Gabe

Very nice - looks great on the hillside there. I do like your custom banner as well!

Wow, this is a beauty of a tower. It could double as a fire watchtower as well! Very well done.

Hey mate, i really like the additions of the bridge and lava flow, looks great! I agree with the idea of some trans-pieces for the lava, but it looks like yr on top of that. Anyway, it's an imposing looking tower, good thing our ships will be able to steer clear of it!

Nice work! I like the staircase and the little wooden watchtower. The black is a bit overpowering though - you might want to consider breaking up the solid wall with a stripe of colour or texture to liven it up.

Heh! It was a toss up between Kaliphlin and Nocturnus, but Kaliphlin had 1 fewer guild member, so that swayed me. Plus i really wanted that penninsula for my base! Haha, cheers fellow guild member!

Most noble Dextrus Flagg, lord of all Kaliphlin, we would seek an audience with you! My name is Erudhalion Sansael, and i am lord of the port town of Berigora in the principality of Peregrinus, which you would know as Cape Dahaka. We have been an isolationist outpost for many years, owing to our flight from the more numerous outlaw groups and mountain mummy bands of the Rakath, but we are no backwater - we have a wonderful deep water port for our ships, and our fleet has travelled far and wide, exploring and trading with the east coast of Historia and beyond. Our land is bountiful and self-sustaining, thanks to the landcare and husbandry of our centaur allies, and our borders are well protected by both land and sea assault. Although we have been indipendent for many years under my father, since his recent death much has changed. Our ships report seeing many watchtowers under construction up and down the coast, and armies are on the march in the east and the north. Brigand activity is up too, and the mountain mummies that reside in the Rakath seem more agitated than usual. Should war or trouble come to our land, we fear being caught between the hammer and the anvil, and thus wish to ally ourselves with Kaliphlin. If it would please you, our ports shall be your ports, and our ships your ships, and all Peregrinians shall henceforth swear fealty to mighty Kaliphlin! We ask only for your protection in return. I present to you my household - myself and my personal gaurd, our centaur friends and the port master of Berigora and his captains. The commander of the watch is in charge of the causeway garrison, which protects entry to Peregrinus by land. Peregrinus from the southwest, showing the landbridge and the hidden entry to Berigora port. The approach to the port entrance is treacherous with reefs and shifting sandbars, and visiting ships would do well to signal to the lighthouse for an escort to guide them in. Peregrinus from the southeast, showing the valley of the centaurs and the jagged coastline to the east, which is constantly battered by waves. Peregrinus from the northwest, showing the thick forests and coastal plains of the north, from whence our best ship-building timber comes from. I apologize for the poor quality of my map of Peregrinus, but i am bound for the sea on the 'morrow, and have much else that must be attended to. I would be happy to share more with you of my land, it's people and it's defences, on my return. All hail Dextrus Flagg! Peregrinus for Kaliphlin! <Out of character: I actually am heading off interstate for 2 weeks on Monday, and will be probably not have internet during that time, so i won't be around for a little while - my apols! But i will certainly be raring to build some ports and towers and terraces and ships when i get back. :)

Ok, ok, i know i ought to wait but i can't help myself, you guys look like yr having so much fun! (Plus i've got a backstory all sorted, and i wanted to stake my claim on the map before someone else does. ) gabe here, signing up for Kaliphlin! I'm heading off interstate for a couple of weeks on Monday, but i can contribute a little build before then. And after i come back, of course!

Very nice - simple but very clean and quite visually pleasing. You might want to experiment further with things like uneven ground, dirt and rocks, vines, broken flagstones or cobbles and perhaps an overhanging tree - these things can add more character to your creation. It might be nice to see some more of the surrounding countryside as well - as it is, it could equally be in a forest, or a field, or on a rocky outcrop. But of course if your aim was to produce something simple that others can use and customise, then it's mission accomplished!

Sounds great, can't wait to see the extensions.

I would love to participate, but i won't be able to do anything until after Xmas i'm afraid. But if you are looking to start the community build after that, then i'd love to be involved. When is it likely to start?

Thankyou! I did put in quite a big order of dark tan 1 x 2 plates for this - i doubt if i'll need to get any more of those for a while! It's such a lovely colour though, and has so many uses. Cheers Derfel, and thankyou for your execellent tutorials btw, i can think of many applications for yr techniques that extend far beyond building medieval-style buildings and i am itching to try them out! Certainly i already owe a debt to you for pointing the way with your excellent landscaping, it is a yardstick that i constantly judge my own landscaping by.

Really nice use of forced perspective, it works a treat with your shallow dof. I want to see a gladiator with a trident and a net though!

This is really nice for a first attempt at a castle. I agree that the rock work is great and i also like the texture on the sloped part of the roof - i just wish it could have been brought to more of a peak, but i can understand if a lack of parts prevents that. The technic holes on the parapets is a nice bit of ornamentation, but the parapet itself looks a bit low - it could be a couple of plates higher. Nice work though, very pleasing to look at!

Cheers! Thanks! Which baseplates do you have? I'm quite fond of the older castle ones, some of the patterns on them look really interesting. I think the key to making them look natural is to increase the number of steps up to the raised level - unslightly gaps can be covered up in a variety of ways. Aha, thanks! I'm slowly imporving my landscaping skills, anyway. Thankyou, they were fun to build! I actually had Derfel Cadarn's tutorial in mind when stringing the walkway, and was really pleased with the way it came out. They are digging up a neolithic stone temple btw.

Thankyou! I've been wondering what to do with that baseplate for a while now. Thanks! Yes, you may have seen it on Flickr or TBB - i was as shocked as anyone to get blogged. Cheers mate! It is something of a tribute to all the archaeology docos i like to watch whilst building. Also, don't knock the raised baseplates, they are very useful sometimes!

Hello all; I thought i'd share with you my latest moc, which is also my entry for round 4 of the MocOlympics on MOCpages. For this round, my catagory was "The Doorstep to the Temple of Wisdom"- Choose a real ancient civilization (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Harappa, Iranian, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Aztec, Incian and so on) and build a temple in their style of art and architecture. During my research, i stumbled across the amazing story of Gobekli Tepe, and was so captured by it that i couldn't get it out of my head. I knew then that i had my subject, or rather, that my subject had me! A bit of background: Gobekli Tepe (means "belly hill")is a hillside in Southeast Turkey, where the oldest known temple complex in the world was discovered in 1994 by a German archaeologist called Klaus Schmidt. It is a complex of 20 or so circular buildings of various ages, the oldest of which has been dated at 11,000 years old - to put that in perspective, that is 6000 years older than Stonehenge! It is so old that it predates both agriculture and metallurgy - as incredible at it seems, achaeologists believe these temples were constructed by nomadic hunter gatherers using only stone axes and flints. The giant T-shaped limestone megaliths that form the site are decorated with animal motifs in both shallow relief and also more sculptural forms. The spaces in between the megaliths were filled in with drystone walls, which often incorporated low benches in thier design. Nobody knows what type of religion or spirituality the makers of the temple had, but due to the frightening nature of the animal carvings, (which include vultures and lions) some speculate that it could have been a death cult or necropolis. It has long been believed that neolithic societies only started to build such enduring temples once they had settled into complex agrarian communities; domesticating wildlife, making pottery and the like. However, the evidence at Gobekli Tepe presents a different picture altogether - a hunter gatherer society whos spiritual life led to them later settling in the area (possibly to maintain the temples they had built) and developing agrarian technologies. In short, thier religion lay at the very root of who they were to become - us. Part of the problem of building "in the style of" our neolithic ancestors is that no-one really knows what the structures looked like when they were originally standing. Some have speculated that the T-shaped megaliths were meant to support a roof of some kind, but all evidence of that has long vanished. So i decided to simply build a neolithic "Gobekli Tepi" style temple as they appear to us today - as mysterious, awe-inspiring ruins, speaking to us of the very beginnings of our search for wisdom. Overview of the temple layout. You can see the circular design with the supporting megaliths and drystone walls and benches. A ceremonial trough is also present, opposite the temple entrance. The archeologists use wooden walkways to move from one part of the temple site to another, lessening the risk of damaging or disturbing new finds. They also have a rough shelter for storing tools and collecting smaller artifacts. An archaeologist examines a lion motif sculpture on one of the central megaliths, whilst a labourer helps to gently clean the temple floor. Another archaeologist takes photos of the temple layout from the walkway. Although they are in the same physical place, the doorway to the wisdom they seek is very different to those of thier neolithic ancestors... I hope you have enjoyed my build. More pics can be found on my Flickr, or MOCpages. Thanks for looking!

So beautiful. I love how the scenery is so idyllic on the surface, yet there is a darker side to thier life with the caverns and weapons cache. That certainly is an impressive hoard for a simple village - i suspect ill-gotten gains!

Might be a little out of left field, but i would love to see an "imagined archaeology" community build - you know, what would happen if archeologists really did discover ancient hobbit holes or delve too deeply, etc... Perhaps this encroaches a little on the action forum's turf, but i've always thought that such topics belonged just as much in the history forum.

Age: 40 Age you started building: About 4 i suppose. I have vague memories of playing with my cousin at that age, although i think the bricks were his. My first set that i remember was at about 5, as a reward for enduring a tooth extraction. Occupation: Artist Married: No Children: No Does your spouse or child/children build: My partner collects minifigs and likes to create backstories for them (she's a writer), but she doesn't usually build. Do you have close friends who build: No close friends, no, although i attend a LUG and of course they all build. Do you build together with your friends: Unless i'm at a MUGS meeting, no. Do you regularly attend Lego conventions: I attended Brickvention this year and plan to exhibit next year, all being well. :) How much money do you spend on Lego product a year: About $1500-2000/annum when worked out on a monthly basis (i've only been collecting for about 18 months), but i hope to slow down significantly next year. How much time do you spend building/playing a day: About an hour, give or take. Depends on whether i'm obsessing over a Moc or not... Favored theme/themes: Castle, Pirates, Ninjago, Pharoah's quest, PoP, Atlantis. The CM's have been awesome too. Do you primarily collect retail sets, build MOCs, or both? Both, although nothing stays built very long around here. Did you experience a "dark age": Yes If yes, what age did you enter your "dark age": About 13-14. What age did you exit your "dark age": 39 Other hobbies (other toy collecting, sports, drawing etc.): Photography, bird watching, cycling, hiking, archery (never enough time for everything!) In your own words what makes Lego bricks so special: Thier versatility, they really are a fantastic sculptural medium. I have a painter's eye, which means i often interperet things in 2D - Lego really helps me to counter that by forcing me to view my creations from multiple perspectives. I love the problem solving nature of it. May I PM you with a request for a personal interview: If an email interview is practical, then sure.

Ooh, awesome. I've been a big admirer of yr moc's for a while now, and i can't wait to pick up some tips from the master.

Omg, this has to be my number one, first draft pick, must get set for 2012, no argument! That noblewoman is to die for (perhaps quite literally, if one was jousting) and the black knight isn't bad either. And like someone else noticed - 1x3 arches, hooray! Well done LEGO.

Aw shucks, thanks for the lovely compliment! But, you know, i think it's a common fallacy to think that we need to learn how to build different things over and over before we can produce good work. Certainly having a familiarity with the subject matter helped me, as did my building experience in other themes, but mostly i think it was just a lot of close observation, and re-working shapes where i didn't feel it was quite right, until it finally came together. I'm still not entirely happy with the result, and i hope to do better next time, but then don't we always? Thanks! Everyone loves the feet it seems. I couldn't have made them without those new modified plates with the triple bar handles you get in the Ninjago dragons - they are such a useful piece! This build rests almost entirely on them. Cheers Christopher! I lost count of how many hinge parts hold this thing together - building it was a bit of a hinge tutorial in itself.

Thankyou for yr kind comment! I'm not so sure about "redefining" though, after all quite a lot of people have tackled brick built animals at various scales, but i do hope that i bring something of my own individual style to the subject matter. I am hoping however, that this will become part of a larger project that i have in mind, one which i don't think has been attempted before. I'm keeping it under wraps for now cause it may not come to anything, but certainly i'll be experimenting with some more bird forms in the future!

Haha, thanks LT! This certainly won't be my last bird - i might try an owl next. Thanks! I redid those wings a couple of times, so i'm glad they came out well. Thanks! Don't tell anyone, but i have no idea what that flower is supposed to be. I had some vague idea of making a cherry blossom branch, but those flowers tend to come in bunches. Oh well. Thankyou! Although now i'm interested in what you were expecting to see... Thankyou so much, for both the compliment and the inspiration! I'm a big fan of your wildlife sculptures. Thanks, glad you like it. There are a few bird moc's around, i know Mike Doyle's ReMocable website has a whole page of them.

As an "unplanned builder" , i am in awe of your designs, they are just amazing! The central tower in the "snow spire" is hypnotic, and I love the shapes in "bear mountain" as well. Can't wait to see the rest of your designs in brick too, though i have to agree with Angeli that the original design for "air isle" ought to be built somehow - it is superb.