Re: Space travel

[Pavitra]

Continued from here.

[FredNotBob]

I was thinking more of actual spacecraft; Linking would be very limited in that situation. My theory is that, as Linking became more prominent in D'ni culture, spaceflight would have become more and more rare (since they could Link to wherever they wished, within the already-established limitations).

Linking, in essence, may have replaced the D'ni 'space program', as it were, because they're already exploring space, but in a different manner.

[Chloe Rhodes]

[Pavitra]

When I said "relative to the Great Zero in that Age", I meant relative to the Great Zero's linear and rotational motion as well. So you could safely Write a Link to a geostationary satellite, for example.

I assume the Great Zero in any given Age is the link-in spot for the Descriptive Book, and that that's determined by certain phrases in the book. For example, the DB might refer to "a canyon" where you Link in, and the Great Zero would move and rotate with the movement and rotation of the canyon.

But this is speculation. Do we know of any instance where two non-Yeesha link-in points move relative to one another (or fail to)?


FNB, it's worth noting that the D'ni came to Earth and to the D'ni Cavern by linking, so if the space program was replaced by Books, then it would have to have been the Ronay space program, not D'ni.
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[Chloe Rhodes]

Actually the Great Zero of an age has no prominence in linking at all. And the link in spot is not used no.

The Ronay established the Great Zero as a system to aid in navigation and construction. When a link was established to an age, a team from the Guild of Surveyors would first link to the world, and establish the origin point, this point was known as the Great Zero. They would usually choose a prominent natural landmark of the age. For example, in the D'ni cavern, they used the mountain on A'egura. Then afterwards a line was drawn, most often toward magnetic north, though sometimes they would choose another natural landmark. Once the Great Zero and it's line were established they could then map coordinates using these two pieces of information as a reference point. For instance religious temples were only allowed to be built along the Great Zero line.

[Calam]

Even if it's true that the link to a location stays the same relative to the motion of a celestial body, if one simply records the exactly date and time that the original link was written, one could technically link to that location safely as long as they only linked during the date and time when the celestial body lines up with the linking point.

So if you wanted to link to our moon, for example, and if the linking point was stationary in relation to the moon's orbit, you could only actually link to the moon exactly one month from the date and time that you first wrote the link.

That said, there are a lot of assumptions here regarding things that we don't have solid answers for, specifically when do links remain stable within/on the celestial body they inhabit, and when do they remain in place relative to that celestial body's orbit? Is size a factor? Mass? We really don't know.

As for "D'ni spaceships"-- for a people that had the ability to travel through time and space by simply writing a link, and seeing that they had a very solid grasp of linking, it would be easier for them to simply find a way to link to a location in the heavens than build a spaceship and try to travel there.

The pod in Toldemer is an example of this concept. The real question is, how did they get the pod up there?
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[Pavitra]

I'm not an astronomer, but I think the motion of celestial bodies is more complex than just periodic orbits; consider, for example, the precession of the equinoxes.

Is it possible the Todelmer Descriptive Book links to where the pod was built, and that all links to that Age are stationary with respect to that point?
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[Calam]

[Pavitra]

[Calam]

[Pavitra]

[Prof H]

There is one known reference to Ronay space travel, but it's level of truth is questionable.

It can be found here, in the Fifth Riven Journal:

http://www.mystjourney.com/riven/writings/riven-online-journals.php

It references a Ronay named Klvino who travelled through space to a new world, and what happens to him.
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[Pavitra]

Very interesting. It does have the flavor of myth.

Whether the events actually occurred or not, if we assume that the existence of the story is not artistic license -- that this story was at least told by the D'ni -- then it implies that space travel among the Ronay and D'ni was rare and experimental at the most.

Edit: I see it says that the story is "apocryphal". I don't know whether that means the story was not true or whether it means the story was not told.
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[Prof H]

Well we know for certain an animal cannot be linked inside out due to swallowing a linking Book the rest is ... uncertain at best I would say. I would have to do some research on D'ni childrens stories to be sure.
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Thelonius "Prof" Higginsbottom
MOULa KI: 01632887

[Ian Atrus]

The Riven journals are *not* canon - they were completely made up as a promotional tool.
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