Reference:RAWA/2001 Lyst posts

June 26, 2001

One fan wrote:

I always assumed that Gehn had brought the box from D'ni on a subsequent visit and had put the book inside it himself. I thought he could lay the book open inside the box, slip his hand under the lid, touch the panel, and link. The lid of the box would close, and the book would remain protected from the elements.

Another fan wrote:

A thought I had myself. My problem with this is: will linking work this way. I mean, you're not away in an instant, are you? As I see it, some time is needed to get linked completely. Normally not a problem, because the book is laying open somewhere, so the "beam" (???) of "energy" (???) can be transported through the linking panel. But in the case above, suddenly a lid (or a whole box) is in the way. Will it work still? I have some doubts on that. I'm just not sure.

The link will work fine.

June 27, 2001

What I'm really wondering is if the statement made in the strategy guide is accurate. The guide says that once the Age "dies," the linking panel no longer works. If that is true, then when can an Age be said to have died? Was BoD inaccurate when they linked that one guy to Sedona in the E.V. suit and discovered that the planet had gone nova? Is going nova not enough for an Age to be considered dead?

But there is a significant difference between Sedona and Riven:

Sedona was a properly written Age that happened to have its star explode.

Riven's instability was caused by Gehn's tampering, and was further affected by the mysterious Fissure.

These differences may account for why one Book still worked, while the other did not.

:)

RAWA

June 28, 2001

D. S. wrote:

If you burn all of the linking books to an age does that mean that the age is destroyed?

Not at all. The Linking Books just provide links to an Age. One analogy would be to think of a Linking Book as similar to a bridge, and an Age as an island. If you burn the bridge, the island will still exist, you just won't be able to get to it.

July 11, 2001

A fan wrote:

So why is it impossible to link to an earlier time in an age?

Just wanted to clear one thing up, then I'll let y'all get back to discussing linking theory...

There isn't anything that says linking to the same Age at a different time is impossible in the "it _cannot_ happen" sense of the word, but it is so extremely unlikely that it for all intents and purposes it is considered impossible in the "it _does not_ happen" sense of the word.

It's the same reason that it is "impossible" to write two Descriptive Books (not Linking Books) to the same Age (even ignoring whether it's the same time or earlier time, etc.), even if you write the exact same words in both Books.

The illustration I usually use to demonstrate this is the idea of flipping a fair coin and getting heads a billion times in a row. There's no reason that it _cannot_ happen, but I for one will not be the one to keep flipping coins until it happens.

To add trying to link to a specific time in a specific Age into the equation makes "impossible" even more extremely unlikely. :)

The problem is a side effect of the Great Tree of Possibilities. No matter how detailed your description, there are innumerable Ages out there that will match it, and there is an uncontrollable, unpredictable "chaotic" element that "decides" which Age the Book will link to. They may be indistinguishable as far as we're concerned, but they will be distinct, separate Ages.

Carry on...

:)

RAWA

Re: I thought you guys would get a kick out of this

Date: Thursday, July 19, 2001

in Myst he gives you his library, in Riven he sends you home. In Exile he takes you to releeshahn.

A fan wrote:

How do we KNOW he sends us home in Riven? I thought that was speculation... all I know is when I end Riven it feels like a just jump into and endless void.

One of the problems with the games is that there isn't any way to have real-time, interactive conversations that you'd actually have with Atrus if you were there, without resorting to hideous, disgusting, "You're-in-a-game-now", evil, conversation tree kind of things ("don't hold back, RAWA, how do you really feel about putting conversation trees in Myst?").

The games try to get the most vital information across, but we're limited to a short speech where the player's part of the conversation is implied. But if you dig, the info you're looking for is there.

From the Epilogue:

"And though I am unable to understand how, the very flow of stars that brought my Myst book into worthy hands, I am sure served as a safe passage home for my friend."

From Gehn's journal re. the Fissure:

"It seems that the fabric of this Age has been breached in a way that permits matter to be hospitably exchanged between two discreet but overlapping spaces- much like a Link,"

That implies that he knows it's safe, he just doesn't know where it goes. You, the player, know that it goes from Riven to Earth - that's how you got the Myst Book in the first place...

A fan wrote:

And a library? I've always wanted a library....

From Atrus' speech at the end of Myst:

"Oh, and reward. I'm sorry, but all I have to offer you is the library on the island of Myst. The books that are contained there."

It's not much. He knows that. But at this point, he doesn't have anything else to offer.

A fan wrote:

I consider myself a fan of the games, and I have play Myst, Riven, realMyst, and read the Book of Atrus. I was under the assumption that all the people he did help in the games and book were "d'ni" I have read the journals in Myst and Riven, but again, I thought everyone was D'Ni.

I don't know what to say to that one. The journals in Myst and Riven seem pretty clear on this to me. Admittedly that's easy for me to see from this side of things.

But the Book of Atrus, imo, is _really_ clear that the D'ni are out of the story during the time of Myst and Riven.

Sorry it isn't clearer.

:)

RAWA

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

Re: Linking books - can you see the words?

Date: Friday, September 07, 2001

on 9/4/01, J. Patrick Greer wrote:

When a linking books is finished can you still see the words in other pages besides the one with the linking panel?

Yes, you can still see the words.

Is The panel on the first, last or another page?

Generally the panel is near the beginning of the Book, just for the sake of convenience. The vast majority of the people who want to use the Book just want to open the Book and link. But it is not required to be there.

RAWA

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

Re: How Long?

Date: Thursday, November 01, 2001

Tom wrote:

I've always wondered how long Atrus, (and subsequently Sirrus and Achenar) was trapped on K'veer?

There are several answers to this question depending on how you define "trapped in K'veer" (total time from when Gehn locked him in as a teenager until he broke back out in the Book of D'ni, the amount of time he was trapped after the boys tricked him to going there, etc.), but...

I guess the only real reason I'm asking this is because I'm curious to figure out how long Atrus Myst book was falling in that "Starry Expanse" before we the players came upon it. I'm thinking it fell for quite some time.

...knowing the answer to the first question doesn't provide any relevant information for the second question either way.

It may seem from the intro to Myst that the Book was falling for a long time, since as soon as it lands you're allowed to pick it up, but the intro to Myst is artistic, not literal. You (the player) don't actually see the Book land any more than you actually hear Atrus' monologue or see the names in the stars ;).

It's just a behind the scenes look at where the Book came from, a hint that there's a whole lot more to this story than you ever find out in Myst alone, and a foreshadowing to something that will happen much later (i.e. the ending of Riven). From the intro of Myst, there isn't enough information to know how long the Book fell. It could have only fallen for a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, a few years, etc.

However, since we know the player eventually safely takes that same path later on, it's reasonably safe to assume that the Book probably fell for only a few hours at most, and may have lain undiscovered for decades until someone finally stumbled on it.

:)

RAWA

Richard A. Watson
D'ni Historian
http://www.cyan.com
C Y A N