Hello!

I know many of you have been wondering where I have disappeared to lately - "What has Kyna been working on behind the scenes?" Well, now, with much excitement, I can finally reveal to you what has kept me so busy.

This project has been my biggest one yet - and there is still so much to do - but its roll out begins today. Let me introduce you to the Agriculture Skillset.

WHAT IS AGRICULTURE?
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You will find the following information in HELP AGRICULTURE, however this skillset is about craft, and commodity, yes, you read me correctly, commodity, generation. You are now in charge of the economy, my friends. With a little bit of guiding help from us, of course, to keep things as balanced as we can for you.

Agriculture will consist of three (3) skills. However, you will only be able to have two (2) of them at any given time, with the second skill costing more to learn.

------ AGRICULTURE ------------------------------------------

Farming | Tend to a field. Grow crops. Care for animals.
Mining | Coming soon(not tm).
??? | To be revealed?!

Stage one is the rollout of Farming.

WHAT IS FARMING?
----------------

Farming is the production of certain fruits, vegetables, produce and raw materials. AB FARMING lists the skillset and HELP FARMING is also available.

However, what makes farming EXTRA special is that these farming plots are on a new type of map. Each city, or community, has a designated area that houses their plots - we will expand on plot maps in the future, however you may only own one (1) farm plot per map on release.

Bloodloch | Shamtota Hills | v66678
Enorian | Village of Jaru | v66430
Spinesreach | Southern Tundra | v66677
Duiran | Eastern Ithmia | v66679

Your first plot of land on your city-centric maps is free. After you have received your first deed, enter the farmland that aligns with your city and CLAIM FARMLAND WITH DEED. From there, you can ENTER FARMPLOT.

Once you enter your field, you will notice it is empty, save some grass which you will want to remove if you plan on growing anything - or maybe you want to leave it, I heard animals love grazing.

I would suggest erecting a shed as soon as possible, this building is your own personal hub and storage for your raw materials. From there? That is your choice. Experiment and explore the skillset, but I will give you a few pointers:

> What scares the crows?
> Watering is important.
> Some seeds are seasonal.
> Nothing grows in winter.
> Fertilized crops produce extra.
> Is that a bandit on your field?
> Trees need more space to grow.
> Winter field maintenance promises early spring.

WHERE DO I LEARN THE SKILL AND BUY BASIC MATERIALS?
---------------------------------------------------

There is one (1) NPC who teaches the skill and sells the basic materials and tools you will need to get started. However, as I mentioned earlier, they will only sell items until all of the Agriculture skills are rolled out. At that time, they will ONLY be a tutor for farming. Make sure you GREET him, too!

Tutor NPC: Ives, an Elder of Kald (v66435)
Skill Cost: 10,000 gold

Due to the importance of these skills on the economy, we felt it is important that they are more readily accessible to players; therefore, they will only incur a gold cost to learn.

However, to progress within the skill, it will continue to cost lessons as any normal skill tree does.

In order to learn the skills of FARMING, go to the tutor and type LEARN ABILITY OF FARMING FROM <tutor>.

I GREW SOME TREES, NOW WHAT?
----------------------------

Certain raw materials can be grown, and harvested, to then be processed into commodities. Yes, as I said earlier, we are giving you control over your cities, and personal, commodity supplies. This is achieved through production, which you will find is housed within your city. Each one has a new, designated area dedicated to material production.

Lumber Mill | Trunks into Wood
Tanning Room | Cow Hide into Leather
Clothier | Cotton into cloth. Hemp into rope.

Materials can only be sent to your city via a caravan, which you request from your farm shed. It is VERY important that you are aware that cities MUST invest in the production Research Tree to begin accepting resources and orders, as your first production facilities cannot constructed without the knowledge unlocked through that. Please take the time to read HELP PRODUCTION, as the process introduces a bunch of new functions for players, and cities or communities.

However, a few things to note:

> Travel time is a thing.
> Caravans can be attacked.
> City buying, and selling, is a balance.

Let me elaborate on that last point by explaining how we intend for this new system to be used:

1) You grow the raw commodity.
2) You harvest the crop, or tree, to your shed.
3) You request a caravan to come collect raw
commodities and ship them to a city for
processing.
4) You are charged a gold cost for the production.
This comes out of your bank account, so keep
gold in there!
5) You pickup your processed commodities from the
city warehouse once it has been refined.
6) You can then sell your commodities back to the
cities. They need them to keep production rooms
open, which you need to continue producing
commodities.

This keeps the whole system entirely in your hands on a fully interactive level by bringing in new ways to offset your costs by selling to the city, but the cities also make gold by charging you for production - these profits can be allocated to the trade ministry for future purchases; and around we go. It will be a delicate balance for you to find.

This also opens up new opportunities for creative ways to use commodities in future systems!

Lastly, a thing to note is that, the more workers at a particular station, the quicker the queue, however, the heavier the cost. This employment, and tax, is set by the leaders of each city or community.

SHOUT OUT
---------

I absolutely could not have done this without the support of the Pools. Everyone has had input on this new adventure and all of us are super excited to share this with you.

Special mention to Keroc, who has babied this project with me from the beginning and Razmael, who has added some magical flare and mechanics. Without their coding knowledge, work and additions, none of this would be ready for you to explore today.

We hope you enjoy it and we look forward to the future of this particular corner of Aetolia.

Happy farming, friends. Please feel free to send cookies.

With love,

Kyna



Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 7th of Haernos, in the year 481 MA.
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