January 2003 Discussions
New Neighborhoods
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 07, 2003I know we’ve all been busy the last month focusing on the neighborhoods. Can I get a status update? How many ‘hoods are ready for approval?
Dr. Watson
Posted By: Victor Laxman
On: January 07, 2003Are you expecting more guests?
v
Posted By: Marie Sutherland
On: January 07, 2003At the moment, we have ten neighborhoods ready or nearly ready for final approval. Twenty more will be ready in the near future.
Marie
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 07, 2003Marie – Thanks for the update.
Vic – Yes. I have a hunch that’s a safe bet.
Dr. Watson
Posted By: Victor Laxman
On: January 08, 2003Oh, yeah. I see what you mean. Ready or not…
“Uru” certainly is appropriate!
By the way, I’ve managed to obtain one of those books. I don’t recognize the symbol on the cover. It’s obviously got D’ni characters as part of it, but it doesn’t strike me as D’ni in origin.
v
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 16, 2003Getting caught up:
The ten neighborhoods have passed phase 5 approval.
More explorers began arriving a few days ago. I had the chance to speak to several of them today on Ae’gura.
About your book, Vic. I’d like to spend some time studying it. Just don’t use it.
Dr. Watson
Surfacing
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 16, 2003I’ll be spending the next few days on the surface. Bringing back a few needed supplies.
Mind the store for me, Vic. :)
Dr. Watson
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 30, 2003On my last surface trip I happened to see one of the hand-spirals that the Professor’s followers are making. They’re sure a dedicated bunch of folks.
Dr. Watson
Posted By: Marie Sutherland
On: January 30, 2003It’s not just on the surface, Dr. Watson. Some of his explorers were recently seen forming a “journey” down here in D’ni. I’d say he’s gained quite a following.
Marie
Posted By: Victor Laxman
On: January 30, 2003Following? – that’s an understatement! Seems to me that there’s a group of people who would enjoy crowning him king.
“Zandi, the 35th King of D’ni” – it’s got a certain ring to it. :)
I certainly hope he is not on some kind of power trip.
v
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 30, 2003My guess is that’s attributable more to Zandi’s mystique than any actual desire for power on his part. We’ve all seen how people can be drawn to a mystery. Maybe explaining a little bit of his story would make him less enigmatic.
I’ve typed up a brief history of his connection to us, but even trying to be concise it ended up being pretty long. I’ll post it in a separate thread.
Dr. Watson
KI Update
Posted By: Victor Laxman
On: January 27, 2003How about a bit of KI catching up…
I’ve been fairly quiet, but Mark and Eric have been rewriting, reworking, converting and optimizing the KI “threshold” software.
On top of that, Steve recently discovered (behind one of the locked doors in the Well) a very substantial stash of what we’re calling “Class G” KI’s. In the very near future we will be switching over the KI distribution to G. We’ll also be replacing all currently in-service KI’s manually. We’ll hand out the new ones as we see you.
These new G’s, in conjunction with the software enhancements offer a few new features, and a few changes. The largest enhancements have to do with the Nexus and getting more of the D’ni features to work.
Work continues on calibrating the location feature so we have positioning information. Chris has affectionaly dubbed this our KIPS (rhymes with GPS.) Dr. Watson – We will need a discussion of the Great Zero restoration at some point.
v
A little background on Zandi
Posted By: Dr. Watson
On: January 30, 2003As promised in the “Surfacing” thread…
It has come to my attention that Prof. Jeff Zandi is increasingly getting more and more attention. I’m under the impression that some of the attraction to him is that so little is known about him. In hopes that an unrealistic legend surrounding him is not established (or that those that are beginning are not perpetuated), I’ve decided to provide a brief glimpse into his background.
To tell this background, it’s best to go back about fifteen years. In fact, much of this recent history of D’ni has never been told publicly. Perhaps now is the time.
D’ni was discovered (in the modern era) sometime in 1987, by a gentleman named John “Fighting Branch” Loftin. Almost everyone referred to him as Branch. I don’t know the exact date of his discovery, and unfortunately, he isn’t around to ask.
Anyway, Branch happened to be fairly close friends with a wealthy archaeologist named Elias Zandi (close friends called him “Eli”). Elias’ particular area of expertise and interest was the Southwestern United States.
Elias Zandi was well known in archaeological circles. He had visited a number of sites around the world and procured a number of valuable historical artifacts. He commonly paid top dollar, eccentrically claiming there was some kind of connection between himself and the objects. After a while, he began to focus on Southwest artifacts exclusively, claiming that some of them had a “special mystery”. It was during this time that Elias became closely associated with Branch. Branch had a certain knack of finding items that Elias was particularly interested in.
The dam broke loose when, while exploring in some caverns, Branch stumbled upon what we now know were D’ni digging machines. To describe Elias as elated does not come close to portraying the truth. Possessed is possibly a better word. Elias became single minded in his pursuit.
It was 1988, March 19th to be exact, that Branch and Elias made their first trip into the caverns, as documented in Elias’ journal. It was a short one, through the entrance, through a small crack, suddenly into D’ni-made tunnels, past the long abandoned diggers, and eventually to the top of the shaft. They returned from that first trip as changed men – Elias writing in his journal, “I have come to a place that I could never have imagined, and yet it seems I have come home.”
It was in 1989, on their third major expedition that they reached the great D’ni cavern and saw the ruined city. Elias’ journal stoically describes what they saw, but word has it that he was so overwhelmed that he collapsed to his knees and wept. He realized then that the size of this discovery required him to seek assistance. He made plans to call an old friend.
I had met Elias years before and seen him on numerous expeditions. The two of us, around the same time, but for quite different reasons, began to focus on the southwest U.S. and had several opportunities to work closely together. By 1989, we were fairly close.
After being contacted by Elias, it took me little time to start making plans for a lengthy expedition. I still remember my initial skepticism at his claims, and yet I trusted him, based on our friendship and the information he supplied. At the same time, Elias began the process of purchasing thousands of acres of land surrounding the area where the tunnels had been found. [As a side note, it was also at this time that Elias first contacted the brothers of Rod Miller, a friend of his son Jeff. He wanted to spread the word of his discovery in a very subtle way to others he thought might feel “the call”, but I’m getting ahead of myself.]
By the time everything was in place in 1990, Branch, Elias, and myself were ready for our first major expedition to D’ni together. I must admit, with every new thing I saw; with every step I took; the further I got from the surface; the closer I felt to home. That journey ended up lasting more than three weeks and brought the three of us all the way to Ae’gura. It was there we discovered a number of artifacts, including, most importantly, the journals of Catherine.
In 1991, the three of us made another trip, but sadly, Branch did not make it back to the surface. The events of that trip have shaped me, and although I choose not to recount the details, I will note that I broke rules and permitted things that I regret to this day. It was a very trying experience, but neither Elias nor myself could help but continue pushing forward, albeit with some additional care.
By this time we were able to begin translating some of Catherine’s journals and other documents that had been found. Elias was passing this information to the Millers on the surface. As information was uncovered, their project shifted from a story about the discovery of the cavern to the stories told by Catherine’s journals.
By 1992 things were moving rather quickly. I formed an expeditionary group, with a few of my former colleagues, to perform a much more detailed and lengthy examination of the cavern. (The recruiting stories are amusing – perhaps another time.) Elias did not accompany this group on our trip down. He came down later and met us in the city.
It was this meeting in the city where I realized that Elias and I differed on our views of the future of D’ni. It appeared to me that he was taking some rather extreme view regarding restoring the city to its “original glory” and re-inhabiting it with people who called themselves D’ni. He said things like “We feel the call, for many of us have the blood of D’ni within us, and it calls us home.” I must say that I understood some of what he was espousing, but not the extreme to which he was taking it.
Don’t misunderstand, I was still committed to the endeavor. D’ni was calling me, maybe not in exactly the way it was calling Elias, but it was calling. So Elias and I continued to work together as he funded the continuing restoration of D’ni. It’s interesting to note that from that trip in 1992 until now; the city has never been completely uninhabited.
It was also in late 1992 that I began dividing my time between explorations of the cavern and helping the Miller brothers with their project on the surface. By this time, several of Catherine’s journals and many of the other documents we had found had been translated. Elias felt this project would be best served if I were there in person to provide them with information directly. I agreed.
As Elias became more consumed with the restoration, his health began to deteriorate. In 1993 he underwent open-heart surgery, and his doctors warned him to slow down. But his life was tied to the restoration of D’ni, and nothing could slow him down. It would eventually overtake him.
In late 1993 I had the pleasure of bringing Rand, Robyn and Ryan Miller to the city for the first time. They were awed by the place, stating that our descriptions and even photographs of it had not nearly done it justice. This was shortly after their project had been completed, but before it had been released.
Their game Myst, based on the story of Atrus found in Catherine’s journals, would go far beyond any of our initial expectations. Elias’ desire was not to tell the whole world about D’ni, but rather to specifically spread the word to others who would recognize the tales, even on a subconscious level, and would themselves feel “the call”. He expected those who heard the story but didn’t feel the call to just dismiss the stories as works of mere fiction. We would all be surprised by the number of people who would feel the call in the years to come.
In 1994 I organized two massive supply trips to move large amounts of supplies and equipment to D’ni. The second trip was affectionately known as the “ice cream” trip because of the number of cones (saftey cones) we brought down.
1995 proved to be rather interesting. It showed the largest spike of small groups of people going out into the desert, looking for a path to D’ni. Invariably, they claimed they were “called” using that same term that we had used. Elias was thrilled. Many of those who came were accepted as volunteers on the restoration project.
In late 1995, November I think, there was another interesting turn of events. Elias had escorted Rand and Robyn back to the city, and Elias’ son Jeff was with them. Jeff had been down several times before, but this trip was memorable. Jeff and Elias had a rather large philosophical disagreement over the restoration of the city. Jeff had some strong opinions regarding the path his father was taking and was very vocal. He rather strongly stated that he felt that the restoration was never supposed to be purely physical, but that it was primarily a spiritual renewal. Elias didn’t understand that position at all, and the arguments grew heated at many points. As far as I know, the two parted ways after that, and I don’t know if they saw each other again.
Sadly, in 1996 my good friend Elias died of a massive heart attack. He left his fortune to the D’ni Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit organization he had established. I was the chair of that foundation and executor of his estate. He left no money to his son, but strangely, he left him the land in New Mexico.
I was somewhat overwhelmed by the responsibility that was thrust on me, and formed the D’ni Restoration Council in January of 1997 to create a group of people to help me oversee the restoration. As time has passed, I’ve come to be nearly as obsessed with the restoration project as Elias was, tempered by our past mistakes and realizing that this effort must be balanced with a focus on caution.
I’ve had some contact with Jeff over the years, I even offered him a seat on the DRC, but he refused saying that his vision for the restoration was something beyond what we on the Council could comprehend.
Jeff is a good man; an honest man, and I’ve always held him in fond regard. Even so, I don’t agree with his methods or his misguided vision regarding the restoration of D’ni. That said, I continue to hold out hope that one day we will work together in this grand task.
Dr. Richard A. Watson