Ok, I think we're up to a point where you guys can
play around with the test version if you want.
It's not quite done yet. I still have to add library aspects to the other civs, and there are still some minor issues with creatures that I need to clean up. But for the most part it's functional.
Important things to know:
There is both a large single library (The Hall of Knowledge) and Library Sections. The Hall of Knowledge takes 1 book of each type. The library sections need 5 books of the same type. So, a Medical library will need 5 Medical Manuscripts.
Studying in a library takes 2 candles. These can be made of Wax or Tallow. There is a 50% chance that you will get a usable Glob of wax or Tallow back from each candle (depending on what the candle was, of course).
Books require Ink, Leather, Glue, and Paper/Parchment/Papyrus to make. Glue is gotten by rendering down hides or hooves from animals. Ink is made from Ash and Glue. (Actually, there is another recipe for ink but it requires Acacia to work).
The hides from different animals can now be better for use as armor. Cow leather is pretty decent, and Rhinoceros leather is pretty damn good. Apparently during the bronze age in china they mostly used Rhino leather for armor.
You can also use scaled hides now. There are also some new creatures in the world that have good hides. Various Drakes, Ironhide Centipedes, and Boulder Bugs are all pretty good. Well, for leather armor anyway.
Have fun with it and let me know what bugs you run into. I hope to have the actual release cleaned up and out in a week or so. I'm at the point where most of my testing needs to be long term forts, so it takes a while.