City Island Keep, Harrisburg PA, 2111 AD

[Laura Beinbrech]

Hello, all, I know that this isn't what one would usually think of as "Sci-Fi", but this falls under the description of this particular subforum, so allow me to present the City Island Keep:

This is a 32x32 Japanese-style castle that I started building 11 years ago. It has parts from two Royal Drawbridge sets (6078, Mainly the two blue 16x32 baseplates and some of the BURPs), Two Bandit's Ambush (6024, namely the tree branches and some more LURPs), Two Samurai Strongholds (6083), and a complete Flying Ninja Fortress (6093). The first build was in October 2000, when I came home on leave from US Navy Mark-23 TAS "C" School, and the first major overhaul was in December, 2001 when I was home on leave after being stationed in Japan for over a year, and I just recently finished fixing up some parts of the interior and such (mainly to make the "basement" more accessible, and to minimize wasted space).

Anyways, the background story: This fortress, while it might look like an ancient Japanese castle on the outside, looks can be deceiving. The walls are made from unobtainium-reinforced ceramcrete, the "porpoise" deccorations on the lower roof are actually a sophisticated phased-array radar set and the two on the roof are high-gain "lobe" communications antennas (the area where the roof-mounted howitzer is located is withing their "dead zone" so that the gunners don't get fried whenever someone has to make a call). Not only is it the main base of the Federal Republic of America's Special Operations Command, but it also serves as the HQ for the Federal Joint Chiefs of Staff, since the Pentagon was wiped off the map (along with much of Arlington, VA) by a rogue dimensional portal that opened up during the Final War.

CityIslandFront by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Front view, where you can see several Federal Samurai on guard as well as the 127mm (5-inch) howitzer on the roof. The "Carp" decorations on the roof are actually sophisticated communications and phased-array radar antennas.

CityIslandIntFront by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

View of the interior, Front half... Here you can see various Federal SOCOM Men At Arms (Infantry Spec Ops), including an officer and two "Heavies", a.k.a. Hardsuit Troopers. In the bottom Right, wearing the visored helmet with the red plume is Maj. Gen. Lindsay Furukawa, commander of the Men At Arms and Dragoon divisions of the Special Operations Command. In the jail cell at the bottom right is a Grand Duchy of New York Elite Dragon Knight team member who is the only survivor of a Grand Duchy raiding party that ran afoul of Ninja Team 7 while trying to blow up the Norfolk-Southern Freight Yard in Allentown. Ninja Team 7 members (Gray Ninjas) can be seen standing watch in this picture.

CityIslandInt1 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Interior, rear half: Here you can see Lady Sakura Tanaka, leader of Ninja Team 7, the best of the best of the best that the Federal Republic of America's armed forces have to offer, showing off her snazzy green lightsaber and chrome-plated M-21 Sniper Rifle.... How can someone wearing white and carrying around such flashy weaponry be an effective Ninja you ask? Well, that just goes to show how insanely good Ninja Team 7 officers are. ;)

Directly above her is the Command Center, with Radar/Comm Tech as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President John "Redbeard" Stevenson. L-R are Admiral James Hook, Chief of Naval Operations, General Gordon Freeman, Air Force Chief of Staff (both with their backs towards the camera), and General Gandalf "The White", Army Chief of Staff... General Gandalf also presents guest lectures at the local Magical College on the topic of Defense Against the Dark Arts, with an emphasis on dealing with Nazgûl.... The white cat is Snowball, the garrison mascot... The SOCOM troops just adore him.

CityIslandInt2 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

And Finally, a close-up of the command center, with a clear shot at the other two Joint Chiefs of Staff: General Hikaro Takayama, Chief of Special Operations, and General Clare, Commandant of the Federal Marine Corps. (Yes this is, in fact, a pic of my elusive sig fig, and the only such in existence....

There are more pics in my Flickr Photostream (just click on any picture to see the rest of the set)... Let me know what you think!

I'm considering a few improvements, like modifying some of the windows on the rear part of the base, and replacing the rooftop howitzer with a vulcan cannon turret (a.k.a. a BrickArms minigun) for use as AA defense (since the Howitzer is pretty much useless for engaging close-by ground/water targets and can't elevate enough to counter airborne threats)... But that's the way it seems to go with my MOC's: As soon as I take some pics and post it on the internet, I think of some improvements to be made.