The way home....through the Desert

[Kayne]

As reward for his involvement in the battle against Revolword, the Kaliphlin Lords granted Kha the title of Lord of Ras-El-Akhen. On his way home from Nocturnus back to Kaliphlin, Kha needed to traverse the Nyika Tupu Desert if he was to reach Ras-El-Akhen. What would await him there was as of yet unknown, but first are the trials of the road. The Nyika Tupu Desert is home to the Black Lions, a nomadic peoples of the Desert known for the harsh lifestyle, dedication to their spears and fierce approach to strangers. Kha presents the Black Lions with a gift of crossing and shares his tale in the fight for Historica. Perhaps, he has found some new allies in the fight for the realm.

I plan to have much more in the way of Kha's travels home, as well as the less than warm welcome in his new city....

Also, I would like to claim UoP credits for Desert, Life in Kaliphlin and Sideways Rocks

Edited February 1, 2014 by Kayne

[DrColossus]

I'm a pretty big fan of this. I like the various colors in the sand-arch, kind of looks like the Arizona desert maybe? Anyway, nice build.

[Gunman]

Beautiful gate Kayne :) I like the guys up the rock

[Kai NRG]

Great to see another Kaliphlin Free-build! Great rock formation, good job on the angles especially on the left. I think you might have been able to do a touch more on the desert landscaping, but nice work there with the black lions!

+1 for both claims!

[Lord Vladivus]

I like the colours in the rock work! Great MOC!

[MKJoshA]

I love the arch. That's a rock formation that doesn't get a lot of representation in Lego. You've done a great job with it!

[Kayne]

Thanks for the comments! I feel like the desert builds always have tan and dark tan, and I just don't have enough of that to be interesting. So, I tried to bring in some other colors, and yes the Arizona desert is some of the inspiration. Actually a lot came from 'The Shadow Rising' by Robert Jordan as well. I have started reading the Wheel of Time, and the Aiel are the inspiration for the Black Lions.

Kai-I agree, there probably could have been more to the desert floor, I was trying not to make the build too busy, with the colors that are already in the rocks. But, it does look a bit flat up front

[Dayton]

Very good base and rock work. Keep it up!

[SkaForHire]

+1 for both claims.

It is great to see more cultures added to the South. This arch is really unique, and very cool!

[gedren_y]

I'm with Kai and Ska, +1 for Life in Kaliphlin and Sideways Rocks. Just too little gradation for the Desert credit.

A way to get more gradation out of your large dark tan plates is to set them at a shallow angle (15-30 degrees).

It does have that American southwest feel to it, though. The 'gate' does look like those natural rock formations that are found in the American desert.

[MKJoshA]

I hadn't thought about it before, but are arches not very common anywhere else in the world? I've done some traveling outside the USA, mostly in Europe and South America and I haven't seen any that I remember, but I haven't been looking for them either.

[soccerkid6]

Excellent rock arch formation, the colors work nicely together I think throwing some dark tan 1x2 tiles onto the dark tan would help it feel more natural as it would break up all those studs

[HammerBro]

Nice sandy texture and the use of the jedi torsos are great!

[Infernum]

Nice! I love the use of burnt orange! I do think that the arch would look better if you took out the light bley.

[Kayne]

I don't have enough inverted slopes in other colors, but I agree!

[Torgar]

I really like the arch and the different colors you used in it, great job!

[Gideon]

I like the idea of depicting the journey to his new city, and the prospect of an outsider (?) not being welcomed by the people of Ras-El-Akhen as their new lord sounds like it has a lot of story possibilities

Using dark tan instead of the regular tan as a desert color works very well, so even though you might have made some more landscaping on the ground I think you deserve UoP +1 for your claims.

I hadn't thought about it before, but are arches not very common anywhere else in the world? I've done some traveling outside the USA, mostly in Europe and South America and I haven't seen any that I remember, but I haven't been looking for them either.

At least there's one in the Mediterranean I saw on Malta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_Window

[Lord Vladivus]

*Puts geography/geology hat on*.

I hadn't thought about it before, but are arches not very common anywhere else in the world? I've done some traveling outside the USA, mostly in Europe and South America and I haven't seen any that I remember, but I haven't been looking for them either.

At least there's one in the Mediterranean I saw on Malta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_Window

Thats a nice example of an arch, Gideon! There's quite a few extant examples of arches in the world. They frequently occur on coasts, where the erosional processes acting on a cliff can form them. Durdle Door in Dorset, England is one of my favourite examples- the whole area is a World Heritage site, so on a par with things like the Taj Mahal. You get them sometimes in old, dried up rivers, and they can form from various weathering processes further inland. Bear in mind the scale of arches can vary enormously.

I'm guessing the arch in this MOC will have been comprised of several layers of sandstone, probably tilted onto its side, hence the colour variations.

No doubt kabel will come along now and pick holes in what I've said! :P

Edited February 5, 2014 by Lord Vladivus