This page technically doesn't exist yet. Isn't that nice?¹⁾Never mind that, it does now.

The Diarium has rules. Those who don't follow the rules will probably get a stern talking to, or something. The rules are as follows:

1). Write only on your own page! I will not be made an accessory to slander!^2)3)4)5)6)

2). Do not erase what you or others have written. Of course, it's a bit hard to erase ink anyway.⁷⁾⁸⁾

3). This is the last rule.⁹⁾

4).Contrary to the above statement, THIS is the last rule.¹⁰⁾

On these pages, you may write anything about yourself that you choose. Bear in mind¹¹⁾¹²⁾ that others will certainly look at these pages from time to time. Things you'd rather keep secret should, therefore, not be written here.¹³⁾ If you have no page here, feel free to start your own. ¹⁴⁾

Alright, I promised I would explain it, so I suppose I'd best put something workable down. Where to begin?¹⁵⁾

I came into existence a little over twenty-one years ago in Batavia, Illinois. I say “came into existence” because the beginning of my life in no way resembled a birth of any kind. I was created as the result of a rather spectacular (or so I am told) experimental failure that -

Listen, I really don't want to go into this again. These things happened, I dealt with them, I lived. I'm not going back there, so don't ask anymore.

Anyway, due to the circumstances of my nascence, my body has considerably more metal than you would expect in a human - you may have noticed this. For the curious, the concentration of said metal is about 20% by mass, obviously less by volume. More trivia: the metal alloy's composition is (roughly) 48% germanium, 44% thorium, 3% Iron, 1% Sodium, 1% Mercury, and 1% various trace elements. ¹⁶⁾

Where was I going with this? I have no idea.¹⁷⁾ Anyway, I believe my exact words were “I'll explain everything,” so I'd better get explaining.

You probably want to know why the Reflectionary exists. Well, in the beginning I had intended to make it a fairly ordinary structure - just a medium-sized house in some lonely corner of the Island that I could visit when I needed to be by myself and think. However, various things happened, there were misunderstandings and tension and whatnot, and so the plans were changed from a remote dwelling to a many-roomed complex for the community at large to come and work out their personal problems.¹⁸⁾ Not that they couldn't do that on their own, but I like to think that the rooms I have planned are designed in a way that will facilitate such things. And if nothing else, it will look nice and occupy me for a while. It's still first and foremost for my use, after all. Though I do hope many people will make use of it, once it's complete.

Is there anything else to say? I think those are the only significant¹⁹⁾ things that concern me, really. I'm not a very significant individual.²⁰⁾

Anyway, feel free to write your own entries in this book. I made it for you, you know. ²¹⁾