Ages of Myst III: Exile
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What follows is a list of Ages visited in the game Myst III: Exile.
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[edit] J'nanin
The Age of J'nanin was written by Atrus as the hub for his lesson Ages, Edanna, Voltaic, Amateria, and Narayan. He wrote these lesson Ages to teach his sons, Sirrus and Achenar the underlying concepts of writing Ages, and how certain principles governed the outcome of the Age.
J'nanin is a small rocky island in the middle of an endless ocean, with a small lake in the middle. Three tusk-like buildings rise up from the cliff faces of the island, and one stands in a lagoon at the center of the island. Each tusk holds a linking book to one of the lesson Ages. This is the Age that Saavedro was trapped on for over 20 years, until "The Stranger" came along in an attempt to retrieve the Releeshahn book stolen by Saavedro.
[edit] Edanna
Edanna was one of the lesson-Ages Linked to from J'nanin. Atrus wrote the Age to illustrate the concepts of nature and the inter-dependence of elements within the environment; specifically, Nature Encourages Mutual Dependence.
The Age itself consists of an incredibly large 200 ft. tall tree in the middle of a great expanse of ocean. There are three distinct eco-systems within the tree, starting from the top and going down:
- Deadwood Ridge (Upper, Middle, and Lower)
- The Forest
- The Swamp
Each region not only provided an entirely different look than the last, but an entirely new set of puzzles to solve, while somehow able to maintain continuity in terms of inter-dependence of one another. This was also the first Age in the Myst franchise of games to be completely Nature based, thus there are no machines or other man-made objects present, save for the imager Atrus installed to continue his sons on their path of learning the concepts of writing an Age, and a trap used by Saavedro to collect animal skins. The original message from Atrus is lost, due to Saavedro recording his own over Atrus' original words.
[edit] Amateria
Amateria was one of the lesson-Ages Linked to from J'nanin. The concept of this Age to convey to Atrus' sons was that Dynamic Forces Spur Change.
The Age itself is an island, apparently composed of basalt columns (somewhat resembling the Giant's Causeway), with oriental-like pagodas built on it, set in the middle of a vast, dark ocean. The sky is that of a setting sun, with a dark overcast sky looming on the horizon, occasionally throwing lightning down in the distance. The island itself is covered in a network of tracks used to move the unique crystal balls that roll throughout the Age. The balls themselves are created using special crystals from the Age itself, along with a water lathe.
[edit] Voltaic
Voltaic was one of the lesson-Ages Linked to from J'nanin.
This Age was written by Atrus to display the concept that Energy Powers Future Motion. The sons first had to power up the various forms of energy that were built into the Age. By doing this, they were able to create the necessary conditions needed to make the Airship function, which in turn would take them to where they started, and reveal to them the concept they needed to learn.
The Age itself is that of a large island of rust colored rock jutting out from a large expansive sea. The island is riddled with tunnels and valleys, with water flowing through it, as well as lava laying underneath it, to allow all kinds of energy to be harnessed to power future motion.
The name of the Age itself is presumably a reference to the Voltaic pile, an early electric battery.
In Myst IV Revelation, Sirrus mentions Voltaic in a memory. The soundtrack of Spire, his prison Age, has resemblances to the soundtrack of Voltaic.
[edit] Narayan
Narayan is the culmination of the lesson Ages Atrus wrote for his sons, to show them the physical embodiment of concepts they needed to understand, were they to write Ages of their own. Atrus wrote Narayan to display to his sons the concept Balanced Systems Stimulate Civilizations.
Narayan was an Age covered entirely with ocean, no land masses existing. Extremely large trees called "Lattice Trees" grew from this ocean. Large milky white spores, what Atrus referred to as "Pearls", would periodically float up from the ocean, through the cloud layer, and into the atmosphere. For the Narayani to survive, they had to capture these spores and graft them into the trees to keep the trees from collapsing into the ocean below. To do this, they would play beautiful tunes on "flutes" or "pipes" to lure these spores toward them, where they would then capture the spores with nets. This was a way of life for the Narayani. They had to constantly prune the branches of the trees to keep overgrowth at bay, and bring in new spores to graft as old ones expired.
Before Sirrus and Achenar destroyed the Ages in the Library of Myst, they tried to trick the young of the Narayani people into abandoning their traditions, which in turn would destroy the very structure that kept their civilization alive. Soon after, some of the trees fell into the ocean below, and the rebels of the tradition had realized the grave error they had made in following Atrus' sons. In doing so, they forced Sirrus and Achenar to leave. But one man, Saavedro, followed them, to ask them why they did such things, to ask them to fix what they had ruined. That is when he was trapped on the Age of J'nanin. When he finally found a way back to Narayan, he could not get past the Crystal Shield Atrus had installed, and thought his entire people to be dead. He then swore vengeance on Atrus and his family.
However, the Narayani had somehow survived the death of their old lattice tree long enough to grow a new one from the ocean, not far from the remnants of their old city. This proves the concept of "Balanced Systems Stimulate Civilizations": even if a civilization falls, a new one will take its place soon after IF the Age is properly balanced.
[edit] Other Ages
- Releeshahn is only seen as a Linking Book, and not actually visited.
- Tomahna is part of D'ni/Earth.
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