Start of a transcript of Ritus Sacri An Interactive Fiction by quackoquack Release 1 / Serial number 201031 / Inform 7 build 6M62 (I6/v6.33 lib 6/12N) Identification number: //819ABBA1-9BBB-48C3-8530-4EEA44C46427// Interpreter version 2.1.7 / VM 3.1.2 / Library serial number 080126 Standard Rules version 3/120430 by Graham Nelson >about That's not a verb I recognise. >l Your Bedroom You're sitting at your desk. It faces a window, which normally looks over your back yard, but currently all you can see is the night. >i You are carrying: a pencil >x me Fifteen years old and slightly sleep deprived. >x desk Simple, wooden. You solved the issue of it being too cluttered to work by pushing the clutter onto your bed instead. Now, there's only your Latin dictionary, a sheet of paper, and the photocopied passage. >open dictionary This dictionary is your only hope of translating the passage, best not damage it. >x sheet Empty. Time to get a move on. >x passage It's a (legally questionable) photocopy of a page in your teacher's ancient book of translation exercises. You think this one is by Ovid. These twisting sentences have likely caused many schoolchildren suffering over the decades. The title reads "ritus sacri". It seems a sensible place to start translating. And it's a good thing you have a dictionary to LOOK UP words in, since you don't quite recognise either of these. You know you can also CHECK GLOSSARY for a refresher on what the different noun cases in Latin are. >look up ritus Noun: rite, ceremony. Here, it's nominative plural. >look up sacri Adjective: sacred, hallowed. This ending means it must agree with a nominative plural noun. So both of them are nominative plural - that means they can match with each other. "The sacred rites," you mutter under your breath, as you write the words out at the top of the page. You look at the now not-empty sheet proudly for a moment, and then decide to quickly jot today's date down next to the title. 9th May. All right, onto the next line. >check glossary Latin has six noun cases. The ending of a noun will change to indicate its case. Checking the cases of each noun is vital to understanding how to understand sentences in Latin, since word order is very flexible. Each noun has a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) and a declension (1st, 2nd, ..., 5th) - these determine the endings for each case. Adjectives endings will also change to match the case (and singular/plural) of the noun they describe. Nominative: the subject of a sentence. The noun that is doing an action. Accusative: the object of a sentence. Something is being done to the noun. Vocative: the noun is being spoken to. Genitive: "of" or "belonging to" the noun. Dative: "to" or "for" the noun. Ablative: "by" or "from" or "with" the noun. >x passage With the title out the way, you take a look at the first line. mensis erat Maius, et priscos mores habet: You recognise the first three words: "The month was May". mensis meaning "month" is the subject of the sentence here, nominative singular. habet is a verb, it means "retains". The month retains? You're not sure about the last two words though. >look up priscos Adjective: former, ancient. It needs to agree with an accusative plural noun. You can try matching it with another word: MATCH PRISCOS WITH ... >look up mores Noun: custom, practice. The chart tells you that it's accusative plural. >match priscos with mores Yes, they're both accusative plural! So together they mean: "the ancient customs". Okay, you can see how it fits together now - "The month was May, and it retains the ancient customs." You jot it down, glad that the start hasn't been too hard so far. You're ready to look at the next line of the passage. >x passage ubi inferias tacitis manibus dabimus. You know that dabimus is a verb, "we give". So you need to figure out what's being given, and who it's being given to... >look up ubi That's not a word you need to look up. >look up inferias Noun: ritual, rite. Accusative plural. >look up tacitis Adjective: silent. Agrees with a dative plural noun. You'll need to find what it matches with again. >look up manibus Noun: spirit. Here it's dative plural - "to the spirits". >match tacitis with manibus Both dative plural - perfect. Together they mean: "to the silent spirits". So the accusative noun must be what's being given, and the dative is what it's being given to. "We give the rites to the silent spirits." There's something very satisfying about fitting the words together. You decide to reword it a little to sound better as you write it down: "We perform the rites for the silent spirits." Onto the next line of the passage. >x passage nox ubi est et nox somno silentia praebet, The first three words make sense: "When it is night." nox meaning night is a nominative noun here. et just means "and". praebet is a verb - "lends." The night lends something? >look up somno Noun: sleep, slumber. Dative singular - "to sleep". >look up silentia Noun: silence. Accusative singular. You've got an accusative noun and a dative noun, perfect. "When it is night and the night lends silence to sleep." Very poetic, you think as you put it down on your sheet of paper. Onwards. >x passage ille memor ritus et timidus manium, ille means "he", nominative singular. rituum you had in the title, but it's genitive plural here - "of the rites". manium means "spirits" again, but it's also genitive plural here. There's a few words left you don't know. >look up memor Adjective: mindful. Agrees with something nominative singular. Time to match! >look up timidus Adjective: afraid. Agrees with something nominative singular. What does it match with? >match memor with timidus Hm, those don't quite seem to go together. >match memor with ille That works! "He", where that person is "mindful". >match timidus with ille Yes, both are nominative singular. Whoever "he" is referring to, they're "afraid". You can put it together with that. "He, mindful of the rites, and afraid of the spirits." You write it down, excited at the progress you're making, but you know you have to stay focussed if you don't want to lose your flow. >x passage surgit et manus pura fontanae perluit unda. Two verbs here: surgit means "gets up", and perluit means "rinses". They're probably still referring to the "he" from the previous line. manus means hands, probably plural accusative here. He rinses his hands? >look up pura Adjective: clean, pure. Agrees with an ablative singular noun, which one could that be? >look up fontanae Noun: spring, fountain. Genitive singular - "from a spring". >look up unda Noun: water, wave. Either nominative singular or ablative singular here. >match unda with pura Both of them are ablative plural, that works: "with pure water". That's enough to figure out the line! "He gets up and rinses his hands with pure water from a spring." You jot it down. You hope your teacher won't mind your sleepy, sloppy handwriting. >x passage nigras accipit fabas et aversus iacit. Once again, two verbs: accipit means "takes", and iacit means "throws". You'll need to figure out which word is the accusative noun that's being thrown around... >look up nigras Adjective: black. This will need to match with an accusative plural noun. >look up fabas Noun: bean. Accusative plural - so, the man is throwing beans? >look up aversus Adjective: facing away. Agrees with something that's nominative singular. Ah! Must be referring to the ille from earlier. >match aversus with ille You can only match with words in the current line. >match nigras with fabas Perfect, the two of them are accusative plural: "black beans". All right, you think you can see it now. "He takes some black beans and throws them, facing away." You're getting close to the end now, just a few more lines to go. >x passage ubi dixit novies "manes exite paterni," You recognise the first two words: "when he has said". exite is a verb, "depart". It's conjugated as a command here - the man is speaking to someone? Hopefully there's a vocative noun somewhere. >look up novies Adverb: nine times. >look up manes Noun: spirit. Ah, yes, same word as manibus and manibus earlier, but now it's vocative plural. >look up paterni Adjective: ancestral. It needs to match with something that's either nominative plural or vocative plural. >match exite with manes You can't see any such thing. >match manes with paterni Yes, they're both vocative plural. So the man is speaking to his "ancestral spirits", it seems. You can piece the words together now. "When he has said "Ancestral spirits, depart," nine times." You wonder what the significance of the number nine is. Funnily enough, you're onto the ninth - and final - line of the passage now. Keep your focus, you'll be able to rest soon. You know if you look back, your bed will be right there waiting for you. >x passage respicit et pure sacra peracta putat. The final line! It starts with a verb: "he looks back". The last word is a verb too: "he thinks". Now you just need to figure out the middle, and you can call it a night. >look up pure Adverb: correctly, perfectly. (You hope that's an adverb that could describe your translating tonight.) >look up sacra Noun: sacred object, rite. You're guessing it means "rite" in your context. It's nominative plural here. >look up peracta Adjective: finished, completed. You'll need to find a nominative plural noun for it to match with. >match peracta sacra I didn't understand that sentence. >match peracta with (the pencil) You can only match certain words. >match peracta with sacra Both of the words are nominative plural, so that works: "completed rites." This is it, you think you've figured out the final line. "He looks back, and he thinks the sacred rites completed perfectly." As you pen the words down, the relief flowing through you is immense. But then you realise that feeling inside you feels more like a chill than it does relief. Cold. Did you forget to shut the bedroom door behind you? You look back, and - Please press SPACE to continue. Maybe if you had not been so engrossed in your translating, you would have seen them coming. *** The End *** Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last command? > undo Your Bedroom [Previous turn undone.] >look Your Bedroom You're sitting at your desk. It faces a window, which normally looks over your back yard, but currently all you can see is the night. There's a very quiet creaking noise, not noticeable until you looked up from your translation. You assume it's just the wind. >listen There's a very quiet creaking noise, not noticeable until you looked up from your translation. You assume it's just the wind. >x window Your Bedroom You're sitting at your desk. It faces a window, which normally looks over your back yard, but currently all you can see is the night. You look up at the window. Something about the reflection of what's behind you seems... wrong. >x reflection You peer at the reflection in the window, then look back, and your stomach lurches. Nine ghostly figures float in front of your closed bedroom door. Faded flesh clings, rotting, to their skeletons. From their ligaments hang scraps of cloth and thread and skin. Your eyes meet the empty sockets of the closest figure. You feel an unsettling presence snake its way into your mind - tendrils of thought not rooted in any words, any language, and yet you understand. Please press SPACE to continue. "It is May. The night is silent. The sacred rites. Forgotten. So many years. We have been dishonoured. Disrespected. Searching for people. Searching in in people. For those who still remember." You lean back against your desk. "And you do. You remember." They begin to move toward you. "You remember, and you did not perform them." Please press SPACE to continue. *** The End *** Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT or UNDO the last command? > quit