The Mystery of the Desert

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qwed117
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The Mystery of the Desert

Post by qwed117 »

"وجاء الحزب من سردينيا. أنهم انه يسعى ملجأ من طاغية قاس في أراضيهم. أدرك ملكنا العظيم وزيرا له أن وجود لهم هنا كان ميزة، ويضم لهم. ما حدث منها بعد ذلك، لا أحد يعرف."

"A party from Sardinia came. They sought sanctuary from a cruel tyrant in their land. Our great king and his vizier realized that having them here was an advantage, and housed them. What happened of them afterwards, no one knows." -Anonymous text dated to 1371




Jan 07 1965

The Mystery of the Desert
Algerian authorities have discovered an ancient artifact in Tindouf, dating to the 15th century. The writings in it are indecipherable, yet display great affinity to Arabic. It has been suggested that it is of ancient Berber or Arabic. Other more specious claims involve now-extinct languages. The great oddity of this is only more emphasized by the fact that it occurs in an area that was previously thought to have been devoid of any inhabitation until the 1800s. The last possibility is the dreariest: the artifact is really a propaganda artifact made by the Algerians. The Sand War has shown massive failings in Algeria. This artifact could be used to further Algerian nationalism. As the writing is further deciphered, we will further report on it.
Last edited by qwed117 on 11 Apr 2016 19:46, edited 1 time in total.
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

(I'm a little unsure what you are going for here... since this is in Conlangs, but am I to assume this is some sort of segue into a con-culture/conlang you are creating? Also, isn't the past tense of "seek" supposed to be "sought"?)
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gestaltist
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by gestaltist »

I know what this is about. Subscribing. :)
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by DesEsseintes »

Looking good, qwed. [;)]
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

gestaltist wrote:I know what this is about. Subscribing. :)
I sure as heck don't... Can you clue us in?
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by gestaltist »

Thrice Xandvii wrote:
gestaltist wrote:I know what this is about. Subscribing. :)
I sure as heck don't... Can you clue us in?
I think qwed would prefer to do it his way. All I'll say is that it's in the correct subforum.
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

gestaltist wrote:I think qwed would prefer to do it his way. All I'll say is that it's in the correct subforum.
Well then, he had better get to it!

This teasing is interminable! [:D]
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Egerius »

Qwed has done some good work - I've seen some of it.

Jo suscrivo.
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by qwed117 »

Jan 23 1965

The Mystery Remains
Image
This is the first outsider glance at the seal. The Algerian
authorities are transporting the artifact to a prestigious
museum in Algiers. One authority, on the condition of
anonymity, has stated that it is unlike any other script
that they have encountered so far. While the script
appears to be an Arabic derivative, it doesn't have any
Arabic element in it. It appears as if the script were
modelled after the Arabic script, by a people who had
never read Arabic. The brevity of the inscription doesn't
aid any translation, as there is no context to the inscription.
The inscription is only attested in this artifact, only adding
to the belief that it is a hoax. The Algerian government
is attempting to excavate the area for more signs of a
prior civilization, but is running into funding problems
from the United States. It is extremely likely that the
script will remain a mystery.
Last edited by qwed117 on 13 Jun 2016 05:35, edited 1 time in total.
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by qwed117 »

Feb 2 1966
The Rosetta Stone
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A new inscription has been found in Tindouf. The new inscription is the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone. It is written in both
Arabic and the mysterious script, however the inscription has been heavily torn apart. The Algerian government is allowing all
groups to view the inscription at an Algerian museum at Algiers. The script is still undeciphered, and no group has been willing
to put up a translation of the language. It is likely that the language will have to languish a few more years undeciphered.
The script is now believed to have minimal affinities to the Arabic script. The current consensus is that the script will not
be related to Arabic, nor will the language be related to the Arabic language. If it were related to either, then the script
would be Arabic. A transcription of the Arabic is not available at the moment, but may be released soon by the Algerian
government. The transcription may be made difficult by the presence of tears in the parchment. The unfortunate reality of
the situation might be that the inscription is too short to lead to a proper translation. Algeria has increased efforts to excavate
Tindouf, which had previously been thought to have been uninhabited until recently. The current excavation hasn't panned out
however, with the oasis being devoid of any ruins. This is the second inscription found in the area. It is tentatively dated to 1400
AD. The inscriptions however, are changing orthodoxy on the history of Saharan Africa.


The inscriptions of Tindouf are puzzling to historians. Very few people live in the middle of the Algerian Desert, and the
discovery of the inscriptions has contradicted the currently known history of the desert. Previously, it was thought that nomadic
Berber tribes lived in the Algerian desert, either using the Libyco-Berber script or Tifinagh, however the current inscriptions defy
all logic. The script is neither Libyco-Berber or Tifinagh. The Libyco Berber script hasn't been used since the 3rd century AD,
while the inscriptions long waves are in defiance of the short glyphic Tifinagh. That presents a troubling question for
historians: What truly is the history of this script? The shortest answer available at the moment: no one knows?
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
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Keenir
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Keenir »

intriguinger and intriginger...this continues to be of interest. terrific work thus far (and I foresee more great work to come) on this.
qwed117 wrote:Feb 2 1966
The Rosetta Stone

The transcription may be made difficult by the presence of tears in the parchment. The unfortunate reality of
the situation might be that the inscription is too short to lead to a proper translation.
sadly, that's entirely possible. we can hope for more written in it, but til then, we can only make hypothesizes(es) based on that which's been found thus far.
At work on Apaan: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4799
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Isfendil »

This seems cool! I've never seen a story told like this before, I'm new to the forum. I await eagerly! [:D]
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by shimobaatar »

Thrice Xandvii wrote:(I'm a little unsure what you are going for here... since this is in Conlangs, but am I to assume this is some sort of segue into a con-culture/conlang you are creating?
[+1]

While I agree that the direction of this thread is rather unclear, I'm intrigued nonetheless.
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qwed117
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by qwed117 »

Mar 3 1966
The Hidden Cache
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In the al-Qarawiyyin library in Morocco, more of the mysterious script has
been found. The al-Qarawiyyin library has lasted over 1200 years, from the
Umayyads, to the modern day. This discovery is the largest corpus of the
mysterious script. Consisting of over 600 documents from the 1400s to the
1700s. Most are written bilingually in both the Arabic script and the
mysterious script. Some claim that with this new information, the breaking
of the mysterious cypher will only take a couple of years.

The extremely late discovery is attributed to several factors associated with
the script. Despite the library having existed for over 1200 years, only now
have the documents been fully assembled. The original discoverer wasn't
intentionally searching for a sample of the mysterious script. He was looking
for records regarding the borders of Wattasid dynasty, and by a fortunate
slip of his hand, a collection of documents, all with at least some of the
Script fell from the shelf to the floor, landing splayed out. While the
fortunate event was at first taken as an error, and the documents placed
back in the shelf, where they rested. It was only weeks later, when the
discoverer saw the published samples of the script and remembered the
documents that he saw. The documents were only available to the scholars
of the al-Qarawiyyin university and public access to the materials were
limitted until a scholar managed to negotiate media access from the Alaouite
administration of the university. The only people who were earlier allowed to
view the documents were male Muslims who had memorized the entire
Quran, causing more delays.

The documents are still extremely damaged, despite their setting in a library.
The al-Qarawiyyin library doesn't have the traditional nicieties of Western
libraries: the moisture is uncontrolled, and water commonly leaks from the
ceilings. A significant amount of the parchment is damaged and cannot be
read or deciphered. While this find is exciting for those who have been
following this story, the unfortunate fact is that the writing may be too
damaged for aiding our comprehension of the new language.

The interesting circumstances of the most recent discovery have raised some
interesting questions about the circumstances of the writers. So far, the
discoveries seem to be relegated to Algeria and Morocco. The area of the
discoveries was in the middle of the desert, far away from civilization, and
yet there were frequent communications with the Moroccan governments, in
a previously undiscovered script, that no one appears to know of, attested up
until fairly recently, and probably in a language that no one has heard of, In
other words, it is still extremely likely that there may be people who have
heard the language, and may be speaking it at home. We need your help in
finding the answer to the puzzle.

This is the end of Chapter 1: Discovery
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by shimobaatar »

Curiouser and curiouser, as they say. Hopefully the next chapter will begin relatively soon! [:D]
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qwed117
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by qwed117 »

March 15 1966
Opacity of the Script
The government of Morocco has unfortunately decided to block access to
the script by foreign news agencies. It is unusual for us to post an arguably
more editorial comment of sorts, yet we feel it is necessary for us to call
attention to the fact that the Moroccan government feels that it is
imperative that it hide the script. This only hinders the decryption of it.
Bowing down to a few extremists who believe that the language is takfir
is absurd, especially given how well the Moroccan government was able to
handle extremists during the Arab Israeli War.

The Moroccan government has moved the over 600 documents to the Rabat
Archaeological Museum. They are not on public display, and are only visible
to a certain few scholars. They are explicitly forbidden from taking
photographs, and are unable to replicate it or discuss it in any fashion. The
government fears that the likely suggestion that it might be from Berbers
might fuel dissent towards the government which has been focusing on its
Arab identity for the past decade, and no longer uses any Berber languages
in teaching.
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by shimobaatar »

Interesting cultural development. You're very good at building up the story behind this language.
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Egerius
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Egerius »

Will this spell the end of a curiosity-teasing journey to the Moroccan desert?

Stay tuned for next week's episode of The Mystery of the Desert!
This is amazing. We need more of this. Much more.
Languages of Rodentèrra: Buonavallese, Saselvan Argemontese; Wīlandisċ Taulkeisch; More on the road.
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by Frislander »

Absolutely cracking stuff, can't wait for more.
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Re: The Mystery of the Desert

Post by elemtilas »

This is amazing. We need more of this. Much more.
[+1]
Absolutely cracking stuff, can't wait for more.
[+1]
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