Category Archives: Events

Schedule!

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We have published the schedule for Mysterium 2024! Read on for details.

Special Guests

We have a few more guests to announce:
  • Mary DeMarle is an accomplished game writer whose portfolio includes both Myst III and Myst IV
  • Patrick Fortier has a number of gaming titles under his belt, including serving as the creative director for Myst IV
  • Sebastien Yelle is now a teacher, but way back when was a level designer for Myst IV
Check out all the guests’ full bios on the Special Guests page!

Schedule

Our schedule is now live! We’re still filling in details on a few events, but we’re ready to release the 2024 schedule to the world. See the Schedule page for all the details.

Unconferences

As you’ll see on the schedule, we’re bringing back a few long-standing Mysterium traditions we’d put on a shelf for a few years. One of these is Unconfererences. If you don’t know what those are, they’re a set of mini-conferences on topics decided by attendees. Pitch your topic and get people interested so they want to join! That said, we need topics for people to choose from. If you have an unconference topic you’d like to discuss, fill out the form here.

Marker Missions

If you can’t make it to Mysterium this year, don’t feel left out! We’ll be hosting an in-cavern marker mission beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern Time the Friday of Mysterium. Curator, Rayne, and Yuki will also be streaming whatever shenanigans they manage to get up to at that time. For more information, see the Marker Missions page (note: you will need to follow the setup instructions in advance if you want to be able to join on time).

Last Call for Writing & Artwork Table

Annacat is still accepting submissions for writing and artwork, but these will close Sunday. If you’d like a work displayed at Mysterium, make sure to get your submission in before then. For more information, see the Submissions page on our website.

Riven 2024

Some of you may be aware that there was a remake just released of a certain Cyan game. Not everyone has had a chance to play it yet so we’re going to discourage any discussion of spoilers from the new game at Mysterium. That said, Cyan’s presentation will likely contain spoilers, and we cannot control every conversation people have.
 
We’re looking forward to seeing you all in Montreal in just two weeks!
 
Annacat and Dan, Mysterium 2024 co-chairs

Special Guests

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We’re excited to announce our first few special guests for this year’s Mysterium!

Special Guests

This year we’ll have some guests from Myst IV: Revelation. The first we’re ready to announce are:
  • Meinert Hansen is an illustrator who served as the art director for Myst IV.
  • Katie “Kha’tie” Postma is a long-time member of the Mysterium family and the Social Media Manager for The Myst Documentary.
  • Joshua Reinstein is an editor and researcher for The Myst Documentary.
  • Philip Shane is is an award winning documentary filmmaker currently working on The Myst Documentary.
  • Guy Sprung is an actor, director, and writer Myst fans know as Achenar from Myst IV.
Check out their full bios on our Special Guests page.
We’ll have more guests to announce in the coming weeks!

Last Call for Swag Orders

Reminder that swag orders are closing June 9. We will not be selling any swag during Mysterium, so if you want any, you must order it by Sunday.

Also note, there was a mistake on the swag page on our website. It mentioned the shirts are black. That was from copy-pasting the description from last year. The images on the page do show they are light blue but just to clarify in case that wasn’t clear.

Policy Update

There’s a small change to the Conduct section of our policies. Please take a look as it will apply during this year’s Mysterium.

More special guests and this year’s schedule will be announced soon!

Annacat and Dan,
Mysterium 2024 co-chairs

Event Submissions

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Greetings! We don’t have any big announcements just yet (although we should have information on a hotel Soon™) but we are opening event submissions for this year’s Mysterium.

Event Submissions

Have a cool design you’d like to show off at Mysterium? An activity you think would be fun for everyone? Event submissions are open until May 12. See our Submissions page for details.

Last Call for T-Shirts

Final reminder: T-shirt designs are due February 25. The designers of the two selected entries will each receive a free t-shirt, and you do not have to attend Mysterium to submit a design. See our Submissions page for details.

January Prompt Winners

For January’s topic of “Horizons”, redwoodrroad once again took home the visual art prize with this image of Gehn:

The written winner this month was Talashar with “The Lighthouse”

We’ll have more to announce, including hotel information and con registration, before too long!

Annacat and Dan,
Mysterium 2024 co-chairs

2 Weeks Away

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Shorah!

We have a few last things to cover before Mysterium, which brings us to our first point:

Mysterium is 2 weeks away!

Scream!! We can’t wait to see everyone, and we’re all hard at work getting last-minute details ironed out. The Committee has a few things to go over with everyone, and we’re all looking forward to our weekend with you.

Registration Closes Tomorrow

Huge reminder to everyone that registration closes tomorrow, Friday, June 16th. While we will have a limited number of standby tickets available to sell at the Registration table, those will be on a first-come, first-served basis on Friday, June 30th only. Stand-By tickets include admission for the weekend, and Mysterium 2023 Lanyard (while supplies last), but DOES NOT include admission to Cyan. Anyone buying a Stand-by ticket (either online, or at the registration table) will have their name placed on a standby list for any last-minute spots that may open up for the Cyan trip on Saturday morning. However, please be aware this does not guarantee a ticket to Cyan.

Bus ticket Deadlines

Bus ticket online sales will end when Registration closes tomorrow, Friday, June 16th. We will be selling the tickets at Mysterium until 8:30am on Saturday July 1st, before leaving for Cyan at 9:00am.

Meet & Greet Details

There will be a few Cyan staff for folks to meet during the Meet & Greet portion of the Cyan visit on Saturday.

For meeting Rand, folks may choose to have either one selfie with Rand or one autograph with Rand. If you choose to have an autograph, it should be a simple autograph without personalization. This is to keep the lines moving and not overwhelm Rand. Please be respectful of Rand’s time during the meet & greet and save your questions for the Q&A panel at 3:00 pm later in the day.

May Prompt Winner

Keith “Tweek” Lord  won the May Prompt! See the submission here:

Con Room Rules

Some reminders for the Convention Space Room as we are quickly approaching convention time.

  • NO food inside the Convention hotel space
  • All drinks must be in covered containers
  • Masks must be worn in the con room (surgical, N95, or equivalent). See COVID page for more information.

See our Policies page for a full list of policies related to Mysterium and the convention room.
Reminders of rules for inside con room (no food, drink etc)

See everyone in two weeks!
Rayne & m13
– Mysterium co-chairs

Saturday Logistics

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Shorah and happy weekend!

Mysterium is right around the corner and we wanted to share some important information regarding some logistics of how Saturday is going to work.

Convention Room Opens

The first thing everyone needs to know about Saturday is that the con room will only be open briefly, between 8-9:00 am, primarily to give everyone time to gather and make their arrangements for getting to Cyan. We strongly encourage you to pick up your badges before Saturday, as we are at capacity.

Badges that are not picked up by 8:30 am on Saturday morning will be considered a no-show and their seat will be given to someone on the stand-by list.

Cyan staff will be checking for attendee badges. If you do not have your badge, you will not be allowed to participate in the events that take place at Cyan. Please check for your badge before we leave for Cyan.

Bus

If you have a seat on the bus, please gather in the con space with staff member Ace at 8:30 am. At 8:45 am, Ace will lead those with bus tickets to the bus to begin boarding through the East entrance of the hotel to where the bus will be parked. At 9:00 am, the con room doors will close and the bus will depart for Cyan. Be punctual!

Arriving at Cyan

Map of Cyan campus

Map of Cyan HQ

The con room doors will close and we will leave for Cyan at 9:00 am, and it will take about a half an hour to arrive. Cyan will be prepared to accept arrivals at 9:30 am (and not before). If you’re taking the bus, it will drop you off in the bus and ride-share drop-off area indicated in green on the map below. Neither bus nor ride-share should attempt to drive past the drop-off area toward the campus. Drivers, please park only in the designated parking lot in blue (the Mag-Lev Depot) below.

Welcome to Cyan

Once you have arrived at Cyan, please proceed into Gehn’s Temple for a welcome message, updates, announcements, and a quick review of the order of events. From there, we will have Cyan’s State of the Union.

Round Robins

Due to the number of people we’re expecting this year, and the variety of activities to do on Cyan’s campus, it can be hard to fit everything in. To make it easier, we’ve split everything into threes:

  • Three time slots
  • Three activities
  • Three groups

The groups are named for three iconic Riven animals:
Three groups: Whark, Ytram, and Sunner

You’ll know what group you’re in from the email you get before the convention, and your animal will be printed on your badge. Each group will have a minimum of two Mysterium Committee members to serve as guides. If you get lost, just find a staff member.

Groups will alternate between eating lunch (“lunch”) at the Squee Conservatory, a guided tour of the campus (“tour”) at DRC Headquarters, and an opportunity to meet some Cyan employees and guests (“meet and greet”) at Gehn’s Temple in three time slots.

Sunner: 11:15-11:55 am: Lunch; 11:55 am-12:35 pm: Tour; 12:35-1:15 pm: Meet and Greet.
Whark: 11:15-11:55 am: Tour; 11:55 am-12:35 pm: Meet and Greet; 12:35-1:15 pm: Lunch.
Ytram: 11:15-11:55 am: Meet and Greet; 11:55 am-12:35 pm: Lunch; 12:35-1:15 pm: Tour.

We will begin to funnel back into Gehn’s Temple at 1:15 pm for the afternoon’s presentations.

Presentations

We have several presentations this year, all of which are fascinating and most of all, a secret! You’ll have to come to Cyan (or stream in!) to see them. 😉

Keynote with Rand Miller

After the secrets presentations, Rand will give a keynote talk, followed by a question and answer session. There will be a microphone in the aisle of Gehn’s Temple, so if you have a question, this will be the time to ask! If you’re watching the stream, feel free to ask your questions there or via Discord; we will have moderators gathering them to ask Rand for you.

Wrap-up

From there, we will leave Cyan around ~4:45 pm to head back to the hotel and break for dinner. We have some fun activities to do in our evening hours.

Alright, that’s all we have for today! More details are coming soon. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions! Discord is the easiest way, but email works as well.
Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!

– Rayne & m13
Mysterium co-chairs