[Spoiler Warning] My Puzzle Box Thoughts
I have been watching this form for quite a while now but have chosen not to get involved. I solved the Lunchbox and Puzzle Box independantly using some quick programs I wrote; I'm considering posting them here. At any rate I opened the Puzzle Box on the somethinginthesea website and here is what Orrin says once it opens and my breakdown of it? Just asking for opinions and seeing what everybody else here thinks:
Complete text:
1 Oh magus, you have begun thy journey.
2 Your master's temple has fallen but his work is not yet finished.
3 Turn south by west toward great Muhheakantuck. Upon it's shoulder shall you find the decrepit corpse of the red queen.
4 If you would run her race then seek her crown jewels, they wait beyond the looking glass.
5 Follow the twinkling of gems oh seeker, and you shall unlock the roads to rapture.
6 This is Orrin Oscar Lutwidge, September 1958.
Line-by-line Breakdown:
1 Oh magus, you have begun thy journey.
This line seems innocent enough. It seems to just say welcome to the journey. I presume that the journey is to reach Rapture; though it could be otherwise.
Though what is a magus?
Wikipedia says:
"to denote a follower of Zoroaster, or rather, a follower of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which was – in the main – the ability to read the stars, and manipulate the fate that the stars foretold. The meaning prior to Hellenistic period is uncertain."
This seems to suggest maybe, us, the ones on this journey are driven by fate?? Does not make much sense.
"This association was in turn the product of the Hellenistic fascination for (Pseudo-)Zoroaster, who was perceived by the Greeks to be the "Chaldean" "founder" of the Magi and "inventor" of both astrology and magic."
This makes more sense. There is magic in rapture; rather splicers and their plasmids but does this make sense?
Could Orrin Oscar Lutwidge know anything about Plasmids yet? Had they even been invented yet?
<http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13400>
"Rapture as a city was completed in 1946."
"The game takes place in 1960"
Dianne Mclintock is first attacked "New Year's Ever 1958... That's why it says, "Happy 1959!"."
Orrin is leaving this message as of 1958 (see 6)
The war took a few years to escalate to violence on the streets. But plasmids were invented in the beginning of the war; they are what started the arms race bettween Fontaine and Ryan. Therefore it is conceivable that Orrin could have found out about them and even more likely that he would have percieved it as magic which is why he refers to us a a magus. Someone who is seeking magic.
That is all I can think of for this line and I may have covered the purpose of the date in line 6 in the same stroke.
2 Your master's temple has fallen but his work is not yet finished.
Don't know what this means? Does he mean the fall of Rapture? Could he know about that? When in 1958 did he leave this message? Wait, just checked, September. It seems that that was the point of the last line. To give this date for reference. So this was a few months before McClintock was attacked. The war was going full swing by then. It is quite possible that Orrin could know that Rapture was falling into disarray.
"masters temple" = "Rapture" ??
Rapture "has fallen"? Well that's true, but how does he know that (information source?) and what is he trying to achieve?
"work is not yet finished"? Hinting that Rapture needs to be rebuilt?
(Hmmmm, i read from IGN that the Big Sister is not the main adversary in the new game. With talk like "Rapture's work is not yet finished" that sounds ominous and like Lutwidge is lining up to be the next villian: pure speculation this though)
3 Turn south by west toward great Muhheakantuck. Upon it's shoulder shall you find the decrepit corpse of the red queen.
"Red Queen" was the answer my program came up with as the solution to the Puzzle Box; it was correct.
Muhheakantuck refers to a river that "flows both ways". I believe that this must refer to the American Hudson river because that is the only one in America that matches that description. There also seemed to be one in the middle east I think but that makes no sense to this story line. Also the hudson river is near new york and goes out to sea near the bermuda triangle. Into the same ocean that leads to Rapture. If you wanted to place a submersible in an ideal location to get people to Rapture then the mouth of the Hudson river would be an ideal location.
The "shoulder" may refer to the mouth of the river because this is where the arm (river) meets the body (ocean). This means that at the mouth of the Hudson river lies the "decrepit corpse of the red queen"
decrepit => "Weakened or worn out from age or wear" (Wikipedia)
corpse => (dictionary.com)
1. a dead body, usually of a human being.
2. something no longer useful or viable: rusting corpses of old cars.
3. Obsolete. a human or animal body, whether alive or dead.
I think meaning 2 being no longer useful of viable in interesting.
Red Queen => Big Sister not around then so It cannot be her.
=> Submarine to rapture???
Spectulation: This seems to suggest that at the mouth of the hudson river lies a submersible (possible with a red glow or called the red queen) that was once used to get people to rapture in the early days but has been forgotten about and is lying there waiting to be used and is growing old and decrepit; like a corpse.
4 If you would run her race then seek her crown jewels, they wait beyond the looking glass.
Interesting, "running the red queens race" and "the looking glass" an obvious Alice in Wonderland reference but please note that it is not in reference to the first and more pupular book but rather the second. The one that most people don't have experience in. (Worth reading??) Also is the reference too obvious; is it trying to distract?
The red queens race is best illustrated by these two lines:
"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
Essentially the red queens race is one in which you cannot go anywhere and you can never ever move fast enough to get anywhere. So does this suggest that seeking "her crown jewels" is a pointless endeavor that will not go anywhere? And they wait beyond the looking glass. A looking glass is another name for a mirror. Does this mean that whatever her crown jewels are they can be seen but never touched. As in, on the other side of the mirror???
Maybe go back to this.
5 Follow the twinkling of gems oh seeker, and you shall unlock the roads to rapture.
Follow the twinkling of gems (not jewels; what's the difference?) and you shall unlock the road to rapture. That seems straight forward enough. Are the twinkling gems lights or some sort (on the ocean floor)? Follow the lights to reach the submersible that can take you to Rapture?? I'm not sure, really don't know enough here.
6 This is Orrin Oscar Lutwidge, September 1958.
We already know his name so that was of no use but the date helped in the timeline above. Very useful info in the date given.
Overall:
I think this message says that is you goto the Hudson river in America and look for glowing lights on the ocean floor around the mouth of the river then they will lead you to a submersible that can take you to Rapture.
Conclusion
Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Let me know what you think.
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Originally Posted by Meltzer
