Since I'm now "officially" away from EVE (my account is *finally* inactive), I'll give some good, serious hints as to what I think is going on.
1: There's a reason the Talocan are in W-space with the Sleepers.
2: "Talocan" could have a root in "Tlalocan", or "Place of Tlaloc". Tlaloc is a mesoamerican deity, and Tlalocan is where he lived. Tlalocan was said to be reached through dreams, and always for the purpose of curing an illness.
3: "Tony Gonzales" - need I say more?
4: TEA - A disease was "cured".
5: The Blood Raiders saw signs of their "end times" in images from Sleeper space.
6: Tlaloc was a God that required sacrifices.
Now, given this "random" information, and some more detailed information on the above subjects available from Wikipedia, I built a rather loosely constructed theory involving "Talocan Technology".
What if Talocan Technology does not refer to technology of the Talocan people, but technology found in "Talocan", the place of "Taloc". Given Tony Gonzales' penchant for mythology and "iconic figures", I have a strange feeling that Talocan are named such (and used in W-space) for a very obvious and symbolic purpose:
They were the ones using the Sleeper ships. I also highly doubt that they were the "Talocan people", simply someone using their technology.
From the Quarantine Area:
“You have entered a quarantine area. This region is infected. Leave now.”
“Violation of the quarantine will result in –“
“ –missiles are armed, ready to – “
Now, what was that about "Tlalocan", the "Place of Tlaloc"? What was the main reason to go there, and how did you get there?
1: You went there for a cure to a disease.
2: You get there in your sleep.
So, Sleepers go there and the Talocan go there, with at least one site sending out a message regarding a quarantine. The Sleepers have "The Mirror", with medical centers, biological research facilities, etc. I think the evidence points to a rather interesting possibility, one that I'm sure could easily fit in with the "Pre-Jovian Technology" idea presented in "The Blood-Stained Stars".
With all this evidence pointing to a disease, was there ever a cure? What kind of disease was it? Three enclaves in The Mirror point to genetic research. Part of that research points to genetic engineering.
The more fascinating aspect of "Tlalocan"? It was a place for those who had died violent deaths, particularly deaths associated with water.
"Wetgrave"?
It was also reached, through dreams, via whirlpools.
"Fluid routers"?
In the particular case of wetgraving, neurodegenerative case studies are mentioned in The Mirror enclaves. Fluid routers are used by the Sleepers. A lot of small things pointing in a very interesting direction I think. Also, Tech 3 ships basically extend the consciousness of the pilot into the various parts, based on advances gleaned from Sleeper technology.
So what if the "sacrifices" made by the "Talocan" to "Taloc" were sacrifices of people? In particular, people to operate technology they did not fully understand
at the time? The software to operate hardware; hardware with hard limitations on capabilities, but with quite a huge amount of processing power.
"Are they human?"
"Not anymore."
You want your beasts from beyond, your inhuman monsters? You want your multi-tentacled, Chthonic deities from beyond? Take a look in "The Mirror".