Beneath - An Uru Explorers Journey Through D'ni and its Ages

Work on Cass has been progressing nicely, the central hallway is now stable and completed and work has moved on to what I call “The Harbingers Wing”.

The new expansion for the Age has created 4 museum wings dedicated to various aspects of D’ni. The Harbingers Wing which deals with D’ni past. The Restorers Wing, which deals with the DRC and their restoration attempt. The Grower Wing, which deals with Yeesha and the journey as well as the Bahro and their freedom. And finally the Explorers Wing, which deals with the new inhabitants of D’ni, us.

The Harbingers series of portraits have already been hung in their new home, as well as replicas of paintings found in the Ae’gura museum and the Ri’neref one that we discovered elsewhere.

One of the spare Rehevkor from the Archive has also been submitted as well as a damaged Descriptive Book. We also decided that the Seed from the Tehren prayer rooms should find a home there too given that its former home is in a bad shape.

Currently the work is being overseen by Keira and Steve, which allows me to step back for a few days to focus on some other issues that have been slowly coming to fruition over a long period of time.
The problems I faced with Sul, the instabilities are finding their way to my other works. At first I thought it was perhaps because I was trying some new concepts with Sul, and had borrowed from other Books in its development that perhaps some instabilities had wormed their way in, but my own observations of Fahets have shown that it too is having troubles.
It started at the beginning of the year, slight tremors at first that have been gradually getting worse. Reports have been coming in from other explorers and Path members of fissures (not Fissures mind you) opening up here and there.
As a result I have gathered the Descriptive Books for my other Ages and taken them to Sul for further study.
Whilst I am loathe to squander precious resources that are in short supply, I need to look into Writing some experimental Ages to see if I can predict the decay and counter it..

After my meeting with Jilen and sampling some of his home-made wine I had been entertaining the idea of experimenting with something similar, perhaps using the Norapods from Fahets.

With Rob’s help I was able to acquire some equipment to add to Sul so that I could start my experiments, Sul has the best source of heat needed for the process so it seemed logical that I should set up the gear there.

Took us a day or so to get the equipment set up and the heat right. But we eventually got the Norapods processing. Given my fondness for harder alcohol like whiskey and brandy, I figured I’d try with a Norapod Brandy, fruit brandies are not unheard of after all.
The first attempt was a disaster, I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but the result was a mess and tasted highly unpleasant.
It took us a few more tries, experimenting as we went to get a formula that worked right.

Last night, we celebrated the success by testing the first bottle of 40% Norapod brandy that doesn’t taste like something served up in the depths of hell. The bitter after taste of the Norapod seems to be a little more pronounced in the brandy, I think I may have to look into finding a way to scale that back if possible, but it’s not a bad taste, I if mixing it would help.
I was fully prepared that the Norapods wouldn’t be suitable for the process, little surprised they worked.

Once some extra fine tuning is complete I think I shall process some bottles for aging and see how those taste in the future. I need to send a bottle off to Blake to try to see if he wants some for the pub he’s restoring.

I admit it, I have no idea what is going to happen to Cass. Originally my plan was for it to become my lab, and whilst we were planning it I would set up a temporary lab on Sul whilst I experimented with the water there. But as time has gone on, I’ve been seeing Sul more and more as my little home away from home, and expanding the lab in Sul to a second room has done little to help the desire to stay put instead of moving to Cass.

So I have decided to keep it on Sul, I have a few ideas mulling around for Cass, it isn’t a top priority at the moment so there is no rush.

Speaking of experiments, my ongoing studies into Sul’s water continues, whilst I have since ruled out the possibility of it being used to help the D’ni lake water I am looking into the relationship between the two forms of algae and any potential developments they may yield in other areas.

I have also started looking into the KI technology, and how that works in relation to the Ages, borrowing from ideas mentioned in Catherine’s journals regarding some experiments Atrus did in the past. Sophie has been lending her technical skills with D’ni technology to help me conduct the experiments I desire.

I am finding it difficult to find the time between running my own projects and working on the various Ages we are Developing/Restoring. I am loathe to take time out more frequently, nothing will get done. But on the same note, I feel myself burning out and if that happens then nothing really will get done on my end.

Spent a lot of time up on the surface lately, previous to my departure I had a crazy few weeks that left me feeling burnt out and disillusioned with what we were doing.

I have spent time enjoying the weather, spending time with my family. All the while trying to push past how I feel, trying to find that spark again that drives me, it has been, difficult. Even more so when those I talk to for support feel the same way themselves, it’s easy to be drawn in and settle in that rut.

The other day I was stood out on the porch of our house on the phone to my parents in England, it was raining heavily and I felt the urge to return to Fahets. I had left on the eve of heading out into the Age further and exploring new areas for people to one day walk along, I had left my studies on the Age abandoned and I thought is this a healthy mentality to have, countless Ages to explore and are we to throw them aside when we grow bored of them?

So today I decided to head back down into the cavern, my previous notions about venturing out of the shadows to meet people had reversed, I now find comfort in the dark recesses of the cavern.
I decided to take a walk through one of the hoods, gaze out over the stretch of orange lake try and find that feeling I had when I first came down here, a feeling that has eluded me for years and continues to do so.
But I wasn’t as alone as I thought, as I walked towards the fountain area I spied a solitary Bahro staring at me, watching.
I walked up to him/her and it didn’t flee, just stood there chittering slightly, as I walked around him/her he/she moved around to face me. We stood there for several minutes in each others company, with I not saying a word (despite my desires to be able to actually communicate with them) before the Bahro vanished from view and I returned to Sul to turn in for the night.

What a day, what a day..

My trip to Ae’gura was delayed slightly when I discovered water on the floor in the office on Sul. There really shouldn’t be water on the floor, it goes against the principles of the water. So I took a look into it, and it would see my calculations for the seal in the office was off, the temperature emanating from it has slowly been lowering.

As a result we have removed the seal to allow for the temperature to rise which is a shame as I liked the design of the seal. In its place I opted to use the old mesh walkway design we used for Sul before the stability issues. It will allow for safety whilst allowing for the correct temperature to be maintained and kept without loss through the metal and glass.

Sophie has agreed to give me a hand resolving the issue which should be fixed by tomorrow, it’s only a small area to replace so it shouldn’t take long.

Eventually with the issue understood I headed to the city to collect my samples. It would seem whilst I was in there some security sensors left by the DRC were set off, not by me but it must have been elsewhere. Sophie contacted me over my KI not long after I had been in the cavern to say that Victor Laxman had posted a message on the DRC forums about the sensors going off and asking if someone can go and investigate.
Not sure if he’ll get a reply but if he does, can it mean DRC back in the cavern? It’s been a while for sure, and it would be nice to bump into Sutherland again.

However I have my samples, and tomorrow I hope to continue with my studies.