Calidar: Soltan Ephemeris Illustration

[Thorf]

I made a simple solar system map for Calidar a few years ago, then upgraded them with rendered mock-ups of each planet. My goal was always to create an artistic illustration akin to the posters I used to love when I was younger, but it took me a few years for inspiration to hit.

It finally came a couple of months ago, and I used NASA space imagery combined with my planet renders to create this illustration. Each planet has its own DEM and terrain colouring, and I loosely adjusted the light so that it makes some sort of sense as being lit by the sun — although I avoided doing this totally accurately, instead opting to have each planet properly visible.

I wondered about adding orbit lines for the moons, but eventually decided against it. The planetary orbits are not quite as good as they could be. Specifically, Ghüle's is supposed to be angled so that it doesn't overlap with the other orbits.

I really enjoyed making the starfield, which turned out quite serendipitously, with each area being nicely in-theme with the planets situated there: Calidar and its moons are the heart of the setting, surrounded in bluish space, next to the majestic swirls of the Oortan Cloud (aka the Antennae Galaxies in real life); Draconia, barren home of militant dragons, is in an area of deep red; magic-rich Lao-Kwei and its moon are in an area of purple; and the sinister Ghüle is in an area of eerie green. What's funniest about this is that I only realised afterwards that I'd placed them this way.