(9000 D.E.-now {9658 D.E.})
The Downfall of the D'ni
Veovis, son of Rakeri (one of the last great lords, or oonraytee), was a young aristocrat friend of Aitrus, father of Gehn, son of Kahlis. He was displeased with his limited power in the first place, and when Anna (surface girl and future wife of Aitrus) found her way into D'ni, and furthermore, was allowed to live as a D'ni citizen, he was outraged. He stayed down in the lower districts, stirring up anger in the common citizens, and making followers and friends. He finally made a strike, but was foiled. His father could not believe what had happened, and Anna talked the council into letting him go.
Veovis, however, had had his pride stepped upon, and prepared another greater attack. The darkest day in modern D'ni history is said to be 9400, Leesahn 8. This was the day Veovis made his final revolt, along with Ae'garis (a philosopher from the lower districts), which all but destroyed the Dni civillization. They released a poison throughout the cavern via the huge ventilation fans, this combined with a devistating earthquake brought the entire civillization to it's knees.
Veovis and Ae'garis walked the streets of D'ni wearing masks to protect themselves against the vile poison they had spread. They picked up the dead and dying bodies to link their diseased corpses into ages where wary citizens might try to hide. The disease killing them through the air.
Atrus, Son of Gehn
I am sure you have heard of Atrus, he is the man we help in MYST, Riven and Exile, but who is he? Aitrus and Anna had a son, his name was Gehn. Anna and Gehn barely escaped the cavern alive, and went to live in a huge crevice in the side of a nearby and long dead volcano. Gehn was four. When Gehn turned fourteen, he left his mother--it is not known for certain, but it is believed this was due to dispute between the two. Not much is known about this part in the life of Gehn, but he came back five years later with a dying pregnant wife, hoping his mother could help. He was too late. Their son was born, but Gehn didn't want him. He left him in the care of Anna and went down into the D'ni cavern.
Fourteen years later, Gehn came for Atrus, as Anna had called him. He wanted Atrus to apprentice him with his studies into the D'ni culture, and the writing of special books that could link one to the age, or world, they describe. Anna reluctantly allowed Atrus to go. Atrus had heard of D'ni, ut he thought it only to be fictitious; when he learned of where they were going, he was eccstatic.
He soon learned of the err in his father's ways, as Gehn forced the natives of all his ages to see he and Atrus as gods. Also Gehn did not understand the underlying principles to the worlds he wrote, so they became unstable and were usually destroyed within a few years. Atrus also fell in love with a young native of Gehn's fifth age, Riven, whom he found was made to marry Gehn. Catherine, the woman, wanted to marry Gehn no more than she was wanted to and helped Atrus stop Gehn, so he could destroy no more worlds. They (along with Anna although Atrus didn't realize it at the time) Trapped Gehn on his dying world.
A few important dates in the life of Atrus and his family are:
The Rebuilding of D'ni
About forty years after Atrus and Catharine were married, they returned to D'ni along with some natives fromone of Atrus' ages. They were trying to salvage and rebuild the D'ni civillization. After searching for quite some time, they finally found a few thousand D'ni who managed to escape and hide their books well. During their drastic remodeling of the ancient Guild of Writers guild hall, they found a massive underground chamber, which was found to be the tomb of the great king.
The huge underground hallway was lined with ancient books written in a strange language, but at the end of the hall there was one huge book. they linked in and found the Terrahnee, who initially appeared to be a wonderful civillization, much akin to the D'ni. Things were not adding up, however, and it was found out that the Terrahnee had an incredible number of mistreated slaves taken from ages written for that exact purpose. Soon a sickness enveloped the age, and a revolution began which escapaded into a war.
The D'ni realized that they were doing the wrong thing by rebuilding on the ruins of their civillization, and relocated to a new age--Releeshahn.
The Present
An account by Dr. Watson of the rediscovery of D'ni and the formation of the DRC(At the DRC forums), and a synopsis of what has happenned in recent years by D'gr (who I am highly suspicious of being Pattie Van Heel and oh, yes--also on the DRC forums)
Now the DRC (D'ni Restoration Council) is in the process of restoring D'ni and rediscovering its magnificence, and hopefully in the near future making it able to be dwelt in again.
The Future
That is all the knowledge we have up to this point. It is hoped that the DRC will uncover much more information as time goes on. We also will have a way of transporting explorers to D'ni in masses soon.
