#soltir

[tales-of-soltir]

Finally got off my booty and finished something I can actually share: Splash images of my Greater Rock Wyverns, featuring an alternate of the female in breeding season colors (below). These wyverns are TALL, probably about the size of Rex, and feature a one-two-punch of necrotic venom AND a high bio-load of bacteria. So given their size, if their bites don't outright crush their victim, it won't be fun. The juvie there is almost horse-sized, and hatchlings come out of the egg about the size of a large housecat. They live almost exclusively on the Wyvern's Crest, a ridge of mountains in the northern portion of Herthlan.

These guys are currently the setting equivalent to a Red Dragon; just about the worse thing you can face overall, intelligent (not sentient tho), and FIERCELY territorial.

[jgfurgie]

Being an Adventurer isn't all sunshine and horizon-chasing, sometimes there's more important work than fetch-quests and escorts. Occasionally, blood must be spilled for the good of Althia, and on one dark night in a seemingly abandoned mansion in Mor'Thar, it was spilled for the good of all Herthlan.

I told myself that if I didn't have any changes to make by Halloween, I was going to post this. I couldn't figure out any changes to make, so up it goes! Was fun to make an illustration of the mission that put Issuldra up as a 5 star Adventurer: putting down a coup in Mor'Thar that would have taken the country from a monarchy barely holding back their religion into a full-blown zealous theocracy that would have gladly thrown bodies upon the pyre of their cause: the destruction of all magic and subjugation of any race that isn't human.

[jgfurgie]

Above The Clouds

I wanted a new background after a year-ish with my current one, and I thought I'd go for this one. I'm still on the fence of putting this scene in, where Issuldra shifts to her Red Eagle form and takes Sebastian on a relaxing flight, allowing him to take a moment and get a bit of time to himself. He's got a lot on his mind, and seeing the world from a completely new angle with the moon and stars now surrounding him gives him a chance to breath and think about something else.

It's been fun to experiment with how I best wanted to work on this image, and I was inspired by this song throughout. And I've even put it together in Wallpaper Engine, where you can see what it looks like here.

[jgfurgie]

FINALLY DONE WITH THIS MONSTER

Issuldra's giant ref sheet, covering everything from basic information to her horse Hallow to her abilities. I can't really think of what I'm missing that doesn't get into spoiler territory. I might do a few tweaks here and there, but I really am happy with the results.

[tales-of-soltir]

Herthlan Timeline Pt 1: Common Version

More info to come but I wanted to at least get this up for people to look over.

Part 1 is done. Common Version means the version that is most commonly held as the accurate version (accurate used loosely at this point) in the modern age of Herthlan. The alternate version is the Sobrist Version of the timeline, but I want to finish the next part of the timeline first. At least the Sobrist Version will be mercifully short and simple, as it basically credits all creation to The One.

I'll put up more info later including a transcript of the public timeline in a read more at a later time.

[tales-of-soltir]

Althia, The Empire of Magic

So I've been working on a little project to test things and figured a map of Althia was a good start to that. There was a lot of info to put down, so I'll probably slap it in a separate post for people to peruse.

Althia is a republic that was established in the wake of Cirantes' rebellion, built on the land that was cracked away from Mor'Thar. Thanks to help from the tribal nymfs in the Silver Sea and the tribal elves in the Elven Lands, Althia was able to really have a strong start. Pair that with Mor'Thar's apprehension to risk another tangle and losing even more land, Althia was able to get some strong legs underneath them. As a result, the country is very progressive and it's citizenry live comfortably while use of magic, within reason, is open and accepted. Divided into the original 13 districts that was once ruled by various Mor'Tharian nobles, Althia kept them for the sake of simplicity, as many of the freed slaves were already familiar with these established borders.

[jgfurgie]

I am still plugging away on stuff, this time getting more done on the Lythian Racial Guide. A little peek of the hair color swatches, hair textures, and possible fur colors. I wanted to showcase that they have natural fur colors, but then I realized that was a bigger issue than anticipated. So chibi heads! Musk Deer, Spotted Hyena, Capybara, Lynx, Rabbit and Polar Bear. Next bit of art is showcasing the mouths, a little showcase of how the different subtypes hybridize, then filling in all the text.

[tales-of-soltir]

The Herthlan Calendar

Established during The Lost Ages, the Herthlan Calendar was one of the few relics that survived into the following Ages, thanks to it being so heavily ingrained into the various cultures. The Calendar is divided into 4 seasons, with each season having 3 months, totalling to 12 months. The first two months of each season have 32 days, with the third month having 35 days. This totals to 396 days in each year.

The first season, Spring, consists of the months Stromus, Norus, and Celestus. Summer has Kimbra, Cegunus, and Aquanis. Fall has Saramba, Nallus and Vitae, and winter follows suit with Domire, Tania, and ends out the year with Manta. For all cultures across Herthlan, the last three days of the months of Celestus, Aquanis, Vitae, and Manta all hold special significance. In Mor'Thar, they are often periods of fasting and introspection on their Sobrist beliefs. The Dwarves use this time to either work out their excesses, or to contemplate on temperance. Althia, The Elven Lands, and Shotani all spend the extra three days in festivals, celebrating the Fae and Grand Fae that exist in their lands. Sanar does this as well to a lesser extent, but mostly spends it reflecting on their Five Ways Philosophy.

There are six days of the week: Somnia, Auventis, Ingri, Fluma, Laptis, and Corpora. Corpora is usually treated as a day of rest for most, though some cultures may allow for other days as well. Each day consists of 25 hours, with an average of 14 hours of daytime. Many cultures consider the 25th hour of the day as The Fae's Hour, a time when one must be indoors to prevent interfering with the work of the little spirits that heal the land.

When refering to the date, the full format is "The Day of the Month in the Year of the Age", although it's shortened a little for writing. For example, "The 3rd of Saramba in Year 946 of the Age of Chains." The same day written out would be 3, Saramba, 946, Age of Chains", though some may also write "3rd". If someone is referring to something that hapened in the current age, then they'd leave off the age, and the same could be said for the year if it's an event of the current year.