D'ni
The D'ni (pronounced Di-Ni or duh-Ni) are a fictional race that appears in the series Myst games (Myst, its modern version Real Myst, Riven, Myst III: Exile, Myst IV: Revelation and Myst V: End of Ages), in the three Myst novels (The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti'ana and The Book of D'ni) and in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst and its 2 expansions: Uru: To D'ni, Uru: The path of The Shell. All of the above games were created by Cyan Worlds Inc, with the exception of MystIII, created by Presto Studios, and Myst IV, created by Ubisoft, at the Montreal studios. D'ni is a registered trademark of Cyan Worlds.
The D'ni originated from a world called Garternay, where they were known as the Ronay. Their culture developed their own language and their own number system, and they had the knowledge of how to access ('nexus') alternate worlds (Eras) through special books; they called this knowledge the "Art of Writing."
The Exodus
More than ten millennia ago, the Ronays discovered that Garternay would become uninhabitable. They wrote several Ages to escape destruction. One of those refugees was the great writer Ronay Ri'neref. He and his followers believed that the Ronays had grown proud in their mastery of the Art. They thought that the Ronays should seek humility and moderation in their new Era. Many Ronays disagreed and linked to Terahnee's Paradise Era. Ri & # 39; Neref and his followers, despite everything, remained firm in their principles and fled to an Era written by Ri & # 39; Neref. He named her "D'ni" (which meant "New Beginning" in the Ronay language). This place was perfect for Ri'Neref and his followers, who began to settle and make their home in the cavern.
A growing population made the D'ni learn to adapt quickly. Their most immediate concern was their limited supply of oxygen, so they searched for power sources to operate gigantic fans to circulate the air in the cavern. Later they developed advanced mining technology, digging new spaces for their large population and refining excavated rock to produce usable materials and items.
As civilization grew, the D'ni cavern was organized into two main sections: Ae'gura (The Island) and the Royal City. Ae'gura is the largest island in the cavern lake. It is the center of D'ni, both in the literal sense (since the basis for D'ni's cylindrical coordinate system, the Big Zero, was established there), and in a figurative sense (as is the first place where the colonists settled, many centers of commerce, religion and government are located there). It is noted for D'ni's most famous and grandiose monument, the gigantic Arch of Kerath. Human archaeologists originally misinterpreted the finds and believed that Ae'gura was the main residential area of D'ni, calling it 'The City'. However, they later discovered that most of the settlers lived in another area, which is now called "La Ciudad Real". The Royal City is located on a sloping slope on one side of the cavern, forming a perimeter on one side of the lake, that is where the D'ni neighborhoods were located. These neighborhoods were small residential districts, each with houses, study halls, auditoriums, entertainment centers, and public transit stations.
The Fall
Around 1740, D'ni was beset with a great catastrophe that led to its downfall. A woman, Anna, came down to the city from the surface and married a D'ni, Aitrus. Veovis, a conservative lord, became very furious about this, and another lord, A'Gaeris (also known as The Philosopher), destroyed the city of D'ni and much of his life. with a huge cloud of poison. (Myst: The Book of Ti'ana; Myst: The Book of D'ni). Again the D'ni had to escape to other Ages, leaving their great underground city in ruins; However, Anna and her 8-year-old son, Gehn, escaped into the Rift, which is near the volcano above the D'ni cavern.
Gehn grew up, and later his wife, Keta, died with the birth of their son, Atrus. Disgraced and unable to get over losing him, Gehn ran to the D'ni caves, leaving his son in Anna's care. Some 14 years later, Gehn returned and took Atrus from Anna, to teach him how to write Eras. Eventually, Gehn locked Atrus in K'veer's basement (the last place you visit in the Myst game). Atrus found Riven's book, went there, met Katran (also known as Catherine), and married her. Atrus discovered that Katran and Anna co-wrote the Age of Myst, and that the new pair went there to trap Gehn in Riven by opening a Star Rift (Myst: The Book of Atrus). Atrus lost the book of Myst in the rift, and the book came to Earth, where you, the Stranger/player, find it and use it to go to Myst's island, where you find Atrus' library.
From this moment, the player will begin to be part of the story of the main characters of the Myst game saga (Atrus, his wife Catherine and their three children: Sirrus, Achenar and Yeesha) and their enemies (his grandfather Gehn and Saavedro) with whom they will have conflicts related to the destruction of Atrus's library in Myst, and the D'ni civilization, for which Atrus will have the responsibility of ensuring their survival.
In the library you find the red and blue books, which are link books to the Spire ('Spire') and Haven ('Anchor') Prison Eras, in where the two sons of Atrus are prisoners: Sirrus and Achenar. As requested by the brothers, you pick up red and blue pages, and as you proceed, the brothers tell you the reason for their imprisonment, each pleading their innocence as they both blame each other for burning their father's library books. in Myst. After collecting all five pages, they tell you the pattern to unlock a secret stash behind the library fireplace. Sirrus asks you to bring him the red page, but not the blue one; Achenar tells you otherwise. However, they both warn you not to touch the green book. If you open the green book, you see Atrus in K'veer's basement, and if you bring him the white page for the Myst book, he will return to the island and burn the red and blue books, imprisoning his children for always (Myst).
Then he will order you to go to Riven's era to save his wife Katran from the hands of Gehn, who has gone insane, and is trying to turn Riven into another D'ni civilization at the cost of decay and the imminent collapse of this era. Once you save Katran and capture Gehn, you will then return home via Riven.
While returning to Earth, Atrus and Katran leave Myst and build a new Age, Tomahna, in the desert near the rift. They round up all the survivors of D'ni they can find, and take them to a new era created by Atrus called Releeshahn. When you return to Tomahna, you witness how someone, Saavedro, steals the book of Releeshan from Atrus to take revenge on his sons for destroying his world (Narayan), and takes it with himself to his new refuge, J'nanin. You salute Releeshan, help Saavedro back to the main part of Narayan, and return to Tomahna (Exile).
Years later, Sirrus and Achenar somehow escape their prison worlds and kidnap their 10-year-old sister, Yeesha (daughter of Atrus). The player saves her from being fatally possessed by Sirrus, whose goal is to take over her helpless sister's body in order to trick her father Atrus into teaching her the Art of Bookwriting (Revelation).
Current rediscovery and restoration efforts
D'ni, The Art, and the eras of D'ni were rediscovered by a human, John "Fightin' Branch" Loftin, in 1987. Loftin's discovery began with a place in New Mexico now known as La Grieta. The Rift is a large fissure in the side of a dormant volcano. As described (and seen in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst), the Rift has excavated rooms on each side of the rift walls, with several suspension bridges spanning the hole. The volcano's caldera itself guards the entrance to a long series of tunnels, which eventually lead to the D'ni cavern. Catherine's journals, one of our most important early discoveries, tells us that The Rift is in fact Atrus' home house. (see. Myst: The Book of Atrus).
Elias Zandi, a friend of Loftin's, founded the D'ni Restoration Foundation, hoping to restore the D'ni Cavern. When he died in 1996, he left his son Jeff the land where The Rift is located. The task of restoring D'ni was given to Dr. Richard Watson, who founded the D'ni Restoration Council (DRC). The DRC continued the restoration effort quickly and steadily, opening the cavern in November 2003. However, the DRC began to lose funding very quickly, and in February 2004, 3 months after opening the cavern to the public, the restoration effort was canceled indefinitely.
While the Myst games and novels are our main sources of knowledge of the D'ni, some events and beginnings are not portrayed as "really" were. For example, we've learned since Cyan (and also since Myst IV) that the Prison in Myst and Riven books are really normal, run-of-the-mill Linking Books towards entire Ages. Prison Books were an item of artistic license, introduced to simplify gameplay.
In the D'ni saga, the games (except Uru) and novels actually exist as fictional stories. In Uru, you can wear Myst and Riven t-shirts. Uru, by itself, unfolds in the present day; as such, it is not historical, and therefore its events are part of the D'ni saga.
D'ni Culture
D'ni culture was based on a number of Brotherhoods, which were responsible for almost all aspects of society. The 18 main Confraternities, to know, that existed at the time of the fall of the D'ni were the Confraternities of Analysts, Archivists, Book Makers, Cartographers, Food Providers, Chemists, Engineers, Healers, Ink Makers, Legislators, Linguists, Maintainers