Beneath

The Christmas holidays saw the majority of us heading up to the surface to spend the season with family and friends.

For us it was a double new, it was the first Christmas of me being a US resident and the first Christmas in our own place. Despite some issues in November and the chaos of organizing it went well, the kids seem to certainly enjoy themselves.

With the holidays over I returned to the cavern to continue the work we are doing, one project was Kehrahn. Upon seeing Cass my wife expressed an interest in having a Linking Book to a similar location albeit purple instead of blue. So for our one year anniversary that is coming up at the end of the month I thought I would Write a small Age for her, I may not be able to give her the world, but I can give her a world (sappy I know but I adore my wife).

Work has been progressing nicely over the course of time, I based the design heavily on Cass with some changes (the Kehrahn Book is almost a copy of the Cass Book), I don’t plan to get into the habit of duplicating Books I feel it belittles the specialness of the Ages contained within, almost like mass production of a classing painting or something, not that I could deem any of my Ages to be classical, they simply are what they are.

Thankfully the project hasn’t been as much of a disaster as Winterbloom, which still hasn’t reached phase 5.

I have completed the changes finally, I would have been finished yesterday had I not taken time out to work on that small side project, but it was worth it.

We’ve been going over the Book making sure all is in order, from what I can tell it should be right.

We will soon be getting ready to return to see if things have worked out as I hope.

Giles has been posting his journal entries recently regarding an Age he is writing called Luminesce. The other day he posted a map he had drawn out for what he hopes the Age will look like when it is finished, in my experience the Ages never quite work out the way you expect them too, but I enjoy the surprise in that, it takes on a life of its own.

The map however inspired me, more specifically the symbol for the Age inspired me, so today I took a break from Kehrahn and worked upon a small project which I have now finished.

Using the left over glass from previous stained glass window projects I constructed a new one based on Luminesce’s symbol.

I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, given that it was rushed, there are some changes I’d like to make, some of the weld spots, some of the glass I used, I think the colours could be tweaked (the blue in the sky is a little too vibrant for my liking). I’m debating hanging this in the gallery on Cass with other works although I am tempted to see what Giles makes of it.

It’s taken a lot of work, and a lot of time, but my first Age, Fahets, is finally open to the public.

Hopefully the pumps will continue working and keep the Age dry. Sophie is still fine tuning the pumps, so there will be some changes there over time.

For those of you who would like to obtain a Linking Book, you can order one through our Order page

A forum topic has been set up so that explorers can report any issues that may arise, a specific topic has been set up for Fahets which can be found here: Fahets Topic.

The last few days have found me returning to Fahets. Met again by the constant tiresome rain that the Age is known for amongst the Third Path members. The pumps we were using to keep the water out haven’t been able to keep up with the onslaught, as a result Sophie is now looking into something that is better suited to the job.
She’s been looking at the heavy duty ones we used in Cass along with some that the teams found in D’ni in the past.

She tells me we may have something to put in the Age tomorrow if we’re lucky (by lucky she means if she pulls an all nighter).

Currently work is hindered by a bout of thick fog, which has made it hard to see more than a meter in front of oneself, not to mention the dank musky smell and taste it leaves in your mouth.

My focus during my return has been to the wildlife that has grown remarkably quickly in the Age. The most curious of these plants are some strange pods (that I have named Norapods) that have grown, akin to cigars in shape. They have a mottled blue/yellow coloured skin which at first appears firm, but when touched you can feel that they are softer inside. We cut one of the ones near the Link in point open to investigate further, the inside was indeed a lot softer, juicy one might say, which a structure that reminds me of a tomato. We took the top half back to be tested to see if it contains anything dangerous.