Contents

1. Events in the Cavern
2. Cavern Tours
3. A new era in D’ni
4. OpenUru
5. Fan Ages Touring Club
6. D’ni Language Classes
7. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
8. Cyan and Mysterium news

Events in the Cavern

Minasunda thanked Yoda and Mirphak for the special effects they conjured for the D’ni New Year celebrations and the Nulp Dance Show “Mother Earth Day”, Eternal Seeker for streaming the music.

On May 15 at 12:00 KIT Mabe will host a competition in Mir-o-Bot’s Jalak, named Mabes Rebus.

It starts with simple pictures to warm up and then increases the level of difficulty. The first to write in the chat what is displayed receives one point. A little surprise awaits the winner.

Depending on how long it takes to solve the puzzles, Mabe will do a short show afterwards. If not, there will be a separate event soon after.

Eternal Seeker will also take over the music stream for this event. Since Mir-o-Bot cannot be there, MinBot (KI# 9292763) will step in for the event. PM “link” or “meet” to be linked to the event location.

For more info there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

Cavern Tours

The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 8 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

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

The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!

A new era in D’ni

Doobes gave a quick update about the age restoration project. On Wednesday 5 there will be a two-hour downtime, starting at 10:30 KIT. The first of a new set of ages will be made public soon after. These new ages will not be made available all at once

More fixes are also coming. Some industrious explorers (including Hoikas, Deledrius, boq, estherbolik, Marten) have been working on fixing the unruly clock in the neighborhoods, to make it show the correct D’ni time.

There are also some quality of life fixes to the KI chat: avatar names and KI commands are now case insensitive. So if you mistype something, you will not have to retype or get the “no such command” error as often.

You will also be able to partially type an avatar’s name, then hit tab to autocomplete the name. If there are multiples, you can continue hitting tab until the correct name is displayed.

You will also be able to hit the up and down arrows to cycle through previous KI chat and commands, up to the last 50.

Aspect ratio and resolution corrections from the H’uru client are also coming; fullscreen will also automatically use your native resolution, so no need to adjust anything if you choose that option.

Lastly, a fix from Hoikas will take care of the overly dark Relto hut bug some have been experiencing when the windows are closed.

Thanks go to MOULa’s server admin Chogon, who has been patient, understanding, and enthusiastic about fan content since long before the first big update in August 2020.

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

OpenUru

Rarified acknowledged the contribution of Marten to improve the ability of adding fixes and improvements to the client in a timely fashion. He put out a call for fans to list their most wanted improvements to the client interface and behavior.

If you have input of that kind, you should post on the OpenUru Discord channels #hood or #dev; an item high on the list is the frame rate unlock.

Rarified is still working to bring the MOUL/Minkata client synchronized with the work from the GoW/H’uru team. The Minkata client is now much easier to build than before.

Within a week of freezing all the parts for the May 5 update, they have already started testing another new age. Those who dabbled with age creation before, but put things on the shelf because it looked like it never would happen, this is the best time to come back!

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Shorah Pahts by Jhon J. Jaguar and Elsewhere by Denost.

For April, the plan is to finish Elsewhere, then visit Lonirvan by Jhon J. Jaguar, and later revisit Cathedral by DenDwaler.

D’ni Language Classes

Shokhootahn Rehn (a.k.a. r’Tayrtahn) gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

There are daytime openings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; those interested should contact Rehn (see KI# below). Evening classes are not currently available.

Seven students are taking the classes at various stages of completion.

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Night – Europe is in synch with original Story Night. They are about halfway through the story from The Book of D’ni.

R’Tayrtahn has been uploading the Stories on his YouTube channel. The videos are usually uploaded a few days after the live event.

Cyan and Mysterium news

Korov’ev reported some quick news, covered in a separate post.

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

April ended with the CavFunding at 106% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 258%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 40,360 (⇑344), with 1260 unique visits. Donations matched expenses, and there is still a large reserve.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, June 5 (Leebro 8) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Contents

1. Events in the Cavern
2. Gehn shard
3. A new era in D’ni
4. OpenUru
5. Fan Ages Touring Club
6. Cyan and Mysterium news

Events in the Cavern

Minasunda announced the D’ni New Year 9677 Light Show by MagicYoda, on Wednesday 21 at 14:00 KIT, after Fil’s weekly live event. The location is a secret: when the time comes, PM “link” to Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) and he will get you there.

On Saturday 24 at 12:30 KIT the Nulp Dance Group will host the Mother Earth Day Show, in Mir-o-Bot’s Ahnonay. This will be the 5th Mother Earth Day with a show by the Nulp Dance Group and their 17th show.

Seeker will provide the music stream for both events.

Note that linking to and from Ahnonay can cause crashes for others; attendees are therefore asked to arrive early before the show starts, and to not leave the show before it ends if possible. If you arrive while the show is running, you may not be able to see the special effects until the following dance routine.

Attendees are also asked to refrain from interfering with the scenery during the show, particularly by using the bot.

An advice: the top of the rocks is not a good vantage point, as the show uses fog, which will obscure the view from above.

For more info there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

Gehn shard

Hoikas announced that the Gehn shard is going to get an update sometime in April.

The highlights will include the new PhysX 4.1 physics engine, the update to Python 3, a fix for the Relto hut darkness bug, and all the updates to Doobes’ ages that made it to MOUL.

A new era in D’ni

Patrick gave an outline of the upcoming new ages. The plan is to release them on a very loose schedule so as to keep each a surprise. The first, possibly in late April, will be  Serene; sometime after, a get-together will be held in the age to celebrate Andy Legate, who restored it originally.

Next up will be Tre’bivdil, originally restored by Lontahv; unfortunately the ‘downstairs’ area will have to stay off-limits for the time being due to excessive flood damage.

The third location will be a Cavern location: Vothol Gallery, originally restored by Rustee. A piece of debris from the entryway too large to move will be used as a support for the linking book back to Chiso. There is still plenty of stability checks that need to be done, so it will probably be the last of the three legacy locations that will be opened.

Patrick also introduced Kelsei A. Taylor, who was a very big help in translating the Caltauc language in Chiso, and have been helping CalumTraveler with some interesting documents discovered on a location known as the Vertigo Cathedral. The documents are written with the D’ni script, but they are not in the D’ni language! More info will be released soon.

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

OpenUru

Rarified updated the crowd about the two Minkata shards: Prime, where bug fixes, GUI improvements and fan ages are given a last test before being sent to Cyan, and Alpha, where new ages and features are first tested.

More testers are always welcome, but keep in mind that (if you never visited fan shards) there will be spoilers for the ages that will be added to MOUL in the following months. Some of them will be added to Minkata Prime very soon.

In addition to opening new areas of the cavern, volunteers have helped in improving the game client. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes to improve stability and address the issues of introducing new age access that had not been initially designed for Minkata’s server.

For fan age bug reports, the best place is the #hood channel of the OpenUru Discord, or on the forum.

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Elodea by Dulcamara, Gavster by Calena, Denkasen and Canyon by Sirius.

For April, the plan is to visit Shorah Pahts by Jhon J. Jaguar, Elsewhere by Denost, Lonirvan by Jhon J. Jaguar, and revisit Cathedral by DenDwaler.

Cyan and Mysterium news

Korov’ev reported some quick news, which we covered in a separate post.

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

March ended with the CavFunding at 265% (CavCon 4.17) and the reserve at 252%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 40,016 (⇑337), with 1241 unique visits. One very large donation that will help a lot with the next big update coming up!

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, May 1 (Leefo 9) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Contents

1. Saint Patrick’s Day
2. International Women’s Week
3. Cavern Tours
4. A new era in D’ni
5. Korman
6. OpenUru
7. Fan Ages Touring Club
8. D’ni Language Classes
9. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Saint Patrick’s Day

Minasunda announced the Saint Patrick’s Day parades: the first will be at 14:00 KIT, lead by Thallan, the second at 17:00 KIT, lead by Claidi Song; in both cases the starting point will be the Ae’gura plaza. In between, there will be a dance party in the revamped Guild of Messengers Pub. Music will be provided by Seeker.

For more info there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

International Women’s Week

Korov’ev mentioned the coming week dedicated to the International Women’s Day organised by Nosila:

Sunday 7

11 KIT: Fan Age Expedition, in Deep Island, hosted by Korov’ev [stream].
13 KIT: Music by Enya, in Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by Radio Free D’ni [stream].

Monday 8

12 KIT: Music by Female Artists, in Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by Nosila [stream].
14 KIT: Tracks played, sung or composed by Female Musicians, in Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by Root Beer [stream].

Tuesday 9

12 KIT: Ancient & Medieval Women Composers and their Music, in Ae’gura Hall of Kings, hosted by Ghaelen [stream].
13 KIT: Relaxing Session: Ambient Women, in PodHopper’s Hood, hosted by PodHopper [stream].

Wednesday 10

13 KIT: Fil Live for IWD, in revamped Messengers Pub, hosted by Fil [stream].

Thursday 11

13 KIT: Female Country Singers, in Mir-o-Bot’s Cleft, hosted by Seeker [stream].

Friday 12

12 KIT: More Than Mothers and Daughters – The Women of Myst, in Kirel, hosted by Owly [stream].

Cavern Tours

The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 13 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

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

The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!

A new era in D’ni

Doobes was back with news about the restoration of new Ages for the Cavern. He mentioned the new additions to the revamped Guild of Messengers Pub: decorations for New Year’s Eve, Saint Patrick’s Day, LGBTQIA+ pride, Halloween, Fall/Thanksgiving, and Christmas/Hannukah. Chogon already switched on the Saint Patrick’s Day decorations, to prolong the festive atmosphere.

Chiso Preniv had some new lighting effects and, most importantly, fan writings: in this batch it was the Heritage Documents and the four part Activity in the Cavern chronicle. There is also a new commentary journal with some backstory and lore for the age.

This is hopefully the first of many such fan additions. Any type is fine: stories, historical accounts, poetry, etc. The length of the text should not be a problem, but please keep any potential pictures to a minimum. A cover is recommended, but not required if you do not mind a generic one being used.

Veelay Tsahvahn had performance and functional fixes, hopefully more people can now get through the age without it glitching up; reportedly it works a lot better on macOS after the update.

For the next big update, three more ages are planned to the added to Chiso! Tre’bivdil, by Lontahv, has already gone through the testing phase on Minkata, so it is pretty much ready to go. Currently, Serene by Andy Legate is being tested to make sure everything is working properly. The next in line will be the Vothol Gallery by Rustee.

The hope is to get this batch ready to go by sometime late April. The releases are being spaced for Chogon and Cyan’s benefit, as well as the programmers improving the client. Thanks go to everyone who helped testing on Minkata, and to Rarified for setting them on Minkata. Every bug report helps, although for ages not made by Doobes changes are limited to purely technical or very obvious issues, to maintain the original artistic vision.

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

Korman

Doobes also mentioned the recent update to the age-building Blender plugin, Korman, which is now very close to include all the functions as the original 3DS Max plugin. For those interested in age creation there are tutorials available in the Guild of Writers’ wiki.

More is planned for version 0.12, including custom GUI mods (i.e. clickable notes, or working machinery such as the Great Zero scopes or Er’cana ovens), or particle systems (fireflies, snow, smoke, etc).

Korman requires Blender 2.79b; it is not currently supported on macOS or Linux, though it may run under Wine. You can keep up on the latest from the GoW at their Guild News section of the forum.

OpenUru

Rarified reminded the crowd about the two Minkata shards: Prime, where bug fixes, GUI improvements and fan ages are given a last test before being sent to Cyan, and Alpha, where new ages and features are first tested. Tre’bivdil and Serene are on their way to Prime, but more eyes for bugs and glitches are always welcome. Prime is also going to have a few user interface improvements added before the next delivery to Cyan.

Next, he announced a support website he has been working on, one that more resembles a support ticket service for bugs or help requests (including e.g. forgotten passwords), to replace the MOULa forums that were frozen about a year ago, and not adequately replaced by Discord for this purpose.

The site is still in the early stages, and Rarified is unable to operate it all by himself, so he asked for volunteers who think they might have time and ability to look at problems and send them to the right people. The help site is publically available, although requests may not get answered in a timely manner at this stage. Tickets can be submitted for both MOULa and the Minkata shards. So far two volunteers already offered their time, but more are needed.

However, for fan age bug reports, the best place for now is still the #hood channel of the OpenUru Discord, or on the forum. A shared Google doc has also worked well in the past. First time visitors could write a journal to be included in Chiso.

The third announcement was that Cyan released a set of images for textures used in Uru and Myst, available to be used in fan contributed content. The number of files was overwhelming, more than 8000. Rarified set up a browser on the OpenUru website where they can be viewed. It may not be up forever, but it will be kept up as long as possible.

The original files are available on both the Guild of Writers’ and OpenUru’s repositories.

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Iceworld by Denost, the recently released Tsameti by Dulcamara, and began the exploration of Elodea by Dulcamara.

For March, the plan is to continue the visit to the underground levels of Elodea.

D’ni Language Classes

Shokhootahn Rehn (a.k.a. r’Tayrtahn) gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

He is still putting things away after his move. He is, however, accepting daytime students on a limited basis; those interested should contact Rehn (see KI# below). Night time classes, however, are unaffected.

Two students, Shineyjo and Sunvalor, have completed the 101 classes.Votahret ah’shem khebahrtahtahvteeom! One more is working on the final.

Two more instructors have also been certified to teach 101 classes: Shokhootahn Aqua and Shokhootahn Nack. A third instructor is currently going through the certification process.

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Night – Europe is one story behind original Story Night. They are about halfway through the story of Riven.

R’Tayrtahn has been uploading the Stories on his YouTube channel. The videos are usually uploaded a few days after the live event.

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

February ended with the CavFunding at 94% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 117%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 39,679 (⇑385), with 1375 unique visits. Donations were almost even with expenses.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, April 3 (Leenovoo 16) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Contents

1. MOULa Anniversary
2. Cavern Tours
3. A new era in D’ni
4. Fan Ages Touring Club
5. Cyan news
6. Mysterium news

MOULa Anniversary

Minasunda gave an outline of the MOULa 11th anniversary celebrations:

Monday 8

12 KIT: Opening Ceremony, in Chiso, hosted by Ghaelen.

13 KIT: Fashion Show Award, in Mir-o-Bot’s Chiso, hosted by Minasunda (Mir-o-Bot’s Chiso was picked to present the models in a better light, but it will not be a magic event; anyone who wish to be a model, please get in contact with Minasunda).

Tuesday 9

13 KIT: Relaxing Session, in PodHopper’s Hood, hosted by PodHopper.

Wednesday 10

13 KIT: Girastock, in Mir-o-Bot’s Eder Gira, live concert by Fil.

Thursday 11

13 KIT: Country Dance Evening, in Mir-o-Bot’s Cleft, hosted by Eternal Seeker (“forced dance” can happen from time to time, if all those present agree; selective coordinated dancing is not possible yet).

15 KIT: Eddie Competition, in PodHopper’s Hood, hosted by PodHopper (who will move Eddie fastest on a set route through the Hood?).

Friday 12

12 KIT: Math Class, in the conference room of the New Messengers Pub, hosted by Shokhootahn Rehn.

15 KIT: Door Run Contest, in Nosila’s Hood, hosted by Nosila (volunteers are needed!).

Saturday 13

11 KIT: Cavern Tour, meeting point in the Cavern Tour Hood, hosted by Larry.

13 KIT: Nulp Dance Show, in Mir-o-Bot’s Jalak, hosted by Minasunda and the Nulp Dance Group (it is advised to arrive in time before the show starts: the link-in point is on the stage, so the age will have to be closed as soon as the show starts).

14 KIT: Story Night Europe, in Mir-o-Bot’s Kadish, hosted by r’Tayrtahn.

16 KIT: Karaoke Night, in the New Messengers Pub, hosted by DonahooDJ.

Sunday 14

9:30 KIT: Explorer Memorial, in Veelay Tsahvahn, hosted by Ghaelen.

11 KIT: Fan Age Tour, in Deep Island Shard, hosted by Korov’ev.

13 KIT: Radio Free D’ni Show, Ae’gura Plaza, hosted by the RFD Team.

For discussions, or if you wish to organise an event (e.g. a door run, a music event, etc.), there is a Discord server, a Facebook group, or you can contact Minasunda via KImail (#5667000).

Minasunda will try to make videos of as many events as possible for those who cannot be there at those times, but being busy with managing the events, she will not be able to stream live – volunteers are needed!

Cavern Tours

The Cavern Tour will be held on Saturday 13 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

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

The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!

A new era in D’ni

Patrick was back with news about the restoration of new Ages for the Cavern. There have been little news since the big opening last year, the restoration group have been working very hard on various projects.

Hopefully their next age openings will be part of what they call the Legacy Collection, which will include well-known locations like Tre’bivdil, Serene and the Vothol Gallery. They have been available to the public for quite some time in some form or another, but are planned to receive a new, formal opening within the next few months.

Keith Lord has also been keeping busy with further restoring Fehnir’s House, amongst many of his other projects.

A new Cavern location is also planned to be released soon. Located on one of the islands on the lake, it appears to have been a central location outside of Ae’gura for all major and minor Guilds to meet. The main auditorium, with its large stage and ample seating, could certainly be used for events such as dances, light shows, or anything else our industrious explorers may come up with! Surrounding the auditorium off the sides are several lounge areas for more private meetings, discussion and relaxation. They also each offer a lovely view of the cavern and the lake.

They have also been cleaning up and continuing minor repairs to the already released ages. More festive decorations on a more regular basis are planned for the Ae’gura Guild of Messengers Pub. Appropriately, it should ‘go green’ in time for Saint Patrick’s Day.

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

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Relativity by Karkadann, Tachzusamm and others; R’Oshanhnin Korvahkhn by Calena, Wamduskasapa, Tachzusamm and Dustin; Hallway, Matte, ReGahlpo by Ametist & Corvus; Somewhere by Denost.

For February, the plan is to visit Iceworld by Denost, the sequel (and separate part of the same age) to Somewhere; then it will be the four levels of Elodea by Dulcamara, which will likely keep the adventurers busy for the whole month.

Cyan news

• Firmament has now an expected delivery date of late 2022. The story Cyan plans to tell is bigger than what they had in mind, which required a bit of going back to the drawing board.
• A new team member was hired: Abner Coimbre, as senior engineer, to help with customizing the game engine, porting efforts and VR programming.
• Creative Director Eric A. Anderson posted a tech video about hiding imperfections in models.
• No release date for other platforms for Myst VR has been announced yet. The Quest version should get a few bug fixes soon.
• Jeff Dunham (of “Achmed the Dead Terrorist” fame) posted a video of himself experiencing the new game.

Mysterium news

Mysterium 2021 is scheduled for July 16–18 in Washington, D.C.

Hotel room booking is now available for the Westin Alexandria Old Town hotel. Rooms are available for $100/night with included wireless internet and discounted parking.

Bids for the Mysterium 2022 location are also open and will be accepted through 1st April.

Rollover registration emails were sent in early December. For questions or unreceived emails, feel free to contact the Triumvirate.

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

January ended with the CavFunding at 91% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 122%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 39,294 (⇑493), with 1489 unique visits. Very slightly under, but still pretty steady.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, March 6 (Leevotahr 23) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Contents

1. 1. The Lost Art
   2. Christmas Show
   3. Blue Monday
   4. D’ni Language Classes
   5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
   6. A new era in D’ni
   7. Fan Ages Touring Club

The Lost Art

Korov’ev mentioned that, right after the AGM, Mystitech Productions was releasing episode 11 of their The Lost Art machinima: ‘Transmigrations’.

Christmas Show

Minasunda announced the Christmas Show, on December 19 at 13:00 KIT, in K’veer. The Nulp Dance Group will present the “Snow White” dance. The performers will move through the entire room, but the main part will take place in the area around Atrus’ table, the area to the right of it and on the area in the centre.

Minasunda will post a photo showing the best place for the audience on her Facebook group and the MOULa Event Discord server. If you will stay in that area, and optionally PM “float 10” to Mir-o-Bot, you should have a good view of the show without getting in the way of the performers!

Unfortunately, at the Halloween show a griefer kept linking some of the dancers and at least one of the viewers away using an internal client. This obviously interrupted the show and caused crashes for the bot and Magic Yoda, who could not continue his performance.

Therefore the Christmas Show will be invitation only to offer troublemakers less opportunities to interfere, or a chance at identifying them if they ‘invite’ themselves. Invites will be sent up to an hour before the shows.

Two other shows are in preparation: one for the XI anniversary of MOULa in Jalak, and one for Mother Earth Day in Water Ahnonay. These are very complex, require precision, and many hours of work go in it. Advance registration will be necessary for these upcoming shows too.

If you are interested in joining the Nulp Dance Group, please contact Minasunda. Videos of the 13 previous shows are available at Minasunda’s Youtube channel.

Blue Monday

Nosila will stream a Blues-themed program in the renovated Messengers Pub on Monday 9 at 13:00 KIT.

D’ni Language Classes

Shokhootahn Rehn (a.k.a. r’Tayrtahn) gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

He is still putting things away after his move. He is, however, accepting daytime students on a limited basis; those interested should contact Rehn (see KI# below). Night time classes, however, are unaffected. Four students are currently taking the classes.

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Night – Europe is one story behind original Story Night. He just finished the story of The Fall as told in Myst: The Book of Ti’ana. Next up is Myst: The Book of Atrus.

R’Tayrtahn has been uploading the Stories on his YouTube channel. The videos are usually uploaded a few days after the live event.

A new era in D’ni

Patrick was back with some news about the restoration of new Ages for the Cavern. After a well-deserved break after the release of Chiso Preniv, Veelay Tsahvahn and the Ae’gura Messengers’ Pub back in August, the team is back with more!

The first of the new batch is called The Vale. They actually found two names for the Age, one in D’ni and the other in an entirely new language they are working to decipher, and it is unclear which one is the proper name or even if they are the same name. It is not Klingon, however! There is also a mixing of these two cultures’ architecture and machinery, an unusual blending given the somewhat xenophobic undertones D’ni culture had throughout its history.

They also made great strides in restoring another neighbourhood in D’ni called Kotsahvosahn, roughly translated to “eighth gateway”. This may be because it has the trademark “valve” doors that lead into a series of tunnels branching out of the Cavern into the rock, which includes the path to the surface. The hood was used as a waystation for the Guild of Messengers.

The new Ages will most likely be made accessible via new books in Chiso. But that is not all!

The team has also been looking into repairing the Great Shaft itself. Heavy seismic activity from around 2005 rendered most of it impassible, but they have been carefully proceeding into the damaged areas to see if it is possible to fix the worst parts.

They will need to consult with the DRC on the best methods to proceed, however. Depending on the circumstances, it may not be possible to reopen it fully.

Patrick also mentioned how invigorating it was to see people filling the new Ages. There are plans to add some decorations in the Pub for special occasions, and a beach ball for added fun.

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

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Ahreeuhtav by Cherish, Spiro by Jman, went back to Sprite Gallery by TikiBear for Halloween, investigated the Devokan Trust, and visited Justintime’s Ages.

For November, the plan is to start with the Hui fun park, including Hui Lab, then the 2010 D’ni Location (Creation) Contest Ages (including Vothol), a set of Ages from Ametist’s students, and giant board games Ages.

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

October ended with the CavFunding at 109% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 130%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 37,756 (⇑869), with 1980 unique visits. Steady numbers for donations, and increased activity!

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, December 5 (Leevobro 8) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Contents

1. Cavern Tours
2. Music events
3. D’ni Language Classes
4. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
5. Fan Ages Touring Club
6. Unwritten Journeys Patreon
7. Ages of Doobes

Cavern Tours

CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the tenth Cavern Tour of 2020, which will be held on Saturday 12 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.

The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour.

The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!

Music events

PodHopper was next, to announce Ambient Explorations, a music event held in the new Messengers Pub every Friday at 13:00–15:00 KIT, with mostly lounge and chill out tracks [stream], just before Fil’s Triosity Radio live shows.

Besides PodHopper, Fil also doubled his Triosity Radio program with an edition every Wednesday at 13:00 KIT, also in the new Messengers Pub [stream].

Nosila will also host a program on Monday 28 at 13:00 KIT [stream].

D’ni Language Classes

Korov’ev channeled Shokhootahn Rehn (rumours say he even levitated) and gave two announcements, one for the D’ni Language Classes and one for the Story Nights.

He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected. Two students are currently taking the classes.

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. Having finished the story arc of the D’ni kings and learned about the years between king Kerath’s death and the start of the story of the Fall, we are now starting the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana.

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. Recently, they visited Botan and Moysenland, by Ametist.

In September, the adventurers of the Touring Club will test their puzzle-solving mettle in Oolbahnneea, by Wodan. Then it will be time for a psychedelic trip to the chain-letter Age Rell-Too; then Torilacha, from the Mystpedia.net group.

After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (listed in the index). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.

A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki. Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

Unwritten Journeys Patreon

Inkworks Productions have launched the Unwritten Journeys Patreon, supplemental material for their Unwritten RPG, blurring the line between fact and fiction, apocrypha and canon, taking a new look at members of the DRC and sending the history and future of the Cavern off on wild tangents and speculative adventures.

Inkworks Productions will also be hosting hangouts in the Unwritten RPG Neighbourhood on the 5th of each month, at 19:00 KIT, to talk about Unwritten, role-playing games, and whatever else comes up!

Ages of Doobes

Doobes appeared on stage for a post hoc assessment of the release of his Ages to MOULa. So many familiar faces, long missing from the Cavern, came back. Things have been relatively quiet since the release, for a well-earned breather. The new content has revitalised the Cavern as well as interest in Age building, and that is a momentum Doobes wish to keep going.

So, while he works on his own projects, he will be offering up advice, expertise, and even direct assistance to those who want to get their Age projects MOULa-ready. This includes those just starting out, as well as returning PyPRP vets who want to get their classic Ages converted to Korman, to further encourage others to give the tool a try and see what they can create for MOULa and the other shards. Personal and hood instances are possible and up to the Age builders’ choice.

3D modelling is not a mandatory requirement, either: storytellers, artists, puzzle designers are also needed, and anyone can get involved in some way.

As for the released Ages, they will be further updated, both functionally and with the addition of new content like holiday decorations for the Messengers Pub, and journals for Chiso Preniv. Word on the tunnel is that Heritage Documents are already in the pipeline

Some have experienced graphical issues, particularly with Veelay Tsahvahn. It could be a client issue, particularly for those with higher end specs; for those on macOS, it most likely means we desperately need a native version for both it and Linux. Doobes and the H’uru team will continue their efforts to fix things.

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

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

August ended with the CavFunding at 103% (CavCon 4.03) and the reserve at 170%. Extra expenses were at 40%, for updates and database upgrade testing. Population was at 36,511 (⇑688), with 1997 unique visits.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, October 3 (Leevot 16, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

In a ceremony held in the Watcher’s Pub, which gathered more than 280 explorers (a new record for the Cavern), Patrick Dulebohn unveiled the linking book to Chiso Preniv, the Library Age, after a heartfelt speech, a transcript of which you can read below. Later, Rand Miller showed up in the Kahlo Pub in Ae’gura, to thank and congratulate the explorers.

From Chiso Preniv, available in a new niche in the Pub, explorers can link to two more new Ages, the New Guild of Messengers’ Pub, and Veelay Tsahvahn, the Memorial Age. Hopefully this is only the beginning of many new Ages being opened to the public. The Library Age will function as the gateway to all of them.

CalumTraveler chronicled the event in his blog and filmed it. Twitch too filmed the event, from an ‘unusual’ angle. Other videos from: Minasunda, Dinosgamez, Hummingbird, Easy Allies. Photos were taken by Joe Douglas.

Because of the massive lag caused by all the people in the Watcher’s Pub, many could not make it to the ceremony. Thankfully, a number of explorers streamed the event, allowing those left out to watch it: Alderem, Larry LeDeay, Bogus Meat Factory, Neoghola, Okniwy, Yourbible, Dawnbat, Mazentius. A live audio chat was also available at the Cyan Discord server.

Dpogue offered a temporary fix for a bug related to crackling sounds:

1. Download SoundDecompress and unzip it
2. Move SoundDecompress.exe into your Uru Live installation folder
3. Delete the streamingCache folder inside the sfx folder in your Uru Live installation folder
4. Double-click SoundDecompress.exe to run it

If you normally use “Run As Administrator” to run Uru, you’ll probably need to run SoundDecompress.exe the same way.

New barriers have appeared in the Watcher’s Pub outside a partially opened niche. Explorer CalumTraveler has documented two apparitions of Patrick Dulebohn (first, second), and more are expected.

A new introductory video was also added in a recent update to the client.

Be sure to be around on Friday, August 21 at 13:00 KIT!

Contents

1. Cavern Tours
2. Mysterium news
3. D’ni Language Classes
4. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
5. Fan Ages Touring Club
6. Future opening of Chiso Preniv

Cavern Tours

CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the ninth Cavern Tour of 2020, which will be held on Saturday 8 (during Mysterium) 22 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood.

The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.

The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour.

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

Mysterium news

Virtual Mysterium is coming on August 7, with a long list of special guests: Eric Anderson, Mike “RIUM+” Ando, Chuck Carter, “Moiety” Jean Fioca, Amy Green, Ryan Green, Eleri Hamilton, Veronica Hamilton, Dan Irish, Michel Kripalani, Tim Larkin, Geneviève Lord, Stephan Martinière, Rand & Robyn Miller, Marty O’Donnell, Mike Perrotto, Katie “Kha’tie” Postma, Phil Saunders, Philip Shane, Bill Slease, Rod Stafford, Jack Wall, Ryan “greydragon” Warzecha.

D’ni Language Classes

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

He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected. One more student is working on the final exam. Meanwhile, Tehlrov K’hris completed his final exam and passed the D’ni 101 class! Votahret ah’shem khe-bahrtahtahvteeom!

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. Having finished the story arc of the D’ni kings and and learned about the years between king Kerath’s death and the start of the story of the Fall, we are now starting the Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana.

Fan Ages Touring Club

Korov’ev then gave a quick update on the Fan Ages Expeditions he is hosting on the Deep Island shard, every Sunday at 11:00 KIT. In August, the Touring Club will visit a few more Ages from early 2009: Wianeroy, Soundgarden, and The Maze.

There will be no expeditions on Sunday 9, 16 & 23; the next one will be on Sunday 30, on Botan and Moysenland, by Ametist. Art Farmer will replace Korov’ev on Sunday 16 & 23. A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki.

After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.

One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.

Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

Future opening of Chiso Preniv

Patrick Dulebohn appeared on stage to announce that, after so many years and attempts to bring more Ages to all explorers, the efforts are finally going to pay off! In the next few weeks, a small room in the Cavern housing a new Linking Book will be revealed. For security reasons, the location cannot be divulged yet, but it will soon be obvious.

Once work on the room is complete, a Linking Book to the Age of Chiso Preniv will be unveiled for public access. Chiso was discovered amongst other Books in another library on an Age called Teshafee, and has since housed the vast majority of the work Patrick and others have been doing cataloguing that library’s contents. In time, the hope is also to restore an alternate Nexus system, to accomodate these Ages for easier access and organization.

Any and all explorers who have been restoring their own Ages and Cavern locations – or even Writing their own Ages – are welcome to bring their work to display at this library for all to experience. The DRC and its members are also welcome to return, if they ever choose to do so

A new era in D’ni will be underway soon!

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

July ended with the CavFunding at 332% (CavCon 4.23) and the reserve at 170%. Extra expenses were at 62%, for updates and database upgrade testing. Population was at 35,823, with 1170 unique visits. A great month for donations, that puts the Cavern in great shape!

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, September 5 (Leetahr 23, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Young, Gifted & Black

On Monday 15 at 13:00 KIT, Nosila will host a music event; the location will be the Ae’gura plaza, and the stream will be at nosilaradio.caster.fm.

Cavern Tours

CT Hostess Susa’n was on stage to announce the sixth Cavern Tour of 2020, on Saturday 13 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood. The Nexus is currently malfunctioning, and the neighborhood is not showing up; if the problem persists, you should ask Susa’n for an invite.

The host, Larry LeDeay, will use his Twitch channel for the presentation, so you will need to keep a browser or the app open in the background. Videos will be available for two weeks after the tour.

The tours occasionally visit hard to reach places. Mir-o-Bot (KI# 32319) is 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!

Future physics update

A recent update to the MOULa client reportedly included a physics update, stirring the longstanding question of the future of ‘skydiving’ (a.k.a. glitching), the practice of jumping on invisible colliders to reach normally out-of-reach places, stemming from an older practice of jumping off high places. Innumerable marker games have been created to map skydiving paths along the Ages, and more recently a robot-assisted training course.

Skydiving, however, depends on broken physics engine (PhysX) implementation, causing an uneven game experience depending on computer and network characteristics, fixing which has been part of the open source roadmap since the beginning in 2011. Perhaps even more importantly, upgrading the physics engine (to at least version 4) will lift a major obstacle to a truly native macOS and Linux clients.

Hoikas and Doobes therefore agreed to illustrate the developer side of the issue, and clarify a few questions and misconceptions regarding the client update roadmap:

• the latest update did not break the bot functioning itself, but the physics that the marker games dispensed by the bots depend on;
• the ‘physics update’ mentioned in the release notes is a bump from PhysX version 2.6.0 to 2.6.4, the same version used in the Gehn shard in the last six years;
• the entire process of updating the MOULa client happens in the clear, on the Writers’ IRC, on GitHub and on the OpenUru Discord server;
• explorers who create content for the game based on bugs are invited to be active participants in the discussion on how development moves forward, as developers cannot be aware otherwise of them.

As for future options, a ‘skydiving client’ was released years ago by Lyrositor – who in the meantime retired from the community – but an update to the KI functioning made it unusable. The source code, and some guidelines on how it could be brought up to date, are publicly available to any coder willing to take up the challenge. However, the long-term solution to preserve skydiving would be a dedicated skydiving shard.

As an addendum, it was noted that another planned update is the transition from the exceedingly obsolete Python 2.3 to 3.8; for robot makers, this will require checking their code for no longer compatible syntax (e.g. from print "string" to print("string") ).

Ages of Doobes

Doobes’ latest releases – Chiso Preniv, Veelay Tsahvahn and the New GoMe Pub – have been ported to the Minkata shards, where the heavy testing will begin. From then, if all goes well, they will be ported to Cyan’ staging server for the last quick checks, and eventually on MOULa, hopefully very soon.

But the big news was the announcement of another, yet unnamed Age in the works! It will be a competitive puzzle Age, based on the Gahreesehn Wall idea, but as a circular maze with configurable (or randomizable) walls. The player or team that will manage to reach the center of the maze, will win.

There will also be a one-in-four chance to remove the walls to gain an advantage, using a control panel beside each wall; but it may also be a disadvantage, so you will need to make a strategic decision! To make things even more challenging, a timer will also be available. During the Q&A, Theo suggested implementing a command to save and load wall configurations.

As for his other Ages in the work, the next release will likely be Kotsahvosahn, a.k.a. the Waystation, the beginning of the journey of D’ni citizen and Messenger Lothias, so it will be more story-heavy than Doobes’ previous Ages.

After that, Doobes has started a new project with AgeExplorer, which promises to be both story and puzzle-heavy.

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

Fan Ages Touring Club

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

• On May 10 the Club adventurers visited TikiBear’s recently updated Ages (Duck Knee Skydiving Club, Sprite Gallery, and Paper Pagodas);
• On May 17 they visited Doobes’ Ages (the New GoMe Pub, Chiso Preniv, and Veelay Tsahvahn), finally released on the shard only a few days before;
• On May 24 they started the 3-part expedition to the Geologica series, by Ametist and Metabasalt, starting in Dragon’s Tooth, but also visiting Ametist’s latest release, Tiam.

In June, the Touring Club will visit Enobmort and Noidrocca by J’Kla, Paah’kweh and Sonavio by Boblishman, and Pre-Swaltu by Tolip Ydop. A gallery of fan Ages with some details is available on the Writers’ wiki.

After the expeditions, the participants will be able to share their observations in dedicated threads in the Guild of Writers’ forums (look for threads that start with “Fan Age expedition”). The expeditions are streamed (without comments), and the videos will be available for two weeks after.

One of the main objectives of the Touring Club, besides getting more explorers to know and appreciate the many Ages created in the last 15 years, is also to give some feedback to the authors, who are very welcome to attend the tours and talk about their works.

Setting up a Deep Island client can be a bit tricky in some situations; a quick guide is available in our Troubleshooting section.

The Lost Art

Korov’ev mentioned that Mystitech Productions released Episode 10 of its The Lost Art machinima, on Saturday 30.

Cyan news

• realMyst: Masterpiece Edition has been released on Thursday 21 for the Nintendo Switch.
• After more than three months, a new update was posted in Thursday about Firmament. Among other news, it mentioned the need to improve on the gameplay and setting aspects of the game, and the official hiring of a member of the Starry Expanse team.

See also the News Roundup #4 and #5.

Mysterium news

The convention will be held virtually, with a combination of Twitch and Zoom for presentations, and Discord for live chatting. The convention dates will be the same as planned, August 7–9, with a possible extended weekend. Refunds will be available, but roll-overs to next year’s in-person convention will too.

The deadline for event submissions has been extended to June 30, with the option to submit pre-recorded presentations. The deadline for the Digital Activity Book is also extended to June 30.

The existing T-shirt design will be used for Mysterium 2021, with altered dates. A store page will be opened soon. The 2020 pin designs will also be rolled over into 2021.

D’ni Language Classes

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

He is still putting things away after his recent move. As a result there will not be any daytime classes until further notice. They should be able to return sometime in autumn. Night time classes, however, are unaffected.

There are currently two students working on lesson 6. Meanwhile, Aqua completed her final exam and passed the D’ni 101 class! Votahret ah’shem khe-bahrtahtahvteeom!

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are now at the same stage. They are continuing with the story arc of the D’ni kings, and will continue for the next four weeks.

Rehn hinted at a possible special Story Night on the Gehn shard, in a “certain memorial Age”.

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

May ended with a CavFunding of 90% (CavCon 1.9), a population of 35,052 explorers, and 1441 unique visits. The reserve covered 29% of the costs and is now empty. The server costs were the same as last month.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, July 4 11, 2020 (Leesahn 2, 9676 DE) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!