@12Rounds - More cool stuff, most excellent!
@12Rounds - More cool stuff, most excellent!
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Back to Thrubmorton Fens. I've no idea if anyone has been thinking much about the lizard men of Ansium, but here is something I've come up with.
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In the bigger metropolies of Ansium the general notions of lizard folk is that of vile, stenchy and dumb monsters. Mothers tell their children to behave or lizard-monsters will come and eat them. Of course much of what the average man knows about lizard folk is wrong and based on second-hand stories, general fear of the unknown and strange and the fact that most people in bigger cities never in their whole lives see a lizard man.
Then again ... many of the lizard men are what they are perceived to be - vile, stenchy and dumb. Those are usually the young ones and the young ones are the usual culprits when one speaks of crude, flesh-tearing vile lizard monsters who attack merchant caravans, rural villages and whatnot.
The lizard men do actually have social structure, spoken and written language with associated folklore and tales, and many esoteric human scholars even go so far as to say the lizard men form a hierarchical - albeit fluctuating - and rather unified society. Lizard men are rare outside their natural habitat, the swampy and moist regions of Ansium. But much of those regions are also totally devoid of lizard men. Scholars believe that lizard men are very picky about their habitat and that not just any swamp will suffice as a place for lizard men to call their home.
Lizard men are believed to have kings who rule all he lizard men in their natural geographic region. Kings of different regions may not even know each other since it's extremely rare for lizard men leave their habitat for extended periods of time. That's why there is apparently no higher structure and the hierarchy of lizard men society seems to stop at the regional level. Nevertheless lizard men are aware that there are lizard men living in numerous regions around the world and lizard lore seems to indicate that there exists similar age-old legends and stories between even remote lizard men colonies.
Lizard men do not appreciate stationary dwellings - like humans do - and instead only rarely erect any kind of permament structures. A notable exception are the peculiar mystic standing stones located in every area where there is or has been lizard men activity. The stones are believed to be shamanistic and a substantial number of stories seems to conform that lizard men indeed have highly competent, educated and revered shamans among them.
"Sshraak". It's a lizard man term that roughly translates to "fearless". That's also the name of the lizard man king who rules an almost unreachable swampy region that humans call Deathchaser Fen in Thrubmorton Fens. The region that Sshraak rules contains small islands and hard land as well as swamps and in part it overlaps the regional influence of cities like Mullion, Morton and Nortonspire. This causes regional conflicts on regular basis. Lizard men consider human inhabitans as invaders to their sacred old lands and humans treat the lizard men as little else than a menacing evil that needs to get rid of to make way for a civilised way of life.
Sshraak usually keeps out of direct conflict and instead he commands his senior lieutenants who in turn command hordes of younger lizard men. These hordes are loosely organised into raiding parties attacking in a seemingly chaotic pattern anything that tries to move in their land. Some of the raiding parties go a little longer outside the core areas of lizard men and have extended even into Fenridge Castle.
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Last edited by 12rounds; 10-28-2010 at 11:15 AM.
ohhhhh.... I love the topdown mini!!! did you draw that straight up with no 3d type of rendering first? .... I suspect you did just draw it like that with out some model to go off of... but I thought I might ask first rather than assume.... Great illustration... fabulous...
Read up above where he explains his process. It is a Poser figure with node work and post work.Originally Posted by delgondahntelius
Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.
Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.
For the topdown and illustration above: totalling to around 1,5 hours setting things up in 3D and 3 hours in Photoshop.
I don't hide my work flow in any way and I'm flattered whenever people have a hard time deciding whether one of my images is based on a rendering or whether it's an actual drawing. That's what I call success myself!
Personally I only care about the final look and don't mind what kind of tools it takes to get there. I'm not a fan of plain renderings myself. Many try to achieve the "looks like an actual photo!" -look, but I'm the opposite in trying to go the other way. I know lots of people look down on 3d/2d work ... "Oh you just pushed buttons to get that. Big deal.", but the main point is that *I* enjoy the results. If it's liked by anyone else, that's just an added bonus!
I feel completely the same!
That's exactly how I feel about my artwork. I often dabble in 3D myself. I also have a tendency to use photographs of textures, as one would use in 3D for some of my maps. On other sites, I get accused of just place photos in a unique way, but not creating my work, myself.
For me its the final result that counts. Sometimes I hand-draw, sometimes I use 3D, sometimes I use photo textures as shape fills to create maps. The fact that I don't actually "paint" using PS or GIMP makes some think that I am somehow less of artist, because of it.
Well, that's meaningless bunk and doesn't sway me on what I do to create my art. In this way, the end justifies the means.
GP
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Thank you all for the nice words. It's much appreciated.
Now something for Witchlight Strand.
As I didn't find much text about the land, I'm making this up as I go.
The area has had it's share of trouble with orcs and goblins and the northern parts of Witchlight Strand are regularly switching ownership between humans, orcs and goblins and occasionally even elves. Port Magalie is one of the mightiest cities in the troubled land having a mixed population of elven, halfling and human origin. Many of the elven inhabitants come from the nearby Liaglades forest, but some have their origins much farther away. Thus there is a certain level of tension between the different elven clans and communities taking residence in the city. This tension is very subtle and almost invisible to all except elves themselves.
Port Magalie's current highest authority, Lord Weers, has a firm grip over the affairs of the city and is thought as one of the major reasons why the city has gained prosperity and has avoided open confrontations with the restless groups of humanoid tribes northeast. The firm grip has it's grimmer side in that many justly think Lord Weers as just another tyrant who finds ways of suppressing any echoes of opposition. In reality one of the key elements in Lord Weers' power is his magical advisor, the half-elven High Counselor Colm Theron. Colm Theron goes to great lengths to keep himself out of the awareness of the general public and instead pulls strings and exerts influence behind dark curtains.
High Counselor Theron has his own remote castle in the heart of Bone Hills - area plagued by both orcs and goblins. Theron Castle is not an easy place to reach and it holds unspoken secrets within it's walls. High Counselor is actually a necromancer belonging to a widely spread, but small, group of necromancers who call themselves Cult of the Black Flame. Black Flame necromancers draw their power from natural phenomen, but corrupt and taint the power when channeling it into their own foul deeds. Counselor Theron's black art originates from the Withclights forest not far in the south and year by year he has advanced his skills into gaining access to more and more of the power the forest has to offer. Unfortunately the necromancer's activity has slowly started to taint the whole forest as every time he uses his magic, small portions of corrupted mana flow back into the source.
High Counselor Theron's castle is protected by the necromancer's magic and also by resurrected orcs, goblins and humans who have been foolish enough to try and invade the castle. The undead presence is a highly kept secret by Theron, but nevertheless rumours about Theron's bony guardians are starting to spread even into Port Magalie - he denies it, of course. But the humanoid tribes know the true side of things and have grown more careful about the castle and it's surroundings. In effect the castle is no longer a regular target and this in turn only validates Theron's determination to go deeper into the black arts - because it works.
Theron has been friends with Lord Weers since childhood and nothing has made ripples between them in over 60 years. The necromancer always travels alone and in cognito and moves in and out of the city undetected as he wishes. Many elven magicians know what Theron truly is, but they are reluctant to do anything about it - yet. Theron's actions are tolerated because his role in keeping Port Magalie safe from the hordes of humanoid tribes is understood. Lord Weers does not perceive his trusted aide as a master of the black arts, but as Theron deteriorates towards the Black Flame year by year, it's only a matter of time until Lord Weers gets a rude awakening.
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Last edited by 12rounds; 10-28-2010 at 11:16 AM.
Another great pic 12rounds. Thanks for the amazing input to the CWBP. If, on your troubles you pass through Groam, do stop in take look around.
Torq
The internet! It\'ll never catch on.
Software Used: Terranoise, Wilbur, Terragen, The Gimp, Inkscape, Mojoworld
Another top quality drawing and background. Great work 12Rounds
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More amazing stuff, fantastic!
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
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