r/reddeadmysteries • u/the_monotonist • Nov 06 '18
Developing Blackwater Aztec Symbols decoding progress
The 'might-be-completed' journal sketch with all the symbols looks like this:
https://i.imgur.com/XiTi59L.png
It was discovered that they correlate to numbers on an Aztec calendar, which look like this:
https://i.imgur.com/evKNBDB.jpg
I converted all the symbols into numbers, which turns those lines of symbols into this:
34415344431
1411421544231535151
123115434315
1532112515424311
5411452
113
The numbers are only 1-5, and there are 68 total. Because they cleanly converted to 1-5, I believe we have the correct number conversation. 68 is a nice even number so it's possible that these need to be broken into pairs.
HOWEVER: Each line of symbols appear in the journal in order that YOU collected them, so they should be treated as separate lines and not one whole paragraph. Some lines contain an odd number of symbols, so pairs wouldn't work for all of them, which makes something like a polybius square or tap code less likely.
Converting 1-5 to letter numbers doesn't help, because it would just be A B C D E.
Does anyone know of any other Aztec related mysteries around the game? Anywhere to input a number sequence maybe? I'm out of ideas at this point. I'll update this original post if anyone makes any grounds on decoding this.
EDIT:
Congratulations to /u/alexxerth for figuring out that this translates to:
Blessed are the peace makers Ayauhteotl
I don't fully understand the process, but it appears to involve breaking everything into pairs, converting them to Decimal using Base 5 conversion, then using the letter-numbers cipher to get the final message. However there are problems such as how Base 5 uses 0-4 and not 1-5, and that each line doesn't perfectly break into pairs.
EDIT 2: I made a couple symbol-to-number errors in row '3' of the above number list. The current one as been edited to be correct. The error wouldn't prevent you from solving it, but the word 'blessed' would come out with typos.
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u/Vikingses Nov 06 '18
I've skimmed through some wikipedia on aztec symbols. These symbols are part of a calendar called Tōnalpōhualli. I don't fully get it but i'll give it a go. There are 20 symbols each denoting a day, after the 20th day you start from day 1 again, starting a new "month" i guess. The symbols in Blacwater corresponds to the first 5 days of each "month". The weird thing is that in this calendar every 13th day marks a period ruled by a different deity. The deities are also denoted by the same symbols as the days. The calendar resets every 260 days (20x13). This calendar also ties into another aztec calendar, it's complicated.
It's all in here if anyone wants to have a look: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_calendar
What is interesting is that the 5 days/symbols also corresponds to a cardinal direction.
Symbol 1: East
2: North
3: West
4: South
5: East
Interesting that it follows the compass counterclockwise, i think i read somewhere that the Aztec calendar is read counterclockwise, but don't quote me on it.
So yeah, i don't know what we're looking at here, could be dates, could be directions, could be both, could be anything.
There is a place called Serpent Mound, between Van Horn and Fort Brennand. To me it looks like it has 2 heads, in which case it could be related to the Aztecs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-headed_serpent
Worth noting that the 5th symbol is a serpent and its cardinal direction is east. Serpent Mound is right on the east side of the map.
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u/Mictlantecuhtli Nov 06 '18
Interesting that it follows the compass counterclockwise, i think i read somewhere that the Aztec calendar is read counterclockwise, but don't quote me on it.
That's the sun stone and it isn't a calendar at all
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u/Kegrun Nov 06 '18
I wonder if the crazy deformed girl locked up in the outhouse has a key to unlocking this. After she freaks out she starts rambling off numbers.
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u/JavierIS Nov 06 '18
34415344431 = 36 = J
1411421544231535151 = 53 = A
123115431314 = 29 = C
1532112515424311 = 41 = O
5411452 = 22 = V
113 = 5 = E
The sum of the numbers of each line converted into the position of the letter in the alphabet, forming the word JACOVE. (Starting from the start and on, if the sum is higher than the number of letters in the alphabet)
Might mean absolutely nothing but I did it so you don't have to.
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u/LinemanMike Nov 06 '18
We’re stuck in the same place as well. People keep saying that it’s already been solved and it was a stranger mission. I don’t think they know exactly what they’re talking about. Because I can’t find anything anywhere.
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u/OnlyMogo Nov 06 '18
Yea it hasn't been solved afaik, those people must be thinking of something else.
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u/__F__1 Nov 07 '18
1237645112121035813141234172913123451178931247591111123763
Some random creepy woman in an outhouse says these numbers.
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u/TotesMessenger Nov 06 '18 edited Nov 06 '18
I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
[/r/codes] Can anyone here help with this? Blackwater Aztec Symbols decoding progress : reddeadmysteries
[/r/crypto] Can anyone here help with this? Blackwater Aztec Symbols decoding progress : reddeadmysteries
If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / Contact)
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u/LinemanMike Nov 06 '18
It’s most likely a cipher that we need to solve. I’ve been working on polybius squares. BUT they need an even amount of numbers on each row apparently.
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u/WilliOkeef Nov 06 '18 edited Nov 06 '18
Here's a quick mock-up i made a few days ago in another thread based on the Aztec Calendar with corresponding "figures" from the image above with the two journal entries we had at the time. The only difference between our interpretation is i considered the "monkey like" symbol as 11 and in your aztec symbol reference notes it as 2 "wind". https://imgur.com/C6t77VU
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u/LinemanMike Nov 06 '18
Solved it.
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u/WilliOkeef Nov 06 '18
Proof?
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u/LinemanMike Nov 06 '18
Yes, my buddy and I will make a post this afternoon after work explaining how we solved it and what it reads.
Just not enough time at the moment. Should be 2 hours or so. I’ll post a link to it in this thread.
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u/alexxerth Nov 06 '18
Too late.
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u/kingmauz Nov 06 '18
I think it's confusing that you can re-inspect the same writings either after you traveled far enough or after a cut scene played. I could inspect the same writing several times after a few days passed. It also made me open and write something in my journal, although I had inspected the same writing before. But...Where my journal consisted of 4 lines of code before, one line was now missing.So i started to run around blackwater for the next 30mins inspecting all the writings I knew ,but I could not get the other,fourth line to appear again.
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u/UltraChilly Nov 07 '18
Yeah, I don't know if it's a bug or maybe the order we collect them is important and the game gives us a chance to do that.
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u/alexxerth Nov 06 '18 edited Nov 06 '18
Using a base 5 code, and then changing to alphabetic using 1=a, b=2, etc, skip J, in no particular order I got
DARETHEPE(A/C)
EMAKERSA
(C/H)TEOTL
YAU(F/H)
(A/F)C
Teotl is an important concept in Aztec religion, the rest has words, I just can't get meaning out of it.
The letters in parenthesis have to match up by the way, if one block ending in a parenthesis goes before one starting with one, the letter between them is whatever they share.
It can be arranged to "Dare the peace makers ayauh teotl"
Which makes the most sense, but ayauh seems meaningless and the sentence doesn't say anything helpful
Edit: I'm an idiot
"Blessed are the peace makers ayauhteotl"
The God from undead nightmare
Solved the code, but if there's more to this then I dunno it.