Haven
From MYSTlore
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|---|---|
| Haven | |
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Written by Atrus | |
| Haven's ecosystem | |
| Type | Prison Age |
| Connected places | Myst, Tomahna |
| Journal | Haven Journal |
| Link-in points | Linking chamber near the shipwreck |
Haven is one of the two prison Ages written by Atrus, placed conspicuously in his library to lure those who would otherwise exploit his worlds. Unlike Atrus's other Ages, Haven lacked a return linking book and lulled travelers into a false sense of security as they linked in. Unfortunately enough, Achenar dismissed his father's warnings about the dangers of Haven and found himself trapped for 20 years. Sirrus, hardly exempt from the greed that consumed his brother, was simultaneously trapped on Spire, Haven's sister Age.
Contents |
[edit] Age Constitution
[edit] Topography
Haven's coastline is barren and windswept, dominated by a large shipwreck situated in the sands' causeway. Inspired by his previous mistake of writing a ship into the rocks while changing Stoneship, Atrus purposefully placed it there to lure greedy explorers with a promise of intrigue and adventure.
Haven is bombarded regularly by heavy thunderstorms, and so the interior of the island (in contrast to the shore) is made up of a dense, tropical rainforest, separated from the coast by a ring of rough cliffs. The thick foliage would be next to unnavigable without paths, but even those don't help to distinguish the forest's homogeneous vegetation. The interior is divided into two regions- the south and north jungles- by a large, freshwater lake.
[edit] Plant and animal life
Atrus specifically wrote Haven to be an Age capable of supporting human life; he wanted simply to trap, not to slowly kill. Because of this, Haven plays host to a delicate ecosystem, made up of a hierarchy of predation that keeps everything in balance. The aquatic cerpatee (before being hunted to extinction by Achenar) was a large carnivore found in Haven's ocean, preying on the colony of karnaks who inhabit the nearby shores. The hammerheaded birds reproduced prolifically after the predator that was keeping their population in check was killed off, and have proved to be far more of a nuisance to Achenar than initially expected.
The interior jungle that makes up the majority of the island is, as Achenar puts it, "teeming with beasts." Separate tribes of mangrees live in the canopy and subside off of the various fruit-bearing trees, while zeftyrs can be found browsing through the shallow swamps alongside Dan'ni frogs and other smallish creatures. The primary inland predator (and only predator, in fact, after the death of the last cerpatee) is the camoudile, a wolf-sized reptile that moves in on its prey quickly and efficiently. The only threat to the camoudiles' almost impenetrable dominance in Haven is the rattlesnake plant, a poisonous flower found in the grasslands that releases a poison that severely inhibits the camoudile's system (and apparently doesn't do much for the Stranger's either).
[edit] Achenar's exile
Achenar had initially ventured to Haven looking for treasure, assuming his brother would soon follow suit, and so it took him several weeks to realize that there was no linking book back to Myst.
[edit] The Shipwreck
After calming down and coming to terms with his imprisonment, Achenar set up camp in the coastal shipwreck and used it as a base to work out of. He continued blindly hunting the local wildlife as he had been before, being productive in a more morbid fashion by building hunting posts and traps. Upon seeing evidence of the cerpatee and its power, however, Achenar immediately swore to "decorate his kingdom with its bones." Achenar's bloodlust and lack of respect for the delicate environment around him eventually led to him hunting down and killing the last specimens of cerpatee - or, at least, the last cerpatee within the island's vicinity - thus permanently disrupting the Age's ecosystem.
[edit] Living Lakeside
Being stranded on Haven slowly brought about a change of heart in Achenar, at which point he constructed an elaborate house on the jungle's freshwater lake and adopted a different point of view of the Age around him. He also erected totems around the island during this period, each honoring the various attributes that made each species a crucial element of the ecosystem. Achenar soon developed a strong bond with the tribe of mangrees in the southern jungle, which led to him constructing a series of nests, along with a communication post, to aid in the perpetuation of their friendship. A small transport which leads back to the linking chamber can also be found in the canopy near the nests, suggesting that Achenar wanted the means to quickly and efficiently visit the link-in site, even if it didn't provide transportation back to the jungle.
