#eberron redesign

[eberron-art-redesign]

Elven Jewelry

Just like with elven clothing, I wanted to explore the cultural connotations of jewelry in Aereni & Tairnadal life. For elves (and of course it depends on each particular family) jewelry is a way to express wealth and devotion to the Undying Court. Deathmasks are common in many Aereni family, with varying compositions of jade, gold, and mystic woods like darkwood & soarwood. In fact, those materials are what make up the vast majority of elven jewelry, with gold being reserved for the higher classes and darkwood used in greater frequency among lower class Aereni.

A common pattern in elven jewelry is linear designs, with either geometric or floral influences. Also popular is representative jewelry, either representing animals or elves. When depicting elves, the representation often takes on more of an iconic feel, pushing towards the gaunt ideal of the deathless.

[eberron-art-redesign]

Elven Clothing

This was a fun page to do! Living in the jungle and steppes would necessitate light and loose clothing such as skirts and wraps. I also decided that, based on info about Mayans and ancient Egyptians, clothes would be more class-based as opposed to gender-based. In addition, I defined some example patterns for clothing, using motifs established in the weapons as well as references.

[eberron-art-redesign]

Aereni Architecture

I figured I would start my exploration into the Aereni, the primary elven culture in Eberron, with architecture! Since I’m using both ancient Egypt and Maya as cultural touchstones, I tried to come up with motifs that were present in both. As such, steps and ziggurat-style structures became prominent features of Aereni architecture. Most buildings would be multi-level ziggurats or family estates, which consist of several smaller houses.

[eberron-art-redesign]

Back on Schedule!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently; the end of a busy semester coupled with holidays caught up to me. However fear not! I have been drawing when able, so I’ll be queueing up posts to go up starting tomorrow. I’m really excited about the stuff I’m working on and I hope you all enjoy it as well! Thanks for understanding, folks!

[eberron-art-redesign]

Elves pt. 2

This was my exploration into the cultures of the Aereni & Tairnadal, more commonly known as the Valenar, through the lens of war (which is how most people would interact with the Tairnadal, at least). The hardest part was trying to make the Tairnadal feel like a subculture of the Aereni, which is something I feel that the original art didn’t do well. I feel like I succeeded well enough on this front.

The text talks about how most elves would wear armor made from darkwood, which is lighter than metal armor but still offers the same protection. After looking at both ancient Egyptian and Mayan armor (primarily artistic recreations of the armors), I determined that a scale coat, sometimes supplemented by a darkwood breastplate, would be the best look, and the decision that this sort of scale mail would be a distinctly elven thing will help differentiate it even more from mainstream Khorvaire.

The Tairnadal will often be astride their horses, which I figured would be reason enough to give the longer scale coat. Aereni soldiers don’t rely nearly as much on their mounts, so shorter coats and unarmored joints would be crucial for jungle maneuverability. The scarves are a nod to the Moorish influence, which can be used to block out dust and sand, as well as serve as cloaks to mitigate the heat that comes from wearing dark armor in the steppes or desert, as well as providing camouflage for the soldiers.

The weapons are pretty straightforward - there are some motifs that I feel are pervasive enough in the various cultures to declare elven motifs. The Valenar double scimitars actually needed a bit more of a redesign from the original art - as it was, the handle was too short to really work, so (taking inspiration from bo staff fighting as well as Darth Maul) I turned it into something more usable. The only problem is how it’s stored - it’s too long to go in a sheath, and storing a bladed weapon on your back like that would be risky. I think when mounted they’ll have a sheath, like one for a lance, but they’ll just carry it when unmounted. It supports their “always ready for battle” mindset, as well as reinforcing other people’s wariness around them.

I’m planning on tackling how elves look when they’re not armed and armored next, so stay tuned!

[eberron-art-redesign]

Elves pt. 1

There are four main elven cultures in Eberron: the Aereni, who worship their undead ancestors on the island-continent of Aerenal, the Tairnadal, who seek to emulate the legendary deeds of their ancestors through battle, the drow, who stalk the jungles of Xen’drik, and the elves who have assimilated with Khorvaire’s society. The latter two are different enough culturally that I’m saving them for later (the Khorvaire elf might get rolled up with when I cover human cultures, to be honest), so for now I’m locking in on the Aereni & the Tairnadal.

In terms of cultural touchstones, the Aereni remind me of ancient Egypt & the Maya or Aztec*. The focus on worship of the dead screams ancient Egypt to me, and the idea of a jungle-based kingdom where death is a huge focus points to Central American cultures.

This page is, well, it’s basically me using photo reference of people and adding elf ears to them. I was looking at the Afar people in Ethiopia (who have strong visual similarities to depictions of the ancient Egyptians), as well as modern day photos of people in Aztec garb. From here I’m going to figure out the features these photos have that I like, accentuating them and making them look more elven. For example, I’m digging the really high and prominent cheekbones. I’m also going to look at artifacts & jewelry to build a reference stock.

*I haven’t decided which exactly yet - the drawings are references from people in traditional Aztec garb, but I might use the Aztec as a touchstone for the goblinoids.

[eberron-art-redesign]

Cultural Touchstones in Eberron

The world of Eberron has a very “international” feel to it, with different cultures mixing and mingling, emerging and dying out. For each race in Eberron, I’ll be attempting to lock in the various real-world cultures for each race to draw from in terms of clothing, architecture, and and outlook. As always, the text will supersede what’s written here; this is merely my plan to make sure it doesn’t end up as standard European fantasy. Furthermore, each culture in Eberron is going to have multiple real-world touchstones to make sure it doesn’t feel like “here are the Egyptian elves and the Italian gnomes”. I’m also going to pay attention to how the cultures mingle in the text so I can mirror that in the art.

[eberron-art-redesign]

Armor Studies pt. 1

One of the core visual elements of the setting was the design of armor, which posed an interesting challenge in and of itself. The overall feel of the setting is distinctly mid-1800s, but weapons like swords and crossbows are still predominately used, so I had to figure out how to integrate military uniforms with armor. Overall I’m pretty happy with the result!

The standard military uniform consists of a shirt & pants, long-sleeved chain shirt, and a military coat. Heavier armor is often layered over that, including a piece that’s a cross between a gorget and a breastplate, pauldrons, gauntlets or bracers, greaves, and a helmet. Cold weather coats would go over that if needed.