Irissa's Origins - A Cyclopean hamlet in Nocturnus

[Ayrlego]

Previously Yngvi and Erik meet the Cyclops Irissa and now they are travelling together searching for their families, taken by raiders two years ago. Irissa; at first suspicious and hostile towards the humans, has slowly warmed to them, especially Erik. One night around the fire, she tells Erik the story of how she and her family came to Mitgardia.

My mother was a powerful matriarch who ruled a large tribe of Cyclopes deep in Nocturnus. I was her eldest daughter and nominated successor. Unlike your human societies, most Cyclopean tribes are matriarchal and most leadership positions are held by women. Most female cyclopes aspire to become great warriors and I was no exception. I proved quicker and more agile than most of my peers and trained intensively in sword craft. For my coming of age I was gifted my sword - an elvish blade looted long ago and the most valuable weapon our tribe possessed. I lead many successful war parties and was happy with life. It was around this time I meet my partner, Hesiodos. Hesiodos, or Hesiod as I call him was unusual amongst my people as he loves to build things. As Cyclops, we are not great craftsmen; we can not work iron, bronze is our limit when it comes to metal work. Our buildings are simple stone and timber. Where possible we inhabit structures abandoned or taken from other races. Anyway, Hesiod was always working on buildings around the village, he was known for coming to repair something and leaving having completely rebuilt it! My family did not approve of the match, he was not from a warrior family and had no interest in war and raiding. I was young and headstrong and my mother's disapproval spurred me deeper into the relationship. Hesiod's peaceful nature must have influenced me more than I knew, for when my mother made a pact with the forces of the Black Spire, I rejected my tribe an birthright and left the village in the middle of the night with Hesiod and several other friends. Oh how naive we were! Our plan was to start a new tribe and exclude ourselves from the troubles of Historica. Why should the blood of Cyclopes be shed in wars raged by Humans and other races? We established a hamlet deep in the forest next to an abandoned human watchtower. Hesiod supervised the construction of new huts and for a while we lived peacefully.

While time proved me right not to have sided with my tribe, this meant little after the end of the war. Cyclopes had sided with the spire and one dawn our village was attacked and burnt to the ground. Hesiod and I only survived as we were out that night - Hesiod was showing me a new type of wood he had discovered in a grove which he believed he could make some new invention with. On returning to the slaughtered corpses of my friends I spiralled into rage. Vowing revenge I immediately picked up the tracks of the attackers. Before I could get myself killed; however, I discovered I was pregnant. It was Hesiod who convinced me to leave. Together we fled as far away as we could get. An that is how I ended up in Mitgardia; and also why I will now travel to the ends of the earth to find my family. I will not fail those I love again.

[Eoin Wallace]

The colours on the trees really make it pop and I like those buildings too! 

[Grover]

Ooooh!  More to the cyclops backstory!   I was really excited when you did the first post with the cyclops.  What a great idea!  This build is no less impressive than your others.  I like how you broke up the 1x2 / 1x1 round with some plates, olive green, and DBG.  It really helps distract from the spiral pattern.  The palisade bricks at the wooden part at the top do a great job helping to alleviate that.  The cyclops huts do a great job furthering your description of a 'good' cyclops building but something that would also be considered almost a lean-to by other races.  I like the inclusion of the elven sword as an artifact, too.  The various colored leaves on the trees are nice, and overall color choice of the olive green plates on brown is excellent (though I'm not sure where you scored all that olive green!).  I like the details too: the neat firewood bundle, the cookfire and what appears to be a torch on a pole.  If I were to nitpick, the one thing that stands out a little is the overall horizontal pitch to the leaves.  In the Blufji post on Flickr that you said you modeled this after, the leaves were broken into different angles that I think helped break up the parallel lines.  It's not that easy to notice right off the bat, though, so like I said, it's kind of a nitpick.  Very, very nice work.  I love seeing your aesthetic and I am trying to imitate some of your stone walls from your previous builds in one of my upcoming ones.  Great job!

[zoth33]

Great tower and huts.  I like the shots of sand green in the tower.  The huts are pretty neat, I like how you did the roofs.  The landscaping is great, a lot of variation in color and styles.  The trees look good, nice color choices giving it a different feel.  The figs look great too and nice story to accompany the build.  

[Kai NRG]

Cool to see these huts of yours in an expanded setting!  They look really good here and so does the tower.  The purple trees are bold but they do bring in some needed color.  However, I think they may stand out a little too much so a bit of corresponding color somewhere else in the MOC - a few flowers, a bright rug, something - may have made them look more natural.

[Exetrius]

Same here, I'm glad to see another Cyclopean build and a continuation of the story!  Let me know if this should be considered a settlement, because in that case I will add it to the Nocty Settlement Index. I'd need a name, though. 

[Gideon]

Great to see more cyclops in Historica!

I like the lore a lot, with the description of the matriarchal society and the scavenging nature of the cyclops, reusing old structures and weapons.

[Zilmrud]

On 7/14/2019 at 3:48 AM, Ayrlego said:

Previously Yngvi and Erik meet the Cyclops Irissa and now they are travelling together searching for their families, taken by raiders two years ago. Irissa; at first suspicious and hostile towards the humans, has slowly warmed to them, especially Erik. One night around the fire, she tells Erik the story of how she and her family came to Mitgardia.

My mother was a powerful matriarch who ruled a large tribe of Cyclopes deep in Nocturnus. I was her eldest daughter and nominated successor. Unlike your human societies, most Cyclopean tribes are matriarchal and most leadership positions are held by women. Most female cyclopes aspire to become great warriors and I was no exception. I proved quicker and more agile than most of my peers and trained intensively in sword craft. For my coming of age I was gifted my sword - an elvish blade looted long ago and the most valuable weapon our tribe possessed. I lead many successful war parties and was happy with life. It was around this time I meet my partner, Hesiodos. Hesiodos, or Hesiod as I call him was unusual amongst my people as he loves to build things. As Cyclops, we are not great craftsmen; we can not work iron, bronze is our limit when it comes to metal work. Our buildings are simple stone and timber. Where possible we inhabit structures abandoned or taken from other races. Anyway, Hesiod was always working on buildings around the village, he was known for coming to repair something and leaving having completely rebuilt it! My family did not approve of the match, he was not from a warrior family and had no interest in war and raiding. I was young and headstrong and my mother's disapproval spurred me deeper into the relationship. Hesiod's peaceful nature must have influenced me more than I knew, for when my mother made a pact with the forces of the Black Spire, I rejected my tribe an birthright and left the village in the middle of the night with Hesiod and several other friends. Oh how naive we were! Our plan was to start a new tribe and exclude ourselves from the troubles of Historica. Why should the blood of Cyclopes be shed in wars raged by Humans and other races? We established a hamlet deep in the forest next to an abandoned human watchtower. Hesiod supervised the construction of new huts and for a while we lived peacefully.

While time proved me right not to have sided with my tribe, this meant little after the end of the war. Cyclopes had sided with the spire and one dawn our village was attacked and burnt to the ground. Hesiod and I only survived as we were out that night - Hesiod was showing me a new type of wood he had discovered in a grove which he believed he could make some new invention with. On returning to the slaughtered corpses of my friends I spiralled into rage. Vowing revenge I immediately picked up the tracks of the attackers. Before I could get myself killed; however, I discovered I was pregnant. It was Hesiod who convinced me to leave. Together we fled as far away as we could get. An that is how I ended up in Mitgardia; and also why I will now travel to the ends of the earth to find my family. I will not fail those I love again.

Wow! What a great story! I love it. I like the way you have made the tower more interesting with different colours. I've seen many structures with that technique in only Lbg, and it's not as nice as this. Great use of different coloured leaves. 

I have bought a few cyclops that I'm planing to use. Now that I read this story I interested in trying to fit some in my story

 

[Blufiji]

I can see some inspiration taken from the Reach, but I enjoy your added touches. I love the round stone/wood hut combos, and the back story is superb. 

[Louis of Nutwood]

Beautiful build with excellent use of color.

The cyclop’s huts are incredible! Amazing design. Must have been a trouble to keep those roofs together. 

Te tower is excellent as well. Great addition on the upper wooden section. And the trees are awesome!

Congrats on the cool build.

[Ayrlego]

On 7/14/2019 at 12:24 PM, Eoin Wallace said:

The colours on the trees really make it pop and I like those buildings too! 

Thanks Eoin!

On 7/14/2019 at 1:11 PM, Grover said:

Ooooh!  More to the cyclops backstory!

Thanks Grover, glad you like the cyclops story! Thanks for the feedback, especially regarding the trees. I'm really struggling to get a tree where the leaves are less horizontal - I've tried a few different designs but haven't found one yet I like. Just have to keep trying! If you need any help with my stonework styles just let me know, I may have some WIP shots somewhere from some different builds.

On 7/15/2019 at 4:10 AM, zoth33 said:

Great tower and huts

Thank you zoth!

On 7/15/2019 at 10:57 PM, Kai NRG said:

Cool to see these huts of yours in an expanded setting! 

Thanks Kai, In retrospect some flowers would have probably been a good idea - thanks for the tip!

On 7/17/2019 at 8:03 AM, Exetrius said:

Same here, I'm glad to see another Cyclopean build and a continuation of the story!

Thanks Exetrius. I'm enjoying the Cyclops stories and will probably do some more. I don't think it would count as a settlement for the menu purposes but feel free to use it if you want.

On 7/17/2019 at 11:48 PM, Gideon said:

Great to see more cyclops in Historica!

Thanks Gideon, I tried to make my cyclops lore in line with what you created in your cyclopes village, although I added the stuff about round structures. Hope it matches how you imagined cyclops life!

On 7/20/2019 at 8:58 PM, Zilmrud said:

Wow! What a great story! I love it.

Thanks Zilmrud, I look forward to seeing your cyclopes!

On 7/23/2019 at 5:15 AM, Blufiji said:

I can see some inspiration taken from the Reach, but I enjoy your added touches. I love the round stone/wood hut combos, and the back story is superb. 

Thank you Blufiji, I really love the colour schemes you use and they have definitely inspired me to try things I probably wouldn't have normally considered (like bright light yellow as a ground colour or purple trees!)

On 7/24/2019 at 10:44 AM, Louis of Nutwood said:

Beautiful build with excellent use of color.

Thank you Louis! The roofs are very fragile and don't really move very well - the tiles are all precariously balanced (some have stacks of 1x1 round bricks on the back propping them up).

[MassEditor]

My favorite aspect of Nocturnus has always been the incorporation of undead, goblins, cyclops and other beastly beings as something more than just nameless villains. This creation is a perfect example of just that. Enjoyable and touching backstory, look forward to seeing where it goes. Pity those who provoke the wrath of a pregnant cyclops!

The build itself is quite engaging. I can see some of Blufiji's influence here (hard not to incorporate a bit, he's awesome!), especially in regards to the excellent color palette. I love your personal touches though, especially those sweet little huts. Challenging no doubt, but well worth the effort. Nice little details to enjoy as well. Great photography, too!

[soccerkid6]

Very cool to see Irissa's story develop

The build itself is fantastic. Great use of color, and I can easily see Blufiji's influence, yet you maintained your own style well.
The rather blocky rockwork is a nice choice around the tower. Top notch hut designs!

Edited October 14, 2019 by soccerkid6

[Rogue Angel]

Excellent groundwork, good tower technique, good story, I really like the tents/huts and the use of color. My only suggestion would be to add a few tred leaves in a 2nd color to at least one of the pairs of trees to make them look more organic (lavender with purple or green of bright green with dk green).

Beautiful!