Tag: The Cavern Today

  • The Cavern Today 52: The Cavern Yesterday (20th Anniversary)

    The Cavern Today 52: The Cavern Yesterday (20th Anniversary)

    TCT has now been around for twenty years – can you believe it? To commemorate the occasion, for our Autumn 2025 edition we have prepared a special celebratory podcast, featuring:

    • A new skit featuring Dalken and… Dalken?
    • Retrospective TCT Talk with Alhon, Dalken, J’nathus, Maurus, Mowog, and special guest Tyion, returning to the show for our anniversary
    • Music: “Waiting for You” by Mateus
    • Interview with Bogey Mystman of the Competitive Myst Online League
    • Mowog’s Thought for the Pod

    This episode is dedicated to Suzanne “Essjay” Jedlicka, a former TCT staffer who recently passed away. TCT wouldn’t be what it is today without her, and we will remember her fondly.

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

  • {:en}September 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary{:}{:ru}Сводка по Встрече Всех Гильдий — Сентябрь 2025{:}

    {:en}September 2025 All Guilds Meeting Summary{:}{:ru}Сводка по Встрече Всех Гильдий — Сентябрь 2025{:}

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

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

    Contents

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

    OpenUru

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

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

    Mysterium

    ☛ Calum Traveler shared some highlights from the survey:

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

    ☛ All the streamed presentations have been uploaded to YouTube.

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

    Shokhootahn Rehn had two updates, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights. Visitors are asked to not post pellet points into the hood imager: one of his former students and a close friend, Yutiel Yoshi, who passed away in 2018, is listed there. He has refrained from posting pellets to maintain her name at the top, as a form of memorial.

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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


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

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

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

    Until then!{:}{:ru}Вот сводка по 185-й Встрече Всех Гильдий, модератор — Claidi Song, вместе с исходными и очищенными чатлогами!

    Claidi объявила, что по разным причинам ей придется уйти с поста модератора после декабря. Если вы хотите модераторить встречи после декабря, пожалуйста, свяжитесь через серверы Discord Cyan Chat или MOULa Events.

    Содержание

    1. OpenUru
    2. Mysterium
    3. События в Пещере
    4. Занятия по языку D’ni
    5. Story Nights R’Tayrtahn
    6. Разное

    OpenUru

    ☛ Calum Traveler сообщил, что работа команды Ami по обследованию всего в Descent с 2024 года снова продвигается хорошо. Работу с лифтом возьмет на себя Ametist. После того как все лифты заработают, планируется, что Tweek проверит и исправит освещение, если потребуется. Если все пойдет по плану, первая часть Descent откроется примерно в 2026 году.

    ☛ Несколько исправлений и обновлений планируются к выпуску в последнем квартале этого года, включая технический проход Kalamee.

    Mysterium

    ☛ Calum Traveler поделился некоторыми главными моментами обзора:

    • Организаторы извиняются за отмену Unconference, но решение было связано с поездкой в Georgia Aquarium. Планируется включить это мероприятие или аналогичное в будущем.
    • Панели или презентации могут не проводиться каждый год, но стараются поддерживать баланс между активностями и презентациями.
    • Планируется снова демонстрировать местные достопримечательности и уникальные интерактивные мероприятия; на следующий год, возможно, включат outdoor-экскурсию в стиле Myst.

    ☛ Все стримовые презентации загружены на YouTube.

    ☛ На 2026 год председателями конвенции будут M13 и Rayne. В следующем году конвенция пройдет в Portland, OR, ориентировочно в июле или августе.

    ☛ Творческий вызов (Creativity Prompt) на сентябрь — “Round“. Участники по “Bubbles” в августе: Kh’reestrefah, IwonK, Kefrith, Talashar и Nina.

    События в Пещере

    ☛ IwonK проведет Wonky Talk (на Twitch-канале) в пятницу, 19-го в 15:00 KIT в Guild of Cookies‘ Hood у стола heek. Тема месяца — “Space Games“. Можно предлагать интересные игры для обсуждения и рисунков. Как всегда, будут печеньки!

    Помимо стриминга, IwonK создаёт свои собственные игры в рамках годового gamedev-вызова с использованием Bitsy; можно посмотреть на ее странице itch.io.

    Она также работает с Kefrith над идеей, возникшей в Discord Mysterium: онлайн-мероприятие в стиле Mysterium. Рабочее название — “Rivenium“. Они ищут идеи, события, презентации и панели. Если интересно, можно найти IwonK или Kefrith на Discord Mysterium, на специальном форуме.

    ☛ Каждую субботу Ereshkigal проводит Ancient Stories в 15:00 KIT в Chiso Preniv, читает фольклор, переводы древних текстов, историческую фантастику со всего древнего мира и иногда фанфики на историческую тему.

    ☛ Babbel проведет следующую классическую музыкальную программу в Hall of Kings в Ae’gura, в понедельник, 15-го в 12:00 KIT. Тема месяца — “Латиноамериканская музыка, часть 2“.

    ☛ Augur‘s Speculative Fiction Book Club обсудит текущую книгу Ready Player One Эрнеста Клайна в Nezetahn(1)’s Hood‘s Eder Delin. Из-за поездок обсуждение перенесено на 15 ноября в 12:30 KIT. Все желающие могут обсуждать книгу голосом или в чате.

    ☛ Isa и Cid, вместе с другими, недавно создали “MOULa Community Music, Movies, & Games“ Discord-сервер, где каждый может транслировать фильм для других. Любой может проводить одноразовые или регулярные мероприятия. Помимо фильмов, планируются стримы музыки, игр, живые трансляции хобби вроде рисования или LEGO. Также они проводят встречи Augur’s Book Club.

    ☛ Brooketh кратко представила Competitive Myst Online Group, проводящую Ahyoheek каждую субботу в 21:00 KIT в Competitive Myst Online Hood. Все игроки приветствуются, независимо от уровня. Если не знаете, как играть, научат. Можно просто наблюдать. Голосовой чат приветствуется, но не обязателен.

    ☛ Из-за поездок Skyisblu пропустит сентябрьскую сессию по кулинарии. В октябре она покажет рецепт шоколадного торта.

    ☞ Для полного списка событий см. календарь. Время и события могут меняться в последний момент. Последние обновления доступны на:

    Занятия по языку D’ni

    Shokhootahn Rehn дал два обновления: одно для D’ni Language Classes и одно для Story Nights. Посетителей просят не размещать pellet points в hood imager: там указана его бывшая ученица и близкая подруга, Yutiel Yoshi, умершая в 2018 году. Rehn воздерживается от размещения pellet points, чтобы её имя оставалось вверху, в знак памяти.

    Расписание D’ni Language Classes (нажмите, чтобы развернуть)
    • Желающие посещать занятия должны связаться с Rehn, предпочтительно через Discord (r‘Tayrtahn#1317) или через KImail (#80428). Обязательно укажите свой KI номер, чтобы Rehn смог ответить!
    • Guild of Instructors‘ Hood будет открыт и публичен, если занятие не ведется. Занятия индивидуальные.
    • Дневные занятия: понедельник-пятница, в 10:00, 11:00 или 12:00 KIT, в зависимости от расписания студента.
    • Вечерние занятия: понедельник-четверг, в 20:00, 21:00 или 22:00 KIT, в зависимости от расписания студента.
    • Доступность в дневное время может меняться без предупреждения. Изменения в последнюю минуту объявляются через Magic Bot (#27527) или Mimi Bot (#71459); чтобы получать уведомления, добавьте обоих в друзья и отправьте им “advert”.

    Story Nights R’Tayrtahn

    Story Night Europe и Original Story Night продолжаются в этом месяце с историей молодого Атруса из романа Myst: The Book of Atrus. Впоследствии будут охвачены все книги и игры, а также три попытки человечества восстановить D’ni. Из-за семейных обязательств субботы, 27-го, истории не будет.

    R’Tayrtahn записывает видео с сессий (через аватар “I’m a bot, do not message”) и позже загрузит на свой YouTube-канал. Будьте осторожны, если отправляете ему KImail во время событий — сообщения будут видны на видео.

    Видео теперь снабжены авто-переводом с субтитрами на французский, немецкий, индонезийский, итальянский, польский, португальский и испанский. Автоперевод часто затрудняется с такими словами, как “D’ni” или “linking books”.

    Расписание Story Nights (нажмите, чтобы развернуть)
    • Story Nights проходят в Tsahno‘s Hood каждую субботу, сбор у фонтана около 23:00 KIT, начало истории около 23:30 KIT.
    • Для Story Nights – Europe сборы в субботу в 13:30 KIT, начало истории около 14:00 KIT.
    • В дни All Guilds Meeting событие начинается в 14:00 KIT или через 30 минут после встречи, в зависимости от того, что позже.
    • Истории рассказываются через голосовой чат, поэтому необходимо иметь колонки, наушники или KI-устройства. Для напоминания отправьте r’Tayrtahn (#58324) KImail с указанием вашего KI-номера, чтобы он смог добавить вас в свой спиок друзей.

    Разное

    ☛ Cid объявил о выпуске Neyyah от Defy Reality Entertainment (Aaron Gwynaire), игры в стиле Riven с предрендеренными статическими узлами. Пока официально только для Windows, но, как сообщается, работает под MacOS через CrossOver и под Linux через Proton.

    ☛ В этом месяце Age Expeditions на Deep Island посетят Janga от Itep Edor, затем Jo‘nae и Jo‘nae Hood от Jonnee, включая восстановленную версию SereneTiki. В Open Cave, после завершения Первого Пути, будет Fissure Party! После Второго Пути (Tsogahl и Delin) они приступят к Третьему, т.е. Pod Ages.

    ☛ Подкаст The Cavern Today отметил 20-летие! Планируются праздничные мероприятия; пока можно послушать первый эпизод.


    На этом всё за этот месяц. Пожалуйста, рассмотрите возможность пожертвования, чтобы Cavern оставалась открытой!

    Июль закончился с CavFunding на 110% (CavCon 4.1) и резервом на 629%.

    Следующая All Guilds Meeting запланирована на субботу, 4 октября (Leevot 17, 9681) в 13:00 KIT.

    До встречи!{:}

  • The Cavern Today 51: Infinity in a Bottle

    The Cavern Today 51: Infinity in a Bottle

    Just in time for Mysterium 2025, we bring you our Summer 2025 edition, featuring:

    • Cavern News with Dalken Starbyne
    • TCT Talk with Esto, Maurus and Sh’aeri, with our thoughts on Myst (2020)’s Rime update & more
    • Music Piece: “Ascending the Void” by Sasha Strange
    • Special report on the 2025 R.A.D. Contest
    • TCT Talk addendum

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

  • 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.

  • November 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    November 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 175th All Guilds Meeting, moderated by Claidi Song, along with the raw and cleansed chatlogs!

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

    OpenUru

    Calum Traveler mentioned that the latest update for MOULa is on the Staging server, and may be released in one or two weeks!

    The Cavern Today

    Maurus, on behalf of The Cavern Today, announced their latest episode: “Return to Riven“. They had of course a lot to talk about the Riven remake, but also about Mysterium, Cyan’s future, and some original music. It is also episode 3 of their D’ni restoration history series, “Deep Dive With Esto Centura”.

    The Cavern Today is available to stream on Apple Podcast, Spotify and other streaming services, and of course on TCT’s website.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ On Monday 4, Skyisblu prepared baked chicken meatballs in tomato sauce, smothered in ooey-gooey melted cheese, since fall has come in with a bang this year in Quebec. The Cooking Sessions are on the first Monday of the month at 12:00 KIT, via Twitch, in the Guild of Caterers’ Hood. You can find past recipes and recordings at Skyisblu’s blog and YouTube channel.

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

    IwonK 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!

    ☛ 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.

    ☛ Babbel will host her next classical music program in the Hall of Kings in Ae’gura, on Monday 18 at 12:00 KIT. The theme this month is “The Unfinished Works“.

    ☛ 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.

    More about the D’ni Language Classes
    • 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, Tuesday, Thursday and 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 cover the stories of all of the Myst 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 😉 The channel is current through February 20, 2021.

    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
    • 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

    ☛ At the end of October, Cyan announced a big update to the VR remake of Myst! The main highlight is the upgrade from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, which solved a number of stability issues on various platforms.

    ☛ Episode 16 of The Lost Art, by MystiTech Productions, is coming on January 4, 2025 at 14:30 KIT. The premiere live chat will as usual start half an hour before.

    ☛ In November, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will explore Elsewhere by Denost, the third chapter in his series about Gary Bradwell after Somewhere and Iceworld. This is a large Age with a complex series of puzzles, so it will take the whole month to complete it.


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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 7 (Leevobro 10) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • The Cavern Today 49: Return to Riven

    The Cavern Today 49: Return to Riven

    “Endings and beginnings are within the Fissure…” Cyan’s Riven remake finally released earlier this year – and there’s a lot to discuss! So, for our Autumn 2024 edition, we’re bringing you our longest episode to date, featuring:

    • Cavern News with Dalken Starbyne
    • TCT Talk with Ankhangel, Esto and Maurus: Riven 2024 non-spoiler discussion, Mysterium 2024, and the future of the D’niverse
    • Music Piece: “Abandoned Homestead” by Maurus
    • Chapter III of our D’ni history series “Deep Dive with Esto Centura”
    • TCT Talk Continued: Riven 2024 SPOILER discussion

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

  • April 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    April 2024 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    Here is the summary for the 168th 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

    ☛ Mysterium 2024 will be held at the Alt Hotel Quartier Dix30 in Brossard. Single and double queen rooms are available and can be booked directly through the hotel. The deadline for booking is June 11. After that date, the hotel may release unsold rooms to the general public. For more info on the hotel, pricing, parking, and booking, see the locations page.

    ☛ Event submissions are still open until May 12, while writing and artwork table submissions are open until June 30.

    ☛ The creativity prompt for April is still “Memories”: the prompts are now bi-monthly, so the deadline is now April 30th. Entries for the “Ice” prompt for February were from, Calum Traveler, Redwoodrroad, and Talashar.

    Events in the Cavern

    ☛ Skyisblu presented her recipe to make eggs Benedict in a simple, more accessible way at home; she also shared her recipe for English muffin loaf, a seriously delicious discovery.

    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.

    ☛ Sunday 21 is D’ni New Year 9680! To celebrate, the Nulp Dance Group will host a show on Monday 22 at 13:00 KIT, introducing Sestra and AKAA as new dancers in their first performance!

    To get to the event location, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (#32319); pictures will be posted on Facebook and Discord, marking the area for the audience. Seeker will provide the music stream, starting with some pre-show music at 12:35 KIT.

    After the show, there will be a dance party; Magic Bot will be there, so you will be able to use the “minadance[1–7] [name]” command to dance with a partner 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 will be “male protagonists in video 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.

    ☛ Every Tuesday, Ereshkigal is hosting an Ancient Stories event at 12:00 KIT in Kalamee, 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.

    ☛ 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 this month is “Barock or Baroque“.

    ☛ For many years, the weekly Karaoke event with DonahooDJ (#7501) was held at 16:00, but it has now been moved to 11:00 KIT, every Saturday in the Ae’gura Guild of Messengers Pub. The event is also held in Second Life, with a different location each evening.

    The stream has a cap on the number of people who can listen; if that’s exceeded, Seeker will host the backup stream. To participate, submit a Karaoke card on the event forum (you’ll need to be registered).

    ☛ 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:

    OpenUru

    Rarified mentioned that, after a somewhat spirited discussion last month, they are going to hold off on new content for this quarter. There may be a couple of small updates to memorials and the like, but nothing more than that.

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

    Starting April 20, Story Night Europe and Original Story Night will begin the special, five-part chapter play “Jae’s Journey“, written by explorer Janai and posted to the Mystonline.com forums in 2008; if anyone is still in contact with her, please let her know that her story is about to be performed, and that she is welcome to attend.

    After that will be the story of the third, human explorer-driven restoration of the Cavern. Then, finally, the bi-annual Bahro Glyph Tour! And after that, the Stories will restart from the beginning.

    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

    ☛ The Spring 2024 issue of The Cavern Today podcast is out, featuring Riven remake news and hype, a TCT year-in-review, a Preafter Deep Dive, and more. In addition to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other services, The Cavern Today is now also available on YouTube Music (which is replacing Google Podcasts).

    ☛ In April, the Fan Age Expeditions in Deep Island will visit an assortment of Ages from 2009 and 2010. They will start with a few Ahra Pahts shells, including #111, the Black Fortress. They will then visit Hayal by Corvus & Race, Ahrkane by Ekimmai, Chamassa and Aquh by Brattin; but also smaller Ages like Pakin by Race, or Cass and Fahets (Basin) by Tweek.


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

    The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 4 (Leefo 12, 9680) at 13:00 KIT.

    Until then!

  • The Cavern Today 47: Myst 30th Anniversary Special (ft. Rand & Robyn Miller)

    The Cavern Today 47: Myst 30th Anniversary Special (ft. Rand & Robyn Miller)

    30 years of Myst – and 20 years of Uru! The Cavern Today is proud to present a very special celebratory episode for our Autumn 2023 edition – featuring very special guests Rand & Robyn Miller! For this podcast, we’re pleased to bring you:

    • Cavern News with Alhon
    • Ankhangel Op-Ed
    • Skit
    • TCT Talk with Alhon, Ankhangel, Dalken, Esto, Maurus & Sh’aeri, featuring our interview with very special guests Rand & Robyn Miller
    • Musical Piece: “Sara’Aou (Shores Of Naybree)” by Maurus
    • The premiere of Deep Dive with Esto Centura
    • Mysterium Retrospective with Dalken Starbyne
    • TCT Mad Lib

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

  • July 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    July 2023 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

    Events in the Cavern

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

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

    MacOS MOULa client

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

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

    ☛ In July, the Fan Ages Expeditions in Deep Island will begin the Path of the Lost Ages, consisting of Palamary bay, Peridia, Myst Refuge, and concluding in Ruins of Azmar, by Melvin. This will take most of the month; after that, they will visit some Ages by Doobes.


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

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

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

    Until then!

  • Mysterium 2023

    Mysterium 2023

    The XXIV Mysterium was held in Spokane, WA on June 30–July 2, with the panels and presentations streamed to both Twitch and YouTube.

    Belford wrote a summary in his blog, commenting on Cyan’s announcements.


    Friday started at 11:00 KIT with the Opening Announcements with a few words and reminders from the convention chairs.

    At the 12:00 panel D’ni Linguistic Fellowship, Christopher “Kh’reestrefah” Gilson discussed word formation in the D’ni language, first showing how words in D’ni can be used to form other words, then looking at known D’ni words to discover patterns that point to historical rules that have not been explained before.

    At the 15:00 panel Uru World-building, Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn gave a demonstration of Blender for Korman, the free plugin currently used to create Ages for MOULa and CC. He also briefly showed the use of ZLZ Age Importer, to get Cyan Ages converted to blends.

    At the 16:00 panel Art of Shoomlah, Claire “Shoom’lah” Hummel showed a retrospective of her Myst art over the years, and how the games have impacted her career as an art director and concept artist in the games industry (including hiding a Riven easter egg in Half-Life: Alyx). She runs a “real places that look like Myst” blog.

    At the 17:00 panel The Cavern Today Podcast, Dalken Starbyne, Esto Centura, Maurus and Sh’aeri held a live episode right at Mysterium, discussing the convention, D’ni, Cyan, and did a brief audience Q&A. The Cavern Today podcast has been bringing listeners news from the Myst fan community since 2005.

    At the 18:00 event Moving the Slider (not streamed), Rayne and m13 challenged the attendees at a group game, working together to solve puzzles, find clues, and trying to figure out what in the world the Thing is for.

    At the 19:00 panel Unwritten Character Creation Workshop, Faroguy, Eleri Hamilton, Vee Hamilton and Thomas “Curator” Steele announced the Modern D’ni expansion for Unwritten, and gave tips on how to plan a good character for the game.

    Later, Curator and Eleri hosted two parallel Unwritten sessions.


    Saturday started at 9:30 KIT with a few words from the convention staff, then the attendees headed over to Cyan HQ. At 11:00 Jeff Lanctot gave a brief welcome talk and order of events.

    At the 11:15 Cyan State of the Union, Hannah Gamiel and Eric Anderson discussed the recently released Myst (VR) and Firmament, and gave some updates about the Riven remake; notably, there will be some changes giving more lore details.

    Currently all resources are focused on Riven; future projects will likely be smaller, a bit more experimental, and possibly more related to the Myst universe. The presentation ended with a preview of the Riven remake, specifically the Boiler Island area!

    Starting at 12:15 the attendees were divided in three groups, alternating between lunch at the Squee Conservatory, a guided tour of the campus at DRC Headquarters, and an opportunity to meet some Cyan employees and guests at Gehn’s Temple.

    At 14:30 Mike “RIUM+” Ando showed off another one of his amazing creations: the Andotrope, a recreation of Gehn’s holographic imager from Riven. As RIUM+ put it, he “accidentally invented new technology while trying to make a videogame prop more screen-accurate”.

    At 15:10, at the Special Mystery Presentation, Phil Salvador from the the Video Game History Foundation announced they got permission to digitize a huge stack (about 100 hours of footage) of videotapes from Cyan’s vault, recorded in the Nineties, found by Philip Shane while he was collecting material for the Myst Documentary. They hope to finish digitizing the tapes and make them available by the end of this year.

    At 16:00 Rand Miller held a Keynote Q&A, discussing a few design choices for the Riven remake, and taking questions from the audience. Cyan is now focused on the remake. Richard Vander Wende has returned as creative leads, along with Rand Miller. The game logic is in place, but a lot is still needed for the visuals. They confirmed they will not use live-action video for the characters. No release date or platforms were announced, but they want to release it by the 30th anniversary (2027).

    The remake will expand a bit the lore, under the premise that they uncovered more archaelogical material from the New Mexico desert, and they will incorporate those discoveries into the new game. For the occasion, Rand showcased a metal plate with a relief of D’ni letters (possibly a gahrohev), originally used to cover the Fissure around the telescope.

    After Riven, they want to focus on smaller games, with more replay value, going back to the Myst universe.

    Wrapping up at 17:30, the crowd headed back to the hotel for the rest of the events.

    At 21:00 four parallel events started:

    Harley hosted the Gemedet Tournament, a game in which two players take turns placing pieces of their color in a three dimensional grid nine wide, nine long, and nine layers high. The objective is to complete an unbroken straight line of six pieces of the players color. Any direction the line of six can fit will count, including diagonals.

    Dan Binder hosted Name That Tune, a competition in which the attendees identified songs and tracks from the Myst games.

    Eleri and Curator hosted two more Unwritten sessions.


    After some announcements from the convention staff, Sunday started at 11:00 KIT with Cyan Games Completed Rapidly Live, a marathon of Myst games hosted by the Guild of Speedrunners, to show the differences and the development of its various iterations, in celebration of 30 years of Myst.

    At the 12:00 panel Uru Demake, Phil R showcased his ‘de-make’ of Uru, a recreation of some of the Ages in a very simple 2D pixel art engine called Bitsy; he discussed the process of translating puzzles from Uru into a minimalist style and redesigning some of the puzzles based on player feedback.

    After lunch, at the 15:00 panel Myst Documentary, filmmaker Philip Shane and team members Randy Woods, Joshua Reinstein, Katie Postma and Elana Bogdan gave an update about The Myst Documentary, highlighting how it will be structured and showing a few clips about the Miller family. Attendees were given an exclusive sneak peek.

    At 17:00 the Closing Ceremonies were held, wrapping up this year’s convention, running the prize drawing, showing the “Crafting With Watermelon” video, and announcing next year’s location: Montreal, Canada!


    Thanks and kudos to the Mysterium Committee, who did a great job at organising and managing the event.

    Looking forward to next year!

  • The Cavern Today 46: Live from Mysterium

    The Cavern Today 46: Live from Mysterium

    “Around the world and across the Ages…” The Cavern Today podcast has been bringing listeners news & views from the Myst fan community since 2005 – and now, for the first time, we’ve recorded a live, in-person podcast from Mysterium 2023 in Spokane! For this, our Summer 2023 edition, join Sh’aeri, Esto, Dalken and Maurus as we discuss:

    • Our trials and tribulations getting to Mysterium
    • The last time TCT members were at a Spokane Mysterium
    • What we’ve loved about Mysterium so far
    • Excitement for tomorrow’s trip to Cyan HQ
    • Audience Q&A

    For the first time ever, you will also be able to WATCH this episode, filmed live at the convention, at Mysterium’s own YouTube page, once it goes live.

    We want to give a HUGE shout-out to all the Mysterium staff for their help making this happen, and for their awesome job putting together the biggest Mysterium to date. You guys rock! We also want to extend a thank you to Justthinktink, who was a huge help to us, and made us awesome TCT-themed gear for the occasion. Thank you so much for your support – we love you!

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

  • The Cavern Today 45: Live from the Cavern

    The Cavern Today 45: Live from the Cavern

    For GoMe affiliate The Cavern Today’s Spring 2023 edition, we’re excited to bring you something a little different this time: our first LIVE episode, recorded live in The Cavern Today’s Hood in D’ni on May 5, 2023. Due to the “live” nature of this recording, the format for this episode will be a little different; a bit more like the streamlined talk-only format of Over the Fence.

    Join Maurus, Esto, Dalken, Bert and Sh’aeri, as we discuss:

    • Cyan’s new Firmament Trailer
    • Thoughts on the MOULa Q1 Update
    • State of the Cavern
    • TCT is coming to Mysterium 2023!

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

  • The Cavern Today 44: Make a Home

    The Cavern Today 44: Make a Home

    ’Tis the season to be jolly! GoMe affiliate The Cavern Today is closing out 2022 with a special holiday podcast, featuring:

    • Cavern News with Dalken Starbyne
    • Skit
    • TCT Talk with Bert, Esto, J’nathus, Maurus, Narym & Sh’aeri
    • Cavern PSAs with Mowog
    • Interview with Keith “Tweek” Lord
    • Musical Piece: “Ages of Tweek Suite” by Sasha Strange

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

  • August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

    August 2022 All Guilds Meeting Summary

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

    Contents

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

    Mysterium

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

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

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

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

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

    The last round of special guests have been announced:

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

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

    MOULa updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Town Hall

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

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

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

    Summer Festival

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

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

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

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

    Chiso Preniv updates

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

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

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

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

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

    How to be a tester (click to expand)

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

    Cavern Tours

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

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

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

    D’ni Language Classes

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

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

    R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

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

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

    Miscellanea

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

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

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

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

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

    Until then!

  • The Cavern Today Podcast Returns! New Episode: “Restoration”

    The Cavern Today Podcast Returns! New Episode: “Restoration”

    GoMe affiliate The Cavern Today is back with its first podcast in nearly a decade! As some may have suspected, we have been hard at work on a new episode ever since we re-launched our site archives back in April – and after months of work, we are proud to finally present a brand-new episode of The Cavern Today podcast in its original variety show format, appropriately titled “Restoration,” with special guest Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn.

    For our Summer 2022 edition, we are pleased to bring you:

    • Cavern News with Alhon and Narym
    • Skit
    • TCT Talk with Bert, Dalken, J’nathus and Maurus, featuring our interview with Patrick “Doobes” Dulebohn
    • Mowog’s Thought for the Pod
    • A tribute to Jeff Wise, and a reprise of his musical piece “Kerath’s Arch”
    • Sh’aeri’s “That’s Just Me of Course”

    This episode is dedicated to TCT staffer Jeff Wise and Frank “Stungthumbz” Whiting, who both passed away in 2020 – though you have linked to the perfect age, you’ll always be in our hearts.

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

  • {:en}The Cavern Today’s Archives are Back!{:}{:it}Gli archivi di The Cavern Today sono tornati!{:}

    {:en}The Cavern Today’s Archives are Back!{:}{:it}Gli archivi di The Cavern Today sono tornati!{:}

    {:en}{:en}After a herculean effort rebuilding our feed, remastering audio & updating old art, we are pleased to announce The Cavern Today’s podcast feed has been officially relaunched, and our complete podcast archives are now available on your favorite streaming services, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.

    In addition, our newly-updated website now features the return of content we haven’t made available since 2010, including exclusive interviews with Rand Miller, coverage of the 2006 Cyan Pizza Party, and at long last, our archives of The Cavern Today Extra – our “shortwave” service which covered important in-cavern updates between 2005-2008.

    To be clear, this is only a relaunch of our archives, and we have no plans for any new content at this time. However, if that changes, we’ll be sure to let you know.

    Check us out at The Cavern Today – and when you’re in-cavern, feel free to stop by The Cavern Today’s Hood to say hello!{:}{:it}Dopo uno sforzo erculeo per ricostruire il nostro feed, rimasterizzare l’audio e aggiornare la vecchia grafica, siamo lieti di annunciare che il feed del podcast di The Cavern Today è stato ufficialmente rilanciato e i nostri archivi completi del podcast sono ora disponibili sui vostri servizi di streaming preferiti, inclusi Apple Podcasts, Spotify e Pocket Casts.

    Inoltre, il nostro sito web da poco aggiornato ora comprende il ritorno di contenuti che non avevamo reso disponibili dal 2010, comprese interviste esclusive con Rand Miller, il resoconto del Cyan Pizza Party del 2006 e, finalmente, i nostri archivi di The Cavern Today Extra – il nostro servizio a “onde corte” che ha coperto importanti aggiornamenti in caverna tra il 2005 e il 2008.

    Per essere chiari, questo è solo un rilancio dei nostri archivi, al momento non abbiamo in programma alcun nuovo contenuto. Tuttavia, se le cose dovessero cambiare, ve lo faremo di certo sapere.

    Venite a visitarci a a The Cavern Today – e quando siete nella caverna, sentitevi liberi di passare per il Quartiere The Cavern Today’s Hood per salutare!{:}