pombe

Priestess | pombe | Kaliphlin

This MOC has so many techniques for me to try, it will serve as a reference for years.

I never welcomed you to Kaliphlin, but I'm glad you joined us. Like others have said, incorporating the paper into the desk is extremely clever, and is an idea that I will likely steal for future MOCs.

I've been looking for a way to improve on the look of cobblestones, and I wanted to thank you for the technique. As for everything else, what is normal for you is spectacular for me, so I have nothing more to say.

I'm clearly not on your level as a builder, so I don't really have any advice to offer. But I wanted to say how incredibly beautiful this is, both the MOC and the photography. Again, I'll be sure to use this as a reference for the future.

Thanks, everyone for the kind words. I forgot to include it in the original post, but I'm always looking for honest feedback and ways to improve. If there are things that you would do differently, please chime in. If I were to critique my own MOC, I'd say the thing that disappoints me the most are: 1) It's a mish-mash of architectural styles that I'm not sure I combined successfully. The dome and the stained glass windows combined with a fairly terrible roof design was a result of not really having a vision for pulling these things together when I started. 2) The photos don't make sense lighting-wise, especially when you consider that the temple is lit by torches. The interior is too dark in some of the photos, and I'm not sure how to make it look lit by the torches. Thanks for the feedback! I agree with having the figures posed off the build. Unfortunately, I didn't plan that far ahead, and by the time I was taking the photos, I didn't have access to my bricks. If I had placed them on the steps, It would have looked crowded and awkward. This is something I need to keep in mind for future. As for the weight of the dome being supported by the columns, I thought of that, too. That is why I had the internal columns buttressed by the outer walls, but I suppose I didn't do a good job photographing that to make it obvious. However, given the size of the dome, maybe even the buttressing wouldn't be enough to support it. I originally planned on including a blurb in the story about how advanced Kaliphlin architects and engineers are and include a bit about using buttresses to support the dome, but I forgot. But instead of adding it, I think it would slow the story down, so I'm going to leave it out.

This is ridiculously good. I don't even know why I bothered to respond. I have no advice to offer or criticism to give.

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 0: Heading Home CHAPTER 1: Priestess of the Oasis CHAPTER 2 Memories Past The Maebad Alqamar, or the Temple of the Moon, was the largest building in Wahat Alqamar. It's great golden dome marked the center of the village and many came from far away to seek healing from the priestesses who worshipped here. The gift was found only here, in this remote part of the Siccus Badlands, and only among the girls. No boys were ever chosen, and of the girls no pattern was ever discerned as to who would receive it. Once a local girl experienced her first blood cycle, she was brought to the temple where a kahinat waha would oversee her care during the ritual. Once she was bathed and the rites were performed, the girl would be denied water for two days. Then, once her thirst had set in, the kahinat waha would place 20 closed vessels around the girl and she would have to choose the one which contained water. If she failed to sense water and chose an empty vessel, she would be allowed to drink and then she would be sent home, knowing that she was not chosen for the gift. If she correctly chose the vessel containing water, she would be allowed to drink, and the ritual would repeat. If the girl correctly chose the vessel containing water three times, she would be acknowledged as having the gift and become an initiate priestess. Nolana smiled as she remembered when she became an initiate under Ferenice. These were happy memories. She helped maintain the temple and assisted Ferenice in her healing duties. The power to heal flowed through water and each kahinat waha was capable of light healing through simply touching the injured or diseased person, as the body is made up of mostly water. For more serious injuries or illnesses, however, the person seeking healing would be immersed in the temple bath, to amplify the power of the gift. When not in use by the priestesses, the bath was available for the public to use to maintain cleanliness in the village, though many locals would bathe in it due to superstitious beliefs that somehow the temple bath was special and would help heal minor aches and pains. Shortly after Nolana became an acolyte, Ferenice's brother, Daegal, transferred back from the capital city of Petraea to serve as faris almaebad, or temple knight, under the venerable Captain Horace, in order to be close to his sister. The services of the kahinat waha of Wahat Alqamar were highly sought after by those in power in Petraea with priestesses having left the village to serve in the capital, and Petraea made sure to protect the source of the gift with the elite faris almaebad. Nolana smiled again. She and Daegal had immediately taken a liking to each other. There were no rules against the kahinat waha from having relationships, since the gift was never known to have faded from any priestess, even from those who married and had children. In fact, local customs particularly celebrated the descendants of priestesses who themselves became priestesses, believing these girls to be particularly blessed with gift. Even so, the village was a conservative place, and Nolana and Daegal had moved their budding romance slowly, much to Ferenice's impatience. During that time, Nolana was truly happy, serving under Ferenice as an acolyte priestess and being with Daegal every day. In the meantime, Nolana's younger sister, Soniya, the second of the three sisters, had failed to receive the gift. Soon after, however, Esther, the youngest sister received the gift and became an initiate priestess. Unfortunately for Nolana, it was right at that time when her happy life was torn apart. Raiders from Nocturnus had come into Kaliphlin looking for targets of opportunity and had found Wahat Alqamar. Though they were no match for the faris almaebad, Daegal was mortally wounded by a lucky strike. Ferenice and Nolana had tried desperately to save his life. Ferenice's screams, "Hold him still! Hold him still!" still haunted Nolana's nightmares. It was out of shear desperation that Ferenice, right then, did the unthinkable and used a rite she had learned from the Kitab Mamnue. The Forbidden Book. After the rite was complete, there was a pause, and Ferenice uttered the words that Nolana would never forget: "Something's not right." Fear became panic as they realized what was happening. Daegal was becoming...undead. Necromancy was the art of raising the dead as soulless abominations, golems of flesh and bone created to serve their masters every whim. What Ferenice and Nolana did was far worse. They had turned Daegal into an undead without first killing him. They had trapped his soul in an undying soulless body, a prisoner of his own flesh forever. Their panic was now full blown, and all Nolana could do was to help Ferenice carry her brother's body out of the temple. And they had been on the run and hiding ever since. It was night by the time Nolana and Korbin had made their way to the village. Nolana couldn't help but be drawn to the Maebad Alqamar. Captain Horace spotted her and immediately readied his scimitar. "You have a lot of nerve coming back here, heretic!" He shouted, preparing to strike her down. Nolana searched for words, any words, but could only stammer, "I...I...I...." "Stand down, Captain!" came from a voice inside the temple. It was Esther. Nolana felt her heart jump at the sight of her sister. "How dare you raise your scimitar at a kahinat waha!" Esther continued. Horace was silent. "Nolana," Esther said as she turned to her sister. "I need your help."

Yeah, I'm stuck here, too. I had over 2,300 photos as a free user. After culling photos, including WIPs and whatnot, I'm down to around 1,700. For me, it's less about the photos than the links. All my photos are backed up elsewhere, so I couldn't care less if Flickr deleted them. But to find another service and redo the hundreds of links is so tedious, there's no way I could be convinced to do it myself. Which is a shame, since I would hate to break all the images for the stories I've created for the rolebuilding games I've played. If Flickr had offered additional storage at different levels for one time payments, I would throw down the money and grow my online storage as I needed. But paying a subscription fee causes me to think long and hard about whether or not I actually need that something. While I enjoy Flickr's services, it's not something I consume as much as say...Netflix, or Crunchyroll, or Amazon Prime, which I can justify based on how often I use them. What I'll probably end up doing is biting the fee for one year and spend that time thinking about migrating my photos somewhere else that I think is more future proof. And unfortunately, I'll have to think about whether or not it's worth re-linking all those photos once I do.

@Robin_IV I'm sorry to read that your initial experiences here on EB didn't go very well for you. I confess that I don't routinely reply to threads very often (however, I will say that I participate a lot in the private PMs of the various games I play and I routinely showcase my WIPs and discuss new story ideas in those messages). Of course, as usual, my advice to having fun on EB is to join a game, where I swear you will get a ton of feedback from your fellow players. But I also understand that not everyone wants to join these rolebuilding games for various legitimate reasons. After thinking about this somewhat, I thought of a suggestion that I wanted to throw out here: a new [feedback wanted] tag for topic titles. Now, I know...we already have a lot of tags, especially for the games. It could add to the clutter on EB. But I think somehow labeling a thread as something where the original poster is deliberately seeking feedback and alerting other members to that fact in the topic title may be beneficial for the board. Especially for members who want to up their MOC skills without joining a game. I don't know...it's just an idea. Anyways, @Robin_IV, I hope you stick around. I think EB is a great place to interact with fellow AFOLs from around the world, including some of the very best LEGO MOCcers in existence. And if you haven't thought about joining a game...well...you know my advice.

This is incredible, and there is a lot to like (and copy). Now, I'm stalking following you on flickr. My only critique is that you should use an air duster prior to photographing your beautiful MOCs. Unless the dust is a feature of the Avalonian scenery, of course, and not a bug.

I like the aesthetic and composition of the build. I think the textures are appropriate and will be looking to copy some of your style moving forward.

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 0: Heading Home CHAPTER 1 Priestess of the Oasis Nolana dismounted the camel and offered her thanks to the merchant caravan. The serendipitous encounter had allowed her to shorten her journey home through the desert by several days. It had been easy for her to barter her skills as a kahinat waha, or priestess of the oasis in the old tongue, in exchange for letting her join them for the leg of their travels that brought them closer to her village. After all, a healer was always welcome in the Siccus Badlands. The fact that she could sense the location of nearby water didn't hurt either. Nolana watched as the merchant caravan departed under the midday sun. The soft crunching of the sand caused by the feet of the camels slowly diminished as the caravan disappeared over the dunes. She set Korbin down on the sand and pulled out two small stones from her bag. Using an old trick to determine direction, she planted her walking stick in the sand and used the two stones to track the shadow of the stick caused by the sun's movement. West was that way. She picked up the stones and adjusted the old white throw she had wrapped around her head to protect her from the sun and set out, with Korbin at her side. Hours later, with a panting Korbin beside her, Nolana sensed water. A lot of water. Her village, known locally as Wahat Alqamar, or Oasis of the Moon, was close. She sped up her pace due to her excitement of finally being home again. Or was it anxiety? Maybe both. Nolana couldn't tell. The Maebad Alqamar slowly loomed into view on the horizon. The butterflies started fluttering furiously in her stomach at the sight of the temple as she neared her village. It was definitely anxiety. Korbin stopped under the shade of a nearby tree. He was tired and overheated. Nolana removed the throw, turned, and leaned towards Korbin. 'I'm sorry you had to go through this,' Nolana said. 'But...we're almost...home.' She glanced over at the village in the distance, trepidation filling her mind at how she would be received by the villagers. 'Yes...home,' she said to no one in particular. 'In Wahat Alqamar of Kaliphlin.' Comments and criticisms are always welcome!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the kind words. @TitusV Thanks so much for the suggestion! I agree, looking at it that the door should have been rounded at the top. Somethings seem so obvious once someone else points it out, but for some reason I don't notice it during the building process. @Henjin_Quilones Thanks for the breakdown of the guilds (what happened to Mitgardia?). I purposefully wrote the introduction to be guild agnostic so I could be flexible, and I certainly appreciate you taking the time to write how my character's introduction would play into the guilds. I admit that I am still trying to catch up on the history of events. I am looking forward to reading more about the Varlyrians, since there doesn't seem to be much written about them.

CHAPTER 0: Heading Home Nolana hoisted the bag over her shoulders. Though they didn't have much, Ferenice had made sure to pack extra medicines and an old throw in there with the food. She smiled. Ferenice was always like that. Despite the fact that Nolana was her apprentice, Ferenice had always treated her more like a younger sister than a student. And they might have become sisters, if it wasn't for what happened. Nolana frowned and pushed the memories away. She looked at the hidden clearing in the Nocturnus forest and sighed. This is where they've lived for over a year since they ran away. And while it was never safe where they were, recent events have made Nocturnus even more dangerous, and Ferenice had insisted that Nolana return home. Nolana picked up her walking stick and started towards the small hovel where they kept Daegal, followed by little Korbin who ambled after her. She saw that Ferenice was already there waiting for her. As Nolana approached the hovel, she could hear the menacing moans emanating from within. 'I don't have to leave,' Nolana started, as she stopped in front of Ferenice. 'I'll have none of that 'Lana,' Ferenice interrupted. 'I've already asked too much of you. This isn't your burden to bear. In fact, I should have never let you help me' 'But,' Nolana started again. 'No,' Ferenice smiled. 'I'm the one who used the book, not you. I can't return, but the villagers will understand and take you back.' A loud groan came from inside the hovel. 'I'll take care of him,' Ferenice said, glancing first at the hovel and then at Nolana. 'You know I never meant for things to turn out like this, and I'm truly sorry things couldn't work out for you. But you can trust me to do everything I can for him.' 'I know and I've made my peace,' Nolana replied. 'About the villagers, though...I'm not sure.' 'It won't be easy,' conceded Ferenice. 'You'll have to earn their trust. Perhaps Esther can help. She's always looked up to you.' The thought of her youngest sister, Esther, made Nolana smile. She had missed her family terribly, and it would be good to see them again. But she was scared that they would reject her after all that had happened. 'Go,' Ferenice nudged. 'Nocturnus is no longer safe for you. Consider this your last lesson from me. Go back and help the villagers. They'll need it, no matter how much they distrust you.' Her teacher was right. Esther was not yet an acolyte when Ferenice and her fled. The village had lost both its priestesses in a single moment. Nolana nodded and held back the tears as she embraced Ferenice one last time. Then she faced away from the clearing and started walking with little Korbin by her side. Home, Nolana thought to herself. I'm going home.

There is a related thread discussing the popularity of Galaxy Squad and why it worked/didn't work. Some good points are made there. I agree that a strong antagonist(s) is necessary to give gravitas to the struggle of the heroes. The journey of the heroes is only meaningful if they have to undergo a transformation to overcome the challenges they face. What's handy about LEGO Space is that like Ninjago, it already has different bad guy factions: Blacktron and Spyrius. Which combines nicely with a children's TV show, since lessons about respect, honesty, perseverance, and friendship are already at the core of each episode. Science fiction, at its most fundamental, are stories about the intersection between technology and the human condition. Some of these can get pretty heady and deeply philosophical, but I think it's possible to keep the topics accessible to children, while still making it educational and enjoyable for parents.

I think you are correct, but what I'm trying to figure out is why themes that had this exact same formula, such as Chima and Nexo Knights, lost to Ninjago. What does Ninjago have that the others didn't? Essentially, I'm trying to identify/quantify what Ninjago's je ne sais quoi is and learn from it. I want to agree with you so badly it hurts. it intuitively makes so much sense. But business decisions at large companies are usually predicated on either previous success or the success of others. Most LEGO themes are updates of past themes (Ninjago = Ninja + Exo Force). Bionicle was introduced to compete with action figures. Brickheads were introduced to compete with collectible figures. New and radical ideas usually fall into the realm of startups or companies with true visionary leaders with tremendous clout (such as Steve Jobs or Elon Musk). LEGO Friends only got introduced because it was a long term goal of TLG to break into the girls toy market and only happened after failed attempts (Paradisa) and over five years of market research. Surprise breakout success does happen. And I think it's important to understand why and and if we can apply those lessons to LEGO Space, because it's my favorite theme. This. This is what I'm trying to figure out. R.I.P. Firefly Dark Matter The Expanse (saved by Amazon, whew) At the three fan conventions I've been to, there has been large displays dedicated to Classic Space and the subthemes. The last one I went to had two tables: one for Classic Space and one for Space Police I! When I trawl through the Flickr LEGO group photos there are Classic Space MOCs posted nearly every day! TLG knows that LEGO Space is popular, so what's holding them back? Well...let's see... Fans have an outlet to let TLG know what we want: LEGO Ideas. They even gave us the Exosuit (with turtle). I bought three. The question I have is why don't Classic Space submissions hit 10,000 votes more often? The good ones seem to time out at around 6-7,000 votes. I vote for every single one I see, regardless of quality! Sure they threw us a bone with Benny's Spaceship. I bought four. I suppose I could have bought more... But ultimately, my single vote for an Ideas project and my limited wallet don't constitute a large enough political voting bloc to make any significant difference to TLG's finances. The bottomline is that if we want to see LEGO Space return, we need to provide evidence to TLG that the market is there. And I'm thinking that doesn't exist and that in order for LEGO Space to return, it will have to incorporate lessons from Ninjago. Except that Galaxy Squad did that and failed. So I've hit a mental wall.

@Aanchir Everything you wrote makes complete sense. Though I will disagree with the idea that LEGO might not want a mega-hit, because I think each theme is an educated gamble by TLG looking for the next Ninjago. Instead of letting this become just another wish list thread, I was hoping to steer this discussion towards "how can LEGO Space be brought back as a theme in the business sense?". To do this, we need to look at the data that exists. We know that Ninjago is/was wildly popular. We know that Chima wasn't. We had two similar themes that went head to head with each other, and Chima lost. Why? Same with Nexo Knights. If you asked me which theme I would prefer: a) ninjas searching for golden weapons who fight via spinning at each other or b) knights who ride on horse mechs and live in a castle on tank treads, I would have voted for the knights, hands down. And I would have lost. My wallet cannot compete against the wallets of the parents of countless children. Ninjago, which started in 2011, went 4-0 against other action themes, if you throw in Monster Fighters and Ultra Agents. That is crazy good. I love Classic Space and all the subthemes. And this post is me trying to figure out in my head how to make it just as popular, if not more so, than Ninjago. I want to create a logical argument (not based on nostalgia or what AFOLs wish for), based on what we know about existing LEGO themes, that is compelling enough business-wise (it will sell like hotcakes and make a lot of monies because parents of children cannot hand over their wallets to TLG fast enough) to bring Classic Space back as a theme.

While that sounds fantastic to me, we need to step back and compare Nexo Knights, Chima, Galaxy Squad, Monster Hunters, Ultra Agents, Alien Conquest, and Space Police III to Ninjago and ask, "what made Ninjago so much more popular than all the others?". Ninjago obviously has some sort of secret sauce that the others didn't. Nexo Knights and Chima also had cartoons, but for some reason didn't really resonate with children. So what is Ninjago's secret sauce? And how can we apply it to a new space theme? Without this we really don't have an argument to convince TLG to listen to us.

I used to be like many here and wished TLG would revisit the classic space themes. As time went on, however, I've realized that really wasn't what I want. All I really want is for TLG to release a classic space printed elements pack. Just some bricks, tiles, slopes, and minifigure parts in the appropriate colors printed with the Classic Space, Blacktron (I & II), M-Tron, Ice Planet, Spyrius, Space Police (I, II, & III), and Exploriens logos. That's all I really want. If they release a separate pack with trans yellow/blue/green/red/neon green/neon orange windows and canopies (and ice equipment), that would be a bonus. I've accepted that TLG will likely not revisit these old themes because of business constraints, but I think a small elements pack is doable, especially if it is DTC (direct to consumer), available only through official LEGO stores or their shop website. See, I'm not interested in following instrucations and building new space sets. I just want the printed elements so I can MOC in the old themes that appeal to me. And this doesn't just have to apply to classic space themes. I'm sure there are castle builders who would love to see the Black Falcons reemerge in their MOCs.

Ellie saves the day! It's interesting how Yseult's version of the afterlife has a mech in it.

It's always so complicated with Koro. Except when he's killing.

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It used jumper plates connected to a Technic brick with a hole in the center. Apologies for the dust. Based on some feedback on Flickr.com, I've changed the droid arms in the middle to unify the blue segments, and I agree that it looks better.

People actually pay money to drink this stuff?!?! We discovered the plant that is used in the fermentation. You should be proud. Besides, it was good for our research funding. You stupid professor! When you made me drink this stuff, I was cast onto the mountain of failure and despair for a thousand years! BAD TRIP!!! The psychoactive effects are its main selling points. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean that others won't.