Secret Schemes

[Kai NRG]

  Just as soon as Guy K. Wyndzon heard the news of King Fernando’s rash attack on Oleon, he knew his presence would be absolutely necessary in Terreli.  So he sailed off on the fastest ship that could be found.

  Halfway across the Brick Seas, they were hailed by another Eslandian ship carrying the latest news of the Mardierian reaction to the Eslandian offensive.

  As they stopped for fresh supplies at Weelond on their way, the townsfolk came bustling out, full of the news from Nellissa, where Román Esteban Fontonajo had declared independence from the crown.

  On all sides, Guy was beset with questions.  What did the High Council think of the King’s actions?  Would there be war with Oleon?  How about Corrington?  What measures would be taken to stop the King?  Would the colonies establish a new government, closer to home?

  Throughout it all, diplomatic messengers flew back and forth between nations, taxing Guy’s letter-writing capabilities to the utmost.

  Nor was he completely free from rumbling mutters of discontent and distrust.   Who could be sure that the High Council wouldn’t simply use this opportunity to increase its own power?

  Really, his prophecy that without Uncle things would fall to pieces had been fulfilled beyond his wildest nightmares.

  Speaking of nightmares, the last leg of the journey took them through rough waters.  Sea-sickness combined with the turbulent diplomatic situation really ought to be enough excuse for anyone to have a few bad dreams.

  Well, be that all as it may, Guy arrived late one night at the MCTC headquarters in Terreli.  There to greet him was an impromptu gathering of friends and business connections.

  There was E. T. W. de Chauncourtois, darting excited glances out from under his impeccable wig.

  There was Captain Whiffo, pacing the room violently and tapping his massive sword on his hook.

  There was Lord Maximillian Damaximus, looking fresh, new, and important in his faultless black suit.

  There was Governor Guilder, of Weelond, waiting patiently to broach his own ideas and concerns.

  Guy looked as though he would much rather no one had showed up until tomorrow, but, stifling a yawn, he proceeded to business.

  “First of all, gentlemen… but, in truth, there is so much to discuss, I’m not sure what ought to be first.  I’ll take suggestions.”

  “To my mind, the thing that calls most desperately for amendment is the colorscheme of this building.  It is completely out of the fashion!”  Captain Whiffo drew himself up to his full height (six feet seven, if you included the plume of his hat) as he said this.

  There was a bit of a laugh, and Captain Whiffo seemed disappointed to find that no one took him seriously.

  “Well,” Governor Guilder began, “perhaps we ought to take things in chronological order?”

  “An excellent plan, Governor,” Lord Damaximus interjected.  “First let us discuss the policy of the King in attacking Oleon.”

  “There can scarcely be aught to discuss in that regard,” Guy replied.  “It was a clearly illegal move, completely without declaration of war.  We must apologize formally to Oleon as soon as possible.  Moreover, we must take measures to ensure that such a thing will never happen again.”

  “Which brings us to the more pressing point, I think,” E. T. W. spoke up.  “Far too many Eslandians have shown a desire to take the law into their own hands.  Revolution is the most dangerous thing that could happen!  We cannot permit this to continue unchecked!”

  “Certainly not,” Captain Whiffo agreed.  “Yet something must be done.”

  “The King,” Governor Guilder suggested, “ought to give security to us, making it impossible for him to attack Oleon or any other nation, or take any other important measure, without the consent of the High Council.”

  “Of course.  But what King in his right mind would sign away his power like that?”

  “King Fernando may not be in his right mind,” Captain Whiffo interjected suggestively.

  “And how is that going to satisfy these revolutionary spirits?” Guy asked, ignoring the insinuation.

  “Satisfy?!  Do you want to satisfy such lawbreakers?”  E. T. W. sounded quite indignant.

  “But not all of them are so radical.  And there is much that is true in what they say.”  Guy drummed his fingers on the table.  “The fact is, this government, so far from the colonies, is not quite capable of understanding all the exigencies of its subjects located so remotely.  Consider for instance the case of Mardier.  We, in the colonies, were able to realize the necessity for active exertion once we discovered the close proximity of an island claimed by Mardier.  Yet we were hindered by the King’s orders to relocate the troops against Oleon.”

  “Hardly hindered,” Lord Damaximus pointed out, “since we didn’t obey.”

  “Foul!  I call foul!  Royalty cannot be disregarded in that fashion!  If this continues it will spell the end of the old regime, and quite possibly the end of law and order as well!”  E. T. W. had sprung from his chair and begun to pound the table.

  “Softly, softly, sir.”  Governor Guilder’s peaceful voice was heard.  “Law and order must be maintained, certainly.  Yet they must be maintained in the face of an illegal monarch quite as stringently as in the face of an unruly mob.”

  “True,” E. T. W. conceded.  “Neither King nor people can disobey the law.  I must own, however, that one tyrant seems to me preferable to several hundred, a fickle mob.”

  “I trust it has not come to that choice for us.  Even in Nellissa, where matters have progressed furthest, the mob has not strictly come into control.  Rather, the natural leaders have advanced farther than desirable in shaking off the King’s authority.  Yet who can blame them?  Something had to be done.  I for one am sure that a satisfactory conclusion can be reached with them once we have resolved the problem in hand.”  Guy stared thoughtfully at the floor.

  “Yes?  And what was the problem in hand, again?” Captain Whiffo asked.

  “How are we to get the King to sign this… what shall we call it? – Magna Charta?  How are we to get him to sign the Magna Charta without being guilty of lawbreaking ourselves?”

  “Oh!” E. T. W. interjected.  “Is that all?  Pshaw.  I’ll handle that.  Good night.  Sweet dreams!”  So saying, he bowed to the company, took up his hat, and left.

  Lord Damaximus was the first to break the silence.  “Well, that appears to have been settled.”

  “Indeed.  I wonder what his plan is?” Governor Guilder added.

  Captain Whiffo spoke up quickly.  “Ten to one he’s going to try to k…”

  “Hush!” Guy interrupted.  “I don’t want to know what he’s going to do!”

  “But I was only going to say that if he m…”

  Guy clapped his hands over his ears.  “Stop!  Stop, I say!  Tell me nothing that might conflict with my duties as Secretary of State!  Besides, you really don’t know what he plans to do, right?”

  “Oh, no, no, of course, not exactly.  We were only throwing around some ideas this morning.  –No, don’t worry, I shan’t go into details.  No Kings will be harmed in the making of this charter… at least, not very many.  And Chauncourtois is so strict for law and order, too.”

  “Well, however he does it, so long as he does it, I’ll be pleased.”  Lord Damaximus rose from his seat.  “Have matters been settled satisfactorily?”

  “Not quite,” Governor Guilder replied.  “Many people desire a new, Colonial Government.  How ought that to be structured?”

  “The structure ought to be left to the people themselves, by representation of course,” suggested Guy.  “I move that the Charta include a clause allowing for the establishment of this new government.”

  “I second that,” Captain Whiffo added.

  Lord Damaximus spoke up.  “It seems like a good proposal to me.  Captain Whiffo, you will take care to inform de Chauncourtois?”

  “Naturally.”

  Guy gave a sigh of relief.  “Then this meeting can adjourn.  Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen.  With a new structure, I have faith that we will make Eslandola great again!”

  As Guy went to bed that night, he wondered what Uncle might be up to.  It really wasn’t like him not to have a hand in such a pie as this.  “I’ll bet we’ll find out that he’s been behind the scenes somewhere or another.  He couldn’t stay away from such a mess!  I wonder how soon he’ll show up?”

-------

A picture of the build without minifigures:

I decide to try out sand green for this build... it gives it an interesting flair, I think.  Reminds me a little too much of avocado green in the context, though.   So I don't think I'll be trying it again anytime soon.
Comments are appreciated as always!

[Bregir]

Great looking interior scene, Kai - I like the colour scheme and the furniture. (And your use of 2x2 studded tiles is a trick I have used a few times too - makes posing a lot easier! ;) )

The story is very nice too - good to see that *something* is being done! However, this story poses a lot more questions than answers, and I shall be following developments closely! :P

[Capt Wolf]

Great job with the story and MOC! I like the sand green; I think it works here. Clever use of minifig hands for the coat tree (I will likely steal borrow that), and I like the curved bricks for the top of the bookcase. It's also a lot of fun to see so many of the Eslandola characters in one place. Great job with all the figs!

And I think getting the king to sign the charta will be the easy part in the coming weeks. Agreeing on what comes next will be the tough part!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

The story is evolving in the right way - and the colours are perfect. The room looks fantastic, even more with the hatstand and the nice bookshelf thingy.

[Littleworlds]

Very nice scene! I especially like the woodworks on the walls, which make a potentially boring looking part of a interior really interesting, and the book-shelf looks amazing! 

The characters are also very nicely done and each of them shows personality. Very good  For the weapon I would have preferred a regular sabre though and not the big serrated Ninjago-ones.

[Puvel]

I like the combination of sand green and reddish brown, the colours of the book stands give it an extra variety and it looks like a proper stuffy meeting room 

I always like your pics, they're so clean and sharp!

[Kai NRG]

On 10/23/2016 at 7:55 AM, Bregir said:

Great looking interior scene, Kai - I like the colour scheme and the furniture. (And your use of 2x2 studded tiles is a trick I have used a few times too - makes posing a lot easier! ;) )

The story is very nice too - good to see that *something* is being done! However, this story poses a lot more questions than answers, and I shall be following developments closely! :P

Thanks Bregir!  Hopefully you won't have too long to wait!

On 10/23/2016 at 3:08 PM, Capt Wolf said:

Great job with the story and MOC! I like the sand green; I think it works here. Clever use of minifig hands for the coat tree (I will likely steal borrow that), and I like the curved bricks for the top of the bookcase. It's also a lot of fun to see so many of the Eslandola characters in one place. Great job with all the figs!

And I think getting the king to sign the charta will be the easy part in the coming weeks. Agreeing on what comes next will be the tough part!

Thank you!
I think I agree there! 

On 10/23/2016 at 4:29 PM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

The story is evolving in the right way - and the colours are perfect. The room looks fantastic, even more with the hatstand and the nice bookshelf thingy.

Thanks Captain Braunsfeld!  I'm glad you like the direction this (seems to be...) headed!

On 10/23/2016 at 10:21 PM, Littleworlds said:

Very nice scene! I especially like the woodworks on the walls, which make a potentially boring looking part of a interior really interesting, and the book-shelf looks amazing! 

The characters are also very nicely done and each of them shows personality. Very good  For the weapon I would have preferred a regular sabre though and not the big serrated Ninjago-ones.

Thanks!  You can blame Garmadon for that weapon, I was using his character. 

5 hours ago, Puvel said:

I like the combination of sand green and reddish brown, the colours of the book stands give it an extra variety and it looks like a proper stuffy meeting room 

I always like your pics, they're so clean and sharp!

Thanks Purvel!  It does look stuffy, now that you mention it! 

[TitusV]

I saw this on Flickr, awesome build! I love the colourscheme, and the arches work very well. You're good at this kind of builds, kepe them coming!

[Kai NRG]

On 10/26/2016 at 4:10 PM, TitusV said:

I saw this on Flickr, awesome build! I love the colourscheme, and the arches work very well. You're good at this kind of builds, kepe them coming!

Thanks Titus!