I realized the moment I fell into the Fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. It continued falling into that starry expanse, of which I had only a fleeting glimpse. I have tried to speculate where it might have landed, but I must admit that such conjecture is futile. Still, questions about whose hands might one day hold my Myst book are unsettling to me. I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written.

- Atrus, son of Gehn

The Stranger's Tale

Part One: Myst

Disclaimer (Or, render onto Cyan what is Cyan's)

Myst is copyright the good folks at Cyanworlds (formerly Cyan, inc.), Ubisoft, Presto Studios, and a whole bunch of other folks. Thanks for the great games, guys!

The Stranger (as a term) is also copyright these folks, although this particular instance has absorbed my personality. The personality and this particular adventure of the Stranger is mine.

Author's Notes (Or Pre-Game Analysis)

You may notice that this dramatization of one of my Myst Journals, my original, reads different from other Journals. Most Myst Journals converted to web format tend to have a "walkthrough feel" to them: "First I did this, then this, then this. Then I did this..." That's boring, and it's not telling a story.

The idea behind Myst is not that your playing just another game. You're THERE. You're not going through the motions; you're exploring, puzzling things out, trying to find the truth of the matter hidden beneath the surface of the island. It is that sense of wonder and mystery that I try to capture here, trying to make the Journal read like someone actually writing in the book to record his thoughts as he takes in that world, rather than a notebook of puzzles needed to be solved and a move history.

On another note, I thought I had Myst pretty much figured out. Because Trap Books are formed from an Ancient D'ni Formula found by Atrus, it was probably a device still in development by D'ni science, and as such could have some pretty wonky behavior, like the Miraculous Self-Ripping and Teleporting Pages.

But, RAWA (AKA. Richard A. Watson, Cyan programmer and ultimate D'ni historian) said that the Trap Books of Myst and Riven are gameplay devices and not a historical part of D'ni Book technology. As RAWA explains it:

Completing the book is the player's way of saying "I want to free this brother." And we simplified that to its most basic elements - you're stuck in the Prison Age; he's out.

You want the complicated, more historically accurate way to free a brother?

1) complete the book so you can go to the Age he's trapped in 2) you'll have to find a spare Myst Linking Book somewhere or neither of you are coming back. This complicates the interface, and changes the game if you can carry a Myst Linking Book around with you the whole game that you can use at any time. 3a) go to the prison Age without a Linking Book - the brother and you are trapped together forever, or as long as the brother lets you live (how long do you think that will be?) 3b) Bring a Linking Book. The brother bops you on the head and links out, damaging the Book in the process so you can't follow him. 4) You're stuck in the Prison Age; he's out. We've had to do a lot more filming, modeling, rendering, changing the interface, etc. to essentially get the same ending as Myst already shows.

As a further complication, RAWA says in response to the question of whether sound is transmitted through the gateway image, "real answer - No. Sound doesn't travel through the Books."

Suddenly, my world was a place of confusion and madness. Although most of the Myst story do fine without any mention of the Trap Books, there are two points that need to be addressed:

Assuming that the red and blue pages going missing and on other ages is historically accurate (judging by RAWA's pt. 1 above), and the red and blue books are ordinary Linking Books to Prison Ages and their pages have no special properties (like the Miraculous Self-Ripping and Teleporting Pages properties the game's Trap Books seemed to have), how did the pages get where you find them?

If its true no sound is transmitted through Books, and we know that sight is transmitted only one way through the Book (from the place linked to to the image panel of the Book), where does Atrus's Green Book speeches and the brothers' red/blue Book speeches come in? They contain vital information for the player/Stranger. Atrus tells you he needs the white page, and Sirrus and Achenar agree on two things: that the code to the fireplace is on page X (although why I'm bothering avoiding spoilers at this point is something I don't understand), and that you shouldn't touch the Green Book (which, given that at that point I trusted neither of them, clued me that touching and opening the Green Book was exactly what I should be doing!)

We'll get to the answers as the chapters come, so I don't spoil the surprise.