The AW8 Committee met last night to discuss where we stand in regard to plans for The Orient. Here are the results of our meeting:

• Minutes of AW8 Committee Meeting: It was unilaterally decided (by jojo *lol*) that Sankhkare Thutmose would act as committee secretary and summarize the meeting for The Curia, hence the following report is respectfully submitted by the above named Egyptian. *shrug* How do you argue with a demi?

• Regional Names. The committee ratified the choice of regional names posted December 16th on the Design and Development board. The original post by committee member Laurels Curius can be found here: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/243612. The list in its entirety will be presented to Jot (may he have life, health and prosperity) for approval.

• Home Name. The default name for a citizen's homepage that will be suggested to Jot will be 'Pavilion,' which it was agreed at least evokes a generic sense of the area. Granted this choice may be viewed as Eurocentric, but given the fact there can be only one word chosen, one language is going to win out over the others. The majority of the committee agree that it would be better for an English language site to choose an English language word rather than favor any one of the many Oriental cultures in this new city over another. Therefore, we will be presenting the word 'Pavilion' to Jot as our recommendation.

• Alternate Home Names. Recognizing that the chosen default name is Eurocentric and most citizens will prefer to change this to accommodate whichever region draws their academic interest, the committee decided to compile a list of alternate names from as many of the included cultures as possible. A link can then be included on the main city page to the list of suggested names appropriate to each region. Action Item: Sankhkare to compile a list of alternate home names.

• Perspectives: the Entrance, Courtyard, Library, and Study. With the assistance of Bryce Yupanqui and several 3D artist-members of Virtual Archaeology (and many thanks to all of them), progress is being made on possible perspectives to be presented to Jot for consideration. It was decided that there would be one default perspective for each room, hopefully each to be done in a different cultural style. However, it was recognized that we will be limited to whatever style our 3D artist volunteers are able to create. At this time we have seen Bryce's Japanese Moon Bridge, which Hap suggested might work for the Courtyard; and a Japanese shoji with kumiko, by Phenom Leonidas. Action Item: Hapshetsut and Laurels to coordinate with Bryce on further graphics, including a request that the next examples be done in Chinese, Indian, or possibly Korean to give greater scope to the representative cultural styles.

• Avatars. Several members of the committee have been collecting Oriental Avatars that eventually may be included in the "Avatar Shops". No decision was made on this item of business. Discussions are on-going.

• Interactive Maps. It was decided that rather than or in addition to a main city graphic the committee would look into the possibility of interactive maps (a la Machu Picchu) for navigating through The Orient. In addition, these would act as a tool to allow citizens to see at a glance which countries were located in which neighborhoods. Action item:Laurels and Sankhkare to work on creating interactive maps for main city page and for each neighborhood page.

• Default background. Action item: Hapshetsut to create appropriately styled graphic for default background.