Raxxla

An emblem associated with Raxxla

Cora comes home soused and raving with wild stories, a new one every night. She claims she's found a map to some pirate stash, and all I have to do is loan her my ship so we can go dig it up. Maybe we should go find Raxxla while we're at it!

— From the journal of Art Tornqvist, circa 2296

Raxxla is a legend that has been circulating among spacers in one form or another for centuries. While there is little consistency among the various tales about Raxxla, the earliest stories about it agree that Raxxla is a definite place that holds a mysterious secret. Every explorer sets out to find Raxxla at some point in their career, convinced that they have picked the thread of truth out of the sea of rumors, but if any have succeeded in their quest, they have held their silence. The equally legendary organization known as The Dark Wheel is said to be dedicated to finding Raxxla.

Codex Entry

The following is the Raxxla entry from the Elite Dangerous Codex, available in-game.

"To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies! To the whisperer in witch-space, the siren of the deepest void! The parent's grief, the lover's woe, and the yearning of our vagabond hearts. To Raxxla!"

— Alleged toast of the Dark Wheel

The legend of Raxxla has been circulating, in whispers, for centuries. The quest for this mysterious place, the location of which is a deadly secret, was said to be the principal aim of the Dark Wheel, a putative fraternity of legend-chasers from the early days of interstellar travel.

The earliest recorded mention of Raxxla dates from 2296, from the journal of Art Tornqvist, a shipboard mechanic based in the Tau Ceti system. He writes: 'Cora comes home soused and raving with wild stories, a new one every night. She claims she's found a map to some pirate stash, and all have to do is loan her my ship so we can go dig it up. Maybe we should go find Raxxla while we're a it!' Although Tornqvist's account is the first known attestation of Raxxla, it is clear from context that the myth was already in circulation.

It is extremely difficult to find consistency among the various fragmentary rumours of Raxxla. Much like the ancient myths of Atlantis, El Dorado and the kingdom of Prester John, interpretations of the story range from the sceptical to the outlandish: Raxxla has been suggested to be anything from an unremarkable moon to a state of cosmic enlightenment. The earliest documented stories tend to agree on several points, however: that Raxxla is a definite place, and that it holds a mystical secret.

Several versions of the Raxxla story mention an alien artefact, the Omphalos Rift, described as a gateway or tunnel through which parallel universes can be accessed. These details, however, were later shown to bear a striking resemblance to the children's story Princess Astrophel and the Spiralling Stars, and soon lost credibility. Undaunted, some Raxxla seekers insisted that the story's author had cunningly concealed facts about the mysterious locale in his book as hints for those with eyes to see.

Students of Raxxla lore have noted that the legend exerts a strangely potent fascination on the minds of seekers. Commentators have compared this sensation to 'fernweh', the unaccountable longing for a place one has never seen. More than one interstellar treasure-seeker has become obsessed with Raxxla to the exclusion of all other dreams, and spent his or her entire life in a futile search for it.

Raxxla also plays a role in several conspiracy theories, most of which attest that it has already been discovered by some kind of sinister cabal (or sole tyrant), which has leveraged its power to establish covert dominance over humanity.

Whatever the truth of the matter, one thing remains irrefutable: the legend of Raxxla continues to inspire explorers and conspiracy theorists to this day.

Notes

• Raxxla was first featured in the 1980 book The Alien World: A Complete Illustrated Guide written by Steven Eisler, under the pen name of Robert Holdstock. Holdstock published a novella called Elite: The Dark Wheel, which came packaged with the original Elite game, in 1984. In that novella, which is outside the canon of Elite Dangerous, Raxxla was described as a mythical planet which held an alien construct that served as a gateway to other universes. A corps of Elite-ranked pilots was suspected to have found Raxxla and exploited the gateway for their own selfish purposes, and hired assassins to eliminate any independent pilots and members of the Dark Wheel who tried to uncover Raxxla.
• Frontier Developments have historically refused to explicitly confirm or deny the existence of Raxxla, a possible location, or anything else about it.
• Drew Wagar, an author licensed to write the official Elite: Reclamation and Elite Dangerous: Premonition novels that tied into events in Elite Dangerous, has confirmed on multiple occasions that he was informed by Fronter Developments staff that Raxxla was present in the game.
  • In September 2015, Drew Wagar stated, "I spoke to David Braben directly in 2014 and he confirmed to me that 'It’s out there and we (FD) know where it is.' – So it does exist."
  • In March 2019, Wagar stated that he had also been told by Michael Brookes in no uncertain terms that Raxxla is indeed in the game, and that the developers know exactly where it is.
  • In June 2021, Wagar described his 2014 conversation with Braben in detail, clarifying that it had occurred on July 8, 2014 at the BAFTA Games Showcase in London: "I chatted with him for about 5 minutes about the KS, the writers pledge, the ideas I had, how ED might evolve, how the coding was going and (yes, fanboy) how big an influence Elite had been etc... Then I asked him 'Is Raxxla in the game?' He answered with 'Yes. And we know where it is.' (I assumed the 'we' meant Frontier Developments)."
• Michael Brookes, the former Executive Producer of Elite Dangerous, also commented on Raxxla.
  • Brookes notably once said, "There will be no clues."
  • Brookes subsequently confirmed that Raxxla is in the Milky Way galaxy in an interview with player DJTruthsayer:
    Question: "Where is Raxxla?"
    Brookes: "Well it's in the Milky Way, but I can't tell you where it is. It's a journey that everyone has to travel for themselves."
    Question: "You have said that there will be no clues though?"
    Brookes: "That's true, but I think you have to make some of it a tiny bit obvious just so people know what they're doing. There's nothing to be revealed at this stage."
• Related thread for discussion on the ED forum: The Quest To Find Raxxla.

Trivia

• In November 2018, author Drew Wagar said, "My own personal theory is that it can't be too far from Sol as it was reachable long ago by more primitive ships. Whether this proves true... I guess we'll find out."
• The alleged name of the artefact on Raxxla, the Omphalos Rift, is taken from Ancient Greek culture. In Ancient Greek, "omphalos" means "navel", or the center of a thing, and the Ancient Greeks believed that the sanctuary of Delphi was the center of the world. Intriguingly, when the Knowledge Base that contained the first mention of the Omphalos Rift was added to Elite Dangerous with update 3.3, the system Pleiades Sector IR-W d1-55, which was the headquarters of the anti-Thargoid organization Aegis, was also renamed Delphi.

Videos

Elite Dangerous- RAXXLA CODEX

Raxxla - The Elite Dangerous Mystery

Elite Dangerous - The Mystery of Raxxla Why it may be best if NEVER found

Elite's Unsolvable Easter Egg

Elite Dangerous Lore, Raxxla and the Dark Wheel

RAXXLA Research - Elite Dangerous