ARG discussion

A place to share those crazy "out there" theories that staff won't give any official comment on.
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Lexx416
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Lexx416 »

Serity wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 9:52 am
Navi wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:36 amThe name of the page is týndu
Converting it to proper unicode gets you the word

Code: Select all

týndu
which is something in a few languages, mostly destroy/defeat sort of related things.
I've only been able to do a cursory investigation into

Code: Select all

týndu
, but based off of what I could find, I think assuming it means something in relation to "loss" is a good place to start. Take a look at the Icelandic týndur -in the context of the game, both of these definitions seem pretty fitting

1.) lost (having been lost)
2.) lost (having lost one's way)

And additionally, týndu is the plural form of the Icelandic týndur.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
tulpa
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by tulpa »

Lexx416 wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:03 am
Serity wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 9:52 am
Navi wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:36 amThe name of the page is týndu
Converting it to proper unicode gets you the word

Code: Select all

týndu
which is something in a few languages, mostly destroy/defeat sort of related things.
I've only been able to do a cursory investigation into

Code: Select all

týndu
, but based off of what I could find, I think assuming it means something in relation to "loss" is a good place to start. Take a look at the Icelandic týndur -in the context of the game, both of these definitions seem pretty fitting

1.) lost (having been lost)
2.) lost (having lost one's way)

And additionally, týndu is the plural form of the Icelandic týndur.
Týn can also mean the number ten in Old English, but the word that comes to mind more readily is 'tynder' (or in modern English, 'tinder') meaning that which burns, or (amusingly) 'fuel for the fire' (fuelling speculation? ;) )

https://bosworthtoller.com/31409
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Candelori
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Candelori »

I have been searching through my notes from the Somnium project and have located the following, which I will post here with the cautioning warning that these were discovered within another Contrarium game that was not COGG. Somnium was however a Contrarium work, and so they may both be intertwined within the ARG. The games shared some common themes, including the presence of sorcery and nether.

The earliest ARG secret I ever saw was a plain English message which I believe showed at the bottom of a Somnium changelog following the now-familiar telltale ARG symbol (/|\). It briefly appeared under the "Occult" section of the changelog but soon disappeared. I am not certain now whether the text was in the changelog itself, or through a link. I do not see it in my list of bookmarks on the common ARG site where many of the other messages have appeared. The text read as follows:
Grin with inner flame, shelter for the birds, eyesight of the wise - heed ye not these words.
The next is a cryptogram I copied and pasted into my notes file. I unfortunately did not note where it was originally discovered. I will provide the cryptogram here without the solution so that those who wish to decipher it themselves may do so. I find it to be the most intriguing message of the three I have.
/|\ MJCFWT MNXLEBX MJCXNCS, XLTBQX NCXE IJCFQ BCACEMC. XLW QLJFEMQ QLNVX JCF OLJCSW, JCF XLW METIFQ MNXL XLWR. /|\
The last I do have a link for, and it leads to a hidden clue which I was able to discern, but could not glean any relevant meaning from. It can be found at: http://192.40.56.156/15.1.18

I would again caution readers that the above three were found during the Somnium project and not COGG, but the re-emergence here in COGG of some familiar and some new discoveries does make me suspect that they may remain relevant.
My COGG website: https://candelori.neocities.org
You think to yourself, "I am tempted to henceforth refer to this as the Bicker Board."
You experience a sudden flash of insight, as though you have an increased understanding of who you are.
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Lexx416
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Lexx416 »

Candelori wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:32 am I have been searching through my notes from the Somnium project and have located the following, which I will post here with the cautioning warning that these were discovered within another Contrarium game that was not COGG. Somnium was however a Contrarium work, and so they may both be intertwined within the ARG. The games shared some common themes, including the presence of sorcery and nether.

The earliest ARG secret I ever saw was a plain English message which I believe showed at the bottom of a Somnium changelog following the now-familiar telltale ARG symbol (/|\). It briefly appeared under the "Occult" section of the changelog but soon disappeared. I am not certain now whether the text was in the changelog itself, or through a link. I do not see it in my list of bookmarks on the common ARG site where many of the other messages have appeared. The text read as follows:
Grin with inner flame, shelter for the birds, eyesight of the wise - heed ye not these words.
The next is a cryptogram I copied and pasted into my notes file. I unfortunately did not note where it was originally discovered. I will provide the cryptogram here without the solution so that those who wish to decipher it themselves may do so. I find it to be the most intriguing message of the three I have.
/|\ MJCFWT MNXLEBX MJCXNCS, XLTBQX NCXE IJCFQ BCACEMC. XLW QLJFEMQ QLNVX JCF OLJCSW, JCF XLW METIFQ MNXL XLWR. /|\
The last I do have a link for, and it leads to a hidden clue which I was able to discern, but could not glean any relevant meaning from. It can be found at: http://192.40.56.156/15.1.18

I would again caution readers that the above three were found during the Somnium project and not COGG, but the re-emergence here in COGG of some familiar and some new discoveries does make me suspect that they may remain relevant.
Appreciate you posting this! Even if these clues/etc. aren't directly relevant to the COGG ARG stuff going on, it's still good to see (to give us a better idea of what to expect, and to better understand what sort of things we'll have to do to glean info from these clues). Will take a look at the cryptogram when I have some time after work!
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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Marcuson
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Marcuson »

Regarding the previous project: sometimes URLs would get changed, and there used to be clues hidden in announcement posts or on the Wiki. I'll be paying close attention and making a note of anything unusual that seems of interest.

If no one has decoded 10.3 by next weekend, I'll share my results.
Serity
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Serity »

List of file modification dates, in case it's relevant:

3.20 (old ARG): December 22, 2018
4.6.21 (after binary burst 1): March 3, 2022
10.3 (after binary burst 2): April 3, 2021

Seems odd that an older file would show up later, hmm...
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Candelori
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Candelori »

I had passed 4.6.21 to a friend who enjoys steganography analysis and has been involved with some few ARGs in the past. She pointed out to me that when provided the proper file type extension, additional metadata can be discovered attached to the file. Appending the mp3 extension to the original URL, making it 192.40.56.156/4.6.21.mp3, does not appear to provide any difference in sound or track length. However, upon downloading the file with the proper extension there is additional metadata information to be found within the file that provides a potential contextual clue. I will refrain from sharing further details for the time being so that those who enjoy such things may have a chance to inspect it and enjoy making the discovery themselves.

I am still awaiting any reports of success from friends seeking the name or author of the song.
My COGG website: https://candelori.neocities.org
You think to yourself, "I am tempted to henceforth refer to this as the Bicker Board."
You experience a sudden flash of insight, as though you have an increased understanding of who you are.
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Marcuson
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Marcuson »

Nice catch, Candelori! Really interesting.

Also, I don't know if you've joined the Discord or not, but I've identified the song there. It's in spoiler tags in the #game channel. There aren't any spoiler tags on the BBS, so I'll refrain from posting the name here for a little while.
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Taliaferro
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Taliaferro »

I have pretty much no idea what the heck this thread is about, but týndu being a form of the Icelandic týndur, lost--

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/t%C3%BDndur

-- as in, you know, Lost Lands, maybe? -- seems relevant. Some kind of Faewyr or Giganti connection, maybe.

Also, that symbol looks an awful lot like a rune, doesn't it? I don't know much about runes, but several runic alphabets have a rune like that. Here's the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runes#/me ... nrunes.svg

The rune that corresponds to the symbol is transliterated as K, is called calc, and evidently means chalice. Or chalk. Or sandal. Take your pick.
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Marcuson
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Re: ARG discussion

Post by Marcuson »

Late Thursday evening/Friday morning of last week, some players noticed strange, garbled text in-game, and we also noticed that the links to the COGG website were changed to redirect us to two different URLs. I'll discuss each one below and state the facts known about them.

The first URL was http://192.40.56.156/4.6.21.

This file turned out to be an MP3 that played a distorted song. The song is "Forever Dancing Under a Fallen Sky" by the band Au4. Here's a link to the song on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXDIu7oQe8 The album cover art is a painting of a giant crow flying over a city with a cloudy sky in the background. The crow has the face of a human being and is carrying a bell in one of its talons. In the bottom left of the painting, at the top of a hill, dwarfed in size by the crow-thing, are a boy and a dog, who are looking up at the crow-thing.

In the file details for this MP3, there's a message hidden in the metadata, written in binary:

Code: Select all

01000110 01001111 01010010 00100000 01001101 01011001 00100000 01000010 01000101 01001100 01001111 01010110 01000101 01000100 00100000 01001001 00100111 01001100 01001100 00100000 01001110 01000101 01010110 01000101 01010010 00100000 01010011 01010100 01001111 01010000 00100000 01010011 01000101 01000001 01010010 01000011 01001000 01001001 01001110 01000111
When translated, the code reads:

Code: Select all

FOR MY BELOVED I'LL NEVER STOP SEARCHING
The second URL was http://192.40.56.156/10.3.

This file is an audio clip of a slow-scan television signal, which is used primarily by ham radio operators to transmit still image over radio waves. When decoded using Scottie 1 mode, the result is a black and white image of the Yr rune, a vertical line with two branches emerging from either side near the bottom. This is the same shape that keeps appearing in all of these strange messages. Here's a copy of the decoded image: https://i.imgur.com/StUG373.png

To my knowledge, there is no metadata hidden in the second file.
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