Our dearest Yeesha, Last night your mother had a dream...

We know that some futures are not cast, by writer or Maker, but the dream tells that D'ni will grow again someday. New seekers of D'ni will flow in from the desert feeling called to something they don't understand.

But the dream also tells of a desert bird with the power to weave this new D'ni's future. We fear such power - it changes people.

Yeesha, our desert bird, your search seems to take you further and further from us. I hope that what you find will bring you closer.

- Your father, Atrus.

The Official Story of Uru

The story of the D'ni civilization began when they established their underground empire on Earth some 10,000 years ago. While living beneath the Earth's surface, the D'ni practiced what they called the "Art of Writing," which enabled them to create links to incredible, alternate worlds of fantastic variety called "Ages," to which they could travel through "Linking Books."

The D'ni people thrived for thousands of years, but later met with a great catastrophe that all but ended their civilization. Their vast cavern was left uninhabited, and their Linking Books and Ages seemed lost forever.

Then, in the late 1980s, a few humans from the surface discovered that cavern. One of these humans was Elias Zandi. He devoted the rest of his life to exploring and, eventually, restoring that ancient city in the D'ni cavern, preparing to one day reveal their discovery to those who were suddenly feeling irresistibly drawn to the cavern.

When he passed away in 1996, his legacy was divided between a foundation that he set up and his only son, Jeff Zandi. The foundation came to be known as the DRC (D'ni Restoration Council). As their name implies, they took on the task of physically restoring the ruins of the D'ni cavern. If you choose to visit the cavern at some point, you're sure to run into them.

Jeff Zandi, on the other hand, was interested in learning why the D'ni civilization fell in the first place. He continued studying the teachings of Yeesha, by far the most talented of all the D'ni writers, and daughter of Atrus and Catherine. After years of learning, the younger Zandi is finally comfortable bringing others to an uru (a D'ni word meaning "large gathering" or "grand community").

On your way to the cavern, if you decide to join us, it might be a good idea for you to learn some of the great teachings of Yeesha. Experience the adventure of a lifetime, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst.

From the official Uru website (Story)
Text © Cyan Worlds, Inc.

Pre-Earth

To tell the history of the D'ni, it is necessary to begin by going back in time some 10,000 years in another world. In that time and place, there was a race called the Ronay (People of the Root) who lived on a world they called Garternay (Root of the Great Tree). Due to a number of factors, including the destruction of both Garternay and most of its records from that early time, our knowledge of this period of D'ni history is sketchy at best.

What is clearly known is that the people of Garternay knew that their homeworld was headed for destruction, and they were fortunate enough to have a means of escape... something they called 'The Art.' Details of how they came to possess their knowledge of The Art were unfortunately lost amid the destruction of their homeworld, though there are several theories, which are out of the scope of this document.

The important thing to know about The Art is that it allowed them to create bridges or links to other Ages simply by writing a complex description of the Age to which they wished to link. This gave them access to a nearly infinite number of worlds with nearly an infinite amount of diversity. Within limits, an Age of almost any description that could be written already existed somewhere, just waiting to be linked to. It is what the Ronay called the 'Great Tree of Possibilities.'

So if your home planet is dying, but you have access to just about any world you want, it's pretty easy to come to the conclusion that it's time to rent some moving vans and change neighborhoods. So the people of Garternay (over a long period) dispersed to a number of different Ages. The vast majority of the people went to a luxurious planet (who wouldn't?) that they named Terahnee (the New Tree), but many smaller groups went off to Ages of their own for a variety of reasons.

A great Writer named Ri'neref led one of those smaller groups. Ri'neref was discouraged by the abuse, as he saw it, of The Art on Garternay, so this was his chance to start a civilization of people who felt as he did. He didn't write a link to a luxurious planet. He wrote a link to a large cavern deep underground. He called his Age D'ni (New Start). We call it Earth.

Why a Cavern?

"Why did Ri'neref choose to write a link to an underground cavern, when he could just as easily have written a link to something more glamorous?"

This is a very common question from people when they learn the origins of the D'ni. The original motives of Ri'neref seem to point toward a few different reasons for choosing the cavern.

First, it seems that he desired that his people live in a simple, even at times, difficult place. He argued such circumstances could serve as a constant reminder of the fact that they had chosen to separate themselves from the beauty of Terahnee. It would be challenging in the cavern. Ri'neref fully believed that when life was difficult, people were forced to put their trust in their Maker, as there was nothing else that could comfort them. He strongly desired such a constant reminder in order to prevent the D'ni from following the many temptations, he argued, that they would face.

There were also practical reasons for his choice. After what had happened to Garternay, Ri'neref believed the cavern would offer a place that was protected from many natrual disasters and thus had reduced risk of destroying itself - as was happening to Garternay at the time.

Ri'neref seemed to also believe that too much comfort would breed a lack of appreciation. Knowing that the D'ni would be able to Write and visit an unlimited number of other Ages, he surmised that they would have a much greater appreciation for the wonders of those other places, if their home was a lowly cavern.

Though the site of D'ni seems a rather unpleasant place for a home, it's extremely clear that, as time passed, most of the people fell in love with their cavern. During the later years of D'ni history, when the above reasons had little relevance to them anymore, very few of them moved elsewhere.

Early Earth

The new civilization in the D'ni cavern was growing nicely. Ri'neref was chosen as the first king of their new home. He set up a flexible Guild system very similar to the one that had been used on Garternay.

Things continued running along relatively smoothly for this growing, fledgling society until it was determined that the fresh-air surface ventilation caves that Ri'neref had written for the underground cavern would soon be inadequate for their growing numbers (some theorized that Ri'neref did this intentionally).

The Guild of Miners did not yet have the advances of more modern D'ni tunneling technology, but with a great deal of help from a large number of volunteers, wider, larger tunnels (but still small by today's standards) to the surface were created, and great fans installed to circulate the cooler, fresh air from caverns closer to the surface.

There are remnants of guild discussions in some of the oldest documents that would lead one to believe that a number of D'ni disappeared during this expansion of the ventilation system. The discussions revolve around what action the guilds would take after finding that some of the people involved in the expansion project remained on the surface, unwillling to return to the cavern. However, all official historical accounts that have been found deny any contact with the surface.

From the DRC Website (D'ni Essentials)
Text © Cyan Worlds, Inc.