Myst-Uru Community

This page is being created specifically for use as a collection of resources for Tai'lahr's project, "History of the Called." It is a timeline of events demonstrating the development of the Myst-Uru Community. It is completely OOC; any IC events that took place should be noted as being revealed in an OOC manner.

1993

September 24, 1993 - Video game and educational software publisher, Brøderbund Software releases Cyan's Myst game for Mac OS computers.

Not much information has been uncovered about the year or so immediately following the release of Myst. The Wayback Machine site which this author relies on for finding archived web pages wasn't started until 1996, so information about the time before is difficult to find.

We might presume that Myst fans used bulletin boards and services like UseNet and AOL groups to seek out other fans and discuss the game. The Brøderbund Bulletin Board was advertised on the Myst registration card along with phone numbers for technical support, so the board might have been strictly technical support. It's listed on the webpage, 415 Area Code BBSes Through History as being active from 1992 to 1995. 415 Area Code BBSes Through History, archived page, June 12, 2006

It's possible that fans began to build websites about Myst before 1995, but no evidence has been uncovered, yet. At this time, the oldest known Myst fan website at this time was the Riven Unofficial Home Page created by Jim Stephenson.

1994

September 13, 1994 - Brøderbund Software releases Cyan's Myst game for PC computers.

Cyan employee Mark DeForest (Chogon) was learning a new programming language called Java and created Cyan Chat as a test case.

1995

November 2, 1995 - The Book of Atrus by Rand and Robyn Miller with David Wingrove is published. (WM)

Riven Unofficial Home Page is started by Jim Stephenson. Riven Unofficial Home Page archived page, February 2, 2004

1995 - 1997 - During the development of Riven, Cyan began to reveal more about D'ni through a hidden portion of their website. Upon entering that area of the site, the words "To D'ni" in the D'ni font ("b'D'ni") flashed on the screen.

1996

August, 1996 - Brøderbund & World Village present The MYST Trivia Challenge - main page, archived October 17, 1996; Questions page, archived December 26, 1996

November 7, 1996 - The Book of Ti'ana by Rand Miller with David Wingrove is published. (WM) - the hardback edition included a 58x44 cm (approx 22.8x17.3 inches) reproduction of a map with notations in D'ni lettering: Aitrus' map, D'ni to the surface.

December 11, 1996 - Cyan.com website - archived page, October 13, 1997

1997

The Writers of D'ni MOO was started by Erithan and other fans.

April 21, 1997 - The Riven Journals, a website of puzzles to promote Riven is revealed via a url written in icing on a cake which is shown on the Cyan Cam. August 25th - "The fifth and final Journal was added to the site on August 25th."

July, 1997 - The Riven Lyst, a subscribed to e-mail list, is started by Doug McBride.

late summer, 1997 - Red Orb Entertainment launched a print ad campaign for Riven. Three print ads ran which contained no tagline or logo and appeared to have no text at all, but on closer inspection, "www.riven.com" could be found.

October, 1997 - RivenGuild website is started by Gordon Currie.

October 29, 1997 - Riven, the sequel to Myst is published by by Red Orb Entertainment (a division of Brøderbund).

November 6, 1997 - The Book of D'ni by Rand Miller with David Wingrove is published. (WM)

1998

Tweek started the website which would eventually become The D'ni Jazz Club.

Cyan.com website - archived page, May 27, 1998

1999

March, 1999 - Doug McBride of the Riven Lyst is hired by Cyan.

2000

Cyan.com website - archived page, March 1, 2000

April 1, 2000 - Cyan releases Myst Mayhem. Press release on Zardoz's site; screenshot on lonelyto25's site.

Date Unknown - The D'ni Link

July 30, 2000 - D'niPedia.org was established. The Writers Ring was created soon after and together they would become known as DPWR.net

2001

Cyan.com website - archived page, June 28, 2001

June 1, 2001 - Gordon Currie closes the RivenGuild website.archived page, June 1, 2001 (UbiSoft takes creation of the Myst sites inhouse) Myst III Forum - archived page, June 9, 2001:Site hosted by UbiSoft. Created to replace the site built by Gordon Currie & Eldoren, it mimicked the layout. The first few days and weeks, it was filled with complaints by fans upset about losing RivenGuild.archived page, June 26, 2001

June 2, 2001 - Je'uhl (Harrison Pink) opens the Garternay website to serve as a "communication hub" following the demise of the RivenGuild site.archived page, July 22, 2001

June 6, 2001 - SqueeBOY posts to UbiSoft's Myst III forums that the dniguild.com site contained a D'ni Proverb, "A Tree falls; a page arises. - A scarab is captured; ink is released. - Life is taken; an Age is given." and scrolling over the word, "D'ni" produced D'ni lettering which translated to "To D'ni."

June/July 2001 (unconfirmed) - The Guild of Researches Investigating D'ni (G.R.I.D.) is formed.

2002

January 31, 2002 - Dr. Richard Watson gives a speech at an informal opening ceremony of the first D'ni neighborhood. - archived page, October 22, 2002

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News - archived page, May 25, 2002

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News -archived page, August 2, 2002

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News -archived page, September 26, 2002

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: Ubi Soft Makes Long-Term Commitment to Myst Brand. - archived page, October 16, 2002

2003

February 1, 2003 - The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas and Louisiana as it reenters Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. Cyan adds an image of the shuttle over a red, white and blue ribbon to their site.archived page, February 7, 2003

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: Uru: Online Ages Beyond MYST - archived page, February 7, 2003

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: Cyan Worlds, Inc. closing its doors - archived page, April 9, 2003

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: URU-Ages Beyond Myst - archived page, April 20, 2003

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst - Ubi website - archived page, June 1, 2003

November 7, 2003 - DRC Press Release: GAME PUBLISHER CONTRIBUTES TO MASSIVE UNDERGROUND RESTORATION EFFORT - post on esD'ni

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: URU-Ages Beyond Myst - archived page, November 18, 2003

December 31, 2003 - Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: Uru: Ages Beyond Myst release notes updated. - archived page, January 1, 2004

2004

February 4, 2004 - Cyan announces the closing of Uru in Rand's letter to the community on the future of Uru. - archived page, April 8, 2004

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: URU-Ages Beyond Myst-Uru: To D'ni expansion pack available for download - archived page, May 6, 2004

Cyan.com website - Cyan Worlds News: URU-Ages Beyond Myst-A new direction for Cyan - archived page, April 1, 2004

May 17, 2004 - The D'ni Guild Forums reopen. - archived page, June 4, 2004

May 24, 2004 - An official site for Uru: The Path of the Shell opens. - archived page, June 4, 2004, PotS archived page, May 29, 2004

July 7, 2004--Uru: The Path of the Shell and Uru: Complete Chronicles go on sale in stores. - archived page, June 4, 2004

August 6, 2004--Cyan Worlds launches Untìl Uru.

November 23, 2004 - Cyan Worlds News-Uru-ABM>Cyan Worlds News-Uru-ABM archived page, January 3, 2005

2005

February 2005 - The Garternay site changes to a picture of two cones with caution tape in front of a framed photo of a book with Narayan symbols on the cover sticking out of the sand on a beach. Clicking on the image revealed the words, "A seabird calls. The unknowing one stands at the rail. Peace. The circle is closed. The last word written. -From the Korokh Jimah. vv.13245-46."

2008

February 2008 - The Garternay site becomes the topic of discussion on the MOUL forums in the thread, www.gaternay.com. The site changed in December 2008 (archived page) and contained a puzzle which eventually led to an IC blog (archived page, March 10, 2010).