NiceMarmot Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 Way to go, Gabe!! Congratulations, and a very well-deserved win. A great, detailed, and really innovative MOC.
Basiliscus Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) The Wiki looks good. I have written a few things and I will try and add some more information on it sometime over the next 2 weeks! Well done gabe! You're looking like the man to beat at the moment! I was wondering - how does the points system work? Is the 500-odd points added to the 600-odd from the watchtower challenge? Looking forward to challenge 3 - hope it is announced soon! Edited February 28, 2012 by Basiliscus
Gabe Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Many thanks Lord Shale, Gex and Wahil! I have to say though, i thought i'd be seeing either DucleStrange's brilliant Valentine's Ball (the event of the season!) or Amelia Phantomhive's (Erynlasgalen) beautiful Embassy Kalilia get the gong for Kaliphlin - 2 of my fav embassys this round. Congrats to everyone that put in an embassy too - looks like we had the least entries this round but we still weren't that far off the pace, a testament to the quality of our builds! This is a continuation of A Backpackers Guide to the Greater Siccus Badlands Beasts (here) and Intelligent Species (this post) of the Siccus Badlands I decided to make a new post for the intelligent species encountered in the Siccus Badlands because the original post is getting too long. Intelligent species of the Siccus Badlands Ay'Kabile– A seafaring humanoid. <snip> Great idea for a beastery and species list - maybe this would be good collated into a seperate topic, or even added to the wikia. I am very interested to hear more about the Ay Kabile - i confess i have not come across them before. Also, don't forget the centaurs! I know Kaliphlin doesn't have many of them anymore, and those that remain are mainly concentrated in the "Valley of the Centaurs" on Peregrinus, but you do come across them occasionally. Should you ever find yourself in Berigora, I can arrange an introduction for you to meet the local centaur elders, they have much information about centaur history and society that you might find interesting. The chronicles of Mpya Stedor continues: My link With the whole city made in Micro-Scale in LDD: I also will use this Picture for Mpya Stedor in the Kaliphlin Wikia Ooh, very nice DaMaximus! That looks great, and certainly gets you around your brick shortage problem. I have fairly limited patience with computer stuff, which is why i find LDD hard to get into. But looking at some of the lovely stuff my fellow guild members are making with it, i am almost ready to give it another try...! I just created a character page for myself on the wiki. It occurred to me that it might help if all our character pages follow the same format generally. Not saying my format is the right one, but it might help if we all had the same type of information on our pages. Take a look at mine and let me know what you think. Perhaps there are more sections that could be added. It seems fairly easy to change. Nice format NM/Gex, very comprehensive. I especially like the piece listings for sigfigs. i will try to follow that once i get it together to add my character page. Btw, that was an inspired idea SkaForHire/Dugal about starting up a Wiki for Kaliphlin - and Scubacarrot/Lord Shale for expanding it to a GoH wiki! Glad to see that the other guilds are getting on board as well. Should make finding info about histories and backstories a LOT easier. I'll try to post some stuff on the GoH wiki about Peregrinus when i get a moment. My dyslexic got the better of me again, I honestly thought you spelled it 'Kaiphilin' from the beginning, I feel stupid. Ahaha, don't worry, i was the same early on - i kept writing "Kaphilin" and having to correct it. Edited February 29, 2012 by gabe
Si-MOCs Posted February 29, 2012 Author Posted February 29, 2012 Brother's and Sisters of Kaliphlin. The good High King Darconius has graced us with his presence and given us kind words and gold for our efforts. While we have slipped into third place among our three brethern, we must hold our heads up high. True, we did not have the highest score. But a well placed informant in the ministry of challenge totalling has told me that Kaliphlin on average had the BEST scores in all the realms! THAT I believe deserves a applause for the brave constructioners. As a whole, all of Historica has built some incredible stuff - the quality is incredible - it is nice to see everyone building's skills progress. Tower Master Erudhalion - I must congratulate you again on a deserved victory. But, my friend, rest not on your laurels, the next challenge may be your hardest yet, and there are a few among us whom I think may usurp you in the next round. Tread carefully brother. For the remainder of the guild - You may ask if we built better than ALL the other guilds - why did we not score more? The answer is the number of builds - other guilds scored well, and built more. Combined that outweighs us, one of the smaller guilds. But fear not. I have faith. Kaliphlin Faith. For we have the potential for such great things. With that - I am more than willing to offer suggestions and criticisms as best I can on how you did/where you may improve. Feel free to PM me at any time. Good work Kaliphlin. We may not have won this round, but you have, again, made me proud. -- Tashbaan You can find the details for this humble little challenge here: Mini Challenge Damaximus great little micro. I'm really liking this whole micro castling Tower Lord Wahil Astute Mathematician ... yes the scores will be added. I have updated the main page. And you don't have to wait long - if you haven't guessed already. I hear heralds are coming as we speak with proclamations!
NiceMarmot Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 Lord Flagg, will there be an individual scoring or feedback of all the guild MOCs? I'd be interested in my score or at least some feedback. For instance I know my lousy photos hurt this time, but I wonder how much. Also, how does the scoring work? We don't want to get beat by a guild that pumps out tons of lower quality builds, but on the other hand we do want to reward high participation rates. But i don't think we should get hosed if a much bigger guild participates at the same rate we do but does better just because they have twice as many members.
SkaForHire Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 Wow, go to work, come back and I am already non-relevant! :) Great job putting a GoH wiki out there. I like what you all have done with it. One thing that we should probably make a rule for Kaliphlin pages --- Always put in a related links section at the bottom of the page and list Kaliphlin in there... All you have to do is write Kaliphlin, highlight it, and hit the link button. The dialogue will popup and you just hit ok. This will make it so much easier to navigate our guild's library (wiki). I will do a little clean up and link maintnence on Thursday once we start getting more information in there. I don't think we need any real posting rules. Both DaMaximus's and NiceMarmot's character profiles are really cool. We don't need a template, and we should not make any information required. I added a few things from my Wiki to the new one, but will contribute more after I get through this mountain of tests I am grading. Also, I have a centaur pic we can use for the guide, if my phone ever uploads the pic :) I think if Mikel is willing, his guide should definitely have a space in Kaliphlin's pages.
Erynlasgalen Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 Congrats Gabe on the second win! I think its great to hear we received high scores, and I am confident we will all up our game even more the next challenge to beat everyone! Also, how does the scoring work? We don't want to get beat by a guild that pumps out tons of lower quality builds, but on the other hand we do want to reward high participation rates. But i don't think we should get hosed if a much bigger guild participates at the same rate we do but does better just because they have twice as many members. I am curious about this too. I like that we are a smaller guild, but what would we need to do as a whole to make up for this disadvantage? More free builds? We have a lot of excellent builders so far, and I too would hate to lose just because our numbers are not as strong as other groups. I haven't gotten a chance to finish my free builds I have going now, but Amelia and company have been traveling far and wide through the land and have a variety of places to show everyone. I'll be away from my bricks on vacation for the next two weeks, but hopefully after that I can finish and get them posted.
Mike S Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 Gabe- I most definitely am not forgetting the centaurs, or the minotaurs.... I'm sure there are quite a few more that I have not added as of yet. I have several projects going on simultaneously so updates might be a bit slow. I do plan on adding backstories and descriptions of each of the races but I am waiting to see how they fit "naturally" into the Siccus Badlands. As more of Historica's past is revealed, the more descriptions I will be able to complete. Also congratz on winning the Kaliphlin prize! SkaForHire- sure I am willing! And for the record, The backpackers guide to the Greater Siccus Badlands is an open work... meaning I would be happy for anyones contribution to it. The "by Mikel Kalores" thing is just a character background for my sigfig; I'm trying to portray him as an explorer and writer... I finished "An interview with a Grelf" but put it on the front page as it turned out to be a free build. Hope you all like it!
Si-MOCs Posted February 29, 2012 Author Posted February 29, 2012 RE: scoring for Challenge 2 Basically the vast majority of points are awarded based on the average build of the guild. We take all the scores combined for every build and we divided by the entries. From there we multiply it to normalize it among all the guild. aka as if every guild has the SAME number of members. Then we add a participation points for each entry per guild - thus rewarding everyone from building. That way no smart megablocks guild will have only one entry by their best builder. Add those together and viola - a relatively fair system that rewards the guild that builds the best and that participates the most. If you look at the scores - they're actually REALLY close. Yes we had the best average, but Avolonia and Mitgardia weren't far behind. So. What to do next time? Build as best you can - keep in mind we're looking for quality, not size. so if you don't have the brick - don't build too big! A small well built MOC is better than a massive flat walled castle for instance. As I hinted at - the builds are getting way better - I suspect the next round the judges may be slightly more critical - so simple stuff like - clean back grounds, sharp picture, etc will be easy points. I think our biggest asset is our creativity - for the most part we have the most interesting builds and I think it helps to stand out... so keep up the neato builds! As for individual feedback - I obviously didn't judge Kaliphlin's entries - but I would be more than happy to look at it as if I were a judge... just shoot me a PM and I'l lget around to it eventually ;) Also the freebuild should help us catch up. But I think we're doing really well. and the race is actually really close... And don't forget the first guild to catch the snitch gets 1500 points!
Scubacarrot Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 My fellow guildsmen, I am here to tell you about my visit to one of our great cities, here is part one, the gates: Link Lord Shale
robuko Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 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.
SkaForHire Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Robuko, I really like it! Good entry, I like that he was not a good guy in the end :) Good story to scare greedy little children. Gabe - I forgot to say congrats! And to the rest of the guild - we will get them next time. I thought our average quality was really good - Better than Avalonia, that is for sure! -- but we just could not beat the math I guess! Oh yeah, some more pics for the races: The lerik'ai by princeofska, on Flickr and Female Centaur by princeofska, on Flickr Edit if needed. Edited February 29, 2012 by SkaForHire
NiceMarmot Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 I finally got around to posting more pictures to my embassy, the Palace of a Hundred Scorpions. The big change is that I posted pictures of the opening gala. Everyone who's anyone in Mitgardia and Kaliphlin turned out for the ball, and a great time was had by all. Unfortunately our portrait artist did not get everyone in his paintings, but he got a lot of them. For example here are a few pictures. See who you can recognize. Some people are in slightly different clothes, others removed their helmets for the party. Palace of Scorpions Opening Party Palace of Scorpions Opening Party There are also a few pictures of the cellar, such as this one of the kitchen: Palace of Scorpions, Cellar, Kitchen The embassy thread is here
robuko Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Rise of the Sphinx just hit 56% off (£18.16). on Amazon UK. Just ordered one Great party Gex!
Angeli Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 And don't forget the first guild to catch the snitch gets 1500 points! hmpf, this is new to me... link me to the main story, plz?:) For your Kaliphlin Story Time: Myths, Legends and Lore mini Challenge: I present the story of how Valsharess climbed up to power: link to the thread although it does not involve Khaliphlians, it will not be liable for enteries, (also as it is entry for the Siercon&Coral's dragon contest:); but it was made with this mini challenge as inspiration ;)
CptMugwash Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Gabe Congrats on 1st place, well deserved, not to say everyone elses was great too Rob Great myth, love it Ska Nice additions, are those Lerik'ai summoning a fire demon? I have an entry which I'll get around to photographing later. Gex I had a lovely time at your party, a splendid host, wonderful food and it was fun to mingle with others too. (although I can't help but wonder if it's a reflection or am I wearing lipstick? ) Angeli Cool moc I have a story for the myth challenge so it's just the mocs to do, I had a moc that I was going to use but it changed so it will be a free build, I also have another moc in the works once I get the myth one sorted so expect some updates, not to mention the rest of my city is to do and the 3rd challenge, plenty of things to keep busy
NiceMarmot Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Gex I had a lovely time at your party, a splendid host, wonderful food and it was fun to mingle with others too. (although I can't help but wonder if it's a reflection or am I wearing lipstick? ) Kcaj, not sure about lipstick; I didn't see any. Maybe it was a bit of BBQ sauce from the roasted northern warg ribs? Here's a more frontal picture of you; unfortunately the focus is not so good on this one. In other news, my myth story is written; now I just need to find the time to build it. I think this is a great little challenge, and will help build out the history/legends of Kaliphlin. Really looking forward to seeing everyone else's stories. I was thinking that next, maybe we could do vignettes of a historical Kaliphlin battle. I've been itching to put my army to use!
SkaForHire Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 I was thinking that next, maybe we could do vignettes of a historical Kaliphlin battle. I've been itching to put my army to use! I have wanted to do that too! We could have a lot of fun and flesh out more history that way. Kcaj, yes it is a fire demon. The Lerik'ai worship the flame, and often sacrifice (like this poor unfortunate traveler) to the flame in order to speak with their gods. They are also known to sometimes use these fire demons in battle, although they often lose control of them. BTW, I put the centaur picture up just in case we needed a centaur pic for the wiki or the guide.
Mike S Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Oh yeah, some more pics for the races: The lerik'ai by princeofska, on Flickr and Female Centaur by princeofska, on Flickr Edit if needed. Nice! I think I can build a few of the Lerik'ai myself. I will add your pics to the list soon. I'm at work so can't do it now. I was thinking that we should maybe work together cohesively to come up with a history of Kaliphlin and how the green fields were turned to sand. Someone, I think DaMaximus, wrote a history on the wiki. Is this going to be the official history or is it just a myth. It is a nice story but I was also wondering if the four guild leaders had a past history that wasn't revealed yet as the history of Kaliphlin probably is linked with the other three guilds history. I would hate to make up a history that would conflict with official/others histories. Hence so far my histories have been vague beyond recent history of Kaliphlin.
NiceMarmot Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Nice! I think I can build a few of the Lerik'ai myself. I will add your pics to the list soon. I'm at work so can't do it now. Yes, I'll have to figure what those heads are and order some for myself. I don't think I have that particular head. I was thinking that we should maybe work together cohesively to come up with a history of Kaliphlin and how the green fields were turned to sand. Someone, I think DaMaximus, wrote a history on the wiki. Is this going to be the official history or is it just a myth. It is a nice story but I was also wondering if the four guild leaders had a past history that wasn't revealed yet as the history of Kaliphlin probably is linked with the other three guilds history. I would hate to make up a history that would conflict with official/others histories. Hence so far my histories have been vague beyond recent history of Kaliphlin. Great point. Perhaps we should post our ideas for the overall history on the wiki, perhaps in the Kaliphlin History page, and people can add comments and so forth, and we can begin to hash out a common history. The history of Kaligem is up there now, but that's probably only one part of Kaliphlin's history. If I get some time today, I'll extract a summary of the Kaligem history and post it to that page, and maybe add a few more ideas of my own. I also think that the Kaliphlin history should not be too detailed and complete -- we want to allow flexibility for people to later insert their new ideas and MOCs.
kabel Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 @NM: hey thanks for putting me into your moc, it's so cool!!
CptMugwash Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 NM Thanks for posting the pics, from the angle it looked like this like a peachish kinda lipstick The vigs are a good idea, how about to keep it more open have it as a historical event, so it could be a battle, or anything else that could be historically significant to the guild, and as we accumulate more knowledge of the history we can create mocs from that too. So many possibilities, so few bricks. Also the Lerik'ai heads are the devil heads from the Monster 4 game. Mikel That history was written up a while back on here, I thought it was good but I'll have to re-read it when I get a chance to next and start writing up something for it too. Also here's something for the races/species of the Siccus Badlands. They are called Jivana Cusana and lurk in tainted ruins across the plains of the Siccus Badlands, they hide in the shadows and ambush unsuspecting victims taking shelter, the Jivana Cusana suck the very essence of life away from you until there is no more. With enough life essence the Jivana Cusana can live forever until they are banished from this world. If you need more info I can write some more, now I'm off to bed.
SkaForHire Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 (edited) I ended up buying a ton of those heads pretty cheap, they were in the Monster 4 game with werewolves and vampires too. Also, since the Lerik'ai come in darker shades, I would think any red, maroon, or black head would do. (Maybe with an occasional discoloring like gold?) I think I was going to get a few Darth Maul heads to show some of the less common looking members of the race. I was for a while going to have them have horns or bone like structures, but those Darth Maul horns are kind of expensive, so I think this is a trait only a few may have. I figure they are probably lightly armored, favor the knife over the long sword, along with speed and stealth over brute force. I originally created them to be the basic bad guy for a lot of us more "civilized" Kaliphlin traders - especially the oil merchants, but I am sure they have some redeeming qualities of some sort. Think of them as Kaliphlin's drow, only less cocky and more to the point. As for the history section, I think that is a good idea about the wiki. I think the myth of Kaligem that is up there right now is a version of the one I wrote a while back. I think it explained why we were a desert, and we can generally agree two things from the myth 1) that Kaliphlin used to rule the continent and 2) It used to be a rich savannah with wildlife, farms, and a large population. Now the history gives a version of the story that involves the gods. As far as modern Kaliphinians know, the gods don't make a direct appearance in everyday Kaliphlin. So there is something supernatural about the story. That is not to say it isn't true, and that people don't treat it as truth, it just really can't be verified at this moment. Maybe a few archeologists may find otherwise in the months to come? Edited March 1, 2012 by SkaForHire
Blaze Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Robuko Where did you get the minifig head for Isabella? (the one with the purple scarf). In which set is it or where can I order it? I'm having a hard time finding minifig heads with a scarf, or at least something which conseals the mouth/nose, eventhough I know there are severall of them made (at least, I thought so). If someone could help me out with this it would be very helpfull.
robuko Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 Robuko Where did you get the minifig head for Isabella? (the one with the purple scarf). In which set is it or where can I order it? I'm having a hard time finding minifig heads with a scarf, or at least something which conseals the mouth/nose, 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.
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