Grover

Good news: we have left things open enough that the factions are very flexible. You should be able to do what you want with them and not feel constrained. Given the recent prelude 3 post, I am not giving anything away to say that, with the Desert King as the main antagonist, you can reasonably anticipate undead, magical, summoned and other such creatures, although we also leave flexibility there as well.

Well done! Great to see you back too! I love the coin in the hat. The lime goes great with the bright green on the vine, and you have a beautiful flowering plant at the top of the column with some outstanding floral density. The subtlety of the steps shouldn't be missed, as the one plate height increases are nice. The evil brick built fig is great! I have a difficult time working with that size fig myself, and I really have a hard time photographing all black, but you did a great job. Look forward to seeing more!

Very nice! I like the high wall, with the hooded man peering down. You have made some nice use of the new double jumper arches and have some nice texture on your wall without going overboard. The crates on the left look natural as if someone dropped them there, but I think my favorite part is the flowers. The plants and flowers are very dense and have an outstanding organic look to them. Are they all attached securely or are some hanging among the others? He found Just for Men!™

Welcome back! Great to see you!

Welcome back @jtooker, @Gideon, and @Ben S! As for time, we are all busy. We are trying to lay out the various challenges and preludes so that we are able to slowly roll out some builds to keep the story going and then give you all ample time on challenges to design, build, even order bricklink or PAB parts if you want them, etc. This should be a fun endeavor and we don't want to impose a massive time crunch on it, so please join us when you can and enjoy yourself!

Welcome to the Guilds! Nice little intro build here. I see you have some historical mini parts here--some of the CMF3 and the old school 80's castle minis (some of my favorites there in the scale mail!). They look good with some of the newer touches (silver helmets, flesh tones, shoulder armor, etc.). I will be interested to see where this story goes, as this is a very open-ended story. You have some great light on the build here, which is helpful to see everything, and I am curious to see what kind of magical weapons your sigfig holds, as they are obviously not ordinary swords. One photography trick that a number of us have used before is to set the camera back a little further and then zoom in a bit, rather than place the camera nearer the object. This gives a greater depth to the focal plane and you get more of the build in focus, as the first couple of rows of studs here are a bit blurry (although in this case, that's not really where the action is). Welcome once again, and I look forward to seeing your story progress and the builds as you go!

I'm not sure.. I think either Kiern or Ayra is my favorite, since I love your brick built centaurs, but Cobold is pretty great too. You have a good eye for the color combos that work! Nicely done!

Book IV - Prelude 3: Unjust Deserts Previously: Prelude 2: Royal Visit to the University of Petrea The Desert King turned away from his crystal ball. He had been scrying on the Queen, watching her success in uniting the Guilds. He fumed, angry that she now ruled over the same territory that had been his domain centuries before. He wanted to rule all the lands again, but he needed an army. He would have difficulty raising an army of the living since he had been largely forgotten and disregarded (and those that remembered him did not want to be subjugated), so he would have to use magic to raise an army instead. He paced the floor, pondering how to raise an army without drawing attention until it was too large to stop. He refocused on the crystal ball and it glowed as he reviewed images of the maladies that had beset the Guilds over the past few years. These unusual occurrences ranged from the almost innocuous oversized livestock grown from water contaminated with magical waste and rumors of secret alliances to demons appearing and lizard people wearing human skins and infiltrating governments. All of these anomalies had drawn attention and resources away from the crown and had in many cases sown confusion and division between the Guilds. He reasoned that rekindling some of the worst calamities and adding a few new ones throughout the guilds should distract from his magics long enough to raise an army. His smile was wicked. All of Historica would once again be his!

I like the look too! I don't want you to miss out on opportunities for others to include your sigfig in their stories if you would like such a thing due to this mask. On the other hand, if you don't want people to use your sigfig, this is a good way to go! I ask permission before I use sigfigs, but I do enjoy seeing sigfigs show up in others' stories, since we all have this collaborative effort. Most of the time, even if you used a rare part, say something from an expensive Harry Potter set that only appeared there, there's usually a close substitute (for instance, there are several Jedi robes that would be passable for your sigfig's torso). The mask, however, doesn't have much that is close, which is why I pointed it out. The closest I had was the hat from the reindeer guy from Series 23, and I don't think that would be very intimidating!

Welcome back! It's great to see Kars again! One question: Is there anything else Kars is ever seen in? I ask because that mask is very rare, very expensive, and unlike some of the other expensive sigfig parts, there's not a lot of great substitutes. I fear that few if any of us will be able to include Kars in various pictures of the guild members if that is his only outfit. Love the brick built centaur, as usual! The updated figs look great!

During the discussions prior to Book IV, guild leadership felt the Guilds would benefit from a standardized, public judging rubric. What we came up with (and tested during the prelude to Book IV challenge) is below. We welcome discussion and questions, as we feel this is a living document for all the Guild members and we wish to make judging as fair as possible. We also determined that we do not want to make scores of entries public, but knowing what the criteria are can only help you. These are the general criteria, and individual challenges may have specific additions or modifications to this. Such modifications will be spelled out prior to or along with the announcement of the challenge. Modifications to this rubric will not take place during an active challenge, and cannot be made retroactive due to prizes that have been handed out. Judging Criteria: Entry gate Pass/Fail Pass / Fail • Does your build fit the category?* Pass / Fail • Does your build meet the challenge requirements? If either of these fail, the build is disqualified. Creativity 0-20 / 20 0-5 / 5 • Interesting approach to category/prompt 0-5 / 5 • Good/novel parts use 0-10 / 10 • Build originality Build Quality 0-40 / 40 0-10 / 10 • Detailing/ornamentation 0-5 / 5 • Overall build composition 0-5 / 5 • Functionality/physical stability 0-10 / 10 • Technical skill 0-10 / 10 • Visual impact (color choices, color blocking, height layout, etc.) Presentation 0-15 / 15 0-5 / 5 • Image quality/focus 0-5 / 5 • Good backdrop and lighting 0-5 / 5 • Good viewing perspective. Story 0-25 / 25 0-5 / 5 • Furthers narrative of the Guilds 0-10 / 10 • How well story fits the prompt 0-10 / 10 • Creativity in storytelling Note: As English is a second language for many, grammar and spelling will not influence the score unless it is unintelligible Final Score 0-100 / 100 * Double dipping with concurrent contests is allowed, but be reasonable: don’t build a blacksmith for one competition then resubmit it here for a ‘mathematician’ challenge and simply say the blacksmith is a mathematician too. We haven't had a lot of problems with this in the past, but we felt we needed to make this explicit.

Thanks! I had fun with the brick built sky. Thank you! I wanted to make the chair fit the fig and then thought better of it. Have you ever seen 'fashionable' furniture? It looks good and you can't use it! Thanks! I have spent a lot of time on curved walls and really like this design. And a huge thank you to you as well for helping keep the Guilds active! Thank you! I think this Book will be fun! Thanks! The bookshelf was surprisingly fast to build. Thank you! You're welcome to the ingot book! As for the sky, I have been trying to make 100% Lego scenes more often, so there should be more upcoming.

Book IV - Prelude 2: Royal Visit to the University of Petrea Previously: Prelude 1: Queen Ylspeth's Tower Study With her council behind her, the Queen had travelled to Petrea, Kaliphlin, to offer her proposal to the University directly. The Professors of the University of Petrea had gathered in the main hall of the University to receive the Queen. They were used to being the invited guests and not hosting others, but it was hard to see that a visit from the royal palace was anything other than special, so they all put on their best robes and manners. Before she arrived, there was some worry amongst the professors that the Queen was going to try and interfere with the academic freedom of their studies at the University (a point of contention in the past with rulers such as Raavage), but the Queen had been very receptive to continuing exactly as they had been, only expanding the reach of the University to each guild. This was exciting, but new, and there was much discussion. “Your Majesty,” one old wizened professor began, “to be sure, we are happy to hear we will retain our will to teach, and expanding our campuses is an exciting prospect, but how will we find enough academics to teach? We are only so many at the University, and our vetting process is not particularly fast.” The Queen listened carefully. “I agree, tenured academic positions cannot be hurried or quality may suffer, and there may be too great a gap between students and professors if this happened immediately. We propose to begin the search for more professors immediately, and while this is ongoing, begin building new campuses. Building will take time, but there will still be a gap before professors can be fully vetted, so to cover this time, a royal grant has been approved to bring in guest lecturers, academics, and experts from all of the Guilds and beyond, each giving keynote lectures on various subjects at the opening of each new campus.” The professors quietly discussed amongst themselves, and then the head addressed the Queen. “Your Majesty,” he said with a slight bow, “we find this proposal acceptable, and we welcome expansion of our University.” Prelude 3: Unjust Deserts

About depth of field? I thought that was Gideon who pointed that out to me back in ... 2016? Of course, my memory from 10+ years ago is failing now!

Someone has already beat me to this joke, but I find it amusing that calling this build 'crappy' is a compliment!

Great build and a nice intro! I really like that you have the perspective at eye level of the mini. It really helps draw in the viewer into the scene. You have a nice backdrop and water in the foreground, and as @LordDan mentions, the clear cheese wedges look great on the water. You have some nice technique on the rockwork too, which is somewhat challenging for the small builds such as this, and you did a nice work with the SNOT there. I see that you have uploaded to eurobricks directly. The images here are limited because it is not a hosting service and the images are usually meant for avatars etc. We usually use third party image services, such as flickr, for hosting our pictures. Imgur is apparently having trouble with the UK and maybe elsewhere too? A few people have their own websites and host their own images, which is also acceptable. Images must be directly linked (no redirects) and they require secure connections now too (https). Let me know if you have any questions. As for photography, I like that you have the depth of field shallow in this photo, which focuses on the rockwork and the hooded mini, slightly blurring the fig behind him and the tree, so it draws the viewer's attention to the part of the image you want them to focus on. The tree in the back is very nice, and I like the slight blurriness since it also implies more detail that you mind fills in. You may already know this, but @Gideon was kind enough to point it out to me when I began, which is you can get a wider depth of field (meaning more of your build will be in focus) by holding the camera back and zooming in on an area, rather than holding the camera closer. One other aspect I learned was that you usually need more light than you think you do when you first start out. Over the years, I eventually built a cheap light box then found a real one on sale one black friday, but getting more light on a build even without a light box helps a lot. One more part I'd like to point out that I enjoyed about this build is your choice in colors. You did a great job limiting your palettes to a small range, meaning you didn't use 5 greens, multiple greys, and multiple browns. You used a couple of browns, which helps distinguish wood from mud, and stuck to the normal green, which is great. I sometimes see builds with green, dark green, sand green, bright green, etc. and it looks disorganized. Limiting your color selection within a given color family is a big help and you did a nice job here. Thank you for putting this in the free build registration! Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing more of your builds!

Some interesting color choices! I would not have expected the fall colors to go as well with the dark green, but they are nice. I like the suspended block and the magic. It provides a nice contrast. I love the trees wound around the portal, and three cheers for the Kolgari! Nice work!

Love it! The subtle curve, the brick built shields, and the insane amount of detail you show in the hidden contents is awesome! I love the idea of the lava, and your collection of Nocturnus minis is wild! You also did a great job layering the minis so it looks crowded but you can still see everyone. Your incorporation of the various kite shields in the recesses is a very nice touch too. Only one question: If the emperor gives the thumbs down to an undead fighter... is that good or bad? I mean, they're already dead so...? Don't forget to register on the Free Builds thread!

Gorgeous! Love the collab. The flamingo is hilarious! I like the whole scene composition and think it illustrates the story well. The tree is gorgeous, and you have a lot of busy flora near the river, as you would expect in a desert environment. The LBG slopes on the left near the river are a tad blocky. I would expect them to be worn smooth by the river, but the undercut on the other side of the river is superb! It is rare for me to find a good representation of a layered, dirt/clay riverbank with significant erosion, and you not only managed it, but it looks fantastic. Even the stud cutouts in the wedges look like erosion detail Really outstanding work. Make sure to register on the Free Builds thread!

How ridiculous. I put it on Imgur since I uploaded this previously and didn't want to give away the Book IV opening. I have now uploaded to Flickr and edited the link so you should be able to see it. Let me know if you have trouble seeing other images and I'll move them accordingly. Thanks for the heads up!

Welcome back @socalbricks!

Welcome back! Sorry it took me a bit to get Alrune added to the Avalonian lineup and reply here. I am so excited to have you join Avalonia for this book! Love Alrune's new look! The torso from Tasha on the D&D CMF and the skirt from Rivendell, am I right? I look forward to seeing some of your wonderful work in Book IV!

Welcome to the mighty north of Mitgardia and the Guilds of Historica! Let us know if you have any questions!

Welcome! Love the mix of the old and new fig parts!

Welcome! Let us know if you have any questions!