Lalayla's Dojo Paradise

Name: Lalayla

Location: Residence of the Blades, Qeynos

Server: Antonia Bayle

Leaderboards: Not available for tour yet

Decorator(s): Neversea Crimsonblade

So last week I was trying to decide on a new project.  I have a ton planned and a ton that need finishing, but then I realized that I had forgotten about a very important home.  It kept getting put on the back burner for various reasons -- other priority projects, random things I decided to start and just pure my memory sucks...

After beating myself up for forgetting about this project I set to work on it.  I knew Layla wanted to do a good portion of the work so this is fairly bare and the added furniture was more to give her an idea of what could be done/where things could go.  She didn't want to cover up the place and honestly neither did I, but...I HATE the floor in the blades place, so...I covered it up along with a few other things.

So here's the result.

Entrance/Fighting Arena

Left Room/Possible Meditation/Prayer Room

Right Room/Possible Weapon Storage/Mini Armory

Upstairs we have the bedroom in the back left room

The right room is currently empty

The third 'floor' is empty, but here's a screenie anyway

And now for my favorite bits

A little sitting area...

There are 'planters' on either side of the sitting room next to the climbing walls.  I think we decided to turn them into pools or something.

This was supposed to be the dining and kitchen area, but I forgot to build the kitchen.  We decided that it won't need a kitchen anyway as it's more of a Dojo/Arena home.  As you can see I replaced the ugly yellow bits on the wall for something for fitting and matching to the rest of the home.

And if we turn around...we can see the atrium.

It's not currently open for visiting, but I wanted to share this anyway.

The Crimsonblade Armada

A while back I did up this project: A Pirate's Timeless Tale and I had said there would be more to the story as this is a HUGE project.  Well, this isn't exactly a continuation of that story, but it is, in its own way, connected to it.

Each ship, though similar, is designed with a particular theme.  I wanted the ships to have the same feel, but also a different feel.  There's always the basic stuff a ship needs - A Mess Hall, A Barracks, The Captain's Cabin and a Hold for treasure.  Sometimes even a place to shove prisoners or naughty crewmen.  Here in the Crimsonblade Armada, we simply make them walk the plank.  It's probably best to not get on the Captain's bad side.  Unless you like sleeping with the fishes.

I actually worked on all of these ships and another at the exact same time.  I would decorate up one room on one ship and then move to the next and the next.  i wanted them all done at about the same time, but it was also just easier to do and helped to make each ship different by doing that.

The Crimsonblade Armada

It all began with a ship.  She rested in the docks, the wind fluttering across her closed sails.  The waves gently splashed against her hull.  Loud laughs, singing and conversation flowed across the docks from many other ships, but the crew of this ship was much louder than the rest.  Their worn leather boots, aged too quickly with the salt water, thundered across the docks as they moved cargo to and from the ship.

The Phoenix Blade

Name: Phoenixblade

Location: Galleon of Dreams, Qeynos

Server: Antonia Bayle

Leaderboards: Medium Homes, Phoenixblade (soon to be available to tour)

Decorator(s): Neversea and Lalayla Crimsonblade

Men and even women of different races sail this ship under the command of Dread Pirate Captain Neversea Crimsonblade.  She serves as the Flagship to his Armada.  No one is quite certain just how many ships belong in this Armada, but three are known while one is only spoken of as a myth.

The Blushing Maiden

Name: Neverzea

Location: Galleon of Dreams, Freeport

Server: Antonia Bayle

Leaderboards: Medium Homes, The Blushing Maiden 

Decorator(s): Neversea and Lalayla Crimsonblade

With a crew of Othmir who loyally serve choose to serve the Dread Pirate Captain, this ship sails as the second ship in the Crimsonblade Armada.  Her chosen heading generally takes her through the icier waters of Velious and beyond.

Innorruk's Kiss

Name: Neverzea

Location: Galleon of Dreams, Freeport

Server: Antonia Bayle

Leaderboards: Medium Homes, Phoenixblade 

Decorator(s): Neversea and Lalayla Crimsonblade

Of all the Dread Pirate Captain's ship, Innoruuk's Kiss is the most feared for her crew consists of the undead and those who lay between both death and life.  A haunting melody follows her wherever she goes.  Her deck reeks of cold, but not of death.  Many of the other ship's crews will not step foot upon her deck.  Guests are rarely seen upon or below her decks, but there are some who are at peace walking among the undead.

To read more about the Armada's origins go here: What Once Was Lost

The Blushing Maiden

Name: Neversea

Location: Galleon of Dreams, Freeport

Server: Antonia Bayle

Leaderboards: Medium Homes, The Blushing Maiden 

Decorator(s): Neversea and Lalayla Crimsonblade

The Blushing Maiden was designed for Lalayla Crimsonblade.  The story of this ship is that while the pair of pirates were just friends, Neversea sculpted a figurehead in Lalayla's image and named the ship The Blushing Maiden after he made her blush one day.  She doesn't blush often.  Heck she usually flirts as much as he does.  It's terrible when you get them both in a room flirting with the same person.  Gah pirates and their flirtatiousness!

The Blushing Maiden

The Helm

The Mess Hall - As the crew consists mostly of Othmir, the ship has been designed in their image and to properly accommadate them.

You can see that they've put up wards to protect the ship and pay respect to Prexus.

The Garden - Both pirates have a love for gardens so it's only right that they tend to one on the ship.  Don't ask how they do it.  The answer is always magic.

Navigation Room

The Barracks

Shrine to Prexus

The Captain's Cabin

Lalayla's Tailor Work Space

Bed and Bath

The Hold

Innoruuk's Kiss

Name: Neverzea

Location: Galleon of Dreams, Freeport

Server: Antonia Bayle

Leaderboards: Medium Homes, Phoenixblade 

Decorator(s): Neversea and Lalayla Crimsonblade

Innoruuk's Kiss was designed for the personal use by Dame Euryale (owner of Soulfire Club).  As Euryale is a teir'dal from Neriak, I wanted to tie that into the ship.  There is, of course, a story behind Innoruuk's Kiss and why she was chosen specifically for the Dame.  Which you'll find a little further down in the tour.

Innoruuk's Kiss.  Say Hello to Mr. Lackslife.  He always smiles.

Alter to Innoruuk

Complete With Sacrificial Room/Torture Room

Though there is not much need for a barracks on the Kiss due to her crew consisting of a good portion of undead, there are enough non-undead crewmen for the need of a barracks.

Navigation Room

The Mess Hall

The Hold

The Captain's Cabin

Captain's Cabin Bath

The Loft

The Summoning Circle

Each of the five elements are represented - Left to right: Air, Fire and Soul/Spirit

Water, Earth and Air again

Despair, the Black Violin

Originally, I had planned to use a completely different item, but as I could not find that item I had to think of something.  I was actually going to retrieve another item that would work when I decided to build Despair.  She had a place here on this ship and it was where she belonged.

I didn't have any idea on how to make a violin.  Generally I would scale down a Maj'Dul lute and use it as such, but I had a good portion of item count left.  And Despair was special and a key to this ship as she is the one who has drawn, called the undead and spirits that care for the Kiss.

My first thought was that pieces of the body of the violin would need to be round in some form.  I had planned on flipping some black marble stairs on their sides for the edges and the rounded tiles for the top, but the stairs would have made it just fair too thick and large.  So I decided I would figure out the sides later and just started with the basic body which consists of 3 black marble rounded tiles - two at the smallest size and 1 just a bit bigger.

I played with layering the 3 tiles in various ways to get the right shape.  Once I was satisfied, it was time to get the neck done.  I had already decided that black marble railings would work best, but I was afraid they would be too large like the stairs.  However, they weren't!  Heck the smallest size was too small!

I started on the strings next.  I tried the keys from Bonemire first, but those weren't very good as strings.  They did work for the uh prongs at the top of the neck(I have no idea what they're called).  After I set those I went back to searching for strings.  I wanted to use some of the wall mounted bow, but as I wanted the violin to float, these poked out of the bottom, so that was out.

Weapons seemed the best choice as some of them were thin enough to work.  I tried various ones and other various items.  But eventually I settled on the Tropy: Lady Fiana's Gentle Suggestion.  Thankfully I still had some characters with those stashed in banks.

Despair is actually supposed to have silver edging and silver inlays, but I couldn't find anything silver that would well.  So I decided on trying the Burnished Steel rounded tiles.  It wasn't silver, but they worked quite well.  I sized them just a tad bigger than the black tiles so the gold would show on the outside.

After all that...I needed to make it much much thicker.  It was a very flat violin with only those 6 tiles.  What easier way to thicken it by just adding more tiles?  So...I bought a ton of the burnished steel rounded tiles, grabbed my black marbles ones and just started copying the layers until I got a thickness I liked.  I also added some burnished steel railings for the detailing around the neck of the violin.  You can't see it, but the back of the neck is also gold.

The curly bit on the end (Nipik's Cane)  was slightly pure accident.  I was gonna use it from something else, but it was curly...so I thought...hey!  Curly bit!  It really pulled the whole idea of a violin together IMO.

Despair is a bit too big to actually be played by anything but an ogre...but it works for what I wanted so I'm okay with it being a bit bigger than it needs to.  At least it's not ginormous.

You can find the stories about Despair, the Black Violin on either side of her pedestal or you can check them out on my A Page A Day blog here: Darkness and Light and The Pirate and the Song of Despair