robuko

The first thing I thought when I saw DC`s flickr page was, "It`s a trap!" I`m not sure it will be such a great idea to send a sigfig in search of the crystals.... maybe someone more...expendable

Great scene, deGothia. Wonderful lighting on the first shot. I really like the floor and neat finishing. Thanks for the credit on the bull, your longhorn mounting looks brilliant.

Nice collar, Dugal. Looks like a man not to be messed with! Thanks Mikel. No, this Rasputin was the first Mad Monk, the founder of the ancient and Holy Order, and the name has passed down more or less honourably through the history of Kaliphlin. The origin of Rasputin Jones remains somewhat shrouded in mystery, he may have been born with the name, or he may have assumed it, it is quite likely that he stole it. As for the Duke's genesis, we do not know what foul species gave spawn to him, possibly something something from the swamps of Moruth. He is certainly a bit too comfortable with the role of Nocturnus trade representative, for some reason they like him in Abyssan. Maybe they think his idiocy is a type of naive charm. Luckily we have never seen another one so we don't have to worry about any little Stranges in future. We call him Strange, and maybe that is his race. I don't think we tend to ask for permission much in Kaliphlin If it feels right to you, run with it. We too have heard the great legends of Aslan, and there are believers throughout the land. Who knows, maybe they are right. There are many beliefs in the desert. Cpt Mugwash, now I think that Lady Alyssa's footman was a Jivana Cusana! I hope Darecold is ok!

Blaze, this one is Zam Wessel's head from a Star Wars Jedi chase set, I think from 2003. Sadly, it's quite rare now. The easiest source for covered faces is the Racers series, or World Racers. The widely discounted Freeco Speeder has Anakin in a Balaclava too.

Paul, If you look at this page the seller is called van Dongen and based in Tilburg in Noord Brabant, in the Netherlands. Probably the best way is to contact Maarktplats directly. Good luck, it is sickening to see your designs being stolen. I am sure they have good English because they are Dutch On ;age=;dd=;mm=;y=;bid=0;sz=1x1;adprice=9;[attributes];city=[city];hasurl=[hasurl];make=;model=;nm=4;postcode=[postcode];price=1;province=[province];sg=999;lp=;ord=1330870600308?ad_id=!"]this page there is button in the yellow box on the right to e-mail the advertiser, which doesn't work from HK, maybe it's restricted to Europe.

The new Brickmasters or MBA set, a US exclusive, is a Monster Fighters Lost Village, Hidden Bridge and Dark Lair with minifigure. Could be pretty interesting.

on Amazon UK. Just ordered one Great party Gex!

Thanks Ash, just ordered

5 minutes I think good luck!

Very nice scene. I like the massive regularity of the great stone wall. The last scene is brilliant too, I'm glad he made it back to Kaliphlin!

A insightful discussion this was. Much impressed we are.

Congrats gabe, 2 for 2! Well done everyone who participated, we had a very high average standard. So if a few more are able to participate, we will blitz it in future rounds! A very close contest. And we have put in quite a number of awesome free builds too. Perhaps this is not the time, but I am about to go travelling so here is my entry for the myth challenge. As before, I apologise for the photos and the rushed builds. There is an ancient tale, or maybe it was not so long ago, of how the Holy Order of the Mad Monks was founded, and how the great temple and its vast catacombs came to be. It began one enchanted evening in the Eastern badlands, not too far from Qarkyr. Rasputin (no relation) and his sweetheart Isabella were walking back to the village of Arrakheen after a day of talk and laughter, fruitlessly hunting for scorpions, when Rasputin stumbled over a smooth and shiny stone. Suddenly around them, the sands swirled and parted, and the head of a great beast rose from the sands. "Who dares disturb my slumbers?" roared the beast. Isabella trembled with fear but she would not be intimidated by the monster. "We are Isabella and Rasputin. Who is it that addresses us?" "Are you pure of heart and deed?" boomed the great voice. Rasputin blushed, and calculated his odds. What was the downside? "Of course we are, our honour is unimpeachable!" "Then today is your lucky day! Only the pure of heart may enter the Cave of Wonder. Great treasures, great riches await the pure of heart, but be careful what you take. Everything has a price" And they saw that the beast's tongue was a staircase down into a cave. Now, Isabella was of what passed for a rather wealthy family in Arrakheen, but Rasputin was the poor son of a camel herder and the thought of treasure tempted him greatly. If he was a wealthy man too, then maybe Isabella's father would look upon his suit more favourably. Driven by greed and his desire to win acceptance, he entered the cave, and Isabella followed. Down and down and down they walked, until the ground flattened out, and they saw a golden glow at the end of the tunnel. They walked towards it and found the source of the light was a cave filled with riches that sparkled in the depths. Isabella thought the giled cavern rather nouveau and gaudy, but Rasputin was bedazzled by the classy bling. A vast horde of treasure, gems, gold, and legendary artefacts surrounded them. They stared and stared. And jumped with fright as a golden statue of a bygone hero greeted them. "Wotcha! Roll up Roll up to the Cave of Wonder, all genuine treasure and historical wotsits of great importance. Fancy a ruby, Love? Goblet of Holy Water, Sir? Blessed with some big old crystal of something special, innit, you'll live to seven hundred after one sip. Everlasting lamp, pet? Genuine, used once, it is, be sorry to see it go, but plenty more out back in the stockroom. Impenetrable Helmet of Acathansus White, him what fought the dragons? The Key to Dokodemo Door? Takes you anywhere in a heartbeat, dunnit, even Mitgardia, brilliant piece of work that, Samurai wrought. Tell you what," and his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "I can do you a special deal matey, 3 for the price of 1, how's that? Now, what takes your fancy?" Isabella had an eye for the real deal and she exclaimed with delight, "Oh Ras, look! The long lost diadem of Rowena Ravenpaw! Mummy would love it! And a time turner dagger! This place is loaded!" Rasputin gaped in awe. "We'll take them, Old Hero! We'll take your Dokodemo doorkey, we'll take the Holy Water, and we'll take the time turner dagger!" They would live 700 years, with power over time and space with this trinity. "Right Guv, a very shrewd customer you are, I can see. But," and his voice dropped to a whisper again, "you know there's a price, right?" "Name it" said Rasputin in a hushed tone. "Well, not to put too fine a point on it, your excellency, but the price of immortal life and mastery of space and time is not, in fact, our cheapest deal this week. It would have to be," the statue cast his eyes at Isabella, who was still thrilling at the tiara, "It would have to be your good lady there." Rasputin considered the proposition carefully for about half a heartbeat. Isabella was a fine girl, he loved her dearly, and he had sworn only this morning that he was hers forever. But that was before he knew about the cave, so it didn't really count. There were plenty of fine ladies, and with the ability to go anywhere at any time, well, he could meet any lady of his choice. "Done" he said. And he drank the Holy Water and grabbed the key and dagger, while the golden statue dragged the weeping Isabella away. "FOOL!" roared the voice of the great beast. "Only the pure of heart may enter!" And the cavern started to fill with boiling lava. Rasputin was doomed, and worse, Isabella with him, for his greed and treachery! But no! He saw a magic carpet twitching to escape the molten rock and he hurled himself onto it as the stone crumbled beneath his feet. The headlong flight through crumbling caverns left Rasputin senseless and exhausted. When he awoke, it was already morning, Isabella was nowhere to be found, and his face was wet with tears. The magic carpet was real enough, but the knife and key were just a knife and a key. He did live to 700 though, and he spent most of those years digging with the dagger, down through the sand to find the Cave of Wonder again. He never found it. But his digging is what created the catacombs, and the rocks he excavated became the walls of the great temple we know today. And that is how the first Mad Monk founded the Holy Order. ps There is a rather interesting story that is told in the Strange embassy below stairs. We all know the current Duke says much that is nonsense. He once told a scullery maid that he owes his dukedom to a clumsy stumble, a hungry statue and a banana. No-one really knows how he got hold of that carpet.

I thought she looked rather, well, smarter and foxier, than the average dwarven bearded lady, but one can never be sure with modern families. You must introduce us next time she is in Town. Ska, the Wiki looks a very interesting idea. I have never contributed to one, and I am slightly intimidated by it. Is the cross-referencing automatic? Intriguing possibilities as a library. We love the Grelf so so much! You can tell it's a brilliant idea because it's a real "why did no-one already do that?" moment. How did the Grelves get so rich? I look forward to seeing more of them! Superb presentation too. Belkar welcome, do share your stories over a beaker of mead. Gex, welcome back. Your rapid propulsion over the white dune seas seems inspired by too many meads, how do you propose to get back uphill? Sailing on a kite or something equally preposterous, I wager We must look into the profitability of adventure tourism in the desert. I have put together my myth MOCs, the photography is pretty awful as my camera left the country without my knowledge. Some of the building is pretty ropy too, I had to get everything built and photographed in one day before the light faded, and it kind of shows. I'll try to write it up tomorrow, I think I will be breaking a few rules

Another superb build, Z. I really like the manor house, the window technique is superb and the roof detailing in the tower is fantastic too. It must have swallowed a LOT of liftarms, and they look brilliant on the tower and the gateposts. I am less overwhelmed by the stockade, which looks a little flimsy compared to the house, but maybe that is more of a temporary structure for these difficult times. There are not many embassies which are actually big enough for embassy business, but this one is a great size. Great photos and presentation too.

The first time I read this, I thought it was called "grog tavern" and I was very tempted to stop by to sample the local ales. Very nice build, I especially like the floor and the cellar door. The lack of windows actually works fine for a pub, makes it feel very cosy, and so do the hobbits outside. We must send Sir Ignatius to Albion to pick up a few bottles of Arog.

I tend not to comment on any DC build, because I have little to say beyond, whoah, you got crazy skills! In this case, they are backed up with a superb story, great characters beautifully realised, and the build itself just blows me away. From that stupendous base to the secret door, the warped woodwork, the lovely furnishing in the interior, the vegetation, and of course the presentation, everything is first class. You are an inspiration. I really agreed with your comment that Nocturnus is the hardest to build but has the best scope for creativity, you should defect to the dark side with a build like this!

So twisted! And such a great build! The light coming into the cellar is superb, and the little details like the syringe.... Heartlake will never be the same after this tragedy. Poor little girl

I love love love this! It's just perfect for the scene in Lego. Better than the Goblet of Fire film version, so much more cheerful and fun. The mermaid picture is wonderful, and if you ever get the inclination again to make it as a decal, I think it would be incredible. There are some amazing builds coming out of the Hogwarts project! Well done!

This is an awesome story (and those builds! ) and I'm really glad it came out now, I can incorporate a little bit into the myth MOC. I was wondering if the guild system was like Hogwarts or more like The Last Airbender. Now we know. The only surprise is that I thought it would be Mitgardia is Water, Kaliphlin is Air if we followed the film. We do have some mighty rivers and a very very very extensive coastline....but I don't think it will be there Kathyrin comes out of this very well, we must free her Dextrus!

Just wanted to flag SoT's post in the Mitgardian topic, I know there was quite a lot of interest in this here. The scoring system seems pretty fair to me and I also like it that individual results stay secret. By my maths each guild got 600ish points, so if the max score from the Watchtowers was (5x50) 250 then the free builds were very big contributors for all the guilds. Something to keep in mind I guess. DC has hinted that there will be no size restrictions for this one. Angeli will be happy! Looking forward to the Drow entry for the Kaliphlin lore! CptMugwash, it is a 2 week deadline on the myth challenge, I'm not sure when that means exactly, but 2 weekends building time anyway. NM, I really like your modern interpretation of Ozymandias, especially for some reason "vast and dark bley", it scans really well and has a sort of Coleridge sound to it The story of Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft is a real romantic tear-jerker. Married poet Shelley falls for the teenage daughter of his sponsor, his wife dies, he marries nineteen year old Mary who erupts with genius in the same year, writing Frankenstein while on holiday with Byron in Geneva, they are constantly on the move under a cloud of debt and scandal, Shelley drowns just a few years later. And their first 3 children died young. (I was reading Frankenstein while making the heliotrope, I think this is why the poor Doktor is so driven and melancholy, he reflects the sadness of both the Doktor and the poor creature in the book.) Wow, sorry, this is a really long post already. Forgive me please for one more piece of musing. The ancient Greeks had technology that was probably better than medieval Europe or indeed nineteenth century Japan (steam engines, robots, calculators, probably a railway). It's incredible how much was lost. When we think of the level of technology in Historica being roughly constrained to the medieval or early modern period, could we go back to the Greek inventions which were more advanced? (There is a rather beautiful Mitgardian steamship, which would surpass the Greek level) There is also evidence that ancient India had very advanced metallurgy, and some not very well documented claims of it having nuclear bombs, mercury-driven flying machines etc. but I would consider those somewhat outside scope in this context!

This is great! Those colourful buildings must really cheer up the residents and visitors. Very original colour choices, yet actually very realistic. It does put me in mind of Northern Europe, and somehow of 8-bit video games too with those bright combinations Definitely!

"Du siehst, wohin du siehst, nur Eitelkeit auf Erden. Was dieser heute baut, reißt jener morgen ein;" (Andreas Gryphius, 1637) in rough translation: You see, wherever you watch out, on earth vanity only. What someone builds today, the other one tears down tomorrow. Brilliant, Cristoph. that is exactly why I chose the Leg of Legomandias as a watchtower. This is the central theme of Shelley`s poem. Just to spell it out, the closing lines are "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away". " someone probably needed the bricks for their next project. Humanity, I guess... I have just realised that in going for Frankenstein and Ozymandias in the watchtower round, I must have a secret obsession with Mrs and Mr Shelley!

I am reasonably certain that the LDD question was asked and anwswered in the Q&A thread, but I can't find it. As I recall, LDD submissions will not be valid for the challenges. I am not sure about free builds, but I hope they will be accepted because yours is ace, Mikel!

Very nice Kayne! Excellent concept, beautifully made, and what a superb piece of lore! The weathering on the left tower is brilliant, vegetation well placed, and you have done an amazing job on the tan/dark tan mix for the floor. The quarter-roofs are great. The lizard rider is a lovely touch, and you can really sense the activity with the cart and fire and ladder. I guess this must be a relatively low point on the 'scarpment, as it is hundreds of metres high at Queens' Cross, so I am guessing it is down towards Eastgate? (I also hope it is not an easy way for any enemies to invade the desert - though, no matter if they do, those of us who know the exits can flood those tunels with black oil and burn any invaders out ) These mummies are so hardworking and inventive, they must have accumulated fabulous riches through the ages....and deadly ways to protect their wealth

Thoroughly agree