Great Shaft

From MYSTlore

Looking up from the bottom of the Great Shaft.

Looking into the Great Shaft from above. Notice the walkways and the elevators, as well as the supporting spokes in the center.

The Great Shaft (regarotiwa^[?] ^{(regahrotiwah)}) is a unique construction of the D'ni people built to connect their caverns to the surface, a controversial project some consider the beginning of the end of the D'ni. It was designed by Guild Master Garten of the Surveyors^[1].

It consists mainly of a vertical tube, about 3 miles in length, with circular stairs as well as elevators to transport people up and down.

While it eases the journey between caverns and surface considerably, it is still an exhausting one. The Shaft therefore connects to various rest places known as eder tomahntee that include beds, and presumably used to have clothing and food available as well.

The Shaft, much like other parts of D'ni city, has a setup of fans to keep air circulating and temperature at healthy, moderate levels. These fans, however, would turn out to be a security flaw, as they were later used to easily spread a lethal virus throughout the entire city.

1 Descent
2 Today
3 Background
4 Featured
5 References

[edit] Descent

Descent refers to the path an explorer has to take to get from the Cleft to the city, or vice versa. One prominent example of a person having made such a trip is Ti'ana. Any area during this path (and therefore also the Great Shaft itself) can be called "Descent".

[edit] Today

In present time, the stairs are in such bad shape that they cannot be used safely at all, and some of the doorways can't be used; instead, holes have been dug to ease access. Only a small part has been made accessible, with a single eder tomahn; the elevators are nowhere to be seen, with their status unknown.

[edit] Background

The following section is written from an OOC point of view. Events and elements surrounding the Myst Universe are regarded as fictional.

In the fictional rendition as part of the 2005 Cyan Worlds game Myst V: End of Ages, the two elevators have been restored to pristine condition, and even the ventilation system works.