[casablanca]

Wow. Just went through those last three pages and now I'm getting ready to go through them again.

Wish I had more to add, but I'm going to have to so some research first. I used to work for a guy who was a mason, but not surprisingly he didn't talk about it much (he had the compass symbol on his car next to the one with the fez). I'm gonna hit Wiki, I'll post if I see anything fun.

Awesome work.

[mortality]

Sylvia, that looks like a great way to tie all the puzzle solutions together.

I'm not so sure that we have all the solutions tho. Does anyone have thoughts about replacing Ahasuerus, W. Wallace, and Enlil with the three Greek names for the Hebrew God? Could matching a MSG3 puzzle name with the appropriate Triangle of Art name be the answer? After swapping the names, the solved Triangle of Art would be placed into the diagram.

Since we're in a holding action until Ethan verifies the rest of the speculation, how about we get a head start on MSG4?

Does MSG4 relate to the Freemason symbols of the compass and square? Ethan's John Dee reference and the Duke of Manchester on the top of the puzzle both have connections to that kind of secret society.

Freemasons sometimes use words as a way of identifying themselves. Could the words in MSG4 be anagrams or clues to providing the proper passphrase?

Given that the handwritten page/puzzle numbers in the bottom corner seem significant (1 ring, 2nd king, 3 names of God), could we be looking for either four words or four phrases?

[Sylvia]

more comfirmation

[mortality]

Ethan replied to the emails out of order, so a lot of his questions have already been answered...looks like I'm the jackass for not getting it right the first time, eh?

Mind you, the subject of my email did say "read the other first."

Quote:

Good lord, Mort, of course! The legendary and apocryphal accounts of Solomon! This is all making a lot of sense. I had forgotten about the ring. Even thinking about the "seal of Solomon", I had forgotten the connection between seal and signet and ring. And the cross-cultural legends are fairly consistent about his summoning and control of demons to help with the building of the 1st temple, but in my memory (admittedly sketchy on this, so I'll have to look into it) there are a multitude of demons. So is MSG2 saying that contrary to popular legend Solomon commanded only three of something and not a multitude? It seems to be. And whatever it was that he used to control them was not, in fact, a ring? MSG1 seems to be saying that, but it sure as hell isn't saying what the "ring" was. I'm going to have to check, but perhaps you already know; in the lore of these things, when something is summoned is it constrained to a physical location - like inside a circle? Or does it have mobility? I'm wondering because if this is supposed to actually relate to building the temple, could a summoned thing have helped if it was bound within a small space? Although I guess there is nothing that says that the circle would have to be very small? Or maybe they were bound in different ways. Since MSG2 talks about commanding only three, my first thought was that this related somehow to the three names in MSG3. Possibly too simple, but that line of reasoning Luke was following did seem to make sense. Not sure about MSG4 yet, though once again it does seem to refer to another of the messages with its reference to the executed one (if there is a connection to Wallace being executed, that is). And this whole Solomon/Demon scenario does account for the pronoun "ITS". Man, I'm overloaded. This is great work. Let me get this to Christoper right away, because I think this will go far in calming Kennedy down. I'll be back as soon as I can (unfortunately I've also got to prep for heading up to Ohio). Thanks, Ethan

Anyway: confirmation!

[mortality]

Sheesh, I'm still awake. Good thing I have a light day ahead.

Order for solution to MSG2: dashcat's order works. Does the order matter? Maybe if it has to be entered into Solomon's Triangle. If it doesn't, then maybe the clue's sole purpose was to direct us to Solomon.

Gibberish: agreed, it has to be in-game and relevant. The PMS are moderating the comments and they wouldn't let something be posted if it was unaffiliated. Ethan's now explicitly said so. We need to decode those comments. How was it encoded? Solution will provide a URL and means to contact the puzzle authors?

Solomon's Seal and gameplay meta: I, for one, was absolutely ignorant of it. This is my first fantasy ARG. And really the first time I've done more than superficial research into the occult. Other than briefly following a few old school viral campaigns (e.g. Mission: Impossible...I think I was on AOL at the time...sheesh), my participation with ARGs really began in June 2007.

Anyway, beyond my inexperience and ignorance of Solomon's Seal and its importance, I didn't see the Seal and MSG1's the "One Ring" linked in-thread.

I apologize for using the first person a lot, and for seeming to take credit for the obvious. I do try to pass credit along where possible.

So, since there are several players new to ARGs and occultism, let's follow daschat's lead and share background information, regardless of its possible obviousness. That's the brilliance of the hive mind: some people know the information, other people can provide a fresh perspective for it. Just have to share. Also, we have to explicitly tell these things to Ethan, anyway. We can't assume he knows them.

I'm trying my best not to trout, but my playing style is mostly kind of a brute force attack. See clue. See hint. Research both and absorb facts, Check for relevance, connection to puzzle and story. Check for redundancy. Draw conclusion. Repeat until satisfied (sometimes I skip this step). Throw answer at hive mind (hopefully in coherent English). See if the answer sticks. Return to beginning until puzzle or story is complete.

Who wants to create the Mort Flow Chart?

Fatal flaw: I don't really take notes until after the fact and I don't always provide linear explanations for how I thought of something. If we get a lull we should put together an outline/narrative that's more comprehensive than the Supplemental Pages Ethan's provided. Doing that usually fills in the gaps. I also have lots of trouble with ciphers and Finnish anagrams.

[dashcat]

Its really late for me too but I wanted to say a few things.

First, I think the order for the book puzzle is Only the wise king commands three Since Solomon is the only one who had the ring and could command.

Second, I wrote to Ethan about the coded messages in trackback but he hasn't replied to me. I see that he did reply to Luke and then Mort. Gibberish must be a clue because I can't see him dismissing those messages when they've already been labled as important.

Third, I know Sylvia and Rogi knew about the seal of Solomon. I know about the seal of Solomon. In all my research for this game so far I have come across it a bunch of times...again. The point is that I didn't menltion it because I made the assumption that everyone playing args must know about this stuff by now. Thats a bad assumption to make.

[mortality]

Don't worry about looking like a jackass. If anything, this thread proves you'll be in good company.

It's good thinking and it looks like we have a growing consenus that they're connected. "How?" is the question...and how do we convince Ethan and WF, our friends, the skeptics?

New thought about the handwritten clues:
(1)...one ring, obviously (in hindsight). ^2 I liked the idea that it had to do with crowns and kings. Saul was the Hebrew's first king. His son succeeded him, but did not finish uniting the kingdowm.

King David was the first Hebrew ruler to defeat all of the Hebrew's enemies, thereby uniting Israel and Judah, bringing peace and creating the conditions for the Temple to be built. King Solomon was his son, and succeeded to the throne during a time of peace. He was therefore the second king of the unified state and the first (and last) to be able to build the temple. Every other succession had some sort of dispute.

Therefore: ^2=2nd crowned king of Israel/Judah, Solomon?

In combination with MSG1: Solomon's Seal (a ring that is not a ring).

/3\ is the three names of the Hebrew God written in the Triangle of Art, Solomon's Triangle?

So what is the square? The vessel Solomon eventually contained the summoned creatures in? Could 4 be the number of demons/djinn Solomon trapped? There's a huge set of literature, all of which disagrees about that number. The literature does seem to think that he either used a brass ring or a brass lamp as the vessel, tho. That doesn't exactly fit with a square.

Sylvia, you mentioned the square and compass are Masonic symbols. We have some other references to Masons and other secret societies. WF explicitly identified the Duke of Manchester as being a Mason. John Dee had ties to Rosicrucians. (Oddly enough, there's some speculation FreeMasons begin with Solomon building the Temple.)

That looks like a good lead for solving MSG4. Do the Masons have any words they associate with the square and compass? It could also be our clue to who created the puzzles. (ETA: Freemasons use signs [gestures], grips or tokens [handshakes] and words to gain admission to meetings and identify legitimate visitors. Sounds like the solution to MSG4 will provide us with the right words to talk to the people who provided our puzzles. But where?)

ETA: I sent Ethan an email correcting some of the mistakes in the previous one, and adding in the latest Solomon and puzzle speculation. I only found the stuff about words after I sent the email, so that still needs to be shared.

I don't think we should discuss AC with him until we have a more explicit link. He's especially skeptical of that kind of conspiracy talk. Just look at how he replied way earlier when I said Shannon might be in danger. So we need to ease him into it.

[Sylvia]

Ok, I'm convinced more than ever now that Autumn Country is somehow involved and maybe the videocast since it's now January. There are some strange things in AC that fit with this, for example Nicolas/Bishop/Nic/Rook uses # in the place of a person's name. And the incident of seeing the guy with no shadow was in St. Pete. Fl.. There is some more but I'm way to tired to go on anymore. I will try to read it more tomorrow. Nic may be the guy who sent the MSGs to WF and it's possible he will be our next contact. If so we may be able to find out where his new blog is by going to Neil's forum and searching for a user by the name of Bishop Rook. I'm too tired tonight to do anymore myself and I will be spending most of tomorrow absorbing the rest of AC and tracking down Nic. http://neilgaimanboard.com/6/ubb.x?cdra=Y&s=733605825

I just pray that this is not a wild goose chase/red herring. And if it is, I'm apologizing in advance.

Mort, you did a great job with the email to Ethan. Let's hope he can turn us on to something. By the way, remember when he told me that humans like to make connections or something like that about the number 23. Well Bishop makes a similar statement on Enclave's copy of his blog. http://www.autumncountry.net/ac-e-nicblog.html

Quote:

We humans like to make connections, even when there is no real connection to be made.

There are so many more connections between AC and WF and so much that needs to be gone through but it's like 3:30 in the morning for me and I'm dead tired.

At least we've made a connection and if my hunch is right maybe Bishop will be able to tell us more about the ritual (if we can find him.) Lord, please don't let this make me look like a jacka$$.

[mortality]

Typoxic wrote:

Isn't Michael associated with war? With that sword of his, he kind of reminds me of William Wallace. Maybe the other two names on our Triangle have similar associations? If so, that might indicate which things the kind did command.

There are four names total. Michael the archangel. And three Greek names for God: Primeumaton, meaning The "Beginning and End" or "First and Last"; Anaphaxeton, commander of the heavenly (angelic?) host; and Tetragrammaton, referring to the sacred, unpronounceable, four-letter name for God commonly written "jehovah." I'm under the impression only the Greek names are uttered as part of the ritual, but we need more research about using the Seal.

They're Greek, in part because Solomon's Seal seems to have first been described by a Classical Greek philosopher. Renaissance alchemists, as part of their rediscovery of Classical knowledge, picked up on that during their quest for total metaphysical knowledge of the universe. The Renaissance thinkers would've been familiar with writings in the original Greek and Latin, often translating them into Italian or other languages for easier consumption.

If Solomon actually created the incantation, then they should really be said/written in Hebrew...

Yes, Michael is God's military field commander. (ETA: Michael led the angels against Satan in the War between Dark and Light. His nemesis was Belial. Could Belial be the entity being summoned? On the other hand, Solomon allegedly captured something like 70 demons/djinn in a bottle using the Seal...he conjured them to build the Temple.)

I think part of the solution to MSG3 involves figuring out which of the puzzle names needs to be replaced by which of the Greek names.

W. Wallace is probably Anaphaxeton, the commander of the heavenly host, because he was a general.
Is Enlil symbolic of the sacred name of God? He's the only god in the list.
Is Ahasuerus the first and last because he's the wise king? He's the only one during whose reign the Temple in Jerusalem could really be built.

ETA: A grimoire/magical text called the Key of Solomon, original text here, seems to have the instructions for the conjurations.

There are Arabic and Western versions of the Seal and its associated legends.

[Typoxic]

Isn't Michael associated with war? With that sword of his, he kind of reminds me of William Wallace. Maybe the other two names on our Triangle have similar associations? If so, that might indicate which things the king did command.

[mortality]

Dunno. I only started reading Autumn Country after receiving the email invite to the game. Like I said, I'm not usually interested in Faery Tales. (Horrible, horrible, pun.)

Quote:

Ethan, You'll understand why I decided to bombard you with even more email when you get done with this. I wasn't kidding when I said the Solomon stuff was giving us ideas. Sylvia already showed you the image of the combined MSG3 and MSG4 puzzle symbols. Well, there's some more significance. There's a lot of information, so I apologize in advance if I can't remember who should be credited with what. Collaborative projects, ya know? The Triangle of Art/Solomon's Triangle symbol we told you about is used for containing summoned entities. Solomon's Seal seems to be affiliated directly with the triangle. Since MSG1 says "the ring was not a ring," we believe the proper seal is an alchemical symbol. It's basically the Star of David, also known as the alchemical symbols for fire and water superimposed over one another, sometimes surrounded by one or concentric circles. The circles would make it a ring that is not a ring. The Seal is used to summon the creatures that a Solomon's Triangle can contain. The Triangle's power comes from the three names written on each side of the triangle. This page doesn't have the exact image Sylvia found (its design varies, but the information stays the same), but it contains the appropriate details: http://www.spellsandmagic.com/Triangle.html The names along the outer edge are Greek versions of four Hebrew names for God. Tetragrammaton stands for the sacred, unpronounceable, four-letter name of God found in the Torah. Primeumaton essentially means the commander of the heavenly (angelic?) host. Anaphexoton stands for the first and the last...basically a reference to the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end version of God. Inside the triangle is a thrice-divided version of Archangel Michael's name. We think that the solution for MSG2 refers to "the only wise king" being Solomon and he "commanded three" names of God. Or something similar. Our final thought comes from your belief that the rituals in St. Pete are being performed off a document that didn't come from the 0702 cipher. We think this makes sense. Now, this is really out there and paranoid, but maybe there are two groups involved here. One group left 0702 for Shannon to find, knowing she would be looking at the Library (kind of risky to count on her to look a the Amphithaetrum so soon...any particular reason she'd go to that one early on? Is it the first title alphabetically? The oldest? The first added to the Library?). Their purpose may have been to alert you that someone intended to perform the ritual, and to help us figure out what it does. Then they provided you with the 0701, hoping to provide the tools to counter the ritual. The question becomes: what creature/kind of creature is being summoned? A demon? A djinn? Anyway, it's a hoax, and someone just wants you chasing a prank. It's real. Or at least, two groups think it's real and think you can do something about it. And it definitely seems like whoever provided 0701 and 0702 knew way too much about WF to not have some affiliation to it. This subject matter also seems way too close to the Autumn Country storyline for comfort. Maybe Dave is just trying to have some fun with Calvin and you're caught in the middle? Jade said they're old friends and Dave based an AC character on Calvin... I may have missed something, so you should probably expect another email. Complicatedly yours, Mort

Feh...forgot to send the picture of Solomon's Seal. Oh well, I described it in enough detail. And I didn't mention it needs to be drawn...

And I need to proofread for grammatical correctness better.

Lastly: Ethan seems to have a habit of disappearing just when we've finally got enough to make the final logical leap to get a solution. Drat!

[Rogi Ocnorb]

mortality wrote:

Igor, do you mean in this thread? I think it's been mentioned but not discussed, mostly because we didn't have many overt links and Ethan insisted Autumn Country is fiction...

Yes. Mostly because of the WF mention at AC. Well, that and the initials Nicholas uses in his journal are all names in this game as well.

For instance: Was the White Sands Addendum there before?

[mortality]

Igor, do you mean in this thread? I think it's been mentioned but not discussed, mostly because we didn't have many overt links and Ethan insisted Autumn Country is fiction...

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Regarding Autumn Country...
How much, if any, of the following is previously undiscussed?

Nicholas' journal (various pages), etc.

Autumn Country Google site links (FF)
Autumn Country Google site links (IE)

I really only looked at the pages linked within the site, proper, previously.

ETA: Take note of the actual filenames when viewing them.

[mortality]

Alright, I'll try to explain everything for Ethan and I'll post the email here. If I miss something, let me know and I'll send an appendix to him.

Luke, no worries. I emailed to tell him you were collaborating with us but hadn't posted the correspondence. In the future, it's probably best to just post any responses if he says anything remotely significant about the case. I'm guilty, too. I neglected to post a couple chats (I have since posted them) because they looked like chitchat, but after later developments, they seemed relevant. So...we should all be as diligent as possible with correspondence.

There are actually 4 names affiliated with the Triangle of Art. Michael is divided into 3 components. We'll have to do more research to know why he only commands three. Of course, it could just be that it meant "The only wise king" to narrow it down to Solomon.

Sylvia, the main thing is that one of the Autumn Country documents mentions the Whitechapel Foundation. And Calvin Michaels, the IT director for WF, is mentioned in the story. In a chat with Jade (actually one of the things I just mentioned), he said that David knows Calvin from way back and based the Autumn Country character on him. Jade is now IG (and David also based a character on him), so I'm inclined to believe that it's just a cover story. The Autumn Country Calvin and Autumn Country Jade are the same ones in this game.

I'll edit to add my email when I compose it.