Eye of the Universe

The Eye of the Universe is an extremely old planetary object in a distant orbit around the Sun. Learning about the Eye of the Universe and discovering the information and equipment necessary to reach it represents the intended goal of the game.

History
The earliest mention of the Eye of the Universe comes from the Nomai of Escall's Vessel. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Vessel received a mysterious signal that was originating from an unknown source that appeared to be older than the Universe. Their curiosity piqued, they initiated an emergency warp to the source but ended up ensnared within Dark Bramble. After evacuating their Vessel and subsequently settling the Solar System, they named the source of this mysterious signal the Eye of the Universe and continued their search by building the Eye Signal Locator on The Attlerock. After the Eye Signal Locator failed to locate the Eye of the Universe, they began constructing much more sophisticated machines such as the Orbital Probe Cannon, Sun Station and Ash Twin Project in the hopes of inducing a supernova in the Sun to produce enough power to manipulate time to produce a time loop, effectively giving themselves infinite time to find the Eye of the Universe. The Sun Station ultimately failed to produce any significant effect on the Sun. Before the Nomai could find a suitable replacement, they were wiped out by the arrival of The Interloper in the Solar System.

While the Nomai never lived to see it, hundreds of thousands of years later the Sun reached the end of its natural lifespan and subsequently went supernova, powering the Ash Twin Project and activating the Nomai's ancient time manipulation technology. Thanks to the combined effort of the Orbital Probe Cannon and Ash Twin Project, the Eye of the Universe was swiftly located. However, there were no surviving Nomai left to act upon this knowledge.

Location
The Eye of the Universe is in a distant orbit around the Solar System and is the farthest celestial body from the Sun, far outside the reach of the supernova. It cannot be found by conventional means and is unreachable until the player discovers the coordinates within the Probe Tracking Module at the core of Giant's Deep and is able to repair the Vessel's warp drive by removing the Advanced Warp Core powering the Ash Twin Project.

It is not entirely certain if the location of the Eye is jumping like its shards or moon does. The random trajectory of the Nomai probe suggests that the location of the Eye is stationary in a stable orbit around the solar system.

Features
The Eye of the Universe appears to be a highly quantum object, being made of the same unknown Quantum material that the various Quantum Shards are made of, and is indirectly the source of all quantum shards within the Solar System. It features an incredibly powerful quantum storm funneling quantum energy into a quantum maelstrom at the south pole, which is capable of severing connection to the player's scout probe and preventing it from being recalled permanently. It also features a large crater at the South Pole.

The Eye of the Universe features one moon, the Quantum Moon. Solanum informs the player at the Sixth Location that the Sixth Location is in orbit around the Eye of the Universe, the Quantum Moon is the Eye of the Universe's moon, and the Sixth Location is the moon's primary location.

Purpose
Despite playing a pivotal role in the story, the true age, nature, or purpose of the Eye of the Universe is never revealed (although the Nomai believed it to be older than the universe itself). Information pertaining to the Eye of the Universe is mainly in the form of Nomai Speculation discovered from ancient ruins as well as information inferred from the Quantum Moon at the Sixth Location (in orbit around the Eye of the Universe). Both ancient Nomai cities, The Hanging City and Sunless City, on Brittle Hollow and Ember Twin respectively, feature shrines dedicated to understanding the Eye of the Universe and the philosophical implications of such an object existing. The Nomai speculated as to whether The Eye of the Universe could be conscious or malicious. They also wondered if it truly called out to them or perhaps they misunderstood the signal. When she was a child, the Nomai Solanum believed the Eye was a malicious entity which tricked her clan into coming to the Solar System to intentionally maroon them.

Ending
The Eye of the Universe plays an integral role in one of the Endings. After learning about the Nomai, the impending death of the Universe, and all the necessary information required to reach the Eye of the Universe, the player makes the journey to the Eye of the Universe after deactivating the Ash Twin Project, before the Supernova destroys the Solar System permanently. On the Eye of the Universe, it creates various Quantum objects that the protagonist finds familiar, including trees, a quantum version of the observatory, and quantum versions of all the travelers. On the Eye of the Universe, the travelers gather before assisting in the creation of a new Universe beginning with a new big bang. The fate of the Eye of the Universe following this event is unknown, although it is theorized that Eye continues the cycle and will call out to other lifeforms come the next end of the universe.

Texts and recordings
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Museum

 * Anglerfish
 * Anglerfish

Of all the lifeforms who will perish in the oncoming death of the universe, we will miss the anglerfish the least. Nomai skeleton when cause of death was found

The Nomai who came to our solar system were following a signal from the Eye of the universe.

They perished when the Interloper arrived, bringing with it the deadly substance we called ghost matter that flooded the entire solar system almost instantly and without warning. Nomai skeleton when cause of death was not found

The Nomai who came to our solar system were following a signal from the Eye of the universe.

We never figured out how they died. Nomai statue

The Nomai never got to see it for themselves, but thanks to their efforts and technology, a Hearthian was able to reach the Eye of the universe. Outer Wilds Ventures

Outer Wilds Ventures was founded by Feldspar, Gossan, Slate, and Hornfels to explore a solar system at the end of the universe. Sun life cycle

At the end of its lifespan, our sun collapsed under its own gravity and then exploded in a violent supernova.
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Observatory

 * Notes part 1
 * Notes part 1

Hornfel’s Observations

This is incredible! At first I thought the points of light in this image were stars, but they’re not... they’re galaxies!

And this image covers just a tiny patch of the whole sky, which means the universe contains at least a thousand times more galaxies than we previously imagined.

I... I think I need to sit down. Notes part 2

Hmmm, this is odd. According to my redshift calculations, every single galaxy in this image is moving away from us.

In fact, the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it appears to be moving away.

It’s almost as if the entire universe is expanding.

But if that’s true, was everything closer together in the past? And how far back can we extrapolate? Did the universe have a beginning?

At this rate of expansion, it won’t be long until all of the galaxies are too far away for us to see. I need to hurry and take more observations!
 * }

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Poem
The quiet shade

In the ancient glade

It's always dark

Across old bark


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