Visualizing Zalanthas..

[Desertman]

Dwarves/Muls?:


Jul Tavan Tribal:

[CodeMaster]

(Text from http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,24087.0.html and the Allanak help file...)

Cold Eyes stood in in the midst of his bloodied, wartorn encampment; men and women could be heard weeping in the distance over their fallen friends and family, while broken elven bodies lay strewn across the terrain, unattended, where they would be left to bake.

His eyes ever as cold and hard as his heart, he looked over the assembled nomadic chiefs, many of which were injured and forgoing care to hear him speak.

As one occasionally given to theatrics to help drive his points across, Tektolnes drew a large square in the sand with his toe.  Then he began to speak of walls. Walls bigger than any that had ever been built by the hands of man - at least since the Dragon's reign.  Walls that would keep out the horrors of the wastes, the elven threat (which he deemed a priority, for obvious reasons), and even the very wind and sand itself.  Walls that would keep his children, and the children of all the chiefs, as safe as anything could be. Walls so firm and so thick that they could take a generation to build fully.

But where?  A place harsh enough to keep his people strong, yet surrounded by the resources to keep them alive: Vrun Driath.

With an unnerving tirelesness, he planned with the other chiefs until again Suk-Krath lit the horizon.  Turkus, his old, tattooed face appearing weary, looked up into the eyes of Quintus, his leader, and asked what this great city should be called.  Tektolnes' mother had been slain only hours earlier.





Allanak occupies the central part of the Southlands region once known as Vrun Driath, and is surrounded by desert and wastelands on all sides.

The city is possibly the richest single civilization in the Known World, in total wealth.  But the life of the average Allanaki citizen is one of strife - expensive and degenerate living conditions.

This, coupled with a nearly omnipotent ruler who watches every move his subjects make.  By contrast, the nobility live in opulent splendor, as do the templar servants of the city-state's king, the Highlord Tektolnes.

Of course, they are also the Highlord's puppets, their lives spent gathering popular support and serving in a Senate whose decisions are somehow always in perfect accord with His Gloriousness's latest decree.

For instance, anything to do with spice is, of course, illegal in Allanak.  While the banning of spice was made many years ago now (and predicted by some nobles and even high templars to have disasterous consequences), its repercussions are still felt in the modern style of Allanaki trade: much of the Allanaki economy has moved underground, the result being that many of the more honest merchants have been "driven out of business".

Secret dealings in dark alleys, or even in the Labyrinth, are commonplace - as are the concomitant affairs of extortion, maiming, and murder.

[path]

^ <3 you for that, CodeMaster

[Barsook]

You just awesome with this dude.

[Redheart]

Now that... is a Real GDB Hero.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I imagine silt flyers like pterodactyls.

As do I.

[CodeMaster]

The Arena is the home of Allanak's bloody Games.

Even from nearby roads outside, the screams of gladiators practicing inside echo over the polished bone spikes that jut above the stone walls.

The Arena itself has a smooth, polished stone wall, engraved with a variety of inscriptions, most of them depicting scenes from famous battles and gladiatorial combats.

It is favored by the city's populace as a place where they can watch various criminals, traitors, elves and people who have somehow irritated a templar fight amongst themselves or against the gladiators of Allanak.

Thick round pieces of Thuja wood, reinforced with deadly spikes of chipped obsidian, serve as a deterrent to anyone seeking to interfere with the wild, frenzied, and sometimes barely-contained battles on the arena floor.

The floor itself, some five meters below the edge of the stands, is covered with coarse sand smeared with the bloodstains of fallen gladiators, and scattered throughout with chitin spikes.  It is made up of sand and rocks, as if built directly over the desert that once lay there.

In general, there is no escape for someone condemned to the Arena.

[Delirium]

Just imagine everything in red...

[path]

CodeMaster, where have you BEEN all my life? I didn't know what I needed until you gave it to me.

[HavokBlue]

[Barsook]

Nice finds.

[James de Monet]

Just imagine everything in red...

Allow me to aid in the lazification of your imagination.

[Delirium]

[Redheart]

These were pretty neat... black light reactive body art.

The sun sinks into the rocky terrain to the west.



The great sun rises in the east, turning the scrub plains to gold.









The white moon, Lirathu, hangs low in the sky.

[CodeMaster]

Cool stuff!

[CodeMaster]

A rogue defiler makes an appearance in an Allanaki tavern.

After exchanging jibes with a blue robed templar he is quickly escorted from the premises.

Later that day a large crowd gathers in the Dragon Temple to witness the defiler's execution.

Lord Eligeth of the Red, after turning the defiler to a pile of ash, is heard to remark that any such rogue will find a quick death if they dare approach Tektolnes' City.

[Barsook]

Cool stuff!

And CodeMaster, we need a thread just for your stuff!

[Is Friday]

>A desert-speckled raptor wields a small stone.

[FantasyWriter]

Don't think I've seen this one before:

[Barsook]

I think I may of.  Or most of the dwarfen ones are the same.

[FantasyWriter]

[Bushranger]

Winrothol FTW!

[path]

Heads up, Kadius: http://themetapicture.com/very-few-things-are-as-unique-as-this-beetle-cabinet/

[HavokBlue]

I've always pictured kenku (based on their limited descriptions in-game, I know there is Dark Sun reference material) like the bird people from Dark Souls.

[Bushranger]

I really like that cabinet!

HavokBlue I think those are like feathered kylori. They could be kenku but I've always understood the kenku to have arms/hands in addition to their wings (as the Dark Sun lore) which is what makes them mythical beasts that are featured in folk tales and legends today.