Challenge VI - Battle for Historica

[Rogue Angel]

PRELUDE

How had it all gone so wrong? Lord Varis and Elon Chorian had planned the Elven march on Ondylion to be as realistic as possible, lulling Victor's force into complacency or overconfidence, and the feint had worked... too well. Lord Varis had heard that Victor was trying to bring the Drow over to him with promises of power, and the feint into Mitgardia had allowed the Elves to head off the Orc emmisaries, and they had set the ambush.

The Orc captain had not expected to find Avalonian Elves in Nocturnus, and the confusion only gave more advantage to the Elves.

The Elves made quick work of the Orcs, and the Drow threat was quelled yet again.

What had not expected was the column of Victor's troops marching on Ondylion. Varis had been not more than 2 days ride away, and he knew what the thick smoke meant long before he saw the pillaged city.

http://www.eurobrick...153&hl=ondylion

VALYRIO

The attack was as unexpected as the strike on Ondylion. The Seafolk who had been a constant plague to Mariners in the region had concerted their efforts AND had joined with the Island tribes who had never posed any major threat in the past.

By using the canals, the attackers were able to strike at the heart of the City. The City was not heavily manned, and the assailants had thought it an easy prize.

As luck would have it, de Gothia had been on a visit to Valyrio.

de Gothia had a contingent of Avalonian soldiers that he had brought with him, and the attackers were soon vanquished. Upon questioning, it was revealed that Viktor's orcs had planned to join forces with the attackers and stage a concerted attack on the City. The lack of military training and cohesion had worked to the advantage of Valyrio, and a crisis had been averted.

MITGARDIA

With Ondlyion sacked, the residents of Mitgardia had retreated to the havens they had taken up residence in during the elemental attacks. The stronghold of Kadat Tuhr on the Northern edge of Mitgardia had seen relatively little action to this point, but Victor's agents had been sowing unrest in the lawless and primitive. The Cyclops tribes had been pushed north as the men of Mitgardia had expanded their villages and farmsteads, and the Cyclops thought to take advantage of the strife to take back their lands and have their revenge.

This scene will be presented in it's own topic - The Northern Wastes

KALIPHLIN

The leaders of Kaliphlin had already faced the forces of Victor, and they were ready for battle. A large host of troops was massed at the northern edge of Kaliphlin, and the Kaliphlin Lords had been able to lead the host to a battlefield of their choosing. They had chosen an ancient desert fortress from which to assault the host.

Inside the fortress, Kaliphlin Lords, led by Dextruss Flagg, planned the assault

This scene will be presented in it's own topic "Desert Stand"

AVALONIA and NOCTURNUS will be covered in separate topics

FINALE

With Victor's forces seemingly vanquished, the Guild Masters approached the palace of Cedrica. Their had been a conspicuous absence of Elementals since their intial rampage, and the palace appeared to be ungaurded...

The Masters entered cautiously, accompanied by Lord Trian Buress, General Grimm and Lord Varis.

As soon as the last of the Lords had entered the palace, a soft buzzing filled the air behind them, and a bright glow filled the doorway. The mysterious glow appeared to be solid, and the would not allow additional soldiers to follow.

Victor's elite troops manned the floor of the throne room, while orcs trained crossbows on the Lords from above.

Victor's booming laugh echoed across the throne room. "Trapped like rats! You fell right into my web. It's true that I had hoped my minions would have had more success in scattering followers to the winds, but it is of no matter. Once you are dead, strife will reign, and Historica will be mine for the taking!"

The Guild Masters did not seem alarmed at the predicament, and as if on command, they moved as one to the side of the room with Lord Ssilyrrlith and Artorious Rex taking the point while Elon Chorian guarded the flank. Dextruss Flagg swung at the nearest torch, jarring it so that the top heavy sconce swiveled down.

A loud grinding sound could be heard all around. On the balcony above, the seeming statues came to life, revealing themselves as golems.

"YOU are the one who fell into OUR trap" shouted Dextruss, as the Lords surged forward to the attack. The Dwarves had made a gift of the golems, and Dextruss had known about the lever to activate the golems if the need to protect the King ever arose.

The orcs above shrieked and stumbled over each other trying to escape, but the Golems cut off their escape and made quick work of them.

Seeing that his fortunes had changed, Victor immediately retreated through the library in hopes of escaping.

Lord Varis had seen Victor's flight and was waiting for him on the stairs. "Your machinations have cost the lives of many good Historicans, and it will take generations for Historica to recover from the destruction you've wrought." Varis said as he walked down the staircase.

Victor pointed his staff and Varis as he began to murmur an incantation, but Varis shoved the staff aside and sunk his Dragon's fang deep into Victor's chest. "Your reign of terror is over" Varis stated flatly as Victor slid to the floor.

The Lords has retaken the throne, but there are many forces still at large in the Guilds, and this but the first step on the long road to recovery.

High res pics here:

http://www.flickr.co...s/29025875@N06/

[Legonardo]

glad to see you got this in on time!

[Maxim I]

Haha, I fear you will not lose the title "Always late to the party" very soon

But you got some awesomes MOC's for this entry, so probably everyone will forgive you!

Edited May 1, 2013 by Damaximus

[robuko]

Excellent. Love the merfolk. That black and red council chamber is great, I'm sure it's hard to photograph but it looks lovely. Glad you skimmed in under the wire. Hey, it's cool with no story, we can just make up our own.

"Piertotum locomotor!"

[MikeyB]

Great builds Rougeang. can't wait to read the story!

[ZCerberus]

Look, I was ready to fight those bitches!

I would be interested to know how those armor things came to life...

I like the interior build the best of these, it really seems to have a personality.

Also, we needed more cyclops guys in Historica. Welcome clopsy dudes!

[SkaForHire]

It is like, "Caption This" right now without a story. Clearly that guy in green was his father, and that is why Victor was so surprised to get shanked.

Well, great builds, I await the story.

[Zilcho]

Nice! I really like the Kaliphlinn (?) castle as well as the canal scene, lots of nice details.

[Maxim I]

The story really adds a lot to your great entry!! A lot of excellent builds and a very clever ending :) (Where can I order those golems? :D )

[soccerkid6]

Quite the landscape for the first scene! Excellent water effect in the Varlyrio build and the throne room is superb

[Kai NRG]

Great work, the golems coming to life was quite clever! Great interior scene, and the Kaliphlin fortress is well done too!

[SkaForHire]

Love the Sea People! Those look so cool, and it really kicked up my regret about not buying Atlantis stuff... haha. Great story about the war around the guilds, and some awesome builds. I guess my caption was off, but I like your story better anyway.

[Garmadon]

Nice story, Rogueang, I like the statues coming to life and Victor fleeing to the library (nice bookshelf).

[Ecclesiastes]

Love the story, probably because it interacts so well with Ondylion and your Elves. Also great builds, the one that really stands out is the building, I assume, based on a stave church can't wait to see the topic for that one!

But who's the one next to dG? Is he cheating on Lena?

[Kayne]

Yes! This is awesome! I really like the builds that you have here. Of course, throwing my sigfig in helped a lot as well! The real question is, who is the woman that deGothia is on the balcony with, and does Lena know

[Mike S]

Awesome builds man! Nice that you included several guilds in your entry! I really like the Cedrica build in particular.

[Captain BeerBeard]

Awesome! You finished! The river scene is really nice. I really like the stream and those flowers in the foreground are so pretty. The Varlyrio scene gives me a Venice vibe which I like. The scene is pretty small but you managed to fit in a few unique architectural styles that compliment each other. Your interior is tied for my favorite GoH interior. The color scheme is perfect as is the building. Great job! :thumbup:

[Infernum]

Great job! I love the first and second builds! The third is great too! I love the part with the Golems. Great job!

[Gideon]

Really good entry with top quality builds! I enjoyed the story very much as well, great that you included events all over Historica

The photography is also great, I am especially impressed by how you managed to capture the black interior...I hate trying to take decent photos of black bricks.

A friendly advice on the photo presentation however: Something which disturbs me a bit is the cutting around the edges. Maybe some other time you should try to either cut closer to the build if you want to get rid of all the background, or at least fade the edges of the cut somewhat?

[ZCerberus]

Now that your story is posted, I like that you included builds for multiple guilds, and I knew you'd have a trick up you sleeve to make it original.

Golems attack!!

I think because you've promised to fill I the gaps with other topics, we are missing some of the story. It still feels more or less complete and I am intrigued to know where it goes- but that's just my two cents.

I still like the interior best. Excellent work on the details and as others have said, photographing black is a pain, but you managed to make it all work.

Which builds would you like scored? The interior (obviously!) and which of the others? Varlyrio? Mitgardia?

[Rogue Angel]

Thanks for all the comments! The Valyrio build and the Kalphlin builds were the only clear ideas I had in mind at the start. The Throne room kind of made itself as I went along. I had already built the golems for the Mitgardian Army, and I realized I was going to need some sort of decorations on the balcony, and I knew the Heros had to have some secret edge going into it, and the Golem idea just popped up. I'm glad so many people liked the interior build. The Mitgardia build was a one night build (April 29th) and I was planning to use a valley wall, and was trying to come up with some good stout towers when I came across the picture of the church and decided to go with that. I had all of the Historican armies build before I ever started on my actual builds, but I didn't factor in how much time it would take to pose everyone. Ah well, separate topics they will be (and I will be using the other guild sigfigs there - Thanks to SI-Mocs for the custom parts!). I have finally got final pictures up of four of the builds, and I will work on the other two when I get a chance. I guess I would like Valyrio, Mitgardia and the Palace scored.

[kabel]

a lot of good stuff happening in this entry. Naturally I of course really like the Mitgardian building, might have to borrow some of that. Still, why are all the windows busted out? I also like you Varyrio build, ecpecially the water effects. Great forest scene too!

[Erynlasgalen]

The Mitgardian building is excellent- I liked that you used the two different greys for the roof, it breaks up the pattern ever so slightly and gives the building a really great weathered look.

My favorite though is the scene with the elves, I like how you framed everything out and have a lot of repeating elements. Gives it a really clean look.

Also like the fact that I recognize someone in the Kaliphlin build! Thanks for including me!