Dol Amroth

[ravells]

Thanks Abu and Chickpea. Didn't have as much time as I wanted today to really work on this. I didn't like the idea of a sheltered port for DA. So I'm going for an almost conical spit of land thrust out into the Bay of Belfalas. It's more Numenorian - imposing their will against the elements rather than being a safe trading type of people. So it works with High Grey Bulwarks, men like motes of dust on lofty walls. The adjectives that come to my mind are: Spare, vast, arching, grey, stone, imposing, built into rock, far-seeing, fading and a bit empty, huge edifices, challenging the elements. Managed a couple of sketches (which probably don't make any sense to anyone but me).

I should really move this to the town and city mapping section.

cheers

Ravs

::apologies for the orientation of the scan but I'm abroad and using new kit::

[ravells]

Not much visible progress to report. I'm working through definite areas of existence either explicitly named or areas that can be reasonably assumed to exit from the definite areas of existence. It's all in my 'onenote' notes. Onenote just rocks for web research note making. I won't bore you with details but I'm just building up a picture of the larger geography of DA and how the city/port fits in the peninsula, looking at the history and notable names so I can name some places after famous characters of the time....that sort of thing. MERP did a fantastic map of DA - the best of anything I could find , (pictured) but for me it lacks because 1. the scale is to me wrong (in terms of the number of structures to population and the area on the peninsula that DA occupies as a whole) and 2. It looks like the author has run the buildings through some S John Ross spreadsheet so their functions are not well thought out (Brothels? In Tolkien's Middle Earth? Erm No.). I do like the strategic map decisions - the fact that the Sea-ward tower is apart from the city, the buildings face the right way, and the thought that has put into how much of the docks are devoted to military and civilian shipping and efforts have been made to divide the town accordingly.

I was really itching to get into the research more but as we're abroad and our 7 year old is being home schooled I actually have less time mapping now then I did when my daughter went to school in the UK. But I have done well to teach her the ways of geekdom and today we did a 'mapping module'. We had a couple of bags of compost on the terrace and lots of wooden building blocks. I wanted to see how a promontory port would work, how the contours would fit etc. Working on it taught me quite a bit about that. The main map is going to look nothing like the pictures below but I got something out of it for the DA map and more importantly, I got to play with my daughter on school time and she was so INTO the LOTR as I was telling her stuff while we were building it. There is a definite 'little helper' vs. 'accuracy' issue which came into play. But that's OK. Mapping should be fun.

My daughter will be a geek!

best

Ravs

[arsheesh]

It's quite understandable that this would be a project that is quite slow going, given the amount of research involved. I think it's great that you get to spend this time with your daughter teaching her life skills that matter. I'm looking forward to doing the same with my son as he grows older. Anyway, I'll be keeping my eye on this one.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[ravells]

Yeah, teaching your child life skills is more important than the mapping....but if I can meld the two then that's an extra bonus, even if it does slow the process down some....

The heart bursting.....'Daddy! They fought Mordor??? They were going to lose!' does it all for me.

I've been telling Apsara the Star Wars Saga, I wish I could have taped it. The questions she asks ('but Darth Vader was Annikin and he was goodie! Why did he become a baddie? He should have talked more to Yoda when he was a child, then he wouldn't have gone that way') That sort of stuff is just priceless and you keep it deep in your soul as a parent. Children have this ability of seeing life in such stark terms it just cuts through the BS.

[ChickPea]

This is just heart-warming! I loved seeing the pic with your little helper and I'm glad she had a blast too! It absolutely rocks that you're working so hard on creating something accurate and realistic and I'm super excited to watch it develop.

[ravells]

Thanks Chickpea! The days when I could spend huge amounts of time on my maps are sadly over, so I try and fit in as much as I can with the time I have. And it's a hobby (one of too many) - It's meant to be fun! I've managed to get quite a bit done today while the girls went shopping and in between painting up some shelves.

The procedure I followed was this: I distilled the various notes I grabbed from the Web about DA. I've spent the last few days just dreaming about the place, imagining I lived there, walked around, what I would see - that sort of thing. (I really love this part of fantasy city building) It's always been my view that in Medieval Fantasy, cities should be really special. They should make a statement of what they are about (and Tolkiens cities did this) - they have specific functions and the form comes from the cultures of the people who build them. The function of DA to my mind is mostly administrative / naval / military. The MERP map has a commercial port, but I'm buying less into this - Seems to me that Edhellond which is a bit further north makes more sense as the centre of commerce and Dol Amroth is there to defend it (and the wider coastline) - It's like a naval Minas Tirith. In terms of finding form, when I go into my imagination and build matte paintings in my head, I look for visual 'money shots'. The big money shot for DA is how it would appear to ships as they approached it. I felt that Huge defensive towers, a massive, butressed sea wall that stretched out a long way from the promontory all built in grey stone with the city of DA in the distance surmounted by Imrahil's castle and that surmounted by the mountain itself gave me the kind of feel I was looking for: Imposing, threatening and awe inspiring. It's not a bright place, it's a grey place peopled by stern folk (who probably have grey eyes, raise grey children and have grey paintings the wall. They don't laugh much.

So I then looked at the main structures the city might hold. The Sea-Ward Tower and Imrahil's castle ('castle' is notable - it's not a palace, it's there for defence) had to go in as Tolkien had written about them, but I wanted DA's presence in the sea (the sea wall) to be as much of a statement. The Numernorians exert their power of big engineering over nature. I wanted the sea wall to look like a ship's prow to underline the naval importance of the city. So I've spent the day sketching out roughly where all this stuff might go and how the supporting cast to the main structures might fit in. A couple of alternatives here. I like the city shape in the second idea. A city wall works and can have a double purpose of joining the Sea-Ward Tower to the castle and protecting the city.

[J.Edward]

I like all the thought and consideration you're putting into this.
The second version does seem more appealing.

Also, it's nice to see people raising their children as you are.
She will likely grow up as a very interesting individual.

[ravells]

Is that a nice way of saying 'barking mad, like her dad?'

I just wanted to check the visuals so I did a quick (I say quick - 5 hours later) and dirty matte. I think the main elements look good where they are and the money shot works - the inner mole is hopelessly out of scale (as it a lot of it), but it's just for a general idea as to how the main bits fit together.

[Ilanthar]

Hehe, I think J. Edward thinks "Geek Power" ! (At least I do, being kind of a geek myself).
This matte view is everything but "dirty" in my eye! And the map looks very clean and well done so far.

[J.Edward]

I like the impressive scale of the view there. It definitely says 'we will defend this position!'

Hey, nothin wrong with Geek Power. I am a totally cool geek. [well, I think I am...others might argue.]
I just meant that I like parents that teach their kids to think and experience more than just what they're told.
It seems like your opening a lot of horizons for her.... and I think that will lead to an interesting individual.