Oh, I see how pip got Ethan's wordpress site. Ethan sent me that last email from his personal account at gmail. Blog address is in the signature.
So observant of me... Good thing I haven't abridged his emails.
Email to Ethan
Quote:
Good morning,
I feel a little sheepish today. I'd been sharing your emails directly with the other people checking out the strange notes. They noticed that you sent the last email from your personal account and checked out your personal website. I hope that doesn't cross any lines you'd rather we didn't.
Anyhow, we saw that you received an anonymous message in October. We wonder if you think the new notes might be related?
Best wishes,
Mort Kuolevaisuus
Freelance Investigator
Thank you, Anonymous
Posted on October 18, 2007 by ethangrant
To clarify, that would be the "Anonymous" who left the note in the rather creative way on the afternoon of 10/15/07.
In light of the way you contacted me, didn't have a good way to respond; so thanks. The info you provided was interesting and useful. I'd like to chat some more, if possible. Send me a note the same way, I'll keep an eye out for it.
I have a feeling that may be the first letter in the series. We should ask Ethan about it.
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:15 pm
mortality
We should also note, if we haven't already, that "Whitechapel" was likely written by two different people. Handwriting shows more differences than can be explained by the change in writing implement.
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:13 pm
zizka
THESB wrote:
Hmm, Ahasuerus would be the only king out of the three. Maybe the first document would help to solve this...
Yes, especially since upon further reflection Enlil wasn't actually "king" of the gods so much as proxy ruler in the name of the god of the heavens. The wiki article made the Shogun:Emporer, Prime Minister:Constitutional Monarch analogies.
Both the glyph and the book cypher seem to be missing crucial information. I looked to Ethan's blog for some more info, but nothing much there. I'm hoping for a letter #1, with a lone line marking it, to shed some light here.I'd like to know more about Whitechapel. It's a tad odd that the same employee found both letters and was alone in the office at the time. Also, that blue painters' tape is totally useless for anything other than masking while painting. I doubt it would even hold an envelope closed for very long.
--just working out the totality of my observations; you never know what will come up.
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:11 pm
mortality
pipakin wrote:
Because no one had pointed it out (or I hadn't noticed), it seems Mr. Grant has given us another IG website.
Well, you weren’t jokin’ about being gainfully employed, were you. I come back from my little junket and find that you’re all grown up. Good for you. I like the concept of your new project. It’s a very good idea. As I commented over there, though, I think you all are being played with this first case of yours. And it looks like you might be thinking the same thing from your comment to ‘Mort’.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that beyond crosswords I am not a big puzzle person, but I noticed from the supplemental material that you may be involved with the ARG crowd and that is something that I do know at least a little about. I took a seminar while I was working on my masters that dealt with some of the edgy new marketing ideas and ARGs featured heavily in that.
Let me tell you, these people - on both sides of the coin - are fiendishly clever. (By both sides I mean the people who create these things and the people who ‘play’ them.) They are very good at engineering interest by seeding game elements in areas with a high potential for interest. With what you guys do, and how you do it, AND the added bonus of a new project that was designed to involve people from all over the internet, it seems like a great place to “plant a lead”
My guess is that someone that you have been dealing with also has ties to the ARG community. They mentioned your new project and someone took the opportunity to pull you in. Just a theory, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense to me than “We three kings of orient are…” or whatever it says.
Call me when things calm down for you and we can discuss this some more.
Thank you, Anonymous
Posted on October 18, 2007 by ethangrant
To clarify, that would be the "Anonymous" who left the note in the rather creative way on the afternoon of 10/15/07.
In light of the way you contacted me, didn't have a good way to respond; so thanks. The info you provided was interesting and useful. I'd like to chat some more, if possible. Send me a note the same way, I'll keep an eye out for it.
Me and Mort were discussing the pictures and it seems like the first letter was photographed over the top of smooth finish concrete. The second letter was scanned using a dirty scanner. I'll mention to them that they need to clean it. Also the envelope scanned shot had what looks like a piece of similar colored paper behind the envelope.
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:37 am
pipakin
Because no one had pointed it out (or I hadn't noticed), it seems Mr. Grant has given us another IG website.
Seems to be his blog. Perusing it for any new info now.
edit: could just be me grasping at miniscule straws here, but his website has an awful lot of...missing letters. Could just be bad typing skills.
Seems at one point he taught a class on mythology too. Perfect guy for this job, eh?
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:33 am
zizka
konamouse wrote:
The characters came to you knowing you are ARG players. Makes it really easy to "be yourselfs" in this ARG. A very plausible reason for the characters to contact "strangers" with their problems (which can be tricky in other games - why would a complete stranger send you an email about helping him/her with a mystery or a missing person, etc).
Nothing wrong with continuing that premise (of being ARG players).
[meta] Assuming I Know the proclvities of the folk(s) at Djinn, I'd say that entering as ARGers, many of whom have worked together on other "projects" that turned out not to be games, is possibly the entry point the PMs have in mind. That said, I trust that our role will rapidly evolve from mere casual consultants to integral characters.
Didn't the TCJ/Overwatch farewell message mention that they were returning to AC for some tinkering?
Also meta Coming (at least indirectly) from the makers of the coded Finnish anagram this made me lul:
Quote:
That just seems diabolical to me
Ok, off to fin(n)ish the rest of the thread before I trout some more.
I'll look into the names on the triangle, since it seems the first letter may be more or less sorted out.
Ahasuerus
as wandering jew
wiki:
Quote:
"At least from the seventeenth century the name Ahasver has been given to the Wandering Jew, apparently adapted from Ahasuerus, the Persian king in Esther, who is not a Jew, and whose very name among medieval Jews was an exemplum of a fool."
moar weekee:
Quote:
In 1967, the Wandering Jew appears as an unexplained magical realist townfolk legend in Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude.
more Latin American Magical Realism
as king
He was easily duped (possibly hypocritical), but willing to correct his error.
The OT story is the basis for the Jewish holiday Purim
Wallace
important to note he was not a king, not even self-styled.
Enlil
...working...[/quote]
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:49 am
Sylvia
I'm not sure we are talking about the same lines. see image below.
edit: never mind, I think it just how it's placed on the table.
I adjusted the brightness/contrast of the envelope so I could see what you where talking about, good observation.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:52 am
Coffeebean
The strange lines are where the letter was folded. You can see the triangle on the outside (front) of the envelope too. Only thing strange I see, is dots all over the envelope....unless they were just really messy. Kind of reminds me of a strange constellation.
*waves to mort, zizka and the monkey
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:00 am
Sylvia
I still think the [google]Simson Line[/google] will help to solve this.
I'm attaching the image here for archive purposes.
Notice the strange space and line at the bottom of the image. Maybe it's nothing, but it's odd.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:33 am
mortality
Another reply from Ethan
Quote:
Hello Mort,
Sorry I didn't see this one while I was still on the Foundation's network. Anyway, it forwarded over.
Thanks for the feedback on the ARG angle. Maybe, just for the record, I should ask if you KNOW whether this is some sort of publicity stunt. I would really hate to waste even a small part of the Foundation's resources on something that everyone else in the world knew to be an ad campaign for tennis shoes.
Gonna sign off for now, want to get a good start on some real thinking about this stuff tomorrow.
Dear Ethan,
As far as we can tell, this has nothing to do with tennis shoes. It's worth trying to figure out where all these clues lead. At the very least, we should find out who'd want to get your attention like this.
You all at the WCF have any enemies we should know about?
Sebring said he passed along some of what we uncovered about the second note. Sebring passed along the details that form the most coherent picture. There were some additional tangents: Ahasuerus may have to do with any number of references in the Old Testament or possibly the Wandering Jew legend.
Just to make sure we didn't miss anything from the first note, here is some background on the books:
Invisible Cities is Italian magical realism. Marco Polo converses with Kublai Khan about cities he visited.
In the Hall of the Dragon King is the first book in a fantasy trilogy. "A dying knights urgent plea propels a disenchanted young acolyte into a deadly mission. On the shoulders of the unsuspecting Quentin rests the course of a kingdom; and ahead of him, a quest that will lead him out of the darkness of the old gods . . . and into undreamed-of spheres of conflict, magic, and light."
Labyrinths is written by the founder of Latin American magical realism.
Janissary Tree is a mystery set during the waning of the Ottoman Empire. "an appropriately exotic tour of a time and a place where intrigue, deceit, and corruption fueled perilous personal and political passions."
Wise Woman is a collection of fantasy stories.
Our friend, or friends (the second note was not addressed by the same person as the first note), have interesting taste. Old gods, magic, intrigue. Could be a wild ride.
Best wishes,
Mort Kuolevaisuus
Freelance Investigator
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:23 pm
