Elostirion

Beautiful vessel, great work!

Very nice little scene.

Meanwhile the craftsmen were busy creating the Eslandolan embassy... Grand Ambassador Román Fontonajo had decided it was best to acquire a house with some history - Terraversan history - and make it the permanent embassy Eslandola needed. On the northeastern outskirts of Kings Port, elevated on a minor hillplateau, stand a couple of older mansions. They call it "Old Port", despite it being almost a mile away from shore, but it was where the first wealthy merchants had settled during the founding days more than a hundred years ago. The large cellars had served as storage for years, until warehouses at the actual port were acquired, and the mansion became a place solely for living. Fontonajo had acquired one of these, the Bolchiano Mansion. When the Mardierian Civil War began in 595 AE and Terraversa started to fight for their independence, tradelord Marceo Bolchiano, the fourth owner of the house, made the mansion a secret refuge for rebels who were fighting against Mardier, and who were prosecuted by the Mardierian royal forces. Bolchiano himself had long started transferring all his valuable goods to the Terraversan war coffers - in 613 AE he was betrayed, and his house taken by the King's Guard of Mardier in violent force, leading to Bolchiano's death. With his last dying breath he had defied arrest by his foes. Only hours after his courage and loyalty had become known all over Terraversa and bound the rebellion. Mardierian General Tiro Pereta had led the King's Guard's assault and then claimed possession of the mansion. He had put all the rebels, who were hiding in the vast basement, under arrest. Two elite soldiers of the King's Guard were guarding the basement day and night. Pereta had always had the reputation of being a cold-hearted, even brutal commander. However it was widow Bolchiano who talked to Pereta from the cell she had been put in, and warmed his frozen heart, and opened his mind, until Pereta finally decided that it was about time for Terraversa to become independent. With his own hands he erased his two personal guards in 615 AE, entered the basement, opened the cell doors and freed all rebels. He met with Terraversan leader Oldis a few days later and joined the ranks of the rebellion. When in March 617 the Mardierian King's Guard entered Terraversa for the very last time, in an attempt to regain control of the island, Tito Pereta rode alongside Oldis and the other generals, fighting their former lords. Widow Bolchiano who had since stayed in the mansion alone, seeing the King's Guard reach "Old Port", climbed to the roof of the mansion's belltower and put a huge Terraversan flag on top of the mansion, and started ringing the bell like crazy. By the time the King's Guard arrived and shot her dead, all other mansions in "Old Port" had hoisted their Terraversan flags and set up for their last stand. After all, the King's Guard of Mardier was repelled, and Terraversa had become an independent nation. That was the history of the Bolchiano Mansion that Román Fontonajo had come to know, and the reason why he decided to buy it. General Tiro Pereta had returned to the mansion after the war, but had never felt at home. For him it was time to move where he belonged: To the barracks, where he would train the Terraversan armies. Fontonajo had hired a group of craftsmen to refurbish the mansion: Fettle the facade, and paint it in proper Eslandolan colours. The gardeners would come soon after, to remove the heavy undergrowth, and make it a representational Eslandolan embassy. And potentially the future home of his son Joaquin and his wife. Surely the interior would have to be upgraded as well for them to live there with their child. All that, however, would be based on the outcome of the conversations in the following months. Painting the front door in Eslandolan green, and the walls in white Fettling the facade, and painting the window grids in yellow General Tiro Pereta standing between the dormer windows to say goodbye Top half: Done. Bottom half: Still worn down. Final Remarks: I will license the MOC as medium Art & Culture under the name of Román Fontonajo within the next few minutes. @Bregir Part of the MOC is a design copy from Ayrlego's challenge winning entry. @Ayrlego Looking forward to feedback on our MOCs.

Really well executed dead minifigure and the statue with the action is great, too. You really hit the nail of this challenge.

Wonderful scene. Great architecture and those Eslandolan soldiers are some of the best I have seen so far, especially for the old world. Superb.

Especially the last picture with the overview of the scene has a fantastic atmosphere to it. Wonderful BoBS-flair. I love it.

What a wonderful deep jungle scene, such a lovely temple, and your colour choice and presentation are outstanding as usual. Lovely.

Those colours. Marvellous.

Oh wow, that is quite a great depiction. The outside is quite nice already, and the interior is quite impressive. Great work.

Great curving of the river, and the brown cliffs work out extremely well. Great job!

Absolutely beautiful! :-)

I really, really like your small company. Fantastic minifigure design.

Wonderful idea!

Thanks a lot - your elaborate feedback helps a lot. I will try to improve my MOC in this regard. :-)

Did you just say my name? :-D

I am. Román Fontonajo is my sigfig, and I wrote the intropost text in collaboration with Capt Wolf. The whole thing is the general ESL A-MRCA, so expect multiple people to jump in from time to time. @Capt Wolf is in charge of all the paperwork, though. My name does not have to be on any list, as this is not my personal A-MRCA in any way. Just helping my nation out a bit. :-)

Our mission to Terraversa continues - currently in King's Harbour.

Fontonajo is mocking a young, slightly short-tempered corporal in King's Harbour. I guess this could be licensed as a residence...

"Halt!", shouted the corporal, and his company stopped behind him, looking rather puzzled at the sight of the well dressed nobleman in front of them. "Who are you and why do you lurk in front of Her Majesty's Royal Garrison in King's Harbour?", the corporal asked. "Gentleness is a virtue, don't you agree?", the nobleman replied, with only the slightest Eslandolan accent, unnoticable to most. "A virtue indeed - and again I ask! Who are you?! Name yourself!" "Let's safe ourselves the time and you just lead me directly to your captain, will you?" "I cannot let all kinds of strangers enter our garrisons for no good reason. What do you want?!" "Has he always been like this?", the Eslandolan adressed the rest of the group, who couldn't help but grin broadly. "What! Do! You! WANT?!" "Now with your obvious and most inherent way of giving orders in such natural fashion, I cannot help but notice that you yourself must indeed be the chief commander of this most glorious fortress. I would like to buy a tiger. And a black panther." The man stared at him, his jaws wide open, stammering for words: "A... how do you?... who?... I... what? ..." "Take a deep breath. And another. And one more. You feel better now?" "ONE! LAST! TIME! NAME YOURSELF, SPY!", the corporal shouted. "Hmm, I think I might just leave and see Jonathan.", the Eslandolan replied, absolutely unperturped. "Who is that stupid Jonathan of yours, now?!" "I hope you haven't heard this, have you?", the nobleman adressed the rest of the group. "You wouldn't call Jonathan Cooke a stupid man, would you? I surely wouldn't.", he said, smiling. "Who... how! ... You bastard! ... PUT HIM IN CHAINS!" "I know a funny story, young man. You want to hear it?", the Eslandolan said, still with no worries on his face, this time with a much stronger accent. Before the corporal could reply, an elderly man, who stood behind his corporal, stepped slightly forward, with a big grin on his face: "Leave our poor corporal already, please, signor Fontonajo. I guess our corporal has had enough for the day. Signor Román Fontonajo, will you follow me to Captain Breek, our commander? He will surely like to discuss tigers and panthers with you.", as he opened the door to the garrison. "What gave me away, if I may ask?" "I saw you at the ball, mylord. Simple as that." "No need to call me a lord. Román will do. And this is Estinho, one of my most loyal marines. "Nice to meet you. I am Gordon." And so they entered the garrison, with the young corporal standing motionless outside, still trying to figure out what had just happened. Slightly later Román Fontonajo met the garrison commander, captain Breek, who had stood on a balcony unnoticed and had watched the whole scene, with a huge smile on his face. Apparently the young corporal was the nephew of some important general from the old world. Fontonajo and the commander agreed upon a good deal: A tiger and a black panther, hidden in wooden crates, and brought directly to Fontonajo's ship. When Fontonajo left, Gordon and Estinho made sure transportation was arranged properly. Good thing the Corries had already shipped some of the great cats from Cascadia and Celestia to King's Harbour. This should make things easier in Terraversa.

I am looking for your feedback once more! :-) While the hull is ready and I am highly satisfied with it, the masts and sails are still in prototype stadium. What is wrong? What is good? What should I do differently? Please let me know! Thanks in advance.

That is an amazing idea with excellent execution. Thank you for sharing this with us, wonderful work!

You are amazing. As are your MOCs. Lovely work once more.

Román Fontonajo is discussing some strategy with the captain of his elite mercenaries.

The mansion is fantastic. I'd like to see a larger rendering of it. The plantation around is also really well-MOCed. But the mansion is just beautiful. :-)

Please stop being amazing and building such wonderful stuff all the time. You make all the rest of us look bad. :-) No honestly, another superb MOC from you, I love it. Nothing else to say.