Solution - Quest for the Truth

by Mike Sylvia

Answer: Click here to reveal

[The pages the solvers received]

Aside from completing as much of the logistical challenge as possible, the main obstacle to this puzzle is realizing that the eight "kingdoms" are the four suits of a deck of Bicycle playing cards and the four suits of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck (both of which are "backed by a Rider" in some sense). The speakers are the four knights of the tarot deck and the four knaves (jacks) of the Bicycle deck, and they tell the truth or lie as in classic knights-and-knaves puzzles. For the purposes of the puzzle, all suit names are plural (as confirmed by Horace's fourth statement, which gives the letters of the eight suit names.)

The relevant statements for determining who's who are:
ALFRED: I face to your left.
BLAINE: I face to your right.
CHARLES: Both my left and right eye are clearly visible to you.
DEXTER: You cannot see whether I'm holding anything in my right hand.
EDMOND: There are no instances of my kingdom's namesakes within my line of sight.
FRANCIS: Of our eight kingdoms, the name of mine comes first alphabetically.
GARETH: Of our eight kingdoms, the name of mine comes last alphabetically.
HORACE: Of our eight kingdoms, mine has the shortest name.

Neither Dexter's nor Edmond's claims cannot be spoken by any knight, all of whom are holding their kingdom's namesake object in their right hands where both they and you can see it. Dexter must be a knave who is clearly holding something in his right hand; this can only be Hearts. Edmond must be a knave who is facing away from their suit symbol; this can only be Hearts or Diamonds, and as Dexter is Hearts, Edmond is Diamonds.

Francis claims to be Clubs. No knight would say this, nor would Clubs, so Francis must be Spades.

The only ones who can make Charles's claim are Hearts (falsely), Spades (falsely), and Wands (truthfully); the first two are placed already, so Charles is Wands.

Gareth claims to be Wands, a claim we now know is false. Gareth is Clubs, the only remaining knave.

With all knaves placed, the three remaining claims must all be true. Horace is Cups, and Alfred and Blaine can only be Swords and Pentacles respectively.

With that worked out, all that remains is to use the statements about individual letters of the puzzle answer to determine the answer, which proves to be IMPLAUSIBILITIES.