diff --git a/deploy/lib/data/Message.php b/deploy/lib/data/Message.php
index f079328dc..0a7aba9fe 100644
--- a/deploy/lib/data/Message.php
+++ b/deploy/lib/data/Message.php
@@ -6,14 +6,15 @@
 // use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 use NinjaWars\core\data\Player;
 
-class Message extends \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model
+class Message extends NWQuery
 {
-    protected $primaryKey = 'message_id'; // Anything other than id
+    static protected $primaryKey = 'message_id'; // if anything other than id
+    static protected $table = 'messages';
     public $timestamps = false;
     // The non-mass-fillable fields
     protected $guarded = ['message_id', 'date'];
     /**
-    Currently:
+    Messages Currently:
     message_id | serial
     message | text
     date | timestamp
diff --git a/deploy/lib/data/NWQuery.php b/deploy/lib/data/NWQuery.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b8c986b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/lib/data/NWQuery.php
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace NinjaWars\core\data;
+
+use NinjaWars\core\data\DatabaseConnection;
+// use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
+use NinjaWars\core\data\Player;
+use Carbon\Carbon;
+
+/**
+ * Acts as a mini model and query builder with an ActiveRecord pattern 
+ * (e.g. Message::find(id) $message->save(), whatever nw needs)
+ */
+abstract class NWQuery
+{
+
+    private static $model;
+    // Inheriting classes need to set primaryKey and table as:
+    // protected $primaryKey;
+    // protected $table = 'messages';
+
+
+    public static function freshTimestamp()
+    {
+        // use Carbon::now() to get a current timestamp
+        return Carbon::now();
+    }
+
+    public static function getTable()
+    {
+        return static::$table;
+    }
+
+    public static function getPrimaryKey()
+    {
+        return static::$primaryKey;
+    }
+
+    public static function creating($model)
+    {
+        // initialize the model if it hasn't been already
+        if (!self::$model) {
+            // initialize as a stdClass object
+
+            self::$model = new static();
+            self::$model->table = static::$table;
+            self::$model->primaryKey = static::$primaryKey;
+        }
+        self::$model->date = self::freshTimestamp();
+        return self::$model;
+    }
+
+    public static function create($model)
+    {
+        $model_f = self::creating($model);
+        $model_f->date = self::freshTimestamp();
+        if (!$model_f->table) {
+            throw new \Exception('Error: Model created does not have a table set.');
+        }
+        return $model_f;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return array of items
+     */
+    public static function query($builder)
+    {
+        // Destructure the builder into query and parameters
+        list($query, $params) = $builder;
+        $datas = query_array($query, $params);
+        // Meld the incoming data array of multiple entries with the current model
+        $collected = array_map(function ($data) {
+            return (object) array_merge((array) self::$model, $data);
+        }, $datas);
+        return $collected;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return object A single model object
+     */
+    public static function find($id)
+    {
+
+        $found_data = reset(self::query(['select * from ' . static::$table . ' where ' . static::$primaryKey . ' = :id', [':id' => $id]]));
+        $model = new static();
+        foreach ($found_data as $key => $value) {
+            $model->$key = $value;
+        }
+        return $model;
+    }
+}