The Test of The Singing Cicadas
The Stranger's Preamble
Gharib: Greetings Egypt. You know me as The Stranger.
Gharib: Disciples of The Human Body, you claim to know this land. I would like to put your skills to the test.
Gharib: My agents have placed two hundred cages throughout the land, each containing seven Singing Cicadas.
Gharib: When you discover a cage, you may take a single cicada and add that to your collection. When you do this, you will also inscribe the cage itself with the time of your discovery. You will receive points equal to the number of minutes since the cage was last discovered. When seven Cicadas have been removed from a cage, it will crumble to dust.
Gharib: When you have seven cicadas in your collection, take them to any University of The Human Body. Your scientists will place the cicadas in a cage for you, which you may then put down in any part of Egypt. You will collect one point per minute that your cage remains standing.
Gharib: Each day, the top twenty-one participants will notice a permanent boost in their Speed. Reach Speed 7 to pass the Test of the Singing Cicada.
Gharib: Did I mention that there was a twist?
Gharib: You see, though it only takes a Speed of 7 to pass this Test, it is possible to raise your Speed much higher than that. How much higher? Well, I'll leave that for the greediest among you to discover. I expect that your "ambition" will know no bounds when it comes to claiming the smallest advantage over your fellow Egyptians, even at the expense of their passage of the Test.
Gharib: Good luck Egypt...
Gharib: Or perhaps I should say "Godspeed".
Test details
This Test has two components - hunting cicada cages placed by other players and placing your own cages. As a Body Test, it involves a lot of running and exploration of Egypt. The better you know the land and the people, the better you will be able to hide or find cages.
Cicadas make a _continuous_ chirruping/buzzing sound, which is directional and gets louder as you get closer (cuts out at 64 coords away from the cage). Listen to the cicada sound at http://www.demolid.com/atitd/Cicadas.mp3 (hosted by Gerateph). Having any sound option active will activate the cicada sounds - pick whichever is least annoying if you want minimal audio. Even if you haven't yet registered for the Test of the Singing Cicada you will still be able to hear them.
When you find someone's cage, you can take a single cicada from it. You will gain a point for every minute the cage has been undisturbed (since the last person took a cicada). A cage has 7 cicadas in it - when the last one is taken, the cage crumbles. As a matter of courtesy, it is often polite to /chat the owner of a cage you've crumbled and tell them where it was - this helps them know which cages were well or badly hidden (there is no way to know which cage was destroyed if you're not told).
When you have enough cicadas ('enough' varies - see table below), you can trade them in at any University of Body for a cicada cage. Once you received your cage, 1 linen and 4 boards are required to actually place your cage on the ground. You cannot take a cicada from your own cage, nor can you pick up your cage once placed. If the number of cicada cages placed in Egypt is below a certain threshold (approximately 4-500), the University of Body will request less than 7 cicadas per cage, making up the difference themselves. This tends to keep the number of cages in the world 'right'. You may carry a maximum of 21 cicadas in inventory, and may make 1 cage at a UBody every 6 RL hours.
A cage you have placed will earn you 1 point for every minute that it exists. The better it is hidden, the longer it will last and the more points you will get from it.
Even though a cicada cage cannot be picked up, it can be moved after it has been placed. You must be standing fairly close to the cage, and then an option will appear under your "Tests->Test of the Cicada" menu to "move nearby cage". This will move the cage to your new position- where you are standing. You can only do this once per minute. [Not only can you move your own cage this way, but you can move *other people's* cages as well. A nifty trick for pulling a hidden cage out into the open.
If you find a quit/expired person's cage, it can be DPPRAed. Tear down returns materials as per your salvage level but claiming the cage does not make it add to your score. It is unknown whether quit people can get speed points - if so, the best thing would be to tear down the cage or pass its location to friends in order to prevent the quit person taking a speed point allocation. If not (or maybe even despite that), it may be more in the spirit of the Test to leave the cage standing as a challenge to others to find.
The top 21 scorers receive 1 speed point per day, with the cost of the point being automatically deducted. The cost is the lowest score of top 21 scores. You can see how many points and active cages you have (and when/whether you got a speed point recently) from your Tests->Test of the Singing Cicada menu. The maximum speed a person can have is 21 (after that, they are no longer counted in the scoring), though you only need 7 speed to pass the Test (so going to 21 removes two potential Test passes from other players, though it may also keep the Test competitive..).
Who Got Speed lists scorers for each day - please add to it if you get a speed point so people know the approximate score needed.
| Date | #cicadas needed/cage |
| Nov 2? 2004 | 7 |
| Nov 13 | 6 |
| Nov 21 | 5 |
| Dec 13 | 4 |
| Jan 18 2005 | 5 |
| Jan 25(?) | 6 |
| Feb 4 | 7 |
| Feb 9 | 8 |
| Feb 17 | 9 |
| Apr 2 | 8 |
| Apr 9 | 7 |
| Apr 16 | 6 |
| Apr 26 | 5 |
| Apr 28 | 5 |
| May 1 | 4 |
| May 16 | 5 |
| May 24 | 6 |
| May 30 | 7 |
| Jun 7 | 8 |
| Jun 18 | 9 |
| Jul 01 | 9 |
| Jul 24 | 9 |
| Jul 25 | 8 |
| Jul 31 | 8 |
| Aug 2 | 7 |
| Aug 9 | 6 |
| Aug 16 | 5 |
| Aug 25 | 5 |
| Sep 3 | 5 |
| Sep 13 | 5 |
| Sep 15 | 6 |
| Sep 20 | 6 |
| Sep 23 | 7 |
| Sep 24 | 7 |
| Oct 1 | 8 |
| Nov 10 | 8 |
| Nov 14 | 7 |
| Nov 29 | 5 |
| Dec 6 | 5 |
| Dec 30 | 5 |
| Jan 03 2006 | 5 |
| Jan 12 | 6 |
| Jan 19 | 7 |
| Jan 21 | 7 |
| Jan 29 | 8 |
| Jan 31 | 8 |
| Feb 04 | 9 |
| Feb 11 | 9 |
| Mar 17 | 8 |
| Apr 9 | 8 |
| Apr 18 | 8 |
| Apr 22 | 8 |
| May 01 | 8 |
| May 10 | 8 |
