The Cube!

Of course we had to make the cube, we had to!


The Kolyoral Cube, guarded by swarms. A large grey cube covered in black speckles, with green patches in a brown field as the garden and the gleaming iron fortress in the corner. A housefly is sitting on the cube in front of the fortress.
The Kolyoral Cube, a planetoid of Acheron, run by the Ant Queen of Zandikar. The iron fortress sits at the top, shiny and metal, with the gardens nearby. A scar is seen in the landscape towards the edge of the cube. The silver metallic sheen is covered with thousands of tiny speckles, representing the swarms placed over the cube to defend it.


The cube! Of course we had to make it, we're defending the cube for the Ant Queen! And we visit it all the time!

Also, if you need to know the story of the cube, please begin watching here.

The ants! The ants had helped us save the world, we had to do something for the ants. And we just cleared the cube of bad guys, and these ants want to live here. So we had to defend the cube for the Ant Queen. We had to defend the cube for the ants. So we covered it in bugs. Swarms and bugs and wasps and locusts, it's wonderful now! And the Ant Queen can walk amongst Her insects (we taught Her the spell), as can any of Her guests. The Ant Queen of Zandikar, the name of the iron fortress that's there. And we have Gate, if any troubles come up. And it's covered in tunnels and dents and gouges, and angles, and that's how She likes it! They grew up there, they were trying to live there. And then they go and help us save the world, camman man we've gotta give them the cube. And defend it for them, as best we can. They're a wonderful folk, make incredible soups. Kind and warm, and the place is beautiful now.

Speaking of, wasps and bugs and hornets and houseflies, all kinds, and powered up! We spent months there, was it a year? Covering the place from head to toe, it's about as defended as we can make it. It's a beautiful place now, almost-but-not-quite-weather, a glorious buzz.

And so the construction:

We began with particle board, a nice rough material that breaks off at odd angles, and can't possibly be sanded flat. The perfect base for a metal cube that's been flying around in space, smashing into other cubes, and where massive battles have occurred (hopefully we've put a stop to that). Cracked pieces glued together, then covered in JB-Weld, and guarded by horseflies. The cube dried well, and continued to be watched over by the insects during its construction.

And thus, they were emblematically added to the cube, with a final spritz of speckles over the painted piece. During the painting process, we found that a black base followed by silvery metallic brushing seemed to look best. We passed on dry-brushing with a lighter colour afterwards (we had a pile of sample pieces), and... just wow, the end result.

This came out incredible, for my level. I've got exactly youtube knowledge and four colours of paint, and this came out phenomenal. Those speckles! In the sunlight, this looks incredible. The green patches of the gardens (see story) came out amazing, the little crops. And then everything is covered in bugs! Swarms of bugs and bugs of swarms of bugs! And they're all friendly and stuff if you're in good, and magical in nature so they don't consume said crops etcetera, and it's just a chill place, and it's relaxing in a way, think of it like the sound of rain.

Oh, and they like riding on you sometimes, so just kinda let them sit on your shoulder or hair and stuff, and just let 'em ride on you for a while. They like watching stuff go by, it's kind of a novelty for them, so just let 'em have some fun and you'll have a good old swarm-dance around you in no-time happy smiley face

So yah, come and visit Kolyoral, provided you're friends with the Ant Queen, we've got a guest resort, there's radish soup, it's incredible!

Finished - October 07, 2022 plus several days of extra drying time for good measure

My own swarms

Also, a fly left a footprint on my d&d module, which is all kinds of awesome happy smiley face

Always they watch
 The Cube of Kolyoral, in the process of being forged from plastic cement and sunlight, held together with a rubber band. A large horsefly guards the cube in its vulnerable state

A lump of particle board, the center of the cube, and it's center. Light, simple to break apart, simple to glue together. It will make a fine center. Will it come out perfectly square, absolutely not, which is absolutely what we want, a rough banged up cube that has seen many collisions with many other cubes, as seems to be the way it works there. The cube sitting on a blanket, being watched upon by a fly. In its unfinished state, everyone seeks to keep it safe. Some random string and the dnd starter set is nearby. Will this cube turn into a destination, we certainly hope so, the wonderful buzzing in the air is certainly beautiful.
A clip of the map from the book, with a fly seemingly guarding the iron fortress on it. The unvarnished cube, showing the black speckles on the side with the garden and fortress. The garden is very hard to make out in this lighting, so I was a bit worried, but it came out incredible!
The cube in the light after varnishing, showing the side with the formian hive, a set of four holes concentrated in one corner. It looks very metallic and somewhat misshapen and dented, with thousands of little black speckles on it, representing all of the swarms. Also it's black with a little bit of green mixed into it, that's better. Another few sides of the cube, showing the scarred landscape from some of the ancient battles that had taken place there. We're guarding the cube now, as is the ant queen and her own giant ant swarms.
A housefly sitting on the cube, seeming to be guarding the iron fortress itself.