The mining skillset has received a small upgrade, with dormant skills being activated or replaced and a few new ones added. Smaller miners in particular will now find it easier to finance their activities, while larger ones may find certain of their products in greater demand. Enjoy!

Raiding has taken on a new face recently with the introduction of outposts and the strengthening of city guards. Each city has been provided with three outposts, which will form a valuable part of their defenses in days to come. When manned, the outposts will be fair targets for small groups of raiders.

In comparison, though, assaults on cities can be expected to take on a new level of difficulty. Raiders will find that city guards of various types have acquired the ability to block both physical and magical movement. As such, live guards can no longer be bypassed – though dead guards are, as ever, easy to walk past.

Those who prefer less confrontational methods of entry need not fear, however. Guards may be more formidable, but with a little skill and ingenuity, one may slip past them in disguise and prowl the city in relative safety. But do remember that even the best ruses only work so many times, and those who try to sneak into a city too often may well find themselves hauled up by the short hairs…

In days to come this new system will be refined and added to. Look out for more updates!

A whole new concept of bashing in Akanbar has been added today, the new dungeon system. Offering denizens the chance to explore a dungeon with a new, random layout everytime they adventure there, and ever increasing difficulty as they descend into its depths, these dungeons provide a new and exciting way to go treasure hunting, either alone or in a group.

The first dungeon launched features the undead, so prepare yourself to face ghouls and skeletons, all commanded by dark necromancers. More dungeons will follow featuring other groups of enemies to face, and perhaps new treasures for those that survive them.

We are pleased to announce the launch of two new features this weekend.

Firstly is the launch of a detailed weather system, factoring in wind, clouds and rain, all of which will affect the temperature of your enviroment. As a result of this, clothing appropriate to the weather conditions is now required.

The second aspect, and probably the more interesting is the launch of the new player building construction, allowing players to build their own homes for the first time, provided they can gather the necessary raw materials. In this initial launch several house templates have been provided, with many more templates planned for launch in the future, covering everything from a wizard’s tower to a knight’s castle. Of course, besides being a symbol of prestige, these houses also offer some functionality, from larders which slow food decay to gardens where herbs can be grown safely.

Further details of both these systems can be found online.

We are pleased to announce that a totally new novice tutorial has now been implemented, with a view to better teaching new players of Akanbar the core commands they will need in order to fully enjoy the Akanbar experience, as well as one that has been designed to be more immersive, so that players can rapidly be drawn into the ongoing storyline that is Akanbar.

Today, five new shrines first appeared around the land, shooting from the heavens like bolts of light, while the very ground trembled beneath the feet of those that walked upon it. After some exploration, these shrines were identified as the new shrines to knowledge, cunning, dreams, battle and leadership, marking the five great traits of the Ascended and providing a route to the ranks of the divine for one amongst mortalkind.

In the days ahead, great contests will be held in which those players that embody all that a shrine stands for will show their worth, and be named as the avatar of that trait, granting them their chance to stand forth for Ascension.

Today marked the hosting of the first Capture the Flag tournament in Akanbar, a hectic event with people from all over Akanbar competing side by side in their bids to hold the flags.

In the first round, the blue team of Blux, Zion, Miri and Draith faced off against the red team of Kiernan, Fleur, Twin and Calix. After an intense, but brief match, Zion succeeded in stealing away with the red flag, winning the tournament for the blue team. Shortly afterwards a second round was held, with the blue team now consisting of Blux, Miri and Twin and the red team of Kiernan, Fleur and Sharallin. Following a much longer contest, in which several attempts were made to seize the blue flag, Kiernan finally managed to wrest it away, carrying it safely back to the red base in the depths of the Sian Dorah, an act which led to the victory of his team.

Expect many more such tournaments in the future.

Today, a new facility has been added for all players of Akanbar, the ability to write a brief description of your character’s history. As part of bringing this new feature into play, a competition is also being held by Aten, God of the Sun, who will be rewarding the players who right the best character histories in each realm, as well as the best overall history in Akanbar. We would invite everyone to take part in this competition.

Whilst exploring the edge of the Plains of Ash near Golgonath, travellers stumbled upon a new road leading to the previously unknown village of Kervoza, a small town of quarrymen.

Following a drastic change in the magical ether that surrounds Akanbar, magic users across the land have now found that they are unable to tap into its benefits when encased in armour. Swift to adapt to this change however, new uses for both pyromancy and tempestry have been discovered that can vastly reduce physical damage in much the same way as armour.

At the same time as these events, Assassins have also discovered that many of their more agile abilities are in fact quite hard to achieve in full platemail, and in realising this have found that they can no longer achieve these same feats. Fortunately for them, they have also discovered that their agility is so great that they actually have less need for armour than other professions, easily able to survive in leather armour alone.