Semiotics

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In the video Jonas Sucks Daniel finds a package in their car. It includes a set of Nancy Drew books and a note from Tachyon. From the start, Daniel suspects that this package contains some kind of clue to guide them in figuring out the password to the encrypted file Tachyon had left Bree.

Semiotics background

Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped in sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood. It can represent a methodology for the analysis of texts regardless of modality, which is the particular way in which the information is to be encoded for presentation to humans. For these purposes, "text" is any message preserved in a form whose existence is independent of both sender and receiver. Naming the file "semiotics" could signify that the password to the file already exists in what Tachyon sent Daniel. In this way, Daniel and Tachyon need know nothing about each other to be able to communicate what the password is.

The note

Tachyon's note reads

xxxxxxxxxxx
  Where it all started
the answer is before you
  a subtle clue I Drew
        xoxo,
          T
                    yyy

When Daniel read the note aloud in Jonas Sucks he mentioned that it was a haiku. A haiku is a short poem consisting of three lines. It must have five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five in the third. Tachyon's note had five, seven, and six syllables respectively, so it was not actually a haiku. This proved to be significant when solving for the password of the file.

Another important feature of the note was the x's and y's written at the top and bottom of the message. On the top-left corner there were 11 x's, on the bottom-right 3 y's.

The Books

The package contained five books from the Nancy Drew series, including

  • No. 1 The Secret of the Old Clock
  • No. 7 The Clue in the Diary
  • No. 10 Password to Larkspur Lane
  • No. 19 The Quest of the Missing Map
  • No. 52 The Secret of the Forgotton City


The Nancy Drew series was created and outlined in detail in 1930 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate,which continued the series after his death.

The file

In the video description to Jonas Sucks, Daniel posted a link to the file, http://tinyurl.com/33s4w2. The file has been uploaded here. It is a password-protected .rar file named "53454d494f54494353.rar", which is hex for "SEMIOTICS".

The password

The note from Tachyon pointed to "where it all started" and capitalized "Drew" in "a subtle clue I Drew". This led to the first part of the password, which was "stratemeyer" because the Nancy Drew series was started by him. Stratemeyer is an 11-letter word--11 was also the amount of x's in the upper-left corner of the note. The number of y's on the bottom-right of the note was 3, so the second part of the password was 3 characters long.
Another "subtlety" in Tachyon's note led to the second part of the password. Daniel had incorrectly noted that it was composed like a haiku, with the numbers of syllables per line being 5,7,5, respectively. Her note actually had 5,7, and 6 syllables. These numbers, "576" were the second part of the password.

Password (case sensitive):stratemeyer576

Contents

LIGATURES image
AMALGAMATION image

When unzipped, SEMIOTICS.rar yields a folder named "igel tsetop non tse mucearG". Backwards, its name is "Graecum est non potest legi", which is Latin for "It is Greek; it cannot be read." The folder contains three files.

LIGATURES

The first is named "4c4947415455524553" and has no extension. When translated from hex, its name is "LIGATURES". Adding the extension ".jpg" allows the file to be opened as an image.
Definition: In writing and typography a ligature occurs where two or more letter-forms are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace two sequential characters sharing common components, and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms" where the specific shape of a letter depends on context such as surrounding letters or proximity to the end of a line.<ref>Wikipedia article on typographical ligatures.</ref>
For information on the symbols in this image, see the section The Symbols

AMALGAMATION

The second file is named "414d414c47414d4154494f4e" and also produces an image when the extension .jpg is added. Its name is "AMALGAMATION" in hex.
Definition: Amalgamation means to combine or unite into one form; the word has several uses, among them chemistry, mining, dentistry and mathematics (particularly group theory).<ref>Wikipedia disambiguation page for "Amalgamation".</ref>
For information on the symbols in this image, see the section The Symbols

SEMANTIKOS

The third file is named "53454d414e54494b4f53", which is "SEMANTIKOS" when translated from hex. Adding the extension .txt allows the file to be opened as a text file, which reads

 VGhlIFRoZXRhIGlzIHNpbWlsYXIgdG8gYW4gRWd5cHRpYW4gc3ltYm9sIHRoYXQgcmVwcmVzZW50cyB0aGUgU3VuLCBhbmQgdGhlIE11IHdhcyBkZXJpdm
 VkIGZyb20gdGhlIEVneXB0aWFuIGhpZXJvZ2x5cGhpYyBzeW1ib2wgZm9yIHdhdGVyLiBTbyB0aGUgU3VuIGVxdWFscyBSYS4uLmFuZCB0aGUgd2F0ZXIg
 ZXF1YWxzIE5hdW5ldD8gT3IgbWF5YmUgUG9zZWlkb24/IFdoZW4gY29tYmluZWQgdGhpcyAid2F0Y2hlciIgc3ltYm9sIGVzdGFibGlzaGVzIHRoYXQgdG
 hlIE9yZGVyIHJ1bGVzIGFuZCB3YXRjaGVzIG92ZXIgYWxsIHRoYXQgZXhpc3RzIGluIGJldHdlZW4uDQoNClRoZXRhIGlzIHRoZSA4dGggbGV0dGVyLCBN
 dSBpcyB0aGUgMTJ0aC4gU28gdGhhdCdzIG9uZSBtb3JlIDEyLCBidXQgdGhlIDggPSA/Lg0KDQpUaGV0YSB3YXMgYWxzbyB1c2VkIGFzIGFuIGFiYnJldm
 lhdGlvbiBmb3IgIlRoYW5hdG9zLCIgYW5kIGNvbnNpZGVyZWQgYSB3YXJuaW5nIG9mIGRlYXRoLg0K

Please note:Actual text has no line breaks or spaces, they were inserted in the above text for better fit.

Translating from BASE64, the following message is obtained:

The Theta is similar to an Egyptian symbol that represents the Sun, and the Mu was derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for water. So the Sun equals Ra...and the water equals Naunet? Or maybe Poseidon? When combined this "watcher" symbol establishes that the Order rules and watches over all that exists in between.
Theta is the 8th letter, Mu is the 12th. So that's one more 12, but the 8 = ?.
Theta was also used as an abbreviation for "Thanatos," and considered a warning of death.

This message used to examine the images from LIGATURES and AMALGAMATION in the next section.

Definition of Semantikos: Semantikos is the Greek root of the English word semantics. Semantikos means giving signs, significant, symptomatic. It comes from the Greek sema, meaning sign.<ref>Wikipedia article on Semantics</ref>


The Symbols

AMALGAMATION

AMALGAMATION Theta.jpg Theta
AMALGAMATION Mu.jpg Mu
AMALGAMATION Watcher.jpg Watcher

Tachyon explains this image in her text file SEMANTIKOS (above). In that note she demonstrates how the "watcher" symbol is constructed with the Greek letters Theta and Mu.

Theta

Tachyon's note reveals that Theta is "similar to an Egyptian symbol that represents the Sun".
It also mentions that Theta could be representative of a warning of death.

Mu

Tachyon's note explains that Mu is "derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol representing water".

"Watcher"

Combining Theta and Mu creates the "watcher" symbol. The "watcher" symbol's meaning is also a combination of the respective meanings of Theta and Mu. Thus, Tachyon concludes that the "watcher" symbol "establishes that the Order rules and watches over all that exists in between [the sun and the sea]".

Note on numbers: The Semantikos file also makes mention of the numerical value of these letters--"Theta is the 8th letter, Mu is the 12th."--but currently no one is sure what this numbering would imply.


LIGATURES

LIGATURES blurryWatcher.jpg Watcher
LIGATURES OmicronTau.jpg Omicron+Tau
LIGATURES GammaSigma.jpg Lambda+Sigma
LIGATURES ThetaPi.jpg Theta+Pi

The meanings of the symbols below have not been ascertained, but forum users believe that Tachyon intends us to deduce their meaning by breaking them into their Greek-letter components and studying each part.

"Watcher" (blurry)

Hybrid 1: Omicron + Tau

Hybrid 2: Lambda + Sigma

Hybrid 3: Theta + Pi

References

<references/>

External links