Spire

From MYSTlore


Spire
Written by Atrus
Type	Prison Age
Connected places	Myst, Tomahna
Journal	Spire Journal
Link-in points	Linking chamber at the top of the spire

Spire is one of two Prison Ages (see Haven) written by Atrus to trap the thieves he suspected of raiding his Myst library. Spire was built to support it's prisoner's life, instead of slowly killing him (or her). Although he had warned his sons about these Ages, Sirrus eventually linked to Spire in the hopes of finding yet another civilization to plunder and rule. Sirrus remained trapped on Spire for 20 years.

[edit] Environment

The Age consists of several giant "islands" of rock and crystal which float in a thick cloud layer miles high above a green planet's surface (possibly a gas giant).

Atrus created Spire's islands to look like man-made arches and towers in order to fool greedy explorers (it is possible that the arches were natural formations formed by the very nature of the minerals' molecular structure). These towers (called "palaces" by Sirrus) were what made the brothers think that the Age was inhabited with riches to loot.

Spire's only native life-forms are a few species of plants found on the second level. Though Sirrus said that they were neither scrumptious or abundant, they apparently had enough nutritional value for him to live off them. He seems to have used parts of them for his crystal bombs as well.^{[Verification requested]}

The islands are buffeted by near-constant winds. These winds, as well as corrosive properties of the atmosphere, have over the centuries molded ramps, tunnels, and caverns into the islands.

The main island where Sirrus spent most of his time consists of three main sections.

The top-most is above the clouds, and a muted sun is visible through thick haze. The Age's Linking Chamber is found here.
The intermediate level, between two layers of clouds, features Sirrus's living space, his various work areas, and a vehicle that he built to enable travel to the next island.
The lowest level is located beneath the clouds, and offers a view of the planet's surface far below.

Close to Sirrus's island, there was a neighboring island, from which he could see artifact-like formations and some flickering lights, which made him believe it was inhabited. Sirrus started making experiments to find a way to reach that island and make contact with the inhabitants.

[edit] Sirrus's Experiments

Sirrus's notes describe his obsession with reaching the planet surface with the hope that he would find a Myst linking book his father had thrown when first visiting the Age.

He spent a considerable amount of his time during the first several years of his captivity performing experiments on the nature of the rock's magnetic properties, and the remnants and results of these experiments still remain on the Age. Sirrus eventually realized that the even the biggest rocks could be moved simply by manipulating their natural magnetic field via a directed electrical charge.

He discovered another type of rock that has the capacity to attract and store enormous amounts of electric charges absorbed from the surrounding atmosphere, thus acting as massive batteries. Sirrus also experimented on the harmonic properties of Spire's minerals, and used the results to fashion a musical instrument. Simple survival required several experiments on growing his own food.

These discoveries enabled Sirrus to build a network of batteries and control panels to distribute electricity throughout Spire. He used this electricity to manipulate rocks into bridges and walkways, and also create a vehicle by modifying a floating rock, for traveling back-and-forth to the neighboring island. He was hoping (having Emmit and Branch of Stoneship in mind) that the Age would be home of a native civilization unbeknownst to his father and make contact with them. Sirrus believed they would help him reach the Age's surface and find the Myst linking book.

It wasn't until he eventually reached the island when he finally discovered the true nature of the Age; to his disappointment he found that Spire had neither civilization, nor ground, as it was floating high above a gas giant's surface.

[edit] Featured

Myst

At the end of Myst, the Stranger can opt to visit Spire, though at that point, the Age is unnamed and impossible to explore (conceptually it didn't exist back then).