Saturday, November 17, 2007

Ahnonay

In amongst the drama of the DRC leaving, I've completely failed to mention that they gave us access to Ahnonay before they left. The world is intriguing. I haven't worked my way through all of it yet, though there is a rumor that all isn't as it appears there.

The book from the Watcher's Pub doesn't actually lead to the Ahnonay itself, rather to a small room exiting to a short hallway. At the end of the hallway, on a pedestal, is the book to Ahnonay itself. The hallway has a series of stained-glass pieces which are exactly the same as those found in the upper balcony of Kadish's Gallery. Word on the street is he is responsible for Writing this Age as well.

Oddly, the Link panel in the book shows a huge waterfall, but nothing of the sort can be seen when you arrive there. Strange.

Upon first linking to the Age, I found myself on a little ring-shaped island. A curious clock/radar sort of device sits in a pool in the middle of the island. A lighthouse sort of building sits on a rock just offshore. The island is populated by pink-leafed trees and a group of small, 4-legged crustaceans we've come to call Quabs. I'll do a detailed analysis on them later.

The ring island is surrounded by strong currents, which prohibit escaping from it. I was able to swim out to Lighthouse Rock after a few exhausting tries. The building has a door on the backside, but no way to open it; presumably there is a way to get into the building without going though the door. Something else that's strange about this place.

Oh, as well there are apparently some floating cities a little ways away from the island. But, as mentioned, the currents around the island are too strong to swim over to them. Maybe I'll bring down a small zodiac or something.

I have more exploring to do. I'm starting to agree with the rumors, something isn't right about this world...

Saturday, November 10, 2007

What next?

So I was wrong, everyone is gone. Cate, Kodama, Victor, Marie, Douglas... They've left. Victor and the other "real" DRCists say they are looking for funding. They haven't given up yet. But, regardless, they are gone, and we have no idea if they'll return.

What will happen to the restoration? We've all worked so hard, I can't believe it can end like...

It won't end. The Explorers are still here, and Bahro war or not, we'll stay. We'll keep things going. There is so much to be learned, so much to discover still. The DRC may be gone, but the Tree will continue to grow.

It must!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Exodus

Cate is leaving the Cavern. She announced two days ago that she wasn't getting a return on her investment, and so she was pulling her funding and leaving the DRC.

My initial thought was "well what'll happen to the other DRC members?", and an answer was not long in coming. Last night Dr. Kodama announced he was leaving as well. With no funding to continue the work, he didn't see any point in sticking around. I don't blame him, but it is a huge loss. Though he lacked in social skills, he made up for it in expertise.

So now, there's only Marie and Victor left! Watson is apparently back from wherever he's been, but hasn't been seen in over a month. Engberg made a brief appearance at the same time Watson did, but word on the street is he's done with the Restoration. I hope he finds peace wherever he looks for it. It wouldn't surprise me if Marie and Laxman also called it quits, Lord knows they've had a rough time of it over the last year. But something tells me they won't give up so easily. They've both dedicated a large part of their lives to this project, and I think they'll at least try and see it through.

Time will tell. And probly very shortly.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Guilds

While all the drama with the War has been unfolding, the DRC has been busy themselves. I'm still not sure why, but they have decided to institute the formation of Guilds. They have chosen five initial ones to be formed, with the intent to form others once the system is in place. The first five Guilds are those of the Writers, Maintainers, Cartographers, Messengers, and Greeters.

The Kirel neighborhood was initially opened by the DRC to provide information on the new Guilds. They made it all nice with info tables, balloons, and free t-shirts to show your support of your favorite Guild. They have since opened up Guild-specific "pubs" as gathering places. They are similar in form to the Watcher's Pub, but decorated in the Guild colors and banners. Rather nice, actually. I particularly like the Writer's pub, it's all in black and burgundy. Nice and moody.

No mention of a Naturalist's Guild, of course. The DRC has been very slow in returning correspondance on DZS-related questions. Slow as in "hasn't responded ever". The DZS discussed how we saw ourselves fitting in with the Guild structure. I'd like to push for a Guild of Naturalists/Scientists/etc, but I think that may be further down the line. For now we'll sit tight, keep doing our work, and see what happens.

Back in Business

My journal mysteriously reappeared today after a couple months of being missing. Looks like the last time I wrote in here was the end of June - quite a bit has happened since then! I wonder where this thing has been? It usually lives on the shelf in my Relto. Nobody has been there for months though, so I have no idea where it could have been...

Unfortunately, I haven't been to Relto, the Cavern, or anywhere else in the "D'niverse" in some time either. Surface work has kept me busy. I do check the news regularly though, and big things have happened.

Doug made it back from Noloben with more news of the Bahro civil war. Around the same time Phil Henderson also showed up alive and well! Wish I could have been there for that, The Great Tree has been holding out hope that he'd return for years. He's just as enigmatic as ever, perhaps a little more hippy-ish than before, and still speaks in non-conversational riddles.

Phil heralded the return of "Him" - none other than Dr. Richard Watson. The good doctor explained that he had been with Yeesha, Engberg, and the Bahro, travelling the Ages. Apparently he is responsible for returning a powerful Tablet to the Bahro - a Tablet that the D'ni had long used to enslave and usurp the power of the Bahro. This is the root of the Bahro War - the new-found freedom of the Bahro to decide their own fates. One group has chosen to forgive and rebuild their society; one group has chosen to exact revenge for millenia of abuse.

To this point, the "good" Bahro have shielded the Cavern from the ravages of the "bad" Bahro. Apparently this war has engulfed hundred of Ages and caused untold damage across the worlds. Our protectors have created a deception which has fooled their enemies (and ours, by extension) into ignoring the Cavern, but Watson isn't sure how long that will hold up. Should the plan fail, he says there is no force which can save us.

Doug, scorned by so many Explorers has left us to join the beneficent Bahro. Always a man of action, he has seen the ramifications of this conflict and has pledged to do his part. He has been gone awhile now, and I wish I had seen him before he left. There are still so many things I wanted to ask him.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Moving Forward

Events are moving along quickly, and I'm finding it hard to keep up. It's tough just following the news, let alone making time to try and have a hand in it!

I caught Doug briefly last night, just as he was heading out to Noloben. I feel better after having talked to him. He's most definetly not going on a killing spree. He's going to do some observations of the Bahro. Doug expects that there'll be a war going on, and he wants to watch what happens and see if he can't learn more about the Bahro so we can deal with them intelligently. He expressly said he wouldn't kill one except in self defense.

God help him if he gets found though...

On a different topic, Laxman dropped off some sort of machine on the ferry docks to monitor the light levels in the lake. I haven't talked to him or actually seen it yet. I wonder if it's a spectrophotometer that measures light levels, or a population counter, or a nutrient sampler, or a... Like I said, I should try and chat with Laxman, or at least go poke at the thing.

I also briefly visited Er'cana, and it's as marvelous as I remember. Didn't spend much time there, just wandered the canyon for a few minutes. I'll try and get into the manufacturing complex in the next couple of days, and get to work on the pellets. According to the DRC, different pellet recipes will have different results, including some that are actually harmful to the algae. I'm going to make it my top priority to find out what factors contribute to the "bad" pellets, so we can warn people.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Rambo

Doug's off his rocker. He was asked by the DRC to go to Noloben and gather information on the Bahro, watch them in their home world, and see if he can figure out what's going on. He's decided to include a spot of personal revenge while he's at it, and made the mistake of telling of everyone about it. Now everyone's going ape-poopey over it.

He mentioned that he wants to bag a Bahro, one of the bad ones that killed Wheely. For some reason people have blown that up into "Sharper's going on a genocidal killing spree". He really said nothing of the sort, but mob mentality being what it is...

I hope he calms down before he does anything stupid.