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2018 Note: Unsurprisingly, there have been a few minor changes since 2014 - RA

2014 Note: Since it has been mentioned various times that Guilds of Historica is "hard to understand as a new builder" I thought I would revamp this a little. I originally wrote it before I was one of the guild leaders, and it is still unfinished, but any comments on things to add would be appreciated.

2013 Note: Since this has been mentioned countless times in the last two weeks, I started it. It is not finished, I just wanted to get the basics up. Please feel free to comment critique, and to add to it. I will try to keep it regularly updated.

Guilds of Historica New Member Guide

Hello fellow adventurer, it looks like you have decided to move to the land of Historica to join us in our quest to flesh out one of the greatest Lego stories ever told. I have prepared this guide to help “ease” you into the guilds project.

Perhaps the first question we should answer is “What is the Guilds of Historica?”

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 land called Historica which currently has five guilds. Each member joins a guild, and builds to win points (Gold Darics) for their guild and to better their building skills. At any given time of the year there may be one or more building challenges that a builder may win recognition and sometimes prizes for themselves.

The current official description by ZCerberus is:

“The Guilds are a Castle MOCers paradise where builders can connect with other castle fans to build in a connected world of five distinct Guilds, each with their own territory, history, and geography. The world grows as builders compete in challenges to win prizes, enhance their building skills and progress the official lore of Historica. Guilds score gold by competing in challenges and by "free building" in their own guild to grow their world.”

Table of Contents

1.0 Choosing a faction

1.1 Choosing a Signature Figure

1.2 Common starting questions

2.0 General Guilds of Historica Guidelines

2.1 Where are we now?

3.0 Some links to important Guilds of Historica information.

1.0 Choosing a Faction

The first thing a new builder needs to do is choose a faction. Currently four of the five guilds are open to members.

Avalonia – A land of that reminds us of Arthurian legend and classic European medieval style.

Kaliphlin – A land where desert culture has become king, but also one of the more diverse styled guilds ranging from Mediterranean to Middle Eastern, and from the Far East to pre-Columbian American.

Mitgardia – The northern guild, which is more akin to Norse tradition along with some of the other northeastern European styles.

Varlyrio - the western island guild, similar to the Mediterranean on the east, dry wasteland in the west, the Venetian capital is closer to Renaissance in feel then the rest of the Guilds.

CLOSED GUILDS - While members can still build here, new members can no longer join this Guild, and it is no longer included in challenge participation. 

Nocturnus – A guild of pure and dark fantasy for the most part, but elements of each of the guilds in its own twisted style.

As a new builder you should decide to join the guild which you feel the most akin to. Are you looking to step outside of your building comfort zone? Are you looking to stay within the bounds of your own collection? These are all questions you might want to ask yourself.

For example, conventionally, you may need a lot of tan pieces to build in Kaliphlin, you may need a lot of white pieces to build in Mitgardia, or a lot foliage to build in Avalonia. (There is no rule that says you need any of this, but there is a common consensus that these elements make it easier). If you think your lack of a certain type of piece will slow you down, maybe another guild is right for you.

I personally would suggest joining the guild that most interests you and to start building your collection in that direction. Others will suggest the opposite.

Varlyrio is the newest Guild, first opened to members in mid-2018

1.1 Choosing a Signature Figure

After choosing a guild, it is time to choose your signature figure. This figure represents you in the builds that you will be making and in the builds of others (with your permission, of course). You will need to introduce your signature figure in a post in the homepage thread of your chosen guild.

Most members post a backstory to their “sig fig” in their initial post. This can really be anything, that is the beauty of the Guilds of Historica – although there is some “cannon” history, it is open enough that whatever you make can stand. IF you want to be an ex-slave looking for a new life, you can. If you want to be a high lord of Avalonia, you can! If you want to be a peaceful farmer, you can! Please remember that your signature figure doesn’t have to appear in your builds, but you do need to have one for scoring purposes. (It is also good to have an “In Character” voice to speak with.)

1.2 Common starting questions:

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!

Can I join Nocturnus? No, Nocturnus is no longer available to new builders.  That guild is available for anyone to build in, but it does not have an open membership.  This Guild is no longer included in the active Challenge and Build system of Book III.

Can I be a wizard, mage, witch, omnipotent death god? Well, errr…. Yes? You have to remember since this is a community, it might be hard to get everyone on board with a superhuman being that could “consume the Avalonians with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his bum.” ~ Victor Revolword.

Which guild is the best to join? They are all the best! Pick whichever you have the most interest in.

What kind of challenges are there?

1) Overarching story line challenges are: civil war in all the guilds in turn which give you a couple of months to build.

2) "Mini challenges" set as a contest within your guild in between the civil war challenges, with lower stakes (?) And typically shorter deadlines, such as the Sultan's Gate community build.

3) Ongoing skills development challenges like the ages of Mitgardia or the Albion community build. These are basically open ended and which are measured by your own progress rather than in competition with other builders.

Participation in any of these is entirely optional and up to you. Some people do all of them, some do one only, some do one and skip a few and then do another.

I am lost, there is so much history to learn! There is already a lot of history, but the Wiki along with our very helpful membership base is willing to help you out along the way. Also, as I said before, there is so much Historica, if you just start creating, it is unlikely you will come into conflict with other storylines. Lastly, there is always some good bedtime reading buried in the many threads of the forum.

Wow, I want to get into GoH, but I would like to learn more, where can I go?

I am glad you asked, here are some helpful links:

Some people here have a shield tag with the colors of their guild. What do you have to do to get such a tag?

Those builders participated in Book I challenges. We are currently in Book II, but those who participate in these challenges should also have a chance to earn a special shield.

The Historica City Guide

The GoH Wiki(not a Eurobricks link)

Nice Marmot's map-making guide

A good post by Gabe on how to get your small collection to a more useful collection when just starting off with GOH

Some fun, ongoing projects that you can join right away!

The University of Petraea's Doctorate of Historica Program

University Tracking Thread

Age of Mitgardia

List of Historican Settlements

Current Gold Standings for the Guilds (As of Bk. III Ch. III FB Period 3 8-4-2019):
Avalonia: 678 gold
Mitgardia: 501 gold
Varlyrio: 409 gold
Kaliphlin: 331 gold

Edited by Henjin_Quilones

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Since the project started in 2011, Guilds of Historica (GoH) has acquired its own lexicon of sorts. Below you will find a little help to understanding the universe. (Under Construction)

Glossary:

Ang - Rogueang, guildleader of Avalonia

AoM - Age of Mitgardia building contest

Av - Avalonia

Beery or CBB - Captain BeerBeard (a builder)

Book One - The first cycle of challenges, 1-6 of the Guilds Project.

Book Two - The current cycle of challenges for the project.

C(x) or Ch (x) - Challenge (x) ie: C1 = Challenge 1, Ch 2 = Challenge 2

DM or DaMax - DaMaximus (A builder)

Ecc - Ecclesiastes - Guildleader of Mitgardia

GNAR - Great Naval Arms Race competition

GoH - Guilds of Historica

HSS - Historica Settlements Challenge

Kali - Kaliphlin

LD - Legonardo (A builder)

NM - NiceMarmot (A builder and mapmaker for GoH)

Nocty - Nocturnus

Revolword - The main bad guy of the Book One storyline

SG - Sultan's Gate, either the place in Kaliphlin or the Kaliphlin community build

SK - SoccerKid (A builder)

SKA - SkaForHire, guildleader of Kaliphlin

UoP - University of Petraea (sometimes referring to the challenge, not just the place in Kaliphlin)

ZC - ZCerberus, guild leader of Nocturnus

Rundown of the guilds:

NOTE: Sorry if I did not include your name in this round of the glossary, I either was tired or your name does not usually get abbreviated in normal chat on the board.

Edited by SkaForHire

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I'd link the various ongoing community builds for each guild if you're going for AoM. GNAR, Nocty Warlords, Albion etc.

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May I suggest it might be helpful to mention there basically 3 types of build contest?

1 overarching story line challenges are: civil war in all the guilds in turn which give you a couple of months to build.

2 "mini challenges" set as a contest within your guild in between the civil war challenges, with lower stakes (?) And typically shorter deadlines, such as the Sultan's Gate community build.

3 ongoing skills development challenges like the ages of Mitgardia, Albion community build, which are basically open ended and which are measured by your own progress rather than in competition with other builders.

Participation in any of these is entirely optional and up to you. Some people do all of them, some do one only, some do one and skip a few and then do another.

I think this might be useful to understand what is involved.

Ska, please feel free to modify or delete what I have written.

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Good points, I only changed a few things around, but mostly used what you had written.

LV, I will get some more links up there this weekend. I left Warlords out because it was nocty only, but I can get it in there.

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I only suggested it as for example, AoM is Mitgardia only, unless something has changed. This is a great idea by the way!

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I only suggested it as for example, AoM is Mitgardia only, unless something has changed. This is a great idea by the way!

You are right, not sure what I was thinking there.

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Can I be a wizard, mage, witch, omnipotent death god? Well, errr…. Yes? You have to remember since this is a community, it might be hard to get everyone on board with a superhuman being that could “consume the Avalonians with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his bum.” ~ Victor Revolword.

That's a great way to put it.

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Technically, it's Petraea University and not University of Petraea (at least based on the original challenge). So it should be PU (not that that matters much). You could add DoH (Doctorate of Historica) to the abbreviations list.

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I think at some point we should delete all the comments and close the thread so to have one clear thread people can use to inform themselves.

@kai: good to see you guys came through the earthquake unharmed!

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Not necessarily close the thread as suggestions for improvements are probably best put in this thread, but delete comments that are no longer relevant (e.g. first posts already updated or comment ignored) sounds like a good idea.

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Hmm. Your comment is perfectly sensible Kai but I think having the acronym "PU" would instigate a series of bad jokes about the university :wink:

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Hmm. Your comment is perfectly sensible Kai but I think having the acronym "PU" would instigate a series of bad jokes about the university :wink:

:laugh: Maybe, but it is the original. :wink:

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Hello, I'm interested in joining GOH, but I was wondering, Do we use Flesh or Yellow heads? Just wanted to make sure because I don't have many castle bricks, and was going to buy parts and all. For my sig fig and builds.

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You can decide which ones you want, there's no rule about this :wink:. I for example used yellow ones for a long time but recently switched to flesh.

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You can decide which ones you want, there's no rule about this :wink:. I for example used yellow ones for a long time but recently switched to flesh.

Ok Thanks. I think I'll go with Yellow because of the more varieties of expressions.

Edited by lego3364

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I don't want to start the yellow vs fleshies debate. However I must add there is a good range of flesh heads these days with all the Licensed Themes been done over the recent years. Don't count the fleshies out.

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I don't want to start the yellow vs fleshies debate. However I must add there is a good range of flesh heads these days with all the Licensed Themes been done over the recent years. Don't count the fleshies out.

Ok thanks for your input, I do agree that there is a good range of fleshies, but yellow is also cheaper. So with most of my money going to collage. I think yellow is my way to go.

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I went for yellow for most figures as I had far more yellow heads when i joined GoH. If I were to dismantle all my LotR and Hobbit figures I suppose I would have enough fleshies nowadays as well however.

In my interpretation of GoH humans are yellow and elves flesh, since most of my elf hairs are LotR/Hobbit with flesh ears. My sigfig is a half-elf so he is yellow with elf ears (CMF elf hairpiece) :classic:

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Yellow all the way! Seriously though, I like the splash of color it gives, but it's up to you, several great builders use almost exclusively flesh.

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I've used both in the past- it depends what torsos I want to use mainly, but default is yellow. I never mix in builds, because I find it looks weird, but that's just my opinion.

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I for example used yellow ones for a long time but recently switched to flesh.

Which was good because that way I was able to get rid of almost all my fleshies ...

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I've used both in the past- it depends what torsos I want to use mainly, but default is yellow. I never mix in builds, because I find it looks weird, but that's just my opinion.

Same with me, I like both, but mixed... :sick: :tongue:

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Flesh all the way! It mainly stems from my background of collecting licensed sets, but I also have a fair amount of yellow I barely use.

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