Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle

From MYSTlore

From January 1 to 17, 2008, the Mysteriacs ran a series of puzzles on the Myst: The Motion Picture website. They made people curious about the movie and each one was solved within a few days, most in only one. On the 17th, the last puzzle was solved and access to the site was opened to everyone.

Contents 1 Puzzle 1.1 Discovery and original teaser 1.2 Heebor (15) 1.3 Sehn (3) 1.4 Naigahsehn (13) 1.5 Naivoo (10) 1.6 Alleged attack 1.7 Login form 1.8 Naigahtor (14) 1.9 Vahgahbree (7) 1.10 Fah (1) 1.11 Heegahbree (17) 1.12 Tor (4) 1.13 Return of the login form 1.14 Vahgahsehn (8) 1.15 Vahgahfah (6) 1.16 Bree (2) 1.17 Heegahfah (16) 1.18 Naigahfah (11) 1.19 Vahgahtor (9) 1.20 Vaht (5) 1.21 Naigahbree (12) 1.22 Gorvehn (Soon) 1.23 Flash movie, blog, and foreword 2 Slogan changes 3 Deciphered messages 3.1 MYSTlore edits 4 Teaser images 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Puzzle

[edit] Discovery and original teaser

On January 1, 2008 a new member of the Myst & Uru Obsession forums posted ^[1] about a Myst movie website that she had allegedly stumbled upon. The page featured a teaser graphic with a plain black background. The top featured the tagline: "Many thousands of years ago, The Book of Earth was written..." The bottom of the image showed the word MYST, followed by a slogan "The Motion Picture. Finally." Speculation on the site's authenticity began in earnest on the M&UO forums, the Myst Online: Uru Live forums, and the MYSTcommunity forums.

Mere hours after the discovery of the site, a series of changes began appearing. A small tile image depicting a portion of landscape would appear on the black background, a new word would be added to the end of the slogan, and the name of the jpeg image would change. In each instance, the name of the image would be a D'ni word for a number. After the first few image changes, codes consisting of D'ni words began to appear as comments in the source code of the teaser site.

Alert forum members began to suspect that the new forum member who posted the threads on the various forums was somehow involved with the website, despite her claims to the contrary. Weeks later, this suspicion was confirmed as fact in the project production blog when Patrick revealed that Adrian was actually behind the linking_lady persona.

[edit] Heebor (15)

The first portion of the landscape image appeared. The image name and tooltip text changed to "heebor", a D'ni word meaning "fifteen" (15), and the Slogan became "The Motion Picture. Finally. Real."

[edit] Sehn (3)

On January 2 2008, the site featured a new tile replacing the one in the heebor jpeg, but in a different location. The name of the image and tooltip changed to "sehn", D'ni for "three" (3). It revealed some very middle-eastern looking domes. The slogan was changed to "The Motion Picture. Finally. Real. Change." The heebor image could still be linked to directly, though it had changed as well. The content of the tile now revealed a different portion of the landscape.

[edit] Naigahsehn (13)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Naigahsehn (13)

[edit] Naivoo (10)

The next teaser page, titled "naivoo" (10), arrived on January 4, 2008. The slogan contained another new word to become "The Motion Picture. Greatness." The following comment was found in the source code:

Once again, the code was a series of D'ni words for the following numbers: 13.19.26.16.12.5.22.23 13.19.22.13.19.22.16 9.18.19.24 12.9.19.26.20.19.22.9 22.22.8.19.26.21.'.25 15.19.26.5.19.26.8.7. Using the key 1=Z, 2=Y, 3=X (etc) and reversing the entire message produces another D'ni Sentence: ".devokahn kehnehn chir rehgaro b'fahsee tsahvahl" which translates to "Hope is the greatest living organism."

As with previous images, the naigahsehn jpeg changed to version B showing a different portion of the landscape.

[edit] Alleged attack

Sometime around January 5, 2008, the website appeared to have been compromised. The new graphic curiously featured Myst-specific details: the text "we r u" is clever play on the "U R U = you are you" concept of Uru ; furthermore, the word "myst" faintly appears on the forehead of a grinning face. These specific details are unusual for typical website attacks, particularly for sites that are hardly known.

[edit] Login form

Later that day, a login form appeared. The images making up the form, styled in a manner typical of Myst-related websites in color theme and use of fonts (e.g., Flamboyant Handwriting), are named after D'ni numerals: fah, bree, sehn, tor, vaht and vahgahfah, or one through six.

The form lead to a page whose first few characters equal the entered password.

Username and password, fah	Username box, bree	Spacer, sehn	Password box, tor
Spacer, vaht	Sign in button, vahgahfah

A fan emailed the webmasters and received the following response:^[2]

The reply is in the D'ni language. The first line roughly translates to "No words." The second line is the parting phrase "in peace" or "with peace." Puzzlers speculated that the webmasters seemed to be implying that no information would be given out other than through the posted images and puzzles.

[edit] Naigahtor (14)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Naigahtor (14)

[edit] Vahgahbree (7)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Vahgahbree (7)

[edit] Fah (1)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Fah (1)

[edit] Heegahbree (17)

On January 9 the image was changed to "heegahbree" or "seventeen", and the slogan was changed to "The Motion Picture. Greatness. Corruption. Redemption." The second "fah" image was discovered and, curiously, a third "vahgahbree" image was found. Only part of the source code changed this time; the first part remained almost the same:

This translates to "Get Wired. Find Back From the Dead. (the words of the sixth lord[3]) 224th word + cipher. (ki)word purity. (ki) sanctity." The ciphered message did, however, change completely:

This translates to a new series of numbers: 72.63.58.68.56.66.48 56.65.74.94.66.28.45. Using the Nihilist cipher with "purity" as the keyword and "sanctity" as the key, Deius deciphered the message: "yltolvg kivsmre". Using an inverted alphabet, this turned into "bogloet prehniv" or "We will begin again."^[3]

[edit] Tor (4)

January 10 brought the release of two new images: the second heegahbree image and a tor (D'ni for "four") image. The slogan was changed back to "The Motion Picture" again. This update included no clues nor ciphered messages in the source code.

[edit] Return of the login form

January 11 brought a return of the same login form that first appeared on January 5, after the hacking incident. The images were the same as before (fah, bree, sehn, tor, vaht and vahgahfah) but this time, incorrect login information did't display the entered password on the next page. Instead, it linked to a plain black page with no text or images. Puzzlers on the MO:UL Forums suggested that perhaps the username/password could be derived from the e-mail responses that some of the puzzlers had received from the webmasters.^[4] It was suggested that the message "no words" might mean that the login information might be made up of the series of numbers of all the image names found so far.^[5]

On the MO:UL Forums, rygynjupiter determined from his examination of the login form that it may not work properly in its present form.^[6] It was then suggested that the login form could represent spaces in the number sequence of the images so far.^[7] If this is the case, then the sequence so far would be:

15.3.13.10 [space] 14.7.1.17.4 [space]

Puzzlers had already tried deciphering the sequence using substitution ciphers, but perhaps the correct cipher hasn't been found yet.

[edit] Vahgahsehn (8)

On January 12 the unsolved login form was replaced by another image: vahgahsehn (D'ni for "eight), and the second tor image was uploaded. The slogan remained "The Motion Picture", and new clues and a new ciphered message were found in the page's source code:

This translates to:

Running the numbers through a Polybius square and then through the Vigenère cipher with "Yahvo" as the key reveals a D'ni sentence: "xatgahmah gah isyeerehmah rehbahrehltahn". Accounting for errors, this becomes, "Know and revere The Maker."^[8]

[edit] Vahgahfah (6)

On January 13 the site was updated to include the second vahgahsen image, the first vahgahfah image, a new slogan, and a new source code cipher. The new slogan was "The Motion Picture. Tyranny." and the cipher was included in the page's source code as follows:

Assigning each number or number pair a unique letter from the alphabet outputs, "A'BCC DEFGEFG BEFGHFBGAHFG IHF HFBEEJFAHFG AKC LCMHFCA". The cipher was brute-forced to reveal the original message, ".t'roo kehnehn rehmahrntahn gah ahreeuhtahn tso dovahot," or, "in that he is the creator and protector of our world."^[9]

It was later discovered that the clock hands on an analog clock set to the times referred to in the cipher resembled D'ni numbers. Using this method, the translation still remained the same.^[10]

[edit] Bree (2)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Bree (2)

[edit] Heegahfah (16)

On January 16 the image changed to heegahfah (16). The slogan added another new word to become: "MYST The Motion Picture. Tyranny. Fear. Destruction." Unfortunately, there was not a new cipher to be found in in the source code.

[edit] Naigahfah (11)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Naigahfah (11)

[edit] Vahgahtor (9)

On January 18 the image changed to vahgahtor (9). The slogan remained in its simplest form: "MYST The Motion Picture." Once again, there was not a new cipher to be found in in the source code. The image depicts a large circular stadium-like structure.

[edit] Vaht (5)

The image for January 20 is vaht (5). Once again, there are no ciphers or codes in the source code, and the slogan did not change.

[edit] Naigahbree (12)

Main article: Myst: The Motion Picture puzzle/Naigahbree (12)

[edit] Gorvehn (Soon)

On January 31, the picture changed. It had no image piece on it and the slogan had "gorvehn" ("soon" in D'ni) added to it. All the other pictures became unavailable.

[edit] Flash movie, blog, and foreword

On February 16, the website was changed again. A Flash movie loaded, showing the outlines of several previously-seen tiles; afterwards, a log-in form appeared. Given the right D'ni numerals in the correct order, the screen was first filled with all tiles (forming the complete image discussed below, then turned into a linking panel.

When clicked, a proper website with a blog, foreword by Rand Miller and information about the producers was revealed. As deciphered by Owehn^[11], the numbers had to be entered into the login form as follows:

Later, PhilippH^[12] discovered that the sequence could be obtained from the sequence of released puzzle piece teasers as follows: the first piece released was labeled "heebor" (15), so the word "fah" (1) should be entered in the 15 place in the sequence. Conversely, "fah" was the label for the seventh piece, so "vahgahbree" (7) should be entered in the login form first.

The following day, the Flash intro (and, with it, the puzzle) was moved to a separate page; entry to the proper website is now possible directly without solving any puzzle.^[13]

[edit] Slogan changes

The slogan has gone through several changes. Here is a summary of the variations seen so far:

• MYST The Motion Picture.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Finally.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Finally. Real.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Finally. Real. Change.

• MYST The Motion Picture.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Greatness.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Greatness. Corruption.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Greatness. Corruption. Redemption

• MYST The Motion Picture.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Tyranny.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Tyranny. Fear.

• MYST The Motion Picture. Tyranny. Fear. Destruction.

• MYST The Motion Picture.

• MYST The Motion Picture. gorvehn

[edit] Deciphered messages

Here is a summary of the deciphered messages discovered so far in the source code:

• I know the tree of possibility grows once again.

• Hope is the greatest living organism.

• D'ni was to be a new beginning, and that it will remain forever.

• The words of the other [or outsider] are nothing now. We are lost to our maker.

• He has charged [or assigned] me with the death of our empire.

• We will begin again.

• Know and revere The Maker,

• in that he is the creator and protector of our world,

• but follow me, and he will cherish and love the made once more.

• I am the greatest of the D'ni.

• I am the means of The Maker!

[edit] MYSTlore edits

On February 14, the Mysteriacs edited this article under the name Mysteriac. The edits were mostly formatting changes, but the meaning of one message was clarified. In the fifth message, the verb "ilahis" is used; its usual translation would be "power" or "charge", as in charging a battery. However, they added the alternate meaning "assign" to the "Deciphered messages" section.

[edit] Teaser images

The teaser version of the website features various images with a varied slogan and, more interestingly, a small still snapshot, presumably CGI or concept art. Each still but the last has a number of unknown meaning or significance written in D'ni numerals (transliterated to the Latin alphabet), which appears as a tooltip. Some images were later replaced with slightly different perspectives, while their numbers were retained. The images and their respective numbers:

15, heebor	15, heebor	3, sehn	3, sehn
13, naigahsehn	13, naigahsehn	10, naivoo	10, naivoo
14, naigahtor	14, naigahtor	7, vahgahbree	7, vahgahbree
7, vahgahbree	1, fah	1, fah	17, heegahbree
17, heegahbree	4, tor	4, tor	8, vahgahsehn
8, vahgahsehn	6, vahgahfah	6, vahgahfah	2, bree
2, bree	16, heegahfah	16, heegahfah	11, naigahfah
11, naigahfah	9, vahgahtor	9, vahgahtor	5, vaht
5, vaht	12, naigahbree	soon, gorvehn

Various fans have attempted to stitch the tiles together:

by Nadnerb [1]

by Kohdi [2]

by Dav'on [3]

The stills on those images are loosely reminiscent of the depiction of the City of D'ni in Uru, though the architecture looks more middle-eastern than D'ni. It is unknown at this time whether the red background is the glow of the D'ni cavern or simply a red sky. It could as well represent something on Garternay instead, or even on the Earth's surface at sunrise or sunset. Some fans have speculated that the arch in the distance is Kerath's Arch. Interestingly, the two stiched images do not exactly fit together when combined in areas. Bits like the tower next to the arch and several spires on the domes do not fit together between the pictures.

[edit] External links

Discussions:

• Thread at M&UO Forums
• Thread at MO:UL Forums
• Thread at MYSTcommunity

References