Book III - Kaliphlin: Guild sign-up and Discussion

[Gabe]

Cheers Kai, Windusky and thanks for being so understanding!  I've made a little bit of progress on the shipyard since my last WIP pic. The top pic is from a couple of weeks ago, the bottom one is from the weekend. 

Lots of placeholder parts awaiting colour swap-outs on the ships. Don't really like the scaffolding on the sides of the ships, looks a bit too clunky to me. I was thinking 1x1 round bricks may work better, i'll be trying that out soon.

Sorry about the dodgy IPad pic above - i just wanted a quick record and setting up the camera and tripod can be a bit of a business sometimes. Yeah i'm lazy.. 

[Muakhah]

This is really shaping up to be an amazing and large scale shipyard.  Am I right in thinking this is in Peregrinus? Also I would be curious about where you stand on the Political situation in Kaliphlin.

Can't wait to see the finished piece!

[Basiliscus]

It looks tremendous @Gabe, I hope you keep going with it and finish it. It'll be a splendid addition to the GoH world when it's done.

[soccerkid6]

@Gabe Looks to really be taking shape now! Excellent stone texture, and the series of large arches look magnificent

[Gabe]

12 hours ago, Basiliscus said:

It looks tremendous @Gabe, I hope you keep going with it and finish it. It'll be a splendid addition to the GoH world when it's done.

 

4 hours ago, soccerkid6 said:

@Gabe Looks to really be taking shape now! Excellent stone texture, and the series of large arches look magnificent

Thanks heaps friends, for your encouragement and kind words! I will definitely be completing it, just might take a few weeks as i have to clear away my final assignment first. 

13 hours ago, Muakhah said:

This is really shaping up to be an amazing and large scale shipyard.  Am I right in thinking this is in Peregrinus? Also I would be curious about where you stand on the Political situation in Kaliphlin.

Can't wait to see the finished piece!

Cheers Muakhah! Yes, this is in Peregrinus - the shipyards are loosely based on the Arsenal in Venice (The architecture in Peregrinus has a Mediterranean influence that perhaps hints that the region has distant links with Varlyrio?). 

The current political situation in Kaliphlin is something that i am still trying to get my head around, as i didn't participate in most of the civil war due to work and study commitments.  As far as my characters are concerned, Erudhalion is a staunch High Council supporter and was lost at sea during naval battles with Ulandis. But he is currently suffering from amnesia - if he ever makes it home, he may find it hard to recognize or even sympathise with his former allies. Anuar really is apolitical at the moment - he is a retainer of Erudhalion and has been well paid, but would probably work for anyone who left him to his books. He has never had to make a hard decision in his life, or really think about where Kaliphlin is headed, but all that will change soon! The priestess Nammuat is more of a machivellian operator and plays her cards close to her chest. She wants to protect Peregrinus in Erudhalion's absence, but it is unknown who she would ally with or sacrifice to advance her causes.

[Kai NRG]

This is looking fantastic @Gabe, love the arches!

[Muakhah]

New build for Khadira.

I will also look at updating my Sigfig. The good news about having the other half of my collection is that we will actually see Muakhah.

[halixon]

Nice job @Muakhah Looking forward to seeing him!

[Muakhah]

Muakhah Adil, Master of Khadira and Chosen of Mazadar is ready to spread the word and tip the scales in the eternal cosmic struggle twixt good and evil.

He seeks to develop his town of Khadira (currently a hamlet ) spread the word of Mazadar and seek diplomatic solutions to the ongoing strife within Kaliphlin.

OOC: I would have given him a white cloak too but I don't have one... 

[Gideon]

Nice sigfig @Muakhah, I didn’t think heads with glasses were any useful but you’ve proven me wrong  

Which is the part on the sides in the picture...?

[Kai NRG]

2 hours ago, Gideon said:

Which is the part on the sides in the picture...?

Do you mean this part?

[Gideon]

3 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Do you mean this part?

No, the tan pattern further to the sides.

[Kai NRG]

2 hours ago, Gideon said:

No, the tan pattern further to the sides.

Oh, right.   That's mystifying me too now that you point it out!

[Muakhah]

Those pieces are from a Korea Lego copier.  A friend got me one of their sets when they heard I liked lego.  I am trying to sift through it and keep bricks that are actually not lego designs while giving the others away to kids.  I think the company was called Oxford toys and it was an arc de triumph set. Their design, but bricks are mostly copies of lego pieces with a few exceptions.

Being in China its amazing how many copies of lego sets are around.  They all seem tempting but you can almost feel the quality difference in the plastic by touch.

Anyway that particular piece I hadn't seen elsewhere and thought it looked middle easterny.  I can swap it out for other things if needed.

[Kai NRG]

5 hours ago, Muakhah said:

Anyway that particular piece I hadn't seen elsewhere and thought it looked middle easterny.  I can swap it out for other things if needed.

Nope, no problem, only keep in mind that challenge entries are (or have been in the past) required to use only LEGO or LEGO-customizers' (i.e. not competitors) parts.  But I believe it's fine for freebuilds!

It's definitely a pretty neat piece, and from what I've heard Oxford is one of the better non-LEGO brick companies, not involved in pure copying of LEGO's designs!

[Muakhah]

1 hour ago, Kai NRG said:

Nope, no problem, only keep in mind that challenge entries are (or have been in the past) required to use only LEGO or LEGO-customizers' (i.e. not competitors) parts.  But I believe it's fine for freebuilds!

It's definitely a pretty neat piece, and from what I've heard Oxford is one of the better non-LEGO brick companies, not involved in pure copying of LEGO's designs!

I thought  I saw something that prohibited it for Challenges.  Does this include HSS?

As a piece that Lego doesn't produce it fills a nice gap.  90% + of the pieces are straight copies of lego bricks though.  The bricks do not hold  together as well as proper lego.  I think that company also has different horses and minifigs but essentially the core stuff is just  copied...sigh.

I was going to make a list of questions based on the Kaliphlin Civil war story builds and results.  I remember seeing a post saying that over 300 pages of Lore had been archived somewhere.  I can't find that post now and wanted to check to see if it answered the questions I have or raised more.

Does anyone know where I can find it?  Searches for Historica and Lore bring up a lot of results...

[Kai NRG]

2 hours ago, Muakhah said:

Does anyone know where I can find it?  Searches for Historica and Lore bring up a lot of results...

Here it is:

On 9/5/2018 at 1:17 PM, TitusV said:

Hear ye, hear ye! Or better said: read ye, read ye!

As preparation on a never-finished entry for the lore challenge, I was strolling around the subforum when it dawned to me that all official tales are fragmented, dusty and even semi-forgotten in locked topics which never got pinned or in long since outdated master indices. This felt like a real pity to me, because there's more than six years of collective storybuilding and even better Lego building lost 'out there'. (forgive me if I'm being a bit dramatic, I'm just super glad I'm finally done with this ) But fear no longer!

If you've ever wanted to read up on ALL (or at least almost all, if you think I've forgotten something please tell me!) Guildish history, be happy! I've you ever wanted not having to follow a thousand links or hating the search engine when looking for a certain challenge, be happy! If you've never wanted any of these things, be happy as well!

So, here it is. 203 pages of official Guilds of Historica lore, I hope you enjoy!

 

2 hours ago, Muakhah said:

I thought  I saw something that prohibited it for Challenges.  Does this include HSS?

I think no, it doesn't include HSS, but the safe bet is to ask in the HSS thread and see what HQ says. 

[Muakhah]

Quote

Hear ye, hear ye! Or better said: read ye, read ye!

As preparation on a never-finished entry for the lore challenge, I was strolling around the subforum when it dawned to me that all official tales are fragmented, dusty and even semi-forgotten in locked topics which never got pinned or in long since outdated master indices. This felt like a real pity to me, because there's more than six years of collective storybuilding and even better Lego building lost 'out there'. (forgive me if I'm being a bit dramatic, I'm just super glad I'm finally done with this ) But fear no longer!

If you've ever wanted to read up on ALL (or at least almost all, if you think I've forgotten something please tell me!) Guildish history, be happy! I've you ever wanted not having to follow a thousand links or hating the search engine when looking for a certain challenge, be happy! If you've never wanted any of these things, be happy as well!

So, here it is. 203 pages of official Guilds of Historica lore, I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for the link.   Unfortunately google.docs don't work in China and I don't have a vpn... is it possible someone could message them to me or email them somehow?

I want to do a few little builds for lore purposes but don't want to muck up previous lore.  Especially because the Desert King is a contentious topic.  I have seen several people mistakenly place him as on Ravaage's side in the civil wars, despite his early pledge to support the resistance and call to arms to fight Ravaage.  Ark Mora Ra is really the victim of bad propaganda!

[Rogue Angel]

@Muakhah as a Lego forum, we do not promote Megablocks or Kreo, or any of the clone brands, nor do we typically want to see them in builds as they compete directly with Lego, who we as Lego-lovers want to see succeed. 

Obviously we are not going to beable to check to see if a brick is a 1x2 brick in Lego or a clone brand, but it becomes a real issue if you are using parts that Lego does not produce, or colors that vary from Lego colors.

The piece you use above definitely has a Kaliphlin feel, and you can probably leave it in your intro build, but you shouldn't really be using it in other builds.

Non-Lego parts are strictly prohibited in Challenge builds, and if we can see any evidence of it in a build for a Challenge, that build would be disqualified.

As I mentioned above, we are a Lego forum, and we rely on Lego's success for them to continue producing new sets, and to succeed enough to continue testing out new concepts like the CMFs, Ideas, Elves, etc, to our benefit as AFOLs.

[Muakhah]

Please don't get me wrong. I definitely would not promote clone brands or other companies over Lego.  I sincerely hope for Lego's continued success and hope to live to see a new castle line.

[Kai NRG]

On 10/28/2018 at 4:43 AM, Muakhah said:

I have seen several people mistakenly place him as on Ravaage's side in the civil wars, despite his early pledge to support the resistance and call to arms to fight Ravaage.  Ark Mora Ra is really the victim of bad propaganda!

My personal opinion is that Ark'Mora only opposed Ravaage because he wanted to merge Nocturnus and Kaliphlin into one grand evil darkland all for himself!  (There's little doubt as to where I stand on Kaliphlin politics.  )

I tried messaging you the lore, it was too long. 

[Gideon]

2 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

My personal opinion is that Ark'Mora only opposed Ravaage because he wanted to merge Nocturnus and Kaliphlin into one grand evil darkland all for himself!  (There's little doubt as to where I stand on Kaliphlin politics.  )

Is Ark'Mora really evil then, High Council's and Ulandus' propaganda aside of course...?  
My perception of the Desert King is that he of course is a power-hungry undead (grumpy with a probably more than a little hangover still from his long slumber?) who wants to re-establish his old kingdom, but not necessarily evil.

He most likely also has - by modern Historican standards - quite ancient moral views, which can clash quite substantially with the general view on what's right and wrong?

[Kai NRG]

Well, let's remind ourselves of a little history... Ark'Mora Raa came to power by drowning his brother (okay so granted his brother was pretty awful but still), he got a good deal of his magical power from Nocturnus (including his legendary immortality), he sunk a whole island, he tried to destroy Avalonia but failed because the fairies got together and stopped him (mostly), and he demands absolute allegiance from every Kaliphlinian.  Evil?  I dunno, he'll let you live if you do exactly what he says all the time...

[Muakhah]

15 hours ago, Gideon said:

Is Ark'Mora really evil then, High Council's and Ulandus' propaganda aside of course...?  
My perception of the Desert King is that he of course is a power-hungry undead (grumpy with a probably more than a little hangover still from his long slumber?) who wants to re-establish his old kingdom, but not necessarily evil.

He most likely also has - by modern Historican standards - quite ancient moral views, which can clash quite substantially with the general view on what's right and wrong? 

Aha!  My research indicates that the Desert King is in fact ahead of the times even now! In fact Barqa is one of the few beacons of the Desert King's values!

In this link we can see the Desert King list his achievements.

Quote

The Desert King let his mind wonder. The War against the Shadows, The reconquering of the Drow. The decimation of the Snow Elves… his three greatest military achievements. The great Arch, the Triumphal Dome of Merriph, The great Golden Road, the third wall of Kaligem, his greatest architectural achievements. His land to soldiers initiative, his adoption of citizenship for all three kingdom’s residents, even the non-human ones, his greatest political achievements. He had accomplished this all before 35 years of age.

I have put in bold the one that is ahead of many places in Historica.  Only in some cities of Kaliphlin can creatures of all species walk together in harmony.  In Avalonia? Pfah!  The Desert King  said all were citizens, not subjects.  Meanwhile the High Council is ok with enslaving non-Kaliphlin peoples and Ulandus is ok with enslaving Leanders specifically.

Come @Gideon ...your heart knows it to be true... The Desert King is Chosen of Mazadar!

I will admit that I am biased against the Roman stylings of Ulandus. Rome was a bloody and violent military parasite that preyed on the peoples around it.  I find it really annoying that people forget that and focus on the "Glorious achievements".  I would much rather have a greater ancient egyptian influence in Historica than Roman stuff.  You can find Roman inspired stuff in so many places.  A Romano-Samurai culture is a bit more interesting but its not like Samurai don't have tons of pop-culture too.

10 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Well, let's remind ourselves of a little history... Ark'Mora Raa came to power by drowning his brother (okay so granted his brother was pretty awful but still), he got a good deal of his magical power from Nocturnus (including his legendary immortality), he sunk a whole island, he tried to destroy Avalonia but failed because the fairies got together and stopped him (mostly), and he demands absolute allegiance from every Kaliphlinian.  Evil?  I dunno, he'll let you live if you do exactly what he says all the time...

The whole thing with his brother is a Thor's Hammer of worthiness moment.  It was not Ark'Mora Raa drowning his brother but Kaliphlin, Historica or the Cosmos judging one worthy and one unworthy.  Ark'Mora Raa should not have been able to wield the staff but could.  His brother was the monster.

Magical power from frinding love in Nocturnas? So evil.  And since when are all creatures in Nocturnas automatically evil?

He doesn't demand absolute allegiance any more than  any other ruler out there.  The sinking of Ulandus and the Western Marches are the most controversial actions.  Comparable to the use of weapons of mass destruction or carpet bombing of cities in WW2?

[Kai NRG]

4 hours ago, Muakhah said:

I will admit that I am biased against the Roman stylings of Ulandus. Rome was a bloody and violent military parasite that preyed on the peoples around it.  I find it really annoying that people forget that and focus on the "Glorious achievements".  I would much rather have a greater ancient egyptian influence in Historica than Roman stuff.  You can find Roman inspired stuff in so many places.  A Romano-Samurai culture is a bit more interesting but its not like Samurai don't have tons of pop-culture too.

Okay so OOC, I don't want to see Ulandus influence transforming Kaliphlin any more than I want to see the DK as supreme monarch.  As far as I am concerned no tears would be shed if he sunk it again even if it means I lose my title of Third Centurion.   I'm in favor of Kaliphlin for the Kaliphinians, not for the Nocties or for the sea people.   I would absolutely have gone with the HC in the Civil War but I preferred to support the underdog (and boy did I choose well  ).

Historically I agree with you too although, of course, Egypt was pretty conquest oriented at times as well.  And while we're hitting at glorious achievements, just think of all the blood, time, and resources Ark'Mora spent in

On 3/8/2015 at 6:53 AM, SkaForHire said:

The War against the Shadows, The reconquering of the Drow. The decimation of the Snow Elves… his three greatest military achievements. The great Arch, the Triumphal Dome of Merriph, The great Golden Road, the third wall of Kaligem, his greatest architectural achievements...