Gabe

Dogun a Kaleti - The easternmost star

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Deep in the Moruth swamplands lies the lands of the powerful Ga'zaar warlocks. The area is well known to be rich in both poisonous and medicinal plants, many of which are also valuble for spellcasting and magical brewing. Some years ago, Lord Sansael's father sought trade agreements with the Ga'zaar warlocks and an embassy was established there to bring traders of the two guilds together.

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The embassy has become known as "The easternmost star" by Kaliphlian merchants and adventurers, a reference to it's unusual shape. The star shaped base is supported on huge wooden pylons, driven into the mud and then encased in volcanic concrete. The neccecery construction materials were brought in on Peregrinian barges at great expense, and constructed with a mixture of local and Kaliphlian labour. The local orc tribes, who helped with the construction, are justly proud of this landmark - it certainly goes a long way to dispelling the myth that all orcs are shoddy builders! :wink:

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In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, the shape of the base also has magical signifigence. The six pointed star contains and directs the energy of the most powerful divinations along it's sacred geometry. (By tradition, all ambassadors assigned to the embassy are powerful mages in thier own right, as they have the neccercary skills in arcane herbology.)

Magical, ever-flowing fountains are present on each point. As well as being wonderful magical conductors, the fountains are also a reliable source of fresh, clean water in the fetid swamp.

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There are two ways of entering the embassy. The more important guests and dignitaries can disembark at the small jetty, and enter through the eastern door. (the one marked with the scarab shields) They can then acend the staircase to the open air reception level, where they are recieved with all due hospitality.

The other way of entering is by the spiral staircase underneath the base. Unless the visitors are at least semi aquatic, this can only be accessed at low tide by wading or punting across the mud flats. They are either recieved on the lower floor, or if the matter is one of low skullduggery (or personal hygene on the part of the visitor!), the ambassador might decend to the basement level to conduct business. :devil:

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The embassy has only minimal staff, being both small in size and remote. Besides the ambassador, there is his assistant, his personal gaurd of 2 (you can see them gaurding the staircase and entry to the top level), four peregrinian gaurdsmen and the boatman.

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As a rule, ambassadors to Nocturnus don't tend to last too long, Nocturnus being what it is! :laugh: However, the current ambassador seems to be bucking that trend. A personal appointee of Lord Sansael, Ambassador Daraith Vensal has been in the post for 2 years now, and already shows signs of "going native". Afflicted with a rare skin condition, he was glad to make the move to Nocturnus, where the sun is not so harsh and irritates him less. He also sees the post as a great opportunity to pursue his magical studies with the local shamans and warlocks. He has a reputation locally as a smart dealer with a ruthless streak and an eye to the long game - and he never lets anyone know what game he's playing! :devil:

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The boatman is one of the mountain mummy tribe from the Rakath. As a rule, Peregrinians shun the mountain mummies, having long ago been in conflict with them over land. However, Ambassador Vensal's last mission was to approach the mummy tribes about common land access rights, and he has made many freinds in the southern Raketh. The mummy Pashhun is one who returned with him to Berigora, and later decided to follow him to Nocturnus. Pashtun's job here is to gaurd the jetty and greet the dignitaries.

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The ground floor of the embassy. A local orc shaman has come to talk about trading herbs and herblore for repairs to her villiage. She is received by Ambassador Vensal's assistant, the Djinn Azok.

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Ambassador Vensal receives a local dignitary to talk about what he can offer visiting Kaliphian merchants, and to discuss the recent unrest in Cedrica and Historica generally.

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After the meeting, the local warlock joins Ambassador Vensal in a ceremonial toast from the east fountain, before heading off again in his boat.

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It's been a long day! All duties done, Ambassador Vensal relaxes on his private balcony. :thumbup:

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Ambassador Vensal's room at the top of the embassy.

~~~~~~

Phew. Did this make it in at the 11th hour? I hope so! Thanks for looking peeps! :classic:

22/02: Edited to reflect new alterations. I realise that the new version has missed the embassy deadline, but i really wasn't happy with parts of my build and so had another bash at it. :classic:

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Here are the two versions side by side - the old one on the left, the revised one on the right.

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Overall i'm happy with the revisions. The shape seems more pleasing now, with a more obviously tapering structure and clearer divisions between the floors.

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The stairs to the top level have now been relocated to the back of the building, and follow the sides of the building more closely. The use of white has also been restricted to the fountains, columns and window accents on the top floor.

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The middle floor is more enlosed now, for privacy and warmth. Two of the 6 walls between the columns are solid (although the front contains a doorway), while the other 4 are curtained to evoke a tent-like atmosphere.

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The ambassador and his visitors can now recline in comfort, Kaliphlin style, and discuss business on the middle floor. (Note: i took out part of the front wall to be able to take this shot!)

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The only drawback to the revisions is that the ambassador's bedroom is now a bit smaller, and he can't fit his bookcase in. Still, we all have to make sacrifices in the name of style! :laugh:

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And lastly, just because i couldn't resist... :vader::wink:

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my embassy revisions, and i'd be very interested to hear what you think of them. Cheers all! :classic:

Edited by gabe

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that star pattern base is great! and very creative use of the new star wars pieces!

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I really love it, the shape of the base is fantastic, and there just so many details everywhere! The use of the trans green tiles as swampwater is cool, and it gives the feeling its really in the middle of a swamp, The only thing I'm not sure about is the contrast between the white and the black, but I suppose thats the Kaiphilin and Nocturnus styles blending!

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After seeing your wip pic and seeing this you have not dissapointed, this is fantastic, is the dome top part of the new starwars worlds? It's certainly refreshing from the gold ones. You've blended the two styles brilliantly and the star base is simply amazing, the swamp is very well done too, time consuming placing those tiles? I see those headlight bricks wanting something on them. The characters and details are good aswell. Good job.

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Nice embassy, I like the water fountains on each point of the star. Of course the Kaliphites would flaunt water where they can, with it being so precious in their homeland!

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Brilliant entry gabe. A very innovative shape and lovely round roof using what I think is a new part? The overall architecture is very appealing, the way you've mixed in some gold with the white works very well. The dark tan and the trans-green for the swamp is excellent too. The well-built interior rounds off a top build.

My only criticism is that on a couple of the photos it seems very "busy" (primarily the fourth one down). There are so many rich colours popping out at me! However, this is a very minor point and I wouldn't want it to detract from what is otherwise a fantastic entry and in my opinion will probably place very highly in the competition. Good luck! :thumbup:

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The building is excellent! The story is excellent! The swamp using trans green tiles is a technique I am stealing...

Not loving the black/white, but the interior & exterior details and characters I do love. Well done on the star & hexagonal shapes.

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I love the unique design of the base - I am too chicken to try anything that doesn't run on right angles with the traditional connections! Your building came out great. Another great addition to Kaliphlin.

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oooh, marvellously swampy! Another beautifully presented and constructed tower, gabe. It was a really good idea to go for that external staircase to create the room, I did wonder how you were going to get space in the top and that is a perfect solution. Well done on the Death Star use (I struggled for a long time trying to fit Naboo on top of my embassy, the coulours are perfect but it just didn't quite fit and I really wanted to preserve the octagonal shape). Great use for Sebulba too :wink: Are the triangles actually equilateral? Very impressive maths to make that work!

:classic:

Edited by robuko

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Looking great, you have a lot of work to remove all this 1x1 tiles :laugh:

I love this corners on the bottom from your embassie

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Absolutely amazing MOC! This is a true melding of the Kaliphlin and Nocturnus styles. Great job!

Thanks, your too kind! It's been fun building in Nocturnus. :classic:

that star pattern base is great! and very creative use of the new star wars pieces!

Haha, thanks! I deliberated about using the laser beam half of the death star, but i wussed out in the end. :wink:

I really love it, the shape of the base is fantastic, and there just so many details everywhere! The use of the trans green tiles as swampwater is cool, and it gives the feeling its really in the middle of a swamp, The only thing I'm not sure about is the contrast between the white and the black, but I suppose thats the Kaiphilin and Nocturnus styles blending!

Cheers, glad you like it! :classic: Yeah, black and white together is hell to photograph - it does look better in real life, but i did know i was choosing a hard road with this colour combo. :sceptic:

After seeing your wip pic and seeing this you have not dissapointed, this is fantastic, is the dome top part of the new starwars worlds? It's certainly refreshing from the gold ones. You've blended the two styles brilliantly and the star base is simply amazing, the swamp is very well done too, time consuming placing those tiles? I see those headlight bricks wanting something on them. The characters and details are good aswell. Good job.

Thanks CptMugwash, the dome is indeed the bottom half of the death star - i thought that was quite appropriate to go with the base. :wink: The tiles did take a while to place, but it was quite a soothing job actually - put a DVD on the computer and just plug away. I'm not looking forward to unpicking it all though! As for the studs on sides bricks on the base - they are meant to be drainage/ventilation holes for high tides, when the water level rises above the level of the arches. :classic:

Nice embassy, I like the water fountains on each point of the star. Of course the Kaliphites would flaunt water where they can, with it being so precious in their homeland!

Thanks! Yep, us Kaliphlinians love a good fountain. :thumbup: The only problem with these ones are that the filters constantly need changing - most of Ambassador Vensal's requests to Berigora involve the provision of new pumice filters! :wink:

Brilliant entry gabe. A very innovative shape and lovely round roof using what I think is a new part? The overall architecture is very appealing, the way you've mixed in some gold with the white works very well. The dark tan and the trans-green for the swamp is excellent too. The well-built interior rounds off a top build.

My only criticism is that on a couple of the photos it seems very "busy" (primarily the fourth one down). There are so many rich colours popping out at me! However, this is a very minor point and I wouldn't want it to detract from what is otherwise a fantastic entry and in my opinion will probably place very highly in the competition. Good luck! :thumbup:

Thanks Basiliscus for your kind words. :classic: I could not agree more about the busyness of parts of build - the mix of black and white is confusing enough without adding all the small colour accents. :sceptic: My problem was a delayed bricklink shipment of some white and light grey parts, neccecitating the overuse of black, especially at the top of the pillars on the 1st floor. (If only i'd got that GE last year - woe! I knew i'd regret it..) In the end i couldn't wait any longer and just had to get the thing done. I might try again later to take some better shots, or perhaps tear down the top two floors and attempt something else... somehow i don't quite feel like i've finished with this build. :sceptic:

The building is excellent! The story is excellent! The swamp using trans green tiles is a technique I am stealing...

Not loving the black/white, but the interior & exterior details and characters I do love. Well done on the star & hexagonal shapes.

Thanks mate! Steal away... i stole the idea first anyway... :laugh: I totes understand about the black and white thing - i suspect it's something to do with this particular mix of black and white... surely there's got to be a way to make it harmonise a bit better. :sceptic:

I love the unique design of the base - I am too chicken to try anything that doesn't run on right angles with the traditional connections! Your building came out great. Another great addition to Kaliphlin.

Haha, thanks! At times during building this i was all "why did i have to make it such an odd shape whyyy...", but it was fun trying something different nevertheless!

oooh, marvellously swampy! Another beautifully presented and constructed tower, gabe. It was a really good idea to go for that external staircase to create the room, I did wonder how you were going to get space in the top and that is a perfect solution. Well done on the Death Star use (I struggled for a long time trying to fit Naboo on top of my embassy, the coulours are perfect but it just didn't quite fit and I really wanted to preserve the octagonal shape). Great use for Sebulba too :wink: Are the triangles actually equilateral? Very impressive maths to make that work!

:classic:

Thanks, glad you like it! :classic: Yeah, the external staircase was the obvious soloution, although i'm not sure that i did such a great job with the shape of it - i'd like to make one with a full rotation, but that would mean making the structure much taller and more complicated. It seemed that so many of my inital ideas ended up getting compromised whilst building, never a great position to be in. :hmpf_bad: Oh well, chalk it up to experience!

The triangles aren't quite equalateral btw, i didn't really do any maths for this, just made it big enough to fit on a 48x48 base and then fiddled about until it looked vaugely right. If i remember rightly, two opposing sides have slightly shorter base sides. (if that makes sense) It made building the hexagon shape on top of it rather challenging! :laugh:

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You totally surprised me with the result! When you showed the WIP-pictures, I had something else in mind!

But really great MOC! The tower is just like how someone imagine a Nocturnian tower.

Also very nice effect using the transparant green 1X1 tiles for creating the swamp :thumbup:

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Epic foundations on this one, great shape and the sand green works well to make it 'swampy'. Congratulations on making al those angles work together, even with an interior in it! The swamp is excellent, tree looks interesting as well. I must agree with Basiliscus that the mid-section is a bit to chaotic/colourful for the eye, but it probably looks fine in real. The style is also a perfect blend of kaliphin and nocturnus.

Anyway, fantastic Embassy

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Wow, another outstanding build, gabe! I really like the design; you're pushing the envelope there with the star and the hexagonal sections. It's the perfect combination of Nocturnus weirdness and Kaliphlin desert style. You nailed the combination of the two. And so many great details. I don't think it looks too cluttered; it looks realistic. The black and gold is a great color combination (I still think they should have been the Kaliphlin colors). The story is great too. BTW, I think the external staircase looks really good, although there isn't a good detail pic of it. And are those clips and bent bars the only things holding the black ground floor walls together?

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Looking great, you have a lot of work to remove all this 1x1 tiles :laugh:

I love this corners on the bottom from your embassie

Cheers mate! :classic: Yes, a bit of unpicking ahead of me with the trusty crowbar, pity i don't have one of those new plate removal tools yet... :cry_sad:

You totally surprised me with the result! When you showed the WIP-pictures, I had something else in mind!

But really great MOC! The tower is just like how someone imagine a Nocturnian tower.

Also very nice effect using the transparant green 1X1 tiles for creating the swamp :thumbup:

Haha, thanks! Yeah, i think i had something different in mind as well... but things kindof changed as i was building. That's the way goes sometimes, hey? :wink:

Epic foundations on this one, great shape and the sand green works well to make it 'swampy'. Congratulations on making al those angles work together, even with an interior in it! The swamp is excellent, tree looks interesting as well. I must agree with Basiliscus that the mid-section is a bit to chaotic/colourful for the eye, but it probably looks fine in real. The style is also a perfect blend of kaliphin and nocturnus.

Anyway, fantastic Embassy

Thanks, i really appreciate your feedback Balthasar! :classic: I got my last Bricklink parts for the embassy TODAY, timing hey? :hmpf: I'm hoping actually that i can wrangle some more time this week to go back and use them to alter parts of it - try to make it a bit more cohesive. We shall see!

Wow, another outstanding build, gabe! I really like the design; you're pushing the envelope there with the star and the hexagonal sections. It's the perfect combination of Nocturnus weirdness and Kaliphlin desert style. You nailed the combination of the two. And so many great details. I don't think it looks too cluttered; it looks realistic. The black and gold is a great color combination (I still think they should have been the Kaliphlin colors). The story is great too. BTW, I think the external staircase looks really good, although there isn't a good detail pic of it. And are those clips and bent bars the only things holding the black ground floor walls together?

Thanks for your kind words NM/Gex! :classic: Yeah, when i was thinking about the backstory for this embassy, it figured that a Ambassador/mage would have an oddly shaped building, and i was also thinking about repeating patterns in Islamic art, so that's how the star shape came about. I'm quite happy with the structure up to the open air level, but after that some of the transitions started to go a bit askew. :sceptic: Regarding the hexagonal room, each wall section is attached in the conventional manner to the base, but tethered together only at the top clips - because of the uneven sides (some 9 studs, some 10) nothing lined up perfectly brick to brick. Hence the columns and clips/tubing! Btw, i'll try to take some more pics today of the external stairs if you like, i do quite like the railing. Thanks again! :classic:

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AMAZING! I love this MOC! One of my favorite Embassies by far. I love all of the angles - the star pattern works beautifully, especially with the fountains and the angled 2nd level as well. The swamp is great, and I may have to steal that pier design - it's Perfect (Shoulda thoughta that myself grumble grumble :angry: ). The staircase is beautiful, the dome piece is great, so many little details, and so much going on - great interior. So much to say about this one - Love it!

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Awesome shape and use of unusual parts like the new Death Star piece for the dome and the microfigs for statues.....

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Awesome Moc there, I'm especially fond of this star design. And what amazes me most about it is that it shows how almost every angle is possible with Lego.

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Wow so many details!!! :classic: The star shape of the embassy is really good and I like it´s location deep in a swamp!

Great work on this one Gabe (again! :classic: )

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AMAZING! I love this MOC! One of my favorite Embassies by far. I love all of the angles - the star pattern works beautifully, especially with the fountains and the angled 2nd level as well. The swamp is great, and I may have to steal that pier design - it's Perfect (Shoulda thoughta that myself grumble grumble :angry: ). The staircase is beautiful, the dome piece is great, so many little details, and so much going on - great interior. So much to say about this one - Love it!

Aw shucks, thanks rogueang! :blush: Glad you like it. That jetty planking technique was stolen from Sirens-of-Titan's latest installment of his excellent story, just fyi. As soon as i saw it i wanted to use it! :grin:

Awesome shape and use of unusual parts like the new Death Star piece for the dome and the microfigs for statues.....

Cheers, fellow guild member! :classic: Yep, those new planet peices look quite useful...

Awesome Moc there, I'm especially fond of this star design. And what amazes me most about it is that it shows how almost every angle is possible with Lego.

Thanks kabel. I couldn't agree more... with the number of elements available and all the different kinds of connections, just about anything is possible! :thumbup: (although perhaps not at every scale...)

Wow so many details!!! :classic: The star shape of the embassy is really good and I like it´s location deep in a swamp!

Great work on this one Gabe (again! :classic: )

Thanks de Gothia, glad you enjoyed my build. :classic:

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Ooh, curtains! Very homely. I love the tent feel to the middle floor and the new upper balcony. I really liked the window treatment on the first version, sorry to see that nice frame go. The design of the new stairs is a good change though. From the photographs, my only critique would be that the black is too... black, now there is a lot more of it. I know we`re in Nocturnus, and I`m sure it looks awesome in real life, but I think that dark grey or dark brown would have been more harmonious with the rest of the build. Small niggle, I think the overall impact of the revisions make this even better, especially the drapes. Good to see your builders are perfectionists!

:classic:

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Ooh, curtains! Very homely. I love the tent feel to the middle floor and the new upper balcony. I really liked the window treatment on the first version, sorry to see that nice frame go. The design of the new stairs is a good change though. From the photographs, my only critique would be that the black is too... black, now there is a lot more of it. I know we`re in Nocturnus, and I`m sure it looks awesome in real life, but I think that dark grey or dark brown would have been more harmonious with the rest of the build. Small niggle, I think the overall impact of the revisions make this even better, especially the drapes. Good to see your builders are perfectionists!

:classic:

Thanks Robuko, it's always nice to hear your thoughts. :classic: Yes, the new windows on the upper floor are perhaps not as nice as the old ones, but i wanted to try something different. They are kinda growing on me... Glad to hear you like the new curtains and stairs. I quite like the black myself, but i guess it's partially personal preference, hey? I do feel like the concentric rings of black define the structure better, and give it a focus that is quite seperate from the base. Of course, taking pics of it is never easy, but i feel like i did a better job of that this time round as well, so there is less disprepency between the tones in the images and how it looks in rl. Anyway, thanks again for your thoughtful comments! :classic:

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Yes! I always knew that the Nocturnians were in line with the sith! default_classic.gif

Another excellent build Gabe! The star shape is stunning, and the tower just wonderful. The use of black white and tan is great!

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Congrats on another win Gabe! You must be deserving of Kaliphlin Master Builder at this point!

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