The Search is On
Coda Ultima Absconditus
Part puzzle-box, part memoir, part treasure map, Coda Ultima Absconditus dares readers to outwit its elusive creator.
The Prize
Before you chase, you must know what you seek. The opening riddles describe the nature of what lies hidden. Substantial enough to alter your circumstances, though not so vast as to spark congressional hearings.
The Benefactor
Part artistic expression, part ciphered autobiography. Whether uncovering the man will aid in uncovering the fortune is a mystery in itself.
The Gauntlet
The heart of the book: a progression of puzzles that advance in difficulty from disarmingly simple to infuriatingly complex. Expect cryptograms, riddles, oblique references, and the occasional original contrivance of Dorian’s own invention.
About Coda Ultima Absconditus
A real-world treasure hunt begins.
What you hold before you – or will soon, should you be so bold – is no ordinary volume. It is both puzzle and provocation, a gauntlet flung at your intellect. Within its pages lies a sequence of cryptograms, riddles, and ciphers, each one a fragment of a larger design. Solve them, and you may unearth the cache of Dorian Riven, a man equal parts mystery, mischief, and magnanimity.
The book is no parlor trick. The treasure exists. The clues are solvable. And the path, though perilous to the impatient, is navigable to the cunning. You may attempt to cheat with machines, but expect to be thwarted. Shortcuts collapse into dead ends and clever readers will find themselves circling back to the beginning more than once as they advance.
But for those with stamina, wit, and a taste for intellectual adventure, the prize is tantalizingly real. And perhaps, along the way, you’ll uncover something less tangible but far more curious: what the chase reveals about you.
Proceeds from this book will be donated to non-profit agencies working to open the dialogue and reduce the stigma around suicide and suicidal ideation. Examples include: AFSP, The Jed Foundation, SAVE, and Hope For The Day. Given the current political climate in the United States, we will not be working with any federally-managed agencies. Let’s face it, they’re not in the business of changing the dialogue, anyway.
The Puzzles
Here are just a few examples of the more than one-hundred clues that can be found in Coda Ultima Absconditus (not to give too much away). Clues may take musical form, mathematical equations, symbols, or simply cryptic writing. Keep your eyes peeled, because you never know what could be a clue. The page numbers? The cover? This website?
Poetic Mystery
Substitution Puzzles
Progressive Difficulty
Cryptograms
Who is Dorian Riven?
That is one of the book’s more delicious enigmas.
Rumor paints him as a former entertainer, once familiar with spotlights and applause, later disenchanted by the machinery of fame. Others whisper that he is a connoisseur of riddles, a collector of secrets, and perhaps, above all, a man who delights in mischief.
What is known is this: he has hidden a fortune in a place dear to him. He has chosen to scatter its coordinates in riddles, to be unraveled by strangers. He has sworn his editor to secrecy, under penalty of much guilt and bad karma. And he has imbued every puzzle with his peculiar blend of humor, poetry, and brilliance.
Will solving his riddles bring you closer to knowing him? Possibly. But be warned, he is a trickster by temperament, and what seems like revelation may, in the end, prove diversion.
“The path through enigmas seldom leads outward; it coils, inevitably, within.”
Dorian Riven
Frequently Asked Questions
Thus, Questions Lead to Answers
Is the treasure real?
Yes! As real as mortgages, parking tickets, and the questionable tattoo you regret from your twenties.
Can’t I just put the puzzles into a computer?
By all means, try. But algorithms stumble where intuition is required. Dorian designed several puzzles to be unsolvable by brute computation, requiring a human eye, a human leap, a human spark.
Do I need to travel?
Eventually. The book may begin in your armchair, but sooner or later the plush comfort will betray you. Follow the clues in sequence or risk being led spectacularly astray – Nebraska when you should be in West Virginia, or Estonia when the answer lies in Thailand. Promising a safer treasure hunt than those of Forrest Fenn, Thomas Beale, and the like, you should be able to narrow down the location within a few miles without leaving the comfort of your home.
Will the editor confirm answers online?
On occasion, yes. Expect confirmations to come in the form of sly nudges rather than proclamations. And do not expect every Reddit theorist to be indulged.
How difficult is this, really?
The editor, no slouch in the realm of puzzles, has solved only half, even with hints from the author and AI assistance. That should both discourage and inspire you in equal measure.