GI Back Cover Poem. II : V

» Fri May 21, 2010 2:16 am

GI Back Cover Poem: II

Here is the second Thread about the GI Back Cover Poem if you have interesting things to add well add them.

http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/bethesda/elderscrolls/elderscrollsv/cov_214_l.jpg

According to DCDeacon it is not a letter for letter transcription.
Therefore, the new thing that popped up was trying to convert it in phonetic
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

» Fri May 21, 2010 12:04 pm

For the sake of discussion, I've made http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Vahiku/Various/skyrimcharacters.jpg, so we can use numbers to clearly refer to a particular character. I've currently counted thirty different characters, but that number is probably incorrect. Chances are high I either duplicated or missed a few. Then again, we could also be dealing with diacritic symbols.

Feel free to modify this to your heart's content, but whenever you do so, I suggest you leave the numbering intact. If a character is removed, simply leave an empty spot or make a new number for additional characters. This way, previous discussion doesn't suddenly become nonsense.

» Fri May 21, 2010 11:55 am

Have we learned anything that the OP can re-edit into the...opening post?

EDIT: Like the chart above? and the original cover? comon!

http://www.gameinformer.com/p/esv.aspx is where we'll find our official cipher..Best throw that in the OP too.

» Fri May 21, 2010 1:20 am

Is this just a basic cipher? Is it just letter replacement? Or is it a complexly encoded message, or perhaps could it even be another language created for the game?

» Fri May 21, 2010 4:46 am

I'm waiting if someone puts something interesting i will put it up.

» Fri May 21, 2010 5:03 am

Is this just a basic cipher? Is it just letter replacement?

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

» Fri May 21, 2010 10:00 am

Is this just a basic cipher? Is it just letter replacement? Or is it a complexly encoded message, or perhaps could it even be another language created for the game?

No, Hines said it was something else. We're currently going for phonetics - he also said there was going to be a translator later, so it's unlikely to be wildly complex (like a Vigenere or whatever).

» Fri May 21, 2010 2:25 am

http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_atoz.html because there are a lots of ancient writing systems that could have inspired whoever designed this script.

» Fri May 21, 2010 6:46 am

On the last I've put a link to a simple "translator" I've made: https://sites.google.com/site/thecoolgamer/files/text.html (the text used is http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1155963-gi-back-cover-poem/page__view__findpost__p__16924158, but you can edit the source to fix)
Easy way to try things, because it changes the same letter on other places simultaneously.

» Fri May 21, 2010 5:53 am

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

...Not really.

» Fri May 21, 2010 7:33 am

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

Pete stated that it isn't letter-to-letter stuff. So yeah, a whole language. But we had this before, Dwemer and Ayleid languages.

» Fri May 21, 2010 11:18 am

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

Tolkien did it for a bunch of books i dont see why they wouldnt do it for a game.

» Fri May 21, 2010 8:14 am

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

Not really. We did it all the time when me and my friends were kids.

» Fri May 21, 2010 2:30 pm

Is this just a basic cipher? Is it just letter replacement? Or is it a complexly encoded message, or perhaps could it even be another language created for the game?

Personally, I just think it's a simple letter replacement. Though the replaced letters wont translate to english words. It's probably a two-step process. Step 1 would be to translate the ruins into it's native language (dragon-ish? maybe). Step 2 would be to translate the words into English. If it's an entirely new language then step 2 could be difficult.

» Fri May 21, 2010 4:36 am

I'm just going to copy this over...

Following this pattern for the first paragraph only:

ABCDEFG ABCDEFG
GHI BE JKG IBT CDLFG
MD ACG CBENI ODPQRLHE DTU CHI
DLE PKG GBLBE VHI SLHG
PBA GNTU WBG JKGALB JHG
ABCDEFG PD WKG EBSHG ON ALHI

And using the "dovah" from Dovahkiin" as a key, we get this:

DOVAHxx DOVAHxx
xxx OH xxx xOx VAxxx
xA DVx VOHxx xAxxxxxH Axx
Vxx AxH xxx xOxOH xxx xxxx
xOD xxxx xOx xxxDlO xxx
DOVAHxx xA xxx HOxxx xx Dxxx

X = not translated
Red = Dovahkiin

Now listen to the song in the trailer, not only to the "dovahxx" (Dovahkiin) match but most of the letters match the sounds they are singing. Especially the first letter words that are translated above.

THIS IS NOT ENGLISH, but I do think it's the written version of the song lyrics. If this IS correct we can then see about translating the non-english words into something....unless GI beats us of course!

» Fri May 21, 2010 11:20 am

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

Nah. Been done before, and it is always a good thing imo. Makes the universe much more immersive.

LOtR did it, turned out great for Tolkien.

In fact, I am pretty certain in the movies the actually speak the languages properly. Which is beyond impressive.

» Fri May 21, 2010 9:10 am

This. Really a whole language for a game? Thats a bit much.

What? It's not necessary a whole language, like AYLEID, it's probably phonetic.

» Fri May 21, 2010 2:17 pm

For those asking for it i edited the OP

» Fri May 21, 2010 1:08 am

LOtR did it, turned out great for Tolkien.

I Ninja'd you by far XD :ninja:

» Fri May 21, 2010 2:31 am

How about this?
I knew this reminded me of something! :happy:
Not that it's going to help anything, but it's very similar in some ways.
http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/personal/jg/unicode/table8.htm

» Fri May 21, 2010 9:37 am

My version http://i51.tinypic.com/nq5oht.png (Please ignore the "translated" verses though, I have fixed them in this post)

27 characters. It seems to rhyme.

ABCDEFG ABCDEFG
GHI BE JKG IBL CDMFG
ND AOG CBEPI QDRBTMHE DLS CHI
DME RKG GBMBE VHI WMHG
RBA GPLS UBG JKGAMB JHG
ABCDEFG RD UKG EBWHG QP AMHI

DME RKG ETI IBLS VMBAD
AP CTA CFGW EB RKG EMD
SBI RBA JXQD NKG EOG QXJ RPGAOG
YIAPKG RXG AB ZPG
EMPJFE CBEPG LSHAGYP
CBSU HG 0DIBE ND AFCBG RKG IOG

Can't be sure though because we don't know what to replace the letters with. Can someone double check my character replacement though? I think it's right, but it would be best if we decide which one is correct.

» Fri May 21, 2010 5:12 am

and there's of course Tlhingan Hol in StarTrek- too bad the german voiceovers never realized that it IS a working language, their pronounciation is horrible...

so IF it's another language we can't do a thing until we'll find Rosetta Stone. or maybe, the whole thing IS a revealed part of the Main quest and you'll be hunting the translation for about 10 hours of Gameplay....

» Fri May 21, 2010 1:48 pm

I'm pretty sure it's either not (phonetic) english, or it doesn't start with the word dovahkiin twice. Doesn't matter if you read it backwards or not.

Edit: never mind that, the translator someone gave isn't perfect. Two simbols that are really alike are made the same.

» Fri May 21, 2010 1:30 am

I'm just going to copy this over...

Following this pattern for the first paragraph only:

And using the "dovah" from Dovahkiin" as a key, we get this:

X = not translated
Red = Dovahkiin

Now listen to the song in the trailer, not only to the "dovahxx" (Dovahkiin) match but most of the letters match the sounds they are singing. Especially the first letter words that are translated above.

THIS IS NOT ENGLISH, but I do think it's the written version of the song lyrics. If this IS correct we can then see about translating the non-english words into something....unless GI beats us of course!

I'm not sure. Listened to the song a few times with the partial 'translation' you provided and I'm not really sure if that's the song.
Although the double Dovakhiin is a plausible point.

» Fri May 21, 2010 9:31 am

By isolating all the two letter words you can isolate two character that have to be consonants. I don't really feel like putting more effort into this, but that's how far I've got.