gedren_y

Thanks. As to the lady captain; her accent suggested she's from Oleon. A fair reason not to give her name.

Additionally, not all ships get licensed, or at least not right away.

My latest build is up: The Day of Blood

The Day of Blood is being celebrated today in Stedor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On October 13th in the year 357 AE the war known as The Mardierian Fall claimed a casualty that has long been remembered. Consort Utur the Soulcatcher, of the Crahaish neh Triuri, was tending to fallen warriors on the battlefield when a Mardierian soldier slashed his right leg and arm with his sword. Others of the Crahaish were quick to tend to his wounds, but his fate was sealed. Laid out on an old stone altar adjacent to the battlefield, Utur teetered on the edge of death for what seemed like hours. Many of those fighting for their freedom, nobles and common folk alike, stopped to honor the man of faith. All warriors who touched his blood found themselves filled with a battle fury, and are said to have continued to fight non-stop for the next eight days. For this, the Crahaish neh Triuri proclaimed him the Man of Days, and this date to be the Day of Blood. While the majority of Eslandola does not consider the Day of Blood a holy day, the event is considered a pivotal moment in the nation's history, crediting it for uniting the disparate factions that would become Eslandola. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The turn out for the Day of Blood ceremony was better than expected. In addition to the Triuri faithful, a great number of those concerned about open warfare with Mardier are taking part in the ceremony. This is the first holy day ceremony that High Priestess Ylsbeth the Starcatcher is presiding as Prime Priestess. Here she waves the Staff of Blood, and chants in the old tongue. Captain Hammish Grei, for his great service to the Crahaish as commander of the trade ship the Island Rose, has been afforded the honor of representing the Man of Days in today's ceremony. Yes, he is naked. Dearji the Windsong provides the consecrated mixture of cranberry and cherry juices to simulate the blood on Captain Grei's body. This lady captain (she declined to give her name) wasn't expecting him to be truly naked. One of the men under Admirial Bostoximus' command is tempted to touch her hair. Dougal Darkstar is an unexpected surprise at this event. The soldier behind him (says to call him Joop), is determined to expound on his negative opinion of the King's wish to move on Granoleon. Of course Tolan duBroise is in attendance, but Viscount Alexander Doblin is rarely seen in Stedor. His main reason for being here is to find out what actually happened to the Dark Narwhal on its most recent voyage. Above the ceremony there are other things going on. Captain Daffyd "Splattersquawk" Prows is grumbling about how he was only able to break even on his most recent voyage. That and the fact that the King's Port Advertiser failed to have any mention of his ship, because no one in his flotilla knew how to file their paperwork! Consort Taliesin the Lightbringer is too drunk to make out what the captain is saying. He is about to start babbling on about his cookie. Astronomer Solas Midori has made the long voyage away from his observatory to witness a celestial event that will be visible from Stedor in the next six days. He has just spotted a man who was his playmate as a child. That childhood friend is Stedor Dragoon Talik Moore. He waves back while wondering where his relief is, because he is hoping to join the ceremony down below. Who is that girl behind the Dragoon? Why is she so pale? She is Camilla Isobel la Reiy, third cousin to the King. No one is willing to comment on why she is such a pale beauty. Wait! Is that 'Political Officer' Byron Messuir? The last we saw him was at the Port of Terreli. What is he doing in Stedor? And what could he be paying that 'painted lady' for? (OOC: I'll let Bregir figure out what this is supposed to be about.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are a few detail shots I was able to get. Stedor seems to be cultivating fungi and other shade loving plants. The wooden walkway appears to be a later addition to this part of Stedor. Those 'supports', though, seem much older. Could they have held statues at one time? Maybe we should ask Governor Damaximus. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I apologize for the quality of some of the images. They were a bit rushed because I was loosing the light. Comments?

In my introductory thread, I made it part of the story that the Dark Narwhal carries a Letter of Marque. Here's me posting to make it official.

Thank you, Ska, for clarifying. Maybe if you had added (ESL) next to Convict Town we wouldn't have been as confused. I think my previous post outlines the reason behind most of the upset, and how to avoid that in the future. Capt Wolf, I think that the build could stay. With just a bit of story about how Mardier let the fort be built, then quickly overwhelmed it with ground forces, the story conflict could be resolved.

If we stay and fight (looks like we might), then our settlement and forts need to not be on top of Ska's legitimate settlement positions. We invaded, so Mardier's settlements should get primary position. I've said my last $0.02 on the matter.

Accepted. I'll log off and go build for other story lines.

If Ska wants to allow the squatter colony and forts, their position on the map still needs to move a little. If we want to go with the different islands theory, I think I have a compromise that will keep Island 11 in Mardier control (Ska did the leadership work), and keep all KMA builds (Corrington had one, too) legitimate. The Intentionally Bad Charts Theory: The planned missions to settle The Autumn Isle (8) and The Shadow (13) were postponed when word came that Mardier claimed to own an island between them, ostensibly called Skaford Heights. This it seems, came from some other nation (NPC, Garvey?) who provided new navigational charts to get us there faster. These charts actually sent us to some geographically similar islands not on the Prio Seas map, but somewhere else entirely. The Corrington expedition simply followed our mistaken route and intel. There happened to be a minor Mardier outpost on what we believed to be Island 11, which was attacked and taken over. A sandcastle was also found on one of the beaches. No other Mardier presence was found. Back on the actual Island 11, now revealed as La Isla de Medio. This same other nation then reported to Mardier that Eslandola had invaded their well established island. --------------------------------- Does this satisfy anybody?

I don't think Ska is going to budge on this island. He is right on the rules, and the early name was Skaford Heights. I am not just considering the game play, but his feelings on the matter. If you really want these to be different islands, to avoid conflict, then we have to move our settlements to another island. No one wants their effort wasted, but this or my other two previously stated options are the only ways I see to resolve this matter.

About the present situation: If the gamemasters wish to have a Mardier/Eslandola conflict over this island (I don't), then the best route would be to simply reposition the squatter colony and forts west a few miles. This way the legitimate settlements can have their stated position. The Golden Grasshopper (5HA) was ordered to Fuerte Unido to help prevent Mardier from settling on the island. The believed unsettled nature of the island is the only reason she was sent in support of these actions. If the gamemasters want to avoid this particular conflict, I have no problem rescinding the Golden Grasshopper's orders, and considering the forts and squatter colony lost. I spent a long time on this ship, and don't want to see her destroyed so soon. That is why I prefer this option. Even if this path is chosen, the positions of the existing builds should be moved to different locations on the map.

I understand what Ska is talking about with regards to squatter colonies, and he is right on the rules. He is within his rights to ask us to leave. That is what he is arguing, and I have no intention of disputing it. It was always a gambit, and we lost. We have to leave. What I was talking about is the idea of preexisting settlements. We were under the impression that the island was unsettled prior to choosing, like all the islands chosen by player factions. Our faction islands need to have their settlements built up over time after choosing, and we believed that the NPC chosen island fell under the same requirements. Not that the settlements be MOCed, but that they be new in story. That seems to be the problem most of us are expressing issue with. Garmadon seems not to have fully understood the leadership's plan for preexisting settlements (if I'm wrong, he can inform us), since he was in on the KMA discussion. I think this is where part of the confusion comes from. My contention was that if the plan was always to have preexisting Mardier settlements, then it would have been better if the island was left off of the choosing list. It would still be on the map, but simply left as not available. In that event, Mardier's longtime control of the island could have been kept a secret until you could post about it. In that case, it would have been up to Eslandola to then deal with how poorly we chose our islands. Because of the way it was done, it was believed that Mardier was moving in to the island strategically near our claims, rather than Mardier already existing there. That is what prompted the KMA to begin with. Our placement on the map of where the builds lay matching your plans seems merely incidental, simply because they are good strategic positions. I am not expressing any anger over losing, just trying to point out how this could have been avoided, and how it can be avoided in the future. Assumptions were made that proved to be false. I concede your claim. Eslandola has to leave the island.

Ska, will you at least concede that Island 11 shouldn't have been on the list of being up for grabs? I think what most were assuming was that these islands had no settlements prior to being claimed. I think that from now on it should be assumed that any island claimed by a NPC has existing settlements, and that no action should be taken until we know where these settlements are on the map. If we would have had the Island 11 map (and/or the full description) right after Mardier claimed it, this whole mess could have been avoided.

While I agree that Ska has gone overboard in his gamemaster role, I think none of us realized that he may have been a bit insulted that we appropriated Skaford Heights. The Mardier occupation plan should have been made clear from the start, or at least rumors of Mardier in the area should have been included in the descriptions of 11 and the surrounding Islands.

The Island Rose will be joining the Double Duty.

Captain Hammish Grei has done well with the Island Rose, and should be anchored in Stedor through the Day of Blood. High Priestess Ylsbeth the Starcatcher will be there to provide services, and has asked Captain Grei act as the Man of Days in the ceremony.

Thanks all. The colors made sense this time. The water is a modified version of what I did for the Island Rose. In the wake, though, some of the trans on top of trans pieces seem to disappear. The brick built hull design I came up precluded a gun deck. The design I came up with was closest to a British East Indiaman, but her size meant she was always intended to be a faction warship. The small, swivel guns came from my memory of an A&E history program. In my book, story is key to showing the build's intent. The details are what took this build so long. Just positioning the figs, and putting things in their hands, took a full day on my well used Windows 7 netbook. The rotation control kept making the system slow to respond. Representing line rigging gave me the same problem. The build rigs needed to create those bombards took a lot of thought and planning, since one of my early designs proved too big. Setting the standard guns to show the act of firing was also a challenge. Of course I was able to use the same basic set-up for all of them, but giving each a different fire trail took some time. Getting the rope coils onto the pegs was another one. The furled sails were a compromise to cut down on the line rigging, which was already difficult to place because of the guns, and to make it easier to get good sceenshot angles. Then there was the matter of doing justice to all those details. Am I too much of a perfectionist?

Has anyone else had trouble accessing the Lego server? It took several tries to get everything to download, and now that it has, I still can't access the server. I have everything, but am stuck running in offline mode.

October builds: Maiden Voyage of the Eslandola Warship Golden Grasshopper I gedren_y I Eslandola Stargazing I gedren_y I Eslandola The Day of Blood I gedren_y I Eslandola I MRCA Result

Eslandola has a new 5HA warship, the Golden Grasshopper.

Soon the Golden Grasshopper will be on her way to guard Fuerte Unido.

Please check out the Maiden Voyage of the Eslandola Warship Golden Grasshopper.

Finally out of the Nova Terreli dry dock, the newest Eslandola Fleet warship, the Golden Grasshopper (5HA Class 6), goes on her maiden voyage. (full image) The Golden Grasshopper is a converted trade ship, sold to the Crown to cover her former captain's gambling debts. (full image) Some things have been kept, like the carved grasshopper head. (full image) Some things are new, like the "stinger" at the tip of the bowsprit. At the helm is Commodore Uthur McIvar. It is he that oversaw her transformation from trade ship to warship. All but one of the Golden Grasshopper's crew believe in the Triuri (including the Commodore), and all but two crewmen come from Uthur McIvar's previous command. The Commodore is one of only four of the crew that were raised in the Truachesh culture. While the Golden Grasshopper is anchored during the live fire testing of her new guns, the Commodore maintains a light control of her rudder. This is Commander Luca McOvey, the ship's navigator. The reason for the wig is that while the Golden Grasshopper was in dry dock, the Commander sat the judge's bench for the local Judge Advocate General Corps. Luca McOvey is Truachesh, and the Commodore's third cousin, on his mother's side. With his duty light today, the Commander is examining a copper blade a "female friend" found after a rock slide near Nova Terreli. Enjoying his recent promotion is Lt Commander Michelle laVoyi. In his left hand is his new trench sword (the actual weapon that Bilbo's/Frodo's Sting is based on), and in his right hand is a bone necklace made by one of the native island tribes. Michelle hopes to have the necklace delivered soon to his sister in Terreli. (full image) In the forward, lower crow's nest is Master Chief Tolan duBrahae. His current duty is to monitor the starboard bow gunnery fire (manned my the new crew members), but he has just noticed a lone orca. Tolan takes a moment to estimate its trajectory, and finds the orca's course to be safely outside the Golden Grasshopper's guns' field of fire. (full image) In the rear, higher crow's nest is Chief Pierre laCong. He is pleased with the fire coming from the port bow battery. At the starboard stern battery, Chief Hadrian Cole carefully follows the path of the shot. The gunner, Crewman Juan Valdeev, thinks the shot is good, but his loader, Crewman Padrig Harris, isn't so sure. (full image) At the port stern battery, Chief Xuan Lo angrily awaits the slow gunner, Crewman Kief Maseur. The loader, Crewman Oskar Pock, isn't helping the situation much. As you can guess, Chief Xuan Lo is the only crewman who doesn't follow the Triuri faith. He emigrated as a young man from some place far to the southwest of New Oleon, and has proudly kept his faith. Down at the starboard bow battery, the newest crewmen, a Truachesh pair of brothers, are arguing. Crewman Birac Prewis, the gunner, growls at his younger brother, Crewman Dannel Prewis, that the ramrod is in his line of sight. The brothers each found one of those light blue, conical shells at the beach on their last day of liberty. (full image) At the port bow battery are Crewman Wott Danners (gunner) and Crewman Yannic Dole (loader). There isn't much to say about them, but from here you can see the Lt Commander's pipe stuck into his hat. Most of the crew wish he would give up that foul weed. (full image) All of the standard long guns, and small guns, are standard muzzle loaders, but these are the latest in breach loading bombards. Because of this, the rate of fire from these beasts is quick and deadly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After today's live fire training, the Golden Grasshopper will make sail to Isla de Victoria. There she will begin patrols in the waters around Fuerte Unido. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (I did my best to make a good interior.) (full image) A look into the Commodore's cabin, this image with the bed folded up. (full image) And now with the bed down. (full image) The Commodore's desk and cupboard. A stool too. (full image) This angle shows the window ledge better, and what pretty stern windows she has. (full image) Inside the hold are the bones of what the Commodore claims is an "other realms beast." On one of the new supports added to the hold is a map of Chief Xuan Lo's homeland, and on another is a painting done by the Commander. You can see some bed rolls, too. Those include, not only bedding, but a pup tent for clear nights on deck. and it doubles as a hammock. (full image) Pistols and muskets galore, each with powder horns and bags of shot nearby. You can also see how the hold was reinforced, not just with supports, but the hull itself has been thickened considerably. This left no room for a proper galley, so the simple food stores are in the ballast hold, down the central hatch. More bed rolls in the back. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can find dozens of detail images in this Flickr Album. The full crew images can be found in this Flickr Album. To explore her further, you can download the .lxf file on this Brickshelf page. Comments extremely desired!

New patch! Downloading now!

The Truachesh neh Triuri support the decision of the Eslandola Crown. The Truschesh lived under Corrington rule until Mardier aggression swept over the continent. Mardier privateers are no better than pirates, attacking any ship of value that does not fly the Marnier flag, despite any diplomatic ties. We will stand against Mardier imperialism.