In Memoriam: Tai'lahr
OpenUru.org, along with the rest of the Mystonline community, is mourning the loss of Tai'lahr on October 16th, 2019.
Rest in Peace, friend.
Myst (Uru Live)
The New Greeters
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This article contains tips, hints, walkthroughs or details of game content in preparation that may spoil your future enjoyment of the game: Read on at your own risk!
Myst Island is the former home of Atrus and his family and is the title Age from the game Myst. The Age appears or is mentioned in nearly all works pertaining to the franchise.
History
Myst was Written by Catherine and Anna sometime during the events chronicled in the Book of Atrus. Anna had used her knowledge of The Art taught to her by Aitrus and, with the help of Catherine, used the Book along with the Star Fissure as a means of escape from Riven, and in the process, trapping Gehn. With Gehn imprisoned on his "Fifth Age", Atrus, Catherine, and Anna settled and made their new home in the Age.
Sometime later, Sirrus and Achenar were born and raised, primarily by their mother, on the island, with their father mostly focused on his work of Writing Ages. Over time, "places of protection" were also built around the island to safeguard Atrus' works. As they grew older, Atrus would take his sons to visit some of the Ages he had written.
Tragically, Anna passed away years later. She was buried on the island, the new home she had helped create.
As adults, Sirrus and Achenar grew more greedy and power-hungry and began to plunder the Ages of Myst, unbeknownst to their father. Atrus had buried himself in his work after his grandmother's death and thus didn't see his sons' treachery. When Atrus finally did realize something was amiss, he decided to write two Prison Ages to trap whomever had been destroying the Ages he had worked so hard to cultivate.
The brothers convinced their mother to link to Riven while secretly removing a single page from their father's Myst Linking Book. They wanted to trap him in K'veer in order to have unrestricted access to the Prison Books Atrus had specifically told them not to use. After burning most of the books in the library, they each used one of the Prison Books, and the family had all become trapped in their respective Ages, leaving Myst vacant.
Events of Myst
Soon, a stranger appeared on the island after using the Myst Linking Book that had been lost to the Star Fissure during Atrus' escape from Riven. After visiting several of the surviving Ages, The Stranger learned of the brothers' evil deeds and instead looked for the missing page to Atrus' Linking Book. Taking that page with them to K'veer, Atrus was able to repair the Linking Book and link back to Myst Island, where he angrily destroyed the Linking Books to the Prison Ages that had snared his sons.
After the events that led to Gehn's permanent capture, Catherine's rescue and Riven's destruction, Atrus and Catherine returned to the island, only to be haunted by the memories of what had occured there. They soon abandoned their home to start anew.
The Path of The Shell
200 years or so later, Myst Island was rediscovered by explorers that followed the clues given to them by Yeesha, who had studied "The Watcher" and his writings. Only the library is accessible, as the entryway and secret passage have been sealed off by an unknown person or persons (presumably Atrus and Catherine).
Walkthrough
You will link into the center of the room. If it is December, or all calendar sparks are turned on, it will be located in plain sight. Catherine's Tunic will be sitting on the bookshelf. There is also a Relto Page (Fireplace) near where one of the Prison Books used to be. Note that the fireplace here is not functional at this time.
Collectable Checklist
Relto Pages
- Fireplace
Clothing Items
- Catherine's Tunic
Calendar Spark
- Center of Library (December)
Trivia
- According to RAWA, Myst Island is actually much larger in "real life" (URU) than what was seen in the original game, including more places of protection and the sleeping quarters of Atrus and Catherine and their sons. This is why only the library is accessible in all iterations of URU, as Cyan Worlds never had a chance to create the "real" Myst Island.
- realMYST was a remake utilizing the engine that would later be used by URU. It added new details to each Age, including Ti'ana's grave and a day and night cycle to most of the Ages. It also introduced a new place of protection and a new Age of Myst, Rime.
- Myst V showed the entirely of the island as it appeared in realMYST, only in varying forms of decay due to over 200 years of neglect. None of the machinery was working, either. It was here that the player experienced the two bad endings of the game, so it is possible this version is not canon, as the good ending does not feature Myst.
- It is implied by Yeesha that Relto is based on the layout of Myst Island.
- According to Esher in Myst V, Yeesha will not visit Myst due to the bad memories it represents.
- The island (and the original game itself) was parodied in a game called Pyst.
- The library from the island, along with similar music, can be seen briefly in an episode of The Simpsons; specifically, "Treehouse of Horror VI" in the segment "HOM3R", where Homer enters a computer-generated third dimension.
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A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".