Minkata

Minkata

Name in D'ni	minKata
Author	unknown
Connections	Bahro cave
Restoration progress
Current phase	Released
Added	March, 2007
Phase 4 began	April 12, 2007
Released	May 24, 2007

Minkata is a desert Age in a trinary star system. It was used by the Guild of Surveyors to train new guildsmen in orienteering.

Appearance

The Age is nothing but a flat, endless expanse of desert. Constant wind whips the desert sand into a hazy storm, which intensifies the farther away from the link-in point one travels. A circular structure made of bones and rope serves as the Age's center-point. A sheet of canvas with a compass painted on it covers this structure. Three suns shine down on the landscape, casting three separate shadows that align with points on the compass rose. Several flags arrayed around the area call out their distance from the center-point in spans.

Five "kivas" can be found by following a series of orienteering paths. These are small holes in the terrain that descend into roughly circular underground rooms. Each room is ringed with a circle of tusks, and a large Guild of Surveyors emblem is carved into the rock at the center. A cracked standing stone rests at the far side of the room from its entrance, with a sigil and the phrase "find your path in the stars" carved into it. Touching the sigil turns day into night – the process is unclear, but linking seems to be involved. While the wind and sandstorm remains constant, the sky is full of stars, with a view of two different galaxies on opposite horizons.

At some distance from the fourth kiva a football can be found, nicknamed by explorers "Dusty" or "Sandy".

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  Entrance to one of the Kivas

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  Kiva interior

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  Minkata by night

History

This Age was once used as an orienteering training Age by the Guild of Surveyors. It is unclear when the guild started using it, or whether it was still in use in 9400 DE when D'ni fell. It was placed on the DRC's restoration list in March of 2007 CE, and seemingly fast-tracked through the restoration process. It was already in phase 3 at that point, and was released to explorers only two months later in May.