[COR - Era II - Callenge 1 - Cat. B 2] The Nightlight Spider

[Darnok]

617, Day 29 of the 11th month, In the jungles of Celestia

Following the river, still eastbound, we came into rocky terrain over the last two days. Where before was only jungle, we now move between rocky hills. It also felt like the vegetation is getting a lot less colourful - I can not recall coming across a single flower today.

 

We did set up our camp for the night near one of these rock columns. It was already dark, with the campfire burnign nearby, when I noticed another light in the darkness.

 

I asked Ms. Garnet to put out the fire, to get a bette look. My first suspicion was quickly confirmed: we were looking at a luminous spider.

 

617, Day 30 of the 11th month, In the jungles of Celestia

On the next morning I inspected this fascinating spider more closely - for some reasons young Ms. Garnet was not eager to follow me.

 

I just have to put my observations into another letter to the Royal Society!

 

===

 

To the Royal Society of Natural Philosophy,

 

from Reinhard Wolffson on Celestia,

 

about seven days east of Jameston, in an area of jungle vegetation and rocky hills relatively close to the river, I was able to observe a type of spider with an uncommon mode of hunting.

It seems that the lack of flowers nearby is forcing the spider to attract its prey with other means - in this case by the use of light. I do not know how it achieves this effect, but this spider can glow in the darkness, and by this attracts insects which then get caught in its net. Most of the spiders body and parts of its legs glow in the dark. Upon closer inspection by daylight, these body parts are covered in a transparent substance, which looks like glass or gems at first sight.

 

I can provide a couple of paintings of this spider, based on my notes and firsthand observations. The range ruler represents 10cm in fractions of 1cm each - as you will see this is quite an impressive creature:

 

Due to its ability to provide light at nighttime, I have named this species the Arachnida Lumenoctis, or "Nightlight Spider". Apart from its size, its most interesting feature is the ability to glow in the dark. I suggest further studies of this species, for its special ability - if deciphered and well understood - has promising applications in many fields.

 

I remain the Queens humble servant. For the Crown, for Corrington!

 

Yours truly,

Reinhard Wolffson

 

===============================================================================

 

This post is my second entry for Category B of the Superb Orchid Challenge, in the subcategory "Fauna".

If you want to follow the surrounding story of Reinhards expedition on Celestia, have a look at this thread.

 

Here are some more "neutral" pictures of the spiders macro-build:

Spoiler

 

A shot of the scene without "humans":

 

And finally, two shots from the "real world", with the beast stalking two of my cats and taking my laptop hostage:

 

I hope I have not given an arachnophobe a shock with this post. As always, C&C is appreciated.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Drunknok
Correcting a mistake.

[Mesabi]

Very nice entry @Drunknok, I love how the spider turned out. The use of all the clear pieces really makes the thing unique. I love the size comparison to those cats too. They don't seem to care much though . 

The oly thing I would have changed is the colour of the spider's eyes. I'm not sure if a different colour would be better, however...

[Roadmonkeytj]

I really like the spider its executed well ... Plus the use of the glow in the dark piece is great.

[Kai NRG]

Great use of trans-clear on that spider!  The zoomed out view, while simple in technique, effectively gets the point across!  

[Ayrlego]

I was pretty impressed with the lumenesant spider - then I got to the bigger version... wow, such a great entry, well done! I like how the photography really captures the glow in the dark properties of the spider piece. Great story and letter to the RS as well. Great job! Also it appears we have the same laptop!

[Professor Thaum]

This spider on the "painting" is really great !!! A really nice one ! errr... the cats seem to be real one however...

[Garmadon]

Wow!  That spider was a surprise - excellently built, you really captured that perfectly!  Very clever idea to do a zoom like that too, it works very convincingly! 

[Lord Buckethead]

Great part usage on the spider and are those BURPs, if so one can hardly tell so good job. Overall a fantastic entry, but I have to warn you, having just watched the Lego Ninjago Movie, cats are no joke!

[Darnok]

19 minutes ago, Lord Buckethead said:

are those BURPs

Hum? I do not understand this.

19 minutes ago, Lord Buckethead said:

but I have to warn you, having just watched the Lego Ninjago Movie, cats are no joke!

Having lived with at least one cat for most of my life (three at the moment), I can attest to the truth of this statement. Many a Lego build was devastated by feline monsters!

[Elostirion]

The brickbuilt spider is really cool. Great work here.

[Bregir]

@Drunknok

To Reinhard Wolffson,

The Royal Society has received and reviewed your letters, particularly on the nightlight spider and the blackplate beetle with great interest. As a result, we should like to invite you to give your initiation lecture to the Royal Society at your convenience, after which you will be considered a full fellow of the society.

Further, we wish to commend you for your very accurate scale illustrations, second only to seeing the creatures in the flesh.

Additionally, we have bestowed upon you a research grant of 100 dbs to enable you to continue your studies of the insects and other wonders of Celestia.

Sincerely

The executive committee

The Royal Society of Natural Philosophy

[Darnok]

@Bregir

Excellent, thanks for the quick reply. Trial and error has shown that complaining yields much better results than silence, so expect much more of it in the future.

[Bregir]

2 minutes ago, Drunknok said:

@Bregir

Excellent, thanks for the quick reply. Trial and error has shown that complaining yields much better results than silence, so expect much more of it in the future.

There are other options besides silence and complaining, which I beg you will consider.

Also, have you considered that perhaps it was already in the plans to take care of this tonight? And that snarky comments might almost have demotivated me enough to delay it?

[Darnok]

Just now, Bregir said:

Also, have you considered that perhaps it was already in the plans to take care of this tonight? And that snarky comments might almost have demotivated me enough to delay it?

Have you considered to just do your part here? You know, if you have so many issues with this "leadership" thingy - given your many complaints about how much of a burden it is on your free time - you could just step down.

 

Instead you chose to attack me (again) and threat a "delay" (twice now actually), instead of adressing the complaint. Not at all a mature behaviour, to put it mildly. You act a lot like my grandmother, who likes to do the same: deflecting the blame, never adressing the issue itself. She is almost 80 and a bit senile though - what is your excuse?

[Bregir]

You do not seem to understand how your negative comments impact others. What you see as an "attack" was me (again...) trying to give you some advice, and what you see as "threats" was me telling you what effect those comments had on my motivation, and how I think it affect others too.

36 minutes ago, Drunknok said:

to just do your part here?

This kind of entitled bullsh*t irks me. I am here, as most others, I believe, to take part in a collaborative (and slightly competitive) building RPG. And most people accept and acknowledge that everyone else does this as a hobby, and works together to make things work.

But not you. You act like you are a customer. And one of those customers who wouldn't be welcome in my store, mind you. Like you have the "right" to some specific outcomes. Like you are entitled to others rendering you services.

Newsflash: You are not. Nobody is here to service you.

However, you are allowed to participate, cooperate and compete with others, to take part in initiatives started by leadership and players alike, to start your own, and to make friends and create stories.

But you are also required be friendly, polite, and constructive, and to treat others respectfully. If that is not for you, perhaps you should find somewhere else to be?

And since you are so fantabulous, perhaps you should start up your own building RPG? You clearly always know how things should have been handled, what is right and what is wrong, etc. You will probably end up stealing away the participants of all the other eurobricks RPG's with your brilliance and your people skills.

[Darnok]

8 minutes ago, Bregir said:

You do not seem to understand how your negative comments impact others. What you see as an "attack" was me (again...) trying to give you some advice, and what you see as "threats" was me telling you what effect those comments had on my motivation, and how I think it affect others too.

This kind of entitled bullsh*t irks me. I am here, as most others, I believe, to take part in a collaborative (and slightly competitive) building RPG. And most people accept and acknowledge that everyone else does this as a hobby, and works together to make things work.

But not you. You act like you are a customer. And one of those customers who wouldn't be welcome in my store, mind you. Like you have the "right" to some specific outcomes. Like you are entitled to others rendering you services.

Newsflash: You are not. Nobody is here to service you.

However, you are allowed to participate, cooperate and compete with others, to take part in initiatives started by leadership and players alike, to start your own, and to make friends and create stories.

But you are also required be friendly, polite, and constructive, and to treat others respectfully. If that is not for you, perhaps you should find somewhere else to be?

And since you are so fantabulous, perhaps you should start up your own building RPG? You clearly always know how things should have been handled, what is right and what is wrong, etc. You will probably end up stealing away the participants of all the other eurobricks RPG's with your brilliance and your people skills.

Sure, and if somebody does not like what you cook, they first need to become a Michelin star head chef before being allowed to complain. Get off your high horse man.

 

This kind of entitled bullsh*t irks me. I am here, as most others, I believe, to take part in a collaborative (and slightly competitive) building RPG. And most people accept and acknowledge that everyone else does this as a hobby, and works together to make things work.

But not you. You act like you are better than everybody else, "holier than though" so to speak. And one of those guys who wouldn't be welcome in my house, mind you. Like you have the "right" to some specific way of handling things your way and your way alone. Like you are entitled to others kissing your feet for your mere existence.

Newsflash: You are not. Nobody is here to worship you.

 

P.S.: As in all parts of life, those who choose to do more - and to claim "leadership" as a result - can nonetheless be asked to do that "more" bit without constant complaining. I for one did not ask you to do it, you chose to invest that time yourself - act like it. I only hear you complaining about the massive burden it is on your part. And all hell breaks loose if somebody dares to criticise you.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Drunknok

[Bregir]

If you do not like my cooking and tell me so the same way you speak to people here, you will not be invited again.

That is the analogy you are looking for.

[Darnok]

30 minutes ago, Bregir said:

If you do not like my cooking and told me so the same way you speak to people here, you will not be invited again.

That is the analogy you are looking for.

No, it is not, and if you were honest for once you would acknowledge it. See the edited post above.

 

P.S.: Last time I checked this game was not called "Bregir of the Brick Seas". You are not the one inviting anybody here.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Drunknok

[Mesabi]

@Bregir Look man, it took leadership at least 2 months to judge a challenge. During that time there was no communication about why it took 2 months. There was no timeline put in place. Now, as a part of playing BoBS, I have never been told that there must be a timeline or timely judging, I admit that. However, it should be reasonably expected that leadership will do their part to quickly and timely work the game. I take it as being a moderator on a game server. You put in your time to make sure things run smoothly. That's the deal, leadership makes thing run smoothly, so that the game is worth playing. 

Now, I will take my usual time to call out my good friend @Drunknok for complaining. However,

1 hour ago, Bregir said:

There are other options besides silence and complaining, which I beg you will consider.

Can you list them? A month ago Drunknok asked in the chat how judging was going and he got no response. How do you think that made Him feel? How should he act if no one is responding? Inaction and neglect are in the same boat as an snarky comment. 

10 minutes ago, Bregir said:

You do not seem to understand how your negative comments impact others. What you see as an "attack" was me (again...) trying to give you some advice, and what you see as "threats" was me telling you what effect those comments had on my motivation, and how I think it affect others too.

No, Bregir, and I mean this as nicely and civilly as possible. You have overreacted here. Drunknok has gotten little communication about the challenge, and thusly and rightfully complained about it. It takes 10 seconds to write and post "We're taking longer than expected for judging, sorry." Well it is not 100% needed, without it it can easily appear that leadership is ineffective, and absent. If Leadership is ineffective and Absent, it is right to complain about them. Therefore it is the job of leadership to at the very least to not appear ineffective and/or absent. 

Additionally, Leadership cannot and should not use the excuse that it is only a hobby. If you do not have time or motivation to lead the game, you should not remain a leader. This is why @Scarst is not on the leadership team any more. If you cannot do your job, the polite thing to do, is to let someone else do it. Plenty of BoBS leaders have taken this option. Just because this is a game, does not give you or anyone else to do a poor job. And I must say that trading barbs with Drunknok over how long you took to judge a challenge is not only poor form, but also poor leadership. You are here to keep things running smoothly. And this is only serves to create tension among BoBS members. 

23 minutes ago, Bregir said:

This kind of entitled bullsh*t irks me. I am here, as most others, I believe, to take part in a collaborative (and slightly competitive) building RPG. And most people accept and acknowledge that everyone else does this as a hobby, and works together to make things work.

The Problem is, we're not acting entitled. We're asking for the game to run smoothly. That is all we want. That is the purpose of having GMs. You don't have to do a good job, but it should be expected, that's why you're a leader. If you do a bad job, in any other scenario, you would be removed. Simply because this is a hobby should not change that.

27 minutes ago, Bregir said:

But you are also required be friendly, polite, and constructive, and to treat others respectfully. 

I will mention here, that is not friendly, polite or constructive to ignore simple questions about BoBS, to respond with a bit of negativity with ore negativity, or to threaten to remove someone from a game because they irked you. "first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:8. 

So, I will say the following. Maybe Drunknok had a bad day. Maybe you did. But that's no excuse for you to go off on Drunknok about how he's disrespectful. If Drunknok throws a barb, maybe instead of acting as if he's a bad player, maybe consider that no one is perfect, and we all have failings. Drunknok may have lost his patience and responded by sarcastically saying that complaining is all that works. Is that really terrible? It's not the nicest thing to say, but we ALL have to acknowledge our wrongs, lest we live in a world where everyone thinks they're perfect and does crappy things. 

 

[Bregir]

8 hours ago, Drunknok said:

P.S.: Last time I checked this game was not called "Bregir of the Brick Seas". You are not the one inviting anybody here.

This is not the point. The point is, that if you want to enjoy this game, you are dependent on others wanting to play with you.

And being rude and snarky is not the way to go.

[Bregir]

8 hours ago, Mesabi said:

Can you list them?

Really?

One can ask politely, or at least in a neutral tone.

8 hours ago, Mesabi said:

ignore simple questions about BoBS,

Do you feel that questions are generally being ignored? To the best of my knowledge, all questions about the challenge bar one (which was a repeat of an earlier question) was being responded to swiftly.

I am sure leadership could have communicated more, and no one is disputing that, but nothing warrants being impolite and disrespectful.

8 hours ago, Mesabi said:

If Drunknok throws a barb,

OK, this is entirely my personal opinion:

Drunknok was being snarky with his first question. He was called out but still proceeded to repeating the snarkyness with his  comment about complaining. And this is not the first time I have asked him to consider how he talks to others. If it was, I would probably have let it slide. Or most definitely have been less strict in my wording. But enough is enough.

Now, my personal opinion is that he is being disrespectful, and that your defence of his actions to that effect puts you in the same corner. You are in effect defending his right to be impolite!

This leads me, personally, not to want to work with him, and to some degree you, because I do not have time in my life to interact with people, who cannot behave like adults.

This does not mean that anyone will be removed from the game or the faction, but simply that I have decided "not to invite over for dinner anymore."

I have called it out, because a) I do not want a BoBs were people are being unpleasant to each other and b) because I prefer to be able to work with the people in my faction. Neither of these have succeeded, so I take the consequences.

That is it. Enjoy the game.

[Bart]

I've read all the above, and then again. And to be honest I'm a little surprised. 

I'm not going to say much, I could though, but I don't think it helps.

What I would suggest , is that you two call each other, or even meet up.

Because I think half the annoys from both sides comes due to not understanding the written text the same way as the other ment it when he wrote it down.

 

Bart

[Darnok]

So Bregir once again proves that he can not discuss in a reasonable way. Instead of adressing the actual issues and question there is only deflecting the blame and calling names, on top of making stuff up. There is a term for that, it rhymes with "rolling".

 

7 hours ago, Bregir said:

This leads me, personally, not to want to work with him [...] because I do not have time in my life to interact with people, who cannot behave like adults.

Those feelings are mutual. Thankfully for both of us the game has many more players.

7 hours ago, Bregir said:

That is it. Enjoy the game.

Thank you.

[Professor Thaum]

definitly boring

Edited April 11, 2018 by Professor Thaum

[Roadmonkeytj]

@Drunknok @Bregir

I want to address both of you on what I just read.

This is not a personal attack on either of you just merely outside observations.

While i do not completely know/understand either of your motivations for constant bickering i can tell you in the short time ive been here its apparent.

Drunknok - Your text can come of as harsh sometimes in reading ... Not that you intend it that way just that it can be read that way because there is no audible tone

Bregir - I know you get called out in public on matter (no going into any of the actual issues) but As a player it puts a bad taste in my mouth to see "leadership" openly bicker.  Not implying you don't do a good job or you should step down ... More so implying as leadership you have to force yourself to use even more tact than the average player (which admittedly you are very good at doing)

What I can say to both of you is this kind of back and forth is bad for a forum ... Ive not participated in other forums because of horrible bickering between the users ... I urge you both to come to some agreement to work things out in PM or to hold the bickering in a private venue.  It does effect other players as we read the back and forth.

 

I respect both of you greatly but was ashamed to read this ...