Dear Rocco, you are the bestest great person ever!
on 2009/02/15 at 10:43 pmPosted In: Uncategorized
Oh Snap, Rocco knows!!
I want to give props to Astray3 reader and commenter Rocco. That magnificent bastard, or bastess, has cracked the Alien language. How do I know? Rocco pointed out that the big monster that ate Emily was called 2 different things between comic #110 & #113. After checking my layouts, I can confirm Rocco is absolutely right. I would also point out that the creature has not been named in the English portions of the comic yet.
So Rocco, you win. I dread to see what else you find. (Guess, I should release an alphabet key for everyone else.)
It makes a lot of sense Rocco, thanks for explaining. And to be honest, I was considering Yoda speak for Ramon. But since Ramon has a lot of talking to do, I thought it would be detrimental to his part in the story and just a bit cliche. Let’s just say he has spent a lot of time around Strays and has a knack for picking up new languages.
oh snap! i was working on it. i guess i was late.
You have to explain to me your methods for solving the code. I have no foggy idea how he figured it out.
I used to crack simple ciphers for fun. Turns out it’s still fun. Thank you for the extra diversion!
SPOILER ALERT. Stop reading if you want to work out the alien speech for yourself.
I first noticed what you were doing in episode #116. Cronmora started her sentences with the same letter, which I assumed was “I”. It could also have been “A”, but that’s not as common in first-person speech. Unless you’re Yoda. Thank you for not making anyone speak like Yoda!
Episode #116 also has a fair amount of “common tongue” to work with. More is better.
I assumed the second word was “see”. The letters just looked like “s” and “e” to me. Luckily “I see” fits the scene and the common “I (verb)” sentence opener.
Context is very important when guessing.
I entered what I had so far into a text editor. Deciphering involves a lot of glancing back and forth, so matching the original line breaks helps a lot.
i see —
–e -e– e—–
– -e s—-i–
——!
e—– –
—- s–i–i–
s—-. —- –
-e- -i– —.
i —e s-e–
—s —si– —
—- — -e—-.
i —– see —
–i- —- e—–
—.
Cronmora’s pointing at our protagonist, so I assumed the next word was “you”. “The” would have worked, but another glyph had dibs on the E:
i see you
–e -e– e-ou–
-o -e s-oo-i–
–ou–!
e-ou– o-
you- s-ui–i–
s—y. —- -o
-e- -i– you.
i —e s-e–
–ys -u-si– you
—- -o -e—-.
i -o— see you
-ui- —- e–o–
-o-.
Years of watching Wheel of Fortune were about to pay off!
Only one English word fits the pattern for “e-ou–”, and that’s “enough”:
i see you
–e -e– enough
-o -e snoo-ing
–oun-!
enough o-
you- s-ui–ing
s—y. —- -o
-e- -i-h you.
i h–e s-en-
–ys nu-sing you
—- -o he—h.
i -on– see you
-uin -h– e–o–
no-.
After a certain critical mass, each new letter makes more words stand out. On the other hand, impossible words start appearing when guesses go wrong. Naturally, I go a little mad every time I come across a native name. “‘Bonmari’? What’s that? Where’s my mistake?” And then later: “‘Monbari’? Okay, Eldon, I see what you’re up to!” Thank the humans, you don’t do that often!
“you-” is revealed, which is probably “your”:
i see you
-re -e– enough
-o -e snoo-ing
-roun-!
enough o-
your s-uir-ing
s-r-y. —- -o
-e- -i-h you.
i h–e s-en-
–ys nursing you
—- -o he—h.
i -on– see you
ruin -h– e–or-
no-.
The next letters to fall: A (are); P (snooping, not snoozing); D (around); and F (of). The result:
i see you
are -e– enough
-o -e snooping
around!
enough of
your s-uir-ing
s-ray. -a– -o
-ed -i-h you.
i ha-e spen-
days nursing you
-a– -o hea–h.
i -on– see you
ruin -ha- effor-
no-.
The rest is almost readable after that.