Heading up to the surface in about an hour, going to be gone for a week or so whilst I deal with moving house and some wedding items.
Winterbloom isn’t going to be ready in time for the wedding, which is greatly disappointing, I’ve never known and Age have some many set backs it is infuriating.
Work has been continuing in my absence.
Today I was thinking about Age styles, and art movements on the surface. A lot of the Ages we have seen thus far have been of a certain style, even though they are different there is a core values that is shared which is born from the D’ni style, both in art, architecture and design. Even some of the newer Ages my fellow explorers have been writing share these traits, not surprisingly. We have ventured down to discover D’ni, it is only natural that their culture is going to have a strong influence on us and we are going to mimic it in our development.
But what of our culture, what of our design aesthetics, what would an Age be like with a design based on periods of our societies growth, minimalism, modernism neo-classicalism. Would Age building have movements like art does so you see a wide array of age styles and aesthetics.
I also wonder if the D’ni had something like this, Kemo, Tsogahl and Delin all share similar elements, was this down to them all being Written by the same person? Stock elements that were used in many garden Ages? Or were they inspired by each other in some sort of Age movement? Was the Garden Age binge just a period in time where Garden Ages were plentiful, or was it a movement in Age writing where Gardens were the fashion?
What caused this train of thought was the trip I made to Tre’bivdil earlier in the day, it was such a fresh style to an Age it amazed me, I am hip deep in modern and minimal design all day every day, why did I not think about applying it to an Age instead of mimicking that of the D’ni design. Tre’bivdil inspired me to try applying a modernist aesthetic to an Age.
The trip got pushed back a week or so, Winterbloom was going to be pushed back to phase 3 yet again so I had to deal with that. I was getting sick to death with it being constantly pushed back, thankfully I had my little trip to look forward to.
Trekked out over to The Cleft, Jeff wasn’t around today so I had no worries about him grumbling about me climbing over the fence and heading up to the caldera.
The trip almost ended there and then, half way through climbing down the caldera wall into the volcano I lost my footing and slid down to the floor, almost broke my ankle, fortunately there was only a little bruising done, I should see about fixing a ladder so people can climb down easier.
I’ve wondered the path so many times, but this time I was actually taking the time to appreciate the history, to soak in the stories that were held within the rock around me.
The sheer scale of the Great Shaft is breathtaking, it’s a testament to the tenacity of the D’ni, not only that their skill as stonemasons too. Standing here reminded me of Kadish Tolesa, my first trips to the Age when I had walked out of the tunnel to the opening to find the Vault sitting there, suspended by this huge beams, my jaw just dropped it was such a sight to behold. I decided to walk the path down, despite the fact the walkway is broken in places it is easy to negotiate around. I stopped at the Eder Tomahn half way down and decided to call it a day, staying there much as Gehn and Atrus once did before I picked up the journey again the following day.
I woke up stiff and achy from the slight fall I took the day before, as I result I decided to take a slight shortcut and took the elevator the rest of the way down.
I found that the door leading from the Shaft to the rest of the tunnel network was closed, and I couldn’t get it open. As a result I had to try and get the huge mechanism working to lift the floor so I could get under it and to the ladder which lay near to the air sirculation controls.
I walked for ages, looking at more of the same, tunnels and nodes and Eder Tomahn, following the map I have so I didn’t get lost in the labyrinth down here. As the hour got late I stopped at another Eder Tomahn for some late supper and went to sleep.
I woke up early, thankfully the aches had subsided somewhat thanks to the ibuprofen gel. I continued down the tunnels until I reached the area where the detour was needed due to collapsed passages. Making sure my climbing equipment was on hand I set off following the detour route noted on the map. Eventually I rejoined the original tunnels and stopped to rest and get some food and drink in me and get in a round of Mario Kart balloon battle on my trusty DS.
I set off again taking in the sights around me, matching items I saw with the notes that Aitrus made during his journey through the tunnels. Before to long I reached the path that lead into D’ni which in turn lead to the lava chamber, a location I must admit I had not been looking forward to, it was always a nightmare to pass through in the past.
The sheer heat in that place, not to mention the fumes is enough to make anyones head turn, trying to negotiate the broken walkway whilst dealing with it is very difficult. Thankfully I had packed a mask which eased the situation somewhat but not by much.
I took a break after clearing the chamber and finished off an entire bottle of water before I felt stable enough to carry on.
I wandered through through the gate and down more tunnels, mulling over things in my mind about D’ni, about where I started all those years ago and where I was now. Trying to figure out whether I am happy with where I am or not. As I approached the growing orange glow that lay in the tunnel up ahead I had an idea, a possibility that I am surprised I hadn’t really considered before as my focus had been on D’ni and the Ages of and not the journey to D’ni.
I stood at the caverns shore looking over to Ae’gura, mulling over the idea that had formed, would it be possible? It is a big undertaking, would it be allowed?
I sat for a while, sketching out the view that lay before me into my journal, for a while I just sat there thinking. Looking down at at the sketch and at the four letter word I had written next to it, DIRT, I knew that I wanted to do it and so instead of taking the boat across the lake to Ae’gura I decided to use my Relto book, I need to speak to the others about this.
I’ve been working on and off on Winterbloom for the last month or so whilst on the surface. I would have put the Age on hiatus with the others but seeming I wrote it as a wedding present for my wife to be I figured work on it needed to continue.
Decided I am going to take a trip back down into D’ni, I have decided to take the long way down, down the tunnels. I have found that over the years spent in the Cavern I have lost my way a bit and I am hoping a long solitary trek down will help me find what I have lost somewhat.
Need to arrange to get some supplies and gear together.
Taking an extended leave to the surface to mull things over, not certain whether I’ll be returning.
Need to arrange a meeting with Robert and the others before I go and discuss what to do there as well.