Random Age Concepts - Sketches, Doodles, etc

keithhemari · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:31 am

For a short while I was working with a group to create new ages for URU. I had to drop out for personal reasons, but I did come up with some concepts for two different ages. I figured I'd post them, for gits and shiggles, and maybe inspiration.

My main interest was in ages that told a story more than provided puzzles. Specifically, I was interested in what happened to the D'ni after The Fall, what happened to those who escaped. The novels answered some of that, but I wanted to put my take on it. So here it is:

Oh, and pardon my D'ni, I'm no linguist, so it may not be quite right where I use it. Also, images are spoilered to make for easier viewing, since they are fairly large.

Prad Oglahn "Ancient Rock" :

Story:
The basic idea behind this was that there were three guildsmen - who were also brothers - who wanted to 'get away' from things every so often. As I originally had it, one was a Writer, one was a Stone Mason, and the third was a Maintainer. Between the three of them, they began work on their own age, which would have three towers, each themed to their guild and each one a home-away-from-home. It goes without saying that they were well off and reasonably high in the guilds, so that they could afford such an endeavor.

When The Fall came, the brothers and as many others as they could take (I had said something like two-dozen, in all) made their escape into this age. The construction had not yet been finished, but it was the only course they could think of. Fortunately the age was fairly well supplied, both from a pre-written way (natural food and resources) and in tools and other material supplies (since it was under construction), so the survivors decided to do what they could.

The tale, however turns sad. The age turns out to be less stable than expected, suffering from occasional tremors from a fault line deep in the ground. The Maintainers tower (Stone Home) collapses, killing him and two others. But that is only the beginning. A trip must be made, back to D'ni to restock on certain supplies, but no one is really willing to go back, when they aren't certain of exactly what they'll find. The Stone Mason eventually goes with a couple others, but never returns. After that, no one wants to leave, but the tremors are getting worse, and, if they can't get the materials they need, they could wind up buried under the very rocks they sought shelter in.

That was about as far as I had thought the story. Some ideas about the fate of those who remained, but nothing settled. Story would be given in journals, pictures, and so on.

The First Sketch:[spoiler]

Very basic, just to get the idea started. I sort of envisioned it as D'ni without the roof. Imagine a huge cleft in the ground and you'll get the idea.[/spoiler]
The Age Emblem:
[spoiler]

The triangle represents the three towers, with the book itself in the middle as the product of the three bothers work. Each tower would have had a different color light at the top, which would have been incorporated into the emblem. The nib for the Writers Guild, then at the two bottom corners of the book would have been the main icons for the Stone Masons and the Maintainers Guilds.[/spoiler]
Puzzles weren't too well thought out yet, but I had come up with a puzzle lock concept:
[spoiler]

The emblem would have the guild symbol of that tower and would rotate, something like a combination lock. Only it would be color based, made up of the three colors of the three towers. Rotate the emblem so the color is under the nib of the pen, press the button to enter the color, do it in the right sequence and the shaft of the pen turns, indicating it has unlocked.[/spoiler]
Further images:
[spoiler]
Several tower designs:

Initially I was just messing around, but then I tried to bring it closer to the D'ni style, as you can see.

An overview map, lettered to show what was what:

D, E, and F are the three towers, G is the housing created after The Fall for those who came with the brothers, H is an observatory, from which you could see stars, or, if you pointed in the right direction, a graveyard on the ridge of the valley, A is the link-in point, C the main dock, while B is a gallery of guild-related art and such, relating to the works that the three brothers had done for their respective guilds. The whole thing is in a lake, which drains into... well somewhere underground :wink:

The names given on the map are for the waterways. Which are D'ahno (properly spelled Ahnonee) which is "New Water". Ahnozihth "low water", Ahnoshoo "dead water". The names relate to the flow of the water from the high cliffs to the lower cleft and then down to the underground.[/spoiler]

Wow.. that was a lot of typing. I think I'll save the second one for later, if anyone is interested.

Leonor · **Joined:** Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:04 pm **Posts:** 300

Wow, your ideas are very good. Instead of a huge cleft in the ground, I would make a bubble (think Riven like) inside the ocean.

keithhemari · **Posted:** Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:48 pm

Leonor wrote:

Wow, your ideas are very good. Instead of a huge cleft in the ground, I would make a bubble (think Riven like) inside the ocean.

Thank you^^

Interesting you should mention the bubble thing, because that was the initial idea for the second age, only upside down.

Pahts Gahlpo (the City Cave):

Story:
Originally this was inspired by taking Channelwood and turning it upside down. A city hanging from the top of a massive cavern. Instead of trees, it would be these odd, water-droplet-shaped stalactites, carved hollow, in which people would live. That initial idea didn't last past the first picture.
The group I was working with wasn't too interested in it, and I had to admit, I didn't really have much idea of what to do with it. It was just a neat idea. So I fiddled with it some, until I came up with the second concept which took a slightly more traditional rout. This was more like D'ni upside down. The little hanging houses were designed to catch water dripping down the stalactites to provide drinking water. Again, it was going to be more story-based. But it wasn't until someone from the forum suggested making it into a factory that the story really came into place.

It was a factory, something like Teledahn, where mineral water was being harvested for a variety of uses. It had been built not long before the fall of D'ni and the water itself was still being studied to determine if it had any major ill effects. All that ended at the time of The Fall, and like the previous age, it becomes a story of what happened afterwards. Specifically of one man and his descent into madness. At this point the age became Prad Gahro (in my broken-D'ni naming: "Mighty Rock").

I like to imagine he was the janitor. Just because it makes me laugh, for some reason.

You would begin the age at the main link-in point. Here you would be treated to the first glimpse of the scope of the age.

The layout gives a general idea of what would be going on. The central stalactite would be hollowed out to house the machinery , around it are five smaller, but still very large stalactites that, hollowed out, form other parts of the factory. The collecting stations are at the furthest ends, with the link-in point being at a point between second station (counting counter-clockwise from the top) and the connected middle-sized stalactite.

At first things would seem very normal for a long-abandoned factory. You would make your way past the filtering stationof the factory and still see no sign of the man who had been there.

It would not be till you reached the far end of the age that you found this hallway that the story comes to light.

Basically it goes like this: This D'ni man managed to escape into the factory at the time of The Fall, and so he escaped death. But he was very worried about someone following him in and bringing the plague with them, so he hid himself away in the furthest end of the factory and set up traps and blockades to prevent anyone form getting to him (this is where the puzzles would come into play). There he became increasingly paranoid, more and more convinced that someone had followed him. Eventually, armed with whatever he could find, he set about destroying all the out-going linking books he could lay his hands on, hoping to trap his supposed stalker and force him from hiding. Of course, the man eventually passes away and goes to wherever delusional, maniac D'ni go when they die.

You discover all this though journals and so on, and the whole thing would be topped off with the DRC noting that explorers should not drink the water, because their analysis showed trace amounts of hallucinogenic spores that, after prolonged consumption, could cause serious impairment of judgment.

Tayr · **Joined:** Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:11 pm **Posts:** 403

Oh wow. This image just blew my mind. Fantastic! I love every aspect of the concept. I hope we see some clever ages like this in MOUL soon.

I could also see it being a home for non-D'ni. Rather than being a collection facility, the buildings could be homes, and the water could be being collected essentially in the basements of the houses. A few holes would prevent flooding...

In any case, it's a fantastic idea. Please do continue to blow my mind.

keithhemari · **Posted:** Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:40 am

Thank you, Tayr. I'm glad that particular picture had a good impact.^^

Yeah, the idea of non-D'ni living there had crossed my mind too, but the group had nixed such ideas in other ages, so I decided to take another rout. Perhaps I'll revisit the idea when I get the artistic urge again.

Sosiqui · **Joined:** Fri May 12, 2006 3:03 am **Posts:** 783

What a great story! You should totally develop it out for Myst Embassy's contest.

raider7 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:02 am

Well done, its a good story also.

Random Age Concepts - Sketches, Doodles, etc

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