Atrus
From MYSTlore
Atrus (Atrus; born 9411) is son to Gehn, and grandson to Ti'ana (the first human to meet the D'ni) and therefore descendant of both human and D'ni ancestries. Together with Catherine, whom he met on Riven, he became the parent of two sons, Sirrus and Achenar, as well as a daughter, Yeesha.
Atrus proved to be one of the most influential and important figures of post-D'ni history and essential in their restoration. One of the most prolific writers and inventors, he liked to explore the secrets of the Art and the worlds he linked to. There seemed to be no limit to Atrus' genius since he was able to build singlehandedly whole structures, machines and devices of exotic technology, a trait which he passed to his sons.
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[edit] Biography
When Atrus was born, his mother Keta died. His father, Gehn, then returned to D'ni, leaving the infant in the care of his mother, Anna, Atrus's grandmother.
Atrus was raised in the Cleft by Anna and lived by trading with traders that passed by the cleft. As a child he showed many of the traits he would as an adult: curiosity, a fondness for projects and working with his hands. Atrus had a pet cat named Pahket, which he renamed Flame. Flame died after rolling in toxic plants growing near the Cleft and then licking her fur; Atrus responded stoically to her loss. He grew up listening to stories from the fallen D'ni empire narrated by Anna but was not sure if he would believe them. Atrus also attempted to construct a battery powered by a fissure of the Volcano, but the experiment resulted in an explosion.
When he was fourteen, Gehn returned and took him to D'ni, promising to Anna that he would return him in "three months". There Atrus finally saw the places he knew from Anna's stories. Together they went to a library and found Kortee'nea so that Gehn could teach Atrus how to Write; he also intended to indoctrinate him into his vision of D'ni's future: gods ruling over their Written creations and restore their civilization.
However Gehn did not return Atrus back as he promised, and after three months had already passed, they still lived together in K'veer, along with Gehn's mute servant, Rijus, learning D'ni language, studying the Art, and partially restoring the damage that occurred during the Fall. Gehn also, revealed to Atrus that his grandmother was indeed the 'Ti'ana' figure of the history who was responsible for the Fall of D'ni.
[edit] Age 37
Atrus perhaps met his first "friends" in Age 37, an Age written by his father, where Gehn ruled as their god. Gehn presented himself there, however Atrus started to befriend the natives: Koena, Salar and others. Like all Gehn's ages, this one featured instabilities. Atrus found out that the natives revered a phenomenon known as the Whiteness, a wall of mist surrounding the island. Despite the dread in which they held it, Atrus commanded a fishing boat to approach the Whiteness and then return, an act which the natives regarded as "cheating" the Whiteness. In response to the terror that Atrus's act had inspired among the natives, Gehn altered the book, warming the ocean and making the phenomenon disappear.
Atrus eventually wrote his first Age which he named Inception, which Gehn did not consider it worthy for a name or a number. However Gehn honored his son's first creation by initiating a Korfah V'ja ceremony to be held in Age 37. However, they discovered that Gehn's alterations had caused the water around the island to dry up and the two "gods" link back to D'ni.
Atrus played with Gehn's feelings about being a god, and pleaded with him to do something to save the world. Gehn then made many deletions from Age Thirty-seven's descriptive book. When Atrus linked back, he realized it was a new age that was very much like Age Thirty-seven before Gehn arrived and that the people of the original Thirty-seventh Age remained sealed to their doom. Then Atrus came to doubt that Gehn's explanation of the Art was correct and to believe that Ages existed before a Link was made.
After a heated argument with his son, Gehn started criticizing Inception and deleted words from the book. When Atrus asked him for a chance to fix Age 37's linking book and denied Gehn's supposed mastery of the Art, Gehn flew into a fit of rage and threw the book into the fire, thus destroying any hopes of linking back forever.
[edit] Rebelling against Gehn
The next night, Atrus decided that Gehn was insane and attempted to flee to the Cleft. While his father was intoxicated and sleeping, Atrus stole the book of maps and notes that contained directions to the Surface and to which Gehn was constantly referring. But he was caught in the tunnels by Rijus and imprisoned in the basement of K'veer. The room had no apparent exit other than a slab with a linking book. Atrus attempted to break out with a stone-cutting machine, but this resulted in a cave-in which further blocked his escape.
His only way out was the book which linked to Riven, or Age 5, as Gehn called it. After linking there, Atrus nearly drowned, but was rescued by a group of natives, including Katran (Catherine), whom Gehn had chosen to marry in an upcoming ceremony. Atrus and Catherine fell in love and he decided to repair the flaws in Riven before living with her on (what he thought to be) her Age of Myst. The two of them decided that it would be best to trap Gehn on Riven in order to prevent more future suffering from the rule of his pen.
While attempting to trap Gehn on Riven by destroying the last Linking Book as he used it, he was recaptured. With the aid of Catherine and the appearance of the mysterious Star Fissure, Atrus succeeded in leaving Gehn stranded in Riven and escaping to Myst by throwing himself and the last Myst linking book into the fissure and using it as he fell. This way, Gehn was left with no linking books on Riven. The Myst linking book continued to fall until it landed somewhere near the Cleft.
To Atrus's amazement, he discovered Anna had been watching over him all along and had helped Catherine in her plan to defeat Gehn.
[edit] Myst
Atrus spent the next 30 years writing Ages and exploring them, building structures and aiding the people he met. He married Catherine and had two sons, Sirrus and Achenar whom he took along in his explorations. Atrus showed a wholly different attitude towards his Ages than his father, since he communicated with their people and even helped them. He attempted to expand the civilization of The Rocks by writing a ship, and afterwards by building a beacon. Most significantly, he helped the inhabitants of Mechanical to thwart an attack by the Black Ship Pirates. Also he tried to cure diseases of Age inhabitants like those of the Tide, and sympathized with the people of Everdunes who were ravaged by the Chochtic.
He continued to dream of restoring D'ni someday, but was unwilling to link back lest there be the slightest possibility of Gehn escaping Riven and thereby gaining access to Myst. To ensure that Gehn indeed remained trapped, Atrus experimented with with a technology of his own, remote viewing of Ages on first Everdunes then Rime. With the crystal viewer, he could see what happened in Riven.
Eventually Anna died. Atrus, in order to deal with the loss of his grandmother, buried himself in work, spending less and less time with his sons. Catherine would later come to identify this as a key point in the brothers' development. Sirrus, she thought, had seen this as rejection but was too proud to let it show, while Achenar had never known how to channel his emotions appropriately, therefore setting the stage for the sinister characters they would eventually grow into.
In an attempt to teach his sons the Art, Atrus created the Lesson ages and befriended Saavedro of Narayan to educate the boys in the principles of environmental balance.
But he had given his sons too much freedom and without his knowledge they grew mad with visions of riches and power, sprung forth by the endless possibilities of the books. They declared themselves kings of his Ages, ruling and destroying their people. It was a time when Atrus was busy with other stuff and had his Myst library unchecked for too long. At some point they started burning the books in the library. Atrus found that out but was not ready to accuse one or the other. He hid the few surviving books in Places of Protection on the island, accessed by codes from the Myst tower.
Since Atrus had not taught them the Art, the brothers intended to trap him and put him in the Dream Chamber of Serenia and absorb his knowledge. For that end, they tricked Catherine into going to Riven, then Atrus to go and meet her in K'veer, but not before taking a page from his Myst book to ruin it. Once in K'veer, Atrus found nobody waiting for him, only the descriptive book to Riven as was left 3 decades ago, and also realized that his linking book to Myst was not working, being thus impossible for him to return. He devoted himself to keeping the Age of Riven stable enough so that he could one day make the trip to rescue Catherine. Luckily for him, the brothers had a fight and abandoned their plan, and instead decided to explore Haven and Spire against Atrus' earlier warning, trapping themselves thenceforth.
Some days later, Atrus was rescued by a Stranger, who had found his Myst linking book that fell from the fissure 30 years earlier; that Stranger linked to Myst and then to K'veer. Once that person gave Atrus access back to Myst, he sent the Stranger to Riven to trap Gehn in a Prison Age and find Catherine. This was accomplished, and once he broke the Star fissure open, Atrus linked to Riven and was reunited with Catherine.
Returning to Myst, Atrus explored the remaining Ages and was grieved to find only 'dead shells' of what they had been.
[edit] Rebuilding D'ni
The memories of Myst were too grave and Atrus wrote Chroma'agana to live with Catherine. There they planned their moves to search for survivors of the Fall of D'ni and rebuild the cavern.
For that end he wrote the Age Averone and befriended its inhabitants and asked their assistance. With a team, he linked to K'veer, and together they broke through the cave-in that blocked the access to the rest of the island. Once that was opened, Atrus for the first time had access to all D'ni.
During that time Atrus and his team were able to find several linking books and make contact with the survivors who escaped the Fall. They joined him and worked together on rebuilding D'ni. One of those survivors was master Tamon.
Eventually, while exploring the Tomb of the Great King, they found a forgotten link to Terahnee and he decided to explore that Age, against Tamon's advice. Atrus discovered a beautiful world and civilization. His team first met Hadre Ro'jethhe and were hosted by his family. They discovered that the Terahnee were the cousins of the D'ni, separated from the Ronay millennia ago during the Exodus. In a heartbreaking ceremony, Atrus exchanged salutes with the Terahnee king, Ro'eh Ro'dan, marking the reunification of the two peoples.
Atrus originally planned to settle the survivors here instead, but they soon learned of the evils hidden behind Terahnee's surface appearance: The whole civilization and 'automatization', was based on cruel slavery of ahrotahntee. Atrus and his followers were no longer welcome when Atrus told the Terahnee that they were ahrotahntee, including partially himself.
Before word could come from the king on how to deal with Atrus and his companions, a cataclysmic plague made an appearance. While the plague was receding, the Terahnee were decimaded by the Relyimah who rebelled against them. Atrus later learned that the plague was caused by bacteria that his team brought to this Age.
Before leaving, Atrus gave the people of Terahnee some guidance and laws, but with the D'ni returned to the cavern, the two Ages separated once more by sealing away their respective linking books.
[edit] In Tomahna
Deciding the cavern should not be rebuilt, he started to write an Age, Releeshahn, for the D'ni; himself he ascended to the Surface, near the Cleft, in a place which he named Tomahna where he dwelt with Catherine and their new daughter Yeesha. While writing Releeshahn he revisited the lesson Ages to contemplate. He did not know however that Saavedro was trapped in J'nanin 20 years ago by his sons. Saavedro found the linking book to Tomahna Atrus left behind and this allowed him to escape the Age and stalk Atrus occasionally in Tomahna.
On an occasion when Atrus was visited by the friend who rescued him years ago, Saavedro, wishing to punish Atrus, linked in his study and stole the Releeshahn book, lighting a fire in the room. While his friend followed Saavedro to J'nanin, Atrus and Catherine fought with the flames. Soon after, Atrus' friend linked back with the book of Releeshahn.
Although he had been skeptical about prophecies at first, he eventually came to believe in Yeesha's future destiny, and decided to teach her the Art. As she grew older, Atrus and Catherine watched their sons who remained trapped in their prison Ages, using Atrus' crystal technology. Eventually Catherine persuaded Atrus to start visiting them, and she wrote a nara linking chamber into each Age.
Atrus again decided to consult his friend's advice concerning his sons. After a mechanical failure Atrus had to link to Rime and fetch some crystals, but became trapped in a storm. While Atrus' friend lingered in Tomahna, Sirrus used his makeshift explosive crystals to breach the linking chamber and gain access to the Tomahna linking book. He kidnapped Yeesha and brought her to Serenia so that he could transfer his mind into her body and learn the Art from Atrus.
After Yeesha's rescue by Atrus's friend, and the death of both brothers, Yeesha returned to her normal life. She grew up and went out into the desert to find her future, leaving Atrus and Catherine alone in Tomahna.
Some time later, after Catherine's death, Atrus reflected on how much he had lost throughout his life and abandoned Tomahna for Releeshahn. He would be there to see Yeesha return as the Grower, her burden lifted.
The last person known to have met him was Dr. Watson, in , in Releeshahn. Most people believe that Atrus died in Releeshahn. Some believe he is still alive.
[edit] Writings
- Mechanical Journal
- Selenitic Journal
- Channelwood Journal
- Stoneship Journal
- Serenia Journal
- Spire Journal
- Haven Journal
- Rime Journal
- Journal in Rime
- Riven Journal
- Releeshahn Journal
- Atrus' Prayer
Atrus family tree
| Gehn senior | ∞ | (unknown) | Edit this box More detail ➡ |
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| Kahlis | ∞ | Tasera | ||||
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| Aitrus | ∞ | Ti'ana (Anna) | ||||
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| Gehn | ∞ | Keta (Leira) | ||||
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| Atrus | ∞ | Katran (Catherine) | ||||
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| Achenar | Sirrus | Yeesha | ||||
[edit] Background
The name "Atrus" is believed to have been influenced by the mythological name "Atreus".[Citation needed]
Atrus is portrayed in the Myst series by Rand Miller. Atrus is the most prominently featured person in the various Myst games and novels and the protagonist of the saga (perhaps second to the Stranger). Atrus is featured at the end of Myst, and afterwards in all intros and epilogues of the subsequent games.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Featured
- Book of Atrus
- Myst
- Riven
- Book of D'ni
- Myst III: Exile
- Myst IV: Revelation
- Uru: Ages Beyond Myst
- Myst V: End of Ages