Prince of Florence [[Start Game|Introduction 1]] [[How to Play|How to Play]] [[Hints|Hints 1]] [[About|About]] You have known your good friend, the Prince of Florence, ever since boarding school. The pranks the two of you played on friends and faculty back then made you notorious, but only in rumor; you were careful. Since then, both of you have outgrown your teenage deviance: he to take his place as royal successor, you as a constable. Though your career took you far from Florence, you always kept in touch with your old friend. [[Continue|Introduction 2]] (set: $score to 0) (set: $General to 0) (set: $Lover to 0) (set: $Brother to 0) (set: $Treasurer to 0)Navigate the story as you choose by clicking the blue hyperlinked words. Your aim is to find out information from the characters you interrogate. As the dialogue branches out, uncover what has been secreted away. [[Back|Home]]Hint one: the characters you interrogate are actively trying to hide information from you. [[Hint two|Hints 2]] [[Back to Title Page|Home]]This game was created by David Theo Goldberg's graduate seminar at the University of California at Irvine in the spring of 2015. Written and designed on Twine by: Ben Cox Anirban Gupta-Nigam Matt Knutson Diren Valayden Melissa Wrapp [[Back to Title Page|Home]] [[Bibliography (Course syllabus)|Syllabus]]Hint two: it's not uncommon for the characters to try to talk you in circles. [[Hint three|Hints 3]] [[Back to Title Page|Home]]Hint three: in order to escape the characters’ circumlocutions, you need to find the hidden Easter Eggs embedded in the text. These will allow you to progress through the game. [[Back to Title Page|Home]]After years of exchanging letters, his replies have recently become more and more distracted, and they’ve begun to gesture ominously towards a sense of indefinite doom. After a marked silence, you receive a letter in a hurried handwriting that compels you to set out immediately for Florence. [[Read the letter|Introduction 3]]The letter: My dear Friend, Please forgive my delay in responding, but you’ll soon see the reason for my lag. In short, I’m afraid for my life. This is no mere paranoia of royalty, for several of my subjects have approached me, each raising suspicions of the others. Knowing that I cannot trust the word of one against the others when all sound equally guilty, I write to you to implore you to come to my aid. As someone outside of the court and still a true friend to me, you’re the only one I can trust to conduct a thorough investigation to find the would-be betrayer. [[Continue|Introduction 4]]I believe my betrayer to be one of these four: -The General. She has been increasingly vocal in her disapproval of my modest military aspirations. I also snubbed her for a position as my chief military adviser, since XXXXXXXXXXXX. -My Lover. I have never revealed his identity to anyone. However of late our relations have strained as he seems more interested in wordplay than affection. And ever since I told him I knew about XXXXXXXXXXXX he has been evasive and emotionally unpredictable. I know he would have so much to lose if I said anything. -My handsome Younger Brother. No one would have more to gain from my death than he, and though his betrayal would have been unthinkable last spring, that was before XXXXXXXXXXXX. -The Treasurer. Although I have always implicitly trusted her, a relic from my father’s reign, she recently displayed signs of violence XXXXXXXXXXXX I fear XXXXX is worth more to her than my life. She has always been bound by rules in this way. This is all I have the space to say here. Please come immediately if you are the one true friend I have left. Yours, The Prince [[Continue|Introduction 5]] [[Return to page 1|Introduction 3]]The four redacted lines are indecipherable. You wonder what they could mean and who crossed them out as you pack your things and order your ticket to Florence. [[Continue|Introduction 6]] [[Reread letter|Introduction 3]]You arrive in Florence to discover that no one has seen or heard from the Prince in four days, almost immediately after his letter was sent. As a constable, your recognized position allows you to conduct an investigation into the Prince’s disappearance. All four of the suspected betrayers are still at court, and to assure you they have nothing to hide, they all grant your request to ask them questions. [[Begin the questioning|Main Hub]][[Talk to the General in the Parlor|General A]] [[Talk to the Lover in the Bedchambers|Lover A]] [[Talk to the Younger Brother in the Throne Room|Brother A]] [[Talk to the Treasurer in the Library|Treasurer A]] (if: $score is 4)[[[Make your final accusation!|Ending 1]]](else:)[] (if: $score >0)[[[Make your accusation!|Accusation 1]]](else:)[] (if: (count: (history:), "Main Hub") >5 )[[[Hints|Hint Reminder 1]]] [[Review the Letter|Letter Review 1]]You have discovered the truth of the matter. All guilty parties have been locked up safely, and your investigation is concluded. [[Credits|About]] [[Something is not right. Take your accusation back.|Main Hub]]*The more you learn, the more confused you become. As each secret reveals itself, it feels as if the truth recedes further from your grasp. Overwhelmed with information, theories, suspicions, and questions, you resolve to seek the counsel of a famed oracle who lives on the edge of the wood. After a few hours hike, you come upon a clearing where you see a small wooden cottage. You call out:* “Oracle! I have come from the court and seek your counsel on the important matter of the Prince’s whereabouts!” The door slowly creaks [[open…|Ending 2]]Hint one: the characters you interrogate are actively trying to hide information from you. [[Hint two|Hints Reminder 2]] [[Back to Questions|Main Hub]]A pair of armchairs frame a fireplace. Above the mantel rest two dull blue urns on either side of an antique music box. Carpets and curtains in warm colors brighten the cream walls and hardwood floors. The general stands, bolt upright, cap and riding crop tucked into her elbow, behind an armchair. The brass on her charcoal uniform glitters above the breast pocket, and behind the medals, her statuesque posture tells you she has achieved a tactical advantage by digging in and anticipating your arrival. [[“I’d like to ask you about the Prince.”|General B]]You stand in a lonely hallway, wondering which direction to proceed in. You see a door to the right, a little ajar... and gently push it open. A sumptuously decorated bedroom unfolds before you, and in the shadows near the back you see the Prince’s lover gazing admiringly at one of his famed portraits. He pensively swirls a glass of wine. You cannot see clearly but suspect it is a portrait of the Prince. The longer you look on, you realize it is not so much admiration, but assessment, almost as if he is considering the portrait’s aesthetic adequacy. Reluctant to startle him, you gently clear your throat and say, [[“I’d like to ask you about the Prince.”|Lover B]]The crown and royal scepter sit in the empty throne, set above the gallery below in a cavernous octagonal room lit dimly by torchlight. Passing through a veil of curtains that conceal an antechamber, you see the Younger Brother standing over a map of the region, miniature forces amassed under competing flags of allegiance. The countenanced features of his aquiline face give way to a wry smile when he notices your approach. You recognize that smile, but it has been transposed onto an altogether more imposing presence than your old friend. He turns to greet you gracefully and pours you a glass of wine. [[“I’d like to ask you about the Prince.”|Brother B]]Immaculately organized shelves of neatly bound books form concentric rectangles. At the center of this maze of knowledge sit nine tables organized 3x3. Twenty-seven floors lie both above and below, lit brightly by glass walls. The Treasurer sits calmly at the center table by herself diligently studying a chart as couriers come and go with stacks of parcels and receipts. As you approach, your shadow blurs the points on her chart and she turns to greet you with a warm smile hiding mild irritation for disrupting her very busy schedule. [[“I’d like to ask you about the Prince.”|Treasurer B]]Hint two: it's not uncommon for the characters to try to talk you in circles. [[Hint three|Hint Reminder 3]] [[Back to Questions|Main Hub]]Hint three: in order to escape the characters’ circumlocutions, you need to find the hidden Easter Eggs embedded in the text. These will allow you to progress through the game. [[Back to Questions|Main Hub]](if: (count: (history:), "General B") <1 )[“Of course,” the General grunts. ]“Anything to help with your investigation. We’re still hoping for his safe return from wherever he went.” The general’s expression remains stony. [[“Has he ever disappeared like this before?”|General C]] [[“How long have you known the Prince, and how would you describe your relationship with him?”|General D]] [[“I have reason to believe his disappearance was no accident. Who would benefit from his downfall?”|General E]] (if: (count: (history:), "General B") >1 )[[[Question someone else.|Main Hub]]]The General raises her eyebrows. “No,” she starts, then continues “but he had been acting strangely for a few weeks. He started keeping late hours, cancelling most of his appointments, and instead started sending pages to deliver messages. [[We|General F]] were concerned for his health, but his disappearance has come as a complete shock.” She examines her cap. “Maybe it has something to do with-” she stops herself. [[“To do with what? Did the Prince have enemies at court?”|General E]]“For most of my professional life, I’ve known the Prince and his family. I was made general just a few months before the Prince rose to power. But I don’t know much about him personally. He never gets too sociable with his court, never is seen drinking to excess, and he rarely speaks his mind unless the situation calls for it. What he really thinks or feels about a given topic is a mystery.” [[“So you have no explanation for his disappearance? Has he ever done this before?”|General C]] [[“Is that respect or concern I hear in your voice?”|General I]]The General’s posture somehow gets more rigid. “I shouldn’t speculate about who would have what to gain by the Prince’s disappearance. If you have suspicions about other members of court, you should question them yourself.” [[Ask another question.|General B]] [[“Surely you know about someone who stands to gain from this…”|General J]]“Who is ‘we’?” you ask. The General’s eyes narrow slightly for an instant. “The other military personnel and I - my officers and the other generals. And the Prince’s chief [[military adviser|General G]]. As someone who has always respected the Prince’s reserve in military strategy, of course I was concerned when he disappeared.” [[“How long have you known the Prince, and how would you describe your relationship with him?”|General D]]“It’s respect,” the General answers frankly. “Like anyone, the Prince is entitled to his secrets. Discretion is the better part of leadership. If he can’t or won’t make his opinions widely known, then more power to him. I’d prefer that he felt free to trust me, given how long I’ve worked in the service of his family, but I have to respect his position all the same.” [[“So you have no explanation for his disappearance? Has he ever done this before?”|General C]]You continue: “The Younger Brother, for example, is next in line to the throne. Wouldn’t he-” The General’s expression darkens. “IF you have the audacity to ask such a thing at a time like this, then you ought to ask him that yourself. Don’t get me caught up in some vague accusation that you yourself manufactured. Are we done here?” [[Ask another question|General B]] [[Ask someone else|Main Hub]]“The[[ |Easter Egg 1]]chief[[ |Easter Egg 1]]military[[ |Easter Egg 1]]adviser?[[ |Easter Egg 1]]Isn’t[[ |Easter Egg 1]]that[[ |Easter Egg 1]]you?”[[ |Easter Egg 1]]you[[ |Easter Egg 1]]ask. She[[ |Easter Egg 1]]stares[[ |Easter Egg 1]]beyond[[ |Easter Egg 1]]you.[[ |Easter Egg 1]]“The[[ |Easter Egg 1]]prince[[ |Easter Egg 1]]who[[ |Easter Egg 1]]campaigns[[ |Easter Egg 1]]with[[ |Easter Egg 1]]his[[ |Easter Egg 1]]armies,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]who[[ |Easter Egg 1]]lives[[ |Easter Egg 1]]by[[ |Easter Egg 1]]pillaging,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]sacking,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]and[[ |Easter Egg 1]]extortion,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]disposes[[ |Easter Egg 1]]of[[ |Easter Egg 1]]what[[ |Easter Egg 1]]belongs[[ |Easter Egg 1]]to[[ |Easter Egg 1]]aliens;[[ |Easter Egg 1]]and[[ |Easter Egg 1]]he[[ |Easter Egg 1]]must[[ |Easter Egg 1]]be[[ |Easter Egg 1]]open-handed,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]otherwise[[ |Easter Egg 1]]the[[ |Easter Egg 1]]soldiers[[ |Easter Egg 1]]would[[ |Easter Egg 1]]refuse[[ |Easter Egg 1]]to[[ |Easter Egg 1]]follow[[ |Easter Egg 1]]him.[[ |Easter Egg 1]]Our[[ |Easter Egg 1]]Prince,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]however,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]had[[ |Easter Egg 1]]little[[ |Easter Egg 1]]interest[[ |Easter Egg 1]]in[[ |Easter Egg 1]]campaigning,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]and[[ |Easter Egg 1]]his[[ |Easter Egg 1]]choice[[ |Easter Egg 1]]in[[ |Easter Egg 1]]chief[[ |Easter Egg 1]]military[[ |Easter Egg 1]]adviser[[ |Easter Egg 1]]showed[[ |Easter Egg 1]]this.”[[ |Easter Egg 1]]She[[ |Easter Egg 1]]pauses[[ |Easter Egg 1]]to[[ |Easter Egg 1]]shift[[ |Easter Egg 1]]her[[ |Easter Egg 1]]posture,[[ |Easter Egg 1]]returning[[ |Easter Egg 1]]her[[ |Easter Egg 1]]gaze[[ |Easter Egg 1]]to[[ |Easter Egg 1]]you.[[ |Easter Egg 1]]“I[[ |Easter Egg 1]]was[[ |Easter Egg 1]]passed[[ |Easter Egg 1]]up[[ |Easter Egg 1]]for[[ |Easter Egg 1]]a…[[ |Easter Egg 1]]less[[ |Easter Egg 1]]ambitious[[ |Easter Egg 1]]general.[[ |Easter Egg 1]]And[[ |Easter Egg 1]]in[[ |Easter Egg 1]]the[[ |Easter Egg 1]]gap[[ |Easter Egg 1]]between[[ |Easter Egg 1]]him[[ |Easter Egg 1]]and[[ |Easter Egg 1]]me[[ |Easter Egg 1]]is[[ |Easter Egg 1]]all[[ |Easter Egg 1]]the[[ |Easter Egg 1]]difference[[ |Easter Egg 1]]of[[ |Easter Egg 1]]rule.” [[Ask other questions|General B]] (if: (count: (history:), "General G") >1 )[Hint: What does the General mean by the "gap between"?]*In this moment, the letter reveals itself to you: The General. She has been increasingly vocal in her disapproval of my modest military aspirations. I also snubbed her for a position as my chief military adviser, since she has been rumored to hold secret meetings with my brother, who is much more ambitious and favors warmongering. He is said to have promised her complete control of military forces abroad.* [[Question someone else.|Main Hub]] [[Ask another question.|General B]] (if: (count: (history:), "Easter Egg 1") <1 )[(set: $score to $score + 1)] (set: $General to 1)(if: (count: (history:), "Lover B") <1 )["I have no objection to helping you,” the Lover snarls. ]“I’m happy to help, Constable, but next time you should be careful to knock before entering someone’s bedchambers. [[“Has he ever disappeared like this before?”|Lover C]] [[“How long have you known the Prince, and what is the nature of your relationship with him?”|Lover D]] [[“What happened the last time you saw him?”|Lover F]] (if: (count: (history:), "Lover B") >1 )[[[Question someone else.|Main Hub]]]“Isn’t appearance already a kind of disappearance?” the Lover asks, “Does the mere fact of someone’s presence imply he is truly there? I try not to dwell too much on loss; things often lose their proper place, their spaces of belonging become unhinged. Such is the politics of dis-appointment. It doesn’t give one hope but directs us away from despair too.” He pauses, staring longingly across the room. “Go on,” you prompt. “If you must know, I haven’t seen the Prince in many weeks. When we met in my [[studio|Lover G]] last, even though he was present I could feel his absence.” [[“Could the Prince be worried about his safety? Is that why he was so absent?”|Lover E]]“Soon after I finished my first masterpiece - painted in my transitionary phase from realist representation to faux-Cubism - I met the Prince when he came to my open gallery.” “What, if I may ask, was this painting that so attracted the Prince to your.. talents?” you ask. “I called it The Portrait of Orson Welles as a Genuine Man. The work used techniques of camouflage to question each of the terms in the title such that, having seen it, the viewer would wonder: Is he indeed genuine? What is the relationship between masculinity and truth? And who indeed was Orson Welles? Thus I lured the Prince into my enigmatic fold[[.|Easter Egg 2]]” [[“This is all fascinating but have you any clue related to the Prince’s disappearance?”|Lover E]] [[“Are you even concerned that someone so close to you is missing?”|Lover I]] (if: (count: (history:), "Lover D") >1 )[Hint have you exhausted every possible option in this room?]“Oh, it was our usual rendezvous. I’ve been working on a portrait of the Prince for the royal court. Here: do you want to see a work-in-progress?” He says, fishing into the shadows and pulling out a small canvas. “But that looks nothing like the Prince!” you exclaim. “I left representational conventions behind after art school; I pioneered Florentine modernism, surely you’ve heard of me or seen my work [[before|Lover G]]?” [[“How long have you known the Prince, and how would you describe your relationship with him?”|Lover D]]“They mentioned you had work showing in the galley downtown. Who, if I may ask, inspired you?” you ask. “Orson Welles was my Master, although he did work in a different medium. What is a medium though, other than a channel connecting two distinct entities? In any case, now I follow no one; I have no Bible.” “Have you seen his quaint little film on forgery?” You ask suspiciously with raised eyebrow. You see the shadowy figure retreat further into the folds of the tapestry and feel something [[suspicious|Lover I]] is afoot. [[Ask other questions|Lover B]]“Well, he is the sovereign. And while sovereignty brings with it the threat of insurrection, he is our protector, our governor and ruler. Who is he to be worried, the one who has power to declare exception? As my friend Chamayou said to me over coffee the other evening, the world is but an extended manhunt of the poor.” [[Ask another question.|Lover B]] [[“You’re talking in circles. Let’s get down to it. Surely you know about someone who stands to gain from this…”|Lover J]]*In this moment, the letter reveals itself to you: The Lover. I have never revealed his identity to anyone. However of late our relations have strained as he seems more interested in wordplay than affection. And ever since I told him I knew that his celebrated work The Portrait of Orson Welles as a Genuine Man had actually been painted by automata, he has been evasive and emotionally unpredictable. I know he would have so much to lose if I said anything.* [[Question someone else|Main Hub]] [[Ask another question|Lover B]] (if: (count: (history:), "Easter Egg 2") <1 )[(set: $score to $score + 1)] (set: $Lover to 1)“Sometimes those who are closest to us are farthest away. Anyway, constable, I’m unable to see why my private affairs are any concern of yours. Here we are in a state where the sovereign has dis-appeared, secrets are swirling like dust in full view of the public, enemies are hatching plots from within the castle walls, betwixt and between the chasms of power. But what have you come to question me about? My private life, intruding in my bedchamber without even a knock on the door? Is nothing sacred? Must all secrets constantly secrete?” the Lover exclaims. [[“Interesting turn of phrase. So you have no explanation for his disappearance? Has he ever done this before?”|Lover C]]You continue: “Even you might benefit from the disappearance of scornful lover who knows too much.” The Lover bursts out of yet another shadow, scrambling across the bedchamber, grasping wildly for your throat. “How dare you! Did they not tell you all knowledge is a sham? Illumination doesn’t exist!” He grabs you by your collar. “Before you ask how much the scornful lover knows, should you not stop to ask yourself what is knowledge itself? What is it to know!?” [[Ask another question|Lover B]] [[Ask someone else|Main Hub]]“(if: (count: (history:), "Brother B") <1 )[By all means. Please have a drink. ]It is a pleasure to finally meet the great Constable. I have heard so much about you over the years. Any friend of my brother’s is a friend to me, especially in these chaotic times.” [[“What do you know about the disappearance of your brother?”|Brother C]] [[“What concerns of state occupy the great minds of Florence?”|Brother D]] [[“I have reason to believe his disappearance was no accident. Who would benefit from his downfall?”|Brother E]] (if: (count: (history:), "Brother B") >1 )[[[Question someone else.|Main Hub]]]“We met at the privy council four days ago, and no one has seen him since. I admit I wondered if this was just another ruse - I remember the infamous stories of your time together at school. Maybe you know more than I?” “All I know is that the hunted often feel safer in hiding.” “Yes, perhaps, but hiding is only ever temporary, a [[lesson|Brother F]] the Prince knows well.” [[“Who is powerful enough to scare the Prince into hiding?”|Brother E]]“The greatest mind is no doubt my brother, but many wonder if he is too smart for his own good. Florence has thrived under his rule. We have leveraged fealty from neighboring kingdoms through the power of our aqueduct. We have strong allies, and we have forced those who resist to capitulate through the circulation of false intelligence. His popularity depends on the specter of constantly emerging threats, which he cultivates and then eliminates. Many are growing weary at home and abroad.” [[“What do you know about the disappearance of your brother?”|Brother C]] [[“Which threats are most viable?”|Brother I]]“No mere accident? Is he only hiding, then? Sometimes the hunter also hides until he finds just the right moment to strike. One man’s predator is another man’s prey. In this court, there are many deluded hunters, and it should be said, even more sheep, but which is which? The General, the Treasurer, my brother’s Lover,” he winks, “even an amiable Constable? But I suppose you mean to ask if I am powerful enough to conjure such a disappearance?” [[Ask another question.|Brother B]] [[“It is clear you have a vested interest as the would-be Prince.”|Brother J]]“What kind of lesson do you mean?” you ask. The Younger Brother picks up two wood carvings from the chess board below. “You see, the Sparrow,” holding out his left hand, “recently sought our protection from the Reaper,” holding out his right hand. “But our Prince abandoned the Sparrow in full knowledge they would be slaughtered by the Reaper. If the left and the right are constantly at odds, there is no time to build something with [[both hands|Brother G]].” [[“What has your relationship to the Prince been of late?”|Brother D]]The Younger Brother hesitates, “It is hard to know.” He looks down at the map, “Another question to ask is whether his disappearance is the result of an evil we should all fear, or a pre-emptive strategy, which could still fail, to hold in abeyance a greater catastrophe. In the confusion, we find ourselves negotiating this gap, but which threshold should we fear more?” [[“What do you think happened to your brother?”|Brother C]] You point back through the curtains, “Does the crown suit you?” “The scepter and the shackle, they can each be made to fit. It seems princes are disappearing of late, perhaps it is better to sit beside the throne? I remain a humble servant to the realm, come what may. What more would you like to know?” [[Ask another question|Brother B]] [[Ask someone else|Main Hub]]“Are you a builder then, an architect of the future?” “I might have been, along with my brother. I might yet become one. Only the Great Scroll of time knows. But this realm needs a strong force to unite the principalities so that cycles of violence don’t keep us all forever enslaved to the past. One great war to unite us in a shared future! My brother disagreed.” [[Ask other questions|Brother B]] (if: (count: (history:), "Brother G") >1 )[Hint: What does the Brother mean by "Great Scroll"?] [[The Great Scroll|Easter Egg 3]] *In this moment, the letter reveals itself to you: My handsome Younger Brother. No one would have more to gain from my death than he, and though his betrayal would have been unthinkable last spring, that was before I learned of his betrothal the the Queen of the Sparrow, a temptress who planned to use their alliance to unseat me and gain access to our great aqueduct. From the safety of Florence, I called in an old friend from the North to eliminate the threat. The history of power is also the history of the struggles to overthrow it, and I fear this particular struggle is not yet over.* [[Question someone else|Main Hub]] [[Ask another question|Brother B]] (if: (count: (history:), "Easter Egg 3") <1 )[(set: $score to $score + 1)] (set: $Brother to 1)““(if: (count: (history:), "Treasurer B") <1 )[I’m very glad you’re here. I have been worried sick about the Prince. ]I will do anything I can to facilitate your investigation. Please ask me anything.” The treasurer seems eager, earnest, and forthcoming. This might go better than you thought. [[“In your experience, has the Prince ever disappeared like this before?”|Treasurer C]] [[“I strongly suspect someone is responsible for his disappearance. Do you have any idea who it could be?”|Treasurer D]] [[“I know you have been with the family since the Prince’s father’s time. You two must be close...”|Treasurer E]] (if: (count: (history:), "Treasurer B") >1 )[[[Question someone else.|Main Hub]]]“The Prince is very conscientious,” she explains. “Although he wields great power, he has nothing but the best interest of his subjects at heart. He is not the kind of man to leave without notice. I worry for him. He would never abandon us. These are important traits for rulers, loyalty and reliability, that he inherited from his [[father.|Treasurer E]] This is probably not directly relevant, but as treasurer, I should inform you that the Prince is extremely generous yet cautious with displays of wealth.” [[“What do you mean “generous”? Who was he generous with?”|Treasurer F]]“It would not be correct of me to speculate on the matter. You see as a proper accountant with an eye to right and wrong, I try to stay away from speculative activity of any type. Which is not to say that there aren’t those who roam these corridors of power and attempt to manipulate the flows of money in and out of these vaults.” [[“So you have no explanation for his disappearance? Has he ever done this before?”|Treasurer C]] [[“Ah, so it is a challenge to keep the books clean, is that what you’re implying?”|Treasurer I]]“You knew his father well, didn’t you? Did his father have any enemies who may still want to hurt the Prince?” you ask. “His father was a good governor. The Prince is very much in this mold. He has never made enemies--” she stops. “Well, other than those any ruler of a state might.” Perhaps she isn’t helpful after all; too forthcoming, you begin to wonder... [[Ask another question.|Treasurer B]] [[“My long years as a Constable have taught me to always be suspicious of appearances…”|Treasurer J]]“The Prince is generous with all; I don’t think that’s an undesirable thing per se. But some have warned that a sovereign must learn to toe a fine line between generosity and prudence lest his subjects think him either too lavish or too miserly. Did the Prince walk this line well? That’s not in my realm of expertise to judge. I simply manage the books.” “Does the Prince mind his own books, or do you do those too?” you ask. “The Prince has a complicated relationship to my work and to [[audits|Treasurer G]] in general. He has very particular views on these matters.” [[Ask other questions|Treasurer B]]“I run a tight ship!” she says brusquely. “But you implied people try to take over navigating..” you press on. “The audit must be transparent, numbers must make sense. Nothing that fails to conform to its standards is inadmissible. However, perhaps not everyone sees things this way. But the Prince sometimes insists on different standards, explaining how the transparent and the hidden are not at odds. He tells me I put too much faith in seeing, that sometimes things need to be occluded because transparency can become tyrannical. Honestly, I don’t know what to make of such ideas.” She pauses before saying, with an edge in her voice, “For me, if it is outside my register, it is as simple as that. It does not register.” [[“Do you think financial issues could explain his disappearance? Has the Prince ever disappeared like this before?”|Treasurer C]]“I wonder if you are all you claim to be or if, secretly, your honesty conceals more than it reveals,” you state in an accusatory tone. “I have dedicated myself to a life of honesty. A fairer accountant you will never find. I hold myself to high professional and personal standards,” she retorts. “Yes, I have gathered you have an impulse toward the truth. But as a wise man once told me, beware of the truth that lies,” you throw back. [[Ask another question|Treasurer B]] [[Ask someone else|Main Hub]]“What do you mean “complicated”? What are you looking for in an audit?” you ask. “The point is not what what we are looking for, the point is the audit itself,” she snaps, startling the couriers who are scurrying past you. “What is being tested in the audit is amenability to the audit. Any refusal to adhere to its requirements can be seen as suspect! The audit is an instrument of accountability, it is not meant to challenge authority but shore it up. If only the Prince would see things this way instead of constantly pressing me to...” she checks herself. [[Don't force the point|Treasurer B]][[.|Easter Egg 4]][[ Ask other questions|Treasurer B]] (if: (count: (history:), "Treasurer G") >1 )[Hint: Force the point by finding the right point above.]*In this moment, the letter reveals itself to you: The Treasurer. Although I have always implicitly trusted her, a relic from my father’s reign, she recently displayed signs of violence, unable to understand that I as governor require the “books” she so cherishes, to be malleable to my needs. When I told her to set aside certain monthly amounts for an account in a bank by the sea, she threatened to “expose” me to the world. I fear the audit is worth more to her than my life. She has always been bound by rules in this way.* [[Question someone else|Main Hub]] [[Ask another question|Treasurer B]] (if: (count: (history:), "Easter Egg 4") <1 )[(set: $score to $score + 1)] (set: $Treasurer to 1)*Inside, you find a wizened old man. You step forward and recount your investigation. The oracle grumbles and shifts in his seat, still silent. You continue:* [[“Who redacted the letter?”|Ending 3]] [[“Where is the Prince?”|Ending 4]] [[“Is everyone guilty, or no one?”|Ending 5]] [[“Why should I trust you?”|Ending 6]]“As oracle I hold no foresight into events of the past. If it is a future letter you wish to inquire into I could help. An oracle does not reconstruct; he speculates. The future is our trade; the past but a mystery we do not delve into. “Didn’t you know who redacted the letter before it was originally redacted?” you ask. “I manage information overload; we must redact and subtract to survive in this world of flows and flux.” [[“Where is the Prince?”|Ending 4]] [[“Is everyone guilty, or no one?”|Ending 5]] [[“Why should I trust you?”|Ending 6]] (if: (count: (history:), "Ending 3") >2 )[Is that it?]“In a world as dislocated as ours, why be obsessed with the location of old relics? In our age of plenty, we must accept the decline of exceptions and embrace a state of non–knowledge.” [[“Who redacted the letter?”|Ending 3]] [[“Is everyone guilty, or no one?”|Ending 5]] [[“Why should I trust you?”|Ending 6]] (if: (count: (history:), "Ending 4") >2 )[Is that it?]“I know the guilty but cannot disclose such information to you. Isn’t finding the guilty your job, Constable? My standards of evidence are not quite forensic. Besides, haven’t you considered this could all just be a game?” [[“Who redacted the letter?”|Ending 3]] [[“Where is the Prince?”|Ending 4]] [[“Why should I trust you?”|Ending 6]] (if: (count: (history:), "Ending 5") >2 )[Is that it?]“More information is thought to reduce conflict, but really all it reduces is trust.” [[“Who redacted the letter?”|Ending 3]] [[“Where is the Prince?”|Ending 4]] [[“Is everyone guilty, or no one?”|Ending 5]] (if: (count: (history:), "Ending 6") >2 )[Is that it?]You aren't supposed to see this.The letter: My dear Friend, Please forgive my delay in responding, but you’ll soon see the reason for my lag. In short, I’m afraid for my life. This is no mere paranoia of royalty, for several of my subjects have approached me, each raising suspicions of the others. Knowing that I cannot trust the word of one against the others when all sound equally guilty, I write to you to implore you to come to my aid. As someone outside of the court and still a true friend to me, you’re the only one I can trust to conduct a thorough investigation to find the would-be betrayer. [[Continue|Letter Review 2]] [[Return to your investigation|Main Hub]]I believe my betrayer to be one of these four: -The General. She has been increasingly vocal in her disapproval of my modest military aspirations. I also snubbed her for a position as my chief military adviser, since (if: $General is 0)[XXXXXXXXXXXX](if: $General is 1)[she has been rumored to hold secret meetings with my brother, who is much more ambitious and favors warmongering. He is said to have promised her complete control of military forces abroad]. -My Lover. I have never revealed his identity to anyone. However of late our relations have strained as he seems more interested in wordplay than affection. And ever since I told him I knew (if: $Lover is 0)[XXXXXXXXXXXX](if: $Lover is 1)[that his celebrated work The Portrait of Orson Welles as a Genuine Man had actually been painted by automata,] he has been evasive and emotionally unpredictable. I know he would have so much to lose if I said anything. -My handsome Younger Brother. No one would have more to gain from my death than he, and though his betrayal would have been unthinkable last spring, that was before (if: $Brother is 0)[XXXXXXXXXXXX](if: $Brother is 1)[I learned of his betrothal the the Queen of the Sparrow, a temptress who planned to use their alliance to unseat me and gain access to our great aqueduct. From the safety of Florence, I called in an old friend from the North to eliminate the threat. The history of power is also the history of the struggles to overthrow it, and I fear this particular struggle is not yet over]. -The Treasurer. Although I have always implicitly trusted her, a relic from my father’s reign, she recently displayed signs of violence(if: $Treasurer is 0)[ XXXXXXXXXXXX I fear XXXXX](if: $Treasurer is 1)[, unable to understand that I as governor require the “books” she so cherishes, to be malleable to my needs. When I told her to set aside certain monthly amounts for an account in a bank by the sea, she threatened to “expose” me to the world. I fear the audit] is worth more to her than my life. She has always been bound by rules in this way. This is all I have the space to say here. Please come immediately if you are the one true friend I have left. Yours, The Prince [[Return to your investigation|Main Hub]] [[Reread to page 1|Letter Review 1]][[Return|About]] [[Home|Home]] Course Syllabus by Week: Epistemologies of deception WEEK I: INTRODUCTION [[Introductory Essay, David Theo Goldberg|Essay]] WEEK II: LOGICS OF DECEPTION <html><a href="http://www.abdoumaliqsimone.com/files/54078622.pdf">AbdouMaliq Simone, ”Ghostly Cracks and Urban Deceptions: Jakarta”</a><html> <html><a href="http://jwtc.org.za/salon_volume_5/david_theo_goldberg.htm">David Theo Goldberg, “Epistemologies of Deception”</a><html> Ackbar Abbas, “Faking Globalization” WEEK III: GOVERNING THROUGH DECEPTION Machiavelli, The Prince 92-114; 119-124 <html><a href="http://thefunambulist.net/2014/12/04/the-funambulist-papers-57-schematic-bodies-notes-on-a-patterns-genealogy-by-gregoire-chamayou/">Gregoire Chamayou, “Patterns of Life: A Very Short History of Schematic Bodies”</a><html> WEEK IV: SECRECY <html><a href="http://www.preciousheart.net/fm/Simmel.pdf">Simmel, Sociology of Secrecy and Secret Societies</a><html> Mario Perniola, “Secrets, Folds, and Enigmas” Peter Gallison, “Secrecy in Three Acts” WEEK V: SECRECY AND TRANSPARENCY <html><a href="http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2012/08/jean-baudrillard-rituals-of-transparency.html">Baudrillard, “Rituals of Transparency”</a><html> Marilyn Strathern, “The Tyranny of Transparency” WEEK VI: TRANSPARENCY <html><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1149378">Ann Florini, “The End of Secrecy”</a><html> Christopher Hood, “Transparency in Historical Perspective” <html><a href="http://www.step.org/onshore-secrecy-offshore-transparency">Jason Sharman, “Onshore secrecy, offshore transparency”</a><html> WEEK VII: CLANDESTINY <html><a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/18731/seam-zones-security-zonesdeath-zones-and-walls">Laleh Khalili, “Seam, Zones, Security Zones, Death Zones, and Walls”</a><html> Alain Deneault, Offshore <html><a href="http://roundtable.kein.org/node/1094">Adi Ophir, “The Politics of Catastrophization"</a><html> WEEK VIII: HUNTER/HUNTED Gregoire Chamayou, Manhunts: A Philosophical History. Princeton, 2012. <html><a href="http://yhoo.it/1BsWHAL">Simone Brown, “Dark Sousveillance: Race, Surveillance, and Resistance”</a><html> <html><a href="http://isreview.org/issue/96/race-surveillance-and-empire">Arun Kundnani and Deepa Kumar, “Race, Surveillance and Empire”</a><html> Goldberg, David Theo, Are We All Postracial Yet? Ch 3 WEEK IX: DRONES Gregoire Chamayou, A Theory of Drones. New Press, 2015. Derek Gregory, “From A View to Kill: Drones and Late Modern War” Caren Kaplan, “Drone Sight” WEEK X: FORENSIS <html><a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/3027475/infographic-of-the-day/whatarchitecture-reveals-about-secret-drone-strikes">Shaunacy Ferro, “What Architecture Reveals About Secret Drone Strikes”</a><html> Eyal Weizman, The Conflict Shoreline <html><a href="http://www.forensic-architecture.org/case/drone-strikes/">Eyal Weizman, Drone Strikes: Investigating covert operations through social media"</a><html>[[Return|Syllabus]] [[About]] [[Home|Home]] **Secrecy and Transparency: Secreting Transparencies** David Theo Goldberg 1. Secrecy and Transparency are co-implicated, not just in the sense that they are an obverse of each other but in the sense that their meanings are defined in terms of each other. A secret can be held only by conveying the sense that one is transparent in other relevant regards. And one is transparent only by assuring that one is not withholding, that one is not being secretive. The cypher punks insist on transparency by exercising cryptography, by the exercise of the capacity to stave off surveillance, implying that the secretive insertion by another--the state, corporate invasive cookies etc,--can only be held off by furtively placing oneself in a cyber space beyond their reach. transparency requires secrecy, secrecy necessitates as much as it is necessitated by transparency. This is not to say the one is reducible to the other, or that there can be no transparency. It is to say that there is no transparency without secrecy, and v.v. 2. Secrets are deemed the exception to a state of desirable transparency. The. SA Bill suggests secrecy as a state of exception. Obama's decent, centrist liberalism comes close too though American realpolitik intrudes and secrecy is deemed a necessity of state. Transparency for state and cypherpunks alike is taken as the condition of freedom, as the sought after, the horizon, perhaps fading, of liberty. Secrecy is the necessary instrument of maintaining freedom in the face of its intended curtailment by forces of evil, whether the state (cypherpunks) or enemies of the state or of power (cf Obama, SA Bill). Maintaining power seems to necessitate its exercise over others while effectively veiling its operations-- in the best case by affecting transparency--from those considered possibly not to share the value(s) of those in whose name power is exercised. 3. Transparency is the condition of seeing through. Seeing through not just in the sense of then being able to light upon an unadulterated truth behind the veil but a seeing through in the sense of seeing the world subject (or indeed subjected) to a different if related set of assumptions. There is no meaning absent interpretation and transparency offers another set of interpretive devices, assumptions, frames. If transparency is a form of seeing past, it cannot help but see things by not seeing others, of shadings that at once obscure. Transparency makes clear by rendering obscure, and renders obscure to make seen, to clarify. Secrecy, by the same token, renders opaque in order to reveal, reveals not just by making opaque but in its very opacities. No secrets that don't embellish reality, rendering the world beyond the content of the secret itself (more) mysterious, enigmatic, unfathomable. In the name of exercising greater control, the world in which secrets circulate become less controllable, less predictable, more uncertain. 4. Secrecy leaks, by necessity secretes. One would not just know that a secret exists--in a sense one would not know oneself to have, to be in possession of, to own a secret but for the leak. What value a secret if it is never known that one is in possession of it. Though of course knowing that, knowing of a secret (existence) does not amount to knowing its content, what the secret is, but sets the partial knower down the path of (potential) discovery, even at risk of killing the cat (cf. snowmen, Assange, Greenwald). Secrets have currency, as any currency, only in so far as they are in circulation, in exchange. Which implies in turn that the power of secrecy is a function of at least a degree of transparency, of its hint, its implication. But perhaps one can say the same thing of transparency. Its power is a function of the exhaustion of secretion, the emptiness of the leak. Transparency, at least in its completion, is the completely leaked secret, the never quite secret secret, the almost fully divulged. The never quite and almost a necessity here too, for the power of the transparent likewise would be exhausted, undercut, defueled in the complete revelation of the once secret. Transparency would have to reinvent the secret in the case of its full revelation. Adam gained secret knowledge and power once biting the forbidden apple, revealing to him (to them, as ones confidantes immediately become implicated) a world, a set of experiential knowledge hitherto beyond grasp behind the wall of deific secrecy while at once closing off to him the once known, the now made secret. One acquires secrets through transparency only by being shut out from the once known, or the known unknown, through its now inaccessibility. The political theology of secrecy and transparency. 5. Secrecy and transparency accordingly are constitutively implicated in and ordered through power. The power of withholding and revelation. Power is not something external or instrumental to secrecy and transparency but Immanent to their dialectical relationalities. The power to withhold and reveal, the withholding and revelation of power itself, the power in revelation and keeping secret as well as in secretion, in letting leak. Transparency too turns on a power to let out, to make apparent, to transfer appearance. WikiLEAKS trades on this power of secretion's doubling. 6. In the predigital moment access entailed the capacity to enter files, or to listen in. Keeping secrets meant keeping out of the file, out of earshot, out of sight. In the digital age the scope has broadened: it is not simply keeping out of a box, hearing, sight as keeping out of a system, an operating infrastructure. Where transparency in the earlier moment consisted in access to a body of information, in the Information Age ironically transparency is knowing less about bits of information than figuring out the operating system generating the information. Controlling the system offers the ability to troll its contents, the power to secrete, to gain by secretion. If in the time before secrecy was power and power the capacity to restrict information to the privileged few, today power resides more readily in the leak, in secretion. We have come full circle: secrecy necessitates transparency, transparency is the secret (to success). The older regime: letting leak and making believe; today, making leak and make believe. The state of prolific if not universal deception. 7. What has emerged today, then, is a novel landscape--an ecology, even--of secrecy for the sake of security masquerading as transparency, of transparency as secrecy's unique mode of expression. Transparency is the Sovereign's clothing, it's cover up, secrecy its prime mover. Bitcoin's value is a function of its transparency--it's instantaneous and more or less assured transfer of goods or services purchased with/for digital currency between traders. The completion of the transaction is instantaneously and universally visible to all parties and providers in the Bitcoin mediated transaction. But the entire currency, it's conception, coding, concluding transactions, is underpinned by secrecy in both the sense that its programming is cryptographically enacted and enhanced and that the transaction can be seen only by the parties to it and those they agree should have viewable access. The freedom Bitcoin represents--non-regulated, immediated exchange instantaneously concluded--as well as its transparency are possible only as a function of its secret securings, it's cryptographic enactments, its invisible mediations, its relatively absent traces. 8. There are two seemingly irreconcilable concepts of freedom's workings at play here. One is that freedom is only possible through its protections, by way of regulating its enactments in and across the social. The other is that freedom is sustainable not by regulating it but exactly by distributing its conditions of possibility as widely as possible across members of the social population so as to undercut any effective regulation or control. The point would be to clear the space of free enterprise to the ever outside of regularibility. Where the first seeks to regulate the scope of distribution, the latter trades in its proliferation. We might be tempted to think the latter transparent and the former not but there's a sense that radically proliferated distributions are unregulable precisely because they render opaque the originating sites of action (this too at the heart of cryptography's social logic). While of course heavily regulated sociality may be as transparent as it is relatively unfree. 9. So there are deep relations between the three driving freedoms of our time:--social-political, financial, communicative (Assange)--and secrecy and transparency. Only these connections are far from being as transparent--as clear-minded as they are so often taken to be.