Sun County - Ait Ben Haddou

[Erol of Backford]

I love the way the structures of Ait Ben Haddou climb the hill as it rises.

The town could be, in my mind an example of what when might be along the River of Cradles, maybe in Sun County.

Could it be that if the structures were white washed they could end up being those of say Chomoro, Helmbold, High Water, Stablefort or even Harpoon?

Imagine the River running in the close foreground of the clip below. 

Any sources for detailed maps of any of these settlements?

 

Edited Sunday at 04:32 AM by Erol of Backford

[Rob Darvall]

Well, New Pavis is on a rise coming up from the Zola Fel...

[Nick Brooke]

43 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

Any sources for detailed maps of any of these settlements?

Pavis County & Beyond: Secrets of the Borderlands (Pavis & Big Rubble Companion, Volume 3) contains Roy Duffy’s maps of various settlements along the Valley of Cradles, which you can also pick up as high-resolution graphics in his Vrok Eye Views Volume 3: Settlements of the Zola Fel Valley. “The Yard” is the settlement around the Sun Dome Temple.

Quote

6 maps of iconic human settlements along the River of Cradles: Old Fort, Garhound, The Yard, Ronegarth, Corflu Island and Corflu settlement.

 

[svensson]

While these images do have some technology elements to them, they also evoke that desert town sensibility.

You can almost see the column of Legionnaire's singing 'Le Boudin' and going a little bit crazy with 'le cafarde' 😁

Artwork by Stephen Dove.

 

Edited Sunday at 05:50 AM by svensson

[svensson]

And if you're looking for some additional screen-cap type artwork, look about for Stygian village scenes from the old 'Age of Conan: Unchained' CRPG from Funcom in 2008. There's some good imagery for both Prax Sun County [Stygia region] and Old Tarsh [Cimmeria region].

Edited Sunday at 05:55 AM by svensson

[Erol of Backford]

14 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

(Pavis & Big Rubble Companion, Volume 3)

I have it and will reference Old Fort. The others I have from other previous works.

13 hours ago, svensson said:

Artwork by Stephen Dove.

Quite nice, I will use for sure. Most structures appear to be 2 floors... I like the multi-floor structures in town, much more interesting urban setting with multi-level dwellings.

14 hours ago, Rob Darvall said:

Well, New Pavis is on a rise coming up from the Zola Fel...

Could be almost anywhere there are hills in the Big Rubble. Besides the inhabited ruins the multilevel structures are mostly in ruin.

Thank you Sirs.

[svensson]

Here is what I was talking about for Age of Conan. You'll have to do a bit of searching to jury out the Egyptian stuff, but you can find stuff like this that has a Zola Fel feel to it...

 

[Erol of Backford]

1 hour ago, svensson said:

Here is what I was talking about for Age of Conan.

I don't play video games and so not sure but again if these structures were mostly made of adobe (guessing not much stone in Sun County unless it is quarried out of the cliff faces of the Valley?) and white washed they may very well fit into Sun County along the ZF...

Would the river edge be more like a beach than an actual wharf/dock in Sun County, the River in general?

[svensson]

Stygia is on the banks of what will become the Nile, so the river would be quite wide.

There's quite a lot of limestone in the County according to @MOB and the new Life in Sun County Jonstown supplement. Limestone and adobe are the two main building materials in the County and timber is very rare. Hardwoods have to harvested in the Rockwoods and floated downriver and most of the woods in the two bogs are softwoods [willow, etc.]. Reeds are also very popular along the ZF.

[Erol of Backford]

On 10/20/2024 at 6:54 PM, svensson said:

Life in Sun County

I don't have it yet but since I've played and GM'd in several campaigns there it's on my list. I still didn't finish the 3rd Pavis book, the 4th and the new Dragon Pass books are also stilling on my coffee table!

Edited 7 hours ago by Erol of Backford

[svensson]

Slight correction, btw...

SANDstone not LIMEstone is pretty common in Sun County. It's still pretty close to the same tensile strength as a building material and it beats adobe, so...

You'd expect the buildings to have thick walls and high ceilings to help dissipate the daytime heat and roof gardens for those who can afford the time and effort for a pleasant place to be in the evenings. I say 'time and effort' because both men and women do stoop labor in the fields and after a hard day of that, nobody wants to prune a shading bush on the roof of their house 😁