[OL - FB] Le Palais du Peuple

[Khorne]

It had been a long time since young Magnus left his small home town Bertelshafn, in order to join the legendary Oléonese Légion Etrangère. Often, dreams have tendency to shatter when confronted with the harshness of reality. While the Légion certainly offered adventure and a chance to see the world, the cost was high. Its members are not quite seen as full Oléonese citizens and are therefore viewed as expendable compared to proper Oléanders. They do the dirty work that others are spared of. The black ops and dishonourable jobs no recruitment leaflet ever speaks of, but that will haunt a man for the rest of his life. Stuff of nightmares for years to come. Magnus found himself shipped to Guelph where he helpen subdue the occasional insurgency by desert tribes, often pushed or triggered by hostile neighbours.

The young man had enough. Oléonese citizenship wasn't worth all this and the action wasn't quite the promised adventure he had in mind. Disillusioned, Magnus decided to covertly go back North. However, going home would be difficult. Would his family still accept? Wouldn't he be viewed as an outsider and failure now in his community? In the end, Granoléon was as far North as Magnus got. Magnus still had to fight for his life, but it was different now. The fight was to come up with money for food, shelter and basic necessities. Luckily, Magnus knew some Oléonese from his time in the Légion and was able to get some odd jobs in the harbor every now and then. Which is better than the fate of other immigrants who come to the great city, but are left to their own and disappear in the poor districts to be forgotten.

The future looked bleak, until Magnus heard of an organization that defends the rights of the commoner and struggles for change: the Society of Heracles, the Friends of Equality and Liberty. Their leader, Emilien Dorée, was a charismatic speaker and Magnus became entranced by his speeches. They do not only promise to feed the poor, they put their words in practice.

While the nobility has been preparing itself for the feast of a life time, Emilien and his camérades have opened several doss houses and soup kitchens, where the poor and disenfranchised can regather their strength, get some rest and have a hot meal for a very small fee. You even get a free poster and a summary of the Society's radical egalitarian philosophy.

 

The kitchen area is basic, but it gets the job done. Hearty meals are prepared dailyn while Rosalie oversees everything and aids where she can. The opening of these so-called 'Palais du Peuple' - or People's Palaces are said to be her idea.

Upstairs are the bunks beds. They might not be the best quality, but they beat sleeping on the cobbles outside. There is also a small stove and some coal to provide some heat.

The guests have to do their share of the labour as well and do some odd chores to help keep things clean. One person clearly loves the idea more than another.

Magnus' military background piqued Emilien's interests. He might have a use for men such as Magnus in the future...

 

Egalité, Liberté, Fraternité ou la Mort
Vive la République du Peuple!

 

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Phew! I've had this build for a long time, but never got around to finishing it. Then I did get around to finishing it, but not to taking pictures. I made some photos over the weekend, but had great difficulty with this. It's probably one of the bigger MOCs I made and as such I didn't really have a good place to shoot it. I'm not very proud of the photos as they don't do the MOC all the justice it needs IMO. I do love the MOC itself though, I'm super proud of it. In hindsight I should've switched the kitchen area with the stairs, so it's easier accessible, but then I'd have had troubles with the first floor.

I might make some new, better pictures in the future, but for now, this is it. I hope you guys like it! 

PS: There will probably be some typos in the text. It's already kind of late and I'm getting tired, but I really wanted to finally get it online.

[Spud The Viking]

Amazing build! Really well done, and so much to compliment.

I love the whole scene, it feels genuine to the period. And I love the stove, as well as the minifigure designs.

Excellent work!!

[Professor Thaum]

Really nice one, with lot of good technic and ideas

[Beleg the Ranger]

Fun! My favorite part is the infantry, they are accurate to the French army in the later 1800s and early 1900s  helmet only early 1800s

[Kai NRG]

Great interior, the stripe of dark green looks really nice and I like the idea of making the second floor easily removable.  The stove is really clever too, was that printed piece designed for that or did you come up with it?

[Pdaitabird]

Fantastic build! The stove and bunk beds are great!

[Sir Kingston]

The overall aesthetic is excellent, the brickwork gives off the appearance of a more industrial space than most builds!

[Ayrlego]

Beautiful build and excellent continuation of the story - well worth the wait!

[Bodi]

I do echo with the others about the historical accuracy, the buid in itself is of top quality, full of nice details. I like the story too, it's good to see scenes depicting our ordinary life.

[Khorne]

Thanks for the comments everybody! I'm glad you like the build .

 

10 hours ago, Spud The Viking said:

Amazing build! Really well done, and so much to compliment.

I love the whole scene, it feels genuine to the period. And I love the stove, as well as the minifigure designs.

Excellent work!!

9 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Great interior, the stripe of dark green looks really nice and I like the idea of making the second floor easily removable.  The stove is really clever too, was that printed piece designed for that or did you come up with it?

Thanks! The stove's body is a piece I found by accident on Bricklink, it is actually robot Plankton's body from Spongebob. The stove is based on something similar I once saw a long time ago. I think it was a Western MOC here on EB.

 

10 hours ago, Beleg the Ranger said:

Fun! My favorite part is the infantry, they are accurate to the French army in the later 1800s and early 1900s  helmet only early 1800s

I've had the infantry laying around for a while and never got to using them in a MOC. Originally I wanted to show Magnus' adventures with the Legion, but I could never come up with a good story. The small desert MOC is a quick one I built to show the figures on Flickr and then I snuck it in here, to show a bit of Magnus' background and where he's been the last years. I think it fitted well.

The soldiers are indeed an amalgam of stuff: French soldiers/Foreign Legion from the 1830s (color scheme), mixed with 18th century gear (shako and general uniform style). I wanted to use the concept of the Foreign Legion, because it is so well-known and fascinating, but still ground it in BoBS' universe.

 

8 hours ago, Sir Kingston said:

The overall aesthetic is excellent, the brickwork gives off the appearance of a more industrial space than most builds!

Thanks! I really wanted to make this more industrial and pauper-ish than most builds, since the Society's powerbase and goals revolve around the working class and commoners. A palace wouldn't be fitting. It adds to the story and vibe .

[blackdeathgr]

Civilian builds are always nice to watch and yours is a rare treat. Great details (stove etc). I also like the first vignette with the soldiers. The most interesting part I must say is written at the end of the post: "Republique du Peuple" you say? Hm, I am sensing a Vive l' Etat vibe rather than a Vive le Roi, one. Maybe they should get a visit from the Internal Affairs Dpt...  ...or not! I mean, after all, somewhere in the distant future, there must be a change of regime from a royal to a "not-so-republic"(insert imperial) government  but plans for a similar insurrection were thwarted some years ago...

Edited April 16, 2020 by blackdeathgr

[Khorne]

9 hours ago, blackdeathgr said:

Civilian builds are always nice to watch and your is a rare treat. Great details (stove etc). I also like the first vignette with the soldiers. The most interesting part I must say is written at the end of the post "Republique du Peuple" you say? Hm, I am sensing a Vive l' Etat vibe rather than Vive le Roi. Maybe they should get a visit from the Internal Affairs Dpt...  ...or not! I mean, after all, somewhere in the distant future, there must be a change of Regime from a royal to a "not-so-republic"(insert imperial) government  but plans for a similar insurrection were thwarted some years ago...

* insert innocent whistling emoticon *

Yes, the Heraclists' rethoric and goals are rather republican and proletarian. They're not very keen on nobility and the king...  They're a bit of a mishmash of several real-life historic revolutionary influences (obviously).

Thanks for the comment. Glad you like it!

[Legonaut]

Like this one a Lot, aspecially the figs ( could have been fleshies though ^^), the red Spots in the Dark Red bricks and the boxes and that printed tile under the stairs which give the Moc some more character. 

[Khorne]

9 hours ago, Legonaut said:

Like this one a Lot, aspecially the figs ( could have been fleshies though ^^), the red Spots in the Dark Red bricks and the boxes and that printed tile under the stairs which give the Moc some more character. 

Thanks! Fleshies might be the more realistic choice, but I kind of like the nostalgia and neutralness the yellow figures have .