|
The Answer - October 11, 2003 By reading further you implicitely agree not to share this information or this location with anyone. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Ridertown Forums use a device, common in bulletin boards of this type, to designate the participation experience of its members; that is, titles or ranks assigned to members upon their having submitted predetermined numbers of posts. The ranks and titles for the first 50 posts are almost criminally mundane; evenly spaced at intervals of ten, and intended to give the novice a feel for the flow of the Forums:
Yawn. The next three get a little more ideosyncratic, playing on (or mocking, depending on your level of satire-awareness) the stereotypical internet user's perceived Dungeons-'n-Dragons-type geekiness:
But with ascension to the next level, the game subtly begins:
While to the casual observer the title "Diety" may seem a small and aptly-named step up from "Wizard," in the realm of Ridertown (that is, reality, where words have meaning) it is a giant leap from fictional sages, jedis and wizards to metaphysical dieties. We enter the sphere of theology. To assume the mantle of Diety ("the essential nature of a god or of a supreme being" - Webster's Third New International Dictionary) could at the very least be considered by thoughtful men and vengeful gods to be presumptuous. And so, one who has the profane temerity to pose as Diety for ten posts finds himself brought:
This is the signal that the game is now open for the member Before The Judge to enjoin, should he so choose. He will have to be intimately familiar with the Forums, for the only instruction to be found which is accessible to him at this point are two replies from Horace posted in two different places: the first on October 9, 2003, on page 4 in the Topic "Kenton" in the "Football" Forum in the "Sports" Category; and the other on October 10, 2003, on page 3 in the Topic "School Board Elections" in the "Elections" Forum in the "St. Marys and Area" Category (these posts may be moved if the strings go inactive over time). The posts can also be found by clicking on "Find all posts by this member" on Horace's member profile page. The member B e f o r e T h e J u d g e (or at any rank thereafter) must signal to the Administrator (Horace) his entry into the game by privately submitting an Answer. Horace will reply to the new Player that this Answer is "Complete" or "Incomplete," and include the password to the Bonus Category, where the "instruction" posts are duplicated and the Player's record of Answer attempts can be found. But why play the game at all?
The Judge will not look favorably upon anyone who comes before him, and of course is in fact programmed to brand everyone a "T r a i t o r o f C o c y t u s " with alacrity (a mere 2 posts). The member is informed of his sentence by the title and informed of the severity of his sentence by the loss of nine of his ten pips (the little blue squares indicating rank in the left margin). The only ways to regain those pips are to 1.) correctly Answer the test, or 2.) submit another 100 (or more) posts. The ensuing rank titles are clues to the riddle, but another rank will not be reached for 23 long posts, and the Player will surely despair of it ever changing by that time, as he has been made accustomed to 10-post intervals. Play the Game.
The most important thing for the Player to deduce is where he is. The Judge has condemned him to the most remote reach of Hell, as described in 1300 A.D. by Dante Alighieri in his "Divine Comedy." A concise and (for this essay) very useful summary of it can be found here. Many if not all Players will go to Google and almost immediately identify the T r a i t o r o f C o c y t u s as Satan. But a little more imagination is needed. In the game, the Player has actually joined Satan as a T r a i t o r o f C o c y t u s , frozen in the deepest depths of Hell. Once this concept dawns, the Player will hopefully understand that his goal should be to escape, and endeavor to find out more about his prison. One is justified in asking, "If presuming to be a Diety condemns one to Hell, what punishment is in store for The Judge for presuming to imitate God Almighty?" The Judge's only defense can be to say that while God Almighty's condemnations are eternal, The Judge's are only temporary (even as Dante's visit to the Inferno was temporary), and that a Player has the power to commute his sentence at any time by successfully playing the game. But until he submits a complete Answer, the Player must make his weary way up layer by layer until at last he figuratively emerges from the Gates of Hell, no simple task. He will doubtless find the rank "S i s y p h e a n o f t h e 4 t h R i n g " particularly frustrating. One who knows the story of Sisyphus (not strictly Dantean, but too juicy not to be included in the game) can imagine what will happen to those attempting to get through this rank. Dante describes nine rings of Hell, represented by the rank titles above. Charon is the ferry-man across the River Acheron, which is the outer boundary of Hell. Charon only carries his fares one-way, befitting his charge, but a Player submitting the correct Answer will be able to sweet-talk Charon into boating him out, and will be rewarded for the correct Answer with the location of this page, a rank of over 1000 (equal to your actual post count plus 1000) posts and the title:
At which point, perhaps, a new game may be devised... The Player's test of faith may have been successfully met by the correct Answer, but the test of trust continues. You may not reveal the location or contents of this text, or any information whatsoever about the Answer. Such a traitorous act will be dealt with accordingly in a manner you can surely guess. And the ultimate treachery would be a K e e p e r o f t h e A n s w e r posting it on the Forums, thus cancelling the game. Banishment from the Forums would not be too severe a penalty for this. Discretion is the better part of valor. Take care not to inadvertantly reveal telling details in posts intended for fellow Keepers but read by all. Respect your accomplishment. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GRADING "What the hell, indeed, is a T r a i t o r o f C o c y t u s ? The Answer, sent in private to ourself and not shared with any other member in any way (especially through the Forums), if sufficiently detailed so as to engender our respect for your research in the matter, will advance you in rank to a point your correct Answer will predict."
The ideal Answer: "The T r a i t o r o f C o c y t u s is Satan. I am in the Ninth, or deepest level of Dante's Inferno or Hell. This Answer will get me out of Hell, advancing me nine ranks."
Horace © 2003 ridertown.com Aloha |