Keymonus

I love this build! It further expands the lore about the settlement, but also gives a nice apocalyptic feel. Good job with the cowbell too! Just to keep track, you may post a link in Jiangkai settlement page too

Lovely scene! I love how all the little details appear in the background of the portrait! Definitely a strong entry!

Thank you guys! Having such a “dense” build was a problem for my usual closeups, but I’m very happy for the final result! I think I exaggerated a little bit in the amount of plants… the ruins are more realistic in this way, but I ended up covering several details! However, I’m very happy about the final result… consider it a sort of prelude for my Transition Challenge storyline!

Thank you! I tried a little with loosely attached tiles, and I’m very happy of the final result!

A little bay East of Jiangkai, El Oleonda, April 624 The little sailboat was dangling slowly, cradled by the gentle waves. That day, the sea was as flat as a table, with a gentle wind barely moving the boat's flag... the red and white flag of the Kingdom of Carno. From a distance, the Caroline would have seemed perfectly still, as idle as a painted boat on a painted ocean. It would have been a terrible day for navigation, slow and boring. For what Albert and his men were doing, however, the weather was just perfect. Fifteen meters below the surface, Konrad and Hans were surely grateful for that calm weather: they had discovered at their expense that rough waves and violent currents could easily appear in that little bay, as soon as the wind started blowing from the wrong direction. The treacherous nature of that inlet, that made every dive dangerous, was probably the very reason of their succes. Many years before, when a terrible storm destroyed the first Lotii expedition on El Oleonda, a ship had likely sought refuge there, just to find its fate against the reef... and, for Poseidon's sake, the shipwreck seemed the one of a Lotii tresure ship! Albert was euphoric. Their expedition was not the first one, but had been by far the most successful. And, even more importantly, he had beaten Professor Hans Schneider, his old rival. That presumptuous man thought to be clever, looking for the Lotii gold among the old ruins of El Oleonda, but Albert had found it first, in the shallow waters of the Southern Coast. As soon as the Carnite High Command had learnt about the shipwrecks, almost four years before, they organized a few small expeditions along the Southern Coast. With the war raging on, however, most of them had turned into a disaster, or had only found the skeletons of small junks, scraped long time before by natives or survivors. Albert's discovery, was going to change everything, and exactly when the Lotii were staying away! The Lotii ship, however, was not the only interesting discovery Albert's expedition had made. The surfacing rocks that had doomed the Lotii ship, indeed, were not a reef, as the cartographers had thought, nor any other natural formation. Incredibly, they were instead the tops of large buildings, similar to the ones forming the Labyrinth... a whole city had sank into the Ocean, in a disaster of proportion that Albert couldn't even imagine. Roads, building, temples... everything was there, down below the surface, frozen in time. The ancient inhabitants were probably still there too, drowned in their own houses, thought Albert with a shiver. The fish had taken the place of the birds, the corals had replaced the luxurious vegetation of El Oleonda, creating an unreal scene... in spite of the terrible fate of the inhabitants, that place was wonderful. The cargo of the Lotii ship laid there, scattered among the ruins and inside the broken keel. Gold and silver ingots, porcelains and statuettes, weapons and utensils emerged from the sand at the minimum movement of the water, much more than three men cold carry with a little boat. It was time to send a messenger pidgeon to Seawatch, to communicate their success and direct a proper expedition to the shipwreck. Writing precise coordinates was out of question: pidgeons were rarely intercepted, but strapping such a precious information to a bird was far too dangerous. Albert didn't want to attract a horde of Lotii warriors to his shipwreck, especially in the moment of his maximum triumph... better to define a rendez-vous point halfway between there and Seawatch. What about the Emperor's Palace, one of the largest ruins in the Labyrinth? It was in a convenient location and, given the discovery of the sunken city, it seemed particularly fitting. Having decided the course of action, Albert brought his attention back to a little object that was puzzling him: a small cilinder, formed by a series of golden discs and completely covered by symbols that Albert couldn't understand... the sun, a large cat, a crocodile, dots and lines... Even if they were still encrusted by sand and salt, it was clear that the discs could rotate, forming a complex mechanism. Did it come from the Lotii ship or from the ruins? And in that case, how advanced had been the inhabitants of El Oleonda, capable of building that amazing trinket? Even more importantly, what was that object? A puzzle box? A clockwork mechanism of some sort? Or maybe... a cipher? -------------------------- Overall view:

The Labyrinth, El Oleonda, May 624 The jungle was loud and suffocating as usual. The inextricable mass of bushes, the uniform sticking to the skin, the mosquitoes, the urticating herbs... for a Madrician recruit, that place represented a real nightmare. Tristan and his unit were not newcomers, but they would have gladly avoided that umpteenth vacation in that green hell. Once again, they were following a trail. This time, not the elusive trail of the Lotii troops, but the track of a mysterious column departed from Seawatch and headed South: the Carnites had left the settlement in forces, with at least a full company of jaegers and several heavy carriages. They had provided no notice or explanation to their allies, claiming they had started a reconnaissance, and refusing to elaborate more. Due to this weirdness, Tristan's unit was sent to investigate, possibly without being discovered: also for them, the official mission was scouting the Lotii positions. The slow chase went on, day after day. Tristan and his Eranos chasseurs had to follow the slow pace of the carriages: once again, a peculiar choice for a swift recognition mission. Soon, it became evident that the Carnite column was headed to the Labyrinth, an impressive complex of ruins covering several square kilometers of the jungle. In that place, Tristan had fought countless skirmishes against Lotii patrols, but he had only seen a fraction of it: the abandoned city must have once been at least as large as Breshaun or Mesabi Landing, decades or centuries before. This represented a peculiar choice at best, and utter insanity at worst: the Carnite unit, with its heavy carriages, would have spent weeks traversing the rough terrain of the Labyrinth, a maze of ruined buildings, canals, low walls, and piles of rocks. Choosing a different trail, or even bordering the ruins, would have taken half of the time! Whatever the objective of the Carnites could be, therefore, following them seemed a complete waste of time. After leaving some scouts to tail the column, Tristan decided to anticipate it in the ruined city, proceeding further south with his light infantry... and there he was, in the middle of the dead city. Among those ruins, the air seemed heavy, even compared to the humidity of the tropical jungle. Still, and unusually silent. Then, suddenly, the voices started: "Lauf, Konrad, lauf!" "Kra, kra, Konrad!" "Kra, lauf, lauf, kraaaah!" "Krahaha, lauf Konrad!" Tristan grabbed his pistol and took cover against the wall, then he realized. The parrots were imitating a human voice, laughing and squawking... a Carnite voice, inviting a certain Konrad to "lauf", to run. Not very encouraging. That dead city was already eerie enough, even without some colorful chicken repeating ghostly voices! Other birds, amused by the chorus, decided to join. Several birds of the New World, including the parrots of El Oleonda, seemed to have fun imitating sounds they had heard around, mixing and mangling them: songs of other birds, animal calls and, in some cases, even human voices. In the cacophony of calls, laughter-like sounds, and flutters, Tristan believed to recognize a couple of other words: "Trommeln", drums; and "Chiffre", which could mean number, code, or cipher. "Run, Konrad", "drums" and "cipher"... a strange combination for sure. Something weird had happened, probably not far from there. Something weird and probably terrible. At least two men, speaking the language of Carno, were among these ruins... not long time before, considering that the birds had not mingled the words before recognition. Something had given them a good reason to run... the natives, considering the reference to the drums? And what was the Chiffre, for Poseidon's sake? Why was it so important for them? A sudden rustle in the undergrowth stopped Tristan's thoughts and scared the parrots, that started flying in every direction. Right beyond a ruined arch, something was moving in the bushes. The soldiers raised their guns, preparing for the fight... ...until they saw a wild pig! Grunting, the animal disappeared again among the ruins, clearly annoyed by the visitors. ”Uff, just a pig!” Said one of the scouts. “These damned birds are getting on my nerves!” The parrots seemed to like the word: ”Kraaa, porc, porc! Krahaha, lauf Konrad!” ”Kraaaah, chiffre, chiffre!” ”Kraahahah, porc, chiffre, konrad!” Well, thought Tristan, the next visitors of the Labyrinth would have been even more confused than him… ————————— Overall view: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: I thought this build as a generic recognition in the jungle, showing better the ruined city of El Oleonda I introduced a long time ago. Due to its size, it cannot qualify as an entry for the challenge itself, but rather represents a sort of prelude for it. Stay tuned to discover what the mysterious "cipher" is!

Thank you very much!

Thank you guys! In my last builds I experimented a little with water effects... I wasn't sure about the rain effect, but it turned out quite well! Yes! With 1 layer of bricks, the result is the one you see (water, but still a little muddy), while with more layers it looks more like clear water (and also becomes too part-intensive)!

I didn't properly comment before, but your builds are amazing! Your story is elaborated and interesting, and the rendition of the storm is very well done. The best part, in my opinion, is the prison: it has a classic pirate feel, but the wall is extremely intricate and well-executed. I wouldn't like to join the other "guests", anyway! A special note also goes to the little fort/pier and the streets of Sereen Cay! Well done!

Nice challenge, I'll start working on it! Just a minor point... for part A, must all the entries be 20x20, or is it a minimum size for (at least one of) them? My only hope is that the leadership plan is not to sink the existing islands in the sea! Reworking the EGS drastically (even erasing the current income completely) would be ok to equilibrate the starting condition of new and old players, but all our islands and settlements have histories that it would be sad to lose!

Definitely an original concept! Something none commented, and that I really like, is the impressive groundwork you did here! Well done al around!

Somewhere in the jungle, El Oleonda, May 624 Rain was falling on El Oleonda. The violent storms that had flooded the island's southwest had finally ended, and water had finally returned to the riverbeds, but cloudy skies and heavy showers were still taking the place of the endless summer of New Haven Seas. It was not like the cold rainfalls of Eranos woods, slowly soaking your clothes and freezing you to the bones: instead, the large, warm drops seemed to hit the ground violently, almost with anger. Everything in the defensive position was still, apart from the rain. No other movement could be seen, no other sound could be heard. The position seemed completely abandoned, but this could have easily been a trap: on El Oleonda, every little imprudence could be paid with the life of someone... yours, most likely. That day, however, there was no trap waiting for them. The trenches were filled with rainwater almost to the rim, and weeds had started to grow on the earthworks. One of the chasseurs moved closer and closer, while his companions prepared to cover him. At the end, with a silent prayer, the man stood up. Nothing happened. "All clear, General! There's no one here! This place seems abandoned!" Tristan advanced, followed by the rest of the unit. After the return from the rescue operation in Neuburg, Tristan's unit was taking part in the search operations into the jungle, between Seawatch and the Great Northern Bay. And, once again, they had stumbled across an abandoned Lotii position. Apart from occasional skirmishes with bands of Lotii stragglers, this was all they had found up to that moment: trenches, well-positioned batteries, warehouses... all completely deserted. The enemy had retreated after the Battle of Seawatch, but how far remained a mystery. Well, now they could move a little forward the line on the map, and mark a new site for the engineers recovering abandoned artillery pieces. Tristan didn't understand. From a position like that one, a company of soldiers could have repelled a regiment, allowing an ordered retreat of the rest of the army. They were distant enough from Seawatch, and the Coalition forces had not pursued the enemies that far. Still, the commanders had not managed to rally their soldiers. But why? Was everyone still in panic, after the defeat and the attacks from Du Pont's Tigers? Or was that place considered unsafe for some other reason? In any case, they wouldn't have found any answer in that place, this was clear. There was no point in remaining there, standing under the rain. Tristan ordered his men to set up the camp, but also to double the usual number of sentries, just to be safe. He would have also ordered not to light a fire, but with the tropical rain, unfortunately, this seemed completely superfluous... If the Lotii had abandoned that place in haste, it was better not to lower the guard. ----------------- Overall view: I don't know if or when the Lotii will be removed from El Oleonda in Era III, but I still want to "use" them for this storyline. As with the reconnaissance operations before the Battle of Seawatch, only isolated patrols or individuals will appear, and nothing about the real plans of the Lotii commanders will be defined.

In the past we had a Great Ball, with several minifigs “invited” by @Bregir. I don’t think I’ll build something on that scale anytime soon, but slowly gathering the characters’ part could help! https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/160215-cor-fb-having-a-ball/&tab=comments#comment-2943156

Nice story, the village scene is particularly well executed! Once again, welcome here in BoBS! It's also interesting that you chose to give your character a "loser" story (usually people like to make their character win glorious battles, not being wounded or defeated), which makes him particularly interesting! I'm looking forward to seeing where your journey will lead!

I really like your minifig, I seriously thought that it was a custom one! BTW, it could be nice to have a part list somewhere for the main characters of active members...

Thank you! I'm happy you liked the development of the story... and also that, differently from my first arctic storyline, we managed at least to get past Tam!

I think his position is between the king and the council (plus all the shady Order businesses)

Amazing job @Justsomebrix! These minifigs have a unique feel, but at the same time are coherent with their original version! As I've started a parallel storyline with nougat characters, this is something I'll attempt myself with e.g. my main character to insert him as a cameo. May I ask you where "my" character's head comes from, if you know?

Chapter VI - In the ship's hold After the first weeks of smooth sailing and good weather, the expedition had met rough waters for the first time. And, as the High Priest had predicted, the Captain's resolution was showing the first cracks. Father Leonard could understand his point: after all, his companions believed that the only aim of their expedition was finding Montcalm (or, most likely, his frozen corpse) and were not particularly enthusiastic about risking their lives for that. They didn't know what was at stake. "I'm telling you that our supplies are utterly insufficient for the expedition ahead!" The captain took a deep breath, then continued, with the tone of an adult explaining something to a particularly dumb child. "We still have a margin, Father, this is true. If we remain blocked in the pack for longer than expected, we'll end up as that poor fellow, Crozier... or as Montcalm, for what we know. Weathered bones on some frozen shore. We must resupply!" Leonard knew he had to be very convincing to change the Captain's mind... also because the man was perfectly right. They had planned to resupply in Tam and sail North with a completely stocked hold. However, the islanders had set unreasonable prices for provisions. With the price they had to pay for their recalcitrant guide and Montcalm's dispatch, they could only afford some rye hardtacks and some half-spoiled dried mutton. Now, the most reasonable thing would have been sailing back to the mainland, and restocking in a Corrish port. Leonard himself would have suggested this course of action, but the traces of Montcalm's expedition were already fading... even worse, the longer they remained in Madrician ports, the higher the risk of attracting unwanted attention. "Sir, Captain, I acknowledge that some aspects of our plan didn't develop as planned. But now, thanks to the papers we recovered and our guide, we now have a starting point. Setting sail directly to that old whaling station, we will spare weeks, even months of navigation. Slightly reducing the rations we could easily buy even more time." "Reducing the rations? Have you ever met a sailor? The food on board is terrible, but less of that terrible stuff will make the crew morale drop in no time. What's next? Do you want us to throw the grog overboard?" "Well, at least we have partially improved our situation on this side. The Corrish garrison had some surplus rations that we could buy at a reasonable price. It's not as much as we needed, but this canned meat doesn't spoil and, according to the cook, tastes far better than our usual salted beef. If you fear for the sailors' morale, this could help!" "Corrish government-issued supplies. I hardly trust those red press-ganging bureaucrats to procure half-decent stuff for their men! I'd prefer to chew the leather sheet of the main mast. And we'll end up doing it anyways if we don't find a way to resupply before sailing North!" The captain didn't seem particularly convinced. If only Leonard could have revealed to him the real meaning of their mission... but it was too early. The Captain would've not believed him, not yet. Leonard could still try to make his position weigh, but this would've irreversibly undermined their relationship, even in the remote case it worked... "Sirs, forgive me if I step in..." The two men winced, as none of them had heard Archambeau entering the ship's hold, nor getting close enough to listen to the discussion. Leonard didn't know anything about that man's past, but he was almost sure that, in a past life, the next step for him would have been stealing a purse or slitting a throat... after all, you didn't get in the Penal Legion for your devotion and sense of honor. "Please, Officer, go ahead!" From the flash of anger in the Captain's eyes, Leonard understood immediately that he had made a mistake. On a ship, nobody else gives orders if the captain is present. Too bad. Like Kerouac, Leonard didn't like Archambeau at all... that man always had a strange light in his eyes. If he had a viable option, however, Leonard had no time for the Captain's pride or his own prejudice. Only the mission mattered. "Well, Sirs. Several lives ago, I was a whaler, here in the North. If we continue North, we'll soon reach a whaling point... we are headed there, I think, and the other fella, Montcalm, must have passed there too. Well, I know some chaps there. Merchants. You will not like those guys, I'm sure, but they sell Corrish military rations for a fair price to the passing ships... they always have plenty of them, and are very keen on offloading them. Apparently, they might not be exactly legal..." Leonard immediately felt uplifted. Legal or not, those smugglers offered a fast way to resupply their ship, and in a moment of extreme need! They were even in the same whaling station they were already sailing to and, possibly, they also had news about Montcalm's expedition. He silently pronounced a prayer to Poseidon. That hateful man had just saved the expedition. If his providence had placed Archambeau on their ship, the God of the Seas was clearly on their side. If he had ever doubted, now Father Leonard Theriault was sure: his mission was dictated by divine will, and he had to fulfill it. Whatever the cost. -------------------------- Without minifigs: With the first transition challenge, this build took a little longer than expected. Anyways, here you read about three of our four "heroes", sailing from the Isle of Tam to a whaling station somewhere in the Northern Ocean.

Nice scene! Essential, but the combination of the different colours works very well! For your next builds, my suggestion however is to create a separated post and link them here… otherwise it will be very difficult to find them in the future, if you will ever want to recall them! Just a side note: the war with the Lotus Kingdom is now taking place on an island of the New World, colonised by bough us and the Lotii, not in the Lotus Kingdom itself… unless we want to solve the issue attacking directly the enemy motherland (which could be an interesting idea, btw…)

Thank you guys! I think I had never realized before that the transparence effect could work well also with solid objects, I had always used it only to create shades of colors by putting different plates below the clear tiles. Thanks! With the Western settlements getting too "civilized" (meaning lines of "monotonous" line infantry), I love the idea of troops in frontier regions with more distinctive feels, as the ones on El Oleonda, or the New Oleon desert troops. Thanks! When I have a chance, I always like recalling old things myself or other people have introduced before

South of Seawatch, El Oleonda, April 624 The cannon emerged slowly from the murky water, one centimeter after another. Despite the time spent in the water, the barrel seemed in a good state. With a few blows of a shovel, one of the engineers removed the remaining pieces of the wooden carriage, buried too deep in the mud. Soon, that cannon would have been cleaned, inspected, and most likely mounted on a new wooden support, in the military workshops of Fort Firmo. A cannon barrel was too valuable to let it rot in a bog: that Lotii weapon would have become instead part of Seawatch port batteries, or maybe of a field artillery unit. After their defeat in the Battle of Seawatch, the Lotii had quickly withdrawn toward the Eastern settlements, leaving traps and ambushes to delay the pursuit of the Coalition forces. The attacks of hostile native tribes and guerrilla operations of Jiangkai troops, together with bad roads, terrible weather, and mass desertion of mercenaries, however, had soon turned the orderly retreat into a complete rout, and countless cannons and heavy carriages were abandoned along the way: what had started as a brilliant disengagement had quickly turned a desperate march for survival. The Lotii had lost a quarter of their army, and an immediate new offensive seemed unlikely. Therefore, that represented an excellent moment to reorganize the coalition forces in Seawatch, repair the town fortifications, and, indeed, salvage as many as possible of the abandoned Lotii cannons... better to have them in safe hands, than to allow the enemies -or the armies of other allied empires- to recover them! With the help of workhorses and mules, the military engineers of Oleon towed the cannons out of bogs and rivers, or out of the mud of the jungle trails. In most cases, the carriages had been damaged, but only a few artillery pieces had been spiked or blown away... a few days of work, and most of them could have been put easily back in battery! Other units, scattered all over the jungle, were recovering cases of ammunition, gunpowder barrels, small arms, and other abandoned equipment, and occasionally also accepted the surrender of stragglers and small Lotii units left behind during the last months. Even though no organized resistance was usually encountered, some Lotii soldiers had resorted to banditry or had chosen to continue the war on their own. Therefore, all the salvage expeditions were accompanied by chasseurs and soldiers of Fort Arltrees militia, who knew the jungle as their own pockets. A small MOC set on El Oleonda, with the military engineers of Oleon recovering a Lotii cannon from a bog. Build inspired by @Ozzy_4321's MOC about salvaging/capturing abandoned Lotii cannons.

I had never seen them… shame on me!

Nice fort @Ozzy_4321! It would be nice to see more angles of your build! I particularly like the uniforms you used for your bluecoats (are they custom prints?) and the use of the leather apron torso for the engineer!