Read further · read 83.8% · key from adjacent plaintext · partial

Cipher telegrams to Setembrino de Carvalho, Fortaleza, 1914

Telegrams of March to May 1914 from the Minister of War and his aide-de-camp to the federal commander in Ceará during the Juazeiro rising, in a Vigenère cipher with an eight-letter key restarted at every word. The key was rebuilt from a pencil decipherment on one sheet; its pre-registered test failed (0.733 against 0.85). The palace of Fortaleza was reported mined, with an engineer’s account of the works under it. Read in part (92% of the main key’s cipher groups, 84% of the file).

Date
1914
Read now
83.8% of the cipher tokens give sense
Write-up
setembrino1914.html
Files
targets/setembrino1914
Open gaps
too short to break ×3needs the archive

Hand this page to your AI agent

Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:

https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/setembrino1914.html

Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Cipher telegrams to Setembrino de Carvalho, Fortaleza, 1914
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/setembrino1914.html

You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.

THE READING
  Write-up:   https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/setembrino1914.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1914
  Outcome:    key from adjacent plaintext · partial
  Read now:   83.8% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/setembrino1914 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [too-short: needs a new source] pagfis 1326, second group MRELDTKRIMV (11 letters, "complot ..."), unresolved; the contemporary pencil attempt failed too; no word under any rotation of MFTDBSJV, LETCARIV, OVHXZIRF or LBQPOHVJ (integration check) - blocker: too-short; a transmission slip is likely and 11 letters give nothing to test it on
  2. [too-short: needs a new source] pagfis 1328, SUQHSJU ("teme ataque ..."), unresolved; no word under any rotation of the four keys; "general" would need three slips - blocker: too-short
  3. [too-short: needs a new source] 10 March and 20 May keys not validated by the pre-registered test (93 and 304 letters, held-out parts of 34 and 152 letters, many one-step and Morse slips) - blocker: too-short
  4. [needs-physical-access: needs a new source] Transcription against the CPDOC images, and the cribs FSC pce 1914.02.19/2 (typed clear copies of Vespasiano's telegrams) and FSC cont 1914.10.07/2 (catalogue 1471): the DocReader pages load their images by JavaScript, so they need a browser session that the integrating session did not have - blocker: needs-physical-access

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: the other telegrams of the folder (pagfis 1317-1332) are all read; the repeats (Ct strips) were used to choose variants
  [x] clear-pages: the pencil decipherment on pagfis 1319 is the crib that gave the key; the typed clear copies FSC pce 1914.02.19/2 not opened (see gaps)
  [x] known-keys: MFTDBSJV, LETCARIV, OVHXZIRF and LBQPOHVJ (catalogue 1471, 7 Oct 1914) tried on the two unread groups under every rotation: no word
  [x] print: no printed edition of these telegrams found in the vetting; none searched further here
  [x] key-rebuild: OVHXZIRF found by hill climbing on the even groups of 20 May; LETCARIV not extended (93 letters)
  [x] retry: the unread groups and the doubtful letters were retried with all four keys and with the Ct repeats

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/setembrino1914/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/setembrino1914/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
   update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
   (hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
   If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
   are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
   needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
   or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
   For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
   re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
   and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
   letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
   give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
   (2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
   or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
   with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/setembrino1914/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
  the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+setembrino1914&page=setembrino1914.html
  Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
  propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
  and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.

Open gaps

gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.

Already tried

Send a result

One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.

Open a further-reading issueOther kinds of reportHow credit works← All partial readings