Tag: cooking

  • October 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    October 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Magic Ages

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Dances

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

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

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

    • minadance [x] [name]

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

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

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

    OpenUru

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    More about the D’ni Language Classes (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn via PM or KImail (KI# 80428), or on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317).
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session.
    • There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Tuesday to Friday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (KI #27527) or Mimi Bot (KI #71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • International Women’s Week

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

    Monday 6

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

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

    Tuesday 7

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

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

    Wednesday 8 (I.W.D.)

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

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

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

    Thursday 9

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

    Friday 10

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

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

    Sunday 12

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

    Websites

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

  • February 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    February 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

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

    A few submission deadlines are still open:

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

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

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

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

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

    OpenUru

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

    Doobes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • 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!

  • September 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    September 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

    Cavern Tours

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

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

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

    MOULa updates

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

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

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

    Town Hall

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

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

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

    Fan Ages updates

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • July 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    July 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

    Town Hall

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

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

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

    Summer Festival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Chiso Preniv updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

    Cavern Tours

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

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

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

    Until then!