Eleri Underground

We are D'mala

2007-11-09T09:33:00.001-08:00

J.D. Barnes spoke in the city recently. Thank's Tai for recording it, so these words can be shared...

Let me tell you about some of the most important people in D'ni History.... There are a lot of important figures we need to remember... There was Pehpsi, whose spirit was a light no matter how dark the Cavern was... Moz'ie, JDrake, Dust'ei, Aquila, Rasmine. People we have lost. But have made our lives so much the richer. And there are those who are still here.... Eleri, Thend, DocOlanA, Marten, JWPlatt, SuperGram, Tweek, vid, Lynnuette, Whilyam.... Montgomery, Calam, Zardoz, Lial, Moiety Jean, D'lanor.... More than I can name or remember... And for every one of them, there are a dozen others that work hard, help each other and never receive an iota of thanks or recognition. These are just normal people who have come down here. Brian Fioca was a programmer from Alaska before he founded the Great Tree, for example. But these people are our history, this is our mythos. This is not the DRC's story. This is not Yeesha's story. This is not the story of the D'ni, for we are not D'ni. We are not even the new D'ni. Rather, we are our own people. We are not D'ni, the new, but D'mala, the returning. Isn't that what Yeesha was trying to get across? The virtue of returning.... If you are here, you are part of that history. Every word you say is part of it. Every conversation is another chapter.

In the words of Wikkity...

2007-11-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

My dogs is barking.

Seriously. People could use Ahnonay for training for the Iron Man triathalon. Sure I was on swim team, but that was 20 freaking years ago! I'm a fat mother of 3 now!

I'd kill Kadish if he wasn't already dead. Then again, he might not be, so the chance to throttle him isn't entirely beyond reason.

Endings Not Yet Wrtitten

2007-09-21T00:55:00.000-07:00

Maybe the D'net isn't as dead as it seemed. There is still a place for Town Halls. Still a place for Dialogues. Less of a Network, than it was intended to be, but, not a lost cause. Or maybe it needs to be something entirely new. I dunno.

The Whys and Wherefors

2007-08-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

The question of why the D'net closed down is...complicated, and yet not.

I've been doing the work of the D'net, essentially, since my election as Liaison, in April of 2006. That's a year and a half of working to facilitate communications in the cavern.

In that time I've been vilified, celebrated and ignored, to varying degrees. I have carried the banner, tried to drum up support, and worked my ass off. And, in the end, I was trying to do it all myself.

The community would talk about what a useful and wonderful thing D'net was...and then forget it existed. Every few months, someone would say "We need someone to coordinate meetings/information/communication with the DRC"...and someone else would dutifly point out the D'net, sitting patiently in the corner, like Lucy van Pelt with her Doctor is In sign.

8 times out of 10, nothing would ever come of people noticing the D'net existed. Our useage was at less than 1%. The only thing people did do...is use us as a giant corkboard.

It didn't help that the DRC, and Cate, who were so enthusiastic about the D'net, never once stepped up to use us, no matter how or what we offered. If the DRC wasn't going to play...then no one else wanted to.

And then comes the Guild of Messengers. Just an 'umbrella', not a 'replacement'... but already people are looking to the 'Guild of Messengers' for things, and planning how the GoM is going to be run, and multiple different people trying to coordinate the various groups into the GoM, and people starting to organize & plan the same things the D'net has been offering to do for a year now, like we don't even exist.

And I looked at it all and said "no."

I don't have the energy to start from scratch, again. I don't have the energy and the heart to try and reorganize and rearrange and try to convince the community *again* that we really are needed and here we are, and won't you please utilize us.

Let someone else take the reins. My spirit has been broken.

2007-05-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

Blessed gods above...

2007-05-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

A Bahro civil war...

Did Yeesha see this coming? That without leadership, the bahro culture would fall apart? Thousands of years of having one purpose, taken away in moments, no wonder they are a wreck. It's Tehranee all over again. She SHOULD have known.

Or...horrid thought...if Myst 5 is in any way true...who holds the Tablet. The survivor on Noloben? So many questions I want to ask Michael.

The Bahro in with Wheely one of the human friendly ones, we can see that now. Was it's agitation because the other side was coming, and it was trying to warn? Why did it start getting freaked out?

Was Wheely a victim of friendly fire?

no answers...

2007-05-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

I realize that I'm responding how I always do in a major crisis... by going clinical and focused.

And that focus is making me see some very disturbing things.

Michael knew the symbol for rain/water...and seems to have taught it to Wheely at some point...but she didn't know what Noloben was.

The (assumed Bahro) in with Wheely sat silently with her, passive and observant for the majority of the rescue. Wheely didn't report a change of behavior and increasing agitation until, it seems, Michael was able to make verbal & visual contact with her.

Once she understood that it was saying "Noloben", Wheely seemed more curious than scared, wanting to know why. Michael did not seem...supprised... when the (Bahro) said Noloben. If anything he brushed it off.

Why did the (Bahro) seem to panic at the end? What triggered that response?

The more I look at it, the more I see ties between Michael's arrival, and the increased agitation. Why? Has Michael been learning things from the survivor on Noloben? Does Noloben leave a mark on people, somehow, that the Bahro can sense?

The answers are on Noloben. We need that book.

2007-05-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

Who do we trust now? Who do we put our faith in now? If the Bahro can't save her...

It could have been any of us. How many explorers were ready to go explore the pub, even after the DRC cleared it out. What would be the outcry if it was an explorer trapped under there. Would people blame the DRC for being careless?

Yahvo...if you are still in this place. Keep Wheely safe. Let Rose death not be in vain.

Interesting that.

2007-04-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Blade told me yesterday about a woman he ran into in cavern. Now, this in and of itself is not interesting, Blade could give Nick a run for his money, if he put his mind to it, but this woman, one Echo McKenzie, Blade describes as "unbalanced". That's Blade being diplomatic. Bleeding nuts might be a better description, if what he told me is any clue.

I myself was flopped in Relto, recovering from the 'snot age experience. Yes, I know that's not how it's spelled, but it'll be forever engrained in my head as the "'snot age". Anyhow... I've been firmly on the side of giving the DRC the benefit of the doubt in most cases. This time, though, I think they're smoking something. I could deal with the leaking water, cause if I was going to get electrocuted, it would have happened the moment I linked in. I can deal with the funky luminescent water, we're used to that with the Lake.

But the non-steady flikering red lights? I was in the age for less than five minutes with those on, and I reltoed out and promptly barfed over the side of my own private island. If there's anything below relto, they have no love for me now, that's for sure.

Cate's not going to like this...

2007-04-07T23:20:00.000-07:00

Jaded

2007-04-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

Something posted by a newcomer on the DRC forum really got me to thinking... Have many of us become jaded to D'ni? Do we take for granted the wonder that is around us? Why have we stopped looking around us and going "HOLY #!&)$&!!!"?

Sure, I've been looking at D'ni for 3 years now, and I can still sit at the top of the stairs and marvel at 10,000 years of hidden civilization. I still get an itchy feeling in my hand before I touch a linking book.

Look at linking... as far as we know, we're traveling quantum realities in the blink of an eye, and none of us are *scared*. Linking is 'no big deal'.

Maybe this is part of the Pride of D'ni we're supposed to be wary against. When something so incredible becomes so normal, that we don't give it a second though.

People are odd

2007-03-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

I occasionally get reports of one little group or t'other having a round of Eleri-bashing. These used to distress me to no end, prompting me to waste time and energy defending myself. Until I came to a very valuable realization: not only are they unlikely to change their opinion...I have no need for their good wishes. My ability to function in cavern isn't dependent on having some random faction of people like me. And if people are willing to follow along, sheep-like, to an opinion about me, without getting to know me, then *shrug*.

I know who I am, and what I do. I know what I bring to D'ni, and what I want from D'ni. That is not shaken by others malcontent. Those who are willing to truly know me, are the people that matter.

Oi!

2007-02-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

busybusybusy. Trying to keep the D'net flowing. Much like spice, it's highly needed, and damn hard to get. The DRC is worse than herding cats. And if it's not DRC, no one seems to care. Town halls with anyone but the DRC? Unattended. Interviews? Eh. Round table discussions? People have lots of ideas, no one is coming to us.

I am not letting this torch go out though.

2007-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

I just want to reiterate to everyone that this is an IC blog. My OOC feelings about Uru events won't be aired here.

There is existing, and can easily be more, places for Explorers to discuss the restoration. The Great Tree, D'ni Explorers Guild, to name a couple. The loss of a DRC hosted site to congregate is not a blow to the community of epic proportions.

The DRC, Cate or whoever else, has not said, at any point, that the lack of a public forum means the DRC is going to cease giving the explorer community any information.

I think people are just antsy to pick a fight.

Counter-protest

2007-02-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

[quote](02/05 20:07:57) Cate Alexander: I've heard some complaints about the lack of forums on the new site? Does anyone here care?[/quote]

You know, I read that entirely differently than most. I saw it as her asking "Does anyone HERE care?", meaning if [i]anyone present at that moment[/i] cared. As in, if people had said "Nope, don't care, what forum?" She would have moved on.
Not "Does ANYONE here CARE?", meaning does anyone give a flying bahro about the forums. That word 'here' make a powerful difference in the meaning of that sentance.

I dunno, maybe I'm just not as quick as the rest of the explorers to find a new adversary to fight against. Everyone's all gung ho to make demands and force action, ready to paint the DRC with the same brushes as before.

The site was up for less than a few hours when the firestorm started. Did anyone bother to ask Cate, politely, if there were plans for anything like a forum in the future? If more content was going to be added to the site? If the DRC had any plans to keep explorers updated besides a forum?

Noooo. The one conversation I saw was a whole group of people Cate-basing as hard as they could. Accusatory, confrontational, rude. The forums are full of people throwing hissy fits right and left.

I, for one, think it was the right thing for the DRC to do, removing the public forum.

One, I'd rather they focus their energy on D'ni, not on moderating and maintaining a forum that has a track record for being a spam-filled flamefest.

Two, people came to expect the luxury of being able to peek in on the DRC's 'private' conversations. Given the inherant hostility some people have towards the DRC, and the propensity for over analizing everything, I think they have the right to expect privacy in their ongoing operations. Regular updates and information is one thing, being privvy to the company details is, frankly, outrageous to expect.

Three, and most important...people are being too damn rude. Someone from the DRC shows up in the cavern, and gets bombarded. People make demands, scold, act like they have a right to things, just because they are there. No wonder the DRC wants to clam up.

Cate may rub everyone the wrong way, but I think she may be exactly what the restoration needed. Someone who'll take no BS off of anyone, someone who knows how to make things happen, and has the motivation to do so.

Wheeeeooo

2007-01-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Busy, stressfull, rollercoastery week. Resignations and rebirth. The community response has been overwhelmingly positive. The DRC response was pretty close to the same. We were braced for a firestorm that never came. I like that!

Cate wants initiative, by the Maker, I'll give her initiative. No more sitting hamstrung, amen!

Blade and I have a 'date' to go check out Eder Delin tonight. So I've been avoiding everyone's conversations about it, the suspense is driving me batty!!

The problem is not here

2007-01-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Some people are using the recent Liaisons issues as proof that the Liaison concept sucks, and should be ditched.

I disagree. The concept is a damn good one. The management of that concept has been pitiful. There are things we could be doing with and for the DRC, but that requires the DRC to give a litle on their end.

Sure, there's the usual suspects, doing much wailing and gnashing of teeth about Liaisons "establish(ing) themselves as some sort of lord and master(s)". It's always the same people, 'bout half a dozen of them, who only seem to come out to play when there looks like there might be a crack in the Liaison's armour.

Fortunately, everyone, even the people who might disagree with Liaison activity constructively, can recognize them for what they are, and mostly ignore them.

A pilgramage to D'ni

2007-01-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

pil·grim –noun
1. A person who journeys, esp. a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion
2. A traveler or wanderer, esp. in a foreign place.
3. One who embarks on a quest for something conceived of as sacred.

...English biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, was asked where he would begin to effect change in the world...He said "I would change tourism into pilgrimage, help tourists become pilgrims."

What is the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim? ...tourists take pictures. Pilgrims...go farther, they sit and meditate, they light candles...When traveling as pilgrims, we come with vunerability and humility. The pilgrim participates, the tourist observes.

~Lauren Artress

Do you come to D'ni to observe, or participate? Are you here just to ooh at the pretty sights, or do you take to heart 'find a way, make a home?'

It's an interesting thought, being a pilgrim of D'ni. Coming to a place with the intent of honoring the spirit, the soul of a place, but also a pilgrim, in the sense of finding a new path, a new way, a place to call home.

What would being a D'ni pilgrim entail? Converting to some old D'ni religion? Silly thought, that. Being a D'ni pilgrim means only to walk in the space with respect, with mindfullness of where we are, and those who have walked that space before.

Ask someone who's visited Pompeii. It's nigh on impossible to walk through there without feeling the brush of the souls who died suddently there. But we can honor the D'ni, without turning the place into a giant museum/mausoleum, where we all must be solemn and sorrowful. The D'ni laughed, and lived, and loved in this space. We honor their spirits by bringing life back into the cavern.

Being a D'ni pilgrim, and not just a tourist, also means being willing to be a part of the new D'ni. Being willing to experience D'ni as a whole place, and help draw the life out of the stones. Not just viewing it as just another place to hang out and shoot the breeze.

When you are in D'ni, do you hear the whispers of the past, do you ponder the feet that tread on those stones? Do you feel a pang of loss? Do you look around and wonder at the space around you, every time you visit? Is D'ni a world to you, that is something more than the one you see every day?

Perhaps then, you are a pilgrim, and not just a tourist.

Full Disclosure?

2007-01-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

One thing that facinates me about the whole DRC thing, is the insistance, the absolute belief, in some quarters, that the Explorers are entitled to, and have the right to demand, full disclosure from the DRC on all of their activities. That, somehow, if the DRC isn't telling the Explorers everything, they're being manipulative and secretive.

I cannot quite figure out how this mindset came about. There's no contract between Explorers and the DRC, except, perhaps with the Explorers initially let in by the DRC in the first restoration. The Explorers, really, have no right to anything the DRC is doing.

Is it courteous for the DRC to keep Explorers informed? Is it the right thing to do? Yes, in most cases. Are they obligated to? No, not at all. And until a good chunk of Explorers quit making demands, as if they somehow have the Maker-given right to do so 'cause they've got a Relto book, I'm betting the DRC isn't going to open up. I'm DAMN sure that entitlement attitude isn't going to fly with Ms. Alexander.

2007-01-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

I am a Liaison, not a mouthpeice, not a representative, not a banner waver for any group or person. I hear both sides, and I make my input to the other Liaisons based on what I feel works for EVERYONE.

oh good greif.

2007-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

Why is it that people assume the DRC must be hiding something about everything? This time it's the whereabouts of Dr. Watson, and there's a 'nag the Liaisons' campaign going. As if pestering the hell out of us is going to convince us to poke at the DRC any more than we already have.

Our first term, *every single time* we met up with the DRC, one of us asked if there'd been any word from Dr. Watson, or Sharper. The answer was always no, and they clearly really wanted to know where Watson was, themselves. So we stopped nagging. There we more pressing things that needed asked, that we could actually get answers for.

Yes, the fate of Dr. Watson is damn important to know about. I'd really like to know what happened to him, and I have my own theories, that maybe he was a little more mentally stable than Phil, and could handle the strain of Yeesha's Burden more... But am I going around insisting that They Must Be Hiding Something? Sometimes, a dunno really means they dunno.

Someone's been watching too many old XFiles episodes. Or are getting bored waiting for LOST to come back.

Limbo

2006-12-31T12:26:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting to hear back from some of the other Liaisons about some thoughts I had. I have some decisions to make. I can not remain idly by wqatching the cavern grow, and just sit on my hands waiting to be told what to do.

Bad enough there's people constantly questioning the worth of the Liaisons, and making accusations of elietism, without the PTB almost completely ignoring our existance in their welcomes and orientations. We've become almost completely superfluous, with no indication that that'll change, unless we make the change ourselves.

Uru Again

2006-12-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems to be OK, following the seeming mass-link by the Bahro. The City seems to have taken a hit, though, with Michael reporting signs of seismic activity.

And, of course, there's those who have started right into the "DRC is TEH MAN! TEH MAN is keeping us down!" crap. One explorer whined "I don't like being treated like a child!". Well, then, quit acting like one! Protesting "You ain't the boss of me!" makes you sound like a surly teenager, not an adult. An adult makes informed decisions based on the information at hand, and that they learn from reputable sources, and in this case, that means the DRC. They've been down here longer, they've been assessing the space longer, they've got more resources than we do.

Guess what, legaly, the DRC is in charge down here. They'd take the hit if one of the Called gets hurt or killed, unless you all want to sign a waiver? And what about some of these 13 and 14 year old kids who've gotten Relto books? Can you imagine the firestorm if something happened to one of them?!? D'ni is a legal and media firestorm waiting to happen, and I'd love to know how they've kept it from the government this long.

There's a sadistic part of me that would like to see an explorer who's been proclaiming that they can go where they want, when they want, and how they want, and damn the torpedos, I want to see them break into an area the DRC has said is unsafe, and get really hurt, so I can stand there and say "Told you so.". It's like people who refuse to leave a danger zone when an evacuation order is given.

The Called were never part of their projections. They had a timeline for exploring, a system set up to check out ages, research artifacts, dig deeper, when all of a sudden people started showing up in waves. Just imagine if Howard Cater had suddenly found Tut's tomb full of tourists, all poking and prodding, and telling him he had no right to keep them out. Might be disconcerting, at best, and downright infuriating at least.

Just because Yeesha's given us all a free pass, doesn't mean we should automatically reject the knowledge and experience of the people who, up until we started trickling in, were doing all the work. They've taken the risks, and who knows if there were accidents besides Loftin and Phil. Have we all forgotten the story of Atrus, who, when exploring D'ni, sent people into books using Maintainer Suits? And the suit that came back, in seconds, melted? Even Atrus wasn't stupid enough to just go traipsing about.

Groups like The Great Tree serve a purpose, in asking the right questions. Why is this closed off? What have you found? Why is that dangerous? Their original direction may have been Sharper-influenced, but they, like the DRC, have had a span of years to regroup, and start down new paths. It does everyone a disservice to jump right into the DRC SUCKS! or GREAT TREE ARE DRC HATERZ! camps, because the values that those camps were based on may or may not even exist anymore.

Should the DRC be more forthcoming with explanations and informationthan they have been in the past?
Heck yah.

Should they respect what knowledge and experience that the Called explorers bring?
Yes.

Do they have the right to keep us out of places?
Maybe not the right, but I would say they have a responsibility to let us know what's safe and what's not, and responsible adults would respect that warning, at the very least.

As a Liaison, I'm going to do my best to keep the DRC from sitting on information like they did before, and get them to enlist the help of qualified explorers. But I'm not going to support reactionary views, and belligerant behavior.

2006-06-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Things proceed apace, with the usual burbles of activity, occasional rumbles of disquiet from the dissafected, and steadily growing anticipation about the impending return to the cavern.

I really should head to the surface, soon and see what I can do there to open the way for people, but the weather reports put it in the 90s at home, and it's nice and cool in D'ni and in my Relto. I am disinclined to head for the heat.

All Quiet on the Western Front

2006-06-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Cavern has been relatively quiet, pockets of explorers here and there. I miss some of the crew that I used to run with. The cavern seems dimmer somehow for not having them around. Ah well, there will be new friends, new connections to be made, new noses to tweek, but not Tweek.

There's a sense of breathless anticipation though, knowing the DRC is going to return. Sadly, being a Liaison to the DRC hasn't opened the doors of knowledge to their plans. Hopefully we'll dig up some new news soon.

Eleri's Rock

2006-06-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Spent some time in the City last night, just sitting on my rock. My rock being the second rock from the left, if you're facing the tent in Tokotah. From this rock I can watch people scampering about for markers, or dashing down the stairs to the ferry. It's a comforting sort of rock.

So

2006-06-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

Upon prodding, I've started this blog to chronicle my experiences in/with D'ni. It's interesting how simple it is for some people to wrap their brains around the idea of a thousand year old civilisation underneath New Mexico, and others can't grasp it at all. The concept of a 'calling' fits well here. There truly is something that tugs at the heartstrings, and drawn you to the desert.

Not that I ever really left. I was one of the crowd who kept coming to D'ni, even after the DRC abandoned their efforts. How could I leave? In some ways, underground feels more homey to me than the surface does. My Relto book has been a lifesaver, and not just from my craptacular jumping skils, hah!

Being nominated/elected to be a DRC Liaison was unexpected. I didn't have any contact with them at all diring the first restoration, as I oly found D'ni just before they left. Of course, some people took to my name being in the 'spotlight' like a cat takes to water, but such is the nature of dynamics.

Not that being a Liaison has upped my contact level with the DRC much! At the most it means my emails don't get lost.

I am all a-quivver about the new restoration efforts. I've even talked with a couple of people about looking for Gemedet. D'ni shouldn't be left unexplored. Too much to wonder at, to be in awe of. Sometimes, I think people have lost their sense of wonder, their ability to have their socks knocked off by a view, or my making something work. D'ni feeds that fire.