Rime

Rime

Author	Atrus
Connections	Myst

Rime is an icy island Age located far above the arctic circle. It was written by Atrus during the time that he lived on Myst, as part of his experiments researching the Art for a way to keep tabs on his imprisoned father, Gehn.

Appearance

The main island in Rime is a tall, rocky pinnacle covered in snow. A small hut lies nestled against the face of the pinnacle, and is surrounded by a small flat area. Two metal gangways extend out into the water from this space, providing a closer look at the electricity towers positioned in the salty, frigid ocean. Whale calls can sometimes be heard piercing the bitter cold air, and a small pod of them occasionally swims past the island.

Inside the hut is a link back to Myst. A connected hallway delves into the mountain, where an elevator provides access to a small observation station at the peak. This station also contains the controls to activate and calibrate the electric towers, creating an artificial aurora. The elevator can also be rotated 180 degrees at a time, revealing a writing desk across from the control station. Taking the elevator down with the elevator rotated this way provides access to an even deeper area inside the mountain, where Atrus built his first crystal viewer machine.

Severe electromagnetic storms can prevent passage between the room with the crystal viewer and the hut with the Linking Book, leaving anyone in the former chamber unable to leave.

History

Several years after trapping Gehn on Riven, Atrus and Catherine wanted to make sure that his father had not found a way to escape his imprisonment. Using crystals and geodes from Everdunes, Atrus developed a technology that enabled him to "peek" into Ages through a blank linking Book. This technology worked best in very cold temperatures, and so he used Rime as the home for his experiments. His first success revealed an Age that could be altered by changing the colors of the crystals. These changes included varying the sea level, the tree density and color, the type of rock that made up the island, and the "camera angle" of the linking panel. After considerable trial and error, he and Catherine finally uncovered the sequence of crystal shapes and colors which let them peek into Riven, allowing them to monitor Gehn's actions there from a safe distance.

While working in Rime, Atrus became enchanted by the aurorae that lit up the eternal night's sky. Together with Sirrus and Achenar, he constructed three massive electricity towers. By running a current through the salty ocean water, he was able to sent huge amounts of power to these towers, creating a large magnetic field that triggered an artificial aurora. By varying the current, Atrus was able to create aurorae of different colors and intensities.

Notes

• Rime was not part of the original 1993 release of Myst, or the later Masterpiece Edition re-release. It was added as part of realMYST for its release in 2000, and can also be explored in 2014's realMYST: Masterpiece Edition.
• The whales no longer seem to appear in realMYST: Masterpiece Edition, though their calls can still be heard.
• The phantom Age that could be seen through the crystal viewer no longer appears in realMYST: Masterpiece Edition. The "huevo" and "vika" easter eggs showcasing blurry in-development screenshots from Uru have also been removed.