We are D'mala

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...

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

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

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.

Blessed gods above...

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...

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.

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.