Dwarvelona!
Such a fun idea, really looking forward to what you come up with.
May 2020 Challenge: The Kingdom City of Barkinia
So thought I could use this challenge as an excuse to do something I've had in mind for some months.
I like dwarves, you see. And I like Barcelona (my hometown) as well. So I've thought of diggin' a dwarven city out of it. Dunno where this will lead, but wanna try it anyway just for the fun.
My base material and starting point will be its subway system. So this is my starting image as well:
### LATEST WIP ###
I'm not intending here to get to a super fancy map. Just get this as an example of how stupid a cartographer can be when it comes to mixing random stuff. And as one of the most stupid essays on how a map can also tell a story.
Because I'm intending to tell a story here to you fellow mappers. So come on in, don't be shy! Welcome to the dark halls of the dwarven Kingdom City of Barkinia!
Dwarvelona!
Such a fun idea, really looking forward to what you come up with.
OMG Dwarvelona is such a much greater name! I must take off my hut at your synthetic capacitiesOriginally Posted by Levtrona
Dwarvelona!
Such a fun idea, really looking forward to what you come up with.
Come on, folks, gather around, for I shall tell you the story of the Kingdom City of Barkinia! And though I might be to you just an insignificant Halfling with a foolish name like Grouchbush Trickfoot, know that you’re listening to one of the few people who have got to knock on its doors and watched its halls.
What? How this came to be? Well … in fact …the thing is …I’ve got this cousin Avinia, you see. And she married one of these Barkinian dwarves. I know, that sounds like a completely weird union, but believe me if I tell you it sounds like completely Avinia too. Anyway, the fact, the unquestionable fact, is that Avinia invited me to spend the Easter holidays with them once she moved to her husband’s home in the Kingdom City. And there I did go.
Know that Barkinia was founded some 350 years ago by eight dwarves from the ancient mountain halls of Lokhatia, named Bordur, Holger, Dipp, Dunlop, Mekkar, Aggar, Sunlil and Havil. Legend says they had been tasked with the stupid and boring duty of taking care of the narcoleptic daughter of some ally of their King, which they had done for the last ten years without a single day off, so when the child woke up and their job came to an end, just to say-thanks-and-that’s-all, they went on a picnic to celebrate their regained freedom. The problem was that having drunk… well... what I mean is that having not gone out the mountain since so long ago, they got lost in the woods and couldn’t find the way back. When night came, they were forced to look for shelter, and headed to the nearest mountain, named Taberia. There, they found a small caved located in one of the most marvelous spots they had ever seen: Between two neat rivers, which Aggar baptized as Sleepery and Kissing; above any forest where sharp-ears may be dwelling, and digging into layers of pure rock.
Now these dwarves were of the most varied social condition: Mekkar was a far relative to the King itself, used to give orders and be obeyed, and Aggar was his uncomplaining personal butler. Sunlil and Havil were both brothers (but not one to each other), and had come to Lokhatia about twenty years ago to work on digstruction. Bordur was an engineer, famous for never having given up trying to understand assembly manuals and therefore not having ever built anything at all. Dipp was a cook, who’d invented the dwarven fast-food system consisting of just preparing the sauce and dipping everything else into it in hope people would not notice it was not cooked at all. Holger was a beermaster, although no one ever had got to test his recipes, as nobody had ever had time to reach his brews before he personally and diligently tested them. Dunlop was the typical dwarf, if you know what I mean. He had a beard, he was grumpy. That’s all there is to say. And finally there was Audapr, who was a warrior, liked axes and hammers, and never agreed to go on picnic so nobody has ever known to this day what he was doing there with the rest.
Enthusiastic about their discovery, and wishing for a better world far from their past lives, and even more important, from any narcoleptic being, they decided to move in with their wives and children, expand the cavities and found a city as no one ever had known before.
But things were not likely to turn as they had imagined. This dwarven utopia soon proved to breed its own problems, born from the differences between all these characters. And such problems! They’re the history of Barkinia itself.
Now if you’re interested in hearing how this tale goes on, someone should buy me a beer.
### LATEST WIP ###
Now let's leave that halfling's chit chat for a moment. This is my first WIP. I've turned Barcelona's sea to be the "outside" and the land to be the "inside" of the mountain. I've drawn the two rivers as well. I've drawn it as I think a dwarve would see the world: almost blank for the outside and the rivers (nothing interesting there, just air and water) but I've done some work on the black inner part, as I think a dwarf wouldn't see just "rock" but a rich combination of all kinds of different and worthy mineral matter. Next step will be the layout for the halls.
Last edited by Bretton; 05-18-2020 at 01:08 PM.
very nice! I like the story, especially told from a halfling POV as i am quite fond of them myself
I love the idea, I look forward to seeing what this develops into!
Glad you like it!
Will go on with it this weekend and post next WIP as soon as I got something worthy
Great concept, fun approach to presenting it! Look forward to following this & seeing how it turns out. Dwarf fan myself so this should be cool!
Very clever idea there.
Gla you like it! I'll work today on it a bit more. Let's see where it takes me.
Aaaahh …thanks, pal, for that beverage. Now where was I? But of course! We left the seven dwarves at the gates of a most outstanding fate.
They moved to the caverns of Barkinia with wives and children, and soon entire parts of their clans followed: Dwarves do spread their lands in very rare occasions, so when one chance to do so arises, it’s probably many of them will join in.
Dwarves undoubtedly have their flaws, no one will discuss that, not even me who am now related to them through cousin Avinia. But diligent they are, too; and so what was just a hole in the rocky hillside of a mountain became slowly the Kingdom City it is now: Havil and Sunlil, and their respective brothers, used their skills on digstruction to make everybody quickly comfortable in the limited space available. Once settled, the seven leaders established their priorities. First what’s first, as they say, and they ordered to excavate a special room for Holger, so that he could start brewing…well, all that was brewable from the nearby forest. And they set Dunlop to prevent him from drinking it, of course. Now you see why Dunlop needed to be in the story? That’s where the typical dwarf with no special characteristics except having a beard and being grumpy becomes handy in a story. And if you must believe this Halfling, there’s always that point where every story comes to that. But guess what? The muddy waters of rivers Slippery and Kissing proved to give a special touch to his potions, which were like a kiss on your lips, like a sledge down your throat; and they soon became famous among his neighbors and far beyond. Many a dwarf came from the mother lands to buy these beverages, and the city grew in riches. And once the beverage flux had been settled, the remaining dwarves charged Dipp with all that had to do with the new kitchen, which Havil excavated in record time, so Dipp could feed them all implementing his dwarven fast food system. Now, with enough food and beer, Bordur commissioned some machines to ease their tunneling works; and when they arrived to Barkinia started reading the assembly manuals (which he is still doing). Finally, fearing their prosperity could rise unwanted attention, Audapr organized some militia and was elected as their highest rank officer.
Now there was Mekkar too, the far relative of the King back home, used to give orders and be obeyed, who grew bored and restless, as nobody seemed to need a far relative of the King in the new city for no purpose at all. And there was Aggar, his uncomplaining butler. And Mekkar started giving more and more orders to Aggar, and Aggar started thinking he may not need be a butler anymore in this ne dwarven utopia of Barkinia. And so the tragedy was settled.
Even today Barkinian citizens do not agree with what truly happened. But it seems everything started like in any true dwarven story, and that’s because of Holger’s beverages: it seems some relatives of Havil and Sunlil had come to taste them, and having gotten free, endless service, did drink a bit too much even for a dwarf. And having reached the foulest of conditions, even for a dwarf that is, they dared to comment that the beard of Dipp’s wife was not long enough even for gnome standards. An observation which, in fact, if you get to know Dipp’s wife, may not seem that absurd, but the point is that Dipp decided to defend his beloved’s honor by dipping Sunlil’s and Havil’s relatives into one of his sauces. Which of course both brothers (even if not to each other) could not accept. Now the subsequent quarrel was tried to be stopped by Audapr and his men, without noticeable success, even for a dwarven militia. In fact one of them accidentally stepped onto one of Bordur’s assembly manuals, and the engineer got so furious that he entered the fight as well with unbelievable rage, even for an engineer who had never got to build anything. What else can I say? At this point the struggle had become a good fight, with what I mean a fight a dwarf cannot reject, and that’s how everybody else joined in, even Holger and Dunlop.
Only Mekkar, who was in one of the worst moods a dwarf can be because nobody seemed to need a far relative of a King, even not for a good fight, did not join and stepped aside, ordering Aggar to prepare a dwarven Paella for him. But that was a terrible mistake: the uncomplaining butler, who had loyally served his master for decades without a word, without a day off, thought it was too much, even for an uncomplaining butler, having to prepare a dwarven paella while a good fight was on. So he raised the flag of rebellion and declared… well, nobody knows what he declared, because of the clash due to the fighting going on.
Now that’s the problem with a dwarven good fight: you know when it starts, but once started, it’s not likely to end for a while. And so the Barkinian dwarves have been fighting in a civil war for almost 300 hundred years and which still is going on.
And that leads me to explain the current situation in Barkinia, the one I’ve personally got to know. But that’s another part of the story.
### LATEST WIP ###
Yesterday I digged a bit further. As you can see, I turned Barcelona's subway system into the layout of the city. I've decided on the shape and size of locations depending on its current real name (that of the station; I'll get to it in following WIPs).
Something I got to and think is interesting is the technique for drawing the tunnels. If you look closer, you'll notice there are some tunnels with equidistant butresses on the walls. This can be easily done by playing with the brush shape and distance. The other more rudimentary tunnels are the result of playing with angle and distance on square brushes. For the matter of fact, I wanted them to look "older" so that the story of the city and its growing was depicted in the map as well; but these "older" tunnels also correspond to the older ones in Barcelona's real subway system. I like playing with this mirror-thing, you see. Anyway, the whole net is just some black thick lines with added brush and layer options, and was quite easy and straight forward to draw once I got to the technique.
With this WIP, the complete layout of Barknia stands before you. Next step will be delving into its polytical system, its factions, and its cultural peculiarities. And that's all... See you next wip!
Last edited by Bretton; 05-18-2020 at 01:10 PM.
