Gabe

I found 2 unmolested boxes of S3 CM's at a suburban Big W yesterday - managed to pick out all 6 elves, happy day!

Thanks Niku! Yeah, with the riddles it is impossible not to think of Bilbo's battle of wits with Gollum, but i also had the Egyptian myth of the Sphinx in mind as well. The green tail and mane are indeed meant to be seaweed - i originally thought of having the horse a lot more encrusted with shell-like fragments and trailing weeds etc, but it didn't work out and this seemed a nice compromise. I added the weed on the shore and the leaves on the rock so it wouldn't look quite so out of place! Aw, thanks Brickmaestro/Tashbaan, you are too kind! Best of luck in the comp btw, you are sure to do well with your sandworm. Thanks Gex! What, get me back in that cave? Not likely...! Unless... well it's just possible my travels to secure the water gem might take me back there, who knows? Thanks heaps, fellow GoH peeps! I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks DC, i'm a big fan of Siercon & Coral as well, they are a huge inspiration for my fantasy builds. I can only wish i had the amazing knack with unusual piece usage that they do! Thanks Sirens-Of-Titan, i've only recently got some black card together for dark backdrops and this is my first outing with it, so i'm stoked it's turned out so well. The main photo was the pick of that shoot actually, just a perfect coincidence of light and timing etc. I wish they all came out that well! Unfortunately i missed the deadline for the Kaliphlin mini-challenge (i was still writing up my story), so i'm not in the running. But i'm stoked you like it anyway - thanks again! Thanks Cpt Mugwash/Kcaj, i'm glad you liked my story and build! I've tried photoshopping backgrounds before but i've never been able to make them work well - especially not with pics that have fairly strong directional lighting like this one. I agree that the brick-built clouds look a little too serene and not threatening enough for the story - a bit of a hazard to making the build first and the writing the story last i suppose! Thanks Robuko/Rasputin! I'm glad the clouds are getting a bit of love, they are possibly my favourite bit of this build - and i've never made clouds before, so a first for me too. The idea of using white feathers for clouds is an interesting one - i'd be interested to see how it works out if you are going to try it. (I don't have more than 2 to rub together, alas!) I agree with you about the neck of the horse being a tic wide, btw. I had a few battles trying to get the neck to close front to back - the upside down segment at the front *ought* to have been sufficiantly captured by friction, but it kept slipping for some reason and in the end i just went "good enough". Lazy i know! Hah, you are the third person now to mention that it reminds them of the Ford of Bruinen... interesting cause the horse build was a test of sorts for a Ford of Bruinen MOC that i am planning to tackle later this year. I guess that means i'm on the right track, which is a nice thing to hear. Thanks!

But, but... i don't know how the story ends! And you've left it on a cliffhanger (or wormhanger, ho ho) too! But i'm guessing that poor Tish'rok ended up squished anyway - such a foolhardy feat, wormsurfing... Great build, the worm bursting through the earth is rendered very well, and your figure placement is spot on. You might want to consider smoothing out your landscaping a bit though - increasing the hieght in steps of plates rather than bricks helps a lot with this. If this is a test run for your quest moc, then it's a great start! Can't wait to see what you come up with for the challenge - sounds like it's going to be a hell of a gaurdian!

Great story and creations Rasputin/robuko! A cautionary tale indeed - we should all beware the tempting call of our hearts desire. Should i be offered a MISB Kingdoms Joust set by a golem in a cave, i shall definitly be considering the price carefully... I really like your style of builds btw - the mix of brevity and idiosyncratic detail you have going is really appealing. If you are dealing with significant part restriction in your builds, you do it very well!

I seriously love this - the myth is beautiful, moving and very well told, and the little backdrops that illustrate the story are wonderful in thier simplicity. I am especially fond of the oasis at night, with the slanting shape of the sky and the jewels for stars. It has such a serene feel to it. The one vig that i think could use a little more work is the sun swallowing his children - it seems to me that the sun should be bigger relitive to the microfigs, and it also looks like the microfigs are just walking into the sun's mouth! But's that's a small niggle - great work!

Greetings fellow guild members! Gosh, sorry it's been a long time in-between drinks, i seem to have hit a busy patch. Anyway, i finally finished my build for the "tales and legends" mini-challenge, too late, alas! But never too late for a free build, right? Anyway, you can read all about it here, should you wish: (click the pic!) Anyway, i loved reading all the other stories - some cracker builds in there too. I particularly liked "The Order of the Mad Monks", a perfect illustration of the very old Kaliphlin saying; "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!" I read all about that kerfuffle with Cpt Beerbeard mouthing off (again! how tiring) in the Avalonia forum - all i can say is, i'm certainly glad he's not in our guild. The whole premise of "the only way to improve is through feedback" is a bit of a furphy i reckon - anyone has the power to reflect upon their own builds, gain inspiration from what others have done and interrogate thier own practice. That is mainly how we improve - by trying new things, and trying them often. Not everything will work, and creative progress is rarely in a straight line so we might not even notice our improvement for a while, but this is the best way i reckon. As the old proverb (a favourite of mine) says: "The work will show you how to do it". I reckon GoH does a magnificent job of providing a focus for many builders to come together and share our ideas and enthusiasm, and the quality of the builds and the conversations we are having are a true testament to that. I too have been overwhelmed by the amount of amazing GoH MOC's to look at and comment on - i never seem to get round to them all! I do try to comment on all the Kaliphlin creations when i can find the time though. I understand some people's annoyance with pointless thread-bumping, but tbh, this has been the only way i've managed to keep up with some of the older builds i've missed commenting on.. For myself, i try to make my comments follow the "good news sandwich" format... start with praise, then add your criticism (if any), then finish with more praise. This gives the builder some good strokes (which we all need) and also provides them with something more substantial to think about. Anyway, that's my 2 cents about commenting. Gex, i like you idea about building a "technique repertoire"... i do a similar thing, listing techniques i've seen and would like to try, then building ideas around them, rather than just starting with the idea itself. The one thing i'd add to your list might be "working in different scale" - it's something that's been on my mind recently, how some scales inherantly suit some builds better than others. Much of the detail in Mike Doyle's houses, for instance, comes from the monumental scale he works in, but equally, some builds work best by simplification and are thus very small. Of course this could be combined with the use of forced perspective etc, so it's not very clear cut... I am less sure about the badges idea, although i see what you are driving at; it might get quite cluttered though with many badges for techniques. Maybe a "level based" reward system would work better, where you got points for incorperating techniques well in your builds, and level up to a new rank only once you had accrued enough points? Kind of like our very own "Kaliphian architechture academy"...

This was orignally meant to be an entry for the Kaliphlin "Myths and legends" mini-challenge, but i've missed the deadline, so it's just a free build. A free build that comes with a story! But here's the pics first up, in case you don't want to read the story - it's quite a long one! Ok, onto the story! *Puts on my storytelling hat* Many years ago, in fact the year of my 18th birthday, when my father still ruled Peregrinus and i was but a stripling of a lad, the coasts to the east of our fair city of Berigora were laid waste by a series of mysterious storms. The storms were so fierce and localised that they destroyed whole villages with wind and wave, and drove many a passing ship to thier ruin on the shore. Fearing sorcery, my father dispached his scouts and spies, but none ever returned, only rumours of a strange beast that lay cloaked at the very heart of the storm, and was occasionally glimpsed. Survivors spoke of hearing the drumming of hooves in the air, and the shapes of mighty horses within the crashing waves. Within a year, the mouth of the x river and the coast about had become desolated and empty, ravaged by constant storms, a haunted land. Now, in those days i was a headstrong boy, and the wanderlust that affects nearly all Peregrinians still ran hot within my blood. I had no thought for future rulership or responsibility, but sought out adventure wherever i could. And so i became determined to find out what manner of beast could control the elements like this. Defying my father, who ordered a ban on travel to the region, i set out for the coast. I travelled for several days over the pass into the valley of the centaurs, and thence to the river Undualia, which i followed to the sea. A mile from the river mouth i encountered a high but crudely built wall being hastily repaired by a crew of centaurs and men. They explained that the river had started to behave strangely, retreating well below low tide, a sure sign of a coming storm and inundation. they begged me not to go any further, but i was filled with curiousity to see the land beyond, and continued on. It did not take long before the weather started to turn ugly... huge, dark, roiling clouds filled the sky, and rain began to lash at my face. The lightening and thunder frightened my horse so badly that it threw me, and galloped in haste back towards the barrier. But although i was shocked by the severity of the storm, i was not frightened... yet! I pressed on until i heard a strange sound... a roar from the coast like the drumming of many hooves. It did not take me long to discover what it was - a huge wave, crashing through the narrow valley inlet, clearing all in it's path! In terror i fled to the cliff walls that enclosed the inlet, desperately climbing as far up as i could. It wasn't far before the cliff became sheer and i seemed destined to be swept from my perch by the encroaching water, but in desperation i found a crack in the cliff face and managed to squeeze myself inside just as the wave hit. And now it seemed that instead of being swept away, it was to be my fate to drown.. the pressure of the water forced me through the crack like a cork into a bottle, but to my surprise, the crack opened out into first a passage, and then a larger cavern! When at last i struggled, spluttering to the surface of the water, i found i had sustained no worse than a few bad scratches and bruises. But the cavern was fast filling with water from the wave, and i had no way of knowing how high it would get... in the dark, desperately trying to stay afloat, wondering if this were to be my unknown tomb, i prayed in terror to all the gods i could think of that the water would soon receed. It was by no means soon, but in time, of course, the water did subside... and by following it as it flowed out of the cavern, i was able to find the entrance again. When i emerged from the crack (it was a tight squeeze without the water pressure to push me through, i can tell you!), i fell to my knees in thanks. I have never liked caves to this day. The scoured landscape that greeted me was a terrible sight. There were no trees beyond the wall left to uproot, but all else was flattened. I thought about turning back, tired out by my ordeal, but from my vantage point i saw that the beach was near and i felt drawn to it as an antidote after the terrible darkness of the cave. The clouds were already clearing, and i felt i had enough time to have a look around before returning. As soon as i had scrambed down the rocks toward the beach however, i became aware of a presence besides my own. I looked about and could see noone. "Who is there?" I cried, "Show yourself!" At once the water at the shoreline heaved up, and a huge, magnificent white horse sprang from it's crest. "Who tresspasses on my domain?" it boomed in a loud voice. Somehow i found my courage in the face of this strage creature to squeak in outrage, "My name is Erudhalion Sansael, and this land belongs not to you, but to my father and all free Peregrinians! Are you the being responsible for all this destruction? I demand you give me your name!" The huge horse laughed at this - of course he would not give me his name, to do so for a clearly magical being would be tantamount to making me his jailer! I had some magical instruction, not a great deal (as i am not suited to it), but enough to know that much. In that moment i could see that he meant to kill me eventually, but he was in no hurry - he would toy with me first for his own amusement. "Well, at least i won't die in that damned cave" i thought, and this gave me courage. "So you want to know my name" boomed the water horse. "Well, if you can answer three riddles, i shall tell you. But beware - should you answer wrongly to any of them, i shall take your life instead!" My heart lifted as i heard this - perhaps i had a chance after all? I had always loved riddles and had a store of my own. "All right" I replied, "but only if you swear on the sacred water crystal that you will keep your word!" The water horse looked doubtfully at me. "All right, i swear" he grumbled. And then he riddled me this: "I build up castles. I tear down mountains. I make some men blind, I help others to see. What am I?" Well, that was almost too easy. "Pretty much every Kaliphlin child knows from the cradle that the answer to that is sand!" i cried, "Try me something harder!" The water horse smiled, making me think that part of his plan was to lull me into a false sense of security. "Alright then, young princeling," he said, "Try this on for size:" "I live in water If you cut my head I'm at court, If you cut my tail I'm fruit, If you cut both I'm with you What am I? My heart sank - this was one i didn't know! I tried to reason it out, recalling another riddle where "head and tail" meant the first and last letters of a word. The water horse sneered at me "having trouble, young Erudhalion? How badly do you want to know my name then, or indeed save your own life?" It took me many anxious minutes before in a flash of inspiration i stumbled on the answer - a pearl! - an earl at court, a pear is a kind of fruit, and and ear is something that is with you! Now the water horse was really angry. He stomped and flared his nostrils, and ominous clouds gathered around him. As frightened as i was, i was also exultant... only one more and i had him! "You have done well, Erudhalion" said the water horse slowly, once he had calmed down. "But i have saved the best for last:" "What does man love more than life Fear more than death or mortal strife What the poor have, the rich require, and what contented men desire, What the miser spends and the spendthrift saves And all men carry to their graves?" If the water horse was thinking to flumox me with this one, he really had seriously misjudged me. "Aha!" I cried out with relief, "The answer is nothing! Now you must keep your end of the bargin, water horse - tell me your name!" Well, he raged and he prevaricated and he tried to worm out of it, but eventually he stuck by his promise, and i called on him to squeeze into my empty water gourd, where he lives still, literally a storm in a bottle. The incantation i trapped him with gives me the power to let him out three times only to do my bidding, but after that he is free once more. A few years ago we freed him to wreck a host of pirate ships that were threatening to blockade our harbour and ruin us, but since then he has remained at Peregrinus's lesuire, until next i call on him. Btw, i promised i wouldn't tell anyone else his name - besides the obvious issues with magical summonings etc, it really is quite an embarressing one for such a powerful elemental spirit! Who knows, maybe that's why he went on the rampage in the first place? Thanks for viewing and reading! I hope you enjoyed it.

Agreed, the stacked tiles in the roof and the angle of the shot is mindbending. Lovely build and the conversation is fun to read. Perhaps the Grelven women ran off with the Entwives?

Very nice! That's a pretty substantial wall/gate, it must be a fairly decent-sized city - Queenscross perhaps or Qarkyr? (Am i close?) The detail on the gates is great and so is the bustling scene with the traders. If i have a small suggestion, it might be to break up some of the smoothness of the wall - perhaps with butresses, small windows or variation in stonework, but it still looks pretty nice as is. ps. Ah, poor Ignacio, i knew him well! He still looks pretty chipper in his disappointment though..

Great work! Lots of detail and lovely little touches. The riverbank scene is very nice (although what is that teddy bear doing? Is it... a dropbear?? ), the 1x1 rounds look great at the base of the castle wall (a use i haven't seen before)and the angled gate and drawbridge is seamlessly done. Love the modularity of the fortified mansion too!

Beautiful work, the sculpting is great! I do like the mixture of smooth and studded surfaces, it gives a good amount of texture variation. I agree with Jesperallen that light grey and bley would be the best mix for colour, but on the other hand, some dark bley mixed in some of the flatter regions might look alright too - i guess the only way to find out is to experiment.

Oh man, i don't check in for a while and when i do it's all BAM awesome barn and BAM awesome windmill... great work! I especially like the thatched roof on the barn, looks amazing. This whole layout must be massive now - even with some of your pulled back shots i still can't get my head around where everything is. Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks K.Kreations! Yes, i agree that the tan top level softens the amount of contrast in the revision - much better on the eyes. Hee, thanks mate! Maybe i ought to introduce our architects sometime soon... i am building part of Berigora for a free build atm, so maybe i'll plonk a architecture college in there or something.

Many thanks Lord Shale, Gex and Wahil! I have to say though, i thought i'd be seeing either DucleStrange's brilliant Valentine's Ball (the event of the season!) or Amelia Phantomhive's (Erynlasgalen) beautiful Embassy Kalilia get the gong for Kaliphlin - 2 of my fav embassys this round. Congrats to everyone that put in an embassy too - looks like we had the least entries this round but we still weren't that far off the pace, a testament to the quality of our builds! Great idea for a beastery and species list - maybe this would be good collated into a seperate topic, or even added to the wikia. I am very interested to hear more about the Ay Kabile - i confess i have not come across them before. Also, don't forget the centaurs! I know Kaliphlin doesn't have many of them anymore, and those that remain are mainly concentrated in the "Valley of the Centaurs" on Peregrinus, but you do come across them occasionally. Should you ever find yourself in Berigora, I can arrange an introduction for you to meet the local centaur elders, they have much information about centaur history and society that you might find interesting. Ooh, very nice DaMaximus! That looks great, and certainly gets you around your brick shortage problem. I have fairly limited patience with computer stuff, which is why i find LDD hard to get into. But looking at some of the lovely stuff my fellow guild members are making with it, i am almost ready to give it another try...! Nice format NM/Gex, very comprehensive. I especially like the piece listings for sigfigs. i will try to follow that once i get it together to add my character page. Btw, that was an inspired idea SkaForHire/Dugal about starting up a Wiki for Kaliphlin - and Scubacarrot/Lord Shale for expanding it to a GoH wiki! Glad to see that the other guilds are getting on board as well. Should make finding info about histories and backstories a LOT easier. I'll try to post some stuff on the GoH wiki about Peregrinus when i get a moment. Ahaha, don't worry, i was the same early on - i kept writing "Kaphilin" and having to correct it.

Ah, so glad you bumped ZCerberus, i'd forgotton that i'd been meaning to comment on this! Beautiful work on the embassy, the whole thing is stunning! The liftarm technique looks great allied to your magnificent wooden house, and the whole thing is packed with details. I like the map background on yr last pic too - i'll have to figure out how to do that kind of editing one day.

Nice work Kayne! I love the idea behind it, and i applaud your ambition in going for the grand scale. The crumbling and delapidated parts work really well, and i love the dino rider! The only suggestion i can think of might be to work on the trasition from dark greys to tan at the top - at the moment it looks a bit abrupt. But overall this is wonderfully conceived and executed.

Thanks Robuko, it's always nice to hear your thoughts. Yes, the new windows on the upper floor are perhaps not as nice as the old ones, but i wanted to try something different. They are kinda growing on me... Glad to hear you like the new curtains and stairs. I quite like the black myself, but i guess it's partially personal preference, hey? I do feel like the concentric rings of black define the structure better, and give it a focus that is quite seperate from the base. Of course, taking pics of it is never easy, but i feel like i did a better job of that this time round as well, so there is less disprepency between the tones in the images and how it looks in rl. Anyway, thanks again for your thoughtful comments!

Wow, this is really coming along! That porticullis looks especially nice. The later pics really start to give an indication of how massive this thing is going to be - it's kinda blowing my mind. 20 x 48x48, and the same again around it in landscape... you must have a lot of space to work in!

I saw this beauty ages ago but somehow forgot to comment on it - how remiss of me! Beautiful work! I love all the little working details like the hoisting sails and rigging, and the storage for the oars. The choice of dark tan for the decking looks very smart as well.

Very serene landscape and a lovely building! The stonework on the ground floor is great and i love the bulkiness of the upper story. The d. blue roof pops really well too. If i have one small criticism, it's that you have a lot of "empty" space - the quarter with the farmer returning on the small path is not that well defined. A small fence or low stone wall, or maybe a well or an archery target for practise - any of these would really break up the space and invite the eye into the action.

Great designs Nuju Metru! You certainly have the knack for the modular style and for suggesting a lot with very little. In some cases (like Bag End), the simplification is just perfect, in others (the little bridge) it looks like it may have been taken a touch too far. In the later case i'd prefer to see a 4 stud wide road for the black rider to trot over, and perhaps the tree could have been bulked up a bit. But overall these are genius little sets - hell, i'd buy them!

Hi all; I wasn't too happy with parts of my embassy build, so i went back and rebuilt the top two floors. Hopefully now it is a bit more cohesive and has clearer transitions for the eye to follow. Anyway, here are the original and the revised versions side by side: I've edited my original post with more pics of the revisions - i'm interested to hear what you all think of the changes. ps. Btw, i made sure to indicate that the revised version was not submitted in time for the embassy challenge!

Yessss... great idea! I have something in mind for this too, lets do it! Two weeks sounds about the right amount of time too.

@Mikal Kalores: Nice micro scale you've got there! I see you've put in a few of the new 1x1 round tiles... damn i can't wait to get my hands on some of those. @SI-mocs: Ooh, lovely scene with the king and his retinue! A hint at the challenge to come mayhaps? A royal reception? Festival to coincide with the visit? The "infamous historian" line sounds very intruiging as well... i can't wait to hear more!

Ahhh, i'm so glad to see this get bumped again, i meant to comment on it when Brickshelf went down but i like to see the images as i'm writing, so i waited and then managed to forgot all about it. So it's good to be reminded about how good this is! I love the innovative design, and i reckon this embassy does the best job of intergrating the feel of one guild in another's land. The muted colour palette really does draw the attention to the amazing forms, textures and composition, and gives it an almost abstract quality that fits really well with the otherworldliness of the Mystic Isles. I love it!