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Afelahn – KI shots and stuff.

Posted by - Sunday, October 9th, 2011

I had promised to show some KI-shots of Afelahn (in August… *cough*), so here you are.
The age still is in the works, it will need some more wiring to be safe enough for everyone to visit it.

First, I´d like to show you a sketch of the lobsterpede I did, when I had the opportunity to watch it again. This time it didn´t see me for a while, so I had time to sketch it.
This creature seems to be some kind of crustacean or insect – it is land-dwelling and breathes air. I estimate its length about 3 feet (roughly 1 meter). It seems to be harmless, albeit ugly, and living near the cave which leads to my home base, under a big rock.

I´m not very good in drawing, so this sketch isn´t 100% accurate. But I think, you can get a nice impression of the creature, and why I´m keeping my distance when I meet it :)

Next, I´ll show you some overview shots of my home base.

First, the link-in or as I call it, “Entry room”.

If you remember the shot I showed on this blog some months ago, you will recognize the changes. I installed a new lamp, with a simpler but more appealing design, added some carpets (to welcome my guests), and some signs and information.

The following shot shows “Lab I”, which also serves as a room for a small exhibit of my research and accomplishments.

This is the “Garage”, at the moment the biggest room of my home base. It has a huge door that leads to the outside of the age (not seen in this pic). As you see, it is also meant to provide space for big specimens to be researched – the tree is a species of pine tree from Yagee Mohts, brought to Afelahn with the help of a couple of Toosha. The lamp in the left corner is a design I did with a little help from Tom Woods. Did I mention that I enjoy designing lamps? :)

This is “Storage I”, a – storage room. You can see the door leading to it in the former picture (to the right of the lamp.) It is currently not used, most of my equipment ist stored in Asheten mansion still, until the age is ready.

This is Lab II, primary used for experiments with bigger plants.

At the moment, there is only one species here – the Dasharan desert plant I´ve mentioned some months ago. I´ve changed the soil since then, because the plant didn´t do well with the former variant. Now it is more desertlike, and the plant seems to enjoy it.

The last KI-shot I´d like to share with you is the huge door I mentioned before, with me standing besides it for size comparison.

It needed a lot of work to install this door, I tell ya…

Hope, you enjoyed the KI-shots – there will be some more incoming in the next days.

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Goodbye, Critter 2…

Posted by - Saturday, October 8th, 2011

Yesterday we lost our first “critter”. If you want to know, what that is, read the previous post :)

I asked Shane (Kennett) to borrow me one of the small guys to explore a crack in a rock wall near my home base in Afelahn. The crack is too narrow for a human to enter it (maybe besides a small child). So Shane and two of our interns (Jack Rowe and Sally LaCroix from Canada) visited me in my age.
We carefully positioned Critter 2 in front of the crack, and Jack, who is an avid model maker, steered it into the dark at slow pace.

The camera worked fine, we could see the image data on a laptop screen. It was a strange feeling… like this robot, that has explored one of the shafts in the Cheops pyramide some years ago, Critter 2 crawled forward on its crawler tracks.

The crack wasn’t all too interesting … mostly rock, and some moss growing on it.
We recorded the data anyway, might have overseen something of interest – maybe our geologists will be satisfied with what we have.

Then it happened. When we arrived – or better, when Critter 2 arrived – at the end of the crack, we decided to turn it around and go back outwards.
The ground there was littered with small pebble stones, and somehow our little friend managed to slide sideways – maybe Jack turned it too fast – and got itself stuck on a small rock ledge.
Jack tried to move forward and backward to break free, but to no avail.
Critter 2 is fully functional still, but it can´t move – we fear, it could be impossible to get it out there.

Shane plans to devise a plan to rescue it – maybe with Critter 3, which has a significantly stronger “engine”, or “more power”, so to speak.
Until then, Critter 2 is gone.

Well, to better news:
The harvesting of the Er’Nirah lichen is going well, we already have a great stock in one of the storage houses in the city. Dr. Haugaard, one of our botanists, says they can be stored for some time and still be edible – maybe we can reactivate one of the industrial plants of the D’ni to dry the lichen, so that they are storable even longer.

Of course, the lichen isn´t the only food we have at our disposal. Fruits from Yagee Mohts, Fish from Shashodahl and even some game from Yateesh.
We surely won´t starve for the next months.

Another project of mine I’m focusing right now is the restoration of Tufolehn – or better, the setup. There are no visible D’ni buildings in this age, so I guess, it wasn´t officially used by them. But I´d like to provide means for our fellow explorers to visit it – the strange, Cambrium or Ordovicium-like fauna really is an eye-catcher.
I plan to connect the two islands with some kind of bridge or catwalk to provide easy access.

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Expedition news

Posted by - Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

A little status update about our work.

One of our teams has done extensive work in Nifehrehn, since Quaxo still hasn´t reported in. The age is deemed to dangerous for the moment, so we can´t let anybody in – and still, some of the equipment isn´t working yet – the frost of centuries has left some damage.

Tom Woods and Shane Kennett have made some small vehicles of spare parts of model cars, boats and airplanes, and equipped them with small cameras.
They affectionally call them the “Critters”. Critters 1 to 3 are land-based, with wheels or crawler tracks, Critters 4 to 6 are waterborne, 7 and 8 are airborne – and 9 is a small, floating thingy, similar to a balloon.
They will be used to explore hazardous or inaccessible areas.

Their first mission will be the research of a small ice cave in Nifehrehn. Our scientists suspect some creatures living in there.

I still owe you information about the other “unknown ages”.
Today, behold Unknown age 02:
It seems to have been some kind of submarine science station erected by the old D’ni. It is some kind of pod – but a different one than those we know from “Reziksehv” – with some observation cupolas. The marine life in this age is very different from what we know – there are no fish, but some strange, ribbonlike animals, which are slowly moving through the water.
The temperature seems to be quite hot – the pod is heavily insulated, but there are D’ni scales that show temperatures about 176° Fahrenheit (80° Celsius).
How these creatures can survive this hellish environment, is one of the goals of our research there.
Our interns have dubbed them “Hadesfish”, after the greek underworld.

Again spent some time in Shashodahl, this time for researches. The islands the resort is situated on are surrounded by a light blue, almost turquoise ocean, with abundant marine life.
There seems to be the wreck of a rather big ship in the vicinity of one of the minor islands – we haven´t been able to visit it yet, but our diving team (the guys from New Zealand, remember?) are planning to get there soon. I´m thinking about joining them – the water isn´t deep there, and even I as a absolute beginner in diving should be able to manage this.
And if Shane will have Critters 10 and 11 ready, the planned submarine-camera platforms, we´ll even have nice shots of the wreckage.
Looking forward to that!

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Agriculture

Posted by - Monday, September 26th, 2011

The Forberg expedition has restarted agriculture in Er’Nirah. If you can remember my former posts: the reddish lichen that grows all over the age, which was formerly in possession of the guild of caterers, had been harvested for nourishment.
It actually tastes quite good, a little like goat meat, but with a slight sweet aftertaste.

The expeditions new plan for food supply is to use as much of the D’ni ages as possible – it saves costs, and helps restoring these ages at the same time.

Of course, extensive research is necessary to determine the safety of particular food sources. We don´t want to get a second Tehranee, understandably.

Unknown age 07 is still off-limits, as of unanimous vote of the new expedition council – by the way, did I already tell you about the new council?
Until some weeks ago, the expedition solely was led by B.P. Forberg. But the more people take part, the more the need arose for more democracy – so a council was founded, with Dr. Forberg as a chairman, and eleven elected councilmembers. At the moment, these are the leaders of the different sections of the expedition – research, restoration, exploration, survey, and so on.

I´ve been offered a seat, but declined – too much responsibility for me, and too much dependency.

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Holidays were nice

Posted by - Sunday, August 21st, 2011

So, after a break, I am continuing my Blog. Holidays were nice – me and some members of the Forberg expedition spent some time in one of our bigger ages, the recreation age of Shashodahl. What we have been able to find out about the age leads to the conclusion, that the D’ni used the place as a kind of resort, at least for the upper class. At the time of the Fall, Shashodahl was rather popular – there were even rumors, that at least one of the lords had visited it once. Of course, there is no proof of that.

It is a very beautiful and relaxing place – but beware, if you ever visit it, don´t forget your sunblock. It can be quite hot sometimes, especially when both suns are visible at the same time.

Well, since nobody cared to solve the riddle I wrote last time, I guess we can call this experiment a failure.
For those interested in the solution, here it is:

The riddle was: “I am not sad, but crying silently all my life, I have no feet but stand, until one day I’ll fall.”

The solution: A weeping willow.

Now to something completely different…

Work on Afelahn has come to a halt recently, because we are waiting for some tools being prepared since months. These are ancient D’ni tools, mainly for excavating small openings for pipes, energy conduits and data cables. Until we have these tools, we can´t finish the important installations in the home base.

I´ve thought about letting people in already, but it is still a place under heavy construction, so I think, it wouldn´t be too satisfying for people to visit. Maybe I can provide some KI-shots for you, so at least you can see some more details of my home base.

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Powermarble – solution

Posted by - Friday, July 15th, 2011

We finally have found a working solution to our powermarble safety problem. If you haven´t followed my previous posts: to set up an energy source for Afelahn, we have experimented with the so called D’ni powermarbles, equipment related to fire marbles, which store a lot of energy and release it much faster.

We had big security concerns, because an explosion could be fatal to anyone present in the complex. Now we have deduced, that a containment case formed like a drop would suit it best. It will be built out of different layers of D’ni materials, the outermost of which will consist of Nara. On the upside of the case, there will be a pressure control valve, that leads any possible kinetic energy of an explosion outwards of the complex.

We think, that these security measures finally are sufficient to guarantee everyones safety and health while visiting Afelahn.

I promised you to post about the “unknown ages” – here you are, information about “Unknown age 01″:
It is a wet, foggy place, covered by a huge swamp. The fog is so dense, you can´t see very far – animals call in the distance, we weren´t able to see them yet, but they sound scary enough. It is one of the approved ages of the D’ni, so we assume it is safe, but will have to do more research on it before allowing people to visit.

And – as a small bonus for you, because you had to wait for so long for another post – a small riddle:
The first to answer it correctly will get an entry on a new subpage.

What am I:
I am not sad, but crying silently all my life, I have no feet but stand, until one day I’ll fall.

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Update on Nifehrehn

Posted by - 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.

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Nifehrehn search

Posted by - 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.

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Classified

Posted by - 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.

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Unknown Age 07

Posted by - 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.

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