The deep city sleeps...

Posting from the surface...

There's been way too much posting "from the surface" recently. But there's hardly been any pressing information during my time actually in the cavern... whenever I'm there it's been purely social, or working on my project to catalog the ages (still working on Eder Kemo).

The DRC's been quiet since... June. It's been about two months since we've really heard anything from the DRC. I don't blame the DRC, don't get me wrong... I know they're extremely busy, especially with their smaller numbers... but it'd be nice to even hear a "we're working on it!" every couple of weeks. Maybe even specifics about WHAT they're working on.

"Oh, this week Marie has been removing debris from the structures in Eder Delin, Ikuro's been checking the toxicity levels of the plants in Kahlo, and Victor has been trying to get all of the Nexus, KI, and Great Zero functions moved to a lattice that ISN'T cracked for a change."

Last I heard, even authorized explorers weren't allowed to talk about what they've been working on.. or even reveal that they're working on anything at all. But then again, this might be nothing but more rumors... since the DRC have yet to confirm or deny that any explorers are actually working with them.

I have no right to complain here, and I'm really not... I just hope that once the restoration picks up (and hopefully receives more funding) that the DRC will be a little more forthcoming with information.

Then again... my own drive has also been at a low recently. It's been tiring to even think about working on entries for the Age Archive project, been lazy about releasing the recordings of my weekly Spoken Word Night event, and been ignoring my other project idea altogether. It's not just confined to D'ni related matters either... surface projects are suffering too. I've got a few days away from my surface job... maybe I need to just not worry about anything for a little while, and just catch up on my reading.

...maybe.

Error and Authorized Explorers

Posting from the surface...

Very brief update...

I just realized that during all the KI trouble in May, I kept blaming the Nexus... it was actually the Lattice at fault. I'll go back and edit those posts later.

Also, I keep hearing that some explorers have been authorized to help the DRC get things set up to get the restoration back on track. I'm not sure how much truth there is to this, I have yet to encounter anyone claiming to be an Authorized Explorer. But it's an interesting rumbling, so I'll take it with a big kosher grain of salt.

Personal Comments

Posting from the surface...

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I've been so busy up here lately. Here's the less restoration related comments for Mysterium.

I met a lot of people on the surface for the first time, and they were every bit as friendly and welcoming as they are in the cavern. I also met a lot of people who have never been to D'ni, but are looking forward to a time when they can... as well as a few people who have no interest in going, but still fully support the restoration.

There are some amazing D'ni artifacts locked away in the Cyan building. Some are replicas used for filming the various scenes in Myst and Riven, but Rand made it clear that some are definitely real and fully functional (such as a gun recovered from Riven). We got to see an interact with a few of the replicas, and they are beautiful... unfortunately (or fortunately, perhaps) the real items remained locked away in glass cases or out of sight.

Many who have visited Cyan before have told about an elevator with fourteen buttons. Two of these are normal "1" and "2" buttons... but twelve of them feature D'ni numerals going from "1" to "12". If you try pressing these buttons, you get an error light reading that the area is restricted. I was in this elevator with Taba and Dalken, and tried pressing the D'ni "7" while we were on the second floor. The elevator lurched to life and began to descend... but unfortunately it only spit us back out on the first floor. Some have speculated that the extra buttons are just there to be interesting... but I tried peering down the crack between the building and the elevator, and there's definitely quite a bit of space down there. There's SOMETHING down there.

Maybe there's something along the lines of a Nexus link stored beneath Cyan, which is how they link to and from D'ni?

Here's a few quotes... they're paraphrased, but the idea still comes across.

About the Riven gun:
"Alright, you twist this, open it, pop the power marble inside, close it, twist it, pull this back... and then shoot Atrus. Oh." - Rand Miller

About Squees and the provided lunch:
"I hate Squees. Hate'em. The food you're eating? Squee-dogs." - Rand Miller

About the gathering:
"And he tells me that he's coming out here to spend time with his friends... but all I can think is 'you only know these people online, they can't really be your friends' but then I come here with him, see everyone interacting and having fun, and realize that I was wrong." - Someone's Mother

That last one... really says a lot about the Myst/Explorer community. I don't know where Mysterium 2007 will be held, but I'll definitely be there.