I've put this off for far too long, but I've finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and start a chronicle of my exploration of the D'ni cavern system and the Ages contained therein.
This initial entry seems like the best place to catch up on my backstory. I first visited D'ni in November 2003, aided by a man named Jeff Zandi and a mysterious woman named Yeesha who claimed to be the daughter of Atrus and thus a descendant of the D'ni people. She had a task for me: to go beneath the surface; under three miles of solid rock to D'ni and its Ages, where I would somehow bring about the emancipation of a people she called "The Least" or the "Bahro."
My previous months worth of experience studying the language and history of D'ni, especially the stories of Cathrine, wife of Atrus, who left her journals for posterity, lent me some insight into that particular word, "Bahro." Not long after Atrus and his Averonese helpers reestablished contact with the lost Age of Terahnee, they discovered that the people of D'ni's sister Age were dependent on slave labor. Thousands of relyimah, or "unseen" toiled away their lives inside the walls of Terahnee's monolithic buildings. In a more pejorative context, the Terahnee masters often referred to their slaves as "Bahro," or "beast people."
I assumed that Yeesha was referring to the slaves of Terahnee when she mentioned the Bahro. I was hopelessly confused. Weren't the relyimah freed after the plague that killed most of the Terahnee? How could I visit that Age which was supposedly sealed off? And why would I have to visit D'ni to accomplish this? D'ni wasn't a slave culture!
Needless to say, I learned quite a lot of lessons over the next few weeks.
