Brethren of the Brick Seas (BoBS) Introduction and Starting Thread

[SkaForHire]

Brethren of the Brick Seas (BoBS) Introduction and Starting Thread

(Just looking for the Master Index?)

What is it?
The simple answer is that it is a building community on Eurobricks that is open to all who wish to join. We tell stories about a maritime-oriented world where the technology level is parallel with the historical Age of Sail. There are currently four factions. Each member joins a faction, and builds to win points (Gold doubloons and influence points) for their faction, themselves, and to better their building skills. At any given time of the year there may be one or more building challenges in which a builder may win recognition and sometimes prizes for themselves. On top of this, there is also a game mechanic that allows players to earn more gold and power for themselves and their faction.

Background:
The year is 615 AE (After Empire) and this is the dawn of a new era. For the first time in the history of the continent of Halos, new lands have been discovered. Even more shocking, the Halosians are not alone in the world. Once thought to be a flat plane, where monsters roamed the edges, the world is now believed by most geographers to be most certainly round. This was proven first with the discovery of Terraversa by the Mardierian explorer, Ardmond Basker.

For 100 years the Mardierians have held Terraversa as a far off gateway, keeping all others out and not allowing the information of the world to the east, or New Terra, to permeate into the rest of Halos. At almost a 1000 miles from the next island in the Sea of Storms, the island remains a most crucial point on the voyage into the unknown.

As time went on, other nations of the Madrice Peninsula began to search the seas for other islands and their potential riches. South of the Basker Islands, Corrington took Tiberia, an unforgiving rock just outside of the much more lucrative tropical zone. Oleon found LeBellan, the jewel of the Sea of Storms. LeBellan sits right inside the tropical zone, and produces sugar in vast quantities. 56 years ago Eslandola took possession of An Holli and An Toli, two smaller islands south of LeBellan, both sugar producing as well. Despite gaining footholds in the Sea of Storms, the other Madrician nations were unable to voyage beyond Terraversa.

This all changed with the death of King Harln of Mardier, and the vast civil war that began in the country in 595 AE. Instead of looking to gain territory from Mardier’s mainland, the Eslandolans approached the Viceroy of Terraversa and paid him handsomely for permission to trade at the island. The Viscount took it further and allowed ALL nations to pay for the privilege to visit his island. Twenty years later, as the civil war continues, Terraversa has become a defacto independent state. The Viscount’s son, Miro Oldis, now runs the island, and his father’s policies live on. It is not certain if the Mardierians will reestablish their colony or not after the war, but it may be too late.

In 597, intrepid Eslandolian explorer Cato Calrelli sailed east from Terraversa into the unknown. It was thought to be suicidal at the time, but he returned 70 days later with the news that he had found more of New Terra. He claimed the land for Eslandola, and soon the Kingdom of Eslandola was the leading nation in colonization.

In 605, news circulated throughout the Madrice Peninsula that the Eslandolans had found gold on their island of Nellisa, and this set off a thirst for expansion and exploration never before seen. With Terraversa as a launching spot for new expeditions, Corringtonians, Oleanders, Eslandolans, along with some Garvans, Mardierans, and Carnovans made their way towards New Terra. Many found themselves unable to find supplies at Nellisa, the Eslandolans baring even some of their own from landing on the island. These vagabonds headed south, where a new isle was found, one with few resources, but great defensive harbors. Soon, the Sea Rats had a home. Angry that they had been dispossessed and had not found aid, many turned to vengeance on the Eslandolans by becoming pirates, and many of these pirates began to prey on all nations, and even their fellow pirate. Besides Terraversa, where the Atwi tribe lives, no new natives have been found yet. The islands beyond Terraversa have so far all had strange abandoned settlements upon them, and some sailors say that there is a whole new nation of people in these far waters, but no one has recorded seeing a non-Halosian or Atwi person yet.

OW NORTH Series Map

This brings us to the present. Oleon and Corrington have both issued rewards for the first permanent settlement “Beyond the Line” (beyond Terraversa). They are willing to bring their navies to New Terra if they only have a settlement to resupply at. Eslandola is calling for its own people to venture into the unknown and find wealth and fortune in the its name. But the Sea Rats lurk in all the waters of New Terra, waiting for opportunity, and despite the world seeming more round than ever, some say those old sea monsters still exist in the uncharted lands of the East.


All factions await new souls to take on a role in the New World. Who will win in the end? Nobody knows, but for sure the sea will play a large role in deciding the fate of these rich new lands. She can be a cruel mistress to those who do not respect her, indeed, and the only guarantee in this world is that salt will run through your veins as you become part of the Brethren of the Brick Seas.



The Crossing Series Mapd

How this works:
Builders pick a faction - this is your faction until the next “open period,” so make sure to pick a character you like. You will be able to change factions with enough personal influence points (PIPs), but that take a while. Your builds do not have to display your signature figure, but we encourage it!

You also may build MOCs in other faction’s territory, so building is not limited to one style.

There will be an “Era” of story and challenges, which will end with winners being determined in a few different categories. The contests and stories told during an era will influence the map, the history of the world, and future challenges. When a era is completed, points will be reset, but Factions and builders will keep their “gold doubloons.” (DBs)

Builders and factions alike seek fortune. This project setting revolves around two currencies that are earned by building and winning competitions. This is the economy of the project. We understand that not every builder will want to play this game, and a builder can opt out of playing altogether, or only participating in the game when they choose. Free Builds that enhance the community’s story are always welcome. Even if a builder opts out of playing the "Economic Game System" (EGS), their freebuilds will earn their faction Doubloons and Factions Influence Points. Please see the rules thread for more details on how the economy works.



Factions:

The Kingdom of Eslandola STATUS: Open for new members SCORE: 0 DBs | 0 FIPs
The Empire of Corrington STATUS: Open for new members SCORE: 0 DBs | 0 FIPs
The Empire of Oleon STATUS: Open for new members SCORE: 0 DBs | 0 FIPs
The Sea Rats STATUS: Open for new members SCORE: 0 DBs | 0 FIPs

What you need to do now:
Take a look at the faction threads. Pick a side and sign up in the faction thread with your signature figure (sig fig). It helps to have a back story!

Can I have more than one character? Yes! Although one should be your sig fig and your main character, you can have as many other characters as you wish. The world needs populated after all!

A starting challenge: This is open to everyone to complete once, and 25DBs will be awarded to the builder for completing the task. Build your sig fig and place them in a setting in our world. It can be in the colonies, in the motherland, at sea, anything you would like, but make sure to show the figure clearly and demonstrate the profession you have chosen for them in some way. (IE: if you decided to play an explorer, maybe you will place them on the bow of a ship looking out to sea with a spy glass.) Any profession that existed during the enlightenment is fine, along with a few other professions that would be a reasonable fit. If you are playing in the EGS, then there are a few character traits that you may want to consider here.


How are scores kept? Each month, a pinned thread will help us keep score. After you complete a build (which should have its own thread, no matter if it is a free build, a duel, or a challenge build) you need to post in this score keeping thread and use a leadership-supplied link to a webform to help us keep score. In the thread, post your name, faction, and a link to your build (and the challenge it belongs to) in the thread. Please only use one post per topic, and just edit the thread when you build something else. At the end of the month, a project leader will tally up the scores and update the “Hall of Fame and Score” post for each faction. Please be patient for updates, we are not being paid for this.

Scores will be displayed as follows:

Name: DBs, PIPs, (PIPs achieved this cycle)

IE: Skaforhire: 5DB, 5PIPs, (2PIPs)

Current faction score is kept by adding all member’s totals within the parenthesis minus any expenditures the faction has made during the cycle.


What can be bought with points and doubloons?

A lot. The list will grow over time with more specifics, but since we are just launching this project, here are some of the examples without specific details:

DBs: Position within trading guilds, rank in certain factions, a letter of marque to join another factions war against a third faction, a licence to sail a vessel in the raiding action, gamble, etc…

FIPs: A newly discovered island, win a war between factions, buy DBs for the total score, open up a new portion of the map just for your faction for a few months, etc…



The Map: The map is a part of the storytelling mechanism. As you can see, it is not totally defined yet. This will change as time goes on. New portions of the New World (and some of the Old) will be uncovered through events, challenges, and other parts of the project. New islands will be claimed, older territories will be taken in war, and the map will stay dynamic throughout the story. Builders will have the map revealed to them over time, and they will help decide what lands are conquered.

With that said, the first part of our story will take place in New Terra. Your character should probably have some feasible connection that would lead them to that region, or it may be hard to really participate in the early challenges. A baker back in Eslandola’s capitol city is probably going to have little interaction with things going on in New Terra. We will eventually have challenges that happen on the mainland, and different story events “back home,” but we are emphasizing the pirate theme and its nature primarily in the first part of this project. Once a firm piratical lore and history is established, more aspects of Enlightenment era politics, war making, and commerce will emerge.

Rules Thread
History and Background Thread
The Scorecard Thread

 

Edited September 26, 2016 by Kolonialbeamter
all links fixed

[SkaForHire]

Saved

[gedren_y]

Would it be acceptable for me to create a sort of opposition religion to the centralized Oleon faith? The idea is a Triple Goddess religion with a wandering ministry, belief in mystical creatures, reincarnation, and other worlds, with a cave system in northwest Eslandola (near the Corrington border) as a holy site.

Also, would partial deck vigs be covered under the ship license web form? My character would only be gaining passage, not owning or operating the ship.

[SkaForHire]

Yes, and Yes.

Absolutely, although characters may have a problem following that religion in Oleon, in Corrington we only care about efficacy, do your religion on your own time, we don't care. Eslandola only cares about money, and will probably applaud if your religion tithes well... haha. But yes, this is an open ended world, do what you want with religion.

Also, I guess I never posted this, but with the ship registering system, you could use deck vigs -- I mean it should look proportionate enough that when whoever is going through the licenses at the end of the month check it they can say "yep, that looks about right" If we feel that there is a severe under-representation, we may ask for improvements or a downgrade of the license to a smaller vessel.

[gedren_y]

My question was about not having to worry about licensing. I don't really have any interest in the game mechanics.The ship would just be a means of getting from place to place.

[Kai NRG]

You can certainly use a ship without licensing it! Don't bother to fill out the form in that case though. If you're not going to participate in the Economic system the only form you will need to use would be the free-build form.

[MiloNelsiano]

I have a quick question, though I suspect I will have plenty more come up as I continue to read everything. I don't plan on participating too often--I would like to, but realistically I don't see it happening. Does it make sense for someone to participate in the EGS if they don't participate monthly? Or would it be better to not participate in the EGS? If you don't participate, can you later decide you'd like to participate? If you do participate can you later decide not to?

What does the W in the ship list stand for? Each ship is given either a Y or an N, but I couldn't see what it stands for.

Edited December 26, 2015 by MiloNelsiano

[SkaForHire]

WR = Well Rounded - IE: some offense, some defense, decent sailing for that class, and some cargo space.

You can casually participate in the EGS. If you don't care about keeping up on the "score board." That is no problem, you may want to use your DBs (gold) later on, so playing doesn't hurt you in any way. Whereas we may recognize monthly who made the most DBs or currently has the most DBs, that should not impact your participation at all, unless your motivation to participate was to be at the top of the leader boards! There will be stuff to do with DBs in each faction, such as buying positions. I suspect that there will be people who will try to keep at the top, but the majority of builders will probably move at their own pace and establish their own trading / raiding / plantation empire in their own time.

[Garmadon]

I have a quick question, though I suspect I will have plenty more come up as I continue to read everything. I don't plan on participating too often--I would like to, but realistically I don't see it happening. Does it make sense for someone to participate in the EGS if they don't participate monthly? Or would it be better to not participate in the EGS? If you don't participate, can you later decide you'd like to participate? If you do participate can you later decide not to?

What does the W in the ship list stand for? Each ship is given either a Y or an N, but I couldn't see what it stands for.

No problem if you can't participate too frequently, you can still be part of the EGS! And yes, if you're not sure right now you may join up later

About un-joining, I'm not sure that you can do that, but there isn't really any reason to! You are able to free-build without including them in the EGS after you have participated with some builds, if that is what you're asking

Not sure about the W.

[MiloNelsiano]

I understood WR, which is on the left of the table, but the column W at the top is what I was referring to. It's among the ©, ($), (H), (OP), etc.

[Garmadon]

Ah, checked that. It would appear to stand for Warship (Yes means yes and N means no)

[MiloNelsiano]

Ah, that makes sense now, thanks. And thanks to you and Ska for answering my other questions. Sounds like I will try the EGS, although I fully expect to do it incorrectly!

[Lord Vladivus]

I reckon I'll give this a go- probably more on the freebuild side of things to start. I'd just like clarification of the "free" licence for ships- does this mean we can have "X" class ship from our moment of sign-up? And which classes of ship in particular are free? Hope my questions make sense, couldn't work this out from the rules.

Edit: if we just freebuild, do we need a licence? Or just fro the MCRA?

Edited December 26, 2015 by Lord Vladivus

[Kai NRG]

So far as I understand, and Ska can confirm, you get one free class 1 or class 2 vessel license. If that ship is destroyed and you don't have any other one, you get another free license. However, to take advantage of the license, you have to build the ship, of course. (That is, post a free-build with a ship in it, and submit the licensing form for that ship + for the free-build.)

No license necessary for free-builds; the license would come later if you wanted to a) make property out of it, or b) buy a ship.

[SkaForHire]

Kai is correct, no need to license free builds, and the "free" license is any class 1 or 2 vessel. You can even "UN-license" your only vessel if you want a different "free" license. This was put in here so everybody could participate quickly in the raiding / trading game.

[Maxim I]

Yeeey it started!!! And dammit, I am on holiday for 3 days...

So I am building a 50 gun frigate. Will that be allowed as free or do I already have to pay for it?

[SkaForHire]

Yeeey it started!!! And dammit, I am on holiday for 3 days...

So I am building a 50 gun frigate. Will that be allowed as free or do I already have to pay for it?

Well, to be honest, the largest class 5 only has a gun rating of four, so I wouldn't imagine over 20 "large" guns on a "Class 5 Heavy A" vessel. We have not made Class 6 - 10 yet, because we figure that it would take a little bit for people to get up to buying licenses for the biggest ships already.

However, you could still build the ship and not register it until you have enough money for a Class (9ish?) ship. You wouldn't be able to use it in the MRCA for a bit... but you could also register a few smaller vessels in the meantime. The largest "free ship" (Class 1 or 2) is probably not going to have more than 10 large guns, and that might be pushing it.

[Mencot]

Whoa awesome this is on.

But the play setup sounds a bit too complicated and time consuming for me and my restricted time schedule.

I will make a sig (or that I have had for a long time) but a introduction of my fig and also try to be part of the not so time consuming parts of the game.

And a big hats off and thank you to those setting up this game, you have done a great job.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Mencot

[Rotaser]

Okay, I guess I will participate as soon as my vacation is over (though I do enjoy it).

But there is one question about the ship rating: The imperial flagship is taken as an example for a class 5 ship. Nevertheless for the war sloop it would need approx. 20 guns (g 5), but the model itself only hosts 10. I am asking as I am building on a massive warship, but as it is orientated on the "genuine" sets, it only hosts 12 guns (so far, maybe some smaller cannons on the top deck).

I am sorry if this question is totally out of place in this threat.

[Maxim I]

Okay, I guess I will participate as soon as my vacation is over (though I do enjoy it).

But there is one question about the ship rating: The imperial flagship is taken as an example for a class 5 ship. Nevertheless for the war sloop it would need approx. 20 guns (g 5), but the model itself only hosts 10. I am asking as I am building on a massive warship, but as it is orientated on the "genuine" sets, it only hosts 12 guns (so far, maybe some smaller cannons on the top deck).

I am sorry if this question is totally out of place in this threat.

Well, if TLG only used 4 studs between the cannons, the IFS would have a lot more cannons :)

I like this system of ranking ships :)

[SkaForHire]

Okay, I guess I will participate as soon as my vacation is over (though I do enjoy it).

But there is one question about the ship rating: The imperial flagship is taken as an example for a class 5 ship. Nevertheless for the war sloop it would need approx. 20 guns (g 5), but the model itself only hosts 10. I am asking as I am building on a massive warship, but as it is orientated on the "genuine" sets, it only hosts 12 guns (so far, maybe some smaller cannons on the top deck).

I am sorry if this question is totally out of place in this threat.

That post with the examples from LEGO sets was done before I changed the ship rankings a little bit, but should be taken as approximations. I feel as if the IFS was a little under powered how LEGO outfitted it... Also, you would pretty much have to double the cannon (or at least arm both sides) of each set to make them get more in line with the ship list.

Overall, when you are MOCing vessels, you should use those rankings as guidelines, but we are not going to hold anyone strictly to 12 guns = this type, 18 = that type, etc... What Maxim had asked was if he could use a 50 gun ship for his free license, which has to be a class 1 or 2 vessel, 50 guns is just way too far out of the scope of a class 1 or 2 for us to accept as the MOC for that licensed ship. So if you are making a ship with 12 guns total (6 a side?) It falls nicely with something up to at least a gun rating of 4, you could stretch it to 5 with a few small guns up top. (We don't even have a ship on the list with 5 yet, so that wouldn't be important.)

I *think* that I may have to add a "refitting" option, where you can refit your previous model and add some guns etc... to raise to a larger license for a smaller portion of the fee. (you would cancel the old license in doing so)

Well, if TLG only used 4 studs between the cannons, the IFS would have a lot more cannons :)

I like this system of ranking ships :)

True, I feel that a lot more "long guns" and some shorts on the top deck on a few of the ships would be possible.

[Adair]

Hurrah, a GoH-Pirate crossover! While I probably won't be too active here, I will join and post the occasional free-build. This worlks at really well, seeing as I just recently got into Pirates. I'll go choose my faction soon.

BTW, I can use relevant GoH builds for this, right? Because that would increase my activity tremendously.

[Maxim I]

Hurrah, a GoH-Pirate crossover! While I probably won't be too active here, I will join and post the occasional free-build. This worlks at really well, seeing as I just recently got into Pirates. I'll go choose my faction soon.

BTW, I can use relevant GoH builds for this, right? Because that would increase my activity tremendously.

Well, you can't post something twice on EB, so I would advice to modify it a bit before posting it a second time :)

[Captain Pirate Man]

I am interested in this, but I don't quite understand it. Can someone put the idea in layman's terms? Like say I decided I want to join the pirates, what do I have to do? I make up my own characters? What is the point system about? I keep reading the instructions, but I'm still a little confused.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Captain Pirate Man

[Captain Pirate Man]

I have a pretty massive blue coat moc that would be an excellent blue coat fort/city. But I am confused as to what I have to do to enter it in this game. Do I have to pay actual money? Please help, as I do think it would make a welcomed edition to this faction.