They give us our own library. Our -own- library of linking books, and another that can hold journals.

Let me start over. I have my own Age, called Relto. The story goes that Yeesha, Atrus’ daughter, gave us the linking book to it, and that’s how we come to New Mexico, the Cavern, everything.

As you solve puzzles and learn about the history of the D’ni, your Relto changes to reflect that. Some of these changes come with pages that you find and put in your Relto book, but others come as you follow the path that Yeesha has laid out for you. You can invite others to your Age, as is shown here. This was within the first week that I’d come to the Cavern, and this fellow explorer invited me to her Age, to show me some of the changes that had come with her accomplishments. The pillars signify that she had found all of the palm cloths inside of the four Ages that she left linking books to. The pillars represent the Least, the Bahro. But, you’ve got to walk that path for yourself.

Some things that get added by the Relto pages don’t seem to belong. This imager, for one. This kind of device, this kind of technology, has shown itself throughout the Ages, from Myst to Riven and beyond. This type of imager seems to be fairly standard in the Cavern, but it was not part of my inital Age. As far as I’ve been able to tell, I can upload four to six images from my KI to the imager, which it will then scroll through. I like to upload images of how far I’ve come to my neighborhood’s imager, so that when my neighbors do come online, they can see what I’ve accomplished. Since I finally have a better driver situation worked out (with a third-party set, not endorsed by manufacturer or Microsoft), I was able to be in the cavern and the various Ages for quite some time in the last couple of days.

Once you begin on Yeesha’s journey, your Age begins to change.

You start with one canister, that links to the New Mexico desert. If you’ve played the past games, and especially if you’ve read any of the novels, the spot in New Mexico will wow you. My chest actually tightened when I saw how much care and effort had been put into reproducing the Cleft. After you meet Yeesha, the number of canisters in your Relto changes to four, each with a linking book to an Age. When you finish what you’re supposed to finish, a pillar rises on the canister for that Age, like you see here. I had just finished the first of four, and I was proud enough of it to snap this shot. :)

The pages that can modify your Age are all over the place. In some Ages, they’re obvious, in others they’re put in spots that are purposefully hard to get to, and in others they’re hidden or put into places that you won’t ever find unless you explore more than you puzzle-solve. After a while, you’ll notice that the D’ni are not the only ones that have left behind links. Linking tablets, made and left by the Bahro, are laid carefully throughout the Great City and the Ages. They have a habit of sending you to a dead end. The only way out tends to be the linking book back to your home Age. It can be worth it to stick around for the view… or for the hidden things, like the pages. When I found the one for this dock, my heart skipped a beat. The similarity between my Relto and Myst Island slammed home, and I felt that much more a part of what is going on. If only I could get a ship there, in the clouds, or a linking book back to the Stoneship Age…

I’ve now finished Yeesha’s journey… or, at least, the first one. As she says, the symbol must change… a spiral with the end connected to the center. I’m now on the lookout for that symbol, and I hope to see it soon. I am sad for what was done to the Least, the Bahro, but I am glad for what I’ve been able to do for them. I can now go back to New Mexico and the Cleft. There is rain, which means that there can be growth in the desert.

I’m still having video driver problems, so while I’m trying to fix those, I’m going to talk about Myst Online stuff here. :) If you’re uninterested, please skip, but there is plenty of shiny ahead.

One of the first places that you can go into, whether you’ve got a free account or a paid account, is your neighborhood, or bevin. Inside of the story, they are places of gathering inside the cavern. As far as I can tell, there are 20 people to every bevin. When your bevin-mates, or neighbors, are online, you can see them in your KI.

Initially, the neighborhood can create community between the new people that are logging in, assuming that they’re logged in at the same time. Eventually, as the users progress and get involved in either politics, helping others out, exploring, or what-have-you, you can leave your neighborhood, and join others. Some neighborhoods have decided to claim that they are Guilds, following the old D’ni guild system. The validity of this is in question, but I haven’t heard of any direct challenges to this. I haven’t heard much from the DRC about it at all, actually.

That brings us to another point. The DRC, or D’ni Restoration Council, makes use of the Beginners Bevin’s amphitheater, pictured here. They hold regular tours, as well as question-and-answer sessions with Restoration Engineers. In case you were wondering, that’s the guy in the hard hat.

I’m the bald guy sitting in the first row. Just sayin’.

Not all of the neighborhoods are exactly the same. They contain a bit of variety when it comes to what books their linking rooms have. Some of them have such fanciness as Chinese lamps, beach balls, and other things. Being on primarily after midnight eastern time, I don’t run into a ton of people. But there are a ton of neighborhoods, and they’ve been getting more populated, even as late as I’m usually on.

If you end up going to try out the free account, I’ve got a challenge for you. It sounds cheesy, but it’s cool as hell. When you’re in a neighborhood, try to find the light switches for the lower level. I could spend fifteen minutes just playing with the lights… but then, I’m easily amused. :)

There is a good fail-safe step to keep me sane at work, and that’s to play music. We are in an office environment, so I can’t play it at the level that it deserves (read: very, very loud). I’m in a position that requires me to answer the phone when it rings, so I can’t use my headphones. So, the music is a good stopgap measure. I pause it when the phone rings, and if I’m lucky, I’ll remember to start it up again when the call is over.

I don’t always turn it back on, and my mood can suffer pretty dramatically when stress levels increase and music is not playing. I’ve gotten better at remembering, though.

Today, the music doesn’t seem to be enough. I’m bored, even though there is work to do, and I’m doing it. I need something to do between all of the other stuff. The work IRC server #offtopic and #burgerking channels are pretty good places for inane filler like this. Not today, though. Today, I’m writing here.

My allergies don’t get too bad unless I rub my eyes. The problem is that my tear ducts are constantly itching. Or burning. Or the whole of my eyes itch. Which really, really, really makes me want to rub my eyes. Once I’ve done that, then the nose starts running, the sneezing kicks in, and the coughing starts. It’s really a cornucopia of good times. Both medically prescribed and natural remedies are being ramped up at this juncture. Let’s hope they work.

This was the first image taken from my KI imager inside URU Live. As Wil Wheaton would say, click on it to embiggen. I’d just received my KI. It lets you take pics like this one, journal, move data around, communicate in the same age, as well as between them, and once the Great Zero Calibration is complete, it should allow more precise Age navigation.

I made my avatar a lot like me, in keeping with the U-R-U. They don’t handle portliness well, so I went for a bit less chub than I carry around in real life. :) I kept with the pale skin and the baldness, and the style in clothing. :) You receive your KI on an Age called Gahreesen, which you will return to later. The history behind the KI, like all of the history that I’m discovering, is far more layered than I anticipated.