Kai NRG

Guy K. Wyndzon sat in an easy posture, with one elbow on the table supporting his head as he thumbed through the latest mail. Presently he yawned vociferously. It really was beginning to seem as though nothing ever happened around here! There was a sudden bustle at the door; Guy recognized the well-known thump of his Uncle’s staff, and the next instant heard his gruff tones saluting him. “Oh, I’m doing pretty well, Uncle. And yourself?” “Very poorly! Incredibly poorly! Insufferably poorly!” “Why, Uncle! Whatever has happened? You’ve never been sick a day in your life!” “Humph!” “Oh!” Guy laughed lightly. “I see what it is. Haven’t got a chance for any hangings in a while, have you?” “No, I haven’t, but that’s not the half of it!” “What else, Uncle? Let me think… ohh… you’ve not got anything against MAESTRO, I hope? They’ve been so active, you know, with this new settlement! Really, I think that all our disagreements are being worked out quite effectively! Haven’t I said it all along? – just show us a common foe, and we’ll be united tout suite!” Uncle frowned portentously. “I wish you wouldn’t use such barbarous words. They sound Oleonish!” Guy laughed. “Uncle, Uncle, surely you aren’t becoming a bigoted blue-hater, as you’ve so often called the worthy Captain Argentum!” Captain Argentum, of the Filo Morado, owns a tremendous reputation for antioleonism. “Most assuredly not.” “Well, to return to the point, if it’s not MAESTRO that’s bothering you, what is?” Another frown; Uncle’s voice was very stern as he rejoined, “How often must I tell you that I refuse to hear maestro capitalized any longer in my presence!” Guy raised his eyebrows in amused surprise. “Why, Uncle, however can you hear me capitalize MAES… maestro?” “There!” he retorted triumphantly. “Can’t you hear it yourself?” “Well… waiving the point for the present, I see that it really is MAES – um – tro – that’s bothering you. But whatever for, Uncle? Surely we’ve gotten over our petty disagreements, whatever they were. For my part, I can hardly even recall them!” “You can’t, can you?!?! Well! I’ll just marshal them before you, parade them right on, forward, turn about! They owe their existence solely to the bounty of the King, yet they treat it as a right! Not only that, but they have a right to claim their own islands! And they consider it an insult to have not yet been recognized! And…” “But in fact, Uncle, that one has quite vanished – you know that in my capacity as Secretary of State I decided that it was an immaterial point and might as well be handed over, so they’ve been recogni…” “Which is by far the worst of it! You countenance them! I’m ashamed of you, Sir! You, one of the merchant princes of the earth, to bring yourself down so far as to recognize a paltry group of little traders!” “Now there, Uncle, I really must take objection at that. Lord Damaximus is one of the…” “Not another word!” Uncle positively roared. “I won’t have his name mentioned in my presence!” “Really, Uncle… I can’t say you’re being quite reasonable about all this…” “Oh! You can’t say! And what of their studied insinuation that the MCTC works exclusively in its own interest without regards to the nation, and more than that, that we were spying upon them. Spying! As if we cared one jot or tittle about their doings! As if we would ever condescend to notice them in such a fashion!!!” Guy’s face flushed slightly. “Yes, yes, that was really too bad of them… but, I don’t think it was a studied insinuation, Uncle.” He went on with a twinkle in his eye, “You say that they’re a paltry group of little traders, and then you expect them to be expertly careful in speech?” “Humph! Well, at least, I’m glad you agree with me there.” “Nothing of the kind, Uncle! At least, I haven’t said anything of the kind, and don’t intend to say it. I have great respect for MAESTRO’s – my apologies, I won’t forget again – for maestro’s members, and though of course you can’t expect me to always agree with their business policy, that’s not my concern – I’ve quite enough to do with managing the MCTC! Besides, you’ve forgotten that all this is an old tale already! What of their excellent service in the building up of Fuerte Unido?” “What of that, indeed! We need none of this insanity of working together, I tell you! Each of us can do ten times as much separately.” “I could point out an inconsistency there, at least, Uncle – what need of the MCTC, in that case?” “Hold your peace, idle boy! I was about to say, I’m sick and tired of it all. We should be sending out our ships to attack Mardier, not building up little settlements in the hopes that they’ll be nice enough to let us stay. And we should be each paying attention to our own affairs, not meddling around in this sharing and working together business! And in proof of what I say, I’m off!” “Off!” cried Guy, for the first time really alarmed. “Off! You can’t mean that, of course, Uncle! Why, we’d all go to pieces without you, I’m sure, and wherever would you go?” “Go? I haven’t quite settled it yet – must talk it over with Elaine – but I tell you, I’ve got quite a mind to become an independent rover! And if you go to pieces, why, that’s just what I want!” “A independent rover! A Sea Rat?!? Now you are jesting, Uncle.” “Well, I believe I am, but I’m serious enough about going. I’ll not stay another day in this new palace of brotherly harmony you and your cronies in… in… maestro have set up. Good-bye!” And so saying, he sprang to his feet, seized his cane, and thumped out of the room. For several seconds Guy stood rooted to the floor with astonishment and consternation. “Going! Really going!” He ran his fingers through his unruly hair. Then he sprang up suddenly and dashed out after his Uncle. “Uncle, Uncle! When will I see you again?!?” “When you least expect it, I dare say, nephew,” he replied grimly. And with a parting handshake he was on his way. “Don’t you worry, Mister Guy, he’ll be back.” The servant chuckled a bit. “He’s like a bad penny, you know. Allers turnin’ up!” ---- Well, I'm glad to bring Uncle back for a bit even if it did result in his running off... he's been awfully quiet for a while! Also I wanted to try out another one of my rafter sort of roofs... I like the way they turn out, but C&C is welcome as always! Oh, and, last but not least, Guy's Uncle's sentiments are totally in character and do not agree with my own.

As others have said, the way you managed those banana clusters is ingenious! I'm really loving the roof too, it has a great texture to it!

Neat work on this ship, I really like how you've managed to fit so many details into it! Nice colors too, the green and gold go together really well!

Great rendition of Otoño's unique tree, and good choice for soil color as well! Clever title too.

To all law-abiding citizens of the nations of the Brick Seas, The crown of Eslandola regrets that its protectionary measures should be seen by any as belligerent. Such an attitude could scarcely be further from our thoughts. Mardier's unwarranted deprivation on Eslandian shipping, and its refusal to bow to any form of restitution, could only be interpreted as an act of war, one which we have every reason to believe will be frequently repeated. Such was the initial reasoning behind our declaration. Unlike the Mardierians, we prefer for our affairs to be frank and open, and will not pretend to be on good terms with a nation while sending out armed privateers to plunder them! Having once declared war, it self-evidently behooved us to take strong measures for defense, if not for offense. Mardier, without settling upon, claimed a certain island. This island is located in alarming proximity to Eslandola's own holdings. (It may be mentioned in an aside that Mardier's claims were indeed mooted before ours, yet ours had been already in long deliberation, and who would be so temerous as to preclude the possibility of a spy?) What course is now open to us? Are we to tamely roll over and allow Mardier to build up its own forces in such a vicinity? We call upon every man of right consciousness to applaud the endeavors of our brave citizens who have carried the war into the enemy's camp in such a reasonable and peaceful manner, by the simple establishment of a settlement for our own protection. By the words of certain citizens of our illustrious neighboring empires, one would almost be led to think that, rather than having peacefully established another Eslandian settlement, we had instead dragged up the scum of the earth for a clandestine landing on Mardier's unprotected shores, where doubtless we had put a cap upon our brutality by carrying fire and sword among a town full of defenseless children! Could anything be more ridiculous, or further from the truth? We desire to live peaceably with Mardier, as with all other nations; but we will no more permit their unlawful depredations than we would permit the depredations of a band of tigers! Yet another charge has been mustered against us, more absurd than the first; that in this step we seek only our own aggrandizement. We make no secret, of course, of our endeavors to advance the arms and glory of Eslandola, and will not deny that such considerations may have had their weight with us, but a strong land is infinitely more important to us than a wide land, and without any consideration to the insignificant tally of dots on a map which seems to be so essential to these malcontents, we yet deem it our duty, for the protection of our citizens, to be well prepared against any steps Mardier might be or have been contemplating by thus locating itself so dangerously close to us. With all due respect, and desiring to remain upon good terms with all our law-abiding neighbors, On behalf of the Eslandian Crown, Guy K. Wyndzon

Great job with the base on this build! The snowscape is very nice, and I still really like your Mitgardian banner - so simple but so spot on for what it is! Architecturally it seems strange to me for wood and stone to be mixed like that in one building... I'd think the stone would be a little heavy for the wood to adequately support - but maybe there's some other explanation! Really cool fig combo for the crow-keeper!

Hey! That was so not me! Nice little build Phadeout, good job with the cutaway tunnel!

Very nice build Elostirion, and great lighting effects! The yellow worked really well for stars! It might have been nice to have some more texture on the tan part of the beach, but the way you did the waves on the water worked really well!

Great ship Bregir, excellent job on the rigging and the shape of the hull!

As others have already mentioned, the triangular shape really sets this apart! I love the round tower like sections on the two front ends, very nice work all around!

Very nice build, your pixelated water technique goes splendidly with your style! The bright colors here are great! With regards to the light blue, I've discovered that there is often a very slight discrepancy in shade between two pieces that are really both supposed to be light blue... I think that's less of a problem with more recent sets. You may have noticed the change in dark red as well; it's more or less the same thing.

The shaping on the giant is fantastic, great pose too! Nice work on the landscape as well, the skunk is a good detail!

Thanks Ska!

Clever idea for sneaking through with the treasure! I like the chubby look of the ship, and the flags work really nicely as railings!

Your little bit of story there made me smile. I'm wondering how Graham is going to pull that off, but I dare say he'll find a way. Really nice job on the swamp, and the trees look great as well!

The crossbeams here turned out really well SK, and I love the melting snow effect too - looks very realistic! How did you manage to pull off the small crossbeams on the platform? Are those just poles going from headlight to headlight?

We (leadership) have been making good progress I believe on the previous MRCA and should be able to release that next week at the latest. I'm not quite sure how it will play out yet, but hopefully we can not only set a new deadline for the next one, but develop either a simpler system or something else to tide us over to an automated version. Hopefully that way we'll be able to see monthly MRCAs back again.

Neat little vig, the open air aspect gives it a great frontier vibe!

That monkey statue is fabulous! Great use of those bananas on poles too, and I'm impressed at Colonel Brickinson's ability to sleep standing up. Must come in handy for long night watches!

What a battle... though the ending, of course, was quite disappointing! Very nice pair of ships! The Eslandian one looks quite hefty and I particularly like the pirate ship! Story-wise, a very clever way to fight against us without apparently intending to... sneaky!

Intriguing story and great build, the way you did the interior is just brilliant with those cutaway sections! The furnace also looks really good, and you've sure got a nice supply of cannon balls there! I really like the color of green you've used, though a few more architectural details out front might help to bring it out more by contrast. A very nice vig nonetheless!

Great job showing them we mean business! The building in the process of being whitewashed is pretty ingenious and I really like the palm trees in the background!

Eslandian pre-fab houses? I want one! Red, white, and green colorscheme works great as it always does!

Thanks Titus! Scattering tools around was probably my favorite part of this build! Thanks Mike! Drastic differences of opinion like this are always somewhat amusing. In this case I think I'd have to agree personally with SilentWolf, that the orange worked decently with the dark tan, but I could see how a more contrasting color might have hit a better note for others. Thanks to both of you however! Thanks Capt Wolf!

Very neat and powerful looking artillery there Titus! I sure wouldn't want to be the Mardierian standing in front of that thing!