Ayrlego Posted November 20, 2018 Shortly before the last troubles befell Mitgardia, a family of cyclopes settled on the outskirts of Ambarvale. Not much is known about them, they were rumoured to have fled their tribe in Nocturnus and were viewed mostly with a somewhat xenophobic suspicion by the human inhabitants of the town. The pair of cyclopes shunned the town itself and constructed a round hut in the woods to the south of the village. Shortly after arriving, they had a child. They kept mostly to themselves, only occasionally venturing into town for supplies they could not hunt or gather themselves. During the last great raid and sack of the town, the female cyclops was out hunting. Despite putting up a ferocious fight, her mate and child were taken by the raiders as slaves, along with many human villagers. Now it is rumoured amongst the townsmen that the remaining cyclops has news of her missing family and is preparing to seek them out. Irissa was taking stock of her supplies when the crunching of leaves betrayed someone approaching the hut. Without displaying any alarm, she quietly picked up one of her swords and shifted her gaze to watch the two humans approach. A man and a youngling. The man appeared to be a warrior, although his sword was slung over his back and his arms were displayed in front of him palms outward - experienced then. He was displaying that he was aware he was being watched and that he meant no harm. Cyclopes are much stronger and tougher than humans and she thought the human wise to be weary of her. "Come no closer two-eyes" she called, still without moving. "I mean no disrespect, I come only to talk" replied the man. The dialogue continued and gradually, Irissa's suspicious and hostile nature towards most humans was replaced by curiosity. The man's name was Yngvi and the human youngling was his son, Erik. Like her, he had lost family to the bandits who raided the town the previous summer and he seemed to want to know if she knew where they had been taken. Word must have gotten around the humans - a few weeks ago, a travelling cyclops had brought news. Rumours of northmen including a male and youngling cyclops brought through a market city in Kaliphlin. She had to make several runs into the town for supplies in preparation for her trip south. Against her somewhat better judgement, she passed this information to the human then immediately dismissed his determined pitch to join her on the journey. After much back and forth, she admitted to herself that despite their puny physique, human companions may be useful - humans were much more likely to help other humans. While no agreement is reached, she is considering it. _____________ I wanted to do something a bit different and I've never really explored the non-human fantasy races before. Also I wanted to actually write some story rather than my usual focus on the build. Anyway, so I started making a square hut for the cyclops CMF, but decided as a cyclops, only a round hut would do! Inspiration mostly came from this example. As a smaller scene I wanted to try a new colour palate with the landscape, so I settled on a modified version of this excellent build by @Blufiji. I substituted the light yellow for tan, which I think works well. I also definitely need some more medium dark flesh plates (I only recently discovered they now come in 1x2 plates - I swear they never used to...) I currently only have 36 - most of the MDF you see is either 1x2 bricks or 1x2/1x4 modified bricks with masonry profile! I'm pretty pleased with the result - although don't look too hard at the roof or it will fall down - it is quite fragile! Also I'll use this as my first Dwellings of Mitgardia community build. Enjoy! WIP Shot: Spoiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
W Navarre Posted November 20, 2018 Wonderful work, the outskirts of a forest in fall is what it looks like and the colors are beautiful! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoModularFan Posted November 20, 2018 (edited) As said on Flickr, the color scheme and the roof of the hut is amazing! The trees are very simple but they fit perfectly here. Keep it up! Edited November 20, 2018 by LegoModularFan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLordOfBricks Posted November 20, 2018 Awesome! Great colors here, and the hut's shaping is great! That roof is really neat. :) Also, if I were you I would not always build the end of the base two SNOTed plates down, personally I would switch it up with one plate SNOTed or even an intermingling of bricks, plates, wedge plates and SNOT plates... Not that it looks bad, but just to break it up a little. :) Overall very nice work! :) Keep it up! P.S. Are the middle two trees altbricks or is that just the lighting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adde51 Posted November 20, 2018 Lovely little scene with fantastic colours. Really digging that base with the dark brown at the bottom, seems to be somewhat of a trend right now . Nice work with the hut as well, I like the shape and the roof (maybe one or two tiles too much, but that's some serious nitpicking). Overall great work man! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted November 20, 2018 Excellent choice of colors for this MOC, orange and dark orange go so well with the tan and flesh of the ground! Impressive job with the roof too, you managed to get the messy feel without losing the round shape. The only thing I see to criticize is the brown of the base... it just doesn't feel like the right color of dirt to be under tan and flesh, and besides, it's visually confusing to use the same shade of brown for dirt and wood in the same MOC. But otherwise, this is a real fun build! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Basiliscus Posted November 20, 2018 Lovely colours and great ramshackle representation of the building. Shows that great MOCs don't always need to be big. My only minor nitpick is that your player characters always seem to have the same pose each MOC, it'd be nice if they had some travelling bags, horses, or whatever to make them feel a bit more involved in the scene. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zoth33 Posted November 21, 2018 Great base the tans and brown plates work nicely together. The trees are simple yet effective. The round hut has nice texture and I like the ramshackle roof. I also really like your cyclops fig. The story is also pretty cool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grover Posted November 21, 2018 Really gorgeous. I love the choice of colors, and the light yellow with MDF is very nice. I assume the leaves are from Alt bricks or are shaded unusually from the light, but they are lovely. I really like that you make excellent use of the small amount of MDF and that you used a number of varied bricks to get the color. The irregular base is also awesome. The story is compelling, and the hut is a great idea as well. You should submit this to the classic castle contest if you haven't already. Very well done, and I can't wait to see the next chapter in this story! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gabe Posted November 22, 2018 Great roundhouse design and i like the irregular base. I kinda feel though that the right hand side of the base is a little empty - feels like dead space. Maybe a small outcrop of stone or totem or something would helped there? I like your cyclops character and hope we see more of her! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
en_zoo Posted November 22, 2018 Nice round hut! Love the base and the palette (I had missed that build from Blufiji) - I'm gonna have to copy it at some point. I've also enjoyed the story a lot, keep it up! Wait, MDF in 1x2 plates? *Goes and adds to BL wanted list* P.S. Still autumn.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muakhah Posted November 22, 2018 The house is very nice and its rare we see smaller round stone buildings. It looks like a home a family built. I like the way that more and more people are presenting "Monsters" as characters with their own families, stories and motivations. The colors are lovely. I agree that the posing is a little plain and there could be some more gear but it does the job as a meeting between wary people. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henjin_Quilones Posted November 22, 2018 Very nice use of color here! I enjoy all of the browns and oranges. The foliage matches the ground pretty closely in feel, which is nice. The abundance of reddish brown does not especially bother me, but Kai might be on to something. Dark brown for one of the two (dirt or roof) might have improved it a tad. One thing I appreciate about your builds in the guilds is how consistent each of them is in a particular color scheme, and this is no exception. It is beautiful! I look forward to seeing some more about the story, and especially to seeing your take on Kaliphlin! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pombe Posted November 22, 2018 I hope they team up to find their families. Maybe Irissa will learn how resourceful and dependable humans are and the humans learn that cyclops have the same values that they do and aren’t that different. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Exetrius Posted November 26, 2018 Good to see you take on a particular landscape and colour scheme from an other member of your guild! Your different approach (round hut, non-human resident) makes it fresh. The entrance of the hut stands out, I imagine it's also the only sturdy part of the roof, judging by the hinges. The supply bags and pot are good details to liven up the ground, and I would suggest to add just a couple of stones in the the rest of the forest floor. They must have collected the cobbles for their wall from somewhere, right? Nice story, btw! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ayrlego Posted November 26, 2018 On 11/21/2018 at 12:03 AM, W Navarre said: Wonderful work, the outskirts of a forest in fall is what it looks like and the colors are beautiful! On 11/21/2018 at 12:12 AM, LegoModularFan said: As said on Flickr, the color scheme and the roof of the hut is amazing! The trees are very simple but they fit perfectly here. Keep it up! Thanks guys! On 11/21/2018 at 12:34 AM, TheLordOfBricks said: Awesome! Great colors here, and the hut's shaping is great! That roof is really neat. :) Also, if I were you I would not always build the end of the base two SNOTed plates down, personally I would switch it up with one plate SNOTed or even an intermingling of bricks, plates, wedge plates and SNOT plates... Not that it looks bad, but just to break it up a little. :) Overall very nice work! :) Keep it up! P.S. Are the middle two trees altbricks or is that just the lighting? Thanks, I agree I need to vary the SNOTed plates on my bases - they tend to get a bit uniform! Most of the leaves are actually altbricks - I don't have that many actual Lego dark orange leaves, so they are mixed in with 3 different alt bricks colours, the middle trees being their bright orange. On 11/21/2018 at 2:55 AM, adde51 said: Lovely little scene with fantastic colours. Really digging that base with the dark brown at the bottom, seems to be somewhat of a trend right now . Nice work with the hut as well, I like the shape and the roof (maybe one or two tiles too much, but that's some serious nitpicking). Overall great work man! Thanks adde On 11/21/2018 at 10:16 AM, Kai NRG said: Excellent choice of colors for this MOC, orange and dark orange go so well with the tan and flesh of the ground! Impressive job with the roof too, you managed to get the messy feel without losing the round shape. The only thing I see to criticize is the brown of the base... it just doesn't feel like the right color of dirt to be under tan and flesh, and besides, it's visually confusing to use the same shade of brown for dirt and wood in the same MOC. But otherwise, this is a real fun build! Thanks Kai. I don't mind the brown under the MDF/dark tan, but I definitely agree that blends in too much with the roof. I'll need to order some more dark brown I think to correct circumstances like this! (and hope TLG releases more pieces in dark brown...) On 11/21/2018 at 10:29 AM, Basiliscus said: Lovely colours and great ramshackle representation of the building. Shows that great MOCs don't always need to be big. My only minor nitpick is that your player characters always seem to have the same pose each MOC, it'd be nice if they had some travelling bags, horses, or whatever to make them feel a bit more involved in the scene. Thanks Colin, funnily enough I made the same observation about my characters in this MOC - I fixed that in the next one! On 11/21/2018 at 3:13 PM, zoth33 said: Great base the tans and brown plates work nicely together. The trees are simple yet effective. The round hut has nice texture and I like the ramshackle roof. I also really like your cyclops fig. The story is also pretty cool. Thank you zoth! On 11/21/2018 at 4:25 PM, Grover said: Really gorgeous. I love the choice of colors, and the light yellow with MDF is very nice. I assume the leaves are from Alt bricks or are shaded unusually from the light, but they are lovely. I really like that you make excellent use of the small amount of MDF and that you used a number of varied bricks to get the color. The irregular base is also awesome. The story is compelling, and the hut is a great idea as well. You should submit this to the classic castle contest if you haven't already. Very well done, and I can't wait to see the next chapter in this story! Thanks Grover, yep the leaves are from alt bricks (well most of them, there are a small amount of Lego dark orange mixed through!). I am thinking of entering some of these in the CCC, but I'm still trying to get my head around all the rules... Like do you need to be a member for the forum, or can you just submit your entries using their form? I'll look some more into it! On 11/22/2018 at 3:28 PM, Gabe said: Great roundhouse design and i like the irregular base. I kinda feel though that the right hand side of the base is a little empty - feels like dead space. Maybe a small outcrop of stone or totem or something would helped there? I like your cyclops character and hope we see more of her! Thanks Gabe, in retrospect I agree, some rocks or additional details on the RHS would have helped! Thanks for the advice! On 11/23/2018 at 12:27 AM, en_zoo said: Nice round hut! Love the base and the palette (I had missed that build from Blufiji) - I'm gonna have to copy it at some point. I've also enjoyed the story a lot, keep it up! Wait, MDF in 1x2 plates? *Goes and adds to BL wanted list* P.S. Still autumn.. Lol, my reaction with the MDF plates exactly! ...and yes, it's still autumn! On 11/23/2018 at 2:22 AM, Muakhah said: The house is very nice and its rare we see smaller round stone buildings. It looks like a home a family built. I like the way that more and more people are presenting "Monsters" as characters with their own families, stories and motivations. The colors are lovely. I agree that the posing is a little plain and there could be some more gear but it does the job as a meeting between wary people. Thanks Muakhah! On 11/23/2018 at 3:27 AM, Henjin_Quilones said: Very nice use of color here! I enjoy all of the browns and oranges. The foliage matches the ground pretty closely in feel, which is nice. The abundance of reddish brown does not especially bother me, but Kai might be on to something. Dark brown for one of the two (dirt or roof) might have improved it a tad. One thing I appreciate about your builds in the guilds is how consistent each of them is in a particular color scheme, and this is no exception. It is beautiful! I look forward to seeing some more about the story, and especially to seeing your take on Kaliphlin! Thank you Henjin, it will still be a while before they make it Kaliphlin, but I have an itch to do some more desert builds! Then they will probably travel back via Avalonia just so I can experiment with all three mainland styles! On 11/23/2018 at 8:09 AM, pombe said: I hope they team up to find their families. Maybe Irissa will learn how resourceful and dependable humans are and the humans learn that cyclops have the same values that they do and aren’t that different. Thanks pombe, I have some plans to do Irissa's back story - and I'm pretty sure she and Yngvi will be faithful companions throughout this quest! 5 hours ago, Exetrius said: Good to see you take on a particular landscape and colour scheme from an other member of your guild! Your different approach (round hut, non-human resident) makes it fresh. The entrance of the hut stands out, I imagine it's also the only sturdy part of the roof, judging by the hinges. The supply bags and pot are good details to liven up the ground, and I would suggest to add just a couple of stones in the the rest of the forest floor. They must have collected the cobbles for their wall from somewhere, right? Nice story, btw! Thanks Exetrius! In retrospect I definitely agree some rocks scattered around the landscape could have added to the scene! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soccerkid6 Posted December 5, 2018 You managed to work the round roof very smoothly! The stone hut against the autumn trees is lovely, as is your mix of colors for the landscape Your characters' stories just keep getting more interesting as well. Will be interesting to see what comes next Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Last of Nergoue Posted December 5, 2018 Very nice, loving the roof! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccoyed Posted December 6, 2018 Missed this before. Still the color master, Ayrlego. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gideon Posted December 9, 2018 Excellent color scheme, shape of the roof and overall feeling! I agree that the non-human races in Historica needs to be fleshed out more Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
