Zandi's "Journey" to D'ni

Since the "Journey" didn't make it to Mysterium 2003, it now wants to wander the American continent as a token of a place far away.....

"Not that it matters, but most of what follows is true...."

We are "The Gathered" - four teams of Geocachers brought together by chance, fate, or luck. We are headed for Santa Fe, NM on the fifth quest for one of Zandi's Journeys. This will be the first and probably only gathering of the existing “Journeys” until late summer of 2003. We are commemorating the fifth quest of Zandi by releasing this travel bug, pictured in the accompanying picture (the smaller "spiral" is the TB).

What in the world is all this about??? Where to begin, where to begin? Ah, well........once upon a time.....

For a number of years, followers of the game “Myst” have wondered about the ideas behind the game. Were the characters based on legends, myths, or perhaps actual events? The world of Myst, known as D'ni was rumored to be in a vast underground cavern, perhaps beneath a volcano in New Mexico. Supposedly, a very few people had discovered how to access the cavern and were working to open it eventually for exploration. But, that was just the "fiction" of the game........

The divide between fact and fiction became very blurry during the spring & summer of 2002.

In April, 2002, a mysterious internet figure named “Zandi” began leaving cryptic clues around the internet believed to have something to do with the exploration of D'ni. A consistent phrase in all the clues haunted all those involved: “The Gathered are known by their faces of stone”. Was Zandi a part of the group that discovered D'ni, or was he a rogue trying to open D'ni himself??? No one knew.

Over the summer, frantic efforts finally decoded the clues to reveal a set of geographic coordinates like those used in GPS units.

All of a sudden, the "fictional" world of Myst and D'ni dropped into the real world of the geocachers. Followers of Myst requested help from New Mexico geocachers in finding out what was located at the coordinates they had decoded. In late July, 2002, several geocachers visited the site and determined there had been a mysterious symbol posted on a billboard near Carlsbad, NM, but that it had been removed before the geocachers arrived.

Subsequent investigations by geocachers and Myst players found the symbol had been a large “spiral”, similar to those seen in many petroglyphs across the southwest. The sign also displayed another set of GPS coordinates – these pointing to a site near Albuquerque, NM. Geocachers from the area were recruited to investigate the site on the edge of Petroglyphs National Monument.

Geocachers found a petroglyph of a face at the coordinates (“faces of stone???”). Further clues led to a small metal spiral buried beneath the face. The metal spiral was a duplicate of the spiral design on the original billboard. The mysterious Zandi sent a number of messages referring to the metal spiral as “The Journey”. One of these actual spirals is on the right in the accompanying photo.

Over the next several months Zandi sent out more enigmatic clues. A coordinated world wide effort of Myst fans decoded the clues, leading to three more sets of GPS coordinates around northern New Mexico. At each location, geocachers found another metal spiral hidden away under a face of stone or petroglyph of a spiral. After each recovery, Zandi referred to those finding the spiral as “The Gathered”. The spiral from the second search is pictured next to the travel bug. After recovery of the fourth spiral, Zandi sent out a new type of clue in the following message:

“Gather the Gathered. Share the Journeys.
This one's up to those who have taken a Journey.
When and where is up to you.
Get the Journeys together and send me proof.
I'm very patient, so it doesn't have to be immediately, but the sooner the better”.

So, the fifth Zandi quest will be a gathering of those who found the spirals hidden around NM. Zandi wants us to bring the spirals together and take a group photo of the people and the spirals. We, “The Gathered” have decided to meet in Santa Fe, NM on 12-21-02 to complete this mission. We have no idea what will happen next. Will there be another quest, or will Zandi open the world of D'ni to exploration?? And, just who is this mysterious Zandi?

On the tag with the Travel Bug, there is a picture of the original spiral design on the billboard in the upper left and the D'ni figure for the number 5 in the upper right (symbolizing this fifth quest for Zandi's Journeys).

Shorah,
The Gathered,
TAP, Tom B., K2DesertDiver, Rbnh00d222, & Team ZiaCache