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Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:10 am

Author: Dot

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:10 am

This is a long thread, covering several years of story. It struck me it might be helpful to add a table of contents with a brief summary of key events and dates, as well as where journals have been placed in Uru fan ages.

Lockhouse code quest -- 23 Jun 2009
Village renovations, including tree village; linking with other Myst/Uru areas and groups -- 3 Jul 2009
Lost Pages sphere; Guild of Healers Ride for Joy -- 23 Sep 2009
Discovery of Selenitica -- 19 Oct 2009

The Devokan Story
An expanded version is also available in Neolbah.
Winter comes to Devokan -- 9 Nov 2009
The strange spheres -- 27 Nov 2009
Tracing the source -- 10 Dec 2009
The tree village -- 1 Jan 2010
The evacuation -- 10 Jan 2010
Farewell to Devokan; return to the Cavern -- 1 Feb 2010

Subsequent events 17 Feb 2010 to May 2010
The journal in Serene also covers this period, but from Quin's viewpoint.

Working across multiple worlds; foundation of the Devokan Trust
These next entries are covered in journals in Neolbah.
Discovery of Neolbah -- 9 Jun 2010
Andy's discovery of Eder Tomahn -- 23 Aug 2010
Quin's visit to the sky islands of Kamali (OSgrid) -- 30 Aug 2010
Starting work on Shell 415, Ahra Pahts -- 26 Sept 2010
Who is Elspeth Sorrelwood? -- 9 Oct 2010
Andy links to an unknown world -- 30 Oct 2010
Strange letter from Elspeth Sorrelwood; celestial clock? -- 3 Nov 2010
Completion of Phase 1 of Shell 415 -- 7 Nov 2010
Andy explains about Descriptive and Linking Books; Quin disappears -- 17 Nov 2010
Andy's anguished discovery -- 26 Nov 2010

Expansion of the Devokan Trust
Journals in Shell 415 document the period from December 2010. It includes the discovery of new areas in Restoration (OSgrid), and expansion of the Devokan Trust in personnel and infrastructure. Read on from the entry for 2 Dec 2010.
Mysteries of time -- 26 Jan 2011
Completion of Shell 415 -- 3 Mar 2011

At this point the story moves to the new thread: The Devokan Trust

--------------------
Edit (25 Sept 2011): Devokan Tapestries

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Sat Apr 23, 2011 2:06 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 2:06 pm

"In my end is my beginning"

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:35 am

Author: Dot

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:35 am

The Devokan Story -- End of Book III

======
My journey has indeed come full circle, from the initial attempt to "find a way, made a home" when access to the Cavern closed in 2008, to now, with a "home" in Ahra Pahts and ...

But Mat Mahogany's story continues, as does Filbert Holmer's and Zuri's and Kemy's and Zenoc's and ametist's and Quinquifid's, over on the Devokan Trust forum for Story Threads.

And the image? That was designed by Mat with further Photoshop work by D'Lanor. It depicts pod homes as made by Paislee in Skysong (see also the imager in Neolbah), and by Shenn in Tao, placed on a Tree of Possibilities; the vertical lines comprising the trunk represent the parallel worlds in which we "found a way, made a home".

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:28 am

Author: Dot

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:28 am

This week saw yet another anniversary of the loss of a home-from-home for some of us, of the world of There. That too is part of the story of Devokan.

By chance the day fell on Wednesday, when Ivy, June, Ilf and Morgon meet for their regular game of Spades. This is something they have done for years, first in There, where they played at Ivy's Relto Island in The Meeting Place's neighbourhood, and sometimes in Lareh's place at Eder Devokan.

Now they meet in the grounds of Devokan Dusklight, in Winterfell Reverie (SL), using a splendid card table crafted by Uru's own OHB.

We were joined by another ex-Thereian for the evening -- one of June's many friends. So while the others played, he and I discussed the different journeys we each had taken over the past year.

For me, I suspect, the journey might have come full circle with what Quin discovered from the experiment in Shell 415...

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:42 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:42 pm

The testing of Shell 415 is going well. Quin's experiment is repeatable (which he seems to be relieved about, for some reason!).

Quin took some time off today to revisit Tallis to check on developments there. He wrote about his visit later in his logbook on the Devokan Trust forum.

Quinquifid wrote:

The orbs' power is increasing. It still seems to be spawning minor orbs, two at a time. Some of these have escaped their confinement.

Fires have completely consumed one of the trees; others are now burning in the interior of the nearby house, which has suffered further depredation.

I also saw two orbs partially submerged in the river that flows through the centre of the island -- a new development. The furthest one was beneath one of the arches of the main bridge across the river; the other was at a bend in the river.

The plan Mr Mahogany mentioned in his diary, of "pushing" the neighbouring island of Pangaea away using giant rams, seems to have succeeded. There was no sign of the island, and on that side of Tallis there were signs of landslip, as can be seen in these photographs.

Tallis Orbs 7 March 2011

Tallis Rams 7 March 2011

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Zenoc2 — Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:15 am

Author: Zenoc2

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:15 am

How exciting! I'll be sure to keep my Ahra Pahts book out.

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:17 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:17 pm

Some very good news about the experiments in Shell 415 ... they have succeeded!

It all sprang from something ametist suggested back in October last year:

Quote:

The temple on Deepwater intrigued [ametist], especially the blue plasma sphere within its rotating gold cage. I explained how Quin and Nalates had conjectured that such spheres might be the source of what enabled the transfer across of elements of the old Devokan to this new world.

She went on to speculate whether it might be possible to generate a similar sphere within Shell 415. That, I think, we will need to get Quin involved with -- and check with D'Lanor first, who is overseeing the shell infrastructure development. We do not want to cause any linking mishaps in Ahra Pahts.

All the research and careful team work has paid off -- and with a very surprising result!

We're currently testing it all out to make sure everything is safe and stable, but in a week or so I think we will be able to open this to the public.

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:01 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:01 pm

You may remember that two weeks ago I mentioned that something was brewing on Tallis, Mat Mahogany's home on Restoration, where Mat has released a very powerful orb. Quin has been keeping a watching brief on developments since.

Mat makes his intentions clear in his diary on the Devokan Trust forum. Unfortunately, things have escalated, as I discovered over the weekend just past.

I was working in Winterfell Reverie, when I caught sight of a steampunkish Tardis materialising at one of the portal terminals Quin has installed for us (it seems they are compatible with the Time Lords' favoured transport system). It was Filbert Holmer, who has a cottage on the south side of Reverie, as well as extensive lands in Restoration.

He was most concerned about the orb in Tallis. Apparently it has been affecting his islands to the east, Tannhauser Gate. As he reported in his journal:

Filbert Holmer wrote:

Tannhauser Gate, however is a different story [to a stabilised Reki]. Since the Tallis orb appeared the sky has turned a sickly yellow. Now numerous, small tremors are plaguing the region. I expect Tanhauser to disappear soon. With data collected from Reki, I may be able to specify just where it goes. Not much time remaining for Tannhauser Gate.

I visited the area later that day -- the air itself seems to shimmer.

Quin has reported that the orb on Tallis seems to be increasing in power. The high-energy particles it is emitting have started several fires in trees close by, and in the lovely FLW-style house that Paislee built. Mat's latest diary entry reports that the building is beginning to collapse.

I had a chance to speak to Mat about all this. He was puzzled, and I suspect a little worried and upset, by Tannhauser Gate being affected by the orb -- it was never his intention that something like that would happen as a result of his actions.

But as Quin has pointed out on various occasions, we still do not understand the underlying scientific principles regarding the spheres, in spite of the experiments carried out by Filbert Holmer, Nalates, Shenn and himself. Deliberately trying to control and release one of the more powerful of them might be asking for serious trouble...

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:00 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:00 pm

While I was working in Winterfell Reverie today, I received a rather enigmatic note from Shenn: "Time spheres are dancing in Tao Lia sky".

Shenn and Leah have recently joined the team at the Devokan Trust and are working on regions to the north of Waysmeet on Restoration.

Intrigued, I linked to Tao Lia, and this is what I found:

Time spheres dancing in Tao Lia sky

A video would be better to convey the sense of gentle and graceful movement of these spheres. Do visit the area if you can.

(This is on OSgrid. Enable Lightshare, water reflections and turn on the land audio stream for the full effect. If you have access to a flycam, try using it to fly with the spheres.)

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Sun Feb 20, 2011 6:20 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 6:20 pm

Quote:

I almost felt guilty when I told him what else needed his attention...

Well, that little comment has come back and bitten me! I was enjoying a lazy day over in the Devokan Trust's land in Winterfell Reverie, when Quin linked in and started to berate me in that tight-lipped way of his.

The problem as I see it is that he has never learned to delegate -- he assumes all the work himself, whether from the belief that no one else CAN do it, or whether from the inability to understand others' willingness or even desire to take on such responsibility.

I tried to calm him down, to get him to list the matters he was concerned about, to work out ways to take some of the pressures from him. I pointed out the abilities and skills of ametist and D'Lanor, suggesting that they might be able to implement some of his planned experiments for Shell 415.

Quin's biggest concern was about the Celestial Clock, being able to install it somewhere in Winterfell Reverie where it would be safe and correctly perform its regulatory function (I had mentioned that I had found the Clock's designer during the chat on Wednesday). Apparently the Clock is mentioned many times in his aunt's journals, and I too remembered her injunction to find it as a matter of urgency (events got a bit in the way of that).

So we brainstormed possibilities for a while -- a good ploy, in fact, for Quin's mood lifts considerably when he plays with ideas. In this case, though, I came up with the option we eventually settled on: to re-use and adapt a wonderful structure re-created by Uru explorer Dialyser Sommer during the last exile from the Cavern.

I contacted Dialyser straight away, explained what we needed to do, and he agreed! More later...

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:46 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:46 pm

Ametist and I were sitting in my apartment in Shell 415, enjoying a cup of coffee together and putting the world to rights, when I heard the doors of Quin's apartment slide open. Since there were various things I needed to discuss with Quin, I asked ametist to excuse me and walked across the courtyard.

Quin was on edge. He had just been to Tallis, Mr Mahogany's island, he told me, in response to a letter from him that had been delayed by over a week.

Mat has released a very powerful orb in Tallis, one that looks very similar to those that destroyed Devokan Touchstone and Devokan Skysong in April/May of last year. "It seems he is planning to use the orb to somehow propel himself back in time -- all in the name of trying to find his missing brother," Quin said.

He showed me some of the photos he took. Mat's plans are obviously well underway -- he has already modified one of Shenn's vehicles to use with the orb, and has parked it strategically beneath it.

Tallis Orb -- 16 Feb 2011

Quin sighed: "I am not sure what I can do in these circumstances other than to monitor developments. As it is I am neglecting my own work both in Tao and in Shell 415---"

I almost felt guilty when I told him what else needed his attention...

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:23 am

Author: Dot

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:23 am

Something seems to be brewing over on Tallis, Mat Mahogany's home on Restoration. His diary on the Devokan Trust forum is an interesting -- and worrying -- read.

Then Quin seems to be back after one of his "disappearances", judging from the latest entry in the Touchstone logbook:

Quinquifid wrote:

I went away for a few days as the anniversary of the destruction of Devokan's home world approached. While the pain of that loss has eased, it still has power to suddenly disrupt thought.

But the anniversary came and went without major incident.

I am back at work now, setting up an experiment in the third area of Shell 415. I am excited by what might be possible using a combination of the crystals from Prin Pahts and those I have brought across from the ancient mines we have found on Touchstone in Restoration.

The crystals each have a distinctive "hum". I've worked out a way to "tune" them, but need to rig up a control panel.

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:10 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:10 pm

I wrote:

What exactly did we lose with the loss of Devokan? And what more have we gained with its loss?

Here's an OOC answer to that question.

It's now just over a year since we let go of Devokan and its companion area in SL. What has been gained in that time is remarkable to my mind.

First, Andy let me have an office in his Neolbah within Uru itself; he also allowed the updated Serene to become part of the Devokan story in the unfortunate episode when Quin altered the descriptive book.

Then ametist and D'Lanor are developing Shell 415 in Ahra Pahts as an HQ for the fictional Devokan Trust. Look out for its next release in a few week's time -- some good things to look forward to!

And what of the regions on OSgrid? Here's a map of just one area. While many of these regions are connecting seas, they give room for the islands to 'breathe' (something that was difficult in SL). There are also plans for sky builds above some of the sea regions.

OSgrid regions, 9 Feb 2011

Shenn and Leah have four regions in the north (top).

Holmer's five regions are to the south. He has others elsewhere on the grid, some of which are mentioned in his story posts in this thread and on the Devokan Trust forum.

Paislee and I look after the area centred on Waysmeet, Paislee being the main builder and artist, and I the story teller.

Nalates is working on four regions centred on Nalands, her home island. Again, there is a story behind them.

Then Mat has some wonderful regions of his own, which also have an ongoing story behind them -- he and Paislee work together on some. He recently posted screenshots on the Devokan Trust forum.

If you have access to OSgrid, search for kamali on the world map and visit the art gallery Mat has set up with Paislee's input -- it is a record of the many islands, regions and areas that people have created over the past year, besides being a visual treat in its own right!

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Fri Feb 04, 2011 5:43 am

Author: Dot

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 5:43 am

Quin suggested that I might ask Karkadann for more background information about the Lost Stonehenge. I did (I was going to, anyway), and here's Karkadann's reply:

Karkadann wrote:

The Lost Stonehenge -- was it was some form of Ancient Tardis that was somehow torn out of our known reality and stored in deep space so that it would not fall into the wrong hands?

Perhaps it was recently rediscovered by The Doctor, who was just curious about what the older versions of the Tardis looked like.

Who would have thought it was sitting under our noses in England all this time?

An early Tardis? Was that why it appeared in our lost world just days before the original Devokan's destruction? And why was the orb hovering over it?

What exactly did we lose with the loss of Devokan? And what more have we gained with its loss?

Something deep is going on here.

Re: Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot — Wed Feb 02, 2011 7:43 pm

Author: Dot

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 7:43 pm

Quin is back from his explorations, and has made a note in his logbook:

Quinquifid wrote:

A most interesting day, linking to the Lost Stonehenge. For once, Ms Dot's insistence was not misplaced. I have seen the artefact at the end of what might be called the Avenue Island at least once before, and that was recently in the wood near Devokan Dusklight in Winterfell Reverie -- it looked most out of place in that medieval realm. However, it disappeared overnight, along with the wood's inhabitants; Time Lords, they called themselves.

This put me in mind of a passage in one of my aunt's journals. She too had come across these Time Lords (it seems she belongs to a parallel organisation, the Sisterhood of Time).

It is strange how often my attention has been forced upon Time in recent weeks. First, my aunt's stricture to Ms Dot to install a "Celestial Clock" mechanism; then Ms Nalates' experiments with the Devokan orbs to reach back in time to facilitate the transfer of an ancient D'ni building to her North Restoration; then the unexpected appearance of my aunt's old home of Skysong; and most recently M. Shenn's enigmatic utterances about Tao.

And to Quin's last paragraph, I would add the following from Holmer's post above:

Holmer wrote:

It's as if the Restoration became frozen in time.

Just what is going on here?