Gideon

Looks great so far! Regarding the waterfall, I think it would look more natural if the water retains some forward motion making the top part somewhat curved and maybe do the crest more uneven? Right now it looks somewhat like a limited amount of water passing over a perfectly straight edge. Buildings with at least the bottom story made of stone would probably fit the scene if it is a place not very recently settled?

Great creature design! It's also nice to see someone use those crystals for water, I bought a pint of those in July with the same intention but I still haven't had time to try them Happy to see that it works even better than the round plate technique!

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93429

I've been limited to only talking about brick-related stuff for 2 months, but now I'm back with my bricks expect less chatter and (hopefully) more building from me Despite being one-handed I've at least managed to sort my lighthouse (including several thousands of trans clear/light blue/dark blue 1x1 round plates...) and reorganized my tan/dark tan/medium dark flesh sorting (don't know where to keep black now however ). Top priority right now is to build my Kaliphlin build for LFW in September, which is planned to be a section of a street in Barqa (with inspiration from Kabel's town) and maybe fill a couple of HSS categories.

I agree! I spent 6 months in Ireland and this MOC reminded me of there Very clever sheep design!

Sweet animal design, fences, crops...I could go on for a while Great job!

Missed your UoP claims before, definitely +1 for Marketplace. Had it not been written that it was in Avalonia I wouldn't have hesitated to second Life in Kaliphlin as well. Now I am a bit confused...

Very nice little house, way better than what we usually see from first GoH builds! I especially like the first picture As you pointed out, the gray background works very well with tan (I've actually changed from using a white to a gray background for my tan builds), I suggest that you keep using it a while longer while finding a lighting setup you are happy with. Lighting interiors are hard, I usually just build only the exterior or a two-sided interior nowadays. (Not least because interiors always seem to suffer more from the limitations of less-than-minifig scale building) My favorite door technique is SNOT brown log bricks and plates, but I havn't found out a nice way to make such doors move...

Very nice scene! We are seeing way too few white buildings in Kaliphlin, but it gives a nice Mediterranean look. I especially like the windows on the left Regarding photography I would advice you to turn off the flash (or is it another small bright source of light?) and go for a better source of external light. Outside on a cloudy day or in the shade is a good idea (even though Kaliphlin build also look great in direct sunlight if you manage to get the dynamic range right).

A tip is to make the link only to the topic or to the first post, that is [url="http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=98957"]Kaliphlinite Market[/url] and not [url="http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=98957#entry1969717"]Kaliphlinite Market[/url]

Exactly! It's perfectly fine to create characters based in or build in Barqa and the other major cities. As representative for Barqa i'm mostly trying to make the lore regarding the city as coherent as possible (like what I did here) Of course I appreciate if someone who is going to build there asks me for advice regarding new content so we can avoid contradictions, but there is no "pre-approval" needed. For other cities (like Mpya Stedor) entirely built by a player it is best to PM that player first, in the same way as if you want to feature someone's sigfig in a build

Yea, there are many other than the authorities who also use the services of such men as for example caravan escorts.

What kind of troops they are you can decide yourself. I was just saying that they did not look like soldiers of the City Guard of Barqa, but that there also are various kinds of auxiliary troops employed by the city. In times of war or increased bandit activity the numbers of auxiliary soldiers are often increased by hiring sell-swords, which are rumored to be the most ruthless when fighting bandits and marauders. Quite a few companies of sell-swords are based in Barqa when not fighting somewhere else, as there are many opportunities for a survivor returning to spend the earned and plundered wealths on all kinds of pleasures in the great city. The events here could therefore easily have involved either soldiers from the standing auxiliary forces or sell-swords if they are soldiers of Barqa.

Very nice landscaping and mean golem! Sad to hear that you are leaving GoH, it has been great to have you here and follow your story as well as your improvement as a MOCer. Good luck with your building!

What an epic and thrilling battle this is turning into! Great write-up format with these different reports A small suggestion however would be to be more clear on who belongs to which side, I've been quite confused a few times.

Great semi-humanoid beast! Very nice base design also, smart border

Good job with the story-writing and minifig posing! Maybe the boy looks too happy however having just watched his parents die? The ground is a bit sparse but for a MOC with so much else happening it does the job. I agree that the photography is better than what we usually see from new members (great background!) but I think you should try to get the pictures a bit sharper in the future. Barqa is home to various kinds of sell-swords and irregular troops (like the troops here not dressed in the official city guard outfits) and these are often hired to take care of threats to the trade routs. Like the story here the ends usually justifies the means and the Council of Barqa seldom asks too many questions how a threat has been dealt with as long as the attacks to the vital caravans or shipping stop So even if this was years ago not too much have changed, Barqa still takes threats to the trade very seriously! I think this gruesome story fits very well into a fantasy Middle Eastern setting like Kaliphlin.

Outdoors with a cloudy sky is probably the best light you have

Now with a sigfig I can say: Welcome to Kaliphlin Niro Goldwine! May your continued service to the great city of Barqa help us keep the city safe and let you prosper! One simple advice: Good lighting! (There are tutorials here on EB if you look for them)

Nice scene and the torch holders are very cleverly designed!

It may also be that Kaliphlin sandstone and limestone is easier to shape? Sadly, the same properties also means that it is more easily weathered and not as strong against siege weapons... Good thing we don't get much frost cracking our walls at least!

Sure! Lego castle building is always a balance between "big [insert color here] wall syndrome" and too much mottled/textured walls. I think of most my Kaliphlin walls as very old, and when the walls are newer (like in the repaired section next to my Sultan's Gate gatehouse) I try to show that by making the wall smoother and less mottled. I tried to compensate that by using almost all of my tan headlight bricks to put tiles on the wall to make the wall look more hastily put up

Interesting point DM! I think however that DG has a point as not all stones were very neatly cut (log bricks/grille bricks/masonry bricks) or perfectly placed to begin with (like "offset stones" with SNOT tiles) if the main purpose was to get the most defensive strength for the labor. Another interesting thing however is that we tend to think gray when we think of castles, while a lot of castles really were white-washed back in the days. So the neat white walls of Mpya Stedor is definitely historically accurate

I appreciate that you are taking in feedback regarding what kind of content would be appropriate in Kaliphlin and that is perfectly fine use of this thread if you ask me. When it comes to new content like the backstory of your sigfig etc I would advise you to post that along with the builds as this is after all a MOC based project. Of course if you want feedback on what the backstory contains (for the purpose of having it fit well in the GoH world) you can continue to ask about it here, just don't go ahead and start creating a lot of lore before you can back it up with builds. There's no rush, GoH will still be here when you get your bricks

Nice compact beast, looks very Avalonian!