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By BOSSMAN - Dec. 31, 1969 “THE BASILICA OF PELOR”Fluff In the great town plaza the magnificent edifice of the Basilica of Pelor has stood for many generations. This elaborate gothic structure is the hub of power of the clergy of Pelor and has been a bastion of faith for the surrounding lands. Not only have the spiritual affairs of the populace been governed here but also it is a centre of the community that has proved resolute in time of crisis, whether through war, pestilence or famine. In the myriad of crypts beneath its sanctified grounds lie interred many thousands of bones of the dead, as these crypts are the place of burial for the worshipers. The bishop of the Basilica, the Bishop Thasmun III, is a beloved benevolent leader in the community. Alas in his years of frailty his manner has become in the eyes of some queer and his sermons are regarded by some as erratic and even heretical. Recently the regional Cardinal dispatched an inquisition to investigate these scurrilous claims but it has now been reported that the inquisitor and his entourage have gone missing whilst returning to report somewhere in the shadowed and perilous woods of Darkfen. These woods are reputed to be controlled by Znarkooth, the necromancer of Doth G’nar. Unbeknownst to the town elders is that the bishop himself was murdered many months ago and in his stead an impostor has been placed who is in league with the necromancer. Over this time the sanctity of the ancient crypts has been defiled and soon the remains of the interred populace will be animated into a foul hoard of undead warriors to subjugate their descendants under the malignant rule Znarkooth the Necromancer of Doth G’nar. Description The Basilica is essentially octagonal in shape with a central octagonal body and each side of the octagon holding a supporting structure. Six of these are worship alcoves, another the bell tower and the last the main entrance of the Basilica. Rising from eight pillars in the heart of the Basilica is the main tower and dome. Each of the alcove abutments, along with the bell tower, is elaborately decorated with arched windows and arched recesses holding statues. A peaked roof of copper sheeting caps each. The belltower contains the stairs that access not only the pulpit, bell tower and roof of the basilica, but also the crypt through a chained and rusted iron gate. A small door at the rear of the basilica is the only ground level access other than the main entrance. The main entrance to the basilica is an elaborate arched affair flanked by soaring roman columns that support the lintel and peaked architrave above. Lurking above are two gargoyle statues. Stairs lead up within this entrance and the main level of the Basilica with the entry vestibule been flanked by statues of two holy warriors. Twin doors of iron studded wood panels lead into the basilica. A secret room exists directly above this entrance with access from a hidden roof trap door. A spy hole gives a commanding view of the interior of the temple and pulpit. The interior of the basilica is designed to fill the worshipers with a sense of heavenly majesty. The symmetrically patterned marble floor leads from an eight-pointed design in the centre (directly under the dome) to the pulpit and bell tower, the main entrance, and each of the six alcoves of worship. Each of these alcoves has elaborate louvered doors. The bell tower has a second floor balcony that is the pulpit from which the bishop can deliver his sermons to the congregation below. It is however the magnificent pillars and archways that support the roof and central tower and dome of the Basilica which impart the sense of majesty to the structure. These pillars stand 25 feet tall and the arches loft above these. The dome of the Basilica towers a dizzying 70 feet above the floor of the main hall. More arches span the exterior walkway between the pillars and external walls and arches also loft over each alcove entrance. The roof of the basilica is accessed via the bell tower which itself houses an ancient bronze bell. A railed walkway circumnavigates the main basilica tower to an open patio above the main entrance. Statues also decorate this railing. The main tower hosts 16 arched windows which allow natural light to pour into the main hall and above these is the dome and spire. All up the Basilica stands over 90 feet high. I haven’t made any statues of gods or saints to put in the alcoves yet but these will probably stand on pedestals in each of the alcoves. Construction The temple is made up of 28 separate sections being the main body, removable wall section, three separate flat roof sections, bell tower upper floor, 7 copper peaked roof sections, trapdoor cover, 12 louvered doors, and 4 other door pieces. Use of the longer basic block sections as found in the “Gothic Dungeon” mould helped to strengthen this project particularly around the extensively arched sections which would have been a lot more fragile if basic 1” blocks had been used. The area where I had the most trouble was then interior tower which was assembled upside down and inserted into and glued to the main structure later. Sanding of the arches connecting this tower to the main body of the Basilica required placement of the central tower and final sanding of the exterior arch “halves” to make it fit. This sanding was required due to the geometry of the differing octagons. Unfortunately this took a few attempts with same disastrous effects on the pillars. Many of these are chipped and damaged from been snapped off during this process. The main floor section was assembled on a 1” thick sheet of polystyrene and a hot wire foam cutter was then used to cut this to match the shape of the floor. The lower body of the main structure was assembled around this floor sheet. The removable walls fit to the base via “lug” blocks that hold it into position, as do the removable flat roof sections. There is a slight gap that exists between the interior side of the flat roof panels and the exterior of the central tower that has been masked by the decorative edges (from the Tomb mould). These gaps exist due to the geometry of the differing octagons. The bell tower upper section sits loose (I should have used lugs) but is held in place loosely by contact with the roof section. Each of the copper roof sections simply sits in place. The main dome was made with a plastic bowl with the bottom rim sanded off. This dome simply sits in place but is restrained by the decorative cap at the top of the main tower. The louvered doors are mounted on skewers that are inserted into holes drilled into the floor. To hold the skewers vertically a 1”x1/2”x1/4” block with a hole drilled through it is built into the upper structure of the alcove with the hole projecting out to match the vertical position of the skewer. Due to the tight space available to angle the doors whilst trying to insert the skewer ends into the mountings the skewer dimensions need to be cut down to a very close fit. Thin wire rod was inserted into the floor and roof ends of the door posts which themselves insert into small drill holes to enable the doors to swing. The doors themselves are raised above the floor by inserting a small piece of flat plastic under each of the doorposts. These were obtained by using a paper hole punch on the plastic from a miniatures pack. The door at the top and bottom of the bell tower also sit independently. The basilica is made up of approximately 2,748 blocks cast in Patternstone H, (A brand of plasterstone available in Oz) and is 15” wide and deep and 18.5” high. Moulds Used #45 Gothic Dungeon (1/4” thick walls, pillars) #51 Inn Mould ( ½” r arches) #53 Bridge Mould (Bridge arch, railing, decorative trim) #54 Church Mould (½” trim blocks, decorative caps) #55 Bell Tower (Decorative blocks, various arches, peaked recessed arch) #56 Tomb Mould (Arches, decorative trim, decorative cap) #60 Prison Tower (Stair braces, small braces, ¼” diameter slit, stairs) #61 Turret Mould (Various turret underside pieces) #62 Roman Temple Mould (Columns, trim, smooth blocks) #63 Octagon Tower (Corners, trim, caps, floor, arch) #65 Ruined Tower Mould (Pillar base) #71 Fieldstone Accessories (Smooth pillars, door) #80 Dragons Teeth Accessories (Metal plate) #120 ¼” Window Arch Mould (Round arches) #121 ½” Window Arch Mould (Round arches) #137 Recessed Arches (oop) (Recessed arches) #140 Columns or Pillars (Window trim) #202 Smooth Floor Tiles (Various smooth floor tiles) #235 Gothic Roof (Lead roofing, spout, decorative roof trim) In addition basic wall and floor blocks were gotten from many different moulds. Customising Some custom cutting was required as follows: Sanding of metal plates to enable doors to swing shut. Also the edge connecting the doors to the mounting dowel pillars had a curved recess filed into place to strengthen the bond. Octagon corner blocks used in the central tower and within the central tower arch assemblies have had ¼” cut from each end. A mould was made to reproduce these. The arches between the central tower and the exterior walls were sanded short as the distance was slightly less than the 1.5” of the arch. This was due to the geometry of the two octagons. The octagon tower ¼” thick trim section used in reverse on the inside of the central tower was custom made and a mould was created to reproduce these. The “half” thickness gothic arches used in the “blank” arch sections of the bell tower were cut from full thickness assemblies and moulds were made of these for reproduction. Smooth versions of the octagon floor were created by cutting 1” smooth floor tiles to shape and bevelling in a similar fashion to the smooth floor tiles. A custom mould was made of these. Smooth versions of other sized octagonal tower floor pieces were made for a number of different size octagonal towers. As these were larger pieces they were made by assembling the 1/8th of the basic octagon tower floor pieces and cutting back to the required size. These were then smoothed with wall filler and a mould was made for reproduction. The base of the spire was a heavily sanded version of the underside of the Turret mould – you can see this reduced the effective diameter of these pieces. These same turret pieces were used for the internal arch in the entrance. The top of the curve of these pieces was sawn off to enable the placement of the flat floor of the hidden spy/treasure chamber above. Mitreing and sanding of the decorative trim used on the roof peaks. Extensive cutting of decorative trims to use in corners areas etc. There were quite a few other areas where sanding was required to make pieces fit on an ad-hoc basis during construction. Extras A latex mould was made various miniatures for use as statues as follows: Ral Partha “Clergy” Reaper 2391 “Kimberlee the Fair” RAFM 3948 “Gargoyles of Notre Dame” RAFM 3949 “Cemetery Gargoyles” A plastic bowl was used for the dome. The base “rim” was filed flat on which was mounted the spire sections. Thick cardboard was glued to the exterior of the bowl to create the segments. The dome decorative pieces were made by sticking nylon rope onto the dome. I should have used a natural fibre, as the nylon rope would not straighten properly. Thin wire rod was inserted into the floor and roof ends of the door posts which themselves insert into small drill holes to enable the doors to swing. The doors themselves are raised above the floor by inserting a small piece of flat plastic under each of the doorposts. These were obtained by using a paper hole punch on the plastic from a miniatures pack. Skewers were used as the posts for the louvered doors. The bell is hung on a horizontally mounted skewer. The bell is from a $2 shop and is the sort used in birdcages etc. I removed the thin bell “donger” and glued a cut down nail in place instead. The bell rope is a section of string straightened with white glue. Painting All the blocks were coloured by the addition of black oxide concrete die during casting. The base grey blocks were sealed with Bondcrete (a concrete sealant) then primed lightly with white spray paint. This was followed by a dry brush in British Paints “Scented Peach”. This was then followed by a dry brush in British Paints “Ancient Stone”. This was followed by a brown wash using Woodland Scenics “Burnt Umbar” pigment and a follow up drybrush in “Ancient Stone”. This method allows the natural variations in hue of the underlying coloured plaster blocks to come through giving a more natural appearance to the stonework than from a uniform base coat of paint. This is the same painting used for the statues however these also had a final drybrush in British Paints “Statue”. The floor was after white priming washed with “Burnt Umbar”. It was then painted in one of three colours from British Paints: i. “Mountain Heist” followed by a “Chilled” drybrush - green ii. “Scented Peach” - pink, or iii. “Old Romance” – mauve These, whilst still wet, were pressed with a piece of foam (from a miniatures pack) to give a mottled effect. A final “Burnt Umbar” wash was then given to the entire floor to tone it all down a bit. The dome was spray painted grey and was also given a light white primer. This was followed by dry brushing with “Ancient Stone”. The copper peaked rooks were painted using a copper paint finished with an oxidising Patina finish. The main valves of the temple were painting in Ral Partha “Dark Brown” followed by a “Dark Brown” wash using Citadel paints. The studs were painted with Citadel “Boltgun Metal”.
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