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'''The Dark Wheel''' was a semi-legendary space unit, star-riders who made it their business to seek the truth behind the plethora of myths and romantic stories that filtered back from all corners of the Universe: fabulous cities, parallel worlds, time travellers, even planets that appeared to be the old ‘heaven’ of Earth legend. The Dark Wheel was as mysterious and as mythical to the traders of the Galaxy as King Arthur might have been to the first spacemen.<ref>http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/dkwheel.htm#A52</ref>
{{Organizationinfobox
|title1      =
|image1      = The-Dark-Wheel-Codex-Logo.png
|caption1    = The Dark Wheel logo
|leader      = Alex Ryder
|members      = [[Kahina Tijani Loren|CMDR Salomé]]<br/>Various Elite-ranked pilots
|headquarters = Unknown
|location    = [[Shinrarta Dezhra]]
|type        = Association of explorers
|purpose      = Investigation of rumors, conspiracies, and myths
|established  = ~22nd century
|dissolved    =
|reorganized  =
|merged      =
}}
{{Quote|To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies! To the whisperer in witchspace, 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<ref name="KB-R">''[[Elite Dangerous]]'' [[Knowledge Base]] > Raxxla</ref>}}
The '''Dark Wheel''' is a secretive organization comprised of exceptional adventurers, explorers, investigators, and treasure-hunters that is said to have existed since the advent of interstellar space travel. Among their many arcane goals, they are thought to be primarily dedicated to finding [[Raxxla]]. A minor faction that calls itself "The Dark Wheel" is known to operate out of the [[Shinrarta Dezhra]] system, which is also the headquarters of the [[Pilots Federation]], but it is unlikely to have a legitimate connection to the Dark Wheel of legend, and most likely a reconstruction or an opportunistic imitator, since it was founded by a squadron of independent pilots.<ref name="KB-TDW">''[[Elite Dangerous]]'' [[Knowledge Base]] > The Dark Wheel</ref>


Legend has it that long ago, a corps of The Dark Wheel discovered the location of [[Raxxla]] and lived there, exploiting gateways to other universes for all the wealth and riches they could provide.<ref>http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/dkwheel.htm#A56</ref>
== History ==
{{Quote|Oh, they're out there alright. I've never met them, but I know they're out there. Think about how well known the stories are. Now think about how easy it would be for some two-bit band of hucksters to pass themselves off as the Dark Wheel and start trading on their reputation. Doesn't happen, does it? Not for long, anyway. Whenever someone tries to usurp the Dark Wheel name, sooner or later they get quietly shut down. And that's how I know.|[[Felicity Farseer]]<ref name="KB-TDW" />}}
The Dark Wheel is believed to have existed since the earliest days of interstellar space travel,<ref name="KB-TDW" /> which would place its founding sometime in the 22nd century, when humanity established its first colony outside of [[Sol]] on the planet Taylor Colony in [[Tau Ceti]].


The Dark Wheel are active in the [[Shinrarta Dezhra]] system.
Self-professed "people's journalist" and Dark Wheel expert Lyta Crane has created an extensive archive of information related to the Dark Wheel, and claims that the group was founded in and operated out of a disused [[starport]] orbiting the eighth moon of an unnamed gas giant. The station was a toroid design that was kept on minimal power to avoid detection, hence the name "Dark Wheel". Crane believes that this station is still being used by the Dark Wheel to this day, and that it contains records and artefacts that new members can examine to verify that they have joined the genuine Dark Wheel. However, Crane has her share of critics who have accused her of forging evidence for personal profit, and the Dark Wheel's station, if it exists, has never been located.<ref name="KB-TDW" />


== Lore ==
According to accepted spacer lore, membership in the Dark Wheel is by invitation only, and only the most exceptional pilots of each generation ever receive them. The process of initiation is subtle, and usually involves a disguised member of the Dark Wheel approaching a potential candidate and administering a test of courage and skill. If the candidate passes the test, the examiner reveals their identity and presents an invitation to join the group. Any attempts to contact the Dark Wheel to request membership never produce results. Some dissenting theories claim that new members are selected based on lineage, with Dark Wheel members training and eventually inducting their own children; some members are even thought to take pains to keep their children away from the Dark Wheel for their protection.<ref name="KB-TDW" />
The Dark Wheel is another legend of Elite Dangerous that stretches back to the dim and distant past, perhaps second only to the legendary planet Raxxla in its elusiveness.<ref>[http://www.drewwagar.com/lore/elite-dangerous-lore-the-dark-wheel/ Elite Dangerous Lore: The Dark Wheel by Drew Wagar]</ref>


It was once described thus:
=== Soontill ===
Reportedly, the Dark Wheel has yet to locate Raxxla, but sometime prior to 3300, a known branch of the group known locally as the "Circle of Independent Elite Pilots", located a mysterious planet called "[[Soontill]]" which was a "world full of [[Thargoid]] treasures beyond anyone's wildest dreams." This planet is believed to be the source of [[Soontill Relics]], which are exclusively sold at Cheranovsky City in Ngurii. At the time of Soontill's discovery, the Dark Wheel was headed by the pilot Alex Ryder. Alex's two sons, Neptune and Oberon, disagreed about whether Soontill or Raxxla should be prioritized.<ref>''[[Elite: And Here The Wheel]]''</ref><ref name="DrewTDW">https://www.drewwagar.com/lore/elite-dangerous-lore-the-dark-wheel/</ref>


“… a semi-legendary space unit, star-riders who made it their business to seek the truth behind the plethora of myths and romantic stories that filtered back from all corners of the Universe: fabulous cities, parallel worlds, time travellers, even planets that appeared to be the old ‘heaven’ of Earth legend. The Dark Wheel was as mysterious and as mythical to the traders of the Galaxy as King Arthur might have been to the first spacemen.”
=== Minor Faction ===
[[File:Dark_Wheel_Faction_Mission.png|thumb|200px|A mission offered by The Dark Wheel]]
In 3300, minor faction that calls itself "The Dark Wheel" emerged in the permit-locked [[Shinrarta Dezhra]] system, headquarters of the [[Pilots Federation]]. The provenance of this minor faction is unclear, and it cannot conclusively be established that it has any direct relationship with the original Dark Wheel, and may just be an imitator.<ref name="KB-TDW" />


The Dark Wheel was closely associated with Raxxla, and the indications were that this group of individuals were actively seeking it out and had, by some accounts, found it. The Dark Wheel was known to be recruiting pilots of exceptional ability and who also had a desire for exploration. Certainly they maintained a cloak of anonymity.
The Dark Wheel minor faction is known to offer specialized missions, some of which request sourcing or delivering [[Trinkets of Hidden Fortune]] or [[SAP 8 Core Container]]s, or retrieving "data crystals" containing unknown coordinates from other minor factions for decryption and analysis.<ref>[https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/168253-The-Quest-To-Find-Raxxla Frontier Forums: The Quest To Find Raxxla]</ref>


The only canon individual known to have actually been a member of the Dark Wheel was an Elite combateer by the name of Jason Ryder. Whatever knowledge he had about their operations (and indeed the location of Raxxla itself) was lost when he was assassinated some time prior to 3125. His son, Alex Ryder, later despatched the assassin in a pitched battle over a planet called ‘Cirag’, though with revisions to system naming over the last two hundred years, the exact location of the altercation is uncertain.
=== Ancient Symbol ===
In mid-3301, [[Empire|Imperial]] [[Senator]] [[Kahina Tijani Loren]] vanished under mysterious circumstances. Her [[Imperial Clipper]], the ''Seven Veils'' was impounded at a [[Achenar/Capitol|Capitol]] spaceport and found to have been stripped of all valuable equipment. Lady Kahina's Imperial tiara and a small emblem were retrieved from the cockpit. The emblem had the word "Salomé" on one side and an ancient symbol on the other; the symbol apparently belonged to the Dark Wheel.<ref name="DrewKTL">https://www.drewwagar.com/progress-report/profile-senator-kahina-tijani-loren/</ref>


The Dark Wheel dropped out of mind in the intervening years, the conclusion being that perhaps their membership had aged and they had become defunct over the centuries.
== Notes ==
*The Dark Wheel 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.<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Alien-World-Complete-Illustrated-Guide/dp/0517305607</ref> Holdstock published a novella called ''[[Elite: The Dark Wheel]]'', which came packaged with the original [[Elite]] game, in 1984.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Wheel#Packaging_and_marketing</ref> In that novella, which is outside the canon of ''[[Elite Dangerous]]'', the only identified member of the Dark Wheel was Jason Ryder, an Elite-ranked combateer and the father of Alex Ryder. Jason had told his friend Rafe Zetter that he had found solid evidence of Raxxla's existence, but he was assassinated before he could pursue this new lead. Alex later avenged his father by destroying the assassin, after which Rafe told him about Raxxla and the assassin's possible links to a corrupt group of Elite pilots who had supposedly found Raxxla and were intent on monopolizing it. At this point, Alex had achieved the rank of Deadly and resolved to become an Elite, join the Dark Wheel, and find Raxxla himself.<ref name="TDW">[http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/dkwheel.htm ''The Dark Wheel'', Robert Holdstock]</ref><ref name="DrewTDW" />
*In 2020 and 2021, The Dark Wheel minor faction was at the center of a [[Background Simulation]] manipulation experiment, where players collaborated to expand the faction from Shinrarta Dezhra all the way to [[Sol]], the goal being to provoke a response either from the Background Simulation or [[Frontier Developments]]. The operation went smoothly, in spite of numerous player factions being uncooperative, but came to a sudden end when it was discovered that player factions cannot expand into Sol, suspected to be either being due to Sol being a [[Permits|permit-locked system]], or Frontier placing a hardcoded lock on Sol itself to prevent player factions from expanding into the system and breaking the in-universe lore.


Other reports, as detailed in the story of “And here the wheel” by John Harper, indicate that the Dark Wheel never managed to locate Raxxla, but instead did locate a mysterious planet called ‘Soontill’ which was reputedly a “world full of Thargoid treasures beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.” The Dark Wheel was by this point headed by a member of the Ryder family, Alex himself having two sons: Neptune and Oberon. These brothers were divided over whether or not to pursue Soontill or Raxxla.
== Videos ==
<gallery>
File:Elite_Dangerous-_THE_DARK_WHEEL_CODEX
File:The Dark Wheel (Part 1) Celebrating Elite at 40
File:The Dark Wheel (Part 2) Celebrating Elite at 40
File:The Dark Wheel (Part 3) Celebrating Elite at 40
File:The Dark Wheel (Part 4) Celebrating Elite at 40
</gallery>


By 3300 much of this had faded into the depths of history, but a minor faction calling itself ‘The Dark Wheel’ emerged in the ‘Shinrarta Dezhra’ system (also known as the ‘Founders World’) around about this time, offering some specialised missions. The system itself is permit locked by the Pilots Federation, requiring Commanders to reach an Elite ranking before being able to access it.
== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Dark Wheel Faction Mission.png|Dark Wheel faction mission
Elite The Dark Wheel Novella.jpg|The Dark Wheel novella
The-Dark-Wheel-Codex-Logo.png|Dark Wheel Codex logo
</gallery>


A mission from an organisation calling itself “The Dark Wheel” in the Shinrarta Dezhra system.
== References ==
 
<references />
Whether this new ‘Dark Wheel’ (at least partly operating in the open) is the same ‘Dark Wheel’ of ancient lore, a remnant of it, or a totally new organisation simply trading on the mystique of the name is not clear. There are notable similarities; missions are often ambiguous, couched in riddles and they only accept pilots of very high calibre.
 
The Dark Wheel remains a mystery – and those who are likely to know are unlikely to talk.


== The Dark Wheel novella ==
[[File:Elite The Dark Wheel Novella.jpg‎|right|200px]]
'''The Dark Wheel''' novella by Robert Holdstock came packaged with the original [[Elite]] game in 1984. Incidentally, it was the first novella to be included for distribution with a video game.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)#Marketing_and_release en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)]</ref>
== References ==
<references/>
[[ru:The Dark Wheel]]
[[ru:The Dark Wheel]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Minor Factions]]
[[Category:Minor Factions]]
[[Category:Organizations]]
[[Category:Mysteries]]
Retrieved from "https://elite.mistflux.co.uk/wiki/The_Dark_Wheel"