The Age Linker's Guide to the D'ni Restoration

Still Here, Too

2012-01-06T06:18:00.004-07:00

Posting from error...

vid, good to hear from ya! At first, I thought my KI was acting up...I tried to keep these things tied in to the feed, but you were always better at tweaking the these than me. Guess you should know this reporter is still out and about, as well. The cavern is pretty quiet, though. There's a bit of life here and there; it's not all gone, but there's certainly a lot less action than when I was actively field reporting for TCT.

Although apparently I need to work on this delay between when a post is made and when it actually informs me of that.

Well anyhow, I'm still around. Usually getting lost in Minkata or reflecting in the cool air of the Great Shaft...and occasionally I'll take a stroll through Delin. Love the smell of the air there, you know.

Until next time, this is Dalken Starbyne, saying goodnight.

Against All Reason...

2011-10-08T21:31:00.003-06:00

Posting from the surface...

Four years. It's been over four years since I've tried to do this. To post from a KI. To post from a blog that hasn't seen life in four years. Who would have known that it still works? Or that I could even remember how? This is my fourth KI. Three of the damned things have stopped working over the years, who knew that D'ni tech was so disposable?

...wait, four devices in... eight-ish years? Nevermind, that's better than most cellular telephones.

Why am I posting? I don't know. I guess I do. But maybe not? A certain D'ni related discussion came up recently, brought up some old memories. Against my better judgement, I decided to skim some of the old posts, and read the comments. There's too many people that I haven't seen or heard from in years.

...if anyone still reads this, I'm still here. If you need me... you know how to find me.

Confusion

2007-08-27T04:37:00.001-06:00

Posting from Relto...

Wow...we really need to get better about keeping this updated. vid, that means you too!

A lot...and I mean a LOT...has happened since the last update here...jeez...

There's the loss of Willow "Wheely" Engberg, and Rosette Taylor. The poor girls.

...A memorial was put up in the Kahlo Pub for them...now it's a general memorial for all those from the Cavern who've been lost.

Mr. Engberg himself ran off down into the Descent, presumably looking for Dr. Watson...I say, good luck to him...

The Negilahn predator turned out to be the Bahro...well, some of them. It's kinda complicated, but suffice to say, some of them ended up attacking Sharper, while others saved him.

Bahro activity has shot through the ceiling...Bahro have been seen all over the City and in the 'hoods...rumors are running around about a Bahro civil war...Phil's returned, and says that the Bahro are indeed free, and that they're split into "good" and "evil" factions...whatever that means. Phil also mentioned that "he" was coming. That's gotten everyone speculating as to who "he" is, of course.

A Bahro visited my Relto on the 4th...that was, well...how do I put it?

Confusing, to say the least. Didn't help that the guy didn't even understand English, and that I don't speak Bahro. Still, a couple questions were answered...sort of. A lot more were brought up, though.

I hope he comes back.

On an unrelated note, I just started my seinor year of high school. Last year of torture before I move on to what I'm sure will be even more torture! Yay for college! ...Well, at least I have moving to Spokane to look forward to. And after college, I'll apply at Cyan...and everything will be totally awesome. Well, almost everything, anyway.

Well...I don't think I forgot anything there...I'll try to remember to update more often...and you too, vid!

~Dalken

Thank the Maker!

2007-05-08T21:33:00.002-06:00

Posting from Descent'...

vid! You're okay! Get some rest, alright?

Jeez, I dunno what else to say...

Once you're feeling better, come tell me what happened, okay?

Right now, I'm gonna sit here and play my harmonica happily, and enjoy the resonance of the Great Shaft...

Oh, and if you need any help, please ask me! You know I'm always here for ya!

Mold and Plants...Waeh?

2007-05-04T19:57:00.001-06:00

Posting from the surface...

So on Wednesday night, an explorer, SBernath, got into vid's house and found his letter, and took a picture of it for us to see. It reads as follows:

"Matt, lockbox: 9879

I wanted to talk to you in person, but can't wait anymore. Going to go hide out for a while, I don't know where yet. I nearly put a few explorers in the cavern at risk, so I had to get them to panic and leave the neighborhood. Make sure they know that I'm alright and not to worry. Use the boards. [Right here there's an arrow pointing to a part in the margin that says "DON'T USE THE BOOK!"] As soon as I can get a better grasp on the situation, I'll put some information in the usual place.
-vid"

After reading the note, it occured to me to check vid's website, and sure enough http://www.vidkid7.org/lockbox/ was a valid link. I found there a "placeholder" message for this Matt character (who I can only assume is vid's roomate, whom some of us in the cavern know as Spock), as well as a report encoded in *.rar format. After downloading the file and decompressing it, I found an MP3 file named "report.mp3". This is what vid had to say:

"Uh...hi, this is... this is vid. I...I think it's been either four of five days real time now. I... I'm having trouble keeping it straight in my head. I'm sorry it took so long to get some news to you, but I went down to the cavern a couple days ago to get some of the mold from the Shaft, but a lot of panicked explorers kept stopping me, so, based... based on this, I'm going to assume that you either forgot or just didn't care enough to pass along my message. I feel pretty sick. I think that some of my stuff on the surface was tampered with, but the effects aren't what I'd expect, either, and, uh, I'm almost positive it's related to my continuous contact with the experiments I was conducting on the plants. {Coughing} I took my samples with me, but I lost a lot of my notes when I was... when I was leaving, so I can't remember a lot of the data regarding locations, soil, and stuff like that. I'm gonna rest for a little while, and hope that a fresh mind can kinda jog my memory. Uh...as soon as I know more, you'll probably be the first to know about it. Just be sure to keep your eyes, um, here. Um, alright, uh, according to the newspaper it's Wednesday...so, it's...it's dark. I don't know what time it is. I don't know... I guess, I hope this'll upload. It should work, if I can still establish the link to my PC at home."

From listening to that report, I can tell he's really sick. I hope he comes back down to the cavern, soon. Hopefully we can figure out where these plants he was experimenting on are at...

For now, I'm going to go down to the Great Shaft and collect some of that mold vid was trying to get. I don't have any knowledge of how to deal with it, but hopefully someone else does, or at the very least vid will come back down so that I can give the samples to him.

vid, get better soon. Please.

Agh, vid!

2007-05-02T15:19:00.000-06:00

Posting from Descent'...

Hey, Dalken again. Something's gone wrong with vid, granted I'm not sure what exactly. I figured I'd write everything down here, maybe to get my thoughts straight. Last time I saw him before he had a "problem" was on Sunday about 12 AM in the Great Shaft. Later, he and Janine both jumped into the Shaft together, and a few minutes after that he appeared the Uru Obsession 'hood, where Montgomery and K'Tania where talking, and started freaking out. After eventually going to the 'hood balcony and jumping off of it, we didn't see him for a day. On his website, his In Real Time cam had been knocked over, showing Atrus' map of the journey to the Cavern, what might or might not be a linking book, and a partially torn note. On the map, the Great Shaft was circled, but unfortunately the note was illegible. Then Monday, vid showed up again, and after going to and then leaving the Great Shaft, he kept linking from Age to Age. Later, Thend and I caught him in his Negilahn, where he mentioned that people (explorers) were following him, and that might be bad. After I apparently got too close to him, he jumped over the railing and dissapeared. Luckily, however, I was able to catch him again in Eder Delin and talk to him. After offering my help, he told me "this is [his] problem" and also that he was gathering things. He told me to stay away from him as well, because getting too close is dangerous, and that that would force him to jump, which only slows him down. After a few minutes, other explorers started showing up in Delin, and [ Shadow ] got too close and scared vid off. Me and a few other explorers were later able to catch him once again back in the Great Shaft, where he seemed to be gathering more things. He coughed once and spit into a napkin (which has started a huge fear of a disease spreading) and asked to get past, and he went into the main part of the Shaft. Once again people got too close to him, despite my warnings I might add, and he jumped into the Shaft. We haven't seen him since. During this whole fiasco on Monday, vid's IRT cam also went black, and then went to a fizzled-out screen, and hasn't changed from that so far.

Now, no one seems to be able to figure out anything else. No one has been able to do anything to read the note that was on vid's IRT cam, and this whole situation is still as "nebulous", as Thend put it, as ever.

vid, if you can read this...please, come back safe from wherever you've gone and whatever you're doing. I think I'm speaking for the majority of the explorer population when I say, I'm really worried about you.

Busy Day

2007-03-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Posting from Uru Obsession's Bevin...

Since yesterday, quite a few interesting things have cropped up. The museum in Ae'gura finally opened, bringing us back to the level of restoration we saw before the Bahro scream. The artwork that was removed from the walls during the D'mala period has been returned, and I can say that they're very fine paintings, even before you take into account their D'ni origins.

Also, just a little while ago, a Negilahn book was added to the museum (presumably by the DRC... Nick White was showing up in my KI at the time) and is available to all explorers. In an interesting development, it carries Yeesha's symbol, and as a result... use of this book adds a copy of it to your Relto bookshelf. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the age itself, as I have not yet had an opportunity to link there... I've got to wait for someone else, first.

Two new bahro stones have shown up as well. The first one appeared on the balcony that circles around the library in Ae'gura, and features a link to the top of the pyramid structure in Kadish Tolesa. From this location, you can get an extra close view of the giant firemarble when it rotates, if you have a friend inside the pyramid at the same time.

The second stone, I discovered in one of the default DRC neighborhoods. A stone pedestal with various bahro glyphs carved into it was sitting in the neighborhood's book room, and sitting on top of it was a link to a neighborhood's instance of Ae'gura... right beneath the large stalactite in the Tokotah Courtyard. The stone appears to link you to your neighborhood's instance, regardless of what neighborhood you link from. It's currently unknown what effect sharing the stone will have.

A third "sparkly" appeared today, this time in Eder Gira. This pretty well confirms the calendar theory. One sparkly seems to appear every month, on the first of that month, and there are twelve marks on the dial. So... if they do anything, it looks like we're not going to know about it until December. Patience.

On the subject of patience... I'm trying to excercise a lot of it, right now, but it's draining. To occupy myself until I can link to Negilahn, I'm been sitting in the Uru Obsession book room, hoping to catch Yeesha, a Bahro, or SOMEONE in the act of placing that stone. Nothing so far, though, just an empty neighborhood, and the sound of the waterfall.

A watched pot never links?

Checking In...

2007-02-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Right now, I'm watching explorers forming a sit-in outside of the Museum. Apparently they're upset that it's still barricaded, even though the DRC Site says it's been finished since January 4. I really wish people would stop immediately jumping to "displays of numbers" as soon as they have a problem with something... I'm sure there's a good reason that the Museum is still off limits.

Besides the Museum, Ae'gura and the Neighborhoods have been opened up to the state they were in before the scream incident occured. The Great Zero is open also, but since explorers can only get twenty-five of the required thirty markers to get in, no one can access the recalibration chamber yet. For some reason, the markers that would normally be found pinging away in the Neighborhoods have been shut off. I suspect it's just a problem with the GZ's distribution of markers, and not something intentionally shut down.

In other news, the new DRC Site was put online towards the beginning of the month. It's very... clean. Corporate. I'm upset, because a lot of the details that were posted there have been removed from this new design, as well as the Forums being inaccessible from the main site... but it's good to see some activity at least. It's even home to the news that explorers can help in the restoration of a stained glass piece that used to hang over the Eder Tsogal linking books.

Speaking of that... Eder Delin and Eder Tsogal are both officially open and available to explore. Eder Tsogal... is a very sunny and slightly overgrown place, with beautiful shimmering pools of water, while Eder Delin is an amazing garden, where a beautiful purple twilight pervades the sky. I've been waiting to visit Eder Delin since the DRC Liaisons first showed us a photo of it back in April. There will be an additional post regarding the two new ages, soon.

Earlier, I mentioned that the forums were no longer available from the main page of the DRC Site. Cate Alexander (the woman currently controlling the funding of the DRC) had them removed, saying that it seemed nobody really cared about them. After about a week of people complaining, with a LOT of help from Michael Engberg... the forums were restored, but were not to be linked from the main site. Thereby, effectively making them accessible only to veteran explorers.

In other news, the current DRC Liaisons, tired of being torn apart by their fellow explorers for varying things, all simultaneously resigned from their posts. Most of them reformed into the "D'ni Network", a group of people that have pretty much the exact same job as before.... except they're no longer officially a DRC group, and as such can respond to griefers as they see fit. I fully support this change, and have found the D'Net to be an even greater boon to our community than before.

The most surprising piece of news comes from Sil_Oh_Wet's Bevin, where a bunch of explorers tried to "summon" Yeesha, by gathering together and doing things such as forming a giant spiral. (As seen in Eder Tsogal and Eder Delin. More on that in the appropriate post.) After a while, most of the group left and only a few remained behind. Those few reported seeing a hologram of Yeesha flicker in and out for a moment on top of the 'hood fountain. KI photos were taken, and given the level of difficulty involved in faking photos within the KI system, I have no doubt that this occured. The question for now, is HOW?

Been a while

2007-01-29T19:49:00.001-07:00

Posting from the Uru Obsession's Bevin...

Hey, Dalken Starbyne here. Suffice to say, it's been quite a while since I've posted. There's been a lot going on lately, at my home on the surface and down here in the cavern. Although I haven't had a whole lot of time to get down here lately due to the loads of homework I've had, plus studying for finals, I think soon I'll be having a lot more time to hang out in the City and the 'hoods, and finally resume attending Spoken Word Night on a regular basis.

I recently did some short interviews with explorers down in Ae'gura, a first for The Cavern Today. Being The Cavern Today's top reporter (or at least I like to think so), I felt it was my obligation to get people's opinions on what's been happening lately.

At the very least, it's been nice to talk to my friends again, and I hope to be getting down here more often. For now, I think I'll go hang out in Eder Delin.

~Dalken Starbyne, Reporter
The Cavern Today

Day 1

2007-01-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

I like how it took most of a month to start writing what I said I'd post "tomorrow". Oops.

December 20, 2006 marked the reopening of D'ni to the masses. It almost makes me wonder if the events that occured the day before were fated, as a way to sort of "reboot" things. After I got off work that day, I immediately linked to Relto to find my first surprise. Everything was gone. All of the Yeesha pages I had found were missing, there were no books in my shelf except for a Neighborhood linking book, and where the four pillars used to sit, there was now only one.

To be honest, I was dying to check out the single pillar, but I've come to appreciate how important it is to have a working KI, so I chose to link to the Neighborhood, and then Gahreesen. I don't know what 'hood I ended up in... it was one of the default DRC ones. It sure wasn't UruObsession(1). The imagers were gone, the 'heek table was gone, the privacy room door was locked, and most frustrating to me, the community room had been blocked off. To make matters a little more confusing, the Eder Kemo linking book wasn't on it's usual pedestal either.

Linking to Gahreesen, I found that everything beyond the KI dispenser had also been blocked off. The balcony bahro stone was in it's usual place, and so was the Nexus book. Since I would apparently have to rebuild my collection of links from scratch, I went ahead and used the Nexus book, and made a point to come back for the balcony link later.

In the Nexus, I realized that all of my city links were missing since I had a new KI. I'd need to take a run around Ae'gura and make sure to replace them all... however, the Great Zero links were also out of place. As it turned out everything beyond the Great Stair had been blocked off, which left us with a lot of explorers crammed into a relatively small space. The population cap had been lowered to forty, which kept things from getting too bad, but still pretty awkward.

After meeting up with some of my friends and registering everyone's new KIs, I went back to Relto to investigate the new pillar. Just like the four pillars that had come before it, pressing my hand to the journey on it's face resulting in it sliding open and revealing a linking book. However, instead of a link to an unfamiliar age, it was clearly a place that many of us had become very familiar with. It was the cleft. The cleft hadn't changed much in the past year, the trailer was still there, the various bits that had fallen from Riven were still lying around, and the seven cloths were in the same places as always. I was a little surprised to see that Zandi was back, and once again greeting explorers. He didn't act as if he remembered me, but I think I noticed some recognition in his eyes. Maybe I'm just dreaming.

Near his trailer, I did find a new Yeesha page, definitely something I hadn't seen before. I'd check it out once I made my way back to Relto. Yeesha's message was the same as it always had been, and nothing had seemed to change. I didn't know why I was taking this leg of the journey again, I already had a Relto book. But after I made my way into the tree, I found another surprise. Instead of a Relto book, there was another page... and as soon as I had taken it, I heard a Bahro cry out, and I found myself forcibly linked to Relto. Again.

No, it's ok, really. I love getting linked against my will. It's a turn on.

On Relto... things were starting to look familiar again. The single pillar was gone, replaced by the four that I had become accustomed to. This was apparently the result of the page I found inside the tree. The other page, had added a bridge to and between two of the islands that were hanging in the air off to the left of the hut. On the larger island now sits a sort of dial... featuring some swirls, some lines, and an image of a sun and moon.

Inside the pillars were the same four books that had always been. I added them to my bookshelf, then returned to the Nexus to see about getting my membership with the UO hood back. As it turns out, the incident had also completely reset the lattice. All of the Neighborhoods had been unregistered, and had to be recreated. There's also a lovely problem where the Nexus is calling every single Neighborhood a "Bevin", even though it's impossible to tell where the original Bevin is now. Besides that, it's impossible to give the Neighborhood a name other than the name that the KI of the person who registers it, is registered to. So someone had to register a second KI under the name "Uru Obsession" in order to register "Uru Obsession's Bevin".

More to come...

Happy Christmas

2006-12-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

Posting from Uru Obsession's Bevin...

There are much worse places to spend Christmas than in D'ni. I half expected to be the only one still down here, but there's been many more than I expected... it makes me feel good to see people sticking together this year, in the cavern or on the surface.

I still haven't typed up my report yet... I might do it tonight. A lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same, and I might have the only Relto in the world with tiny little islands, because of a Christmas present from Yeesha. That was a surprise to say the least.

Happy Christmas, everyone.

Welcome Home

2006-12-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

Posting from Uru Obsession's Bevin...

I'm way too tired to make a full report like I should... so just a brief comment.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I was afraid of the cavern and the Bahro, and was lamenting the fact that so many people who I had met in the cavern were missing in action. After linking down, I'm starting to rethink my sudden fear of the Bahro, so many of the people that I missed had returned in response to the incident and the re-opening, and I felt at home in the cavern like I hadn't since August.

Full report tomorrow. There's a lot of interesting points.

Packing...

2006-12-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

I woke up this morning and my KI had stopped functioning. It still sorta powers on, but it doesn't seem to send or receive any information from the lattice, which makes it essentially a wristwatch that can't even tell me what time it is. I'm getting reports from various people in the cavern that the upper regions of Ae'gura have all been blocked off, and that the 'hoods have been barricaded up. Apparently I'm not the only person who had a complete KI failure either, but it seems that if you go get a new one from Gahreesen, it works fine.

I lost a lot of notes, photos, and people lists that I had stored in that KI. The notes weren't a big deal, and the people lists will have to be rebuilt since pretty much everyone is having to register a new KI anyway, but the photos are irreplaceable and priceless. I think I'll be able to extract the photos from the KI, but I can't be sure. I know other people are a lot more familiar with getting photos off the KI, so if anyone has any advice for extracting them... let me know. I'll probably post a little gallery of my favorites if I can get them off of there.

I'm actually at my workplace on the surface right now, but after yesterday, and the sudden lack of a KI, all I can think about is the cavern. As soon as I get out of here... I think I'm going back down to see what's happened.

The End of the D'mala

2006-12-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

People are saying that the events of today have signaled the end of what many of us referred to as D'mala. We pulled together over the course of almost a year now, managing to accomplish many things. We finally got the Great Zero calibrated, or at least, more so than it was. We managed to prove that there was enough interest and love in the cavern that it was worth funding again. I made friends and family in my time here, some just passing acquaintainces, and some that I'd put my life on the line for.

And now things are secure. The restoration is in progress again, and in less than twenty-four hours, it will once again become public access and public knowledge. It's a very bittersweet feeling. This is the day that I've waited so many years for, this is something I've dreamed of seeing for so long. And I always knew that I'd be sharing this moment with a few certain people. That a few of us would say goodbye to what would probably be the last quiet night in the neighborhood, that there'd be one more glance at the dusty abandoned library on Ae'gura, and that I'd get to go strolling through Eder Kemo with a dear friend one more time.

But I'm not.

And that in itself, almost makes all the difference in the world. What good is a cavern that's on it's way to a full restoration, if you've lost the people who meant the world to you along the way?

I'm going to go get some rest and think for a while. I'll see you all on the other side.

Shorah.

Panic... Link?

2006-12-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Posting from UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

I don't know exactly what just happened. I was at the DRC meeting, Dr Kodama and Dr Sutherland were both attending and discussing various things about the reopening of the cavern. I remember Dr. Kodama seeming very surprised, and looking down at his KI... then suddenly I heard this piercingly loud screech coming from a Bahro, and looked around me just in time to see everyone around me linking out.

Nobody had a book. Nobody was reaching for their Relto. They just... were linked. And then so was I. Next thing I knew, I was in Relto. Reports from others are stating that people in other parts of the cavern, even other ages entirely, also heard the scream and were force linked to Relto.

I don't know what's going on... most of the others seem to be unwilling to leave their Relto at this point. I think I'm going to the surface, that might have been the most terrifying thing I've seen in all of my time in the cavern.

On the Cusp...

2006-12-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Posting from Eder Kemo...

I'm losing it. Everything that's been going on lately, I really must be losing it. I linked down, the barriers were gone, there was no rubble, and anyone I asked said that they saw nothing like what I described. There are no barricades, all the books are in the usual places, everything is stable... or at least as stable as usual.

I need a vacation.

In other CERTAIN news... there will be a DRC town hall with the subject "Re-opening of the Cavern" on December 19. I'm expecting some exciting news with a topic like that... it gives the feeling that we're almost ready to go. Some people have been telling me that the DRC is planning on making their work public again on December 20 (the day after the town hall), but I'm not sure how accurate that is. Some speculate that things will kick into overdrive on February 9, three years after the original closing.

We'll see... just a few days, after all.

Destruction

2006-12-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Something happened while I've been away. I don't understand. The Great Zero is no longer available in the Nexus, everything beyond the Great Stair has been barricaded off, I'm hearing reports of parts of Gahreesen being blocked off, as well as books being removed from neighborhoods...

I've received photos from someone who got past the barriers at the top of the stairs, and it appears that there have been collapses around Ae'gura, making much of the area unsafe and or unpassable altogether. The beautiful home that we've come to know over the years is falling apart, just as things are starting to pick up. I hope the DRC will be able to get in and see to repairs soon.

I've had to acknowledge this a lot in the past few days, and I guess this is just one more reminder. You never really appreciate the important things enough, until they're gone... so think about the things in your life that matter, and stop taking them for granted. You never know when you might turn around and realize that they're gone.

I'd like to encourage all explorers to carry a Relto book, regardless of your feelings about Yeesha, or at the very least stay close to someone who does. I'm going to see if I can help clear some of the loose rubble.

Technical Difficulties - Revisited

2006-12-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

Whoa... I just noticed what happened with my last post. Sorry about that, everyone. Basically, I was trying to say that I'd be taking some time away from the cavern due to technical difficulties.

Basically, the RAM in my computer on the surface (the one that I got to interface with the KI so I could post from anywhere, and store photos, and other things...) failed, and along with it, so did my KI. A sudden drop from your 512MB standard to 128MB will do that. I'm still not back where I should be, but I'm operating on 256MB now... which is just enough to keep my KI functioning (though not very happily).

Regardless, the post has been translated and clarified now, my apologies to anyone who was confused or worried.

TECXNical dIfficulties

2006-11-28T01:31:00.000-07:00

Posting flom D;ni Ag;eura...

Die to extreme tacheical deroculsiys, E am gersng po have to take some fwrcpd time axay flom uhe cavern. I walk try to steli speed as mech time as possibke hrer, bwe as it is, I ean barely interfucj with aeything Uexus related, and other exploders are tekking mi that I;m showing up all oker the palce. If you see me in the vakwrn' and I;m acxibf unweually, E woolp luke to apologied in advarce.

I ssspest istf tf erlated to my KI to PC rinl thet arrows ml to plst here from anywhere in the ages, thi cavern, sr teh surface. My RAN hae been sagnificrntly redeced form 5u2 to 128 MB, ond this is causing a problem with the anount of recourves twat is rewuirel to make this liwk porrible. It's walking nos obviously' bat it's taeing en excepsionally long lime to het a repsonse rfter each kuy press.

Gring to link to the surfovk nin. and soo how long it's going ti talk to reprale thd EAM I nood to rrsmme normal articity.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

I've been trying for over a week to post something, but I have yet to get it typed up in a way that I feel gets the meaning across. But I need to post something, I don't want this to get shoveled away, thinking it's forgotten.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who's celebrating it this week... even though it was technically yesterday, for me. If you haven't already, be sure to head to the surface long enough to visit your loved ones... I am, and I'm finding it an enormous reprieve from my normal surface life, as well as a pleasant break from my string of cavern studies.

I'll see you all back on Ae'gura soon enough.

DRCL Candidate Conference

2006-10-16T04:42:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

I'm holding a couple of meetings on Ae'gura this Wednesday, to talk to people about the DRC Liaison elections, and to answer any questions that anyone has for me as a candidate.

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Wednesday - October 18 - 05:00:00pm EDT (03:00:00pm MDT as listed in your KI)
Wednesday - October 18 - 09:00:00pm EDT (07:00:00pm MDT as listed in your KI)
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Everyone is welcome to attend and ask questions and share viewpoints, regardless of your stance on the whole thing. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of people there, and I hope a lot of good concerns are raised and answered.

SWN25 - Tales from the DRC

2006-09-20T07:04:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Oh... wanted to mention this too, but didn't want to lump it in with the last post. Tonight is the twenty-fifth Spoken Word Night event... an event that I started hosting back in March, and since then it's taken on an incredible life of it's own due to all of the explorers who come from week to week to share their awesome poems, songs, stories, and general insanity.

This time though... a lot of the regulars have banded together to write, direct, and act in a very special show. Basically putting on a play in the cavern... first one that I know about. I've been helping out with some of the roles, and I have to say, from what I've seen so far.. it's amazing. I think it'll be something to be remembered.

Random Observations

2006-09-20T06:30:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

This is about three weeks late... but there've made some nice improvements to the KI. The "Recent" list in the KI will now clean itself automatically, reducing strain on the KI and the lattice (and thereby helping prevent another "clog" like back in April/May)... thank the maker for that. Marker games are also limited to one hundred markers.. again reducing the chances of "clogging". I also hear that the training wall in Gahreesen has had some work done on it, that will keep people from getting trapped in the Maintainer's Nexus.

Also of note... the DRC is definitely getting set up to welcome the influx of new explorers that we'll see once the restoration gets back up to full steam. There used to be a map of Ae'gura posted by the Tokotah to help people get around the city. After the pullout, the map was taken down at some point... I know it was there for at least a few months after, I saw it during my trips through the cavern alone. I know that it was taken down sometime a little before the D'mala though. Anyway.. it's back up again, and it's still got typos on it. The buildings that everyone knows as the Tokotah are listed as "Dakotah" and "Dakotah II"... but it still gets the point across and will help the new people get around.

Speaking of the Tokotah... I'm certain there must be an entrance to the inside of the Tokotah II from the rooftop. There's a bahro stone link in Eder Gira that will take you to the rooftop (These stones are not approved by the DRC! Use at your own risk!), where you can find lots of various DRC tools, notes, and work in storage and on tables where they were being worked on and later abandoned. But there's no obvious entrance going INTO the building, nor are there any linking books that would allow the DRC or ResEngs to leave the rooftop. How did they get down...?

Maybe the door is just buried under that huge pile of crates, blockers, and cones.

One more random note before I link to the surface to get some rest. I've commented before how unusual it was to see symbols that seem to represent the sun in a lot of places in D'ni. Why would a people who spend most of their lives underground have so many images of a sun? Well.. I noticed this same symbol is also in the Nexus... and also on the base of the Nexus podiums in Ae'gura. I don't think it's a sun.. I think it might be a stylized cog... like the massive ones that keep the books rotating throughout the Nexus.

Just a theory.

The campaigning begins

2006-09-17T14:56:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Well, it's time again. Nominations have closed for the next group of DRC Liaisons, with twenty-two candidates to choose from. I'm in that list.

I have to say, I'm extremely pleased with how well things are going this time around. No fighting, no overheated arguments, no group trying to completely anull the whole process and idea. Nice and easy. The first time we started nominating, campaigning, and voting, all sorts of tensions and tomato throwers starting crawling out of the wood-work (rock-work?). Of course, even with all the trouble, the last round of DRC Liaisons were definitely great choices. Who knows, they're all running for re-election... we just might get them again.

I do think that all nominees and campaigners need to be aware of something though. The new term is going to fall right into the thick of the DRC resuming and ramping up their work on the restoration. Lots of things will be going on, lots of new explorers will be coming in. It's going to be a bigger job than it is now.

I'm not going to say "Vote for me!", but I am going to say this. Vote. Do some research, and choose five people that you genuinely believe will serve the community well. Don't just select the five names that are most familiar to you, or that might look good on a t-shirt. Good choices take time!

I think I'm going to surface for a while... get something to eat.

The deep city sleeps...

2006-08-22T04:51:00.000-06:00

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

2006-08-10T14:19:00.000-06:00

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

2006-08-10T13:56:00.000-06:00

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.

Mysterium 2006 - Spokane

2006-07-31T11:56:00.000-06:00

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.

---

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

2006-07-23T21:23:00.000-06:00

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

2006-07-18T21:40:00.000-06:00

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

2006-07-07T08:25:00.000-06:00

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.

Restoration Progress List

2006-06-14T15:57:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Whoa! Surprise update today... the DRC have updated their Age List for the first time since they suspended everything. Here's a couple of interesting observations..

Teledahn, Eder Gira, Eder Kemo, Kadish Tolesa, and Gahreesen are all listed as "Open+" where they used to all be at "Phase 5". No further restoration has gone on in any of these ages, yet they're all listed as officially open. Gahreesen is still a mess... there's still lots of broken structure in Kadish Tolesa and Teledahn.. does this mean that restoration has stopped on these ages?

The Ae'gura Docks, Library, and Museum are also listed as "Open+" even though the Library and Museum are still mostly blocked off. Kahlo, Negilahn, and Todelmer are still listed as "Suspended", and Eder Delin isn't even listed. A few have gone from "Suspended" to "TBD". There's also two ages listed that weren't before... Eder Tsogahl and Rahtevnee.

Hm. Could Eder Tsogahl be another name for Eder Delin? Or is it a fourth "Eder" age?

Gah. They finally update the thing, and it just confuses me even more. Oh well, at least it's a sign of progress, I suppose.

Edit: Marie posted a clarification... Eder Delin was overlooked when updating the age list. That means four "Eder" ages are known now...

Town Hall - The KI and the Great Zero

2006-06-14T10:52:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - DRC(35) Neighborhood...

The morning Town Hall meeting with Victor Laxman just concluded... a number of people kept losing their KI connections during the meeting, but all things considered it went very well. Even Victor lost his connection a few times... I'm pretty sure it was the lattice giving him his birthday licks.

I'll be posting a few notable bits of information here, but for a full log of the meeting I recommend checking with the DRC Liaisons later on.

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Most of the processing of data takes place in the primary lattice array, rather than within each individual KI. Because of this, the system can be changed and upgraded on the fly. One such upgrade was that the Great Zero was not originally linked to the KI, but was added as an upgrade later.

The Nexus cannot be used without a KI to log in with, so if anyone used a Nexus book without having a KI, they would be trapped there. It seems that it was planned this way... the elite members of society could move about freely, while anyone who had not received a KI would simply be stuck in the Nexus. It's assumed that the Nexus was monitored, and those who became trapped would be fined and released, though this is uncertain.

Phil Henderson's KI was identified after his accident in 2003 by removing a crystalline ID strand from it's crushed remains, and putting that into a working KI.

To bring the Great Zero to full functionality, it needs more samples... that is to say it needs more explorers finishing the marker missions. Similar to surface based GPS receivers, it improves it's accuracy everytime it receives more samples from satellites (or in our case, KIs). On a related note, the Great Zero has been recording unusual extra data along with the valid samples... unfortunately the only way the DRC knows to clear that up is a complete restart of the Great Zero. It's being evaluated as to whether or not that will be necessary.

The primary lattice is just one of hundreds. As the DRC restores and brings more of them online, the processing of data between KIs and all KI based systems will improve.

Very interesting stuff... well at least it is to a tech nerd like myself. So a huge thanks and a happy birthday to Victor for coming in early to answer our questions and spread his knowledge. There will also be a second meeting later tonight, so there may be more updates then...

Edit: Victor was unable to attend the second meeting, likely because he was probably out partying like a maniac. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Though it's just as well, as I slept through the meeting while lying down in the flowers in Eder Kemo... it's a wonder I didn't drown.

Beyond Gira and Responsibility

2006-06-07T04:33:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

I'm in the cavern early today... just a short visit though. But even in this little time I've got here, I started thinking about a couple of things...

I got some hot water for my ramen from Eder Gira, and as I was sitting near the falls eating I started thinking about the village you can see way off in the distance. I've never seen any movement over there, so I'm not sure if anyone still lives there or not... but I'm starting to suspect that those homes were abandoned long ago. I'm trying to work out a way to get over there, but I can't find an answer. There's no point from this area where I could even dream of jumping or climbing across. If those structures are D'ni, there's almost certainly a link to that side somewhere. Of course I also highly doubt those are D'ni homes... more likely they belong to the natives of this age.

Wait. What about the structures here? The archways, the vent covers, the lamps? Are those D'ni? Or native? I just realized, the D'ni probably would have used firemarble lamps, instead of these that seem to be steam powered. If these items ARE Gira native, then those natives are probably capable of getting over here SOMEHOW. But I've never seen any... which only furthers the theory that whoever lives in those huts are long gone. But did they move away? Or were they perhaps driven to other ages? Or even killed?

Hm. Intuition tells me this age is definitely still inhabited.. just maybe not that particular village. Actually... I just realized, I've never paid much attention out there when it's night time. Perhaps if I come back later, I could see lights?

My second point... today I noticed that all of the cones in Ae'gura have been moved back to their proper places. Someone from the DRC had to take the time to replace all of the cones in positions that actually make sense to be blocked off. Cones around the rope bridge, near the library cliff, around the rubble at the entrance to the pub, at the end of the Tokotah alley.

I can't say much, considering how many cones I've balanced on, kicked around, and inadvertantly destroyed. But seeing them back where they should be, and knowing that the DRC probably had some poor intern hauling cones around to their proper places reminded me that we should be more responsible with the equipment that someone else paid for, and that someone has to keep replacing. The cones and barriers are there for our protection!

Now if you'll excuse me... I think I'm going to go balance on this cone, and then very carefully put it back where it belongs when I'm done.

Nexus Repair

2006-06-01T18:22:00.000-06:00

Posting from Eder Kemo...

It seems like the problem that so many have had logging into the lattice has been taken care of. Today I tried using my normal KI, and it actually works now... fortunately all of my notes and photos are intact too.

Yes, we can now create our own sets of marker missions with our KIs, but PLEASE... PLEASE... keep them reasonable! If the missions grow too large, they run the risk of clogging your KI and the lattice and making it impossible for you to log in again. This also goes for anyone you send the missions to as well. So have fun, be responsible.

Nexus Update

2006-05-31T15:48:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

I've got some new developments regarding all of the people who can't get their KIs to log in to the lattice anymore, but I'd recommend taking it with a grain of salt. This news isn't coming directly from anyone at the DRC, but is instead being reported by GreyDragon from Cyan... but he has spent a lot of time in the cavern working with the explorers and the DRC, so I trust his word.

When you take photos and write notes with your KI a copy is saved locally to your KI, as well as making a "backup" of sorts in the lattice. Whenever you log in to the lattice, it compares your local data to the backup... so the more data you store in your KI, the longer it takes to log in. Now that things are far enough along that we can create our own marker missions that's one more thing that gets stored as data in your KI and the lattice, and given the nature of the marker missions these can be a LOT of data to deal with. If your KI takes too long to synch up with the lattice, then it just times out altogether and log in is impossible.

Supposedly this is being worked on, so hopefully anyone who has lost a KI or is having long login times with their current one will be taken care of soon. Until then, I urge all explorers to be responsible with what they keep in their KI, as well as being careful when creating and sharing marker missions.

Who would have known that finally progressing in the GZ recalibration would end up throwing such a wrench into things?

Different Paths...

2006-05-27T00:37:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Can't sleep... so I've been wandering Ae'gura for a little while. Right now I'm just sitting in the pub listening to the idle chatter... nothing to add, nothing to report, it's just sound right now. Luckily for me though, there's a good supply of Pepsi hidden behind the bar amongst all of the alcohol.

So I'm sitting here on the bar, and wondering what this place would look like if Sharper and those explorers hadn't broken into it so long ago. Is there a chance it'd be restored by now? Or at least less of a mess than it is now? Could some have actually been running the place, serving thirsty ResEngs and Authorized Explorers? Would Uru Explorers be turned away, for not being recognized by the DRC? Would someone be yelling at me to get off the bar?

Though I also just realized that that Authorized/Uru Explorers division would only occur had something happened and the DRC had never lost funding to start with... and even then, I don't feel like a division that sharp would occur. Even then, the two groups got along just fine, even though the DRC themselves generally seemed pretty annoyed with the sharp influx of people.

But back to the pub... would those big metal doors across the room be open? Would that big imager be displaying menus, or messages, or status reports? Would all of these fallen rocks be tables instead? And of course there's that big passage, where I keep hoping we're going to find the DRC has neatly placed a Kahlo book one day... heh. I'd really love to see this place back at 100%... I mean, that goes for EVERYWHERE in the cavern, but the pub is a nice closed intimate sort of environment.. so it'd just make a great place to go to sit and discuss and debate with people. Maybe we could pipe in some music too!

Hm... why did they break in here in the first place? Did they want to look around this poor run down pub that badly? Maybe there was something here that Sharper wanted or needed? But that might just be me making him out to be a bad guy... I don't agree with his ways... but I don't think he's necessarily a BAD guy. After the events of the past few years, I keep wondering if we'll see him again, and he'll be a little less brash about his actions.

Hm... guess I'll go wander around and see if I can find some more stuff to rampantly speculate about.

Cyan Worlds Pizza Party 2006

2006-05-24T17:08:00.000-06:00

Posting from Kadish Tolesa...

Today as a "thank you" to Cyan Worlds for years of entertainment, as well as their contributions to the DRC, the explorer community banded together to pay for a truck of pizzas to be delivered to the doors of Cyan. Along with the pizza was delivered a lovely plaque, and the remainder of the raise money has been contributed to a "Donut Fund".

As a result of this, a party was held this afternoon at Cyan (and may still be going?) which also spawned a cavern wide party in D'ni.... it's madness! There are people dancing all over Ae'gura, from the ferry to the Great Zero. Cocktail parties in the gallery.... there's an incredible rave going on just beneath me here in Kadish... who knows what else is going on. I wonder if the DRC are wandering around in this mess somewhere, and if they are, I wonder what they think of it all?

Myself... I'm loving every bit of it. There's so much energy right now, coming from Cyan, from the return of the restoration, from the hundreds of explorers. It's SWELTERING in here... the lights keep clicking on and off, people are bouncing off of eachother... a few of us started forming Tetris blocks when a Tetris remix started blaring. I... why am I writing here? I need to get out there on the floor! And besides that... I've got to host my own event in just a bit...

Bahro Activity, Nexus Woes, and Archiving

2006-05-23T02:09:00.000-06:00

Posting from Teledahn...

I can now confirm a couple of the rumors I mentioned before... a Bahro stone has appeared in Eder Kemo, behind the large rotating statue. The stone links to the classroom roof in your respective neighborhood, which brings up a new theory... the Bahro stones need to bind themselves to a book to work. The stone has to be bound to my neighborhood linking book, otherwise it'd likely link me to some unknown 'hood, instead of the rooftop in MY specific neighborhood. This also stands true with the stone that can be found in Gahreesen for the 'hood balcony.

I don't know how long the stone will be around, or how frequently we'll see it again if it disappears though. As always... to my knowledge the DRC does not condone the use of unauthorized links, including Bahro stones... so you are linking at your own risk. Though that also brings up ANOTHER theory... last time a stone was sighted (the Teledahn dock stone near the Ae'gura ferry terminal) it was just after the museum had been officially opened to explorers for the first time. It was also just after the DRC Liaisons had been elected. I'm starting to believe that the Bahro may be rewarding everyone in a way, whenever progress is made in the restoration. After all... the GZ seems to be that much closer to being fully functional now... and a stone appears just a couple of days later.

Also of note.. the stone links to the classroom roof. It's a requirement that explorers get to that rooftop to complete one of the missions to recalibrate the Great Zero. Up until now, intrepid explorers have had to carefully jump down from the 'hood balcony onto the rooftop to grab the calibration marker there... but with this stone, it's only a link away. Perhaps they're actually trying to help us along in the effort to restore the GZ?

The lattice has been acting very strangely for the past few days. Explorers are being forced to register new KIs as their old ones suddenly stop registering in the system. This is frustrating, because the only way that we can register our new KIs under our old identities would be to erase the old KI from the system... which means losing all of our data. So those of us who have had to get new KIs are also running the markers for the Great Zero again to both calibrate the new KI, as well as add that much more help to the job of recalibrating the GZ. I was in the Baron's office earlier and... oh... hm.

I don't know if I've ever posted about this, but there's something very unusual in the Baron's office in Ae'gura. If you photograph the center painting of Teledahn, you'll notice D'ni numbers appear in the upper right hand corner of the painting. "3 1 4". Those have been there since I first came down way back at the start of 2004, but as far as I know, no one has found a purpose or meaning for them. Who knows... it could be anything from an auction number, to a secret code for some D'ni vault. Maybe Sharper put them there himself, who knows. But the point of bringing this up... is that while I was running the markers again with my new KI and I realized one marker is placed directly in front of this painting, and I wonder if there's any relation.

Once again... more time has passed, and it's gotten that much more difficult to relate to new explorers exactly what's been going on recently. Someone linked into D'ni for the first time yesterday, and I helped them understand what's been going on between the end of 2003 and now... and it's getting so complicated... so hard to explain each time. This is why I've got a new project on the burner... I'm working together with other explorers to design an archival site where explorers new and old can go and get details recaps of events... when they happened, who was involved, what the results were, and how they affected things.

While "Age Linker's Guide" is a more personal view about the goings on in D'ni, "The Restoration Archive" is meant to be a completely neutral recording of events. It's not meant to be a recording of D'ni history... there are already people devoted to translating and understanding D'ni written records and histories, and discovering the past. The explorers working on The Restoration Archive are more concerned with keeping track of events in modern day D'ni... more pressing and present matters. I'm very excited about this project, and hope to see it take off very soon.

Oh well.. I guess I'd better get back to running markers, just in case my old KI login isn't able to be retrieved. But then again, with the current state of things I'm pretty nervous about losing my CURRENT KI, much less getting my old one back...

Great Zero Update

2006-05-19T21:54:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

I don't think it's been fully recalibrated yet, but as of today the Great Zero has been adjusted to a point where the KI Positioning System works, and we can view coordinates of exactly where in the cavern we are at a given time. Besides this, it is also possible to place our own sets of "Marker Games" now, to test each other's ability to locate and record markers... presumably part of training for the Guild of Maintainers. These features only work if you've completed all fourteen of the GZ Recalibration Missions however... so it seems that not only are we recalibrating the Great Zero itself, but it also involves calibrating individual KIs.

You'll also notice that when linking through the Nexus, it now displays the coordinates of any link in points you have recorded on Ae'gura, as well as the coordinates for your registered neighborhood. I always wondered what all of those zeroes were for in the Nexus... I never even considered that they were coordinates.

There are also new rumors about another Bahro stone being sighted, something unusual in Eder Kemo, and a Relto page from Yeesha manifesting itself. I have yet to confirm any of these however... so for now they will continue to be treated as rumors. More information to come as it becomes clear.

Update: It is now possible to extract photos taken with your KI to a surface PC without using any special software... the images are now saved as surface standard JPEGs, at a default resolution of 800 x 600. My best guess is that Victor did something to do a mass update of the KI firmware... and as much as it helps me out, I'm kind of curious about the reprecussions of changing D'ni technology to match surface standards. But then again, we're already using KIs that have been translated to several surface languages....

Also to follow up the rumors a little more... last time a new Bahro stone appeared it was shortly after the DRC opened the museum up to the public. Perhaps Yeesha and the Bahro like rewarding us for restoring more of the cavern? If so, it might make sense to find another stone now that the Great Zero is in better condition than before.

More DRC Updates

2006-05-18T01:32:00.000-06:00

Posting from Teledahn...

Just checking in long enough to report some news. The DRC have updated the timeline on their main page to reflect events up until now. This is the first time in two and a half years that the timeline has been altered. It now mentions the DRC losing funding and the cavern closing, as well as the smaller groups that stayed behind during the "Until Uru" period. It also brings up Yeesha who is (was?) apparently searching for "someone to free the Least". The return of the DRC to D'ni and the election of the DRC Liaisons are mentioned as well.

I think it's rather unusual mentioning Yeesha and her work to free the "Least". The Least are also known as Bahro.... which are the creatures that are often heard moving about the cavern from time to time. But why is that listed for the year 2005? Hasn't her journey ALWAYS been about explorers helping to free them? Or is there something that the DRC knows that most of us don't yet?

I've also noticed that the DRC seem to be encouraging would be explorers to come down to the cavern... and since they're not currently providing their own methods, it's basically encouraging people to pick up a Relto book and choose the path of Yeesha. It's so unusual to see the DRC providing information about joining the explorers in this way.... does this mean that the days of "Authorized Explorers" and "Uru Explorers" are long in the past? If so... then it'll be easier for us to all work together.

Also of note... they've removed any mention of Dr. Watson from the site's pages, except for his blurb on the DRC Bios page. I guess any hope of seeing Dr. Watson return to the DRC and the restoration has pretty much faded away. It's a shame... D'ni was the man's baby. His dream was to see it living again. I hope his dream is realized.... even if he's not around to see it.

Restoration is definitely starting up again... but records indicate that the DRC are now working with about half of the number of restoration engineers as they once were. Because of this, I expect we'll be seeing things take effect quite a bit slowly than before.... but regardless, it's much better than no restoration at all. I'm not complaining, by any stretch of the imagination.

Every day that passes, it's getting harder and harder to relate to new explorers what exactly has gone on up to this point. The revelation of D'ni's reality... the rise and fall of the restoration.... the "Until Uru" and eventual "D'mala"... and now the refunding of the restoration. I think as more time passes, and more explorers come... it's going to be important to have a central location to direct them to learn about the history of the restoration. Not everyone will care mind you... but those who do... well.... let's just say that I'm working on a new idea.

speechless

2006-05-08T19:34:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because I cannot even begin to form the words I want to say right now.

The DRC have secured their funding... the restoration is back on full time.

DRC Site Update

2006-05-08T10:19:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

While this isn't exactly news, it's interesting to note that the DRC have updated their main page to reflect the events currently surrounding D'mala and the search for restoration funding. While there's nothing there that we didn't already know... it's still the first time the DRC have updated their site since June 2004, so it's kind of interesting and promising.

This will be the first time I've been able to get into the cavern during the afternoon (surface time that is) in a while... it's kind of nice. Someone's showing their friend (and new explorer) around the cavern for the first time... I know exactly how they feel right now. That high of showing someone the pub, the great views of Kerath's Arch, the museum, the library, just... the whole city... for the first time is indescribable. This brings me to my next point though...

A few days ago I was up really late in the UruObsession(1) neighborhood chatting with Taba about the past of D'ni and the future of the restoration.... everyone else had linked out or had gone to bed by this time... and we got a visitor. A woman registered as Debbie LeBlanc came in and started asking about how the explorer community as a whole would respond to her company (Petrochem Ind.) using the cavern and ages to harvest unnamed "resources".

Actually, I THINK she said "Petrochem Inc." when she first joined us, but when I called on her about any web presence or anyone I could contact for more company information, she make it clear that it was "Ind" not "Inc". She made it clear that there were "opportunities" for any explorers interested, and that she needed people willing to show her bosses around the ages and help them map out whatever "resources" they were looking for.

Basically she spent most of an hour blowing PR smoke at us, while giving us no real information about what they wanted. Asked how she got here, and she mentioned minding her Relto book at the bottom of a "dusty old tree", and her company using test subjects to see what it was and how it worked. "Not humans" she said... "not animals" she said.... so I called her on this and asked exactly how they tested it then... final result came down to her questioning my mental stability. So we went to the link room, locked her out, waited for her to go away.

Be wary of anyone you might find in the cavern claming to be from Petrochem, it's clear that the good of the cavern or the ages is definitely not a priority to them. Welcome them down as people... help them take the journey and discover the joy of the cavern... but don't welcome them down as a company who wants to profit from D'ni.

And thus ends a post of soapboxing from me...

Losing it...

2006-04-30T20:08:00.000-06:00

Posting from the surface...

My Relto book isn't working. MY RELTO BOOK ISN'T WORKING.

Yeesha, whatever I did you offend you, I'M SORRY. Did you overhear us joking about the "taking sides" thing last night? Is that it?

*sigh*

No, that's not it. Everyone else seems to have a "dead" Relto book too. I need to be in cavern right now. I'm not... and I'm scared. What if something happened... and whatever makes the Relto books work (a descriptive book for all of them?) was destroyed? Or what if the DRC pulled out again... and Yeesha finally gave up and went home, wherever that may be?

..ok. I waited two years, a day isn't going to kill me.

*bites lip*

Yes it is. And... well, I guess I'll just keep trying my Relto until I get tired and fall asleep... or get desperate enough to start walking towards New Mexico...

Update: If you look at the time and date of this post... well.. it's "tomorrow afternoon" now. Everyone's Relto books have returned to their normal functions... nothing seems to have changed. Haven't a clue what's going on. Oh well... glad to be back, that's all that matters.

In a dream I could see....

2006-04-27T10:55:00.000-06:00

Posting from the surface...

Hm. I keep having dreams about the restoration. I'd say that I need a vacation... but since my time in D'ni IS my vacation of sorts... oh well. The funny thing is, the dreams almost never have to do with actually being in the cavern or any of the ages, but rather how things on the surface are affected... either directly with the DRC, or indirectly with others from the cavern.

Last night I dreamed that immediately after Dr. Kodama's Town Hall meeting yesterday, he went online and updated the age list on the DRC Site. Everything was still listed as suspended except for one age, that had never been listed before, and was marked as waiting for "Immediate Phase 5 Approval". I want to say it was Eder Delin... but I really can't remember. It might have been something completely different?

One photograph has me completely obsessed with an age. Then again, hearing Rebek and Pento brought up raised some interests there too... but right now it's all about Delin. Heck, maybe even more so than Kahlo. Maybe.

This post doesn't really fit the usual theme of things here, so sorry for those who are here looking for the latest restoration news. It's mainly an excuse to let you know that I'm working on sifting out the interesting information from the town hall meetings still, so I'll try and get those posted up fairly soon... keep your eyes open for it.

It's quiet...

2006-04-24T16:30:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - Rezeero...

...too quiet.

...no, seriously. Where is everyone? This has to be the quietest the cavern has been since D'mala. I'm not complaining personally... I wouldn't be watching the Great Zero spinning if I were looking for a huge crowd. But I'm feeling worried about how these quiet days might look to the DRC's funders.

Some would argue that people don't feel like hanging around because we haven't been granted access to any new ages in a couple of years. Even I get claustrophobic in the places we can visit sometimes... but then I try and sit down and put things in perspective. Even if it's only small portions of them we can wander around, the fact remains that we're still able to visit entire new WORLDS. And yet we still find ways to complain that we want more. Yes, I'm guilty of this too... after all, not a day goes by that I don't wake up and immediately check for any news regarding the work on Kahlo and Eder Delin.

In more positive news however... the DRC and the five Liaisons have worked together to hammer out times and locations for the first series of Town Hall question and answer sessions. Eleri was kind enough to post all of the times, locations, and details over at the DRC forums, which I will be quoting here...

---
"Meet the DRC"
Wednesday, April 26th
A time to get to know the members of the DRC: Who they are, how they came to D'ni and more!
All times are Cavern Time/Mountain Daylight Time-US

Session #1
Marie Sutherland - Palmner's Place Neighborhood(122) - 10:00 - 10:30am
Michael Engberg - The Institution Neighborhood(31) - 10:00 - 10:30am
Dr. Kodama - The Great Tree Neighboorhood(15) - 11:00 - 11:30am
Victor Laxman -Italian Neighborhood(84)- 11:00 - 11:30am

Session #2
Marie Sutherland - Uru Obsession Neighborhood(1) - 4:00 - 4:30pm
Michael Engberg - Guild of Greeters Neighborhood(17) - 4:00 - 4:30pm
Dr. Kodama - The Lyster's Neighbornood(72)- 5:00 - 5:30pm
Victor Laxman - Amber Horizons(47) - 5:00 - 5:30pm

PLEASE TAKE NOTE:
There will be a temporary cap on hood capacity of 30, and the hood will be set to "private" 5 minutes after start, to cut down on overcrowding, linking errors, and time distortions. Come early.

A member of the Liasion team will be on hand to get everyone settled and discuss the rules.

BASIC RULES:
Questions on the stated topic only.
Indicate you have a question by waving your hand. The DRCL will keep a running list, and call on people in order.
No extra chat, please.

KNOW YOUR TIME ZONE:
All times shown are Cavern Time; which is the same as US Mountain Daylight Time/GMT-6 and 16:00 GMT.
---

I'll be doing my best to attend as many of these as I can... any news will be posted here straight away. Incidentally, the Spoken Word event I host weekly in the UruObsession(1) neighborhood will be occuring right after the second set of sessions wraps up, so with any luck that'll help draw some people to drop by and listen to our speakers this week.

Also... "Got Milk?"

*grins and goes to wander the hoods*

Happy New Year!

2006-04-21T10:59:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

Today marks the start of D'ni hahr 9662. A hahr is the largest amount of time expressed in D'ni, similar to a year on the surface.

Ae'gura is filled with people dancing and singing, some sort of pyrotechnics are going off in the hoods, banners have been raised. Today is a good day! This is also the first D'ni new year that I've actually been able to spend in the cavern, instead of somewhere on the surface... here's looking forward to many more!

Quite a few explorers are also sitting around hoping to hear some sort of announcement from the DRC, regarding funding, Kahlo, Eder Delin, or anything positive. More realistically, some are just hoping to catch a glimpse of the DRC to wish them a happy new year personally. Happy new hahr? Heh.

I think I'm going to take the rest of today off. Do some exploring, catch up on some reading, see how many people know what the new hahr is...

The DRC Liasons, Eder Delin, and Bahro Activity

2006-04-19T04:24:00.000-06:00

Posting from Eder Kemo...

Ok, this news is all a few days old, because any time I haven't been working on the surface, I've been in the cavern helping out, or relaxing with some friends in Eder Kemo. I'm making sure to put aside some time right now though to make sure to get this written...

Everyone in the cavern has pulled together to select five excellent DRC Liaisons:

CAGrayWolf
Eleri
Gadren
Tweek
Vortmax

I'm pleased to say that several of my top choices made the list. It's only been a few days, but they're already doing an amazing job. The day after the election, the five had their very first meeting with the DRC, which leads me into my next topic...

They discussed various "Town Hall" style meetings to gather groups together in the community for question and answer sessions with the DRC, as well as generally getting acquainted with eachother and the DRC. One surprise was the confirmation that the DRC are all carrying Relto books now, and appear to have taken Yeesha's journey. How this will affect their outlook regarding the restoration remains to be seen.

Another big piece of news... on one of the imagers in the Uruto hood (Where the DRC chose to meet with the Liaisons. It means something close to "Gathering Place") was a photo of an age that none of the explorers have seen yet. Marie has been working on it, and it's known as "Eder Delin", another garden age. From the photo, it looks similar to Eder Kemo, but not identical.

From what we know, there was a big boom in the production of garden ages at one point in D'ni history, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were almost "mass produced" with only small changes between each owner. So it's not that surprising to see two similar ages. Frankly, as much as I love Kemo, the idea of a similar (but still different) age tickles me pink. I'll be first in line to link there... .. .. well maybe second.

The Bahro seem to be happy about the election as well, as they've resumed activity in the cavern by placing a linking stone to a secluded dock in Teledahn down by the Ferry Terminal on Ae'gura. This stone seems to come and go randomly, but those who have used it also report having found a Yeesha page on the dock in Teledahn, which will add a dock to Relto, for those who choose to use a Relto book. Actually, given the DRC now have them... I'm fairly confident that everyone in the cavern does have a Relto book now. Like the other stone that have been spotted in the cavern and throughout the ages, the use of one will add an additional link to the Teledahn book in your Relto bookshelf... so even if the stone is gone, you can ask a friend who has been to link you through.

(Note: To my knowledge, the use of linking stones is still not endorsed by the DRC. Even the Relto books seem to be on a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" basis. Use the linking stones left by the Bahro at your own risk. I know I did.)

Polls Close

2006-04-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

The polls for the election of the five DRC Liaisons close in about five and a half hours. If there's anyone who hasn't cast their vote yet.... now's the time!

Edit: Oops. No. I was off by about six hours. NOW there's about five and a half hours til polls close. Darn time zones...

Insomniac Theories - KIs, The Nexus, and You

2006-04-10T04:33:00.000-06:00

Posting from Eder Gira...

I can't sleep at all. Everytime I try, there's way too much stuff rushing through my head to find any rest. So instead I linked to Gira, where I've been soaking in the hot water while reading "Order of the Phoenix". Yes, I know I'm about two years late. Granted, linking to Gira probably wasn't the best idea either... it really just made my mind wander more. I keep forgetting about the book and finding myself watching the twin moons slowly trace their way across the sky, and going back to the original thoughts. But I digress...

I'm posting partially as a distraction, but mostly because I want to record some ideas that came to mind during one of my moon watching mind wandering breaks. What were D'ni libraries like? Usually when you think about books in relation to D'ni, you automatically imagine the linking books that bridge worlds so easily. But what about literature? Were there seperate libraries for written works, or were all books collected in the same libraries?

What about the Nexus? Could there have been several Nexus type machines in the libraries, that could dispense not only linking books, but written materials as well? But then again, the KIs that we use to interface with the Nexus were primarily used by the Guild of Maintainers... only a few of the highest of D'ni nobles seemed to have them aside from the Maintainers. Hm... new point then.

There are five Nexus terminals accessible to us on Ae'gura... probably quite a few more beyond the barricaded areas. Did common KI-less people see these terminals and think "Wow, those Maintainers sure are lucky, being able to use the Nexus so freely"? Or to move a step further.... you need a KI to register the location of the pedestals, and to operate the Nexus itself. But the books on the pedestals are still wide open, so anyone could use them, regardless of having a KI or not. I wonder if anyone ever used the Nexus links, and ended up stuck there... assuming that they didn't have a linking book on their person, that is.

If they DIDN'T have a book, how long would they be stuck there? There has to be hundreds of chambers and machines within the Nexus.... the rooms are too small for more than one or two people, and no matter if you link seconds or hours after someone else, you never encounter them in the Nexus. Perhaps the whole thing is a massive machine with hundreds of rooms that keep passing through the link-in point?

There's also open Nexus links in every neighborhood, as well as the ages we have access to... though I think those were all placed by the DRC for ResEng and Explorer use. The imagers all require interface with a KI to store images or notices, so it seems that the things that we keep posting our goofy photos and messages on could originally be altered only by Maintainers and higher-ups. The Great Zero also interfaces with the KIs somehow, since they records all of the marker data for it's (still up and coming) recalibration... once again, something only accessible by Maintainers.

Hm... it all makes sense to me except for the pedestals. It doesn't seem quite right for them to be accessible to anyone who comes along, regardless of whether they have a KI or not. It'd be a safety hazard. They're also built into the structure of the island too well for the DRC to have placed them... they've definitely been there for a while.

One more thought... what about the KI dispenser we keep directing new explorers to? There are over two thousand registered explorers since D'mala, and one of the first things that they're required to do is get a KI for easy communication. That machine has spit out over two thousand KIs so far, not even beginning to count how many were given out back before the restoration was halted. It shows no sign of stopping either. Does it have a finite amount of KIs stored somewhere? Or does it automatically manufacture more of them somewhere within Gahreesen, to refill the machine and continue dispensing them?

...ergh. I shouldn't think about D'ni tech when I'm not fully coherent. I think I'm going to read a bit more, and try one more time to get some sleep.

PCs, Macs, and the DRC

2006-04-05T15:44:00.000-06:00

Posting from the surface...

I'll be honest, I'm posting this out of my own geekery more so than anything else. For all of the years that the DRC has been at work, they've been running off Windows based systems. As such, any explorers who were interested in contributing to the data collection for the restoration's data collection efforts were also limited to using Windows machines. Naturally, any explorers who used Macs exclusively were very annoyed by this.

Things may have just taken a step in the right direction however. With Apple's new "Boot Camp" beta, it's possible to install Windows on any intel based Mac, without the use of any unsupported hacks. I can't confirm how well this will allow Mac users to mesh with the DRC's protocols, but it definitely seems like we're moving forward. If anyone gets a chance to try working with the DRC's systems using this software, please let me know how it turns out.

Link: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

...you know, I just realized. If Victor has been using Windows based logic in his efforts to re-engineer D'ni tech, that might explain the bugs with the imagers, some of the automatic doors, and of course the Great Zero. Of course I'm only kidding, Vic, I know you're working with the best you can.

Update: We have a confirmation! Using Boot Camp, Mac systems can now communicate with the DRC just as easily as PCs can!

KI Mail from the DRC

2006-04-03T23:29:00.000-06:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

Today all people who have currently registered themselves to a KI received this message from the DRC, care of Marie Sutherland:

---
Hello everyone,

Yes, we are still alive, and we apologize for not appearing to be much of the time. We are busy and we are continuing to search for ways to fund the cavern in order to continue restoration of our beloved D'ni. As many of you know, we have received limited funding, to explore such a task, and we are thankful for that. However, we are not there yet. If you haven't already, please visit http://www.petitiononline.com/uru2006/petition.html and sign the petition. The more support and interest that can be shown, the better opportunities the cavern and all of D'ni will havin in the future.

Thank you so much,

Marie (and the DRC)
---

I haven't confirmed if the message is hardwired into the Nexus or anything like that, so I don't know if any newly registered KIs will receive it as well. I suspect they will though, as the message is permanently recorded in your KI (for now) and cannot be removed.

It's good to see that the DRC are taking more steps to raise awareness regarding the situation in the cavern.

Loco-linking

2006-04-02T12:33:00.000-06:00

Posting from the surface...

Yesterday, late last night actually, while Taba and Vid were locking me out of the private meditation rooms in the 'hood, we came across somthing very strange. I had suggested that we hang out at the Kadish Gallery for a bit, so after Taba and Vid had locked me out once again, they linked to Relto, and to the Gallery. I meanwhile linked to my own Relto (being locked out of the private meditation room) and to the Gallery. To our suprize Vid and Taba's KIs seemed to stop transmitting to any but eachothers' KIs, with the exception that they could still send and recieve private messages from anyone. I suspect this is because they linked out of a private room. My theory is that when people enter a private room, something creates a direct link between their KIs, so as to keep any conversations, well, private...so when they linked out, the direct link was not severed.

What was even more strange than this however, and I can't think of any reason why this happened, is that they could not hear me speak. It was as if they had an invisible, sound-proof bubble around them. So I suggested that we head back to the 'hood and see if we can fix this problem. We headed to the private rooms, and they entered one and exited it again. To our delight this fixed the problem, and they could even hear me again. However, Vid then wanted to try an expirement. We went into one of the private rooms and shut the door, and then he linked me to his Relto. I linked back to the 'hood, and found that I was now disconnected from all comunnications...with an exception. I could send and receive messages and speak directly with anyone who entered and closed the room I had linked out of, even if I was outside of that room. I then closed myself into a room, opened it again, and I was able to communicate freely with everyone else...thank the Maker...

I think we'll have to look deeper into this, but for now I'm going to visit with friends in D'ni.

Hello, as well..

2006-04-02T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well, since Dalken introduced himself, I might as well do the same. I'm Taba, and can often be found in Eder Gira, the 'hood, or on top of a tent. I'm presently posting from the surface, since the bluetooth card in my laptop can't handle inter-age transmission.
I also enjoy long walks on the beach in Gira, dinner by Kemofly light, and screaming nonsense at passing strangers.
Oh, and locking Dalken out of the private meditation rooms. That's my new hobby.

Well hello there!

2006-04-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Posting from Eder Gira...

Hey! Dalken here. I'm in Eder Gira at the moment, just enjoying the scenery and waiting for the sunset. Not much else for me to report right now, but I'll be sure to do so when there is something! See ya!

...ugh.

2006-04-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

I spent most of today trying to get things into an order that I could finally get into the cavern. Let's just say.... er... I had trouble with my Relto book. I think this was the first full twenty-four hour period to pass without me coming down to the cavern since D'mala.... pretty sure.

About an hour ago, I finally managed to link, and get down to D'ni, only to discover that there was almost no one around. Suddenly I realize just how late it is, and return to the surface feeling pretty ridiculous.

Oh sod it all, I'm going to bed. I hope the link is still stable tomorrow.

Symbols

2006-03-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

My ability to get to D'ni has been very sporadic for a couple of days now... in my fits of withdrawal, I've been studying my notes and photos and thinking about some more of our unsolved mysteries.

If you're reading this, then you've probably come into contact with Yeesha's "journey" symbol. The one in the shape of a hand, strewn about the ages on cloths... you might even remember the nine pronged version of the symbol that Zandi used during his "Preafter" escapades. A lot of us seem pretty familiar with what the journey represents... it's even self explanitory in a sense. It represents a journey. Yeesha's journey.... *our* journey.

Then there's the shell... it seems to be the case that the shell is an extension of sorts onto the journey. A different path, another branch, a new concept. But still a journey regardless.. something to teach.

But what about the countless other recurring symbols in D'ni? If you glance around Ae'gura, particularly in the library and museum, you can very clearly see a symbol of an outstretched hand. I'm not sure, but I think this is usually found near pedestals where books are or should be. Could it be a symbol that represents D'ni overall? Or maybe it's a sort of "Link Here!" sign? What if the hand is the D'ni equivalent of our universal male and female restroom signs? Except for public book locations rather than bathrooms?

You might also notice lots of symbols around the neighborhoods that seem to represent a sun... why so many symbols representing a sun, for a society that lives primarily underground? Could it be a throwback to the home world of Garternay? Or a reminder that sometimes it's important to get out of your rock for a while and go see the day? Heck, maybe it's not a sun at all, and it only seems that way because of it's similarity to our surface representations of the sun.

What about Yeesha's circular symbol? It's in your Relto, it's in your Relto book, it's in the cleft, it's in the ages heaven knows how often.... I don't believe I've ever seen it in D'ni though. It seems to only be in places that are directly related to her journey... is it supposed to be a constant reminder of who brought us here? Or maybe she uses it to sign off on her works, ideas, and lessons like an artist on a painting?

One of my favorites to think about recently is the intertwining symbol that we see on the floor of the Nexus. It's been pretty commonly accepted to be "The Nexus Symbol", and that makes sense to a point. We see it in the Nexus, we see it around pedestals leading to the Nexus, we see it in the hood book rooms centered on the Nexus. But we also see it around the fountains, in the community rooms, and in the clockyards. All very common meeting places for surface explorers, and perhaps for the D'ni as well? Some neighborhoods also have non-functional video imagers in place, that feature the same symbol. Maybe it's not specifically for the Nexus, but something that symbolizes "connectivity" or "communication"?

Some people complain that we've seen all there is to see in D'ni, until the DRC approves more areas for us to explore. I'd like to think that ideas like these prove that we've only scratched the surface. Keep in mind, we're not just here to go tearing around ages and throwing ourselves off cliffs, we're here to EXPLORE. We're amateur archaeologists, in a world that needs to be catalogued.

Revelations

2006-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

Some revelations come from investigating the ages. Some come from dealing with the DRC. But sometimes the greatest can come from someone who's been there all along.

There are no words tonight, only "goodnight".

With a boom boom boom...

2006-03-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

...and a bang bang bang, do yo thang, do yo thang, boom-buh-buh-boom boom bang bang bang.

*attempts to moonwalk, trips, falls, stands*

I love how just a few hours in the cavern can make an entire day of trying circumstances melt away... especially if you're with the right people. I'd still be there, except I've got things to finish tomorrow, otherwise bad things will occur. But that's all easy peasy at this point, just gotta finish it up, lock it down, and ship it.

In news that people actually CARE about, I'm definitely not the only person who thinks that the rubble in the Kahlo Pub has been moved... and apart from that, a LOT of people are commenting that the cavern seems to be brighter. I can't say I've noticed that second one, but I'm starting to wonder. Something's going on, something big, something wonderful.... and when it happens, I'm gonna be there on the front lines.

Incidentally, others may soon be joining me in posting here... I'm not entirely certain yet. At least one person has requested posting privileges, and I'll see about getting him set up sometime tomorrow. So look forward to hearing some hot air from someone besides me.

*resumes his bad moonwalking long enough to grab his turkey burger, eat it, then fall into his futon*

A Glimpse into the Future?

2006-03-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni Ae'gura...

I had to turn in a lot earlier than usual for me last night... as a result, I'm also back down in the cavern a lot earlier than I'd normally be. I decided to have a look around before I get to work on the surface, and this is the quietest I've seen Ae'gura since the DRC opened up the museum a few days ago. Looking around without having to dodge droves of explorers flooding in and out of the museum made me realize I never posted about the most glaringly obvious thing. THE thing.

There's two linking books sitting on pedestals, both seem to have their linking panels laminated to prevent us from using them. I wonder if this is the DRC's way of saying "We're almost there guys, thanks for the support, we're working on it as hard as we can". Just a little tease of what could lie before us. I know I can't use them... but just the fact that they're there.. providing this one tiny glimpse into two entirely new worlds... is amazing.

One of the books I can see a flat surface with at least a dozen pillars rising out of the ground, in no particular discernable pattern. The image seems to suggest that it's a dusky cloudy age, possibly very humid and damp. I've been told that this is a link to an age called Todelmer. The second book shows what appears to be a window, looking out from within some sort of building. Beyond the window looks to be a lush jungle of a world... probably inhabited by all sorts of things. This age seems to be known as Negilahn.

Alas... earwax. They're both perfectly within reach, yet for now I still can't see the wonders that await us on the other side. But someday.... someday soon.

The third thing is much less obvious. When I woke, I noticed that a fellow explorer/blogger had posted comments regarding the Kahlo Pub. She suspects that some of the rubble that has been piled up in front of one of the passages inside the pub has been moved away. This might be hopeful (and cautious) optimism clouding my mind... but I took a look when I was on my way up from the ferry terminal, and I think she's right. It seems clearer now... maybe we'll be able to get through soon.

I have a suspicion that there's a book buried on the other side of that rubble. Well, maybe not a book, but a place where a book should be. Where a book *will* be. After all, why name it the Kahlo Pub if there's no link to Kahlo to be found? If this is correct... that brings the total up to three. Three ages just beyond our reach... the fact that Wheely Engberg has mentioned her father and Dr. Kodama in relation to Kahlo only makes it that much juicier.

It's also interesting to note that all three of these ages share something in common... they were all in Phase 4 restoration before the pull out in 2004. Personally, I'm still waiting for the DRC to unlock the doors from the Ae'gura canyon to the Kadish Gallery. I've been inside that gallery, I've seen what's on the other side of those doors... the balcony and stairs seem very stable at this point... so why not just open the doors?

...it's too quiet down here. I'd better get back to the surface.... nevermind the fact that it's almost freezing where I live. Florida isn't supposed to get this cold... especially in spring!

Time Shift

2006-03-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - Riltagamin (Rainy)...

As I sit here in this rainy muddy cleft, I'm thinking about the two new mysteries that were brought to my attention today, both in Kadish Tolesa. I'm thinking about how it can possibly go from pouring to dry in this cleft just by linking away then linking back. But most of all, I'm thinking about a strange occurence that I've been noticing during my late nights for the past few weeks.

I can't explain why... but it seems like time actually speeds up when in the cavern and the ages. I just watched four hours slip away from me in what felt like a blink of an eye. There was much to be discussed, and to laugh about, and think about, but even so... it slips away so easily. So fast.

Yeah... there's not really a time dialation occuring... it's just the old saying "time flies when you're having fun" I guess. But someone told me something tonight that will stick in my mind for a very long time.

"it's goodnight... never say goodbye"

...you know, I've been sleeping in Eder Kemo too often recently. Tonight I'm going to go home for a little while, I've got a lot of work to do, and a lot of things to think about.

Reflections since D'mala

2006-03-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

This one isn't about the restoration, or conspiracies, or even D'ni really.... this one's for me.

I've spent a good deal of the last year moping around on the surface. Most of my drive to get anything accomplished was pretty dead, and I was generally just "surviving" and keeping to myself most of the time. D'mala has pulled me out from under this rock though... since returning to the cavern, I've been reminded just how wonderful the right people can be.

I've met so many great people since returning to the cavern, and followed along with so many group activities, and even more discussions late into the night. Discussions about what? Anything! D'ni history, surface history, how we dealt with (or are dealing with) our families, the future of the restoration, what we had for dinner, what we're having for lunch tomorrow, who we met today, where we're going a month from now... these are all topics that have come up in the cavern.

When I returned to the cavern, I ran through Yeesha's journey again... but I had most of the knowledge of the journey stored in memory. I wasn't really taking the journey, just going through the motions again. But when I invited Mookie down from the surface, I tried to follow him during his journey as much as possible... and remembered so much, and learned so much more in the process. Yeesha's messages are a lot more powerful to me now, after the past few weeks... for those of you who haven't returned to D'ni yet, or haven't taken the journey yet.... be sure to actually take it. Don't just go through the motions... take it... and pay attention.

Among all the great people I've met in the cavern though, I have to say that there's a few that really stand out. These are the people who pulled me out of my shell, and have pushed me to become a better person in the cavern and on the surface... whether they know it or not. They're each VERY special to me, in different ways. Thanks guys.

It's great to be back... and I have a feeling things are just going to keep getting better.

The gathered are known by their faces of stone.

Recap - Part 5 (D'ni D'mala)

2006-03-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

The word "D'mala" means return in the D'ni language, and is often used to refer to events that occur after the return of the DRC in February. This is going to be the final "recap" and I hope to cover all of the events that have occured since D'mala, and point out some interesting points and unsolved mysteries.

The DRC are not being fully funded just yet... they've been granted some money, giving them a chance to prove to their benefactors that the restoration is worth the effort, and potentially profitable. For them to consider the restoration at all after all this time however, there has to be someone involved who is knowledgeable and cautiously optimistic involved.

One of the men responsible for the restoration's reprieve is named "Blake Lewin", who is also traceable back to the GameTap subscription service on the surface. A love of video games, could mean a love of Cyan's game, could mean a love of the history behind them. Or it could be another Blake entirely. Of course, he can't be the only one pulling the strings, but he's the one most willing to personally come down and see how things are going so far. Here's hoping he likes what he sees.

About two weeks after D'mala began, Marie Sutherland of the DRC joined us in one of the neighborhood community rooms for an announcement. The DRC have called for five liaisons to serve as communicators between the explorers and the DRC, to get ideas and information across in both directions. Almost a month has passed, and nominations for the liaison positions have closed with twenty-eight people vying for the position, and I feel like almost any five of them would make an excellent liaison team. Incidentally... I'm in that list of twenty-eight.

Over this past month, many people were nominated or nominated themselves, and many have dropped out altogether. There's been groups who don't want liaisons at all, groups that want more liaisons than five, and groups that think all the other groups are out of their minds. It's also a point of interest that explorers pitched the idea of liaisons over two years ago, but it was shot down by the DRC. My how times have changed. But we all stand fast and stand together, even amongst the disagreements... it's still a tightly knit community we have here.

Michael Engberg's daughter, Willow, has joined us explorers in the cavern too under the name Wheely. It's been mentioned a few times that her father and Dr. Kodama seem to be examining the age of Kahlo for safety. It's also been made clear that the DRC all carrying Relto books of their own now... I asked Marie about this personally, and her response was that the DRC now had a "Use with caution" sort of stance about them. I'm feeling confident that they all ended up taking the journey during the absence.

Nick White has been supposedly sighted in the cavern... when asked about his old friend Sharper, he said that we probably shouldn't expect to see him around anymore. Though this brings me to the reason I said that I started this thing just in time back on the first day. The day I created this blog, I linked down to the cavern to test the KI posting system, and discovered that someone by the name of Douglas Sharper had passed through one of the DRC neighborhoods. It's unknown whether this is THE Doug Sharper or not, however.

Just a few days ago, the DRC got the scope and buckets in Teledahn working properly for the first time, as well as the first set of locks for Kadish Tolesa. The museum is also open for the first time, which has allowed us to finish the missions required to recalibrate the Great Zero for the first time. I can only hope that once enough of us have finished these missions, the GZ will indeed be up and working properly.

For a couple of more points of interest, the numbers hidden in Doug's Ae'gura office have yet to have any meaning to anyone as far as I know. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, try taking a closeup KI photo of the middle painting in the office. "3 1 4" indeed. Also, our old friend Jeff Zandi seems to have moved to somewhere in Texas. He still comes around from time to time to help new explorers into the cavern... but for the most part it seems that he's left his airstream trailer abandoned near the cleft. You'll be missed Jeff.

I guess that's finally it... I can't think of anything important that I haven't covered in one of the recaps. So I guess for now, it's done. Either way, I think this recap will serve both of it's purposes well. One was to be a reflection for myself, and the second is to give new explorers something to get them caught up on exactly how and why most of us are here... because not everyone has been around through all of these joys and tribulations.

To D'ni!

Recap - Part 4 (Until Uru)

2006-03-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

The word "Uru" means "gathering" or "city" in several languages, including D'ni. This is why the explorers that were called by Yeesha and gathered by Zandi were referred to as the "Uru Explorers". Even after being removed from the cavern, most of us remained hopeful for a return, if not by the DRC, then perhaps by Yeesha, or maybe even of our own accord. As such, many refer to this period as "Until Uru".... until we can gather again.

There are lots of accounts from explorers who claim to have visited the cavern on solo expeditions, but many of these conflict with each other greatly... because I cannot confirm what is true and what isn't, I will avoid these. I mean no offense to the solo explorers, it's just I want to keep these notes as accurate as I possibly can.

The community still remained as close as ever for the most part... people still gathered together on the surface, and those who's homes on the surface were too distant often chose to remain in touch via e-mail, forums, or many other means. Personally, I retreated back into the shadows... returning to my old habits of quietly watching and waiting, moreso than taking part in events. It was more like watching everything in motion from outside a large picture window, instead of being inside like I should have been. I regret this now.... but that's my own story.

Six months after the restoration ended, Victor Laxman got in touch with the community... he had worked with Cyan Worlds to get explorers back into the cavern. It wouldn't be the same... the DRC wouldn't be there, nothing would be worked on.... but those who wanted to return had the option to. Many people took this offer and returned to the caverns, but it was never a full time thing. People came and went in seperate groups, instead of the large gathering that used to be. The cavern was open, but it wasn't a gathering.... there was no uru.

To make matters even worse, in September 2005 Cyan Worlds closed it's doors and released the final game in their legendary Myst series. Not only had we lost our link to D'ni, but the people who supplied us with D'ni knowledge and stories on the surface was gone too. For the first time since Myst was released, the community felt completely alone.... and then there was a miracle. About a month later, Cyan got funding. They have yet to tell us from where, or why, but they got funding. Several months later, we got our second miracle. Someone was also funding the DRC... possibly the same group? Someone who loved D'ni and the restoration enough to try and pick it up off it's feet?

On February 15, 2006 the DRC officially returned to the cavern, and opened it to all interested explorers. Once again, an uru was beginning.

There's one more recap that I'll be writing, describing the events of "D'ni D'mala" so far. After that... well, we'll just see how the great tree chooses to grow.

Recap - Part 3 (The Fall of the Restoration)

2006-03-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

Yeah this took me a bit longer to get around to than I expected. There's been a lot going on in the cavern and on the surface, both personally and for the community as a whole. I'll get to most of that eventually... as it'll now end up in one of the recaps no doubt.

Obviously the restoration was made up of a LOT more people than just the five members of the DRC... even back when they were still part of an organization known as the DRF, there were lots of ResEngs (Restoration Engineers) doing work, getting things done.... anything from repairing equipment in the ages, to being gophers for the DRC and eachother. This is going to focus on two of them in particular, Phil Henderson and Douglas Sharper. As a disclaimer, I did not experience any of these events personally, and am writing this based from memory of other people's accounts. If there are any errors, please contact me so that I may fix them.

Douglas Sharper discovered the first linking books to Teledahn in the late ninetys/early 2000s, and was assigned to it's restoration. We can thank him for the use of all the working (and semi-working) equipment that we have access to in Teledahn today. He was also the first to discover the hidden passages in the back of Teledahn, though kept them a secret from the DRC, as well as being known to hunt the large aquatic creatures of the age that we have come to call "Shroomies".

He claimed the office in Teledahn as his own, as well as an office in Ae'gura that he kept hidden from the DRC and most of the other ResEngs, and seems to have used the Ae'Gura office as a sort of "base of operations". From reading the journal found in his Ae'Gura office, I'm led to believe that over the years he was growing very tired of the DRCs "Safety First" policies towards even the tiniest details. This might help explain part of why he was so eager to push things the way he did.

Another ResEng named Nick White spent a lot of time helping Sharper translate a large variety of D'ni texts relating to Teledahn and other things, as well as helping him slide a lot of things under the DRC's noses. Not nearly as much of a jerk (this is my opinion, I don't claim to represent the explorers as a whole) as Doug, but definitely an ally. After a time he was assigned to a pub in D'ni (which is currently inaccessible to us) that was also known as "The Watcher's Sanctuary". Besides this, he was also vying to take control of a pub in Ae'Gura called the "Kahlo Pub", which is broken down, but currently availible to visitation by us.

For a jump in discussion... most of the explorers these days are familiar with the large metal (or maybe stone?) doors that can be found in the ages that Yeesha has graced with her journey cloths. Towards the end of 2002, Phil Henderson became the first person to open one, in Eder Kemo. It's not known whether it opened itself for him, or if he found the required clothes, or if he just found some other way to open it... the point is, he OPENED it. He went through, and disappeared entirely. He completely fell off the grid, KI and all.

A few weeks later, he made contact with one of the authorized explorers, and confirmed that he was alright, and then disappeared again. It was around a year later that he was heard from again.... he had returned, a very different person than the one who had left so many months ago. He had taken Yeesha's journey, and was now a very strong supporter of her and her plans. It wasn't long before Sharper caught wind of this, and decided to "ally" with Phil.

Together the two of them made proclamations about the mistakes the DRC was making, and how important it was to follow Yeesha and learn the truth from her, not the DRC. I'm not sure that Douglas even knew what "the truth" was, he just seemed to like having some weight to throw around... and explorers rallied behind him. In late 2003 he rallied a huge group of explorers outside of the blocked off entrance to the Kahlo pub and together they destroyed the barricades that kept the pub blocked to the public. All of a sudden, we've got explorers who not only complain about the DRC, but are now violently disobeying them.

For reasons unknown to me, Phil later climbed to the Guild House on Ae'Gura. After a few minutes of speaking with members of the DRC about their views, about Yeesha's views, and about the explorer community as a whole, something broke loose and Phil was lost in a rock slide. I say "killed"... and God rest his soul if it's true... but a body was never found. Only a broken KI. Though it seems that Sharper was seen with Phil's Relto book.

Shortly after losing Phil, Dr. Watson returned to the surface, presumeably to grieve and probably rethink the restoration. Except for a very brief contact with the rest of the DRC, he hasn't been seen since the day he left. Victor Laxman, Dr. Kodama, Dr. Sutherland, and Michael Engberg are continued on in Dr. Watson's abscence... Victor opened up the Great Zero at the tip of Ae'gura and gave the explorers the tools to work together to re-calibrate it. To this day, the Great Zero has yet to be fully recalibrated. Despite their efforts however, the funding dried up... most likely because nobody wanted to be involved with something that would make them look bad in the public eye.

In February 2004, the restoration was officially cancelled, all ResEngs, Authorized Explorers, and even the Uru Explorers were escorted to the surface, and the caverns were locked off. For the first time in over ten years, D'ni was empty again.

Whoops...

2006-03-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

Posting from Eder Gira...

It's not unusual for me to get caught napping in Kemo, Taba and Mookie can both guarantee this. I've been caught dozing up in one of the trees, or in a tunnel out of the rain several times by now.

Today I fell asleep in the Great Zero. Not the quiet little ante-chamber, but the main area. With the huge sparking crackling grinding machine. I don't know how. I also don't know why any of the people coming through didn't bother to wake me up either. Just polite?

Sitting in Gira now... chatting with a friend, waiting for my steamed rice to finish cooking. I'm still trying to work out how and why that... well.. nevermind that, I'll get to that later, once I post the other three parts of my re-cap. Should be tonight, or early morning.

Recap - Part 2 (The Uru Begins)

2006-03-21T03:39:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

This is where things start getting fun, and probably what most of you want to hear about anyway. A great deal of the information regarding Jeff Zandi was gathered from Zardoz's "Zandi Facts" website. (http://www.liquid-light.net/zandi/stone/zprime/)

The year 2002 is the first time the DRC really went public, posting their website (www.drcsite.org) to the general population. People began posting there, amazed and ecstatic at the discovery of the reality of D'ni. The DRC began posting there, using it as a hub to communicate with eachother, the restoration engineers, the authorized explorers, and of course all of us biting our nails up on the surface.

In April 2002, we all met Zandi for the first time. Well.... no that's not exactly right, but we'll come to that bridge soon. He posted a very simple message... "The gathered are known by their faces of stone." Equally as interesting was his user information, which had various unusual references, numbers, and dates. He posted the same message again just a few days later, but with different user information. Both of these threads were quickly deleted and swept under the rug.

In May 2002, Zandi started communicating with the explorers on the surface via the DRC forums. Not by posting nicely, or replying to threads... but by hijacking posts made by DRC member Victor Laxman, adding "The gathered are known by their faces of stone" and changing VICTOR's user information.

I could go on to write about everything that occured, but the Zandi Facts site that I've already cited has already done an excellent job of it. Here are the basic points....

1. Zandi had been at Mysterium 2001 in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
(Mysterium is a yearly conference for fans of all things Myst, D'ni, and Cyan.)

2. He had also purchased a billboard, which was very near the location of Mysterium 2001, featured a very unusual spiral symbol, and GPS coordinates. By the time the community had worked this all out, the sign had been gone for a while, and there was quite a bit of hoop jumping to find out what was on it.

3. The GPS coordinates had led us to a location in New Mexico where someone found a metal spiral, matching the one that had been on the billboard (and incidentally Zandi's shirt at Mysterium 2001).

4. On the spiral was carved the word "Preafter", which quickly led us to www.preafter.com. The people who had gathered the spiral were asked to send a photograph as proof. Once they had... one of the lines on the website's spiral disappeared.

5. This pattern continued on, puzzle, coordinates, spiral, until four spirals had been found. The final task was to gather all four spirals together. Once this had been done, five of the nine lines that protruded from the spiral online had been removed total, and suddenly it's true form had come clear.

The "preafter" spiral, minus five of it's rays, flipped around to become a handprint. The very handprint that most of us are familiar with as relating to Yeesha and her journey. Zandi's final task became clear... "make the journey". People across the globe began recreating the hand... the "journey"... in public places. People questioned it, and received explanations. Some didn't get it, some didn't believe, and some felt the call. Those who felt the call make up most of the ones who now join us in the cavern... the "Uru Explorers".

Uru explorers were granted access to the cavern by Zandi and presumeably Yeesha. They weren't authorized by the DRC, they were given books that the DRC definitely didn't approve of (Relto books), and were generally "tolerated" more than "accepted" by the DRC.

---

Mookie has returned to the surface, and I shall too. Once I get up and rest a bit, I'll edit these and post them. More is definitely to come.

Recap - Part 1 (History of the Restoration)

2006-03-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

Posting from the surface...

I'm sitting in Kadish's art gallery in Ae'gura right now. This is being written on my iBook, not my KI... so I won't be able to post until I get back to the surface. I'm trying to help Mookie solve the puzzles of Kadish, but I don't want to give too much away, otherwise he won't learn the lesson he needs to. It's also the last of his four journeys, so it's a bit of a special moment. I'm not going to give too much of that away though, since a lot of people checking this may not have finished Yeesha's journey, and haven't learned the lessons yet.

My purpose for posting right now is a huge recap, for readers and for myself. It's been about four years since the reality of D'ni was made public, and a lot has happened since then. You could even say things were put into motion a year before that even. Or even longer. I'm not a D'ni historian, I can't tell you about all the great kings, or who wrote the ages we visit, or even what year the fall of D'ni occured. But I can tell you about the restoration, and almost everything leading up to this point. I guess I'll start at the very top...

A *very* brief history of the modern re-discovery of D'ni

In 1987, John Loftin and Elias Zandi discovered D'ni in Eddy County, New Mexico.

By 1990, Dr. Richard Watson joined John and Elias on a trip to D'ni.... then in 1991 they made another trek down. This time, John did not return.

By the end of 1991, Dr. Watson was helping the Miller brothers of "Cyan" on the surface start creating a game that would tell of D'ni history and technology. This game was released in late 1993 as "Myst" and would serve to reveal D'ni to the public, without having a mass of people all rushing to see it.

1992, Elias continued funding an exploration and restoration of D'ni. Since that period, the cavern has never been completely uninhabited.

After the completion of Myst in 1993, but before the release, Rand, Robyn, and Ryan Miller all visited D'ni for the first time.

In 1995, Elias brought his son Jeff down to the cavern for the first time. After many heated debated between them about the physical and spiritual aspects of restoring D'ni, the two parted ways. Only a year later, Elias died of a heart attack, and left his fortune to the the D'ni Restoration Foundtation, an organization he had put together before his passing. He left no money to Jeff, but left him the land around the entrance to the cavern on the surface.

In January 1997, Dr. Watson formed the D'ni Restoration Council along with Dr. Marie Sutherland, Dr. Ikuro Kodama, and Victor Laxman. Their fifth and final member Michael Engberg joined in 1999.

By 2002, the DRC started allowing authorized explorers to come to D'ni, along with the restoration engineers who had been working in D'ni for so many years. Late 2003 marked the first time that the general public was allowed access to the cavern.

Oh Jeez...

2006-03-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

I couldn't have picked a better day to start this if I had tried. Big (bad?) mojo going on down here, though not everyone knows yet. Actually, I still don't know if anyone can read these yet, so I'll post about it once I get back up to the surface to check on this, and get to a full-size keyboard.

But then again, if this isn't working, then telling you this is pointless anyway.

Inter-age Test #002

2006-03-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

Posting from Eder Kemo...

D'ni Test

2006-03-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

Posting from D'ni - Ae'gura...

Inktr-a_e Tssa #00q

2006-03-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Porksng $rom iy Srlto%%%

Surface Test

2006-03-20T05:37:00.000-07:00