Age

From Guild of Archivists

An Age is the D'ni name for a world accessed through a Linking Book. These worlds each exist in their own parallel universe. The D'ni believed that they did not create these Ages, but rather that they were only accessing pre-existing places. For more information about how the D'ni were able to travel to other Ages, see The Art.

The D'ni believed in the Great Tree of Possibility, a philosophy which suggested that any and all variations of an Age existed somewhere in creation. When writing an Age, they would only create a link to one of the possible thousands of variations to a particular Age.

While many of the Ages visited by The Stranger and explorers to D'ni who followed Yeesha's Journey appear to be small- to medium-sized islands, they are in fact entire planets. For example, the island of Stoneship is but one of many that exist on the planet the island exists in.

Some Ages can be dangerous or unstable. This can be due to many factors, such as environmental phenomenon or vicious wildlife. Some Ages, such as Riven, are unstable due to errors in their Descriptive Books.