Ayrlego

Stables Phase 1 - Frost Elves on Patrol

Previously... As Yngvi, Erik and Irissa travel in search of their families, Erik learns more and more about the world outside of the village. Irissa's tales of Cyclopean life have aroused his curiosity about the non-human races of Historica. Living in a sheltered Mitgardian village occupied almost entirely by Humans, Erik is keen to learn about the many different civilisations. Yngvi tells him of some Elves he once encountered while fighting with the fyrd. In the fyrd we called them Frost Elves, although they of course do not refer to themselves thus. After weeks of hard living in the frozen lands, we were tried, haggard and dirty. In contrast Elves always seem to have an ethereal quality and the ones we saw on the road to Dyrøyhamn were no different. Two female warriors, mounted on magnificent Naioths. Their hair shimmered with blue and lavender tints and their white robes were spotless. Equally deadly with bow or sword they are but few in number and generally avoid human contact or conflict. ______________________ A AoM stables build. I wanted to use my tauntauns and saw that several others have used them before in Mitgardia - so why not! I used the name Ecclesiastes gave them in this build. Also seemed like a good opportunity to try out those new dark blue leaves from the Stranger Things set. Now I see the new tree house has bright light orange leaves... seems it is a good year for Lego leaves in new colours!!!

Thanks Eoin! Thanks Grover, glad you like the cyclops story! Thanks for the feedback, especially regarding the trees. I'm really struggling to get a tree where the leaves are less horizontal - I've tried a few different designs but haven't found one yet I like. Just have to keep trying! If you need any help with my stonework styles just let me know, I may have some WIP shots somewhere from some different builds. Thank you zoth! Thanks Kai, In retrospect some flowers would have probably been a good idea - thanks for the tip! Thanks Exetrius. I'm enjoying the Cyclops stories and will probably do some more. I don't think it would count as a settlement for the menu purposes but feel free to use it if you want. Thanks Gideon, I tried to make my cyclops lore in line with what you created in your cyclopes village, although I added the stuff about round structures. Hope it matches how you imagined cyclops life! Thanks Zilmrud, I look forward to seeing your cyclopes! Thank you Blufiji, I really love the colour schemes you use and they have definitely inspired me to try things I probably wouldn't have normally considered (like bright light yellow as a ground colour or purple trees!) Thank you Louis! The roofs are very fragile and don't really move very well - the tiles are all precariously balanced (some have stacks of 1x1 round bricks on the back propping them up).

Welcome back! I'd recommend just posting a new character introduction then starting again. If you like you can post a story explaining what happened to your original sigfig or just leave them quietly in the background for future use... up to you. For EGS purposes your account is linked to your EB username and not your character name, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Really great build Louis! I especially like the mixture of formal and irregular borders/base. A lot of great details including that fantastic tree - I find getting a decent spread really difficult but you have nailed it here! The snow also looks great and I think the texture of the buildings works well. Great entry all round!

Great work with the whole scene, especially the snow covered roof tops. The SNOT black tiles as bricks work are an interesting choice and work really well. Figure posing is also excellent. Great job!

Love the vineyard Keymonus and those sheep are amazing! Keep up the good work.

Corlanders, I've updated the second post with all the entries so far. If I've missed you or you have an entry still waiting approval, can you post here and let me know? Thanks!

A very beautiful looking ship. I'm not an expert on rigging but yours looks very impressive and it is obvious that many hours of tedious work went into getting it right. The colour scheme works really well and I love the blue ensign! from me for GoC and I will take @Bregir's comment as a as well! I think our fleet is really going to benefit from having you aboard (pun intended!)

Beautiful landscaping Garm, it really enlivens the whole scene. The blue flowers are a nice touch and I like the use of the Harry Potter CMF stalk. Another great addition to the story (which I have only just had time to read in full!) Great work. PS. I have some plans to send some prospectors to Gunpowder Island to investigate the 'black sand' mentioned in the island description. Can you guys know if this will interfere with your story in any way - I want to avoid (too much) drama!

A belated welcome to Corrington Wellesley! I really enjoyed your detailed introduction. It introduces some new lore for our faction and ties in some of the Scandinavian influence we have claimed but never really expanded on. Your Hvalfanghimr builds are fantastic. The blue and red house has a classic feel about it I especially appreciate and the lighthouse is quite an impressive height! I look forward to seeing more of your characters in the Brick Seas.

Previously Yngvi and Erik meet the Cyclops Irissa and now they are travelling together searching for their families, taken by raiders two years ago. Irissa; at first suspicious and hostile towards the humans, has slowly warmed to them, especially Erik. One night around the fire, she tells Erik the story of how she and her family came to Mitgardia. My mother was a powerful matriarch who ruled a large tribe of Cyclopes deep in Nocturnus. I was her eldest daughter and nominated successor. Unlike your human societies, most Cyclopean tribes are matriarchal and most leadership positions are held by women. Most female cyclopes aspire to become great warriors and I was no exception. I proved quicker and more agile than most of my peers and trained intensively in sword craft. For my coming of age I was gifted my sword - an elvish blade looted long ago and the most valuable weapon our tribe possessed. I lead many successful war parties and was happy with life. It was around this time I meet my partner, Hesiodos. Hesiodos, or Hesiod as I call him was unusual amongst my people as he loves to build things. As Cyclops, we are not great craftsmen; we can not work iron, bronze is our limit when it comes to metal work. Our buildings are simple stone and timber. Where possible we inhabit structures abandoned or taken from other races. Anyway, Hesiod was always working on buildings around the village, he was known for coming to repair something and leaving having completely rebuilt it! My family did not approve of the match, he was not from a warrior family and had no interest in war and raiding. I was young and headstrong and my mother's disapproval spurred me deeper into the relationship. Hesiod's peaceful nature must have influenced me more than I knew, for when my mother made a pact with the forces of the Black Spire, I rejected my tribe an birthright and left the village in the middle of the night with Hesiod and several other friends. Oh how naive we were! Our plan was to start a new tribe and exclude ourselves from the troubles of Historica. Why should the blood of Cyclopes be shed in wars raged by Humans and other races? We established a hamlet deep in the forest next to an abandoned human watchtower. Hesiod supervised the construction of new huts and for a while we lived peacefully. While time proved me right not to have sided with my tribe, this meant little after the end of the war. Cyclopes had sided with the spire and one dawn our village was attacked and burnt to the ground. Hesiod and I only survived as we were out that night - Hesiod was showing me a new type of wood he had discovered in a grove which he believed he could make some new invention with. On returning to the slaughtered corpses of my friends I spiralled into rage. Vowing revenge I immediately picked up the tracks of the attackers. Before I could get myself killed; however, I discovered I was pregnant. It was Hesiod who convinced me to leave. Together we fled as far away as we could get. An that is how I ended up in Mitgardia; and also why I will now travel to the ends of the earth to find my family. I will not fail those I love again.

Hi Keymonus, We have a write up about 80percent done for the Great Alliance States - @Ross Fisher and @Khorne did a lot of the work. They use Early Imperial Russia and other Slavic cultures as an inspiration. I'll try and revisit this and get it published some time soon(ish). If you were planning a story with these guys let me know and I'll give you a sneak peak! The NPC Development group never reached a consensus when we looked at Pontilla. The majority feeling at the time was a Poland/Lithuania inspired state. But definitely a buffer state like you describe. Similarly we have never delved too much into the Middle Kingdoms. One of the ideas tossed around was for a Byzantine Greek/Roman inspired land - the last remaining remnants of the 'Great Empire' divided into several city states/kingdoms loosely confederated. The Lotii don't have any official lore other than they are depicted as East Asian and I don't see that changing too much. The other southern states I imagine will all be variations of other Asian type cultures. Mesabi did depict the two 'K' states as Asian. Personally I have also always imagined the Great raider states as a somewhat cross between Mongol/Hun with perhaps even some Viking influence (I'm pretty sure someone has depicted them as Viking like in some builds but I can't recall who...) Hopefully that helps!

Great little build for the story! Like Bodi I thought the first picture was the whole scene and was surprised when I scrolled down to see the rest. I really love a small vignette that manages to squeeze such a lot of story in and this is a great example! I like how you have integrated the vegetation into the top of the cliff and the minifig posing is superb! Great work!

Nice harbour scene that you've managed to make look quite busy as befitting such a new settlement! I like the rough texture of the round tower but the cobblestones seem too neat and uniform for my taste - they do look good though! Nice use of those new leaf pieces for the bush next to the house. Is this located at the foot of the cliff and is the plan still to construct the settlement around the pathway winding up to the plateau? I have some ideas for the brightly coloured houses we were discussing earlier in the year that would fit in well with the yellow you've used here if so.

Great looking windmill Spud! The SNOT wooden cladding with the olive cheese slopes looks great and the roof came out really well. I had wondered about brick built sails before and I was concerned they'd look too thick; however, here I think think they worked well and look quite good. Also nice way to solve the water problem!

Yep they are old yellowed white bricks - they come in handy for the Colonial stucco look!

The first permanent administrative offices have been completed in Port Woodhouse.

Port Woodhouse is situated on Garma's Key, an island located in the Garma Strait separating Cascadia and Celestia. Growth in the settlement has been slow; commercial settlements such as nearby Jameston and Mesabi Landing far eclipse the somewhat sleepy outpost. Despite this; Port Woodhouse has long been earmarked as the administrative hub for Corlander colonisation in the East Prio Sea. New work in Port Woodhouse is being carried out to make this a reality. Earlier this year, the completion of large fortifications was the first major expansion. Now, new buildings are being constructed to house an expanded military and bureaucratic presence. Here Colonial Governor Colonel Sir Dirk Allcock and Brigadier Sir Andrew Howe conduct an inspection of the guard before touring one of the latest administrative buildings to have been completed. These offices are manned by Army staff charged with ensuring that the Corlander military garrisons in the Paradise Isles are properly supplied and equipped to defend Her Majesty's holdings. __________________ Hi everyone! I'm finally back and building for BoBS again. As some of you will be aware I've been back a few weeks now but I've been having a castle building phase (which isn't over just yet!). Unfortunately I have been quite unwell and this has affected my ability to spend any amount of time in front of a computer screen, so I am still a bit behind catching up on my six months away. Luckily it hasn't effected my building and things are slowly returning to normal(ish) now. Anyway here is my first BoBS build; Dirk will be doing some planning of his own and you should see some renewed vigour in Corlander development and administration in the area of his Governorship coming soon! PS. If anyone has any tips for shooting (or editing) photos of white Lego on a white background, I'd be very interested to hear them as I really struggle... as you can see! :)

Storehouse Phase 1: Tithe Station, Ambarvale

On the road into the small town of Ambarvale stands a small store house and toll station. On market days, the Lord Alan's Reeve and a man-at-arms collect a tithe from peasants bringing their wares into the town to sell. Mostly they collect agricultural produce which is temporarily stored at the station before going to feed the Lord Alan, his family and retinue. So the spring scene of my last build has been replaced with autumn, which is definitely messing with my head! I've been enjoying experimenting with some more unusual colour palettes and I have a few more ideas yet. This one was always going to be about yellow! I need to get some more bright light orange plates and I wish Alt Bricks would re-stock the yellow leaves because I'd love some more (this scene uses every single yellow and 'medium tan' leaf I own)! I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out - it's my favourite of the four builds I've completed since I got back.

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome back and your kind comments on the MOC. They are Alt Bricks, I think the colour is called 'Fairway Mist' Thanks Garm, the stickered parts are from the chairs in the Council of Elrond set. Yeah, I have quite a few broken brown tiles that I save for occasions like this - waste not want not!

As the others have commented, you've managed to pack loads of great detail into a small scene. The ruins are excellently done and blend in nicely to the surrounding landscape. Not sure I'd be happy falling into that lime green water either! Very nice work!

Wow! Such an amazing castle. I really like the outer wall and the timber supports breaking up the stonework. Excellent landscaping as well, especially those spine trees which I will absolutely have to try someday (when I have enough spines!). Fantastic work!

A really nice set of figures! Looking forward to seeing them in your MOC!