M Helsdon
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Currently sketching out another one. Just did a test to see how the level of text to illustration works out: not too many blocks of uninterrupted text, at least in roughly the first 200 pages... Those with keen eyes will detect art by Jan Pospíšil (copyright Chaosium), as this was originally thought of as a sort of Osprey book with Jan's plates in the center, but I have subsequently distributed them throughout the book, together with text boxes analyzing the arms and armor depicted. At this scale Word loses most of the text; colored boxes are boxes of text, colored to denote related Elemental rune (light green tend to be Logistics); red is of course Lunar, yellow Solar, blue Water, and orange Storm.
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The Wooden Sword Oofmartha, an Aldryami god of combat, said to be an avatar of Humakt, manifests as a portable shrine in the form of a wooden sword, known as the Death That Will Not Die. The Wooden Sword reappeared early in the Hero Wars, and its cult was led by a member of the Colymar Tribe for several years. The sword was later reclaimed by the elves in 1615 and now resides in the depths of Arstola Forest.
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Latest. May make some adjustments to shading... This one gave me the opportunity to draw a stone axe (the bronze-tipped spear was taken in a raid).
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Started on the next. Only time for one part today (using a portion of paper that hadn't been walked on by the cat). New pad and more pens arrived.
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Dead flesh rots more quickly immersed in water, so he's going to have to change bodies more often, and few fresh ones will be accessible. Lots of sea creatures are going to invade the new shallows, and many will find dead meat delicious.
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Well, Delecti is going to have a problem when the Great Flood comes...
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The Brolians herd sheep but their land may be too rugged for cattle; Charg, when it emerges from the Ban, is ruled by Bull Lords, so I have assumed that some at least, ride bulls. Whilst there's information in the Guide for the westerly Orlanthi, many of the lesser groups have little more than a paragraph, which isn't unexpected given the scale and coverage of the books. Certainly, 'historically', there have been bull riders in roughly that region, and whilst the practice may be more widespread (if rare) I really wanted to draw one. It also gave me an opportunity to draw a different variety of Orlanthi. Today the pad is exhausted (cat walked over some of the remaining sheets with wet feet and left them crinkled) and the last 0.05mm pen in the box was used, so have had to order more. The bull probably used up 'half a pen' as it was drawn using crosshatching, which gives an interesting texture, but is fairly laborious.
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Latest, used as a filler (about half a page). Charg is mentioned in a few places, but unfortunately this can't fit near any of them. Am now working from front to back to fill white space a quarter of a page or larger (may be three or four such places) generating sketches to fill towards the end of chapters to minimize changes to layout.
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And indeed, there are a number of sketches depicting such 'weapon packs'. Here's a Sable warrior with an ex-Lunar cavalry helmet, and kopis sword in a combined sword/dagger scabbard.
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Realised that although 'long spine' shields are mentioned in the text, and two are shown in the shields illustration, no one using one had been sketched. Also wanted to make it clear that the illustration of shields is not definitive, as this shape doesn't appear there. He gets his own subsection in the 'Gods of War' chapter.
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And here we are, a member of the Hilton (sic) militia. Decided to make the shield design asymmetrical, so Brighteye is depicted only once, and the runes are, of course, those of Jannisor. Whilst looking for depictions of ancient warriors, came across one with leather leg straps, and thought I'd steal it. For variety, chose to use a non-round shield-shape. His weapons, spear and sword (not visible on his left hip) are of the best quality Dwarven manufacture. This one was a bit of an experiment: white pen used in drawing the fur in addition to the black pen. As the Hilton appear in the Lunar Army List (though I suspect with the chaos in Imther after 1625, doubt they actually serve with the Provincial Army, and before that, the king kept them back to guard his capital), I decided that the runes of Orlatio might not be politic. True, but having a shield on the left, and the sword on the left can cause problems when riding or marching. Suspect that when not battle ready he keeps his shield on his back and shifts the sword over to the other side. Other factors were that I wanted to show the back of the shield, and wanted the sword to be visible, as there have been comments about missing weaponry (the Hilton warrior should have at least a pair of javelins, but decided not to show them). Looking at my sketches, I have 16 with the sword in the scabbard on the left and 14 on the right (including some suspended in such a way they are half way across the body), and one (a Humakti) with a sword on each hip. Some, such as several sickle-swords have the handle suspended just below the right hand and when unclipped would be ready for use. Judging from ancient depictions there was no hard and fast 'rule' as to which side to keep the sword. Well, that's because you don't see the ones that get binned, and I can see mistakes in those that pass the bin filter. Next: a bull-rider.
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Looking through the New Lolan Gospel, the knot of Jannisor is a possibility, perhaps combined with an eye. Thank you for the input.
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Not quite finished, but today a Wilktar tribesman of the Hilton (Hilltown) 'regiment' has been sketched. However, need to add a design to his shield, and not certain of a likely Imetherite design.
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This one is a mixture of Iron Age southern Italic, and Bronze Age Cretan and Anatolian. This militiaman is obviously quite wealthy (or belongs to a wealthy House) as he has a bronze helmet and pectoral, and a sword. Poorer militiamen have to make-do with leather armor. This is the fourth Esrolian sketch - the trireme captain, Kimantoring and Axe Maiden have much better armor. Haven't sketched any Lunar militia because I don't know much about their equipment, and they generally don't exist prior to 1625... but they would probably have a similar level of equipment, albeit in a different style. Hoplite/thane armor tends to be 'top of the range'. This sketch completes the chapter it resides in - only about six empty lines left. It may be worth comparing this Esrolian with his Sartarite 'equivalent' (who is lucky to own a piece of heirloom armor).
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Latest. Not entirely happy with the flesh tones so may rework....
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There have been bits and pieces 'out in the wild' but there's lots that haven't (380 pages reformatted to Letter layout size). At the moment am working on a sketch of an Esrolian militiaman. No; at the moment am concentrating on filling as much white space as possible with sketches of people with arms & armor. I have the one currently worked on, and two more roughed out. Whilst it isn't exactly a canonical comment, before starting to draw these 70+ figures hadn't realized just how diverse the cultures in central Genertela are. The Lunar Army especially, is not a homogeneous force. There's a massive amount of regional and chronological variation (with rare exceptions, units do not appear to 'upgrade' or alter their traditional weaponry and way of fighting, because to do so would degrade their combat effectiveness, because in Glorantha everything is inherently magical, so, for example, a Stonewall Phalanx has to fight as hoplites, not as Yelmalion phalangites).
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I have a half a page of shield designs (done about two years ago). Other designs appear as part of many of the sketches. Thank you.
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Latest. Damn. Still leaves me with a quarter of a page of white space at the end of the chapter (instead of a third)...
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That's very useful: thank you. My rough has: square bronze chest plate/pectoral, open helmet (was going with a boars' teeth helmet, but could change to cuir bouilli), square shield, axe (only haft visible), spear and javelin. Sources say: highly quality weapons, no dwarven armor. So the rough has a spear with a long leaf-shaped (probably steel) blade and a very high quality sword.
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Have spent the day roughing out four new sketches: Irillo Hundred militia infantryman (unfortunately the book doesn't detail any such regiments - perhaps @jajagappa knows of one?) An officer of the Feathered Axe Hilton warrior (of Hilltown - Greg seems to have intentionally used the name Hilton in every draft Army List I've seen) A bull-riding warrior from Charg (I know there are Bull Lords there once it is freed of the Ban, so hopefully bull-riders aren't impossible). May start sketching tomorrow...
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The first is possible; the second - tend to avoid known characters; third - haven't any experience of drawing trolls; fourth - none of my pygmies look right (something about trying to get the proportions). A professional artist can draw anything; my talents are far more limited. Have tended to avoid non-humans - though there is a sketch of a Duck slinger. Details of the Vampire Legion are sparse, and suspect they only come into action in Phase III which is a bit outside my self-imposed dates (the book roughly covers 1620-1635). The transformation from A4 to Letter layout is complete, and sadly it alters some features of the layout I was very happy with. Assessing white space, chapter by chapter: Introduction – no free space Fundamentals of Warfare - third of a page Arms and Armor – quarter of a page Regional Warfare – eighth of a page - will probably remain blank The Battlefield – quarter of a page Transport and Mobility – two thirds of a page Fortifications and Siege Warfare – eighth of a page - will probably remain blank Arcane Warfare – half a page Gods of War – third of a page Armies of Central Genertela – two thirds of a page but I might delete some material instead Army Lists – no free space Appendices – no free space That's more than I'd hoped... Have filled some white space with extra text (things I'd knocked out due to lack of space) but anything less than a quarter of a page will remain white space - unless I create a small filler. A quarter page is probably a standing figure, half or more cavalry or similar... That's at least seven more sketches... Ouch. To prevent more layout quakes, I either need more text, or sketches that can be used towards the end of a chapter to minimize changes in layout. Tomorrow may start sketching out a bull rider... or an Esrolian soldier.
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Two thirds of the way through reformatting the document from A4 to 'Letter' which much cursing. On the one hand, once the width of tables and text boxes are adjusted, the page count isn't going up too much, but the pagination is affected, so the resulting layout isn't quite what I would like. It is also resulting in more empty white space - some has been filled by moving 'filler' sketches to where they are more relevant, and a small amount filled with extra material. However, it is apparent that I need at least three or four new sketches to fill the Great White Space. Will have to deliberate what should be sketched... Any thoughts?
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'Sing' as a cult skill provides some insight to the nature of the worship ceremonies of the cult and hints that some cult spells and rites have to be accompanied by singing (or chanting).
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Latest. Appears in the book as a half page illustration. Tomorrow will be spent checking and updating the document, and on Thursday will probably convert it from A4 to 'Letter' which will probably mess up the layout... Will have to see if that offers any room for more sketches.
