In order to make paper for books, you need a lot of wood. Usually this means you have to cut down a large area of forestry. Wouldn't it just be easier if you had a giant tree from which you could get all the wood you need. Well that's exactly what Gehn thought when he was writing the Age 5 book. He decided to write in just such a tree. It is described in the Age 5 book as a giant tree, whose uppermost branches spear the sky. Here's a passage taken from "The Book of Atrus" telling of Atrus's first glimpse of the tree.
	"It seemed to rest on a peninsula of rock,       it's roots like the pillars of some huge stone       temple, reaching down the cliff face to       pierce the rocky beach, great humps of       root, like the slick backs of a dozen       massive sea serpents, stretching out into       the ocean.           "Its trunk, likewise, was monumental. It       was not by any means as tall as Atrus had       imagined, yet the sheer breadth of it was       enough to make him feel not simply small       in its presence but insignificant."
	Although the great tree was cut down long before you arrived on Riven, you can still see the remnants of it in the form of Prison Island. When the piece of land that the tree had been on started to drift away from the rest of the land mass, Gehn probably thought it's new isolation would be a perfect place for a study. In order to keep the villagers out he installed a cage like device that only let in someone who had the right code. As it turned out it was also quite good at keeping people in! So when Gehn was finally able to link to another age, he set up his office there, leaving his old office on Riven vacant, which then came in handy when he finally caught Catherine.
	The artwork in Riven is highly detailed. In most cases however you can never get close enough to an object to appreciate just how much detail goes into them. This bowl can be found in Catherine's prison, but since you can't get past the cage bars you never see it closely. The above render can be found at   Tony Davidson's site. Tony was one of the CG artists who worked on Riven and his site has a huge amount of test renders to admire.	After you have visited Catherine she will tell you where to get the combination to open the cage. If you then use the elevator to go back up to her prison, you will see her stroll pass the door, giving you a funny look as she goes, as if to say "What are you doing back here already?".
	Since a lot of the information I have put up here is based on my own interpretations, some of it may be incorrect. If you think there is a problem with anything here, please fill out this form, and send it to me. Or, if you have anything that you think I should add, also please fill out this form.    Thank you.
	Last update, 01-Sept-1999 author:Stewart Bradford
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