The Sceptre of Amon-Jhar

[NiceMarmot]

[Apologies in advance for the long story on what is a fairly small MOC.]

Continuing the story of Lady Sharitah (started in South Sandstuck's New Walls)

Meet Zertanex, lord of Lesser Drymouth, a small, poor holding in the upper Muk-Muk Valley, and neighbor to South Sandstuck. He is dashing, charming, and handsome. In fact, so much so, that in spite of the poverty and small size of his lands, he is considered the most eligible noble bachelor in the valley. He also is well aware of his traits, and is quite willing to use them to his advantage.

Zertanex cuts a dashing figure, riding his camel across the long, windswept sand dunes in the soft evening glow, with a ruined ancient temple in background. His clothes are well tailored, with an elegant and slightly flashy design. His carefully styled black hair whips back behind him. He has a huge smile, and brilliant, engaging eyes. He's the kind of man everyone likes, on first impression at least, and everyone wants to be liked by him.

But look closer and there's a different picture: his clothes are slightly out-of-fashion and a tiny bit frayed, although carefully repaired. Crows-feet are edging in around his eyes, and his hair has the dark, midnight purple sheen of the garfuzi oil the Spice Islanders use to cover up their gray. He fidgets impatiently, and furtively looks about, making sure everyone's attention is on him. He appears anxious and in a hurry. And he is. Zertanex is getting old, his mid-thirties in a time when most don't see forty. In spite of his advantages, he still hasn't made it big, hasn't really yet become someone truly important. He knows he must apply his cunning charm and make his big move soon.

He rides out of the sand and onto firmer, stonier ground covered with desert scrub, triumphantly brandishing a large golden staff.

"I've done it!" exclaimed Lord Zertanex, "I've taken the Scepter of Amon-Jhar!"

"Oooh, pretty!" admired Berpadstra, one of his lieutenants, trusty but somewhat dim.

"Is it solid gold?" asked Voltanju, his vizier, who has served three generations of lords of Lesser Drymouth.

"No, just covered in gold plate. But the sapphires are real. It's still bloody heavy though," said Zertanex.

"Uh, what does it do again?" asked Berpadstra.

"It has unspeakable powers! And it's probably worth a fortune on the black market."

"What powers exactly?" wondered the vizier, always practical.

"I don't know, they're unspeakable!" Zertanex was impatient. "The legends are a bit unclear on that one. Probably the usual invincibility in battle, crops that never fail, fabulous luck with the ladies (not that I need help in that department!)…"

"I have a bad feeling about this, sire. We should let the ancient ones lie. And what of the curse of Amon-Jhar? The mummies of revenge?"

"Oh, don't be such a ninny, Voltanju" scowled Zertanex. "Really, are you my vizier, or a nursemaid? No one believes those old wives' tales. And besides, you should have seen the size of those massive blocks of stone holding down the lids of their sarcophagi. No one's going to be able to move them."

"I don't know, sire." The vizier still wasn't convinced. "Your father always showed great respect for the old legends, and never interfered with the temple. He said that having an ancient temple, even if ruined, helped protect the holding..."

"Right, and look at all he achieved!" scoffed Zertanex, waving his hands at the arid landscape. "I give you Lesser Drymouth in all its glory! And don't forget the outlying villages of Wyther Wyndzwepd and Frogterd. Really, all together this holding barely has enough income to pay my hair stylist!"

"Now, sire, this is a good holding, and the villagers work hard…"

"Enough!" commanded Zertanex angrily. "Those lazy serfs! Don't remind of me of how pathetic this place is! If you love this place so much, figure out a way we can conquer some new territory, so I can afford to move to Messahmuk or Petraea, and let you run this dump."

Closeup of the Temple of Amon-Jhar

First of all, I can't believe I managed to build and post two MOCs in less than a week. I'm not sure I've ever been able to do that on EB.

Thanks to Gideon, whose beautiful sand-dune design I have blatantly ripped off!

I'd like to claim the following UoP credits: Microscale (for the temple), Landscape Design - Sand Dunes, Geography - Desert, and one tree technique.

C&C welcome of course. Hopefully more to come. Enjoy!

[BrickCurve]

UoP +1 for all claims, Great job on the forced perspective as well.

[Alfadas]

Nice one! Love the tree, and forced perspective!

[Lord Vladivus]

Great forced perspective! Cool build, I love the story!

[IenjoyLego89]

Great build, the forced perspective is very well done :)

[gedren_y]

UoP DoH +1 on all claims.

[Jakorin Swiftsword]

Fantastic job on that FP!

[mccoyed]

That FP and temple design really stand out. Beautiful desert too, though I think the cactus should be rethought.

[Hammerhand]

Nice build, I like the cactus, and that one tree, looks very cool! The FP is perfectly done too.

[TheRedViper]

Forced perspective is really good!

[Yzalirk]

Awesome scene, I love the tree and assuming the little plant is supposed to be a barrel cactus? Anyways, the perspective of it is very nice but to me it seems a bit odd with the studs-on-top transition to the flat-top then back the the studs-on-top again. Also, great dialogue and story.

[Kai NRG]

Great job NM, the FP, especially the sand dunes, really looks great, as does that tree! +1 for the UoP credits!

[de Gothia]

I like the different vegetation! Great work with the FP as welll, although the left part of it with the plates looks edited into the pic?

[MassEditor]

Lovely forced perspective, the sand dunes do a great job of adding dimension to this build. Entertaining story too, I like this rather despicable Lord Zertanax.

[Scaevola]

Great job, the microbuild is very elegant and the columns look superb. The dunes are very well incorporated and I love that dead palm tree. UoP DoH +1 for all claims

[MKJoshA]

Keep these great builds coming!

[NiceMarmot]

Thanks for all the compliments and feedback!

That FP and temple design really stand out. Beautiful desert too, though I think the cactus should be rethought.

Nice build, I like the cactus, and that one tree, looks very cool! The FP is perfectly done too.

My son built the cactus for me! I'll tell him that some people love it and other people think it needs work. It's a pretty tame design for him; usually he comes up with pretty wacky stuff.

Awesome scene, I love the tree and assuming the little plant is supposed to be a barrel cactus?

Yes, I was sort of going in the barrel cactus direction, but realized I couldn't really make it look like one, so I decided to make something vaguely deserty-cacti-like.

I like the different vegetation! Great work with the FP as welll, although the left part of it with the plates looks edited into the pic?

I'm not sure which left part you mean -- the foreground, the sand dunes, or the plates to the left of the temple? In any case, the only photo-editing is to remove the background.

[Ecclesiastes]

Great fp and very good microscale build. And above all, good to have you back building!

[NiceMarmot]

BTW, the temple is derived from the temple at Philae in Egypt:

[soccerkid6]

Very cool to see two builds from you in such a short time period, and such good builds at that!

The sand dunes make the FP work really nicely The plant life is superb as well, such unique designs that fit Kaliphlin perfectly

[Gideon]

Nice FP and excellent plant designs!

I'm so glad to see that you are building so much now!

UoP +1.

Edited October 14, 2014 by Gideon