mccoyed

Yeah there's got to be a way to do it where the "desert "feel doesn't get lost in too much green. Maybe a larger build with more terrain would give the room to sell that different kind of desert complete with the shrubs, trees, etc. Thanks SK!

Ha! I'm just now noticing the cheese slope mosaic windows in these two little builds. Great work there, would love to see a "backside" to see how you constructed them.

I dig the colors here too, but the tree is a standout. I also think the shack has somewhat worn looking walls but that color differentiation (white paint chipping off the gray stone maybe?) might have helped that. The roof and door being so "new" looking also doesn't gel with the idea I want to have that the shack is a little weathered.

This is just a great big treasure full of fun things to discover. Under normal circumstances, one might want to critique the lack of texturing and detail on paths and so on, but this is the kind of build where that stuff doesn't matter. There's too much going on to care whether there are a lot of studs on the ground (and I hope other guildies agree when they offer feedback!). Also a great exposition build to set the tone for what's happening in Varlyrio and between all the guilds right now!

Oh man! Patrick! I hope you're serious.

This is one of the nicer and more accomplished "high-texture" builds I can remember seeing on GoH! I love that base and I think the photography is clean enough that it's easy to keep up with how much is going on.

This is cool lore. So "gunpowder" essentially exists but no one has really weaponized it yet. Does that mean fireworks are possible in Historica?

Last time this came up it was decisively "no". GoH is/was a generally low-magic and low-tech fantasy setting. There's a general notion that the beginning of the gunpowder age in Europe is basically the end of the "middle ages". This isn't strictly (nor historically) speaking true but it still presents a useful line for world-building in fiction. Another thing to consider is the need to distinguish GoH from BoBS. Gunpowder weapons would be a step toward blurring that line. That said, the staff might have a different position on this for Book 3. I'd be interested to see. I feel ambivalent about it, personally.

I thought of this as kind of harder packed sand than the more wave-like dunes. Something more like the deserts/badlands in the US than the Sahara. However, I think there are definitely ways to make that idea work better. I like "Leander" a lot better than "Lionell" personally. But yeah, I think there are many subraces so I'll try to leave it ambiguous whether all of them belonged to this mythic "Cat Empire" that Fel is trying to discover. Thanks Faladrin! Having catfolk in Varlyrio leaves even more room to develop them as a principle race of Historica. Book 2 Kali builds were some of my favorites. I do agree that the desert is a bit bare and I did try curved slopes for the sand but it always looked too "dune-y" to me. I wanted it to feel more like this: As opposed to this:

Very interesting looking rockwork, IMO. I think it looks slightly better from a distance but even if it's a bit too busy, it gives an interesting basis to try some stuff I haven't seen very much in more classic approaches to rockwork. I'd be curious to see what something like this could look like with 3-4 colors as a limit. I like the furniture in the interiors too. The use of taps is very interesting.

Excellent build and a lot of inspiration for my next one which is going to be similar in some ways. I especially like the little touches: awnings, arches, and especially that lamp fitting with the hand piece (inspired!).

I like the elements of this build and it's nice to see all the previous builds incorporated here. I think you should work on texturing the ground a bit more but you're off to a great start with that already.

I had problems with photography for... oh... the first two years or more after joining EB? The best way, I found, isn't a light box at all (though if you can get a big enough one...). The best thing is to make sure your pics aren't grainy/blurry as best you can and then use GIMP or Photoshop to "brighten" the image. I use GIMP for that and Photoshop for backgrounds, but I've only been using PS for the last little while. If you look at some of my older stuff, photography issues really took away from what I was making. The one thing is, proper presentation of Lego builds with these software tools is very time consuming for me. So I get it if you feel reluctant to dive into that with every build. Just take your time. Aside from that, good stuff here. I especially like your design of the brick-built warhammer. Don't think I've seen one quite like that and it's cool.

Thanks! I will definitely try to squeeze in some Kali builds when I can. I liked building Kali a lot during the Book 2 civil war. It just went too fast for me so I only got a few in! Thanks! Haha, it'll happen soon I hope. Thanks DG. Making 'figs is the most fun and agonizing part for me. I spent HOURS yesterday just doing a free-form scifi figbarf. Knowing when to walk away from a design is key. I tried a few variations but they always wound up too blocky for the size/style of cacti I wanted, basically a Fishook Barrel catcus but with a red flower. I initially had these mossy patched with mushrooms, which looked terrible! Thanks. I learned a lot about presenting dialogue and story when building for Andromeda's Gates and try to include these 'fig portrait dialogues where appropriate. This one had a lot of talking so thanks for reading the story parts! Thanks, Zoth. Especially for reading the story parts! Thanks, Narb! More to come, in Varlyrio next time. ;) Thanks, Henj! It's funny because I started with the wall and I shouldn't have. I would have liked to do a more complex interior of the Audience Hall because I really like the slitted (almost arrow slit) windows but they don't really feature well here. I would need a lot more tan and dark tan Lego to do what I had in my head, which was more like this: https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/004/431/816/medium/ugur-unsoy-sehir2.jpg?1483712695 I actually name-dropped the aelfcats originally but changed the dialogue! I didn't want to overstep by "confirming" they come from the same parent civilization. I will leave that a mystery for now, since I imagine there are "catfolk" (my preferred catch-all term over) all over the world but that only the Varlyrian and Kaliphlin ones are the subject of Fel's research.

That's amazingly clean and well-proportioned. Maybe one of my favorite ships on GoH now!

Can't find that set # on their website. What's the name of it?

This is stupendous (I know, I already said that on Flickr :P)! There's some fun similarities to my own recent Kali-style build (dewback!) so it looks like we were on similar wavelengths. I obviously have a lot to learn from you because this thing is just packed with details that are clear and ornate without being too busy or packed together. I think the alcoves and statues are my favorite part but the fountain is a close second.

Very cool! What are those door pieces? This is a pretty unique build, style-wise. I don't think I've seen these colors together like this before.

I have no idea where my "At the Hotel California" title came from.

Yeah, this is an awesome presentation with really solid comedic writing too. Having the goat's translations be ornate and verbose is inspired. Also liking your fig combos here. Great intro!

Sorry for the double-post but here's my first Build for Varlyrio... which is set in Kaliphlin. Sorry!

A love letter for you guys, since I almost joined this guild for Book 3: Story:

Note: This first build for Book 3 was actually in construction before I found out about the launch of Book 3. It was going to be for Summer Joust, then after the announcement I was leaning toward joining Kali... then Varlyrio was confirmed! So this one has been a roller-coaster. Thanks for looking. The Duchy of Delmitra, Kaliphlin (East of Barqa) Small but wealthy due to control of a prosperous githril mine, the Duchy of Delmitra has only recently stabilized under the reign of its child-duchess, the Lady Elatisha Darya (Tisha for short). During the upheavals of the Kaliphlin civil war, her father and eldest brother were killed and Lady Tisha was forced to supply githril arms to first one side and then the other as Barqa's shifting loyalties caused ripple effects in the region. There's usually a lot of comings and goings at Delmitra due to its location along the Oil Road. Today we can see a Goldpike mercenary passing through on her way to some battle. A more peaceful scene transpires close by as a young centaur woman gathers cactus flowers. On the far side of the wall, a massive desert dewback tries to scare off a snake. But which one is the trespasser? On the walls, one archer looks on nervously as he realizes that the dewback is nearly big enough to climb over the wall itself! He hopes no one ever thinks to use the docile herbivores as weapons of war. Meanwhile, his younger companion is delighted by the sight of the dewback-rider coaxing the animal forward using nothing but a bushel of greens. Traffic makes its way into the city as well, greeted by the bright ringing sound of a githril-smith hard at work. Delmitra's audience hall is located near the entrance of the city and is open to all whenever the Lady Tisha is present. Her house guard is primarily Delmitraean Myrmidons, who watch the passersby with keen eyes. All kinds of people come through the castle, including hunters, fruitsellers, and laborers, often refugees, from as far off as Nocturnus. The rooftop of the audience hall is open to the public. All kinds of people spend time up there, and it's even used for storage! Known as the Blue Seat, the great chair of the Duchy stands in the audience hall where visitors can marvel at its githril inlay. Today, the Lady Tisha is entertaining a particular interesting visitor. Her regent, Lord Sasaram, looks on in horror as the Lady considers giving a priceless heirloom to a complete stranger. Meanwhile Tisha's bodyguard, Arrea of Bandari, tries to hide her amusement. "This is what you want? Just this little thing?" "Lady Elatisha! You mustn't think of it!" "Yes, that's the Lion's Eye. I came here hoping to recover it." "That's so strange. It's just a stone. Not even pretty." "But it's been in the Darya family for generations, Lady!" "Oh hush, Regent Sasaram." "Heh." "So Fel --Can I call you Fel?-- why do you want this stone anyway?" "Well, it's part of a pair. This map will take me to the other one. I need them for evidence." "Intriguing! Evidence of what?" "I believe there was once a seafaring empire of catfolk --lionells-- and these stones can help prove it." "Foolishness!" "Hush, I said. Fel, how can this prove your theory?" "There are records of a legend: ages ago, a brother and sister inherited the empire and split it across the sea, each taking a piece of an ancestral stone fashioned to look like an eye. One Lion's Eye was kept in Kaliphlin, the other in Varlyrio. Yours, I think. A gift for some noble a century ago." "So if you get the stones, you can prove the legend is true and there really was once one big empire?" "Exactly!" "Excuse me, but there are catfolk all over. Including some in my own homeland. Are you saying they are all related?" "I don't know, but I want to find out. If we all share a common history, shouldn't everyone know it?" "I think so! I've decided you should have the stone!" "Oh dear... what are they going to think about this in Petraea?" "Those stuffy old scholars can... they can... go eat their own beards!" "Haha. Yeah!" "I love my job." ... ... ...but wait... there's more going on in bustling Delmitra... ... On the rooftops, a meeting is taking place between Goldhorn, called by some the "Minotaur of Means", and a shady desert mummy. "I don't know, this seems like an awful lot of money just to follow some cat-girl around." "Never mind that, Garm. You know from personal experience that my coin spends." "That it does, Mr. Goldhorn. That it does." "Then you'll take the job." "Follow the girl, steal these Eye stones or whatever, and make sure no one finds out. Yeah, seems like my kind of thing." "Quite." ... ... Builder's Notes:

Hey if he's an axe guy from a family of sword makers, maybe he's just rebelling! :P