Lord Buckethead

Absolutely fantastic Elos, I think you've nailed the Jameston style and all of the small details just make it pop. And what a lovely multi-national expedition, a Mardierian, a Terraversan and an Eslandolan, I look forward to seeing how this progresses. Though my favourite has to be The Doctor for obvious reasons. Great job!

Thanks Thaum! Thanks Bregir, I remembered a few months back @Mesabi suggested that the Mokolei Empire could be Chinese inspired, while it was already sort of established that the Mokolei were something else I thought that he could be on to something so I decided to mix in some of their aesthetics with the Middle Eastern/Indian culture we had already come up with. I wasn't sure how it would work but I'm pretty happy with it. I will be sure to link it in the adventure topic soon. To be honest I hadn't actually thought about including the diplomat or the representative, it sort of slipped my mind as the adventure hasn't been on my agenda in quite a while, hopefully we can get back into it next month, but to answer your question, yes the representative and diplomat will most likely be joining them for...well it's a secret. ;) Thanks Kai, fun fact the camel rider was actually meant to be the guy who approaches Fernsby and Williams (I just wasn't happy with any of the shots that I had with him up there so I didn't include the pictures) so he does make it through but looking at the picture it would appear that there is no way to do so without being clothesline by the lanterns, perhaps he dismounts. Thanks BD, I was actually most conflicted about including the dragon, wasn't too sure if it would fit with the Mokolei Empire, but looking at your comments I'm glad I did.

While it is true that the Mokolei don't celebrate Merrynight, a national holiday does exist that just so happens to fall on Merrynight Eve. The festivities of Riq'ya, for which there exists no translation commemorate the birth of the first Mokolei Emperor, Jawed I. It is believed that the royal family is descended of the great dragons of old and as such many in the Empire revere them as gods amongst men. Riq'ya is regarded as the day when the fortunes of men for the coming year are decided and when the Emperor may forgive sinners. In some satrapies it is also a day when prayers are arranged for ones deceased ancestors. Riq'ya is widely regarded as the single most important day in the Mokolei calendar and involves many festivals and street parades following the prayers that are meant to herald the new year. The parades often involves the use of dragon costumes and fire, both of which are symbolic of the Emperor, his family and Imperial power. Having resolved the tense situation in Tazelft and having regrouped with the rest of the expedition it was finally time to set off, but before they departed it was decided that Captain Fernsby and Lieutenant Williams should head back in to town to purchase supplies (alcohol) for the officers. Little did they know however, today was the holy day of Riq'ya, a day of major festivals in the Mokolei Empire and so it wasn't long before they found themselves sipping on an ice cold beverage atop a quaint cafe, observing the festivities below. Fernsby: That costume, have you ever seen anything like it before? Williams: No sir, it looks completely alien to me. Do you know what it is. Fernsby: Absolutely no idea, but it would seem that these people worship the creature as some sort of deity, perhaps it is some sort of god. Williams: Perhaps, if so at least it possesses a certain aesthetic quality that the gods of the faith are sorely lacking. Fernsby: Indeed. Lieutenant do you see those performers down there. Williams: Aye sir. Fernsby: What is that man standing on. Williams: They would appear to be sticks. Fernsby: What purpose do you think they serve? Williams: I suppose it is to make him look taller, these people are incredibly short you know As both men chuckled they were approached by a local man, he was well dressed and clearly wealthy. Kumar: Greetings gentlemen, my name is Kumar Ali and I come to you on behalf of his majesty the Satrap Darius. His majesty requests your presence at his palace tonight, do you accept his request? The two officers glanced at each other. Fernsby: We will graciously accept his majesty's invitation, what time must we be there? Kumar: You needn't worry about that Captain Fernsby, a rickshaw will be sent for you when the time is right. Fernsby: How will you know where to find us? Kumar: Trust me Captain we will know, not a thing goes on in his majesty's territory without his knowledge. Good day gentlemen Nobody else stopped going about their business however, here a chef prepares a delicious feast for those that can afford it. _________________________ Thank you for viewing my entry to @Drunknok minichallenge, I would just like to apologise to Drunknok for the late entry, I hope it was somewhat worth it. To be truthful I wasn't going to build an entry due to time restraints but then I saw that the deadline was extended and thought that I may be able to get one out and I did, albeit almost two days late.

Major Martha Walsh of the Royal Engineers was the officer selected to lead the Royal Society of Military Sciences's expedition into Celestia. Having graduated from Archeon college in Belson she was offered a commission and from there quickly rose through the ranks, earning acclaim for always completing her projects to a high standard. While she was meant to be on Cocovia working on the wagonway, she was permitted to lead Fernsby's planned expedition into the jungle in his absence however short of suitable residence and criminally underfunded this may very well prove to be the biggest challenge of her career yet. In the absence of adequate funding the expedition has make do with Jameston's old barracks as a base of operations. The barracks is located on the outskirts of the growing settlement and is all that remains of Jameston's first fort which has since been demolished, However the barracks is not large enough to house the whole expedition and as such some have had to set up tents outside. The expedition also doesn't have the funds to purchase rations for everyone and so the order has been given to live off the land, the soldiers now required to hunt for their own food and gather their own water. For all the doom and gloom though, the expedition remains in high spirits and is ready to set out in to the jungle at a moments notice.as the men gather their meal for the night Major Walsh gives orders to Captain McDowell, second in command of the expedition, in preparation for the planned trek into the jungle. Meanwhile a small party of soldiers returns with the main course. And the engineers direct their best efforts into retrieving some healthy snacks. Dramatis Personae Major Walsh and the Royal Engineers Captain McDowell and RSMS soldiers Thanks for viewing, C and C appreciated. Unfortunately I wasn't able to put much into this entry and I also wasn't able to build in the Jameston style due to a few limitations but hopefully wou will find my Cat. B entries a bit better,

Wow, I never even thought about using those sails like that, I think they work quite well, obviously they would be better without the number but I'm not sure if you can remove that. And once again another hilarious story, good job.

I have a question for leadership regarding the Charlatan Bay situation. Now Kwatchi has stated that Charlatan Bay is under the authority of the Mardierian Navy and by extent Mardier. In the event that Corrington goes to war with Charlatan Bay (Yes I know we have a ceasefire, but as Kwatchi has proven to Mesabi, deals can be broken) would we also be at war with Mardier. I suppose this is also somewhat of a question for Kwatchi but it would appear that he no longer wants to associate with us at all. -Thanks

Somehow i didn't notice that, while I'm sure you know what i meant it does sound very wrong. Apologies, it has been changed.

So you want us to hang Sinbad?

Not quite, while I did say that I want the law to be upheld I don't actually want Josh to be hung. Admittedly that is a contradiction but I'm trying to be reasonable.

I get that's it's not real life, what I was trying to say was that Corrington adopts the death penalty for the crime of piracy. Now I do get that it places the Sea Rats in a pretty tricky situation in that the factions ruled by a government are naturally going to be larger (due in no small part to the fact that there are three of them) and as such the Sea Rats can't really stand up to them making piracy stories kind of hard, I concede this. But as a Corlander I prefer the law to be upheld and in this instance it has not.

Uhhh? You do know what happened to pirates in real life right? Corrington, being a nation that largely models its policies off of those of its real life counterpart the British Empire, adopts the death penalty for the crime of piracy. Now you've openly admitted to the act of piracy in a court of law and your reasoning was objectively very weak. Of course the excuse can be made that you bribed the jury, which is fine, it's perfectly in line with your character and IC we wouldn't know that you did, but that in my opinion sets a dangerous precedent. Who's to stop me from killing the King of Eslandola, bribing the jury and getting off scotch free? While IC we wouldn't know that the jury was bribed I'm pretty sure that the authorities would be pretty suspicious. I think the main point of contention here is that were Sinbad tried in a fair and objective court, he would've lost and no doubt received the death penalty, which creates a pretty messy situation as we don't want to kill another players character yet the law must still be upheld. To be honest I'm not too sure how to resolve this situation but hopefully a reasonable solution can be worked out.

What's that? You need the Royal Engineers. Hmmmmm

Right, and my troops are in that area as well. Maybe we will bump into each other. ;)

This cracked me up.

A very nice moc, but I think it needs some more lootboxes.

Lord Buckethead (Refnor) Side Builds [GBW] - Troop Movement - Refnor - Catching the Train (4 points) Campaigns [GBW - CP6] Refnor - Delta Research Centre

I will sign up for Refnor then, I will create an AAR post and will upload a picture of my signing tomorrow.

So I've been thinking about joining this game for a while now as I'm really interested in the military, my choice was going to be Balafih as I saw that they had an open spot but just out of curiosity would Refnor be considered open seen a sVaderFan has since been banned?

The pictures are on the legoleaks discord if anybody is interested.

Well this is suspicious, nice build anyway.

The mood was tense, somewhat awkward as Sergeant Doyle was tied up to the flogging post. Everyone thought the punishment was harsh relative to the offense that he had committed but the Mokolei demanded justice, its just their idea of justice was different to that of the Corlanders. Despite the fact he was about to endure the worst pain he would ever receive in his life, Sergeant Doyle remained fairly calm. Floggings were quite rare in Corrington nowadays many seeing the practice as outdated and overly cruel however most battalions still carried the equipment as a callback to the past, never intending to use it. It was actually quite fortunate for the Sergeant that the equipment had been packed for otherwise he would have been subjected to the Mokolei way. And just like that it began, normally an officer would read out the offenders crimes before the flogging started but in this instance most thought it best to keep quiet and get it over and done with as fast as possible. "Unpleasant business, but it is all for the good of Corrington" said Captain Abbot. "Indeed, fortunately Captain Fernsby isn't here, he would likely puke" replied Lieutenant Williams. "And where would the good Captain be at the moment" asked Abbot. "He didn't tell you?" asked Williams confused, "He's taken the engineers to go and repair a lighthouse, part of our reparations you see". Meanwhile... "And so I believe this will be sufficient enough to repay you for the...damage we have caused' asked Captain Fernsby. "Indeed it does Mr. Fernsby", replied the Mokolei elder, "I also came across some information earlier this morning that may be of some interest to you, a Corlander diplomat has been sighted in the town recently, if this is the same diplomat that you mentioned before then perhaps you can finally continue with your journey". "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, i was not yet aware of this. In light of this new information I think you needn't worry about us much longer."

Welcome Merc, very nice backstory and a great build. Its simple but it gets the point across wonderfully and I'm really liking the chandelier. When it comes to resizing your picture I think most people just do it in a photo editing software although I believe there is a way to do it on eurobricks, once you've linked the URL double click on the picture and you should be given the option to resize. Enjoy.

Diplomacy, with a pirate? Blasphemy!

As always your minifigures posing is terrific, it really adds to the atmosphere of the already great build. Good job.

The Mokolei Empire and Allied States Flag: Primary Colour: No single colour defines the Mokolei. Each satrap (administrative region) will use unique (generally bright) colours. Secondary Colours: The Emperor generally uses green and dark red and most Mokolei armies will have green and dark red banners spread through their ranks. Demonym: Mokolei Nickname: ‘The Southern Empire’ Primary Real World Influences: A vast Mughal (Indo-Persian) style empire whose territories span from Arabic type culture in the north-east through to a more Persian type culture in the centre and around the capital before moving down to more Indian/Pakistani style cultures in the south. Ruler: Emperor Jawed III Capital: Mokolei People and History Very little is known among the nations of the Madrice peninsula concerning the history of the Mokolei Empire. Madrician scholars generally agree the empire was formed sometime towards the end of the Great Empire that once united most of the known lands of Halos and that the rise of the Mokolei coincided with the decline of the Great Empire. While still strong, the empire has not undergone any major expansion in the last 300 years and culturally and scientifically has begun to decline. The current Emperor, Jawed III, is in his 70’s and has pursued an inward focus for his reign. His son, Jawed IV is expected to ascend the throne on the death of his father and is rumoured to have more interest in external affairs than the last several Emperors. The Mokolei Empire is made up of many different cultures over its vast expanse of territory that are ruled by a central dynasty. The core regions of the Empire are the lands around the capital from which the Mokolei people originate. As Mokolei power spread and new territories were absorbed, the Mokolei developed a method of minimal intervention in the local societies that they ruled. With local cultures and traditions left largely intact, the Mokolei administrated their new and diverse territories by infiltrating the local ruling class through marriage alliances or substitution while at the same time introducing a common bureaucratic method to support the local rulers and ensure taxes were paid and levies supplied to the central government. Each administrative area is known as a satrapy and is ruled by a satrap. The system has worked well for the Mokolei who have held together their vast empire for hundreds of years now. The Empire is famous both it's trade in rare spices and the more basic commodity of salt. Salt production is centred around the large inland lakes found in the core region of the Mokolei and the salt trade was the cornerstone of which Mokolei power was originally founded. While there are several main religions practised throughout the empire, ‘The Faith’ as practised by nations of the Madrice peninsular is not among them. Mokolei Cities and Towns of note Mokolei (Imperial Capital) Tazelft Morghun Kahnabad Malarpura Mokolei Settlements in New Terra None known Diplomatic Relations: Diplomatic relations are rated on a scale of 1-5 (1=Very Friendly, 2=Friendly, 3=Indifferent, 4=Unfriendly, 5=Very Unfriendly/Hostile. A rating of 5 doesn't necessarily mean the nations are at war and conversely a rating of 1 doesn't mean the nations have an alliance.) Corrington: Indifferent  Eslandola: Indifferent  Oleon: Indifferent  Sea Rats: Indifferent  Tellvolk: Belligerent Selleek: Belligerent The Middle Kingdoms: Belligerent The Great Alliance States: Belligerent War: No official state of war exists currently, however; constant cross border raids and skirmishes occur between the Mokolei Empire and the states of Tellvolk and Selleek. Occasional incursions and raids are also common with the The Middle Kingdoms and the Great Alliance States. Alliances or pacts: None known Defining Characteristics Each NPC nation has values for eight primary characteristics set by leadership for the purposes understanding the powers of NPC nations. These values are dynamic and may change periodically in response to events in the Brick Seas. Naval power: • • • • • • • • • • Mokolei power is largely land based and little attention is paid to the Navy. Coastal satrapies may raise small naval forces mainly for combating piracy. Galleys, xebecs and dhows are common. Larger Mokolei vessels have been seen in New Terra, but these are generally thought to be either trading vessels or pirates. Military power: • • • • • • • • • • The huge land armies for which the Mokolei are famous are mainly made up of levies raised and commanded by each satrap and as such equipment, uniforms and training vary greatly. The Emperor does maintain a relatively small (still bigger than most of the minor nations of Madrice) professional army that are better trained and equipped than most of the levies. Most local satraps also maintain small professional units that fight alongside the local levies. Artillery is very important to Mokolei armies and is used in most engagements. Artillery pieces range from huge siege guns that are hauled into place with elephants to smaller more mobile cannon. Cavalry also make up a large proportion of most Mokolei armies, both horse and camel mounted. Scientific advancement: • • • • • • • • • • Mokolei scientists once led the field in advances ranging from military technology to medicine and agriculture. Indeed Madrician scholars believe gunpowder to have possibly been invented in the Empire, although rumours are that it actually originated in an unknown land to the south. Regardless Mokolei advances in science have been in decline for at least the last 200 years. Political/diplomatic influence: • • • • • • • • • • The sheer size of the Empire is enough to provoke either respect or fear from neighbouring nations. The Empire has however had an inward focus for the past hundred years or so. Cross border raiding and skirmishes are common in some areas, although these are almost always the result of local disputes and not Imperially instigated. Inner stability: • • • • • • • • • • The satrapy system with its large degree of local autonomy has been mostly successful in unifying the vast empire. However infighting between neighbouring satrapies is common and can consist of anything from raiding up to full scale battles that require Imperial intervention. In most cases the Emperor’s decrees are obeyed and major civil war is usually avoided although wars of succession have become more frequent in the last couple of centuries. Treasury/coffers: • • • • • • • • • • The vast empire may have many poor subjects, but trade and a system of tributes from the satrapies has made both many satraps and the Emperor himself immensely rich. Bribes and corruption are also widespread, leading to further concentration of riches. The populace is rather poor, though, meaning there is a limited potential for further taxation, should a long period of war, famine, or disaster hit the empire. Exploration: • • • • • • • • • • The Mokolei are aware of the existence of New Terra and Mokolei ships have occasionally been spotted in the Brick Seas, however no Imperial effort has been made to explore or settle New Terra to date. Mokolei knowledge of the old world, especially to the south and west is however probably far superior to that of most nations of the Madrice peninsular. Cultural advancement: • • • • • • • • • • The Mokolei were for hundreds of years known throughout Halos for their art and culture. Of particular note are textiles, especially carpets and rugs, and poetry. Cultural advancement has slowed in the last couple of hundred years, although a strong legacy remains. Known Mokolei Personalities and Organisations Emperor Jawed III Well into his 70's, Jawed III is a shrewd and cunning political operator who has successfully managed to hold together the many satrapies of the Empire throughout his long reign. This inward focus was inherited from his father, and his father before him as the dynasty struggles to hold the Empire together. His son, also Jawed, is rumoured to be just as ruthless but have a much keener interest in the world outside of the Empire. Examples of Mokolei builds An example of North-Eastern Mokolei architecture by @Ayrlego Examples of Mokolei troops Infantry: Imperial Janissary (heavy infantry), Nizami musketeers (x2) (line infantry), Kvarnerić Pandour (light infantry), Mokolei Shamshiri (melee infantry). Cavalry: Imperial Guard Cavalry, Nizami Lancer, Camel Tribesman.