Tamriel Rebuilt

Another FCG here folks, a little more short-term this time.

Exterior work on Uld Vraech (map 5) will be starting soon, and I've been asked to provide some concepts for the region. Uld Vraech is the region bordering Skyrim, and this will essentially be a Morrowind take on winter. The focus is on flora and misc statics.

Flora:
We want at least two new tree types and a couple of smaller plants. The central idea of these plants is that they fit with the normal Bloodmoon flora, but are actually interesting. The trees should resemble a real-world conifer tree at first sight, but have some alien characteristic in their shape or look that make them at home in morrowind. More freedom is allowed with regard to the smaller plants. No new mushrooms.

Misc:
It would be fun if we could add some remnants of Nordic habitation to the area, perhaps ruined or in some way used or abused by the Dunmer. Think shrines, burrows, waystones, or something I haven't thought about.

Have a few ideas on this one I'm finishing up, boss. Been a little busy with the holiday season and all...expect them in a couple weeks.

Oh! oh! Count me in! *starts painting* I love painting snowy sturf.

Cool, nice to see you Lighter.

Some trees of my own:

Cone spruce
[url=http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3138/trconespruce.jpg][img]http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3138/trconespruce.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Antler fir
[url=http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6629/trantlerfir.jpg][img]http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6629/trantlerfir.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Just gotta say, the cone spruce is one of the best flora ideas I've seen in a while, I love it.

I have a flora idea, but my drawing skills leave a lot to be desired, and I currently have no way to upload a legible drawing, so I'll just detail it here. Looking at this image:

http://cafefunk.com/Galleries/Keplar%20Track,%20Nov%202005,%20NZ/photos/Alpine%20plants.JPG

I thought "that moss would look really awesome as some kind of low tree or shrub instead of growing along the ground." I guess the simplest way to describe the idea would be "moss cactus" only with branches, and the bright, spongy-looking bits on the upper side of the branches and stem. Grasses and small container plants could perhaps sprout out of folded bits of the branches. Anyway, when I next get access to a scanner or decent-quality camera (in january) I'll try to upload an image of what I mean.

Myzel wrote:Cool, nice to see you Lighter.

Some trees of my own:

Cone spruce
[url=http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3138/trconespruce.jpg][img]http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3138/trconespruce.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Antler fir
[url=http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6629/trantlerfir.jpg][img]http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6629/trantlerfir.th.jpg[/img][/url]

I love them all

Great drawings Myzel!

I'm not very good at drawing, so I'm not going to embarrass myself. But I think the parasol/mushroom trees with numerous cold adaptions would fit well into the environment: Like furry branches, gnarly bark, spines and darker colouring. especially if the goal is to retain a Morrowindish feel to the place.

Myzel wrote:Cool, nice to see you Lighter.

Some trees of my own:

Cone spruce
[url=http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3138/trconespruce.jpg][img]http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3138/trconespruce.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Antler fir
[url=http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6629/trantlerfir.jpg][img]http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6629/trantlerfir.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Very good.

I'm not very good at drawing, so I'm not going to embarrass myself. But I think the parasol/mushroom trees with numerous cold adaptions would fit well into the environment: Like furry branches, gnarly bark, spines and darker colouring. especially if the goal is to retain a Morrowindish feel to the place.

No new mushrooms.

'nother plant.

[url=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1496/vraechplant.jpg][img]http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1496/vraechplant.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Waystones waiting to be vandalised

[url=http://img806.imageshack.us/i/waystonesbase.jpg/][img]http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/6662/waystonesbase.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Awesome. A set of those with dunmer graffiti on them (tribunal imagery and such) would be a perfect addition.

Perhaps not the greatest quality sketch, but would either of these plants be any good?

[url=http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4112/limpetbloommossberrycol.jpg][img]http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4112/limpetbloommossberrycol.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Perhaps this one, too:

[url=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/606/bellferncoloured.jpg][img]http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/606/bellferncoloured.th.jpg[/img][/url]

I think those spruce and fir trees look cool, though they should probably be greener than they seem like they're intended to be in those concepts. Like my grand pappy always said: "Trees without leaves don't just grow willy-nilly in the snow." I bet it was a metaphor for something...


Anyways, my only suggestion would be some kind of flower. Not all that alien, just put a flower in. Morrowind needs another flower. Maybe a tree with scales or something.

Nice to see you're contributing Cath. It's a bit hard to make out how exactly you imagine these plants should look; you'll need to hone your skills a little more for that.
Maybe I will do something with them though. The ideas look alright.

greendogo wrote:I think those spruce and fir trees look cool, though they should probably be greener than they seem like they're intended to be in those concepts. Like my grand pappy always said: "Trees without leaves don't just grow willy-nilly in the snow." I bet it was a metaphor for something...

Eh, they're colorless drawings. You're right though, there is more wood than leaves on the antler pine tree. Which isn't a problem I think, for just one probably rare treetype.

The plant in the left-top corner is just a plant that grows diagonally.

The plant below it is a spike-bush. I'd imagine the plants in the Uld Vraech need to hold onto their water in hard carbonated forms, the spikes are for protection.

Ironwood: The leafs on the Ironwood function to soak up sunlight and water, while the sharp branches are made of iron due to internal chemical processes of the plant.

The rock thing plant: This plant starts as a moss growing on rocks, feeding off of the minerals, it's roots then envelop the rock, and a main root grows into the ground. After a while the main root grows strong and tall enough that the original rock is lifted from the ground.

The mosshorn has a hornlike bulb.

The rockclaw grows gradually along rocks, it's outer end growing off of the rock and reaching for the sun. It's bulb is also reminiscent of a claw.

Nalin wrote:Waystones waiting to be vandalised

[url=http://img593.imageshack.us/i/waystonesvandalised.jpg/][img]http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/5030/waystonesvandalised.th.jpg[/img][/url]
Done.

It sure would be awesome if we could get some kind of decision on which plants can be the first batch of models to go up for claiming. We don't want to lose any potential awesome modelers to boredom

A claim for the vandalised waystones would be cool too, assuming Nalin isn't already working on them

I was bored, so I put this together pretty quickly:
[img]http://i.min.us/ijlPXW.png[/img]
138 faces, which is low, but I'll be smoothing out the edges so that's fine. Texture is obviously a placeholder.
Not too bad for a half hour's work, I don't think.

We'd want variations of these, right? So they don't obviously repeat when clustered together.
I think that'd pretty much be a necessity.

Don't we already have nordic waystone models? I thought the idea was to vandalise those, like a retexture. Some new models couldnt hurt though, I guess.

Cathartis wrote:It sure would be awesome if we could get some kind of decision on which plants can be the first batch of models to go up for claiming. We don't want to lose any potential awesome modelers to boredom

A claim for the vandalised waystones would be cool too, assuming Nalin isn't already working on them

Both of the tree designs I posted earlier have already been put up as a modeling claim and were claimed by Adanorcil. (Edit: Which you yourself granted him, I just noticed. )

I don't think any of the other stuff is ready to be put up yet. Though there are indeed menhirs models in bloodmoon that could be retextured with graffiti. New models aren't bad, but it's the texture that matters in this case. I especially like the way Nalin's stones have some nordic art on them, partly defaced and with dunmer graffiti painted over it.

Yes, these stones are gorgeous!
I realize I haven't been active for a long time, job's fault. Would any more plant concept be appreciated here? I'm off skiing in a few days, I might fetch some ideas out there.

Someone draw a Dunmer-style severed Nord head on those.

Another tree idea: mountain trees' tops are often broken by the weight of the snow, weather conditions, etc.
A new top is then formed with a branch. Why not play around with this idea?
I drew this as an example, feel free to use it/modify it/whathever you want.

[url=http://img600.imageshack.us/i/uldvraechpine.jpg/][img]http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/185/uldvraechpine.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Other statics ideas:

- snow-covered patches of grass
- dead/frozen plants

YanShun wrote:Another tree idea: mountain trees' tops are often broken by the weight of the snow, weather conditions, etc.
A new top is then formed with a branch. Why not play around with this idea?

I'm not sure how this works in nature, but I have to say I don't really like the way the concept looks. It looks a little unnatural to me.

Here's a small piece I just drew up, only three different flora designs...

[url=http://img858.imageshack.us/i/truldvraeccopy.jpg/][img]http://img858.imageshack.us/img858/6349/truldvraeccopy.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Myzel wrote:I'm not sure how this works in nature, but I have to say I don't really like the way the concept looks. It looks a little unnatural to me.

Yes, quite unnatural, it was more to show the idea but a photo might be better:
[img]http://api.ning.com/files/L3G8GckPOobP-5SSb0Jxc0oJoEmI2zxEy683bdM8x2s0mWpQ7MERFn5tNuXIZwi*a9zUZ50QVeQMFsXcPQFwyzFFuYLGwW1p/101_1920.JPG[/img].

It's more a natural phenomenon happening to trees in mountains/snowy areas than a whole concept, so I thought it could be useful in Uld Vraech.

xenophiatic wrote:Here's a small piece I just drew up, only three different flora designs...

[url=http://img858.imageshack.us/i/truldvraeccopy.jpg/][img]http://img858.imageshack.us/img858/6349/truldvraeccopy.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Nice work. I like the simplicity of the tall trees. Maybe they can have something odd in the details and fit right in.

The guys from the Skyrim mod project have generously provided us with some of their Nord house models for use in Uld Vraech. There are still some pieces we need to make it complete however, for which we need concept art.

We need:
- A wooden wall
- A watchtower
- perhaps a well

Attached to this post is a screen of one of the houses, to get a general feel of the style of the set.

PS, functional art would be more helpful than atmospheric art. Just felt like throwing that out there.

If you intend to decrease workload, I might offer a palisade-set I made for Skyrim. The beams of the palisade are a bit wacky, but they do a good job otherwise.

And the tower as well as the gate were based on TR-Concept, if you're interested.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22362022/pics/palisade_gate%26tower.jpg

The palisade looks cool, but it doesn't really fit the houses, which look permanent and sturdy. Here's a quick sketch of the tower.

[url=http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6305/uldvraechtower.jpg][img]http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6305/uldvraechtower.jpg[/img][/url]

Modularity is only a suggestion - it would mostly be beneficial to SHOTN, who presumably plan to use the set for cities.

Great looking palisade. I'd like to see them used somewhere. But I agree with Lady N that they don't fit with the houses.

That tower is pretty nice. Definitely a step in the right direction. I do feel the effort to make it modular has handicapped the design though.

The top makes me think bell tower rather than watchtower, maybe a rampart (stone or wood) would look better? Of course if you make it modular, you could have both.

Edit:...

When you need anything from that palisade-set above, just let me know.

Wow, you guys are already on the Northwestern areas of the mainland? Thats epic!

Maybe you guys will get done before Nemon turns 60 years old after-all .

Hi everyone. I'm new at TR, as I registered a few minutes ago. The thing is so huge, I didn't know where to start, so please don't blame me if you consider this post as irrelevant! And, well, please forgive me for my english, that could be better: I'm French.
So that was for the anticipated apologies.

Now, I'd have a few questions and suggestions for this region of Uld Vraech.

It seems that the region is under Redoran control. Is there any need for sketches/drawings of Redoran architecture, armors or misc items related to the Redoran House, that would be of course adapted to the... Well... Style of this region? I already got some ideas from what I read in here, such as Redoran strongholds built on nordic ruins, "winterized" morrowind creatures, Dunmeri armors made out of "nordic" materials, etc...
So, please tell me what you need, and I'll draw it!

Here is a sketch of a Redoran Gate. We can suppose that there are many strongholds and gates along the border between Skyrim and Morrowind. The colors are typical of what can be found on Vvardenfell, but they would rather be those of the landscape, according to the principles of Dunmeri architecture (the same shade of grey as the rocks of the mountains, or made of stone covered in white clay.)

The other picture is a drawing of a random Redoran stronghold, situated in a "nordic" landscape.

Those are some amazing sketches. I absolutely love the gate though I'm not really sure how it'd fit in with our existing architecture. The fortress reminds me of Blood Elves.

Thanx!
Well, so what can I draw? My pen is at your service! Maybe some trees? But there is already a lot of trees, so... Juste give me ideas, I'll try to bring them to life!

I agree, great looking sketches. For Uld Vraech we primarily wanted some new flora and a new nordic architecture set (which was only feasible because the Skyrim project had some for us). We have various types of houses but we could use some other stuff. You could take a look at that if you want. Check the image I posted up there.

A new set of redoran architecture is definitely not on our to-do list.