SkaForHire

Thanks, I wanted it as hellish as possible. There were a series of underworld builds I wanted to do first, but I needed to bring him back sooner rather than later. So I may go back to the story someday. Indeed! same as above, I hope to return to building a little more. Thank you both. I think it was your reinterpretation of the scene at Queenscross that made me step up my game. Not that I won't do some quick story MOCs of lower quality still, but I needed to prove that I could go back and make things better. Thank you kindly. Thanks, I think I had used the design a while back when we introduced the Leri'ki (I actually can't remember how we spelled it either). I think they are simple but look good. Thanks Beery. There are a few bits of tan in there, but hard to find . I was thinking that the explosion from the spell turned much of the area to glass, so it would be mostly black, but photographing black is way too hard. I probably will not do solid black again.

Thanks all! Hahaha... Well, it gave me reason to build when I should have been doing other things. He is one of the permanent sigfigs I have built in my collection, so it seemed easy to put him into the wedding scene. Exactly. My wife only had to pull the knife once... errr, I mean never! Thanks, especially for all your help running the other parts. Total accident, but it came out really nice looking. Thank you,

+1 for each Great work, again! Again, this feels exactly how I imagine Sultan's Gate. Awesome job here. The broken down wall is perfect. And excellent idea about the orks being porters, makes total sense. Wow, I am just blown away here.

+1 for both. That looks great. THe photography, as usual, is great. I do see what you mean about the colors, they do seem a bit dimmer than what you usually presented. I am glad you are getting those off-colors in there. I want to get some into my next builds too. I love the design of the corner coming together, it feels exactly how I imagine the city looking. Question, how are the bricks around the dome attached? Also, I am glad more domes are showing up... I have a bunch to put into upcoming buildings too. I think that is something that is distinctively a Kaliphlin piece... (Maybe a little Nocturnus too)

I don't think the supergame idea would ever work. We have too much history to shut down, and then start up another GoH... The only way the pirates thing works is if it is new and different from GoH. I think we would lose some people though, which I am a bit hesitant about. Although I would love to play both. I think my wallet would hate it though.

Images: I use Flickr, and just use their HTML code for sharing on bulletin boards... you just paste it right into the text box. That is the easiest way, I believe. My words may have been misinterpreted. I just meant our two cities are similar in administration style, I did not mean you were copying Eastgate! I am sure this type of administration is quite prevalent throughout our guild. boooooo. Oh well, I went to a Lego party today (only the second time I have ever met people offline in the legoverse) and no one seemed to have heard of EB, let alone GoH. So I tried to plug us.

It sounds like Nasitadal and Eastgate are quite similar in their administration. GEAR Co. welcomes more trade partners. Also, I hope you have a visual, that may make it "click" for some of us. Most of us use flickr accounts. We upload the pictures there, then use the share BB HTML code it gives you for each picture directly in our posts. I am guessing there is a tutorial somewhere for this...

Well, I am very glad you decided to join us, looks like we got three great members today. On a way off topic note... I just noticed your member number, I can't believe there have been 120000 members of Eurobricks, that is insane!

Excellent to hear more about Quataria, by spice island, I meant was it located in the chain of islands known as the spice islands, they are roughly due south of the capital, so that is why I asked. On another note, how did we get three members in one day? Is someone recruiting? lol

No way, we are working together this time.

here are more maps, if some of you have not seen them yet: http://guildsofhistorica.wikia.com/wiki/Kaliphlin_Maps

Thank you, fixed. Very cool. The council welcomes the official addition of Quataria into Kaliphlin. One question, is Quataria one of the spice islands? We can also organize some peace keeping troops from the capital to help negotiate a treaty between your warring factions. Sounds great! As Gideon said, we are heavy on active cities in the west and south, so as guild leader, I feel I should encourage people to build inland (oasis) cities or in the East. However, we have always had a policy that our builders can be anywhere on our map. We would just like to see more action in other regions of Kaliphlin, so I hope you all will consider those areas first. You are in the right guild then. We are the storytelling guild.

Complain about lack of membership, and we get three new members, should I complain about it more? Excellent, great to have you here! Welcome Jerrik, we need your help more than ever in these troubling times. Welcome Aranethon! As has already been mentioned, just post a sigfig here and you are on board. There are a few empty dots on our Kaliphlin map that need names and masters, and of course, you can build builds in any existing location, or make up your own. That contest is a good place to start, eventually our mapmaker will get everyone on the map, he has just been pretty busy with real life stuff, so give it some time after you make your city. Although, you can always demonstrate where on the map your city is by saving the image and putting your city on it and reposting it for us to see. To all new members, and the older new members I may have missed. I am going to update the member rollcall in the next few days. If you are not already on it (post three of this thread) then let me know so that I may get you on it.

Come join guilds it is fun. haha. But back to the discussion... I just looked at those older threads (the one that is liked to the linked discussion above), it is funny that I said almost the same thing and don't even remember it. Back to factions, I made a slight error when I first posted, because I forgot about natives. They could either be their own faction, or like the pirates, be free agents. I really think the main drivers should be the colonial powers, four factions, or three if natives are their own faction. The pirates as free agents would make for some interesting political dynamics. The only thing would be that the faction leaders would be stuck playing their faction the whole time, or at least until a new leader could be found. However, everyone else would be free to move around at times. Even if that suggestion is not taken, I do think that the factions should be modeled after GoH's model and not LCC's. LCC limits the color and fig insignia used per faction. In GoH, anything goes with loose connections to insignia. If it becomes Redcoat, Bluecoat, Armada, that really limits what people can pick to join. Perhaps one nations royal troops are blue, but not every unit or every sailor should be wearing blue. Otherwise, this is just going to turn into ToR in map form, with little deviation. You want to have a dynamic setting, with people spread across factions, the best way to do this is allow anyone, no matter their collection preference to join any side they want.

I said "do both" :) I am amazed by your LCC stuff too. I was just pointing out people who had not left, but spread their efforts between two worlds. Which is cool, I always thought DaMax's idea about a cross world competition would be fun.

I didn't mean just Kaliphlin, although there are a few prominent builders here that do both. (Kayne and Kai come to mind). It was more over time, I think. We lost quite a few when LCC first started, but I think a lot of them were people who were originally from CC and wanted something like Guilds and went back when they had something like that at "home."

As with Kabel, my posts before Nov 2011 were 99% in this forum. My pirate collection is huge, but I have not touched it since GoH started. Although I did offer to help run a guilds clone in the pirates forum back in early 2012, I believe. I am pretty sure there was a pretty vivid debate that went on then, I bet there is a bunch of good ideas in that thread... Anyway, after being one of the early players in GoH, a guild leader there, helping kick around ideas for LCC before it started (i went inactive fairly early in LCC), a board game designer, and a pirate historian, I have a lot of thoughts on how to launch a new system. I would gladly help, although I am not sure how much I would participate in the project after it gets running, at least until summer. Although, I suppose it might be a good way to persuade me to finally build the imperial city I had planned for ten years... So a few basic points: 1) I think that a real life map is not the way to go, other than if there were new nations. This is an international forum, there are going to be people who are upset when the French or British win a victory for out of character reasons. With that in mind , I think four colonial nations should exist. Pirates would be a wildcard, but not necessarily a faction. They would be more like free agents that would sign on to a nation for a set duration of a challenge(s). Some people would stay loyal to their nation throughout the project, and others may end up going "pirate" at times. This would leave some nations to offer "pardons" for pirates to rejoin a faction. This would keep the system dynamic, and more true to life. 2) speaking of true to life, perhaps the fantasy should be left to GoH... this may be the historian in me, or the old pirate builder in me, but I think mysteries of the deep are cool (maybe some sea monsters) but zombie ships are not my cup of tea. LCC took care of this by basically making a magic zone. I suppose that beyond the line there may be a place that is mysterious, but I don't think the whole world should be effected by the supernatural. However, if it is a totally make-believe map and nations, i don't see why some other "humanoid" species couldn't be involved. 3) The challenges should all have in-game story consequences. The first challenge may be a "rush to colonization" building challenge. The winning nation should be able to carve out a piece of the "new world" map to join their territory. The nation in last place should get none! Also, perhaps winning "gold" could have some sort of benefit. In book I of GoH, the gold just showed which guild was the overall winner. I think if the nation adds gold to its treasury, it should be able to do something with it. Perhaps initiate a vote of its membership to purchase a new colony, or build a city, etc... or perhaps players themselves collect gold, and can use it to buy their way into a new guild, pay off a ransom, etc... 4) Do you want game mechanics? GoH does not have a system like this (::Spoiler alert:: although we have talked about one for Book 3) and LCC opted not to go with a game mechanic. Both are basically judged building competitions, with some plot consequence. I know many war-gamers would have liked to have been able to actually take an enemy's land, or in this case maybe their ship(theoretically)? Some ways that this could be done: A mini-iron builder competition (three builds, judged by a panel) or even something non-building related such as dice rolls by a third party. IF a game mechanic comes in, those with smaller collections / less building time need to be considered for fairness. Ok... enough of that for now. How about some practical knowledge -- here are some ideas for how to proceed from this point: A) Find people willing to dedicate a lot of their free time to be nation/faction leaders. Have a vice leader for each faction. I think the lack of this really hurt GoH. It is one of the reasons we lost all four original guild leaders. B) Decide the factions -- I strongly suggest the four different nations with an free agent pirate presence... I think that would be super cool and make the project more different than the other projects that are out there. Bi) Decide if a game mechanic will exist. Bii) Decide how challenges will be presented and judged Biii) Decide on how guilds will compete (IE: are they competing for Gold, land, resources [who can gather the most bananas by the 5th challenge wins! haha], population, etc...) C) Open up a map competition. LCC did this, and it was pretty well received. D) Open up a history competition after the map is finalized. Each person can enter a separate history for each of the Nation (1000 words max) E) After lore and a map are chosen, start a Wiki site. Use the Wiki site. We have a great tool at GoH, but only 25% use it. This would have alleviated a lot of the stress of trying to join GoH, if the site was comprehensive. F) Hype this sucker to the max. Make sure the first challenge is something stellar with prizes. G) Do it quickly, before the competition does. Doesn't CC have a pirates arm that is becoming quite popular? LCC benefited from GoH's weaknesses... but in this case, I don't think you can afford to be second.

The reason I let loose that barrage was because I needed to stop thinking about them while researching, grading, etc... There are actually two more builds for the series... but I might be satisfied enough right now to get back to real work. My next build will be a large part of Eastgate's bay, so that I might run another "call to arms" event by the end of the summer. And... finally portray some of the home city. I do wish we had a little more life in here, part of me worries that we have lost so many people to LCC that things are getting stretched thin. I guess we will find out who is left when Challenge II gets rolling. Lego really is my only hobby too, especially when I couldn't walk. I sometimes do photography, and I am back to playing recreational sports... that don't require me to run haha.

Yes. It is also rumored that he was behind his death. Petera is currently in Eastgate's walled inner city and under siege from DaMaximus and Paulos' troops.

Originally, I had built a cover for the pit, and that all of this part of the story was going to take place on that MOC... but it became overly complicated. So yesterday I built this little MOC to finish the story. Yeah, because I used alot of the 2x1x5 white pieces, it did not lend itself the best to creating a lot of natural sections where the white paint had chipped off. This was also complicated by the fact that I didn't have many small white or dark tan plates... If I had, I think I could have pulled off something a little more natural looking in those areas.

Oh, I forgot to say this, but this is the first time I have ever gone back and redid a location... The original Sultan's Rock looked like this: DSC_1965 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Phew... Finally finished the storyline. Here are the three new chapters: Raising the Dead Part IV: Preparing the Potion Raising the Dead Part V and VI: Battle of the Pit Raising the Dead Part VII: The Secret Wedding

Raising the Dead Part VII: The Secret Wedding. If you missed the beginning: Slaughter at Sultan's Rock Raising the Dead Part I Collecting the Pieces Raising the Dead Part II Retracing our steps Raising the Dead Part III Family Heirloom Raising the Dead Part IV: Preparing the Potion Raising the Dead Part V: Battle of the Pit “There is one thing I want to do before we rush off to Eastgate” Meredith said when they got on the road. “Yes?” Dugal was overjoyed to see her again, he thought he had lost his love in death. “We are going to finish this engagement.” She said. “The next chapel we stop by, we are getting married.” “I suppose that is doable.” Dugal said. I think the next major town is Mophet. ------- So it was that the Heroes found themselves in the town of Mophet at the grand cathedral. It happened that Gideon was passing through on the way to Avalonia. He was delighted to get an invitation to the very small wedding. Yesil and Masa, who were about to part company with Dugal for other adventures, were also in attendance. Paulos had gone ahead of the group and retrieved his cousin Deragar, the maid of honor, Kylee, and the family priest in secret. They met the party at Mophet. The wedding started out very pleasant. DSC_0700 by skaforhire, on Flickr Cannondale and Deregar stood guard on the isle… We are at war you know. DSC_0708 by skaforhire, on Flickr About to slip the ring on… DSC_0711 by skaforhire, on Flickr Gideon, Masa, and Yesil have good seats… the only people in the audience. But, or course no wedding could go perfectly… DSC_0722 by skaforhire, on Flickr Petera had had Deregar and Kylee followed. He had sent Avalonian assassins and a Kaliphlin mercenary corps to return his brother to the land of the dead. Dugal calls for the Golden Axe of Eastgate, but not before the priest falls to the assassin. DSC_0728 by skaforhire, on Flickr Don’t mess with a bride on her wedding day. DSC_0736 by skaforhire, on Flickr Gideon was glad he brought a ceremonial sword to the wedding. DSC_0740 by skaforhire, on Flickr Masa was fine unarmed. DSC_0741 by skaforhire, on Flickr With some casualties, the threat is handled. DSC_0746 by skaforhire, on Flickr Masa performed the end of the ceremony… right as the party left town. No more chances would be taken. ---- So, this was a doubled MOC. I made it because my wife asked me to create a response to her accepting being a bridesmaid for her friend’s wedding. It doubled nicely with my story. Here is the original wedding party. DSC_0695 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Raising the Dead Part Vi: The Battle of the Pit (Part Two) If you missed the beginning: Slaughter at Sultan's Rock Raising the Dead Part I Collecting the Pieces Raising the Dead Part II Retracing our steps Raising the Dead Part III Family Heirloom Raising the Dead Part IV: Preparing the Potion Raising the Dead Part V: Battle of the Pit Sergio ran towards the explosion. The ground around him no longer felt sandy… it felt, mushy… He came to a gaping hole in the side of Sultan’s Rock, a trench almost as deep as the rock was tall laid before him and there were tentacles, bone spears, and fire elementals pouring forth from the earth. What the heck have we done? He thought. DSC_0870 by skaforhire, on Flickr As he got to the edge, new tentacles burst from the ground, he could see one try to overtake Paulos on the other side of the chasm. DSC_0873 by skaforhire, on Flickr Spikes of flesh or glass came shooting from the side of Sultan Rock, it was like the whole terrain had come alive to kill them all. DSC_0874 by skaforhire, on Flickr A giant bone hand with black claws burst forth from the ground next to Sergio, it grabbed up Lincoln, one of Paulos’ loyal guards. In seconds Lincoln was no more. DSC_0877 by skaforhire, on Flickr The men started to fall, and Sergio knew he needed to fall back. Across the pit, he could see Dugal and an elf crawling up the side to safety. But another elf lay crushed by another one of the pit’s appendages at the bottom. DSC_0881 by skaforhire, on Flickr Dugal must have called for the Golden Axe of Eastgate, for that was the only possession he had. That was a little comfort… at least Sergio knew that only the real Dugal could hold that axe. Back at the watch tower the heroes had regrouped, but the armies of darkness descended into their camp. DSC_0900 by skaforhire, on Flickr Dugal felt cold, sweaty, but alive. For the first time in centuries. It had been centuries, right? He thought to himself. The fire elementals were now joined by Leraki, or sand devils, and one had his eye on Dugal. DSC_0904 by skaforhire, on Flickr After dealing with the sand devil, a white figure came at Dugal. Before Dugal vanquished the spirit, it moaned out “THE NECROMANCER SENDS HIS REGARDS. REMEMBER YOU DEAL.” Dugal had no time to think about that now. Another creature made itself known at the Watchtower, a Drow warrior attempted to assassinate Arcannon, but he dispatched the vermin with ease. Dugal could not believe that it was THE ARCANNON CRESENTTHORN. DSC_0905 by skaforhire, on Flickr Although they lost many men, the enemies began to run or fall, and eventually the battle at the watchtower had finished, the Heroes still standing. Dugal looked around… He couldn’t believe the cast of characters that had assembled to bring him back. Merith, Paulos, Al’Meter, Arcannon, Yesil, Masa, Cannondale, Sergio. “What do you think this all means?” Masa was saying over a corpse, he was directing his question to Al’Meter. Yesil was strangely quiet. “It means a price must be paid for brining Lord MacLean back.” Al’ meter sighed, as he glanced towards his brother who was walking towards a fallen friend. “That portal to the underworld did not close. The pit is open and will stay open until we find a way to close it.” “So that means that Kaliphlin has its own personal Nocturnus resort?” Sergio laughed. “Pray it be so little. There are things beyond death that have not been seen in Nocturnus for millennia.” Al’Meter Said. “What do we do?” Dugal said, focusing back in on the conversation. “We must guard the pit so nothing else gets out.” Al’Meter turned to Paulos. “You must command all the men at Queens Cross to return here and keep whatever comes out in. I will stay here with my elves, and we will figure out a defense plan.” He turned to Dugal “ You must take Eastgate back. It is clear that your brother has something to do with the permanency of the Pit. He was the only one against this party that knew exactly what you were all doing. “ He said as he looked at the adventurers who had gathered the components. “ We will hold the pit for now, but you must find Petera and destroy him, or capture whatever magical iterm he has that is keeping this hole open.” Yesil finally spoke. “We are sure that this is Petera keeping the hole to the underworld open not. Anyone could this be. Yes, hmmm.” He coughed. “Adventure, I am too old for this. Be the enemy, you must keep all possibilities open, Petera may not.” “Still, the best plan of action is to end one rebellion quickly, so we can get those soldiers to the pit. I am afraid there are not enough Wither Wood elves to stop what will eventually come.” Dugal replied. “But first, I must get some clothes. Paulos Spoke, “I think you will like your new colors.” “New Colors?” “yes your fiancé decided that you will need a new heraldry, now that you have been reborn.” DSC_0912 by skaforhire, on Flickr Dugal returned in his new clothes. “They feel great, and the renewing tree is a fitting symbol.” “Let me fix your wounds, you have a long ride ahead of you.” Al’Meter reached over and healed Dugal. DSC_0913 by skaforhire, on Flickr “Great, can you give me a haircut too?” he chuckled. Al’Meter gave him an icy glance. “I have sheers in the camel’s pack, “Sergio said. And with that, they began their journey towards Eastgate. DSC_0914 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Raising the Dead Part V: The Battle of the Pit (part one) If you missed the beginning: Slaughter at Sultan's Rock Raising the Dead Part I Collecting the Pieces Raising the Dead Part II Retracing our steps Raising the Dead Part III Family Heirloom Raising the Dead Part IV: Preparing the Potion BOOOOM!!!! The earth shook and the heroes were thrown in all directions. The earth boiled over, making glass instantly, and in some places the desert felt… alive… DSC_0845 by skaforhire, on Flickr Paulos looked around, he had been thrown against Sultan’s Rock, and his helmet had been knocked off. There were… Tenticles!?!?! Coming out of the ground? A large rift had opened and a doorway stood below them deep in the trench but against Sultan’s Rock. DSC_0844 by skaforhire, on Flickr Was that… Dugal? DSC_0842 by skaforhire, on Flickr The others began to recover too. Paulos looked around, everyone seemed to be moving. However, there was no sign of Sergio. Paulos tried to remember if had had gone ahead to scout… DSC_0847 by skaforhire, on Flickr Paulos thought he definitely had a concussion… as he peered over towards Cannondale, Al’Meter had hobbled up next to the bodyguard. In a blink of an eye, an elf in shimmering silver armor and jet black hair appeared next to Al’Meter, this was not one of Al’Meter’s regular bodyguards…. That was Arcannon! DSC_0848 by skaforhire, on Flickr Al’Meter began to heal Cannondale, while Merith got up holding her head. At first she looked into the pit and yelled with glee, but it soon turned to horror, as she saw what came out behind Dugal. Fire Elementals. DSC_0851 by skaforhire, on Flickr Paulos grabbed his helmet, and his weapons and tossed his short sword down to his mostly naked brother. “This will have to do!” He yelled down to him. DSC_0857 by skaforhire, on Flickr Masa shouted over the rift, “I have to get Yesil to Safety! He is hurt bad!” Or great, Paulos thought… the one guy that might be able to control these elementals is leaving. DSC_0850 by skaforhire, on Flickr The fire elementals started to come up the rift, but at the top of the cliff, Paulos’ body guards, the Eastgate troops, began to rain down arrows. Some even began to scale down the cliff the help. DSC_0860 by skaforhire, on Flickr DSC_0861 by skaforhire, on Flickr Arcannon ordered his brother, the shaken up Cannondale, and Merith to get out of there, as he turned towards the pit. DSC_0863 by skaforhire, on Flickr DSC_0866 by skaforhire, on Flickr The Battle of the Pit was on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DSC_0826 by skaforhire, on Flickr