mccoyed

In the hand of Spymaster Perricus Plume, Magistrate, I hope this letter finds you in as fine of form as ever. As you have no doubt read in my reports, the whole of The Shade has erupted into chaos. The Lower Districts are flooded with violence as the gangs prey on each other. Very little can be done to reign in the bloodshed, though thankfully it is for the most part affecting only the criminal element of the city for the time being. You'll no doubt wonder if there is any element besides the criminal element in The Shade, and if I am honest I must confess even I doubt it in times such as these. Recently I have heard of an intensifying dispute in one of the border streets between the Lower Districts and the High Streets. A gang calling itself the Grey Grifters, rumor has it a splinter faction from a larger gang known simply as The Vipers, has been attempting to encroach on the High Streets territory. Particularly, they are interested in the territory claimed by the aforementioned Queen's Dandies. As I related previously, encroachment by the more lawless and uncivilized gangs into what's left of civilized space in The Shade would be disastrous for the Queen's interests in the city. Luckily, the Grifters are not so wild as to deny a seemingly sacred pact between all the gangs of The Shade. My spies tell me that many gangs will declare their intent to settle a dispute by combat, a "rumble" in the street vernacular, and that battle will be arranged on agreed upon ground, with agreed upon terms for the victors. It's all quite civilized and supported by traditions older than the city itself, or so I'm told. I remain in the service of the crown as I await to report further news of these events. P.P. Hope all well. Recently witnessed street rumble between two rival gangs. First gang "Grey Grifters". Little more than thugs but strong numbers. Second gang of personal and professional interest to you "Queen's Dandies". Small but sophisticated. Lately been repelling incursions from Lower District crews which serves our purpose and that of Q. Positioned as Bannergirl and observer of rumble. Trusted to judge outcome and prevent violations of rules. Quiet, dangerous crossbowman as companion. Present to shoot down any man or woman deemed in contempt of gang compact. Still not clear on rules or who enforces them. Thankfully they like a pretty face to wave flags of fighting gangs. Regret to report that outcome potentially undesirable: Grifters suffered heavy losses but likely to recover in time due to volatile leadership customs. Dandies lost leader as well, with membership likely to disband according to current rumor and on own speculation around character of their organization. Casualties as follows: Grifters: Three dead, including leader. Two gravely injured, uncertain fate. One lightly injured, fled scene. One lightly injured, remained until rumble concluded. One uninjured, remained until rumble concluded. Dandies: Two dead, including Kenly Walberg. Two lightly injured, including sister of Kenly Walberg, who lost her right eye. Two uninjured. Will report again when the streets settle. Emphasis on whether the territory controlled by Queen's Dandies will be lost to new gang. Yours, B. Flickr Album w/ more pics! Read more: http://merlins-beard...e#ixzz3Er7wRSaK

Very cool. I think the dome looks awesome and must have taken some time to figure out, eh?

Nice idea. I like seeing some magic here and there in GoH!

Welcome, brother!

Gorgeous ship.

Forced perspective is much better achieved here. Good work.

I don't think you should change it, lenjoy. It's really common in the real world for cultures to produce similar-sounding place names. There being a city called Valholl and a city called Volhaal sort of makes sense. Now I know you weren't meaning Valholl and just misspelling it though!

I like the build but I don't think you've got the forced perspective quite right. As is, it looks like a rider riding by a rock that has a tiny flag. You have to twiddle with focus and camera placement to capture the illusion of distance and superposition in forced perspective. I'm not much of a photographer but I imagine other GoHers will have some better tips for ya.

Ah! Paper would probably work way better actually!

@SarahJoy: Great idea for a mod. I do a lot of custom fabric pieces but they aren't super high-quality because I don't sew! I use felt for furs and other types of cloth for tents, sails, etc. For an apron, I might cut the shape out with just a hole (single hole punches for the win!) for the head and then tighten the lower, leg part with an elastic (as a belt). I may try something like that soon and we should compare. If you nail this down into something close to what some of the customizers do out there, like RoyalBricks for example, I'd be interested in buying some and/or any other custom minifig cloth accessories you might make. I have a feeling you'll be a lot better at it than me. :D

Nice scene. Great furniture!

Such a cool idea for a build, DG. Very nice execution! I'd love to see more "industry" builds in GoH. altbricks.net I have a bunch too. :P

How did you even do that sloping roof? Great build! I also like the witch-hunting thing as it feels very dark fantasy which suits Nocturnus nicely.

Good work. Scavengers would scoop up those swords soooo fast.

Cool wall design. Like everyone is saying, it's an unusual and novel technique!

Awesome. An extension of Phase 1's same base right? I really like these towers. I do have to ask about Volhaal, though. Valholl. Volhaal. CONFUSION.

Really well done and inventive. Your sense of humor makes me like your contributions even more!

Yeaaaaah. I've seen some 3rd party ones out there. I had a couple Brickforge ones (I think?) but they broke. Thanks guys. I'm a little late on my next one. I'll get it out soon!

This has to be the definitive Kaliphlin build at this stage. You've put the bar up in the stratosphere, Gideon, and in a guild full of awesome builders. I think you'll inspire another awesome rash of city and "everyday life" scenes in GoH, too. Good thing EB is text-based because my jaw is somewhere on the floor.

Wow. Hat is soaring off, ME. My brains are gone too. I think you've got the definitive GoH swamp build right here and I love the nods to bayou imagery. That bit with the gator is perfect, as is the beaten-up look of the building and grounds. Plus all the other tiny details just rule. My favorite part is probably the structure of the platform. It's maybe one of the more simple techniques you used but the proportions are great and it really pops.

You'll notice that, right now, smaller builds and projects have been more common in GoH with larger, more time intensive builds on the backburner due to other stuff going on in the Lego community (SHIPtember) and because school is back on for a lot of us. I think this just indicates that trends come and go, and right now no one is really into building Greco-Roman so it has yet to make a comeback. You could bring it back. So I think it's more like what people have been into building lately vs. a while back when more were perhaps inspired to do Greco-Roman stuff. I'd just try and keep such things located on the coastal regions of Kaliphlin to fit with the Mediterranean nature of Greco-Roman civs. The Northwest coast (Southeast I guess?) seems fitting because of Varlyrian influence. Anyways, it's not like the Greco-Roman style cities and castles that once existed in Kali have sunken into the ocean or something. Like uh... a certain lost continent or something. Maybe. Never mind.

Best advice I can give you, Pyf, is to spend some time looking at the history of Historica, skimming through threads and paying attention to the builds (it's all about the builds!). Try to ignore that nagging feeling of "dang, I wish I could..." when looking at the huge and parts-intensive stuff. Focus on the smaller details and techniques, especially things you can approximate with your Lego and that would fit well with smaller scale builds. There's a wealth of stuff out there. Personally, while I have a lot of Lego (not nearly as much as some members here), I tend toward medium and smaller scale builds. There's a lot you can do with a little if you get the basic techniques down.

IIRC the accepted "flavor" of Kaliphlin is "Mediterranean" which includes The Middle East as well as classical Greco-Roman as referents. As those cultures and styles intermingled and coexisted for thousands of years before the High Middle Ages, it makes sense that there'd be a cosmopolitan emphasis on its architecture to say nothing of costuming, custom, and institutional structures. Really good subsets of the general "flavor" to research/take note of: NOTE: These are loose, archetypal labels commonly seen in various fantasy media. An historian would be able to provide a wealth of such with a lot more detail and inspiration from real world sources. As with all the Guilds, there are few strict limitations on landscapes. I've included the more Mediterranean, common stuff usually featured in Kali builds. It's true that there are also mountainous regions, swamps, badlands, forests, and probably other subtropical or outright tropical biomes. Crusader-era Middle East (The Holy Land) -probably the single largest and clearest influence on Kali builds Moorish/Muslim Spain -sandy-colored buildings in stone, "unusual" shapes of towers and castles in Kali builds -lighthouses, pirates, coastal regions Hellenic civilization (Alexander the Great) -some naming conventions seem derived from this (Petraea) -marble Ancient Egypt (Pharoahic and Hellenic)/North African -Mummies! -pyramids, sphinxes, "sand" color scheme Bedouin (desert nomads) -Gideon's merchant builds -turbans, headscarves, and "desert" style are common in Kali builds -oasis locations Roman Empire -Lego stuff derived from this is more common in Kali builds -marble (white lego) is associated with Roman architecture

Well aside from the religious thing. Ruadhi seem more like a pseudo-pacifist, pluralist, creative commune. A bit more hippy than quaker, I'd say. :P

Great, unusual takes on rockwork and water. I like seeing BURPs so well used. Makes them seem viable.