mccoyed

Because it makes it easier for people to contribute and participate if they aren't pre-assigned based on what Lego they happened to collect. The reason GoH did it their way was to prevent this. It means that, for example, people could use Lions or Crowns with whatever Guild they wanted. The other Castleverse is LCC/Roawia (?) and they operate the way you describe, where their factions have specific attendant Lego Themes. My preference is to do it like GoH not only for the above reasons but to encourage people to use non-Space Lego in a Space setting. This also means more mixing and matching.

People would wind up using the existing themes and then applying them to whatever factions are created. It seems there's not a lot of familiarity with how GoH does things on this part of EB. I am not really interested in anything short of the GoH methods being applied to science fiction/space opera Lego MOCs. Which is why I started this thread.

Very cool. Does this stuff belong to a group-build project or is it more like your own universe?

Great job!

I don't have any experience with SoNE. What is the difference?

Wait, so you're going to create all the lore yourself? I don't know if I like that idea. It seems like it should come from more than just one person. I don't believe all the background lore and content of GoH was created by just one person. It should be a collaborative process.

Beautiful work. Nice story. I hope Alfric and Susanna see each other again.

@Bob de Quatre: The way GoH handles that is to adopt very loose restrictions on what pieces can be used where. Unlike the LoR, there's no Lego theme (like Blacktron) that can only be used in this or that faction. GoH members are encouraged to be very creative in terms of how pieces and minifigs are used. There are tons of posts about it in GoH. If they can make that work, so can we. I'm not sure what you mean about maintaining or balancing it. GoH uses theme to help people with certain types of stuff in their collections (like tan bricks for Kaliphlin) build with what they have. Likewise, a Scifi counterpart of GoH would have loose thematic guidelines for builders. For example, if you have a lot of alien figs, you might be more at home in a cosmopolitan or alien-central faction than a human one. EDIT: Sorry Bob de Quatre! I reread your post and now realize we're saying approximately the same thing! Right on! Here's an example for how I think we could do factions and colors and themes. Bear in mind this is just a rough sketch off the top of my head. I'm sure with we could come up with more and better with some discussion. Here are some examples of possible factions w/ colors and a sketch of themes and references to pop culture stuff to communicate the individual styles and ideas. This is just a rough idea, by no means what we should go with until after those interested have discussed it. Faction 1: Galactic Union A sort of United Nations in space with many alien races alongside humans trying to promote stability in the galaxy. They are primarily a trade union, with merchants, diplomats, and security forces serving the common good. Colors: White and Silver Faction 2: Alien Empire An expansionist confederation of alien species that believe in "might is right" and are imperialists always pushing for more territory and membership among the other intelligent species. No humans allowed! Colors: Dark Bley and Black or Blue Faction 3: The Unaffiliated In the fringes of space, there are many humans and aliens who don't want to join up with the Union or the Empire and try to hack it out on their own terms. Unfortunately, pressure from the other factions means they sometimes have to form militias or send envoys and form temporary alliances with each other and outsiders. Colors: Yellow and Dark Blue

@Soccerkid: Thanks a lot. I emulated your technique with that battlefield scene you did recently. I didn't fully commit but I wanted to see how it looked in a small application and it works extremely well if you're careful about placement. @Gabe: I used my own material so if I'd had more time/patience/space I may have come up with something completely different. Not completely satisfied with it, too many plates showing for example, but thanks all the same! The head on the middle angel is Aldrich Killian's "Extremis" face from the set where IM and Iron Patriot attack his speedboat.

Yeah. I'm generally pretty disappointed with current Castle theme but the helmets and backside of the Dragon torso are just perfect for the less cheery side of GoH and medieval/fantasy MOCs in general. I expect to use them a lot in the future.

I would reject two of the ideas suggested so far: using existing Lego space themes for lore and ripping off something else, like Star Craft 2. Both of these ideas miss the point. Guilds of Historica utilizes existing Lego and themes and adapts them to its own fictional universe for MOCs and storytelling. That is what I think would be the best for Scifi or any other broad genre, especially for those of us who like science fiction motifs but don't necessarily want to play in the Star Wars sandbox.

Good build except I'd say the grill pieces as terrain don't work very well. House is pretty good, though.

Thanks LV. I'll be including more information about them and their relationship to Altiera in Phase 3.

Thanks. I'm not crazy about the tents, but I spent too much time on them and had to settle.

^This plus Thor: The Dark World. I couldn't believe it when I found out there wouldn't be any. Talk about perfect match.

Here are my first two. Third one won't be around for a while. Thanks for letting a Mitgardian have some dark fun! Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Note: This build takes place before Phase 1 and depicts the process by which Altiera made the determination to march back to Nocturnus. Nine weeks ago, somewhere northeast of Cedrica. Altiera and her Faelite army have recently camped in the woodlands below the northern arm of the Rakath Mountains. It's been a few months since their last major battle and her men are growing merry and fat despite all her and her captains' attempts to keep them fit and trained. Searching for guidance in the Old Way of the line of her mothers stretching back a thousand years, Altiera finds her path in the vitae of a beast. Altiera's camp sprawls for almost a mile. Her own tent, near the perimeter where she can perform her auguries uninterrupted, is the setting for this scene. But she is not alone. She is aware of them, her dark angels, and she can see them when she chooses, even speak to them. Her camp, however, remains unaware of them. Captain Saliera has the balance of her sword checked by Altiera's master smith. Meanwhile, Bashra, another of Altiera's officers, waits to see if the smith has finished with his own weapons. Sgt. Ferric, the Crimson Bolt, shares the fire with one of her pikewomen. She's not quite sure how she feels about sharing a drink, though. Meanwhile, a crossbowman keeps an eye on the perimeter near one of the camp's tents. On the perimeter of the camp, another crossbowman keeps watch. Altiera's men are used to her auguries. If she weren't busy, she'd have one of her captains deal with these two who are having an argument over a pot of soup. Altiera's magical services come from these two, the only ones in her army even vaguely aware of the powers she is calling upon to set a new course for her followers. A view of the full camp. DRAMATIS PERSONAE Altiera the Blood Augur Altiera's blood magic occasionally unnerves her men, but it is an ancient Faelite tradition and therefore they respect it. Altiera sheds her armor and dons a foci and robes to go with her ceremonial dagger and chalice whilst performing auguries and rites. Sergeant Bashra Also known as The Whirling Dervish, Bashra's status as an officer is considered a formality as he eschews the giving of orders and prefers to fight in the melee on his own, with as much space around him as possible for the ideal use of his twin swords. Bashra, not unlike Breka, is less xenophobic than other Faelites and has adopted Kaliphlin stylings and dress. Beragail At 46 years old, she has seen much of the world and learned the healing arts, both magical and mundane, from some of the best healers in Historica. Now she serves Altiera for her own reasons, though she disapproves of blood magic. Telamon Altiera's battle-mage is responsible for warding arms and armor to give her army an edge in combat. Telamon, like Beragail, serves Altiera for his own reasons. He's almost seventy years old but claims to be much older. He is also given to claims of power that he seldom demonstrates tangibly. Ephrane the Blacksmith A favorite of Altiera's, Ephrane is responsible for all the arms and armor maintenance and often works closely with Telamon to do upkeep on spells and wards as well. Ephrane is well-liked among Altiera's army for fighting alongside them, without armor, and for his hundreds of scars taken in battles throughout his long career. Altiera gives it a token attempt before every battle to convince him not to fight, but it never works. Camp Troops

It seems like a surmountable problem. Here's how I would do it: 1. Get everybody interested together in one place (probably a temp. sticky thread to gauge interest) 2. Have a general discussion about the scope and themes (for Historica, it's these four regional guilds and their interconnecting stories and characters). 3. Start small with factions. Maybe 2-3 at first depending on how many people they are. Create attendant threads. 4. Faction discussions to create themes, aesthetics, and elements that differentiate them. For example, in GoH, Mitgardia is a "norse" type and Nocturnus is a "dark" type of fantasy, with room for many variations of trope and ideas. This should be emulated. 5. Have faction-leaders plan and construct a short series of MOCs to introduce the new setting to EB and the scifi forum as a way to attract more interest and get the ball rolling for builds and storylines.

@Thomas of Tortuga: I have all three GotG sets now. They are well worth it. The Milano is amazing.

Strange that there's so much resistance to the idea. I think something like GoH in spirit, but at a smaller beginning scale would attract people to build MOCs. The same thing happened with GoH in facvt.

Been wondering if there is or ever was a persistent roleplayed universe for Sci-Fi the way there is for Castle (Guilds of Historica for example). I know there's a sort of RPG-verse for Star Wars but I'd love to see one along the same lines as Historica. Thoughts?

Super creative and fun. Also, excellent execution. The red background? That's dedication to concept.

Thanks all! Khorne: it's one of my favorite hairpieces, comes from a Series 11 (I think) rockabilly waitress CMF.

Awesome build. I wish I had more conquistadors because I really want to do some Varlyrian builds eventually! I will have to improvise.

Thanks. I really need to improve my photography though.