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| Obduction Backer |
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 7:59 am
Posts: 893
Location: Healing and Lifelong Learning
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Here is the general message I presented as the music played. There is a wee bit of artistic license, so be warned...
It is long, hence I put it in spoiler tags
[spoiler]When we learned in February 2008 that the doors of our home would be closed upon us, we felt as if our world was about to end. Was it true that destruction had indeed come upon us? We wondered this as we began our fall through the chasm.... Some thought this was the end of the story.... Others denied that anything was ending, rather, this was simply another transition in the progress of our community. But many knew it was the end of our home.... There were even those who spoke of the end of ages....
(song, End of Ages by Tim Larkin)
(song, The Well by Tim Larkin)
As the shock wore off during the two months from February to April of 2008, explorers did what they could to avert the closing of the Cavern. We signed petitions to keep the doors open, and protested loudly in hopes of the same result. We held parties, games, concerts, and other activities throughout the Cavern. On the surface we tried to convince others to join us to show the value in our home. To no avail. We finally had to accept reality. The DRC had depleted their financial resources, and no funding organization saw the potential in the Ages that both they and explorers knew was there. Sadly, we prepared for the last day.
As that fatal day of April 9th arrived, explorers met together for one last time. We gathered in our favorite ages. We gathered in our neighborhoods. We gathered in our Reltos or went there individually. We said goodbye to those whose names we knew on the memorial in the Kahlo Pub and gathered in the City places we had frequented so often together.
(song, The Library by Tim Larkin)
I linked to the ages I would miss the most: Eder Kemo, Delin, Teledahn, Phil's Relto, and the beautiful Kveer we had only known for a short time. I spent much of the day filling my KI with images and my KIrecorder with video for a memory book.
That night I met with many explorers in the Watcher's Pub, where we are now. I knew so many of them, and yet that night met so many more. The music played, we danced. For me, it was difficult, as dancing means joy. But we stood ourselves up, listened to the music of D'niJ's across the Ages, and we laughed, we joked, and we danced. And we swore we would remember.
The Bahro came to visit during those final hours. Twice, while I was there they came to the Watcher's Pub and looked at us with their solemn eyes. We wondered whether they knew that we, like them, would leave now, en masse. Did they remember their comrade whose body was brought to show us here in this very place? We wanted to know, if possible, what they had thought -- how they hd felt -- how they felt now. Had they really left voluntarily those many months before? Could they return if they wished? Could we communicate with them just this one time? [/spoiler]
Tai'lahr wrote: I wrote some words for Ghaelen to use in the opening ceremony and I was thinking of posting them here, but she changed it a bit and made it sound better, so I hope she'll post her version.
It was a good paragraph to work with, too, Tai. Thanks for giving me permission to make it a common experience. I didn't change many words, only added a couple for vocal clarification. I did reorganize the countdown, as it seemed a way to bring listeners, especially new explorers, into the experience you were trying to convey.
[spoiler]
(song, The Fall of D'ni by Tim Larkin)
So many explorers had similar experiences like this one from Tailahr, who writes, "It seemed like everyone was in the cavern on the last night, including those who had already settled in other worlds. Even some of the people who had stopped coming after the announcement in February were there. The KI lists were too long to manage, the chat was flying by, and within it, multiple messages passed within our Buddies lists.
“15 minutes till server shutdown...”
Although we told ourselves and each other that “the ending has not been written” and Uru would return, in our hearts, we knew that, even if it did, it wouldn’t be the same and that some of our friends wouldn’t return… and so, we said our goodbyes.
“10 minutes till server shutdown...”
It was all too much to absorb at the time, so we let the chat logs roll to be read later and we danced with our friends as Customer Care counted down:
“5 minutes till server shutdown...”
“(there will be cake)”
“One minute till server shutdown...”
“Goodbye”
(song, Time by The Alan Parsons Project)
Untranslated: Network error 5, Network Connection Failed
protocol: Auth Server
[/spoiler]
_________________ We are the shapers and the caretakers of this metaverse. How we honor ourselves and others largely determines what we bring into being.
A story: De Landria
Ghaelen: Moula.2 KI #64299
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