In search of an Enigma - the Hunt for the Old Red Cracker

fossil zone!  Warning! Fossil Zone!

These pages were created starting in May 1997 and finishing about a year later. This was the heyday of the +ORC tutorials. Things have changed a lot since then. +ORC disappeared from the scene sometime in late 1997, and now Fravia has retired. I'm leaving these pages as they were a year or two ago. Please don't expect the links to work. As time goes on, more and more will break. However, the +ORC pages are a record of the +ORC riddle and the attempts of many people to solve it.

Please also note, the riddles here are very old and I for one am no longer trying to solve them. Treat the pages as a historical record :-)

The tools page is still updated from time to time, though that too is showing its age.

DN (aka Basilisk) November 1999

Contents page

***** Riddle solved: +ORC's secret page found!?? *****  Full story starts here.

6 June 98: New Riddle - not from +ORC, but a nice one to get your teeth into: here. I have no idea where it leads, and I haven't cracked it. (Thanks to Alex).

26 June 98: Cracked... Well, I haven't cracked it, but I think Hackmore Readrite has. Look here.

See also the updates page to see changes within pages.
 
 

FILE DESCRIPTION FIRST 
HERE		 LAST 
UPDATED
orc1 The main and original essay on +ORC, the man and the Riddle 30 April 97 31 May 97
a priori Is there a pattern of "fives" associated with the Riddle? 8 June 97
barcode A look at barcodes to see if they tell us anything about the Riddle 5 May 97
cipher? Is the Riddle a substitution cipher? 14 June 97
contact? Contacting +ORC: he's back... and a message for him from +daQ 18 July 97 9 Oct 97
dead? Is +ORC dead?? [+ message from +daQ] 18 June 97 19 June 97
hack The URL numbering system - a note from Hackmore Readrite 10 May 97
helm Other heraldic texts and how they compare with the +ORC Riddle 11 May 97
hugh Another analysis of +ORC, from the mysterious "Hugh" [+ more] 7 May 97 20 June 97
Janos A message on the Riddle from the Owl 29 May 97
LOST! A new Riddle clue, lost!? 28 May 97
Mdragon A new contribution about +ORC as a writer 28 May 97
Mdragn2 More Heraldic source information 31 May 97
others Comments and ideas on the Riddle from other +ORC seekers 2 May 97 3 May 97
preamble A message from +ORC himself, with a clue about the Riddle 5 May 97
simple An essay on thinking simple. Is this the end? 10 June 97
sniff Large Scale URL sniffing 20 May 97
snippets Short ideas on +ORC and the Riddle - starting points 14 May 97 28 July 97
targets A look at the possible URLs to make searching easier 9 May 97 11 May 97
Tolkien The Tolkien connection - an exercise in missing information 20 May 97
tools Reviews of some very good URL-sniffing tools 21 June 97 6 Mar 98
tries Some thoughts on other ways to solve the Riddle 12 May 97
updates Where to find the changes, as they happen. Check what's new. 5 May 97 4 Nov 97
Trinidad Special treat: Basilisk's Trinidad Punch - for summer nights 16 May 97
??? What's happening? Excuses, excuses... 19 May 97 8 Oct 97
test Having trouble reading the fonts? Let me know what you'd prefer. 13 May 97
the Basilisk
6 June 1998

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