Originally made available on November 5, 2008, Serene is a crepuscular garden age, covered in snow and surrounded by tall trees. It was part of the Devokan Trust, a complex, vast fan-run IC/OOC storyline parallel to that of the DRC, with ages across the Metaverse in and outside Uru.^[1][2][3]

CalumTraveler dedicated a post to the event in his blog, along with a raw chatlog of Patrick’s speech and one in Serene, and filmed it.

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. MOULa Anniversary
2. Cavern Tours
3. Rel.to
4. OpenUru
5. Fan Ages Touring Club

MOULa Anniversary

Minasunda thanked Mirphak and Yoda for the special effects and Eternal Seeker for the music they provided for the Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties.

She then announced the preparations for MOULa’s 11th anniversary on February 8–14.The NULP Dance Show is almost ready and will be on Saturday 13 at 13:00 KIT, after the Cavern Tour.

A Fashion Show should take place on February 8 at 13:30 KIT in Chiso Preniv. If you are interested, or wish to organise an event (e.g. a door run, a music event, etc.) please contact Minasunda on Discord (on the #anniversary-planning channel), Facebook or via KImail (#5667000).

Organisers from the Americas, Asia and Oceania are especially needed: many of the organisers are based in Europe, so the events are set at times that work for them. Weekend days are usually picked, as people are more likely to have free time, but it is becoming more and more difficult to find a free slot since weekends are already filled with recurring events.

Cavern Tours

CT Hostess Susa’n announced the first Cavern Tour of 2021, which will be held on Saturday 9 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood and headed to Gahreesen.

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!

Rel.to

Marten gave a reminder that Rel.to, the browsable index and URL shortener service for the Myst and Cyan community, is finally back after five years of hiatus and can again be updated.

Marten has already updated a lot of entries, but there are more entries than a single person could realistically check, so if you have suggestion for updates or new entries, you can post them in the #messengers-pub channel of the Cyan Chat Discord server.

Please be specific about how an entry should be corrected or changed: specifically, broken links can updated, archived for historical record if a Wayback Machine copy is available, or removed if no longer relevant/irretrievable.

OpenUru

Rarified gave an update on the status of the fan Age pipeline for MOULa. He is almost done with the cleanup work to the infrastructure and organisation of what is delivered to Cyan.

The last Minkata client built from the old code should be out soon. Posts on the OU Discord and forums will ask for testers to check that it works as expected (most changes are behind-the-curtain). A few addition to Doobes’ ages will be also packaged.

Further work will be spent bringing the Guild of Writers’ H’uru client base into MOULa.

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 Eder Taygahn and Yedahna by Zuri and Stranger, Turtle Isle by DenDwaler, DRA Office & Adrael by the Adrael Team, and Lohdehvis by Takku Petreya.

For January, the plan is to visit Relativity by Karkadann, Tachzusamm and others, R’oshanhnin Korvahkhn by Calena, Wamduskasapa, Tachzusamm and Dustin, Somewhere by Denost (which will likely take more than one session), and three ages by Ametist & Corvus: Hallway, Matte, ReGahlpo.

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

December ended with the CavFunding at 110% (CavCon 4.1) and the reserve at 128%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 38,801 (⇑527), with 1543 unique visits. Donations on par, and reserves are good.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, February 6 (Leevosahn 29) at 13:00 KIT.

Until then!

Contents

1. Christmas Show
2. Nosila’s Monday
3. Cavern Tours
4. D’ni Language Classes
5. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
6. OpenUru
7. Fan Ages Touring Club
8. Cyan & Mysterium news
9. Explorers memorial

Christmas Show

Minasunda announced Yoda’s Magic Christmas Evening, on December 18 at 13:00 KIT. The location will be a surprise! On the date of the event, send “link” in PM to Mir-o-Bot (#32319) to be transported there. Eternal Seeker will provide the music.

Next, she announced the Nulp Dance Group show “Snow White”, on December 19 at 13:00 KIT, in Minasunda’s K’veer.  Mir-o-Bot will once again provide the transport, as Eternal Seeker the music. 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!

After the show there will be time for a dance party and a cozy get-together around the Christmas Tree. If Story Night will take place, there will be about half an hour, otherwise longer.

Minasunda also presented her Youtube series “The Cave” and the MOULa Advent Calendar: a marker game that starts in Ae’gura, on the Tokotah map. To see the markers, you will need to have completed the red and green marker missions in Great Zero.

In every day number from 1 to 24 you will find a video link; each is an episode of an exciting fictional story about Uru, recorded in MOULa and in fan Ages on Deep Island. To get the marker game, send in PM to Mir-o-Bot: “sendme 8833282”. Or ask Minasunda (#5667000).

Using “/startlog” before you collect the marker will make it easier to copy the link, from your logfile in Documents/Uru Live/Log. The videos are in German, with or without English subtitles.

Another show is in preparation for the XI anniversary of MOULa in February, in Jalak. 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.

Nosila’s Monday

Nosila will stream a festive-themed program in the renovated Messengers Pub on Monday 21 at 13:00 KIT.

Cavern Tours

CT Hostess Susa’n announced the twelfth Cavern Tour of 2020, which will be held on Saturday 12 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood and headed to Gahreesen.

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!

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. One student is finishing up lesson 6, two have submitted their finals and one is about to start Lesson 5 this coming week.

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

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

OpenUru

Rarified gave an update on the status of the fan Age pipeline for MOULa. Much of what has been happening is cleanup work to the infrastructure and organisation of what is delivered to Cyan. Things are progressing, and he announced a surprise for this month.

Time will be short, so when an announcement will be made on the OU Discord and forums, it will be important to get testers onto Minkata and Minkata-alpha in short order to allow the surprise to make it onto MOULa for Christmas.

Features from the Guild of Writers’ client are still progressively being merged into MOULa’s.

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 the Hui fun park by Christopher, Ria by Rich, the 2010 D’ni Location Creation contest ages, the Sev ages by Ametist’s students, Kaelis’ Pub Office by Kaelis Ebon Rai,  and giant board games ages by Gavin and Karkadann, including the Walking Maze.

For December, the plan is to start with Eder Taygahn and Yedahna by Zuri and Turtle Isle by DenDwaler, then looking into the activity of the D’ni Research Association, also known as the Adrael Team; then Lohdehvis by Mike Newman.

Cyan & Mysterium news

• Myst for Oculus Quest platform has officially gone gold, and will be released on December 10. The PC version will be released at a later time.
• Upload has recently published an interview with Rand Miller.
• Registration for Mysterium 2021 is now live! If you purchased a Mysterium 2020 registration and elected to roll it over to 2021, you do not need an additional registration. Given the COVID-19 situation, proof of vaccination or a negative test may be required in order to attend.

Explorers memorial

Korov’ev had to report the passing of yet another explorer: Jeff Wise, a long-time contributor to the The Cavern Today podcast, and also a musician and composer, often inspired by Uru. He was 37. The Kahlo memorial, the Veelay book and the OpenUru wiki have been updated.

The actress who portraying Catherine in Riven, Sheila Goold, who passed away in 2017, has also been added.

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

November ended with the CavFunding at 87% (CavCon 2.9) and the reserve at 119%. There were no extra expenses. Population was at 38,274 (⇑518), with 1627 unique visits. Donations slightly under but still pretty steady. Reserve is good. Above average activity in the Cavern.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, January 2 (Leevosahn 2) 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. Halloween Party
2. Cavern Tours
3. D’ni Language Classes
4. R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights
5. State of Minkata
6. Hacktoberfest
7. Fan Ages Touring Club
8. Cyan news

Halloween Party

Minasunda announced the Halloween Party, on October 31 at 13:00 KIT, in Mir-o-Bot’s ‘foggy’ Ahnonay (KI# 32319, PM him “link” or “meet” to get there).

Yoda will create the right setting with a light show, Eternal Seeker will play spooky music [stream], and the Nulp Dance Group will conjure the ghosts! Creative clothing are welcome.

More events are being planned, like the Christmas Party. Stay tuned! Minasunda posts reminders of the events of the day, every day on the MOULa Event Discord server.

If you are interested in joining the Nulp Dance Group, please contact Minasunda. The current roster is: Calisia, Claidi Song, ondine, tsuno, Eternal Seeker, Mabe, Roland (MAV Hungary), vony, Willy, CatYoh. MagicYoda does the lighting effects and other props; Mirphak provides support with technical questions and the Bot for rehearsals and shows; Minasunda plans the shows and writes the choreographies.

Videos of the 13 previous shows are available at Minasunda’s Youtube channel.

Cavern Tours

CT Hostess Susa’n announced the eleventh Cavern Tour of 2020, which will be held on Saturday 10 at 11:00 KIT, starting from the Cavern Tour’s Hood and headed to Gahreesen.

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!

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. 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. Three students are currently taking the classes. Meanwhile, Kathleen completed her final exam and passed the D’ni 101 class! Votahret ah’shem khebahrtahtahvteeom!

R’Tayrtahn’s Story Nights

Story Nights and Story Nights – Europe are at about the same stage, about half-way through the story of The Fall as told in the book Myst: The Book of Ti’ana.

Attempts at live-streaming the stories have been unsuccessful, for hardware/software issues. R’Tayrtahn however has been uploading them on his YouTube channel. The videos are uploaded a few days after the live event.

The plan for the near future is to keep implementing content fixes and updates for MOULa, urgent changes to the client. The long term goal for this winter is to start work on migrating the MOULa client core to be based on the H’uru client. This will take a lot of work in many areas: build automation, code reorganisation, code merging, and lots of testing.

Next, since using Discord for technical support for MOULa has been awkward for many users, and the difficulty of keeping a usable knowledge base there, Rarified has been working on implementing a support portal on the OpenUru servers. It is almost ready, and has already had a few developers give it a try. When ready, he will announce it on the Cyan Discord #moula-tech-support channel.

Potentially the new portal could support other shards too; admins are invited to send Rarified a PM on Discord, to figure out what could be done.

Hacktoberfest

October is the month of Hacktoberfest! Whether you are a developer or a hobbyist, you can help drive growth of open source and make positive contributions to an ever-growing community.

To earn your reward, you must register and make four valid pull requests between October 1–31. PRs can be made to any public repository on GitHub, not only the ones with issues labeled Hacktoberfest.

The relation with Uru is that you can submit code for H’uru and Korman!

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 Oolbahnneea by Wodan, Torilacha by the Mystpedia.net folks, Rell-Too by Jojon and many others, Ahrkane by Ekimmai, and Pakin by Race.

For October, the plan is to start with Tweek’s Ages Cass, Fahets and Fehnir House; then the recently released Yinfara, along with Ahreeuhtahv and Spiro; next, the Club will look into the Devokan Trust, starting with Ahra Pahts shell 415.

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.

Cyan news

• As a very welcome surprise, Cyan released a teaser for the ‘definitive’, VR version of Myst! The game is planned to be released by the end of the year, first for the Oculus Quest platform, then for PC and other VR platforms. More details on our dedicated post.
• Work on Firmament is steadily progressing. Cyan has been showcasing details of the production process on their Youtube channel. The game however is not expected to be released before 2022 at this time.
• The Myst Documentary crew has teamed up with Fangamer to manage the Kickstarter rewards. You should have received a survey to confirm some details. If you cannot find it, you can request another link through this page. Through Fangamer, it is now also possible to back the project past the Kickstarter deadline.

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

September ended with the CavFunding at 101% (CavCon 4.01) and the reserve at 170%. Extra expenses were at 42%, for the new MOULa installer and its certificate. Population was at 36,887 (⇑376), with 1527 unique visits. Another solid month!

Edit: the above statistics are based on wrong data; the CavFunding was actually at 55% (CavCon 2.5) and the reserve at 123%. Extra expenses, for the new MOULa installer and its certificate, were paid for by Cyan. Population was at 36,887 (⇑376), with 1527 unique visits.

The next All Guilds Meeting is planned for Saturday, November 7 (Leevofo 15) 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!