Comment by greenyoda | Hacker News Reader

Comment by greenyoda | Hacker News Reader

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The author published an 17-page article on this subject in 2022, entitled "The secret service of renaissance Venice: Intelligence organisation in the sixteenth century", which seems to have been the basis of this book. It can be found here:

https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/3d669bd8-c10c-4436-9...

(A link to the PDF can be found under "Attached files".)

I found this through the list of publications on her web page: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/profiles/staff/ioanna-iordanou

She also has another related paper:

"The Professionalization of Cryptology in Sixteenth Century Venice"

https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/d6c33ee2-34c8-4994-b...

The article was pretty much a preview of one chapter while writing the book. So it might be a good appetizer indeed.

She has also co-written two books on heads of intelligence services: https://press.georgetown.edu/Book/Spy-Chiefs-Volume-1

What a cool field! Early cryptology, cloak and dagger stuff, renaissance Venice... it's got it all.

Those are some cool topics, they should use them in a videogame story, built around a secret underground resistance movement in renaissance Venice, fighting against the establishment in power, maybe even get the church involved in the story. Has potential to sell well, maybe even spawn a franchise, who knows.

You'd need some way to rapidly get around Venice to prevent it just being a walking-and-gondola simulator. Perhaps some sort of parkour-esque mechanic? ;)

Secret underground caves and tunnels, pre-steam age subway using hydraulic power to move the carriages...

> Secret underground caves and tunnels, pre-steam age subway

In Venice, your subway would have to involve actual submarines.

Vaporetto!

For some reason I get the tingle that makes me go play the elder scrolls reading this

She was also on an episode of SpyCast last summer, a really interesting story!

https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/spycast/592/notes

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