November / December 2012 Lite Challenge: City of Okktor

[jbgibson]

Okay, first I thought of my kids' rhyme:
Roses are BLACK,
Violets are BLACK,
Everything is BLAAACK,
'Cause I'm BLIIIIIND...

### SECOND-LATEST WIP ###

Black.gif

But then a map of that garden makes pretty bland fare. Okay fuggetaboutit with the
mapword Black.

Then there's Broken. Well, same exquisite .gif serves to illustrate a broken CRT
displaying a view of the Notorious Broken Coast.

### LATEST WIP ###

Black.gif

Oh-Kaaaaay, that lacks something. Contrast, maybe. Lousy palette. The mountain
symbols stink and I don't like the way I did the wave lines. Yuck.

That leaves "eight" . I suppose I can do something with Eight. Octo, 8, ocho,
huit, okto, VIII, eight, eight, eight... Hmmmmmmmmm.

The City of Okktor

Eight ways to reach the city on high,
Eight routes get there, amid all the sky.
First men came on burro back,
The switchback trail laboriously hacked.
Miners then honeycombed the peak,
Their tunnels below still a path to seek.
Of late a road reaches there if you
Use a goatlike truck or car, tis true.
The ladderrack rails of the Skybound Track
In summer have trains with belching stack.
The purists disdain that smoke-shrouded way,
But how else to get from Beitong in a day?
The back of the mount where the iron rungs run?
An ascent of a week, and none of it fun.
On the rare windless day, yes a zep can still dock
To the Tower of Shree, but the wrecks below mock.
Those winds and the dust of the westernmost plain
At the sunset, betimes, make The Shadow-Road seen,
As the peaks of far Nizor cast their long streaks of shade
For the spirits of pilgrims to return, ere they fade.
The eighth, too, is windborne, when the Willadoo blows,
Then the flowers of graves from the towns far below,
Dust a final display of color atop snow.
Eight ways to arrive - so you asked, now you know.


Yessssss, there's a map in that. Story enough for a map, map enough for a story.

[mearrin69]

I want some of whatever you were smoking when you posted this! Nice poem and I'm looking forward to seeing the map!
M

[jtougas]

What a great intro !! Now I have to come up with something (hopefully) as entertaining as that....

[jbgibson]

JT, you may not need to be entertaining - complete might be enough... I realize I'm aiming at an awful lot of targets, what with it being a city, on a mountainside, with an underground component, done in Inkscape, which I've never used (why, will become apparent) (why this needs it, not why I've never learned it). The contests are good for stretching oneself, so they say.

Plastic Man could be my hero.

Actually, if you look at Plastic Man, y'all can see I don't need to be smoking anything - the bent sense of humor comes with the territory.

[Bogie]

jb doesn't suffer from insanity, he embraces and enjoys it!

[daemaree]

I like your original concept best, just me humble opinion... but your latest WIP is quite nice too. I can really see that you pushed yourself in this challenge. And, the fact that you've done so much in such a short amount of time blows my mind!

[jbgibson]

Amen, Bogie.

Daemaree, how do you like the compressed version?

--> . <--

That's every line and color of the original, after what I call the neutron-star treatment. I'm still not satisfied though - the .000012 point type is way too hard to make out. Maybe it should be a serif font instead of sans-serif...

[jbgibson]

A bit less compression, and you can see the mountain peak this city is near:

### LATEST WIP ###

Okktor.png

[Bogie]

AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!! My Eyes!!! To Bright!!! To much Color!!! To much information!!!!!!!!!!!..... .. . . . . . .

[daemaree]

Hmmmm... I feel like it's missing something... maybe a compass... and a little more black... yeah...



Looks good so far... which word will you be using?