[Nocturnus Civil War] Rockwail's Catacombs: Rise of the Undead

[Exetrius]

Rockwail's Catacombs: Rise of the Undead

[Nocturnus Civil War] Ambush in the Rakath
[Nocturnus Civil War] Onwards, to the Moruth Highlands!
[Nocturnus Civil War] Turmoil in Camp Carakath
[Nocturnus Civil War] Zotharians in the Underworld

What enabled Lord Raavage to take over Nocturnus so quickly? That is a question Nocturnian lords, leaders, and strategists alike would kill to get the answer of. Figuratively speaking, of course. Though the truth might never be fully uncovered, one clue is to be found in the city of Rockwail. One would be forgiven for not having heard of that place, because it is in fact one of Nocturnus' better kept secrets. Rockwail is an ancient stronghold city in the middle of the Moruth Swamplands, located not too far from the Capital, Abyssian. It is a place even most lords haven't heard of. Of course there are folklore tales, and songs of old, but any more concrete evidence of its existence would take serious determination to find. Raavage, with his insatiable lust for knowledge and boundless determination, managed to find it. When he learned about the extensive catacombs and dungeons underneath this secret city, a plan began to form. One that would grab Nocturnus to by the throat...

From the mausoleum at the centre of Rockwail, a staircase spirals down into the deep, the spill in a network of layers upon layers of tombs. The catacombs were carved out by dwarves in ancient times, but are still used to bury the dead to this day. They are said to contain the remains of thousands of dead, of all shapes, sizes and races, but the full extent of what lies buried is a matter of pure speculation. 

In one of the tombs, the workers and crates with equipment have arrived, and the first skeletons are being taken out of their eternal resting places. Now they just need to wait for one of Raavage's necromancers to kick off the revival process.

Orc supervisor
"Ah, there you are! I was wondering if we'd be waiting here all day!"

Necromancer
"Keep your voice down! Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

Orc supervisor
"Like you're the one to talk..."

Necromancer
"What was that? I'd shut that mouth of yours, if you don't want to be exorcised. Now, show me to the skeletons."

Orc supervisor

"Aye sir."

And so the necromancer performed one forced soul embodiment after the other, and the workers put on boots, chest plates and helmets, before sending the recruits to the surface.

An army was rising in Rockwail, and the world outside didn't suspect a thing!
 

---
Additional pics: 

Spoiler

The latest installment in my Nocturnus Civil War series. I'm jumping back and forth a in time a lot with the depiction of these scenes. Apologies if it's getting confusing, I'll probably arrange them in chronological order once I've built some more scenes. Anyway, credit to @-Sunder- (now inactive, like most of the Nocty gang) for thinking up the City of Rockwail. His vision and incredible writing made me want to build in Rockwail too. I used his build of the catacombs for reference:

Spoiler

 

If you want an inspiring read, I highly recommend you check out his story builds. They are all linked in the Nocty Settlement Index, under "Rockwail". Thanks for reading! 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Exetrius
tweaks to lore

[zoth33]

Lovely build.  The rock work is superb and is highlighted by the stairway, the door way and the stone floor.  The detailing in the walls is excellent too.  Nice story and minifigs too.  

[dathil]

I really love how this turned out! The rockwork is great and that staircase just stays superb.

I'm getting skyrim-draugr vibes out of it, I like the concept of a catacomb used as some sort of armory/barracks.

[Aurore]

The rockwork here is absolutely gorgeous, very harmonious. The design of the spiral stairs is perfect. The color palette, with the sand green details, looks great too. 

Also, this seems to be a very efficient way of recruiting! 

[The Stad]

This is a wonderful composition. I love how you've repeated several motifs throughout, and your color choices work very well.  Nice job incorporating some "play features" with the various tombs, they add a great bit of interactivity and help show off even more detail.

Well done all around, and can't wait to see what you have in store!

[mrcp6d]

Very nice all around.  Rockwork frames the whole build well, tile work in the floor is nice, runes (?) in the rear wall are sweet, and of course the staircase method is really cool.  I do think adding black 3L or 4L bars in those black technic pins and stringing some string or chain along them would have been an additional detail that would "hide" the color request and holes in the stairs.  Cool build though!  You mentioned -sunder-, but I think Gideon also did something similar way back when.  Colors used here just work really well together for this type of content.

[Kai NRG]

Lots of cool details in this MOC - the graves built into the floor, the curving stairs, the arch entrance, and those crates for the armor!  And then of course the glowing... er... plants...  Great job!

[Exetrius]

On 5/19/2020 at 5:13 AM, zoth33 said:

Lovely build.  The rock work is superb and is highlighted by the stairway, the door way and the stone floor.  The detailing in the walls is excellent too.  Nice story and minifigs too.  

Thank you! The rock work gave me headaches, haha! Not around the curve of the stairs, that actually went surprisingly smooth, the real struggle was the 'upper' rock work: above the entrance, pillars, walls, etc. Now I am sufficiently happy with it though, but it took some tries. 

On 5/19/2020 at 2:51 PM, dathil said:

I really love how this turned out! The rockwork is great and that staircase just stays superb.

I'm getting skyrim-draugr vibes out of it, I like the concept of a catacomb used as some sort of armory/barracks.

Thanks, mate! 

On 5/19/2020 at 6:35 PM, Aurore said:

The rockwork here is absolutely gorgeous, very harmonious. The design of the spiral stairs is perfect. The color palette, with the sand green details, looks great too. 

Also, this seems to be a very efficient way of recruiting! 

Thank you! Sand green is one of my favorite colours, so you'll be seeing it from time to time . And yes, very efficient! Maybe I should have titled this "Skeleton Assembly Line" instead? 

On 5/19/2020 at 7:11 PM, The Stad said:

This is a wonderful composition. I love how you've repeated several motifs throughout, and your color choices work very well.  Nice job incorporating some "play features" with the various tombs, they add a great bit of interactivity and help show off even more detail.

Well done all around, and can't wait to see what you have in store!

Thanks, Stad! I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of architecture, with its recurring motifs. And yes, I've come to appreciate interactivity! Especially once a build has been sitting in the display cabinet for months, I can start to feel distanciated from its design. Then, the joy of popping off a roof, or swinging open a door, is a reminder that I am in fact the one and only creator, the owner of that build; that I created every bit of it and that I can do whatever I want with it. Am I still making sense? Perhaps admitting that I like playing with LEGO would just be easier... 

On 5/19/2020 at 11:38 PM, mrcp6d said:

Very nice all around.  Rockwork frames the whole build well, tile work in the floor is nice, runes (?) in the rear wall are sweet, and of course the staircase method is really cool.  I do think adding black 3L or 4L bars in those black technic pins and stringing some string or chain along them would have been an additional detail that would "hide" the color request and holes in the stairs.  Cool build though!  You mentioned -sunder-, but I think Gideon also did something similar way back when.  Colors used here just work really well together for this type of content.

Cheers! Yes, those are indeed supposed to be runes. :) Actually I'm glad you mention the technic pins, since they bother me too (and no one else seemed to be), and I think the build would be better off without them. I would have like to used this part:    , but I don't have it in sufficient quantity, though it also has the problem of not having friction. Making a railing as you say could be a solution, but for some reason it doesn't rhyme with the dwarven style in my mind. 

I was very curious about Gideon, as I didn't know he had builds outside of Kali, so I did a little search. This must be what you meant:

Infiltrating through the Necropolis by Jonas Wide

Seeing sunder's build is from 2016, he may well have been inspired by that build indeed. But there's more to Rockwail, you'll see in an upcoming build... 

On 5/20/2020 at 4:26 AM, Kai NRG said:

Lots of cool details in this MOC - the graves built into the floor, the curving stairs, the arch entrance, and those crates for the armor!  And then of course the glowing... er... plants...  Great job!

Thanks!  Good to see the crates got some love! I have actually spent a whole build session on them, because I was determined to have them fit through the entrance. And so they do, and the supply logistics make sense. I suppose it's things like these that make you a nerd... 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Exetrius

[Grover]

Awesome to see the Nocturns saga continue!  I appreciate how you made your build consistent with the previous builds, too.  Great job with the detail here.  The rockwork, particularly up top, looks very natural, and I like how you have multiple scenes there so we can see what's going on.  Excellent work!

[(Luc)ky Luke]

Great build, I especially like the staircase and crates and would really like to hear more stories of nocturnus!

[Exetrius]

On 5/22/2020 at 3:54 AM, Grover said:

Awesome to see the Nocturns saga continue!  I appreciate how you made your build consistent with the previous builds, too.  Great job with the detail here.  The rockwork, particularly up top, looks very natural, and I like how you have multiple scenes there so we can see what's going on.  Excellent work!

Thank you! Initially I wanted to show all steps of the process in one shot, but decide that would become too crowded, so I went with multiple scenes instead.

On 5/25/2020 at 10:59 AM, (Luc)ky Luke said:

Great build, I especially like the staircase and crates and would really like to hear more stories of nocturnus!

I'm glad to hear that, thanks! Look forward to more Nocty stuff!

[Eoin Wallace]

Nice MOC, I like the textures on the rockwork and the spiral stairs are great. The story is well written and I am enjoying this series of Mocs in Nocturnus, can't wait to see more! 

[Exetrius]

On 5/30/2020 at 2:56 AM, Eoin Wallace said:

Nice MOC, I like the textures on the rockwork and the spiral stairs are great. The story is well written and I am enjoying this series of Mocs in Nocturnus, can't wait to see more! 

Thanks, Eoin!