We need to decide what it is we should be doing next.
We have a map drawn by Shiver:
Here
We have a good stock of armor and architecture resources. So I'd say that were at an impasse between focusing on;
A) Continue to make/re-texture models of the things we don't have, eg clutter, flora and the like.
B)Form a height-map and begin World Building with what we have available.
C)Put aside the physical parts and work on lore and quests.
What do you guys think?
By Ysne: I have moved this thread into the Lore/General section. Deeza has started some excellent discussion of culture and geography that can be expanded on by all of us.
C). All the way.
You cannot proceed past the block this mod has hit until you come up with a detailed plan. You need to sort out the lore issues once and for all (at least decide which interpretations you're going to go for in your mod). I'm sure TOYB, myself and others would be happy to drop by to offer input from time to time if you lot set the ball rolling.
That does make sense Deeza.
To elaborate further:
First of all you need to come up with a thread containing all the relevant cultural facts for each civilisation on Akavir. Also a thread explaining the geography of each region. Feel free to invent, provided that each invention gives each area a unique identity that will make it interesting to explore.
So, for Example (feel free to use this if you like):
Tsaesci
Tsaesci, also known as Snake Garden, is apart from its coastal regions covered in ancient bamboo forests, although in its more mountainous regions these give way to thickets of the mighty Tasingo Tree and even alpine meadows of exotic, sweet-smelling blue and pink-leaved herbs. The soil is a deep red, stained, so the Tang Mo say, from the blood of the dragons the Tsaesci killed. More sensible Kapo scholars note that there are vast deposits of iron in the region. Here and there, vast termite mounds, some of the millennia old, break through the canopy and reach up to the sky with hundreds of dusty crimson spires and turrets. The Tsaesci themselves disdain agriculture, having limited need for food, as they only need to eat once every few months. The few areas of crop cultivation are reserved solely for alchemical plants, although on the borders with the Tang Mo and Kapo regions it is common to find small tribal villages. The Tsaesci tolerate these incursions, and even tacitly encourage them, so as to ensure that they will always have a supply of fresh game.
One of the most important features of the region are the great Tails of the Tsaesci cities, which can often stretch for hundreds of miles. Must like the Tsaesci themselves, the cities must continually cast off their old skins and move onward to seek new life. With every season new buildings are constructed at the leading edge of the cities from wood, pottery and a sort of papier mache made from bamboo half-digested in the gullets of the Ajazkimbwai, the vile toad-like creatures which are one of the few species the Tsaesci permit to live alongside them.
As new buildings rise, the older ones at the tail of the city are allowed to succumb to the armies of termites that scourge the forests of anything edible, leaving behind a vast swathe of leftover rubble, bones, rubbish and forge waste as the city steadily moves onward with each passing year. These trails stretch for hundreds of miles through the forests, a diseased and toxic scar on the land that never fully recovers. The Tsaesci twin capitals of Broken World and Star-Viscera, which have slowly rotated around each other in a ponderous dance for over eight thousand years, leave a Tail behind them which currently streches right up the spine of the Serpent Garden, all the way to the northern mountains of the Menomagi Reach, where it is said they were first built by the Egg-Twins Tsusaje-Luie and Giosu-Zain, out of the skin and bones of the God-Dragon Kindzatohmat.
Tang Mo
It has often been noted that the Thousand Monkey Isles are not the name of a country but merely a description of conveniece for the other nations of Akavir. Certainly there is no government or central organisation, but how could there be? The land itself is constantly shifting and changing, as rapidly as the territories and alliances of its inhabitants.
The isles are in fact not islands at all, but giant floating rocks of volcanic stone, of many sizes, which drift on the complex tides and currents of the Archipelago. They are born from the slopes of the volcanoes of Black Nusago, the only mainland region of inhabited by the Tang Mo, and even then only by the Boiling Monkey Monks, who even the rest of the Tang Mo regard as insane. The area is ravaged by constant eruptions and earthquakes, dislodging vast chunks of rock into the steaming seas. As they drift out to sea they are rapidly colonised by the archipelago's thousands of species of birds, who soon build up a thick enough layer of guano and fish bones to allow plants to take root.
The Tang Mo themselves soon follow the birds. Their word for King means something like "island boss", and no Tang Mo could call themselves a man of means unless they have at least one island to their name. The nation is divided by constant squabbles for control of new islands, though these rarely result in deaths. The countless tribes can't afford to lose anyone, with the constant threat from Tsaesci, Kapotun and Kamal, as well as the more local threat of the cannibalistic To-ton tribe, who live in giant fleets of canoes and worship the Face Monkey (possibly the Daedra Sanguine), and often descend on the islands in an orgy of violence.
It is impossible to count the number of islands, as they are both being created and lost every year. As the islands drift too far out to sea or the porous stone fills with water and sinks they are abandoned. In certain places, however, their exist Mountain Anchors, huge spikes of volcanic rock to which islands can be tied, creating over time the island docks that are the closest equivalent to Tang Mo cities. Powerful Tang Mo wizards are even known to enchant their islands, allowing them to control their movements as easily as one might control a ship. Less magically talented tribes have been known to attach sails to the smallest islands, or even tow them behind canoes.
Drifting islands carry the Tang Mo far outside the region that bears their name, and they can be found circling the coasts all around the continent of Akavir. Also of note are the giant coral reefs, inhabited by intelligent crabs, upon which dozens of islands are shipwrecked and their inhabitants devoured.
Knife Blossom
Knife Blossom is not only the name of a city, but more importantly the name of a flower. For the high mountain plateau that bears the name is evenly coated by a thick layer of millions of delicate red blooms, most only ankle length, but others rising into shrubs or tall spires of flowers that reach into the sky. Though beautiful and seemingly delicate, they contain within them a terrifying power.
Though the last of the men of Akavir dwell here, it is the flowers that rule. For their pollen is so toxic, either by inhalation or contact with the skin, that even the poisonous Tsaesci and frosty Kamal demons are instantly slain on entering the area. Just how the humans manage to dwell in such a terrifying place is a mystery, but the consensus of the other races of Akavir is that they are welcome to it. Although, it has been so many centuries that any human was seen in Akavir, it is doubted that they even still exist.
In the days when raiding parties of humans still harassed the Tsaesci rulers of their former homeland, interrogations of captured men offer a few precious details about the area. The plateau is covered with low, rolling hills, in which equally poisonous lakes can occasionally be found. A great gorge divides it in two, through which a river runs. It is on top of a cluster of hills not far from this gorge that the city of Knifeblossom rests.
Built by refugees from the collapse of the human kingdoms, it is built in the same architectural style as the human ruins that dot the forests of the Tsaesci homeland. Its districts nestle within one another like the petals of a flower, and the mighty Temple of Onn rises up for many stories at the centre, hung with dozens of giant lanterns like the stamens of a flower.
I have asked Sandor to give moderator status to TOYB and Deeza for now. Both are willing to help get us back on track. One of the things that badly needs to be done is cleaning up this forum, which TOYB had generously offered to do.
TOYB and I were discussing a possibility regarding Ionith last night. He has agreed to post on that when he has time.