TalXoma - The Guiding Stone

TalXoma: The Stone That Points Home

In a world where time forgets and empires crumble, one truth remains etched in the glow of the ancient stone. 

No matter where or when you are, the light of TalXoma never wavers. It is the thread that defies the dark, the voice in the silence of the deep, forever guiding the way back home.

About this project:

This design is my entry for the Old World Magic contest hosted by Prime Tower Designs.

TalXoma is a modern take on an ancient relic that points to something that the first civilization called home. Using modern technology to replicate the function of an ancient compass that does not point to the north, but to a particular location. This was done by using an ESP32-C3 Micro controller to control a 24-LED WS2812 ring, as well as a standalone WS2812 LED (for the center gem). A BNO055 9-axis IMU was used to determine the orientation of the TalXoma in reference to a intitial position. Upon boot-up, it will take a reading of its current location and calculate the bearing to a predetermined location, or 'first origin.' 

The lore of Tal'Xoma

The discovery started in the depths of the jungles in America, where an archaeological team, tracing the faint signs of a long-lost civilization, made a discovery in a hidden chamber carved out of the ground. In the center, resting atop a pedestal made of dark stone, they found something that shouldn’t have existed.

Made with a craftsmanship that defied every known explanation, too precise to belong to any ancient civilization, yet undeniably older than the first written symbols. It should not have existed in the past, nor could it have been forged in any age we understand. Its complexity was out of place in both directions of time, as if it had slipped into history from a world that never fully intersected with ours.

They called it TalXoma.

A Guide to Something Beneath the Waves

At first, they thought TalXoma was a compass. But it didn’t work in response to magnetism, or the positions of the stars, or any other form of ancient or modern navigational aid. Instead, the glowing rune would change ever so slightly in response to movement, always shifting to point to one location in the ocean, far from land, far from ancient ruins.

The location itself had nothing. No islands. No ruins. Just waves. Yet, the stone insisted. The runes that encircled the TalXoma glowed softly, except for one that pulsed green, unwavering, like it was tracking something that no other device could detect. As they continued to study the ancient relic, they realized that TalXoma was not pointing to something that existed in the world they knew. TalXoma was pointing to something hidden beneath the waves, something ancient, something waiting.

The First Civilization's Secret

Fragments of ancient lore, gleaned from the farthest reaches of the world and the most obscure of books, spoke of a civilization older even than the oldest. Of a people who combined technology with powers that modern science cannot even begin to explain. Of a people who built devices that hummed in sympathy with the earth's heartbeat, and structures that vibrated with unseen energies, and artifacts that could record history in stone.
TalXoma, one of their most sacred devices, was not a map. It was a guide. Not to gold, but to beginning. Not to land, but to home.
The first civilization, legend went, had not begun on the continents that modern history recognizes. Their cradle, their womb, had lain elsewhere. Lain beneath the ocean, in a place now hidden by the pressure and the years.

Why They Left

The lore does not agree on what drove them out. Some say that the sea itself turned against them. Some say that the world itself changed, that the structures that held their home together failed. Some say that something moved in the depths, something they could not control.

Whatever the truth may have been, they left their home and went out into the world, taking with them only a few remnants of their technology. One of those technologies was TalXoma, meant to guide their descendants home, if they ever needed to return.

The Mark Beneath the Ocean

TalXoma points to nowhere that current civilization knows. It marks no cities, no ruins recorded on maps. It points to something far older.

A silent reminder of something that once existed. Something that came before us and that the world seems to have forgotten, something that may not be as dormant as we might like to think.

Bill of materials:

• ESP32 C3 Super mini
• WLED 24 led ring + extra 2812 led module
• GY-BNO055 9 axis IMU

Source Code can be found here!