Everyone,

The "Marketing Experts" have told me that it's too hard to actually find the game to download. Here:

  http://www.atitd.com/atitdf.exe    (Windows Client)
  http://www.atitd.com/eClient-linux.run   (Linux Client)

Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks since the release of A Tale in the Desert. The first two weeks were pretty busy for us, but over the last week I've had time to get back to creating new content, getting to know all the guilds across Egypt, and meeting some of the thousands of new people joining us. All the interviews and tours for reviewers are great, but creating new stuff is what I like best.
Some of the new things are:

• The new technology "Horticulture" - never seen in Beta - is available to research at the River Plains University of Worship. Seemingly simple flowers actually have complex underlying DNA, which can be manipulated through crossbreeding and more exotic technologies to produce hundreds of millions of unique breeds. They also make nice decorations for your camp.


• A brand new test, "The Path of the Pilgrim" has been announced.
  Pilgrim Shrines have started to spring up across Egypt, in anticipation of this new Test of Worship. The Test itself will unlock once Egypt has built a sufficient number of Pilgrim Shrines.


• A second level of Camp Decoration, with the ability for a group of 7 people with this skill to upgrade a guild hall, has been added.


• Trading Posts for secure trading (Requires the Basic Trade tech)


• Trade Centers for non-guild affiliated long distance/regional chat.


• A new skill "Taxidermy" which allows you to mount and timestamp your biggest fishing trophies. This skill was added at the request of player Homegrown who is planning a fishing tournament.

Several laws have been passed. Some of the most significant include:

• The Law Library act by NaomiGoldberg. All laws, including failed, in progress, and pending (waiting for implementation) are now available for view at the Great University of Leadership. [Note: This would normally be Veto/Physics because it creates new content. We felt it was so important that we bent this rule.]


• The Public Eyesore Act by Talies. Created a new option on sculptures to "Proclaim this an Eyesore." When eyesore votes exceed good ("Interesting") votes by 20 or more, the sculpture may be torn down. When Interesting Votes exceed Eyesore votes by 100 or more, the statue is proclaimed "Monument of Egypt."

A bunch of player-run events are planned for this weekend. All times are EST (GMT-0500) These include:

• Greater Sinai Trade Fair & Tournament, Saturday 3pm, sponsored by the Greater Sinai Trade Guild, 2700 5020


• Trade Fair in RP at ToE, Sunday 3pm. Hellinar running Commodities Exchange also. Location 1362 3990


• RP Wedding in CCR (-145 6713) Saturday 4PM. Also firing master casting box for Automation research, donations appreciated.


• Sculpture Contest by House of Bes and the Southern Star Guild.
  Register at the contest booth at -974 4826 at any time. Judging begins at 4:00PM on Sunday.

I have also heard some talk of a player-run Tug Festival at each of two newly build arenas. I'll encourage those running the festivals to post times and prizes on www.atitd.net.

Dawn on the Nile,
Teppy (Pharaoh)
Josh (Nekhmet)
James (AmenRa)
Dave (Orpheus)
Joe (SickJoe)
Ed (EdTut)
Geoff (GeoffTut)
Ricardo (Potiphar)
Samara
Brian