Kalamee

It's unknown who wrote or owned the Age of Kalamee originally. What is known is that the book was either purchased or given to a D'ni family of three who moved there before the Fall of D'ni. The D'ni husband and wife who last owned the book had died in the Age and were buried there. But their daughter, a woman named Nalah, was still alive when it was discovered by the DRC.

The DRC only reached phase one of their restoration procedure. In October of 2001, Dr. Watson wrote "Resources volatile, recommend suspension". That likely meant that they didn't have the men, materiel and money to continue work and so the project was suspended. The last note about the Age was written on September 30th of 2006, when the DRC voted again about reinstating the restoration. The vote was 4-0 to keep the suspension in place, although the note said that they would reassess it at later date. That later date never arrived, because the DRC lost funding for a second time and left the caverns for good.

Nalah wasn't the only D'ni survivor still living in the Age. There were an unknown number of people employed by the family as workers in the Age, and they or their descendents were still there. From the notes, it's probable the DRC knew that the Age was inhabited. Why they didn't mention Nalah or her employees in any of their other documents is a mystery. They mentioned the existence of Esher in Noloben as the first D'ni survivor they met, although his presence was kept secret from explorers at the time. I can only guess that they never mentioned Nalah for the same reason they kept Esher a secret. It's mentioned that Nalah seemed to be suspicious of the DRC and did not speak with them much.

Nalah had a history that might explain why she didn't warm up to the DRC restoration engineers who visited the Age to evaluate it. She had a similarly dark view of the Guild of Maintainers from before the Fall. Apparently, she resented any attempt by outsiders to move in and claim authority over her Age. The Maintainers had a policy of closing off Ages that had historic ruins to general use and turning them over to researchers. She might well have had similar fears regarding the DRC.

The biggest secret that Nalah had, however, was that the Age always had a native population which lived outside of the Age in the world beyond. She kept knowledge of them away from the Maintainers, and did the same when the DRC appeared. In her home, she had a telescope that she sometimes used to observe life in a native village that was off in the distance.

The Age:

This picture shows the link-in pad for the Age.

The Age of Kalamee appears to be inside a forested valley with steep sides. A river flows into the valley from the north and feeds a system of freshwater lakes, with the largest lake at the southern end. It is bordered on the east by a plateau with another river that is very wide and at a higher elevation than the valley. The Age features at least sixteen waterfalls.

Scattered around the Age are natural caves that the native people as well as Nalah's family used for various things.

This picture shows another view of the terrain inside the valley.

Here's a short video clip of one of the ponds in the Age.

The Age seems to have been conceived as a D'ni nature park, and contains a large variety of animals in many sizes. Scattered around the Age are feeding troughs and other facilities for animal care. Nalah's parents and the D'ni workers converted a section of the Age into farmland. Nalah's father constructed a dam that could be raised and lowered across one of the major watercourses along with an irrigation system to keep the fields watered.

Stone fences and walls are placed to keep habitats separated and to keep larger animals from harming the food production area. Here's an example of the fencing:

And a wall with native iconography:

These pictures show various houses and buildings in the Age.

This is the back of the house shown above.

Kalamee's natives had a religion that included the concept of guardian spirit animals who would guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Nalah's father adopted the faith before he died, and had undergone the ritual to find out which spirit animal was his guardian. The following picture shows some of the totems that the natives erected to represent the spirits.

The link-out platform was found at the far end of the path through the valley.

Animals:

Click on the above image to see a full sized version.

The following listings are not guaranteed to be accurate. I tried to match up the illustrations with the descriptions of the named animals, but am not certain that all are correct. More animals are shown on the master illustration than have descriptions in the notes.

Ecander were a wonderful and friendly aquatic mammal that looked like a cross between a dolphin and an otter. Nalah trained a few of them and made regular visits to the lagoon where they lived to feed them. She taught them to perform tricks for the food as if they were in a show in an animal park. Anyone who swam in the lagoon would find one or two swimming around them, investigating for the other members of the school. The investigators would leave periodically to report to the others about you, and their vocalizations were easy to hear.
Ekanthrome were small animals that looked like a crose between a marmot and a dog. They were very tame and were always eager for a handout. They had puppy-like natures and were unintimidating and cute, with waggly tail and perky faces. They were very fond of a type of nut that grew on local trees and raced to get them anytime any fell off the branches.
M’cralthy were monkey-like creatures found in the trees. They fed on purple colored mishi berries most of the time, but absolutely go bananas when they come across plumpicots, their favorite fruit.
Megandi’na were large and slow moving animals with placid natures. They shared characteristics with Earthly elephants. Nalah's parents constructed a long, tall stone fence to keep them out of their fields. The animals could be observed sleeping, grazing on tree leaves and brushing shoulders with each other. They also frequently called to each other via various sounds they made.
Nēkpa'ark were the sheep equivalent of the Age, although they were smaller than Earth sheep. However, they made sheep look intelligent by comparison. A note about the Age described them as dumb as posts. They were endlessly entertaining to watch. They were always surprised and startled by unexpected stimuli such as changes in the weather, the appearance of other animals or people, or even if another nēkpa'ark bumped into them from behind.
P’unsids were tiny, skittish birds who lived in flocks on the ground. If anyone strange approached, they would run for cover in the shrubs and vegetation. The reason why they did is unknown, but Nalah and her workers fed them by throwing grain on the ground. The little creatures would run in quickly to snap up the food. After eating, a few of them would follow the worker awhile until they realized that there was no more food. P'unsids became used to people who fed them and ignored them instead of running away unless they brought more food.
R’aneth were birds frequently seen soaring overhead around the Age. From time to time, they dive toward the ground to catch food. As they were described by the DRC as being similar to ospreys, it's most likely that they caught fish.
Tān’dalē were deer-like creatures that grazed in a field to the east of the main pathway through the Age. Like Earthly deer they were wary of being approached. Some would always be on guard and if alerted, would sniff the air, listen and look around for possible danger. While this happened, the others would continue to graze. If anyone tried to get close, the guard would alert the others and they would all run away.
Unidentified creature. This animal is not mentioned in the notes about the Age.
Unidentified creature. This animal is not mentioned in the notes about the Age.

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