Help Wanted with Mysterious Message: Seeking Henna

Dulfy 207 Comments Jul 25, 2014

This is not SWTOR related at all but I got this mysterious message from someone in Bioware and I need help figuring it out.

There are two websites on this picture. The first one is seekinghenna.com. There is a police report and a post up there. I think there is a hidden message in that post. Notice how certain letters are underlined?

The second website is Woods-Watston Institute at http://www.woods-watsoninstitute.info/. Seems like a normal school website. However, if you go into the subreddit linked at the bottom of that blog.. you will find this post..which raised up some good points.

There wasn’t much new information. Seriously, what’s the point of writing a report if half of it is just going to be redacted? Thankfully, there was at least one thing that stood out to me: The Woods-Watson Institute.

Henna was home schooled. Why was she spending so much time on this school’s site? And why had she never mentioned it to me? I went to their website, but things just got weirder. There’s no listed address, no information about their admissions process, and it looks like they’re using stock imagery for the campus.

Are you going to the SDCC in San Diego this weekend? If so maybe you can find this Blake person?

Finding From Readers

1. Infernal/Fractal_Eye did some digging on the courses section of the school and found some weird things on the electives section. Explorations of Percival Fawcett: 1927-1956 and Literature of Barbara Newhall Follett: 1965-1985 are not possible because these are two real people who have disappeared in 1927 and 1939 respectively so it suggests another dimension where these people did not disappear. The other weird stuff are the courses on incorporeal entities (ghosts), ancient civilizations, hieroglyphics, technologically-hostile environments, and aetheric solids,

2. Theho did some digging on the domain registration and found that the school website and seekinghenna.com all have being registered by EA. In addition, a third website http://www.youve-been-chosen.com/ was also registered around the same time by EA. Going to that website reveal this creepy trailer. It looks like a bunch of people were also sent with an email to this trailer. If the website is down for you, all it has is this trailer and a notice that more info will be coming out around Gamescom.

"The time is near. They are watching. Your power is rising. Cologne, Germany. You’ve Been Chosen. Watch the new “Nightmare” teaser from BioWare. Sign up for the latest updates."

3. thewatcheruatu figured out that the very tiny message on that reddit post with the word HOEUNTNHAEARREEIYH is actually a cipher. It spells out Henna Are You There if you take the every second letter.

4. Here is the email that Bioware sent out to a lot of people..

Werit

At the end of that reddit post is: HOEUNTNHAEARREEIYH in really small letters.
- Dulfy
  
  Interesting, I almost missed that. That is a cipher of some sort I assume?
- thewatcheruatu
  
  Look at every second letter and circle back to the beginning when you get to the end of the line. It says “Henna Are You There?” There’s a left over “I” and “H”, which I guess is “Hi.”
Jerry

I don’t get it. Is this a genuine missing person or just a puzzle for ‘fun’?
- Dulfy
  
  If you look at the bottom of the seekinghenna.com website, you will see that it states that the blog is a work of fiction. So this is not a real missing person.
Kalzeth

Courtney Woods. Tait Watson.
- Dulfy
  
  Interesting connection there hmm. I was like what do their names have to do with it until I saw their last names and the name of the college.
  - Vodorlo
    
    Don’t think it’s a real college. Did a google serch on it, was too hard to find it with just google. Looking up more proof as I type
Evallo

The “college” website is entertaining with the instructors who specialize in alchemy, cooking, and martial arts. Also the course descriptions are interesting.
Jon

So I am really bad at these, But I can’t imagine this having to do with anything except SWTOR.
It just seems weird to include dulfy in anything related to Mass Effect or the new storyline
Anysao

Well this is creepy as sin! Every logical point is directed to it being a cipher message, and considering its from BioWare implies its part of something in TOR. Willing to bet it’s related to the Forged Alliances story.

But I wouldn’t pay much attention to that “going to pass it out at SDCC” part. Considering you are the #1 guide side for MMO players, Blake is probably just trying to spread the word on this cipher, and sent you a creepy copy to get it out to as many TORies as possible. At Comic Con, he’s probably going to actually hand out fliers with the same information on it.

In other news, I have the day off of work tomorrow. Sounds like a perfect day to sit in the house all day, reading this page, and trying to crack the code…

PS: How’s Depths of Manaan?
Vodorlo

Now, this looks interesting. Really interesting. If it wasn’t so late where I am, I would’ve given this a shot. Nonetheless, did anyone try putting all the underlined letters on that post in order, and see what happens?
Decalvatus

Typed ‘Henna’ into the Keywords boxes? or something like that.
Rae

Whoa…this gives me such a “House of Leaves” vibe! I approve! 🙂
George

“Fall 2014 courses” make me think it’s all about expansion.
- Robert Hindy
  
  Or about BioWare’s new IP they have been working on for a while. They might release what it is this fall.
  
  Now the courses and the course descriptions themselves are important to the new game: they talk about making fiction reality, going into the past, and Incorporeal (Ghost-like) forms.
Ajay Madhav

zovoesronuoefwtieoienn

Think that is the underlined letters?
idnewton

woods-watson. Obvious reference to Courtney Woods and Tait Watson. I’ll post anything else I notice.
Fractal_Eye

Just adding some more eerie to the whole thing. I’ve been reading the course descriptions (one mentioned the ‘Radiant Empires,’ for example), and I happened to put Percival Fawcett’s name into google and visited his wiki page. According to it, he never had a 1927 expedition, owing to the fact he disappeared in 1925. I’m hoping that it’s not simply a timeline mistake (which I don’t believe it is, tbh), and this whole thing is really interesting, lol!

Anyway, back to reading and thinking about all this. Regardless of whatever it is for (I’m honestly thinking it’s another BW game, but that’s just me), thanks, Dulfy, for putting this up! Good fun! 🙂
- iowaboynca
  
  I looked him up too for some reason. Did you see in the footnotes he was a potential inspiration for Indiana Jones, but Lucas denies…
Infernal

“How did one begin an adventure? Almost any road you took would lead there, if only you went on far enough.” – Barbara Newhall Follett, Lost Island

Just checked her out. She disappeared at the age of 25
Infernal

And then there’s the whole ‘Lost Island’ thing.
BrianDavion

This reminds me of some of the stuff funcom did for TSW
Infernal

Okay, so both of the people listed below are noted to have disappeared when they were young and never did the things that the courses indicate they did. This indicates that W-W-I isn’t on our Earth at all.
- Dulfy
  
  Very interesting. Percival disappeared in 1927 and the course description have his explorations from 1927 to 1956. Barbara disappeared in 1939 and the course description have her work from 1965 to 1985.
  
  Look at the other electives.. Incorporeal entities (ghosts), ancient civilizations, hieroglyphics, technologically-hostile environments, aetheric solids,
Anysao

Noticed that they said that the the French class takes a trip to Paris in spring. Read the calendar and it said the trip leaves mid-late August. Forgot the actual date, but eerie enough.

I think this is about Forged Alliances more and more… Google more of those people listed. Two so far disappeared. Much like another adventurer in our game who vanished at a grand moment, who datamined confirm will return in Forged Alliances.

Keep googling!
- Robert Hindy
  
  Or about the new IP BioWare has stated they were working on multiple times.
  
  Considering that all the emails don’t have the SWTOR version of the BioWare logo and just the plain one, I think this is the case.
Theho

Looking at the whois queries, both websites were registered by EA (http://whois.domaintools.com/seekinghenna.com, http://whois.domaintools.com/woods-watsoninstitute.info), so it’s safe to say Henna is a fictional character. I’m thinking they’re trying to promote an upcoming game with those “in-universe” websites.
I have seen that for numerous movies and video games in the past, and always liked it. Let’s see where this goes. 🙂
- Theho
  
  Looking at the calendar on the Woods-Watson site, it looks like they are going to reveal more information around Gamescom, since there are so many dates there (13th to 15th August). Also, “1st Day of Class” may mean that this is the date the game is announced.
  
  Also, according to http://www.vgleaks.com/new-domains-registered-by-ea-take-two-and-ubisoft, EA also recently registered the domain http://youve-been-chosen.com. Not sure if that’s related to this promotion or for something else.
  
  While I can see some connection to SWTOR (Woods & Watson, Lost Island), I highly doubt it is intended. Creating such a website to promote SWTOR just doesn’t make any sense.
  - Theho
    
    Okay, so looking at the “You’ve been chosen” website must be what this is all about. They have a teaser trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32bLpcBoxT8) and a form to sign up for more information. Looks like an orginal horror game.
    - Theho
      
      “The time is near. They are watching. Your power is rising. Cologne, Germany. You’ve Been Chosen. Watch the new “Nightmare” teaser from BioWare. Sign up for the latest updates.”
      
      Cologne, Germany. Now that’s a major hint that more will be revealed at Gamescom. Also, since the website is available in German and English only, that seems to be their target audience.
      - Dulfy
        
        Wonder if it is single player or MMO
        
        Theho
        
        Well, the phrase “You’ve been Chosen” kinda reminds me of SWTOR’s “Join the Battle” commercial, where they want to attract many people at once, so it could very well be an MMO. Then again, an athmospheric game such as this works best as a single-player game. Hard to tell ATM.
        
        astral707
        
        As another person pointed out on here, this is very similar to the ARG that launched The Secret World. It’s absolutely possible this is a dark/conspiracy/supernatural MMO, but since TSW has already gone over that ground pretty thoroughly, single player may be a better bet.
Kylmc

I’m so confused.
idnewton

Interesting things I notice, beyond what has already been mentioned:

– This ‘blake’ hints at this being a mathematical challenge.

– Blake’s reddit name is a reconfiguration of his name.

– Woods-Watson can easily refer to Courtney Woods and Tait Watson (mentioned this earlier)

– Tiny text “HOEUNTNHAEARREEIYH” at the bottom of the reddit post.
- Jidaiderriphan
  
  Hunt in a Hurry?
  - Theho
    
    Thewatcheruatu already figured it out (see the comments below), you need to take every 2nd letter, then it spells “Henna Are You There?”
    
    However, so far no one has figured out what the underlined letters in the blog post stand for. The underlined letters are zovoesronuoefwtieoienn, and you can form tons of words out of them, like Interview/Unforeseen/Invite/Freeze/Nineteen/Revenue, but none of the important words like Henna, Watson, Woods, Chosen, since it is always missing some letters.
    
    Of course, those underlined letters could also not just be there themself, but just be markings for the letters in front/behind it.
Anysao

So remind me, had any actual connection been found to the ” You’ve been chosen” game? Because I found under English classes there is “read between the lines” and “building a world one character at a time.” If this is about TOR’s upcoming expansion, can someone try to find a hint to the “world” by looking at “one character at a time?”
- Theho
  
  Considering that the “You’ve been Chosen” website went up hours after the blog posts on SeekingHenna.com, I’d say chances are high it is connected. Also, like I wrote, the calendar on http://www.woods-watsoninstitute.info/events/ appears to tie in with Gamescom, which is heavily referenced on the “You’ve been Chosen” website.
  
  I suppose that they have more SeekingHenna blog posts and reddit posts planned before drawing the connection with the game.
Raulen

I used to see these internet lead-ins with Matrix Online frequently. I love these, and used to help sometimes. I’ll see what I can do if I find anything.
Jidaiderriphan

Just found this:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Henna
- Jidaiderriphan
  
  Want Vandalfighter in your own language? Translate the Messagesfile and send it back to me (hennar@wikipedia.be). The Messagesfile can be found in the .jar archive or at User:henna/VF/Translations, work it out (but maybe keep the English messages as well, easier when you have to change something later on) and send it to me, see above for contact details.
  
  If you want, you can make the file on your homewiki somewhere or in subdirectories here, in which case you can copy user:henna/VF/translations as a startfile. (However, it is probably easier to use translating software to help you. Look further down the page for more info.)
  - Theho
    
    I highly doubt that an 8-year-old Wikipedia user page is connected to this, they don’t plan their promotions this far in ahead. You can’t really sabotage Wikipedia’s version histories: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Henna&action=history.
    
    Just a coincidence that both sound the same. And that VandalFighter has nothing to do with decryption, it is just a software to help Wikipedia users and not related to secret messages.
    
    Nice to see you are not giving up though. 🙂
    - Krantox
      
      But if you look at the page, under the image, it says “Henna’s missing somewhere”
      - keewa
        
        But if you look at the revision history, that message was added to the page in 2006, if it’s related, someone’s playing a very long game.
        
        Krantox
        
        I am certain a company like EA can probably arrange wikipedia to manually edit a page, or I could just be looking for clues where there are none…
        
        Drew Cox
        
        If you look at the edit history user henna posted that picture to say she was leaving on holiday until the end of… july… HOLY FUCK, she is going to paris, holiday until around july, french configuration keyboard, hat that says W W which could be woods and watson institute. I dunno why, but that is a LOT of coincidence, lets be honest here. I mean, computer girl, named henna, has a post that says missing, says she will be on holiday till july with a picture using french configuration keyboard when the Woods watson paris trip starts end of july, I mean thats definitely some sweet coincidence dude.
        
        Terje Olsen
        
        Look at that picture, and what is written on the caps. Looks alot like the name of that school.
        
        keewa
        
        Oh gosh, the badge looks like W&W, it could be a coincidence but damn
Kyle’b (The Ebon Hawk)

This may be interesting, Dulfy –

If yo go tohttp://www.youve-been-chosen.com/en/

The username is seen in the URL: http://www.youve-been-chosen.com/language/en/author/avalon-admin/

So we have avalon-admin. Anyone have any idea if Avalon is linked to something? I was not a ME player, but some research shows it could be a link.
- Robert Hindy
  
  From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon:
  
  “Avalon… is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears… as the place where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with **mystical practices** and people such as Morgan le Fay[: an enchantress].”
  
  Mystical practices seems to line up with what we see in the trailer.
  
  “Avalon is the place where King Arthur is taken after fighting Mordred at the Battle of Camlann to recover from his wounds. Welsh, Cornish and Breton tradition claimed that Arthur had never really died, but would inexorably return to lead his people against their enemies.”
  
  The user Avalon-admin could be comparing himself to King Arthur.
  
  Later on, it mentions that the island itself had mystical powers.
Wefi

They did say Tait would be let out for the first time at a Cantina event in San Diego……
Areneth

Why people think, it is about SWTOR? Bioware is a huge company, they can start making detective horror games 🙂
teras

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/UserpicHenna.JPG

Look at the keyboard. The keys are arranged in a different way.
- Krantox
  
  Azerty – it is the french arrangement of keyboards.
  - teras
    
    i didn’t know that, ooops 🙁 Still irregular i guess.
  - Robert Hindy
    
    Also used in Belgium, when the Wikipedia user “Hanna” comes from. Hanna has been a Wikipedia member for 8 years. I think this picture has nothing to do with the game.
- Captain9653
  
  Also the Initials on the Hat are W&W… Woods & Watson? Cant read the word next to it. Could be institute
  - Val
    
    The label on the hat says W&W workwear. A german brand.
- Arby
  
  only W Q A and Z
- bshanzz
  
  It is an to the US QWERTY.
  I understood Henna comes from Europe ?
  - bshanZz
    
    Its a AZERTY keyboard, as opposed to the US QWERTY*
Adam-Ali Kanji-Lalani

So we know the literature classes with Follett (on works from 1965-1985) are a problem since she’s been missing since late 1939. Fawcett (expeditions 1927-1956) is also a problem since he went missing searching for Z (suspected to be El Dorado) in 1925. They both went missing… Hmm… Something I’d like to bring up for kicks, the WOODS-WATSON INSTITUTE can be abbreviated as WWI.

Other points, the writing teacher comes from a city with a famous poet who died during a ship sinking (reported to be engine failure but wildly rumoured to be a German torpedo) in 1940, and the alchemy professor has a selection of world-famous Bohan Upas, a mythical tree from Malaysia that is highly toxic in every way, it even gives off toxic fumes. He is often found speaking with them. The WWI is most likely ONE BUILDING (as every class is in WW1000+, suggesting that there are 10 floors in the WW building). Dunno if any of that is useful.

The final day to sign up for the trip to Paris was today (July 25, 2014), and there seems to be Diplomatic Liason opportunities (that need to be interviewed for) to something called ‘the Radiant Empires’. There is also an autumn musical and a “Powers of the Mind” club.
- Adam-Ali Kanji-Lalani
  
  Also while this Blake person does exist on reddit (with one post only) as Kalebelak, a palindrome by the way, ‘WhytheStarsShine’ (aka Henna) does not. Neither of them has posted in the reddit puzzles place.
  - Adam-Ali Kanji-Lalani
    
    ALSO, this probably all (including the ‘Nightmare’ teaser) has to do with that new IP the ME developers were mentioning in that video way back when.
    - Jennifer
      
      Didn’t you notice that Blake and that spelling of Kaleb both use the same 5 letters? And the ‘Kalebelak’ has the letters to spell them both out (by sharing the ‘b’, and rearranging the second ‘l’, and switching the position of the second ‘k’ and ‘e’) ?
Karikor

I used this site: http://www.cryptogram.org/solve_cipher.html#contents to try and break the code someone found “zovoesronuoefwtieoienn” and it comes up with a solution which is a full sentence… but I doubt it is the correct solution.

This is what that site decyphers it to: “Friends may complain that a backyard barbecue is where one hamburger is likely to turn out to be a carbon copy of the next.”
- Karikor
  
  Please ignore this. That site is for solving a cipher they have given, not ones you have found.
Drew Cox

Also, this may have been partially based on that wikipedia article but who knows?
TJWoo

I don’t know. I’m sure some will get their rocks off to this sort of thing. However, I wish the time that was invested into making these mysterious websites was put into making actual content for the game. Maybe 2.9 would not have been delayed by two months and we’d see an actual planetary expansion before the end of the year. ::shrug:: just me 😛
- RavagingFish
  
  Except for the fact that yesterday it was said in the Dev Tracker that the expansion would come later this year. 😉
  
  Regardless, I assume this is just BioWare gearing up for their new IP, and BioWare Austin is just contributing to that.
  - TJWoo
    
    That’s a bit like when they said 2.9 would be early access in June too. They haven’t even finished this housing thing. Look at the number of bugs (and those are just the ones they’re pointing out!)
    
    I really can’t imagine them pushing an update bigger than this housing thing before December, at the very earliest. I’m thinking more like Feb or March. The only way that proves to be false is if they’ve simultaneously been developing the 3.0 expansion alongside housing. But that doesn’t seem like an efficient use of resources.
    
    Maybe it is for something completely unrelated to SWTOR. Aren’t Tait and Watson SWTOR team members though, or do they also work on other games? If they didn’t and now do that can’t mean anything good for SWTOR.
- wryterra
  
  If you think the same developers work on websites and game content allow me to disabuse you of that notion. They’re different people with different skills. No one was prevented from working on game content to produce these things.
  - TJWoo
    
    What I meant was that resources, time and human capital, were invested in it rather than on people that could be working on game content.
    - Robert Hindy
      
      This is an entirely different game with an entirely different team of people and different budget. The only relation is that their parent company is EA.
      
      It would be similar to complaining that the development of Mass Effect or Battlefield is hurting SWTOR.
Rélsaurus

Has anyone noticed that the Woods watson institute has pictured, from ” Campus life ” with literally no texts on the books, no company markings on coffe, water bottles, laptops, phones.. Why wouldn’t a School/institute have that…?
Rélsaurus

Google: Courtney Woods and Tait Watson you get images of SWTOR etc?
Wornfiend

Well i’m not in to this i just recived the mail but this must be some kind of game coming, right?
mak

http://www.jengrantham.com/2013/06/04/business-stock-photography/ there is same photo what can found on http://www.woods-watsoninstitute.info/ ????
John Doe

I just got the teaser video in my e-mail , I must say this is some freaky stuff 😀 hope someone cracks this message soon !
Pokkuru

I lol at this.
Drew Cox

also, if you look at the youtube link to the nightmare video, and watch the german version a subtitle appears in german and the translation is, “what is going on here? alan everything okay?”
HadesClutch

Caught this e-mail in my inbox as well. The hyped self of me is thinking Bioware got hold of the World of Darkness IP as it has a lot to do with “waking up”. But I also doubt that speculation 😛
- KashiDoll
  
  If that’s true, omg been waiting for that game for YEARS. :O
Drew Cox

Oh, and someone should look at the fact that all of the teacher names are extremely unusual
Clix

2spooky4me
Te’fia

Bioware = Illuminati.
- Clix
  
  plot twist m8
AIXtreme

In the picture of the schoolbuilding there are some “spots” at the right side of the tower. I cannot figure out which letters actually are hidden there. Anyone can help?
- Centauri2002
  
  It says Bioware, I think.
Drew Cox

by the way, the email now redirects to youtube instead of the website
Areneth

Site doesnt work anymore (youve-been-choosen)
Captain9653

For what its worth, the user name “WhytheStarsShine” (Henna’s user name according to the blog) is a moderator of an empty sub-reddit “r/UnbelievableEvents”. There is nothing there now, but maybe it will get more information.
Илья Шиманов

Honestly i think that it is a new game/MMO
Kolber

I gotta say that this is a bit creepy for me at 3 in the morning, but I am hooked. I love this kind of marketing. Can’t wait to see more and see what’s in store for after SDCC.
Previous PalMz

That’s the University of Toronto…
Qasee

did a reverse search for the first image of the “have you heard …”image

its a stock photo of the University of Toronto tower
- Guest
  
  forgot to to put the image
- Qasee
  
  forgot the image
marquise

The one on the website is the Glasgow University

http://euanacameron.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Glasgow-University-in-HDR-4-of-4.jpg
Neonpt

If you search for the photo online, you find the image bank photo under the name “Boston Old Church North” http://bit.ly/WGXNwh, but as Qasee said, it is the University of Toronto: http://bit.ly/1pjfvMR
Qasee

god i cant sleep . i wanna figure this out lol ,damn you bioshock
- Kevin Arruda
  
  bioware
Vasdrakken

Welcome to an ARP. Read up on the launch campaign of the secret world, bees and funcom. These are crazy hard hacker puzzles and a lot of fun.
- Qasee
  
  Gamescom in in Cologne Germany ,which starts on August 13
  
  On the woods-watson institute page , the events say ” 1st day of class/Welcome Assembly ” on the date 8/13/14 So expect a big annonuncment on that date or maybe a new clue
John Maurer

Reminds me very strongly of the early advertisement campaign for Inception…
Arby

If I have to work AT ALL to figure out what they’re talking about for advertisement and trailer for a game… I know a special place they can stick the game. Not worth the effort for something that has maybe a 50% chance of ever becoming reality anyway.
- Michael
  
  This early advertisement is for those of us who really enjoy these kinds of puzzles. I’m sure they will release more mainstream advertisments after Gamescon.
Arma

It’s the new IP of Bioware Shadow Realms
AIXtreme

youve-been-chosen.com is up!
Jennifer

Yeah, I got the same E-Mail from Bioware. The only Bioware game I want to play is SW:TOR; so unless they get another SW title, I won’t play any other games – I just like the STAR WARS ones lately.
Neonpt

Reguarding the Trailer:

Cologne, Germany : where Gamescon will be held

When? 13 August (first day of class in woods-watson institute event calendar)

Also, the image in the e-mail is called ShadowRealms_Teaser_video.jpg

So, it’s a teaser for Bioware new Shadow Realms, that will be unvieled in 13th August in Gamescon at Cologne Germany
Qasee

last comment : found this article http://www.usgamer.net/articles/bioware-taps-fallen-london-devs-for-something
Wornfiend

Someone sad 3 hours ago “I hope someone solve this” well now that i made som reasearch it’s pretty obvipus that it is nothing to slove yet.. We need more clues, all we know is that a girl have been mysticly “teleported, i don’t know” from here home or kidnapped..
And that it is a lot of wierd stuff around it
- Maneatingpie
  
  There’s a code in the letter all the letters that are underlined make up:
  zovosronuoefwtieoienn
  
  I am trying to figure out what it means if anything… but the letters look underlined with purpose… I think we have what we need to uncover another clue….
  - Wornfiend
    
    I guy earlier took every second letter but that method is not working here..
Wornfiend

And also! I understand wy blake personally contacted dulfy because she can spread the word, but is dulfy the only one blake have sended this other pictures to?
Thylbanus

Sounds like a setup for Halloween. They’ll dribble out the information until the big surprise in Oct.
KinBladez

Anybody look at the (possible) cipher on the seekinghenna website? as mentioned in the article, certain letters underlined, the letters are: wovoesronuoefwtieoienn
- AIXtreme
  
  Is it really: wovoesronuoefwtieoienn ?
  
  People a few postings earlier wrote it is: zovosronuoefwtieoienn
  
  Which one is the right code? Someone can double check, please?
  - KinBladez
    
    I mistyped, (a big error in a code lol sorry! the first underlined letter is Z.
  - 2KLION
    
    ZOVOESRONUOEFWTIEOIENN
- Dux
  
  Anybody notice Blake’s signature? Kalebelak? Starting with the B, you skip 2 forwards or backwards, take the next 3, the pick up the skipped letter. A clue to how to read the underlined letters? Usually the key is with the message, in some way….
- Dux
  
  Of course, we could take the clues about Germany, Norway, and France to look for anagrams/cryptograms in one of those languages….
tonyb91

on the woods and Watson school site the featured faculty Dag Folstad when googled shows up as Dag Solstad both are from Norway. Coincidence?
Mateo Revallo

this is what i found to be the underlined letters
zovoesronoefwtieoenn

from the info on the wiki page it says that she takes photos. using this info i was able to get google to translate zovo into ppa. when put into google search ppa is Professional Photographers of America. this seems odd to me since this should be in germany.
Mateo Revallo

im a finding out a few things about the underlined letters. if you go by the second letter you get zver which is tier in slovak. but if you go with the first four underlined letters its zovo, which is
Professional Photographers of America.
- tonyb91
  
  you might be on to something then again maybe we should try looking at the underlined letters backward
  - KinBladez
    
    I also think backwards, as the final 2 letters of the cipher on the reddit blog, I H, are reverse of normal order. That gives us
    
    N N E I O E I T W F E O U N O R S E O V O Z
    
    taking every other letter isn’t much –
    
    NEOIWEUOSOONIETFONREVZ
    
    just the word soon in the middle, but i think that’s coincidental.
    - Mateo Revallo
      
      i started to look at it back words and i put it into google translator and i am getting some words just from removing the spaces between the letters.
astral707

The Woods-Watson site has a mission statement that I bet is pretty telling in terms of the game theme: “Our mission is to prepare our students for the future by building
strength within oneself. We fully believe that we have built a school
that nurtures the inner potential that resides in all of us.”
Mateo Revallo

whats wired about that mission statement is that it has the arrows near the bottom of it. why would they be there if not to change it to something else? but when i click on them nothing happens.
- Robert Hindy
  
  The site is built using WordPress. It looks like they are using a rotating banner plugin for the Mission statement, but really just want to display the one message.
  - Mateo Revallo
    
    if you are going to have just the one message, then why have the rotating banner plugin? why not just put it into a text?
    - Robert Hindy
      
      The plugin probably was integrated into the WordPress theme they used. Integrated plugins are somewhat difficult to remove.
Robert Hindy

http://www.woods-watsoninstitute.info/core-curriculum-overview/

Take a look at some of the descriptions of the classes. You get an idea that they have a way of manipulating reality. They also have an emphasis on history and fantasy.

Creative Writing: “Characters are the vehicles that transport readers into the written world. If we wish to make **fiction reality**”

Between the Lines: Narrative Tactics: “we will direct our creative minds to identify **what stories mean to us on a personal level.**”

All of the language classes deal with ancient languages, except French, which deals with the trip mentioned by another commenter.

Traversing the Past: “This course looks at the broad timeline of history **through the minds of the people who lived it. By navigating through the web of memories**,”

There is a course on war where students will have to explain how the world would be different if a certain war had a different outcome.

The Biological Implications of **Mythical Creatures**

**Alchemical** Principles of the Noble Metals: “It has been long been a driving human desire **to transform the world** around us into something of our own design.”

Face of Beauty: “we will breathe life into our canvases and discuss how we came to form these new living works of art.”

A Story Told Through Voice and Limb: “We will master our emotions and thus command our stories to serve us.”
- Robert Hindy
  
  And the names of the Electives:
  
  Both of the 2 people mention by other commenters that disappeared are studied
  
  Martial Tactics versus Incorporeal Entities
  
  Diplomatic Protocols of Ancient Civilizations
  
  Translating Hieroglyphics of the Late Awakening Era
  
  Electrical Engineering in Technologically-Hostile Environments
  
  Theoretical Applications of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Aetheric [Ether-like / Ghost-like] Solids
  - OnAWhim
    
    Just looking at the courses you mentioned had my mind going to weird places.
    
    The 1st and 5th ones kind of tie together. The 1st one is pretty much “how to fight ghosts (or things you can’t see)
    
    The 2nd and 3rd ones i feel tie together too. Trying to be diplomatic in an ancient civilization (egypt) would fail if you couldnt understand their language (hieroglyphics).
    
    The 4th one could possibly tie in to the 2nd and 3rd ones. Any sort of electrical technology could be scary and invoke hostility to an ancient civilization that didnt understand it.
    
    Going out on a whim and gonna say its talking about 2 people (who went missing) which somehow traveled back in time to ancient egypt. They were feared and then hunted for using their technology (3). Had several run ins and close calls with things they couldn’t see (aliens or entities or some kind) and were eventually captured, but not before they were able to learn how to defend themselves quite well and developed ways to see these invisible beings. (1,5) Once captured, were able to diplomatically negotiate their release (2) and were only able to do so because they learned how to translate the language of their captures (4) during their time there..
- Guest
  
  Just looking at the courses you mentioned had my mind going to weird places.
  
  The 1st and 5th ones kind of tie together. The 1st one is pretty much “how to fight ghosts (or things you can’t see)
  
  The 2nd and 3rd ones i feel tie together too. Trying to be diplomatic in an ancient civilization (egypt) would fail if you couldnt understand their language (hieroglyphics).
  
  The 4th one could possibly tie in to the 2nd and 3rd ones. Any sort of electrical technology could be scary and invoke hostility to an ancient civilization that didnt understand it.
  
  Going out on a whim and gonna say its talking about 2 people (who went missing) which somehow traveled back in time to ancient egypt. They were feared and then hunted for using their technology (3). Had several run ins and close calls with things they couldn’t see (aliens or entities or some kind) and were eventually captured, but not before they were able to learn how to defend themselves quite well and developed ways to see these invisible beings. (1,5) Once captured, were able to diplomatically negotiate their release (2) and were only able to do so because they learned how to translate the language of their captures (4) during their time there.
  - Robert Hindy
    
    I was thinking more upon the lines that this academy is somewhat like the X-Men academy: it is really teaching students how to navigate this secret society and world hinted in the teaser trailer. We now know that they need to be able to speak and work with ancient civilizations and change history, be able to make fiction into reality, and fight ghost-like creatures.
puzzler

the underlined letters in the post are
Z O V O E S R O N U O E F W T I E O I E N N
i cant figure if its another anagram or a cryptogram…
- Mateo Revallo
  
  no joy on the anagram or cryptogram websites i found.
AIXtreme

Those names of the teachers sound quite strange to me. Dag Folstad, Melek Berger, Nava Carrillo… those names sound odd…
GraMMaC

has anyone noted this yet http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebruiker:Henna
- Mateo Revallo
  
  yeah and the “Vandalfighter”seems suspicious to me.
  - Graeme Mac
    
    yeah im trying to figure out how to use it
    - puzzler
      
      last modification date was 2012….might just be a coincidence
      - tonyb91
        
        I email her
  - Robert Hindy
    
    Vandal Fighter has a page here: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vandal_Fighter
    
    It is a Wikipedia plugin to help combat editors that mess up / vandalize pages just for the heck of it.
tonyb91

Found a new clue I think! ok Dag Folstads birth place is Skien, Norway when I searched http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skien the page was last modified 2 days ago some of the links directly related to Skien were all modified within the last 3 days like the university of oslo so these sites might have clues
tonyb91

has anyone tried emailing her? on the wiki page she says find her online and leaves her address henna@wikipedia.be
puzzler

ok so the letter can spell out the numbers ZERO ONE TWO FIVE NINE with the letters SUOO left over….can anyone work with that?
- puzzler
  
  or you could spell four instead of zero….or seven instead of five…
- tonyb91
  
  never thought they might be numbers I see it now though lol I guess we were looking at it to hard but now to figure out what they mean I might have a clue
- tonyb91
  
  They might be the 5 digits of a zipcode
  - Mike H.
    
    Zipcodes I found:
    01259 – Southfield, MA; shares border with Connecticut
    01279 – Dresden, Germany
    41259 – Vastra Gotaland(?), Sweden
    
    Not sure if this is close to what we’re looking for…
    - Stuart Corris
      
      try putting those locations onto a map and triangulating a position.
Mark E. DeSade

Dark Days Are Coming (Tm)

Wait…wrong MMO.
Graeme Mac

i have noticed on the wiki avatar picture of hannas missing the w&w on the hat when you go to the http://www.woods-watsoninstitute.info/core-curriculum-overview/ one of the sites linked to hanna the courses have a ww in front of there location and using puzzlers 01259 i have notice a course labeled 9630Translating Hieroglyphics of the Late Awakening EraDr. Sanjay JoharWW1295Tu/Thur 2pm-3pm
The hieroglyphics on great monuments provide our only window into the past, but the alphabet and logographs of vanished cultures resist our most fervent attempts at translation. It is imperative for our future survival that we understand the past. Together, we will decrypt the meanings that evade us

not sure if this anything but thought id post it
Gamer

On the Woods-Watson website it mentions in the faculty section that Dag Folstad wrote a book “textbook memories”.. cant find that…
Gamer

Unless its a typo and they ment Dag Solstad (like someone metionned earlier) Who was in fact a Norvegian Novelist… anyway don’t make no sense
Crolug

This is all so TSW-ish…
agliv

2 words: game promo
- eternityone
  
  Three words: No sh*t Sherlock
Kyle

Check out the course “Literature of Barbara Newhall Follet”. A A rare opportunity to discuss the works of Barbara Newhall Follet with the author herself.” If you google her name you’ll find out the woman is 100 years old and (Disappeared) when she was 24. Her books are also listed on Amazon, BN.com and there is a review on Goodreads. Very mysterious!
- KaidaStorm
  
  Yeah it says it in the article “Explorations of Percival Fawcett: 1927-1956 and Literature of Barbara Newhall Follett: 1965-1985 are not possible because these are two real people who have disappeared in 1927 and 1939 respectively”
  
  But normally when ARG release something that sticks out like that, there’s always some sort of clue left behind tied to them specifically.
  - eternityone
    
    I think it could be something about gifted people being harvested to that place, ya know? Like really cool Hogwarts…
Havik79

Pfft, got the email from them, if its not swtor I do not care, and I am guessing its a new game, could not care less.
Areneth

Hmm… What about picture? Maybe something hidden there?
Ahmanson

Has anyone else played the MMO The Secret World? This looks like a knock-off. Which is okay, because its Bioware, and the main flaw of The Secret World is the lack of character interaction, which is Bioware’s strength.
- Mark E. DeSade
  
  Wasn’t TSW published by EA? Maybe Funcom is going to become part of Bioware.
Phosin

I got an Idea, put it on 4chan those guys can figure out everything. And yeah I know I am putting people into the same boat but a lot of them do shit like this all the time.
PrintsCharming

This is starting to remind me of Majestic…which was awesome
DeltaEkotte

Might be already stated, but isn’t the next cantina tour in Cologne, Germany?
Darkojin

I heard from someone that BioWare recently registered for an new IP called Shadow World, or something similar to that.
- Dulfy
  
  Shadow Realms is the name I think
  - hoihoi661
    
    Yeh it’s a Shadow Realms teaser, in the email they called the pictures they use Shadow Realms teaser.jpg etc.
Stuart Corris

I believe that this is may be ARG that that will tie into a new Bioware IP that has to do with dimensional rifts in a space time continuum
Wornfiend

Is all this about henna simething story related with this game shadow realms then or what?
Chosen

“IF YOU HAVE RECEIEVED THAT LETTER — Your every movement is particulary being watched, analysed and processed”

By what is the big question.

My findings and my out of the box mind concludes that HENNA is not a person at all.
It is something new.

-Explanation-

RELATION: “siri” “bot” “AI” “searchengine” “information storage”

DEVELOPMENT: Sight unknown, early traces of creation leads to science/art/social behaivour schools in germany and US.

HERRITAGE: Several leading persons from schools/ places of great knoledge dated back to aprox 2006 and probably beoynd.

PURPOUSE of this advertising: Most likely field testing it.

PURPOUSE behind the creation: Behaveioral pattern collecting, advertising pinpointing specific persons/groups to increase sales: “Money”

Be vary what you spill on the net henceforth.
There is a new cyberhunter out there set to find every little detail about you.
That info can be sold and then used against you to make you want to buy “their” products even without you realising you have been scammed.
Its verry verry effective i might add. Beyond psychology i might add. (almost magic)

“example: That icecream you bought from the icelocker in the store a random day,,,,
it wasent really your choice—>
Its in there cuz they know what most of the population “%” (and specifcally you) likes.
Result: Viola! They got your money! And you are happy eating away with a smile.

Later on you see an add of good looking sucessfull fancy ppl eating that verry sort of icecream,,,
you instantly feel like them –> your on a role here man! Great! You feel happy!
………………You do it again ofc……………

The truth is not always what the breadcrums tells.
Chosen

Name: “Henna” was first really aknoledged in 2006 as an automated internet “bot” created for copyright purpouses tracking the internet for sertain pictures braking the copyright laws.
(huge undertaking, what a great bot back then!!)
Since then alot has happened obviously.
Someone probably bought that bot and started to evolutionice its potential.
(who and why is simple to figure out regarding its potential sentinel areas)

Nowere can you after 2006 find anything more about it less then the sad little wikipedia info from its early creator stating that it originated from the Netherlands. (mostly you can find me in the NL)
Well, there we go. Another company using it to up their customer analysis sales.

vest of luck: // J
Chosen

Here is another interesting reference to Hennas existence.

ANNA, a nice little simple built Bot that came up on the market around 2006 also.
“Anna” is most likely a preedecessor bot to Henna, a type of Mark II of some sort.
(Henna “Mark I was the origin Henna from NL explained in previouse post)

But it did had huge impact on MMO gaming communications.
Basshunter even made a famouse song about that bot, really annoying..tends to get stuck in your minds like other great adds..

Anna is programmed and modified to keep tracks of sertain “words” “texts” uttered or written by MMO players in skype etc etc or ingame communications programms related to a companys servers.
(their servers..their rules)

Depending on what the player does sertain inbuilt actions are set in motion like:
*Banned
*Timed silenced
*Timed no texting
etc etc

It keeps track of all ongoing activity related to its objective in its set perimiters.
(cyberspace geograpichally sentinel guards)

W o W for instance !!(great game)!! has one for ingame chatt and so does many other.
(who hasent been muted atleast once in W o W)

TS: if i find anymore il post here just the fun reading.
Thx for listening.

vest of luck // J
Chosen

Also Henna is most likely a npc and the “carrot” you all are to look for right now.
As a pree starter to the game bioware is releasing.
Says abit about what the game might hold in store for us 🙂
im looking forward to it !
nolan

Searching one of the quotes from the college page brought me here farksolia.org. It may or may not be related.
Drew Cox

The zovo cypher has additional letters. If you look at the flyer REN is underlined on kalebelak’s reddit post. There may be more to the cipher at a later date.
- AIXtreme
  
  I tried to find the underlined “REN” but i cannot find it. Can you tell me where exactly those marked letters can be found?
Drew Cox

also, blake has made several reddit posts in reply to us
AK-116

Cologne, Germany was were the last Cantina Tour thing was held if I am not mistaken and ,”The time is near. They are watching. Your power is rising. Cologne, Germany. You’ve Been Chosen.” The city has been referenced twice.
- AK-116
  
  Where not were.
- Kyne
  
  It’s also where the Gamescom was and will be, which is the actual reason why the Cantina Tour stops there. I suspect they will be at the Gamescom, in some way promoting Shadow Realms or whatever the new game will be called.
AIXtreme

The filename of the digital SDCC Flyer is: “QKJiRWJ”
Fewr

Interesting find. I tracked down Nolan’s reference source http://www.farksolia.org/. It directs you to a Follett webpage, from which you can go to what looks like a legitimate (or at least near perfect imitation) Wikipedia page for Barbara Follett. I’m not sure if legit or fake. Too hard to tell at the moment. very cursory glance. Suspicious that it doesn’t have a “last edited on part at the top of the page. Links to a time magazine page that doesn’t exist. Suspicious, but certainly not unusual for wiki entries.

But here’s where it gets even weirder. One of the links on the wiki page takes you to a website to read one of Follett’s books, https://sites.google.com/site/thehousewithoutwindows/. Now, if you click on recent activity, you’ll see the last time the website was updated was in 2012. All the links on this page are the exact same as on the farksolia page.
So, what this means is either the creators of these websites are good at creating imitation websites, or Follett was a real person, or Bioware has been planning this thing for YEARS.
MrM

NEW INFO. New Email went out, with a new trailer “Spark Teaser”. The email has a date: 8/13/14.
- Fewr
  
  Yes. I got that email. It’s why I actually started looking into this stuff.
  Also, it turns out Follet was a real person. At least her books can be found on google books. So it seems that the only actual fictional character is Henna. Most of you guys might have actually known that, but I sure didn’t.
A Roe

in the new spark trailer the phone call is originating from California even though the number is unknown the location still appears on the phone. they took time in the video to allow focus on this it must be an important clue. maybe it will help narrow down location of the school.
S.Katerle

http://youve-been-chosen.com/
can’t be accessed from my location o_0
MisterC28

What the hell ? I cannot have access to the website.
Sanguina

Yeah, I got the link in my email a few times now. Looked once. *yawn*
*shrug* an attempt to enter a TSW style genre of game?
Darline

I think when they talk about Cologne, Germany and more Information, then they mean the gamescon at Cologne. That would make sense.
Riggs

Sounds like how TSW was marketed. Cool, but what FunCom did with the TSW ARG was, at least so far, way cooler.
alceleniel

New teaser
http://www.youve-been-chosen.com/en/

And they mention a special fan event on 13th August in Cologne which will also be live streamed via Twitch http://www.twitch.tv/esl
Arby

For those interested, this e-mail came down today…

Can you control your power?

Be at our special fan event!*

Cologne Marriott Hotel | 08.13.14 | 3PM – 7PM CEST

Johannisstrasse 76-80
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
50668 Germany

Not in Cologne?
Join Our Exclusive Event Stream by Twitch!

Join us live on twitch.tv from 4PM – 5 PM CEST!

You’ve been chosen.

* link that was included in the e-mail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUoqlvQ9SM8&feature=youtu.be
A13xand37

A13xand37
http://www.incgamers.com/2014/04/ccp-games-world-darkness-ip-valuable
bone
A13xand37

http://www.incgamers.com/2014/04/ccp-games-world-darkness-ip-valuable
oh no could it be 🙂
Fewr

So these trailers and the clues and websites seem to suggest a creepier or more mysterious “harry potter-esque” story idea, with people who are discovering powers and a (possible) secretive school designed to teach semi-supernatural and mystical stuff. At least this is what I’ve gathered. Maybe you guys disagree or found something else?
Alex

Well… All this seems to be for BW new RPG Shadow Realms now in alpha

Help Wanted with Mysterious Message: Seeking Henna

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