Linking book
From MYSTlore
Linking books are books with linking panels that can be used to create secondary links to Ages. D'ni society preferred to use them instead of descriptive books as use over a prolonged period of time could ruin the book. They were also smaller than descriptive books which made them more portable.
[edit] Mechanics
The term seems to refer to two forms of book which were created in slightly different ways. Gehn, confused as he was about D'ni technology, mixed up several features of these books, although it seems that Atrus worked out how to create both types.
The first kind could only link to the place in which they were written. The link was formed by a description being written into the book about the area surrounding the writer. If the area changed to a significant degree after that point the book would cease functioning. According to RAWA the writer needed no knowledge of the contents of the desciptive book to write these links. Books such as these were used to create links to specific points in an Age as the D'ni had very little control over the linking location of descriptive books. These books do not require the existence of a descriptive book as, when the Art was created, there was no book for Garternay yet they still worked.
The second kind involved taking key phrases from the descriptive book and transfering them into the linking book. This created a secondary link to the same location as the descriptive book and did not require the writer to enter the Age first. These books were used by the Guild of Maintainers to enter an Age for the first time in their Maintainer suits as the descriptive book did not fit (see the Book of D'ni). Atrus also used this form of linking book for Spire and Haven (the Prison Ages) as he states in his journal that the linking books were created outside the ages themselves. These books would be rendered useless if the descriptive book to the Age was destroyed.
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