["A Safe Haven" Challenge: Cat. C] The Nagra Luca

[Henjin_Quilones]

The Nagra Luca

An entry into "A Safe Haven", the Fifth Anniversary Challenge, Category C

 

Spoiler

Ch. 1: The Fireball

Ch. 2: The Crash Site

The Eagle at the Great Wall of Hesperia

Ch. 3: The Return of the Druids

Historica United

Ch. 4: The Banishment of Galaria

Ch. 5: Stopping at Tíre Keep

Henjin Quilones, Knight of the Druidi Order of Historica, exile from Hesperia, and his constant companion, Galaria, formerly Princess of Hesperia, now an exile like Henjin, were discussing their journey on the poop deck of the Nagra Luca. The swift ship was making good time as it sailed ever westward, veering only the slightest bit south. It had been some time since they had left the Isle of Tíre, fully stocked with provisions for a journey that could possibly take months. And it had, several months longer than anticipated, in fact; they had been aboard this vessel, now terribly small and cramped, for far too long. The food supply was now rather short, nearly as short as the tempers of the crew as they spent their time walking the same planks and pulling the same ropes each and every day, seeing the same eighteen people day and night. The wolves in the hold below were particularly restless, and one at a time they were brought up to pace on the deck when the weather was fair, just to stretch their legs a bit. Skoll, Henjin's white wolf, had even leaped overboard once and swum with some dolphins for a spell before they could lower the rowboat and fish out the sodden beast from the briny waves. The whole hold had smelled of wet fur for a week afterwards. 

"We must be getting close, Henjin," said Galaria with a sigh. 

"We are, I can feel it," replied Henjin. "Sir Kravek's charts were clearly mistaken about some of the nautical distances, as this journey has gone on long enough, but those rocky fingers we passed sticking out of the sea yesterday at noon are supposed to be only a day's sail from shore to this new place. And besides, Hamisha has been saying for a few days that the smell in the air is that of her home, so we must be close."

"My lord Henjin, Lady Galaria, the smell is stronger than ever, too!" shouted Hamisha from where she was looking over the maps and charts. "I apologize for interrupting!"

"Apology accepted!" Galaria shouted back and shook her head. "She has always been a strange one," she said in a low voice, "not like the rest of my wolfriders. These Mwamban elves must be an odd lot if they are all like her. She is reliable, though."

"What are we going to do once we get to Mwamba, though, Galaria? We are a crew of exiles, castaways now from your home, refugees far, far away from my own, with little in the way of a trade or skill to earn our silver and gold. I have some magic, I suppose, and you can hunt, and we are all good with swords, but unless there is some sort of conflict going on that particular skill is not very useful. What are we to do?"

"We will figure it out in good time, Henjin," the elf said, resting her head on his shoulder. "We are together, and that is what is important to me. Besides, I was a princess, and I am still an elf, and elves are always welcoming to other elves, with the exception of my father. And we have Hamisha."

"Who is now twice exiled, and still will not tell us what she did to be kicked out of Mwamba in the first place, I must point out."

"You worry too much, my handsome druid."

"Land ho!" came the shout from the lookout up in the rigging. "I see land!" Allicea shouted again. 

Soon others were climbing the rigging and crowding the gunwales of the fo'c'sle trying to see the shimmering blur on the horizon denoting land. 

"I see it too!" shouted Celdrian triumphantly. 

Soon the Nagra Luca was making her way into a harbor, with a large city overlooking the water. Small fishing boats were dotting the waves, and the shouts of people from the shore reached their ears. Henjin, Galaria, and Hamisha were lowered in the rowboat to the water and made their way to one of the docks. 

 

 

 

Some more pictures:

Spoiler

 

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C&C welcome! This was my first attempt as an AFOL at making a ship (besides, of course, the official ship sets that I have acquired over the past few years), and I am rather pleased with the outcome. I went entirely brickbuilt instead of using any of the large hull pieces that I have, since I wanted to try my hand at it and liked the look of it better. The ship is inspired by the lateen-rigged vessels of the past, particularly the caravel of Portugal and the dhow of India/Arabia, as well as a Ninjago ship built by @Garmadon, with some elvish flair of my own. 

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by Henjin_Quilones

[zoth33]

I really like your ship.  The hull is decorated nicely and the blades used around the bottom is a nice water effect.

[Kai NRG]

Quite an impressive first ship Henjin, I really like her bulk and colors, especially the gold details.  The fish jumping out of the water are also great - mind if I borrow that technique?  The bright blue of the water looks fantastic too!  

[TitusV]

3 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Quite an impressive first ship Henjin, I really like her bulk and colors, especially the gold details.  The fish jumping out of the water are also great - mind if I borrow that technique?  The bright blue of the water looks fantastic too!  

Maybe if you can borrow that technique, I can as well? Because they're defenitely beautiful, as is the whole ship by the way  

[Garmadon]

Brick-built hulls for the win!   Very nice work all around here, the lanteen sails work great, and the overall style fits amazingly well with your elves aesthetic!  Love that water too, and it's great that you went the extra mile to include rigging as well 

And of course, it's always awesome to hear that something I've built has been inspirational for another builder!  Excellent work for your first (AFOL) ship!

[KevinyWu]

I saw this on Flickr a while back; glad to finally see it on GoH!

I am super impressed with the shaping of the hull, especially since it is your first try at a ship! Im trying to finish one myself for the challenge, and I think shaping is definately the hardest part. But you seem to have mastered it already

[Henjin_Quilones]

On 1/28/2018 at 5:27 PM, zoth33 said:

I really like your ship.  The hull is decorated nicely and the blades used around the bottom is a nice water effect.

Thanks! I am glad you like the water effects. 

On 1/29/2018 at 10:27 AM, Kai NRG said:

Quite an impressive first ship Henjin, I really like her bulk and colors, especially the gold details.  The fish jumping out of the water are also great - mind if I borrow that technique?  The bright blue of the water looks fantastic too!  

Thanks, Kai! I tried to make a ship with some substance to her, while still being elvish. And please borrow the jumping fish - I did already, from @kabel. (this build here)

On 1/29/2018 at 2:18 PM, TitusV said:

Maybe if you can borrow that technique, I can as well? Because they're defenitely beautiful, as is the whole ship by the way  

Go ahead and make some fish jump for joy, Titus! Thanks for the praise. 

On 1/29/2018 at 2:37 PM, Garmadon said:

Brick-built hulls for the win!   Very nice work all around here, the lanteen sails work great, and the overall style fits amazingly well with your elves aesthetic!  Love that water too, and it's great that you went the extra mile to include rigging as well 

And of course, it's always awesome to hear that something I've built has been inspirational for another builder!  Excellent work for your first (AFOL) ship!

Thanks, Garm! I copied a lot of the shaping from yours, actually. Glad you like the way it fits with my elves. And the rigging was a pain - I first bought some non-LEGO string, but it was too hard to work with, so I splurged and bought a bunch of different official strings (some with studded ends, some not) and found it quite easy to make it work to fit what I wanted to do all along. Genuine LEGO for the win!

19 hours ago, KevinyWu said:

I saw this on Flickr a while back; glad to finally see it on GoH!

I am super impressed with the shaping of the hull, especially since it is your first try at a ship! Im trying to finish one myself for the challenge, and I think shaping is definately the hardest part. But you seem to have mastered it already

Thanks, Kevin! It helps to have a good model for what you want the shape to look like, I found. I browsed LEGO ships on Flickr first, and worked with what I saw there. 

[kabel]

Well thank you Henjin for crediting me. That does not happen very often in this here forum! As for your ship, there's some cool stuff going on, but I guess for an Elven ship it's a bit too chubby for my taste ..

@Kai NRG I've actually used this technique numerous times before, I think here for the first time.

[soccerkid6]

Excellent use of color throughout the ship, and I particularly like the capes used as a roof The blades laid around the ship as wake give it a great look of movement

 

[Grover]

Another awesome build.  The detail on the ship is great, but I think the thing that I love the most about it is the water.  Not only the fish jumping, which are great, but the texture of the water makes it seem like you can see depth underneath like real water.  Did you use different colored plates underneath?  White and something else, I assume, to get the lighting to bright underneath?

[Henjin_Quilones]

On 1/31/2018 at 4:29 PM, kabel said:

Well thank you Henjin for crediting me. That does not happen very often in this here forum! As for your ship, there's some cool stuff going on, but I guess for an Elven ship it's a bit too chubby for my taste ..

@Kai NRG I've actually used this technique numerous times before, I think here for the first time.

I try to give credit where it is due, at least when I remember! I agree, too, that it seems a bit chubby for elves, but I also wanted something that looked believably deep-ocean crossing-worthy. It was a trade-off aesthetically. 

On 2/2/2018 at 3:08 PM, soccerkid6 said:

Excellent use of color throughout the ship, and I particularly like the capes used as a roof The blades laid around the ship as wake give it a great look of movement

 

Thanks, SK! I wanted something other than a static model, so I am glad the blades help that. 

On 2/4/2018 at 4:25 PM, Grover said:

Another awesome build.  The detail on the ship is great, but I think the thing that I love the most about it is the water.  Not only the fish jumping, which are great, but the texture of the water makes it seem like you can see depth underneath like real water.  Did you use different colored plates underneath?  White and something else, I assume, to get the lighting to bright underneath?

Thanks, Grover! The water effect is achieved with trans-light blue plates and tiles laid over regular blue plates (with the occasional plate of a different blue here or there). There are no white plates under it; the brightness has more to do with the reflective nature of the tiles (and outdoor, in the shade lighting) than anything, I think, and a lot of the variation has to do with reflections and shadows from the ship, along with the combination of studs and studless textures. 

[Gunman]

I really like the ship mate :) Your cool boarder and the water splashes caught my eye tho.... Great entry!

[The Maestro]

I think I have already mentioned somewhere (must have been of flickr) that I love the oriental vibe coming from this . Reminds me a lot of a Chinese Junk and no that's not an insult, as well as the other ships you mentioned. The jumping fish are awesome, and the colours work well together. Certainly an interesting and unique entry.