The Myst Iceberg Explained
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- Опубліковано 2 кві 2022
- Be sure to watch to the end!
Don’t hesitate to leave a like and share your thoughts in the comments, I respond to as many as I can! Please consider subscribing and/or supporting me on patreon. Patreon subscribers get extra access to my work as an artist and additional lore for the channel. Joining my discord is totally free so I also highly encourage that, I love connecting with you folks over there!
Discord: / discord
Patreon: / rivetingmaterial
All the music used is from the myst series except for the intro which uses C418 as a backing track, C418 generously lets small creators like me use his music for free so please support him however you can!
Thanks to Mikhail Nilovon Pexels.com for the iceberg footage. Pexels is a great source of free video assets (not sponsored, I just use them often).
Link to original iceberg image: / updated_myst_iceberg_meme
General research and images were mostly found from these three websites:
mystjourney.com/
archive.guildofarchivists.org...
dni.fandom.com/wiki/Myst_(Game)
Links (in chronological order):
D’ni numbers/letters: linguists.riedl.org/old/more-n...
D’ni language lesson: • Mysterium 2016 - D'ni ...
Starry expanse project: www.starryexpanse.com/
Mysterium: mysterium.net/
Wohba (Blog): www.wohba.com/
Fan made ages: guildofwriters.org/wiki/Galle...
1996 calendar (full): twitch-eaglehart.tumblr.com/p...
Full list of unfinished ages: archive.guildofarchivists.org...
Pyst Brutalmoose: • Pyst - brutalmoose
Book of Marrim intro text: dnijazz.club/books-comics/book...
EDGE/GRID: www.angelfire.com/mp/GRID/EDG...
Dr. Watson Letters: www.allthingsuru.com/AllThing...
Solving Huevo and Vika: zardoz.75thtrombone.com/huevo...
Preafter timeline: archive.guildofarchivists.org...
Fanmade recreations of preafter images (I think): www.flickr.com/groups/myst-li...
Robyn Miller’s Blog: www.robynmiller.net/
Disney Myst island video: • Abandoned - Disney's D... - Ігри
Cyan is the best. I sent an email to them years ago asking if i could use the D'ni language and some of their artwork from inside the journals and notes you find throughout the games for a series of prints I was working on in my printmaking class. Not only did they allow me to do that, they provided me with a statement for a teacher and a separate statement for entering my pronts into contests so that I couldn't be disqualified or anything due to using their artwork.
Cyan is a small studio that stayed small and just used the success of Myst and riven to hunker down and keep the dream alive. Such a cool company. Thanks for sharing!
Dang that is cool
They really are great. For example, there was a Riven remake fangame being made for the past decade called The Starry Expanse, I was on their discord. Then all of a sudden Cyan contacted them and integrated their work into the official Riven remake that is about to come out. Most companies shut down fan games on copyright claims, but Cyan pretty much hired the on board and a game that might haven taken another 10 years is coming out next month.
I'm truly shocked by how much of that I already knew. No shade to you, this all went very deep, but I never realized how deeply-invested I had gotten into this series. I thought I was a casual fan!
"The games are dramatizations of real events."
myst isn't canon within it's own universe, but the myst games are, and i just think that's hilarious.
good stuff!!
Myst is more canon to reality than it is to its own universe
Brilliant work on this, sir. I was a huge Myst fan, didn't play for years, then I played the 2021 remake. Fascinating games.
Fascinating lore to match!
@@RivetingMaterial Wait... At 10:00 you say D'ni only live for about 3 decades, which is only about 30 years, then you say the oldest living D'ni was almost 4 centuries old? Are you sure you're getting your life spans correct?
@@woulfhound yeah, I misspoke and didn't catch it until the video was out, meant to say centuries but said decades instead
@@RivetingMaterial No problem, it happens.
Your trap book theory needs to be cannon I’ve been trying to tell people it’s so easy to fix
9:05 Myst 3 uses Roman numerals as well! :) my favorite game in the series by far. Much love my friend your videos are great. Also if we get a riven remake I will cry. I can only pray we will also get a myst 3 exile remake as well
Thanks very much!
So are you crying now? It’s almost here!
Heck yeah man, Myst is an amazing series, I already know this video is going to be great!
Holy crap.....I played the *exact* flash game at 0:55.
Wow, that was a GREAT video man! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Tomahna is actually located in the desert of New Mexico as well and David Ogden Stiers also voiced Jeff Zandi URU: Ages Beyond Myst and Dr. Watson in URU: Ages Beyond Myst- To D'ni
I came to the original Myst very early.
I came to Uru too late - at that in between point after Live had already ended and before it's brief resurgence and unofficial servers.
This video is filling in all the gaps.
Thank you.
So PLEASE, do more Myst content! Especially on the fan made ages in Uru! But I always thought of Uru as a Myst themed Second Life, for lack of better wording. But also, my nerdy self is so happy that there is a Myst iceberg! I have the big box it originally came in, book and guide included, sitting in great condition on a shelf; my parents just wanted to get a game for us, they had no idea what they bought and I'm glad they're kinda into hoarding my childhood stuff! Seeing as this video was made this year, shows that this series will always have fans! Thanks for letting me relive my better childhood years with this very well made video! I've recently found myself replaying all of the point-and-click adventure games I grew up with, and I always come back to the series that started my fandom for this genre. Your vid is very clear and easy to understand, which is great cause there's just so much to Myst; and thanks for all the links!
Of course! Thanks a ton for watching. I think eventually I'll play though myst and Riven in VR on here so stay tuned for that!
Fantastic video as always!
I do think you mispoke when talking about the D'ni just that I'm guessing based on the 395 year old D'ni you meant an average lifespan of 3 centuries (300) as opposed to decades (30yr old)
Ahhhh it's always something! Yes you're totally right. 3 centuries!
@@RivetingMaterial absolutely definitely not too important, it makes sense based on what you follow it up with. Great content as always 👍
@@david21216 you live up to your name
Decades are 10's, Centuries are 100's 3- 4 Centuries is what The D'ni can live to.
Yes, I misspoke and didn't catch it. Centuries is correct.
The D’ni: “Why is our civilization crumbling?”
Also The D’ni: “Architecture and Education really aren’t _that_ important are they? Do we really need them on the council?”
It seems more like the reason for Sirrus and Achenar's descent into evil lies with Anna's (Ti'Ana) death.
After that, the family fell apart, and each had their own way of grieving:
-Atrus buried himself in his work, unknowingly neglecting Sirrus and Achenar.
-Catherine stopped writing ages because she blamed herself for Anna's death (She died in one of Catherine's ages), but temporarily started again when the Moiety needed her help on Riven with their linking book to Tay (the age with the giant beehive-like tree)
-Sirrus needed order in his life, to brush aside the grief, which explains his prim-and-proper rooms in the 4 remaining ages of Myst.
-Achenar wanted to study the concept of death, which explains why he had weapons, poisons, torture chambers, and severed body parts in his rooms. (And why we see his bloodlust in Haven in Myst IV.)
Very eloquently put, I wasn't able to read the novels for this video but it's still high on my to do list. I also always imagined that because Achenar couldn't connect as easily with Atrus intellectually it created a very deep rift between them. Whereas Sirrus was kind of more of a cold and calculating type. Almost like Achenar got Atrus' heart and Sirrus got his mind. For all of Myst 4's shortcomings. The way it handled Achenars arc was brilliant I thought. Sirrus was able to manipulate Achenar until he had really lost his way, but once Achenar was free of outside influence he was able to find his compassion again. Sirrus only fell deeper into his anger, he felt the world still owed him something.
@Riveting Material I'd love to see an iceberg video for the novel trilogy! I grew up reading Myst and never really connected with the games (plus I'm just bad at puzzles), and I'd be really excited to see someone else's interpretation and perspective of the events in the books! This may come as a surprise, but I haven't found many who have read the Myst books /s, so I'm always excited to talk about it with someone!
Honestly, there's one really big retcon of the canon from the books, done for the story of the games, that I wholly dislike: the decision to change the location of The Cleft to New Mexico, of all places. Like, for one thing, the books *heavily* imply it to be somewhere in northern Africa or the Middle East (especially with the fine-grained sand dunes). And for another, it just feels disingenuous, like they did it in solely to appeal to a wider, American audience.
If you do get around to making an iceberg video for the books, please feel free to shoot me a message! I have hardcover copies of all three books and can get clean pictures of any of the illustrations or passages that/if you'd want to show them!
yeah i loved the books. nice synopsis.
does decade mean something different in the Myst Lore? "the average d'ni's lifespan is about three decades, and the oldest d'ni lived almost 400 years" so was decade stated when century wast meant? Or is the infant mortality rate among d'ni so high that it brings the potential lifespan of 400 years for an individual down to a racial average of 30 years?
Haha, yeah I wish I had a more interesting answer but I simply misspoke while recording and didn't catch it until the video was up. I meant century
@@RivetingMaterial its a great video and wonderful information, i just genuinely got puzzled. sorry if it seemed a certain way in the asking.
@@braendyn Not at all, very polite and a needed clarification indeed!
Awesome video man. Big myst series fan back in the day, this was such a nostalgia trip
Wow, I super enjoyed this. I'm one of those people who have never played Myst before and had no plan to, but have heard about it from friends. You explained the lore really well!
Awesome, thanks so much for watching! Yeah I think even if you'd never play the games the lore is super unique and fascinating.
Been loving Myst since it came out. Love the books and this video was a great insight to all I thought and things I didn't know at all!! Visited a Mysterium that was held in Chicago in the early 2000's. Keep going!!
idk how but I'm impressed you've managed to put Schrodingers Cat into all of your iceberg videos
All 3 yeah I guess you're right. On the bioshock videos I got roasted for being too loose with my quantum physics lingo so I felt like I needed to go a bit harder this time. Thanks for being a concurrent viewer!
And as of this year, this fan project became an official remake of Riven.
Very cool!
Great video! I'm sorry to say I usually assume iceberg videos are all clickbait slop. But I was wrong, this video is masterfully done. I love the little puzzle-gadget you use to tune in right at the start. Riven was one of my favorite games as a kid and is sorta foundational to my sense of aesthetics.
Hey thanks a lot for your comment. I don't make many iceberg videos but I really try to make them as archival and comprehensive as possible. I love the concept of a expedited way to get a comprehensive sense of an entire game series. If you enjoy the aesthetics of this channel I'd encourage you to check out some other videos, that device makes other appearances, along with another one in the same vein!
Thanks for putting the effort into making this content.
Amazing to see recent youtube content of MYST lore after all the years that have past.
Unfortunetly I think you are for lack of a better word, preaching to an older crowd.
There is still a small fan base around but it gets smaller as the years pass.
A lot of us younger fans were shown the games by our parents. Some of my earliest memories are playing the game with my dad on his mac. I'm 27 now, so maybe not a "younger" fan anymore.
Excellent vid. Would be well up for seeing more from this channel on the new ages/story being added to Myst Online, as well as all the fan ages that have been made over the years there's regular quarterly updates to the official server with new stuff being added.
Yeah once my semesters done I'll probably spend some of the summer streaming the uru dlc and some Myst online stuff.
And thanks for watching!
myst was groundbreaking, riven was the masterpiece
i've played all games related to the MYST & URU series when I was young. even the live servers as ~ Cl0udWalK3rs~ masterpieces!
I hope I was able able to drum up some nostalgia anymore
The lore in myst is awesome and I already beat the first one and stuck in riven the puzzles are fascinating as an adult and some are real thought provoking
If nothing else, the presentation in your videos is second to none!
Thanks very much! That means a lot
D'ni numberals are actually a mix of base 5 and base 25. The symbols itself act like a normal base 25 system as explained in the video. However the symbols itself can already be composed of two symbols (1-4), but the higher power is rotated 90° counter clockwise. That's why the symbol for "9" is a rotated "1" which signifies 5 plus a 4. So it essentially is a base 5 system, but they group two digits into one symbol.
So the decimal number 209 would be 1314 in base 5. Though as I said the 1 and 3 as well as the 1 and 4 are represented in one symbol each. The higher number is rotated counter clockwise by 90 and the lower number is just added. So you only have to remember 4 symbols (5 when you include zero) instead of 24 (25 with zero).
The way the "process" to read those numbers is described kinda strange. This is just how our decimal numbers work as well (when we talk about the base 25 system). That's how pretty much any base numeral systems work. In computer science we often use the hexa-decimal system because, just like the 5 and 25, the 16 based system nicely maps to the base 2 system that computers are using under the hood. With hexadecimal you can represent exactly 4 binary digits with just one digit.
The decimal system uses powers of 10 (1,10,100,1000,...). Hexadecimal uses powers of 16 (1,16,256,4096,...) and the D'ni numerals use powers of 5(1,5,25,125,625,...) or 25 (1,25,625,15625,...)
Of course we humans are used to base 10 and want / need to convert other number systems to base 10 so our intuition works. However if you're actually familiar with a different number system, you would not need to "convert" anything as that's the numbers you're working with.
Just a quick example of a base 5 system addition of two numbers
12014 (dec 904)
+01342 (dec 222)
-------------
13411 (dec 1126)
You can add them as normal from right to left. Just keep in mind that the highest number is 4. So adding 1 to 4 gives you "10" (5 in decimal). So you get a carry to the next place.
Woah, that's super cool. Thanks for the in depth explanation. It's such a detailed system
Wow I wish I was smart enough to follow all that! Have you read Decoding the Mayas?
@@pedestrianandroid Nope, I have not :) I just learned programming at the age of 11 and I love math and different number systems.
Myst was actually my very first PC game and I still have all my notes on paper in a folder :) Though most stuff I still have in my head (02:40, 221, 59, 427, 8-20-23-13-6, ..., even the fireplace pattern). It's engraved in my mind. As a kid I wasn't allowed to spend hours on the PC, so it took me a long time to get through the game. I've drawn maps of all the ages, including the underground train tracks, the full network :)
Me before watching: "oh boy, I sure cant wait to catch up with my favorite dysfunctional fantasy family. I'm sure the lore didn't get too complicated after Revelation"
After: "huh."
Also, I'm stoked that after learning about Myst VR I immediately went into the meta store to see it for purchase. Time to relive some nostalgia.
Good video. My only actual experience with this game was as an 8 or 9 year old. I was too young to get very far in the game but always remembered the experience
I was surprised by how efficient the 7 minutes are, you got through all the games very efficiently. Deep dives on MYST stuff are notoriously difficult because of existential limitations in the simulation itself.
The deep stuff is fun to muse on, and there's much more: e.g., Corlam = Rijus, etc.
Can't say I'm familiar but thanks for watching. Maybe part 2 will feature it
This particular instance was my pet theory, introduced waaaay back when the Riven Lyst was still a thing, which has to do with cross-referencing details regarding characters from The Book of Atrus and The Book of Ti'ana. I like the implications. Thanks again for putting this video together.
@@PatristicArcana and thanks again for watching. I really enjoyed putting it together and I'm looking forward to making stuff more like it!
Okay, yeah, I'm hooked. It seems like such a cool game series and I hope I'll get to play it sometime. Thanks for recommending it to me and thanks for making such a good video!
You're taking the riveting material tour card!
@@RivetingMaterial I cannot stop. It has consumed me
You could call this the Ice Age
But that would be a pun, those tend to break linking books
the d'ni number system works exactly like ours, just the base is 25.
This is awesome. But at 20:00 , I seem to recall there being a piece of Myst literature from the time (pre-Riven) which said that the Myst linking book was found in a Chicago library. The New Mexico lore was added later - sort of retconning the origin into a narrative more cohesive with the other games. Not sure if it was Mandela effect but pretty sure such a book existed.
I'm not familiar but I'd be super curious to learn more about it!
Not a Mandela Effect, MYST had a strategy guide that was written from the perspective of the player about their experience going to MYST Island and the other ages. The one line I distinctly remember reading in the beginning of that guide (from the player character perspective), was: “One minute I’m just a guy in the San Francisco Public Library…”
@@T-MAX_X-H That was it!
Still one of my favorite gaming series!
I love the iceberg! Good video!
Thanks for watching!
pretty cool opener!
thanks!
I named Eddie! Was one of the DRC Explorers/Uru Beta Testers (yes, that is me you mentioned in the video) - The college roommate was a lot like James Kirks annoying Academy student - Finagin kind of annoying and hyper I think I remember asking of one of the developers in game or it may have been Rand himself in the neighborhood of Bevin and I asked if the ball had a name and maybe Rand said I could name it if I wanted to. Also the song you are playing at the end with the woman singing you can hear in the game - I joked in the game that the song was called - Ode to Eddie and you can sort of hear her singing that if you think about it enough. I have yet to visit Cyan but would love to. By the way I LOVED Preafter! I would love to see more things like that. I love we could participate from Afar and work with people who were able to visit the real places in PreAfter. I miss Spyder too.
Hey! Sorry I missed this for so long, I'm reading through a backlog of comments now. Nice to meet the origin of Eddie! Preafter and the like were a bit before my time but I'm sure the internet buzz around myst and riven was absolutely immaculate.
Only 30 seconds in and I love the intro very nice 🤓👍❤️
Thank ya!
Never realized they had base 25 numeric systems. That's wild to think about.
If you organize comments by recent, the one before yours gives an even more in depth breakdown of their number system than I did. It's really interesting
I never understood how the presence of technology and machines in the various ages is explained
I thought the Myst books were really great and added a lot to the lore of the games. It's a shame not many people have read them. And even the big omnibus collecting all three books are hard to find now.
Love the content keep up the good work!!
You honor me Puffin
You did a fantastic job, thank you for this! Have you listened to Audio Trial 31 Age Four yet? Where do you think that might fall on the iceberg?
I haven't! I'll remember to look it up and reply to your comment when I do! Not many additions to the iceberg so good on ya!
The DRC was basically an in-universe stand in for the game developers
@10:00 You know 3 decades is only 30 years right? Did you mean to say 3 centuries?
Cool been waiting for this
Happy to deliver Conner!
The D'ni kinda remind me of Time Lords in Doctor Who Lore
I know this is a month later, but there's something that needs to be cleared up with your additions to the non-attributed theory I posted on reddit.
Kadish never made a time machine.
It was a gargantuan machine, yes, but it was made to fool others, had it been completed.
In short, a prophet prophesied the coming of one who could restore the D'ni civilization if it fell: The Grower. Who it was, was never specified. (It could be Atrus or it could be Yeesha, based on interpretation, or neither.) The idea became popular, and a new religious-like group was formed to await the coming of this prophesied individual.
Kadish was part of this group; he desired so much to be the Grower of the legend, that he used his abilities as an age writer, puzzlemaker and a master of illusion and falsehoods to build a machine containing 4 biomes, representing states of the previous D'ni homeworld, Garternay:
1. Alive and thriving
2. Bereft of life, decaying
3. Destroyed and shattered
4. Rebuilt, thanks to the Grower "powers" of Kadish, and him being worshipped for it.
The idea was that he created the *illusion* that he could travel through time, and later, portray himself as the legendary Grower by appearing to restore their previous world.
Of course, Kadish never completed it, and he died in his vault, but the question still stands as to whether or not an alternate version of Kadish was actually saved and is now free, and if he is actually Esher.
Wow! Thanks you for clarifying that. Still a brilliant theory
Great Video, enjoyed it.
Thanks for watching it!
Great work! as an idea of a video Iceberg of the Zork series :)
Never played zork but I might give it a try
Zork 123, return to zork, zork nemesis, zork grand inquisitor. Just as a hint, Zork nemesis game had a MAIN hidden clue in their physical manual, Hardcore at it's best. (A number to progress the main story!) in other words: took me months to find it out! (There were no internet back then to search!)
it all began in that cleft... a long long time ago.
Never thought I'd find something this cool. God bless. Jesus loves you!
In my headcannon, you play as yourself in all of the myst games including uru cc, because time travel exists in the myst cannon. I hate the idea of the trap books not being cannon and I hate the idea of playing as dr Watson in myst 5.
shorah! love me some moul! epic informative video!
Thanks very much for watching!
Myst fandom is best fandom change my mind 😂
"The Dn'i have an average lifespan of 3 decades" Damn, that's not that long.
Yes, as you could probably tell I misspoke. 3 centuries. There's always a mistake, but thanks for watching anyways!
theres 35 D'ni Letter also.
As someone who has only played the first three games and part of Uru before giving up on Uru, I must say.
Fascinating, very in depth world building, what the fuck is wrong with the Miller brothers. That shit about the rock and the ship and the wavelengths made my head explode.
Also, my biggest hot take is that a Riven remake is entirely unncessary (no offense to what I imagine has been extremely intensive, careful work on the remake over the last 13 years) because Riven itself already looks perfect in every way possible. The VR might be nice though.
I hope the way I described it made at least a little bit of sense!
@@RivetingMaterial You did the best you could quite frankly. Fascinating stuff all the same. I joke about there being something deeply wrong with the Miller brothers but this is all genuinely next level shit in terms of worldbuilding.
10:00 Centuries, not decades
Correct, I misspoke
あ、そう言えばおかしいかも。MYSTの１番最初でシーラスとアクナーを始末したって言っておきながら、４作目にしっかり登場してて、更にそこは時代として存在しており、最後は、シーラスとアクナーが戦うという話になっていますね。
centuries, not decades...
This was great! I love the explanation of everything. But I thought D’ni was pronounced “dunny” and Tomahnah is “toe-mah-nuh”. Again I could be wrong, could anyone clear this up for me?
D'ni was originally intended to be pronounced "dunny" but an Australian friend of the Miller brothers informed them that "dunny" was a common term for "toilet" in Australia. I believe that's a totally fine way to pronounce Tomonah.
@@RivetingMaterial thank you for responding so quickly! That was very helpful!
Wow a month late, I guess I must have overslept lol, great video tho!
Fashionably late Veru, fashionably late
@@RivetingMaterial In my defence - I have been refreshing the channel for some time after you finished your marathon, and then when I stopped stupid UA-cam wouldn't give me a notification you posted!
@@veru6907 the algorithm doesn't like me and will probably continue to not like me as long as I keep up this variety of content. Which I fully intend to, however hopefully I will be able to start some series over the summer. I have one planned for lost/obscure media for instance
@@RivetingMaterial It doesn't like me as well, it robbed me of this absolutely superb video! At least I can watch it now, and even I learned something new from it (the Atrus' donuts easter egg being my favorite lol)
I'll be eagerly awaiting the series! Hopefully this time UA-cam doesn't screw me and tells me when you post... Also if you plan on streaming again I'm always down to join whenever I have the time
@@veru6907 sure thing! I'm planning on streaming over the summer. If you haven't joined the discord I highly recommend it. I try to post there whenever I upload and I plan on adding a stream announcement channel. The link is on my channel page.
10:01 you meant centuries right ?
I did... Sometimes you don't catch a miss speech like that until the videos up!
yes please stream uru online!!!
I played Myst on and off since 1993 and I still don’t understand the story!
URU……一度はプレイしたかった(T_T)
Myst island! Mwahaha!
Right on!
*Icy, not icey
あ～あのうさん臭かったオッサンですね
Hate to say it, but much of the information in this is incorrect. There's too much wrong for me to cover without taking a great deal of time, but I'll correct one of the major issues. What you had to say about the Bahro is pretty much all wrong.
First off, the word "Bahro" means beast-people. It was never used to refer to non-D'ni; that word was ahrotahntee, which means "those who are other", or less literally, "outsiders". The people of Tehrahnee used bahro in reference to their non-Ronay slaves, but that had nothing to do with D'ni.
Second, the Bahro were not in the D'ni caverns before the D'ni arrived. Bahro were natives of an Age we don't know much about except that it was called The Spiral Age.
Third, the Bahro were not D'ni slaves. Virtually none of the D'ni other than Esher knew that they existed. The whole "poor Bahro slaves" narrative was one that Yeesha made up in order to motivate explorers into doing what she wanted them to. That isn't my opinion, by the way. It's been directly confirmed by Richard A. Watson, the Cyan employee who was in charge of D'ni lore and who created their language and numbering system.
Would love to see a source for that 3rd point, if you have it. The whole Bahro/Myst 5 thing has always been really unsatisfactory to me, and more Myst lore is always welcome.
_"Be sure to watch to the end!"_ urges the description section, but with this insanely flickering (for no apparent rhyme or reason) background I can HARDLY watch it AT ALL. It's truly a pain in the... eyes, and to actually watch it for over one hour I'd have to be a masochist... Sorry, but a thumb down. And frankly, to come up with this utterly bonkers idea one had to be either blind, or... just that.
Skill issue
@@VioletWitch78 Nice to hear from you. But... whadya mean, actually?