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Wyvern

Wyvern

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Wyvern
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  • Community Atlas: Embra - Travelling Places

    Travelling Place 1 is Toll Cross, which as we see, is an unusually heavily built-up area, surrounded by dense greenery, beyond which is open grassland or moor:

    While the base-map was a similarly heavily-urbanised area, the nature of Toll Cross (and indeed even its final name) derived chiefly from the accompanying featured text, and especially that demonic satyr figure. The Impassable Hedges mean anyone wanting to visit the shops or houses here, or even just pass through it directly as a crossroads, is channelled into using one of the four access-routes. Then I adjusted the layout of the buildings slightly in places so those on foot can get to only a fraction of the properties inside unless they pass through the central Boulder Square, where Guess Who waits, like a spider in a web... This view is with the labels turned off to get a better impression of the settlement:

    This looks a bit odd (or at least, it's meant to), with some strange rooflines, and what seem to be many towers. An extract from the accompanying text and PDF file may help explain:

    There are...many tall spires and tower-like structures of different sizes and forms, some of which are visible above the trees from outside the settlement. These features are all entirely solid, and appear to have simply grown from the roofs and upper walls of the buildings. Few are straight, and many could pass for horns. Quite a number of roofs overhang their properties as well, and can give the impression of being ill-fitting, or as if they were worn as wigs that have slipped slightly. The whole can be quite unsettling for those not used to Faerie, and even those visitors with Faerie blood may feel there is something a little off-kilter about Toll Cross.

    Despite the range of building shapes and sizes, they all have just a single accessible storey at ground level inside, as the toggled view to show the building interiors indicates:

    This also shows just how much some of the rooflines, and particularly those horn-towers, don't marry-up with the building outlines, yet the buildings, thanks to their lack of internal connections, further help block any attempts to avoid using Boulder Square. And if you try to fly in, it turns out those roofs aren't so immobile as they may appear...

    LoopysueJimP[Deleted User]Mapjunkie
  • Community Atlas: Embra - Travelling Places

    Fourth in the sequence of Embra's "Places" are the Travelling Places of Interest, as usual, accessed from the relevant part of the inner circle on the "Official Guide" map:

    This takes us to the link-map, though this time there are just three link-spots on the diagram, two individual locations, and a group of eight "ways", rather than streets, as here, one of the "roads" is actually a railway (which features as the backdrop extract for all eight, primarily because it was a handy size and shape, and in the correct orientation without needing any adjustments):

    The map border decoration was kept quite simple, as it seemed best to highlight the "Travelling" concept with something quite clean and direct. I toyed with drawing something quite severe of my own devising for the knotwork, though all that survived of that here was the simple, single line linking the corners (yes, I know, not much to show for it!). The basis for the little knotwork eagle heads - again seeming apt for "Travelling" - came from that famous Dover Clip-Art "Celtic Borders on Layout Grids" book once more, which were handily linked by a single line there too.

    MonsenLoopysue[Deleted User]
  • Community Atlas: Embra - Watery Places

    Last among the Watery Places maps is one condensing the final five streets into one drawing, the second illustration below showing just the streets for a bit better clarity at the normal Forum resolution:

    The roadways were constructed randomly, as described in the Enclosed Places Forum notes, with the final appearances and features determined sometimes by the street names, sometimes by other factors. Potter Row is of course where the great ceramic craftsfolk live and work, several in houses built of pottery - a couple even in the form of gigantic pots (this is Faerie, after all). The featured text for Wadingburn Road suggested a willow-lined stream, and fancier properties. Rainbow Lane had to have rainbows along it - even to the roadway itself - while Bathtub Alley cried out for a large pond or pool to be added for those water faeries to be in. And then we have Glass Harmonica Way...

    I mentioned in the introductory Embra topic that music had been one of my primary influences on how a Faerie city should be presented, and maybe one of the most "faerie" real-world instruments should be the glass harmonica, as well as being one that requires extraordinary skill and ability to play. So having come up with the street name near the start of developing Embra, it was always clear this was going to be a community of musicians, instrument makers, composers, and the like. The random nature of my street design mechanism meant the available area was smaller than I might have preferred initially, though the whole point of using random systems is to work with whatever that may throw at you, and adapt accordingly. The featured text provided an interesting adjunct, suggesting this wasn't going to be an ordinary street at all, but one closer to a gated community in the real-world, and from that everything else simply flowed (appropriately for a Watery Place, perhaps!). The one downside to the final map is that because I wanted everything clearly labelled, the small area meant the labels ended up concealing quite a lot of the area's character. However, the toggle option in the FCW Atlas file to turn off the place-names means it is possible to get a better view of the whole:

    From which we can all again play "spot the red sandstone components" - and hopefully get a clearer impression of the final layout. And yes, the street was originally populated with random CD3 houses, which then got moved, adapted, redrawn and converted to their final shapes here.

    Loopysue[Deleted User]pablo gonzalez
  • Community Atlas: Embra - Watery Places

    For anyone concerned the Watery Places maps have been quite simple, easy-going, places, let us now move on to the part of the Twilight Market among this group, Wave Crest Market:

    This gives the variable appearance of the River Clack another kick entirely, to the point where the far bank doesn't even make it onto the map at all! And while the shape may (correctly) suggest another, if much more substantial, castle map was at the base of this one, it's always interesting to see what can be done by using the shape, but converting the purpose to something quite different.

    I always intended this part of the Twilight Market to be quite a complex mapping project, after seeing the original plan I'd be working to, though this one grew into a larger undertaking than I'd expected. Indeed it was one of the maps that took the greatest amount of time to complete, just setting-up all those floating platforms, market stalls/tents, and making sure there were walkway links to all the separate parts on the river.

    There are buildings here as well, and not simply on land:

    Some of which have a second storey:

    One even has a further upper storey (close-up on the northeastern part of the map now):

    This latter image has the advantage of giving a better view too of how the floating platforms, gangways, ramps, tents and stalls have been applied, as well as showing the great dome on the little island in the Clack, covering the statue which is mentioned in the featured text for the Market. There's a detailed set of PDF and text-file notes to go with this map, as might be anticipated.

    LoopysueJimP[Deleted User]
  • Community Atlas: Embra - Watery Places

    Next is another curiously isolated hamlet, this time closer to the River Clack, so it appears on the map as well, although the hamlet's existence is presumably due to the fortuitously-discovered, naturally enough magical, Crimson Rose Well:

    As might be guessed, the odd appearance of the settlement and its riverine landing-stages resulted from the original random base map being one showing a small castle and a defended landing on a river. This being Faerie, the defensive walls become high "walls" of thorny vegetation sporting great, heavily scented, crimson rose blooms, and the castle becomes a hamlet-sized community dedicated to looking after the Well and those who come here seeking its magical aid. The fact there could be a powerfully magical sword hidden away within the thorns somewhere (from the featured text) merely adds an extra note of interest. Plus GMs can have fun accounting for why this bit of Embra is so apparently isolated from the rest of the city it needs a substantial landing area all its own on the Clack!

    Buildings on the non-streets maps means interiors, and again these are all of just the one storey:

    Some of you may recall Eblenn Hill has featured before among these Embra Places maps, as it's the substantial hill the first of the Enclosed Places was set upon, the Freed Haven Floral Garden. Whether the version here is the same or not, and how - or if - it may relate to the "other", is left for GMs to decide.

    LoreleiLoopysueJimP[Deleted User]pablo gonzalez