This is the start of the Age I'm working on (well, actually two Ages, with linking books which will go between them). I decided to give you the beginning description from an explorer's point of view (badly I'm sure - I haven't written like this in years). The design of this Age is 90% complete in artwork and puzzles, but less so in actual modelling.I haven't officially named the Ages yet.
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White. White ice. White ice and cold. That was all I could think, as the linking deposited me on the shattered remnants of the arrival platform. The air was thin, and I thought I'd need to Relto back and get a Maintainer's suit, or at least an oxygen mask, but gradually my breathing returned to normal, affected more from the chill shock than the need from more drastic measures.
The platform was definitely not as it used to be. The remaining boulders frozen in snow and ice revealed the cause all too clearly - an avalanche. If it had been any worse, I'm sure the stone platform would have been several hundreds of feet down the mountain, and I'd have linking in with nothing to stand on. And a mountain it was, sheer snow covered depths ran down into clouds and vanished from sight. The remains of an ornate stone balcony rail hinted that this was meant to be the first awe-inspiring view as you arrived. As it was now, it was more vertigo-inspiring, since most of the floor and rail had vanished.
I finally collected my thoughts, and started to look around. Sure enough, once the new arrival's eyes had escaped the captivating view, they'd see a stone cut archway leading into the rock. The corridor within was cleanly carved into the living rock, though the archway was still outlined with cut-stone. With hand cautiously close to my Relto-book, I slowly stepped through.
The corridor curved slowly to the right as I wandered, the light outside fading - causing me to stop and pull out my pocket-torch in case it was needed -, but as I advanced, I realised not. There was a faint light around me, from the walls it seemed. It was subtle, but it was definitely there, enough to see where I was walking. And the air, the air seemed somehow warmer. Surely that wasn't possible with the freezing cold outside. Puzzled, and feeling my excitement building at what I might find, I hurried on... straight into a metal door.
Was this to be the end of my explorations of this new age - a shattered stone platform, a view, and a corridor? No, wait... there were markings on the door... and those... those bumps could be buttons. I settled down and got out pen and paper, determined to figure this out.
-------------------[To Be Continued]------------------------------
I'll continue it in this format if people are interested, but more importantly, I'm interested in people's thoughts on the Age so far (from the view of someone linking there for the first time).
Yours,
Elkestra