[ahi]

Edit: updated PDF with a third manuscript.

Alright, Ladies and Gents!

Find attached a 6" screen sized PDF, with two examples. (If you need larger font, just let me know.) Please, please, read the below explanatory bit before you get started though, to save yourself potentially avoidable frustration. (Also, I'm not philosophically opposed to an ePub version, but must decline the honour of being the one to make it.)

Extracts from the archives of
The Crazed Avar

This is (i.e.: will be) a collection of notes, letters, and excerpts from the personal library of the man (yet to be bestowed with a full name by me) colloquially known as "The Crazed Avar".

The Crazed Avar suffered (or, if one perceives the publishing date of the book[-to-be], will suffer) from a rather inconstant sort of madness, with definite periods of lucidity, and much time spent hovering on the edge of madness.

Most of his writings are in English, albeit rarely in the appropriate latin script used for English in the early 21st century. Of those manuscripts that are addressed to somebody, the addressee (on account of the madness) is often either non-contemporary to the Avar or altogether non-existent. Likewise, his signature lines rarely reference himself as the author.

The two manuscripts are the easiest of their respective sorts. i.e.: The first one is likely the easiest cyrillic-based "code" (if despite its simplicity one can call it that) the book is likely to ever employ, and the second one, (one of) the simplest han character based code.

While with the first one, it's easy to cheat either via the internet or a Russian dictionary/language book--people might find it more rewarding not to cheat. With the second one, I cannot think of any way to cheat--you will need to think, observe, and make notes to solve it. But don't worry, it is solvable despite being a somewhat short manuscript.

And once you have solved what each piece says, I greatly encourage that you try to figure out what they mean. In both cases, it ought to be possible with reasonable effort, and this search for meaning is actually meant to be a part of the overall experience.

If you are an intellectually curious sort, there is a good chance you will enjoy them. And if you are, but you don't, please tell me why, and what you think I could do differently to help you enjoy the next set.

- Ahi