Category: Cavern Events

  • A New Era in D’ni: The Fall of D’ni Memorial Island

    A New Era in D’ni: The Fall of D’ni Memorial Island

    On Saturday, November 18, 2023 (9679 Leevofo 23), in a ceremony held in Chiso Preniv that gathered over 120 explorers and was announced on Cyan’s Twitter X feed, Christopher Therburg and Patrick Dulebohn gave a speech (a transcript of which you can read below), then unveiled the linking book to the Fall of D’ni Memorial Island.

    A few years ago, Christopher decided to build a memorial to the Fall of D’ni, one of the worst events in D’ni history. He had considered placing the memorial in Ae’gura, but there were some complications with the avilable locations. Christopher then remembered a little island with a broken stalagmite near Ae’gura that he saw while exploring the Cavern, and thought it would be a better location, with a nice view of Ae’gura.

    The Memorial Island is a public instance. However, at the time of this writing it is not possible to save a link in your Nexus.

    Calum Traveler posted a chatlog on the Beneath forums. Minasunda made a video of the event.

    Speech transcript (click to expand )

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Thank you all for coming once again! It’s been a little while, but we’re finally back to celebrate a new Linking Book added to the Chiso Preniv pedestals and to our ever-growing restoration of D’ni.

    The D’ni have a very rich history and culture, and while there are many defining moments in that history, few can compare to the tragic and devastating loss they experienced at the end of their vast empire. Thankfully, they, as a people, live on in the Age of Releeshahn, but they are merely a fraction of the D’ni citizens that passed away during what is commonly referred to as ‘The Fall’.

    It is with that in mind that this new island in the D’ni cavern will be presented to you today. What you’ll see today is the tireless work of not only Keith Lord, who earlier brought us Fahets: Highgarden, but also quite noteworthy, it is the idea of one of our colleagues here, Christopher Therburg.

    He is the primary reason we are here today, and what you will see is the result of his brilliant work, along with Keith. So without further ado, I give you Christopher Therburg!

    Christopher Therburg:

    Thanks Patrick. Shorah everyone. Wow, that’s very exciting for me. I apologize for being a little nervous, it’s the first time I’m doing something like this. Anyway.

    After three years of work and restoration, it’s finally time to reveal the Fall of D’ni Memorial Island, or Bahn’tefoonet in D’ni. Bahn’tefoonet means Memorial Island in D’ni. I’m really grateful to Keith, also known as Tweek, and everyone else who worked on this island that everything worked out so well in restoring and turning this island into a memorial site.

    It was a life’s work for me and without Tweek, who volunteered to continue and finish the island with me, this work would have been much slower and would be released at a later. He is at the moment not there sadly, but I heard that he will come later eventually.

    A summary of the project itself and why I have planned all of this. Five to three years earlier, I took a closer view at the cavern and noticed that the DRC or someone else didn’t erected a memorial to the ‘Fall of D’ni’, one of the worst events, if not the worst, in D’ni history.

    I wanted to change that and it would be nice to build a memorial that fits the style of D’ni architecture. This memorial is meant to commemorate the D’ni who perished in this cataclysm. The Fall of D’ni, was attack on the D’ni civilization by Veovis and A’gaeris, who used an unknown biochemical agent to kill most of the empire’s population in Leesahn 8, 9400 DE.

    I had considered placing the memorial in Ae’gura, but there were some complications with two locations where the memorial should have been. Calum suggested then that I should place the memorial in a special location outside of Ae’gura.

    Then I remembered this little island with the broken stalagmite near Ae’gura that I saw while exploring the cavern about eight years ago. We thought this would be a better location for it and it also have a nice view of Ae’gura and the whole D’ni cavern. This island, which was formerly a small D’ni park, worked very well as a memorial place and after two years of restoration it’s finally ready.

    We hope that the memorial will respects the deceased D’ni and that mostly new explorers will have a better understanding of the context of why it happened and why the D’ni City is empty now. We also hope that this island will also become a place of peace in the upcoming years.

    But I’ve talked long enough, it’s now time to officially open the island.

  • Nanowrimo 2023 Workshop

    On Wednesday, November 15 at 15:00 KI (3 pm) The Guild of Authors and Artists are hosting a Writing Workshop at the New Guild of Messengers’ Pub.

    This is our mid NaNoWriMo event workshop, for authors, artists and other creative people.  We will discuss what we’ve been working on, share our progress for the NaNoWriMo event as well as other creative projects we are working on this November. We may also do a Writing Sprint Marker Game!

  • MOULa update OpenUru#212

    On November 8 MOULa got another update, with various fixes, improvements and a new Age! A full changelog is available at the bottom of this post. As usual, an audio summary of the updates was added to the Kirel auditorium podium.

    A new area within D’ni, by TGMChrist & Tweek, will soon be unveiled. The doors of the Library and the Museum in Ae’gura now work properly, opening and closing as people get through them. Various updates were made to Chiso Preniv, Eder Bahvahnter, Eder Naybree, Elonin, Kalamee, and Tiam.

    A note on bugs (click to expand)

    When an update 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.

    When the servers have just been restarted, most of the early linking slowness and problems are from the database buffers refilling – and by an overload of concurrent logins 😉

    No additions from Cyan are 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 Fourth Restoration 🙂

    OpenUru Build #212b – Q3, 2023
    • [new] Ae’gura Library and Museum doors now work {8}
    • [new] New D’ni area by TGMChrist & Tweek {14}
    • [new] New audio track for introductory video {11}
    • [new] New Kirel audio recording for Q3 {13}
    • [update] Consistency Pass of Book Textures {9}
    • [update] Improvements to pellet imager {8}
    • [update] Improvements to Relto internals {8}
    • [update] Improvements to sliding door mechanics {8}
    • [update] Texture Optimization in (old) Messenger’s Pub & Phil’s Relto {10}
    • [update] Updates to Chiso Preniv {5}
    • [update] Updates to Eder Bahvahnter {6}
    • [update] Updates to Eder Naybree {7}
    • [update] Updates to Elonin {3}
    • [update] Updates to Kalamee {12}
    • [update] Updates to Tiam {3}
    • [fix] Don’t trust local machine time for synchronized gameplay {1}
    • [fix] Fix “crash on exit” caused by player hearing link sound {4}
    • [fix] Fix Descent Bahro Stone link-in animation {8}
    • [fix] Fix Gahreesen Wall Nexus camera operation {8}
    • [fix] Fix getting stuck in Heek during player exit {2}
    • [fix] Fix Hood/Kirel skybox streaking {9}
    • [fix] Fix issues with Relto Page clickables {8}

    Attributions:

    1: Adam {Hoikas}
    2: Adam {Hoikas}, Hazado
    3: ametist
    4: dgelessus, Adam {Hoikas}
    5: Doobes
    6: Dulcamara, ametist
    7: Harley
    8: Hazado
    9: Maurus
    10: Maurus, Adam {Hoikas}
    11: Rand, Maurus, Hazado
    12: Semjay
    13: skyisblu, Zaroth, Hazado
    14: TGMChrist, Tweek

  • News Roundup #29

    ☛ MOULa will be offline Wednesday 8 (today!) at 9:00 KIT for the Q2/Q3 update! The downtime should last about two hours. We will post a changelog with the fixes and goodies soon after that.

    ☛ To honor Riven’s 26th anniversary, RIUM+ spent roughly 350 hours upgrading his restored Riven Journals, a (spoiler-less) collection of books and puzzles that give more insight into the game’s world. It is recommended to start with the middle journal, then the right one and leave the left one to last. You can read more on RIUM+ blog post.

    ☛ Rand Miller was a guest at Lucca Comics & Games, an annual comic book and gaming convention in Italy, the second biggest in the world after Comiket. He was invited at four panels, two about Myst specifically, one about his career experience, and a round table discussion about contemporary gaming, where he was joined by Yū Suzuki (designer, producer, programmer, and engineer for Sega for 18 years) and Arnar Hrafn Gylfason (Director of Production for Valorant).

    ☛ In their Kickstarter update for October 25, Cyan confirmed that all remaining physical rewards for Firmament are expected to ship in early 2024.

  • November 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 163rd All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

    ☛ In Addition to co-chairing this year, Annacat is once again managing the Writing & Artwork Table submissions. The Committee has decided to add a limit of five pages for any printouts to save trees and wallets. If your piece is longer you may wish to direct people to a website or other location where they can read the full text.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for November is “Found Family”; the deadline is November 30. Entries for the “Noir” prompt for October were from Angelmyst, Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Talashar, Diranda, Tomatoes.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ For November’s Cooking Sessions with Sky, on Monday 6 at 12:00 KIT in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood, Skyisblu will try her hand at homemade pierogi, Polish dumplings filled with a mix of mashed potatoes and cheese, boiled and fried, sometimes topped with sour cream.

    Every month is something new and different, a lot of times inspired by what is coming from Skyisblu’s garden, or what is in season in her corner of the world. She also tries to answer any questions regarding the recipe she is cooking, other dishes or cuisines, and takes suggestions for future sessions.

    You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

    ☛ 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 will be horror games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    IwonK also made some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    ☛ Babbel will host her classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura on Monday 20 at 12:00 KIT.

    OpenUru

    ☛ Rarified gave a brief comment about the update schedule for MOULa. The Q2/Q3 2023 update has passed testing! On Monday 6 an announcement should be posted in the Cyan Discord server (probably #moula-announcements), with more info about the date of the update. Many items are included in this update: most fan Ages have received some tweaks, and many technical glitches, including very old ones, have been fixed. One new area will eventually be open for exploration (more info below).

    Rarified has now started to tackle a task that has been put off for years: the merger of the existing MOULa client with the modern H’uru client that the Guild of Writers team has been working on for a decade. They will start with an entirely new Minkata shard, which probably will not go live before 3–4 weeks from now.

    The new shard will likely only have a duplicate of the H’uru client, where contributors can begin to explore how their materials interact with the new client. Behind the scenes, Rarified has a list of changes he thinks are needed for more casual users to access MOULa with the same ease.

    They will also start working on a single Uru installation that can be used to access most (MOUL-based) shards, without a separate installation for each. That will of course depend on shard operators agreeing that the client can and will be used, but the capability will be there to select a shard at the time you launch Uru. At start it will likely be MOULa and the Minkata shards. Deep Island is very unlikely to be included, being based on the offline game, and neither will be The Open Cave, which is currently unmaintained and requires a specific set of older game files to work.

    Editor’s note: there have been a few attempts at a “multishard” client in the past, most notably Untìl Uru had a unified launcher for the various independent shards. More recently but less successfully, the Atlantis shard made an attempt at unifying the MOUL-based shard login.

    ☛ Christopher Therburg announced that the Fall of D’ni Memorial Island (Bahn’tefoonet in D’ni) is finally ready. There will be an opening ceremony in Chiso Preniv, soon after the release of the update. He, and possibly Tweek, will give a tour of the island; after that, a minute of silence will be observed to commemorate the D’ni who died at the hand of A’gaeris.

    Christopher has further plans to make some small changes to the island and the memorial itself so that it will be preserved and being in a good shape for a long time. He will soon add telescopes near the docks at a later date, for closer views of certain D’ni islands and Ae’gura itself.

    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. The Guild of Instructors has lost one of their own: Guild Master shokhootahn shen, aka shenendoah or Kathleen, passed away late last month.

    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# 80428), 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 to 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story from Myst III: Exile. After that, they will begin the story from Myst IV: Revelation. 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 30 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.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In November, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will conclude the exploration of Takla Ma’kan by the German group H’Uru. Next, they will explore Paah’kweh and Sonavio by BobLishman, and visit the entries from the first Rapid Age Development contest. To round up the month, they will explore a few Ages made in 2008: Aerie, TINA Testing Area, Kahntinoy, Fena Barel.

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

    October ended with the CavFunding at 177% (CavCon 4.8) and the reserve at 652%, with 5% extra expenses. Population was at 49,489 (⇑259), with 1047 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 2 (Leevobro 5) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • October 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 162nd All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

    ☛ Submissions for pins are now open, until March 31, Pins are not required to follow the Mysterium 2024 theme of Serenia, and/or the host city of Montreal. Shirt submissions are also open, until February 25.

    ☛ A new COVID vaccine has been made available for the latest variants of the virus. The Committee recommends everyone to get it as soon as possible. Also, there have been reports of pharmacies no longer updating or providing vaccine cards; if you are looking for an updated proof of vaccine, it is advisable to specifically request a card, or look into electronic vaccine records if available.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for October is “Noir”; the deadline is October 31. Entries for the “Back to School” prompt for September were from Calum Traveler, Talashar,  Redwoodrroad, Salvo Ludus.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ October 31 is the 26th anniversary of the release of Riven: the Sequel to Myst! Cyan is still at work on the VR remake, some glimpses of which were shown and discussed at this year’s Mysterium.

    ☛ Skyisblu hosts “Cooking Sessions with Sky” (on her Twitch channel) every month on the first Monday at 12:00 KIT in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood; recently she made okonomiyaki. The recipes are explained in both English and French.

    Every month is something new and different, a lot of times inspired by what is coming from Skyisblu’s garden, or what is in season in her corner of the world. She also tries to answer any questions regarding the recipe she is cooking, other dishes or cuisines, and takes suggestions for future sessions.

    You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 13 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be robots in video games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    ☛ Karel will host a Music Session in the Ae’gura Messengers Pub on Friday, October 13 at 13:00 KIT; the theme will be “Game Music over the Years“.

    ☛ Diranda, on behalf of the Guild of Authors and Artists, invited everyone to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2023. They will hold workshops, write-ins, writing sprints and other NaNo-related gatherings in the Cavern as well as on their Discord server.

    Event dates will be posted soon; they will try to accomodate schedules as best as possible, so if you are interested, you should get in contact to help plan the events. They plan to have a concurrent event for artists as well as other creative types, including Age writers, to join in the fun. Suggestions for concurrent activities are definitely welcome.

    If you would like an invite to the Guild’s Discord, or for more info and questions about NaNoWriMo events, you should contact Diranda. For more about National Novel Writing Month, you can visit the official website.

    Magic Ages

    Mister Magic is back in the Cavern! He has now restored all of his Magic Ages, including the fireworks, and the numerous Magic Games are playable again. Mister Magic is currently working on making the Fabulous Magic Treasure (FMT) available to players again.

    To get help with the magic commands in the game, send “help” in PM to one of the bots with and they will send you a KI-mail with all the commands:

    • Magic Bot #27527,
    • Mimi Bot #71459,
    • Magic Treasure #26224,
    • Magic-Treasure #24891,
    • Mimi Treasure #21190.

    You can ask questions regarding the Magic Ages and everything that goes with them on the dedicated channel on the MOULa Events Discord, or on the dedicated thread on the Mystpedia forums.

    To celebrate the return of the Magic Bots (and as a thank you to Mir-o-Bot for remaining loyal despite all the difficulties), there will be a party, on Saturday, October 14 at 11:30 KIT, in Mir-o-Bot’s Kalamee (to get there, PM “to kalamee” to Mir-o-Bot, #32319).

    Eternal Seeker will provide the music, and the Nulp Dance Group will open the evening with a short but cool performance. In order to see all the effects, it is important not to use an internal client. Please come to the party with the vanilla MOULa client. After the performance, the dance floor will be open.

    Dances

    There will be no ‘guided dance’, but you can dance with a partner of your choice, with the help of Magic-Bot. There are different dances for this:

    • dancewith [name] [x]
      • abbreviated: dcw [name] [x]
    • slowdancewith [name] [x]
      • abbreviated: sldw [name] [x]

    where [name] is the avatar name of your desired dance partner, and [x] is the number of repetitions (max 3). All the seven dances that were available with the ‘guided dances’ are also available:

    • minadance [x] [name]

    Odd numbers are slightly faster dances, even numbers are slightly slower. Be polite and ask your desired dance partner to dance beforehand 😉

    Note that after calling the command, you will automatically be teleported to your dance partner and take a step backwards to assume the correct position. Make sure that your dance partner is not looking into an abyss, otherwise you would fall!

    If you need a KI note with a recap of the commands, you can ask Minasunda to send you one when you are in the Cavern.

    OpenUru

    ☛ Calum Traveler mentioned an upcoming fix to a long standing issue: in 2007 the DRC locked open the doors to the Library and Museum in Ae’gura, due to technical issues with the automatic sensors that were causing the doors to close in peoples faces, or stay shut when they should have opened.

    After almost 17 years, thanks to the hard work of Hazado, the functioning of these doors will be restored to proper functionality, opening and closing for a person coming close to their sensor regions, but staying open if multiple people are close by and not closing again until all people have transited. If someone links out while inside the sensor region, the doors will not close again until another person has gone through.

    ☛ Rarified gave a brief comment about the update schedule for MOULa. If all goes well, they should be able to send Cyan the new material later this month, with a possible release date for mid-November.

    ☛ TikiBear announced the restoration of the Age of Mirtahm, by Ametist and himself. There is no set date yet for when the Age will be made available.

    Mirtahm was found by Rebus and his friends, and is apparently deserted, after a cataclysmic flood that leaves much under water. There are structures remaining above the water that they have been restoring.

    From what they have found, the D’ni rescued and evacuated the original inhabitants. They then stayed for some time, with a small crew, to excavate a mineral. Now, after some cleanup, the Age is peaceful, if moody. There will be plenty of swimming and diving, though there will be fauna to contend with.

    ☛ Semjay is still working on refurbishing the Explorers’ Emporium (currently available on Deep Island); she is hoping to have it ready for testing by Christmas.

    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 finished the 101 lessons 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# 80428), 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 Tuesday to 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of Myst: The Book of D’ni, as told in the novel. After that, they will begin the story from Myst III: Exile. 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 30 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.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In October, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will explore Jo’nae and Jo’nae Hood by Jonnee (from the book room in Janga, if possible), Takla Ma’kan by the German group H’Uru (not to be confused with the Writers’ developers group), and Paah’kweh by BobLishman.

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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, November 4 (Leevofo 12) at 13:00 KIT (20:00 CET).

    Until then!

  • September 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    September 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 161st All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

    ☛ Next year’s Mysterium will be held in Canada, in Montreal, QC, so you may want to look up any immigration requirements. There are some pointers at the Location page on the convention’s website.

    If you do not have a passport it would be a good idea to look into it soon, since it can take a few months for the application to be processed.

    Most importantly, rely on official sources for immigration information. The convention offers those links for convenience, but do not rely on advice from Discord or any other unofficial source.

    ☛ The theme for 2024 will be Serenia, since it will be the 20th anniversary of Myst IV: Revelation.

    Submissions for T-shirt designs are open, and will be accepted until February 25. Details are available on the design page; in general, the committee will look favorably upon designs that incorporate both the year’s theme and the host city.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for September is “Back to School”; the deadline is September 30. Entries for the “Blazing” prompt for June were from Calum Traveler, KellyC, Triss, Talashar, IwonK, Salvo Ludus, Laughingpineapple, and Floydman.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ September is a month of many anniversaries:

    • Sunday 10 is the 19th anniversary of the release of Myst IV: Revelation, and the 16th of the Gametap episode “Deception”;
    • Monday 18 is the 9th of the Great Crash, when everyone had to reset their KI;
    • Tuesday 19 is the 18th anniversary of Myst V: End of Ages, and is also Talk Like a Pirate day;
    • Sunday 24 is the day the historical Guild of Writers was founded, and more importantly the 30th anniversary of (the original) Myst; and
    • Thursday 28 marks the historical Arrival of the Great King.

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

    OpenUru

    Rarified gave a brief comment about schedules and the pipeline into MOULa. They have started to choose what will go into the next update. That means that serious development will stop for a month, and a testing schedule will be announced for the Minkata shards, on the OpenUru Discord server (channel #test).

    If all goes well, they should be able to send Cyan the new material for the end of September, with a possible release date for mid-October. There are updates to several ages, and at least one new Age.

    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.

    Fall of D’ni Memorial Island

    Christopher Therburg said a few words about his Fall of D’ni Memorial Island project, or Bahn’tefoonet (lit. “island-memorial”) in D’ni. The restoration and conversion is finally complete, and the island should be ready to open with the next update.

    Christopher also gave a few bits about the history of the island, which is thought to have been a small D’ni park before the Fall. The memorial is connected to water pipes for filling up the basin; these pipes used to serve a fountain that was found so badly damaged that it was impossible to restore. The island itself was covered in debris when first surveyed. The restoration progress will be detailed in a journal available for reading.

    There will be an opening ceremony in Chiso Preniv, and a minute of silence once on the island.

    Christopher also briefly talked about the new Age he found a few months ago, somewhere in a house in the Cavern. The name of the Age is Ahnogahlpo (“water-cave”), and it seems to be a garden Age set in an ocean or huge lake, with some islands with holes and caves. The sands of the islands beaches glow strangely at night.

    The age is still in the earliest stages of restoration and not yet fully mapped, so it is still a llong way from being safe for public access.

    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# 80428), 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 Tuesday to 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are telling the story of Myst: The Book of D’ni, as told in the novel. After that they will begin the story from Myst III: Exile. 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 30 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 September, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will begin their third cycle! They will start again from the very beginning of fan age building, with creations from 2005.

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

    August ended with the CavFunding at 83% (CavCon 2.8) and the reserve at 587%, with no extra expenses.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, October 7 (Leevot 19) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • August 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    August 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 160th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

    ☛ Planning for next year’s Mysterium – which will be held in Canada – has already started. The Committee for 2024 will be Dan Binder (Fused Shadow) and Hannah Catherine Mills-Woolsey (Annacat).

    ☛ All of the videos are now available on the convention’s Youtube channel. The 3D model files for the maze boxes and cryptexes, puzzle packets, and other downloadable files are now available on the website, and more items will be added soon.

    ☛ A survey was taken right after the convention concluded. Here are the highlights:

    • pre-orders for swag were a huge hit: the Committee adopted a new registration system that allowed to print badge numbers, labels for the swag bags, and pack them in a very efficient manner, and will definitely be used again;
    • quite a few people asked for Paypal support. Unfortunately they are not accomodating to organizations like Mysterium, so they will have to stick with Square and Stripe for processing;
    • the noise in the con room was frustrating for everyone, and they are looking into better options;
    • there were some great suggestions on how to improve accessibillity even more;
    • it is too early to anticipate 2024’s Covid policy, but they hope they will find more inclusive solutions.
    • the newsletter got a surprising amount of support, and they will look into doing that this year.

    ☛ The creative prompt for August is “Blazing”; the deadline is August 31. Entries for the “Sun” prompt for June were from Calum Traveler, Triss, Salvo Ludus, Redwoodrroad (2), Floydman, Talashar, and IwonK.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ PodHopper announced the Moula Summer Festival 2023, planned for August 7–11. Preparations were difficult for various reasons, but it will be a week full of activities. Unfortunately the “Mayak” Jalak game was cancelled, but will likely be played later this year.

    Other events includes a Wall game (please register beforehand! the deadline is Wednesday 9), a Cone Race contest – Iwonk made a video about how to play it –, a Relaxing Session in Kalamee and a new marker game, “A brief history of Kalamee”.

    A schedule is available in our dedicated post. For last minute changes and for questions, check the Discord server MOULa Events, #summer-festival channel.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 18 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic is sport games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    Chiso Preniv

    Patrick Dulebohn mentioned that work is still ongoing with the Great Shaft and the path from surface to D’ni. The hope is still to have the first section of that open to everyone later this year.

    Then he talked about the expedition to the outside of the Chiso Preniv library, where they learned of the nearby Caltauc people and their conflict with the D’ni.

    The original way to the outside is severely damaged: the D’ni, in their planned yet hasty exit from the library, imploded the tunnel to the surface to keep potential outsiders from getting in once they were gone. The tunnel is now almost completely blocked by debris.

    To open a way outside, Patrick enlisted the talents of AgeExplorer, who will use an invention of his own design that combines D’ni and human tech to properly sound the rock within the tunnel and determine which is structurally viable, and eventually dig a safe passage.

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

    OpenUru

    Rarified gave a brief comment about schedules and the pipeline into MOULa. Summer has been a busy period; a lot of updates are in the works, but none is ready for release. They hope to start preparing content for release in September. A schedule will be posted soon on the OpenUru Discord server (channel #test).

    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. A new student has begun the 101 class.

    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 Tuesday to 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 Myst: The Book of D’ni as told in the novel. After that they will begin the story from Myst III: Exile. 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 30 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 August, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will solve the mysteries of the last two chapters in the Secret of the Rainbow series by Jhon J. Jaguar, Somahoglahn and Edereden. After that, they will explore Kodalan and Tyldalan, by Itep Edor, Corvus, Wodan, Falke, Fruti, 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, September 2 (Leetahr 20) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • Moula Summer Festival 2023

    Moula Summer Festival 2023

    This year’s Summer Festival will be held from Monday August 7 to Friday August 11. It will be a variety of music events and contests, a video event and a marker game.

    Most events require no signing up in advance, but the Wall game does. So please contact Dah’mpa for info about and enlisting to the Wall game.

    Feel free to contact PodHopper (KI# 7116825) for more info or requests regarding the Summer Festival.

  • July 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    July 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 159th All Guilds Meeting, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

    1. Mysterium
    2. Events in the Cavern
    3. MacOS MOULa client
    4. D’ni Language Classes
    5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
    6. Miscellanea

    Mysterium

    Calum opened the meeting with a recap of the annual Myst convention, this year held on June 30–July 2 in Spokane (WA). Over 300 badges were issued this year. A more detailed coverage can be read in our dedicated post.

    ☛ The Cavern Today podcast recorded a live episode at Mysterium, plus a bonus episode detailing their visit to Cyan the day after.

    ☛ Doobes held an Age building demonstration using Korman. As a finale, he showed a trailer for the first area of Descent he has been working on.

    ☛ The creative prompt for July is “Sun”; the deadline is July 31. Entries for the “Scream” prompt for June were from Calum Traveler, Talashar, and Redwoodrroad.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ PodHopper announced the Moula Summer Festival 2023, planned for August 7–13. Preparations are still ongoing; so far the schedule includes a Wall game, a Jalak game named Mayak, and a few music or video events. PodHopper will host a Cone Race contest, a Relaxing Session in Kalamee and a new marker game, “A brief history of Kalamee”. A schedule should be finalized in the coming weeks.

    Information about the Mayak game can be found on the Discord server MOULa Events, #summer-festival channel.

    MacOS MOULa client

    Darryl Pogue shared that several members of the H’uru team were at Mysterium, meeting in person for the first time. A few people saw an informal demo of the macOS client for Uru being developed by maccodemonkey, including Chogon from Cyan.

    They hope to be able to share it with more people in the near future, but there is a bit more work to do before beta testing, hopefully before the end of the year. Work also continues on the Linux client, but it is definitely not ready for testing.

    The work on the macOS client is leading to improvements to the Windows H’uru client too: they recently merged support for high-DPI displays.

    If you are interested in getting involved, visit the OpenUru Discord server, #code-dev channel.

    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 to 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 Riven as told in the game. After that they will begin the story from The Book of D’ni. 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 July, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will begin the Path of the Lost Ages, consisting of Palamary bay, Peridia, Myst Refuge, and concluding in Ruins of Azmar, by Melvin. This will take most of the month; after that, they will visit some Ages by Doobes.

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

    June ended with the CavFunding at 97% (CavCon 3.0) and the reserve at 592%, with no extra expenses. Population was at 48,397 (⇑225), with 1060 unique visits.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, August 5 (Leesahn 27) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!