So, some progress has actually been made:
### Latest WIP ###
BF wip1.jpg
I actually did keep my promise and had a go at livestreaming it. However, given I am not the fastest mapper, it was 2 hours of just drawing mountains. But if that doesn't deter you from wanting to see my process, the vod is up here (only up for 14 days though).
The other thing I have been doing is procrastinating and pestering the discord with sketches of creatures from the region:
FaunaSketches1.jpg
(mh and bh are pronounced as "v" as in Scots Gaelic)
Ok, the barychiir there is not 100% as I imagined - their horns are off but it's the same general shape.
The ice-drakes, or djäbhaian, make their roosts on lofty mountainsides. They are familial creatures and in the right time of year a mating pair will be seen taking their hatchlings on a hunt, though it is rare for them to raise more than 1 or 2 young. Though many of the larger creatures of the valley have some ways to defend from an aerial assault, few can hold out against a hunting djäbhaian family and so they eat well from their territories. Territorial disputes between djäbhaian result in terrifying aerial battles to establish dominance, while this may leave the loser injured it rarely results in death. Their main hunters are glory-seeking humans who set off from the nations below to claim a kill or, on occassion a lone djäbhaian may wander and find itself lost and in the territory of a landslide wyvern, the treacherous Krelinbhaian.
The Krelinbhaian are thankfully a very rare sight. Being aggressively territorial they are only ever seen alone and little is known of their ecology or habits. Given their tendency to cause avalanches with their booming roars and beats of their club-like tails any confrontation with a human hunter almost inevitably ends with the Krelinbhaian picking out its meal from a pile of snow and scree. Should you ever find yourself in the territory of one, your safest option is to leave the mountainside - even if that means risking traversing the glacial ice.
For dangers lurk within the glacial crevasses. Sleek snowblind lizards scuttle and almost swim through the caverns in the ice. These are djumhiir and they never hunt alone. They have uncanny senses, picking up the rhythm of footsteps upon the ice from miles away. Sometimes a lone djumhiir will make its way onto the ice, luring an unsuspecting hunter to approach, while the other pack members navigate their way through the ice tunnels into position to surround their prey...
Not all life is quite so violent in the region. The fiodirodd of the lower valleys are slow and lumbersome but curiously ingenious. With large serrated horns and protruding incisors they fell trees to build shelters from. In the hillier regions these ramshackle constructions are usually against a hilside or cliff-face to give shelter against the wind. But further westward the fiodirodd of these flatter regions live closer to large bodies of water. Here they will construct large dams or strange floating crannogs that they live within, safe from the harsh winter winds.
So if you couldn't tell I was one of those kids who always drew dragons XD
I may draw up more of these in between mapping as I've always loved creature design. Don't worry, not all of them are going to be as huge as these
Also for those of you who haven't, you should come check the discord more often. Given the recent circumstances it's seeing much more use and discussion and more is always welcome
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