An Open Letter to Cate Alexander and the DRC

[Montgomery]

I represent a small but growing group of concerned explorers (thus far limited to the Uru Obsession forums). We believe it is possible that Cate and the DRC may inadvertantly be putting the explorer community in grave danger.

As a result of this concern and the general lack of communication and disclosure from the DRC, I have drafted the following letter, which I will deliver to the the addressees via the D'ni Network on the 19th of February.

If you would like to attach your name to this letter, please reply here.

Thank you for reading.

[Owehn]

As one of those who helped draft the letter, I'd like to add my name.

By the way, this is a perfect example of why the DRC forums were needed: this allows us to communicate to the DRC in an organized fashion, without the sporadicity of individual KImail or KIchat. Thanks to everyone who helped get the DRC forums back up!

[Deirdre_1]

I too will add my name as the possibility of a plague spreading like wildfire would be disasterous.

[Islander]

Hmm, sounds drastic to me. As this was originally placed on another forum, I'll just quote a response from that forum:

[Ragdrazi]

Oh the crud. Yeah. This is bad. The DRC might own a WMD.

This was my only concern with Cate. Weapons. I didn't think there was much around here that could be sold to the army. Hopefully that's true. Hopefully this plague is dead.

Yeah, sign me up.

[Owehn]

[Ragdrazi]

Close. So close to being nice you were.

Oh well...
_________________
I feel as though each and every one of us have personally failed here.
Mission Statement
Ki #229367

[Maratanos]

Look. We know this plague is dead. If it weren't, we'd be. Remember, the Tomb of the Great King itself was infected, not just the age of Pento. The mere act of opening it like Atrus did 200 years ago would have released the plague if it weren't inactive.
_________________
For cowards die a thousand deaths, while heros die but one.

Well, unless they're playing video games, in which case heros die a lot too.

[Ragdrazi]

What's the latest?
_________________
I feel as though each and every one of us have personally failed here.
Mission Statement
Ki #229367

[Owehn]

Latest news is that the D'net has accepted the letter and agreed to hand it over to Cate and the DRC. I'm not sure how long it will be before we hear back, but given that the Pento Age is suspended indefinitely, replying might not be a high priority for the DRC.

[Ragdrazi]

I don't care if they've put a padlock on it. I don't care if it's all vacuumed sealed! I'd like to know now if this book's a WMD.
_________________
I feel as though each and every one of us have personally failed here.
Mission Statement
Ki #229367

[Owehn]

I don't think the book itself can do any damage. So long as the plague is contained in Pento (or in other infected Ages), it can't escape through the Pento book. After the cure the d'ni developed, they may have taken steps to ensure that the rest of their Ages were free of the plague that had harmed them - the DRC would likely know for sure. So until someone links into and back out of an infected Age, we should be safe from it.

Here's the relevant history, summarized from the Kings notebooks:

• After the war with Pento, King Ahlsendar has the Guilds of Writers and Healers develop a plague designed to kill the Pento but leave the d'ni unharmed. The plague is sent to Pento, where it killed the entire Pento population within three days.
  
• Realizing what was happening, the Pento linked to other Ages, infecting as many cultures as they could before they died. The Guild of Chemists fear that the plague may mutate into something that can affect the d'ni.
  
• King Ahlsendar gathers together all the linking books to infected Ages, and seals them (along with himself) in the Temple to the Great King. The temple becomes a tomb.
  
• Centuries later, during the reign of Me'erta, Jolatha violates the order to leave the Tomb sealed. She removes some items from the tomb, including several linking books, which she places in the Temple of the Great Tree.
  
• Two days later, Jolatha dies of an unknown illness, and the Tomb is resealed.
  
• Within 20 years the plague surfaces, six months after the coronation of Gan. On the d'ni, the mutated plague has the effect of causing infertility and reduced lifespans (culminating in heart failure).
  
• Nearly 200 years (and two kings) later, King Hemelin takes the throne. With the help of Lalen and the lost book of Birenni, the Guild of Healers were able to develop an antidote to the plague (a drink that prevented contraction of the illness, even when directly exposed).

Two notes: Jolatha could not have died from the plague: her symptoms are not consistent with it. However, it is unlikely that her unsealing the tomb just 20 years before the plague resurfaced was a coincidence, so the mutated plague must have come from within the tomb. Since it is unlikely that the plague would have mutated to a form that could attack the d'ni solely within a single building and nowhere outside it (if the tomb ever were contaminated, and not just the Ages linked to by the books contained inside), I am inclined to speculate that Jolatha (or someone else) used one of the linking books to an infected Age, and returned carrying the mutated plague.

Second, the d'ni probably eradicated the plague completely from the cavern and other Ages. Otherwise, the d'ni, as well as their descendants, would have had to continue taking the healer's drink in order to remain free of the plague.

So if we take into account all the history from the Kings' notebooks, and the two speculative assumptions I just gave, you end up with a tomb (and possibly also a temple) full of linking books to infected Ages (including, possibly, Pento) and the rest of d'ni and its Ages free of the plague completely. It is this assumption (with which anyone may agree or disagree, since it is based on speculation) under which the letter is written.

[Montgomery]

Owehn, thanks for this! Nicely done.

My only addition to your analysis would be that the DRC may have acquired Pento from the Great Tree Temple. We do not know which books Jolatha took from the tomb and placed there; Pento may have been among them. She certainly had a long-term agenda with regard to the Guild of Writers and their limitations, as well as to discredit the prophesies about King Ahlsender returning (hence the alleged piece of his robe she brought from the temple).

If you are right (and I see no reason to think you are not) that members of the Great Tree continued to use the books Jolatha provided and thus brought the plague to D'ni, one can't help but wonder what were these Ages and what was the Great Tree's interest in them. As a side note, I would be very interested in knowing the answers to these questions, if indeed the DRC has located the Great Tree Temple.

[Owehn]

I made the change you suggested, but I'd also like to point out that it is unclear whether the books Jolatha removed remained in the Great Tree Temple or if they were replaced in the Great Tomb. Since the general population of d'ni was unaware of Jolatha's action, I'm inclined to assume that the books and other items were replaced, though other scenarios are certainly possible.

An interesting side-note (and almost completely speculative):

The line of the great zero was often placed to run along the magnetic north/south line, but it was also common practice to have it run along some natural landmark. Ri'neref chose the first, but Me'erta favored the second, and pushed to have the line changed. He didn't succeed, but he did manage to have the Temple of the Great Tree (an important) built along this second line. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the location of the modern Watcher's Sanctuary (aka the Great Tree Pub).

[Ragdrazi]