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Update on Nifehrehn

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

After two more days of searching the vicinity of the Nifehrehn outpost, we´ve come to the conclusion, that Quaxo hasn´t visited the age yet. We didn´t find anything – no footprints, no cloth, no scientific equipment. So I guess, he is busy at the moment, and not in danger. We will stop our searches for now, until we have more information. Hope, we are right.

The other big news is what we call “The Big Blast of Dasharen”. Well, I´ve reported about the powermarble experiment in Dasharen, and how well it went… seems that I was too optimistic. Two days ago, a major explosion destroyed not only the powermarble, but the encasement as well. The sensors Tom Woods had installed to monitor the marble recorded an extreme energy peak shortly before the explosion, then they too ceased to work (and to exist…)

If this explosion would have happened in Afelahn, I think the base would be rubble by now. The powermarbles are even more dangerous than I´ve feared… how can we make the power room safe enough?

Someone asked: “You wrote about “Unknown age 07″, what about 01 to 06? Any information on them?”
Yeah, there is information on them. I´ll gather it over the next days and give you summaries about what we know.

Tags: Afelahn, age, Dasharen, Nifehrehn, powermarble, Quaxo, Tom Woods
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Nifehrehn search

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Friday, June 17th, 2011

We did a thorough search in Nifehrehn, to look for any signs of Quaxo. The age did everything it could to kill us… it was extremely cold, with stormy weather and heavy snowfall. We searched in teams, in a radius of about 2 miles around the outpost. Didn´t find anything or anybody. I really hope, he is just on vacation or something… wouldn´t have survived for a long time out there.
It´s scary, how people vanish in this age… first the three D’ni survivors whose journals we had found, now this.

For the first time, we watched one of the huge predators of the age. A mammal with long, white fur, four legs, and a long beak with razor sharp teeth. It didn´t see us, just walked around in some distance, sniffing around on the ground.
I definetly recommend carrying a gun when visiting the age, at least when you plan to leave the outpost.

Meanwhile, Tom Woods and Shane Kennett have built a prototype power device, based on the power marble technology used by the D’ni.
They brought the parts to Dasharens surface, assembled them and activated the device.
We had decided to test it in Dasharen, because there is not much to be damaged, at least on the surface – mostly deserted area.
The power device worked flawlessly for some time – further tests will be necessary, but we are cautiously optimistic.

Tags: age, D'ni, Dasharen, Nifehrehn, powermarble, Quaxo, Shane Kennett, Tom Woods
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Classified

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

I have two news, one good, one bad.
The good news: we have managed to open the jammed door in “Unknown age 07″.
The bad news: What we found there is not to be published (yet). The expeditions leaders agreed to classify any further information about the age and what we found there – I disagree, but I respect the decision. Believe me, when I say, that they didn´t take the matter easy.

Work in Afelahn is progressing – we now have some interesting designs for the power marble-generator, and for the room containing the generator (I´m calling it a “power room” – I know, it´s not elegant english, but it fits my needs best.). We plan to do the excavation work during the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, I´ve finished my Alitnee egg-project. The eggs I´ve prepared will be displayed in Afelahn, there are some beautiful eggshells waiting to be seen!
Added signs to the doorways in Afelahn, so orientiation shouldn´t be a problem for future visitors.

By the way: I´m planning the release of Afelahn – still work to do, but I think, I can let people in approximately in one or two months. The age will change frequently, so I guess, sooner is better than later.

Still no news from Quaxo regarding the Nifehrehn project. I´m honestly concerned now, didn´t read anything from him since weeks – I think, we should look for him in Nifehrehn. Hope he´s allright.

Tags: Afelahn, Alitnee, Nifehrehn, powermarble, Quaxo
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Unknown Age 07

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Monday, June 6th, 2011

That´s how we´ve named the age I mentioned in my last post. We don´t know its name, only that it was written by a D’ni.
Because we found it near Asheten mansion, it could have been Asheten himself, who wrote it – but that´s only assumption yet.

We managed to clear the rubble in the first room, revealing a doorway to another, bigger room. Found remains of at least two D’ni in this. Tom Woods says, he thinks, the cave-in had happened just some years ago, so the two must have been killed earlier, maybe at the time of the Fall.
Found some kind of weapons near the bodies. Were they maintainers on some mission? City guards? Or criminials? We don´t know yet.

Soundings showed that there is at least one more room, even bigger. The door that leads there is huge and heavy, and jammed. Will have to bring some heavy tools to open it but first we´ll have to inspect the integrity of the surrounding rock.

No news of Quaxo as of yet… I hope, he is allright? For those who didn´t see the post: We have been planning an expedition to Nifehrehn to do research on lifeforms there. You can find the thread at the D’ni Zoologist Society forum, here.

Tags: age, Asheten, Asheten mansion, city guard, D'ni, D'ni Zoological society, maintainer, Nifehrehn, Quaxo, the fall, Tom Woods
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Something stupid

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Today I did something completely stupid. I´d found a linking book, lying in a small building near Asheten mansion, covered in debris and dust. And what would I do? Link into the unknown place without a maintainer suit on, without any preparations or security measures. Why did I do this? Well, I didn´t think about my actions. Children, don´t do this at home!
Fortunately, the place I linked to didn´t kill me. I arrived in a small room. There were a lot of rocks on one side of the area, piled up. I suspect, there could be a doorway beneath the rocks, because there is none on any other side of the room. Air was bad, but breathable – there seems to be some kind of ventilation shaft, although no machines were hearable.

I´ll try to gather some people so we can clear the room of the debris, and see, where it leads.
I´ll keep you updated on that one!

Our research on the red lichen of Er’Nirah has shown, that it is indeed edible. Some of the bold members of the expedition – me included – tried it out.
We sat together in Risoahl, which has become some “expedition relaxing age” for us for some time now.
Our best cook is Tom Woods, so he had the honorable task to serve us his “lichen á la cavern”, a rather interesting combination of said lichen, spices, some vegetables from the surface, and an interesting sauce. It was absolutely delicious! I had expected the lichen to taste bitter, but quite in the opposite, it was a meat-like taste, maybe a little like goat meat, but with a slight sweet aftertaste. I can really recommend it to anyone who is brave enough to test it – it´s worth a try!

By the way, after that, we had coffee and sweet fruits from Yagee Mohts for dessert.
A perfect day!

Tags: Asheten mansion, Er'Nirah, maintainer suit, Risoahl, Tom Woods, Yagee Mohts
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Dasharen desert plant

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

While determining the details of Afelahn power supply, I brought some plant samples to the age. One of the most interesting ones is a desert plant growing on Dasharens surface. I planted some into my big plant patch in Lab II, and they seem to be fine.

As you can see on the KI-shot, it has no leafs, so our guess is it doesn´t need any photosynthesis to grow. I called it a “plant”, but it could be a fungus, too, or something else entirely. Future examination will be necessary.

What we know is, that it stores a lot of water (like many desert organisms do) in its bulbous stem (or fruiting body).
If anyone would like to do some research on this plant/fungus/thingymabob, you´re welcome!

Tags: Afelahn, age, Dasharen, KI-shot
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Stability issues resolved

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Monday, May 16th, 2011

After thoroughly examining the stability of Lab II, Tom Woods said that he now thinks, it is safe. It seems, that there only was a small, unstable cavity which we accidently hit while enlarging the room.
Lab II is deemed safe for working on it again, and we´ve already done a lot. One of the greatest additions to the room is a big patch for plants to seed, much bigger than my plant experiment-table in Lab I. I plan to plant trees, bushes and other bigger plants here to observe and research them.

Additionaly, now every room is properly lighted.
I added two new lamp designs to the garage, done all by myself. They are rather big and standing instead of hanging from the roof – I like to think of them not only as lighting source, but also some kind of decorative art, some kind of sculptures.
I redid the big lamp in Lab I, too. It was too heavy and I had feared it would endanger the stability of the roof there. Now, after making it lighter, I think, it will work great.
We plan to excavate more of the planned rooms over the next days – maybe starting with the “power room” would be a good idea.
Tom Woods, Shane Kennett and I discussed it a lot, and we still think, a power marble is the best choice for getting energy on in Afelahn.
We´ll have to add some extra security measures, though, to prevent some worst case scenarios – mainly, the power marble exploding, letting the whole complex collapse on itself (and everyone in it.).
One of the measures will be the already mentioned altered height of the room (maybe even with an opening to the outside of the age, so that an explosion could be led outwards instead of inwards.) Another thing we plan is to add a massive, blast resistant door.
Any other suggestions are welcome, as always!

Because of all the work, I had to postpone my studies of the Alitnee eggs, but I definitely will continue the project.

Tags: Afelahn, Alitnee, Shane Kennett, Tom Woods
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Energy sources

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Tom Woods and I are working on powering Afelahn properly. At the moment, the only energy sources are the few firemarbles for the light, and a small generator for electricity. But it won´t be long, that I will need much more energy for different purposes.
So we sat together the other day, and discussed, what to do. The most promising variant of power source would be a D’ni power marble.
These are, according to DPWR, “a special type of firemarble which explode when struck, releasing all of their energy at once, rather than glowing softly like normal firemarbles do. They were invented by the D’ni as a way to power heavy machinery”.
Other sources, like geothermal, water or wind energy aren´t feasible in the age or would be difficult to install.
So, I will likely have to cut out a “generator room” for a D’ni power device.
The only problem with power marbles is, that they are rather dangerous. They store so much energy, that they can easily explode… So we´ll have to take serious precautions to prevent my working space from annihilation. Maybe some heavy door for the generator room? And I had the idea of making the generator room higher than normal, so that possible kinetic energy from an explosion would have more room to disperse.
Will have to sort that out.

Another topic:
I started to gather eggs from Alitnee. Learned to empty and clean them BEFORE bringing them to Afelahn (the foul stench of the first batch still is smellable – Yuck!)

They come in various sizes, from a centimeter to double the size of a chickens egg. And the colors are rather beautiful. I plan to install some kind of display case to show the prettiest ones.

Tags: Afelahn, Alitnee, D'ni, DPWR, firemarble, powermarble, Tom Woods
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A promise fulfilled

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Monday, May 9th, 2011

Now, behold: The first KI-shot of Afelahn ever officially posted.
This is what you´ll see, when you link in. (well, not exactly, the link in point is a little bit more to the right side.)

Tags: Afelahn, KI-shot, link in spot
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A broken promise

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Monday, May 9th, 2011

I´m sorry, I didn´t find time last weekend to provide the KI-shots I promised. I´ll post them as soon as I can!

Work on Afelahn has been stopped for the moment, until we can sort out the stability issues with Lab II. The big lamp in Lab I worries me a little, too… it is very heavy, and I don´t know, if the ceiling is stable enough to support it. I´ll ask Shane Kennett to do a test on that, too.

Did some research on the Tufolehn sea urchins. They have no spines like our earths sea urchins, but rather microscopical nettles. I suspect, they use the nettles to catch their food and pull it into small, microscopical openings. To call those “mouths” would be greatly exaggerating.

The sea snail, on the other hand, seems to nourish from a) the nettles, or b) the prey the nettles catches, before these can pull it into the sea urchin. Although the nettles are slightly poisonous (and hurt, as I found out), the sea snail seems not to be bothered.
On the other hand, the snails don´t harm the sea urchin, they eat very slowly and not much.
On Tufolehn, I watched some bigger, predatory sea snails trying to eat one of the small, orange ones which I´m researching. When the big snail approached a smaller one, sitting next to a sea urchin, it suddenly buckled, as if feeling pain, and hurried away (well, if you can call 30 cm per minute to “hurry”.)

I spent some time on Alitnee, as well. Before our teams arrived, the birds there had nests not only on the rocks, but also on the metallic platforms the D’ni built to watch them. After we came there, most of these close nests have been abandoned, and the eggs sadly decayed. I plan to gather some of the eggs, empty them from their ruined content, and study their different sizes and colors.

Tags: Afelahn, Alitnee, D'ni, KI-shot, Shane Kennett, Tufolehn
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