Occasional Green Pastures and Quiet Waters

Llangardaix are sexually dimorphic, with the males being generally taller and mesomorphic in body type as compared to females. The males have backs covered in knobbly scales which extend to the tip of their tails, much like a crocodile. They also have two blue spikes known as the crown on its head which turns darker as the Llangdardaix grows older.

Female Llangardaix on the other hand, are at least 4 sizes smaller, and lack the muscle mass, back ridges and crown of the male. They are also a lighter green in colour and has a red streak running across each eye.

Llangardaix receive several racial bonuses:
Natural armour - 3pt scales
Tail-ing along - +10% to climb, swim, jump, and dodge
Rough skin - Males gain a 1d4 additional damage bonus when brawling.
Cold blooded - -1DEX for every 2°c dropped below 29°c.

Suggested professions for Llangardaix are:

Cavaller -
Skills: Brawl, climb, dodge, first aid, and any six of the following: command, ride, grapple, artillery, heavy weapon, hide, language (any), listen, jump, medicine, melee weapon, missile weapon, navigate, spot, stealth, or throw.

Ferrer -
Skills: Appraise, art (any), bargain, craft (any two), spot, research, status, repair (mech.), heavy machine.

Bruixot -
Skills: Craft, insight, knowledge (occult), two other knowledge, language (any), listen, perform (ritual), persuade, research.
Magic is attained through making a pact with Saradomin, sacrificing something in return for POW and a pre-arranged list of spells.

Sacerdot -
Skills: Fast talk, insight, knowledge (History), knowledge (Philosophy), knowledge (Religion), Language (own), perform (ritual), persuade, and any two of the following: knowledge (Occult), language (other), listen, literacy, perform (oratory), research, status, or teach.
Magic: Any four of the following: flame, heal, light, protection, sharpen, wall, ward, wound.

Others: Endevi, Agricultor, Pastor (shepherd), Comerciant.

Poble

 Next up, you have the ciutat, ranging from slightly larger than a poble to about 1000 inhabitants, but with a significant improvement in feel. Clean stone-paved streets allow for a larger flow of traffic, making ciutats centres of commerce and learning. Smart greystone houses are the norm here, with many pretty gardens, both for food and for pleasure.

Ciutat

 Finally, you have the pais, the capital cities of the Llangardaix world. Boasting large ramparts and towering structures, paisos are a definite sight to behold. The air here is rather dusty due to the large number of inhabitants, running from 8000 to 20000 people, tightly packed together. The main institutions for the Victorious Church of Armadyl, and the headquarters for the Cavaller are usually found here, together with the cap d'estat (the ruling head of the region).

Pais

 Physically, the Llangardaix are quite diverse, ranging from 5ft to 9ft in height. Not many of them are strong, and those who are usually end up as els ferrers or cavallers, while the rest devote themselves to either joining the Victorious Church of Armadyl as sacerdots or attaching themselves to the Torre, becoming bruixot, devoting themselves to the study of magic.

The Regne region trades in Banyes (plu., Banya, sing.), which comes in four denominations - the copper miné (1), the tin lempe (5), the silver cainen (10), and the gold atwen (20). 




The Regne region is home to several unique creatures, and is largely assimilated into the lives of the Llangardaix. The ishtar is by far the most iconic, reared by the cavallers as rides. Large and scaly save for their forelegs which are covered in coarse fur, these beasts are noble creatures, possessing both speed and destructive power. In the wild, the ishtar are the region's apex predator, travelling in packs of 5-10, preying on the local wildlife. Ishtar usually stay with one mate for life and give birth to one cub at a time. It's also possesses a unique spinal lesion in the lumbar area which serves as a primitive brain for its tail. The tail can react to simple stimuli such as movement and sound, helping the ishtar hunt while staying hidden.

It is strongly advised not to engage them in combat unless extremely well equipped.

Another beast synonymous with the Regne region is the souris, a white bat about the size of a cow. It has bright yellow ears and nose, and they commonly are found in the southern plains of Elisices and the western plains of Bastulia. The souris are not capable of flying very high, about up to 2 stories up, and always move around in a group known as a cloud, feeding on nectar and fruit from the albercoc trees.


One of the most versatile creatures found in the Regne region is the ocell. The largest ever measured being 262cm, these flightless birds are a intimidating sight, especially when they flock together. The collective noun for a group of ocell is a thunder. Despite their appearance, these birds are rather gentle, and actually are easily spooked into a stampede. Commonly also domesticated for its meat and eggs, but never for transport due to their panicky nature.

It would be common sense not to get caught in the path of a stampeding thunder.


No waterway is complete without its aquatic creatures, and the Central Sea and its tributaries are not without its own.The tritot is a behemoth of a salamander like amphibian which feeds on waterweed and smaller animals. It can be found as far as the Tritollac. It moves very slowly on land due to its body weight, but can go up to 2.4kmph in water, making it a waterman's favourite means of crossing the Central Sea.

Builds and professions for the Llangardaix can be found here.
[note: the artwork for the Llangardaix, wildlife, and currency have been updated as of 13th August 2012]

The past two weeks have been insane. I am now chronically sleep deprived. It must be some cruel joke of the university admins to put all the assignment due dates in the same 2 weeks. _φ(･_･

Batu Dam Scenery

Still, despite all that insane work hours, one has to still take a break to enjoy the finer details of life, no? Even if it's at the equally insane times of the day. Hehe.
So on Wednesday night, my landlady's daughter brought back a haruan from Batu Dam. Now, I've only been there once before and caught barely anything. Seeing that prize catch, i had to go when I heard she was going again the next day!
Screw the fact that I only had two hours of sleep. I needed a break real badly. Leaving the house at 0645, I got there in time to join them. It was really good to be able to spend some time in the open with fresh air and beautiful scenery (if you keep your eyes away from the littered water). Pity there was no thrill of a catch to end the trip.

On a, well, distraction related side note, I've finally finished painting my monk. I think I'll call him 'Wu Zheng', never mind about the Chinese characters yet. Haha. Here are some pictures of several stages of completion.

I've also managed to finish Doulos' figurine of Paul the Paladin. Went for a Boltgun Metal, Mithril Silver, and Shining Gold combo, with Enchanted Blue for the cloth. I think it looks pretty good - just need to touch up the finer details on the cape and its trimmings, also the shield, and other finer details.
So as a celebration for five figures painted, here's a picture of all of the together!

Remember Rhywle from my last post, Map Thursday? Well, in the great southern Marzuk Desert, you can find these guys - the Mwenye.

The Mwenye are a nomadic civilisation who wander the vast expense of the Marzuk Desert. Moving around in small groups of 25-50 individuals, known as kundis (sing. kundi), they make a living out of herding and trading.
They are animists, with each kundi having its own Mganga to intercede on their behalf with the spirits around.
Interestingly, the Mwenye have no single leader. The kundis, instead, convene every second full moon to discuss matters of importance, exchange news, and justify having a feast.

The Mwenye are diverse in body size. They can range from 5ft to 7ft in height. They are born with no horns. As they mature, horn buds appear which eventually grow into the majestic horns which adorn the adults. These horns are the only way to tell a Mwenye's gender without being indecent. The males have horns which grow forward, then up; While females have horns which curl backwards, then down.


The character build for Mwenye classes can be found here.

[Edit: Illustrations for the Mwenye have been changed as of 26/8/2012, while those for the animals are expected to be changed soon.]

 Finished base coating Paul the Paladin. This Paladin is not quite like the rest of the figures I've done - he's a 30mm mini instead of the usual 25mm, and is actually Paladin of the Order of the Wall, Protectorate Solo, part of a series from Warmachine known as the Iron Kingdoms.
I'm thinking of a Mithril Silver kind of colour scheme, with Shining Gold for the details, and perhaps a white cloak. This is the first figure I'm painting which requires assembly. I hope I don't screw it up or Doulos will come after me. haha.

My package from the UK has arrived! This is the first time ever, has any of my packages arrived with candy inside. How sweet of them.

I guess I can start working on my new project then. Oh, but I'm going to need a name for this guy... Why don't you guys help me out? Do leave suggestions for a name in the comment section!

Ever since Project Aldir, I've gotten the mini itch. I've always been fascinated by martial arts even as a kid (must have something to me with me being Chinese), so I thought I'd like to play as a monk some time in the future.

Shown here is a figure recommended to me by Tarrant, from Hasslefree Miniatures. This is one of the most authentic looking oriental monks in the market I've seen so far - not as awesome as I'd like it to be, but close enough.

Aldir_Urban is Aldir's camouflage outfit for urban and dungeon combat. This urban camo cloak allows him to blend into the shadows of buildings and caves, taking deadly shots at his enemies.

This was one of the hardest to paint. The mottled camo pattern had to be properly disrupted while the armour's colour scheme had to fit the overall feel of things. I started off with an Astronomican Grey base, but later on painted the cloak Chaos Black, then dabbed on Codex Grey and Astronomican Grey. The armour pieces were originally Scorched Brown and Bestial Brown, but I still felt like it stood out too much. At the advice of my DM, I changed the colour scheme to Chaos Black and Codex Grey. A final touch of Devlan Mud to give some shading and tada!

Map of Rhywle

Map of the Bastulia and Elisices Regions

Before Bastulia and Elisices was Regne, and before Regne, the land was wild. The Llangerdaix sailed south, and settled around the Central Sea. Their legion quickly followed, and the Llangerdaix tamed the wild lands, building vast stone cities. Regne prospered under the rule of Dídac I, growing in knowledge and trade. The peace and prosperity, however, did not last long. As quickly as the Llangerdaix rose to power, they sundered the kingdom amongst themselves. Guifre du Roig joined arms with Lady Anaïs of Vel del Riu, and warred with Ӧscar of the Etxaberri Order. The Bruixot order decided to withdraw into the Torre, wanting nothing to do with the war. Yet, that did not stop many bruixot from joining either faction. Till today, the war rages on, as both Bastulia and Elisices wrestle for dominion.

13 Jan - I've finished cleaning the figurines, removing excess metal, and filing down moulding scars. Finding those studs left behind wasn't a very easy task. I really wanted to make sure that I didn't discover any while I was painting. [Turns out, I missed out one on a boot corner. Discovered it while painting the boot, sadly; had to file through the paint] Decided to give two of my figures a darker shade, so I went with Chaos Black as the foundation colour. Was about to start on the third figure when my friends turned up for dinner. Next time, I guess.

Three Faces of Aldir

This is Aldir_Green, a figure I intend to use for playing in plains or forest terrains. Sporting a ghillie suit made out of Dark Grass, he's rising out from hiding to take a deadly shot at his quarry.

The most challenging part of this figure is not the painting, but more the customising of details. I spent quite a while deliberating on whether I should cover him in grass or foliage, and also how to fill the unstrung bow.
Initially, I had decided for the standing figure to be used for Aldir_Green, and this one for a 'sniper in the trees' concept. I got hesitant after a while and decided to scrap the foliage cover, and do a ghillie suit instead. I'm thinking of using the standing figure for something along the lines of Ezio or something... we'll see. hehe.

I gave quite some thought to how to fill in the missing details, like the bowstring and arrow. The guy who sold me the figures said the reason why they aren't there is that the manufacturers can't make them thin enough without compromising structure, and if the details are too thick, they look awkward. I was in the car thinking of what to use when a strand of hair got caught in between my fingers as I reached for the gear stick. Eureka! After about half an hour of scrounging around, I found that the fibres from this old floor brush worked really well as an arrow shaft after some modification. I'm also considering painting the shaft to match the those in the quiver.

Said brush

Having started painting the figures, one strange detail caught my attention. These fellas are supposed to be rangers, well known for stealth and tracking. Why on earth are they carrying weapons with reflective surfaces like the sword hilt and the gilding for the quiver? Wouldn't that be a dead give-away? Strange indeed...

For those of you who haven't heard, I play Dungeons and Dragons. Yes. You heard right. Truth be told, this is my first time ever playing, after hearing so much of it.

I played as Elf Ranger, Aldir Malvaneth, who ran around with a group of travellers whom he had met in a castle jail. I fought dismembered hands, and skeleton soldiers; I explored sewers and burnt villages. Then I changed class to a Sniper. That's where things got more serious. For my enemies. I've since got 12 kills to my name, all one hit kills.

For Christmas last year, I thought it'd be cool if I could get myself a figurine to help with the strategy aspect of gameplay. Put an order in at Comics Mart, MidValley for a set of Faramir's Rangers. They arrived the day I got back to KL, whoopity whoop.

Cleaned and drying. May as well pose while doing that.

I heard you need to clean the grease off the figures, so I soaked it in hot water.... once.... twice, then I brushed it with soap... then I got fed up and put a pot of water to boil and chucked them in. Still greasy. So I  got desperate and raided the kitchen for cleaning agents.

In the corner of a cupboard somewhere, I found a bottle of stove cleaner. The label swore it removed tough stains. Well, whaddaya know?! I've got tough stains! Why not give it a try? Worked like magic! All that's left is to paint it, and I'll let you guys follow me in the process.

You'll never know what hit you.