Tag: Semjay

  • March 2026 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    March 2026 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 191st All Guilds Meeting, moderated by PodHopper, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    The USA has entered DST on Sunday 8, so until the end of the month, when most countries in Europe will also be on DST, a few events (including Radio Free D’ni and the Fan Age Expeditions) will be shifted an hour later.

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ A very large new Age by Dulcamara was added to Minkata Alpha for testing. Along with Semjay’s Jalargura, Calum Traveler’s Rei’schu Apartment and Pod 12, and Descent, a lot of testing work is piling on the OpenUru testing shard.

    ☛ Phase 1 of Descent is locked down fairly well. Work has started on Phase 2 and an area historically known as the “Bug Cave“.

    ☛ Korov’ev has provided more documents for the Chiso Preniv library: D’ni, Rivenese, Serani, and Narani dictionaries, split into smaller sized volumes. They will be stored in the “Reference Corner” section.

    ☛ Minasunda was given her own desk in the Chiso Preniv basement.

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

    ☛ Every Saturday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 15:00 KIT in Chiso Preniv, reading folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction. Currently, they are are reading Lavinia by Ursula LeGuin, in which the wife of Aeneas from the Aeneid tells her life story.

    ☛ Babbel‘s classical music program will be on Monday 16 at 12:00 KIT, in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura. The theme will be “Films and so on with a common thread of Fantasia 2000“.

    ☛ Nosila will hold the International Women’s Day music event “It’s a Girl” on Sunday 8 at 10:30 KIT; the location will be the Kings Lookout in Ae’gura. There is also a Discord server.

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will discuss their current book, Circe by Madeline Miller, in Nezetahn(1)’s Hood’s Eder Delin, on Saturday 21 at 12:30 KIT. Everyone is welcome to discuss their opinions on the book, using either voice or text chat. For IWD, they will have a short discussion beforehand on the revisiting of ancient tales through a modern feminist lens.

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

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

    ☛ The Age Expeditions are hosted on the Deep Island and the Open Cave shards by Korov’ev, every Sunday at 12:00 KIT during March. There’s also an (uncommented) Twitch stream.

    In the Open Cave, they will visit Ages added to MOULa in 2023: Kalamee, Eder Bahvahnter and the Memorial Island.

    In Deep Island, this month they will visit some of the entries from the third Rapid Age Development contest: Tahm Hehvo, Gairdin Grianmhar, Ulteemah, Tre’bivdil. After that, they will explore the entries from the Detailed Age WritiNg contest: Eder Licinius, Chloe’s Hood Office, Tehr’dovah.

    ☛ Prad noted that very few tracks have been sent for the Cavern Choir, so they are considering extending the deadline to March 22; please contact them for confirmation. If you are interested, or need assistance with recording, contact Babbel (aka Babbeltje40, aka Vrouwdinges) or Prad (KI #08406189).

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

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

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

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Evening openings are on Monday to Thursday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are currently telling the stories from Myst: The Book of D’ni. On Saturday 14 there will be the special story “Strong Women in D’ni History”, in honor of IWD. Eventually they cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

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

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

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

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

    February ended with the CavFunding at 59% (CavCon 2.6) and the reserve at 736%.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, April 4, 2026 (Leenovoo 16) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • February 2026 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    February 2026 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 190th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by PodHopper, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

    ☛ A new Age by Semjay is coming to Minkata Alpha, and hopefully will make it to MOULa by this year.

    ☛ Phase 1 of Descent is locked down fairly well and is just in the polishing stage now. Hopefully it too will be released by this year. The plan is to place a public Descent link in Chiso Preniv’s basement.

    ☛ Quite a few new non-linking books are coming to Chiso Preniv. Korov’ev has provided three lore documents, split into smaller chapter sized volumes. The Lara Documents will be added to a shelf provisionally named “Unverified Lineage”, as J.D. Barnes was never able to fully authenticate their validity. Any document that seems legit, but could not be plausibly verified, will be archived here in the future.

    The other two new volumes will be added in the now-called “Explorers’ Historical Retrospectives” (EHR) shelf: the first is A Journey without Ending, by Max, originally published on the old Guild of Messengers online magazine The Cavern Post. The second volume is The Restoration So Far, a series of retrospectives originally posted by Vidkid on the old Myst Online forums.

    ☛ Preafter, the Heritage Documents, and Activity in the Cavern, also in the EHR shelf, will be getting new covers that will hopefully make it easier to identify them.

    ☛ As chronicles like the Heritage Documents inevitably come with personal interpretations, Calum Traveler is also adding collections of primary sources, i.e. forum posts, starting with the Beneath forums. Once Tweek gets some time, he will also contribute backups of the old DRC forums.

    ☛ Standing signs, with artwork done by Tweek, will be put in place by various bookshelves for easier identification: the aforementioned “Unverified Lineage”, “Explorers Historical Retrospectives” and “Web Forum Archives”, along with “Linking Books”. When Serene and Tre’bivdil were moved over from the showcasing circle, some explorers had trouble finding them. The new standing signs should make it easier to find categories around the library.

    Mysterium

    ☛ The hotel booking link (not to be confused with a linking book) is now live.

    ☛ Submissions are still open for both shirt and pin designs. The deadline is closing soon, on February 27.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for February–March is “Sunrise“. Entries for the “Tradition” prompt for December–January were from Calum Traveler, Talashar, Belle and Redwoodrroad.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 20 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “Bunny Games“. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

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

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

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

    ☛ Babbel‘s classical music program will be on Monday 16 at 12:00 KIT, in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura. The theme will be “Olympics, Love & Carnival“.

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

    They selected three songs: “Happy Birthday” (four voices, traditional), “Ave Verum Corpus” by W.A. Mozart (four voices, classical) and “Only You” by Voces8/Flying Pickets (four voices, popular a cappella). Participants are asked to send their recording by March 8, as the plan is to perform at Seeker’s Christmas Country Special.

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

    ☛ Augur’s Speculative Fiction Book Club will honor International Women’s Day with a selection of three novels written by women:

    Voting will be done in either the MOULa Events or the URU Community Movies and Games Discords. Voting for more than one book is fine, but please vote only on one server, not both.

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

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

    ☛ The Age Expeditions are hosted by Korov’ev every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. There’s also an (uncommented) Twitch stream. In Deep Island, this month they will visit the entries from the second Rapid Age Development Contest, all Ahra Pahts shells; after that, they will explore Whilyam‘s Ages. In the Open Cave, they will visit Ages added to MOULa in 2022: Elonin, Fahets Highgarden and Eder Naybree.

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

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Another student has started taking the classes.

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

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night are currently telling the stories from Myst: The Book of D’ni. There will be no story on Saturday 14, due to family obligations. Eventually they cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

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

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

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

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

    December ended with the CavFunding at 82% (CavCon 2.8) and the reserve at 782%.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, March 7, 2026 (Leevotahr 23) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • December 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    December 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

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

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

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

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

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

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

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

    Mysterium

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ On Monday 1st, Skyisblu finished up the year with her recipe for a ‘Buche de Noel‘, a chocolate rolled Yule Log cake. The Cooking Sessions will be back in February, on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    ☛ The Cavern Tours are on hold until late 2026.

    ☛ There will be no Town Hall in December.

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday to Thursday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night just started the story from the Riven game. Eventually they cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • May 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    May 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

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

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (#80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday to Friday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (#27527) or Mimi Bot (#71459); to be notified, add both as buddies, then PM them “advert”.

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will continue this month with the story of the Fall, which will last for the next 6 weeks. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • 2025 Rapid Age Development Contest Results

    2025 Rapid Age Development Contest Results

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

    Pod 5 (Philip)


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

    Pod 56 (Semjay)


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

    Rigilahs (Ametist)


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

    Sahnkep (Jrius)


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

    Fahets Shallows (Tweek)


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

    Results

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

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

  • The Cavern Today 50: You are You (ft. Semjay)

    The Cavern Today 50: You are You (ft. Semjay)

    For our Holiday 2024 edition, we’re pleased to bring you a milestone – our fiftieth regular episode of The Cavern Today! Join us as we close out 2024 with:

    • Cavern News with Dalken Starbyne
    • Skit
    • A Year-In-Review TCT Talk with Alhon, Dalken, Esto, Maurus and Sh’aeri
    • Music Piece: “Explorers’ Emporium Suite” produced by Semjay
    • Interview with community Agebuilder Semjay
    • Chapter IV of “Deep Dive with Esto Centura,” concluding the Preafter era
    • Sh’aeri’s “That’s Just Me of Course”

    The Cavern Today is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & other services – as well as The Cavern Today’s website.

  • December 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    December 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 176th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Explorer memorial

    The meeting began with the sad news of the passing of explorer Bella, impromptu DJ during nightly gatherings in the hoods and Ae’gura, playing requests for anyone listening.

    A memorial will be held on January 10 at 15:00 KIT, in the Ae’gura plaza. Requests or memories can be sent to Isa via KImail (#11584648) or Discord (isa.2167).

    OpenUru

    ☛ Calum Traveler thanked those who attended the opening of the Explorers’ Emporium on Friday 6. The pipeline for the next update is already opened, but nothing new has been added yet, aside from a list of minor bugs to fix.

    ☛ With the latest update, D’ni fairytales can now be found and read around Elonin, to enjoy a bit of what the D’ni might have read at bedtime or in their free time.

    ☛ Claidi interviewed Semjay about the Emporium and about her story in the Myst community. She confirmed that there is no Relto page available in the Emporium, and that no public instance is planned; most likely, Mir-o-Bot will provide one.

    We will soon post an extended dedicated post with the interview.

    ☛ A Rapid Age Development contest could be tentatively be held on January. As with previous editions, the intention is to encourage potential builders with a challenge with specific limits in size and time; entries will not need to be MOULa-ready. Tre’bivdil and the Vothol Gallery were originally built for similar contests. This time the proposed theme would be a Pod Age; participants will be assigned a basic pod shell file (for Blender or 3ds Max).

    Mysterium

    ☛ The 2025 edition of the convention will be held on August 1–3. The writing and artwork table is open for submissions, until July 15.

    ☛ The Creativity Prompt for November–December is “Hearth”, the deadline is December 31. Entries for the “Falling” prompt for September–October were from Calum Traveler, Bastiko, Talashar, Rahshahth.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Korov’ev made a quick announcement about the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. They are currently mid-way through the large, industrial Age of Elsewhere, by Denost.

    However, to celebrate the opening of the Explorers’ Emporium, on Sunday 8 they will take a detour to Zahlto (aka the Emporium) and to Terahgram. Semjay’s later Ages, Tovaht and Ahreesen Melin, will be the subject of future expeditions.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 20 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be “Christmas“. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

    IwonK is also making some games of her own as a year-long gamedev challenge; you can find them at her itch.io page. Moreover, she recently got accepted at a local university, studying Game Design!

    ☛ On Monday 2, Skyisblu capped off the year with a recipe for a Christmas-inspired Victoria sponge cake, to honor the grand opening of the Explorers’ Emporium. The Cooking Sessions are on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood; the next show will be on February 3. You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 16 at 12:00 KIT. The theme this month is “Christmas Requests“.

    ☛ Every Tuesday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 11:30 KIT in Fahets Highgarden, reading (via stream) folktales, translated ancient texts, historical fiction from all over the ancient world, as well as the occasional historical-inspired fan fiction, and also a collection of D’ni fairytales Ereshkigal wrote as a kickoff event.

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

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

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

    D’ni Language Classes schedule (click to expand)
    • Those who would like to attend the lessons should contact Rehn, preferably on Discord (r’Tayrtahn#1317), or via KImail (KI# 80428). Be sure to include your KI number, so that Rehn can send you a reply!
    • The Guild of Instructors’ Hood will be open and public unless a class is in session. Classes are individual.
    • Daytime openings are on Monday to Friday, at 10:00, 11:00 or 12:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Evening openings are on Monday, Tuesday, 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 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 will, for rest of the month, retell the stories of king Ji, Dimahth and Yahbleshahn. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni. As this year the holidays fall mid-week, there will be stories for the entire month of December.

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

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

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

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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, January 4, 2025 (Leevosahn 3) at 13:00 KIT.

    Happy New Year!

  • A New Era in D’ni: The Explorers’ Emporium

    A New Era in D’ni: The Explorers’ Emporium

    On Thursday, December 5, 2024 (9680 Leevobro 8), in a ceremony held in Chiso Preniv that was also announced on Cyan’s X and Bluesky feeds, Ella Darrington (Semjay) and Patrick Dulebohn gave a speech (a transcript of which you can read below), then unveiled the linking book to the Explorers’ Emporium.

    The Emporium, established by archaeologist Ella Darrington, is the only retail establishment in the Cavern, with a wide range of goods for sale to the discerning explorer. It is located in some vacant cottages found in a neighborhood away from the publicly available ones, refurbished in the latest Art-Nouveau style. Rumors of smuggled artifacts are, at this time, wholly unsubstantiated.

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

    Calum Traveler posted a chatlog on the Beneath forums. Minasunda made a video of the event.
    [Links to more videos and posts will be added at a later time.]

    Speech transcript

    Patrick Dulebohn:

    Welcome back here to Chiso Preniv, everyone! I know it’s been awhile since we’ve had one of these get togethers, but I’m glad to see the turnout as strong as ever!

    2024 has been a rough year for many of us, and as such, much of the work we’ve been doing has gone a bit slower. Thanks largely to you all and your unwavering support, we press on and continue our goal of restoring D’ni Ages and new areas of the cavern. It is the latter that brings us here today.

    Our guest of honor is a relatively new face to the restoration, but has been a denizen of the cavern for quite awhile. She is responsible for restoring what you will be seeing today. I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting her last month, introduced by Semjay, but I’m excited to see what she will present to us … since I wasn’t allowed a sneak peek! Ha!

    Without further delay, I would like to introduce to you all … Ella Darrington!

    Ella Darrington:

    Thank you Patrick. Semjay and I are absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of people here! Thank you, everyone!

    It means a lot to us, knowing that we have your support. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in bringing this new area to MOULa.

    Also, thank you in advance, to those of you who are filming this event – it is really interesting to see people play through our creations and to hear their comments as they play.

    The Explorers’ Emporium is the only retail establishment in the Cavern. I have a wide range of goods for sale to the discerning explorer. I do not stock cheap rubbish. There are many artisan crafted items – some have been made and supplied by some lovely people here today! (I’ll take off my 10 percent commission, of course). All types of currency are accepted – if you can pay by chip and pin.

    The Emporium is located in some vacant cottages I found in a distant neighbourhood and I have refurbished them in the latest Art-Nouveau style. But it isn’t quite finished. There are still some deliveries waiting to be unpacked.

    Please stay out of my private apartment – unless you are the contractor come to refurbish my bathroom (the recent plumbing disaster has ruined the floor). Oh, and if you go into the cellar, it is at your own risk. All breakages must be paid for.

    So now … it gives me great pleasure to declare the Explorers’ Emporium well and truly open!

    Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’ll link through first and unlock the front door ready for your arrival!

  • January 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    January 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 165th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

    ☛ The venue and the precise date for Mysterium 2024, which will be held in Montreal, Canada, have not been fixed yet. Various trade-offs for dates and costs are being weighted; you can help the Committee make a decision by taking a brief survey.

    ☛ Another policy update, related to AI generated art, has been announced:

    “Submissions generated by Artificial Intelligence tools are not permitted. AI may be used for brainstorming but the final product must be your own original work. This applies to all submission types including both visual and written works.”

    ☛ The creativity prompt for January is “Horizons”; the deadline is the 31st. Entries for the “Refuge” prompt for December were from Calum Traveler, Salvo Ludus, Talashar, Redwoodrroad, and Tomatoes.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Claidi commended the people staffing the Guild of Greeters Hood from Monday to Saturday, 13:45–14:15 KIT. Other community members are often there as well, providing information and assistance to those unfamiliar with the Cavern or who just want to learn more.

    ☛ IwonK will host a Wonky Talk (on her Twitch channel) on Friday 12 at 15:00 KIT in the Guild of Cookies’ Hood by the heek table. This month’s topic will be Racing games. Feel free to suggest interesting games she could talk (and draw) about. As always, there will be cookies!

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

    OpenUru

    Semjay has submitted the Explorers’ Emporium for testing on the Minkata alpha shard, and should be uploaded very soon. That means testers will be needed!

    Anyone with an eye for details, and willing to take detailed notes of what works and what not, is welcome to sign up for an account on Minkata and on the OpenUru Discord server.

    (Editor’s note: the shards and the OpenUru website appear to not work at the time of this post. The situation is temporary, and should be fixed soon.)

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

    R’Tayrtahn gave two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. A student finished the 101 lessons and is working on the 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. Classes are individual.
    • There are daytime openings Monday to Friday, at 12:00, 13:00 or 14:00 KIT, though availability is subject to change with little or no notice;
    • evening openings are on Monday to Thursday, at 20:00, 21:00 or 22:00 KIT, depending on the student’s schedule.
    • Daytime availability is subject to change with little or no notice. Last-minute changes to class times will be announced via Magic Bot (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 have just started telling the story of Yeesha’s journey. Eventually they will cover all of the books and games, as well as the three human attempts at the restoration of D’ni.

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

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

    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 January, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will explore the works of Whilyam: Toroolbah, Bimevi, Fens, Maw. After that, they will visit the entries of the 3rd Rapid Age Development (RAD) and the Detailed Age WritiNg (DAWN) contests. To round up the first month of 2024, they will try to get their bearings in the cubic labyrinth of Enobmort, by J’Kla.

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

    December ended with the CavFunding at 72% (CavCon 2.7) and the reserve at 620%, with no extra expenses.

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 3, 2024 (Leevosahn 26) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • May 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    May 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Firmament

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

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

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

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

    OpenUru

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

    Until then!