January 2021 Challenge: Drae-Rhadhara

[Art and Chaos]

Drae-Rhadhara, Republic City, Vos Dragonfyre, the City of Dragons; this primordial city has been populated since the very first ages of life.

In the Early Era, the Dragons, Giants, and Forest Folk shared the lands of Helios. Of the three, dragonkind was the most powerful, and the most ambitious. For centuries the dragons conquered lands, leaving in their wake only scorched earth and death. Eventually, the greatest minds of dragonkind realized the danger this created for them and called for a great vote. Every member of the species would meet at the Citadel in Drae-Rhadhara and cast their vote, either diminish and become the Dragonborn as one species, or retain their form and their might.

The Dragons voted to shackle their own powers and diminish; but one of their leaders, the Consul Tar Ra betrayed his kinsmen, and his mandate as a steward of the people and tried to seize power for himself. He slew his co-consul Tar-Tal and claimed the ancient dragon's power as his own. In the chaos, three parties of dragons escaped, Atael and her disciples, Sharock and his followers, and Lan and the few remaining guardsdragons of the city. Atael and Sharock fled far to the west into Forest Folk lands. Lan sought the remnants of the army.

Ra used his power to forcibly lock dragons in the Dragonborn form, after which he would roast them alive, or crush them with his mighty talons. Those who didn't resist he allowed to live, and they huddled in the shadows of Drae-Rhadhara. Within a week, Ra had purged most of the Dragon race, and Lan had gathered all who would be gathered. The battle was long, and it was brutal. Though Ra had no allies, and Lan brought dozens of elite dragon warriors, Ra had been absorbing power for a week, and he slaughtered them like ants. In the end, it was only Lan who could stand against Ra, and their duel lasted for three days and three nights.

Though Ra was larger and stronger than Lan, Lan was desperate and cunning and he held out against the mighty dragon biding his time, and awaiting his chance. At last, after three days, Ra slipped, and Lan struck. The smaller dragon shot like an arrow into Ra's briefly unprotected stomach, and with all of his fury and all of his might, Lan burrowed into his foe. The two behemoths fell. Both died that day, though Lan's body and mind continued on, in a different form, as the Dark Dragon, D'Lan who sought out every remaining dragon, to end his own species once and for all and leave the world to the Children of Dragons.

Vos Dragonfyre then was built here around the citadel. Dragonborn have built stairs that lead up to the citadel, as it is a place of reverence and safety in grave danger. It has saved their species in the past, during the Darkling Wars. The bottom of these stairs has fallen into a disturbingly deep sinkhole, and the native Dragonborn are concerned about possible other cave-ins. The possibility of hollow-ground underneath them is not exceptionally reassuring either, as things do go bump in the night in Helios.

From this, you step into the planned area of the city. Originally the first slum, where the survivors from the Vote built their refugee camp, this part of the city has been burned down three times in its lifetime and is now built of marble. A long, wide thoroughfare leads southward to the southern gardens; full of markets and shops, it is the commercial heart of the city. North of that is are the civic buildings and noble estates. Surrounding the planned area is a semicircle of slums, these areas were destroyed in recent years due to human sabotage, and the impoverished Dragonborn have been unable to rebuild it. Surrounding the slums is one of the many port districts and the northern gardens. The archipelago is largely inhabited by wealthy merchants, their warehouses, and the halfling colony. The halflings have basically taken over the west side of an island.

Finally in the far north of the peninsula is the castle. Built many centuries after the Drae-Rhadhara, the castle is dwarfed by the ancient draconic citadel. Nonetheless, it has never fallen, though, it has never been besieged.

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### Latest WIP ###

This is only my 6th post, and is obviously my first challenge post, so please let me know if I need to do anything different. Any and all feedback and constructive criticism is welcome. It's completely okay if I'm too late to submit it at this point, I just wanted to post this piece as it is finished and it is still January.

[Bogie]

Great first entry.
You need to use the "Latest WIP" hashtag so your map shows up in the thumbnails used for voting.
Look for the WIP icon to the right of the image upload icon.

[Marc]

I like your overall composition Art and Chaos, as feedback I would suggest using thinner lines for your 'shore lines' to keep them yelling for attention (your city it deserves more then them )

[arsheesh]

Nice job on the inking (though I see Marc's point).

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Art and Chaos]

I like your overall composition Art and Chaos, as feedback I would suggest using thinner lines for your 'shore lines' to keep them yelling for attention (your city it deserves more then them )

Thanks for this feedback! That's a really good point. I'm definitely still working on my water line design, there's definitely something not quite right yet there.

And thank you Arsheesh!

That probably would have allowed me to put the water lines inside the archipelago as well, which is an inconsistency I don't like.