Happy New Year Egypt! You all might be tired of hearing that by now, especially now that the holiday's are behind those of us who celebrate them, however it is a new year for all of us and each new year brings change, plans and the first Acta of the year. And of course this is the first Egyptian Acta of 2006

There will no doubt be subtle changes at AW in 2006, whether it be new scribes, new member’s or in this case a new editor for the Egyptian Acta. And while there are changes taking place there is also a lot of planning activity going on as well. While some of us are stuck in the middle of winter, there is plenty of talk about Spring going through these hallowed halls. Plans for springfest are taking place and it should be a grand time. Some of the events being planned are a battle of the god’s which should be informative and entertaining, and a wine tasting tour and much more. Several worlds including Egypt will be hosting the event and your thoughts and idea’s are wanted and welcomed at the Springfest board, so get your two cents in and help make our springtime celebrations a fantastic success.

If you have ever wanted to get into a role-play storyline from the beginning I have good news for you. Some members of KMT are working on a new story called "The Horizon of Aten". It takes place during an interesting time in Egyptian history when the young king Amenhotep IV was crowned in the royal city of Karnak. Shortly after mounting the throne, Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhnaten, moved the court to his new royal city, Akhetaton, i.e., el-Armana and shook his fists at the multitude of god’s so inherent in the Egyptian identity and declared there was but one, god, and his name was Ra. Can you imagine the repercussions? Can you imagine being among the plethora of priests without a job? Can you imagine…and if you can then the Horizon of Aten is waiting for you.

According to Al-Ahram Online Weekly the Egyptian Ministry of Culture has decided to not only build five new Museum’s but also to restore 3 pre-existing museum’s, in order to best preserve the hordes of treasures, but, also to best display them and to relieve over crowding in the building’s currently housing the countless antiquities found housed all over the country.

According to Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, two of the new Museum’s to be built are the National Museum of Egypt in Fustat and the Grand Museum of Egypt overlooking the Giza Plateau. In his words;

"The ministry aims at building a museum in every city in Egypt to preserve the city's heritage and raise the cultural and archaeological awareness of its inhabitants."

In brief here are some of the plans, In Alexandria an open air museum is planned to house the treasure’s found in the Mediterranean sea-bed, such as statues, stelae, and large blocks possibly from the Great Light House. There are also plans for a Graeco-Roman Museum, and a Coptic Museum and much more. Read the entire story at the above link and enjoy.

This news literally just came in as I was putting this edition to bed. Lotus Horemheb understands not everyone wants to compete for the most glorious homesite, so she is hosting an Interesting Home's Tour open to anyone. In her words;

"Everyone is cordially invited to join the Interesting Homes at AW Tour. If you'd like to join a tour for no other purpose than to have people visit your home and give you access to other's homes, please feel free to join! It's open to everyone. This is a great way to see what everyone is up to in code, graphics and content - who knows, maybe a idea or two!"