Seagull King of Vaughan

As a new member, it was exciting to see the forum come to life for the challenge. Hoping for the best for Book IV when it comes!

I’m glad everyone likes the carpet! I was mostly motivated by the fact that I spent 10$ on the ‘Kaliphlin tiles’ (as we seem to be calling them!), and so I need to get good use out of them. @SimWies Thank you! The carpet really is something I’m proud of, especially since I came up with it on the spot. @MrLind I do wish I had been able to add a second wall, but I ran out of parts after the one, so I had to make do. Glad it turned out well. @Gideon Thanks! The background is some improvised stuff, plus the chair and chess table from the recent Medieval Village. On the picture front, it’s my first time doing Lego photography for posting – I’ve only done buses before, and that only casually. Something to learn from, and I will try this in the future.

I wish I had enough tiles to do this, though the floor and door look nightmarishly complicated. Good work! Happy to see more Mitgardian culture.

I see I’m not the only one indulging in the nice new printed tiles…. I’m looking forward to seeing what else can be done with them!

A nicely done office! And some of the good old Varlyrian intrigue…

Good job getting all the detail into a small, rounded area! It looks like a very respectable place. ‘Pre-Historica craftsmanship’ gave me a laugh!

That furniture looks very good, the table on the right especially. Well done!

Seconded on the bow design, that’s a good use of the tail part and the string!

My entry for Category A! I really enjoyed building this one and populating it with characters.

The Raven tavern, Thanesford The Raven is a tavern in the town of Thanesford. Located in the northern part of the town, it was converted a decade ago from a meeting house and serves a clientele of largely local citizens. Other Mitgardians are always welcomed as well, but those from other guilds generally find more comfort in taverns closer to the docks. The watchmen occasionally make patrols, but generally this is a quieter part of town. The owner insists that the sign over the door is a raven. Most think otherwise… but he will not hear it! Few raise that question anymore, after a decade in business. Regardless of this minor issue, the colours of Mitgardia fly undisputed over the fireplace, as a show of loyalty to the guild. Recently returned from touring the outlying villages, Jennessa Anthor is the singer in residence at The Raven. She has been intermittently traveling central Mitgardia since the Queen’s rule and peace was proclaimed, and is well known to the people of her hometown. Her training is more informal than those of the Univeristy of Petrea, in the traditional manner common in the northern guild. Often Jennessa plays in the town squares as well, and at other establishments, but The Raven is among her favourites. The tavern is usually generous, especially for songs of Mitgardia’s history and great deeds of the guild. And there are many to choose from! Tonight the opening song is a traditional poem about a brave couple from the clans, who searched for the way through a mountain pass in the height of winter to deliver a grave warning. ...stones covered in snow white and windy all about trees buried and torn mist, fog, and stinging ice flooded the valley floor making it a mountain. Such high drama is often a favourite in the north. Patrons have hearty discussions over their food and drink. In one corner can be found adventurers celebrating a successful job, and a couple is delivered their bottle. Dwarves feast on crab, and a clansman from further north enjoys his ale. Bonus pic – with the people and most furniture removed. So, here is my introduction to the town of Thanesford! It was different than I had planned, since it had to meet the challenge requirements. The black border stands out too much to me, so I will probably make less noticeable borders in the future. I ended up having to remove the roof to get enough light in to take pictures. Not sure about how my poetry turned out, but I can’t imagine a bard of the north without it. The ‘raven’ came about because I wanted to use the name for a tavern, but didn’t have any of the minifigure series shields available. So I used it anyway and came up with a story for why.

My entry for Category B. Category A is almost done as well!

One of the key lessons for any growing noble is the history of Historica. Such lessons are often taught by tutors retained for that purpose, but even they cannot know everything. And so often the young nobles make a trip outside the castle walls, to visit some knowledgeable fellow who can give insight into less known aspects of guild history. Supervised by the young Lady Reyna Anjou, today they have made a visit outside the castle walls to the town archives of Thanesford. Lessons sometimes bore this group, but weapons are guaranteed to grab their attention. ‘An Axe of Mitgardia!’ said Felix Allothan. ‘These fine treasures were given by the leader of our guild to various lords and towns, in the old days. Clad in our colours, they were – although the handle of this one has been replaced. Need to get that repainted…’ Chief archivist of the town of Thanesford, Felix has been in his profession for over fifty years. In his youth, he collected lore and artifacts from all over Mitgardia, writing about them and teaching others about their significance. Though not his main job, he will also sometimes give young nobles of the town lessons on important matters of Mitgardian history. In his retirement he enjoys telling tales of those days. His skills also extend to using various sharp objects, and not just on trees. While no contender for the Master-at-arms post, he can teach them the proper way to care for blades. I dropped the border for this one because of the size restriction, and I think it turned out better because of it! It was thrown together from the leftover parts I had after Challenge A. Although it doesn’t count toward HSS requirements, I still wanted to explore more of Thanesford and establish characters. I’m very proud of the carpet – it’s a reuse of parts that were intended for a city apartment kitchen. I added the Mitgardian colours and it seems right at home!

Love it! Always a fan of bridges with housing. The underside looks really interesting. I am so curious to know how you managed to get it to curve like that with regular bricks. I tried something similar for an arch one time and it ended up falling apart. As for the rush for uni – I feel it too! My own build is going to be cutting it close…

I got most of the way through my Book IV Prelude builds before realizing I had not posted my sigfig. Happy to finally be a part of Mitgardia and Historica! Oscar Vanderlynn Titles and Profession: knight lord of Thanesford Short bio: Oscar grew up as the heir to a minor castle in southern Mitgardia; he was a squire when Victor Revolword’s elemental attacks came. In the wars afterward, he enlisted as a loyal soldier of Mitgardia to defend his home. Following the return of peace, Oscar became the ruler of Thanesford as the closest living relative of the extinct Eyren family, the previous lords. He wishes to increase the prosperity and prestige of Thanesford, and is engaged in civil works such as repairing the bridge over the river and restoring the walls of the town. Hometown: Thanesford (on the Mitgardia map, where the ‘t’ of Antler is located) Parts: Hair, Head, Torso, Legs, Cape (hopefully all the links worked, I’ve never done this before)

One other question, from those of us who are new: for Challenge B, does the 16x16 area include a border around the build?

This is lovely. The gentle curve of the roof adds something to the central house. And those towers – the detail! You’ve excellently captured the grand scale!

A nice build, and well staffed by the Horse Knights. I especially like the blue-roofed tower off to the side. And it seems that houses overhanging the moat are the current fashion in castle infrastructure!

Idyllic! A nice house and island for this trio of characters. The green dragon seems to eye the fish hungrily…

Definitely a yes. I’ve been reading the Guilds of Historica forum for years, and joining was one of the main reasons I finally decided to make an account. It will have to be smaller builds to start since most of my Lego is in a closet right now. I will be declaring for Mitgardia, assuming it is open.

The apprentice animating a tiny skeleton is great! I can imagine him riding into battle on the shoulder of the skeleton knight. I have not previously seen any reuses of the Dreamzzz hat, it fits the master well.

This is a lovely build. The exterior is an excellent representation – bay windows are always fun to figure out. The interior furniture is amazing! My favourites are the clock and couch.

That’s a pretty square freighter! 7656 was one of my first Star Wars sets, and I can’t count the number of times I have put General Grevious’ head on a minifigure body to create a character. It never gets old, and Margrave Keresh Ve'tal is an excellent rendition of this. *looks around* I think I understand his interest :) An working lowering ramp? Perfection. A fine crew for an excellent ship! I always enjoy reading lore myself.

Everyone has mentioned the pillars, but I also really enjoyed the window design. It captures that Elven feeling for me.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the X-pod series before, which is strange because I started collecting Lego around the time it was released. What you’ve made of it is quite compelling. I like the portal gun reuse - always happy to see that part more. Asymmetry for the antennae is a nice touch as well, makes it feel more like a Blacktron build.

Builds set after the Scouring of the Shire seem to be pretty rare, it’s nice to see one. I particularly love the wheel-window. I’ve always found Hobbit architecture somewhat difficult to replicate with bricks, but this nails it.