| Latest revision |
Your text |
| Line 4: |
Line 4: |
| | | title = Voynich Manuscript | | | title = Voynich Manuscript |
| | | image = voynich_manuscript.png | | | image = voynich_manuscript.png |
| − | | titletext = Wait, is that the ORIGINAL voynich manuscript? Where did you GET that? Wanna try playing a round of Druids and Dicotyledons? | + | | titletext = Wait, is that the ORIGINAL voynich manuscript? Where did you GET that? Wanna try playing a round of Druids and Dicotyledons? |
| | }} | | }} |
| | | | |
| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| − | The {{w|Voynich manuscript}} is a very detailed book written in an unknown script, describing plants and recipes, most of which lack a real-world analogue. Over the past few decades, linguists and cryptographers have unsuccessfully attempted to decode the book. A cut out from the book is depicted in the first frame (real or similar).
| + | As the comic explains, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript |
| | + | Voynich Manuscript] is a very detailed book describing plants and recipes, most |
| | + | of which lack a real-world analog. Also, the book is written in an unknown |
| | + | script. Over the past few decades, linguists and cryptographers have attempted |
| | + | to decode the book, but have failed. |
| | | | |
| − | {{w|Tabletop role-playing game|Tabletop role-playing games}} (such as {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}}) are fantasy games with extremely detailed descriptions of fantastical worlds. The invented language is probably a reference to {{w|The Lord of the Rings}} in which author {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}} invented several languages of which {{w|Sindarin}} (Grey elvish), and {{w|Quenya}} (High elvish), are the most famous.
| + | [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons Dungeons and Dragons] is a |
| | + | fantasy role-playing game with extremely detailed descriptions of fantastical |
| | + | worlds. Cueball argues that the Voynich Manuscript is just an ancient Dungeons |
| | + | and Dragons rulebook. |
| | | | |
| − | After being shown the manuscript for the first time by [[Megan]], [[Cueball]] argues that it should be obvious that it's just an ancient role-playing-game rulebook, since the human tendency to invent fantastical worlds must have also existed in the past. That it is this obvious was again stated when the manuscript was referenced in [[1501: Mysteries]]. In the last panel the book is used, 500 years ago, to play a game similar to Dungeons and Dragons. They speak in a somewhat outdated English. The reference to the real plant {{w|Aconitum|Wolfsbane}} could also be a reference to another invented world, as it is memorably mentioned in the first book of the ''{{w|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|Harry Potter}}'' series.
| + | After concluding this, the title text then asks, shocked, how Megan got her |
| − | | + | hands on the original manuscript, and then suggests playing the game according |
| − | After concluding this, a shocked Cueball then asks in the title text how Megan got her hands on the original manuscript, which is in the Yale University's ''{{w|Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library}}''. Rigorous security rules now only allow carefully controlled access to materials under video surveillance, thus Cueball's reaction upon realizing Megan has somehow gotten her hands on the original manuscript. He then unexpectedly goes on to suggest the prosaic activity of playing {{w|Druid|Druids}} and {{w|Dicotyledon|Dicotyledons}}, a made-up name (a spoof of the name of Dungeons & Dragons) for the imaginary, hypothetical “game” that the Voynich manuscript could have been the (or one of several) gameplay manual for. | + | to that old rulebook. |
| | | | |
| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| | :[Weird root vegetables surround a strange script.] | | :[Weird root vegetables surround a strange script.] |
| − | | + | : |
| − | :[Megan holding up book to Cueball.] | + | :[Woman holding up book.] |
| − | :Megan: This is the Voynich manuscript— a book, allegedly 500 years old, written in an unrecognized script. It's some kind of visual encyclopedia of imaginary plants and undeciphered "recipes". | + | :Woman: This is the Voynich manuscript -- a book, allegedly 500 years old, written in an unrecognized script. It's some kind of visual encyclopedia of imaginary plants and undeciphered "recipes". |
| − | | + | : |
| − | :[Megan points while Cueball opens the book.] | + | :[The man opens the book.] |
| − | :Megan: It could be a hoax, a lost language, a cipher, an alien text, glossolatia — no one knows. | + | :Woman: It could be a hoax, a lost language, a cipher, an alien text, glossolatia -- no one knows. |
| − | :Cueball: No one? But it's obvious. | + | :Man: No one? But it's obvious. |
| − | | + | : |
| − | :[Megan continues to talk. Cueball holds the now closed book.] | + | :Woman: ... Obvious? Linguists and cryptographers have been stumped for decades. |
| − | :Megan: ... Obvious? Linguists and cryptographers have been stumped for decades. | + | :Man: They forget. Human nature doesn't change. |
| − | :Cueball: They forget. Human nature doesn't change. | + | : |
| − | | + | :Man: Just imagine someone found a book from _our_ time, full of lists, illustrations, tables, and long, dry descriptions of nonexistent worlds written in an invented language. What have they found? |
| − | :[Close up of Megan and Cueball - the book is off panel.] | + | :Woman: ... Dear Lord. It |
| − | :Cueball: Just imagine someone found a book from <u>our</u> time, full of lists, illustrations, tables, and long, dry descriptions of nonexistent worlds written in an invented language. What have they found? | + | :is |
| − | :Megan: ...Dear Lord. It ''is'' obvious. | + | : obvious. |
| − | | + | : |
| − | | |
| − | :[Three people are standing around pawns and a die. One (a Cueball) is holding a sheet of paper, another (another Cueball) is holding a book, the third (Megan) is holding a scythe. At the top of the panel there is a frame with the following text:] | |
| | :500 Years Earlier: | | :500 Years Earlier: |
| − | :Person #1: Forsooth! I concoct an elixer of courage. | + | :[Three people are standing around pawns and a die. One is holding a sheet of paper, another is holding a book, the third is holding a scythe.] |
| | + | :Person #1: Forsooth! I concoct an elixir of courage. |
| | :Person #2: Nae! The source booke sayeth that requires some wolfsbane! | | :Person #2: Nae! The source booke sayeth that requires some wolfsbane! |
| | :Person #3: Your druid doth lose two points. | | :Person #3: Your druid doth lose two points. |
| − |
| |
| − | ==Trivia==
| |
| − | *In the third panel, [[Randall]] may have meant ''{{w|glossolalia}}'' rather than ''glossolatia''.
| |
| − | *The use of the pronoun "your" in the last frame is anachronistic, as in early modern English it was used as a plural pronoun, or as a singular pronoun only to a superior; the proper pronoun would be "thy": "Thy Druid doth lose two points."
| |
| − | *''Elixir'' is misspelled as ''elixer''.
| |
| | | | |
| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
| + | <!-- Include any categories below this line. --> |
| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Language]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Games]]
| |
