Okay, I started this project back when I first joined Hallifax, but I haven't done anything with it for a while. I think I need some suggestions on where to go next. Brace yourselves, it's super nerdy:


(Sorry for the crappy quality, I'm not sure where the cord is for my real camera)

I realized that no graphical map could do it justice, so I figured I'd model it, make it easier for newcomers to understand.

There's also a completed bottom half but I'm not sure I want to attach it yet; I'd like it to still be collapsible once I put the towers on. My idea was to make the towers out of shiny paper, but the good stuff is really expensive and since I would need twelve colors and I'd only end up using a very little bit of each sheet, I decided to just paint them. I got some paint that works pretty well, and a glaze that'll make them shiny. My problem is that once I started looking at the towers IG I realized they're all different. Which is super cool, but now I want to make the models look like the 'real' towers. So I'm stuck on that.

Also, you'll notice the wires, which I feel really distract from what it should really look like. They have to be there for support, since I don't know any Aeromanctic engineering, but I'd like to come up with some way to disguise them. There's also the stairs, which right now are just threads, not very noticeable. I thought about using crinkled quilling paper , but I'm not sure if it would look right. Are these spiral staircases, or straight shots? In the 'real thing' the up/down exits are right on top of each other, so I would think spiral, but how do I represent that? The reason I didn't put them right on top of each other is that it would make it look too crowed.

I'm also at a loss for how to make the Matrix. I probably should have figured that out before I made the platform D=

So, long story short, I'm a little stuck! Do you guys have any suggestions for me?

This is remarkably cool.

I forgot the generators!



It's not attached yet because I'm not sure if there should buildings/towers for the generators, or if the... things, should come straight out of the platform.

You're right. That is super nerdy. But all kinds of awesome. Maybe you could disguise some (not all) of the wires with cotton or something else that looks kind of like clouds.

That's not a bad idea.

This is both horrifyingly nerdy and dazzlingly awesome, much like a dance-off between Captain Kirk and Captain Picard presided over by Gary Gygax.

Well, yeah, the idea is, but right now it still sucks. Are there no crafty people out there?

You could make the Matrix out of one of those glass marbles. Maybe a catseye.

That was my thought, but how do I stick it in there? I should have thought further ahead on that one, figured out what I wanted to use, then made the thing to hold it. It wasn't too hard to make that walkway bit though, so I can make a new one if I need to.

I have no words.

When you are done, take a picture and submit it for Artisanal. I'm quite serious.

That was the plan.

I always like to think the Matrix looks likes a gods eye.

You make me wanna bust out my old art skillz. Fishing line is a nice tool to make something invisible and I do like the cloud idea. Maybe use yarn to have more prominent lines. Also paper mache works wonders.

So, what I've decided so far:
Paper mache for the Matrix, so it can be just the right size and I can paint/decoupage something on it to make it look right. I've also figured out how to use fishing line to make it look like it's suspended.

I'm still not sure what to do about the towers. Should I just make them all look the same, for the sake of my sanity?

On a related note, I tried to come up with an idea of what some of the mandalas look like, but I'm having a hard time. I downloaded a program to make vector graphics, and after a few days to teach myself how to use it, I came up with this:

It's kinda the Transphenortex Grid. Thoughts?

The Grid! The Grid is the prettiest place in the whole game, I swear. I think that's a pretty good simple representation of it, but what would be really cool if someone awesome (not me) would do a detailed one oooh...

For the towers, uh, hmmm... do whatever will look good and won't make you wish you'd never decided to do it? Iunno. I'm not good at...three-dimensional thinking. Projects like these are kind of beyond me.

I'd love to do a detailed one myself, but that's about as far as my art skills take me.

I made a Gaudiguch once...

I'm not allowed propellant anymore.

That explains all those recent fires!

Imagine that all the towers are externally the same shape, and just have different configurations of rooms carved inside? This model is meant to help conceptualize the city, right? Not to be a map.

Next you'll be modeling Continuum, yes?