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Mortal Online New Homepage Screen Mystery

RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730

Recently, Star Vault added a new homepage screen to the official website (http://www.mortalonline.com/) which pictures 6 rotating candles, each with different ornate depictions on each candleholder.  Only one of the candles is lit, and a couple of days ago, it started to burn down - it did so again today.

This isn't the first time that SV has used a cryptic puzzle to engage the playerbase in trying to figure out what information it holds.  From what Henrik has said, "Dont worry these candles are not there to hurt or upset anyone. They are there for a reason, and those who find out for what reason will profit in their own way out of that." http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/53685-new-enter-site-screen-3.html#post1026954

Theories on the significance of the candles has ranged from being a countdown to the launch of the new build, to the images on the candles indicating new content in the upcoming patch, to it being a set of lore-based clues that will reveal some meaningful information about Nave or the game.

This is an example of one of the more well-considered theories:

 


Old Today, 07:22

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I think it is my turn to have a go at the poem and this candel puzzle.

First, lets look at the poem... I feel it will have a strong connection to the things in the candels. If not, it will at least help to give an idea of what/how they are thinking.



am nave diluvi

am nave flagrati

effogo potes ti

fatuu et pysma

armillo gia

servatis clade



I took all the confusing "-"s out for legibility, as I did not find them useful in trying to translate.. if anything they made things more dificult.



The first word, "am" seems to be redundant. I have found no direct translation other than "am" as in "I am" which I highly doubt is useful. I think it is safe to assume it is a type of praise, like one might say "Oh! Nave is sinking!", which is my translation of the first line. "Diluvi" is pretty well understood as "flood" or "the flood" and is the father to the english word, deluge whick means, (in noun form) "flood of something, down pour", or (in verb form) "inundate with water" or cover in water.



Interestingly I also found that some translations of "nave" can mean "ship" or "boat" thust the word "Navy". Could it be that the developers intended the Island of Nave to be a boat of sorts? I guess it is in a way, since it is an island, apparently floating in the ocean. Very clever devs. :-D



So now, the second line is about as simple to translate as the first. "Oh! Nave is burning!". "Flagrati" is another easily translated word for "fire, flame, burn" in Latin and is where we get words like "Conflagration (con-flagrati-on)" meaning "large fire".



The rest of the stuff is not so simple... but we can go off what we have learned witht he first two lines. That should give us a fairly good foundation.



"Effogo potes ti" gave me some trouble but I think I have it sorted. I had to break these words down and combine them to come up with a coherent translations. First lets go with the obvious. "Effogo" came up in Latin as meaning something along the lines of "frighten off, drive away, send into exile" which sounds pretty good. Then it is followed by "potes" which also was a fairly direct translation into Latin as meaning "be able, can, having more power/influence", but the issue came in with the word "ti". "Ti" did have a possible translation, though very indirect as being an abbreviation for the possible refrence to the great Roman emporor Tiberius. However, (unless they plan to name one of the gods Tiberius) I think the devs would steer clear of mixing Naves history in with the Romans. So, looking at it strictly from this translation we might come up with something like, "Tiberius, powerful and ifluential, drive them away,". Though this sounds fairly good, I have come up with an alternative. Instead of "Effogo potes ti" if you move the letters about slightly one might also get "Effo go potest i" which can roughly translate to "I can go expressly". Both these seem to make a slight bit of sense but not quite enough, not until we add both translations together, subtracting the parts that do not fit. Thus I have translated line #3 to be "I have the power to drive them away."



Well, that wasn't so hard... or was it?



Line #4 really starts to get confusing. "Fatuu et pysma" seems to only be partially translatable from Latin. Almost off the bat I recognise the word "Fatuu" as being the root of the word "Fatuous" meaning silly or pointless. When we add "et" behind "fatuu" the meaning changes slightly into "a fool". The problem then comes from the word "pysma" which has no roots in Latin but rather in Greek, which is a word describing "the asking of multiple questions successively (which would together require a complex reply)," or " a rhetorical use of the question". This does make sense in the end, adding the three words we get something along the lines of "Am I a fool?", which is obviously a rhetorical question from a poetic stadpoint, as though someone is asking themselves that qestion. Knowing this I feel it is nesicary to tweek the translation of line #3 slightly. Instead of thatrting as a statement, lets turn it into a question as well, "Do I have the power to drive them away?"



So... lets us see what we have thus far...



"Oh! Nave is sinking,

Oh! Nave is burning!

Do I have the power to drive them away,

Am I a fool?"



Now, for line #5. The simple line it is is the hardest to decode. At this point, in order to get the best and most coherent translation we have seen the languages Latin and Greek but, unfortunately "armillo gia" or any variation "armi llo gia", "arm illo gia", "armil lo gia", "armil logia" and so forth has brought up nothing coherent in either language. So, I broadened my search and found a relatively rought translation in Italian taking the words "armi lo gia" which translates to "weapons it already". Now, I would think that having gotten this fat, and since this was origionally meant to be a puzzle, they would intentionally make it harder as you progress... thus the third language and the very poor translation. On top of this there is the myth of a weapon called the Armillogion (1) which is reputed to see into the future, thus making it the ultimate weapon. However, I feel this coincidence in wording was put in merely to confuse and mislead, though it is entirely possible that it is a sentance with two meanings... especially when we translate the final line.



Line #6: "Servatis clade" is a throw back into Latin as far as I can tell. It has no meaning in either Greek or Italian nor any other language. "Servatis" in itself is a rather interesting word that can have many different meanings but in its most direct form it translates to "watch over, protect, store, keep, guard, preserve, or save". However, if we break the word into two parts, "servat is", we get "watch over, protect, store, keep, guard, preserve, save" AND "he/she/it/they/them". Really all the mystery is in the first word for "clade" is fairly straight forward in translation meaning "disaster, defeat, casualties, slaughter, carnage, devastation, plauge, or scourge".



Now, knowing what we know about the final two lines, I think it is safe to say we are not looking at just a poem, but a prayer, a plee of sorts and thus I come to my final translation:



"Oh! Nave is sinking,

Oh! Nave is burning!

Do I have the power to drive them away,

Am I a fool?

My weapon is drawn,

Guard me from defeat."



Or, if we use the translation of "servat is" we get something like this:



"Oh! Nave is sinking,

Oh! Nave is burning!

Does he have the power to drive them away,

Is he a fool?

His weapon is drawn,

Guard him from defeat."



One might also say there is a hidden message as well in lines 5 and 6 with refrence to the Armillogon saying something along the lines of "The ultimate weapon, Armillogion, guards me from defeat."



I know this has little, if nothing, to do with the current puzzle we have but I think it will be key to unlocking this new riddle.



Stay tuned for my translation of the candles. :-D





(1) "When Vica Iudico sank into the ocean the Athenaeum Regalis disappeared as well, it was a well-regarded academy which also housed one of the largest collections of books and scrolls in the world. Those items which could be saved were divided between the Clerus Magica and the former city hall in Forum Tindrem, which has taken over the role as both library and courthouse. One of the most important items recovered was the Armillogion device – a kind of ancient orrery of mystical origin that according to legend was the reason to the success of the old empire because of its ability to predict the future. Unfortunately no one has ever understood how the mechanism in the item worked and since it stopped working during the flood it now mostly stands in its new place in the Clerus Magica collecting dust." - Lore of the Armillogion


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In any event, it's obviously gotten the attention of a lot of players, and is the subject of discussion on these threads in the official forums:

http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/53685-new-enter-site-screen.html

and here:

http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/53968-frontpage-candles.html#post1030341

Anyone here have any theories on what it means?

 

Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

Comments

  • mrw0lfmrw0lf Member Posts: 2,269

    My translation would be;

    At the birth of Nave!

    At the forging of Nave!

    Began the foolish never-ending search for power?

    - the end I would say is something about the saving of the land with the use of some form of loot

    the translation of armillo to ar'milo is more stretched than the direct meaning of armlets but tbh I lost by trail of thought and gave up.

    -----
    “The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.”

  • thorppesthorppes Member Posts: 452

    Currently two of the candels images have been found ingame as symbols or objects.

    The first candel now at 18% left was first thought to represent a priest or ressurection/spirtualism. However now it has been discovered by Meduli tower as two statues.

    The folded arms guy is found in the Heurgar cave as a statue.

  • OzivoisOzivois Member UncommonPosts: 598

    Here is the translation:

     

    God floods the world, i.e. Devs simulate a world-changing event, like the great flood

    God enlightens the world, i.e. change to how skills and powers are discovered/learned

    You are driven away, i.e. flyable mounts will be available for long-distance travel

    Foolish questions, i.e. "Why am I playing this game?" are answered - boss mobs and quests become prevalent, PvE content added

    Army is ready, i.e. crafting changes: new weapon items, graphics and changes implemented

    Serve and protect from slaughter, i.e. crafting changes: new armor, graphics and changes implemented

  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730

    I have absolutely zero understanding of Latin, so can't be of any help there.

    Many of us have been looking inside the game world for clues, and have found some similarities in-game to what's represented on the candles, but nothing definitive yet.

    The candles continue to burn down, but it doesn't seem to be at a set rate.

    There are quite a few that still think it has to do with upcoming releases, where each candle will represent a milestone patch being released (the first being the new Epic build on Monday).

    Still a lot of questions unanswered here....

    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

  • EschmekEschmek Member Posts: 25

    Originally posted by Rohn

    I have absolutely zero understanding of Latin, so can't be of any help there.

    Many of us have been looking inside the game world for clues, and have found some similarities in-game to what's represented on the candles, but nothing definitive yet.

    The candles continue to burn down, but it doesn't seem to be at a set rate.

    There are quite a few that still think it has to do with upcoming releases, where each candle will represent a milestone patch being released (the first being the new Epic build on Monday).

    Still a lot of questions unanswered here....

    indeed. with a little bit fantasy you can make your own presumption. e.g. that picture found by a player

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/611173/Candle_1.gif

  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730

    Originally posted by Eschmek

    Originally posted by Rohn

    I have absolutely zero understanding of Latin, so can't be of any help there.

    Many of us have been looking inside the game world for clues, and have found some similarities in-game to what's represented on the candles, but nothing definitive yet.

    The candles continue to burn down, but it doesn't seem to be at a set rate.

    There are quite a few that still think it has to do with upcoming releases, where each candle will represent a milestone patch being released (the first being the new Epic build on Monday).

    Still a lot of questions unanswered here....

    indeed. with a little bit fantasy you can make your own presumption. e.g. that picture found by a player

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/611173/Candle_1.gif

     

    Indeed, that's one of the statues that's been found that people have talked about.

    There's also the priest statue at the tower in Meduli that Kuroi mentioned - it doesn't have a priest at it, and the Meduli tower has a locked door.

    image

    It's difficult to figure out if these actually have any connection to the home page, and if so, what that connection is.  It's been fun to try to work it out, though.  image

    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

  • OzivoisOzivois Member UncommonPosts: 598

    Hmm, I am now thinking that while the candle is lit you need to apply the clue in the area where you find the statue.

     

    So in that area where the first statue is, apply the clue: am nave diluvi

     

    There must be treasure hidden somewhere around that statue near water...

     

    good luck

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