Gaileen Cipher

. v	^ .	./	.	^ .	\\	^ .	./	./	O
//	. v	\\	./	/.	^	/	>>	//	X
+	>	\	//	<.	//	.	//	>	\
=	<.	/	<.	=	Ø	^ .	<	.>	^ .
\\	/	\.	/	Ø	X	.\	^	..	=

— Rifkin to recipient Unknown

The secretive order known as The Temple deal with sensitive matters of state. Early they realized they required secure methods of passing this information along. To this end the Gaileen Cipher was developed.

History

Echart Gaileen always had a head for riddles and puzzles. His life had been around the courts of Korinthia and as he became an agent for the temple he developed his cipher to pass messages to his allies. As others realized the value of the Gaileen cipher he was asked to share it with the Temple at large. He did so on the condition that it would only be used by those dealing with high security matters and never with a key under six digits.

Encoding & Decoding

The cipher removes all spaces and punctuation from a message. From there it converts letters, ignoring case, into a script composed mostly of dots, slashes, and angles. For extra security, the cipher uses a shifted key, changing the encoding as the message progresses and requiring the recipient to know the key. For example, a date, perhaps the coronation of Rorderick I on 7th Haudaim, 798, or 7980507. In this case the first letter is shifted to the 7th position, the second to the 9th, the third to the 8th, and so on. Once the end of the key is reached, the encoding begins from the beginning again. Using too simple a key is considered an offense to the organization.
The process of translating the cipher is usally done with a cipher wheel, usually two wooden concentric circular discs layered together, the alphabet inscribed on the outer one and the code inscribed on the inner. The inner disc can be rotated to match the current encoding position. Some members are said to have constructed rings which serve the same purpose, either a single ring with a rotating band, or a pair of rings which can be worn of separate fings to inveigle their purpose and matched as needed.
The decoding process then uses the key to match the cipher. Starting from the 0th position where A matches >, it can be rotated N steps, based on the key and the decoding can begin.

Gaileen Cipher in 0th Position

>

<

^

v

>>

<<

.

.>

<.

^ .

. v

..

O

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

Ø

X

/

\

\\

//

/.

\.

./

.\

:

+

=

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Gaileen Cipher in 7th Position

.>

<.

^ .

. v

..

O

Ø

X

/

\

\\

//

/.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

\.

./

.\

:

+

=

>

<

^

v

>>

<<

.

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Examples

Encoding the message "SAFE HOUSE" in the 0th position would be: "

//><<>>.>X\.//>>

In the 7th position it would instead be:

=.>O..X./<=..

and using a key of 25,8,0,7,18,12 would result in:

\\<.<<..=>/.>>>

Creator

Echart Gaileen

Creation Date

783 A.E.

Other Codes

The Temple also makes use of other codes as necessary. Particular members may have a preferred method of passing secrets, perhaps due to shared history, or other shared knowledge. They are also known to make use of a series of pictographs to quickly provide each other information. For example, two horizontal lines covering and extending past three vertical ones represent a temple, and designate a safe house.

Try It Out

A python command line tool capable of encoding and decoding messages has been created specifically for this SummerCamp prompt. It can be found on GitHub at ilionblaze/Gaileen