So, Jonathan Walton started an ARG for the Planarch Codex. A tradition of ARGs is the forum where everyone trades clues and figures it out together, right?
So I’ll start.
Q#1: In fate’s marred cartography, to the far east lies the inkstone. What is its name?
And an ancillary clue, the answer leads to two influential people.
Fate could be the game, but I doubt it. “Far east” and “inkstone” make me think of calligraphy
China. China lies in the far east in our marred cartography, the inkstone is a stone mortar for grinding ink, and if New Crobuzon isn’t an influence on Dis then I’ll kiss a Khepri.
China as in Mieville, that’s the link you’re drawing. Hmm… he did have a book called The Scar, which could be linked to “marred cartography.”
So what is China’s inkstone? What’s its name? Who is the second person? I don’t think Mieville has done any collaborations. A separate reference?
Inkstone is yan`, or 砚, according to Google Translate and NCIKU.
Hmmm. You know, “marred cartography” makes me think of the old “here there be dragons”… Jenna Moran runs a blog called Hitherby Dragons. And she resided in china for a while! Plus, there’s totally a main character in said stories named “Ink”.
Might be a stretch, though.
Also, in China Mieville’s story “The Kraken”, ink was… kind of a big deal. A bit more support for that?
I’m not familiar with that Mieville story!
These are good connections. I wonder how they tie to the name of an object. I am, of course, assuming that “inkstone” refers to a concrete object rather than a person or group. The source of writing?
Huh. I would have assumed it was a person, but the fact that the answer “leads to” two people means I’m probably wrong about that, in hindsight.
Also, Walton is an east Asia scholar, and multiculturalism is one of the big themes of the Planarch Codex.
So both China the man and China the place influence the work.
/sub