10.4 CULTURE

Culture gauges the philosophical, literary and scholarly development of a city or commune, as well as the activity of the population. Culture determines the amount of passive power gained through attracting scholars, bards and other supplicants to cities and communes. The city or commune with the highest culture becomes the "Cultural Centre" of the Basin, which is afforded the same weight as though controlling a village under POLITICS, which comes on top of additional bonuses. The current cultural diversity around the Basin may be viewed through the CULTURE command.

CULTURAL ACTIVITY
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Cultural activity measures the membership activity within a city or commune's guilds. Novice activity is given twice the weight as member activity. The city or commune with the highest cultural activity is awarded a bonus of 100 points. 

CULTURE FROM THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
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The Ministers of Cultural Affairs in each city and commune may submit recorded productions to the Vesteran World Stage. Culture points are generated by the average rating of the plays in the World Stage.

Note, we do not allow the same production to be recorded on multiple organizational stages.

Culture Awards from Theatres
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 o Wandering bards brought to stages increase cultural scores.

 o Culture points are awarded based on the level of activity of a city's or
   commune's stage, including both the submitted play and other productions.
   Culture points will only be awarded on recent submissions.

 o A bonus is awarded to the city or commune on the basis of the highest
   theatre rating of currently submitted plays and on theatre activity.

NOTE: Tickets for a play presented on the World Stage will cost the same as
tickets at that play's originating stage.

CULTURE FROM GREAT LIBRARIES
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The great libraries of the Basin are at fierce competition against each other in order to be the greatest, most respected library in the realms and as such, cause their library to generate more power than their rivals. This competition is generally referred to as the Library Culture or simply Culture.

The prestige of a library is based upon those books it publishes, rather than simply those stored in its halls. Books can be published in two categories: Literary (stories, songs, etc.), and scholarly (treatises, histories, etc.). Only those published books that withstand a period of critique have any cultural weight. 

Culture Awards from Great Libraries
-----------------------------------
 o Wandering scholars brought to libraries increase cultural scores.

 o Bonuses are awarded for the first, second and third largest literary 
   collections in recent (50) years.

 o Bonuses are awarded for the first, second and third largest scholarly
   collections in recent (50) years.

 o Bonuses are awarded for the first, second and third largest 
   library (both literary and scholarly collections) of all time.

 o The library which had the highest growth (by publishing the most books)
   in the previous year receives a bonus.

 o Libraries begin each year with a set credibility rating. So long as a 
   library maintains this top rating, that library will receive a bonus.
   If a critique is found valid, the library the book came from will be 
   penalized. Likewise, if a critique is found invalid, the library who 
   critiqued the book will be book penalized.

 o Literary Winner. The library who won a literary contest for prestige 
   publications the previous year receives a bonus.

 o Scholarly Winner. The library who won a scholarly contest for prestige 
   publications the previous year receives a bonus.

"Prestige" publications are extremely rare. Each library has the ability to submit one of their published works for intense scrutiny by a team of divine scholars. Each library can submit two works a year, a scholarly work and a literary work, these works can be reviewed by all librarians of Great Libraries, who may take the time to read these works and write a review of their opinions. After this, the books are deliberated by the divine scholars and two works shall be generally perceived as superior in quality, one in the Literary category and one in the Scholarly category. A book announced as a superior publication is thus counted as a "Prestige" publication. Immediately, the credibility of a library is raised. Further, Prestige books will have a weight of 3 when determining the size of library collections. See PRESTIGECONTESTS for more details and benefits.

It is the librarian's responsibility to make sure his or her library becomes the biggest in the basin, and make sure the books get published in time.

The city or commune who has the highest overall cultural rating becomes known as the "Cultural Centre" of Lusternia. This has the same weight as if controlling a village. The Cultural Centre generates a bonus 1000 power.

Ranks for Literary Winners
--------------------------
 1 - Narrator
 2 - Talespinner
 3 - Fantasist
 4 - Wordsmith
 5 - Acclaimed Author
 6 - Speaker of Fables
 7 - Composer of Verse
 8 - Epic Storyteller
 9 - Master of Rhapsodic Prose
10 - Voice of the Ages

Ranks for Scholarly Winners
---------------------------
 1 - Intellectual
 2 - Bachelor of Science
 3 - Established Sage
 4 - Brilliant Academician
 5 - Master of Science
 6 - Savant of Reason
 7 - Doctor of Philosophy
 8 - Fabled Intellectual
 9 - Eminent Professor of Science
10 - Visionary of the Ages

Ranks for Theatrical Winners
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 1 - Showman
 2 - Dramatist
 3 - Thespian
 4 - Showman Extraordinaire
 5 - Acclaimed Director
 6 - Dramaturge
 7 - Master Thespian
 8 - Soul of the Stage
 9 - Eminent Thespian
10 - Thespian of the Ages

See also: HELP GREATLIBRARIES