HOMESITES TO GET A RENOVATION
The Homesites will be going into the "new system" this week and with the migration, Olympus is releasing a couple of new features as well.
The migration of site features to the faster code-base has been progressing since the first feature, the boards system, got its overhaul in late February. The days of slow page-loads for the Homesites are finally coming to an end as the pages are ported to the new system this week. Homesite owners should find them easier to edit and review, and homesite tours should be more fun.
When a Homesite owner clicks on the edit button, he or she will notice a more intuitive editing interface with the text fields for the title and body appearing "in situ" in the Homesite page. The hope is that it will feel more like one is making changes to the page directly.
The list of groups that the Homesite owner belongs to has been moved to the right and expanded. It now shows the group image, the position the Homesite owner holds in the group, and the summary of the group.
The Friend's list has been rearranged as well and the Courtyard page that lists all the Homesite owner's friends has gotten a new layout as well. The list can now be organized by the Homesite owner as often as he or she pleases. One use of this may be to highlight or feature friends so they appear on the front page of the Homesite. Owners are still able to remove names from list.
Touring a Friend's List is now possible as well. When looking at anyone's Friend's list, click on a name in the list to start the tour at that point. To advance in the tour, click "Next" or "Prev" in the parchment dialog over the Masthead.
The ever elusive Grams count now accurately maintains the count of grams sent and received by the owner.
More changes will come to Homesites in the future, but but for now, the speed improvements should make a big difference.
Jot Ariston
ROME JUST NOW
For all of us Romans (and including a few transported Greeks, among others) our city is a very exciting place to dwell these days. Rome now boasts 2600+ citizens and 29 groups. The groups vary widely- our latest baby is Vita Feminea Antiqua (see intro by our beloved matrona, FeAudrey Pinguinus, and the group feature from Justina Cassius in this paper). Some of our groups, such as VFA, are starting to link to sister or brother groups in other cities.
Twenty nine groups from which to pick! Groups like Ars Romana,( founded by our wonderful Hecate Flaminius), a center for the arts and music of Ancient Rome, are strictly academic. If you're like me and you can't get enough of the late Republic, we've got a group for Julius Caesar and his times, Aedes Divi Julii, or if your taste runs to Roman Law or Religion, we've got Lex Romana and Religio Romana. Tanaquil Sergius has given us Etruria. Groups on architecture, on literature (ancient and modern), on the wacky world of web design (html and all that), on poetry (a nod to gaius Ulpius here), on Ancient Mysteries and wait! We've got more. Roleplay, mixed roleplay and academia, and just places to kick back and have fun.
As always, the citizens are the heartblood of this body, and very soon we'll be initiating a new bell and whistle- featured posts. Each week posts will be nominated and the winner will be selected by the cybergods and goddesses. Our Divine Jot has several irons in his very own fire, and there's going to be lots more to come.
Though not a Roman (looking around quickly to make sure no thunderbolts are heading my way) Marduk Hammurabi has come up with a fabulous idea. He's created a group called the Missing Link. It's ambition is to collect every decent link possible for the benefit of our cives. See? He could be a Roman!
We're going to be undergoing many changes in the months to come, but in one thing we remain constant, and that is our recognition of and all our kudoes to our wonderful citizens of all the cities that make up our AncientWorlds.
Maia Nestor
ROME GROUP: VITA FEMINEA ANTIQUA
A new group has opened in the Rome Community: Vita Feminae Antiqua. The group will be not only discussing historical facts and myths about women in history but there will also be Role Play boards, that are currently in development.
Vita Feminae Antiqua means "The lives of Ancient Women" in Latin. The aim of the group is to discuss not only the lives of famous ancient women but also the lives and roles that ordinary women played in history. There is a saying "behind every successful man there is a woman". Women are usually overlooked by history, except if they were notoriously bad or were connected to a male figure of history.
Vita Feminae Antiqua is aimed at anyone who is interested in history; the group already has a diverse membership from all areas of Ancient Worlds. We even have a few men as members and would love to see more men actively taking part in the boards.
To celebrate the opening of the Group, Justina Cassius has started a competition with a book as a prize "Uppity Women of Ancient Times" by Vicki Leon for the winner. Entries are to be a short story on a day in the life of a woman. 
It does not have to be someone famous. The story of a Viking woman would be just as interesting as well as a day in the life of Cleopatra! The winner will be selected based on the historical facts embedded in there story. Entrants can add images to highlight their entry. The more creative the piece the better! See the Competition Rules.
Threads have been started that cover: Greek and Roman Recipes, Website links and Book Recommendations. There is a board for the discussion on Famous Women, and also a Taberna and an area where members can have a bit of a joke, post pictures of Women and art and be a bit silly: In Vino Veritas.
So if you are looking for a Group is not only about historical fact but also want to be able to talk to like minded historians, then Vita Feminae Antiqua is for you. We have an area for Group Members to discuss what they would like to see in the group developed. After all, a good group is one that grows and develops. Hopefully you will want to become a Member after you have had a peek.
Justina Cassius
KMT'S MILLENNIAL CELEBRATION
On Sunday, March 8th Egypt's premier role play group KMT: Role-play For A Unified Egypt celebrated the 1000th post of its very active board The Golden Horus. The role play on the Golden Horus board is centered on the 19th dynasty during the end of the reign of Seti I, the year is 1280 BCE. Well-wishers from far and wide were present at the festivities that took place at the Ramesse's Rathskellar. Good drink, good food and good conversation were the order of the evening, along with a few good Egyptian laughs thrown in for good measure. The entertainment provided so graciously by the event's hostess and board leader, Hapshetsut Nebet, were none other than the world famous, Red Hot Sile Pokers. The highlight of the evening was The Osiris Race. During The Osiris Race the evenings guests scrambled to find the missing body parts of Oisiris, strategically scattered amongst pers of the citizenry of Egypt. Clues were provided for each missing body part by the evenings hostess, Hapshetsut Nebet. The festivities of the evening will long be remembered by all that attended.
Egyptian Eyes On The Future - Egypt is planning to hold it's Spring Festival from April 12th through April 14th. Many events are planned for the upcoming event including: An Egyptian Trivia Contest, A new maze built along the Nile's shores, A ceremonial festival in honour of Heru, A creative offering contest, and much, much more.
Egypt needs volunteers and the participation of it's citizens in order to make this festival one of Egypt's finest efforts! For more information contact and to offer your assistance contact either: AzureEyes Ramesses, Onions Hatshepsut, or KismetNefertari Ramesses.
Alexandria Library To Rate Material - The Alexandria Library administration is currently in the process of creating a system which will enable members to rate all book titles, weblinks, articles and multimedia submissions. The rating system will be done on a scale of 1 to 5. 5 will represent the highest rating that a submission can receive. For ease in recognition Library Assistant Director Onions Hatshepsut is creating a series of scroll graphics to represent each grade of rating. For more on this new rating system at the Alexandria Library read here.
Alexandria Library To Recognise Top Librarian Monthly - The ongoing research undertaking of Egypt, The Alexandria Library will soon be honouring one Librarian a month in recognition of his/her accomplisments and contributions to the Library. A customized graphic will be presented to honour the Librarian. Selection will be made through the completion of a questionairre in which the librarian will be asked questions pertaining to their interest in the material that they are responsible for presenting the the Ancient Worlds community. Read more about the Award here.
KismetNefertari Ramesses
CELTIA GROUP: THE CITADEL
The newest group in Celtia, The Citadel, will offer historically based military role-play for one of the most active periods of conflict in the ancient world, involving people of various times in Carthage, Rome, Spain, Gaul, Germania and Britain. Our first historical role-play board is scheduled to open at the end of April. We currently have boards for greetings, trivia, historical references and planning, while other features are in development. With military campaign scenarios spanning four centuries from 300 BCE to 100 CE, the group is dedicated to play out the events directed by the strategic genius (and fatal blunders) of two of the most talented generals of antiquity; Hannibal, and primarily, Julius Caesar. At the same time, we hope to shed a brighter light on the fascinating Celtic and Germanic powers, their important leaders and their immense contributions to the warfare and culture of ancient Europe and Britain.
The first role-play scenario is a background story beginning in 62 BCE that will lead our players into the Spanish and Gallic Wars. This time was selected for the opening scenario, because it contains immediate roles for AW members and their characters from Celtia, Germania and Rome. 
In addition, this time was selected to give members the opportunity to lead other scenarios within The Citadel's scope, as the group leaders will do for the first one.
We feel that sharing leadership roles and planning activities is essential for a well-rounded treatment of the subject, especially in creating an accurately fictionalized view of it. The Citadel Planning Council board was set up for that purpose, where members can bring their ideas and brainstorm additional scenarios they may wish to lead within the context of our timeframe and topic.
It's a great inspiration to have at AncientWorlds so many resources and so much variety in scholarship and creativity. We have, therefore, committed a prominent place on our front page to a list of cross-referencing links to other groups in the community. These groups host discussions similar to ours and provide content of special value to our members and visitors.
We look forward to a long and productive experience in military role-play at The Citadel and we invite everyone at AncientWorlds to come and visit us soon.
Venissa Julia Iceni
GERMANIA UPDATE
Here is some information for the living regarding the current ongoings in Germania.
Springtime is a time for festivities all over the Ancient Worlds and Germania will have its due share in the fun. Our festival, dedicated to the goddess Ostara, will take place at Easter, from 20 to 22 April to be precise. Activities will include an Easter egg hunt all over AW, the Spirit of Spring Competition and a storyline at the Red Boar Tavern, open for everyone who wants to participate in hunting hares and dancing around the Easter fire. A new festival board is in the making - visit Germania regularly for updates on both the coming events and the historical background of the festival. Of course you are also most welcome to share your ideas and offer support.
The Red Boar continues to be a place where you will not only find plenty of drink and food but where the most unusual and unexpected mysteries enfold themselves. Right now, it is rumoured that our cook is not what she seems to be but possibly a Gothic princess in disguise - stay tuned for the unveiling of this secret and see what happens to the murderer of an innocent messenger!
As to groups, an update on the latest ongoings in the established groups, written by Thiudareiks Gunthigg, is to be found in the new central news section on the revamped main city page. He has already pointed out at one new addition to Germania's groups, The Missing Link!, jointly founded by Marduk Hammurabi, who has already acquired himself great renown as indefatigable collector of links, and Fabricius Flavius. In their roles of Tango & Cash, they already have come up with a decent amount of great links, and in due course this will become a wonderful source for all kinds of information on ancient history. Two more groups have to be mentioned, one of them, a linguistic one, dealing with Germanic languages and also literature, still under construction and not accessible yet. The other one, Germania's long awaited and much discussed Role Play group has recently been started by Maria Marius. "The Rood and the Raven" is a group for historical role play and interactive story writing. It is centered around the conflict between King Alfred of Wessex and Guthrum of Denmark, covering a wide range of territories such as Wessex, the Danelaw, parts of Scandinavia and Flanders. There will be political intrigues, Vikings establishing new lives at the Danelaw and some inevitable raiding and pillaging. The title actually is a reference to the conflict between the Christian Saxons of Alfred's court and the Vikings who still followed Ođinn. If this all makes your mouths water, go here to find out more.
Rome was not built in one day, and this certainly is valid for Germania, but with regard to all these activities we may well say that AW's youngest child is coming of age!
Let me close this with a quoting from Hávámal - the Sayings of the High One - giving proof of true Germanic spirit and at the same time referring nicely to the given subject of this Acta's issue:
Cattle die,
kindred die,
we ourselves also die;
But good renown never dies
of him who has acquired it.
Yngvildr Scylding
MEANWHILE IN MACHU PICCHU
Ballgame - Because the ballgame didn't happen on the spring exuinox, we' ve scheduled a practise game on the 6th of April. Take a look at the game and the rules and if you want to play, let us know here: Ballgame.
Mayan History - Zama Roco has made a very interesting and extensive contribution on the Mayan history front. Read more here: General Information.
Round Table Conferences - During my trip to Mexico a lot of guides talked about the famous Round Table Conferences of Palenque. We thought it would be a good idea to have our own conferences, where all our citizens can talk about the future of our city. The first one is found here: Round Table Conference.
Murder Mystery After seing the film Clue I thought it would be an idea to have our own "Murder Mystery" in the city and threfore I am looking for people with imagination that can help me with organizing this. The idea I have is to create some kind of story that is only known to a couple of people. For the people that want to play we post clues where ever we want to post them and in these posts. These clues will lead to other people that might have information or might help obtaining further information, but only if the right questions are asked. Want to help me out? Just leave me a message!
Travel Stories I know that you are still waiting to hear about our holiday to Mexico and especially waiting on the load of photo's we took: be patient - I am working on it!
ChanChan Tupac
POSITION OPEN - The Scholeio Neoellinikon in Athens is currently taking applications for the position of Modern Greek Teacher. Qualified candidates must have an excellent understanding of the Modern Greek language and be willing to commit to providing at least one lesson per month, while attending to student questions and comments between lessons. Interested persons please contact Aphrodite Theocritos.
HOW IS YOUR LATIN GRAMMAR? - Find out by participating in the 