Here follows a report of our war correspondent: Agent Fox Winows

Following the announcement of the opening of the Old Lands, the homins entered the lands of Aelius Dunes with high expectations. What met them was a desolate desert landscape with camps at opposite ends filled with guards to protect their brave followers. War broke out immediately as both factions encountered each other at the top of the central hill. Aggressive kitins added to the mayhem and the fighting was fierce on the first days in the Dunes; dead homins were reported covering the ground in droves on occasions. The battle raged back and forth from one camp via the hill to the other camp and the harvesters were hard pressed to get any time for digging.

It seemed the number of homins for each faction differed greatly during the day, switching between a Kami and a Karavan domination for certain times and the harvesters had to make sure they entered relative safe harvesting areas depending on the dominant faction. No matter where they went it was a risky task as they where hunted down by fighters from the opposition.

After a few days some organisational planning seemed to emerge on both sides: harvesters needed guarding from the kitins and scouts were placed to warn of impending attacks from the other side. During the battles the mages were highly effective, but could not do without the fighters during the fiercest enocunters. As the homins sometimes grew battle weary, small periods of peaceful harvesting and friendly banter between the two factions occured. Not all the homins appreciated this cease-fire and the battle soon picked up again. But peace reigned from time to time and was highly appreciated by some.

Based on the progress, the harvesting of the precious materials suffered greatly from the fighting in the Aeilus Dunes. Soon, these material turned out not to be so abundant as the ones in the new lands.The materials in the old lands were a special type, able to shelter the divine power needed to construct the temples, though this also made the veins smaller and quicker to deplete. The decision was made to close down the Aeilius Dunes and to open a new piece of the old lands: the Olkern Lake. The close down was announced by both the Kamis and the Karavan, both strongly urging the homins to work hard as the temples and sanctuaries would be very important for the future teachings and spreading of their respective beliefs. In honour of the homins stout efforts to gather and craft materials despite the heavy fighting, the divine powers intervened and boosted the most advanced sites.

The homins entered the Olkern Lake area with greater caution, having learnt wariness from their first encounter with the Aelius Dunes. This new area was a beatiful lake with a central island connected by four land bridges, resembling a wheel with four spokes. This made for new tactics and both sides seemed to quickly understand the tactical advantages and applied them with the same ferocity as in the Dunes. However, days and days of fighting had worn out some of the homins and the moments of peaceful harvesting seemed to increase. The Karavan gained the upper hand in the construction due to their overwhelming numbers, but the Kamis, being fiercely loyal to Ma-duk, countered the diffrence in number with an admirable devotion to their cause.

As the veins started to collapse in the Olkern Lake as well, the factions announced that the area would soon close and urged the homins to harvest the remaining mats. The progress of the temples and sanctuaries did not warrant an intervention this time, though it was not as far along as expected and both the Karavan and the Kami representative strongly emphasised the need to be dilligent in the task of building the places of devotion. These sentiment was expressed once more when the Olkern Lake was closed and the Almati Wood teleporters activated.

The Almati Wood turned out to be very diffrent from the first two areas: a wooded area with kitins hovering in the bushes, defending their territory ferociously. Homins managed to find safe areas for the lower types of materials, but the high level sap, amber and wood was located in the center amidst a ring of trees and with kitins so numerous that new tactics had to be used. This resulted in long periods of peace as both factions had to cooperate to be able to extract any materials, with many guarding the harvesters against the kitin menace.

The gruesome task of prying enough materials from the old lands continues at current and it has become a close race between the two factions. The kami side are reported to have mobilized more homins and doubled their efforts to catch up with the Karavans, which have felt safe in their lead, but now face the daunting task of trying to keep up with the Kamis burst of speed. Which side will win at the end is highly unpredictable at the moment.

This is Agent Fox Winos, signing out.