 Myst Online takes place in fictitious caverns below Earth 's surface . Thousands of years ago , a race known as the D 'ni practiced a craft known as The Art . By writing special books describing a location , the D 'ni created a link to that world . The D 'ni had their own number system and language distinct from the humans dwelling above them . According to the story , though the D 'ni society crumbled ( shortly after their first contact with a human who found her way down from the surface , and whose presence triggered a cultural collapse ) , archeologists much later discovered the caverns and teamed with a development studio ( Cyan Worlds ) to produce educational video games based on their findings ; thus , the story in the Myst games is canonically findings from the caverns . New content and additions to the story were revealed through " episodes " . 
