Notes Written in Script

Many Notes, or Just One?

As shown above, there are a total of 28 separate instances of notes (boxed in orange) written in some sort of script scattered around the concept map. Unfortunately, even with the higher quality image, the notes are mostly illegible and it is difficult to tell what the letter of each word are.

Even though I couldn't read the script, I noticed that a lot of the same words and phrases were repeated throughout the Concept Map and I wondered if they were actually separate thoughts or fragments of one main message. So, (on MS Paint, of course), I gave each different word a specific color and I put a dot in a certain color for every instance that a word appeared on the map. You'll notice that the diagram above is in black and white- this was just for convenience and to make sure that all the colors are visible. Going through the words in rainbow order was just for convenience as well, and I also thought that it was a good indicator of how the message repeats itself.

As a result, I found that there is actually just one main message, which I underlined below, and all of the other messages found scattered on the map are just reiterations or snippets of this message. So, aside from what the message actually says, we at least know that it consists of 14 completely different words, and there is also no punctuation.

The Messages' Meaning

Given what we know, I think that there are a few explanations for these messages and what they could mean:

The first option is that these messages are just for decoration. The words cannot be read because they don't actually give any information, and the scribbled words are just thrown around the borders and blank spaces of the Concept Map to give the image a cool look. The notes written in script act in a similar way that the purple clouds and dirty ink spots do, which is to give off the idea that the map is old and mysterious; they're not Marco Pollo's deepest, darkest secrets, but an artist's details.

The second option is that there is some sort of message that has meaning, possibly a code, can be deciphered somehow.

The third option is that these notes are not meant to be read by us as the players, but by the in-game characters. This is most likely the case with the Ancient Mooshu Message, which I will get to in a little bit, where the message will be revealed and read aloud by our companions or NPCs once our own pirate has collected all 7 pieces of the map.