Archive of Our Own

Image description: A colorful, circular shrine with a domed, stained-glass roof and a sunken floor. Glowing glass spheres depict scenes from the history of the world and the surrounding city. Outside, beyond the city, dawn is just starting to break.

Image description: The image above. This time Saren Raithe leans against one of the entrances to the shrine, looking out at the sky. His face is turned away from the camera.

Design notes:

• I am very tired.
• I yeeted my operating system for Linux five months back (objectively a good decision, I was tired of Window's bullshit), but SAI doesn't work with Linux and my pen driver doesn't work with Wine, or I don't have enough patience to figure out how to get it to work with Wine. 
  • Anyways, I was also learning how to use Krita on top of the perspective nonsense. This arguably did save me several headaches, and probably caused me another five. 
  • Anyways, if there are noticeable style differences, this is why. 
• Do not ask me how long the floor took. Or why I did it like this. (I know why I did it like this, I had an image in my head and it looks cool as hell). 
  • I thought the last image was construction line hell. I was incorrect. I have seen the abyss and it looks vaguely like a weird plaid. With the occasional circle. 
• Normally I would have a lot more thought into the lore and scenery - I'll admit, on this one I was so frazzled by the perspective logistics that I just ended up extrapolating from the description Scribe sent me. I have some, but... definitely not as much as I usually would for something this detailed. 
  • Each bench can seat two people, and the drawers/cubbies hold various bits of useful/necessary supplies.
  • Supplies for worship are also in the closet, along with emergency supplies. It is a very well-stocked temple.
    • The closet door is sort of a. Cloth. Thing??? It can seal away the closet, pretty much, to keep things safe from the outdoors. 
  • Private worship spaces are located elsewhere in the temple - this is a group/public shrine. 
    • The surrounding buildings are both city and also more temple. I think this is a bit of a complex.
  • The stained glass roof is heavily inspired by the apocalypse of the last world, and is very similar to Merineth's.
    • .....The light may actually be representing Merineth and the other gods, here.  
  • Colors are. Colors? Are an accident. 
    • Except for Saren, he's wearing clothing that's the same color as the sky outside, with green and yellow highlights for flavor. 
• Inspirations initially included various cathedrals, mosques, and other religious architecture - I pulled a lot from the Alhambra specifically in my initial directions. 
• This... didn't have a definitive city until like, last week, so my initial designs may have been oriented towards more of a milder climate than is appropriate. In my head we're like... Mediterranean, at the most extreme, and leaning towards the hot and dry. 
• On that note, the spheres, which is the one constant in this image I've had since I first conceived it:
  • Top to bottom, we have:
    • The mysterious apocalypse that hit Vrolis sometime back. I was given "Watery" as an adjective, and now it's flooding and burning simultaneously. (....I am strongly influenced by my own home lol). 
    • Mysterious tiefling who is now bound to the city? Originally intended to be in hell at the moment in the bubble. 
    • Star and trees.
      • ...I don't know, I think this was intended to vaguely represent some other god or event. I did half of this while sleep-deprived. 
    • Vague Continent Blobs (tm).
    • Vrolis but like, intact this time. There's even a tree. 
    • Vague misty shapes that accidentally ended up a) colorful and b) eye-like. You can take the artist out of the Magnus Archives, but you can't take TMA out of the artist. Or something. Eyes happen sometimes. Maybe it means something. (It probably means something). 
    • City again - as above, so below, representing the ruins of the old city that underlie the new. 
    • A book that I am sure is very history-relevant somewhere or somehow. 
• Whee.
• Nap time now.