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[Possible ARG?] Gaelph
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akittencalledjen
Boot

Joined: 14 Dec 2004
Posts: 62
Location: Nr. Bristol, England
Quote:
I am that
for which dying men plea
who thirst no more
but still need me.


I was thinking it was more likely to be something like ambrosia or nectar. It's what the Greek gods on Mount Olympus drank to give them eternal life, if I remember rightly. I guess you'd want to drink if if you were dying even if you weren't thirsty.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 3:51 pm
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Kender
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Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 264
Location: The Netherlands

 		Like any other popular game, we have a chatroom for Gaelph as well.
So join us at irc.chatsolutions.com:6667 #gaelph

Let's crack these riddles and get to the bottom of this Smile

PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:09 pm
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Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously
Quote:
I am that
for which dying men plea
who thirst no more
but still need me.


Breath? Air? Time?

Quote:
I am that
which blind men wish for;
whose dark eyes see nothing,
but long to see more.


Probably "light" or "sight," I would think. Hopefully not "sight" as the riddle uses "see."

Quote:
The Master's rarely pass a death sentance death on any soul - and never before has the Counsel found fit to execute so precious a gem as Gaelph.


Okay, so what do we know of the storyline thus far?

Cosmology/Religion: We have a polytheistic society that measures time in Epochs. The deities are imagined as creator-teacher-parents who desire obedience from humanity. They are imagined to have created multiple worlds; Earth (if we're not dealing with another planet entirely here) is neither the first nor the last.

Society/Government: The society is apparently patriarchal ("The Gods have always called wise men"). It's a monarchy (possibly a theocratic one?) in which divinely designated prophet-teachers called Masters serve both as political and religious leaders. (Hmm. It does look like a theocracy.) The "greatest" Masters are called to serve on a Counsel, which has ranged from 1-300 members. Counsel members are apparently revered as nearly godlike.

Several questions suggest themselves at this point:

1) What precisely qualifies one as a "prophet"? Are these prophets in the Biblical sense, that of an invidual through whom a deity speaks to criticize or guide society? Or prophets in the more contemporary sense, that of individuals who predict the future? There seems to be no mention of "prophecy" per se as a prediction of the future -- the "people" of Na'Seht are supposed to prevent the destruction of Gaelph's people, but she doesn't mention that she knows this through a prophecy.

2) What is the relationship between the prophets (both in a general sense and through the institution of the Counsel) and the monarchy? Must the king be a prophet? Is this an adversarial relationship like the Biblical one, in which prophets are the divine check on the power of the monarchy? Is it closer to the role of oracles in Hellenistic society -- an institution that was not connected with the monarchy, but which monarchs consulted and whose authority they obeyed?

Neither of these paradigms seems to fit. Both Biblical prophets and Hellenistic oracles were essentially outsiders to the structure of the government -- and that was the point.

The prophets in Gaelph's society hold government positions and comprise what appears to be an official governing body. So maybe they function more like priests in medieval societies in which the church and the government were pretty much one and the same.

3) How is a Master's worthiness for serving on the Counsel determined? Do other Counsel members select him? The King seems oddly powerless in contrast with the Counsel, so it doesn't seem likely that he picks the members. Do the other Masters elect them? Are they designated by some sort of divine sign?

4) There's a lot of talk about divine will -- how is it determined? Divination? Do the prophets just "know"?

Divine Will/The Na'Seht: The Na'Seht are apparently another people known to Gaelph's people. For some reason, Gaelph believes that finding them (and possibly enlisting their aid?) can avert divine wrath and destruction. How and why are not specified yet. Gaelph adds that her people "insist on denying it." But whether that refers to the idea that they need the Na'Seht or to the idea of their imminent destruction isn't clear. Prayer is mentioned, but more in the sense of hopes or petition than an affirmed method of communication with the divine. Are the Masters the channel of communication?

The Royal Family: The King is named Keffler, and apparently was named after a Counsel member. Gaelph is his daughter, condemned to death for some unknown reason. His wife (it is not specified whether she is Gaelph's mother) apparently either supports the faction wanting Gaelph dead, or is taking no action. The King appears to be less powerful than the Counsel. So perhaps the Counsel is seen as divinely selected/ordained while the King is not.

Gaelph: Gaelph is apparently a princess. Although she has been condemned to death, she plans to go on a journey. Is she planning to escape? Or has her conviction interfered with her plans to go looking? The king suggests that she went to escape her capital conviction. The king repeatedly refers to her as a "precious gem." Why? Because she's his daughter? Or does she have some other, publically recognized merit?

Societal Division: There is apparently a political rift caused by Gaelph's conviction. There must be strong support for Gaelph ("I, and every other true-hearted citizen of this kingdom will support and fight for my precious gem Gaelph"), but apparently that is not enough to constrain the actions of the Counsel. There also appears to be substantial public support for Gaelph's execution: "were you among the sneering and accusing masses?" Despite his statement that others support Gaelph and will fight for her, he mentions that: "I helped her all I could, but she had little other support."

Death Sentences: Capital punishment is apparently rare. It's not mentioned what sort of crimes demand a death sentence, and it appears to have been handed down at the discretion of the Counsel, not because it's a mandatory punishment for particular crimes. Nevertheless, Gaelph manages to get away. Was this an escape? (The king mentions helping her.) Or is exile an alternative to execution? (Not unheard of for members of royal families -- some were even executed in effigy while they went into exile.)

The Counsel: The Counsel currently consists of two members: Gim and Keffler. The king is named for Keffler and was once close to him, but now hates him. Their power is apparently greater than the King's, since he does not seem to have had the authority to commute the death sentence.

Names/Language: So far, not much to go on. "Keffler" definitely sounds Germanic (supported by the Na'Seht connection), but Gim, a single syllable, is hard to place. "Gaelph" also doesn't ring any bells for me. With the "ae" dipthong there are a limited number of languages it evokes, but enough that it's impossible to pin down. It may have been created simply for aesthetic purposese. We don't know the name of Gaelph's people. We have a single example of what appears to be a language: Neft hapten, ko'dahn Gaelph. Still looks Germanic. But it's clearly not a real language. That, the comment about multiple worlds, and the king's comment about people not familiar with his world suggests to me that we may not be on Earth.

Societal Characteristics: They seem to be a very emotional people. The King's communications can hardly be described as reserved -- he's willing to essentially wear his heart on his sleeve while communicating with strangers, and is given to a great deal of very emotionally-charged language: "The corruptible, deceptive, wicked man Keffler!" "Oh man" "my sir" "my precious gem Gaelph" etc.

Gaelph, from what we've seen of her, speaks similarly. Oh well, family resemblance?

Either the royal family in particular or society in general seems to evoke their deities and prayer fairly frequently. Whether that's a sign of casual use or because all of the communications thus far have displayed a great deal of emotion is hard to say.

Okay, what am I missing?

I think I'll email the King and ask him some of these questions.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 2:12 am
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Midnight
Boot

Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 44
Location: Leuven, Belgium

 		Update
There are now two icons appearing after each guess, showing if you've given the right answers. (That's a relief, I must say).
The second answer is definitely "light".

Edit: The first answer is: food.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:43 am
Last edited by Midnight on Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Caterpillar
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 1887
Location: cem's otherbody
Phaedra wrote:
Still looks Germanic. But it's clearly not a real language. That, the comment about multiple worlds, and the king's comment about people not familiar with his world suggests to me that we may not be on Earth.


The page that contains the King's letter to Gaelph is quite dark, but are those planetary looking objects at the top? This is bugging me, and Iposted about it in the Orbicon thread, but at orbicon.org, the SC ends the same way the Gaelph pages do......with an:

<!-- m -->

Is this a coding thing, or is it possible these are related? (Sorry to sound obtuse if this is a standard way to convey something, or a webmeister's bookmark or some such....I've just never seen it)

Maybe we have to do sumpin with the first letters? I tried, but don't have much time.
Quote:
DYTIIRWITHGOD


PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:46 am
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Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously
Caterpillar wrote:
Phaedra wrote:
Still looks Germanic. But it's clearly not a real language. That, the comment about multiple worlds, and the king's comment about people not familiar with his world suggests to me that we may not be on Earth.


The page that contains the King's letter to Gaelph is quite dark, but are those planetary looking objects at the top?


I think they just indicate that you've answered both riddles correctly. Try answering only one, and one of the glowing buttons will glow red instead of green.

Since no one else has posted it yet, the King's letter to Gaelph:

King Keffler wrote:
Dearest Gaelph:

Do you remember writing those riddles? I assume so, if you are reading this. You were so pleased! You always were such a clever child.

Oh Gaelph! I cannot claim to understand the pain you feel at what your mother did. When we married, she was much different than she is now. I fear that we have kept too much of her past hidden from your view. And so, for whatever good it may do, I feel compelled to tell you a bit of her history.

You know, Gaelph, that our laws permit a prince to marry anyone whom he chooses, noble or not. You know also that if the latter is the case, the young bride is to cut all common ties if she is to be adopted into the royal line.

This, Gaelph, is why you know so little about your mother. She is not of royal descent. She is, or rather was, the daughter of a common mill operator. An amazing man, actually, whose poor judgment led him to strong drink early in your mother's life. This problem, among others which only compounded it, kept from your mother the wonderful childhood she might otherwise have enjoyed. It is a shame to say that her youth was spent without the joy of family life that we have been blessed with.

I met your mother through an introduction by a member of the lower senate, with whom I was close friends, and whose opinion and judge of character I highly regarded. It was at a state function. The entire kingdom had been invited, but unwritten social rules at the time permitted only the highest strata of society to accept and to attend. Under normal circumstance it would have been highly inappropriate for her to attend, but my good friend saw to it that she did. Aside from Cer's own protests at the breach of social protocol, there were actually no problems getting her there. After all, the risk of her being recognized within such high circles was very low.

I will spare you the lengthy emotional drama. To be short in writing, I will tell you that we fell quickly in love and, by grace of the law, were allowed to marry despite our social inequalities.

How we met, however, does little to explain her reaction to your sentence. Gaelph, try hard to understand that your mother still loves you very much, even in light of what she did. The day you were born we realized that the Gods do truly listen to prayer. Your mother so badly wanted a little one to care for. She was excited to have you. We both were. She planned to name you after her own mother. Your true name, however, was actually recommended to us by the great Master Estin, who was, at the time, also a close friend of ours. (There has not always, Gaelph, been as wide a social divide between the Kings and the Masters as there is now. Even in your lifetime, each was welcome in the home of the other, for guidance and for counsel. Only recently [though perhaps earlier than you can remember] have such associations become inappropriate.)

What little love there had been in your mother's home as a child was immediately revoked the moment she associated with me. One would not expect this. In fact, I myself expected the opposite. But people are fickle, and your grandfather was very bitter towards royalty. Well, not royalty specifically, but any person who had more than he did. (Do not misinterpret this Gaelph, for he was not greedy.) He felt embarrassed at having little, in spite of how hard he worked. He wanted the world to be able to see how hard he worked to support his family (perhaps, I have often speculated, because if they couldn't or didn't, they might not think him decent).

Through years both before and after you were born, your mother has become calloused towards anything common. Her formal severance of common ties (which was performed through a ceremony with which you are unfamiliar, Gaelph) was both a sad and a happy day for her. She sorrowed for obvious reasons, but a part of her was relieved, knowing that she would never have to face the awkwardness that had formed between her father and herself.

Rather than help her face these concerns openly, I foolishly let that callous form. She now is ashamed to even think that she was once common. I even think some times that she has forgotten it. And this, Gaelph, is the reason that she betrayed you to the guards. Please understand that she did not want harm to come to you. It was only her own past she was trying to destroy, once and for all. And in her blind passion she did not see that by so doing she was to lose her (OUR) dear gem Gaelph.

I hope that you are well. I, as anyone, know little about your progress. We would like very much to hear of it. Fly with the Gods, Gaelph!

Father


And an update from Gaelph's journal:

Gaelph wrote:
More word from Father, by his falcon. It seems that the kingdom is still in upheaval. Many of Father's friends have deserted him, but he says that his closest have remained faithful.

Apparently there still exists a few of the ancient Master Keffnor's writings. Father feels that they might help me know how to locate the Na'Seht once I leave the valley, though he doesn't know how. He tells me that he will try to find a way to get them to me. I cannot think how he will do this, but he says he will try, and urges me to keep on my way to the valley's edge. I feel unworthy to carry the ancient scrolls myself, but if Father thinks it wise, I'm sure it is best.


Hmm.

Caterpillar wrote:
Maybe we have to do sumpin with the first letters? I tried, but don't have much time.


I suspect the gold letters are simply decorative, but I could be wrong.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:49 pm
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Phaedra
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 		So, update on what we know about Gaelph's culture:

Quote:
You know, Gaelph, that our laws permit a prince to marry anyone whom he chooses, noble or not. You know also that if the latter is the case, the young bride is to cut all common ties if she is to be adopted into the royal line.


Quote:
Her formal severance of common ties (which was performed through a ceremony with which you are unfamiliar, Gaelph) was both a sad and a happy day for her.


Clearly, the society is very socially stratified, and highly classist.

The above suggests the question of whether the society is completely patrilocal, or whether it holds true for all members of the royal family. If a princess marries a commoner, does he have to go through the same ceremony as Gaelph's mother? Or does she go to live with his family and become a commoner?

And why the need for a formal ceremony cutting all ties with commoners? What does it entail?

It suggests that the royal family is perceived as significantly different from the rest of the population, and that one entering the royal family must be (to a certain extent, although clearly here the idea is muted) ritually reborn as one of them.

I'm reminded of both the Egyptian conception of the royal family as semi-divine, or the Israelite insistence that Levites remain ritually pure (and that they may not marry converts or divorcees).

Again, I wonder about the relationship between religious authority and the king.

Quote:
Your true name, however, was actually recommended to us by the great Master Estin, who was, at the time, also a close friend of ours. (There has not always, Gaelph, been as wide a social divide between the Kings and the Masters as there is now. Even in your lifetime, each was welcome in the home of the other, for guidance and for counsel. Only recently [though perhaps earlier than you can remember] have such associations become inappropriate.)


Inappropriate is an interesting word to use here, no? It suggests that it isn't personal animosity between the king and the Masters that has caused the divide, but some sort of social pressure.

Quote:
And this, Gaelph, is the reason that she betrayed you to the guards. Please understand that she did not want harm to come to you. It was only her own past she was trying to destroy, once and for all. And in her blind passion she did not see that by so doing she was to lose her (OUR) dear gem Gaelph.


So, whatever Gaelph did that got her in trouble apparently had some connection with commoners.

Any thoughts, anyone?
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:01 pm
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Midnight
Boot

Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 44
Location: Leuven, Belgium

 		Adresses
There are now four email adresses at the bottom of the page:

GaelphSPLATGaelph.com
KingKefflerSPLATGaelph.com
MasterEstinSPLATGaelph.com
MasterKeffnorSPLATGaelph.com

It seems that the King is named Keffler and the Master Keffnor. That should spare us some confusion Smile

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 7:25 am
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Dark Side Of The Moon
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 167
Location: Between the outer edge of inner space and the inner edge of Outer Space...

 		I am that
for which dying men plea
who thirst no more
but still need me.

Just read all the threads as it seems Dark Code is slow to develope...I haven't seen any answer to this puzzle except for food which doesn't seem correct....

I say the answer is FORGIVNESS.

Any takers?

P.S. ~ I went to the site finally and now see that FOOD is indeed correct...allthough Forgiveness sounded better...lol...

So are we still working on the second riddle or has that been solved?

P.P.S. ~ Allright, allright...so the second riddle is light and that leads us to the letter from dear old Dad...that was allready posted...

Ok, I think I'm caught up now...lmao...
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 8:25 am
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Caterpillar
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
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 		Re: Adresses
Midnight wrote:
It seems that the King is named Keffler and the Master Keffnor. That should spare us some confusion Smile


But there is a member of Counsel named Keffler as well.

Keffnor (according to Gaelph):

Quote:
Apparently there still exists a few of the ancient Master Keffnor's writings.

[snip]

I feel unworthy to carry the ancient scrolls myself, but if Father thinks it wise, I'm sure it is best.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:52 am
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Midnight
Boot

Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 44
Location: Leuven, Belgium

 		New page
Clicking on the "Neft hapten" text, got me to a new page. "The writings of Master Estin."
It seems to be empty though... seems to be.... Smile

Edit: My apologies. I see that this was already brought up.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 11:34 am
Last edited by Midnight on Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:57 am; edited 1 time in total
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Caterpillar
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 1887
Location: cem's otherbody

 		Re: New page
Midnight wrote:
Clicking on the "Neft hapten" text, got me to a new page. "The writings of Master Estin."
It seems to be empty though... seems to be.... Smile


Discussed HERE

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:27 pm
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xander
Greenhorn

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 9

 		All of the dates on the entries seem to involve 18. I didn't see this noted anywhere and figured I would bring it up. Hope to help you guys solve this one as I am new to the ARG world.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 1:02 am
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Tiny
Unfettered


Joined: 04 Jan 2005
Posts: 502
Location: Cincy, OH or there abouts!

 		Yea, I'm pretty sure thats the month...Day Month Year format...pretty odd...Ps, The letters at the top have changed!!! They lead to a new link...working on it now!
Tj-
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I spread my dreams at your feet.
Tread Softly, For you tread on my dreams.
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Gamertag: DanteThePoet


PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 1:39 am
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Midnight
Boot

Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 44
Location: Leuven, Belgium

 		The message (neft hapten) still seems to be the same, despite the weird letters. Still, knowing this might help us decypher later messages in the same script. Smile

This is getting interesting!

PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 9:24 pm
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