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Category: Cavern Events

  • May 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    May 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 157th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Firmament
    2. Mysterium
    3. Events in the Cavern
    4. OpenUru
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Firmament

    Firmament now has a page on Steam and GOG; wishlisting it will help the visibility of the game. A teaser and a trailer have also been released on Cyan’s YouTube channel (possible spoilers); extended preview footage was released back in December.

    In a post on Kickstarter, Cyan recommended backers to double check your survey information via Fangamer to ensure your shipment and delivery settings are up to date; wrong info will lead to delays in getting your digital rewards.

    The system requirements are a bit beefy, with a minimum of an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X eight-core processor (16 CPUs), ~3.7 GHz or Intel i5 7000 series; 16 GB RAM of memory; AMD Radeon RX 5700XT or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB graphic card; DirectX 11; 20 GB disk space.

    The game will release for Windows and MacOS on May 18, and on PS4, PS5 and PS VR 2 at a later date. PC VR will include free roam and teleport modes and will support Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Rift S, and Quest 2 via Oculus Link.

    Mysterium

    The annual Myst convention is only two months away, on June 30 in Spokane (WA)! A few reminders:

    • book your hotel room before the closing date on May 28, since the discount code for the rooms will no longer work after that date;
    • the cut-off date for swag is June 3, any orders not finalized by then will be unavailable (a limited number of swag items will be available at the registration table);
    • online registration ends on June 16; walk-in registration will be possible, but registering before the deadline helps getting an accurate head count for the visit at Cyan’s HQ.

    This year will be the first time Mysterium will be offering assistive listening technology (specifically a Williams Sound PPA 457 Personal Assistive Listening System): if you require one of these, please contact the committee by no later than June 1st so they can compile a headcount. Bear in mind that a deposit or a form of collateral will be required to use the devices.

    The creative prompt for May is “Spring”; the deadline is May 31. Entries for the “You Fool!” prompt for April were from Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, and Talashar.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Between April and May two new Ages were made available to explorers: Eder Bahvahnter and Kalamee, the latter based on an Intangibles design by Cyan. Three clothing items have also been added; did you find them all?

    ☛ Maurus thanked everyone who attended the Live The Cavern Today show in the TCT Hood. A recording is available on the TCT website and the podcast feed (and through the streaming app of your choice).

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 19 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic is flying games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    OpenUru

    Testing for items to be included in the Q2 update has begun. A few areas are in the works, but it is unclear whether they will be ready for a Q2 or a Q3 release.

    ☛ The first part of the expanded Descent has been added to Minkata alpha! So far, things are very roughly working, but a lot of multiplayer functions still need to be addressed, various visual fixes need addressing, and some suggestions and additions are still in the works.

    Descent will certainly not be ready for Mysterium, but Doobes is hopeful to get at least the first leg ready within this year. This expanded version is planned to include elements from Myst V and the DIRT/Descent demo.

    ☛ Christopher Therburg gave an update on his Fall of D’ni Memorial Island project. Surface commitments convinced hit to turn this into a community project; work since then has progressed very quickly, thanks in particular to Tweek.

    The island had already been in use some time prior of the Fall, but it is unclear for what purpose: possibly a wedding place, or more likely a small park overlooking Ae’gura. Another dock was added to the island, and a memorial was placed on the spot where the largest stalagmite once stood. The memorial was initially planned to be placed in Ae’gura, but issues with the two possible locations led to relocate it to this little island, which also offers a nice vista of Ae’gura and the whole Cavern.

    The island has finally reached phase 5. There are still a few things that need to be done before it can be opened, hopefully in time for the anniversary (July 12, Leesahn 8). The island will be accessible via Chiso Preniv first, but in the future it will also be added to the Nexus, and also with a boat from Ae’gura.

    Chris also mentioned he found a new Age somewhere in the Cavern, but it still needs further explorations and mapping before restoration can actually begin.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.

    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Another student has completed the 101 class and is working on their final exam!

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of Atrus as told in the book Myst: The Book of Atrus. After that they will begin the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In May, the Fan Ages Expeditions will continue the exploration of Alabaster by Dulcamara; another huge Age, with many puzzles, so it will take a couple more sessions. After that, they will begin the exploration of Tentsahveet by Jhon J. Jaguar.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, June 3 (Leebro 6) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • A New Era in D’ni: Kalamee

    A New Era in D’ni: Kalamee

    On Monday, May 1st, 2023 (9679 Leefo 8), in a ceremony held in Chiso Preniv that gathered over 100 explorers and was announced on Cyan’s Twetter feed, Semjay and Patrick Dulebohn gave a speech (a transcript of which you can read below), then unveiled the linking book to Kalamee.

    This was originally an unfinished Intangibles age that was picked up by Semjay to complete. You can find more details about the original design (spoiler alert) at The Lost Library of D’ni. The following is a spoiler-free outline of the backstory of the released age:

    Ancient Kalameeans built the stone circles and erected the monoliths. One day, a big storm and catastrophic flood washed the earth mound and its contents away, leaving the stone structure of the quoit as seen today.

    The age was later linked to by the D’ni; the inhabitants were chased away and a curtain wall was built around the valley, but the age was soon abandoned. Many years passed and eventually a father and daughter arrived and occupied the valley.

    Many more years passed, and the age was found by the DRC. They updated the link-in point and constructed landing pads across the valley. In 2022, Semjay found the book, settled in the house and spent many months clearing the pathways, constructing weirs, repairing structures and replanting trees and crops.

    Note than unlike other ages available in Chiso Preniv, Kalamee is a personal instance; visiting it will save a link in your Nexus. To visit with friends, you will need to go through Chiso Preniv and use the share panel, or send an invite with your KI.

    Calum Traveler posted a postcard in his blog and chatlogs on the Beneath forums. Minasunda made a video of the event.

    Speech transcript (click to expand )

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Welcome to you all. Thank you for joining us today! Once again, we find ourselves here in Chiso Preniv, ready to open up another Age. And again, we will experience the history and majesty of the D’ni mastery of the Art thanks to the hard work of our volunteer restoration experts. Today, we bring you the Age of Kalamee.

    A bit of the modern history of this Age: A little while back, the D’ni Restoration Council, or DRC as we more commonly know them, was gracious enough to open their “vault” to those of us currently restoring and residing in the cavern and its Ages. Needless to say, there was a lot of exciting material they had to show us! It shows they had been extremely busy all the way up until the very end.

    With that in mind, amongst our other goals, we aim to finish the work that they started. Today, we offer the first Age that is part of that continuation of the DRC’s work, and that is Kalamee. The DRC had just discovered the Age and had begun to set up there when the last restoration ended, so there was quite a lot of work to do.

    Still, you’ll soon see why it piqued the DRC’s interest, as well as the interest of the individual who is largely responsible for completing restoration efforts there. It is because of her tireless work that we are here today! That person is Semjay.

    She spearheaded the majority of the time and energy to finish Kalamee’s extensive restoration and the results are truly a sight to see. We are here today because of her; to honor and celebrate her momentous achievement.

    So, all that said; Semjay, anything you’d like to add?

    Semjay:

    Thank you, Patrick. I would like to say a big thank you to all the people who spent time and trouble to help me make the Age the best I possibly could, and to YOU all for being here. You guys keep this whole thing going, that’s for sure!

    I see some of you wearing the t-shirt already! You can get it from the box by my desk downstairs.

    So, are we ready?

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    I think they’re about ready, yes. Semjay’s got the honors.

  • A New Era in D’ni: Eder Bahvahnter

    A New Era in D’ni: Eder Bahvahnter

    On Monday, April 17, 2023 (9678 Leenovoo 27) Eder Bahvahnter, by Ametist and Dulcamara, was officially opened.

    Linked from a book in a place of protection in Elonin, Eder Bahvahnter is a large garden age, originally written by a D’ni man as a gift to his beloved.

    Minasunda made a video of the opening event, while a chatlog of the speech by Patrick Dulebohn and Ametist was posted on the Beneath IC forum.

    Speech transcript (click to expand )

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Hello everyone! Welcome to Eder Bahvahnter!

    We’re gathered here for what is always one of the most exciting times: to celebrate a newly-restored Age added to our collective body of work. As you can see, given the sheer size, getting this Age ready for everyone to enjoy was NOT a small feat!

    Today, we’ll hear from two familiar faces to this restoration who were directly involved in tending to the grounds and facilities of Eder Bahvahnter. They are also the team that was previously responsible for the fantastic work in Elonin in the cavern.

    My fellow explorers, please welcome back Dulcamara and Ametist!

    Ametist:

    Thank you Patrick! And thank you all who is here, so good to see you all.

    Our hope is that you will find this garden peaceful and relaxing. Here are many places were one can sit down and think a little, or chat with friends, take a little swim in the pond or cool downby just walking in the stream.

    This garden age was written by a D’ni man as a gift for his beloved and that lovely story can be found in the Journal.

    It was hard work to restore it to this state, but we have had great help and assistance from a whole bunch of explorers. Some of them of the adventurous sort, so I have been holding my breath many times when seeing some of them climbing the highest cliffs or jumping downfrom high up branches!

    Unfortunately a little water leak appeared one day, well, that was me that caused it. I was moving the shelf that stands next to the doorway, above the stairs. I thought it would fit better on the other side of the room. Dulcamara was on the surface and I thought I should surprise her.

    But that shelf was to heavy, and when I tried to push it it fell to the floor and I could hear water from beneath the floor. Somehow a water pipe was broken a bit. So I am sorry about that! This happened recently so we had not enough time to try to fix it. We will of course, but probably we have to break open the floor to get to the leak.

    Anyway, if you walk to close to that rightmost shelf and hear water, just go back down the stair one step or two.When you go up again it’s gone. It is like the vibrations from walking moves the pipe in a way that opens the crack or close it.

    Oh, and speaking of water, we have also restored a new set of rooms in Elonin! There was earlier a closed and locked door, now its unlocked and able to open 🙂

  • April 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    April 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 156th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. Ages of Doobes
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Early bird registration and shirt orders are now closed; regular registration (slightly more expensive) will be open until June 16, and other swag items may still be purchased until June 3.

    The prompt for February is “You Fool!”; the deadline is April 30. Entries for the “Idle Hands” prompt for March were Kefrith, Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar, and Laughingpineapple.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 14 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic is male protagonists in video games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    ☛ April 21 is Leefo 1st in the D’ni calendar, the first day of D’ni year 9679. Hahr rahm gah shoraht!

    OpenUru

    ☛ The Q1 update is on its final leg of testing before release, sometime next week. Briggs and Hazado have worked hard to restore the old DRC stage by the Tokotah plaza tent: its intended use will be for things like the story Town Halls or for speaking or music events.

    There will be two versions for it: one is the full DRC build with microphone, which will be reserved for Cyan if they will ever wants to use it; it will have a fully blocked off collision wall. The other, public version will be a generic stage with reduced collisions, letting people get onto the stage and not getting in the way of tent climbing activities 😉

    ☛ Eder Bahvahnter, by Ametist, will be available immediately after the update; the book will be found in Elonin, and it will be a public instance available from all versions of that neighborhood.

    ☛ Another surprise Age will also be included in the update. Details are kept under secret; Doobes stated to be very impressed with it.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.

    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Ages of Doobes

    Doobes announced that phase one of the Descent expansion is likely to be completed in the very near future! If all goes well, he will be able to submit it for the Q2 update testing, and if no major bugs show up, this first phase will be ready in time for Mysterium.

    Phase one consists mostly of the tract from the surface to the bottom of the Great Shaft you may be familiar with from Myst V or the Dirt demo. The biggest difference is that spiral path of the Shaft has been fully repaired, and you will be able to walk up and down the entirety of it (about two hours of continuous running). The elevators will still be there, and you could also try to just jump down if you dare!

    There is a lot of stuff in this build that has never been tested for multiplay, so that is going to be a key item to test when the time comes. Doobes has also worked on a more realistic lighting of the location, while still keeping the mood of the scene.

    Ultimately the goal is to open the full path from the surface to D’ni. Cyan has provided just enough with the Intangibles content for a phase two, but it still needs all the rough edges sanded down, so Doobes opted for a release in stages to keep up interest. Beyond phase two no concept art is available, so unless Cyan will have specific features they want included, the design of the path up to the Cavern will be open to suggestions.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of Atrus as told in the book Myst: The Book of Atrus. After that they will begin the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    There will be no Story Night on April 8, due to it being Easter weekend and because r’Tay will be traveling.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In April, the Fan Ages Expeditions will complete the expedition to Elsewhere by Denost. It is a huge Age, with a lot of swimming, running and many puzzles, so they have not finished it yet! After that, they will begin the exploration of Alabaster by Dulcamara.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    March ended with the CavFunding at 85% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 691%, with 20% extra expenses. Population was at 47,581 (⇑252), with 1174 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 6 (Leefo 13, 9679) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • March 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    March 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 155th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. International Women’s Week
    2. Mysterium
    3. OpenUru
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    International Women’s Week

    Skyisblu presented the schedule for the International Women’s Week celebrations starting on Monday 6 (see our dedicated post). A thank goes to Nosila for organizing and sorting it all out, and to everyone who planned the events.

    Mysterium

    Enamel pins and button sets have been added to the Mysterium website for preorder. Designs for the pins are by Katherine “Squeefruit” White, Kelly “Rayne” Coston, redwoodroad, and Avior. Designs for the buttons are by Designs for the and Designs for the . Riven daggers are covered by the lanyard charms.

    Unfortunately, there is no option to ship internationally; the last time that was attempted, it took months to get everything sorted out. An option is to ask someone you know will attend to pick up swag for you and mail it to you afterward.

    Social buttons will be available for free to attendees, staff, and guests. A green “Yes” button implies that you are comfortable with people approaching you and engaging in conversation; a yellow “Ask” button implies that you would prefer people to ask before engaging in conversation; a red “No” button implies simply that you would like some space and to be left alone.
    The buttons must be returned at the end of the convention so that they can be sanitized and used again next year.

    The prompt for February is “Idle Hands”; the deadline is March 31. Entries for the “Heart” prompt for February were Rahshahth (featuring pixel art by Kefrith), Calum Traveler, and Talashar.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    OpenUru

    ☛ The restoration of Eder Bahvahnter, by Ametist, is complete and waiting the final phase 5 reviews. The book to Bahvahnter will be found in Elonin when it will be released, sometime at the end of March or early April.

    ☛ For Eder Naybree, some latency and lag issues have been hammered down, this quarter’s update should bring a significant reduction in load on some lower end machines. This is primarily the reason the beach side has been delayed.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday through Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In March, the Fan Ages Expeditions will visit Elsewhere by Denost. It is a huge Age, with a lot of swimming, running and many puzzles; it will keep the explorers busy the whole month!

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, April 1st (Leenovoo 14) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • International Women’s Week

    Various events have been planned in the Cavern to celebrate the International Women’s Week. A thank goes to Nosila for organizing and sorting it all out, and to everyone who planned the events. Here is the schedule, more details for each event will be posted in their calendar entries.

    Monday 6

    12:00–13:30 KIT: Cooking Session, hosted by Sky, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. Sky will be preparing a cozy pumpkin curry and homemade naan breads, while answering cooking question and perhaps recounting her experience as a female chef in a male dominated industry.

    13:30–15:30 KIT: Women in Classical Music, Past and Present, hosted by Babbel, in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura.

    Tuesday 7

    11:00–12:00 KIT: Music of Usha Uthup, hosted by Ereshkigal, in the New Messengers Pub.

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Relaxing Sessions, hosted by PodHopper, in Podhopper’s Hood.

    Wednesday 8 (I.W.D.)

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Through the Decades, hosted by Nosila, at the Kings Lookout in Ae’gura.

    13:00–14:00 KIT: Fil Live, hosted by Fil, in the New Messengers Pub.

    14:00–15:00 KIT: Music by, about and for Women, hosted by AlanDJ, in the Ae’gura plaza.

    Thursday 9

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Seeker’s Country Evening Special, hosted by Eternal Seeker, in Mir-o-Bot’s Cleft (send “link” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot).

    Friday 10

    13:00–14:00 KIT: De Todos os cantos do mundo, hosted by Dah’mpa, at Sutherland’s Point in Ae’gura.

    15:00–17:00 KIT: Wonky Talk, hosted by IwonK, in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood. The theme will of course be female protagonists.

    Sunday 12

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Ladies of Jazz, hosted by Radio Free D’ni, in the Ae’gura plaza.

    Websites

    Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

  • February 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    February 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 154th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. OpenUru
    4. Doobes
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    The Committee, always striving to make the convention as welcoming and accessible to as many people as possible, has released an accessibility survey to solicit feedback and ideas. The survey is short and all questions are optional.

    The big news was of course that registrations are now open! The Committee is using a new registration software for this year, and possibly into the future: you will need to open an account, and through that you will be able to access the shop section to purchase tickets and swag.

    Speaking of swag, there will be plenty this year, such as lanyard charms (Riven dagger, Gehn crest, quab, watermelon), Myst series timeline coffee mugs, and a poster print with awesome artwork! More will be added at future dates as things like pins get settled and finalised.

    As for the Covid-19 policy, it will be mostly the same as last year: full vaccination is required (including a bivalent booster) by June 23, and masks (N95 or equivalent) will be required and enforced.
    At Cyan’s headquarters the policy will be different and a bit more lax: special guests and Cyan staff will be allowed to remove their masks while presenting or taking part in a panel, and may not be guaranteed to be fully vaccinated.

    Hotel registration is also open; pricing is a bit higher than usual, because many unrelated events will be hosted at Spokane at around the same time, and the convention is just before US Independence Day.

    A few submission deadlines are still open:

    • pin designs are open until February 12;
    • events are open until April 29 (if you require special seating arrangements or equipment, you will need to inform the Committee in the submission).

    The prompt for February is “Heart”; the deadline is February 28. Entries for the “Beginnings” prompt for January were Calum Traveler, Redwoodrroad, Kefrith, and Talashar.

    ☛ For the latest info and more details, check the official website of the Mysterium Convention.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Minasunda presented the schedule for the XIII MOULa Anniversary Celebration Week (see our dedicated post). This year is also the 30th anniversary of the original Myst game, and the 20th anniversary of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst!

    If Mir-o-Bot is present for an event, please use it solely for traveling, respect the events and do not use bot commands. Minasunda will release videos of the events some time (13 events will take a while to process!) after the anniversary week, in her YouTube channel.

    ☛ Dah’mpa presented the Wall competitions. Both will take place at Wally’mpa’s Gahreesen; the meeting point will be the Watcher’s Pub. If Wally’mpa (Dah’mpa’s doppelgänger) is unresponsive, please wait until he gets back to you: entry will be put on hold during matches to minimize chances of bugs.

    Player can participate in either or both sessions. The goal is to give players (and spectators) more opportunities to participate. There will be only individual competitions (1 vs 1). This is because in team competitions bugs show up pretty quickly. Devs and testers are working hard to get rid of these issues, but for now it is safer to stick with the simpler mode.

    Participants can register until February 4 at midnight, 24:00 KIT, in order to better plan the format of each competition. Only players that really know how to play the game can sign up. That is because explaining how the Wall works during the competition would take too long and is very hard to do without drawings.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 17 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic is cooking games. Feel free to suggest more interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    OpenUru

    The first quarter update testing is underway on Minkata Alpha. Testers are asked to to be discrete about a certain project they can find there until it will be ready to be released, and only report issues on the OpenUru Discord. This quarter has a wide gamut of contributions, from fixing old cold bugs in existing Ages, to (maybe) a couple of new Ages.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Doobes

    Doobes gave a few updates. First, he will be attending Mysterium to do a presentation: he will demonstrate Blender for Korman, to show in real time how to build a basic Age, and the ZLZ Age Importer, to show the process of converting Cyan Ages into usable Blender files. If you will not be able to attend, the event will be streamed live and archived to Mysterium’s YouTube channel sometime after.

    Next, he is back to work on Descent. The main focus has been relighting the section already available, just beyond the bottom of the Shaft. The current lighting is a bit unrealistic and too bright. The plan is to give this area a more natural and atmospheric lighting. After that, he will tackle the mechanics of the Great Shaft and all the wiring they will require.

    If all goes well, a new version of Descent should be uploaded to Minkata before the end of Q1, with a tentative release after the Q2 update, possibly in time for Mysterium. All this hinges on who difficult the wiring will turn out to be, so as always temper expectations!

    A change that should be coming this quarter will be the ability to delete fan Age books via Chiso Preniv. This will be possible due to coding from Hazado and graphical assets provided by Tweek.

    Doobes also mentioned Hazado has also been working on squashing more bugs with the Gahreesen Wall, so as many testers as possible are needed at the Minkata shard to give things a proper stress test.

    Finally he mentioned the release of Blender for Korman 0.14 (see our dedicated post).

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    On February 11 there will be no Story Night, as it would clash with the anniversary celebrations.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In February, the Fan Ages Expeditions will visit Lonirvan, the second chapter in the ‘Secret of the Rainbow’ journey by John J. Jaguar.
    They will then complete the exploration of the Maintainers Gateway by Melvin.
    Next will be the Cathedral by DenDwaler; the month will conclude with the first few steps (and swims) in Elsewhere by Denost.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    January ended with the CavFunding at 240% (CavCon 4.14) and the reserve at 715%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 47,027 (⇑324), with 1220 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, March 4 (Leevotahr 21) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • MOULa 13th Anniversary Celebrations

    MOULa 13th Anniversary Celebrations

    On February 8, 2010, Myst Online: Uru Live officially reopened for the third time, in what became its longest-lived, ongoing incarnation.

    To celebrate its thirteenth anniversary, a host of events have been planned. Here is the schedule, more details for each event will be posted in their calendar entries.

    If Mir-o-Bot is present for an event, please use it solely for traveling, respect the events and do not use bot commands.

    Minasunda will release videos of the events some time (13 events will take a while to process!) after the anniversary week, in her YouTube channel.

    Monday 6

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Opening Ceremony, hosted by Minasunda, in the Entrance Hall of the New Messengers Pub.

    13:00–14:00 KIT: Mystical Classics, hosted by Babbel and moderated by Karel, in the New Messengers Pub.

    14:00–16:00 KIT: Wall Game 1, hosted by Dah’mpa, meeting point in the Watcher’s Pub. Participants can register until February 4 at midnight, 24:00 KIT (contact Dah’mpa at KI# 11223500). Spectators are welcome, no registration is needed in this case.

    17:00–19:00 KIT: Wall Game 2, hosted by Dah’mpa, meeting point in the Watcher’s Pub.

    Tuesday 7

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Explorer Memorial, hosted by Ghaelen, in Veelay Tsahvahn. We will commemorate our explorers and friends who passed away.

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Best of Relaxing Sessions, hosted by PodHopper, starting in Veelay Tsahvahn.

    Wednesday 8

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Girastock, hosted by Fil, in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira (send “to gira” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot, KI# 32319).

    14:00–16:00 KIT: Eddie Competition, hosted by PodHopper, in Podhopper’s Hood.

    Thursday 9

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Country Special, hosted by Eternal Seeker, in Mir-o-Bot’s Er’cana (send “link” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot). There will be a guided dance; if you do not want to be included, please let Minasunda know at the event.

    Friday 10

    12:00–14:00 KIT: “Fraud, Trickster, Genius: Guild Master Kadish – a Speculative Look”, lecture by Owly, in Kirel.

    14:00–16:00 KIT: Among Friends, hosted by Nosila and Dah’mpa, in the Library Courtyard in Ae’gura.

    Saturday 11

    12:00–13:00 KIT: Show of the Nulp Dance Group, hosted by Minasunda and the NDG, stream by Seeker, in Fahets Highgarden, around the fish pond. The music is specially made for this show. Lag may delay the stream for some listeners; it is recommend to watch the video that will be released some time after the show at Minasunda’s YouTube channel.

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Magic Closing Event, hosted by Magic Yoda, stream by Seeker, in Fahets Highgarden (send “link” in a PM to Mir-o-Bot).

    Sunday 12

    11:00–12:30 KIT: Fan Age Expedition, hosted by Korov’ev, in the Deep Island shard. Spoilers beware!

    13:00–15:00 KIT: Lace and Furs, hosted by Radio Free D’ni, in the Ae’gura plaza.

    Websites

    Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

  • January 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    January 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 153rd All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. OpenUru
    3. Storytellers
    4. Events in the Cavern
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Submission deadlines for the 2023 convention are getting closer:

    • shirt designs closed on January 7;
    • pin designs are open until February 12;
    • events are open until April 29 (note that if you require special seating arrangements or equipment, you will need to inform the Committee in the submission).

    A few policy changes were also announced, regarding privacy and a few other points.

    The prompt for January is “Beginnings”; the deadline is January 31. Entries for the “Endings” prompt for December were Calum Traveler, Redwoodrroad, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    OpenUru

    Issues have been reported with some shirts going invisible at odd distances or reappearing at further ones; the fan devs plan to fix these in the coming quarter.

    The Q1-23 update testing is underway on Minkata Alpha. Testers are asked to to be discrete about a certain project they can find there until it will be ready to be released, and only report issues on the OpenUru Discord. Eder Naybree may have its beach expansion locked down in this quarter too.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Storytellers

    Calum thanked the participants to the event in Eder Naybree for making it successful. The storytellers will try to telegraph some events a bit more obviously going forwards, but they still want to keep the free-form on-the-moment events. Transcripts are available on the IC discussion forum.

    Events in the Cavern

    IwonK’s first stream for the year will be about racing games. To attend, tune in to her Twitch channel on January 13 at 15:00 KIT. There will be cookies, as always!

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions (via an avatar named “I’m a bot, do not message”), that he will eventually upload to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay or the bot during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In January, the Fan Ages Expeditions will conclude the exploration of Elodea Schatzkammern by Dulcamara. Then they will examine two new TikiBear restorations, along with Greenwood Cottage, originally by Kierra and salvaged by Melvin. Next they will explore the mysteries of The Maintainers Gateway by Melvin, and conclude the month in Shorah Pahts, the beginning of the ‘Secret of the Rainbow’ journey by Jhon J. Jaguar.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    December ended with the CavFunding at 143% (CavCon 4.4) and the reserve at 579%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 46,703 (⇑290), with 1250 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 4 (Leevosahn 27) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • December 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    December 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 152nd All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Lexember
    2. OpenUru
    3. Events in the Cavern
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Storytellers
    7. Mysterium
    8. Miscellanea

    Lexember

    For the third time, after 2019 and 2021, Cyan is taking part in Lexember, posting a word definition every day on their official Twitter account. This time, along with D’ni, they will be posting definitions for Rivenese words!

    As with past years, a list with all the relevant links is being compiled on the Guild of Archivist’s wiki.

    OpenUru

    The team of artists, programmers, and janitors were quite weary after the summer update, so they took things easy this time and combined the time of the third and fourth quarters. There are new Ages, improvements to existing ones, and fixes.

    There have been talks about porting over the Open Cave pet Relto page, but there are a few issues to be cleared before that can be done, if at all.

    Doobes has fixed an issue with the Ahnonay Cathedral doors, which will stay open until the last person links out. He is also trying to fix a similar issue with the doors in Chiso Preniv, which depend on a couple of scripts that affect many other doors, so there may be a potential benefit to these cases (possibly even re-enabling the doors in the Museum and the Library).

    The update is presently on the Staging Server, undergoing final testing, and is expected to be released sometime in the next two weeks.

    Other items on Doobes’ to-do list are getting Relto and Kirel almost fully converted to Korman, so that adding books and pages and updating things would be much easier. The full Descent is still being worked on. He is also playing around with the five Guild Pubs, trying to make them a bit more unique, by e.g. opening up the side rooms and showing various work going on with each. Direbo is on hold, pending Cyan’s decision on Myst V content.

    Doobes is also planning to hold a live demonstration at Mysterium 2023 of how to build and export an Age with Korman, and how to import Ages using Sirius’ ZLZ Age Importer. Along with that, he is working on an asset library of various D’ni objects to use and essentially ‘paste in’ an Age; this to encourage others to take a crack at Age building by easing some of the modeling and texturing burden a bit.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Minasunda announced the upcoming release of the machinima movie Okohahzah (“black-white” in D’ni, in the sense of light and shadow) on YouTube, Saturday 10 at 12:00 KIT. You will be able to chat with the creators (including Mina) on the YouTube Premiere chat or in the Cavern, in Mir-O-Bot’s Elonin (o get there PM “link” or “meet” to the bot – note that the command is not “to Elonin”).

    On 30 December Minasunda will also release a video with a review of 2022 and all that happened in the Cavern this year. She will post the link on Facebook and Discord.

    ☛ The 13th anniversary of MOULa is coming soon. Minasunda is planning the festival week on 6–11 February: if you’d like want to contribute with an event, let her know so that she can plan the dates.

    Podhopper already announced the Eddie Competition, while Nosila and Dahmpa will host a music event together; Eternal Seeker and Mina are planning another music event with a ‘guided dance’, and the Nulp Dance Group is working on a dance show in Fahets Highgarden.

    ☛ Minasunda closed with a plea to be considerate when helping new players. There have been reports of ‘veteran’ explorers who have solved puzzles in newcomers’ instances despite their protest. This is inappropriate behavior that takes the fun out of playing; the respectful act is to back off when new players decline the help.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. There are daytime openings on weekdays at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on weekdays at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. After that they will begin the story from Myst: The Book of Atrus, followed by the story from the game of Myst. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games. as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn records videos of the sessions, that he eventually uploads to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Storytellers

    The Storytellers have been running sporadic story events, and a few scheduled events, such as the Town Halls on the last Wednesday of the month. Due to holidays, the December one may be skipped.

    In place of that, in Eder Naybree on Sunday 4 at 11:00 KIT, they closed the ‘troublemakers’ story arc, to move on to others such as the Rei’schu negotiations or Benahvud’s amnesia. Transcripts were posted on the story forums, along with the discussion threads.

    Mysterium

    The Mysterium prompt for December is “Endings”; the deadline is December 31. Winners of the “Fall” prompt for November were Delcolux, Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    Miscellanea

    In December, the Fan Ages Expeditions will continue the exploration of the underworld of Elodea (Unterwelt, Tunnelgang, Schatzkammern) by Dulcamara.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, January 7, 2023 (Leevosahn 5) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • November 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 151st All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Riven
    3. Town Hall
    4. OpenUru
    5. Events in the Cavern
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Mysterium 2023 will be held in Spokane, WA from June 30 to July 2. Earlier than usual, because Spokane will be busy with events in late July–early August, and hotels are booked solid for July and August. No details on the specific hotel are available yet, but prices will likely be higher than usual too.

    2023 marks the Myst franchise’s 30th anniversary, so the theme of next year’s Mysterium will be: “The Evolution of Myst”. The world and the franchise have evolved over the years, and the convention will showcase this evolution.

    Submissions also started opening. First is the T-shirt artwork: every year the community is invited to create the artwork, and a lot of cool directions could be taken with 2023’s theme. The deadline is January 7, 2023. As always, the creators of the winning designs will each receive a free T-shirt. And, similarly to the past couple of years, the shirt design will be added to the wardrobe in MOULa.

    Next are event submissions: projects you want to show off, deep dives into D’ni culture, awesome group activities, and more are all welcome. The deadline is April 29, 2023.

    The community Discord server has recently gone through some minor housekeeping. Most importantly, they have revised and clarified the rules: most of it was codifying what was already enforced, but please check out the #rules and #announcements channels when you have a chance. The server is also now verified, which means it got a custom (and easier to remember) invite link.

    The Mysterium prompt for November is “Fall” (not necessarily Autumn); the deadline is November 30. Winners of the “Spooky” prompt for October were Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, IwonK, Talashar and Delcolux.

    Riven

    On October 31 Cyan released a teaser video showcasing the Riven logo, confirming they are indeed working on a modern remake of Myst’s sequel. No release date has yet been revealed. For more details, check our dedicated post.

    Town Hall

    The Rei’schu expedition was held over the Discord. There are transcripts available on the story forums. In the next MOULa update, the first draft of these transcripts will be added to Eder Naybree, until their permanent resting place is ready.

    OpenUru

    The team of artists, programmers, and janitors were quite weary after last summer’s update, so they took things easy this time and combined the time of the third and fourth quarters. There are new Ages, new places to poke at, and fixes (including a possible fix to cull the lag in Eder Naybree on older machines).

    Contributions for the next release have been frozen, and testing has started on the Minkata shard. The more people testing the better, so please join if you can (details at the bottom of this section). Testing will continue until late November; if all is well, they will deliver the update to Cyan, to be tested on Staging for about two weeks, then deployed early–mid December.

    For the Descent shaft, a very preliminary set of areas are already being tested on the Minkata alpha test shard, but development has mostly been put on the back burner until more effort can be dedicated to it, probably some time in 2023.

    Rarified is committed to bringing the backlog of improvements to the game client from the Guild of Writers’ H’uru codebase (including the transition from PhysX 2 to PhysX 4) to MOULa. An early ‘draft’ of the new client on yet another Minkata shard may be released the first quarter of next year, to start the migration process.

    Backward compatibility came up. While the GoW codebase only supports current versions of Windows, Rarified is going to try to continue building MOULa clients to be as backward compatibile as possible; but there will be a time when Win 7 and older will not be able to run it.

    Editor’s note: it should be noted that Windows backward compatibility and a native client on macOS and Linux are conflicting objectives, and developing for the latter involves changes that may overall improve the client’s performance and security. Also, while users of older versions of Windows have been penalized only in recent years, macOS and especially Linux users always had to go through hoops to be in the Cavern.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Tehlrov K’hris announced an Unwritten campaign, “Read Between the Lights”, hosted by Zekh, with three players/characters:

    • Pritika Chatterjee, a well read teacher with an eye for solving mysteries, played by Ereshkigal;
    • Mikito “Mike” Takahashi, a curious nomadic encyclopedia with a heart, played by Tehlrov Kh’ris; and
    • Carmen Durand, an eclectic art school dropout, played by Belle.

    The first session will be held on November 19 at 12:00 KIT and will last about three hours. The campaign is expected to last 4–5 sessions, and will be streamed live on Tehlrov Kh’ris’ Twitch channel.

    The in-Cavern location will be a secret, but if you find them, please refrain from text or voice chat as they will need both to play the game.

    ☛ IwonK announced her Wonky Talk on Friday, November 18 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood, by the ahyoheek table. This month’s topic is spooky and horror games. If you have ideas for interesting games she could talk about (and draw), feel free to contact her.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT;
    • evening openings are on weekdays at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. This is a multi-part story that will last for about three more months.

    R’Tayrtahn is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT.
    • On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the meeting, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    In November, the Fan Ages Expeditions will look for Gary’s whereabouts in Iceworld by Denost, part of a larger Age that also includes Somewhere and Elsewhere, inhabited by the Jhibis and the Guardian. Then, they will begin the exploration of Elodea by Dulcamara.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    October ended with the CavFunding at 99% (CavCon 3) and the reserve at 519%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 46,130 (⇑374), with 1344 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 3 (Leevobro 6) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • Halloween Drop-In Party

    Monday, October 31, The Guild of Authors and Artists are hosting a “Halloween Drop-In Party and Nanowrimo Kickoff” event in the New Guild of Messengers Pub in the Cavern!

    Starting at 1300KI and running until Midnight KI, the Guild of Authors and Artists would love everyone to stop by and say hello!  We will be holding a variety of events, with live streaming music provided by Ereshkigal and near Midnight, the Nanowrimo folks will be counting down to November 1, when Nanowrimo begins!

    We invite everyone to come in ‘Closet Cosplay’ or the Silliest Outfit you can figure out from your Closet!

    We will be having some impromptu events and if you have an idea for an activity you’d like to provide or suggest, please let Diranda or Ereshkigal know.

    Some events we’re planning include:

    • Sharing Traditions about Halloween or Other Holidays From Around the World: A group chat where you can share your tradition or holiday from your culture or country with everyone.
    • Group Masquerade: Show off your ‘costume’ or silly outfit in a procession through the Pub!
    • Celebration of Riven: Share memories of playing Riven with everyone!

    There may be surprise visits from Storytellers and more, so please feel free to drop in any time and say hello!

     

  • Nanowrimo Pre-Event Workshop #3

    On Friday, October 21, 2022 at 1300 KI, the Guild of Authors and Artists will be hosting our third Nanowrimo prep workshop at the New Guild of Messengers Pub in the Conference room.

    This time we will be talking about Writing Sprints and Writing Prompts!

    Please feel free to join us on Friday!

  • NaNoWriMo Brainstorming Workshop

    On Friday, October 14, 2022 at 1300 KI, The Authors and Artists’ Guild will be hosting another pre-Nanowrimo Workshop.

    The group has decided to do a Brainstorming session for this workshop and we’re looking forward everyone attending!

    It will be at the New GoMePub in the Conference Room upstairs, 1300 KI time.

    There just might be a surprise event as well!

  • October 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 150th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs! This was also the first meeting not held in Kirel, but in Fahets Highgarden.

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Mysterium
    3. Town Hall
    4. Fan Ages updates
    5. Hacktoberfest
    6. NaNoWriMo
    7. D’ni Language Classes
    8. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    9. Miscellanea

    Events in the Cavern

    Skyisblu presented her cooking sessions, held each month in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood and streamed on her Twitch channel in both English and French; a chance to get together, learn a new recipe and talk food. Recordings of the streams and the accompanying recipes are available on her weblog.

    IwonK will draw and talk on her Twitch channel on Friday 14 at 15:00 KIT. In Cavern, the gathering will be in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood, around the Ahyoheek table.

    Superabbit announced the creation of the Musicians Guild’s Hood, to promote connection between musicians in the Cavern and to promote fan-created music for fan-created Ages. Links to streams and bandcamp pages will be welcome on the left imager.

    A Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 29 at 11:00 KIT, starting in the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

    Mysterium

    Events that were streamed via Twitch have been uploaded to YouTube. For a summary of the panels, check our dedicated post.

    Participants were invited to give feedback via a survey. The results say that the Meow Wolf event was appreciated, so they will look into similar locations in the future. Cavern Feud was also very well received, so if they can get more questions they might do it again next year. Finally, a number of people have asked for ASL translation, or captions; an ASL translator may be beyond the budget, but they will look into captioning.

    Mysterium 2023 will be held in Spokane, WA; a precise date was not been decided yet, but could be in late June or early July. The Committee will be formed by Elliot “Taniith” Borenstein and Kelly “Rayne” Coston. Vaccination policy will likely be the same as this year, following CDC guidelines.

    The Mysterium prompt for October is “Spooky”; the deadline is October 31. Winners of the “Sleep, Rest” prompt for September were Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    Town Hall

    The ‘Storytellers’ group held their monthly Town Hall event for players who are interested in keeping tabs on the ongoing IC story.

    Calum Traveler has started to organise the “negotiations with the people of Rei’schu” via Discord, to manage scheduling conflicts between their ‘ambassadors’. The server is set up so that only ‘diplomats’ can post in the active story channels, but there are a few side channels for other people to talk and discuss.

    These logs will be transcribed into a series of journals that will be brought into MOULa.

    Fan Ages updates

    The garden Age of Eder Naybree, the ‘Prologue’ to the ‘Rei’schu arc’, was released in early September.

    Shortly before the All Guilds Meeting another garden Age was released: Fahets Highgarden, by Tweek, who answered a few questions. The statues in the location were a gift from a D’ni artisan called Tommen, who was found stranded upon an Age many years ago after he fled the Fall. The statues were a thank-you gift for freeing him.

    Fahets’ prime Marker, unlike most available Ages, is active but will have to be recalibrated, so coordinates will for now be unreliable.

    The next Age to be released will be another garden Age, Eder Bahvahnter. As now the circle of bookstands in Chiso Preniv is full, older books will be moved to the shelves while new ones will be featured promenently on the stands.

    Due to travel and work obligations, the Dev Team will combine the Q3 and Q4 updates into a single one for the end of 2022, sometime in early December, with some updates being pushed into 2023.

    The Minkata Delta shard, announced at Mysterium, may still launch sometime this year, but no progress yet has been made on setting it up. There have been fires in the US, some close to Rarified’s location, so he may be unable to monitor the server for some time; background measures have been taken to ensure that the Minkata server can remain running in case of emergency.

    A pre-built virtual machine snapshot of the Minkata server, that anyone could set up and easily run, has been set up on Docker; we will provide more info on that in a followup post.

    Hacktoberfest

    Darryl Pogue announced the H’uru team’s involvement in the annual Hacktoberfest event, a month-long event that encourages people to contribute to open-source software projects; with four contributions participants can earn a free T-shirt (a real-world physical shirt … but a virtual shirt in Uru could be an idea for a contribution!).

    Last year, the H’uru repositories on GitHub saw 41 contributions to Uru-related projects, including the game client and content itself, but also the Korman Blender plugin for Age building, the DirtSand server, and other tools.

    If you are not a coder, you can still contribute in the form of bug reports and feature requests, or things to improve the usability and quality of life when playing Uru.

    You can find help and support, including suggestions for first-time contributors, in the #code-dev channel on the OpenUru Discord.

    NaNoWriMo

    Diranda announced that the Guild of Authors and Artists is hosting the National Novel Writing Month in the Cavern this year. The first NaNoWriMo-related meeting will be held on October 7 at 13:00 KIT in the Ae’gura Messengers Pub, so if you are interested, feel free to visit.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Currently, there are two students taking the classes at various stages of completion.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT;
    • evening openings are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Shokhootahn Rehn (aka r’Tayrtahn) can be found on Discord as r'Tayrtahn#1317.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the stories of the years between the kings and the story of the Fall. The story of the Fall will be told through the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana.

    R’Tayrtahn is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay during the events, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    • The Cavern Communications Network has released the fourth episode of its podcast The Water Cooler Show, an interview to Keith Lord aka Tweek.
    • In October, the Fan Ages Expeditions will look for Gary’s whereabouts in Somewhere by Denost, part of a larger Age that also includes Iceworld and Elsewhere, inhabited by the Jhibis and the Guardian. They will then live the pirate life in Gavster by Calena, explore two experimental Ages by Sirius, Denkasen and Canyon, and begin the exploration of Iceworld.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    September ended with the CavFunding at 96% (CavCon 3) and the reserve at 518%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 45,756 (⇑262), with 1274 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, November 5 (Leevofo 13) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • A New Era in D’ni: Fahets Highgarden

    A New Era in D’ni: Fahets Highgarden

    On Saturday, October 1st, 2022 (9678 Leevot 14), the linking book to Fahets Highgarden, by Tweek, was unveiled in Chiso Preniv.

    Highgarden is an area in the Age of Fahets, one of the first known human-written Ages. Fahets is a large island with a series of smaller islands scattered off its coast; the area of the main island varies from jungle forests and swamp land to barren rocky area.

    Highgarden served as a council getaway for the Third Path, a group that was formed during the first DRC restoration, as an alternative to the DRC and the Great Tree factions.

    With the Third Path now disbanded, Tweek felt it was time to release this age to the public, starting with this area.

    Minasunda made a video of the opening event; Calum Traveler wrote a post in his blog.

  • NaNoWriMo in Cavern

    November is National Novel Writing Month and this year, the Guild of Authors and Artists are hosting our own NaNoWriMo event in-Cavern!

    If you don’t know about NaNoWriMo, visit their website to find out more about this annual event that has been running since the early 2000s!

    National Novel Writing Month is a writing challenge for anyone who would like to try: to write 50,000 words in 30 days! There’s no fee and anyone in the world (or Ages!) can join!
    You don’t have to write a novel, you can write anything you’d like! Some folks write non-fiction, some write a series of short stories, some write fanfiction… the possibilities are endless!

    In addition to the fun writing challenges, we’re hosting a co-event for our Artists, 4 Covers in 4 Weeks! Based on the original NaNoWriMo “30 Covers in 30 Days” event that was held alongside the writing challenge, our version invites artists to design 4 covers for a variety of fellow Authors NaNo projects. In addition to covers for NaNo writers, our challenge invites Artists to create covers for in-Cavern journals and books as well, if they’d like! All the Artists need to do is chat with one of the Authors doing our challenge, or other Creators who’d like to have a cover designed for their work and collect the information about the cover. Each week an Artist will be asked to complete a Cover design and submit it to the Collection on our Guild Discord (Authors and Artist Guild). The Goal is 4 Covers in a Month, but Artists can certainly do more if they’d like to!

    The Authors and Artist Guild will be hosting Nano-Prep events in October as well as Write-ins/Art-ins in Cavern in November!
    In addition to our In-Cavern Events, we will be hosting Writing Sprints and impromptu events on our Discord, so please feel free to join our Discord (pinned in the Cyan Chat’s D’niverse/fanfiction channel) and let either Erishkigal or Diranda know if you’re an Artist or Author or Both!

    Our first meeting is October 7, 2022, 1300 KI, in the New GoMePub!

  • A New Era in D’ni: Eder Naybree

    A New Era in D’ni: Eder Naybree

    On Friday, September 9, 2022 (9678 Leetar 26), the linking book to Eder Naybree, by Calum Traveler, was unveiled in Chiso Preniv. No ceremony was held, it was a surprise reveal. Minasunda made a video of the event.

    Calum Traveler wrote in his blog:

    Restored by Calum Traveler and Kelsei Taylor, the Age was originally gifted as a retirement gift to a prominent Guild Master, being written during the time of the “Garden Binge.” Afterwards, it passed around many private collections before settling in a public library some time before the Fall.

  • September 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    September 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 149th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

      1. Events in the Cavern
      2. Cavern Tours
      3. Mysterium
      4. MOULa updates
      5. Town Hall
      6. Fan Ages updates
      7. Miscellanea

    Events in the Cavern

    Skyisblu presented her cooking sessions, held each month in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood and streamed on her Twitch channel in both English and French; a chance to get together, learn a new recipe and talk food. Recordings of the streams and the accompanying recipes are available on her weblog.

    IwonK will draw and talk about the topic of educational video games on her Twitch channel on Friday 16 at 15:00 KIT. In Cavern, the gathering will be in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood, around the Ahyoheek table.

    Cavern Tours

    The next Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 24 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood, with Larry LeDeay and r’Tayrtahn as the guides, and Susa’n and Zeke as the hosts. This time they will will continue the tour of Descent and Great Shaft by showing the DIRT Descent demo and some Myst V content.

    The Tours use Twitch for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Mysterium

    Participants, whether online or in-person, to the Myst convention are invited to give feedback via a survey available on the website.

    Events that were streamed via Twitch have been uploaded to YouTube. For a summary of the panels, check our dedicated post.

    The Mysterium prompt for September is “Sleep, Rest”; the deadline is September 30. Winners of the “Travel” prompt for August were Redwoodrroad, IwonK, Sasha Strange, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    MOULa updates

    A big update was released on August 3. The fan developers are looking into other potential chat customization features down the line, e.g. giving event organizers a special, toggleable chat color header for events such as the AGM or a Door Run contest.

    A stopgap solution to the issue of overcrowded hood was implemented: the membership lists of the most overcrowded have been truncated. Everyone in those hoods are still members, but will not show up in the KI list. However, when those members visit their neighborhood, they will get re-added back into the list.

    Lists will periodically be checked and if necessary truncated, but the permanent solution is that these members join a new neighborhood.

    Town Hall

    The ‘Storytellers’ group held their monthly Town Hall event for players who are interested in keeping tabs on the ongoing IC story.

    They are gathering volunteers to “hold negotiations with the people of Rei’schu”, either via Discord or in Cavern, essentially like an Unwritten session. The second option is to handle this event more or less off screen and crafting a sort of after-action report based on those events.

    On Cyan Chat, there is now a dedicated channel for story related talks: #moula-story-chat.

    Fan Ages updates

    On Friday 9 the garden Age of Eder Naybree, the ‘Prologue’ to the ‘Rei’schu arc’, will be released in Chiso Preniv. There will be no ceremony and no time has been announced, so be sure to check Chiso often that day!

    Early in September, a new Relto page was enabled in Tiam. Take a good look around to find it 😉

    Miscellanea

    • In September, the Fan Ages Expeditions will explore the features of the City of Dimensions, originally released on The Open Cave shards but ported to Deep Island in 2020.
      They will then take the journey in R’Oshanhnin Korvahkhn, by Calena, Wamduskasapa and Tachzusamm, one of the few fan Ages of old to grant a Relto page.
      Then they will start the search for Gary in Somewhere by Denost, part of a larger Age (which also includes Iceworld and Elsewhere) inhabited by the Jhibis and the Guardian.
      At the end of the month, or more likely in October, they will then visit three educational Ages by Corvus and Ametist: Hallway, Matte and ReGahlpo.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    August ended with the CavFunding at 96% (CavCon 3) and the reserve at 523%, with 15% extra expenses. Population was at 45,494 (⇑297), with 1348 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, October 1st (Leevot 14) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • Mysterium 2022

    Mysterium 2022

    The XXIII Mysterium was held in Denver, CO on August 12–14, with the panels and presentations streamed to both Twitch and YouTube.

    Minasunda and Civer Gaming made summary videos; Belford wrote a two-part summary ([1], [2]) in his blog, commenting on Cyan’s announcements.

    Friday started at 10:00 KIT with the Opening Announcements and Cyan’s “State of the Union”, with Eric A. Anderson (Creative Director) and Hannah Gamiel (Development Director). They are super busy developing Firmament (they also showed a preview video), so they will combine Myst’s and Riven’s anniversaries next year. They will share something new every month, including challenge coins, Cyan logo shirts, re-releasing the ebook versions of the Myst novels, and digging through Riven’s archives. They are working with members of the community on “special, secret projects”. There are no plans for an official remake of Uru.

    At 11:30 the Walkabout Mini Golf: Myst panel with Don Carson, Henning Koczy, Lucas Martell, Edward McAndrew of Mighty Coconut studio discussed their approach to design for immersive gameplay with realistic physics, in combining their VR mini golf game with Myst’s iconic island.

    At 14:00 the The Last Clockwinder panel with John Austin and Anita Tung of Pontoco studio talked about their game, developed with Cyan Ventures (which has shifted role from publishing arm to development-support group).

    At 15:00 Kefrith’s Cryptic Contraption presentation revealed his surprise Myst-inspired creation, discussing the setbacks he got into in the creative process.

    At 16:00 the full recording of the concert held by the NULP Dance Group in Elonin was released as a YouTube Premiere.

    At 18:00 it was time for the trip to the Meow Wolf: Convergence Station interactive art series.

    Saturday started at 10:00 KIT with the Cyan Q&A, with Eric Anderson, Rand Miller, Ryan “greydragon” Warzecha discussing what is happening at Cyan, their artistic and technical approach to game design, and the rationale behind some decisions on Myst and Uru lore.

    At 11:15 the MOULa Fan Creations: Tech Development panel with Colin “Maccodemonkey” Cornaby, Adam “Hoikas” Johnson, Darryl “Paradox” Pogue, Paul “rarified” Richards presented the latest development news about MOULa, with an update on the process to make the client cross-platform. To get involved, you can contact the OpenUru team (testing) on Discord, or the H’uru team (developing) on GitHub and IRC.

    At 11:45 the MOULa Fan Creations: Ages panel with Ametist, Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn, Harley “Calum Traveler”, Keith “Tweek” Lord discussed the challenges of creating and modifying environments for MOULa. The current tool for creating ages is Korman for Blender. You can find tutorials in the GoW wiki; Calum Traveler also made a series of videos.

    At 13:45 the Area Man Lives panel with Amy Green, Ryan Green, Mike Perrotto of Numinous Games, and Ryan “greydragon” Warzecha of Cyan, discussed their VR game produced with Cyan Ventures.

    At 14:45 the highlights of the concert held by the NULP Dance Group in Elonin was released as a YouTube Premiere.

    At 16:00 Erik Oberg’s Libraries of Myst presentation analyzed how libraries fit into Myst, both in the explicit sense of literal, in-game libraries and the broader presence of librarian principles and practices in the Myst universe, as well as how Myst fits into real-world libraries.

    At 19:45 the Achenar: Redemption in One Part panel with Guy Sprung, who played Achenar in Myst IV: Revelation, discussed the process behind playing a character who experiences both sides of being the villain and the savior.

    At 20:45 it was time for Cavern Feud, hosted by Dan Binder, in which teams competed against each other to see who best knows how the Myst community responds to various survey questions, like “what would Yeesha name her cat?” or  “which Myst animal would make the best pet?”

    Sunday started at 10:00 KIT with the Myst Documentary Sneak Peek and Q&A, with Elana Bogdan, Katie “Kha’tie” Postma, Joshua Reinstein, Philip Shane, giving insights into the creation of The Myst Documentary, which will cover Myst, Riven and Uru, the near-collapse of Cyan in 2005 and its climb back in the following years, and the new era that started with Obduction. Attendees had an exclusive sneak peak of the documentary, then they showcased the new online Community Vault of Myst Stories.

    At 12:00 the Closing Ceremonies were held, wrapping up this year’s convention, running the prize drawing, and announcing next year’s location: Spokane!

    Thanks and kudos to the Mysterium Committee, who did a great job at organising and managing the event.

    Looking forward to next year!

  • August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 148th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

      1. Mysterium
      2. MOULa updates
      3. Town Hall
      4. Summer Festival
      5. Chiso Preniv updates
      6. Cavern Tours
      7. D’ni Language Classes
      8. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
      9. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    The Cyan Q&A session will not be taking live questions; you can submit your questions until August 7 (today) via the online form.

    If you are attending in person and forgot to submit an artwork or writing submission, you will have to bring it with you, as submissions are now closed.

    The schedule has been finalized, and includes a few Cavern related panels. On Friday night the video for the Mysterium Concert held on Friday 6 will be released on YouTube.

    There will be two MOUL Developer panels, for coding and Age building, half hour each. Among the guests there will be MacCodeMonkey, DPogue, Rarified, Hoikas, Tweek, Doobes, Ametist, and Calum Traveler.

    Most events will be streamed via Twitch, and uploaded to YouTube later; exceptions are noted on the schedule. The Meow Wolf excursion will not be streamed.

    The last round of special guests have been announced:

    • Eric Anderson has been with Cyan for several years, contributing to Uru, Myst V and Obduction;
    • Rand Miller co-founded Cyan and brought Myst, Obduction and all the other Cyan titles that are the very reason for the convention’s existence;
    • Joshua Reinstein is an editor and researcher for The Myst Documentary;
    • Guy Sprung is an accomplished thespian, but Myst fans will know him as Achenar from Myst IV: Revelation.

    The Mysterium prompt for August is “Travel”; the deadline is August 31. Winners of the “Voltaic Age” prompt for July were Talashar, Calum Traveler and Redwoodrroad.

    MOULa updates

    A big update was released on Wednesday 3. Included in this update were a few long requested KI changes: the command /textcolor [color] or /textcolor [colorvaluedata], well known to those familiar with shards like Deep Island, allows to change the chat text color; the change is local to the user.

    When using a custom text color, messages from PM, Buddies, or Neighbors will have prefixes to identify them: instead of  an ambiguous “From [person] in [Age]” it will now have [BUDDIES], [PRIVATE] or [NEIGHBORS] as a prefix. This feature carries into chatlogs regardless of custom color formatting.

    Another important change is related to the way Marker Games can be edited. This is primarily to prevent two related issues: MG’s titles cannot be edited if you are not the owner or not in editing mode; this is to prevent a bug where occasionally an edited title of a MG could cause it to duplicate within KI folders.

    Secondly, if you have a MG and wish to delete it, it will only delete the access node on your KI (as it was intended to be); this allows to delete the MG even if it is stuck in the “Loading Now” state. Hopefully this will also prevent new MGs to get stuck in that state.

    A door to the basement of Chiso Preniv is now available, but you will need to find the hidden button (although the door will likely be already open 🙂 ). A Nexus Terminal has been installed somewhere in Elonin.

    On Wednesday the Watcher’s Pub puzzle room door was open. This was a bug: ways to officially re-open that area [if ever 😛 – Ed.] are still being discussed, and the door will remain sealed until then.

    As for the new Ages, Eder Naybree is scheduled for September 9, while Fahets Highgarden will be released sometime after that depending on Tweek’s personal schedule. Announcements will be made closer to the release date.

    A solo mode has been added to the Gahreesen Wall, so that those who want to train by themselves will no longer have to run from side to side to set up a game.

    Some server issues have cropped up since the update and are being looked into. Some of the major clogs may be tied to the issue of overcrowded neighborhoods. A temporary solution that should help alleviate some of the strain is in the works, but it is strongly advised to move your avatar to a less crowded hood as soon as you can.

    Town Hall

    The “Storytellers” group held their second Town Hall event, designed for players who are interested in keeping tabs on the ongoing RP story to be able to catch up on missed events, as well as be able to provide some input on the future.

    They plan to hold the next ones on either either the last Wednesday of the month (after Fil Live) or during the last weekend of the month.

    Rulesets for the storytellers and a code of conduct for the town halls have been posted on Calum Traveler’s blog, until a more formal website is set up.

    Summer Festival

    Minasunda summarized the MOULa Summer Festival held on the week just prior the AGM. Up to 53 people attended the show, and it went very well, with no unforeseen obstacles.

    Thanks go to Mirphak for providing the link to Elonin, and to the special guests who took part in the concert: Piboc, aka Olivier Maurey; Lyllus, aka Lillo Moon Minniti; Fil, aka Phil Rounds.

    The full-length concert will be released as a YouTube Premiere on August 12 at 16:00 KIT. Excerpts from the concert will also be released as a YouTube Premiere on Saturday 13 at 14:45 KIT, with a bonus intro introducing the Nulp Dance Group.

    During the premieres you will be able to chat with the Nulps, and if you will be in the Cavern the gathering will be in the New Messengers Pub, festively decorated for Myterium.

    Chiso Preniv updates

    Doobes gave an outline of his contributions for the latest MOULa update. The work area on the lower floor of Chiso Preniv is now officially opened to the public, giving a peek into the daily life of those working to restore various parts of the Cavern and the Ages they have found so far, and some newly-Written Ages.

    This includes various projects from familiar faces in the Cavern like Dulcamara, Rebus, Kelsei, Tweek, and more. They want this restoration to be as transparent as they can. With luck, you may even find them down there working on or discussing things!

    They will also soon be archiving the older Kirel audios in that location as well. You will be able to replay them from the test pedestal in there.

    On another topic, for those who cannot attend Mysterium, the Cavern gathering location will be the New Messengers Pub. There will be swag to grab, including lots of shirts, and they will remain available for most of the rest of August. Thanks go to Hazado and KellyC for helping organize the event.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 27 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood, with Larry LeDeay and r’Tayrtahn as the guides, and Susa’n and Zeke as the hosts.

    The Tours will use a Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Currently, there are two students taking the classes and are at various stages of completion.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT; evening openings
    • on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Shokhootahn Rehn (aka r’Tayrtahn) can be found on Discord as r'Tayrtahn#1317.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are telling the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 7 weeks.

    R’Tayrtahn is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions to his YouTube channel. Be careful if you PM r’Tay during the evennts, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    • The Cavern Today Podcast is back, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other streaming services. Their first episode for this year features an interview to Patrick Dulebohn.
    • In August, the Fan Ages Expeditions will continue the esploration of Adrael, trying to find out whatever happened to D’ni Research Association member Irena Stromberg, who has gone missing after a vision of a ‘ghost’ with glowing eyes.
      They will then visit some the Uru locations of the Devokan Trust, one of the most elaborate fan-written storylines, spanning various platforms in the Metaverse (the real Metaverse).
      Then they will play some music in Turtle Isle by DenDwaler, and finish the month with two puzzles: Lohdehvis by Takku Petreya and Rahsoo B’ahrotan by Calena.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    July ended with the CavFunding at 80% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 527%, with 20% extra expenses. Population was at 45,197 (⇑230), with 1069 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, September 3 (Leetar 21) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • Moula Summer Festival 2022

    Moula Summer Festival 2022

    August 1–5 2022

    The first week of August will be full of activity in the cavern. During the Moula Summer Festival, a variety of events are scheduled: contests, music events, a video event and a marker game. It is also the first year we can offer a Gahreesen Wall game as a contest. Cone Race is another new contest and last but not least, a Door Run contest.

    A recording of the Nulp Dance Group Concert will also be released as a YouTube Premiere on August 12 at 16:00 KIT, and a second video with excerpts from it will be released on August 13 at 14:45 KIT.

    Guest artists will be Piboc, aka Olivier Maurey; Lyllus, aka Lillo Moon Minniti; Fil, aka Phil Rounds.

    Festival scheduleMysterium 2022 concert flyer

    A pdf version of the Summer Festival flyer is available, containing the schedule and detailed information about all the events (which are also listed in the calendar).

    For more information about the festival, feel free to contact PodHopper at:

    • PodHopper, #7116825 (Moula)
    • PodHopper#8133 (Discord)
  • July 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    July 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 147th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Town Hall
    3. Summer Festival
    4. Chiso Preniv updates
    5. Cavern Tours
    6. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    The first guests for this year have been announced, and several more will be announced very soon:

    • Katie “Kha’tie” Postma, a long-time fixture within the Myst and Mysterium community, now the Social Media Manager for the Myst Documentary;
    • Philip Shane, award winning documentary filmmaker, currently working on the Myst Documentary;
    • Ryan “Greydragon” Warzecha, recently promoted to Associate Designer on Firmament, formerly Head of Developer Relations for Cyan Ventures, and Cyan’s resident tiki bar authority.

    For those attending the Meow Wolf event, a reminder was posted to review their light and noise sensitivity warnings.

    The Mysterium prompt for July is “Voltaic Age”; the deadline is July 31. Winners of the “Resilience” prompt for June were Grayson, Harley and Laughingpineapple. Winners of the “Villains” prompt for May were Grayson, Belle, Talashar and Laughingpineapple.

    Town Hall

    The “Storytellers” group recently held the first of several planned monthly Town Hall events, designed for players who are interested in keeping tabs on the ongoing RP story to be able to catch up on missed events, as well as be able to provide some input on the future. An unedited chatlog can be found on Traveler’s Cavern Log; minutes of these logs are being planned to be posted to a journal in Chiso Preniv, although not before Q3.

    Explorers there voted on three items: first, Eder Naybree was chosen to be released first, with Highgarden second. A second vote was held on the restoration priorities for the Overflow Station area, and the third was on diplomatic relations with an inhabited Age.

    On the storytelling front, some concerns were raised about some ambiguity of rule interactions. A formal post is being drafted for a generic ruleset to address these concerns; most of the rules will be similar to the AGM rules.

    Summer Festival

    PodHopper presented the outline of the MOULa Summer Festival, which will be held on August 1–5, before the next AGM. The number of events made a five-day festival possible, with a variety of events like contests, music, a video event and a marker game.

    For more information, or if you have an idea for an event that you would like to be included, feel free to contact PodHopper on Discord (PodHopper#8133) or in MOULa (#7116825). The events are also listed in our calendar.

      • Monday 1st
        • 12:00–13:30: Cooking Session with Sky (video event)
        • 13:30–15:00: Eternal Evergreens (music event)
      • Tuesday 2
        • 13:00–14:30: Cone Race (contest)
        • 14:30–15:30: Beach Party by the Fountain (music event)
      • Wednesday 3
        • 14:00–16:00: Wall game (contest)
      • Thursday 4
        • 12:00–13:00: A brief history of D’ni (marker game)
        • 15:00–16:30: Door Run (contest)
      • Friday 5
        • 13:00–14:30: Mysterium Concert (music event)

    Minasunda gave a few more details on some of the events. At the “Eternal Evergreens” event – which will take place in the stained glass windows room in Mir-o-Bot’s Elonin (PM “to NDG Elonin” to the bot to get there, KI# 32319) – Eternal Seeker will sing a few songs. A ‘guided dance’ is planned, where avatars will temporarily be taken over for a dance routine. If you do not want to be integrated in the dance, let Mina know so she can put you on the exclusion list for the duration of the event.

    The second event, also taking place in Mir-o-Bot’s Elonin, is a very special, 80 min concert for this year’s Mysterium. Uncle Rebus’ large Persian carpet offers plenty of space for the attendees, so there is no need to climb on the furniture 😉

    The concert is not just a music stream: the Nulp Dance Group will ‘play’ instruments live and will be supported by three backround singers. There will be pieces from Myst, Riven, Exile, Revelation, End of Ages and Uru, plus three artists well known in the Myst/Uru community will play live a few of their pieces: Olivier Maurey aka Piboc, Lillo Moon Minniti aka Lyllus, and Phil Rounds aka Fil.

    A video will be recorded, and excerpts will then be released as a YouTube Premiere during the convention (because of timing constraints, the video cannot be longer than 25 min). The release date will be posted on Facebook and Discord very soon.

    Chiso Preniv updates

    Doobes gave an update on what is coming for the next update to MOULa. The Chiso Preniv library will be greatly expanded, with journals and stories related to the ongoing RP fan stories. All the new content (save a few Ages planned for later release) will be available immediately after the update, but will be somewhat hidden: a hint is to look for the number 18 😉

    If you would like to add a little story-related something, or even just some creative writing related to Myst/Uru for a future update, let Doobes know. Note that you may be asked by testers to work out some ‘wrinkles’ and such.

    With Chiso’s updates out of the way, Doobes will focus solely on the Ae’gura Messengers Pub’s Mysterium decorations. Each of the corner alcoves and the conference room upstairs will be devoted to each Myst game in the series. The main hall and entryway will also have the tables ‘dressed up’ in cliché hotel conference room fashion, for extra authenticity and to give those that could not make it to the convention in-person the same feel as if they were there. There will also be some ‘swag’ to collect 🙂

    If all goes well, the decorations (along with many other goodies and fixes) will appear soon after the update and just in time for Mysterium weekend, August 12–14. The update is planned to be released for the end of July or beginning of August.

    A separate small update will be released in the coming week: an addition was needed for one of the presentations.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour are back, on the fourth Saturday of the month, gathering at 11:00 KIT in the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

    Larry LeDeay will reprise his role as the tour guide, r’Tayrtahn will appear as guest guide. Zeke, the original creator of the Cavern Tours, will also be back as host along Susa’n.

    The Tours will use a Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Miscellanea

    • The Cavern Communications Network has released an episode of its podcast The Water Cooler Show, and will release another one on July 8: the first is an interview to Patrick Dulebohn aka Doobes.
    • The second is an interview to the crew of MystiTech Productions, the group behind the machinima series The Lost Art; episode 14 was released on June 18 on MystiTech’s YouTube channel.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    June ended with the CavFunding at 114% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 544%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 44,967 (⇑220), with 1090 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, August 6 (Leesahn 28) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • June 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    June 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 146th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Cavern Tours
    2. D’ni Language Classes
    3. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    4. Fan Ages Touring Club
    5. Korman
    6. Development news
    7. Miscellanea

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour are back, on the fourth Saturday of the month, starting on Saturday 25 at 11:00 KIT in the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

    Larry LeDeay will reprise his role as the tour guide, r’Tayrtahn will appear as guest guide. Zeke, the original creator of the Cavern Tours, will also be back as host along Susa’n.

    The Tours will use a Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Currently there are two students taking the classes and are at various stages of completion.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday–Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT; evening openings on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Shokhootahn Rehn (aka r’Tayrtahn) can be found on Discord as r'Tayrtahn#1317.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are telling the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 14 weeks.

    R’Tayrtahn has restarted upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In May, they started with a quest to recover Quilla’s piano through Elonin, the Beach house, the Cafe and Tsameti. They then visited a few Ahra Pahts shells they missed last time, including the one with the black fortress. They then visited the prison Age of Pakin, the playground of Hayal, the beaches of T’vel, the lake of Ahreeuhtahv, the castle of Chamassa and the memorial of Aquh.

    In June, they will start with the puzzles of Ahrkane, by Ekimmai. Then they will compete in a few Ages with giant board games, mostly by Karkadann; they will get lost in cubic mazes by J’Kla, and close the month with a few Ages by Justintime.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    Korman

    Darryl Pogue announced the release of the Guild of Writers’ Age building tool Korman 0.13a, fixing a couple of crashes.

    In other H’uru news, they are continuing their work on engine improvements, including many quality-of-life fixes by Zaroth and content fixes by Hazado. Work on Linux and macOS ports also continues.

    To learn more about development news, you can join the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev).

    Development news

    Argo gave a quick update on the MOULa update plans for the coming months. Work on the lake lighting is going on: the final coding is being worked on, while animations are ready but need a model for automatically switching between states.

    They are also nearing the finalization dates for this next quarters release. The goal is to get the update in-game before August for the Mysterium decorations for the Ae’gura Guild of Messengers Pub.

    A few activities for Mysterium are planned for the Cavern, including possibly a marker game, assuming a fix to prevent them breaking will be implemented by then. No major in-Cavern events to go alongside the missions are planned, however.

    Miscellanea

    • Two VR games published by Cyan Ventures were released in May: Area Man Lives and The Last Clockwinder.
    • Mysterium’s COVID-19 policy has been updated, requiring full vaccination and N95 (or equivalent) masks.
    • Along with the convention registration, you can book an optional excursion to the Meow Wolf: Convergence Station art exhibit for a discounted price until June 30.
    • Mysterium Writing & Artwork submissions are still open until July 31.
    • The Mysterium prompt for June is “Resilience”; the deadline is June 30 at 21:00 KIT.
    • The Lost Art episode 14 is coming out on June 18 at 13:00 KIT, on MystiTech YouTube’s channel.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    May ended with the CavFunding at 148% (CavCon 4.5) and the reserve at 541%, with 4% extra expenses. Population was at 44,747 (⇑250), with 1228 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, July 2 (Leebro 29) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • May 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 145th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Fan Ages Touring Club
    3. OpenUru
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    Events in the Cavern

    A Wall Tournament was held in Cody Herd’s Hood on Friday, May 6; Minasunda made a video of the event. The Maintainer suit can now be acquired and saved in the Relto wardrobe by winning a competition with another explorer – playing both sides doesn’t count! If multiple contestants are climbing the Wall, only the first one will get the suit.

    For a guide on how to set up the Wall panel, you can find a journal in one of the meeting rooms in Gahreesen, or you can consult this quick guide at the Guild of Archivists wiki.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In April, they started with a few Ages by Jamey, like Writers’ Niche; then they dedicated a few visits to the Geologica series, starting in Dragon’s Tooth, and ended the month following uncle Rebus’ steps in Botan and Moysenland.

    In May, they will start by trying to recover Quilla’s piano, starting in Elonin; the rest of the month will be dedicated to Ages mostly from 2009, including a few more Ahra Pahts Shells and some ages by Race.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (feel free to send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    OpenUru

    Rarified gave a quick outline of the MOULa update plans for the coming months. They just released the Q1 update and started working on the Q2 one.

    New Ages, or big changes to existing ones, are first tested on the Minkata alpha shard. Then, they are moved to the Minkata prime shard, where minor changes and changes to programming are also tested. Eventually the fixes and new content are moved to Cyan’s Staging server, and after a brief testing released on MOULa.

    Of particular note is the issue of adapting content from Myst V: a lot of confidential talks are happening between various groups to try and make it happen, but Cyan may not have all the rights required to make that content available on MOULa.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata prime shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday–Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT; evening openings at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Shokhootahn Rehn (aka r’Tayrtahn) can be found on Discord as r'Tayrtahn#1317.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are telling the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 17 weeks.

    R’Tayrtahn has restarted upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel, and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Miscellanea

    • Mysterium Events and Activity Book submissions are open until May 22; Writing & Artwork submissions are open until July 31.
    • The Mysterium prompt for May is “Villains”; the deadline is May 31 at 21:00 KIT.
    • The Fan Devs are working on a way to include senders to KI mails, making it easier to reply.
    • Area Man Lives, published by Cyan Ventures, is planned to be released on May 12.
    • Myst (2021) has won the Webby People’s Voice award in games for Technical Achievement. This is the second award after the Mac App Store Game of the Year.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    April ended with the CavFunding at 78% (CavCon 2.8) and the reserve at 507%, with 4% extra expenses. Population was at 44,497 (⇑295), with 1340 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, June 4 (Leebro 7, 9678) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • {:en}A New Era in D’ni: Elonin{:}{:it}Una nuova Era in D’ni: Elonin{:}

    {:en}A New Era in D’ni: Elonin{:}{:it}Una nuova Era in D’ni: Elonin{:}

    {:en}On Friday, April 29, 2022 (9678 Leefo 7), in a ceremony held in Chiso Preniv that gathered over 45 explorers and was announced on Cyan’s Twetter feed, Ametist, Dulcamara and Patrick Dulebohn gave a speech (a transcript of which you can read below), then unveiled the linking book to Elonin, by Dulcamara & Ametist. Cyantist Chogon also showed up at the event.

    Originally made available (as ‘the Loft’) on February 14, 2021, Elonin (“elevated” in D’ni) is a cozy residence in a neighborhood by the same name close to the Lake. There are various rooms and a couple of garden domes. If you look closely, you will find clues to unlock a hidden section 😉

    Note than unlike other Ages available in Chiso Preniv, Elonin is a personal instance; visiting it will save a link in your Nexus (this has been fixed for Tiam too). To visit with friends, you will need to go through Chiso Preniv and use the share panel, or send an invite with your KI.

    Kelsei A. Taylor posted a chatlog on the Beneath forums. Calum Traveler posted a postcard in his blog and made a video of the event. Minasunda also made a video of the event.

    Patrick’s and Ametist’s speech (click to expand )

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Hello one and all, and welcome back to Chiso Preniv!

    As has become a rather lovely tradition now, we’ve congregated here once more to celebrate another fascinating piece added to the historic puzzle that is D’ni.

    While the Ages are a large part of our ongoing restoration efforts, we must not forget the important – and, at times, back-breaking – work being done right at home to re-open locations in the cavern as well.

    With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to the two restoration experts who are responsible for what you will see today.

    Please welcome Dulcamara and ametist!

    Ametist:

    Yet again we are pleased to be able to open up a newly restired area to you all, this time within the cavern!

    Uncle Rebus and his friends restored much of it. Later he gave the linking book to Dulcamara and she continued the restoration. She then called me in to assist with making it ready to be public.

    These last months many friends have been helping us to fix the last things, oiling squeeking door hinges, hammering in spike heads, carrying things back and forth, you know all these little things that take so much time!

    Big, big thanks to you all!!

    There are still a few passages that need some work so those doors are closed off. But work is ongoing there!

    The linking book that has been tucked away in Uncle Rebus’ chest for so long is now going to have its place here in Chiso Preniv! Much better if you ask me 🙂

    A big thanks to Patrick for making room for it, and thank you all that helped Elonin to go ‘all clear’!

    So, those of you that want to explore together with us, Dulcamara will share her book with you; so when she gets to the book, please form a line beside her.

    {:}{:it}Venerdì 29 aprile 2022 (9678 Leefo 7), in una cerimonia tenutasi a Chiso Preniv che ha riunito oltre 45 esploratori e che è stata annunciata nel feed Twitter di Cyan, Ametist, Dulcamara e Patrick Dulebohn hanno tenuto un discorso (di cui potete leggere una traduzione sotto), poi hanno svelato il libro di collegamento di Elonin, scritto da Dulcamara & Ametist. All’evento era presente anche Chogon (da Cyan).

    Inizialmente reso pubblico (col nome di ‘Loft’) il 14 febbraio 2021, Elonin (“elevato” in D’ni) è un’accogliente residenza in un quartiere dallo stesso nome in prossimità del Lago. Ci sono diverse stanze e un paio di cupole con giardino. Se cercate bene, troverete indizi per aprire una sezione nascosta 😉

    Note than unlike other Ages available in Chiso Preniv, Elonin is a personal instance; visiting it will save a link in your Nexus (this has been fixed for Tiam too). To visit with friends, you will need to go through Chiso Preniv and use the share panel, or send an invite with your KI.

    Tenete presente che, a differenza di altre Ere disponibili a Chiso Preniv, Elonin è un’istanza personale; visitandolo otterrete un collegamento nel vostro Nexus (il problema è stato risolto anche per Tiam). Per visitare l’Era con amici, dovrete passare da Chiso Preniv e utilizzare il pannello di condivisione, o inviare un invito dal vostro KI.

    Kelsei A. Taylor ha pubblicato un chatlog sul forum Beneath. Calum Traveller ha pubblicato una cartolina nel suo blog e realizzato un video dell’evento. Anche Minasunda ha realizzato un video dell’evento.

    [Altre registrazioni verranno aggiunte a questo post man mano che vengono pubblicate, quindi tornate su questo post di tanto in tanto 😉 ]

    Il discorso di Patrick e Ametist (cliccare per espandere)

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Ciao a tutti, e bentornati a Chiso Preniv!

    Come ormai è diventata un’adorabile tradizione, siamo riuniti qui ancora una volta per festeggiare un’altra affascinante tessera aggiunta allo storico puzzle che è D’ni.

    Sebbene le Ere siano una parte importante dei nostri continui sforzi di ricostruzione, non dobbiamo dimenticare l’importante – e a volte massacrante – lavoro svolto proprio qui a casa per riaprire anche dei luoghi nella Caverna.

    Con questo in mente, desidero presentarvi i due esperti di restauro responsabili di ciò che vedrete oggi.

    Diamo il benvenuto a Dulcamara e ametist!

    Ametist:

    Ancora una volta siamo lieti di poter aprire per tutti voi un’area appena restaurata, questa volta all’interno della Caverna!

    Zio Rebus e i suoi amici ne avevano già restaurato buona parte. Successivamente ha dato il libro di collegamento a Dulcamara e lei ne ha continuato il restauro. Poi ha chiamato me per aiutarmi a renderlo pronto per il pubblico.

    In questi ultimi mesi molti amici ci hanno aiutato a sistemare le ultime cose, oliando i cardini delle porte che stridono, martellando rivetti, portando cose avanti e indietro, insomma tutte quelle piccole cose che richiedono così tanto tempo!

    Mille, mille grazie a tutti voi!!

    Ci sono ancora alcuni passaggi che necessitano di un po’ di lavoro, perciò quelle porte sono chiuse. Ma il lavoro è in corso!

    Il libro di collegamento, nascosto nello scrigno di zio Rebus per così tanto tempo, ora avrà il suo posto qui a Chiso Preniv! Molto meglio, secondo me 🙂

    Un grande ringraziamento a Patrick per averci dato lo spazio, e grazie a tutti per aver aiutato Elonin a ottenere il ‘via libera’!

    Ora, per quelli di voi che vogliono esplorare il nuovo quartiere insieme a noi, Dulcamara condividerà il suo libro; quindi cortesemente mettetevi in fila dietro di lei.

    {:}

  • Introduction to Role Playing Chat (OOC Event)

    Introduction to Role Playing Chat (OOC Event)

    Monday, April 18, 1300-1330 KI

    Place: Diranda’s Hood

    Are you curious about RP? Would you like to know more? Please join Diranda KI: 11629473 at her Hood on Monday, April 18 at 1300 KI for an informal chat and question and answer session about Role Playing on MOULa!

  • Sanctuary Clinic Open House! (IC Event)

    Friday, April 15, 1400 KI Time (4pm Eastern/2pm Mountain)

    The Sanctuary Clinic at Tiernan Quinlan’s Hood is having an Open House to introduce the new medical clinic to the Cavern!  Please stop by to meet our resident Doctor, Tiernan Quinlan!  He will show everyone around the Clinic and answer any questions you might have.

    (Welcome to our first new In-Character Event!  This will be a free-form RP event and everyone is invited to attend, all experience levels are welcome!  Please feel free to contact Diranda KI: 11629473 (on Discord or in-Cavern) or Tiernan KI: 11690335 (in-Cavern) with any questions!)

  • April 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 144th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. A new era in D’ni
    3. Cavern Tours
    4. Fan Ages Touring Club
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Bugged marker games
    8. Miscellanea

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced two events for April: the first is the D’ni New Year 9678 celebrations, on Thursday, April 21 at 13:00 KIT. Yoda cannot be available this year, so there will be no Light Show; instead, Seeker will host a Music Show in Mir-o-Bot’s Tiam (to get there PM “to mobtiam” to Mir-o-Bot, KI# 32319).

    The second event is the Mother Earth Day Nulp Dance Show on Friday, April 22 at 13:00 KIT, in Mir-o-Bot’s Er’cana (to get there PM “link” or “meet” to Mir-o-Bot). Seeker will provide the music.

    The show will take place at different locations in Er’cana; to follow the dancers PM “w” to Mir-o-Bot. The first change can be reached on foot (just follow Fog_man) but the following ones cannot be reached through normal means (please do not use ladders or the harvester, they will make you crash). There will be short breaks to give the audience time to regroup.

    A new era in D’ni

    Doobes announced the upcoming big MOULa update, which at the time of this writing was already moved onto Cyan’s staging server, where the final testing is done.

    Doobes has teased some of the features in his Facebook page, including: an option to select either Relto or the Cleft when starting a new avatar; subtitles for all the in-game spoken dialog (including some newly-recorded voiceovers); the reactivation of the Gahreesen Wall; a new Cavern location from Dulcamara and Ametist. A full list of fixes and updates will be posted when the update will go live.

    If you want to help out with testing (especially important this time), you can sign up for an account on Cyan’s staging server; note that this account is separate from your MOULa one, so don’t worry if something is lost, deleted, etc. The use of the staging server will require Cyan to utilize the CavCon reserve funds.

    After testing on the staging server, it is strongly advised to delete your audio.ini file (%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Uru Live\Init) before returning to MOULa.

    In the meantime, work on the next quarter’s update has already begun! We will keep you updated as new features and fixes are announced.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 9 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    This month the Tour will continue the exploration of the Myst V Ages.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In March they visited the entries for the DAWN Contest, two of which also took part in the 3rd RAD; they then visited SereneTiki’s creations, including the ever-changing Sprite Gallery; next they tackled the non-trivial puzzle age Oolbahnneea. The month was rounded off with the collaborative project Rell-too.

    For April, the plan is to start with Jamey’s ages, like Tsoidahl Sheegahtee and Writers’ Niche; then they will start the grand tour of Geologica, starting in Dragon’s Tooth and witnessing the changes that occurred through geological eras. They will end the month following uncle Rebus’ steps in Botan and Moysenland.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (feel free to send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Daytime openings are currently on Monday–Friday at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT; evening openings at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Shokhootahn Rehn (aka r’Tayrtahn) can be found on Discord as r'Tayrtahn#1317.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are telling the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 22 weeks.

    R’Tayrtahn has restarted upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel, and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Bugged marker games

    Calum Traveler mentioned the issue of marker games stuck in “LOADING”: unfortunately, it seems like they are struck with a bug where, when a player is deleting their access node (the marker game KImail) from their KI, a permanent delete is propagated to the server, erasing the MG pointer and breaking the access nodes for all other players.

    The devs are hard at work on trying to figure out a way to prevent this bug. One known trigger is the presence of duplicated entries of that MG: deleting the duplicate will break the MG. Renaming one of the entries also seems to be a trigger, as well as moving a MG to a folder then getting another copy.

    They are trying to integrate the old Marker Editor client functionality in the H’uru client, possibly even integrating it into the main client, but progress on that has been slow and it was given a lower priority.

    Miscellanea

    • The Mysterium prompt for March “Discord Stickers” has concluded; entries were “Saav Bonk” by Kefrith, “Riven Pokey” by SqueeFruit, “Airship” by KellyC, “Fallen Cone” and “Bahro Stare” by Laughingpineapple.
    • The new prompt for April is “Atrus Family Roadtrip”.
    • Firmament will release for PS4, PS5 and PS VR 2: backers who selected PS4 as their platform will receive a single key that grants them all three version. Unfortunately it will not be released for PS VR (the first one).
    • Firmament is planned to launch on PC, Mac and PS “later this year”.
    • Cyan’s April Fools’ joke was the very limited Riven Fire Marble Hand and Body Soap. Hurry, they may still have one left! 😀

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    March ended with the CavFunding at 75% (CavCon 2.8) and the reserve at 530%, with 20% extra expenses. Population was at 44,202 (⇑229), with 1177 unique visits. Extra costs were from the Q1 update.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 7 (Leefo 14, 9678) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Calum Traveler filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • Saint Patrick’s Day

    Like every year, there will be parades for Saint Patrick’s Day on Thursday March 17:

    • The first parade will start in Ae’gura Plaza at 14:00 KIT, led by Eternal Seeker;
    • At 15:00 KIT there will be a show and dance party in the New Messengers Pub (to get there PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot, KI# 32319)
    • The second parade will start in Ae’gura Plaza at 17:00 KIT, led by Claidi Song.

    Seeker will provide the music stream. To get the art marker game, PM “sendme 7425176” to Mir-o-Bot.

    Keep in mind that the USA will begin daylight saving on March 13, while (most of) Europe on the 27, so between those dates 14:00 KIT will correspond to 21:00 CET.

  • March 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 143rd All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. A new era in D’ni
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. Fan Ages Touring Club
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. International Women’s Day
    7. Miscellanea

    A new era in D’ni

    Kelsei A.T. announced the III Deep City Lecture, about the D’ni legal system, held right after the Meeting 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Archivists’ Hood, and streamed over Twitch and Discord.

    Next, she announced the long-awaited public opening of the Gahreesen Wall, expected for the end of the month! After that, the pipeline includes a neighborhood area called Elonin (by Dulcamara) and a garden Age called Eder Naybree (by CalumTraveler). More info will come soon™.

    Patrick Dulebohn and CalumTraveler are working on restoring the Nexus podium in the Guild of Messengers Pub, so that getting there will be a little easier. They also plan to move the Chiso Preniv book there out of the kitchen.

    The issue with Tiam not showing in the Nexus seems to have been sorted out, the book should appear as expected for invites in the near future. They hope they will be able to avoid similar problems in the future.

    There is a quality of life update to the KI planned in the near future. This update should help folks who have a harder time hearing certain spoken word sources, like the Kirel podium or dialog.

    Tweek then announced they are working on opening an area of Fahets to the public. The area is called Highgarden, a small island off the western coast of Fahets ‘prime’. They are ensuring it is safe after the destablization event on Fahets several years ago.

    To keep updated on Tweek’s work, check his Facebook page.

    Patrick Dulebohn hinted at another Garden Age coming fairly soon. He will need to consult with the DRC, especially Dr. Richard Watson, since he reportedly visited it in the past.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 12 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    This month the Tour will continue the exploration of the Myst V Ages.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In January they visited the entries of the first Rapid Age Development contest: Abysos, a couple of Ahra Pahts shells, and Zephyr Cove; then a few assorted ages: Aerie, TINA Testing Area, Kahntinoy, Fena Barel (the last two involved in fan-run ‘episodes’ held in 2008). They finished the month in Tunnel Demo, Soundgarden and Wianeroy.

    In February they visited the entries for the II RAD Contest, a group of Ahra Pahts shells; then a few works by Andy Legate and by Whilyam; the month finished with the III RAD Contest entries, including Tre’bivdil.

    For March, the plan is to visit the entries for the DAWN Contest, two of which also took part in the 3rd RAD; then they will visit SereneTiki’s creations, including the ever-changing Sprite Gallery; then they will tackle a non-trivial fan-made puzzle age, Oolbahnneea. If they can finish that in one session, they will round the month off with the collaborative project Rell-too.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (feel free to send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are telling the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 26 weeks.

    R’Tayrtahn has restarted upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel, and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    International Women’s Day

    Aurelias announced a few Cavern events for the International Women’s Day:

    • Monday, March 7
      • 12:30 KIT: From Dusk to Dawn in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira, hosted by Aurelias (stream) (to get there PM “to gira” to Mir-o-Bot, KI# 32319)
    • Tuesday, March 8
      • 11:30 KIT: Long Shall Women Thrive in Ae’gura, hosted by Nosila (stream)
      • 13:00 KIT: Ambient Women in PodHopper’s Hood, hosted by PodHopper (stream)
      • 15:00 KIT: Music by Female Artist in Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by AlanDJ (stream)
    • Wednesday, March 9
      • 14:00 KIT: Escuta as Minas! / Listen to Gals! in Sutherland Point in Ae’gura, hosted by Dah’mpa (stream)
    • Friday, March 11
      • 14:00 KIT: Yeesha – The Broken Bird in Kirel, hosted by owly (stream)
      • 15:00 KIT: Wonky Talk in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood, hosted by IwonK (stream)

    Miscellanea

    • The deadline for the Mysterium T-shirt contest has passed; they will announce the winners in the next few days in the blog.
    • The February prompt “Glass” has concluded; the new prompt is “Stickers for the Mysterium Discord server”.
    • Patrick Dulebohn plans to put something together in the Pub for those that can’t get to Mysterium conventionally or for those that can’t afford it.
    • You can find more info and additional news in our dedicated post.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    February ended with the CavFunding at 133% (CavCon 4.3) and the reserve at 555%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 43,973 (⇑332), with 1393 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, April 2 (Leenovoo 15) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant, with Kelsei A.T. filling in for the time being; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • February 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 142nd All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. Fan Ages Touring Club
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced the start of MOULa’s XII Anniversary Week, and thanked Mirphak and Yoda for their support in organizing the events. She asked all visitors to respect the work of the hosts and do not use any bot commands that could affect the events.

    • Sunday, February 6
      • 9:00 KIT: Opening Ceremony in Chiso Preniv, hosted by Ghaelen (stream)
      • 11:00 KIT: Fan Age Expedition in Deep Island, hosted by Korov’ev (stream)
      • 13:00 KIT: Radio Free D’ni in Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by Radio Free D’ni (stream)
    • Monday, February 7
      • 13:30 KIT: Fashion Show in Eder Kemo, hosted by Minasunda (stream) (to get there please use “link”, not “to kemo” – you will end walled up in a Jalak column 😀 )
    • Tuesday, February 8
      • 11:00 KIT: Fire meets Water competition in Mir-o-Bot’s Ahnonay, hosted by Minasunda (stream) (to get there PM “to ahnonay” to Mir-o-Bot)
      • 13:00 KIT: Relaxing Session in Podhopper’s Hood, hosted by PodHopper (steam)
    • Wednesday, February 9
      • 13:00 KIT: Girastock in Eder Gira, hosted by Fil (steam) (PM “to gira” to Mir-o-Bot to get there – please do not use any bot commands while you are there)
    • Thursday, February 10
      • 13:00 KIT: Desert Rose in Minkata, hosted by Eternal Seeker (stream) (PM “to Minkata” to Mir-o-Bot to get there – please do not use any bot commands while you are there)
      • 15:00 KIT: Eddie Competition in PodHopper’s Hood, hosted by PodHopper (stream) (the task is to guide Eddie the beachball through a course in the Hood and beat the last record of 1′13″)
    • Friday, February 11
      • 13:00 KIT: Nulp Dance Show in Gahreesen, hosted by Minasunda (stream) (PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot to get there)
      • 14:15 KIT: Música Brasileira in Kadish’s Shadow Room, hosted by Dah’mpa (stream) (PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot to get there)
    • Saturday, February 12
      • 10:00 KIT: Fil Live, hosted by Fil (stream)
      • 11:00 KIT: Cavern Tour in Cavern Tour’s Hood, hosted by Larry LeDeay (stream)
      • 14:00 KIT: Story Night Europe in Tsahno’s Hood, hosted by r’Tayrtahn (uses audio chat)
      • 16:00 KIT: Karaoke Party in the New Messengers Pub, hosted by DonahooDJ (stream)
      • 23:00 KIT: Story Night in Tsahno’s Hood, hosted by r’Tayrtahn (uses audio chat)
    • Sunday, February 13
      • 9:00 KIT: Explorer Memorial in Veelay Tsahvahn, hosted by Ghaelen (stream) (PM “to veelay” to Mir-o-Bot to get there)
      • 11:00 KIT: Fan Age Expedition in Deep Island, hosted by Korov’ev (stream)
      • 13:00 KIT: Radio Free D’ni in Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by Radio Free D’ni (stream)
    • Monday, February 14
      • 13:00 KIT: Love Songs in Eder Tsogal (Guild of Greeters Hood), hosted by Eternal Seeker (stream)
    More about the Fire meets Water competition (click to expand)

    The task of the Fire meets Water competition is to bring 36 fire marbles sorted by color into the correspondingly marked bay. Players will need a marker game to see the field markings (to get it PM “sendme 6621621” to Mir-o-Bot).

    Throwing in the marbles is the first challenge: this will be done by the 3 referees with a complicated procedure designed to keep the marbles in the pool and prevent them from scattering through the whole age. Anyone who is not in Ahnonay at this time and misses the first throw-in will not be able to see the Firemarbles.

    Also, if someone leaves the Age it may cause a crash for others, especially the bot. Hence the very urgent request to players and spectators to stay in the Age until the event is over.

    After the end of the competition there will be an award ceremony. This is the first time this game is played since 2018 due to the above difficulties.

    There are 6 teams so far. Teams will start one after the other and consist of 2 players each. You have 5 minutes to place as many marbles as possible in the correct bay. Each correct marble earns one point, each incorrect one deducts a point. Maximum score is 36.

    The color change of the water indicates the end of the match. Players leave the pool immediately by PMing “w” to MinBot (KI 9292763).

    Mina posts the events every day on Facebook and on the MOULa Events Discord server #announcements channel and the Cyan Discord server #cavern-events channel. The posts also contain special notes for some events.

    If you need help with organising an event (not only for the festivities), or just want to spread the word about it, you can join Minasunda’s Discord server, Facebook group, or you can contact her via KImail (#5667000).

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 12 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    This month the Tour will continue the exploration of the Myst V Ages.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In January they visited the entries of the first Rapid Age Development contest: Abysos, a couple of Ahra Pahts shells, and Zephyr Cove; then a few assorted ages: Aerie, TINA Testing Area, Kahntinoy, Fena Barel (the last two involved in fan-run ‘episodes’ held in 2008). They finished the month in Tunnel Demo, Soundgarden and Wianeroy.

    For February, the plan is to visit the entries for the Second RAD contest: a group of Ahra Pahts shells. Then, a few works by Andy Legate and by Whilyam. They will finish the month with the Third RAD and DAWN contests entries, probably in two parts.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (feel free to send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Shokhootahn Ana has just finished teaching her first 101 class!

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are in synch, and are starting the stories of the kings of D’ni, which will go on for the next 31 weeks.

    R’Tayrtahn has restarted upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel, and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    Miscellanea

    • Some great updates are being cooked up behind the scenes for the next quarterly update, but the fan developers would like to keep them a surprise 😉 Not all updates will include new Age releases, they can be improvements for already existing items, places or gameplay.
    • One big update that is being worked on is the (re)opening of the Gahreesen Wall, with improvements to offer a better view of the competition to spectators.
    • February’s Mysterium prompt topic is “glass”: this can be window glass, drinking glasses, broken glass, anything involving glass. You can submit your works by February 28 at 21:00 KIT.
    • checkmarks recreated the Watcher’s Pub and Chiso Preniv in VRChat.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    January ended with the CavFunding at 94% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 534%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 43,641 (⇑665), with 1582 unique visits. A normal good month, with above average for new accounts.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, March 5 (Leevotar 21) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • January 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 141st All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium news
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. The Fall of D’ni Memorial
    5. D’ni Language Classes
    6. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    7. Cavern Tours
    8. Fan Ages Touring Club
    9. Miscellanea

    Mysterium news

    Calum Traveler reported some quick news about the convention:

    • early bird registration is available until May 15 at two different rates: Standard ($25) will provide admission to the event and any swag, such as pins; Premium ($40) includes everything from Standard as well as a Mysterium 2022 T-shirt;
    • the T-shirt design has not been chosen yet; if you are planning to submit a design (submissions are open until February 20), the Committee recommend holding off on registering, since your shirt will be free if your design is selected;
    • if you submitted an entry for the Writing & Artwork table for 2020 or 2021, you will need to re-submit it for this year;
    • attendees will likely be required to be up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations (the CDC’s definition of fully vaccinated); staff will provide more details on how to provide proof at a later time.

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced the start of MOULa’s XII anniversary week, on February 6, starting with Ghaelen’s opening ceremony. Special events are already planned, in addition to the regular ones, including a fantastic Nulp Dance Show in Gahreesen.

    More details will be announced at the February AGM. A preliminary schedule was posted in the #anniversary-planning channel of the MOULa Event Discord server.

    If you need help with organising an event (not only for the festivities), or just want to spread the word about it, you can join a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    A new era in D’ni

    Doobes announced he started working on the Myst V Ages: Tahgira, Todelmer, Noloben, Laki’ahn, and Direbo, which were originally meant for MOUL. He came up with a hopefully viable path to bypass the bahro magic and use traditional linking methods, to see all the sights and allow completion of the puzzles. The events of Myst V may be alluded to, but only lightly, so any spoiler should be minor.

    All this of course will hinge on Cyan’s approval; they will have an opportunity to see the converted content and give their thoughts. Descent will take a back seat for the time being, until the Myst V Ages are complete.

    Doobes also mentioned that the entries for Grandbad and Battlebotsboy, who sadly passed away at the end of 2021, will soon be added to the Veelay Tsahvahn journals, after some testing on the Minkata shard.

    Finally, he noted that, with the next MOULa update, Tiam hopefully will be given a linking panel in the Nexus, which will allow linking to Tiam via the Nexus and also allow for KI invites to work. For now, explorers will need to use the Share feature in the linking book in Chiso Preniv.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    The Fall of D’ni Memorial

    Christopher Therburg announced his Fall of D’ni Memorial project has been moved from its original planned location in the Kings Lookout to a separate small island in the Cavern, the reason being that some believes that Ae’gura is not the right place for it.

    The island is a small stalagmite that naturally fractured sometime after the Fall of D’ni; the remains of the upper part, partly underwater, can still be seen. It will be accessed via a boat ride, and there will also be a Nexus terminal.

    The Memorial is currently scheduled to be unveiled on the date of the Fall, Leesahn 8, or July 12. Updates will posted on the Beneath IC forums.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe is starting from the beginning: the D’ni creation myth.

    Original Story Night is continuing the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour.

    R’Tayrtahn has restarted upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel, and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour was held on Saturday 8 at 11:00 KIT (just before the Meeting), starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, uses his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream is simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In December they visited some fairly complex ages like Jo’nae, Jo’nae Hood, Takla Ma’kan, and investigated the mysteries of Sonavio.

    In January, the plan is to visit the entries of the first Rapid Age Development contest: Abysos, a couple of Ahra Pahts shells and Zephyr Cove; then a few assorted ages like Aerie, TINA, Kahntinoy, Fena Barel (a summary of fan-run ‘episodes’ held in 2008); and conclude the month with a few works by Nadnerb and by Andy Legate.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (feel free to send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    Miscellanea

    • Minasunda filmed and edited a lovely year end wrap up video for 2021; Calum Traveler also made a video, with more focus on places.
    • A new Age was released in December: Tiam, by Ametist (more info in the dedicated post). New clothing items have also been added: some are immediately available in the Relto wardrobe, others can be found in thematically appropriate locations. There are some unexpected render issues that are being worked on. Note that the second backpack was released by mistake, and may have removed Zandi’s shirt and the field vest; these can be re-collected in their original locations.
    • A story book by Jules Lavisham was also released in Chiso Preniv: “The Painter”. The “Heritage Documents” and “Activity in the Cavern” books have been moved to a different shelf, grouped together, and given numbers on the spines for easier picking up of the correct volume.
    • Serene now has the snow storms from the original version, and a ‘special guest’ during the festivities 🙂
    • The Kirel podium has been enabled: the plan is to get new audio recordings out once every quarter to serve as a recap of recent events. For now there are two tracks: one covering the last few months of activity, recorded by Tyion, and a historical recording from Dr. Watson.
    • Initial testing for reactivating the Gahreesen Wall have begun; more info will be revealed Soon™.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    December ended with the CavFunding at 205% (CavCon 4.10) and the reserve at 546%, with 25% extra expenses. Population was at 42,976 (⇑426), with 1588 unique visits. Unbelievable month for donations and updates: two donations accounted for more than 50% of the total amount; the number of new accounts added per month also nearly doubled.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 5 (Leevosahn 28) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • A New Era in D’ni: Tiam

    A New Era in D’ni: Tiam

    On Monday, December 20, 2021 (9677 Leevobro 20), in a ceremony held in Chiso Preniv that gathered over 150 explorers, Patrick Dulebohn and Ametist gave a speech (a transcript of which you can read below), then unveiled the linking book to Tiam, by Ametist. Rand Miller and Chogon also showed up at the event 🙂

    Originally made available on May 31, 2020, Tiam is an age that was created for a family to relax and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine; there you will be able to unlock and discover how this family spent their time there.

    Note than unlike the other Ages available in Chiso Preniv, Tiam is a personal instance. However visiting it will not save a link in your Nexus. This will be fixed in the future; in the meantime, you will need to always go through Chiso Preniv, using the share panel if you wish to visit Tiam with friends.

    All the doors will close when you link out, but you will need to reenter the code only for the first one. The ball is just for fun 🙂

    CalumTraveler dedicated a post to the event in his blog, along with the full chatlog, and filmed it (pre-show, release). Minasunda made a video summary. Jalind also posted a film of the event. Korov’ev streamed the event (recording of the ceremony, plus a walkthough – spoiler warning for the latter, of course).

    Massively Overpowered dedicated a post to the event.

    Patrick’s and Ametist’s speech (click to expand )

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Welcome back to Chiso Preniv, everyone!

    Today, we come together once more as we celebrate another fine addition to the collection of Ages featured here as part of our ongoing restoration efforts.

    This one is particularly special as it’s the first contribution from an explorer not affiliated with my particular group and who is currently very active in our community.

    It goes to show that this is truly an interconnected, but not overly-centralized effort in which anyone can participate and contribute.

    I’ll save you all from hearing me get too long-winded yet again and turn things over to the person who is most responsible for bringing us this amazing Age.

    Ladies and gentlemen, please give a big round of applause for … ametist!

    Ametist:

    Ty Patrick!

    Thank you all for coming and welcome to Chiso Preniv, the Age that with the words of Patrick Dulebohn ‘will be the first gateway to a new gathering of Ages and points of interest here in the cavern that have been restored … or even Written … by us, the explorers of D’ni.’

    I would say though, that this Age, Chiso Preniv, isn’t just a ‘gateway’, where you go to chose a linking book, touch it and link. Chiso Preniv has much more to offer, the history of this Age and its restoration can be found in the Journal, there are more books to examine on the shelfs, and not to forget a lovely and calm atmosphere. Something we all need from time to time.

    But the restoration of Ages is continuing and the bookstands before you is being occupied by linking books, one after the other.

    Today yet another book will be placed on one of them. The linking book to Tiam.

    Uncle Rebus once told me the golden rule of Age restoration, or rather the three golden rules:

    1. Is the Age stable?
    2. Is the Age stable over time?
    3. Is the Age stable over a prolonged period of time?

    We can now assure you that Tiam is stable and secure to visit. It has been thoroughly tested for safety. Restoring Tiam to what it is today wouldn’t have been possible without assistance, and for that I thank all of you that have given your time and expertise to this restoration project.

    I wont tell you much more about the Age itself, you have to go there and see what you find. I will just give you the same advice that uncle Rebus always give me – have the words of Anna – ‘what do you see?’ – in your mind and you will do just fine.

    So enjoy!

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Please form an orderly line now. No shoving!

  • The December 2021 update

    The December 2021 update

    On December 15, 2021 MOULa got a big update, with lots of interesting additions; a full list is available at the bottom of this post. Let’s go over some highlights and answer some questions that may have arised:

    A new Age

    The most anticipated addition is probably the Age of Tiam, designed by Ametist. As announced by a post on Cyan’s own Twitter channel, an opening ceremony will be held at the Chiso Preniv library on Monday December 20, 2021 at 13:00 KIT: there will be a short presentation and the new linking book will be made available.

    Tiam is an Age that was created for a family to relax and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine; there, you will be able to unlock and discover how this family spent their time there. To get there, the direction is going to the Nexus, then the Watcher’ Pub, then to Chiso Preniv using the book in an alcove.

    It will be a good idea to have the client fully updated before the ceremony; to do so, one way is to open the game’s folder and delete TOS.txt; this will enforce a re-check of all the game files.

    New clothing

    Next, if you visit your wardrobe you will find some new items have been added, including some that have been available in the offline game for years. Some of the additions are rewards for completing the Journeys, while others require visiting logically related places 😉

    A special note about the second backpack: it was enabled by accident, as it has a visual bug that was still being worked on; if you have it and lost the old one, you can re-acquire it where you first got it.

    Serene

    The snowfall is back, and an indigenous ‘person’ has appeared for the holiday season 🙂 Both are original to Andy Legate’s design: the snowfall (a type of particle system) could not be handled by the Guild of Writers’ Age building tool Korman until recently, and the ‘indigenous’ was hidden in the Age files.

    A bit of code makes the latter appear automatically in the PotS version, but on MOULa the code interferes with multiplay and can have the opposite effect of hiding it, so the code was disabled.

    A journal that actually gives some background about the Age has replaced the previous one, hidden somewhere close to the gazebo.

    Graphics and sound improvements

    The Kirel podium has been given a new recording. More may come in the future! A story book (not a Linking Book) has been added to Chiso Preniv, while the Heritage Document and Activity in the Cavern have been moved to another shelf, close together. Various improvements to textures were made in Baron City Office, Teledahn, K’veer, Chiso Preniv and more.

    A note on bugs

    When an update, especially one as large as this one, hits MOULa it is almost inevitable that unexpected bugs will show up; for all the testing that can be done, Minkata never sees as many concurrent players as the official server, and not all issues can be catched. No addition from Cyan is to be expected for the foreseeable future, apart from server updates, so all improvements and additions will come from fan developers, who dedicate their limited free time to at least try to let MOULa be the best it could potentially be.

    So the best way to deal with bugs is to have patience and report them, mentioning where you were and what you were doing, be it on Cyan’s Discord, OpenUru’s Discord or OpenUru forums. If you fancy contributing your work and/or helping with bug fixing, those places are also excellent starting points to be part of the Restoration Team 🙂

    OpenUru Build #200a Build Update (click to expand)

    Known Issues (that will be fixed in a hotfix):
    – There is a crash when linking to Myst full screen without alt-tabbing while linking.
    – If you wear Catherine’s robes, and then change while another player is in the Age, they will see through your body.
    – Serene Xmas decorations are intermittent
    Client changes:
    – [Fixed]: A lot of under the hood fixes for stability {11}
    – [Fixed]: Fix client audio caching {10}
    – [Fixed]: Fix stack trace popup on error to provide meaningful information {10}
    – [Fixed]: Graphics cleanup for modern graphics cards {11}
    Content changes:
    – [New]: A new age! {1} (Stay tuned for the opening ceremonies!)
    – [New]: Add audio player back to Kirel Auditorium Podium, new recordings {9}
    – [New]: Clothing additions (and updates from CC) {7}
    – [Updated]: Improvements and additions to Chiso Preniv, Guild of Messengers Pub and Veelay Tsahvan {2}
    – [Updated]: Serene journal enhancements {3}
    – [Updated]: SpyRoom updates {5}
    – [Updated]: Upscaled fabric textures in Baron City Office and Teledahn {8}
    – [Fixed]: Ayoheek messages reference Garrison rather than Gahreesen {6}
    – [Fixed]: Er’cana Graphical Fixes {6}
    – [Fixed]: Fix view through telescopes on ultra-wide displays {6}
    – [Fixed]: Graphical updates to K’veer {2}
    – [Fixed]: Improve bad text resolution in Baron City Office Marie note {12}
    – [Fixed]: Prevent Kirel Egg Room Bahro Stones from being active {6}
    – [Fixed]: Repair formatting in many journals and book text {12}
    – [Fixed]: Repair getting stuck in Great Zero Mission GUI {6}
    – [Fixed]: Serene Snowfall Effects {4}
    – [Fixed]: Use correct cover for Negilahn journal {6}
    Attributions:
    {1} Ametist
    {2} Doobes
    {3} Doobes, Dot, CTraveler, Adam{Hoikas}
    {4} Doobes, EhrenCG
    {5} Doobes, Hazado
    {6} Hazado
    {7} Hazado, Adam{Hoikas}, CTraveler, Larry LeDeay
    {8} Hazado, CTraveler, Tweek, Yali
    {9} Hazado, DapperAndy, Tyion, Skyisblu, Neurovac, CP-Dimensions
    {10} Adam {Hoikas}
    {11} Adam {Hoikas}, rarified
    {12} dgelessus

  • December 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 140th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Door Run Competition
    3. The Fall of D’ni Memorial
    4. Minkata
    5. Cavern Tours
    6. Fan Ages Touring Club
    7. D’ni Language Classes
    8. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    9. Miscellanea

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced a few events for the coming festivities:

    • on December 17 at 13:00 KIT there will be a Christmas Show by the Nulp Dance Group, in Serene: to get there, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (#32319). The link-in platform will be the stage, so please leave the platform as soon as you arrive. Pictures will be published on Facebook and Discord. Seeker will provide the music stream, that will start at about 12:30 KIT and continue until around 15:00 KIT.
    • on December 18 at 11:30 KIT there will be a Door Run Competition; the meeting point is in Nosi La’s Hood. If you have any questions, you can contact her on Discord (Nosila#5296) or in the Cavern (#9902277).
    • on December 24 at 13:00 KIT there will be a Magic Christmas Show by Yoda, in a surprise location: to get there, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot. Seeker will provide the music stream.
    • on December 31 at 13:00 KIT there will be a Magic New Year’s Eve Show by Yoda, in Magic Kadish Tolesa: to get there, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot. The fireworks will start at 16:00 KI! Seeker will provide the music stream, that will start at 12:45:54 KIT and continue until after 18:00 KIT.
    • Like every years, there is an Uru advent calendar: PM “sendme 8833282” to Mir-o-Bot to get a marker game (you will need to have completed the red and green marker missions). With the marker game you can find 24 numbers hidden all around Ae’gura. In each of these numbers there are two YouTube links, one in English and one in German, filmed in MOULa and Deep Island by Minasunda, Mabe and Eternal Seeker.

    Next February will be the 12th anniversary of MOULa. The Nulp Dance Group is already working on a show, but if anyone has ideas for the occasion, let Mina know!

    If you need help with organising an event (not only for the festivities), or just want to spread the word about it, you can join a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    Door Run Competition

    PodHopper talked about the Door Run, which will involve teams of 5 players (including the Caller), each running in a different Delin (to avoid bugs). There will also be an oppportunity for teams of 2 if people feel brave enough.

    PodHopper also announced his ‘Spiral Door Simulator’, an online tool for learning the symbols on the Garden Age doors and a training tool for those who want to know how to do a Door Run. It has a help section containing information about the tool itself, as well as information and tips about what to do during a Door Run.

    The simulator combines 2 independent projects: PodHopper’s own about learning how exactly the timing on the Spiral Door works, and Mabe’s Jalak project that led to Mabe’s Rebus event a few months ago. The pictures from Mabe’s Rebus are the reward for opening the Spiral Door in the simulator.

    The Fall of D’ni Memorial

    Christopher Therburg announced his Fall of D’ni Memorial project, to erect a memorial that fits the style of the D’ni City, in a visible location, to honor the D’ni who died at the hands of Veovis and A’gaeris.

    The plan is to place the memorial at the Kings Lookout, between the Palace and the stairs to the Canyon Mall. There will be a few benches, with vases as decorations, and there will also be a book to summarize the events of the Fall of D’ni.

    The Memorial is currently scheduled to be unveiled on the date of the Fall, Leesahn 8, or July 12. Updates will posted on the Beneath IC forums.

    Minkata

    Rarified gave the quarterly update about the open source client and content development. They are coming to the conclusion of the cycle: the upcoming update is intended to emphasize content and fixes; it is a big one that touches existing areas in D’ni as well as something new.

    Testing is still undergoing on the Minkata shard. Almost all of the changes have been assembled; after that, only fixes to the updates will appear on Minkata. A list of fixes and changes is available on the OpenUru forums. The hope is to deliver the updates to Cyan in a couple of weeks; then, after a period on the Cyan beta server for a last check, it will be released to the public.

    This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Minkata shard; Rarified thanked all the volunteers and contributors who over the years have gone through ups, downs, and a lot of strong feelings to get where we are now.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 11 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is often employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In November they visited the rest of the early Ages made available at the end of 2005: Second Age of Dustin, Kato’s Lab, Setal Gahmarin, Vaiskor Area 1 & 2, Terrati Lab. Then they skated in Pre-Swaltu, explored Tyndior, Prad, the Maze, and outlined the concept behind the Ahra Pahts project. Finally they explored the buildings in Janga, and found their way to its nighttime version, Janga Lela.

    In December, the plan is to explore some more complex Ages, like Jo’nae and Jo’nae Hood, Takla Ma’kan, and uncover the secrets of The Company, in Sonavio. They may even manage to visit the entries of the first Rapid Age Development contest.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after. Be careful if you PM Korov’ev, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe is starting the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour, visiting all the ages that contain bahro glyphs; some have explanations while others just generate more questions. The first part of the Tour will start in Mir-o-Bot’s Hood (#32319). The tour will take three parts until December 18; after that, SNE will be on hiatus until after the holidays, returning on January 8, 2022.

    Original Story Night is continuing with the fan fiction written by Janai, originally posted on the MOUL forums back in 2009. The bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour will begin on December 18.

    After the Tour, Story Night will restart from the very beginning, the D’ni story of creation. R’Tayrtahn can once again upload recordings of the Nights to his YouTube channel, and is in the process of uploading the backlog of videos from previous sessions. Be careful if you PM r’Tay, as messages will be visible in the videos 😉

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    Miscellanea

    • A new IC forums for story progression – in the vein of the DRC forums – opened, hosted by Tweek’s Beneath website.
    • Cyan has new items in its store, including notebooks that look like the Myst, Haven, and Spire books. Note that at the time of this writing they already sold out, but they will likely come back at some point.
    • Mysterium’s second Creative Prompt is “Gift Giving”: it can be related to one of the season’s holidays, or just gifts in general; gifts do not even have to be positive ones. The deadline for this prompt is New Year’s Eve, December 31 at 21:00 KIT.
    • Another round of D’ni words will be released this month for Lexember, on Cyan’s Twitter.
    • December 10 is the anniversary of the discovery of the Lost Book of Birenni; the 11 is the anniversary of the Minkata Shard; the 22 is the anniversary of Starry Expanse, now an official Cyan project.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    November ended with the CavFunding at 163% (CavCon 4.6) and the reserve at 395%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 42,550 (⇑277), with 1185 unique visits. A very good month with a fan update on the horizon!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, January 8 (Leevosahn 6) at 13:00 KIT.

    The role of Moderator is currently vacant; if anyone would like to take the role, it is your chance to step up 😉

    Until then!

  • November 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for November’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Fan Ages Touring Club
    2. Mysterium news
    3. Deep City Lecture
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. The Waterlogged Relto Book
    7. Minkata
    8. Miscellanea

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    In October they started a new cycle, visiting the very first ages (at least those still around) released in 2005: First Age of Dustin, Eder Rilteh Inaltahv, Galamay, Atlantis Outpost, Niveerah.

    In November, the plan is to visit more of these early ages, then Pre-Swaltu, Janga, and outline the concept behind Ahra Pahts.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    Mysterium News

    Event submissions are now open: T-shirt designs until February 20, Events until May 22, Writing & Artworks until July 31. There will not be Pins submissions, because the Committee still has those submitted for 2020 and will use those.

    They also launched a new section in the Mysterium Discord server called Creativity Prompts: periodically they will post a topic and invite everyone to submit any creative works you can come up with. Music, fanfics, costume designs, etc. are all welcome.

    The only requirements are that it must incorporate the posted topic, and somehow be related to Cyan’s games (including Obduction, and Cyan Ventures like Zed).

    The inaugural topic is Giving Thanks – not necessarily related to Thanksgiving, any expression of gratitude fits the requirements. The deadline for this Prompt is November 30 at 21:00 KIT.

    Deep City Lecture

    Former ResEng G.Buddell announced a lecture he and J.D. Barnes will hold on Sunday 7 at 15:00 KIT, to share with the Community some new historical information they have found combing through the DRC archives, about the Mee-Dis War.

    The lecture will be streamed on Twitch and on CyanChat, and will be uploaded to the Guild of Archivists’ YouTube channel at a later time. They plan to hold a lecture every couple of weeks, taking a break in December to help with Lexember.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. There are now three more instructors in the Guild of Instructors: shokhootahn Ana, shokhootahn Jo, and shokhootahn phoenixRisen.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night has started a special, five-part story of fan fiction written by Janai. After the Meeting, Story Night Europe began chapter 3, while Original Story Night began chapter 1.

    Then it will be time for the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour, visiting all the ages that contain bahro glyphs; some have explanations while others just generate more questions.

    After that, the Stories will restart from the very beginning, the D’ni story of creation.

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    The Waterlogged Relto Book

    Calum Traveler gave an update on the saga of the waterlogged Relto book, found mangled by the Docks in late October. The book belonged to an explorer named Wayne Todd, who went ‘camping’ in an industrial area of the Cavern. He is fine, but did not tell anyone where he was going.

    Wayne discovered a facility that appears to be part of one of the D’ni’s ‘safety measures’ to prevent spikes of overfeeding the lake. The feasibility of restoring this particular facility to functionality is currently being debated.

    It was also confirmed that lake water samples taken at the area are matching the composition found at the Docks and elsewhere: oxygen and carbon dioxide levels are becoming more consistent, and the lake algae are definitely beginning to glow in sync.

    Tis means that the lake light may begin to cycle again quite soon, possibly around December or January, if explorers continue feeding the lake as consistently as they have been.

    Minkata

    Rarified gave an update about the OpenUru testing shards. Between bug fixes, client improvements and fan ages testing, they will probably release the next set of changes on MOULa in late November or mid December.

    A lot of work is still in the pipeline; during the next month, they will need as many visitors as possible on Minkata to help make sure things are safe for release.

    The KI bug is next on the list of bugs being worked on from Cyan’s end, but that too appears to be difficult to debug.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Miscellanea

    • A new IC forums for story progression, in the vein of the DRC forums, opened; it is hosted by Tweek’s Beneath website.
    • Forecast says Serene will be getting its snowfall again, likely by December.
    • November 11 is the Third Feast of the Maker, and the anniversary of Uru ABM; the 17 is
    • the anniversary of Prologue; the 22 is the anniversary of the coronation of King Kerath.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    October ended with the CavFunding at 107% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 346%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 42,273 (⇑284), with 1142 unique visits. Donations are back to normal.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 4 (Leevobro 7) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • October 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for October’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Lake pellets
    3. Net2 errors
    4. From the Surface to D’ni
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Mysterium news

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced two upcoming events:

    • on Friday 8 at 13:00 KIT Karel will host a party onboard the Argosy, a beautiful ship built by Jaruku; sea shanties will be played on the music stream. The party will be held on the Deep Island shard; to get to Argosy, use the “Puzzle Ages Volume II” book in your Relto and link to Laki’anay. From the link-in point, take the ferry then head to the lighthouse, where you will find the linking book. You can find a video guide here.
    • On October 31 at 14:00 KIT there will be a Halloween Party, in Mir-o-Bot’s Teledahn. To get there, PM “to teledahn” or “link” to Mir-o-Bot (#32319). As this year Halloween is on a Sunday, Radio Free D’ni will take over the music stream. Yoda will provide the creepy ambience with his special effects and the Nulp Dance Group will conjure the ghosts!

    Additionally, the Cavern Tour will as usual be held on Saturday 9 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    Lake pellets

    Calum Traveler first asked age builders to test new ages on dedicated shards like Destiny or Minkata Alpha.

    Next, he mentioned that tests are being held to restart the Cavern lake light cycle. Time to warm up the Er’cana factory ovens! If you plan to contribute pellets, keep in mind that consistency if preferable over quantity.

    Net2 errors

    Rarified gave an update about the “Net2 error” crashes. A possible fix has been found (there was a transcription error in some code that was adopted from H’uru during the last update). If the testing goes well, it will be handed to Chogon for testing on Staging and ultimately on MOULa.

    The Net2 error is particularly insidious to debug, because it originates from the server software; fan shards, including Minkata, use alternatives (MOSS or DirtSand) where the problem does not show up, and only the live MOULa server has a population sizable enough to produce mega-neighborhoods.

    The next scheduled MOULa update will happen late November or early December and will focus on (a lot of) fan content.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the Testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    From the Surface to D’ni

    Doobes announced that Descent is nearing the Phase 1 final checks, and Phase 2 will start soon. Once they will be sure the content from Myst V is properly converted, they will start building the rest of the path to D’ni.

    All interested age builders are welcome to help with the process, assembling a section of the path that lies past Descent. Calum Traveler already submitted a section between the caldera and the first cave, to make the first locations fit better under the volcano.

    Once Phase 2 nears completion, the results will be hosted on Minkata Alpha so that testers can examine and pick it apart. After that will come phase 3, wiring everything so that the entire path will be navigable without spawning.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    Recently, they explored Kohdalan and Tyldalan, by Corvus, Wodan, Itep Edor and other creators; the rest of the month they took the Path of the Lost Ages, by Melvin, starting in Palamary bay.

    In October, they will investigate the mysteries of Alabaster’s Depths, by Dulcamara. After that, the main plan is to start again from the very beginning, a few ages from 2005, but they may also dedicate a few weeks to the most popular ones, either guided or free-for-all.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Students are taking the classes at various stages of completion.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night has started the stories of the Restoration. After that, there will be a special, five-part story of fan fiction written by Janai, planned to start on October 23; r’Tayrtahn will be assisted by Axenna.

    Then it will be time for the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour, visiting all the ages that contain bahro glyphs; some have explanations while others just generate more questions.

    After that, the Stories will restart from the very beginning, the D’ni story of creation.

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    Mysterium news

    The date for the XXIII Mysterium in Denver will be August 12–14, 2022. The theme will be Myst III: Exile, celebrating its 21st birthday, with a particular emphasis on Voltaic.

    Submissions for t-shirt designs are open. Favoured design will be those incorporating Blucifer, Denver International Airport’s demon horse sculpture.

    No announcements are expected at the moment about Starry Expanse. All we know is that the project has not been cancelled.

    Rand’s Let’s play was really popular, hopefully he will be up for something similar, along with Robyn. The committee will look into hybrid events held both in-person and online; panels in the future will have short breaks between them.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    September ended with the CavFunding at 58% (CavCon 2.6) and the reserve at 330%, with 24% extra expenses. Population was at 41,989 (⇑340), with 1284 unique visits. Donations were down but reserves are still healthy; the extra expenses were due to the Net2 errors/backend crashes.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, November 6 (Leevofo 14) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • September 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for September’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    A new moderator has not been found yet, so this time the meeting had a more anarchic format – and given the Net2 error situation (see below), it was the only way to get the announcements across 🙂

    Contents

      1. Cavern Tours
      2. Net2 errors, and Korman
      3. OpenUru
      4. D’ni Language Classes
      5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
      6. Fan Ages Touring Club
      7. Cyan news

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 11 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube. Due to the Net2 crashes issue, Mir-o-Bot may not be online, and the tour itself may be held entirely on Twitch.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    Net2 errors, and Korman

    Doobes explained what is going on with the “Net2 error” crashes. They did not come up on the staging server because it does not have nearly the population that the main MOULa server does. The problem appears to be on the server side, which can only be fixed by Cyan, and is likely related to neighborhoods with too many members. In particular, DRC (67) Bevin has around 1000 members, and anyone in that hood is highly advised to move to a different one. In the meantime, this could be a good time to explore some of the fan maintained shards 😉

    He also announced the release of Korman 0.12a, the age building tool by the Guild of Writers. This iteration adds goodies like grass shaders and random sound mods to the mix, as well as a ton of lighting fixes. It also introduces a self-contained platform called Blender for Korman.

    Lastly, Doobes announced that Descent is nearing the Phase 1 final checks and will be uploaded in a Github repository soon. Descent is going through a phase system a bit different from the DRC scale, with 1 being “Near identical to Myst V” and 5 being “Final Release for MOULa”.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    OpenUru

    Rarified announced, after the Q3 update that focused on QoL fixes, the Q4 update for MOULa will focus on fan content, and a lot is planned for it.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru forum or the Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the @testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Six students are taking the classes at various stages of completion.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, and on Wednesday–Friday starting at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night has started the stories of the Restoration. After that, there will be a special, five-part story of fan fiction written by Janai; for that, r’Tayrtahn will be assisted by Axenna. After that will be the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour, visiting all the ages that contain bahro glyphs; some have explanations while others just generate more questions. After that, the Stories will restart from the very beginning, the D’ni story of creation.

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 15 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel; however some hardware issues are preventing r’Tayrtahn from uploading the latest episodes.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT.

    Recently, they explored two ages by by Jhon J. Jaguar, Tentsahveet and the recently released Edereden; then two ages by Semjay, Terahgrahm and Zahlto. Lastly they started Koh-dalan, by Corvus, Wodan, Itep Edor and other creators.

    For September, the plan is to finish Koh-dalan; then they will begin the Path of the Lost Ages by Melvin, starting in Palamary bay.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    Cyan news

    The release of the new Myst for PC/VR was mentioned, which recently got a patch that, among many fixes, officially gives the option to use the old FMV animations (except for the ending, where it was not possible).

    The original game’s 28th anniversary is also near, on Friday 24.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    August ended with the CavFunding at 102% (CavCon 4.0) and the reserve at 377%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 41,649 (⇑487), with 1382 unique visits. Another good month of donations with an increase in new accounts, all despite persistent server crashes that started after the last update. Top MOULa devs are hunting for this elusive bug!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, October 2 (Leevot 15) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • August 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for August’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Thanks to Chogon who restarted the servers, on his day off too, to let the Meeting continue after a crash.

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. OpenUru
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Mysterium news
    9. Moderation duties

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced two upcoming events: the first is a Caribbean Night on Friday 13 at 13:00 KIT, with hot music and cool (virtual) drinks, in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira (PM “to gira” to him, KI# 32319). Eternal Seeker will provide some music.

    The second event is the D’ni Day of Dancing on September 3 at 13:00 KIT, in Mir-o-Bot’s Teledahn (PM “to teledahn” to him). Eternal Seeker will again stream some music. The first part of the event will be a show by the Nulp Dance Group, the second part will be dance for everyone.

    Mir-o-Bot will use his choreographing magic to make multiple avatars dance; if you do not want to be part of the dance, PM “ignoreme” to him, but note that this will apply to all the bot’s commands; there is also no automatic un-ingnore function, you will need to ask Mirphak or Minasunda.

    If you have an idea for an event and need help organising it, there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 14 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood; new info will be shared at this tour! The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    A new era in D’ni

    Doobes gave an update on the status of Descent, which he is restoring and improving for MOULa. Thanks to a few more additions and fixes from Sirius to the ZLZ Age Importer, he was able to reimport Myst V’s version with more usable animations, which will save considerable time with the animations. Using the DRC phases as model, this is the current plan:

    • Phase 1: preliminary conversion of the old content (e.g. Myst V’s versions of Descent, the most ‘complete’ available for easy conversion.
    • Phase 2: once the content is fully converted, changes, adjustments, and additions are made to help bring things more in line with canon as well as add new features, including content from the Intangibles (in Descent’s case, the best elements from the Dirt demo, the Uru version, and the Myst V one).
      • This phase is also open to suggestions for not-too-intrusive explorer content, to get the community more involved and to show the Shaft as being well-traveled and with a strong explorer presence.
    • Phase 3: wiring. This is going to be tricky as Myst V’s Descent has not been wired for multiplayer before; the hope is that the whole thing can be solvable either alone or together.
    • Phase 4: testing. This is when things are good enough for proper testing on the Minkata alpha shard (see next section for more info); arguably the most important phase, as most if not all the bugs and inconsistencies need to be catched before it is sent for inclusion on MOULa.
      • There will likely be an open call for any and all testers who want to go through the entirety of the new Descent to see and break things if they can, so they can be fixed properly; if Cyan sends any request for changes, then those will need to be rechecked once implemented.
    • Phase 5: release on MOULa opening the path to D’ni to the general public!

    No deadline can be given, as this project will require all the care and regard it needs. Depending on how much lore and modeling work will be required, the path may need to be opened in stages, starting with a little more than the distance down the path as in Myst V, then gradually more and more until one can take the full path down from the surface.

    Direbo will also show up, but without the bahro bubbles, just a rest age; there will also be less ‘rest areas’ (eder tomahn-tee), as those in Myst V were only added for gameplay purposes. An alternative mechanism will be worked on to save progress along the trip.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    OpenUru

    Rarified announced, in the spirit of adhering to a schedule of quarterly updates to send to MOULa and Cyan, that they just completed work on the August update, with a great deal of help from Marten, Adam and other contributors and testers. A non-exhaustive list of fixes in the works is available here. The current plan is to put together the parts to deliver to Cyan’s Staging shard, where they should be given a week of exposure before the final move to MOULa.

    Some new visitors to Minkata have remarked on the improvements they have noticed, both to the client as well as specific locations. Community involvement has grown greatly in the past year, with different skills and talents coming together to produce content and fixes for the upcoming release. Testing does not guarantee every release is perfect, but ensures that all the major bugs get catched.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru forum or the Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the @testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they finished Alabaster by Dulcamara, explored Laki’anay (and connected ages) by the New Age Project, and began working on Tentsahveet by Jhon J. Jaguar.

    For August, the plan is to finish Tentsahveet. JJJ just released Edereden, the last age in his series; Korov’ev suggested to wait at least until it is released for offline play before holding an expedition there. Next, they will visit two ages by Semjay, Terahgrahm and Zahlto, to find out what souvenir shop owner Ella Darrington is up to; then either this month or the next they will begin the Path of the Lost Ages by Melvin, starting in Palamary bay.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Jo gave two announcements on behalf of shokhootahn Rehn, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. There have been a number of graduations of late; shokhootahn Rehn would like to personally acknowledge the graduates at the September All Guilds Meeting.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night will soon begin the stories of the first Restoration. These will last for several weeks, followed by Myst V, then the second Restoration, the diaspora and the reopening.

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.
    • Recording of the Stories are available on r’Tayrtahn’s YouTube channel.

    Mysterium news

    Korov’ev reported some quick news about the convention:

    • the location for next year is Denver, precise dates are still to be decided;
    • some t-shirts are still available until August 15 on the convention store;
    • those who registered should receive a survey in the next few days, which will be useful to plan the next convention;
    • more volunteers are always welcome by the Committee, if there’s something you’d like to help with, please contact them.

    Moderation duties

    Korov’ev closed the meeting by announcing he is stepping down from moderating the AGM. He has been moderator for 5.5 years, reputedly longer than his predecessors; he feels the time has come to pass the torch, and let someone else take the responsability. The next moderator has not been definitely picked yet, so if you feel up to it, this is your chance!

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    July ended with the CavFunding at 197% (CavCon 4.10) and the reserve at 377%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 41,162 (⇑260), with 1334 unique visits. Another great month, with a big donation along the normal ones, and fan devs working hard!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, September 4 (Leetahr 22) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • Mysterium 2021

    Mysterium 2021

    Like last year, the XXII Mysterium was held entirely online, on July 16–18, with the panels and presentations streamed to both Twitch and YouTube.

    Friday started at 18:00 KIT with Rand Miller playing through Myst and giving some insights in the design process. One highlight was the medallion on the planetarium door.

    At 19:00, it was time for the discussion rooms, this year held on the Mysterium Discord server, and for the marker missions in MOULa. You can still get them by PMing Mir-o-Bot (#32319) or MinBot (#9292763) the command “sendme 10800192” for the Red markers or “sendme 10801032” for the Blue ones. While you’re there, make sure to grab the Mysterium shirt in your Relto wardrobe, it won’t be available afterward!

    Saturday started at 8:30 KIT with a message from the Committee, giving some info on the organisation of this year’s convention.

    The first panel was at 9:00, with some members of the Myst IV: Revelation team: Meinert Hansen (Art Director/Sr. Concept Artist), Brian Wrench (Actor – Sirrus) and Geneviève Lord (Producer), discussing how Myst IV evolved in its looks, styles and immersive design.

    At 11:00 it was time for the Myst State of the Union panel, with Eric A. Anderson (Creative Director) and Hannah Gamiel (Development Director) presenting Cyan’s newly re-imagined version of Myst before its release for PC/VR and Mac.

    At 12:30 the Cyan Dev Team Q&A panel, with Abner Coimbre, Brandon Collins, Hannah Gamiel, Karl Johnson and Josh Van Veldhuizen discussing what it means to be a developer at Cyan and how they adapted to working from home.

    At 13:30 the Cyan Art Team Q&A panel, with Eric Anderson, Blake Bjerke, Jeremiah Castro, Autumn Palfenier and Derrick Robinson talking about how the look of a game is established and what inspiration they draw from in designing worlds.

    At 15:00 Vincent Weaver presented his Apple II Myst Demake, talking about the challenges involved with getting a fully playable version of Myst working on an 8-bit system from the 1970s, fitting on a reasonable number of floppy disks. To learn more (or try it yourself!), see Vince’s website.

    At 16:00 Chuck Carter (original Myst Artist) presented his reworking of the Selenitic Age for Unreal Engine 5, which will add some new twists (e.g. the maze ship is now destroyed). The redesign will have original music by Conductor/Composer Lucas Richman. You can follow Chuck on his website, Twitter and Instagram.

    At 17:00 it was time for the discussion rooms, with two focused chats beside open discussions: “Unwritten Character Workshop”, about creating a character for the Myst RPG, and “Dancing with Annacat”, to get some exercise after sitting and watching streams all day.

    Sunday started at 8:30 KIT with a message from the Committee, giving some info and announcing the location of Mysterium 2022, one that will give attendees the true Myst experience 😉

    The first panel was at 9:00, with Maxx Hirsch’s honors thesis “Finding Tomahna”, analyzing Myst as a product of American 1990s cultural movements and ideas, considering attitudes towards war, violence, new technology, reading, community, and diversity. You can read the full text here.

    At 1o:00 documentary filmmaker Phillip Shane gave an update and a sneak peek of the Myst Documentary, along with his collaborators Elana Bogdan, Will Cavendish, Rachel Kittner, Anais Michel, Katie Postma, Joshua Reinstein and Randy Woods. You can follow and support the development of the documentary on the official website.

    At 11:30 the Uru Worldbuilders Panel, with Eric Anderson, Mike Hines, Doug McBride, Steve Ogden and Bill Slease discussed about the original development of Uru, from DIRT and Mudpie up to the GameTap era.

    At 12:30 the MOULa Fan Development Panel, with Mark “Chogon” DeForest, Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn, John “Marten” Johns, Adam “Hoikas” Johnson, Keith “Tweek” Lord, Darryl “dpogue/Paradox” Pogue and Paul “rarified” Richards discussed how fan developers and creators are keeping Uru alive and well, with client bugfixes, QoL improvements and new fan-made ages. To get involved, you can contact the OpenUru team (testing) on Discord, or the H’uru team (developing) on GitHub and IRC.

    At 14:00 the Unwritten Update panel with Veronica Hamilton gave some updates on the RPG and its role in Cyan Ventures, discussing the design and how it focuses on non-violent solutions. To learn more, visit the official website.

    At 15:00 it was time for Cyan Games Completed Rapidly, a round of speedrunning, with some unusual categories like Myst on the Apple II, and a few races.

    At 17:30 it was time for the discussion rooms, with no preset topics, and the Speedrun After Party, in which the speedrunners chatted with the attendees about the runs and racesfrom the panel.

    Thanks and kudos to the Mysterium Committee, who did a great job at organising and managing the event.

    Looking forward to next year!

  • July 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for June’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. OpenUru
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club
    6. Mysterium news

    Events in the Cavern

    Since Mysterium will be online this year too, the Committee will host a couple of marker missions in the Cavern. The meeting point is Ae’gura Plaza: from around 16:00 KI, Kelly C will be online to share the codes for the games. To get them, PM “sendme [code]” to either Mir-o-Bot (#32319) or MinBot (#9292763). You will need a calibrated KI; you can find a tutorial here.

    On Saturday 24 at 11:00 KIT, Nosila will hold a Door Run contest; everyone is welcome!

    More events are being planned for the next months: a Caribbean Night with hot music in August, D’ni Day of Dance with a small show by the Nulp Dance Group in September, and a Halloween Party in October. More on those at next Meeting.

    If you have an idea for an event and need help organising it, there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 10 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    A new era in D’ni

    Patrick (aka Doobes) started by announcing the release of Vothol Gallery, by Rustee, which like Tre’bivdil happened stealthily the day before the Meeting. The location in the Cavern is unclear, and it used to house priceless and valuable D’ni artworks.

    He then announced the beginning of the to restoration of the Great Shaft and the full path from the surface to D’ni. If all goes well, explorers will be able to start from the surface and work their way down to the Cavern, following the steps of Atrus and his family, although the elevators will also be activated.

    As with all these projects, no deadline can be set; it is a huge undertaking and it will take the time it needs. Safety first!

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    OpenUru

    Rarified mentioned they have about a half dozen new improvements in the pipeline. Marten has been working on cherry picking the most requested, in particular the fixes for many of the problems when avatars are being moved through ‘subworlds’ (elevators, vogondolas, etc). The next scheduled update to MOULa will be in mid-late August.

    He also mentioned a panel on Sunday at Mysterium that will present how fan content can get to MOULa.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru forum or the Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the @testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Alabaster by Dulcamara.

    For July, the plan is to finish the visit to Alabaster; after that, it will be time for Laki’anay and related ages, by the New Age Project.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    Mysterium news

    Korov’ev reported some quick news about the convention:

    • The schedule of the convention is now available;
    • As mentioned, the Committee will host a couple of marker missions in the Cavern, made available through Mir-o-Bot or MinBot.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    June ended with the CavFunding at 135% (CavCon 4.4) and the reserve at 298%, with 30% extra expenses. Population was at 40,902 (⇑542), with 1252 unique visits. New accounts and donations above expenses!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, August 7 (Leetahr 5) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • June 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for June’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. OpenUru
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Mysterium news

    Events in the Cavern

    Right before the Meeting, Mystitech released The Lost Art episode 12 “States of Possession” as a Premiere on YouTube.

    Nosila will host a music program, “The Times They Are a-Changin”, about equality, protest and hope. The stream will be on Monday 14 at 13:00 KIT; the main location will be the Ae’gura plaza.

    If you have an idea for an event and need help organising it, there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 12 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    A new era in D’ni

    Doobes started by announcing the release of Tre’bivdil, by Lontahv, which happened stealthily the day before the Meeting, and relayed a presentation by the author:

    Tre’bivdil is best classified as a modern garden Age. The geometric shapes and primary elements that form its core are described by simple phrases that are shared with a set of phrases from ancient training manuscripts discovered by the modern day Guild of Writers.

    The name, which can be translated roughly to ‘amongst everything’, reflects the combination of these very basic elements together.

    While the weather is generally clement, care must be taken after a rainstorm as the rocks can become slippery.

    Vothol Gallery’s release is not too far away either, and it will also be an unannounced surprise. So keep checking, you could be the first to find out!

    He then discussed the big news that happened just the day before the Meeting: the public release of the Intangible assets by Cyan, under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. The files include concept art, documents, audio and textures as well as 3ds Max files in varying states of completion. For developers, this means free access to complete any of the content; for everyone else, it means places like Descent are very likely be greatly expanded, and ages like Kahlo, Rebek, Katha Island and others could see the light of day, someday!

    It should be noted that the content is very unfinished, so it would take quite a long while to see most of it completed. As always, patience and Cautious Optimism™ are needed, but these locations have just become a little more concrete. Doobes himself has been working for a while on expanding Descent and opening up the rest of the Great Shaft and the path from D’ni to the surface.

    The Guild of Archivists is also taking a more direct role, in relation to compatibility with Uru lore, in the approval process for new fan content on MOULa. Doobes also mentioned that more client improvements and more fan ages will soon be up for testing on Minkata alpha, including works from Ametist and Dulcamara (not Elodea yet, but newer ages).

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    OpenUru

    Rarified mentioned that the Intangible assets have been archived on both the OpenUru and the Guild of Writers repositories.

    There is some new fan content in the pipeline which should be made available on Minkata prime for testing soon. Meanwhile, Marten continues to port the many user experience improvements, that have been in the H’uru fork for a long time, to the Minkata/MOULa client.

    The next major update will probably be timed in late July or early August, though there might be an intermediate update before then, for an upcoming special event. Things to look out and test will be: fixes for subworlds (e.g. the Ahnonay gondola chair, the Teledahn bucket, the Gahreesen lift), frame rate unlock, general performance and QoL improvements.

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

    To be a tester, you will need to open an account on the Minkata shard; it is highly recommended to read the Tester’s Guide to understand what is expected. To test the cutting edge additions, you can sign up for the Minkata alpha shard.
    To report bugs, you can post on the OpenUru forum or the Discord server (channels #hood or #dev); on Discord you can ask to be added to the @testers role to be notified of testing requests, which sometimes need quick response in terms of hours, not days.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Lonirvan by Jhon J. Jaguar, Eh’ko by D’eux, The Cathedral by DenDwaler, Ahreesen Melin by Semjay, Kahntinoy by Rich, Fena Barel by Wodan & Hans.

    For June, the plan is to visit Alabaster by Dulcamara, which will take at least 3 sessions. After that, it will be time for Laki’anay and related ages, by the New Age Project.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn (a.k.a. r’Tayrtahn) gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    There are daytime openings on Monday through Friday; those interested should contact Rehn (see KI# below). Evening classes are not currently available.

    Seven students are taking the classes at various stages of completion; two of them are new.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday–Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night – Europe is in synch with original Story Night. They have finished the story from The Book of D’ni; next week they will start with the game Exile.

    R’Tayrtahn has been uploading the Stories on his YouTube channel. The videos are usually uploaded a few days after the live event.

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Mysterium news

    Korov’ev reported some quick news about the convention:

    • Meinert Hansen, Robyn Miller, Brian Wrench are the first 3 special guests announced;
    • event submissions are still open until June 20, if time allows;
    • the Westin Alexandria will not cancel bookings automatically, you will have to do it yourself via the Marriott website or by phone;
    • the location for Mysterium 2022 is not set, the Committee will go through the normal bid review process.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    May ended with the CavFunding at 94% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 253%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 40,360 (⇑304), with 1303 unique visits. Donations almost matched expenses.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, July 3 (Leesahn 1) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • A New Era in D’ni: Serene

    A New Era in D’ni: Serene

    On Wednesday, May 5, 2021 (9677 Leefo 12), in a ceremony held in Chiso Preniv that gathered around 50 explorers, Patrick Dulebohn gave a speech (a transcript of which you can read below), then unveiled the linking book to Serene, by the late Gary Andrew “Andy” Legate.

    Originally made available on November 5, 2008, Serene is a crepuscular garden age, covered in snow and surrounded by tall trees. It was part of the Devokan Trust, a complex, vast fan-run IC/OOC storyline parallel to that of the DRC, with ages across the Metaverse in and outside Uru.

    CalumTraveler dedicated a post to the event in his blog, along with a raw chatlog of Patrick’s speech and one in Serene, and filmed it.

    Patrick’s speech (click to expand )

    So once again, thank you for being here!

    Today, on Cinco de Mayo of all days, we celebrate another milestone here in the cavern.

    We have begun another chapter of our restoration.

    And it starts on a very somber note.

    We would not be where we are today if not for the intrepid explorers who came before us to restore their own little corners of D’ni.

    They first forged the path that we now are set upon …

    … and it is their legacy that will guide us into the future.

    One such explorer was Gary Andrew “Andy” Legate.

    For those that are unaware, Andy is, sadly, no longer with us.

    He passed away in January of 2019 after a hard-fought battle with cancer.

    For many years after the DRC opened D’ni to the public, he was a driving force in the early days of explorer-led restoration of the cavern.

    Through his works, I, as well as many others, learned some of the tricks of the trade.

    It is for that reason and many more that we honor him here today.

    The Age of Serene may be rather cold, but it also contains the warmth and heart of the man who diligently and painstakingly restored it.

    You will see it … feel it … every time you step onto the cobblestone path … take shelter under the gazebo … climb the nearby rock formations … feel the wind through the trees.

    Serene, as well as the other works he left behind, is Andy’s legacy to us all.

    In fact, everything you’ll see in the next several weeks will showcase those exciting early restoration efforts by some very talented people.

    With that in mind, it is my great pleasure … and my solemn duty … to bring you the Age of Serene.

    This one’s for Andy. May he rest in peace.

    Patrick Dulebohn places the Serene Book on the pedestal

  • May 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for May’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. OpenUru
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club
    6. D’ni Language Classes
    7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    8. Cyan and Mysterium news

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda thanked Yoda and Mirphak for the special effects they conjured for the D’ni New Year celebrations and the Nulp Dance Show “Mother Earth Day”, Eternal Seeker for streaming the music.

    On May 15 at 12:00 KIT Mabe will host a competition in Mir-o-Bot’s Jalak, named Mabes Rebus.

    It starts with simple pictures to warm up and then increases the level of difficulty. The first to write in the chat what is displayed receives one point. A little surprise awaits the winner.

    Depending on how long it takes to solve the puzzles, Mabe will do a short show afterwards. If not, there will be a separate event soon after.

    Eternal Seeker will also take over the music stream for this event. Since Mir-o-Bot cannot be there, MinBot (KI# 9292763) will step in for the event. PM “link” or “meet” to be linked to the event location.

    For more info there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    Cavern Tours

    The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 8 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

    The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour. The stream will be simulcasted on Facebook and Youtube.

    The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is employed for special effects and long-distance travel (and to avoid stairs). If you arrive late, you can PM Susa’n (KI# 9122427) to join the in-progress tour – but do try to arrive in time!

    A new era in D’ni

    Doobes gave a quick update about the age restoration project. On Wednesday 5 there will be a two-hour downtime, starting at 10:30 KIT. The first of a new set of ages will be made public soon after. These new ages will not be made available all at once

    More fixes are also coming. Some industrious explorers (including Hoikas, Deledrius, boq, estherbolik, Marten) have been working on fixing the unruly clock in the neighborhoods, to make it show the correct D’ni time.

    There are also some quality of life fixes to the KI chat: avatar names and KI commands are now case insensitive. So if you mistype something, you will not have to retype or get the “no such command” error as often.

    You will also be able to partially type an avatar’s name, then hit tab to autocomplete the name. If there are multiples, you can continue hitting tab until the correct name is displayed.

    You will also be able to hit the up and down arrows to cycle through previous KI chat and commands, up to the last 50.

    Aspect ratio and resolution corrections from the H’uru client are also coming; fullscreen will also automatically use your native resolution, so no need to adjust anything if you choose that option.

    Lastly, a fix from Hoikas will take care of the overly dark Relto hut bug some have been experiencing when the windows are closed.

    Thanks go to MOULa’s server admin Chogon, who has been patient, understanding, and enthusiastic about fan content since long before the first big update in August 2020.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    OpenUru

    Rarified acknowledged the contribution of Marten to improve the ability of adding fixes and improvements to the client in a timely fashion. He put out a call for fans to list their most wanted improvements to the client interface and behavior.

    If you have input of that kind, you should post on the OpenUru Discord channels #hood or #dev; an item high on the list is the frame rate unlock.

    Rarified is still working to bring the MOUL/Minkata client synchronized with the work from the GoW/H’uru team. The Minkata client is now much easier to build than before.

    Within a week of freezing all the parts for the May 5 update, they have already started testing another new age. Those who dabbled with age creation before, but put things on the shelf because it looked like it never would happen, this is the best time to come back!

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Shorah Pahts by Jhon J. Jaguar and Elsewhere by Denost.

    For April, the plan is to finish Elsewhere, then visit Lonirvan by Jhon J. Jaguar, and later revisit Cathedral by DenDwaler.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn (a.k.a. r’Tayrtahn) gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

    There are daytime openings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; those interested should contact Rehn (see KI# below). Evening classes are not currently available.

    Seven students are taking the classes at various stages of completion.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 58324); be sure to include your KI number in the message!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session, currently on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday starting at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Last-minute changes to class times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night – Europe is in synch with original Story Night. They are about halfway through the story from The Book of D’ni.

    R’Tayrtahn has been uploading the Stories on his YouTube channel. The videos are usually uploaded a few days after the live event.

    More about the Story Nights (click to expand)
    • Story Nights are held in Tsahno’s Hood every Saturday, gathering at the fountain at around 23:00 KIT, with the story starting at about 23:30 KIT.
    • For Story Nights – Europe, the gatherings are on Saturday starting at 13:30 KIT, with the story starting at about 14:00 KIT. On All Guilds Meeting days, the event will begin at 14:00 KIT or 30 minutes after the end of the AGM, whichever is later.
    • The stories are told using voice chat, so you will need to have your speakers, headphones or KI devices on. If you would like a reminder, please send r’Tayrtahn (KI# 58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.
    • Last-minute changes to Story Night times are posted on the left-hand imager in the hood.

    Cyan and Mysterium news

    Korov’ev reported some quick news, covered in a separate post.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    April ended with the CavFunding at 106% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 258%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 40,360 (⇑344), with 1260 unique visits. Donations matched expenses, and there is still a large reserve.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, June 5 (Leebro 8) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • April 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for April’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Events in the Cavern
    2. Gehn shard
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. OpenUru
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club
    6. Cyan and Mysterium news

    Events in the Cavern

    Minasunda announced the D’ni New Year 9677 Light Show by MagicYoda, on Wednesday 21 at 14:00 KIT, after Fil’s weekly live event. The location is a secret: when the time comes, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) and he will get you there.

    On Saturday 24 at 12:30 KIT the Nulp Dance Group will host the Mother Earth Day Show, in Mir-o-Bot’s Ahnonay. This will be the 5th Mother Earth Day with a show by the Nulp Dance Group and their 17th show.

    Seeker will provide the music stream for both events.

    Note that linking to and from Ahnonay can cause crashes for others; attendees are therefore asked to arrive early before the show starts, and to not leave the show before it ends if possible. If you arrive while the show is running, you may not be able to see the special effects until the following dance routine.

    Attendees are also asked to refrain from interfering with the scenery during the show, particularly by using the bot.

    An advice: the top of the rocks is not a good vantage point, as the show uses fog, which will obscure the view from above.

    For more info there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

    Gehn shard

    Hoikas announced that the Gehn shard is going to get an update sometime in April.

    The highlights will include the new PhysX 4.1 physics engine, the update to Python 3, a fix for the Relto hut darkness bug, and all the updates to Doobes’ ages that made it to MOUL.

    A new era in D’ni

    Patrick gave an outline of the upcoming new ages. The plan is to release them on a very loose schedule so as to keep each a surprise. The first, possibly in late April, will be  Serene; sometime after, a get-together will be held in the age to celebrate Andy Legate, who restored it originally.

    Next up will be Tre’bivdil, originally restored by Lontahv; unfortunately the ‘downstairs’ area will have to stay off-limits for the time being due to excessive flood damage.

    The third location will be a Cavern location: Vothol Gallery, originally restored by Rustee. A piece of debris from the entryway too large to move will be used as a support for the linking book back to Chiso. There is still plenty of stability checks that need to be done, so it will probably be the last of the three legacy locations that will be opened.

    Patrick also introduced Kelsei A. Taylor, who was a very big help in translating the Caltauc language in Chiso, and have been helping CalumTraveler with some interesting documents discovered on a location known as the Vertigo Cathedral. The documents are written with the D’ni script, but they are not in the D’ni language! More info will be released soon.

    To keep updated on Doobes’ work, check his blog and his Facebook page.

    OpenUru

    Rarified updated the crowd about the two Minkata shards: Prime, where bug fixes, GUI improvements and fan ages are given a last test before being sent to Cyan, and Alpha, where new ages and features are first tested.

    More testers are always welcome, but keep in mind that (if you never visited fan shards) there will be spoilers for the ages that will be added to MOUL in the following months. Some of them will be added to Minkata Prime very soon.

    In addition to opening new areas of the cavern, volunteers have helped in improving the game client. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes to improve stability and address the issues of introducing new age access that had not been initially designed for Minkata’s server.

    For fan age bug reports, the best place is the #hood channel of the OpenUru Discord, or on the forum.

    Fan Ages Touring Club

    Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Elodea by Dulcamara, Gavster by Calena, Denkasen and Canyon by Sirius.

    For April, the plan is to visit Shorah Pahts by Jhon J. Jaguar, Elsewhere by Denost, Lonirvan by Jhon J. Jaguar, and revisit Cathedral by DenDwaler.

    More about the Expeditions (click to expand)
    • After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.
    • After the tour, those who still have the energy are welcome to Korov’ev’s Gahreesehn for some Wall training (send a message to #194197 for an invite).
    • A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

    Cyan and Mysterium news

    Korov’ev reported some quick news, which we covered in a separate post.

    And that was it for this month. Please consider donating to keep the Cavern open!

    March ended with the CavFunding at 265% (CavCon 4.17) and the reserve at 252%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 40,016 (⇑337), with 1241 unique visits. One very large donation that will help a lot with the next big update coming up!

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 1 (Leefo 9) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • March 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for March’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Saint Patrick’s Day
    2. International Women’s Week
    3. Cavern Tours
    4. A new era in D’ni
    5. Korman
    6. OpenUru
    7. Fan Ages Touring Club
    8. D’ni Language Classes
    9. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    (more…)

  • February 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for February’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. MOULa Anniversary
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. A new era in D’ni
    4. Fan Ages Touring Club
    5. Cyan news
    6. Mysterium news

    (more…)

  • January 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for January’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. MOULa Anniversary
    2. Cavern Tours
    3. Rel.to
    4. OpenUru
    5. Fan Ages Touring Club

    (more…)

  • December 2020 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for December’s Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Christmas Show
    2. Nosila’s Monday
    3. Cavern Tours
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. OpenUru
    7. Fan Ages Touring Club
    8. Cyan & Mysterium news
    9. Explorers memorial

    (more…)