Pillars
Shortly after the release of the July 2007 newsletter, ancient pillars began appearing across the production oceans. On these pillars were fragments of tablets with encrypted writing and diagrams on them. Much speculation and discussion occured as players tried to puzzle out the mystery, most of it can be found here, other threads included one for working theories and one in Cobalt Parley.
First Tablet
Pieces were found on the following islands:
- Cobalt: Erh, Diastrophe, Yax Mutal
- Hunter: The Lowland Hundred, Matariki, Sirius
- Midnight: Meke, Olivia, Waterberry
- Sage: Arakoua, Hoarfrost, Scurvy Reef
- Viridian: Mermaid's Purse, Polaris Point, Xian Rock
Piece One
Piece Two
Piece Three
The inscription is believed to read:
First child of fifth child Measured by my appellation Found in islands now restyled As our hands in veneration
Note: the original inscription contained a "carve-o" (too early in time to be a typo) of the word 'appellation.' It was spelled with one 'L' instead of two. Observant players noticed and debated whether it had any significance, the individual image was corrected, then the complied image was later updated as well. This was cause for more discussion as it was included as a question to the trivia event.
The moon symbols attached to the inscription were worked out to be references to the individual clue stages, each labelled with a corresponding symbol. This tablet was represented by the full moon, and a clue provided by a rough representation of the solar system; the matching line of the inscription thus means the first moon of the fifth planet, or the moon Io (Jupiter I).
Second Tablet
Pieces were found on the following islands:
- Cobalt: Oasis
- Hunter: Nunataq
- Midnight: Iris
- Sage: Kakraphoon
- Viridian: Raven's Roost
- Opal: Ix Chel
Piece Four
Piece Five
Piece Six (Nunataq)
Piece Seven
Piece Eight
Piece Nine
Reading the inscription counter clockwise around the spiral, the inscription reads:
Offer first An allotment To the full moOn then a singLe part thyseLf turn turn.
An allotment to the full moon refers to Io (the answer to the previous clue, represented by a full moon symbol), which looks like the number 10. Adding a single part (1) makes 11. Taking every eleventh letter (capitalized above) yields the letters 'atoll', or the phrase 'A to LL'
The phrase "turn, turn" is believed to be a hint to reading the tablet, though that was discovered long before that piece appeared.
Tablet Key
The key was worked out by looking at the top part of the first tablet. The four symbols below correspond to the four letters L, A, N, and D. Based on those four symbols, the rest of the tablets have been decoded.
Ancient Map
On August 1, 2007, a grand frigate named the Roaming Runes was left abandoned on each ocean, whiskable to from the noticeboard. Somewhere on each ship, there was a clickable inscription leading to an ancient map.
- Cobalt: one league from Oasis, charted to Mermaid's Purse
- Hunter: one league from Nunataq, charted to Anegada
- Midnight: one league from Iris, charted to Eclipse
- Sage: one league from Kakraphoon, charted to Mirage
- Viridian: one league from Raven's Roost, charted to Yax Mutal
It was established by Sundreena of Cobalt that the word atoll is to be interpreted as A to LL. If the map is folded ("as our hands in veneration"; hands are folded in prayer) along this line (from an A rune to two L runes), then it is possible to make out the word Atlantis next to a land mass.
Ship Charts
On each ocean, the ship Roaming Runes was found with long courses already charted. The developer or Ocean Master behind the character "Frillypants" stated that the charted courses are not pieces of the puzzle.
Midnight Course
Sage Course
Cobalt Course
Viridian Course
Hunter Course
