Aug/Sept 2012 Lite Challenge Entry: Lost City of Ubar
A few months ago, I saw a documentary on the history channel on "Civilizations Lost" and was struck by the story of Ubar. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etmhB2ZwqJs) The basic story is that it was a thriving Trading Center in the middle of the desert that eventually collapsed on itself as the oasis beneath became depleted. When I got into mapping a few weeks later, I kept thinking how i'd like to eventually recreate it and adapt the story to the Al-Qadim campaign i'm running.
So - my adaptation of the story is that generations ago desert nomads stumbled on the Oasis, settled there, and made a deal with a genie to construct the fortifications necessary to defend what would become a very prosperous Caravanserai situated between two trading cities.
Here is my WIP for that part.
### LATEST WIP ###
Several generations pass without incident as the Sha'ir leader of the city always fulfills his end of the agreement made with the genie by his ancestors. Until one rather arrogant Sha'ir comes to power and decides to renege on the deal and imprison the Genie. When other more powerful Genies catch wind of this - they destroy the city as punishment by making it collapse on itself (same as the original story).
I don't have much a WIP for this part - but my idea is to create a massive crater in the center of the city and later use everything else as a height map so I can create sand dunes over them. (Not sure exactly how to technically do this...but I've got some time to figure it out...if anyone has any pointers on that process, I'd be very appreciative).
I enjoyed doing the challenge last month because it forced me to learn how to use photoshop to some degree...hoping that I can learn even more with this. So any comments, suggestions, criticisms are really welcomed (particularly stuff on the technical aspects of the program).
