No, I'm not conducting a class on How
Not To Be Seen. I have said elsewhere that I need a break from the
Portown Project, and that I would eventually return to it. At
present, anything more that I might do with Portown requires a level
of skill and knowledge about modeling that I do not possess. I have
turned my attention to other projects, but some of these also have
some pretty strict requirements regarding how they must look
(specifically Aduiltham, an elf compound similar to Rivendell). I
need something that I can experiment with, something that is not
strictly defined – at least, not as yet.
So we travel about 1000 miles south to
Yethlyreom*. An ancient city-state, it is removed both in distance
and in time. It is located in the rain shadow of a mountain range at
a latitude that gets little rain to begin with. In
addition, there is also a dust bowl effect from over farming and
forest depletion. As if these things weren't enough, there is a rift
valley nearby with volcanoes that throw ash on top of the dust. Even
in its prime, water would have been a treasured commodity, except
that the Yethlyri feared large bodies of water. In the pantheon of
their religion were Cthulhu, Tsathoggua, Dagon and “Mother Hydra”
(Blidoolpoolp), and as a result they abhorred the sea, lakes and the
like. They prayed to the remaining gods of the pantheon to protect
them from these four. Unfortunately for them, the remaining gods of
the pantheon were not especially benevolent. Yethlyreom is now a ruined and abandoned city half buried in 1000 years worth of dust, sand and ash.
The
city lies in a complex crater (Learn about it here), with the palace, a public square and
the temple built upon the summit of the central mound, and the
necropolis is built on the rim of the crater (Oh, the plans I have
for that...). Due to the environmental factors mentioned above, the
ruins of Yethlyreom and the land surrounding it for miles and miles
is a dusty, ashy wasteland.
Below
is the palace of the King/Emperor/Overlord/whatever-I-eventually
decide to call him. I'm especially tickled by the mosaic of Thasaidon
on the second floor. I took a picture from the internet, altered it
in GIMP, they used the mosaic feature to create a jpg. Then I
imported the jpg into Sketchup.
Here
also is the same palace, after lots of weathering. Basically, it has been
beat to hell by the elements – save water. The wood has survived,
but the integrity of the timbers is completely destroyed.
Imagine it covered in dust, sand and ash as well. In fact the whole first floor is probably buried.
This is an exciting project for me as I am learning things that I can use elsewhere -- like a coastal settlement you may be familiar with. The erosion was done using the Erode extension. I like it, but the finished product is huge in terms of memory. Towards the end, Sketchup became very slow. There are probably many other things to learn. Considering that I've been modeling for about six months or so, I don't think this is too bad.
Next up, the temple. With the coming holidays, I wouldn't expect any new posts to appear before sometime in January. I will still be reachable, however.
Best to all, A
* Most of the names mentioned in this
post come from the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.
I am using them for non-profit purposes and without permission or
apology.
