The Darknet Guide

Global Forager

Global Forager is a program allows you to take over hostile network systems. Pahana has set it up so that we can use it to take over Gideon's satellite. §

ELINT FORAGER II
First Wave Electronic Warfare
Network Acquisition and Assimilation
(Prototype Release)

Network warfare is a rapidly changing enviroment. Several years ago,
FORAGER I achived complete penetration of XXXXXXX civil infrastruc-
ture within 72 hours. At the end of the attack, the assimiliated ELF
network consisted of XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

When penetration was complete, FORAGER network "dialtone" was avail-
able within all target Ministry of Defense facilities, all telecom
routing centers, and all airports. Penetration of primary SATCOM
ground station was so complete that we were able to spoof unit posi-
tioning through their entire chain of command.

Since then, we have broadly deployed FORAGER networks in both allied
and non-aligned countries covering over 80% of the planet. This pro-
vides us with unprecedented access to a non-interrutible network that
is ideally suited for intelligence uses.

Several countries have begun to deploy counter-measure against FOR-
AGER. This release is designed to provide an answer to these measures.
FORAGER II is capable of defeating any known EPV deployed by either
ourselves or potential targets.

I have uploaded a Defense Agency program called "Forager" This program builds networks from the things it finds - things that are not meant to be connected. I have modified this program to work with the Darknet. What FORAGER builds, the darknet will own

FORAGER is a tool to penetrage hostile systems. It tunnels over electrial wiring, radio and obsolete networks

With FORAGER, we will be able to create a network that is capable of seizing control of satellite ground stations. This will allow us to complete Gideon's work.

Unfortunately, other forces now control these networks. We will have to fight them for possession of the grid. When we succeed, the darknet will carry a new heartbeat.

Then we will have the power to size the satellites.

We will show the world the truth.

FORAGER has already found thousands of network GRIDS. Your job will be to attack and convert these GRIDS, connecting them to the darknet.

If we are to succeed at this, we must all do our part.

YOU must do YOUR part.

When you enter Global Forager, you are automatically assigned a region. This seems to be based on your actual physical location, since it appears that the majority of assignments are either in the United States or Europe. The details of your region (including ground station name and satellite name) show up in the small text underneath your region name. §

Your job is now to take over the ground networks in the 12 regions so that you can have continous access to the satellite. You do this by building network connections through a game grid. You have a limited number of turns to connect your side of the board to the opposite side, while a computer program tries to stop you. Each time you successfully complete this, you gain 10, 50 or 500 network nodes, depending on the difficulty.

If you are in a region that has already been 100% converted, you are told that you can either continue in your region to create redundancies, or help out in another region that needs assisstance. §

The game itself can be a little tricky to figure out once you get started. Luckily the Wiki has a pretty decent strategy guide for the extremely difficult Black Echo board that can help you on your way. It also helps to play a few games to get the hang of what exactly it is you're doing.

After you successfully build a network connection on the grid, you are given a new status point (Soft Target) and also unlock new channels in D.MUX.R: S.E-CC°# and DOK-MTR.

It's now time to settle down and get very, very used to playing with Global Forager. As I said above, we need to take over all 12 networks in order to gain complete access to the satellite. As of this writing, only 2 out of 12 ground stations have been secured, and only one other is above 50% secured. So we have a very long way to go.

Global Forager Updates

I know, it's been a long time since this guide has been updated, but that's mostly because it's been a very long time since there's actually been anything updated - other than Global Forager that is. After we managed to get the global penetration over 50%, we were informed that the Global Forager program had been updated with new grids and more powerful network assimilation protocols. This had the extreme benefit of making Global Forager much easier to win. As an added bonus, a new registration protocol was implemented. Instead of going all the way through the White.House, GNE.HCK and ATK.DOG, you could skip straight to Global Forager. This allowed us to recruit even more players to grind their way through the network nodes.

Despite all of this, it was still taking us an incredibly long time to get 100% completion across all ground stations. Twelve days after the initial Global Forager update, we still had 4 ground stations left to complete. We figured that if we were lucky, we would finish by the end of the year. But all of a sudden, it seemed that we were completing the ground stations much faster than before. We breezed through two more ground stations and then it got even easier. Each Black Echo win seemed to add 1% to the ground station percentage. At about 1:30am on December 17th, we finally hit 100% completion on all ground stations.

CLEO Operational

With all of the ground stations operational, we now have access to the CLEO satellite. This was one of the files we acquired from the NASA Server - the one where it showed several different pictures, including one of the constellation Leo. You may remember Pahana asking Gideon how to access the satellite in the Manhattan phone call and Gideon replying "Cats see things." This was a hint to click on the eye of Leo, which allows you to attempt to control the CLEO satellite. Before we had access to all of the ground stations, every time we tried to gain control of CLEO, our attempts would fail. But with ground stations all over the world, we can now seize control of the satellite and not worry about losing it again.

Going back to CLEO after the Global Forager completion, connection will be finally be established. Please note, you must have won one Global Forager game in order to connect to the activated CLEO satellite. Starting from the beginnning and trying to access CLEO before Global Forager will result in a failure to connect to the satellite.

Once you're connected, you are presented with a star field where the 12 Zodiac constellations can be selected by using the arrows to scroll through the sky. After selecting any three constellations, the program attempts to send the "combination" to unlock the controls of the satellite. This is what Gideon's access code was - the series of three constellations that would unlock the CLEO satellite.

Gideon's Access Sequence

So we're back to this again. But we know more now than we did before. We know that it has something to do with the constellations of the Zodiac. We also know, from Gideon's interrogation, that he gave the access codes to LaFontaine. Nothing in the interrogation seems to suggest that he gave the access codes to LaFontaine then, so when else would he have given out the codes?

The only other time Gideon had any sort of contact with LaFontaine was in the London call, when he was talking to the unconnected phone. "You spread poison and call it justice. You claim to be a king but you're no more than a waterboy." Unless you were looking for the Zodiac connection, that line is easily glossed over. But the inclusion of waterboy, pointing to Aquarius, is the giveaway that this has to be the access sequence. So what exactly does Gideon say here? §

Since we only need three constellation to unlock CLEO, let's try entering them in the order that Gideon says. CLEO starts on Aires and, as you scroll to the right, goes to Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. So you just need to scroll to and select Scorpio, Libra and then finally Leo to enter the code.

A Game of Simon

There's one last thing you need to do before you gain complete control over the satellite, and that is play a game of Simon. You will be presented with the Leo constellation and different stars will light up and play a tone. You have four chances to successfully repeat the pattern played for you, otherwise you will be kicked back out to GID.DIR.

Imaging the Moon

So now we finally have complete control over the CLEO satellite. Sorta. Technically, Pahana has complete control over the CLEO satellite and, instead of lookig for ruins on Earth, turns the satellite around and starts scanning the Moon and transmitting a signal. The first transmission elicits no respons, so Pahana repositions the satellite again.

The second time, Pahana uses the ground penetrating radar to verify that something is actually there. He seems to expose some sort of moon base, and when he transmits a signal, it seems to go wrong. We get what looks like to be one last message from Pahana: "When they rejected the Mason, I had hoped they might join us, but it seems you fight alone. I have failed you."

But that's not the only message we get. A very staticy picture of what looks sort of like a child comes on and says "Not here. Not now. This message is for everyone." We then are told to LISTEN and are given a set of coordinates with a date and time to listen to the 1296.040 MHz band for what can only be another message.

1. 12-18 UT: 17:30:00 – 18:30:00 21°41?S ±90° 56°43?W ±90°
2. 12-18 UT: 23:00:00 – 24:00:00 20°59?S ±90° 136°36?W ±90°
3. 12-19 UT: 18:00:00 – 19:00:00 18°14?S ±90° 52°49?W ±90°
4. 12-20 UT: 00:00:00 – 01:00:00 17°16?S ±90° 140°8?W ±90°
5. 12-20 UT: 18:30:00 – 19:30:00 14°3?S ±90° 49°32?W ±90°
6. 12-21 UT: 18:30:00 – 19:30:00 9°26?S ±90° 39°25?W ±90°
7. 12-22 UT: 02:30:00 – 03:30:00 7°48?S ±90° 156°7?W ±90°
8. 12-22 UT: 19:30:00 – 20:30:00 4°14?S ±90° 44°9?W ±90°
9. 01-01 UT: 01:30:00 – 02:30:00 23°19?N ±90° 17°39?W ±90°
10. 01-01 UT: 12:30:00 – 13:30:00 21°43?N ±90° 177°2?E ±90°

The 1296.040 MHz frequency is often used for Earth-Moon-Earth by ham radio operators. So now we have to track someone down who not only is a ham radio operator but has a radio that can pick up the 23cm band. And we need to do it fairly quickly since the first broadcast takes place on December 18th - one day after we got access to CLEO. Now we know why we were helped out on Global Forager. There was a deadline to meet.

Trying to Intercept the Transmission

Intercepting this transmission is one of the hardest things I've ever seen in an ARG. Not only does it require specializes equipment, but there's also a certain degree of luck involved since it depends on having clear atmospheric conditions. We tried several times to use the online receivers to pick up the tramission with no luck.

However, Faust316 managed to find someone who recorded something on December 22nd. There is a ton of static on the recording (which was made by holding a microphone up to a speaker), but you can just make out a voice speaking in the background that sounds very similiar to the one that spoke to us via the CLEO satellite. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get more than a few words or phrases out of this recording. But at least we now know for certain that we are on the right track with the EME transmissions.

With only two transmissions left, we were becoming a bit desperate and wondered if we would be able to get a real recording before they stopped broadcasting. Faust316 once again was able to come up with a couple more recordings. Still tons of static, but with a bit of audio processing, it does become a bit clearer. However, there's still a ton of room for interpretation about what is being said due to the quality of the recordings.

But then we hit the jackpot. Waikyn314 got an email from someone in the Ham community with the best sounding recording yet. With a minimal amount of static and distortion, it was now possible to get a somewhat accurate transcription. So of course we all started trying to transcribe the recording.

The Transmission

Even with Waikyn314's recording, there is still quite a bit of guesswork as to what the alien voice is saying. My own stab at the transcription went through a multi-step process. First, I typed out everything I thought I heard. Then I gathered everyone else's attempts and then went line by line trying out each person's take, mixing and matching what I deemed to be the best fit. Probably far from perfect, but I think the overall message comes through fairly well. §

So there is a war brewing. A war that it doesn't sound like we (Mankind) will survive. But we will be avenged. Which I guess is somewhat good news. Although I think I'd rather be living than having to have someone avenge my death.

Unanswered Questions

I was hoping that the transmission would give us something else to go on, but it just raises more questions. Like who are the Watchers? Where are their cities? Where is the Island? What is in the bones (of the aliens?) that so many were killed? Can Mankind survive at all? Who will be the one to avenge us? What Truth?

And what exactly are we supposed to do now? There doesn't seem to be anything left to check out in the Darknet, unless there is something more we should be doing with Gideon's files. Are we in a hiatus until the Aliens get in contact with us again?

To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I had hoped that after beating Global Forager that we would get a huge update that would take us days to completely digest. And while the EME transmissions were literally out of this world, it doesn't seem like it's enough. Considering that the message we received wasn't really mindblowing, I feel like we're taking steps backwards in the reward structure here. Insanely long hard game leads to insanely hard to receive transmission leads to a message that could just have been left on my answer machine. Seems like a bit of overkill, doesn't it?

But maybe we're just missing something. I hope so, and I hope someone can figure it out soon. Because I would hate to be left with this feeling of wanting for who knows how long while we wait for something else to fall into our laps.

Blackout

*Sigh* Turns out my fears about this going into hiatus has been confirmed. After our mass posting of transcriptions of the EME tramission, we got a Transmission Complete message on the forum telling us that the first chapter of X is completed. There's a small glimmer of hope that they say that "there are still many parts of the mystery that have yet to be discovered or explored deeper" but I'm a tad bit dubious as to if we really can find anything new without help.

The good news is several players are going to be getting signed copies of the graphic novel for either kicking ass at Global Forager, solving puzzles or getting one of the EME tramissions. So congrats to them. You totally deserve it and it's great to see a corporate ARG giving extremely deserving players goodies rather than just randomly picking from a small pool of people.

See the Intro page for a list of all the websites, plus brief information about this guide and the game.