Papyrus

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Papyrus (often called 'papy' for short) is a plant that is grown along the shores of the Nile. It can be run through a Paper Press to make Papyrus Paper. It can also be dried in a Drying Rack or Flax Hammock in order to produce Dried Papyrus (which has its own uses) and seeds. Sterile Papyrus (obtained by growing seeds in a Papyrus Tank) does not give seeds when dried, but otherwise can be used for the same products as regular papyrus.

Wild papyrus plants were around at the start of the telling, but at this point, any papyrus you come across will have been cultivated by somebody. Please be careful not to steal another player's harvest!

Taking papyrus that you didn't seed yourself is rude. Keep that in mind, please !

Cultivation

In previous tellings, papyrus could only be grown in the wild. In this telling, Papyrus can also be grown in tanks.

Wild Cultivation

In the wild, papyrus is grown by throwing seeds into the Nile, then waiting for them to float downstream (i.e. northward), where they wash up on the riverbank and grow into papyrus plants.

Plant seeds on a muddy bank, then look for plants about 10 minutes later about 100-150 coordinates NORTH and on both banks from where you planted it. (This means you should usually plant within 100 coordinates of a bridge.) Both the West Nile and East Nile are valid planting areas.

Also note that in some locations it will appear as though there is a "dead spot" where the Papyrus does not grow. This is not the case and is caused by nearby ponds and lakes generally to the east of the section of the nile you were planting in. If you find that there is a large gap, check for lakes and ponds nearby. I have seen papyrus travel as far as 300 (in t6) coordinates inland and sometimes even further.

(Note: I planted 44 hf from about -700 to -600 and found no papyrus anywhere on the Nile or in nearby lakes or feeders.)

Yields

Yields can be up to 20 papyrus from 1 seed, depending on where you plant and how well you space them. The exact yield varies depending on time of day, growing later at night is better. 20:1 is pretty hard to achieve, though. Usually, if you plant reasonably, you'll see yields of anywhere from 5:1 to 12:1.

Suggested Planting and Tips

• Make sure you are planting 1 seed at least 5 - 10 steps apart. Don't plant seeds farther apart than 15 coordinates.

• Pinning your Plant menu makes it easy to click in the far distance and plant as your avatar runs. You can also use the arrow keys to run, and if your mouse cursor is over the Plant menu, use the tab key to activate the planting action.

• You can right or left click to pick papyrus (right-clicking will harvest without bringing up a menu). Right-clicking to pick papyrus has the advantage that, if you mis-click, you will not run past the flower.

Aquaculture

In Tale 5, Sterile Papyrus can now be grown in a Papyrus Tank, also know as Aquaculture.

The disadvantages of aquaculture:

• The yield of harvested papyrus to seed is significantly lower than when papyrus is grown in the wild.
• The resulting Sterile Papyrus cannot be used to reproduce seeds, so any papyrus seeds used in the tank are lost.

The main advantage of papyrus aquaculture is to save time:

• If you're far from the Nile, you don't have to run to and from the Nile to plant, harvest, and dry papyrus.
• Planting papyrus in a tank takes almost no time.
• Once the papyrus has finished growing, you can leave it in the tank as long as you want without the chance of it disappearing.

Making Seeds

Papyrus Seeds (hf) are produced by drying Nile-grown papyrus at a high altitude. The higher the altitude at which the papyrus is dried, the more seeds are produced. At sea level, dried papyrus will usually produce no seeds; on the peaks of very tall mountains, an average of 40+ seeds per bundle of 20 papyrus is normal, but the per bundle yield ranges from 0 to 80 seeds. If you're concerned with getting lots of seeds, dry full bundles so rounding doesn't cost you so many fractions. Note: Even on the peak of a mountain, next to a rack that yielded 48 seeds, another rack produced no seeds.

Uses

• Can be converted into Papyrus Paper in a Paper Press. Each batch of 4 papyrus yields 2 paper.

• Can be dried in a Drying Rack or Flax Hammock in order to produce Dried Papyrus. Dried papyrus can be woven into baskets on a Hand Loom, or added to a firepit or Crematory to produce ash.

Required By

Cut Stone Obelisk, Dried Papyrus, Ecology, Essence of Harmony