Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

There is a lot to report. So much has been happening.

On the same day that Mat Mahogany noted his findings above, Quin left a note on the GoMa forum, saying that he needed to speak to me urgently. Nal mentioned my visiting her island a couple of days before. Unfortunately I didn't spot the thread until this last weekend.

In the light of what seems to be happening, I'd better quote Quin's and Nal's posts (both dated 10 April 2010) in full:

Quinquifid wrote:

Good. She might be already aware, then, of what seems to be happening in the islands. But I do need to talk with her.

As far as I can tell, there seem to be two separate processes at work -- one of which is causing quite drastic changes to the island of Devokan Touchstone. I met Mr Mahogany earlier today, and he showed me what was going on. He is somewhat concerned.

Tying it in with the systematic flux readings I have been taking over the last week or so, it seems that there is a direct link between flux intensity and amount of change in terrain. Devokan Touchstone now has a deep crack running its length, and parts of the terrain are being pushed (or pulled?) upwards. One example of the latter is in the SW corner, where readings were particularly high.

It's just as well Miss Paislee is away at the moment. The changes would worry her.

The other process my instruments have picked up (it has quite a different 'signature' to the other) -- I assume that that is occasioned by the smaller spheres over the ocean to the south of your island. They look an interesting development; I have not seen the spheres emit 'sparks' before. What are your thoughts on what is going on there?

Nalates wrote:

I’m not sure how related some of these things are. I have one captive sphere and 4 or 5 semi-controlled spheres on my island and south of my islands. I have no idea if they are having an effect on Touchstone. If you see a connection, let me know.

The test sphere, the one I call captive, is in the building I’m putting up on my island. You can see it best from the third floor. The computer controls are in the basement right now. I adapted the computers I use to monitor the phasing in and out of the islands to control the spheres until I can get more equipment.

I have the ...elevators... working. Traveling forward I brought back some technology and used it to make getting around easier.

The other spheres are being used to capture the old D’ni building I found. You’ll find those to the south of my island in what was open water. Some of the terrain is being pulled across now. I am trying to slow the process until I can learn more about the spheres… or at least the process they use. The new terrain should be reasonably stable, for now.

One of the things I did notice is changing the energy source has shifted some of the effects in the sphere’s process into the visible spectrum.

I managed to meet up with Quin later that day. He showed me the cracks that had appeared in Devokan Touchstone -- they were deep, filled with water, criss-crossing the island. He said they were wider and more numerous than before; he could not explain what was happening.

Fortunately 'New Devokan', as Nal calls it, seems unaffected, and nor is Curiosity, the island to the north where Paislee is based.

Quin suggested it might be as well not to link directly to Devokan Touchstone at present. On occasion he had tried, and had been struck by a kind of paralysis, unable to walk one step (he was able to link away from the place).

That evening, Paislee returned from her brief time away. Sleep did not come easy though, as she wrote the next day in her journal:

Paislee wrote:

Last night I had a dream. It’s not often I remember my dreams, but this one was a revelation from which I awakened trembling….

In my dream, I was wandering about these worlds — free to travel where I chose. While crossing the mountain toward the pods, I stumbled in my dream. I must have hit my brow on a stone for I remember nothing until I dreamed.

In my dream I opened my eyes and beheld a wierd and wonderful sight! Spun out before me as far as my eyes could see was a giant weaving of string…like the web of a giant spider. But ’twas no simple circular web I beheld, but a weaving so cunning, so cleverly made of colored strands interlaced and folded back upon themselves that I could not comprehend it all.

The earth on which I stood was not solid earth. I could see through to the bones of the world… I could see through the mountain to Devokan. In a panic I gazed upward and saw a giant net canopy enveloping everthing. Stunned… I realized I must be dreaming yet I dared not take a single step for fear I would fall through….

My senses returned and my forehead throbbed. Gingerly I touched my temple to see how badly I was hurt and caught a glimpse of my insubstantial hand! For not only was this world made of a giant’s Cat’s Cradle, but my hand was as well!

I don’t remember waking from my dream, if it was a dream. But this morning I took a spade to the mushroom patch and dug a deep hole..thinking perhaps I could find the strings that bound the world in my vision.

The only thing I found was earth. Still… I do wonder if this world is all that it seems. I shall send a letter to Quin describing my vision. Perhaps he would be interested.

I am very uneasy because this morning I noticed a small bruise on my temple. Was it a dream… or real?

I met up with Paislee on Wednesday. She asked if I had seen what was happening in Devokan Touchstone. We linked there together -- and experienced the strange inability to move that Quin had mentioned.

However, what was more alarming was that most of the island was now submerged -- the cracks had opened up and merged. Yet in two places, the land had risen sharply upwards, some 50-60 metres...

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

I have just re-visited Devokan Touchstone.

An ugly red glow blights what remains of the land.

The sea, no longer calm, displays a turbulence driven from below. Debris from destroyed walled gardens swirls around, caught fast in whirlpools.

One of the elevated regions seems to be trying to twist itself free of the spiky grasp of this festering landscape.

I am very, very angry.

Quin meant this to be a new home for us all.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

Quin has posted an update on GoMa:

Quinquifid wrote:

I too have seen what is happening.

Mr Mahogany, in an earlier discussion I had with him, suggested that the two instances of Devokan in the same world, and in such close proximity, might be caused by some error in the transfer process (which involved a temporary time-space wormhole between parallel worlds); one key parameter out by a factor of 10^-12 would be sufficient to disturb the meshing of the transferred Devokan with the original island in the destination world.

Perhaps this turbulence is part of a restoration process, as a single instance is re-established.

On the other hand, perhaps it has nothing to do with the transfer process -- a more worrying scenario in that we do not know whether the turbulence and destruction might spread.

Nalates, there may be parallels here with what you are doing. Though if it is the former, a restoration process, I would have expected a better match between the 'signatures' of the spheres employed in your experiment and the flux over Devokan Touchstone. On a more intuitive level (yes, Miss Dot, even I have some sensibility in that area) the transfer process instigated by the spheres, though disturbing in some ways, was beautiful -- mathematically, aesthetically, harmoniously; this turbulence is chaotic, ugly, discordant.

So on balance, I would say we are faced with the latter scenario. In which case, how might we contain and constrain this dis-ease of the land? Might we pool our resources, Nalates, Mr Mahogany, and I?

As usual there is no recognition that I too might have some ideas to contribute -- only 'warrior' Nalates and Mr Mahogany are worth consulting at this point. (Quin does irritate me sometimes.)

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

When I checked earlier today, the turbulence in the seas and islands of Devokan Touchstone was increasing.

Sometimes I wonder about the links between what is going on in the wider community (or should I say 'communities'?) and in the lands I explore. For this is not the first time that events in the metaverse have echoed others within forums and groups. Unfortunately, this time the ugliness and destructive forces I see at work in Devokan Touchstone are mirrored in the pestilence of witch-hunts, name-calling, and deliberate provoking or belittling of others.

I wish I knew how to bring it to an end -- to contain it before it spreads its poison further. But its source is deep-rooted.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

While the turbulence is still there, and still has the potential to spread and poison its surroundings, it seems there is a way of working around it, of nullifying its effect and influence. Sorting out this mess will require close teamwork.

Mr Mahogany has been able to stabilise some new land to the south of his large ship, away from the currently blighted areas. Through use of his technology (closely linked to that of the spheres, it seems) he has transferred Paislee's island of Curiosity complete with buildings and fauna.

Two further regions have been prepared to the east of Curiosity. The plan is to transfer Devokan Waysmeet and Devokan Deepwater here. While we have managed to build a replica of the terrain of Deepwater, the buildings and landscape details are proving a little more problematic. The set up is this: Mat and Quin between them have added copies of the spheres that were involved in the original transfer to this new world to the existing Waysmeet and Deepwater. Then, copies of Nal's adaptation to make a 'receiving' sphere are placed in the new regions.

Quin, as usual, decided he wanted to try some further experiments. So when I linked in to Winterfell Reverie, there was a note waiting for me on my kitchen table:

Quote:

Shorah, Miss Dot

You might have noticed that I have taken the crystal distillation experiment out of its storage case. My apologies for the short notice, but events in the spheres' source world seem to call for drastic action.

Of course, with the disappearance of the Keepsafe, I have needed to find alternative accommodation for the furnace. I have therefore installed it in your cottage. One could see it as an alternative method of heating -- it might also prove efficacious in driving out the damp.

Your friend -- Quinquifid

And yes, he has set up the equipment right in the middle of the living room so I have to walk around it each time. There is also no escaping the dust and the fumes. I have had to warn my new neighbours -- and apologise.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

Sometimes Quin goes beyond the limit. There are now TWO experiments set up in my cottage at Devokan Vespers in Winterfell Reverie -- the second with the added note 'Noli me tangere', intended, no doubt, as a warning to the neighbours. (In fact, most of them speak English, as Quin would know if he were only a little more sociable).

Be that as it may... What is happening on the spheres' source world?

Nalates' experiments with using the spheres to 'capture' the old D'ni-looking building she found seem to be bearing fruit. It is fascinating to see how much more terrain has appeared to the south of her island of Nalands.

Mat seems to be testing the engines of the cruise ship he has commissioned -- it has moved from the south to the west of Devokan, and is now next to Nalands. The ship is luxuriously appointed.

But I'm leaving the bad news to last. Devokan Touchstone is now shrouded in permanent darkness, the sea glowing eerily red. The neighbouring islands of Skysong and Waysmeet are also touched by its gloom.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

Quin left a note for me in Winterfell Reverie that the blight in the spheres' home world seemed to be spreading and changing in nature, suggesting that I should link there and check for myself as a matter of urgency.

When I linked there, I saw at once that Devokan Skysong was now affected as well as Devokan Touchstone.

In Devokan Touchstone I took a couple of short videos -- photos simply do not convey the dynamics of what is happening.

Devokan blight: panorama -- The peace of New Devokan contrasted with the turmoil of Devokan Touchstone

Devokan blight: close up -- A close up of some of the blight processes seen on Devokan Touchstone

(OOC: My amateurish videos don't do justice to the effects created by Mat Mahogany. If you have an account on OSgrid, search for Devokan on the map, and fly across to Devokan Touchstone on the east. I used Windlight setting 'Purple' for the videos; but they look pretty good with just the current sim default setting of Night.)

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

A quick update on what is happening:

Quin and Mat between them, using some of Nalates' adaptation of the spheres, have been able to move what was in the region of Devokan Waysmeet to safety. It is now to the east of Curiosity.

In an attempt to contain the spread of the blight, we've placed a containing dome over the main island of Devokan Skysong. Devokan Touchstone is probably too far gone to be saved.

Intriguingly, to the east of the whole island chain, new land has appeared. It is not possible to sail or fly there directly, but teleports work. And one of the islands is named 'Relto'!

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

Over the past week, another island has been taken out of the path of the blight: Devokan Deepwater. It is now south of the transferred Waysmeet. The view from Deepwater looking across to Waysmeet and Curiosity is calming and beautiful -- such a contrast to what is happening further north.

For the blight continues to affect Skysong. The containing dome might have slowed it a little, but each day more of the landscape succumbs to its poison. I will venture in later today and try to take some photographs.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

And have I been able to go back to Devokan Skysong since I wrote that? No... so no photos, sorry.

I have heard from Quin, though. Besides working in the spheres' world, he has been running various experiments over in Devokan Vespers, at Winterfell Reverie. Because Winterfell has undergone a recent and somewhat unexpected lurch in time back to the Middle Ages, we're having to take special care to keep most of Quin's technology out of sight and hearing of the locals. Whiffs of alchemy are fine, it seems (though not to my nose!), but anything more could be taken as some forbidden magic.

Anyway, I was intending to check something out, using the portal just outside Quin's cottage, as usual. Unfortunately, something seems to have gone wrong with it, and before I realised what was happening, I was literally 425 000 m above Winterfell -- without a parachute or Relto book! I tried various ways of breaking out of the climb, but my ascent was so fast that the personal portals I set up were 100 m below me by the time they were fully ready for use, so unreachable and unusable.

I checked the communicator as to who might also be in-world at that time, and saw that Nalates was available. I let her know what was happening...

I can't remember now how I escaped this unexpected experience of anti-gravity. Perhaps I blacked out. Perhaps Nalates was able to effect a rescue. But still, here I am, alive and definitely kicking...

'So, Quin,' I wrote, following on from the 'kicking' idea, 'what have you been doing to the portal system?' (For it is his responsibility to maintain.)

Quin's response was the following:

Quinquifid wrote:

I have not touched the portal system since first setting it up. Having said that, something does seem to have gone seriously awry.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to work on it for at least a week. Matters are coming to a head in the other world. Using some of the same processes that seem to power the spheres Mr Mahogany and I have been able to transport the two islands so far unaffected by the blight to new places -- one of them being Devokan Waysmeet, as you requested.

However, Devokan Touchstone is lost, totally submerged. The fluxions above it -- most in the visual wavelengths -- are quite spectacular against the dark night sky.

The dome you placed over Skysong has only slowed, not halted, the blight's progress; chasms are appearing now, as they did when Touchstone was first affected.

We have decided that the only option left is to wipe both Touchstone and Skysong from the map. This will take place within a week.

mat mahogany · **Joined:** Thu Apr 08, 2010 6:14 pm **Posts:** 13

I have made this journal entry.

"Such a lot has happened since my last note. I think I was so tired, I decided to take a break and had a vacation on my boat.
I met up with Tobias. It was a very uneasy time at first. Toby was uneasy. I spoke to him, and after a lenghty chat, over whisky, he is like me. He cannot settle. But is so very keen to look after the completion of Journey.

Vale city offered me an opportunity to berth 'Journey' there, so I did. Toby and I took a week to sail but when we arrived it was fabulous. I have informed the project crew that we will be there for the next few weeks so to move all the fitters over and Toby can carry on.

I spent my days in Vale City and my nights in some places I actualy cant remember, lol. We had a dance troop in the caberet lounge, and a group of cartographers in the family bar. Toby just got in with the work. I think he is trying to forget something, and is using the work as a distraction. I can understand that.

The power system is holding up superbly, and we are not even breaking a sweat. Ill look at a few more places for us to sail to. Perhaps when all the work is done Toby will stay on, but Im not sure yet?

So I returned to Devokan, my dear favourite place. How beautiful you are turning out to be.
Two birds have settled in the Inn, and are constantly swooping about. How good it makes me feel to see them happy. Also it keep the bugs down too, ha ha.
But how sad for touchstone and skysong. The mighty devastation has taken all but a few pieces, and skysong is not a patch on what it was.
And yet today I noticed a superbly fantastic thing. We have seemed to grow a floating island?? The phenominum that has desolved touchstone has also projected it in to the air. I wonder if this is what will happen to Skysong too? Although sad for the places that were its a rather exciting time!!!

I looked for the mouse today. I cannot find her but I know shes about. I found a hole in my favourite armchair!

I must ask Paislee if shes going to move back into her house? She built it to remind her of the earth she left, but since all the changes has not stayed there??

Its sad to see it empty.

I have been working on the secret Garden since I got back from Journey. Its lovely, already I feel at home. I found some alien styled garden furniture and used that. How superb.

So as I close this note, I look over Touchstones dying remains and the rebirth of something new.
Perhaps a floating Island we can live on, ??? I am so enthraled.
See you all soon.

Mat Mahogany.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

OOC post -- Beginnings and Endings

It's now nearly a year since we first started this adventure on the MOUL forums, and just over two years since 'Eder Devokan' hood made its debut in There.

Along the way, many, many people have contributed to developments in Devokan, some of whom are mentioned in (and have contributed to) this story, while others quietly worked behind the scenes. My personal thanks to all of you -- none of this would have happened without your support!

But now the time has come to draw this thread to a close. The old Devokan is no more. As Mat has said: the last traces sank beneath the waves of Devokan Touchstone this past week. What remains are memories, and screenshots, and friendships.

And a new beginning... or beginnings!

For from now we will be weaving several strands that together tell a wider story, a story based in several online worlds -- including Uru.

Mat Mahogany will be spinning one thread, based around the new Devokan on the OSgrid and its environs, as well as explorations undertaken in his ship Journey -- his post above is just the start.

Paislee will tell her story through the wonderful environments she creates, in Curiosity, Deepwater, Waysmeet and others to come (OSgrid).

I will be based mostly in Vespers on Winterfell Reverie in Second Life, and in Uru itself.

Others, too, will be involved in various places and at various times. It's going to be an interesting mix!

========================================
Edit (10 August 2010): "What's going on?" you might be asking. "You said above that this thread was being drawn to a close, and now it has suddenly sprouted posts from the 'Lost Pages' thread."

Well, yes. But things do change in the strangely fluid worlds we visit -- we experiment, play, see what works and what doesn't... for us as individuals and as friends working together or individually in parallel. And whatever we do, it needs to be fun for everyone involved.

The loss of Devokan in SL affected me far more strongly than I had anticipated. The original plan was to attempt to rebuild that area within OSgrid. For various reasons that did not work out -- but it was not for want of trying on everyone's part. Towards the end of July, Mat, Paislee and I discussed this and decided how we might continue. Mat very kindly gave back the Devokan concept and story to me to develop.

Besides looking after the server hosting the regions of Waysmeet, Deepwater and curiosity, Mat is full of ideas for stories, puzzles and areas he himself wants to develop in OSgrid. The Tallis thread here on the MOUL forum is but one of those stories -- and I've no doubt that our story threads will intertwine in the future too. If you have access to OSgrid, look out for Mat's areas (e.g. kamali, Tallis) -- they are beautiful, diverse, exuberant, immersive.

So what of 'Devokan' now? It is obviously no longer a specific place you can visit (though intriguingly Nalates recently showed me a futuristic robot that had a 'Made in Devokan' sticker -- had she been time travelling?). At present it is probably more an underlying concept and style, a reflection of its D'ni meaning. Let's see where this next part of the journey takes us...

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

A new chapter, a new place -- and this one is in the Cavern!

Andy Legate found the area when doing a little 'unofficial' exploring while the Cavern was still closed -- against all advice from the rest of us at GoMa, it has to be said.

Andy wrote:

I took a small makeshift boat, and decided to head for a spot in the wall of the cavern. I found a small cave where I landed and wandered around, lost, for a day or two, when I stumbled upon a bigger cave with a walkway. As I made my way down it, when I got to a certain point, a gate came crashing down and I have not been able to get it opened back up. This walkway lead to the Atrium of Neolbah. Fortunately, there was a Nexus linking pedistal there with a book going to the Nexus and by using it, I was able to have a link to this place included in my KI.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, when I recently mentioned needing a base within the Cavern itself, Andy thought this might be suitable, and so...

Here I am!

=====
Edit (10 August): merged with Developments in Devokan thread, since it is a continuation of that story.

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

I'm really enjoying pottering around Neolbah.

I've brought down some of the packing cases in which Paislee, Nyn, Quin and I hastedly stored items when we needed to evacuate Devokan back in January/February. I've stacked them by the entrance to the office -- before I did that, there was an awful draft coming through the passageway as I sat at the desk (you should see the lamps swinging in the breeze in the atrium!).

Andy has gone up to the surface to get some tools. He is intrigued as to what might be behind those other doors and is planning to work on them over the next couple of weeks to see if he can get them to open.

The contrast between him and Quin amused me: Whereas Quin has been gone for 10 days now without a word (I found out from a neighbour in Winterfell Reverie that he had gone down to the city of Caledon to get some fancy glassware and other supplies for one of his experiments), Andy left a note on my desk AND his shopping list (oops!).

Dot · **Joined:** Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:52 am **Posts:** 1015

I'm impressed by the progress Andy is making in repairing some of the machinery in the area.

Although the time zones we each live in are different, just occasionally I bump into Andy as he links in and I link out. It's strange how often he is muttering about the need for a coffee!

But no power means no coffee. It also means that the D'ni number keypad he has freed up doesn't actually do anything as yet -- we're both intrigued as to what might be behind those firmly locked doors.

There must be some power somewhere -- the sparking blue button suggests that. But perhaps that is on a different circuit. I suspect that might be what Andy is working on at the moment.

I have learnt if he and I are in the age together, it's best if I stay in the office with headphones on. Andy's military background shows in his vocabulary at times.

Equally, that way I'm less likely to trip over any tools he's using -- talk about an unorganised mess where he is working! -- though he does tidy them all away before he leaves.

Developments in Devokan (Fan Fiction)

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