Decoders

Written by Kite

Descendants of the first family

— Scribble about the people who became the Decoders

Decoders are the people who can read and understand the mysterious Scribblings written in many parts of the machine. After finding a new scribble, they translate them into the common tongue for everyone to understand and use as they please.

Origins

The Decoders have some of The Husk's oldest traditions. They get them from the Founders, who passed on their knowledge to them. The main thing they learnt was how to read the old tongue, the language of the scribbles. The Decoders later passed these secrets onto trusted people, the same way the Founders once had.

Even in the older days, the translations were often riddles or nonsensical sayings. People did not have an active interest in those scribbles until those who studied under the founders made a culture of solving the riddles. The mystery surrounding them and the person behind them was appealing to those people, who spent a lot of time together trying to decode what the author had written.

It is possible that the first Decoders had stronger ties to the Creator. I wonder if that's why the government called them over.

— Kite's note

Decoder Communities

Decoders do not typically work alone. It is more common to see them in groups of at least 3 people. That is because they are often sharing information and new discoveries with each other, or discussing the meanings of scribbles among themselves. While they tend to seek out people who understand the scribblings, decoders are also open to teaching others how to read and write in the old tongue.

In many places, Decoders communities can include the local community that they are a part of. Often, when a community had a Decoder community nearby, they shared knowledge and cool tricks with each other. For example, both Decoders and Divers got tips on how to explore the machine better, which meant that they could bring back more resources for the area.

The Government Callout

There are currently no Decoders left in the Husk. Ten years ago, the government called them all to go to the machine's head in what was known to many as the infamous Decoder Hunt.

During that time, misinformation was rife among the people, especially relating to the scribbles. Progress on translating the scribbles had also stalled, since different Decoder communities could not agree on what all the scribbles actually meant. So the government decided to get everything under control by taking all the Decoders under their wing. At least, that's what they said to calm the people down after part of their community was taken away.

There were stories of Decoders refusing to go to the Head with the government. But nobody heard from those people since then.

— Kite's note

Decoder Permit

After the callout, there were no freelance Decoders in the Husk. The government issued permits to every Decoder so that they could translate as they did before. It is not quite clear what happens if they did not accept the permit.

The permit was made to authorise all current and future Decoders. It also ensured that anything they said to the people was accurate. Nobody wanted people to use the concept of scribbles to start uprisings or anything that could destabilise society.

There were some concerns of censorship in the beginning, but the government has since proven that these concerns were unfounded. Translations came as before and they came without the long discussions or disagreements that happened before.

Type

Research / Scientific

Other Associated professions

• Machine Divers

Related Locations

• The Head
• The Husk

Related Technologies

• Vorna Lens

Tools

Lumitorch