2393 replies to this topic

[robuko]

May I present, the view from our guest suite at the Petrea General Trading Company, over beautiful Petrea.  All friendly merchants are welcome to stay and do business here, Avalonian, Mitgardian or Nocturnian.  We note with concern the apparent   Nocturnian attacks on our allies and welcome the hand of friendship of our noble Avalonian comrades.



And please allow myself to introduce myself: Rasputin Jones, President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors.  We of the PGTC are strong believers in free and fair trade between all nations.  So we are absolutely not stockpiling barrels of Black Oil, nor hoarding Mitgardian ice nor Avalonian Water.  Not us.

I am something of a new arrival to Petrea, having been invited recently by the Company`s Board of Governors to take up my position.  My mandate here is to expand our business very significantly.

Yours aye

Rasputin

This is my first micro build and first monitor backdrop - C&C welcome on how to improve it, I am not happy with the shadows, but not sure how to change it. I do not have a studio setup, photoshop, or much access to daylight.

[Waterbrick Down]

Tomcat RIO, on 14 November 2011 - 10:35 AM, said:

Great MOC there! Was working on my version of the griffin but you got there first! Nice leg design, may I borrow upon it and credit you?
Loving the friendly competition amongst the guilds which pushes MOC and creativity to the new boundaries!

Feel free, there's a few more pictures detailing the beast here when moderated.

robuko, on 14 November 2011 - 04:23 PM, said:

May I present, the view from our guest suite at the Petrea General Trading Company, over beautiful Petrea.  All friendly merchants are welcome to stay and do business here, Avalonian, Mitgardian or Nocturnian.  We note with concern the apparent   Nocturnian attacks on our allies and welcome the hand of friendship of our noble Avalonian comrades...

Welcome to Petrea, Rasputin, I like the miniture. As far as controlling shadow, I usually just use a desk lamp and then up the fill light using Picasa 3 which is free software from Google found here.

[J4ke]

That griffin is tremendous. Truth be told, I was going to attempt some form of fantasy steed at some point.

Also, the ruin idea is cool. I was thinking only today about doing a watchtower at the site of some old ruins in a desert.

Great minds think alike, and all that, huh?

[TheBoyWonder]

Strange, because my characters are that of an old, crumbling empire, mine was going to be ruins.

[J4ke]

I've got this scene in my head from "Jingo", one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (and one of my favourites, too). Basically, two characters meet by the base of a statue, but only the feet and ankles are left. There used to be a big city in the desert, but apparently "the wind changed" and the city was lost.

[J4ke]

Sorry to double-post, (yes I know about the edit function but am choosing not to use it to BUMP the post and because this post is relevant.) but I built a Griffin.
_____

Good news! I have recieved word that some old comrades-in-arms of mine are making haste for Kaliphlin to aid us in these unstable times. Three of my greatest friends have tired of the peace in our homelands and wish for something more... interesting.



Riding his highly trained Griffin steed is Oleg the Foul-Tempered. He's in a worse mood than usual since he learned how common Griffins are in this land... back home he was one of few souls brave (or foolish) enough to train them.

Charging blindly onwards is Bonkers Bill, a brilliantly blatant beserker who favours Dark Elven Scimitars and extravagantly daft helmets.

Lurking at the back is Hooded Robin, a tremendous, if rather sneaky and occasionally downright unscrupulous crossbowman. He's seldom as cross as Oleg though.

Not a person, but perhaps the most dangerous of this party is the Trunk. Made of magical wood and posessed of many tiny feet, it is a terrible adversary and is known to trample or eat enemies in seconds. (Yes, this is a blatant Discworld reference.   )
_____

Note that I still haven't included the flag. This is intentional, I'm kind of telling a bit of a story here. Once I get a watchtower up, it will of course fly the standard.

Also, I'll take better pics and make a seperate thread tomorrow, but there are a few more pics of the Griffin on my photostream here. Comments would be welcomed, especially with regards to the size of the head. Should it be bigger, or is it OK?

-YtR

Edited by J4ke, 14 November 2011 - 11:28 PM.

[Si-MOCs]

Gex! What a wonderful addition to our budding army! Absolutely fantastic - I must send word to the Qarkyr and congratulate them on their efforts. And Construction has started - and on schedule? excellent! Feel free to share with us here if you wish.

Jingo, your friends are most welcome, and they bring mighty steeds with them. This shall do wonders to protect our Realm - and those TALONS! absolutely fantastic. I look forward to hearing more of your tales.

Rasputin, my good friend, even I the leader of the Kaliphlin do not have such a splendid suite. I must discuss with you how I may rent it for an evening ... or two.

(did you use a flash to take the picture? I'm surprised it didn't reflect off the monitor. Have you considered not using a flash? it gives slightly more accurate shadows-  but if you do the monitor would be super bright. my other suggestion is maybe move some of the back buildings more to give more illusion of depth - but very cool and definitely captures the feel :)


My fellow Guildmates - yes I must a bare some responsibility on the sad state of our defenses - with so many years of peace we have been negligent with our towers - with only the minimal that have been up kept. We have started the process of rebuilding and I ask thee all to help in the efforts - either build fantastic new towers, or repair our decrepit ones. Or even build new towers ontop of our decayed ones!

[Angeli]

J4ke, on 14 November 2011 - 11:25 PM, said:

Not a person, but perhaps the most dangerous of this party is the Trunk. Made of magical wood and posessed of many tiny feet, it is a terrible adversary and is known to trample or eat enemies in seconds. (Yes, this is a blatant Discworld reference.   )

wo-ho-ho, what a vicious looking bird of prey :) good job, neighbor ;)
And Trunk could be a mimic, yes?:)

[Ogre]

K-nut, on 12 November 2011 - 05:11 PM, said:

Please, I was too distracted by your Avalonia looks.   Plus the crossbow covered the other arm.

I was in disguise.   

[Christoph]

SI-mocs, on 15 November 2011 - 01:07 AM, said:

My fellow Guildmates - yes I must a bare some responsibility on the sad state of our defenses - with so many years of peace we have been negligent with our towers - with only the minimal that have been up kept. We have started the process of rebuilding and I ask thee all to help in the efforts - either build fantastic new towers, or repair our decrepit ones. Or even build new towers ontop of our decayed ones!

Deep in the desert, unknown to most, there is a tower that has belonged to my family for generations. I frequently visit it because there I can study the stars and contemplate. This watch tower was used for defenses centuries ago. After my next visit I will send you a picture via Brickshelf (probably on Monday since camels are slow). Then you can judge whether this tower is strong enough to repel our enemies.

Abū Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn Abd Allāh ibn Sīnā, a truth seeker.

[Antoi]

Greetings,

My name is Antoi(in the middle), I represent the Eastern Trade Faction.
5 years ago our Master was betrayed and killed bij our emperor across the ocean and our faction was attacked and destroyed. Only a few men survived and managed to escape.
I was among the lucky few en with some of the others i got to Historica. Here in Kaliphlin we found a new home and could we get back to business.
We are specialized in small arms trade and other small goods.
Since death of the king of Historia we plegde of alliance to Dextrus Flagg, Who we still thank for his help with our new life here.

[Basiliscus]

Wahil Musca's band [Kaliphlin Guild] by Cuahchic, on Flickr

Peace be upon you, Dextrus Flagg.

I hope this does not reach you too late - news travels slow deep in the deserts. We were many days from another traveller when we happened upon another Brother at an oasis on the edge of the Badlands. He told us of your call to arms, and I hope we are not too late to serve our Lord.

Ah, who am I? A good question, and how rude of me to start without an introduction. I am Wahil Musca, and I deal in a commodity valuable in all 4 lands: slaves. You may have seen my caravans of suffering bisecting the Oil Road. I do not travel upon it unless necessary, for my business poisons the hearts of many against me. I am not a cruel man, my slaves are worth a lot to me and I treat them so.

This is a perilous business, and I cannot travel alone. I have a small band, but they are loyal to me, for I pay well. May your eyes grace over them, Lord? Very well, I will show you them. I travel with my son, and successor, Bahru. I hope my Lord will show him the necessary respects. Next, is my bodyguard and confidant, the freed slave Rhodri of the Keltoi. He is not from these lands, and does not take well to the heat, but he will gladly give his life in your service. Also I would like you to meet my harem - some say they are the finest beauties in the 4 lands - but keep back ladies, you will not be serving our Lord. The others are of my people, Sudites, and know our trade well. Their swords are sharp and they carry your standard proudly.

Let the blessings of a thousand maids be upon you.

Your will is iron, Lord.

Wahil Musca

Sorry for the slow reply...I haven't been on EB for some time, but that looks set to change!

I will try and enter the first challenge.

By the way, what an awesome map NiceMarmot. I'm loving it! As for ideas for the Southern Island, could we have a town on the North-West tip called Stone Town? That's where I'd like the slavers to live, if you don't have any objections?

[J4ke]

The artists finally completed their studies of the Common Griffin! Here are their detailed sketches of this fascinating creature.



Photoset. (Here's the EB thread too, in case you want to index it.)

-YtR

[Basiliscus]

Other Map Ideas

I hope you wouldn't think me too presumptuous, but here are a few ideas:

(1) Near Qarkyr, how about a sandstone quarry just south of the mountains?
(2) As mentioned in my first post, could we have Stone Town on the North-West tip of the Southern Island?
(3) The sea between the Southern Island and the mainland could be called Slaver's Channel?
(4) I would probably tone down the forest density near the North-West of the map. Wood should probably be the primary import in Kaliphlin.
(5) The desert South of Petraea could be called "The Parched Lands" (alternatively another desert on the map!).
(6) The Southern Islands (the large one and the smaller ones to the East) could be called the "Spice Islands" and could grow cash crops such as pepper and cloves. This would mean that Stone Town is an important commercial centre as well as having a large open air slave market.

These are just ideas to spruce up the map, feel free to disregard.

[Angeli]

Basiliscus, on 15 November 2011 - 11:37 PM, said:

Ah, who am I? A good question, and how rude of me to start without an introduction. I am Wahil Musca, and I deal in a commodity valuable in all 4 lands: slaves. You may have seen my caravans of suffering bisecting the Oil Road. I do not travel upon it unless necessary, for my business poisons the hearts of many against me. I am not a cruel man, my slaves are worth a lot to me and I treat them so.

Ah, the only Kaliphilinian that we like to do business with - slaves have always been a good thing for the purse, and a fun on the long hunts. You, our human friend, will always be welcome in the Underdark ;)

[Si-MOCs]

AntoiBrother from the East islands. We welcome you, we do not see many of your kind here - we hope to learn much from you. And of course trade in your unique goods.


As-Salam Alaikum brotherWahil Musca. It is good that you heard from our scouts, we have sent them far and wide to bring forth the worthy to this council here in Petraea. And this your son? Bahru, you are the spitting image of your father - are you of age for Ale yet? if so, join us in the grand hall.


--With regards to Slave Camp... you can if you want, but I promise nothing the safety of such a camp - there are some here that don't take kindly to slavers.

Interesting ideas Basiliscus - I like a spice area - we DO have the sultan of spice... Though I think the we were thinking of putting Las Vegga there.
It seems we have a fairly good relationship with Avalonia - which makes sense to have good trade, their wood for our oil etc. So yeah the forest aren't as important - I thought it would be good to have them in case anyone wanted to build some foresty castles.

I'm not sure about the slavery bit... while some pockets would be interesting - given that the supposed leader of the guild is a freed x-slave I would think there would be some what anty slavery action going - but if you want to take it up and be abit of a dark horse in the realm - by all means... we'll tolerate you with some polite hostility between us.


--

Once again, fantastic griffen Yakob !

[Axel]

My lords,
It seems to me that the other guilds regard us as an excellent trading partner...I haven't detected much hostility towards us, while there has been some problems between the other guilds. Perhaps we could use this to our advantage? We should expand our trading routes to maximise this.

Velethuil - Captain of the Kaliphlin Elf-Knights

Edited by Axel, 16 November 2011 - 12:51 PM.

[Scubacarrot]

When does the challenge end? I cannot find it anywhere?

[robuko]

Axel, on 16 November 2011 - 12:50 PM, said:

My lords,
It seems to me that the other guilds regard us as an excellent trading partner...I haven't detected much hostility towards us, while there has been some problems between the other guilds. Perhaps we could use this to our advantage? We should expand our trading routes to maximise this.

Velethuil - Captain of the Kaliphlin Elf-Knights

Noble Captain Velethuil,

you are quite right to bring this to our attention.  We pride ourselves on our friendly and peaceful trade within the lands.  Our beautiful city is recently able to attract a very high quality of new immigrants, who will of course be looking for a few of the rare and special products of other nations, as well as their usual provisions and home comforts.  The Petrea General Trading Company will be only happy to supply your needs, and we will set to work immediately on expanding the trade and prosperity of the Guild.  

My noble Lords, let me know　if you have any special requests, and I shall work on your behalf to increase our trading routes and the wealth of all nations.

Yours Aye,

Rasputin

(Scubacarrot, I believe we have one month from the challenge date.  I am planning to submit but it will be toward the end.  Captain Hardiel, Dextrus, thankyou very much for your kind and helpful advice. I should be able to try some images in natural daylight at the weekend)

[Si-MOCs]

Vellethul brings up an excellent point, currently we are in good standings with the other three realms thanks to our ambassadors and some properly placed bribes. While peace still exists we should look towards more trade selling to the others even acting as a third party to trade between two other realms.

For now is the time to build up our warchest. While I know the High King won't permit outright war - I fear that raids from other guilds may increase.

So we must ready ourselves and look towards strengthening our borders!

How goes the tower rebuilding efforts?

I have not heard the official decree but you can assu$e the High King would want the towers done 30 nights after his order to build.

[Scubacarrot]

Lord Shale reporting sir!


My workers from the Arkbri Quarry are currently building a watchtower, to protect the precious sandstone from our thieving neighbours!

I can also report that we need means of transporting our stone to Petraea and Qarkyr. for the transport to Barqa we use the river, naturally.

Also I can report that we have recently aquired a mountain-mummy-mage and a squad of dwarven engineers, they are proving most valuable in the construction of our tower!

(pics to follow)

[Antoi]

Greetings Fellow Kaliphlins (kaliphliners???)

We have found a abandoned outpost in the waste land near the river.
our plan is to build a trade outpost here where people can store products and refill their watersupplies.

My question is where I can find some good oil to trade with other guilds...
Is there a good oil production facility anywhere????
I haven't seen any.

(ps. the western river, where does it start??? in the dessert????

Edited by Antoi, 16 November 2011 - 09:03 PM.

[Jorgevorg]

From the southern delta of the desert river, yet to be named by the cartographers of the realm, comes the great Jahi Khaldun Ibn Maibe and his army of Tomb Warriors, ready to pledge their loyalty to the Kaliphin Guild.


The Eternal King and his Queen, guarded by the Tomb Scorpion.


The Anubis Temple Guards (Elite Warriors).


Living Effigy of the Great Jackal God.


The Enormous Scarabs.


Plague-wrought Tomb Binders.


Ramses, Golden Champion of Duat and his Tomb Warriors; the Priest of Wadjut.


Camel Riders (Cavalry), the Ra (Flying Infantry).


Group shot of the entire army. Note the Great Summoned Asp.  

Edited by Jorgevorg, 19 November 2011 - 04:55 AM.

[Angeli]

wow, I love that sand army. It will be interesting meeting on the battlefield ;)

[Si-MOCs]

Lord Shale! Excellent! I had feared that the rumours of the problems at our quarry mines were true. It is reassuring to hear that they are safe and are producing at full capacity? We have an urgent need, the High King has decreed to challenge us in repairing out defenses in only but a few short weeks. By the Fifteenth of the Last Month, we must be ready to present to the King!

Jahi Khaldun Ibn Maibe What a wondrous army! We had heard stories and rumours from our brothers from Qarkyr about the Mountain Mummies tribes, are your men from a similar tribe from near the river? While we're not at war at the moment, if there are spies among us they'll think twice with such a presence in our ranks!

Antoi - Our oil faculties are currently secret - though I'm sure they will be shown in time... if an industrious guild member would like to show us ... be my guest  

Fantastic work everyone...
I'm really liking what I see.

FOR KALIPHLIN!