Orisa updated

I completed the basic description of the port town of Orisa tonight. Here’s some “crunch” below and check out this link to the website for the rest.

2 The Sway of Medallion is one of the nicest parts of town, a gated
community within the confines of the port, with the houses well-kept, the
residents prosperous and learned, the streets clean. Jealous neighbors
speculate about precisely how high the cost of living there is and what
that cost might entail. The neighborhood is named for it’s most distinctive
resident; Medallion, an avuncular man in his later years. That isn’t his real
name, of course, no one even claims to know that. He is always seen wearing an
enormous jeweled medallion that everyone knows to be magical. His large estate
in the center of the Sway commands an excellent view of the bay and the sea beyond.

3 The University Quarter is also the home not only to the university but
to the port’s largest library. The library houses the Cataloged Mysteries, a
collection of untranslated and possibly untranslatable books from
Beyond-the-Sea. The librarians have been acquiring them from the Black Ships
for years.

The librarians all carry arms, and know how to use them. They also carry
water-soaked cloths with them at all times while on duty. Because there is a a
group dedicated to killing the librarians, or better still, burning the library
to the ground. They’re called the Illiterati (also the Know-Nothings, the
Know-Nothing Brigade) and they believe one of the books in the Cataloged
Mysteries is the Doomsday Book. If it’s successfully translated it will bring
about the end of the world.

It’s possible that the Illiterati are merely ignorant of the fact that the
world has already ended, or perhaps their motivations are something else
entirely…

4 Quayside

• The Deacon is the crime boss who owns the the Stagger tavern a sleazy dark bar. You can get a dark corner anywhere in the room, the
  beer and ale are cheap and taste that way. One can find almost anything
  here. There are rooms upstairs for rental, both beds and Meeting rooms.
  the day-to-day operations are run by the bartender, Twiggy Brume.

Town of Orisa descriptions

Today I really dove into completing the writeup for Orisa. I’m in the
final stages of the rough draft. Here are some example descriptions:

F

The
Hungry Hunter Restaurant- offers inexpensive, but hardy meals of fish, potatoes or bread, drinks of beer and scorch belly.

Leather shop – a
second-rate tailor and shoe maker, Deadeye Mike, makes up for quality
in the speed and price of his works. He can satisfy any clothing need
as well as repair leather armor, create saddlebags, pouches and bags.

Fish Market – Owner is a woman named Vondura, she sells salted, smoked, jarred and fresh fish.

G

Dome of Orisa – Holy Faith of Naveed center of worship

This structure includes a prayer hall, kitchen, dining hall, cleric and guest quarters and library.

H

Scholasticia of Orisa  - Founded by several noble families and wealthy merchant fleet lords.

Hierarchy: Archdean, dean of studies, scholars (teachers)

Royal Maritime Library - devoted to the research of maritime artifacts, relics, magics and other mysterious phenomenon.

Hierarchy: Master Archivists, Archivists and Scribe

Ruhk: Concept art

Knightvision Studios and Aaron Siddall Illustrations have teamed up. Aaron brings years of experience in concept and fantasy art. You can visit his blog here or his wonderful website. Aaron has been working on the Ruhk concept artwork. Here’s an early sample:

Mapping: Heldheim City

Whew.. I think I’m finished. I’ve been working on my new mapping technique since Sunday and I’m really diggin it. Here’s a thumbnail for now.

Map of Heldheim, capital of Heldon

I’ve been on a mapping frenzy lately. For the past week I’ve been working on Heldheim. This city is landlocked and doesn’t sit on a navigable river. A large creek flows nearby for water consumption and sewage disposal. The large slum town has sprung up outside the western walls of Heldheim in recent years because several industries have expanded and jobs are plentiful. Westmark, as it’s known, can be a very dangerous place during the day and night. Heldheim’s Gendarme (police force) only patrols there during the day and in large numbers to avoid being ambushed. They will rush in during the night if riots or other large disturbances take place that threaten the city proper.

Typical Heldheim Gendarme

More mapping

I think I finished up the Web 2.0 Saturday posting last week. I really couldn’t find anything that I use to post this week. I’ve been working on a few maps for the nation of Altalissia this week. I finished up Orisa today and I’m pretty proud of it. I’m starting to work on the populating the place with NPC’s, merchants, religious shrines and temples, government and plots.

Calamas map, Capital of Altalissia

I came up with a new map, finally. This week I’m going to start populating the city for future adventures.

Update 10.4.08

I’ve been working a lot lately, which is a good thing, and haven’t had much time to work on my RPG stuff. I’ve completed a city map for Ebonyr today. Tell me what you think.