Ross Fisher

Nice rules! I think your rules #2 and #3 make sense in a "this game seeks to explore the fun side of the age of sail, without any risk of glorifying the problematic sides (slavery/colonialism etc)" kind-of way. Steam and salt water could definitely not work together well. The nutty thing is that the Ancient Greeks had built a steam engine way back in the day, they just used it as a neat desk toy rather than anything useful. Took us another two millennia to figure that out.

We'd expect nothing less from the Count. Mesabi is a Promethean, so anything that pertains to the main religion of the Order of the Faith is heresy to him.

@Garmadon Thanks! Glad you like it.

We never really nailed that down. I've been head-canoning that a fleur de lys is a symbol of the faith, representing the three Aplynician Brothers. However, I don't think I've actually put that idea down anywhere. Your solution definitely works well. Lightning bolts to represent Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, and maybe a scythe for Hades? Of course, this isn't an Orthodox religion (in the original sense of the word), so there is definitely room to interpret symbols of the three brothers in whatever way you see fit.

A really nice design, well rendered and a great concept. A really minor nitpick, and certainly not something to worry about now, but Crucifixes aren't really a big meaningful symbol on the Brick Seas. With the dominant religion being the Order of the Faith, they just don't have the same significance.

Think it's meant to be half of a bridge.

A new Mint Royale for Lavalette - to take advantage of that silver monopoly: Just needs licensing for the RNTC.

Gotta take advantage of that sweet silver bonus!

I'd love to see a Bridge of Spies-type build. Classic exchange of prisoners. Would be really cool to build. But I've already done my Cat D, and my bricks are in storage now

Lovely. Clean and classy.

I stole the idea from a documentary I saw about elephants in Africa. Apparently the best way to stop them eating crops is to string bee hives between two fence posts. When the elephants nudge them, the bees swarm out. Second best deterrent was to put a bunch of chilli powder and a firecracker in a condom and throw it at them. @Khorne thanks! Glad you like it. Wish I'd included @CapOnBOBS's windmill in the architect's model. Since we were all collaborating remotely, I think it needed a microscale model to bring things together just a little.

Yeah, I think that's where I went wrong.

I've been really impressed with this whole project. It's not something that I would have the patience for, but you guys have built a really impressive settlement, here. Hope we can return the favour for the other nations.

Yeah, go ahead!

Great way of carrying on this plot line. Thanks for bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion.

It had taken the RNTC a while to grease the wheels of power enough to get the permits to open their own mint. But this was one of the few places where the failed invasion of Terraversa had actually worked to their advantage. While the war was ongoing, Oleon had withheld permission; worried that a victorious RNTC might be gaining too much power, too quickly. Evidently, that was not such a risk any more. Just as well, really; by waiting for silver to travel to the mainland mints and back, the RNTC were struggling to make payments in a timely fashion. And while their business partners might, grudgingly, accept credit notes in place of cash; unpaid troops meant unsecured warehouses. News of the permit reached Gascard weeks before the official paperwork - government couriers were notoriously slow. Nonetheless, it was all the confirmation he needed to commission his architect and get things moving. Construction was built with security first and foremost in mind. The plot chosen was in the farmland; with a double wall surrounding the entire site, and regular watchtowers along its length. And, if the wild gorse and brambles in the area weren't enough of a deterrent, Gascard had also allowed local beekeepers to place their hives between the walls. He had also agreed with the crown and the local governor on the need for multiple layers of security. As such, ore shipments, the walls, and the factory itself were all guarded by separate security forces, with checks and procedures in place to ensure that even a single pound of silver couldn't leave its location without being accounted for. The raw ore, for example, would be stored in a dedicated vault, guarded by chosen veterans from Oleon's wars of conquest. It would then go through the long and arduous process of being smelted and refined, in order to extract the precious metal. Only then could it be forged into the valuable silver "blanks", ready for the minting process. Other mints elsewhere used the traditional pair of stamps known as "dyes". Clamped around a blank coin, and given a solid application of pressure, they would imprint the appropriate markings onto the coin. But Gascard had seen the inconsistencies of this process, and just how slow it made everything run. Instead he had brought in "nodding donkeys" from the dockside pumps. These would ensure a regular rate of progress, and they would guarantee that blanks were stamped consistently. Not that the crown was prepared to take him at his word, of course. The RNTC might have been granted a license to mint coins on behalf of Oleon, but every one had to be certified as legal tender by a representative of his majesty's government. Only then, could Gascard arrange for the coinage to be shipped off to paymasters across the Brick Seas. Not a moment too soon, either. An army might march on its stomach, but a fleet sets sail on the promise of pay and pleasure in the ports of the world. And now, the RNTC had, quite literally, been given a license to print money.

Really nice concept. I like the pediment and ornamentation. All the elements of a traditional embassy.

Really realistic. A fantastic effort.

Benin Bronze. It's worth spending an hour or so Googling them, really interesting to see colonialism from the native perspective.

@Garmadon @NOD Thanks guys!

Ah, it's supposed to be a carved wooden bust. Uses the Jack Sparrow voodoo doll head. I should've put more tools in the artist's hands. Influenced by this sort of thing:

Our Cat D builds:

His build:

My build:

It was a tricky situation, that much was obvious. Ducarte had to allow the ferry to run; it was a good investment - L'Olius had made sure of that. Yes, there were bridges across the Sil in other spots, but out in the estuary, a ferry was a logical solution. And, now that the Atwi were land-locked, letting them operate the barge was a solution for everyone. It allowed the natives to have a base where they could access the sea, and it ensured that the connection was managed by a neutral party. So what if they had turned it into an impromptu marketplace? It helped to keep his ticket sales up. And there were all sorts there; barber-surgeons, native artists, fishermen, tattooists, livestock sellers, and those who trade in goods best exchanged in international waters... No, what really worried Ducarte was that it was L'Olius himself who had proposed the connection. The man had been his friend for a dozen long years, and his enemy for six short months. And during those dozen long years, Rodrigo Ducarte had learned well that forgiveness was not something that Cristóbal Diego L'Olius gave without extracting a heavy price.