Tag: Ametist

  • January 2026 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    January 2026 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 189th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by PodHopper, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ MOULa got an update on Christmas Eve, with bug fixes and a revamped Chiso Preniv, which had to be completely rebuilt since the original Blender file was lost. Sameehn is now showcased in the Book Ring, while Tre’bivdil has been moved to the side shelf (first to the right, looking at the window), next to Serene.

    ☛ The Preafter volumes have been added to the ‘Explorer Retrospective‘ shelf, joining the Heritage Documents and Activity in the Cavern. There are plans to add selected threads from the DRC and D’ni Explorer forums, along with relevant chatlogs from 2002 to today, to the shelf on the opposite side, in order to preserve original documents alongside the summaries and analyses in the Explorer Retrospective.

    ☛ The commentrary journal from Chiso Preniv was accidentally removed; in the next update it will be archived in one of the upper shelves, along with the original commentary from the Ae’gura Messengers Pub.

    ☛ The doorway in the Chiso Preniv basement will not be opened any time soon: the design plans are lost, and perhaps it’s better to keep Chiso focused on showcasing books and documents. Besides, rumors are that Clippy roams the hills outside the building, looking for victims!

    ☛ Phase 1 of Descent – currently being developed by Calum Traveler, Ametist, SereneTiki, Ehren, Semjay, Maurus and occasionally Tweek – is now ‘feature locked’ in terms of walkable content, from the Caldera down to the river channel. The first build is live on Minkata Alpha.

    Phase 2 is being planned, but it will have to wait until phase 1 is released. Many more month of work are needed before the expanded Descent will be ready for MOULa, but it’s making strides. Testers are invited to poke around in groups, as some bugs will only show up when multiple people are present (e.g. music cues firing off in the entire Age despite being meant to be local).

    ☛ Eder Naybree telescopes are waiting for a hotfix that will be applied as soon as possible. There were plans for a meteor impact event, but it’s not working as intended, so for the time being it’s scrapped. Meteor showers, on the other hand, should happen any day once the hotfix is live.

    Mysterium

    ☛ The date for the 2026 edition of the Myst convention has been set to July 24–26, in Portland, OR. The hotel will be the DoubleTree Hotel by Lloyd Center: rates are $139/night, including free parking, free hot breakfast buffet (up to two people/room). The hotel has a pool and free Wifi.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for December–January is “Tradition“. Entries for the “Orange” prompt for October–November were from Calum Traveler, Anna and Talashar.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 16 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “German Games“. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    Besides streaming, IwonK is making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge, using Bitsy; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    She is also working with Kefrith on an idea originating from the Mysterium Discord: a Mysterium-like online event. The work title is “Rivenium“, they are looking for ideas, events and presentations or panels. If you are interested, you can find IwonK or Kefrith on the Mysterium Discord, at the dedicated forum.

    ☛ Every Saturday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 15:00 KIT in Chiso Preniv, reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction.

    ☛ Babbel will host two events this month: on Monday 5 at 12:00 KIT she will host her own birthday party in Kirel, with European song festival music; the Cavern Choir will also make an appearance. The pre-show will start 20 minutes in advance.

    Her regular classical music program will be on Monday 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) at 12:00 KIT, in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura. The theme will be “In Higher Spirits“.

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will start 2026 with a familiar book, The Book of Ti’ana by Rand Miller and David Wingrove! Their next meeting will be in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin, on January 24 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat.

    ☛ Brooketh presented the Competitive Myst Online Group, hosting an Ahyoheek game every Saturday at 21:00 KIT in the Competitive Myst Online Hood. All players are welcome,  regardless of skill level. If you don’t know how to play, they will teach you. Or you can just hang out and observe. Voice chat is encouraged, but not required; both are used.

    ☞ On the Open Cave shard, Ayohiker holds an analogous event every Monday at 14:00 KIT in the Ayohikers’ hood. There are also two new games: Tic-Tac-TOC and Connect Four, in the City of Dimensions.

    ☛ The Age Expeditions, hosted by Korov’ev every Sunday at 11:00 KIT, kicked off the year in Deep Island with a door run, and visiting Beachhouse Update by SereneTiki and Turtle Isle by DenDwaler.

    In the Open Cave, on the 11th they will visit the first Ages that made it on MOULa: Chiso Preniv, the Ae’gura Messengers Pub and Veelay Tsahvahn. These are not the first Ages to appear on TOC, though: Tre’bivdil, Fehnir’s House and Vothol Gallery have been available on MOUL shards for many years before. They will visit these soon.

    ☛ AlanDJ re-presented Radio Free D’ni, as it has been a while since the last presentation at the AGM. They broadcast music every Sunday at 13:00 KIT, with a 30 minutes preshow and aftershow. Each show has a theme: a particular artist, a genre, or a story. Every other Sunday they do a ‘remastered‘ show, one that was first broadcast five or so years ago, with some updates.

    On Sunday 4th the theme will be Jazz Fusion keyboard player Chick Corea. Next will be the annual look at musicians who left us in 2025. On the 18th the theme will be the French Progressive Rock in the Seventies.

    Alan also thanked everyone who listened to the reading of Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising he did on Midwinter’s Day, it peaked at 22 listeners. For next year, he’s taking suggestions; so far he’s considering John Masefield’s The Box of Delights, although he already read it a few years ago. In the meantime, he’s planning to do another reading for the Summerfest; suggestions are welcome for this one too.

    ☞ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had 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.

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday, Tuesday, 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will soon start the story from Myst: The Book of D’ni. There will be no story on Saturday 17, due to family obligations. Eventually they 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.

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary.

    Story Nights schedule (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 14:30 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 (#58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 7, 2026 (Leevotahr 1st) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • December 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    December 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 188th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Claidi is stepping down from moderation. In January, the role will be taken on by PodHopper!

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    A number of issues cropped up lately on the Minkata shards, so the next update, planned for Q4, will most likely be postponed to Q1 2026.

    ☛ The Ae’gura Messengers Pub should be ready for testing on Alpha by the year’s end.

    ☛ Descent is currently being tested on Minkata Alpha: Ametist is working on the node doors, while Calum Traveler is gradually planning out the stages beyond the river. Some new music tracks have been added as well, courtesy of Semjay!

    Testers are invited to poke around in groups, as some bugs will only show up when multiple people are present (e.g. music cues firing off in the entire Age despite being meant to be local).

    ☛ Progress on other Ages that have been under testing in Alpha in the past is either on the back burner, or on hold.

    Mysterium

    ☛ Lanyard designs have been announced! They will sport the carpet pattern from the Portland airport. Submissions for events, art, T-shirt, pin designs are still open. No hotel info is available yet, the Committee is working with local hotels to settle on one.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for December–January is “Tradition“. Entries for the “Orange” prompt for October–November were from Calum Traveler, Anna and Talashar.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ On Monday 1st, Skyisblu finished up the year with her recipe for a ‘Buche de Noel‘, a chocolate rolled Yule Log cake. The Cooking Sessions will be back in February, on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. 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 19 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month she will draw listener requests. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    Besides streaming, IwonK is making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge, using Bitsy; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    She is also working with Kefrith on an idea originating from the Mysterium Discord: a Mysterium-like online event. The work title is “Rivenium“, they are looking for ideas, events and presentations or panels. If you are interested, you can find IwonK or Kefrith on the Mysterium Discord, at the dedicated forum.

    ☛ Every Saturday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 15:00 KIT in Chiso Preniv, reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction. Currently they are reading the story of Flavia Albia, a young detective in ancient Rome trying to solve a case of espionage, corruption and murders.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 15 at 12:00 KIT. The theme for this month will be “Our hearts are full of expectation“.

    ☛ Like last year, Radio Free D’ni‘s DJ Alan will host an extra show on Sunday 21 at 13:00 KIT. This year he will read Susan Cooper‘s The Dark Is Rising, a coming-of-age story that spans the Twelve Days of Christmas, and is rooted in the British countryside where Susan Cooper grew up.

    ☛ Prad gave an update on the revived Cavern Choir project. Participants are asked to be able to: 1) carry a tune, 2) sing along a demo track, 3) record a good quality audio track (microphone, headphone, a computer with a soundcard and a recording program).

    They selected three songs: “We Wish You a Merry Christmas“, “Oratorio de Noël: Tollite Hostias” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer“. Participants are asked to send their recording by December 15, as the plan is to perform at Seeker’s Christmas Country Special.

    If you are interested, or need assistance with recording, please contact Babbeltje40 (aka Vrouwdinges)  or Prad (KI #08406189).

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will start 2026 with a familiar book, The Book of Ti’ana by Rand Miller and David Wingrove! Their next meeting will be in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin, on January 24 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat.

    ☛ Brooketh presented the Competitive Myst Online Group, hosting an Ahyoheek game every Saturday at 21:00 KIT in the Competitive Myst Online Hood. All players are welcome,  regardless of skill level. If you don’t know how to play, they will teach you. Or you can just hang out and observe. Voice chat is encouraged, but not required; both are used.

    ☛ On the Open Cave shard, Ayohiker holds an analogous event every Monday at 14:00 KIT in the Ayohikers’ hood. There are also two new games: Tic-Tac-TOC and Connect Four, in the City of Dimensions.

    ☛ The Cavern Tours are on hold until late 2026.

    ☛ There will be no Town Hall in December.

    ☞ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    D’ni Language Classes

    Claidi had two updates on behalf of Shokhootahn Rehn, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. A new student has started taking the classes 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.

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday to 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night just started the story from the Riven game. Eventually they 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.

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary.

    Story Nights schedule (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 14:30 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 (#58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ This month, the Age Expeditions in Deep Island will visit some experimental Ages from 2008: TINA Testing Area, Soundgarden, Kahntinoy, Fena Barel and Set Age. In the Open Cave, they will conclude the Fifth Journey (Ahnonay, the hourglass cave, K’veer, the Watcher’s Pub), then close the year in the City of Dimensions!

    The expeditions in December will be a bit shorter, to let attendees help each other catch the elusive 12th sparkly. There will be no expedition on the 28th.

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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, January 3, 2026 (Leevosahn 2) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • November 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 187th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Claidi announced that for various reasons she will need to step down from moderation after December. If you are interested in moderating the meetings after December, please get in contact via the Cyan Chat or MOULa Events Discord servers.

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ Descent should be on schedule an early November test on Minkata Alpha: all the elevators should now be working. Credits go to Ametist and Ehren for improvements on various aspects of the Age. Things are unlikely to work past the elevators, but it will be a chance for suggesting visual changes.

    The next update for Minkata Prime is locked down and should be ready for testing soon. Prime has been down for a while as the database required rebuilding, as a number of game files that were not meant to be included had to be removed.

    ☛ The Ae’gura Messengers Pub has undergone a vast overhaul that should reduce lag, and should also be ready for testing.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ On Monday 6, Skyisblu shared her recipe of squash gnocchi à la courge. The Cooking Sessions are on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. 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 14 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “Spooky Games”. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    Besides streaming, IwonK is making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge, using Bitsy; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    She is also working with Kefrith on an idea originating from the Mysterium Discord: a Mysterium-like online event. The work title is “Rivenium“, they are looking for ideas, events and presentations or panels. If you are interested, you can find IwonK or Kefrith on the Mysterium Discord, at the dedicated forum.

    ☛ Every Saturday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 15:00 KIT in Chiso Preniv, reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 17 at 12:00 KIT. The theme for this month will be “When the leaves fall…”

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will discuss their current book, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin, on November 15 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat.

    ☛ Brooketh presented the Competitive Myst Online Group, hosting an Ahyoheek game every Saturday at 21:00 KIT in the Competitive Myst Online Hood. All players are welcome,  regardless of skill level. If you don’t know how to play, they will teach you. Or you can just hang out and observe. Voice chat is encouraged, but not required; both are used.

    On the Open Cave shard, Ayohiker holds an analogous event every Monday at 14:00 KIT in the Ayohikers’ hood.

    ☛ Prad announced that the revived Cavern Choir selected three songs: “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “Oratorio de Noël: Tollite Hostias” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Participants are asked to send their recording by the first week of December, as the plan is to perform at Christmas. If you are interested, or need assistance with recording, please contact Babbeltje40 (aka Vrouwdinges)  or Prad (KI #08406189).

    ☛ The Cavern Tours are on hold until late 2026.

    ☞ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    D’ni Language Classes

    Claidi had two updates on behalf of Shokhootahn Rehn, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Two more students will start taking the classes this 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.

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will conclude the story of young Atrus as told in the novel Myst: The Book of Atrus; after that, they will begin the story from the first Myst game. 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.

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary.

    Story Nights schedule (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 14:30 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 (#58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ This month, the Age Expeditions in Deep Island will visit Paah’kweh and Sonavio, by the late BobLishman; then the entries from the First Rapid Age Development contest held in 2008. In the Open Cave, they will tackle the Fifth Journey, in Er’cana and Ahnonay.

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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 6 (Leevobro 9) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • October 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 186th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Claidi announced that for various reasons she will need to step down from moderation after December. If you are interested in moderating the meetings after December, please get in contact via the Cyan Chat or MOULa Events Discord servers.

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ If you plan to participate to Hacktoberfest, the H’uru group on GitHub is offering a few issues tagged with “Hacktoberfest”, meant as good first projects for contributors (besides Plasma, there are also a few issues for Korman, PlasmaShop, Dirtsand and libHSPlasma). You can also contribute non-code, such as documentation or tutorials, and submit the link to Hacktoberfest rather than a pull request.

    ☛ Progress in ongoing on the East Wing expansion for the Ae’gura Messengers Pub; it is planned to become a proper conference room for Mysterium once finished.

    ☛ The first elevator from the top of the Descent Shaft to the Eder Tomahn is now fully functional. After the second elevator will be done, the main problem will be the floor elevator at the bottom of the Shaft.

    After that, past textural cleanups and other wirings, Descent will be pushed to Minkata Alpha for a new round of testing. Things will be broken past the elevators, but it will be a chance for suggesting visual changes.

    ☛ Pod 12 and the Reischu Apartment need a few more tweaks before they can be pushed to Minkata Prime.

    ☛ The Stage and the Meteor Shower event in Eder Naybree will finally be pushed forwards. Bot operators are asked to disable the “ExtcolBookVis” variable, since it enables links to yet unreleased Ages.

    ☛ Chiso Preniv, Kalamee and Explorers’ Emporium also have updates almost ready to be pushed to Minkata. A lot of fixes and additions for the upcoming quarter update were possible thanks to collaborations between creators, and we hope more will come.

    ☛ Typically the pipeline goes from Minkata Alpha (beta testing), to Minkata Prime (bug fixing), to MOUL Staging (final check on Cyan’s server software) and finally MOUL live. Note that MOUL Staging is a limited-access, temporary shard that affects the CavFunding; those with an account are asked to limit their access to specific testing purposes.

    ☛ The OpenUru and the Guild of Writers websites and repos were recently subject to AI scraper bot attacks. Hoikas and Rarified have done their best to block unauthorized accesses, but legitimate IP addresses may have been blocked inadvertently. If you’re a contributor and suddenly can’t log in, try contacting Rarified (OU) or Hoikas (GoW) through the usual forum/Discord channels.

    Mysterium

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for October is “Orange”. Entries for the “Round” prompt for September were from Jet and Talashar.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ On Monday 6, Skyisblu shared the recipe of her chocolate zucchini cake, inspired by suggestions from August’s post-stream discussions.
    The Cooking Sessions are on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. 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 “Swiss Games”. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    Besides streaming, IwonK is making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge, using Bitsy; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    She is also working with Kefrith on an idea originating from the Mysterium Discord: a Mysterium-like online event. The work title is “Rivenium“, they are looking for ideas, events and presentations or panels. If you are interested, you can find IwonK or Kefrith on the Mysterium Discord, at the dedicated forum.

    ☛ Every Saturday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 15:00 KIT in Chiso Preniv, reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 20 at 12:00 KIT. The theme for this month will be “Let the organ everywhere…“.

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will discuss their current book, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin. Due to traveling, the discussion is postponed to November 15 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat.

    ☛ Brooketh briefly presented the Competitive Myst Online Group, hosting an Ahyoheek game every Saturday at 21:00 KIT in the Competitive Myst Online Hood. All players are welcome,  regardless of skill level. If you don’t know how to play, they will teach you. Or you can just hang out and observe. Voice chat is encouraged, but not required; both are used.

    On the Open Cave shard, Ayohiker holds an analogous event every Monday at 14:00 KIT in the Ayohikers’ hood.

    ☛ The Cavern Tours are on hold until late 2026.

    ☛ The October Town Hall will be skipped.

    ☛ Calum Traveler does live Age building on Twitch on Mondays and Fridays, when there are no other events on schedule.

    ☞ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had 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.

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • 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 (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will continue this month with the story of young Atrus as told in the novel, Myst: The Book of Atrus. 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.

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary.

    Story Nights schedule (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 14:30 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 (#58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ This month, the Age Expeditions in Deep Island will visit Jo’nae Hood by Jonnee, including a restored version by SereneTiki, then they will tackle the puzzles of Takla Ma’kan, by the Huru.info group (not associated with the H’uru project). In the Open Cave, they will visit the last two pods of the Pod Age, then they will take the Fourth Journey in Minkata.

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

    September ended with the CavFunding at 97% (CavCon 3) and the reserve at 636%.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, November 1st (Leevofo 10) at 13:00 KIT. Note that daylight saving in the U.S.A. ends later than most other countries, so that will be 20:00 CET.

    Until then!

  • September 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    September 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 185th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Claidi announced that for various reasons she will need to step down from moderation after December. If you are interested in moderating the meetings after December, please get in contact via the Cyan Chat or MOULa Events Discord servers.

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ Calum Traveler announced that Ami‘s crew work of surveying everything in Descent from 2024 again has been progressing nicely. Elevator work will be taken on by Ametist. Once the elevators are all working, they are hoping to have Tweek go through and handle any lighting that need fixing or recalibration. Assuming everything goes according to plan, hopefully the first leg of Descent will be open sometime in 2026.

    ☛ A few assorted fixes and updates are planned for a release in the last quarter of this year, including a maintenance pass of Kalamee.

    Mysterium

    ☛ Calum Traveler shared some highlights from the survey:

    • The staff apologizes for canceling the Unconference, but factors related to the Georgia Aquarium excursion led to the decision. They do plan to include it, or a similar event, in future years.
    • Panels or presentations may not always be available every year, but they aim to balance activity and presentation content.
    • They plan to showcase local attractions or unique and interactive activities again in upcoming years; a Myst-inspired outdoor excursion will hopefully be included next year.

    ☛ All the streamed presentations have been uploaded to YouTube.

    ☛ For 2026, the Con Chairs will be M13 and Rayne. Next year, the convention will be held in Portland, OR, indicatively in July or August.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for September is “Round”. Entries for the “Bubbles” prompt for August were from Kh’reestrefah, IwonK, Kefrith, Talashar, and Nina.

    Events in the Cavern

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

    Besides streaming, IwonK is making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge, using Bitsy; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    She is also working with Kefrith on an idea originating from the Mysterium Discord: a Mysterium-like online event. The work title is “Rivenium“, they are looking for ideas, events and presentations or panels. If you are interested, you can find IwonK or Kefrith on the Mysterium Discord, at the dedicated forum.

    ☛ Every Saturday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 15:00 KIT in Chiso Preniv, reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 15 at 12:00 KIT. The theme for this month will be “Latin American Music, Part 2“.

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will discuss their current book, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin. Due to traveling, the discussion is postponed to November 15 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat.

    ☛ Isa and Cid, along with a few others, recently started the “MOULa Community Music, Movies, & Games” Discord server, a place where anyone can stream a movie they want to share. Anyone is welcome to host and plan single or recurring events. In addition to movies and shows, they will have other kinds of stream like music, video games, or live feed of hobbies like painting or building Lego. They are also hosting Augur’s Book Club’s meetings.

    ☛ Brooketh briefly presented the Competitive Myst Online Group, hosting an Ahyoheek game every Saturday at 21:00 KIT in the Competitive Myst Online Hood. All players are welcome,  regardless of skill level. If you don’t know how to play, they will teach you. Or you can just hang out and observe. Voice chat is encouraged, but not required; both are used.

    ☛ Due to traveling, Skyisblu’s Cooking Session for September will be skipped. In October, she will showcase a chocolate cake recipe.

    ☞ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had 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.

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday to 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 will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will continue this month with the story of young Atrus as told in the novel, Myst: The Book of Atrus. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni. Due to family obligations, there will be no story on Saturday 27.

    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.

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary.

    Story Nights schedule (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 (#58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ Cid announced the release of Neyyah, by Defy Reality Entertainment (Aaron Gwynaire), a game styled after Riven, with pre-rendered static nodes. While officially only released for Windows (for now), it is reported to work well under MacOS with CrossOver, and under Linux with Proton.

    ☛ This month, the Age Expeditions in Deep Island will visit Janga by Itep Edor, then Jo’nae and Jo’nae Hood by Jonnee, including a restored version by SereneTiki. In the Open Cave, having completed the First Journey, there will be a Fissure Party! Since they already completed the Second Journey (Tsogahl and Delin), they will then tackle the Third, i.e. the Pod Ages.

    ☛ The Cavern Today podcast just turned 20! They have plans to commemorate the big anniversary; in the meantime, you can listen their debut episode here.

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

    July ended with the CavFunding at 110% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 629%.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, October 4 (Leevot 17, 9681) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • May 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    May 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 181st All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ On Tuesday 6, at around 9:00 KIT, a new content update will be released! It will include the Age of Sameehn, available on release … but not in Chiso, or the Nexus!

    Mysterium

    ☛ Registration for Mysterium 2025 is now open: early standard registration is $25, while premium registration (admission plus a shirt) is $40. Additional swag is also available with your registration through July 1st, including Direbo bubble coasters and a Golden Tablet lanyard charm, both by Kelly “Rayne” Coston.

    ☛ After July 1st, swag will no longer be available to pre-order and standard registration will increase to $30.

    ☛ You can find more info on Mysterium on BluSky, Facebook, Discord, and their website.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for May is “Chicken“, the deadline is May 31. Entries for the “Thawing” prompt for March–April were from Redwoodrroad, Calum Traveler, Belle, Talashar … and a bonus one from Cyan!

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ On Monday 5, Skyisblu will make a sugar cookie, a quick, fully customizable recipe with only three ingredients; it makes a great addition to a dessert platter or afternoon tea tray for Mother’s Day – which is coming up soon.
    The Cooking Sessions are on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

    ☛ PodHopper will host a Celtic Night event (with celtic and mystic music) on Friday 9 at 13:00 KIT in the Eder Delin of the Guild of Healers hood.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 16 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “Male protagonists in Games“. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!
    Besides streaming, IwonK is making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge, using Bitsy; you can find them at her itch.io page.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 19 at 12:00 KIT. The theme this month is “Vive la France!”.

    ☛ The revived Cavern Choir at the time of writing has 6 male singers and 4 female singers; they need more female singers, so if you are interested please contact Babbeltje40 (aka Vrouwdinges)  or Prad (#08406189).
    They still have some undecided candidates among their singers for the first song. There are plans for a concert consisting of three songs in August at the MOULa Summer Party.

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will discuss their current book, This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin, on May 31 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat.

    ☛ Every Tuesday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 11:30 KIT in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira (PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot #32319 or MinBot #9292763 to get there), reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction.

    ☞ For a more complete list of upcoming events, check our calendar. Times and events may change at the last minute; you can find the latest updates at:

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had 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.

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • 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 (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will continue this month with the story of the Fall, which will last for the next 6 weeks. 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 😉

    Videos now also come with auto translated captions in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Automatic translation often has trouble with words like “D’ni” or “linking books”, so your mileage may vary 😉

    Story Nights schedule (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 (#58324) a KImail with your KI number included in the text, so that he can add you to his buddies list.

    Miscellanea

    ☛ This month, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will complete the Secret of the Rainbow Journey, by exploring Edereden by J.J. Jaguar. Then, they will visit Kohdalahn and Tyldalahn by Itep Edor, Corvus and others. The month will close either in Alabaster’s Depths by Dulcamara (if possible), or in the Maintainers’ Gateway by Melvin.

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

    March ended with the CavFunding at 69% (CavCon 2.7) and the reserve at 682%.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, June 7 (Leebro 9, 9681) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • 2025 Rapid Age Development Contest Results

    2025 Rapid Age Development Contest Results

    The 2025 Guild of Writers Rapid Age Development (RAD) contest concluded March 8, 2025, which challenged participants to design a Pod Age before the deadline. Five Ages were submitted for consideration – Pod 5 by Philip, Pod 56 by Semjay, Rigilahs by Ametist, Sahnkep by Jrius, and Fahets Shallows by Tweek.

    Pod 5 (Philip)


    Pod 5, created by Philip, shows scenic views of a sea, a beach with palm trees and plants, and a cliff. In the distance, we can see a cottage and rowboats – is it possible someone lived here?

    Pod 56 (Semjay)


    Pod 56, created by Semjay, was originally installed in an empty desert, but over time, caught the attention of an indigenous population. The pod became an object of devotion and worship, and a large temple was built around it.

    Rigilahs (Ametist)


    Created by Ametist, the Rigilahs Pod (or Pod #9) is situated on a small island out in a bay near the main Rigilahs landmass in the Pod Age. This Pod was used by scientists, scholars and apprentices to study the animal life in and around the bay and in the greater ocean.

    Sahnkep (Jrius)


    Created by Jrius, the Sahnkep Age Pod sits on the edge of a cliff overlooking a verdant basin littered with enormous bones. It seems the sea level of this Age lowered long ago, resulting in the unique features that can be seen here.

    Fahets Shallows (Tweek)


    The Fahets Shallows Pod, created by Tweek, is set in the Fahets Age. The Guild of Restorers has built a replica D’ni observation pod and sunk it off the northeast coast of Fahets in an effort to study the marine wildilfe in the region. The shallows teem with life and resemble a peaceful garden beneath the waves.

    Results

    Between March 8-11, a panel of judges consisting of Harley, Buddy, Hoikas and TheScarFr evaluated each submission based on a number of different criteria, and after the final scores were tallied, Sahnkep by Jrius was announced as the winner on March 11.

    While these Ages were all developed purely for fun, some of the participants may choose to revisit these in the future for possible inclusion in MOULa, depending on interest. In the meantime, congratulations to Jrius and all who participated!

  • 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: 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 🙂

  • News Roundup #28

    ☛ As mentioned in the MOULa update post, the Relto start was given a new video, which was premiered on YouTube on the day of the update; you can watch it in English, French and German.

    Eder Bahvahnter will open on April 17 at 12:00 KIT; you can get there via Elonin, or by sending “to Bahvahnter” in PM to Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319).

    Kalamee will open on May 1 at 13:00 KIT, in Chiso Preniv; Nosila will provide the music.

    ☛ A new update for the Myst Documentary was posted. There has been great progress on several fronts. The film’s treatment is now complete. A new trailer was completed, to be shown to potential partners to gather the additional funds required to finish the documentary; the trailer will be showcased at Mysterium 2023. Two new excerpts are also available in the article. The Vault of Stories so far has gathered more than 90 volumes with 535 pages.

    ☛ Doobes’ work on the Descent path and the possible integration of more Myst V ages was the focus of an article on Massively Overpowered.

    ☛ The Cavern Communications Network has released the 5th episode of its podcast The Water Cooler Show: an interview with Ametist.

    ☛ A few ages have been ported to VRChat, with Cyan’s approval: Bevin, Eder Tsogal, Kadish Gallery, Ahnonay Cathedral, and more. More info is available at the Virtual Reality Guild Discord server and VRC group.