Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

Riverhold is the northern most city of Elsweyr. Its located on the grassy Anequina Plains at the convergance of three dusty roads. The city walls have been described as saffron coloured, irregular and not particularly high. The city has many domes and towers often two tone (azure & cream, vermillion & chocolate, gold & jet) that are crowded together. Famous for it's large crowded market place.

Quote:"Over spiced ale, I regaled Weltan with descriptions of the swarming marketplace of Riverhold;..."

~ The Alik'r

Quote:My friend's friend, Terron, was visiting the Elsweyr citystate of Riverhold during a very hot summer and went to the marketplace there. If you have never been to Riverhold, the marketplace is very crowded, much more than in comparably sized city states. People from the countryside flock to the marketplace daily in their wagons and carriages.

~ The Arrowshot Woman

Quote:"Fine. Are we going to Riverhold?"

"Are you crazy? It's swarming with Imperial agents. We'd have to keep his highness gagged, and that might attract attention. No, there's a little market town a few miles west of there, Sheeraln. Ma-fwath and J'yas will go in and trade our horses for slarjei and water."

They came to the crest of the last hills before sundown, and the plains of Anequina stretched out to the horizon. He'd always umagined Elsweyr as an unrelieved desert, but here it was green. The tall grass of the upland prairies still seemed a far cry from the naked sand he'd been expecting. Streams were visible by the swaying palms, light-skinned cottonwood, and delicate tamarisk that lined them. A herd of red cattle grazed in the near distance.

Riverhold was visible a bit east, sprung up at the convergence of three dusty-looking roads. The walls were safron, irregular, and not particularly high. Behind them, domes and towers of faded azure and cream, vermilion and chocolate, gold and jet, crowded together like a gaggle of overdressed courties waiting in the foyer of the throne room. It was a city that seemed at once tired and exuberant."

~ The Infernal City

Who's up for the challenge?

Concept

Layout Concept

Very nice. Good to see you're back to doing your old map tricks....

Sweeeeeeeeeet!

What kind of buildings are planned here?

If no one interested, i'll give a try, if its okay.

TOYB's comment carried over from Claim: Khajiiti Ships :

Quote:I've done a concept here. It's entirely made out of towers, with no short buildings around (with the shortest of towers being 4-5 stories high).

The towers are built with a staircase running on the outer interior of the building, circling around the rooms of the tower (a similar make up to the White Gold Tower) -the towers being made primarily of wood, reinforced on the outside with stone bricks, and then plastered in various colours (colour range is specified in the concept thread, and visualised in the concept), and at the top of each tower is a dome.

Don't go too mad on height, though: timber-frame buildings max out at about 6 stories in RL, and they have brick to reinforce them. Beyond that you'll really need stone to be the main structural element. Yes, I know this is fantasy - but it will still look weird otherwise!

Quote:There should be about 3-4 differnt heights of towers, some being square, and some being round, and then there should be variants in the colours of the towers (azure (dome) & cream (base), vermillion (dome) & chocolate (base), gold (dome) & jet(base)), which can be done via retex.

There's only the need for two unique models, one being the central palace/temple (very tall, but still shorter than the White Gold Tower), which is essentially just a very big/tall version of the rest of the towers, and then the other would be a one-story building (the only one in the city), for the city stables.

How and why did the city get to be so full of towers? Is this city planning by some past potentate, or "mine's bigger than yours" one-upmanship?

I don't believe our cats are that easily led or organised but I do see them as competitive, so I prefer the height-race idea. Which means there should be different degrees of execution depending on the wealth level of the builder.

I think TOYB's vision sounds great for Upper Class: tall sleek buildings to show off the wealth of the owner. For Middle Class I'd like to see some evidence of towers being extended to outreach the neighbours - maybe the width of the tower shrinks a bit halfway up and the top of the original wall is still visible. Maybe even a round tower on top of a square one - although that might be best done with two models.

Finally, Lower Class should show real signs of the builders trying to create height at the expense of practicality. I'd say no outer staircase here - just ladders, and definite signs of one storey being built on top of the last. Towers run from 2 to 4 storeys, with the taller ones distinctly crooked. And either no dome or just a rough one in plastered wickerwork - too expensive to build a proper one.

Lot of good ideas here. So, let's see:

Buildings

Lower-class: 3 type: square, round and mix of these (?).
All of these aren't so regular. Each of them will have different color schemes (azure & cream etc.) No decoration.

Middle-class: 3 type: one with shorter in halfway (this will be round), another one will have square tower with round top (?), third one is (?).
These aren't so regular too. Each of them will have different color schemes.
These towers are a bit higher than LC towers. Not much decoration.

Upper-class: 3 type: no ideas here.
Regular towers, higher than MC, and more decoration.

Unique: 2 type: Just two higher tower. (?)

Walls: Saffron coloured old stone walls. Shorter than vanilla walls.

Good summary, yes - do wait for TOYB to confirm or dispute what I've said before you start, though: he has better vision and lore-knowledge than me.

I think the Middle class probably would have decoration - but it might be a bit patchy and added on as an afterthought, as if one houseowner added some detail and then to neighbours had to go one better.

With the walls - don't forget that they still need to be high enough that they form a proper visual barrier between the city worldspace and the one outside.

Yes, i clearly understand you morcroft.

I'll wait for TOYB to confirm, of course. But i'll not start working on this. From monday i'll have time to this.

Middle class must have decoration, i think. Yes, a bit patchy decoration.
That's a good idea, that neighbours had to go one better... =)

Of course, the walls need to be high enough. Just not too high, that's it.

Vintra