Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:21 pm Posts: 57 Location: Teh rehgahlpo dotsahv
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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
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.
_________________ --Keith T. Hemari
".kenen gor"
Last edited by keithhemari on Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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