The Art
From D'ni - The Myst Wiki
The Art (D'ni: Rehgehstoy) properly referred to the D'ni ability, study and mastery of writing special Books that describe and link to Ages: different worlds. The origins of "the Art", as it is often called, are lost in the times of Garternay, and it was believed by the D'ni to have been delivered to the Ronay (the ancestors of the D'ni) by Yahvo the Creator.
The description for an Age is put into a unique Descriptive Book, written in a special form of the D'ni language and using special Books and Ink. Only one Descriptive Book can Link to an Age, but there can be multiple Linking Books pointing to the same Age.
Linking Books have a viewing panel called a Linking panel that shows a picture of the target location. The panel is interactive: by merely touching it, the person Links to the Age.
Only members of the Guild of Writers were taught and allowed to write descriptive books, and one of the Guild of Maintainers's jobs was to ensure the Ages' stability.
Contents |
[edit] "Creating" Worlds
While some D'ni including Gehn believed that the Writers created the Age, and therefore Writers held God-like powers over the Ages they linked to, most of the D'ni, including Gehn's son Atrus, did not believe so, and realized that by Writing a Link they only Linked to a pre-existing Age.
The D'ni believe the following:
- In an infinite universe, an infinite number of worlds exist
- When a book is written then, theoretically, there is an already existing world that the book is describing
- Therefore, ages are not created by writing books, they are simply linked to
- When a change is made to a book, the age does not actually change, but the writer is actually creating a link to a different world that the book now describes (for an example, see 37, and 37b)
Supporting this view is the fact that destroying a Descriptive Book does not destroy the Age: it merely severs the Link. However, small changes to an Age can be written into the Descriptive Book. See also Definition of an Age
[edit] Rules of D'ni Writing
Growing up under his grandmother Anna's guidance, Atrus developed into a deeply ethical man with considerable respect life and moral values. Because of this, many of his Ages reflect this and all are usually balanced in the natural elements and the cycle of life and death.
[edit] Contradictions
The writers cannot just write anything and create a suitable (as the D'ni say "stable") world, which are properly called ages. There are many rules that ages must confide to to be considered stable by The Guild of Maintainers. Because of the enormous work needed and responsibilities required to create an age, the art is often considered a bit scary to some D'ni and many write ages with caution.
Regarded as the biggest mistake one can make in writing, contradictions happen when the writer of a book puts in two terms that cannot both be true. This is usually done accidentally, but the results can be disastrous. Worlds with contradictions written into them are extremely unstable and unsafe to travel to.
