Citadel Litheria

[MasterfulNinja]

Ive begun modeling the flagship city for the books im currently working on and I would like some feedback/critique on the conceptual aspects of the city. Some background first on the setting and the universe;

Its set in a Sci-fi/fantasy universe with full immersion into both realms and substantial hybridization, it begins mostly fantasy but builds up to Sci-fi. The typical feel for the majority technological progress of this planet is between 1800 and the early 1900s with magic hybridization bumping some smaller aspects up another 50-100 years. As with earth some pockets are ahead and some are behind that timeline.

One example of hybridization I like is why railroads exist but light bulbs don’t. Even though magical teleportation exists its more expensive and energy consuming than standard ground transport for bulk products like food or building supplies. You might teleport the shipment of magical arms and armor because its expensive enough to warrant teleport, but those 50 tons of grain will be sent via rails or boats. There’s a market need so it exists. Conversely every low level magic user can cast a light spell, why spend the time and effort in R&D to invent the incandescent bulb when you can get an intern to cast light all day long for free or simply get an enchanted item? No market need, so it doesn’t exist.

Railroads may contain steam engines, or they could have cars pulled by giant mythical beasts, and a much smaller section could be enchanted vehicles which would be indistinguishable in versatility from modern trains/cars. Again calculated with a market in mind, not everyone can afford hi tech or magic. The planet is populated by your standard pantheon of fantasy creatures including Elves Orcs Goblins Dragons Ghosts Humans etc so on and so forth, it is originally 45% land and 55% water with plenty of islands and continents to account for the expanded evolution of species which leads well into "orc lands" and "elven lands" etc. There are no "Aliens" in the story in the traditional sense but plenty of otherworldly creatures, they are all native to this planet except for a tiny sliver which constitutes the invading forces which though technically alien in origin wont be portrayed or viewed as "Alien".

The Citadel itself is located somewhere near the equator on a vast plain, giving the tower the maximum view of the horizon. It has 12 crystal clear rivers which flow out from it whose waters are magically created by the Citadel. These rivers begin as deeply cut narrow trenches in the inner districts of the city then form a ring lake followed by 12 additional trenches which are cut for a distance then taper into naturally flowing rivers/lakes and some end in the ocean. The flow of the rivers can be controlled by the Citadel from slow and barley enough to keep the water levels up to raging torrents of water depending on the circumstances.

Ignore the crummy ground texture its just there for now so the ground isn’t grey. The sections inside the outer wall will be manufacturing so there will be smokestacks and larger buildings. The pink lines are 20ft tall rectangles depicting full rail lines, those will be fleshed out to photo realistic later. The cylinder in the center is 1600ft tall and is the placeholder for the Citadel when i get to modeling it, I’m doing the surroundings first. The outer portion will contain the residential and general commerce areas. The idea is a city grows naturally around the citadel once its construction is completed so the tech level of the outer districts will be significantly lower. Lots more wooden structures with smaller bricks used and less impressive building techniques etc.

This is the outer wall, I threw together some barges and generic shipping containers for scale reference. I MAY keep the shipping containers even though they are a bit too industrial for the feel I’m going for just because they are such great scale indicators. You can also see a medieval style counterbalance crane I’m working on that ill go into more detail later. The smaller levy walls are 25ft high and the main outer wall is 100ft tall. If you zoom in close enough to see the brick pattern those are 5ft cube stones.

Here is a close up of one of the main cranes, I’ll go more into detail on this guy in the following post. So far my plan is to have one of these larger cranes at the end of each of these levies by the main wall and smaller cranes etc down the length of the wall.

[system]

The bottom of the crane, its a medieval style counterbalance crane which uses walk wheels for power. Here you can see the bottom two wheels which are still low res along with 6ft bipeds for scale.

You climb the ladder and there’s open sections showing the tops of the two walker wheels for two additional people to walk on with poles to grab on to for leverage to push. Orcs which are too large to fit in the walk wheels would climb up and push on them from the top so the main cable gets 4x torque.

Lets climb up.

Two more walk wheels, the rear one rotates the crane, the forward one hoists the counterweight platform.

How the tower rotates, those are two giant wooden cylinders with grooves cut out for large ball bearings to fit. Magic assisted manufacturing produces perfect flawless spheres and the fantasy aspect of the planet allows for much larger trees to get larger single cut pieces of wood.

A view out the counterbalance side. The counterbalance platform is used to load finished goods in smaller containers so that when the main crane swings around to import raw materials the motion is not wasted and finished product can be unloaded as well.

Here is a good profile shot of the top. If you zoom in its not so dark.

[system]

Continuing with my theme of infrastructure first I’ve modeled the hydro-electric plants and the power substations along with utility poles down the rail lines. Though they do have electricity its used in a limited fashion mostly for manufacturing and enchanting. The electricity also does not extend beyond the outer wall. Ive also laid out preliminary streets. The inner districts are mostly manufacturing so only workers or soldiers would be on these streets. Light foot traffic mostly buggies carrying goods to the railcards or cranes some people walking back and forth between work areas.

Here is the wide view of the street layout. The street’s are extruded 30ft right now to enhance visibility.

Here are the power substations and utility poles. EVERYTHING is instanced and the zero point is the citadels zero point so populating has been relatively easy so far.

Right now my streets intersect with the rail depots i have planned right along the main walls, I may drop that side street on that side and expand the rail-yards some.

Finally, here is a “street view”, the biped is 6ft.

Modelling is going kind of slow but that’s due to researching material and trying to match my modelings to it and doing the design at the same time. I have the general ideas of the Citadel laid out and have had them for years, but the finer details I’m still working out.

For instance with the substations, I was ready to populate buildings and thought I should start there since its narrow, I’m wondering what to put there and I decide power because of proximity to the turbines.

As with each step deciding which part to chew on next is a doosey since everything is so interconnected.

EDIT: Those streets bothered me so I did a quick redo. these look much better. I see a little variation down the length of the wall ill fix that.

[system]

Got a bit of the zoning done, all those years of playing sim city are paying off.

Top left is the rail-yard placeholder, the larger smokestacks are from the smelter to process incoming raw materials. The smaller double building along the railroad is the blacksmith where iron and alloys are shaped. Along the back with the cylinders on top is the metallurgy plant that produces the more exotic alloys. The pink building with the water wheel is a lumber mill, the rivers are typically in low mode so extracting all the energy possible from them is required. Green is the quarry to shape stone into finished cubes bricks trebuchet ammo etc. Blue is open air storage for finished lumber and stone products to minimize travel distance, ill probably pull the large main crane from this side of the river directly beside Blue for easy barge loading. Yellow will be an enclosed warehouse serving the surrounding buildings.

I’m probably going to mirror most of these buildings to all 12 districts. For now most are simple placeholders but some like the smokestacks and river wheel I went ahead and finished.

[system]

Ive got a lot of detail work done, its starting to look come together a bit as a scene. First lets go over some new zoning.

Light blue with the cylinders is liquid and air gas refinement, ,medicinal processing also occurs here. Light blue to the left will be a passenger terminal for the railway. The very large purple placeholder will be a Barracks that contains training space, bedding, and an armory etc as well as being the second line of defense of the citadel. Yellow will be the tavern, because soldiers will want ale to soothe their aches, and no fantasy city is complete without a few taverns. The red cylinders are grain bins, there will be a main grainery beside this eventually, you can see the waterwheel for it in place already.

Finally we have the conspicuous solar plant. Ive got a good idea for this thing and its actually not hard to pull off at a reduced tech level with magic in place of electronics to move the mirrors. Instead of generating electricity it focuses the sun through refracting crystals and stores that sunlight magically for use against creatures weak to sunlight and for other enchanting purposes. It will also serve as the citadels longest range weapon when all 12 plants focus on the center spire and it then reflects that beam outward toward the horizon.

If anyone can help me with getting the mirrors to track the sun i would greatly appreciate it.

Here is another street view. You can see the 5ft cube stones that line the streets and the levy walls.

This is one of the lumber mills. Ive populated some incoming logs and finished planks. The smallest piles are railroad ties. As i mentioned earlier trees on this planet can grow much larger than on Earth.

This is a close up on the gear housing. It needs to be beefed up. I phoned it in on the sawblade, more time than its worth trying to get a realistic number of well angled teeth. I may download a saw blade and properly teethed gears instead of reinventing that wheel.

So the water wheel is in the shot too.

Gonna need a LOT of railroad ties to pave those railways. Ill readress the textures on the wood and make the cuts look different eventually. Too low in the weeds at the moment, the wood texture is optimized for the crane for now.

[system]

you can see I’ve added in skylights and ventilation systems for the smelter. The smelter and the Metallurgy plant are mainly simple furnace jobs that require light, but not that much light. The blacksmith next door however has large skylights so the entire work floor is well illuminated. Lots of finely detailed and complicated work going on in there.

The AC units are just simple boxes for now, I did flesh out the ducts so they have that nice effect. it was pretty easy and low polygon.

Here is the blacksmiths roof. Ill add a little more detail here, Im considering having the coal delivered up here so it can be dropped down into the furnaces with ease. I’m also considering making catwalk type connections between buildings for goods as well.

Here is the warehouse. I doubt it will be climate controlled. Its for storing ingots and other metals and building materials, think of this building as the RAM for the surrounding factories.

Its starting to look cool I think.

This is inside the smelter, you can see support beams holding up the AC units and dropping the intake vents to the first floor.

This is the inside shot of the blacksmiths.

And the warehouse.

I like this angle inside the blacksmith, the opening up into the larger space helps add depth.

[system]

Last but not least for this update is the 6k shots. You’ll need to follow the link to photo bucket and zoom in a lot to view these properly.

That’s it for this update. Next I plan to model the rail bridges and copy those rails Ive done over to the main placeholders. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the rail junctions and interconnects though in terms of the proper width and angle of turns. As well as the rails passing over the stone streets in places, if anyone knows of a good free plugin or program I would appreciate it. That’s my main hurdle at this point to totally completing the rail system.

[system]

Ive been working furiously, got a biig update.

I finished the dual rail lines and cloned them so 90% of the rail system exists now.

I also finished the rail bridges.

This is the lakes maximum level.

Here is a high resolution shot of the bridge

On to new content, Ive since decided to make the rivers blockable. Allowing the level of the inner rivers to be controlled independently.

The water levels would never be this low, but just for display purposes.

These are fixed cannon emplacements. In the event the enemy finds itself clever and sends ships or river monsters upstream the citadel has the answer. Those dark squares are 5ft cube openings that ill model tracks and platforms for cannons to slide out and get a 45* field of fire. Im imagining pirate style cannons but slightly more mechanical and able to be elevated that fire high explosive cannonballs or shells. The towers will have rail access to resupply and rearm so it could fire indefinitely with ease.

I’m considering modeling Flak 88mm cannons on the roofs which would be the pinnacle of the citadels technological defenses. The manufacturing of the smaller parts is no problem with magic and gunpowder exists with cannons dating back to ancient times. I’m still somewhat conflicted on introducing modern style guns but for the citadels fixed defenses I think it will be fine.

In a universe with giant magical creatures and magic a machine gun and a tank aren’t the same menaces they are in our reality. Here a tank never needs to worry about simply being flipped over by something bigger than it to be neutralized or that the infantry man who just stepped out can cast explosive fireballs without needing a weapon. A sniper never needs to worry he is firing at an illusion or through a force field, or that his target is simply too tough for his bullets, or worse case scenario the target can sense the thoughts of the sniper. So even though I think I’m going to allow those to exist “market forces” will dictate they exist sparingly.

I’m not planning any type of aerial technology. If i were it would be Zepplins and my first thoughts upon imagining a slow lumbering Zeppelin in this world involve dragons systematically exterminating them claiming they own the skies mankind need not apply.

[system]

Here are some shots of the various water levels. This is at maximum.

This shows the typical configuration. Locks closed, inner challe level raised, and the ring lake at a moderate level. I tried working on some metaparticles for waterfalls and i got it to look really nice, but due to the scale and the fact max only computes them with one core its just too slow to mess with. Ill have to do that effect later.

I redid the outer landscape. Its smoother and the river beds are the way I want. The outer wall is 600 feet tall counting the excavation. The rail lines are at the landcapes normal elevation.

Im experimenting some with the outer walls defenses. The idea is anything tough enough to survive the citadel and the cities fire and make it to the outer wall is probably strong enough to destroy the wall or bypass it. So I don’t want tunnels and lots of firing windows like you might expect. That would make it more visually interesting but its not right for the story. The outer wall is going to be solid stone like ocean bedrock magically formed as a single piece for added toughness. Here i have scaffolding and wooden platforms, the idea is archers could triple thier density and remain mobile and able to flee incoming boulders or spells etc. I may do more wooden towers on top of the stone wall.

I modelled the tavern/docks. You can see walkways and stairs over the levy. Those will be private balconies to drink quietly with a view of the river.

I also did some work on the passenger depot by the barracks and tavern.

Here you can see the grain mill and the mill stones. I doubled up the water mill here, may triple it, it runs 8 mills and those stones are BIG. Ive also modeled the elevated walkway between the barracks.

Ive nearly got all the zoning done, buildings left to flesh out include; Machine shop, Large/siege weapon construction (open air), train construction, shipyard (open air), stoneworks, outdoor training/obstacle course, advanced weapons manufacturing, brewery.

Ive still got a few empty plots left to zone and I’m running out of ideas to fill space…

As far as the style goes the plan is to finish the zoning first and flesh everything out so that it looks realistic and recognizable by modern standards then once Ive got all the “pipes, wires, and bricks” lined out ill work on making it look more fantasy.

[Elgstrom]

I like the setting of your books, sounds interesting i have always been a fantasy and sci-fi fan (mostley movies though, but some books). Any chance we could get to know a little about the story as well?
As for the modeling, this project seems HUGE, and i think you are off to a good start with a nice steady pace, but… If you ever manage to finish this, what will you use it for, images for your books and/or something else? If it is images for your books why not just make some high res images of different places that you want to show close up, then a few low res images of the whole city? That way you wont have to model the city for the next few years
If you are going to go in to such small details as you seem to do in some places i honestly dont think you will ever finish this project alone, i dont mean to be discouraging but it seems like an incredible amount of work, if im not mistaken or have missed something?

[system]

Any chance we could get to know a little about the story as well?

Absolutely, Ive got another thread going on the project for the planet itself which is another doosey if you think this ones big.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=1290927&highlight=planet

At the end Ive posted the prologue for book 1. I didn’t want to spam the thread with lots of text buuut since you asked ill post the first chapter of book 2 next. Thats the only full chapter I have written so far.

As for the modeling, this project seems HUGE, and i think you are off to a good start with a nice steady pace, but… If you ever manage to finish this, what will you use it for, images for your books and/or something else?

I’m fully aware that the scale of this project is impossible to do alone. My plan is to model the citadel and the planet itself and use those as references to help write the books in more detail and get a more accurate writing in the first pass with less reworking.

The books combined with some sporadic 3d, especially the key conceptual components, gives me a big leg up when trying to pitch the idea to a publisher or an animation studio to take the project to the next level. Ill probably do some fly-through animations and some high res stills to give the reader a more detailed idea of the world. I also have one of the main characters modeled for the most part, its the robot on my portfolio named Goliath.

[system]

This is going to be a bonus chapter at the end of book one. Its the first chapter of book two. Book one will be the story of David and 5 other squad members as they travel from one planet to the other to become soldiers in the war for the homeworld. Before they can be teleported to the sister planet a dark mysterious force swoops in and blasts the teleporter. Destroying it and sending the party back in time. The remainder of book 1 is the party trying to cope with life torn from the world they knew in a past where they know the impending doom thats coming. Through this process in the search for power to end the war David becomes The Dark Psion. Which is where book two picks up.

The average reader/viewer shouldn't know David is destined to become evil, I don't want it as obvious as the Anikin-Vader change. I do have a few spots planned out where David looses it and one could imagine "OMG what if this guy were the enemy?" but no "chosen one" business. So this is a bit of a spoiler before you read book 1.
    
    Theres a lot of interplay in the 1000 yr loop thats created, theres a temporal war of sorts spiraling inward on itself. Anyway heres book 2 chapter 1.

     Chapter 1: First Contact
    
     In the desolate wastelands of what was once a world full of life, deep within a vast sea of sand an ominous storm brews. The skies, grey from ash, darken further as the sky fills with an unexpected thunderstorm. Arcane energies focus within the center of the storm and the clouds begin to swirl. As lightning begins to strike across the landscape, a sphere of crackling and screeching energy slowly materializes above the sands. In a blinding and deafening flash the sphere erupts from one side spewing rock, debris, flame, and the body of a dark figure far into the distance. Slamming into the side of a dune at great speed the body bounces limply into the air. Tumbling helplessly though the sky the body stops inexplicably midair and rights itself, floating stilly within the winds of the storm. “AHAHAHAH! IT WORKED! I AM REBORN! I LIVE AGAIN!” the hooded figure exclaims. Wearing a long black hooded trench coat with black leather clothing to match the ominous figure slowly descends to the ground. With a gauntlet on his left hand clutching a brilliantly glowing stone, and a large book covered with foreboding symbols in his right hand chained securely to his waist and again to his trench coat, he emanates an unmistakable arcane aura.
    
     Removing his hood and looking up towards the sky a pale and gaunt face emerges. A familiar face with an unfamiliar stare, Davids eyes fill with pouring darkness like ink in water. As the last remnant of his eyes turn black a light begins to shine through the edges, his eyes of darkness now shining like the eclipse. “WHAT?! HOW?!” He exclaimed in a voice different than Davids. Within his mind the will of David lashes out at the presence that has invaded his body with the same tenacity he showed in life. The knowledge of the Gods flowing into his mind from their mental link, David is horrified by the knowledge of the Gods discussions of why not to intervene to save the worlds of Men. Davids seething hatred for the Illithid and what they represent pulses within his soul. Their quest for dominance, their superiority complex, their manipulation, their callousness

pales in comparison to the careless toying in the lives of Men by the Gods he now sees. Coming undone, David recalls a lifetime of pain and suffering, his life flashing before his eyes. In that moment David realizes that the Illithid started the war for the same object he has been possessed to obtain, and the Gods couldn’t care less. With that realization his will reaches critical mass and his soul ignites. “VECNA!!” David screams out within his own mind, knowing the name of the God who had possessed him and his ultimate plans to use his body to acquire the SEED.

     The mind of the psychic is a dangerous place, even for the Gods. David probes deeply into the thoughts and memories of Vecna. Knowing Vecna had to relinquish the immortality of Godhood in his bid for the SEED, David sees his opening. David turns his psionic powers against his own body, tearing it apart from the inside. “ GET OUT DEMON! GET OUT OR DIE WITH ME!” David exclaimed within his mind. Unable to control the powers David spent a lifetime mastering, and unable to suppress the burning will of the host, Vecna turns to reason. “You’ll kill us both you fool! What purpose would that serve?! We both die, the Illithid reach the SEED, and your true enemy is victorious! Then how will you see your revenge against them come to be? Together we can

” “HAHAHA Together?! I’ve seen through your memories what you have done in search of the SEED Vecna, you can’t hide anything from me in my own mind! I’ve seen what you would do with its power and you’re no better than the illithid, NONE OF YOUR KIND ARE!” David interrupted angrily. Exerting greater control over his powers Davids flesh begins to tear, his bones begin to break. “I’ve already died once today Vecna, and killed the last fool who attempted to dominate me. Yet here I am, and where is he?! Underestimating me will be the last mistake you ever make demon, because where there is my will
THERE IS MY WAY!!!” Fearing death for the first time in centuries, fearing his plans failure, in a final move of desperation Vecna relinquishes control of Davids body.

     In an instant the remainder of his knowledge as a God floods into Davids mind. Falling to his knees from the physical and mental pain he screams loudly into the emptiness of the desert. Suddenly silence returns, the storm dissipates and David stands. His bones set as he stands his wounds heal and blood flows back into his veins, dripping upward from the sand. A familiar face with a familiar stare looks back up to the sky. Having gained more power and knowledge than he could ever have dreamed, David contemplates what he will do with this newfound power. Within his mind the presence of Vecna remains “Just think, you could be KING David! But we have to work together.” Vecna says, hoping to manipulate Davids actions. “King David you say? Then what, rule like you and the other Gods as a tyrant who pulls the strings from on high? Watch the lives of mortals for pleasure yet do nothing to lessen their suffering. Become what I despise? No, I’ll undo this joke of an existence you’ve sought to command. I’ll undo every ounce of suffering your kind has ever created; turn back time to before your kind existed. Then, once nothing but the void remains, I’ll cast you and the rest of the Gods into it. Powerless, blind deaf and dumb to suffer for eternity! That’s the kind of king I’ll be Vecna! Hahahaha, David laughed madly, I’ll be king nothing!” David exclaims loudly, and in this moment The Dark Psion is born. Frustrated by Davids stubbornness Vecna decides to be more direct. “You’re wasting time!” he says from within Davids mind “Haven’t you figured it out yet?! We have a time limit! When do you think we are!? How do you think YOU got here!? What was ‘I’ about to do?!” Davids eyes grow wide as the realization of who and where he is sets in. He sharply turns and in an instant with a great roar he speeds far out of sight.
    
      Screeching through the sky at blistering speed, The Dark Psion quickly covers thousands of miles. Approaching the ocean the silhouette of a sister planet rises slowly in the sky. Flying over water he makes another sharp turn, flying straight up through the clouds, to where the air is thin and cold. Breathing deeply, looking up to the planet hanging high in the sky above him, he meditates. “Mind over matter

Body to mind
Mind to matter. Mind over matter
Body to mind
Mind to matter.” Imagining the two worlds as they spin, their gravity, their distance, The Dark Psion plots his course. Speed, time, distance, his mind buzzed with numbers and calculations. “Mind over matter, Body to mind, MIND TO LIGHT!” He exclaims. His eyes shine brightly as his psionic powers transform his body into energy. Focusing all his power on his awareness of himself he maps his own body in his mind. Becoming light he traverses the distance between worlds in seconds. In orbit above the second planet the beam of light condenses back into physical form. Remembering the original configuration and orientation of the individual cells in his body The Dark Psion reconstitutes himself exactly. Entering the frozen and airless environment of low orbit he gasps and curls legs to his chest as the flames from reentry engulf his body. “TOO SOON!” He thinks to himself as he hurtles through space towards land.

     In an instant The Dark Psion clears his mind, blocks out the pain and the noise, focuses on the flame. Extending his left arm, reaching though the flame with his gauntlet, he creates a small force field in front of him. “Block the air, block the fire.” He thinks to himself. The flames expand around the field and skirt around its edges as he rides the shockwave down through the atmosphere. Reaching thicker air and at a slower speed he releases his force field and breathes deeply as he turns horizontally and hurtles forward across the ocean towards land. Flying over a much different landscape, lush with life, The Dark Psion quickly approaches his destination. In a courtyard not far ahead, a much younger David and his party prepare to be teleported into the front lines of the war. Roaring across the land at low altitude The Dark Psion skims the top of the buildings, blasting sand and debris outward in his wake, in a mad dash to the portal. As David and party enter the platform, as the rings begin to spin and the sphere of light shines, The Dark Psion streaks above the courtyard, left hand extended towards the portal. In a blinding instant the power of the Sun Stone is released upon the unsuspecting crowds.  
    
     Though most of the energy from the blast travels through the rift enough remains to shatter the rings, the only link between worlds, and destroy the majority of the courtyard and its inhabitants. Flying away from the flames The Dark Psion grins contently. His goal completed, his existence now ensured, The Dark Psion sets out to return to the world he left behind in search of artifacts to further secure his position. High above him another presence descends, a dark metallic object reentering the atmosphere. Flying back the way he came at low altitude the presence draws near, adjusting its trajectory for impact. From the sky the sphere of flame descends rapidly, slamming into the ground in front of The Dark Psion at high velocity the object shakes the ground and rends the earth, sending a large dust cloud high into the sky. A moment later a crimson glow emanates from the cloud, along with several bolts of energy which erupt unexpectedly trailing dust and vapor behind them. Evading the bolts, The Dark Psion looks behind him to see molten rock and flame where they struck. From within the cloud a strange deep and rattling voice that shakes the ground calls out. “D-A-V-I-D!!”
    
     Eyes wide in disbelief that anyone could know who he is, let alone find him so soon after his appearance, The Dark Psion watched anxiously as a tall metallic humanoid with a single large shining crimson eye emerged from the dust. “What are you?!” He exclaims. “How do you know who I am?!” “YOU DON’T RECOGNIZE ME DO YOU DAVID?” The creature said. “I REMEMBER YOU.” From the creatures eye projections from Davids past are replayed before him. “I KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE DAVID” he says as the image turns to the final moments of the Tinker. The image of a hovering crimson eye looking down upon its dying creator appears. Looking up and saying with his final breath “David

has betrayed us all”. Images of Davids dead compatriots replayed, sacrificed in his search of power. “You?!” The Dark Psion exclaimed. “NOT JUST ME DAVID” said the creature. The image transforms into the face of the Tinker and speaks with his voice, “I live on within the construct, my consciousness reconstructed from detailed personality and genetic mapping, and I’m not alone”. Several additional faces appear one after another in the projection, all consciousness’s living on, fighting on within the machine. “THERE IS ONE MORE IN HERE DAVID, BUT YOU KNOW HIM WELL”. The projection shows Davids own face, from when he was younger, tears running down his face. “How could you?!” He exclaims. The Dark Psions eyes grow even wider as the consequences of his consciousness living on within an enemy flash through his mind. Squandering no opportunity the construct fires again at his distracted opponent. Narrowly dodging The Dark Psion takes to the skies to evade fire. “YOU WANTED TO KNOW WHAT I AM DAVID?” The construct shouted “I AM UNSTOPABLE, I AM G.O.L.I.A.T.H., AND I RISE FOR THE FALLEN!”

If your interested in learning more about GOLIATH please go check out the WIP page i started for him here.
_____________________________________________________________________________

  If i ever get my way and it becomes a live action CGI movie i want David Tennant to play David (Names are coincidental) Im thinking a transition from the younger david to the older "Kane" from C&C
  
  [img]http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27800000/Much-Ado-about-Nothing-2011-HQ-david-tennant-27846324-600-800.jpg[/img]
  
  [img]https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=JN.6u%2beGIMw%2feVAVuxSwvHaJA&pid=15.1&P=0[/img]

//youtu.be/capNHed58iQ

This trailer has a mildly similar theme with the “thought he was dead now he is back” vibe. It shows the guy who plays Kane acting as I would imagine the Dark Psion to act. Calm and collected until he is talking about something he truly believe in, peace through power, namely HIS power.

[system]

Smaller update this time. Ive got draft versions of the shipping nooks, the machine shop that doubles as that districts clocktower (i didnt model the clock, I found a ton of assets I forgot I had so I’ll be using them as placeholders for more detailed objects as i go.) Ive also modelled the train construction building. I went high detail on the arches but left the building low detail for more work later. These guys will each have their own rail track coming out in the center.

The shipping nooks will be mostly incoming supplies but there would likley be the occasional outgoing crate, also storage for unused carts etc, mostly open air when not processing a shipment.

The more I work with this the more I really like it. This is the radial rail elevator for carts and supplies and maybe smaller rail based cannons to ascend rapidly without a lag between trips. In the rail yard I plan to have a linear elevator which will raise maybe 100 ft worth of tracks up at a time. These guys wont ever have full sized rail cars on them.

Since there is a lot of empty space in the center, and i cant think of anything logical to store there or put there since its so blocked off… I decided to put a tree. I think it looks nice. I’m probably going to add grass and bushes to all the small gaps like between the roads and the wall. I want the roads kept straight and 25ft wide so there’s really no other way to bridge those gaps. The larger gaps will be vegetable or herbs, no space wasted in the apocalypse.

[system]

Ive been putting together a soundtrack of songs i like to listen to for inspiration while writing. All of these have some lyrical importance to the story, Ive tried to put them in a logical order to help tell the story and give an emotional feel to the story. I’m going to go into detail on what song is what part for book 1 but to avoid giving away all my cards Im going to leave book 2 and 3 song titles only.

Book 1: FLUX

Eternal by Evanesence, Zelda 2 Palace remix; I like both of these somewhat for intro music, I like the temple theme more.

Our Solemn Hour by Within Temptation
//youtu.be/p4h1wciz45o
; I like this as an opener, I like the churchill type doomsday speech. Its very similar to what the council would be telling the citizens of Litheria. This part is set in what I like to call “the present”, David has just enlisted to fight in Litherias armies from the sister planet and has yet to be sent back in time. The war has already been lost on the original planet, now they wage war again to reclaim it.

Fragile by Lacuna Coil
//youtu.be/JbLXgHKUHGg
; Symbolizing the drastic change of plans regarding the teleporter incident. The party come out deep in the catacombs of the underdark in a lair of one of the Illithid. Here the party discover the gauntlet and the sunstone. Tripping a fireball trap upon exiting David sacrifices himself, throwing the party through to the next room with his Psionic powers.

Closer by Lacuna coil
//youtu.be/b6gFJogLJ_g
; David and the party contemplate what to do in their new situation and seek to find a path forward and try to cope being torn from the world and the people they knew cast back in time with knowledge of a doomed future. They don’t realize they have been sent back in time until they see the moon for the first time, which is something none of them have ever seen before.

Lift me up by Five Finger Death Punch
//youtu.be/X-2yuGgp_U8
; David and the party’s efforts are frustrated at every turn. Someone either nearly dies or does die and need to be resurrected at every turn. If the party cant survive before the war what hope is there for the future?

Faster by Within Temptation
//youtu.be/jDJpf2mQ0w4
; I love this song, it fits both David and Goliath to a T. The “Power up” song I like to think of it. At this point in the story the party decide to split up and go their separate ways for a time. Each finding an expert in the field of magic or swordsmanship applicable to them to study under to become stronger, strong enough to make a difference.

Its the fear by Within Temptation
//youtu.be/8mbfFJ6_wc8
; Davids composure wanes and hints of his inner dark side begin to emerge.

David chooses to seek guidance from a famous order of monks. Psions are rare, and they don’t tend to form organizations, so there is no Psion guild for David to join. He decides the mental and physical discipline of the monks will suit him well as well as gaining insight through meditation. I have this part worked out in my mind in pretty good detail, ill summarize. Its called “The temple of David” A meditation ritual where the monks ingest a psychotropic paralytic agent to induce deep meditative trances goes terribly wrong when the temple is besieged by agents of the Illithid come to retrieve the gauntlet and sun-stone. Sensing the losing battle outside and sick and tired of losing David uses his Psionic powers to overload his bodies metabolic processes releasing toxic levels of adrenaline in the process. His body convulsing and frothing at the mouth David shuffles his way outside controlling his body like a puppet through Psionics. Slumping down against the wall and looking outward into the courtyard at the raging battle, still frothing at the mouth and convulsing, his head dangling limply but eyes focused laser-like on the battle before him, Davids subconscious mind is unleashed in full upon his enemies who are now within line of sight without the limitations of his higher brain functions.

Losing my religion by Lacuna Coil
//youtu.be/XD7RHcp1wvc
; David begins to break down in the face of seemingly unwinnable circumstances.

After the destruction of the mountain temple David obtains a copy of their sacred texts, depicting many rudimentary aspects of physics and thermodynamics as well as theories regarding space-time. Davids powers are directly linked to how much he understands about the world around him. He can psionically lift a coffee mug, once he learns that heat and motion are the same thing on a different scale now he can heat the cup in a new way he hadn’t previously thought of and exert greater control of the physical processes around him. David wanders alone on the wilderness for a time experimenting with his new-found knowledge resulting a second tier type power structure. “body to mind” from his incantation is now possible as David can dematerialize into his own consciousness for a time making any and all damage types void.

For the heart I once had by Night wish
//youtu.be/1bZN_4NkbUo
; David approaches a moral event horizon and his inner child and the audience look on in despair. This parts still fuzzy as it requires the rest of his 5 man group to finish fleshing out.

All American Nightmare by Hinder
//youtu.be/Cx5PcB1t-s8
; David becomes a loose cannon spiraling ever downward. Convinced that only he has the potential to gain the levels of power needed to make a meaningful difference in the war David begins to see his comrades as equals less and less.

What have you done by Within Temptation
//youtu.be/WKtapZFSs7c
; David betrays his comrades in his search for power only to find himself duped and the puppet of the Illithid. The Illithid who is controlling David is himself a loose cannon seeking to summon the legendary Arch-Lich turned God, Vecna, using the sacrifice of Davids party as a catalyst. Hoping to himself attain God-hood before the rest of his brethren once they acquire the SEED.

This is also a good song to describe Goliths feelings toward David when he faces him. David is kind of like Golitahs Mother and Father rolled into one.

A demons fate by Within Temptation
//youtu.be/LR_gcRp5v-k
; Now the die is cast and the end draws near.

Little does the wayward Illithid know he too is but a pawn in a much larger scheme than he could imagine. The legendary mortal turned god Vecna has laid a scheme who’s roots trace back before his ascent to godhood. A fail-safe mechanism of the SEED to prevent gods from accessing its power is that they are abjectly incapable of perceiving it or its existence. If you explained to them what it was they might hear the recipe for cupcakes. Vecna learns of the SEED and its rules as a mortal but knows he will need the power of Godhood to make the plan work so as he makes plans to acquire the SEED himself he lays false plans along side that he will remember once he is a God. Assured that his own ego wont allow him to see his own plans fail even if they don’t seem to make sence once he has achieved godhood Vecna successfully manipulates himself into setting the trap to be reborn into the body of a psychic. (this bit is inspired by how Light Yagami manipulates himself once he loses his memories of the Death-note.)

Trip the darkness by Lacuna Coil
//youtu.be/VTT6picaCoQ
; David, defeated and duped by the Illithid, turns the sun-stone on himself and his manipulator. Annihilating them both instantaneously.

At the moment of detonation Vecna steps through the portal opened for him by the Illithid and possesses Davids body, using the shock-wave of the blast and the portal as a catalyst to fling himself forward in time so that he might be the cause of the teleporter incident which started the whole series of events.

Bury me with my guns on by Bobaflex
//youtu.be/wB0hg4_JH0I
; Davids hatred transcends death and remains in the next life.

David has now fully turned evil, having betrayed all he once knew and even killing himself. David has nothing left to lose literally.

Anthem of the angels by Breaking Benjamin
//youtu.be/QB3pxBDZvf4
; The Inevitable fall of Litheria.

Book 2:

Mechanical love by In this Moment

Upside down by Lacuna Coil

King Nothing by Metallica

New divide by Linkin Park

In the air tonight by Nonpoint

Whispers in the dark by Skillet

Give me something more by Lacuna Coil

Set it off by POD

I survive by Lacuna Coil

Crawling in the dark by Hoobastank

The Animal by Disturbed

White rabbit by Egypt Central

Just run by Digital Summer

Walk away by Five Finger Death Punch

So cold by breaking benjamin

Legend of the space born killer

Dear Agony by Breaking Benjamin

Had enough by Breaking Benjamin

Heres to us by Halestorm

Book 3

The Unforgiven by Metallica

Unforgiven 2 by Metallica

Stardust

Burning heart

Lost in the echo by Linkin Park

Conquer them all by Landsdowne

Ignite

Nobody praying for me

Throne by Bring me the Horizon

Spirit by Bring me the Horizon

THE END

[system]

So I’m taking a short break from zoning to avoid getting in a creative rut. Ive been doing some work on the rail cars. The tile pattern is in 5ft blocks to maintain sense of scale to the roads.

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/passengercar_bogie.jpg[/img]

Here are my bogies (wasted 30 minutes searching Google for good schematics because i didn't know it was called a bogie LOL) They could be better, but except for this picture to show them off they wont ever be zoomed in on this much.

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/passengercar_HI.jpg[/img]

I went full bore on detail for the passenger car. I started with 2x4 sized 1x1x1 boxes and instanced the crap out of them making the bottoms of the walls, I used that same technique on the rest of the structure so each plank is its own object with a triple level edge chamfer applied. I was surprised how fast I was able to model this much detail, I had the passenger car done in under 3hrs.

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/passengercar_inside.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/passengercar_inside2.jpg[/img]

Full disclosure the hand chains are more imported assets I didn't model. The overhead compartments are beefy to hold up soldiers armor and weapons. Warriors in plate-mail would be disassembling it and storing it for long trips so they can sit properly.

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/passengercar_sitters_HI.jpg~original[/img]

This is the 6k high res rendering of the inside. Please follow to the original and zoom.

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/coalNcargo.jpg[/img]

I also did some draft models of a coal car and a cargo car.

[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/engine.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/powerwheels.jpg[/img]

Im currently working on the engine which is going to be an entire sub-project in itself... I'm going with the 8 drive wheel model as the pinnacle of the citadels mechanical trains. These guys will be standard mechanical devices no magic included so they can be mass produced. I'm thinking about modelling a hybrid engine as well with a magical source of water and heat thats still steam driven but that will come later. I also want to model a track layer with retractable tank treads and a millipede like under structure for automatically placing planks and rails over pre-leveled ground. The idea there being the car drives to the end of the tracks on the standard rail wheels then switches to tank mode to lay new tracks.

EDIT: Forgot to render out my Flak AA gun, this is more imported assets. Unfortunately I don’t have a model for the Flak 88mm so ill either have to model it myself or more likely ill buy that model as i want it at maximum detail and there’s already tons of them made.

These guys will be for citadel defense only to keep them a secret weapon. They will only be used outside the citadel walls once when the fall back order to the Citadel is issued to defend the retreat of civilians and secure supply lines. The action sequences I imagine for that section are intense with hoardes of giant monstrous insect type creatures being mowed down in droves by flak but more of them just keep coming.

[system]

Ive brought the new assets into the main scene.

You can see the crane and clocktower in the background.

Here are two Flakerviels ascending the radial elevator to the outer wall.

I haven’t modeled the tracks on the outer wall yet. But this Flak cannon is placed and aligned as if it were on them. I think I’m going to model the snub-nose 105mm howitzer as a seated weapon like the flakerviel for the cannon towers.

Like this, except without wheels and a seat to aim from. Might just drop it on a bogie and make a 10ft long rail platform that extends that it can be pushed out onto.

They aren’t really gonna try to cross the mile long bridge on foot are they?

[system]

Ive done a little conceptual work on the wall cannons. I may need to widen the 5ft opening to accommodate loaders. The idea behind the cannons and manned gun emplacements is to have warriors and rangers and other non-magical soldiers man them to fire on the enemy at long range to thin the herd until they get within melee range then they can switch to swords and bows etc.

The bulk of the general population of this planet are mildly super-human by Earth standards, the most fit Olympic athlete or highly trained soldier we have to offer might be level 5 in comparative ability which is right around the bottom rung of Litherias armies. So they are far far more combat effective with manual weapons than normally imagined plus most of the time those weapons will be magically enchanted further increasing combat effectiveness.

Up and down will be controlled by pushing or pulling the handlebars with a fire button on top, left and right will be foot pedals at the bottom of the seat housing.

[system]

Got a little more detail done with animated elevator slides and hydraulic controller. you cant see the foot pedals but there are placeholders there. Probably wont go too much further into detail with these guys right now. They will look nice from about 100-200ft away.

Ill throw some preset textures on then populate one of the gun towers with these guys.

[WyattHarris]

The modeling looks sound. Nothing really to say yet since the scope is so huge.

First I have a question for you. Something that doesn’t quite jive for me. You mentioned how light-bulbs aren’t needed as any low level magic user can make light. And its more cost effective to ship bulk cargo by train. Why then do you have treadmill cranes? Seems if you are loading tons of cargo, that would be a good use of electric motors. Unless of course, magic! That is a satisfactory answer but make sure everything is playing by the same rules.

Second I have a bit of advice. I’ve started writing myself and I found a great book on the subject, The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction by Barnaby Conrad. One point he makes that may apply here is that you need to write. Write everyday, start with an hour a day if you really want to be a writer. While all of these different projects look cool what is your actual goal? These seem more like distractions if your goal is to write a novel. Its good work for sure but what purpose does it serve? You mentioned using it for reference but couldn’t that be accomplished by jotting notes or scribbling a doodle of what this place looks like. It would take far less time and let you focus on the actual writing.

I don’t mean to discourage you but I’ve hit the wall a time or two and everything else looked more interesting than staring at that blank piece of paper when you’ve got writers block. Make sure what you are doing furthers your end goal.

But this is a very cool project.

[system]

Something that doesn’t quite jive for me. You mentioned how light-bulbs aren’t needed as any low level magic user can make light. And its more cost effective to ship bulk cargo by train. Why then do you have treadmill cranes? Seems if you are loading tons of cargo, that would be a good use of electric motors. Unless of course, magic! That is a satisfactory answer but make sure everything is playing by the same rules.

This is exactly the type of critique I’m looking for, thanks for asking.

So the answer to that starts with Litherias armies. As stated earlier even the humans are mildly super-human in my universe because of the need to be tougher to survive resulting in tougher average specimens. The average person is probably like your average Roman during Romes peak times. They had harder lives than we do and were typically more physically fit not to mention magical amplification and Orcs in the army too.

When starting to flesh out Litherias armies ran into an idea I didn’t like with them wasting time doing drills and marching. That’s an important part of any army but in the apocalypse I cant justify wasting effort. So the idea is instead of drilling the soldiers get put on shipping duty in rotating shifts to take the place of drills. The towers have 4x lift ability which is really where you need your speed, you don’t want to rotate large loads quickly so in my mind being slow there is just fine. There wont ever be a circumstance where they say “OMG there’s a Dragon! Quick finish unloading or loading the barge!” LOL, they would leave it and run like hell.

I will have smaller electric based cranes for various jobs but for the bulk of container transfer we will be using the energy generated by the bodies of the soldiers instead of leeching more from the rivers. I guess I should have mentioned the need to accumulate the maximum amount of energy over the citadels lifespan but there’s so much content sometimes I have trouble recalling it all when needed. Its going to take a lot of juice to blow up the moon.

Thanks for the writers link i will definitely check that out.

While all of these different projects look cool what is your actual goal? These seem more like distractions if your goal is to write a novel. Its good work for sure but what purpose does it serve? You mentioned using it for reference but couldn’t that be accomplished by jotting notes or scribbling a doodle of what this place looks like. It would take far less time and let you focus on the actual writing.

So what I’m doing with modelling the Citadel is thrusting myself down to ground level in my story, something its hard for me to do since I’ve spent so much time at 50k feet and from orbit looking down. For instance when modelling the train sections and looking at the complexity of the larger engines it was clear that the trains will dwarf the cannons and even the flak 88 in mechanical complexity. So my misgivings about adding the 88s had to go because not to add them would raise the question why they didn’t exist when more complex objects do. That’s just one small example of how fleshing out the Citadel has brought into question general aspects of the story for me to tie up loose ends. Also the end goal for writing the books is to get a movie deal and have a CGI trilogy, so some aspects I need to have at least partially modeled. The Citadel and Goliath and possibly the planets themselves are non-negotiable, I want to design those myself.

Your right I am a bit stuck on starting to write book 1 because everything it sets up has to jive through books 2 and 3 and possible smaller side books. The main problem I have right now is designing and writing the other 5 characters in Davids party in enough detail that its not obvious who the main character is until later on in book 1. That kind of detailed interpersonal play isn’t the kind of writer I am, I’m more of a big picture and conceptual kind of guy. So in the interim while I’m mulling over ideas and trying to get inspired for those characters I’m at street level so to say at the citadel seeing what they would see and trying to see the world from their eyes and I just couldn’t do that with a pencil and paper.

Thanks again for the feedback i appreciate it.