DrColossus

This is great! Very clever way to show the castle!

This is sweet! It does feel like the group has done their best to adapt a place that fell into disrepair.

DrColossus Builds: A Meeting in Raven's Eye Pending Credits: 1) Hyrdology (Flowing Water): 1 vote 2) Hydrology (Pond): 1 vote 3) Anthropology (Village life): 1 vote 4) Landscape (Flowers and dense foliage): 1 vote

I'd like to claim credits for A Meeting in Raven's Eye, a small village MOC. (I've linked to my updated post where I corrected some issues identified by other readers). UoP Credits Claimed: 1) Hyrdology (Flowing Water) 1/4 2) Hydrology (Pond) 1/4 3) Anthropology (Village life) 1/4 4) Landscape (Flowers and dense foliage) 1/4

Hi all! Thanks again for the great feedback. I wanted to show off the more-or-less final version after making some changes. 1) To fix up the roof of the church, I built up the sides a little more. This gave me space to put the hinge for the roof panels and cover in the sides with plates, so it's essentially water-tight. I was also able to raise the slope pieces in the front so there's less of a gap between them and the roof pieces. This shot shows it from below (including the stained glass, which I really just like the look of; it very much makes it feel like an old wooden church up north). I also wasn't super-happy with the edge of the roof so I simplified it a bit. You can see the whole building in the overview shot (the second pic). The new version: And the overview of Raven's Eye as a whole! I still don't have any wedge pieces, but I tried to break up the straight lines of the brown/green plates by putting in some snow plates. I tried to put them in places where the normal walking paths around the village wouldn't go. Lots of fun! UoP Credits Claimed: 1) Hyrdology (Flowing Water) 2) Hydrology (Pond) 3) Anthropology (Village life) 4) Landscape (Flowers and dense foliage) Thanks for your consideration!

Nice little scene! There's never a bad time to use a worried/panicked fig face.

Hey, a little war once in a while never hurt anybody. I think it's time for me to fit out a Mitgardian cog and see if we can't put a stop to this besmirching of our good name. (I mean, really - they threw a baby to the sharks? That's good ransom money gone to waste! Amateurs!)

Is that a fountain out front? That's neat.

I like the rocks a lot, and the posing is dynamic and well thought-out. For a suggestion (and I only say this because I hear it all the time myself), some smaller plates/1x1s scattered around would help to break up the blockiness of the landscape. As it is though, it makes sense that the are where they're fighting would be muddy.

Looks cozy! The details make it real. As others have said, the smoke and the woodpile really sell it.

Thank you SK! I'll work on fixing up that roof, then I'll probably apply for a bunch of different UoP credits.

DAT TREE. This is really lovely, everything comes together so well. Even the caravan wagons look right for the setting!

Thanks everyone! I was using hinges for the ski-roof (and tile-roof, I guess) initially, but I've come into some of those angled bricks with the studs on top, so I'm going to try that out on the stable and see if it makes it any cleaner/watertight.

Hahaha, SKI ROOOOOOOF! Yeah, something about it really appeals to me. I agree, I need to get smaller plates and some wedges. The landscape is still very Minecraft-y, and I can only do so much covering it up with plants.

The tiny village of Raven's Eye nestles at the foot of the Pikesteel Mountain. Travelers pass it by, but it commands a nice view of the valley. From here, you can observe comings and goings between the guild lands, the dwarves, and the Great Elk clan to the north. Recently, Olin the Smith and his horse, Sigrd, have formed a unit of light cavalry and horse archers. They will use the village to keep an eye on the valley while they wait for further adventures. The hamlet of Village of Raven's Eye boasts the following attractions: Religious/Hospitality: The Old Church, showcasing the Dragon-Proof Roof that was a feature of many buildings long before the Guilds arrived. The style is sadly forgotten in most modern settlements. Such travelers as there are are permitted to stay here, though it is somewhat drafty. Military/Hospitality: The brand-new stables of the Light Horse unit of the Mitgardian Army... such as it is. Travelers may stay here as well, as it's warmer (but smellier) than the Church. Sigrd, however, is not the easiest roommate. Craftsmen: At his forge, Olin the Smith crafts weapons, armor, and horseshoes. Lots and lots of horseshoes. There is also a bit of fishing to be had in the pond, and the occasional frog. I hesitate to call that agriculture though. There are also apples on the tree near the church, but those are Sigrd's. Everyone knows that.

[Note: This follows on from the previous entry: A Shipment Goes Missing. This one's long too, but hopefully worth reading. Thanks!] In a valley at the foot of the PIkesteel Mountain, a river from the north finally exhausts itself in a small stream, and a pond. Around this stream the tiny village of Raven's Eye has grown up over the years, the inhabitants descended from Guild and Clan travelers alike. Raven's Eye doesn't see much trade... or rather, it sees it go by, to the east and the north. Travelers between the guild lands of the Bay of Storms, the dwarves at Pikesteel, and the Great Elk clan rarely need to stop in. And yet, the village is the perfect place if one needs to keep an eye on those travelers. Raven's Eye is a sleepy town, where a man can fish to his heart's content in the quiet chilly waters outside the old church. The villagers believe that leaving a blossom of the Breath of Spring flower on the church's little table will bring fortune. If the fish have any way of improving their fortune, they haven't told anyone. The church is built in the old style, the architecture that was outmoded even before the Guildsmen arrived here. Common wisdom says the steep slope and points help shed the frequent snows that blanket the area. But the dragon motif above the doors tell the true story: a pointy roof is harder for big things to land on. Superstition? Perhaps. But the church remembers, even if the people have forgotten. Inside, the two archers speak with Olin the Smith, who has come to call this village his home, while he earns some money to continue his travels. They speak quietly in the dim glow of the stained glass, the fresh scent of the Breath of Spring mingling with old wood. "I don't understand what all this has to do with me... OR with Sigrd!" Olin said. He was still a little off-balance, since these two had come into his village demanding to speak to the smith. When they heard he had a horse, they were even more insistent. "We've told ye, friend," said the woman. "There's trouble brewin' round here, no mistake. That suspicious-type with the chest full o' gold was on no peaceful mission, ye can be sure. First, we hear of unrest in Pikesteel. The third cousin of the dwarven king, suddenly made chief of all the mining operations after the previous chief gets burned alive in an accident. In the Great Elk lands, the Chief's right-hand man killed in a fight with a minor lord - over what? Who knows? But there's something afoot, and restless folk are suddenly finding the nerve to act up. And now we find that fellow carting gold from the dwarves towards the clans. It's all too much to ignore!" "But I still don't understand. I'm just a simple smith, in a tiny village..." "A strategically important village, lad," broke in the man. "Raven's Eye overlooks the route between the dwarves and the clans. A well-armed light cavalry unit, or better, some horse archers... If they were based here they could put a stop to whoever is causing all this mischief!" "But we don't have stables for a cavalry unit! We don't even have any soldiers!" Olin protested. "Aye..." the woman said, indulgently. "But ye can make weapons... can ye not?" And with that, it was decided. Just like that, Olin was living his dream, serving as blacksmith to his very own army unit. He built a stable worthy of a horse archer unit, and Sigrd began to teach the men of the village how to properly fall off a horse. Soon, the village was humming with activity - well, comparatively... and Olin prepared to lead this new unit on exciting adventures in Mitgardia! A Bird's Eye View of Raven's Eye The church is at the pond, on the left. Olin's new military stables are on the higher ground, on the right, where Sigrd is showing an unfortunate new soldier what it's like to ride a cranky horse. A woman of the village (I couldn't get the beard and the hair to fit together) opens the gate to the stable grounds, while a local man tries to tempt one of the new horses with a vegetable.

This has a lot of great things going on. The storytelling is very good, and I'm very entertained by a new wizard just kind of casually zapping people. The build is also good, with very clear photography. What's the canopy, is that a part or something home-made?

Oh nice microscale work! Looking forward to seeing them up close.

Hey, is that ... like... handcuffs for antlers? What is that? It looks pretty neat. Nice overall build.

I like it a lot! Nice job showing the forest after one of our usual heavy snows. And the rag tacked to a rock is clever!

OK, took me a little while, but I've got a new photo. I'm now making mods to it and adding pieces on for the next part of the build, so it'll look somewhat different next time you see it (hopefully in a few hours!). The little step-down water effect with the transparent cheese wedges is hidden by the apple tree here, but it'll show better in the next build. I did a little rock-work to the left of the bridge but I have a long way to go on rocks, I think. Thanks again for the comments!

I agree! Unfortunately, I am basically lacking all wedges that aren't black or white (from old sets of spaceships [spaceships! SPACESHIPS!]), so I will have to think of something. Maybe if I scatter some round studs around it would "soften" the edges, especially if I lay some of the flat leaf/plant things around... I'll take a crack at it and post something new. Agh! I missed that! That bridge is quite rickety... (I'll fix it ) I agree. I've been using the "fuzzy select" tool in Gimp but it tends to go where it shouldn't. I'm trying to learn the "paths" tool. However, now that I'm using whiteboard behind the MOC I might just be able to post it as-is. Thanks! I'm trying to find an angle that isn't too high but still captures everything, but I'm having trouble. Maybe I'll just try a few and we'll see how it looks. Thanks again for all your comments and encouragement! I'll try to get back tomorrow with some new pics.

Great stuff, gorgeous all around. For some reason I especially like the little shrub-thing on the right side with the lever thing on it. I'm also a big fan of the transparent cheese pieces for the waterfall. Just started using those myself for that purpose, since I also scored a pile of them from PaB! Cheese-slope-waterfalls unite!

Yeah, I like this a lot! Nice sled, very clever idea with the hallucination.They must have been afraid of that guy's hat :D

I would appreciate that! I took some time to do a couple MOCs and an Archery Phase I because it fit the story, but I'd like to be able to get the stables phase III done at least.