There are a lot of things in the cavern that appear to need power--a lot of power! Where does all the power come from. Things that have occurred to me are geothermal, water, chemical. I know that power in the cleft comes from a wind generator but there is no wind in the cavern. I have seen mention of 40 large fans at the top of the cavern for ventilation. Obviously those need power.

So...what is/are the power source(s)?

Cal

Above the Dock, along the stairs where the tent is, there are mechanical sounds, which I always attributed to being the power generator for the city.

I always assumed (for no valid reason) that the DRC brought a small generator to power the flood lights they brought down into the cavern. That might be the source of the noise on that first landing on the Great Stair. I always assumed it was small since it most probably had to be hauled in thru Descent and the network of tunnels running from the Cleft to the city. It probably would not be big enough to power everything in the city.

I also assumed that the lights around the city were D'ni firemarble lamps... not requiring external power. Other D'ni equipment requiring power are still a question mark to me.

I'm just guessing, but they probably have waterwheels which they use on the bigger waterfalls in the side of the cavern. They probably also have power marbles, or at least some similar species of glowing round thing.

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How about piezoelectricity power created by the pressure of falling water on the big orange crystals outside in the back of GZ location ? (same power used to created the blue beam of the GZ generator)

Go check in first view above them and you will see the falling water.

Btw, like in Stargate crystals often have a great role in some of the Myst games.

Fusion generators.

What? Haven't you heard of this nara stuff? Fusion generation's an offshoot of the tech the D'ni came up with a long time ago. It's what runs the great zero, and happens to provide the subatomic particles that make it run. It also happens to power a great deal of the city in turn because of the sheer size of it. (I imagine it's the giant spire thing the water falls on, hence the glow etc).
They also use fusion to power the nexus, likely, though smaller scale.

The DRC just never figured how to reverse-engineer it, hence you never hear anything about it. That and they know if it was leaked they were in the ruins of an ancient civilization that had working fusion power generators.. it'd stop being an archaeological curiosity that very few care about, and immediately the government would step in to try to take over, then the idea of linking books would spread past the cavern, and, well... that would be the end of it. Large scale war.



Well, it COULD happen!

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Gondar wrote:

Fusion generators....

I beleive it should be fusion compounders as opposed to fusion generators which are not the same.

Unless you know something I don't. Sure would like to know where is the source about your fusion generators in Myst or Uru games.

(The) fusion compounder by Alahmnat
http://www.dpwr.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4760&hl=fusion+power+generators

This device is used to create Nara, the hardest of all D'ni stones. It was invented in 4826 DE by a member of the Guild of Stone Masons admitted under the policies of King Demath, who required all Guilds to admit a certain percentage of qualified students even if they were unable to afford the cost of attendance.

The model described in the Book of Ti'ana was used to compound excavation debris into Nara. The Nara was stored in small canisters for later use in a device called a "sprayer," which was used to apply the Nara to the walls of the excavated tunnel, simultaneously sealing and re-enforcing it.

re: exploding crystals.
Nara not to be miststaken with Spire special exploding crystals. (Also by Alahmnat)...
http://www.dpwr.net/forums/index.php?autocom=ibwiki&cmd=article&id=527

Note: The reason you see "fusion+power+generators" in the first link is because it was what I use for my search.

...and you missed the joke.

Yeah, I'm quite aware it's a fusion compacter (hence as I said it was an 'offshoot of the technology'). There's probably no relation between a "fusion compacter" and "fusion power". Unless they use hydrogen fusion or what to generate the heat to break the rock down sufficiently. Which, admittedly, is possible (the fact that they'd go to something so amazingly hot to replicate magma temperatures, not that they just casually discovered working stable exothermic fusion).

So, what I was doing was joking, by using facts like the Great Zero needing gobs and gobs of power to run (particularly if it actually fires off neutrinos in such quantities as to SEE a blue solid beam line!) I don't have any facts or what that say "Yep, D'ni have fusion power" but I figure it makes some sense. The Ronay weren't exactly slackers in the technology department, and D'ni were further on. Sure they focused on different fields, but their engineering remains past us.. for all we know in the tens of thousands of years they were a working civilization they managed to crack the atom... and then figure how to smash it together after that.

I maintain working feasible fusion is an option. Mostly because of the sheer power needs of the Great Zero, and the fact that they've found how to use fusion-like technologies already. Does that mean they DO? No. Does that mean it's possible? Sure. Probably far more possible than piezoelectric crystals mixed with falling water giving enough power to run a high-energy particle accelerator, at least...

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That's right, a canon canen cannon!

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Welcome back all!

At the risk of stating the obvious, there are power sources in evidence that defy current human understanding. The example right under our noses is linking. A linking panel has enough power to transport a human being vast distances, both across "planes" and within an Age itself, in a package the size of a Relto book. In Riven, it's seen that a crystal slide is able to power a linking panel in a book that doesn't contain sufficient energy on its own. Therefore, why couldn't whatever power source drives Linking Books also be harnessed to power the various machines of D'ni? The original residents obviously understood how to use it to drive transport. It's not a stretch to think they might have figured out how to use it to run the lights or spin a fortress.

Virg

Maybe any necessary electrical power in D'ni was generated by the Great Zero? This is certainly a plausible theory; as is the theory of "power marbles." It's also entirely possible that the D'ni had some sort of Tesla-style electrical grid in the cavern, where all the electricity was free flowing and devices requiring power simply pulled it from the environment around them. This theory could explain why on most ages power generators are clearly seen, but are not in D'ni. (i.e. Myst Island, Toelmer, Selentic Age, Tomahna, Ercana, Riven, Age 233, ect.)

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I think I found the ventilation fans mentioned previously. I found something above and to the right of the museum that might be the fans.

Cal

Really? Cool! Can you post an image, because I've never seen that.

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calroger wrote:

I think I found the ventilation fans mentioned previously. I found something above and to the right of the museum that might be the fans.

Cal

That's the Guild Hall.

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ohh...

It could be that deledrius but maybe calroger is not talking about the Guilds' Hall.

You know that building up there on the hill. I call that the Bahro Sanctuary. I heard it was owned by them. There is smoke coming out of there.

Maybe that's what calroger thinks as being the fans.

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In TOC, you can climb up the wall to the right of the Museum entrance. Up on top, you can see a bunch of shafts sticking up and what looks like either vents or skylights. I don't know if these objects exist in all versions or just TOC. I went up there this morning to get a picture but it was fairly dark and I didn't think it would show too well.

Cal