Reference:RAWA/The Tree of Possibilities and modifying Descriptive Books

Personal email, dated 2002

Lisandra wrote to RAWA:

Hi RAWA,

I'm including a statement in a commentary and I just want to make sure I'm stating it accurately. If you would be so kind as to check it at your convenience, I'd really appreciate it. I hate asking you. You must be busy beyond belief. If you have anything to add or elucidate, please feel free. Thanks a bunch.

Shorah,

Lisandra

Statement:

"The branches of the Great Tree grow without end, yet the Maker knows them all" This quote is found on D'niGuild, presumably a D'ni proverb. Apparently Cyantists have been aware of the concept of a Great Tree of Possibilities since they first began to reveal the D'ni saga in Myst. RAWA wrote in a letter to fans on Nov 14, 1997, "In the 'infinity' of the 'Tree of Possibilites' there are countless worlds to match any description you can write. There is a chaotic element in how the Book selects which of those many worlds it will link to, which even the D'ni never were able to compensate for." The Great Tree is how the D'ni communicate their understanding of quantam reality and parallel universes. When a Descriptive Book is written, it will link at some point on a branch of the great tree. If the Descriptive Book is changed, it still links to the same age, but to another branch i.e. another reality.

RAWA wrote to Lisandra:

It looks good as is.

The last sentence touches on a very complicated subject - changes to the Descriptive Book. I'm not sure how to state more clearly how it works without going off on a few dozen tangents. It's possible to make changes that will force the Book to link to another Age entirely. It's possible to make changes that further define the Age without linking to a different Age, etc. Very tricky stuff, and I'm not sure that you'd even really want to get into it... it raises more questions than it answers.

)

RAWA
Richard A. Watson
D'ni Historian
C Y A N