So you want to know about the Formidine Rift? (Part 3)

[CMDR Poet Starwind]

I've been puzzled by the mix of mythos in the vain queen riddle; Camelopardalis was put forward in 1613, where the rest of the constellations in the puzzle are Ptolemic, part of his original 48 - which does not include Camelopardalis. Camelopardalis represented the camel taking Rebecca to marry Isaac in the OT Bible, while the rest are surrounding the Andromeda story.

Is this relevant to the search, or am I seriously buggers after spending weeks traipsing the Rift.

<gnashing on tinfoil fedora because the filling pain prompts me onward>

 

[Astirian]

I've been puzzled by the mix of mythos in the vain queen riddle; Camelopardalis was put forward in 1613, where the rest of the constellations in the puzzle are Ptolemic, part of his original 48 - which does not include Camelopardalis. Camelopardalis represented the camel taking Rebecca to marry Isaac in the OT Bible, while the rest are surrounding the Andromeda story.

Is this relevant to the search, or am I seriously buggers after spending weeks traipsing the Rift.

<gnashing on tinfoil fedora because the filling pain prompts me onward>

That's quite interesting. You know what's in the 48 though? Pegasus.

'Aganippe "the Mare who destroys mercifully" ["Night-Mare"] was an aspect of Demeter [Persephone]. In this form she was a black winged horse worshiped by certain cults. In this aspect her idols ... she was portrayed as mare-headed with a mane entwined with Gorgon Snakes ["Medusa"]. This aspect was also associated with Anion (or Arion) whom Heracles rode, who later inspired tales of Pegasus.'

Perhaps... Something (remembers) reminds us of how Perseus used to ride.

It's a bit off course though.

The Andromeda constellation is connected to Pegasus... Perhaps the intersect star is worth a visit? I checked out Markab a couple of nights ago, nothing really jumped out at me.

P.S: More Hecate (Hathor) triple-threat goodness: 'In the Homeric hymn to Demeter, Hecate assists in the search [for Persephone in the Underworld] and later becomes Persephone's underworld attendant.'

 

[lorrad]

I've been puzzled by the mix of mythos in the vain queen riddle; Camelopardalis was put forward in 1613, where the rest of the constellations in the puzzle are Ptolemic, part of his original 48 - which does not include Camelopardalis. Camelopardalis represented the camel taking Rebecca to marry Isaac in the OT Bible, while the rest are surrounding the Andromeda story.

Is this relevant to the search, or am I seriously buggers after spending weeks traipsing the Rift.

<gnashing on tinfoil fedora because the filling pain prompts me onward>

I think this is the reason http://imgur.com/a/4AuAS

It may not be more than the names of the three constellations surrounding the heart and soul and the misfortune of not being able to crowbar one of them into Greek Myth. On my personal todo list is form a triangle from those three obvious closest stars in each, bisect the opposite angle's line and calculate the coordinates where the three lines intersect because x marks the spot me matey in treasure island. As soon as the trial is resovled setting sail from the Llandoger Trow parrot and peg leg read to go assuming that place still exists.

Following up with trianglulating the three closest stars of the three constellations surrounding H&S yields about Gal 136.8 +0.4 which I'm adding to my next tour of the rift.

http://imgur.com/a/nzYGH

 

[Han_Zen]

Check out this post by CmdrZaratan, in the UA thread:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...9-The-Canonn?p=4697032&viewfull=1#post4697032

The locations gives me a slight Kahina vibe. The X-Ray and Yankee may be rift coordinates in some way?

 

[dynamicbob]

it would require frontier to be merging the "missing colonies", possible alien hybrids in with the formidine rift mystery for any interaction elements

 

[Siranui]

Check out this post by CmdrZaratan, in the UA thread:

Going to copypasta CMDR Zaratan's finding over here, as I feel it relevant.

Copypasta:

12 9 19 20 5 14 12 15 3 1
20 9 15 14 5 18 1 22 1 20
5 20 9 13 5 10 12 9 19 20
5 14 12 15 3 1 20 9 15 14
12 1 22 5 20 9 13 5 30 3
12 21 5 4 Charlie

My translation of that is (A=1, B=2 etc with the occasional special):

Listen Location Eravate Time 10
Listen Location Lave time 30
Clue 4C

There's also satellites in Eravate and Lave, though they message at :30 and :10 instead of 10 and 30 like the message.

They put out number sequences which I can't translate:

Eravate:
X-ray
0611111111111111116111111
11101115111111111111111111
15111111511111111111111111
15101511111111111111115103
11111111113015111111111111
11111111510511111111111111
115013111111111310

Lave:
Yankee
0611155555111111111311113
11111111111111111119991191
17111111111111111111111111
11311113665555501111101111
01111011111111111111111111
11111

Some pauses between the numbers seem longer than others, but it's hard (for me) to exactly match it.

There's two more satellites in Achenar and Gateway, but they play the same message as the one in Sol (starting at :40 and :18 respectively), so it's really 3 starting points for the same puzzle.

I'm stumped. Anyone got any bright ideas?

The messages repeat a few times for the Sol/Achenar/Gateway one and twice for the Eravate/Lave ones.

You have to be within 1000ly to see the satellites in the list. This puzzle was around in Beta in various forms (this is the form it took in late beta and to my knowledge no-one cracked it).

/endcopypasta

 

[Siranui]

Going to copypasta CMDR Zaratan's finding over here, as I feel it relevant.

To me, this shouts 'numbers station'.

Which is cool, because I used to do signalling work, and a grizzled Signals sergeant once told me a 2am story in the back of a FFR Landrover about ghostly machine-like and child voices on the airwaves, before putting the headphones on me and dialling up some of his 'favourites' he kept the frequencies of in a battered notebook.

I can assure you that at 2am, in the middle of a forest, hearing children chant numbers and letters over a crackling radio, with occasional bursts of grandiose music is really spooky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua94OV9Ter8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0F984w4vLQ

 

[Jaiotu]

Going to copypasta CMDR Zaratan's finding over here, as I feel it relevant.

I'm very curious as to the manner in which these messages are being delivered. Audible? Text string in the Comm tab?

 

[Siranui]

I'm very curious as to the manner in which these messages are being delivered. Audible? Text string in the Comm tab?

Literally 0.07 out from it atm...

Going to sit here until I hear something.

Was a bit gutted to have been here 20 minutes with the sound up yesterday and missed it entirely. Second time a charm.

If this is a child's voice, then hats off to the numbers station fan in FD!

 

[Siranui]

Voice is asexual and metallic. You literally park next to it and it breaks into life at the right time. There was some slight static, and then a modulation, then a couple of repetitions of a beepy handshake, then 'it' burst into speech.

All numbers pronounced normally, save nine, which is 'niner'. Uses 'zero'.

Numbers are not given in groups of three, as would be typical. There is around a 1 second space between numbers. It is clearly differentiated when numbers between 11 and 26 are used because there is no gap between the 'one' and 'four' [or whatever]. So it does point to a substitute code by its nature.

'Charlie' is the break, signalling repetition.

Message repeats at least once. Am on the second listen atm.

 

[CMDR Poet Starwind]

Totally possible

 

[Jaiotu]

Voice is asexual and metallic.

All numbers geven verbally, save nine, which is 'niner'. Uses 'zero'.

Numbers are not given in groups of three, as would be typical. There is around a 1 second space between numbers. It is clearly differentiated when numbers between 11 and 26 are used because there is no gap between the 'one' and 'four' [or whatever]. So it does point to a substitute code by its nature.

'Charlie' is the break, signalling repetition.

Message repeats at least once. Am on the second listen atm.

Awesome. Looking forward to hearing a good audio clip. It would be nice to see if there is anything else piggybacking on the signal.

"Niner" is standard NATO prounciation for 9.

 

[Han_Zen]

Guilty: https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/581337499657ba0731b07a87

But it seems she has passed her information to someone, for a price....

 

[Siranui]

Guilty: https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/581337499657ba0731b07a87

But it seems she has passed her information to someone, for a price....

A head on a platter, eh. Head that before, haven't we?

 

[Matzov]

A head on a platter, eh. Head that before, haven't we?

Indeed. It is was Salome asked for: John the Baptist's head on a platter. Patreus as John the Baptist is interesting.

Also, 'Reap what you sow' quote is from the Hebrew Bible. The choice of that exact quote, rather than the colloquial 'you reap what you sow', might be interesting.

At least on the surface that suggest a narrative that is not sympathetic to Kahina.

 

[Siranui]

The spacing on the 'X-ray' message is indeed rather all over the place. I was yelling 'speak in triplates' back at it at one point.
It made me ponder if it is perhaps more than thematic, and perhaps layering the recording over another may be the idea.

 

[Jaiotu]

The spacing on the 'X-ray' message is indeed rather all over the place. I was yelling 'speak in triplates' back at it at one point.
It made me ponder if it is perhaps more than thematic, and perhaps layering the recording over another may be the idea.

Whoa!

What if you layer the Lave message over the Eravate message starting at the 10 second point?

 

[Siranui]

Whoa!

What if you layer the Lave message over the Eravate message starting at the 10 second point?

I haven't recorded the third message yet, but I suspect you'll get a lot of 'ones'
It's something that we should try though, fo' sure.

Other comments:

There's a lot of ones.

Spacing is definitely 'off', but this might not be relevant. It might well be, though.

Number Stations use a lot of 'fluff' and padding. If the only time they transmit were to be when it was an important message, that itself would let others know that a message was being broadcast and that its contents made sense. As a result, most of what they transmit is garbage. I suspect that this may be the case here. Some of what we here may well be padding.

A number station would rely on the listener having three things: The frequency, the timeslot that a message for them is going to be broadcast in and a one-time pad. Essentially, they are uncrackable and - unlike a coded email or message left on a website - cannot be traced to the receiver, so are still relevant in modern days. Safe to say that FD aren't going to need us to have a one-time pad. Instead they fostered us with a clue of '5C', which I'm sure rings a very loud bell with us all, while not being immediately helpful.

I suspect it is still a substitution puzzle, using some other data as a key. 4C is the clue to the key.

Other things that spring to mind:

Why Charlie, X-Ray, Yankee as breaks? Could have no meaning at all. But 'C' tends to invite an 'AB' and 'XY' invites the Z. The C is the last of the obvious pattern and the X and Y the first two of another. May be that is relevant. Or not.

3, 5, 6 are the only other numbers. Is the message the numbers, or the ones and their frequency, perhaps?

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I haven't recorded the third message yet, but I suspect you'll get a lot of 'ones'
It's something that we should try though, fo' sure.

Other comments:

There's a lot of ones.

Spacing is definitely 'off', but this might not be relevant. It might well be, though.

Number Stations use a lot of 'fluff' and padding. If the only time they transmit were to be when it was an important message, that itself would let others know that a message was being broadcast and that its contents made sense. As a result, most of what they transmit is garbage. I suspect that this may be the case here. Some of what we here may well be padding.

A number station would rely on the listener having three things: The frequency, the timeslot that a message for them is going to be broadcast in and a one-time pad. Essentially, they are uncrackable and - unlike a coded email or message left on a website - cannot be traced to the receiver, so are still relevant in modern days. Safe to say that FD aren't going to need us to have a one-time pad. Instead they fostered us with a clue of '5C', which I'm sure rings a very loud bell with us all, while not being immediately helpful.

I suspect it is still a substitution puzzle, using some other data as a key. 5C is the clue to the key.
Key could be buried in the geo-data for 5C, as things have been before: It's mass, atmosphere, diameter, etc.

Other things that spring to mind:

Why Charlie, X-Ray, Yankee as breaks? Could have no meaning at all. But 'C' tends to invite an 'AB' and 'XY' invites the Z. The C is the last of the obvious pattern and the X and Y the first two of another. May be that is relevant. Or not.

3, 5, 6 are the only other numbers. Is the message the numbers, or the ones and their frequency, perhaps?

Confused:

The post earlier states "Clue 4C".

5C points to Merope, but 4C doesn't make the same explicit link.

 

[Jaiotu]

I haven't recorded the third message yet, but I suspect you'll get a lot of 'ones'
It's something that we should try though, fo' sure.

Other comments:

There's a lot of ones.

Spacing is definitely 'off', but this might not be relevant. It might well be, though.

Number Stations use a lot of 'fluff' and padding. If the only time they transmit were to be when it was an important message, that itself would let others know that a message was being broadcast and that its contents made sense. As a result, most of what they transmit is garbage. I suspect that this may be the case here. Some of what we here may well be padding.

A number station would rely on the listener having three things: The frequency, the timeslot that a message for them is going to be broadcast in and a one-time pad. Essentially, they are uncrackable and - unlike a coded email or message left on a website - cannot be traced to the receiver, so are still relevant in modern days. Safe to say that FD aren't going to need us to have a one-time pad. Instead they fostered us with a clue of '5C', which I'm sure rings a very loud bell with us all, while not being immediately helpful.

I suspect it is still a substitution puzzle, using some other data as a key. 5C is the clue to the key.
Key could be buried in the geo-data for 5C, as things have been before: It's mass, atmosphere, diameter, etc.

Other things that spring to mind:

Why Charlie, X-Ray, Yankee as breaks? Could have no meaning at all. But 'C' tends to invite an 'AB' and 'XY' invites the Z. The C is the last of the obvious pattern and the X and Y the first two of another. May be that is relevant. Or not.

3, 5, 6 are the only other numbers. Is the message the numbers, or the ones and their frequency, perhaps?

In maritime flag signals "Charlie" means "Yes". "Yankee" means "Stop what you are doing and wait for new orders" and "X-Ray" means "I'm dragging my anchor". That all seemed ominous until X-Ray at which point that all falls flat.