Capt Wolf

Very clean and sleek, neatly rigged. Well done!

That roof is fantastic! Sorry I didn't get to see it in person. Pirate town appears to have expanded greatly this year. Well done! What piece have you used on the top of the chimney?

OMG! I forgot the headrails! How in the world... I knew something didn't look right. There will be an update posted sometime this week. Gah!

Meanwhile, Willem Guilder had heard nothing about the progress of the expedition, but he had heard of interest in the region from other nations. Time to redouble his efforts! --- Jack Merker had just received a dispatch from Willem Guilder... "Well, what's it say, luv?" "It looks as if we can finally leave that dismal little sloop behind, dear. We've been ordered to take command of the brigantine Nightwing. Finally, a proper ship!" Merker read a little further. "We are to sail with the Colonial Storm to the New Haven Sea. As Colonial Storm is the larger ship, her captain will serve as commodore to our little squadron." Merker grumbled a bit at that. "We are to attempt to rendezvous with Captain Janszen's fleet in the vicinity of island #2 on the New Haven map here." Jack looked it over. "Hmmm... ok. If rendezvous is successful, we do as Janszen orders. If we do not meet up with him, we are to proceed to islands #5 and #6 and survey those islands." "Survey the islands? What the 'ell does that mean. I ain't no surveyor!" "That's just administrator speak, dear. We'll be exploring an island never set upon by Halosians. It's really a chance to make a name for ourselves, go down in the history books!" "It still sounds boring as 'ell." "Well, in addition to it not meeting your standard for excitement, there's one possible catch: we have to find a crew for her ourselves." "That ain't gonna be no problem!" "And how's that?" "Look down there." "Ah, yes. Just the sort we need!" And so Merker and Kate recruited a crew for the Nightwing, met up with the captain of the Colonial Storm, and set sail for the seas east of Fatu Hiva in search of Janszen's exploration fleet.

And one more: the brigantine Nightwing.

One more from my shipyard to start the month (I really should have gotten a couple of these posted yesterday!): the brigantine Nightwing. The Nightwing can serve as a merchant ... ... or as an armed escort, with an ample broadside for its size: And there's room on deck to add guns there if necessary: Captain Merker is happy to have been reassigned to this vessel: His first orders: to rendezvous with the Colonial Storm and proceed to the New Haven Sea. --- The cabin still doesn't look right to me, but it's better than an earlier attempt, and I really like how the stern windows came out. All C&C welcome.

A carrack for the MCTC merchant fleet: Eslandita.

The latest addition to the MCTC merchant fleet: the carrack Eslandita. Here's a quick look around her. The characteristic high forecastle and bowsprit: The crewmen handling this cargo are glad to be out in the open, away from the low clearance below decks: Sailors scale the rigging of the mainmast: The carrack has a tall superstructure fore and aft: A bird's eye view: From the stern quarter: Additional images: Similar to my Hidalga, but with a black-on-brown hull and more of those shield-like teeth pieces. I also approached construction of the bow a bit differently, and went with a more decorative approach for the stern windows. All C&C welcome.

A new ship from my shipyard: Colonial Storm.

The latest ship to set sail upon the Brick Seas is the Colonial Storm. The Eslandian ship will be sent to increase the exploration efforts in the New Haven Sea. Here's a quick look around her. Figurehead: The crew is busy on deck and in the rigging: No admittance to the captain's quarters right now, but the sailor makes his obedience nonetheless: The captain collects his thoughts on the stern balcony: On her way to the New Haven Sea: One more view: All C&C welcome. --- Edit: Somehow I forgot to add the headrails before I took the photos! Here are a couple of pics with them installed:

"Arr! Why'd you shoot him?" "The same reason you cut 'im down. The weasel of a bureaucrat said I had to build somethin' called a M-O-C to add more ships to my fleet." "We don't need to build no stinkin' MOCs ... we're NPCs! Har har har! "Wait ... we be NPCs?" "We've been over this. Don't worry about it." --- Yes, Bloody Bill and Bluebeard are spending some of their booty to add to their pirate fleets. Merchants beware!

Eslandola's exploration of island #1 in the New Haven Sea continues...

Back on the beach, Calvo and his men regrouped. The men were breathing a heavy sigh of relief that they had dodged any trouble. But Calvo feared they were missing an opportunity. “Men, I cannot pass up the chance to learn more about these people, but we must continue our exploration. I suggest that you travel up the river and explore by boat. Take care not to disturb any native sites. If you find you must turn back and take a different route to give them a wide berth, so be it, but continue to explore inland.” There were murmurs from some of the men. “What about you, sir?” “I will head back to the village.” Now there were gasps from the men. “What? Sir, you can’t!” “I think I developed a connection with the village leader” Calvo reassured his men. “I need to learn to communicate with them. In the long run, this will help us immensely. If we can make the native population an asset rather than a liability to this island, it could mean the difference between success and failure to any colonization efforts. Now that you know of them, and they know of you, you should be able to proceed safely as long as you don’t provoke them. If I can’t rejoin you within the month, return to the ship and report to Janszen all that has happened here.” And so it was that the men set off up the river to explore the interior of the island. Calvo returned to the village, and was well aware of the scurrying in the tree tops that kept tabs on him. Eventually two of the natives dropped from the trees and stopped him, then brought the village leader to him. Calvo used a few words that he had picked up from before: “Ch’ka, ch’ka. Clk, clk.” This was greeted by confused faces on some of the natives, and something like laughter from others. The leader grinned and nodded. He took Calvo’s hand, placed it on his own shoulder, and said “Ch’mika.” Calvo repeated it, then took the leader’s hand and placed it on Calvo’s own shoulder and said “Calvo.” Ch’mika said “Kal’vo.” Close enough, thought Calvo. They had introduced themselves. This was a good beginning. Ch’mika took Calvo up into his hut, and Calvo met Ch’mika’s family. He was given a space in the hut to sleep, and offered food at meal times. Ch’mika’s son was fascinated by the stranger, and was very helpful teaching Calvo some basic vocabulary, such as the words for berries (“bk-bk”) and bananas “k’nana”). Over the next 3 weeks, Calvo learned much about how the natives (“Ch’karam” was the word they used to describe themselves collectively) lived their daily lives. Calvo’s knowledge of the language grew greatly, although his command was still rudimentary. But it was enough for him to carry on actual conversations with Ch’mika and others. He had successfully conveyed his desire to learn more about the island and find a place for Eslandolans to live peaceably with the Ch’karams. Calvo also conveyed his need to return to his men. And unsurprisingly, Ch’mika and his men knew where to find them. They took Calvo on an adventure through the tree tops across the island. Calvo marveled at how easily they navigated the maze of branches and vines, and the Ch’karams snickered at Calvo’s struggles, but admired his persistence. Before the month was up, Calvo was reunited with his men, who had learned much during their weeks on various rivers. And Ch’mika and his men were showing and telling Calvo much about the island. Janszen would be in for quite a story, with plenty of information for a large report about the island of Ch’kara and its people and resources.

Good point. Post edited to include link.

The only non-Oleon ports charging taxes are Kings Port, Westface (both Terraversa), Nova Terreli, and Montario (both ESL on the island of Nelissa). The KPA trade war article has links to all of these specific taxes. Also, Charlatan Bay has declared itself closed to outsiders, so don't go there, either.

Anthony Crol had received a dispatch from Willem Guilder, Director of the MCTC. He was to file the necessary paperwork to commission a sistership of the Lady of Madrice, which had been lost in a storm last month. Now captain of the Far Horizon, Tony had been first mate on the Lady of Madrice two years ago. The old sloop had a long record of service in the MCTC, and she was well past her prime. It seemed like everyone in the MCTC had been a part of her crew at some time or another, and all knew her affectionately as the Wench. When Tony entered the office, he was greeted by a gloomy old man with an ill-fitting wig. "State yer bizness" the man behind the desk said gloomily. "I'm here to file notice of the commissioning of the Lady of Madrice II." The old man perked up a bit. "Sistershipping the ol' Wench? Why in the names of Sol and Luna would anybody do that?" "Hey, she was a fine ship!" replied Tony defensively. "She was past her prime, but she had good lines and handled beautifully." "Harumph! Past her prime indeed!" Tony was clearly agitated. "Enough with the comments, old man. Scribble down the particulars in your records and I'll be on my way." --- Just a quick build as required for the sistershiping of the Lady of Madrice. I hadn't noticed I didn't get the hairpiece fully down on the clerk's head until I was editing the photo, so I figured I'd just write it into the story.

Somehow, Eslandola's Willem Guilder had still not departed King's Harbour after travelling there for the Great Ball, and was becoming quite adept at conducting business while travelling. Last month he spent much time with his predecessor as Admius Legistrad of the Colonial Council, Román Fontonajo. Today finds Guilder sending off another set of dispatches. "See to it that this gets to the master of our shipyard. The MCTC is commissioning a sistership of the Piece of Eight," Guilder told his courier. "Yessir," the courier replied. "And might I say, sir, the Piece of Eight was a fine ship. One of the fastest on the seas. A sistership to her will be a fine addition to the MCTC fleet." "My thoughts exactly, Eduard. Now, off with you!" And the courier hurried away, dispatch in hand. --- Just a little build for the sistershipping requirement, and a chance to use my copy of the hall for the Great Ball that I never used at the time.

I'm happy to see some activity in Port Raleigh again, and I really like these "detailed process" builds. My favorite build/part is step 3, creating the mash, with the ox-powered mill (and ingenious part usage for the cane stalks!). Great collab. Well done by all the contributors!

Wonderful build! I really like the inn (it looks so Eslandolan -- I might have to copy it!) and how you used the arches to highlight the characters. Good fig posing with the marching troops.

Lovely brick-built hull, and a good representation of a small gunboat. Good figure posing. I like the minimalist water for the scene.

Excellent sistershipping build! Nice construction scene, and appropriate story.

Ach! SInbad has escaped! I really like the broken window and flying leap posing. Great use of some trans-clear pieces.

A report on the AMRCAs was dearly needed. Great issue of the Courier!

My sails are just off-white/beige printer paper. I print the designs on them and hand draw the seams with colored pencil.

The sign-up deadline for the next Adventure MRCA and Trade MRCA is July 2, midnight, anywhere in the world. ---------------- Players can sign up for both the Adventure MRCA and the Trade MRCA, but individual ships can only participate in one or the other, not both simultaneously. To sign-up for the Adventure MRCA, read the rules here and then sign-up via this form. To sign-up for the Trade MRCA, read the rules here and then sign-up via this form. For a ship to take part in either MRCA, it must be licensed. You can license your ship under the new ship rules via this form. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Note about Port Taxes It is the responsibility of ship owners to pay their port taxes to the settlement or entity charging the taxes. It is the responsibility of those charging the taxes to inform players of taxes due and to track payment. It is also the responsibility of the settlement to notify us of any ships that are being detained in port for failure to pay. Welcome to the administrative fun of trade wars. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Consult this map for trade zone numbers before submitting any forms: And here are the trade values as of June 19, 618. When filling out your MRCA form, please make sure you spell the ports exactly as they appear below. Settlement Faction Zone Trade Value Acropolis OL 24 18 Aden CAR 2 126 Alexport PRI 29 96 Arlinsport COR 6 314 Astrapi OL 23 183 Balmin NAM 2 175 Balondia COR 2 105 Bardo ESL 8 195 Baskers Island MAR 6 83 Bastion SR 18 252 Belson COR 4 635 Breshaun OL 7 793 Calisto MAR 25 48 Camp Isaac COR 35 40 Cecropia OL 22 41 Charlatan Bay SR 24 275 Dortanix MAR 1 420 Dragonstone OL 20 18 Elizabethville COR 22 169 Eltina OL 7 257 Elysabethtown ESL 20 153 Fatu Hiva OL 35 156 Fortaleza Victoria ESL 32 5 Freeport GAR 27 150 Fuerte Unido ESL 32 177 Granoleon OL 5 630 Haven SR 21 36 Hojaroja ESL 32 33 Hussar’s Isle COR 24 9 Jameston COR 35 361 Kieg GAR 3 420 King’s Harbour COR 24 324 Kings Port TER 13 558 La Puebloto ESL 32 5 Lavalette OL 28 193 Leopaldis GAR 24 73 Londa MAR 2 420 Mehit ESL 32 5 Mesabi Landing COR 35 354 Montario ESL 17 92 Mooreton Bay COR 24 261 Moray’s Den SR 21 18 Myzectlan COR 35 54 New Haven COR 24 52 Nova Malto ESL 32 90 Nova Terreli ESL 17 616 Pontelli ESL 17 170 Poorvintia CAR 26 30 Poppy Port SR 26 32 Port Raleigh COR 20 114 Port Wilks ESL 22 14 Port Woodhouse COR 35 56 Prinport GAR 9 555 Puerto Alijo ESL 20 5 Puerto Desafio ESL 32 137 Quinnsville COR 24 232 Rassilon SR 18 152 Salida Este ESL 23 107 Stedor ESL 3 210 Stormhaven COR 22 56 Takashii SR 18 18 Terreli ESL 3 630 Tortuga SR 32 102 Trador ESL 32 307 Ulric ALT 1 200 Weelond ESL 8 448 Westface TER 13 365 Windfall Island OL 28 9 Yeldo COR 1 420