The IX

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Arden - World Building - Part 3

Welcome to Rhomane
Okay, I bet that surprised you and I'm sure none of you ever imagined Rhomane City would look anything like this. But - that's how the concept started...let me explain:

As some of you will know, I moved out to Greece from a small city in the southwest of England called Exeter. The map above is a medieval rendering of a more ancient Roman map of Exeter when it was under Roman rule. Although in those days they called it Isca.

Roman legions liked to protect things. Indeed, at the end of a day's march, they would build an entire fortification - walls, ramparts and ditch (an actual mini-city) in which to safely spend the night.
So that gave me an idea for where to base much of the action. A futuristic version of a well-defended city. But what elements to incorporate?
*********

Below, you'll find some examples I used to inspire me.
(And although I couldn't find out who the artists were - all credit to them)
*********

Above are the first pieces of artwork that started to fashion a landscape in my imagination.
I wanted something supershiny - sleek - and seamless to represent a civilisation more than twelve thousand millennia in advance of our own. BUT, I also wanted to include elements of decay and ruin. (After all - the setting would be hundreds of years after the original invasion).

*********

So I also included things like this:

Perhaps you can begin to visualize how beautiful Rhomane would be?
Fluted spires, graceful arches, baroque architecture with a slick - hi-tech slant.

A core structure that would be a city in itself surrounded by gardens and further facilities to provide a sound infrastructure to the centre of a grand civilization. Then, once you'd reached the limits of the main hub, there would be a distance of 5 miles to the outer barrier - an area that could incorporate vast parklands, fields and all manner of delights.

Sadly, I'm not a graphic artist, as I'd have loved to include some of the sketches I devised to weave these elements together. Just as well...Sometimes, its better to provide the foundations and materials for YOU to build the city yourself with your own imagination.

Enjoy

No comments:

Post a Comment

The IX

Roman legionnaires, far from home, lost in the mists of
Caledonia.
A US cavalry company, engaged on a special mission, vital to the peace treaty proposed by Presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln.
A twenty-first century Special Forces unit, desperate to
prevent a nuclear catastrophe.
From vastly different backgrounds, these soldiers are united
when they are snatched away from Earth at the moment of their passing. Thinking they may have been granted a reprieve, imagine their horror when they discover they have been transported to a failing planet on the far side of the galaxy,
where they are given a simple ultimatum.
Fight or die.
Against all odds, this group of misfits manages to turn the tide against a relentless foe, only to discover the true cost of victory might exact a price they are unwilling to pay.

How far would you be willing to go to stay alive?

The IX.

Sometimes, death is only the beginning of the adventure.

Exordium of Tears

Fight or die.
That simple yet brutal reality is the tenet by which the refugees from Earth – including the fabled lost 9th Legion of Rome; the 5th Company, 2nd Mounted Cavalry Unit; and the Special Forces Anti-Terrorist Team – were forced to live by while the Horde menace existed. Believing that the threat is over, the
survivors now yearn to settle down, start families, and reclaim the lives stolen from them.
But such aspirations might remain beyond their reach, for a shadow looms on the rose-tinted horizon of new beginnings.
The release of the re-genesis matrix has done much to foster a restoration of exuberance across Arden. Along with a resurgence in floral and faunal diversity comes the results of splicing the Ardenese and human genomes: transmutation. A
metamorphosis of stunning magnitude that not only affects the living, but those still is stasis as well.
Recognizing the emergence of a new hybrid species, the Architect – the arcane AI construct tasked with the preservation of the Ardenese race – responds by unlocking
previously hidden and inaccessible areas of the city. It also releases an archive of sealed state secrets. Such revelations are eagerly perused, whereupon a shocking discovery is made.
Prior to the fall, it was common knowledge amongst the Senatum (the highest levels of Arden’s government) that not all the rabid Horde had joined in the rampage across the stars toward Arden.
Realizing that the peril still exists, the newly reformed administration elects to respond in earnest. Existing resources are utilized, suitable candidates are chosen, and a flotilla of ships is sent out to secure, quarantine, and reclaim the outer colonies. A mammoth and hazardous undertaking. And nowhere more so than at the planet from where the
outbreak was known to have originated – Exordium – for there, the ancient Horde are not only supremely evolved and highly organized, but are capable of a level of lethal sophistication, the likes of which has never been witnessed before.
It is into this kiln of incendiary potential that the cream of Arden’s fighting forces is deployed.
Worlds are torn asunder, suns destroyed, and star systems obliterated. Yes, tragedy is forged, in a universe spanning conflict which proves once again that…

Death is only the beginning of the adventure.

Prelude to Sorrow

Fight or Die.

The task force dispatched to eradicate the Horde menace on far Exordium failed, and for those few left alive, the tenet by which they have survived for so long resounds as never before.

Now marooned, out of time and out of place, the survivors lick their wounds and struggle to recover while the Horde gather their strength for a final strike that will change the course of history forever. The fate of the galaxy – and more – hangs in the balance.

But fate, it seems, isn’t done with the Ninth, and our heroes find themselves forced to mount a last-ditch attempt to end the threat once and for all.

Will the darkness be vanquished, or will our heroes’ efforts finally signal the beginning of the end of their adventure?

Find out in – Prelude to Sorrow – the stunning conclusion to the IX saga.

IX Genesis

Arden, birthplace of a people who have mastered the secrets of arcane, reality-bending technology, and home to a civilization that now spans more than thirty planets throughout an entire quadrant of the galaxy. They are wise and understanding. Majestic in vision. Powerful beyond compare. And intent on extending their benevolent influence throughout the stars. . . Until the fateful day their thirst for knowledge leads them to push too far, too quickly. In doing so, they open a door into the antiverse, a realm where the very nature of existence is an anathema to life. An antithesis to all that is good. Evil. And that evil is sentient, as highly contagious as it is fueled by an irresistible proclivity to feed and multiply and spread. And feed and multiply it does. Faced with an overwhelming flood, the Ardenese have no option. They must fight or die!

Where to find us:

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

No comments:

Post a Comment