Laki'anay consists of four Ages: Laki'anay, Argosy, Giloto and Cholanay. Laki'anay is the first Age where the story of a group of D'ni survivors begins. The Age is not very big itself, but by means of two linking books, the other Ages can be visited. This is one of the few fan Ages that gives you a ride, like in the Myst tradition. Maybe not like how Cyan would give you a ride (with dancing monkeys and such), but a ride nevertheless.
You start out on a small island in the middle of the night. On the rock pedestal before you is a book explaining why you should probably reset the Age first. (Unless you're using the offline version of Deep Island.) Turn to the right and walk up the hill until you're at the top, overlooking the whole area.
Next to the first island is another island with a small pool of water. Walk over the rocks to get to the other island. Walk around the pool to get to the other side of the island. There you will find a dock with a rope ferry. Walk onto the ferry. At the end is a lever but it doesn't seem to work.
To the right of the ferry is a wooden pole in the water. The ferry is probably anchored to that pole. Step into the water and turn right, towards the pole. Yup, a lever is attached to the pole. Pull the lever and walk back to the shore next to the dock. Walk onto the ferry and pull the lever. Now, the engine starts running and the ferry moves slowly to the dock on the other side. The dock that you're approaching seems to have a rather large fishing pole attached to it. As soon as the ferry comes to a halt, walk onto the dock with the fishing pole.
At the beginning of the dock, to your right is another stairs going up. At the end of the stairs is a pedestal with a note attached to it. It is the note that the book at the link-in point was refering to. It appears that you'll have to turn the power on.
Walk to the door of the closest building. It has a button next to it, but it won't work. Apparantly, even the doors need power to open them. So where would the power be generated? Between the buildings you can see a turning waterwheel in the distance. It's a few docks away from the one you're on.
Turn left and walk over the bridge between the docks to the next building. The door of this building won't open either, so walk around the building (clockwise) and you should see a walkway leading to the waterwheel. There's also a ladder going down into the water. You'll need that one to get out of the water in a minute or so. Skip the ladder for now and walk down the stairs onto the walkway
Follow the walkway until you reach a fork. You can go to the right here and walk towards a sailing boat. At the dock with the sailing boat is a waiting area with benches. The bench to your right has a notice attached to it: "Have A Seat And Sit A Spell". That phrase does not sound familiar to everyone, but it means: Sit down and rest a while. Well, if you intend to wait for the captain of the ship to show up, it will be a very long while... The sailing boat is anchored at the lower part of the dock, but there's nothing you can do with it.
Walk back up the stairs onto the walkway and head for the fork. At the fork, take the walkway to the right leading towards the building with the waterwheel. Near the end of the walkway are a few loose wooden planks. As you walk over them, the planks will break and you will fall down into the water. Turn around and swim back, following the walkway leading to the second building. As soon as you can see the ladder sticking out of the water, swim towards it and climb the ladder.
At the dock, turn left, walk down the stairs and follow the walkway towards the building with the waterwheel. This time you can see where the planks are broken, so jump over them and follow the walkway to the end. The last part of the walkway is higher than the rest of the walkway, so you'll have to jump to get onto the last part of the walkway.
Walk towards the building with the waterwheel behind it. To your right is another device with a fuel or gas tank. Maybe it's an air compressor? It seems to require power (electricity) before you can turn it on. Turn around and walk towards the next dock with a few smaller buildings. A closed gate is preventing you from going there, so even this gate requires power to operate. Turn around and walk to the building with the waterwheel. Enter the building through the half opened door. It looks like someone opened this this door forcefully.
You are now in the generator room. To your left are three cabinets that you can open. Before you is the generator with a lever to the left. To your right is some sort of control panel. There are no clues or instructions on how to operate the generator other than the note closeby the first building.
First, pull the lever. The axis start rotating and the gauges on the generator indicate around 125 now. It's odd though, the axis turns in the opposite direction as the waterwheel does. Anyway, the note said to turn on the generator and to activate the breakers. So, something else must be done before the power becomes available everywhere. There is a simple way to check if the power is available: you can go out of the generator building and see if the switch next to the air compressor can be operated. If not, then there is no power available yet.
Go back inside the generator room and turn right. Although the generator is operating now, the electricity it generates is not yet available. Look for a box with a red/orange warning sign. Open the box and pull the switch inside. The panel to your right lights up and one of the displays shows the generator status.
If you were to go outside, you would notice that the switch next to the air compressor can not be used yet. So, something else must be done first. On the opposite side of the room are three cabinets/boxes that you can open. In the box in the middle is another switch. Pull the switch in the middle box and a green indicator lights up.
Go outside the generator room and walk to the air compressor. Pull the switch next to the compressor and it starts making a bubbling sound. Now, everything should work. Turn around and walk to the other dock with a few smaller buildings. You can open the gate now. It's interesting to note that the gate and all the outer doors do not seem to operate on electricity, but rather on compressed air.
* End of Part 1 * Next: Laki'anay - Part 2: Exploring The Buildings