Cinnatus [Game of Thrones: Avalonia]

[Henjin_Quilones]

Cinnatus

An entry to the Game of Thrones: Avalonia minichallenge

 

When Artorious Rex arrived in Avalonia nearly 10 years ago, brave men rode by his side in a thundering wall, known as the Flight of Dragons. They drove away the forces of darkness from the realm and restored peace and order that had not been seen for centuries. Those mounted warriors became Lords of Avalonia, friends of the king, and guardians of peace and justice across the land. 

One of those men, by the name of Cinnatus, shied away from the prestige and the glory; he humbly accepted his lordship and his grant of land, since they were the will of the king, and then went to his new territory and began to work it as a simple farmer. He placed his armor and sword in his attic, and hitched his mighty warhorse to a heavy plow to break the soil. 

And then the elemental monsters came, and the sword of Cinnatus was needed once more. He heeded the call of Artorious Rex and came to the defense of the realm, leading an army of men to victory in engagement after engagement. The elementals were defeated, and Cinnatus returned home to finish plowing his fields. 

But the Drow soon rose up, posing a threat to the surface-dwellers; the High Lords called upon him in the absence of King Artorious, and once again Cinnatus answered the summons. The Drow were defeated by Cinnatus and his army, and Cinnatus returned home to harvest his crops.

But then Lord Raavage attempted to spread his darkness over all the lands, and the heroes of Avalonia were needed to repel the blackness; at the Battle of Green Leaf Pass, the Drow forces were once again defeated by the Flight of Dragons galloping up the green slopes. And then again on the plains of Nocturnus, Cinnatus proved a pivotal role in driving back the Black Spire and raising Queen Ylspeth to the throne to once again unite the four guilds. 

Finally Cinnatus returned to his humble estate and hitched Badius, his brown stallion, back to the plow, his duty to the land once more discharged. The tenants tending his other fields were glad to see him return, as they knew they would always be listened to and respected, as no other landlord ever had treated them better, like real people. Cinnatus worked alongside them daily, never seeking to seem better than they. He judged fairly when asked, intervened when needed, and was always just in his decisions. 

Then word came that the Council of Lords wished to anoint a new king to take the place of the vanished Artorious, and the people of Cinnatus' lands begged him to consider taking on the role. Cinnatus refused. But then other lords, like Henjin Quilones of Druidham, visited and begged the same thing, asking him to do it as a duty to the people of Avalonia. And so finally, moved by a sense of duty, of obligation to the land and people, Cinnatus decided to venture to Albion to be considered for the vacant throne. But first he finished plowing his field. 

 

Spoiler

Cinnatus in armor, ready to take on the enemies of Avalonia once again.

 

[de Gothia]

Lovely story and such a great moc HQ! Love the plowed side of the field! Great entry!!

[TheLordOfBricks]

Really excellent work here HQ, such a wonderfully atmospheric build. Keep it up man! :)

[Servertijd]

Nice story and great little build.

[The Last of Nergoue]

Very nice although I am not quite sure about the use of the dark brown hair pieces, but overall the moc looks great!

 

[en_zoo]

really nice entry, neat and well presented. I love that Cinnatus finished plowing his fields for once

[W Navarre]

Very nice, so polished! Great horse harness, NPU! 

[Kai NRG]

There's something a little creepy about those mounds of dark brown hair...   Great use of the tire around the horse's neck and the overall composition of this MOC is really nice.

[Grover]

Oooh, I really like the dark grey background and the reflective black base!  I need to remember that for a lake.  More than just the reflective properties, I get the feel of an old soldier who has seen dark days and still toils away in his fields, trying to move past the horrible things he has seen in war.  It's a dark, serious, and yet resigned to the reality of life feel to the build.  Very cool.  That's a brilliant yoke on the horse, too.  What piece is that?  I can't quite tell.  The overall color choices are great, too--the olive and dark brown look really good together with the dark green leaves.  I also really like the bonus picture in full armor.  The only part I'm unsure of is the hair.  It appears to be tilled earth, but it seems maybe a little rasterized compared to the rest of the build.  In any case, it's a wonderful build.

As for the story, I really like the idea of a stalwart soldier of the people who rode with Artorious.  It was a fun read, and well written!

[zoth33]

Nice story.  Simple build but really shows a lot of style.  I like the use of hair pieces as plowed earth.  Very nice plow.  The trees and the lighter green ground compliment each other well.  

[kahir88]

Strange, when I made a black-based build, everyone criticized it, well times changed... :D

The build is again, looks great! The good use of hairpieces was a good idea. Although the story could be better.  He is reliable, that's good, but every time, when he wasn't needed, he simply went home to tend the fields. And if he becomes king, where can we counsel with him, in the countryside, while pushing a plow? I know, in my story I also told a king must help his subject, not caring, how dirty he would be. But, this is just my opinion. If Avalonia elects him, I will follow.

[Henjin_Quilones]

On 2/28/2019 at 2:54 PM, de Gothia said:

Lovely story and such a great moc HQ! Love the plowed side of the field! Great entry!!

Thanks, dG! The hair looked like clods or clumps of soil, so I went with it. 

On 2/28/2019 at 3:36 PM, TheLordOfBricks said:

Really excellent work here HQ, such a wonderfully atmospheric build. Keep it up man! :)

Thanks! The dark background helps with the atmosphere, as well as a single source of light. 

On 2/28/2019 at 3:55 PM, Servertijd said:

Nice story and great little build.

Thanks!

On 2/28/2019 at 5:58 PM, The Last of Nergoue said:

Very nice although I am not quite sure about the use of the dark brown hair pieces, but overall the moc looks great!

The hair may not be a perfect choice, but I thought it worked pretty well for turned earth. 

On 2/28/2019 at 7:08 PM, en_zoo said:

really nice entry, neat and well presented. I love that Cinnatus finished plowing his fields for once

He had to finish some day. 

On 2/28/2019 at 8:49 PM, W Navarre said:

Very nice, so polished! Great horse harness, NPU! 

I think I saw something similar on Flickr a while back for the harness, and went with it. I did some research on medieval plows, and this is the best approximation of a heavy plow I could make, with a horse collar (I learned that an ox collar would choke a horse, so they had to develop something new, and it looks pretty close to this, in my opinion). 

On 2/28/2019 at 10:23 PM, Kai NRG said:

There's something a little creepy about those mounds of dark brown hair...   Great use of the tire around the horse's neck and the overall composition of this MOC is really nice.

You have to squint a bit to get past the fact that they are hair...

On 3/1/2019 at 1:01 AM, Grover said:

Oooh, I really like the dark grey background and the reflective black base!  I need to remember that for a lake.  More than just the reflective properties, I get the feel of an old soldier who has seen dark days and still toils away in his fields, trying to move past the horrible things he has seen in war.  It's a dark, serious, and yet resigned to the reality of life feel to the build.  Very cool.  That's a brilliant yoke on the horse, too.  What piece is that?  I can't quite tell.  The overall color choices are great, too--the olive and dark brown look really good together with the dark green leaves.  I also really like the bonus picture in full armor.  The only part I'm unsure of is the hair.  It appears to be tilled earth, but it seems maybe a little rasterized compared to the rest of the build.  In any case, it's a wonderful build.

As for the story, I really like the idea of a stalwart soldier of the people who rode with Artorious.  It was a fun read, and well written!

The horse collar is a tire flipped inside-out. Thanks for the comments!

14 hours ago, zoth33 said:

Nice story.  Simple build but really shows a lot of style.  I like the use of hair pieces as plowed earth.  Very nice plow.  The trees and the lighter green ground compliment each other well.  

I'm glad you like the combination of the greens. 

8 hours ago, kahir88 said:

Strange, when I made a black-based build, everyone criticized it, well times changed... :D

The build is again, looks great! The good use of hairpieces was a good idea. Although the story could be better.  He is reliable, that's good, but every time, when he wasn't needed, he simply went home to tend the fields. And if he becomes king, where can we counsel with him, in the countryside, while pushing a plow? I know, in my story I also told a king must help his subject, not caring, how dirty he would be. But, this is just my opinion. If Avalonia elects him, I will follow.

As I recall, it was not so much the black base that was the issue, but that the black base had a detail (a 1x1 pearl grey pyramid) on it that detracted from its clean appearance. This is the sixth or seventh time I've used a base like this (I did it for all of my dragons, and I think one other as well), and I've always liked the effect. I stole the idea from @Legofin2012 a while back. 

If Cinnatus becomes king, he will do everything that a good king would do, since that would be his duty. He would not run back to his field all the time, since that would no longer be his duty. It is not that he just wants to be a farmer, but that he has no great ambition for glory and honor, and is content working the land that is his as a Lord of Avalonia, not playing politics all the time in Albion like so many others. He is interested only in doing his duty. His story is inspired by Cincinnatus, a Roman hero, as well as by George Washington, the hero of the American Revolutionary War and the first president of the USA, who has been called the American Cincinnatus. 

[soccerkid6]

Don't believe I've seen hair used for a plowed field before - very neat effect! The plow and harness setup are also excellent
Good call to include a few trees and small section of stone wall as well