Oldtown: Feedback and Suggestions

[Nuggets - Shygirlstan]

I did a test for the tunnels gradient!
Make your opinion, comming soon, ill do a 1:1 model of the tunnels section to explain the ideas i got.

the difference in gradient was done to differ the original ancient vaults (yellow pallete) from the new addons (reach gradient)

View attachment 2467View attachment 2468

Thanks

There are quite a few blocks: OT, Reach, Sandstone, Dark Sandstone. This also contrasts with the ground.

Maybe keep it to fewer blocks. There are palettes templates near the southern OT walls.

 

[lemonbear]

Something else to keep in mind: When I was younger I had the chance to visit a restaurant outside of Sorrento, Italy, that had an ancient wine/cheese cellar dating back to the Etruscans. You could identify the sections of the cellar (Etruscan, Roman, more modern) based on the type of vaulting or arches, where the Roman section used Roman arches and the Etruscan section used a different type of vaulting (as in following picture, which is the only one I could find of the construction).


As such, in addition to palette differences, it might be interesting to have visible architectural differences as well.

Bonus picture of some really old cheese from the bottom of said cellar:



**EDIT: Found the restaurant's name after a vigorous search for Michelin-starred restaurants outside of Sorrento with a particular tile pattern in the kitchen, and an image search for "Don Alfonso wine cellar" will give you some amazing results!

 

[ContraBlonde]

QUESTION: Have the project leads considered taking inspiration from Baelors Sept in the show for the Starry Sept? The Sept features a lot of the Byzantine characteristics that are being tested right now and I haven’t seen anyone try it out on the test world (I used the dynamap since I can’t join the server yet)

 

[ZEZEWALK]

The design of Baelors Sept in the TV show is in fact, very similar to the following Starry Sept artworks. The architectural style of Roman-Byzantine churches fits nearly identically to both - lots of pillars and arched windows. The current test build doesn't have a similar facade.


Source: HBO Game of Thrones (Season 6 Episode 10)


Source: Game of Thrones TCG (ThronesDB)

EDIT: I'll understand if you take ^ with a grain of salt.. the stone they're using isn't black marble.

EDIT2: Removing Citadel image, thanks E!

 

[Enah]

the bottom pic is the citadel, the top is st peter's basilica. I also dont feel columns and pillars as shown there would be appropriate considering its said to be dark adn shadowy hallways within the sept itself

 

[ContraBlonde]

the bottom pic is the citadel, the top is st peter's basilica. I also dont feel columns and pillars as shown there would be appropriate considering its said to be dark adn shadowy hallways within the sept itself

ENAH is correct, St. Peter’s Basilica, while certainly beautiful, does not work with the server style. The Basilica was built in the 16th century and is a renaissance/baroque church that follows the classical tradition, which does not fit medieval architecture.

No slight meant against you, I really appreciate the fact that someone replied to me. Appreciate the thought and effort.

 

[ZEZEWALK]

Oh thanks for the heads up. I think columns would add personality, but looking at Baelors I see where you're coming from. Maybe the Dreadfort could provide some inspiration for frontal detail. Also I'm guessing the full sept will have a real wall and courtyard, from looking at the smaller test plan, making a front facade kinda useless

 

[ContraBlonde]

Oh thanks for the heads up. I think columns would add personality, but looking at Baelors I see where you're coming from. Maybe the Dreadfort could provide some inspiration for frontal detail. Also I'm guessing the full sept will have a real wall and courtyard, from looking at the smaller test plan

Thanks for the ideas. For my ideas for the starry sept I went less ambitious and am planning on using the Basilica San Vitale as inspiration https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Vitale

 

[Enah]

iirc they were wanting based on aachen dom with less gothic and more byzantine/early romanesque to it

 

[EStoop]

Our main goal for the Starry Sept is a building similar to the Palatine Chapel (the 9th century octogonal part of the Aachener Dom). We think the building accuarately represents our view of how an ancient sept might look after several hundreds of years of use and shifts in architectural styles. The Palatine Chapel is a centrally planned, domed chapel with an 8-sided interior and a 16-sided exterior, a design common in early Christian churches. Throughout its 1200 year lifetime the building has been expanded and changed several times to make it the hot mess it is now, which is the reason we use this particular building to depict our view of the Starry Sept.

The Palatine Chapel being our main inspiration does not mean other inspiration is invalid. The basilica of San Vitale for example is a very good inspiration as well, which was also the inspiration for the Palatine Chapel. However, regardles of what inspiration is used we aim to build a seven sided sept. A seven sided floorplan similar to that of the Palatine Chapel can be found near /warp OtStarrySept. The floorplan is not final, but it accurately depicts the type of structure we're going for, as well as the size.

Edit | Bonus pics of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, representing three stages in its lifetime. We're not going for a 4th century Roman style Starry Sept but it gives a vey good insight into how much a building can change over the course of over a thousand years, yet still keep various elements from the previous versions.
Though to be fair the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed in the 10th and rebuild in the 11th century

 

[ContraBlonde]

Our main goal for the Starry Sept is a building similar to the Palatine Chapel (the 9th century octogonal part of the Aachener Dom). We think the building accuarately represents our view of how an ancient sept might look after several hundreds of years of use and shifts in architectural styles. The Palatine Chapel is a centrally planned, domed chapel with an 8-sided interior and a 16-sided exterior, a design common in early Christian churches. Throughout its 1200 year lifetime the building has been expanded and changed several times to make it the hot mess it is now, which is the reason we use this particular building to depict our view of the Starry Sept.

The Palatine Chapel being our main inspiration does not mean other inspiration is invalid. The basilica of San Vitale for example is a very good inspiration as well, which was also the inspiration for the Palatine Chapel. However, regardles of what inspiration is used we aim to build a seven sided sept. A seven sided floorplan similar to that of the Palatine Chapel can be found near /warp OtStarrySept. The floorplan is not final, but it accurately depicts the type of structure we're going for, as well as the size.

Edit | Bonus pics of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, representing three stages in its lifetime. We're not going for a 4th century Roman style Starry Sept but it gives a vey good insight into how much a building can change over the course of over a thousand years, yet still keep various elements from the previous versions.
Though to be fair the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed in the 10th and rebuild in the 11th century

Darn, I was excited to build an 8-sided, San Vitale style sept. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

 

[Nuggets - Shygirlstan]

bump

 

[ItsPabs]

Could be interesting to have a section of the city that has a prominent amount of towers. I recently learned about the city of Bologna which was apparently filled with towers during the Middle Ages. Apparently they estimated up to 180 towers could have possibly been in the city at that time. The theory that makes the most sense is that they were constructed by the richest families for defensive purposes during the Investiture Controversy (a dispute between the church and state during that time).

Towers of Bologna - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Since Oldtown is such an ancient city I think it might make sense that there could have been a trend of some richer portions of the city sprouting up towers for one reason or another.

Two ideas come to mind: Perhaps rich families being concerned of Aegon's conquest made towers to protect themselves from the invading army (makes less sense for dragons though). The other idea would be there could have been portions of Oldtown's history plagued by riots or some sort of similar conflict between church and the ruling government of the city. Riots or a lot of troops in the city might make it popular for the rich families to build some tower and have it become a trend.

Personally I would do something similar to Bologna now where only a few of the old towers had survived, but it could be really cool to have a section or two with a lot of prominent towers. Thanks for reading!

Cool concept image of what Bologna could have looked like when the trend was in full swing:

Spoiler: image

 

[Ric]

Two ideas come to mind: Perhaps rich families being concerned of Aegon's conquest made towers to protect themselves from the invading army (makes less sense for dragons though). The other idea would be there could have been portions of Oldtown's history plagued by riots or some sort of similar conflict between church and the ruling government of the city. Riots or a lot of troops in the city might make it popular for the rich families to build some tower and have it become a trend.

There's also that time the dornish invaded the city, before the construction of the stronger walls around the city the rich could have used towers like that to protect themselves in fear of another sack.

 

[SseriousBusiness]

The tower competition thing happened in a lot of cities, I recently was lucky to visit the Alcazar de los Reys Cristianos in Cordoba and there was an exposition about a spanish medieval traveller Pedro Tafur from the 15th century and he went from Zaragoça to Cairo in his travels and he visited countless cities like Barcelona Marseille, Pisa, Rome, Instanbul, Israel and others, and he described at least 3 cities having these towers built by noble families to rival each other. So its safe to say that a lot of medieval european cities had these towers that have been either demolished or replaced by newer palaces.

 

[Enah]

There's also that time the dornish invaded the city, before the construction of the stronger walls around the city the rich could have used towers like that to protect themselves in fear of another sack.

it's funny you mention towers, i tested a few for old nobles/merchant princes. one still exists in otp

i clicked on pabs' reply button, idk why it quoted you ric

 

[Elduwin]

There's the famous village of San Gimignano, it has lots of towers.

 

[Renly_Baratheon_]

Not sure if this is an obvious observation but I think this idea seems especially fitting or certainly interesting in relation to the Hightower. Since it is the seat of the most powerful family in the city it could have become a fad for the families the Hightowers were/are friendly with as a sort of emulation of their style. There could also be a number of towers that are destroyed/were demolished because the owners fell out of favour with the Hightowers. Nevertheless, I think it is also important to consider how a tower city would look like in relation to the enormity of the Hightower. Possibly it would look kind of strange to see these skinny towers across the city and one massive tower rising behind them. Or maybe it looks really cool.

 

[Enah]

though, many lords/kings of the world are so petty they'd probably forbid it.

 

[mdmeaux]

There's the famous village of San Gimignano, it has lots of towers.View attachment 4827

San Gimignano? I thought that was Peckledon by Birdman?