You know me as The Stranger.
As I roam the land of your ancestors I hear a common refrain...
"Tests should be cooperative. Why should every man be out for himself?"
Is it cooperation you crave? Perhaps I will indulge that...
Though your idea of cooperation and mine may not be quite the same.
So, find your happy team. Seven people will together walk The Path of the Pilgrim, tithing at shrines built by others.
A team that works well together will surely walk a longer path than any other in the land!
-- Gharib
A pilgrimage consists of exactly seven people. The leader should visit a University of Worship to form a group. The other six members must also visit a University to begin the test; once they have done so, they may select an option from the leader's menu to join the group.
Once formed, a pilgrimage may not change its membership. If any member dissolves the group (self->Tests menu), all points are lost and the members will need to start the test over from the beginning. Points are not lost if a member quits the game, but no more may be gained unless all seven members are available (quit players can pass this Test).
Once formed, the pilgrimage must tithe at shrines. The amount and type of the tithe is set by the builder of the shrine. In order to successfully tithe:
The pilgrimage will receive 100 points for successfully tithing at a new shrine. It is possible to tithe multiple times consecutively at the same shrine, however the points received will halve with each successive tithe. Logging off one character and onto a spouse/other does not affect the tithing as long as both tithe within the timer. The following chart shows how many points per tithe.
| Tithe | Points | Total |
| Once | 100 | 100 |
| Twice | 50 | 150 |
| 3 Times | 25 | 175 |
| 4 Times | 12 | 187 |
| 5 Times | 6 | 193 |
| 6 Times | 3 | 196 |
| 7 Times | 2 | 198 |
| 8 Times | 1 | 199 |
| 9 Times | 1 | 200 |
| 10 Times | >0< | 200 |
The points for each shrine and the total numer of points are all actually floats which are rounded to ints for display. The number of points obtained for each tithe are exactly half of the preceding one. At one point our pilgrimage had 200 points for two different shrines but our total was 399.
Pilgrims may check their progress from their Tests menu, which will report the current total score of the pilgrimage, as well as what shrines have been tithed at and how many points were received from each.
Every week, the pilgrimage with the largest number of points will pass the test. Pilgrimages that do not pass in a given week retain their points, and may either continue visiting new shrines to increase their score or wait and hope their existing total will be enough in an upcoming week.
See also: Sample Pilgrimage
Pilgrim shrines are built by players. Each shrine has a tithe associated with it, set by the builder. This tithe may be any quantity of any single item. A shrine costs seven marble to construct, plus seven times the tithe. The type of marble required will vary with the type of the tithe (you are informed of the type needed when you attempt to construct the shrine using a small construction site). There is a list of marble requirements. It is not possible to transfer ownership of a shrine to a guild or other player. The builder must have the Pilgrim Shrine Construction skill, available at a School of Worship for 1 piece each of Oyster Shell Marble, Mud Granite, and Yellow Alabaster marbles, but does not need to be signed up for the Test.
Tithes made to a shrine are collectable (instantly) by the builder of the shrine, so a well placed and priced shrine may collect a significant amount of tithes.
Pilgrims may only tithe at a shrine if it is holy and is at least 600 coords from any other shrine the group has tithed at. A shrine is holy if:
For example: If Akhenaton builds a shrine with a tithe of 5 iron, and there are no other shrines with an iron tithe in his region, his shrine will be holy. If Tutankhamen then builds a shrine with a tithe of 6 iron in the same region, his shrine will be holy--and Akh's shrine will stop being holy. If Tut's shrine had required 5 iron or less, it would not have been holy, and Akh's would have remained holy. On the other hand, if Tut were to build a shrine with a tithe of 2 copper, both his shrine and Akh's 5 iron shrine would be holy, since they require tithes of different types.
For the purposes of this Test, Egypt is divided into 8 regions. (anyone want to figure out coords for the boundaries? should be similar to Hegemon. a map would be lovely too ;) )
It is usually best to build a pilgrim shrine at least 600 coordinates from any other shrine (see below). If you build within 600 coords of another shrine, a pilgrimage can only visit one of the shrines (so you potentially deprive yourself or the other person of some shrine income, and the pilgrimage of the chance to tithe at two shrines instead of one). It is also unwise to use the same resource for a tithe as someone else in the region since this will make their shrine non-holy and useless - this has caused expensive shrine wars in the past.
Note: If you salvage your Pilgrim shrine, you get nothing back.
There is a map and details of known shrines at Pilgrim Shrines.