Am I being stupid here and asking for too much here or am I right in wishing for a full and comprehensive website update and expansion? One which not only adds more flesh to what is a rather boney looking world description and adding many other new things such as additional information on the Tsolyáni language? Or, even better, a full upload of all canonical information on the setting, including a (relatively) full bestiary, language information for what information is available, extra cultural information, fleshed out sections on the religions and fully fleshed out descriptions of the nations which are known? The website doesn't seem to have had much of an update in a while, so isn't it too much of an ask to have a big revamp to help revitalise it as well as adding a lot of new content?

Hi Shardik. I sympathise with your desire to have everything on the website, and indeed I had similar plans when I started the site back in the late 90s. But remember that everything you mention is copyrighted, and simply copying and pasting huge swathes of background info to the site would be inappropriate. Professor Barker, and now the Tékumel Foundation, have been very kind to allow me to post the material that I have up to this point.

I agree with you that the site is long overdue for an update however. Unfortunately other committments (including my gaming site The Esoteric Order of Gamers at orderofgamers.com) have taken precedence in the last couple of years. Keep in mind what you ask takes a LOT of work and the hundreds of hours that have already been spent creating and expanding this site have been done completely for free!

While buying the many books available will always been the best way to get background information on Tékumel, I will have a good think about what else I can put on the site and whether I can find the time for another big update – it being the 40th anniversary of The Empire of the Petal Throne and all.

Thanks for your feedback!

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Ksarul

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How about getting a few other Tékumel fans in on improving the website? The more the merrier they say, and it would also enable the updates to be more regular.

Possible. Again, it all takes time to organise and do, and just at the moment I have other priorities. I'm giving it some thought however.

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Ksarul

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Shardik, the Tekumel Foundation has said that they have a very small budget. Unless and until some of the recent Tekumel publications sell really well, I think it's safe to assume they don't have the money for the kind of comprehensive super-website that you want. They are also very reluctant to give away Tekumel content for free.

Just for the record, I created the site long before the Tekumel Foundation and it has never contributed to the site financially, apart for the domain name registration fee. I even host the site at my own expense. While the content is obviously from the original sourcebooks and publications written by Tékumel fans over the years, the site itself was entirely created on my own initiative and has been maintained over its history by me alone. I've never received so much as a single donation. The Foundation obviously approves of the site, as did Professor Barker, but it's my site, though I of course hold no ownership whatsoever of any of the Tékumel content and use it with his, and now the Foundation's, permission.

Just for the record!

And I am working on a revamp, but it may take some time as it is, as always, unpaid work.

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Ksarul

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By the Big Eye of Thumis!! Peter, I knew that you built the whole site and are the webmaster. I guess I just assumed that when the Foundation got started and started calling this site the "official" Tekumel site, that it was contributing to hosting or was involved in some way. Thanks for correcting me on that!

For what it's worth, if you did want to set up an online donation mechanism, I bet you'd get at least a trickle of funds that you could put towards hosting costs.

There's a donate button hidden away on the About This Site page, but I'll make it more prominent when I revamp the site!

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Ksarul

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