Riven (age)
From D'ni - The Myst Wiki
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| Written by Gehn |
| First seen in Riven (game) |
| Inhabitated? - Yes |
| Journal- Riven (game)/Atrus's journal |
Contents |
[edit] Riven Overview
| Creatures: | Ytrams, Wahrks, Sunners, Beetles and other animals, also several species of fish. |
| Geography: | Once an island, now broken to a group of five islands. Four of the five are inter-connected using magnetic levitation vehicles ('trams'); steam pipes also distribute energy between them. The fifth island, on which stood an enormous tree, has long since floated away from the others. |
| Inhabitants: | Rivenese |
| Vegetation: | Tall trees, grass, flowers, forming tropical jungles. |
| Written by: | Gehn |
[edit] History
Named the Fifth Age by Gehn, Riven was probably Gehn’s best age, as far as size, technology, and stability went. Even still, it had several flaws in its writing, as all his ages did, and was in a steady state of decline. To protect Gehn from continuing his treachery in D'ni, Atrus trapped Gehn there for 33 years, stopping his systematic destruction of Ages. It is first glimpsed in Rime (from realMYST), where it can be seen in an imager. It is the largest and main age in Riven in terms of explorable space, as well as the largest age in any Myst game thus far.
During this part of history, the island split into five. Gehn restricted four of those to himself and to his personnel. The villagers were limited to one island. Gehn used bridges to connect his islands, but later moved to single-seat “mag-lev” trams. (cf. Richard Watson (RAWA)'s page explaining the loss of the east path) Gehn used one island to make books and revive the Art. On another he built a temple that provides power throughout the age. On a third he constructed a scale topographical map of Riven, and the smallest he used as a prison. Gehn’s prison was actually where Riven’s great tree was once located. It had once towered over the island, but Gehn cut it down when Atrus trapped him, and built a prison out of the stump.
Atrus first traveled to Riven in Myst: The Book of Atrus, where he met and fell in love with Katran a Riven native, later known as Catherine. It is where he came to know Catherine and where Atrus and Catherine were supposed to get married.
Riven’s inhabitants split into two factions: those who followed Gehn and those who rebelled against them. Atrus wrote improvements into Riven, but he could only slow the imminent decay. The final collapse happened when a mysterious friend of Atrus trapped Gehn and freed Atrus’s wife Catherine. After all the people had been moved to Tay, the stranger opened the Star Fissure, which called Atrus, but triggered Riven’s end.
The Riven book can be seen at the beginning of Myst III: Exile in Atrus' study. The gateway image in the linking panel appears as though the entire age has fallen to utter chaos after the opening of the Star Fissure.
[edit] Islands
[edit] Temple Island
- Also known as: Dome Island or Allatwan.
This island is named after the temple to Gehn on its east side. It is consisted of two smaller isles. The Riven link-in point is on this island, and it is dominated by the Great Golden Dome, which redirects energy to Gehn's Fire Marble Domes, the Star Fissure, and the Beetle Room with prayers to Gehn. The other isle contains the Temple. Gehn would transmit images and messages from a chamber on this island. Upon entering the temple for the first time, you will catch a fleeting glimpse of his image.
[edit] Jungle Island
- Also known as: Village Island.
Here is the only surviving village, where the vast majority of the surviving Rivenese population is concentrated. Access to all other islands (with the exception of Temple island, for ceremonial purposes) was forbidden to the Rivenese by Gehn. The island contains a lagoon, with an underground railway, a school, as well as the Wahrk gallows where Gehn punished disloyal Rivenese by feeding them to the Wahrks of the lake. The game explains the bizarre holes in the lagoon by way of a bacterium that increases surface tension in response to heat. Many trees have been cut down to be converted into paper for Gehn's books at Boiler Island.
[edit] Crater Island
- Also known as: Boiler or Book Assembly Island.
A boiler for making paper and books is found here, as well as Gehn's original headquarters. The island is a dormant volcanic crater with a large lake inside of it. In the middle of the lake is a pump with a turn-lever on it that powers a few of the island's devices. One of the devices was a trap that Gehn used to capture ytram, whose bodily liquids were used for poison darts. Trees cut down on Jungle Island are placed in a mine cart that is shipped all the way to Boiler Island, where they are dumped down onto a slide that leads to a crushing device that turns the wood into shavings, which are then placed in the boiler, which is heated to remove the fibers from the wood. After this, it can be pressed into paper.
[edit] Plateau Island
- Also known as: Garden, Map, Matrix, Spike, or Survey Island.
This Island has a wide plateau with a miniature map of the Riven islands. Gehn used this island to study the deterioration of the Riven Age. It likely also served a ceremonial role, as Gehn surrounded the island with Wahrk tusks.
[edit] Prison Island
Once holding the massive Tree of Riven, after Gehn had cut the tree down for his Books, it now served as the prison of Catherine. The Prison Island had drifted far away from the other islands and was only reachable through Gehn's Age 233. In fact, it's so far away, it can't even be seen from the other four islands.
[edit] Iron Island
This has been mentioned as possibly existing in Gehn's journal. Gehn presumed it was where the Moiety mined the metals that made up their daggers.
