The Cave of the Sun is another map for Tir Thelandira. It’s an oracle and holy site where the elves gather to seek guidance from their goddess. The cave takes its name from a hole in the roof of the cavern, through which light beams down onto the pool within.
I’ll draw more of Tir Thelandira next month, but right now there’s something I have to draw. It’s Italian– Venetian, to be specific– and it’s glorious. It’s not a real place, but it could have been a real place. Unfortunately, somebody screwed up. Let me explain.
In Venice, there’s a famous landmark called the Rialto Bridge. Before it was built, proposals by several architects were considered and the one they went with was this. And, I mean, it’s fine. I don’t hate it. The problem is that a guy named Andrea Palladio proposed this. And they passed on that.
Was it because the guy who made the winning proposal was named Antonio Da Ponte and his last name is literally the Italian word for bridge? Was there a bribe involved? I don’t know. Maybe no one knows. But I do know this: I am going to make a map of Andrea Palladio’s objectively superior bridge. And I’m going to do it right now.
I want to thank Masque for telling me about Andrea Palladio’s design for the Rialto. I might never have found out about it otherwise. Just to let everyone know, I’m always open to suggestions and I’ve drawn a few of them. So don’t hold back on me. There’s no such thing as too many ideas.
😀
* :b
Nice.
If you want suggestions, there’s a town in France called Arles that was a pretty big deal in the Roman period but shrunk down a lot in the Middle Ages.
So they forted up in the Amphitheatre. Check it out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arles_Amphitheatre
They also had a nearby section of town where the Romans had leveled off a large section of sloping ground by building these huge galleries and then plopping to forum on top of them. The galleries are still there, under the town. You can take tours.
There’s also a more regular Roman theatre, a chariot track, and a cathedral with the Tarrasque carved into things because the Tarrasque is from the forest just north of town. Of course.
So post apocalyptic Roman ruins and dark age re-purposing and high medieval craziness, all stuck together. It’s great.
And the partially restored Aphitheatre (they kicked folks out in the 1800s) is still in the middle of town with roads going around it. You can see it on street view.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.677028,4.630974,3a,75y,23.82h,90.46t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sY1YPL3nEx1SRtbM9pBx9GQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DY1YPL3nEx1SRtbM9pBx9GQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D7.9759035%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
I suspect the town had to constantly stop peeps from opening up passages between the outer walls and the now fortified interior, since they had buildings up against both sides of those walls and the original plan was *designed* to move peeps in and out easily, so a town fort with a dozen concealed doors in the walls. Glorious.
Wow, that’s really beautiful. Thanks for the suggestion!