Lyra has developed the following rules/codes and (unless indicated otherwise) they are known to her, Maro Vass, Asher, and Clara.
- All secret communication is encrypted AND ciphered.
- There are five substitution ciphers and the cipher used indicates what to do with the message.
- ALL communication (even not secret) is encrypted.
- One is caught, warning the other: "Hai-ka" (it is a kind of flower)
- Meet at the safehouse: "Ground Zero"
- Meet at the safehouse, no Asher: "Omega"
- Meet at the safehouse, no Marro Vass: "Red Twilight"
Ciphers
TARKIN general, just a cipher, nothing special
FATHER Disregard the message.
MOTHER Seem to do the thing the message says, but don't. We are checking to see if Mother is on to us.
CARIONPLATEU This is a code red. No matter what the message says, run and go to ground and don't come out until I give the all-clear.
CLEAR The all-clear is the point of the message, any details are true, no instructions are meant to be followed (aside from the ALL CLEAR).
Safehouse should be somewhere populous but not anywhere they actually spend time.
Lyra also has an account on her sheet that says "Secret Acct" - this is one that she has had Vass set up for her along with a false identity, which I have already paid for the false ident papers on and which are in the safe.
Real | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
Tarkin | z | y | x | w | v | q | m | k | j | h | c | b | p | u | l | g | s | e | o | d | n | i | k | r | a | t |
Mother | z | y | x | v | u | q | p | l | k | j | i | f | d | c | b | s | w | a | n | g | r | e | h | t | o | m |
Father | b | c | d | g | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | s | u | v | w | x | y | z | r | e | h | t | a | f |
CarionPlateu | z | y | x | w | s | q | m | k | h | g | f | d | b | v | j | n | o | i | r | c | u | e | t | a | l | p |
Clear | 6c | 5r | 5s | 5r | 5l | 5c | 4t | 4s | 4r | 4l | 4c | 3r | 3a | 3e | 3l | 3c | rr | aa | ee | ll | cc | r | a | e | l | c |
EXAMPLE
The Message
HZKGQ BRAVZ ONZCV GLUCL
KAUNB DUBCU GBNUC VGLUQ
BFFBH KCPDU NNZPU YLVZF
AKXIZ JDZAL IGAZX IUVZH
KCPZC VLZNK DZPUB QQFBC
XXKNL RCGKC POBRN RNSUX
GNDUA ZVKBN KFUCX URCGK
FZFFX FUZAF BEUNK NGAZZ
Translation
WAITF OURDA YSAND THENH IRESO MEONE TOSEN DTHEF OLLOW INGME SSAGE BHDAL RICKA JMARH KTRAC KEDAW INGAN DHASI MAGEO FFLON CCISH UNTIN GYOUS SUSPEC TSMER ADIOS ILENC EUNTI LALLC LEARL OVESI STRAA
Which Means
Wait four days and then hire someone to send the following message: Bounty Hunter Dalrick Ajmarhk tracked a-wing and has image of Feyr Lance on Corcuscant. Is hunting you. Suspects me. Radio silence until all clear. Love, Sistra
The Action Because this was a MOTHER CIPHER, the recipient would wait four days and then hire someone to send a dummy message to a specific location which would then be monitored to see if anyone checks it out. In this case, "Mother" is Dalrick Ajmarhk.
Can a message be mistranslated? If you use the wrong cipher, the message should not make sense.
Note that this is the message that Lyra sends MV. If she gets an all clear from him after a few days, she will send a message to Clara via the usual means, using the TARKIN cipher. It will say the same thing that she told MV to say, but it will look like this:
YJQZE EHXCZ FPZEJ CDEZX
CVQZK HUMZU WJZOH PZMVL
QQBLU XXHOJ NUDHU MALNO
NOGVX DOPVE ZWHLO HPVUX
VNUDH BZBBX BVZEB LIVOH
ODEZZ