Stranger's Preamble
Gharib: You know me as The Stranger.
Gharib: My next challenge is to those that consider themselves Artists.
Gharib: An Oracle of ages past once said that an artist is one that can create beauty, even when shackled by the medium.
Gharib: We turn now to an ancient and primitive art form. One that makes extraordinary demands of the artist.
Gharib: Is this generation up to the task? We shall see.
Gharib: I give you, the Test of the Raeli Mosaic.
Test Details
Fracture brittle Raeli Tiles into unusual shapes, and fit them together to form a handsome mosaic. Your fellow Egyptians will judge you on both Color and Composition.
Raeli mosaics come in four complexities: Scribe, Master, Sage, and Oracle. The entire mosaic must be filled with tiles before it can be opened for judging. Therefore, more complex mosiacs will be difficult to create, but will allow for more artistic freedom. Any complexity is sufficient to compete in the test.
The ? highest rated mosaics pass the test each week. A list of existing mosaics may be found at Mosaic Locations.
Interface
The editor window has two parts: a scratchpad containing up to 21 broken tiles to use in the mosaic, and a list of the Raeli tiles currently in your inventory in alphabetical order. Click a tile to break it into a random shape and place it in the scratchpad. Select a tile in the scratchpad by clicking on it, and rotate it with the arrows or discard it. Place the selected tile in the mosaic by clicking the spot on the grid where you want it to appear. To remove a tile from the mosaic so you can reposition or discard it, select an empty space on the scratchpad and click the piece on the table that you want to remove. This brings it back onto the scratchpad.
Once you open the mosaic for judging, the grid will drop onto the table. Be aware that the edges of the mosaic will be covered by the table once this happens. Only the white area in the center will show the tiles; the yellow areas will obscure any tiles placed under them (this particularly affects the top corners). Also note that once the mosaic has been opened for judging you can move it back to 'edit-mode' and make changes. This does not reset the current score.
An Oracle-sized Mosaic (Tale1 picture)
Construction Costs
- 2 Sheet glass
- Steel wire:
- 50 for Scribe complexity
- 125 for Master complexity
- 250 for Sage complexity
- 425 for Oracle complexity
- 250 Glossy White Boards
- 250 Glossy Blonde Boards
- 1 Carpentry Blade (3500+ quality)
- 1 Large Emerald
- 1 Large Ruby
- 350 Yellowish Paint (Any paint color that has "Yellow" in the name)
- 250 Spring Green Paint
- 150 Pale Violet Red Paint
For the paints, you can apply to RAINBOW ( /chat Isirion or Kaayru or Worldweaver)
The only difference between the sizes (for construction cost) is the amount of Steel Wire required.
Location
Raeli Mosaic tables are currently only buildable in compounds.
NB When the test was first released the blade was a "steel blade" I reported this bug and asked him why they were only buildable in compounds, he said something about it being the most expensive (I assume bandwidth wise) and didn't seem like he was going to change it.
Further explanation at 02-27-2005-11:58:00:
Pharaoh here...
I've had some questions about if Mosaics should be buildable outside.
I intentionally made those compound buildings, just due to a tech limitation: They are probably the most "expensive" (slow) item to render in the game.
IOW, if I move them outside, they will contribute significantly to lag in crowded areas.
First idea: I will enact a "law" saying they can't be built within a horizon of a chariot stop, and they'll have a very short draw distance.
But they would appear outside compounds.
Second idea: Egypt passes a law of the form: The 33 cornerstones are distributed to the following curators as follows: Joe 3, Frank 6, Bill 3, Alice 3, ...
And the idea would be that the curators get to build museums for displaying (only) mosaics.
The number 33 gives each region up to 3 mosaics.
As part of the law implementation I would make it so that the designated museums hold only mosaics.
Should we do a poll?
Forgot to have a "keep as-is" choice. Just replaced the poll with one that includes that.
(Obvious typo above: Each region could have up to 3 *museums*, not 3 mosaics :)
Question about ability to build in compounds if you do pass a museums law:
Unless the law limits mosaics to museums (interesting option, btw), then they could still be built in normal compounds.
A poll is underway at the time of writing.
Current poll results (from IRC):
<Teppy[eGenesis]> Well, poll likes the Museum idea - 247 votes there...
<Teppy[eGenesis]> 135 Outside, away from chariot stops
<Teppy[eGenesis]> 70 Outide, lag-be-damned.
<Teppy[eGenesis]> 45 keep as is
<Teppy[eGenesis]> 369 - No opinion
<Kazhiim> If I built the thing and you end up implementing museums, would I be refunded materials to move it?
<Teppy[eGenesis]> Yeah, we'll probably do some sort of move.
Notes
What complexity to build? The most complex gives a smoother picture, but the cost in tile and time increases along with it. The mosaic demands that gray background holes be filled with tile pieces, which can take a very long time! (Nopar King)
(See also: Tests, Art, Mosaic Locations)
