On 12/22/2011 at 7:42 PM, NiceMarmot said:

Petraea is definitely in the middle of the desert at an oasis. I'm guessing that Queens Cross, Qarkyr, Stone Town, and Messahmuk all have pretty dry climates, even though some of them are on a river or ocean. Not sure what Barqa is like; we need someone to lay claim to it. We definitely need another city or two in the desert (besides Lost Vega)... I'll work on positioning them; they'd probably have to be near some water or oasis. Where the Oil Road almost touches the Arkbri River would be a good spot, as shipping from Petraea to Barqa could be transferred to barges at that spot for faster shipment. Also where the road north of Qarkyr crosses the Lick of Salt is another good spot. Then we could also place one or two along the Oil Road at various oases. Now we just need names. Anyone got any favorite desert oasis names?

Wow! That was fast. Looks great. And it definitely fits right in.

Maybe some names for Oasis towns or more... Mormet, Mophet, Haven, Greenhaven, El'leez, Au'ban Dran, Eternal Spring, Blue Springs,

I do like how we have "bases" in this guild, but we are not divided up into states or provinces as it seems Avalonia is starting to. I imagine many of our figs administrate areas outside of town with loose boundaries.

  On 12/22/2011 at 9:04 PM, DaMaximus said:

NiceMarmot was the first who was interested in my service, so the Guild of Kaliphlin got my loyalty from now on off!

So let me introduce myself: I am Lord Damaximus, leader of the lands of Ximus, far far away, and I have already travelled the globe and thousand seas.

Doing this, many brave warriors joined my army and due the mix of all those nationalities, we faced many great adventures which we all survived.

Arriving in the lands of Historica, I am offering to the Guild of Kaliphlin my loyalty and trade.

This is my army when we arrived in this beautiful Guild. Once we have settled us, the most powerful warriors I got will go their own way and start their own armies to defend Kaliphlin!

Me on Diplomat, my horse and with banner

Left part of my army

Right part of my army

(looks like I got a few problems with the pictures, so here you can see it: My link )

But after all the travelling, my men are tired so we will first build a city and castle (with warrior guild probably so other Kaliphlinians can learn new exotic tricks)

So if I got the permission of my new Heir Dextrus Flagg, I would like to start a small port somewhere on the coast between Ras-El-Akhen and Berigora.

The surrounding mountains are a great defending advantage for the tradingships.

And I'll call this place: Mpya Stedor, named after one of the most legendary cities in my homeland. (Mpya is Swahili for New)

Lord Damaximus

Welcome Damaximus! It is great to have you here, I am sure our trading vessels will frequent each others' ports often.

  On 12/22/2011 at 10:50 PM, SkaForHire said:

Maybe some names for Oasis towns or more... Mormet, Mophet, Haven, Greenhaven, El'leez, Au'ban Dran, Eternal Spring, Blue Springs,

I do like how we have "bases" in this guild, but we are not divided up into states or provinces as it seems Avalonia is starting to. I imagine many of our figs administrate areas outside of town with loose boundaries.

Welcome Damaximus! It is great to have you here, I am sure our trading vessels will frequent each others' ports often.

Thx ^^

I just demolished all my castles and am searching for some extra parts in my legoboxes

I hope between studying for my exams, I can build Mpya Stedor

As for the exact location, it would be nice if it is here:

btw, I just discovered how to put images in a post without attachments :D

Lord Maximus

  On 12/22/2011 at 7:57 PM, NiceMarmot said:

I'm on a business trip this week, so no access to LEGO, but I have been able to do a little mapmaking.

Here's the first draft of a detail map of South Central Siccus, from the Akhenaten Delta to Stone Town. The map is 213 miles across and 124 miles north-south.

South Central Siccus (Kaliphlin Guild)

I think I might have made some of the fonts a bit too small for Flickr's resizing. Will make them a bit bigger.

I've deliberately left the area around Stone Town blank so that Basiliscus can do whatever he wants there.

If anyone else wants to set up shop anywhere on here, let me know and I'll put stuff on the map for you. The south coast of Gorr is a nice tropical area. The mainland coast in the upper left is unclaimed and has some good harbors.

I am so glad you are our mapmaker! I think perhaps we may need a few more islands around the coast... but those can be added later.

Also, I wish we had a list to figure out where everyone in the guild was based, just so we all have a general sense of placement.

Welcome to all new guild members, my Lord Dextrus Flagg I have returned from a 10 day journey across country, mostly trading for new supplies, building materials and equipment, we have also located a suitable place in Nocturnus to build an embassy, once me and my men have recuperated we will begin work immediately.

Faithfully yours

Kcaj Nosnikta

Back from hols it's great to see everyone's towers and the new challenge, I've got mostly Nocturnus orientated bricks so that's where I'll build an embassy. I'm still in awe of your map 'NM' it's coming along fantasticly, also I think we've all got some great ideas for this guild, joined the flickr group so I'll get some pics up later, got some nice lazy days over xmas

Also I'll have to do a bit of a write up of my character sometime including a hometown and try to have a better story with my mocs.

Cheers

I wouldn't mind doing something on Avalonia soil... I seem to have a fair few dkgreendragon shields and torsos.

Since I'm a spacer, "a fair few" is about 4.

(Sorry I've been so quiet as of late, work has been hectic and I'm just coming home and wasting the evening away instead of building...)

-YtR

  On 12/22/2011 at 10:57 PM, DaMaximus said:

I just demolished all my castles and am searching for some extra parts in my legoboxes

I hope between studying for my exams, I can build Mpya Stedor

As for the exact location, it would be nice if it is here:

<snip>

Excellent choice of location for Mpya Stedor! That's a beautiful large bay. You'll be well-placed as a trading center for southeast Kaliphlin. I'll get it on the next map of that area.

Here's the detail map of South-East Siccus, including Berigora and Peregrinus, the Akhenaten Delta, and the new city of Mpya Stedor. Lots of empty space on this one, and lots of unnamed features.

These are in the Kaliphlin group on Flickr now, and I've started adding notes to link them together, so you can get from the main map to the detail maps easily, as well as adding links on the detail maps to various MOCs if I know where they are. Let me know if you want your MOC to be linked to a particular location on the map (but check first to see if I've already linked it).

Southeast Siccus Badlands (Kaliphlin Guild)

All of these detail maps are approximately 8 pixels to the mile. So Mpya Stedor to the crossroads by the Qar-Akhen River is about 100 miles, or 3 to 4 days journey by horse on a good road.

DaMaximus -- can you come up with a good name for the very large bay near Mpya Stedor?

We're also going to need a good name for the main desert in this detail map, if anyone wants to suggest something.

Edited December 23, 201113 yr by NiceMarmot

And here's north central Siccus, including Petraea, QueensCross, and the Oil Road. I added a few desert oases, Au'ban Dran and Mophet; they're about 2 and 4 days travel from Petraea. Lots of desert in this map!

North Central Kaliphlin

North central Kaliphin is the place for my embassy!!! Great work on the maps NiceMarmot, they look perfect!!!

  On 12/23/2011 at 3:10 AM, NiceMarmot said:

Here's the detail map of South-East Siccus, including Berigora and Peregrinus, the Akhenaten Delta, and the new city of Mpya Stedor. Lots of empty space on this one, and lots of unnamed features.

...

Southeast Siccus Badlands (Kaliphlin Guild)

All of these detail maps are approximately 8 pixels to the mile. So Mpya Stedor to the crossroads by the Qar-Akhen River is about 100 miles, or 3 to 4 days journey by horse on a good road.

DaMaximus -- can you come up with a good name for the very large bay near Mpya Stedor?

We're also going to need a good name for the main desert in this detail map, if anyone wants to suggest something.

What u think of: Ghuba-ya Biashara? (Swahili for Bay-of Trade)

and for the desert between: Jangwa Tupu (Empty Desert in Swahili) => but other propositions are also good

Edited December 23, 201113 yr by DaMaximus

  On 12/23/2011 at 3:10 AM, NiceMarmot said:

Here's the detail map of South-East Siccus, including Berigora and Peregrinus, the Akhenaten Delta, and the new city of Mpya Stedor. Lots of empty space on this one, and lots of unnamed features.

These are in the Kaliphlin group on Flickr now, and I've started adding notes to link them together, so you can get from the main map to the detail maps easily, as well as adding links on the detail maps to various MOCs if I know where they are. Let me know if you want your MOC to be linked to a particular location on the map (but check first to see if I've already linked it).

Southeast Siccus Badlands (Kaliphlin Guild)

All of these detail maps are approximately 8 pixels to the mile. So Mpya Stedor to the crossroads by the Qar-Akhen River is about 100 miles, or 3 to 4 days journey by horse on a good road.

DaMaximus -- can you come up with a good name for the very large bay near Mpya Stedor?

We're also going to need a good name for the main desert in this detail map, if anyone wants to suggest something.

Beautiful map, NM

There are bandit encampments on the Rakath foothills, and nomadic settlements on the river, maybe reaching the status of a town downstream of The Loop. We do not recall if this river is in a fertile oasis valley, or a forbidding chasm of canyons, or maybe it was both... This semi-lawless area is governed mainly by proxy thanks to the unique justice of the mountain mummy tribes. Desert names - The Undead Desert? Lifeless Desert? Here be Sandworms?

  On 12/23/2011 at 8:06 AM, DaMaximus said:

What u think of: Ghuba-ya Biashara? (Swahili for Bay-of Trade)

and for the desert between: Jangwa Tupu (Empty Desert in Swahili) => but other propositions are also good

Nice names! I am terrible at coming up with names, it took me hours to come up with the few that i have already for people and places.

Wonderful regional maps, Gex/Nice Marmot! It's really helpful to see the notes on yr flickr images, showing where everyone else's builds are. I did comment on the south-east map, though i'll add my thoughts here as well; could we please relocate the active volcano you have on the north tip of Peregrinus to the island offshore? I am planning to moc that island as the breeding grounds of the Great Southern Wyrm, and a volcano would help keep thier eggs nice and toasty as they incubate. :) (Still haven't thought up a name for the isle though - anyone have any ideas?)

Also, and i'm sorry to be a pain, but i also envisage the east coast of Peregrinus to be largely cliff face, and for there to be a decent sized forest on the north-western side of the mountain range. (Important for my ship-building aspirations!) I made a small brick-map which might be of assistance...

Thanks again - i love that you're getting down to regional maps now - they look great!

Edited December 23, 201113 yr by gabe

  On 12/23/2011 at 8:29 AM, gabe said:

Nice names! I am terrible at coming up with names, it took me hours to come up with the few that i have already for people and places.

Wonderful regional maps, Gex/Nice Marmot! It's really helpful to see the notes on yr flickr images, showing where everyone else's builds are. I did comment on the south-east map, though i'll add my thoughts here as well; could we please relocate the active volcano you have on the north tip of Peregrinus to the island offshore? I am planning to moc that island as the breeding grounds of the Great Southern Wyrm, and a volcano would help keep thier eggs nice and toasty as they incubate. :) (Still haven't thought up a name for the isle though - anyone have any ideas?)

Also, and i'm sorry to be a pain, but i also envisage the east coast of Peregrinus to be largely cliff face, and for there to be a decent sized forest on the north-western side of the mountain range. (Important for my ship-building aspirations!) I made a small brick-map which might be of assistance...

Thanks again - i love that you're getting down to regional maps now - they look great!

to stay in or create a sort of SouthEastern Siccus Badlands dialect where many words end with "A":

Kisiwa Kuchomwa (Roasted Island)

or you can do it like Kuchomwa Islands (which sounds better than previous one)

Hey guys, for those of you struggling to come up with exotic names here's a way to get around it, firstly think of a few cool words that would best describe your area, secondly go onto http://thesaurus.com/ and type in a word to see other same meaning words, e.g. instead of having 'The Dead Canyon' you could have 'Cadaver Canyon' kinda sounds better to me, thirdly take those words and use google translate to find a more exotic sounding name so translating 'Cadaver Canyon' into Hindi use the phonetic spelling 'Sava Ghati' and there you have a cool sounding meaningful name also you can hear how your name sounds by using the listen feature, any good?

Edited December 23, 201113 yr by CptMugwash

  On 11/11/2011 at 5:32 AM, Tazmaniac said:

Sounds like you need Peppy in your guild.

Is it too late for me to join? I can make a figure and character this evening and get building over the long weekend.

Lord Damaximus we welcome such a seasoned veteran as you. I look forward to visiting Mpya Stedor and meeting you and your men! Welcome welcome.

Pagan Yes! you can still join! - The more the merrier, we welcome one and all (except for the Drow).

Peppermint_M we would love to welcome such a distinguished magi as yourself. we humbly await your unveiling!

Velethuil - What wonderful companions you have. that Dwarf is particularly fun - looks like my type of dwarf!

Rasputin Excellent organizational skills! I'm loving the flickr group.

Don't forget to join everyone: http://www.flickr.com/groups/kaliphlin/

and of course there's the general Guilds of Historica one now too: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1822940@N24/

Wahil Yes - I plan on doing the same thing - one free build and one competition (I may not be able to officially enter - but I can still build it!) though that may fluctuate based on ideas I have floating up in my nogg'n.

Hersbrucker That is a wonderful building I can't wait to see what our Werewolf friends will be building beside it!

Master Cartographer Gex, your maps never cease to amaze me. Another fine addition - I'm really liking how the our little world is getting flushed out. I'm starting to feel antsy about finding a little place for myself.... though I do intend to try to build everywhere... so watch out!

Kcaj good to have you back, I hope your travels were well. I myself will be taking my own trip today. I shall be back soon and may send a griffen or two to keep in touch with you all.

Erudhalion I know how you feel about coming up with names... you don't want to know how long I spent coming up with those original names... but Kcaj is dead on - I used his trick to come up with some of the names... Siccus is 'dry' in Latin. Yes redundant, but sounds cool ;)

Peppermint_M - Welcome aboard! Very glad to have you with us!

Kcaj - Thanks for the idea on how to create names! That will come in handy. Already used it a bit (see below).

Damaximus - Kuchomwa Islands sounds good, although I'll give Erudhalion/Gabe first shot at naming them, since he's targeting some builds for them. For the SE desert, I was thinking of keeping the word 'desert' in the name, so Jangwa Tupu might be a bit redundant. Hitting Google Translate for ideas; how about the Nyika Tupu Desert? (Empty Wasteland Desert) Has a nice sound to it. Ghuba-ya Biashara for the bay sounds great.

Erudhalion - I love your brick map, and actually did use it when putting together the map so I could position that one volcano correctly. Although now I notice that I missed the volcano in the southwest corner of Peregrinus; should I put that in too? And I can add a volcano on the island; should I remove the one in NE Peregrinus or leave it there in addition to the one on the island? I'll put some forest on the NW side of Peregrinus, and I'll probably put some on the east side of the Rakath mountains too.

Chairman Jones - There certainly are bandit encampments in the hills. To guard against them, we probably need more watchtowers! I think the land around the river is mostly fertile; the bread-basket of the east, I believe. That probably makes Ras-el-Akhen a big port for shipping out grain and rice that is barged downriver. I'm picturing Ras-el-Akhen as having a New Orleans feel; when someone settles there they can define it more thoroughly. However, there are probably some chasms and canyons farther north on the river, towards Qarkyr. And I was picturing the Lick of Salt running through many canyons.

Dextrus - Have a great trip and holiday!

Dugal - Thanks for the very thorough description of Eastgate! I'm editing together a description of our cities and will give to Dextrus to put into the first Kaliphlin post for reference. Plus I took your advice about islands and added quite a few to the South-East Siccus map. If you want, we can go nuts with islands when I get to the detail map of the West.

I hope to finish up my oasis tonight, I might just call it one of the few you put on the map already NM. My next free build is the shipyards at Eastgate. I am slowly collecting black in order to build my embassy in Nocturus.

My traitorous brother is planning on joining Mitgardia lol. Worst of all, he is using my actual (very sizable) collection which is stored at my mom's house a thousand miles from me, while I have to rely on whatever POB has each week... Haha.

  On 12/23/2011 at 7:22 PM, NiceMarmot said:

Dugal - Thanks for the very thorough description of Eastgate! I'm editing together a description of our cities and will give to Dextrus to put into the first Kaliphlin post for reference. Plus I took your advice about islands and added quite a few to the South-East Siccus map. If you want, we can go nuts with islands when I get to the detail map of the West.

I imagined that whole edge of the inland sea as a mess of islands that only the most skilled navigators and local pilots can travel through. I look forward to what you come up with. Once my limit is lifted on flickr, I will put up my map of Eastgate, it is done in Campaign Cartographer, so it is not as cool looking as yours, that is for Sure.

EDIT: OK I did have some more room in my account, here is how I imagined Eastgate, and some of the key points marked.

Eastgate by princeofska, on Flickr

Legend

1) GEAR CO. World Headquarters

2)Main Armory

3) Warehouse District

4) Great Bridge of Eastgate

5) Rose Tower

6) Pearl Tower

7) The Inner Bastion

8) The Great Keep

9) Expansion Town

10) New Town

11) GEAR Shipbuilding facilities

12)The South Gate

13) Lionsgate

14) Crown's Gate

15) The Guardians

16) The Neck

Edited December 24, 201113 yr by SkaForHire

  On 12/23/2011 at 7:22 PM, NiceMarmot said:

...

Damaximus - Kuchomwa Islands sounds good, although I'll give Erudhalion/Gabe first shot at naming them, since he's targeting some builds for them. For the SE desert, I was thinking of keeping the word 'desert' in the name, so Jangwa Tupu might be a bit redundant. Hitting Google Translate for ideas; how about the Nyika Tupu Desert? (Empty Wasteland Desert) Has a nice sound to it. Ghuba-ya Biashara for the bay sounds great.

...

Nyika Tupu Desert sounds indead better!

And of course Erudhalion has first choice!

  On 12/24/2011 at 12:23 AM, SkaForHire said:

I hope to finish up my oasis tonight, I might just call it one of the few you put on the map already NM. My next free build is the shipyards at Eastgate. I am slowly collecting black in order to build my embassy in Nocturus.

My traitorous brother is planning on joining Mitgardia lol. Worst of all, he is using my actual (very sizable) collection which is stored at my mom's house a thousand miles from me, while I have to rely on whatever POB has each week... Haha.

I imagined that whole edge of the inland sea as a mess of islands that only the most skilled navigators and local pilots can travel through. I look forward to what you come up with. Once my limit is lifted on flickr, I will put up my map of Eastgate, it is done in Campaign Cartographer, so it is not as cool looking as yours, that is for Sure.

EDIT: OK I did have some more room in my account, here is how I imagined Eastgate, and some of the key points marked.

Eastgate by princeofska, on Flickr

Legend

1) GEAR CO. World Headquarters

2)Main Armory

3) Warehouse District

4) Great Bridge of Eastgate

5) Rose Tower

6) Pearl Tower

7) The Inner Bastion

8) The Great Keep

9) Expansion Town

10) New Town

11) GEAR Shipbuilding facilities

12)The South Gate

13) Lionsgate

14) Crown's Gate

15) The Guardians

16) The Neck

Wow nice! you are planning to make all buildings yourself?

We are highly impressed with the level of detail in the planning of Eastgate and Mpya Stedor! Our cogratulations to Dugal and Lord Maximus! Lord Maximus, welcome! We must visit your beautiful town soon.

Velethuil, your artists have a really nice way of capturing the shimmering heat of the desert, and they depict your characters very well. May I enquire what manner of brushes they are using? I guess some of the parts are not standard?

Peppermint_M, we would be very honoured if you would join us!

Yours Aye,

Rasputin

Some questions:

- Is Historica an everlasting project or is there a need to rush to complete the buildings asap?

- I am a follower of the way of 2 closed walls, 2 openwalls (so when lifting the roof, all buildings look like a L) as it is the easiest way to put minifigures in and out buildings and everypart of a building is almost reachable. Is there a buildinglaw in Kaliphlin that declares a minimum of 3 walls (topview: => |_| <=) or not?

- the colours:

* As Mpya Stedor lays next to the mountains, I think the use of dark grey stone for my palace (which will lay in the mountains) is not doomthinking.

* I designed my citywall and headgate lightgrey because of my collection grey blocks.

* The lighthouse and some buildings I already have will be mostly a mix between light grey and dark grey with some brown touches in it.

* If I manage to find "PoP: the fight for the Dagger" set in the shops, the marketguard tower will be tan.

* at the opposite side of the entrance of the small harbour inside Mpya Stedor, there is a black tower with lightgrey elements which stood there already for centuries long. (build with the elements from the set: Skeleton Surprise).

=> As I am looking for the buildings I don't have yet, I am considering which colours I would use best. So propositions are always welcome!

- Is there a law in Kaliphlin or Historica which states there may only be Lego elements in a MOC and no elements like paper? Because I got some nice dark green sheets, found in a shoebox which I can use for underlayer so you don't see my bedroomfloor on the pics. Also I am considering to use paper or something like that for creating mountains.

Thx in advance for the answer!

  On 12/24/2011 at 1:52 PM, DaMaximus said:

Some questions:

- Is Historica an everlasting project or is there a need to rush to complete the buildings asap?

I think it is set to be 12 months. The current Embassy challenge ends Feb 15.

.. Is there a building law in Kaliphlin that declares a minimum of 3 walls (topview: => |_| <=) or not?

No. L shape is fine (by me anyway )

... As I am looking for the buildings I don't have yet, I am considering which colours I would use best. So propositions are always welcome!

The ones your imagination guides you too! Have a look at the first page in the thread to get a feel for what your Guild are using in different areas.

... Is there a law in Kaliphlin or Historica which states there may only be Lego elements in a MOC and no elements like paper?

No, there have been some very good Avalonian flags made of paper, and some Kaliphlin builders, including our Guild Leader I believe, are using non-lego elements like helmets and shields.

Happy Christmas and Happy building!

  On 12/24/2011 at 10:17 AM, DaMaximus said:

Nyika Tupu Desert sounds indead better!

And of course Erudhalion has first choice!

Wow nice! you are planning to make all buildings yourself?

Oh no! Yeah, I am a proponent of people building in all cities. Anyone can build anything I linked on the map, or something else and say it is in the city. I did the map for myself to get a general feeling of the city. My next free build will be shipyards there I think, but I am not going to methodically build everything, I like varying it up and building in the desert and other places.

  On 12/24/2011 at 4:55 PM, SkaForHire said:

Oh no! Yeah, I am a proponent of people building in all cities. Anyone can build anything I linked on the map, or something else and say it is in the city. I did the map for myself to get a general feeling of the city. My next free build will be shipyards there I think, but I am not going to methodically build everything, I like varying it up and building in the desert and other places.

Ah ok

as for Mpya Stedor, I gonna build as much as I can myself, that's why there aren't hundreds of buildings on my map

And for Christmas and New Year, I asked money so I can buy some stuff on bricklink

The only things I am not sure yet is where I'll place everything

The reason why I will try to do everything on my own, is because Mpya Stedor is more a storyproject than a prestigeproject for me and to tell the story, I need most buildings :)

  On 12/24/2011 at 2:11 PM, robuko said:

- Is Historica an everlasting project or is there a need to rush to complete the buildings asap?

I think it is set to be 12 months. The current Embassy challenge ends Feb 15.

.. Is there a building law in Kaliphlin that declares a minimum of 3 walls (topview: => |_| <=) or not?

No. L shape is fine (by me anyway )

... As I am looking for the buildings I don't have yet, I am considering which colours I would use best. So propositions are always welcome!

The ones your imagination guides you too! Have a look at the first page in the thread to get a feel for what your Guild are using in different areas.

... Is there a law in Kaliphlin or Historica which states there may only be Lego elements in a MOC and no elements like paper?

No, there have been some very good Avalonian flags made of paper, and some Kaliphlin builders, including our Guild Leader I believe, are using non-lego elements like helmets and shields.

Happy Christmas and Happy building!

Ok, perfect!

As for Historica: I am looking forward to how it continues :)

Happy Xmas for U too!

Some fantastic maps posted by NiceMarmot! These look great and makes me proud to be part of this guild. I hope to do a rough sketch of the area surrounding Stone Town sometime over the holiday period. That way you can incorporate it into your excellent maps!

Great to see we are still attracting new members! Looking forward to seeing all the fantastic new sigfigs.

Lovely city map SkaForHire! I need to do one of these for Stone Town. I love all these great maps as they help make it feel more real.

*****

Finally, hope you all have a great day tomorrow! Lots of rattly presents under the tree! Look forward to seeing all your MOCs over the holiday period.

Can't wait to get building again in the New Year!