Deseret Mixed Language Cipher

In XXX DE, Deseret established it's Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) in order to combat the new threats from the Liberty Security Corporation and other foreign opponents. Although the founders of Desret had included written resources for establishing an intelligence service, it had been over 200 years since any Desereti had experienced combat or war in any form. Applying the principles in the records was difficult, and as FIS agents struggled to learn them they also came up with methods of their own. One such method was the use of the Mixed Language Cipher.

Hello, good day, I have come to see you. I have to study more. - Written in Spanish, English, and Arabic using the Deseret Script.

Method

Early FIS agents needed a way to communicate discretely to each other. One method created was the Deseret Mixed Cipher, where agents would write a message down using the Deseret Alphabet, switching freely between languages over the course of a message or even within a sentence. Messages would be labelled with numbers corresponding to a list of languages shared by the agents, for example: 319 for Spanish-English-Arabic. This would inform the receiving agent in what order the languages would appear in the message. The Deseret Alphabet was chosen because of how unfamiliar it was to foreign powers, being a piece of ancient church history.

Deseret Alphabet

The Deseret alphabet is a phonemic spelling reformation of the English language published in 1854 under the leadership of Brigham Young, the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was designed to help immigrants (predominately from Europe) to Utah learn to read and write English, due to being more phonetically consistent than the Latin alphabet. The Deseret alphabet was criticized for its lack of ascenders and descenders, used in the Latin alphabet to make reading easier, and would eventually fall out of practice when Utah became admitted as a State in the United States. It would be maintained by hobbyists and church historians, arriving on Deseret as a part of church history. The script was reintroduced by a hobbyist Teancum Huntsman, a member of the Deseret Army and language hobbyist.

Outcome

At first the Deseret Mixed Language Cipher proved to be quite effective, as foreign agents and organizations had no experience with the script. However, eventually the code would be cracked and FIS agents would move on to more appropriately sophisticated ciphers.