Alorael, I have taken your suggestion from 11 years ago.

[Mea Tulpa]

  

On 11/27/2009 at 2:16 PM, Ingenuine Autochthony said:

—Alorael, who finds these scrambles insufficiently challenging. The next time you should pick a bunch of members, scramble them all together, and see who can come up with the complete list of mashed-up members with no letters left over.

 

But scrambling member names seemed both limiting in audience, and probably too easy.  Instead, I've chosen to celebrate the remake of Geneforge 1 by scrambling the names of 18 major characters from the Geneforge series.

 

...and one Spiderweb member, just to keep things interesting.

 

Have at it!  Can you untangle all 18 Geneforge characters?

 

 

DOLANNERAYAVTRGYNZDO

GTYAMAMERNAIWKARAHIL

ILNHAIAAOLERTLCEZTAR

AHHNRLTAARHHSBANTWPD

ERKAORLIOAAZGITYHERI

SADNRNTHEKKRCMNJTIAR

TSGAGLAE

[Vinlie]

Oh my hell, 18 characters over the entire saga? Brb I gotta brush up on my Geneforge 1-3 characters

[TriRodent]

{blinks hard}

 

{wanders away muttering something about getting online before the coffee is done brewing...maybe after lunch}

[Alorael at Large]

I find this flattering but also concerning. We now have data for Bayesian influence on Slartiferous production, and I'm afraid the upper bound is terrifying.

 

—Alorael, who finds this scramble excessively challenging. The next time you should obviously do better at pleasing the unpleasable.

[Ess-Eschas]

So, I had a little fun with this earlier.

 

Sadly, I’m not familiar enough with the later games in the Geneforge franchise to get a complete solution, but I’ve gotten part of the way there. I’ve managed to find 15 Geneforge characters and a Spiderweb member in this tangle. For what it’s worth, I have some pretty friendly letters left over, too, but I couldn’t get anyone else out of the mix.

 

I thought I’d post my partial solution here – just in case anyone wanted to use it to get closer to the full solution! Feel free to mention anyone I’ve put on here who you think shouldn’t be there, or anyone you can pick out from my left-over letters! In this solution, I’ve included characters from later in the series who I recall hearing about, but it’s possible they’re not as important as I think they are. And I’m pretty certainly I’ve gone too heavily on the Geneforge 1 references.

 

Here’s what I have so far!

 

Spoiler

Geneforge Characters:

 

1. Zakary
2. Barzahl
3. Trajkov
4. Litalia
5. Greta
6. Alwan
7. Rawal
8. Danette
9. Masha
10. Ghaldring
11. Phariton
12. Khyryk
13. Taygen
14. Goettsch
15. Monarch

 

Spiderweb Member:

 

Randomizer

 

Remaining letters:

 

AA, D, EE, III, LL, NNN, RRR, S, T

 

and some thoughts on this:

 

Spoiler

1. There is only one ‘B’. This is interesting, because it means we have to choose between Barzahl and Akhari Blaze. I don’t think there’s any easy way to tell just from the letters which one is more likely. I’ve gone with Barzahl here, since I think he casts a longer shadow over the series, but it could equally well be Akhari Blaze!

 

2. Given how common the letter is in Geneforge names, there are very few ‘S’s. For example, including ‘Easss’ in this list would use up every ‘S’, excluding a whole bunch of other characters. Instead, I decided to go for a few important characters who all had one ‘S’ in their names.

 

3. ‘Z’ is not as common in Geneforge names as I thought it was. The only way I could sensibly use up all the ‘Z’s was to include one in the mystery Spiderweb member, which is why I chose to use Randomizer.

 

4. There’s only one ‘J’. Given his importance in Geneforge 1, I think it’s fairly likely that 'Trajkov' is correct. He also uses up the only ‘V’, too.

 

5. There’s only one ‘P’. Perhaps surprisingly for such a common letter, the only character I could recall with a ‘P’ in their name is ‘Phariton’.

 

6. ‘Khyryk’ provides a useful way to use up the tricky ‘Y’s and ‘K’s, which would be difficult to account for otherwise.

 

7. Given that there are five ‘O’s, this actually turns out to be rather limiting. There are characters I might have included on here, but were left out because of a shortage of ‘O’s.

 

9 hours ago, היא נותנת לנו לחם מדי יום said:

We now have data for Bayesian influence on Slartiferous production, and I'm afraid the upper bound is terrifying.

 

Don’t tempt me, Alorael. If you’re not careful, I’ll make an even scarier one of these, just to give Slarty something to get his teeth into. Unscramble these 30 sliths from the Avernum series, perhaps? :)

[Mea Tulpa]

3 hours ago, Ess-Eschas said:

I’ve managed to find 15 Geneforge characters and a Spiderweb member in this tangle.

Out of those 16 total names, 14 are correct.

 

3 hours ago, Ess-Eschas said:

Don’t tempt me, Alorael. If you’re not careful, I’ll make an even scarier one of these, just to give Slarty something to get his teeth into. Unscramble these 30 sliths from the Avernum series, perhaps?

Please do!  I mean, maybe pick something more interesting.  Nothing against Sliths, there just aren't 30 major ones.

[Ess-Eschas]

6 hours ago, Sealing Librarian said:

Out of those 16 total names, 14 are correct.

 

Thanks for the confirmation!

 

I hadn’t really expected to get so many names correct, which is really rather encouraging. I have some suspicions as to which names might not be right, too. So, knowing that I’m not too far from the right track, perhaps I’ll be able to make some more of this.

 

I’ll have another rummage around, and see if I can work up anything better! In the meantime, I'd be happy to take any suggestions or prompts from people more familiar with Geneforge than I! Has anyone spotted anyone particularly obvious that I've missed off?

 

6 hours ago, Sealing Librarian said:

Please do!  I mean, maybe pick something more interesting.  Nothing against Sliths, there just aren't 30 major ones.

 

Hmm, this has given me a few ideas. I'll have something of a ponder on this, and see where my ideas lead me ...

[Mea Tulpa]

For an alternate jumpstart for someone:

 

Ess observed privately that this was actually a very kind scramble, and he's quite right.   There are a relatively large number of some low-frequency letters, and a small number of some higher-frequency ones (with the obvious exception of 'A').  So how would I start?  Probably by doing a count:

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEEEE, IIIIIIII, OOOOO

YYYY, WW, LLLLLLLL, RRRRRRRRRRRRRR, HHHHHHHH

B, CC, DDDD, GGGGG, J, KKKK, MMM, NNNNNNNNNN, P, SSS, TTTTTTTTTT, V, ZZZ

 

I'd then go after the obvious names connected to the letters that appear more than expected, particularly K, Z, and Y:

 

Khyryk

Zakary

Barzahl

 

And I'd add three more names that seem completely impossible to leave out, given their relevance to three games:

 

Litalia

Alwan

Greta

 

Those all fit and that leaves:

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEEE, IIIIII, OOOOO

Y, W, LLLL, RRRRRRRRRR, HHHHHH

CC, DDDD, GGGG, J, K, MMM, NNNNNNNNN, P, SSS, TTTTTTTT, V, Z

 

B has been eliminated completely.  But Ess brings up a good point, that the B could instead go to Akhari Blaze, who actually overlaps with Barzahl in a number of letters.  Akhari Blaze would also claim the last 'K', though.  Is there any other significant figure who would want that K?  I can only think of one: Trajkov.  Trajkov would himself claim the only J and the only V.  So let's think about those: are there any other big names with a J or a V?  I can't think of any.  Somebody like Pirik doesn't rise to the level of these other names (and she uses two rare letters, anyway).  Taking Trajkov off:

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEEE, IIIIII, OOOO

Y, W, LLLL, RRRRRRRRR, HHHHHH

CC, DDDD, GGGG, MMM, NNNNNNNNN, P, SSS, TTTTTTT, Z

 

The single letters are now Y, W, P, and Z.  Who seems most indispensible for each of those letters?

Y - Taygen?  Rydell?

W - Rawal?

Y and W - Diwaniya?

P - Learned Pinner?  (Who knows about "Learned", but it does use up an awful lot of letters with big piles -- OTOH, there's always Learned Darian.)  (Phariton would be a weird inclusion, I think.)

Z - Eliza, maybe, though Moseh is a bigger deal, and Shaftoe's out entirely due to never having an F.

 

Of course, some of these letters could also be in the Spidweb member.  The W and P might be in Spidweb, the Z might be in Randomizer, the Y might be in Slarty, or W and Y in Edgwyn, to pick on a few recent posters.  Choices, choices...

[Triumph]

One name the remaining letters can form, and a name which is so important to the series that I can't see leaving out, is Ghaldring.

 

After that, another name the letters can make that I'd expect to see is Goettsch.

[Mea Tulpa]

In the interests of helping this process along, I'll play Vanna White for you, Triumph.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEE, IIIII, OOO

Y, W, LLL, RRRRRRRR, HHHH

C, DDD, G, MMM, NNNNNNNN, P, SS, TTTTT, Z

 

Names pulled out: Trajkov (1), Goettsch (1), Zakary (2), Barzahl (2), Khyryk (3), Alwan (3-5), Greta (3-5), Litalia (3-5), Ghaldring (4-5)

9 names + 1 member left

 

There are now more single letters (#thanksbeyonce?):

C - Monarch?

G - Greiner??  Agatha??  Hoge??  Gnorrel?

W - Rawal?

Y - Rydell?

Y and G - Taygen?

Y and W - Diwaniya??

P - Learned Pinner??  Phariton???

Z - Eliza??

 

The lack of remaining letters eliminates some other possibilities: Shaftoe, Heustess, Lankan, Mehken, Akhari Blaze

 

sPidWeb, randomiZer, slartY, edGWYn

[Triumph]

Ellhrah would leave us at one L, making him mutually exclusive with fellow Servile leader Rydell. But, based on the number of names vs. number of letters, I think we probably need some names with double-letter usage, I think Ellhrah (two L's and two H's) is the better contender. Oh, but wait! A Spiderwebber name especially relevant to this thread, and mutually exclusive with the aforementioned Serviles, is Alorael.

 

Astoria would use up two more A's and bring us down to one S.

 

Masha is probably not a "major" character...but maybe the fact that I even remember her is proof she's "major" enough to make this. LOL.

 

[Ess-Eschas]

Despite being a little quiet for a few days, I’m not quite done on this puzzle on my end! When I have moment to sit down and look over this carefully, I have some ideas on how to proceed. Not least with some of your helpful, slightly veiled hints, Slarty.

 

That’s assuming Triumph doesn’t get there first, of course! I think you have more knowledge of the series than I do, and you’ve already mentioned some pretty good names that I missed the first time around.

 

For what it’s worth, I was a little unsure of including Masha in my list. But she is important in the context of the story of Geneforge 1, even if her character might not qualify as inherently important per se, and she uses up some decent letters. Still, there are other names that could potentially take her place. We'll see.

 

It’s too bad there aren’t any Us in this set of letters. Because, if my ‘Phariton’ is likely a mistake, I need another way to use up that troublesome ‘ph’. And Triumph would have been a really nice way to do that.

[Ess-Eschas]

Hmm, I still can’t quite wangle out the last few names. I don’t think my Geneforge knowledge is quite up to scratch, even given your hints, Slarty! So we might need to do this a little iteratively, if you’re game.

 

Here’s a new partial solution from me. I’ve wedged in one more name, meaning that I’ve produced 16 Geneforge characters and 1 Spiderweb member from the grid. That’s only two missing – not forgetting any I’ve still gotten wrong, of course!

 

Spoiler

Geneforge Characters:

 

1. Zakary
2. Barzahl
3. Trajkov
4. Litalia
5. Greta
6. Alwan
7. Rawal
8. Danette
9. Ellhrah
10. Ghaldring
11. Astoria
12. Khyryk
13. Taygen
14. Goettsch
15. Monarch
16. Pinner

 

Spiderweb Member:

 

Randomizer

 

Remaining letters:

 

AA, D, II, M, NN, RR, S, T

 

For what it’s worth, I can actually get up to 18 names out of 19. But the additional names in that partial solution don’t quite fit the criteria, I think – so I’m not happy with posting that version just yet!

[Mea Tulpa]

Those 16 names are accurate, as is Randomizer -- what better name to choose when the letter order is randomized, and when I consulted his lists to review a few names -- but your list of remaining letters is not accurate, I'm afraid.  You have two letters missing, and one added in excess.  Not sure where along the way that happened.  What you should have left at this point is:

 

AAA

D

H

II

M

NN

R

S

T

 

The two remaining characters are both definitely important -- each to their game.  One is closer to the beginning, and one is closer to the end.

[Ess-Eschas]

Ah, I have it! Here’s your complete solution:

 

Spoiler

Geneforge Characters:

 

1. Zakary
2. Barzahl
3. Trajkov
4. Litalia
5. Greta
6. Alwan
7. Rawal
8. Danette
9. Ellhrah
10. Ghaldring
11. Astoria
12. Khyryk
13. Taygen
14. Goettsch
15. Monarch
16. Pinner

17. Miranda

18. Shanti

 

Spiderweb Member:

 

Randomizer

 

Thanks for the pointers! Amusingly, I’d already thought of Shanti on my first attempt, but her name ended up getting forced out from other names that seemed better use of letters at the time. As for Miranda, that actually came from my knowledge of Queen’s Wish, of all things – I recalled a comment from during the game's development, where it was mentioned that there was a Miranda in the Geneforge series too!

 

As for the missing letters, that was actually a combination of mistakes. The extra letter was just a mistake when transcribing from my notes for the partial solution. The missing letters, though, were a mistake in the partial solution itself. I wasn't very efficient when making those notes, so the letters probably got misplaced when I added and subtracted a few names quickly.

As for Randomizer, I hadn't truly appreciated why you included the name until what you said here. That's a very neat explanation, and extremely satisfying.
 

So, Slarty, do I get a prize? :p

[Mea Tulpa]

The concept of any name being a better use of letters than Shanti's.  Really.

 

And of course you get a prize, cowboy. 

[Losrandir]

I, as a battle-scarred veteran of Exile, Avernum and Avadon, but yet a stranger to Geneforge(soon to change, don't worry!), find this terrifying indeed.