NiceMarmot

Since that thread is locked (and rightly so), I think this is the best place to post it. And let me second the congratulations! Job well done! And it must have been quite a large amount of work! Thank you!

Thanks for sharing this method! I'll have to try it out sometime. Sounds like a great way to highlight certain areas of the image. When you say under-saturated / over-saturated, are you talking about the color saturation, or the value/brightness? Under-saturating normally just washes out the color, leaving the image grayscale, while lowering the brightness or value will make it darker.

Really fantastic MOC! You completely nailed the Kaliphlin look. I really like the interior courtyard with the little fountains. And the wooden beam ends sticking out of the walls. And the contrast between the white tower and the tan walls is great. The market stalls are great also; there are so many opportunities to create cool little shops. I had to cut out about half the planned shops in my embassy MOC because I didn't have room. You've put together a really nice story too. Yeah, we've got the best girls! He's fallen for her; he's toast. Looks like we have an inter-guild relationship coming up!

Absolutely incredible. A wonderful building, with a great story as well. You are quite the storyteller. And the design of the building sets the standard for Kaliphlin desert-style. My invitation was probably lost in the mail somewhere I'm sure. That's OK, her ladyship probably wouldn't have approved of me attending anyway. Glad to hear everyone had fun. Will be be seeing any interesting MOC vignettes in about nine months? Gex

Wow, there's a lot to love here! The footprints in the snow, the SNOT pools, the great greebling, the brick-built dragons heads on the eaves, the photo-editing on the first two pics, etc. Really great combination of Nocturnus and Mitgardia styles. Outstanding job.

Wow, another outstanding build, gabe! I really like the design; you're pushing the envelope there with the star and the hexagonal sections. It's the perfect combination of Nocturnus weirdness and Kaliphlin desert style. You nailed the combination of the two. And so many great details. I don't think it looks too cluttered; it looks realistic. The black and gold is a great color combination (I still think they should have been the Kaliphlin colors). The story is great too. BTW, I think the external staircase looks really good, although there isn't a good detail pic of it. And are those clips and bent bars the only things holding the black ground floor walls together?

Great job! You really nailed the Avalonia look here. And really nice landscaping too. I'm going to have to buy some more 1x1 round plates so I can start building in this style too. Do you know how many you used in this build approximately? Would like to get an idea of how many I need. My only suggestion is to add a bit of texture to the path, which looks a bit too flat right now.

Yes, it bugs me too. I was planning on building out the whole street and running another set of walls down to the ground. Then it would be much larger than 48x48, but I'd just remove them for the 'official' pictures. But I ran out of time.

Really nicely done! I thought about exactly this type of embassy / trading post in the far northern wastes but didn't follow through. I'm glad to see that someone else had a similar idea and executed it so well.

Well, I snuck it in under the wire at 11:59pm California time! May I present the Palace of a Hundred Scorpions, a Kaliphlin embassy in Mitgardia! Palace of Scorpions, N #8 Note that the tan plates are the street level; the dark bley bricks below are the cellar. The cellar has storage, a gaol, an armory, a bathing pool, and a winter kitchen. Kaliphlin shopkeepers have stores on the ground level, selling fine southern wares. The interior of the ground level is a trading hall and commercial offices. The second floor is guild offices and guest and staff lodging. The third floor is mostly banquet halls. The top floor is the ambassador's private apartment. Lots more pictures to come, and better photo-editing too. Check out the main thread. I'll add more to the thread tomorrow. Yours in Kaliphlin, Gex Marmota

Greetings! I bring pictures of the Palace of a Hundred Scorpions, the new embassy built in Mitgardia by the Kaliphlin Guild! The architect, Wahandi al-Bildembig, wanted a Norse-style building with Kaliphlin elements and style worked in. He engaged a noted local Mitgardian architect, Kjefll Kjarfnesssson, to help get the northern style right. After several long years of construction, at great expense, involving ten full caravans from the Brikkus-Lynk quarries, the embassy is finally open. A huge party was thrown to celebrate and many notables from Kaliphlin, Mitgardia, and even the other two guilds attended (pics to follow). All agreed that the Palace of a Hundred Scorpions is a magnificent embassy, and that both Kaliphlin and Mitgardia should be proud. An overview from the northeast corner. Note that the tan plates (above the first story of dark bley bricks) is actually the street level. So here you're seeing a bit of a cutaway that includes the cellar level. mitem-ne-7 The levels are as follows: The cellar has storage, a gaol, an armory, a bathing pool, and a winter kitchen. Kaliphlin shopkeepers have stores on the ground level, selling fine southern wares. The interior of the ground level is a trading hall and commercial offices. The second floor is guild offices and guest and staff lodging. The third floor is mostly banquet halls. It also has a cistern and a dovecote. The top floor is the ambassador's private apartment. North face of the embassy: mitem-n-8 From the southwest corner, showing a good view of the wharf and some trading materials stacked up waiting for shipment. Note the working crane; it rotates, pivots up and down, moves horizontally along its track, and the hook moves in and out the lift arm: mitem-sw-corner-1 Here's a closeup of the dock/wharf on the south side. You can really see the crane here. The various lines move the lift boom up and down, and move the traveler that holds the hook in and out the boom. The barrels probably have wine from Kaliphlin. Behind are some containers of Mitgardian lumber. Those wedge plates with cutouts are actually dried elk and bear hides from the Mitgardian mountains being shipped south. Palace of Scorpions, south wharf/docks Here's a closeup of the west side shops. From left to right, we have Manogi's exotic animals, Tarak's weapons and armor, Ghazir's imported foods (ostrich legs and Kalifruit today). Tarak has a lot of weapons in bins behind him, which you can't really see here. Note the emblems on the second story; they represent Kaliphlin and Mitgardia. mitem-w-shops-1 Here are the east side shops. From left to right: Yasmina's dragon's teeth from Cape Dahaka, Rafu the fishmonger, Hasan's fine chalices and diningware, and Sazia's and Bea's fine Kaliphlin wines. Palace of Scorpions, east shops 2 Here's a closeup of the north side. From left to right the shops are: Sazia's and Bea's fine Kaliphlin wines, Junifira's Gorr bananas, Wazir's fine Rakath jewels, and Manogi's exotic animals. The mummy is an embassy guard, as are the two blokes outside. Palace of Scorpions, north view 3 Birds-eye view of level 1 (the ground level). A major purpose of the embassy is to facilitate trade, so the entire first floor is given over to trade and commerce. The large room is the trading hall, where merchants trade goods, especially ones from Kaliphlin. It's also the best place to find a ship heading south. There is a reception desk to the left. The interior room above the entry is the guardpost, with lodgings for several guards. The two rooms at the top right and top bottom are for merchants and the trade delegation. Around the perimeter are the shops. mitem-1-birdseye Here's a detail of the trading hall, showing some southern merchants. The large blackboard against the wall is used to record the latest prices for goods and shipping rates. mitem-1-tradehall-1 Here's a birdseye of the second floor. The two large rooms in the upper right and upper left are guild offices. These two rooms have wainscoting on the walls. The room in the upper middle is the staff lodging. An arcade wraps around the bottom of the picture. The two interior rooms at the bottom are guest lodging. There are some detailed shots of the interior on the Flickr photostream. Palace of Scorpions, 2nd floor birdseye 2 The banquet hall interior on the third floor, looking south. Palace of Scorpions, banquet hall interior 1 The ambassador's apartment on the top floor. The ambassador, Countess Persifiya Tarfazi is shown next to her four-poster bed (close up photo of the bed on Flickr). Countess Persifiya's grandmother was originally from Mitgardia, so she speaks the local language well. She's a charming but tough woman from Qarkyr, from an old mining family in the Rakath mountains, so she feels right at home in Mitgardia. Palace of Scorpions, ambassador's apartment 2 The southern side of the upper floors. There is a small cistern to the right. Palace of Scorpions, south upper floors 2 The western upper floors, so you can see a detail of the roofs and eaves. The cage at the left is a dovecote, used for holding carrier pigeons, falcons, owls, parrots, etc. Palace of Scorpions, west upper floors 1 Here are various views of the cellar; more pics are on Flickr. Below, a birds-eye view of the cellar. The wharf on the right. The armory is in the lower right with the armorer's shop in the lower center, and the gaol in the lower left. The center is occupied by storage. In the upper center, there's a kitchen, with some baths in the upper left. Palace of Scorpions, Cellar The baths in the cellar. Made to look somewhat like the monumental baths back home in Kaliphlin. Palace of Scorpions, Cellar, Baths The kitchen. Palace of Scorpions, Cellar, Kitchen The armorer's forge. Palace of Scorpions, Cellar, Armorer Opening Party Here are some pictures from the opening gala of the embassy. From left to right: Dextrus Flagg, Jarl Nibelung, Countess Persifiya Tarfazi (the ambassador), Gex Marmota, Countess Wyndifera (Gex's wife), Wahil Musca (background), Erduhalion Sansael, Steen Larsson, and Lord Darecold. Palace of Scorpions Opening Party From left to right: Yakob the Red (head visible only), Semiramis the Sand Queen, Damaximus, Velethuil, Halti, Amelia Phantomhive, Rasputin Jones, Hvar Icewind, and Kcaj Nosnikta. Palace of Scorpions Opening Party In the foreground on the right, from left to right: Halvard, Elon Chorian, Lord Shale, Yakob the Red, Semiramis, and Halti. In the background, from left to right: Dextrus Flagg, Jarl Nibelung, Countess Persifiya Tarfazi (the ambassador), Gex Marmota, Countess Wyndifera (Gex's wife), Wahil Musca (background), Erduhalion Sansael, Steen Larsson, and Lord Darecold. Palace of Scorpions Opening Party It was a hugely successful party! Thanks to everyone who showed up, and my apologies if the portrait artist didn't get a picture of you. Some of you showed up with slightly different clothes or expressions on your face, but hopefully everyone is recognizable. The only major change is that Halvard shaved his beard for the occasion! Notes This was my first LDD MOC, so it was a real learning experience. I didn't do that much terribly innovative building, although there is a bit of SNOT work here and there. I think the emblems on the second story turned out well, and the spire is nice. I really like the way the upper levels turned out, and am quite happy with the roofs and eaves. Getting the design right in LDD was challenging, but I think very useful, letting me play around with different styles and options fairly quickly, as well as figuring out how to position everything so that it all works from an engineering perspective. Although it had to be strengthened considerably in the brick-build; LDD doesn't help you figure out if it is structurally sound. The LDD design was about 4600 pieces, but that's before structural reinforcements, the interior decorating, furniture, and general greebling. So I'm guessing it's well over 5000 pieces, and considering the amount of interior tilework, it's probably approaching 5500 pieces overall. That makes it by far my largest MOC ever. I ran the LDD file through LDD manager to produce a BrickLink wanted list XML file, then uploaded that to Basebrick where I store my part and set inventory. Basebrick then generated another BL wanted list XML with just the parts that I didn't have in it. I uploaded that, and then placed ten BL orders to fill everything (and a bit more). That was a bit expensive, but I'm pretty well set for parts now, at least for a bit. The base is 48x48, although it cantilevers out beyond that a bit, especially with the tan plates for street level. If we use the 1 brick = 1 foot rule, then the entire embassy is about 9300 square feet. From the base to the top of the spire is about 70 bricks, so that's about 88 feet high. The embassy's location is TBD. I'd like to put it in Valholl, if the river there is navigable to small cargo ships. Lots more pictures to come; I wanted to get these in before the deadline. Including pics of the cellar interior. And I'll photo-edit the images a bit too. Gex Marmota

I hope so! It's a beautiful sunny day here in NorCal (windy though), but my wife has gone to work with the camera in her purse! Oh well, guess I'll have to take pics tonight inside. Won't leave much time for photoshopping, but at least I'll sneak in under the deadline.

Wow. Just stunning. This is totally Kaliphlin! I love the dome. And everything else too. We southerners are nothing if not gaudy! The colors are great.

ISC, you (and the other guild leaders) changed me from an occasional poster to a total EB addict! We'll miss you!

Kerntechniker - Yes. As Rasputin said. His description of Barqa is right on. I don't think it's super dry desert there, but there is plenty of sand. It's more of a Mediterranean climate perhaps, with jungle and mangrove swamps around the river mouths. I think your landscape will work fine.

I've finally finished the structure for my embassy. Now on to the greebling and the interior. I might actually get this thing done in time!

Lots of really great ideas in this thread. Maybe a moderator or admin could create a poll for us to vote on our favorite ideas? Put like twenty or thirty of these ideas in the poll and allow us to choose our five favorites? I'd be really interested to see what sets win. Plus it might be good feedback for TLG if we get enough voters. I'd do it, but I don't think I can add a poll to an existing topic, and it doesn't make sense to have a separate topic.

Nice idea and well done. How about a palm tree and some mummies for the Kaliphlin side, which is looking a bit bare right now?

I would say go for it. You never know what you'll come up with. And a fairly standard design could still do well if well-built and backed up with a good story. Like Rasputin says, the details seem to help also. I think your stuff is generally very high quality, so even if you don't have a really innovative idea, it will probably still be very good, and worthwhile. Even a fairly basic overall design can lead to some interesting detailed work. My embassy has a fairly ordinary overall design, and I wouldn't say I'm using any really innovative techniques. The interesting parts are all in the details, and how the whole thing comes together. And it's huge, which is a structural engineering and brick supply challenge.

Actually, I think your navy is shrinking. They stole the ship from Nocturnus.

Wow. Massive. You have some serious free time on your hands. Clearly, you do not have young children.

Great details (as usual for you)! I really like those trees; wish I had more of those pieces. The embassy is beautiful. It looks very Mitgardian, with just a touch of Nocturnus. The black walls work really well; without the grey corners it wouldn't have looked right. The detailing on the backside is wonderful too. I really like your use of the turntable bases; I've been working them into my embassy too. And that is a serious amount of black cheese slopes around the outside. Let's see, 4x48 - 4 = 188. At $0.05 each on BL in quantity, that's $9.40 in cheese slopes right there!

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Some people are really into MOCs and want the parts, some people want cute minfigs, some people want to build armies, some people build the sets and put them on the shelf forever. Personally, I'm an MOCer and a castle guy, with a bit of army building thrown in, so I'll probably get one or two Helm's Deeps, plus some Uruk-Hais, a Moria, and maybe an Orc Forge. Gandalf Arrives and Shelob Attacks don't really do it for me, although I'll definitely pick them up if I can find them on sale. Not sure what I'm going to tell my five yr old about the movies when I buy the sets however. He's definitely too young to watch them. Sorry, son, you can play with the sets and minifigs, but you're going to have to wait five years to see the movies! You must be perennially shocked by everything on the Internet then . Never underestimate the ability of netizens to comment on things they know nothing about! Hasn't stopped me in the past!

I noticed that. I was trying to put together minifigs representing a bunch of the Kaliphlin guildmembers and couldn't figure out what Dugal looked like.

Yes, that's a good point Robuko. You've created a whole slew of great characters and have been doing MOCs based on a variety of them. Seems to work out rather nicely. I think I'm going to have to create a few more characters and populate my corner of Historica with some real weirdos!