Book III - Challenge V: Intrigue On The Island Guild - RESULTS POSTED!

[Garmadon]

The Guilds of Historica Book III

Challenge I: A Time to Rebuild

Challenge II: Bread and Circuses

Challenge III: What Will Tomorrow Bring?

Challenge IV: The Turning Point

 

Challenge V: Intrigue On The Island Guild

 The Guilds at Rest?

Queen Ylspeth’s victory has firmly established her reign in Historica and re-kindled the enthusiasm for their young monarch in the hearts of all true guildsmen and women on the continent; but in Varlyrio, where only recently the bonds have been growing with the rest of the Historica, the air is still tense and shrouded in mystery.  The Rego’s suspicious attitude toward the queen and the difficulty with which the island’s trade was opened to the other guilds points to possibly dangerous waters ahead between the guild leaders and the crown, and the intrigue between the leading families is heard in a rumbling unrest just below the surface.  And to cap it all off, the non-appearance of any Varlyians from the east at the battle which proved the turning point of Ylspeth’s reign has the Queen determined to find out what is going on and to turn her undivided attention to the islands of Varlyrio.

 

Category A: The Varlyrian Troops

The foremost question about the condition of Varlyrio is, Why did the Rego not send troops?  Does he resent the curb on his authority that the queen poses, or was he too busy securing his own position and interests and quelling opposition in the guild?  Or did he send them?  Was there treachery involved and were the troops massacred, or did he try to send reinforcements and was defied by the other houses?  Your job is to build a scene that explains the situation, showing either what happened with the troops or why they were not sent or did not make their appearance.  This scene does not necessarily have to occur in Varlyrio proper, but it must relate to the Rego and his actions or lack of action on behalf of the queen. 

Size limit: a maximum of 28x28, in any orientation.

Prize: 70658 Oni Titan

 

Category B: The Eastern Families

While the last few years of Rego Amancio’s reign have been relatively tranquil, there is little love lost between the principle families of the realm, and turmoil has been lurking just under the surface.  The Rego’s hold on the realm is tenuous at best, and the question of his standing with the queen has not served to put him in a more enviable position.  On one hand there are those who criticize the opening of the guild to the rest of Historica in his reign, and on the other there are some who fear that the Rego’s lack of cooperation might result in an open rupture or even war with the queen.  And, only waiting for the moment to spring into action or come to the light, lies all the backstabbing, family warfare, assassinations, blackmailing, alliances made and broken, and, in a word, all the intrigue and scheming that Varlyrio is famous for.

For this category, 3 to 4 builds are required per collaborative team, showing the intrigue and developments of Varlyian politics, especially with reference to the current Rego and the families’ view of his relation with the queen.  Each team must consist of 2-4 members of the guilds (they can join up with other members from any guild they choose), and they must together tell a convincing story of at least one Varlyian family and its involvement with the Rego or with any other family in the guild that is either supportive or against the Rego, resulting in some change in the current ranking levels of the Varlyian power-scheme.  Note that, while most of the families vying for power are based in eastern Varlyrio, builds and stories do not need to be confined solely to that side of the island - teams are even encouraged to bring in other aspects of Varlyrio to tell their story and to involve badland bandits/pirates on the high seas/mountain Dwarves/etc. in their intrigue if/as much as they wish.

If your team does not include a member of Varlyrio, you may either (a) choose an unclaimed family to play around with, (b) contact any member of Varlyrio for permission to use their family (@Garmadon's family is available for anyone who would like to use it, though if you are the second or third to ask some characters may already be tied up), or (c), if there are no other families available or the family you contacted has not responded, you may make up a family/backstory of your own to add to the roster.  In the latter case, contact Garmadon to place your family in the Varlyrian ranking system, which he will do in accordance with your backstory.  Feel free to contact @Garmadon with any questions about Varlyrian families or the Varlyrian ranking system.

The usual Varlyrian rules apply about using other member’s characters (namely, ask one of the guild-leaders if you would like to engage in a life-threatening act against someone who has not already given permission for their characters to be assassinated - otherwise you may do very much as you please), and, while you are encouraged to tie your story in with the other Varlyrian intrigue and any previous entries to this challenge as much as possible, the only real requirement is that your team’s collaborative story should be cohesive in itself.

Team entries will be judged on both their story and build quality (not quantity), and the winning team will win the challenge and its story will outplace any other result that may contradict it (though all entries will be “canon” as far as possible).  Additionally, one winner will independently be chosen for the highest scoring build of all.

Size limit: One unlimited build, and an average of no more than 32x32 for the other 2/3. 

Looking for a team or another member or two to add to your current one?  Check out the team building thread here!

 

Prize for highest scoring build: 70679 Ultra Dragon

 

Winning team prize (to be divided among the members of the team as they choose - one minifigure each if there are four on the team, of course):

From left to right: Zusto Finollo, Lord of Baiamonte, Bjarke de Fiori, Giusta Chiaro, and the Rego of Varlyrio, Supano Amancio.  

 

General Rules

Scoring:
Builds will be scored on a criteria of quality, presentation, and story.  As mentioned, in Category B there are prizes both for the overall best build and for the team with the highest group score of all.  

Rules:
Only one entry per category is allowed, though obviously Category B may involve a number of builds.
Borders can exceed the maximum size restriction, within reasonable limits.
As usual, the orientation of the build may vary as long as the build does not exceed the footprint of the given size restriction (e.g.: 32x64 instead of 48x48 is permissible).
No clone brands (Megablocks, KREO, etc) allowed, but 3rd party fig parts and accessories (Brickarms, Citizen Brick, etc.) are acceptable.

All entries should be posted in their own topic, with the title of: "CHALLENGE V: Category X: Name of your build".  Please also post a link to your topic here.  For Category B, each team may decide whether they would rather post all their builds in the same topic or in separate posts, but the entire team entry (3 to 4 builds) should be posted in one post in this thread.

Note that, in the case that a member of two of a team fall through and the team is only able to get 2 or less builds finished for Category B, those who finish in time will still be able to enter and be eligible for the highest scoring build prize, but not for winning team's.  

Deadline:
End of day on May 31st, anywhere in the world.

 

Check out the list of Varlyrian families and their current rankings in this thread.  

 

---

Quick-list of family permissions:

Spoiler

Baiamonte (open)

Chiaro (open)

Cioto (open)

Amancio (@Rogue Angel – open)

di Carlo (@ZlatanXVIGustaf – open)

De Fiori (@Garmadon – ask before harming Capri or Bjarke de Fiori, rest free to use)

Conzaga (@Basiliscus – all open except Meiyo and Poppa, who may be used but not permanently harmed; note also that Gisela is not located in Varlyrio currently but is stationed as an ambassador in Avalonia)

Khaor (@narbilu – probable yes, but consult Garmadon or Rogue if there are any questions)

Waythe (@Judge of the Wastelands – probable yes, but consult Garmadon or Rogue before inflicting irreversible damage)

Di Cioto (@W Navarre – consult with Garmadon)

D'Gatto (@mccoyed – may be involved but not irreversibly damaged, except Fel D'Gatto who is currently not to be used at all [except with express permission from @mccoyed])

As mentioned before, in order to use a family for your team, you may either (a) choose an unclaimed family to play around with, (b) contact any member of Varlyrio for permission to use their family, or (c), if there are no other families available or the family you contacted has not responded, you may make up a family/backstory of your own.  These permissions above relate to what you may do to members of other families in your intrigue/story collab.  Of course, if those family members are involved in other ways than getting themselves assassinated or the like, they ought to be used in accordance with their character in as much as it is already written, and if your team wants to make an alliance/marriage/etc with another family the procedure would be exactly like it would be at any other time in Varlyrio.  Feel free to ask here or PM @Garmadon with any questions.

[Grover]

Oooh!  This promises to be exciting!

[Aurore]

How great! It will be a nice way to discover Varlyrio. 

[Basiliscus]

Sounds like the ideal challenge to get me building again! Count me in!

[kahir88]

It's good to see another challenge is up! Count me in too!

Just a quick clarifying question, what are the official colors of Varlyrio? If we want to show it on banners and on other stuff.

Also, if anyone needs another member, for part B, I can join in. Not the best builder, and my stories are terrible, but I'm an enthusiastic amateur. :D

Edited March 7, 2020 by kahir88

[Garmadon]

Glad to hear it, can't wait to see what y'all come up with! 

20 hours ago, kahir88 said:

Just a quick clarifying question, what are the official colors of Varlyrio? If we want to show it on banners and on other stuff.

Sure - the official flag colors of Varlyrio are gold and white.  But honestly they don't tend to show up very often    If you want to include it that'd be them, though!

[W Navarre]

I sure hope there is some intrigue going on somewhere deep in the private messaging here on eurobricks, cause everything else is very quiet! I can tell you you'd better watch your backs, that's for sure.  And Varlyrians especially should wake up for this challenge! I trust it's just quiet because we are building  .

[soccerkid6]

Good news everyone, we have extended the deadline to the end of the day on May 31st, anywhere in the world.

Have fun building!

[Ayrlego]

On 3/26/2020 at 2:35 AM, W Navarre said:

I trust it's just quiet because we are building  .

I have a few ideas for Cat A... Was playing around with some minifigure combos and came up with these mercenary pavise crossbowmen in the service of Varlyrio.

[mrcp6d]

13 hours ago, soccerkid6 said:

Good news everyone, we have extended the deadline to the end of the day on May 31st, anywhere in the world.

Have fun building!

This is great news!  Even with the extra time due to COVID-19, I'm struggling with ideas... 

[Grover]

It is good news.  The virus causing us to work from home has been disruptive to getting anything done.

@mrcp6d, I hear you on at least Part A.  It seems to beg for an in-depth story, which is hard to accomplish in a 28x28.  I think we will see some really creative builds from this, but I, too, am struggling to think of things for it!

[W Navarre]

If you have trouble coming up with ideas, reach out to collaborate with Varlyirians!  That's the idea I think, to first get together a group and all together come up with an idea.  Two heads are better than one  .  

[Basiliscus]

Let's just say he already has a good Varlyrian contact for this challenge! 

[Grover]

Oh, I'm good for part B.  I'm just struggling to figure out how to get a good story in with a build of 28x28 that makes sense for part A...

[Henjin_Quilones]

On 3/30/2020 at 11:05 AM, Grover said:

Oh, I'm good for part B.  I'm just struggling to figure out how to get a good story in with a build of 28x28 that makes sense for part A...

Make it longer, like 14x56, and then you have more space. Or use vertical space to your advantage, which I know you can do having seen your Avalonia:GoT entry. Forced perspective, clever camera angles, all these things can help with the limited space. 

[Ayrlego]

5 hours ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

Or use vertical space to your advantage

Actually I have a question regarding this, the rules say:

On 3/1/2020 at 6:11 AM, Garmadon said:

a maximum of 28x28, in any orientation.

Does that mean we are restricted to 28 studs high? or am I reading into 'orientation' that too much and the intent is that you can have any shape base as long as it does not exceed a maximum foot print of 784 studs (28x28)?

[Grover]

7 hours ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

Make it longer, like 14x56, and then you have more space. Or use vertical space to your advantage, which I know you can do having seen your Avalonia:GoT entry. Forced perspective, clever camera angles, all these things can help with the limited space. 

You have a good point... I was thinking of an outdoors scene where vertical won't help as much, but thinking about it from another perspective, that may work.  Now I just need to see what I can cook up...

[Henjin_Quilones]

19 hours ago, Ayrlego said:

Actually I have a question regarding this, the rules say:

Does that mean we are restricted to 28 studs high? or am I reading into 'orientation' that too much and the intent is that you can have any shape base as long as it does not exceed a maximum foot print of 784 studs (28x28)?

After consulting with the other leaders, no, there is no height restriction. The text was meant to be interpreted as you said, that you can have any shape as long as you do not exceed the 784 studs. 

[Garmadon]

While working on putting together a team myself I realized the sad lack of a team building thread here, so to rectify that I've set one up for people looking for teams, or for more members to fill their group up with - so head on over if you're in either of those quandaries!   Since there's no real need to keep them secret, I've also asked complete groups to post in that thread with a list of their team and to mention which Varlyrian family they're planning on building for, so please do so if you've already got a group together!

Also, note that the challenge text has been edited a little to clarify the fact that not every entry has to relate directly to the Rego - taking down either his opponents or his allies would work as well.  There's no point having him killed/removed two dozen times, and so we've freed it up a bit more clearly so there'll be more room for the teams to come up with creative storylines and to take advantage of the different families and possibilities in the Varlyrian intrigue system instead of only going after the Amancios.  Of course taking a more direct jab is totally legitimate too, so no need to change your stories if you've already written them unless you'd like to! 

[Umbra-Manis]

Hmm one week to catch up on lore and build? Maybe it will happen 

[Garmadon]

On 5/24/2020 at 12:01 PM, Umbra-Manis said:

Hmm one week to catch up on lore and build? Maybe it will happen 

Do it!!  

[kahir88]

My entry, for this challenge:

Cat. A Enjoy!

[jtooker]

 

[Louis of Nutwood]

Entry to Category B: Rise of the Baiamontes.
Team: Louis of Nutwood (Mitgardia), Gideon (Kaliphlin) and Henjin Quilones (Avalonia).

Part I: Mines of Rhangvar
@Louis of Nutwood, Mitgardia

Part II: The Lost General
@Gideon, Kaliphlin.

 Part III: A new Ruler, a mad Ruler.
@Henjin_Quilones, Avalonia

Parts Combined with FULL story:

 

[Louis of Nutwood]

Entry to Challenge V, Category A.

Skool!