I like the stamps but the story is fantastic, and I want more!
MAy 2018 Challenge: Threefold Aben Sending-Stamp
“Again”
The envelope lay there, stubborn and unmoving. The apprentice rolled up his sleeves and reached out, tracing the dark ink lines and feeling the fire play upon his fingers once more.
The master sighed and grabbed at the misshapen ball of paper as it flung itself off the desk. He reached out for another strip of stamps but hesitated. Instead he reached for his quill and beckoned the young student to watch.
“Maybe this’ll help” With fine strokes of the quill he quickly defined the borders of Llyria. He spoke while sketching another below. “Don’t get too hung up on the stamps themselves. They’re guidelines, points for you to sight along to Send. If you know the destination well enough you can cast a decent Sending from a stamp as simple as this.” He gestured to the simple twofold-stamp, one showing merely the outline of the country, the other a rough approximation of the city of Combe. “However, details always help. In time if you take up the art you’ll begin to find your own style. You’ll find some Senders won’t like it. Some prefer very realistic portrayals of the landscape. Others see better from a more pictorial representation. Anyway, pinpointing the location”
After detailing the first two he went on to draw a full fourfold-stamp, explaining the process as he worked. When he was done he passed it over to the apprentice.
“Now, again”
* * *
Several months later a young man hurried out of the stationers, the twofold mark of both Sender and Stampmaker proudly visible on the lapel of his jacket.
Arriving home, he quickly laid his new purchases out. True, they had cost most of the pay from his first commission but a good quality ink and a true Gryphon feather could do wonders in defining a Sending.
The Kingdom of Llyria was almost reflexive now to sketch. Aben, less so. The city dated back to before the days of Sending and the city planning guidelines of the Cartographer’s Guild. As such it was a nightmare of uneven house placements that made it such an awkward place to Send to. Which is where local knowledge of the Sender could help so much.
Finishing the layout of the city in his second stamp he finalised the threefold stamp by detailing the neighbourhood of the Aben Central Post. From here the Dawn Post would, hopefully, collect the letter from the empty building in the morning and distribute it by hand to the addressee.
Putting down the quill and sealing the stamp to the envelope he reached out to it. Feeling the now familiar beginnings of Power twirling around his fingers he let the sparks dance their patterns along the ink, searing its image to the envelope below. Then, with a final flourish, he Sent the letter.
### Latest WIP ###
I like the stamps but the story is fantastic, and I want more!
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
One of those occasions where I'm so frustrated to be that bad in English : I just can understand the general meaning of the story, but can't appreciate the style and choice of words.
But no need to speak the same langage to appreciate your stamps : the're great !
Thanks.
I actually originally had zero ideas for this challenge until that world idea came into my head while in the shower one day. And hey, why not combine 2 of my interests - mapmaking and magicbuilding. As for the style, I had some new photoshop brushes I wanted to test and wanted to challenge myself to make a fully black and white map
Very nice stamps and what a really original story!
Bravo!
I love the imaginative back story behind the stamps! Great idea
A really great idea ! Nice !
So I had another idea for a 'stamp' from the same (but different part of the) world
A replica of the famous "Xiran Sixfold" can be found at the National Stamp Museum in Combe, Llyria. While unique in its layout and structure, and though of little use to a Sender without knowledge of the area, the historical significance of this piece comes primarily from the story surrounding it.
According to legend the scholar Tsee wrote to his love far to the south of the Xiran peninsula. The scroll detailed the obtaining of his father's permission for marriage between them and plans for the two of them, along with excerpts of presumably self-written poetry. From his descriptions of the time we can estimate the date to be the year 611 in the Adalan calender. Drawing the stamp along the length of the scroll he Sent it.
Unfortunately the city of Shan-Yi was attacked and razed in the later months of that year. To further the tragedy the stamp was innacurate and so didn't Send correctly, resulting in his love never receiving it. The problem with the stamp was found through historical analysis to be a result of innacuracy of information regarding the state of the homestead. A storm had passed recently through that valley leaving the roof and wall in tatters. Regardless of this the stamp Sent, but never arrived.
11 years later a new family moved into the ruin of the house. It had been abandoned since the storm and so many repairs needed done. They cleared up the overgrowth, tidied up and, most importantly, rethatched the roof and fixed the old stone wall under the trees.
The next day they awoke to find a scroll lying on their doorstep...
Aww, I love it so much !! The asian inspiration & feeling are perfect there !
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