Overview
Guild Hall location: 1530, 2440 in Upper Egypt, just barely over the 7L border. We are approximately 7 minutes from the 7L CS at the top of the road running north to bridge to U Thought. Just go straight for one more minute when you run out of road!
The Principles Guild exists to help players of all levels pass principles of Tests (and sometimes the full test) in the fastest amount of time with the least amount of resources.
Current Tests: Obelisk (Level 3) | Vigil (5) | Mosaic (9) | | Funerary Temple (14) | Opticon (15) | Bijou (16)
There are many reasons players may find this desirable. It's efficient - you get your pass, and your level, with a tremendous savings on materials - anywhere from 80 - 90%. You may wish to achieve a pass in a particular test, but have no burning desire to actually keep the building required (some of the game structures are less than glorious, no matter what their Glory rating!) Or you may simply wish to complete a test in a way that helps other people to reach their goals as well.
We do this cooperatively, either by sharing the cost of the event (as with Vigil), or by building the structure, passing the test, salvaging and then letting you rebuild using the salvaged materials (as with Obi, Bijou, Mosaic, Opticon and Funerary Temples.) On a test that would normally require you to expend 100 widgets, this means you only need to spend 10 or 20 widgets because we recover the other materials from the previous build and loan them to you for your build.
We also provide a wine bar, so we can help students host art openings for tests that require votes. Having several types of art pieces from several players at the same location can maximise exposure to voters at these gatherings.
There are some restrictions. You do need to join our Guild (you are free to leave and re-join as you wish), and you do need to build at the designated locations around our Guild Hall or in our Guild compound. Because we are entrusting you with valuable materials and rely on you to return them so we can help the next player, we also require that you be sponsored by another player who acts as your guarantor, or similarly sponsored by your own primary Guild, for all tests except Obelisk.
It is also important that you understand this is NOT a votes Guild or a free pass for Art tests. You are getting a significant break on materials, so you can devote more time to creating something beautiful for Egypt and earning the admiration and votes of your fellow citizens!
If you would like to take one of the currently available tests with us, please sign up at our Guild Hall and we'll update this page accordingly.
Test of the Obelisk: Level 3
Requirement: You must have passed Initiation Into Architecture, which you have done if you've built and expanded your compound.
Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: None
Principles of the Obelisk simply requires you to build a seven-cubit Desert Obelisk, and is considered to be a very easy level - much easier than the full Test Of The Obelisk. We will provide you with all of the materials required to build your Obelisk for the Principles pass. These Principle obelisks can be disassembled with a special command that recovers all the materials, regardless of your Salvage Techniques skill, so we can then pass them on to the next student. You simply need to have the free Obelisk Construction (1) tech from your local University of Architecture, and the Project Management skill, which you can purchase at a School of Harmony for a tuition of 2 canvas and 6 rope.
We will provide you with:
- 231 bricks
- 23 boards
- 5 slate
- 3 dried flax
- 24 clay
- 7 linen
- 1 flint
... all of which you can fully recover and must return to us. You must provide the materials for your Small Construction Site, which is 1 canvas and 4 rope.
Test of the Vigil: Level 5
Requirement: You must have passed Initiation Into Worship and must be signed up for Test Of The Vigil at any U Worship.
Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: Vigil Sunday, 22 July at 9 am PST, 12 pm EST, 5 pm GMT (Shebi, Krystianos, Hamkill, Ephemere, Alizia)
The Test Of The Vigil confuses a lot of people. To pass the principle, the only thing you need to do is throw an item the fire requests into the Vigil bonfire. That's it.
We hold Principle Only vigils in which we assist five people at a time to pass the Principle of the Vigil test. This takes around 2 hours. The first few requests from a vigil are usually quite inexpensive (see example), and attempting to pass only 5 people means we can get everyone though even if we choose to skip a few of the requested items. We will front you the materials needed to make the required sacrifice, assuming we have them on hand. You will be required to replace them within 24 hours of the Vigil.
Cost of Admission:
- 200 Firebricks, delivered in advance and placed in the Vigil chest:
- 500 Wood
- 50 Oil
- A sponsor or Guild who will guarantee to replace your sacrifice in case you don't.
- A chit with your name on it, which we'll return on repayment.
(Items represent 1/5th of the requirements for a Vigil bonfire.)
We traditionally open the vigil up to the region after all five people have passed. The "cost of admission" is what is needed to build the bonfire, and guarantees you one of the first 5 sacrifices. Typically these are very easy sacrifices, so you are virtually guaranteed to get your level :) And hey, it's a good chance to acro too!
Test of the Funerary Temple: Level 7 (but really 14)
Requirement: You must have passed Initiation Into Architecture
Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: 0 days(from 16 July)
NOTE: You must have a Salvage Techniques skill level of 4 or higher to be able to use The Principles Guild to pass this Principle. That effectively means you must be level 14 or higher, at that is the earliest level at which you can acquire Salvage Techniques 4. See the information below about acquiring this skill.
The Test Of Funerary Temple requires you to build a Funerary Temple and then "glorify" it with different coloured Raeli tiles. Passing the Principles simply requires that you achieve a Glory rating of 7,000 or above. This is most cheaply achieved with 70 tiles of one colour each.
The base of a Funerary Temple is insanely expensive to build, however. We cannot assist you with tiles (they are not salvageable) but we can assist you with 80% of the materials needed to build the base, and provide you with a chest on site to store your materials. You cannot give a Funerary Temple to another player, so you must complete your pass, salvage your own Temple, and return all the salvaged items to the Large Chest. (This is why you need to have a Salvage skill of 4 or higher.)
Current Costs to Rebuild:
| Material | # | 90% Salvage | Your Cost |
| Sheet Glass | 16 | 15 | 1 |
| Firebricks | 5000 | 4248 | 752 |
| Gold | 40 | 34 | 6 |
| Silver | 200 | 169 | 31 |
| Iron bars | 50 | 43 | 7 |
| Concrete | 250 | 212 | 88 |
| Cut stone | 100 | 85 | 15 |
| Mirrors | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Boards | 600 | 507 | 93 |
You will have one week to complete and salvage your Funerary Temple so it is critical that you have your base materials and tiles ready to go. Ask in the Guild channel about the fastest way to get the required tiles if you will not be baking your own. You will only need an assortment of 70 tiles for a Principles pass. Again, the tiles cannot be salvaged - only the base materials.
Note on Salvage Levels: Skills for Salvage Techniques can be purchased at different Schools, with different tuition costs, which you can buy in any order. For most players, the cheapest route to Salvage 4 is: 100 Candles; 200 Firebricks; 1000 charcoal; and either 20 cuttable garnet and 20 Cuttable Turquoise; or 200 cut stone, 100 clay, and 2 Oyster Shell Marble. Even with the high cost of the Marble, this is still way, way cheaper than building a Temple from scratch with no salvage.
Test of the Raeli Mosaic: Level 9
Requirement: You must have passed Initiation Into Art
Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: None
You can read about the Test Of The Raeli Mosaic, which requires that you build a Raeli Mosaic table and create a design on it using raeli tiles. These tables are expensive to build from scratch, but we can salvage a table for you and give you the materials, which means you only need to supply the (approximately) 10% of materials that are lost in order to rebuild. We salvage the table for you, so there is no salvage level requirement for this.
NOTE: This is NOT a free pass. You are getting a significant break on materials and we expect you to put time into creating art. Avoid fraud votes; plan your project and be prepared to put time into creating something beautiful.
We will be offering both Scribe level Mosaic tables for the Principles pass and Oracle level tables for the full Test pass. Currently we have only one table available.
Table: Scribe (Principle only) Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: Unknown
| Material for Construction | # | 90% Salvage | Your Cost | Notes |
| Sheet glass | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Steel wire | 50 | 45 | 5 | |
| Glossy White Boards | 250 | 225 | 25 | |
| Glossy Blonde Boards | 250 | 225 | 25 | |
| Carpentry Blade | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3500+ quality |
| Large Emerald | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Large Ruby | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Yellowish Paint | 350 | 315 | 35 | Any color w/ "Yellow" in the name |
| Spring Green Paint | 250 | 225 | 25 | |
| Pale Violet Red Paint | 150 | 135 | 15 |
The 500 or so tiles needed for a Scribe table must be provided by you and cannot be salvaged. We provide secure on-site storage for your tiles in a Large Chest.
Table: Oracle (full Test) Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: None
| Material for Construction | # | 90% Salvage | Your Cost | Notes |
| Sheet glass | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Steel wire | 425 | 425 | 0 | |
| Glossy White Boards | 250 | 225 | 25 | |
| Glossy Blonde Boards | 250 | 225 | 25 | |
| Carpentry Blade | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3500+ quality |
| Large Emerald | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Large Ruby | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Yellowish Paint | 350 | 315 | 35 | Any color w/ "Yellow" in the name |
| Spring Green Paint | 250 | 225 | 25 | |
| Pale Violet Red Paint | 150 | 135 | 15 |
The 2,000 or so tiles needed for an Oracle table must be provided by you and cannot be salvaged. We provide secure on-site storage for your tiles in a Large Chest.
Once you build your table, you have a maximum of two weeks* to complete your mosaic and get all the votes you need. For this reason, you will want to get your tiles together before the salvage. To pass for principles, your completed design only needs 7 Good votes. To pass the complete test, you need to have the mosaic with the highest number of votes in Egypt that week.
Once your pass is complete, you hand back the table for salvage, we re-capture 90% of the materials, and give them to the next person waiting to build.
*If nobody is waiting to rebuild the table, your mosaic may remain longer to get the votes it needs for the Principles or the full Test.
Test of the Prismatic Opticon: Level 15
Requirement: You must have passed Initiation Into Art and have the Fine Balance tech from the U Thought in Karnak.
Currently Available: Yes Wait Time: None
The Principle for the Test Of Prismatic Opticon requires you to build an opticon and have it judged as Good by seven judges. Building the table requires 14 specifically cut gems, the most expensive components of the build, so building off a salvaged table will save you a lot of time - and gemstones!
NOTE: This is NOT a free pass. You are getting a significant break on materials and we expect you to put time into creating art. Avoid fraud votes; plan your project and be prepared to put time into creating something beautiful.
Current table build requirements are:
| Material for Construction | # | 90% Salvage | Your Cost |
| fine glass rods | 21 | 19 | 2 |
| gold wire | 210 | 145 | 65 |
| steel wire | 210 | 210 | 0 |
| mirror | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| large topaz | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| large ruby | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| bearings | 98 | 89 | 9 |
| Ra's Lantern cut Sunstone | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Hile's Chevrons cut Sunstone | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bastet cut Sunstone | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Amanti cut Jade | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Choronzon cut Jade | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Khufu's Ship cut Jade | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Appolonia cut Garnet | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Full eye cut Gem (any type) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
To learn to cut the stones you do need to supply, we are conveniently located near the Bijou School at Sunset, where you can learn to cut each stone type.
Test of the Bijou: Level 16
Currently Available: No Wait Time: Unknown
We are in the process of building a Bijou but have not yet salvaged one, so cannot estimate the costs of rebuilding with salvaged materials.
Sponsors & Donations
Many thanks to the sponsors who make TPG possible. Rym donated our initial Mosaic table and contributes her awesome salvage skills. Alya donated our crucial cornerstone. They both donated truckloads of bricks for expansion as well! Eimear donated a salvaged Funerary Temple. Tat2mikki donated an Opticon and level 7 salvage skills. Phanotux donated a Bijou. Kaayru donated our excellent glassware.
We are seeking donations of the following items to support this civic project:
- A second salvaged Mosaic Table so we can offer both Principle and Test tables at the same time
- Wineglasses for the bar so students can host gatherings to solicit votes!
Any and all contributions of bricks and boards for chests very gladly accepted. Thank you!
