Garmadon

AVery nice ship, Franco Clarke, the stern is excellent, and your sails overall are quite neat as well! And with all those guns, it definitely does look like a formidable foe!

Beautiful build, Captain Dee, love the symmetry of it, and can't wait to see more!

Thanks Kai, huge windows in royal bed-chambers are just a must, I'm afraid! Thanks! And yes, that golden piece worked out perfectly there! Thanks a lot, Elostirion! - that's exactly the feeling I was trying to convey! Thanks Kwatchi! The fireplace was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole build (although I liked it all, ), and I incorporated a light-up brick behind the fire which gives it that bit of a glow - which, by the bye, is the first time I've ever been able to get a light-up brick to ever come across at all in a picture, so that was a plus! Thanks Bregir, glad you like it! It took a while, but I ended up quite happy with the curtains, especially the smaller white ones behind (which is where a bunch of those headlight bricks went to! ) And yes, unfortunately that is one of the down-sides of all-LEGO scenes, especially somewhat awkward ones with three sides... and of not having an infinite supply of dark green! Yes, you're correct about it being a painting, but even when I was building it I knew that only the bottom half was going to come across in most of the pictures... I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until I get another chance to try it out at a better angle, but you know, that corner was just screaming for a full-length portrait, even if the viewer could hardly see it! And if you were wondering about who it is a painting of, just look at my avatar Thanks, Capt Wolf! Glad you like it!

Thanks LordDan! Yes, unfortunately if you're not at a decent angle from the front, the mountain does tend to look a bit flat - but you're right about the fantasy type atmosphere I was going for! Thanks! Thank you, The Architect! Glad you liked it! Thanks a lot, Tyndale, and great to see new members joining our great Guild! Interiors can be complicated but they definitely pay off in the end, looking forward to seeing what you come up with! And on the bright side, you know, the fact that it's destroyed means that I have some bricks left to build other builds with! Kai here and Sleg in the Mitgardian thread have done a good job explaining how to embed pictures into a post here on EB Thanks dG! Glad you like it, and getting all the small details and minifigure posing right is certainly one of the most important parts of any build! Thanks again!

Alright, I see others have been working on summaries too, but here goes for mine It's about time for a frontpage update to help new comers get a grasp of where we are without having to read all four pages, at any rate! Note that these are not all necessarily final, but only appear to be where we are heading right now. If you've got any questions/suggestions/comments, don't be afraid to share them! The Old World/Continental/High Council has the following prerogatives: For forts, troops, and ships: The New World Council decides by vote when and how many troops or ships to raise, above the automatic game thresholds (3 ships, 1 company per island, etc.). By default, the Old World Council decides where these should go (i.e. fills out the paperwork), but they can be overruled by the New World should they put it to vote, up to 1/2 of the total available military or navy: i.e. if we have 4 ships, and the Old World Council wants them to go on a Pirate Purge, but the New World Council wants them to go on Trade Routes, the New World can overrule for 2 of those ships, but not for the other two. For declaring war: The Old World Council does the actual declaration. Both Councils must always be agreed, however, for a war to be initiated. For making treaties: The Old World Council signs the treaty into law, but it must be ratified by the New World Council prior to signing. For creating monopolies: The New World Council proposes & votes upon these, but the Old World Council (and BoBS leadership in general) possess veto power. For the granting of charters for TCs, Settlements, and/or Royal Properties: The Old World Council decides, but the New World can veto within 2 weeks by a 2/3s majority. [Edit: That would be vetoing a yes, of course. A no can't be vetoed.] All other things outside of the above (such as taxation, etc., etc.) belong to prerogative the Colonial Council, not subject to the High Council’s veto. The seats on the Colonial Council will be distributed thusly: There are 7 seats – 1 for each of the 3 TCs (selected by TC members as they please), 1 for each of the 3 regions (selected by citizens of that region as they see fit, with new regions resulting in new seats in the future), and 1 independent seat (selected by players not aligned with a TC). Each player in the Colonial Council gets 3 votes, which would in-story be cast by three different members of the council all controlled by that one member of Eslandola. There is also one Prime Magistrate/Minister/Stadtholder position in the Colonial Council, who would be the Council’s leader, and would be in charge of seeing that business is taken care of. The member controlling the Prime Minister would not be able to sit at the same time in the council, but would instead receive 5 votes, to indicate that that party is likely in the majority (one Prime Minister vote, and four other members of the council controlled by the same member of Eslandola). Note that this is still under deliberation, and that possibly the Stadtholder would only be able to vote in the case of a tie – but, as it is the most important and will likely be the most contested position of the council, I really think that the votes allowed to him ought to reflect that - remember that the member with this position could quite possibly be giving up a normal seat in the council. The Prime Minister/etc. position would be filled with the winner of a contest at the end of each PM term, which would involve building and campaigning, and he would be elected by the whole nation of Eslandola. Note that this is also under discussion, and that the other possibility is that he would be elected by the council – but I really think that we definitely need at least one seat elected by the populace at large, and given the importance of this seat, the campaigning part of the race, and that the other one possibly up for public election was decided instead in favor of a free trader/independent seat, I really think the first option is the one we should go for. A possible mix would be that three candidates would be chosen out of however many there were by the council, prior to a general election on those members. A 51% majority of the total members of the council would be needed to pass any bill – 14 votes (out of 26, the total number of characters on the council, supposing that the PM receives the 5 votes). The other possibility (which I myself would be in favor of) would be that only a 51% of the members actually sitting in the council would be needed to pass a bill (that allows for the possibility of bribing someone not to show up in order for a bill to pass, and not only, as in the other case, for a bill to fail [all absentees being counted as againsts] – and since we don’t seem to be against the idea of leaving the door open for bribing, I can’t see why we would want to close the door just half the way!) Under either possibility, at and rate, members not showing up would be subject to a fine. As to the other questions (these are just my own opinions now): How often are elections held? I'd say we should have the Council elections 3 or 4 times in a year, and the Prime Minister/whatever you like to call him one twice a year. The reason for the shorter election time periods is that I really don't think that all members who would want to participate on the council would be able to commit themselves for, say, being around for half a year! - and I don't think we ought to depend on every member of the council being there that often. The Prime Magistrate, on the other hand, would obviously have to be committed to a certain degree, but even there I really don't think it should exceed 6 months. And both of those would be particularly important if we are going to install the fine. Are council members and the PM/Stadtholder paid positions? I'm with Kai - 25DBs for each member, and 50DBs for the PM. Will members be fined for absence? (In which case there would be the possibility of abstaining) I pretty much agree with Kai here too, although a little smaller of a fine (50DBs for a member, and 250 for the Stadtholder) might be better What is the time frame in which votes are expected to be cast? I'd think it would depend at times on the pressure for the bill to be addressed, but 2 weeks sounds good off the bat. I'm not sure that this would necessarily need to go into the constitution, but perhaps it would be better so! There are a few other questions, and I'm sure I missed some things in the questions and the summary, but that's enough for me for now! What we really need to do is to make sure that the basic outline above (the summary) is finalized and approved by all or at least the great majority of Eslandolans, and than we can go on to address some of the smaller points. The next few things to do, at any rate, would be to write the constitution (incorporating the final decisions on the points above), pen a Bill of Rights (basic rights and limits within which the Council must operate), and once and for all, to write out that elusive Magna Charta in pen and ink!

Well, as everyone knows, the King of Eslandola, Fernando Augusto VIII, has recently decided that it might be a good idea to sign away his power in the Eslandolan Magna Charta - but for all those who were curious as to how exactly he was convinced, this would be for you! The candlelight glimmered on the shaded canopy, and the bright and roaring fire added its own charm to the scene inside the King's royal bedchamber. King Fernando Augusto VIII lay back on his pillow and sighed contentedly. As it so happened, he was thinking of that glorious, magnificent trick of his in taking those fortresses from the sleepy Oleanders, and planning his own trip to Granoleon in the near future - but then again, you know, that should hardly be surprising, for it is certainly under a great deal of doubt whether he had thought of anything else at all since that brilliant morning! Be that as it may, as he lay there - having strictly instructed his servants not to disturb him, by the way - he happened to hear a strange sound as of something falling softly in the room. Leaping out of his bed and drawing back the curtains, he dashed out armed and, as all his servants would be sure to say, certainly highly dangerous. * * * De Chauncourtois leapt through the partly open but curtained window with a satisfied grin upon his face. This, decidedly, was great fun. Ever since he had been to the meeting with some of the leading figures of New Eslandola a few days previously he had known exactly what he was going to do, and planning it all out had been extraordinarily exciting. But there's nothing like the execution itself! Drawing and cocking his pistol, he dropped into his good friend, the King's, bed-chamber, along with half a company of ETWC soldiers, all apparently as enthusiastic about the idea as their energetic leader himself. The second he had emerged from the voluminous folds of his magnificent bed, however, the King caught sight of de Chauncourtois and his soldiers, and the nightcap dropped from his hand in utter surprise. But the King wasn't king for nothing, you know! Coming up with the next thing to do when in a pinch was his expertise, and with a quick glance around and a reflection on the great bravery and prudence he had inherited from his illustrious ancestors, he collected his scattered wits and dashed from the room. But unfortunately for him, of course, his good friend de Chauncourtois had foreseen that, and King Fernando Augusto found that, all down the hall, a host of ETWC soldiers were pouring in, doubtless to show him back into his bed-chamber for a good night's rest. * * * But, you know, when Guy K. Wyndzon dropped in to the palace latter that morning, to his surprise he found the King and de Chauncourtois seated at the whist table, sipping their champagne and laughing and chatting like the oldest of friends. And, after all, he found that the King had turned the matter over in his head, and decided that signing the Magna Charta was rather a good idea all things considered. A closeup shot: The bed: And another final picture of about the whole thing (as much as could be got into one photo, at any rate! ) As to the build, it was certainly a lot of fun, and I had some great chances to experiment with inventing new techniques and reusing old ones. An interesting thing about it is that I used every last one of my own headlight bricks here and quite a few of Kai's as well! - in fact, the build was about chock full of half-plate offsets. The candles are a previous design of mine, the bed under the canopy is Kai's design, and the canopy itself is another attempt of mine at such things, and I think it turned out far better than my first! Thank for viewing, C&C are welcome! And don't forget to enter the Eslandolan minichallenge!

Excellent build, SK, the light gray and sand green work very well here, and the water has got to be one of my favorite parts of the build! Very nice interior as usual too, and as the others have mentioned, those recessed stairs are superb!

Well, my own personal opinion would be that it would add quite enough to the council to make up for the small amount of complications it would entail. And, no, of course I didn't mean that 7 (or 8) out of 15 players was an elitist approach! In fact, I entirely agree with you on the number of members we should have and how they should be apportioned - but what I meant was that seven in-context characters meant to represent all the hundreds or thousands of Eslandolans in the New World does seem a bit elitist. The three votes/characters for each member would be meant entirely for story propagation and to in-game people the Congress up into a more representative assembly. Let's see what the others think about that, anyways Are you at all familiar with the Mitgardian Prime Minister races? No, of course it would not be based exclusively on the build, and the voters would not be voting on a build-off, but rather on who they think the Prime Minister should be based on their story, character, promises, and general political outlook. And on whose trash-talking they liked best, Perhaps you're right about the PIPs and FIPs - but we were just thinking, they're there, let's get some use out of them! No, no, definitely not once every two years!!! I was thinking something like twice a year for the Prime Minister, and quarterly for the Colonial Council - I really think that less more than that would be quite unwise and altogether not a good idea Well, you see, I really don't think that many polls are necessary - but if you other TCs can't agree on anything without a poll, I suppose that's all your problem! Captain B and I should be able to handle the thing without them (and probably couldn't handle appointments with it! ). Also, if you want to require a build for any player to be eligible, I definitely would limit that at least to the four seats based on regions and independents. Interesting idea with the Prime Minister election being only decided upon by the Council - but given the trash-talk oriented sort of campaign I imagine, I'd probably prefer seeing it a general all Eslandola election (or even all BoBS election - which, I may remark to all of you who are giving me a blank stare just now, works perfectly well in GoH )

This sounds rather good to me - we definitely need to limit the number of seats so that only about half of the active members are on the council at any given time, or else it will be altogether far too large for the member base Those seven members (Kai's idea) could have as many in-game characters in the council as their heart could wish, but each of the seven members would get only three votes. This would add a layer of depth to the council and expand it into the larger representative assembly we want it to be, instead of being a tiny little group of about seven elitist fellows - plus it would add the possibility of playing your own characters off each other, and let their own in-game views affect their voting. All in all I think it an intriguing idea! Oh, and of course, the Prime Minister. My ideas as to that would be the following, let's here what you all think of it: Every so often (bi-yearly, maybe? We'd decide this when all the terms are decided) we would run a Prime Minister building and campaigning contest, the winner of which (decided by a general vote) would receive the situation, and would receive five votes, as opposed to the other members' three. A member of the Council would of course be able to run, but whoever wins the Prime Minister position would have to give up their other seat. The other requirement would be a stock of at least, say, 500 PIPs (personal influence points, and it only makes sense to play them in here), of which 100 PIPs would be spent upon being voted into the office. As some of you all might know, a similar Prime Minister campaign is run in GoH's Mitgardia (though of course, a little less complicated ), and I really like the idea of making it a contest and vote. This exactly I'm afraid the whole cabinet thing might make it a little overly complicated if we allow members to be in other members' cabinets, so I'd say that every member of the Council (and the Prime Minister, of course) could have their own cabinet if they please, but that the seats of the Council should be enough positions, just to avoid this thing growing to an unsustainable size! @All you outsiders, Glad to hear we're entertaining you all! Fire away with any suggestions you've got! And @Kwatchi, Oh, I'm pretty sure all the scheming will come naturally enough once we get there! The two party system of Royalists and Republicans is a very interesting idea - we'll have to think on that a bit and how it might be able to play out! On another note, two pages already!? I'll have to update the first post with the current lookout pretty soon so as not to get to far gone! Will try to do that some time later today if possible!

First off, sorry for any misunderstandings arising from de Chauncourtois' rather flowery and aristocratic style - all the first post was meant to say, essentially, was that the discussion has been opened, and to give a few starting suggestions (none of which are meant to be imposed on you, but which are simply presented for discussion). As Kai also mentioned, however, the push to get the challenge posted in good time did mess up the timeline a little, so that the Magna Charta has actually by signed in game (that was all I meant by referring to it in the post), without having actually been written yet - which, of course, we'll be discussing with all the rest of you So never fear with that, we're not imposing a top-down story-line or system on you - exactly the opposite, in fact! - we're asking for your input and ideas for the future of Eslandola! That said, on to some of the questions and ideas: Taxes - the free 20% tax, as per the leadership's current discussions, will soon be done away with for all factions, so that if and nation wishes to receive that money, they will need to actually decide and raise it themselves. What I was saying (and I think all will agree with me), is that it is the Colonial Council's prerogative to decide what that rate of tax should be (no taxation without representation! ) The Old World High Council (as it is currently called) consists of the leadership. So every time it is referred to, what is meant is the leaders. Kai has done a good job explaining what it is that the leadership needs to keep a hold of simply because it is leadership, and therefore responsible, for instance, to regularly do the paperwork of filling out forms. Where the ships, troops, etc. will be allocated, however, will be, up to at least 50% (that's up to discussion - if you have a different rate go ahead and suggest it, and your reasons for it), will be subject to obey the vote of the Colonial Council, not subject to a High Council (leadership) veto. Note that this one, unlike the previous two, is a new (by which I only mean, not previously mentioned in this thread) suggestion - which is, namely, that there will be only one treasury of Eslandola which is to be found in Colonial Eslandola, and subject (to at least the degree noted in point 2) entirely to the Colonial Council. In short, no money faction treasure ships sailing away with Colonial Eslandola's gold to the Old World Since there is no need for the leadership (note that I mean the OOC leadership, not IC, of course) to keep a tight hold of the nation's money purse - and in fact, since it is there to serve the people, giving them as much say in the matter as possible is entirely a good idea - there is no real reason for having two treasuries (one for the High Council [leadership] and one for the Colonial Council). Therefore, we may as well as just leave the town banks as they are for now, and let the Colonial Council itself decide if they want to tax them, and/or to what degree, after it has been formed. So let's drop that part of the discussion for now. As Kai noted (this is particularly @Faladrin), the fact is, that the places on the High Council which were originally planned were nothing but empty titles. Since we have a rather robust membership (keep it up, guys! ), since they have requested for a government seated in the Colonies, since it is the leadership of Eslandola's opinion, like that of its members, that allowing the regular member more say in the government (only if they want it, of course!) is a good thing, and since it is handy to keep the High Council to the leadership for leadership decisions (meaning that, of course, any new leader will, in fact, be promoted into the High Council), we've pretty much all come to an agreement that an overhaul of the current system will result in the best for all concerned! Sorry if that was long-winded, and hope it explains the matter better than Chauncourtois could pretty well! And definitely keep up your quest for that fabled apple! I've definitely missed some things here, but I'm sure you all are already tired of this post anyhow! I'll just close by remarking that I plan to add the new points of majority concensus (whenever they seem to appear) to the first post, so that we can be gathering the points for the eventual final rules. So just go check up there every once in a while, and if you see anything that you don't agree with there, it won't be final until we all agree, so go ahead by all means and express your concerns!

Excellent ship, fellows! The rigging, stern, and color-scheme are some of the highlights here, but the whole thing is really great! Keep it up!

Eslandolans all! Given the recent developments in the Old World, culminating in the signing of the Magna Charta by King Fernando Augusto VIII, it behooves our glorious nation to gather together its store of wisdom, ingenuity, and justice, in the formation of the New World Colonial Council of Eslandola... also known as the Colonial Congress, or Colonial Parliament of Eslandola. The High Council invites all members of the glorious kingdom of Eslandola to respond and to fire away with such suggestions, ideas, etc. relating to the subject, for the purpose of establishing a form of government which may be satisfactory to all in the discussion thread. For wealth, doubloons, gold, etc., etc. For Eslandola! E. T. Wilkinson de Chauncourtois E. T. Wilkinson de Cauncourtois On behalf of the High Council of Eslandola.

Magna Charta: Although in the ages of barbarianism and serfdom a King was essential to secure Eslandola from ravages without, the time has now come to require assurances from the King against ravages within. The rights of a law-abiding citizen to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, demand that government be for the people; and to assure that, it must be by the people. To achieve such a government in New Eslandola a convention is hereby authorized, whose decisions will become law. In recognition of the validity of this document, I, King Augusto Fernando VIII, do hereby sign my name: Fernando Augusto Fernando Augusto VII, King, Eslandola Constitution: The Kingdom of Eslandola will be governed by two councils, the Continental Council and the Colonial Council. The Continental Council, Section I: a) The Continental Council will consist of the relevant BoBS leaders. b) The Continental Council determines locations for troops, ships, and forts, but may be overruled up to half of the force in dispute by the Colonial Council. c) The Continental Council alone has the prerogative to declare war, but may not do so without the express consent of the Colonial Council. d) The Continental Council alone may sign treaties, but they must be ratified by the Colonial Council prior to signing. e) The Continental Council may veto any monopoly. f) The Continental Council has as its sole prerogative the granting of charters, including but not necessarily limited to charters for Trade Companies, Settlements, and Royal Properties. A grant may be vetoed by the Colonial Council. g) The Continental Council must supervise elections to the Colonial Council and must insure that elections be completed in a timely fashion. Establishment of the Colonial Council, Section II: a) The Colonial Council shall consist of eight positions; one position shall be granted to each recognized Trade Company (at the time of signing, East Trade-Wind Company, Merchant’s Colonial Trading Company, and Mpya-Stedor All-Encompassing Science, Trade & Resources Organization); one position shall be granted to independents; one position shall be granted to the representatives of each of the three regions; one position shall be reserved for the Admius Legistrad, elected by all citizens of Eslandola. b) Each Trade Company may decide internally how and when to appoint or elect a member to its position. c) The Independent Position shall be voted upon by all interested members of Eslandola not affiliated with a Trade Company. d) The Regional Positions shall be voted upon by members of a region. No member may vote in more than one region. No member holding a position as Governor or Mayor may vote in a region outside of that in which he exercises authority. No member may vote in a region in which he has not placed a build. Regional Positions may be added by vote of the Colonial Council. e) The Admius Legistrad shall be elected by all citizens of Eslandola. He shall be responsible for seeing bills through to their conclusion, for announcing the results of a vote, for communication with the Continental Council, and for keeping peace within the Colonial Council. f) Each position shall consist of three seats, equal to three votes, to be used as the member holding the position deems fit, except in the case of the Admius Legistrad who shall have one seat with three votes and the power of breaking any tie. g) Elections shall be held once every four months, except for the Admius Legistrad, which shall be held once every sixth months. h) Campaigns shall begin two weeks before the election begins. Campaigners must present a minifigure and a speech; further propaganda is left to each campaigner’s discretion. i) Council members may resign with two weeks of prior notice. Vacancies shall not be filled until the next election, except in the case of Trade Company positions, or in the case of Admius Legistrad, for whom a replacement shall be found by the remaining members of the Council from one of their number until the end of the term only. No member, after having resigned, may campaign in the following election. Operation of the Colonial Council, Section III: a) Each position shall be granted a salary of 25 DBs monthly, except in the case of Admius Legistrad, who will be granted 50 DBs a month. Amended: Salaries for Council members have been since eliminated entirely. b) Any member who fails to register either a vote or an abstention, and has not sent a letter of excuse, shall be fined 100 DBs, except in the case of the Admius Legistrad, whose disappearance without a letter of excuse shall be penalized by 500 DBs. Two letters of excuse in succession from the Admius Legistrad shall result in a fine of 500 DBs. c) Any resolution shall be passed by a majority of 51% of votes cast, save in the case of veto upon the Continental Council, which shall be passed when relevant by a majority of 66% of votes cast. d) The Colonial Council shall hold its meetings in a designated thread, but may adjourn by vote to a private thread for a specific length of time. e) The Colonial Council shall vote openly, but may determine by vote upon a secret ballot at any time. Prerogatives of the Colonial Council, Section IV: a) The Colonial Council shall decide by vote when and how many troops, ships, or forts to build, raise, disband, or sell, above the automatic thresholds. b) The Colonial Council may overrule (up to half of the forces available) the disposition of forces made by the Continental Council by a veto vote. c) The Colonial Council may not declare war, but must approve for any war to be declared. d) The Colonial Council may not sign treaties, but must ratify prior to their signing. e) The Colonial Council may propose and vote upon new monopolies, but the Continental Council possesses veto power. f) The Colonial Council may veto any charter granted by the Continental Council. g) The Colonial Council may determine when to recognize a chartered Trade Company, admitting them to a permanent seat on the Colonial Council. h) The Colonial Council may raise or lower taxes by vote without let or hindrance. i) Veto upon the Continental Council may only be considered for one month subsequent to the Continental Council’s decision. j) The above provisions notwithstanding, the Colonial Council shall take no action disapproved by the leadership of the Brick Seas. Judicial System, Section V: a) All judicial cases will be decided by a jury randomly chosen from among active Eslandian members and presided over by a member of the Continental Council as judge. b) The jury shall determine guilt; the judge shall pronounce the sentence. c) Any citizen of Eslandola in good standing may bring a case to trial at the relevant time (quarterly). Bill of Rights: I. The right of each citizen of Eslandola to his own form of religion shall not be infringed. II. The right of each citizen of Eslandola to a free expression of his sentiments upon his own property or upon public property shall not be infringed. III. The right of each citizen of Eslandola to raise troops, establish forts, and license ships shall not be infringed. IV. Private property of Eslandian citizens shall not be taken for public use without the consent of the owner. V. This Bill of Rights notwithstanding, no member shall take action disapproved by the leadership of EuroBricks and/or the Brick Seas.

Very nice build and story once again, Franco Clarke, the house is quite neat - those arches on the lower floor fit in excellently, and add some interest to the building - and that prison carriage is great as well! I do think a smattering of studs or round tiles on the street out front would help it a great deal, though, and I'd encourage you to outfit even the unimportant parts of your builds in the story (such as the first floor here), to make the whole aspect more polished and finished off Very nice looking layout! I like the classic and darker color combinations and would stick with it if possible, maybe adding some newer colors here and there, but not going too far overboard (lime green... Just kidding!) Keep it up!

Excellent build, Elostirion, as others have mentioned, the hill's elevation adds a lot of interest to this build, and the pathways, rocks, and house there are quite neat as well! Keep it up!

Quite a neat build, Elostirion, the lime green works well for the swamp, and the wooden walkway is great as well! Clever idea to have a shortcut for the more reckless and rushed folks (it's definitely the way I would take! ) The little cart is neat too, but I rather wish there was a bit more activity on the road - to be sure, it stands out more like this, but a large slice of a road with a passerby or two isn't the most interesting thing in the world The swamp does help that somewhat though - overall very nice job!

Welcome to the best and coolest guild, Tyndale! Sleg has done a good job explaining how to upload pictures, and Pandora's tutorial should do the rest Pasting the BBCode found in the Share button in the lower right corner (for size it is best to choose 640 times whatever the other dimension of the particular picture is) and afterwards deleting the extra line is by far the easiest and fastest way to do it!

Ah, I had thought it might be! But you are right that the wood frame really finishes it off very well and adds just the amount of color and detail needed!

Excellent idea and execution, Kai, the dishes look superb, and the window, stairs, and chair are quite nice as well! Clever way to get all the colors in there with the different foods... although as you already know, I find that fork and knife looking a bit... gruesome,

I agree with Kai as to the down-the-shaft way of presenting the mine here, and the holes in the side are an excellent way to improve visibility as well! Very nice story and congrats for striking the gold! The SNOTted rock-work around the opening in the front is your best so far, keep it up!

Wow, that's a lot of interior rooms, dG! Very nice barracks here, the choice of gold for the lattices over the front was excellent, and the dungeons, kitchen, and sleeping quarters up top are some great details, just to name a few! The wood and rafters up top, really, are probably my favorite part of this build. Excellent job!

Very nice build, Maestro, you've definitely nailed the leaning Tudor type house here! The stream and trees are neat as well, and the background story is great! The one thing I'd fix up, like Henjin said, would be the grass - it's really far too stud-y compared to the rest of the build. A few green tiles mixed in here and there, and a few green 1x1 plates or rounds scattered about to make the terrain elevation a bit more irregular, would work wonders. Keep it up!

Wow, very pretty little build, Legofin! The crosses on the gate look great, as well as the iron supports on the walls, and little trees are an excellent addition! Your signature black base and Mitgardian banner are great as well, looking forward to phase II!

@Blaze, here would be my first GoH build compared with my latest: (My photography has sure improved a lot too! )

Thanks a lot, MassEditor, that's definitely some high praise! The sword holder was a last minute addition, and was based off a similar device in an old Indiana Jones set. Ah, yes, I certainly have to agree about the bottom of the waterfall not being nearly large or chaotic enough! - but the fact is, using the scattered stud technique makes it really difficult to mix the trans-clear and trans-light-blue without looking very odd... but I'll definitely be thinking of that next time I build a waterfall! Good advice on the cliff face as well, although I generally prefer my rocks a bit less bizarre than most of the builders out there! Ha, ha, thanks! Thanks BrickCurve! Unfortunately, LEGO hardly makes very many pieces in the lighter green color, and I really wanted it to come out in the landscaping, so I had to reduce the normal green foliage to a little less than might have been good otherwise... thanks anyhow! Thanks Captain B! Unfortunately, most of my builds can't afford to stay around too long! Thanks a lot, LJ, glad you like it! The transition from snow to rock was one of the weakest points in my Uridius' Keep build a while back (which is still one of my own personal favorite builds), and I certainly wanted to improve on that here! Thanks, I enjoyed working with those stairs a lot! Thank you, Puvel!