User:OranL/Age of D'ni

The Age of D'ni is a fictional representation of Earth within the fictional Myst series created by Cyan Worlds. According to an in-game notebook found in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst and again in Myst Online: Uru Live, the Age was Written by Ri'neref to house the group of Ronay refugees from Garternay.

=Subterranean Locations=

The City
The City formed the core of the D'ni empire, and most of the D'ni structures and population was centered here. The main Cavern which houses the D'ni city holds an underground lake which contains an unidentified species of luminescent algae live. These algae gave off enough light to light up the entire Cavern, in a 30-hour cycle which formed the natural day and night for the D'ni. Through unknown means of poisoning the algae nearly all died off, and still have not fully recovered. The result is that level of light these algae give off was diminished. It has, however, been revealed in Uru: The Path of the Shell that with the proper food (a form of highly processed grain) the level of light these algae give off can be dramatically increased temporarily.

The lake holds multiple islands, of which the largest is Ae'gura. Other large islands were held by the richest families, such as the island of K'veer. On the lake "shores", hugging the cavern walls, the City Proper was built.

Ae'gura
Ae'gura is the largest island in the fictional D'ni cavern. It is first mentioned in Myst: The Book of Atrus. In Myst: The Book of Ti'ana on page 210, the island is said to be over a mile high. Somewhat resembling a jagged tooth rising up from the lake. It is sometimes referred to as the City in Myst Online: Uru Live, as Ae'gura is the oldest part of the D'ni capital. The rest of the city is then referred to as the City Proper. In the game, on the player's bookshelf a "city" book links to locations on Ae'gura.

The Baron's Office is a room owned by Douglas Sharper (a non-player character), who also maintained the Age of Teledahn. It contains his journal, which is regularly updated with his views on in-game story events, as well as a Bahro Linking stone to Teledahn.
 * Baron's Office

A device placed in an otherwise inaccessible area of Ae'gura, where the neutrino dispenser, which provides the locational markers in D'ni, resides. Once calibrated, a KI can report the location of the wearer based on the neutrino rays emanating from the Great Zero. The DRC referred to the Great Zero as "Rezeero." This is not a case of badly-formed D'ni (that is, zeero is, unlike previously assumed, completely unrelated to the English word zero). The actual meaning of this term, however, has yet to be deciphered. The literal translation in D'ni for "Great Zero" is "Roon Gahro."
 * Great Zero

The Kadish Gallery was introduced in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst as a source of clues to the puzzles in Kadish Tolesa. The story in the game states that the gallery was bought by Guildmaster Kadish after his dismissal from the Guild of Writers. It is filled with many stained glass pieces of art. Some of the pieces in the gallery are by non-D'ni artists, of interest players who read BoT because of the racism some D'ni were shown to have. The Kadish Gallery was designated City Interior 0080 by the DRC back in Prologue as part of the online storyline. It had completed Phase 5 of its restoration when the cavern was closed, the in-game explanation of the fact that Ubisoft would not fund the original Uru Live and the online game would end.
 * Kadish Gallery

A small room which was somehow shielded from the Great Zero, but could spy through a telescope on the Tokotah office. Douglas Sharper and Phil Henderson often looked in on high-level DRC meetings without the Council's knowledge.
 * Spy Office

Used, along with the office below, by the DRC in their effort to restore the D'ni city. It is sometimes called Dakotah, because the original in-game map located in Tokotah Alley spelled the location as Dakotah.
 * Tokotah Rooftop

Ashem'en (Grain Silo)
The city held several silos to store the food brought in from the various Ages. One of them, a grain silo, can be reached through the granary age of Er'cana. It is unknown where the silo precisely is located, but the locational markers on the KI suggest it is inside the main Cavern, but far away from Ae'gura, in one of the industrial districts which cannot be visited. This particular silo served to store food for the luminescent algae in the main Cavern, not to feed the people of D'ni. During the time of the D'ni civilization, this Silo was known as Uran, and later Ashem'en.

Great Shaft
The Great Shaft was a joint project of the Guilds of Surveyors, Miners, Stonemasons, and Cartographers, which attempted to build a tunnel and shaft to the Surface. Although the project was abandoned just before completion, it still allowed for a way from D'ni to the surface. The "end" of the Shaft is located near the Cleft. These tunnels are coated in nara, a form of highly processed material which is nearly indestructible, and gives off light. The other caverns are now mostly dark, but most of them were lit through unknown means in the past.

Aitrus (Grandfather of Atrus) was a surveyor assigned to working on the Great Shaft in the book Myst: The Book of Ti'ana.

K'veer
K'veer is an island in the D'ni cavern which was inhabited by Veovis' family. It is also where the dramatic events of the end of the Book of Ti'ana take place. Gehn later made the island his base of operations in D'ni, and imprisoned Atrus here during the events of the Book of Atrus. Years later, Atrus' sons trapped him there once more, but soon after, the Stranger first met Atrus there at the end of Myst and freed him.

In the beginning of the Book of D'ni Atrus manages with the help of the people of Averone to open the crumbled exit of the room and gain access to the rest of the cavern. In Myst, this place is referred to as simply as D'ni. In Uru: Path of the Shell, this room can be accessed from Myst itself, much like in the original game, as well as from Relto through one of the links in the Ae'gura book.

Neighbourhoods
Neighbourhoods of the D'ni city are the city areas which hug the edges of the main cavern. They are based on two basic styles, Bevin and Seret, with several small differences distinguishing them. The neighbourhoods are inaccessible except through the Nexus, which perhaps explains why they are mostly undamaged.

In Uru: Ages Beyond Myst and its expansion packs two of neighbourhoods appear, Bevin, a neighbourhood which can be Linked to from Relto, and Kirel, the DRC neighbourhood, which can only be accessed from Phil Henderson's Relto and the Nexus.

Watcher's Sanctuary
The Watcher's Sanctuary, also known as the Great Tree Pub, is a completely enclosed area located in the J'taeri District of Ae'gura. This location, while also based in the Cavern, was unreachable without Linking Books. The most notable feature about it is the Great Tree, an immense tree built out of stone, which represents a concept from D'ni religion. The Pub and Tree were built shortly after the arrival of the D'ni on Earth, and it changed hands many times. One of its owners was the Watcher, a Nostradamus-like D'ni prophet. Shortly before the downfall it became the property of Guildmaster Kadish. Rolep is an older name for the place which it held during beta testing, and which is still used in the game files. The Watcher in his journal in the Path of the Shell mentions that Rolep is when he first began to receive his prophecies. It does not occur in Uru otherwise.

Bahro Caves
One of the most noticeable deus ex machina in Myst Online: Uru Live, Bahro Caves are small areas depicted as vaguely-spherical stone pockets, embedded in the cavern celing above the city of D'ni. According to Uru's storyline, these caves were either created, or simply taken over by the enigmatic Bahro Race; and, as such, are not actually part of the D'ni Empire, though they still exist on the Age of D'ni. Each player can only gain access to her of his personal set of Bahro Caves, and no two explorers will ever appear in the same cave and the same time. However, each explorer can gain access to up to six Bahro Caves, seven if a player's Hourglass Bahro Cave is counted as two separate locations. Almost all of the cave types correspond to separate "Journeys" or "Paths," with the only exception being the Hourglass Caves. Each type of cave can be referred to in terms of the symbols carved into the walls of the caves (i.e. Hand Bahro Caves have hand symbols carved into their walls).


 * Hand Bahro Caves: The first type of Bahro Cave accessible, this is the only type of Bahro Cave that has been in every version of the game, since its initial launch. These caves have the most plot line significance, as speeches by the character Yeesha play whenever an explorer enters them via a newly unlocked Journey Door. In addition, the Hand Caves serve as the means by which players reach the endgame of the original Uru: Ages Beyond Myst; and the means by which players free a Bahro's soul in all the other versions of Uru. The most noticeable difference between this type of Bahro Cave and most of the other types, is the fact that four wooden pillars (called Bahro Pillars) appear embedded in the retractable stone floor of the cave. Each pillar is embeded in a different section of the floor, which is split into four parts. As explorers complete the corresponding levels, these sections extend out towards the center of the cave and the pillars can then be taken to the player's Relto. As each piece of the floor is extended, the pieces begin to form what eventually amounts to a solid stone floor albeit, with a sizable hole in the center. This process repeats for most of the other Bahro Caves, aside from the Hourglass Caves.
 * Spiral Bahro Caves The spiral caves are accessed by completing the multiplayer puzzle in the neighborhood garden Ages of Eder Delin and Eder Tsogahl. The major difference the spiral caves have to the handprint ones is that, instead of Bahro poles, a stone ring floats over the hole in the cave. This ring is split in two and when the player presses the spiral symbol on the wall of the cave, a half disintegrates and falls into the starry void below (this is believed to be the star fissue seen in Riven).
 * Pod/Enigma Bahro Caves This cave is accessed by way of completing the journey in the Pod Ages of Negilahn, Payiferen, Tetsonot, and Dereno. The cave is of a similar style as the other Bahro caves released in MO:UL. A stone ring, split in four floats above the hole in the floor.
 * Scar Bahro Caves
 * Shell Bahro Caves
 * Hourglass Bahro Caves

Like many places in MO:UL, Bahro Caves change in both subtle and dramatic ways, depending on how far any given explorer has progress in his or her quest. For instance, before an explorer has completed each Path, the caves are depicted as hanging in space above a star field. After completing the corresponding Path, each type of cave seems to physically change location from outer space, to embedded in the cavern ceiling above the city of D'ni.

Players have speculated that the caves are supposed to be homes of the Bahro, but there is no other evidence to support this aside from their mere existence.

=Surface Locations=

The Cleft
Identified on KI's as D'ni - Riltagamin, literally meaning "D'ni - Unknown," the identifier for all areas the D'ni were unaware of. The Cleft is a fissure of volcanic origin near a dormant volcano. It is near the exit of the Great Shaft created by the D'ni a number of decades before their downfall.

According to the book Myst: The Book of Ti'ana, the character Anna (renamed Ti'ana when she became a D'ni citizen) originally came from the world outside the cleft, which resembled a Middle Eastern desert on Earth, where she encountered traders very similar to Arab nomadic tribes.

After the downfall, Anna took her son Gehn with her to the Cleft, and established a living area, surviving through the careful capture of water and occasional trading with passing caravans. After Gehn's departure, Anna lived here with her grandson, Atrus, until he was taken away by Gehn, his father, to D'ni. The novel Myst: The Book of Ti'ana implied the Cleft was somewhere in the Middle-east, near an evidently Arab or Ottoman city called Tadjinar, but Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, considered more canonical than the books, puts the Cleft in the desert near Eddy County, New Mexico, United States, on the property of Jeff Zandi. Due to the conflicting references, it could be up to debate. Its location suggests that the cavern system that supports the D'ni empire is somehow connected to the Carlsbad Caverns.

Tomahna
Tomahna is the new home of Atrus, Catherine and their daughter Yeesha. It is located within a few miles of the Cleft, but in a geographically distinct area. Tomahna houses the new library of Atrus, and is the third home of Atrus and Catherine, after Myst Island and Chroma'Agana. A small part of Tomahna is seen in Myst III: Exile. In Myst IV: Revelation, the player is able to explore Tomahna in its entirety.

The Lodge
The Lodge was the home of Anna and her father, during their days as surveyors of the area near the Cleft. It was called the "Lodge" because it was lodged into a large niche in the Cleft wall.

=References=

Era di D'ni