Mysterium 2006 - Spokane

Posting from the surface...

I'm in Spokane. Well, I will be for about another thirty minutes or so. Actually, I'm writing this in conjunction with another post... one post is just the restoration related information and speculation you'd expect to find here, another seperate post will be a more personal look at Mysterium. So there's a good chance that when I finish this post, I might no longer be in Spokane.

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Ok, now I can confirm that. Since I wrote that last bit, I've left, been in two airports, and been in the air entirely too long. I belong underground, not in the sky. However, I'm going to try and remember and get the more pertinent bits written down, even though I won't be able to upload anything before we land.

Everyone who registered as a visitor to Cyan received a card with a DRC stamp and a number on it. Apparently if we hold onto this card, Cyan will be sending down Mysterium 2006 shirts to all of the attendees who are also explorers. Though Rand also warned that it might not be until some time "in the future", and to be patient.

Several Cyanists let on that they knew of the path of the shell, and part of me suspects that at least a few of them have probably walked that path, as well as taking Yeesha's journey. But then again, I asked a few of the Cyanists if they had been to D'ni personally, and the answer was usually "no". They also confirmed for me that the events portrayed in Myst V are based in fact, and it's not just an interesting but fictional conclusion to the Myst story.

During a question and answer session, I was lucky enough to ask RAWA (that is Richard A. Watson) if he had any intentions of returning to D'ni, or at least letting the DRC and all the explorers know where he's been since he left the restoration. RAWA is a very shy man it seems... very kind, and very willing to answer as much as he can for us, but quite shy. Rand answered for him, explaining that RAWA and Dr. Watson are not actually one and the same.

Gah.. this is confusing. They must be related? Twin brothers? So the feed from the previous Mysterium... was that RAWA or Dr. Watson?

Actually.. we'll be touching down soon, so I guess I'll stop for now and post this as soon as I can, then write up the more personal observations later.

Rudenna Mystery

Posting from D'ni - Rudenna...

For over two years now, I've believed that a Relto book could work from anywhere, no matter what. That it was an absolute, something you could always count on when you were in trouble. Today I became aware of something that made me realize how much I took the book for granted.

Explorers who strive to finish Yeesha's journey will pass through a certain cave several times. The first few times you pass through this area, it registers in your KI as "???"... somewhere that's unregistered in the Nexus. But later on, you revisit what appears to be the same area, except it shows up as "D'ni - Rudenna".

Most explorers immediately choose to take the flying leap through the opening in the floor of the cave, which at first results in falling into an endless void of stars until you link back to Relto. After the cave is registered as "Rudenna" you are sent tumbling through the open air above D'ni, until, once again, you link back to Relto.

But what if you try to link to Relto while still in the cave itself? Suppose the hole wasn't there, and it had been covered, or simply didn't exist? I tried opening my Relto book... and all that was inside was a black panel. I've confirmed with others that this is true in both Rudenna and the "???" location as well. So clearly there is a variable at work here that can cause Relto books to lose their functionality. But how?

This also brings up another point... are Rudenna and "???" actually the same place, but somehow altered to suit your current needs? Maybe the same place but at different points in time? Rudenna is DEFINITELY in the ceiling of the cavern, anyone who's taken the jump out can be certain of that. But what about the "???" area? Is that in D'ni? Is it another age?

These unsolveable mysteries are killing me.

Caught in the Mysterium

Posting from the D'ni - Town Hall 1(148) Neighborhood...

Whew. It's been a while... been busy trying to keep a few new balls in the air on the surface, so I haven't had much time to sit and give commentary on the daily life in D'ni these days.

However, something did just come to mind that I thought might be of interest. Mysterium is coming up, and this is the first year that I'll personally be going. To say I'm excited would be a TERRIBLE understatement... I've been meaning to go since the very first in the year 2000. But this year is different... Cyan themselves invited the Myst fans and D'ni explorers to their headquarters in Spokane. This was set in stone before the return of the restoration was confirmed, but one can't help but wonder if they're related.

Let's recap a bit...

Mysterium 2001 - Carlsbad, NM: This is when and where the now infamous "Preafter" billboard was originally placed. Zandi was also there personally, if I remember correctly. Of course nobody knew who he was, at the time.

Mysterium 2002 - Philadelphia, PA: And this is one of the first times that Zandi contacted would be explorers personally, with his fax to the hotel of coordinates. One of the things that got the Preafter hunt rolling.

Mysterium 2003 - Spokane, WA: I WANT to say that this was the first time that a view of D'ni was given to anyone outside of Cyan or the DRC and their authorized explorers. Maybe it was 2002? I'm not sure... but I do know that there was a live inter-age transmission from Eder Kemo with Rand and Dr. Watson.

With the restoration slowly building up to full capacity once again, I'm very curious to see if anything interesting is going to present itself this year. If not, I can safely say that I'm still going to be having the time of my life away from my usual life on the surface, and spending some quality surface time with the explorers I've become familiar with throughout all of these months in D'ni.

But Zandi... I'll definitely be watching for you.

Returning to the Island of Dreams

Posting from the surface...

I should be working. Really I should. But things are slow right now, so it's ok... and all I can think about are the Town Hall meetings from yesterday with Dr. Kodama and Michael Engberg.

For years we've been able to see artist's renderings of Myst and some of the ages that were kept there... but the only confirmation of their accuracy we've had was the constant reminder than they were based on found journals written by Catherine. But as of yesterday, the DRC have pretty well confirmed that not only have they read the descriptions penned by Catherine, but they have access to the ages themselves. At least some of them.

To keep it short... what's keeping me buzzing right now is the idea that one day we're going to have the option to travel to Selentic... and Stoneship... and Myst.

Ok. Back to business.