These letters were sent to the Riven Lyst by Mark DeForest and Richard Watson of Cyan. The words in italics are the questions from fans. The plain gray print is written by Mark or Richard.

From: Mark DeForest
Date: Monday, July 06, 1998

5 wasn't a special number in riven, it was a special number in the D'Ni culture.

Actually 5 was not special to D'ni either, but Gehn mistakingly thought it was. Gehn only has childhood memories of D'ni and later whatever he was able to dig up in D'ni years after the fall of D'ni. To say the least Gehn was a little 'warped' and he would 'warp' everything he touched, such as his obsession with the number 5.

mark

From: Richard A. Watson
Date: Friday, September 17, 1999

I think the point is that the D'ni weren't _obsessed_ with five the way Gehn was. Five is special to D'ni in the many of the same ways that 10 is special to us. Gehn just blew it _way_ out of proportion, trying to connect _everything_ around him to five. He considered everything not connected with five to be inferior.

RAWA

Myst, Riven, and all things D'ni are the creation of Cyan Worlds, Inc.

The D'ni Desk Reference