Nov/Dec 2020 Challenge: Ruskwood

[Ifrix]

Been working on this already but very slowly but thought I should at least post a WIP thread as I'm bad for not doing those.

So my partner is the wonderful Kell, who gave this brief for me:

I would like to see a map of a small settlement surrounded by nature. I’ll leave the scale and style up to you, but I was thinking of something along the lines of your Patterned Grove map (which I may have maybe said I quite like). Colour-wise I’d love to see an autumn theme. And lastly, there has to be a secret hidden somewhere on the map. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what it actually is.

Optional things to include:
- A place for bathing
- A body of water
- A place of worship
- An inn or a tavern
- Something old and forgotten (a ruin, or something else?)
- Home of the local crazy person
- A place for keeping livestock
- Footpaths separate from the main road(s)

I kinda took the "optional" as a checklist of what to include
So I planned it out and drew up a wireframe and yeah, I definitely should have tried mocking this up in 3D first - it would have been so much easier and look better. It's conflicting as the painterly, brush style is rather organic and trying to match that with the precise geometric part of my brain that wants the houses to be accurate is tricky. It's a challenge but that is what I asked for.

I have gone further than this sketch but I'm still in the experimentation phase so just posting the wireframe plan for now:
### Latest WIP ###
ruskwood_plan.jpg

Current name for the village is "Ruskwood" (name inspired from Finnish "ruska" being the word for the colours of autumn). Will also need names for the houses too as I might do a border and a key -though still undecided on that...

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

This looks very promising. I hope you render the buildings in this painterly style as well. I wouldn't worry about being too precise with the geometric part, it looks fine as is. Don't let perfectionism stall your progress.

[Ilanthar]

Nice & promising start! Autumnal colours are always great.
And I quite like that prompt list, I must say .

[Adfor]

Looking forward to seeing what secret you incorporate. The angle & arrangement are spot on.

IR

[ChickPea]

Nice start. Interested to see where you go with this.

[- JO -]

You did a good job with perspective! Keep on, it’s very promising!

[Ifrix]

So, unfortunately didn't have time to finish this but did some very last minute touches over the past couple of days to get it to a stage I can post it.
There is still so much else that needs doing and this was a fun step outside my comfort zone so hopefully after a break I will return to it and finish up.

I did at least get some lore written up though:

To the far north of the Espurnian Kingdoms lies an old land. Conquered barely less than a century ago, this is a land of rugged hills, vengeful spirits and vast swathes of ancient forest. Civilisation nonetheless has rolled into those vales, pushing out the pagan natives.
One such town is Ruskwood. There once was a settlement here but whatever name it once had is lost and kept in only the tales of its elders. New masons and materials tore down the old huts and village to build higher, stronger and in keeping with Espurnian style. The inn, ‘The Autumn Doe’, is a grand affair and a welcome and friendly stop for travellers heading onwards. For most the village is just that, a pleasant wayrest to stop and spend some time. For those who live there however there is more lurking under bough and stone than they would like to admit.
Such talk is pagan and blasphemous, obviously. But such tales are hard to deny when they send branches raking across your windows and hooves of frost canter upon your roads. To believe in such spirits is blasphemy, but to deny them would be folly. For there is a spirit who dwells within this forest. To those who still remember she is Ruskatar and it is she who brings the autumn. At times she appears as a young doe, at others a woman with a cloak of embered leaves. She wanders the forest as the season starts to change, brushing and breathing the trees into colour for one final display. And then she changes. Her antlers grow in and he emerges as a great, white and terrible stag. The form he has takes no name, for to name is to call, and so he is only ever Winter.
The old among the village keep traditions going. Upon the hill there is a great stone. As the seasons fall offerings and tribute are brought to her to ease her change. As the chill sets in a great stag is hunted and the antlers brought to the stone. As the stories go, antlers given can be taken and so Ruskatar will suffer no pain. In this Winter will be calmer and the villagers will be spared the worst of his bite.
There are still old families within the village who keep the traditions but native blood and customs are dying out, fast. Soon the young will no longer keep them and trust instead to their distant, southern gods. But can such faith hold out against a true Winter? Against the hoarfur, against the rage and pain of the bitter, antlered ice?

### Latest WIP ###
Ruskwood.jpg

(The new floof in the corner made by the ever wonderful Kellerica)

[- JO -]

That’s really nice !
Congratulations for the light : warm and soft !
A beautiful autumn evening...

[Adfor]

Even if it's more basic than you wanted, it's still well put together, and has a ton of charm to it!

IR

[Bogie]

Lovely Fall scene!