Guild of Writers

Appears in: Uru: Complete Chronicles

Lead Writer: Aloys

Contributing Writers:

• J'anim Paedet: Hub
• Robert The Rebuilder, Besharen, T.S. Kimball, Ghostwriter: Prin Pahts
• DatokerJ: Shell 104
• Robert The Rebuilder: Shell 111
• Grogyan: Shell 119
• Marcello: Shell 129
• Paradox: Shell 201
• mar: Shell 224
• Katreeny: Shell 232
• Tinuviel: Shell 309
• di gama: Shell 427

During the reign of King Loshemanesh in the year 4319 DE, in an effort to encourage more interaction with other cultures, a special council produced the plans for a meeting place of those not of D'ni birth, the Ahrotahn. It was a vast city to be composed of representative properties from these various worlds, and it was to provide a place where ambassadors could commune and trade. They named the city "Ahra Pahts", which is colloquial D'ni for "The City For Others".

These plans called for a recursive triangular arrangement of these properties, known as "shells". The city is broken into four triangular collections of these shells, or districts. In the initial configuration, the central district is surrounded by three additional districts. This design allowed for expansion of the city simply by building additional districts surrounding the original set.

The center of each district would not contain any shells, leaving the space open. The central district would contain a special structure known as the hub, which would serve as a meeting grounds and would house all documents related to the city. The hub would be composed of a lower and upper level, situated over a water source. The water would flow outward via a canal system, potentially to be populated with water craft.

Each shell would be constructed of special materials that would allow for transport of its contents between worlds. When a person places one hand on the walls and another on a linking book, the walls would act as a "linking field", taking along the person, the walls, and anything contained therein.

In order for a world to add a representative property to the city, the shell would first be transported to the world, surrounding the desired property. Once everything has been constructed inside these walls, the shell would be returned back to the city - taking along its contents as well.

In preparation for the opening of the city after its construction, several worlds were selected to be the first "inhabitants" of the city. They were given the dimensions of the shells and were instructed to create a representative structure and surrounding environment for inclusion within the city.

Besides the water canals, another form of public transportation was designed to reduce the amount of walking required. This involved placing linking books around the city that would transport one to a separate chamber, named "Prin Pahts" or "little city". The floor of the chamber would have a map of the districts and their shells; one would link into this chamber on the map corresponding to the same location in the city from which they used the linking book. Several linking books to the city would be placed directly over the corresponding location on the map. One would use these books to return to the city.

Sadly, the council never progressed beyond the planning stages of this city. Disagreements with the Guild of Writers at the time suspended the project indefinitely; and after the assassination of Loshemanesh, all documents pertaining to Ahra Pahts (including the linking books to the first inhabitants' worlds) were sealed.

In 2006 CE, these documents were discovered by the explorer Aloys. Following closely the city specifications, Aloys wrote an age to contain Ahra Pahts. Afterwards, invitations were extended to fellow explorers to help populate the empty city - preserving the spirit of the original council to embrace the diversity of other worlds.

To date, nine shells have been introduced from worlds created by explorers.