Mesabi

Another entry by me, this one for task #12

Don't tempt me!

Hey, what do I need to do to capture Bloody Bill's ship that ended up in Mesabi Landing? Just an MOC?

@gedren_y, Uh, I thought the Valiant Phoenix was in Terraversa for the ESL adventure. None of my business if it is, but just curious.

Great write up, and thanks for not leaving us in suspense for too long!

@Captain Dee It's basically a mega corporation that forces Davy Jones to kill the pirates, and is awesome. PoTC 3 is on netflix at the moment, if you have the service.

Count Mesabi paced around his cabin, on route to Port Raleigh. Darby entered the room, to talk. "So, Mesabi, uh... what are we going to do about the WTC? Seems things have changed a lot since we left." said Darby "Well, now that I'm heading back, It's time for me to take the reigns once more. We can't have these conflicts continue. I'm conflicted out for a while. Murdering those Kemblar guys really got it out of my system." replied the Count. "It's time for me to pen an awesome letter." To Governor Allcock @Ayrlego, Governor Cooke @Bregir, I have recently been informed of a certain Kadeus Mordo, and his de facto position in charge of the WTC. Between him, and my wife, there has been some conflict in my absence. With my return, I hope to calm things down. I started the WTC because I got in a fight with a MAESTRO captain, and I told him that I could make a better trade company. And while our profit margins have grown rapidly, we're not a better trade company, we're probably worse. The WTC is committed to two principles. Profits, and World Domination. A "Waymart in Every Settlement," and vertical and horizontal integration to the max. We want to supply all of your products. We want your butt in a Waymart Brand chair, sitting at a Waymart Brand table, eating Waymart Brand biscuits, while writing with Waymart Brand pens, on Waymart Brand paper. And while the profit side has gone decently, we've stopped innovating. We've stopped building factories. Waymarts are only spread to a handful of settlements. And, everyone hates us. How can we rule the world if everyone hates us? After skimming the WTCMs it's become clear that the editor has a loose definition of truth. Granted, the recipes are excellent, but a news source that was originally created to sell the excellence of the WTC has become political, and aggressively so. And, after being told of the whole 'Rowboat incident' I'm more than a little annoyed. To be honest, it was a class 0, against a heavily fortified settlement. I don't care why they attacked, but the settlement was never in any danger. It's an overblown incident. So, how do we move forwards? First, the WTC has a tsunami to clean up after. That is our top priority. Once settlement repairs are more underway, we will resume business operations. This means, more Waymarts. More factories, to make new goods for the Brick Seas. More ships. Trade ships, which sail the Brick Seas to make a profit. Exploration Vessels to expand our horizons. And Warships to protect our fleet. Simultaneously, the WTC will have several expeditions going. First, our expedition Northwards, which somehow ended up in the New Haven Sea. Second, our efforts to restore Gonda to it's rightful rule. Finally, we will be launching an adventure to return to the South half of Halos, which will be open to the Brick Seas. All of these will keep us busy and increase our profits, and power. Between these, we hope to better serve the crown, and the Brick Seas as a whole. If we create any diplomatic incidents, please contact me, and I'm sure we can come to a peaceful agreement. Finally, as our rowboat apparently attack Fatu Hiva, I will pay for any damages to Fatu Hiva, and I will fund some construction in the settlement as well. I hope this makes a fair conclusion to this incident, and we can move forwards as well. If you have any concerns, please contact me in Port Raleigh, as I will be spending some time there before I return to Mesabi Landing. I will send word to Kadeus Mordo as well that I have returned, and I am taking charge once more. Sincerely, Count Mesabi of Debonshire CEO of the WTC. OOC: Alright, @Drunknok is gone for 2 weeks or so, and we could wait, and do his "we're justified for attacking Fatu Hiva" thing, or the WTC could apologize, and we could move forwards. @Drunknok, you can yell at me when you're back. Look, I asked Drunknok to send the rowboat to fatu hiva. I thought it would be amusing, and we'd write the whole thing off as 'Sea Madness' on the part of the rowboat. It was supposed to give us a good story hook, like we could blame Bru Ha Ha, and it would give me an excuse to build in Fatu Hiva. Instead, the opposite happened. I'm writing this off as my fault. Drunknok, I'm sorry to post this publically, and I mean this as no insult to you, but you went to far with this one. It's incredibly rude of me to say that, but that's the truth. After some discussion with Bregir, I'd also like to roll back some of the chaos that the WTC causes. To be honest, as much as I hate to say it, it's becoming bad for the game. While I enjoy it, it's started to alienate me from the rest of Corrington, and potentially the rest of the Brick Seas. I will say, the WTC's main goal is to become the east india company from PoTC. The rest of Corrington has chided me for this, something about Corrish DNA or whatever, but that is our main goal, and that's not changing. Anyways, if we start causing to much trouble, and if anyone feels that we are hurting the game, please let me know either publically or via pm. I love this game. I love seeing everyone's builds, and being a part of the community. And I think we all know, that drunknok and I are putting strain on the game. I don't want to do that as much. I'd be quite sad if the game were to end.

The following was posted in various settlements across the Brick Seas. The Extraordinary Expedition Are you looking to Travel to Exotic Places and Locales? Are you tired of being stuck living on tropical islands? Do you need to flee the law or escape from gambling debts? If any or all of these apply to you, you should consider joining the WTC's Extraordinary Expedition. The Wayfarer Trading Corporation, known for debacles such as robbing Nova Malto, robbing Trador, publishing lies in our monthly newsletter, slashing building quality, letting our rowboats get blown up by Fatu Hiva, and numerous other incidents, now plans the most ambitious voyage yet, in the Brick Sea's History. The Expedition will be sent around the cape of Halos, visiting empires across the southern half of the continent. The preliminary travel itinerary is as follows: If you are interested, find your local WTC office, and sign up immediately, or write to Count Mesabi Signed, Count Mesabi of Debonshire CEO of the WTC OOC: I posted this in the Corrington faction pm, but I thought I'd open this up to the entire Brick Seas. The plan is to launch an AMCRA to explore the southern half of Halos, and the west coast as well. If you'd like to join the adventure, either let me know here, or via pm. This can be in any shape or form. Anyone is free to commit a ship, troops, or characters to this adventure. If you're interested in a particular southern nation, I'd be happy to transport a character there as well. No one is required to build for this adventure unless they'd like to, even if you're contribute something. Please let me know, and I look forwards to getting this on the road.

Thanks Blackbird, I really worked hard on this one. I agree the masts are a little tall, so I may restructure them, but I haven't decided yet. And I reread it, only one merchant vessel needs to be given to Corrington for this challenge. Thanks Kwatchi. I'll do some experimenting with some colours and see how it looks. Thanks Ross, I'd love to see some more ships from you. Yes, I am doing the Merchant Marine category, and submitting the medium build, which is also my square rigged build. I will work on some sails in the near future, to complete the build.

My first entry into this awesome challenge: This will be my 'square rigged' requirement of Task 3. This one will be used by the WTC on an upcoming AMCRA.

@Ross Fisher The object that had been found underwater was certainly a key, but as to what was another question, one that would require further research. And while the search for underwater clues had gone relatively unnoticed, nothing of the sort could be said for the Padre's pyre. But some of the reactions were... surprising. While the clergy of Astrapi was appalled, sending all sorts of official complaints to the heads of the order, both locally, and back in Granoleon, the peasantry was an entirely different story. At first, there had been an atmosphere of fear, but as rumours of the great wealth accumulated by father Sellefort and his decadent lifestyle started spreading, the mood towards Padre Francois changed to something near admiration. While the support of the people is not to be trifled with, the alienated clergy might turn out to be challenge... And the pyre seemed to have cowed the Prometheans, at least for the moment. Clues: The Key The sea cave gave them the key - even if there was still no clue to its use, apart from a bolt of thunder engraved on the handle. Sellefort's testimony The seemingly innocent pastor did budge under the skillful... interrogation and revealed a legend that the divine weapon was hidden in a temple, protected by a secret order and numerous traps. Before the expedition could proceed, however, they needed another clue... Options: The Church The Archives The Archives contain legends and the original survey information for the island. You can certainly find some useful information. The Catacombs There was a rumor a while back, that a former priest kept notes of his confessionals in a journal. Such a document would be quite scandalous, and would have been buried with him. The Town: Charitable Work You can certainly find something to do to profit from the support of the people... ...or handle the growing discontent from the clergy... Follow the Map: Two locations were marked on the Promethean map. The other markings show what appears to be a dock or landing on the north side of the island. The Smuggler's Dock: They're bringing something to the island, what could it be? (1 build required, should be dock related) 2 options may be taken this turn, each requiring a build.

Excellent build Roadmonkey, the birds are definitely the highlight. Great job continuing the story, and I can't wait to see more.

This is an absolutely amazing build. The floor, the furniture, the detailing, it's just excellent @Elostirion. The only thing I would change is the brick built background in the windows, it's a little dark and seems out of place. As for the story... Figures the richest man in BoBS would be opposed to taxes. Shame on you for trying to distract us from the issue with this excellent build!

@Bregir Thanks! Can't wait to see the results. Take your time with reviewing my stuff, I've got a few thousand more studs to go.

2 Builds, for the review of the court.

Thanks @Elostirion! I've taken your suggestions, and I'll try to get the build up tomorrow. Here's the second build WIP I put up. Flooded district WIP by North White, on Flickr The idea behind this one, is the Tsunami permanently flooded an area of Mesabi Landing, which will be called the Flooded District, and be used for future stories. I've tried to replicate the original, somewhat lazy style of Mesabi Landing, and show it flooded. (Eventually I'll do builds where this is the foundation to new buildings.) I'm not sure what to put on the roof of the building on the left. I'm torn between a diving set up, where they're searching for valuables, or some sort of flood survivor's makeshift camp. Let me know any thoughts, and anything else I can add to this build.

I think the Sea Rats, in the spirit of fairness, should have fort costs reduced for the time being, until they can figure out how to fund them. The Sea Rats are drastically underfunded, and while I appreciate all of these changes, I think they will hurt things for Sea Rats even more. Either that, or ships should be really, really cheap for Sea Rats. I would even say that sister shipping should be reduced for ships that were black flagged. And I'm surprised that these things did not come up in court before. Look, Sea Rat leadership should have gotten ahead of this, just saying. Here are my other thoughts. @MKJoshA, I hate to see you go man, but like what is the court supposed to do to make you happy? I really liked the monopoly example @Kai NRG set out, and I'll expand on it. Right now, it's like playing a game of monopoly, only everyone has so much money, that little matters. And I don't see why Sea Rats are so angry about the reduction in income. If you want more income, build more! It's not super hard. I have an income of 500 Dbs a month. Why? Because I built a ton of stuff. Granted, it wasn't all excellent builds. (which did bite me in the rear...) but it was enough to tell stories, and make money. Look, why are any of us even playing this game? We play this game because we like pirate lego, and building piratey stuff, or telling piratey stories. To me, that comes before all the rules of this game. If Dbs are what matters to you, as @Capt Wolf said, you're playing this game wrong. My only complaint with this game, is that it can be hard to fund building all the stuff you want to. But there are plenty of faction funds, and even the bank to help with that. So, why is any of this an issue? @Kwatchi, I loved it when you told all the crazy stories with the Dark Bishop. I miss that. Now Charlatan Bay is just some other settlement, with the catch that a volcano hit. @MKJoshA, where are all the great Sinbad stories? Sure there was some drama when you did the court house stuff, but those were excellent builds, and excellent story telling. The fact that people are arguing about an income rule change, is in itself, against the Spirit of the Game, in my opinion. We're here to tell good stories, and build cool MOCs. everything else is just filler to make things interesting, and keep us on the same playing field. I'll get off my soapbox, for the moment, but that's where I'm at...

Very nice shaping @Bodi, the fort turned out very nice. Also, congratulations, @Maxim I

Hi, I think there's a bug with the private message system. Currently, when I write a private message, there's no option to use spoiler tags in the top menu. This is what it looks like for me: PM Bug? by North White, on Flickr Doing it manually, with brackets, still works, but I'd like the option back. It is super important for the AMCRA committee in Brethren of the Brick Seas, as we write each other's stories, and we try not to spoil anything, by using these tags. Thanks, and please let me know.

And... someone told me if I resized my window it would come back. And it did. Still a bit annoying, but thanks to @Bregir for letting me know about that.

While I am not the court.... To be honest, ships are hard to build for most of us. And even our best shipbuilders take weeks to build ships. And if you're unlucky, the MCRA chews your ships alive. So, sistershipping is entirely necessary in my opinion.

I appreciate the changes the court has implemented. The only thing I would suggest is that settlement raids should take money from the Mayor as well.

WIP shot of my first build for ML 'repairs' IRL Notes: I currently have moved all of my lego except for a majority of my plates and my 'regular' bricks (1x2 bricks, and 2x2 bricks) So... uh, I don't know what else I can do at the moment. WIP wreckage by North White, on Flickr Build notes: So, as I'm missing a lot, I did what I could. This is currently how I see Mesabi Landing, as a washed out mess. I don't have a lot of tiles, especially not in the colours I'd like to use. As this is a minor scene, I'm not quite sure what I can do to improve this, as it's mostly landscaping. But, I am seeking ya'll's opinion on the build, and what else can be done with it.

Very nice build Roadmonkey! I like the colouring, it's a very good 'pirate' version of one of the other class 10s we've seen. I'm not sure I like the bow, it feels incomplete. I also think she could use a story or some crew. She's quite a big ship for the Sea Rats, so I'd like to know how they got her. All in all though, excellent build, and excellent work.

@Roadmonkeytj thanks for building for Mesabi Landing, and helping out. I like your take on Mesabi Landing, and it's a good representation of what I always intend with my builds. I'm a bit curious as to what's going on with the horse's head and that claw element though...