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Hello all :D

My first post here, but i've been following the vanishing point since the beginning.

With puzzle box 2 complete we all now have 18 pieces of the white boxes puzzle, and i've already seen other screen-shots of those pieces, but i figured why not take that a step further!? We have most of the key pieces so why not try and reconstruct the rest!

I had to create a few pieces from scratch but it hangs together quite well, the original pieces are black with my added ones in gray. Here it is...

post-196034-1168795418.jpg

... not be thought of as complete though as there is bound to be more to it, perhaps a word on a "plaque" bottom-centre :wacko:

Anyway thought i'd share that and hopefully hear some thoughts & opinions :)

I still think it's funny the kinds of things people fixate on. :)

Anyway, something about Loki's story sounded very familiar to me. Then I realized why ... she stole it. It's actually a rather infamous hack (prank) played on the incoming President at MIT many years back.

So what's the significance of that? Is she trying to clue us in on which school she got into? Probably not, while the Physics major might play into it, the rest aren't really MIT's strengths. She has to have known that someone would recognize the story as stolen (we are the "smartest people on the planet", after all), so was she counting on that? Was she trying to point out how stupid Microsoft's recruiters were?

Or is it a bit more insidious than that? The phrase "trickster" has popped up more than once, and doesn't necessarily have a positive connotation. At the end of the story, she reveals to the recruiter that she's stolen his watch. I'm starting to wonder if our purpose is a bit more of a challenge than we thought? Maybe Loki is planning to steal something (or already has!) and finding Loki at her Vanishing Point is actually the challenge. We have to catch her before she gets away with it.

Sorry everyone ... sometimes it's helpful to sort out these thoughts "out loud".

Oh, and JohnY79 ... we'd already figured that much out. There's quite a bit of speculation in the Wiki and at UnFiction on what the symbols in the crest mean. Seems a little sparse to me, so hopefully there's a little more detail coming, but we'll see how it goes.

Edited by SuperRob
Don't know if anyone's still reading this this morning, and I'm not sure if there's any significance behind this, but at the lokivanishes.com site, all the text is selectable, as compared to the vanishingpointgame.com site where none of the text is selectable. I'm guessing lokivanishes is not with the game (if that wasn't already decided).

Vanishingpointgame.com is written in Flash, lokivanishes.com is just written in HTML

That is why the text is selectable on lokivanishes

Craig

Holy cow, talk about swag.

Choose to experience suborbital space: sign up today for a flight aboard Rocketplane?s XP launch vehicle and secure your place on the Founder?s Flight Team for $250,000

250k?????????????????

The Lorelei

The Lorelei is both a rock on the Rhine River, located between Switzerland and the North Sea, and a legendary siren-like creature who lives on the rock and lures sailors to their death. The Lorelei has been the site of many accidents, as it marks the narrowest point in the river, which is difficult and treacherous to navigate due to a strong current and shallow river bed. These accidents are no doubt the inspiration for the legend of a maiden whose song and appearance distracts sailors from their course.

The origin of the name Lorelei is the source of some dispute. It is either derived from Old German lureln and ley, meaning "murmuring rock," or luren and ley, meaning "lurking rock." The first etymology refers to a murmuring sound that can be heard in the vicinity of the Lorelei as a result of the strong currents, a waterfall, and the echoing effect of the rock wall. This sound, although difficult to hear today as a result of urbanization, may also have given rise to tales of a singing maiden on the rock.

The maiden known as Lorelei has her origin in German folklore, where she is often portrayed as a Nixe, a fish-tailed creature similar to the Greek idea of the siren. Legend has it that the Lorelei was once a human maiden who sat on the rock waiting for her lover to return. When he never showed up, she threw herself into the river in despair. Ever since, the Lorelei has sat on the rock combing her hair and singing plaintively, causing sailors to wreck their vessels upon the rocks in revenge for her lover's betrayal.

Perhaps the most famous account of the mythical Lorelei appears in Heinrich Heine's 19th century poem Die Lorelei. One of the most beloved pieces of German poetry, it has been set to music about 25 different times. Older versions of the tale, first appearing in literature around the 13th century, tell of a mythical treasure buried in the rock and guarded by the elf queen Holda, who could drive men mad with her look or her song.

The Lorelei

Perhaps the most famous account of the mythical Lorelei appears in Heinrich Heine's 19th century poem Die Lorelei. One of the most beloved pieces of German poetry, it has been set to music about 25 different times. Older versions of the tale, first appearing in literature around the 13th century, tell of a mythical treasure buried in the rock and guarded by the elf queen Holda, who could drive men mad with her look or her song.

Treasure filled rock = murmering rock = this game? but i thought the murmering rock was cancelled? and loki is a mermaid (this gets weirder and weirder)

The following is the poem "Die Lorelei", by Heinrich Heine.

I cannot explain the sadness

That's fallen on my breast.

An old, old fable haunts me,

And will not let me rest.

The air grows cool in the twilight,

And softly the Rhine flows on;

The peak of a mountain sparkles

Beneath the setting sun.

More lovely than a vision,

A girl sits high up there;

Her golden jewelry glistens,

She combs her golden hair.

With a comb of gold she combs it,

And sings an evensong;

The wonderful melody reaches

A boat, as it sails along.

The boatman hears, with an anguish

More wild than was ever known;

He's blind to the rocks around him;

His eyes are for her alone.

--At last the waves devoured

The boat, and the boatman's cry;

And this she did with her singing,

The golden Lorelei.

I'll explain. Lorelei is apparently a Nixe, a siren, who lives at the "murmuring rock", the lorelei. From my previous post: "Legend has it that the Lorelei was once a human maiden who sat on the rock waiting for her lover to return. When he never showed up, she threw herself into the river in despair. Ever since, the Lorelei has sat on the rock combing her hair and singing plaintively, causing sailors to wreck their vessels upon the rocks in revenge for her lover's betrayal."

Might this have something to do with her statement "The Murmuring Rock project is on hold, indefinitely"?

EDIT: Maybe this is an allusion to the poem. We are the boatmen, being led on by Loki (Lorelei)?

Also, the shield we got from the metapuzzle pieces looks like a coat of arms. Germany (where the Rhine & the Lorelei are located) is known for its many MANY coat of arms. I tried looking for that particular one with the feathers and the hook (?), but nothing so far. But that doesn't say much, because there are HUNDREDS of German coat of arms, one for each town. So we could be looking at a particular town. I guess we'll have to wait for the rest of the puzzle?

All this myth stuff will probably be very useful in the last puzzle box. Reason being the puzzles have seemed to followed Loki's four major field of study. Physics(science), performing arts(magic), next will probably be history, and then folklore.

Anyways, I tried looking for coats of arm that have a grapnel on them and came up empty. Even finding and explanation for the grapnel was difficult but it was explained on a different forum and there was a link on a previous post here.

Also, the shield we got from the metapuzzle pieces looks like a coat of arms. Germany (where the Rhine & the Lorelei are located) is known for its many MANY coat of arms. I tried looking for that particular one with the feathers and the hook (?), but nothing so far. But that doesn't say much, because there are HUNDREDS of German coat of arms, one for each town. So we could be looking at a particular town. I guess we'll have to wait for the rest of the puzzle?

What i found:

...interesting?

post-195821-1168800390.jpg

I found this while looking for a coat of arms with a grapnel:

Just past the rugged Hudson heights of Breakneck, Crownest, and Storm King Mountain the river opens into a lovely inland sea containing the island...After tying up their boat at a large unloading dock they crossed a moat spanned by a drawbridge and passed under a portcullis crowned by the Bannerman coat of arms carved in stone. The coat of arms had been designed by Bannerman and included a grapnel symbolizing the grappling he used to do in New York Harbor for old anchors and pieces of chain.

Found this on a biography about Frank Bannerman (a famous gun merchant). His castle is located on Pollepel Island, on the Hudson river.

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/m...1974_5_52.shtml

Can anyone find a picture of his coat of arms?

I know someone stated it a little earlier but i think people missed it. In the postcards puzzle the train picture is now a lady sitting in a chair with lines across her midsection.

Maybe some of the previous puzzles are also different?

EDIT: Nevermind. They probably just figured that the disappearing train magician was too obscure or hard to find (after all, I don't think we even found it. We just guessed the word "coins", because of the 4 names we already got).

I found this while looking for a coat of arms with a grapnel:

Just past the rugged Hudson heights of Breakneck, Crownest, and Storm King Mountain the river opens into a lovely inland sea containing the island...After tying up their boat at a large unloading dock they crossed a moat spanned by a drawbridge and passed under a portcullis crowned by the Bannerman coat of arms carved in stone. The coat of arms had been designed by Bannerman and included a grapnel symbolizing the grappling he used to do in New York Harbor for old anchors and pieces of chain.

Found this on a biography about Frank Bannerman (a famous gun merchant). His castle is located on Pollepel Island, on the Hudson river.

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/m...1974_5_52.shtml

Can anyone find a picture of his coat of arms?

Here are pictues of the castle along with what appears to be the coat of arms....at least...what used to be the coat of arms.

http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/rinaldi/bannerman.htm

Maybe some of the previous puzzles are also different?

EDIT: Nevermind. They probably just figured that the disappearing train magician was too obscure or hard to find (after all, I don't think we even found it. We just guessed the word "coins", because of the 4 names we already got).

I think we only had 3

(Couldn't figure out one for the horse that would fit)

And can somebody help me, i can't get the Answer houdini to work in the seven card monte one to work. And yes i have tried to log off and back on twice, it just says other

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