project-skyscraper

[clear surge]

Hmm, if we can now see the ones inside...

[cyan kraken]

WE SAW THIS, RIGHT

wait, sorry for caps

but yeah

demn, 3 posts on 27th

ah, got it, i slow, apologies

hey, what times did the update release on PS and steam?

[rose dust]

#nms-news-ticker

[compact python]

Formed a circle/"loop"

[cyan kraken]

anything special about 11?

because the reboot sequence was 11 minutes long

[clear surge]

Reminds me a bit of Portal

[cyan kraken]

wait 16

16 mins, makes sense

[devout oracle]

Loop 16

[cyan kraken]

so, there's around a 6 hour gap between the "we will reboot" and historical data missing post

and 21 minutes after that, it initiated reboot

the posts are UTC+1, right?

[brazen prawn]

Wheel of Fortune? 🃏

[devout oracle]

Is it Emily in the Tower

👀

[cyan kraken]

but, which tower?

the ghost?

[compact python]

Wheel of fortune is 10 tarot card

[cyan kraken]

like, the ghost being emily?

[compact python]

Tower is the 16 card

[clear surge]

Yep, I found that pretty interesting given what it symbolises

[cyan kraken]

question, which cards are these?

like, what set

[compact python]

Fan made

Tarot cards

[cyan kraken]

ohhh

are there any character themed cards?

[brazen prawn]

I am simply referencing the tarot arcana, not the themed ones

[compact python]

#community-news message

[brazen prawn]

France was the first country to adopt it also

Weird links, probably random though

[cyan kraken]

could inside, in terms of cards, be thought of as "behind"?

if so,

because if its kept in set, we can see the tower

but NOT the devil

[brazen prawn]

Eh

[cyan kraken]

maybe its referring to ariadne?

like, not the anomaly traveller

[clear surge]

Huh. Is this building up to a release of Null?

[brazen prawn]

Of uh... A card that has no name

[clear surge]

The Hive of glass destroying Atlas stations until they find the one he's trapped in?

[brazen prawn]

No name, null, death, ghost, Yada yada

[cyan kraken]

null exists as a card

[brazen prawn]

Not what we're talking about though

[cyan kraken]

ah shite

fair

sorry

[brazen prawn]

Just the normal card context

[cyan kraken]

new mail

[compact python]

Yeah this specific fan made set probably has little importance

[compact python]

High school code ? hmmm

[clear surge]

What a strange phrase

[brazen prawn]

Indeed

[cyan kraken]

huh

i doubt it connects

unless they use the codes as hex\

but even then

[compact python]

I think we need to wait for first coded message so we could have something to bite on.

[cyan kraken]

true

this feels strange though. architecht is telling ghost that this specific comms channel is no longer secure, but then they mention the code they plan on using in the same channel?

[brazen prawn]

They mention a channel identifier, not the channel

But yes, it's rather opaque

[cyan kraken]

the link leads to the inbox though

[plain sigil]

TIL there’s another save editor … I wasn’t aware…. I checked out the page and excited to try it later

[clear surge]

It's pretty awesome

[cyan kraken]

i think we'll have to wait another hour for the next mail

[brazen prawn]

Having some French operators would sure help rule nonsense out for us 😅

[iron crest]

🛰️ Project Skyscraper — 3 changes detected

🆕 New post — “Code” (code) published 2002-05-12T09:46:00Z
https://project-skyscraper.com/2002/05/12/code/

🖼️ New media upload — https://project-skyscraper.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/When_we_were_17.png (2026-05-29T10:25:34Z)

🖼️ New media upload — https://project-skyscraper.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Unknown.jpg (2026-05-29T10:24:19Z)

skyscraper_watch • 2026-05-29 10:26 UTC

[brazen prawn]

Wonder if we're going to have to decode some vigesimal nonsense

[cyan kraken]

what's vigesimal mean?

[plain sigil]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigesimal

[rose dust]

well this is juicy

I tab out to edit the storyline page and the architect drops a bombshell haha

Each entity is unique. Together they are one.
That's the clearest reference to travellers so far

Hell, it even ties into the current expedition

[brazen prawn]

Base 20 french system for numbers

[wet salmon]

this is exciting!

[rose dust]

Ohh!

[wet salmon]

I’ve noticed the new post is currently stable

[brazen prawn]

| text go crunch |

[rose dust]

It's probably not a french code syst

when we were 17
And school code

Probably means a code the two came up with in school

[brazen prawn]

Yeah, thinking so

[clear surge]

Well. There was the Quote page which told us a place they'd been...

[wet salmon]

It looks like the book in the image is in french, I could be wrong though

[rose dust]

It's likely a key for the custom cipher

[compact python]

What is the book in pic?

Maybe book and quote or page number is the key to code

[tepid plover]

Yo, finally a chance to get involved haha

Pretty sure it's this

https://www.editionspixnlove.com/tous-nos-ouvrages/1244-indie-game-works-9782371883437.html

[ember wyvern]

^

[harsh vapor]

Definitely that

[ember wyvern]

Indie Game Works: Inside the Revolution That's Transforming How We Play

[dusky forge]

The book is by author Unknown. The post is from 2002 but the book seems to have been published this year

[ember wyvern]

Nathan gibson

[wet salmon]

definitely

[harsh vapor]

Interestingly the memory is stable

[wet salmon]

could change later, like the poem did

[ember wyvern]

Yeah, what that makes me think is we still don't have someone to solve at the moment.

Its building up to it.

[rose dust]

im pretty sure we've got a cipher in the image though

[harsh vapor]

Yeah I agree

[rose dust]

published in 2026, not 2002, so we might have to correct that at some point

[brazen prawn]

If it's not cipher text I am walking into the ocean lol

[rose dust]

definitely looks like this is the "school code" the two were talking about

[ember wyvern]

Yes, there's something of the type. Probably for reference to try and figure out the encryption

[rose dust]

yep, definitely a calibration puzzle before the two start talking in code

[compact python]

There are some letters in pic distortion.

[wet salmon]

what does this say?

I’m assuming it’s french

[rose dust]

im guessing we''re gonna have to look the phrase up in the book perhaps?

[rose dust]

gonna need a bit of cleanup, which im sure vector is already on lol

[ember wyvern]

No, don't ocean on us yet. Surely the next image will have something...

Sec log: https://project-skyscraper.com/2026/05/29/sec-log-114327/

[brazen prawn]

I have the cipher text crunching atm

Threw the current known ARG wordlist at it + common default ones with a few different methods - it will likely take more than just crack compute but worth doing while we use our brains as well

[tepid plover]

'Mind', 'Sky' and 'Age' are clear enough but not sure about the rest, definitely looks like it needs decoding

[plain sigil]

lol I was trying to decipher the French and you just went and found the real book - nice

[brazen prawn]

la simplicité est la sophistication suprême (most likely)

[compact python]

Or "mind cage"

[tepid plover]

Yeah, that's a shout

[iron crest]

🛰️ Project Skyscraper — 1 change detected

🆕 New post — “SECURITY LOG” (sec-log-114327) published 2026-05-29T10:43:00Z
https://project-skyscraper.com/2026/05/29/sec-log-114327/

skyscraper_watch • 2026-05-29 10:44 UTC

[rose dust]

Guess this is the two's doing

[harsh vapor]

Simple cipher probably is what I read this as

[compact python]

Indie game works book ISBN code: 9780500029718

[rose dust]

Sounds like a mind arc kinda

Along with the allusion to travellers

[compact python]

Mind arc is a ingame item

[rose dust]

The exact phrasing form the code page doesn't exist in the game LOC files, but I can see if there's something similar cuse I swear I've heard a line like this

[ember wyvern]

Omg does anyone have their WT cipherwheels still?

[compact python]

16 and 17 page of book is about abzu.

[ember wyvern]

Nvm it won't work.

[brazen prawn]

What was the wheel format?

I can add it a custom pattern for the cracker at end of run

Or was it just a standard caesar wheel?

[ember wyvern]

Dw about it, I misremembered it was a diff format. Not matching what there is in the image.

Deleted for now so as not to confuse people

Will dm you it @brazen prawn

[brazen prawn]

Saw it, all good

hexinout

With indices

[ember wyvern]

Yeah pretty much.

[brazen prawn]

(forgive the speed typing lol)

[ember wyvern]

all good.

[brazen prawn]

tabbing between things like a nut

[ember wyvern]

i do the same sometimes

[rose dust]

<t:1780054980>, in the future from post time again

[harsh vapor]

Not sure if it was mentioned, but "la simplicité est la sophistication suprême" is a quote attributed to leonardo da vinci

[rose dust]

Byline Title = Ghost in the EXIF

So I guess this is em

[tepid plover]

Does that suggest which letters are 'constant' in the cipher and don't change?

for example, L and D

[harsh vapor]

Yeahh, I think the text under is def Leonard de vinci

[clear surge]

So, da Vinci and cipher, Da Vinci code, cryptex/Fibonacci?

[brazen prawn]

I have been counting the minutes until a davinci code refernce lmao

[harsh vapor]

It might just be a substitution cipher

[tepid plover]

Like this?

H=E
W=O
C=N
F=A
K=R
D=D
H=A
O=V
B=I
C=N
N=C

[harsh vapor]

Yeah

[dusky forge]

Already happened on the forum

[harsh vapor]

It seems to hold

[rose dust]

Ah so that's the partial key for substitution?

[harsh vapor]

I think so

[clear surge]

Well, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication...

[brazen prawn]

I can't type fast enough to get these scripts happening 😂 need more fingers

[harsh vapor]

Waaaaait

MIND?AGE???L??V??R????O???

The substitution alphabet fits like that

[clear surge]

But the other part is doing it out of order, which is what I assume is happening at the bottom

[harsh vapor]

Yup, the bottom is the substitution alphabet!

26 letters all unique

MINDCAGEBFRLHCVPQSKYUWOXTZ

Assuming we will have to use this substitution alphabet for future messages, likely the high school code

[rose dust]

I shows up twice

[harsh vapor]

oh shit your right

what letter is missing 😆

The second I is probably an F then

[rose dust]

f

[harsh vapor]

*edited message

[modest marlin]

Two Cs too

[cyan kraken]

where did this come from?

[modest marlin]

F and J missing

[wet salmon]

https://project-skyscraper.com/2002/05/12/code/

[steady niche]

I'm just catching up, was out all day

[brazen prawn]

Think I might be onto something

[steady niche]

FYI, the timestamp on the new memory is a Sunday Morning

[rose dust]

the architect left a bombshell for you to read up haha

[steady niche]

Yeah, trying to see it all

[cyan kraken]

oh shi

bro retro-updated stuff

[brazen prawn]

For each ciphertext letter, use its A=0...Z=25 value as an index into the key text. The key letter at that position is the plaintext?

Davinci reversal (left handed)

His not cipher

BNCBO HD DKFCWHL

ICNIVED DRANOEL

But not sure yet

[steady niche]

Definitely looks like something

[sinful thunder]

17 minutes?

like before 16

maybe the simulation was less corrupted

[cyan kraken]

this for the stuff in cursive, or the stuff in caps?

[ember wyvern]

ABCD E F G HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
MIND(J)F(J)AGEBIRLHCVPQSKYUWOXTZ
Not sure where J goes cause distortion

[harsh vapor]

I do think it holds that the bottom is the substitution alphabet, one of the C's might be a J? hmm. It feels way too much of a coincidence that just using LEONARD DE VINCI as the translation that it makes the beginning of the alphabet be MIND?AGE and all the other letters fit perfectly in the substitution alphabet

[harsh vapor]

this!

[cyan kraken]

also, won't it be in french?

the stuff in caps, it should spell in french

[sinful thunder]

can just try to translate then put it on deepl lol

whatever language it is

[brazen prawn]

erg tables

gonna go etarc

f discord md

[harsh vapor]

I think we will be getting french text in the future, since we have LEONARD DE VINCI instead of LEONARDO DA VINCI

[ember wyvern]

what do you mean @brazen prawn

[harsh vapor]

for ciphers I mean

[steady niche]

So Ghost and Architect are separate from both System and us

[cyan kraken]

that french for leonardo, no?

and why would the cipher not change the letter L?

[steady niche]

I believe yes, they spell it de

[cyan kraken]

if every other letter is being changed

[harsh vapor]

Since it's a substitution cipher that has L mapped to L is all

D stays the same as well

[cyan kraken]

ah

[harsh vapor]

substitution also makes sense given the quote, really is the simplest cipher

[brazen prawn]

Yeah, I am sure of it also

[steady niche]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11936080

[brazen prawn]

I just elaborated on the idea for others to follow on the forum

[harsh vapor]

For sure, never hurts to explore all the ideas!

[steady niche]

2010 they found a daVinci coded manuscript that, at that time, had not been deciphered

In a French museum

[cyan kraken]

there's a different substituon for each word?

because A has two substiutions

[harsh vapor]

LEONARD DE VINCI

french name

[brazen prawn]

^

Decoder is on the forum thread

[cyan kraken]

good sir, kindly tell, multiple substitutions in one phrase, or each word has a seperate cipher?

[harsh vapor]

https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ very useful tool for cipher stuff btw, you can just use Substitute and put the alphabet down at the bottom and you can automatically substitute (and has toooons of other ciphers and stuff good for ARGs)

[sinful thunder]

good find

[cyan kraken]

high school code

how does this tie in to that

[harsh vapor]

This is probably the substitution cipher they used in high school

[rose dust]

we've been given this key to crack future communications between the two

[steady niche]

There's a GOST cypher from 1989 apparently. I doubt that matters, but noticed the similarity

[dusky forge]

We need a new cypher wheel lol

[brazen prawn]

Print the post, cut the lines and tape it in a loop with the others inside taped and you've got a crappy one 🙂 lol

[dusky forge]

Love it

[brazen prawn]

It made no sense but you got what I meant lol 😅 (edited to make more sense)

Now I can finally walk off and do nightly chores lmao, catch you all in a bit for the next operator scramble

[cyan kraken]

did anyone figure out what's written in cursive

[clear surge]

#project-skyscraper message

[cyan kraken]

bruh, straight up calling us out for overthinking last time

[ember sundial]

I dont think this is anything, but 65daysofstatic has a song titled "When We Were Younger And Better"

[rose dust]

Original image of Unknown.jpg it seems

https://unsplash.com/photos/a-shadow-of-a-person-making-a-hand-gesture-9KtSSuj3m4A

[brazen prawn]

Theres something funky about it also, I am mid process

[steady niche]

The photographer name doesn't decode to anything, FYI 😄

[ember sundial]

Interesting that NMS is seemingly absent from the contents

[compact python]

5 fingers. Head looks kinda artemis like but it could be just hair

[steady niche]

I'm sure people noticed "sky" in the cipher text

[dusky forge]

Artemis was my first thought when I saw it.

[half ibex]

Have you solved the new puzzle yet? It appears to be stable.

[ember sundial]

This is less of a puzzle and more of a heads-up about future text-based puzzles

[rose dust]

it was published that way

[ember sundial]

It was stable when it was posted

[steady niche]

Setup cipher decode and reverse
https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=Substitute('ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ','MINDFAGEBFRLHCVPQSKYUWOXTZ',true)Reverse('Character')

[half ibex]

Oh, okay, that doesn't sound very good to me... so stable isn't complete? That's confusing. Was it also mentioned that the position of the orbs is the same as in another piece of art by the artist who made the wooden statue in the previous puzzle?

[ember sundial]

This wasn't a puzzle

[ember sundial]

Can we get this pinned?

[cyan kraken]

do we try and destabalize this

[harsh vapor]

agree

[rose dust]

MIND CAGE also appears to be a word, though if the first cipher text decodes into french then having english on here is odd

[cyan kraken]

like we did with the poem

[ember sundial]

I'm assuming that this post is stable because it isn't one of the site's actual memory blocs. This was an upload between null and the Architect, not the system itself

[steady niche]

Artemis or Emily == in a Mind Cage?

Or the original WT participants that were rescued

[cyan kraken]

look at the timeline though

[rose dust]

Artemis makes sense (MIND CAGE <=> Mind Arc), but with everything in the image being in french, this being purely eng seems a lil odd

[cyan kraken]

am i using it wrong?

[steady niche]

You put the encoded text in the top

BNCBO HD DKFCWHL

[brazen prawn]

nvm on the image, APP1 hit was just XMP stuff

[rose dust]

The spacing b/w C and AGE might be intentional? the pixels behind that text dont seem awfully shifted unless its been digitally added on

[harsh vapor]

Spending my time on this instead of prepping for the meeting I had for work was definitely a choice 😆 (the right choice)

[compact python]

"TOWER" could be a key for some future cyphers

[steady niche]

Yeah, that gap between C and A does look a little odd

Almost looks like a ghosted F there

[cyan kraken]

would it be just as odd in french though

[harsh vapor]

I was just gonna say something like that

MIND ? AGE

[steady niche]

And F doesn't appear in the rest of the text

[harsh vapor]

would also make sense

[steady niche]

So might be MINDFAGEBJRLHCVPQSKYUWOXTZ

[cyan kraken]

that would mean this is also text

i think

that's hidden because of how its been edited?

[clear surge]

It's the top of the E, glitched across

[steady niche]

It doesn't match

There are two long horizontal lines, the E has one

It could be stretched and match maybe

[rose dust]

yea that definitely looks like a cut off F

this works as a full substitution

[harsh vapor]

Regardless, if we are off by a letter or two we should be able to correct very quickly with some real text

[rose dust]

but then we have 2 active alphabets to track dont we?

[harsh vapor]

Well the plaintext should be super close and we should be able to backsolve it with minimal effort

[clear surge]

My bad, you're right. I'm looking on mobile 😅

I don't see an exact match anywhere.

[harsh vapor]

If that is an F though, then we have an extra letter

But it looks veeery much like an F

And I can't unsee it now

[rose dust]

this key seems quite right is its a full key, but then is the partial alphabet from leonard de vinci seperate?

[steady niche]

If that is an F, then the C is extraneous, which could be meaningful

[harsh vapor]

The F/C doesn't have any implications on that text

or wdym by partial alphabet, since that is ciphertext, not alphabet

[brazen prawn]

It can be the fully permuted solution

[steady niche]

I think we can test it later when we have more text.

[rose dust]

i know, I'm talking about the mapping you posted by mapping the cipher text to leonard de vinci

[half ibex]

Did anyone check if it has anything? Maybe it's in the book?

[rose dust]

@compact python checked pg 17 of the book, not more

[brazen prawn]

I sincerely doubt we need to get a copy of the book to solve, but depends how whack the ARG is

[harsh vapor]

Also, should we send a picture of the uncorrupted book to The Architect? last time that fixed the corrupted image right?

[ember sundial]

The post is already stable

[steady niche]

We apparently needed to go to the park in person

[rose dust]

page isnt unstable yet though

[brazen prawn]

somethings unstable

[rose dust]

im guessing if it does destabilize, then we'll get an image with a code we'd need to solve, write down and send to the architect?

[compact python]

Maybe the quote is in the book somewhere?

The hand writen one

[rose dust]

isnt the quote by leonardo da vinci

[harsh vapor]

In terms of ARG things this could be decently likely tbf. Esp if its a book cipher or something. but as of right now I agree, I highly doubt we need the book

[harsh vapor]

yup

[compact python]

Was thinking that Book could quote it somewhere

[brazen prawn]

Buying a book?

[compact python]

ABZU could also be a cypher key

[ashen gale]

How does this get even more interesting and entertaining every day? I'm so invested the new drops today got me all 😁

[turbid eagle]

oh boy stuff happened

catching up

[harsh vapor]

my sleep deprived ass is having a hard time understanding what you are saying. I think the partial alphabet is fully consistent with the alphabet on the bottom regardless of what letter is in that position

[turbid eagle]

Did anything specific trigger these emails?

[harsh vapor]

I don't think so

[compact python]

I think its just PM storytelling

[turbid eagle]

(for documentation)
thanks y'all

[ember sundial]

It happened at like 3 or 4 in the morning US central lmao

Missed all the initial excitement

[rose dust]

I might be an idiot, but pos 5 would map to E which we already mapped to H by guessing the ciphertext isnt it? So either option doesnt match which the cipher text?

[clear surge]

The first one, from Ghost, was timed.
The second one, from the Architect, was a response to email exchanges with players.

The rest were just dropped apparently on a timer.

[compact python]

The cover reminds me last campfire

[turbid eagle]

Thanks Rinha! I remember the first two. You and I got a response from the architect off our french inquiries.

I ask because I'm maintaining this: https://forums.atlas-65.com/t/the-architects-email-inbox/9432

[harsh vapor]

Ahh I see what you are saying. The bottom I guess would be the "encryption" alphabet, where A -> M, B -> I, etc. If you were to have a "decryption" alphabet, it would be whatever the bottom text is sorted I think

[brazen prawn]

I must be the idiot now, because now I am lost with what you are both meaning. Are you mixing up decode direction? Or have I become desycned from this line of thought

[harsh vapor]

Ahh i don't have media posting permissions

[rose dust]

#nms-media and link

[brazen prawn]

pos5 base 1 or 0?

[harsh vapor]

https://i.imgur.com/8rwBycX.png

That is what is backsolved from the text above

hence MINDCAGE/MINDFAGE are both valid if that makes sense

[rose dust]

Ah yep im 100% an idiot, I had the decode direction wrong in my workspace

my bad 😅

[harsh vapor]

Nahh no worries

[brazen prawn]

OK, back in sync now

Or rather, wasn't desynced

[turbid eagle]

The book is already resolved yeah? We know what that is.

cool

[rose dust]

well moreso the title

[brazen prawn]

I updated the explainer post to make it easier to digest and not shorthand

[clear surge]

We know the book, but not entirely how it relates

[rose dust]

not sure how it relates to the code if at all

or if itll be used later on

[turbid eagle]

David Braben of Elite Dangerous? lmao that's wild

So this book was published in 2016 yet the post is from 2002

[compact python]

Posting cover just in case

[rose dust]

Oop, wasnt it 12th May 2026?

[steady niche]

https://www.editionspixnlove.com/tous-nos-ouvrages/1244-indie-game-works-9782371883437.html

I think it was that version was May

[rose dust]

Yep, 15th May 2026 for the french one

Which is surprisingly recent

Looks like the puzzles are still being edited / worked on concurrently to some extent

[turbid eagle]

Shoot, yeah you're right

[steady niche]

I think it's updated, though. Cairn wasn't out in 2016

[compact python]

15may sec-log didint had nothing intresting

[harsh vapor]

Just sent an email to the architect using the code, curious if I'll get a response

[rose dust]

In universe, I wonder if that'd count as impersonating Ghost haha

[harsh vapor]

I signed it as Operateur haha

[compact python]

Maybe should not message then taht we know the code ? 😅 its like stranger telling u your home address

[turbid eagle]

WWII code breakers telling the Japanese we know everything they're saying

[steady niche]

I'm not finding an "Indie Game Works" book from 2016

[rose dust]

It's like they keep giving us clues just for us to report em 😛

[turbid eagle]

I was wrong on the date

[clear surge]

I suspect Ghost is our leaker, purposefully exposing The Architect's email and telling them to continue using it. Telling them to use a code then posting exactly what we need to break it.

[steady niche]

There are two versions, though

[turbid eagle]

or System itself

[clear surge]

That's the other option, yes

[brazen prawn]

Did similar, telling them they were still breached and to scramble codes 😂

System seems to be the leaker, unless system is compromised (if poster is canon)

[rose dust]

Probably this. The architect is worried about us, and the system watching em

[brazen prawn]

*clarify: email leaker

[rose dust]

The email's been leaked by the system, but then all of the sec logs are posted by the architect's account

[steady niche]

Eh, I think System is trying to maintain status quo, Architect and Ghost are trying to disrupt things and wake something that is being protected by System

[brazen prawn]

Yeah, I need to slow down and type full sentnces lol

[rose dust]

Oh also

If the operators that the email is referring to is us

[harsh vapor]

Stupid question, is TOWER referring to the skyscraper?

[rose dust]

Then isn't operator_auth_permission (or whatever the key was) referring to needing our authorization for something?

[steady niche]

The fractured theme is surprisingly similar to the expedition, but they could have made that up after the expedition came out

[rose dust]

It seems to be a new system, probably tied to skyscraper itself.

The Architect and Ghost are working on something related to the system and TOWER

[turbid eagle]

"Yes. We give full authorization. Do what you need to do. Kthxbye"

[clear surge]

I'm thinking it's worthwhile posting new images of the AtlasPass V4 cards. See if that prompts authorization now that the filtering system is offline and can't deny connection.

Sadly I don't have one.

[steady niche]

TOWER is SCOVY with what we worked out, you know, because SCOVY is a very well-known...thing?

[steady niche]

I have one in the mail on the way to my mom's house for my birthday, but it won't get to Korea for a few weeks I bet

[rose dust]

Yarghhh!!
No wait that's scurvy

[steady niche]

Wait, HG is British, the British Navy had scurvy, limes are the answer!

[turbid eagle]

quick, send limes to the_architect!

I'm trying to figure out who we want to help lol

[steady niche]

I'll go play a bit more expedition then go to bed. Maybe I'll wake up to yet another puzzle that has already been solved when I check back 😛

[turbid eagle]

Or are we Double Agent Operators

*007 First Light music ensues

[brazen prawn]

I forgot to mention before on the xmp stuff that the position is also Ghost (attention is all over the place tonight)

[steady niche]

On the right side of the When we were 17 image, this doesn't look like something distorted from the rest of the image

Especially that bottom square

[rose dust]

Yea that square stands out a lot

[steady niche]

And what monster writes notes on graph paper?

Oh wait, an architect 😄

[turbid eagle]

I..... I do

[harsh vapor]

I started doing it this year, it is superior and I will die on this hill

[turbid eagle]

it just feels good

[steady niche]

I only see it in red and green channels, not in blue

[turbid eagle]

so only SAGE and ROYAL

[harsh vapor]

Especially if you are doing any sort of math, it is the objectively better choice

But even for any other notes its so much nicer (imo)

[brazen prawn]

Hi

[turbid eagle]

going out on a limb, could it just be fragments offset from the book cover?

[steady niche]

That F stands out even more on red channel

I looked at the book cover and couldn't see that pattern. That weird kind of chevron shape

[turbid eagle]

it might not show up on the book if the corruption simply relocated it

but the colors match

[steady niche]

I mean I compared to this:#project-skyscraper message

[brazen prawn]

Oh wait, it was a hit it was APP13 not APP1 but it was confusing because of a 2 byte overflow

They overflowed 2 bytes of the location data into the IPTC block

🤔

[clear surge]

Presumably it's a screenshot from one of the games in the book, so we just need to play them all and find out which one

[steady niche]

Will we be getting one more node on the landing page before the first of the month?

Just saw the Ghost author comment, nice one

So that means it was Ghost giving us the cipher

[summer orbit]

This could be that one pattern on a red decal in the game, looks somewhat similar

[brazen prawn]

Auto tools don't get hits for matching channel aberration, might be something to it - gonna deep dive

[steady niche]

I'm on phone now, but maybe someone could take the country connection attempts and pass it through the cipher?

[turbid eagle]

this is the result:
UM-FI-FB-MN-FD-XH-SA-KF-IG-KU

(based on your cipher)

[brazen prawn]

Yeah, I threw the whole source contents at it and got no wordlist hits (doesn't mean there aren't!)

[steady niche]

Yeah pretty sure that's nothing!

[half ibex]

Has anyone figured out the entire phrase above the image yet?

[harsh vapor]

I feel like it's talking about Ghost and Architect coming together to form one?

[brazen prawn]

Misread sorry!

There's some speculation

[harsh vapor]

Or take the letters on the page on the bottom and join them together to form one, idk

Or both or neither

[half ibex]

I'm thinking we probably need to identify the phrase above and relate it to some book or word by Leonardo da Vinci.

[rose dust]

First thing that jumped to mind was the travellers, if pointing to NMS

Edit: I checked the game LOC IDs btw, it's not a direct quote if anyone's wondering

[turbid eagle]

Yeah super allusion to expedition 22 fragmented soul

red/green/blue

RGB

[compact python]

Autophage head scrap binary puzzle had "seventeenth: ???"

[turbid eagle]

@steady niche how do I encode a message using the cipher? I feel dumb lmao

I've never used this site before

Just swap alphabet with ciphertext I assume?

[cyan kraken]

void mother, no?

[harsh vapor]

Yup, swap top and bottom rows should do it

[brazen prawn]

@turbid eagle https://forums.atlas-65.com/t/new-posting-may-12-2002-code/9468/68?u=vector_cmdr - Walks you through the steps

[compact python]

Yes but its more about number 17

[cyan kraken]

ah

fair nuff

[compact python]

Void_mother something something ???

So maybe some stuff is still missing.

[harsh vapor]

Isn’t the reversing twice redundant 🤔

[cyan kraken]

the files supposedly have 1-11, then directly 17, no 12-16

[brazen prawn]

pos vs plain?

[harsh vapor]

The ciphertext in the post is reversed what’s on the page, then substituted, then reversed based on your steps

[cyan kraken]

i might be using it wrong again, but i tried putting in the cipher that's supposed to spell out leonardo da vinci

[compact python]

I didint say its in the files. It could be intentionaly not included. In teory it can be 4 letters+??? Or 5letter word.
Bc why not shorten the puzzle to 13 then?

[harsh vapor]

The reverse shouldn’t be there I think, I wanna say a couple of the letters were also off from what I had

[brazen prawn]

Oh! I see what you mean lmao

[cyan kraken]

that is also true

[brazen prawn]

I didn't remove that when I updated it

[rose dust]

I had something similar when I was messing around with the key and messed up the decoder direction. It was fine on restoration apart from a few letter being off for this test phrase

Is this one using Gumsk' alphabet?

[half ibex]

Reverse by line*. And is OBCNB

[cyan kraken]

ah, got it. thank you

[turbid eagle]

idk if this is needed but I swapped C with U to fix Leonard De Vinci (I was getting Leonard De Vinui) https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=Substitute('ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ','MINDFAGEBJRLHCVPQSKYCWOXTZ',true)Reverse('Line'/disabled)&input=TEhXQ0ZLRCBESCBPQkNVQg

We also may need to update this as we move forward, some of the letters reference themselves, and this likely is wrong

[cyan kraken]

who's the artist for Abzu?

[turbid eagle]

Matt Nava?

[half ibex]

in OBCUB is OBCNB. Is a N

[turbid eagle]

oh shoot

[rose dust]

could be either tbh, the N later down the page does look like a u with a downward stroke but it could also be bcz of the pixelation

Though Im leaning much more on it being a U

[half ibex]

With the channel changed to red, if you zoom in there's a small line separating it, that's why I used N

[turbid eagle]

I guess good to have both? 😅

[rose dust]

Yea I see the line which is why it kinda looked either way

[rose dust]

does the original key work fine with an N?

If so then that might be the intended ciphertext

[harsh vapor]

Then there is the whole F/C thing… regardless all will be resolved once we get more ciphertext

[cyan kraken]

it becomes LEONASD

[turbid eagle]

Yes. But so does this new one 😂

[half ibex]

I just can't figure out the phrase above; it's really hard to decipher, plus it's probably French. I've always struggled with cursive. 🤣
I also don't know what the date has to do with everything we know.

[rose dust]

Yep, we're more or less equipped to decode something, but we'd need a french person to confirm 😅

[rose dust]

if you're talking about the cursive writing above the cipher text, then it seems to be a quote by leonardo di vinci, which is what allowed us to reverse part of the cipher text

[harsh vapor]

la simplicité est la sophistication suprême, quote by Leonardo da vinci

[cyan kraken]

simplicity is the best sophistication

[rose dust]

Oh?

[harsh vapor]

I’m so confused, where is the reversal of the cipher text coming from 😆

[rose dust]

I might need to diff the two bcz I didnt think you changed the N's mapping

[half ibex]

what? how?

[half ibex]

😱

[brazen prawn]

Sorry, corrected the post to remove the old davinci lefty thing from the prior other direction decodes lol

[turbid eagle]

Wait I'm an idiot. That's the answer.

[half ibex]

LHWCFKD DH OBCNB

[turbid eagle]

I have C in the ciphertext twice lmao

[rose dust]

I saw at least one person figure out that the text at the bottom said leonardo da vinci and use that to build a partial mapping before using the alphabet at the bottom

[cyan kraken]

ah

[rose dust]

Ahaha all good! I messed up the decode direction earlier too and felt so stupid 😅

[cyan kraken]

apologies

yeah its working for both, then

[turbid eagle]

Anyway here it is, reversed, so we can encode messages if we need to:
https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=Substitute('MINDFAGEBJRLHCVPQSKYUWOXTZ','ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ',true)Reverse('Line')&input=TEhXQ0ZLRCBESCBPQkNOQg

[harsh vapor]

Ahh, yeah, I solved it by seeing someone say LEONARD DE VINCI fits, backsolved, and saw the text at the bottom matched the mapping

[cyan kraken]

But then do we input text forwards or backwards

[half ibex]

And what does the date May 12, 2002 have to do with it? Because it seems like we have all the information from the image, or at least it seems that way.

[harsh vapor]

It’s from when ghost/architect was in high school

[turbid eagle]

forwards, I updated it to "line" rather than character reversal

[harsh vapor]

With a little bit of uhhh inconsistency in book choice

[rose dust]

might not mean anything in the context of a puzzle, since neither did the post above /Quote as far as we can tell

[rose dust]

Time travel shenanigans I tell ya!

It probably is that to be fair

[cyan kraken]

it could be a red herring, actually. post is currently stable

[rose dust]

The page is stable but this is definitely an instance of an "incorrect" image in that sense. Just like the statue didnt exist in IMG_0004, the book shouldnt in this image.

We MIGHT be able to "inject" a similar image of a page with the same lettering, this time without the book?

[harsh vapor]

If that is stable we might have some issues…

[cyan kraken]

maybe its just a post to get us familar with the cipher they'll use

[half ibex]

lol thats funny.

[turbid eagle]

Yeah, the Non-linear Temporal Continuum is fractured, after all.

[rose dust]

that it is, but I wonder if its still injectable

[harsh vapor]

My thoughts as well

[rose dust]

Or maybe once the page itself degrades?

[cyan kraken]

but what other book would in its place then? math?

[rose dust]

I know that the image was posted before the /Quote page became unstable

[cyan kraken]

or some da vinci book?

[rose dust]

doesnt need to be anything. the IMG_0004_1 replacement image just had greenery, no statue

could be that we're removing the literal ghosts in the machine?

[harsh vapor]

Maybe a piece of paper with quote and LEONARD DE VINCI

[rose dust]

I got a pretty similar desk, could try something?

[harsh vapor]

Could be worth a shot

[rose dust]

if the architect is looking for close enough matches that is

alright, gotta grab dinner but i'll give it a shot once back

[cyan kraken]

it was an "update". we kind of temporally corrected the image (holy shit what am i saying)
so, if we have to correct the image, we have to see what else would be there. no system filtering and time going wonky means that stuff is kinda existing at a time when it shouldn't. we have to align the fractured temporal bits

i think

i believe that's why the IMg_0004 update worked, the image was glitched because the statue was no longer there, it didn't fit

just like according to the date, the art book doesn't fit

[rose dust]

Absolutely, I think the time shenanigans extend to the images too in that we need to fix the memory blocs of this thing

[cyan kraken]

so, we have to see what fits, even if the "fit" is simply the absence of the book

i do feel that the inclusion of vinci could be more than just a pointer to the cipher though

[compact python]

The circle kinda reminds me the circle we see before nms main menu . Bc this is the site main page/"menu"

[turbid eagle]

It crossed my mind that the book may have been a side quest easter egg since it relates to indie development

[cyan kraken]

more than that, french indie devs

[turbid eagle]

book description:

Forget AAA titles—the future belongs to indie developers.

From the captivating depths of Abzu to the dystopian nightmares of We Happy Few, the fifty games presented here embody pure imagination, bold mechanics, and uncompromising artistic vision, reinventing the video game landscape on a more intimate scale.

Overflowing with never-before-seen sketches, mood boards, and development drafts, Indie Game Works reads like a true declaration of love for the creators and the passions behind the code—an invitation to dive into the heart of indie game culture.

[cyan kraken]

or maybe the book's just in french

[cyan kraken]

yeah, this definitely feels like a nod towards notes and manuscripts

it could just be da vinci's manuscripts

bruh, mindcage is apparently some show in france

[half ibex]

I posted a summary of what we know, although I don't know what image or data we need to provide to move forward, or if something is missing since it's supposedly "stable".

[cyan kraken]

i say we destabalize it

[turbid eagle]

I tried it this way (had to swap F with C) and De Vinci turns into De Vinfi lmao

[cyan kraken]

but why those words specifically

mind, cage, sky

and we don't even know if it is cage

[turbid eagle]

the important thing is that whatever the cipher is, must accurately result in "Leonard De Vinci"

and "MIND CAGE" doesn't 🙁

[rain verge]

Have there been any efforts to find the TOWER fallback route?

[cyan kraken]

we will get a cipher in french. we use that to get a french answer then translate that to english

[rose dust]

Oh so it's an expedition 33 ARG! /S

[turbid eagle]

fun fact on FAGE...
Greek origin, meaning "eat" or "to eat"

[turbid eagle]

yeah maybe!

[cyan kraken]

i for some reason am not too surprised at the thought of a greek word in an otherwise french puzzle

[half ibex]

Nicolas Cage from the movie National Treasure? 🤣

[rose dust]

I wonder if the suffix -phage as any connection? Would be another strange lil coincidence In a long list

[compact python]

Phage , Fage, Page ??

[cyan kraken]

how do the french pronouce the "cfage" thing

[rose dust]

I meant moreso like the Autophage

[rose dust]

Oh is that an actual french word?

[cyan kraken]

i have no idea

[turbid eagle]

Fage in french translates precisely to fage in english 😂

[cyan kraken]

beautiful

[brazen prawn]

I got a cipher for you: FIP -> FAQ

[turbid eagle]

RAGE

[rose dust]

slight problem with the reverse cipher, its not really usable in french
EDIT: No there isnt, look below, im dumb

[turbid eagle]

how so?

[rose dust]

So either we're not decoding from french, or its a one way message thing with a substituted alphabet

[compact python]

Was thinking Page bc book

[rose dust]

French has a few extra alphabets which we don't have equivalents for in the cipher

I think?

wait no im thinking of the wrong language here probably, my bad 😅

[turbid eagle]

haha all good!

I was like dang, I am not a clever man

[rose dust]

the apostrophes in some of the architect's messages threw me off, I was thinking of spanish with the extra letters woops

[turbid eagle]

the only exception would be letters with accents n such above them, but that should be trivial

[brazen prawn]

Matter of perspective I guess

[rose dust]

thats what i was concerned about, but it looks like french doesnt have any of em

[brazen prawn]

Where some of them have the diacritics, but likely can just decode to base letter and work out the diacritic if needed (if it's used the way we believe)

[turbid eagle]

it has accents, but the cipher handles accented vowels just fine

[brazen prawn]

You get a pass through like: Aa / Àà / Ââ / Ææ

[harsh vapor]

Is NMS mentioned in the book?

[turbid eagle]

I tried to look that up (shallow search, tbh) and didn't find anything

[brazen prawn]

Good question

I didn't see it on the listing, but I didn't check if that was a complete listing

[turbid eagle]

List of games can be found here:
https://www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/indie-game-works

no mention of NMS

but there's Old Man's Journey! 😂 close enough

[half ibex]

Perhaps we have to wait; apparently the architect hasn't been online for several hours.

[wet salmon]

I suspect the new page will become unstable, like the poem page did

so I doubt there’s much to solve until then

[half ibex]

Although it seems quite a coincidence that pages 16 and 17 are among the few that can be seen in the book preview.

[rain verge]

If the timeline is relatively stable there's also the TOWER link.

[harsh vapor]

Yeahh, that does feel like it’s pushing us to finding something

[compact python]

I posted it eariler

[turbid eagle]

Thanks! I hadn't seen that

[rose dust]

I think we might be waiting on more information on the tower. we first learned about it with shadowcheck a while back, so this might just be bringing it back to mind for some sorta puzzle later?

At least now we know that the tower is a tangible system in universe, and maybe not just a random building we're supposed to narrow down

[brazen prawn]

A tower of hanoi minigame 😂

[somber vigil]

These updates were also very early for their usual time. For my he doesn’t do stuff until 10-6 from what I’ve seen. But these came out at 4-6am for me

[turbid eagle]

Noticed that. Woke up a little after they hit and it threw me off.
Possible insight into their panic?

[brazen prawn]

Yeah, dinner time instead of way past bed time this time lol

[turbid eagle]

brb, I'm going to try and stack a few more points for team SAGE

(which means something will probably happen while I'm gone so eyes peeled lmao)

[rose dust]

Oh absolutely, the architect is losing their shit at this but Ghost doesn't seem too concerned

[somber vigil]

I’m wondering if it’s bc they didn’t send these out “last night” and did it first thing the next day 🤷‍♂️

[turbid eagle]

Could be!

[brazen prawn]

Am I drinking paint or something? I am tired boss.

Btw how is the wiki editing experience?

[turbid eagle]

simple!
feel free to give it a try

my only apprehension/fear is other folks adding their takes/interpretations/speculations that take away from the point of the thread

but I have faith in our crew to exercise restraint/discretion

[rose dust]

Ah that reminds me, I should turn the narrative thread into a wiki too...

[brazen prawn]

I am liable to get kicked from the forum in a minute, so I am going to bed - selfishly🤞no major happenings. I'll catch the operator crew tomorrow

[rose dust]

The second I open up an ETARC tab, the architect's gonna jump us with a huge drop though, just like earlier 🙏

[rose dust]

I love that name for everyone investigating lmao, we should throw it up everywhere

Hmm...

Im very suspicious since I'm not sure if this is the correct account or not (I remember this one being linked on Sean's twitter a few years back but there seems to be a different one linked on the NMS website now) but

There's a No Man's Sky Instagram account with an interestingly worded story up rn

https://www.instagram.com/stories/nomansskyvoyagers/3907867145494852354?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=NTU5OHZ6ZWVoYm11

[ashen gale]

Not sure if anything just a fun observation but sean ig posted a story about the expedition saying "when the sky is not the limit... and it becomes the threat"

Ah beat me to it haha

Just saw it too!! Veeery interesting

[rose dust]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice haha

[rose dust]

I need someone else to make sure I'm not going crazy and this is an HG account since there's two.

I swear I've seen THIS one be linked on Sean's twitter though

[harsh vapor]

Iiiiiinteresting

[ashen gale]

Haha yeah I saw it and was waaaaait a second haha

[rose dust]

Currently though, it links to the other one

Which is also listed on the NMS website

[turbid eagle]

that is a massive nod to this ARG, he's got to know about that tag line

[rose dust]

Take this with a huge grain of salt though

I'm not sure if this account has been used by HG in a while

[ashen gale]

Pretty sure its the official one he posts the emoji on stories and the update videos and all that every time

[rose dust]

It's not linked by Sean or the team anywhere currently

[ashen gale]

Yeah there's 2 I think the other one the first one was meant for community ss or something if i remember correctly

[rose dust]

Not exactly. It USED to be the one linked on Sean's twitter a few years back, but the NMS website and Sean's own twitter currently links the other one

[turbid eagle]

it does look pretty sparse tbh

[rose dust]

Bingo!

It was used for screenshots back in the day but had very little activity

And then come voyagers (I think) and it seems to have been replaced by the one that's currently linked everywhere

[turbid eagle]

good eye

[ashen gale]

Yeah there's that as well!

[rose dust]

Interestingly, someone from HG follows both accounts, though that doesn't help figure out it's current status

I can try DMing this account but if it IS HG still, I'd expect no reply.

[ashen gale]

Exactly yeah thats what I thought as well. They kind of left the other one behind

[turbid eagle]

I think if HG/SM wanted to truly give a nod to the ARG they'd do it on their main X/BSKY accounts

[dark marsh]

But is arg still active?

[rose dust]

Sent em a message, let's see. Though these past few days have definitely got me used to being ghosted lmao

[rose dust]

It's never felt so alive!

[ashen gale]

Honestly with HG who knows 😂

[dark marsh]

It has become a sphere now the initial image

[turbid eagle]

anddd it's now possible to turn every node red (which my OCD appreciates)

[dark marsh]

But what do you think it wants to tell us?

[turbid eagle]

that sky is not the limit

[cyan kraken]

it do be no man's sky

[half ibex]

When I enter the name ghost in the cipher it returns Gevky, maybe it's something? 🤣

[dark marsh]

@turbid eagle Si na that means, it refers to no. Mans sky, an update?

[cyan kraken]

french for something, mayhaps?

[rose dust]

We have absolutely no idea and are operating under the assumption that we won't find out

[dark marsh]

@rose dust What's the point of making it cryptic, does it unlock as you go?

I hope for a paid dlc of no man's sky

That leaves the switchr and the old consoles

[cyan kraken]

also, this account has been on insta for a while, like a few years, they used to post a lot of screenshots in their stories

[rose dust]

Yep, I remember that. Hell, the AssistantNMS server even had a tracker set up for its posts

[cyan kraken]

ngl, if this account is ARG related, that might mean this whole thing is fan made

[rose dust]

Could just be a fan trynna rally people up too, but the fact that it USED to be a Sean account is so weird

And made worse by the fact that we don't know if it still is or not

[clear surge]

Maybe Sean is the fan

[cyan kraken]

it was an official account? demn

[dark marsh]

Not a fan is done too well and dynamic, then he received the like from the lead of no man's sky

[cyan kraken]

but there are some themes that match. the swarm is also kinda a forgotten chunk of memory, no? based on pollo's reaction, at least

and here, we're helping the system remember

[rose dust]

Not the lead of No Man's Sky

Lead Engine Developer, yes

[cyan kraken]

but why all the french, though. like, what connections does HG or NMS have with france. UK is understandable

[rose dust]

A few characters in wt were french iirc? Arnaud Lacours comes to mind, not sure if he was french or from Quebec tho

[cyan kraken]

i wasn't in WT, alas. but was it so centered around france? like, locations specifically in france, ciphers also done in french?

i could understand if the language itself was used as another layer of encryption, but the location aspect does seem a bit weird

[turbid eagle]

Sophie Dubois may have been French, but I'm only basing that on her last name lol

[cyan kraken]

what were the actual locations that were included in WT?

[turbid eagle]

sheesh I don't even remember

[rose dust]

Gotta hand it to em, the_architect is definitely dedicated to their craft

[turbid eagle]

I decided to blast 'em with a hail mary.
If the ARG is connected to Expedition 22, then the answer to "Each entity is unique. Together they are one." is ROYAL / SAGE / WEAVER

so I sent that to 'em in an email and on X lol

[dark marsh]

I don't think they make an arg for an expedition, maybe related

[turbid eagle]

not for the expedition
with the expedition 😉

leading to the 10yr anniversary (hopium)

[wet salmon]

real hopium is hoping the arg is for light no fire

[turbid eagle]

lol grade AAA pure top-shelf hopium for sure

[wet salmon]

I consume unsafe quantities of it every morning

[rain verge]

We're just going to learn that we're playing the storyline the explains the origin for the Light No Fire player character. xD

[dark marsh]

Yes but I want light no fire to be a game apart. I don't want them to shove it on ps4 and switch super neutered

[covert temple]

i guess i truly am in it for the long haul

ive decided to comb through the chat logs i missed

which date back to four AM my time. For reference it's 2pm

[rose dust]

one of us! one of us!

[covert temple]

:D

So far I've seen the page with the paper and code

And saw you guys think it has something to do with a Da Vinci cipher

saw the new security log too

[rain verge]

Don't worry, you'll be perfectly ready for the next time the Architect wakes up. They're currently sleeping if their ETARC last active status is to be believed.

[covert temple]

good

I've been worrying that while I read the backlog we'd have another development and chat would explode

[rose dust]

funny thing, I was actively adding to one of the ETARC threads for a while and when I tabbed back in we had like 2 images and the new page lol

[rain verge]

What might be considered the TOWER core in the NMS universe? IS it somewhere we could travel to in game?

[covert temple]

Yeah lol I JUST read your message when that happened

Smth along the lines of "Go figure I step away for two minutes and things blow up"

[rose dust]

and surprisingly, not because of sleep lol

[covert temple]

alr i'm all caught up

so the words we have so far are Mind, Sky, and Cage, with the book on the side already being identified

and interestingly enough, said book has pages 16 and 17 open to preview

[rose dust]

We've got a likely substitution cipher alphabet from it too

Now we're just waiting for something from Ghost to test it out on

[covert temple]

I see

[rain verge]

There are a couple threads that haven't been run down though. One being

Details:
Connection to Historical_DB failed.
Redirected to TOWER core.

Link established with TOWER.
Fallback route active.

Which was posted this morning.

It's possibly just flavor, but it also might be where we're meant to find the next step.

[turbid eagle]

Atlas core, I would imagine?

[turbid eagle]

where might I see these pages?

[covert temple]

uhhhh

Please Hold

[covert temple]

@half ibex was the one that said the preview has those pages but I can't find it myself

[turbid eagle]

No worries! I can only see 10, 11, 18, 19 on Amazon

[half ibex]

#project-skyscraper message

[turbid eagle]

amazing! thank you 🙂

I remember when Abzu came out, I'd watch people stream it, trying to imagine what it will be like when No Man's Sky releases

Also out of boredom, I added an Emails tab on the post tracker google sheet to check deltas between email timestamps.

There's a 3240 second (54 min) delta between the 1st and 2nd emails, and the 4th and 5th emails. Could have simply worked out that way but chances are slim

[rose dust]

so 14 hrs between active "emailing sessions", and 50-54 minutes for a response in these windows so far?

Wonder if there's a planned cadence for these or not

[turbid eagle]

something like that, yeah

[rose dust]

The one where the architect reports the page to ghost was definitely caused by us, so I'd imagine they're waiting on certain things to fire some of the emails off too

[turbid eagle]

Yeah that makes sense to me

I'm curious if they're done using email though 😂

or if they'll just attempt to send ciphered comms which we've already sabotaged

[turbid eagle]

btw on the storyline thread,

Both users replied with the link to the /Index page
should be /inbox page ❤️

[rose dust]

Good catch! Thanks for the quick check!

I think I've got all the main points down there from a narrative sense, but that's just made me a lot more confused about the characters so far

[turbid eagle]

Yeah me too. At first I thought the architect was trying to access System.
And then I figured System is hacking the architect's [whatever thingy].
And now it almost seems like the architect has been trying to redirect System to another target. So that target is what's being compromised? idk

[rose dust]

Also, /Code being published by the System would've probably made more sense. Why is The Architect's account being used to give us the key to breach their communications?

[turbid eagle]

right, unbeknownst to the architect too

like if Project Skyscraper is an internet metaphor for the architect's local file directories, System is slowly leaking everything

[rose dust]

Yep, I'm really confused about The Architect's agency in all of this now. They seemed to be a very "orchestrating from the shadows" type from the start, but it kinda looks like they're being kept in the dark by Ghost, and their credentials are being used by the System?

Why does the system consider the etarc post to be unexpected then

[covert temple]

I'm trying to figure out the architect's importance, too

[turbid eagle]

maybe it's a sophsiticated cyber heist where the architect and Ghost are attempting to usurp the system by baiting it into their network

[covert temple]

And I don't mean from a narrative standpoint, I mean from an in-universe one

The Architect wouldn't be called the architect if they didn't make the system we're watching

Yet, the system is acting with agency of its own and the architect seems surprised?

[rose dust]

It seems like connecting the system to the tower is one of their main goals

[covert temple]

Ghost, to me, seems like a contact of the architect's or an old friend but not necessarily as involved with whatever the [System] project is; yet as you guys say there's only a few ways The Architect's credentials couldve been leaked, and ghost is one of them

[rose dust]

Oh on that topic

I noticed that The Architect says that they're connected before the actual sec log's published, which is already before the timestamp mentioned on that page

Do we have the post modified time for when that reply was sent by the architect?

I have a feeling that the communications are slightly offset compared to the system's own time

[turbid eagle]

from what I gather, it seems like System exists within the local network, and was the thing attempting to gain access to the entire network (which it has done).

So in probing different access points (ETARC being one of them), it was surprised that the network first rejected and then accepted its probing.

Entire salt shaker of salt here lmao

[rose dust]

I kinda read it as Ghost being more involved in the project than The Architect / caring more. Their tone so far has been indifferent to the circumstances surrounding the system and quite matter-of-factly about their progress

[clear surge]

Do you mean the entry on /Inbox?

Because I haven't worked out where that sits in WordPress yet 😄

[rose dust]

yep, specifically the last-modifed time of the page when the email from the architect talking about the system and operators was sent

[compact python]

"ghost" reminds me that comercial from WT about talking with the dead

[rose dust]

you can check it for a live page on the HTML headers for WP posts

[covert temple]

I wonder if the architect works under Ghost, now that you say that

perhaps Ghost is tied to some higher organization, and the architect is contributing towards a bigger picture that he's not even aware of

Given that ghost is the one to start the conversation, and the architect kind of reports back to him

[rose dust]

Oh interesting! I didn't think about something on the network trying to awaken the rest of the system too deeply but that could be likely. I guess the unexpected part of the log is then for the Atlas-65 system, its own shock at the post.

[rose dust]

Definitely what I gleaned from it honestly.

[clear surge]

OK, /Inbox is page 1812
https://project-skyscraper.com/wp-json/wp/v2/pages/1812

[covert temple]

I'm almost getting manhattan project-esq vibes from it, where it seems like whatever The Architect is working on/researching seems to be a smaller part of a bigger, decentralized whole

Perhaps this is a prequel to Waking Titan? The early days ventures of building a massive AI

[clear surge]

We're not allowed to view revisions, though 😅

[turbid eagle]

The thing I can't determine for sure is, do they want System connected to the Tower? Or are they viewing this as a bad thing?

[covert temple]

I think The Tower needs to be connected to the system or else something bad happens

[turbid eagle]

Like if they want it connected to the Tower, why are they panicking about System being able to see them?

[covert temple]

Ghost's first instinct is to ask about the tower and if the system is connected

And the architect says yes

[rose dust]

I think they do, one of Ghost's messages is And for the Tower? Is System connected? which might be intended to read as "Is the system connected to the tower?"

[covert temple]

Yeah that's what I got from it

too

[turbid eagle]

The part that gets me is, why is the architect is freaking out over System being able to see them?

[rose dust]

Which is why I wanna find the timestamp for The Architect's reply to it. Matching their "yes" to the sec log for when the TOWER was connected could let us sync up any timeline discrepancies, since things are definitely not being posted in a normal timeline.

[rose dust]

Oh you might be onto something there. That's in direct response to being observed by the system.

[harsh vapor]

We know that the SYSTEM is gaining some sort of self-awareness, maybe if it realizes it is a creation of The Architect that can lead to some existentialism for poor system. My guess is the architect doesn't want it to know of its own existence. Once the System Filtering Platform went offline, it started accessing things it wasn't supposed to (such as the inbox), hence the concern

[turbid eagle]

1780050120: The Architect's "Yes"
1780054980: Link established with tower (4860 seconds later -- or 1 hour, 21 minutes)

[clear surge]

I don't know the exact timestamp, but I know I spotted it here: <#project-skyscraper message>

[covert temple]

Evidently it's not supposed to. I'm operating under the assumption The Architect is running an experiment/monitoring System, and perhaps whatever goal they're working towards or researching requires the system to remain unaware of its observers?

[rose dust]

And more importantly, why isn't Ghost freaking out?
It seems like connecting to the tower is enough for em to be at ease about the system observing them,

[covert temple]

To me this fits with the idea that Ghost is from a shadowy, higher position than The Architect. Ghost doesn't gaf because it's not his job to sort out whatever's going wrong

That's why he kind of dismissively goes "Use the school code if you have to. I'll get back to you"

At least I read it as dismissive

[rose dust]

Alright, awesome. So if The Architect's emails are in "real" time (since they sent an actual email to participants) then the system at this point might be 4860s behind time?

[covert temple]

Perhaps The Tower is a control measure?

A shock collar, if you will

[rose dust]

Oh wait

They can see the tower, but not the one inside

[covert temple]

Or is it a containment measure?

[rose dust]

They here might be Ghost and The Architect, but they're unable to look inside the tower?

[rain verge]

So, /inbox is a Page and is treated differently from a Post. Pages are kind of self-contained and include /about, /code, /sleep-mode, etc. While Posts are generally what you'd see if you were browsing a blog, they are typically the timestamped posts and generally are the security logs (the full logs are actually Pages though).

[turbid eagle]

They? The Operators?
Now they can see the_architect (the one inside)?

[covert temple]

idk I got the vibe The Architect and Ghost are, similar to us (but to a lesser extent) outsiders looking in

[rose dust]

Oo that works pretty well too possibly. The Architect and Ghost seem to have some sort of connection to the TOWER so they could very well be "inside" it.

But by being connected to it, isnt the system "physically" there right now?

[harsh vapor]

What I'm really curious about is the Historical DB/potential WT connection and why SYSTEM would be hooked into that in the first place

[turbid eagle]

Or at least attempting to hook in, and requiring a redirect to TOWER instead

[rain verge]

But the System hadn't established a link to the TOWER until this morning.

The System and the TOWER are separate entities, at least from a network standpoint (but I'd suspect physically as well)

[turbid eagle]

It seems like all these things may be occurring on the same network. Like imagine a server in your bedroom closet, and your gaming computer in your office, and they're not meant to interact but they share the same local network.

[rose dust]

its interesting that the System: Core redirects the Historical_DB module to the Tower Core, which seems like more than just a DB

[turbid eagle]

So now System Core is linked to Tower Core

[harsh vapor]

Maybe SYSTEM is working as intended, but it is simply publicly reporting information that it wasn't meant to since we took down the System Filtering Platform

[rose dust]

Oh absolutely, the TOWER is also considered a CORE system it seems.

[covert temple]

figuring this out feels uncannily similar to trying to guess the layout of a maze while within it

[rose dust]

The filtering system's been keeping us out though until recently, and likely whoever sent the WoL

[covert temple]

which ig is the beauty of an ARG

[turbid eagle]

one thing is for sure, the entrance is where we came in, and the exit is where we leave

[rose dust]

Which, with the architect and ghost not being nearly as in control as I originally suspected, is back on the table as being a mystery character

[harsh vapor]

TOWER being an internal name for Project Skyscraper perhaps, or an internal system of project skyscraper

[rain verge]

Wait, I think the most recent sec log is implying that wakingtitan.com used to be the system's database. SYSTEM Core --IS-- TOWER Core

[rose dust]

I don't think TOWER is a subsystem of the Skyscraper System by how it's been talked about so far. All of the subroutines of System have been marked as such so far.

It sounds a lot more important

[clear surge]

Yes, that's how I understood it (re WT)

[rose dust]

I'm not sure about TOWER always having been System, since it looks like the connection only occured because of the historical DB showing Error 1016

Which, going by the architect's email, is something the duo caused

[covert temple]

My hypothesis is that System is a possibly rogue AI, the Filter is its self preservation protocols, and TOWER is a containment/control device built into the entire thing by the architect or ghost.

Hence why, when made aware that the System is now tracking them, Ghost immediately asks about the Tower. This also explains why the architect seems...uneasy? Afraid, even.

[rose dust]

Since 1016 is a dns misconfiguration error (?) caused by a site admin, it's possible that the architect had enough control of the historical DB to be able to cause error 1016 to force the system to connect to TOWER

[harsh vapor]

digging too far deep down the rabbit hole and running over the same limited information ad nauseam is how you know you are doing an ARG right 😏

[covert temple]

I think our duo has either built or discovered something they shouldn't have messed with

[rose dust]

That sounds like a really good reading of the info so far on a surface level imo! It might be useful keeping this in mind going forward.

[turbid eagle]

let us add to the nauseam

[covert temple]

And has the potential to (will) grow out of control

[covert temple]

I'm glad I could contribute (if this even counts lol). I doubt I'm right but I'll try keep my theory straight as new evidence comes by

[rose dust]

Mind if I add this to the ETARC storyline thread? It'll be turned into a wiki post soon, so you could add / modify it over there keeping new evidence in mind.

[harsh vapor]

Agreed, that's more or less been my interpretation of it thus far

[rain verge]

Is it possible that Ghost and the Architect are the same entity, possibly temporally separated? /code does say "Each entity is unique. Together they are one."

[covert temple]

Go ahead. I'll have to make an ETARC account for it though

[turbid eagle]

I wonder if /inbox and /code are file systems that existed within Tower, and once System connected, these things started getting leaked (intentionally or unintentionally)

Maybe the architect/ghost didn't foresee that system connecting to tower would result in compromised security and exposed file systems

[harsh vapor]

I'd agree if /inbox leak happened after SYSTEM was rerouted to TOWER

[rose dust]

I think the emails are implied to be sent in series which might not work with the temporal shenanigans we've seen so far.

[turbid eagle]

/inbox was exposed after the "access granted" sec log

[rose dust]

I would've said /Inbox being posted before the tower connection would make this difficult but, there seems to be a temporal disconnect between the system and the emails anyway

Hell at this point there's a temporal anomaly every other page

[rain verge]

I guess I'm thinking more of a time travel paradox issue, where the "same" person exists twice in the same time. Think the time hourglass from Harry Potter.

[covert temple]

what a funny coincidence. My number tag after my name is "1683"

never noticed 🤔

[rose dust]

Quick, send it to the architect via email! 😛

I wonder if the system's email will be used directly. It's probably been set up so far to register their WP account, but I wonder if it'll be a proper character we interact with later on.

[covert temple]

ok ETARC acc is made

[turbid eagle]

oh Batzy is alllll the way in deep now

[covert temple]

rq is there anything I should know before I start

I know the bot has a habit of silencing people lol

I've seen it happen

[stray prairie]

Time to get sniped! A rite of passage!

[clear surge]

Probably keep to text-only for the first couple of messages

[covert temple]

Mk

[plain sigil]

Also the creative team behind Waking Titan is French Canadian

[rose dust]

Also try not to paste any text or links for the first few posts

Also, please check out all the pinned posts

We're working really hard to make the site navigable for ARG newcomers!

[covert temple]

Understood, thanks

[turbid eagle]

Ultra

[rain verge]

The architect did not use a project-skyscraper.com account to set up their wordpress account. I just checked and it looks like [e-mail] may be used for a wordpress account.

I may have accidentally caused a security email from wordpress to go to the system email account though 😬

[rose dust]

can't wait for another security log calling us out for "sloppy bruteforcing" 😛

[turbid eagle]

or even worse...
arbitrary dot connecting

[agile edge]

I'm sure someone has already said it since I'm so late, but kinda odd that the date of the book being published this year is the same as the log in 2002.

[clear surge]

Yes, but the system has noted a "fractured non-linear temportal continuum" (time-wimey stuff)

[turbid eagle]

yes, the time-wimey stuff be that way

[thorn coyote]

Well timey-wimey stuff screams Internet Archive, and they do follow them on Bluesky.

[covert temple]

@rose dust I went through and read the pinned posts, as you suggested, and I also read through the narrative discussion page. Very good write-up! And thank you for adding my theory to the list of running theories

I'm debating writing a more thorough post in the thread with my thought process and the evidence for it, but I might wait until we know more. I'm not sure quite yet

[steady niche]

Looks like I didn't miss much overnight

If people are trying to figure out French or French Canadian, I know there are some vocabulary differences between the two that might point it out. I don't know personally, but a French speaker looking for it might

[rain verge]

The architect's hiatus on ETARC ended an hour ago. Seems like they might have actually been on French time today.

They were offline for about 12 hours.

[covert temple]

So they're on now?

[rain verge]

Last active an hour ago, but they seem to be actively lurking around the times we've received new updates lately.

[covert temple]

oh i see

i misread your first comment mb

[steady niche]

That would be like 2am on a Saturday in France

[clear surge]

They're probably making sure some people are around before they start something

[covert temple]

i thought you meant to say they've been on for an hour

[covert temple]

they're dedicated

[steady niche]

And France famously has very strict laws about working off hours, so either Canadian or not for a company

[rain verge]

It's also possible the account is controlled/used by more than one user. But the activity patterns generally have matched that of a single user previously.

I should probably set up a bot to monitor their activity actually. Unless ETARC already monitors that?

Interestingly, the Archtiect's birthdate on ETARC is listed as January 1, 1904

[clear surge]

Oldest high schooler ever

[somber vigil]

What kinda activity? There’s a bot watching the website changing

And also the hundreds of people seemingly staring at the website 24/7

[rain verge]

ETARC shows the 'last seen' time for users.

[somber vigil]

Ooooo nope nothing watches that right now

[rain verge]

I'll compile it on my machine for now. If it becomes more useful we can worry about a feature on your page in the future.

[somber vigil]

Awesome sounds good man. I honestly think that’ll be for when we’re solving new puzzles bc they tend to watch socials

[cyan kraken]

heyo, anything happened in the last few hours?

[rain verge]

Nothing notable in the last few hours, no. It's been quiet, especially for a Friday.

[cyan kraken]

architect must've been out vibing on friday night

can't blame em

so what type of cipher was this exactly?

[cyan kraken]

gonna get another post with a quote that basically says "bruh what the hell"

[rain verge]

The only cipher we've seen was a basic substitution cipher.

[cyan kraken]

in french

[rain verge]

With a 26 character alphabet.

But the substitution alphabet definitely looks like it'll easily translate to a vignere key.

#project-skyscraper message

[cyan kraken]

yeah, it do look like that a hit

bit*

i guess we'll only be able to confirm when we can test it

[turbid eagle]

if the scheduled posts continue on course, we should be seeing something come through in roughly 5 hours

[thorn coyote]

Great ... Right when I'm asleep and with out an update on Xbox still. T_T

[rain verge]

Architect active for the last hour on ETARC

[brazen prawn]

Trudging through their notifications 😅

[rain verge]

They should check their danged emails!

They're definitely running on French time now though.

[brazen prawn]

I'm still upset that I got uber ghosted (but tbf it was pre-puzzle)

[ember wyvern]

Did someone happen yet after the /code update?

Been a bit afk. Touching glass and whatnot

[rose dust]

I think we're waiting on a scheduled post in 2 hours, nothing's happened so far I believe

[ember wyvern]

Cool. I’ve just been away checking out the nms update and the poe2 league so just checking.

[steady niche]

Sweet, I'll be back home in about an hour or so. Good timing

If I can survive this shitty bus driver

[steady niche]

It's almost as bad as a Hong Kong minibus.

[rose dust]

Ah there we go

https://project-skyscraper.com/2026/05/30/sec-log-memory-sector-access/

@brazen prawn you're gonna love this one

Oo and an actual password!

And a yt video

https://youtu.be/xPG-VM__mwU?si=QskMczCAabWZFoKC

[harsh vapor]

Ooooh an actual password this time 👀

New account to watch as well

https://freeimage.host/skyscraper_prj

[rose dust]

@covert temple looks like you hit the nail with the rogue AI bit

[brazen prawn]

Right on dinner time

[rain verge]

Is that the photo from Reddit, but clean?

[rose dust]

Not entirely familiar with the form setup they're using so please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing this means the password length is <=20?

p><label for="pwbox-1776">Password: <input name="post_password" id="pwbox-1776" type="password" spellcheck="false" required size="20" /></label> <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Enter" /></p>
</form>

[harsh vapor]

Likely yeah

[rose dust]

It's not an input limit on the box itself

Password protects a memory fragment, it's either embedded within the image or might be related to the scene in the video?

[dusky forge]

SM just posted two pics. When the sky stops being the limit and becomes the threat. Pics on the forum

[rose dust]

Oh shit that account was legit then

[cyan kraken]

bruh

[rose dust]

There was a post like this on Instagram too

Yesterday

And we were debating if that account was real or not

[brazen prawn]

[ well there it is ].gif

[dusky forge]

That is what I just saw yes

[cyan kraken]

by the nomnasskyvoyagers insta ID

[rose dust]

Wow, the architect sure knows how ramp things up when everyone's away lol

[rain verge]

It's Saturday!

No sleep for NA.

[rose dust]

Oh are you saying the images are from Instagram?

Because we're not sure if that account is still run by Sean or not

[dusky forge]

Yes

Okay

[rose dust]

It's not linked to gy any official HG pages or accounts atm

[rain verge]

These images

[rose dust]

But it WAS Sean's account back in 2020

Whether or not it still is is debatable

[rain verge]

https://forums.atlas-65.com/t/project-skyscraper-no-mans-sky-arg/9095/2421

[rose dust]

Ah, so the same ones we found

I think it's best to consider that account fan run for the time

[rain verge]

YT video has baked-in French subtitles.

[rose dust]

Because we don't have any more official links to it

[rain verge]

The password might be a phrase or word from 2010

[dusky forge]

Okay

[rose dust]

Is that the only language they're for?

[rain verge]

If so, the same fan is seemingly* involved in project_skyscraper.