D’ni « Rabenschwinges Cavern blog

Posts Tagged ‘D’ni’

Goodbye, Critter 2…

Posted by Rabenschwinge - 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.

Tags: Afelahn, age, Critter 2, Critter 3, D'ni, Dr. Krista Haugaard, Er'Nirah, Jack Rowe, Sally LaCroix, Shane Kennett, Shashodahl, Tufolehn, Yagee Mohts, Yateesh
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Agriculture

Posted by Rabenschwinge - 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.

Tags: age, D'ni, Er'Nirah, expedition council, Forberg, guild of caterers, Tehranee
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Holidays were nice

Posted by Rabenschwinge - 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.

Tags: Afelahn, D'ni, Forberg, KI-shot, lord, Shashodahl, the fall
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Powermarble – solution

Posted by Rabenschwinge - 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.

Tags: Afelahn, D'ni, firemarble, nara, powermarble
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

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
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

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
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

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
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

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
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Er’Nirah

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

As reported, we´ve visited two caterer ages two weeks ago. The one I want to write about this time is Er’Nirah. The whole place is covered by a thick, soft layer of a species of lichen, with a dark red hue, that gives the age a strange, but somewhat appealing color. Nearly every inch of the ground is covered, the few places where it isn´t, I could see barren rock. There seem to be various other lichen, fungi and animals who depend strongly on the red lichen, either by nourishing from it, or seeking shelter in it, or just growing on it.

B.P. gave me some information about the age. As you´ll already have guessed by the name “Er’Nirah”, it was an age of the guild of caterers. And if we aren´t mistaken, the D’ni harvested the red lichen for food – there are some species of lichen here on earth which are edible (but not very tasteful, as far as I´ve read). I´m really curious how it tastes, but first we´ll have to thoroughfully analyze it.

In Afelahn, I did a lot of work the last days. Although the place isn´t quite ready yet, I brought some specimen, so I can start doing my first projects. I`d like to post some of them at the Zoologist-Forum (D’ni Zoological society), so we can do some research on lifeforms together.

And then, I managed (with some help) to design my first lamps for Afelahn (until now, it was lit by makeshift lights). Although I don´t plan the age to be highly aesthetic, they clearly help it in a visual way.

Tags: Afelahn, age, B.P., D'ni, D'ni Zoological society, Er'Nirah, guild of caterers
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Relaxing

Posted by Rabenschwinge - Thursday, April 28th, 2011

After some days of hard work, I´ve been relaxing in some ages, enjoying a little spare time.
My favorite place for this purpose is Eder Delin. I´ve always thought it to be the most cosy and relaxing garden age we have access to as of now, especially, when it´s winter there.

As I was sitting there on of the benches, I couldn´t resist thinking of all the wonders the D’ni have left us… the cavern, the ages, the astounding machinery, the strange creatures in all of the ages… the art … and also, what all of this did to the D’ni. Will that happen to us, too? Will we fall because of the same mistakes the D’ni made?
I tend to be cautiously optimistic(tm), as I remember the many obstacles and problems we´ve overcome.
And I remember those, who can´t take part in what is happening now… the people of the community who have passed away, most of them much too soon.

I wonder, where the guys of the DRC are, and if they still roam the caverns and ages, privately…

And I wonder, what I will be able to do, to contribute, to give something back to all of the guys who have given to the community.

Enough of all that brooding, back to work.
Shorah b’shemtee biv, and I mean it!

Tags: age, cavern, D'ni, DRC, Eder Delin, garden age
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Rabenschwinges Cavern blog