Schools And Universities

Schools

Schools are where you go to learn new skills. Each region has at least one school for each of the seven disciplines.

• You can find the locations of the schools in the Atlas.
• All schools of each discipline have the same set of skills available.
• For each skill, there is a tuition fee. The fee is different for each skill.
• Most skills can not be taught.
• Schools allow you to start the Initiation into that discipline, but provide no other tests.
• Schools are usually abbreviated using S and the first few letters of the discipline (eg., SArch = School of Architecture).

Special School Functions

• SThought
  • The Free Jug: To learn pottery, you need clay. To get clay, you need jugs, which you make with pottery. The proctors of the school take pity upon you, though, and give you a jug in order to get started the very first time you ask to learn pottery.
• SArt
  • Flax seeds (of the Old Egypt and Nile Green varieties) are available for free from the Schools of Arts and Music. Which is reasonable, since flax is required to learn Flax Processing and Clothwork.

Universities

Universities are where you go to learn new technologies. Each region has at least one university for each of the seven disciplines.

• You can find the locations of the universities in the Atlas.
• Each university can only teach the techs that have been researched at that university.
• All techs are available for free once they are unlocked.
• Most technologies can be taught.
• Universities provide all tests of their discipline, including initiation.
• Universities are usually abbreviated using U and the first few letters of the discipline (eg., UArch = University of Architecture).

Special University Functions

• ULead
  • Laws: You can start a petition by visiting a University of Leadership.
  • Census: Shows how many Citizens Egypt has, and the tests they have passed.

• UWorship
  • Vegetable seeds: For paid accounts, each University of Worship that has researched Agriculture will offer 4 vegetable seeds of one random variety (Cabbage, Carrots, Garlic, Leeks, or Onions) to each player.
  • Flowers: For paid accounts, you can receive 1 Flower from any University of Worship where Horticulture has been researched.
  • Barley: You can receive 4 Barley (raw) from any University of Worship where Barley Cultivation has been researched.

Universities and Research

A given technology must be researched at a University before it will be taught there. This research is a community project where players donate goods to meet the (often very expensive) research costs. Once the research cost is met, that University will begin researching; the new technology will become available one day later. (If you hear that a particular technology is "on timer", this means that the research costs have been paid and people are waiting for the research to complete.) Note that the technology does not automatically become available at other universities.

Often, the first time a new technology is unlocked, new related skills will become available at Schools everywhere.

Some technologies depend on others, so one has to be researched at that university before another becomes available to be researched. Sometimes, a new technology become available only after its prerequisite is available at 7 different universities (of the same discipline, of course).

Teaching

Most Technologies, as well as some school-taught Skills, can be taught directly from player to player. Teaching ignores level requirements and tuition costs. It takes several lessons to teach one tech -- the exact number depends on the tech itself, but is generally from 3 to 8. A person may teach or receive one lesson every ten minutes. A teacher can teach only one student at a time, and a student may only learn from one teacher at a time. A person may be both a student and a teacher at the same time; however, the 10-minute time limit restricts teaching immediately after learning, and vice versa.

Actually, a teacher may teach more than 1 student at the same time, but the 10 minute time limit still exists. So the teacher may only teach 1 lesson every 10 minutes, but may be teaching more than 1 student. For example, belly dancing takes 1000 lessons if you're teaching a male character. While teaching someone belly dancing, I can teach others various techs or skills without loosing progress on the prospective male dancer.

If you accept a lesson in one skill while your learning in another is incomplete, you lose all progress in the earlier skill. If you learn the tech (by visiting a place that teaches it), you need not finish your lessons. Note: the next time someone offers to teach you, you will still get a dialog that says "you are currently being taught skill". Don't worry about it. The university taught you everything you needed to know. Your partial progress is now useless and can be safely abandoned.