Happy day of Shine, my fellow Elyrians!

As you know, last week we took a look at some initial concept sketches for Brudvir architecture. I mentioned at the time that there were a couple more in the series and that we might share them as well... Well, since it's another shiny day, and I feel like we haven't discussed some of the more interesting aspects yet, I figured we'd share another in the series. Have a look:

It escaped the notice of none of you that one of the buildings in the last sketch seemed to be partially "submerged" or "built into" the side of a hill, like a hobbit hole. I feel like I should explain, and then explain what makes the two other examples of that in this week's shiny different.

So, jumping right in: That structure you saw last week was not built into the side of a hill. It was, in fact, covered with sod. It was an exploration of how the Brudvir might utilize some of the tactics that had been historically used by the Norse to deal with similar conditions. The sod acts as insulation, keeping the interior of the wooden framed structure below it nice and cozy.

In technical terms, this means that the "hill" in question wasn't a part of the terrain, but would instead be "built up" over the existing landscape, mirroring one of the things we've mentioned about terraforming: mechanically, you won't be able to deform the terrain, only add things on top of it. What we're exploring here mechanically is the idea that even when you add things on top of existing terrain, you can present the appearance of true terraforming/terrain deformation, and present a good in-systems reasons for doing so: Insulation. It wouldn't work free-form of course, but it is a middle ground that I suspect many hadn't yet considered using such organic shapes for.

By way of comparison, check out the two structures in this week's shiny that have "underground" portions. These are more emblematic of what we discussed with respect to how mines might work: As players, you will build an entrance and that entrance acts as a transition that will take you into the "interior delving" inside the terrain, where you actually can more freely dig and tunnel and excavate. The structure on the left side of the image is an idea for what a Brudvir mine might look like, while the image on the right is more like "What if you built something like a root cellar?" Both use the same sort of mechanism that the original sod covered concept would: They would add their structure to the side of the mountain and act as the interface for above and below, rather than directly deform the terrain.

It's one of those examples of how we can use tricks in this industry akin to what can be done in television or film, applying "movie magic" style solutions to diminish the apparent edges of our constraints without actually spending the time and money it would take to exceed them. Here at the concept sketch phase of world building, it helps us to illustrate exactly what we think we can do (literally illustrate, in this case), which gets those of us who are responsible for the technical implementation thinking about what sorts of challenges (e.g. seaming the interface between added on meshes and existing terrain so you can't see the edges) we will face if we move forward with those design elements.

Enjoy, and stay shiny my friends!