Henjin_Quilones

I've been tempted to use the Senate Guard clone helmet before, myself. I haven't yet, though I have used the torso from the commander.

It is element number 6160464. It came in three 2017 SW sets, all based around the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One.

I love all of the arches in this build, creating various small colonnades around the edges. The gold accents are great, especially the dome, and the large doors look suitably imposing. The roof looks the slightest bit unfinished with the row of studs left exposed at the top, though. The interior is even better than the exterior, I think, with great rafters and statues, as well as nice pews. The thing I really don't like, and think does not make any sense, is the inclusion of Christian cross symbolism; it is obviously intended to call to mind European Catholic church architecture and styling, with a cross on the dome and an elaborate golden cross behind the altar, but Historica does not have Christians, and a symbol of torture makes little sense as the symbol of a religion without the appropriate Biblical context. Also, why call it "St. Joseph"? Do Varlyrian religions declare people to be saints? It is something that I have seen before in countless LEGO builds, from cemeteries full of crosses to every church or chapel in non-Christian fantasy builds. It is effective to convey what the building is, I suppose, but it seems like there should be a different way to do it. Especially if it is going to be a church for numerous deities. I hope that makes sense. Please don't read the previous paragraph as hostile or attacking, by the way. It is merely intended to raise questions about common habits. I like the build, and I like that the people of Kashgar have their place of worship so soon.

I like how this tower matches the style of the leather workshop. They look great together in the WIP. I do question how effective having the guards on the other side of a canal is, unless there is a bridge still to come to allow the troops to cross quickly to defend the Khaors. The arrowslit looks great, and the various architectural details up top are nice too. My comment on the leather workshop about angle of photography applies here, too. I don't like looking down on LEGO builds like that.

The colors of this build are very nice. I find the dark flesh and light grey and black go together very well. I love the detail of the furs made with the minifig hair! It works surprisingly well, though I wish that the walls and fur were different colors. What is the significance of the black skeleton? Is it a dummy to put armor-in-progress on, or a relic of a past customer who did not pay? I think, on a side note, that the photography and presentation would be improved with a lower angle, closer to street's eye than bird's eye. I find looking down so steeply at the build a bit off-putting. The build itself looks great, but adjusting the angle would make it easier to look at.

Nice job! I particularly like the backdrop for the picture of Throll, with the use of the quarter-circle tiles. The golden bracelet is a nice touch, too, signifying his wealth in a gaudy (on minifig scale) yet subtle (on human scale) detail.

@W Navarre, glad to see you over here! Welcome to the guilds. @Lord Vladivus, Avalonia will welcome you with open arms, like a long-lost son. Your home and heart may always be Nocturnian, but we would be honored to be your home away from home.

Fact!

I bought the Great Hall set back at the start of July when it went on sale in the USA. I am the kind of guy who buys sets rather than Bricklinking pieces (though I do use BL with some degree of frequency), since I have never lost the love of getting a new LEGO box and opening it, building a set, and admiring it for a day or so before tearing it apart and building other stuff. Plus I love, love minifigs! The Great Hall set is a little underwhelming, I have to say, by the way, so it's really up to you whether you just want a few parts from it or want to make the investment. TLG has made a fleshie smiley face, but not for a long time. My brother has one from an old SW A-Wing fighter from years and years ago. It turns out that the Great Hall set that the windows come with has an odd number of windows, and I needed an even number for the build, so I decided to make a branch grow through the 36th window opening. Perhaps it is not broken but just opened to allow some fresh air in? Thanks, SK! I scaled it back a bit from what I had been imagining for the interior category of the Summer Joust, but I am pretty content with the outcome here. The slopes above and below the windows allow me to give an impression of depth to the wall, befitting a castle-type building. And there are in fact two statues, but the second one is on the wall that never gets seen. I tried to avoid excessively boring walls! The back ones on either side of the fireplace probably need something, like banners, to break them up too, but I did not get to it. Perhaps it is too difficult sometimes to go outside to hug a tree, so we just let them grow inside so we can hug them there... A shipyard would be great, and it could also count towards your HSS-Nautical category. I am glad you like the writing. I do fancy myself to be a writer, and am in the (slow) process of writing a novel in the high fantasy genre. I'd be much further along with the book if I did not spend so much time building things with LEGO for a completely different story!

I like the apple trees, especially the way you scaled them to a minifigure as far as height. I'll echo Grover about the path, and the way it should be lowered a plate or so below the level of the grass. I also think that the trees would look better with more foliage (this is something I almost always think about trees made in LEGO), since right now they seem a bit sparse compared to a real tree out there in the world. I never have enough foliage pieces myself, so I understand if this is the best your collection allows, but in the future I think that investing in more foliage is something that will never be a mistake (one of these days I'll take my own advice, too!). There are ways to improve photography, as well, but I am not the best one to give advice there. You need @Gideon or someone of his caliber to set you on the path to excellent MOC photography. But this is a great start in the Guilds, and I look forward to what else you can make!

I'm sorry if I misunderstood. What did you mean?

The HSS is, and has always been, open to all of the Guilds, even though it is run out of Avalonia by the Royal Cartographer's Guild of Albion, an academic group in the capital of Avalonia. I don't see a compelling reason to dissociate the project from Avalonia entirely, because the cartographers are most interested in compiling a list of ALL settlements of note in Historica, not just Avalonia. Most of those who have registered settlements are not Avalonian, in fact. As shown in past books with the claims to land on the Avalonian maps, we Avalonians are rather particular about our maps, and thus having this particular task coming out of Avalonia makes sense. Similarly, the University of Petraea has always accepted candidates for the doctoral program from all of the guilds, even though the university itself is of course located in Kaliphlin. There is no way to get around that one being associated with Kali, nor would there be a good reason to do so. It would be nonsensical to expect the UoP to pack up and move to another location that was more neutral, like Cedrica. It is reflective of Kaliphlinite culture to have a large academic institution devoted to certain topics, just like the medieval Muslims had large centers for learning akin to today's universities, predating the rise of major European universities like Paris and Oxford, and thus entirely appropriate to remain in Kaliphlin. Yeah, your sigfig might have to get some sand in her or his boots walking to class, but that's just the way of it. As for AoM, I think it makes sense for EACH guild to have its own version of something similar, but be a separate thing. That is something that makes each guild unique. This is not "Historica" the RBG, but "The Guilds of Historica" the RBG. There needs to be something beyond just land and culture that makes us each special, I think. What remains to be done is the three non-Mitgardian guilds developing their own unique guild-specific challenge. I for one, as the leader of Avalonia, am working on something like that.

Great suggestions, Gideon! I am planning something along this vein, and it would not be amiss to remove "Avalonian" from the thread name. I am in the process of getting the HSS cleaned up and running smoothly again, so bear with me for a bit. There is quite a bit of dust to blow off...

To update this thread and get it active once more, the Royal Cartographer's Guild of Albion is pleased to announce every settlement listed in the Royal Registry of Historica's Locations of Note: Barqa, Kaliphlin (@Gideon): Port City Mpya Stedor, Kaliphlin (@Maxim I): Port City Sionnach, Avalonia (@de Gothia): Port City Dalig Ulv, Mitgardia (@MKJoshA): City Trifork, Avalonia (@Bregir): Port Town Osgard, Avalonia (@MiloNelsiano): Port Town Euosmos, Mitgardia (@Gunman): Port Town Estolad, Kaliphlin (@Adair): Town Daydelon, Mitgardia (@soccerkid6): Town Belynia, Avalonia (@Simon_S): Port Village Thorshaven, Mitgardia (@kabel): Port Village Shadowmere, Nocturnus (@Lord Vladivus): Hamlet Burrium Aqua, Avalonia (@Kerntechniker): Hamlet There are lots of settlements that have been started and never finished to the point of becoming a registered hamlet, even though many have more than five builds; they just need to fulfill one or two of the required categories to make it. If you go back and update your post to meet a new level of settlement (which is what you are supposed to do, rather than making a new post) let me know so I can acknowledge it, since I will not be poring over this thread looking for any new edits. Tagging me in a comment at the end of a post for your latest barn, for example, would be a good way of letting me know you think you finally have a hamlet. This is a time for rebuilding, so get building your settlements! Your people need a functional place to live. Builds for Book III Challenge I will count for this task, if they apply to any of the categories. Please note that typically Challenge builds do not count.

Excellent build, LJ! I love the various hues in the brown-ish family going on here, each delineating a separate section of building. The market stalls are also quite nice, and the posing is also convincingly realistic. One thing I notice that I don't love is the variation in tan tooth plates you have as a border on one of the medium nougat/dark flesh? building with the dome. I think it would have looked better with all one size, probably the small teeth (the 1x2 plates with teeth) so that they did not interfere with the arches. However, the build is great all around, especially the base it sits on and the vegetation. Lovely seeing more of your builds!