Wikipedia article.

Reading the article, and it kicks a memory of a Wired article that I read about two years ago, discussing how it can easily be faked.

And suddenly my mind starts churning out ideas for SR. This is a Good Thing™.

Heh. Been a while. I kinda like the Mandarin theory myself.

They should be hired to destroy it.

~J

If they read it have them make a San check

Sheesh, to think I squeezed the reference into Loose Alliances and nobody commented on it...

Quiet, you. Let them play.

Ooh, fantasy flight idea, tying in with Snow Crash:

The manuscript is written in the ancient universal language of Babel (or Language of the Birds, if you will). However, due to the same virus that made people unable to universally understand Babel, no one is able to understand the manuscript. Ever. No matter how hard they try.

However, as the sole remaining artefact written in Babel, any number of delightfully occult characters might hire the runners to obtain the manuscript for them, with the crazy idea that if they just had the manuscript, they're sure they could decipher it and gain the power of the universal language...

Or just have a mage astrally assense it and get enough hits to tell the intent it was actually written with. I am sure there would be many overlays of past impressions, but you could get lucky.

Or, maybe it's just Dunkhelzahn's grocery list. He woke up in the 1650s, or 1450s or whenever your precise dating has it as originating, penned it as a reminded of what he needed to buy when the Awakening happened, flew from Europe to North America to avoid the pestilent plauge of dragonhunters, and forgot to bring the list with him?

And as I read the section a few times over, it gets even more interesting.

Synner... You rock. Plain and simple.

this is awesome the whole mysterious text ordeal is always needed for a few spinoff's

Mmm... our group already stole it. 'Course, working for the Draco foundation, we end up stealing lots of silly things. Pays good, though.