Beneath

It has been a busy day today, Patrick has opened access to Chiso Preniv, a library Age that will serve as host to Ages restored and Written by the explorer community. Within Chiso he has placed Books to the Guild of Messenger Pub and Veelay Tsahvahn a memorial Age.

Shorah to all of you, new faces and familiar!
We stand here today to take part in what many of us regard as a truly momentous occasion. After ten thousand years of history, a catastrophic event that nearly destroyed it, and three halted restoration efforts, D’ni has lain mostly dormant for many years now.

We, as explorers, have held onto the belief that we could, in our own ways, continue to breathe life into the cavern. In that endeavor, I believe we have been very successful over the years.
You’ve made this place your home away from home and have gone forth on the adventure of understanding the D’ni people, how they lived, and, of course, the worlds they visited via the Art.

We have also forged bonds with one another that have remained strong throughout the often joyous and occasionally troubled times. Good or bad, we have faced it together, and because of our strength of character, persistence…and most importantly, those aforementioned bonds…

…after almost two *decades*…

…we are still here!

The D’ni Restoration Council admirably led the modern efforts to bring D’ni back to its former glory, and for that and the assistance they have offered over even these last few years, they have our gratitude. They will always have a seat at the table should they ever choose to return.

But now…finally…

…it’s our turn.

Today, we officially begin a new restoration…*our* restoration…to continue what our predecessors started and to expand our knowledge of the D’ni through their home in the cavern and the incredible Ages contained here.
It is with that in mind that we are here today…to open the door to a new era in D’ni.

A new path…a new chronicle…a new journey.

Chiso Preniv, the Age you’re about to visit, will be the first gateway to a new gathering of Ages and points of interest here in the cavern that have been restored…or in some cases, Written…by us, the explorers of D’ni.

The Books you find there now are just the beginning. I’m hoping, as the months and years pass, fellow explorers will present more of their work to the library, and their contributions will be most welcome there.

This is, and will continue to be, the culmination of years of work by our fellow explorers, all contributing their time, efforts, and talents to making things ready for you all to see.

This is the fruit of their tireless labor. For that, from the bottom of my heart, I thank them. *All* of them.

There are too many names to mention…but each and every one has been an important part of launching this new era. If they would like to make themselves known…I leave that decision to them, as I would respect any choices of anonymity…but if they do speak up, be sure to give them thanks!

They are often the unsung heroes here in the cavern. They put in untold weeks, months, and even years of labor on an entirely volunteer basis to bring us all the amazing things we will see and experience.

Put simply, we would *not* be here today without them.

There is one more group I’d like to turn our thoughts to today: Our friends that are no longer with us. They too are an important part of why we’re all still here today. They are with us now in spirit…and as we go into the future, they will always be with us.

This is as much for them as it is for us. We’ve all come a long way and experienced much. Yet there is still *so* much more out there for us to explore!

Now, more than ever, these words ring true:

“The ending has not yet been written.”

– Patrick Dulebohn – Chiso Preniv opening ceremony

Twenty five years ago a company called Cyan released a game called Myst. A game that was based upon documents written by Catherine, wife of Atrus, which were discovered in the D’ni cavern.

Yeesha looks upon the Age of Myst with disdain, due to the family history that transpired there…and who can blame her? But for many of us Myst was that first step that would lead us to the cavern 10 years later. Without Myst, without the fall of D’ni we would not be where we are today exploring the cavern and its Ages.

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll see Yeesha again and will get the chance to tell her that.

The explorer community have a myriad of things planned, celebrations and the like. It’s nice seeing people coming together to celebrate the inception of the journey we all took.
I have something planned myself to celebrate, something that has taken some time to work out. I was hoping it would be ready for today but alas, there was too much involved to put it together so quickly. From past experiences I know not to rush these things.

I can hope to have it ready before Christmas this year, but we shall see.

Stopped by Cass this morning to check on the plantlife I had saved from Fahets to find a note on my desk.

The handwriting looks somewhat familiar, whoever wrote it apparently knows me which could be why the handwriting is familiar.

Enclosed in the note was a Garohevtee I had not seen before. The question is would it actually solve the issue as the mysterious author attests too? The notation under the phrase comments on which elements within Fahets that it relates to, I can see how it technically could introduce a stable element. I won’t further risk Fahets with adding it untested though. I Wrote two other test Ages when the Fahets issue started in order to try and figure out a solution, I think testing it on one of them would be a good idea. I can monitor any changes and if it proves safe apply it to Fahets.

As promised a quick summery of some of the experiments and studies that I am currently working on.

Fahets Stability

The stability issues are on going, I’m continuing to monitor the various Ages (especially Fahets) for further signs of trouble.
I have decided to use a couple of my precious blank Books to Write a couple of simple test Ages where I can monitor degradation of the underlying structure and implement any possible fixes.

So keen was I to put pen to paper, to Write an Age. I don’t think I was ready.
I have been spending countless nights pouring over Descriptive Books from other Ages trying to understand the various intricate concepts used in Age Writing, to see if I had overlooked something or if I could find a solution.

Water Studies

D’ni lake water studies continue with sampling of various pellets. Whilst I am now convinced that I have a nice formula for the pellets that will give the algae a healthy dose, the sheer mass of the lake means that fixing it will take many years. Especially after looking at the data provided in the rest of the community.

I’m hoping to take the pellets to a new stage an introduce new elements into the make up or perhaps work with Sophie on a better means to feed the lake…perhaps something airborne? I’m not sure.

Age Viewer

The idea came after Sophie and I had been working on the new imager model. The Third Path archive contains some interesting notes from a third party, relating to the experiments Atrus had done. So we had been musing if perhaps we could take a look at the concept, a fact made easier with the KI and Lattice technology, and see if something could come of it.

This was a couple of years back now, we have both been working ahead with it in our spare time. A few of the preliminary tests have yielded positive results.
Hopefully when some of the other issues have died down we can focus more on it and hopefully develop a solid working test.

Todah Berries

The berries have been the subject of some small scale studies. I’ve been curious as to the potency of the effects after the fruit has been prepared in numerous fashions.

As a result I roped Steven in to giving me a hand testing this and being a lab rat.

So far I’ve discovered the following.

• Juiced – Unsurprisingly the potency of the berries with the juice is almost as strong as eating the fruit itself. I plan to run some tests regarding shelf life of the juice. I have some ideas about using it in brewing in a very small amount just for an extra kick like the Absinthe of old.
• Pulped – Similiar result, a little more potent give that the flesh of the fruit is contained, it still seems to loose something in the process however. Perhaps something reacting with the air?
• Dried – Drying it out reduces a lot of the potency of it. Ingesting small samples resulted in a more subtle reaction. Steven suggested the concept of drying it out and leaving some in the bottom of the bottle which would likely give the small trace kick we would be looking for.

I have gone a head and placed small amounts of the dried batch in a couple of bottles of Norapod brandy to see what results.

Some time away was definitely needed I think. Off to the Fall Festival with the wife and kids this evening, will be a nice change of pace.

This last year (well the 10 months of it currently experienced) has taught me a great many lessons, an eye opener if you will. I’ve done a lot of reflection over the last few months, trying to figure things out.

Writing this is proving to be hard, I can’t seem to find the words I want to use…

I came to D’ni seven years ago, seven long years. Bright eyed and eager to learn and explore. I met a lot of people, and like most people ended up getting tied up cavern politics.
The lack of transparency with the DRC bugged the hell out of me, there was a lot about the group I feel they could have done better, and when The Third Path formed I took these ideas with me to apply to the group.

For years we worked away trying to release as much information as possible about the going ons and workings of the group.

Whilst in the cavern I tried to be as active as I could, spending days camped out in Kemo searching for Phil, joining the Guild of Greeters, The Great Tree.

I left the Guild of Greeters under messy terms which was probably for the best anyway, and the Great Tree and Sharper deciding that forging DRC chat transcripts was the way to help their agenda was when I decided to leave that group, wanting no part of that.
Shortly after the Cavern was closed down to visitors, the DRC pulled out, although many of us snuck back in. I knew then that a change was in the winds, but it’s only now that I realize what kind of wind.
Back then there was a thrill of sneaking around the city, reading communications from other D’ni Raiders who returned too. At the time I felt that this could be the start of something great, a chance of us to press forward and make progress in restoring D’ni.
Now of course I realize that it was in fact the start of something less than sunshine and rainbows.

The next few years saw an influx of new people, and a new mentality started forming, a mentality of ownership, of deserving. Like a poison apple, this mentality grew, and soon those who remembered the old days were outnumbered, those who remember the times before D’ni opened of hearing whispers back in 2000.

Some of us started Writing, some lashed out against this, others accepted and embraced our work. All the while I worried to the extremes about following the rules and guidelines set down regarding Age Writing.

Many would just dismiss it, pretending conflict never happened, oppressing opposing views in order to maintain their pathetic illusion of a Utopian society.

The DRC returned, and the poisonous mentalities continued and worsened, with zealots rising up with loud voices, flawed logic and a hatred that was, to be quite frank, was rather scary. For a while progress was made, new Ages released (if not hurriedly at times). But, once again, the DRC left, the cavern “closed”.

There were tantrums, there were tears, the people who knew the drill continued with their work as usual. Then members of the DRC returned, not as the DRC though just explorers. Opening access to those who couldn’t find their way back.

Oh how people cheered, hooray, they have their empty shell back. For that is what D’ni has become. The many people who can actually aid the restoration have stepped back into the shadows, many not wanting to deal with other people, and who can blame them really? Give me my shadows over a busy neighbourhood any day.

This last year has showed me how far we have fallen. D’ni went from being a place to explore, to learn to just being a meeting place for people so scared of progress, so afraid to let go of the illusion of some golden age of the past that they lash out at those who seek to learn, who seek to understand to make things better.

And so when we decide to retain this knowledge we have learned instead of sharing it with those who deserve it, there comes cries of theft, of selfishness and elitism, of power grabbing.

Ha! Power grabbing, an age old hang up of the explorer community. Power like many things in this community is an illusion, people perceive power where there isn’t any. Like the DRC Liaison fiasco, what power was there to be grabbed? I mean honestly, oh we get to speak to the DRC? Guess what? So do you, if you could shut people up from asking stupid questions over and over and yelling, it’s called being civil people.
Even the DRC didn’t have power. Oh sure they released new areas, and it was a while before we could get the workload done to do the same, but they couldn’t keep us out of D’ni, they couldn’t block entry they tried to on 2 accounts that I can think of and they failed both times.

This is what I learned this year, that it’s all an illusion, an illusion that is only given power if you let it.

And so I stopped. And I can tell you, in doing so, I literally felt a weight being lifted.

Why should The Third Path be transparent all the time? Is it really important? We release Ages, people visit them, that’s really all there is to the process, everything else in between is neither here nor there.

Why should I follow the rules and guidelines for the Art? Who is really there to enforce them?

No one.

If I want to mess around with concepts then I will, if it kills me so be it, the only time there is an issue is if it causes harm to others, and we’re pretty good about not letting that happen.

As for the politics and that vapid mentality in the community? To hell with it, let the fools have their illusions, let them bind their shattered dreams in the thought that they are not broken. I want nothing to do with it, with them.

I take my friends with me, they know who they are, to hell with the rest.

D’ni became this empty hollow shell of what it once was, part of that was from the D’ni falling, part of that was from us. There is still much to learn, much to explore, and I think that is why part of me will always seek to return. But D’ni will never be reborn as I used to think, as some still think, I made that realization years ago. But the illusions of other things still held me in place.

But they have been dispelled, and I feel better because of it. Where I go from here remains to be seen, D’ni holds little interest for me, the solace of the Ages, of my Ages is a comfort, and I have taken some of my Books with me to the surface, so perhaps time spent in them is a better use of said time.

I’m sure many will call me bitter, and for a time I really was, perhaps I still am to a degree, but most of this isn’t bitterness, it is disappointment on an epic scale.

Some time away, enjoying the surface, may be just what I need.