Relto ( relto )
is a portmanteau made up of the words re, el,
and to. It means "the high place", a reference
to it being the top of a mountain with a sheer drop off into unknown depths.
It's permanently surrounded by mist that conceals the terrain below. Presently,
we don't even know if there is any.
It was Yeesha's masterpiece, and as far as I know the only
Age she ever wrote herself. All of the other Ages she shared with explorers
were ones she modified, but which were written by D'ni. If it's true that
she only wrote one Age, that means she wrote half of the number of Ages her
grandmother did, since Ti'ana was involved in the writing of Gemedet and
Myst.
When she completed it and
showed it to the her mentor from the D'ni Guild of Writers, it came as a complete
and utter shock to him because it shattered many long-held beliefs passed down
from the time when the D'ni people's ancestors were still living on Garternay.
The laws of writing that Relto broke were:
1) No book can link directly to another location in the same Age. One must
exit the Age and return to the new location.
2) No book can be used to link from within an Age back to that same Age and
location. (Both rules are violated because you can link directly from your
Relto back to your Relto.)
3) No book can travel along with the person using it to link. (Relto users
routinely carry the book on their belts when linking.)
4) No book can be modified to add or subtract features after it is written.
(Relto users can add pre-written pages to it at will, and turn features off
and on.
There have been questions about that last rule because when the Stranger found
Atrus, he was writing in Riven's descriptive book. The difference was that
all he was trying to do was slow down the rate at which it was falling
apart. He was not adding or subtracting things from the Age. If he had tried
to change the Age to save it from destruction, the most
likely result would have been the loss of the link to it and any chance
of rescuing Catherine.
The rule was less of a law than a strict guideline the Guild of Writers taught
and followed. The D’ni
knew that you could alter a book. They also knew that any changes made
could destabilize an Age to the point of destruction, break the link to that
world, or change the link to another one entirely.
If that happened, the odds were that a link to that particular world could
never be made again. Because of how likely It was that altering a book would
lead to disaster, it was forbidden by D'ni law.
As Yeesha hints, the D’ni could not have written Relto. It was partly
because she wasn't bound by D'ni legal restrictions, but it was also
because she used techniques she learned from her parents, her D’ni mentor, Calam,
and after his death, the Bahro. Her parents were innovative because they were mostly
self-taught and experimented with the Art in ways that would have horrified
D'ni writers before the Fall.
Yeesha had this to say about Relto.
Relto, the High Place. Your Age now. It was the first Age I wrote,
a gift for my parents, and now much more. It reminds me of another home,
another place. I even placed the Library in the place it belongs. But
Relto will change. It will be your soul, showing what you are. Only I
could write Relto, it's beyond what the D'ni could accomplish. Keep it.
When she was planning the Path of the Hand, Yeesha began mass producing Relto
books and added a twist to them. Each book would link to a separate
instance of Relto that could be customized by adding pre-designed
pages to them to add new features. She then arranged for Jeff Zandi to guide
the people she had her Bahro "call" to
find copies of the books in a Bahro cave she had installed in the Cleft. After
they first linked to Relto, the explorers would find pillars with linking books
to Eder Gira and Kemo, Gahreesen, Kadish Tolesa, and Teledahn in the yard.
Later,
she changed her method and had copies of the books given to explorers directly.
When they first began their journeys, the first place they arrived in was Relto,
which had a pillar with a linking book to the
Cleft in its yard. She then put a Relto page in the Cleft's Bahro cave that
placed the pillars for Eder Gira and Kemo, Gahreesen, Kadish Tolesa, and Teledahn
in the Relto yard when added to their copy of the Relto linking book. No one
has yet offered an explanation as to why she changed her method that way.
When Yeesha wrote Relto, her description was intended to deliberately resemble Myst Island in several ways.
1) The rock spire corresponds to Myst's tower spire.
2)
The D'ni clock page corresponds to Myst's clock tower.
3)
The Ponderosa pine page corresponds to Myst's tree that held the linking
book to Channelwood.
4)
The bench page corresponds to Myst's power room.
5)
The pond and waterfalls corresponds to Myst's Mechanical Age gears.
6)
The dock page corresponds to Myst's dock.
7)
The hut corresponds to Myst's library building, with the shelves, door,
and fireplace matching similar features.
8)
The well corresponds with the Myst well that has the model ship in it.
Yeesha had a complex personality, and it involved pride, arrogance and insanity in small degrees. During her early life, she went through
two major traumas. The first was a betrayal by her second oldest brother, Sirrus,
who directly assaulted her mind and which led to the death of her eldest brother,
Achenar. The second major trauma was the death of her D'ni mentor, Calam. Those events
left an indelible mark on her, and she was never able to recapture the innocent
joy of discovering new worlds that she had as a child.
She became
obsessed with the legend of the Grower partly due to influences from her parents, and when she discovered the existence
of the Bahro, with freeing them from their mysterious bondage to D’ni.
Those two obsessions were the driving forces behind everything she did until
Dr. Watson finally accomplished what she could not, which was to give the Bahro
back their ability to choose their own destiny.
Her ability to write Ages the D’ni couldn't made her both proud and
arrogant, and while she recognized those traits in herself, she never quite
managed to overcome them. Instead, she transferred her hatred of her own faults
into hatred of D’ni, and claimed they had all the flaws she saw in herself.
This colored all of the recorded speeches she left for explorers to find.
Dr. Watson points out that her pride and arrogance were excusable because they were the pride and confidence a
craftsman who knew her own worth. But Yeesha herself said that she was flawed. These are some of her quotes.
I was seduced while in D'ni. My humble darkness lasted only a short time before I began to bask in what I could do, what I could write. My gift, my path. The knowledge of my father and the dreams of my mother pierced a hole in the darkness. In the weakness. I was aware of my power and I was proud.
I could write things that no D'ni had ever dreamed of. My writing smashed barriers held as absolutes for millennia. I could change things, I could move things… I could control things. I learned beyond my parents, I learned beyond all. I wrote Ages against any challengers, masters of The Art, and they were beaten. I took all that I could hold. Only death can conquer pride so strong.
What I hate is in me.
Did I ask for this? Did I ask to lose my brothers? Did I ask to cause the death of Calam? Did I ask to watch my mother die? Did I ask to be my father's tool? Did I ask for so much power? Did I ask to be so alone?
The Well
At first, the well in Relto is just an analogue of the Myst well although there isn't a shaft or water inside it. It's really just a circle of stone blocks sitting on the surface.
But as one completes Yeesha's journeys it becomes something more. Above it, floating rings appear that are made up of sections that are called wedges.
There are five rings that appear, one for each of the five journeys Yeesha set up. Their wedges appear above the well every time a Bahroglyph is touched in a cave that's located in Rudenna Cavern's ceiling.
Most of the wedges have the same design on the top and bottom. It features a book design that explorers first see in the Cleft, along with a number of painted figures and patterns. These are quarter sections of a ring, and the quests to get them have four parts.
A second type of wedge makes up half of a ring, instead of a quarter. The quests to get them have two parts. There is a solid ring reward for the Minkata journey, and it uses two of these designs instead of having one of its own.
The sides of the wedges have designs to identify the journey they belong to. This spiral pattern is for the two Garden Age wedges.
This hand pattern is for the four Path of the Hand wedges.
This fissure pattern is for the solid Minkata ring.
This spiral pattern is for the four Pod Age wedges.
This shell pattern is for the two Path of the Shell wedges.
This spiral design is a mystery to me. It's not part of the stack over the well, so I can only guess that it's for a sixth journey that has not yet been introduced to explorers.
The Calendar Stone
The object out on the spire at the end of the bridge is the calendar
stone, and the Relto page to add it is one of the earliest you can find.
To add objects to it, you must search for Bahroglyphs in various places
with small, bright lights floating above them. Those lights were nicknamed
sparks or sparklies by explorers, but the official name for them are
calendar stars.
The calendar stone is a Relto Page Yeesha added in January of 2007.
When the calendar stars began appearing, at first they only appeared
during their corresponding month. When the cavern was re-opened in February
of 2010, all of the calendar stars appeared at once, and have remained
continuously visible ever since.
The stone has a sun, a crescent moon, and three small spirals overlaid
on a large spiral on its surface. The large spiral is similar to the
design used to represent Yeesha's journeys and philosophy in other Bahroglyphs.
The sun, moon, and three small spirals are the glyph that underlays all
of the calendar stars in the other Ages where they appear.
The objects that are added to the stone by finding calendar
stars are called calendar roses. There is one for each month of the year,
beginning to the left of the bridge at about the seven o'clock position,
and going clockwise around the stone. The numbers of the months are unusual
in that they are written by hand, rather than an exact print or carving.
Below the number and on the back of each rose you find several undefined
Bahro symbols, many of which seem to be figures of people.
The official name “calendar rose” is almost never used by
explorers. They are usually called blue flame candles, although they
have small stars, rather than flames, that are multicolored instead of
just blue.
This is the interior of a calendar rose, laid out flat.
The designs have never been interpreted. The row of figures at the bottom
appear to be ten Bahro and a human, which a design at the end that looks
like a C shape on a stand.
These are the numbers as they appear on the roses, from
1 through 12.
To add roses to the calendar stone,
one must find and touch calendar stars. There are twelve of them, one
for each month of the surface year. The stars are made up of two elements,
a Bahroglyph that is drawn on a solid surface and a star that floats
above it. Because they didn't know the official name for the stars, explorers
nicknamed them things like "sparks" and "sparklies".
The calendar stars appeared in the following locations, in this order,
in 2007.
January: Gahreesen II.
February: Kadish Tolesa.
March: Eder Gira.
April: Gahreesen prison.
May: Descent.
June: Minkata.
July: Er'cana.
August: Jalak.
September: Teledahn.
October: Phil Henderson's Relto.
November: The Great Zero.
December: Myst Library.
The Clock and Viewer
One of the pages an explorer can find for the Relto book
adds a D'ni public clock to one of the smaller peaks.
D'ni clocks are based on their thirty hour day, which is divided into
twenty-five partavotē. A partavo equals
about one hour and thirteen minutes in surface time. D'ni timepieces run
in the opposite direction as surface clocks, so the numbers on the public
clock in Relto move from right to left under the magnifying lens placed
in the supporting arm..
Another device that can be added by a Relto page is a D'ni
image viewer. Viewers are quite different from surface television screens.
They don't have screens at all.
Instead, a large number of projectors form
an image a few inches out from the device in mid-air. The exact mechanism
used isn't known to me, but if you move to the side of the viewer, you
can see the gap between the image and the viewer.
Wildlife
Relto has no known native wildlife. Instead, animals from other Ages
can be imported to it, usually by means of Relto pages Yeesha scattered
in various Ages.
In Kadish Tolesa, she left a Relto page that brings
Crimson Kadish butterflies to Relto. They are native to Laki'ahn. The
name Crimson Kadish was given to them by a fan group called the D'ni
Zoological Society because of their color and because they were first
found in the alternate vault of Kadish Tolesa.
From the Cleft, a type of bird can
be imported to Relto. The page imports two of them. The DRC identifies
their calls as being a vulture's, but I have been unable to find a match
for the audio. The silhouette of the birds matches with the zone-tailed
hawks found around the Cleft.
Fireflies from Eder Kemo can be brought to your Relto by
linking there from the garden while you have some in tow. Note that they
won't stick around if it's raining.
Relto only has three varieties of plant when you first get
it. The first type are tufts of dune grass.
The second type are tufts of American beach grass.
And the final type of plants are seedlings of Sitka Spruce
trees.
Other plants that can be added by Relto pages are:
A Ponderosa pine from Kadish Tolesa
Maple trees from Eder Delin
Various decorative shrubs and vines from Negilahn
Tall grasses from Eder Tsogahl
"Tristalks" from Er'Cana
There is a path on the left side of the hut that goes around it partway. If you have the butterfly Relto page, there is something unique to see there.
That's because it's home to a group of four butterflies that endlessly flutter around one of the trees. Because of that, I call it the Butterfly Tree. They are part of the butterfly Relto page, so if it's turned off they disappear.
If you don't have the Fall Leaves Relto page, there are four spruce trees back there, and the butterfly tree is the tallest one.
But if you have the Fall Leaves page, then the spruce trees are replaced by three maples and the butterfly tree is the one farthest to the left.
Relto Pages
One of Relto's feature is the ability to add new pages to the book at will. Once added, they bring new features that can be turned on and off. This is a list of the existing pages as of the time this article was written. The ones marked with an asterisk are from explorer-restored Ages which may not have been released yet.
Bench
Birds
Blue flowers
Butterflies
Calendar
Cannen
Clock
Decorations
Dock
Er'cana Plants
Fall Leaves
Firemarbles
Fireplace
Grass
Imager
Islands
Logs and stones
Lush plants
Ocean*
Pillars
Ponderosa pine
Rain
Roof
Storm
Sun and moons
Tiam crystal*
Veelay sky*
Waterfall
Yeesha Graffiti
One of Yeesha's more questionable habits was that when
she worked on an Age, she tended to mark it with her monogram. But we
aren't talking about a signature like an artist might put on a painting
or sculpture. She often plastered it on multiple places
in Ages she modified. I don't know the true intent
behind it, but my first thought was that she was claiming credit for
Ages she didn't write.
Relto is no different. There are four copies of her monogram to be found
in that tiny Age. When you walk into the hut, there are two monograms on
the walls, one above each of the two bookshelves.
The third copy is found on the floor in the form of a rug
with her monogram woven into it.
The fourth monogram is a little harder to notice. Look
at the upper hemisphere of the public clock, and you can see that she put
one there too.
Phil Henderson's Relto
The only DRC member's Relto that can be accessed belonged to Phil Henderson. Phil was a restoration engineer who was assigned to work on Eder Kemo in 2002.
Toward the end of the year, he became the first person to enter a Bahro gate.
The portal appeared in the garden one day when he was working there.
None of the currently available records say whether it opened itself for him,
if he found the seven journey cloths, or if he gained access some other way.
All that is known is that he entered the portal and his KI signal vanished,
making it impossible to contact him, but a few weeks later, he got in touch with an authorized explorer named Zardoz.
He told Zardoz that he was alright, then cut the communication.
It was almost a full year later, on November 20, 2003, that Phil returned.
He had been changed by the Journey, and claimed to have personally seen Yeesha.
He took Douglas Sharper on the Journey shortly after his return. Henderson
wholly supported Yeesha's form of restoration over that of the DRC, and seemed
to have gained a few abnormal abilities. Demonstrating one of them, he caused
Yeesha’s Island Relto page to appear out of nowhere in the residential
neighborhoods.
Other than saying he had seen Yeesha, he did not talk about what he experienced
in the year he went missing. He seemed confused and disoriented when he first
reappeared, and it took a little while before he seemed to at least know where
he was. Some explorers expressed concerns about the state of his sanity. It
was around this time that Douglas Sharper decided to form an "alliance" with
Phil, who became noted for climbing into places that were restricted and dangerous
with what seemed a blasé disregard for his own safety.
Together, the two of them talked to explorers about the DRC and their supposed
mistakes, as well as how important it was to follow Yeesha and learn the “truth” about
D'ni from her instead of the DRC.
It is not unreasonable to wonder whether or not Douglas had a clue about what "the
truth" was. He just seemed to like having influence with the explorers,
and liked having people rally behind him. To that end, he seems to have seen
Phil's rambling as an opportunity to cause mischief. In his journal, Sharper
wrote this about his first meeting with Phil:
11.28.03 What is it with this Phil character?
The man is disturbing, yet intriguing. I was able to talk to him last
night for a while in Kemo. He's probably just crazy but if they will
listen to him, he could be very useful. More people need to hear him.
He's agreed to meet with me again. This could be just what I needed.
On December 3, 2003, Dr. Watson and Victor Laxman tricked Phil by inviting
him to the Canyon bridge, where they took his Relto book away and then took
him to Kirel.
A fan group called The Great Tree made a series of machinema videos to illustrate
chat logs from those days, and I borrowed one that shows the incident. It's
edited to only show the non-player characters to keep the running time down.
(Phil's capture video. The file is very large, and while it preloads in the background it may not complete before you want to watch it. If it keeps buffering, right click the video window and there's an option to download it directly.)
When they arrived in Kirel, Watson and Laxman locked him in the meditation
chambers so that they could question him and try to determine why he was behaving
so irresponsibly.
Phil's incarceration caused immediate and widespread discontent among explorers,
and Douglas Sharper jumped on the chance to lead a number of them in tearing
down the barricades that blocked the entrance to the Kahlo Pub. He also had
explorers help him break into the meditation chamber of his private neighborhood.
At the height of his acting out, he stole Phil's Relto book from the place
where the DRC was storing it and hid it in the spy room he was using to watch
the DRC talking about the restoration of Teledahn.
On the 22nd of December, Phil was released after giving his word that he would
stop climbing into unapproved areas. The next day, after writing a rambling
statement in a notebook that he left in his Relto, Phil broke his promise to
the DRC and climbed up to the capital structure of the Guild Hall complex.
He used it as a podium to begin speaking to explorers on the Island. However,
while he was speaking, a portion of the structure collapsed under him.
The DRC immediately cleared all of the explorers off the Island and mounted
a rescue operation to try to find Phil. The rescue failed because they were
unable to find him, and he was assumed to have been crushed under tons of rubble.
All they found was his KI, which had been smashed by some of the debris from
the collapse. It was assumed that he had taken it off before climbing up to
the Guild Hall to avoid being tracked.
Shortly after Phil Henderson's apparent death, Dr. Watson had an emotional
breakdown. He resigned from the Council and left the cavern. He started a journal
on December 23rd, 2003 as he wandered through the D'ni tunnels, debating with
himself about whether the restoration was still worth doing. By January 17th
of 2004, he arrived at the middle Eder Tomantee in the Great Shaft. His final
entry in the journal, which he left in the toman, said that he had decided
to take on Yeesha's journey. He wrote:
And so here I am, small, on the edge of vast unknown — this
place that seems so appropriate. I have come to a conclusion. A conclusion
that goes against who I was, but fills me with life and hope. I will
take a leap of faith. I will take a new journey — the journey
that Phil encouraged me to take for myself — a journey that is
out of my control. I will jump into something and lose myself. Take
a journey to places unknown, whose end is not yet written…
I will follow Yeesha's mysterious beckoning. Somehow even writing
it lifts my spirit! I am returning to the surface to do just that.
Victor Laxman, Dr. Kodama, Dr. Sutherland, and Michael Engberg continued on
in Dr. Watson's absence. Victor Laxman opened up the Great Zero and asked the
explorers to re-calibrate it, but this project wasn't completed before the
next big surprise. Funding for the restoration suddenly dried up, possibly
because of the number of fatalities, or maybe because the investors simply
weren't getting the returns that they were looking for. As it was, the investors
dropped out and left the DRC without an income.
Realizing that they had no choice but to return to the surface and try to
find another source of funding, in February of 2004 the restoration was officially
cancelled. All of the restoration engineers, authorized explorers, and the
explorers called by Yeesha were escorted to the surface. The gate into Jeff
Zandi's property was locked, and for the first time in over ten years D'ni
was empty again.
Phil's accident was a wake-up call for Sharper too and it weighed heavily
on his conscience. He stayed behind for awhile while the DRC was leaving, and
wrote this in his journal.
2.13.04 - My god, I may have killed him.
2.28.04 - There is no life here. Literally and figuratively. They're
all gone. And I'm stuck alone with the thought that Phil may have
died because of me. I've talked to a number of the DRC about it.
They never found a body but apparently a destroyed KI was found at
the bottom of where the precipice once stood. No one wanted to say
it but I've had the dream twice now. Phil standing up there, confident
in his ability to return to his Relto at any time. The first crack.
Still confident. Enjoying the thrill. Another crack of stone and
the tower begins to break. He reaches down to grab the Relto Book,
just to be ready. It's then he realizes it's gone. He turns to escape
but he's already falling. A cry for help, that those who were there
heard. He has no chance, because I took the book. The rubble buries
him forever. No, I have to believe it didn't happen that way.
That thought about his possession of the Relto Book, which he deliberately
left in the spy room as a type of shrine, haunted him for years.
However, the caverns didn't stay empty. In 2006, the DRC returned to the
cavern and would stay there for a year after finding a new sponsor. It wasl
also not the end of Phil. It turned out that the assumption of his death was
mistaken. On August 3rd of 2007, he returned after having been missing for
four years.
He began talking to explorers about his absence and about Bahro and Yeesha.
Sharper heard about his appearance and came to see it with his own eyes. When
he saw Phil there, alive and well, the relief was intense for him. He approached
Phil and apologized humbly for taking and hiding his Relto book. Phil absolved
him of wrongdoing, saying, "It wasn't you, Douglas. It was what was."
That was, as far as I know, the last time anyone saw Phil Henderson. The renewed
attempt to rebuild D’ni lost its sponsor and the cavern was abandoned
by the DRC for the second time. It wasn’t until 2010 that the cavern
was reopened yet again and remains open presently. This time it's solely an
effort by explorers and there isn't an official DRC presence, although occasionally
one of the old restoration engineers visits to take measurements.
August 03, 2007, 18:37 KI Time. Phil Henderson returned to the cavern for the first time since his supposed death on the Guild Hall.
Phil Henderson: "I've been gone for a while. Very strange to be back. Feels different... to be back here. I seen a lot. I was with them. Things are changing...
"I've been to Noloben... briefly... and many other places. But it feels different now... a lot has changed.
(Comments are made about him being dead)
"Not dead. I was gone. Taken. Searching. The Bahro took me...many places. I've seen things... I understand more. About events... and Bahro... and... changes.
"They're gathering... here, too? But not like there. There? They come and go, but... at times the sky goes dark... good and bad. They darken the sky. Gathering. Many ages, even Releeshahn. I've seen the dark sky many times recently there... They struggle there. Darkness only from there number. Yes. They come and go, and they struggle now. They choose now. They can choose now. Their own path. Freedom. No one controls them now.
"Yeesha can do as she does. The least are free. It should be that way. Not freed by Yeesha. She failed. They struggle... good and evil. The Bahro choose... and they battle.
(He is asked who freed the Bahro)
"You and another. You freed them... from the prison. That was the first freeing. It continues. They should be free. But freedom brings choice.
(He is asked what Yeesha is doing)
"Yeesha is who I trust. She knows. Yeesha comes and goes. She plays a role. But sometimes we see her. She is watching.. and considering... and growing. She is often there... in Releeshahn. The Bahro's choices affect us all... even Yeesha... but she is powerful.
Douglas Sharper: Phil!
Phil Henderson: Some of the Bahro watch you... for good and for ill...
Douglas Sharper: It's true? You're alive!
Phil Henderson: here in the cavern they watch and... even guard. Hello Douglas!
Douglas Sharper: I can't believe it.
Phil Henderson: It's been a long time... for me to be gone.
Douglas Sharper: Phil...I'm sorry,.
Phil Henderson: It wasn't you Douglas. It was what was.
Douglas Sharper: I've been sick..it's so good to see you again. Have you been with the Bahro?
Phil Henderson: It's good to see you again, too. I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner. There has been much to learn.
Douglas Sharper: I can't believe it. Have you been with the Bahro?
Phil Henderson: Yes. They are gathering.
Douglas Sharper: This war is scaring me.
Phil Henderson: This is only the beginning.
Douglas Sharper: I was afraid of that.
Phil Henderson: Only a skirmish... at the periphery.
Douglas Sharper: I killed one.
Phil Henderson: I know.
Douglas Sharper: I may have made a mistake. It stepped in front of me.
Phil Henderson: They protected us all from you making a mistake... and it cost a life.
Douglas Sharper: I was angry. Do you know what they did to Wheely?
Phil Henderson: I know. It was a choice. Wheely found a place she shouldn't have.
Douglas Sharper: But do you know what they did to her?Her body...
Phil Henderson: There are evil ones. They have chosen evil. Very evil. They are free.
Douglas Sharper: I have never seen anything like them.
Phil Henderson: They are also good. Some have chosen good.
Douglas Sharper: And they have saved me. More than once.
Phil Henderson: They saved us all from an early battle.
Douglas Sharper: I'm not going back. I think it's coming here.
Phil Henderson: They will guard as long as they can.
Douglas Sharper: And how long is that?
Phil Henderson: ...but there are larger battles elsewhere. Much rests on the battles.They choose...
Douglas Sharper: I can't believe you are back Phil. It's good to have you back.
Phil Henderson: ...they choose sides. I'm here to prepare... to help prepare.
Douglas Sharper: And I'm with you.
Phil Henderson: You have chosen sides... I can see that. They see it too. Choose to stand with her.
Douglas Sharper: I have seen the work of the evil. My choice was an easy one.
Phil Henderson: It's what comes first... a small statement... but a statement nonetheless. What is at the core of any choice?
(Douglas Sharper leaves. A Bahro links in. Explorers crowd around it)
Phil Henderson: Stand away please.
(The Bahro links away)
Phil Henderson: Show respect for Bahro that guard your lives. I must go... but he will return... he will return. I will return soon, but he will return later... with more answers.
Phil's Relto is the only one that has a sky which appears to be just
after sunset. While there is light on the horizon, overall it's dark.
Explorers originally believed that the sky in Phil's Relto was dark
because of comments made by Yeesha about the Age reflecting the soul
of its owner. When explorers first gained access to the Relto in 2004,
Phil was believed to be dead, and many explorers thought the sky was
a statement about it.
However, when Phil returned to the Cavern in 2007, the sky remained
dark, which seems to stand against this long-running theory. It now seems
more likely that in his extensive travels, Phil simply acquired a Relto
Page to darken the sky of his Relto that is not yet available to anyone
else.
As a DRC member, Phil's linking book shelves are filled
with mysterious books. However, they are firmly locked, and cannot be explored.
In this picture, the sole unlocked book takes you to Kirel, Phil's home
neighborhood as a member of the DRC. The DRC was unable to remove these
books even though they had his Relto book for a time. That's because the
locks can only be undone by the Relto's owner.
The inspiration for Relto
Relto didn't just spring from the minds of Cyan from nowhere.
It was inspired by real life scenery found on Washington State's Pacific
coastline.
Several beaches along the coast have terrain features called sea
stacks. Sea stacks are columns of rock formed by erosion caused by ocean
waves and wind. Headlands that project out into the sea along a coast
get worn away over a long time, leaving the more solid parts standing
as the softer rock and dirt is washed away. The larger stacks will still
have the soil and plants atop them from when they were still part of
the mainland.
When fog rolls in off the ocean, the stacks sometimes look like they
have a sea of clouds around them. It was that phenomenon that inspired the look of Relto.
Myst, the Myst logo, and all games and books in the Myst series are registered trademarks and copyrights of Cyan Worlds, Inc. Myst Online: Uru Live is the sole property of Cyan Worlds Inc. The concepts, settings, characters, art, and situations of the Myst series of games and books are copyright Cyan Worlds, Inc. with all rights reserved.
I make no claims to any such rights or to the intellectual properties of Cyan Worlds; nor do I intend to profit financially from their work. This web site is a fan work, and is meant solely for the amusement of myself and other fans of the Myst series of games and books.
