Tag: Calum

  • November 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Riven

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

    Town Hall

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

    OpenUru

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

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

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

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • October 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

    Town Hall

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

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

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

    Fan Ages updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Hacktoberfest

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

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

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

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

    NaNoWriMo

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • A New Era in D’ni: Eder Naybree

    A New Era in D’ni: Eder Naybree

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

    Calum Traveler wrote in his blog:

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

  • August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

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

    The last round of special guests have been announced:

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

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

    MOULa updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Town Hall

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

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

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

    Summer Festival

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

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

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

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

    Chiso Preniv updates

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

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

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

    Cavern Tours

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • News Roundup #22

    Cyan news

    ☛ Obduction is currently on 70% sale on Steam, and will be until July 25. The Myst 25th Anniversary Collection and Cyan Children’s Bundle are also on sale, as they often are.

    Mysterium news

    ☛ The schedule for Mysterium 2022 is now live! You can find it on the convention’s dedicated page; the committee is still finalizing one or two events, so it will likely change in the next few weeks, but most of it is ready to go. The events have also been added on our calendar.

    ☛ Another round of special guests has been announced:

    • Ametist, first started building ages for Uru in 2008;
    • Elana Bell Bogdan, created the soon-to-be-revealed “Vault of Stories” for the Myst Documentary
    • Colin “Maccodemonkey” Cornaby, currently focused on bringing MOULa to MacOS;
    • Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn, has been creating content for Uru since 2007;
    • Amy Noel Green, has created games with Numinous including That Dragon, Cancer and Area Man Lives;
    • Ryan Green, Creative Director and Head of Narrative for Numinous Games;
    • Harley “Calum Traveler”, writer, artist, and tester for MOULa;
    • Adam “Hoikas” Johnson, developer on the open-source MOULa client;
    • Keith “Tweek” Lord, works on Age development and helps support other developers in MOULa;
    • Mike Perrotto, software developer and producer for Numinous Games;
    • Darryl “Paradox” Pogue, software developer for Uru;
    • Paul “rarified” Richards, fan content coordinator for MOULa.

    ☛ The Cyan update on Friday (not the Saturday Q&A) will be a video: they decided to record it rather than do it live since that way they could get more people; having to find a time when everyone was available would have been more limiting.

    ☛ The Myst Documentary shared an update, going over the film’s most recent progress as well as a glimpse at the sheer amount of work being poured into it; a peek into Cyan’s archival vault (where they found the original Riven greenscreen footage!); a chat with Rand & Robyn’s parents Barbara and Ron; and a view of the Community Vault, where the Myst Stories will be gathered, stored and shared.

    ☛ Social buttons will be available at the convention, signaling the wearer’s comfort level with socialisation:

    • Yes: “I’m comfortable with conversations, come on up and talk to me”
    • Ask: “I’m unsure about my comfort level. Please ask before approaching me”
    • No: “I’m not comfortable with conversations. Please give me space”

    Moreover, the badges will include an optional space for pronouns; if you will avail yourself of it, please use the format “she/her”, “he/him”, “they/them”, etc.

    ☛ Deadlines:

    • Hotel booking at the Mysterium rate will only be available until July 19; after that date there will be no guarantee of availability, as any remaining rooms in the block may be released to the public.
    • The writing & artwork table submissions are open through July 31.
    • Online registration is still open until August 1; after that date, they will sell admission at the door starting Friday morning, but the early badge pickup on Thursday will only be available to those who purchased their badge online.

  • News Roundup #20

    • Firmament is on track for a late 2022 release of the game. The Kickstarter physical rewards will be delivered by Fangamer in 2023.
    • The Mysterium Committee has posted a follow-up on the COVID policy for the 2022 convention: all attendees will be required to provide proof of being up-to-date with vaccination, and will be required to wear an N95 or equivalent mask. The full policy can be found on the COVID page.
    • Korman 0.13a was released by the Guild of Writers, fixing a couple of crashes.
    • Calum Traveler posted a summary of the recent in-Cavern events. Carl Palmner also frequently reports on such events. More IC weblogs are listed under “Explorers’ Journals” here on the top bar.

  • March 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    A new era in D’ni

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Cavern Tours

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

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

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

    Fan Ages Touring Club

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

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

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    International Women’s Day

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • News roundup #17

    • Actor and runner John Keston, who played Gehn in Riven, passed away on February 13, due to complications from Covid-19.
    • Cyan’s 2nd Annual Cake Contest started on February 28 and will end on March 7. This year’s theme is “the artifacts of Riven”: choose your favorite artifact (e.g. a maglev, Gehn’s inkwell, the Moiety dagger, etc.), craft a cake, upload a picture of your creation and tag it with #CyanCake2.
    • A Firmament project update released on February 17 went into details about the use of “greyboxing” in game development.
    • A Myst Documentary project update released on February 26 noted they are ready to start “principal photography”, as they call in Hollywood.
    • The 3rd Deep City Lecture, about the D’ni legal system, will be held on March 5 at 15:00 KIT, in the Guild of Archivists’ Hood (Twitch, Discord).
    • There was another great set of submissions for Mysterium’s Prompt topic “glass”, with two short stories from calumTraveler and Talashar and two drawings from KellyC and laughingpineapple.
    • For March, the Prompt is about stickers for the Mysterium Discord server. The plan is to have multiple winner this time. The same rules as the normal submissions apply, so feel free to publicly discuss works in progress. Stickers can either be static or animated.

  • January 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium news

    Calum Traveler reported some quick news about the convention:

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

    A new era in D’ni

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

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

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

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

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

    The Fall of D’ni Memorial

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

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

    Cavern Tours

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

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

    Fan Ages Touring Club

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

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • November 2021 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Fan Ages Touring Club

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

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

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

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

    Mysterium News

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

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

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

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

    Deep City Lecture

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

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

    The Waterlogged Relto Book

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

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

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

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

    Minkata

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

    Until then!