Never Fell To Myst
Information For Those Exploring
the D'ni Civilization For The First Time
[taught as an introductory class to new explorers in Myst Online URU Live (MOUL) and presented here verbatim; the words in all CAPS were used as cues to help in teaching an online typed course]
In this class we will cover the very first aspects of URU encountered by new explorers. If this is your first experience with any of the Myst series, you are probably very confused. You may even be too confused to know what to ask and of whom. I hope by the end of this talk you will have a context with which to work.
URU is not a role-playing game or RPG, in the classic sense. You can not become something other than human. There are no stats to remember, no killing folks to steal their stuff, no levels to achieve. URU LIVE is an alternate reality game or ARG. Your appearance and abilities here are limited only by human imagination and the nature of the computer on which you play. This is also a puzzle game, where ingenious machinery and strange locks must be solved to progress through the game.
You will hear the terms IC and OOC, for in character and out of character. When you are IC all things you see are real and happening now. Those around you are other explorers and this is the world, not a game. When you are OOC you speak of URU as a game and yourself as a player.
THE GOAL OF THE GAME
If you listen to the corporate response we are here to explore and restore the lost civilization of the D’ni. Leading the effort is the D’NI RESTORATION COUNCIL (DRC) the Cyan Game Corporation’s IC appearance in URU. The D’ni left their home world many centuries ago and traveled by way of a LINKING BOOK to a huge cavern beneath the New Mexico desert. The D’ni were a long-lived people whose civilization was destroyed by internecine conflict. A single family escaped the destruction and escaped to the surface, where the grandmother ANNA took up life in a CLEFT above the cavern in New Mexico.
HISTORY OF THE STRANGER
In the previous Cyan games the player portrays the UNNAMED STRANGER. The first encounter is in MYST, where the Stranger finds a LINKING BOOK where the player falls to an island full of strange wonderful things and a mystery to solve. A man named ATRUS knows that at least one of his two sons has vengefully burned his library and the Stranger must discover which son is guilty. In later games, the player helps Atrus free his wife Catherine, retrieve a linking book stolen by a madman, resolve the imprisonment of Atrus’ sons while rescuing the precocious daughter YEESHA.
With the release of URU and the extension pack called PATH OF THE SHELL we see Yeesha as a grown woman, almost a mystical cult figure who is passionate in her crusade to free the BAHRO, a sentient primate species who have the power to link without the art of writing books. Their ancestors were enslaved by the D’ni, controlled by a mystical tablet which was taken by the Bahro in the final game END OF AGES. The screeches you hear throughout the Cavern are those of the Bahro.
Your first introduction to URU is in the desert Cleft. You meet a former member of the DRC, JEFF ZANDI, who sits beside his airstream trailer next to the Cleft. At a time in the recent past the DRC attempted to close off exploration to the lost city below, but Zandi – inspired by Yeesha and his father Elias – encourages explorers to enter the Cleft and from there to enter the ages of the D’ni. You may consider the Cleft as a training age, a place to practice the skills you will need to solve the many puzzles throughout the game. The purpose of the Cleft and the following PRIME AGES is to collect 7 journey cloths in each age to open the door to the bahro
BAHRO CAVES
Most of the puzzles involve entering a bahro cave, which is usually behind a large locked door. To get to the cave you have to get the door opened. Not every age or group of ages accesses the Bahro cave in the same way.
In the PRIME AGES you must find all seven journey cloths before the door will open. In other ages you will create a light symbol for transport to the bahro cave, either by finding a collection of journey cloths or by creating a light symbol through means specific to the age.
In the two Bevin GARDEN AGES it takes a team of eight working together to unlock the door.
In the POD AGES you must step through the sparkly portal for transport to the bahro cave.
AVATARS
One of the unique features of URU is the creation of an AVATAR – sometimes called an avvie. You chose a name, gender and appearance. The gender and the name are linked to an identification number, and can NOT be changed except by deleting the avvie and starting over. Every other aspect of your appearance can be changed at any time by going into the wardrobe in your Relto hut. Keep in mind that the people you see are avatars and are limited to what is in the wardrobe. However, men may play as women and women as men. Older players may appear as young hotties, and the very young will seem to be adults.
I use the term MC for mouse controller to describe my surface self. I make the distinction between my avatars and my MC to preserve the avvie illusion.
Each account with GameTap allows up to five avatars and the permitted free sub-account on another machine allows another five avatars. While most will only play as a single avvie – perhaps meant to be most like the explorer – there are some who play several explorers. Only one explorer can appear at a time unless there are two computers each with an account or sub-account. Therefore it is possible for one person to manage several explorers at the same time.
Rather than tormenting yourself in trying to figure out who is who in REAL LIFE (RL), I suggest that you accept the avvie illusion and treat all as the individuals they appear to be.
RELTO
The Relto looks a bit bare when you start, but over time you will find things to add to your private age. No one can come to Relto without an invitation from you.
In front of the hut is a pillar with a linking book to the Cleft, which is where your exploration adventure begins. Also outside is an empty circular stone structure that looks like a fire pit. It is called the STACK; over time sections of rock rings are added that mark your progress. As more things are available for Relto you can decide which ones you want to display, further customizing your Relto’s appearance.
Inside the hut you have the wardrobe and two book shelves. For the moment we will concern ourselves with the shelf to the left of the wardrobe. Over time books will be added to the shelves as more areas open for exploration. For most of the ages you visit a book appears on the shelf or a page is added to a book already there. Any page with a folded corner can be turned to reveal other pages.
When you first come to Relto there is only one book on the shelf. It is on the top shelf, far left and is your link to your bevin neighborhood. You will need to go there first to get your ki and to update the ki. Once you have your ki, have upgraded it and used the Nexus, two more books will appear in the section of the shelf reserved for your PERSONAL BOOKS
THE BEVIN
THE NEXUS
THE CITY
Once you have completed the initial visit to the Cleft, you will have four pillar holders in your yard. Open each and link to the age presented. Once you have linked to all four of the PRIME AGES you will see the following books on your shelf.
GAHREESEN
TELEDAHN
KADISH
EDER GIRA
A visit to the city’s museum reveals the four POD AGES and once you have linked to each you will find four more books on your shelf
NEGILAHN
DERENO
PAYIFEREN
TETSONOT
And so it will go throughout your explorations. For the moment we have a lot of shelf space but it will fill up over time.
Move your cursor to the bottom of the screen to bring up icons for RELTO, the KI, the WRENCH, and the LOGOUT icon. From this last icon you can leave URU or change to a different avatar.
Relto will undergo renovations throughout your explorations. For now let me say that you can get four types of things:
MARKERS
RELTO PAGES
BAHRO TOTEMS
PERSONAL ITEMS
BEVIN
Every new explorer is assigned to a DRC BEVIN. You may be alone or with others. The neighbors online are in the bottom section of the ki list to the left of the screen. I will cover the KI functions in the second class tomorrow.
The bevin has several areas. The COURTYARD is where you linked in and has a fountain – in which you may sit, splash, dance and jump. There is an imager to the left of the telescope where bevin members post information and pictures. The imager to right contains a list of recent bevin visitors.
Below the courtyard is the WATER GARDEN, with its beautiful coloured lights. Between the base of the stairs and the water garden is the Ayoheek table. Commonly called HEEK, this is a D’ni variant of rock-paper-scissors. In Heek pen beats book, book beats bug, bug beats pen. To play the game two or more players must be seated at the table. Heek is a great way to pass the time here.
Cross the garden to the back stairs to reach the UPPER COURTYARD. There are small variations in the bevins. Some have oriental lanterns. Some have a giant D’ni clock. Some have both lanterns and clocks. Some have no decorations at all.
To the left of the clock the first door leads to the CLASSROOM. Inside you will find a notebook of basic instructions for using you ki and operating the Nexus. The room next to the classroom is the EGG ROOM, meant for quiet contemplation of the Great Seed. Each alcove can be closed and the door is timed to open on its own after 5 minutes. Another thing to know about the Egg Room is that it exists within a cone of silence, which means that typed chat inside a closed alcove can not be read by anyone outside.
Across the upper courtyard is the LINKING ROOM, also known as the BOOK ROOM. In the center of this room is the bevin’s link to the Nexus. On the far left under the stained glass window is the link book to Gahreesen. On the far right is a link book to the Great Zero Antechamber. At the back center is the bevin’s instance of one of the two garden ages, TSOGAL and DELIN. And in the front center is a linking stone to the bevin’s instance of the city.
Leaving the linking room through the opposite door and walking along the upper walkway you come to a large room, variously called THE THEATRE, THE AUDITORIUM, or THE COMMUNITY ROOM. Upon leaving the theatre you will find yourself on the upper walkway over looking FOUNTAIN COURTYARD again.
GETTING YOUR KI
You probably already have it, but if you meet those who have not obtained the ki, direct them to the bevin CLASSROOM to read the notebook instructions and to study the charts on the wall. Upon leaving the classroom, cross the UPPER COURTYARD to the LINKING ROOM and use the book to the far left to reach GAHREESEN. Signs in the age point to the ki dispenser. The ki is operational the moment you withdraw your hand from the machine.
Near the ki dispenser is a linking book to NEXUS and from the hub you can return to your bevin using the top most link under the big button. Return to the LINKING ROOM and use the far right book to reach the GREAT ZERO ANTECHAMBER. You will find another notebook of instructions and another ki machine. Upon putting the ki into the machine, the ki will be upgraded to receive the first 15 MARKERS. I will cover collecting markers in tomorrow night’s session.
AGES and INSTANCES
We refer to our individual ages as INSTANCES. We all have instances of each age, of our bevin, and of the city. There may be subtle differences between instances. When you explore one of the prime ages with another explorer, each is on a separate journey even though you are working together in the same instance. The journey cloths mark the progress of each explorer separately.
Some linking books, both in the bevin book room and on personal Relto shelves, are BEVIN-INSTANCED. Only bevin members can link to Gahreesen, the Antechamber and into the city with the linking stone. These will not work for outsides. On Relto you will have books that can be shared with all, but there are some books that are bevin instanced or entirely personal; they can not be shared.
LINKING BOOKS and LINKING STONES
There are two forms of links available in URU – books and stones. A LINK BOOK has an opening page which marks the link in spot for that age. Some books get additional pages as you explore.
In the Cleft and the subsequent prime ages, you will be searching for JOURNEY CLOTHS. The cloths mark your progress through each age, and also act as bookmarks. The last cloth touched is active and if you open the book to the cloth page and link, you will arrive in that area of the age. Keep in mind which cloth you left active. You may need to return to a specific area again and the cloth is essential to a quick link.
A LINK STONE is created by the bahro. The stone is stationary but may add a page to your city book. The bahro are notorious for moving the stones around, so don’t be surprised that a stone that was there yesterday is not there today.
THE NEXUS
The NEXUS is a transportation hub. Using your ki activates the machine. You will be presented with a screen of links. At the very top under the big button is the name of your bevin.
You have CITY LOCATIONS with a single link for the Ferry Terminal. Upon visiting the city you will find more Nexus machines in other areas. Putting your ki into the machines will add those links to the City Locations links in Nexus.
The PRIVATE LINKS are those sent to you by other explorers, to their bevins and instances of ages. The PUBLIC LINKS will show you all the bevins that you can visit. Keep in mind that the Nexus holds only a fixed number of entries at a time and bevins fall off the list all the time. To visit a bevin not currently displayed you will have to find a member of that bevin to either send you an invitation or open the bevin by putting it back on the list. The PERSONAL LINKS will take you to all your age-instanced invites.
BAHRO TOTEMS
Most of the time you can pass through the door at your leisure. In those cases where speed is necessary to get through the door or portal, keep running until you hear the LINKING SOUND, then stop running.
Once you enter the cave, you will find yourself inside a large dry cavern standing on a ledge. In the PRIME AGE instances you will hear Yeesha speak and see a pillar standing at the edge. Touch the hand symbol on the wall, the pillar will crumble to sparks. In addition to the pillar, you will also collect a wedge of stone.
In the other ages you will see a rotating ring of stone. Again, touch the symbol on the wall to collect the totem, which will crumble and be added to the STACK on Relto. It may be a quarter, a half or the full ring.
Your Relto linking book does NOT work inside a Bahro cave. To leave the cave jump through the hole in the center and will fall to Relto.
PODS and PORTALS
The four pod ages have linking books in the CITY MUSEUM. It is rather like a trip to the zoo, but instead of the animals being in the cage, you are. These are the PODS. After you visit each one the book will be added to your Relto shelf. They are the jungle world of NEGILAHN, the arctic ocean of DERENO, the desert world of PAYIFEREN, and the submerged world of TETSONOT.
At specific intervals a PORTAL opens in the pod. As you walk through the portal you are transported to a bahro cave. Touch the symbol on the wall to collect a portion of the rock ring that is turning slowly in the air above the cave’s opening. Once the rock crumbles to sparks it will be added to the STACK on Relto.
To learn more about when the portals will appear in each pod, visit
http://www.uru-reallife.com/dnidatetime/release5/map.html
FINDING THINGS
The Cavern and its ages are full of all sorts of surprises, many of which you can take with you back to Relto. These you will learn about in time.
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