A personal musing shared to the darkness of night

I have uncovered a missive that has been left behind in the dark catacombs of the Lord Hardestadt's estate in Rome.   The letter was intricately written, and its meaning carefully concealed in what I can only describe as a simple form of polyaphabetic substitution.  The letter seemed to be a mess of nonsensical letters at first, but it took precious little time for me to note the consistent placement and gaps between groups to see the substitution that the cipher relied upon.  What was harder what finding a way to break the code since the substituted letters did not seem to repeat themselves in a recognizable pattern.   This reminded me of the book  La cifra del Sig. Giovan Battista Bellasco in which the author described a cipher that made use of a series of different Caesar ciphers based on the letter of a keyword.

The nature of the note, with its precise handwriting (the letters were practically of the same height and width, and to hold the letter folded against the light had the letters match perfectly) and the justification of the hand-written text reminded me of one person among the many visitors the Lord Hardestadt had that day.  The similarity of the author's name to the events that were relevant to the writer was the final clue I needed to break the vigenère cipher .


The keyword clearly was giovanni.
And the author, the young Hanz Braun Viecht.


The contents are disturbing, to say the least.   I am uncertain if I should share this missive to the other Founders.  Or to the Children of the Conspiracy.

¿ǝʌıl llıʇs ı op ʎɥʍ

˙sɹɐǝʎ pǝɹpunɥ ɐ ɹǝʌo ɹoɟ pɐǝp uǝǝq ǝʌɐɥ noʎ ʇnq
˙ɹǝɥʇoɯ 'noʎ spuıɟ ɹǝʇʇǝl sıɥʇ ɥsıʍ ı

˙oʇ ʇuɐʍ ı ǝsnɐɔǝq ɹǝɥ ɹoɟ llıʞ llɐɥs ı 'sǝɯoɔ ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ uǝɥʍ ʇɐɥʇ puɐ  ˙ǝuolɐ ɹǝɥ puɐ ɹǝɥ ǝʌɹǝs ı ǝɯ spuıɯǝɹ ʇɐɥʇ ǝɔıoʌ ɐ   ˙pıp ɹǝʌǝ s,ɹǝɥʇoɯ ʎɯ uɐɥʇ ǝɹoɯ uǝʌǝ ǝɯ sʇɹoɟɯoɔ ʇɐɥʇ ǝɔıoʌ ʇɟos ɐ  ˙ɹǝɥ ɹɐǝɥ uɐɔ ı 'ƃuıʞool sı ǝuo ou uǝɥʍ puɐ

˙ǝnƃuoʇ s,uɐʎoʇs uı slnos ʎɹǝddoɔ ǝɥʇ ǝʇsɐʇ uɐɔ ı  ˙lnos s,uɐɟǝʇs uı ʎʇıuɐɯnɥuı ƃuıʍoɹƃ ǝɥʇ llǝɯs uɐɔ ı  ˙sdıl s,ʌoʞɐı uı ɹɐǝɟ pǝıɹɹoʍ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ uɐɔ ı  ˙ʇɹɐǝɥ ƃuıʇɐǝqun s,lǝɥɔıɯ uı ǝƃɐɹ pǝuıɐʇuoɔ ǝɥʇ ǝǝs uɐɔ ı  ˙sǝıpoq ɹıǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ ˙spuıɯ ɹıǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ  ˙ǝɯ oʇ ƃuıʞɐǝds ɯǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ uɐɔ ı 'sɹǝʇsuoɯ ʍollǝɟ 'spuǝıɹɟ ʎɯ ǝǝs ı uǝɥʍ puɐ

˙uɐɯ ɐ ɹǝƃuol ou ɯɐ ı

˙sƃuıuɹɐǝ ɹnoʎ ɟo sɹɐǝʎ uǝǝʇɟıɟ uǝʞɐʇ pɐɥ ʇɐɥʇ ʎʇısɹǝʌıun ǝɥʇ oʇ ǝɯ ǝʞɐʇ oʇ sɐʍ ʇɐɥʇ ǝƃɐıɹɹɐɔ ǝɥʇ uo ʇɐs ı sɐ llǝʍǝɹɐɟ pıq noʎ ʇlnpɐ ǝɥʇ ɹǝƃuol ou ɯɐ ı  ˙ʇǝƃɹoɟ ɹǝʌǝu llıʍ ı sǝɔɐɟ ǝsoɥʍ uǝɯ ʎq pǝʎoɾuǝ ǝɹǝʍ sǝɔıʌɹǝs ɹnoʎ ǝlıɥʍ ǝʇıɹʍ puɐ pɐǝɹ oʇ ʇɥƃnɐʇ noʎ uɐɯ ƃunoʎ ǝɥʇ ɹǝƃuol ou ɯɐ ı  ˙ʎɐd oʇ ƃuıllıʍ ǝɹǝʍ oɥʍ ǝsoɥʇ ɹoɟ spooɥ puɐ sʞɐolɔ ƃuıuɹɐp ʇɥƃıu ǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ pǝʞɹoʍ noʎ ǝlıɥʍ noʎ ǝpısǝq ʇdǝls ǝɔuo ʇɐɥʇ plıɥɔ ƃunoʎ ǝɥʇ ɹǝƃuol ou ɯɐ ı  ˙ǝɯ ɟo ǝɯoɔǝq sɐɥ ʇɐɥʍ ɟo pıɐɹɟɐ ɯɐ ı

'ɹǝɥʇoɯ