Guild of Writers

. . . or "Makers of Book-worlders" in English (I probably didn't write the D'ni correctly, but it's a work in progress). I just want to get this idea out there so that it can be written down and critiqued. Because I am busy with my Ahra Pahts shell, I have little time to actually work on this project, but I want to get all these ideas down for the time being. The ultimate goal is to make this MORE compatible.

The bahrehltahntee tso ahrotahntee are an exclusive group of D'ni who believe that book-worlders deserve to be recognized as equals to the D'ni, but only if they can prove themselves worthy as intellectuals. The members of the group produce 1 or 2 "journeys" in the course of their membership that are meant to prove the ahrotahntee worthy. These journeys consist of 4 mandatory puzzle ages and 1 optional hub age (there has got to be something to this hub age and 4 puzzle ages journey thing since it crops up so much in the Myst universe).

Each age that is written for a journey is also home to a people who are to be tested. In other words, if you were a book-worlder and you found yourself on your journey, then your home-age would be one of the puzzle ages. If you need more explaining of this paragraph, let me know, as I have spent a long time trying to find the right words.

As it would be very difficult on our part to inhabit many ages with intelligent beings, I am currently in the process of finding a good enough device for explaining why so many previously-inhabited worlds are now empty (I've considered Veovis's Plague or a disgruntled group member, but have yet to come to a conclusion).

Now, this format works in our favor because it allows for the constant release of newly restored journeys to the explorers. Even if the group only existed for 20 "generations" there are dozens of journeys that could be conceived. While completing the journeys, the explorers will not only learn a little about the book-worlders, but they will learn about the rich history of the bahrehltahntee tso ahrotahntee and its good and evil members.

What kind of puzzles would the out-worlders have to solve to prove their worth?

Gorobay wrote:What kind of puzzles would the out-worlders have to solve to prove their worth?

The type of puzzles that the book-worlders encounter depends on who was the author of the journey. They could be based on mathematics, astronomy, weights and measures, natural laws, or whatever the author found interesting. The good thing about the puzzles being designed for book-worlders is that they would have to be designed in such a way that people who had never come into contact with the D'ni could understand how to solve them (ie. D'ni numerals could not be of any significance unless there was a way provided in the puzzle to decipher their meaning).

On another note, seeing as the book-worlder's ages are also the puzzle ages, the book-worlders would have the opportunity of interacting with 3 or 4 different races before (theoretically) solving all the puzzles and meeting the D'ni.

I always like concepts that hark back to Myst concepts. I like this and I don't think anything tricky needs to be done to explain the lack of inhabitants. Ages like Stoneship and Mechanical could easily still have civilizations living far from the area the player has access to.

Floydman wrote:On another note, seeing as the book-worlder's ages are also the puzzle ages, the book-worlders would have the opportunity of interacting with 3 or 4 different races before (theoretically) solving all the puzzles and meeting the D'ni.

Oh, do you mean that there are five inhabited ages, and inhabitants of one solve puzzles in the other four?

About the name: Calling this group Makers of Outworlders makes it sound like they actually made them. How about shokhootahntee tso ahrotahntee: Instructors of Outworlders?

Gorobay wrote:Oh, do you mean that there are five inhabited ages, and inhabitants of one solve puzzles in the other four?

Yes.

Gorobay wrote:About the name: Calling this group Makers of Outworlders makes it sound like they actually made them. How about shokhootahntee tso ahrotahntee: Instructors of Outworlders?

I like it, but the ideal name would be something like Testers/Provers of Book-worlders, but I could not find a D'ni word for "test/prove". I guess IC the actual D'ni doesn't have to be released, but it would be nice.

Floydman wrote:

Gorobay wrote:Oh, do you mean that there are five inhabited ages, and inhabitants of one solve puzzles in the other four?

Yes.

Then I have an idea. Each world could have a theme to its puzzles: mathematical, astronomical, etc. To the inhabitants of each world, they would not be puzzles: they would simply be a part of their world that they fully understand, and are only puzzles to the people of the other four ages, who do not have mathematical, astronomical, etc., things in their worlds. It could be difficult to make puzzles that do not seem like puzzles, but it would pay off in the end.