Makes sense, English used to have a letter, thorn, that did much the same thing (it looks like a uppercase P and lowercase b combined). It was also used in old Norse, old Swedish and even modern Icelandic.
You know those phrases on signs that say “Ye Old …”? That “Y” is actually meant to be thorn and pronounced “th”, but the printing presses used in those days were sourced from Belgium and the Netherlands which didn’t have the letter thorn, so Y was substituted.
There were actually two different letters for two different th sounds. The thorn, as you said, looks like a combined p and b, and was used for “hard th” sound like in “the” : Þ, þ.
The other, named eth, was used for “soft th” sounds like in “thought” and looks like a d with a crossbar: Ð, ð.
Then there’s wynn. Before the invention of the double-u as a single letter to represent this sound, there was this symbol, derived from futhark runes, that looks a bit like a p if anything but represented the w sound: Ƿ, ƿ.
So now y’all know about þorn, eð, and ƿynn; and try not to parse this as “born, ed, and pynn” 😀
As for why thorn came to be represented with a y, there’s a funny story. After wynn was abandoned, the thorn’s design grew closer to the jettisoned character, with the ascender getting shorter and shorter. And this wynnified thorn looked a lot like the Blackletter version of the letter y, where the serif of the top right branch closes the loop. So it ended up being an acceptable substitute. Whereas non-Gothic/Blackletter forms of Y that do not have a nearly vertical left branch and a serifed right branch cannot pass as a valid substitute for the wynnified thorn.
Actually, while thorn (þ) and eth (ð) were used for soft and hard th, it wasn’t a one-to-one correlation. Either letter could be used for either sound (at least in old Anglo-Saxon).
How do you read the language? I just assumed it was random symbols from a made-up alphabet to represent te fact that the characters can’t understand the robot
Some people are good at breaking cyphers and codes and when computer games or books (and other art forms) have them then these people love to discover them. Be thankful that some of them (like @Mat) are graciously willing to share them with fellow readers.
That’s exactly what it is. But since it is a 1-to-1 mapping (with the exception, as noted, of thorn for the hard “th”) that means that it can be discovered using fairly trivial cryptanalysis.
Ah-HA! I knew it wasn’t really a cipher! I’ve been seeing people posting transliterations that seem phonetically spelled, I have suspected since translations first started showing up that the runes are phonetic alphabets!
Aside from the first panel, Dainix seems remarkably calm for falling off the ceiling and being slammed into the wall bridal-carry style. I wonder if this is an ‘all in a day’s work’ type situation for him.
Goodness I’ve never been this early! Thank you Zer0 W0lf & Mat for the additional info! It’s always nice to have you guys here! So thank you!
Also Daninix remembering that he had more gear is reminiscent of the crew from ‘Rolling with Difficulty’ remembering that they have a ton of unused stuff in they’re inventory. ?. It’s totally something I would do as an adventurer!
You know, I keep thinking to myself that I should try to not look at the Aurora comic for a few weeks, like I would with most webcomics that only come out monthly, and then I’ll have a bunch of pages that I can read all together, and wouldn’t that be fun?
But I don’t think, in the past few years I’ve been reading this, that I’ve ever managed to accumulate more than 4 pages to read at once…
which is somewhat sad times for my goal setting. But on the other hand, I realized that means that I’ve been checking Aurora at least once a week, and usually 3 times a week, every week, for several years now lol. Which is kind of crazy to think about…
Oh, god. Now that you mention it, I think I’ve been relatively consistently reading each new page for…I was gonna say five years, since I’m pretty sure I was at college when I first got into this, but the copyright at the bottom is only since 2019.
I don’t understand time.
Current favourite way to engage with this comic is jumping on a new page as soon as it launches, reading it, then reading the comments and potentially reacting myself, then flicking back between the last 2-3 pages to view it in context, and then every now and then when i’m bored binge reading the last few chapters again up until the most recent update
10/10 would reccomend, you don’t miss it whenever anything new comes up, and you get to read a long stretch of comic all at once to get thoroughly invested in the story, but that’s just me
We don’t talk about what happens when I abruptly reignite a hyperfixation on this comic tho lol
Oh my ever-loving CAT, re-reading the entire archive! [face-palms] The urge – the inescapable URGE – grips me every few months!
There is just something about the art! The storyline! The incredible floofs! It’s just so wonderfully re-readable. This, ‘Girl Genius’, ‘Narbonic’* & ‘Imperial Entanglements’* are all so very worth the reads. I just wish ‘Aurora’ was in print form to facilitate the re-reading.
[*=both ended; the former by intent, the latter by circumstance]
I only started reading this like last year and now its such a normal part of routine just to check out the update and read the comments. Then just rechecking the comments throughout the day. Then remembering to go back to a random page cause i want to reread it or a specific comment I saw.
As much as i would like to leave it for a few months so i could just bingeread a chapter, interacting in the comments is too fun and also i have to see what happens next
Spider? Dead. Robot? Trying a new strategy? That cave crawler from before? … Who knows. It’ll probably show up where it’s least convenient.
A grappling hook? That could be pretty useful for the adventures ahead. We need to get that bowstring fixed, and if we’re shopping for weapons, maybe get Falst a sling. Give his nack for rock throwing an upgrade.
Is Dainix cluing into the Automaton’s classifying Falst as an Ancient? Given that he’s likely encountered them before in the desert, I would expect him to pick up something like that before the others.
One thing though, how long has the chapter art fort chapter 21 been there? And anyone got any theories as to what it is about? My guess is that we are going to find out what the relationship between Ferin and Ancients (+their tech) really is. Also maybe Falst’s backstory?
From the “Stone and Shadow” title and Void black and purple clashing with stone grey tones on Falst, I’m thinking something singing cave related.
Info on the singing caves and whether the mage that discovered stone’s truename had an effect beyond making them hum? A confrontation with more cave crawlers, beings warped by stone and void corruption? The image’s focus on Falst and his reaction to that past cave crawler makes me think he has a history with them.
Poor Falst’s about to have a nervous breakdown. Spent his whole life with no friends, suddenly found friends, obviously very invested in the friends, and now is finding out that being friends with protagonists means they are near-constantly running headfirst into trauma/near-death experiences.
Boy developing a conditioned ‘heroic last minute save’ reflex.
(pops into head- Googly eyed, bent over fish guy says in surprise: “It’s a trope!”) Red are you making this a running gag? (holds in squeal of delight!)
Red’s alt text expresses gratitude at not having to draw a giant bug, but that robot looks like a giant bug to me.
Anyway, next chapter cover just dropped! Falst centric chapter mayhaps? Falst backstory mayhaps? It’s about time. We’ve gotten sufficient backstory from the rest of the floof squad, but Falst has been pretty close-mouthed about his backstory.
Okay, it looks like the cargo bay ceiling has stopped crumbling… for now, at least. Theorize away, Dainix!
Hmm… Stone and Shadow, huh? Judging from the title, The Singing Caves are going to be of relevance in the next chapter, but not necessarily in the present (though they still could be, if I’m right in guessing that this bunker barricades an entrance to them). Interspersed with the spooky void hands appears to be a young Falst, which makes me think we’re going to get a flashback sequence to his backstory. I think that someone he was close to got afflicted with void corruption, explaining his reaction to the cave crawler earlier.
Figured that with the new chapter cover, I may as well throw out my own theory on Falst’s backstory, as we might be getting some information soon!
Like some others, I think the “Mom Theory” is probable, given the sketches Red posted a bit ago. They imply that Falst’s mother turned into a cave crawler by corruption. My theory isn’t far-fetched, but it seems likely that Falst and his mother lived/hid in caves for quite some time, probably to keep him safe from the rampant discrimination against predator ferin. But they weren’t careful enough, and she got corrupted. Falst did not because, as a ferin, his soul is a lot more resistant to elemental corruption. This makes for a terribly tragic backstory, but we already knew that Falst is horribly traumatized, so it fits.
Thank you @TheUnknownGame for pointing out that the new chapter cover has a young Falst! I did not notice that at first.
A while ago, when Kendal woke up from his first sleep and was complaining that Vash pushed him away, Erin said something about “Just because your parents created you. doesn’t mean you owe them anything” and Falst said “psh no kidding”. Maybe he was referring to his dad?
It has finally occurred to me that Falst’s scar on the Petrichor cover represents his basically permanently now broken arm because he’s frankly garbage at letting it heal. That thing has been in various states of disrepair for what… 6 chapters now? Correct me if I’m wrong there.
I love the haiku and the limerick. Yes, Alinua’s life birthmark is Life’s Great Rune!?! What is Life’s relationship to the Collector? Was the Collector a vessel or attempted vessel? Why does the Collector think she knows what Life needs?
One more gadget that Dainix might have used
But the robot is back, and they’re not amused
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: finally I can stop drawing the giant bug
Image source: save
How does it feel to always be the coolest person in the comments section?
Real
Ancient robot says:
“THREAT”, “UNCERTAIN”
As some people have already noticed, the “th” phoneme has its own letter in both Ancient and runic ciphers.
Makes sense, English used to have a letter, thorn, that did much the same thing (it looks like a uppercase P and lowercase b combined). It was also used in old Norse, old Swedish and even modern Icelandic.
You know those phrases on signs that say “Ye Old …”? That “Y” is actually meant to be thorn and pronounced “th”, but the printing presses used in those days were sourced from Belgium and the Netherlands which didn’t have the letter thorn, so Y was substituted.
Þ (upper case) or þ (lower case)
I feel educated
There were actually two different letters for two different th sounds. The thorn, as you said, looks like a combined p and b, and was used for “hard th” sound like in “the” : Þ, þ.
The other, named eth, was used for “soft th” sounds like in “thought” and looks like a d with a crossbar: Ð, ð.
Then there’s wynn. Before the invention of the double-u as a single letter to represent this sound, there was this symbol, derived from futhark runes, that looks a bit like a p if anything but represented the w sound: Ƿ, ƿ.
So now y’all know about þorn, eð, and ƿynn; and try not to parse this as “born, ed, and pynn” 😀
As for why thorn came to be represented with a y, there’s a funny story. After wynn was abandoned, the thorn’s design grew closer to the jettisoned character, with the ascender getting shorter and shorter. And this wynnified thorn looked a lot like the Blackletter version of the letter y, where the serif of the top right branch closes the loop. So it ended up being an acceptable substitute. Whereas non-Gothic/Blackletter forms of Y that do not have a nearly vertical left branch and a serifed right branch cannot pass as a valid substitute for the wynnified thorn.
Actually, while thorn (þ) and eth (ð) were used for soft and hard th, it wasn’t a one-to-one correlation. Either letter could be used for either sound (at least in old Anglo-Saxon).
Thanks for the additions, very interesting.
How do you read the language? I just assumed it was random symbols from a made-up alphabet to represent te fact that the characters can’t understand the robot
Some people are good at breaking cyphers and codes and when computer games or books (and other art forms) have them then these people love to discover them. Be thankful that some of them (like @Mat) are graciously willing to share them with fellow readers.
That’s exactly what it is. But since it is a 1-to-1 mapping (with the exception, as noted, of thorn for the hard “th”) that means that it can be discovered using fairly trivial cryptanalysis.
the phrase “fairly trivial cryptanalysis” is why I love this community so much
The fact that people write essays in the comments and it’s totally normal is why I like this community so much
Ah-HA! I knew it wasn’t really a cipher! I’ve been seeing people posting transliterations that seem phonetically spelled, I have suspected since translations first started showing up that the runes are phonetic alphabets!
Aside from the first panel, Dainix seems remarkably calm for falling off the ceiling and being slammed into the wall bridal-carry style. I wonder if this is an ‘all in a day’s work’ type situation for him.
Pause and catch your breath
Danger hasn’t ended yet
Think your next step through
Goodness I’ve never been this early! Thank you Zer0 W0lf & Mat for the additional info! It’s always nice to have you guys here! So thank you!
Also Daninix remembering that he had more gear is reminiscent of the crew from ‘Rolling with Difficulty’ remembering that they have a ton of unused stuff in they’re inventory. ?. It’s totally something I would do as an adventurer!
Their inventory*. Nossa ortografia é difícil.
No worries! English can be difficult too! (smile)
Thank you Aulde! That is kind of you!
To quote something my friend said earlier today, “English is three languages pretending to be 1”
Modern English IS hard, but just be glad we aren’t using Middle English anymore
We had to read Shakespeare in English earlier this year. My teacher had to translate for us
You know, I keep thinking to myself that I should try to not look at the Aurora comic for a few weeks, like I would with most webcomics that only come out monthly, and then I’ll have a bunch of pages that I can read all together, and wouldn’t that be fun?
But I don’t think, in the past few years I’ve been reading this, that I’ve ever managed to accumulate more than 4 pages to read at once…
which is somewhat sad times for my goal setting. But on the other hand, I realized that means that I’ve been checking Aurora at least once a week, and usually 3 times a week, every week, for several years now lol. Which is kind of crazy to think about…
Oh, god. Now that you mention it, I think I’ve been relatively consistently reading each new page for…I was gonna say five years, since I’m pretty sure I was at college when I first got into this, but the copyright at the bottom is only since 2019.
I don’t understand time.
Current favourite way to engage with this comic is jumping on a new page as soon as it launches, reading it, then reading the comments and potentially reacting myself, then flicking back between the last 2-3 pages to view it in context, and then every now and then when i’m bored binge reading the last few chapters again up until the most recent update
10/10 would reccomend, you don’t miss it whenever anything new comes up, and you get to read a long stretch of comic all at once to get thoroughly invested in the story, but that’s just me
We don’t talk about what happens when I abruptly reignite a hyperfixation on this comic tho lol
Oh my ever-loving CAT, re-reading the entire archive! [face-palms] The urge – the inescapable URGE – grips me every few months!
There is just something about the art! The storyline! The incredible floofs! It’s just so wonderfully re-readable. This, ‘Girl Genius’, ‘Narbonic’* & ‘Imperial Entanglements’* are all so very worth the reads. I just wish ‘Aurora’ was in print form to facilitate the re-reading.
[*=both ended; the former by intent, the latter by circumstance]
I only started reading this like last year and now its such a normal part of routine just to check out the update and read the comments. Then just rechecking the comments throughout the day. Then remembering to go back to a random page cause i want to reread it or a specific comment I saw.
As much as i would like to leave it for a few months so i could just bingeread a chapter, interacting in the comments is too fun and also i have to see what happens next
Spider? Dead. Robot? Trying a new strategy? That cave crawler from before? … Who knows. It’ll probably show up where it’s least convenient.
A grappling hook? That could be pretty useful for the adventures ahead. We need to get that bowstring fixed, and if we’re shopping for weapons, maybe get Falst a sling. Give his nack for rock throwing an upgrade.
Is Dainix cluing into the Automaton’s classifying Falst as an Ancient? Given that he’s likely encountered them before in the desert, I would expect him to pick up something like that before the others.
One thing though, how long has the chapter art fort chapter 21 been there? And anyone got any theories as to what it is about? My guess is that we are going to find out what the relationship between Ferin and Ancients (+their tech) really is. Also maybe Falst’s backstory?
From the “Stone and Shadow” title and Void black and purple clashing with stone grey tones on Falst, I’m thinking something singing cave related.
Info on the singing caves and whether the mage that discovered stone’s truename had an effect beyond making them hum? A confrontation with more cave crawlers, beings warped by stone and void corruption? The image’s focus on Falst and his reaction to that past cave crawler makes me think he has a history with them.
It’s probably stylization or emphasis but the big eyes DO make him look younger ?…
I love Dainix. I love Falst. I love the art and how their expressions tell SO MUCH in all these panels. I love this comic <3
Falst: Did you have a grappling hook THE WHOLE TIME?!
Dainix: 🙂
NEW CHAPTER IN THE ARCHIVE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
Poor Falst’s about to have a nervous breakdown. Spent his whole life with no friends, suddenly found friends, obviously very invested in the friends, and now is finding out that being friends with protagonists means they are near-constantly running headfirst into trauma/near-death experiences.
Boy developing a conditioned ‘heroic last minute save’ reflex.
TL;DR: DM: “The robot continues to chase the two of you through the dungeon-”
Falst: “I rage!”
There once was a robot of old
Who helped our adventurers bold
In smiting the bug
With metal in plug–
But it’s still a danger, all told.
Yes!
Red, why are you so fascinated with bridal carrying? Are you up to some funny business?
why make a character super-strong if they’re not going to be super-chivalrous? ain’t no way they need all that muscle for anything else
In this world, it’s bridal carry or be bridal carried. Red doesn’t make the rules-wait a minute.
(pops into head- Googly eyed, bent over fish guy says in surprise: “It’s a trope!”) Red are you making this a running gag? (holds in squeal of delight!)
Red’s alt text expresses gratitude at not having to draw a giant bug, but that robot looks like a giant bug to me.
Anyway, next chapter cover just dropped! Falst centric chapter mayhaps? Falst backstory mayhaps? It’s about time. We’ve gotten sufficient backstory from the rest of the floof squad, but Falst has been pretty close-mouthed about his backstory.
Okay, it looks like the cargo bay ceiling has stopped crumbling… for now, at least. Theorize away, Dainix!
Hmm… Stone and Shadow, huh? Judging from the title, The Singing Caves are going to be of relevance in the next chapter, but not necessarily in the present (though they still could be, if I’m right in guessing that this bunker barricades an entrance to them). Interspersed with the spooky void hands appears to be a young Falst, which makes me think we’re going to get a flashback sequence to his backstory. I think that someone he was close to got afflicted with void corruption, explaining his reaction to the cave crawler earlier.
It’s theory time!
Figured that with the new chapter cover, I may as well throw out my own theory on Falst’s backstory, as we might be getting some information soon!
Like some others, I think the “Mom Theory” is probable, given the sketches Red posted a bit ago. They imply that Falst’s mother turned into a cave crawler by corruption. My theory isn’t far-fetched, but it seems likely that Falst and his mother lived/hid in caves for quite some time, probably to keep him safe from the rampant discrimination against predator ferin. But they weren’t careful enough, and she got corrupted. Falst did not because, as a ferin, his soul is a lot more resistant to elemental corruption. This makes for a terribly tragic backstory, but we already knew that Falst is horribly traumatized, so it fits.
Thank you @TheUnknownGame for pointing out that the new chapter cover has a young Falst! I did not notice that at first.
A while ago, when Kendal woke up from his first sleep and was complaining that Vash pushed him away, Erin said something about “Just because your parents created you. doesn’t mean you owe them anything” and Falst said “psh no kidding”. Maybe he was referring to his dad?
It has finally occurred to me that Falst’s scar on the Petrichor cover represents his basically permanently now broken arm because he’s frankly garbage at letting it heal. That thing has been in various states of disrepair for what… 6 chapters now? Correct me if I’m wrong there.
5 chapters. His arm was injured in Chapter 16 and we’re currently on Chapter 20. https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-23/
Yeah, thanks for that. I saw the new chapter cover art, so I guess my brain is hooked on it being chapter 21 already.
Falst just kind of radiates an aura of ‘Monkey King’. I bet they would be bros.
can I just point out how many comments there are and this JUST came out?
Ya know, Ferin and the Ancients are both magically inert. I wonder if that’s why the robot thing likes Falst so much.
the robot feels left out from the bonding
Hey, I was just wondering, does anyone know when Falst got that arm injury? because I cannot find anything between his last heal and now.
Dainix is theorising…
WE’VE PONDERED THE COMIC SO MUCH THAT IT’S PONDERING BACK!
I was just re-reading the comic and I realized that Aliuna’s life birthmark is Life’s Great Rune. HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT SOONER!?
I love the haiku and the limerick. Yes, Alinua’s life birthmark is Life’s Great Rune!?! What is Life’s relationship to the Collector? Was the Collector a vessel or attempted vessel? Why does the Collector think she knows what Life needs?
That first panel is so aesthetic omg
Every time the robot says something I just hear “sheme detected”