CORDIAL MINUET ENSEMBLE

Cobblestone

Member

Registered: 2015-01-28

Posts: 212

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Thanks for posting up photos! We need to see if we can encourage the others with amulets to do the same.

A simple substitution cypher isn't very hard to break... In cases with a sufficiently long message, you usually don't even need a hint to break it. I wonder if there isn't more to this then meets the eye. In the first place, we don't really have a message to decode yet, do we?

This is exactly what I was thinking. Maybe it'll start becoming clearer as we get more pieces to the puzzle.

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

A simple substitution cypher isn't very hard to break... In cases with a sufficiently long message, you usually don't even need a hint to break it. I wonder if there isn't more to this then meets the eye. In the first place, we don't really have a message to decode yet, do we?

Spent a while today looking for a potential message to decode, but didn't find anything.  What you say about a substitution cipher is true, but it could be something without any grammar (or even actual words).  For example, maybe something that goes in the code boxes at the bottom of the main page.  If you put in the original correct answer, the page says "SOMETHING VALUABLE will appear here SOMEDAY".  Maybe the decoded message will find the "something valuable".  Just spitballing, though.  Unless one of the amulets has something drastically different than what we've been seeing, I don't think we can get anywhere without a message.

Edit:  Only thing I can think at this point is if half of the amulets have the cypher, and the other half have the message, but who knows.

Edit 2:  Just checked -- all the entry box does is concatenate the two strings, and makes a url out of them.

Last edited by madcatz1999 (2015-06-16 03:55:41)

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Seems hard that he could hide something like that, though, considering everything is open source.

..

Member

Registered: 2014-11-21

Posts: 259

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

I checked that previously; although almost the entire website is stored in the CM sourcecode repository, the "solutions" for that entry box aren't included.

I hadn't noticed that "In the MEDIAN time" message before, I suppose that's been there since launch.

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

That's because there aren't really any "solutions".  The code box doesn't check what you type into it at all (except for one single redirection substitution).  You can get to the page after the code box just by appendng the passcode onto the cordialminuet.com/ url, and bypass that code box completely.  All the code box does is make whatever you type into a url.

Edit:  Though now that I check again, that page after the code box isn't a php page like most of the pages on the site, so it's actually not included in the source files, as far as I can tell.  There very well could be a hidden page that you could (though wouldn't have to) access through the code box.

Last edited by madcatz1999 (2015-06-16 14:50:41)

Defiant00

Member

Registered: 2015-05-06

Posts: 21

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Finally got mine, it's very shiny.

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Insect College

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Well, there's the first rune we've gotten that sort of looks like one we've seen before.  The rune for M (the "P"-looking one) sort of (but not exactly) looks like one that shows up on the game board (I'm assuming we don't know what these represent yet -- someone correct me if I'm wrong).  So, running with that idea, if we assume that the column labels represent a 6-letter word, and given the third letter is "M", and given that all 6 letters are different, and tossing out all the letters I've already seen that don't have runes on the board (including J), it cuts down the list to 20 possible words (I think I got them all, but won't guarantee it)

femurs fumets tumors tempos tumefy homers shmoes fumers gemots rumens unmews humors unmesh hymens foment upmost nympho nymphs gemote vomers

Edit: Also "Humots", which is another demon along the same lines as the 12 amulet demons.  Seems a better choice than any of the above words.

Most of those words are pretty obscure, and none of them really seem to fit the theme, so this is all probably just another dead end.  Though it would be interesting if we do see another rune that seems to match one on the game board.

(Just one of the several winding paths I've been down the last few days)

Last edited by madcatz1999 (2015-06-20 03:02:01)

..

Member

Registered: 2014-11-21

Posts: 259

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

The "P" on the board you're referring to is actually the Hebrew letter Qof, ק, which looks little like the letter on the amulet. And this is their meaning:

http://www.triple7center.com/Codes_SYMBOLS.html

Last edited by .. (2015-06-20 03:58:29)

Cobblestone

Member

Registered: 2015-01-28

Posts: 212

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Wait, the letters on the board could possibly correspond to the signs of the zodiac? Ok, yes. This is a path to explore.

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Oh nice; I didn't even think to look up the symbols on the board.  The fact that those specific 12 letters were chosen (out of 22) would definitely indicate that was the reason.  We know each amulet corresponds to a sign, as well (based on the names).  Give us something else to think about, at least.

Defiant00

Member

Registered: 2015-05-06

Posts: 21

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Also, don't know if this means anything, but this was stamped on my inner envelope:

Edit: Looks like it's the same as the image on the home page.

Last edited by Defiant00 (2015-06-20 23:57:08)

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Insect College

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Yep, same stamp on mine.

shotgun

Member

Registered: 2015-05-11

Posts: 22

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

wow, i totally missed it, but i got that stamp too. i overlooked it thinking it was just some postmark thing

jere

Member

Registered: 2014-11-23

Posts: 298

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

DANG. I am so jelly. Seems like ya'll are onto something....

Jason's next game should just be an ARG.

Last edited by jere (2015-06-22 12:08:03)

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Canto Delirium: a Twitter bot for CM. Also check out my strategy guide!

card

Member

Registered: 2014-12-25

Posts: 25

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Right now before sharing the runes on your amulet you have an advantage in solving the puzzle if there is some kind of reward at the end. My guess is that this is what is holding some people back from sharing theirs.

I think there is probably a solution to this, although it might be difficult to implement. If we could somehow convince everyone to send a screenshot of their amulet to a single trusted person, then they could post them all at the same time and there would not be an asymmetric information advantage. The two difficulties are a) deciding on a trusted person, and b) getting everyone with an amulet to agree to this plan.

Also I found this picture, seems like the squiggles are meaningless but cool nonetheless. The numbers are surprisingly close to those on the main page/envelope seal.

Here are the signs in order starting from the upper left of the board and going down/right.

    Left
12    Sagittarius
13    Scorpio
10    Libra
9    Virgo
8    Leo
7    Cancer

    Top
1    Capricorn
2    Aquarius
3    Pisces
4    Aries
5    Taurus
6    Gemini

Based on the pattern so far, amulet 1 will have A,B, amulet 3 will have E,F, and amulet 4 will have G,H - all with 2 symbols as well. This also means that there should be 2 letters on each of the left side amulets, with 1 letter skipped on one of them.
I wonder why the letter J is skipped on amulet 5?
Also, has anyone figured out if the symbols have meaning yet?

2 letters on each amulet seem to lend strength to the theory that the entry boxes on the main page will be used in the solution. Maybe there are 2 words with 6 letters each that need to be entered there.

Last edited by card (2015-06-22 18:07:19)

shotgun

Member

Registered: 2015-05-11

Posts: 22

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

i can identify or at least figure out what most of the shown symbols can mean, but what about the symbol for I on amulet 5 (my amulet)? it looks like part of a sigil or something, but all of the other symbols just looks like letters in other languages (greek, runes, etc)

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

i can identify or at least figure out what most of the shown symbols can mean, but what about the symbol for I on amulet 5 (my amulet)? it looks like part of a sigil or something, but all of the other symbols just looks like letters in other languages (greek, runes, etc)

Really?  I've tried, but of course it's hard to google a symbol.  But they're not greek, hebrew, arabic, nordic/norse, or cyrillic (unless I missed something).  Not really sure what other languages have a runic alphabet (but I'm about to try and find out).

Edit:  Not Anglo-Saxxon, macromannic, old turkish, or dalecarilan, either.

Edit 2:  Some of them are showing up in certain languages (dagaz and isaz in eldar futhark, for example, which is the most famous runic language).  And I guess you could say wunjō and gebō, as well, though I haven't seen those written with curved lines.  But some of the other ones don't seem to show up in eldar furthark.

Last edited by madcatz1999 (2015-06-22 20:40:18)

card

Member

Registered: 2014-12-25

Posts: 25

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Really?  I've tried, but of course it's hard to google a symbol.  But they're not greek, hebrew, arabic, nordic/norse, or cyrillic (unless I missed something).  Not really sure what other languages have a runic alphabet (but I'm about to try and find out).

Edit:  Not Anglo-Saxxon, macromannic, old turkish, or dalecarilan, either.

Edit 2:  Some of them are showing up in certain languages (dagaz and isaz in eldar futhark, for example, which is the most famous runic language).  And I guess you could say wunjō and gebō, as well, though I haven't seen those written with curved lines.  But some of the other ones don't seem to show up in eldar furthark.

Well I think they could be from different languages, although that seems a little odd. For example from the greek alphabet symbol 1 on amulet 2 looks like iota, and the symbols on amulet 6 look like chi and rho.

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Hmm, I just came up with a somewhat plausible theory (which is a level of plausible above my previous dozens of theories).  I believe that two of the runes we haven't seen may be shaped like the following:

(enjoy my uber Paint skills)
Someone feel free to let me know if you have an amulet that has one of these

Last edited by madcatz1999 (2015-06-22 21:18:39)

..

Member

Registered: 2014-11-21

Posts: 259

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

I wonder how you cam up with that...

Wow, where did you find that CM prototype?

J is almost certainly missing because it's a cipher and J is commonly excluded to make the alphabet fit.

shotgun

Member

Registered: 2015-05-11

Posts: 22

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arMXzgiZsJQ

madcatz1999

Member

Registered: 2015-05-07

Posts: 30

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

I wonder how you cam up with that...

It's probably wrong, but I just wanted to feel smart if I'm right

Wow, where did you find that CM prototype?

It was in the Kotaku article:
http://kotaku.com/a-mildly-satanic-new- … 1638083439
(tineye works wonders)

Last edited by madcatz1999 (2015-06-23 15:54:59)

jasonrohrer

Administrator

Registered: 2014-11-20

Posts: 802

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Holy crap, that tineye thing is pretty amazing.  I just searched for my stamp and found this:

https://www.tineye.com/search/7b670da73 … c7da6cbb7/

card

Member

Registered: 2014-12-25

Posts: 25

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Interesting, I thought you had created that seal Jason. Hmm...

http://longstreet.typepad.com/thescienc … d-age.html

Here is the book mentioned:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=n … =1up;seq=5

Last edited by card (2015-06-24 22:07:45)

..

Member

Registered: 2014-11-21

Posts: 259

Re: The Mystery of the Amulets

Yes, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of tineye! I figured google and yandex 'search by image' were good enough.