[OL-FB3] The Southern Isle

[Franco Clarke]

Erwin was down below, resting after a hard night watch, when someone came to rouse him.

'Sir, the lookout can't be sure, but we think we've spotted land'

Erwin acknowledged him and then got up wearily. For almost a week now they had been sailing flat-out, and he had expected that it shouldn't be long before they found this mystery island. So now it seems like the southern island had been found, hopefully, they had got here first.

Coming on deck he took over at the wheel and pointed Stingray towards where the lookout had spotted the island. Sure enough, rising above the horizon, came an island. First a jagged mountain, like a broken tooth, soared skyward. Then sheer cliffs and perilous looking passage appeared around it. Finally, a lush green jungle and glorious yellow beaches completed the picture.  What a discovery this was!

They circled the island twice, taking in the lay of the land, where would be the best place to land and suchlike.  The island was mostly low and cloaked in palm trees. At one corner, the mountain which dominated the island rose from the sea. Near the mountain the sea was lined by tall cliffs, whilst further from the mound, broad beaches bordered the land. In the centre of the island was a shallow looking lagoon, again with its own wide beach.

Erwin decided that this was probably the best place to land as it should be relatively sheltered from either nature or possible enemies. There were two entrances into this lagoon. The first entry point was a nice wide gap with the mountain on one side. The other passage was narrow with a high cliff, and the huge mountain on either side. The passage itself had razor rocks clawing out of the choppy waters. Therefore it was most likely the wide passage was the best option.

As Stingray passed through this opening into the lagoon, Erwin began thinking further ahead. Now that the island had been located and taken, how was it to be held.  Stingray would have to leave to alert the rest of the empire of the new acquisition. Well that would be fine, because apart from him, no-one knew this place even existed. But no, no someone did know that this island was here, the Corries who had taken the map and had already tried to pursue them once already. It didn't seem totally impossible that they would come back and try again once they had repaired their damage. And this time, simply disabling them wouldn't be enough since he needed to hold the island.

Now if they were to return, they would probably be in similar numbers, two raiders and a cutter. This outnumbered Stingray more than two to one, and outgunned her too. They would need to pull the battle onto their terms as they weren't going to be reinforced. Or were they?

The anchor splashed noisily into the lagoon, and Erwin ordered the boat be lowered.  Then he went bellow deck, to inspect his cargo. Yes these cannons which Stingray was transporting were complete with carriages and wheels, ready for use in forts. He turned to the gunners who had assembled behind him.

'I want these guns hauled ashore and emplaced on the cliffs.' He ordered. 'They will provide use with the additional firepower we need in case the Corries return'

He could siphon off some shot and powder from Stingray's own magazine too supply this new battery and assign some of her gun crew and sailors.  Hopefully the advantage of the extra firepower would outweigh the issues of having Stingray under crewed.

Erwin landed with the first gun, and helped pull it up to the site where the rest of the crew were felling trees and preparing a firing position.  With any luck they would be well prepared and rested if the Corries returned.

The next step in the tale of the Southern isle, slightly less exciting and far more peaceful. I didn't really have any new builds to go with this, so I thought I'd build a scaled down version of the Island in Digital Designer.

A wide shot from the northern side, the side which was seen first. The giant mountain and the narrow passage can be seen from here.

Around the southern side, the wider entrance and the lagoon. You would not believe how boring it was building all those trees!

An overhead 'map' view with north at the bottom and south at the top.

The beachy side , far from the rocks and cliffs.

A view of the wide entrance, showing the steep cliff and Erwin's gun battery perched atop it. Hopefully this 'tour' of the island will help you understand its layout.

Finally an experiment, with the build stitched into a real photograph. What do you think, should I do more like this or still to simple screenshots. Either way I don't think I'll do this for physical models, just digital ones.

[Alfadas]

Nice! The forced perspective in the first photo is cool! Nice big island too. 

[Elostirion]

That LDD island is quite fantastic. Great job, I think it was definitely worth the effort!

Now go and explore that island. :-) 

[Bregir]

Great looking island, FC. I never thought I would see a full size island built I bobs at this scale :O

Including a micro-rendition of the island too is a great touch, and they nicely represent each other.

I am also happy to note no Corlanders were harmed during the writing,of this post! ;) As to your story telling, I would probably have used on of the ldd pics where you mention the narrow and the wide passage, as that was not clear to me from the micro island.

Good work and keep it up. Is this one of the islands Oleon has claimed? :)

[Franco Clarke]

Thank you all, I am glad you liked the island and the forced perspective shot at the beginning.

On 04/12/2016 at 0:45 PM, Bregir said:

I am also happy to note no Corlanders were harmed during the writing,of this post! ;) As to your story telling, I would probably have used on of the ldd pics where you mention the narrow and the wide passage, as that was not clear to me from the micro island.

Don't worry, I'm sure the Corlanders will have learnt their lesson and stay away from now on