Henjin_Quilones

Prelude: An Avalonian Council

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An Avalonian Council

Prelude for Challenge I

 

The rise of Queen Ylspeth has meant many things in Historica have changed, mostly for the better. The surprise move to open up trade to Varlyrio has caught many off guard, but the lords of Avalonia have not been caught sleeping. Being the closest to Varlyrio, they were best situated to take advantage of the situation. Henjin Quilones, the Master of the Druidi Order in Avalonia, as well as a personal friend of Queen Ylspeth, was given advance warning of the changes and accordingly summoned as many lords of Avalonia as he could quickly find to his personal island in the Mystic Isles, Druidham, carried by dragonback to expedite the meeting. The early light of morning streamed through the windows of the hall, only freshly built and sparsely furnished. 

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"My Lords, and Ladies, of Avalonia," Henjin began. "Thank you for coming here this morning. It is early, I know. There is tea and some steeped Kaliphlin bean-drink coming from the kitchens shortly, but I did not want to keep you waiting, nor did I want to waste any time getting down to business. I hope you will forgive the hasty discourtesy of my bare hall when you hear what I have to say. As you know, the civil wars have left our land, and the lands of the other guilds, devastated; many of our cities lie still in ruins, others mourn their lords, their menfolk, their children; our money has been spent raising armies and feeding troops, rather than raising bridges, building roads, and feeding our people."

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"Furthermore, the lands to the east are in utter ruin; the darklands of Nocturnus have not seen the light of hope brought by Queen Ylspeth. The wounds left by Raavage have yet to even begin to heal. Those lands, by the will of the Queen, are closed to us for now. Venture there at your own peril, and any trade there is a risky proposition at best, a death wish at worst. The inhabitants of Nocturnus must be allowed to heal, to rebuild, to recover some sense of normalcy, but we cannot be the ones to give it to them, as outsiders. They must find healing and a new leader from within."

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"If the East is closed to trade, what of the West?" asked Conrad the Sly, a scheming look already forming on his face. "My spies have informed me that there are rumors that the Queen wishes to rebuild Varlyrio and open it to trade with the mainland. Is this true?"

Henjin nodded. "I have it from the queen herself that it is so. That letter over on the side table was delivered before dawn this morning by an eagle messenger, informing me of her decision to enhance the trade between the fifth Guild and the others. That is why I summoned you here at such short notice this morning."

"I noticed," grumbled Lord de Gothia of Sionnach, warming his old bones near the fire. "I never even had time to get out of my pajamas and get dressed, before I was being hoisted onto the back of a dragon by some Elf with spiky pauldrons and orange hair. Dragons. Huh. Back in my day, the "Flight of Dragons" was just a metaphor, and we rode horses like normal people."

"My apologies, My Lord, if Rider Elbyria treated you harshly," said Galaria, the Mistress of Dragons, and Henjin's wife. The Elf had sent out her dragonriders with haste at dawn to gather the lords, but she knew that her riders, all Elves, were the very model of courtesy. She herself had brought several of the attendees. 

"It was early, that was all," muttered de Gothia. "It is early still. Next time I'll send my sons. I'm getting too old to be traipsing about like a lad on errands at all hours. But Henjin," the old lord continued, "what does this mean for us? How does this affect Sionnach, or Hamanne, or Lesser Burren?"

"I'm glad you asked, My Lord de Gothia," answered the Druid. "As I was saying earlier, we have spent our money on war for a long time; how would you like to make money, lots of money, perhaps, by being among the first to have strong ties to the Varlyrian markets? If we can get our ships outfitted quickly, assemble quality Avalonian goods, like your cider, Conrad, or your steel, Abrecan, we can corner the market in the Far West and use the money we make to rebuild our lands and aid our people. Avalonia can prosper again, even more than before the wars, if we leap on this opportunity. We must rebuild, and we must ensure that the next generations of Avalonians can thrive in peace."

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"I would love to expand the influence of Hamanne outside of Avalonia, and allow my people to prosper in the process," said Abrecan Foxley, nodding to Henjin's words. "Let's get our ships loaded, and set sail for Varlyrio, to make the money to repair our cities."

"Sionnach's wheat should find an eager market abroad, and we have had a bumper crop these past few years despite the wars," added de Gothia. "Our farmers will benefit tremendously with this new market! I'm glad I got myself out of bed now. Forget that Kaliphlin bean-drink, I must get back to Sionnach quickly, to get my sons working on this at once. Mistress Galaria, where is my dragon?"

"The dragons and riders who carried each of you here are waiting outside on the courtyard," said Galaria as the guests moved towards the door. "May fortune smile upon us as we begin this new era of rebuilding and prosperity! Many thanks for coming, Lords and Ladies!"

Edited by Henjin_Quilones

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Lovely light trough the glasses, and also nice to see where the future of the guild is directing. And as the saying goes if you want peace prepare for war...

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7 hours ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

*snip

"I noticed," grumbled Lord de Gothia of Sionnach, warming his old bones near the fire. "I never even had time to get out of my pajamas and get dressed, before I was being hoisted onto the back of a dragon by some Elf with spiky pauldrons and orange hair. Dragons. Huh. Back in my day, the "Flight of Dragons" was just a metaphor, and we rode horses like normal people."

*snip*

Absolutely loving his comment, Arthur really likes this de Gothia! :rofl: :laugh: 

Also, he wonders whether Nocturnus will be completely left on it's own. Won't we send aid, food to feed our friends, troops to sagefuard them from our enemies?

OOC: great prelude, even better MOC. The lighting is just perfect, and even though the hall is pretty bare, the small details like the chandler and the chairs are enough to create a nice atmosphere. I feel honoured to make an appearance in such a nice building!

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Great work with the lighting here!  Really gives the build an ambiance, I love how the lattice reflects on the stone.  Neat touches with the firewood, dragon on the chimney, and the chandelier.  Enjoyed the story too! 

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Excellent interior, Henjin, as others have mentioned, those windows and the lighting are excellent!  The chandelier, dragon, and lighted fireplace caught my attention as well, and that flooring technique looks great here as well :thumbup: Looking forward to the new interaction between Varlyrio and the other guilds! :classic:

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Great interior, the lighting really sets it off. Really enjoyed the story and how you weaved people into it.

Loving the figs being there. I suppose I'll have to build a ship now then. Wonder if I should do that for the challenge? 

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Excellent work on the interior; especially the lighting through the windows, which gives the entire room a nice feel. The chandelier, dragon, and stack of wood in the back are all nice touches, as is the floor. May I ask how you did the floor? I kind of wish my character (or ex character I assume?) Brandon Stark was included though. 

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Great build ! And excellent lighting !

Even on a relatively simple and barren interior (and that's relative) you managed to create a great atmosphere ! Congrats !

How did you do to obtain this wonderful lighting ? Light backwards the windows seems not sufficient... Am I wrong ? Or is this so simple ?

excellent to see Avalonia stand up and rebuild the wounds of the war !

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On 8/16/2018 at 12:18 AM, Niku said:

Lovely light trough the glasses, and also nice to see where the future of the guild is directing. And as the saying goes if you want peace prepare for war...

Thanks, Niku! The first step is rebuild and strengthen. We shall see what the future brings, but hopefully not another book of civil wars!

On 8/16/2018 at 1:04 AM, deraven said:

Nice build- I like the chairs, and the lighting really caught my eye.  Beautifully done on that.  :classic:

I am glad you like the lighting!

On 8/16/2018 at 7:02 AM, TitusV said:

Absolutely loving his comment, Arthur really likes this de Gothia! :rofl: :laugh: 

Also, he wonders whether Nocturnus will be completely left on it's own. Won't we send aid, food to feed our friends, troops to sagefuard them from our enemies?

OOC: great prelude, even better MOC. The lighting is just perfect, and even though the hall is pretty bare, the small details like the chandler and the chairs are enough to create a nice atmosphere. I feel honoured to make an appearance in such a nice building!

It is funny that everyone loves the lighting so much, because when I was shooting the build late at night in my basement using lamps (as opposed to during the day outside in the shade, as is my normal custom) I was certain my pictures were going to be bad! 

Nocturnus will not be utterly forsaken, no, but our attention is not to the east right now, but to the west!

And I don't know if @de Gothia would approve, but I love the idea of an old, grumpy Lord de Gothia, too, one who has lived through it all in Historica and become just a bit soured by all of the war and death. But still lovable and even pleasant at times, and full of grumpy-old-man humor and sarcasm. Just make sure you stay off of the lawn of his castle! 

On 8/16/2018 at 8:57 AM, TheLordOfBricks said:

Ooh wow, this is getting good! I love the story, definitely a good start! But That build is even better! The lighting is really nice in this one! :D

Glad you like it! Thanks!

23 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Great work with the lighting here!  Really gives the build an ambiance, I love how the lattice reflects on the stone.  Neat touches with the firewood, dragon on the chimney, and the chandelier.  Enjoyed the story too! 

Yes, there is an ambiance to it that is kind of nice. If you read my reply to Titus, it was kind of an accident. I modified some of the minor details of the story (like time of day) to fit the pictures I had. 

19 hours ago, Garmadon said:

Excellent interior, Henjin, as others have mentioned, those windows and the lighting are excellent!  The chandelier, dragon, and lighted fireplace caught my attention as well, and that flooring technique looks great here as well :thumbup: Looking forward to the new interaction between Varlyrio and the other guilds! :classic:

Thanks, Garm! I had the dragon and fireplace built for something else that got abandoned, but thought they would work pretty well here. The chandelier was a last second addition to the build pre-photography. 

10 hours ago, cablefoxley said:

Great interior, the lighting really sets it off. Really enjoyed the story and how you weaved people into it.

Loving the figs being there. I suppose I'll have to build a ship now then. Wonder if I should do that for the challenge? 

Thanks, CF! I tried to include as many officially declared members of Avalonia as I could given my parts and time. You don't have to build a ship, though you could if you wanted to. If you did that for the challenge, you would want to show it being under construction, though. 

9 hours ago, Brandon Stark said:

Excellent work on the interior; especially the lighting through the windows, which gives the entire room a nice feel. The chandelier, dragon, and stack of wood in the back are all nice touches, as is the floor. May I ask how you did the floor? I kind of wish my character (or ex character I assume?) Brandon Stark was included though. 

Thanks, Brandon! The floor is done with 2x2 tiles placed on top of 1x1 round plates and turned to be at an 45-degree angle to the stud grid below. The walls have to overhang onto the floor, with an anchor further back, in order for the gap at the edge to be hidden (otherwise you end up with awkward triangle gaps along the walls). 

I am sorry I did not get your fig in there, as I was quite rushed getting everything together at the end. I know I missed at least two others from the Avalonia first post, too, quite by accident. I was in a bit of a crunch, trying to build this and photograph it in about five hours of work, so I missed some things that I had meant to include.

3 hours ago, ZlatanXVIGustaf said:

Very nice moc! Cool to see allthses characters as fleshies!

I only work in fleshie, so I had to adapt them to my world. I did the same for the final challenge of Book II, as well. It works better for some than others, admittedly. @Grover's Lady Gwenllian is less recognizable, for example, since I do not have a fleshie face with just the original LEGO smiley face on it, nor the proper burgundy hairpiece. I did what I could. 

1 hour ago, Faladrin said:

Great build ! And excellent lighting !

Even on a relatively simple and barren interior (and that's relative) you managed to create a great atmosphere ! Congrats !

How did you do to obtain this wonderful lighting ? Light backwards the windows seems not sufficient... Am I wrong ? Or is this so simple ?

excellent to see Avalonia stand up and rebuild the wounds of the war !

I tried to hold back on the bells and whistles of building, in order to facilitate speed. It fits, though, since the halls of Druidham are only freshly erected since Henjin got back from visiting Bandari (and Mwamba in general) and have not been fully furnished (or finished) yet. 

The lighting was done with an overhead bulb on the ceiling of my basement LEGO area, roughly right over the build, and a table lamp with an adjustable neck positioned to shine at roughly 45-degrees through the lattice windows. There are some trees on the other side of the window, pink and purple in foliage, that the light was shining through to give it some of those glowing hues. It was not well-lit, honestly, but I set my shutter speed to be slow (compared to usual for me, at least) to let more light get on the exposure. Then I played around a bit in my very simplistic photo editor (it came standard with Windows...) and lightened up the pictures and adjusted hue and saturation of colors. So you are right, it was not sufficient to just have the light through the windows, but it was not much more complex than that, either. 

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1 hour ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

It is funny that everyone loves the lighting so much, because when I was shooting the build late at night in my basement using lamps (as opposed to during the day outside in the shade, as is my normal custom) I was certain my pictures were going to be bad! 

 

:laugh:  That has happened to me a time or two!

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7 hours ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

I only work in fleshie, so I had to adapt them to my world. I did the same for the final challenge of Book II, as well. It works better for some than others, admittedly. @Grover's Lady Gwenllian is less recognizable, for example, since I do not have a fleshie face with just the original LEGO smiley face on it, nor the proper burgundy hairpiece. I did what I could.

Great job!  I know it's less detailed than you usually work in, but I think it looks really good--almost spartan, although not for reasons of austerity, but due to the newness that you described.  It works.  The lighting is great, as everyone has said, intentional or not.  I also like the incorporation of the new HP pieces (candles, flame, and square latticed windows).  Did you just brute-force buy some Hogwarts Great Hall sets or did you bricklink them?  I am debating whether or not I want to shell out for the great hall right now just for the small pieces.

Thanks for including Lady Gwenllian!  I recognized her and appreciate you taking the time to include her.  As for fleshie, I just attribute it to her having her picture taken in a different light!  lol  I was thinking they haven't made a straight fleshie smiley face either.  Maybe I am wrong about that but I can't remember seeing one.

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The windows are great, and as others have mentioned, the lighting is perfect; however, my favorite details are the large but not overpowering fireplace and especially the firewood stack.

Somebody needs to trim that lavender-leafed tree back a bit though.  I'm sure the lord and lady don't want any more broken windows! :laugh:

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Beautiful simplicity that gives an air of realism to the hall :thumbup: I love how the window setup works here, with the slopes below and inverted slopes above. Having a large stone ledge on either side of the fireplace to pile wood on both looks great, and seems extremely practical :wub: Neat little alcove with the statue too, adds a nice bit of detail and interest to what could have just been a boring wall.

13 hours ago, mrcp6d said:

Somebody needs to trim that lavender-leafed tree back a bit though.  I'm sure the lord and lady don't want any more broken windows! :laugh:

Ah, but this is Avalonia, where they like to embrace nature :laugh:

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That what I thinking henjin, building a shipyard with the skeleton of a ship init. Or the could do something different, either way expect some mocs where im selling hamanne steel and weapons. Up Avalonia. 

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Really like the characterization of DG here and there's some solid detail in the writing which really sells it. The writing is my favorite part because it is a great representation of the best kind of RBG writing (IMO): toeing the line between too broad and too obscurely high fantasy.

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On 8/17/2018 at 5:31 PM, Grover said:

Great job!  I know it's less detailed than you usually work in, but I think it looks really good--almost spartan, although not for reasons of austerity, but due to the newness that you described.  It works.  The lighting is great, as everyone has said, intentional or not.  I also like the incorporation of the new HP pieces (candles, flame, and square latticed windows).  Did you just brute-force buy some Hogwarts Great Hall sets or did you bricklink them?  I am debating whether or not I want to shell out for the great hall right now just for the small pieces.

Thanks for including Lady Gwenllian!  I recognized her and appreciate you taking the time to include her.  As for fleshie, I just attribute it to her having her picture taken in a different light!  lol  I was thinking they haven't made a straight fleshie smiley face either.  Maybe I am wrong about that but I can't remember seeing one.

I bought the Great Hall set back at the start of July when it went on sale in the USA. I am the kind of guy who buys sets rather than Bricklinking pieces (though I do use BL with some degree of frequency), since I have never lost the love of getting a new LEGO box and opening it, building a set, and admiring it for a day or so before tearing it apart and building other stuff. Plus I love, love minifigs! The Great Hall set is a little underwhelming, I have to say, by the way, so it's really up to you whether you just want a few parts from it or want to make the investment. 

TLG has made a fleshie smiley face, but not for a long time. My brother has one from an old SW A-Wing fighter from years and years ago. 

On 8/17/2018 at 8:18 PM, mrcp6d said:

The windows are great, and as others have mentioned, the lighting is perfect; however, my favorite details are the large but not overpowering fireplace and especially the firewood stack.

Somebody needs to trim that lavender-leafed tree back a bit though.  I'm sure the lord and lady don't want any more broken windows! :laugh:

It turns out that the Great Hall set that the windows come with has an odd number of windows, and I needed an even number for the build, so I decided to make a branch grow through the 36th window opening. Perhaps it is not broken but just opened to allow some fresh air in?

On 8/18/2018 at 9:26 AM, soccerkid6 said:

Beautiful simplicity that gives an air of realism to the hall :thumbup: I love how the window setup works here, with the slopes below and inverted slopes above. Having a large stone ledge on either side of the fireplace to pile wood on both looks great, and seems extremely practical :wub: Neat little alcove with the statue too, adds a nice bit of detail and interest to what could have just been a boring wall.

Ah, but this is Avalonia, where they like to embrace nature :laugh:

Thanks, SK! I scaled it back a bit from what I had been imagining for the interior category of the Summer Joust, but I am pretty content with the outcome here. The slopes above and below the windows allow me to give an impression of depth to the wall, befitting a castle-type building. And there are in fact two statues, but the second one is on the wall that never gets seen. I tried to avoid excessively boring walls! The back ones on either side of the fireplace probably need something, like banners, to break them up too, but I did not get to it. 

Perhaps it is too difficult sometimes to go outside to hug a tree, so we just let them grow inside so we can hug them there...

On 8/18/2018 at 11:49 AM, cablefoxley said:

That what I thinking henjin, building a shipyard with the skeleton of a ship init. Or the could do something different, either way expect some mocs where im selling hamanne steel and weapons. Up Avalonia. 

A shipyard would be great, and it could also count towards your HSS-Nautical category. 

On 8/18/2018 at 3:53 PM, mccoyed said:

Really like the characterization of DG here and there's some solid detail in the writing which really sells it. The writing is my favorite part because it is a great representation of the best kind of RBG writing (IMO): toeing the line between too broad and too obscurely high fantasy.

I am glad you like the writing. I do fancy myself to be a writer, and am in the (slow) process of writing a novel in the high fantasy genre. I'd be much further along with the book if I did not spend so much time building things with LEGO for a completely different story!

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HAHAHAHA!! Love my grump sigfig! I laughed so much when reading that!

 

The story itself is excellent! Love the light in this great moc!

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Interesting how the lighting worked out so cool!  The fact that it's indoor makes the inside lighting appropriate, and also I like the chandelier with the new candle parts! Also the figs are very lively and neat. 

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On 8/17/2018 at 4:13 PM, Henjin_Quilones said:

It is funny that everyone loves the lighting so much, because when I was shooting the build late at night in my basement using lamps (as opposed to during the day outside in the shade, as is my normal custom) I was certain my pictures were going to be bad! 

Nocturnus will not be utterly forsaken, no, but our attention is not to the east right now, but to the west!

And I don't know if @de Gothia would approve, but I love the idea of an old, grumpy Lord de Gothia, too, one who has lived through it all in Historica and become just a bit soured by all of the war and death. But still lovable and even pleasant at times, and full of grumpy-old-man humor and sarcasm. Just make sure you stay off of the lawn of his castle! 

Lovely interior build, this is yet another example why I think interiors are best done as standalone builds in true minifig scale :thumbup:
I think the lighting works really well when it comes through the windows and has a direction to it, instead of the diffuse outdoors light. I'm not as fond of the sharp shadows on the floor however. But it makes me want to try to photograph an interior with the light coming through the windows and the windows creating sharp shadows, hmm... :wink: 

I agree that making de Gothia old and grumpy character is a great progression of the character in book III :classic: 
No more loud partying beneath the battlements of Sionnach then?

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On 8/20/2018 at 3:04 PM, de Gothia said:

HAHAHAHA!! Love my grump sigfig! I laughed so much when reading that!

 

The story itself is excellent! Love the light in this great moc!

I was hoping you would approve, dG! After all, he has seen a lot of stuff in his time. Now he can enjoy being a grumpy old man while his sons take over the daily running of Sionnach. Plus I did not have very good parts to make him in my last minute scramble, so he got placed at the back in the dimmer light...

9 hours ago, W Navarre said:

Interesting how the lighting worked out so cool!  The fact that it's indoor makes the inside lighting appropriate, and also I like the chandelier with the new candle parts! Also the figs are very lively and neat. 

Thanks! 

3 hours ago, Gideon said:

Lovely interior build, this is yet another example why I think interiors are best done as standalone builds in true minifig scale :thumbup:
I think the lighting works really well when it comes through the windows and has a direction to it, instead of the diffuse outdoors light. I'm not as fond of the sharp shadows on the floor however. But it makes me want to try to photograph an interior with the light coming through the windows and the windows creating sharp shadows, hmm... :wink: 

I agree that making de Gothia old and grumpy character is a great progression of the character in book III :classic: 
No more loud partying beneath the battlements of Sionnach then?

I agree, I don't like trying to cram a bunch of details into a tiny space, when real-life buildings have room to move around and breathe. Especially castles! (In my mind at least; I have been to some castles and they were actually quite cramped inside...) Unlike SK, I have no real love of detailed interiors on externally focused builds; I'd rather build it twice, once from inside and once from outside. 

I don't like the sharp shadows on the floor either, but I'll be honest, when I was taking these pictures I was not paying attention to the overhead light and forgot that it was on. Not sure how the pictures would have turned out without that additional light, but there it is. I'd love for you to experiment with the lighting, getting it done right, and then tell us all how you did it...

And what do you mean, no loud partying? I did not make Lord de Gothia old - that was @de Gothia - but old people party too! His headache is probably just that much worse in the morning. But he needs to be loud so he can hear himself, what with all of the age-related hearing loss...

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Just catching up on this.. Thumbs up for this excellent scene! I wouldn't have thought the new lattices would work out so nicely in the context of a grey wall with some plain old (inverted) slopes and a few beams. The rest of the room is just as elegant, but in particular the fireplace's shelf with those modified bricks. Fantastic narrative as well, befitting the scene (or visa versa?) and seasoned with humor and easter eggs for long-time guildies. :wink::thumbup:

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