Coding Device (Oscariana invention)

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Oscariana

This is a device used to encode messages; it is somewhat like a code book, only vastly more complex to break and easier to use. The code must be transmitted first; it generally takes the form of an etched metal plate or cylinder. A message can only be decoded if using the proper device and the proper code wheel. It has a code complexity equal to the reliability of the device.

It takes both mathematics and linguistics skill to break a code; use the lesser skill value. It is possible for a mathematician and a linguist to collaborate on this. Each month of effort allows one simple die roll, and only if you have a large sample of coded messages to work with; if the result is higher or equal to than the complexity of the code and still lower than the skill value, the code has been broken. Manual codes (using code books etc) generally have a difficulty equal to half the coding skill of whoever devised it - generally 2, 3 for exceptional codes.