The gateway image in the linking panel appears as though the entire age has fallen to utter chaos after the opening of the Star Fissure. The Riven book can be seen at Atrus' study in Tomahna. Presumably the Stranger found his way back to his place. After all the people had been moved to Tay, the Stranger opened the Star Fissure, which called Atrus, but triggered Riven’s end. The final collapse happened when a mysterious friend of Atrus trapped Gehn and freed Atrus’s wife Catherine. Atrus wrote improvements into Riven, but he could only slow the imminent decay. Riven’s inhabitants split into two factions: those who followed Gehn and those who rebelled against them, the rebel Moiety. It had once towered over the island, but Gehn cut it down when Atrus trapped him, and built a prison out of the stump.

Gehn’s prison was actually where Riven’s great tree was once located. On a third he constructed a scale topographical map of Riven, and the smallest he used as a prison. On another he built a temple that provides power throughout the age. Gehn used one island to make books and revive the Art. Gehn used bridges to connect his islands, but later moved to single-seat “ mag-lev” trams. He stripped them of their former beauty and riddled them with his self-absorbed closely guarded constructions. The villagers were limited to one island. Gehn restricted four of those to himself and to his personnel. ĭuring this part of history, the island split into five.

Atrus built a crystal viewer in Rime to have glimpses to Riven and determine the status of Gehn. Atrus escaped to Myst, leaving Gehn trapped there for the 33 next years.Ītrus attempted to make some corrections to the Descriptive Book, slowing down its collapse, but the instability remained. Her bizarre, intuitive rule-breaking style caused Rivenese daggers mysteriously appear around the island and open lava fissures including the enigmatic Star Fissure. During their confrontation, Catherine (with the assistance of Anna, who probably helped her by avoiding contradictions) wrote alterations in the Riven Descriptive Book. To prevent Gehn from continuing his disastrous activities and systematic destruction of his Ages, Atrus plotted to trap Gehn there, destroying all Linking Books, trapping Gehn from ever accessing D'ni.

Ītrus first traveled to Riven in Myst: The Book of Atrus, where he met and fell in love with Katran a Riven native, later known as Catherine. Even still, Gehn's scarcity of words resulted to several inherent flaws, as all his ages did, and was in a steady state of decline. It was probably Gehn’s best age, as far as size, technology, and stability went. Named the Fifth Age by Gehn, he wrote the Age's book by composing fragments of text written by D'ni Masters.

Myst books create ages