The Cathedral Galaxy

[Ilanthar]

You're doing a wonderful job on this one!
And I know the feeling, when I'm in a rush on a map or illustration , you just don't want to let the inspiration & motivation go away .

[smiler127]

I love the little touches as I zoom in. Stellar objects, nebula and even space stations. I love the mini horsehead nebula you have in there too! Everywhere you look there is an opportunity to imagine different stories and adventures unfolding!

[jshoer]

You're doing a wonderful job on this one!
And I know the feeling, when I'm in a rush on a map or illustration , you just don't want to let the inspiration & motivation go away .

Thanks very much! At this point I am getting down to little tweaks, so I must be closing in.

I love the little touches as I zoom in. Stellar objects, nebula and even space stations. I love the mini horsehead nebula you have in there too! Everywhere you look there is an opportunity to imagine different stories and adventures unfolding!

That's the idea! I'm glad you like the little pillars-of-creation-style nebula. I worked on that one for a while. I like the Menagerie nebula a lot, myself.

This latest has some tweaks to the shadows on the foreground sphere, some jiggled labels, and a little electrical discharge around of the wrecks in the Burial Grounds.

CathedralGalaxy_201217_100.jpg

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The Elders built not just the wormhole passages, but many other structures. Dyson spheres, world arks, rings...all are too large to support themselves against gravity, and so, as their systems fail, they collapse and degrade. Over eons, the gravitational layout of the Cathedral Galaxy brought many of the ancient artifacts scattered throughout its structure into the Burial Grounds. Wreck-runners based in the Halls of Taron, the Crown Jewels, and Shobah often delve into the Burial Grounds in search of valuable salvage and rare resources. One such scavenger is in the short story "Between Wrecks."

[Greason Wolfe]

Think this has come along swimmingly well. If I were to nitpick about anything it might be to suggest that the background coloring for the spiral arms and bulge be a little more subdued. Feel like the strength of that coloring is a wee bit distracting and/or makes the text a little tougher to read. Again, though, just a nitpick, and may have a source in my tired old eyes more than anything else.

[jshoer]

I will play with some options! I appreciate the constructive criticism; I really want to polish this before calling it done.

[jshoer]

All right, here's a little more shadow tweaking, and I'll put it side by side with a version that has the galactic emissions background and core opacity reduced by 20%. What do you think?

CathedralGalaxy_201218_100.jpgCathedralGalaxy_201218_100_BG60.jpg

[Greason Wolfe]

Both versions look fine to me. I do find the reduced opacity version a bit easier to read, but ultimately which ever version you end up finalizing with will be fine. My eyes aren't what they used to be, so higher contrast is easier for me to see these days, particularly when dealing with a variety of colors. On the whole, I've enjoyed watching this develop, and, to be honest, everything you've been working on these last few updates is like a little extra icing on the cake, or, in my case, an extra tasty chew toy.

[Simkin]

Wow, I like very much you map and the story behind.

[jshoer]

Thank you both!

Personally, I like having the central core of the galaxy at higher opacity - and that also goes with the story content a little better.

I noticed that my alphabetizing in the key was out of order, so I fixed that (except for the Underworlds), and I'm trying out some more pronounced light beams coming from the top two foreground structures. But other than that, I think I might be...done?

What do you think, are these beams from the sphere and the rings cool or are they just too much?

CathedralGalaxy_201220_100.jpg

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The Axiom Republic is the largest galactic polity on the Galactic Standard Map, though most of the Cathedral is highly irradiated and uninhabitable. It is a baroque state of learning and cultural achievement where even the soldiers are poets and statespeople. The Republic is a sedate nation, though its relations are strained with the Imperium. The short story "Conference" takes place here, at some of the worlds now named on this map.

[rdanhenry]

I vote for cool.