Ethran: Merelan City

[Mouse]

Version 26

Two steps back, one step forward...

I didn't like the entrance to the city. In the plot there's a riot in the square... only I didn't have a square.

I have one now, but it came at a heavy price. Most of the first part of the city had to be demolished so that I could reorganise the wall, the entrance, the angle of the roads... everything really.

I couldn't stand the rest of the horrible roads any more (wish I'd kept the paths I laid out), so I just got rid of them so that I wouldn't have to see through them any more as I worked. I also added a lot more detail to the ocean, and knocked a couple more buildings down in Cherrin to make space for the all important fish-glue/varnish/paint/seaweed-gelatine/general-organic-chemical plant, complete with its plume of foul black seaweed smoke. There's going to be an even bigger industrial site on the opposite side of the island, but more on that when we get there.

I think that's about the only changes I've managed to make in the last couple of days

[- JO -]

Nice job with the sea...
And the entrance of the city looks more like the entrance of a capital ! I like it best that way !
There is a lot of details here and there that makes the visit of your city more and more interesting !
keep up the good work !

[Mouse]

Thank you Jo

You always make me feel so much better about having had what amounts to a pretty average couple of evenings with this map. And I promise the meandering paths are going back in again - I've realised I can copy them from one of the previous versions of the file.

I'm thinking about having at least 3 primitive funiculars running up and down the V shaped "grooves" around the island, and having them tree lined as well... but I'm still only thinking about it.

Do you think there would be room for 2-3 tree-lined gorges dividing this city into sectors (given that it is really a very small city)?

[Weery]

Great thread here and I really enjoy the amount and the quality of details included. Plus the speed at which you progress is great for the viewer.

Thanks for posting

[Mouse]

Thanks Weery

I just had a look at your own WIP and left a comment there. Our styles are very different - opposite ends of the spectrum. There is no way that I could match the sheer complexity and dedication you show in your drawings.

Long live diversity, I say... and may the show carry on - both of them

[- JO -]

Hello !

I'm not sure if I understood well : you're thinking about making sectors of the city, divided by trees ?
If this is correct, I'd say why not ? It could be interesting... But not too straight, I think.

And if you want a funicular, I can send you one...

Have a good day !

[Mouse]

Thanks Jo, but I've already drawn the funiculars in the map, and they are both straight and effectively divide the city into radial sectors (since there is only one mountain. It just occurred to me that the island has no trees on it at the moment, and on a densely populated island the only place they can grow is where its too steep or inaccessible for housing to be built, which just seems to fit with the idea of them being around the funiculars. I don't expect anyone would want to live right next door to the noisy rumbling things anyway

We will see what it looks like when I'm done

[Mouse]

Version 27

Well, I drew the funiculars, but they just looked dead wrong - too straight (Jo was right ). I took them out again, then got distracted for a couple of hours by the frame. I then returned to the problem of having sufficient transport routes around a very steep little island and took another couple of hours to lay in a set of "main roads". The Blucran Sayers would have ordered the building of these wide and smoothly curving roads - not having an appreciation of the most efficient ways around the island like the Merles do.

The original paths that I got rid of are set for a comeback - I don't want any more of these nasty modern looking smooth roads than is absolutely necessary!

[Mouse]

Version 28

The main roads around the island have been refined and blended a little more with the landscape. 2 districts are now complete, with a third on the way. The Temple of Rusaar grounds have been defined by a wall, and the position of the temple decided. Rambling footpaths have been returned to Isk Point and the thatched housing completed in that area

An experiment with the font isn't quite working in this version.

Sorry to be brief - its 1.20 pm and I'm really tired...

[Falconius]

It's looking great, seeing the progress is a lot of fun.

I do wonder however about the defence of Jamne Head though. Yes there are enormous cliffs there, but so to there is no clear way, at least map wise here, for defenders to defend there either. Undefended cliffs are a lot easier to assault than defended walls, no matter the size or imposition of the cliff. I don't know if you know about Masada, but it is a fortress overlooking the Jordon valley and it is on a plateau hundreds of feet above the valley and surroundings, and they still built walls around the top (if not just to keep from falling off a cliff in the night). To assault it, the Romans built a giant earth ramp up the shortest cliff.