Gabe

Guild Name: Temukan Guild Location: Islands of Temukan Capital: Kaalaman Ruler: Hapdan Thanc Unique Characteristics: immune to snakebite, resistant to humid heat, great tea growers and drinkers. Color Scheme: Gold and Black The guild of Temukan is a large complex of islands well to the south of Kaliphlin - nobody knows just how far, as it lies beyond the Mashuak gyre (otherwise known as the crooked sea), a fearsome body of water that confounds even the most canny of navigators. The geography of Temukan is still young, and consists of a still growing mountain range, several grumbling volcanos and many offshore reefs. The fertile lowlands are largely covered by thick jungle and swamps, and the climate is tropical, with distinct wet and dry seasons. Temukan is home to many races; humans, snake people, jungle demons and others yet undiscovered within the mountains and on outlying islands. Humans are by far the most numerous on the east coast of the main island, while the jungles to the west are dominated by fierce jungle demons. The large south-east island is home to the snake people. Hapdan Thanc is the hereditary monarch of the Temukan guild, and his banner is black and gold. The Hapdan's have ruled the guild for many generations, although the power of the monarch is now mainly limited to traditional ceremonies, and an oligarchy of powerful nobles runs the guild on a day to day basis. However, the military is still loyal to the crown, and with the discovery of new maps that could lead to a passage to rest of Historica, Thanc sees an opportunity to wrest back control from the nobles. The military of Temkukan is varied depending on the province. Near the capital of Kaalaman, there is open ground for cavalry. The best pikemen are agreed to come from the south, from the cities of Sungam and Arungan. The best archers and the fastest ships come from the north, in the tea-growing province of Kota. Society is highly ordered into castes, with nobles wearing highly coloured and decorated clothing, while farmers, trademen and monks wear much more simple and practical clothing. Among the most facsinating and secretive races on Temukan are the snake people - they are renowned as healers and craftsmen on the main island. Legend has it that a former king was healed by a snake shamen, and since then, the totem of the Hapdans has been the snake in rememberance of that debt. All snakes and serpents are considered as equal to humans, and it is forbidden to harm them. If bitten, it is an easy matter to buy anti-venom (made and sold by the snake people) at the local markets, thus it is extremely rare for anyone to die of snake bite. But not all races are freindly towards humans - the jungle demons of the western jungles have an insatiable appitite for human flesh, and often appear as huge, misshappen pigs to terrify thier opponents! The province of Kota has the most trouble with them, and suffers raids from time to time. The royal teahouse in Kaalaman. Tea is a revered beverage in Temukan, and various blends are said to have healing and calming properties. The king himself turned one of his many grand residences in the capital into a teahouse, and it is a popular place for wealthy merchants and nobility to meet. A monk leaves the teahouse, having had his mind refeshed with a strong cup of mountain tea. A noble pores over a new map with the captain of the gaurd, while a snake craftsman enjoys a cup of tea in the background. On his private balcony, Hapdan Thanc meditates on the opportunities presented by the possibility of a reliable passage to the rest of Historica. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hope i'm not too late! (it was a bit of a rush to get this done...) Thanks for looking peeps, please feel free to critique or comment.

Sorry to hear that you and your wife are having such a rough time - it certainly makes it hard when you don't know what you are up against. I hope that the docs figure out what is going on and can recommend a course for recovery soon. Kaliphlin and GoH will always be here for you whenever you have the time and energy to drop by. My best wishes to you both for your partner's speedy recovery.

Is my entry in on time? I do hope so! Meet Sabine, the bandit queen of the Qarkyr pass. She controls all trade between Qarkyr and the coast, enforced with the iron fist of her disiplined bandit army. You can either pay a toll to pass through her territory, or pay the full price in blood! So far the rulers of Qarkyr have tolerated her presence as she protects the area from worse dangers that might befall merchant caravans and vessals, but as her tolls have increased in these times of peril, who can say for how long... Those who have seen her can attest to her striking beauty, enhanced by the glitter of her silver helm and mighty broadsword! But anger her, and the shine of that broadsword will be the last thing you see...

Thanks Cara, Ferrik and NM, i really appreciate all of your kind words. Thankyou, dear guild-brother. When this war with Viktor Revolword and the elementals is over, i shall have to build a monument to mark the sacrifice of the fallen.

Yeah, looking at it with fresh eyes this morning, i think the hight/width/roof pitch seems to have similar proportions as the MF haunted house, which has also been on my mind lately! Mybe that's it. I'm glad you don't think it's tacky though! I guess i was just a bit dismayed that it looked to be progressing in a different direction than i anticipated. Great suggestions NM, i really appreciate your feedback! I agree with you in the main, the balcony definitely needs to either go or be revised down and the roofline could use some more exaggerated accents to get the feel i'm after. Also, if the top balcony survives, it will definitely have a roof over it, this is still just a WIP. Regarding the tan colours, i did actually begin with reddish brown for the back walls and railing, but it ended up looking waaay too dark. I felt that i really needed a lighter tone that still evoked natural colours, so this is how i arrived at the tan solution. Maybe it's not the best one, but unfortunately it's not something i have time to change now - the tan/dark tan walls go all the way down to the ground floor, so changing it would mean major surgery! Oh, and i like the idea of semi-solid railings - i might try that for the upper balcony, assuming it survives. Thanks! Haha, yeah, i know what you mean - i have a heap of tan and dark tan too. I guess sometimes the trick is to not fall into the trap of thinking that a particular style should "own" a colour - tan is for everyone, not just Kaliphlin! (ok, maybe not so much Nocturnus... ) Cheers, thanks for the feeback! Yeah, i put in a more brightly coloured freize around the top of the ground floor, but you can't really see it in this rubbish pic. Cheers Kai, although i didn't plan the haunted house vibe and i'm not sure that i want to run with it... but thanks anyway! Thanks Kayne! Yeah, it seemed like an SE Asian flavour was largely missing from GoH, so it seemed a logical choice to try to introduce.

I'm not really sure what i've created here for the 5th guild challenge... i wanted it to look a bit like a mish-mash of Japanese, south-east Asian and Pacific building styles, but all i can see right now is a tacky, Japanese-themed haunted house! The upper balcony is certainly too wide, if i pull that in it might help. Idk, what do you guys think? Ack, it's nearly 2am! What the megablocks, self.

I've just about finished my build for the "5th Guild" challenge, i'm just struggling with topping out.... bah, it seems i can't remember how to do pitched roofs after all the flat-topped Kaliphlin residences!

Dragon riders! I like your build, the floating rock resting on it's clouds and the airship are nicely done. Good to see more factions bearing the falcon heraldry - perhaps we shall be natural allies? Best of luck!

Happy birthday ISC!

Happy birthday DarkDragon, hope you got some nice birthday loot!

Ooh, sweet build Si, lovely texture variations on the rocks/alien canal entrance, and the tiny ship is the perfect foil! It has a real Promethius vibe to it. Best of luck in the Iron Builder!

Nice work Kai, you are off to a good start on this. The idea of a botanic garden is an awesome one, and i really like the deatils like the fountain, the small painting and architectural model. (The scroll looks cool too!) The main problem you have atm is that everything is way too spread out - even with the elements you plan to add, i suspect it will end up looking quite empty and unfinished. I would suggest cutting the size by at least half to begin with, and consider a bit more how the dfferent sections that you have will interact with each other. For example: You might have someone trying to shoot a tuneless lute player by the fountain from the belltower - in your layout, this wouldn't be very apparent as everything is far apart, whereas if you squashed things up a bit, you could show that scene quite effectively. (*ahem* If you wanted to, of course! ) Anyway, sorry for letting my tongue run away with me... it's certainly good to see the university underway at last, i look forward to seeing where you take this next!

Cheers Rougeang (Li?), glad you like it! Tbh it's just a relief to get this finished at last, i was so dark on myself that i wasn't able to make the deadline but i promised myself i wouldn't trash the build before i'd completed it. I'll certainly do my best to make challenge 5 though - missing two in a row is not an option! Thanks Abu Dun, i had a lot of fun with those elementals. I've pulled most of the moc apart now, but i've still got the main earth elemental proudly displayed on my shelf - i'm quite fond of him! Thanks Torgar, i very much appreciate your comment, 'cause i thought the half-falling building in your challenge 4 moc was super dynamic, and it certainly inspired me as i was building the towers. Building destruction was definitely harder than i anticipated... (And i guess this is one of the reasons i'm a bit uncomfortable with the "i would have voted for this/this would have scored well" comments - i got to see and take inspiration from all of the entries that were posted in time, and had the time to consider how i was going to build beyond that - so this moc wouldn't have existed in this form had it been entered. Idk, there were a heap of brilliant entries for challenge 4, i just see this as my free build on the same theme.) Anyway, thanks again! Cheers Mikel, i'm glad you like it! Thanks Legonardo - i saw that this morning too, crazy huh? Looks like it is Mitgardia's turn next to get the TBB treatment!

Nice entry Kai, your map is lovely and your timeline is quite is a quite extensive history of the 4 (5?) guilds! Your Soflian cottage is very cute, the interior in particular is nicely detailed. The outside however, is a touch crowded to the eye - you could have lost a few minifigs to let the viewer concentrate on the elements of your build. Also, remember that if you are running out of space, you can always build up! (and down too! ) Using the vertical plane can help you with incoporating elements like forced perspective too. Very comprehensive entry Kai, best of luck!

Lovely build deGothia, looks a treat! Very solid and the tops of the towers with the wooden shelter are very nice - i don't mind the printed tiles at all, i think they fit right in. The procession and the welcoming crowd really set the scene, and the flowers scattered on the path add to the festive atmosphere. I do agree with what has been said about the main arch though - i think a more rounded arch would look better. (The interior side actually reminds me a little of a clown face, like the entrance to an amusement park) Have you thought perhaps of snotting in built up plates or slopes to achieve the curve you want? Or you could use bricks or plates attached to flex tubes, or even just plates half-stacked (attached more one side than the other) to bend the structure. Just a few ideas!

If it were me i'd buy it sooner rather than later, it's getting pretty long in the tooth now and who knows when it will go out of circulation? And at those delicious, delicious US prices it's still pretty good value at RRP. Yay, movement on the university front! I like your fountain design. I'll have to go and have a good look through those topics. Welcome to Kaliphlin, old Jeremy and Ion! I very much look forward to seeing your build of Nea Chora. As for cities in the slot, there is Messahmuk at the entrance, and Stone Town at the other end, but otherwise it's just small towns... unless of course you wish to change this? Agreed!

Beautiful work and an interesting approach! That takedown video is very cool. Maybe you are onto something with these videos of destruction - 101 ways to take apart your moc?

Just stunning work Z, and beautifully crisp pics too! The stonework and half-timbered upper story look a treat, and all the little details like the sign, the crane and courtyard scene really bring it to life. Regarding the roof windows, i didn't actually notice the unfinished look until it was pointed out, but seeing it now it is quite stark compared to the rest of the build. Maybe a gable like on the ends of the roofline would be an easy way to soften it a bit? Builds from you are always such a treat - i look forward to your next one!

Very nice work Ecclesiastes! I like the jutting out bay windows and the detail on the coping at the top of the tower. Great work on making it modular, and I notice you have a removable panel at the base of the tower too, was the interior shot taken through that? The mine cart is super cute too!

Thanks fellas! Tho i had no earthly chance of making the challenge 4 deadline, by the time that rolled around i had only just reached the top of the cliffs. So yeah, hard to compare this with the other entries when i have had so much more time to consider and build in. Thanks deGothia, i always appreciate your feedback. The scaling up of the microscale garrison, only in ruined form, was one of the most challenging aspects of this build, so i'm glad that it works for you. I still have issues with it in parts, like the walkway above the porticullis and it's relitive hight to the two flanking towers, and the general proportions, which are not as thick and bulky as i imagined, but in the end i just had to stop prevaricating about it and post what i had! The arrows are actually a custom part, they come from BrickTW, who make custom parts based on Chinese history. (And some obviously anime inspired stuff too!) I really like thier stuff, it's very high quality. Thanks soccerkid, i'm glad you like it and thanks for the blogging too! The atmosphere created by the waves and the background certainly do add a lot, saves it actually from looking too static, which is something i was worried about for a bit. Thanks Kai! Thanks Axis! Yeah, the second elemental is not very clear in the pics, it's certainly something that comes across better when you are standing in front of the model. Anyway, glad you like it! Thanks Ecclesiastes, they were fun to build! I even got to break out my tiny stash of 1x1 Maersk blue bricks...

Sorry, a Grand Emporium.. seriously, just a beautiful set and so many useful peices. (Can you tell i just bought one? ) All those pics look great and could certainly fit very well into Kaliphlin, not everything has to be tan! Seriously, we have a lot of Mediterranian climate along the coast, just pick a place and set up your own little town if you like.

Wow Angeli, beautiful build and really interesting premise for a 5th guild - i like the way the celestials are seen as gamechangers in Historia, and your speculation on how the current guilds might act to respond to thier arrival. I also really like the way you namechecked some other mocs and worked them into your mythology, and also the ideas you give for building the celestials. Also, did i mention your build? Small (for you), but mighty! The spirilling pillars and 2x2 round tower really do have a light, airy feel to them. Best of luck in the comp - i'd quite like to see a celestial guild myself.

I really like how detailed and fleshed out your 5th guild is - the map and the extra pics of the gondala and townsfolk add a lot. But then perhaps i am biased, 'cause it reminds me quite a bit of our forces and architecture here in Peregrinus! Perhaps we are a long-lost offshoot from Varlyrio?

Elves of the ocean! I love it. This will be a strong entry in the 5th guild comp for sure!

Yes, come join us! We are the the most awesome guild, also the most varied as far as terrain and climate goes. As for your question, our northern border runs across the top of the Wither woods in the west to just above the Goolag archipelago in the east. (Every other border is the coast, so that takes care of itself really!)