Darnok

Cool build! The outside is my favourite part, there is some interesting variety in structures, and the whole thing looks "official". The inside is functional, but a bit bland in my opinion. If possible, add some details to the big wall behind the judges seat, and maybe another flag or two. Are some of those parts dusted? Overall a solid build, and definitely a great "canvas" for the upcoming trial. There is lots of room for varied minifig placement and playability, well done. I am now looking forard even more to the actual trial!

Umm, please provide some evidence for things like this. There were no threats or insults in Mordos letter, but there were plenty of both in Humes response. You keep insisting that Corrington prides itself for its adherence to protocol and law. Reactions like this make me feel like this only applies to some citizens - in cases where it suits your agenda. There is clearly a double standard applied to all things WTC from "the Crown".

[Disclaimer: Due to the size of this builds layout and the restrictions of my lightbox I could only do a few limited shots of the whole assembly. Some subassemblies had to be shot on their own. As usual: please excuse my poor photography skills.] It was another sunny day in Mesabi Landing, and the harbour was as busy as always: Some WTC Marines enjoyed a fistfight between two sailors... ... while Gonzo "Drunknok" Thompson just enjoyed a moment of rest and peace (and a bottle of rum): Some had todays work already done... ... and others still had a lot to do: The captain of the "Cranky Parrot" was discussing something with Joe... ... while another sailor was heading straight for the "Blue Dragon" right down the road: === WTC Warehouse One of the WTC Operators is taking stock: "Four Corrington suits, minor blood stains, check. Two pompous Corrie hats, check. Three flags, check. You never know when any of these might come in handy..." " ... one big barrel of beer, check. Two sacks of potatoes, check. One rat guarding the warehouse, check. Six bottles of rum, che... waitaminute! Only five bottles? Oh well, I guess Drunknok needed some inspiration for his newspaper. Fine, five bottles it is then." Harbour Tax Office When Mesabi Landig was founded, one of the first things the Crown set up was an office for the collection of harbour taxes. Little did they know how the WTC would handle things! No doubloons were ever collected here, and over time the building fell into disrepair. The Corrington red is still flying though - order must be upheld! Now the ruins are home to Steven, one of the local crabs. He is the brother of Barney, the bouncer at the "Blue Dragon". WTC Harbour Office . Guarded by two trustworthy (?) WTC Infantry... ... in this building all captains have to register their ships when coming to Mesabi Landing. One of them is doing so right now, while two more are waiting: "Welcome to Mesabi Landing. Your hat looks odd, what is it with the skull and bones?" "Arr, good lady, 'tis my families coat of arms. You see, we are honest to the bone, hence the skull and bones." "I see. For a moment I feared you were a pirate. Please note that piracy will not be tolerated here." "Of course!" "So, what are you trading with?" "Well, artefacts. Mainly made of gold, like these coins." "I see, good. Now we only need your name, and you can continue with your trades." "Umm, I think you want another of our artefacs for further examination." "I see. Mr. Smith, welcome to Mesabi Landing!" ============================================================================================================ Well, that was quite some work. Leaving out the plate with the office of the "WTC Monthly" on it, this build has a footprint of 3072 studs, and will be licensed as a large commercial property for Mesabi Landing. Building the whole thing took me about a month. It is of course modular, while I did not build any structures to support the not-water-plates (being 5 bricks above ground). The harbour sections can easily be rearranged, there are connector holes on the edges for stability. @Ayrlego @Mesabi: Please let me know if you want something to be depicted in any of these builds, for a collab or whatever you want. If not, I will take most of it apart soon. C&C are appreciated.

Of course not! The WTC is loyal to Corrington, and always has been. We never threatened or insulted anybody - in stark contrast to a certain mayor - and will continue to work for the betterment of all Corrington.

@Ayrlego Wow, what a harsh choice of words... I love it! I expected quite a stern response, but this has been blowing me away. You made me actually LOL multiple times while reading it! IC the WTC will hate it for sure, this is just dripping with Corrish arrogance and being all uppity to the 11. Mordo must be fuming! Wonderfully done, I applaud your writing skills! Seriously, no sarcasm here, I love it! OOC this has some true gems for stories in it, I will need to read it again and take some time to process all of it, then contemplate how to react. So many options to choose from! Oh, and that build is lovely too.

Woah, huge. To me it looks a lot bigger than "only" 72x64 studs, propably because of the amount of things going on in terms of details. The deer are among my favourite bits here, but the true star to me is vegetation. All those different types of trees, bushes and undergrowth, it makes the scene look truly natural and realistic. Same goes for the change from dense forest to grassland. Expertly done! The small river is another gret addition, without taking awaythe attention from its surroundings. Another masterpiece from you.

Wow, cool designs there. All that green though... you are not selling out to the Eslandoodlians, are you @Bregir?

Nice little story, simple, yet effective build, and brilliant photography. The way the focus is handled really makes the scene, well done.

Hilarious, I love it! Nice little residence, even if a bit on the simple side. But Agnes' story is great, and a double thumbs up for including a WTC Marine in the scene. I fear her efforts will be fruitless though... P.S.: The reward - as per the "WTC Monthly" advertisement - has been paid.

As a means of inspiration, I will post information about some real world traditions around Christmas and New Year every now and then. Use what you find appropriate. If you have anything to add, feel free to post it too! For a start, the Twelve Days Of Christmas. And to whoever pinned this: thank you good sir!

Mesabi Landing, 15th of December, 617AE To the honourable mayor of Mooreton Bay, Dear James Hume, I am Kadeus Mordo, current represantative of the Wayfarer Trading Company in Mesabi Landing, and I write to you in matters pertaining to the recent arrest of Captain Herman Tyrell of the WTC Icarus Returning. As we are sure you are aware, the WTC fully cooperates with the authorities and the court of Mooreton Bay, and will continue to do so. Order must be upheld, justice must be served. The intricacies of this cooperation need to be discussed though. To get straight to the point: the WTC strongly protests your treatment of the crew of the WTC Icarus Returning. As far as we are aware, no charges have been pressed against any of the crew, yet according to our information they are under military supervisison and effectively detained. The WTC considers this to be a mockery of Corringtons justice system. Order must be upheld – meaning that the proper judicial procedures have to be followed. The WTC suggsts the following: you release the crew of the WTC Icarus Returning into our custody, to be questioned in Mesabi Landing by our trained specialists. Rest assured that all relevant information gathered will be given to the court of Mooreton Bay. Not only will you get the information you undoubtely ask for, but you will also be relieved of any possible unrest any WTC members could unleash on Mooreton Bay. As we are sure you are aware, our men and women can quickly become a disruption of public order, thus you should be pleased to be released of those crewmen under your current custody. The alternative to our suggestion would be to settle the case on site. By this we mean a selection of WTC forces to be sent to Mooreton Bay to handle all aspects of Captain Tyrells case as needed. Finally, we request that the death of crewman Hamish Reed of the WTC Returning, killed during the arrest of Captain Tyrell, to be illuminated in the upcoming trial. To not further complicate things, for now the WTC will assume that the responsible commander will be held accountable. We are looking forward to your reply. Yours sincerely, Kadeus Mordo Long live the Queen! ==================================================================================================== @Ayrlego: Have fun.

Interesting, as this was something I wanted to ask anyway. Good to know. Worst case scenario would be a second coal mine. Golden Jack might not be too happy with some black rocks. Bad for the reputation I guess.

It was before my time with BotBS, but I have read some ugly things about Oleons treatment of natives. Oleon is pretty dogmatic on religion, so I would guess the Spaniards would look like schoolgirls compared to them. But that is just an outsiders opinion.

No! Bad Mesabi! We will make a good fortune with coal. There is hardly any wood on Argentia, but this coal will allow for artisans and factories to use coal instead. Once the needs of Mesabi Landing are catered for, we will start exporting coal. And who knows what else we will find deep underground? P.S.: The tunnels in a mine are also perfect for smuggling and/or hiding things, just saying.

Cool, thanks. Coal is one of the mine types that is hardly worth it in EGS terms, but makes for some excellent roleplaying and trade options. I will get the mine done ASAP. Now... any steamengine enthusiasts out there needing some coal?

Name: Cotton (Gossypium Malvaceae) IC background: Cotton is cultivated all over the Brickseas, with some of the biggest plantations to be found on An Toli, An Holli, Nellisa, and Ferro Azure. Eslandola is known to grow cotton all over its colonies, supporting a thriving textile industry. OOC background: The earliest evidence of cotton use was in the Indian subcontinent, encountered by Greeks and Arabs through the wars of Alexander the Great, and further introduced to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Iberia and Sicily in the 12th century. Mexico and Peru also had a long history of cotton cultivation, and were wearing clothing made of it when the Spanish encountered them in the 16th century. For more from Wikipedia, see here. Builds in BotBS: MCTC Cotton Plantation , a royal plantation on An Toli (MCTC) [ESL] Opening the north forty near Weelond (Capt Wolf) Cotton in Weelond (Kai NRG) [ESL] Cotton Plantation in Nova Terelli (Elostirion) [ESL] Cotton Plantations, Terelli Hills near Nova Terelli (Elostirion) [ESL] Cotton Island, Salida Este, Ferro Azure (Elostirion) Finally the royal cotton factory Augustinian Colonial Textiles in Weelond (Elostirion/MCTC) Datasheet compiled by Capt Wolf

The WTC is a trade organisation, I think we should not forget that. Trade itself is always peaceful. Shenanigans might happen though...

Merrynight Mystery Mini-Challenge Merrynight is fast approaching, and minifigs all over the Brickseas prepare for the festivities. The festive season is not only about the 24th of December: there are varied traditions and celebrations over the winter solstice, the coming of the new year, and course Merrynight itself. All these rituals, traditions and festivities are handled differently in different kingdoms, colonies and sometimes even from town to town. Some of them are quite mysterious to outsiders. Show and describe one of these traditions! This could be one of the following: a festive scene typical of your faction/island/town and some story alongside it a scene showing one of the - maybe only local? - traditions (not directly linked to festivities) and its story a scene from a myth or tale around one of the events or traditions mentioned above, and of course the myth/tale/story it appears in a character of yours is dealing with the festivities or traditions either approving of them - or not Feel free to interpret this - i.e. "festivities and traditions about or around the equivalent of Christmas and New Year in the world of BotBS" - in creative ways. In case of any questions, either ask in this thread or PM me directly. This mini-challenge will run from now on until the end of 9th of January 2018. The deadline has been extended to the 14th of January. If it is still the 14th anywhere on the world, you can still post a valid entry. Apart from that the following applies: Rules Each player can submit one entry. Each entry competes in two independent categories at the same time: "build" and "story". Each category comes with three prizes (see below). Your entry should consist of a build of at least 8x8 studs in size, and a story alongside it. There is no upper limit in build size or story length - "quality over quantity" is encouraged though. Digital builds can be used, but are not eligible in the "build" category. Winners will be determined by public vote after the 14th of January 2018; each registered BotBS player has one vote per category. Judging criteria are: quality and creativity of the MOC in the "build" category, quality of writing and creativity in the "story" category. Drunknok does not participate in the mini-challenge or the votes. Point #9 does not apply in case a vote is tied. In this case, Drunknoks choice acts as tie-breaker. All rules questions or disputes are decided by Drunknok. Prizes The first place in each category receives the right to ask for a medium sized land property of their choice (other than forts) built by Drunknok during the month of April 2018. This means: the winner comes up with an idea, Drunknok builds it based on the input from the winner. This build can then be licensed by the winner, but Drunknok pays an amount of DB equal to the license fee to the winner. The second place in each category is worth 50DB. The third place in each category is worth 25DB. Post your entry in a seperate thread, preferably with a [MMM] tag in the thread title. Then post a link to this thread here. The voting will be done by polls in two seperate threads, one for each category.

You compare me to CNN and the like? What an honour!

Thanks. To be honest, I just had the idea today... @Bregir: PM sent.

The office of the "WTC Monthly", licensed as small artisan:

"Nok, nok, nok..." Gonzo "Drunknok" Thompson walked around in the office of the "WTC Monthly", his peg leg making the familiar sound that gave him the second part of his nickname. The half-full bottle of rum on the table had something to do with the first part. Gonzo was busy getting the latest issue printed. He had the handwritten text in front of him, as well as most of it on the printing plate already. The process of setting up the printing plate took a lot of time, since the text had to be set letter after letter, word after word, out of little blocks of metal each with a negative cut-out of one letter or syllable. A few lines of text were still missing, and he looked for the right letters - luckily they were right next to him in a well sorted shelf. The most common letters had more blocks available in boxes at the top, the least used only had small boxes at the bottom. The finished printing plate was then coated with black ink: It was then put (upside down of course) into the printing press... ... moved over the clean paper and finally mechanically pressed onto the paper: With the printing plate done once, it was now possible to repeat the printing process as often as wanted - simply return the plate, add new ink and fresh paper, press, then start again. The "WTC Monthly" will find its way to every minifig in the Brick Seas - that deserves some more rum. Cheers! =============================================================================================================== A small artisan for Mesabi Landing. More pictures in the spoiler tag: I am not happy with how the building looks from the outside. Usually I like reduced colour palettes, but in this case the result looks like one of those 80s Lego City houses. The inside turned out okay, with a few compromises in terms of realism due to the scale. Obviously the roof is removable, but so is the back wall for even easier access:

Nice! Anybody mind if I do something similar?

Some edits in the previous post, but I have another question: What kind of "Christmas traditions" are there in the BotBS world? Is there even something like Christmas? Any ingame traditions?

Oi, Oleons tyranny in action. *taking notes for the next "WTC Monthly"* A great build and interesting story to go with it! Lots af things going on in this scene, with the crowd being well done. My favourite are the soldiers though, that "Boston tea party" work just looks awesome. And I love the dark red bricks!