The artifact auction has begun!

To see a list and descriptions of the items being auctioned for credits, please read Announce news #1745.

In additiona, 17 artifacts are being auctioned off for gold. These items are:

Wand of Reflection
Heartwood Bow
Ivory Figurine
Money Pouch
Quicksilver Amulet
Mask of Lifevision
Wand of Portals
Monocle of Acuity
Gloves of Harvesting
Diadem of the Quickening
Hammer of Forging
Smoked glass pipet
Bloodstone ring
Gauntlets of Aesir
Girdle of Aesir
Sash of Malkav
Ethereal Boots

To participate in the auction, simply go to an auction house (most of the cities and councils have one, and there is a public one in the Sienna forest). HELP AUCTION has more information about the commands that you will use to view and bid on the items.

You do not have to have the credits on-hand at the time that you make your bids. You will have one week after the end of the auction to obtain enough bound credits to pay for any items that you win.

If you are not able to accumulate enough bound credits to purchase any items that you have won, I will shrub all of your characters permanently. Serious bids only!

We use a second price system for the bidding. This means that, when you bid on an item, you are bidding the highest price that you are willing to pay. The current bid (show in the auction wares) represents the current value at which the item will be sold, if there are no additional bids. When somebody else bids on an item, the current bid will automatically be incremented up to your maximum bid. See the bottom of this post for an example of the second price system for clarification.

The auction will last for approximately 7 days. If there are multiple bids for an item just before it is due to expire, the duration of the auction will be increased. This is to prevent snipe bidding at the last second, and this means that it is not possible to give a completely accurate ending time for the auction.

Second price system example:

Bob decides that he really wants the miniature smelter. He bids 500 credits on the item. Since the smelter started off with a 100 credit bid, Bob's current bid is set to 100, and his maximum bid is set to 500.

John bids 200 credits on the miniature smelter. This is not enough to pass Bob's maximum bid, so the high bidder on the item is still Bob, but the current bid is now 201. Bob's maximum bid is still 500 credits.

Jane also really wants the miniature smelter, so she bids 600 credits. This is enough to pass Bob's maximum bid, so the new high bidder is Jane, with a current bid amount of 501 credits, and a maximum bid of 600 credits.

Bob is angry. He bids 1200 credits on the smelter, just to make sure that he gets it. He is the new high bidder with a current bid value of 601 credits, and a maximum bid of 1200.

Nobody else bids on the item, so Bob wins the smelter with a bid of 601 credits.

Penned by my hand on the 22nd of Bellum, in the year 633 AD.