[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

"Hmm....yes, but in my opinion the translation you've completed thus far is more than serviceable in most instances. If it wasn't for the tendacy for Old Unown symbols to link up together to form individual letters and vice versa, you would be able to translate most text and figure out the rest by brute forcing it. Its a great thing I caught Solomon and Valder was able to make a King's Rock for me, or otherwise we would know naught of this valuable source of information!"

Ventus  began to look more thoughtful as the boy continued his explaination on the wise king's contributions to the ongoing translation effort, before asking them: "If the Old Unown and the messages they make that Solomon summons with Hidden Power change according to their target, could he perhaps use it on certain objects and individuals to gain some Insight into them, while also providing more material to translate? I'm willing to be a guinea big by being a target, as well as the rest of the Pokémon if that is alright with you."

As for the rest of that statement, the researcher could only nod his head in agreement, and then add in his own observations on the subject. "Indeed, I noticed the trend for the language to lean more toward a phonetic translation convention, rather than directly to Common , but I guess that is just a quirk that has to be accounted for. I'm more curious how certain letters, like T and E, L and A, and B and D , seem to be just rotated or inverted versions of one another. The fact that G and H share a symbol and the relative fluidity they are conveyed in messages is a curiosity as well, and combined with my prior statement imply that Old Unown is more nuanced and flexible than we may be aware of now. I'm also concerned if Old Unown share similarities with Egyptain Heiroglyphs and have individual or string of unique symbols represent unique things or the alike, as that would be a massive roadblock to deal with......."

Eventually, both he and Nathan got to discussing the BRAILLE message, and this is what Ventus had to say on that: "....That's what I suspected too, based on that......old man's description of his 'ally' in the ruins, and brainstorming what could possibly command those Vines. Yes, I'm familiar with the legends surround the Titans, but a refresher would be nice, and you likely have information on them that might have eluded me during my own research and self study. You are the group's resident historian and source of obscure information, after all!"

"Maybe.  SHEER FORSE NITE SLASH was talking about Sheldon's Daikatuna.  Sheer Force is the species's hidden ability, and Night Slash seems to be a move it can learn, since it's a fish with a sword on its head.  The one about Kirlia, I was just having Solomon practice Hidden Power after the battle with Sheldon.  He decided to target Kirlia with the attack instead of using it on a training dummy.  Kirlia evaded it, but the attack continued and hit the wall behind him, so it seems only the original target matters for what the Hidden Power describes.  That one I haven't finished yet, Solomon had used Hidden Power on a rock from nearby Mt. Molten (this statement might strike Ventus as odd, as Mt. Molten is not close by any stretch of the imgaination).  And BRAILLE, that's from the piece of old wall we found.  The problem is that the text fades too quickly for me to translate it mid-battle right now, as Solomon's still the only one who can fluently read it.  He knows what it says immediately, I have to write it down first, then translate it later.  I'm trying to get get better at that, but having to write it down slows things considerably...not sure it'd be a good idea to try using Hidden Power for science in a crisis, really..."

Nathan stops Ventus when he says D's symbol is a rotated version of B.  "Stop.   No, that's not quite right.  Look closer.  Every single one of these blue unown symbols, no matter what their orientation is, has one thing in common besides the eye and color: they all have a straight line pointing up.  If you rotate B or D into the orientation of the other, you're stuck with a sideways line, and none pointing up.  If you were to flip D, it'd still work, assuming there's a letter for that orientation.  You can't rotate it, though.  B, you can't rotate or flip at all without breaking the pattern."

Nathan thinks for a moment about that comparison to heiroglyphics..."The Four Winds...that's a label for something important.  It has to be.  If anything were to have unique symbols, it'd be that.  Unless we encounter some weird, unique symbols for specific things, I wouldn't worry about it too much."

...

On to BRAILLE and the Legendary Titans...

The Legend of the Titans

"...The Legendary Titans...it's said that Regigigas, the Colossal pokemon, used ropes to pull the continents into their positions with ropes when the world was first formed.  A feat of immense strength and endurance.  It is by no means a weak pokemon.  And afterwards, it's also said that it created the Rock Peak, Iceberg, and Iron Titans in its image using rocks and clay, mountain ice, and magma.  Three individual golems, not quite as powerful as their creator, but still fearsome in their own right.  Regigas's grip is said to be one of the strongest things that's ever existed, and its control over the golems it's created infallible no matter the circumstances."

"However, when angered, it's also said that Regigigas was nigh unstoppable.  Its incredible power combined with the ability to control the golems that are as powerful as itself when they're working together...the ancient peoples feared that.  And so, they locked Regigigas and its creations away, each in a separate chamber, and left messages written in braille, a language similar to the patterns that make up the Titans' faces, with instructions on how to break the seals, in the hopes that someone would eventually tame the beasts once and for all...only one who could manage all three of Regirock, Regice, and Registeel at the same time would even have a hope of taming their creator..."

"There is one man who's done that, and another who's searching for the trio.  Pyramid King Brandon of the Hoenn Battle Frontier...he's the one who discovered the original messages left in the Hoenn region in the first place, translated them...and then scoured the region for the answers to the riddles, eventually finding and capturing Regirock, Regice, and Registeel for himself.  He's easily the most difficult member of the Battle Frontier to defeat.  He's still looking for Regigas's location in the Hoenn region, I believe..."

"...but there's also Lukas, the current, non-acting Champion of Sinnoh.  I've heard he's been hanging around several key locations in recent years, potentially even discussing some things with Cynthia.  I believe he's looking for the Legendaries and Mythicals of Sinnoh.  And among the locations he's visiting is the Snowpoint Temple, where we know a statue of Regigigas lies on the bottom most floor.  Without the master's creations, though, I don't think he's made any progress on finding Regigigas in Sinnoh."

"...and recently, I've heard of another statue of Regigigas being found recently.  In Unova.  A hidden chamber, beneath Twist Mountain...I imagine Rosa is going to head down there to check it out at one point or another, seeing as Iris is usually minding the League in her stead..."

"...I find it odd that they seem to show up in so many regions.  But from what I've read, I've come up with a theory.  What if there's not just one Regigigas, one set of Titans of Rock; Ice; and Steel, but multiples?  We have shrines honoring the Titans here in Creshire, or at least somewhat nearby.  I've heard braille writing has been found in the Sevii Islands as well, along with a ruby and a sapphire that hum with a strange power in the depths of the ruins that were labeled with the writing...and the gemstones proved instrumental in boosting the Kanto region's PC signals to allow communication with other regions, allowing Bill to expand his PC network to the rest of the world...their influence seems to be everywhere in one way or another."

"...I would not be surprised if Sarimanok had found a way to control one of the Titans, much like Regigigas can.  Or worse, created one of his own.  And if it was sealed away, either to stop it once before or as a contingency plan should Sarimanok have lost the war...regardless of the reason, there's only one way to stop it now that its seal has been broken and it's been awakened..."

Nathan looks at Kirlia as he trails off.  He's keeping Forthright entertained in the rain.  Seems she's enjoying the weather.

"...*sigh*...asking someone to change isn't something you should ever have to do, in my opinion..."