-Torn-Qvist.
A Kvist in some languages is the name for a Dormer - a room-like projection from a roofed structure. The aft poop deck of a traditional ship has something resembling that:

Spoiler: La Poop

View attachment 380118

The term Aft also derives from the Old English æftan. Say Æftan Kvist 3 times quickly
You could also stretch the meaning of Torn as the nordic Thorn - a thorned, or weaponised, poop deck.

Cora is another name for Persephone - daughter of Zeus & Demeter and wife of Hades - Groves sacred to her stood at the western extremity of the earth on the frontiers of the lower world - here's one for you Rochester , which itself was called "house of Persephone".
Cora also came home "soused" or, preserved in salty water - a sailor!

Vagabond heart - Sea voyages often resulted in loss of crew / ships - parent's grief, lover's woe. In the mythical tale, as a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. He was asleep under the stern of the rotting Argo when it fell on him, killing him instantly.
Ships can also be referenced as "the jewel of the ____ sea" etc.
A ship's drive could be said to be the "door and key" to the galaxy. A whisperer in witchspace, the siren of the deepest void.

A Brow is a nautical term for the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
The brightest stars (jewels on the brow) that relate to the hull / keel of the Argo Navis are:

• Canopus / Alpha Carinae
• Miaplacidus / Beta Carinae
• Avior / Epsilon Carinae
• Aspidiske / Iota Carinae
• Regor / Gamma Velorum
• Naos / Zeta Puppis
• Ahadi / Pi Puppis
• Tureis / Rho Puppis

Ride on, Commanders!
That's all I have for tonight, but this is only scratching the surface of what I'm thinking about. Perhaps this can help someone find at least something that will help crystallize my other ideas into something more substantial

That's fascinating! Exciting times

Any idea on how to get more of the signal? Or do you think this is all there is and the rest of the locational clues are elsewhere?

 

[El Saico]

This is a good point, is it due to the 'precession' cycle thing?

O7

Yes, much like Kochab was the pole star of antiquity (although not close enough for navigational purposes, so nearby Pherkad had to be used in conjunction).

@Louis Calvert I think we are on the right track with the signal. I can now say with more confidence they are fragmented pieces of a larger puzzle.

This evolved from a sudden realisation I had from my earlier post about Zeta Puppis and the idea of Cepheid variables and T Tauri stars.
A while back I had explored the Signal shapes and tried to match it to the Taurus constellation, but in reading more about Puppis I realised this was the real key.

Puppis is one component of the greater Argo Navis constellation - the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. It includes Carina (the hull) and Vela (the sails).
Puppis is latin for the poop deck (from french - la poupe) or the stern (rear) of a ship - typically an elevated section for navigation.

For reference, here are the landscape signal lines traced out:

Spoiler: The Landscape Signal Lines

View attachment 380110 View attachment 380112 View attachment 380113

Left (Red) - the Mountain,
Middle (Blue) - what I call the "Taurus", and
Right (Green) - another line I spotted in the noise.
These seemed to be the most common elements of the signal, aside from one which seems close to the right-hand line of the Mountain image.

While overlaying these shapes over the constellations, I recognised the aft shape of the Puppis constellation. From there it was just a matter of lining things up. The moment I saw it I knew this had to be something.
The mountain is not a mountain.... it's Vela the sail with the mast running through it!!!

View attachment 380126

Here is where it gets a bit tinfoily, but relates to earlier ideas I had.

SHIP METAPHOR

---

The codex references Art Tornqvist and Cora. Art is stated as being a shipboard mechanic. Cora, unknown if his wife or daughter, wants to borrow his ship to find a treasure. Much like Jason and the Argonauts went on a voyage seeking the Golden Fleece.
Related to this, in classical times the Argo constellation appeared to skim along the river of the Milky Way - mother of galaxies?? (a ship is typically referred as feminine)

The name Art Tornqvist can be broken down to its syllables Art-Torn-Qvist.
A Kvist in some languages is the name for a Dormer - a room-like projection from a roofed structure. The aft poop deck of a traditional ship has something resembling that:

Spoiler: La Poop

View attachment 380118

The term Aft also derives from the Old English æftan. Say Æftan Kvist 3 times quickly
You could also stretch the meaning of Torn as the nordic Thorn - a thorned, or weaponised, poop deck.

Cora is another name for Persephone - daughter of Zeus & Demeter and wife of Hades - Groves sacred to her stood at the western extremity of the earth on the frontiers of the lower world - here's one for you Rochester , which itself was called "house of Persephone".
Cora also came home "soused" or, preserved in salty water - a sailor!

Vagabond heart - Sea voyages often resulted in loss of crew / ships - parent's grief, lover's woe. In the mythical tale, as a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. He was asleep under the stern of the rotting Argo when it fell on him, killing him instantly.
Ships can also be referenced as "the jewel of the ____ sea" etc.
A ship's drive could be said to be the "door and key" to the galaxy. A whisperer in witchspace, the siren of the deepest void.

A Brow is a nautical term for the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
The brightest stars (jewels on the brow) that relate to the hull / keel of the Argo Navis are:

• Canopus / Alpha Carinae
• Miaplacidus / Beta Carinae
• Avior / Epsilon Carinae
• Aspidiske / Iota Carinae
• Regor / Gamma Velorum
• Naos / Zeta Puppis
• Ahadi / Pi Puppis
• Tureis / Rho Puppis

Ride on, Commanders!
That's all I have for tonight, but this is only scratching the surface of what I'm thinking about. Perhaps this can help someone find at least something that will help crystallize my other ideas into something more substantial

The toast being related to Homer's Odyssey was already hypothesized here a while ago, but linking the Landscape Signal to Argo Navis makes it even more intriguing!
(and I say that as the one who threw water at the flames of the expedition on Canonn's Discord...)

One interesting property of those three constellations is that their stars' Bayer designations (i.e. their Greek letter prefixes) were retained even after the breakup; thus only Carina has Alpha and Beta, Vela has Gamma and so on.

Right off the bat I see an issue with the jewels on the brow, however: Gamma Velorum sits as the center of its namesake Regor Sector, from which the Guardian cone/arrow of influence extends, and has always been permit-locked.

 

[Rochester]

The tree-rune systems are: Purisaz (thorn), Ansuz (oak or ash), Berkanan (birch) and Ehwaz (yew).
These are not concentrated in a particular part of the Bubble.

In your 3D diagram just above showing the Norns and Greek fates, there is a cluster of four purple dots just below the lowest point of the yellow triangle. This is close to the centre of the architecture, so I thought they might be interesting to visit and see what is nearby.

Yeah I think those purple points aren’t grouped like that in game, that grouping is due to perspective from the point of view of the camera.

Regards the Thorn / Tree systems it’s hard to identify what is intentional and what is arbitrary at present because I believe Brookes may have utilised a large number of mythologies and repurposed them. Some may have an important role to play - others may not.

One of my suspicions is he might have applied some type of locational marker system based on Robert Holdstocks ‘Rune of Thorn’ concept, which may also involve other types or trees, from various historical faiths. He may not have.

Many of those systems you’ve named I’ve already plotted. I’m simply looking for a pattern.

At present yes they are fairly well spaced out, but I’m seeing some triangulation; this may simply be pattern bias, or it may not, but I suspect there may be more such systems.

Purisaz (thorn) 96.03 -10.34 46.19
Ansuz (oak or ash) 61.91 5.97 54.53
Berkanan (birch) -19.28 67.56 31.00
Ehwaz (yew) 73.09 -110.25 90.50

Askr (Norse first man or Ash tree) 66.72 67.44 -6.69
Meliae (Greek tree nymph linked to the Ash tree) -17.31 49.53 -1.69

Within the Lost Realms zone there is Futhark (Runic alphabet) 75.34 -119.28 46.44; it holds the system Chuillin which means ‘holy bush’ in German, also in this system is the body Faereal, which might mean ‘fae real’?!

The image below shows these Thorn/Tree systems shown in purple, in relation to the Morrigans, the Norns, Brookes Drabbles and the Mountains.

The second image shows an odd alignment with the Norse Norns and Greek Fates. I’ve plotted their exact centres of the Fates and Norns. From a certain perspective they might seem to align? These may just be establishing Points which identify the ‘boundary’ of Brookes model? Who knows…