D'ni Restoration Council

The D'ni Restoration Council (DRC) is a fictional group in the Myst universe that was started in the mid-1990s by Dr. Watson, an archaeologist who wanted to start an expedition to the caverns of D'ni with a small team, in an effort to restore some of the Ages that were abandoned after the fall of D'ni. The DRC was the official organization that grew out of the D'ni Restoration Foundation, which was headed by Watson's friend Elias Zandi before his death exploring the D'ni caverns. The DRC was officially disbanded in February 2004 due to a lack of financial support, but returned to the Cavern in late 2005/early 2006 to recommence the restoration.

Before the DRC disbanded, five people headed the council; as of 2006 all except for Dr. Watson have been seen in D'ni again.
 * Dr. Richard A. Watson, Chairman of the Restoration Council
 * Dr. Marie Sutherland, Director of Field Work
 * Dr. Ikuro Kodama, Geology/Structural Integrity
 * Victor Laxman, Chief Engineer
 * Michael Engberg, Architectural Analysis

Also associated with the DRC is Cate Alexander, who made her first appearance on January 3, 2007. Although she was not immediately made a member of the council, she has since became one on June 25, 2007 after Michael Engberg went missing. She is responsible for organizing and providing the funds required to re-form the DRC, and seems to have taken on a leadership role. Her personal motivations are as yet unknown.

Origins
The DRC was originally established as the D'ni Restoration Foundation by Elias Zandi in the late 1980s, following his first expedition to the D'ni cavern and eventually the city of D'ni itself with John Loftin in 1988-89. Dr Richard A. Watson, the eventual chairman of the DRC, was first introduced to the D'ni on a later expedition in 1990, marking the beginning of his extended involvement with the restoration, in which he began to take a prominent role. Following the death of Loftin in 1991 and Elias Zandi in 1996, Dr. Watson established the DRC in January 1997.

Opening and Closing of D'ni
In late 2002 after having made much progress on the restoration of D'ni and the Ages, the DRC started letting strangers into the caverns as visitors, albeit only under very strict terms so as to keep explorers and historic areas safe and secure. Using the D'ni neighborhoods that lined the cavern walls as entry points, explorers were at first assigned to specific hoods and then later given the choice of many different explorer-founded ones, reflecting separate ideologies within D'ni. In late 2003 tensions in D'ni escalated between the DRC and incoming explorers that advocated a quicker safety process and the ability to go to more Ages regardless of DRC involvement. Despite this fact, there were still unavoidable safety hazards, one of which resulted in the presumed death of a DRC engineer, Phil Henderson, in December 2003. This disaster, the second death in the restoration's history, drove Dr. Watson to leave the restoration on his own journey. After Watson's departure, the remaining four DRC members attempted to be more open with explorers to compensate for the lack of progress, opened selected areas of Ae'gura (such as part of the Library), and promised the restoration of other Ages to be quicker in the future. In February 2004, unfortunately, the DRC disbanded due to lack of funding and the restoration project of D'ni and its Ages was abandoned. All members of the DRC left except for Douglas Sharper, who felt compelled to stay for longer.

Rebirth of D'ni?
In August 2004, Victor Laxman oversaw the re-opening of the cavern to explorers; however, aside from securing the areas opened to explorers, no further restoration efforts took place. In December 2005, though, Victor Laxman began posting on the drcsite.org forums, filling old and new explorers with hope that the restoration of D'ni would begin again. Following this, every member of the Council has returned to D'ni, and it appears that efforts are underway to secure new funding for the restoration.

In late February 2006, Marie Sutherland called for explorers to pick five liaisons from among themselves to communicate between the community and the DRC in an effort to solve the problem of poor communication that had plagued D'ni during its opening in 2003. Elections were held during from April 4–14. The following day, the selected liaisons gathered in D'ni for their first talk with the DRC, during which they learned of a new Age, Eder Delin, and the DRC's plans to stage a series of 'town hall' style meetings in various hoods to address questions.

Presently, the DRC are back in business, currently working to open more areas of Ae'gura and release new Ages, such as Eder Delin. Also, Cate Alexander has appeared numerous times in the cavern, as she is an investor that is largely responsible for the return of the DRC. However, in recent events Michael Engberg has gone missing. The DRC is asking that for any information regarding his whereabouts, which are unknown at this time.

Also Sometime in August 2007, Phil Henderson was found alive and returned to the DRC.

Restoration Efforts
The ultimate goal of the DRC is to completely restore both the caverns and Ages of D'ni to something of their previous state, for exhibition to the public. Initial progress has seen the stabilization, restoration and release of a limited number of Ages and areas of Aegura, although restoration of the latter is constantly inhibited by earth tremors, of both natural and "external" origin. One such "external" tremor in late 2006, caused by the Bahro creatures that reside in the Cavern, resulted in the temporary shut down of most of the previously open areas of Aegura for fear of structural instability.

DRC procedures class the status of an area or Age under one of five "restoration phases":
 * Phase 1: Initial Mapping - entails preliminary exploration, documentation and mapping of an area.
 * Phase 2: Structural Analysis - all structures in the area are examined for structural integrity and stability.
 * Phase 3: Detailed Analysis - a revision of the documentation created in Phase 1. The Age is thoroughly examined and surveyed, to produce more accurate maps and uncover as much about the Age as possible.
 * Phase 4: Restoration - the most substantial phase of the restoration process in which the area is brought as close as possible to its original condition through repair, construction and document restoration. All safety issues in an area are also addressed in this stage to ensure that the area is suitable for public exploration.
 * Phase 5: Limited Access - the area is opened to authorized explorers only, in order to work out any final problems before full public release.

Dr. Kodama is in charge of Phases 1 & 2, Dr. Sutherland is in charge of Phases 3 & 5, and Michael Engberg was in charge of Phase 4.

Restoration Engineers
Assisting the DRC in the rebuilding of D'ni are a number of employed Restoration Engineers, or "ResEngs". Usually identified by this shorthand title, the role of the Restoration Engineer is to provide the manpower that the DRC needs, performing tasks such as hands on restoration and repairs, surveying and inspections. As full restoration efforts have only recently commenced, the ResEngs and currently occupied with providing orientation tours for newcomers to the D'ni Caverns, but have also been seen investigating Age malfunctions, such as Eder Delin's door constantly becoming stuck.