#yerth

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Inktober 2023 day 1: Dream

Well, it’s October INKTOBER again, my friends, and I’m here for it.

After looking at the last few years and where I’m at with them, I decided I’m much more interested in doing adventure seeds and one offs instead of continuous dungeons.

So here we go.

A night hag has been plaguing a respected family. The last straw was when the eldest son attacked one of the townspeople in a fit of madness…

This year, each day will have a discreet, custom map and preview text of the adventure.

Day one: done

[himbofication]

new theme someone kiss me

[evkso]

Latin is so sexy, why did we stop speaking it?

[berrymeter]

was so confused as to why i was following a 'hag' url only for my brain cells to kick in a few seconds later w the realization that it was in fact, the baby gremlin, perth

[bryn-art-bin]

just some random toad doodle i did in my spare time.

hate to say it was excruciating to keep the hat and face consistent, the hat being the worst of it.

happy new yerth.

[sharedstoriescairngorms]

I feel free As free as a bee The yerth is silent There is no violence The trees are green Where nobody has been The robins have health While they taste the wealth The smell of the fire Doesn’t dampen my desire To feel the breeze Around my knees

Unknown young poet at Forest Fest, Highland Folk Museum

[444names]

modern constellations + fantasy bestiary and mythological humanoids

Abjurelemp Ablin Airchul Aladwakey Alanterid Aliger Almies Amsil Anghefirco Anguardi Ansmonsh Antcrus Aprieseen Arblit Arider Arries Aserogibad Astal Astals Aurer Aurist Awarloath Awntelf Axiesona Badamer Bademeef Balbeasub Balepse Balittle Baporna Batos Baxess Beall Beame Beantinkey Blark Blarmelo Boarka Bonsa Brahder Brators Brawl Brown Bugantl Bughtmofey Bullhos Cambard Campiderid Canic Cantfan Cantpoist Cantsat Caper Caphor Capod Cappande Captalk Captorafth Catyr Catyukild Cerantwas Cersef Chanaura Chard Chawn Chdra Cheatle Chmorks Chwin Cinoth Cirappreak Clacker Claco Coldo Colfshazer Corenak Corka Cornym Corragon Counyins Crager Craredrus Cratle Cratoadi Creetolus Crughth Cruscor Culementar Cycaptowl Cyclantesk Cyclum Dariff Deans Deatopus Delephith Deleprevir Deletries Depusterse Dercoun Derkmant Derkoth Dermagon Devon Dilmy Dimebla Dinota Dinvilewit Dolem Dowigonik Drafan Draga Dranterres Drath Dredull Dreid Dressin Dulpreels Dwrapt Eblantwist Eircethr Elamsirer Elemon Elkimoy Ellls Ellociever Eloctong Emagobolf Emard Enerbabjug Ennideen Evion Faele Faidermans Falacub Fantightsa Fantpoist Fardimph Fiantcatic Firytorcon Flacke Fladard Flafth Flaith Flampus Flanus Flard Flych Follynx Forvainolf Frodytoron Frovilin Funer Funix Funoressna Ganticta Garddi Gerforngs Gergot Giadar Giaders Giana Giancen Giand Giane Giang Giangan Gianiger Gianlier Giantaur Giantcod Giantcrap Giante Gianter Giantfra Giantfrolf Gianth Gianthip Giantianna Giantone Giantono Giantord Giantrog Giantste Giblers Ginusci Gitergo Gittopie Glessi Gnussna Gonvin Gorkeazes Gotyrer Gratira Greclum Gredtrown Guage Gwala Hamarra Harinus Haster Hatlex Hayet Helons Helpe Hewor Hobbion Hoble Hoking Homumin Horoth Horsnaker Huarbalk Hydrak Indanter Ineds Jackamaw Jampy Jorebi Jorkmalawn Katons Kinagianus Kitarth Knomaga Knors Kobgorsess Kociries Krakel Kravelf Ladantle Lebier Letfing Lickbar Lielus Linouass Liopavend Lopir Lycon Lysaurich Magard Mangtura Mawling Mebla Mebles Mecraeret Medaraw Medculaith Medtico Menesous Mennago Mepudarer Merion Methcus Mides Minge Minoda Mofth Morcs Morseat Mothind Mothmoner Mummic Mummofele Nakfolk Narweass Neclocks Neder Negon Nehyeres Netorngtma Night Nobbi Noraba Nother Notumrium Nunergad Obgon Ocewt Ochampy Ociorn Ockspants Onces Onous Orcer Oriminuss Ormon Owlebler Owswarpyxi Pavere Peargolk Peaste Peate Perrokhe Pesku Phaugblad Phinst Phoenst Poisor Polfdruff Pombiontle Poriggon Pringe Pudogianid Pudus Pupper Puppons Pupugangu Pusauthe Quard Quuld Rabal Ragandnoth Ragon Rakerent Rannighel Rapus Rayan Reents Rellock Renacon Rentedus Rentes Rermum Rertus Revoly Rewole Rionewhir Rorromena Rubulanni Ruidem Salla Salweropa Samading Samats Sasnak Satsum Saures Scewts Scommyr Scorna Scoulk Scubieskey Searger Sharus Shina Shithede Shrubus Sider Sidinis Silleo Sillwarts Skelex Skentce Skuleus Slacir Slionst Spast Spector Sperspa Spidark Spius Spois Staid Strastitat Strider Subst Summoth Swakel Sward Swarid Swarmor Swase Swold Teensoul Thculer Theble Thedtibler Thelvelke There Thewrawake Thkus Thmour Ticmimbler Ticton Tigber Tightwoo Tlussan Tragmoth Tralama Trateloth Trerat Tresph Triever Trikralwer Trion Trius Trockguar Tronjures Tronsoun Tucrogooke Turus Twark Ungase Uropeldral Vamantals Vampus Varait Varlowlems Varvetrow Vespy Vestope Vetoaker Vetorow Vianapton Vister Vlacies Vlanats Vlanni Wator Weahado Weidhewil Wentsth Werbra Whikii Whinger Whings Wigha Withel Wollsnap Woodwaker Wootgriter Wormatton Worna Wornus Wrathele Wrayer Xormordts Yanclard Yentpon Yerth Yuagia Yuggle Yukele Yukerse Zomaegiga

[nixiegenesis]

I’ve been feeling the need to draw more of my OCs lately (But I’ve got a pretty sweet WIP of Tilion and Arien that’ll be posted probably tomorrow)

Anyway, my spitfire, Gray Maegos, Bellamy. 

“Everyone in the Cathedral of the Maegos knew Bellamy had lived there since she was an infant. Few knew it was because an Elder named Yerth brought her in, and only four people—Bellamy, The Grand One, Yurth, and Curran—knew it was because Yurth found Bellamy as an infant, abandoned in one of the many mountain passes around the Cathedral. No one knew her race or parentage.” — an excerpt from my novel, FIREBORN. 

Again, this is a universe completely separate from our Earth, so races like we have do not exist. People are separated based on their abilities, rather than appearances. 

[cultofmemes]

Yerth I dew -EP

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Discovering Yerth, the Lego Globe Project: Day 1

I’m doing it

For my birthday, we picked up the globe from the Lego store, and all the way home I was planning and considering challenges. When to start? How to start? What planning is needed? What scaling will I need to do? What additional parts will I need? How do I pick them? What program(s) will I use to plan the map? How do I chart it out? So many more questions swirling about in my head.

The biggest hurdle in my mind is this: The original map was generated from a fractal world generator, but at the time it only had Square projection and some of the weirder, less useful ones. Worse, even though I recorded the seed and other details, the processing seems to have changed behind the scenes, so attempts to generate the map again have failed.

So I only have a high-res square projection of the world… which was fine to convert it onto the wall map and for the purposes of hand-drawn regional maps… but now I’ll have to figure out the projection onto a globe. Then there’s inventorying the available parts, figuring out the map projection onto the plates, which parts, colors and so forth to represent the land masses… it’s going to be a lot of work.

So, with a lot more other non-Lego work to do, I settled on sorting out some of the math, getting started on scaling the map, since this will give me some idea of what follow up planning I need to do. I pulled the instruction book out, flipped through it to count the longitudinal (vertical) sections, count and calculate the studs available and then start calculating the scale.

I'm going to work on it slowly, and like I said, I've got other stuff I'm working on, such as releasing the next 2 coloring books: D is for Dragon 3: A Smagust 2022 Coloring Book and D is for Dungeon 2; The Demiplane of Dungeons Part II (Coming to an Amazon website near you!)

[berrymeter]

Omg it’s ur birthday?? 🥳🥳🥳

yerth indeed it IS!!!

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Scenetember #1 Statue

The inestimable Kat Vancil has issued a writing prompt challenge for September, and with the madness going on over at NaNoWriMo, it seems like a good chance to sharpen my writing skills.

You should participate too! Go to her Pintrest:

Here is my first entry:

Suffering is just one route to empathy. - Author Unknown, Whispers of Fate

Arcadius Shalefoot’s sharp eyes picked out the finer details of the masonry and the rushed finishes on the stone blocks. This tomb was built by humans, but the architect was a dwarf, probably one from Dhur Rhoz. Known for their spacious tunnels and arching ceilings, Dhur Rhoz architects were popular among the other peoples of Yerth.

The tunnel walls were broken up by large alcoves, each big enough to be its own reliquary. Each one was empty, giving the sense the tomb was left unfinished. The tunnel took a sharp right turn and Arcadius stood at the top of a gently sloping ramp down. 

There’s nowhere else for them to be. They have to be here, but… the memory of the girl’s hopeful gaze tightened his chest.

The expansive chamber below had twenty-foot tall doors centered in the far wall. Flanking the doors were two large stone statues. The stone block walls of this chamber were built to a higher standard and the flagstone floor was originally laid with greater care than the rest of the tunnels he had passed. The statues were exquisitely built and polished granite, effigies of powerful guardians of the human god Temur.

From his vantage point, Arcadius could see that other explorers had come to their end here. The remains of about a dozen humanoids had been piled or pushed into the corners of the chamber. Shattered bones, dented and crushed armor, and broken weapons were mingled with the glint of coins no longer needed by their former owners. The flagstones were cracked and broken from powerful impacts, and scorched from magical spells. Despite the superficial damage, the arching supports were still in good condition. 

Finally Arcadius’ eyes fell on the statues themselves. The identical nine-foot-tall sculptures were shaped in the form of an idealized, well-muscled human. Sandals, a loincloth, and bracers were detailed in stone, and well-muscled arms were folded across the statue’s chest. A stone halo gilt in gold backed each statue’s head. Chips and grooves marred the smooth surface of the figures, and their fists were coated in what could only be dried blood.

Golems. Clem’s warning rang in Arcadius’ head. Automatons that will follow any order, from simple guardianship to whatever mad thought their owner might think of. Arcadius began trembling, the fluttering fear shaking his limbs and screaming at him, run, you have no business being here. Run. He knew he couldn’t stand up to one golem, let alone two. Not when they had destroyed entire groups of professional adventurers. And there was no telling what might trigger them to action. The girl’s hopeful face flashed through his mind. 

Still, I made a promise…

- = -

The human-child Mary gave a brave smile through tear-streaked cheeks and watery eyes. Her guardian looked at Arcadius with quiet gratitude. “Thank you, master Shalefoot. At least Mary can grow up knowing her parents died with her welfare in mind.” 

Arcadius had carefully washed every coin he collected to make sure not a single drop of blood remained on them. The heavy bag of coins was a small fortune, enough to support the child into adulthood and fund whatever profession she would eventually choose. The note Arcadius had forged in her parent’s handwriting was convincingly heartfelt, and would be legally binding to protect the child as she grew into adulthood. “I’m glad,” Arcadius smiled. It’s more than I ever had.

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Discovering Yerth: Lego Globe Project

Day 2: Plotting

Now that I’m finished with D is for Dragon 3 and D is for Dungeon 2, I’ve been kind of flailing on what to work on next. I didn’t want to get too deep into another Naghatan Fisk book and it’s too early to start Smaugust, so, now what? Then I remembered this project. 2023 was a bit of a ride and 2024 did not start out easy, but now I’m finally in a place to dedicate some time and attention.

So what’s first?

Well, I’ve done the basic math already, counting the number of studs per panel, overall, and compared the compression per latitude to the lego wall map that I’ve already built (I'll talk about it more in a later post). So next I need to build a grid and overlay it against the world map, then select which studs are not represented on the globe. There are a few things I need to be careful of.

The globe has a parabolic plate on the poles that takes up an estimated 5 studs worth of the latitudes that are displayed on the wall map. These spaces must be accounted for.

The Lego globe is set up in a series of 16 wedges that narrow as they approach the poles, and I must sort out where those wedges fall on the map to help minimize distortion.

I’m sure there’s more I’m failing to think of or account for. But I’m sure I’ll run into them as I go.

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Discovering Yerth, the Lego Globe Project

Day 0: I’m gonna do it.

A couple years ago I set to work building the lego wall map of earth, but instead built it into a map of my campaign world. It was a pretty serious project, but the end result has been hanging on my wall now and has even been useful to be able to point to the map and say, "You are here."

Then I saw the Lego Globe.

OMG.jpg Gimme.gif I immediately wanted to take on the challenge of building Yerth onto the globe.

But I’ve been hemming and hawing about getting it for quite some time, knowing it would be a big time sink and a fairly costly investment. Then again, I also think it would be incredibly rewarding to see my game setting in lego globe form. Finally, this year, I decided I wanted it for sure, and my fantastic partner Kat, said she will get it for my birthday. Soon.

Of course, I still need to finish up some other projects first, among them, the Smaugust 2023 challenge. It’s going to be slow going, I’m going to take my time with it, but I’m also going to blog the process a lot more than I did the Wall Map. Stay tuned.

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Yerth Lego update #?

The power of doing this myself means I’m much happier with the outcome. The downside is that the boxed set does not contain all the parts I need.

#stuck

I already counted how many white dots I need (1,000) and placed the order...

Of course now that I’ve completed everything for the bits I have so far, I need to count how many more of the different colors I need.

I must say, I think it looks pretty good.

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Yerth Lego Map update… almost done!

So I’ve reached a point where I’ve used all the parts that came with the set, and made sense for the project, and I’ve counted the bits I needed and ordered them. In 7-10 days, I’ll be able to resume and finish the whole project.

Of course, the magnificent Kat wanted her kitchen table back, so I had to finish the frame and hang it. So here is the (slightly unfinished) Yerth Lego World Map!

Of course this doesn’t mean as much without labels, so here are a few I did quickly:

I figure I’ll make a longer post that goes into some of the nitty gritty of making the map, some the completely invisible cool details, and how it’s more than just a neat 3.5 x 2.25 ft piece of Lego art.