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Unable to sleep, I found myself reading stellar stories starring stars. They told tales of:

  • The view after the Great Flood, depicted in oil
  • A fellow who boasted he would slay all beasts, memorialized alongside his killer
  • A famous plumber's compilation
  • Something from the 70s, named after a grocery store
  • A calico with radiating white and a purple core

Now that you know more about these stories, How long did Polaris' home wait for its star?

Hint#1:

You don't need to find all five stellar stories in order to solve this. However, identifying more of them may help you find the attribute that makes them stellar stories. You will need to know what a stellar story is if you want to answer the bolded question.

Hint#2 (updated):

The theme of the puzzle is shared across all six "stellar stories", including Polaris' home. All six fit the theme in a more obvious way, and then all six also fit the theme in a more meta way. You can only discover the meta-element connecting these six by using the internet for search for the topics of these stories.

Hint#3:

If you spent some time on your PC searching for the topics of each "stellar story", you likely saw the meta-element that connects them hiding in plain sight.

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  • $\begingroup$ Looking online I found some rot13(ivpgbevna ren obbxf), could one of them help? $\endgroup$
    – xyldke
    Feb 22, 2022 at 11:18
  • $\begingroup$ @xyldke Nope, definitely no need for those. $\endgroup$
    – Cellion
    Feb 22, 2022 at 15:24

3 Answers 3

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Huge Thanks to Auribouros for finding the connection! And many thanks to Cellion for the puzzle and the hints!

  1. This is "After the Deluge" by Watts, also known as "The Sun", So we have the first star.

  2. That's Orion and the Scorpion, both constellations as well

  3. That's Super-Mario All Stars (thanks again Aribouros :))

  4. That's Big Star a band from the 70s and also a named after a Supermarket Chain

  5. That's the Calico Aster, Aster comes from the Greek for star and describes the flower's shape. It's also got white ray florets coming from a pink or purple center.

Solution:

As Aribouros mentioned, the connection is featured (starred) Wikipedia articles. Polaris is the North Star and part of the constellation Ursa Minor. Which according to This page waited 6 years and 155 days to get featured after it was promoted (answer confirmed by Cellion). Alternatively it waited 7438 days from it's creation to being featured!

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  • $\begingroup$ Hm, think 5 could be ROT13(Ebpxfgne Fna Qvrtb) ? $\endgroup$
    – Auribouros
    Feb 22, 2022 at 16:53
  • $\begingroup$ Could be, although I don't quite see the Calico (maybe because it's a term I hardly know) $\endgroup$
    – xyldke
    Feb 22, 2022 at 16:56
  • $\begingroup$ That set of years and days is the correct answer! #5 is a bit cheeky, but if you'd like one last hint to help you find it... rot13(Jung unf enlf naq qvfxf)? $\endgroup$
    – Cellion
    Feb 22, 2022 at 19:18
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks! I got it now. I probably should have thought about rot13(cynagf) a bit earlier. $\endgroup$
    – xyldke
    Feb 23, 2022 at 8:03
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Partial answer

  1. A fellow who boasted he would slay all beasts, memorialized alongside his killer

That might refer to Beowulf, even though it's not a star, the description fits perfectly, from the "kill all beasts" to the dragon who killed him.
EDIT: xyldke's answer is most likely correct given the common meta thread

  1. A famous plumber's compilation

I believe that's Super Mario All-Stars, or the more recent 3D edition, "a famous plumber" doesn't have many other matches.

Common threads:

"Regular" thread: They contain stars
"Meta" thread: The Wikipedia articles for After the Deluge, Orion and Super Mario All-Stars are featured, in the top right you can see a gold star

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  • $\begingroup$ There are quite a few famous people who used to be plumbers rot13(Zvpunry Pnvar naq Bmml Bfobhear sbe rknzcyr). I don't know what compilation refers to though. $\endgroup$
    – xyldke
    Feb 18, 2022 at 9:51
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe it's something like rot13(na nyohz, nsgre nyy fbzr negvfgf ner "fgnef") $\endgroup$
    – Auribouros
    Feb 18, 2022 at 9:57
  • $\begingroup$ Good Idea! rot13(Bmml bfobhear unf fbzr "pbzcvyngvbaf" (be obk frgf) va uvf qvfpbtencul, ohg abar gung fgvpx bhg. Wbr Pbpxre (nyfb n sbezre cyhzore) nyfb unf fbzr, ohg ntnva, abar gung fgvpx bhg gb zr.) $\endgroup$
    – xyldke
    Feb 18, 2022 at 10:07
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    $\begingroup$ Nice catch on the common thread! $\endgroup$
    – xyldke
    Feb 22, 2022 at 16:16
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    $\begingroup$ That's as far as I got, which made my third point most likely correct, but I didn't pursue a quest of looking through the mass that is the meta common thread $\endgroup$
    – Auribouros
    Feb 22, 2022 at 16:20
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So far this is just a collection of ideas, some more developed (1), some less (3)

  1. This might refer to the painting "After the Deluge" by Watts, also known as "The Sun", So we have the first star.

  2. That's the constellations Orion and Scorpius

  3. There are few musicians who used to be pumbers, maybe one of them has an album or box-set named like a constellation

  4. Are you sure, the grocery store and 70s thing are not named after another thing, perhaps a constellation?

  5. A calico is an animal with 3 colors of fur. The Constellation Canis Major (Great Dog) has many stars with different apparent colors. It also houses Sirius, a binary system that includes a white dwarf and also Epsilon Canis Major, the brightest source of unltraviolet (purple) radiation in the night sky.

Polaris:

That's the North Star and part of the constellation Ursa Minor. Ursa Minor corresponds mythologically to Arcas (with Ursa minor being his mother Callisto), I don't know the significance yet.

I suspect all of the tales refer to the names of stars. Although I do not know what they are yet. They might also be constellations!

I'll update this answer, whe I find answers to the other tales.

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  • $\begingroup$ You're partly on the right track. As you've seen in story #1, these stellar stories don't all fit the category you're trying to use for 2 through 5. See also hint #2. $\endgroup$
    – Cellion
    Feb 19, 2022 at 18:57

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